It MUST be said, no matter what CERTAIN PEOPLE will argue. THANK YOU to Son of the Sea 100896, for a) not knowing a friend of mine, because together I am certain that they will manage to take over the world, and b) for giving me new confidence in this story. Your messages and reviews and helpful tips really give me a boost and I really can't thank you enough for that :)

Rick Riordan owns Heroes of Olympus, SatyrsUnite owns Ashton, and Percylover008 owns Anya! I do own Axl, though!

Enjoy!

Axl's POV

We must have looked like some bizarre version of a human chain as we ran across the grass outside the infirmary. Anya was in front, pulling me along by the hand, while Ashton had his arm linked through mine and was mock-digging his heels into the grass like he was trying to keep Anya from taking off too fast. Soter was frisking along in front of us, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, and I was laughing while simultaneously trying not to fall down and trying to keep listening to Anya's commentary.

"And there's the canoe lake, which is really fun to have in the summer; do you like to swim? I do, I love it, and so does Ashton—"

"When you aren't pushing me in!" Ashton interrupted.

"I only did that once!" Anya retorted indignantly. "Anyway, there's the arts and crafts cabin, and the pegasus stables are up there…"

I tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but my mind was whirling with all that had happened since this morning. Only a few hours ago I had been getting ready to leave for another long day at school, and now I was…here, I guess. With the knowledge that my parents are…what was the word? Demigods. And with these people, Jake and Rue and Carter and Charlie, all who my parents seemed to have known for a long time, and Anya and Ashton, who were both really cool, and…it was surreal.

"And this is one of my favorite places, the archery range," Anya said, turning around to smile at me. "It's kind of odd, really. I shouldn't like archery, neither of my parents is all that good at it, but I love it. Do you?" she asked, her blue eyes studying me. "Your mom is a daughter of Apollo, right?"

I racked my brains. "Um…yeah, I think that's what she said."

Ashton snickered, and Anya shot him an exasperated look.

"So do you?" she asked me.

"Do I what?"

"Like archery."

"Oh! Yeah, actually."

"Great!" Ashton put in, elbowing me playfully. "Something we can all do together, then."

"Speaking of things to do, what is that?" I asked, pointing toward the lava-covered wall I had noticed earlier. Someone was quickly climbing up it, dodging rocks and rivulets of lava. As I watched, they lost their footing and fell, tumbling over and over to the bottom of the wall.

"Oh my gosh!" I gasped, watching a small crowd gather around the fallen camper. "Are they all right?"

"Oh, that happens all the time," Ashton said with an airy wave of his hand. "Don't worry, they'll be fine."

Anya must have seen the look on my face, because she gently squeezed my shoulder. "We've got good healers," she said reassuringly, smiling at me warmly. "Trust me, there've been worse injuries."

"And Axl, man, if you're gonna be one of us now, you've gotta get used to saying 'Oh my gods'," Ashton put in, grinning lazily. "Or 'Di Immortales'. Or 'By Hades' foulest pair of—' "

"He gets it!" Anya quickly interrupted, but she was grinning too.

Ashton laughed, and I turned to look squarely at him.

"Dude, should I be worried that you seem to know all the methods of swearing around here?" I asked, unable to keep a grin off my face.

Ashton and Anya both started laughing, and I couldn't help it; I joined in. "I was serious!" I protested, struggling to make my face return to a neutral expression.

"Yeah, man. You look completely serious," Ashton snorted. He waved his hand back and forth across his face and switching his expression from happy to sad to angry to…I didn't know what; the facial expression of a possum that just got run over by a car, maybe?

Anya laughed, tossing a lock of her dark curly hair over her shoulder. "Do you want to get a closer look at the wall?" she asked. "Or do you want to see the cabins?"

"Well, the cabins sound kind of boring," I admitted.

Anya gasped. "Not these ones!" she said. "Trust me."

Without waiting for my response, she grabbed my hand again and took off. Soter, whose golden eyes had been flicking from person to person intently, following our conversation, barked joyfully and bolted on ahead. Ashton resumed his role of anchor, and our demented human chain continued on its merry way.

"So, you know the twelve major Olympian gods, right?" Anya asked over her shoulder.

"Uh, no, actually," I said.

Anya skidded to a halt and I crashed into her, while Ashton slammed into my back. All three of us staggered for a second, and then Anya regained her footing. She dropped my hand like it was something poisonous and placed her hands on her hips, staring me down.

"What?" she demanded, her stormy blue eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yeah, dude, what did you say?" Ashton asked. "It sounded like you said you didn't know the twelve major Olympian gods or something!" He laughed. "So silly of me, but that's what it sounded like!"

I grimaced apologetically. "Yeah, well. It's true; I don't know any of this stuff. I didn't know about any of this until about a few hours ago."

Ashton and Anya exchanged a glance across me, both of them obviously a little thrown.

"Well," Anya ventured at last, taking up my hand again. "Then you've got lots to learn!"

"And we've got lots to teach you!" Ashton offered with a friendly smile. "From now on, you will address me as Professor Wilder. You must bring me peanut-butter-covered marshmallows every day, and if you fail to do so, I will show you exactly how we use our weapons around here, or rather, who we use them on." He lowered his voice to a low, serious tone, and narrowed his eyes at me. "Do I make myself clear?"

I tried and failed to keep my face straight. "Yes, Ash—I mean, Professor Wilder!" I corrected myself hastily.

Ashton's face broke into a wide grin. "See?" he said proudly, clapping me on the shoulder. "You're learning already!"

"Now, c'mon, let's go!" Anya urged, pulling me forward again. "So much camp, so little time!"

I couldn't help but laugh as the three of us ran across the grassy stretch leading toward the heart of camp. It was unbelievable how much my life had changed since this morning. And I don't mean just the obvious things. I'd been heading off to school this morning ready to greet another day of blending into the scenery, being invisible, being the loner kid who prefers to fiddle with rubber bands and twist-ties and junk instead of be with people.

I looked at Anya, running ahead of me. Her long curly hair was flying back in the breeze and hitting my shoulder, and her hand was clutching mine tightly. I thought of her cheerful, inquisitive personality that I was really beginning to enjoy; she seemed like a very loyal friend. I turned around and looked at Ashton, who had his arm linked through mine again, completing the human chain. His dark blond hair was getting swept into his eyes, and his seemingly ever-present grin was—you guessed it—on his face. I wanted to laugh out loud when I thought of his personality; his happy-go-lucky style was really starting to grow on me.

You know, I thought, smiling to myself and tilting my face up to the sun. I think I could get used to this place.