warrior ( RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE. )

iii. THE CAMPFIRE

WARRIOR!
( chapter three )

A FEW HOURS after Ingrid's mishap, the campfire was in full swing. The Apollo cabin was leading what would normally be her favorite song, but she wasn't much into it that night. Her mind was too busy roaming with millions of thoughts, as if it were on overdrive. Casey, being the nosy twin brother he is, immediately took notice.

"Ing, this is your favorite song! C'mon, sing about how a grandma gets dressed for war with us," He pouted but Ingrid just shook her head, making Casey frown. "Okay, what's wrong. You don't act like this unless something's wrong."

Ingrid shrugged. "Nothing's wrong, I'm just not in the mood for singing tonight."

"Ingrid, you're scaring me. Just tell me-"

Casey was cut off by the sound of Chiron's booming voice. "Very nice! And a very special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities directors, and I am happy you have all arrived her alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we will get to s'mores, but first —"

"What about capture the flag?" Casey yelled, as if his pressuring had never happened. Ingrid rolled her eyes, already tired of Casey's forgetfulness and heckling antics.

"Yes, I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games." Chiron said.

"And kill people!" Casey said, earning a punch in the arm from Ingrid.

"However, until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?" Chiron said.

At that, Nyssa Barrera stood. Ingrid always admired her, but the two never talked, although she wished they did. "We're working on it."

"How, Nyssa?" Casey demanded.

"Really hard, Casey." Nyssa said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice before sitting down hastily. The fire sputtered in the middle from everyone's yelling, but was soon interrupted by the bang of Chiron's hooves.

"We will have to be patient," He said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" Someone asked, presumably someone from the Aphrodite cabin. They were all obsessed with him, despite the fact that he's dating Annabeth.

"I didn't find Percy," Annabeth said as she stood. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis — everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" Drew Tanaka called out. Ingrid snapped her head in her direction, raising her eyebrows. She didn't expect something so smart to come out of the girl's mouth.

"Drew? What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, come on. Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?" She said.

There was a buzz of whispers from the campers, but all of them looked to one person.

"Well? You're the oracle. Has it started or not?" Drew called out to Rachel.