I need a boys permission

I never asked to be a half-blood.

If your reading this then your probably normal. Gods I envy you; I would give anything to be normal; to be able to go where I wanted without fear. Monsters are the worst; giant basketball players some taller then a house to human sized half snake half human cheerleaders.

Monsters suck. Period.

My name is Kiya; and I'm a half-blood. I live in the wilds; I camp in the woods, bathe in the river, that kind of thing. I tend to stay away from people; mainly cause I'm a danger to them, and they don't even know it. I use to go to school until I exploded half the chem lab, don't ask, just know no one died. But since then I keep away, for everyones safety.

Things changed on a Wednesday. Don't ask me why it was a wednesday; just was, maybe the Gods thought hump day was important. But I had snuck into a rest stop; I normally don't steal but my knife had broken off the hinge and wouldn't close right so making a hunting trap or fishing was out of the question. Rule 9 for survival: Never be without a knife. Anyways, I was desperate and I stole a bag of chips from a display. It was a quick movement from me looking at the bag of cheetos to it in my backpack. I heard a small cough behind me; and inwardly groaned as I prepared to put the bag back on the shelf and I turned around.

I didn't expect to see a boy standing there; and was even more confused at the getup he was wearing. Shredded red shirt under a thin green jacket; tattered jeans covering his legs, converse sneakers, but what intrigued me more was his face. Tanned skin riddled with freckles, dark hair, with a cut splitting his right eyebrow in half, and black eyes. Now the black eyes might of been a shadow, I wouldn't know in the dim light of the gift shop. He looked at me and I stared back, and he nodded towards the door.

Now you might be thinking Kiya you just talked about monsters! What if he is one?! But something told me he wasn't a gut feeling I guess. I followed him to the woods my hand in my pocket curling around a key I had found. If things went south I could stab him in the eye, buy a few seconds. But he led me to a fire; with a tent nearby. "Alright spill. Who are you?" I demanded and he looked at me. His dark eyes somehow seeming darker in the firelight.

"Είμαι απλά φίλος." The boy said and my brain instantly translated. "A friend; that speaks Greek." I said slowly and he smiled. "So you're...like me?" I asked slowly and he frowned walking towards the fire. "No." He said after a moment, his back to me. "Im not like you." He said calmly as I stared at him. Before I could speak again a twig snapped and in a flash he was turned around a glowing bronze sword in his hands.

He stepped forward pushing me behind him as a large dog-like creature stepped out of the woods snarling. He lunged as did the dog, in a flash of bronze the dog was a pile of ash, and the sword was gone. "What was that?!" I asked and he scowled stamping the fire out as he grabbed my hand. "We need to go. Hellhounds sometimes travel in packs." He said and I pulled away. "Who are you?" I asked and he sighed again. "Call me Ty." He said and I nodded. "Ty." I agreed and he turned and motioned for me to follow.

We trekked all night. No rest for the weary; until we reached a road. "The hill." He said pointing and I could see a sign for some strawberry patch nearby. It was hard to read with my dyslexia. "We head for the hill; got it?" I nodded. I had passed this sign before; it was about six miles from the rest stop. We headed for the hill; dawn was just starting to light the world as we heard more howls in the distance. "Go!" Ty said as he broke into a run; I wasn't too far behind. However when we got to the sign he kept running but something stopped me. I fell just before the sign as if I ran into a wall warm blood flowing down my face as I seemed to of broke my nose.

"Ty!" I screamed as he stared at me confused. The howls grew closer I ripped off the sleeve of my black shirt using it as a tissue to staunch the blood from my nose as I saw more of those dog-things. Hellhounds. They were at the top of the hill mere yards away, I had nothing to defend myself with. I feared Ty had left, abandoned me to whatever wall was between us. Before I could think of a plan Ty was behind me. "I son of Hephaetus vouch for Kiya and allow her into camp!" Thunder rumbled across the sky and I fell backwards into Ty who caught me. "Your safe now." He promised and it was true. The hounds threw themselves at the wall but couldn't touch us.

But one question lingered.

What was this camp; and why couldn't I enter it without Tys permission?