My dreams were filled with giant dogs, golden swords, and chocolate-chip cookie flavored pudding.

Reality seemed as much of a dream as the rest of the past day. A blonde boy stood over me and placed a brownie on my tongue. Instead of the warm chocolate flavor I was expecting, it tasted like my mom's homemade mashed potatoes.

I couldn't tell what was real anymore. My senses came and went. I could hear someone's conversation about lava burns, and the next time I was conscious I smelled barnyard animals.

When my vision returned for a few moments, I could see I was in a hospital, but across from me was a girl with an arrow sticking out of her arm. The flashbacks would've made me pass out if my injuries didn't.

The next time it came back the girl from the beach was whispering about quests with a blonde girl. When she noticed my half-open eyes, she rushed over, but my attempt at sitting up sent me spiraling back into unconsciousness.

When I woke up for good, all the weirdness was gone, adding to my worries about hallucinations. I groaned, hoping someone would come explain something, anything, even if it meant seeing a doctor again.

The door opened, and the blonde boy from before entered, a clipboard in his hands. When he saw my attempts at moving, he dropped it, rushing over.

"Don't try to sit up."

I tried to sit up.

But he was stronger than he looked and pinned me to the bed until I stopped struggling. He gently pulled away, like he didn't trust me not to run, and grabbed another mashed potato brownie from the bedside table.

I took it from him but didn't put it in my mouth. I refused to let panic set in, instead forcing myself to ask simple questions.

"What is this?"

"Just eat it. It helped before, right?"

"You didn't answer my question." I placed the food on my tongue anyway, recoiling slightly at the strange taste.

"What does it taste like?"

"Did you want some?" He shook his head, refusing to elaborate. After a few moments I answered cautiously, "Mashed potatoes. My mom's. Homemade."

He nodded, still being mysterious. "Think you can stand? Annabeth will want to…welcome you to camp."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's fine. She can just be a little…intense."

"Oh."

"So, you think you can stand?"

"Nope." I pulled the sheets off anyway, revealing someone had changed me out of my soaked clothes. Now I was dressed in orange 'Camp Half-Blood' pajama pants and a plain white tank top. I reached for my neck to see if they had taken my necklace, panicking when it was gone.

"Here." I turned back towards the boy, seeing him holding out my necklace.

"Thanks."

"I'm Will, by the way," he said as I fastened it around my neck. "Do you have a name?"

"Not one I give out to strangers." I replied, though I still accepted his hand to help me stand. My ankle held when I put weight on it, though there was still a dull ache from the bone encased in a splint.

"It's broken. You should be fine now though."

That couldn't be possible, but lots of impossible feats had happened over the last day, so I couldn't argue.

"How long was I out?" I asked, still focusing on simple questions.

"About a day." His tone was guarded, like he didn't want to tell me anything, and when I opened my mouth to ask more questions, he stopped me. "Annabeth will explain."

"You don't seem to like her." I noted as he helped me limp out of the room.

"No, she's fine. She's just a little on edge since…"

"Since what?" My heart raced faster, wanting to run far away from this Annabeth.

"I'll let her tell you."

I went quiet, a flurry of worries rushing through my head.

"You'll be fine," he reassured me at my silence. "She can just be a lot."

"Not helping."

He cursed under his breath. "Yeah, sorry. She won't hurt you. I swear."

Thunder rumbled when he said that, not helping my anxiousness.

"Here we are." Seemed a little obvious considering we were facing a front door. "Good luck." He let go of my shoulder, but my leg held.

I took a deep breath "Okay, Annabeth." I muttered once Will had turned the corner. "Here I come."

When I think of 'intense' what comes to mind generally isn't a bubbly blonde girl with a clipboard.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Have you seen the orientation film?"

"Um…no, but I—"

"Right, of course. The Hermes cabin stole the camera for a prank. Sorry about that. Did they ever get punished for that?" she called the last part towards a man in a wheelchair seated at a patio table.

"Dish duty for a week."

"Right." She noted something on her clipboard.

"And Annabeth?" She glanced up. "Try to go easy on her. It can be very disorienting the first time."

"Of course." She finally looked back at me, and her entire demeanor had changed. "Just some quick questions then I promise I'll explain anything.

I nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Celeste."

"Your last name?" When I hesitated, she added, "I promise we won't use it for anything. You're safe here."

"That sounds like something you'd say if it wasn't safe."

She laughed, and I relaxed. If anything happened, I could run, but these people seemed to understand everything that was happening. "Castellan."

Her clipboard slipped out of her hands, hitting the ground with a thud. "What?" she barely whispered.

"Castellan." I answered again, not sure why she had gone pale, and tears were pooling in her eyes.

The man in the wheelchair cleared his throat. "My dear, we could have someone else do it, if you can't."

"No." She blinked the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning down to pick up her clipboard. "It's just a coincidence."

"What's a coincidence?"

She ignored me, instead asking. "Where are you from?"

"Connecticut." I answered, not wanting to give her an exact location.

Her hands tightened on the clipboard, turning her knuckles white. "Where in Connecticut?" Her voice was strained again.

It didn't matter if they had my information. I'd be long gone before they could find me. So I answered, "Westport."

The clipboard hit the floor again as she turned and ran.

"Annabeth!" the man in the wheelchair called after her, rubbing his temples when she didn't answer.

"Excuse me?" I asked, reminding myself to be polite. If I was nice, they'd never see it coming when I left.

"Not right now, child." He looked like he wanted to pace.

"Chiron!" I looked out to see the girl from the beach—Piper—running towards us. "Is she awake?" She paused when she saw me. "Gonna go with yes.

I forced a smile. "Yeah."

She frowned, looking around. "Where's Annabeth?"

"She's busy," they man in the wheelchair answered. "And so am I. Piper, would you mind giving Celeste the introductory tour?"

"Of course."

I snapped. They were acting like I wasn't even there, and despite all their promises, no one had explained anything. "Okay, will someone explain what's going on?"

Piper laughed. She laughed. This wasn't funny. "Come on, Celeste. I'll explain everything."

She led me back through the house, eventually making it to a sitting room. "Sit down." She gestured toward one of the chairs. "Your ankle must hurt."

"I'm okay." It did hurt, but I wanted answers before I got comfy.

"Suit yourself," she said, settling down in an armchair. I hated how she was so casual about this, while I was panicking.

"You gonna explain now?"

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "What do you know?"

"That I've been hallucinating about magic monsters."

"Can you hallucinate pain?" She pointed to my ankle.

"Fine, then what's your explanation for it?"

She hesitated, biting her lip, before answering. "Gods."

I laughed. A dry laugh, without humor. "You're saying God is sending giant dogs from hell after me?"

"Not capital 'G' god. Gods," she said, shaking her head.

"Oh, because that makes it so much better."

"I'm serious. Greek gods."

I snorted. She was ridiculous. "Do you have proof?"

"Do you have ADHD? Dyslexia?"

"That doesn't prove anything."

"Kicked out of schools? Got in trouble a lot?"

"Did the fact I was running from the cops not make that clear?"

"Weird stuff happens a lot?"

"Not until today." And the accident. That didn't count. It couldn't have been real.

"You never knew one of your parents?"

It was the first one she got wrong. "I knew both my parents!" I had gone stiff, and my voice was tight.

Her expression had gone softer, and her voice was gentle when she asked, "Knew?"

I crossed my arms. "Can you just go back to pretending you know stuff about me?"

"Okay. There's no easy way to say this."

"Then say it the hard way."

She stood up, running a finger through her hair. "Generally, when a camper thinks they know both of their parents, their mom…"

"What?" I asked angrily. "What do you think my mom did?"

"Cheated."

The word seemed to echo around the room, solidifying my thoughts that these people were crazy. From now on, I would be looking for a way to escape.

I blinked the tears out of my eyes and scoffed. "You don't get to talk to me about my mom."

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Why does that even matter anyway? Why do I need to have a single parent?"

"Celeste—"

I was ranting now, bitterly. "And say my mom cheated, who are you claiming she did it with?"

I paused to take a breath, letting her answer. "A god." Her voice was quiet, like she didn't want to upset me anymore.

"I'm sorry?"

"A god," she repeated. "You're a half-blood."

I had promised myself at any sign of trouble. A summer camp run by insane people counted as trouble.

"You're crazy," I said, before turning and running out the door.

I heard her calling my name as I raced through the house, but I ignored her, pumping my legs faster.

I burst through the front door, rushing past the man in the wheelchair, who was digging through papers. The rush of air as I dashed past sent them scattering. I heard him calling after me as I kept going.

I sprinted past a volleyball pit, startling a group of kids playing. Half of them were wearing weird shaggy brown pants.

I reached a hill, and refused to stop, despite hearing Piper shouting behind me. I bolted up it, passing a pine tree. I was almost in the clear when a tail shot out and tripped me, sending me sprawling to the dirt.

When I turned, a coppery dragon was looking down on me, about to strike until Piper rushed up the hill. "Peleus, no!" she shouted, and the dragon backed down, somewhat reluctantly. "Sorry about him. He's trained to protect the fleece."

I glanced up to see a golden blanket hanging in the branches. "What—" The question died in my throat, as I refused to accept that this was real.

"The golden fleece."

"But, that's impossible," I insisted.

"Is it? I mean, think about it. Everything that's happened. What other explanation do you have for it?"

"I—" I couldn't think of anything else to say, no other excuses. I leaned back against the tree, and slowly sunk to the ground, placing my head between my knees.

"I'll just…give you a minute."

I heard her walking away in the back of my mind, but the rest of me was too busy debating between fantasy and reality.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but when Piper returned, I was silently crying.

"Celeste?" she asked gently. "I'm sorry to bother you, but it's almost dinner time."

I glanced up. The sky had gone dark. I took a deep breath, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"How did you know?"

"What?"

"How did you know this wasn't all a trick?"

"I didn't." She crouched down next to me. "You just have to…take a leap of faith."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"You don't have to. You don't have to believe this is all real. Just…come back down. Just stay, even for a night.

After the incident, I'd never felt like I belonged anywhere. Maybe that was because I never tried. "Okay," I whispered, barely believing the words had come from my mouth.

"Good." She offered me her hand. "You ready to learn more?"

"Not really," I admitted. "But I'm ready to try." I took her hand, letting her lead me back down the hill, towards a new start.