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🍪 - 004. a new quest.
ISA ENJOYED sing-alongs during the campfire no matter how much other campers hated it. It made her feel like she finally belonged. Standing in front of the fire were half a dozen campers with guitars and lyres, were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. Everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red too range to gold.
The amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners. Isa sat with her siblings up at the top steps under a white banner with a rainbow on it. The symbol may be a bit cliché, but still, Isa loved her cabin and her siblings.
Her eyes wondered around many different faces; she spotted the new boy, Jason, in the front next to Annabeth, Vivi and George, who had his hands around his girlfriend. Daughter of Hermes caught her eye and sent her a small, tired smile ( at least the eyebags were a bit gone ). Freya, her best friend, was sitting with her siblings not far away from Isa, under a bluish banner with cornucopia on it. The new son of Hephaestus sat just below Isa, sitting with his siblings under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer. And finally, Isa spotted the new girl, Piper, sitting by Rachel, thankfully alive after today's events.
Finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. Chiron stepped forward to address the crowd of campers, "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first ─ "
"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head. Ares cabin.
"Yes," Chiron said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."
"And kill people!" one of them shouted.
"However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"
He turned to Leo's group. The girl next to Leo stood uncomfortably. She wore an army jacket with her hair covered in a red bandanna.
