The first time Sophie woke, she realized she was in a comfortable bed. She couldn't muster the strength to turn her head to check her surroundings, but in her line of sight, she saw the same pretty girl she saw earlier enter the room. The girl's eyes widened when she saw that Sophie was conscious. She began to speed-walk over to her, but Sophie fell asleep before she got there.

The next time she opened her eyes she saw an older boy with blonde hair leaning in the doorway. What was most noticeable, was a long thin scar that ran vertically over his eye and down the right side of his face. He was looking at her strangely. But before she could give the look he was giving her a name, she passed out again.

When she finally came to for good, Grover was the first face she saw. He was entering the room carrying with him a shoebox, her backpack, and some bottles of medicine. His eyes widened when he saw her and he dropped everything he was carrying and trotted over to her side.

"You're awake!"

Sophie nodded and sat up slightly. "I had the weirdest dream" she laughed weakly.

Then she gently held her pounding head, and felt a thick bandage wrapped around it.

Was it a dream?

"Oh styx," Grover mumbled. "I dropped the nectar, lemme grab Lee, he'll have more, be right ba-"

Sophie couldn't make out the rest of his sentence because he had already sprinted away. She swung her legs to hang off the side of the bed so she wouldn't be tempted to fall back asleep.

The room was entirely empty- she was the only on in it. But the cot next to her had ruffled sheets- as if someone had just used it.

Grover's return brought her out of her head. She saw a figure behind him and tilted her head to get a better view. There was a boy with fluffy blonde hair, and big blue eyes. His cheeks were freckled and sun kissed.

"Good to see you're finally up, I'm Lee Fletcher" he smiled. "Pretty bad head injury you had there," he pointed to her bandages. "But no brain damage or anything like that. I'm gonna give you something that'll hopefully help. Just make sure to tell me if anything feels weird" He went to her bedside table and started mixing two different medicines.

Sophie nodded slightly confused.

"Here," he said handing her a glass.

She drank it hesitantly, but when she tasted the strawberry smoothies she'd have with her uncle at her nanas farm after a game of ice hockey. She always kept some in the freezer for winter.

Sophie sat for a few seconds expecting nothing to happen from drinking a strawberry smoothie. Except slowly her head started to feel lighter, as if she'd been holding the sky- and someone had taken it from her.

Sophie licked her lips looking towards the now empty glass in Lee's hands "What was that?" She asked.

"Ambrosia." Lee said, "The food of the gods. It also heals demigods." He moved towards her and started unwrapping the bandage from his head.

Sophie hummed in acknowledge and waited for him to take- "Wait demi, what's?!"

Percy held the Minotaur horn that Grover had given him. The horn pretty much confirmed that this was not some crazy dream, but he still had to ask, "My mom. Is she really..."

Grover slowly bowing his head was all the information he needed. Percy stared across the meadow. Trees and a winding stream sat in an acre of strawberries. The valley was surrounded by hills, and on the tallest one, stood an enormous pine tree.

The scene was beautiful and that made Percy angry. With his mother gone, the earth should be wilted and gray. Nothing was supposed to look beautiful.

Thunder rolled across the clear sky, and Grover handed Percy a glass of medicine that tasted like liquid chocolate chip cookies. He downed the drink in two gulps before feeling guilty that he didn't offer any to Grover. He looked at the cot next to him. where Sophie was still knocked out. She'd taken quite the hit on the head.

"Where is he?" asked Sophie.

Lee said that Annabeth would explain everything to her once Percy got back from where ever he was- and Sophie really needed an explanation.

"Right here." Percy said from the door way, he was leaning against the wall smiling softly at her.

Sophie's eyes turned warm, until Grover asked her "How do you feel?"

"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards," she smiled slightly.

"Good. That's good. We should probably go then. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting," Grover said.

The land was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture. There were kids and satrys playing volleyball, some riding winged horses, and some shooting archery. They were all sporting the same shirt that Grover was wearing. A bright orange shirt that read 'Camp Half-Blood.' The trio approached the end of the porch were two men sat across from eachother at a card table, while the pretty girl, Sophie remembered from when she first arrived, stood against the railing.

One of the men was small and porky, with a larger red nose and watery eyes. Like a middle aged cherub who lived in a trailer park.

"That's Mr. D," Grover whispered. "He's the camp director so be polite."

" And you already know Chiron."

Sophie and Percy gave eachother a confused look. They studied the man in the tweed jacket. Percy figured it out first.

"Mr. Brunner?" he said.

Their teacher turned to them and smiled. "Percy, Sophie, good to see you both up. Oh dear, it looks like we have one too many for pinochle."

"Oh. Percy can play." Sophie smiled at him innocently.

He did the mature thing and stuck out his tongue.

Percy and her sat next to Mr. D and he gave an annoyed sigh. "Oh I suppose if I must. Welcome to Camp Half Blood." He did the saddest 'jazz-hands' Sophie had ever seen. "There. Done. Now don't except me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks," Percy said scooting closer to Sophie to further his distance from the camp director.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called and she came forward to be introduced. "This young lady helped you two while you were in the healing center. Why don't you go check on their bunks Annabeth, they'll be staying in cabin 11 of course."

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. She looked to be the same age as them, maybe slightly older. A few inches taller than both Percy and Sophie, considering those two were pretty close in height. But she also looked twice as athletic as the two of them put together. She had tanned skin and beautiful blond princess curls. Her eyes were grey like storm clouds. She looked at Sophie, then at the Minotaur horn in Percy's hands. As she went to walk past she said, "You drool in your sleep," to Percy before she took off in a sprint. Sophie snorted.

"So," Percy coughed awkwardly "Mr. Brunner-"

"Please, call me Chiron," he said.

"okay," Percy said, totally confused.

"I must say I am glad to see you two alive," said Chiron. "It's been a long time since I've made a house call to any potential campers. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"Appreciate it." Sophie muttered.

"What's do you mean house call?" Percy asked.

"My year at Yancy Academy was to instruct you. We have satrys at most schools, but Grover alerted me to come as soon as he met you two. He found you both to be special."

"Special?" Percy asked.

Mr. Brunner ignored him and continued on. ".We also managed to get Coach Hedge a place at Sophies practice. Its better for each demigod to have their own guide."

"So I alerted your mother. Your uncle as-well," he said looking at Sophie. "Let them know we were keeping an eye on you, to see if you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. Of course things went a little south, but you both made it here alive and i feel that's always the best test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes sir!" Grover trembled.

He skipped over Sophie, since she already volunteered to sit out, and eyed Percy suspiciously. "You do know how to play pinochle?"

"I'm afraid not," Percy said.

"I'm afraid not, sir," said Mr. D.

Sophie zoned out while Mr. D explained the rules, swinging her feet back and forth. Until she heard Percy move off the subject of cards, and onto why the hell they were here and she figured she should probably pay attention.

"Please," Percy said, "what is this place? What are we doing here?"

"Percy," Chiron said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"

"She said she was afraid to send me here, even though my father wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."

"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"

Percy bid even though he had no idea how to play the game.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

"No," Chiron decided. "Well you two. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"—he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."

Sophie stared at him the gears in her head turning.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

"Wait," Percy told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"So like Zues," Sophie said. "Hera. Apollo. Hades. You mean them?"

And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloud-less day.

"Young lady," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"But they're stories," Percy said. "They're myths! To explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."

"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"—Percy flinched when he said his real name, and Sophie looked at him quizzically. She'd never heard his real name before.—"what will people think of your 'sci-ence' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."

"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal and if you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some-day people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"

Sophie scowled at him, shocked he would say that. Percy's heart pounded, but he stayed calm and said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."

"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."

Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."

"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe."

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

Percy's jaw dropped and Sophie's eyes widened, but she confirmed her theory in her head. Chiron hardly looked up.

"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

"And..." Percy stammered, "your father is..."

Mr. D sighed as if Percy had asked a stupid question.

"Zues," Sophie answered quietly.

"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "Thank goodness you seem to have taught at least one of them the basics."

"So you're Dionysus," Percy said. "The god of wine."

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"

"Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"

Pft. No.

"You're a god," said Percy.

"Yes, child."

"A god. You."

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said threateningly.

He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

Mr. D looked like he was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to the pair. "Cabin eleven you two. And mind your manners."

He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" Sophie asked Chiron worriedly.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled.

"Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"Mount Olympus," Percy said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like... in America?" Percy asked.

"I'm going insane." Sophie whispered to herself "Did I forget to see my therapist this week?"

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

Did Chiron just say she was currently going insane?

Mr. Brunner ignored them and rose from his wheelchair. The blanket fell off his lap, revealing the body and legs of a white stallion was attached to Chiron's torso.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come you two. Let us meet the other campers." 

This makes me cry

I just love Mr. D, and how he never gets anyones name right. I just wish Rick showed it more. Like 'Clair le rue' or 'Will solstice' 

Mr. D just slays