Stark's Deadly Daughter (S.P.N.D. Book 4)

Chapter 3: Chiron's Goodbye

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Ever come home and found your room messed up? Like some helpful person (hey, Dad) has tried to "clean" it, and suddenly you can't find anything? And even if nothing is missing, you get that creepy feeling like somebody's been looking through your private stuff and dusting everything with lemon furniture polish?

That's kind of the way I felt seeing Camp Half-Blood again.

On the surface, things didn't look all that different. The Big House was still there with its blue gabled roof and its wraparound porch. The strawberry fields still baked in the sun. The same white-columned Greek buildings were scattered around the valley- the amphitheater, the combat arena, the dining pavilion overlooking Long Island Sound. And nestled between the woods and the creek were the same cabins -a crazy assortment of twelve buildings, each representing a different Olympian god.

But there was an air of danger now. You could tell something was wrong. Instead of playing volleyball in the sandpit, counselors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. The forest looked sickly, the grass in the meadow was pale yellow, and the fire marks on Half-Blood Hill stood out like ugly scars.

Somebody had messed with one of my favorite places in the world, and I was not...well, a happy camper.

As we made our way to the Big House, I recognized a lot of kids from last summer. Nobody stopped to talk. Nobody said, "Welcome back." Some did double takes when they saw Tyson, but most just walked grimly past and carried on with their duties- running messages, toting swords to sharpen on the grinding wheels. The camp felt like a military school.

None of that mattered to Tyson. He was absolutely fascinated by everything he saw. "Whasthat!" he gasped.

"The stables for pegasi," Percy said. "The winged horses."

"Whasthat!"

"Um...those are the toilets." I answered. "Percy once almost got his-"

"We don't need to share that." My friend interrupted me.

"Whasthat!"

Percy answers him. "The cabins for the campers. If they don't know who your Olympian parent is, or if you are the child of a minor god, they put you in the Hermes cabin- that brown one over there -until you're determined. Then, once they know, they put you in your dad or mom's group."

He looked at my friend in awe. "You...have a cabin?"

"Number three." Percy pointed to a low gray building made of sea stone.

"You live with friends in the cabin?"

"No. No, just me."

When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags.

As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze. "Pony!" he cried in total rapture.

Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not...leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.

Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kind smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year! You too, Lillian!"

Percy swallowed. "Clarisse said you were...you were..."

"Fired." Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."