I am legitimately sorry everyone. I just went through a super bad writing slump, kind of brought on by the start of school in early August. I can't say it won't happen again, I just hope it doesn't. Feel free to spam me with a bunch of reviews or PMs if I do it again.

Screaming. All I remember was screaming.

I woke up the entire Hermes cabin, and at first they all thought it was a normal nightmare, until I was still awake and still freaking out. Anyone that tried to calm me down was met with my rabid flailing limbs.

I remember waking up to see the entire cabin staring at me, collapsed on someone's bunk. My arms and legs were burnt, peeling skin. It felt like my blood was on fire.

It wasn't a great start to the day.

The rest of the Hermes cabin avoided me for the rest of the morning and afternoon. Whenever I had to be near them or do an activity together, no one would meet my gaze. They said it was normal, so why were they acting like something was wrong with me?

As the sun was setting, we gathered in the dining pavilion as usual. Unlike the past few days, where I was squished in between different people, tonight no one wanted to get near me. I sat on the edge, with people leaning to the side just not to touch me. The spot in front of me was open.

I rubbed my burns absentmindedly, even a little bit just to freak out everyone even more. Whispers curled around me, telling me that rumors of my freak dream had already spread around the camp. I could almost actually feel people's gaze as they stared at my arms and legs, giving their own opinions on what happened.

The Hermes cabin rose, along with all the other tables, which meant I had daydreamed through the dinner announcements, along with the command to go to the fire pit.

I walked alongside everyone else and dropped a bit of my steak into the fire. As I turned to walk back to my table with everyone else, I caught a whiff of the smoke.

"Trust no one, Tayen."

I whirled around, ready to smack who ever whispered the ominous message in my ear. Did they think it was funny?

As I turned, my vision blurred slightly, dizziness jumbled my thoughts. Shaking my head, my vision cleared to see an entire pavilion with everyone seated at their tables. When did the entire camp get finished with their sacrifices? I was only up there for a few seconds.

When I focused on the details of one face, they were all carved with the same emotions. Surprise. Confusion. Fear.

I glared at as many people as I could as I was walking back to the Hermes table. What was their problem? Couldn't they just leave me alone for once. I half wanted to walk straight out of there, but I had done that too much. I wasn't going to run away just because a few people had a problem with me.

I sat down, not even touching my food. I wasn't going to eat food that was made by the same people staring at me with such strong emotions about me. The words I had heard by the pit echoed in my ear. Trust no one.

It had to be advice from my parent, which meant someone was after me. Here, in the camp, I was being targeted. It could be Eli, or Sophie. Each one I had spilled my secrets to, which meant they had leverage over me. I couldn't talk to anyone anymore, no one could be my friend. There was a wolf in the flock.

Tonight was the forest games, the perfect time to catch me off guard. Anyone who really wanted to could overpower me. I was, unfortunately, an extremely unfit, weak, barely trained, thirteen year old girl whose only skill was running her mouth.

My food sat uneaten as Chiron called for order.

"Demigods! Tonight is our forest games, as most of you know."

Loud cheering came from the tables, with some even stomping their feet and banging the tables.

"We are introducing a new game, called Conquer. The goal of the game is to conquer every team's base. There will be four teams, one for every corner of the forest. In order to take over a base, you must eliminate everyone in the base boundaries that is not not on your team. To make this clear, there are no safe areas. You can get eliminated anywhere."

I narrowed my eyes. These rules were making it easier and easier for someone to take me out. What if Chiron was helping whoever it was? It made sense, he never told me anything straight out.

Chiron kept talking. "In order to get eliminated, you must be disarmed. Once you are disarmed, walk out of the forest with your hands on your head to the big house. If you disarm someone, take their weapon back to your base. Weapons will be returned after the game ends. Also, if your base get conquered, your entire team is out. A horn will be blown once a team is out from their corner of the forest. No maiming, traps are allowed, and no cheating."

The tables cheered, everyone getting up to grab their armor and lace it up. I, however, tried to slip out of the pavilion, avoiding playing the game at all. Unfortunately, the head counselor of the Hermes cabin stopped me.

"Here's some armor that should fit you, we're on the east team. Since you're a beginner, I'll have you on defense."

He pushed a heavy chest plate into my arms and walked off before I could protest. I had no choice but to follow him, now that he would be looking for me.

The rest of the Hermes cabin was gathered in a big group with another cabin. Most of them had bleach-blond hair and tan skin. As I walked towards them, laughter erupted from the center of the mixed cabins. The source seemed to be a tall kid that looked identical to his cabin, blond and all, and a familiar pale boy.

It was Nico, that kid that shadow-traveled or whatever. He was on our team? Great, just another reason for me not to play.

I joined the mass of the Hermes cabin and the blonds, heading towards Nico. I wanted him to know that I was there and to stay out of my way.

I broke just into the edge of the circle, where everyone was standing around the blond, still laughing, and Nico, oddly blushing. The pink looked neon on his almost translucent skin.

I stood there, holding the heavy armor, watching Nico and the blonde laugh. In a moment when Nico was catching his breath, his gazed locked on mine and stopped laughing. He tapped the blond on the arm and said something I didn't catch. I turned around, pushing my way out of the circle, knowing Nico would follow me.

After pushing out of the mass, I turned around to see Nico right behind me.

"Hey," he said, his face expressionless, "I'm sorry about when we met. We were in a rush."

I breathed in slowly. It was taking all my self-restraint not to punch him in the face. "Right."

Nico smiled, and expression that looked weird on him. "Look, I want you to stick with me and Will for the game. I already asked Cecil if it was cool, so you're good."

"Will," I asked, "who is Will?"

"Oh, um," Nico blushed slightly, "Will is, well-"

He was interrupted by the tall blond I mentioned earlier. "Hey Neeks!" he said, "Is this the girl?"

"The girl's name is Tayen," I said, giving the blond a glare, "and she doesn't like it when people don't introduce themselves to her."

The blond looked shocked. "Well, um, you can tell her that I'm sorry, and that my name is Will. And that she'll be hanging out with us during the game."
I crossed my arms, hoping that I looked as angry as I felt. "Well, Will, I don't care much for games, so you can tell Chiron that I won't be playing."

I turned my back towards them, and started walking in the direction of the Hermes cabin when I heard Will mutter something.

"What's her problem?"

Rage hit me. Adrenaline instantly raced through me, giving me the boost I needed. I whirled around and rammed my elbow into Will's chest like a bullet. It was Fight or Flight, and I wasn't running.

I felt my arm slam into his chest, and it felt odd. Maybe he had really hard abs? Will fell back and landed on his back on the ground. An odd clang rang through my ears, my dizzy brain barely picking it up. It sounded almost like metal…

When the odd burst of energy ended, and I stopped swaying, I looked down to see what I had done too Will, and the odd things about the attack made sense.

Will was wearing a bronze chest plate when I hit him, and there was now a gaping hole with jagged metal edges sticking inward, big enough to fit my arm. I had punched through the strongest metal of the gods.

Pain raced through my elbow, and I saw blood streaming down it, flowing past the bits of metal stuck in my skin.

Everyone was staring at me, including Will and Nico. Everyone was scared of me, it was as clear as day on their faces.

I cleared my throat, looking straight at Will. "She also doesn't like it when people say things about her behind her back." I looked up, giving the crowd a glare also. Might as well make my point known.

I turned around for the second time, and was about to stalk off to wherever. The door to the Big House opened, and Chiron stepped out, taking in the scene in front of him. I sighed. I really screwed up.

"What!" I shrieked, "You're giving me a baby sitter!"

Chiron sighed. "Look, you put our best healer in the infirmary, and you've never played a forest game before. Two perfectly good reasons to give you some help and have someone stay with you."

I looked over at Nico. "But him? Seriously?" Nico didn't even look offended, he just sat there with his head off in another land.

Chiron gave me one of his looks, like he was reading my mind. What if he actually could? "You attacked another camper for no reason, you have to be reasonable."

I was shocked. "No reason? He antagonized me! He said something me about me behind my back!"

Nico perked up. "What, do you mean Tayen? Will didn't say anything."

I looked at him in anger. "Of course he did! I don't attack people for fun! He had to have said something!"

Both Chiron and Nico had a pitying look on their faces. It made me sick.

"Just go get suited up and follow Nico, Tayen." Chiron trotted out of the room.

Nico and I stood in the designated boundaries for our base. Four faint green lines of light intersected, creating the box that we needed to guard. I could hear fighting in the distance, muffled war cries combined with the clang of metal on metal.

I shifted my armor and blew a stray hair out of my face. "This is stupid. We should be helping."

Nico stood awkwardly also. "We are helping. We're guarding the base."

I was about to retort when I heard a rustling of bushes to our left. Out stepped six heavily armed campers with yellow plumes. They were from the west.

The guy in front twisted his sword around in his hand. Nico turned towards me and pushed me away from the base. "Run. I've got this."

There were six guys, so he clearly didn't got this, but I ran off into the forest anyways. I could hear Nico yelling behind me, but he seemed to be not eliminated yet.

When I had gotten to what I thought was a safe distance, I climbed up a tree to see what was going on. The bark tore at my hands, and before I knew it, I was bleeding again.

The scene below me was so weird I had trouble processing everything. Nico had a long black sword and was fighting three guys at once. The other three yellows were walking away from the base with their hands above their heads.

My gaze went back to Nico, who was as fast as a bullet, dodging all of their attacks and making his own in the process. A guy lunged at him before he could recover from the last strike, and Nico disappeared. The last three guys turned around, looking for him. I however, knew exactly what had happened. Nico had done his shadow-traveling thingy, and was about to reappear and attack them again.

I was right. Nico shadow-traveled right in front of them, and before they could realise what happened, all of their swords were out of their hands.

I shimmied out of the tree, ready to meet back up with Nico again and ask him how he shadow-travels. I was actually quite interested, and all my anger from earlier and somehow dissipated.

When I got out of the tree, a bluish light caught my eye, and I glanced over to see what is was. A floating, bluish light hovered right next to me, and wisps of light coming off of it looked like arms, gesturing me towards out of bounds.

I obliged, walking in the direction the floating blue thing kept drifting towards. Every few seconds or so, if I listened hard, I could hear a giggle or a chiming of bells coming from the ball of light. It seemed so friendly, I couldn't help but trust it. What harm could a small, tiny, floating blue thing do?

It led me into an awfully familiar clearing, one I just couldn't put my finger on. The moon shone down on me, casting beautiful silver rays through the air. I turned slowly, taking in the beautiful scene before me. And I started to dance.

One foot after another. I was leaping through the air with a fluidity I never knew I had. My shoes and armor were mysteriously gone, letting me feel the grass on my toes. The less weight the better too.

I danced and danced, letting my body go with the flow of the music only in my head. I didn't know what it was, I just felt compelled to do it.

Animals gathered in a circle around me, some in odd positions that could look like bowing. Each one was swaying their head to the rhythm of my song.

The tune got louder and louder in my ears, and I felt my feet lifting off of the ground. There were no monsters, no tricks, it was just me in a magical forest having the dance of my life. I was raised higher, right to the top of the forest canopy. My feet were supported by something, but it was so thin I couldn't tell what it was. I kept dancing, moving my feet to the song I hoped would never stop.

The moon seemed so much brighter above the trees, letting me see the whole of the sound I met Percy in, and the camp that I now called home. It was beautiful.

The song ended, and I was slowly lowered back down to the ground. All the animals were gone, and so was the beautiful moon lighting. It did seem a bit bright though.

A figure on the edge of the tree line caught my eye. It was Nico, and he had the most shocked expression I had ever seen. He locked eyes with me, and raised his hand wordlessly to point above me.

I looked up, and hovering above my head was a hologram-like object. It was a bow and arrow, and the bow looked suspiciously like a moon.

Nico knelt down, still looking straight at me. "Artemis, Protector Of Wild Animals, Chariot Rider of The Moon, Maiden Goddess, all hail Tayen, um, Daughter of The Huntress.

WOWOWOWOWOWOW, you all never would have guessed that, huh? Yes, I know Artemis is the maiden goddess, it will all be explained later. Hope you all liked this chapter, remember, I love getting reviews and feedback.