The cool sway of the Whanganui river sweeps just next to the bears of my pale feet. And no, if you're wondering, I'm not lying. I've always had that effect on water- ever since I was a babe. There really isn't much to explain. The tide sweeps less than the length of a centimeter away from my foot, draws back from me as if some subconscious message had told the watery current that my foot was off-limits. It was a cool airy feeling- my foot was wet, but it was the sort of feeling that slime or playdough was too watery and left that dry sticky feeling wherever it touched your skin.

Yeah. I know it's hard to explain.

Squawk. Oh no.

"Are you ok?"

Henry. Great. just great. The skinny useless kid that seemed to have taken a liking to follow me around. Great.

Squawk. Squawk. Someone shut that chicken up.

"Go away, Henry," I hear the beginnings of protests coming from his freckled face. Squawk. "Take your chicken away as well, please. " When you've heard me use my manners, you know I'm at my wit's end.

"Josephine- it's an Eagle."

I'm pretty sure that the "Eagles" don't squawk.

"Whatever."

" But Josephi-"

" Shut up!"

I'm nice to the new kid and Boom! you're guaranteed a skinny boy with glasses to follow you wherever you go. Yippie.

"And stop calling me that."

Josephine. The name even sounds strange thinking it. I don't let anyone call me that. It was my mother's name- the name belongs to her not me. And besides- what's wrong with the name Jose- it's simple enough to remember. Joe-s-eeeee. Good. Now say it with me. Jose.

Congratulations!

Now maybe I can see if this thick-skulled idiot can try.

Squawk. Squawk.

" I brought your lunch box."

I clear my throat.

"Schools over."

" You left your lunch box there."

"Then give it to me?"

I let out a sigh as the freckled boy hands over my lunch box, his eagle- or whatever that thing is- perched over his shoulder.

Even when he did leave- I still felt annoyed, so great. Henry the hooligan ruined my day yet again. My gaze wanders back to the river ahead of myself- and in spite- I glower down at it. I pull my fingers out of the stream and rub them together. The dry feeling makes me shiver.

Yuck.

Beside me my lunch box stinks- and really mean stinks- Jennavieve, who is considered the class bully, most likely put something in it. A prank?

Most likely. I'd even bet she'd pay Henery to give it to me ( to see if I'd eat whatever she put in the plastic blue box, no doubt).

Hah.

I pick up the plastic box and wrinkle my nose. A toad? Stink Bug? No- definitely rotten fish.

Ew. I gag at the thought of a poor fish flopping round in a box with a peanut butter sandwich full of it. Come to think of it- the fish would probably be dead by now- yes. Dead. Dead. Dead. I look down at the blue box- would take days- weeks- to get the repulsing smell of fish off it- so why to bother. The water seems bubble- like it was laughing. I glower at it, I glower at the dryness of my fingers where I had placed them in the stream.

what the heck is going on here?

Stupid water.

Stupid fish.

Stupid Henery.

Stupid Chicken.

I pick up the blue plastic lunch box and chuck it in the water.

The funny thing was that it seemed to be steaming- or maybe I'm going crazy. Both seem like valid options.

Then it hits me and I immediately regret my actions.

Littering. I was littering. I glance behind me and sure enough, just below the closed school campus hallway- is a security camera. Ugh. I know for a fact that a strict school such as this one does not allow littering. My mom's words echo in my head. I shudder. If anything peculiar or troublesome happens again Jose, and I can guarantee were moving back in with grandma.

That lady- grandma- drives me mad.

No big deal though- right? I can just... Oh God. Jump into the water and get my Lunch box? The river glares back at me reproachfully like: don't even think about it buster.

I Think of grandma again and slip off my jacket, shoes, and socks so I'm just in a t-shirt and shorts. Gym shorts, to be precise, but that doesn't matter if I ruin these shorts because I hate Gym class anyway. I glanced down and the river's murky bottom- it seemed shallow enough. Just muddy.

Yes, I could just wade in, take my stupid lunch box, then flee from this dumb river and it wierd dry feeling.

Well, before I continue, I must say that I have thought many times of suing this school for building there dumb campus next to a river like this.

Because as soon I slowly let myself slip off the rock and into the river- thinking Oh I can just walk over to my lunch box!Yay! Flowers and roses!- I fell directly into the river, and the water rose above my head.

I have trouble describing what happened next, and if you don't believe me- fine. I don't want to believe it either. So the first thing you'll have to understand beforehand is that never in my life had I ever had never swam in the water. Lever went to any lakes- sure I've played in the hot sands- I love doing that. Just being a fat toad and laying on my back in the soft sand, letting the sun warm me up. I was always excused from swimming class. Mom always made me wash my hands with baby wipes- and I know what you're thinking, Yes, I clearly drank water. However, even then it seemed filtered, not normal. So there you go.

The second my body was fully encased in the water I felt this dry, raspy, and yet oddly smooth feeling sound on my skin.

Then pain, It was as if I couldn't breathe.

In alarm, I opened my eyes.

The water seemed didn't touch my skin, I was still underwater- of course- but it was as if there was a bubble surrounding me. The murky lake around me looked oddly colored- like it was painted. Like glass. I stood there in shock, my hands glued to my body, eyes open- sinking. The skin of my arms began to bubble, a green shade, dark wets forming below the skin. I knew I couldn't breathe. That in this bubble surrounding me was deprived of oxygen. I gasp.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

As I sink to the bottom of the murky river my vision darkens, but I can see- and hear- the soft scritch scratch of what I assume to be stone against stone. I look down to see letters showing up on the surface of a larger rock below me. It was hard to not see the message.

You do not belong here, monster.

My fingers have barely closed around the rock when I feel claws dig into my shoulder, but I hardly notice it at all. My mind is reeling with a rush of thoughts.

Monster? I'm not a... What the heck was going on? Why was there a message there? How had it shown up on a rock's surface- I had watched with my own eyes as the letters formed. How come I was able to touch the rock if the water couldn't touch me? Did someone know I would jump into the river beforehand? Who?

As the claws- whatever thing was lifting me up- pulled me closer to the surface, my vision dims and a world of darkness covers my eyes.

"Josephine. Josephine. Josephine! JOSEPHINE-"

My eyes flutter open- and I immediately wish that I had kept them closed. A pale face with red dotted freckles looms over my face.

Henery.

Ugh.

I try to sit up but a burning pain shoots up my side, not to mention my shoulder- in spite of myself I lay back down.

"Stalker."

Sputters of protest come from Henry's mouth. "You were screaming. Of course, I heard you!"

Screaming? I don't remember that.
Wait. Wait- wait a minute.

I was underwater- "How did you hear me then, huh?"

"Because you were yelling-"

I clench my teeth and stare up at the blue sky above me. "I was underwater you idiot!"

"Um- what?"

I sit up, ignoring the spasms of pain beneath my ribs.

"I-I jumped into the water a-and then there was a message and- and then-"

" Joseph- Jose. Slow down- message? What do you mean."

My head tilts up- why should I tell him, as far as I know, Henry is a dumb idiot- and a stalker. My eyes widen as my eyes meet His- no, not his- its. Golden glistening wings are spread out before me- much alike Henry's ugly chicken wings- but this is different. They seem to shine in the sunlight and some kind of aurora surrounds them. I stare. And then I spot them. His hands- no not hands. Not hands at all.

Claws. Dried blood-encrusted along the edges- my hand immediately jumps to my shoulder and I feel small debits along my shoulder- were claws sank into my shoulder.

"You-"

"Josephine... I don't think you're feeling well..."

What?

I sputter angrily. "You're with Wings! A-and Claws!"

Henry looks up and I spot terror flashing through his golden eyes. Panic. But then he tilts his head at me and smiles, although I see looks of worry coming from him.

"Oh. You can see through it. The mist, I mean."

"Um. I saw through the missed?"

Henry looks away. "I'll explain later. We don't have much time."

Anger churn in my stomach. What? What was going on? Why does Henry look like a chicken? Where is dumb eagle anyway? Was this still a joke? My hands creep to my shoulder and blood streams down my arms. This couldn't be a prank.

"Excuse you! who are y- What are you?! Why are you glowing! You look like a giant chicken-"

"Look. We have to leave. But I'm not a chi-"

"I'm calling my Mom you- you-you," But I can't seem to find the right word, "You freak."

"No-! Um... just don't do that...please."

I glance up at him suspiciously. "Why not?"

He starts to speak but I don't want to hear it.

I shuffle with my flip phone and type in my Mom's number as fast as I can. I've only done five numbers when something hits my head, and once again, I blackout.

The feeling of soft cushions and a silky bed before my eyes open. And then pain. Blinding pain that shoots up from my neck to my head and then backs down my spin.

"Ow! My head-" And then I see him. My instincts take control and back up under my covers so quickly that I hit my head against the wall behind me. All because before I is a creature that I had only heard of in stories- in myths. Before me is a centaur. Magnificent and bulging muscles rippling from his for legs, the upper half of his body was squeezed into an orange t-shirt. It reads Camp half Blood. I find it ironic I suppose: a sixty-year-old with a camp T-shirt on him, not to mention he is half horse. maybe he was in charge or something?

Memories flow back into my head. Henry. The lake. The wings. I hit my head. That was it. Yes. I'm just hallucinating. Right. there isn't a Centaur in front of me. Henry isn't half eagle-or chicken, or whatever he was.

Yes. Just hallucinating.

"Oh. Your awake, child." the raspy, and yet firm, the voice of the centaur in front of me begins to crush the last bits off hope of that this was just some twisted sick dream.

the fear must half shine in my eyes because the Centaur- the thing- smiles and spreads his human arms, "there is nothing to be afraid of, Child. You are safe now." Then I watch, in amazement as the air around him seems to shift and change, causing an entirely new person to form in front of me. An old man. In a wheelchair.

I scream and huddle as far away fro the creature as I could, was I going crazy?

The worried mumble coming from the horseman- old man- water that thing was. "Annabeth! Could you talk to our new guest?"

I can't help but shriek. "No! Go away!"

But the girl that comes before me is human- and beautiful. Blonde hair and stunning gray eyes- but with a firmness to them that calmed my beating heart. Just a little.

"I know you must be scared, but no one will ever hurt you. No monsters will come after you again."

I blink in confusion, and then anger rages in my stomach. "What? Monsters? What! Nothing ever "came after me!" I'm FINE! in wanna go home!"

The surprise that surpasses Annabeth's face is amazing. " Nothing came after you? Child, you have a strong aura. How did you manage this long?!"

This is so frustrating.

Child.

Everythings fine.

Your okay now.

Stop worrying!

What is this crap there pitching!

"Are you alright-" Annebeths starts but not long before something inside me cracks. Unstoppable rage burns through my veins, making my head hot and burning. I just want to go home! My Mom must be so worried. With father gone... how will she make it without me if I'm gone! I need to go home-

I'm erupted from my thoughts by a yelp coming from Annabeth. That's when I see my arm. My arms.

Ghostly flames spin around my left arm. Burning sparks sparkle around the red-orange flames that stop burning until the top of my shoulder. In amazement, I lift my other arm and stare at it in amazement. Water- no, waves see to spiral around my forearm. Glowing teal waves weaving there way around each other and disappearing at the edge of my fingertips. I look up total confusion- a new burst of fear spurting in my brain. Annebeth wasn't much help either. It was like I could see gears turning in her head.

"This doesn't make sense...Hephestas...no. Posiden... no no... minor goddess?..."

The burning flames and icy waters disappear from me as my anger recedes to fear. What was going on?! What am I? Who is she? What is happing to me? I'm going crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if Annabeth was planning to ditch me and runaway. I am a freak.

Instead, I look up to Annabeth's outstretched hand. "Look,...?"

I don't return her hand but look away in distaste. "Jose- Josephine."

"Alright. Look, Josephine. You have much to learn. We'll try to figure out your godly side later but for now, I'll let Henry and Percy show you around."

I still am frustrated at Henry- I can't figure out why though. "Percy?"

"My Finance."

My face flushes and the middle-aged women give me a quizzical look. "Oh," I reach up and take her still outstretched hand. "Okay..." A smile radiates from Annabeth's face and she leads me out of what seems to be a cabin.

"You'll love it here, Josephine. Just like I do."

I sour taste builds up in my mouth and all I can think of is mom.

However, I could never guess what was to come for me in the next pass of events. But somehow I could tell from the way Annabeths reassuring eyes looked at me, that this was only the begging.

Still, I can't shake off the feeling that I don't belong here...