After I watched a very weird orientation video, which taught me nothing except Apollo loves Apollo, it was already evening, and the sky turned a mix of orange and purple.

Lee took the liberty (was ordered by Chiron) of showing me around the camp. He was quite enthusiastic about it, explaining everything in way too many details that I did not care for but his sparkling eyes told me to just go along with it, he was a very warm and calm person, a literal ray of sunshine (Get it? Yeah, I will stop.)

Lee gave me a tour of the strawberry fields, where we met a friendly satyr who offered us some strawberries. They were incredibly sweet and melted in my mouth. Lee informed me that they sold the strawberries to New York and Mount Olympus (now located at the Empire State Building in New York too), which helped generate enough revenue to keep the camp running.

He then also showed me the volleyball court, the amphitheater, and the lake. There were a few naiads that waved at us, calling for Lee to join them, but he respectfully declined, pulling me along to get out of there quickly. "Just some general advice."

Then we went to the armory. A tall boy with dirty blonde hair was inspecting a sword. Lee greeted the guy, "Hey, Luke."

The boy turned around; he looked older than most campers I had met; he had piercing blue eyes and sharp features, a scar that ran down from the bottom of his right eye to his chin, giving him a rugged look, but when he smiled at us, he looked almost friendly and approachable.

"Hey, Lee. Who's this you got with you?"

"This is Zariya. She came to the camp yesterday." Lee looked at me. "And this is Luke Castellan, the head counselor of Hermes Cabin, where you will be staying for now."

I smiled at Luke, "Hi."

"So, you came here to pick a weapon?" Luke asked.

I shook my head. "No. Lee was just showing me around."

"I'm sure it was an entertaining tour." Luke laughed. Lee elbowed him in the chest but laughed with him.

"Oh, please, like you'll be any better."

I smiled, looking at them; I wondered if I stayed here I could have friends too, a place to call home and a place where you can feel safe but I didn't even know if I could stay, Chiron said I wasn't supposed to be here, if he told me to leave, I wouldn't have any other options.

Luke cut off my thoughts when he said, "You should pick a weapon soon." When you're a half-blood, you should always be prepared."

I nodded at him thoughtfully, not yet sure if I wanted to tell him about my pendant sword. It was a tough call to tell Chiron the truth and now I didn't wanna run about preaching magic swords.

"Don't worry about it too much." Lee said, "Luke here is the best swordsman at Camp in years and he loves to lecture anyone who will hear about them."

"That's not true I just..." Luke protested but was immediately cut off by Lee. "It took a lot of time to treat her wounds. I would like not to have her back in the infirmary today. Doctor's order." He looked at us both like he was scolding a 5-year-old.

I muttered a small okay and Luke promised me to help pick up a weapon the next morning.

The three of us then went to the area of cabins, arranged in a U-shape around a hearth, which personified Hestia. There were twelve cabins, each named after a major god of Olympus. The middle of the cabins, Cabin 1 and 2, were for Zeus & Hera. Few of the cabins looked empty.

We stopped in front of Cabin 11, the Hermes Cabin.

"Is there any reason I have to stay here?" I glanced at Luke. "I mean no offense, but a lot of the other cabins look empty, so can't I stay there?"
Luke smiled." Hermes, our patron, god of travelers. So all the newcomers are put here, till your godly parents claim you and then you move to your parents' cabin."

"How much time does that take?" I asked.

"We don't know," Lee simply answered," For some, it's a few hours, some few days, years, and some just never get claimed." I glanced at Luke. He was staring at the cabin with a somber look like he was carrying around a lot on his shoulders.

I observed the brown-colored worn-out cabin in front of me; the caduceus hanging at the door, and wondered just how hard it is for a god to just pop in, say hi kid, you're one of mine, bye, kid. It made me angry that they couldn't care even that much.

Lee looked at me sympathetically. "I guess this ends our tour. I have some work to do, so I'll leave you in Luke's care." He put a hand on my shoulder. "See you at dinner."

He left me alone with Luke, walking back towards his cabin, which was a glowing golden with the sun symbol at the top in the morning but now looked like a normal grey-stoned cabin.

Watching Lee getting away from me instantly made me feel lonely, it was an irritating thought, one day he had made me feel at home but it was wishful thinking as soon as Chiron figures out why I can't stay here, I'll have to leave to be alone again.

Luke cleared his throat, and I turned around to meet his gaze. "You'll see him again." He gave me a genuine smile, but his eyes still glistened with mischief. "C'mon, let's meet your cabin mates."

We walked into the cabin and all the children stopped doing what they were doing and lined up, "Zariya, meet cabin 11." Luke introduced me.

"Regular or unclaimed." Someone in the crowd asked, "Unclaimed." Luke answered. The crowd erupted in groans and I held my breath, deciding to keep staring at my torn shoes.

"Be nice, everyone," Luke warned. He then guided me to a corner where there was a sleeping bag on the ground, a new set of jeans, and a camp t-shirt. "We are completely booked right now."

I nodded. "That's alright. I don't mind this."

Suddenly a loud horn blew, a conch and then Luke commanded, "Eleven, fall in!"

The entire cabin, about twenty-some people, started to line up in order of seniority. I got up and rushed to stand at the end of the line cause I was the newest.

Campers came from the other cabins, too. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads, that's e had seen earlier, came from the canoeing lake. A few other girls just came out of the trees- like just emerged out of them, which was amazing.

At the top of the hill, there was a pavilion. Torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Some tables were empty, corresponding to the empty cabins. As Luke had informed me earlier, cabin 11 was filled with kids. I squeezed on the edge of the table.

I saw Lee sitting on table 8, surrounded by a bunch of other kids, most of whom had his blond hair and blue eyes, and waved at him. He smiled and waved back. I made a mental note to properly thank him and ask about Percy's health. He was not present at the dining table, so was probably still knocked out.

Mr. D was sitting at table 12 with a couple more kids that looked like him and a few satyrs, one of whom I recognized as Grover. I hadn't seen him around the camp. He looked grim, his eyes held down, staring at the plates. I felt bad for him. Chiron was standing by the side. The benches were probably way too small for his horse-butt.

I noticed some other tables. Cabin 5 consisted of many overly muscular kids who looked like they were ready to fight even if you looked at them wrong.

Cabin 6 had five kids who just seemed like they were judging Cabin 5, rolling their eyes at them. Then my eyes met with a pair of cold grey ones. A girl with luscious blonde hair that fell on her shoulder was staring at me directly. I simply waved at her to cut the tension, but she just turned away from me.

What the heck did she want from me?

Finally, Chiron pounded his hooves on the floor and everything went silent, "To the Gods." He raised his glass.

"To the Gods." Everybody raised their glasses. I did too, but my glass was empty.

The guy sitting next to me spoke." Tell it what you want. Any drink."

I nodded at him but stared at my cup. "Water ?"

The guy laughed, "You can choose any drink, and that's what you chose?"

I drank the water in one go and pouted at the guy. "I don't know any other drink."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell it, Coca-Cola."

I repeated the drink. It was a brown-colored fizzy drink. "Go on, take a sip." I drank the drink, and it had a sweet, citrusy flavor, which gave me a popping sensation on the tongue and a burning sensation in my throat. I liked the taste but the burning sensation was not so much.

"It's okay, I guess."

The guy said, "Drink up. Once you get the taste of it, you can't stop." He smiled at me, his mischievous smile mirroring Luke's, which gave me the impression he probably wasn't an unclaimed kid. "I'm Connor." He pointed at the guy across the table."That's my brother Travis."

"Hi." Travis did a half salute at me. He too had the same smile, but these too seemed like they were planning to do something. I decided to be on alert around them.

A bunch of wind nymphs came with platters of food.

"Were you the one that killed the monster on the hill?" Travis asked as he passed me a platter of baked briskets.

I shook my head, "Nope. That was Percy."

Travis and Connor made eye contact with each other, their eyes gleaming with trouble. They were having an internal dialogue with each other.

I decided to just focus on the food for now and picked up a piece, "No." Connor told me, "You gotta offer the food to the Gods first."

"Seriously. I'm very hungry."

"Rules are rules," Travis said as he got up and walked towards the fire. I followed behind. Can you believe that? He seemed like the last person who would stick to that saying. "They like the smell."

"Of burnt food?" I asked, "Can't they just make burgers appear in front of them?"

Connor and Travis laughed. "I think you'll fit here just fine." I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic, but I sincerely think he was, cause they respectfully bowed to the fire and tossed the juiciest fruits and most tasty-looking rolls into it. "Hermes."

It was my turn next. I didn't have any particular God that I wanted to offer food to, so I just made a silent request, Whoever you are, just give me a sign that I belong here. I don't need to know anything else and maybe please help Percy cause he did save me. Hey, that can be the sign you give me. I don't know, you're a God, you'll figure it out.

I tossed the food and walked back to the table.

The rest of the dinner was quiet, and I just ate as much as I could. Don't judge. I love good food.

After everyone finished eating, Chiron pounded his hooves again.

Mr. D sighed, "I guess I should say hello to you brats. So, hi." Chiron cleared his throat and Mr. D added, "We also have a new camper today.." He paused and I groaned internally. Chiron murmured, "Zariya."

"Yeah. Yay! Now go on to your campfire."

We all headed to the amphitheater where the Apollo cabin led a few camp songs and we all ate s'mores. I got some time to say thank you to Lee. He introduced me to some of his siblings, they all were super energetic except for a guy named Michael, who was hot-headed which also made sense for a son of Apollo. Lee also told me that Percy was in and out of his sleep coma but was overall fine.
Throughout the evening I saw the same blonde girl from Cabin 6 staring at me from time to time, her eyes asking me the questions I didn't have the answers for. I tried to approach her, but she kept slipping away from me, so I just decided to give up. If she had something to talk about, she'd find me.

As the last of the flames started to die out, a conch was blown again, and we returned to the cabin. I went to my corner of the floor and laid down on my sleeping bag.

I thought about my first day here; I didn't feel like an outsider anymore. It felt like. Home, the warm comfortable place was more than I could ask for. I got to this place because of Percy's mom. I needed to repay that favor. I had a feeling she wasn't dead and the last few weeks had taught me to trust my gut and that's exactly what I was gonna do. I'm gonna figure out where she is and bring her back.

And with that thought, I slowly succumbed to my tiredness and fell asleep