Ladies! Gentleman! I present to you, Charlotte Hurst!

I have to admit, it was hard saying goodbye to my Mom.

She left the Chevrolet running and got out of the car, even going so far as to give me a hug and a kiss. It would be the longest we'd ever been apart, though to be honest we never really saw that much of each other when we lived in the same house. Her job kept her working late and school forced me to get up early.

I'd gone away for weekends before, and occasionally a whole week when I had a sport's tournament on. But this felt different. It didn't feel like the summer, it felt like we were parting for a long time.

"Make sure you come back at the end of summer." said Mom, giving me one last peck on the cheek and hurrying away before I could ask her what she meant. Of course I'd be coming back at the end of summer, it was a summer camp, wasn't it?

I hiked up the hill as the Chevrolet drew away behind me, heading toward the pine. The letter from my father, who I still had trouble believing was Apollo, had said the pine marked the edge of the camp's boundaries. As I neared the top I made out a figure leaning against the pine's bark. I gave them a wave and charged up the last stretch of hill, my feet digging into the loose earth to gain traction.

"Hiya." I stuck out my hand. "I'm Charlotte, but you can call me Charlie."

The girl's name was Shayla. I rolled the word around my head. Shayla. It was a nice name.

"Hey Shayla. Do ya reckon all this stuff is true then?" I asked.

I turned away from Shayla, looking down at the view from the hill. My jaw dropped. I'd expected to see a few cabins, maybe a central meeting place and a couple of old training areas. What I got was a full on Greek campsite.

"Hot Damn..." I whispered, unsure if I was hallucinating. If what I saw was real then I had no choice but to believe. The scene was filled with classic Greek buildings, the kind tourists travel from all over the world to see. Only there was one difference; these buildings weren't ruins. There was an open-air pavilion where I could see orange-shirted campers cooking something. Strawberry fields grew like a rampant cancerous growth along one side of the camp, tended by a bunch of guys wearing really weird furry trousers.

From this height I could make out a lake glinting in the sunlight, canoes disturbing the still waters. The whole scene was bordered by a thick forest. The thing that kept shocking me though, the thing that my eyes were irresistibly drawn to was the cabins. There was a u-shape of twelve cabins in the centre of the camp, though the u-shape was turning into an omega with extra cabins being constructed.

Each cabin was different. From up on the hill I could make out few details, but one cabin sported barbed wire, while another looked like a fully working forge. A third seemed to be solid gold when you looked at it right.

I turned to Shayla and gave her a look of mute astonishment.

"It's bloody amazing..."

Shayla nodded in response. She thought her language was a little harsh, but ignored it. "Who's you godly parent?" Shayla asked her. She wasn't claimed, but wanted to be.[/color]

I slumped onto the grass at the foot of the pine, dumping my backpack on the ground beside me. The grass still had a little dew from the morning and it was deliciously cool on my bare legs.

"My godly parent is Apollo, Shayla. Do you know much about him?" I said.

I picked at the grass while I waited for an answer, twisting a few strands through my fingers. The grass was staining my hands green as it broke, the chlorophyll inside leaking out. I rested my head on the grass, peering up at Shayla and the blue sky above.

The camp was going to be pretty cool, I could already see that. I was itching to play volleyball, canoe and find out which one of those awesome cabins I would be going in. And hopefully while I was here someone would explain what having a godly parent meant.

"Who's your parent Shayla?" My voice was soft, almost lost in the breeze as I contemplated the summer. I'd gone from planning a raft with Johnny Jacobs to a magical demigod camp in two days, and I wasn't honestly sure if it was a good thing.

"Dunno eh?" I looked straight at the younger girl. "That sucks. How did you find out about this place then?"

Some more camp sounds drifted up, reminding me that I 'd better get myself checked in or whatever you did here. Apollo's letter hadn't gone into to much detail. I hoisted myself to my feet and looked down at Shayla.

"I should probably head down and get myself sorted out Shayla. D'you want to come with me and show me where to go? Or are you new here as well?"

I held out my hand while I waited for an answer, slinging the backpack onto my shoulders with the other. It was a pretty heavy backpack and had all the essentials in it. Things like extra bags of crisps and spare clothes. It even had a couple of cans of Coke in it, though one of them had already been consumed. Still, the camp store was bound to have more supplies of Coke.