Dedicated to my good friend GhostlyQueen9. Happy reading!

I sighed happily as I walked with Toni, Nathan, and Josh. Camp Half-Blood was such a pretty place, with lots of flowers and trees. As we passed them, I named them in my head. "Daffodil, lilac, rose, buttercup," A tinkling noise went along with my thoughts, but I didn't notice at first. After a few minutes though, I glanced around for it. Maybe they have wind chimes! I thought hopefully. My dream was crushed when I looked over at Toni. She was fingering some metal and it was clanking together.

"Toni," I said, putting my hand on her arm.

"What?" she asked. I sighed internally. She never seems to notice when she's tinkering with something. I pointed at her hands. Toni looked down in surprise at her open hands. A perfect rose ring laid there. I gasped softly. It was beautiful! I stared at until Toni moved.

"Here Lilah," she said, putting on my finger. I smiled hugely. "Thanks!" I hugged her tightly.

"Uh huh. You can let go now," she reminded me. "Oh, sorry," I blushed, letting go. I'm sure Nathan gave me a funny look and I ducked my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another flower. "Dandelion" I thought, smiling to myself.

"Here we are," announced Nathan, opening the door. I went third, after Toni. "Thank you," I said softly to Nathan. He shut the door and someone turned the lights on. Reaching the doorway, I stopped in horror. Everywhere I looked, there was glinting metal. And glinting metal could only mean the thing I hate most... Guns.

"No! I won't go! Guns are bad!" I screamed at Nathan. "You tricked me!"

Nathan tried to move me, but I wasn't budging for the liar and gun user. "Lilah, just listen..." he tried talking.

"No! You don't get to talk you..you..gun-loving freak!" I turned around and yelled at him. I continued ranting at him, about the horrible-ness of guns and him for using them. To finish it off, I turned back around, arms crossed. "I'm not going to move for you, gun lover!" I felt satisfied. He wouldn't dare move me. Next thing I knew, I was being pushed into the room. "Eek!" I cried, running in the room myself. I don't like getting pushed. At all. "Not cool," I glared at him.

He shrugged. "Got ya in here, didn't I?"

I crossed my arms and looked at the floor, frowning. "But guns are bad," I whispered to myself.

Nathan sighed and stepped in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "They. Aren't. Guns." he said slowly.

I glanced at his hands on my shoulders. He quickly removed them, muttering "Sorry." I looked up at him then. "If they aren't guns, what are they?" I accused.

Nathan gestured to the rack next to him. "They are swords and daggers and every other weapon but guns."

I refused to look at them. Metal=guns. Guns=bad. I heard Nathan sigh again and something rattle. Hah! I thought. That rattle must have been the trigger thingy or the whatcha-ma-call-it. Then I saw a bronze knife enter my field of vision.

"See?" Nathan said, holding the knife. "Not a gun."

"Oh," I said softly. "Sorry." I looked up apologetically. Then I heard "mace" and "Lilah". I perked up. "Mace!" I said happily. Toni raced by just then, grabbing my hand along the way and yelling, "Then let's go find one!"
"Find what?" I panted as Toni dragged me somewhere.

"Your mace, silly!" Toni laughed. "Josh said that we have to get you outfitted first, since they might not have one that'll work for you."

"Why?" I asked, confused, still running with Toni.

"They might be to big for you," Toni said carefully, slowing down.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, 'too big'?" If it was a slight on my height...

Toni laughed, a little nervously, I thought. "Oh, you know," she started. I gave her my best glare. "He said that you...that you..." Toni stuttered.

"Keep talking." I motioned for her to keep going.

"That you might be to small for the maces!" Toni said quickly and cringed, knowing my wrath.

I whipped around to find Josh. Screw shyness! He insulted my height! "Hey!"

Josh looked surprised. "What?"

"Did you insult my height?" I asked quietly, but deadly. No one messes with my height. No one.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Did you. Insult. My. Height." I asked slowly. Did he not hear me the first time?

"Oh that!" Josh laughed. He shrugged. "I was just saying that our maces might be to big for you."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Strike one." Then I walked with Toni to the maces. Time flies when you threaten people! And one of the maces was perfect for me! In your face, Josh! Nathan was very nice about it though. I should apologise for calling him a gun-loving freak. I will at lunch, I thought. After I found my beautiful mace, we went looking for Toni's battle axe. It was nice, I guess, but not as nice as my mace! My mace, Miroslava (it means peaceful. And yes, it makes perfect sense), is silver with intricate designs all over. Her head has nine spiral flanges, a spike at the top, and she has a sword handle. She's so pretty. And, no, I'm not crazy. Anyways, once I was set up, Toni dragged us off to look for her battle axe.

"Wow! Look at the design! The balance! The precision!" Toni said excitedly, holding an axe up to her eye.

"Cool! Let's go!" Josh said, jumping off of the table he was sitting on.

"Hold on, I'm not choosing this one!" Toni exclaimed, putting the axe back. I rolled my eyes. Toni didn't choose anything lightly. We could be here for hours. But I smiled happily, clutching Miroslava and humming. I was used to Toni's deciding abilities, so I used that time to think about the garden I was going to start. Hm, definitely needs a bench...and lots of lilies...roses...a willow tree...a pond with fish...maybe a small waterfall or two...hmm... I was in the midst of placing my willow tree in the middle of the pond when Nathan poked me. "Hey!" I said indignantly, rubbing my arm. I was used to Ellie's pokes, but his hurt more. I frowned up at him. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," Nathan apologised. "But Toni needs your help choosing an axe."

I looked over at Toni. She was currently holding two axes, one in each hand, weighing them and examining each of them. I sighed and walked over. "Why can't you decide?" I asked. This time I added in my head.

Toni sighed heavily. It sort of sounded like a groan. "This one," she lifted the one in her left hand. "Is plain, so I could add whatever I want to it and that's cool, but it would take a long time. And this one," she said, lifting the one in her right hand, "is already decorated and very beautiful, so that would save me time. But I just don't know..." Toni frowned slightly.

Josh groaned, laying on a table. "Are they weighted okay?"

Toni made a face a Josh. "Yes, they're weighted just fine."

"Then do eenie-meenie-minie-moe and get it over with!" Josh said exasperated, sitting up and waving his arms around. I watched him with interest, waiting for his hand to hit one of the many weapons hanging from the ceiling. My wish was granted a second later. "Ow!" he yelled, clutching his hand. Toni grinned at me and winked.

"Poor Josh," she said sympathetically, walking over to him. "Do you want to go to the nurse?"

Josh narrowed his eyes at her. "You've decided?" he asked cautiously, holding his bleeding hand.

Toni smirked. "Nope!" I laughed quietly inside. Josh doesn't know what he's gotten into! It took another few minutes for Toni to make up her mind. Finally, she said, "Got it!"

"Yes!" Josh yelled. "Finally!" We had all started leaving when Josh noticed that Toni had both battle axes. "Why do you have them both?" he demanded.

Toni shrugged. "I'm going to work on the plain one in my spare time and train with the other one. That way I'll be able to see what I like and don't like to add or fix it on mine."

I smiled. "Good idea, Toni!" Josh looked a little suspicious, but let it go, thankfully. "Alright! Time to go to the training arena!" Josh said happily, walking a little ways ahead. Toni rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" she asked.

"Come on Nathan, let's go train." I avoided Toni's question by grabbing Nathan's hand and catching up to Josh. Toni laughed behind me.

"Alright, alright." She caught up then, walking by Josh. "So, who's going to train us?"

Josh glanced at Nathan. I realised then that I was still holding his hand. I quickly let go, blushing and looking at the ground, hoping that he didn't realise that I was.

"Well?" Toni demanded, hands on hips. I giggled quietly to myself. Toni was NOT a patient person.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I'm going teach you, and Nathan will teach Lilah. Okay?" Toni nodded. We walked in silence until we reached the arena. "Me and Toni will be in the left corner and you and Lilah will be in the right, so we won't bump into each other. Clear?" Josh asked.

"Clear," I answered softly. Toni shrugged and Nathan nodded. Toni walked off with Josh and I heard them talking. Probably insults and comebacks, I thought, knowing Toni. They would get along, I knew. As Nathan led me over to our corner, I noticed Autumn was with Rick in the centre. I waved at her and she grinned in response. Then she faced Rick again, concentrating on whatever he was telling her.

"Ready?" asked Nathan. I spun to face him. "Yup! Can't wait!" I smiled excitedly. Me and Miroslava will dominate!
"Okay, hold her like this," Nathan demonstrated. "Then swing her around like that." I concentrated on what he said and tried it. "Wow! It worked!" I grinned happily. Nathan smiled. "You're pretty good."

I blushed. "Thanks." Nathan smiled at me again. "Now again," he said. I sighed. This move was very tiring. Nathan made me repeat it another ten times before moving on. Of course, I thought. It's better than making me hold it again. When we first started, Nathan made me hold Miroslava for what felt like forever. Then he assigned me homework! Apparently to get the grip down, I have to hold her for ten minutes in the morning, lunch, and fifteen minutes after dinner.

"Again," Nathan called. I groaned inside. Miroslava was heavy after awhile. Lifting her to swing, a horn blew, scaring me.

"Lunch!" Josh yelled, running to the exit with Toni in his heels. "I'm going to get you!" she yelled after him. "Lunch isn't going to stop that!" I giggled, looking at Nathan. He sighed but was laughing too. "He probably deserves that."
I smiled. "So how did you become friends?" I asked. "You seem so different."

Nathan smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. He took me under his wing when I first got here and we've been friends ever since." He was quiet a moment before changing the subject. "So, how did you and your friends meet?"

"Well," I started. It was a looong story. Nathan raised an eyebrow. I smiled a little shyly. "Okay, we all met in Minnesota, where we are all originally from. Toni and Marina were already friends when I met Marina in 8th grade. That was the same year Ellie came to our school. We all became really good friends and then Autumn came a year later. Then, when we were sophomores, we learned that we were moving. We were heartbroken at first, but then we realised that we were all moving here! Our parents enrolled us in the Hampton School of Arts and here we all are, still together." I finished, smiling again. Nothing seems to break us apart.

"Wow," Nathan said, scratching his head. "That's pretty amazing."

"I know, we are still awed by how it worked out!" I shrugged.

Nathan smiled softly at me. "That's cool." I smiled up at him. Nathan sure didn't seem like the stereotypical son of Ares. "Lilah!" someone yelled, breaking our eye contact. I blushed and looked for the voice. Finally, I spotted the voice. "Sakura!" I said, surprised and a little disappointed. I looked back at Nathan. He gave me a sad smile. "See you after lunch," he said as he walked away. I watched him walk away, until Sakura reached me.

"Hey," he said, throwing his arm over my shoulders. "How was training?"

"Good. It went well," I said softy, clutching Miroslava. I hadn't realized that I was still holding her. She gave me a little comfort walking in lunch. I looked for my friends, but I could only find Marina and Autumn. "Toni was probably still chasing Josh," I thought. As for Ellie, I was a little worried. It wasn't like her to miss a meal. If anything, she would be early! Sakura led me to our table and I sat quietly, waiting for the food. After lunch (I had a mango lunch- anything and everything mangoes...they are soo yummy!), I met up with Nathan outside.

"Hey," he said, coming up to me. "What are doing for your afternoon class?"

"Gardening," I said happily. "My garden in going to be just inside the forest and I already have it all planned out!"
"When did you have time to plan your garden?" asked Nathan, confused.

"Remember when you tapped me on the shoulder in the armoury?" Nathan nodded. "That's when. I was bored, so I designed my garden." I sighed. "But I had to scale it down. My space is limited." I frowned. "Stupid limitation".

Nathan must have noticed my frown. "Do you need any help?"

I hesitated. "Well..." It might be nice to have him move stuff, but gardening is kinda my own thing. I like being one with my plants. Nathan picked up on my indecision.

"Oh wait!" he snapped his fingers. "I forgot, I have a class!" I smiled at him. If he didn't say that he "needed to go", I wouldn't have been able to say no to him. "Okay, have fun!" He smiled back and waved. "See ya later!" After he walked away (and after I put Miroslava in my cabin), I skipped over to my tree, the one I hugged the other day. Praying there was a nymph in it, I knocked on the little tree. "Hello?"

"You know there's not a nymph living in that tree," a girl's voice said behind me. I whirled around, startled. "Oh, um, yeah, okay, thank you," I stuttered, staring at the girl. She was around my age and height, with brown hair and green chlorophyll eyes. "Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Maple," Maple said, rolling her eyes. "Why did you knock on that tree?"

I blushed. "I hugged it the other day and I wanted to know if there was a nymph in it that wanted to help me plant my garden." Maple brightened. "I'll help!" she said enthusiastically. "If you'll have me, that is," she added sadly.
"Of course I'll have you! Why wouldn't I?" I asked, confused. "Let's go to my plot!" Maple smiled and pushed off her tree. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Sorry." I blushed. "Delilah, but everyone calls me Lilah." Maple nodded. "Okay Lilah. Where's your plot?"

"Hold on, Sakura gave me a map." I searched my pockets. "Here it is!" I said proudly, holding it up. I opened it up and was lost. I flipped it the other way, and it still didn't make sense. I could fee Maple staring at me. "Do you want help?" she asked. "No! I can get it!" I growled at the map for five more minutes before giving in and handing it to Maple. She glanced at it, flipped it, and pointed right. "We need to go that way."

"Okay," I sighed. "Good thing you're here Maple, otherwise I'd've been lost forever!" Maple grinned. "Nah, sooner or later a nymph would take pity on you and help you out." We talked while Maple led the way to my plot.
"And here we are!" Maple announced at a seemingly random spot. "Um, okay," I said, confused. It was a sort of circle, with lots of weeds and underbrush. "We have a lot of work to do," I sighed. Maple nodded. "Where do you want to start?"

"Um, I guess here weeding, and then working our way around the circle." I shrugged. "I'll take the left, you take the right?" Maple shrugged and we got down to work. Forty-five minutes later, all the weeds were gone, and the circle actually looked like a circle. It was about 100 feet in diameter, with trees on the edges and an island in the direct middle with a ten-foot trench surrounding it. "That didn't take long, did it?" I said happily, dusting off my hands. "Now for the stone pathway and benches and gazebo..." Maple raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to get that stuff here?"

I grinned, a little evilly I thought. "Hermes." I had already thought this through and had gotten ahold of a golden drachma to contact Hermes, via Iris message. I took out a small prism to make a rainbow and threw the drachma into it, saying, "O Iris, goddess of rainbows, accept my offering. Hermes." A second later, Hermes appeared, eating a BigMac. "What's the big deal, huh? I'm on my break!" he complained. "Why is it always my break?" he muttered. "Now, be nice to these demigods," Martha scolded. "Hello, I'm Martha, Hermes' favorite snake."

"Yeah, maybe they have rats for us!" George said. "Hey! I'm his favorite!" Hermes sighed. "You're both my favorite, stop arguing." I stared at the message in confusion. "Who are George and Martha?" I asked Maple quietly. "The snakes on his caduceus," she whispered back. Snakes? Uh oh. After the amphis-thing, I didn't really like them. And I didn't like them before.

"Anyways, what can I do for you?" Hermes said, interrupting Martha. I grinned. "Can you get stones about yay big," I demonstrated with my hands. "For my winding stone pathway, a couple stone benches, a white gazebo, a small willow tree, and flower packets for my garden?" I asked, after listing off all the flowers I wanted.

"Sure. But you'll have to pay me," Hermes shrugged, finishing his hamburger. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Yes!" I shouted, hugging Maple. "Mission accomplished!" Maple hugged me back and then quickly let go. "But how are you going to pay for it?"

"Good question," I frowned. I only had a few more drachmas, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't cut it. "Maybe I can make a golden leaf?" Maple looked at me skeptically. "A golden leaf? How are you going to do that?"

"Like this!" I said, picking a leaf off of a tree. I held it in both hands, concentrating on making it turn golden. I was still concentrating on it when I heard a loud thunk. "Where do you want this stuff?" a loud voice asked. I snapped my head up, breaking my concentration. "Um, just here for the stones and flowers, but the gazebo in the center of the trench circle thing, with the bridge tight there," I gestured where i wanted the gazebo and bridge. "And the willow tree by me too."

Hermes, in a silver track suit and a mischievous smile, snapped his fingers and everything magically appeared where I wanted it. "That would be a total of 15 drachmas."

"Well, here's four, and a golden leaf that I made. How much left so I owe?" I asked nervously. I wasn't sure my plan would work... "Hm, you made it yourself?" Hermes pondered, holding the leaf up to the light. "Probably worth about five or six drachmas, it's a big leaf. So, five drachmas you owe." I nodded and rushed to hug him. "What?" he grunted, holding me. "I don't have the last five drachmas, so I'm paying you in hugs!" I explained."Alright, you can stop now," Hermes said, pushing me away. "That's about five drachmas."

"Okay," I smiled as I pulled away. "Well, never been paid that way before," Hermes muttered to himself. Maple gaped at me. "You...just hugged...Hermes."

"Yup!" I grinned. I love hugs! "Thank you for delivering on such short notice." Hermes nodded. "That's what I'm known for. You welcome, and have fun." Hermes gave us a salute and took off. I turned to Maple. "Wanna help me lay out the pathway?"

"Sure," she shrugged. Laying out the path took a half an hour, just because the stones were so heavy. Then, we laid out the flower beds along the path and gazebo and put the benches around the gazebo, looking over the empty trench, which took several hours. At last we were done, except for the empty trench, which needed water and some fish. "There," I clapped my hands together, getting rid of the extra dirt. "All done 'cept for the water, but I need Marina for that. And the fish," I added thoughtfully.

"Finally," Maple sighed, sitting on a bench. "You are very picky." I blushed. "I know, sorry." Maple grinned at me. "Nah, I'd be the same way." A horn blew in the distance. "Oh, that's dinner," she said sadly. "You have to go now."
"Come with me to dinner!" I begged. I didn't want to leave my new friend. "I want you to meet my other friends!" Maple hesitated. "Okay then."

"Yay!" I hugged her happily. "Come on, let's go!" I grabbed her arm and we ran to the pavilion. Everyone was already there, so we crept in quietly, sitting down at my table. Everything was going fine until dessert. I heard a voice scream, "NOO! NOT MY DESSERT!" I sighed. That had to be Ellie. No one would make that much of a fuss over dessert. When Maple and I got there, a crowd had already formed. I found Marina, Autumn, And Toni, and stuck by them as they pushed their way through.

"Ellie! You know better!" I shook my finger at her. Autumn high-fived her, Toni was trying not to laugh, and Marina was trying to tell her off, telling her to apologize. I prodded Ellie too, telling her to tell Niall sorry. Apparently, she tackled him when he tried to steal her dessert. "No," she said stubbornly. "He stole my food." I gave her my best Look, and she caved. She took the 3 steps over to him and shuffled her feet. I smiled to encourage her, but I don't think she noticed.

"I'm sorry for tackling you. You can have the of my dessert," Ellie said, looking down. After that, they made up, Ellie glomping Niall. I smiled happily. They would get along fine now. I turned back to find Maple, to introduce her to my friends, but I couldn't find her. Huh, I thought. Maybe she's shy? I turned back to my friends, to notice that the crowd was gone, Ellie and Niall were eating all the desserts, and Marina, Autumn, and Toni were staring at them. "Do you wanna bet how much they'll eat?" offered Autumn. "No," the rest of us said loudly. Who knew how much they could eat together? Watching them eat, I wondered where Maple went. I decided to go find her, so I hugged Autumn, Toni, and Marina good night. Marina smiled at me. "After dinner tomorrow want to get us all together?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" I exclaimed, hugging her again. "See you at breakfast tomorrow!" I skipped off to find Maple, to her tree, and there she was, siting in front of it. "Why'd you leave?" I asked curiously. "I never got the chance to introduce you to my other friends."

Maple shrugged. "Nervous, I guess. I don't really like crowds." I nodded. "Oh. Maybe tomorrow, just us?" Maple looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds okay."

"Great! See you tomorrow!" I said, giving her a hug. "I gotta go, good night!" I left Maple by her tree in a good mood. I got a mace, planted my garden, and made new friends. I stopped to pick a lily, smelling it. Today was a pretty good day.

And done! 2 month anniversay! Yay! Sorry for the wait, writers block and no Internet access does that to a person. Have a wonderful summer! (I won't quit writing, by the way, but it'll probably be slow.) Please review! :)