Percy

I left the Big House in time to see Chiron leaving the camp. As he departed near Thalia's tree, I approached Annabeth with the news. I told her everything we'd discussed in the Big House, and that Chiron was definitely covering for Henry for some reason.

Annabeth shook her head. "Leo's mystery camper theory is sounding more and more right by the minute. Not to mention what Chiron said to Mr. D after Leo showed up."

"What did he say?"

"He said Henry looked like an old camper."

Admittedly, I jumped at hearing the voice. Nico was at my side, and must have shadow-traveled while I wasn't looking at him. It sparked an idea in my head as I straightened my shirt after leaping out of my skin. "What did he mean by that?"

Nico brushed his hair out of his face. "Chiron said something about Henry looking like a girl camper, and Mr. D said it couldn't have been her."

"Why not?" Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest.

"Mr. D said something about a traumatized satyr and checking out his story. He said that they – which I'm guessing includes someone who looked like Henry and someone else – couldn't have survived." Nico worked his jaw and thought to himself. "I think Henry's look-alike went on a quest with another camper and they didn't make it back."

Annabeth shut her eyes. "Oh gods."

I could count all the times Annabeth and I had been in danger, and they required a lot more to count on than my fingers and toes. Not every demigod survived every adventure.

Silena Beauregard

Charles Beckendorf

Luke Castellan

Bianca di Angelo

The list kept going, and those were just the names I knew off the top of my head. Every camper here had lost someone, many in the Titan war. Pollux lost his brother on a suicide mission, and almost got himself killed trying to be like Castor. Loss was common among us, even if we had no desire for it to be.

"We should find out who that mystery camper was, and if it's the same one Chiron thinks Henry is related to," prompted Annabeth. "We can see if there are any records in the Big House. I think they keep a list of the quests in there somewhere. In the mean time, we need to talk about Henry's powers."

Nico squinted at Annabeth and shifted on his feet. "Why? She has powers, so what? So does every other demigod here."

"Henry has powers I've never heard of before," Annabeth reasoned. "My cousin is a Norse demigod, Percy and I have met Egyptian demigods, and from what Leo says, even more denominations of demigods exist in the rest of the world. Yet, none of those others demigods have the power to sprout wings and fly. To our knowledge, only Valkyrie have wings."

"Okay, she has wings," conceded Nico as he waved his hand about. "Jason can fly too, and his can fry people with lightning."

"Henry used to be able to touch people and kill them." Annabeth was not going to let this go, and I knew it would be easier for Nico to accept that sooner than later.

Nico argued, "That was a curse. She wasn't doing that for kicks. Besides, she's a good kid. What other powers does she have that are concerning anyway?"

"She made a column of dead trees during Capture the Flag," I chimed in. "Not even the Demeter kids could take it down. And doesn't she have a Hellhound on retainer?"

"That could be because she's a child of Hades." For the first time in months, I got to see Annabeth conceded part of her argument to the opposing side. "They have a history with being able to tame Hellhounds more easily than other demigods. So that covers that. But it still doesn't explain how she's so good with Festus, or her wings, or whatever she was making in the Forges."

"And her being a child of Hades means she might be able to shadow-travel, right?" I asked Nico.

The death child scratched his head. "Maybe. I don't know if it's guaranteed for every one of us though."

"What I want to know is why she has so many traits from other gods." She tapped her chin, a sure sign she was not going to give this up any time soon. "There has to be something else involved. Something that can give her all those traits."

"Or that's just who she is," said Nico. The more we talked about his now known half-sibling, the more agitated he got. "She's a person, not a science project. We don't have to analyze and examine her like a lab rat."

He took off towards the Infirmary, towards Will.

And unless I was mistake earlier, Henry as well.

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

Nico

As I got closer to the Infirmary, I saw Will standing in the doorway, waiting for me. We were going to have a nice date by the beach today, free from any insane problems that were related to camp. We were going to take a few hours to be normal teenagers.

It was going to be one of my most challenging quests yet.

I was ten yards from the door when I saw Henry's Hellhound bolt out of the Infirmary from under Will's legs. He came right up to me and barked, cheery. He was looking much better than when I'd seen him two days ago. He still had a few bandages on his legs though.

From behind Will, Henry scooted out of the building and patted her knees. "Over here, Roofus!" she called. Her Hellhound, acting more like a friendly dog than not, bolted over to her for petting and belly rubs.

Henry grinned as she played with her dog. "You are acting too crazy right now. You're going to pull your stitches if you keep acting like this."

The Hellhound cared not, and kept squirming and playing around without care.

It reminded me of Mrs. O'Leary, and a smile grew on my lips without my knowing. Roofus was about a tenth the size of her, and had to be a tiny one in the grand spectrum of the Hellhound species. But at least he liked Henry, and she liked him. He'd be a cool pet to have at camp. I thought that Henry and I could build him a doghouse outside of Hades cabin.

A thought sparked in my head. I walked up to Henry and Roofus, "Are you going to need help moving into Hades cabin, Henry? I can show you around later."

"Oh, um..." She stopped scratching Roofus' belly. "I'm not ... I'm not moving into Hades cabin."

"What?" I thought for sure I'd seen Hades' helm over her head when those skeletons crawled out of the ground. "But, you're a child of Hades. You can't stay in Hermes cabin anymore."

"I know," she agreed.

Roofus rolled off his back and pouted at Henry. She scratched his ear, improving his mood. "I found somewhere else to stay while I'm at camp. I ran it by Chiron, and he says it's okay. So I'm staying there."

Without any other explanation, Henry got back on her feet and signaled Roofus to follow. He winced as he moved his hind left leg, but kept going strong. She trotted off towards Hermes cabin and went inside. She came out a moment later with her backpack from earlier and a new duffle bag.

Without so much as a goodbye to the Hermes campers, or anyone for that matter, she and Roofus hiked back into the forest. If Chiron really had let Henry stay somewhere in the middle of the forest, with no one else with her, he was going insane.

And to my knowledge, Henry hadn't even had lunch yet, and it had started ten minutes ago. Hades, Will would flip if he caught Henry skipping Lunch.

You know what, I'd flip too if I caught her skipping lunch.

I waited for Will outside the Infirmary as the rest of the campers congregated at the Mess Hall. He shouted something about how Apollo campers need to stop firing arrows directly at people during games because it was causing too many injuries. A few of the campers grunted in annoyance, but kept working.

Will dragged himself out of the Infirmary and gave me a tired smile before resting his head on mine.

"So. Tired." His hair fell onto my forehead and brushed my eyelashes. "I. Can't. Function."

"You're speaking, so you're functioning enough to form words," I countered. I hugged him – he was the only person I hugged on a regular basis. When I let him go, he kissed my forehead and smiled. "Let's go eat lunch."

My significant annoyance took my hand and walked with me to the Mess Hall. We got our food fairly quickly, since most of the campers had already gotten their food. We sat down at Apollo table, and saw that Hades table was empty. Hazel was sitting with Frank at Ares table, and Henry wasn't back yet.

Speak of the demigod, Henry came back from wherever she ran off to in the forest, and got lunch. All she did was grab a bowl of strawberries, a roll, and a water bottle. Then, she turned tail and went back down the same path she came from.

"At least she's eating," Will said, catching my attention. "Eat your grilled cheese."

I didn't physically roll my eyes, thought I may have in spirit. My concern for Henry must have been more obvious than I thought. Or Will and I had somehow created a psychic bond, or an empathy link.

This didn't change how worried I was about Henry now. Living off on her own was one thing. Doing it in the woods, where so many monsters and contraptions were yet to be seen, was too dangerous. It was suicide for a new camper who hadn't even had combat training yet.

Chiron was truly losing his mind.

Will nudge me in the side. "The Demeter campers are concerned about how Henry made that tower." He pointed to Ares Table. "The Ares kids don't know how she got past their blockade around their flag. And Jason and Percy won't stop talking about her wings."

Like his super sonic whistle, I often forgot how good my boyfriend's hearing is. On another note, if he was eaves dropping on everyone's conversations, clearly he was also worried for Henry's sake.

Lastly, Henry was the new Percy – if Annabeth accurately told me how the camp perceived him upon his first impression. She was the talk of the camp. Her new powers and being claimed in such an outright and abrupt manner gave her everyone's attention.

Attention I knew she didn't want.

"I'm not surprised," Kayla commented. She'd been silent for most of lunch, as had the rest of the Apollo campers. "Everyone's a bit ... anxious about what other powers she could have. Some think she's some weird combination between Hades and Demeter."

The Hades part I got. "How does Demeter fit?" I asked.

Kayla flicked bits of her salad with her fork. "She rose a column made out of dead trees. Either her heritage from Hades is so strong she can raise anything that's dead, or she combined powers. One of the campers from Camp Jupiter said that they have kids with mixed powers because they're related to more than one god. Henry could be the same."

That possibility had been brought up before. Yet, it didn't sit right with me. I thought she was an incredibly talented child of Hades, and maybe more. She was smart, and knew Greek monsters existed before coming to camp. She was skilled and smart enough to evade those same monsters, and a group of demigods, for years.

The more I concentrated on the conversations around us, the more I heard about Henry. She was flying so fast Jason couldn't catch her, one said. She rose that column in ten seconds flat, claimed another. Her Hellhound and crow fought off a cyclops for her. I bet she controlled them and forced them to do it.

Henry might be the strongest demigod here, but she's also the most terrifying.

Already, the rest of the campers were frightened by Henry. It was when people first found out he was a child of Hades all over again. Henry would find out about all of this soon enough.

Hopefully, she wouldn't run away from camp – like I did.