Author's Note: Wow… this update took a while! Sorry about that guys. I'm kind of losing ideas for this story, so it's taking a lot longer than I'd expected to write the chapters and get them up. I'd expected my break from this to last maybe a few days, but instead it turned into freaking forever! I'm so sorry about that… My bad. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Percy's POV.

I removed my upper body from its resting place against the cool countertop and sighed. I really didn't want to do this, and I had been putting it off for a week. Said week was full of Max's disappointed glares, but when it became apparent that I wasn't giving in, she'd cornered me and forced me to do this. I was about to make up some excuse to leave, but Max shot me one of her you'd-better-do-what-I-say-before-I-kick-your-ass looks— and you'd better believe she would do it. Under that threat, I decided to look up at the rest of the flock and begin my tale. "So, um, I'm taking you guys with me to my summer camp in about a week."

Nudge's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She began to bounce up and down as excitement surged through her body and she shouted, "OH EM GEE! I've never been to summer camp! I can't wait to run around and have campfires and hike and sleep in a tent and throw tent parties and… OOH! Maybe I'll find a cute boy like you, just like Maximum did!"

"NUDGE!" Max said sharply. Her face was red; whether from anger at the comment or being called by her full name, or shock that Nudge would say that, I wasn't sure. I had seen Angry Max before, but Embarrassed Max was a foreign concept to me. I got a closer look at the flustered expression on her face and decided that maybe, just maybe, there was a first time for everything.

At the realization that she was actually blushing, my face began to heat up as well. Instead of letting the situation's awkward silence continue, I interrupted it by faking a cough and then correcting Nudge's misconceptions about my camp. "It's not that kind of camp, Nudge. Sorry. It's more of a training facility, actually. It's called Camp Half-Blood. We sleep in cabins, and we don't leave campgrounds unless—"

"Half-Blood?" Iggy interrupted. He cocked his head to the side and frowned as he inquired, "Isn't that like a demigod?"

"Exactly," I agreed, feeling quite relieved that he had made the connection. The fact that at least one of the three kids I had to explain to knew what I was talking about would make this job a lot easier. (I say three because Max and Dylan already know, and Angel is a freaking mind-reader, so she's known since she met me, and Total was out with my mom.) I went on to add, "I'm… uh, I'm a demigod. All of the campers at the camp are."

Gazzy's face split into a huge grin as he exclaimed, "Does that mean we're demigods?"

I hesitated before shaking my head. Gazzy sighed, and I watched his face fall. Not wanting to completely crush the kid's dreams, I decided to give him a little hope. "Other than Dylan, I've never heard of a demigod with wings, Gaz. I'm sorry. But, hey; Dylan came back to life, so anything's possible, right?"

Before Gazzy could react to my statement, Little Miss Talks A Lot— I call her that affectionately, by the way. It's not a snide or sarcastic thing— cut in. "Perseus, what's a demigod?"

I groaned at her calling me by my full name— lately, she had been doing that to the lot of us. Max was Maximum, Gazzy was the Gasman, and I was Perseus. "Must you call me that? Really?" When her facial expression did not change from its inquisitive state, I frowned slightly.

This time, Max cut in to explain when it became clear that I wasn't going to. She was much better at letting Nudge's little fads roll off of her back than I was. But then again, she was more used to it. I'd only known them for a week, whereas Max had known them for the duration of their lives. "A demigod is a person who has one mortal parent and one godly parent," she told Nudge.

Iggy frowned in my direction— I still couldn't get used to the fact that he always knew where to look and go, despite being blind— and asked, "So you're… what? Only half-human?"

I nodded, not realizing that he couldn't see it. Max smacked the back of my head to jump-start my memory and I confirmed his assumption verbally. "I'm the son of Poseidon. He's god of the sea."

From his seat at one of the counter's barstools, Dylan decided to speak up. "Son of Hermes here." He paused and looked at me for confirmation. "I am the son of Hermes, right?"

I nodded again, but vigorously this time. I was encouraged by the fact that shreds of memory, no matter how tiny, were coming back to him. I directed my words at the flock as I said, "It's kind of cool, knowing half of you is so important— but then, I doubt it's as cool as being an avian-human hybrid."

Iggy shook his head and scoffed, "Yeah, because having random people trying to kill you is so much fun."

Angel reprimanded him by saying, "Iggy, be quiet. You know that flying in the air and being so strong and fast is amazing."

He grumbled something under his breath that I didn't quite catch, but Angel did and she sent him a death glare. I decided to take the opportunity to tell Iggy the reality of my situation. "Nothing worth being comes without enemies. For example, I don't have people trying to kill me— most of the time—, but I have monsters and a few gods and titans that are after me. For example, have you ever heard of Kronos? He took over this demigod Luke's body and—" I remembered that said demigod's clone was in the room and decided to wrap up the story. "Long story short, we kicked ass and Kronos is gone for a while."

To make up for keeping the flock from hearing the story, Dylan piped up, "The demigods get chased by monsters almost nonstop. When I was a kid, I—" His sentence broke off and he frowned, trying to recollect the memory he'd been about to tell.

To give him thinking time, I drew the flock's attention away from him and went on discussing monsters. "Yeah, we're almost always fighting something. Hydra, the Minotaur, Furies… You name it; I've fought it." My brow furrowed and a crease appeared in my forehead as I added hastily, "Don't say the names of monsters out loud, though, unless it's absolutely necessary. Please. If they hear their names, they'll come, and I don't feel like dealing with anything right now."

"What happens if they come?" Angel asked, piping up for a second time. I guess that this time, the answer she was seeking wasn't already floating around in my mind.

"I would use this—" Here came the moment of truth. I took out Riptide and uncapped him, watching as the celestial bronze blade shot out. It stopped within inches of hitting Iggy, but he took no notice of it. I looked over at the awestruck faces and smiled as I ended my sentence. "—and blow them into dust."

"Maybe you should put that away before you accidentally stab someone," Angel suggested. I grinned even wider and shoved the tip through her and pulled it out, watching it go through her body and leaving her unscathed.

"It only hurts monsters and demigods. The celestial bronze can't pierce humans." I looked around at everyone, all of which were all looking at me in shock, and I scoffed. "You don't really think I would ever kill any of you! I mean, seriously!"

Max frowned as she looked at me and said, "When you're us, you can never be too sure."

A/N: So there's my comeback chapter! Next update will be their arrival to the camp, I think, but that's subject to change. I'm not sure when it'll be out, but I'll try for within the next week. :D

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