𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ~ j. grace¹

chapter two

LYRA COULDN'T BREATHE.

The chill of the water enveloped her, spreading all over. Being a child of Apollo meant that she was almost always warm, so the sudden chill was a huge shock.

She felt disoriented, barely able to move her limbs when faces appeared before her. The naiads.

They hauled her up and tossed her onto the shore. As soon as the sunlight hit her, a beautiful warmth spread through her body. Lyra wasn't shivering anymore. Of course, the big leaf blower blasting her with hot air helped too.

The pegasi looked okay, wet but fine. The chariot, however, was not fine.

Will is going to murder me, was her first thought.

The other part of her brain reasoned, He's a healer. He wouldn't resort to violence.

Yeah, because of that he would know the best ways to kill me and make it look like an accident, she retorted.

"Lyra! Annabeth!" Will Solace appeared, his expression torn between anger and exasperation. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

He offered her his hand, pulling her up with surprising strength.

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed, tiredness seeping into her features, "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

Her brother scowled at the broken chariot but didn't press it further. His eyes landed on Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Because the gods are dicks and unable to fulfill their promises?" Lyra offered, to which Will suppressed a smile (She ignored the thunder rumbling warningly in the sky).

"Claimed?" Leo asked.

Before Annabeth or Lyra could explain, Will cut to the chase and asked the question in everyone's minds. "Any sign of Percy?"

Lyra hated to be the bearer of bad news but. . ."No," she answered when the daughter of Athena looked away.

As expected, a wave of disappointment spread, the campers muttering among themselves.

Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite and head counselor stepped forward. Her dark hair was in ringlets, perfectly framing her lovely face. Beside her was Cadence, Lyra's sister, and Drew's girlfriend.

"Well," she said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

She glanced at them with indifference, like they weren't worth her time.

Leo snorted, "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said, "How about some answers before you start judging us — like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

Will turned to Lyra, eyes skimming over her form. "Are you hurt?"

"My arm hurts," Lyra admitted. "I probably fell on it. But other than that —no."

He placed a hand on her arm, humming a small tune making her sigh as the pain decreased.

"Thanks."

She glanced to see Piper and Drew glaring at each other. Piper stepped forward, as if to smack her.

"Piper, stop," Annabeth said.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome." she continued, throwing a pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly, there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away, their faces bathed in a strange red light. Lyra turned to look.

Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image - a fiery hammer. The symbol of Hephaestus.

"That," Annabeth said, with a small smile, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed away, glancing up and yelping, "Is my hair on fire?" he moved around, bobbing his head, making it look like he was writing something with the flames.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered, "The curse —"

"Shut up," Lyra hissed.

Annabeth threw a warning look at Butch before turning to Leo. "You've just been claimed —"

"By a god," Jason interrupted, "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

Lyra turned to him. So did all the others.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is Hephaestus' Roman form." Lyra explained, "You, Leo Valdez, are the son of Hephaestus. The god of metallurgy, blacksmiths, and fire."

A brief look of horror passed on Leo's face before confusion smothered it. "The god of what? Who?"

She sighed and turned to Will. Finding out that you are a demigod and that your entire life was a lie was hard to process. "Will, can you take him? Introduce him to his siblings in Cabin Nine? I'm sure Nyssa can handle it from there."

"I have siblings? What's Cabin Nine? Who's Nyssa?" Leo asked, "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on Leo's shoulder and steered him towards the cabins.

Meanwhile, Annabeth was looking at Jason with that gleam in her eyes. One that Lyra knew all too well. Like he was a complicated blueprint she wanted to understand.

Finally, she said, "Hold out your arm."

Jason obliged, holding out his arm. On the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. It was darkly etched, almost burned onto his skin. A dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that, an eagle with the letters SPQR.

Lyra stared at it, a gasp escaping her lips as an intense pain began to build in her head. A throbbing headache arose, vision blurring, a heavy weight on her chest making it almost impossible to breathe.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said, "Where did you get them?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

The weight slowly started to lift, the headache lessening but the ghost of the pain lingered.

"They looked burned into your skin," Annabeth observed.

"They were," Jason said, then winced like he felt the headache Lyra did. "I mean. . . I think so. I don't remember."

"Lyra?" Annabeth asked, "What do you think?"

"The tattoo seems familiar to me somehow," she admitted, "but I can't tell why."

"That settles it. He needs to go straight to Chiron." Annabeth decided. "Lyra would you accompany him? He might have some answers."

She nodded, "Of course." she turned to Jason, smirking "Follow me, blondie."

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