Percy didn't know why, but he felt extremely cautious.
It was ever since the Giant War, after they had prevailed against Gaea. He remembered diving into Tatarus, holding hands with Annabeth.
He shivered. It was a miracle that he hadn't been driven completely insane, or at least reduced to pile of ash. A very lucky miracle. He had seen things that no one- human or demigod- should ever have to see. And even then he knew that he might have to sacrifice himself in order for him and his friends to close the Doors of Death once and for all.
But he had to admit, out of all the people he didn't like; it was a pretty nice move to trick Octavian to close the Doors of Death from the other side. Promise that kid power and he'll take the offer. He smiled at the memory.
"Percy!' yelled a familiar voice.
Percy stopped and turned slowly around. He had been taking a walk by the river when he heard someone call his name. He looked at the person who called his name.
The person was definitely male, with an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, a green jacket and black backpack, and he wore no pants. His bare legs were furry and shaggy, with hooves for feet. He had a small goatee and a red Rasta cap with two small bumps poking out.
Percy gasped.
"G-Grover?" he stammered.
Grover Underwood smiled and ran to hug his old friend.
"Per-r-r-cy!" he bleated. "It's been so long! What was it, like-?"
"Four months?"
That was exactly how long it had been- Percy hadn't seen Grover since he helped him fight Gaea in Greece, on the very peak of Mt. Olympus.
Percy and Grover kept talking, discussing how the nature spirits had stopped revolting against Grover and the other members of the Council of Cloven Elders, when a loud horn blew.
Grover frowned. "What's that for?'
"Chiron probably just wants to tell us something important," Percy replied.
"Let's go," said Grover nervously.
Percy frowned. Grover did not sound very calm and collected, the way the head member of the elder council (supposedly) should be. But he ended up letting it go.
"Yeah," Percy said. "And after that, we can go over to my cabin, huh?"
Percy and Grover reached the campfire site as the sun began to set, sending brilliant rays of orange, gold and red splitting across the sky.
Everyone was talking and asking questions and generally making a lot of noise until Chiron stamped his hoof on the ground three times. All the chatter died down.
"I have important news!" yelled Chiron. "Tonight, we have three new demigods arriving at camp."
Everyone immediately started to talk again, and Chiron was forced to stamp his hoof again.
"Silence! These demigods will be arriving late in the night, and the satyr travelling with them has sent word that a Cyclops is following them, but he is not sure yet. Even so, I would like you all to be well rested and alert, just in case."
Everyone murmured in agreement and a kid from the Ares cabin yelled out.
"Who's the satyr travelling with them?"
"Silas Thatcher," murmured Chiron.
The older demigods widened their eyes in surprise, and some of the younger ones frowned in confusion.
"Huh," said Grover. "Good old Silas."
"Um," said Percy, low enough so that only Grover could hear, "who is Silas Thatcher?"
Grover frowned at him in disbelief. "Dude, the Silas Thatcher. He's a member alongside me in the Elder Council."
"Oh," said Percy, feeling stupid. "But if he's such an important member, why is he out rallying demigods, and not taking care of things here, or helping nature spirits, like you were just a while ago?"
Grover shrugged. "Beats me. At the very least, I'd say that Silas is just trying to do what he does best. He's always liked helping demigods." Grover frowned. "Or maybe…" He shook his head. "Nah. It's probably nothing."
Percy felt uneasy. Grover felt nervous about something, and that was never a good sign. But he'd ask later.
"Go," said Chiron. "Rest up as much as you can. And don't be late for the campfire."
An hour later, Percy and Grover headed for the campfire. They were just about to dig into their meals when Percy saw a familiar face.
"Annabeth!" he yelled.
Annabeth smiled and ran over to her boyfriend. They kissed and talked about what had happened over the past year.
After dinner, Percy kissed Annabeth goodnight and headed back over to his cabin. Suddenly an image flashed into his mind. The last time he had done that, Hera had wiped his memories and sent him to Camp Jupiter.
That didn't happen this time though. Percy walked in, straightened the Minotaur horn on his wall, then jumped into bed and slept.
"Percy!" whispered Grover. "Per-r-r-cy!"
"Huh?" said Percy, being awoken from his dreamless sleep. "Grover? What're you doing, man? It's like one in the morning."
"This is very important."
"What could be more important than my sleep?"
"You remember those three demigods Chiron was talking about? Well, they're here, and it's not pretty."
Percy groaned and sighed and got up. He put on his armor and walked out of his cabin. In the moonlight, he could see what Grover was wearing: armor made of tree bark and little leafy branches. He also had his reed pipes and his wooden club hanging at his side.
"Is this really that import-?" Percy started to say, but trailed off when he saw what was happening. There were half-bloods running amok, and the top of Camp Half-Blood, the entrance, was embroiled in fire.
"That's what's so important."
And without a single word more, Grover and Percy ran up the hill.
Silas Thatcher huffed as he ran up to Half-Blood Hill. Had it really come to this? He had been hoping to get to camp with his three new half-bloods without any incidents, but no. The stupid Cyclops had to show up and ruin everything.
"Um," said Trevor Mullen, as he dodged an oncoming boulder, "Silas? I hate to interrupt the fun, but is this camp you've been talking about close?"
You could tell Trevor was a little weird just by looking at him. He wore trousers, a jacket, and he had hair like a porcupine's quills, all spiky and standing up, as if he had just been electrocuted.
Silas ran even faster and jumped. The ground where he'd been standing a moment ago cracked open as another boulder hit it, making a large crater.
"Oh yeah,' Silas replied. "It's just up this hill."
Silas heard more heavy breathing and looked to his left and saw Danielle Night running next to him. Danielle had brown-blonde hair, and was wearing tight blue jeans, boots, and a black sleeveless top with a dark hooded jacket.
Danielle cursed as she rolled to avoid a boulder that missed her by centimeters.
"Silas!" yelled Danielle angrily. "We need backup! Where the hell is Dante?"
"Calm your fiery ass down, woman! He said he would meet us here!"
As they got closer, Silas saw Peleus the dragon stand up and roar.
"Whoa, boy!" said Silas. "It's okay, we're all friends here!"
He was interrupted by a deep roar almost as loud as Peleus's. Silas turned slowly around and saw a huge Cyclops, easily twice his size, wearing nothing but an old loincloth and a worn leather satchel with huge boulders inside, his skin black with soot and glistening with sweat, huge muscles coiling underneath his skin.
"Okay," said Silas. "Everyone but that guy."
At that moment, Trevor and Danielle caught up to Silas.
"Hey Silas," said Trevor. "We got caught up- holy mother! Is that a dragon?"
Before Silas could answer, Peleus bellowed and hot white white-hot flames in every direction. Some landed on the Cyclops, but he just laughed.
Silas saw the others campers coming to help, with Chiron in the lead, but they couldn't reach them, as Peleus's flames had caught on the grass, blocking the campers on the other side. Silas heard some people yelling, "Where's Percy? Someone find him, so he can put out these flames!"
Peleus continued to blast the Cyclops with flames, but he laughed and threw a boulder into Peleus's belly. The dragon yelped and went down.
"Ha- ha!" yelled the Cyclops. "Is that all you have for me little heroes!? Come on, give me a real challenge!"
Silas looked around, seeing his two demigod friends there, but without the faintest idea of how to fight this thing, all those campers, so close yet unable to help, and the giant Cyclops slowly lumbering towards them.
"Oh, Hades," muttered Silas.
Then something strange happened.
Suddenly, all the shadows around them began to writhe- shadows from the trees, the flames, even the people. A small piece broke off every writhing shadow, collecting onto the ground in one swirling cloud. Then the shadows rose up off the ground, transforming from two-dimensional shapes to three-dimensional.
The shadows swirled angrily, a misshapen blob at first, but then began to take shape. The shadows grew arms, legs, a chest, and eventually an entire body. Then the shadows exploded outwards, returning to their sources, revealing a young man in a crouch.
He looked to be around seventeen, and he was wearing black jeans, a dark jacket and a t-shirt with a single skull design on it. He had caramel skin and dark hair, but it was hard to tell because his hood was pulled up.
Dante Night smiled and stood up.
"You want a challenge?" he asked. "Okay, I'll give you one. Now please hold still while I rearrange your face."
He got into a battle stance. The Cyclops laughed and picked up another boulder. Dante simply held out his fist, as if he were holding something invisible. Shadows curled around his hand then went away, revealing a short sharp metal rod.
The Cyclops practically bellowed with laughter. "You're going fight with that? This'll only take a moment." He threw the boulder.
But, impossibly quickly, Dante thrust out the rod, the sharp end meeting the boulder and breaking it two.
Once the rubble cleared, everybody gasped. The rod Dante was holding had changed. It was no longer a rod, but a long sharp silver spear. Beautiful carvings decorated it, and Dante held it in a leather handle-grip. The bottom was simple, shaped like a thick needle, the top a different shape altogether. It looked an upside- down kite, the tip curling with shadows and crackling with electricity.
Only Chiron seemed unfazed by the change.
"As it is," said Dante, "I'm still pretty confident."
Just as the Cyclops reached into his satchel to bring out another boulder, Dante jumped and slashed off the handle. The bag fell to the ground, scattering the rocks inside everywhere.
The Cyclops snarled and threw off whatever was left of the bag. He cracked his fingers and readied himself, his huge muscles coiling like thick cords beneath his skin.
"I don't need rocks to win this fight, half-blood."
The two opponents charged each other. The Cyclops ran with full force, but at the last possible moment, Dante stuck his spear into the ground, letting his momentum carry him up. He pulled his spear out of the ground as he flew, and landed easily on the Cyclops's back.
Before the Cyclops could react, Dante shoved his spear into the Cyclops's back, and jumped off as it were a diving board.
Dante landed in a roll and watched as electricity arced down his spear and into the Cyclops.
The Cyclops screamed and slowly put his hand to the spear. He grabbed the spear and yanked it sharply out, tossing it behind him.
The Cyclops snarled as golden blood ran freely down his spine.
Dante considered his options. His spear was right there, but he couldn't get to it without the Cyclops getting in the way. The campers were there too, but they were stuck behind a short wall of fire.
Not many options. So he did what he was probably best at. He ran.
The Cyclops smelled victory and sprinted after him.
Dante ran fast, as fast as he could. Trees whipped past him. He ran for a tree, a large one shrouded in darkness.
He ran straight into the shadow of the tree and disappeared. The Cyclops was too late to stop, and ended up crashing into the tree, splintering it in half.
Dante fell out of the shadow of another tree, and started running towards his spear. His hood fell.
"Shadow –walking. Best. Ability. Ever," he thought.
He ran and grabbed his spear, and saw the Cyclops sprinting towards him. He was covered in splinters and golden blood, bellowing in rage.
Dante didn't have the energy to run anymore. He gritted his teeth and concentrated. After a moment he could feel the metal of his spear shifting between his fingers. In four seconds, he was holding a large scythe.
Just as the Cyclops was about to hit him, Dante turned in a full circle and swung the scythe.
The Cyclops suddenly stopped and looked down. He saw the scythe buried in his bare chest to the handle.
Dante twisted the handle and blood spurted from the scythe, causing the Cyclops to melt into yellow powder.
Dante turned. Everyone gasped. Now that hood was down, they could see his eyes. They were solid gold.
Dante saw the flames being doused by a boy with windswept hair and green eyes.
"Well," said Dante, feeling completely drained, "that went well."
And then he collapsed on the spot.