At Camp Half-Blood, "lessons" were synonymous with "a million ways to die in a day". And with Kally's coordination, her one million quickly became ten million.

'Aw come on!' Chris called down to her. The muscles in his arms rippled slightly as he clung fast to the narrow ledge he held. 'It's not that bad.'

Kally glared up at him from the ground. This climbing wall was just number four on the "million ways to die" list. It had lava that burned you if it caught you, and probably the most difficult pathways up she'd ever seen. She'd already been burned twice and she had barely stepped up to the wall.

'Maybe for you.' Kally replied. 'I'd rather not die painfully and humiliatingly.'

Chis laughed. 'You won't die. It's just a little lava.'

Oh, Kally thought. Just lava. Just boiling hot, potentially lethal balls of burning shrapnel. No biggie.

Chris sighed and slid to the bottom of the climbing wall, careful not to get hit by the lava Kally noted. He turned to her.

'Come on, we have archery next,' he said, taking her arm and pulling her towards the shooting range. 'Chiron's taking our class. He normally teaches masters but I guess he wanted to help you personally.'

'Great, now I have a babysitter and an overprotective mentor,' Kally said sarcastically.

It was bad enough that Chris had been assigned to keep an eye on her until she was settled in, but now Chiron was watching out for her too? It was kind of sweet she supposed, but it only made her mad. She wasn't five anymore, she could take care of herself.

Chris gave her a look. 'It's not so bad Kally. At least you know he cares.'

'I have you for that though. And Percy and Annabeth seem pretty protective too.'

That morning, the Hermes cabin had sword-fighting lessons first up with the Athena cabin, and Percy had tagged along.

It made Kally kind of sad that Percy had no one else in his cabin. He had no one to laugh with at night and play pranks with.

In only one night, Kally had already formed attachments to Kelsey, Chris, and the Stoll brothers. Plus she had befriended Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. She still wasn't sure about Nico; he kind of gave her the creeps. Rachel still didn't want to talk to her.

'Why is Percy the only one in his cabin?' Kally asked suddenly.

Chris looked at his shoes uncomfortably. 'Percy is quite… special, you could say. He's unique. Same with that Nico kid.'

'What makes them so special?' Kally wondered.

Chris slowed and then stopped, pulling Kally to halt too. He towed her to a shed full of weapons beyond a warrior's dreams. Shiny daggers and sword hilts glinted in the dim light. Bows lined the walls, quivers full of arrows set beside each one. Kally had never seen so much bronze in her life.

She sat on a stool as Chris began talking and pacing rapidly. 'Okay, so the gods up on Olympus are known as the Olympians, right? The twelve major gods that sit up there in the clouds and eat peeled grapes or whatever it is they do up there. Well, the three most powerful are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. We refer to them as the Big Three.

'Percy is the son of Poseidon. He's got like mega-water-powers or something. And Nico…'

'Is the son of Hades,' Kally finished for him. 'One of the Big Three.'

'Exactly.' Chris confirmed. 'So they both have some crazy super demi-god powers, and we're all stuck with whatever we've got. Which, in the case of the Hermes cabin, is basically a lot of unclaimed siblings.'

'Have there been other children of the Big Three?' Kally wondered.

'Yes,' Chris said hesitantly. 'But not many. There was Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus.'

'What happened to her?' she asked.

'She's still around,' Chris told her. 'She joined Artemis's Hunters and now she leads them. Immortality has its perks I suppose.'

'Anyone else?' Kally asked, pretending she knew what the Hunters of Artemis were.

Chris shook his head. 'No one that's still around.'

His expression told her that the discussion had come to an end. But there was one more thing she was curious about.

'Chris, why aren't there many children of the Big Three?'

He sighed again. 'There was a prophecy. It said that the next child of the Big Three to reach the age of sixteen would have a massive decision to make – like, one-that-would-decide-the-fate-of-Olympus-and-the-entire-world big. So the Big Three made a pact not to have any more kids. But, as you can see, that didn't last very long.'

'So kids like Nico and Percy,' Kally said slowly, 'are not meant to exist?' Chris nodded glumly. Kally laughed without humour. 'That must suck.'

'I know,' he agreed, standing. 'I can't imagine how it would feel not to have a family like I do in cabin eleven.'

Kally looked at her feet. She knew what it was like not to have a family. But he was right. Now that she knew what a real family felt like, she was very reluctant to give it up. She pitied children of the Big Three, and the single son of Dionysus – Pollux. He always seemed so sad. Chris had said it was because his twin, Castor, had been killed in battle two years ago. Kally couldn't even fathom how painful it would be if her brother Colton died, and she imagined being a twin would only make it harder.

'Ready to go to archery now?' Chris interrupted her thoughts. She shook off her daydream and mumbled a response, then followed him out from the weapons shed and to the archery field.

The Ares cabin were already there, and members of the Hermes cabin were joining the lesson leisurely, not worrying about being late to class.

Clarisse stood almost at attention in front of Chiron, a look of concentration plastered onto her face. She smiled as Chris approached until she caught sight of Kally. Her expression changed to one of worry, then anger, then fear, before finally settling on a blank façade.

'Clarisse.' Chris grinned as she walked hastily out to meet them. She practically ignored him, preferring to stare blankly at Kally. 'You okay?' he asked.

'Fine.' She said in a clipped tone. She turned to face him finally. 'Who's the Barbie doll?'

'Don't be mean,' Chris frowned at her. 'And don't pretend you don't know Clarisse. You know perfectly well who this is.'

She turned to Kally again, looking defiant. 'I guess I just hoped you weren't,' she said eventually.

Kally's temper rose quickly. 'It's great to see you too Clarisse.'

'So you finally got here then.'

'Yeah. No thanks to you.' Kally snapped.

Clarisse glared at her. 'I promised I'd talk to Chiron. I did.'

'Just not about me,' she responded. 'You told him about Chris and nothing else. I bet you said you defeated Panos, if you even mentioned him at all.'

'I said nothing about that stupid Cyclops,' she growled. 'I took care of what needed taking care of. You were not exactly my highest priority at the time.' Her eyes flicked to Chris momentarily and then back.

'And then you just forgot about me did you?' Kally rolled her eyes.

'I didn't forget!' Clarisse cried. 'I- I just…'

She didn't finish her sentence. Chris just looked shocked that the two girls could be so venomous to each other. Chiron trotted over.

'Is there a problem children?' he asked gently.

'No,' Kally answered for a now almost-crying Clarisse. 'There's no problem. I just don't feel so good. I'm going to go back to the cabin and lie down for a while.'

She dismissed herself without waiting for approval and stormed towards the cabins. She shouldn't have been so mad, but she felt betrayed by someone she'd thought had cared about her. She didn't need another fake person in her life.

Not long after, she heard footsteps behind her. 'If you've come here just to yell at me, you can turn around now because-'

She stopped when she saw who was following her. She had expected it to be Chris, but instead she saw a slightly shorter blonde boy. Pollux, the boy from cabin twelve, son of Dionysus.

'Oh.' She said. 'Hi.'

'Hi,' he said awkwardly. After a while he seemed to realise he should probably say something. 'I, uh, saw you and Clarisse arguing. It seemed pretty heated.'

'Yeah,' was all she said. He kept eye contact the whole time.

Pollux had the strangest eyes Kally had ever seen. They were a peculiar purple colour, almost violet, with just tiny threads of blue through them. He wasn't an overly attractive boy in Kally's opinion, but looking closer, Kally could see certain things about him that were nice. His eyes, the way his hair became golden in the sunlight. They made him seem somehow happy, although he looked anything but.

'I thought you could use someone to talk to.' He said finally.

'And so you decided to just take on that responsibility?' she raised her eyebrow.

He shrugged. 'Why not me? You need someone to talk to; I want to talk to someone. Seems like a good combo to me.'

She'd only moments before been thinking how lonely Pollux had been, but she'd never quite realised just how lonely until that point. She relaxed her guarded stance.

'Well then,' she said. 'Let's talk.'

They spent the next few hours sitting out the front of cabin twelve, talking about everything. From their favourite junk food, to personal struggles with weapons, to monsters, to siblings.

Pollux was understandably touchy about this subject. He told Kally about Castor and how close they were. His brother was his only friend at camp. Together they had helped tend the strawberry fields with their dad. Now that Castor was gone, and his father became more detached from Pollux, he shouldered the burden alone.

'I'll help you,' Kally volunteered. Pollux smiled appreciatively.

'Thanks, but it's okay. Really. Some of the girls from cabin four, Demeter's cabin, they come and help out sometimes. They love to sneak some of the strawberries in the summer.' He smiled genuinely, but then it faded. 'It's just not the same without him, you know?'

'Yeah,' Kally nodded. She did know. She missed her own brother tremendously, and he was still alive. 'I don't know how you cope.'

'It's not easy,' he admitted. 'But it's manageable now. Dad helped me a lot for a while after it happened.'

Kally made a face. 'No offense, but I don't much like your dad.'

'No one really does,' he told her. 'Which means no one really likes me either. Well, they might but they don't want to talk to me and find out because they think I'm just like my dad.'

'You are nothing like your dad,' Kally said immediately.

'How am I not?' he asked, amused.

'Well, for starters, I'm talking to you. I can't stand him.' They both laughed.

Pollux smiled and looked at Kally again. 'So why were you arguing with Clarisse?'

'Oh.' She had hoped he'd forgotten about that. 'It's stupid. It probably won't make any sense to you.'

'Try me,' he said, his violet eyes glinting at the challenge.

So she explained about meeting Clarisse and a delirious Chris three years ago, and defeating Panos, and Clarisse's promise to come back for her. Afterwards she sat in silence. 'Crazy, huh?'

'No.' He said. She had to check his face to see if he was joking. 'I totally understand why you freaked out at her now. I thought she was mad at you, not the other way around.'

'Why would she be mad at me?' Kally wondered.

'Because of you and Chris,' he said, like it should be obvious.

'What about us?' she demanded, defensive now.

'You guys are getting really close. I mean, if I had a girlfriend and she started hanging around some hot new guy, I'd be pretty pissed,' Pollux explained.

Kally ignored the 'hot' part. 'So Chris and Clarisse are dating?'

'Yeah, of course.' He replied. 'They have been since my dad cured Chris. You didn't know?'

'No. Chris never said anything,' she said. 'I mean, I always suspected but he didn't say it was true, and Clarisse seemed conflicted about it when I first met her.'

Pollux nodded. She couldn't believe that in the few hours she'd known him, he had become her confidante, her friend. She had never been able to open up to someone the way she had done with Pollux. It surprised her how easily she was making friends here.

'It's getting dark,' Kally noted ruefully. 'I should probably head back to cabin eleven.'

'I don't get why you're in with the Hermes kids,' Pollux frowned.

'What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be?' she replied. 'I'm undetermined or whatever. Isn't that where undetermined kids go?'

'Yeah but I thought they'd be able to place you straight away,' he told her. 'I mean, I certainly did.'

'Oh? And where exactly would you place me?' she asked sarcastically. She stood up, looking down on Pollux still sitting on the front steps.

'In cabin ten; Aphrodite,' he said without flinching. Kally, however, did flinch.

'Look, I know that's meant to be a compliment and all, but I don't think I am. And I really don't want to be.' She crossed her arms tight across her chest.

'Why not?' Pollux asked, bewildered.

'Because those girls are vain, and manipulative, and vindictive. All they think about is themselves and nobody else.' Kally said firmly.

Pollux stood and stared her right in the eye. He was only marginally taller than her, maybe six foot. 'Don't let anyone at camp hear you say that. Not ever.'

'Why not?' Kally scoffed. 'They know it's true.'

Pollux just shook his head. 'You'll get it eventually. Just don't go around saying that okay?'

Kally nodded slightly. She felt like she'd just been demoted for some strange reason. It was belittling. 'Goodnight Pollux.'

'Goodnight… Kalypso.'

Kally stopped. 'How did you know…'

'I overheard your conversation with Percy,' he said, grinning. 'It's a pretty name by the way. Don't be ashamed of it. The original Calypso isn't the horrible enchantress of her story. She's the damsel in distress.'

With that, Pollux turned and entered his cabin. Kally walked back to the run down cabin that housed the Hermes kids.

As she stepped across the threshold, she was bombarded by a high pitched tornado of curly blonde hair and designer clothes.

'Ah!' Kally shrieked, trying to get a look at her attacker. When the blur slowed down, she realised it was just Kelsey. 'Gods, you scared me half to death! Don't do that!'

'Sorry,' she said briskly, although she didn't sound at all sincere. One thing Kally liked about Kelsey was that she didn't beat around the bush; she got straight to whatever was on her mind and censored nothing, even to spare feelings. 'Are you and Pollux an item?'

'What?' Kally said dumbly. She had barely registered Kelsey's mile-a-minute speech.

'Are you and Pollux dating?' she demanded again.

'Um, no,' Kally said, giving her friend a strange look. 'We just met.'

'Well you were talking to him for hours.' Kelsey noted. 'Outside his cabin. It looked pretty personal.'

'Were you spying?' Kally asked. Kelsey shrugged noncommittally and continued the rapid-fire questioning.

Eventually Kally could stand it no more. 'Gods, stop! Why is this so interesting to you all of a sudden?'

'Oh you haven't seen me interested in something, this is just light curiosity,' Kelsey informed her. 'Are you into him?'

'Huh?' she made a face and walked to her bunk. She was bunked right next to Kelsey, which meant sleep was hard to come by at night. No one could sleep with Miss Chatterbox yapping all night. 'I don't know. Like I said, I just met him. Now would you stop?'

Kelsey seemed unsatisfied with this. 'At least promise you'll tell me if anything happens.' Kally promised she would, just to get her away.

'Good!' She beamed at Kally. 'We have sword fighting with the Demeter cabin now.'

'I'm not feeling up to it,' Kally told her. 'I think I'll just lie down here for a bit.'

'You sure?'

'Yeah, I'll see you at dinner.'

Kelsey shrugged, gave her a quick squeeze, and breezed out the door like a fashion model. Kally shook her head in awe. If anyone was going to be a child of Aphrodite, it was going to be Kelsey.

Not feeling up to another sword fighting lesson had not been a complete lie. But there was something Kally had to do.

She waited for a moment, giving Kelsey time to leave the cabin area, and then stepped out into the fresh evening air. She strolled around the cabins, searching for cabin five.

She passed Percy's cabin; a bungalow similar to cabin eleven but with seashells decorating the door and walls, and a sea-foam coloured paint job. It didn't look as worn out as cabin eleven either, Kally noticed.

More cabins were ruled out. A marble temple next to a smaller peacock-feathered one stood tall at the end of the cabins. They seemed strangely empty, even desolate. One with flowers on the roof – definitely Demeter's cabin.

Right next door, however, was a crimson lodge that loomed menacingly with barbed wire rimming the roof. This was definitely the kind of place she could picture Clarisse living, Kally thought. Above the door was a mounted boar's head and a giant number five.

Steeling herself, she climbed the steps and knocked on the door. After a short while, the door opened and a brute-faced boy with a big build stood facing her. He looked her up and down with a disapproving scowl. He said nothing, but simply grunted. She cleared her throat.

'Uh, is Clarisse here?' she asked, trying not to sound nervous.

The boy grunted again. 'Not for you, Barbie.'

'As insultingly misogynistic as that is, I actually need to talk to her.' Kally snapped. She shoved the boy aside and walked past him, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her outside again.

'She doesn't want to see you,' he grumbled.

'Yeah? Well, I don't really care,' she told him, again stepping around him.

He tried to grab her again but she darted inside, and the boy fell over using his own gravitational force. Kally almost allowed herself a smug smile.

The inside of cabin five was alike to that of cabin eleven. An organised mess lay around the floors, largely consisting of junk food packaging and energy bar wrappers. Bunks were strewn about here and there, with the wall space personalised. Most people had photos of their favourite bands and armour mounted on their walls.

After the striking interior, the next thing that she noticed was the stench. The cabin stunk of sweaty socks, mouldy food, and smoke for some weird reason. They all combined into a singular smell that assaulted Kally's nose and made her eyes water.

She scanned the mess for Clarisse and found her hunched over a shiny bronze shield on her bunk.

'Clarisse,' she started towards her. She snapped her head up and then glared at the boy on the floor.

'I thought I told you to keep her out.' She sneered at Kally grouchily.

The boy mumbled some apology and left the building. Kally turned to Clarisse.

'Clarisse,' she said gently. 'I haven't come to apologise. I think we both know I have every right to be mad at you.'

Clarisse grumbled something unintelligible. Kally looked at her easily. 'I want to know why you never came back.'

Clarisse gave no hint of an answer. She was stubborn; Kally had to give her that.

During Clarisse's silence, Kally scanned the wall space around her bunk. There were photos of her and Chris, probably a few summers ago. They seemed happy, and the joy she saw in Clarisse's eyes in those photos seemed a stark contrast to how she knew Clarisse to be.

Posters of heavy punk bands took up more of the wall space than anything else. A corroded bronze helmet was mounted next to a picture of Clarisse standing beside a beautiful dark haired girl, smiling like the photographer had caught her in the middle of a laugh.

For a brief moment Kally wondered who the girl was, but then Clarisse spoke.

'I owe you an explanation,' she said gruffly. 'But I won't give it to you. Not yet.'

'When?' Kally asked, impatient. 'I think three years is long enough.'

'When I say so,' the Ares girl snapped.

Kally stared, open mouthed, at Clarisse. Then she stood up, strode angrily to the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She stalked back to cabin eleven and sat on her bed to think clearly.

She had never felt so infuriated in her life. She sat there grumbling about the arrogance of Ares kids until Chris entered, sweaty and out of breath. He looked at her and asked what was wrong.

'Your girlfriend,' Kally growled.

'What about her?' Chris said, a warning in his voice. He kept searching for whatever it was he'd come in for.

'I went to get an answer out of her and she refused to apologise.' Kally huffed and stood up. 'She's so pig-headed! How can you stand her?'

Chris's glare shot daggers and his voice was sharp as ice. 'She's my girlfriend. I don't "stand" her, I care about her and love her! She may be a bit stubborn at times but she is so far a better person than you in lots of ways!'

And Chris turned, newly attained sword in hand, and stomped out of the cabin, leaving Kally on her own, fuming.

Tears stung her eyes. For the first time since arriving at Camp Half-Blood, she felt alone.