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Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Percy Jackson. As much as I wish I did, I did not come up with them. (Darn…)

Onward with the story!

Chapter 2: Camp Half-Blood

MPOV

I walked over to where Fang was, leaned up against the trunk of a tree, away from the edge of the Hunters' camp.

I cocked an eyebrow, as if to say, "What are you doing over here?"

He grinned and said, "Thalia said that if Gazzy, Iggy, or I went near the camp, the wolves would eat us and the falcons would peck out our eyes. Or that Artemis would turn us into jackalopes."

I laughed.

Thalia walked up to us. "They're sending someone to come and get you," she reported.

I raised an eyebrow. "Who's sending who?"

She stared at the sky, as if waiting for something. "You'll find out soon enough."

Then, not even a moment later, two large horses with wings appeared in the sky, flying down into the clearing nearby.

"That would be them," Thalia said, walking towards the clearing.

The flock, Fang, and I followed Thalia. When we got to the clearing, we were greeted by two teenagers in orange t-shirts that said, "Camp Half-Blood."

One, a girl with curly blond hair in a ponytail, hugged Thalia and said, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

Thalia hugged the girl back. "It's nice to see you too, Annabeth."

Thalia then nodded to the other, a boy with jet-black hair, sea-green eyes, and tan skin. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

With a hint of a scowl on his good-looking face, the boy said, "It's nice to see you too, Thalia."

The three looked at us. "These would be the half-bloods you told us about?" the girl, Annabeth, asked.

Thalia nodded. "Yep." She pointed to each of us and said our names.

Annabeth walked over and studied the six of us. She pointed to Fang, "He's definitely Nico's brother. I can tell just by looking at him."

The boy looked at Fang. He nodded. "Yeah." Then he smiled, "I'm Percy Jackson."

I smiled back. "I'm Maximum Ride."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Is that your real name?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a long, level look. "So?"

Percy shook his head. "It's nothing. I was just wondering."

Then Artemis walked over. Annabeth and Percy bowed and said, "My lady."

Artemis smiled and said, "Hello, young half-bloods." Then she looked at Nudge, Angel, and I. "I was hoping to ask you something before you left."

"Sure," Nudge said.

"The Hunters and I are always looking for new members," Artemis said. "And I would hate to see such talent wasted in a mortal life."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going with this?"

"How would you like to join the Hunt?" she asked.

I stiffened. I knew enough about Greek myths to know what joining the Hunt meant.

"What does that mean?" Nudge asked.

"It means you would be immortal," she clarified. "That you will not die, unless killed in battle or… you break your oath."

"What oath?" Angel asked.

"To foreswear romantic love forever," Thalia said. "To never grow up or marry. To be a maiden eternally."

I looked out of the corner of my eye. Fang's face was impassive, but I could read him like a book. He was stiff, and pale. His eyes were trained on me.

Artemis looked at me. "I was particularly hoping that you would join, Max."

Wow, did that sound like a trip. To never grow up. To never have to do what anyone told me again. No danger, no evil scientists, no world to save.

I weighed my options heavily. My mind was reeling.

Then I looked at Artemis. "My lady, as honored as I am to have you offer… I can't. I just can't."

She nodded. "But are you sure that this is what you want?"

I looked at Fang out of the corner of my eye again. His posture was more relaxed. He was relieved that I had chosen not to go with the Hunters. "Yes. I am."

She nodded again. "And what of you, Angel and Nudge?"

Angel and Nudge shook their heads furiously. "We don't want to leave the flock."

Artemis sighed and nodded. "All right."

Then, the Hunters were suddenly gone.

I looked to Percy and Annabeth for clarification, but they simply shrugged. "The Hunters have a flair for the dramatic," Annabeth told me.

"I assume you'll be flying?" Percy asked. I nodded.

An hour later, we were at some valley near the ocean. Percy had said that this body of water was Long Island Sound.

We landed in the valley, and for the first time, I noticed that it was filled with old Greek building.

Only, you know… These weren't old, and in ruins, like the ones in Greece. They looked new and glistened brightly in the early-summer sun.

Percy patted his horse's neck. "I keep telling you that they're unhealthy for you, Blackjack," he said to the horse.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Annabeth. She shrugged and said, "Son of Poseidon."

I nodded, understanding. Poseidon was the creator of horses, so it was only likely that any of his children could speak to them.

"Chiron said he wanted to see you the moment he got here," Annabeth said.

She and Percy led us to a big farmhouse and the front of the valley. On one hill, I saw a tall pine tree, what appeared to be a dragon was curled around the tree, sleeping soundly. Something gold glittered in the pine boughs.

When we reached the farmhouse (Percy said that it was called the 'Big House'), I could see the whole valley.

There were strawberry fields, volleyball courts, stables, forges, and what I assumed were cabins. But they looked more like a mish-mash of various buildings that had nothing in common.

I gripped Fang's hand and whispered to him, "What do they want us for?"

He whispered back, "No clue."

Percy and Annabeth led us to two men who were playing some card game on the porch of the Big House. One of them was in a wheel chair, and the other looked like some guy who had had too much to drink at a party last night.

The man in the wheel chair looked up at us and smiled warmly, "Ah! So these are the young demigods that I've heard so much about!"

We all just looked at him, saying nothing.

The party-guy sighed and said to the man in the wheel chair, "I told you Chiron, they aren't going to say much. Father predicted as much, saying that, and I quote, 'No daughter of mine is going to say anything about her heritage! She simply doesn't know enough!'"

Thunder rumbled, though it was a cloudless day.

The party guy sighed again, like he was bored or something. "Fine, fine! I'll let him do his speech!"

The guy in the wheel chair, whose name was obviously Chiron, shook his head. He looked back to us. "Mr. D has been always been irritable. Especially with his… prohibition."

"Gets worse every year!" Mr. D moaned, sounding like a spoiled two-year-old. "And I'm stuck here with you brats!"

Look who's talking, I thought, bemused.

"Mr. D?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"Dionysus, God of wine and parties," she whispered back.

I resisted the urge to laugh. Of course he was.

"What is this place?" Nudge asked.

Chiron smiled. "Well, usually we would have you watch an orientation video, but that tradition has seemed to have been thrown out of the window."

Then, Chiron stood.

But, his body extended way past what a normal man's height would be.

That was when I saw that Chiron wasn't just a man.

Front legs, back legs, fetlocks, tail and all, came out of the magical box that was his wheel chair.

"You're a centaur!" Angel said in awe.

Chiron smiled at her. "And director of activities here at Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-blood?" Fang asked.

"Yes," Chiron said. "Half-blood."

"But half what is the question," Iggy said.

Chiron looked at him, and for the first time seemed to notice that he was blind. "Well… the politically correct term is demigod. But the common phrase is half-blood. Half-mortal, half-god."

All of us stared at Chiron. As if him being half-horse wasn't enough…

"Hold up a second," I said. "So what you're saying is… That we're half-god?"

"Precisely," he answered. Then he smiled bashfully. "I know this is a little much to take in right now, but you have to believe me. You never would have gotten through our borders if you weren't demigods."

"Do you know who our godly parents are?" Iggy asked.

"Well," Annabeth said. "I can tell just by looking at Fang that he's a son of Hades. Iggy and the Gasman are sons of Hermes, I can tell by the way they look. They have the same features.

"Nudge looks like a… daughter of Aphrodite. And Angel is a daughter Demeter. You, however, Max, are hard. I can't really tell who your godly parent is. You share no features of any demigod I've ever seen."

Chiron thought for a moment. "Well, until we have figured it out, Percy and Annabeth, can you show Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the… Gasman, and Angel to their appropriate cabins?"

Percy and Annabeth nodded, leading the flock down the valley.

Fang squeezed my hand. "You'll be fine. Don't worry."

I nodded, then kissed his cheek.

After the flock was out of earshot, Chiron said, "Not even Annabeth would have known your true heritage, Maximum. There are not many like you."

I suddenly felt nervous. If I had a godly parent, then that means that I had a 50% chance of not being related to Mom and Ella.

Chiron noticed this, and smiled. "Don't worry. There's nothing to fret about." He motioned for me to sit at the card table. "There's much to explain."

Dun dun dun! I would tell you who her godly parent is, but I don't want to spoil it. (It had to do with what Mr. D said…)

The next chapter will be in Fang's POV! Yays! And we meet Nico and the other children of Hades!

Soooo… You know the drill! Review!

-A$h