Thank the gods. Half-Blood Hill! Zeus, I missed this place.

The school year had been weird. It involved exploding toilets, cannibalistic mascara, and lots of doom-cookies. DON'T ASK.

Annabeth and I had met up at the last day of school, thankfully alive. She had given me that smile of hers, a kiss, and we took a taxi to Half-Blood Hill. Now we stood at the foot, watching the grass sway in the soft breeze. I turned my head towards the heavens, grinning. At last.

As we climbed the hill, my sneakers slipping a bit on the slick ground, I became aware of small puffs of smoke originating from the nostrils of the golden fleece's guardian dragon, Peleus. When I approached him, he blew a huge puff of gray smoke right into my face. Annabeth giggled. I snorted: the smoke really irritated my eyes.

BOOM.

My first thought was I'm dead.

Well, my first thought was actually a really long stream of curses, but that was my first coherent thought.

My next thought was: No, I'm not.

Genius.

Maybe Zeus had decided to kill me, and save himself a whole lot of trouble. I wouldn't put it past him. Indeed, a large circle of black scorch marks and smoke marked the place Annabeth and I had been standing.

Annabeth.

All I could make out was a hazy shape in the smoke. She was still where the bolt had struck, kneeling, maybe? Or….no.

"Annabeth?" I called hoarsely, hating myself for even thinking that.

She was fine, though, calling my name ever more frantically. Whatever she was worried about must be pretty important. Slowly I got up, wincing at the rather large burn on my arm and my aching back, and staggered over. What I saw was just…weird.

A boy. He lay exactly in the center of the dead grass, blood leaking out of several cuts and gashes on his body. Still, he looked amazing. His body was incredibly toned, beyond anything I could ever accomplish. He had on strange, torn clothes, with a strap holding a strange knife on his leg. But his face was what mesmerized me. It was contorted in an expression of agony, his closed eyes half-hidden by tangled, wet sunny locks. Strange whisker scars stretched from his cheekbone to his…wait.

"He…he has no ears…" I said in a shaky voice.

Annabeth was staring at something else, though, pointing, too. I followed her finger. The boy did have ears. Fox ears. And…two fox tails.

What was he? He just appears out of nowhere in a huge explosion, covered in blood, and with furry ears and tails. Could this get any weirder?

"Holy Posiedon…" I whispered.

Annabeth could only nod.

"We…we have to get help…"

Her whisper was so quiet I could barely hear it. Her voice trembled slightly.

"I know, but only half-bloods can come inside the camp borders." I reminded her.

She bit her lip. "But…he's definitely not human…we could try."

I was sure it wouldn't work. Positive, even. But I grabbed his legs as she held his arms. We edged nervously toward the camp border. Peleus blew more smoke over us. He didn't seem nervous. That thought made me keep going. Just one more step…

We passed the border.

I stared at the boy in amazement. His shaggy blond hair caught the sunlight perfectly. But my eyes seemed magically drawn to his over-long nails and furry tails. Just what was he? Some kind of monster or hybrid?

We began to move faster. Annabeth looked worried now, and she began to walk faster. Blood was pouring out of the teen with increasing speed, and he was becoming ever more pale.

The campers playing volleyball with satyrs stopped to stare. They didn't even say hello. They just gaped.

We were nearing the Big House now. The boy was surprisingly light, as though he didn't eat much. He didn't look like he ate much, either.

"Chiron! CHIRON!" Annabeth called frantically. Her voice echoed in the silence.

Soon the clopping of hooves reached our ears, and Chiron came into view, the sunny forest dappling his snowy coat with splotches of shadow. He looked confused. Then his eyes fell on the strange teen we carried in our arms, and his mouth fell open. He sped up, hurrying toward us.

"Percy? Annabeth? What's going on?"

"We found him by the border!" I yelled back. "He needs help!"

The campers started to cluster around us, gasping and pointing at the blonde boy's ears, tail, and claws. Every face was shocked, even the Ares cabin. Clarisse's mouth had fallen open in a perfect, comical O.

"Everyone back!" Chiron bellowed, pushing to the front of the stunned crowd. "Put him on my back," he ordered.

Annabeth and I swung the fox-boy onto Chiron's back, propping him so he wouldn't fall off with the rocking motion of Chiron's horse body. Flecks of red stained Chiron's body from the teen's numerous wounds. We followed at a distance as he galloped the remaining distance to the Big House.

"Who do you think he is?" I asked Annabeth.

She shook her head. "I have no idea."

I stared straight ahead, consumed in a whirlwind of confusion and surprise.

There was something big going on here. We just didn't know it yet.