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Piper McLean is fully aware there's something wrong with her. After all, normal people don't naturally have nails sharp enough to cut glass. But she checked, and there isn't any plausible reason for the fact that she does. Then again, normal people don't have a movie star for a dad, and a mysterious mom who- as far as Piper knows- went missing after she was born. Although that's hardly an explanation for her nails.
It's not just the nails. Piper has weird eyes. Eyes that seem to shift colour every time she blinks, never the same shade twice. The whites of her eyes aren't really white, more a grey-red that fools people into thinking she's on drugs. (Which is rather inconvenient.)
When Piper was younger, her father dragged her around to different doctors to see if something was wrong with her. There was nothing wrong, that's just the way Piper is. Unnatural.
And there's the fact that people listen to her. When she tells then to do something, they do it, whether or not they want to. Not just because of the fact that she's pretty, but that could be a factor. (She wishes it was the only factor.)
There's also the matter of her teeth, which the doctors dismiss as an anomaly that won't hurt anyone.
Yeah, right. Like teeth sharp enough to slice up her tongue couldn't take off someone's fingers if Piper really tried.
So yes, Piper McLean knows there's something wrong with her. What the thing is, she hasn't any clue. Until she meets the boy on fire, a boy made of smoke and ash and iron. His name is Leo Valdez, and according to him, whatever is wrong with her is wrong with him too.
It makes sense. There's nothing normal about having claws like Piper does, or having fingertips made of iron and sharpened into points like Leo. They both have sharp teeth, pointed in a way that isn't normal, although they're slightly different. Every one of Piper's teeth are sharpened into points. Leo's canines are slightly longer, resembling fangs. Leo used to joke that he could be a vampire, but with his scruffy hair and eyes that flicker like candles, Piper doesn't think he could ever be.
Then Jason Grace arrives. He's normal, and looks as normal as the next human, but there's something different. Jason doesn't judge them for their appearances. He doesn't mind when Piper convinces a girl to make a fool of herself, doesn't mind when Leo grips his arm a little too tightly with metal fingers that can't sense pressure.
There's something wrong about Jason, in the wolfish way he smiles with all human teeth. In the way he smells like electricity and attracts static like a dry wool carpet. Piper doesn't judge, but she does notice.
Then he gets amnesia. Jason's never met them, doesn't know who they are to him but they know who he is to them. He still doesn't mind Leo's iron fingertips or Piper's kaleidoscope eyes, still bares his human teeth in a wolf grin. But he forgets them. (Or perhaps he never knew them at all.)
Camp Half-Blood is a surprise. Finding out Jason can fly is a surprise. The campers - demigods, she learns - is a surprise. A welcome one.
The girl who came for them has feathered horns in her curly gold hair and fingers like talons. The boy who helps pilot the chariot has pointed teeth and feathered wings. The teenage medic who greets them and takes Leo on a tour has an actual wolf smile, pointed canines and all. He and Jason get on like a house on fire.
It's alright, Piper decides, after the third genuine compliment on her eye colours. She could learn to like it here.