I know! I know! I'm a horrible person for not updating in 3 months! BUT, I do have a semi-valid excuse. School's starting, and I had to get my stuff together, and I had major writer's block, so yeah. So, to make it up to you guys, this chapter is EXTRA long (that was totally intended)!

READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE CONFUSED WHILE READING:

I have NOT read ToA, so none of the events that happen in ToA will be in this fic, which means, that, yes, Jasper will still be a thing. Don't worry though, I have read Chalice of the Gods, and Iris' staff, Mercedes, will be a crucial part in this fanfic. I'll explain more when we get to that chapter, but this is all you need to know for now.

I was back in the living room, standing in the corner where we put the poker that was sorta hidden behind the fireplace, when the door opened, and Juán and José walked in.

"Mom! How's dad doing?" Juán asked, though his voice sounded kinda muffled, like someone put a hand over his mouth.

"Two weeks, two weeks!" muttered my dad, wringing his hands, "Two weeks, and they still haven't found anything! Dios mío, I- Alana! Do we have enough money to file a lawsuit?

"Ay, no Felix! You're going too far! called Alana from the kitchen, so muffled I could barely tell that she spoke.

"Goodness me, you need to take a breath! It's not like she disappeared into thin air! They're going to find her."

"She did disappear Alana!"

"I know Felix, but you haven't slept in days! If you keep going on like this, you won't have enough energy to look for her! Just calm down, ok? The police will find something eventually."

"Calm down?! I can't- argh, I suppose you're right, honey. I should get some rest. But, I will not calm down!"

"Ay," said Alana, shaking her head, "sometimes I wonder who is the baby in this house, you or Marisa."

Juán and José snickered, then Marisa came waddling into the room. "Did you call me mamá?" Man, either I need a hearing aid, or everyone just talks weird.

"No mija, I was talking to dad. Also, I think it's time for your nap." Nap? Why does that remind me of something?…

Suddenly, my house started fading away, and I saw José open his mouth, but the living room faded away before I heard what he said.

"Isabelle…Isabelle…."

Slowly, the image of my house was replaced with blond hair and blue eyes. I blinked the spots out of my eyes and tried to focus on the person in front of me.

"Huh? Where am I? And where's Grover?" I mumbled sleepily. Even though that guy- er satyr, almost starved me, he did also save my life, twice, and I'd be a terrible person if I wasn't grateful, which I am.

"You're at Camp Half-Blood, in the infirmary. And don't worry, Grover's safe."

"Who are you?"

The person smiled, their bright teeth slightly blinding me and helping me focus on them at the same time.

"I'm Will. Will Solace. One of the medics at Camp Half-Blood."

"Medics? What happened?" I asked groggily, trying to regain my bearings.

"You passed out at the base of Half-Blood Hill due to malnourishment, but don't worry, a little ambrosia and some rest fixed you right up!" Will chirped.

I studied Will's expression, trying to see what he wouldn't tell me. I'd always been strangely good at reading people, knowing when they're hiding something, and especially when they weren't fine even though they said they were. Nat had even suggested that I become a therapist, and honestly, that kinda sounds fun, getting to help people sort out issues. And getting to hear fresh drama, of course. Will kept his bright smile on his face, but one look at his eyes told me just how bad it'd been. His eyes were studying me back, but slightly scanning my face, probably trying to see if I was gonna pass out again.

"That bad, huh?" I asked, half joking, half not.

Will widened his eyes a bit at my question, hesitated, then replied "Yeah. You were in pretty bad shape. But, ambrosia does wonders on injuries, so no need to worry." He chose his words carefully, probably trying not to scare me, and if I was completely honest, it was kinda working. But, what did scare me was how he was looking at me with the reassuring smile still on his face. I couldn't tell what he was hiding, but I knew he was hiding something, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I really wanted to know, so I changed the topic.

"So, am I good to go doc?"

His expression relaxed, clearly relieved that I'd dropped it. His smile widened, but more real this time.

"Yeah, you're good to go." said Will, walking over to the door and leaning on the doorframe, gesturing for me to come over. I hopped off the bed and walked over to him.

"Chiron wanted to see you after you woke up," said Will, "You'll probably find him playing pinochle with Mr. D on the front porch."

Chiron? Why did that name sound familiar?

"Wait, who the what now? Who's Chiron?" I asked.

Will smiled, like he had answered this question before, but wasn't tired of it.

"Chiron, as in the centaur hero trainer from Greek mythology. But don't say that in front of him too often, he gets a little salty about it. And Mr. D is our camp director, otherwise known as the wine god Dionysus. Or sometimes, as 'the wine dude', but be careful when you say that, because he might just turn you into a dolphin." said Will, smirking slightly.

"Okay, so basically, don't mention to the centaur that he's a myth, and don't call the wine god 'the wine dude'. Got it. Oh and by the way, where are we exactly?" I asked.

"We're in The Big House," said Will.

"The Big House, huh? And the winner for this year's most creative name is….Camp Half-Blood!" I said in my best announcer voice.

Will rolled his eyes, still grinning, and just nudged me out of the door. Okey-doke, guess now I get to find out what Chiron and Mr. D want with me. I walked down the hallway, weirdly anxious, as if something was going to come out of nowhere and jump-scare me. The creaking floorboards didn't make it much better. It felt like I was in one of those ancient haunted houses from basically every classic horror movie ever. Speaking of, looking around, I could see that this was a really old house. And I don't just mean 'your grandma' old, I'm talking back when they didn't have toilets old. Despite that, it was in good condition, and besides the paint slightly peeling at the corners, it didn't look more than 60 years old, which, now that I think about it, was probably when this place was last repainted. I reached the staircase and caught a glimpse of a large balcony hanging over what I assumed to be the front porch, which was where I would find the wine dude- er, Mr. D (what? He's a god, for all I know he can read my thoughts and turn me into a dolphin right now! I don't know about you, but I like my legs. But I digress.) and Chiron. When I stepped on the first step, it creaked so loud, I thought it was screaming.

"Jeez, did I step on a mouse or a stair?" I muttered.

As soon as I stepped out onto the front porch, I was immediately shocked by the sheer amount of people there were, just milling about their day, but when I actually looked around, I saw that the number of people that were here was nowhere near how big the camp was. I'd tell you about it, but I got distracted by the horse dude sitting on a throw cushion playing pinochle.

"Mr. D, you can't have that, remember?" Mr. D? I leaned a bit to see who the horse dude (who I assume is Chiron, but my 2nd grade teacher told me it's not nice to assume) was talking to, and was greeted by the sight of a drunk dude in a Hawaiian shirt so loud that my eyes and ears hurt, and a pair of equally, if not louder, matching board shorts.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just mad I beat you," said the drunk dude grumpily, as he waved his hand and his wine glass was replaced with .…Diet Coke? What in Cabbage-Patch am I getting myself into? Chiron turned around and smiled, like he was expecting me, which, now that I think about it, he probably was.

"Isabelle, glad to see you're awake. I'm Chiron, and he," Chiron said, turning slightly to point a finger at the drunk dude, "is Mr. D, though I believe Will already informed you of that."

"Uh, yeah…?" I cringed at how awkward that sounded.

Chiron smiled, then turned expectantly to Mr. D, who rolled his eyes and groaned, then reluctantly replied: "Fine, but don't you dare enjoy it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, there, happy?"

Chiron looked pleased, then stood up from his throw cushion and gestured for me to follow him. This probably shouldn't have been a surprise, but he was much faster than me, and I had to run to keep up. And no offense to Chiron, but I learned my lesson of never standing behind a horse's backside. No matter how 'well potty-trained' and 'such a good boy' they are (cue glare) (yes, I'm looking at you Alice), accidents can happen, and I would show you, but the video is kinda embarrassing (I was screaming and crying and freaking out the whole time, as one does) and the shirt is currently in ashes somewhere in a landfill.

"What? Sorry, can you repeat that?" Chiron had said something, but I hadn't caught it because I was too busy getting out of spraying range.

"Are you 13 yet, my dear?"

I was confused, but replied anyway. "No, I'm twelve."

Chiron furrowed his eyebrows, as if deep in thought. "And when is your next birthday?"

"Uh, September 13th."

"Mm, that's unfortunate," said Chiron, almost passive-aggressively, and to be honest, I was kinda offended. But I was also getting worried, like, does Chiron hate Virgos or something?

"Um, what's unfortunate?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding like Marisa when she took the last cookie and José yelled at her.

Chiron looked at me sadly and said "Unfortunately, since you are not yet 13, it is unlikely that your godly parent will claim you yet, so you will have to stay in the Hermes cabin the rest of the summer."

"What?"

Cheers,

HPfan5ever