I have been super inactive! I am SO SO SORRY! Here's another chapter :)

I thought over what Cooper had said. I was so excited about eventually meeting my childhood hero, I had totally missed the part about my dad being a god. It was pretty cool that I'd get to meet my birth dad (well, eventually, probably), but if my memory was working right, some of the gods were jerks. If one of them was my dad, that would most certainly not be cool.

But I shrugged it off. I probably wouldn't be claimed for a long time, according to the books. And then Chiron said something else:

"The campfire is in an hour, so you two should get situated. It's likely you'll be claimed tonight. Isabella, would you take them on the tour?" Isabella and Cooper started to walk away, but I stayed.

"Tonight?" I said. "What do you mean, tonight? In the books, it could take years to get claimed. Anyone who would write something like that wouldn't leave out a detail that important."

"You've only read through the second book, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, and a little in the fourth," I said, still confused.

"After the Titan war, the gods agreed to grant Percy Jackson any wish as long as it was within their power. He asked that all demigods who came to camp would be claimed as soon as possible, at least before they're thirteen. You two are only twelve, but your parents will probably want to get claiming you out of the way as soon as possible." He seemed to realize how that sounded and added, "So they don't forget."

That still sounded pretty bad, but I tried to look at the glass as half-full. Maybe I would get the god of Star Wars. Or Hermes, the god of pranks. I could see myself as his daughter.

Then again, I could get Ares or, gods forbid, Aphrodite. I mean this with all possible respect, but that would suck. Gods, I just realized how good I am at going from optimist to pessimist very quickly. Huh.

Anyway, another satyr appeared in the doorway. "Come on, Bella! We're having a satyrs-only game of volleyball."

I wanted to come since I'm actually fairly okay at volleyball, but I probably wasn't a satyr. Probably. I had been discovering a lot of weird things about myself lately. So I decided to sit by the volleyball court and try to figure out how the satyrs managed to keep from falling over on their tiny little hooves.

Before anyone could get excited, Chiron intervened, to Bella's despair. "Isabella, you have new campers to take care of."

The other satyr grinned. "I remember my first assignment. I had Will Solace. He was practically giving himself the tour."

"Wait, we're your first assignment?" Cooper asked.

"Well, technically Emily was, but you happened to be a demigod as well. So I brought you too. And yeah, y'all were my first. Did I do good?" Isabella asked hopefully.

"In my opinion, you did great for a first time and probably for a fiftieth as well. You probably saved our lives a lot more than we realize," I told her.

The other satyr snickered. "Y'all. That is the most hilarious OW!" That last part was because I kicked his shin. With my cowgirl boots. A good rule of thumb: Don't get kicked in the shins by a gymnast in cowgirl boots, especially when that gymnast has been doing it for six years and has built up some muscle. Did I forget to mention that I do two classes a week? If so, sorry. Now you know.

"Don't mess with Texas," I said. "Now Bella, we have a tour to attend to?" I gave her a fist bump.

"Indeed. Let's see... that is a blade of grass. That's another blade of grass, and there's a rock," she said, pointing out the various tourist attractions. The rock actually seemed to have some admirers. "But seriously, there are 14 cabins at the moment. The twelve Olympians, Hades, and they're still working on the Hecate cabin. Steer clear of that one at least until they've finished building. If they drop a stone, it turns everyone within five yards into a tree."

I gulped. "Steering clear."

"Which one is that?" Cooper asked, pointing at one that looked like a huge bank.

"Zeus, right? Thalia lives there?" I asked.

"Yes and no," Isabella said. "Yes, that's Cabin One. Zeus. No, nobody lives there at the moment. Thalia became a Hunter of Artemis to avoid being the child of the Great Prophecy."

"Um..." I raised my hand. "I don't know the prophecy. Has it been fulfilled?"

Isabella sighed like she got this all the time. "A half-blood of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul cursed blade shall reap. That's the first Great Prophecy, issued sometime around the beginning of the Roman Empire. Percy Jackson fulfilled it on his sixteenth birthday, letting Luke Castellan destroy Kronos with Annabeth Chase's dagger. It was cursed because Luke had broken his promise to Annabeth, and-"

"Okay, let's continue," I said. "Sounds interesting, but we have other stuff to get to."

Isabella pouted. "Okay, fine. That one next to Zeus is Cabin Two, Hera's cabin. She's the goddess of marriage and all that, so it's just honorary. She'd probably destroy the camp if she didn't have one. Same with Artemis, over there." She pointed to a cabin that looked like it was made entirely from silver. "It's mostly unused, but the Hunters of Artemis do come by on occasion." Her tone said the Hunters' visits were not up for discussion.

"There's Cabin Three, Poseidon. Percy stays there whenever he visits. Next to it is Five, Ares. You might want to steer clear of that one as well." As if on cue, a very loud argument that probably involved punching, kicking and at least one sword broke out. We moved on.

"That one is Apollo. That's where you go if you have a minor illness or injury. The infirmary is for the big stuff," Isabella explained. I refrained from asking the extents of "big stuff."

"Right there is Hephaestus. Eleven is Hermes. We call it Prank Central. Cooper, you really want Hermes to be your dad. Emily, pray to all the gods he's not yours." The situation in there must have been really chaotic if she didn't want me in there. I decided not to peek in the windows.

"How would Hermes be my dad? My dad is normal- I mean, mortal," Cooper asked.

Isabella grimaced. "The gods work in mysterious and disgusting ways."

Nobody asked what that meant.

"There's Cabin Twelve. Pollux and... just Pollux lives there," Isabella said.

"Who's its patron?" Cooper said, oblivious to Bella's slip.

"Mr. D. It's horrible on Father's Day, at least for poor Pollux. He ignores everyone else and bugs Pollux all day, wanting more sacrifices and a grape print tie and all that. Not fun."

We stopped in front of a building made of obsidian (I assumed it was obsidian, from my years of playing Minecraft.) with torches that burned green. "That's Cabin..." I counted on my fingers, pretty sure we were out of male Olympians. I was right. "Thirteen? My math is not the best, but I'm pretty sure there are only twelve gods."

"Twelve Olympians," Isabella corrected. "There are hundreds of gods. That's Hades' cabin. Nico di Angelo stays there maybe every other month or so. He likes to roam, and that's fine with pretty much everyone. He doesn't have many friends."

That sounded like a sad way to live. "Is he there now?" I asked.

"Last I checked. Let's go look at the other cabins."

Before we could turn around, the door opened, and my heart skipped a beat. Yes, I know I said I have a crush on Cooper, but standing in the doorway was the hottest guy in the history of the world. Shaggy black hair, olive skin, black jeans and a black t-shirt with four dancing skeletons. About my age, too, maybe a couple months into twelve. I was about to say something smart, like, "Uhh," when he stepped out.

"What are you staring at?" For a moment I thought he was talking to me, and the worst part was, I would have answered and officially made a fool of myself when Isabella spoke.

"Couple new campers. I'm showing them around. You know, we still have the other side to look at. Come on, guys!" She dragged us off in a hurry and I just had time to look back and smile before Nico closed the door. I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw him smile back.

"Why don't people like him?" I demanded.

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "You'll learn soon enough. He's creepy. He hangs at the edge of everything, in the dark. He doesn't participate. He speaks up only when he feels like it, scares the living Hades out of everyone. And to us satyrs –" She lowered her voice. "He smells like death."

"Well, of course he does! He's the son of Hades! What do you expect?"

"You haven't heard the stories. He can summon skeletons with a word. He can travel in shadows. Once," she shuddered, "he brought a wall of black stone just by raising his hand."

"So? Those sound like useful abilities to me."

Isabella rolled her eyes and led us toward the other cabins. I glanced at Cooper, who was looking at me with an odd expression. Something between jealousy, thoughtfulness, and curiosity. Maybe he did have a crush on me. Hmm.

I would tell you about the rest of the tour, but it was really, really boring. Plus, you probably already know it all. In case you don't here's the short version: Two is Hera, Four is Demeter, Six is Athena, Eight is Artemis, and Ten is Aphrodite. Oh, and Hecate. Nobody is sure what number that one is yet, if it's fourteen or twenty. I didn't ask for details. Hey, don't get mad at me! My brain was too overloaded. Go check the Percy Jackson wiki or something.

Isabella showed us everything – Rachel Dare's cave, the arts and crafts cabin/Parthenon hybrid, the armory. The amphitheater was my favorite. I found a little hideaway under the stone seats – if you went around to the back and pressed your hand against a Greek omega, a door opened onto a small room – thirty square feet at most and curved, like the amphitheater. The ceiling was like upside-down stairs from the seats above. At one end, a full-size mattress sat atop a built-in stone bed, with white sheets, a huge black comforter, and about twenty very large, very fluffy black-and-white pillows. A zebra-striped rectangular rug that had apparently been made for this room was on the floor, since it matched the curve of the inside wall perfectly.

I know what you're thinking: Please, Emily, no more hyphenated words! Fine. I will use no more of these words because I am a kind and generous being. You're welcome.

At the other end of the room, there was a black wood desk with a rolling desk chair in front of it. The chair was so cool – it was an orb covered in white fabric, supported by a metal ring with three wheels. I spent about ten minutes spinning around on it before I noticed a note on the bed. The date said it was from years ago. I picked it up and read it aloud.

"Dear Camper, This is my bedroom. My name is Julia Chisolm. I'm a 34-year-old female satyr, the only one of my kind that I know of."

"The only one?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah, we're pretty rare. We're kind of good-luck charms. If your baby is a female satyr, Hera has blessed you. Makes baby showers crazy." Isabella explained.

I continued. "Having recently gotten my searcher's license, I'm going to search for Pan. If I don't come back, you can have my room for as long as you want. Afterwards, make sure to clean it up and pass it on. I'm taking my boyfriend Eddy Scrabble, son of Demeter, with me. If I die, he'll plant me in the garden of the Big House. If you're reading this, I'm dead now. Ask Chiron which plant is Julia Chisolm, and where Eddy Scrabble is. I think he'd like to see this note. May the gods go with you, Julia."

"That's creepy," Cooper muttered.

"Yeah," Isabella said as she munched one of her wristbands. "Creepier than Nico di Angelo."

I glared at her. "Should we talk to Chiron?"

"I think I remember a story about her. She never came back from her search," Isabella said.

That ended that conversation.

UGH. The text sizes are wrong again. I know it won't matter when I publish it but my brain doesn't like it. Also, I accidentally left out the note last time! I've included it now. Sorry! Also, random: What would be a good ship name for Leo Valdez and Piper McLean? (Don't hate me, I ship Jasper all the way. Just asking.) Mine is PipeShizzle.