Camp Half Blood was growing like mold in a cold, dark place, and Alec smiled at his amazingly shitty simile. Leave the poetry to the Apollo kids.

But really, Camp Half Blood was filled to almost capacity. Some of the tiny cabins had evolved with the help of the Hephaestus kids to full dorms expanding underground, and Chiron (with the help of Olympus) had managed to expand the boundaries of the camp twice. He wouldn't be surprised if soon they'd have to make another camp somewhere. Lastly, because of the ever-growing numbers, the camp also adopted a graduation system: After you turn eighteen, you're done. On your own. Free to visit, maybe get a partner job as most did, but feel free to not stay the night. There was just no more room.

Even so, nothing had really changed, except for the gods continuing their disregard any sort of birth control.

Alec thanked the gods he'd graduated already.

When he and Eva arrived back at the camp, they were greeted by a long-faced (get it?) Chiron, as always. (If you still didn't get it, it's because Chiron is a motherfucking horse.)

"Welcome back," he said solemnly as Alec and Eva hopped out of the van. "Though I'm sorry I had to send you."

Eva shrugged and squinted at the camp. "Getting bigger, I see," she mused. "Have the gods ever taken a sexual education course? Or at least one not in Texas? They need to know that children aren't always part of the gods' plans, you know."

Chiron chucked, though it was more out of acknowledgement rather than humor. "I will recommend it to them." He glanced sadly over at the truck. "I contacted the girl's parents. They are going to pick her up at the funeral home tomorrow."

Eva stayed silent, but Alec asked, "Do you want us to drop her off?"

The centaur shook his head. "No. I've kept you busy all week. You deserve a break. You can spend the night in the Big House, if you'd like. Some of the others are here."

Eva narrowed her eyes. "Others? You guys don't usually have slumber parties. What's going on?"

He sighed. "I've called a meeting. It's only a few of the more skilled graduates, but it should be enough. A new job offering, you see. I assumed you both would be interested."

"Count us in," Alec told him. "Is it okay if we look around the camp? We'd like to go say hi and stuff." To this Chiron nodded, and Eva and Alec headed off as the satyrs approached the van to tend to their fallen friend.

….

Eva gazed at her old cabin. Unlike the rest of the camp, it had remained unchanged; small, plain, and white, with no hint as to which god or goddess' children it housed. Which made sense. It was Camp Half Bloods' Misc. Cabin, where they threw in anyone who didn't have enough half-siblings for a whole cabin. Eva was, as far as she knew, her mother's only child.

She knocked on the door and twisted the handle. "Hello?" she called, peeking her head through the door. There was no answer- everyone was probably doing activities of some sort- so she walked in. The cabin was, as always, an eclectic mixture of personalities, order, and chaos. Each bed had its own miniature shrine built next to it for whomever's child slept there; unsurprisingly, Eva didn't recognize most of them. She navigated through a small sea of dirty laundry and miscellaneous weapons until she reached her old bunk in the smallest corner of the room.

Her mother's shrine had been replaced with one worshiping Thoosa (whoever that was), and instead of her movie posters and random drawings, there were pictures of a girl with what Eva assumed to be her friends. She was blonde, and pretty. She looks like Erin.

Eva gently pulled a picture off the wall and sunk onto the bed. Erin probably had friends. She was probably popular too, considering the picture Eva saw on her Insta. When she closed her eyes, she could visualize it; the dead girl beaming, on a volleyball court surrounded by her friends and holding a trophy. Pretty much the life Eva always wanted.

"Fuck," Eva whispered, lowering her head into her hands.

A voice chuckled. "I mean, if that's what you want to do, I suppose I'll participate."

Eva looked up. A boy with short dark curls and a lazy grin leaned in the doorway of the cabin. His dark green jacket was significantly more beat up than she had recalled. "Emon?"

His grin grew wider, teeth bright against his olive skin. "So are we going to do the previously mentioned promiscuous activity or not?"

She laughed, more of a sharp huff of air. "Go to Tartarus." Emon. She hadn't seen him in a while. He'd been in her cabin back when she was still at camp, and yes, they had a… thing. He sat down on the bed next to her. His weight caused the mattress to sink awkwardly. Their thighs touched, and Eva slid away awkwardly.

"How's it been?"

Eva shrugged. "Oh, you know. Cleaning up dead bodies. That sort of thing."

He wrinkled his nose. "Gross. See anything cool? Never mind, I actually just decided I don't want to know." He scratched at the bedpost a little. "Here for the new job?"

"Well, I felt pretty obligated to, seeing as I may be the reason it was brought up," she answered. "I may or may not have figured out Zeus (and, I guess, the other guys) have gotten back to their old ways-"

"-Old ways?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know, having kids with anything that moved, read the mythology. Anyway, these kids are getting absolutely murdered because the satyrs aren't well prepared for the kind of demons they attract."

Emon pursed his lips, thinking. "So they're sending us instead? Sounds fun." There was an awkward pause. "So who's that guy you arrived here with? You two a thing?"

Eva choked. "Alec. And no, he's just my partner." Seeing the look on his face, she punched him in the arm. It was supposed to be a playful punch, but it came out harder than she'd meant it to. Probably some unresolved issues there or something. "So, uh… what have you been up to?"

"Started the arms dealing business," he replied. To a mortal, that probably would sound highly illegal. But for an adult demigod, it was perfectly normal. Grown demigods still needed weapons, and celestial bronze and imperial gold were not exactly stocked at your local gun store. "I've found some pretty cool stuff, if you still use that rifle of yours."

She shrugged and bit her lip. "Sure. I'll check it out, I guess. The meeting should be starting soon, so…"

Emon jumped up. "Oh. Yeah. Right." He started for the door, but turned around to see Eva still sitting on the girl's bed. He looked at the ground. "You know I am sorry, right?"

Eva half-nodded. "It's alright. We should go."

Everyone was already seated when they arrived at the Big House. Emon sat in the nearest seat, but Eva scanned the faces- some familiar, some not- until she found Alec, who had an empty seat next to him. He gave her a quizzical look as she sat down.

Emon? He mouthed. He didn't know that much about him, because Eva didn't really say anything about him. It was usually better not to. She nodded, and he raised an eyebrow, miming shooting a basket. Scoring?

Eva almost vomited.

"Okay, everyone, we're going to get this over with now," Mr. D said. He stood at the front of the round table, with a projector behind him. He was repulsive as ever, and seemed to be wearing the exact same Hawaiian shirt as the last time Eva saw him. And the time before that.

"Where's Chiron?" she asked.

"Tending to a camper that seemed to have accidently set herself alight with Greek fire while trying to dye her hair. If that's not a rollercoaster of a sentence, I don't know what is."

"Missed you, Big D," someone said.

"Oh, fuck you all, you little shits," he growled. "Don't think I can't treat you like the little shits you are, because you're technically adults now, so I can do what I want."

Emon cleared his throat. "Does that mean you'll give us wine now?"

"Drinking laws are no joke." The god of wine glared at the speaker. "Emon O'Kinnen. I always hated you." Emon blew him a little kiss, and Mr.D's nostrils flared. "I can't believe I'm about to send you all to save people's lives. Speaking of which, look at this."

He clicked on the projector. An image of a huge dark shape, only distinguishable by its silhouette and obvious jagged teeth, too numerous for its mouth. The picture was blurry, and seemed to be taken from the end of a school hallway, where the thing seemed to just have enough room to move; if she was guessing right, it was probably the size of a small school bus.

Mr.D smiled at their expressions of horror. "That's what I like to see. This great brute has been responsible for- if our lovely friend Emma's hypothesis is correct-"

"-Eva," Alec interrupted.

Mr.D bristled for a moment. "If our friend Eva-I'm-not-pretending-to-care's hypothesis is correct, this thing has killed four children of Zeus, Poseidon, and/or Hades." The sky rumbled. "Oh, shut up, I'm trying to help here," Mr.D muttered toward the sky. "So yeah. We're going to pretty much send you guys out to find the rest of the Big Three Kids where you'll probably run into this thing, which apparently leaves no survivors."

"Wonderful," someone laughed.

Mr.D's expression darkened. "As much as I hate you all and wouldn't mind if you all died, I'm serious when I say this is no laughing matter. If any of you face this thing, do not, I repeat, do not let it bite you."

Eva shivered, as next to her, Alec asked, "What happens if it does?"

"Oh, a number of things," Mr. D said. "First, it will probably hurt like hell. Second, based on autopsies we've done on its victims, it poisons you. Although it didn't seem to keep you alive long enough for that. But if you do survive a bite… well, it kind of develops a taste for your blood."

"And what does that mean?"

Mr.D's stare hardened. "It will hunt you to the ends of the Earth until it kills you." He paused. "Well, according to sources, it usually takes a side trip or two first, but it always finds its way back. Oh, and another happy point: no one's killed it yet, so have fun."

Alec cleared his throat. "And you want us to go out to find half-bloods knowing this thing will come after us?"

The god shrugged. "I'll buy pizza for the first one that kills it."

Emon laughed. "Great. Where do I sign up?"

…..

So yeah. There's chapter two. Please review, do your thing, etc. It should start picking up soon-ish. So yeah.

Keep sending me your OCs! If you're interested, please refer to chapter two.

Thanks!