My eyes narrowed. After an entire lifetime of not having anything to do with my father, I didn’t see any reason to suddenly acknowledge that he existed now. "I don't want to hear it. Whatever it is, we can forget about it. Let’s just move like we always do when things get sour."
"It's not that easy this time."
"Yes, it is,” I retorted. “Please, Mom. Jesus Christ, if he wanted me then he would have come when I was a baby, or maybe even when I was 10. But 15? It's too late for that, Mother. Let’s just go. Let’s forget everything that happened and just move on with our lives. He’s not important." I hated the hitch in my voice from holding back tears or that I was practically on my knees begging.
"Baby, he's an Olympian."
I stared blankly. "What, so you met him training for the Olympics? That doesn't really explain much."
"Not that kind of Olympian," the dark-haired boy explained with a laugh. "Your mother means like an Olympian God. The Greek gods of Mount Olympus?"
I gawked at him for a second and then burst out laughing. "You're kidding, right? Am I being punk’d right now? Is Ashton Kutcher gonna pop up somewhere? As long as Beiber doesn’t show up we’re good."
"She's stubborn," a voice said. It was deep and hoarse but it didn’t sound like any of the people here. "And she’s definitely a fighter. I think I like this one."
"Oh, thank you," I replied absently.
The boy that was holding Annabeth's hand widened his eyes and he stared at me like I’d grown an extra head or something. "You just heard Blackjack talk? I think I might have an idea who your godly father is. We'll have to wait until you're claimed to be sure."
My head was spinning by then. "What? How would you have an idea who my dad is? And who's Blackjack?"
The black Pegasus whinnied and dipped his head. "That would be me, little lady," the same harsh voice said and I realized it was the horse speaking. “The name’s Blackjack. Nice to meet you.”
My eyes grew to the size of golf balls and I froze. "The horse? Great, I'm talking to a freakin' horse. Holy Christ, I’m going crazy, I've finally cracked. This is so not my day." And then I passed out and I just hoped that someone caught me before I hit the ground.
The sky was dark when I opened my eyes again but it wasn't dark, if that makes any sense. The light that made every little detail around me visible was coming from below us. Wait, below? I chanced a look over the edge of the chariot and my eyes widened in horror. The New York skyline glowed brilliantly below us. I grabbed onto the nearest person, who happened to be the green-eyed boy.
He smirked down at me. "Afraid of heights?" he teased.
I nodded once, holding back the vomit that want to come out. "Terrified. I can't even go on a plane with Mom without being knocked out first. This is so much worse because chances are pretty good that I might fall out of this thing."
“You won’t fall,” Blackjack’s voice drifted through my head. “You can trust us.”
“Sure,” I replied a little uneasily. If being out in the open a million miles from the ground wasn’t bad enough I was still going completely insane. “But I’m not sure that your reassurance is helping at all at the moment.” I squeezed Percy’s arm tighter.
"Hey, don't sweat it. You’re perfectly safe. One of my best friends is scared too- and she's a daughter of Zeus."
Annabeth nudged him. "Percy, Thalia doesn't like it when people know that."
Percy laughed. "She'll get over it, Annabeth." He turned back to me. “I’m Percy and that’s Annabeth, by the way. We were a little rude forgetting introductions before.”
I nodded. “I’m Naida Hale.”
Annabeth smiled at me. "So what's the plan? We drop her mother off at your mom's then take her to Camp?"
I gasped. I’d completely forgotten about them talking about some mysterious camp they wanted me to go to. "What? What camp? And I'm not leaving my mother."
"She'll be fine, Naida," Annabeth assured me. "Sally is just great and her husband isn't too bad either."
"Yeah, much better than smelly Gabe," Percy muttered. That was a whole lot of names of people I didn't know.
"I don't care," I replied stubbornly. I grabbed onto my mother tightly just like when I was a little girl and was afraid of the dark. I needed my mom and I wasn’t going to let her go without a fight. "I'm not leaving my mom to go to some camp thing."
"Naida, you have to go to Camp Half-Blood. Your mom will be fine."
"Honey, you'll be fine at the camp," she assured me.
"Camp Half-Blood? That's just a little too Harry Potter for me. Half what?"
"Half god and half human," Grover answered. It was the first time that I actually looked at him since we’d left the beach. He was different. He didn't need his crutches and his cap wasn't shoved on his head. His legs were covered in thick brown hair- no, fur- and he had goat hooves and a little goat tail. A pair of small horns stuck out from his curly brown hair. "You're a demi-god, Naida."

Notes

thank you travelol_ for the comment. fyi, if you haven't noticed, i update sooner with comments ;) the more the faster :)