Next Generation Demigods - in School?

5: We Meet the Hunter's Daughter.

(Bianca's POV)

After we had all said our "Goodbye"s, I went back to the Hades cabin, where I live with Alex, to get my things. As an afterthought, I took the small Hades figurine from my nightstand. I'd been told its story, but I had trouble believing that it had cost my namesake her life. Regardless, I made sure that nothing happened to it. While I walked back to Half-Blood Hill, I found myself thinking again about the quest where Aunt Bianca had stolen it for my dad.

Apparently, the mission had been to save Artemis from the titan "General". My favorite part was that Percy and Thalia had constantly gotten into fights. I really liked Thalia, especially since whenever she visited, she teased all of her friends for having gotten "so old". I was so lost in thought that I ran straight into my dad.

"Papa! Hi."

"Hey, Bianca," he said. "Listen, I want you to tell me something. Are you sure that you're ready for school? I used to have random bursts of dark energy until I was fifteen, at least. You're only twelve."

My dad was always worried about me. "I'll be fine. Besides, aren't you going to be at home?"

"Yes, I am going home so that I can be with you," he told me. "But I can't always be with you."

"Papa, it's fine. Amala will be there," I said, reffering to my best friend.

"I know. It's just. . . I worry. As a demigod, you can never be too sure when you'll lose someone you love."

"I won't leave you."

For a second, we stood in comfortable silence. (It's a Hades thing, not liking noise.) Then we both started towards the camp's borders. We reached the bottom of the hill, and CJ came running towards us.

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" she yelled.

"Gods, CJ, we heard you the first time," Papa laughed.

"There's something going on at Thalia's tree!" she explained, her eyes wide.

The three of us ran up the hill to the rest of the group, and when we got there, the pine tree was glowing silver.

Chiron, noticing that we had arrived, said: "So far, a silver orb has come from that direction." He pointed West. "As near as I can figure, it was a fragment of Thalia's soul. It flew into the tree, and that's why it's glowing."

We all watched as the ground began to tremble and a gold glow flowed from the roots, to the trunk, to the branches, to the needles, and suddenly, a blast of wind pushed my hair out of my face. Lying in the roots was a girl with long, sandy blond hair.

Finally, Chiron stepped forward. "Who are you?"

The girl looked up, revealing electric blue eyes like Jason's. "I'm Brielle. Brielle Castellan."