It felt like hours that I drifted in a place somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. I could hear the echo of silence around me, but it wasn't the silence of death - or what I imagined that would be - it was the silence of stillness.

As my senses began to return, I realized how confused I was. I thought for sure I had died. But now I could feel a soft bed below me and sunlight against my eyelids. I was alive. But then what did that vision of floating in space mean? More importantly, where was I now?

I opened my eyes. From where I lay, I could see only a dull wood ceiling and faded wallpaper, with the light of a window streaming in from the other side of the room. Sitting up proved to be something of a challenge, but not as much as I expected, remembering the attack. Once up, I saw that I was in a simple bedroom, complete with a bookshelf, a single window and a single wooden door. I slipped over to the window, relieved to see the familiar cliffs extending out along a shoreline that ran parallel to my line of sight. That meant I must not have traveled too far from where I last remembered being. I was probably in the camp the red haired boy was talking about. The building I was in seemed to be embedded into the side of a cliff because, below me, I could see waves washing against a sandy shore. Color was just beginning to inch its way across the sky, which meant it was early morning.

Turning back to the room, I began to feel just how small it was. The air lay heavy over my shoulders and I got the sensation that I was breathing in the air that I had just breathed out. Growing restless, I headed towards the door, but turning the handle didn't open the door, it only sent creaks through the wood. It was locked.

Feeling the walls hugging closer to me, I checked the window, which also stayed firmly shut. Was I imprisoned? The boy who guided me here seemed to think that this place would be safe, so I could trust whoever put me in this room. Right?

Just as I began to guess at how hard I would have to hit the window to shatter it, the door opened. A middle aged man rolled in on a wheelchair. He moved with certainty and experience as he positioned himself next to the bed. "I didn't expect you to be up so soon, I would've waited in here," he looked at me curiously - almost suspiciously - as he spoke. "But, even so, you must have a lot of questions."

"Yeah," I paused, not sure which question I needed answered first.

He gave a faint smile, like he had done this introduction many times before, "Well, let me just start by introducing myself. My name is Chiron and I welcome you to Camp Half-blood. May I ask your name?"

"Irene. Where did you say we are, Camp Half-blood?"

"Yes, and I can imagine how confused you are by that, but all will be explained soon enough. For right now, we have more pressing matters to discuss, namely, what happened two nights ago."

"Two nights ago?"

"Yes, when the gryphon attacked you and Sebastian." The realization that so much time has passed rattled me, but not so much as the memories that came back to me of the attack - being attacked by a metal beast, somehow being saved by a falling star.

"Yeah, I remember everything up until the beast was destroyed. Or at least, I think... Is Sebastian alright?" I asked, guessing that was the name of the boy that led me here. Now that the memories of the attack were coming back, I remembered thinking the monster had killed him and that he had died to save me.

"He is still recovering, he was apparently more damaged than you," his tone was colder than before as he answered.

"It's my fault," I blurted out. He sat forward a bit at this. "He was trying to get the thing - gryphon - off of me, but it ended up attacking him."

"We found you two and the destroyed gryphon inside the camp boarders. Now Irene, you must know that no monster, such as the one that attacked you, can get across those borders. That is, unless a god or someone inside the camp allowed it to enter."

It took me a moment to process what he was saying through all the new information he was bombarding me with. "What do you mean a god? As in God or..."

"It will be explained," he sighed. "For now, all you need to know is that you - and all the other people in this camp - are the children of the gods you have learned of in Greek myths. I understand you must be shocked and very much confused. However, we have other mysteries to clear up."

I tried to wade through the pieces of information he threw at me. After processing the words for a moment, I simply let go of making sense of them. I resolved to set the strange information aside for now and figure it out later. "Uh, right. Mysteries like how the monster got across the boarder?"

"Yes. And also the question of why an Olympian-made automaton would attack a half-blood like you."

"An Olympian god...and half-blood like me. Half-bloods are half god and I'm a half-blood? So you're saying an Olympian - a god - sent a monster after me?" I muddled through what he was saying.

He leaned in closer to me with brows pulled low in a stern glare. "Olympians attacking their own children, monsters crossing the boarder without reason. Such events are certainly unheard of."

What he was saying finally clicked, "You think I have something to do with the attack. You think that I let the gryphon in or that maybe an Olympian had reason to attack me, that's why I'm locked in this room." Despair filtered into my voice as my view of this man as a wise, trustworthy person faded.

"You are by no means a prisoner. We simply didn't know what to make of this situation and were only taking precautions. Even you see how unprecedented this occurrence is."

"I have no idea what is happening or why everything happened the way it did. I just followed Sebastian and tried to stay alive. Would you suspect me of something like that when I don't even know what is going on?"

"We don't suspect you of letting the gryphon in. I decided to be cautious because you seem to me, not quite the same as the rest of the half-bloods. You are farther away from my senses and so I cannot get an accurate reading on you."

"What do you mean, get a reading?" I questioned, less accusingly this time.

"I have had experience with half-bloods - or demigods - and can often guess their godly parent. But you seem disconnected, the other campers could even feel the difference. And in these difficult times, mysterious happenings must be taken seriously."

I had to agree with him that these were certainly mysterious times. So far, the war had been simmering across globe and with each declaration, each encroachment on others' territory, it drew ever closer to boiling over. And now with this whole new world I didn't know existed, it got even more complex.

But still, his comment left me unnerved, feeling like I was an outsider sneaking into enemy territory. "Are you saying I don't belong here, that this was a mistake?"

He chuckled slightly at this, "The gods make impetuous and, at times, reckless decisions but I find it hard to believe that they would make such a mistake. The gods certainly believed there was reason to attack, but that doesn't mean you aren't welcome here. The gods are mysterious and often make complex decisions, so don't take as an offense if we take extra interest in figuring out why they did what they did and who they attacked who they did."

He turned as if to leave, but before he could I asked, "so, should I stay in this room or..."

He gave me a stern look, "You are no prisoner, you are one of us and may roam as you please. But please try to stay within the boundaries of the camp, we don't want any more monsters catching your scent." He rolled to the door and glanced back before shutting it, "and do be careful around here. This camp has been falling apart for some time now."