ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

ꨄ

𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝
𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏
𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚜.
𝚠𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜
𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛
𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜

𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝙰𝚗𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎

Tʜᴀɴᴋғᴜʟʟʏ ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡᴀs ɪɴᴊᴜʀᴇᴅ by Thalia's less than adequate driving skills.

Polaris had never seen Camp Half-Blood in winter before, and the snow surprised her.

See, the camp has the ultimate magic climate control. Nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Mr. D, wants it to.

She thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead, the snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like  Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body.

Polaris didn't know if she was comfortable leaving an unsupervised flame next to a very flammable mummy, inside a very flammable house.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," Percy said."Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge." Polaris offered.

"Come on. We'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoë, have you met-"

"I know Chiron," Zoë said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here if you don't"-he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking-"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoë rolled her eyes, but Polaris guessed she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back on the bus. "Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave her a wicked smile as if he knew something she didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. They turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When Polaris looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.