~ ☼ ~

I didn't know what to think. My knees wobbled as I stared at Alec. He just gave me a sympathetic look.

Everything I knew was a lie. My father... my father was a God. I was half god.

What did that mean for me? Did I have powers? Was I in danger??

What world had I stumbled into?

"My mom said..." I started, taking a deep breath. "That my father is a god. But who? Which god?"

Alec shrugged. "You won't find out until he claims you."

I didn't know what that meant. I frowned. "Who is your..." I waved my hand, not knowing the correct word to use.

"Godly parent?" he supplied, his tone growing bitter for a moment. "My dad is Apollo. God of music, poetry, the sun, and arrogance. More or less."

As if on cue, the rapidly lowering sun passed behind a dark cloud.

Then, a bell rang in the distance. "That's the first dinner bell," Alec said. Concern returned to his eyes. "Are you all right? Do you feel better?"

Physically? Yes.

Mentally? Definitely not.

Alec cocked his head. "I know this is probably overwhelming for you. Hades, I almost had a mental breakdown when I found out-" he chuckled again. "But you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Are you hungry?"

I was hungry. So I followed him to dinner. Food solves everything, I guess.

———

We trekked across the sunbaked valley. The sky was stained with the color of denim and peaches as the sun snuck below the horizon. As I looked at the sun, I felt a bit of warmth blossom in my chest.

Alec took me on a miniature tour, pointing out landmarks we passed. There was a ring of cabins, each elaborately decorated in a different way. My guide explained that each cabin was for a seperate god. I wondered which one mine would be.

Finally, we reached the dining pavilion, which was packed with more kids than I would've expected. Even though nobody was looking in our direction, I felt like all eyes were on me. I didn't belong here.

Alec pointed to a table in the back of the pavilion. "Since you're unclaimed, you have to sit with the Hermes cabin."

"Oh," I said, not really able to come up with any other words.

"Um," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'll see you around, then. Tell me if you have any questions. Good luck."

With that, he left me, going to sit beside a pretty black girl who grinned at him. I tried not to feel abandoned and quickly made my way to the table in the back, which, like all the other tables, was covered in plates of different foods.

I sat in the only available seat, across from two girls who looked my age. One was tall and Hawaiian-looking, her skin a beautiful bronze and her hair long and wavy. She was politely eating a plate of pork, keeping perfect etiquette. The other was shorter, with olive skin and freckles and black hair with dual french braids; she was chowing down on a sandwich with french fries on top. That seemed a bit strange to me, but I didn't say anything.

In fact, I kept completely quiet, not daring to bring attention to myself. But any attempt I had was failed when the girl with braids looked up from her sandwich right into my eyes.

Her eyes widened, and she quickly swallowed her food before saying, "You're the girl from the woods!"

The other girl glanced up at me. Surprise flashed across her face, then she elbowed Braids. "Kiera, be polite."

"I'm being perfectly polite," Braids -  Kiera - replied, glaring at the other girl before looking at me. "Hi. I didn't realize you were out of the infirmary. You suffered a nasty concussion."

"Um..."

"Kiera!" The other girl exclaimed. "I'm so sorry," she said to me. "She doesn't know how to introduce herself. She's the person who found you on the hill while on border patrol."

My mouth went into the shape of an O. So this girl was the reason I was here. Thanks a lot, Braids.

"Yep," Kiera said, popping the p, which was a bit annoying. "Kiera Bane, at your service. And this is Aria Nalau'i. What's your name?"

"AJ. AJ Hood," I said, a bit hesitant.

Kiera took a bite of her sandwich, then said, "Well then, welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Miss AJ," except her mouth was full and it came out sounding more like complete gibberish.

"Thanks," I replied, although I didn't know if I meant it. I looked at the two girls, who seemed to be waiting for me to say something else, then at the food laid out in front of me. There was a platter of pulled pork slathered with barbecue sauce that was really calling my name. Reluctantly, I picked up my fork and threw some on to my plate. But though I had food, I didn't see a source of hydration in site. To Aria and Kiera, I asked, "Um, where are the drinks?"

"There are none. You summon them yourself. Say whatever you want, and it'll appear," Aria explained. After I just gaped at her for a moment, she said, "Go on, try it!"

Slowly, I looked at the glass and said, "Cream soda - no, strawberry cream soda." I didn't even know if that was a thing, but it sounded good. Sure enough, it was a thing, because my goblet proceeded to fill up with a foamy pink drink, complete with ice.

I blinked. Once. Twice. And the drink was still there. This place was getting more magical by the second.

Comforted by the familiar vanilla buzz of cream soda and warmth of barbecue, I started to dig into my food. My fork was halfway in the air when Kiera said, "Wait! Don't eat that. You have to donate some of your food to the brazier in the middle. It's for the Gods."

"O-kay."

"I know it sounds a little weird, but you'll get used to it. I'll come with you."

So, Kiera led me to the center of the dining pavilion, where a small, standing fire pit sat. Then she turned to me and instructed, "Throw the crust in the fire. And dedicate it to a god."

I did as she said. But I didn't know what god to dedicate it to. It wasn't that I didn't know Greek mythology, because I did, vaguely. We'd learned about it all throughout middle school. I remember my favorite being Apollo, because he was the god of music, and music used to be the reason I woke up in the morning. So, randomly, I said internally, "I guess this is for Apollo. You always seemed kinda cool. If you know who my dad is, please tell him to tell me. Thanks a bunch."

Once we got back to our seats, somebody clapped, and the pavilion went quiet. Everyone's attention was directed to a table in the front, where Mr. D and Tantalus sat. Beside them were a few men with... goat legs. Satyrs. Holy crap.

"All right," Mr. D started. "I really don't want to have to talk to you rugrats-" he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, as if he was pained. "But I'm supposed to. Hello, everybody. First, I should introduce a new camper we received today... CJ Hook." With this, he looked me straight in the eye, and everybody followed his gaze. Alec gave me a smile. I quickly looked away, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. The least he could've done was gotten my name right.

"Don't mind him," Aria whispered to me. "He gets everybody's names wrong. He calls me Daria, like the television character. I've never even seen that show!"

Kiera suppressed a laugh.

"Because of our... incident regarding the chariot race, and the disappearance of a few of our campers, I'm forcing Tantalus to give you a different activity tonight. One that won't give me a bad reputation," Mr. D continued. A murmur went through the crowd, though I didn't know why. I wondered what the "incident" was, and why there were disappearing campers.

"Yeah, yeah," Tantalus interrupted. "You're playing Capture the Flag again tonight."

Suddenly, I felt like I was at a Jonas Brothers concert. A roar went through the pavilion, people jumping up to cheer and hug each other and scream for joy. These people must really like Capture the Flag, I thought.

"Teams are Apollo, Ares, and Athena vs everyone else," Tantalus declared, trying and failing to speak loudly above the noise.

At this, three tables - including the one Alec was sitting at - got even louder, knocking each other on the back and screeching like howler monkeys. Everybody else groaned, a few people yelling such things as, "That's not fair!" and "You're an idiot!" and "I want to die!"

Tantalus clapped his hands and said, "You know the rules. Go get ready."

Everybody started to get up, and I turned towards Aria and Kiera. "It's just normal capture the flag, right? No Godly twist?"

Kiera snorted and Aria gave me a pitiful smile. "You'll see, Miss AJ," the former said with a smirk. "You'll see."

Oh God, I thought to myself. What am I getting myself into?

———

I followed the girls down to the woods, and they explained the camp's version of CTF to me. It was just like the normal game, but with sword fights and armors instead of tagging and pinnies.

"Except, no maiming or killing," Kiera had explained, and I raised my eyebrows. "If you do that, you lose dessert for a week."

I tried not to freak out at that. What if somebody didn't even like dessert?! They would be free to maim and kill all they wanted!

Kiera and Aria helped me put on leather armor, and then pointed me to a table spread with weaponry. "What would you prefer?" Aria asked, ever polite. "We have bows, swords, daggers..."

"Uh," I replied. "None of the above?"

Kiera laughed, but Aria just looked at me, cocking her head and narrowing her eyes before saying, "I think I'll give you a bow. You seem less stabby stabby and more shooty shooty."

I didn't know how to react to that.

Aria handed me a large recurve bow, which didn't fit right in my hands. I knew how to shoot - my dad was an outdoor freak, after all - but I didn't want to do any archery today. Suddenly, I remembered the sword I'd found - Liakada. What had happened to that thing? Perhaps they'd confiscated it.

"Hey," I said to Kiera. "I had a sword with me, one that I found, when I went unconscious. Do you know where it is?"

Kiera gave me a confused look, then shrugged. "No idea. When I found you, you were completely empty handed."

Mentally, I swore. For some reason, I wanted Liakada back in my grip. I needed to feel its warmth again. Instead, I was stuck with a clunky bow and a quiver of arrows that banged against my thigh as I walked.

Aria had a bow as well, though she held it like a natural. Kiera had double daggers at her hips, and she walked with the cool swagger of someone with experience. It struck me to ask them how long they were here for. But now wasn't the right time - we were coming upon the woods, where everybody was crowded.

Tantalus stood on a pedestal at the front, waiting for everyone to file in. When we all did, he said in a monotone voice, "Okay. Since you people can't handle an actual competition, I'm expecting you to at least be good at this. Let the games begin in 3, 2, 1..."

"Blue team, go!" A boy at the front said. My team - the blue team, according to the boy and the plumes on our helmets - surged forward into the woods, scattering as we passed the tree line.

"Where are you guys going?" I murmured to Aria and Kiera. "What should I do?"

"I'm going on offense," Kiera said.

"And I'm gonna play defense," Aria added. "You can help me."

We split from Kiera, and I followed Aria up a hill to a small overlook. From here, we could see the large pile of rocks where our team's flag was planted. Two guards stood in front, looking prepared for anything that came their way.

"Now, we just sit and wait for someone to come into the clearing," Aria said.

"Okay." I pursed my lips, and we stood there for an awkward moment before I said, "So. Are you a daughter of Hermes?"

Aria frowned. "Not quite. I know my dad - my mom's the godly one. I'm just waiting to be claimed. Same with Kiera."

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

She looked at the ground, reaching for a cord around her neck. It was leather, and it had 4 clay beads on it, each painted with a different design. "This necklace shows how many summers a camper has been through. This is Kiera and I's 5th summer."

"Oh." I didn't know how to reply. What do you say to something like that?

After another uncomfortable silence, Aria said, "I'm tired of being here, unclaimed and forgotten about. Lady Artemis... she runs this group of girls. The Hunters. They just go on quests for her all the time. That's what I wanna join. But I don't wanna leave Kiera."

"Are you two really close?" I inquired, even though the answer was evident.

"Yeah," she breathed. "But I go back to Hawaii every school year. I have family, and other friends. Kiera... she only has me."

Again, I was speechless. But I was saved from having to think up a reply, because at that moment, Aria lunged up. "There's people down there, behind the rocks," she whispered.

I stood, too, and followed her gaze. Indeed, there were three people - a boy with shaggy blonde hair, the black girl from earlier, and Alec. They were creeping along, ready to steal the flag. The guards hadn't noticed them. My eyes widened, but Aria just got into position,  knocking an arrow into her bow.

"You're going to shoot them?!" I whisper-yelled, even though I already knew the answer.

"Why else would I have a bow?" she hissed back. "Follow my lead."

So I did, clumsily knocking my bow and pointing it in the same direction as Aria. We crept along the hilltop, getting ever closer to the invaders. Then, right when they were in our cross hairs, Aria fired, the arrow landing true, embedding itself in the blonde boys' arm. He let out a howl, alerting the guards to their presence. Quickly, Aria and I ran back into the cover of the trees, watching as the guards fought off the invaders - except for Alec. He had vanished. And then, I saw a glimpse of his golden brown hair, in between the rocks. He must've escaped the guards.

More importantly, he was going for the flag. I had to stop him.

Knowing I didn't have enough arm strength to hit him from there, I ran down the hill, paying no regard to Aria's "Wait! Stop!" or to the other people fighting hand-to-hand around me. I just aimed my arrow at Alec, pulled back the string, and released, hoping against hope that I wouldn't hurt him too much.

He must've heard the whoosh of the arrow, because he whirled around... just in time for it to embed itself straight into his armor, right around his heart.

Alec stumbled backwards, gaping at me. When he was balanced again, he pulled the arrow out of his armor and started making his way down to me.

What is he doing? I thought. He's perfectly fine. He could've kept playing.

But he wasn't continuing - he was just staring at me. More specifically, right above me. And he wasn't the only one. Aria was coming down the hill, now, and the 4 kids fighting lowered their weapons, all gazing at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked frantically. "Is my hair on fire?" I patted my head, only to be greeted with a strange warmth. Looking up, I saw a glowing gold hologram of a lyre floating above my head. What in the world is happening? Did I just do something wrong?

Just as Alec was reaching the ground again, the blonde kid came towards me. "You didn't do anything wrong, don't worry," he said, as if he could read my mind. "My name is Lee Fletcher. I'm the head counselor of the Apollo cabin. I think I should be giving you a warm greeting, new sister."

My mouth parted in surprise. Before I could even begin to react fully, Lee kneeled, and slowly, so did everyone else.

"All hail," Alec started, a knowing grin on his face, "AJ Hood, daughter of Apollo, Lord of the Sun."

My knees started to shake. Was this really happening? Were they actually telling me I was the daughter of the ancient Greek god of like, 15 different things?

That was what the sigil was. It was my claiming. I was a demigod.

"Welcome," Lee said, finally standing up, "To cabin 7."

———

The rest of the evening was a hazy blur. The blue team - my team - won, capturing the red team's flag quickly and efficiently. Specifically, Kiera did. I tried to congratulate her after the game, but it was a brief conversation.

"Nice job on getting the flag," I'd said. "You're lucky you have such skill."

"Nice job on getting claimed," she'd said. "You're lucky your parent cares."

With that, she had frowned and walked away, Aria just sighing and shaking her head. I felt bad, even though it wasn't my fault or my choice to get claimed so quickly, just because of how much I could tell Kiera and Aria both wanted it. For four years, they'd been abandoned. It made my stomach feel uneasy.

But I didn't have much time to think about it. Right after CTF had ended, most of the campers had gone down in the direction of the beach. I heard talk about a campfire, a sing-along, and s'mores, which sounded incredibly appealing. I started to follow the crowd, until Alec came up to me.

"Hello, escapee," he said to me.

"Hi." I replied, crossing my arms. "Sorry for shooting you in the heart."

He chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Water under the bridge."

"Good." I gave him a small smile, but it was gone in an instant. "So, we're brother and sister now, right?"

"I guess so." He paused, and must've seen the slightly uncomfortable look on my face, because he said, then, "I know this is overwhelming. But Cabin 7's easily one of the nicest and most welcoming cabins. It's a world of sunshine, music, and morning people. Although, you don't strike me as a morning person."

"I strike you right, then. I don't like morning people. Or mornings... or people."

I should've known this would happen: he chuckled again. "That's okay. I'm not really a morning person either..." he trailed off, then cocked his head. "Do you actually, fully believe me now? Or do you still think I'm crazy?"

"I think you might be a bit crazy. We all are-" -At this, I started to smile again- "-but yeah. Weirdly enough, I believe you."

"Good. Because you're going to have to deal with this stuff a lot more now."

By this point, most of the campers had left the area in front of the woods. In the distance, I could hear voices, and laughter, and yelling. It was the sound of happiness. It made me feel just a little bit more comfortable.

I glanced in the direction of the sounds, and Alec followed my gaze. "That's the nightly campfire. Honestly, it's probably my favorite thing in all of camp. You could go down, but I'd recommend getting supplies and new clothes before curfew."

I blinked. It hadn't even dawned on me that I was still wearing the same clothes from three days ago. I was kind of embarrassed - as much as I loved my American Idiot shirt, I didn't want to wear it everyday for the rest of the summer!

"Um, okay," I said, turning back to Alec. His hair was glowing silver in the moonlight, which was a strange contrast to his usual golden demeanor. "Where would I get them?"

"You can get some at the Camp store. Although, I do have to warn you, it's all gonna be camp merch."

I shrugged. "Clothes are clothes. The thing is, I don't have any money."

"I can loan you some drachmas. Consider it a gift from your new family," he said with a wink. "Or, more, your new siblings. I can't speak for our father."

"You've never met him?"

"Once, I have," he shook his head, his smile fading. "I don't understand why everybody loves him. He shouldn't be the god of all those things. He's really just, like, the God of Arrogance." For a moment, he looked angry. But then, he perked up again, and said in an oddly cheery tone, "Camp Store, here we come!"

Crazy, indeed.

  ~ ☼ ~ 

I first wrote this before Trials of Apollo came out and now that it's out I still stand by my claim that Apollo really is just the God of Arrogance.

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