Gaea was stopped a decade ago, the monsters now reside in Tartarus, and the surviving heroes of Olympus have begun new generations of demigods. Fifteen year old Yvette Grimes doesn't know anything about this, but she does know something is different...
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"No way."
Cash sat wide eyed, across the table from Gwen and I. We decided that opening the scroll while driving would be a bad idea. Also Cash had to pee. And also, I had to pee. Gwen also needed to pee. And we were hungry. What's better than pancakes from a 24 hour diner? Nothing.
The light in the diner was dimmed, which kind of made it seem like this place was dirtier than it really was. This place must have been here since the 70s', with the furniture to match. Yellow striped booths lined the walls and the center of the building, the wallpaper was peeling a little bit but otherwise fine, and a jukebox was playing soft rock in the corner of the room. It smelled like coffee and sizzling bacon, and while I didn't eat meat, it smelled a lot like home. It was a miracle we found this place.
I finished swallowing a piece of pancake and nodded. Oh so fluffy. Oh so sweet. I think I'm in love with these pancakes.
"You're telling us that there are spies in the camps? Spies that have somehow got into camps guarded by a dragon and roman guards?" Cash wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, suddenly repulsed by the grilled cheese in front of him.
Gwen shook her head and put her coffee down. She was running on two hours of sleep, and was the only one capable of driving right now, what with Cash's injuries and my having a permit but not knowing how to drive. "We need to tell Chiron. Now."
"I think we should open the scroll first," I said. It sat in the center of the table like some sort of aesthetically pleasing centerpiece. We all were too scared to open it. "Besides, there are no rainbows right now. We can't contact him."
Gwen shoved her empty plate away from her and put her backpack on the table in its place. Tucking her a piece of her long hair behind her ear, Gwen began digging in her backpack.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm looking for those glasses I got from that Empousa I killed back at Trivia Library. Where did I put them?" She grumbled, pulling out every weapon her bag could carry. I looked around, seeing if anyone else was watching. There were only a few people in here; a man with a fancy suit, scrolling through his iPhone, and what seemed to be a young girl reading a John Green novel. Why was she in a diner in the middle of the night by herself? She looked around eleven or twelve. But I suppose the same could be said about us.
The girl looked up, and made eye contact with me. Her eyes widened a bit, and her brows furrowed. Oh crap. I was considered missing, right? I quickly pulled up my hood and looked at Gwen. "We should get out of here, quickly."
"Hold on... and... found them!" Gwen said, pulling out the red librarian-esque glasses out of her bag.
"What's so important about those glasses?" Cash asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"As a Hunter, I research monsters quite a bit. Earlier today I had a feeling these glasses could do something with the mist but I wasn't sure what. Then I put them on and, well, these absolutely can manipulate the mist. But I think we can use these to call Chiron."
"How does that even work?" I said, twirling the straw in my glass of water.
"I don't want to go into the specifics. Here," she handed over the glasses to me. I took the glasses, turning them over in my hands. My brother Noel had glasses, the only one who needed them. My fingers clenched. I hadn't thought of Noel in a long time, where was he? Did Hades get him too?
I shook the thought out of my head and slipped the glasses on my face. I blinked to adjust my vision, and looked around. Nothing seemed any different.
Cash swallowed loudly. "Those look really nice... on you."
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
Gwen groaned in disgust. "Let's just get this over with. Think about contacting Chiron. Do it now."
"Right," I said as Cash slid into my booth, sandwiching me in between him and Gwen.
I thought of camp, and Chiron and how the camp must be doing with us gone. Suddenly, I saw something flicker to life in front of me. "Woah, what's happening?"
"What are you talking about? I don't see anything." Cash frowned and tried to peek from behind my shoulder.
"That's because she is the one wearing the glasses, you idiot." Gwen rolled her eyes and starting packing her bag again.
An image of Chiron appeared in front of me. He appeared to be getting ready for the day, as he was pulling clothes out of his dresser. What time was it? 2am? So it must be 5 there. He was decked in a striped pajama shirt with a matching sleeping hat. It was kind of cute... I guess.
"Chiron?" I asked. He jumped at my voice, his hooves crashing down on the wood panels. Turning, he looked at me wide eyed.
"Yvette! I wasn't expecting you to call..." He tiled his head. "Are those glasses?"
"Never mind the glasses. I have something super important to tell you."
"Go on then, we have a busy day today. A chariot race. I need to prep the Apollo kids for today's injuries." He continued to pull his clothes out of the dresser, tossing them on his bed. You'd think Chiron would be a little more tidy than this. You learn something knew everyday.
I needed to get to the point quickly. "Chiron, the camp is in danger." This made him turn to face me. "We went to Camp Jupiter and met this demigod—his name Finn—and it turns out he wasn't a demigod. He was a storm spirit. He told me that there were spies in Camp Jupiter, and I'm gonna bet there are some in Camp Half-Blood too."
Chiron widened his eyes, taking off his hat and started to play with it in his hands. "What came of it?"
"My powers from Poseidon came in handy and I popped him like a balloon." I chuckled weakly. Chiron simply frowned; I guess he didn't like the joke.
"This is... very surprising. Do you know who sent the spies? Or what they want?"
"All he said is his 'lord'... who I suspect is the same person who took Persephone." I brought my thumb up to my teeth and started to bite on it.
"Of course," he rubbed his face with his palm. "Miss Grimes, what do you suppose we do?"
My eyebrow arched up and I dropped my hand from my face. "You're asking me?"
Chiron gave a small smile. "I simply want to know what you think is best to do in this situation. You at first hand experienced this spy. What are they capable of?"
My face fell. Well, they were capable of mass manipulation and murder, for one thing. "They are very dangerous. They are also very convincing. Do not go outright and tell the camp about the spies. That will only cause bad things. Instead..." My mind found Vee, a child of Minerva who began to suspect Finn. "There was a child of Minerva who suspected the storm spirit. I think you should start by asking children of Athena if they see or know of anything strange... other than that, I have no idea."
