𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕣||HoO

𝐕𝐈

ONE OF Maisie's favorite part about camp was the campfire sing-along. The songs were always so ridiculous, and got stuck in your head for weeks, but the was one of the best parts about it. After what had happened this morning, she needed a good distraction.

Usually they didn't do sing-alongs during winter, because there aren't usually very many people there, but after the Battle of Manhattan lots of new demigods showed up, so the camp was full even now.

Maisie sat with the rest of the Apollo, singing along with the entire camp as her siblings led the sing-along. Everyone was doing the motions of putting on the pieces of armor that went with the song about their grandmother getting dressed for war. It was amazing.

Applause filled the amphitheater as the song ended. Chiron trotted up to the fire as Maisie's siblings took their seats. Chiron brandished a spear with several toasted marshmallows impaled on it.

"Very nice," he announced. "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?" someone yelled. Grumbling broke out among the Ares campers.

"Yes," the centaur 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."

Maisie furrowed her eyebrows and muttered, "What dragon?"

Kayla, one of Maisie's younger sister, leaned over and said, "Remember the bronze dragon Beckendorf found in the woods a couple years ago?" Maisie nodded. "After, well, he died last year it kinda went haywire and has been attacking everyone in the woods."

Maisie nodded in understanding, and turned back to Chiron as he asked, "Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

Everyone turned to the Hephaestus campers, where Maisie noticed Leo sitting next to Nyssa, one of the older Hephaestus campers. She stood up uncomfortably, and said, "We're working on it."

More grumbling came from the Ares kids.

"How, Nyssa?" one of them demanded.

"Really hard," Nyssa answered.

She sat back down, which brought on a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stomped his hoof against the fire pit stones, and everyone fell silent.

"We will have to be patient," he said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy and Lina?" someone asked, and Maisie felt her shoulders sag. The fire dimmed ever further, showing that everyone else was feeling similarly to her.

Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood up.

"I didn't find Percy or Lina," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said her boyfriend's name. "They weren't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis- everyone's out looking. We will find them. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out.

Everyone turned. The voice had come from the Aphrodite kids, who were sitting in the back. They had been chatting, and not paying much attention, like usual, until Drew stood up.