I'm having a nice little ride in my canoe when the chariot crashes. One moment, I'm cruising along, enjoying the sun, and the next, CRASH! The wake tips me over into the cool water. Water nymphs start grabbing people, so I join in to help. The closest one is a girl, about my age. She latches on to me the second she sees me, and I swim her to shore. I dive back in and grab another one. He's skinnier, with curly black hair. He's splashing around frantically. I grab a hold of him and he panics for a second.
"Dude, chill." I grunt after he elbows me in the gut.
He looks at me and freezes. "Oh, god, sorry."
I swim him over to shore too, where some other campers are waiting with leaf blowers to dry us all off. There's a crowd forming now. Flaming chariots tend to draw some attention. I see Annabeth and Butch are soaked too, and there's a third new kid. He's handsome, with golden blond hair and bright blue eyes.
"Annabeth!" Will pushes through the crowd, his bow and quiver on his back. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"
"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighs. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."
Will scowls at his broken chariot. Then he sizes up the three campers. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"
"Claimed?" The kid I rescued asks, clearly staring at me. He seems like he can't take his eyes off me. I give him a weird look, and he quickly looks away, very dramatically.
Before Annabeth can explain, Will says, "Any sign of Percy?"
"No," Annabeth admits.
The campers mutter.
Drew steps forward. I have a hard time hiding my feelings. I can't stand Drew, and you can definitely see it on my face. She glances at the skinny kid before fixing her eyes on the blond kid. I know that look. It's like a lion hunting it's prey. Then she curls her lip at the girl, as if she were the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. The girl notices, sizing her up in return.
"Well," Drew says, "I hope they're worth the trouble."
The skinny kid snorts. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"
"No kidding," The blond agrees. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?
"Jason," Annabeth interjects, "I promise we'll answer your questions."
"Drew, all demigods are worth saving." I tell her pointedly, crossing my arms. She gives me a nasty look in return
"But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I'd hoped." Annabeth sighs.
"Hey," The new girl says, "we didn't ask to be brought here."
Drew sniffs. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"
She steps forward, ready to smack her, but Annabeth holds out her hand, "Piper, stop."We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," She gives a pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."
"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asks.
Suddenly there's a collective gasp. The campers all back away, leaving me standing there.
Floating over the skinny kid's head is a blazing holographic image- a fiery hammer.
"That," Annabeth says, "Is claiming."
"What'd I do?" He backs toward the lake, then glances up and yelps. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducks, but the symbol follows him, bobbing and weaving so it looks like he's trying to write something in flames with his head.
