"Just look into the camera and tell me what happened."

"The camera?"

"It's the little black dot on the top of the screen. There's a tiny white light next to it. Do you see it?"

"Yes."

"Good. I see you clearly. Just tell me your story, and I'll do my best to keep the lights on for you. Okay?"

"O-okay."

"Take your time, collect your thoughts, and start whenever you feel ready."

----

The first time I saw the color, I thought it was a sign that things were going to work out.

How could I not see those vibrant purples and cobalt blues framed in a swirling aura of chimerical colors lighting up the rumbling midnight storm clouds as a bad thing? How was I to know then that this color composed of many, but still one, was an omen while the world around us burned? That it wasn't to be our rainbow from God signaling our salvation from the madness that consumed those outside our borders? That the hues I failed to recreate with my crayons and pencils on the floor of my brother's cabin would twist and corrupt everything bathed in its light?

I'm sure I sound dotty, and Sammy would undoubtedly think that I let the sisters' tales of Hell get to me, or I read a pulp that was too much for me. Leo, his great grandson, would say I needed to stay away from Nico. Frank though- my Frank -would take my every word seriously and do everything he could to comfort me.

I pray that he is okay.

I pray that we will meet again. In this life or the next.

I pray to my father, to Hecate, to Trivia, to Christ, to the Father, and even to the spirits my mother invoked in her parlor.

Anyone that can answer my prayers.

But you're not here to listen to my prayers. You're watching this phone-thingy to learn what happened here.

----

"While that is true, I would be willing to pray with you. It's not much, but I've heard that it can help in times of duress."

"Thank you. That means a lot, but I think I've prayed enough."

"Okay... But the offer is open if you need it."

----

I'm not sure when everything started to go bad.

I remember some of the others talking about angry mobs in the cities and people getting hurt, but I thought it was just another part of the ugliness that was common in the modern world. It bothered me for sure, but not nearly as much as the indifference of the others. Just shrugging their shoulders, saying how terrible it was, but doing nothing about it.

And maybe that was our mistake.

Maybe if everyone- mortal and demigod -cared a little more we would have noticed the wrongness growing around us.

Soon though everyone was forced to pay attention to what was happening. The violence in the cities only growing worse and spreading like a plague, with my friend Percy's death making everyone realize it was more than unrest.

I was here visiting my brother when we heard that Percy died, and I don't think Nico and I stopped crying for three days after. Percy was my friend and something of a hero to me, and though my brother said he was over his crush on him, there was always going to be a place in his heart for Percy, just as there is a place in mine for Sammy.

Sometime after, there was an attack not far from the camp's borders. People started to get scared, and Chiron called a meeting with the heads of each cabin to discuss how we could keep everyone calm.

----

"What did you discuss?"

"I was kinda getting to that..."

"Sorry. Please continue."

----

I didn't know Chiron really well.

But as he stood before the Ping-Pong table, I remember thinking how old he looked. He looked so tired and frail, with new streaks of gray in his beard and how dull his normally lustrous coat was. I felt so bad for him, I wanted to get up, give him a hug, and give him a nice brushing. But before I had the chance, he began to talk.

He started by telling us that Mr. D. had once again been recalled to Olympus- which was met with groaning, booing, and in my case, concerned silence. The gods going into hiding had been one of the first warnings of the Second War, so to have it happen again was not a good sign. No one wanted to go to war for a third time within a span of five years.

Once Chiron was able to silence the Stolls, the meeting truly began. He verified that an attack had occurred less than a mile from Camp Half-Blood but added grim details that I wish he hadn't shared. The victim had been a young Son of Apollo, with his own mother being the attacker.

I... I know that our godly parents can be fickle and petty, and there are plenty of stories of them dealing cruel punishments for the slightest indiscretion, but hearing a mortal mother killing her own child felt far scarier. My mother had her share of problems, I can admit that now, but I know she would never hurt me like that.

An eerie silence settled over the room as everyone tried to understand what Chiron was saying, while I looked to my brother for confirmation.

His slight nod the only answer I needed.

The silence was broken when seemingly everyone began shouting at once. Some questioning what the camp should do. Others reminding everyone that the boundary only kept out monsters, and that mortals had stumbled into the camp on more than one occasion. The new head of the Ares cabin even demanded that Cabin Nine forge weapons of steel.

Chiron did his best to try and settle everyone down, but the shouting didn't stop until Nico extinguished every light in the room and dropped the temperature to the point I could see my breath. The others may have been afraid of what was happening around the world, but I think they feared my brother more.

With order restored, Chiron continued to deliver bad news.

It was not yet summer, so most of camp was still with their families. That meant increasing the number of patrols and guards would be minimal at best, and that most of our "heavy hitters" as Leo would call them were absent.

It seemed like every idea that was proposed fell apart from the lack of manpower. Even the suggestion of an army of robots was shot down when the acting head of Cabin Nine asked who would build them.

----

"Heh."

"Is something funny?"

"No....Yes? I don't know. Robots just struck me as humorous."

"Normally I would agree with you, but..."

"Forgive my insensitivity. Please continue."

----

I thought the arguing would never end, and that it was only a matter of time until someone threw a punch.

But then Lou Ellen spoke up.

Lou Ellen was a Daughter of Hecate, a goddess I indirectly trained under. She was a... nice girl, even if she is a little queer. I thought she was Nico's friend, but he told me that people assumed that because he was a Son of Hades. It still breaks my heart thinking about how even after all this time people still judge others by silly things like their appearance and who their parents are.

Anyway, Lou Ellen claimed that her mother came to her in a dream- something everyone at the table had experience with. She claimed that her mother told her that the only way to protect the camp was to shroud it and the surrounding area with Mist. I was about to point out that while the Mist can be easily manipulated, it behaved like a stubborn goat and dispersed as it pleased, but the Daughter of Hecate revealed her mother had thought of that already. The goddess providing her with instructions to not only keep the Mist in one place but pull in more on its own accord.

I should have known then that something wasn't right. Why would it need more once it was fixed?

But at the time I supported the plan. It offered the others some form of assurance that we'd be safe until someone could figure out what was happening to the outside world, and it was something I and the few Children of Hecate could do.

With Chiron's approval, we began our preparations.

----

"And what did that entail? The preparations? Gathering ingredients? Memorizing spells? Polishing wands? Making offerings? Or-"

"Nothing like that. Using the Mist is... a state of mind. So, when performing in a group everyone needs to share the same vision. Desire the same outcome."

"Fascinating. Continue."

----

We spent the day discussing what needed to be done, getting in sync with one another, and by three that night we began.

The six of us stood in a circle in the strawberry fields. Our eyes closed, imagining that the Mist was a river that was ours to direct. At the time it was fun. I felt like I was one of those girls on at the Olympics with the long colorful ribbons, just without the running and flips. It was a peaceful, repetitive act that made it so easy to actually want the entirety of the Mist to descend upon the bushes. How beautiful it would have been to see the berry-rich bushes emerging from the swirling mist, berries glistening in the moonlight like the world of fairies had decided to take up residence in Camp Half-Blood.

After a while, we began to draw the symbol Hecate gave to Lou Ellen.

----

"Is that normal?"

"Is what normal?"

"Drawing symbols. My knowledge of magics is... minimal at best, but outside of curse tablets, runes don't seem to be a part of goetia."

"..."

"Did I say something wrong? I apologize if I offended you."

"No, you're fine. I... I just... I don't think you give yourself enough credit, ma'am."

"Thank you, but knowing and understanding are two completely different things. Now-"

"No. That was the first time I've ever even heard of drawing symbols to control the Mist."

----

The symbol was the hardest part of the ritual.

Three five-pointed stars overlaid atop one another in the center of a circle. Each star larger than the last, all of which had to be drawn with one continuous line. Most of the others had struggled to memorize the motions to draw Hecate's night sky, but I thought of it like one of pages from my connect-the-dot books Frank and Nico had gotten me. It made it a little easier, but I still needed to focus to make sure I drew the lines the right lengths.

I would say after about fifteen minutes of drawing the symbol, Lou Ellen began the final part of the ritual. She began to recite an incantation in a language that that was neither Greek, Latin, French, and definitely not English. What she said though did remind me of the gibberish my mother would spout during her sessions that scared people into paying her fee.

Lou Ellen walked around the five of us, placing her hands on the small of our back as she passed, and when she reached me...

----

"Take a breath if you need to. I imagine you're feeling a lot of emotions right now."

"The only emotion I feel right now is guilt."

----

It was like a million volts of electricity passed through my body when Lou Ellen touched me. It wasn't painful, but nor was it pleasant, and thankfully I had other things to worry about.

The wind began to howl like nothing I've ever experienced before, and all of us were knocked off are feet while we were pelted by strawberries blown free from their bushes. I remember shouting to the others to cover themselves and seeing massive clouds of mist congregating towards the center of the circle. The strawberry bushes turned into watermelon vines, peach trees ripe with fruit, and even a cow as the Mist rolled over them. One boy briefly turned into a pig, then a flamingo, and finally a steaming pecan pie before returning to normal. Even the soil transformed as the visible clouds of Mist rolled by, becoming barren dessert and then a yellow brick road.

It was all so very terrifying, but thankfully it ended almost as soon as it began.

And that's when I saw it for the first time.

The color.

A brilliant light unlike anything I've ever seen before caressing the bottoms of the dark clouds above. Spreading off into the horizon like slow moving lightning, interweaving with itself like a spider's web made of cotton candy. Bathing all the camp in its pale, fairy glow as a wall of mist slowly swirled around the camp's boundary. It pulsed twice to the beat of my heart, and rain began to fall. The droplets shining more brilliantly than any gem I could pluck from the earth.

I don't think any of us knew what to expect when the ritual was complete, but with everything that was happening in the outside world, it was a relief to see something so beautiful. Lou Ellen began to laugh as the first droplets of rain hit the fields, and she pulled her nearest sibling into a back-breaking hug. Believing we had succeeded, everyone followed suit, and we danced and laughed in the glimmering rain until we were soaked to the bone.

----

"You said this ritual was supposed to manipulate the Mist to gather in one location. That sounds a bit dangerous. Was there a means to control it? Say... a crystal of some sort?"

"Lou Ellen said that the ritual would allow us greater control over than ever before, and since it was from Lady Hecate herself, we trusted her."

"What a difference one call or email would have made."

"What?"

"Nothing. Please continue. When did anyone first notice anything was wrong?"

"The very next morning."

----

I awoke to the sound of screaming.

Nico was the first to leave the cabin, shadow traveling out before his feet even touched the ground. Leaving me find to my slippers and hurry out looking quite the fright. Leo and Piper surely would have had plenty to say about the state of my hair, even with all the uproar.

It wasn't hard to find the source of the commotion, as nearly all the camp was gathered around the field between the cabins. All gathered either staring at the large, circular patch of jagged red and black stone that had been lush green grass only a few hours prior or staring up at the pulsing web of color above that was slowly fading from sight with the rising of the sun.

I pushed my way through the awestruck crowd of pajama clad Greeks, mumbling apologies as I went, until I found the source of the scream; a Son of Demeter who had been only been claimed shortly before the madness first started.

Will was already attending the poor boy, who was as pale as a ghost and rambling about giant, skeletal hounds shrouded in smoke standing in a hellish landscape.

Will was quick with an explanation to try and calm the boy and the crowd, reminding everyone that Mrs. O'Leary was a frequent visitor and that perhaps she had accidentally brought some dirt with her when she shadow traveled. As for the Son of Demeter's mismatched description, Will suggested that he had been half-asleep, and his eyes had been playing tricks on him.

The camp and the scared child seemed to be satisfied with the explanation and were quick to disperse back to their cabins in an attempt to get another few hours of sleep.

My brother and I however were not.

Normally I have kind of an attunement with the ground, one that allows me to know its composition, contents, if it was disturbed, and even if it was not native to the area. It's one of the more passive abilities a Child of Pluto can inherit that relates to both aspects of his domain. It's always present, and at times serves as a gentle reminder that nature is all around us.

But I didn't feel any of that coming from that dark spot.

It felt like there was a gaping hole there. Like someone had taken a hole-punch to the ground that pierced through the globe. And yet I could see the strange red and black stones clear as day. Campers were even walking over them to get back to their beds; some even pocketing some as they went.

Given the presence of the color, the only explanation that made sense was the Mist was somehow involved.

I told my brother to return to his cabin, and I went to find Lou Ellen.

----

"And what did she say?"

"That Will was half-right, just that the Mist had altered the poor boy's perception of Mrs. O'Leary? You know... if you stopped interrupting, I'd tell you."

"Sorry, you just tell this really well."

"Thank you... I think?"

"Did you believe her though?"

"At the time? Mostly. We had gathered the Mist to keep mortals as far away from Camp Half-Blood as possible, so it was possible that we had made it a tad too aggressive. But I still had my doubts..."

----

The rest of that day, the Hecate cabin worked to make sure the Mist stayed outside the camp's borders, while Leo's siblings blocked off the altered ground until they could have a chance to dig it up. Both things were very loud, and Nico went off to the forest to take a nap. After that, the day proceeded as normally as was possible, and by nightfall nearly everyone had forgotten the morning's events.

But I couldn't.

Not with an aurora of color dancing overhead while the others sang beside the campfire.

No one but my brother and I seemed to have any apprehension for the dancing streaks of color that painted the sky just beyond the reach of the campfire's flames.

Not even Chiron.

In fact, the others' moods that night were higher than they had been in weeks. Siblings and friends excitedly discussing the first thing they would do with their mortal families as if the chaos of the outside world would disappear with the rising of the sun. Couples sat on blankets with their fingers intertwined as they watched the aurora twist above them with wonder and love in their eyes. The younger campers joyful chorus of I'm my own grandpa made the flames burn higher and brighter than even the days following Gaea's defeat.

And for the first time, I felt uncomfortable being there.

I felt like I didn't belong.

I was this bundle of nerves and gloom that was dragging the mood of everyone around me down. No one said a word that they wanted me to leave, but their fleeting glances spoke for them. If there was one positive that came from that experience was, I felt I could better understand my brother and the struggles he had.

Finally, after three songs and more than a few glances in my direction, I decided to go to bed for the night. I thought that maybe I was worried for no reason, and that a good night's sleep would clear my head. With a little effort than expected I rose from my seat on the log and bid Nico goodnight with a peck on his cheek- and it made my heart swell to see his cheeks darken from the show of affection.

He rose from his seat while grumbling something about being a gentleman- which was his excuse of not wanting to be alone with his ex -and offered to shadow travel me directly to our cabin.

I was about to take his hand when I noticed that the singing had stopped. Gasps of amazement and oohs and aahs the only sounds to be heard besides the crackling of the fire. I turned to ask what had happened, but my question was answered before I could ask.

Everyone was looking to the sky.

The color was no longer a swirling aurora but had become ordered chaos. Like the root system of a gigantic tree with each tendril ending at a lump only for the pattern to endlessly repeat itself, growing smaller with each repetition. The elaborate pattern pulsed at irregular intervals, pathways glowing brighter as the light raced along before coming to a node and splitting along the roots like a firework exploding. With every pulse of power, the color spread further across the sky, covering the entirety of Camp Half-Blood in a matter of seconds.

It was as beautiful as it was troubling, and I can fully understand why everyone was enthralled by the color's display.

But as quickly as it started, it ended. The complex pattern disappearing in a flash of light that turned night into day and had us all rubbing our eyes and groaning for several minutes after.

The Apollo campers were the first to recover and went about helping the others, while Nico and I were among the last. Some of the younger kids were scared into tears by the blinding display, but most laughed it off. The color had reverted to its aurora state, no one was hurt, and there were no obvious signs of damage to any of the camp's facilities, so Chiron ordered everyone to return to their cabins for the night- except for myself and the Hecate kids. There was little argument or protests, and the crowds began to disperse for us to have our impromptu meeting.

And that's when Katie ran up to us like a woman possessed. Begging between pants for Chiron to hurry to the strawberry fields.

----

"I hate to interrupt, but I want to ask you a couple questions about the arrangement the color took while it's fresh in your mind."

"That's fine. I need a moment to collect myself anyway..."

"The pattern you saw, you said it was fractal-like in nature, correct?"

"Uh... I'm not sure what that means?"

"Fractal. a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation."

"That's... Not really helping."

"It means that if you were to take any part of the pattern, no matter how far you zoom in or out, it appears the same indefinitely."

"Then, yes. I believe it was... one of those."

"Fascinating... Now, was it two or three dimensional? Any blurring?"

"Three dimensional, and it kinda blurred a bit? Like it was shifting around as it pulsed. Sometimes it even looked like it had doubled up if that makes sense?"

"Yes, it does. Thank you, Hazel. You may continue if you wish."

----

When I was little, before Alaska, every summer some of the more creative and well-to-do members of the community would put on a play for all to watch.

No one could afford to rent out a theater- not that it mattered, since none would have accepted their money even if they had it -so their stage was a crumbling bandstand in the middle of a neglected park. Most of the year it was unsafe to walk on, but when summer came the handymen and carpenters would donate their time and a few pieces of scrap to make the stage safe for the actors. There wasn't a classically trained orchestra, but the jazz and blues musicians who volunteered played with more heart and soul than any stuffy uptown musician. The costumes and stage curtains were made by seamstresses from whatever scraps of material they had, and their hard work transformed the actors and actresses into the richest of kings and most beautiful queens.

And while everyone's efforts and passions created spectacular performances that the whole community would talk about in their idle time throughout the year, it was the works of the painters who made us forget we were in little more than vacant lot.

With just a few pieces of canvas, whatever paint they had on hand, and a vivid imagination, men who painted houses by day created extravagant backgrounds that transported the audience to fantastic settings. From the haunting dark chambers of Macbeth's castle, to the court of the fairy king hidden within the depths of an ancient forest, and even the other side of the looking glass, no world was beyond our reach thanks to the brushstrokes of those amazing men and women- and it was their works that inspired me to take up coloring.

And as I stood before what had been Camp Half-Blood's strawberry fields, I felt like I was in the audience gazing in wonder at yet another masterpiece.

The neatly kept rows of verdant green bushes with red berries that gleamed brighter than any ruby were gone. In their place, a chunk of what I can only describe as Wonderland stretched out to camp boundary- possibly further but the thick, swirling wall of Mist obscured everything beyond.

Clusters of turquoise mushroom-like growths ranging from as small as a thimble to larger than the Big House in size were spread across a field of a fine, baby blue powder. Dandelion-like spores hovered above our heads like stars, bathing the former field in a soft silver light. Porous, lime green stones that spouted foam and bubbles of every color of the rainbow poked out of the powdered earth, the colorful bubbles creating vibrant puddles wherever they landed. Bundles of glowing salmon vines stood upright and swayed gently with the wind, sporadically intertwining into complex shapes only to revert to their previous languid state a moment later. Periwinkle flowers with petals like spiderwebs shot out geysers of silver pollen that glittered like diamonds in the dark.

It was truly a beautiful sight, and I can understand why so many rushed into the strange landscape to play and explore. And if not for the growing lump of anxiety in my stomach I would have joined them.

But I knew that what I was looking at was caused by the color.

By our meddling with the Mist.

Before Chiron could ask, I attempted to restore the strawberry fields to their proper form. But to my shock and horror I found that the fields were not obscured by the Mist. That what I was looking at was as real as you and me.

Lou Ellen and her siblings tried to restore the fields as well, but they came to the same conclusion.

Chiron understood that something was wrong and ordered everyone to return to their cabins for the night. There were some protests, but the centaur was quick to silence them with threats of latrine and stable duty. With promises to meet at the Big House at dawn to discuss what has occurred, we returned to our cabins.

----

"I am unaware of any flora that comes anywhere close to matching what you described. Were any of them familiar to you?"

"No, not at all. The giant mushrooms reminded me of Alice In Wonderland is all. I was half expecting a giant caterpillar to skitter atop of one and smoke from a pipe."

"Speaking of animals... did you or anyone else happen to see any animal life? Like, say... fungus insects?"

"No... And what do you mean by fungus bug-"

"Please continue with your story."

----

The meeting passed without much event. The only thing of note being Kayla had developed a cold and could not stop sneezing.

As expected, Chiron ordered us to restore the fields to their normal state. Lou Ellen, her siblings, and I tried to explain that the fields weren't obscured by the Mist, but Chiron simply insisted that we just were not used to working with that much Mist and that we just needed to work together. I wanted to protest further, remind him that I was trained by Hecate herself... in a roundabout way... but he was called away to deal with some minor scuffle at the arena. With the meeting over, we followed the centaur's order and went to the patch of Wonderland.

It hadn't change much in the few hours since I had last saw it. The pink vines had stopped moving in the daylight, the flowers no longer sprayed their silver pollen, and some of the mushrooms looked larger but those were the only noticeable changes. Some kids from the Demeter and Hermes cabins were collecting samples for very different reasons and had to be shooed away before we could begin.

Lou Ellen wanted us to stand in the center of what had been the strawberry fields, but something told me that wasn't a good idea. The others looked at me like I was crazy when I politely refused, but thankfully didn't try to force me or press me for reasons. I may not be the most familiar with the different types of plant life, but unlike the others I did not want to risk being poisoned by something no one had ever seen before. Ambrosia and nectar are powerful, but even they have their limits.

We spent the rest of the day attempting to undo the changes in small sections. Like before, just trying to remove the Mist accomplished nothing, as there was nothing to remove. We changed tactics around noon to try and use the Mist to obscure and change the altered soil and plant life, but that worked for only a few minutes at most. For reasons no one could understand, it appeared that Wonderland could not be removed by the very force created it.

At sunset, thoroughly exhausted, we returned to our cabins with promises that we would discuss whether we should undo Hecate's spell.

The color twisting and pulsing high above our heads as we departed.

----

"The most beautiful things are often the deadliest."

"Yeah... Maybe that's why people are so afraid of my father and brother..."

"That is a most interesting hypothesis.

----

Breakfast was tense the next day.

Several of the campers had clearly come down with something and were clearly sick. Their eyes puffy and red while they endlessly sneezed. Will was dispensing allergy medication and small doses of nectar to those affected, but all eyes were cast on Hecate kids; Nico's overprotectiveness being the only reason no one looked at me. Everyone knew that Wonderland and by extension, the color, was responsible for their aggravated allergies, and they were already beginning to worry about what else could happen.

Thankfully, I was pulled away before things had a chance to escalate. A young satyr named Harold came running to our table to inform me that one of the pegasi I was fond of had begun foaling. I uttered a quick apology to Nico and kissed his cheek before rushing after Harold to the stables.

I can't tell you how excited I had been at the prospect of seeing a newborn pegasi enter the world and take its first shaky steps. It was one of the reasons why I had initially extended my stay at Camp Half-Blood before becoming a ray of hope to focus on while the world around us went mad. That life would continue on despite how we felt.

But when I entered the stables, I instantly knew that something was wrong.

Pistachio, the expecting mare, had been given the largest stall at the back of the stables to give her the space needed for a comfortable birth. The poor girl didn't have much privacy though, as her neighbors tended to poke their heads over the wall to chat, er, neigh. A schedule even had to be drafted to swap out Pistachio's neighbors every few hours so that the other winged horses could visit so that none would be jealous.

However, that morning all the pegasi were trying to put as much distance between them and Pistachio's stall as possible. Not a single pegasi wasn't in a state of panic, all of them frantically neighing while kicking at the walls and doors of their stalls and trying to flap their wings in the too small space in an attempt to clear the half-doors. When I saw that some of them had already injured themselves in their panicked state, I began to open their stalls so they would not hurt themselves further. I knew that letting the pegasi out would get me in trouble with Chiron, but I couldn't just stand by and let them seriously hurt themselves in fright.

When the last of the frightened pegasi galloped out the stable doors I rushed over to Pistachio's stall and threw the gate open.

Only to scream in horror at what awaited me.

The chestnut mare laid dead on blood covered hay, legs and wings splayed in unnatural positions. Her neck arched back at what have been a painful angle and her deep, dark eyes forever wide in terror. While there has always been a very real danger that Pistachios could die wile foaling, just as it is for all mares, never in my worst nightmares did I ever imagine that her lower body would be violently ripped up from within. Her lower intestines spilling on the stable floor, wrapped around the bloodied remains of her amniotic sac.

But it was not Pistachio's lifeless body that made me scream, but the remains of the... creature she birthed.

It had the head of a horse, which was about all it shared with its mother. Ugly, mottled gray skin covered it from head to tail instead of the soft, fuzzy coats expected of newborn foals. Its forelegs were withered and mishappen and ended in three blood-covered claws instead of hooves; so withered that it would have been impossible for the thig to stand. A pair of leathery wings with clear, insect-like membranes grew from its shoulders and rapidly twitched to clean itself of its mother's fluids. It lacked hindlegs of any sort, its hindquarters gradually shrinking into a scorpion-like tail- stinger included.

Once I managed to come to my senses- far sooner than Harold -I thought the creature dead. The thing a victim of a cruel fate that died shortly after birth due its birth defects, much like the rare two-headed calves. The twitching of its wings and sporadic shakes of its body death spasms.

I remember starting to feel guilty about my initial reaction to it. Thinking that it wasn't the poor thing's fault it was deformed in such a way.

But then it green, fly-like eyes sprung open as it unleashed a sickening, gurgling baying. It rolled onto its spindly legs faster than it had any right to, and it unfolded it still wet wings before rushing straight for us. The barb at the end of its tail leaking a green fluid that caused everything it touched to smolder.

The guardian in-training bleated in terror and ran as fast as his hooves would move him, and truthfully, I can't blame him in the slightest. The only reason I was able to stand by ground was my training in the legion and the fact I was too afraid to move.

As the creature launched itself at me with a flap of its wings, I spotted a pitchfork we used to spread fresh hay out of the corner of my eye. Without thinking, I dropped to one knee and snatched the farm tool up, tucking it under my arm and bracing the end of its wooden shafter on the stable floor. The newborn tried to stop its descent with a frantic flap of its wings, but it still fell on the sharpened prongs. It screamed in agony as it violently thrashed, its tail spitting its acidic liquid at anything and everything- my left shoe and pantleg included. I ignored my melting clothes and with every ounce of strength I had, pushed the pitchfork as to pin the hideous thing to the ground. One of its claws managed to slash my right cheek open, but I continued to push my makeshift weapon into its chest.

When at last the creature had stilled, I removed my shoe and cutoff my pantleg and allowed myself a few terrified tears. I quickly pulled myself together and placed the twisted body on a tarp so that I could drag it to Chiron and the others- and I would have taken Pistachio's as well if I was strong enough.

We would have known if Pistachio's foal had any deformities before it was born. Both the Council of Cloven Elders and the Apollo campers had examined the pair and said they were in perfect health.

That creature, that abomination, only came to be because of the color.

And I was going to use its corpse as proof to force the others to undo the spell.

----

"A shantak..."

"What?"

"Sorry, I sneezed. It's pretty dusty on my end."

"That didn't sound anything like a sneeze..."

"Everyone sneezes differently, I just sneeze quieter than most. Ah shantak! See?"

----

I was surprised to find that there were people hesitant to undo the spell even when presented the monster's body and the news of Pistachio's violent death. Them being more afraid of violence that last we heard was still growing outside the camp's borders than the series of ominous events surrounding them.

My muscles aching and heart still pounding, I had no patience to give, and I tore into them with a ferocity that would have made even Reyna quake in her boots. A couple of the others tried to calm me down, but I pushed them aside again and again until all were convinced that the ritual had to be undone. That the color needed to be destroyed before more lived were lost.

The children of Hecate rushed back to their cabin to prepare for the ritual, while it was decided that I would sit it out unless needed; Chiron ordering me to the infirmary to have my few injuries examined and treated.

Even though I was perfectly fine walking there myself, Nico shadow traveled me to the infirmary's door-an act that showed just how much he cared for me, as he tended to avoid it like the plague. Ever the overprotective and caring brother, Nico opened the door for me and ushered me inside, where to are surprise we found nearly every bed occupied with Will hurriedly distributing buckets and even bedpans to the green-looking campers. The Son of Apollo flashed us a million-watt smile when he saw us- to which Nico responded by making every shadow in the room grow -and cheerfully explained that it was not allergies that had so many campers ill like previously thought, but rather the flu, an that everyone would be just fine after a few hymns and some nectar.

But I didn't share Will's optimism. My breakfast rising to the back of my throat as if I was the one with the flu. Without a word, I pulled Nico out of the infirmary to the sounds of Will's confused protests and demigods emptying their stomachs.

Maybe it was because I am a Daughter of Pluto or that Nico was rubbing off on me, but I knew at that moment that the infirmary had been transformed into a funeral parlor. A plague unlike anything we had ever seen had taken up residence in those sniffling and vomiting demigods.

We returned to Nico' cabin and he examined my leg and foot, finding that the few burns were small and superficial; nothing that a few drops of nectar could not take care of.

Once treated, Nico insisted I rested for a few hours, and unlike anyone else at camp, I knew I couldn't change his mind. Ever the dutiful brother, he snuck me a warm glass of milk from the kitchens and tucked me in. Sleep came easier than I thought it would, and thankfully it was deep and dreamless.

I woke up several hours later as the sun began to set. People would just be gathering for the bonfire, but that night I didn't feel like socializing. I considered going back to sleep, but I remembered that Pistachio's foal was still lying on a tarp in front of the Big House. Remembering it hadn't turned to dust even after dragging it to Chiron and the others, I realized it probably never would. Even though it had attacked me, I knew what I had to do. I borrowed a pair of Nico's shoes and retrieved a shovel from the Demeter gardening shed and began to dig the unnamed foal a grave at the edge of the forest.

It took hours to dig a hole deep enough, long enough that everyone had returned to their cabins and Lou Ellen and her siblings leaving theirs to perform the ritual that would redisperse the Mist and remove the impossibly colored aurora from the sky.

I had just made it back to the cabin when the color once more illuminated the night sky and shifted from its swirling aurora to the strange, pulsating pattern.

----

"You showed a kindness that few people possess, Hazel. Please allow yourself a moment to feel proud of yourself."

"Thank you, but I don't think we have a moment. I can hear the hounds getting closer, and I don't think I can-"

"There's still a transformer on Cabin Nine that's active. I'm in the process of overloading it. The resulting explosion will distract them and everything else for a few more minutes."

"Shouldn't I use that as an opportunity to run?"

"..."

"Shouldn't I run?"

"Please continue your story while I work on this."

----

My heart stopped when the color struck the ground like a bolt of lightning, sending a wave of what I can only describe as agony throughout the earth. Mineral deposits replaced by something I had never felt before. I forced myself to ignore the dramatic changes happening beneath my feet when I realized that the color had struck where the Lou Ellen and the others had gathered.

I raced through the camp, waking the other cabins as I went and earning more than a few insults from the Aphrodite cabin. Nico appeared at my side as I neared the lake's edge, and I was grateful he was there to collapse and give me something else to focus on instead of the horror we found.

Lou Ellen and her siblings were still very much alive, their wails of agony undisputable proof.

They were no longer six individuals, their bodies melted and fused into a writhing mass of flesh that I still see every time I close my eyes. Skin stretched to its limit as the exposed heads desperately tried to tear themselves free, hands without arms grasping for anything to use to pull themselves free, guts pooled into one gigantic cyst-like sack in the mass's center, as blood spilled from the wounds inflected from how their clothing had gruesomely merged with their flesh.

The reactions of the others were wide and varied. Some struggled to make sense of what they were seeing, only to go silent from shock when they understood. The younger kids tended to start screaming or crying the moment they laid eyes on the former Hecate campers, with some fleeing to their cabins as fast as they could. Those that were able to set aside their revulsion and fear immediately began trying to assist the tortured souls.

Chiron galloped up the front of the crowd, rearing back when the remains of Lou Ellen's face screamed. Campers swarmed around him seeking comfort and guidance, I saw fear and doubt flicker across his ancient eyes as he struggled to find answers. He had seen more than any mortal could ever understand and yet he was at a complete loss for words.

I stared at the writhing pile of bodies and let their painfilled cries and Chiron's silence wash over me. Whether it was a stroke of luck of ordained by the Fates, I had narrowly avoided a fate worse than death. The longer I stared the more I began to truly grasp how dire our situation was. The ritual had failed, or perhaps never worked in the first place, and that the color would only grow stronger as the Mist continued to converge around us. That events like the mysterious hound, the strawberry fields, Pistachio's foal, and the Hecate cabin were just the beginning.

It was enough to make anyone tremble in fear.

But since I had been at the center of it all, I felt it was my responsibility to get everyone safely out of Camp Half-Blood.

And I knew what had to be done...

I propped my brother up on unsteady legs, only letting him go when he assured me he could stand on his own. Without a word I stole a Celestial Bronze sword from a slack jawed Son of Ares and approached the horrific patchwork blob. I said a quick prayer to my father, Thanatos, God itself, and even the Loa of death my mother favored to understand, before burying the glowing blade into what remained of Lou Ellen's throat. The others began to shout and hurried over to stop me, shouting I had gone crazy, but the relief in Lou Ellen's painfilled eyes told me I had done the right thing.

I- I can't tell you exactly what happened after that. I can vaguely recall my brother keeping the others away from me as I sliced and stabbed the bloated mass, and me screaming through teary eyes that we had to abandon Camp Half-Blood unless we wished to share the same fate.

----

"I did the right thing... right? Putting them out of their misery I mean. With the gods locked away on Olympus, there was no way they could be saved, right? They were in pain... Keeping them alive would have been cruel and only prolong their suffering."

"I've known you only for a few years, Hazel... but I believe you did the right thing. You saw they were in pain and believed that sending them to the Underworld was an act of mercy."

"Thank- wait... What do you mean you know me? Just who are you?"

"That's not important right now. What is important is that you continue to tell me everything-"

"Tell me who you are, or better yet: show me. You've been watching me this entire time, but I can't see you."

"lo and behold... Hazel, the phone in you hand only has a seven percent state of charge and dropping fast. Starting a two-way video call would only accelerate the discharge. So please trust me when I say telling me what you saw here could save more lives than you could every comprehend. I beg you, please continue."

----

We wasted no time in planning our evacuation.

Campers were told to pack only their weapons and the barest of essentials. Since all the pegasi had disappeared into the Mist, those that could carry more were instructed to carry additional weapons, medical supplies, and help the youngest demigods and those stuck in the infirmary. Butch and the few present Hephaestus kids took most of that load, with the Son of Iris looking like a mobile armory by the time he was packed up.

There was some debate into whether the entire camp should leave in stages or all at once; the sides people chose dependent on if they feared what was going on beyond the wall of mist or within it. In the end, it was decided that a small team of demigods would scout the surrounding area for immediate threats while Nico searched further ahead for safe routes. Everyone was also given several drachmas so that they could try to contact the gods once they were beyond the wall of Mist.

When the scouting party was ready, we assembled at Half-Blood Hill. I was to be among the last group to leave, as I was to part the Mist as much as possible. I wasn't sure what I'd be able to do- if anything at all -to the ever-thickening Mist, but it wasn't like we had a choice with the senior Hecate campers gone.

My brother- who could read me like a book -hugged me and paced a kiss on my forehead while uttering assurances that everything would be okay. That we would find someplace safe and that I would be reunited with Frank soon enough.

His words settled the worst of my nerves, and with everyone's approval I began parting the Mist.

I had never felt such resistance manipulating the Mist before. The simplest of commands and ideas collapsing losing form as fast an ice cube under the July sun. Every yard gained through swirling chaos took at least three tries, and more than once the entire passage collapsed or transformed into yet another alien world. It was grueling work, and as the woods appeared through the parting veil, I realized that this would most likely be a one-way trip for everyone.

Before I could say a word, Nico entered the shadows and reappeared on the other side of the passage. He gave me a reassuring smile and entered the shadows again before he could hear my hoarse goodbye.

The scouting group rushed into the narrow passage with their weapons drawn; including a Daughter of Demeter who had claimed the long-neglected Remington from the weapons shed. They moved as fast as they could given all the armor and equipment they carried and were careful to avoid touching the misty walls that were mere inches from their sides. Everyone held their collective breaths as the group ran, and a sigh of relief echoed across the hill when they reached the other side.

Relief quickly turned into terror when the color surged across the sky brighter than before, and well beyond the camp's borders. Its pattern more complex and alive than before, spreading like the roots of a tree as it pulsed with power.

There was a flash of blinding light, and the earth rumbled and shook, making people on both sides of the passage scream in terror. It took everything I had to prevent the hole through the Mist from collapsing as the panicked cries were drowned out by the deep rumbling. The smell of brimstone filled the air, and the unmistakable sound of a gunshot pierced the rumbling.

My eyes snapped open at the sound, and I took an involuntary step back at what I saw.

The ground had been changed to a red and black hellscape. Razor-sharp volcanic stone and jagged red gems rose from the ground along with termite-like mounds that belched thick black smoke. Some of the scouting party were frantically trying to free their limbs encased in the strange ground, while a Daughter of Ares lie dead- the girl's upper body sticking out of a thermal vent that had opened beneath her.

But it wasn't the changed environment that had them panicked.

As the more than one of the hound-like creatures the Son of Demeter had described loomed over the Greeks.

Hound only describes them at the most superficial level. They were skeletal in appearance and stood as tall as Mrs. O'Leary despite lacking any visible appendages below their spines. Blood red gemstones floated in the four eye sockets of their dog-like skulls, rotating in all directions to observe their surroundings. Dark blue smoke billowed from their ribcages, obscuring everything within save for a solitary green spark below the base of their necks, and camouflaging those closest to the walls of Mist. Their most haunting feature though was a long, hollow tongue that protruded from their jaws and dripped a blue-green pus-like liquid.

With their tongues they pierced the stomachs and throats of their victims and hurriedly drained them of their fluids.

At the sight of seeing Butch being devoured from the inside out, chaos broke out.

People began to flee towards their cabins, knocking over others with only self-preservation in mind. A few of those unlucky enough to fall were violently trampled to death as they futilely tried to get to their feet. Chiron tried calling for order, but his booming voice combined with the screams only served to alert the otherworldly hounds of our presence. I dropped my hold of the Mist, dooming those within it, but it was already too late.

The floating skeletons began to appear at random, picking off the fleeing Greeks one-by-one. They didn't run or use the shadows like a hellhound, seemingly appearing and disappearing with the turn of my head, with the further I turned the more they appeared.

Somehow, I made it to the infirmary where Will and the sick had waited for the word to move out. I didn't dare waste a breath explaining what had happened, instead moving every piece of furniture I could find to block the windows and entrance. No one tried to stop me, and Will and those well enough helped me when the screams and haunting howls came within earshot. We extinguished every light in the infirmary and huddled in the center back-to-back.

I somehow fell asleep that night, and I was once more awoken to the sound of screaming.

In the dark of Nyx's night, the demigods in the infirmary had succumbed to their illness. Their skin bubbled and swelled into hardened sickly green growths with some even having their bones snapped and shattered from the transformation. Black roots snaked their way through their veins and arteries before emerging from their mouths permanently twisted in silent screams. A thick, charcoal colored liquid oozed from their open wounds instead of blood and had somehow singed their bedsheets and blankets.

The Son of Apollo sat in the corner of the room, hands tangled in his thick blond hair as he rocked back and forth. Tears running down his face as he muttered incomprehensibly to himself.

I knew then that it was over.

----

"And that's about all of it. I've managed to survive these last few weeks by keeping my head low and avoiding sharp turns. I found Cabin Nine's stache of Greek Fire and used it to burn down the infirmary and Wonderland; the latter regrowing and spreading faster than it could burn. The Mist continues to gather and feed the color, and very little of Camp Half-Blood remains unchanged."

"That's more than enough, Hazel. The data you provided is invaluable and will be used to help countless others."

"There's people still alive out there? What Camp Jupiter? New Rome? Frank? My brother?"

"Hazel... a similar incident occurred in California at around the same time. While Camp Jupiter held out longer than its Greek equivalent, the chaotic changes to the fabric of reality still overwhelmed them. Frank... Frank died valiantly."

"And my brother?"

"It's hard to know exactly where he is at any given time, but last we spoke, I instructed him to go to Boston to monitor the Chase Place... Or is it the Chase Zone?"

"You... you know my brother?"

"He's the one who told me where to find you and clued me in to what had transpired. Would... would you like me to pass a message to him?"

"Just that I love him and thank him for giving me a second chance at life."

"There's three percent charge remaining. Enough for another question or two if you like."

"I have just one: what happened?"

"What happens when a something dreams? Synapses fire, dendrites react, axoms relay messages to the appropriate neighbors, and eventually the dreamer experiences memories or fantasies. Just that in this case, the dreamer is a god."