Ashlyn's POV:

We were now at the end of our tour, and our guide that Mr. D picked for us was an average height, tan, blond hair boy with grey eyes. He introduced himself as Astrial, son of the Greek Goddess Athena. He showed us the strawberry fields, all twenty cabins, the mess hall, and lastly the place where the welcoming ceremony was about to take place soon. The large theatron had giant stone edges as seats with lower stones as the steps up.
The sun was already dipping below the hill when we arrived at the theatron.
"And here is where we shall gather tonight to welcome all the new-comers." Astrial said, opening both of his arms and motioning toward the stones.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" Rachel clasped her hands together in awe.
"Don't act like it's anything special Rachel." Juliana said. Astrial's face flushed a light pink in embarrassment. I sighed and nudged Julie to step down.
"I'm sorry for my friend, we are all tired from our long day." I apologized. Astrial smiled. "It's okay, I get it. Everyone who's come here was chased on their way by all kinds of monsters and titans." A horn blew from far down in the cabins. Then people started appearing from the strawberry fields, the mess hall, and all of the cabins. All sorts of people. They all looked so different from each other, some adorned with flowers and others with scars. They all made their way up to us at the theatron.
"They've called the welcoming ceremony. We better grab the best seats before they're gone." Astrial waved us over to a large, smooth stone right up front. A small group of muscular boys came running up and high-fiveing each other as they made it up the bend. They were slightly out of breath, but still began to yell and cheer at their friends who were still a ways down. Astrial leaned into us. "That's the Ares cabin. They are some of the strongest and most heroic half-bloods here." The next mass of boys to come bounding over the hill were the complete opposite from the ones in the Ares cabin. These boys were short and scrawny, the majority having brown hair and eyes. Most carried satchels that seemed stuffed full of trinkets.
"Watch out for them. That's the Hermes cabin, they are known to be quick sneaky thieves." They were followed by a group of kids dressed in blue robes and golden armor. Some of them were holding stacks of books and stumbling over their long skirts.
"That's my cabin, the Athena cabin. We are the smartest of half-bloods. Some say we are stronger than Ares' cabin." Astrial said with a gleam of pride. The next group of kids to come running up the hill looked almost all the same. They all had blond hair and freckles, some where launching arrows into the air with their bows and others had a musical instrument of some sort.
"Those are Apollo's cabin, they are kind of a jack of all trades. They know archery, music, and so much more." The next group was much more calm in comparison to the last. They were holding baskets of fruit and vegetables, mud smeared across their faces from working in the fields. Sun burns covered all of their arms.
"That is Demeter's cabin. They supply the whole camp with food for the summer." Mixed in with Demeter's cabin was some kids with dark curly hair. Some of the boys' faces resembled Mr. D.
"And that is Dionysus' cabin. They tend to the strawberry fields and grape vines." The last two groups of kids to climb up the hill were very different from one another. One was all girls wearing pink dresses and flowers braided into their hair. The other group was covered in oil and dirt, some carrying metal rods and scrap metal attached to their clothes.
"Those two groups are Aphrodite's and Hephaestus' cabins. Aphrodite's daughters are known to be the most beautiful creatures on Earth. And Hephaestus' cabin works with metal and create the majority of our training armor." Some of the girls in pink gave us sneering looks as they walked past.
"That's only eight cabins, but there's room for twenty." I turned to Astrial.
"The other twelve cabins are for Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, and some of the minor gods. Zeus and Poseidon only have one child each." He pointed over to two girls sitting a ways from us. One was much taller than the other. The tall one had short blonde hair and wore a purple t-shirt with ripped jeans. She also had black glasses that she pushed up high onto the bridge of her nose. The other girl next to her was slumped over. She had long wavy black hair that draped down into her face and had on a torn neon orange t-shirt. "That's Jessica Grace and Percila Jackson. Jess is the only living child of Zeus and Percila...the most beautiful girl ever...more beautiful than dare I say, Aphrodite! She's the only half-blood child of Poseidon, the rest are ugly fish monsters." Percila tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced over at us. Her and Astrial's eyes met and they both quickly looked down at the floor. Rachel noticed the two and elbowed Grace to whisper something into her ear and they both giggled. I turned to tell them to knock it off but Astrial started to continue speaking. "And...uh...Hera doesn't have any half-blood children but we have the cabin there as respect for her. Artemis also doesn't have children but sometimes her Huntresses will come and stay with us and they use the cabin as a place to sleep."
"Where will we stay?" I asked.
"That's up to the Gods." Astrial replied.

Once everyone sat down and the sun had set, Mr. D made his way up the hill and to the stage in the center. There was loud chatter all around until Mr. D rose his hand into the air for silence. The side conversations had now been condensed to whispers.
"Good evening campers. Tonight is the welcoming ceremony!" Mr. D shouted. Claps and cheers erupted from the crowd.
"We are gathered here tonight to start off our summer activities and welcome some new arrivals." Another roar followed.
"I would like to announce some of new arrivals," Mr. D announced. "Starting with Thabo Weston, Mija Zilberstein, Grant Catalán..." He announced more names of unknown people, but at the end he announced us. "Ashlyn Lewis, Skylar Green, Annalisa Owens, Rachel Stewart, Juliana Frost, and Grace Fritz." My friends all turned to look at me.
"Those aren't our last names." Julie hissed.
"I know, but I had to tell him something. I couldn't tell him we all have the name Everlasting, he'd question us!" I whispered back. The crowd started clapping and whistling once again, as they always did after Mr. D spoke.
"Now is the time we call upon the Gods to claim these new half-bloods! I call upon the mighty king Zeus! Queen Hera! Poseidon! Athena! Aphrodite! Apollo! Artemis! Hephaestus! Hermes! Demeter! And myself, the handsome Dionysus!" He chanted. Some of the older kids repeated the lines back to him, and smokey pictures appeared over many of the new arrivals' heads. I bit my lip, knowing we wouldn't be claimed. But then all of a sudden, vibrant puffs of smoke that looked like some sort of symbols appeared above my friends and I. Dionysus would call out to the children who were claimed and waved them down to the stage. Then he called to our small group, that was sitting in awe, staring above at the tops of our heads.
"Ashlyn has the symbol of the Rose for Aphrodite!" Mr. D was now pulling at my arms to stand up and follow him. I was in shock.
"I...I don't understand-" I began.
"What's there not to understand? You've been claimed, you are now a daughter of Aphrodite." Mr. D explained. He lead me up to the stage where almost two dozen other kids were standing. Then he turned back to my friends and said, "Juliana has the symbol of the Hammer for Hephaestus!" He then pulled her up to her feet and pushed her towards the stage.
"No wait I-" she stuttered. I caught her in my arms as she stumbled onto the stage.
"Rachel has the symbol of the Poppy for Hypnos!"
There were some looks thrown at Rachel for being the daughter of Hypnos. He wasn't a very popular God it seemed. Rachel's face flushed deep red and hurried onto the stage and pressed herself close to me and Julie.
"Annalisa has the symbol of the Spear for Ares!" Anna pushed herself off the stone and marched up to the stage.
"Grace has the symbol of the Trident for Poseidon!" Mr. D shouted. As Grace made her way to the stage, I could see Percila staring at Grace. Percila's eyes seemed to be in a trance, glazed over in worry as she stared at my friend.
What does she want with Grace?
"Skylar has the symbol of the-" Mr. D continued his shouting but stopped once he saw the symbol above Skylar's head. "the symbol of the...Serpent...for..."
"For my father, Hades." A small girl in a oversized black hoodie in the very back stood up. The crowd turned to see who spoke. Mr. D was taken aback for a second but then snapped back into reality and realized he was being upstaged by a preteen girl.
"Nicole di Angelo, please take your seat." He said trying to sound intimidating. Instead the girl, Nicole, slowly walked down the steps one by one.
"Looks like I have another brother." Nicole crossed her arms and looked Skylar up and down.
"Ms. Di Angelo, you know you're not allowed to interrupt anymore welcoming ceremonies." he insisted. The girl scoffed while turning on her heel towards Skylar and held out her hand.
"Hey," she said, "my name's Nicole. Welcome to the Hades cabin."
Sky slowly stood up and took a step toward the girl.
"My name is Skylar...Skylar Green."
"Nice to meet you Greenie. Now, let me show you to Hades' cabin." she said as she shot Mr. D a dirty look. Nicole walked over to Sky and grabbed his arm. Sky looked at me with pleading eyes, as if he was calling for help. She pulled my friend away from the stage, away from the theatron and the rest of us, and down the hill into the darkness. The camp fell into silence as they watched the children of Hades disappear. Mr. D cleared his throat.
"Well, shall we continue?" He called out a few more names and pulled more kids down to the stage until all the smoke cleared and all the new arrivals were standing awkwardly on the stage with us. We were clearly much older and taller than all these kids, who seemed to be from ten to thirteen years old.
"Now is when we declare this years counselors!" Mr. D started off. In the front row I could see Astrial sit a little taller and lean towards the stage. First he announced the new counselors for cabins Hermes, Demeter, and other minor gods and goddesses.
"Last year our counselors were so wonderful, they shall all resume to their positions once more. Jessica Grace for cabin one, Percila Jackson for cabin three, Fanny Zhang for cabin five, Astrial Chase for cabin six, Lily Valdez for cabin nine, Peter McLean for cabin ten, and..." He hesitated, "Nicole di Angelo for cabin thirteen." He finished. Small cheers were heard throughout Mr. D's announcement, but then when he called Nicole's name all went silent except one small clapping sound. It was a young boy at the very back corner of the stands. He had light brown curly hair and had giant amber eyes.
"Counselors," Mr. D called, "please collect your cabin members and return to your beds. Have a goodnight my demigods." And with that he vanished in a puff of smoke and left us all to huddle together.
"We have to find Skylar." I blurted out to my friends.
"Right, let's go. We can split up and search all the cabins." Julie agreed. As we were making our rescue plan, a girl with short brown hair and dirty brown suspenders walked over.
"Hey, I'm Lily Valdez, counselor of Hephaestus' cabin." The girl said. Julie just glared at her and stepped closer to me.
"Hephaestus isn't my father, we aren't staying here with you." She sneered. Lily just laughed.
"I understand. This place is a lot to process. I thought the same thing when I first came here." She put one hand on her hip. "But you can't leave just yet. There's monsters out there. So how about you come with me," she said to Julie, "to Hephaestus' cabin and you can leave tomorrow." Lily gave Julie a warm smile. Julie just let out a loud sigh and crossed her arms to her chest.
"Fine. But first thing tomorrow I'm out of here." Lily led Julie over to the group of kids that were covered in oil and holding scrap metal. That left Rachel, Annalisa, Grace, and I. Percila was the next to approach us.
"Hey, I'm Percila Jackson. I'm the counselor of Poseidon's cabin and I was the only half-blood kid in there. I'm glad to have a cool looking sister like you." She opened her arms and went in for a hug. Grace held her arms at her side and froze as Percila wrapped her arms around her. Percila released Grace from her grasp and led her away from our group. Grace looked over her shoulder as she was dragged away.
"I'm sorry." She mouthed. Percila led her to the same path Nicole took, down the hill and into the darkness. That left Rachel, Anna, and me.
"I guess we should go to our cabins too." I told my friends. They reluctantly nodded their heads and I parted from the group looking for the Aphrodite counselor. That's when I saw a boy with braided brown hair. He had a deep tan and dressed in jewels and silk. He was surrounded by girls of the Aphrodite cabin, all fawning over him. I took a few steps closer to the huddled group.
"Is this the Aphrodite cabin?" I asked. None of the girls answered me, but the boy's head perked up and he parted the girls so he could walk through.
"Yes it is dear, and I am the counselor, Peter McLean." the boy said.
"I'm Ashlyn," I hesitated, "Lewis."
"Well Ashlyn we were just getting ready to go down to the cabin. Would you like to join us?"
"Yes please." I replied. Just like the other cabins, we marched down the hill and toward the marble buildings.

Once we were down the hill and into the valley, we came upon the Aphrodite cabin. It was a large white building with a red painted roof, door, and window sills. Four massive pillars placed on the deck of the cabin had pictures of apples, doves, mirrors, and swans carved into them.
"Well, here we are. Home sweet home." Peter said. I made my way up the steps to the deck. Then a flood of girls flocked the railings with squeals of excitement. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw the Athena's cabin walking past.
"Heyy Astrial!" One of the girls called. He gave a small wave and half smile and picked up the pace. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Peter who just shrugged at me. He turned to the door and unlocked it with a hot pink key. The second he opened the door a giant wave of floral perfume and stuffy cologne flooded my nose.
"Oh god what is that horrid smell?" I cried pinching my nose between my pointer finger and thumb. Peter just laughed at me.
"A bit a Gucci, some Channel," he said. I twisted my face up in disgust. Peter then stepped through the doorway and reached out to pull me in. Once I entered the Aphrodite cabin, I was welcomed with a spotless white floor and red walls covered in mirrors. Tables full of makeup and perfumes on either side of the room and racks of expensive looking clothing stuffed full was the first things I saw. Giant canopy beds were shoved in between tables.
"Woah...this place is huge!" I gasped. Peter just smiled.
"We have a few beds open at the back of the room, just look for a bed that's actually made and a semi-clear table." He said.
"Thanks for taking me in," I replied.
Peter shrugged, "No problem, it was Aphrodite who claimed you."
That's right, they think I'm a daughter of Aphrodite.
I stared down at my feet trying to decide if I should tell Peter the truth. He seemed to notice my mood change and a look of curiosity crossed his face.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Oh uh...nothing. It's just hard to process." I said giving him a half smile.
"Ah...that's expected. It takes a few days for the new arrivals to get used to this new life." We both fell silent.
"I'll...just go find a bed now." I said and quickly turned away from Peter. I walked to the far end of the room and as I got farther from the front door, there was less and less makeup and clothes packed onto the tables and racks. I found a smaller canopy bed in the back corner of the room and sat down on the soft mattress. I let out a long sigh and then fell back onto the bed. The fluffy fur blankets wrapped around my body. It was so warm and comfortable, there was no way I could get up. I pulled my feet onto the bed and curled up amongst the blankets and pillows. It only took a few seconds, but I was already fast asleep.

I opened my eyes to darkness. Quickly looking around, I saw I was still in my bed. All the other canopy beds were full of kids from the Aphrodite cabin. I guessed it to be around midnight. Then, as I tried to fall back asleep, I heard a voice. A thin, frail voice whispered into my ear:
"One shall fail,
Two must ache,
Blue will fade as gold creates,
A friend in flames,
Curse shall bane,
Unlocks with key, by day's last light..."
Terrified, I dove back under my blanket and just like before, I was out in seconds.