V

REBECCA

(P+A)

Yay!  I was so happy when I smelled the pure air of the strawberry fields and heard the satyrs' reeds playing as I stepped out of the car, ready for another peaceful, lonely summer in Poseidon's cabin with just my dad and brother.  It was great to be able to stay in the sea-smelling cabin all day without having anyone to bother me.  Sure, at the Mess Hall, when it was time to eat all the other campers were there, but they couldn't sit at table 3 so I was mostly alone, and at the campfire I'd usually slip away with the excuse that I was tired before I could get into any trouble.  Besides I was also so excited to see my brother again since he was the only one who could really help and understand me.

Once we were next to majestic Thalia's Pine tree, Annabeth said, "Becky, this year isn't a normal year at Camp for you and your brother.  You'll be starting training!  Luke already told us by Iris-messages that he's amazing with his sword just like Percy.  I wonder if you'll be good with the dagger like me and Silena."

My heart fell.  This was going to be the worst summer ever.  I was going to have to learn Ancient Greek, try a different weapon every day to see which one works for me, and worst of all I was going to have to always be around other people.  Whether they were demigods or not I didn't like them.  I just couldn't understand how they could all be so different from me.

My thoughts were interrupted by my dad, "Ah there's my big boy Luke!"

Sure enough, my twin was waiting for us at the Big House, but judging by his face, something was up.  As we got closer he started saying really quickly:

"It's really weird, there's this girl who came to Camp claiming that she's searching for her brother.  She has no idea what a demigod is but she says she's a half-blood and a witch.  She was also babbling about this being an American camp for witches and wizards like herself and that she came from England.  Chiron and Mr. D don't know what to make of her, and they have have no idea how she managed to cross the magical barrier without being a demigod.  Maybe you should come and see."  He said, addressing Percy.

"Can I come too?" I asked.  Even though I didn't like people, I was still really curious about this girl.

My brother smiled warmly to me, but he obviously didn't know what to say.  He looked at Dad for some help.

"Well, I don't see why not, as long as you behave."  Percy responded. "Annabeth, I think you should come too though, because I don't think I'll be much help to Chiron."

"I was already thinking of that, Seaweed Brain.  After all, even Reyna said you couldn't find your way out of a paper bag without me!"

We all burst out laughing, even I did, and after Silena decided to come too, we all marched to the Big House together as a family.

As we entered, we saw the girl.  She looked my age, with long, strait, flaming red hair and bright brown eyes.  She stood  tall with a kind of proud aura as though she was not in the wrong place, was not mistaken and was here for a reason.  She scanned over us but her eyes rested on me for what felt like ten minutes.  It was as though she were looking strait through me and knew my whole life just by looking directly at my eyes.  I tried staring back of course, to maybe challenge her, but that failed miserably as I looked away almost the moment she looked at me.  I hated looking weak, and I wasn't sure about this girl, whether I'd end up hating her too or not.

"Ah, and here's Peter Johnson with his little family." Mr. D said with his usual dawdling voice, getting my dad's name wrong on purpose. "What a surprise."

Chiron, on the other hand, looked rather relieved to see my parents and immediately started whispering to them the full story.  Meanwhile, the girl came up to Luke and started casually talking to him as though nothing happened; she obviously had a crush on him.

"Hey again.  You're Luke right?  Yay, I love it when I get names right!  Are those your sisters?  Cool, I just have two brothers." She barely listened to his answers and kept babbling.

Luke looked uneasily back at us so Silena decided to join the conversation.

"Hi," Silena spoke up, "I'm Silena.  You?"

"Oh, I'm Lily Potter... Jr I guess.  My grandmother was named Lily Potter but she was killed with her husband by the most evil wizard of all time when my dad was just one year old.  He survived though, and avenged them.  Obviously."

Silena wasn't sure what to say, "Oh, uh, I'm sorry about that.  Just a question... do you mean like real wizards with wands and stuff like in that seven-book series?  I know I'm such a nerd but I would love for that to be real."

"What series?  Anyway, yeah witches and wizards are real and I'm a witch.  If you want I can show you my wand, but I can't cast a spell since I'm only allowed to for emergencies or when I'm at my school." Without waiting for an answer, she slipped from her pocket a beautiful, dark, slim piece of wood that made me gape in awe.

"Ebony, unicorn hair, eleven inches, supple.  It's beautiful isn't it?" Lily said, happy for all the attention.  "But seriously guys, stop faking.  You're obviously witches and wizards aren't you?  And if you aren't, then what are you?  You have to be magical.  Enough about me.  I want to know about you, too."

"Well, believe it or not, our parents are half-Greek god, half-human.  Our grandparents are the sea god, Poseidon, and Athena the goddess of wisdom and war.  So we have some magical powers and we're stronger but more vulnerable than mortals," said Luke.

"Wow.  That's so cool.  So I see that you have magical creatures too, like that centaur guy and those pegasi at the stables.  We have centaurs and accromantulas and unicorns too."

A shiver went down my spine when Lily said "accromantulas."  All descendants of Athena had arachnaphobia because of that story about the girl Arachne who bragged she could weave better than the goddess and got turned into a spider....

Silena continued after Luke lost his words at the sound of those monsters.  "Yeah but most of the creatures are monsters that try to kill us.  This place, and New Rome, where we live, are the only places safe for people like us."

"Eek.  Creepy..."

After that, the conversation got boring for my ADHD mind so I decided to take a walk at the edge of the woods.  By this time, it had started to get cloudy outside and, although I knew it never rained here, I picked up the pace and put my hood on once off the balcony of the blue house.  Even though it was summer, I started shivering as I got near the forest.  I watched the stream that ran through the woods trickle for a while, until I felt a strange presence.  I turned around, but saw nothing.  I felt a tugging sensation pulling me towards the dark, gloomy forest so I stupidly decided to follow it.

As I got deeper into the forest, it got darker and darker, even though it was probably only noon.  Then all of a sudden, I heard a soothing female voice urging me to come closer.  I couldn't make out what it said, but it sounded like Ancient Greek.  At this point, I could only see a few feet ahead of me and I was surrounded by trees.  Slowly, I took a few cautious steps towards the voice. 

Then, a deep guttural growl commenced, coming from near to where the female voice was and my instincts immediately told me to run.  I whirled around to start running the way I came but it felt like time slowed down. 

I had no idea where I was going, and what I was running from.  Something was pulling me back, stopping me from fleeing, and my legs slowed almost to a stop.  I struggled to get out of this enchantment but it was impossible; my legs already felt like jelly and I had only gone a few feet.  I heard the monster howl like a hound.  I panicked.  It pounced and I felt its massive paws push me to the ground, its smelly breath tickling my neck.  My head hit hard on a stone, and just before I knew that the beast would to grab my neck and kill me, I blacked out.