Word of Percy's incident spread quickly, he and I got looks as we walked around. I decided to show Percy some of the other places around the camp. I showed him the metal shop (where kids were forging their swords ), the arts-and-crafts room (where saytrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall ( which consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough). Finally, we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. "I've got training to do," I say flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty, I'll see you at the mess hall." "Hailee, I'm sorry about the toilets." "Whatever." "It wasn't my fault." I gave him a skeptical look. He may not be as smart as I thought he was.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," I said. "Who?" "Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron." I said and he turned to look at the lake, I saw him wave at the Naiads and said: "Don't encourage them, Naiads are terrible flirts." "Naiads," He repeated looking overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now." I frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us." "You mean, mentally disturbed kids?" "I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human." "Half-human and half what?" he asked. "I think you know." "God." He said. "Half-god." I nodded "Your father isn't dead Percy he is one of the Olympians." "That's... crazy." "Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?" I asked. "But those are just---" He cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. "But if all the kids here are half-gods--" "Demigods," I said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods." "Then whose your dad?" he asked and I tightened my grip on the pier railing. "Well, that depends on who you ask?" I said as I looked out at the horizon wishing my life was simpler. "What do you mean?" "Well, lots of people have a guess on my father but known truly know." I sighed. "I do know who my father is, I just can't tell anyone. If the camp found out, they'd send me to the curb." I whispered to him. He looked at me skeptically. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt anyone," I gave him a light smile.

"And my dad?" He asked. "Undetermined," I said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows." "Except my mother. She knew." I felt bad when he mentioned his mom. "Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities." "My dad would have. He loved her." I gave him a cautious look not wanting to burst his bubble. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send you a sign. That's the only way to know your father for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens." "You mean sometimes it doesn't?" I ran my hand along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always... well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us." I sighed knowing that this isn't something anyone wants to hear. "So I'm stuck here," he said, "That's it? For the rest of my life?" "It depends," I said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time they ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble--about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that." I explained.

"So monsters can't get in here?" I shook my head at him. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside." "Why would someone want to summon a monster?" "Practical fights. Practical jokes." I said thinking of the Stoll brothers. "Practical jokes?" "The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm." "So... you're a year rounder?" I nodded and pulled out my camp necklace to show him, "I've been here since I was seven," I said remembering what happened when we arrived. "Every August, on the last day of the summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college." "Why did you come so young?" I twisted my ring on my finger. "It's a long story, that I will save for another time." "Okay." We stood there in silence for a moment. "So... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" "It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless..." "Unless?" "You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens the last time..." I trailed off not wanting to talk about it. "Back in the sick room," he said, "when you were feeding me that stuff--" "Ambrosia." "Yeah. You said something about the summer solstice." My shoulders tensed "So you do know something?" "Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did he mean?" I clenched my fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the saytrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal." "You've been to Olympus?" "Some of us year-rounders--Luke, Annabeth, Clarisse, and a few others--we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council." "But... how did you get there?" "The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." I looked at him like he should know this. "You are a New Yorker, right?" "Oh, sure." I sighed "Right after we visited, the weather got weirds, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard saytrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it's not returned by the summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came along I was hoping.. well I thought we could work together. I've even considered telling you who my father is." He just shook his head. "I've got to know what's going on," I muttered to myself. "If they would tell me I could help and maybe I could finally tell people about my father." I sighed as I heard Percy's stomach growl. "Come on," I said grabbing his hand and pulling him to cabin eleven.

When we got back things were as they always were, everyone was talking and horsing around waiting for dinner. Since I'd mostly dried, I walked over to my bed and laid down longing to have my own cabin. I saw Luke walk over to Percy and hand him a sleeping bag and a bag that was probably full of stolen toiletries. I watched the boys talk for a while and walked over to them right before the horn sounded. "Why do you keep calling me the one?" Percy asked me. "That is complicated, For one Annabeth has been waiting for a person to get here so she can go on a quest and the other reason has to do with something my father told me," I said in a hushed tone. Then the conch sounded. "Eleven, fall in," Luke yelled. I sent a wave to Percy and headed towards the front because we lined up based on seniority. As we made our way to the mess hall the other cabins did too, as well as saytrs, naiads, dryads, and other such things that hated me. I stood from my spot at the table and told everyone on my side to move down. I moved down to where Percy was, I sat half off the bench but I didn't mind. "Hey," I said to be nice, "Hi."

Then Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor and everyone went silent. He raised his glass. "To the gods." Wood nymphs came around with food, I saw Percy look to his glass. "Speak to it. Whatever you want--nonalcoholic, of course." I said. "Cherry Coke," he said causing his glass to fill with the drink. I smiled until he unexpectedly said "Blue Cherry Coke," I laughed as the drink in his cup turned a violent shade of cobalt. "Here you go," Luke said handing the tray of brisket to Percy and me. I stood up to give my offering and Percy gave a look. "Come on," I said. He got up and followed Luke and me to the front. "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell." I heard Luke mummer to Percy. "You're kidding." I turned and gave Percy a look that said 'He's dead serious.' I walked up to the fire, bowed my head tossed in part of my steak and mumbled "Hades" so no one could hear me before I turned away and went to go sit back down.

Once everyone took their seats again, Chiron pounded his hoof to get everyone's attention. Mr. D then stood with a sigh "Yes, I suppose I better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin Five currently holds the laurels." Most of the Ares table began to cheer. "Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Chiron murmured something to him. "Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on." Everybody cheered. We all headed down to the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin lead a sing-along. I sat by myself watching the camp. This wasn't my seen, Percy seemed to be enjoying himself though. Later, the conch finally blew and we all headed back to our cabins, I quickly took care of what was needed and then went to sleep.