Chapter Three

Summer Brooks

"What happened?" Summer demanded as she burst into the infirmary, Will by her side. Zach Maxwell looked up in surprise at the sudden intrusion, his green eyes wide.

"We were fighting, and she, uh-"

"I can speak for myself, thanks," Macy interrupted sarcastically, causing Zach to abruptly shut his mouth. "Anyway, some dipshit thought it would be fun to smash my head into a tree."

Summer fought the urge to laugh at her friend. She never thought she would see Macy in this position. The brunette was sitting up on a bed, her forehead heavily wrapped in a thick bandage and a sour look on her face. Macy had never been one to just sit, and it was probably killing her inside (although healing her on the outside).

Will shook his head in confusion. "Wait, Zach, you did this?" Summer looked on with a frown. She knew Zach and Macy enjoyed a little rivalry between them, but she didn't think he would go that far to hurt her.

"No!" The son of Zeus protested, his shaggy, curly head of hair flopping as he quickly shook his head.

"It was the idiot son of Hecate. I'm going to pummel him when I get out of here." Macy pouted.

"She hurt me more than I hurt her." Zach added in his defense, pointing to a gash on his cheek, and Macy's sour look turned into a grin.

"I wish I remembered that." She laughed weakly, and the three others looked at her worriedly. "Seriously, though, I'm fine. Just a concussion and some blood loss." Summer hoped that Macy wouldn't try over doing herself in the next few days, but knowing her friend, she would be training tomorrow.

"Dude, you're bleeding." Summer followed Will's pointing finger to the giant stain on Zach's orange Camp Halfblood t-shirt.

"Nah, it's um," He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, glancing sideways at Macy. "It's not mine."

Macy scowled, remembering an unpleasant memory. "When I woke up, he was legitimately carrying me into the infirmary. I would have preferred to have been left in the woods."

"Next time I will leave you in the woods." Zach's eyebrows narrowed and he stood up, making his way out of the infirmary.

Will nudged Summer, smirking in Macy's direction. "Glad to see that those two are as friendly as ever."

Summer giggled, wondering how far she could push her friend. "I don't know, I think it's kind of cute that he carried her all the way back to camp."

Will's grin got wider while Macy's frown deepened. "Tell anyone else about this and you will regret it," The brunette seethed, curling her fingers around the edge of the bed as if she was struggling to contain herself.

"Come on Summer, let's let Macy dream about her knight in shinning armor in peace." She let Will pull her out of the infirmary, leaving Macy shouting curses at them as they left.


Summer woke up earlier than usual the next morning, and it took her a few minutes of staring at the bunk above her before she realized why. She was cold. It dawned on Summer that she woke up because she was cold, and the thin sheet that usually kept her warm felt threadbare. Now, that wouldn't be unusual in normal circumstances, but Camp Halfblood was not a normal place. The magical boundaries that protected the camp from monsters protected them from other things too, like bad weather. The sun was always shining and it was always a warm temperature, unless the kids who stayed year round at camp wanted to have some fun in the snow.

A cool breeze lifted her blonde hair as she exited the cabin, and she looked up at the sky. There was nothing wrong with the sun, it looked like it always did, but it seemed to lack its usual warmth that Summer felt as the daughter of Apollo.

She made her way over to the Hermes cabin, knocking softly at the door in an attempt to wake Will. When nobody answered, she rapped harder on the wood and it opened suddenly. A sleepy Will answered the door, his short hair slightly ruffled from sleep, and Summer tried not to stare when she realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Summer?" He mumbled, blinking his eyes twice as if he didn't believe she was actually there.

She looked around camp, realizing that no other campers were around. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was this early…"

Will blinked in response, clearly still half asleep. She apologized and turned to head back to her cabin, but a new voice called out. "Summer, wait."

Jasper exited the cabin, looking as if he had been up for hours. Will muttered something unintelligible before shutting the door, presumably heading back to bed.

"He's not much of a morning person, is he?" Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all." The corner of Summer's lips turned up as she remembered all the times Will had fallen asleep during breakfast. The reason she had gone to the Hermes in the first place came back to her, and she figured she could just talk to Jasper instead of Will. "Does it seem unusually cold to you?"

Jasper looked at her funny. "No, why? Are you cold?" He looked up at the shining sun and then at her shorts and t-shirt, as if proving a point.

She shrugged, feeling stupid for asking. "No, nevermind."

"I'm not going to judge you for feeling cold, you know," Jasper grinned and leaned closer. "I just think it's funny that a daughter of the sun god is cold."

"I'm not cold!" Summer protested, attempting to keep down a blush as she noticed the shrinking distance between them. Jasper's eyes seemed bluer than they had before, and she had to look away before he noticed her staring. His smile got wider as if he knew what she was thinking and he grabbed her hand, leading her away from the Hermes cabin.

"Come on, maybe if we go down to the beach you'll get warmed up."

Will Meyers

When Summer first complained about the change in temperature at camp, Will thought she was going crazy. It was until a few days later when he had to search in his messy drawers for a long sleeved shirt that he realized she was right.

The temperature seemed to drop lower each night, and it had gone from slightly annoying to mildly concerning. He didn't mind the cold, but the Apollo cabin wouldn't stop complaining to Chiron about the "broken weather". At this time of year, camp was usually still in the 80s, but now the temperature had dropped to the 60s.

"It's not even that cold." Macy insisted as they messed around on the volleyball courts, a Band-Aid still plastered on her forehead. It looked dumb, but if anyone could pull it off, it was Macy.

"Speak for yourself. There's a reason why I stay at camp all year round instead of going back to Vermont for the winter to live with my mom." Summer spoke with an edge to her voice as she hit the ball back to Will's side of the court. Both Will and Macy knew the weather wasn't the only reason Summer stayed at camp all year, but neither of them had the heart to say anything.

Jasper jogged up to the court, his face impassive. Will glanced over at Summer and fought the urge to roll his eyes when he saw her grin and tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

"Chiron wanted me to come get you guys, he called a meeting with all the head counselors." Jasper looked at Macy and Will specifically, both whom were the head of their cabin.

Macy turned to Will with a surprised look. "Our next meeting isn't supposed to be scheduled for a few weeks." Will shrugged in response and bit his lip in confusion. He waved goodbye to Summer and gave his half brother a nod of thanks before heading toward the Big House. He couldn't help but look back, noticing the way Summer has looped her arm around Jasper's as the two walked off in the opposite direction.


Chiron cleared his throat, signaling that he was about to speak. The head counselors immediately stopped talking among themselves and turned their attention toward the Centaur.

"I've called you all here today because I've received some, ah, concerning news from Olympus," Chiron paused, and Will leaned forward in anticipation. "It seems that Apollo has…gone missing."

The head counselors were silent, taken aback by the news, until Lila from the Apollo cabin spoke up. "My dad is missing?" Her blue eyes were confused and she played with the ends of her hair nervously.

"What do you mean by missing? Are you sure he hasn't just gotten distracted again by some pretty super model?" Hank from the Hephaestus cabin scoffed, earning a glare from Lila.

Chiron countered Hank's accusation with a sigh, "The Olympians can no longer feel his presence. It's as if he has disappeared."

The Athena cabin's head counselor Shannon spoke quietly, scrunching her eyebrows as she pondered Chiron's news. "That would explain the decrease in temperature. It's not a problem now, but if Apollo doesn't get back to pulling the sun chariot every morning its only going to get colder."

"We need a quest," Zach spoke with authority, "to find Apollo."

"I'll go." Lila said immediately, her voice shaking slightly. "He's my father, I'll lead the quest."

Chiron shook his head. "You went on a quest last Summer, Lila. You are brave, but it is no longer your time."

Will wanted to claim the quest, but something made him hesitate. He had never been outside of camp since he arrived except for once, when he and Macy foolishly snuck out to explore New York.

"I'll go," Macy stood up, beating Will to the punch. "It doesn't have to be a child of Apollo. I can lead the quest." She crossed her arms, as if daring anyone else to speak up.

"Any objections?" Chiron spoke, looking around the table at each camper. Everyone stayed silent. Zach's eyes flickered strangely, but Will was never good with reading other people's emotions. He was, as Macy and Summer would put it, blissfully oblivious.

"Very well. Macy, go visit the Oracle."