As I walked into the breakfast hall I looked around and saw a sea of tables and kids of all ages. Each table was a different color and had different looking kids. A bright pink table with a pink rose symbol had kids, boys and girls who seemed to glow with beauty. That must be the Aphrodite table which must mean that the cabins have their own tables. That means I have to sit with the Hermes cabin.

"Hey! Kat!"

Someone called my name. I looked around and saw Celia standing up and waving her arms in the air like a maniac and smiling at me.

"We're over here!" She called in her southern accent and perky smile.

I managed a small smile and walked over to their table in the back right corner. She smiled at me as I sat down next to her. Hermes' table was a dark green and had the caduceus symbol in the middle.

"Howdy, newbie! How a'you"

"Fine." I said in a rather matter of fact voice. "Uh..." I looked around at the other kids from the Hermes cabin eating their food and said, "Where am I supposed to-"

"Where are you supposed to get your food?" A kid spoke from behind me. I jumped and turned around and found myself looking at a kid with bright blue eyes and curly brown hair. "Hi, by the way. I'm Travis and you get your food by grabbing a plate that passes by with a wood nymph. Thirsty? Your goblet is enchanted to fill up with whatever drink you tell it to. Watch. Dr Pepper." I looked down at his goblet, which was in his hands, and saw it fill slowly, like an invisible someone was filling it up, with Dr Pepper.

"Wow." I said. "But as far as I know, cups don't just fill themselves up."

"Fine." He said, smirking. "Then you try it in your cup. Try the craziest combination you can think of."

"Fine." I said, mocking his smirk. "Watch and I will prove that there are invisible strings or illusion stuff or something."

"Invisible strings? With liquid? An illusion? If you think it's an illusion I can prove you wrong right now. Watch me drink from it."

He picked up his goblet and drank. When he was done he set the cup down. It was empty. About five seconds past and the cup automatically filled itself up again.

"See?" He said, watching my expression. I was trying to contain my shock.

"As cool as that may be, it doesn't prove anything. Watch. Give me-I can't believe I'm talking to a cup-a berry smoothie mixed with coke, lemonade, fruit punch, grass juice, protein shake, gatorade and carrot juice."

"Ew..." Travis said when the cup filled up to the brim with stuff the color of a swamp. It was also bubbling rapidly.

"Alright," I moaned. "Fine. You win, Travis. I'm Kat, by the way, or KK."

"Hi." He walked away from me to the end ef the table where he disappeared from view behind someone's head.

"You have to be careful of him." Came Celia's southern voice from beside me. "He's one of the camp's prank-ys."

"Prank-ys?"

"Yup. That's what I call him and his brother, Conner. Prank-ys. Because they like to prank everyone."

"Why don't you just call 'em pranksters?"

"Because that sounds boring! Prank-ys... Now that's where the fun is!" She smiled cheerfully. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a plate from the wood nymphs floating around. It looked awesome! It had a big slap of barbecued ribs, a side of mac and cheese and a small salad covered in ranch. That's my favorite type of food... My grandpa would make it for me every weekend when I was little. I starred at it.

"What's wrong?" Asked a familiar voice from behind me. "Not the right food? Because that would be weird. The nymphs never get it wrong and-"

"No." I said, turning around. It was Sammy. "Everything is f-fine." I realized my voice was shaky and tried to steady it by breathing in and out slowly.

"Yes there is." He said, sounding worried. "C'mon. I know something that will calm you down." He grabbed my wrist and led me away from the mess hall.

"Uh... Ok." I said, the words barely escaping my mouth. We walked down the path and next to the strawberry fields, neither of us talking. I took in the sound of the water splashing against the shore of Long beach Sound and smiled. I might be able to get used to this camp. He stopped in front of the lava climbing wall.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, watching the lava slide down slowly and pool at the bottom.

"What are we doing here?" He mocked, smiling. "Besides the forgery, this is my most favorite place at camp."

"The lava climbing wall?"

"Yup. I'll show you why. We need to get to the top first. Race you!" He walked over to the side of the lava fall and grabbed two rocks which protruded from the side and started to climb.

"Um..." I said.

"C'mon." He said, looking down at me and smiling. "Oh and try not to get burned. Burns don't look very pretty. Trust me."

"Ok... " I half want to climb the lava wall and I half don't. I want to climb it because it looks like a lot of fun and it looks dangerous. Which made it seem even more awesome. So, I grabbed the two rocks and started after Sammy.

I was a few feet behind him and halfway to the top when I heard Sammy's voice shout at me loudly:

"Watch out! INCOMING!"

"Wha- AHHH!" I barely had time to ask what he was talking about when a burst of hot lava came pouring down in front of me. It was coming faster and faster by the minute. I moved over to the side just in time to see the lava fall past me, bubbling and smoking.

"I just almost died..." I said quietly to where no one could here me. Then I said loudly. "I JUST ALMOST DIED AND... I liked it! I LIKED IT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!"

"Nothing. You're a demigod." He answered calmly. "You live for adventure and danger."

"Wait... Whaaaat?..."

"You'll see."

"What's so important that I almost died trying to get to?"

"You'll see." Is all he said.

"And that makes me really want to go further and risk dying!" I mumbled in a sarcastic tone.

"It should," he said.

After three more near misses with lava we reached the top. I collapsed on the hard ground, breathing hard. I looked around.

"Where does the lava come from?" I asked. Each word coming with each breath.

"Oh." He said. A curious glint in his eye. The same one he had when he talked about the forgery and the little thing he made on the bus. "Yeah. I was wondering that too, and figured it out yesterday. Since it doesn't pour from a hole in the top like other volcanoes it has a never ending gear system. It's kind of like a pulley system. The lava started on the bottom in the little pool then was pushed to the top, came out of the wall and poured back down again. It's a never ending system!" He smiled a wide smile. The kind of smile someone does when they can't help it because they've just accomplished something big. But that wasn't 'big'. It was just figuring out how the lava wall got its lava. I starred at him, confused. Then again, I may always be confused by him so I won't even ask because I'll probably end up confusing myself even more.

I looked around. The place had tools littering the ground everywhere and a couple scorch marks that told you someone has been messing around up here. There was even a little work bench.

"How did you get all this stuff up here and why?..."

"Well... When I want something, like really want it I kind of just... Make it happen. You know? As for why... When I was coming up here to check it out I sort of became... h-hooked to the place, you know? Like I want to spend more time here. The forgery is really noisy. Bunker 9 is cluttered with all of Leo's stuff-Don't get me wrong! Leo's awesome!- and so I wanted a place to myself. So I get out of those places, took my stuff and set up shop here. Of course I'm not sleeping here." He said with a nervous laugh. "That'd be weird!"

"This whole thing is kind of 'weird', Sammy. Don't get me wrong! It's cool! It's just... You have to climb through lava just to get up here and when you're done you'll be exhausted and want to go to bed but you'll still have to climb down the thing! I don't think-"

He cut me off. "You're right, KK"

"See? I told you it's not-"

"Maybe I should bring my bed up here! Or at least a sleeping bag!"

"Sammy."

"Yeah?" I didn't want him to sleep atop of a wall of lava with real lava but he looked so excited, his grin stretched all the way to his ears and his eyes lit by a sudden flame.

"Ok..." I said weakly. The word barely audible over the quiet rush of lava. "You do that Sam!"

He smiled and tried to smile back but I'm sure it was more of a grimace.

"Oh!" He said. His excitement dying down for some reason. "I forgot to tell you that we're playing Capture the Flag tomorrow."

"Capture the Flag? Cool!" I said cheerfully. I loved games like that.

"Not cool! It's really scary! The teams use actual weapons and-and we run around trying to maim everyone just to steal their horrid flag! It's like BLOODY MURDER!"