Hey! Sup? Time for an update!

Dakota: Now you get to hear more about my awesomeness!

Me: Whoa . . . how'd you get here?

Dakota: I'm a character in your story! I'm always here.

Me: That thought frightens me . . .

Dakota: Why?

Alyssa: Because you're an idiot.

Me: Whoa!

Dakota: Who invited you here?

Alyssa: I invited myself. I'm a character too!

Dakota: Well, I'm the main character! Take that!

Alyssa: Shut your face!

Me: Oh my god. My characters are arguing with each other.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON! GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!

After the talk with Mr. D, Alyssa led me to a large bronze cabin labeled "Hermes cabin" in English and Greek (Yeah, I said Greek.) above the entrance. She told me this was where I'd be staying until I was "claimed". I didn't get the chance to ask why I'd be here instead of one of the other empty cabins- some of the larger ones towards the center of the horsehoe had seemed vacant.

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Thus began one of the worse nights of my life.

As soon as the door swung open, a bunch of kids swarmed me. "Holy-"

I felt a tug on my shoulders, and whirled around to see two boys about 10 holding remains of my birthday money. "Hey!" I said. "Give that back!"

I swiped my hand at them, and my money went flying. The boys scattered, giggling at my anger.

"Stop!"

All heads turned. An older boy, maybe 17, was pushing through the small crowd of kids. He appeared to have been roused by the commotion, judging by his tousled hair and the annoyed expression you get when you've been rudely awakened. He had elfish features and a lot of freckles. He yawned as he said, "We're supposed to welcome the new, unclaimed campers, not attack them." He held his hand out to me as the kids began to scatter. "Jason Alexander, senior counselor of the Hermes cabin." I could see now he had bright, playful green eyes- he reminded me of a jester.

I shook his hand briefly, irritated.

"You're Dakota, right?" he said as a trio of kids began to argue over beds.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, uh, welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Jason said, grinning. "Sorry about the cabin. It's been a while since we've had a new camper."

I found that hard to believe. Every single bunk bed was full, and a couple kids were sleeping on the floor. Every kid on the floor looked to be under 10.

"Where do I sleep?" I asked, hoping that since I was new, Jason would make some other kid trade their bed for the floor for me.

But he just looked around and pointed to a small empty space in a corner. "There, I guess. Since Hermes accepts all travelers, we get all the newbies too with the rightful children."

That made me feel good. Rightful children. Gee.

Following that wonderful conversation, I settled into me "bed". Using my bag as a pillow, I laid my head down and tried to sleep.

Even though the Hermes kids kept poking me and fiddling with the zippers on my bag, sleep came surprisingly easy.

Thus I take you to my first half-blood dream. They're really weird. Like, prophetic weird. Visions like a fortuneteller would "see". (Notice the quotes around "see". I put those there because of those fortunetellers are fake.)

Anyway! My dream.

I dreamed I was standing in a clearing, on a mountaintop. The air was chilly and I could see my breath, but I didn't really care. In front of me I could see a cabin made of log and thatch. It had a Greek inscription over the door- Sky. Out of that cabin came a woman, in jeans and a Giants sweatshirt. She was holding a blue bundle. Her long, wavy blonde hair was down to her mid-back. Her hazel eyes twinkled, and I got an air of happiness from her. Looking closer at her, I realized this was my mother. And the bundle was definitely a baby boy- none other than me, I guessed.

What was this? Some sort of sappy past vision? Why would I be dreaming this?

But what happened next changed that whole outlook.

My mom turned her head and called, "Honey?"

My breath caught in my throat. Honey?

A man exited the cabin.

He had dark hair, a shade of gray so dark it was more black, like storm clouds. He was well-built and lean, and wearing dark jeans and one of those black shirts like Simon Cowell wears. His eyes . . . they were like mine, the exact same shade of blue, like the clearest sky. As he approached my mom, the air seemed to crackle around him. He had a confident, powerful air about him, like a king. He came up beside my mom, eyes gleaming, and smiled down at me. He gave my mom a kiss on the cheek.

I knew. Right then and there.

This man was my father.

Being the new kid sucks. Also, being in the Hermes cabin sucks. No offense to Hermes himself, but his cabin is full of nasty pickpocketers who steal your stuff and throw it in the lake. And despite what Jason told the Hermes kids, my birthday money was gone anyway. Basically, what I'm saying is being a new kid in the Hermes cabin sucks.

Right after I woke up, I practically burst out the door- and into a girl.

"Whoa, hi," she said. "Dakota?"

"Looking at him," I said, taking a step back so I wasn't right in her face.

"I'm Annette," she said, "daughter of Demeter." She had overly-frizzy dandelion-colored hair and crazy blue eyes. Not sky blue like mine. Like, electric-sockets-are-fun-to-stick-your-hands-in blue. She was wearing gray sweatpants and an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

I nodded. "Hi." I guessed she was here to give me my tour, as Mr. D had mentioned.

"Hey!"

Annette turned; I looked over where she was staring. Two people- a boy about my age and a girl maybe a few years older- were sprinting towards us.

"We told you to wait," the girl said, scowling at Annette with a "you're an idiot" look.

Annette shrugged. "You were taking too long!" She cast a glance at me, as if to see my reaction, then looked back at the girl with a goofy grin.

The girl rolled her eyes, but Annette didn't seem to notice. The boy, who was tall with white-blonde hair and sparkling blue-green eyes, elbowed the girl, but she didn't do anything but shake her head and sigh. The boy shot her a look, then extended his hand to me.

"Caleb," he said, "son of Hecate, the goddess of magic." He pointed to a smaller cabin added to the end of the horseshoe, with swirling blue lights and animated little figurines dancing on the windowsill. "That's her cabin."

"Dakota," I introduced myself. "Son of . . . someone."

Caleb shot me a doubtful look, the same look Chiron had had the night before, like he knew something I didn't. He nudged the girl. "Charlotte?"

"Charlie," she corrected almost immediately. She shook back her long, bronze-ish hair and eyed me with violet eyes- the eyes of Mr. D. "Daughter of Dionysus," she added hastily.

I nodded. An awkward silence settled over the four of us. Annette licked her lips and kept shooting me glances that she knew I could see before shuffling her feet nervously. Charlie and Caleb were eyeing me oddly.

"So . . . um . . . tour?" I said, baffled.

"Oh! Yeah, come on," Charlie exclaimed in an overly-happy tone. She set off briskly down the row of cabins. Caleb and Annette followed, Annette grabbing my arm and pulling me along with them like she thought I wasn't going to follow.

"These are all the cabins," Charlie said, putting her hands in her pockets as she shook back her hair yet again.

"They're in order like they are on Olympus- Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and so on. Recently we've added the Hades cabin-" She nodded at the black marble cabin built at the end of the row. "and some of the minor gods and goddesses."

"Cool," I said absentmindedly. My gaze had been drawn to the simple white cabin in the center of the semicircle. It was just plain, but it radiated power. A tingling feeling buzzed through my head. Why was this cabin so . . . familiar?

"Dakota?" Annette tapped my shoulder. "Something wrong?"

"N-no," I said, shaking away my daze. "Tired."

"OK." She gave me a smile. "Come on, Charlie and Caleb are leaving us behind."

"Yeah."

She tried to grab my arm when I tripped over my feet stumbling after her in my still-dazed state, but I convinced her I was fine by running full speed after Charlie and Caleb.

As the big white cabin was put behind the four of us, I couldn't help but think of the guy in my dream- my supposed dad. The cabin and him seemed to go together somehow. Maybe . . .

My thoughts were quickly drawn away from the white cabin as a stream of hot girls left the pink cabin with the heart on the door. They eyed me as they walked, grinning at me with stunningly white teeth and red lips. All of them had to have been around my age, yet they were all wearing eye shadow. Their jeans and orange t-shirts were fitted.

"Aphrodite," Charlie muttered. "Prisses."

I'd been shooting my best grin at a girl with long black hair and a flirty smile, but from the tone of Charlie's voice I stopped. The girl winked at me as she and her friends vanished towards the lake. I still could hear them laughing as we continued the tour, the sound like tinkling bells.

The rest of the tour went by quickly. I caught random sights and sounds of an archery field- "Oh crap! Sorry Chiron! I did not mean to get that stuck in your tail! Oh my gods!"), the lake (where the hot Aphrodite girls were lounging) and the sword arena, where I saw a big tough-looking guy slice the head off a practice dummy with a wicked-looking black-and-red sword.

"Ares," Caleb advised in my ear. "Don't mess with them."

God of war. OK, sure. No problem.

The tour ended around lunchtime. On the way back to the overcrowded Hermes cabin, we passed the Big House, and I caught a glimpse of an attic I hadn't previously seen. I could feel something there, like an ancient presence had hovered there for quite some time.

I know Charlie saw me staring, but she didn't say anything.

For the next week or so, I adjusted to camp life. It was actually really fun, but nothing really abnormal.

I kept trying to figure out who my parent was. Not Apollo- my arrow-shooting sucked, and being Alyssa's brother? No. Just no. I wasn't a nasty bully like most of the Ares kids. Mr. D watched me closely like he was waiting for something, but it was pretty obvious I wasn't his son. Forget about Hades. Don't even think about Poseidon. The very thought of getting in a canoe sent shivers uo my spine. And any other gods? None of them really seemed right.

When I wasn't thinking about my parent or trying to score a date with one of the hot Aphrodite girls, I was enjoying camp life. At every meal we would burn offerings to the gods (they liked the smell, some kid told me. That was kind of amusing.). At night there were campfire sing-alongs led by a soulful girl named Sierra from the Apollo cabin, who would dance around the fire and sing loud and proud. Man, was it hilarious watching Alyssa sing.

But for some reason, no one would come near me except Alyssa and some of the Hermes kids, but they were just trying to pickpocket me. Sometimes I'd get short conversations with other kids, but most of them would just nod or smile when I said something, then veer away from me like I had some contagious disease.

I would soon find out why.

Me: Yeah, more of a filler (I'm laughing because I almost typed thriller. lol)

Alyssa: That chapter was boring!

Dakota: You're just saying that cuz you didn't have a big part in it.

Alyssa: Am not!

Dakota: Pssh. Yeah, OK.

Alyssa: It's true!

Dakota: Remember, the Disney stars never stop singing!

Alyssa: Look what happened last time you said that! I was right! Ooh, pwned!

Dakota: Yeah, but I was right about the Disney stars! Hey, on another subject, I don't think any of the Aphrodite girls are single. Do you know?

Alyssa: Oh, gods . . .

Me: BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!

Alyssa: Who says?

Dakota: Yeah!

Me: I do. HAHA! I'm the AUTHOR! PWNED!

Yeah, another update coming soon . . . and no more author notes like this . . .