"Should I time skip a bit?"

"Wait what? You didn't get claimed?"

"Oh heck no, that was the day he came to camp."

"Wow. wait, when was that?"

"Six months after I arrived at camp."

"Oh...well yeah."

"Okay..."

𒄆𒄆𒄆𒄆𒄆𒄆𒄆𒄆

It's been six months since I arrived at camp and things have gotten quite interesting. Every friday we play capture the flag. Though in this version we can actually cut someone and it is very intense.

I've gotten pretty close with the CHAP in the span of a few months, especially with Kenzie (Makenzie lets me call her that since we've started hanging out.) and Chandler. Sometimes the three of us just hang out without Connor or Travis and just talk to each other about our day and how strange it was.

I've gotten extremely close with the Athena cabin over my love of Greek Mythology. They let me join their camp activities and they are more fun than the Hermes cabin by a mile. I've even gotten to know their cabin leader, Annabeth Chase, which people would tell me was no small feat.

Nelly and Luke have been talking to each other a lot lately, which I am happy with. She needs her brother and I can see it.

Speaking of brothers, Logan has started hanging out with the Ares kids. I don't know if that's a good thing or not since many of the campers would tell us what would happen with newbies once they come to camp, but nothing has happened to us yet, so are they waiting to gain our trust before striking? That sounds more like an Athena thing than an Ares thing but I guess even war has to admit to wisdom sometimes.

It is now June and you know what that means, it's finally the start of Summer break! And that means way more campers come in than normal. That also means more people crammed into the Hermes cabin than usual which means I'll get even more squeezed in than before.

I noticed Grover and Chiron has been more absent these last few months than usual, but when I tried to ask them about it they wave it off like it was nothing. I asked the other campers if they knew anything about where they were going but none of them knew. Annabeth had a suspicion but she told me she didn't have adequate proof to back it up.

A few weeks after we came to camp, Logan and I went with the year-rounders to the Empire State Building. I was confused at first since there was nothing special about it, but I was even more confused when Chiron pressed the 600th floor and it took us further than the building itself and all the way to Olympus. Apparently it is usual to go to Olympus during the Winter Solstice to sit through their meetings and this was one of them.

It was the first time I saw all the gods together or even at all so this made me feel a bit more jittery than normally, but I soon realized that the gods acted like literal children rather than gods. The sun and moon gods, Artemis and Apollo, mostly argued with each other and Apollo barely paid attention to the meeting at all.

I even noticed that the god of the underworld, Hades, was here. Annabeth told me that he was only allowed to come to Olympus during the Winter Solstice since it was the darkest night of the year. I asked her why Hades was banned from Olympus but she couldn't give me an answer since she didn't know either.

The meeting was boring until they started arguing about something being stolen. Zeus started to accuse Poseidon of stealing it but he had no proof of it. He then accused him of breaking the oath. I gave Annabeth a look and she told me about the pact of the big three where after the first World War, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades vowed to never have any more demigod children. I guess none of them kept their promise since Zeus is accusing Poseidon of making his child do it.

I saw a brown-haired girl near the hearth. The Goddess Hestia. I waved at her and she smiled at me before waving back. She needs more attention than she is given. This is when I realized I wanted all my offerings to go to her.

They continued to argue and we watched them until Chiron gathered us all up and told us that they should have some privacy. With that we were taken back to camp but we were all talking about what happened. Especially Annabeth and the other Athena kids.

And even months later Annabeth hasn't stopped talking about it. Chiron told Annabeth and I privately that one special half-blood would come to camp to help stop the arguing the brothers have been doing for the past six months. And since Chiron told us that everytime a new camper came to camp she would ask them about the Winter Solstice and what they know about it. It took all of my strength to get Annabeth away from the poor kids. She even took over the role of touring them.

Between those six months, the wounds from the fury finally healed and Will helped us unwrap them. Logan still had a lot of scars on his face but he thought they made him cooler, which Will and I laughed at. I also have a long scar on my leg but Annabeth told me that that reminded her of the hero Oddyseus. That made me feel cool.

I was asleep in the Hermes cabin when I felt someone shake me. I woke up to see Annabeth sitting above me.

"Annabeth?" I said, my voice a bit groggy. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard a noise outside," she told me. "And I saw Chiron pull in someone from the hill. Come on!"

I didn't have time to say anything as she just pulled me out of bed and dragged me down to the front of the camp where Chiron was indeed tending to someone and it looks like we weren't the only ones who wanted to see who it was.

The boy had black hair and fair skin and when he opened his eyes I could see he had sea green eyes.

I looked over at the side of the bench and noticed Grover laying on the ground. I rushed towards him and sat his head in my lap.

"Foooood," he moaned. Yep. That was Grover alright.

Chiron was still looking at the boy before turning to me. "Heather, take Grover to the infirmary."

I nodded and lifted Grover on my shoulders to carry him to the infirmary.

"He has to be the one," I heard Annabeth say.

"Quiet, Annabeth," Chiron said. "We can't be so certain yet."

I just sighed before carrying Grover to the infirmary.

Three days later I was with Annabeth while she was in the Infirmary spoon-feeding pudding the boy who is still passed out.

"Where did all this service duty come from, Annabeth?" I asked her.

Annabeth huffed. "I just wanna see if he'll be the one," she said, referring to the boy.

"And how do we know he is the boy Chiron's talking about?" I asked her. "You've gone through about fifteen kids and none of them were the one you're looking for."

"I just know it," she said. "Now, give me some more pudding."

I groaned before handing her another cup of pudding. She cleaned off the spoon she used before dipping it in the nectar again and feeding it to him.

"I'm just saying," I told her. "You shouldn't get your hopes up."

"Why not?"

"Cause for one, he's drooling on the pillow."

Annabeth looked to see that he was indeed drooling over the pillow.

"He drools in his sleep," Annabeth said in quiet disbelief.

"He drools in his sleep," I repeated with amusement.

He started blinking rapidly as Annabeth kept filling his mouth with pudding.

"Annabeth." I called out.

She did nothing.

"Annabeth," I said again, dragging out her name.

Again, she did nothing.

I sighed. "ANNABETH!"

"What?" she finally turned to me.

"He's waking up."

Annabeth finally turned to Percy whose blinking was slowing down a bit.

"Where were you during the winter solstice? What do you know?" she asked him, not even giving him time to actually speak.

"Annabeth," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Give him some space."

"What?" the boy asked, his voice dry from the pudding.

"What is going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I don't..."

Someone soon knocked on the door. Annabeth stuffed the pudding-covered spoon in his mouth before grabbing my hand and walking out of the infirmary.

Chiron called Annabeth, Grover, and I to the big house once again.

"And how long will it take for the boy to wake up?" I asked.

Chiron shrugged. "Don't know," he replied.

"I hope it's soon," I said. "I wanna sleep."

"It's the middle of the morning," Annabeth pointed out, staring at me.

"And? It's the perfect time to get some z's in."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me before staring back out into the field in front of us.

I'm glad it was sunny. It gave me a warm feeling and it always helped me when I needed to clear my mind. I would take sitting in the sun forever over anything.

"Mr. Brunner?"

Even this. I opened my eyes to see the boy awake. He was carrying the minotaur horn we found him with and he was limping a bit.

Chiron smiled at the boy. "Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

I yawned as Chiron offered the boy, Percy, a chair to the right of Mr. D who was looking at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Oh I supposed I must say it," he sighed. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you."

Percy scooted his chair away from him. "Uh, thanks."

Chiron looked at me and Annabeth. "Heather? Annabeth?"

We both stepped forward. I just wanted this to be over with.

"These young ladies nursed you back to health, Percy. Heather, Annabeth, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in Cabin 11 for now."

I groaned but Annabeth spoke for both of us. "Sure, Chiron."

Annabeth was about to leave but stopped once she noticed the minotaur horn which she just realized he had. She looked at the horn before looking at him. I bet he thought she was going to praise him or something. But all she said was:

"You drool in your sleep."

I snorted hard before howling in laughter as I followed Annabeth to the Hermes Cabin. We laughed together until we walked up the cabin steps.

"So," Annabeth spoke. "What do you think about him?"

I shrugged. "He smells like salt water," I answered.

"Really?"

I nodded.

"I didn't smell anything."

"Those new book smells must be getting to your head, huh?"

Annabeth nudged me as I just laughed.

"He looks like something," Annabeth said.

"You really think he'll be the one?" I questioned.

"Of course I do," she answered. "Don't doubt me."

"That's hard not to do."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked away from me. I looked ahead and noticed Chiron and Percy walking/trotting towards us.

"I have a masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?" he asked us.

"Yes sir," Annabeth said, answering for both of us.

Chiron gestured towards the doorway. "Cabin 11," he said. "Make yourself at home."

I opened the door and wasn't surprised to find a whole army of people in here, boys and girls alike. Since there weren't enough bunks, some had to resort to sleeping on the floor. Chiron couldn't go in since it was too small for him but the campers all bowed once they saw him.

"Well then," Chiron told Percy. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

With that he galloped towards the archery range.

I leaned on the edge of the door, watching Percy as he looked at the kids who were sizing him up and down, seeing if he would be an easy target, which he probably was by the looks of him.

I pushed him forward. "Go on," I said.

Percy took a step forward and suddenly tripped. People snickered but didn't say anything.

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin 11," Annabeth introduced.

"Regular or undetermined?" Connor asked.

"Undetermined, Connor," I answered, causing everyone to groan except for Luke, who stepped forward.

"Now, now, campers," Luke said. "That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have a spot on the floor over there."

I would much rather see Travis try to take a candy bar from Mr. D again than do this, but I had no choice.

"This is Luke," Annabeth spoke, her voice becoming more high pitched. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?"

"You're undetermined," Luke explained. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin 11 takes all the newcomers, all visitors. Naturally we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

"Maybe people would think about building a bigger cabin for Hermes or another one if they know this place doesn't even have that much room for even his own kids." I muttered.

I then looked at the space on the floor. It had three sleeping bags. Two for me and Logan while the third one must've been for Percy. I noticed the campers grinning while looking at him. I then knew that they were planning to pickpocket him.

"How long will I be in here?" I heard Percy ask.

"Good question." Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?" I gulped down a laugh but the others didn't as they all burst out laughing.

"Come on," Annabeth told him. "We'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it."

"Well we'll see it again!" she said before grabbing his hand and dragging him away from the cabin. I groaned before following behind.

Once we were far enough Annabeth let go of his arm and sighed. "I really thought you were the one."

I smirked. "Told ya'."

Percy looked at both of us. "What is your problem with me?" he asked. "All I did is kill one bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that," Annabeth scolded him.

"Talk like what?"

"Do you know how many people here wish to do what you have?" she asked him.

"To get killed?"

"To defeat a monster," she corrected. "That is no small feat, Percy. People would kill to do what you did and you're acting like it's no big deal."

"And so what?" Percy snapped back. "Wasn't the minotaur born long ago? He died by that themus guy, didn't he?"

"Theseus," I corrected. "And monsters don't stay dead, Percy."

"What are you talking about?"

I sighed. "Let me break this down in a way your simple brain can understand, okay?" he gave me a look but I just continued. "You know how you build a lego set, knock it over, and rebuild it again? That's how monsters are reformed. They just don't die, they rebuild back over time and come back to the surface to begin their whole facade over again."

"How long does it take them to rebuild?" Percy asked.

"A really long time if you're lucky." Annabeth answered.

"So..." Percy dragged. "I don't have to worry about the minotaur for the rest of my life, huh?"

"She said if you're lucky," I said. "They might just come back tomorrow or in a hundred years, you don't know."

Percy looked down for a moment. "My teacher, the one I killed with my sword, is she-"

"She is," I said. "Kindly Ones regenerate a bit faster than regular monsters, and if she's roaming around right now, she is definitely out there looking for you, and she is probably pissed."

"Kindly Ones?"

"That's what we call Furies here at camp," Annabeth explained. "If we ever talk about them at all, that is."

"Fury..." Percy muttered. "Is that what Mrs. Dodds was?"

I nodded. "I encountered a fury once," I mentioned. "She gave me a good scratch on my leg before Dionysus killed her. So guess you're not the only one who needs to look out for furies."

Percy gave me a look before looking at my leg. I was wearing shorts today so the scar was visible. He didn't ask me any questions about it though.

Percy groaned. "Why do I have to stay in cabin 11?" he asked. "Like there are plenty of empty cabins over there, why can't I stay in one of those?"

"It doesn't work like that," I told him. "You have to get claimed by your godly parents in order to stay in another cabin. But if your godly parent is Hermes then I feel bad for you."

Percy scoffed at me.

"You can't choose a cabin, is what she's saying," Annabeth told him. "It depends on who your parents–or parent–are."

"My mom is Sally Jackson," Percy explained. "She worked at the Grand Central Station. Well, at least she used to."

I huffed. "I'm sorry about your mom, but that's not what she's talking about. We're talking about your other parent, you're dad."

"My dad is dead. I never knew him."

"He's not dead."

"How do you know?"

"Because you wouldn't be here if he was."

Percy raised an eyebrow at me. "What are you talking about?"

"You're a half-blood, Percy."

"Half meaning what?"

"I think you know."

It took him a while but I think his tiny brain finally caught up with him. "Half god..."

"Mhm," I smirked.

"Your dad's not dead, Percy," Annabeth told Percy. "He's one of the gods. You're one of us. And we're more alike than you think."

Percy shook his head. "You don't know me."

"Ha!" I yelled out. "Wanna bet?"

Percy said nothing.

"Lemme guess something-and correct me if I'm wrong but-you were expelled from every school you went to."

"You can't sit still?" Annabeth questioned. "Battle reflexes. Words fly off the page when you're reading? Your brain is hardwired to read ancient Greek instead of english."

Percy stared at us. "You went through the same thing?" he asked.

"I did," I admitted. "As well as most of us here. We faced the same challenges you have. You're special, Percy."

"Special ed, maybe," he muttered.

I sighed. He was a lost cause at this point.

"Percy," I said. "If you weren't like us, then you wouldn't have survived the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and what?"

"The food of the gods," I told him. "If a mortal ate it then they would burn from the inside out. If half-bloods take too much of it the same effect but since we're half god then we can have only a cup full of it."

It looked like the information was finally getting into Percy's head. That was good I suppose. I was about to say something else until the most annoying voice reached my ears.

"Well! A newbie!"

We all turned to see Clarisse coming our way. She was being followed by her siblings and she held a wicked smile as they marched towards us.

"Go away, Clarisse," I groaned. "We don't have the time for you."

Clarisse scoffed. "You don't get to talk, sweetheart," she said. "I was talking to the boy. This doesn't require you."

"And? I'm here so it definitely requires me."

Clarisse rolled her eyes before looking back at Percy. "Who's the runt?"

Annabeth sighed. "Percy, Meet Clarisse La Rue. Daughter of Ares."

"L-like the war god?"

Clarisse snarled at him. "You have a problem with that?"

Percy shrugged. "It explains the buffness."

"And the fact that she's a big pain in the ass," I muttered. Clarisse growled at me before pushing me backwards.

"You're getting real smart," she growled. "You better be glad I spared you when you first came here."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I need you to spare me from anything. You know you can't mess with me."

Maybe I was bluffing because I had no actual powers whatsoever, or I wasn't buffing since I was like three inches taller than her and looked very intimidating. But whatever the reason was, she didn't touch me at all.

"Spare her?" Percy asked, catching our attention. "What did she spare you from?"

Clarisse's grin returned. "We have an initiation for newbies like you," she explained.

"Clarisse, not today," Annabeth groaned.

"Stay out of this, Wisegirl!" she pointed before turning to me. "And if you know what's good for you, you'd stay out as well."

I scoffed but said nothing.

Percy gave me the minotaur horn, but I immediately handed it to Annabeth. Percy tried to fight but in a quick second Clarisse grabbed him and put him in a chokehold. Her siblings grabbed each of his hands and dragged him to the bathroom. Annabeth and I ran after them and watched as they tried to dunk his head into the toilet.

"Admit it," Clarisse told him. "Say you didn't kill the minotaur, and maybe we'll spare you the humiliation."

But Percy refused to admit he didn't do it. That made Clarisse angrier as she told her siblings to push him further.

I don't know what happened next, but it reminded me of when the fire hydrant at school started shaking. The toilet started doing the same thing and the next thing anyone knew, three blasts of water began shooting out of the toilet, coming towards the Ares kids.

I moved out of the way because apparently neither Annabeth nor I were safe from the water since it also blasted in our direction. Annabeth didn't move though and got splashed by the water.

Once everything stopped I noticed Clarisse and her siblings coming out of the bathroom soaking wet.

"How in the hell..." I muttered.

"I don't know," Annabeth replied.

Clarisse had a devious look on her face as she stared at Percy. "You are dead, new boy!" she screamed. "Totally dead!"

"You wanna gargle your mouth with toilet water again?" Percy shouted back. "Close your mouth then!"

Clarisse tried to attack him but her siblings held her back and dragged her back to their cabin as the other kids who came out were laughing at them.

Annabeth and I looked at each other before looking at Percy. I could totally guess who his father was, but this was a cannon event and I cannot interfere.

Percy looked at us. "Uhh..." he said. "I can explain."

"No you can't," Annabeth and I said in unison

"I can't," he admitted.

Annabeth gave me a look. It was an 'I have an idea' look and I knew exactly what that idea was.

"What?" Percy asked once we looked back at him. "What are you thinking?"

I chuckled as Annabeth spoke. "I'm thinking that I want you on my team for Capture the Flag."