My eyes opened slowly, adjusting to a bright light shining. My entire body ached and felt cramped. I blinked several times and focused. I was in a car, my back pressed against the right door. A beam of light was shining through the window, creating a late afternoon glow. A man I didn't recognize was driving the car.

I Iooked slowly to my left, my neck feeling stiff. Next to me was Thomas, who was watching me closely. My pulse quickened slightly as I felt the close proximity of Thomas and I. Whether I felt fear or...something else, was impossible to decipher. My head hurt too much. I moaned softly. I tried to straighten my body, but my head was spinning too much for me to do anything but stay still.

"Hey," Thomas said quietly. "How are you feeling?" I looked at Thomas, not sure if I should respond. I had no idea where I was, or where this car was taking us. I looked around Thomas to find David sleeping soundly, his lips slightly parted.

"Here," Thomas said, handing me a square of something that looked like a type of candy. "It's called ambrosia," he explained. "It will make you feel better." I took the square hesitantly, but popped it into my mouth. It tasted sweet, like the taffy I would buy with Mom when I was little, and as soon as I swallowed it the pain in my head subsided. I sat up carefully, waiting for a rush of nausea, but nothing happened.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he responded. "You're really lucky," he told me. "That bite would have killed you if we didn't have any of this stuff handy."

"What is it?" I asked him, curiosity getting the best of me. I saw Thomas open his mouth to speak, but he hesitated.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," he started. "I'm not really sure how to explain all of this, but I remember how I felt when I first found out about Camp Half-Blood." I stayed silent, nodding for Thomas to continue. I was completely confused, and a little firghtened, but I figured I should let Thomas tell me what was going on while we had the chance.

"Ambrosia is the food of the gods," he told me. "Greek gods, and other gods around the world, still exist today," Thomas said, growing quieter as he spoke. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'm not very good at introducing the whole 'Gods Exist' concept."

Of course, I thought this guy was insane.

"You do know I don't believe a word you're saying to me, right?" I asked, but inside I felt the smallest bit of uncertainty. How else could I explain what had just happened with Chimi? I didn't want to accept that I was insane, but I pushed Thomas's explanation out of my head.

"You will," Thomas replied simply. He sat up suddenly, with a sense of urgency. He looked straight at me, his gaze unwavering. "We don't have much time to talk. Alissa, you are are a demigod, also known as a child of a god."

Thomas kept talking before I could even try to stop him. "I know it sounds crazy, but you are just going to have to trust me on this. Soon, you'll find out who your parent is, and you'll have to start fighting too." I closed my eyes, trying to not to scream. I was angry. Here I was, riding in a car with three guys I didn't know, with no sane explanation for anything that happened. I had a reason to freak out, especially after realizing these guys were insane.

"I don't know who you are, buddy, but I just want to go back to my mom's house!" I yelled. David grunted in his sleep.

"I'm sure your mother makes you miserable!" he retorted.

"What?" I snapped. Why was this guy bringing up random facts? And how did he even know that?

"You have ADHD too, don't you?" he continued. My eyes widened a bit.

"I go to a school that specializes in ADHD," I said. "That's easy to guess."

"You have dyslexia," he said simply. My mouth dropped open.

"That's obvious," I said, but my voice broke on the last word.

"You're a demigod," he said again. I didn't like him saying that so much. "You're naturally able to read Greek, not English. Having ADHD keeps up your adrenaline in times of a fight."

"You. Are. Insane." I told him, gritting my teeth.

"Listen, Alissa," Thomas said. "Something is going on, and we don't know what it is. David and I were sent to find you and bring you to camp before you could get hurt." He looked out the window. The car had stopped by a hill. In the distance was some sort of opening to what I could only guess was Camp Half-Blood.

"There's nothing here," the driver said to us. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"This is it," Thomas said to him. "Thank you." Yhe driver shrugged and turned back to the front. Thomas shook David awake. "Wake up!" he yelled in the sleeping boy's ear. "We're here!"

David jumped up, his eyes snapping open, but quickly sank back with an easy smile.

"It's bloody time," he complained, yawning groggily. He opened the door and jumped out of the car. I got out and realized we had been in a taxi. David reached inside his pocket and took out a Visa card and tossed it to me. I looked at the identification number. It was mine.

Why did I have a Visa in the pocket of my jeans? Because I was way too lazy to put it back in my wallet last night. Lucky me.

"I hope you don't mind. We used your card," David said to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I minded, but I don't think David would have cared, so I kept my mouth shut. "The driver didn't want to drive to Long Island without a pretty heavy tip." That got my attention.

"We're on Long Island?" I shrieked. David just looked at

me in amusement.

"Yup," he said. "The price was $164.96, but we had to add an extra hundred to the total. Sorry, mate." I just put the card back in my jeans pocket and started walking to the camp.

"Alissa!" David called from behind. I stopped, turning on my heels to face this annoying, Britsh jerk.

"You're going to be okay," he told me. "I promise."

End of Chappy 5 =]

A little on the shorter side, I know, but this was the right place to end.

So, as promised, no more lengthy notes.

Review! Show your friends, your grandmothers, your dog, cat, cactus, etc.

Spoiler Alert: Somebody's getting a quest...(Because I'm sure that was such a surprise.)

=]