Chapter II:

Finnick knew he was in trouble the second he saw the gigantic, copper-scaled dragon in front of him. A strange patterned cloth that looked like a sheepskin hung from a branch above it.

ROOOOAR!

"Woah, woah!" Finnick whipped his trident in front of him. "You things exist?" The dragon's yellow eyes boiled with anger, black smoke billowed out of it's flaring nostrils.

He took a defensive stance, his off arm bracing the shaft of the trident as the dragon began to circle around him. Surprisingly, it seemed almost scared of the black blades, not daring to come within a couple feet of them.

Acidic breath still boiled the surface of his skin, causing him to grimace in pain.

"Peleus, stand down!" A deep voice boomed from his right. The dragon flared it's nostrils again before bounding into the forest.

Finnick couldn't believe what he was seeing. A half-man, half-horse holding a bow and arrow was galloping up the hillside, with a small army of people his own age, clothed in orange shirts and wielding swords, running behind him.

"I don't mean any harm!" He let the trident fall to the ground and raised his hands in a universal sign of surrender.

The half-man, half-horse, that Finnick now recognized as a centaur from ancient mythology, pointed his bow at his weapon. "That tells a different story. Who are you and why are you intruding on our territory?"

Finnick shook his head in disbelief. "I'm gonna sound crazy, man. You won't believe me." "I won't ask again." The centaur ordered. "State your reason."

"Is he one of Kronos's?" A blonde-haired girl, who stood next to the centaur, asked; a dagger was clutched in her hand. The look in her face told him that she definitely wanted to kill him.

A pale white boy, with his arm in a sling, gawked at the trident. "Stygian Iron…"

"I don't even know what any of that is!" Finnick pleaded. "Please, I'm not supposed to be here. One second I was dead, and the next thing I know I'm in this crazy place called the Underworld. Then this freaky lady shows up out of nowhere and now I'm here!"

He waited for their response, and was confused when he saw them staring at his right arm. Finnick yelped in surprise when he saw the dark, glowing purple symbol printed on his forearm that was definitely not there a minute ago.

Instinctively, he touched the mark and his whole world blacked out.

Finnick felt his stomach turn inside out before the world came back into view, except he was now a good fifteen feet from where he last was. He had never felt so disoriented in his life, it was like he had magically gotten the flu. His pulse pounded violently against his forehead.

"What the hell…"

The centaur stamped his hoof. "Heroes! Back to your cabins! I will handle this myself!" "He shadow traveled!" The pale boy shrieked.

"Enough! Everybody step back! Clarisse get them out of here!" The centaur commanded. A gigantic girl appeared and began to shove the smaller kids away. "You heard him! Move!"

Finnick was sure she would've made a great friend with Johanna. The thought of his compatriot caused him to lose focus for a second.

The sea of orange cascaded begrudgingly back down the hill, he noticed that the blonde haired girl lingered behind the rest. She made eye contact with him and briskly turned around. Yikes.

"My name is Chiron." The centaur bellowed deeply. "Your name, son."

Finnick suddenly felt very intimidated, Chiron stood a good three feet over him. "Finnick Odair."

The centaur nodded his head and extended his hand outward. "Show me your mark."

Carefully, Finnick laid it facing up in his rough palm. Chiron frowned his brow as he studied the symbol. "Tell me your story again."

"I'm not from this world." Finnick started. "I don't know how, but when I died, I woke up in this gigantic dark place. I didn't have any of my memories until this lady appeared. Somehow, she gave them back and brought me here."

"Did she tell you her name?"

Finnick fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze. "She said her name was Nemesis, and that she was some sort of goddess."

Chiron's expression was unreadable as his attention shifted to the trident that lay in the grass. "What do you know about your weapon?"

"It's name is Diamos, and it's made of Stygian Iron. She also mentioned that there was somebody like me before."

Finnick sensed that the centaur accepted his explanation. "Follow me, we have much more to discuss."

What he saw in the valley was nothing short of amazing. A massive strawberry field blanketed a good portion next to a dense forest. The gamemakers would've been proud of the climbing wall that spewed lava. There was a massive set of buildings that were shaped in a u-formation, with an amphitheater and lake nearby. The orange-clad people milled too and from the various locations.

"What is this place?" Finnick said in awe.

"Camp Half-Blood." Chiron said proudly. "Where Greek demigods come to train."

They passed by two kids that were in the midst of an intense sword fight, Finnick couldn't help but draw similarities to the career training center. "Greek? Demigods?" He asked.

"Children that are half-mortal, half-Greek god." Chiron explained. The kids had halted their exercise and were staring openly at the newcomer.

Finnick stopped moving, trying to wrap his head around what the centaur had just said. "What?"

Chiron kept moving. "I will explain everything to you, once we are in a place that is more private"

He decided it was in his best interest not to be left behind. Finnick waved awkwardly at the sparring duo, who squinted their eyes back at him.

They passed by the u-formation buildings that he had seen earlier. Each one looked entirely different from the rest, with unique decorations and designs. In the middle of the valley was a massive, four-story, blue sky house. It had white crown molding on the outside, with a wrap around porch. A strange bronze eagle hung from a wind chime. It could have easily passed off as a house in Victor's Village.

Chiron led him through the front door, and into the house. Inside, Finnick saw a large room to his left that looked like a regular office, which was strange as this was the first time that he had seen any form of technology. On the desk was a record player, projector, computer, and a very old-fashioned boombox. Finnick wondered what else was different about this new world.

Down the hall, he heard the telltale signs of a massive argument, muffled through the walls. "We can't trust him! We have no idea who the hell he is!" A voice yelled. "We know exactly who he is! You saw that thing on his arm! That's a symbol of Nemesis!" He checked his arm again, and the purple brand was still there. Why would she mark me?

Finnick entered the room just after Chiron, and was surprised to see that it consisted of a ping pong table and a couple of chairs.

Crowded around it, was the blonde-haired girl from earlier, along with the pale white boy, a guy with a goatee, and a terrifying looking girl with choppy black hair. Finnick's heart jumped when he saw a girl with red hair sitting on a chair. She looked exactly like Annie did when he was forced to mentor her in the Games. All of them looked like they had just arrived from an intense battle, their eyes were sunken and faces grim.

Finally, they realized that he had arrived, and the entire room fell into silence.

"Who are you?" The blonde-haired girl said coldly. Up close, she was strikingly beautiful. She had intense grey eyes that contrasted with a strange grey strand in her hair.

He almost forgot that she had asked a question. "Oh—Finnick Odair."

The guy with the goatee tossed him the same orange t-shirt they all wore. "Put this on."

Finnick quickly tousled it on and studied the design. A winged pegasus was printed, along with the words 'Camp Half-Blood.'

"My name is Grover, by the way."

He smiled weakly and looked to the rest of the group, waiting to hear their names, but they remained mute. Welp.

Chiron moved around to the head of the table. "Son, please tell them your story."

He gulped and began to rehash everything that had led up to his point. During his rebuttal, Finnick couldn't help but notice that there was a bottle of cheez-wiz next to the paddles.

The girl with choppy black hair spoke up once he had finished. He hadn't noticed till now the silver circlet on the top of her head. "I vote that we kill him."

Before Finnick could defend himself, the centaur pounded his hoof. "Absolutely not." "I agree." Said the blonde girl. "We can't trust anybody."

Thankfully, Grover and the pale boy were on his side. "I think he's telling the truth. He smells different from anything I've ever encountered. It's something strange."

"I can sense the aura of death coming from him...he definitely did die." The pale boy said almost shyly.

Those statements both made Finnick's personal all-time list of 'Things Finnick Never Thought He Would Hear Somebody Say.'

"Where's Mr. D? He would be able to tell for sure." The Annie look-alike said.

"He's been called back to Mount Olympus." Chiron answered. "Zeus has called an emergency meeting, they are trying to locate where Percy might have gone."

When he finished speaking, it felt as if the whole mood of the room changed from anger to sadness.

"Who's Percy?" Finnick asked cautiously. "Is he somebody important?" Now the blonde and black-haired girls looked like they wanted to kill him.

Chiron tried to clear his throat. "He is a demigod as well, a son of Poseidon. Yesterday...he was captured by the Titan Kronos."

"Captured is putting it lightly." The black haired girl slammed her face on the table, making everybody jump. "That son of a bitch re-hosted in him!"

The blonde girl took an aggressive step forward. "Why are we still talking to him?"

Finnick had never been more confused in his life, and Chiron could tell that this gathering was not making things any better.

"Rachel, can you take Finnick around camp?"

Rachel nodded and got up from the beat up futon. "Sure, follow me."

Finnick didn't realize he had been holding his breath until stepped off the front porch. Just standing inside that room had given him massive stress and anxiety. "Why do all of them hate me?"

Rachel guided them down the path towards the strawberry fields. "They don't, now was just not a great time to show up. Percy meant a lot to all of us, but especially Annabeth, Thalia, and I guess me. We all lost somebody yesterday."

"So you believe me?" Finnick said hopefully.

"Yes, I don't think you're crazy." They arrived at a small wooden bench by the edge of a forest and sat down.

Finnick saw multiple people walking around with bandages and other medicinal garments. "What happened yesterday?"

"I guess I should explain this world first." Rachel started. "We live in a world where the Greek gods exist, they always have. And because they exist, so does the rest of Greek mythology."

"Like Chiron."

"Like Chiron." Rachel confirmed. "All of the kids here have one parent that is a Greek god. But not everybody is a demigod in the world, we still have regular people as well."

Finnick tried to wrap his head around the insane concept. "Who's your godly parent?"

Rachel picked at a scab on her palm. "Actually, I'm the one exception here in camp. I'm a mortal too, a regular person. There are mortals who can see through the Mist, and I'm one of them. They call it having 'clear sight.' The Mist is what we call the magical force that changes the perception of what mortals see. They might look at a dragon and see a very large grizzly bear, but nobody really knows."

"So I'm one of those too?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's because you're not from this universe. From what I understand about the multiverse, there might be millions of them that have Earth, each with minor differences."

Finnick nodded and pretended to understand what she just said. "I learned about Greek Mythology when I was young. There are twelve Olympians."

"Correct." Rachel pointed in the direction of the u-buildings. "We have eleven cabins, each one houses the children of an Olympian. Cabin one is Zeus, two is Hera and so forth."

"Why not twelve? Who's missing?"

"Hades, he doesn't have a seat on the Council either."

Finnick felt bad for him. "That seems a little harsh."

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "Fair enough."

After an awkward pause, he asked another question. "So what does this have to do with Percy?"

"We are issued prophecies that decide the fate of our world." Rachel paused and picked at her palm again, causing blood to appear. "But it didn't go the way we expected it to go. Kronos didn't die."

Finnick decided to stop pushing the matter, he would figure out the details later. "I'm sorry."

Rachel stared at him with green eyes that were so similar to Annie's, it made his heart hurt. "Tell me about your world."

"I—I don't know where to start." He admitted. Although his memories had returned, they were still foggy at best.

"Look out!" A voice cried out, snapping them back to reality. "MINOTAUR!"

Finnick and Rachel looked up just in time to see the half-man, half-bull appear on the top of the hill, with the Golden Fleece in one hand and the head of Peleus in the other.