I usually spend my Friday afternoons looking for a place to eat that's not past my budget. When you're a Japanese girl living in South Korea, budget can be tight. Well, my dad does his best to send me some money. It just so happens that the lifestyle here can be costly.

So imagine my surprise when things took a turn for the crazy. A girl wearing a blue shirt underneath a mustard yellow overall came up to me, babbled about me being half and half, grabbed my wrist and dragged me away like crazy. She has dirty blonde hair in braided pigtails. She's tall too, probably half a head taller than I was. I really couldn't tell at the moment especially because we're zipping through the crowded streets of Myeongdong. 

"Hey! Let go of me!", I tried to tell her in the middle of the commotion but she has her back turned away from me. I tried to yank her grip off my wrist but it proved to be impossible at the moment. 

We pushed through the crowd with increasing speed. Every now and then, she would look behind us, like she was checking if someone was following us. Her eyes would get bigger than they possibly could and she would run even faster which was indication enough for me to keep up with her pace. I couldn't. She had longer legs than I do. 

After turning into a less crowded street, we ran into an empty alley and crouched beside a dumpster. I was panting so hard, trying to catch my breath. I looked over at the freaky girl. She didn't even look like she was tired!

I gave it a minute before I spoke up. "Who...are...you...?", I said in between my breaths. 

She checked the front of the alley, which is also the only exit, before looking at me. "My name's Yujin. Ahn Yujin."

"Where are you taking me?", I asked her a little more aggressively. "Why were we running? Who are we running from?"

She checked the front of the alley again before ping her backpack (which I didn't realize she had one until now). "We need a way to get back to camp."

I blinked in confusion. "C-Camp? What camp?"

She dodged my question as she continued to rummage through her backpack while muttering words to herself. Great, so here I was all sweaty and tired from running away from something I don't even have a clue on and this girl doesn't even answer any of my questions. I was pissed. I got up and started to walk away when Yujin grabbed my wrist, yet again. 

"Hey, where are you going?", she asked. 

"I know who you are. I know what you're doing and I'm not falling for it, okay? I've had enough of you and anyone in Seolhyun's squad and their constant bullying! So just back off, alright?!"

I was expecting her to start getting aggressive with me so I was preparing to fight---until I saw the look of complete and utter confusion on her face. Her grip on my wrist loosened until she dropped my arm completely. 

She tilted her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed. "Who's Seolhyun?"

"You're not...? Oh." I facepalmed. "I'm sorry. I thought you were...nevermind."

She put both her hands on each of my shoulders and looked at me straight in the eye. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions but now is not the time. We need to get to camp befor---"

She didn't get to finish her sentence when she suddenly jumped in front me, a shiny sword in her hand. Apparently, whoever was chasing us earlier has finally arrived. Yujin's shoulder was blocking my view so I tiptoed and took a peek. 

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Standing in front of us was a giant bird, almost the same height as me. The creature had the face of a female which looked normal, except that her body was like that of an eagle. She was smiling but the look on her eyes told me it wasn't going to be a happy event. 

"There you are, you little mischief!", the lady bird spoke.

"Had fun chasing us?", Yujin replied with a smirk, which annoyed the lady bird. 

"As soon as I get my claws on you, I'll snap those long legs of yours in half!"

In a flash, the lady bird creature thing launched so far high in the sky, which made it difficult for us to see it because of the sun. I still found it very hard to believe that any of this was happening, but in the midst of it I knew that the lady bird creature would swoop down soon and attack us. Apparently, Yujin had the same thought when she started rummaging for something inside her backpack. 

"I can't see her anymore! What do we do?", I announced as I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the sky. Instead of answering my question, she tossed me a trumpet. But not just any normal looking trumpet. This one looked like it was glowing. The finish was absolutely flawless. I bet it produced some gorgeous notes. My bandmates back in school would freak over this thing.

"Hey, how good are you at throwing stuff?", Yujin asked. I looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"You want me to throw this instrument at that thing? Are you crazy?!", I retorted as I brought the trumpet closer to my chest. "Why don't you just slash that flying monster with your sword?"

"I would but battle on ground would be bad for us. We need to throw it off for a while so we could escape.", she replied. "Besides, it's just a piece of junk."

I gasped. "Excuse me--"

"Sakura, we don't have much time!"

"Hey, how did you know my name?"

"There's no time for questions", she replied as she got into a battle stance. "I'll distract her for a while. At the count of three, aim it at her and throw it as high as you can, got it?"

"I think so."

Just a second after we got ready, we could see the form of a giant eagle now just a few feet above us. The lady bird was circling us like predator to its prey. In a flash, she swooped down towards us. Yujin, bless her speed despite her long limbs, slashed at the creature. The sword didn't hit the bird, but it made her fly back up. 

"Ready...", Yujin started. "One, two, three...now!"

Despite the exhaustion from the day's events, both physically and mentally, I mustered up all my energy and managed to throw the trumpet as high as I could. It hit the claws of the flying thing and threw her off course in the air for a while, going down like a bird with only one working wing.

"How did you know that was going to happen?", I asked Yujin. 

"Brass", she replied. "One of their weaknesses. That's a harpy, by the way."

So the lady bird thing was called a harpy. Huh, you do learn something new everyday. 

I was about to ask more questions but Yujin was already sprinting away so I followed her. After a few minutes of walking we arrived at a bus station and immediately boarded. We sat at the back as the bus departed. 

It was quiet for a while before Yujin spoke up. "So, are you, like, in a bad? You seem to know a lot about instruments."

"Yeah," I replied. "It's like a marching band at school. We cheer on events and stuff."

Yujin replied with "Oh, cool." But I could tell she was distracted. She kept looking behind the bus every now and then. 

"Is the harpy following us?", I asked. I then, too, started looking behind just to check.

"No, it's not following us.", Yujin replied and heaved a sigh. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions but I'm not exactly the best person to answer them. But I guess I can answer one question so, shoot."

I figured minutes ago that she might not be able to answer all my questions, much less handle the volume of my questions. I only really had one question in mind at the moment. "Where are you taking me?"

Yujin's eyes lit up in joy as she relaxed a bit and faced me. "It's this really cool place in an island. It has all these fun activities and games and stuff. We're required to do some training too. And there cabins for everyone. You can say it's a safe space, for people like us."

I didn't know what she meant by 'people like us'. Did she mean a social outcast? 'Cause I definitely would fit in that place. 

After that we just started talking about random stuff, questions that don't relate the slightest to what happened earlier in the day. The bus stopped at the ferry wharf. It was still kind of bright outside as we got off despite it being 5:30 pm. 

Yujin was checking the time on her wristwatch when I faced her. "You said the place was on an island, right? But, we don't exactly have tickets to board the ferry."

Yujin smiled. "We don't need it. Come on, follow me."

The ferry was to our left, so we walked east. The further we walked, the less people we saw, until there was only trees and the sea. We arrived at a small wooden pier and docked right next to it was a white speedboat. Handling the steering wheel was another girl in a blue shirt same like Yujin's. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she had the cutest pouty lips I've ever seen.

"Yah, Ahn Yujin! What took you so long?", she said, or basically shouted, at Yujin as we were approaching. Yujin dumped. her backpack inside the boat before jumping in. 

"We had a minor setback but we're here now, so cool down!", she basically shouted back. Though I wasn't afraid of their screaming. Even with the non-existent friends, I knew that it was just playful banter.

The girl with the ponytail then faced me, grabbed my hand and shook it. "Hi! My name's Yena. You must be Sakura, correct?"

"Yeah...", I answered, still a little baffled that they know who I was. The sun was starting to set when we left the pier with Yena driving the speedboat. It was quiet for a while. The noise of the boat and the beautiful setting sun in the distance kept me distracted for a bit while Yena and Yujin exchanged more playful banter while also talking about other stuff. 

Whatever they were talking about must have been resolved because Yena's attention then shifted to me. "So, whose are you? By my charming personality you probably already guessed mine."

Yujin snickered at the mention of Yena's charming personality, to which she got a kick to the shin courtesy by the smaller girl. Instead of answering, I only looked at her with my forehead creased because I literally did not understand her question. I'm not the most fluent at Korena but I understood her question, yet it didn't make sense.

And judging by the confused look I had on my face, Yena must have figured out the same thing. "Oh, you're not...? Oh. My bad." Yena shrugged. "No worries, there's still some room in the cabin."

After her weird question and her even weirder statement, I decided to just avoid questions altogether. 

At last, I saw land nearby. We started slowing down until we came to a full stop and docked next to the pier. Standing at the other end of the pier was a woman that looked to be in her late 30s. She was wearing white tank top underneath a cream colored blazer paired with demin jeans and black strappy heels. 

She looked like a businesswoman with her attire, which had me guessing why she was on a pier in an island far from the city. 

As I walked closer to her, I got the feeling of superiority. It appeared to me that she may be the woman in charge. The person to answer all the questions I have ever since the craziness started.

"Greetings. My name is Bae Yoon Jung.", she greeted. "And welcome to Camp Olympus. It's good to finally have you here."

--

a/n: initially i was going to have it camp half-blood but i figured that's probably going to make it confusing since the setting is in korea.

this is a harpy

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