Child of lightning-Percy Jackson X reader-Book two

Suffocating is the best!

Remember back when I mentioned that I could on occasion run super fast? Well the centaurs were on a whole different level. It was like they started out normal and then within seconds BAM! You had crossed a state. Due to that we got to camp pretty darn fast. Only about ten minutes after Clarisse arrived to be exact. I was glad the ride was quick because after only a minute I could tell things were awkward. No one wanted to talk, especially not about Kronos. Not that we talked about him a lot before but...you get my point, right? We all rode in silence.

It was a little strange, the fact that Kronos was Chiron's dad. This quest in a way kind of opened my eyes to something. Sure, my dad wasn't winning any prizes but...in the end he was okay. I mean, at least he wasn't Ares or you know who. My dad wasn't great and he was almost never there for me but in a way that felt like a good thing. It wasn't as if I really wanted him to hang around. He kept his distance and for the most part let me just live my life. It also didn't hurt that he wasn't some evil mastermind running around trying to destroy western civilization.

When we did arrive to camp I was in for a few whacky surprises. For one, all of the centaurs seemed to flock immediately to Mr. D. They tried to say something about him throwing the craziest parties but Mr. D quickly turned them away. I found myself laughing at the sight. From the time I had known Dionysus he did not seem like the kind of guy to throw raves.

It was almost immediately apparent that everyone had experienced a rough couple of weeks. The biggest sign was that there was no longer an arts and crafts cabin. Where it used to stand there was just a large pile of ruins. I asked around and apparently a Draco Aionius (which as near as I could figure was Latin for "really-big-lizard-with-breath-that-blows-stuff-up") had burned it to the ground. Good riddance, I never really liked that cabin anyways. Always found myself sitting on disregarded staples.

Unfortunately though, the Draco Aionius wasn't camp's worst monster that had shown up while I had been gone. The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid.

All of the campers who only last summer wore smiles and laughs now just looked tired and battered. Everyone grouped up around Thalia's tree once the word spread that all of us, including Chiron, were back.

The second that Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest branch, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to a liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the leaves and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. It was as if everything became more sharp and clear—the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the strawberry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

Slowly, the needles on the pine tree started turning from a lifeless brown to glimmering green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening gradually but there was no doubt in anyone's mind—the Fleece's magic was working. The tree wouldn't die.

Despite all of that, Chiron still smartly ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he'd place an ad in Olympus Weekly as fast as possible.

For now, Clarisse was carried on her cabin mates shoulders down to the amphitheater, where she was honored with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Annabeth, Percy or I much more than a glance. It was as if we'd never left. In a way, I guess that was the best thank you we could get. If they admitted we'd snuck out of camp to do the quest, they'd have to expel us and I was starting to get really tired of being kicked out of places. Really though, I felt happy for Clarisse. It was nice for her to get some appreciation. None of our group needed anymore of that. I was just happy to be one of the regular campers.