Hello again. This update: 1) may or may not be a relatively boring chapter, 2) is freakishly long for some reason, and 3) really early.
The next chapter will be WAY more eventful, I promise. Enjoy!


I stood in a musty old room with a slanted ceiling. It was littered with junk and random objects like bent swords and ruined armor. As far as I could tell, it was an attic. I walked over to the single dusty window at the end of the room and looked out. I was back at Camp Half-Blood. In the distance, I could see the tall pine tree on the hill. The valley was dotted with campers in orange T-shirts.

Suddenly, I heard someone talking beneath me, and a trap door in the floor swung open.

"Come on, Seaweed-Brain. Don't hit your head like last time."

"I won't!"

It was the two demigods from before, Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl.

"Couldn't you do this by yourself? You know I hate it up here," Seaweed Brain complained as the girl gave him a hand up into the attic.

"It's for Chiron's mission. We both have to be here," Wise Girl replied, blowing some floating dust out of her face.

"Right," the boy groaned.

The blond girl turned to the corner of the room, and I moved to see what she was looking at.

The mummified figure absolutely terrified me. She sat on a three-legged stool and wore a tie-dyed dress. Why in the world would they keep that thing in the attic?

Wise Girl didn't react to it, like she was used to seeing dried-up old mummies in corners of creepy, dark rooms. The girl bowed her head. "Oh, Oracle of Delphi, speaker of prophecies, slayer of the mighty Python, what is our destiny?"

At first, nothing happened. The mummy just sat there staring at us with glassy eyes. I didn't really know what Wise Girl expected the lifeless thing to do, but then green smoke started spewing from the mummy's mouth and pouring out onto the floor. It reminded me of the colored smoke bombs that I had rigged in a teacher's desk once in sixth grade.

Before either of the demigods could do anything, the green smoke washed over our feet, and the mummy turned its head. Was it just my imagination, or was it looking straight at me?

I woke with a start and a pain in my temples. Rubbing the sides of my head, I sat up. The light filtering in through the windows was gray and the room was chilly from the fans blowing air around the dorm. I had a buzzing sound in my ear that wouldn't go away.

After I caught my breath, I plopped back down onto my pillow. It only took a few seconds to realize that I wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon. That image of the mummy that was supposedly the spirit of a great Oracle was still burned into my eyelids. I sighed and went about getting ready for the day. My bandage had gotten unraveled again during the night, but the skin looked much better than it had two days ago. Maybe Chaos would finally let me take off the stupid thing now.

Slipping on my shoes and tying the cord of my new knives around my belt, I looked out the window. A layer of fog covered the Camp, making the whole place look eerie, like zombies were going to start emerging from the mist any second now to eat all of our brains.

Everyone in the dorm was still asleep, for the most part. It had to be no later than six o'clock in the morning, so I doubted anyone would be up soon. I looked down at my bed. I was about to straighten the sheets because I had nothing better to do, but just then, I spotted something small and brown on my blanket.

"Hello little one," I cooed, putting my hand out in front of the spider.

It didn't move, so I figured it was dead. I was about to pick it up and take it outside, but just then the buzzing sound in my ears got really loud.

"Ouch," I hissed under my breath.

You too? a voice asked. It seemed to be coming from nowhere.

"What?" I whispered.

The air pressure today is quite heavy. Us spiders get the most horrid migraines.

"Us spiders?" I glanced back down at the seemingly dead spider under my hand.

Yes, Miss. Be prepared for some bad headaches today.

"Uh... okay..."

I set the small spider back down on my bed quickly and it popped up and scurried away. I scratched nervously at my arm. Maybe that scythian dracaena venom really does cause long-term brain damage, I thought.

"What are you doing?" asked a small voice.

I turned to see a small girl in pajamas standing behind me. She couldn't be older than eleven, with dark tan skin, and long, sleek black hair. I recognized her as the girl that Elise had been braiding the hair of yesterday morning, while she had been trying to convince me to go find Chaos.

"Oh, nothing," I stammered in response to the girl's question.

The little girl didn't quite look convinced, but she just continued with, "Elise isn't awake yet, but I can't go back to sleep."

"Yeah, me neither, kid," I confided.

"Can you braid hair?" she asked me innocently, flashing her big dark eyes.

"Um..." I was about to answer with "no, I've never braided anyone's hair in my life," but I decided to go ahead and give it a try. The little girl looked kind of bored, waiting for everyone to wake up. I didn't have anything else to do, so I told her, "Sure I can."

She gave me a pink plastic hairbrush and plopped down on the floor in front of me. I ran the brush through her hair and said, "I'm Ariadne, by the way. What's your name?"

"Havoc," the girl chimed happily. "Child of Euryale, one of the gorgon sisters."

"Havoc?" I inquired, brushing out her shiny black hair. "What is with all these weird names?"

I actually had had that question bouncing around in my head for a while now, ever since Ruin introduced himself to me. On one side, there were dual-bloods with relatively normal names, like Elise and Finley. Though, on the other hand, what kind of names were Chaos, Ruin, and Havoc?

"They're monster names," Havoc explained in her little kid voice. "It depends on whether or not your mortal parent knew your monster parent was a monster or not."

"Oh," I sighed. I started separating Havoc's hair into three long strands. "So, your father knew your mom was a gorgon, just like Chaos's dad?"

Havoc said, "Yup!"

As I started twisting the bunches of hair around each other, I asked, "So, do you think Ariadne would count as a monster name? It's from Greek mythology..." I had been wondering whether or not my dad knew about the whole monster-mama thing. If he did, he sure had a lot of explaining to do next time I saw him.

"I don't think so," Havoc said hesitantly, like she wasn't sure. "I dunno. Hey, are you doing a French braid?" she asked me.

"I have no idea," I admitted. "What's the difference between French braid and a regular one?"

I looked down at my hands, spinning the last of Havoc's hair into the interwoven pattern and tying it off with the hair band she handed me. I stared at my handiwork while Havoc ran her hand over the back of her head where I'd spun her hair into an overly-intricate twist that broke away from her head at the base of her neck and fell down her back in a nearly perfect braid.

"Hey!" she cheered. "You do it even better than Elise does! I'm having you braid my hair every day now." Havoc stood up and took the pink hairbrush back from me, sauntering off.

I watched her walk away, the dark hair bouncing in its picturesque braid that I had no idea how I'd managed to weave, considering I had never done anything like that before in my life.

Beginners luck, probably. I'd suck at hair styling next time Havoc showed up, I figured, wanting a French braid or a fishtail or whatever either of those meant.

As Havoc climbed up and settled back down on her bunk bed, the room was lifeless again, save the slowly oscillating fans at the end of the rows of bunks. Taking another look at the thick layer of fog outside, the pain in my temples returned. I needed to take a walk.

I slowly made my way down the marble steps to the lower level of the barracks, and ambled quietly through the rows of sleeping boys. Pushing the double doors open and passing under the Latin and ancient Greek symbols carved in the door frame, I received a blast of chilly air from outside, and immediately wished I'd brought a jacket. I'd never really put up with the cold very well, but as soon as I stepped outside, I knew that this day was going to be great.

The sun wasn't up yet, or if it was, it was blocked by clouds. In fact, everything looked blocked by clouds. Fog was everywhere, and I could barely see three feet in front of me. It was chilly and dreary and mucky, and it looked like it could be the set up to a horror movie. In other words, it was awesome.

I loved this kind of weather, where mist just covered everything. It made me feel... safe. I know it's kind of a weird word for it, but it was true. On the other hand, it made me feel like I could do anything, it made me want to do something dangerous. I wondered if that was just my thrill issues, or if all monster children had this problem.

I grinned at the sky and started jogging blindly into the fog.

Yeah, a hoard of zombies was definitely going to stumble out from the gloom any second now to slurp up my intestines like spaghetti noodles. Graphic, I told myself thoughtfully.

The depiction reminded me of all those obscure horror movies my dad liked, the ones I had posters for in my room. Thinking about my room made me miss my dad and my house all over again, but I couldn't deny how much I loved it here at Camp Echidna. Everything about this place was new to me, something I definitely needed after being stuck in a small town like Porter all my life. The dual-bloods, the weapons, even just the ocean being nearby were all foreign concepts to me.

Speaking of the ocean, I decided to head up the hill to the Sick Bay. Maybe I'd finally climb that tree up on the cliff. What had Chaos called it? The gumbo limbo tree. With a light breeze at my back, pushing me up the slope, I climbed the hill to the Sick Bay. Today, the chalkboard on the porch read in bright blue writing, "The doctor said, 'I've got some bad news; your DNA is backwards.' The patient replied, 'And...?'"

Glancing towards the cliff, I noticed a silhouette out near the edge, under the gigantic tree. A person was sitting on the ground out there. Cautiously, I sauntered up to them, and as I neared, the fog cleared up a little. When they heard my feet crunching on the ground, they whipped their head around to look at me.

I held my hands up as if to say, Sorry for sneaking up, no ninja artistry intended!

"Hello..." the huge, beefy person said in a quiet voice.

I recognized the guy instantly as Theodore, the son of the Minotaur. "What's up, Theo?"

He hesitantly turned his head back out towards the empty space in front of us, and told me softly, "Watching the... ocean." His dark face looked just about as gloomy as the atmosphere.

"Cool," I said. "Mind if I join you? No one else is awake yet."

Theo didn't reply, but he waved to the spot on the ground next to him, so I plopped down on the grass and crossed my legs in front of me.

I stared out at the sea. I had never really been one for admiring scenery, but this was strangely beautiful. The fog hovered above the water, making it so the ugly, jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff couldn't be seen. It was like a solid wall of gray smoke.

Theo scratched the back of his head nervously, glancing around like he was feeling guilty about being there. He scooted back a bit from the edge of the cliff—not like he'd been that close to it in the first place—like he was afraid I'd push him off or something.

"It's really nice out," I chimed, trying unsuccessfully to break the overcast mood. "But you can't really see the ocean when it's like this." I waved around at the mist.

"I can only come up here when there's so much fog," Theo admitted, instantly looking down at his lap like he'd said something embarrassing.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" I asked, curiously.

Theo hesitated. "I'm... afraid of heights," he confided.

"Hey, that's alright," I said, like it was no big deal. I found it hard to believe that these thrill-seeking dual-bloods could be afraid of anything, though.

"Do you... like heights?" he asked timidly.

"Well, I can't say I don't like them. Sometimes they freak me out, but on a day like this..." I smiled and looked up at the heavily clouded sky.

"Yeah... I really love weather... like this. We all do. It's... why I got up early... just for this."

"Why'd you come here then, if you're afraid of heights?" I questioned him.

"I... don't know," he admitted, looking out to sea. "I like the sound of the ocean. And... I'm not really scared of heights, I guess. It's more just... this cliff in particular."

"Oh?"

Theo took a deep breath, and I got the vague notion that he was telling me something he usually didn't talk about with other people. The thought made me nervous, like, how did he know I could I be trusted with this exclusive information?

"When I first got here... to Camp... my older siblings took me up here and tried to get me to jump into the water. I was really scared of the rocks at the bottom... so I didn't. Eventually they just... threw me off, though."

I stared out in horror at the ocean laid out in front of me, and imagined the rocks lined up at the bottom of the cliff. "Well, obviously you made it across alive," I pointed out.

"Yeah... it's not really all that hard. They say you're not a real dual-blood... unless you've accomplished the jump. The campers made it into a sport, even... people betting on how far they can get into the water. It's always kind of creeped me out how easily some people can overcome fears like that," Theo explained, and I noticed him stopping and stuttering less and less, but after he glanced up and saw me looking at him, he clammed up again. "But... then again... I was really little. Only about... eight years old."

"Eight years old?" I asked, startled. I thought about Chaos, who'd mentioned he'd been here since he was five. Has everyone at Camp been here this long? I wondered. Sitting back and returning my gaze to the sea, I exclaimed, "I've got some catching up to do. Why'd you come so young?"

Theodore took another one of his solemn deep breaths and continued, "My mom... passed away when I was seven. We didn't have any other family... so I was put in foster care. A scythian dracaena found me at a school... and told me I might be in danger if I didn't go to Camp."

"So, you came here."

Theo nodded, and chose his next words carefully. Looking down at his huge hands, he said in almost a whisper, "I'm really... clumsy. I break things easily. You know the expression... 'like a bull in a china shop'? That's me. I was... tired of being moved from house to house... after I messed something up and the family decided they couldn't handle me anymore. So, yeah... I came here. I go home with my half-siblings sometimes during the school year. I'll be going to high school next year. But... Camp is kind of my only... real home."

After he was done speaking, Theo looked partially angry, partially embarrassed, but mostly relieved, like he'd just gotten a vial of very unstable chemicals taken out of his possession. Also, he wore a confused look, like he was wondering why he was sharing all of this with me. He barely knew me, and it seemed like he was just now realizing that when he told me, "Sorry. I'm just... babbling about... sorry."

I liked the way Theo talked. I couldn't really believe his claims about being clumsy and breaking things, because he handled his words like fragile glass, and used as little words as possible to make his point. Not like me, going off on tangents at every turn, or making unnecessary comments.

"Nah," I told him. "It's cool. I mean, not cool that you had to move around like that or that your mom died, I'm sorry to hear about that part. I mean, cool, like... well, you know what I mean."

That brought out a small smile from Theo. "Thanks... for listening, I guess. Did you ever get ahold of your dad yesterday?"

I remembered back to dinner two nights ago, when I'd freaked out in front of him over forgetting about my dad. "Oh yeah... uh, no. Chaos told me about that thing you guys do when you can listen in on phone calls. I haven't given up, though."

Theo grimaced. "Yeah, be careful about... that. I saw you... in the Arena yesterday, training. Is Chaos a good teacher?"

"Yeah, definitely," I said. "I learned that I suck at archery and don't suck quite so much at knives. Got these yesterday, too." I unsheathed my new daggers from my belt, still loving the sound they made against their coverings. Shhhink! The blades seemed to love the air today just as much as me, because they happily sucked the light and mist out of the space around them like little magic vacuums, sending an aura of darkness back out.

"Finley Brennan made those, didn't he?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, I think so. How'd you guess?"

"It's excellent craftsmanship. See how the blade has that dark air around it? Finley is really good with the magic that makes Typhonian Lead so..." He trailed off when he saw me staring.

I noticed that when Theo spoke about Finley's work on the daggers, his eyes lit up like a musician talking about a symphony. He didn't stutter or hesitate between words when he told me about him, either, like he was normally prone to.

The grin that had been growing on Theo's face melted back into his regular shy smile and his ears turned pinkish. "He's, um... a good blacksmith. He made this for me." He took a spiked mace from his belt, and held it up for me to see.

The weapon was made of the same material as my knives, and radiated darkness the same way, too.

"I'm not... really good at using it though," Theo conceded. "I prefer... well... nevermind."

"No, what?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"I... use magic," Theo confided, like this was a huge secret that must be kept at all costs. After seeing the confused look on my face, he continued, "It's not... something that Minotaur kids usually are good at. We're supposed to be all about... brute force." He gestured to his mace. "Blunt weapons, and all that."

"But, magic? Theo, that's awesome!"

He smiled kindly at me. "Thanks, Ariadne. Though... it's weird being so... different from my siblings."

I nodded sympathetically. It's true that I noticed Theo's half brothers and sisters weren't anything like him. I'd seen that the first night I'd been at Camp; Theo seemed much more intellectual, right from the start.

"I'm the... runt of the family," he continued, forcing a smile. "I'm the youngest Minotaur kid right now... the most recent. Some hero killed the Minotaur... a few years back... a guy named Percy Jackson."

"A demigod?"

"Yeah. He's killed a lot of monsters... and he's pretty famous for it. I've always wanted to meet him... ask him how he killed my dad."

"But the Minotaur will come back, right? Like, he'll go to Tartarus and respawn?"

"Yeah..." Theo shrugged. "No telling... how long it'll take, though."

"You're lucky," I said. "I don't even know who my mom is."

"Well," Theo said, "I'd try praying extra hard tonight... you might get through to your mom."

"Praying? To a monster?"

Theo gave a small shrug. "Just... a thought," he suggested. "But... the Mist might help. Make your mom proud tonight... maybe she'll notice you. By the way..." he added, standing up.

I nodded, smiling up at him towering over me. "What?"

"We're going to kick your butt at paintball."

...

I got the feeling that paintball around Camp Echidna was more than just a sport to the dual-bloods.

All day, kids of all monster parentages were flooding to the Arena to get in some last-minute training. Kaia and I spent the morning with Chaos doing some martial arts-type stuff, but he told us he had to go brush up on his riflery skills at around lunchtime, so I took the rest of the afternoon to learn how to use my new knives with Kaia. She had this weird idea that I should name the two knives, so when I became a famous demigod-slayer or something, people would remember my weapons.

I laughed at her. "What?"

"C'mon, Ari!" Kaia urged. "Think of all those sstupid, famouss demigod weaponss out there with legendary namess: Anaklusmos, Ivlivs... heck, even most people know Helen of Troy's Katoptris, desspite it never actually doing anything in all of hisstory. It'ss about time a Typhonian Lead blade got ssome glory. Think about your knivess being in a musseum ssomeday!" She stepped back and waved her hand out in front of her, as if gesturing to the imaginary Dual-Blood Museum of Infamous Lead Weapons.

"Honestly Kaia, even if I did ever get famous or something like the heroes in the myths, why would I want my knives to be put in some dusty display case?"

"Oh, you're right!" Kaia remarked. "Why didn't I think of that before? Put them over a fireplace insstead! Real traditional."

I just smiled and shook my head, but the pain in my temples that had been plaguing me all morning spiked and I lifted my hand to rub the side of my head. The black metal blades in my hands shimmered in the light of the Arena. "What is with them being lead, though?" I asked her. "Isn't lead kind of... flimsy?"

"Zeuss," Kaia exclaimed. "It'ss not really lead, Ari. Jusst like how Celesstial Bronze issn't really bronze. They jusst call it that becausse it lookss like bronze. And do you have any idea how much a gold ssword would even weigh? Thosse Romanss would definitely have their work cut out for them if Imperial Gold was as ssoft and heavy as mortal gold."

"So... not real lead?" I figured, holding out my blades.

"Nope," Kaia remarked. "They're all jusst magical metalss that got named after already-existing materialss from the mortal world."

"Alright, so who decided that Typhonian Lead looked like the original, flimsy, mortal lead?"

"I don't know," Kaia admitted. "Probably ssome dumb demigod."

We fought again, Kaia armed with just her sharp scythian dracaena claws and teeth; though she promised not to bite me again, which brought me just enough comfort for me to be able to duel her. It turned out that the whole double knives thing was working really well for me. My dad had always told me I was bordering on being ambidextrous, and it really seemed to pay off with the whole combat thing. Another thing that I noticed was that Chaos was totally right about my acrobatic fighting style. Now that he'd pointed it out, I realized just how much time I spent off my feet while fighting, either rolling or leaping or spinning. At one point, I'd done a flat-out somersault over Kaia's back, and when I'd landed cleanly on my feet behind her, I no longer wondered why Chaos had asked if I'd taken gymnastics before.

I twirled around and held the flat of the blade of my right hand dagger against Kaia's neck, while my left one curled around her waist and poked her in the ribs.

"Ariadne," Kaia declared. "You are freaking amazing with those knivess."

As I muttered out a thanks and let go of her, still awing at how I'd managed to put Kaia in a hold like that, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was Ruin.

The handsome son of a siren was standing over a rack of long tridents, holding a net in his hands, surrounded by a giggling flock of companions. The second he saw me watching, he glared at me. The rest of his friends copied him with equally terrifying glances. I didn't know whether to be relieved he was going to be on my team for paintball, so I wouldn't have to be up against him, or annoyed because I'd have to be working with him. At least Chaos and the other Medusa kids would be there, too.

Kaia pulled me away, towards Chaos at the archery range before I could go over there and give Ruin a piece of my mind, and it was probably for the best considering I had two deadly-sharp knives in my hands, but I still wanted to tear something up. I guess I'd have to settle for a straw dummy.

"Hey," Chaos greeted us when we came up to him. He was sitting on a table by the archery equipment, gingerly polishing a pistol in his lap. He wore goggles over his eyes and his black hoodie was folded up neatly beside him; he looked so weird without the dark jacket, just a green Camp Echidna T-shirt and jeans on. "How's the knife training going?"

"Awesomely!" Kaia cheered before I could answer. "Ari iss a total natural."

Chaos looked up and smiled at me. "That's great," he said.

"How about you?" I asked. "Still the master in long ranged combat?"

"I suppose so," he replied, giving me a grin. "I was just debating whether or not to head over to the Camp library."

I stared at him. "You go to the library willingly?"

He peered right back at me. "You don't?"

"I hate books," I stated plainly.

"I'm with you on thiss one, Ari," Kaia announced.

"Well," Chaos remarked cheerfully. "I've been stuck at this camp since I was kindergarten-age, and have barely left since. If I don't get a regular school, I might as well tutor myself, you know?" He pushed himself off the table and tucked the gun he'd been cleaning into a holster on his belt. Gathering his hoodie in his arms, he reached into a pocket and pulled out his glasses, turning away from us to pull off his goggles and put the shades back on.

"Barely left since?" I repeated, astonished, trailing after him as he made his way towards the Arena entrance.

"Ariadne," he responded. "I know Latin better than English. What did you expect?"

"I've been out in the mortal world, Chaoss," Kaia chimed in from behind me. "Conssider yoursself lucky not to have to deal with those sstupid teacherss."

Chaos's smile melted just a little, though it was hard to tell behind those sunglasses.

"I still can't believe you've nearly never left this place," I repeated.

"Lots of kids here are like that. Most aren't so young like I was, but they stay here year-round."

I nodded. Then, a thought occurred to me. "Will I ever have to leave?"

Chaos thought for a moment. "Depends," he decided.

"On what?"

"Well, if you actually have somewhere to go if you left, you could. We don't make you stay. Usually we suggest that you complete basic training, but you were only really here to get better from the dracaena poison. Demigods weren't bothering you and satyrs weren't picking up your scent, so it's not that dangerous for you in the real world."

"So, I could call up my dad right now, and have him pick me up from here, and I could forget about all of this and pretend it never happened?"

Chaos crossed the under the doorway out of the Arena, and I hurried to keep up with him. Kaia trailed behind, shaking her head like she was wondering how I could even consider leaving this place.

"Would you want that?" Chaos finally asked.

I hesitated before answering. It was true that I liked it a lot here at Camp so far—except for the occasional interruption from Ruin—but the whole "monsters are real" thing was way bigger than I'd thought. It was like I had to keep reminding myself that this was actually happening, and that these weren't just actors in some huge prank.

Plus, I missed my dad. I had only been away for a few days now, but I was already getting extreme homesickness. Did me staying here mean I'd never get to see him again? I considered Chaos's situation; he only ever talked to his dad on birthdays and holidays. I'd go crazy if I had to do that.

Camp Echidna was outlandish, I'd admit; but it was freaking awesome, too. Knives and paintball and talking spiders were all super cool, right? But, on the other hand, did I really want to live in a place where kids jumped off cliffs for fun? Looking back on it now, I realized that I actually did, because it was around then that something occurred to me: it was easy to forget, not knowing my monster parent and all, but these kids were like my family. They were all half monster just like me, and they could teach me things about this whole new world I had been thrown into. About the gods, demigods, monsters, and dual-bloods. It was all stuff that I still wanted to learn about. Did I really want to leave all that behind?

"Not in a million years," I announced.

Chaos and Kaia both beamed at me, both of them obviously relieved at my answer.


Okay but real talk: if you shipped Finley the blacksmith and Theo the sorcerer would their ship name be *black magic*?