chapter one
summer! summer! summer!

❝ connor stoll, i will literally shove you in the campfire and laugh as you burn if you make me late to border patrol ❞

CONNOR STOLL WAS DRIVING Jiwon up a wall.

She loved her best friend, she really did, but the kid needed to learn that Jiwon had her own life and responsibilities to comply with, and not all of them involved him.

The son of Hermes had been complaining about his older brother all morning, something Jiwon didn't entirely blame him for, because Travis could be annoying, but Connor needed to realize that whining to Jiwon would only make her get annoyed, and that would not end well for him.

They had been hanging around the Hermes cabin, but Jiwon knew that if she didn't make her way down to Clarisse, she'd be in big trouble.

"He doesn't shut up about her, Jiwon, it gets so annoying."

"Connor," Jiwon said, "you and I both know Katie will shut him down and humble him for the next week. You'll get at least three days of quiet."

"Three days isn't enough." Connor complained.

"Connor."

"It's not! Travis is literally so obsessed with Katie, it's literally become his personality." He scoffed.

"And you're so obsessed with the fact that your brother actually likes someone, you've turned it into yours." Jiwon gave him a pointed look.

"That is not true." Connor argued.

"Dude. Just because you've never had a crush before doesn't mean your brother having one is the end of the world."

"You don't know that." Connor muttered.

"Huh?"

"I said you don't know that." Connor crossed his arms, looking a little nervous. "Besides, it's not like you have."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Stoll, but I have had a crush before. It's not the end of the world, trust me."

"You have?"

"Yes..." Jiwon was immediately regretting saying something about that once she saw the look on his face.

"On who?"

"Nobody." The girl rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Can we go?"

"Hold on," Connor said, rushing back up the steps of the Hermes cabin. "I forgot my watch."

"Since when do you have a watch?"

"Since I stole it off your brother this morning." He smirked.

"Leave it." Jiwon said, glaring at him.

"I'll give it back tonight, chill."

"Connor Stoll, I will literally shove you in the campfire and laugh as you burn if you make me late to border patrol." Jiwon groaned.

"You won't be. Besides, even if you were late, you know I'd get Clarisse annoyed enough to try and beat the shit out of me so you wouldn't get in trouble." Connor took his place next to her.

"Wow. What a gentleman." Jiwon teased, somewhat wrapping an arm over his shoulder. Connor was in the middle of getting yet another growth spurt– that, and Jiwon was pretty short, but that was fine, because they were Jiwon and Connor, and he wouldn't make fun of her for something like that, at least not seriously.

"I know." The son of Hermes grinned at her.

"Let's get going, then, loser." Jiwon smiled.

They walked in silence for a few steps, before Connor spoke up again. "Have you spoken to your mother lately?"

Jiwon remained silent.

"Ji..." Connor said softly, "you know she means well."

"She moved to Canada without telling me, Connor. That says enough about her intentions."

"Maybe you should try—"

"Enough, Stoll. Or the last thing you'll see is my fist in your face." Jiwon grumbled.

They resumed their silent walk, but, of course, Connor spoke again.

"You're my best friend. You know that?" Connor said, as the pair was making their way to the camp borders. "I know I make fun of you a lot, and I can be a major pain in the ass, but you mean everything to me, Ji."

Jiwon's face softened slightly. "You're mine, Connor."

Her best friend smiled at her, and Jiwon noticed the pink in his cheeks.

"Awe, did I make you blush?" She taunted.

"No, I'm just embarrassed to be seen around you." He was quick to answer.

Jiwon rolled her eyes at him, and the pair continued their march to the camp borders.

You know how kids would usually go crazy the last day of school, as they were hours away from freedom— from summer break? That feeling of joy would cloud their vision, and everything moved as a blur. How the day would be impossibly long, but the moments leading up to that freedom would go impossibly fast?

Yeah, Jiwon had been stuck in a constant loop of that first half of the day— an endless waiting game. She was so done with this.

In theory, Jiwon had't even had to wait to go to summer camp. She lived there. But still, the wait for most of the campers to return was agonizingly long, driven by hours of training and fighting— defending their home.

This summer was not turning out how Jiwon had wanted it to. With Thalia's tree being weakened, she and the rest of the year-rounders had been working endlessly to try and keep the camp safe. Now that the summer campers were arriving, Jiwon should have, in essence, been able to actually get some rest. But, of course, that's not at all what happened.

All Jiwon could think about was how much she wished she was safely in her bed, dreaming away her worries, instead of at the frontlines of the camp's defense. But, here she was, in full bronze armor, trusty sword in hand, charging head first at the Colchis Bulls.

She had to thank Connor for distracting Clarisse enough that the daughter of Ares forgot Jiwon was late to her shift (it was a minute, okay? Not that bad). But, she was also wishing she had skipped.

Gripping the hilt of her sword tightly, Jiwon dove down, away from the bull's attacks.

Now, most Greek demigods had one weapon, or two, as some people were better balanced with two blades, but Jiwon hadn't exactly found hers. She was an excellent swordsman, that was pretty obvious, seeing as she was the top choice to even be on the border patrol, besides the Ares cabin, of course, but she'd never found the right fit. The closest she'd ever come to was her current weapon, a xiphos – an old Greek shortsword that was double edged and fairly balanced. It wasn't perfect, though, but it would do.

Where that would usually be a fault, though, Jiwon managed to make it an advantage. She always found a way to make things work, that was one of the things that made her one of the camp's best fighters. That, and the fact that she was one of the only people who trained restlessly almost every day. Even if she'd physically exhaust herself, she had something to prove, and she wouldn't rest until she did. It was worth it, though, for situations like these.

Jiwon couldn't lie and say she wasn't tired–she was exhausted, but she was used to it. It was just her normal.

She rolled her eyes when she heard Clarisse's commanding voice, "Border patrol, to me!"

Jiwon didn't think she was better at defending the camp than Clarisse—her father was the literal god of war. But, gods, couldn't she get a break?

She made her way toward her, even though Jiwon would rather be anywhere but near her at the moment. Jiwon had Clarisse's respect, something that seemed almost foreign to other campers, and she wouldn't jinx that. Though, most of Clarisse's siblings saw Jiwon all battle ready and often laughed at her—she was a tiny little ball of anger, like a kitten, but more vicious. One look from Clarisse, though, and they'd all shut up. She didn't exactly get along with the entire Ares cabin, but she got along with Clarisse, and that was enough. They weren't best friends, but they were there for each other, and that was all that mattered.

As much as Jiwon loved the (surprisingly) caring and understanding Clarisse she'd gotten to know over the past two and a half years, she did not like the Clarisse she always became mid-fight.

Jiwon noticed some movement in her peripheral vision. The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out. That's gotta hurt.

Jiwon rolled out of the way as the fire shot at her. She hissed when she felt the sting of the heat, but she was fine. She would be fine. She wasn't actually hurt, she was just getting a little... toasty.

She barely noticed how Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help, as she was trying to not get barbecued, but she had to give the daughter of Athena props. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then put on her magical yankees cap, turning invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line.  

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors.

Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave.

Jiwon readied her sword as she kept an eye on one of the bulls. It wasn't focusing on Annabeth anymore. Instead, it was staring straight at Clarisse. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.

Jiwon was going to deal with it, even if she had to do it alone. She wasn't going to let Clarisse hurt herself. Not when she had to deal with all her wounded siblings and other campers.

"Behind you!" someone yelled. "Look out!"

Jiwon's look was murderous when she turned to Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon who had saved camp last year.

All the son of the sea god had accomplished with that was to startle the daughter of Ares. Bull Number One (at least, she thought it was number one, she'd started mixing them up) crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass.

The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.

Jiwon didn't have time to think, so she relied purely on instinct. A little over two years of training with her brothers had made the movement almost natural, though she still didn't have full control of her powers. She was young, but at least she was doing something useful, unlike a certain son of the sea god.

She thrust her arms forward and stood back as wild grapevine wrapped itself around the bull's legs. It wouldn't do much, but it'd buy her a couple of seconds, and that was exactly what she'd need. She wasn't as good as Castor and Pollux, but she still had an advantage on the other demigods–she'd been trained directly by her father. She knew the ins and outs of her powers, even if she was in more control of some aspects of them than others.

Percy Jackson lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor. He dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two broke out of its restraints and charged.

"Let me go!" Clarisse pummeled his hand. "Percy, curse you!"

"Jiwon!" Annabeth yelled, popping up next to her. "Can you do that again?"

She nodded, "It won't hold for long, but I can try."

She took her chance when the bulls seemed distracted, pouring her everything into those restraints. Whenever one leg would break free, Jiwon made sure to summon twice as many vines. Gods, she wished Castor was the one on border patrol–he was so much better at this than her.

She wouldn't let that show, though. She had to pretend to know what she was doing. If not for herself, for everyone around her. If they all thought she had a superiority complex, then screw them. At least she was trying.

"Annabeth." Jiwon said, trying not to sound so worried, "You do have a plan, don't you?"

"Without Medea's sunscreen, I don't know what we can do." She confessed.

"Shit." Jiwon said. "Shit. Okay." She took a deep breath in, and turned to the daughter of Athena. "If I die, make sure my shroud is lilac. And don't let Travis cook s'mores on it."

"What–"

And with that, Baek Jiwon charged at the bulls, most likely sealing her fate. But she didn't care, the thrill of the battle was more than enough for her, and that was dangerous.

Okay, charging at the bulls was maybe not the smartest decision Jiwon had ever made, but, hey, someone had to take one for the team.

The first one, who had managed to break out of Jiwon's hold, was charging straight at Percy Jackson. The ridiculous fish boy had managed to not be totally useless–he had cut a gash in its side, slowing it down slightly. Or, maybe, it had just made the bull more mad, and it was waiting for the perfect opportunity to take its revenge.

She rolled her eyes as she saw him ready himself to charge. Did he seriously not realize the bull was about to blow a massive wall of flames right at him?

Jiwon grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back, narrowly missing the flames herself. She didn't care if he hissed in pain from the way his ankle bent uncomfortably, she was not about to witness a murder (death by bull!) this early into the day. As annoying as he was being, blindly charging into battle and ruining the vibe, she didn't want to be even semi responsible for the death of the son of one of the big three.

Besides, he was friends with Annabeth, and Jiwon had known Annabeth since she'd first made it to Camp Half-Blood. She wouldn't do that to her.

From behind them, Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help him!"

Now, Jiwon had no idea who Tyson was, but she would really appreciate the help right about now. Hopefully from someone who actually knew how to deal with the fire-breathing bulls.

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

What.

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson, or, at least, Jiwon guessed that was Tyson– a literal cyclops, was there, barreling toward them, yelling: "Percy needs help!"

Jiwon was joking earlier, she didn't want to die. She was too young to die. Who else would sit through Castor and Pollux's gods awful renditions of  Shakespeare? Who else would go on and on about why Anything Goes was the best musical ever (if anyone disagreed, she'd give them a two hour lecture on why they were wrong)?

Who else would manage to shut up the god of wine with witty remarks and not get blasted out of existence? She would be a young talent lost too soon. Oh how depressing.

"Tyson!" Percy Jackson yelled, in a failed attempt to stop him.

The blast swirled around Tyson like a red tornado. Jiwon could only see the black silhouette of his body.

The girl made her way toward Annabeth, dragging the son of the sea god with her. This time, he didn't complain. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe he'd finally learned to not be an idiot. "Explain." she was pointing at the scene in front of her.

Before she could, though, things escalated. When the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. Before the bull could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

Okay, maybe this new cyclops friend wasn't so bad.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.

Annabeth handed Percy some nectar to drink.

"The other bull?" he asked.

Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of 'Bad Cow Number Two' as Tyson had deemed it. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward the group. A strand of her brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You—ruin—everything!" she yelled at Percy. "I had it under control!"

Percy was too stunned to answer. Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," Jiwon interrupted, really not in the mood to witness a murder, "half of the border patrol is injured. You should go check in with Lee, make sure everyone gets treated as fast as possible."

That sobered her up. Her glare softened, and she nodded at Jiwon.

"I'll be back," she growled, "You're lucky Baek was here. I would've killed you if she wasn't." She trudged off to assess the damage.

"You didn't die." Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

Jiwon crossed her arms, a frown etched on her face. "I could have handled it."

"I know you could've, but we didn't have that time," Annabeth assured her.

"Let him cross the boundary line?'" he asked. "But—"

"Percy," Annabeth said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

It took him a second, but he got there.

"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a ..."

"Congratulations!" Jiwon said, seriously impatient, "You're not a total idiot. You want a cookie for that?"

Percy looked at her funny, but turned back to Annabeth expectantly.

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're ... mistakes,  Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually ... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How—"

"Gods, you're slow.", Jiwon deadpanned, "Does going on a quest teach you nothing?" Annabeth shot her a look.

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have  to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."

Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

"Tantalus?" he asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.  

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened," Clarisse snapped.

She pointed to Thalia's tree.

Where there once stood a beautiful pine tree, full of life and the very magic that protected Camp Half-Blood, now stood... Well, everybody's worst nightmare. Its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

Thalia's tree had been poisoned.

"How–"

"Nobody knows," Jiwon sighed. "It's been like this for weeks, and it's only getting worse. We're trying our best, with the border patrol and all, but it's not turning out so great." She pursed her lips, motioning around them.

She turned to Clarisse, "Let's go make sure everything is fine at the infirmary."

As the two demigods made their way back into camp, Jiwon barely heard Percy ask, "Who was that? And why did Clarisse not want to murder her?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course he didn't know who she was.

notes ... hello, welcome back!!
or welcome if ur new <3
i hope u all enjoy the new direction i'm
trying to take with this fic :]

i didn't completely hate this chapter, so
a lot of the original is still here, but
i added some stuff with connor!!
jiwon and connor are my babes
fr and i will never shut up about them

hope u are all aware i will
be using jiwon as a way to
go crazy about musical theater...
the theater kid in me will make all the
references regardless of if they were out or
not at the time LOL

lmk what u think <3