Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER FOUR

Rachel had eventually found Argus a bucket and caught up to Tori and Piper. The three girls silently walked forwards the campfire.

Tori had always loved campfires. The amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.

When they entered Tori immediately saw Annabeth. "I'm gonna go sit by Annie, do you two want to join?"

Piper shook her head and Tori took that as a hint she didn't want to be by Jason, as she had also noticed him with Annabeth. Rachel, probably not wanting Piper to be lonely, shook her head no and the girls went their separate ways.

"Hey Tori," Annabeth greeted as the younger girl sat between the two blondes.

"Sup guys," Tori said.

"How's-"

"Piper's fine. She's a little shaken up, but other than that she is perfectly healthy," Tori said cutting off Jason. He stayed silent but gave her a small smile.

Tori turned her attention to the front of the fire, half a dozen Apollo campers with guitars and lyres were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. Everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. It was quite possibly the weirdest thing most people will ever see —one of those campfire songs that would've been completely embarrassing in daylight; but in the dark, with everybody participating, it was corny but fun. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

The song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. Chiron trotted up to front sporting a brandished spear with 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?" An Ares kid yelled. Grumbling broke out among the siblings in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head.

"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 and Tori rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Barker, everyone knows I would kick your ass like I have the last seven times!" Tori yelled at the kid who shouted before.

The comment received many "Oooooohs" from campers. Barker glared at Tori and flipped her off, Tori returned the gesture.

"However," Chiron said trying to get the conversation back on track, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

The girl next to Leo, who Tori completely forgot was here, stood uncomfortably. Her name was Nyssa and she wore an army jacket a lot like Leo's, with her hair covered in a red bandanna. "We're working on it."

More grumbling this time not just from the Ares cabin.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard," she said.

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, but Tori didn't need the mood flames to sense the crowd's anxiety.