Michael
_

Camp was pretty fun without Alex around. I hadn't known it any other way, but now that I do, I liked it a lot more.

It had been about three months since Perce and I showed back up at camp, meaning it was in the middle of December. During those three months, Percy introduced me to a bunch of different demigods who had died before I got to meet them. If I remember correctly, their names were Silena, Charles, Michael Yew, and Luke. Percy actually punched Luke in the face when he first saw him, but Luke said he deserved it afterward.

He seemed to remember what happened last time, too. We—and by we I mean Luke and I—hypothesized that since he was possessed by Kronos, that godly energy kept his mind clear. Or maybe it was just cause Kronos was the Titan of time. Who could say?

A tap on my arm drew me back to the present. I refocused on my hands on a steering wheel and the road in front of me.

"Hm?"

"We're almost there, y'know," Percy said from the passenger seat. "Have you been paying attention at all?"

"Nope," I answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I suddenly don't feel so safe," Thalia said from the backseat. She was someone else Percy introduced me to. She was nice enough, for a daughter of Zeus. We never really interacted before, so I didn't know what she was like, but she seemed chill. Punk, maybe, with her pixie cut black hair, but chill.

"I'm a great driver," I assured her. "We haven't crashed, have we?"

"That's a low bar to set."

"That it up there?" I asked, pointing at the towering building in the distance.

"Yup," Percy said. "Westover Hall. We should find some demigods there."

"You mean Nico?"

"And his sister."

"He had a sister?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "I swear to the gods, you can't remember when someone has a sister but you can remember what they had for dinner when you first met them."

"Chicken nuggets," I said happily. "He even let me have one."

Percy just sighed and shook his head.

Soon enough, we pulled up to Westover Hall. It was the dark, castle-like building with looming, terror-filling towers and outlook. A fun place to go to school.

The oak doors groaned open, and the three of us stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.

All I could say was, "Whoa."

The place was huge. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff. I mean, I knew Westover was a military school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. Literally.

Frost tickled my fingertips. A nervous tick I had when I felt I was somewhere dangerous. Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, her favorite magic item, and Percy's hand was in his pocket. I knew we were thinking the same thing. A fight was coming.

I started to say, "I wonder where—"

The doors slammed shut behind us.

"Oo-kay," Thalia mumbled. "Guess we'll stay awhile."

I could hear music echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like dance music.

We started down the hall and hadn't gone very far when I heard footsteps on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept us.

They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward to me. They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spines.

"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Um..." I realized I hadn't planned for this. I'd been so focused on Nico, I hadn't considered that someone might question three kids sneaking into the school at night. We hadn't talked at all in the car about how we would get inside. I said, "Ma'am, we're just—"

"Ha!" the man snapped, which made me jump. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"

He had an accent—French, maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques, He was tall, with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors—one brown, one blue—like an alley cat's.

I figured he was about to toss us into the snow, but then Thalia stepped forward and did something very weird.

She snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room. It washed over all of us, making the banners rustle on the walls.

"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We are Thalia, Michael, and Percy. We are supposed to be here, and had just been dropped off for the party."

The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes. I didn't know what Thalia was thinking. Now we'd probably get punished for lying and thrown into the snow. But the man seemed to be hesitating.

He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"

The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I... yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "Michael. Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"

She ushered us past them, and I glanced back at Thorn's narrowed eyes. I knew he wasn't fooled by the Mist trick, but it was worth the effort Thalia put in.

We made our way to the gymnasium, glancing over our shoulders every few seconds. When we reached the doors, we stopped and stared. Thalia took a breath before pushing the doors open. We walked in and realized how much of a difference a few years makes. Percy and I were taller than almost everyone there and even Thalia was more filled out than most of the girls.

"There they are." Percy nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.

"Espera, ¿esa es la hermana de Nico? ¿Su? ¿No puedes hablar en serio?" I exclaimed.

"What?" Percy turned to me. "What're you talking about?"

"¡La conozco!" I said. "La conocí hace mucho tiempo en Las Vegas. Ella es... Ella es..."

"Michael, english."

I took a deep breath and shook my head. I looked back up at the two and they seemed to be staring at us. And in her eyes...I saw recognition.

"C'mon," Thalia urged us, pushing the two of us towards them. "We need to hurry and get them out of here before Dr. Thorn gets here."

She pushed us all the way over to them. When we reached them, Thalia pushed herself in front of us and began to introduce us.

"Hi! I'm Thalia, and this is Percy and Michael. We're here to take you away from here. If you would please not fight us, it would be wonderful. We just want to protect you from monsters that want to eat you."

"We know what it's like to be demigods," Nico said, looking bored. He shuffled through his cards. "You don't need to remind us, Thals."

"Wait," Percy said, "you remember?"

Nico nodded. "I didn't at first, but Bianca did. Maybe it was 'cause she died, but I don't know. She reminded me of our past and what happened and it all came back to me. Either way, we're not the ones in need of rescuing tonight."

"You're not?" Thalia asked.

Nic shook his head. "There's another kid, almost as tall as you two. He's got orange eyes. Dr. Thorn's been real interested in him."

"Where is he?"

"He was over there." Nico pointed at a spot near the doors. "But it seems that he's gone now. Maybe Dr. Thorn got him already."

"Well, let's go save him then!" Thalia exclaimed. "We can't just leave someone in Dr. Thorn's clutches!"

"First sensible thing you've said so far," Percy agreed. He patted me on the arm, startling me. "C'mon, Michael. Let's go."

"Uh, right." I cast one last look at Bianca before following Percy and Thalia as they ran out of the gym.

We burst through the doors in time to hear scuffling up ahead, then a painful grunt. Then there was the sound of a door opening. We chased after him, our feet pounding on the floor. Once in the wilderness outside the school, we tracked them through the snow and cold.

When we found them, the kid was standing about twenty feet from the cliff, staring up at Dr. Thorn, who was in his manticore form.

Percy didn't waste any time charging into battle. With a sword he pulled from his pocket, a gift that Beckendorf helped him make, he ran at Dr. Thorn.

"Get the kid," Thalia hissed at me before charging after her cousin, her shield and spear out.

If you've never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened. She uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that's not the scary part. Her shield is modeled after one her dad Zeus uses—also called Aegis—a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa molded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible, most people will panic and run at the sight of it.

Even Dr. Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.

The manticore tried to grab Killian, but Percy put himself in between them, using his sword to deflect the monster's paw. In the process, he knocked the kid to the ground.

I ran forward and slid to a stop beside him. "Vamos," I breathed, hauling him to his feet. "Corremos."

I pulled him along as we ran from the battle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw flashes of silver moving through the woods.

Behind me, there was a loud screeching sound as Thorn clawed at Thalia's shield. Then I heard the sound of helicopter blades. Why was there a helicopter?

I turned and saw Percy deflect some spikes Thorn shot from his tail. I threw up a quick ice wall as some flew towards us. They pierced the wall, but stopped dead in the ice.

"What the heck is going on?" the kid exclaimed, paling at one of the spikes that was inches away from his chest.

"It'll be explained soon," I promised him. "Just hold on."

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but my eyes must've been playing tricks on me. No one, not even Apollo's kids at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Percy tried to swipe at him with his sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged Percy's attack and slammed his tail into his shield, knocking him aside. Wait, when did he get a shield?

Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Thalia yelled.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she was older looking and had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. This one was maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and Percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered.

The Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

Percy ran to the cliff to go after him, but our enemies weren't done with us. There was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.

Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.

"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."

She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust—no, not dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of birds—ravens, which scattered into the night.

The Hunters advanced on us. The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw Percy.

"Perseus Jackson," she said. "A while it has been, has it not?"