Okay it is finally here. Sort of.


Neptune... Chapter 8...

It had been a warm spring day. The sun had sunk below the horizon quietly. And yet... It still felt as though more was to come. It was a little unsettling.

Suddenly, a crash came from the beach that shook the ground. It had almost knocked me off my seat on top of the Apollo cabin. A few campers screamed and yelled in surprise. Everyone looked around, they wanted to find the source of the disturbance. "Okay, okay! Everyone calm down!" Will Solace, a child of Apollo, called over the crowd. The majority of the kids looked over to him, panic filled their eyes. A few were still shaking with fear. They had no idea what that tremor had meant. Even I didn't know. I put down my sketch pad. I hadn't even drawn anything for the half an hour any way. "Okay, we need to organise groups! I would like a few volunteers to act as leaders! Everyone else needs to pick a leader unless you are under the age of thirteen or haven't been claimed!" Another boy, Malcolm from the Athena cabin, had started delegating locations, weapons, armour and jobs to the groups. The majority of the crows had gone back to their cabins and were peeping out of their windows fearfully.

Chiron quickly came galloping towards the campers. Mr D followed behind him, grumbling. "Is everyone okay!?" He asked the crowd. Many of them replied but others were still caught up in the commotion. Other than the campers, it was eerily quiet. Chiron made his way through the kids, it was as if he was looking for someone. "Luna? Luna!" He called. A girl with dirty blonde hair turned to face him. I couldn't see her from where I was sitting but I had heard of her. Apparently she was the new kid, had been claimed before she had arrived by Aphrodite. But then, she was in the middle of moving to a new cabin but no one was sure of which one it would be or why. I couldn't hear their conversation but I could tell it was urgent by Chiron's facial expression. Curiosity overtook me and I decided to crawl down the back of Apollo cabin. None of the campers were there so I dropped down safely.

"Going somewhere?" A familiar voice asked me. I turned around to see one of the tenants of the Hermes cabin, Chloe Jones, with her eyebrow raised and her hands on her hips. I shrugged. "Nowhere in particular, why?" I asked, feigning innocence. She rolled her eyes at me. "You and me both know that you are curious about that earthquake just now." She watched me flinch. "Or maybe something else?" She continued, cautiously. I shrugged and started to walk around toward the front of the golden cabin. Chloe grabbed my arm. "Nep, you need to tell me." She demanded. I knew it wasn't a good idea to challenge her, especially while she was in A terrible mood. "Say please?" I taunted. She scowled and twisted my arm behind my back. "Mercy?" She asked. I struggled for a few minutes. "Mercy! Mercy!" I half whispered, half yelled. She smirked and let go. She folded her arms and waited for me to say something. "Fine! The new girl is suspicious, okay! Something doesn't feel right!" I said, finally. Chloe leant back on the cabin. "So, you fancy her but want a reason to talk to her then?" She asked, wriggling her eyebrows. My face suddenly felt hot. "Th-that's not the reason at all! And you know it!" I argued, my face was blushing furiously. She shrugged. "Whatever, Sea Monkey." She laughed and with a swish of her black hair, she was gone. I sighed, sometimes Chloe was a little too... Scary...

When I had reached the campfire the girl and Chiron were gone. Instead, Mr D was stood in the middle of the chaos with a very grim expression on his pudgy face. "Alright Max, I want you to lead half of the groups to Thalia's tree." He ordered Malcolm. He simply rolled his eyes and began leading the groups without correcting him. He turned to Will. "You, whatever-your-name-is will lead the other group around the area of the camp." He took a sip of whatever he was drinking. "Now shoo all of you. I need a drink." Mr D sighed and began waddling away towards the Big House.

"Come on Nep!" Someone from Will's group called over to me. It was Nicole. She was holding a spare helmet and sword. For a moment, I almost considered turning down the weapon and using my own weapon instead but I knew that it would raise far too many questions so I just simply to the celestial bronze handle. As soon as where were far enough away from the campfire, many grew uneasy. They has realised that the wind wasn't blowing and that the cleaning harpies weren't complaining about their interrupted schedule.

The ground shook even more violently when the next tremor hit. A few Demi-gods even fell to the floor. "Ow..." Nicole groaned. She brushed her blonde hair out of her face. I held out my hand but she pushed it aside. "I'm fine Nep, just tell me if something big and furry starts eating people." She rolled her eyes and clambered to her feet. Suddenly, a faint warcry could be heard coming from the lake. The Demi gods around me looked at each other with uncertainty clear in their expressions. What on earth had managed to get into camp? How on earth had it gotten past Thalia's tree? "Stay together everyone!" Someone in the group began to yell out encouragement until someone else told him to 'shhh' so where could keep somewhat of an element of surprise. No one was quite sure of what exactly was happening.

The clouds drifted away and left the sky clear and where saw exactly what we were up against...