Hidden Half-Bloods

Chapter One: A Dramatic Entrance

"We're going to be upperclassmen tomorrow; can you believe it?" James gazed up at the evening sky as dusk painted the environment in streaks of dark oranges and pinks. His friends were spread out around him: Riley and Nolan in front, holding hands and leading the way; Gabi to the side of Riley and Nolan, a step behind but still a part of the conversation; Megan and Redd next, also holding hands, but following instead of leading; and James at the back of the pack, slowing the rest of them down as he took his sweet, sweet time to enjoy the evening.

"We'll never get to tomorrow if you don't hurry up. We're not even halfway around the lake yet and it's almost dark. We'll be lucky if we make it out alive once the bugs come out." Gabi snorted in response to him, her blonde bob swishing back and forth as she sends him a sharp look. James pouted, feigning innocent as he skipped to catch up with Megan and Redd. Redd, who was six inches taller than James, glanced down at his friend sympathetically. James, the oblivious idiot he is, missed the glance despite his Spider-Man hat behind on backwards to keep his curly, fluffy hair out of his face.

"Can I please go explore? Just for a few minutes?" James begged for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes. The woods around the lake seemed to pull at him, to call to him like the ocean to Moana.

Before Gabi could give him another sharp retort, Riley stepped in. "Just for a few minutes, and we'll go with you to be safe, if you promise to speed up your walking on the way back." With a grin and an immediate agreement to Riley's bartering, James took off down the grassy hillside towards the woods. Megan and Redd were the first to half-jog after him, the others a few paces behind.

At the first sight of the stream, James sped up, bounding to the edge of the water and hopping across the outcropping rocks to get to the other side. His friends reluctantly followed him, jumping across at varying speeds. On the other side, the wind seemed to change direction, gusting past the six friends. As James looked around, he realized that the trees were different—taller, thicker, and not any trees that he had seen around the lake.

"Stop! Who are you?" James turned to find himself staring down a bronze, leaf-shaped blade into the sea-green eyes of a teenage boy not much older than himself. He was strikingly familiar, despite James being absolutely certain that he had never met him before. In fact, he had never seen anyone with a sword like that, or full bronze armor like this boy had.

"I'm James, and these are my friends, Megan, Redd, Riley, Nolan, and Gabi." James gestured to each of them as he introduced them, and as he lowered his hands, another blade popped up, hovering at his throat from the side. He slowly turned his head, his brain now starting to catch up with him as he met steely gray eyes along the bone blade. "And I'm an idiot, because you're Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase." James' mouth was dry as he spoke, awe overshadowing his survival instinct as he ran his fingers along Percy's blade. To his surprise, he could read the Greek lettering—Anaklumos, or Riptide.

"We're definitely not in North Carolina anymore." Riley had walked forward, also staring bug-eyed at the two new faces. "You're like my imagination has come to life. Are you real?" Annabeth switched her sword onto Riley, confusion lightning up her gray eyes.

"How do you know us? I'm positive that I've never seen you before." Annabeth wasn't as aggressive anymore, now curious more than anything. James and the rest of his friends were all dumbfounded, but Riley, as always, found the ability to speak first.

"The Percy Jackson books, written by Rick Riordan. James and I read all of them, Megan read some of them, and everyone else knows about them. Is this Camp Half-Blood?" Riley peered around, trying to make out her surroundings and failing. There only seemed to be more forest in every direction besides the creek.