Chapter Twenty One: Kian
After another week of questing fhe frpup was starting to get tired. Every night Camilla and Annabeth woukd get in some sort of fight. Two loaded bombs ready to go off at any time. Right now we were sitting around a campfire eating hotdogs and sticky marshmallows. I was waiting for the explosion.
Percy gave me a look. Be prepared. I nodded. Last night the girls had started swordfighting. The closer we got to the Temple of Night the more quiet and tired Camilla became. WHen questioned she brushed it off with an, I'm fine. Just worried.
"So..." Annabeth shattered the silence. "Camilla. Would you like to explain anything we should be prepared for when we go to the Temple of Night?" Camilla looked up from the flames of the campfire.
"Well... I don't know what to tell you. Um... Be on guard." She shrugged. "I've never acctually been there. This'll be a new experiencs for all of us." Annabeth spewed water from her water bottle. It landed all over me. I grimaced.
"Gross." I grabbed some napkins and started wiping Annabeth-water from my arms. Camilla handed me her napkin. "Thank you." Why was there so much? Who could swallow so much water?
"You've never been there?" Annabeths voice rose. I sent Percy a look. Be prepared for the fight. He sighed and stood.
"I'm going to bed for the night. See you guys tomorrow."
Camilla stood too. "I'm going to check in too. Goodnight Annabeth. Goodnight Kian. Goodnight Percy. I heard her yawn. THen she slipped into our tent. We could only grab two from the camping store before getting caught. So I slept in the same tent as Camilla. Percy and Annabeth ahared the other. There was a big tarp that you could zip through the middle though to make the tent have two rooms.
Annabeth sighed. I placed another hot dog on a roaster and plaved it in the fire.
She stood and walked to our tent. She unzipped the door and walked in. Percy stuck his head out of his tent. "Are they in the same tent?" I nodded.
"Don't worry. If they haven't started arguing yet we're safe for a while." Percy nodddd and stuck his head back inside the tent. Curious to what the girls were talkong about I grabbed a bun and put my hot dog inside. I then crept to the side of tbe tent and sat down. I could just barely make out their words.
"You've never been there? Then how do you know where we're going?"
"It's like an instinct. Here. It's like how you found the Athena Parthanos. Instinct. That feeling in your gut that tells you where something important is." Annabeth sighed.
"But I had owls leading the way. I had help! We can't just go off instinct alone Callie. If something bad is really happening to the gods then we need to act fast."
Callies tone became dark and serious. "Oh something bad is happening with the gods. But, we can worry about that later." I heard Annabeth start to speak but she was cut off by Cami. "If you need a sign to tell you that I know where I'm going then follow me outside." I heard the zipper being unzipped and just barely had time to jump behind the tent. I watched in curiosity as the two girls walked out of the tent. Camilla walked close to the campfire and it went out. As if someone had just poured a bucket of water on it. Camilla placed her hand in front of her and spoke.
"Show me the way." The words echoed as if we were in a cave. I looked around in wonder. Suddenly a black cloaked.figure appeared at the top of the nearest hill. He looked like a silloette. The moon showed none of his facial features. He seemed to beckon to us. Come, quickly! Camilla swiped her hand and he faded away.
"Only I can see him. This shadow is leading us somewhere. And according to the shadow man. We're close." Annabeth nodded.
"Alright. Fine. I trust you Cami." She turned on her heel and marched toward her tent. I ducked behind the back of ours. Cami walked back to her door and slipoed in silently. Were we really close? Was the temple of night around here somewhere? I shivered and the night began to get colder. I snuck around the tent and into my side. I coukd hear soft snoring on the other side. I smied and slipped into my sleeping bag.
In the morning I got up with the sun. I've always been a mornig person. I streached and unzipped my door. I was surprised to find Cami already up. Her hair was in a messy braid. I found it quite pretty. She was gazing at the sunrise.
"Good morning!" She jumped. When she saw me she placed a hand on her heart.
"Kian! You scared me!" I laughed.
"What were you looking at?" She shrugged.
"The sunrise. I've never really appreciated how beautiful it is." I nodded and stood next to her.
Soon Annabeth and Percy cma out of their tent. We skipped breakfast and went to work cleaning up our supplies. Within the hour we had our stuff packed up and were ready to go. Camilla led as usual. We had walked about an hour. The sun was already butning my face and arms. I squinted and tried to keep up. Suddenly as we crossed over a ridge Camilla stopped. I breathed heavily and looked back at the steep ridge we had just climbed. Camilla pointed in the valley below us.
"There it is." I looked out expecting to see some large mansion all in black. Instead I found a tiny run down shack. It looked abandoned and was halfway sunken into the ground. I stared at it. What the crap was going on?