CHAPTER TWO

"Tamara, wake up. We're here."

I opened my eyes to the sound of Tina's voice. The Jeep was parked, and I didn't hear any sounds of busy New York traffic. I got out of the Jeep and blinked at the sunlight. Archer had parked the car on the side of a dirt road, next to fields upon fields of strawberries. I turned in a full circle, trying to find the camp, but it wasn't there. Panic began building up in my chest. Had Archer been lying to us after all?

"Come on," he said, leading the way up a hill and into a forest.

We followed him, walking in silence, not really sure what was going to happen. We walked along a nearly hidden trail, flanked by huge pine trees. It was calm and peaceful. Birds sang cheerfully, little forest animals ran across the path. It certainly seemed like a good location for a summer camp.

We got to the top of the hill, and I jumped back. A huge purple dragon was there, curled around a towering pine tree and snoring happily. Hanging in the tree was what looked like a golden cape.

"Um, Archer, is that a dragon? Why, and how, did you guys get a dragon?" I asked nervously.

"This is Peleus. Don't worry, he only attacks enemies and people who try to take the Golden Fleece."

Tina made a choking sound. "You mean, the actual Golden Fleece? The mythical object that can bring blessings to anything?"

"Among other things, yeah," Archer said. "Around ten years ago, an enemy of the camp poisoned this tree, which contained the spirit of a daughter of Zeus. She died on this hill trying to protect her friends from monsters. As she was dying, her dad turned her into a pine tree and her spirit protected the camp. When the tree got poisoned, the camp's magical borders started dying, putting the whole camp in danger. So Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, and his friends went on a quest to retrieve the fleece from a Cyclops and to save their friend."

"This is crazy," I said, feeling a little light headed.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's a lot to take in. Believe me, I know. Come on, you need to meet Chiron."

"I'm guessing he's the actual centaur from the stories, correct?" I asked as Archer led us down the other side of the hill.

He laughed and nodded.

Camp Half-Blood was huge. As we walked down the hill, I saw a volleyball pit on my right. Kids were playing a game with people that had the body of a man from the hips up, but their legs were covered with fur and they had hooves for feet. Past the pit was a Grecian-style building where kids wearing aprons worked on statues and paintings. To our left was a blue house that was at least three-stories high. It had a wooden porch that wrapped around the whole house, and standing on the porch were two people, and a third person was sitting in a wheelchair. All of them were looked at us as we approached.

"Archer, you're safe! And you brought two demigods with you!" the man in the wheelchair said when we were close enough.

Archer nodded. "Everyone, this is Tamara Hope and Tina Gonzalez. Girls, this is Chiron, director of the camp, and . . . Percy? Annabeth? What are you guys doing here?"

I studied the boy, Percy, wondering if it was the same Percy from Archer's story. He was tall, at least six-feet, with muscled arms and legs. He had wind-blown black hair, tan skin, and sea-green eyes. He smiled a goofy grin and waved. The girl next to him was pretty, but kind of intimidating. She had long honey-blond hair pulled back into a pony-tail, an athlete's build, and startling storm-gray eyes. She looked us over, analyzing us. In one hand, she held a bronze shield. The other hand was interlaced with Percy's.

"What's up, Archer? And nice to meet you guys. I'm Percy Jackson and this is my fiancee, Annabeth Chase."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"What are you guys doing here?" Archer asked again.

Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron traded glances.

"It's nothing earth-shattering," Percy said in tense tone. "we're just staying here for the weekend."

"Archer, why don't you give Tamara and Tina the tour? Percy, Annabeth, and I have some things to discuss," Chiron interjected.

Archer got the message: they wanted privacy. He waved at the group and walked away.

"It was nice meeting you!" Tina said as we jogged after Archer.

Once we were a safe distance away from the house, I asked Archer, "What's going on with those three? And I thought Chiron was a centaur?"

Archer waved his hand dismissively. "Chiron has a magical wheelchair to make him look human sometimes. And I'm not really sure what's going on. Percy and Annabeth just came to visit camp last week. I'm surprised to see them here again so soon. I think the gods are in trouble."

I frowned at that. How could the gods be in trouble? They were, well, gods.

We followed Archer over a small creek that lazily wound itself around the rest of the camp. On the other side of the creek was a green field where twenty cabins sat. It was the oddest set of buildings I had ever seen. They were all different styles, shapes, sizes, and colors. One looked like a regular summer camp cabin. Another one looked like a machine shop, metal smokestacks rising from the roof and puffing out smoke. Yet another cabin was built like a Greek building, but was painted purple and emitted smells of heavily used perfume.

"These are the cabins. Demigods are put into the cabin that their parent represents," Archer explained.

"How do we know which god is our parent?" Tina asked.

"By tonight at the campfire, you should be claimed. Sometimes it takes a while for the gods to pay attention to us, but Percy made a promise with them years ago that they have to claim their kids by the time they're thirteen."

I frowned. Both Tina and I were sixteen, and I had never been claimed by anyone.

"Which cabin is yours?" I asked.

"That golden one over there. It's Apollo's, the god of archery and music."

Music? I thought. I loved music, so maybe Apollo was my dad too.

Archer told us who each cabin represented. Then he led us around the various places of the camp. We saw the mess hall, where we would eat; the amphitheater, the rock climbing wall—complete with falling rocks and lava for extra fun!-, the sword arena, the stables, the armory, and the forge.

"This place is huge!" Tina said with wide eyes.

I agreed with her. I couldn't believe that no one had noticed this place.

In the distance, a horn was blown, resonating throughout the entire camp.

"Dinner time," Archer said. "I would invite you guys to eat with me, but newcomers go sit with the Hermes cabin. He's the only god friendly enough to allow unclaimed demigods to eat at his table."

We made our way back to the cabins where kids were lining up with their siblings. Tina and I walked over to the Hermes cabin, a bunch of kids who were telling jokes, stealing other demigod's stuff, and acting like idiots. I knew right away that Hermes wasn't my dad; I didn't fit in with these kids. We said hello to the cabin leader, got in line, and marched up to the mess hall. The mess hall was a plain platform, made out of stone. It didn't have a roof or walls, just a stone floor and four pillars rising up at each corner of the platform. Twenty wooden picnic tables were placed on the platform, one table for each cabin. A longer table was placed in the back, where Chiron and his camp staff sat. Percy and Annabeth were there, sitting at the table and talking with smiles on their faces. Chiron was standing next to them, out of his wheelchair. In centaur form, he had the body of a white stallion. He wore a bronze breast plate over an orange T-shirt, and he had a bow strapped to his back.

Once everyone was seated at their table, Chiron banged his hoof against the stone floor for silence.
"I don't have many announcements, except that you all know it's capture the flag tonight. And please, don't set traps. I'm a bit tired of having to cut people down from the trees."
The Hermes cabin laughed hysterically and congratulated each other on the success on what I assumed were their traps.
Chiron clapped his hands and green people melted out of the trees, carrying platters of food. Hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta, pizza, salad, whatever you could think of, it was there. They set them on the tables and the demigods started filling their plates. I grabbed slices of pizza and a cupcake with bright-yellow frosting. Before, I hadn't really been all that hungry; the events of the day had overwhelmed me and left me without an appetite. But the smell of the food was so good, that I could ignore the elf-like green servers and eat. I was about to take bite of my food, when I noticed kids getting up from the tables and lining up behind bronze braziers placed around the mess hall.
"What are you doing?" Tina asked a passing boy.
"Offering food to the gods. It's a tradition we do at every meal," he said.
"Offering burnt food up to the gods?" I questioned. "Some tradition."
Tina and I grabbed our plates and lined up behind a brazier. When our turn came, I threw a part of my pizza into the fire. It went up in smoke, but it smelled like the air after it had rained, warm brownies, and flowers. It smelled so good that I suddenly understood why the gods liked it.
Once dinner was over, I was feeling sleepy. Tina was right there with me. We kept nudging each other to keep from falling asleep. I wanted Chiron to dismiss us to our cabins, but instead he clapped his hands and the tables were magically filled with bronze weapons and armor.
"You all know what time it is. Meet by the river in the forest in ten minutes."
Tina and I stood there, not really knowing what to do. What kind of capture the flag game required weapons and armor? Thankfully, Archer walked up to help us. He rummaged through the pile of bronze and grabbed two breast plates and handed them to us.
"Here, put these on, or you're going to get killed."
Tina and I stared at Archer, mouths open and eyes wide. I thought he was being serious, until he cracked a smile and chuckled. I decided to I put the armor on anyway, like everybody else. I grunted with the weight of it; it was like thirty-pounds.
"How are you supposed to walk in this, let alone fight in it?" Tina asked.
Archer grinned at her. "You'll get used to it, don't worry." He then handed us bronze swords. "Tell me if those feel right."
Tina grabbed her sword and nodded in approval. I grabbed mine and nearly dropped it.
"Too heavy?" Archer asked.
I nodded.
He switched my sword out, and when that one didn't work he gave me another one. But all of the swords that I tried didn't feel right.
"Well, just pick one. We have to hurry or we're going to be late."
I grabbed a sword that had felt too light and we ran over to the forest, following the flow of demigods. The separate teams assembled on their assigned sides of the creek. Present were Percy and Annabeth, Percy on team blue and Annabeth on team red.

"Why are they on separate teams?" Tina asked.

Archer laughed. "Are you kidding me? Percy is one of the most powerful demigods ever! And Annabeth is Athena's daughter. No one is smarter than Annabeth. If you put those two on the same team, the game would be over in five seconds!" Archer led us over to the blue team's side.

"Okay, everyone gather around," Percy said. "We're going to have three groups. Group one will stay back and guard our flag. Group two, you're going to be a diversion. Group three will be the ones taking the flag. We have to time it perfectly though. So, divide yourselves."

Kids scrambled around as they tried to get into their preferred group. Tina ended up in group one, while I was put into group two.

"I'll try to come help everyone when I can, but I'm going to mostly be with group two, got it?" Percy said. "Now, go hide the flag somewhere that's easy to reach, but not in a common spot."

Two Hermes kids grinned at each other and nodded. They grabbed the blue flag and ran away.

"Campers!" Chiron yelled. "Get set! And, go!"

There was a roar from the demigods as they charged. Percy led us across the creek and into enemy territory. I stumbled in my heavy armor, trying to keep up. We charged straight at the red team and engaged in battle.

"This way!" Percy said, leading us to the right.

We ran as fast as we could, the other team on our heels. We ran past a huge pine tree and I saw the red flag hanging in a high branch. Some of the kids in our group hesitated, wanting to get the flag.

"Keep running!" Percy yelled.

Reluctantly, we kept going, leaving the flag behind. We made a huge circle around the tree, fooling the red team into thinking that we were going to come back for the flag. Once we made it to the tree again, the red flag was gone. We cheered and whooped, while the red team roared and put on more speed, trying to catch up with us. We ran over to our side, prepared to celebrate. But what we saw was a shock to all of us, and we all stumbled to a halt. The water that had once made up the river was now on the river bank. Members of both teams were soaking wet and were all staring at Tina, who stood in the dry river bed, not a single drop of water on her.

"Chiron, what happened?" Percy asked.

"Percy. . . ." Chiron said, not able to utter another word.

We all stared at Tina, who was standing there in shock, her hands trembling. Then, above her head, a green light appeared; a glowing trident.

Percy walked over to her slowly and stared at her. "You—your a daughter of Poseidon. You're my sister," he said.

Demigods all around us were murmuring, staring at Tina and pointing at the glowing trident.

All Tina could do was blink at Percy and just shake her head.