𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗.

𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏.

i must've been more tired than i realized.

of course, i still had a dream.

i was at the campfire in my dream. this would've already happened at least a few hours ago because of the time difference.

i watched as the apollo cabin led the sing-a-long. the flames were shorter than usual, reflecting the camp's mood.

percy's disappearance took a toll on everyone.

once it was over, a chorus of applause shook the place.

"very nice!" chiron walked up. his spear had a toasted marshmallow impaled in it. "and a special welcome to our new arrivals. i am chiron, camp activities director, and i'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. in a moment, i promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"what about capture the flag?" mark (from ares) yelled. grumbling broke out from his cabin.

"yes," the centaur said. "i know the ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"and kill people!" another one of them shouted.

"however," chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. cabin nine, anything to report on that?"

nyssa stood uneasily, "we're working on it."

more grumbling.

"how, nyssa?" mark demanded.

"really hard," she said.

nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically.

chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones, and the campers fell silent.

"we will have to be patient," chiron said. "in the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"percy?" connor stoll asked.

the fire dimmed even further, reflecting the crowd's anxiety.

chiron gestured to annabeth.

she took a deep breath and stood. my heart hurt at the fact that i wasn't there with her.

"we didn't find percy," she announced. "he wasn't at the grand canyon like we thought. but we're not giving up. we've got teams everywhere. grover, tyson, nico, the hunters of artemis —everyone's out looking. riley's gone right now, and she's searching the west coast. we will find him. chiron's talking about something different. a new quest."