I screamed, thinking it would be the last thing I ever yelled. Terrified, I kicked upward with my legs and made a weird three clawed gesture I didn't understand. Instantly, the creature flew backwards and solidified into a block of ice.

Wow.

No wonder my mom is the goddess of ice and snow. She could've probably handled the situation better, but oh well. I walked over to the block of ice and saw that my cat, Snowball, was inside.

I tapped the block to thaw it, then hit my cat.

"What the heck were you thinking??"

She laughed . "You were soooo scared."

After her heart sank back down into her chest, she decided to unpack the bags her mother had given her. Winter stretched out on the floor of the tent and dumped out some supplies. There was a plastic bag full of granola bars and another filled with pastry looking things. Studying the bag, she found a white sticky note tagged on , 'ambrosa. Eat only when seriously injured. - Khione.'

So helpful. Snowflake had made a corner of the tent for herself, complete with a beach towel . Winter, trying to take stock still, Tried to focus. Her cat was mumbling to herself, fluffing her fur. The crunch of footsteps make it hard to concentrate.

Footsteps? I'm the only one here.... or so she had thought. What if it was Camp Half Blood, ready to take her to a camp to be alone in a cabin, called the daughter of a minor goddess? What if it was a mortal, hunting? What would they think if they stumbled across a tent, notably a tent with an adolescent girl inside? She would be taken to the police,maybe an orphanage. No, she had to confront them. With one problem. They couldn't know who she was. If they really knew who her mother was, she would be scolded, thought to have memory loss or brain damage. Doctors would find a lame excuse for not treating her sooner, and she would be stowed away at a mental hospital.

Stepping carefully over her packages, she stood up and crept to the flap. Outside, the crunching was getting louder. She picked up a large, heavy stick and immediately it turned into a frozen log popsicle.Winter willed it to grow longer, and it sharpened to a point like an icicle. She did this all while footsteps grew louder. Then suddenly, the footsteps stopped. No sound was heard for a full minute. Then she heard the flapping of wings as a large bird circled her camp far above. Wait, a human with a hanglider. No, a person with silky wings smoothly grafted to their midsection. A second later, the thing flew down. She could see it clearly now, a huge bird girl with dark blue and white wings and curly red hair. Strangely, her eyes seemed to blur together and winter couldn't look at her face..

The Wings suddenly vanished, leaving a girl in a blue winter jacket and white jeans. Despite the warm clothes, she was shivering.

"Ccc.. can you help me.... Please?" The girl, obviously exhausted, took a step towards Winter and fell.

Walking over to the strange new girl, she placed her hand on her forehead. 1 0 2 degrees. She was almost dead. Winter dragged her over to the tent, opened the flap, and set set her down inside.

Determined to save her, Winter went to work , putting her in her sleeping bag and propping her up against the bags. Snowball came over and sniffed her, then snorted and sat down.

"She is sick. She will die." And Winter knew, like snowball did, that the girl was dead if she did not help her. Little did she know, if she didn't save the girl, she would also be dead.

Slowly, over the course of two days, she brought the girl back from the death trance. Her name was Brin. Brin explained that she was the daughter of a harpy and a Cyclops. The mist, as it was called, concealed her eye from the outside world. She really didn't like how it looked, and made sure it was mist covered at all times.

Winter enjoyed hearing her story, but the girl left out one important detail.

"How did you get here, and where did you come from?"

Brin was hesitant. "I'm from Camp Half Blood. Since my mom is a harpy, and they're kind of free spirited, I'm kinda allowed to roam wherever. And one day I went out into the woods with a couple of campers for archery. Well, they accidentally shot way too far. So I volunteered to fetch it and went back behind the camp boundary to get it. I ran into a monster on the way out, a fiery monster. I was so scared, I didn't take it all in.... anyways I was picked up and thrown a couple of yards before I fell onto a patch of flowers. The old lady watering them muttered something under her breath in ancient Greek ,and the next thing I knew, I was walking around in the woods, shivering and calling for help."

"Wow." She sat in silence, stunned by this girls talk of a firemonster and a Greek lady. Compared to Brin's, her story now seemed insignificant. "Wait, so you can fly? Are you like, a real harpy?"

Brin laughed,a sound like the world's largest dog panting. "No, I have harpy wings that disappear when I don't need them, and all the strength of a Cyclops." She made a muscle and cringed. "But right now I couldn't beat up a paper bag."

"It's ok." Winter said. She opened the bag to fish out a granola bar, and picked up the bag with the post it note. "Only use in emergencies..." what if she fed some to Brin? Would it heal her? Is it the Greek equivalent of medicine? "Hey Brin. Try a bite of this." She worried about her eating too much. She knew, like she new the temperature outside, that it could be fatal. Brin raised it to her lips and smiled. "Ambrosa?" Winter nodded.

"Hope it Helps."

Brin took a bite and her face lit up. Strength and color returned to her. She gave winter a giddy thumbs up. "Feel Great." Then she passed out. Winter decided to let her rest. Snowball came over to sniff her again and stuck her nose up in the air. "I knew she would live. I told you so."