My dreams were interrupted by someone slamming my door open.

I sat up suddenly, and Sophia was storming inside, only to stop in her tracks when she noticed I wasn't wearing a shirt.

She blushed, turning around at once.

"Why the fuck are you barging in here?!" I exclaimed, covering myself with the thin blanket I had been given, my heart beating fast.

"It's time to start that so-called tour that Chiron mentioned yesterday."

"What time is it again?"

"Six-Thirty."

"Couldn't you have let me sleep for a bit longer? Eight, maybe?" I groaned, falling backwards, only to smack my head into the wooden headboard of the bed.

She snorted while walking over to the window, "Life starts early here. I also want to finish all of this before training starts. Need to practice a bit."

I moaned and rubbed my eyes. The moment Sophia pulled apart the curtains, I knew she wasn't taking my shit. The rising sun would've been beautiful to watch from that window, however, there was just one minor inconvenience, which was that the light shone straight into my eyes.

"Amazing," I muttered.

For a split second, my memories of yesterday resurfaced, especially the campfire. It had been a fantastic experience, one that I hoped to repeat today. There had been songs, silliness, and everything in between. Overall, it was just a bunch of kids having a good time.

Even Sophia had let loose a bit, singing her heart out during certain songs and smiling a lot.

"Get dressed, and meet me downstairs."

"Are we going to have breakfast at least?"

"Yeah, but not at the dining pavilion." She reached into her pocket, and pulled out an apple, throwing it to me. I caught it and stared at the fruit quizzically, "Now hurry up, we don't have all day." She told me, walking back outside and closing the door behind herself.

My wound felt much better compared to how it had yesterday. In fact, it had healed enough that as I got onto my own two feet, I knew that I'd no longer need the crutches. Running would still be a problem, as even the slightest turn of my torso was met with complaints from my new battle scar, but hopefully, there'd be none of that today.

Making my way down the stairs, I stopped in my tracks when I saw Chiron sitting in his wheelchair, playing cards with someone in the lobby area. It was a guy in his early twenties, looking like a stereotypical surfer, with long, blond hair and everything.

I was about to greet them when one of the guy's eyes opened and focused on me. An eye... On the back of his neck.

The dude turned around, and his entire body blinked at once.

"Umm..."

"Good morning, Daniel! Let me introduce you to Argus over here, our Head of Security. He's friendly, though he's on the quieter side."

The man waved, smiling as he did so.

"Hi," I muttered, before quickly walking down the rest of the steps, and only just stopping myself from darting straight out of the door.

Sophia stood outside, whistling tunelessly while she waited for me.

"You ready?"

I shook my head to shake the sight from my mind, "Yeah, let's get going."

She nodded and strode down the steps of the porch, me following her closely, my eyes looking at my apple for a split second. For some reason, I wasn't all that hungry.

Three dozen steps later, she turned around and spread her arms out in front of herself.

"The Big House... It's the heart of the entire camp, or you could also call it our headquarters. Two floors, a basement and an attic, it's one of the biggest buildings around. You can find the infirmary inside, which is where you were treated until we took you to your own temporary room. Chiron's office and room are also in there, so if you ever want to find him, this is the primary place to do so, the archery range coming in at a close second. If you ever want to find technology, your best bet is inside the office, since his entire room is inlaid with celestial bronze. Allows us to use things like the internet safely... In the past, new kids watched the orientation film inside the office, but we upgraded the building with a home theatre system, a lengthy and costly addition according to our dear old teacher, but any year-rounder will tell you it's one of the better upgrades of the past decades... What else can you find there?" She mused, "There's another guest room, and just in case there's ever a need for it, more beds can be brought into the two rooms. Ah, there's also the rec room, which is where the door under Seymour-"

"The leopard head?"

She nodded, "-leads. You can get to Chiron's office from there, and it's also where we call together our war councils."

"Now, what are those?"

"Heads of each cabin, plus a few other important members of the camp's day to day workings, get together to discuss important matters. There's a ping-pong table in there, along with a nacho cheese machine, and a few beanbag chairs. Quite cosy if you ask me. The lower levels are normally the places where you can bump into Chiron, sometimes he sits out on the deck, other times he's in the rec room, or sometimes in the foyer. Don't be surprised if he's playing cards, he'll always be thrashing either Argus or unlucky demigods, at Pinochle."

"That Argus dude... He-"

"His eyes, yeah. Don't mention it to him too much, he's incredibly self-conscious about them." She scratched her nose, "That's why he doesn't talk. According to some camp rumours, he has an eye on his tongue."

Seeing everything you were chewing didn't sound like the most appetizing of sights, and I couldn't help but frown as I pictured what that could feel like. Sophia walked away, forcing me to rip away from the gross pictures and power walk after her.

By the looks of it, our next destination was a hill, decorated with a massive pine tree sitting at the very top of it. Getting closer, something glinted from behind said pine tree.

A few more steps and the source of the glow revealed itself to me. I couldn't help myself, gasping at the sight. Standing there, atop the hill, was a massive statue dwarfed only by the pine tree that had blocked it from my sight.

Carved from a white material, it was decorated with golden armour and clothes, while holding a winged creature that was about my size. The gold shone with a blood-red hue, the rising sun reflecting off of it.

"Who-"

"This is the Athena Parthenos, a recreation of Athena that originally stood in the centre of the Parthenon. Phidias had most probably seen my mother because it perfectly resembles her. Carved from ivory, the golden bits you see are made from real gold. In her palm, she holds Nike... Victory. When the Romans conquered Greece, they carted it back to Rome to show just how much they had broken the Greeks, taking the very symbol of Athena away. It was hidden in a secret cavern, guarded by Arachne, the Weaver, Arch-Nemesis of the children of Athena. Annabeth Chase defeated the horrid creature, and the Seven saved the statue. It was brought back by Praetor Reyna Ramirez-Arellano as a sign of peace between our two camps."

"Annabeth Chase and Reyna what's-her-name... I know them."

"Well, there may be hope for you yet... One of the books I gave you, The History of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, was written by the Praetor, and Annabeth was in the orientation film."

"I still don't understand why that was one of the books on my list. We're Greeks, not Romans."

"It's important because we've got allies that find such things important."

Suddenly, I felt the puzzle pieces click together.

"Camp Jupiter?" I felt my eyebrows rise, "There's another camp for Romans?"

I could see on her face that she was taken aback by what I had said.

"Yes, you're correct. Umm... The gods have two sides thanks to the close connection between Greek and Roman religion. Think of them like schizophrenic people, where depending on which side you pray to, that one appears. The Roman counterparts of most gods are much different to the Greek gods, and because they're technically two different deities, their demigod children are also different. Those born to Roman gods or demigods go to Camp Jupiter, while those who are sired by the Greek version of gods come here."

"Am I ever gonna see them?"

"Probably, if you stick around for long enough, and stay as a year-rounder."

"As in staying here all year?" I looked at the camp from the top of the hill. It wasn't the worst place to call home, not like after the last few days I'd ever be able to live in the normal world again.

"Yep, there's a fair few of us that do that."

I smiled, right before the next question surfaced, "Who is this Annabeth Chase girl anyway? She was also mentioned in some of the books, but I'm still not sure how I should look upon her."

Sophia's eyes got a distant, almost wistful, look in them, "One of the greatest heroes of our camp, right up there beside her husband, Percy Jackson. They were at the forefront of both the second titan and second giant war, carving a legacy for themselves that most kids here want to one day follow." She looked at the pine tree and walked towards it slowly, almost as if in a trance, "Hey boy!" Sophia cooed to thin air, and at that moment I was sure she had gone mad.

Suddenly, the thin air snorted, and flames burst into existence, burning a patch of grass to ash. A creature that looked like an oversized lizard started moving, just one of its meaty legs as big as the daughter of Athena standing before it. Had it really been laying there the whole time?

I could've gone past this tree hundreds of times without seeing the beast, its copper scales covered in vegetation to the point where if it remained completely still, that reddish tint was entirely covered.

Yellow eyes focused on me, and I took a careful step backwards.

"Who's a good boy?" The grey-eyed girl asked, scratching the chin of the monster. It stopped focusing on me and purred, the yellow circles it had for eyes looking towards the sky in bliss, "Yes... You are Peleus." She murmured, and I couldn't help but crack a grin.

I liked her more this way, not trying to uphold the look of a leader.

Sophia realised what she was doing and blushed, before composing herself, her fingers remaining at the chin of Peleus.

"What is this thing?"

"He's not a thing..." She muttered, a hint of annoyance tinting her voice, making me realise that the question had come out ruder than I had wanted it to, "He's a dragon, the guardian of the Golden Fleece, to be exact."

"The golden fleece is somewhere in Ancient Greece, I remember that well enough. Jason and his ship... The Virgo?"

"Argo."

"Yeah, whatever, you know what I meant. My point still stands."

"You sure about that?" She asked, pointing at the tree.

"Well, I don't exactly like the way you asked..." I trailed off, squinting to see past the dragon's body. There, half-fused into the tree, was a fleece, glittering just like gold would, "Well, I'll be fucked."

"The story as to how it got here is also quite interesting if you want to hear it."

"Sure, I'm starting to like these stories of yours more and more."

Ignoring my compliment, she glanced at the ground beside the dragon, "Right, now sit down. Let Peleus sniff you a bit, and then you can cuddle with him while I tell tales."

"Wait, really?"

"No, I just wanted to feed him... What the fuck do you think?" She exclaimed, grabbing my forearm, and dragging me closer, surprising me with her strength. The dragon's nose felt like the world's strongest vacuum, my hair getting pulled so hard that it was starting to feel painful. Half a minute passed before Peleus closed his eyes, laid his head on my lap and started purring, "Scratch him under the chin, he likes that. Now, sit down, and listen."

"Yes, Ma'am," I saluted her mockingly, Sophia rolling her eyes in response.

"Okay, so you've already read about Percy Jackson." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"I mean, you gave me the books. I don't remember every detail, but the dude did basically everything back then."

"Yeah..." She became starry-eyed for a bit, getting a blank expression for but a moment before her focus returned and she continued, "Everything you read about him, they all happened about a hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few depending on what event you look at, though if we want to be precise, the defeat of Gaia is what happened exactly a century and a half ago."

"Ah yeah, that's still a mindfuck. Was that really so long ago? Has nothing happened since?"

"Nothing major, which is a blessing according to some, and a curse according to others... Now stop getting me off track."

"Sorry."

She sighed, and cleared her throat, "Where we stand, this hill, is known as Half-Blood Hill, and this is the place where all new demigods normally enter the camp, along with their Satyr Guides if they're lucky... This was the case back then too. Three kids, Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan, coming to camp with their Satyr Guide, Grover Underwood." I recognized two of those four names. Progress was being made, "Thalia was the daughter of Zeus, the strongest of the Big Three-"

"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades." I interrupted, much to her annoyance.

She nodded in response but continued as if I hadn't just blurted out something, "A great prophecy had been issued by the old Oracle of Delphi, in the Nineteen-Thirties, warning of how a child of the Big Three would decide between destroying Olympus or saving it from destruction. Therefore, the brothers vowed never to have children again, partially because of the horrendous events of World War Two. The two warring sides, the Allies and the Axis were led by the children of the Big Three... This oath was first broken by Zeus, who sired Thalia. When the other two brothers found out, they were furious, and since punishing the King of the Gods is not a wise thing to do, Thalia was doomed to a cursed life. Monsters hunted them every step of the way across the American continent, and though they had many a close scrape, and the finish line was close enough to see, the monsters pursuing them finally caught up with the group just on the other side of that hill." Sophia pointed behind me, and I nodded, "Thalia had been wounded during their previous encounter, and knowing that she was holding them back, she told the others to run while she bought them time. There was no chance she could win the fight... A dozen hell hounds and all three of the kindly ones were after them. She-"

"Kindly Ones? Who the hell are they?"

She sighed, "They are officially known as the... Furies." She whispered the last word, "Using that name is said to cause bad luck though, not to mention the whole thing of names having power, so we just say the Kindly Ones instead. And before you ask, hell hounds aren't the size of dogs... Think bigger."

"Cows?"

She thought for a bit, shaking her head, "They're between the size of rhinos and garbage trucks."

"What?!"

"Yeah, they're nothing to joke about... But back to the story. She didn't survive the encounter or more precisely, she was wounded beyond saving. As an award for her heroics and bravery, and to save her life, Zeus turned her into a pine tree before she breathed her last breath..."

"And this is that pine tree!" I exclaimed, "I get it now. But this doesn't explain the fleece."

"I'm getting there! From that point onwards, Camp Half-Blood has had a magical border, shielding us from mortals and monsters respectively." She patted Peleus on the head, before continuing, "During the second Titan War, Luke Castellan betrayed our camp, poisoning Thalia's tree as he left. The poison was impossible to cure with normal nature magic, and it disabled our defences. For the first time in about a dozen years, guarding the camp required swords, spears, shields and blood. A daughter of Ares, Clarisse la Rue, along with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, set off to find the Golden Fleece, which, as they later found out, was guarded by the cyclops Polybotes, the one Odysseus fought during his journey home to Ithaka. After outsmarting the monster, they stole the fleece, which the cyclops had been using to lure satyrs to their doom."

"How-"

"If I get into that now, we'll be here all day. I'll tell you that one some other day... Hanging the fleece on the tree healed it instantly, restoring the border in the process. It was, however, too strong, as it restored life to not only the tree but to Thalia herself, bringing her back as the possible demigod who'd fulfil the great prophecy. The fleece is what keeps the borders intact now, and the Athena Parthenos strengthens it tenfold. Peleus was... bought, created, hired, I'm not sure which, by Chiron and Mister D. Normally, he just sleeps all day, but at the first sign of trouble, he'll be up and ready to kill anything that tries to take the fleece."

"Even year-rounders? Those that stay here all year are bound to have some extra level of friendship with him, no?"

"Being a year-rounder doesn't mean you get to do everything around here, all it means is that you're too much of a danger to others or yourself to go out in the real world to live a normal life. Monsters would constantly be on your tail, waiting for the perfect moment to attack you."

"Sounds horrible."

"Yeah... Sometimes we get a year-rounder that thinks it's time to try out a mortal school, cause it can't be that bad after all. If they're lucky they're back in a few months, never again wanting to leave."

"Eh, school sucks out there, this place is by far better than most places I've been to. Why would anyone want to be there?"

"Your thought process will change once you spend your first year here. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and many people here wish for a normal life, one where they aren't constantly thinking about which monster will be their last. But enough about that topic, it's too depressing." She looked at her watch, "We should get going to the strawberry fields. We're going to check in with Tony there."

"He works on the strawberry fields?"

"That's one way to put it, yes."

With a bit of help from the daughter of Athena, I managed to stand up, a tiny puff of flame erupting from Peleus' nose in farewell.

It took us little time to get there, the grass under our feet quickly turning into a pebbled pathway. Flute music washed over me, and I felt my legs turn to jelly as I suddenly felt tiredness overcome my limbs. So calming was the tune that I could've curled up on one of the many benches spread around the field, falling asleep in a minute or two.

The music came from the many satyrs walking down the various pathways of the strawberry fields, or sitting on some of the benches, playing their wooden instruments.

As I walked, I watched the plants dance.

Actually dance.

While it wasn't anything spectacular, like the macarena, it was clear that all of them were swaying to the tune of the music, giving the entire field a hypnotic flow.

Tony stuck out from everyone else, wearing his baseball cap once more, though instead of jeans, his full goatishness was now on display.

"Hey dude," I said as I got close, fist-bumping him, "Fuck, is it going to take a while to get used to..." I gestured towards his legs, eliciting a chuckle from the satyr, "Also, I'm learning even more things about you. You never told me that you could play the flute."

He lifted the wooden instrument from his mouth, and sucked in a bit of air, "It's a form of nature magic, for the strawberries."

"Miss Jean never taught that in biology. Why do strawberries need flute music?"

"Makes them grow faster, not to mention that they can be continually harvested, all year," Tony explained.

"That's... Pretty cool?"

"Why'd you have to make it a question? You realize that my mood affects the plants, right? I'll be sure to give you any bad ones that grow." He smirked.

"Alright, alright... That's cool!" I said sarcastically, "Better?"

"I know that deep down you actually do think that." He smirked, "Anyway, apart from being cool, and giving us tasty fruit all year round, it's also the camp's main source for mortal cash."

"In big cities such as New York, there's always a demand for fresh produce," Sophia added while plucking one of the red fruits, and throwing it into her mouth.

"Hey! Do you think that's why I work all day for?" Tony asked, smiling. Sophia shrugged in response, my friend turning to me next, "Try one, they're really good," He whispered, winking.

I not-so-stealthily took one and popped it into my mouth. The sweet smell in the air hadn't lied about the taste of these, and neither had Tony.

Another satyr walked up to us, and Sophia looked at him while I tried my best to covertly swallow the large chunk of strawberry still in my mouth.

"Yes?" She asked, annoyance already creeping into her voice.

"Sophia, I want to go on a quest to find Grover, but the council won't let me! Can you talk with them, please?"

"How many-"

"Gordon, please piss off," Tony said, adding a sarcastic smile at the very end of it.

The satyr called Gordon frowned, before clopping away without saying a further word. Sophia gave Tony a grateful look, who simply bowed his head in response.

"You don't like your fellow satyrs, do you?" I asked, staring at the back of the satyr's head.

"Oh I do, but most of them have become whining brats or useless morons... Except for those that feel the same way as I do, Chuck being the leader of our clique." He said, air-quoting that last word.

"Chuck?"

"Chuck Hedge, an old goat, born on the day the Second Giant War ended. You'd like him, though it's not always easy to find him."

I thought for a bit.

"So he's a hundred and fifty years old, but looks seventy-five?"

"Correct."

"How long do Satyrs live for then?"

"As long as we can survive. After we die we reincarnate as a flower or some bullshit like that."

"Huh."

"Yeah. You might not realise, but being a guide is hard work. Quite a few satyrs are sent much further than New York and they have to guide untrained demigods through a monster-infested America. Only the newest guides, or the barmiest ones, travel beyond the Atlantic... Downright suicide. As you may have noticed, we satyrs aren't exactly built for monster fighting. I've seen too many flowers return in the hands of new demigods and that's sad enough without thinking about all those demigods that have failed to show up, guide included."

"Sorry... I guess I never did thank you for helping me out. Never realised just how dangerous it could be."

"Don't be sorry, I took this job willingly, and all guides know the risk. Still, no problem dude."

I looked at Sophia, "Why was it you who was asked the question anyway? Seems like you're the least qualified for it, no offence."

"None taken. You help them once, and they'll never forget it... Unfortunately."

"She's the only one they haven't annoyed to shit yet... Grover is gone, what more can we do? He'll be back when he's back, until then we can fend for ourselves, hell we need to fend for our- Oh, hey Julia." Tony interrupted himself, and I turned around to see the auburn-haired girl I had noticed yesterday sitting at the same table as Chiron. A bandana was in her hair, and she wore a T-shirt that was at least three sizes bigger than what was necessary for her fairly lithe frame.

"Tony, Sophia... New kid!" The girl exclaimed.

"Daniel," I corrected her as she gave Sophia a one-armed hug.

"I'll learn it sooner or later," Letting go of the child of Athena, she leaned down and plucked a strawberry. Tony couldn't care less and placed the flute back to his mouth.

Sophia seemed to remember herself and looked at me, "Daniel, meet Julia McCarthy. She's our Oracle, the host of the spirit of Delphi."

The girl snorted, "I just have a magical fart trapped in my body, that does jack shit all day. You're being generous by calling it a spirit."

I thought I had heard her wrong, and raised an eyebrow. My eyes darted to Sophia's smirking face, which reassured me that I had, in fact, not misheard her. Still, I was interested in learning more.

"Which god is your parent?" I asked.

"I'm mortal... You know, orientation film, Hazel Levesque, et cetera, et cetera." She waved her hands around a bit with the strawberry in her hand, a bite already taken out of it.

"The power of the oracle has been non-functional since the end of the Giant War-" Sophia started.

"A hundred and fifty years ago." I interrupted Sophia, smiling.

"So you've already told him some stories Soph, yeah?" She elbowed the daughter of Athena, and I saw a flicker of emotion pass over Sophia's face, her cheeks colouring.

"Yeah, I did..." She trailed off, before continuing, "The spirit of Delphi still gets passed on from host to host, but it doesn't tell prophecies. No prophecies, no quests."

"But hey, I get a cool cave, where I've already beaten the high-scores of RED herself. I don't know if I should celebrate, or cry."

"Who-"

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare, first oracle after the curse was lifted," Julia explained.

"Julia, try not to overload Daniel's brain. Haven't managed to figure out if he uses it yet, but there's a small probability he does." Tony said, "Meaning he might need it."

"Fuck you, " I said, pointing at the satyr off to the side, but not taking my eyes off of the auburn-haired oracle, "What is this curse of the oracle?"

"I'll explain it later," Sophia muttered, grabbing a second strawberry.

"You see, the underworld dude, Hades, he had kids before the Oath of the Big Three-" Julia started explaining, looking at Sophia, "You told him about that already, no?"

Sophia nodded.

"Yeah, so Zeus tried wiping the slate clean for all three of them, and well... Hades wasn't exactly happy about it. He couldn't fight Zeus, so he took out his anger on the oracle who had issued the great prophecy. Anyone she tried to pass the spirit onto went mad, so there could be no new oracle. This eventually caused the host of the oracle to become a mummified skeleton in the attic of the Big House for quite a few years. Of course, when the curse was lifted, the new oracle couldn't live in the attic anymore, so we got a cool cave with game machines, massage chairs and whatnot."

"Sounds sick."

"Cool stuff can get boring too if you use them all day, every day"

"I've never experienced that before," I said.

"You will sooner or later, get used to it kiddo..." She looked at Sophia, "Uni's ended for me this semester and having no place better to stay, I'm here to entertain everyone for a few months."

"Well, we're happy to have you around, Julia."

She shrugged, "I'm happy to be around, I just wish I could be more help," She gazed into thin air for a few seconds, before shaking her head, and straightening herself out. Sophia handed her a strawberry, which she took happily, "Goodbye guys. As the satyr said, don't overload the new kid's brain Soph." She said, walking away with the red fruit in her mouth.

"She was cool," I said.

"She's laid back most of the time, though she can get on my nerves at times..." Sophia agreed, "On one hand I can understand her position. She's the Oracle of Delphi who'll probably never in her life go without uttering a prophecy. That is bound to make anyone feel useless."

"But why is this so?"

"Nobody knows. We've got some theories, but nothing based on evidence."

Sophia plucked two more strawberries and gave me one of them.

"Amazing guys... Really. Nom on strawberries all you want, but it'll be my ass they'll have if they notice half the field missing." Tony said, "Don't you have the rest of the tour to do?"

"True." Sophia nodded, "We want to save some for the market stalls."

"See you later, dude," I said, giving him a fistbump, before the satyr was walking away, playing a calming tune on his wooden instrument. Sophia started off back down the gravel path, forcing me to once again catch up to her, "Where we off to next?"

"The cabins."

"Am I getting one?"

"Not yet." Sophia muttered, "Thirty years ago, you'd have been put in the Hermes cabin the moment you were well enough to move out of the Big House. All unclaimed demigods stayed there until they were claimed, all thanks to the fact that Hermes is a jack-of-all-trades god. Before the first Titan war, only the twelve cabins, belonging to the twelve members of the Olympian council, stood here, and cabin eleven was the home for not just the children of Hermes, but kids of all minor gods. Once the cabins of the minor gods were constructed, with further additions to their number every few years and the claiming of children became a more regular occurrence, only the children of Hermes stayed in their cabin. Unclaimed children were no longer as welcome in there as they had been before, and the Hermes kids had turned to Chiron, asking him to move the new kid dumping ground to somewhere else. The Big House had a fair few unused rooms, and with the much smaller amount of unclaimed children, it proved to be the better choice from that point onwards."

As we entered the courtyard, I stared in awe at the various buildings, no two cabins similar.

"These two-" She pointed at the two largest ones, "-are Zeus and Hera. Cabins one and two."

Zeus' cabin was white, carved from rock, and the wall was intersected by massive columns, half-built into the structure. Two large, bronze-coloured double doors were the way inside, the lightning bolts inlaid into it in such a way, that as I moved, so did they. It could hardly be called a cabin, more a temple. As I took my first step towards it, the daughter of Athena held out her arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"We tend not to go into other cabins unless we're given permission beforehand."

"Who could we ask to go in there?"

"The only child of Zeus at camp is Sam, the combat instructor, and he lives in the Big House's basement. By his recounting, sleeping inside is very uncomfortable, and he was more than happy to finally be out of the place."

"What about Hera?" I asked, looking at her cabin. It was similar to Zeus', except slimmer, that is if a building could be fat in the first place. I wasn't sure if there was any etiquette here about calling out the bodyweight of buildings, but I wasn't going to risk offending a god by fat-shaming their cabin.

Even though they were smaller than those of her husband's cabin, the columns that held up Hera's were decorated with various fruits, flowers and birds, offering a way more pretty sight. Whoever had the idea of calling these buildings cabins was an idiot, as both would've been better off as museums or ancient greek replicas.

"She's the Goddess of Marriage. That means she doesn't run around looking for mortals, that's her husband's job."

"Why make a cabin for her at all?"

"Honorary. She'll get jealous otherwise, it's why she has a table at the dining pavilion as well. Over there-" She pointed at the next cabin in line, "Is Poseidon's Cabin, number three."

She walked towards a building made of blueish-grey stone, bits of clamshells, starfish and other ocean-themed debris scattered across it.

"Nico's cabin."

"Yep. Two people call that place home, one of them is Nico, the other is Marcus."

"Marcus... I've heard that name a few times, I just don't know where from," I muttered, looking at Sophia. She went silent, and the tiny smile tugging at the edge of her mouth faded slowly.

All of a sudden her eyes narrowed, and she was turning to look right at me.

"Where did you hear about him before?" There was barely-restrained anger in her voice, and I took an involuntary step backwards.

"I- I... I don't know." I stuttered, wracking my brain.

It came to me like a lightning strike, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Me eavesdropping on her conversation with Chiron... Then talking about him with John and the rest of my visitors.

The daughter of Athena came to the same conclusion shortly after, and the look of suspicion was replaced with disgust, "So you were eavesdropping on us." She muttered, "You slimy fucking-"

"Sophia, I'm sorry, I- I didn't want to-"

"Cabin four is Demeter, five is Ares, six is Athena, seven is Apollo... Figure out the rest yourself."

"Shit... Look, I didn't mean-"

She was already at the door of cabin six, slamming it behind herself before I could finish. It was painted plain white, with a bronze owl hanging atop the door.

I stood there, staring at it for what felt like minutes. Should I go after her and try to apologise again? Something told me that that'd just make things worse.

My thoughts were interrupted by a rough feminine voice.

"You've already managed to piss Sophia off, huh?" I turned around to look at a girl leaning against the walls of a badly painted red cabin, well-muscled arms crossed in front of herself. Barbed wire hung from the roof like Christmas decorations, and a large boar head was lopsidedly nailed onto the door, "Must be a new record."

The girl wore her brown hair tied back in a ponytail, her skin dirty, even this early in the morning, and bearing multiple scars. Her face had a sneer on it, something which felt natural for her to wear.

"I didn't mean to upset her... I swear!"

She grinned, not exactly helping her look better, "So... New Kid, there's a rule you gotta learn... One that everyone has to learn during their early days here." Bruce had mentioned avoiding his sister. Knowing my luck, I was pretty sure I had managed to find her. Counting the cabins, and coming back with five, I gulped.

"I already heard some of them from Sophia."

"Well... She won't tell you this one. You see, most new kids don't understand the... The hierarchy of this place." She started walking towards me, two other people striding out of the cabin and joining her, "That's why we're here, to help you understand."

"Look, I really don't want any trouble here."

"There's not gonna be any trouble if you just let this happen." The one guy out of the group told me. By the looks of it, he was the youngest of the group, younger than me even, but that didn't stop him from looking like he'd have no trouble sending me back to the infirmary, marching towards me while slicking back his black hair.

"What-" I was charged by the three of them at once, closing the distance between the two of us so fast that I couldn't even react. Two of them grabbed one arm each, gripping them like a vice, while the leader lifted my legs. With no way to stop them from carting me off, and all my struggling and angered shouting doing nothing to help me, I watched with mounting panic as the cabins disappeared from around me, and soon a new set appeared.

Ones made of brick.

When the smell hit me, I was certain that this was indeed what I had first thought it to be. Toilets.

"What-" I tried kicking myself free, but to no avail, "What are you going to do with me?"

"Oh, just going to wash your face a bit." The lead girl said, kicking open the door.

I knew where this was going.

And I wasn't liking it.

The first cubicle door suffered the same fate as the entrance to the toilets, and before me appeared the dirty-white ceramic throne.

"Deep breath!" The other girl chuckled.

"Motherf-"

The curse was interrupted by my head submerging under the water, yet instead of simply holding me in the water, my head continued its journey forward. Pain flared up across my face as it crashed against the bottom of the ceramic bowl, my nose taking the brunt of the impact. The pistol-crack sound under the water was much louder than the muted laughter and jeering of the Ares kids above.

It felt like minutes before my head resurfaced, liquid dripping down my lips, unsure whether it was water or blood. I gulped down lungfuls of air, fearing a second bath.

"We got a little nosebleed, have we?" The boy asked. As if on cue, a drop of crimson liquid fell onto the dirty toilet seat underneath me. The water I had just been submerged in was tinted pink.

"Liz?" The second girl's voice asked.

"I think it's our civic duty to clean that injury of his." She sneered, "We need to spare John some of the work, no?"

I wanted to protest but knew better. They'd not let me move around, and it'd just be a waste of precious breath, along with the toilet water in my mouth.

Once again, my face dived under. It felt like forever, my lungs burning as seconds became minutes...

This is how I'd die.

Death by Toilet.

If I had to find something positive, it was that there'd be no other gravestone like my own. I'd be unique.

A voice came from outside, though they were nothing more than incoherent words under the water... Or was it because I was close to blacking out?

All the forces holding me fell away, causing my knees to hit the ground with a thud. Gathering my strength, I pushed myself as hard as I could away from the bowl, falling backwards as I did so, spraying water everywhere.

Each breath felt like a miracle, the next one feeling sweeter than the previous.

Someone touched my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" The man asked, but I wasted no energy to look at him. I nodded, huffing down another lungful of air, "You three can piss off now." The man said.

"Sam-" The leader of the group started.

"I said scram!" He shouted, three pairs of feet quickly receding.

"Thank you," I said after a while, looking up at the face of my saviour. It was that heavily-scarred man who I had seen yesterday, during dinner.

"No need... I saw Liz and her goons drag you into the toilets and came over to stop this stupid tradition they have. I guess it's in their blood, they're children of Ares after all." He shrugged, holding a hand for me to grasp. I accepted it, and I was on my feet in the blink of an eye, "Samuel Gatersby, combat instructor. I'm the guy that trains people to fight in close quarters. Swords, spears, shields... You name it, I probably teach it... Except for archery, that's more Chiron's thing."

"I'm Daniel-"

"Daniel James Greenfield. I remember your name from yesterday... All you unclaimed demigods are incredibly interesting, so much potential..." He mused to himself, "And if it helps, sometimes the way you fight tells me a lot about who your parent is."

"What if I drop the sword on my foot?"

"That says a lot too." He chuckled, "We do have to set that nose though, bite on your shirt, it won't take long."

I looked down, and while in the process of biting down, the son of Zeus touched my nose and with one firm movement wretched it to the side. Pain exploded in my head, and I was torn between screaming out and crying.

"FUCK!" I roared, the combat instructor pulling a bottle of colourless liquid from his pocket while I tried my best to walk off the pain that was buzzing in my nose like some obnoxious weedwhacker.

"Sorry, but trust me that that was the best way to do it... Here, rub some of this onto it." He said as he offered the bottle to me. On closer inspection, its contents were more the consistency of a gel than an actual liquid.

"W-Won't I combust or something?" I asked, still holding my nose as pain now pulsated through my entire head every few seconds.

"Nah, this has nothing to do with nectar or ambrosia. It's unicorn horn gel, straight from Camp Jupiter."

"Unicorns?" How were they a part of any mythology? Out of everything I was hearing at this place, that was among the most unbelievable.

"You heard right. This is pretty potent stuff, though definitely not as strong as ambrosia and nectar, there's no risk of death by spontaneous combustion. Perfect for smaller injuries."

I did as he had told me, and almost instantly, the pain disappeared.

"Much better, isn't it?" He asked.

"Much," I said, handing it back to him, "Thank you."

He smirked, "Come, I'll lead you back to the Big House. Doubt your tour will continue any time soon."

"Oh... Umm, you saw Sophia-"

"No, though I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Has it got anything to do with the Poseidon cabin?"

"Yep, it has everything to do with it."

"There's your problem. Marcus. He was like an older brother that Sophia never had, and I'm quite certain she had a crush on him. One day, Marcus just disappeared on some quest or something with two other campers. It's a secret where he went, only Chiron knows all the details, but he's not revealing them any time soon. It really upset Sophia that he had left without even saying goodbye to her. She's gotten no IMs, no letters, nothing from him, for the past six years. That's part of why she looks so sour sometimes, but I guess it makes it all the nicer when she finally forgets to be that way and lets a smile or laugh escape her lips."

"Is it really that rare for her to smile?"

"Rare? I wouldn't say that, but it's definitely uncommon. What is rare though, is her getting mad enough to leave you alone during a tour. What did you say, exactly?"

"I didn't realise where I had heard the name before and had asked her. She put two and two together that I had... I listened in on a conversation between her and Chiron."

"Ah. Well, there's a reason they say curiosity killed the cat. As for those conversations, I feel like they're getting more and more common."

"Why is that?"

"Beats me. She's been here for longer than most, ever since she was six. She basically grew up with stories of Percy Jackson and more importantly, Annabeth Chase. She's trying her best to be a second Annabeth, which for the most part works out for her. All that remains is a quest and a hero of the prophecy in her life."

"The others explained the rest..." I looked at the Big House getting closer and closer, "Should I apologise to her?"

"Maybe later, though knowing her, she'll move on in a few days, especially if you try your best to fit in as fast as possible. You gotta watch out with her anyway, she's a child of Athena after all. They tend to figure out everything much faster than what you'd expect."

"I've had the displeasure to observe that... I've also seen her smile, and it does fit her nicely."

"Well, you won't be seeing any of that for the next few days, I can assure you."

"All because I mentioned that guy?!"

Sam shrugged, "She can be stubborn in her ways sometimes, afraid to admit she was wrong or that she had overreacted, though you also have to understand what that guy means to Sophia."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try my best to keep all of this in mind. What can I do until then? I'm now minus one tour guide."

"Chiron will find someone to replace her for the rest of the tour. You won't get to hear the rest of her stories, which is a bummer, but if you get in her good books again she'll tell you them anyway."

I nodded, finally reaching the door to the Big House.

"Thank you again," I said, looking at Sam, "For helping me and everything."

"No problem, Dan, looking forward to seeing you during training." He said, turning around and walking back towards the cabins. I had mixed feelings about using a sword, or any weapon for that matter, but I guess this was my life now, so I'd have to get used to it sooner or later.

I looked up at the sky, thinking about which cabin I'd find myself in. I had glanced at quite a few, but none had beckoned for me to join... None felt too homely.

As I entered my room, I searched through the pile of books beside my bed, finding the one I wanted.

A Greek Demigod's Guide to Camp Half-Blood

I'd educate myself whether it was Sophia who was going to do it or this book.

Sitting down, I opened it on page one.

A knock on the door interrupted my reading, and I realised I had completely lost track of time. The sun was now far above the horizon, bathing the entire camp in light.

"Yeah?" I called, not taking my eyes off of the sentence. Someone clip-clopped inside, and I quickly realised who it was, "What's up, dude?" I asked, looking up at my satyr friend.

"John told me that you lost your tour guide."

"John?" I said quizically, "It was Sam that had saved me from those children of Ares."

"Beats me." He shrugged, "Stuff travels fast around camp... Whatever the case, I'm your new guide. By that I mean tour guide, it was enough being your satyr guide once."

"I love you too, bud." I laughed, closing the book, "Help me up please," Holding my arms up, I gave my hoofed friend my best puppy-eyed look.

"Want me to bring you your coconut water while you're at it?"

"Just hurry up," I grumbled, and with Tony's help, I was standing on my own two feet a moment later.

"Why did you even lay down on the ground in the first place?"

"It was comfortable, okay?"

He laughed, before changing the topic, "Alrighty, now, I know you've already visited the strawberry fields, but where else have you been?"

"Half-Blood Hill and the cabins. I didn't get too much info about the cabins though, got interrupted by an unpleasant experience or two."

"Zeus, Hera and a bit about Poseidon."

"How'd you know?"

"Gut feeling, that's all. I don't want to annoy Sophia by telling her stories for her, so I'll just tell you the necessary stuff, and I'll leave the rest for her."

"If she'll ever talk with me again..."

"Oh, believe me when I say she will..." He smirked, but I decided not to ask what made him so sure, "Each god who has had at least one child live in this camp has been given a cabin of their own. Some of those cabins are empty nowadays, but at any moment they could be inhabited again, depending on who arrives at camp. We've also got some honorary cabins, just to make those gods happy who have no children of their own."

We slowly walked back outside while he talked, heading towards the strawberry fields once again.

"Hera's is," I said.

"And so is Artemis'. It's the living space of her hunters when they decide to visit camp." He broke into a smile, "I honestly can't believe how I swooned over them as a young satyr."

"Really?" I laughed.

"Yeah. Most satyrs still do, but Rose would have my head if I'd even glance at them wrong. Not like the hunters would care too much... If anything they'd do it before Rose could. They have vowed to reject love for the rest of their lives, just like the goddess who leads them."

"What's the good about joining them then?"

"Immortality." He said blandly.

"You must be joking," I said, looking at Tony excitedly, hoping he wasn't.

"Nope. You live forever... Until you fall in battle."

"Still, immortality? Where can I join?"

"You? Nowhere. It's a girls-only club, dude."

"Oh... Good job at ruining my dreams." I muttered.

Tony patted my shoulder sarcastically, clearing his throat.

"To continue where I left off, at first, there had been only twelve cabins. The twelve members of the Olympian council. After the end of the second titan war, many more were built to stop the minor gods from feeling neglected. Important note, however... Only enter a cabin if-"

"If you're invited. Already got that one from Sophia."

"Or, if you've got incredibly important business. Then again, Ares cabin is one that is best to observe from a distance, no matter the situation."

"Didn't really plan on visiting them to hand over a house-warming gift, especially after my last run-in with its inhabitants."

"Good. They have mines around the entire thing."

"What?" I looked at him, but there was nothing on his face that signalled that he was joking, "Seriously? As in, boom mines?" I asked, mimicking an explosion with my hands.

"Live fucking mines... Reattaching a leg isn't short of impossible, and I've seen it be done many times, but you'd be better off not stressing out folk like that. By folk, I mean John."

We arrived at a white-bricked building, surrounded by a circle of marble columns. Multiple chimneys pointed towards the sky, vomiting black smoke into the air that left an awful taste in the back of my throat. A small stream ran through the place, a bunch of water mills using it as a source of power.

The constant sound of metal being beaten and the whirring of machinery was incredibly hard on my hearing, and at points, my eardrums wanted to curl up and die. Some of the sounds reminded me of how nails sounded on a chalkboard.

"What is this place?" I muttered.

"The forge. It's mostly where the Hephaestus kids hang out, fixing equipment, making new stuff and so on."

A dude with the upper body of a tank was hammering something on an anvil outside, sweat dribbling down his entire body. Bruce would've been put to shame by the size of this kid's muscles.

"Rob! How you doing?" Tony called over, shouting above the hammering. I was surprised when Rob actually heard the shout and looked up.

Smiling, he placed the hammer onto the anvil and walked over.

"Tony! Finally came over here to test your smithing skills?"

"Nah, I'll stick with guiding and strawberry growing. Showing around the new kid though. Robert, meet Daniel. Daniel, this is-"

"Robert Downing, son of Hephaestus and counsellor." He stretched out a hand. With Bruce, I was scared he'd break my hand. This guy wouldn't even break a sweat with tearing out my arm from its socket.

His face was rugged, and not in the least bit pretty. He had a lazy eye, and his nose looked like a squished potato. Whisps of a beard were visible on his face, but the dark brown colour was at times replaced by burnt, black patches. The same could be said for his hair.

Albeit hesitantly, I grasped his hand.

"Daniel Greenfield, son of I'm not exactly sure yet."

Robert snorted, before looking at the bottom of my chin.

"That blood?" He asked.

I scratched at where he pointed, and my finger came back slightly covered in dried blood. I must've missed a spot when I had washed away the remains of my nose bleed.

"Ah, yeah."

"Let me guess, Liz?"

"Is it really such a regular occurrence?"

"Yes." Tony and Robert chorused.

"Great."

"What did she do?" Rob asked.

"Toilet bath."

"Now how the fuck do you break your nose during that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I cracked it against the bottom of the bowl."

"That does it." Tony agreed.

Robert nodded, after which an awkward silence fell between us. It was Tony that finally broke that.

"We didn't want to interrupt anything important, so we'll get going. Ton's of stuff to show still."

"Got a lot of stuff to do as well..." Robert replied, looking at me again, "Once you've tried yourself in one of Sam's lessons, be sure to come here so that we can make you custom equipment."

"Aren't there already swords and armour around for me to use?" I asked.

"Of course there are, but they're mainly spares. It's much more comfortable, and much safer, to be in a custom-made one, than in one of those shitty ancient ones that countless demigods have used before."

"In that case, thanks," I said.

A girl with curly brown hair tied in a ponytail walked outside. She had freckles dotting her cheeks and a pair of welder's goggles covered her eyes. Like Robert, she too was built like the Terminator. I was taller than both of them, but for what they lacked in height, they made up for it in strength, multiple times over in fact.

"Rob, you think this is good enough for the automaton's arm mechanism?" She was holding up a tiny glinting object that I couldn't see properly.

"Be right there, Tat... Bye guys," He smiled our way, walking over to the girl after shaking our hands once more, leaving soot marks on my fingers.

Our next destination was the stables, barely a hundred or so meters from the forges. A group of demigods stood around the front door, pretty annoyed at something inside.

"Oh fuck, not again," Tony muttered as we got closer.

"Tony, that you?" Called one of the kids, "Come here please!"

"Right away." And he jogged over, me following at a leisurely walk, "What's the problem, Hector?" Tony asked.

The kid named Hector was completely bald, a small rainbow tattooed on his scalp that made me raise an eyebrow.

"Door's locked from the inside."

"Pegasi at it again?"

"Well, it wasn't one of us, was it?" He asked.

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist." Tony grumbled, "Is Nico here?"

"Puddle's probably still sleeping." A girl said, who I couldn't help but stare at. She was stunning, everything about her looking perfect. When she noticed I was looking at her, and our eyes locked, I felt myself blush, and I found a nice stone to look at instead.

"Ah, damn it. Well, let's see what good old Tony can do then." My satyr friend said, rubbing his hands together.

Tony walked over to the door and neighed.

No. Fucking. Way.

An answer was neighed back from the other side.

"Damn it Blackjack," Tony whispered.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying my best to not laugh, and most of the kids finally realised that I was there too.

"Oh, you're the new kid. David, is it?" Hector said, holding out his hand.

"Daniel." I corrected him, shaking it.

"Ah, close enough. Blackjack and his group of pegasi have recently taken to playing tricks on us, this time locking themselves inside the stables. Hopefully, they get past this phase of theirs quick, because it's getting on my nerves now... But where are my manners? I'm Hector Butler, son of Iris, and counsellor of the cabin. As for these guys-" He took a deep breath, and turned around, pointing at each camper as he said their names. My brain struggled to keep up with all the new information.

Andrea Ferraro was quite short and wearing a pair of glasses that magnified her brown eyes by a lot. An earring shaped like a rainbow hung from one of her ears, while Rudolf Warner was around my height, his brown hair tied in a ponytail, which hung out from underneath his beanie.

As for Gerald Dunst, he was maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, currently licking on a lollipop, and looking bored of the entire situation. He too, like the previous two, had warm, brown-coloured eyes. Keith Allard and Samantha Foster were no different in this regard. Keith was around my age, while Samantha looked like the youngest of the group, around twelve if I had to guess. A strand of her hair was braided and hanging beside her face, a rainbow ribbon tied around it.

"All of these folk are my brothers and sisters from my mother's side, and together we make up the Iris cabin." Tony neighed a response to some angry whinnying. "We've also got three Aphrodite kids here, Susan Holmes, the counsellor for their cabin, Krystal Vargas and Garett Silver."

Susan was the girl I had first seen. Her hair was golden blonde, reaching down to her chin before curling upwards. One side was tucked behind her ear, the other left to hang loose.

Lipstick made her lips glow ruby red, which looked almost as pretty as her eyes. Looking into them once more, I couldn't pinpoint what colour they were... They were constantly changing, in a subtle manner though. You'd stare until you suddenly realised they were green now, rather than blue. Krystal had black hair flowing over her shoulders, down to the middle of her back, and two braids had been tied together to sit on top of the waves. Her eyes were a lovely shade of blue, though I was slightly taken aback that she was Asian.

Could Greek Gods have children that were Asian?

I was about to ask before I realised just how rude that'd sound, and I clamped it shut. There were some things I was more than happy to accept.

Garett was a handsome dude, just as much as his sisters were pretty. His brown hair was styled in the typical crew-cut style, his face was without even a single pimple, and he had green eyes. Now that I looked at it, neither of them had a blemish in sight.

All three of them looked perfect. Exactly like what every teenager aspired to look like.

They all waved at me with a smile, and I swear I felt something flutter in me when Susan did it.

"And our oddball today is Felix Haraldsen, counsellor of the Dionysus cabin." The man gave me an awkward smile. He was a bit on the plump side of things, with long, black hair and a beard covering almost all of his face. The eyepatch drew my attention pretty fast, the other, uncovered eye being a sky blue colour with a part of it a darker shade of purple.

"Nice to meet all of you." I greeted them back.

As if Tony had timed it for the exact moment the conversation was going to die, the doors opened, and out trotted a black horse with wings.

It neighed, clearly annoyed.

"Why do you do this to us, Blackjack?" Hector asked.

A small whinny.

Hector patted the neck of the horse, before the group walked inside, leaving me and Tony alone.

"Never knew you could speak horse," I said, staring into the stables.

"There are many things you still don't know about me," He said mysteriously, "It's not just horse I can speak, for instance, but most other animal languages... Let me tell you, moose was pretty hard to learn, and I still have problems with it today, not going to lie. Thankfully, it's rare that I have to ever use it."

"Why is that one exceptionally hard?" I asked, not even trying to hide the amusement from my voice.

"They have an accent." He said as he started walking away. With a laugh, I followed him, "I guess you met Felix, no? I think I saw him in the crowd."

"Yeah, definitely one to stand out of the crowd."

"There's a story you're going to like about him." I nodded my head, "So normally, kids of Dionysus come over to the strawberry field to help plants grow, something they can thank their powers for. Felix, however, has been banned from doing that."

"Why?"

"Other than being able to aid the growth of certain plants by being close to them, he also has the power to turn almost anything into an alcoholic beverage by crushing it. He's by far the biggest alcoholic I know, especially for someone who isn't twenty-one yet."

I couldn't help but smile at that. Following the half-man, half-goat, we walked along the treeline of the forest, crossing a stream ten heading inside, down a small pathway that cut through the dense foliage.

"Where are we going?" I asked, interrupting the tune Tony was whistling.

"The Hall of Fame!"

"Umm... Why... do you have one?"

"Well, technically it's not a hall of fame, though it is filled with old memorabilia. Most of it is underground, filled with shrines to almost every god and goddess of the ruling pantheon. Built by Annabeth Chase, who I'm sure you've heard of from our resident storyteller, this has been a part of our camp for about a hundred and forty years now. Most weapons in there are still in usable shape, and anyone can claim them if they so wish, though no one has yet to do so, even if some of the weapons are magical."

"Magical weapons?"

"Yeah, there's a few of those around camp, but for the most part, it's custom-forged weapons and armour for everyone. Bruce has got his spear, Boarhunter, Sophia has her cap, the Boreas twins have their own gear... Oh and Robert has his hammer. With no quests, no attacks against the camp, no threats against the world, the gods don't see any real reason to give magical gifts, I guess. It's pretty peaceful overall."

"I got attacked by a snake as big as an apartment complex is high," I said through gritted teeth.

"Still peaceful when looking at the average. You being unlucky as balls isn't a problem I want to associate myself with." He smirked. From the trees, a wooden building appeared, two stone doors making up the entrance, "After you, my good sir," Tony said, bowing ironically as he opened the door.

"Piss off," I smirked, but I took up his offer nonetheless.

Inside, it looked just like how you'd imagine a museum, except much smaller, and with no dinosaur bones. Weapons were kept behind individual glass cases, while off in the distance, stairs led down to what I guessed were the shrines Tony had mentioned.

"That one is probably the most important. I can't really tell you any cool stories about it, didn't come prepared for that." Tony pointed towards the closest case.

The plaque before it was written in ancient greek.

ΑΝΑΚΛΥΣΜΟΣ

Ξιφος του Περσεύς Τζάκσον

It took me a while to figure out the words, but just like with the books, the moment I could pronounce them, I knew what they meant.

Riptide, Xiphos of Perseus Jackson.

The plaque told me how it was a pen in hidden form, one that you could never lose. How that worked, I wasn't sure, but I sure as hell wouldn't have trusted myself with it. If anything, I'd manage to do the impossible.

There were dozens more of these displays, and however interesting it was to see the weapons of heroes past, I was starting to feel the same way I felt in any other museum.

Bored.

It was weird to spin that into thoughts. I mean, bored at a place like this? Who the fuck gets bored at this camp?

I saw a bone sword, a tiny dagger, bows, spears and other weapons, but overall that was it. The plaques didn't tell stories of the deeds they helped do, or how they were created. Just the names. Katoptris was the only one with a unique name, the rest were simply named like Annabeth's Bone Sword, which may or may not be an innuendo.

"What's our next destination?" I asked, looking at Tony who was staring at the open door.

"Training grounds. I'd show you the Amphitheater and the climbing wall-"

"Climbing wall?"

"Yeah, however, you've already seen the Amphitheater, and the climbing wall has been under construction for the past year or so."

I started walking towards the door, "What happened to it?"

"We're not entirely sure. One day, it cracked in half, and Chiron told us it was unsafe to use. Doesn't even let anyone get close, though I don't think there's anyone that really minds that. You should've seen it in its prime!"

"How would a climbing wall be interesting?"

"Oh man, you don't know a thing."

"Sure..." I smirked, "Which way is the training area again?"

Tony shook his head, pushing past me.

"Follow me."