a story as endless as the ocean . pjo / allie jackson

0.5 the weight of the world

0.5 I Feel a Non-Metaphorical Weight on My Shoulders

During the winter, Camp Half-Blood always looked magical. It's protected by 'weather wards' so it never rained or snowed inside the borders unless Mr. D allowed it. Thankfully, he'd get tired of listening to us wanting snow, so he normally allowed it.

Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body. I once wondered if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there or something and I told Luke that thought, but then the mental image weirded us out, so we mutually decided never to think of it again.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

Okay, irritable, I thought.

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"— he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking— "like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins.

As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at me. "Watch out for those prophecies, Allie. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?" Instead of answering, he hopped back on the bus.

"Later, Allie, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave us a wicked smile, as if he knew something we didn't (which he did, but that's definitely beside the point). Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight. Nico was still looking grumpy. I wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," I answered. "He's... well, you'll see."

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

The thing I always found strangest about camp in the winter was how empty it was. I mean, most half-bloods only trained during the summer. Just the year-rounders would be there— the ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left. But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

I was technically a year rounder, but I left a few days a week so I could go to college at Columbia and if I was feeling super suffocated, I'd go to my beach house in East Hampton, but otherwise, I got attacked a lot, so I stayed at Camp Half-Blood. I didn't have to ask Chiron, I'd just leave. I was actually the only one allowed to do that, and if I wasn't the Daughter of Poseidon, I wouldn't be able to. Poseidon's children are very restless, like the sea, so when we are cooped up in a space for too long we get... antsy.