Jason motioned for Piper to hang on. He walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.
"Did you do this?" the coach asked him.
Jason took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if he'd made the thunderstorm.
Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"
"You mean...you don't know me?" Jason said. "I'm not one of your students?"
Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today."
Jason was so relieved he almost wanted to cry. At least he wasn't going insane. He was in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."
"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So—who are you, and where'd you come from?"
Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but Jason decided to answer honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."
Coach Hedge studied his face like was trying to read Jason's thoughts.
"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."
"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"
Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Jason wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better.
"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect three of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"
"What are you talking about?"
Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.
"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"
The pain behind Jason's eyes got worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. He still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave him a massive brain freeze—like his mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't.
He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."
"What director?" Jason said. "What camp?"
"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before—"
Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.
"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"
"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind.
"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"
THE STORM CHURNED INTO A MINIATURE HURRICANE. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish.
Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Jason skidded across the slick floor.
Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.
"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.
"Go, go, go!" said Coach Hedge.
Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Jason thought she must've been freezing, but she looked calm and confident—telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.
Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back.
Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.
Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.
"Dylan, help!" Piper shouted.
Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm.
"Sorry, Piper," he said. "I'm done helping."
He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.
"Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back.
"Coach," Jason said, "let me go!"
"Jason, Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."
"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What monster?"
The coach's cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps—like the knots cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat—but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.
Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa."
The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down."
"You think you can protect three half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck."
Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.
"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"
Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy"—he stabbed a thumb at Dylan—"while I get Leo."
"Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You going to fly?"
"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Jason almost had a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves—goat's hooves. Which meant those things on his head, Jason realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.
"You're a faun," Jason said.
"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."
Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.
"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy."
Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.
Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood—golden blood—trickled from his forehead.
"Nice try, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have to do better."
The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.
Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Jason decided, they would look exactly like this.
"You're a ventus," Jason said, though he had no idea how he knew that word. "A storm spirit."
Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming—someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"
Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into venti—ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.
Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave Jason a determined look, and he understood the message: Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind.
Cute, smart, and violent. Jason wished he remembered having her as a girlfriend.
He clenched his fists and got ready to charge, but he never got a chance.
Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest.
Bang! Jason found himself flat on his back. His mouth tasted like burning aluminum foil. He lifted his head and saw that his clothes were smoking. The lightning bolt had gone straight though his body and blasted off his left shoe. His toes were black with soot.
The storm spirits were laughing. The winds raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tinny and far away.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Coach Hedge climbing the cliff with Leo on his back. Piper was on her feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off the two extra storm spirits, but they were just toying with her. The club went right through their bodies like they weren't there. And Dylan, a dark and winged tornado with eyes, loomed over Jason.
"Stop," Jason croaked. He rose unsteadily to his feet, and he wasn't sure who was more surprised: him, or the storm spirits.
"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"
"My turn," Jason said.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He let his instincts take over, flipping the coin in the air like he'd done it a thousand times. He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword—a wickedly sharp double-edged weapon. The ridged grip fit his fingers perfectly, and the whole thing was gold—hilt, handle, and blade.
Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"
The other storm spirits didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity.
Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge. Jason stepped in—one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder.
Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to re-form, but their gold dust remains dispersed in the wind. "Impossible! Who are you, half-blood?"
Piper was so stunned she dropped her club. "Jason, how … ?"
Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.
"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.
"Curse it, boy!" he snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"
Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks. "Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are—I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"
Dylan hissed at them, but Jason could see fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."
Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Jason had to crouch to keep his balance.
A hole opened in the clouds—a swirling vortex of black and silver.
"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"
He lunged at Jason, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Leo, Jason, and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Jason and Coach Hedge landed on their butts. Jason's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning. Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.
Jason started toward her, but Dylan screamed, "I'll settle for this one!"
He grabbed Leo's arm and began to rise, towing a half-conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.
"Help!" Piper yelled. "Somebody!"
Then she slipped, screaming as she fell.
"Jason, go!" Hedge yelled. "Save her!"
The coach launched himself at the spirit with some serious goat fu—lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit's grasp. Leo dropped safely to the floor, but Dylan grappled the coach's arms instead. Hedge tried to head-butt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air, gaining speed.
Coach Hedge shouted down once more, "Save her! I got this!" Then the satyr and the storm spirit spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.
Save her? Jason thought. She's gone!
But again his instincts won. He ran to the railing, thinking, I'm a lunatic, and jumped over the side.
Jason wasn't scared of heights. He was scared of being smashed against the canyon floor five hundred feet below. He figured he hadn't accomplished anything except for dying along with Piper, but he tucked in his arms and plummeted headfirst. The sides of the canyon raced past like a film on fast-forward. His face felt like it was peeling off.
In a heartbeat, he caught up with Piper, who was flailing wildly. He tackled her waist and closed his eyes, waiting for death. Piper screamed. The wind whistled in Jason's ears. He wondered what dying would feel like. He was thinking, probably not so good. He wished somehow they could never hit bottom.
Suddenly the wind died. Piper's scream turned into a strangled gasp. Jason thought they must be dead, but he hadn't felt any impact.
"J-J-Jason," Piper managed.
He opened his eyes. They weren't falling. They were floating in midair, a hundred feet above the river.
He hugged Piper tight, and she repositioned herself so she was hugging him too. They were nose to nose. Her heart beat so hard, Jason could feel it through her clothes.
Her breath smelled like cinnamon. She said, "How did you—"
"I didn't," he said. "I think I would know if I could fly…"
But then he thought: I don't even know who I am.
He imagined going up. Piper yelped as they shot a few feet higher. They weren't exactly floating, Jason decided. He could feel pressure under his feet like they were balancing at the top of a geyser.
"The air is supporting us," he said.
"Well, tell it to support us more! Get us out of here!"
Jason looked down. The easiest thing would be to sink gently to the canyon floor. Then he looked up. The rain had stopped. The storm clouds didn't seem as bad, but they were still rumbling and flashing. There was no guarantee the spirits were gone for good. He had no idea what had happened to Coach Hedge. And he'd left Leo up there, barely conscious.
"We have to help them," Piper said, as if reading his thoughts. "Can you—"
"Let's see." Jason thought Up, and instantly they shot skyward.
The fact he was riding the winds might've been cool under different circumstances, but he was too much in shock. As soon as they landed on the skywalk, they ran to Leo.
Piper turned Leo over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he wasn't dead.
"Stupid … ugly … goat," he muttered.
"Where did he go?" Piper asked.
Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."
"Twice," Jason said.
Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword … I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"
Jason had forgotten about the sword. He walked over to where it was lying and picked it up. The blade was well balanced. On a hunch he flipped it. Midspin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.
"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."
Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, those things—"
"Venti," he said. "Storm spirits."
"Okay. You acted like … like you'd seen them before. Who are you?"
He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."
The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn't seem to be having any luck.
"Coach Hedge said he had to protect three people," Jason remembered. "I think he meant us."
"And that thing Dylan turned into …" Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me. He called us... what, demigods?"
Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he said. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"
There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.
"We need to get off this thing," Jason said. "Maybe if we—"
"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."
At first Jason thought Leo had hit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east—too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer he could see a pair of winged animals—gray, four-legged, exactly like horses—except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.
"Reinforcements," he said. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."
"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."
"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.
Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot— A tall midnight haired girl maybe a little older than Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.
"Where is he?" the girl demanded. Her black volcanic eyes were fierce and startling.
"Where's who?" Jason asked.
She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"
The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?
Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some … tornado things."
"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."
The girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"
Jason did his best to explain, though it was hard to meet those intense black eyes. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.
When Jason had finished his story, the black haired girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."
"Zoe," the bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.
Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal.
"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."
"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.
"Zoe," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."
She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."
She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.
Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"
"Seriously," Leo agreed.
"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."
"I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured toward the girl.
"She looks like she wants to kill me."
Butch hesitated. "Zoe's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."
"What problem?" Piper asked.
"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."
Leo was being annoying, as usual. "This is so cool!" He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"
"A safe place," Zoe said. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."
"Half-Blood?" Piper was immediately on guard. She hated that word. She'd been called a half-blood too many times—half Cherokee, half white—and it was never a compliment. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"
"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."
Zoe looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."
Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"
"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.
"No, no," Leo said. "Rainbows. Very macho."
"Butch is our best equestrian," Zoe said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."
"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.
"I'm gonna toss you off this chariot," Butch warned.
"Demigods," Piper said. "You mean you think you're … you think we're—"
Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"
Piper stepped back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot.
The wind roared. Piper glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot—except these looked more like horses than angels.
She started to say, "Why are they—"
"Anemoi come in different shapes," Zoe said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough."
Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Piper's stomach crawled into her throat. Her vision went black, and when it came back to normal, they were in a totally different place.
A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below them was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. Piper saw a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. But before she could really process all she was seeing, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.
Zoe and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of five people was just too much.
"The lake!" Zoe yelled. "Aim for the lake!"
Piper remembered something her dad had once told her, about hitting water from up high being as bad as hitting cement.
And then—BOOM.
The biggest shock was the cold. She was underwater, so disoriented that she didn't know which way was up.
She just had time to think: This would be a stupid way to faces appeared in the green murk—girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at her, grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her up.
They tossed her, gasping and shivering, onto the shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Jason, Leo, and Annabeth were already on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Somebody took Piper by the arms and helped her stand. Apparently kids fell into the lake a lot, because a detail of campers ran up with big bronze leaf blower–looking things and blasted Piper with hot air; and in about two seconds her clothes were dry.
There were at least twenty campers milling around—the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen—and all of them had orange T-shirts like Zoe's. Piper looked back at the water and saw those strange girls just below the surface, their hair floating in the current. They waved like, toodle-oo, and disappeared into the depths. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a wet crunch.
"Zoe!" A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"
"Will, I'm sorry," Zoe sighed, glaring halfheartedly at the blonde. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."
Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"
"Claimed?" Leo asked.
Before Zoe could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"
"No," Zoe admitted darkly.
The campers muttered. Piper had no idea who this guy Percy was, but his disappearance seemed to be a big deal.
Another girl stepped forward—tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at Leo, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at Piper as if she were a week-old burrito that had just been pulled out of a Dumpster. Piper knew this girl's type. She'd dealt with a lot of girls like this at Wilderness School and every other stupid school her father had sent her to. Piper knew instantly they were going to be enemies.
"Well," the girl said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."
Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"
"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"
Piper had the same questions, but a wave of anxiety washed over her. Worth the trouble. If they only knew about her dream. They had no idea…
"Jason," Zoe said, "We'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned at the glamour girl—"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."
"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."
Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"
Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Zoe said, "Piper, stop."
Piper did. She wasn't a bit scared of Drew, but Zoe didn't seem like somebody she wanted for an enemy.
"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Zoe said, with another pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."
"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.
Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. At first Piper thought she'd done something wrong. Then she realized their faces were bathed in a strange red light, as if someone had lit a torch behind her. She turned and almost forgot how to breathe.
Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image —a fiery hammer.
"That," Zoe said halfheartedly, "is claiming."
"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.
"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse—"
"Butch, shut up," Zoe glared at the son of Iris. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"
"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"
All eyes turned to him.
"Jason," Zoe said skeptically, "how did you know that?"
"I'm not sure."
"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"
"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Zoe said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."
The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"
Zoe turned to the guy with the bow. "Will, take Leo, give him a tour. Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."
"Sure, Zoe."
"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"
"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.
Zoe turned her attention back to Jason. Usually Piper didn't like it when other girls checked out her boyfriend, but Zoe didn't seem to care that he was a good-looking guy. She studied him more like he was a complicated blueprint. Finally she said, "Hold out your arm."
Piper saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened.
Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. How had Piper never noticed it before? She'd looked at Jason's arms a million times. The tattoo couldn't have just appeared, but it was darkly etched, impossible to miss: a dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that an eagle with the letters spqr.
"Where did you get this?" Zoe asked, slight confusion yet also suspicion in her voice.
Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."
The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason's tattoo. The marks seemed to bother them a lot—almost like a declaration of war.
"They were burned into your skin, yes?"
"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean … I think so. I don't remember."
No one said anything. It was clear the campers saw Zoe as a leader, or at least they feared her. They were waiting for her verdict.
"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Zoe decided, then she winced as if the next words were going to hurt her. "Drew, would you—"
"Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Jason's. "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.
The crowd began to disperse, until only Zoe and Piper were left.
"Who's Chiron?" Piper asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"
Zoe hesitated. "Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you a tour. We need to talk."
I hope people noticed the changes easily. All rights reserved by Rick Riordan.
Enjoy the differences, as this is not a Percabeth.