Special thanks to the reviews left by PercyplusAnnabeth and bookworm909 for reassuring me about tLH dialogue. I was more worried about the readers than myself, and they made me feel a whole lot better! :)

Dialogue and characters owned by Rick Riordan.

Jason sighed angrily and shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

I was getting tired of hearing it, too.

Those marks gave me an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

Seriously, this entire guy was giving me an uncomfortable feeling.

As I looked at his arm again, I realized that it wasn't a tattoo. It wasn't ink, it was scarred flesh.

"Those look burned into your skin," I gasped.

"They were," Jason said. Then he shuddered, touching his temples. "I mean…I think so. I don't remember."

I was getting extremely suspicious of Jason. No memory, purple t-shirt, burned skin, and his ridiculously familiar blue eyes. Also, his uncanny knowledge about the gods, but in Latin.

All of the eyes that were once on Jason switched to me. They stared at me, waiting for my decision.

"He needs to go straight to Chiron," I decided. Chiron would know what was going on. "Drew, would you…?"

"Absolutely." She practically leapt toward him and shoved her arm through his. "This way, sweetie," she chattered. "I'll introduce you to our director. He's…an interesting guy."

She turned and flashed her eyes at Piper, and then swept him away with the lingering smell of expensive perfume.

Piper looked like she could crush Drew's head in. She heaved a deep breath and then turned towards me.

"Who's Chiron?" she asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"

I didn't know how to answer her. He was a complete mystery.

I got the feeling that Piper and Jason had a relationship before, and I needed to find a way to break the bad news.

"Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you a tour. We need to talk."

xXx

I tried to sound enthusiastic while describing the camp to Piper. I really did. But after returning to the camp with no success with Percy, it was hard to sound cheerful.

Piper noticed something was wrong with me, but she didn't say anything. Her eyes were shining as she looked around the camp, and when we climbed to the top of a hill and looked at the view, her eyes lit up with excitement.

"The valley is protected from mortal eyes," I told her. "As you can see, the weather is controlled, too. Each cabin represents a Greek god—a place for that god's children to live."

I glanced at Piper. She stared at me.

"You're saying Mom was a goddess."

I nodded. "You're taking this awfully calmly." Way better than some of the other demigods who came to camp before. Talk about nervous breakdowns.

Piper didn't answer for a while. She stood there, her eyes furrowed in thought. She finally breathed in.

"I guess after this morning, it's a little easier to believe. So…who's my mom?"

"We should know soon," I reassured her. "You're what—fifteen? Gods are supposed to claim you when you're thirteen. That was the deal."

Gods, gods were horrible at keeping promises.

"The deal?"

"They made a promise last summer…long story…but they promised not to ignore their demigod children anymore, to claim them by the time they turn thirteen. You saw how fast Leo was claimed once he got here." The image of Leo running around and waving his arms with the flaming hammer above his head almost made me crack a smile. "Should happen for you soon. Tonight at the campfire, I bet we'll get a sign."

"Why thirteen?"

"The older you get, the more monsters notice you, try to kill you." Her eyes widened at that, but then I guess she realized what happened to her earlier today, and she relaxed. "'Round thirteen is usually when it starts. That's why we send protectors into the schools to find you guys, get you to camp before it's too late."

"Like Coach Hedge?"

I nodded. "He's—he was a satyr: half man, half goat. Satyrs work for the camp, finding demigods, protecting them, bringing them in when the time is right."

She didn't look surprised at all.

"What happened to him?" she asked. "When we went up into the clouds, did he…is he gone for good?"

"Hard to say." I felt worried. Storm spirits were deadly and extremely dangerous. "Storm spirits…difficult to battle. Even our best weapons, Celestial bronze, will pass right through them unless you can catch them by surprise."

"Jason's sword just turned them to dust," Piper recalled.

Again with Jason? Who is this kid? "He was lucky, then. If you hit a monster just right, you can dissolve them, send their essence back to Tartarus."

"Tartarus?"

"A huge abyss in the Underworld, where the worst monsters come from…" As I went on to describe Tartarus, Piper's look got steadily more and more worried. She turned away from me and stared down at the cabins below. Her hands were trembling slightly.

I felt extremely sorry for her. I could completely relate to how she was feeling. Running from monsters since I was seven was horrible. And she'd only experienced it once today.

"It'll be okay," I promised her. "You have friends here. We've all been through a lot of weird stuff. We know what you're going through."

Doubt crossed her face. "I've been kicked out of five different schools the past five years. My dad's running out of places to put me."

"Only five?" I asked her. "Piper, we've all been labeled troublemakers. I ran away from home when I was seven."

"Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah. Most of us are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or dyslexia, or both—"

"Leo's ADHD," Piper said.

"Right. It's because we're hardwired for battle. Restless, impulsive—we don't fit in with regular kids. You should hear how much trouble Percy—" I stopped abruptly. His name had slipped out of my mouth and a new wash of worry consumed me. I shook it off. "Anyway, demigods get a bad rep. How'd you get in trouble?"

"I steal stuff." She looked irritated. "Well, not really steal…"

"Is your family poor?" I asked.

Piper laughed bitterly. "Not even. I did it…I don't know why. For attention I guess. My dad never had time for me unless I got in trouble."

I understood. "I can relate. But you said you didn't really steal? What do you mean?"

"Well…nobody ever believes me. The police, teachers—even the people I took stuff from: they're so embarrassed, they'll deny what happened. But the truth is, I don't steal anything. I just ask people for things. And they give me stuff. Even a BMW convertible. I just asked. And the dealer said, 'Sure. Take it.' Later, he realized what he'd done, I guess. Then the police came after me."

She stopped, her look challenging me to disbelieve her.

I just nodded. "Interesting. If your dad were the god, I'd say you're a child of Hermes, god of thieves. He can be pretty convincing. But your dad is mortal…" I trailed off.

"Very."

Piper was confusing. She was tough, but I could tell that emotionally exhausted. I also had the feeling that she was hiding something, but I didn't ask her about it.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "I don't know, then. With luck, your mom will claim you tonight."

I am definitely updating later today. I'm just having too much fun thinking like Annabeth!

Thank you to those who reviewed my fanfic. All of you! You are so nice and your opinions and comments really help my writing!

Another thanks to those who added this story to your favorites/subscriptions list. You are all wonderful!

Please leave a review on your way out. I want to know what you think!

:) :) :) :) :)