When In Goode

Chiron's Fatherly Side

It's nice outside, with a warm sun and a cool breeze sweeping through the fields. The sunrise has just begun, and the younger campers, and those who wake up on a schedule, bustle quietly from their cabins to catch the warm rays of pink and orange.
A girl emerges from one cabin, hair tied up, and skips to the strawberry fields. A horde of both boys and girls pour from the small doorway of Cabin Eleven, laughing so hard they have to rest their hands on their knees to catch their breath. Several cabins down the row, a small army of bulky teens led by a fuming girl march at the laughing campers, coated in cheap pink feathers and enough glitter to keep a craft store in supply for a year.
A mass of blonde headed, blue eyed kids run for the basketball and volleyball courts. Goat-legged teens run behind them, hoping to squeeze in a good game before the conch blows for breakfast.
There is even a group of all girls strutting around the archery range, dressed in silver parkas and black boots. One little girl who looks to be only seven or eight shoots a bullseye from thirty yards, and whoops happily, while the other girls around her cheer and slap her playfully on the back.
Chiron watches the Camp itself wake up, the Naiads and the tree Nymphs poking their heads out to feel the warm air on their faces. The strawberry plants begin to grow, seemingly before one's eyes. Even the lake seems to glisten in the early morning sunshine.
Springtime is always Chiron's favorite part of the school year. There are more campers here than those present in winter, but there isn't the crowd of summertime, when almost all demigods return. Apollo is always the kindest during the spring, and Persephone is in a good mood, and Demeter even smiles more often than normal.
Hades is slightly sourer, but Hades is always sour, and Zeus is slightly less strict, and since Zeus is always strict this is a miracle. Which leads Chiron to the conclusion that spring is some kind of miracle worker.
So what is the bad feeling he has in the pit of his stomach, the rolling he gets when he thinks about the lake and the ocean? What is happening?
Nervously, Chiron rolls his wheelchair inside, the saggy floorboards creaking under the large wheels. In the sitting room of the Big House, draped on a sofa, Mr. D. is snoring, fast asleep. Springtime wears him out – a blessing for the campers.
Chiron wheedles past him slowly, so as not to wake the temperamental god of wine, and ducks under Seymour, a stuffed leopard's head who is growling for Snausages at the moment. He wheels into the large kitchen, and rolls out the doorway on the other side of the room.
The ancient teacher's office is obviously on the first story of the four floor, gigantic cyan mansion. To reach it, you have to pass nearly every single room there is to be found on the level: to name a few, the filing room, for when they have to take their strawberries out to earn some extra money for quests; the confiscation room (made specifically for Connor and Travis's pranks after they've been utilized); and the entire medical bay (which has a total of eight rooms – five of these rooms are occupied). Chiron finally rolls makes it to his door – he has his hand on the doorknob – when a loud moan and a panicked cry comes from one of these five rooms.
Needless to say, the immortal trainer of heroes wheels right back around and all but crawls down the hallway to see what might be going wrong with one of the godlings.
"Please, lie still and let me help you!" A son of Apollo, Will Solace actually, leans over a girl on her side. She huddles under a thick cream colored blanket, and shivers roughly. Firey red-orange hair spills onto a pristine white pillow. The demigod healer looks perplexed as to what he is able to do to actually help the girl. The Oracle is a wondrous person, but one of the downsides to the job – no ambrosia or nectar. It kills you.
Rachel E. Dare just curls closer in on herself and shivers again.
Chiron rolls into the room. "Stand aside child. Let me see her." He leans over her, rests a cool hand on her perspiring, warm forehead. "Rachel, can you hear me?"
Rachel gives a small nod and shudders again.
"Why is Rachel in the medical bay?" Chiron asks Will, who turns beet red and stammers out his answer.
"Well, the Hermes kids, and us Apollo guys were horsing around, and we kind of accidentally... trampled her."
"You what?"
That's not a pretty tone of voice.
Will flushes. "We were running around on the beach, and she was kind of... asleep on the sand, and some of the Hermes kids ran over her. I think Connor kicked her in the head."
Chiron sighs, allows himself a very big mental face-palm, a modern expression he's become rather fond of when a scolding just won't cover it, and then drags a real hand down his face, trying to rub away the disappointment that he can just feel filling up all of the wrinkles in his skin. "You... trampled... our Oracle?"
"Well, not me. I was here in the hospital, taking care of that satyr who accidentally got hit in the chest with a Hephaestus hammer. But yes, she was trampled."
It sounds like a stupid story, but Chiron doesn't doubt the damage the Hermes and the Apollo kids can cause combined.
"So when did this start?" He asks, looking down at the trembling girl. Will Solace shrugs.
"I just got here."
Oka–
Rachel, gasping, emerald eyes wide and fiery hair matted and wild, sits bolt upright, rasping for breath and still shivering violently. Will backs away a half-step. Chiron wheels forward, and attempts to press the back of his hand to her forehead. He can feel the mixed vibes of baking hot but clammy cold on her skin. Serpentine green replaces what was once leafy green irises, and Rachel's voice magnifies.
"Child of the sea. Save him. Taken by the ones who protect, pursued by the ones who fight. Save him from heroes. SAVE HIM!"
It's not a prophecy she's billowing in that raspy, serpentine voice, but a warning, or maybe one of the more sinister things from one of Rachel's visions. Will looks like he wants to bail, run out the door, down the lawn and all the way back to cabin number seven, probably to hide out underneath his bunk. Telling the future is cool and all, he knows, Apollo kids will get snippets of it, like what type of yogurt they'll be serving at breakfast in the morning, but glowing, acidic, entirely green eyes and raspy voices sound like something out of a bad horror film.
Meanwhile, Rachel's eyes clear and lighten, the iris reappearing from beneath a cloud of murky emerald smoke, and she coughs feebly, a pale freckled hand rising to cover her mouth. "Chiron? What am I doing here?" She pauses at the expression on Will's face, the stance of him backed against the wall. "And why do you look like you're about to pee yourself?"
Will laughs awkwardly and excuses himself, half humiliated, half indignant, half terrified and half stupid, because four halves don't equal a whole.
Chiron helps to prop her up against the headboard of her cot. "Something about an incident with the Hermes and Apollo cabins, I believe. The more important question, though, is what were you dreaming about just then?"
She flushes red. "Percy – not like that, Annabeth would kill me – he was... sitting in some kind of examination room. And I think Iron Man was there, except... he wasn't wearing that big suit, he was just –"
"Tony Stark." Chiron inputs helpfully.
"Right, Tony Stark walked in, and I couldn't hear anything, but there was another guy there too. They were talking to Percy, right, and Tony had a needle – like, a syringe – and Percy started laughing, and then they tried to take his blood, but..." Rachel trailed off awkwardly.
Chiron has a moment of dawning realization. "But due to the Mark of Achilles being in place, the needle either shattered or ricocheted off his skin entirely, immediately alerting them to... Oh dear."
Rachel swallows. "It shattered. Tiny shards went flying all over."
"I expected nothing less. What I wish to know is why Percy is with Iron Man of all people in the first place. Unless he's captured him, which could only lead to one ultimate goal, which is to... Well, we'll worry about that later. For now, I think we had best contact Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Blofis, to inform them on the current situation. I think... Yes, Iris Message should do." Chiron presses a golden drachma into Rachel's palm. "Would you kindly collect Grover from the forest, and then the two of you can then proceed to inform Percy's parents of his situation?"
Rachel swallows again, but slowly begins to rise, sliding her legs out from underneath the fleece blankets and standing. "You're not doing it?" She asks cautiously.
Chiron laughs. There is a moment where his humor echoes around the room, and they stare at each other. "Oh, no. I have other businesses to take care of. Plus, I do believe Mrs. Jackson could see a friendly face."
Rachel nods half-heartedly. "Right."
Chiron sends her a smile, pushes the wheels of his mobile chair into action, and rolls out the open doorway.