Demigods: The Curse of Zeus

Prologue

CAMP HALF-BLOOD, as far as Meredith Barnes knew, was the safest place to be right now.

No, it didn't have anything to do with the Greek monsters always following her around. She got used to that after several attacks. It wasn't about her abusive foster mother, either. In fact, she would give anything, absolutely anything, to see her again. Regardless of the constant torture of just being in the same house with the woman, Meredith missed her.

Meredith was nine when it started five years ago.

She remembered thinking about how her friend had been wrong; global warming did exist. She remembered the classic literature her foster sister had read for school project; The Maze Runner? She remembered thinking how it was exactly the same-what happened to the Earth she lived in, and the one her book characters lived in.

At first it had been unnoticeable, trees starting to lose their leaves. She remembered her foster mother complaining about how hot it was outside. She had blamed it on the summer sun. They didn't know what was waiting.

And then, destruction.

Again, she had remembered about the Sci-Fi movies she had watched. It had been horrible. The scorching feeling of the sun every time she went outside, the suffocating feeling of the hospital she went to every month to get shots. Apparently to prevent dying from the heat.

The Earth was now practically dying.

And Camp Half-Blood, protected by its magical boundaries, was safe. Demigods started to stay year-round. Some even considered taking their family with them, but of course they couldn't.

Sure, Meredith liked the Camp. It was the only place she could practice archery, the only place her dyslexia and ADHD weren't being judged about.

But she also missed being outside. She hated being in the same place for a long time. Meredith didn't know how much longer it could take until she finally snapped and went insane.

And then a quest came. A quest that required going outside-no, even better, going around the world.