𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 3

Three
𖧷

Tag, You're It

  The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.

  Apparently around three in the morning an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of camp. I was so exhausted I slept right through the noise. The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in our defenses, and it didn’t seem anxious to go away until Lee Fletcher from Apollo’s cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon’s armor, it got the message and withdrew.

  "It’s still out there," Lee warned us during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It’s eyes—" he shuddered.

  "You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "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 us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn’t help that our attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. Three years ago, when I’d started, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.

  "This is a good reason for new war games," Quintus continued, a glint in his eyes. "We’ll see how you all do with that tonight."

  "Yes… " Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods."

  We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.

  When it was my turn to offer some of my food, I tossed in a big, juicy green apple, and prayed the gods would accept fruit instead of an actual treat or wine.

  "Artemis," I said, then hushed my tone. "Please, help me with Nico, and Luke."

  There was so much to worry about I could’ve stood there all morning, but I headed back to my table.

  After everyone had started eating, Chiron trotted over, Grover was near him. Grover
was bleary-eyed. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped opposite to me.

  Chiron tried for a smile. He probably wanted to look reassuring, but in centaur form he towered over me, casting a shadow across the table. "Well, (y/n), how did you sleep?"

  "Uhh, I slept pretty well." I wondered why he asked that. Was it possible he knew something about the weird Iris-message I’d gotten?

  "I brought Grover over," Chiron said, "because I thought you two might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Iris-messages to send. I’ll see you later in the day." He gave Grover a meaningful look, then trotted out of the pavilion.

  "What’s he talking about?" I asked Grover.

  Grover chewed his eggs. I could tell he was distracted, because he bit the tines of his fork and chewed those down, too. "He wants you to convince me," he mumbled.

  I was about to ask why Percy couldn't do that, when somebody else slid next to me on the bench: Annabeth.

  "I’ll tell you what it’s about," she said. "The Labyrinth."