With the Chase family, I like to think Annabeth got the best traits. We do look a lot alike and have the same sense of care for others, but she could conquer anything in her way. Unlike me, she is strong, wise, smart, super smart, devoted, disciplined, and by far an amazing cousin.

But when the seven of us met her at the Manhattan Library during a book release with her boyfriend and another demigod, I started to doubt Annabeth's idea.

"Magnus!" Annabeth called, waving me over to a table outside the building. She was sitting with another person; gray dyed hair almost at mid neck, a long sleeve gray shirt that hugged their muscles a little in the winter cold.

We made our way over, giving my cousin a better view of our group. "Who are your friends?" She asked.

"Well, you already met Alex," I motioned to the einherji. "So this is Blitz, and my floor mates Mallory, Halfborn, TJ, and our newest one Saar." Each gave their own wave or acknowledgment of their presence.

"Good to meet you all," Annabeth greeted "my friend here is Koda, they came over from the Roman camp in California to help."

They smiled and shook my hand. "So you're the infamous Magnus Chase, I don't know if I should slap you now that I have another realm of mythology to compensate with."

"Please don't." I offered pleasantly.

"What do you mean 'another realm of mythology?'" TJ spoke up.

Annabeth was struck with confusion, then a look of dread as she glared at me. The message was clear: you didn't tell them?

I sighed "My cousin here and her friend aren't Norse, they're Greek and Roman." Annabeth held up her beaded necklace as Koda flashed their SPQR tattoo.

A murder went over my group, followed by Mallory chucking a rock at my head. "Chase!" She scolded.

I was about to argue back, but Annabeth took over. "I really wish this could be a normal visit, but we need your help." She apologized. "We'll tell you along the way."

~~

Along the way was longer than expected.

We first had to wait for Percy who was still in the library since it was his mother's book being released. Then led to Jack finally waking up because "he's been longing for Riptide's glow and sleek sharp edges." He nearly broke my neck. Once out, and we did the greetings again, we piled into the camp's van, driven by a guy that had eyes literally on the back of his head. And his neck, and arms, and basically every part of his body.

Blitzen, Annabeth, and Percy discussed my adventures and stupid mistakes I've made during my time as an einherji. Mallory, Halfborn, and TJ would pause their arguments to chime in with specific stories.

But Alex and I seemed to bond with Koda. And by us, I mean he. Alex chatted with Koda a lot, discussing terminologies in the gender queer community. From homophobes, relationships, and benefits.

From romances (which Alex didn't seem to add anything in.) losses, and scars, we eventually started to go deep into detail about the gray haired demigod's girlfriend.

"Yeah, she's the home cook," Koda explained "Fen would make some sort of new dish for her restaurant, and if I found it appetizing, I'd eat it all. Though I don't think she likes the last bit."

Alex and I laughed at that. "She reminds me of Amir." He noted.

His comparison brought me back to the meeting we had. A pit in my stomach reminded me of the 10.99 I spent on my favorite dish.

"Oh yeah, Alex," I asked "Do we still have that left over falafel I bought?"

Alex's once amused and bright face fell. Replaced with evil content as he tried not to meet my eyes. "Well, since what happened caused us to split out of the restaurant so fast," he began warily "I may or may not have knocked the plate off the table?"

My face began to glow with an angry yellow flaming light in a second. "FIERRO!!!!" I boomed. Just then, the car began to slow into a park, allowing Alex to elegantly slip himself out of the rolled down window.

Koda, who sat between us, was cackling at the whole situation. I scrambled across them and to the other side of the car, where Alex made his great escape. I pulled myself over and tried to squeeze through the window, effectively kicking Koda square in the face. I tumbled out of the car and onto the dirt road, Koda's grunt of pain following me.

I stormed up the hill, seeing Alex doing everything but walking backwards, moving away from me with his devilish smirk.

When he saw me, I could see his face rippled with laughter and glee as he turned back around to sprint down the hill. Instead, he took four violent, sprinting steps forward then crashed into an invisible force.

The impact wave knocked his head back, the pain making him lose balance and fall backwards to the ground.

Seeing this, my anger melted to worry as his name leaped from my throat. I bolted towards him and crouched down to see the damage.

"Alex! Are you okay?" I sputtering. His green hair was sprawled around his head, his clothes muddy with bits of brush snagged to the cloth. His face scrunched in main as a groan escaped his lungs.

"Yeah, I'm good," he grunted, allowing me to pull him into a seat position. "What was that?"

I looked to where he bounced off of. It looked normal, the last few feet of the hill where you could look below at a valley. And yet...

I made the mistake of looking back at Alex. The afternoon, almost evening, sunset seemed to hit him just right. His eyes sparkled with the sun rays, a glowing outline of his shape seemed to glow at the angle he sat at. His hair looked as if injected with green glitter, making it more vibrant.

My mind lagged for a moment, but Alex kept me on my feet. By which I mean, he put his hand on my face and used me to push himself up onto his feet.

"Sorry about that you guys," Percy and the others followed us up the hills, slowing to a stop at our problem. "The camp is protected by a barrier. You two okay?"

"Never better." Alex answered for the both of us as I stood up.

Annabeth walked past us, chuckling a little. She walked right up to the front of the barrier, muttering something under her breath.

A crack of thunder rolled through the valley, ruffling our hair. Annabeth walked the distance we couldn't cross, having at us. "Come on," she urged "its open now."

The seven of us followed Percy, Annabeth and Koda the last few yards of the valley before stopping at the top.

Percy turned around and smiled at us "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

I think I'm a sucker for special effects. The sunset made the camp grounds magical. Every cabin looked lined with sunshine, each gravel on the path glowing. The air was so clear, so fresh, I had no trouble seeing young demigod play and train down the hill. Up above, two pegsi swooped above us, their riders yipping and cheering.

I smiled like a fool, this place looked amazing! Valhalla was all indoors, so seeing a huge open wilderness living area was paradise. I looked over at the others, and saw they all had the same emotions and idiotic grins.

"It's already getting late," Annabeth noted. Then she saw our awed expressions and her smile grew "Let's give you the tour!"

~~

By the end of the tour, I was starting to envy my cousin. We walked all long the paths, starting with the cabins. As we walked, we gave info about ourselves and what our powers were so the camp director, who we met later, would know where to put us.

Chiron was someone I expected, and wished I hadn't. I was with Alex at the time, and as soon as he saw the half man, half horse, he put that form on his bucket list to shift into. Dang you Greeks, quit giving Alex malicious ideas!

Because of our powers, I got put in with the Apollo cabin, the counselor looking frighteningly like me. Halfborn, TJ, and Mallory were put with Ares, after they mauled four guys in the training grounds. Blitz was put with the children of Aphrodite since some of them ordered stuff from his shop, and they were dying to meet him. Then finally Saar was put with Nico di Angelo in the Hades cabin. Can't wait to see how that goes.

Then came the camp fire. Because of everything that happened, the seven of us got split up, spread out among the amphitheater. But somehow, Alex, who had shifted to she and her, had met up with me.

We decided to share a bag of marshmallows for our gram crackers. By share, I mean Alex using the balls of sugar for more than s'mores. She tossed them at campers, would burn three marshmallows and start play chasing me with the flaming stick, like a torch. She even dabbed a little on my nose.

"It'll make you sweeter," she had told me "this grumpy attempt of a bad boy is getting old." Said bad boy gave her a glare at the time, earning a facial mask of marshmallow goop, and a laugh that made me burn more than the fire.

By the end of the night, I was once again, drained. Thankful for the nice bed I had in the cabin, across from another child of Apollo, Kayla Knowles.

Before lights out, we had a lengthy chat about ourselves. Kayla seemed very curious at how close my father Frey resembled Apollo. I also learned of her two amazing dads. She had it good.

By the time I could sleep, I had never felt relaxed. I knew I needed my rest, I had a gun held to my head by my neighbor, threatened by my friend's fiancé, had my mansion trashed, my other friend, who was like a brother to me, kidnapped, dragged all the way to Long Island, New York, socialized more than I had in a while, and was welcomed into a whole different pantheon.

I would also be meeting with someone who needed my help. My first official patient. Wow that sounds weird. But not as weird as my day today, or my day tomorrow