Once they had arrived at Camp Half-Blood, Nico felt a wave of exhaustion. It wasn't as strong as it was when he had been transporting the Athena Parthenos, Reyna, Coach Hedge, and himself across the world, but it was still significant. The moment they had touched onto solid ground, Serena immediately fell to her knees, hugging herself.

"You okay?" Nico carefully asked the new demigod, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Y-yeah," she answered a few moments later. "What in Hades was that?"

Nico noticed how she had cursed, and made a mental note to ask about it later. "That was shadow-travel. It's one of my powers as a son of..." Nico trailed off, not wanting to tell Serena who his father was in fear of her flinching away. Instead, he helped her to her feet. "Anyway, I used the shadows around us to bring us here."

"And where is here, exactly?"

"Camp Half-Blood." Nico recognized the voice. He spun around to find Chiron, the camp activities director, trotting up behind them.

Serena gaped at him. "You're...you're a..."

"Centaur, my dear. Call me Chiron."

"The trainer of heroes." Serena guessed.

"Very good, young demigod."

"Why does everybody keep calling me that? Demigods shouldn't be real." Serena demanded.

"Oh, I assure you that demigods are very real, as are the Greek gods."

"That's impossible." Serena didn't seem to sure of herself. "The Greek gods are just myths." She seemed to be reassuring herself more than anything.

"Serena," Nico started. "Chiron's telling the truth."

Serena looked into Nico's eyes for a moment before saying, "Alright. I believe you. Just one thing though."

"What is it?" Nico asked.

"Who's your dad? Or is it your mom?"

Nico thought about how to answer her question for a moment, and decided that he should tell the truth. "Hades. My dad is Hades." He waited a moment, expecting her to flinch away from him in disgust. She surprised him. She stayed put where she was standing. She didn't even blink.

"That doesn't surprise me. Mostly because of how you're dressed, but also that the gorgons called you 'Hades spawn'."

"Gorgons?" Chiron inquired.

"Yeah. We got attacked at her school dance."

"Well, nobody was hurt?"

"No, well, not permanently at least."

"Well, that is good to hear."

Nico took a glance at Serena, who looked as if she had a bad headache. "Serena? You okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She assured him. "It's just a lot to take in."

"Believe me, I know." Nico looked around for the source of the comment, and his eyes rested on none other than Jason Grace, one of Nico's best friends. "When I first came here, it was after I was attacked at the Grand Canyon, my so-called friends both get thrown over the side, my teacher turns out to be a satyr, and on top of all that, Hera had stolen my memories."

"Hey, Jason." Nico said once he was done talking. "This is Serena; she literally got here, like, less than 15 minutes ago."

"I'm Jason Grace." Jason held out his hand for Serena to shake. "Nice to meet you, Serena."

Serena shook his hand. "Likewise." Serena stepped back a little. "Grace. I feel like I've heard that name before..." She muttered under her breath so Jason wouldn't hear.

"Nico, Jason, why don't you give Serena here a tour of the camp?" Chiron questioned.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Jason exclaimed while walking towards the pegasus stables. "Let's get going."

After a few minutes of touring the camp, Jason pulled Nico aside while Serena kept walking.

"Nico, has she been claimed yet?" Jason asked in a hushed voice.

Nico looked at Jason strangely. "No, why?"

"Well, just look at her eyes! They look exactly like Percy's."

"I noticed that too, so how do you think I feel? On top of that, she cursed like a demigod the minute we got here." Jason didn't know what to say, so he let Nico keep talking. "Besides, her eye color isn't important right now."

"And, really, in what circumstances would my eye color be important?" Jason jumped when he heard Serena talk, especially because she was a good seven feet ahead, where she shouldn't have been able to hear them.

"W-what? How did you hear us?" Jason practically demanded.

Serena shrugged. "I've always been able to hear better than most people." She admitted, barely turning her head towards them. "By the way, I curse like that because I read a lot, especially Greek mythology. Cursing in a different language or dialect tends to get me in less trouble."

"Anyway, these are the cabins." Jason declared after continuing the walk in silence for a few minutes.

"That much I could have guessed..." Serena mumbled and rolled her eyes.

"This is cabin 11, the Hermes cabin, and where you'll be staying until you're claimed." Jason continued, choosing to ignore Serena's comment.

"That reminds me, who's your dad, Jason?" Serena asked curiously.

"Technically, my dad is Jupiter, Zeus's Roman form."

"That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks."

"When will I know?"

"What?" Jason stopped walking and looked at the younger girl.

"When will I know who my godly parent is?"

Jason hesitated and sneaked a glance at Nico for a moment. The son of Hades shrugged and nodded his head, edging him to explain to her. "Uh, well, how old are you?" Jason asked. "The gods promised to claim all of their children when they turn either 12 or 13, I can never remember which."

"My birthday is on Friday. I turn 13."

"So either you will get claimed on Friday, or maybe at the campfire tonight." Nico decided. "Do you know if it's your mom or your dad?"

"No clue. I grew up with two parents, so I don't really know."

They continued the tour in silence, with the exception of Jason explaining the different cabins. When they reached cabin 3, Serena stopped.

"How about this one?"

"That's cabin 3; Poseidon." Nico explained. "My friend Percy is the only camper living here, though."

"Oh." Serena said. "Well, I've never seen rocks like these before." She explained. "It's amazing." Serena reached out her hand and stared at the seashell-embedded rock for a few more seconds, running her hand along the stone. She seemed to realize that they had continued walking, so she pulled her and away and followed Jason and Nico.

The rest of the tour was nothing special, explaining one cabin, Serena freaking out over the climbing wall, etc. When they finished, Jason and Nico introduced Serena to her new cabin mates.

"Travis, Connor, this is Serena." Nico introduced.

"Regular or undetermined?" Travis asked.

"Undetermined."

"Cool!" Connor said, taking a step closer to Serena. "That means that you're not necessarily my half-sister. That's good. So I'm guessing you'll be moving out of the cabin soon, huh?"

Serena suddenly looked very uncomfortable. She shifted her weight around on her feet out of nervousness and her eyes darted around, desperate to look at anything other than the son of Hermes. "Uh, yeah, I guess so?"

"Connor, cut it out! You're scaring her." Travis said, pulling his brother away by the ear. "Sorry about my brother." He apologized to Serena. "He's an idiot."

"That much I already picked up on."

"Hey!" Connor protested.

"Anyway," Travis continued, leading Serena to a bed next to the window. "Here's your spot. Feel free to unpack, or whatever."

Jason saw Nico roll his eyes, and proceeded to walk out the door, careful to close it behind him and Nico. Man, Jason thought to himself. That is one weird kid.