"EH SEXY LADY!" I don't even flinch anymore. "OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!" I yell back. That song is so old, but for whatever reason, I still love it.

Connor and Travis jog up behind me and walk beside me, one brother on each side. "Hey Firecracker," says Travis.

"How's our favorite Hecate kid?" Connor twists a finger around one of my many curls.

I jab him in the ribs and he lets my hair spring back into place. Travis snickers. "Fine," I answer. I smile and switch my gaze from one boy to the other. They really do look alike; their brown hair tousled, blue eyes sparkling, and that same smile that makes me want to check my pockets and count the money in my wallet. I sling my arms around their shoulders, which is hard since their both tall boys. "How are my favorite Hermes boys?"

"Did you get a look at the Ares cabin this morning?" asks Connor with a devilish smile.

I snicker. "I'm guessing well."

"The two of us, a kid from Lazy Town and some of the Hermes newbies put all the furnisher on the roof," scoffs Connor.

"You wouldn't believe the trouble we had with all those punching bags," huffs Travis. I laugh. "Oh! And did you know they go to sleep with screamo blaring?"

"I actually did," I say with a giggle.

"My ears are still ringing," says Travis. "Connor, are your ears still ringing?"

"What'd you say?!" Connor cups his hand around his ear. I snort.

"Man, I wish I saw Clarisse's face."

"Oh I can show ya." Connor stops me and hops in front of me. He clears his throat and shakes put his shoulders. I roll my eyes and let my arm slide off Travis' shoulder. "Ok, ready?"

Travis and I say, "Yes," I complete unison.

Connor takes a deep breath and then strikes his pose. It's so ridiculous and over the top I throw my head back and laugh. Travis slaps his hand down on my shoulder and lays his forehead on the back of his hand and we laugh. Connor tries to hold the pose, but fails.

The conch horn blows, signaling dinner. "Race you guys to the cabins," I challenge through a laugh.

"Oh my dear friend, you will lose. No demigods faster than the Hermes kids," states Connor matter-of-factly.

"We'll see about that." I take my starting position.

"Oh ho, you are so on Firecracker," says Travis as he takes his position.

"Loser gives the winner a piggy back ride the rest of the way," adds Connor.

"No fair! There's three of us!"

"We'll alternate."

"Fine."

"On your mark, get set, GO!"

We race down the hill. The boys are fast. Since I know I'm going to lose I decide to play dirty. With a snap of my fingers the grassy ground ahead of the brothers turns into mud they slow to a stop just before they plow through the mud. I laugh manically as I pass them. "No fair Firecracker!" yells one of the brothers. I keep running to the cabins. As I near I do a cartwheel for good measure over the imaginary finish line. The Stoll boys jog up behind me as I hoot in victory. "You cheated," says Travis with his upturned eyebrows scrunched angrily.

"You never said anything about not cheating." I hop on Travis' back. "Now onward ho, losers!"

"You're lucky you're so light." He says as he hikes me higher. We (more like Travis and Connor) trek across the grass towards the dining pavilion. Halfway I switch from Travis' back to Connor's. When we reach the edge of the pavilion Connor dumps me off his back. I hit the ground with an umph. "Ow Connor!" I whine as I rub my sore butt. "Not," I raise my legs, "cool!" I kick the back of his knees.

He tumbles back and almost lands on me, but I'm quick to roll out of the way. He lands on his back and groans. "Who the heck taught you that, Firecracker?" he moans as he brushes his tangled brown hair out of his eyes.

"You did." Travis offers me his hand. I take it and he yanks me off the ground as if I weighed nothing at all.

"You ok?"

I smile at Travis. He's always been the more sensitive and cool headed Stoll boy. "Yeah I'm good."

"Good, cause I'm starved. You?"

"Absolutely."

He swings his arm around my shoulder and turns me towards the tables. "Then let's get some grub." He walks me into the pavilion leaving Connor in the dirt, or well grass.

"Hey!" calls Connor. "You're not gonna help me up?!"

"You're the one who disrespected the lady, my brother," calls back Travis without even looking back.

I look back at Connor and stick my tongue out at him. He crinkles his nose at me as he gets up. I laugh and look back forward. Travis leads me to my table, table fifteen, and scoots out the bench for me. He bows and gestures to the bench. "My lady."

I grin goofily. I take my seat and say, "Thank you, kind gentleman."

Travis pushes the bench back into its spot with his foot, rather improperly may I just say. "You're very welcome." He straightens up before bowing again and scooting like that all the way to table eleven. I giggle as the backs of his legs hit the bench and he cringes. I blow him a playful kiss. He catches it in his hand and stuffs it in his pocket before winking at me. I laugh and turn around in my seat.

Casual flirting is me and Travis' thing; playful fighting is me and Connor's thing.

I smile to myself. It's only been a week and I have "things" with actual friends.

Rory plops down on the bench across from me with a huff.

Oh and a half-sister, whom I really like. Rory blows a golden curl out of her face and slumps in her seat. "What's up Ror?"

"Tired." She rests her head on her fist.

"Me too." I mock her pose.

"What team do you think is going to pick us for capture the flag tomorrow?" She looks off to the other tables lazily.

"I don't know." I smile wickedly. "But I'm sure Will Solace will have to fight for us against Travis."

Rory blushes and drops her fist. She looks over at me and bats those big green eyes at me. Out of all the shocking similarities Rory and I possess, eye color and hair color are the only exceptions. Beyond that we look like twins. "Hey Vi?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Do you think I have any chance?"

I roll my eyes, which are no longer hidden by sunglasses anymore; the other campers (thank the gods) have gotten used to them. "Oh for goodness sakes Aurora!" Crap just got real. "If you like him just say so!"

Rory straightens up in her seat and looks at me with a bewildered face. "No way Vi! You can't just do that!" she hisses.

"Then tell one of the Aphrodite kids. Mitchell's really cool; I bet he could help you with your situation."

"But your friends with Will, aren't you?"

"Kinda," I answer.

"Then you can put in a good word, right?"

"Rory," I sigh, "when do I ever say something bad about you?"

"Never to my face."

I reach across the table and take her face in my hand, smushing her lips together like a fish. "Never Ror."

She tries to smile, but it's distorted. I laugh at her and let go. She giggles and flicks her golden hair off her shoulder. "Love ya little sis."

"Love ya too big sis."

...

"Moya dochʹ," whispers a voice, so sweet there's a certain ring to it, like a symphony of bells, "There is a new problem, one that must be solved immediately. The camp is in danger. You must begin your journey soon." A title shows like a neon sign; The Book of Sirens. "Tell Chiron of this dream, he will know what to do." Then I see two familiar symbols flare in the dark; one silver owl and one yellow lyre. "Choose carefully moya dochʹ. For your decision will impact the outcome."

I wake up in a cold sweat. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and hit my head against the fluffy pillow. Out the window I can see the break of dawn over Long Island Sound. For a while I had forgotten that dream I had the first day I arrived here, but not it seems I'll never be able to forget it. At least, not for now.

...

I knock on the wooden door of the Big House. Shifting from one foot to another, I think about what I'll say to Chiron; whether I'll tell him everything or not. The door swings open and I quickly look up. "Vira? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for capture the flag?"

"Yes, but there's something more serious on my mind at the moment."

His eyebrows scrunch together. "What is it child?"

"I had a dream last night," I start. Chiron sighs and closes his eyes. He does this weird thing with his fingers where he holds them over his chest and the pushes out. Something about it weirds me out.

"Come sit." He gestures to a rocking chair on the side of the porch. We walk over and I sit Indian style on the wooden chair as Chiron makes his way to the floor.

After he's situated he looks up at me. "Tell me of your dream."

I tell him about the voice, the book, the two symbols, and the most crucial part, the part about the camp being in danger. When I finish he seems a bit… confused. "I don't know what to tell you Vira, but the camp is not in any danger. There aren't any threats and our protection is top notch, especially with the Golden Fleece." He looks over the hill and at Thalia's tree with Peleus curled around the thick trunk. "I'm sorry Vira, but it must have just been a dream, and only a dream." I nod, but I know better. Demigods don't just have normal dreams, we have especially vivid and true dreams. Chiron knows better, but there seems to be an edge to him I wish not to push. "Now go find your sister and get ready for capture the flag. I'll see you there in a bit." Quickly, I nod, turn away and run.

…

Capture the flag. You can't really call it that. Not to the extreme extent we play it at Camp Half-Blood. The spat against the Apollo cabin and Hermes cabin was on Hermes side this week, despite Aurora's wishing for the opposite. They like having Aurora and me on defense; both teams. Many don't know this, but children of Hecate are fierce warriors, or maybe that's just me and Rory; we can't tell. Chiron tells us we're leaning on the Spartan side.

Around the camp Rory and I are relatively popular (I know right!) but when we're fighting, the others keep their distance. Rory leans on her sword and pushes up her helmet. On the hilt of her sword is a raven. Her sword was a gift from our mother, a hair pin in disguise, a bronze sword for fighting, and a black raven for companionship; much like my own gift. She named hers Virgo, the maiden, and for me I named my gift Gemini, meaning the twins.

"Do you really think the camp is in danger?" asks Rory.

"I don't know, I mean, that's what my dream said." I shrug at her.

She makes a face. "I can't believe Chiron just blew you off like that. He knows what it means when demigods have dreams like that." I shrug again showing I have nothing to say. She leans over her sword to get closer to me. "Who do you think is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who was it in your dream?"

"Oh! I… I don't know."

"Do you think it was mamma?"

"I don't know; maybe."

She smiles. "I hope it was. Mamma used to talk to me when I was alone in our cabin. She gave me a heads up a few days before you came. If she's talking to you, then it means she's got something important for you to do!"

"Like saving the camp?"

"Or saving the world," she chimes in.

I snort. "Yeah, ok." Rory smiles. "So what was it?"

"Hmm?"

"What was the important thing you had to do?"

"There were two."

"And what were they?"

"One was to create the Mist around the Argo II."

"DANG!"

She nods. "Passed out afterward."

"I'm surprised you lived!"

"Mamma helped."

"Impressive."

She smiles. "Thank ya."

"And the second one?"

"The second… mission, I guess you can call it, is still under go."

"It is?"

She hums and nods her head. "I was instructed to keep you safe."

I blink hard and recoil in shock. "Keep me safe?"

"Oh yes. You're a very special demigoddess, Vira. Don't you know that?"

"Am I supposed to?"

"Well I would hope!"

I shake my head. "Vira Aradia, you are clueless."

"Aurora Soleil, you've still never seen that movie." She huffs and leans against the red flag. Conversation over!

I sit down on the ground and start splitting grass for a while, just to pass the time before the horn is blown.

"Do you hear that?" suddenly pipes Rory in a whisper. I straighten up and listen carefully. Careful snaps of twigs can be heard not too far away. "We've got blue team company." She lifts her sword out of the dirt and readies it for a fight with a woodchip on the tip of the blade. I roll my eyes at her and ready myself.

After a few moments I start hearing different sounds; sounds not human, well unless you're me. "Vira," hisses Rory, "shut Gemini up! They're gonna find us!"

"Rory," I say as steadily I could as my heart leaps, "that's not Gemini."

We slowly look at each other, our eyes wide and our breaths held. "You don't think it's mon-"

We scream as a swarm of snake women suddenly pounce out of the woods in full armor and swords swinging. Yes we screamed, we are girls after all. If monsters come out of nowhere and start to attack you and you don't scream, well then congratulations. "Aurora!" I slash at a snake woman before she can get too close to my sister. The monster crumbles to ash.

I slash and crack my whips in a desperate attempt to fend off the snake woman, but there has to be about a dozen of them. We're out numbered twelve to two, and it not getting any better, because the one I just chopped down is reshaping. They become ash one by one and reshape so fast its like there's a whole army of them is fighting us instead of twelve. One snake lady grabs me and cuts her talon-like fingernails into the skin of my arm. I scream and try to kick her off as she drags me towards her teeth. "NO!" A flash of silver appears below the snake woman's chin and suddenly she ash. I stumble back and grip my whips tighter. This fight is hopeless. No matter how many time we chop them to bits they just keep coming back! And not to mention I'm tired and bleeding and Rory's tired and bleeding. We'll be dead in a matter of minutes!

My whips cut through thick snake trunks and other body parts as if the monsters were butter, but Rory and I are being pushed back, farther and farther into the forest. Rory starts screaming for help; no one comes. Then I do it. "CHIRON!" I scream. A few snake woman are knocked off their feet and one closest to me just crumbles to ash. I take the opening to help out Rory as best I can. With my whip I grab a monster lady's arm and tear it off with a ruthless yank. I am BEOWULF! (Ten points to Gryffindor if you get that!)

"GIRLS! MOVE!" I look back to see Chiron and a large group of Apollo archers with their bows at the ready.

"Vira!" yells Rory as she grabs my arm. We start running, but we weren't quick enough. A reforming moánster grabs Aurora's ankle and knocks her to the ground. One monster lady grabs my ponytail and yanks me to the ground. The snake women loom over me. I'm tired, I'm bloody, and I've lost my weapons, but I do my best fighting them off.

"Fire!" a sound like quickly tearing paper rips through the air. Arrows rain down and stick themselves in the backs of all the snake woman. One sticks into the ground mere inches from my face with a thwack. I let out a ragged breath, mostly to get the ashes away from my mouth and for the close call. "Aurora! Vira! Scatter the ashes! Quick!" yells Chiron.

"Diasporás!" Rory and I scream. A huge gust of wind comes and takes most of the ashes away. I sit up coughing and wiping sweat mixed with ashes off my face. It's over. "Vira!" Rory scrambles over to me and crushes me in a hug. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." My voice is hoarse and miles away.

Chiron clops up to us. He sighs and shuts his eyes for a moment, as if in prayer. "Your dream was true Vira; we are not safe."

"What does that mean?" asks Rory.

"The shields are down and monsters are finding their way here. This attack has just told me Vira was correct." He looks down at me, his glare heavy with significance. "I believe this means a quest is in issue, and you Miss Miroslav, are the leader."