I felt pretty guilty about that whole toilet trick. I did. I felt it wasn't my fault. But deep down I felt it was. It's hard to describe what I felt. I soaked the whole bathroom, I pity the guy who has to mop it up. I soaked Alizabeth and crazy Bernice. It was crazy.

"Look, I'm sorry about all of that," I said.

"Look, it's fine." We started walking towards that one eating pavilion I was talking about. "Most of the campers have no self control over their abilities when they arrive." She squeezed a handful of her hair and it splattered the grass.

"I just want to go home!" I shouted, wringing out my shirt sleeve.

"This is your home!" She turned me around. "Stop acting like a brat! What would your mom think?" My heart jumped into my toes. She said the M word and made me think about her. I needed to get my mom back at all costs. She would do it for me, so I should do it for her.

"Sorry." I'm not going to lie, I felt a lonesome tear drop in the corner of my eye. "Allergies! Ha!" I turned around.

"Yeah…"

"So, who's Menrva?" I questioned.

"She's the goddess of architecture and knowledge," she said proudly. "Her Greek equivalent is Athena."

"When'd you figure out who your mom was?"

"About an hour after I arrived here."

"Oh. When will I be claimed?" I asked as we walked past the smelly blacksmith shop again.

"Sorry to put you down Pherce. It sometimes takes a while. Some don't even get claimed at all and end up in the Turms cabin indefinitely."

"Mr. Sime talked about how monsters hunt down half gods and such. What keeps 'em from coming in here?" I asked. My pen suddenly feeling heavy in my pocket.

"The borders are enchanted so that the monsters can't come in. Occasionally a stray Chthonic Daemon or will sneak in, but nothing too strong or powerful." She reached into the collar of her blue shirt and pulled out a beaded necklace. It had six beads, three on either side of what looked like a large bear claw.

"Wassat?"

"A claw from Tuchulcha the Menrva cabin made a designed trap for. You should've seen it." She said proudly.

"Does something live up there in the attic?" I remember the curtains moving.

"The Spirit of Vegoia. She prophecies. You'll probably have to talk with her tomorrow. All new campers do."

After Alizabeth and I finished our little chit chat, I told her that I wanted to put the shoe box full of Thevrumines into my cabin. So I walked back there to the ring of cabins, trying my best not to get lost or murdered by the group of Bernice's crew running around playing frisbee with a landmine.

I walked into the cabin and everyone was being loud, the music on the boombox was really loud, everyone was talking at once. I spotted that one John guy from earlier and walked over to him. His face was probably the calmest of the lot. He was reading a magazine and was the only one not talking.

"Pherce man! How's it hanging?" He stood up, slapping the magazine onto his pillow. It was an issue of Mythology Weekly with a large Hydra on the cover. For some reason I haven't heard of it.

"Hanging pretty good," I said and gave him a fist bump when he put his fist out.

"Hey, all the bunks are full right now. So I put your new sleeping bag over there!" He pointed to an alcove next to the window. It could be worse. I put my shoe box there.

"I didn't bring a sleeping bag," I said. I wanted to make sure he didn't accidentally give me someone else's sleeping bag by mistake. That happened at Macey once and I had ringworm for three months straight, no joke. It was gross and everyone called me Molly Ringworm.

"Don't sweat it man. I borrowed it from the gift shop." He turned it over and there was a ink stain from one of those exploding ink tags. It looked dry so I didn't worry about it staining my clothes. Alizabeth said that Turms was like Hermes, and he was the god of thieves and all of that. So it just makes sense.

"Thanks."

"What do you say? Let's go get dinner." He stood up and headed for the door.

The two of us walked towards the large eating pavilion, constructed out of sandstone pillars. There were several braziers placed throughout that cast an eerie shadow when they shine through the large columns that hold up the roof. It was a beautiful structure.

I followed John to a white marble table that had a engraving of a winged helmet which was filled with pearly silver. It was beautifully crafted but was a smidge too small for the Turms kids. We had to squeeze to get all of us to fit.

"Hey Mr. John. We have another table on order. It should be here soon," Mr. Sime said as he walked past.

"Hey Pherse, check this out." John gripped a large silver goblet in his hand from the center of the table. "I'll have hot chocolate with marshmallows… And M&Ms." The cup instantly filled itself with the drink he said he wanted.

"Let me try!" I yelled louder than I intended to. "Wild Cherry cream soda. The kind from Jake's candy store in downtown Seattle." And I couldn't believe it. It filled with the fizzy red drink that me and mom loved. Every time we'd drive over to Seattle we would stop at that Jake's candy store and get our fill. It was amazing.

The food magically appeared on our plates. Large steaks and large potatoes. It looked delicious. I picked up my fork and knife and was just about to dig in. But then the kid across the table from me started staring. Everyone from my table and every other table in the pavilion stood. One by one they would put a portion of their meal into one of the braziers as the room filled with tasty smelling smoke. All of them would say a silent prayer then go back to their seat and finish what was left of their meal.

I pushed half of my roasted potatoes and steak into the fire where it shriveled up and turned black. I didn't know what to say, so I just bowed my head and closed my eyes. Dad, if you're listening to me, I hope that I get claimed soon.

I high tailed it back to my table and started chowing down. The pavilion went up in laughter and jokes. I saw Alizabeth's table across from mine. She was laughing and smiling. I didn't even know she knew how to do that. She's always so serious.

After dinner we sat around a large camp fire, roasting marshmallows and singing cheesy songs. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere, somewhere where people knew what I was feeling, how I felt. It just was like a large burden was lifted off my shoulders. Some kid from the Apollo cabin… Excuse me, Apulu cabin brought out a bouzouki and started jamming out. It was just a really good time.

I walked back to the Turms cabin with John and a few other guys. I was pooped and fell asleep the second my face hit the stolen pillow.