A blonde girl with gray eyes was sitting next to me when I woke up.

"Hey," she said. "I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

"Hi," I croaked. My throat was parched and I had a throbbing headache.

"Have some nectar, it'll make you feel better." She handed me a cup of golden liquid. I eagerly accepted, and gulped down the liquid. It didn't have a distinct flavor, but it instantly made me feel better.

"Thanks." I said, not used to talking to strangers. "Um… my name is Elaine Volk. I don't know who my father is."

Annabeth sighed. "Elaine, you're the daughter of Hades."

"What? The god of death or something?" I faintly recalled from a cartoon I watched in elementary school.

"The god of the underworld," Annabeth corrected. "But something like that. We know because you shadow-travelled, and the mark appeared when you were unconscious."

"Shadow-travelled? The mark?" I asked, confused.

"Shadow-traveling is something only children of Hades can do. I have a friend, Nico, who can do that too. You seem to have a talent for it, because you were able to do it on the first try, and you didn't even know what you were doing." Annabeth explained. "The mark that appeared over your head is a sign that shows who you're the child of. Before, gods and goddesses wouldn't always claim their child, but now they do."

Annabeth explained things clearly and without hesitation. Even so, I couldn't wrap my mind around this impossible information. "So the winged boy who attacked me… Was he some sort of monster?"

"According to the description, he's a manticore. But don't worry, you're safe inside of the camp borders."

"There was a-" I stopped myself from mentioning the black sword. There was a strange feeling, as if the sword wouldn't belong to me if I mentioned it.

Annabeth didn't ask for more information. A boy with black hair like mine walked into the cabin.

"This is Nico, also a son of Hades." Annabeth introduced.

"Hello," he said.

I noticed he had a black sword similar to mine. It was slightly thicker, but around the same length. I suppose he noticed me looking at it, because he said, "This sword is made from Stygian iron. It can harm both mortals and immortals." He glanced at Annabeth. "You have told her about the harming-thing, right?"

"She just woke up. I can't explain everything to her."

The two demigods explained many concepts to me, describing the underworld and Olympus, and about Camp Jupiter and the wars. Then, I was taken on a tour of the camp. Many demigods greeted me, but there were too many names to remember.

Finally, Nico took me to Cabin 13. There were solid obsidian walls, and coffin shaped beds. "You designed this yourself?" I asked Nico.

I may have just imagined it, but he looked proud. "Yeah, and I built it too, with the help of some undead workers."

I knew about his power to summon the dead, and I wondered if I had any cool powers like that too.

"Hazel Levensque, a daughter of Pluto, visits sometimes. But this cabin is empty very frequently." Nico said wistfully.

At dinner that night, Nico and I sat down alone at the 13th table. I was relieved when Eirene came over. She was the only piece of home I had, even Mr. Pixler disappeared off somewhere.

"How are you doing here?" Eirene asked, chewing on her paper plate.

"I'm okay." I replied. And so went on with the dinner conversation. Eirene kept it light, just like how we conversed at school, but I didn't mind. So much interaction with new people tired me.

Mr. D the camp director, who turned out to be Dionysus, wasn't what I expected a god to be. His Hawaiian shirt and pudgy face hardly seemed godly, but I knew better than to mention it, thanks to advice from Annabeth. He hastily welcomed me to the camp, and returned to his seat with a Diet Coke.

That night, I couldn't fall asleep. I looked outside, and the moon was shining a bright silver. I decided to go for a walk, so I slipped out of the bed and went out into the woods.

I'm not sure why I went into the woods, or why I walked so far. I was drawn to the darkness of the woods, somehow. I reached a place in the woods where it was so dark, there was no light from the moon at all. In a trance-like state, I said "Anastithei apo tous nekrous , lepida mou apo to skotadi."

I spoke the Greek as if I knew the language all my life. The words meant something like "Rise from the dead, my blade of darkness." My thin sword rose from the ground, the cool Stygian iron felt right in my hands. I was about to turn around and go back when I heard a voice.

"What are you doing here?"

I flinched, and saw a boy, faintly illuminated by the moonlight. I was relieved to see Nico. "I… couldn't sleep, so I came here."

"You came pretty far."

"Were you following me?" I asked.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I wander off a lot too, being away from people helps me think. But these woods can be dangerous, especially without a weapon. But I supposed that doesn't apply to you now."

"I kind of used this sword before. To defeat the manticore at school."

He raised an eyebrow. "But if you defeated him with that sword, he shouldn't reformed."

"What do you mean?"

"Stygian iron doesn't work the same way as Celestial bronze or Imperial gold does. It can absorb the very essence of the monster. So the manticore must've escaped before you were able to kill it."

I was slightly disappointed that I didn't kill the monster, but intrigued by how Stygian iron works. "That's cool."

"You shouldn't use that blade," he said. "Get another weapon, because it's dangerous to use Stygian iron."

"But you use it," I countered.

He sighed. "I know. But I try not to use it. I once had another weapon, too. Diocletian's scepter, then it exploded."

"Nico, you're my brother." I realized.

Nico was surprised by my sudden change in topic. "Yeah, I'm your half-brother."

"I've never had family before."

Nico smiled gently. "I had a sister, Bianca. She chose rebirth."

Just then, all of the events hit me. I started to sob. "I have no home now. But.. but… I have a brother."

After my somewhat embarrassing mental breakdown, we returned to the cabin. It was three in the morning, so I had very little sleep.

I woke up after vivid dreams about skeleton warriors. After getting dressed, I noticed Nico wasn't in the cabin. When I walked outside, I saw a group of demigods staring intently at a red-haired girl.

She turned to look at me, and suddenly her eyes glowed green and mist rose around her. She opened her mouth and began to speak.