HORIZON ⸺ jason grace

iv. violet is chosen for yet another quest (hip hip hooray.)

THE HIGHLIGHT of the campfire was singing about how grandma gets dressed for war.

It was a pretty rough night.

Fifty or sixty kids had packed into the amphitheater under their designated cabin banners. Violet, however, completely ignored the empty Poseidon section and dragged an overwhelmed Piper to the front. She took the seat in between Annabeth and Jason, Piper sitting beside Rachel. Leo was nearby with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer.

Standing in front of the fire, the Apollo cabin jumped around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. (This was one tradition that Violet did not miss — once she'd been claimed alongside Percy, Micheal Yew had begged her to continue. She had laughed in his face).

Everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. It was 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. Chiron trotted up, brandishing 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 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.

"What are they, barbarians?" Violet whispered to Annabeth, who shook her head in amusement.

"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 — Nyssa, Violet remembered — stood uncomfortably.

"We're working on it."

More grumbling.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard," the girl snapped.

Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones—BANG, BANG, BANG—and the campers fell silent.

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

"Percy?" someone asked. The fire dimmed even further, and Violet looked down at her dirty blue Reeboks.

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

"I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. "He wasn'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 him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

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

Everyone else looked surprised. Drew didn't address the crowd very often, and many preferred it that way.