~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

The Tour

{Piper}

Kiara took off her flannel and stretched her arm out for Annabeth to see. Piper was shocked to see that on the pale arm of her best friend was a tattoo similar to Jason's, but hers consisted of the letters SPQR, and under it, one line just below a weird looking symbol—a black glyph like a cross with curved arms and a head.

   Annabeth looked at Jason, then back at Kiara. She scanned them head to toe before speaking again, "Do you two know each other?"

   Kiara shook her head as Jason repeated that he didn't remember.

   "They need to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you—"

   "Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Jason's, completely ignoring Kiara. "This way, sweetie. I'll introduce you to our director. He's ... an interesting guy." She flashed Piper a smug look and led Jason toward the big blue house on the hill, Kiara following reluctantly at their heels.

   The crowd began to disperse, until only Annabeth and Piper were left.

   "Who's Chiron?" Piper asked. "Are Kiara and Jason in some kind of trouble?"

   Annabeth hesitated. "Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you a tour. We need to talk."

Piper soon realized Annabeth's heart wasn't in the tour. She talked about all this amazing stuff the camp offered—magic archery, pegasus riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters —but she showed no excitement, as if her mind were elsewhere. She pointed out the open-air dining pavilion that overlooked Long Island Sound. (Yes, Long Island, New York; they'd traveled that far on the chariot.) Annabeth explained how Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, but some kids stayed here year-round, and they'd added so many campers it was always crowded now, even in winter.

   Piper wondered who ran the camp, and how they'd known Piper and her friends belonged here. She wondered if she'd have to stay full-time, or if she'd be any good at the activities. Could you flunk out of monster fighting? A million questions bubbled in her head, but given Annabeth's mood, she decided to keep quiet.

   As they climbed a hill at the edge of camp, Piper turned and got an amazing view of the valley—a big stretch of woods to the northwest, a beautiful beach, the creek, the canoe lake, lush green fields, and the whole layout of the cabins—a bizarre assortment of buildings arranged like a Greek omega, Ω, with a loop of cabins around a central green, and two wings sticking out the bottom on either side. Piper counted twenty cabins in all. One glowed golden, another silver.  One had grass on the roof. Another was bright red with barbed wire trenches. One cabin was black with fiery green torches out front. She thought Kiara would've liked that one.

   All of it seemed like a different world from the snowy hills and fields outside.

   "The valley is protected from mortal eyes," Annabeth said. "As you can see, the weather is controlled, too. Each cabin represents a Greek god—a place for that god's children to live." She looked at Piper like she was trying to judge how Piper was handling the news.

   "You're saying Mom was a goddess."

   Annabeth nodded. "You're taking this awfully calmly."

   Piper couldn't tell her why. She couldn't admit that this just confirmed some weird feelings she'd had for years, arguments she'd had with her father about why there were no photos of Mom in the house, and why Dad would never tell her exactly how or why her mom had left them.

   But mostly, the dream had warned her this was coming. Soon they will find you, demigod, that voice had rumbled. When they do, follow our directions. Cooperate, and your father might live.