Here's Chapter Two! I hope you're all ready to read more and that you're all into the story – if you have any advice, ideas or criticism, review! All help is appreciated.

Chapter Two: Rosalie

After sword-fighting class, McKenzie and Anna headed to the Poseidon Cabin. I didn't usually hang out with them, but today they'd taken me into their group, not bargaining that I'd be fighting them.

The girl who I'd fought with had been good, almost as good as me, but I didn't know her name. After the lesson, she'd drifted off without speaking to me.

'Are you coming, Rosalie?' Anna asked, her voice not really sounding bothered.

'Nah, I'm going to the lake,' I replied, thankful to have an excuse for not spending any more time with these girls. I'd seen how they'd treated that pale blonde girl down at the arena. 'I'll come up for lunch.'

McKenzie and Anna turned and walked off, leaving me at the edge of the arena. I followed them for a couple of metres before turning off the main path, towards the lake.

At the jetty my best friend at Camp, Della, was waiting for me. She's a naiad, a water spirit, and she lives in the canoe lake, which sucks, because we don't get to hang around in classes and stuff. Percy's been really nice and taken me under his wing, but I can tell that I annoy his girlfriend, Annabeth, so I spend most of my time here, at the lake.

Della's face lit up when she saw me. 'Rosa!'

'Hey, Dells,' I said, hurrying to the jetty and hugging her. We hadn't seen each other for a couple of days.

'How was class?' Della teased. She knew how much I felt out of place in sword-fighting, being one of the best and always the centre of attention.

'The usual,' I said, then I remembered the pale girl who had been my partner. 'Except I was paired with this girl – I don't know her name.'

'What does she look like?' Della asked. 'Maybe I know her.'

'Pale skin, blond hair… skinny…' I wrinkled my brow. 'I think she's from Cabin 10.'

'Oh, I know her, all right,' Della said. 'Belle Edwards, Daughter of Hades. She spends loads of her time her, by the lake.'

'Really?' I asked. I didn't remember seeing her anywhere before, even though I'm always at the lake with Della.

'Yeah…' Della paused. 'She's pretty weird, though - she's always alone.'

'I felt sorry for her,' I said. 'Anna and McKenzie were really nasty to her today, when she was put in our group.'

'You were in a group with those harpies?' Della asked, incredulous. 'Why?'

'They asked me,' I said, shrugging. 'I didn't know how mean they could be.'

'Anyway, what happened in the fight?' Della asked.

'Me and…Belle? We won, of course. She was really good.' I replied, feeling proud of our victory. 'It's so unfair you naiads can't join in classes.'

'I know,' said Della. 'At least we can spend time together afterwards.'

'So, want to swim?' I asked.

'Last one to the other side of the lake's a rotten starfish!' Della cried, diving into the water, as swift as a fish.

That evening, at dinner, I looked for Belle Edwards, Daughter of Hades. Table 13 was nearly empty, with only three campers seated at one end – Belle and two boys. It wasn't far from our table, which wasn't quite as full as the other tables, either.

In Cabin 3, there are eight campers. Percy, the first Son of Poseidon to be claimed in years, was our head counsellor, then there's Alex, Evie, Anna, McKenzie, Joshua, Ryan and me.

I don't have any special friends in my cabin. Except from the fact I'm one of the best fighters at Camp, most kids ignore me. I don't have any special powers for a Daughter of Poseidon, just the usual water-control.

People treat Anna with special attention, because she has the ability to turn into a dolphin, one of the sacred animals of our father.

At dinner, she sat at the head of the table, shunting Percy aside, and began helping herself to a big portion of everything on the table. I couldn't help overhearing some of her conversation from my place, next to Percy.

'Of course, me and Kennie were going easy on Rosalie, and that loser from Hades' Cabin, right, Kennie?' She said in her loud voice.

'Totally,' McKenzie confirmed. 'We just felt sorry for them!'

I clenched my fist around my knife. That was a lie, and they knew it.

'I can't wait for the sword-fighting Tournament next week,' Anna said, slurping her lemonade. 'Rosalie's not even all that she's cracked up to be. No offence, Rosalie.'

Anna gave me a little fake smile. I'd seen plenty of those at my old school, from those pink, popular girls who pushed me in the hallways and stole my lunch money. I thought that I'd escape that, coming here, but obviously Anna and McKenzie were just the same as them.

I saw Joshua giving me a funny look from across the table, as if he knew what Anna was capable of and he didn't believe her.

'Oh, shut up, Anna,' said Percy, the only one in the cabin who didn't treat her with reverence and respect.

Anna grumbled, but she shut up, and the rest of us continued our dinner in silence.

When dinner was finally over, I went over to the brazier burning at the corner of the pavilion, and threw in a cluster of ripe grapes. When I first arrived, I thought the custom of offering burnt food to the gods was weird, but I got used to it.

'Poseidon,' I whispered. The fire crackled, and I smelt wild flowers, sea spray and the smell of my mother, her perfume. I smiled to myself and whispered a prayer for my father:

'Make sure mom's okay. I haven't spoken to her for…ages.' I swallowed and added, 'And, are you sure I should be here? I don't…feel safe. I want -' But then I realised how whiny and childish I sounded. I blinked. The comforting smells had gone, and now all I could smell was smoke.

I turned away from the fire, and followed the rest of Cabin 3 to the omega-shaped cabin area.

Poseidon's cabin is wonderful. Hewn from sea-rock, with little shells studded outside. Inside, it smells of the sea, and just being there makes me feel strong, at home.

My bed's by a window, between Evie's and Ryan's beds. I threw down my jacket on the bed and slipped into my pyjamas, then down under the soft sheets.

Next to me, Evie kneeled down by my bed.

'Don't worry about Anna and Kenzie,' she whispered, as if she was afraid they were listening. 'They're just a bit…' she trailed off.

'Horrible?' I finished, grimacing.

'Pretty much, yeah,' Evie gave me a sympathetic look. 'It's just because you're new.'

'It's okay,' I said, though I felt a little better. 'I'm used to that kind of girls.'

Evie grinned and got into her bed.

For a little while, we busied ourselves with our own activities, like usual. When I first arrived, I thought that being in a cabin with loads of kids my age would be just like summer camp, but given the exhausting activities we do every day here, we're usually too tired to talk in the evenings.

Normally, I listen to my iPod before dropping off, but tonight, I flicked through my songs and felt bored.

I glanced over the top of the screen and saw Anna, in her bed across the aisle. She had pulled her knees up to her chin, and was sitting on top of her comforter. At first, I thought she was glaring at me, but I realised her gaze was fixed on a spot just below my bed.

Anna could have been pretty – she had the good looks of a typical East Coast princess, with her long blonde hair, tanned skin and blue eyes. But the expression she wore on her face all the time, as if there was a bad smell under her nose, ruined her prettiness.

She looked odd that night, scared, but angry at the same time. I didn't know Anna very well, but Percy had told me her mother didn't care about her – she had kept putting her in foster homes until Anna ran away and found her way to Camp Half-Blood.

I thought of my mother, her wonderful, caring face, beautiful despite the crow's feet lines around her eyes. Her hands, worn from work but soft at the same time. I hadn't seen her in months, and I was missing her more than I liked to realise.

I sighed and adopted the same position as Anna – knees tucked under my chin and hands wrapped around my legs, as if I was afraid I would fall apart otherwise.

'I'm going to turn the main lights out, guys,' Percy called out. 'You can keep your lamps on for about half-an-hour more, but don't stay up too late, all right?'

'Aww, come on, Perce,' Ryan argued. 'It's Sunday tomorrow!' he looked pretty engrossed in his video game.

'Okay, then, an hour more. But Rosa,' Percy turned to me. 'I'm taking you to see the pegusi tomorrow, so get some sleep.'

'Don't worry, Percy,' I said, smiling. 'I'm so whacked from today; I'm going straight to sleep.'

Percy turned out the main lights and I switched my lamp off, settling down under the covers.

It didn't take me long to get to sleep, but when I did, I dreamt.

I saw a group of girls stumbling through the forest. There were maybe six or seven of them, but they were moving so swiftly that it was hard to be sure.

They looked scared, and they carried bows and arrows slung over their shoulders.

The girl at the front of the group looked like the leader. Instead of the silvery parkas and pale jeans the other girls were dressed in, she had opted for a gothic-looking outfit – a black military-style jacket, dark jeans and sneakers. She wore a silver circlet on her spiky black hair, like a princess.

'Run, girls!' she shouted. 'We must run!'

One of the girls wasn't in good shape. She had lost her parka, and her hoodie was ripped up the sleeves. She had a nasty-looking cut on her cheek, and her breathing was coming out shallow and fast.

'Thalia,' someone called out to the leader. 'Alise is getting worse.'

Worried, Thalia turned and stopped the girls. The girl named Alise stopped with relief, and collapsed on the floor, losing consciousness.

Her companion, the one who had alerted Thalia, supported Alise's back as she slumped.

'We cannot stop for too long, girls,' Thalia said. 'We've got a brief head start, but soon…' she bent over Alise and checked her pulse.

'I don't think the medicine worked, Rylie,' Thalia said to the girl holding Alise. 'Her cheek wound is getting worse. I don't think -'

Alise stirred, mumbling something.

'We're not far,' Rylie said, sounding urgent. 'I'll put some more of the herb cream on her cheek, and we can set up a camp on the other side of the river.'

'You're right,' Thalia said. 'It will be harder for it to reach us if we're on opposite sides of the river. All right, take care of Alise quickly, then we set off again.'

The other girls pulled out thermos flasks from their parkas, and sipped steaming liquid.

Rylie put some shimmering stuff onto Alise's cheek, and gave her something to drink. Soon, Alise sat up groggily, blinking. She looked slightly better, but still very pale and sweaty.

'Good,' Thalia said in a businesslike voice. The girls all got to their feet, and prepared to get going again.

'Couldn't I give her just a little drop of nectar?' Rylie asked Thalia. 'I'm sure -'

'Don't be stupid, Rylie,' Thalia snapped. 'She's mortal. You know it would turn her to ashes.'

I was confused. I had thought, from the bows and arrows the girls carried and the thing, maybe a monster, they were running from, that they were demigods. Now, it seemed one of the girls was a plain mortal.

But Alise had stood up, picked up her bow and quiver, and started to walk, Rylie holding her arm.

'Come on, we need to reach the river,' Thalia called. 'And fast.'

I still stood in the clearing, but the girls raced off into the trees, leaving me alone…

And, there's the second chapter! Did you like it? Did you hate it? I won't know unless you review! So click that little blue button, pretty please!

Essie xoxo