It's nice outside, with a warm sun and a cool breeze sweeping through the fields. The sunrise has just begun, and the younger campers, and those who wake up on a schedule, bustle quietly from their cabins to catch the warm rays of pink and orange.
A girl emerges from one cabin, hair tied up, and skips to the strawberry fields. A horde of both boys and girls pour from the small doorway of Cabin Eleven, laughing so hard they have to rest their hands on their knees to catch their breath. Several cabins down the row, a small army of bulky teens led by a fuming girl march at the laughing campers, coated in cheap pink feathers and enough glitter to keep a craft store in supply for a year.
A mass of blonde headed, blue eyed kids run for the basketball and volleyball courts. Goat-legged teens run behind them, hoping to squeeze in a good game before the conch blows for breakfast.
There is even a group of all girls strutting around the archery range, dressed in silver parkas and black boots. One little girl who looks to be only seven or eight shoots a bullseye from thirty yards, and whoops happily, while the other girls around her cheer and slap her playfully on the back.
Chiron watches the Camp itself wake up, the Naiads and the tree Nymphs poking their heads out to feel the warm air on their faces. The strawberry plants begin to grow, seemingly before one's eyes. Even the lake seems to glisten in the early morning sunshine.
Springtime is always Chiron's favorite part of the school year. There are more campers here than those present in winter, but there isn't the crowd of summertime, when almost all demigods return. Apollo is always the kindest during the spring, and Persephone is in a good mood, and Demeter even smiles more often than normal.
Hades is slightly sourer, but Hades is always sour, and Zeus is slightly less strict, and since Zeus is always strict this is a miracle. Which leads Chiron to the conclusion that spring is some kind of miracle worker.
So what is the bad feeling he has in the pit of his stomach, the rolling he gets when he thinks about the lake and the ocean? What is happening?
Nervously, Chiron rolls his wheelchair inside, the saggy floorboards creaking under the large wheels. In the sitting room of the Big House, draped on a sofa, Mr. D. is snoring, fast asleep. Springtime wears him out – a blessing for the campers.
Chiron wheedles past him slowly, so as not to wake the temperamental god of wine, and ducks under Seymour, a stuffed leopard's head who is growling for Snausages at the moment. He wheels into the large kitchen, and rolls out the doorway on the other side of the room.
The ancient teacher's office is obviously on the first story of the four floor, gigantic cyan mansion. To reach it, you have to pass nearly every single room there is to be found on the level: to name a few, the filing room, for when they have to take their strawberries out to earn some extra money for quests; the confiscation room (made specifically for Connor and Travis's pranks after they've been utilized); and the entire medical bay (which has a total of eight rooms – five of these rooms are occupied). Chiron finally rolls makes it to his door – he has his hand on the doorknob – when a loud moan and a panicked cry comes from one of these five rooms.
Needless to say, the immortal trainer of heroes wheels right back around and all but crawls down the hallway to see what might be going wrong with one of the godlings.
"Please, lie still and let me help you!" A son of Apollo, Will Solace actually, leans over a girl on her side. She huddles under a thick cream colored blanket, and shivers roughly. Firey red-orange hair spills onto a pristine white pillow. The demigod healer looks perplexed as to what he is able to do to actually help the girl. The Oracle is a wondrous person, but one of the downsides to the job – no ambrosia or nectar. It kills you.
Rachel E. Dare just curls closer in on herself and shivers again.
Chiron rolls into the room. "Stand aside child. Let me see her." He leans over her, rests a cool hand on her perspiring, warm forehead. "Rachel, can you hear me?"
Rachel gives a small nod and shudders again.
"Why is Rachel in the medical bay?" Chiron asks Will, who turns beet red and stammers out his answer.
"Well, the Hermes kids, and us Apollo guys were horsing around, and we kind of accidentally... trampled her."
"You what?"
That's not a pretty tone of voice.
Will flushes. "We were running around on the beach, and she was kind of... asleep on the sand, and some of the Hermes kids ran over her. I think Connor kicked her in the head."
Chiron sighs, allows himself a very big mental face-palm, a modern expression he's become rather fond of when a scolding just won't cover it, and then drags a real hand down his face, trying to rub away the disappointment that he can just feel filling up all of the wrinkles in his skin. "You... trampled... our Oracle?"
"Well, not me. I was here in the hospital, taking care of that satyr who accidentally got hit in the chest with a Hephaestus hammer. But yes, she was trampled."
It sounds like a stupid story, but Chiron doesn't doubt the damage the Hermes and the Apollo kids can cause combined.
"So when did this start?" He asks, looking down at the trembling girl. Will Solace shrugs.
"I just got here."
Oka–
Rachel, gasping, emerald eyes wide and fiery hair matted and wild, sits bolt upright, rasping for breath and still shivering violently. Will backs away a half-step. Chiron wheels forward, and attempts to press the back of his hand to her forehead. He can feel the mixed vibes of baking hot but clammy cold on her skin. Serpentine green replaces what was once leafy green irises, and Rachel's voice magnifies.
"Child of the sea. Save him. Taken by the ones who protect, pursued by the ones who fight. Save him from heroes. SAVE HIM!"
It's not a prophecy she's billowing in that raspy, serpentine voice, but a warning, or maybe one of the more sinister things from one of Rachel's visions. Will looks like he wants to bail, run out the door, down the lawn and all the way back to cabin number seven, probably to hide out underneath his bunk. Telling the future is cool and all, he knows, Apollo kids will get snippets of it, like what type of yogurt they'll be serving at breakfast in the morning, but glowing, acidic, entirely green eyes and raspy voices sound like something out of a bad horror film.
Meanwhile, Rachel's eyes clear and lighten, the iris reappearing from beneath a cloud of murky emerald smoke, and she coughs feebly, a pale freckled hand rising to cover her mouth. "Chiron? What am I doing here?" She pauses at the expression on Will's face, the stance of him backed against the wall. "And why do you look like you're about to pee yourself?"
Will laughs awkwardly and excuses himself, half humiliated, half indignant, half terrified and half stupid, because four halves don't equal a whole.
Chiron helps to prop her up against the headboard of her cot. "Something about an incident with the Hermes and Apollo cabins, I believe. The more important question, though, is what were you dreaming about just then?"
She flushes red. "Percy – not like that, Annabeth would kill me – he was... sitting in some kind of examination room. And I think Iron Man was there, except... he wasn't wearing that big suit, he was just –"
"Tony Stark." Chiron inputs helpfully.
"Right, Tony Stark walked in, and I couldn't hear anything, but there was another guy there too. They were talking to Percy, right, and Tony had a needle – like, a syringe – and Percy started laughing, and then they tried to take his blood, but..." Rachel trailed off awkwardly.
Chiron has a moment of dawning realization. "But due to the Mark of Achilles being in place, the needle either shattered or ricocheted off his skin entirely, immediately alerting them to... Oh dear."
Rachel swallows. "It shattered. Tiny shards went flying all over."
"I expected nothing less. What I wish to know is why Percy is with Iron Man of all people in the first place. Unless he's captured him, which could only lead to one ultimate goal, which is to... Well, we'll worry about that later. For now, I think we had best contact Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Blofis, to inform them on the current situation. I think... Yes, Iris Message should do." Chiron presses a golden drachma into Rachel's palm. "Would you kindly collect Grover from the forest, and then the two of you can then proceed to inform Percy's parents of his situation?"
Rachel swallows again, but slowly begins to rise, sliding her legs out from underneath the fleece blankets and standing. "You're not doing it?" She asks cautiously.
Chiron laughs. There is a moment where his humor echoes around the room, and they stare at each other. "Oh, no. I have other businesses to take care of. Plus, I do believe Mrs. Jackson could see a friendly face."
Rachel nods half-heartedly. "Right."
Chiron sends her a smile, pushes the wheels of his mobile chair into action, and rolls out the open doorway.

Sally Jackson looks up to the door of the apartment opening. Paul is behind it, wearing a smile thinly masking some other kind of emotion. Is that worry?

"Paul, dear," Sally begins, rising to take his coat while Paul puts down his bag with a hollow thud. "How was your day?" She looks around. "And where's Percy?"
Paul immediately becomes alarmed. "You mean he's not here?" He asks nervously. At the slow shake of Sally's head, he wrings his hands. "I couldn't find him. I figured he got tired of waiting and just walked back here. Then on the way, I passed some old park, not used much anymore... Completely flooded. Water everywhere, and a trail of footprints going right through all of it. It was completely surrounded in police cars. I asked around, talked to some of the officers. You know those superheroes or whatever – the Avengers, I think – turns out the big green one, the Hulk, was there, smashing stuff, about an hour ago. That thing is a goliath, tramples everything in his path. I was in Harlem two years ago. It made a wreck out of the place."
Paul rubs his hands nervously together. Sally places her own over his and smiles calmly, although she is trying to push down the growing stem of fear blossoming in the pit of her stomach.
"I'm sure he's fine. Have a cup of coffee and try not to worry. Percy always comes back in one piece." She coaxes him out of his jacket and onto the couch. The remote to the television, a rare species considering it's normally missing, is placed into one of his hands and his tight fingers are curled over it by someone else. Sally gives him a 'you stay there' look, and declares that she's going to brew him a cup of coffee.
Paul tries to relax.
It's just kind of hard to do that when there are half a dozen news stations filming at the flooded park.
It's even harder to relax when one of the newscasters declares that the Hulk simply, "trampled anything and everything, and then some", and then cut to a scene of huge fist indents in the ground.
And it is nearly impossible to relax when an IM pops up in the living room, right in front of the TV, and a grim Rachel Elizabeth Dare, one of Paul's former students, and Grover Underwood, a boy Percy has said is his best friend, and also a satyr, stare out at him with grim and nervous expressions.
"Rachel, Grover!" Sally says, coming back into the room with a blue mug in hand billowing small clouds of steam. "How nice to see you dears! How are you?"
Paul has different questions for the redhead. "You're a demigod too?" He balked.
"Oh no, Mr. Blofis. I'm mortal, like you and Sally. But the camp uses me as an Oracle."
Paul's face is blank – no bells are ringing up there.
"I tell the future."
"Oh." He states. "Then why are you calling?"
Rachel blushes tomato red. Grover stares at a point behind the mist creating the IM, where, unknown to Mr. Blofis and Mrs. Jackson, a bulletin board displays proud pictures of the more memorable demigods through the millennia Chiron's been teaching. A hand – Sally's – smacks him hard in the shoulder. Immediately his skin begins to throb. For a woman as petite as Sally, she packs a mean swing. "Be nice." She chides under her breath, then passes over the cup to his stressed hands.
"Sorry Rachel, he's a little frazzled. Percy wouldn't happen to be at Camp, would he?"
Paul didn't realize somebody's blush could blush. "Oh – erm – that's why I'm calling. I had a vision... Percy was there..."
"Where is there?" Paul asks automatically, then apologizes and blushes a fair bit himself.
"There is... well, see that's the thing. We don't know. But I saw him in a room, sitting and talking to a tired man in glasses and a t-shirt with a logo of an eagle on it. And then the door opens and... Well, then Tony Stark walks in. And he says something, makes Percy laugh, says something else, Percy laughs again, and then they try to take his blood, except they can't, because... the Mark of Achilles is still affecting him." She stops, staring at them awkwardly. Grover shifts nervously on his fake feet.
Paul's fists are clenching of their own accord. "You mean he's with the Avengers? They're kidnappers now?"
"No. No, I trust them. They saved New York just as well as the demigods did, and there were only six of them. They probably want to talk, run tests... Well, as long as Percy is okay." Paul pretends that he can't hear the way Sally's voice cracks ever-so-slightly on the word 'okay', and Grover and Rachel follow his example.
"Mrs. Jackson, for what it's worth, they looked friendly enough. They had food for him, they looked concerned. I don't think they plan on hurting him." Rachel casts a glance at the photo of Percy Grover is still staring at, tacked to the very center of the bulletin board. "Chiron isn't that concerned. He says there's no use in panicking, since nobody knows where their headquarters are anyways." Grover finally speaks. "I'm going to go look of course, see if I can't sniff him out around the city. But as long as he's with superheroes, we're presuming he's safe."
Sally Jackson nods absentmindedly, her mind already mentally drifting the busy sidewalks of New York, looking for big, nondescript buildings where the Avengers might be holding – sorry, talking to – her only child.
"Thanks." She tells them, trying to look calm.
But Grover knows she isn't, not really, not now.
He's a talented satyr. He can read emotions over IMs too.

"Dash it all." Hermes declares when his connection with the demigod drops, and he's left calling out to his own vast mind, empty and echoey and dark, most of his consciousness elsewhere, probably delivering mail in the mortal world.

Percy is fine, he believes that much. The Avengers look pretty decent, if you ignore how screwed up they are in the noggin, and anyways, Percy is just as bad. Sixteen years old and the leader of an army. Barely thirteen years old and holding the weight of the sky on his shoulders. Twelve, riding a Minotaur like a rodeo bull, clueless and lost and dead on his feet practically.
No, the safety of Percy Jackson is the farthest thing from his mind.
In reality, Hermes is worried about what his uncle Poseidon wants delivered to Percy via the mind. Nothing tangible, duh, but a warning. Beware the Council. It's funny, Poseidon being so straightforward for once. Or maybe he just thinks these guys are trouble.
Hermes thinks they're trouble. Athena thinks they're trouble. Even Zeus thinks they're trouble.
Because really, come on, how good can four people of undisclosed locations wearing drab suits and grim expressions, with voids where their hearts should be, be?
A nuclear strike on New York City? Tacky. Reckless. Stupid. Deadly.
No really, not even the gods can come out of that unscathed.
And that's saying something.
Ratsssss, a serpentine voice hisses from Hermes's shirt pocket, where two entwined, earthworm sized snakes slither up and down a pen.
Be quiet. Hermes is thinking, the other snake, this one female, chides softly.
I'm hungry, the first snake replies.
"Quiet." Hermes commands, rubbing wearily at his temples. Poseidon is no doubt going to be furious when Hermes turns up, message having failed to have been delivered. "Ugh. This will put a stain on my 'two millennia, zero mistake' policy." He is weary, a sudden headache caused by being shoved out of the head like only the element of surprise can do.
There's something special about those superheroes.

A/N hey guys so school starts tomorrow for me and I decided to add two new chapters to the book