Published: September 8, 2022
Edited: N/A
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I'd never seen Camp Half-Blood snow in winter before, it surprised me. See, the camp has the ultimate magic climate control. Nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Mr. D, wants it to. I thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead the
snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields.

The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body. I wondered if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there or
something.

"Whoa," Nico marveled as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge. Come on. Percy and I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met-"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"-he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking-"like my old daddy goat used to say Come on!"

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brothers ear.

She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at me and Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy, Neridia. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. "Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!" He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't.

Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat.

When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking grumpy. I wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," I hesitated "He's... well, you'll see.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

I smiled sadly at him and held out a hand for him to hold. Nico took it, looking away pointedly seeming to say 'don't make this a big deal'. I grinned at the kid.

The second thing that surprised me about camp was how empty it was. I mean, I knew most half-bloods only trained during the summer. Just the year-rounders would be here-the
ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left.

But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

I spotted Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin stoking the forge outside the camp armory. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, from the Hermes cabin, were picking the lock on the camp store. A few kids from the Ares cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest.

That was about it. Even my old rival from the Ares cabin, Clarisse, didn't seem to be around.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wasn't posing as Percy's teacher this year, so I guess he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

He smiled when he saw us. "Neridia! Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be-"

"Nico di Angelo," I said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

"Well..."

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

I'd been trying not to pay attention to Mr. D, but he was kind of hard to ignore in his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. (Like Mr. D had ever run a day in his immortal life.) A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"But... Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict-"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.
"Cool!" Nico looked up at me. I nodded and let go of his hand, giving him a little push towards Grover. Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Now," Chiron said to the rest of us. "perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When we were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"I'll go," Thalia, Percy and I said at the same time.

Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

Thalia and I both started complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if we didn't shut up.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell-"

"Annabeth," I snapped. She'd gone to camp since we were seven, and still Mr. D pretended not to know her name.

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this
Annie girl is dead."

"Nico isn't annoying-" I grit my teeth. Then I paused when I noticed Percy and Thalia looking at me with raised eyebrows. "He's just energetic.." I mumbled defensively.

Percy flexed his fingers like he wanted to strangle Mr. D. I didn't blame him,, it wasn't fair Zeus had sent him here to dry out as camp
director for a hundred years. It was meant to be a punishment for Mr. D's bad behavior on Olympus, but it ended up being a punishment for all of us.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron countered, but I could tell he was having trouble sounding upbeat. He'd practically raised Annabeth and I all those years we were year-round campers, before she'd given living with her dad and stepmom a second try and I'd moved in with my mom and Percy. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right," Thalia muttered. "Luke would want her alive."

I clenched my fists. "I wouldn't be so sure." I mumbled to myself. Percy heard me and shot me a worried look, but no one else seemed to catch my dark sentiment.

"In which case" declared Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

Percy got up from the table. I grit my teeth, an earthquake starting to tremble the room.
"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning as he placed a hand on my arm. In the back of my mind, I knew Mr. D was not somebody to mess with. Even if you were an impulsive ADHD kid like me, he wouldn't give you any slack. But I was so angry I didn't care.

"You're glad to lose another camper," Percy snapped. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

"Yeah," I growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound.
Then the room was shaking and rumbling. Someone outside screamed. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something-probably a curse that would blast me to smithereens-when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

I took a deep breath, no need to scare the newest camper. The shaking ceased as I reeled in my anger, shutting off the earthquake.

"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from me and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed, which probably saved my life and probably Percy's too. "Well, that's...
gratifying."

"Percy," Chiron spoke quickly, "you, your sister and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

"Capture the flag?" I asked. "But we don't have enough-"

"It is a tradition," Chiron sighed. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game.

"Run along now," Chiron told us.

"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on, Percy, Guppy."

She hauled us out of the Big House before Dionysus could remember that he wanted to kill me.

"You've already got Ares on your bad side," Thalia reminded us with a sigh as we trudged toward the cabins. "You need another immortal enemy?"

She was right. Percy's first summer as a camper, we'd gotten in a fight with Ares, and now he and all his children wanted to kill me. I didn't need to make Dionysus mad, too.

"Sorry," I said. "I couldn't help it. It's just so unfair."

She stopped by the armory and looked out across the valley, toward the top of HalfBloodHill. Her pine tree was still there, the Golden Fleece glittering in its lowest branch. The tree's magic still protected the borders of camp, but it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

"Guppy, everything is unfair," Thalia muttered. "Sometimes I wish..."
She didn't finish, but her tone was so sad I felt sorry for her. With her ragged black hair and her black punk clothes, an old wool overcoat wrapped around her, she looked like some kind of huge raven, completely out of place in the white landscape.

"We'll get Annabeth back," I promised. "I just don't know how yet."

"First I found out that Luke is lost," she whispered. "Now Annabeth-"

"Don't think like that." Percy's voice was sad, and I could tell that he was sensing my forlorn emotions.

"You're right." She straightened up. "We'll find a way."

Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter girl looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

"I'll break that up," Thalia sounded frustrated. "You two circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about
capture the flag tomorrow."

"All right. You should be team captain."

"No, no," she protested. "You've both been at camp longer. One of you do it."

"We can, uh... co-captain or something." Percy suggested. She looked about as comfortable with that as I felt, but she nodded.

As she headed for the court, Percy said,"Hey, Thalia."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what happened at Westover. I should've waited for you guys."

'"S okay, Percy. I probably would've done the same thing." She shifted from foot to foot, like she was trying to decide whether or not to say more. "You know, you asked about my mom and I kinda snapped at you. It's just... I went back to find her after seven years, and I found out she died in Los Angeles. She, um... she was a heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and..." Thalia blinked hard.

"I'm sorry." I gasped. I knew Thalia's relationship with he mom had always been rocky, but Percy and I knew firsthand how hard it was to lose a mother.

"Yeah, well. It's... it's not like we were ever close. I ran away when I was ten. Best two years of my life were when I was running around with Luke and Annabeth and Neridia. But still-"

"That's why you had trouble with the sun van."

She gave me a wary look. "What do you mean?"

"The way you stiffened up. You must've been thinking about your mom, not wanting to get behind the wheel."

I was sorry I'd said anything. Thalia's expression was dangerously close to Zeus's, the one time I'd seen him get angry-like any minute, her eyes would shoot a million volts.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, that must've been it."

She trudged off toward the court, where the Ares camper and the Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"I didn't mean to upset her..." I murmured sadly.

"It's alright Neri, its not your fault." Percy assured me quietly.

The cabins were the weirdest collection of buildings you've ever seen. Zeus and Hera's big white-columned buildings, Cabins One and Two, stood in the middle, with five gods' cabins on the left and five goddesses' cabins on the right, so they all made a U around the central green and the barbecue hearth.

We made the rounds, telling everybody about capture the flag. I woke up some Ares kid from his midday nap and he yelled at me to go away. When I asked him where Clarisse was he said, "Went on a quest for Chiron. Top secret!"

"Is she okay?"

"Haven't heard from her in a month. She's missing in action. Like your butt's gonna be if you don't get outta here!"

We decided to let him go back to sleep. I made Percy go up and tell the Athena cabin about Capture the Flag and Annabeth, seeing as the Athena campers weren't really fond of me and I still had bitter memories of their rejection of me.

I watched Percy knock on the door and talk to Malcom, the second in charge. Then the door shut in Percy's face. Percy blinked in bewilderment for a moment.

Then there was a faint yelling sound and the door swung back open. The swinging door smacked Percy across the face and he staggered backwards, holding his nose dramatically. Out of the Athena cabin burst a small blur, racing across the lawn towards me.

Eva tackled me to the ground, her small face lit up with joy. "'Ridia!" She cheered. I laughed at her excitement.

"Hey owlet." I laughed, wrapping my arms around my little friend. Eva beamed at me.

"Did you know that the Hunters of Artemis are here? And they have really shiny silver coats, they kinda look like the table in the cabin. And they have really cool bows and arrows, I'm gonna be one when I grow up will you be one with me?" Eva babbled, rolling off of my stomach and bouncing on her knees in the soft grass of the main lawn.

"Deep breaths Owlet, deep breaths." I sat up slowly,  Eva still hyperventilating with excitement.

"Okay!" Eva held her breath dramatically as I got to my feet. Then she let it out with a loud sigh and hopped up to stand with me.

"It's good to see you Eva." I told her, offering my arms for 'uppies'. Eva bounced her way into my arms and lept up. "Oof- you're getting to big for this!" I staggered slightly. Eva was indeed almost six years old now and much heavier than the three-year old I had begun toting around came when she first arrived.

"That's mean!" Eva exclaimed hotly, but she still made no move to hop down from my arms.

"'Ey Eba." Percy walked over, holding his nose as blood dipped from between his fingers.

"Perri! What happened to your nose?" Eva asked worriedly. Percy grimaced.

"You 'it be wif tha door." Percy explained thickly.

"Oops, sorry." Eva muttered, looking embarrassed. I laughed slightly.

"It's alright, it's just a bloody nose he won't die." I told Eva, booping her nose lightly. She giggled at me as I readjusted my grip and shifted her onto my hip.

"Why don't I go introduce you to our new camper Owlet? Sound ok?" I asked her. Eva nodded wildly. I flashed an apologetic grin to Percy, who waved me off.

"Go ahead, I'll be fide-" Percy mumbled, starting off towards our cabin. A small trail of blood followed him, his nose still dripping. I stifled a laugh and headed to see if Eva and I could find Nico.

Surprisingly enough we found him, not in or near the Hermes cabin (which was where the new campers slept) but on the steps of the Apollo cabin, chattering away to a bewildered looking Will Solace.

"Hey Nico, Will." I called as Eva waved energetically.

"Neridia!" Nico bounced over to me, his eyes shining. Will followed more slowly, his blue eyes following the younger boy's progress.

"Hey bud. I've got someone I want you to meet." I let Eva wiggle down from my grasp and hop over to Nico and Will. "This is Eva, she's a daughter of Athena."

Eva noticed Nico's mythomagic cards and began a long winded, rapid fire story about how her mortal aunt had gotten her a special edition pack of mythomagic cards for her birthday. Nico immediately jumped into the conversation, rattling on about the game. Eva led Nico off to show him her mythomagic cards and they wandered off, still talking so loudly it sounded like they were shouting at each other.

"Well I'm glad they get along." I laughed, watching the short, dark figure and the pale, slightly taller one  chatter off across the lawn.

"Uh- yeah..." Will said distractedly, his eyes fixed on the retreating back of Nico.

"Will?" I asked, waving my hand in front of his face. The blonde started and looked at me.

"You okay there?" I asked gently. "You could have gone with them if you wanted, I'm sure they wouldn't have minded the company."

"Uh- no. I mean yes! But no." Will scrambled for words. I raised an eyebrow at the eleven year old. Will groaned and covered his face with his hands. "I don't like Mythomagic." He explained. "But-" the son of Apollo made a wild gesture with his hands and let out a garbled sound that went something like: "hmnnenelsm"

I patted his arm. "You're lucky I speak Percy-nese." Will sighed, and plopped down on the front step of his cabin. I sat down beside him and patted his back. "What's got you so worked up Sunshine Boy?"

"I think I'm sick!" The boy wailed, looking worried. My eyes widened in surprise, that was what he was so worked up about? Being sick was no big deal.

"I'm no doctor Will. Have you tried taking some ambrosia to see if it helps?" I shrugged. Will nodded.

"Just did. It didn't fix it." He sighed.

"Well what kind of sick do you feel?" I asked. "What are your symptoms?"

Will began listing them on his fingers. "My face feels really hot, like I have a fever. And my stomach gets all twisty and fluttery. Also I get flushed at random times." He looked up at me. "I'm the healer I'm supposed to be able to fix these things Neridia, not have them!"

I stifled a grin, it was pretty obvious now that he had explained. "Okay when did these symptoms start?" I asked.

"Just today." Will told me. "I figured it must be serious if it's become so severe so quickly."

"Uh huh." I nodded, my smirk growing. "And when do these symptoms occur?"

"Well, only around- Nico di Angelo. The new camper- he- I..." Will made another hopeless gesture with his arms.

"I know just where to go to get you help." I declared, nodding wisely. Will's eyes lit up.

"Seriously?! Let's go!" He jumped to his feet.

"Alright." I laughed.

I walked Will across the lawn to the cabin I visited almost as much as my own.

"What are we doing here?" Will asked, looking confused.

"Just wait and see." I told him slyly. Then I knocked lightly on the door, a quick rhythmic pattern of taps. I barley had time to pull my hand away from the door swung inward.

"Neridia!" Silena Beauregard squealed, throwing her arms around me.

"Sel- can't breathe." I choked out. Silena squeezed me once more before releasing me.

"Sorry love. Come on in!" Silena calls everyone 'love' or 'babe' it's just her thing. She stepped aside and I dragged Will into the Aphrodite Cabin.

We settled down in Silena's little corner, me on a pouf and Will on a beanbag. Silena sat at her vanity, reapplying her favorite sparkly lipgloss.

"You haven't been using the curl cream I gave you." She told me matter of factly. I sighed.

"I left it here Sel, it was an accident."

Silena heaved a loud sigh, capping her lipgloss and swiveling to face Will and I. "So how can I help you today?" She asked airily, studying Will with a critical eye. "This one's a bit young for you don't you think Ner?"

Will gaped and I glared at my friend. "Ew Silena no! We're not here for me! Will here has a crush."

Will looked at me blankly. "I thought you were going to help me with my sickness?" He asked innocently. I sighed.

"Will you're not sick, you have a crush!" I exclaimed. Silena clapped her hands excitedly.

"Huh?" Will said blankly.

I facepalmed. "You like like Nico!" I explained.

"That's the little Italian boy who arrived today right?" Silena asked. I furrowed my brows.

"How'd you know he's Italian?" I asked in confusion. Silena raised a perfectly threaded eyebrow at me. "Right sorry."

The children of Aphrodite were huge gossips, and they probably could have figured out Nico's ethnicity just by looking at him.

Will meanwhile, was gaping like a fish-turned-tomato. "B-but... we're both boys..." He muttered. He didn't look critical, or disgusted, just confused.

"So?" Silena asked sternly, pointing her lipgloss tube at him severely.  "Love is love." She said serenely, her eyes bright.

"Exactly." I nodded. Silena had taught me all about the LGBTQ+ community when we had first started hanging out, and I was a big supporter.

"So what can we do with you?" Silena tapped her chin, studying Will with a professional eye.

Will gulped nervously.

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Word Count: 4078