A/N: Please review when you finish reading this. Don't care if you hate it, I wanna know why.

Chapter Three- Stryker

I gave Dakota a look and she shrugged. Her white hair floated around her, giving her a sort of halo.

Hayden and Channing were arguing about something, but I wasn't paying attention.

Channing caught my arm as I was turning back to Dakota and pulled me closer. "She understands who she is!" Channing bragged.

"Yeah, so?" I said.

Channing ignored me and Hayden rolled her eyes at him. "Well Dakota was claimed faster. So I win!" she yelled, getting in his face.

Channing blushed and glared at Hayden. The girl got a smug look on her face and grabbed Dakota. Channing opened his mouth to say something but Chiron held up his hand. "Enough! Channing, you show Stryker around camp, and Hayden, you show Dakota. But please, for the two girls' sanity, start on opposite sides."

Channing grimaced and Hayden rolled her golden eyes.

When they managed to drag Dakota and me apart, Channing grumbled something about how night was better than day and I nudged him.

"I'm assuming that you two were an item," I said bluntly.

Channing glared at me as we walked off the porch. "I would never date her in a million years. Ever. Never ever. I'd rather date a manticore." He shuddered and I rolled my eyes.

"Was it a messy breakup?" I asked coyly.

Channing stopped and grabbed my shoulders. "We. Did. Not. Date!" he yelled, shaking me.

I smiled and looked up at him. "Whatever you say," I mumbled.

He groaned and put his hand to his forehead.

We walked a good ways down a dirt path past a volleyball court. We kept walking past a small building labeled "Arts and Crafts." Channing was silent the entire time until we came to a lake.

"Okay, so this is the canoe lake, and um, yeah it's used for canoeing," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Okay captain obvious," I said, raising an eyebrow.

We continued on past an amphitheater and I saw a climbing wall. Lava flowed down from the top and rocks clashed together. "Are we actually supposed to use that?" I asked.

"Well, duh. Do you see any other climbing walls around here?" Channing said, a bit harshly for my tastes.

"What happens if you get hurt?"

Channing laughed. "Then sucks for you. Make friends with an Apollo kid or something."

I must have looked terrified because Channing laughed again. "Apparently British people are also cowards," he said, leaning close.

I glared at him and shoved him back. "I was born in America! And for your information, you're pretty cowardly too. I mean, picking fights with a girl. Real heroic," I retorted.

Channing gave me a death glare. "Just because I'm the kid of a minor god doesn't mean I'm not heroic!" he said.

I knew I'd hit his soft spot. "Oh, yeah? I bet you can't even fight!"

Channing regained his former smile and grabbed my arm. "Oh I can. Just not against a girl," he said. The way he said girl was like someone force fed him steamed broccoli through a tube.

I set my face in stone and looked past him. "Can we continue with this? I'd like to see Dakota again if possible."

Channing led me to a pavilion surrounded by Greek style columns. Tons of small tables surrounded twelve bigger ones. "This is where we eat and stuff." He pointed to a small table. "That's yours."

I blinked. I had to eat alone?

Channing walked away and I followed at his heels. We passed Hayden and Dakota and Channing glared angrily at Hayden. I waved at Dakota and we shared a smile before our two tour guides pulled us away from each other.

We walked down a slight hill and I saw a cluster of cabins. Fourteen cabins made up the main rectangle and lots of smaller ones were set around them in rows. Channing kept walking and I stopped to stare at the array of people. Kids were coming and going from almost every cabin and I found it facinating. Channing grabbed my arm and tugged me along.

"I'll show you your cabin later," he promised.

We walked to an arena and I saw two boys fighting. I recognized one of the boys as Percy. The two boys fighting clashed swords and I cocked my head, interested to see who would win. They both had black hair, but one was tan and the other was pale and shorter.

Finally the older boy won and Channing strode into the arena with me at his heels. "Percy," he said nodding to the older boy.

The boy smiled a bit and touched something to the tip of his sword. The blade shrunk until the boy held a pen. I'm sure my eyes were the size of saucers now and I blinked to return them to normal size.

"What's up Channing? Stryker, I didn't really get to introduce myself earlier." the boy asked, nodding at me.

I smiled a tiny bit and said, "Hi."

The boy wiped sweat from his brow. "I'm Percy Jackson, it's nice to meet you." He held out his sweaty hand and I shook it gingerly. He smiled and his eyes were bright green.

"Yeah, er, same," I said awkwardly.

Channing glared a bit at the younger boy.

Channing waved a quick goodbye and began walking away. I gave a nod at Percy.

"You glare at people a lot," I said to Channing as he marched away.

"It's just that Nico thinks he's so awesome. 'Oh I can shadow travel during the day,'" Channing said in a mocking voice, waving his arms around.

"Somebody just isn't good at making friends," I said under my breath.

We walked down past another building which Channing informed me to be the armory.

I suddenly heard a sound like metal being hit by a hammer. "What's that banging noise?" I asked.

"Oh, that's me and your mom," Channing said casually and I rolled my eyes.

"Charming," I mumbled.

"Somebody got a crush?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

I hit his arm. "Not if you were the last boy on earth!" I said sharply.

"Oh, honey, your hormones would take over if that's what happened," Channing said and winked.

I gagged and wacked him again. "Seriously, what is that noise?" I asked.

"Oh you mean besides me and your mom?" I glared at him and he held up his hands innocently. "It's just the forge. The Hephaestus kids pretty much live in there."

I still couldn't believe any of this was real, but Channing led me to some stables and whistled softly. A horse came out and whinnied. Then I saw the wings. I probably turned a lovely shade of white and stumbled back. Channing caught my arm and I rubbed my eyes.

"This can't be real," I whispered. The horse cantered up to the fence and I rubbed its nose.

Channing rolled his eyes. "I thought we were over the shock," he mumbled and pulled me away.

He pointed to some woods. "Stay out of there at night. Unless, of course, you want to meet me in there," he said and gave me a smirk.

"Will you stop hitting on me?" I demanded.

"Oh, I'm not hitting on you. Don't flatter yourself. I'm practicing my pick up lines for the Aphrodite girls." he said as a pretty girl walked by. Channing winked at her and waved. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. "Me and Shelby go way back," he said.

"Let me guess, she's rejected you a dozen times?" I asked and crossed my arms.

"No! Just a few. But she's coming around," he said, almost to himself.

I laughed and he led me back to the cabins. We walked past some pretty interesting buildings but we didn't stop at any of them. Finally Channing stopped in front of a cabin. It shimmered in the sunlight and looked like a million dew drops had formed it. Colors danced off the outside walls creating little flecks of light. I pushed the door open and there were two bunk beds. There were two large windows on either side of the door and I pulled the curtains back. The late afternoon sunlight poured in and the inside walls had the same effect. There wasn't much in the cabin, but I figured it didn't really matter. I turned around and saw that the entire back wall was painted with a faded rainbow. Not the cheesy kind, but the natural kind.

Channing raised an eyebrow. "Does the queen like what she sees? Me included?"

I whipped around and smiled. "Yes I do actually. But don't get too happy, I wasn't talking about you," I said and he smirked.

Channing rolled his eyes, but kept his grin. "It's time you meet some people," he said.

I followed him out of the cabin and we walked around the others for about a minute. We came upon an all black cabin with a skull and crossbones hung above the door. I got a feeling that the bones were real. The cabin had horrific scenes of people dying painted on it. I shuddered.

Channing knocked on the door and a boy opened it. He had jet black shaggy hair. His irises were pure black and his skin was almost white. He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept well. He smiled at Channing and then noticed me.

"This is Stryker," Channing said, seeing the boy's confusion. "Though she's a wild one. Those kids of Iris, man you gotta look out for them."

The boy laughed a little and extended his hand. "I'm Tanner Moarte. Don't let Channing over here get to you, he's a card," he said.

"Pleasure to meet you Tanner," I said and smiled.

"Oh my gods! You're British!" Tanner said with amazement.

I rolled my eyes. People reacted this way sometimes, freaking out about my slight accent. If you ask me, my father and sister's were much stronger.

Channing spoke up. "No, no. She's American. She's in denial. She's not really British," he said. I wacked his arm as hard as I could and he winced.

Tanner laughed at us. "This should be interesting. You two are either going to get married, or kill each other," he said and we both glared at the boy.

Tanner held up his hands and smirked. Dakota and Hayden saw us and began making their way over. Channing glared at Hayden but she kept walking toward us.

Hayden smiled at Tanner and he blushed. "Hey, Tanner," she said sweetly.

Tanner blushed deeper and mumbled, "Hey, Hayden."

Channing rolled his eyes. "If you two are done being weirdos, do you know where Chase is?"

Hayden glared at Channing even more and said, "No idea. Last I saw him he was running. Probably away from you," she muttered.

I stood by Dakota and we were in the middle of a fierce thumb war when a boy ran up. He was decked out in Nike clothes. Black Nike basketball shorts and a white Nike T-shirt. He wore Nike running shoes and a Nike sweatband on his wrist. He had golden blonde curly hair and deep green eyes. He smiled at us and looked curiously at Dakota and me.

"I'm Chase," he said, waving a bit and I nodded.

"I'm Dakota and this is Stryker. Nice Nike clothes. You sure wear a lot," Dakota said, gesturing at his outfit.

Chase grinned proudly and said, "My mom is Nike. Goddess of victory and all that jazz. Jealous? I would be too."

I rolled my eyes. Another cocky boy to deal with.

Chase studied me closely and snapped his fingers. "Your eyes are pretty awesome, not gonna lie," he said and I mumbled a thanks.

A horn blew, and it sounded like a conch. Channing tapped my shoulder. "Dinner time," he said and our group wandered up to the dining pavilion.

Channing explained that we had to offer part of our food to the gods and I did. I sat alone at my table and ate awkwardly. After dinner was over, Dakota and I walked back to our cabins. They were pretty far apart, but we still walked together. It felt good to get to see her again. I asked what she knew about Parker.

"Not much," Dakota admitted. "Hayden wouldn't tell me."

"Channing didn't tell me much either. But he said your dad made it," I added, trying to cheer her up.

Dakota smiled a little and picked at her nails. "Yeah, I'm really glad he made it. Next to you, he's my best friend. Aren't I cool?" She laughed and I felt better.

We parted and I went into my new home. I looked around the dark room and sighed.

My first day went well, I thought.

I put my head down on the pillow and was asleep within seconds. Unfortunately, my dreams were rough.

A/N: Okay. Frankly, I don't like Hayden. Well, I might make her turn out okay, I've got a couple of ideas in my head.

Review, please.

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Thanks, darlings.

ψcamille elisabethψ