Anna
Anna drove past Thalia's tree, stopping her bike at the crest of Half Blood Hill. She surveyed the place that had become her home over the past decade.
'Home. It still sounds strange.'
She shook herself. Pulling her helmet off her head she watched as Chiron cantered up the hill from the Big House. She smiled at him and began to roll her bike down the grass. She waved at the Stoll brothers who looked at her with some fear. The last time the brothers had tried to pull a prank on her she'd slipped hair removal cream into their shampoo, hair growth serum in their shaving cream and bribed the Aphrodite cabin into charming clown paint onto their faces for a month. Then she actively got every camper she could bribe or intimidate into doing some combination of dumb or elaborate pranks on them for the rest of the summer session. They never bothered her again. Hermes, instead of being angry, had been impressed and he'd gifted her with a magical scroll, that would take a message anyplace. It was a convenient tool on quests, but she had also been sworn to secrecy regarding its existence. The only times she used was to talk to the gods, Chiron or the egyptian nomes.
"Welcome home Dianne." Chiron said after she parked the bike next to Cabin 6. She smiled grimly at her mentor.
"It's nice to be back." She followed him towards the forges, where the clatter and clank of campers hard at work echoed. Nyssa immediately walks over.
"One day you're going to tell me who made your baby." Nyssa said by way of greeting. Anna just laughed and passed her Eleos.
"I'll tell you the same day you can craft her a sibling." Nyssa sighed dramatically. Chiron stood outside the forge, watching his pupils indulgently. Anna realized how unusual this peace must seem for him. For the better part of the last one hundred and fifty years, there had always been some major disaster that required the use of demigods as expendable pawns in the fate of the universe. Even as he trained the heroes, he hoped for them to never be called to battle. Anna suddenly felt guilty for the selfishness of her actions. She should have checked in earlier and found another way to hunt down the demons, instead of travelling from case to case with the Winchester's, risking the safety of the camps.
"Has Rachel gotten anything useful from the Grove? I need to go back out there. I need to follow the bodies the fire demon drops." Anna asked as she rejoined Chiron. They began to walk around camp, observing the campers going about day to day life. Even in springtime, camp was always full now.
"No. Nothing more than what we have had before. Locations where it has struck before. People it has affected." Anna nodded.
"Then I'll stay here for a little while. Rest, refuel and research a little. Nico brought my things?" Chiron nodded. Anna shrugged and continued. 'Then I have everything I need. If I can find a lead before Rachel or Ella great, if not I'll go wherever they direct me." Chiron sighed.
"Be careful Dianne. I know I asked this of you, but this creature is dangerous. Don't do anything rash." Anna nodded. She set off towards Cabin 6 as Chiron headed to the archery range for the mid morning lesson. She quietly opened the door. None of her siblings were in at the time which was nice, she didn't want to get talked into sharing her research; or be tempted into asking for help. She opened the steamer trunk, and removed a large bowl. She set it on one of the tables hidden by the book stacks she had set up by her bed. Next she removed an urn engraved with hieroglyphs. She poured the oil into the bowl. The hieroglyphs engraved around the rim flared with power. She glanced around guilty. She was about to indulge in some seriously dangerous hybrid magic.
"Bast?" Anna called quietly. The surface of the oil rippled gently before the face of the goddess appeared.
"Kitten? What are you doing? This is dangerous magic you are playing with! If the Pharaoh ever hears of this he is going to be so angry." The goddess vanished for a moment, as though she had gone to pace.
"Bast, I'm calling because it's an emergency. I need to know; since the Brooklyn Nome defeated Apophis have you had many problems with demons?" She asked, glancing behind her. Cabin 6 was still clear.
"No more than usual kitten. Although we have heard reports of other creatures rampaging. Those from beyond the veil. New monsters, ones that mortals can see. I've done what I could to keep it from Carter and Sadie, although now that Carter is Pharoah I don't know how much longer I can do that."
"Ok. I'll make a visit to you soon. There is trouble with the veil and I can't seem to track down the source." Bast growled quietly.
"That bastard is still free?" She asked, her eyes gleaming with a predatory anger. Anna nodded.
"Can't you tell me it's name? You know as well as I do that names have power." Bast shook her head.
"No Dianne, you know that. I've been bound with magic from Ma'at. To tell you could upset the natural order. I couldn't break my word even if I tried." Anna pursed her lips.
"Thank you anyways. I'll try to stop by soon. Send me a message if you find out anything about the weakening of the veil." The cat goddess nodded before Anna stirred the the oil, breaking the image. She carefully poured the oil back into the urn and replaced both items into her trunk. She let out a deep breath. She leaned against the wooden posts of her bunk.
When she had first come to camp she'd immediately pushed several of the stacks around it, both to create privacy but also as a defensive measure hidden by what appeared to be a desire to sleep surrounded by knowledge. Anna had always been good at hiding her true intentions. It was what made her such an ideal spy for Chiron during the Titian war. No one at camp even knew her real name; Isolde Ventura.
When Athena had guided her to camp after her father had died the goddess had given her a new name to hide behind. And then she had become Dianne Oriel, half-blood daughter of the wisdom goddess. None of her friends knew where her nickname Anna had really come from, assuming it was from Dianne rather than her middle name Anai. She was tired of hiding, but nevertheless she wrapped her lies and secrets around herself like a security blanket. Anna looked around her, soaking in the feeling of safety that her cabin brought her.
The arrangement of the shelves had not changed even as new campers came and older ones left or died. She was one of the oldest campers left at camp. Most of her peers had died in the intervening years, in hopeless quests before Percy had arrived, and in the wars against the titans and the giants and the romans. So many had died. Now her private alcove was home. The one place where she might let her secrets slip, where she was safe enough that she could even consider it. Camp Halfblood was her home now. Even more so than the house her father had left her. More so than any of the safe houses she had hidden around the country, and the few she had around the world. Being the emissary between godly factions lead to lots of travelling. Nico knew of most of them, considering they shared the responsibility of diplomacy.
She opened up the trunk and pulled out a small black book. On the cover a dark red pentacle was stamped on the cover. The words daemonum liber- book of demons- was written in an elaborate script. Brightly colored sticky notes stuck out from the pages. Anna had already poured over the book dozens of times, but she was prepared to look over it again and again until it showed her something useful. The book contained the known history of demonkind, how they were created, how to identify one, their various abilities, the different types of demons; both from across the veil, and from other pockets of reality that were associated with different gods and their pantheons. But most importantly it explained how to hunt, trap and kill those demons.
The biggest problem with her book was that it contained very little information on the demons that were escaping across the veil. The book was just too old. The veil and it's monsters were from recent history; at least compared to the gods. Anna had filled into the margins everything that anyone anywhere had ever learned about them. And the only particularly useful information she could find was how to supposedly cure a veil demon. Most of the time, killing a veil demon resulted in the death of its' host. Veil demons were sentient parasites. Celestial bronze could kill the demon, leaving the mortal unharmed, but often the demons had already damaged their hosts beyond repair.
Hours later she groaned, closing the book and putting away her own notes on the various demons she'd seen and killed. The cabin door opened and closed, admitting a group of Anna's younger siblings. She locked her trunk securely just as a heavy weight threw itself across her neck.
"Anna! You're back!" Bea squealed. Anna laughed and hugged the blonde munchkin. Bea was the newest and youngest addition to Cabin 6, bringing their number up to an Olympian twelve. Bea was thirteen and newly claimed when Anna had last been at camp for a visit. At the time most of the cabin had been gone for one reason or another and Anna had taken it upon herself to take care of her since Malcolm had been busy studying for his SATs at the time.
"Hey kiddo." Anna smiled and ruffled her hair. Malcolm leaned out the door he had just come through to shout across the to all the campers heading back to their cabins to change for dinner.
"Blu's back!" He yelled. Anna scowled playfully at her brother. Even though she was older than everyone in the cabin, both Malcolm and Annabeth had been campers longer, with more summers, so they had seniority rights. However being the oldest camper left, she was often treated like a head counselor. A bunch of campers yelled back greetings. Anna laughed again.
"I'm not staying very long Malcolm." She warned. Her brother shrugged.
"Either way, it's good to see you Di." Anna smiled as she waited for them both to change for dinner. Heading to the dining pavilion, she let herself be absorbed into the happy warmth of her family.