Pretty much everyone at the ping pong table was more than a little suspicious. Even Clarisse seemed like she had figured something was up, which was more than enough to let Percy know for certain that something was going on that none of them were aware of. Chiron was being silent, as though he were trying to gather his thoughts, which was yet more cause for suspicion. Mr. D finished up a can of Diet Coke and conjured up yet another one. Finally, the silence got to him.

"Okay, what's going on?" Percy asked. Chiron glanced over at Mr. D, who shrugged in response.

The centaur sighed and said, "We're not entirely certain ourselves. But before we go any further on that…" He turned to Will Solace. "How is our… guest doing?"

"He's doing all right, as far as I can tell," Will replied. "I have Alice Monroe looking after him right now."

"Who?" Percy asked.

"That girl who dropped her breakfast on your head," Clarisse stated bluntly. "Will, are you sure she's the best option for that kind of job? From what I've heard, just about everything she touches turns into a disaster."

Will actually chuckled at that. "Maybe, but she's actually the best healer in the whole camp. Even better than me. Trust me, she's an amazing medic."

Chiron gave a nod of approval. "Very good. Now… onto the matter at hand. You see… that boy isn't human. This is evidenced by his ears. However, it goes much further than that: he's not even of this world."

To this, just about everyone raised an eyebrow. "So, you're saying he's an alien?" Annabeth inquired. "That's ridiculous."

Mr. D snorted to that. "And what did all of you say to the existence of me and my brethren? Did you all believe everything the instant you were told about the Olympians? No. Besides, this kid's not an alien in the traditional sense. He's from a land that exists in a world parallel to our own. One that we gods have kept a barrier against for years, ever since the beginning of World War II."

"Back then, an object had come through from this other realm of existence," Chiron explained. "A mask. One that held power that rivaled even the Big Three altogether. Its dark influence turned Adolf Hitler into the murderous madman we know him as today."

"So now you're saying that this guy is from another reality," Travis Stoll surmised, "and that there're things there that are more powerful than any one god? That's beautiful."

"Now's no time for jokes, son of Hermes," Mr. D warned. "If one person came through, then it's very likely that someone is going to come in after him."

"We need to prepare the camp for anything," Chiron advised. "That boy had severe injuries. I believe that it would be safe to say that it wasn't the hellhounds that he was initially running from."

And almost as if on cue, the ground began to shake, accompanied by the sound of something roaring in rage and possibly hunger. "What the hell was that!?" Clarisse shouted, standing up from her seat, ready to fight.

"I predict that it may be what the boy was running from," the wine god replied calmly, not even rising from his seat.

-o-

This wasn't how she wanted to start her day. When she woke up this morning, she literally fell out of bed and knocked over a small statue of Apollo, which shattered on the floor. The guy who had made it wasn't too happy about that. Then she tripped over one of her loose shoelaces at breakfast and dropped her whole plate on the head of that son of Poseidon – Percy or something, she thought his name was. Now she, of all people, was stuck having to take care of some stranger who had stumbled out of the woods followed by a pack of demonic dog monsters. She sighed as she finished applying medicine to the last of the mystery boy's open wounds. Today wasn't great so far.

She found herself staring at the boy's face. She had to admit that he was pretty good-looking. He was almost as handsome as the sons of Aphrodite, but in a more… adventurous way. She then stared at his currently shirtless torso, which was strong and well-toned, probably from years of training to use that sword and shield he had on his back. She quickly shook her head.

"Get it together, Alice," she muttered to herself. "You've gotta stop staring at people like that. They'll think you're even weirder than you already are." She released another sigh as she put away her medical stuff – one of the few things she never tripped with – and went to grab her journal, which she always kept with her at all times. Unlike most demigods, she didn't have much trouble with modern languages (though Ancient Greek was the easiest for her), a trait she was glad for, personally. She began writing down the events of the day, as usual.

As Alice wrote, she occasionally looked over at the unconscious boy that she had been told to take care of. He didn't really show any signs of waking up soon, which she didn't know to be a good or bad thing. He didn't look like he'd be much trouble, but she'd seen some really crazy stuff over the last few weeks. For all she knew, he might be some kind of horrible monster just waiting to rearrange her body parts. Not exactly her idea of fun.

She shook her head again and finished her journal entry for the day, then put the book back on the nearest table. At that moment, she heard somebody groaning. She faced the boy whom she had been taking care of, and saw him moving. He slowly sat up, grunting in pain and grasping his side. Alice immediately hurried back to him and said, "Easy! You don't want open your wounds again! I just finished… fixing…" She lost her train of thought almost the instant she made eye contact with him.

His eyes were a startling shade of blue. They held a wild look, almost feral even. There was fire in those eyes, too. It was small at the moment, but just one look told her that that flame could easily become an inferno if one didn't tread carefully with him.

"Where am I?" the boy asked, but Alice was too busy studying his eyes. He waved his hand in front of her and snapped his fingers, making her blink and shake her head. "Where am I?" he repeated. "And who are you?"

"Y-you're at the clinic in Camp Half-Blood," she replied nervously. "M-my name's Alice. Alice Monroe. And you are?"

The boy stared at her momentarily, as if surprised that she had asked. He said, "My name… is… my name…" He grunted loudly, holding his head as if he was having a severe migraine. Alice moved to help him, but he stopped her. "I… I don't know… I-"

"RAAAAAAR!"

That made Alice jump nearly ten feet into the air. "W-what was THAT!?" she cried out turning in the direction that the roar had come from. "Was that some kind of monster or something!?" She didn't get an answer. The blue-eyed boy rushed out of the cot that he had been laid out on before Alice could actually respond. When she had finally processed what had just happened, she shouted, "H-hey! Get back here!"

The boy ignored Alice's command and sprinted out of the clinic, heading for the source of that monstrous sound. Against her better judgment, she followed after him, something in her mind screaming at her to stop all the while.

She should've listened.

As soon as she got outside, she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes falling upon a massive, ferocious-looking skeletal behemoth. Its spine was stuck in the ground, but it was so large that it didn't look as though it would've needed to move around much. It was easily at least a hundred feet tall, and its head was like that of a dragon, numerous horns jutting out of the back. Its eye sockets glowed with a fiery red light, burning with hatred and malevolence.

And somehow, it could speak: "Puny beings of flesh and blood!" it said in a voice that was like iron nails scraping against a chalkboard. "Hear my name and fear my presence! I am the bane of all living things, subservient only to He Who Wields Power! I am Stallord, the Fossil King! You will all serve me in the afterlife!" It opened its mouth once more, but instead of words, searing flames and smoke blasted past its teeth.