It was the same old dream again. Cole looked around to see the familiar storm that raged around him while he remained safe in its eye. This time around he wasn't really looking to reach past the eye, his instincts told him that it would incredibly dangerous. Instead, he laid back on the roof, stared into the sky and waited for the usual feathers to fall.

Demigod dreams were confusing. Cole could recall how he'd had this dream multiple times, but he never really understood it. What were the feathers for? Why can't he stop the storm? If he's dreaming, why must he have his dream in Providence of all places? It made no sense for a while, now it feels different.

Eventually, the feathers began to fall. Three of them remained the same: gold, red, and green. However, instead of silver, a blue feather fell in towards the roof. Cole got up to try and reach for them. He thought he'd catch them and wake up, but he was met with surprise when he saw them all start to shimmer and transform as he moved his arm to reach. The feathers morphed, expanded, and contorted themselves to become… faces? That was weird, but the weirder thing was that he recognized these faces.

Cole didn't have much time to register who he'd seen as he would finally wake up. He blinked, shifting for a moment, feeling a dull pain in his torso. He let out a sound that was a cross between a yawn and a groan, waking up tired and in pain sucked. He looked around, blinking as he did so. The room looked like one of those rooms in the Big House used for wounded demigods. His common sense told him that he was there after nearly being killed in action. However, that didn't explain one of the girls from his dream that was staring at him.

She looked younger than him, definitely smaller than him, with a round face along with both dark brown hair and matching eyes match. Her expression was a curious one though it made him somewhat wary. She looked like a predator that was eyeing him, wondering if he was safe to swoop in and eat up. She was sitting cross-legged in the chair close to the nightstand and looked like she was just reading the book that was in her hands.

"You're not dead," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Her voice was oddly adorable and dry, as if she'd gotten bored with how cute she sounded years ago.

"Sorry for disappointing you," Cole replied with a shrug, allowing his sarcasm to flow from his voice.

"Why would I be disappointed?" She asked in a serious tone, clearly not picking up on the sarcasm. "I stayed here to make sure you didn't die while Chiron was out."

He furrowed his brow a bit at her response, these kids nowadays. "What the- I was just being sarcastic."

She rolled her eyes in mild irritation. "Everyone and their fucking mother want to be the sarcastic one."

"What are you talking about?" He fought the urge to chuckle at how she cursed, he could hear her talk for hours. As he looked at her he realized that she wasn't just someone that he'd just seen in his dream but she also looked familiar from even before that. He'd seen her a few times around camp but that wasn't it. There was something else where he especially had recognized her.

"I'm talking about how almost everybody wants to be that one sarcastic person in the room. It's dumb as fuck."

"Okaaaay…" he decided to just let that go, he could have sworn it wasn't that serious. "so, I'm Cole…"

"I know," she cut in, "Cole Thomas, Son of Zeus and… also the one who saved my life in that battle a couple days ago."

"Oh shit," he said with raised eyebrows. That's where he'd recognized her, she was the one he saved with his lightning-charged javelin. "That WAS you. See, I kinda wasn't too sure if that's where I recognized your from or not so I wasn't sure if I should ask." He shifted towards her as he tried to sit up only to let out another groan from the sore pain in his torso.

"You're still sore," she said in her unchanged tone, "you need more rest."

He fought the urge to call her a genius as he grumbled softly, "right, okay. So… what's your name?"

"I'm Donna," she said, "Daughter of Bia. Why?"

"Wha- I mean, I saved your life and now you're here helping me get better. Why would I not wanna know who you are?"

She didn't answer the question, Cole was wondering what was up with her, she seemed weird even if she isn't the worst bedside company ever. "So I wasn't hallucinating or getting the symbol wrong, right? I really got claimed by Zeus? Like… THE Lord Zeus? King of the Gods, Leader of the Big Three? God of the Sky?"

"Yup," she said with a nod as she flipped through her book. "Big god, big deal."

"Huh… okay." He can feel his body screaming with excitement. The soreness in his chest is all that's keeping him from bouncing off the walls. "So, I'm not used to all the newer cabins and gods yet. Which one is Bia again?"

"Cabin 22," she said as she flipped through what seemed to be a book on human anatomy, "Bia is the winged goddess of Force, Strength, Power, and Violent Rage."

"I-" he blinked at her textbook answer, "that's… quite a package."

"Thanks."

"I can't say I've heard of her much."

"She isn't very popular since she's only been in like, one myth. Also, she rarely ever gets around to having kids. I'm one of like, three in the world."

Cole was quiet for a moment as he tried to take in what he'd just heard. Just about the whole camp saw him get claimed in the middle of a battle and then lost their minds when they saw him nearly die while being claimed. That was both unexpected and, surprisingly, heartwarming. So people did care, people really noticed him. Along with that, he'd likely slept through his thirteenth birthday, and he's still recovering from the hole in his chest.

He'd only had a few minutes to think before he had his first visitor since he was conscious. With a shimmering rain of purple light accompanied by the flourishing scent of fermented grapes, the camp director appeared. Mr. D was looking the same as ever with his tiger printed tracksuit zipped down to reveal some of his chest, his not-so-jolly beer belly shifted slightly as he moved one of his black curls behind his ear. He really did look like a pretty boy who peaked far too early in his youth.

"Hi, Mr. D…" both Cole and Donna said at the same time, nodding their heads in his direction out of respect. One thing that counselors have been learning to teach campers when they first arrived at the was to never forget that the director is an Olympian. Dionysus let out a huff in approval, waving a hand to cause a diet coke to appear in his hand. Sobriety still made him miserable by default but at this point he was far too used to it to openly complain anymore.

"Connor Terry," he said, Cole raised an eyebrow at the god. Why does this guy ever want to use people's real names? Is this a running joke that he refuses to give up? "You really messed up, well… Zeus messed up. If only he'd waited few more years and he'd be in the clear…" Thunder boomed outside despite the fact that it was a clear sunny day if one looked out the nearby window.

"I… don't understand." Cole looked at the god confused, shifting his body up to lean and pay closer attention.

"Are you joking? You're what? Twelve? Thirteen? You were born years before the Big Three Oath was lifted. It's almost hilarious, Zeus just had to try and get one more in for good measure!" He looked at Cole, making eye contact with bloodshot purple eyes that gave Cole minor chills. "Do you know what this means? You probably don't, but I can give you a great idea. You're now going to be put to good use and you might ruin a few people's lives… if you haven't already."

"Ah, Mr. D I don't think he needs to hear that part just yet!" Along came Chiron, wheeling his way into the room with his magic wheelchair. "No need to make him feel guilty when he hasn't done anything."

"Keyword: Yet. It's always something with Zeus' children." Thunder boomed again, something that made Cole think of someone grumbling. "That doesn't sound like denial!" Dionysus called back up at the sky.

"Cole," Chiron said with a calm tone, clearly trying to be reassuring when even he didn't look like her knew what came next. He already seemed to be looking at Cole differently now and the newly claimed demigod wasn't sure how he felt about that. "I must say first and foremost: Congratulations on being claimed. I'm glad to see another demigod claimed regardless of whom their divine parent is. I know you've waited a good while for this to happen but your case is very complicated…"

"My father is the Sky God," said Cole, "I dunno, it feels weird knowing that."

"It's a confusing revelation, not only here with us at camp but also on Olympus. Your father is, I would try and say, 'back on the hot seat' with his queen and with much of the Olympian Council. It's not a good look to have another hidden son especially after accusing his brother so harshly when Percy was claimed."

Percy Jackson. It's impossible to attend Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter and not know about him and his adventures. He'd left camp permanently a couple years before Cole first arrived but he was already considered a myth already. He wondered how it must have been back then, to be claimed during a time when it was clearly not the best time to be a Big Three kid. "Right… sorry."

"You're not at fault for existing, Child" Chiron said with a far more convincing tone of reassurance, "if anything the timing isn't nearly as bad as our other Big Three children were. That generation of children were born in a time where their existence brought dread and fear to Olympus. The Great Prophecy always hung over their heads constantly and gave them a burden that nobody so young should bear. You got lucky, your existence only brings minor annoyance to the gods."

That made Cole pout a little, "wow. Okay."

"Could be worse," muttered Donna as she flipped through her book quietly.

"Shut up, Donna."

"Ah right, Ms. Davenport." Chiron said as he looked over at Donna and seemed to only just now realize that she was in the room. "I think it goes without saying that your help in nursing Cole back up from the brink of death is well appreciated. You have my personal thanks for volunteering."

"You're welcome," she said, "I kinda owe him."

"So, what now?" Cole asked after a couple seconds of silence.

"Now?" replied Mr. D as he strode over in his purple Pumas, "Nobody knows. We expected Zeus' children to eventually come here but not this early. Hera might wanna kill you and Zeus' enemies might wanna take advantage of you. You might also be getting a shot at being another annoying hero…"

"Mr. D, please…" Chiron said with a sense of pleading before looking at Cole. "We really don't know; I imagine the Fates are having us wait for something or someone to come along. If you need answers, I think your best bet is an audience with the Oracle."

Rachel Dare, the Oracle. Cole always saw her as the camp's resident Big Sister and cryptic fortune-telling artist. He even told her that once, she replied with total seriousness that he's far better at reading people than anyone would expect. Would she have answers for him? Would she talk to him? He knew that she knew the other Big Three kids back when they seemed like they had to fight a war once per week.

"Cole," the old centaur continued, "you need to understand. You honestly didn't do anything wrong, and this really can be a great thing for you. Personally, I'm very excited. The children of Zeus have often been among my greatest students, and I have no doubt that you'll be able to live up to that. In fact, you've already begun. It's not often that I've seen lightning be utilized the way you did on those dracaenae. It certainly rallied the campers until… well…"

"Yeah..." Cole said as he placed a hand on his chest, it still felt tender and so he felt the urge to drink some of the nectar at his nightstand. Donna helped him bring the glass and straw to his lips, allwing him to sip and feel the surprising taste of his mother's homemade shrimp alfredo. She always made it from scratch and had him collapsing on the couch as she would sing to him, the very taste brough him back to those times, easier times.

"No need to worry about it now though, it has passed, and you are alive. This new stage in your life will take some adjusting for you what with moving into Cabin One and everything. Let's make sure you take this one step at a time."

"What? Oh!" Cole was confused for a moment before he realized that he really did need to move cabins now. That was a bittersweet feeling. Sure, he got to move out of the Hermes cabin and finally get some space, not have to worry about getting his stuff stolen every day, and avoid two or three daily pranks. However, he was also going to be on his own in the Zeus cabin as he was the only one in the camp. "Right… uhm, Chiron? What do you mean by one step at a time?"

"Well, by saying that, I meant that you would need to take time to adjust to being claimed especially by Zeus. I will not lie to you, Cole. People will start seeing you differently from here on, there will be… expectations."

"Oh, don't hold anything back from him now." Mr. D chimed in after a long swig from his can, "go on Chiron, tell him about the notoriety. Maybe talk about the amount of leeway he'll get, or the number of gals and guys that will look like idiots when they fall for him. Or shall we point out how he's now got a target on his back now that word's gotten out in the mythical world that he's alive?" Thunder boomed once again but the camp director ignored it as he looked into Cole's eyes and gave the most serious tone Cole had ever heard from a god at that point. "I will tell you this only once, something I could never tell Thelma or Jared. From one child of Zeus to another, make sure you watch out for Hera and don't do anything too stupid because you're guaranteed to do stupid things. Also, get some friends, keep your word, don't abuse your power (too much), and lastly… watch your back. Your enemies will span from annoying monster grunts to some of the most dangerous beings in the universe. So, tread VERY carefully."