I woke up on the lumpy, cold ground, but I felt so warm. I realized I had fallen asleep next to Meggie. Where were we? I took a sweeping look around.

She had landed outside a gate with two Greek structured pillars and a golden inscription on a white block connecting the two. I found myself comfortable with the reading. I didn't feel confused with my dyslexia. It was the same feeling I had in my Greek class back home. It read, "Camp Half Blood."

I heard a car coming down the deserted road. I ducked behind Meggie and saw an orange van with tons of mailing packages in the back. The driver looked at me and I knew he was looking at me because he had probably millions of eyes all over him. The well-seeing driver pulled into the gate still having about twenty of his eyes focused on me.

Meggie had woken up by then and she nudged me to follow the bright orange van. I picked up my backpack, zipped up my coat, and waited for Meggie. I heard a somber voice in my head saying,

"Go ahead. This is where you're supposed to be. My work is done."

I watched Meggie take off into the morning sky. I waved to the winged steer and walked through the gate.

I found myself unzipping my coat, because after passing through the gate, I felt like I'd walked into a spring day. It was so surprisingly warm. An enormous dragon sleeping by a white pine greeted me after I had entered in. A shining blanket of fur was hanging on a branch. Past the tree, I saw a beautiful strawberry field and architectural wonders. Farther in the distance, I saw a massive forest and a shining river. And off to the side, I saw a cluster of cabins all painted and built differently. Then, there was another cabin-like building with Greek structure like the gate that overlooked the rest.

It was so astonishing, I had dropped my pack. I reached down to fish out my camera. It should have been in the first pocket, but I found myself reaching my arms into and every nook and cranny that is possible in a backpack, but it wasn't there!

I looked around and saw two blonde-headed boys a little older than me with mischievous smiles on their faces. One possessed my camera in his dirty little paws! They were taking pictures of each other, their shoes, and just plain wasting my memory card. With my bag in hand, I stomped over and swung. They ran off calling back, "FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS!"

I was not going to weep. I was furious. I chased after them and tripped going down the hill. I started to roll. I made it to the bottom of the hill. I felt comfortably cured in my dizziness and then I gazed up and I saw the driver with the millions of eyes! He put his hand out and I grabbed it uncertainly. I didn't want to squish his eye there, but I guess he's used to it.

He didn't have a mouth, but all of his eyes stared at me happily. I could tell he was smiling. I smiled back. He led me to the giant building the saw over the place.

From what I could understand peering in the window, there was a meeting going on inside the huge cabin. Kids in orange shirts were all around the table. Most were older kids around and with their specially donned orange caps, I started to realize they were camp counselors. An elderly man in a wheel chair was at the head carefully listening to a tall, black-haired boy and asking questions. I had a feeling that I wasn't supposed to see anything they were talking about.

The all-seeing driver started to walk back toward the van. I jogged after him trying to keep my backpack with me. This place probably had the forty thieves hidden in the trees. I stared at the pines for effect. He looked at all the mailing packages and then pulled out a medium-sized blue suitcase with green trimming.

"Hey! That's mine!" I gasped.

He handed me my suitcase and smiled with his eyes. Then he motioned me to come to the front. He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a beautiful bracelet. When he started to slip it on my wrist, I shook my head, saying,

"Oh, I mustn't. That's too valuable."

He shook his head and continued connecting the chain. I stared at the beautiful work. It had truly golden beads (I could tell from the weight) with Greek words on them and four white glass beads in between. I looked closer and the white beads suddenly produced different colored circles with black dots in the middle. A blue one blinked at me. They were eyes!

"Thank you! Thank you so much sir!" I squealed.

I read the letters on the golden beads and I saw that they said: "to máti pou vlépei óla". (Greek: το μάτι που βλέπει όλα) It translates to "the eye that sees all".

People started coming out of the giant building. The man in the wheel chair came over to the driver and I.

"Hello, miss, and who might you be?" he greeted.

"Oh, I'm Andrea Kenneth, but I think I'm lost because I came here on a flying cow and I'm not sure if that was a dream or anything. I mean, it was a flying cow, sir."

The elderly man started laughing heartily. Great, now I'm a nutcase. All of those magical things never happened and he's planning to send me to a hospital where they can assess my needs.

"Well, Miss Kenneth, I am Chiron and I must tell you, you are certainly not lost and that certainly wasn't a dream. In fact, we were discussing a dream somebody had about a brunette girl flying to camp."

I was doubly baffled. They knew I was coming before it even happened. And this man's name was Chiron. I'm guessing he was named by Greek fanatics.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Chiron. I'm glad I'm not lost, but where exactly is this place?"

"We're in Long Island, New York. This is Camp Half-Blood. A camp for all the children of the gods."

What? The children of the gods? Does that mean I'm a child of the gods? Are they the Greek gods? Because it's all Greek to me around here. I'm just saying, it would make sense.

"Mr. Chiron, am I a *gulp* child of the gods?" I asked nervously.

"Precisely. Why else would you be here?" Chiron smiled, "Thank you Argus for taking care of her until the meeting was done. Come here, Andrea, I'll give you the full tour."

We walked around the entire camp and he showed me all of the things from on top of the hill. Chiron explained that the cabins were honor for gods and places for the demigods to stay. He also explained that the Greek gods were no myth and they had children with mortals as they did back in Ancient times. Heracles was the famous Greek hero and we, the half-blood mortals, half-blood immortals, are still heroes. Demigods still go on quests.

This gave me the chills. I thought my only problems would be family and school. Now I have to save the world? I'm only twelve! Wait, I thought. I was going on that trip for my thirteenth birthday. What day was it?

"Chiron, what is the date?"

"Why not you look at your watch?"

I knew what he was talking about. The driver, Argus, gave me a bracelet called the "all-seeing eye". It was a watch. I stared into the green pupil and it showed a morning sun with the time, 10:09. I looked into the yellow eye and it showed a picture of New York with the date. It read 12/18. There were two days until my birthday! Oh my gosh! I was traveling on Meggie for five days. No wonder I was in New York.

I was taking it all in with slow breathing when I saw the two blonde twins with my camera racing to a cabin with a high tech security system around it.

"Hey! That's the two that stole my camera!" I yelled.

Chiron cautioned me with his hand. "Sons of Hermes. The god of thieves. The camera shouldn't work here, then. Nobody can see this place through the Mist. You said you had brothers. You've probably experienced something similar before. Just let them have it. It would be easier."

"Oh, alright."

My brothers? Oh yes! No wonder my family didn't look like me. I wasn't their kid. Well, either my mom or my dad was my real parent. I was thinking my dad, but I could never know. Maybe a god with bright blue eyes and curly brown hair was my parent.

"Chiron, how do I know who my godly parent is?"

"You are claimed whenever your godly parent decides. The symbol of the god or goddess with appear above your head whenever you are claimed," he replied waiting for a sign of remembrance in me. Then stopped and asked, frowning, "Andrea, has it happened, yet?"

"No, sir. That has never happened to me before," I answered feeling troubled.

"Well, how old are you?"

"I turn thirteen in two days."

"Why, in three days is the winter solstice. The meeting of the gods."

"Does that mean it's all planned? My coming here?"

"Nothing ever happens without planning. I suppose we'll wait until two days or less. But you really should start training in case there's something else in plan. I'll put you in somewhere with the new demigods as well."

"Thank you, Chiron!"

Chiron started to wheel away towards the "Big House", but after he was a yard away, he pushed a button and his crippled legs magically erupted in strong stallion hooves. He was the Chiron! I was gaping at the sight and I realized I'd have to stop because this crazy stuff was going to happen a lot.

I followed him, seeing that my bags were over there. (He said I should leave them.) But it is very hard to follow a galloping horse when you have only two legs.

First on my schedule I was going to an Ancient Greek language class. Oh, thank Olympus, I was prepared. I grabbed my Greek textbook and left the rest of my stuff in a closet in the Big House. Chiron said I would have to crash there until I was claimed. It seemed like my godly parent was breaking some sacred rule if I wasn't claimed. That's what I inferred about the whole situation.

I looked on the map and found my class. I sat next to an Aclepius kid named Alex. He'd been claimed two days ago. Aclepius was the god of medicine and healing. I wonder if I was the daughter of Aclepius. It would make sense with the times I feel regenerated. Chiron did say demigods have the unique power the type of god has.

Our teacher was Ms. Annabeth Chase, as was written on the board at the front in Greek.

"Geiá sou," she greeted. Translation: Hello

We greeted her back and I figured out she was a child of Athena. What if I was a daughter of Athena? I did like reading my Greek textbook back home.

I started noticing all of the kids depending on their looks and personalities who they were like. I picked out all of the conversations with my ears. This was getting me so excited! I could barely focus on the Greek she was teaching. So, maybe I wasn't an Athenian.

Then I moved onto archery and an Apollo son was teaching the class along with the help of the huntresses of Artemis. Chiron said earlier that the Artemis cabin is only occupied when the huntresses stay here. Artemis doesn't have any demigod children because Artemis is truly the goddess of chastity and is a maiden, not a mother.

I met a huntress named Fretta Malone who is a daughter of Demeter. She said she likes hunting because she thinks caring for plants is the same as the respect she has for animals. We got in a big discussion about food because I have an opinion that hunting is bad. But, I just don't like eating beef. Fretta told me animals and plants were given to be eaten and to offer to the gods. It made better sense the way she said it. Maybe being a vegetarian doesn't really help me when I'm supposed to save the world. It limits my choices.

Other than talking to Fretta, I had fun shooting the arrows around and I made bulls-eyes each time. Maybe I was a daughter of Apollo. Apollo is a god of archery and medicine. I still don't seem as tan as the Apollo kids, though.

When we got to lunch, I felt like crying. I didn't know who my parent was and I had nowhere to sit. Chiron said we sit with our families, but that was before he knew I wasn't claimed. I got my food and sat down on the grass outside of the circle the tables formed. I was about to dig in to my sweet bread slice when I remembered my offering. I threw my bread into the fire and prayed that I'd stop hurting and be claimed.

A little girl was by the fire and stood up and wiped my cheek where the tear was. She smelled like chestnuts. I looked into her eyes and saw fire. In her eyes I saw myself, but older and I was smiling.

"Don't cry, little ember. You'll be okay. Be patient." Her voice sounded like honey. I realized this was Hestia. Chiron had said she tends to the fires at Camp just like in Olympus. But at Camp, she likes a younger form.

I grinned and thanked Lady Hestia and went back to my grass spot.

Talking with Fretta helped me feel better about eating meat. Besides, the beef sub they gave me looked so tasty after having such a work out today, and being starved for five days on Meggie's back. Anyway, after I had started to eat my sandwich, a girl that looked like she belonged on a runway came over and asked me to sit with her and her siblings.

"We won't tell Chiron," she giggled.

The girls were all wearing tons of make up. One was cooing about Jacob Black from Twilight and then another snapped, "Nuh uh. Edward and Bella forever."

I never really liked Twilight, but it felt good to sit at a table. I recognized these girls as daughters of Aphrodite. My ADHD made my mind drift a little into a daydream of a memory. My friend back home in Wisconsin had gone through all of these boyfriends, but I noticed one of our guyfriends liked her. She really never looked at him, but I could convince her that she should go for him. I had brought them together. Maybe I could be a daughter of Aphrodite. Yet, I didn't look like these girls with beautiful dark hair and long eyelashes. And I did not know if I was on Team Jacob or Team Edward by the end of lunch.

Hey, have you noticed all of the gods I've thought were my parent started with an "A". Perhaps that's why I'm named Andrea Ava. Dad sometimes called me "Double A Battery" because my ADHD made me extra hyper. Okay, way off topic there.

After my long day of events and almost dying on the climbing wall, I headed to the Big House and waved to Argus. I went into the coat closet and it re-sized into a bedroom once I stepped in. The Big House must have gotten a little bit bigger. It wasn't much, but I still ended up sleeping there after my activities for the next couple of days.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or the rights to the idea of Camp Half Blood heroes. I don't own Twilight, either.

Author's Note: I actually have a bracelet called the "All-Seeing Eye" that my friend got in Greece, but I'd always thought it'd be cool if it would blink at me.

Also, I have a new schedule that will only allow me to publish on Saturdays. :(