Chapter 60

Camp Half-Blood

Everything at camp had changed in the short week since Thalia's tree had been poisoned. The barriers had been noticeably weakening with every day as more and more monsters were able to breach them. Unfortunately, these weren't your everyday monsters like wind spirits or telekhines - they couldn't breach the barriers quite yet. No, it was the larger scale monsters - Cyclopes, Laestrygonians and Hellhounds. The older campers were run ragged just trying to protect their younger siblings who couldn't hold their own in a fight yet.

Mr D was as useless as ever, suggesting that if all the kids just got themselves killed he would be free from his punishment. Chiron had tried arguing with him, and pleading to the gods for some help, but the gods did what they do best in a crisis - ignored the desperate pleas of those who still honoured them. To make the situation worse suspicion was thrown upon Chiron for poisoning Thalia's tree due to his connection to the Titans, who were rumoured to be rising after Harry and Percy's quest last summer.

Zeus ordered Mr D to find a replacement for Chiron ASAP and then get rid of their old hero trainer. Better to be safe than sorry.

Of course, this did very little indeed to calm the couple of hundred worried kids in Mr D's unloving care. Their trainer - and the one responsible adult in charge at camp - was being kicked out and they were to be left at Mr D's tender mercy? Hardly the best situation. And knowing their oh-so-caring director, they could bet their new trainer wasn't going to be a particularly pleasant character either.

Leo mused over this as he lay in bed, too tired to change out of his clothes from that day. He'd only need to redress in a few hours anyway. Why waste the energy? The gentle hum of machines around him slowly lulled him into a daze, drifting on the edge of consciousness, but proper sleep evaded him for a while longer.

Leo was woken after a few hours of patchy sleep by his oldest brother Beckendorf, calling him for the early morning patrol. Clarisse was already waiting outside when he appeared fully armed from Cabin 9 five minutes later, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

The borders were deathly silent as they patrolled them; not even the birds sang to herald the dawn. Something was wrong. Well, Leo supposed, it couldn't get worse right? The back of his neck prickled, like he was being watched, and Leo spun round, only to let out a quiet sigh of relief a moment later.

"Leo!" Harry and Percy called from within the rainbow tinted Iris Message, confused by his whereabouts at such a time in the morning. "What are you doing?"

Leo smiled tightly, relief plain on his face, especially at the sight of Luna and Annabeth beside Percy and Harry. After months and months of his friends trapped in a frozen state after an attack it was great to see them. "Percy, Harry - and Luna and Annabeth! It's great to see you again. We're patrolling the boundary. The border can't protect us anymore, so we have to do it ourselves."

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth looked horrified, disbelief ringing clear in their voice as she shook her head. "Thalia's tree protects the camp though."

Beckendorf and Clarisse noticed their friends in the Iris Message, recognising the familiar and friendly voices. Almost identical looks of guilt and sadness spread across their faces as they looked at Annabeth and Luna, understanding her close bond with the girl in the tree. "Thalia's tree... someone poisoned it. Annabeth, Luna... Thalia's tree is dying."

Annabeth recoiled at Clarisse's words, her sharp eyes misting over as Luna was forced to take control, despite her mental state being no better than her sister's. Their voice shook with shock and fear as Luna begged with her eyes for the joke to stop.

"What?!"

Leo flinched back, unable to meet her distraught grey eyes. "We don't know for sure... But I'm so sorry Annabeth, Luna. I was talking to Thalia that evening - it feels like talking to you sort of... but I should have noticed earlier, maybe Chiron could have done something, she wouldn't be..."

"Leo, we've told you this numerous times!" Clarisse growled, "it's not your fault. You couldn't have known. Gods know you didn't do it yourself."

Luna shook themself. "Leo. Why would you ever think we'd blame you? How could you possibly be to blame? Don't make me come there and hit you, Leo Valdez!"

Despite her strong front, Luna's voice hitched towards the end of her rebuke as her distress at the situation surfaced. Harry and Percy, Beckendorf, Leo and Clarisse tactfully ignored her hitch and the topic moved on slightly.

"Chiron's been blamed. Ask anyone at camp; we don't think him capable in anyway of poisoning Thalia's tree, but the gods... well. What is our lowly mortal opinion worth compared to theirs?" Beckendorf grunted, narrowing his eyes in distaste, "Zeus only knows who Mr D will replace him with..."

"Mr D is being allowed to choose Chiron's replacement?" Percy buried their head theatrically in his hands. "This is bad. We're dead. We'll see you down at Uncle's yeah?"

Luna slapped him, laughing slightly in that strange way people do when upset but find something funny. "Stop exaggerating, you Gryffindor-brained nitwit!"

Percy flashed her a playful grin, not-so-subtlety trying to cheer his friend up.

"You joke," Clarisse huffed, "but rumour has it he's inviting an old friend from the Fields of Punishment."

"What?" Harry's emerald eyes blinked in surprise as he took control off Percy. "Is Zeus allowing that? That's... he can't be serious. This is just one of those ridiculous rumours, right? Like when we supposedly stole Chiron's tail-curlers."

"Um, Harry?" Leo giggled. "That rumour actually had some accuracy in it, remember?"

Harry and Percy's cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Ok, so maybe not the best example, but still?"

"Most rumours have a seed of truth in them..." Luna hummed. "Keep us updated, yeah? We only have another week, then we'll be joining you guys at camp.

Leo nodded before waving a hand through the Iris-Message. He exchanged a look with his brother and cousin before sighing, and gripping his sword. Nodding, the trio continued as they were before, quietly following the well-trodden route around the boundaries.

Harry's Point of View

The last week of school flew by in a mix of practically useless final classes and piling up of classes coupled with advertising our options for courses for next year. We had yet to finalise our decisions, but Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes looked like good choices for us. Percy for Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy for me, and Ancient Runes because I was interested and Percy could actually read the Runes with his Ancient-Greek wired brain. Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and History of Magic were all compulsory at this point, as was Astronomy. Both Percy and I agreed divination, for all it was supposedly an 'easy OWL' didn't look worth our time. That is what we have the oracle for, right? Besides, Cousin Apollo might not appreciate our attempt to butt into his field of work.

Actually, wait, I lied. There was one thing that made our final week of school slightly abnormal. The night before we were due to go home, we had a strange dream.

We were standing in a deserted street in a small beach town. Thunder rumbled overhead, punctuated by flashes of lightning. Rain was pelting down around us, all but bouncing off the tarmacked road and pouring into the already full drains. The palm trees lining the pavement were being whipped around by the winds, almost bent in half by the force. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the streets, their windows boarded up. A short distance away we could feel the ocean churning behind a row of hibiscus bushes.

'Florida.' Percy said without thinking, before pausing. 'Huh? How did I...?'

I shook our head. 'Who knows... gift of Poseidon maybe?'

A clatter of hooves stopped our thoughts in their tracks. Turning quickly, we spotted our half-goat friend running for his life, fake shoes clasped tightly in his hands and crutches discarded somewhere one the way as he sprinted as fast as he could.

We paused. Leo had told us Grover left last September on his quest. A quest that he had always wanted to go on, but no Satyr had ever returned from. Danger was expected, but the look of sheer terror on our friend's face had us at a loss. Grover was a naturally cautious goat-man. He wasn't afraid of fighting to protect his friends, but that didn't mean he sought out fights. But to see Grover this scared made us wonder what horror was chasing him.

A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm, and a shadowy figure appeared at the end of the street. It swatted aside a street lamp, and released another growl as it was showered in sparks.

Grover stumbled, releasing a small whimper of fear, muttering to himself. "Have to get away. Warn them."

We still couldn't see exactly what was chasing him, but we could hear it muttering and cursing, and feel its heavy footsteps coming closer and closer to where we were standing, shaking the ground beneath our feet. Grover dashed around a street corner before faltering. He'd managed to run into a dead end; a small courtyard of shops. He didn't have time to back up. One of the shop's doors had been blasted off by the storm; 'St Augustine Bridal Boutique', the sign read.

Grover hastened inside, diving behind a rack of wedding dresses.

The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. We held our breath, even though we knew that we weren't really there and the monster couldn't sense us, but by Merlin it certainly felt like we were! It moved past, and we instinctively took a breath. The stench of the monster was horrendous - a mix of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird disgusting body odour only monsters have, like a skunk living off Mexican food.

Grover trembled behind the rack of wedding dresses, and all was silent save for the rain. Grover took a deep breath, hoping the thing - whatever it was - was gone.

Then lightning flashed, and the whole shop front exploded and a monstrous voice bellowed "MIIINE!"

Waking up to the dark Gryffindor dorms was a relief to say the least. No monster, no storm. Just the gentle hissing of Alyssa as she slept, and the steady breathing of our other dorm mates. But the terrified face of our friend lingered even after the horrors of the monster and the storm had faded. We hoped it was a dream, but that annoyingly accurate intuition seemed to think otherwise.

We sat in bed for a while, waiting for our dorm mates to wake as we pondered what the best action to take might be. IMing camp for news would be useless at this point, as they would no doubt be fast asleep. And if Grover really was in danger, IMing him would do no good - either Iris would be unable to find him, or it would potentially put him in even more danger.

Sighing, we finally managed to fall back asleep for half-hour before we needed to get up for breakfast. We'd consult Annabeth and Luna then.

I woke up before Percy, surprise, surprise, and it wasn't until halfway through breakfast until he did finally wake, still groggy from sleep. Our chat with Annabeth and Luna was rather short, after we realised that neither of us had any drachma's left to IM camp, even if we wanted to. We were going camp tomorrow, but it seemed rather urgent to leave even for a day. Grover could be killed in that time. Or worst, eaten.

We somehow managed to sit through the train ride back, however, Luna and Annabeth, and Percy and I fidgeting in our seats the whole way back. Theo and Blaise kept giving us odd looks, but Draco managed to shush them after whispering something to them. He seemed to understand best when something to do with our godly side of the family was going on, even before we told him what.

We bid goodbye to all our friends on the platform at King's Cross, promising to write to them. Habitually, we exchanged greetings with their parents as well, as it had now become a custom whenever we went home for the holidays. The Malfoys were civil as ever, although Lucius did raise an eyebrow at the sight of Alyssa wrapped around our neck. Nobody mentioned the Chamber of Secrets - a silent pact of sorts. We hadn't told Draco, and we weren't going to tell him of his father's involvement; that was a matter within the family.

Tyson caught us afterwards when we were making our way over to where our parents, Charles and Annabeth and Luna were waiting for us. His mother - a charming woman by the name of Sally Jackson - thanked us for helping him in the Forbidden Forest, and for befriending her son. We smiled, stuttering a reply that her gratitude was unnecessary - how anyone couldn't like Tyson and his bubbly attitude was quite beyond us really.

Sally's American accent shouldn't have been surprising, considering that moving country wasn't a big deal in this day and age, but upon her mention that they lived in New York, and if we had free time while we were at camp (Tyson apparently had relayed to her the tales we had told him of Camp during our week of waiting for Annabeth to wake) we should swing by to visit. We thanked her, but tactfully left no obligations to do so (goodness knows what might happen this year with Thalia's tree poisoned, monsters attacking camp and Chiron banishment.

Finally reaching our family, we grinned and hugged our dad, but ignored Lily. We hadn't forgotten she'd banned us from our Slytherin dorm, and forgiving her certainly wasn't the first thing on our minds.

"Sorry for the hold up. We ran into Tyson after saying bye to the guys. His mother wanted to thank us for helping him out when he strayed a bit too far," we explained, ignoring Lily's hurt but unsurprised look at our deliberate failure to greet of her. Annabeth and Luna noticed, giving us their 'you-will-be-talking-to-us-on-this-matter-later' look. I mentally sighed, but nodded.

"No problem. Charles has yet to escape the Weasley's look." Dad grinned, nodding at where Charles was being hugged by Mrs Weasley. We chucked and watched as Charles managed to escape, bidding Ron and his brothers (and Ginny) farewell. He was red-faced and nearly out of breath by the time he reached us.

"Shall we be off?" Lily asked, waving her wand to shrink our trunks and pocketed them. Alyssa hissed when she got too close to us, and the red head gave the snake a weary look, as if to ask if she was against her as well. If Alyssa's comment about her was anything to go by, I'd be pretty confident to say Alyssa was with us on this one. As much as our reptilian friend was all for us getting closer with our family given she never knew hers, she understood that Lily and us needed to sort out our issues; pushing the matter wasn't going to help.

Mercifully we took the floo network home - not the nicest way to travel, but it was preferable to side-along apparition or portkey - at least we didn't have to be accompanied by anyone this way.

The manor was as clean and organised as always; dinner was ready on the table and a bed for Annabeth was already made on our bedroom floor. We'd arranged for her to stay the night then portkey over to Camp with us tomorrow afternoon, to hopefully arrive in time for activities to start.

After dinner, we unpacked and repacked for camp (including all our summer homework) in order to be all set for tomorrow. Then Annabeth and Luna and Percy and I sat down on our bed, talking about this and that for a while.

"What was that earlier at the train station? Between you and Lily?" Annabeth asked, clarifying at our raised eyebrow.

"Oh." I scowled. "We told you Lily exiled us to Gryffindor as punishment for getting involved in the Chamber of Secrets business?"

Annabeth and Luna nodded.

"Well, we still aren't talking after that. We don't care if she was just trying to protect us or some other valid reason, we didn't need her two years ago; we can still make our own decisions now. She's just too overbearing!" I huffed.

Annabeth met our eyes, her gaze searing into us. "Be that as it may, but at least she cares enough to make the effort."

I immediately felt guilty, remembering Annabeth and Luna's situation at home. "Sorry, you're right. It's just... she shouldn't have the right to interfere with our lives like that! She tried to ban us from seeing Draco as well!"

Annabeth hummed. "That's too far, I'll admit. But talk to her about it. If her wounded glances are anything to judge by, she wants to make it up to you."

We didn't reply for a while. I wasn't sure if I wanted to forgive Lily, but I could tell that Percy was hurting still from the distance between us. He had always wanted a closer connection with Lily though, and I could never really refuse him (those puppy dog/baby seal eyes are proper killers - I'd like to see any of you stand up against them!).

"We'll try. But only if she does. Percy wants to at least and I'm not going to hold him back." I offered. Annabeth smiled.

"That is all we ask. She doesn't deserve it anyway if she doesn't grovel." Annabeth grinned wickedly. "We're not at all saying let her off easily. Just give her the chance."

Lotus Casino, Las Vegas

A girl of about 12 with long brown hair was sat in the lobby of and expensive looking casino, another boy of about nine (her brother) sat next to her, fiddling with some cards. A tall woman in a suit and carrying a briefcase stood in front of them, her severe face looking rather creepy as she attempted to smile down at them.

"Come along children. I've been sent by your father to pick you up."