This is my first time publishing something, and I hope to share more of this story and others. But please no hate. This is sort of my first time. Thx! 😊

       Ever since the guy dressed like Elvis broke into my house, the monster sightings became more frequent. But I should probably back up. My name's Ashley Walker and ever since I can remember, my lucks been pretty much trash. Want an example? Starting a few weeks ago I started seeing monsters, like things that were so weird and scary they shouldn't have existed. A woman that looked normal expert for her glowing red eyes and mitch matched bronze and donkey legs. A guy you would think was homeless, who really had one big eye instead of two. And I was seeing them everywhere, which just made me more nervous. On the bus to school, on my walk back, in the grocery store. Once I'd even heard hissing like snakes under the bathroom stall, but when I checked there was no one there.

The only person who made me feel better was Grover. He's my one and only friend, and whenever I was around him there seemed to be no monsters at all. Like they were afraid of him or something, but that's crazy! I mean he's dissabled and I'm probably stronger than him.

Then there was stalker Elvis. I'd come home from home from school one day around 3, and he was standing in my living room admiring my mom's old record collection. He looked like an Elvis wannabe, with the hair and everything. But he had little words sewn all over the fabric of his clothes. I looked closer and saw they were names of concerts and music conventions. But the weird part was that some of them read: Lyre Convention 126 A.D. Who would have even been alive then? And what was a Lyre? I had thought.

"Ah, excellent question. It's an instrument! And a quite brilland one at that!" Said Elvis Wannabe. Wait... did he just read my mind? "Given to me by a toddler I believe." He picked up one of my mom records and sighed like he was remembering a happy memorie. Wait? Did he just say by a toddler?

"Such a shame," he mused. "And so young." I dropped my bag at the door and marched over to him.

"Who are you?" I said. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, well I'm Apollo and I can't tell you that. Something about disrupting the universe or the cosmos or whatever. Or was it her plan? She always has a plan." He rolled his eyes. What? What is he talking about?! I thought.

"Do you mind if I take this one? I don't think she'll miss it." He placed the record on his palm and snapped. Suddenly it disappeared. Who was this guy?

"Eh, but I guess I should get going. It's not like the sun can drive itself." Before I could ask another question about anything he'd just said, he was gone in a ray of golden light. I stood there, jaw dropped, in my now empty living room.

"I'm dreaming," I told myself as I walked up the stairs. "That's it. Just a dream." I opened my bedroom door and my eyelids got heavy. I made it to my bed right before I promptly passed out asleep.

You know those dreams where you're looking down on something? Well I was looking down at a strawberry field. Suddenly the dream zoomed in further until I saw a huge pine tree, with, was that a dragon sleeping at the base of it? I didn't get a good look because the dream didn't stop there. It took me down a path with a volleyball court to the left, and a building that said arts and crafts in ancient greek to my right. Though how I knew it said that because I can't read ancient greek, I have no idea. Maybe it was a dream thing. People were everywhere, CHB written on their orange shirts. I wondered what CHB meant.

Soon I came towards a big blue house and my dream didn't hesitate to zoom right into the walls. I came out in what looked like a living room that had been attacked by grapevines. The stuff was all over the walls, and even coming out of the floor boards. Some of it was growing in and out of weird theater masks that were hung on the walls, making it look like they were alive. What was also strange is there was a jaguar's head mounted above the fireplace, but it was alive. It was like it could sense my presence there, because it moved its head, its eyes following me with something like pity. Then there were voices, two of them.

A boy with black hair and one of those orange shirts, followed by an older man who looked like he'd been partying all night. His eyes were bloodshot and he wore a leopard shirt and dark pants. They had come around a corner and stopped in the middle of the room.

"Now, as I've told you Peter Johnson-"

"Percy Jackson," the boy cut in.

"Whatever." The man put his hands up with no enthusiasm. "You can't message Mr. Undershirt-"

"Underwood," he cut in again. The man just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He said. "You can't iris message him while he works. He has to be the one to message you. Now go run off and do whatever you kids do nowadays." The older guy said. The boy looked disappointed, but he reluctantly left, and my dream followed him down a path to a lake. It was a hot day, so heat shimmered on its surface, creating rainbows. But the boy seemed to know this. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin. I watched as he threw it into the mist, and said,

"Show me Grover." Grover? How did this guy know Grover? And more importantly, who was this guy? I watched as the coin hit the mist and it evaporated. Suddenly the outline of my fifth period class appeared in a misty image. But there was Grover - crutches and all. He looked startled at first when he saw the boy, but then he said,

"Percy!" Percy? He knew this guy?

"Hey man," Percy said. "Where are you?" Grover looked around nervously and said, "Mr. Brown's class, helping him plant some stuff." That was right, I remembered suddenly. Grover had volunteered to help Mr. Brown, our science teacher, plant window boxes after school. He had said it was a school curriculum project, and you would get extra points on your report card. I'd said gardening wasn't my thing, but I'd felt a little bad leaving Grover.

"So you're at that school? Have you found anyone yet-" He was interrupted by a voice in the hall.

"Grover? Where did you put those seed packets?" It was Mr. Brown.

"Oh, um. There in here sir!" Grover called, then he whispered to Percy, "I have to go, but yes I found one. Talk later." I watched as Grover wiped his hand across the image and it disappeared.

Then my dream zoomed way out until I was at what must have been the entrance to this place. It was like an ancient arch way, with two torches on either side. Above that, in ancient greek, it said: Camp Half-Blood... c... h... b. That's what it said on the shirts...

Then it all faded and I shot up in bed. I looked out my window and saw that it was almost morning. I checked my alarm clock. Another minute and it would go off. How long had I been asleep for?

School started soon. I quickly got dressed and went downstairs to try and figure out if what I just saw was real or not. I'd have to ask Grover.

Suddenly I stepped on something on my way to the kitchen. Laying on the ground where the Elvis imposter had once stood, was half of a picture. I guess I hadn't noticed it when he'd left. But Mr. Imposter himself was in it, dressed in an oversized Led Zeppelin t-shirt and sunglasses. A huge smile was spread across his face. Behind him was a crowd, like at a concert. His arm stuck out to the left where there was a huge rip in the middle, but I knew it was on the other side. I had studied the other half of that picture ever since my mom showed it to me when I was five.

I snatched it up and shoved it in my pocket. Then I made my way over to the kitchen. I splashed cold water on my face, trying to get out the horrible thought that had just snuck into my mind. Then I went and grabbed a picture off the fridge and shoved that in my pocket too.

"Mom," I murmured, and I ran to get my backpack. I had a feeling I wasn't coming home for a while. I was prepared though. In the hall closet I kept a red backpack filled with stuff I would need if I left: an extra pair of clothes, a sleeping bag rolled up real tight, a bag of toiletries, some of my mom's money, and an old walkmen with some extra batteries.

Thankfully the backpack was small, so it fit in my school bag. I shoved it in, and went to go wait at the bus stop. I didn't bother to eat breakfast, I was just determined to talk to Grover, but he wasn't on the bus this morning. He always takes the bus. I wondered where he was and if he had gone to that place in my dream.

I looked out the window, trying to block out the noise of the bus. Someone threw a pencil at the driver, and he shouted,

"Knock it off punk!" Your typical bus ride.

School all went by in a blur, and before I knew it the dismissal bell rang and the halls emptied faster than usual, probably because it was a friday afternoon.

But anyways, I was waiting at Grovers locker with My backpack (and the small red one,) where he was going to meet me. Because the bell had already rang and it was just me alone in the hall. Where was he? I wanted to go look for him, but if he came back and I wasn't here he might freak out. I'll only walk down the hall, I told myself, though I didn't make it far before I heard voices. One was Grovers, and the other- I froze. It was that boy Percy's. They were talking in Ms. Willam's class, room 204.

"-back to camp." Percy was saying. "We can't wait any longer."

"Yeah," Grover said. "And she hasn't been claimed yet either. Though you can't always trust a god." She? Trust a god? What was he talking about?

"I'll come find you. There's a lot of monsters roaming around. Somethings happening in the underworld. Nico might know." I shuddered when I heard Percy say monsters. Who's Nico? And what's the underworld?

"Ok, where should I meet you?" Grover asked.

"Corner on Spring and Lily, I'll go hail Blackjack." Said Percy. Hail what? What's Blackjack?

"And Grover?" Percy said.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful." I heard far off shouting, like someone in the background, and by then I was practically up against the door.

"Bye, see you in a bit." Percy said. Then there was a sound like mist spraying and then Percy's voice disappeared. I heard footsteps and suddenly the door opened and I fell onto a startled looking Grover. He looked pale when he was me.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked.

"When you said 'claimed' what did you mean? Why shouldn't you trust a god? What's the underworld? What does 'hail Blackjack' mean? Who were you talking to, and why are we meeting them?" Even though I knew he was talking to Percy, I still acted like I didn't know who that was because I hadn't told him my dream yet. I had barely seen him all day come to think of it.

Grover looked like he was going to turn into a ghost, but then color returned to his face and he took a deep breath.

"I promise I'll explain, but right now we need to go meet my friend." He went back to his locker and pulled out a bag I'd never seen before.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's for emergencies" He said as he herded me towards the front exit. "Have you been seeing anything weird lately? Like monster weird?" He asked me. How had he known?

"Why?" I countered.

"So you have," He walked out the doors and looked both ways like he was crossing the street, then turned right and I followed.

"So who's the guy we're meeting?" I asked.

"A friend of mine," Grover said. "He's like you."

"What, dyslexic and ADHD?"

"Actually, yes. Among other things."

"What other things?" I asked.

"It's best you not know until we get to camp." He said as we were coming up on Spring street. There was a guy and a black horse waiting on the other end of the street. The guy looked around nervously like at any moment someone was going to jump out and yell BOO! But the worry in Grovers eyes faded and he started to smile. His pace quickened and I stumbled to keep up with him. I made the mistake of looking behind us, and shrieked. A huge 30 foot tall, I'd guess you'd call giant, was turning the corner behind us. Setting off many car alarms in the process. A big wooden club swinging at his side, and his expression was grim. Luckly, he wasn't very fast. The boy up the street seemed to just notice us, and then he saw the giant. He pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a pen. What was he going to do with a pen?

"Hurry!" The boy yelled. He didn't have to tell me twice. Me and Grover ran towards him. Also, the boy was Percy. Just thought I'd mention that.

He upcapped his pen and I yelped in surprise. He was now holding a huge sword engraved with ancient greek. It said Anaklusmos, meaning Riptide. How did I know that?

"Riptide," I noted. The boy studied me for a moment.

"Get behind me, and be prepared to board Blackjack." I looked behind him.

"You mean the horse?" I asked. The horse neighed.

"Yeah, the horse." He said the word horse carefully, like not to offend the animal. "And yes Blackjack, you will have to carry three people." Either he could speak horse or he was delusional. Blackjack backed up nervously and spread open two wings I hadn't noticed before. He was a pegasus. Those were real! Just then, Grover came up behind me. He wasn't that fast, but as he got here he threw down his crutches, and started taking off his pants. At first I thought he was going crazy, then I thought I was going crazy. Instead of normal legs, he had fury goat legs. Grover gave Percy a big hug like they were long lost friends or something.

"I missed you Percy!" Grover cried. "It's felt like forever!"

"Yeah," Percy Chuckled. "Me too. But we have a sort of problem in case you haven't noticed." He pointed with his sword towards the giant which was slowly advancing.

"Oh, right. I'll go stay with Ashely." My expression must have been priceless, because Grover laughed nervously. "I promised I'd give you an explanation, and I will. But now's not a good tim-" He didn't get to finish before there was a horrifying roar. At first I thought the monster had attacked, but then I realized it had just turned into yellow dust.

"What the... ?" Percy said. I looked up and was almost blinded. It looked like the sun was falling from the sky. Suddenly it changed shape at the last second into a red convertible, and a guy with blonde hair was driving it. He was muscular with a huge bow slung across his back, a quiver full of arrows sitting in the passenger seat. And he was quite familiar.

"Well hello heroes, just thought I'd just stop by to say hello to my daughter." My eyes got wide and both Percy and Grover turned to look at me. Then Percy turned back to the sun guy.

"She's your daughter?" He seemed a little surprised at first, then mad. "Were you going to claim her?"

"Well I thought about it, but then her hair would be blonde and I don't want to ruin her lovely brown hair! Now come on in! I'll bring you three to camp!" He gestured to his red car that was so hot it was steaming.

Still shocked, I said, "Wait, you're my dad?" Suddenly something clicked into place. Something Grover had said about gods. "You were the guy dressed asElvis in my house yesterday... Apollo?" Percy and Grover looked at me like I just said there was a guy dressed like Elvis in my house, but also like I'd just read their minds.

Apollo gave me a look like Yeah duh! Then he turned to look at all of us. "Well don't just stand there! Hop in!" My dad/Apollo said, but I made a T with my hands. "Time out." I said. Both Percy and Grover winced like that had triggered something sad.

"Apollo, as in the sun god Apollo?" He gave me a smug smile.

"The one and only." Grover stepped forward.

"I'd promised you'll an explanation, and you get one as soon as we get to camp." I couldn't wait to get to camp, because at the moment, about all I wanted was an explanation.

We all climbed aboard the piping hot convertible, Apollo moving the quiver of arrows so I could sit in the front seat.

"Why don't you drive?" He asked me. In the back, Percy said,

"Here we go again," I could see him rolling his eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Uh, no thanks." I stammered. "I don't know how-"

"Nonsense!" He interrupted. I tried to protest, but Apollo got out of the car for me to scoot over. I'd only driven once before in the back of a parking lot with Grover. I didn't know where he'd gotten the car, but I was glad it wasn't his, because I crashed into almost everything.

I tentatively put my hands on the wheel and put my foot on the gas. We started slowly, before Apollo told me from the passenger's seat to pull the steering wheel out towards me. I did and we lurched up so fast I'd thought we'd left my stomach on the sidewalk. But somehow I felt more relaxed in this car, like it was different somehow, despite the face that it was a flying car.

At the moment we were hovering high above everything. I could just barely make out the Avengers tower in the distance, rising above everything. I was about to continue driving when I realized I had no idea where I was going.

"Uh, where exactly is this camp place?" I asked.

"Long Island," Percy said. "When you see a lake and strawberry field you know you're there." That confirmed something I'd been thinking about from my dream.

"Uh, ok." I knew where Long Island was from here. I knew where most places were from here, or anywhere for that matter. I'd grown up here after all.

I floored the gas and we shot across the afternoon sky. If I had been wearing a hat, it would have flown off my head. Fortunately for Grover, he had been. It blew off revealing a pair of small curly horns on his head. Nobody seemed to mind, but it scared me and I almost hit a flock of birds.

Soon I could make out the shape of Long Island in the distance, and I realized that if we kept going at this speed, by the time we got there I would have to double back because I would have over shot it. I lightly Put my foot down on the brakes and we slowed rapidly. Before I knew it, we were hovering above Long Island Sound.

"How do I-" I started to ask.

"Go down?" Apollo said for me. "Carefully push the wheel in. CAREFULLY." I did as he instruaked and we started descending. It was going a little slow, and we were really high up, so I pushed in a little further and we shot downward at like a gazzilion miles an hour. The car caught fire as we did so, but on the outside so we didn't get burned. I just barely managed to pull up 100 ft before we hit the ground. My heart was racing, but Apollo just said,

"What I tell ya," and raised his hands in defeat. I rolled my eyes, trying to catch my heart. I looked over the side of the now on-fire car.

Laid out below me was the camp I'd seen in my dream. The volleyball court, the arts and crafts place, the big blue house, and the Lake. Though now that I saw it all, there were a bunch of things I'd missed. A group of small buildings all clustered together in a horseshoe shape that I recognized as a greek omega Ω, the last letter of the greek alphabet. A larger bronze building released smoak from somewhere, though I had a sense it wasn't on fire. There were a few other greek style things, and what looked like a rock wall type thing, expect it spewed lava. Grover looked at in longingly, like it was a place he hadn't been in a while.

"Lets try again, shall we?" Apollo gestured towards the steering wheel where my knuckles were turning white. I loosened my grip and nodded. Without changing direction, I carefully lowered us into what must have been the middle of the camp.

"Holy Hephaestus," I heard someone say as we landed. They sounded close, and I almost jumped out of my shoes when I saw a boy around my age standing right infront of us. The only problem was that he was close enough to be standing in the flames the car was admitting. He had curly brown hair and a grin that led you to believe he was up to something. He looked up from the car and seemed to just notice us. When he saw Percy, he said,

"Hey Percy," like it was completely normal for him to be standing in fire.

"Well I should get going," Apollo started to say. He snapped and the flames died down. "The sun doesn't drive itself, you know. Now out!" He shooed us out of his car and shot straight up into the sky. I stared at the boy who had just been covered in flames. Then something occurred to me: Percy had been able to speak with a horse, so why wouldn't someone be fireproof. My expression changed to curiosity as the boy looked at me.

"Leo, this is Ashely, daughter of Apollo." Percy said to the boy who had been standing in the flames, though I didn't think he heard.

"Was that the sun?!" He exclaimed. "WOW! Did you see the jet propulsion engine on that thing?!" Leo continued on about how cool the sun car was while I did my best to try and understand what he was talking about. But he lost me at jet propulsion.

When he was done, I asked him, "Are you fire proof?"

"He grinned with a crazy look in his eyes and pointed at Percy.

"You didn't tell her I was fire proof?" His pointing finger catching fire. He turned to me with his flaming finger.

"Leo McShizzel Bad Boy Supreme at your service." I stood there not knowing what to say, and not wanting to make it awkward.

"Hey Percy!" Another guy came running up to us. He was taller than me and had blonde hair like my dad. He wore an orange camp shirt and waved when he saw me.

"Is this the new camper? And was that my dad?" He looked up at the sun and I made a weird choking sound. The boy looked at me funny, then asked Percy something about a cabin 11.

"No, she's one of yours." Percy said.

"Cabin 7? Oh cool." He looked at me. "Hi, I'm Will Solace." Will put his hand on my shoulder and steered me away from Grover who I looked at, because he still owed me an explanation.

"Come on," Will said, bring my attention back to him. "I'll show you cabin 7."