I. Am. So. Sorry.

I know that I was supposed to have this chapter out a 2 weeks or so ago, but I've been crazy busy with everything, and I know you don't wanna hear my excuses so I'll shut up now... Also, I'm really sorry about how much the story changes POV's I just wanted you to get to know all of the charactars. From the next chapter on it'll be 2 POV's max per chapter. Without further wait, I present, Chapter One in my story "Quest to Demeter."

Disclaimer:I don't own PJO. Insert witty comment here.

Natalie Lily Swanson's POV

Reading was where I found peace of mind.

Life as a demigod wasn't exactly the most relaxing thing in the world. Reading allowed me to envelope myself in a false world. It allowed me to get away from how terribly screwed up my life was and enter a world of happy endings and adventure.

That's why when someone bothered me when I was reading, I. Got. Pissed.

"Natalie?" a voice said from somewhere next to me. I closed my eyes in irritation, trying to match the voice with a face. It had to be someone who didn't know me well, because instead of calling me Lily, he called me Natalie. I was about to make an assumption on who it was when...

"Um, Natalie?" the voice said again.

"What?" I snapped, looking irritably up at the boy standing next to me. I immediately wished I could take back what I said. There in front of me, in all of his god-like glory, was Kolby Stanko.

Kolby was one of the most popular boys at camp. Whether it was his sparkling wit, his exceptional fighting skills, or his unbearably good looks (probably the latter), he was the boy I'd been crushing on for two long years. Six months of those in which he'd been dating Alexa Hollister, some snot from Hebe. I hated that girl with every fiber of my being. She was a crazy witch who was just using Kolby to climb up the social ladder, and sometimes, she made me want to kick her where it counted.

Ahem, anyway...

I focused my attention on Kolby again.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else," I said, nervously brushing a lock of my caramel brown hair behind my ear. A light blush residing on my cheeks, and I prayed to the gods he didn't notice. I'd talked to Kolby sometimes when we were on the same team for capture the flag or when we got paired up together to practice swordplay in the arena, but this was new. He'd never come to me on his own accord.

"Oh, no problem. I was actually wondering if you could—" he began, but a shrill voice sounded from a couple feet away.

"KOLBYYYYY! Where are you, gorgeous?"

Oh, gods. I knew that voice. I tensed, looking in the direction of the source of the voice.

There, behind Kolby, materialized Alexa from what looked like nowhere. Her thick blond hair was pulled back in a flawless high ponytail and she was wearing a bright pink bikini top. Her shorts? They looked like glorified panties.

Her grin vanished when she saw me. She skipped up to us and wrapped her long, bony arms around Kolby's neck possessively.

"Where have YOU been?" she squealed in that annoyingly high voice. She then proceeded to plant a big wet smooch on his lips. I rolled my eyes and decided I could read somewhere else. I picked up my beach blanket, beach bag, and book, then began to walk away, but soon, I heard footsteps behind me. In my peripheral vision, Kolby was jogging after me, sans Alexa.

"Hey, Natalie! Can you wait a sec?" he yelled from a couple feet behind me. I stopped and turned around.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked; my voice had a cold edge in it, the one it got when I saw Kolby hung around Alexa. I looked at his stance, noticing that it screamed nervous. He was constantly running his hand through his thick blond hair and his eyes were darting around like he was worried someone was following him. I could tell something was wrong. Kolby was almost always outgoing, funny, and his eyes were usually lit up like a Christmas tree. But today as my green eyes met his electric blue ones, I only saw one expression. Panic.

"Sorry," I said, feeling bad that I'd put such an univiting tone in my voice.

"I know you're only being so cold to me so that you can mask the strong feelings you have for to break it to you Swanson, but I've got a girlfriend." He said with a boyish grin, I detected a fraction of his normal playful banter return to his voice.

"Get over yourself." I said with a small smile.

"What if I don't want to?"

Normally, I didn't fall for cocky guys like Kolby. In grade six (before he came to CHB) I'd imagine the guy I'd been with to be smart, responsible, and had everything planned. Kolby was smart only when it came to battle (being a son of Ares), one of the most immature and irresponsible guys at camp, and was a little spontaneous. But my father had once told me that you knew why you liked someone, but you didn't know why you loved someone.

"Anyway," Kolby said, snapping me out of my trance, "I have to talk to you about something—a dream I had about your mom. It was like she was... I don't know... like... wilting... I was hoping you could help me interpret it. It kind of freaked me out, because it almost looked like she was calling to me for help." He said, going off into deep thought.

I paused to soak in this information. My godly parent was Demeter. You know—planting... flowers... and yes, regrettably, cereal. If a demigod had had a dream about her wilting, that definitely wasn't a good sign. I thought about handing this case over to Demeter's head counselor, but decided against it. Despite what I said about it not being a good sign, it could still be nothing, and bothering Katie Gardner over nothing wasn't something I liked to do frequently.

I looked at my watch and realized that in ten minutes, I was due at the climbing wall for practice. As much as I hated to ditch Kolby, this was my first time on the wall, and apparently, Percy Jackson would be our instructor. From all the great things I'd heard about him, I couldn't pass it up. I thought it over—ten minutes until then. That gave me just enough time to head back to my cabin and change, but not enough time to discuss Kolby's dream with him

I bit my bottom lip. "Wilting, huh? That's interesting. Um, can we get together to talk about it at, like, three-ish in front of my cabin? I'm a little busy right now..." I said, praying with every cell of my being that he would say yes.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he said, flashing me one of those award-winning smiles. I couldn't help but return it.

"See you then!" I said with a small wave.

"See you!" he replied, and then started to jog back towards the beach, to dearest Alexa no doubt. Even though that negative thought should've upset me, the positive ones about spending time alone with Kolby overpowered it.

Roshan Alicia Davis' POV

The arrow whizzed from my bowstrings and hit the target I'd been shooting for dead in the center. I smiled. Perfect as usual, Davis, I thought. I set down my weapons and decided to take a quick break. My hand instinctively flew up to my jet black, unruly hair. I sighed, realizing my braid had almost completely come undone. I gave up trying to redo it without a mirror, and settled for a high ponytail. I sat down and took the oppurtunity to wipe the sweat off of my chocolate brown skin and take a sip from my water bottle. I was about to notch my bow when I heard a boyish chuckle from behind me. My tense battle stance stiffened and I whipped around to see William Kilmurray chuckling at me from a couple feet away. I didn't know William very well—never talked to the kid in my life—but I knew he was popular at the Aphrodite cabin right now.

I raised my eyebrows, "What're you looking at sole-less?" I asked, cringing at the name. It was bad. I know.

"Sole-less?" He inquired.

"Like the sole of a Nike tennis shoe versus your actual soul." I said giggling at how stupid the name was.

"Oh, I can most definitely come up with an insult better than that."

I shook my head. Typical kid of Nike.

"No you can't. Nike's just hard to do... If we had a contest where any god was up for grabs, I would win."

"I'm a kid of Nike; I don't lose. Winning, however—I do do that," he said, picking up a bow from the pile in the corner of the arena. Without my meaning to, I let out a snort of laughter. He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Y-you said doo-doo..." I said, a wave of giggles washing over me. Before I knew it, he was laughing, too. If I ever looked back on this moment, I would praise myself for making the doo-doo joke. Hey, somebody's got to.

"Another bad joke, Davis," he said as our laughing came to a stop.

"I don't know, you were laughing pretty hard." I tilted my head and threw him a smile.

"Probably because of how stupid it was," he said, grinning.

"Oh, and you could make a better joke that's so stupid it's funny?" I asked, shaking the thoughts of William's good looks out of my head.

"Challenging me twice in a day, Davis? I don't think your ego can take so much abuse. Give me a minute, I'll come up with something." He wandered off in deep thought.I gave myself a moment to take in his shadow black hair, gorgeous green eyes, and lean runners build. I had to admit, he was pretty easy on the eyes.

Finally, he turned back to me. "What did Batman say to Robin before they got in the Batmobile?" he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"What?" I asked, already determined not to laugh.

"Get in the car."

Despite my previous intention, I erupted into peal after peal of laughter. He was right: that bad joke topped mine.

I finally collected myself and, stifling my giggles, straightened up. "That was a nice break, but I really gotta get back to practice. Is there something you wanted to tell me?" I asked, picking up my bow.

"Oh, yeah. There was a schedule change. You're due at the climbing wall instead of arts and crafts," he said.

"The climbing wall? SWEET! I've been waiting to get my hands on that thing since the first day I saw it!" I exclaimed, bouncing on my heels in excitement.

"No kidding, huh? Well, on top of that, Percy Jackson's the instructor," he said. I could see his eyes light up at that fact.

"Meh. He's overrated. What time are we supposed to be there?" I asked. Will looked down at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Five minutes ago." He grabbed my arm and broke into a sprint, dragging me after him.

I tried to ignore the light blush that rose to my cheeks upon the physical contact and hoped Will was too busy running to see it.

Maxwell Chase Raymond's POV

"MAX!"

I heard a muffled yell from somewhere across the room. I groaned in response.

"Go 'way," I mumbled, pulling my comforter over my curly black hair. Suddenly, my entire body was exposed to the cool morning air. I snuggled deeper into my bed.

"Up or Charmander gets it."

My eyes immediately flew open. Charmander was a stuffed Pokemon that my mom had given me for Christmas a few years back. No, I was not ashamed to say that I slept with it every night.

"Travis," I said, finally recognizing the voice, "why didn't you come back to the cabin last night? Making out with Gardner in the woods again?" I asked, looking at him to see his expression. Much to my discontent, he didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed.

"As a matter of fact Max-a-million, I was. I wouldn't be teasing, kid; I get more action in one day that you get in one year," he said while pulling me out of bed.

"Whatever happened to the 'girls have cooties' thing?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Somewhere along the road, it turned into 'girls have boobies'. Anyway, breakfast is over. So is lunch. Today you're scheduled for the climbing wall—can't let you miss that. Your first time on the wall, AND my good friend Perce is instructing. By the way, you're late." He opened my dresser and started throwing some clothes on my bed.

As soon as I had come to camp, I had become Travis and Connor's prodigy, and they had taken me under their wing and taught me everything they knew. They told me that after they leave, they need a pranking king to take their place. After a while, they became the brothers I never had. Travis gave me advice on life and pushed me to be the best I could while Connor helped me relax and have fun every once in a while. They were the best companions I could ever ask for.

"Get dressed, Maxie. Got a big day ahead of us," he said as he jogged out of the cabin. I groaned, resisting the very big urge to fall back into my bed, and began to get dressed.

Faelyn Grace Smithson's POV

I sat down on a disfigured rock, glad for the moment's respite. On my break, I had regrettably decided to take a jog in the woods. I had just needed a bit of time to clear my head, and soon enough, I realized that I'd been jogging for four miles. I sighed and ran my fingers through my chesnut brown hair. Walking back would be a pain, and after that, I had the climbing wall, which I would need major leg strength for. I wanted to do my best today because I heard the instructor had defeated the titan lord and managed to not get turned into a jackalope by Lady Artemis, both of which tasks I found impressive, but the latter more so. I began the long trek back towards camp, ignoring the aching pain in my legs.

"Faelyn?"

Hearing my name, I whipped around to see Lady Artemis contacting me through an Iris Message.

"My lady!" I said, kneeling and bowing my head.

"Get up child. I have news." I stood up and brushed the dirt off my knees.

"What is it?" I asked, hoping and praying that it was news that I could get to leave this wretched camp and come back to the Hunters. I hoped that it was that I was done spying on the half-bloods, who didn't understand me like my Hunters did. I hoped it was news that I could return to the place I belonged.

"There will be a quest. I want you to go on it. The half-bloods on the quest may provide some use to me," she said sharply. My face fell, and it must have been noticeable because Lady Artemis's face softened.

"Oh Faelyn. Don't give me those eyes," She said, I'd been told many a time by her that when sad my pale blue eyes took on an extremely gloomy disposition. "I know that this is difficult, child. I'm trying to construct a way to get you out of that place without Chiron suspecting that I've been spying on him. I don't want to lose the campers as allies." Her eyes searched mine, as if trying to see how this affected me. Although I was disappointed, I understood the duty to my lady.

"Thank you my lady. That means...more than you know," I said, offering a small, unconvincing smile.

"You're welcome. Now, you better run along; you're late for climbing on that wall." She gestured to the clearing in the woods.

I looked at my watch and yelled a profanity that would get my too big mouth washed out with soap at home. I muttered a quick goodbye and apology to Lady Artemis, who had an amused look on her seemingly-young face, and sprinted out of the woods.

Third Person POV

Percy rubbed the bridge of his nose; none of the junior campers had decided that they were going to show up today. Well, none except for Lily Swanson. She was a timid child of Demeter who was anything but a conversationalist. After a couple of attempts at making her laugh, Percy had just slipped into an uncomfortable silence, waiting for the others to show up. Finally, five other figures appeared on the horizon. He breathed a sigh of relief, not sure how much longer he could have stood the silence.

They all came from different directions and bombarded him with excuses, apologies, and "oh my gods, you're Percy Jackson"'s. Fortunately, he was used to all three.

"All right," he called. "Everyone but Natalie—"

"Lily. Call me Lily, please," she interrupted. Percy was mildly surprised, but obliged.

"Sorry. Everyone but Lily, drop and give me twenty." Percy grinned. How he loved torturing the younger campers. Groans circled all around, but everyone knew not to disobey Percy.

Percy surveyed the group, matching each name with a face.

Roshan Davis, who was a child of Apollo. Annabeth had mentioned her once or twice because she was amazing with a bow and some arrows.

Faelyn Smithson, daughter of Nike and an object of curiosity to him. She was an ex-Hunter who had decided to come to camp for reasons unknown to him. Percy didn't know whether to feel bad for her because she had next to NO friends here, or to be suspicous of her because she was very closed-off and mysterious.

Maxwell Raymond, child of Hermes, famous prankster. Percy chuckled at how much of Travis he saw in that boy.

Kolby Stanko, son of Ares. Normally, Percy hated the guts of everyone in that cabin, but this kid was different in many ways: he was compassionate about things other than fighting, valued human life, and had a weird obsession with purple.

William Kilmurray, son of Nike. Apparently, this kid reminded everybody of Percy when he himself was fourteen. Percy'd never really talked to him, but he decided this would be a good chance.

Finally, there was Lily/Natalie, whom he knew nothing about.

Something about these kids made Percy's battle senses tingle. Alone, they meant nothing, but together, he felt something weird coming on.

"What do we do when we're done?" He heard someone's voice ask him, snapping him about of his deep thought. He grinned. Time for some fun.

"Start climbing the wall," Percy said, gesturing over to the tall slab of stone. It was extremely intimidating, with lava pouring over the sides, jagged rocks strategically placed to hinder campers, and ledges made of stone, wood, and plastic. The Hephaestus cabin had made additions to the wall throughout time, and Percy was REALLY glad that Leo Valdez hadn't exsisted when he was a junior camper.

The campers looked around at each other, trying to figure out if he was joking.

"Oh, I'm serious. You'll have to figure out how to do this on your own; I'm just here in case someone gets stuck. And by stuck, I mean when someone is facing sudden death and they can't get out by themselves." Percy gestured to the wall again. "Start climbing."

OKAY!

That was intense, and probably the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope I nailed all of your characters, and if not, leave a review telling me how terribly I did. (feel free to praise me as well ;)) Again, sorry it took so long with the first chapter; I just wanted to start of the story on a REALLY good note.

-Jazz