Keeper Of Their Hearts (EG/PJO) - Book One

XXXII. I Did Not Ask To Pass Out After Gaining Another Admirer

(A/N: And so with this chapter, we are to where the original story kicked off. I will admit, it's going to be very fun expanding upon the original chapters — rewriting certain sections, replacing content made irrelevant in this version with new content, and adding stuff to it that was not in the original.)

June 2007

I am pretty sure that by this point, I could just about say that I have had basically seen everything. From quests to cute girls to monsters to saving Apollo kids from snakes to saving Athena kids from spiders to everything else, in at least one full year at camp, I have seen probably more than the average kid at camp could ever have expected to see in a single year.

I was about to see a whole lot more though, that was for sure at this point.

Even so, by this point, it had become obvious that sooner or later, the failing barrier would claim a victim here and there. The unfortunate soul who paid the ultimate price to become this poignant example of our situation was Henrietta, the head counselor of Cabin Four. Her death.. well, let's just say, it sent the Demeter Cabin into a bit of a depression, which we - and by we.. I mean myself, Alabaster, and Lou Ellen, with assistance from some of the Hermes campers, especially the Stolls - managed to get them back into having hope that things were going to be alright. This was no easy feat in and of itself as you can probably imagine.

Her death had been horrific, and unfortunately watched by the rest of the cabin, as well as myself, Alabaster, Luke, Clarisse, and Beckendorf. Henrietta had been getting her siblings back into their cabin while the rest of us were all out fighting a group of Laistrygonian Giants that had made their way into camp, when a fireball thrown by one of them struck Henrietta and in front of her entire cabin, she burned to death, screaming as she flailed and rolled around on the ground in front of the Demeter Cabin.

For the second time in a year, I ended up having to sleep with Katie, and that hurt.. just because.. she had witnessed the horrible death. She had a massive emotional meltdown after it was all over, so bad that Demeter herself had to come to calm her down. It also hurt because I could have put her killer down with a bullet before he threw the fireball that killed her in the first place. He ended up dying anyway, as the Giant soon after came face to face with an enraged Luke with a sword in his hand and well.. needless to say, the Giant had no chance. But the damage was done, in more ways than one.

Katie.. was out of it for a while. Like, Henrietta's death had really hit her hard, being witness to it all. Miranda was also hit really hard by it too, since like she couldn't really sleep without Alabaster by her side now. She was only 11 years old, just like Lou Ellen.

So what did Luke do?

Simple.

Although Alabaster was like only thirteen by now, just a couple years older than his sister, and a year older than me, Luke had him become temporary head counselor of the Hermes Cabin while he temporarily managed the Demeter Cabin until I got Katie out of her funk. Needless to say, despite the audacity of the move, no one even questioned it at all.

Not even Chiron.

The fact that despite the weakening barrier, the grass around the Hermes Cabin seemed greener than ever during the winter and spring that year was probably a sign from Demeter herself that she approved of Luke's actions.

Alabaster, despite his young age, thrived in the situation he was in. He managed the cabin better than anyone, including even Annabeth, had expected him to fare. It was like he had a natural knack for it.