Percy

After getting back to my house, I had to explain the whole thing to my mom and Paul, and tell them Annabeth and I were going back to camp with Nico and Henora. On the bright side, they were fine with it.

On the bad side, they were fine with it.

Alright, sue me, but I'd been looking forward to my last summer before heading off to California and spending most of the year in college. I mean, I was stoked to be going to college with Annabeth. But I'd been so excited to finally be done with high school and spend some time with my family before shipping off.

Get it? Shipping off? Because I'm a son of Poseidon?

Yeah, Annabeth almost smacked me when I told her that one.

Anyway, we left for camp and I drove. Annabeth rode shotgun and Nico and Henora were in the back. As Henora killed everything that touched her, she made it her mission to keep as much space between herself and others as possible. She kept her backpack on her lap and practically melted into the side of the car.

Her eyes were rimmed with pink and black, as she'd been crying a bit, and cried black tears. That still creeps me out a little. I know every demigod has their quirks, yet this didn't seem normal. Plus, the whole "killing things with a single touch" wasn't common either. I couldn't think of a single Greek myth that could fit. And from the amount of concentration and frustration on Annabeth's face, I could tell she was as stumped as I was.

What Henora's situation reminded me of a little was kind Midas. The guy who would touch stuff and it would turn to gold. Another close second was Medusa, since whatever looked into her eyes turned to stone, pretty much dying. If you combined the two myths, it was sort of close to Henora's dilemma.

Maybe she was their descendant or something. Then it hit me that Henora didn't have snakes for hair, and she wasn't a stubborn jerk with an ego problem. So that theory was out.

Surprisingly, no monsters attacked the car. The last time I'd driven up to camp was with Apollo and Meg for passengers, and we got attacked by plague creatures. Thanks to Meg and her flying, frozen fruit, we didn't die.

This time, we saw monsters outside the windows. Though they didn't attack or ever try to stop the car. All of them watched us drive by, not daring to approach.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Nico questioned, keeping his eyes on a couple of dracaena slither down the road. "There are tons of monsters out there, so what are they waiting for?"

"Me," Henora squeaked. "They're scared of me. That's why they won't come near us. They've been watching me for months because they think I'm a monster too."

Annabeth looked at her through the rear-view mirror. "Why are they scared of you?"

"Because they've seen what I can do," she said plainly. She didn't elaborate, making everyone in the car more on edge. I knew Henora was a softy, and that she'd never hurt a fly if she could help it. But that was just it, she couldn't help it. When she was scared, her powers got more unpredictable. There was no telling what she would do if she got to nervous.

The best thing we could do for her was get her to camp and have Chiron and Mr. D to check her out. Maybe one of them could lift the curse on her and find out who gave it to her. And why? Why would someone curse a kid?

So many questions crossed my mind I could hardly keep track of them all. Who was she before this curse? Where were her parents? Why was she living alone in an abandoned Library when we found her? What could have done this to her?

The closer we got to camp, the less monsters we saw on the sides of the road. The barrier must have been doing its job. Repelling monsters and keeping them out. Once we got as far as we could in my car, I parked and we all got out, one by one. Henora was the last to get out, and she stared out in front of her, at the barrier.

The way she was looking at the barrier, I could see she didn't like it. She strung her arms through the straps of her backpack and trudged on behind us.

Nico was first to go through the barrier, and I was second. Annabeth tried to coax Henora closer to get her to go through.

When Henora was a foot from the barrier, a crow cawed at her, startling her. Its beady black eyes narrowed on Henora, and I reached for Riptide. I'd seen first hand what bird monsters could do to people. This one time, my friend Clarisse got attacked by birds with feather arrows right outside my school. Those buggers were nasty pieces of work, and were sent by her own godly half-brothers.

Henora avoided making eye contact with the crow. Taking a deep breath, she moved closer and got her arm past. Which was all she got past before the rest of her got stuck. The crow cawed at her, louder this time, and poked at the barrier. Henora struggled and fought to get inside.

"Go away!" She swatted at the crow. It only moved about in the air rather than fly off. The bird teased and tormented her by cawing in her face and flapping its wings at her.

I'd had plenty of crud to deal with today, and this bird was pushing me. I uncapped Riptide and shoved the end towards the crow. The flash of light off my blade scared the crow, and it flew back onto a branch.

Somehow, when the crow was retreating, Henora got past the barrier. Now more than ever, the grass at her feet was dying. "What was that?" She brushed a few black feathers from her hoodie. "It's been following me since I got to New York."

Annabeth and I exchanged curious looks. "I have no idea," I said, truthfully. "It could be a messenger, because someone knows your here and doesn't want you to get into camp."

This didn't help Henora. She shoved her hands in her pockets and waited for us to lead the way. So after a crazy bird attack, we all went back down to camp and introduced Henora to more people to not touch!

..................

Our first stop was the Big House, where Mr. D and Chiron were, I hoped. As we walked down the path, an agitated Son of Apollo came storming towards us. More specifically, at Nico.

"Where have you been all day!?" Will barked. "You've been missing since breakfast and you didn't tell anyone where you were going! What did you even leave for?!"

Without saying a word, Nico pointed to Henora, who was slowly walking backwards back to the barrier. From what I could see, she was already having second thoughts about coming here. Temporarily, Will forgot about Nico's absence and apologized for his ... loudness.

"Sorry, about that," he smiled to Henora. "It's just my boyfriend here didn't tell anyone where he was going and we've been searching the whole camp for him for hours." He glared at Nico. "And you're going to tell Chiron where you've been and why you brought people back with you. No offense guys."

Annabeth and I were less offended by Will's reference to us as we felt lied to. Mainly because Nico lied to us.

"You said Chiron sent you to look for a monster that scared a satyr." Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest.

Will looked just as betrayed as they felt. "You told them Chiron sent you? Chiron didn't even know you were gone until I told him!"

Defensive, Nico began, "Okay, so I may have left camp without telling anyone, and I lied about Chiron telling me to go. That's only because I was worried about Percy and Henora."

Will got in his boyfriend's face. "Explain."

He sighed and ignored Will. "I heard some monsters on the outside of the barrier talking about another monster hiding in New York, near where Percy lives. They said they were going to go looking for it, but one refused to go because the monster was too powerful. I thought that if they started searching, they'd find Percy's place. And if I didn't find the monster first, it would find Percy and his family."

I have to admit, I was slightly touched by the idea of Nico going out of his way to protect me and my family. That's what friends are for, right?

Still, Henora wasn't thrilled by Nico calling her "the monster" every other sentence. She was more ashamed than anything, and the more she let herself indulge in negative thoughts, the more grass died around her. A bee buzzed by her face, and fell to the ground in a second. Black smoke curled off her, and Will's face turned ashen.

He glared at Nico. "We'll talk about this later." To which Nico shrugged and didn't protest.

They led Henora to the Big House and Chiron was outside, giving instructions to a group of campers. He saw Nico first, and a slight grimace took his mouth. "Call off the search everyone. Nico's right over there." A few of the campers looked relieved, others not so much. "Nico, you can't run off anytime you feel like it now. The last time campers went missing Nero was attacking the camp."

Nico went up to Chiron held his gaze. Which is hard to do because Chiron is a Centaur and taller than most human. "I'm sorry about leaving," he started. "But we have a bigger problem." Nico gestured to Henora. "She needs help. She's been cursed and I think Mr. D can heal her."

Chiron glanced up at Henora and went rigid. He moved past Nico and closer to Henora. She was in aw in the presence of the Centaur, and he returned the feeling. "Henora?" Chiron smiled, wistfully. "Is that you?"

Her amazement faded to stun. "H-how do you know my name?"

At that, Chiron's glee flew away as well. "Have you ever been here before?" Henora shook her head, confused. This made Chiron's mood worsen. "Do you have an ancestor you're named after?"

"I wouldn't know," she replied. "I don't know any of my family. I- ... I don't remember them. I don't really remember anything before I got to New York."

Okay, if I hadn't felt bad for Henora up the this point, I did now. Amnesia is one of the worst things ever. And when you're all alone and can't remember squat about your life, things tend to get real difficult real fast. My friend Jason and I got amnesia over a year ago, and it sucked. So if anyone says they want to wake up and not remember anything, they don't know how horrible it will be if they do.

"When did you get here?" Annabeth studied Henora. The grass was not only dying at her feet. It was withering into dust and the soil under her dried up. It was like Henora was sucking the life out of everything.

"About two to three years ago. I woke up somewhere weird and ... got on a boat that stopped in New York. I ran away from some monsters and found the Library you found me in, and I've been staying there ever since."

Annabeth pondered this. "That was around the time we were in the Labyrinth. That feels like forever ago."

I couldn't argue with that. After the war with Gaea, everything previous to that felt like distant memories. That could have been the amnesia, or all of the crazy stuff that was still going on.

Will crept up behind them and scanned Henora. "When was the last time you ate, kid?" The comment made Henora shrink. She was thin, and her cheeks were hollow. Her skin was merely a cover on her hands, and there was no evidence of muscles on her anywhere.

Henora didn't exactly answer, and I feared the worst. Being homeless, you didn't get to eat every time you were hungry. After being trained by a pack of wolves, and heading off on my own, I got my own taste of homelessness. Trust me when I say it sucks.

"Breakfast," she muttered. Will seemed content with that. Then she added, "Four days ago."

Hearing that, Will was borderline horrified. "You stay here, I'm going to get some Ambrosia and Nectar." He sprinted to the mess hall, and I cursed at myself. I left my bag of Nectar and Ambrosia in the trunk of my car. I wish I'd thought of giving some to Henora.

"I'll inform Mr. D and ask him to come here," Chiron announced before leaving them. He saw the growing patch of dead grass beneath Henora and grew more concerned for her. The way he looked at Henora, it was like he recognized her. He already knew her name too, making things more ominous.

In no time, Chiron came back with Mr. D, who wore an expression of suspicion. When he saw Henora, he stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't exactly angry or alarmed. I couldn't place what was going through Dionysus's head as he studied Henora.

He approached Henora and held his hand out. She flinched away, afraid she'd hurt him.

"I assure you, your curse won't work on me." Dionysus being kind to a camper was new. He watched Henora with the same familiarity as Chiron. Henora weld her eyes shut as she reached out for Mr. D's hand. When they met, black steam fizzled off her skin. A golden glow enveloped her, and more dark tendrils soared into the clouds.

The glow faded and so did the black smoke. Mr. D let go of Henora's hand, and she examined them herself.

"Now, go touch Perry Johnson," Mr. D ordered. So much for being nice.

I was grateful when she decided against it and stepped outside of her circle of dead grass instead. She tapped the ground with her shoe, nothing died. She bent down and touched the grass with her bare hands. Again, the plant life she touched was perfectly fine.

A bird I thought we got rid of came soaring down and perched itself on Henora's shoulder. Gently, Henora patted the crow's wing. When nothing happened, she smoothed her fingers over its back. The crow nuzzled her hand. After a few moments, it flew off.

Henora was on cloud nine. "I'm fixed!" she cried. She smile broadly and jumped in place. She laughed, a sweet, mature sound I didn't think could come from a little girl. Her grin and giggle made her appear older than she was.

It kind of creeped me out. But I was happy for her anyway. The girl was freed from her curse. Yet, that wasn't the end of my trip to camp. Things were just starting to get weird.

I was sure of this when a bronze dragon nearly crash landed into the Big House.