daylight - percy jackson¹

003

The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.

Apparently around three in the morning an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of camp. I was so exhausted from Percy's antics that I slept right through the noise. The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in our defenses, and it didn't seem anxious to go away until Lee Fletcher from Apollo's cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon's armor, it got the message and withdrew.

"It's still out there," Lee warned us during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes—" he shuddered.

"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."

"Aye," Quintus, the new sword master that Valentina had told me about, said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."

The swordsman frowned dryly. He was in his fifties. I guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy. He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before I could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar.

Valentina had told me that he had this big hellhound that he kept as a pet. So, my first impression of the guy was that he was totally and utterly insane.

The campers murmured among themselves.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that our attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.

"This is a good reason for new war games," Quintus continued, a glint in his eyes. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."

"Yes..." Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods."

We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.

My cabin and I took our plates to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of our food into the flames. I hoped the gods liked avocado toast and Froot Loops. "Aphrodite," I said. Then I whispered, "Help us mom, please. With Nico, and Luke, and Grover's problem..."

Once I had gotten back to the Aphrodite table, I looked across the pavilion to see how Percy was adjusting to camp. I was surprised to see Chiron shepherding Grover over to the Poseidon table, which only held Percy and Percy's half brother, Tyson. I admit, that was going to take some getting used to.

Soon, somebody else slid next to Grover on the bench: Annabeth.

I felt like I needed to be there. I made up an excuse to leave the table, and went to sit next to Percy.

"You're not supposed to be here," he said.

"Well, it seemed like you guys were having a party. I wanted in," I told him, not moving.
"But the rules..."

He knew as well as I did that campers weren't allowed to switch tables.

Satyrs, like Grover, were different. They weren't really demigods. But the half-bloods had to sit with their cabins. I wasn't even sure what the punishment was for switching tables. I'd never seen it happen. If Mr. D had been here, he probably would've strangled me with magical grapevines or something, but Mr. D wasn't here. Chiron had already left the pavilion. Quintus looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.