Exchange Students?

Mystery Man

Annabeth's POV

The entire camp, plus the wizards and witches, was in a good mood tonight.

The flames rose twenty feet high, and was a bright purple, incinerating the smores of those sitting in the front row into dust. I was back with my siblings, sitting in somewhere near the back, and yet, I could feel the heat of the fire from this far. 

We all sang crazily happily to the camp songs, which most of the students from Hogwarts laughed at.

Finally, Chiron stepped up and spoke loudly to the laughing crowd. Immediately, silence spread, but the joyful mood remained, making a smile linger in each and every one of our faces. 

"So, I think you have noticed, but I will say it, in case you haven't. Our campers," He gestured towards us, including Jason, Hazel and Frank. "attended Hogwarts to learn magic, and we will now return the favor, by allowing them to experience what they can here. Tomorrow evening, we will play Capture the Flag."

Murmurs of excitement spread throughout the crowd. We hadn't really played Capture the Flag much ever since the war, and because of the deadly creature that was lurking in the forest. I guess that while we were gone they managed to kill it. 

"So that creature's gone already?" I asked Malcolm, who was sitting beside me.

He nervously scratched the back of his head, avoiding my eyes. "Well... We did trap it in a cage."

"Did you kill it?"

He shook his head.

My jaw dropped. The cages were powerful enough to conceal the powers of a creature so that they wouldn't be able to use them, but this creature- this creature, a runaway dragon, needed to be killed. Dragons were able to set forest fires, even though they were trapped in a cage, what-

What on earth was Chiron thinking? He knew perfectly well that-

My breath hitched in my throat as I came to a conclusion. That- that wasn't him.

My eyes followed the retreating figure of the person that had just spoken. If that wasn't Chiron, who was he and where was Chiron?

I tapped Percy on the shoulder. He grinned, but his expression changed after seeing mine. I told him about my thoughts and my plan to follow the person. He agreed, and we rushed, sneaking behind the man. 

We caught up to him, and found him running towards the Big House, and I noticed that his appearance was slowly changing, his hair was turning into a deep shade of red, and his frame became smaller, the legs of a horse transforming into human legs. 

We hid behind a bush, which perfectly concealed us from his sight. 

He sighed, and I saw a hint of a smile on his face. Not a cheerful one, but an evil one. "Yes, my plan is working, especially with that new spell I invented, it came in handy."

He opened the door, then slammed it behind him, the sound echoing. 

"Spell?" Percy mouthed to me. 

I shrugged. If he really did use a spell, then that meant that he was a wizard, but then we didn't-

I felt my body go rigid, and at once, my arms stuck to my sides, and my feet were bound together by an invisible force. It was hopeless to try and fight it, I found out when I tried. Someone cast the Full-Body Bind on me. 

I moved the only thing I could. My eyes. Looking to my left, I saw that Percy had gone rigid, too. Someone emerged from the bushes, and I finally saw the face of the man clearly. 

It was handsome, but scarred. His dark red hair came into contrast with his deep brown eyes, but there were dozens of cuts on his face, neck, and arms. 

He let out a quiet laugh. "Aren't you smart, both of you, or just stupid, trying to chase me?" 

He shoved us in the Big House, and at once, we saw the familiar face of Chiron, which acquired an alarmed expression once he had seen us. I surveyed him. He was bound, and gagged, making him unable to talk to us, and it seemed like a spell was cast on him, too. About ten feet away from Chiron, there was a sword, laying there helplessly. I assumed that he hadn't gone without a putting up a fight. 

"Yes, reunite with him, but that will never give you a chance to defeat me." The man cackled once more, and disappeared from our sight. 

I felt my ADHD acting up. Any trace of sleepiness was immediately gone. I looked at Percy, and just by looking into his eyes, we had a conversation. It went like this-

"Annabeth, this'll wear out in a few hours, right?"

"Yeah, and right after, let's go set Chiron free."

"He's not only bound and gagged, the Full-Body Bind has been placed on him too, right?"

I nodded, looking at the weary face of the centaur that always acted like a father to me. 

I tried to talk to him through my eyes. "We'll get you out, Chiron, I promise."

He smiled, closing his eyes, sleeping at last.

I looked out the window, and stared at the ring of cabins.

"I'll save you, I promise." I thought as I drifted away into sleep.