·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ 𝐄́𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 ❍✩‧₊˚
༊*·˚ {𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍}
❝𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.❞
In the shadow of a lost love, the daughter of the sun seeks the son of the sea, chasing whispe...
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THE WHOLE CAMPFIRE IDEA FREAKED PIPER OUT. It made her think of that huge purple bonfire in the dreams, and her father tied to a stake. What she got instead was almost as terrifying: a sing-along.
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.
Piper spotted Jason in the front in between Aurora and Annabeth. Leo was nearby, sitting with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer.
Standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers with guitars and strange, old-fashioned harps— 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.
It was quite possibly the weirdest thing Piper had ever seen— one of those campfire songs that would've been completely embarrassing in daylight; but in the dark, with everybody participating, it was kind of corny and fun.
As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.
Finally, the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. A guy on a horse trotted up. At least in the flickering light, Piper thought it was a guy on a horse.
Then she realized it was a Centaur— his bottom half a white stallion, his top half a middle-aged guy with curly hair and a trimmed beard. He brandished a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows.
"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.
"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. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"
He turned to Leo's group. Leo winked at Piper and shot her with a finger gun. The girl next to him stood uncomfortably. She wore an army jacket a lot like Leo's, with her hair covered in a red bandanna.
