Shadows (QueenVixen)

Alan gasped for breath at he fell to the ground. He looked around, confused and exhausted. Where am I, he thought to himself. He looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was setting, but it has just been three o'clock a moment ago. He took in another deep breath and looked behind him. His eyes widened and he gulped nervously as he saw that the giant dog that had chased away the three older boys had followed him here. Or had he followed it?

He stood up after realizing that the dog was just staring at him and walked up to it. The giant dog was wearing a collar, and in place of an ID tag was the license plate to a car that said "Rex". Alan gulped nervously and said, "Um, hey... Rex?" At the mention of its name, the dog sat and titled its head, looking at Alan as if awaiting orders. Alan stepped closer to it and noticed a black box clipped onto its collar. He slowly reached for the box, being cautious as to not get his hands bitten off by the massive dog, but it never moved.

Alan unclipped the box from its collar and read three words written in red. "To my son." Alan stared at the box for a minute before opening it. Inside was a dagger with a six inch blade as black as the night sky. He reached into the box an grabbed it, setting the box down on the ground. As he examined the blade, he heard a sound and turned around.

"You should be careful." A soft voice spoke from under the tree. A freckle-faced young teen was standing there, wearing a long peasant-style skirt and a bright orange hoody with Camp Half-Blood emblazoned on the front in black. Her feet were bare despite the cold, and in her hands seemed to be shining ribbons she had been tying to the branches of the pine. "Those things usually try to eat us." Her purple eyes stared at the hound, watching it's behavior curiously. "Usually at least. But it poofed here with you. What's your name?"

"Wh-what?" Alan asked, shaking nervously. He raised the dagger up and pointed it at the girl. Several questions started swimming through his head, making him unsure where to start. "Who are you? Where are we?", he managed to ask, taking a few slow steps toward the girl. "And what do you mean, us?", he added, deciding to disregard her last question.

"They don't really like us attacking each other out of training either... I'm Brianna Whyte You're in New York. Come on over here. I'll tell you more if you can come inside." Brianna was unarmed. Slinging a big messenger bag was slung over her shoulder, she folded her hands behind her back, and twisted back and forth idly. " I dunno if the hound's allowed over here though... You'll have to ask my dad." Pushing some stray hair out of her eyes, she waited for him to pass the border.

Alan blinked in confusion, staring a the girl, Brianna, as she casually walked away. She had just told him than in an instant, he somehow teleported from one end of the country to the other. Confusion was starting to turn to annoyance due to her lack of informing replies. "You know," he said "you're not really helping explain much here...". When she started to walk away, he sighed and walked over to her, Rex following right behind him. In an instant, he was no longer in same place, and yet he was. It was as if a village had suddenly appeared next to them, but it's sudden existence didn't seem to affect Brianna. He started to wonder if it was either than she couldn't see it, or she had been able to all along. One last question flew into his mind. "Who exactly is your dad?"

"Mr D. The camp director. You have to pass the tree." She pointed at the pine tree, continuing to walk backwards towards the camp's main building. "I'm guessing you belong here. People don't usually just appear on our doorstep!" Turning in a fluid motion, she began skipping towards the camp. Likely she was a dancer. "Come oooon. All the answers are here."

"Camp?", Alan asked, still annoyed and confused. "What do you mean I belong here?". He continued to chase after Brianna for a while, then turned around and noticed that Rex had stopped right at the point where Alan first saw the camp. "Come on, boy." he said to the massive dog. As if those were the magic words, and based on everything that had just happened they likely were, the hound leaped forward and bounded toward Alan until it caught up with him, at which point it slowed down to a walk in order to follow him as he continued to follow Brianna, dagger still at the ready.

"Yep! Camp Half Blood. It's a camp for kids like us. I wonder who your god-parent is. Mine is Dionysus." She chimed, skipping towards the big house. "I hope Daddy is in his office. If not, we need to go searching. Cause there's this video you have to watch, and I'm not sure I'm allowed to touch things." She usually wasn't allowed to touch things. They tended to break.

Alan was starting to wonder if this girl had some sort of mental issue... or maybe about a dozen of them. "Dino-who-now?", he asked, starting to slowly back away from Brianna. Were it not for the teleportation, the giant dog, and the once-invisible camp, he'd think this girl was a total nutjob, but she seemed to be the least crazy thing about this situation. "I think you may want to start from the beginning.", he added. Rex nodded in agreement and looked back and forth between Alan and Brianna.

Brianna stopped. "Uhm... okay..." Putting a finger on her cheek, she thought about it for a moment. Where to start. She rocked back and forth on her feet, toe to heel, before finally nodding, as if she got the thoughts in order. "Do you know about the Greek gods? Zeus, Hera, Hades and the rest? They're real. And one of them is your parent. You're a demi-god! Half god, half mortal. My daddy is the god of Wine and grapes and all kinds of cool stuff. Dionysus!"

Alan blinked several times, staring at Brianna. He looked around, thinking about everything that had happened. A giant dog, in invisible camp, teleportation, and the crazy girl, when another thought occurred to him. "Are we in a mental institution? Am I just crazy?". Rex looked over at Alan and tilted his head.

"Noooo. Well. I don't think so anyways. No more crazy than anyone else I would have to guess. But then again, almost everyone's at least a little crazy! Go on into the big house and watch the video. I'll wait out here." Brianna smiled, those bright, purple eyes glinting with it. Sitting on the steps, it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere. Going through her bag, the daughter of Dionysus pulled out some sort of ball puzzle to play with while she waited.