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Summary: 5 teenagers discover they are demigods, and, with their satyr friends, embark on a perilous quest to save some of Camp Half-Blood's old timers. Set a year after the Last Olympian. Heroes of Olympus never happened.

Chapter One (Niall POV)

My life is seriously messy. I could start this story at any point in it to prove it. I have Dyslexia and ADHD, my report card has never seen above a D-, my Mom is an alcoholic, my brother Bradan is heading that way, leaving me to fend for myself and my little sister Maebh (she's 8). I'm a 14 year old freshman at Eastwood High in Miami, but my Mom's family's from Ireland. My Mom has black hair, and so do Bradan and Maebh, which means that I always stand out; my hair is such a violent shade of orange that the boys at school say it hurts their eyes. Ok, enough background. On to the story.

It's Friday the 15th of May, and I'm going on a school trip to the Miami Science Museum. I'm sitting on the coach next to a girl in my grade who, like me, has no friends. Her name is Krista, and she doesn't really speak much, but she's always the first one to finish work in the lessons I'm in with her, and she's in top set for everything. She's basically the brains of the grade. She's reading, like she always is when I see her outside of class. I just stare in front of me, thinking about whether Bradan will be drunk tonight, or if he'll be able to help me make dinner for Maebh, and whether Mom will be happy drunk or angry drunk. I hope for Maebh's sake she's happy, or just sleeping. Maebh hates seeing people angry.

I hear raucous laughter and look behind me to see that Jacob Harlequin, one of the bullies, has just gotten up out of his seat, and is heading towards me, smirking.

"Seriously, carrot head, why don't you just dye your hair so you don't blind us?" Jacob asks, and his friends laugh stupidly. I glance at Krista and hope she looks up from her book and sees my silent plea for help. Her eyes flicker across, and she frowns. She twists her body so that she is leaning against the side of the coach, with her back straight and her book in front of her face, in a way that made it look like she was still reading, but I could see her calculating grey eyes staring at me, watching what was going on. I turn back to Jacob, who notices Krista and gives a look of shock. "You've gotten yourself a girlfriend, carrot head. I'm surprised. I didn't think you were the type, if you get what I mean." I do know what he means. He is taking the mick out of me because Bradan is gay. Most people have no problem with it, but Jacob isn't most people, I guess.

"She's not my girlfriend. There weren't any seats anywhere else." I tell him.

"I heard your brother's heading the same way as your mom. Who's gonna look after you now? 'Cause you obviously can't look after yourself." Jacob sneers. I clench my fist. He's gone too far. Insulting me is one thing, but he's not bringing my family into this. I start to stand up, but feel a firm hand on my arm, holding me back. I look around to see that Krista has put her book away and thinks it's a good idea to stop me from lashing out. She's glaring daggers at Jacob, and I make a mental note never to get on her bad side. I definitely do not want to on the receiving end of those stormy grey eyes when their owner is probably thinking of a hundred ways to kill me using science. I smile gratefully at her, and she smiles back at me.

"Leave it, Niall. He's not worth it." she says loudly, and I think to myself, why tell me to leave something I've already left? Then I realize she's trying to get a teacher's attention. Jacob's friends must have realized it, too, because their smiles falter. Jacob is apparently oblivious, because he opens his mouth to say what I expect to be another insult.

"Smart, this one, isn't she. Pretty, too. Shame my orders were to kill all of your kind in the school." Jacob says, grinning evilly. I'm shocked. I wasn't expecting that. Then, right before my eyes, he starts to change. He grows until he's even taller than he was before. His blue eyes go brown, and his muscles grow until I'm sure he could flatten me with one finger. I'm trying not to scream. Krista's eyes go wide as she pulls two large hard-back books out of her bag and hands one to me. In a flash, she is standing, edging across in front of me, as though she's about to hit what used to be Jacob with a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I look at what she gave me, and I see that my only weapon is Breaking Dawn. Great. Normally, I would be thinking about how unfair it was that she got a good book and I had the soppy Vampire Romance, but I was too scared. Krista hit Jacob with her book, before looking round at me.

"A little help would be nice!" she exclaims, and I come to my senses. I stand and start to hit Jacob with Edward Cullen's face, but nothing happens. Both books just go straight through him, without leaving a mark. The school bus comes to a halt, and Krista and I are thrown forward. We both fall flat on our faces near the front of the bus, and Cedar (a boy in my Math class with curly brown hair and bad acne) glances down at us, before looking back towards Jacob. His eyes widen. He pulls out a wooden instrument that sort of looks like a flute (weird, much?), and walks towards Jacob, who is making his way over to us. Cedar starts playing his flute thingy, and vines grow around Jacob's feet.

"We've gotta get you two outta here. Seriously, it's not safe. I've been smelling monster all year, but I wasn't expecting a Laistrygonian!" Cedar says, as he grabs me and Krista and drags us to the fire escape window. He climbs half way through, before reaching his hand out to Krista to help her through. She looks sceptically at him. "The bus isn't moving. I won't let you fall." Krista climbs onto the seat, takes Cedar's hand and clambers nimbly out. Cedar motions for me to follow. I glance behind and see that Jacob has torn through the vines holding him down and is glaring menacingly at us. The entire class is watching, but the teachers are somehow managing to ignore the three students running away from a monster via the fire escape. "They normally terrorize Canada. What's he doing in Miami?" Cedar mutters as the two of us climb through the window.

"What was that thing?" Krista asks.

"A Laistrygonian Giant. We're just lucky it didn't shoot any fire balls at us. I just hope that you two were the only half-bloods there." Cedar replies. "Come on. I've gotta get you guys to Camp." I want to ask what camp he's talking about, but I'm so shocked that my voice doesn't work.

"What camp? Why do we have to go there? And what do you mean by half-bloods?" Krista asks, pretty much speaking for me.

"One question at a time! First question: The camp is Camp Half-Blood. Second question: You have to go there because you are half-bloods. Third question: Half-bloods are the children of a mortal and a god." Cedar answers. I'm seriously confused. Krista looks like she is deciding whether Cedar's telling the truth, or if he's a complete lunatic. I hear an angry yell, followed by some screaming, and the school bus stops just before it rounds the corner at the end of the road. A Hispanic boy leaps off and runs towards us, and I see what he's running from. Jacob is getting off the bus, and starts to follow the Hispanic boy, who I now recognize as Nathaniel Martinez. Jacob's left hand fills with a large object that glows red, which I realize with horror is a ball of fire, before he throws the object at Nathaniel, who dodges around a passer-by and just misses getting turned into a human torch.

"Oh, Styx!" Cedar grumbles, stamping his foot. His shoe falls off, revealing a cloven hoof. Krista stumbles backwards and I suppress a scream as Cedar quickly puts his shoe back on and runs towards Nathaniel. I watch in shock as Cedar and Nathaniel run back towards us, holding hands, dodging fireballs and wading through the crowd. When they reach us, Cedar grabs Krista's hand and begins to run, yelling at me to keep up.

We run for what seems an eternity, before Cedar pulls Krista into an alleyway, and Nathaniel and I follow. Nathaniel's eyes are wide in shock, and I am doubled over panting (I'm seriously unfit). Krista seems to be taking it all calmly, though, as she begins to ask Cedar the questions that are bubbling around in my head.

"Why do you have hooves instead of feet? Why did that giant thing target us and no one else? Why did you say 'Styx' when you saw Nathaniel?" she asks, in the voice she uses on the rare occasions I have heard her speak before, when she questions the theory behind some Physics thing that only nerds understand.

"It's Nate. Just Nate. No one calls me Nathaniel." Nathaniel grumbles, obviously annoyed at his full name being used (I've seen the looks he give teachers when they call his name during registration. I do not want to get on his bad side).

"Like I said before, one question at a time. Anyway, question one: I'm a satyr. Question two: The Laistrygonian targeted you guys 'cause you're demigods. Question three: At Camp, saying 'Styx' is like saying 'shit'. It was an irritated exclamation of annoyance and anger, 'cause I left Nate behind." Cedar answers, staying physically calm and relaxed, but his tone is irked, probably because Krista is asking so many questions. I'd be annoyed, too, but that's probably because I would feel like a teacher had asked me what pi to five decimal places was. Something I should have known, but didn't. "I've gotta get a message to Camp. Anyone got a water pistol?" Cedar was asking for a water pistol? Seriously? Krista and I stare at him like he's psycho, but Nate grins and pulls a fully loaded super soaker out of his bag. Cedar nods at him approvingly, before asking him to spray it in small amounts, and not towards any of us. Nate pouts and begins to squirt water across the alleyway. Cedar pulls out a large golden coin and tosses it in the rainbow that the water vapour had formed.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." he says. A picture forms in the rainbow, and I see that it was a middle-aged man with… a horse butt? I don't have a chance to question it, because the horse guy has noticed us.

"Hello, Cedar. I see you have found some new campers." The horse guy has a kind voice, but it's also firm, and I know straight away that this is not someone to mess with.

"Yeah, Chiron. There's a Laistrygonian after us. I think we lost it, but I can't be sure. We need to get to Camp real fast." Cedar says, and the horse guy, Chiron, nods.

"I'll send some pegasi to get you here. I shall see you soon." Chiron says, before slashing his hand through the rainbow, and the connection breaks.

"So… What do we do now?" Nate asks. His fingers began to drum on his legs. Nate's ADHD, like me, only worse.

"We wait for the pegasi to arrive to take us to Camp." Cedar says slowly, like he's talking to a small child. I can't help but smirk at that. We begin to chat about nothing in particular, before Cedar glances up at the sky for about the millionth time, and tells us that the pegasi have arrived. I look up and see two pegasi, one black and one white. They land, and Cedar gets Nate and me on the white one, who he says is called Teuilla, while he and Krista get on the black one, who he tells us is called Blackjack.

We ride the pegasi in silence for about ten or fifteen minutes, before a large hill comes into view below us. Blackjack tucks his wings in and makes a swift, smooth dive down to the crest of the hill. Teuilla follows, and I feel my stomach plummet as we fall, finally landing. Cedar and Krista are waiting next to Blackjack, stroking him as he whinnied at them. I leap off Teuilla, clutching my stomach, desperately trying not to puke. Nate is grinning broadly, and, just because he likes to show off, he does a backflip. I can feel the bile rising in my throat. Cedar seems to notice, because he puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me that loads of people get sick the first time they ride a pegasus, and that it's nothing to be ashamed of. I smile weakly, before running over to a bush and throwing up behind it. I walk back over to the others, and Krista smiles sympathetically at me. Cedar places one hand on my arm, and uses the other to comfortingly rub small circles on my back. I smile weakly and murmur a thanks.

"I'll take you guys to Chiron. You'll probably get claimed by your godly parent tonight at the campfire." Cedar says. We start to walk towards a large house, and a small African American girl in an orange t-shirt comes running towards us and envelopes Cedar in a hug. The girl is closely followed by a crazily beautiful blonde girl and a quite pretty girl with short brown hair and dark brown eyes that look like endless tunnels that you could get lost in.

"Hi Cedar! I've missed you so much!" the African American girl says in a tremulous voice.

"Hey Rue. I missed you, too." Cedar says, smiling. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Lexy," Rue points to the brunette, who waves cheerfully at us "And Angélique." She gestures to the blonde, who tosses her long hair over her shoulder, looking extremely smug. "What about yours?" Cedar introduces us, before telling us that Rue is his cousin.

"We're just going to the Big House to see Chiron. We only got here about ten minutes ago." Rue tells Cedar.

"Same! We literally just got here." Cedar exclaims, grinning broadly. He slides his hand into Krista's and begins to walk towards the Big House, gesturing for us to follow.

"I think Cedar has a crush on Krista." Nate whispers to me, smirking. We start laughing uncontrollably, and Lexy gives us a confused look. Nate lets her in on it, and she starts laughing. I look round at Angélique, and see that she is using a pink compact mirror to put on make-up.

"She's so self-obsessed!" Lexy exclaims exasperatedly, seeing what Angélique is doing. Nate suddenly has a manic laughing fit.

"What's so funny?" Lexy asks.

"It… doesn't… matter. It's… it's real… rude." Nate manages to squeak through his giggles. Rue looks round and gives a questioning look. I shrug, and she turns back, rolling her eyes.

A/N: Hello, and thank you for reading! In case you were wondering, Rue is named after Rue from The Hunger Games, and she looks like her, too. I have the next chapter almost finished, because this was originally going to be a really long chapter, but I thought it would be better split in two.