Life would be much better if you stopped finding out that people wanted to kill you...
I mean, my life it pretty sweet, don't get me wrong. I had some cool friends, an awesome summer camp, an amazing girlfriend (and no, I'm not just saying that because she'd punch me if I didn't), and I had saved the world multiple times. So, yeah, pretty good overall.
But back to the whole "people want to kill me" thing. It started when Chiron called me to the Big House.
I walked up. "Hey, Chiron. Mr. D," I said, looking at the aged centaur in his magic wheelchair, playing cards with the sour grape wine god, Dionysus, our camp director, and some satyrs.
"Yes, yes, hello Peter Johnson," Mr D. said, waving a hand in my direction, which was a pretty warm welcome, coming from him. Chiron waved the satyrs away.
"Hello, Percy," he said. "Come inside, please." With that he turned and wheeled his way into the giant blue house.
Once we were both settled in, him in his chair, me on the couch, he spoke again. "Percy, the camp is in danger," he said simply.
I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
He looked into the fire, "Our borders are failing," he said. "We cannot hold it for much longer. We need to move everyone to a safe place. We already know where, and we will be leaving tonight, so that we may be sure to get everyone out before the magic breaks."
I waited for more. "Why are you just telling me this, Chiron? Why not Annabeth or any of the other senior counselors?"
He finally looked at me. "Because, Percy. You are the hero, the leader. Everyone looks up to you and depends on you to be there. I believe that if you go to round them all up and tell them what is happening, they will listen to you above all others here, even me." I nodded, blushing slightly at the praise, and stood.
"Got it. So, I'll tell them to pack their bags and meet us all in the dining pavilion?" He nodded. I turned to walk away, but he interrupted me.
"Percy?" he said.
I turned back around. "Yeah?"
He smiled. "I like your haircut." I smiled back and ran a hand through it. I hadn't cut it since June, and as it was now the end of August, the Aphrodite girls had begged me to let them cut it. And it actually looked pretty good.
Rounding up all the campers wasn't as easy as it once was. It used to be just stop by the twelve cabins, but now there were over twenty, and we were still adding more. Seeing as it had been less than two weeks since I'd requested for the gods to change the rules about the cabins and claiming, we had made quite a lot of progress.
But now I kicked myself, as I had to hit all of those cabins, and each one held twice as many campers as they once did. I started at the closest one: Hecate.
I was always careful around this cabin, as the walls had spells engraved on them. I cautiously knocked on the heavy wooden door before stepping inside. It was a generally quiet cabin, the silence interrupted only by the muted mutterings of the campers around the room. I looked around before seeing the Head Counselor of this cabin, Emmeline Mage.
"Emma?" I said, carefully tapping her on the shoulder. She spun around and saw me, a smile immediately touching her lips.
"Hello, Percy," she said in a dreamy voice. "What brings you here?" Her voice had a hypnotic, dreamlike quality that had a tendency to daze people. That, plus her long, chocolate brown hair that framed her face with light waves, and her hazel eyes got her quite a bit of attention. Not that she noticed, of course: her focus tended to be solely on the use of her gifts.
"Um, I have an announcement to make, to the whole, uh, cabin," I stuttered. The dream-like quality of the cabin, plus the fact that it was Emmeline, could cause even the most well-spoken to stumble over their words. (Not that I was interested in her, of course. She was just one of those people who could attract anyone, even in a platonic way.)
She smiled and nodded. She looked around at her siblings. "Alright, everyone. Percy has an announcement to make," she said, causing everyone to go quiet, and the instant, almost unnatural hush that she brought about startled me a bit.
I stepped forward. "You all need to pack," I began. This began a low murmur, and several shocked glances. I continued. "The camp's borders are failing so we are all moving to a safe place. So-"
"I thought Camp Half-Blood was a safe place?" asked Chelsea, Emma's little sister.
I nodded. "It is, but the magic is malfunctioning, just as it was before when Thalia's pine tree was infected, only this time, worse. So, pack up all of your things and meet everyone in the dining pavilion as soon as possible. Thanks."
On my last word everyone began bustling about. I was caught in a whirlwind of different types of magical components being passed from hand to hand, the smell of some ingredients making my head spin.
I managed to slip out and proceeded to the other cabins. I got many of the same reactions, and I was relieved when I finally got to the Athena cabin, about halfway down the line of cabins. I knocked and the door was immediately opened by Laurie, one of Annabeth's sisters. Laurie didn't look like all of her other siblings. Where they had blonde hair and grey eyes she had brown hair and light blue eyes. She was eighteen, and barely five feet tall, but she could definitely hold her own.
"Annabeth's busy," she said as soon as she saw who it was.
I rolled my eyes. "Just let me in." She shrugged and stepped back.
As soon as I stepped in the entire cabin turned to look at me, and Annabeth began to stand, but I waved her back, causing many raised eyebrows. I repeated the information, and everyone immediately sprang into action, trying to pack up all of their things, and somehow managing to do it in a neat and orderly fashion. Annabeth came up to me. "So, where are we going?" she asked. I shrugged.
"I guess Chiron's gonna tell us tonight. Why don't you go pack?" I said, gesturing to her busy, siblings.
She smiled. "You go pack. I'll finish relaying the message. Besides," she hurried on, seeing me open my mouth to protest. "All of my things are together. Your cabin, on the other hand, may need a good search before you find everything."
"But Chiron said-"
"I'll handle Chiron. Now go!" she said, kissing me on the cheek before pushing me out the door. She stepped out behind me and went in the opposite direction. I shook my head and walked to my cabin.
The dining pavilion was usually crowded with all the campers. Add to that a couple of bags per camper, and there was no space to breathe. Chiron looked down at our confused faces.
"I'm sure you're all wondering where you are going, as I trust Percy had told you that you are leaving?" he began, looking at me for that last part. I nodded, deciding now wasn't the time to mention that Annabeth had told about half the camp. "Well, before I tell you that, I should probably explain something to you."
"We are not the only creatures of magic in this world, even besides monsters. There is a whole other race of magical human-like beings that you don't know about. They have magic different than ours, but still, magic that can protect us. And that is where you are going. You are going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."