Long Island

May 27, 2012

5:50

Camp Half-Blood

Kayla knew now that you are never truly intimidated until you are brought in front of two middle-aged men in a strange camp when you have no idea what the flying fuck-a-doodle is going on. One of the two men seemed to be the older of the two. He was in a wheelchair with a blanket covering his legs. He had brown eyes that looked a thousand years old and the brown hair on top of his head and on his chin had strands of gray in it. His (admittedly funny) shirt read: 'My other car is a centaur'.

The other man looked a hell of a lot less friendly and Kayla hated him already. He distinctly reminded her of one of her step-father's drinking buddies. Except for the look on his face that reminded her of the one that had been on Stan's face the one time he tried to get sober (he failed- obviously). So he was a recovering alcoholic. But the man also had this glint of madness in his eyes, not like a man insane, but one whom could cause insanity. But he probably was insane. You know, since he looked like a leopard threw up on him and all.

"Kayla," Percy said. "This is Chiron and Mr. D." Chiron turned to the confused girl with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eye. Mr. D just looked up and grunted.

"I suppose, I must say it." Mr. D muttered unpleasantly, scowling. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood blah, blah, blah. Don't expect me to say it again." Kayla raised her eyebrows with an expression that basically said 'well then'.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too." Kayla said. "But, if you're the welcoming committee, then you're not doing a very good job." The look Mr. D gave her showed her that she probably shouldn't have said that. Mom did say that my mouth would get me killed. Mr. D narrowed his eyes at her and gave her the same condescending look that her teachers used to give her when something would go missing in the class room and they'd find it in her pockets. Ah, fuck it. Kayla rolled her eyes and then narrowed them just as Mr. D did. "I can narrow my eyes, too and look equally as stupid." Mr. D's scowl deepened.

"Those smart-ass comments will get you incinerated, little girl." He spat. Kayla didn't miss a beat.

"Well, until that day, I am content to enjoy my smart-assery." Mr. D stood slamming his hands down onto the table and knocking over his chair. Kayla didn't flinch and stood up straight, trying to look more confident and less afraid then she felt (it worked but the effect was kind of taken away by the fact that Kayla had to crane her neck to look the man in the eye). Moments passed in a tense silence, then-

"I have business with the satyrs. Chiron, take care of this…child." Mr. D sneered. He glared at Kayla one last time before turning and walking away. Kayla let out a small sigh of relief. Fucking big bag of dicks. Then, two hands were on Kayla's shoulders turning her around. Percy looked at her with a worried and slightly angry look on his face.

"Makayla Elizabeth Sentario, what on the Styx were you thinking?!" Kayla flinched. Full name. Ouch. "Wait, no, you weren't thinking were you?" Percy gave Kayla a shake. "He is dangerous! He could turn you into a dolphin! Make you go insane! You need to be careful with what you say to people!" He shook her again. "Do you understand?!" Kayla started pushing against Percy's chest. He shook her again. "Do you understand?!" He repeated.

"YES! Yes, I understand." Kayla said, before pushing at her pseudo-brother's chest again. "Now quit shaking me! And don't call me Makayla." She gave another push and Percy seemed to come back to himself and let go. He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a sigh.

"Sorry. But you need to be careful; like I said, he's dangerous." Kayla glared at him, but the heat that was there before was gone.

"Yeah, I got that." She replied, before punching him in the arm. "And no more shaking." Percy stuck out his tongue out at her and the last of the tension in the air was cleared as she laughed and punched him again. Behind them, Chiron cleared his throat and the laughing teens sobered up. He smiled at the two and motioned to the chairs.

"Welcome to our humble camp, child. Please sit." He said. Kayla raised an eyebrow as she remembered what some of the cabins looked like. Humble? Kayla warily sat down, somewhat nervous under the man's old eyes. Her fingers started twitching and she shoved them into the pockets of her jacket. "I must say, we weren't expecting any new campers today." Chiron looked to Percy for an explanation.

"A hellhound attacked us." Percy said. "It was focused on Kayla until Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, and I distracted it. We didn't know why until she understood us while we were speaking Ancient Greek." Chiron seemed surprised (to a small degree) as he turned to look at Kayla. "I wouldn't have been able to explain as well as you could and none of us were safe out there anyway, so we brought her here." Chiron looked to Percy and nodded.

"Very well." The wheelchair-bound man looked back to Kayla (in his mind he made a note of the seemingly natural black tips to her hair and resemblance to Percy). "I suppose you've heard of the Greek myths." Kayla nodded.

"We did a unit on it in English back in March." She said. "It was pretty cool, but really messed up in some places." Percy snorted. "Seriously, Poseidon fucked his sister while she was in the form of a horse. Bit messed up, don't you think?" Percy groaned and put his face in his hands.

"I'd rather not think about my dad's sexcapades, thank you. And you shouldn't say fuck." The last part was added as more of an afterthought, but Kayla was too hung up on the first part of what Percy said to bother arguing about him telling her what to do.

"Your dad?" Kayla asked, eyes widening. "But that's imposi-" Kayla cut herself off and looked at Chiron. A look of realization dawned on her face. "That's why you brought up Greek mythology. It's all real." Her eyes widened even more. "You're Chiron. The Chiron. Trainer of heroes Chiron." Chiron nodded and Kayla slumped over in her chair. "Holy shit."

"Don't say shit." Percy piped up.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I am surprised." Chiron said, interrupting their fight before it started. "Not many figure it out so quickly."

"Percy and the others… they said I was a demigod." Chiron nodded.

"Half mortal, half god." Kayla nodded numbly. "Which is your mortal parent, Makayla?" Kayla scowled.

"My mother, I guess. She's the one who raised me." The short girl replied. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me Makayla. Just Kayla is fine."

"As you wish." Chiron said. Kayla resisted making a Princess Bride reference. "Now, we should continue this with the orientation video. Follow me." Kayla stood and Chiron looked like he was going to, too. And then he did.

First the blanket fell away, revealing the legs that Kayla had seen before to be fake. Then came two long white legs complete with hooves, a long midsection, and then his hind legs and quarters appeared last. Kayla tried not to be surprised, she really did. It just didn't work.

"Right. Centaur." She said. Kayla chuckled and pointed at Chiron's shirt. "Punny." Chiron smiled.

"That was the intention." He started walking towards the house. "Now, follow me. Percy, please, wait here. We will be back shortly." Kayla stood and, with one last look towards Percy, followed Chiron into the house.

"I don't think I've had a student who has needed so little convincing from me or others in quite some time." Chiron said as the two walked down the hallway. "It is rather refreshing." Kayla gave him a small smile.

"Well, if I didn't remember waking up this morning, I'd think this was all some crazy dream." She paused for a moment. "Guess it still could be a dream though."

"It is not child, you have my word." Chiron stopped at the last door on the right of the hallway and walked in. "Have a seat." Kayla sat and Chiron started fiddling with an ancient TV and a VHS tape. Those things still exist?

For what it's worth, Kayla did try to pay attention. She really did! She just didn't succeed. All Kayla could think about was the fact that her father was apparently a god. Who could it be? Kayla remembered a few times that she and Percy would be out together and people would mistake them for siblings. Percy said he didn't want to hear about his dad's sexcapades and he made that wave. I guess that means his dad is Poseidon. Could we be… Kayla shook her head. No. I'm not that powerful, I can already tell. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realize that the video was over.

"You should go back to Percy." Chiron said. Embarrassingly enough, it made Kayla jump. "He will show you around camp. I have other business to attend to." Kayla nodded and started on her way back towards the porch. When she stepped out of the house she was greeted by a… strange sight.

Thalia (who was wearing the same clothes as earlier with the exception of a silver circlet on her head) was on the porch with Percy, but he was behind her with his arms around her middle while she struggled to get away. Not far away from those two, a girl who looked to be Japanese stood looking at her nails. She looked kind of like a supermodel and somehow made her orange t-shirt and jeans look like designer clothing.

"And who is this?" The girl asked, looking at Kayla. "A new camper?"

"Kayla." The short girl said. Miss Supermodel looked her up and down, seeming to consider something.

"I'm Drew." She said. Drew acted almost as if she were the center of the universe. "Daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. I'm also the head counselor of her cabin." Kayla didn't exactly know what to do with this information.

"Congrats, I guess." Kayla made a 'who-even-is-this-girl' gesture towards Percy, which- coupled with her response-, seemed to make Drew at least a little bit mad.

"Well I can see why you wouldn't care." Drew said disdainfully. "What with that outfit and all." Kayla raised an eyebrow, then smirked. This is gonna be fun. Kayla held out her hand like she had something pinched between her thumb and forefinger before miming dropping what she was 'holding' and letting out a 'devastated' gasp.

"Oh, no!" She exclaimed, ignoring the confused looks from the others. "I just dropped the fuck I was about to give." Drew glared. "I would give you another, but-" Kayla patted her pockets, pretending to look for something, "it looks like I'm all out, sorry." Kayla's smirk was back full force as she watched Drew lose her words and sputter for a few moments and walk away. Kayla let herself feel a lot of pride in that comeback.

"You shouldn't say fuck." Kayla groaned before turning to Percy.

"You shouldn't tell me what to do."

"You shouldn't curse like a sailor."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Kayla said. "Get over it." Percy frowned and stepped away from Thalia (whom he had let go of during Kayla's… conversation with Drew). Thalia smiled at Kayla with a new respect in her eyes.

"I like her." Thalia said, wrapping an arm around Kayla's shoulders. "Now why don't we start this tour."

The tour was uneventful. Kayla made a mental note to climb that rock wall later. The most interesting thing, though, was Thalia and Percy's banter. (That and Percy's abysmal attempt at archery; Kayla couldn't remember laughing so hard in her life.)

Dinner was fine, even if the Hermes table was a bit crowded. Kayla wanted to sit with Percy since he was all alone, but she told him she wouldn't do anything to piss Mr. D off and that included following the rules. After dinner was a Camp vs Hunters match of Capture the Flag, which the camp lost (again) and after that was the campfire, which is where things got interesting.

During the tour, Thalia, Percy, and Kayla had done some brainstorming on who her father was. The three of them had decided it was probably Hermes or Ares considering how good she was at pissing people off. All they really knew for sure was that there was no way that she was a child of one of the Big Three.

During the campfire, Chiron managed to calm everyone down and called Kayla up to introduce her to the camp.

"Campers, this is Kayla Sentario. She will be joining us from now on, make her feel welcome." A few people called out greetings to her. "As of yet, Miss Sentario is unclaimed-"

"Look!" Someone interrupted. People began whispering and pointing above her head. Uncomfortable, Kayla looked to Percy for reassurance, but he too was looking where everyone was pointing with a shocked look on his face. Kayla finally looked up to see a fading green trident above her head. Everyone, including Chiron kneeled.

"All hail Kayla Sentario, daughter of Poseidon." The centaur said. Kayla stood there for a moment before saying what everyone was thinking.

"Holy fuck."