A thirteen year-old girl exited the Gray Sisters Taxi. An expression of great worry marred her bright young face.

She left Camp last year to start things anew with her estranged family and now she returned only to find the place under attack. The elephantine bronze bulls that ran amok on Half-Blood Hill weren't even what bothered her the most – it was the sickly yellow needles of Thalia's tree.

"Border patrol, to me!" A camper in full Greek armor was shouting from the crest of Half-Blood Hill.

Annabeth Chase had lived at Camp for five years and all those times Camp has never had border patrol. They never had the need for one.

She rushed up to help, putting on her Yankees cap as she went.

xxx

Chiron was packing his suitcase in his apartment at the Big House when Annabeth walked in, still a little shaky from fighting the Colchis bulls. Frank Sinatra's music oozed from the boom box on top of a side table.

Without preamble, Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not… leaving?" Her voice was shaky. The immortal centaur was like a second father to her.

Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. "Hello, child."

Annabeth looked up with teary gray eyes. "Clarisse said that you were – that you were –"

"Fired, yes." Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "You couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia!"

"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."

"What even happened to her – I mean, to the tree," Annabeth pursed her lips. Years have gone by and she still couldn't get herself to name the pine tree properly. It would always be just plain Thalia to her. Thalia, who took Annabeth under her wing when her own family thought her a freak; Thalia, who sacrificed herself just to keep Annabeth safe; Thalia, who was now dying.

Chiron shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

"But who would even do that?" Distress rang clear in Annabeth's small voice.

"As of the current time, I'm afraid we have no clue," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless ..."

"Unless what?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Chiron said. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

"What is it?" Annabeth prompted. "I'll go find it!"

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on the girl's shoulder, looking her straight in the eyes. "Annabeth, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. It's much too dangerous."

"Why?" Annabeth nearly stomped her foot in annoyance. "I want to do something! I can't just let Thalia's tree die. The whole camp will be–"

"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! Not when we barely know who we are up against."

Annabeth was trying hard not to cry. Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. "When Percy returns, child, keep him safe," he told her. "Under no circumstance must he be looped into this mess. I fear that something out there is still out to get him. The prophecy – remember it!"

"I—I will." Annabeth sniffled. "But what about Thalia?"

"I plan to go visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten," Chiron said. He seemed to relax just a little. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return but until then, in any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved… one way or another."

The daughter of Athena nodded miserably. Chiron patted her shoulder goodbye as he went ahead.

This wasn't good.

xxx

It's been five days since Camp had officially started and neither Luke Castellan nor Percy Jackson had showed up. Nobody even knew where they'd gone or if they even planned to return. Annabeth had tried IM-ing them but her calls never connected for some reason. It was really unusual.

A lot of other people hadn't showed up either, even Grover who had left Camp with his searcher's license last year hadn't been heard from.

The new Activities Director came straight from hell, Tantalus he was called. Mr. D enjoyed watching him chase after food that kept running away and he didn't disagree once on the new rules imposed.

A wave of Stymphalian birds gate-crashed the reinstituted chariot race, creating chaos amongst the campers. Chariots crashed and the injury count reached twenties. If it wasn't for Annabeth and Malcolm's quick thinking the damage would've been worse.

Tantalus had a different way of seeing things, however. The way he saw it, the Stymphalian birds were minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if the Athena team hadn't disturbed them with their bad chariot driving which was a pretty stupid accusation to make. Athena invented the chariot! But Tantalus was adamant; he sent Annabeth and Malcolm to the underground kitchen to do menial labor with the harpies.

Now the thing about being a child of Athena was that you don't take defeat easily, especially with the knowledge that there'd been foul play.

During the sing-along that night, Annabeth boldly stood up and presented her plan to save Camp. She had figured out what 'magical artifact' Chiron had been musing about before, she knew where it was thanks to the Gray Sisters, but she needed a quest to get it.

At the mention of saving camp, the dull sing-along had burst into life, lint-colored flames burned up a bright orange.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

In spite of the disagreements earlier in the day, the half-bloods all united under the cause of saving Camp Half-Blood.

No amount of protesting from Tantalus stopped the chanting and he angrily gave in. "Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Tantalus looked at Annabeth like wanted to flay her alive. "The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest… Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering,

"CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride. "I accept the quest!"

"Wait!" Annabeth protested. "Retrieving the Golden Fleece was my idea!"

Clarisse glared at her. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder. Annabeth complained, and the other Athena campers joined in. Everybody else started taking sides—shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. Before it escalated to a full-out s'mores war, however, Tantalus shouted, "Silence, you brats!"

There was a demonic gleam in his dark, deep set eyes. "I will not have any more griping!" His aura radiated pure evil, the flickering flames casting dark shadows on his crooked face. "I cooked my own children and served them to the gods in a stew – I could very well do the same to horrible campers like you!"

Silence.

Tantalus nodded at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

She shifted uncomfortably, like even she didn't want glory at the price of being Tantalus's pet. "Sir–"

"Go!" he snarled.

She bowed awkwardly and hurried off toward the Big House.

When Clarisse returned to the amphitheater to relay the prophecy, the campers were all quiet. The chirp of crickets and other insects only grew louder once she had finished repeating the Oracle's words.

Bony hands clasped together, Tantalus smiled evilly. "Now, who would like to accompany our dear champion?"

Fire crackled. Nobody moved. Not even Clarisse's own siblings. The prophecy spoke more of peril than of victory.

"Nobody?" Tantalus asked with a wicked smirk from his place in front of everybody. Beside him, Clarisse kept up a brave front in spite of her conflicting thoughts and worries.

"I'll accompany her." Annabeth stood up. It wasn't about her pride right now; it was about saving camp – saving Thalia.

Tantalus frowned, clearly unhappy. "Our champion will decide–"

"I accept your help," Clarisse's brown eyes silently communicated 'thanks' to Annabeth who nodded back.

They left for Florida the next morning.