Welcome back guys! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter!

JSYK: Every description in this chapter is the way I see things in my mind, you don't have to see them the same way.

Disclaimer: As I said last chapter, Rick Riordan owns the fandom and most of the characters. The plot and the OCs are the only things that are mine.

Enjoy! :)

"And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."-Haruki Murakami

Chapter 2: Of Curiosity and Indrodution

Hi, so remember the giant ax wielding maniac? Good, because this won't make any sense otherwise…

The campers tackled the beast with incredible force, making the beast lurch backward. I tried not to gawk in amazement, but some things you just can't hold back. "Woah…" I gasped. Clarisse screamed orders and other things in Latin that I couldn't comprehend, but there was no doubt in my mind of where my dad learned to curse. I tried to help, but everything was moving way too fast.

Dad gave Clarisse a vexatious grin, trying to hide the annoyance behind his eyes. He was failing miserably. "Long time no see, Clarisse…" he replied with a frustrated sigh, swinging his weapon dangerously.

"Not long enough." Clarisse commented. She dived to the side and grunted when trying to avoid the cyclops and his ax. I was enjoying the conversation between my dad and his old 'friend' and it only got better when my mom came running down the hill wielding her dagger.

"Trouble just follows you everywhere…" Mom glared at Dad as I tried to hold back my snickers. "Doesn't it Seaweedbrain?"

"It loves me," Dad said with a shrug. "What can I say?" My mom looked at him murderously, like, Seriously! Now's not the time for jokes! Of course, between all the distractions I didn't notice the haft of the ax was coming at me with tremendous speed. I was flung back, more than half-way up the hill, and to sum it up: the wind was more than knocked out of me.

"ALISSA!" Mom screamed.

Peter tore himself away from the battle and ran up to check on me. At the same time an arrow struck the cyclops in the eye and he went down long enough for Clarisse to give him the final blow, with one last angry cry.

"You okay Ally?" Peter asked, concern in his voice. Instead of answering him, I nodded my head in reply, because when I tried to speak it felt as though I was sacrificing precious breaths. I did not want to think about how many things I'd broken on my way down. But the worst of it was the pounding pain in my skull when I thought about how stupid I'd been. 'Never get distracted, Ally!' Mom had always said when we'd train together. 'Sometimes that can be the end of you…'

Speaking of Mom, as soon as that was over with, she ran up to me with a look of worry imprinted on her face. "Are you okay sweetheart?!" I nodded and let her grab my hand.

"Ow…" I moaned, when it didn't hurt so much to talk. Mom examined me with her calculating stormy grey eyes, and then gave me a stern yet soft look.

"You have to be more careful…" Dad walked up and grabbed me, carrying me bridal style into camp. After a couple of hours in the infirmary (trying to ease the pain with nectar and ambrosia), it was finally deduced that I had fractured my wrist, broke a rib, and was covered with scrapes and bruises that made my body feel like it had been set on fire. Lovely.

…..o0o…..

When I opened my eyes after a much deserved nap, my mom and dad were sitting right next to me talking about Mega Muscles. "Why would he go through all that trouble?" Mom was asking. "There must be a reason why he chased you down so close to camp."

"I really don't know, Wisegirl." My dad replied, seemingly lost in thought. "I sure hope this doesn't mean a prophecy…"

"Me too," Mom agreed. "Explain it to me again, I want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"Well, we were driving and…"

I did not need to experience that again. I looked around and found that Peter was staring down at me with a bored expression on his face, until he saw that I was awake. He smirked at me. "I bet this wasn't how you thought your first day at camp would go." I punched him in the arm-with the hand that did not have a fractured wrist-and attempted a smile.

"Yep." I agreed, blowing stray hairs out of my face. Mom and Dad moved closer to me with worry in their eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?" Dad asked. Well, let's see, my body feels like a child of Hephaestus set me on fire, I can hear someone pounding a drum over and over again in my head, and considering this was all a result of my stupidity…No Dad, I wouldn't say I'm alright.

"I've been better." I replied, staring up at the ceiling in self-pity. I suddenly realized my heart was thumping in my skull, creating the illusion of a beating drum, I wish you would get out of my head! I thought. "Can I have a glass of water?" I asked. Mom handed me an empty glass and as I imagined the desired liquid, it appeared to fill up without anything being poured in. I sighed in contentment as I collected every last drop in my mouth.

"Better?" Mom asked. I grinned.

"Always." I replied, already feeling my pains heal faster. A familiar clop of hooves approached where I lied and I looked up to see Chiron.

"Are you alright, my dear?" he asked. I nodded appreciatively and sat up in bed. "I heard you were attacked?" Chiron looked to my mom and dad to confirm this.

"Oh, they were attacked." Mom answered, moving her finger between, Peter, Dad, and I. "I had to jump in to save them." She eyed Dad at that and I could tell she was still a little upset. I started to wonder if Clarisse had the same reaction. No doubt.

"Percy, Annabeth?" Chiron beckoned. By the emotionless look on his face I knew what he needed was important. "May I have a word with you?" Mom and Dad nodded their heads and slipped away with Chiron.

"What do you think they're talking about?" I asked Peter, curiously. Peter's eyes looked distant, like the way our parents' eyes got sometimes when they'd remember or realize something awful. He shook it away as soon as I saw it. "Peter?"

"Probably something bad." Peter admitted. This is one of the things that I loved about him. He was honest, but not brutally. I smiled, happy to have such a great sibling (not everyone's so lucky). "Hey, feeling okay enough to walk?" I slipped my legs off the bed and stood up.

"Does this answer your question?" I asked, gesturing to myself.

"Nope." Peter told me. I rolled my eyes and started to pace back and force in front of the bed.

"Happy?" I asked, annoyed. Peter grinned slyly.

"Yep." He answered, standing up. I rolled my eyes and I followed Peter out of the infirmary.

"Where are we going?" I asked. We passed by a few cabins-some of which were huge and/or wild-and paused in front of what I could only assume was the famed Poseidon cabin. The Poseidon cabin had seashells and pieces of undersea coral encrusted into the outside walls and a line of dark and light colored sand dollars stretched across the long walls just shy from the middle. It was short-so to speak-like me. Perfect. The roof had a dull point, letting the whole building seem to blend into the background. In other words, it was amazing, but not so much that it stood out.

"To see a few things." Peter answered, with a smirk. I gawked at the beautiful representation of architecture and ocean, which made Peter's smirk grow. "Beautiful isn't it?"

"Woah…" I managed, nodding my head. I'd never actually got the chance to see it up close, but now that I could take time to admire the details, I smiled. "It's exactly like Dad described…" I pinpointed every detail from his stories and was surprised to find not a single inaccuracy. Peter turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

"That surprises you?" he asked.

"Well, it's just that I always thought they might have changed it over the years, or that Dad was leading me on…" I explained, still gawking. Peter nodded like that made sense and looked back to the small building. "Can we go inside?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, yeah." Peter replied in a no duh voice. "This is where you're going to be staying for the summer."

"Oh, yeah." I replied, in embarrassment. I walked up to the door and felt a tingling feeling of excitement seem to shoot up my arm when I reached for the knob. I know it's kind of weird to be this excited to step inside a building, but imagine your favorite story in the whole world coming into reality and you suddenly become a part of it. That's what it felt like to me when I reached out and laid my hand on that doorknob. I turned the knob and walked inside, already expecting what I'd see.

To say the least it reminded me a lot of the 'police box' in Doctor Who, where the inside was bigger than the outside, but in this case that probably wasn't true. The aqua ceiling was higher than would have been expected and hanging from it were a couple of bronze hippocampi that seemed to glitter against the light that shone into the room. The walls glowed both light and dark, reflecting light from the nearby windows to all around the room. The windows were average with their aqua curtains, except the shells-that looked like fossils or carvings-glued to the window sills. The same line of Sand dollars ran all-along walls on the inside too, giving the room a certain pattern. Bunk beds were stacked on either side of the room and a cold grey fountain lay against the wall, where a fish carved out of sea rock spit water through its kissy lips. I loved all of it!

"It's even better on the inside…" I commented, as Peter stepped into the room.

"Yep." He agreed, looking just as amazed as I was. "I've only been in here a couple times…"

"Really?" I asked. "So you stay in the Athena cabin?"

"Pretty much." He summed up. My heart sort of calmed to a slow steady beat at that. I always thought that Peter stayed in both cabins, on and off. I didn't know why, but I felt contentment in knowing this was my own path-living in the Poseidon cabin, I mean.

It was then that I noticed the only other person in the room. A kid was standing next to one of the bunks. He was taller than me (what a surprise) with a slight tan, shaggy sepia brown hair, and deep blue-black eyes that were like staring into a cold black wave just before it swallowed you. He was wearing worn out jeans, black and green Nikes, a forest green T-shirt and a navy blue jacket. Intimidating did not begin to describe this guy. He looked like he was right in the middle of settling in before we disturbed him. As a result, the kid was staring at us like we were Rubik's Cubes-intriguing but annoying all the same.

I tried not to look as guilty as I felt when I realized we'd been ignoring him. "Um, sorry." I said, awkwardly. "I'm Alissa." I held out my hand politely and he stared at it for a couple seconds before he decided to shake it.

"Terry." He introduced, with a voice that reminded me of my dad's for some reason. He looked oddly at my brother and Peter stepped forward to introduce himself.

"Peter." Terry nodded his head, in a way that implied he cared, but I had a feeling he really didn't.

"You're Legacies?" he asked, going back to what I assume he'd been doing before we walked in.

"Yeah," I replied. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." He answered. When he said this, I knew he'd been listening in, and he wouldn't even tell me. I decided I didn't like him all that much.

"Are you?" I asked. I only asked because he didn't look too much like a Poseidon kid.

"Nope." He replied, simply. He really wouldn't give me a straight answer and he never looked directly at me when I was talking to him. Rude much?

"Okay…" Peter budded in awkwardly. "Ally, did you want to stay or…?" I glared at Terry when his back was turned to me and walked out before my brother.

"No," I replied firmly. As I made my way through the door. I was surprised to find two girls standing right outside.

"Is this it?" One girl was saying, looking curiously down at a piece of paper. "This is where I'm going to be staying?"

"Yep." The other said confidently.

"You sure…?" The first asked, unconvinced. The first girl had walnut colored skin, wavy black hair that fell only slightly past her shoulders, and bright sea green eyes that stood out against her skin. A medium sized pair of oval shaped glasses sat in front of her eyes and she had to pull them down her nose to stare at the piece of paper, leading me to believe that she was near sighted. She was wearing a purple and pink tie dye shirt, dotted with little white specks, which reminded me of outer-space. Her jeans were sapphire and her shoes were violet converse sneakers. On her right arm hung a purple jacket, a purple backpack was slung over the same shoulder, and she held the paper in her left hand. If I had to guess, I'd say her favorite color was purple.

"C'mon Opel!" The other girl replied, with a giggle. "Trust me." This second girl had pale white skin, long, straight raven black hair (that shone blue in the sun), and exciting sky blue eyes. She was wearing a Camp-Half-Blood T-shirt, white jeans (with spots of dirt all over them), and regular black converse sneakers. The girl pointed to the Zeus cabin (which I can't believe I didn't notice, with its huge marble columns) next to the Poseidon cabin and smiled. "If you need me, that's my cabin."

"Okay…" Opel replied, nervously. I approached, deciding I'd listened in long enough.

"Hi, my name's Alissa." I greeted. "I couldn't help over hearing, but are you staying in the Poseidon cabin?" I gestured to Opel. Opel nodded her head awkwardly.

"Yeah," she replied. I smiled warmly at her. "I'm Opel."

"Well, I guess were cabin-mates then, Opel." I replied. I nodded my head at the other girl. "And you are?"

"The name's Destiny." She answered, thrusting out her hand. I shook it and it felt like her hand sucked the life out of mine. She was incredibly strong for how she looked. 'You can't judge a book by its cover, Ally…', came mom's voice in my mind. "I'm a demigod, daughter of Zeus." And suddenly the name Destiny had some irony to it.

"Really? Cool." I replied. "I'm a Legacy of both Poseidon and Athena."

"I'm a Legacy too." Opel budded in, seeming happy to have something in common with me. "Just Poseidon…" For some reason she felt the need to add, "…my grandpa was a demigod and he didn't tell me."

"How'd you figure it out?" I asked, curiously. Opel pointed sheepishly to Destiny.

"Destiny figured it out." She answered. "She's my best friend." I looked back and forth between Destiny and Opel, and the more I did, the more I wondered how they became friends. Destiny was just so confident and Opel just seemed curious and shy. I guess you always look for the best things in a friend that you can't find yourself.

"That's great." I told them. "I hope I can become your friend too." Opel smiled at me.

"We'll see…" Destiny said. "You seem like an awesome person so far…"

"Thank you." I replied, wondering what Destiny's idea of 'awesome' was. "You too." It was then that my brother finally came out of the Poseidon cabin and I wondered what he'd been doing in there all that time with…Terry.

"You ready to move on, Ally?" he asked. I look back at him.

"Uh, sure." I replied. I turned to Opel and Destiny. "It was nice to meet you guys, see you around."

"You too." Opel agreed, waving goodbye to me. Destiny just smiled and bolted into the Zeus cabin.

"You make some new friends?" Peter asked with a grin. I nodded my head.

"I think so…" I replied, hopefully.

…..o0o…..

The rest of time, Peter showed me the rest of camp and told me about all the activities. "You're going to love it here, Ally." He was saying. I was happy he was so confident. That made me feel confident.

We finally returned to the Big House to visit mom and dad. They had migrated out to the porch and I didn't like the worried looks on their faces. Dad sat in a lawn chair rubbing his head like he had a pounding headache, which (after the whole cyclops with the ax thing) didn't seem hard to believe. Chiron was standing with his hands stretching out to make gestures when he spoke. Mom was leaning up against the railing, looking deep in concentration. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but one thing was for sure, it probably wasn't good.

As we approached I saw Mom signal Chiron and Dad to stop talking, which made me wonder what couldn't be heard. Mom half-smiled. "So what do you think of camp, Ally?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and letting her ponytail slip over her shoulder.

"It's great, Mom." I replied. "I'm excited to see where it goes." Mom, Chiron, and Dad all gave me a grateful look, but it was the same grateful look. A grateful look that felt forced and spiked my curiosity.

"Maybe you can meet some of my friends tomorrow." Peter suggested. I smiled warmly at him. At least that would never change.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, because honestly, I probably could have done better…I would like to remind all of you that, again, nothing's planned.

Please express your love in a review and tell me what you think. Feel free to give me constructive criticism, but flames will not be accepted. Give me any suggestions if you wish, but I can't promise I'll go through with them (If I do, I'll make sure to give credit to the rightful thinker).

Thanks!

Samantha's Library.