Pyrrhic

━━ XIV

"THERE'S A DRAGON!" Lee screamed, the previous sound of the cabin door violently crashing against the wall waking her up instantly.

It wasn't morning yet—it was late at night, given the silence outside and the deep darkness coating the room. All she could perceive with her tired, sleepy eyes was the shaky silhouette of the tallest boy of Cabin Seven, Lee Fletcher, on the threshold, golden bow in hand.

"Yeah, that's Peleus," Michael said from his bed, voice slightly muffled by the pillow he hugged and where he rested his face, but nothing could hide the annoyance in his tone. He valued his sleep as if it were pure gold. "He tends to guard the Golden Fleece, sometimes."

Some chuckles, some groans. None of the children of Apollo were fond of the lack of sun. They thrived at daylight.

"No, you idiot." Lee sighed. Lyra saw him move towards each and every bed, watching who was awake and who wasn't. He shook those that were conscious, and lowered his voice to let the others sleep. "There's an Aethiopian drakon at the borders."

"First of all, please mind the difference between dragons and drakons." Kenji said, as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Second, why is it a problem? We have the magical boundaries and stuff."

"He can't get in, but it still prowls the hills. I think he's looking for weak spots."

Before Lee could reach Michael's bed, the farthest away from the door, the short boy quickly got up and put on his sneakers. Lyra could discern a muderous expression on his face. No one disturbed his sleep. She had learnt that quite quickly. "Then we'd better show him his weak spot."

Drakon's had no weak spot. At least, none they could find.

After running after the monster for about three hours, it decided to retreat, kind enough to let them have a few hours of sleep. While it had a couple dozen Apollo's children's golden and Lyra's silver arrows lodged in the chinks of its armor, she knew none had damaged it enough. An hour lost, both for them and the drakon, for there were no weak spots in their defense.

At least, none the drakon could find.

The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast. Those that had aided in the pursuit in middle of the night were easily distinguishable from the rest of their cabinmates: dark circles under their eyes were enough to know. Lyra had never had them until that summer, when she'd started patroling when needed, as well as any other camper.

Well, it was not as if she had any reason to have them before she was human. She guessed it was something that came hand in hand with mortality: exhaustion.

As she sat down with her cabin, sharing their only meal together, Lee was called to the front during announcements, to share with everyone what had happened that night.

"It's still out there," Lee warned them, after retelling the story. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. Its eyes—" he shuddered.

She almost shuddered with him, as did his siblings. None of them could sleep very well once they got back to the cabin. The memory of those eyes haunted them until the sun rose, and their conscience allowed them to rest for a few minutes.

"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. He sent them a smile as well. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."

"Aye," Quintus said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."

The campers murmured among themselves.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of them expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that their attendance was down. They only had about eighty campers. Her friends had told her that some years ago, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared. She didn't know what was worse.