Chapter 1 Introduction

Hi, I'm William. There have been a few demigods lately that have been writing bestselling stories about their lives. My girlfriend thinks I should take a whack at it for myself, I'm pretty sure that my story is interesting and know for a fact that it is way different. It all started when I was five.

When I was five, my parents and I were spending the weekend at a campground near a national park. We were having a fantastic time, fishing, canoeing, having campfires, making smores, and playing games. It was all a kid could ask for. That is until the monsters showed up.

On the last night before we would head home, we were sitting around the fire, bundled up in blankets, just watching the fire crackle in the silent night. I was starting to doze off in my lawn chair, when a roar broke through the silence and woke me up. My parents jumped out of their chairs and frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the violent scream. They didn't have to look long before a massive figure that could be barely seen through the darkness of night emerged from the forest. "William, run!" I heard my mom yell. I scrambled out of my blanket cocoon and wasted no time running in the opposite direction of the monster.

I ran out of our campsite and into the dark forest. I looked back just in time to see my parents being surrounded by more monsters. Tears flooded my eyes as I continued deeper into the woods. I lost track of time and space as I ran as fast as my tiny legs could carry me. I ran until my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground. The only thing I could hear was the gurgling of a nearby stream. I saw something emerge from the water's direction but was too exhausted find out what it was. "No. Please don't hurt me" I cried, and promptly passed out in the dirt.

"Chiron! Come quick, there's a kid in the creek!" I heard as I woke up. I slowly looked around to realize that this was not where I had been when I fell asleep and that I was not alone. There were a bunch of kids of various ages standing throughout the woods. Then I noticed that these kids were all holding weapons and wearing armour, startled by this I scrambled back further into the water, trying to distance myself from whoever these people were.

"Alright everyone give us some space!" a loud voice said, and all the kids backed up a ways, but still close enough so they could see. I turned my eyes to the voice and they went wide. A man's body was stuck to a horse's body and he was coming right towards me. "No! No, go away! Were my parents not enough for you people?" I yelled as I started crying again. "Peace child, we mean no harm to you, I am here to help. Can you tell me your name?" The horse-man said softly taking a couple steps closer.

"No! Back up! You killed my parents and now you want me too!" I said with hate in my eyes. "I promise that we didn't harm your parents, now if you calm down why don't you tell me what your name is and what happened. Maybe I can help" he said trying to calm me down. "You-you want to help? You didn't kill them?"

"I swear that nobody here hurt your parents. My name is Chiron, what's yours?" "My name is William. I was camping with my mom and dad when scary monsters came from the woods. My mom told me to run and when I looked back I saw them kill them. Then I fell asleep from being tired by a creek and I woke up here with you people, but this isn't where I fell asleep, someone brought me here" I said starting to cry again at the thoughts of what I had witnessed.

"It's okay, why don't you come with me and we'll get you some dry clothes and you can tell me more" Chiron said. My curious, imaginative five-year-old brain quickly accepting that the half-man half-horse talking to me was perfectly acceptable. I walked beside Chiron following him out of the woods and towards a big blue house. "What is this place? Is this your home?" I asked curious. "Yes it is. We call this the Big House. It is where I stay here at Camp" Chiron answered. "This is a camp? Where are the tents?" I asked. "Here at Camp Half-Blood we have cabins instead of tents" Chiron explained, no sign that he was annoyed by all the questions.

"My mom says that it's not really camping if you're not staying in a tent, or the very least a trailer" I said. "Smart lady" a new voice said. Standing on the porch of the Big House. She was very tall and had long black hair all the way past her butt. "Wow" I said, my toddler's mind blown away at the beauty of the silver clad woman in front of us. "He's a little young to be here no Chiron?" she asked, not paying attention to my awed expression. "Quite , he says his parents were killed by monsters and someone dropped him in the creek here after he passed out" Chiron said to her.

She turned to look at me and frowned when she saw my expression. "Don't you know it's not polite to stare?" she said. I looked down a the ground in shame, "sorry miss." "You are young so I'll let it slide. My name is Zoe, can you tell me where you were with your parents? I would like to go hunt these monsters" Zoe asked. "You can't! They are super dangerous! You could get hurt" I said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry I'll take all of my sisters with me, we hunt monsters all the time" she reassured me.

"Really? That's cool! I don't have any sisters. We were in Shenda- Shandan- Shandoda-" "Shenandoah?" Zoe said for me. "Yeah that one!" "Alright I'll go get my sisters and we'll hunt those monsters" she said before jogging off. "Is she going to be okay?" I asked Chiron as we walked into the House. "Don't worry about Zoe, William. She and her sisters can best almost any monster. Their job is to hunt down the most dangerous ones" "Wow"

Chiron sat me down in the living room and explained as best he could to a five year old what was happening. Overall I took everything pretty well, I was a demigod, half-god, all the other people here were too, some might even be my siblings. Then he explained that I would have to stay here now and that I would be put in the Hermes cabin and participate in all of their activities with them until my godly parent claimed me. I protested pretty hard that both my parents had been killed and I wasn't part god but eventually Chiron was able to get me to understand and accept.

The first week was weird as I tried to adjust to the new place I was supposed to call home now. My cabin mates were all nice, for the most part. It was weird being the youngest one in Camp but it didn't affect me too much, I still learned to shoot a bow and use different weapons, mostly daggers, since they were more my size. The only activities I didn't participate in were forging and the lava wall, I was way too small for those things.

Every chance I got though I was with Chiron, I followed him around everywhere he went, increasing my endurance since I had to run to keep up with him most of the time. I asked him questions constantly, always testing his knowledge of the mythical world, coming up with wonderings that could only come from a young child. Chiron would always have an answer, sometimes it required some thought first, but he always answered, except one question, "Who is my parent Chiron?" I would ask almost every day. "I do not know my boy, you haven't been claimed and haven't given away any clues as to who it might be, I'm sorry" would be his answer in one shape or another every time.

It didn't take long for me to become one of the most well rounded campers, always trying my hardest to impress whoever my parent was. I absorbed every piece of knowledge that Chiron dropped on me as I slowly learned from his thousands of years of experience. This continued for five years.

I kept up this routine of learning and hard work for five years. Never getting claimed but always keeping hope. Then when I was ten a new opportunity walked into camp, a new, never been done before challenge that was sure to get my parents attention.

A hunting horn rang throughout the valley, signaling the entrance of the hunters. Their first time back since I had talked to Zoe.

Hi everybody! Thanks for reading my story! This first chapter is a little rough, but I promise it gets better as you go. Also this is my first complete story! I hope you enjoy!