Unfortunately, Eirene miscalculated her steps and instead of grabbing his hand she tackled him to the floor. A shelf went down with them and caused quite the ruckus, distracting the two bickering cabin mates momentarily.

Connor's annoyed voice sounded from the corner. "What's going on—?" He stopped short when he saw the two teens spiraled on top of each other, shaking with laughter. A small smile tugged at his lips. Travis was leaning against the door, shaking his head.

"Come on now, that's not right. You're practically related."

Eirene's head shot up and she locked eyes with Matthew, whose ears were as red as his face. She sat up and grabbed his hand, ignoring the strange stares she was getting from all around. Forcefully opening up his palm, she yanked the ring free from his grasp and staggered to a stand. Matthew still looked taken aback from being football-style wrestled to the floor, and it took him a moment before he regained his composure and sprang up.

"What the 'ell was that for?" He complained, the red tinge draining from his face. But his ears were still bright red.

"You stole my ring!"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I stole your ring. I'm a child of Hermes, that's what we do."

Eirene felt herself start to shiver from all the attention she was getting. She wanted to crawl under a tree and curl into a ball, blocking everyone out. She was never used to attention; attention was never a good thing for a demigod. It made her nervous, it made her want to run and hide. But…she was in a different place now. She was going to be surrounded by people all the time; she couldn't feel helpless and scared anymore. She had to stand strong, she had to show the gods that she was worthy of being here; that she was greatly for the safety they had granted her.

"Well, you don't touch my ring. You don't touch anything that belongs to me." She said threateningly, taking a step towards him. His expression was frightening; he was backing up with a quickening pace. Eirene suddenly felt a sick feeling dug itself in her stomach as she watched his expression. She'd been too harsh, she wasn't used to being assertive and whenever she tried it just came across as mean. And Percy, too… She thought back to his expression grudgingly. She'd have to apologize; she wouldn't feel right if she didn't.

Suddenly, Matthew's expression hardened and she stepped forward. Only then did Eirene realize he was a head taller than her. "And if I do?"

The way he was looking at her, she felt scared. She felt like an idiot, throwing a threat out there and then being scared of the response she was receiving. She gazed into his eyes and felt herself shrink, quickly averting them.

"Um, where's my bed?" Her voice was small, but she made it clear that she was over with this encounter by backing away and hugging her chest. Travis moved from the doorway and gestured to the closest bed on the right. She walked with her head bowed through all the stares and looks over to her bed; sitting down.

Everyone re-collected around the middle of the room and sat down on their respectable beds. Travis and Connor were the only ones standing, leaning against their own beds.

"Well okay, now that we're through with that little fiasco, let's get on to the real business."

"Yeah, it's introduction time! Welcome campers of 2012!"

"To a new year," Connor stated.

"A new year!" Travis echoed his face overly excited.

"And new adventures," Connor continued.

"Scary adventures!" Travis added, making ghostly sounds behind his brother's back.

Connor elbowed his brother, telling him to stop. "We're your counselors, Travis and Connor Stoll. We'll be responsible for you throughout the year, and help get you accustomed to camp half-blood."

Travis took off where his brother left off. "We'll help train you in defense and attack, and Hermes children are particularly sporty, so I'm not afraid that we'll pound the others in capture the flag this afternoon!"

"I would say try not to get on the other campers nerves, but I wouldn't demand for the impossible; especially when the Aphrodite campers are involved. You have my permission to screw with them if you'd like." Connor winked at the campers. Some snickered; some rubbed their hands together in anticipation of all the pranks they'd pull. Eirene was twisting her ring on her finger gazing into the white diamond, looking for answers. She knew she didn't belong in his cabin, and she wasn't sure she wanted to stay with what had just happened. She'd only been here for a few hours and she'd already become an outsider. They were cabins for minor gods, but they would be no cabins for dead gods.

Or…maybe they were?

She had tuned out the rest of the twins introduction speech and only heard the part when Travis said,

"Well it's about time for selected cabin activities. Right now we're with the Apollo and Hades cabin with 'monster hunting'."

One of the cabin mates groaned. "They're going to fry us and eat us for dinner."

There was a flood of agreement and a rush of sudden, upside down smiles. Connor clapped his hands to get their attention back. "Come on now, we've beaten them before. We can do it again."

"Yeah, that was when Dennis was with us." Matthew sighed, climbing down from the stairs on his bunk bed. "But we haven't seen him since last summer."

Before she could stop herself, Eirene blurted his name. Everyone looked at her, and she looked back down to her hands. But the name…she was sure she'd heard it before. It could've just been a coincidence, they were multiple people named Dennis around the world.

"Anyways, we'd better get going so we're not the last ones there."

Sam immediately tackled Eirene with a tight hug; her vivid smile put Eirene in a much better mood than she was before. The little Apollo camper was such a bright and bubbly person that she was a joy to be around. Eirene hoped that nothing would happen to cause them not to be friends anymore.

"You've got monster hunting? That's awesome: we're together!"

Eirene smiled at the girl's attitude. She was so cute; she couldn't be more then fourteen. It explained the energetic persona she radiates every time she steps into a room.

"Attention losers! Gather around and listen if you don't want to be left behind." A tall and bulky woman with dull brown hair was standing atop a collection of boulders, yelling at the top of her lungs. Everyone seemed to listen to her immediately and rush to her side. Upon closer inspection she seemed to be telling them the directions for this session. They were going to release them into the forest with a selected number of monsters that the campers were supposed to find and successfully capture and/or kill. It sounded pretty dangerous to Eirene, especially since no one was given any type of protective gear or anything. But she didn't complain or argue, just got into formation with the others and waited in line to get her weapons.

"So tell me," Eirene started, looking to Sam. "All we do is go into the woods, shoot and kill some animals, and then come back?"

Sam started to say something, but the female instructor beat her too it. "That's what I just said, cupcake. But it isn't as easy as that," She took off her sunglasses and Eirene was greeted by her intense brown eyes.

"You're the new unclaimed camper?"

Great, now everyone knows.

Eirene didn't answer, and the woman who Eirene knew was named Clarisse, smirked and put her sunglasses back on and tied a red bandana around her head. She spit out a toothpick, and handed Eirene a bow and arrow and gave Sam a sword. Eirene knew that Sam immediately wanted to complain about her weapon, but given that they could somehow see Clarisse's hard stare through her glasses quiet her down.

Eirene was looking at the other campers, and noticed Damien was just leaning against a tree, spinning the sword in his hands. He gave off a strange vibe to Eirene; she felt a supernatural power from him, but not the same amount she felt from everyone else. His was stronger, doubled. And it kind of scared her.

Sam noticed her staring. "Oh no, you don't fancy him do you?"

Eirene shook her head, alarmed. "No, I just found it strange how he's just standing there while everyone else is trying to get accustomed to their weapons."

Sam shrugged. "Damien is an odd one. He's always been, but not because of that. He's a good fighter; he knows how to use every weapon; so he doesn't need to practice."

"Then why is he an odd one?"

Sam sighed and looked uneasy. "When he came here three years ago, he was claimed. But not just by one god, by two: Hades and Poseidon."

Eirene did a double-take. "He was what?"

"Yeah, it caused a lot of uproar within the camp because it was a real scandal. A trident mark appeared over his head, and only seconds later a bident followed. We think it's because both his parents were demigods, one of Hades and other of Poseidon."

"That seems…realistic."

Sam looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "I guess, when you think about it. But he's also the first we've had in camp so it's still a big deal."

And then, Eirene felt a rush of wind and a shiver overcame her which was soon followed by a pair of arms crossed over her chest tightly. A deep, accented whisper sounded in her ear.

"Was someone gossiping about me?"

She turned and saw Damien's head perched on her shoulder.

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