I'm not going to start my story at the beginning, because technically there's two beginnings: my conception, when my father drove me here, and when I realized I was brought to the wrong camp.

Three. I meant three. I'm not good at math.

Anyways, my name is Steven De Mayo. I'm 19, stupid tall at 6'11, and I live at Camp Half-Blood in a cabin just off the Aphrodite cabin. I'm painfully obsessed with myself being the son of the goddess of love, so I demanded to have my own cabin. Gotta make sure the losers know I'm more my mother's child than they are.

Ha... just kidding. Actually, they all hate me with a burning passion Aries would be proud of, and I know why.

I'm not a half blood, I'm more of a three quarters blood. My mother, Aphrodite, apparently got bored of being gorgeous and getting practically whatever she wanted so she decided to bang a half human, half mermaid and then had me. Grandpa Zeus didn't like that, so he struck the Mermaid and my mother was forced to give me up to a male human she had fallen in love with in ten seconds flat. Killing the mermaid made Poseidon upset, and to get back at Zeus he blessed me with the power of a siren (but who knows how that works cause I sure don't) and I guess mom blessed me with... something, I'm guessing. And a vast array of awkwardness.

So to recap, three thirds inhuman, orphaned, "blessed". I should be thrilled, hypothetically, because I was living the life before I got here. My dad, Gregory De Mayo managed to keep me completely unaware for 16 years. Satyrs that find us demigods, they're few and far between now that more and more are being acknowledged and claimed. I never had one, it's been just me and my dad my whole life. And somehow, he was able to avoid everything that could possibly be dangerous. We moved a lot. He homeschooled me. He tried to take me out to the ocean as often as possible. He was a terrified, cautious man, but he loved me. Chiron called him a hero when he finally brought me here after packing my bags in a panic and screaming at me to just trust him. Greg was my hero. He taught me the music I craved from such a young age, he shaped me into the person I am today and despite all the Greek stuff I am a person. A real person, with feelings.

Lots of feelings. Feelings that are so vibrant and painful and terrible I can hardly stand to have them.

I didn't know what was going on when he told me, "You'll make it big, Schtu-ball, I just know it. I'll be there for whatever comes next."

He was murdered in front of my very eyes by a fury while I screamed and cried on the other side of camps boundary and he smiled at me so big, like he was proud of me already. He meant 'whatever comes next' in the context of next-next. Like being dead. Like leaving me here and abandoning me in this world that seems to not want me. I thought he meant for whatever life had to throw at me living at Camp Half-blood. I thought he meant I could call him and cry when I realized I didn't fit in. I thought a lot of things, but I was wrong. My dad wanted me, and me being me killed my father.

Enough of my pity party, I have to tell you about camp. There used to be 13 cabins for all of the main gods, but a decade ago they added a bunch more for the other gods. Camp Half-blood expanded wildly and we're more full than we've ever been according to the camp director, Mr. D.

Right... Mr. D or Dionysus, god of wine and partying cursed to work here as compensation for chasing after a forbidden nymph. His shirt is burning my retinas, I'm sure of it. It's covered in zebras wearing top hats over blue and neon green disco patterned pants. It's a real fashion don't. They should've been donkeys, because he's probably the biggest pain in my ass there ever was. "Hello, Stella. What are you doing not following the schedule? Feeling rebellious, are we?"

I sigh heavily and stop in my tracks. Heading to dinner always filled me with dread, or really any time I had to be around the other campers. "It's Steven, I'm headed that way literally right now, and I'm a boy," I tell him for the thousandth time.

He eyes my waist length braid and bursts out laughing. "Right, and I'm Zeus!" The sky rumbles and he tosses a hand through the air. "Bah! Whatever. Get along to dinner, Sophie."

Walking into the Dining Pavilion without my cabin is a little like standing in front of an entire school and giving an essay when you don't go to that school. No one grabbed me "accidentally" for the group file in. Everyone looks up at me and stares as I make my way to the campfire. In order for the gods to really listen you have to sacrifice the part of your meal you want the most. They served mac and cheese as a side today, and camp has mac and cheese so similar to my dad's. I don't want to give it up but I have to because that's just the way it works and I've been staring at the fire for so long now the entire Pavilion is silent.

What do I want? What do I really, truly want my mom to send me? It's the same every day since I got here. I scrape my entire plate in. 'A friend. One, two, seven, or a thousand. It doesn't matter, even just one is fine. I just want a friend, mom. Please.'

The fire roars, but nothing happens. Nothing but quiet choking on laughter as I slide in at my table and everyone glares at me. They think I think I'm better than them, because I've never spoken a word to them. Of course that's not true. After my dad died I couldn't speak with anyone for very long. I was angry and traumatized, and apparently no one here understands that. Chiron told me many never had great relationships with their parents, so maybe that's why.

I did try to speak a few times, but I was always drowned out by someone else. You know that feeling, probably. I don't need to explain it to you.

Justin, the guy sitting next to me, raises an eyebrow. "What, you don't need to eat? Too blessed for Camp Half-blood divies?"

They laugh and my cheeks turn scarlet. I'm a horrible blusher, so when it happens (and it does constantly) everyone knows I'm embarrassed for a three mile radius. I gather every ounce of courage I have and beg my mother for more. "No, I had a big breakfast. I'm just not hungry."

The Aphrodite cabin is a lot like high school on TV in a way. If you've ever seen my all time favorite movie Mean Girls, you've got the right idea. It's clique-y and full of behind the scenes drama. We don't go on quests all that often, though Piper McLean is a legend among us. We aren't special like kids of the Big Three or "Forbidden gods" Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades. We're background characters. But that doesn't mean it's not a quest in and of itself not to end up on the wrong persons bad side, and I've already done that by existing awkwardly in her general area.

Lilith, my half sibling that hates me with everything she has and is easily the most favored among us, smirks at me. "Don't tell me you're anorexic. Aphrodite won't like that."

More humiliation burns at me and I sigh. "I'm not hungry. It's a very simple concept, though sometimes I wonder if I need to dumb it down a little more for you in particular." My voice raises a bit and I glare at her. "I had food earlier, lots of food. Food takes time to digest and the energy from said large amounts of food stay for a long time. Hence, me not wanting to eat more food." I tip my head. "Was that a bit easier to follow?"

Chris giggles but Lilith snaps her head to sneer at him and he covers it with a cough. She turns to me with pure disgust. "You're not one of us. I don't even know why you're here. Why don't you do us all a favor and get back in your kennel?"

I stand and do just that, my fists clenched at my sides. I'm angry. Angry with myself for snapping, angry at her for bullying me, angry at the supposed family around me for not sticking up for me.

Angry at my mom.

I forgot to mention, I'm a crier. I cry at music because I can feel the power behind it. I cry when the sun hits the clouds just the right way when the sun rises and it creates beautiful colors in the sky. I love stars and space, and I cry when I'm lonely under them on top of my cabin.

It's stupid risky, but Camp Half-blood has a protective border from the Golden Fleece so it's safe enough. Nothing is truly safe for Halfbloods but at this point I don't care. I lug my cot up onto the roof nearly throwing up with the force of how much I hate myself and collapse on it curled into a ball. I can't scream cry like I want to, I never can. So I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, my mind giving me a gift my mom can't be bothered to try: escape.

I fall asleep with tears on my face and clutching the stuffed pig my dad bought me as a kid. The Aphrodite cabin says I shouldn't associate with swine, but I like them. They're pink, my favorite color, and they make cute sounds.

My dreams are terrible, like always.

I come to standing at a door in a place I'm sure I've never been. It's gross and musty like an attic, and suddenly I realize that must be where I am. Through the cracks in the floor I can see light, warm golden light, seeping through. It does nothing to comfort me. This place feels old, ancient as the gods and even a little hostile. I'm not supposed to be here, it's such a powerful place and I am a demigod who hasn't found any evidence of having powers.

"You dare deny your destiny, demigod?"

I jerk my head to the left to catch the source of the voice but it's gone. Now all I can hear are the sounds of Camp Half-blood in the background. Sword fighting, battle cries that make my blood freeze over and can only belong to the Aries cabin fighting with Nike's cabin, goddess of war against goddess of victory. It's always a friendly battle... mostly.

"Steven De Mayo..."

I whip around from looking out the dusty window and immediately my eyebrows almost shoot off of my forehead. "Oh my gods... I know you." I wrack my brain and come up with the demigod that on multiple occasions saved camp and became one of the biggest heroes in Greek mythology...

Percy Jackson. The name itself fills me with dread, and longing. Percy started off awkward, but he grew himself into something so much more than anyone had ever thought. He was a Big Three demigod with a lot of friends though, so comparing myself to him would be laughable at best. At worst the joke would fall flat and I'd have to sit in the silence stuck in my own awkward phase forever. Seems like I'm already on my way to that. "Rachel Dare, the Oracle. You were friends with Percy, right?"

She doesn't respond at first, though for a second I swear I see a flicker of recognition. Her voice though, it makes my skin crawl. Smoke pours from her and her eyes glow along with it. "A demigod alone and unchosen,
Will break the mold, unloved and unbroken
A lonely quest to reunite true blood
And quell the fury from ones above
You shall go to the other side in opposite affair
But lose your home and have life lain bare."

And then the floor of the attic breaks and I'm falling.

I gasp, my eyes opening groggily as I turn over in bed.

"Morning, kiddo. More bad dreams?"

His voice is so comforting that tears leap to my eyes. "Dad."

He pulls me into a tight hug warm with his softness. His long hair trails over the back of my hands and it's the most pleasant sensation I've ever felt. He's got a permanent farmers tan and basically wears the same thing every day: a white, dirty shirt, blue jean shorts and flip flops. "I've missed you so much."

He pulls away to look at me with brown eyes dark with concern, his face matching mine so much I may as well be looking in a mirror. "Come on then, let's go to the beach and talk," He tells me with a thin smile. "Should be... fun."

It's then I connect this dream to a memory: the last time my dad ever took me to the beach. I remember I had perked up and exclaimed, "Really?"

I didn't have it in me to now.

The drive there he pops in the CD we made together, and we sing our favorite Dear Old Dad. It's an easy song with easy harmonies, but it eats my worry into nothing and I can't contain my excitement as the ocean appears in front of us.

The sand is golden, the water is blue-green and foaming with gorgeous white caps. Seagulls and crabs scuttle and fight for food and territory. One dive bombs another seagull for a precious find and the seaweed clings to the shore among a bit of debris. My nose fills with the scent of musky salt water and sun as we get out and stroll along the shore.

My dad always let me be closest to the ocean with my feet submerged as the tide comes in to hug the shore and kiss it goodbye as it ebbs. I like to believe the ocean is in love with the shore, that they're star crossed lovers who must always be taken away from each other only to be brought back together again if only for a moment.

It revitalizes me, but when I look to smile up at my dad he's not there.

A tall, somber woman looks me in my face and soul crushing sadness fills me. The ocean slips away and stays away, no longer coming to surround my feet. Tears prick my eyes and I realized I've stopped walking, completely enraptured with her deep, empty gaze. It's so familiar. Too familiar. She's dressed in a long dress with a hooded cape that would've been cool if it weren't endless grey like concrete and stitched together with faces in pure emotional turmoil.

"We will meet again, young demigod." Her voice is nails against a chalkboard: screams of agony, whispers of heart-wrenching sobs, wails of brokenness. "Are you ready to face me?"

"Wh-who are you?" I can hear it in my voice and it nearly makes me sick. I'm lonely, even standing next to her. The dread and anguish threatens to rip me off my feet to kneel at hers and cry until I have no soul left. The thought of being turned into another face in her awful quilt doesn't exactly fill me with fuzzy warm feelings either.

"Awake, Steven De Mayo," She tells me gently. "Awake and prepare yourself."

The screaming gets louder and her dress begins to writhe in pain. The faces are blinking at me, stitched in place lips struggling to move. "Despair and join us!"

I cry out and finally fall to my knees. I can't handle this, it's too much, it reminds me too much of my time everywhere I've ever been and I can't hold the weight of it anymore.

"We are nothing and you are nothing."

"Join us! Join us!"

"Awake and face your fate," She urges again.

I scream-cry for the first time since my dad died and the aching in my chest opens its mouth to swallow me whole.

"AWAKE!"