𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

*Chapter 23*

(Did I do this late because I forgot? Yeah. But we don't talk about that)

Twenty-three
𖤐

We Say Good-bye, sort of

Camp went late that summer. It lasted two more weeks, right up to the start of a new school year, and I have to admit they were the best two weeks of my life.

  Of course, Annabeth would kill me if I said anything different, but there was a lot of other great stuff going on too. Grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods. So far, the gods had kept their promise. New demigods were popping up all over the place—not just in America, but in a lot of other countries as well. I finally had some people to talk to that understood Spanish.

  "We can hardly keep up," Grover admitted one afternoon as we were taking a break at the canoe lake. "We're going to need a bigger travel budget, and I could use a hundred more satyrs."

  "Yeah, but the satyrs you have are working super hard," I said. "I think they're scared of you."

  Grover blushed. "That's silly. I'm not scary."

  "You're a lord of the Wild, dude. The chosen one of Pan. A member of the Council of—"

  "Stop it!" Grover protested. "You're as bad as Juniper. I think she wants me to run for president next."

  He chewed on a tin can as we stared across the pond at the line of new cabins under construction. The U-shape would soon be a complete rectangle, and the demigods had really taken to the new task with gusto.

  Nico had some undead builders working on the Hades cabin. Even though he was still the only kid in
it, it was going to look pretty cool: solid obsidian walls with a skull over the door and torches that burned
with green fire twenty-four hours a day. Next to that were the cabins of Iris, Nemesis, Hecate, and several
others I didn't recognize. They kept adding new ones to the blueprints every day. It was going so well,
Annabeth and Chiron were talking about adding an entirely new wing of cabins just so they could have enough room.

  The Hermes cabin was a lot less crowded now, because most of the unclaimed kids had received signs from their godly parents. It happened almost every night, and every night more demigods straggled over the property line with the satyr guides, usually with some nasty monsters pursuing them, but almost all of them made it through.

  "It's going to be a lot different next summer," I said. "Chiron's expecting we'll have twice as many campers."

  "Yeah," Grover agreed, "but it'll be the same old place."

  He sighed contentedly.

  I watched as Tyson led a group of Cyclops builders. They were hoisting huge stones in place for the Hecate cabin, and I knew it was a delicate job. Each stone was engraved with magical writing, and if they dropped one, it would either explode or turn everyone within half a mile into a tree. I figured nobody but Grover would like that.

  "I'll be traveling a lot," Grover warned, "between protecting nature and finding half-bloods. I may not see you as much."

  "Won't change anything," I said. "You're still my friend."

  He grinned. "Let me guess, Annabeth still takes first place."

  "That's different."

  "Yeah," he agreed. "It sure is."

  In the late afternoon, I was taking one last walk along the woods when a familiar voice said, "The forest feels stronger. Tell your friend Grover he made a good job."