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Rory missed Chiron.
He and Mr. D were the only constants in her life. She had seen dozens and dozens of campers come and go, and unfortunately, Rory was no stranger to those around her dying. But in her entire life, she had never spent more than two months apart from the centaur.
Until now. Where for the past eight months, Chiron had gone undercover to some boarding school in New York. Apparently, the satyr that had been placed at Yancy Academy — her friend, Grover — had sensed something special about a student. Special enough that Chiron went to scout out the possible half-blood.
That left Mr. D as the only adult in charge of Camp Half-Blood — meaning that Rory was really the one running the camp. Luckily enough for her, Chiron was only gone while school was in session and there weren't too many campers who stayed year long.
It was May when Rory finally heard from Grover. There was only one month left of the spring semester and one month left before Chiron and Grover returned to camp. He had called to tell her about the half-blood they had been surveilling. Apparently, a Fury (or what they called a Kindly One), had been posing as their math teacher and attacked the boy during a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Since that day, both Grover and Chiron had been keeping Rory updated, and similarly Rory kept the two up on what was going on around camp.
Now it was the first week of June.
Within the next week, half-bloods will be returning to camp for the summer, as well as Chiron and Grover, and her home won't feel as empty for the next three months.
Rory and her best friend Annabeth Chase were sitting on the stairs of the Big House talking about a book on architecture the latter was reading when they spotted Chiron trotting up Half-Blood Hill. They both immediately jumped up and ran towards the centaur. Both girls wrapped their arms around him — although they only reached where his chest turned into horse legs.
Chiron let out a surprised laugh, patting both of their backs. "It is good to see you two," he said, amusement laced in his voice.
The girls pulled away and Chiron knelt his front two legs so that he could be eye level with the twelve year olds.
"Oh, Chiron! Camp's been terrible without you," Rory sighed dramatically, dragging her hands down her face.
Chiron laughed again. "Oh, Aurora. I'm sure you kept camp running smoothly in my absence."
"She did," Annabeth told him, smiling proudly at her friend. But after a moment, her face dropped and her eyes widened. She whipped her head back to face Chiron. "Is he the one?"
Rory gently placed her hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "Annie, he's not even here. You should know that we can't assume anything until he's at camp," she told her softly.
