I stood behind a tree in the forest, quietly observing the campers running around.

"Why are they smiling?" I asked out loud, even though no one heard. "It's pointless. You're wasting energy."

They ran like there was no danger. Like this was normal. Them, this camp, it was all normal.

I don't belong here.

I'm meant to be by myself. I was supposed to stay far, far away from other people. Stored away and brought out once I'm needed. Made to work small things until the one time I need to do something else.

I'm just a passerby. An outcast.

I am no demigod. I am just Y/N L/N, the girl who doesn't belong with her own family.

"It's best if I leave soon," I muttered, shaking my head slightly. "There's no point in being here."

As I turned around to travel deeper into the forest, farther away from the campers, a twig hiding in the trees snapped.

That, as any other sign of monster, should trigger all the alarms in my head. But this one didn't. I just stared blindly into empty space.

My heart beat faster and faster as it drew closer. My eyes flickered to my left and right, and suddenly my back touched wet moss.

Nico had tried giving me a heads up on monsters that could come through the woods, but I'm not prepared. I didn't bring my spear like I usually do.

Why didn't I think this through?

The hands that used to always seem occupied twitched with restlessness. Give me a weapon -- any weapon! they screamed.

But I couldn't. I was frozen, against a tree.

What's this feeling? This feeling that I hadn't experienced in so long?

Was is fear?

No. I won't feel fear anymore. Not again.

I bent down slowly and reached for a long stick. The long hair my mother used to always admire swept the coarse ground like the way her hand brushed across my jaw.

'Y/N,' she whispered on the night before the day I'd be sent away. 'You're so strong. Much stronger than me.'

'I don't want to leave!' I yelled with hot tears streaming down my pale face. 'I want to stay here with you!'

My mother just gave me a sad smile and sent me off to bed. 'I wish that could happen,' she sighed. 'But I can't protect you.

'Stay strong, Y/N. Stay strong for me.'

The stick was nothing. It wasn't thick, nor pointy, but it's partially a spear.

This might just work.

At last, the monster revealed itself.

Nico gave me a quick guide to Greek monsters and all that, but I've never heard of anything like this one. It had glowing eyes, and closely resembled a bat with her wings and hideous face.

"You really need to go to a spa or something," I taunted. "Maybe get a mani pedi, you know. Gotta keep those nails clean."

The monster just hissed back and me, and lunged towards my body. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"Old hag!" I yelled, thrusting my spear into her direction. I dodged the first dive, but the second left me with a deep cut in my arm.

The monster, however, grew irritated to my remarks. She kept attacking me with small jabs from her talons, giving me cuts across my skin.

But I am strong.

I knocked the monster down with the spear, but she was to fast to impale her heart. I managed with the right leg, which helped me slow her down.

"You're getting too old for this!" I jeered. "Maybe you should take a break and go back to where you came from!"

Recollections from the training arena were coming back to me. Fake here, move there. Jump up, duck down.

But then the monster found out what I was doing, and snapped my spear in half. Its high pitched screeches sounded like an old lady's laugh.

This is not good.

I was unarmed, hurt, and into the forest away from the campers. No one would hear my screams.

Duck here, jump up, fake right, move left.

My only resort was to dodge and tire out the monster.

Gallop left, jump up, duck down, roll right.

Run right, tumble down, duck, jump left.

I managed to keep going until the monster cut my thigh deeply. I crumbled to the ground as it jeered above my face.

I'm going to kill you now, it seemed to cackle. And I'm going to make it hurt.

But get this. As the monster flew down to peck out my guts or whatever, stupid Perseus Jackson runs in and cuts it clean in half.

How was I not expecting that?

"How is it that you keep attracting the same monsters as me?" he shook his head.

I rolled my eyes and jumped up to my feet, but my bleeding thigh forced me to lean up against a tree.

"Maybe because you're always here to save me?" I guessed. "Which, by the way, you didn't need to do."

"You were gonna die," he snickered. "And you expected me to watch? It's a wonder how you lived 10 years without a Satyr before I found you."

"You think you're so cool because you saved the world," I spit. "It gets annoying."

"I saved the world twice," he corrected, "which is two times more than you. I bet you were enjoying life in a lush apartment, watching some stupid TV shows without worrying about the electricity bill or anything."

"I was homeless," I replied, slightly offended. "Do you honestly believe I'm rich? Didn't you assume that since the day we met, when I was in tattered clothing?"

"It was late," he said hastily. "I thought you were coming back from a party or whatever. And that you were, I don't know, grunge or something."

I rolled my eyes. "You've got to have seaweed for brains," I said.

To his silence, I asked the question I've been wondering for a few days.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

Percy shook his head. "Let's get you to the infirmary. You're losing blood."

When he tried to put my arm around his neck for support, I shook it off. I could handle it. I've dealt with worse.

"I'm not a baby. I'm 19 years old. I can take care of myself."

But he just supported me anyways, and dragged me all the way out of the forest.

Yet, even when the trees subsided and the evening sun emerged, it still felt dark.