The Festus Chronicles

The Beginning of Chaos

Frank POV

Things weren't going well at Camp Jupiter.
He hadn't told Rachel everything in his iris message. It would have taken too long.
Even before Reyna had gone missing things had been bad. Now she was gone it was even worse. Monsters had been attacking constantly and he wasn't sure how much longer they could hold out. Even just today they'd had two dracnae attacks, one dragon attack and three cyclops attacks. The infirmary was overflowing with the wounded. Soon there wasn't going to be anyone left on fighting shape to protect the camp.

Frank sighed. Just his luck. As soon as the giant war was over and things were looking up this happened. It had become hard to keep the legionares in line since Reyna had gone which made things even worse.

He stared at the setting sun. Under normal circumstances he would have enjoyed the view but he had too much on his mind.
He didn't notice Hazel coming behind him until dhe took his hand.
"Hey." She said.
"Hey." He replied
They both leaned against the rail. He could tell Hazel was just as worried about Reyna and the camp as he was.
"Annabeth iris messaged," she told him "She says they've sent search parties out to look for Reyna."
He nodded, relieved.
"Good," he said "We can't spare anyone here."
"Yeah." She agreed.
He heard the dinner bell in the distance.
"Come on," he said "We need to get to dinner."
The two of them wandered off towards the dining area.

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Hazel POV

After dinner Hazel went on guard duty.
The monster attacks bothered her. It was no accident they started while they were still recovering. Not only that but they were organized. You didn't get many organized monster attacks, not independent ones. She was sure it was part of something bigger.
But she didn't have time to think right now. She had to stay alert.

She patrolled the border around the city, glancing round as she went. She kept her hand on her spatha. One couldn't be too careful.

She patrolled for about half an hour. Nothing had attacked yet but she couldn't afford to relax.
Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She turned but there was nothing there. A shiver ran down her spine. Shaking her head, she walked on.

She saw it again, but again there dudn't seem to be anything there.
Suddenly a rock whizzed through the air. It caught her cheek and a line of blood dripped down. She quickly unsheathed her spatha and spun round trying to locate the thrower.
Then she saw it. There was a surprisingly human - like figure to her left. The figure advanced, swinging a blade. It certainly didn't look friendly.
She blocked the first strike with her sword. It swung again and she only just parried the blade. She might have been able to subdue it but just then a second figure stepped out the shadows. She could have sworn it hadn't been there before. Then another apeared to her right. Then another. Okay, she was in trouble.
Three of them advanced all at once. She defended herself desperately. The last one snuck up behind her and hit the butt of it's sword on top of her head.

Everything went black.

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Frank POV

Frank had thought his day couldn't get any worse.
Reyna being missing, most legionares in the infirmary, camp might not make the night - Nothing could be worse than that right?
Wrong.
After hearing Hazel had also gone missing, Frank wanted to go to his bed and stay there for ever. Undortunately, he had a legion to lead and Hazel wasn't going to find herself.
Frank went over to the fountain in the Garden of Bacchus to send an iris message. The fountain sent up a good spray. He fished a golden drachma out of his pocket.
"Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, show me Percy Jackson at Camp Half Blood."
Percy appeared in the rainbow, sitting next to the lake.
"Hey Frank," he said, not seeming surprised to see him "Rachel says Reyna has gone missing."
"She's not the only one," Frank said sorrowfully "Hazel's missing too."
"What?!"
"She disappeared while on patrol tonight. We can't afford to spare anyone to search for her."
"What do you mean 'can't afford to spare anyone'? Is something going on over there?"
"Yeah. The camps being attacked constantly. The infirmary is overflowing."
"Ah."
"Yeah. It's not fun."

There was suddenly a crash in the background. Percy cursed and let to his feet. He ran off with riptide drawn.

Then there was the same sound on Frank 's side of the message. He turned and couldn't believe what he saw.