After dinner at eight o'clock, my foster siblings and I were sent to our second-story bedrooms to either sleep or stay quiet, and my foster parents went up to the third floor to do the same. It was at that point that I checked to make sure that my bag was sufficiently packed and ready to go.

"Tori?" My foster sister Sara asked from the doorway. My head shot up and I tried to kick my duffel bag under my bed.

"Are you going somewhere, Tori? I don't want you to go!" She asked, frantic.

"No, no, no, no, no! I'm not going anywhere, Sara, don't worry," I assured, running over to kneel in front of her, "Now what's the matter, what made you get up?" I asked, glancing at the clock behind her. It read 8:46, so I had to deal with her quickly.

"I can't sleep," She said miserably. I sighed.

"Do you need me to tell you a story?" I asked in a soft voice.

"Mm-hm," She said, nodding her head. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Okay, let's go," I said, standing up. Before I could walk into the hallway, though, she lifted her arms, silently begging me to pick her up. I hesitated for a moment, not happy about picking up a small but surprisingly heavy child. With another sigh, I picked her up and carried her to her room. I set her down on her bed, tucking her in and then sitting on the side of her bed.

"What do you want to hear about?" I asked her, trying to think about what story I was going to tell her.

"A princess," She said firmly. I smiled; she'd obviously given it a lot of thought.

"Oh, of course. Well, once there was a princess named Victoria, and she lived in a tall, thin castle that was a lot like Rapunzel's tower. Her castle was built right next to a whole bunch of other castles, all so close they were touching! Because of this she could hear all the noise coming from her neighbor's houses. So one day, when her neighbor was really, really loud, she went over to his house to complain. But instead of quieting down, he loosed his big mean dog on her! So she ran and ran, until she ran into a valiant, or, er… brave knight who defeated the dog. From this magical knight she learned that her mother was the most important queen ever, a queen so important that no one was allowed to say her name except Princess Victoria. So Princess Victoria went to her neighbor's house and told him who she was. He then got so afraid that he got down on his knees to apologize! But Princess Victoria told him that his punishment would be ten years of servitude. Then Victoria went to her other neighbor's house to thank them for not ever being loud. That neighbor's name was Princess Sara, and she was so nice that her and Princess Victoria were best friends forever and ever. The End."

"That was a good story," Sara said tiredly.

"Thank you, little princess," I said quietly, getting up.

"Tori?" She asked as I began to cross the room.

"Hm?"

"It's my birthday in a month," She reminded me.

"That's right. How old are you gonna be?" I asked with a smile.

"Four," She said with a yawn, turning onto her side. I smiled and glanced at the hall clock, which read 8:58.

I went back to my room and grabbed the duffel bag, slinging it over my shoulder. I started to write a note telling Lauren and Rick not to worry, but I couldn't force myself to stay still long enough, especially because I had no idea how to spell most of the words that I was trying to write. With a huff I threw the note into the trash and pulled my long black hair into a ponytail before quietly sneaking downstairs and outside. Percy wasn't there yet, so I sat down on our porch steps to wait. After a while I decided I was just going to wait inside, but as I stood up, someone stepped out of the shadows and I took a step back in surprise.

"Who's that?" I asked suspiciously, under the impression that it probably wasn't Percy. I was proven right when whoever it was stepped into the light and was revealed as some kid with dark hair and tan skin, dressed in goth-style clothes. I raised my eyebrows at his attire.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you should know some things about Camp Half-Blood before you go," He replied, and I think he was attempting to sound mysterious to keep me interested. It didn't really work that well.

"Oh, really? Well, then why don't you just spit it out?"

"The gods don't care about their children," He started, "Up until last summer so many kids would go unclaimed, and the gods would just lock the ones that did survive up at Camp Half-Blood, not letting them go anywhere for a whole summer. The only reason they teach us how to fight is so that if they ever start another war, they'll have people who will fight for them without question! They're willing to sacrifice their own children in the event of a war. Last summer Kronos started up a war to defeat the gods and create a better world, but Percy Jackson and some other foolish demigods protected them and defeated him. There are still some of us left, who still want our rights even without the titans. Why don't you join us? It's clear your parent doesn't care for you if they left you alone for this long! Think about it, you should—"

He cut off as a car pulled onto the street and drove toward my house, and then he backed into the shadows and disappeared. I watched confusedly as the car pulled up, driven by a woman, and then Percy climbed out of the passenger seat. Shaking my head, I picked up my duffel bag as he walked up.

"Somehow I don't think you're out here because you convinced your parents to let you go," He commented.

"No, in fact, we should probably get out of here in case they find out I'm not there," I said, glancing back at my house.

Percy opened the back door of his car and slid in, and I set my bag in between us as I climbed in behind him. I didn't say much at first, trying to make sense of what that guy had told me outside my house, but then the woman driving spoke.

"Well, Victoria, I'm Percy's mom. You can call me Sally."

"Nice to meet you, Sally," I replied.

"Nice to meet you, too. I hope you don't mind, but it's too late to head out to Camp Half-Blood tonight. You won't mind sleeping on our couch for tonight, will you?" She asked, and she seemed so nice that I couldn't help but smile.

"No, I won't mind," I responded.

"So," I started, getting ready to tell them about the guy outside my house. After a second, though, I changed my mind. I shook my head.

"Never mind."

When we got to their house, Sally made Percy carry my bag in and set it next to their couch. After Sally got a blanket for me and showed me where their bathroom was, she went to bed and instructed Percy to do the same thing. I asked him a couple questions about Camp Half-Blood, but then he went to bed, too. I sighed and curled up on their couch, pulling the blanket over me. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, considering all that had happened; I'd been chased by a giant dog, I'd seen a pen turn into a sword, I'd learned that my mother had been a goddess, I'd kinda sorta run away, I'd met some creepy guy outside my house, and I was staying the night at a stranger's house. It didn't seem like I could ever get to sleep, but the next thing I knew, it was morning. I sat up and stretched, watching Sally hustling throughout the house, calling out questions to Percy.

"Are you sure you packed enough clothes?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Do you have enough drachmas?"

"Yeah."

"And you have enough of everything?"

"Yeah."

"What about underwear? Do you have enough of that?"

"Mom!"

I smiled a little; I'd never had a mom who cared so much. And it was pretty funny, too. It was then that she noticed me.

"Oh, Victoria, I was just about to wake you up. Are you all ready to go to camp?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, I've just got to get ready real quick," I replied, and she nodded, going back to pestering Percy. I went over to my suitcase, pulling out a change of clothes, my toothbrush, toothpaste, and my brush. I brought it all into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth and changed my clothes.

After I pulled out my ponytail and brushed my hair, I stepped out of the bathroom to see that Percy's mom had finally calmed down a bit, and Percy had brought his bag out of his bedroom and set it by their front door. I put my old clothes and the rest of my stuff in my duffel bag and then picked it up.

"All ready to go?" Sally asked.

"Yep," I replied with a smile.

"Okay, let's get going," She said, opening the door and leading the way out onto the street. She opened the trunk of their car and took Percy's bag and then mine to put in. Then she climbed into the driver's seat and Percy and I climbed into either side of the back seat.

The ride was long, so I got a few short naps in before I finally got bored. I was staring at what was apparently a small privately owned horse ranch when I'd had enough and started willing something to happen. As I stared at a tree in the middle of a fenced-in field, I got my wish one of its tree branches fell right behind one of the six or seven horses. Freaked out, the horse began running away and the other horses followed his lead, creating a full-blown mini-stampede. I sat up with interest as the horses attempted to hop the fence, failed, and then charged the ranch-hand that barely had time to climb over the fence. I laughed a bit as he ran away from the fence, terrified of the horses that couldn't even get to him anyway.

"You found that funny?" Percy asked and I shrugged.

"I was bored and something entertaining happened. Something that I found humorous," I replied. He stared at me for a bit, so, to change the subject, I commented, "I didn't even know that there were horse ranches in New York."

It was Percy's turn to shrug, and then we both turned back to our windows. I managed to get another nap in, expecting it to be another short one, but the next time I opened my eyes, the car had stopped. I stiffly got out of the car and stretched. The only thing in front of me was a hill with a tree on the top. I noticed that the tree had a golden fleece hanging from one of its branches and some kind of monster guarding it. I eyed the fleece, wondering how much panic and good old chaos it would cause if I stole it, but I remembered the monster and shook the idea out of my head as I went to get my bag out of the trunk. I mean, maybe it was trained not to eat campers, but then again maybe not.

When Percy and I reached the crest of the hill, I looked down at the camp, where I could see kids dueling with swords, practicing archery, and tons of other amazing stuff, such as going up a climbing wall complete with lava and earthquakes. As I was walking into the camp, I didn't really understand what was happening around me…

But then that was nothing new.


(A/N): Really? Jessica's the only one with a guess at Victoria's godly parent's name? I'll point out that Jessica was right in assuming that it's her mom, so don't you guys have any guesses? Come on, you'll get (imaginary) cookies and a chance to cowrite a chapter with me!

So, in this chapter I decided to show a sweeter side of Victoria, even a slightly more vulnerable side by her taking care of her sister and commenting about never knowing a mom who cared. Did you like it?

Review and shtuff! KThxBye ;P

| .Press the pretty button!. |
V Good things will happen! V