Sam had told Eirene that she was ordering a taxi to take them to camp, and Eirene still had questions about where and what this 'camp' was. She had said Camp Half-blood, and called her a demigod. Only one word was familiar to her, but the other had a surprisingly delightful ring to it. Eirene was curiously as to what kind of camp this was, but she didn't want to ask too many questions and seem ignorant. She had a feeling this camp was suppose to be common knowledge for people like her, and didn't want to embarrass herself by denying it.

"Oh yeah! I forgot to ask…" Sam started rustling in her pocket and pulled out a ring. Eirene almost yelped with joy at the sight of her trusty sidekick.

"Is this yours?"

"Yes!" Snatching it out of her hand, she stared at it longingly before remembering that Sam had found it for her. "Thank you." And she meant it, without this ring, she'd had no way of defending herself when the monsters attacked.

"I found it when I was following your trail; I assume it's enchanted by a god?"

Eirene nodded, slipping it on her finger and raising her hand up to the sun to admire it. It looked like an old, vintage ring: completely silver and encrusted with diamonds and encircled with designs. She remembered exactly how she got it: When she was about twelve years old and she had walked into a local jewelry store she liked. She had never walked inside before, she had just stared at the windows and admired what were inside; such pretty, shiny things. But she finally went inside, and the ring was the first thing that caught her attention. She asked the lady behind the glass desk how much it was, and the woman had just laughed.

"Go find your mommy and daddy first; then we'll talk." She said.

It had made Eirene sad, because it reminded her that she was an orphan. She considered telling the lady that she didn't have parents, but instead just frowned and walked away. She lingered in the store just long enough for her to start getting concerned stares from the adults around her. It made her uneasy, so she left. But she never stopped thinking about that ring.

Later that week, when she was sitting high up on a tree to escape a monster that was chasing her; she saw it. Just barely, but she saw it hanging by a branch, shining in the light. She knew it was the gods showing mercy. After all the running and escaping she had done, they were finally taking pity on her. She carefully crawled towards and picked it off the branch and slipping it on her finger once, then took it off. It fit perfectly, like it was made for her.

She was in the middle of saying a quick prayer of thanks when the dog-like creature bumped its nose against the tree and she jumped, sending the ring flying into the air. She yelled when she thought she'd lost it, but then it transformed into a medium-size silver sword and fell back into her hands. It looked heavy, but it felt incredibly light. She gazed down at the creature below her and knew exactly what to do. It went through it like butter, and then it disappeared in a shatter of dust.

She had named it Karmen, modern form of Karme, or Κάρμη, in Greek. It meant to 'to shear' as in, to cut something, to slice through the stomach of the enemy. She didn't know how the name had come to her, it just did.

She hadn't realized Sam was speaking until the girl nudged her expectantly.

"Well?"

Eirene tried to search her mind to see if she'd heard of remembered anything Sam had said when she was reminiscing. She didn't.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?"

Sam sighed, but she smiled right after. "You must be a pro at sword-fighting."

Eirene knew that wasn't what she had said before, but she went along with it and nodded. Then she remembered something else that Sam had said that bothered her.

"You said you were following my trail?"

Sam looked up at her. "Um, yeah. I've been following you for quite a while, actually."

"What?" Eirene felt utter embarrassment and shame. This girl had seen the way she lived, how she was homeless and slept on the streets. She knew she was an orphan. "Why?"

Sam backed up a bit, sensing her discomfort. "Not for that long, just a few days. I saw you barge into McDonald's and just stand there, looking relieved. I noticed that your clothes were tattered and dirty, and you had a frightened look on your face that I've seen way too many times to not know what it meant. That you were being chased, hunted. I told Chiron about you and he said you were definitely a demigod and I should keep my eye on you. So I followed you, watched you fight and fend for yourself. I was impressed, and never interfered because you seemed to have it under control. And then today the Chimera appeared, I saw you lose your sword and knew I had to do something."

Eirene just stared at her, moving her hands awkwardly at her sides. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. A normal person would find it creepy and call it stalking, but it kind of made Eirene glad. Someone had been watching over her, making sure she was safe; that she wasn't hurt.

Sam's face dropped. "I'm sorry; I just realized how creepy that sounded."

Eirene's reply was interrupted by the distant sound of beeping, and then the taxi zipped up in front of them. The door slammed open to reveal three ancient-looking women who squealed at the sight of them.

"Are those the customers? Let me see them!"

"Who else could it be, dimwit?"

"Its better you don't answer them and just enter." Sam whispered to Eirene, who nodded and followed behind Sam when she entered. The door slammed shut without being touched, and suddenly the girls found themselves clutching the seat for support. The speed the taxi was going was unbelievable; Eirene thought she wouldn't be able to move again.

"So where do you kids want to go?"

"Camp Half-blood, isn't it obvious? Now give me the eye!"

"No! I'm driving, I need the eye!"

"You had it last time, and I want to see their faces!"

Eirene leaned into Sam and whispered, "What do they mean they want to see our faces? They can't?"

Sam laughed nervously. "Only one of them can. They're the Gray Sisters, fortune tellers with only one eye that they fight over."

A sudden, queasy feeling overcame Eirene and she wanted to throw up. One eye? She leaned over and took a peak at the sisters, and sure enough she saw that two of them had empty an eye-socket where their eye should be. Eirene had seen many horrible things in her life, monsters that looked disoriented and like they had been mashed together, but those were monsters. She'd never seen someone that was suppose to look human but wasn't. In a way…that was scarier.

"I hear you girlies gossiping!"

"Such rude girls!"

"They're just teenagers, now shut up and give me the eye!"

"No!"

Eirene slumped back against the cab and closed her eyes. She expected it to be a long ride hearing these two bicker all the time, but was surprised when minutes later the car stopped.

"We're here!" Sam said brightly. Eirene opened her eyes and looked out at the scene before her. There was a hill with a pine tree on top of it, and she frowned; confused.

"This is it?"

Sam scoffed, shoving Eirene so she could get out of the car. The Gray sister's sped off as soon as she slammed the door shut.

"Of course not, the camp is beyond the pine tree. Come on, if we linger too long it'll attract monsters."

And with that, Sam took Eirene's arm and led her up the path to a new life.

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