RACHAEL

Chapter 3

I awoke in the Athena cabin. The sun's rays were shining through the windows onto my face, and I blinked, bringing the world back into focus. Annabeth was standing above me, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Rachael?"

I groaned. Everything hurt.

"Ugh." I looked up at Annabeth to see her storm gray eyes still focused on me. Apparently "ugh" wouldn't cut it. I decided to start with something positive.

"Hi."

"Are you okay?" She asked, which was the obvious question, but I wasn't really sure. I took in my surroundings. I was in my bunker in the Athena cabin. It looked normal enough. The beds were still pushed up against the wall. The bookshelf at the back of the room was cluttered with books as usual. A few tables sat beside them, covered with diagrams and geometry sets. Usually when you don't know your parents you stay in the Hermes cabin, but after a while I got moved here.

My bed was mostly clear, except for me, of course, and I looked across to find Annabeth's covered in more diagrams and calculations. Usually everyone would try to keep the cabin clean, but they knew better then to touch Annabeth's stuff. The last guy…well lets just say he was in the infirmary for quite a while. I spotted the desk at the back of the cabin to find it also covered with sheets of paper and Dadulas's laptop. I managed a smile: same old Annabeth.

I shook my head to try to clear my thoughts. "What happened?" I asked, trying to get the facts straight.

"You don't remember?"

I shook my head again. "Me, the arai and then…not much."

Annabeth nodded. "Looked like you took a pretty hard hit to the head."

"How long was I out?"

"Just a couple hours." I nodded, and managed to sit up. "When you're feeling better, Chiron wants to talk to you. I think everyone else does too. We can go when you're ready."

"I'm ready now," I said, which probably wasn't true, as I had a bad headache, but I needed to talk to someone.

"Are you sure?" She didn't need to wait for an answer, but just looked at my expression. "Okay." She helped me up, and we walked outside to the big house, my thoughts still fuzzy. But the cool fall breeze felt good, and by the time we got to the Big House I remembered everything.

I didn't really like what I remembered.

We walked in, Annabeth holding the door open for me, but I could just about walk by myself now. However I didn't argue when Chiron offered me a chair. This was going to be a long talk.

I looked around to find the other seven demigods staring right back at me. I almost smiled. We were back at the Ping-Pong table. It was almost like old times, but my expression darkened when I thought about the situation.

We were all silent for a few minutes. I glanced around the table, and looked at each demigod in turn. It was funny how each of our complicated pasts had eventually brought us to this room.

I myself had had my own share of 'complicated'.

Chiron started the conversation. "So, Rachael. Maybe you can explain exactly what happened back there." I took a deep breath and told them everything.

When, I was done, my story was met with mixed faces of shock and dismay around the table.

"Savvy and Leah can see through the Mist?" Hazel asked, who was leaning against Frank and making her own attempt to take in the information.

Percy was sitting across the table. "Which means…"

"More demigods," Frank confirmed. But it wasn't this part that worried me. The flash of light, Savvy's dagger, it just didn't make sense. I really hated stuff when it didn't make sense.

"Yes," Chiron said, turning everyone's center of attention towards him. "I believe that Savannah is indeed a demigod. You said that she had a knife Rachael?"

"A dagger," I answered.

"But if she herself does not know that she is a demigod, where did she get the dagger?" Piper put in, who was sitting next to me, observing her own dagger, Katoptris, which she had received only after coming to Camp Half-Blood.

"I'm not sure," I said, sweeping back my black hair, wondering how Piper could manage to always look so beautiful. But she was a daughter of Aphrodite, after all. I didn't really care about my hair. As long as it was out of the way I was happy.

"It is true that we do not how or when Savannah came to own this dagger, but the information does confirm that she is, indeed, a demigod," Chiron remarked. Everyone nodded. "But I am not sure that this Leah is a demigod."

"But she could see through the Mist," Hazel pointed out.

"But that does not prove that she is a demigod. There are some mortals who can see through the Mist. And Leah shows no sign of dyslexia or ADHD."

"But not every demigod is dyslexic," Frank put in, as he himself was neither dyslexic nor had ADHD.

"I don't think Leah is a demigod." I said. Yes, it could happen, but the way she reacted, it just…didn't feel right. Something told me that Leah was just a regular mortal.

No one else questioned me.

"But that still doesn't explain everything," Percy said, suddenly speaking up. He was probably tired of loose ends. I knew I was. "How Savannah got her dagger, this 'flash of light', and if Savannah was a demigod all this time, why didn't you have a monster attack sooner?" It was a good question. Two demigods in one place for a whole year, one of them with full knowledge about the Greek and Roman gods and no monster attacks?

"I think we will just have to count ourselves lucky on that one," Chiron said, his face deep in thought. "But as for the flash of light, are you sure that it wasn't just the sun in your face?"

"I'm sure." Chiron already knew it wasn't anyway. I had run into a lot of things, being a demigod, but a coincidence was not one of them. "And after the flash, Savvy was gone. She just disappeared."

"Maybe it was just one of the gods whisking her away to some place," suggested Piper.

"I want to know where she is," I interrupted.

"All in good time Rachael," Chiron soothed.

"But-"

"Later." His voice was firm, so I kept quiet.

"Could have been Hera." I looked up. It was Jason speaking. This was very possible, especially after Hera switched Jason and Percy's places to bring the Greeks and Romans together.

"But what would she want with Savannah? She doesn't even know she's a demigod," Annabeth pointed out. I flinched at that. That was my fault. "But at least Rachael was able to contact me when she did," she continued.

I managed a smile at this. Demigods couldn't use phones; it was like sending up a flare letting every monster where you were. It was basically saying: Hey! Evil monsters! I'm right here if you want to kill me! But last summer I managed to somehow create magic bracelets that could send short messages from demigod to demigod. They were faster than Iris-messaging, but they used a pretty strong magic. I didn't even know how I made them, it just seemed like I had a knack for 'magical stuff.' I had even managed to work with Leo to store my bow and arrow in the bracelet. Now all I had to do was tap the silver stone and voila! Immediate monster-killing weapon.

"Yes. Looked like Rachael's bracelets really worked," Chiron said, still trying to put some light on the situation. But then his face turned dark once more. Something must be troubling him.

"So evil she-demons attack another school. What else is new?" asked Leo. I glared at him. "Well, it is all that happened," he pointed out. I glared at him some more. Hazel nudged him. "Okay, okay, chill. It's important. I'm not saying anything," He decided.

Annabeth spoke up. "Perhaps Savvy just came across the dagger somewhere and learned to use it to defend herself. It could happen." I nodded. That was always a possibility.

"The dagger could have been a gift from the gods," I suggested. But I was doubtful. The gods, Greek or Roman hardly ever stepped in to help.

Percy frowned. "So what do we do now?"

Annabeth spoke up. "Maybe we should send a couple scouts out. Just snoop around, see what's going on." It was a good idea. Even after we defeated Gaea, monsters still attacked Camp Half-Blood on more than a regular basis. It would be nice to have an in on what's going on.

"I'll go," Jason offered. "Piper can help me."

Chiron frowned. "Three is the ideal number for a quest."

"This isn't really a quest," Piper reasoned. "And less people would probably be better for our purposes." We all nodded. Chiron sighed, and I knew he still wasn't satisfied, but he let it go.

"I should probably return to Camp Jupiter. Reyna is going to kill me if I'm here much longer," remarked Frank. It was a good idea. As praetor of Camp Jupiter, Frank had duties that he needed to attend to.

"I'll go with him," Hazel offered.

Chiron stepped in again. "This is for you to decide, but I must warn you that splitting up is dangerous."

"We can regroup if necessary," said Annabeth. Seems like she had a logical answer for everything. "And we can Iris-message if anything comes up."

"Then it's settled," said Percy. "Piper and Jason will go on a scouting mission to see what they can dig up, Hazel and Frank will return to Camp Jupiter, and the rest of us will remain here?" Everyone nodded. But I still felt something was wrong.

"Chiron?" I asked. "What did you mean 'this is for you to decide'?"

"I am afraid I cannot provide help in this situation." He shifted nervously in his wheelchair.

"So you know what's going on?" I persisted, hopeful.

"I do not understand everything, but I do suspect bits and pieces. But the Fates keep me from intervening," Chiron looked around. "I think that is enough talk now. Let's give Rachael some time to rest."

I was very grateful. I was already completely worn out, and my head throbbed as Hazel walked me back to the Athena cabin. I must have seemed to be in a foul mood, because Hazel asked,

"Hey, are you still mad at me for taking credit with the Mist battle against Pasiphaë in the House of Hades?"

"No. Why?"

"You seem angry about something."

"I have a lot on my mind."

I had actually come to camp even before the Greeks made peace with the Romans, but Rick Riordan never mentioned me in his books. What I did was either ignored, or someone else took credit for it, such as my fight against Pasiphaë. We made him promise that he would never write about me. I had to stay a secret. It was safer that way, but from what I was kept safe from I still didn't know.

Our war against Gaea and her giants in July had slowed Gaea down, stopped her even, and attacks had slowed down. I thought back to when we returned back to our camps, Frank as praetor, Jason a Greek demigod. After a month or so, we had regrouped in Camp Half-Blood.

We were inside the Athena cabin now, and I flopped onto my bed, ready to pass out. But as Hazel walked out there was one question that I needed answered.

"Hazel?"

"Yeah?"

"Why couldn't I handle the arai? It was just one monster. I've been through way worse."

Hazel hesitated. But she knew that I wasn't going to rest until I got an answer.

"Maybe because it hit a little too close to home."