Michille Bolivar

away chased by a band of supernatural killing machines. You know, your typical chance meeting. Some guy behind us whispered, “Hey, shut up. The cheerleaders are talking!” “Hi, guys!” a girl bubbled into the microphone. It was the blonde I’d seen at the entrance. “My name is Tammi, and this is like, Kelli.” Kelli did a cartwheel. Next to me, Rachel yelped like someone had stuck her with a pin. A few kids looked over and snickered, but Rachel just stared at the cheerleaders in horror. Tammi didn’t seem to notice the outburst. She started talking about all the great ways we could get involved during our freshman year. “Run,” Rachel told me.” “Now” “Why?” Rachel didn’t explain. She pushed her way to the edge of the bleachers, ignoring the frowning teachers and grumbling kids she was stepping on. I hesitated. Tammi was explaining how we were about to break into small groups and tour the school. Kelli caught my eye and gave me an amused smile, like she was waiting to see what I’d do. It would look bad if I left right now. Paul Blofis was down there with the rest of the teachers. He’d wonder what was wrong. Then I thought about Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and the special ability she’d shown last winter at Hoover Dam. She’d been able to see a group of security guards who weren’t guards at all, who weren’t even human. My heart pounding, I got up and followed her out of the gym. *** I found Rachel in the band room. She was hiding behind a bass drum in the percussion section. “Get over here!” she said. “Keep your head down!” I felt pretty silly hiding behind a bunch of bongos, but I crouched down beside her. “Did they follow you?” Rachel asked. “You mean the cheerleaders?” She nodded nervously. “I don’t think so,” I said. “What are they? What did you see?” Her green eyes were bright with fear. She had a sprinkle of freckles on her face that reminded me of constellations. Her maroon T-shirt read HARVARD ART DEPT. “You… you wouldn’t believe me.” “You’re going to the movies .” “Yeah.” “ Just the two of you.” “Mom!” She held up her hands in surrender, but I could tell she was trying hard not to smile. “You’d better get inside, dear. I’ll see you tonight.” I was about to get out of the car when I looked over the steps of the school. Paul Blofis was greeting a girl with frizzy red hair. She wore a maroon T-shirt and ratty jeans decorated with marker drawings. When she turned, I caught a glimpse of her face, and the hairs on my arms stood straight up. “Percy?” my mom asked. “What’s wrong?” “N-nothing,” I stammered.” Does the school have a side entrance?” “Down the block on the right. Why?” “I’ll see you later.” My mom started to say something. But I go out of the car and ran, hoping that the redheaded girl wouldn’t see me. What was she doing here? Not even my luck could get a lot worse. *** Sneaking into orientation didn’t work out too well. Two cheerleaders in purple-and-white uniforms were standing at the side entrance, waiting to ambush freshmen. “Hi!” They smiled , which I figured was the first and last time any cheerleaders would be that friendly to me. One was blond with icy blue eyes. The other was African American with dark curly hair like Medusa’s(and believe me, I know what I’m talking about). Both girls had their names stitched in cursive on their uniforms, but with my dyslexia, the words looked liked meaningless spaghetti. “Welcome to Goode,” the blond girl said. “ You are so going to love it.” But as she looked me up and down, her expression said something more like , Eww, who is this loser? The other girl stepped uncomfortably close to me. I studied the stitching on her uniform and made out kelli. She smelled like roses and something else I recognized from riding lessons at camp----the scent of freshly washed horses. It was a weird smell for a cheerleader. Maybe she owned a horse or something. Anyway, she stood so close I got the feeling she was going to try to push me down the steps. “what’s your name fish?” TWO THE UNDERWORLD SENDS ME A PRANK CALL Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with an angry girl. I tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like I’d just punched her grandmother. All I managed to get out of her was that she’d had a monster -infested spring in San Francisco; she’d comeback to camp twice since Christmas but wouldn’t tell me why (which kind of ticked me off, because she hadn’t even told me she was in New York); and she’d learned nothing about the whereabouts of Nico De Angelo (long story) “Any word on Luke?” I asked. She shook her head. I know this was touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed us and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn’t admit it, but I know she still liked him. When we’d fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter , he’d somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. Now, as far as I know, he was still sailing around on his demon -infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods. In demon-speak, we call this a “problem” “Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters,” Annabeth said. “I didn’t dare go close, but I don’t think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was .” That didn’t make me feel much better. “ What about Grover?” “He’s at camp,” she said. “We’ll see him today.” “Did he gave any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?” Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she’s worried. “You’ll see,” she said. But she didn’t explain. As we headed through Brooklyn, I used Annabeth’s phone to call my mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if we can avoid it, because broadcasting our voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters. Here I am! Please eat me now! But I figured this call was important. I left a message on our home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode. Probably didn’t do a very good job. I told my mom I was fine, she shouldn’t worry but I was going to stay at camp until things cooled down. I asked her to tell Paul Blofis I was sorry. We rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands. I stared at the phone number Rachel Elizabeth Dare had scrawled on my hand. I know it was crazy, but I was tempted to call her. Maybe she could help me understand what the empousa had been talking about─ the camp burning, my friends imprisoned. And why had Kelli exploded into flames? I knew monsters never truly died. Eventually─ maybe weeks, months, or years from now─ Kelli would re-form out of the primordial nastiness seething in the Underworld. But still, monsters didn’t usually let themselves get destroyed so easily. If she really was destroyed. The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill. The driver frowned. “there ain’t nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?” “Yes please,” Annabeth handed hm a roll of mortal cash, and the driver decided not to argue. Annabeth and I hiked to the crest of the hill. The young guardian dragon was dozing, coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and went cross-eyed with pleasure. “Hey, Peleus,” Annabeth said. “Keep everything safe?” The last time I’d seen the dragon he’d been six feet long. Now he was at least twice that, and as thick around as the tree itself. Above his head, on the lowest branch of the pine tree, the Golden Fleece shimmered, its magic protecting the camp’s borders from invasion. The dragon seemed relax, like everything was okay. Below us, Camp Half-blood looked peaceful─ green fields, forest, shiny white Greek buildings. The four-story farmhouse we called the Big House sat proudly in the midst of the strawberry fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight. Still… something felt wrong. There was tension in the air, as if the hill itself were holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen. We walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, so I already felt out of it. The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the “Fish?” “Freshman.” “Uh, Percy.” The girls exchanged looks. “Oh, Percy Jackson,” the blond one said. “We’ve been waiting for you.” That sent a major Uh-oh chill down my back. They were blocking the entrance, smiling in a not-very-friendly way. My hand crept instinctively toward my pocket, where I kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. Then another voice came from inside the building. “Percy?” It was Paul Blofis, somewhere down the hallway. I’d never been so glad to hear his voice. The cheerleaders backed off. I was so anxious to get past them I accidentally kneed Kelli in the night. Clang. Her leg made a hallow, metallic sound, like I’d just hit a flagpole. “Ow,” she muttered. “Watch it, fish.” I glanced down, but her leg looked like a regular old leg. I was too freaked out to ask questions. I dashed into the hall, the cheerleaders laughing behind me. “There you are!” Paul told me. “Welcome to Goode!” “Hey, Paul─ uh, Mr. Blofis.” I glanced back, but the weird cheerleaders had disappeared. “Percy, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “Yeah, uh─” Paul clapped me on the back. “Listen, I know you’re nervous, but don’t worry. We get a lot of kids here with ADHD and dyslexia. The teachers know how to help. I almost wanted to laugh. If only ADHD and dyslexia were my biggest worries. I mean, I knew Paul was trying to help, but if I told him the truth about me, he’d either think I was crazy or he’d run away screaming. Those cheerleaders, for instance. I had a bad feeling about them… Then I looked down the hall, and I remembered I had another problem. The redheaded girl I’d seen on the front steps was just coming in the main entrance. Don’t notice me, I prayed. She noticed me. Her eyes widened. “Where’s the orientation?” I asked Paul. “The gym. That way, But─” While he worked, Tyson told us about his year under the sea. His eye lit up when he described the Cyclopes’ forges and the palace of Poseidon, but he also us how tense things were. The old gods of the sea, who’d ruled during Titan times, were starting to make war on our father. When Tyson had left, battles had been ranging all over the Atlantic. Hearing that made me feel anxious, like I should be helping out, but Tyson assured me that Dad wanted us both at camp. “Lots of bad people above the sea, too,” Tyson said. “We can make them go boom.” After the forges, we spent some time at the canoe lake with Annabeth. She was really glad to see Tyson, but I tell she was distracted. She kept looking over the forest, like she was thinking about Grover’s problem with the council. I couldn’t blame her. Grover was nowhere to be seen, and I felt really bad for him. Finding the lost god Pan had been his lifelong goal. His father and his uncle had both disappeared following the same dream. Last winter, Grover had heard a voice in his head: I wait you─ a voice he was sure belonged to Pan─ but apparently his search had le nowhere. If the council took away his searcher’s license now, it would crush him. “What’s this ‘other way’?” I asked Annabeth. “The thing Clarisse mentioned?” She picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake. “Something Clarisse scouted out. I helped her a little this spring. But it would be dangerous. Especially for Grover.” “Goat boy scares me,” Tyson murmured. I stared at him. Tyson had faced down fire-breathing bulls and sea monsters and canibals giants. “Why would you be scared Grover?” “Hooves and horns,” Tyson muttered nervously.” “And goat fur makes my nose itchy.” And that pretty much ended our Grover conversation *** Before dinner, Tyson and I went down to the sword arena. Quintus was glad to have company. He still wouldn’t tell me what was in the wooden crates, but he didn’t teach me a few sword moves. The guy was good. He fought the way some people play chess─ like he was putting all the moves together and you couldn’t see the pattern until he made the last stroke and won with a sword at your throat. “Good try,” he told me. “But your guard is too low.” “Bye.” “Percy?” he called, but I was already running. *** I thought I’d lost her. A bunch of kids were heading for the gym, and soon I was just one of three hundred fourteenyear-old all crammed into the bleachers. A marching band played an out-of-tune fight song that sounded like somebody hitting a bag of cats with a metal baseball bat. Older kids, probably student council members, stood up front modeling the Goode school uniform and looking all, Hey, were cool. Teachers milled around, smiling and shaking hands with students. The walls of the gym were plastered with big purple-and-white banners that said WELCOME FUTURE FRESHMEN, GOODE IS GOOD, WE’RE ALL FAMILY, and a bunch of other happy slogans that pretty much made me want to throw up. None of the other freshmen looked thrilled to be here, either. I mean coming to orientation in June, when school doesn’t even start until September, is not cool. But at Goode, “We prepare to excel early!” At least that’s the brochure said. The marching band stopped playing. A guy in a pinstripe suit came to the microphone and started talking, but the sound echoed around the gym so I had no idea what he was saying. He might be gargling. Someone grabbed my shoulder, “What are you doing here?” It was her. My redheaded nightmare. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” I said. Her jaw dropped like she couldn’t believe I had the nerve to remember her name. “And you’re Percy somebody. I didn’t get your full name last December when you tried to kill me.” “Look, I wasn’t─ I didn’t─ What are you doing here?” “Same as you, I guess. Orientation.” “You live in New York?” “What you thought I lived at the Hoover Dam?” It had never occurred to me. Whenever I thought about her (and I’m not saying I thought about her, she just like crossed my mind from time to time,okay?) , I always figured she lived in the Hoover Damarea, since that’s where I’d met her. We’d spent maybe ten minutes together, during which time I’d accidentally swung a sword at her, she’d saved my life, and I’d run He lunged and I blocked. “Have you always been a swordsman?” I asked. He parried my overhead cut. “I’ve been many things.” He jabbed and I sidestepped. His shoulder strapped slipped down, and I saw that mark on his neck─ the purple blotch. But it wasn’t a random mark. It had a definite shape─ a bird with folded wings, like a quail or something. “What’s that on your neck?” I asked. Which was probably a rude question, but you can blame my ADHD. I tend to just blurt things out. Quintus lost his rhythm. I hit his sword hilt and knocked the blade out of his hand. He rubbed his fingers. Then he shifted his armor to hide the mark. It wasn’t a tattoo, I realized. It was an old burn…like he’d been branded. “A reminder.” He picked up his sword and forced a smile. “Now, shall we go again?” She pressed me hard, not giving me time for any more questions. While he had and I fought, Tyson played with Mrs. O’Leary, who he called the “little doggie.” They had a great time wrestling for the bronze shield and playing Get the Greek. By sunset, Quintus hadn’t even broken a sweat, which seemed kind of strange; but Tyson and I were hot and stick, so we hit the showers and got ready for dinner. I was feeling good. It was almost like a normal day at camp. Then the dinner came, and all the campers lined up by cabin and marched into the dining pavilion. Most of them ignored the sealed fissure in the marble floor at the entrance─ a ten-foot-long jagged scar that hadn’t been there last summer─ but I was careful to step over it. “Big crack,” Tyson said when we were at our table. “Earthquake, maybe?” “No,” I said. “Not an earthquake.” I wasn’t sure I should tell him. It was a secret only Annabeth and Groover and I knew. But looking in Tyson’s big eye, I know I couldn’t hide it from him. “Nico di Angelo,” I said lowering my voice. “He’s this half-blood kid we brought to camp last winter. He, uh… he aske me to guard his sister on a quest, and I failed. She died. Now he blames me?” Tyson frowned. “So he put a crack in the floor?” “These skeletons attacked us,” I said. “Nico told them go away, and the ground just opened up and swallowed them. “Nico…” I looked around to make sure no one was listening.“Nico is a son of Hades.” Tyson nodded thoughtfully. “The god of dead people.” Plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts. The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp. “I need to talk to Clarisse,” Annabeth said. I stared at her as if she’d just said I need to eat a large, smelly boot. “What for?” Clarisse from the Ares cabin was one of my least favorite people. She was a mean, ungrateful bully. Her dad, the war god, wanted to kill me. She tried to beat me to a pulp in a regular basis. Other than that, she was just great. “We’ve been working on something,” Annabeth said. “ I’ll see you later.” “Working on what?” Annabeth glanced toward the forest. “I’ll tell Chiron you’re here,” she said. “He’ll want to talk you before the hearing.” “What hearing?” But she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Great talking with you, too” *** As I made up my way through camp, I said hi to some of my friends. In the Big House’s driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camps SUV. Selina Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at me from her Pegasus as she flew fast. I looked for Grover, but I didn’t see him. Finally I wandered into the sword arena, where I usually go when I’m in a bad mood. Practicing always calms me down. Maybe that’s because swordplay is one thing I can actually understand. I walked into the amphitheater and my heart almost stopped. In the middle of the arena floor, with its back to me, was the biggest hellhound I’d ever seen. I mean, I’ve seen some pretty hellhounds. One the size of a rhino tried to kill me when I was twelve. But this hellhound was bigger than a tank. I had no idea how it had gotten past the camp’s magic boundaries. It looked right at home, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy. It hadn’t noticed me yet, but if I made a sound I knew “Yeah.” “So the Nico boy is gone now?” “I─ I guess. I tried to search for him this spring. So did Annabeth. But we didn’t have any luck. This is secret, Tyson. Okay? If anyone found out he was a son of Hades, he would be in danger. You can’t even tell Chiron.” “The bad prophecy,” Tyson said. “Titans might use him if they knew.” I stared at him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that as big and childlike as he was, Tyson was pretty smart. He knew that the next child of the Big Three gods─ Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades─ who turned sixteen was prophesied to either save or destroy Mount Olympus. Most people assumed that meant me, but if I died before I turned sixteen, the prophecy could just as easily apply to Nico. “Exactly,” I said. “So─” “Mouth sealed,” Tyson promised. “Like the crack in the ground.” *** I had a trouble falling asleep that night. I lay in bed listening to the waves on the beach, and the owls and monsters in the woods. I was afraid once I drifted off I’d have nightmares. So half-bloods, dreams are hardly ever just dreams. We get messages. We glimpse things that are happening to our friends or enemies. Sometimes we even glimpse the past or the future. And at camp, my dreams were always more frequent and vivid. So I was still awake around midnight, staring at the bunk bed mattress above me, when I realized there was a strange light in the room. The saltwater fountain was glowing. I threw off covers and walked cautiously toward it. Steam rose from the hot salt water. Rainbow colors shimmered through it, though there was no light in the room except for the moon outside. Then a pleasant female voice spoke from the steam: Please deposit one drachma. I looked over at Tyson, but he was still snoring. He sleeps about as heavily as a tranquilized elephant. I didn’t know what to think. I’d never gotten a collect Iris-message before. One golden drachma gleamed at the bottom of the fountain. I scooped it up and tossed it through the mist. The coin vanished. “O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow,” I whispered. “Show me…Uh, whatever you need to show me. “Oh.” I tried not to stare as Mrs. O’Leary ripped off the target dummy’s shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee. “Wait, Mr. D is away?” “Yes, well… busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He’s gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they’re on the right side. I probably shouldn’t say more than that.” If Dionysus was gone, that was the best news I’d had all day. He was only our camp director because Zeus had sent him here as a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph. He hated the campers and tried to make our lives miserable. With him away, this summer might actually be cool. On the other hand, if Dionysus had gotten off his butt and actually started helping the gods recruits against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad. Off to my left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O’Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them. “Whoa, girl!” Quintus said. “Those aren’t for you.” He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee. The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with my dyslexia they took me a few minutes to decipher: TRIPLE G RANCH FRAGILE THIS END UP Along the bottom, in smaller letter: OPEN WITH CARE. TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS. “What’s in the boxes?” I asked. “A little surprise,” Quintos said. “Training activity for tomorrow night. You’ll love it.” “Uh, okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure about the “excruciatingly painful death” part. Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O’Leary lumbered after it. “You young ones need more challenges. They didn’t have camps like this when I was a boy.” “You─ you’re a half-blood?” I didn’t mean to sound surprised, but I’d never seen an old demigod before. The problem for me: I was usually the only one in the Poseidon cabin, and I’m not exactly what you would call neat. The cleaning harpies only came through on the last day of summer, so my cabin was probably just the way I’d left it on winter break: my candy wrappers and chip bags still on my bunk, my armor for capture the flag lying in pieces all around the cabin. I raced toward the common area , where the twelve cabins,----one for each Olympian god ---made a U around the central green. The Demeter kids were sweeping out theirs and making fresh flowers grow in their window boxes. Just by snapping their fingers they could make honeysuckle vines bloom over their doorway and daises cover their roof, which was totally unfair. I don’t think they ever got last place in inspection. The guys in the Hermes cabin were scrambling around in a panic, stashing dirty laundry under their beds and accusing each other of taking stuff. They were slobs , but they still had a head start on me. Over at the Aphrodite cabin, Selina Beauregard was just coming out, checking items off the inspection scroll. I cursed under my breath . Selina was nice, but she was an absolute neat freak, the worst inspector. She likes things to be pretty. I didn’t do “pretty” I could almost feel my arms getting heavy from all the dishes I would have to scrub tonight. The Poseidon cabin was at the end of the row of “ male god” cabins on the right side of the green. It was made of gray shell-encrusted sea rock, long and low like a bunker, but it had windows that faced the sea and it always had a good breeze blowing through it. I dashed inside, wondering if maybe I could do a quick under-the-bed cleaning job like the Hermes guys, and I found my half-brother Tyson sweeping the floor. “Percy!” he bellowed. He dropped his broom and ran at me. If you’ve never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves. I’m telling you, it’ll wake you up quick. “Hey, big guy!” I said. “ Ow, watch the ribs. The ribs.” I managed to survive his bear hug. He put me down, grinning like crazy, his single calfbrown eye full of excitement. His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever , and his hair was a rat’s nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron, but he was still a sight for sore eyes. I hadn’t seen him in almost a year, since he’d gone under the sea to work at the Cyclopes’forges. “You are okay?” he asked. “ Not eaten by monsters?” “Not even a little bit .” I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson Clapped happily. “Oh, yeah, I would,” I promised. “I know you can see through the Mist.” “The what?” “The Mist. It’s …well, it’s like this evil veil that hides the way things really are. Some mortals are born with the ability to see through it. Like you.” She studied me carefully. “You did that at Hoover Dam. You called me a mortal. Like you’re not.” I felt like punching a bongo. What was I thinking? I could never explain. I shouldn’t even try. “Tell me,” she begged. “You know what it means. All this horrible things I see?” “Look, this is going to sound weird. Do you know anything about Greek myths?” “Like…the Minotaur and the Hydra?” “Yeah, just try not to say those names when I’m around, okay?” “And the Furies,” she said, Warming up. “And the Sirens, and─” “Okay!” I looked around the band hall, sure that Rachel was going to make a bunch of bloodthirsty nasties pop out of the walls; but we were still alone. Down the hallway, I heard a mob of kids coming out of the gymnasium. They were starting the group tours. We didn’t have a long talk. “All those monsters,” I said, “All the Greek gods─ they’re real.” “I knew it!” I would’ve been more comfortable if she’d call me a liar, but Rachel looked like I’d just confirmed her worst suspicion. “You don’t know how hard it’s been,” she said. “For years I thought I was going crazy. I couldn’t tell anybody. I couldn’t─” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait. Who are you? I mean really?” “I’m not a monster.” “Well, I know that. I could see if you were. You look like…you. But you’re not human, are you?” I swallowed. Even though I’d had three years to get used to who I was, I’d never talked about it with a regular mortal before─ I mean, except for my mom, but she already knew. I don’t know why, but I took the plunge. “I’m a half-blood,” I said. “I’m half human. “And half what?” Just then Tammi and Kelli stepped into the band room. The doors slammed shut behind them. “There you are, Percy Jackson,” Tammi said. “It’s time for your orientation.” It would sense me. There was no time to go for help. I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it. “Yaaaaa!” I charged. I brought down the blade on the monster’s enormous backside when out of nowhere another sword blocked my strike. CLANG! The hellhound pricked up it ears. “WOOF!” I jumped back and instinctively struck at the swordsman─ a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried my attack with no problem. “Whoa there!” he said. “truce!” “WOOF!” The hellhound’s bark shook the arena. “That’s hellhound!” I shouted. “She’s harmless,” the man said. “That’s Mrs. O’Leary.” I blinked. “Mrs. O’Leary?” At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again. I realized she wasn’t angry. She was excited. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy towards the swordsman. “Good girl,” the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it towards the bleachers. “Get the Greek! Get the Greek!” Mrs. O’ Leary bounded after her prey and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor. She began chewing on its helmet. The Swordsman smile dryly. He was in his fifties. I guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy. He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp Tshirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before I could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar. “Mrs. O’Leary is my pet,” he explained. “I couldn’t let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her.” “Who are you?” “Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?” “I guess.” He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. “Quintus.” I shook his hand. It was a rough as a sandpaper. “Percy Jackson,” I said. “Sorry about─ How did you, um─” “Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close call with a death and quite a few giant chew toys. I’m the new sword instructor, by the way. Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away.” *** “They’re horrible!” Rachel gasped. Tammi and Kelli were still wearing their purple-and white cheerleader costumes, holding pom-poms from the rally. “What do they really look like?” I asked, but Rachel seemed too stunned to answer. “Oh, forget her.” Tammi gave me a brilliant smile and started walking toward us. Kelli stayed by the doors, blocking our exit. They’d trapped us. I knew we’d have to fight our way out, but Tammi’s smile was so dazzling it distracted me. Her blue eyes were beautiful, and the way her hair swept over her shoulders… “Percy,” Rachel warned. I said something really intelligent like, “Uhhh?” Tammi was getting closer. She held out her pom-poms “Percy!” Rachel’s voice seemed to be coming from along way away. “Snap out of it!” It took all my willpower, but I got my open out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide grew into a three-foot-long bronze sword, its blade glowing with a faint golden light. Tammi’s smile turned to a sneer. “Oh, come on,” she protested. “You don’t need that. How about a kiss instead?” She smelled like roses and clean animal fur─ a weird but somehow intoxicating smell. Rachel pinched my arm, hard. “Percy, she wants to bite you! Look at her!” She’s just jealous, “Tammi looked back at Kelli. “May I, mistress?” Kelli was still blocking the door, licking her lips hungrily. “Go ahead, Tammi. You’re doing fine.” Tammi took another step forward, but I leveled the tip of my sword at her chest. “Get back.” She snarled. “Freshmen,” she said with disgust. “This is our school, half-blood. We feed whom we choose!” Then she began to change. The color drained out of her face and arms. Her skin turned as white as chalk, her eyes completely red. Her teeth grew into fangs. Quintos chuckled. “Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies.” “You know about my prophecy?” “I’ve heard a few things.” I wanted to ask what things, but just then Chiron clip-clopped into the arena. “Percy, there you re!” He must’ve just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He’d trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass. “I’ve see you’ve met our new instructor.” Chiron’s tone was light, but there was uneasy look in his eyes. “Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Percy?” “Not at all, Master Chiron.” “No need to call me ‘Master’,” Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased. “Come, Percy. We have much to discuss.” I took one more glance at Mrs. O’Leary, who was now chewing of the target dummy’s legs. “Well, see you,” I told Quintus. As we were walking away, I whispered to Chiron, “Quintus seemed kind of─” “Mysterious?” Chiron suggested. “Hard to read?” “Yeah” Chiron nodded. “A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman, I just wish I understood…” Whatever he was going to say, he apparently changed his mind. “First thing first, Percy. Annabeth told me you met some empousai.” “Yeah.” I told him about the fight at Goode, and how Kelli had exploded into flames. “Mm,” Chiron said. “The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Percy. She simply escaped. It is not good that she-demons are stirring.” “What were they doing there?” I asked. “Waiting for me?” “Possibly,” Chiron frowned. “It is amazing you survived. Their powers of deception…almost any male hero would’ve fallen under their spell and been devoured. “I would’ve been,” I admitted. “Except for Rachel.” Chiron nodded. “Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt. What the empousa said about an attack on camp─ we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there.” “A vampire!” I stammered. Then I noticed her legs. Below the cheerleader skirt, her left leg was brown and shaggy with a donkey’s hoof. Her right leg was shaped like a human leg, but it was made of bronze. “Uhh, a vampire with─” “Don’t mention the legs!” Tammi snapped. “It’s rude to make fun!” She advanced on her weird, mismatched legs. She looked totally bizarre, especially with the pom-poms, but I couldn’t laugh─ not facing those red eyes and sharp fangs. “A vampire you say?” Kelli laughed. “That silly legend was based on us, you fool. We are empousai, servants of Hecate.” “Mmmm.” Tammi edged closer to me. “Dark magic formed us from animal, bronze, and ghost!” We exist to feed on the blood of young men. Now come, give me that kiss!” She bared her fangs. I was so paralyzed I couldn’t move, but Rachel threw a snare drum at the empousa’s head. The demon hissed and battled the drum away. It went rolling along the aisles between music stands, it springs rattling against the drumhead. Rachel threw a xylophone, but the demon just swatted that away, too. “I don’t usually kill girls,” Tammi growled. “But for you mortal, I’ll make an exception. Your eyesight is a little too good!” She lunged at Rachel. “No!” I slashed with Riptide. Tammi tried to dodge my blade, but I sliced straight through her cheerleader uniform, and with horrible wail she exploded into a dust all over Rachel. Rachel coughed. She looked like she’d just had a sack of flour dumped on her head. “Gross!” “Monsters do that,” I said. “Sorry.” “You killed my trainee!” Kelli yelled. “You need a lesson in school spirit, half-blood!” Then she too began to change. Her wiry hair turned into flickering flames. Her eyes turned red. She grew fangs. She loped toward us. Her brass foot and hoof clopping unevenly on the band-room floor. “I am senior empousa,” “Then you’re overdue!” Kelli was a lot faster than Tammi. She dodged my first strike and rolled into the brass section, knocking over o row of trombones with a mighty crash. Rachel scrambled out of the way. I put myself between her and the empousa. Kelli circled us, her eyes going from me to the sword. “Where?” “At his formal clearing,” Chiron said grimly. “The council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate.” *** Chiron said we needed to hurry, so I let him give me a ride on his back. As we galloped past the cabins, I glanced at the dining hall─ an open-air Greek pavilion on a hill overlooking the sea. It was the first time I’d seen the place since last summer, and it brought back bad memories. Chiron Plunged into the woods. Nymphs peeked out of the trees to watch us pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows─ monsters that were stocked in here as a challenge to the campers. I thought I knew the forest pretty well after playing capture the flag here for two summers, but Chiron took me a way I didn’t recognize, through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers. A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. I’d never seen the three old satyrs before, but I guessed they must be the Council of Cloven Elders. Groover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his T-shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn’t changed much since last winter, maybe because satyrs age half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair. I realized with a start that I was taller than he was now. Standing off to one side of the circle were Annabeth, another girl I’d never seen before, and Clarisse. Chiron dropped me next to them. Clarisse’s stringy brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna. If possible, she looked even buffer, like she’d been working out. She glared at me and muttered, “Punk,” which must’ve meant she was in a good mood. Usually she says hello by trying to kill me. Annabeth and her arm around the other girl, who looked like she’d been crying. She was small─ petite, I guess you’d call it─ with wispy hair the sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. “It’s going terribly,” she sniffled. “No, no,” Annabeth patted her shoulders. “He’ll be fine, Juniper.” Annabeth looked at me and mouthed the words Groover’s girlfriend. Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn’t look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly. “Master Underwood,” Silenus announced, “we will give you one more chance.” Grover brightened. “Thank you!” “One more week.” “What?” But sir! That’s impossible!” “One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing.” “But sir, I─I can’t lose my searcher’s license. My whole life─” “This meeting of the council is adjourned,” Silenus said. “ And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!” The old satyr clapped his hands and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans and other goat delicacies. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward us. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES? “Hi Percy,” he said, so depressed he didn’t even offer to shake my hand. “That went well, huh?” “Those old goats!” Juniper said. “Oh, Grover, they don’t know how hard you’ve tried!” “There is another option, “ Clarisse said darkly. “No. No.” Juniper shook her head. “Grover, I won’t let you.” His face was ashen. “I─I’ll have to think about it. But we don’t even know where to look. “What are you talking about?” I asked. In the distance, a conch horn sounded. Annabeth pursed her lips. “I’ll fill you in later, Percy. We’d better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting.” *** It didn’t seem fair that I’d have to do cabin inspection when I just got to camp, but that’s the way it worked. Every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. Best cabin got first shower hour, which meant hot water guaranteed. Worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner. “Hey!” I jogged after her. “ There were these two empousai,” I tried to explain. “ They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going on to burn, and---” “ You told a mortal girl about the half-bloods?” “ She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did.” “ So you told her the truth?” “ She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so---” “You’ve meet her before?” “Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her.” “She’s kind of cute.” “I—I never thought about it.” Annabeth kept walking toward York Avenue. “I’ll deal with school,” I promised, anxious to change the subject. “Honest it’ll be fine.” Annabeth wouldn’t even look at me. “ I guess our afternoon is off. We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.” Behind us, smoked billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark column of ashes, I thought I could almost see a face---a she-demon with red eyes, laughing at me. Your pretty little camp in flames, Kelli had said. Your friends made slaves to the Lord of time. “ You’re right,” I told Annabeth, my heart sinking. “ We have to get to Camp Half- Blood. Now.”