Silena had no idea where her father was going, but at the moment she couldn't bring herself to care. She gave an explanation on the details of what happened but after that she was silent. The main thing on her mind was the head of the boy nestled on her lap. It wasn't looking good, his breaths were no longer ragged but were now so shallow that Silena almost feared the worst. Clarisse had checked his pulse and confirmed that while faint, it was still there. At the moment there was nothing she could do but try to make John comfortable. Though she doubted it would do much good with those hideous barbs in his back.

The lack of sunlight made her look up to see she had entered a forested area. Silena was confused, there were no buildings here or any sign of medical facilities. The car came to a halt, and she looked up again to seen. Standing in front of their car a few feet away was a teenage boy wearing a green vest and pants an orange shirt and on a belt around his waist was what looked like a couple of knives.

The boy stood up and his hands rested on the hilts of his weapons, "this forest isn't safe for you sir," the boy said sternly. "Turn back now before you get hurt."

"It's okay," Silena's father said hands raised. "my daughter is one of you."

The boy cocked an eyebrow and strode forward, Silena opened the back door, and the boy took a look inside. "Please," she begged, "my friend, he...he's badly hurt."

The boy put his fingers and gently stroked the barbs, and his eyes widened, "manticore," he whispered as he then checked the pulse. He quickly turned hie head and let out a shrill whistle. Out of seemingly nowhere, several similarly dressed teenagers emerged from the bushes and trees. They were all wearing armour over orange shirts and long pants and holding shields and spears.

"Get this boy to the medical wing and send for Lee immediately," he said in a commanding voice.

"Yes Sir."

"Right away."

Silena noted that while half of the newcomers seemed to be older than the boy, they were not being slow to obey his orders. As one of the younger kids rushed ahead, two of the older teens carefully carried John out of the car and into whatever this place was.

She moved to follow them but then she remembered her father. She came over nervously. "I want to go with them daddy." She explained tentatively, "Just to make sure he's okay."

Her Father nodded solemnly, "stay as long as you need to sweetheart, it's probably for the best anyway if there are monsters after you." He gave her a sad smile, "You were always meant to come here eventually, I just wished you were a little older when the time came."

Silena wrapped her father in a tight hug as the two shared a tearful goodbye. "It's not goodbye forever," He assured her. "I'll return tomorrow with some of your belongings,", Silena nodded, and her father smiled. "You'll be able to come home once it becomes safe." Though his tone carried less assurance in that second part.

After unloading the bags from the trunk, Silena's father drove away giving a final wave as he left. Seeing her father depart Silena hurried to follow the teens carrying John's body. As they walked, Silena took a moment to regard the leader of the group. This boy would have turned Cassidy and his gang into pretzels as a side thought. His face was scarred, his left arm marked with burns and his right eye was covered with a patch. She noticed that he was looking at Clarisse curiously. Now that she got a better look at him, she noticed that he had a certain look about him, that was tough and vicious. Though unlike Clarisse, his seemed more chiseled and combined with a hard coldness. Looking at the other kids she saw they too shared a similar look, but it was not as prominent as their leader. He was scanning the area his hands never leaving his weapons as if expecting to be attacked.

The group came across an arch way that Silena read as Camp Half-Blood, they were soon greeted by blonde boy carrying a bag and two others who were carrying a stretcher. They placed John on the stretcher and the blonde boy checked him out.

"What do we have George?" Lee asked checking John's pulse.

"Manticore," The leader, named George replied.

"Will he be okay?" Silena asked desperately.

"I'm not sure," Lee replied. "His pulse is weak, but I will do what I can."

They followed the blonde to a cluster of buildings and kids of various ages, going about their business. As they passed Silena saw the kids stop what they were doing to observe them. Or more accurately many of the boys were looking at her with their mouths open. Some of the children smiled and waved.

They came upon and larger structure and went inside. Inside were many beds with some being occupied. Some kids were being bandaged while others were having bruises checked.

They laid John down on one of the empty beds on his stomach and Lee set to work. First, they tore open the back of John's turtleneck so Lee could remove the barbs. Silena watched as Lee carefully removed the barbs. Clarisse's first observation had been correct a few of the barbs had indeed hit a couple of veins, one had punctured a lung, and one had gotten beneath his heart.

After the barbs were safely removed, they proceeded to remove the rest of the ruined turtleneck off him and that's they noticed something peculiar.

"What happened to his arms?" Lee asked. Puzzled Silena looked and saw that both of John's forearms were covered in bandage wrapping and secured with medical tape.

"I don't know," Silena answered. "I didn't even know they were bandaged. He always wore turtlenecks, so I never saw his arms."

Lee frowned, he didn't know what he expected to find but he felt obligated to proceed if the boy had further injuries. So slowly and carefully Lee undid the bandages of the right arm. At first there didn't seem to be anything wrong, then Leen turned the arm around and that's where they saw them. Along the ventral side of the forearm running about two thirds of the length was a long white scar. it looked to be completely healed but the scar remained. They unwrapped the other bandage and found an identical scar in the same place. They all looked at each other, Lee knew enough to know exactly what those scars indicated.

"They look about two years old," Lee said after a moment of examining it.

Silena was staring with a look of shock and horror on her face. "John..." her voice barely above a whisper, "what happened to you?"

"I think we should leave Lee and the Apollonians to their work." George said carefully. "For now, you two need to come with me, the Directors will have questions for you."

Silena nodded reluctantly and set John's bags next to his bed before leaving with Clarisse to follow George as the medics disrobed John to look for other injuries. The two girls were led to a big blue house there a tubby older man and a Centaur were playing cards on the porch.

The man barely acknowledged their presence, while the Centaur looked up and smiled warmly at them. "Hello," he said, "welcome to Camp Half Blood, I am Chiron, the Activity Director, this is Mr. Camp Director."

"Silena Beauregard."

"Clarisse La Rue."

Mr. D. waved them off, "yes, yes welcome to camp and all that rubbish. "Now we need to know what happened.

The girls explained as best they could what happened. Silena handed Chiron John's pen, and the Centaur examined it closely and even Mr. D took a look, and his eyes widened, "this is-"

"Indeed," Chiron replied, "Stygian Iron."

Mr. D turned to the girls, "and you say this turns into a bident?"

Silena nodded and the two directors were looking at each other strangely. But before they could ask Chiron thanked them and handed the pen back to Silena. He then summoned Eve to collect them. At that moment a red aura enveloped Clarisse and two bloody swords appeared above her head.

George seeing this chuckled, "looks I have another recruit," He patted her back, "welcome home...sister."

Silena's eyes widened in surprise, now the similar looks on the two of them suddenly made sense.

Clarisse was still trying to comprehend what just happened, "What?"

"Our father has claimed you," George explained, he gestured outside. "Get your things and follow me, 'l'll show you to our cabin."

Chiron turned to Silena, "You'll be staying in the Hestia Cabin for the time being. At least until you are claimed. In the meantime, how much do you know about your mother's world."

"Not much," Silena admitted.

"No problem," Chiron replied gently. "We have an orientation film to help newcomers."

Mr. D rolled his eyes, "parents like yours are too sentimental. They keep you in the dark and it usually gets them killed because they have no idea what is going on or how to deal with it."

As he spoke a young woman stepped up to the porch, between her dark dair and violet eyes. she had a dark yet serene beauty to her in Silena's opinion.

"Eve," Chiron greeted with a smile, "thank you for coming."

Eve returned the greeting with a smile of her own, "it's no trouble director." She turned to the young girl, "is this the new arrival?"

"Silena Beauregard," Chiron replied, "the other girl, Clarisse was claimed by Ares."

Eve nodded, "he never wasted time to swell the ranks of his cabin, especially when they are good fighters." She held out a hand, "come Silena, let's get you settled in."

Silena was taken to a room where a video was played detailing the camp, it's function and the nature of Demigods. Eve then showed her around the camp detailing where everything was. Eve would ask her questions about John and Silena did her best to tell them all she knew about him in the hopes that it might help.

"You'll be staying with us in Cabin 14," Eve explained. "It's nothing to boast about, but it's home for those who have none."

Silena was only half listening since her mind was distracted. Eve noticed this and turned to face her. "Are you still worried about your other friend?"

Silena nodded, I want to be there for him when he wakes up, he doesn't have anyone else."

Eve smiled sadly, "then lets go see him." Silena's eyes widened in surprise and Eve placed a hand on her back, "you can join us when you're ready."

With that, she and Eve immediately went back to the hospital wing to check on John. By now his body was bandaged and Lee was feeding him some kind of medicine.

"Is he dying?" Silena asked crouching down to John's bedside.

Lee shook his head, "he's stable for now but only time will tell."

Silena looked at him, "isn't there any more you can do?"

Lee sighed, "Silena, the fact that he's alive at all is a miracle in and of itself. We're giving him, ambrosia and nectar, but he's still very weak."

Silena took John's hand in hers, "I couldn't help him," she said miserably. "Not against the empousa, or the Manticore. All I could do was sit there uselessly as he risked his life to save me."

Eve put a comforting hand on Silena's shoulder. "it's not your fault." She assured her, "many of us were just as helpless when we came here. Now that you are here too you have the means to learn and grow."

For the next few days Silena resolutely refused to leave his side. The only exceptions were when nature called, or they had to change his bandages. She was often seen dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth. During that time Silena reflected on what John had told her. "There are worse things out there."

'Is this what he meant?' she wondered. Her hand held his as her other regarded the scar on his arm.

She had the usual visitors like Lee and Clarisse. The next time she saw Clarisse she saw she now sported two black eyes and bruises everywhere.

"What happened," Silena exclaimed hurrying over when she saw her friend.

"Apparently, initiation into Ares cabin involves an all-out brawl," Clarisse replied with a grin. "I think I gave a good impression." She glanced at John, "How is he doing?"

"He still hasn't woken up," Silena explained. "Lee says he's stable but he still hasn't woken up."

Aside from them, a handful of people had also come to see the newcomer. One was a girl with electric blue eyes who looked at John with resentment, another was a handsome blonde boy who glared in contempt.

Over the next few days Silena noticed that almost everyone had started looking at John like he had the plague. The Satyrs in particular seemed terrified of him.

"Why does everyone look like they're afraid of John?" she asked Eve.

Eve took a seat next to her, "between his weapon and the abilities you described. It's believed that he may be a son of Hades."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It means he's a forbidden child," Eve explained. "Decades ago, John's father and uncles made a vow on the River Styx to never have children. Breaking a vow on the River Styx is not a light matter and the penalty is usually death, but since the fathers are immortal then consequences are inflicted on their children.

Silena was shocked, John was blaming himself for what happened to us. A surge of anger that not even Felicity Buckman erupted through her. "THAT'S NOT HIS FAULT," she protested, "John didn't ask for this. Are you telling me he will have to suffer his whole life for his father's mistake? HOW IS THAT FAIR?"

Eve nodded, "it has been made worse since not long after, Zeus unjustly killed someone Hades loved. So ever since Hades has sent monsters after Zeus children and Zeus had been sending monsters after John."

Silena's face fell, 'to think John has had to deal with this all his life. No wonder he didn't want to make friends." Suddenly her eyes widened, "Wait, John has a family, the Brownings, will Zeus go after them too.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Eve replied. "Do you know where they live? I can go check on them."

Silena opened her mouth then closed it, she had never been to his house, though she did have it described to her by her friends. All I know is that it's a rundown manor that had a reputation for being haunted.

Eve rubbed her chin. "I'll see what I can do. I'll also try and explain the situation to them when I find them. With that she turned and headed out leaving Silena alone with John.

Days past but John still hadn't woken up and Silena was getting more and more distraught. She was eating little and sleeping even less. Eve came to her one day with a plate of food. "I know you're worried dear, but you need to eat something. It does no good for you to waste away."

Silena shook her head, "why won't he wake? It's been five days already."

"We are doing all we can for him, but you, young lady need to keep up your strength. For his sake as well as yours."

'But-but what if he dies?" Silena's voice was barely above a whisper.

Eve shook her head. "you claim he doesn't make friends, yet he protected you at great personal risk to himself. If he cares about you as much as I think, he's going to be even more stressed if he sees you half dead wasting away."

Silena sighed and gave a slight nod accepting the food, her hand found a piece of bread. Eve gave her a smile and patted her back. After taking a bite. Silena took John's hand as her eyes welled with tears. "John, please, wake up."