Chapter 2

I send the water flying out of the fountain, carrying me up to the Pegasus. Percy throws a spear at Heather and she dodges. I rub my pearl on my bracelet like I always do when I'm nervous.

Percy gasps. "Give me your wrist." he shrieks, pulling my arm towards him. He grabs my bracelet and says quietly, "Di immortales… Of all the gods…" He rubs the pearl and shouts, "Close your eyes, Grover!"

The pearl explodes. I scream. A conch horn blows. The dracaenas explode where they're standing. Rachel expertly steers her Pegasus next to mine and ties my bags to the saddle horn of my beast. She swings the reins over the ears of the polite animal and pulls her towards the western horizon. I dig my heel into her side and Rachel lets go as I keep pace next to hero.

Suddenly, I say words that will soon be famous, "With great power… comes a great need to take a nap… Night-night, Rach," I say my words fading into nothingness. I feel myself being pulled into someone's arms and being draped across a horse's neck and then I'm out.

"…Genevieve? Genevieve? Wake up, hon." I hear someone say, shaking me gently.

I open my eyes to see a girl with curly blond hair tied back into a messy side-pony and stormy grey eyes leaning over me.

"Whadya want?" I groan, stretching and accidentally smacking her in the face. "Oops! Sorry!" I cry, clapping my hands over my mouth delicately. "Are you okay?"

She groans and stumbles away, nose in her elbow. I sit up and discover that I still wearing my Clarion's Academy uniform. It looked awful. The skirt, which was normally knee-length and gray and pink plaid, is frayed and worn out. My pink blouse has a gigantic mud-stain on the side. My gray blazer is almost ripped to shreds.

"I knew that you'd notice the clothes first!" comes a shout from behind me. I spin and fall over onto my butt in a mud-puddle. I notice my surroundings then. I am in a gigantic white canvas tent with beds lining the walls. It looks like a hospital ward. Some kids with bandages on various body parts are in the beds. Percy is leaning against the door frame, shaking with laughter.

I gather my wits about me, standing up and wincing mentally as I see the new stain on my butt. "Well?" I demand. He looks confused. "Do you have clothes for me?" I sigh. Boys are soooooo slow.

"Oh, oh, yeah. Here," he turns around and lugs one of my suitcases down the aisle towards me. I snatch it from him and briskly walk behind a blue changing screen. I hear him groan from the other side, "So that's why girls are strong." I laugh and choose my clothes.

I shift through the contents of the bag until I find what I'm looking for. I heft out a white garment bag, similar to the rest in the case and hang it on a coat-rack. I unzip it with a flourish and reveal a very awesome outfit. The first thing that catches the eye is the zebra print, wide necked zebra top. Next you notice the bright pink light-weight trench-coat with the slit up the back that makes it is possible to move. Lastly you see the black skinny jeans with rhinestones on the back pocket. I slip it all on and tie the strings on the coat, walking out from the small area and striking a pose.

The injured kids started to laugh so hard that some started hacking up a lung. Grey-eyes (who has red smears under her chin) and Percy each take one of my elbows and lift me up, taking me to the door of the tent. There, they set me down so Percy can unzip the flap. Grey-eyed girl covers my eyes and directs me out into the warm sunlight and fresh, clean air. Then my eyes were suddenly impacted by the bright sunlight as Grey-eyed girl removes her hand and says, "Welcome to Camp! I'm Annabeth."

I was in the middle of a… a…

War Camp?

I am in the middle of a war camp for teenagers. Kids are running this way and that, some in full Greek battle armor, some in orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. There is an arena for… Basketball? No, I strain my eyes to see what it was. I take a few steps forward in shock when I make out the small people in there who are sword-fighting. No joke. Sword-fighting. Right next to that, there is a small fenced-in area for archery practice.

I boy about my age, with floppy black hair, waves from the bottom of the hill and runs up. "Hey, Gen! How you doing?"

Oh.

My.

God.

It's Nico diAngelo, my awesome boyfriend.

The two of us have been dating for three months and he is soooooo sweet. He kissed me on the cheek last weekend (I'm the hopelessly romantic one whose perfect guy is the kind of guy who calls you "beautiful" instead of "hot" or "babe."). We had a date planned for Friday. He was going to take me to the zoo. Oh well, guess that won't happen.

Wait. He is here. He had known about all of this from the beginning.

"Hey, Nico." Percy calls, slapping him on the back when he reached us.

"Hey Percabeth!" he laughs. Percy's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "That's a mix of Percy and Annabeth. You guys have a couple name already!" He turns to me and grabs me in a hug. I count.

One Mississippi…

Two Mississippi…

Three Mississippi…

Four seconds. He hugged me for four seconds. (RECORD!)

He pushes my slightly away and looks me up and down. "You look famished. Let me take you to lunch. I'll introduce you to my peeps." He grabs my elbow and pulls me away from Percy and toward a big area in the center of "camp" that is an open pavilion with Greek columns surrounding an open space with stone picnic tables. Once we get close enough that I can hear the low rumble of voices from in there, Nico pulls me into a tree.

"OW!" I shout and he looks me in the eye, shutting me up immediately.

"O. K. You know how you never met your dad?" he mumbles. I nod. "Well, that's because he's the Greek god Poseidon. Percy back there is your half-brother. I am a son of Hades, god of the underworld." I clap my hand to the side of my face. Usually I can sand anything thrown at me. I can believe 'Genevieve Clare. Your father was killed in a shipwreck at sea.' and 'Jenny; you are the most special thing on Earth.' But I can't comprehend this. This is just too perfect. Too… Too… Too much like my dreams.

"You're not joking." I state. Nico and I have, like, a telepathic connection so we can tell when the other lies.

"Correct. Now. When we walk in there. Act like yourself. Act like the beautiful, confident cheerleader/bookworm that I fell in love with and make them all love you. I'll introduce you." he took me gently by the hand and pulled me out of the bush-like tree. He plucked a leaf out of my hair and we swung our hands as we walked toward the Dining Hall.