The Fourth Chance (book 1)

Chapter I

         It all started a couple of months before my fourteenth birthday. Monsters started attacking my family and me regularly, until we decided to move. I knew they would keep running to protect me, but I couldn't risk losing them. So I ran. The monsters left my family alone to follow me. It was hard, always sticking to the shadows. I had almost nothing, just the clothes I wore and a keychain compass. I headed Northeast. If I had gone the opposite way, I would have ended up in the Rocky Mountains. Staying closer to cities turned out to be pretty smart. I had to dig through dumpsters for food and my only weapon was a frying pan I'd found while dumpster diving, but it had proven useful against monsters.
         I reached New York two weeks later and found the one place where I knew I'd be safe: Camp Half-blood. As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd be welcomed and treated as an equal, but I wasn't sure why. Not yet anyway.
        Once I passed the pine tree, with what looked like a golden coat hanging over a branch and a bunch of cables around the trunk, a group of kids found me laying on the ground, exhausted from lack of food and rest. They took me to the two-story house painted baby-blue, known as the Big House. I was later introduced to Chiron and Dionysus (a.k.a. Mr. D). As soon as we met, I could tell they felt weird around me, like, for once in my life, something important would happen and I'd be in the center. They were very cautious around me and I wanted to know why. I found out when I was claimed.
        During the short time I was at camp, I found I was good with weapons, better than most of the others. Boys were always lingering close behind, though I usually just ignored them, and I was a wiz at Brainstorm and other games that required a good amount of smarts.
During a training exercise, Aries, God of war, claimed me, much to the Aries' kids excitement. A few weeks later, while eating my bacon and mashed potatoes, Aphrodite claimed me, which made the boys tail me even more, not that I cared. The next night, after capture the flag, Athena claimed me. I, not knowing what was going on, was very bewildered. Chiron pulled me to the side and we walked toward the Big House.
        "No demigod has ever been claimed by three parents! Two, yes, but three is unheard of!" He tells me, inside.
        Mr. D chimed in, "Leave her alone, Chiron. She's traumatized enough as it is." Since he usually doesn't care for us demigods, this came as a shock.
         Chiron continued, edgily. "But it isn't normal! Of all the things that could happen to this girl, it's this!"
        His anger took me off guard. What was so wrong with being claimed three times? I kept my mouth closed, though, knowing it wouldn't help the situation.
        "There's nothing wrong with what has happened here, Chiron," Mr. D says casually.
        "Everything is wrong about this! If nothing was wrong, we wouldn't be discussing it!" Chiron noted, his voice reverberating angrily. I knew I needed to interfere, but how? I knew Dionysus would turn me into a dolphin in a heartbeat if I got in his way, and who knew what Chiron would do?
        Both were on their feet, yelling at each other. I had to do something, fast, so I got up on my chair, put both pinkies in my mouth, and whistled as hard as I could.