The Champion {Book One} (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

The Border Breaks

Nico's P.o.V.

The next morning, all the few demigods that had stayed, left. All who were present were the 5 (Hazel and Frank left to Camp Jupiter) plus the Stolls, Cammy, Pollux, Calypso, and some other random demigod. And...me.

Everybody sat at their own tables, me at the Hades. The Stolls each sat at the end of their table, guess Travis didn't take my advice. The 5, plus Calypso, sat at the edges, talking non-stop. Each couple held hands.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl with black hair and brown eyes slide in next to Cammy. The random demigod. She smiled at Cammy and nearly squeezed the life out of her. The daughter of Apollo gasped for air as the other giggled, trying to apologize.

Then I accidentally met eye contact with Cammy. Instead of glaring at me, she did something that surprised me. She gave me a warm smile and waved frantically, mouthing the word 'sorry'. I returned the wave and mouthed back, 'sorry'. Cammy gave me one last smile and returned back to her chat with the demigod that nearly killed her with a hug.

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Annabeth's P.o.V.

Things were going pretty well, just another normal day (if demigods do have them), until the hydra had arrived.

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We sat at the Dinning Pavilion, chatting amongst one another. I held hands with Percy, from the edges of our seats. Him and Leo were in the middle of deciding who was "more awesome." If I had a voice in it, I would vote Leo.

Then out of the trees, I saw it, but I wasn't the only one. Cammy and Jason had also spotted it from their tables, looking closely, seeing whether it would leave in defeat or try to conquer the border. The hydra exhaled fire, up and down, left to right, scratching wildly. That's when everyone finally took notice. Chiron shifted uncomfortably in his wheelchair. Something didn't seem right. I should have taken notice when I had the chance.

Leo hopped out of his bench, breaking from Calypso's grip. He wore a serious face, as close to a serious face as he could do. "This dude thinks he is the only one with fire power?" He grinned. "Who do you think you are?!" The Stolls sighed in annoyance, look who's talking.

The monster seemed to respond, as he threw all nine heads up and sent fire everywhere, catching some trees ablaze. A few nymphs scattered from the area. Grover nearly fainted at the sight, but Juniper caught him in time. Smoke seized from the scene. All was happening too fast, none of us were even out of our seats yet.

Suddenly a saytr sprang out of the woods, trying to fan out a tree that was on fire. A nymph lay on the soil, fluttering her eyes. The hydra closed in. The saytr either had a lot of guts or was not thinking straight, because he jumped right in between the nymph and hydra. Then the hydra swatted the young soul away.

"LEVI!!" Cammy screamed. She took off running, no weapon to be seen.

"Cammy!" Pollux called, but it was no use.

I felt a tug at my heart. We were just standing back, watching in fear. But why were we so afraid of just one hydra? We defeated monsters more highly than that.

We were all still frozen. Nico was the only one with a piece of mind by then. He stood up, sword in hand, ready to chase after the daughter of Apollo, but Chiron held his hand out. Something had changed in the atmosphere. I felt as if I was....stuck.

"None of you shall help her," he said calmly. "She needs to show what she can do in combat."

"B-But Chiron! We need to help her! She doesn't even have a-," Connor blurted.

"We must see," was Chiron's only response.

Then I realized....this was Chiron's magic at work. That was the reason why none of moved when the hydra showed.

"This is a test, it's set up," I thought aloud. All heads turned to me. I felt myself blush.

Chiron spoke, "Well, I was expecting a much weaker monster, not a mighty hydra."

We looked in Cammy's direction. She had stopped running. That's when we knew something had gone horribly wrong.