So our flight home wasn't exactly smooth considering the storm spirits came back. I had yelled at Annabeth to keep flying and get the newbies back to camp safely whilst I fought them off, totally blind but then again, that's how I fought best. Besides. I didn't need to see when I had the best flier in the world carrying me on her back. Snowstorm had long since lost any fear of monsters no matter what shape or form they came in. After helping me battle Typhon, what else should she be afraid of? She challenged the storm spirits with trumpeting calls and even tried to kick and lash at them, though I sensed their shapes shift and whirl like parting clouds each time she tried to land a hit. Amaryllis thrummed in my hand as I whirled the trident around whereby the ice seemed to have a positive effect on their shapes. Positive for me anyway, they turned from storm clouds to snow clouds, and from there I could more easily vaporise them. Still, they managed to attack the chariot despite my best efforts in keeping them away from it so at some point the left wheel caught fire from the strike of a lightning bolt. I vaporised another of the spirits then whirled Amaryllis around repeatedly so that she made the droning humming sound which caused monsters to shriek and retreat because of the distortion. They really hated the sound. "Lily!"
"Keep flying!" I shouted back over my shoulder, keeping the storm spirits at bay. I could sense only a few of them left, but they sounded seriously pissed. I held them back to give Annabeth and Butch the chance to get the chariot further away from them before I returned to the battle, Snowstorm pulling out some really fancy stunts as the two of us worked together like a perfect team. One or two lightning bolts did nearly hit us, but because I could taste and sense the tension in the air as well as the static just moments before the lightning came, I was able to shout to Snowstorm in her head where to bank and veer away from the strike so that we wouldn't be hit. The last thing I needed was her dropping out of the sky. Gradually the storm spirits seemed to realise that this was a battle that they weren't going to win, hissing all around me as they swore they would be back, and then I would be sorry. "Come say that again and we'll see who's sorry." I challenged them but they all vanished, breezing away like a cloud on a swift wind until I couldn't sense them anymore. "Snow?"
'I cannot see them any longer, Lady Lily.' She confirmed so I sighed heavily. 'I am sorry we did not find your brother. We shall keep searching. If you require, then every pegasi in the world shall take to the skies to find him for you. It would be our honour. I know that Blackjack is already leading a team to search for him.' To this I couldn't help but smile, because since the war against Kronos, Snow had softened a great deal towards Blackjack who had fought rather heroically, and she no longer insulted him every chance she got. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that she rather liked him.
"Thanks Snow. If it comes to that, then I'll let you know. Come on, we better go catch up to the others. They'll probably fall out of the sky by the time they get back to the camp if the damage to the chariot was as bad as you said." Humming in agreement, Snowstorm turned and with a flurry of her wings beating at the air, carried me all the way back to the camp where we landed at the bank of the lake where the chariot must have plunged in, because Snow informed me that everyone was being tossed out by the naiads. Hearing the shrieking of the other pegasi, I jumped down from Snow and waded into the water, thanking the naiads for helping out and they all squealed and swam around me in excitement as I then reached Butch, who was trying to cut the pegasi free from the sounds of his efforts but they were so freaked out that they wouldn't stay still. "Calm down you two, it's alright now. You're safe, I'm here." I said to them soothingly and the moment my hands found their noses, they immediately went stone still which allowed Butch to finally cut them free from the harnesses. "How's the chariot?"
"Totally wrecked." Butch responded, making me wince.
"Will is so not going to like this. Oh well. Come on you two, Butch will take you back to the stables and I'll come and check on you in a bit, okay? After all that, you guys definitely earned yourselves some apples and a few sugar cubes. Here, I have some for you now." Digging into my pockets which was usually full of sugar cubes, I fed one each to the pegasi who thanked me chirpily for their rewards, nuzzling against me until I smiled and helped lead them out of the water. They followed after Butch without complaint, chattering away to one another how insane that flight had been and arguing who had been the better flier, making Snowstorm snort as she trotted over to me.
'Yearlings. So immature.' She made me laugh, so I rubbed her face and assured her that she was still the best before then turning to where I could sense Annabeth and the others gathering, with a rather large crowd starting to arrive. One voice in particular sounded particularly peeved as I moved in closer to make sure that everybody was alright.
"Annabeth! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!" Will Solace proclaimed in horror at the wreck that had once been the Apollo cabin' flying chariot. Well, it kind of belonged to both Ares and Apollo. After the war, they had decided on joint custody of it.
"Will, I'm sorry. I'll get it fixed, I promise." Annabeth offered as I then managed to find them, clapping my hand on Will's shoulder and also assured him that if it couldn't be fixed here, I'd send it down to the Cyclopes' forges and ask Tyson to have a go on it. This seemed to placate Will, because if anybody could fix a flying chariot, it would be my little brother Tyson. Now satisfied that the chariot would be restored, he must have then turned his attention to the three newcomers.
"These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?" The one called Leo queried what 'claimed' meant, but Will ignored him. "Any sign of Percy?" I grimaced then and Annabeth answered no, a general atmosphere of disappointment overcoming the spectators.
"Well," one of the crowd sniffed rather airily, and I knew them immediately to be Drew, leader of Aphrodite cabin after Silena had gone to college with Beckendorf. "I hope they're worth the trouble." Drew was annoying. Whenever I was using my sight, I always saw her lounging around not really doing anything useful, always getting other people to do her chores, with a bunch of guys vying for her attention which seemed to be exactly the kind of thing she wanted, because she lapped it up like it was sugar and candy. Of course, being a daughter of Aphrodite she was undeniably stunning, but she ruined her looks with way too much makeup and gaudy jewellery, like she was trying to make a statement of the expectations of real beauty, when I just found her ugly. I'd once told her so to her face when she tried to insult me in front of everyone, and that had not gone down well. I made her run away from me crying, because I could be pretty blunt and ruthless when I wanted to be. Now, Drew had the better sense not to pick at my looks or clothing choices. I was stuck with the Fleece, so it's not like I could do anything about it. At least her mom had changed it to something a little more normal than just a giant woolly blanket.
"Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?" I heard Leo retort to Drew's snarky comment, making me snort with a smug look tossed her way which I knew made her flinch, because my scars and eyes really freaked her out more than anything.
"No kidding. How about some answers before you start judging us – like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"
"Wow, you really don't mess around do you?" I spoke up as I moved forwards, revealing myself however when I did so, the kid Leo suddenly yelled.
"What the hell happened to your face? And your eyes?" Now I heard Drew snigger at me, so I just scowled.
"For your information, this is how I naturally look. Plus, I just fought off a bunch of storm spirits for you lot so if I look a little electrified, then I do beg your pardon for looking so dishevelled. You might want to try some gratitude." I said to him warningly before folding my arms. "We'll answer all your questions, but you three really need to relax. We're your friends here, we've all gone through the exact same thing you have, so you don't need to be on edge. This place is the only place where you are completely safe from anything like those storm spirits because they can't reach you here, and trust me. There are things far worse than what you encountered today just waiting for you." Giving them a fair explanation, Annabeth agreed as she came to stand beside me, anchoring us shoulder to shoulder. Ever since the war, it was pretty much me, Annabeth and Percy that took charge of the camp. People looked up to us, and with Percy missing everybody was on edge.
"Lily's right, Jason. I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew, all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."
"Hey, we didn't ask to be brought here." Piper protested rather defensively, making me sigh and roll my eyes. Still on edge, I guess.
"And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"
"Shut up Drew." I interrupted before she could start another tirade of insults based on someone else's looks. "At least Piper knows not to cover her face like frosting on a birthday cake. Seriously, I can smell all that gross stuff on you from here. Go wash it off or something, you're not doing yourself any favours." Snapping back at her, Drew bristled at me.
"And how would you know what I look like right now? You're not even using your eyesight, I have no idea why you still insist on walking around blind. Probably for sympathy." I was so close to hitting her, I even balled a fist and moved in order to face her but Annabeth wisely grabbed my arm and told me not to start a fight, though she did also mention that Drew would get absolutely pummelled by me and would probably never be able to fix her face if I punched it. Now this didn't sound so bad, so I grinned and let the thoughts of Drew walking around with a broken nose comfort my soul.
"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome." Annabeth announced, taking charge because as always, she was the only level headed person around. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."
"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" No sooner had Piper demanded an explanation, I heard a collective gasp from the surrounding campers which I knew all too well to mean that someone had been claimed right there and then. I sensed Butch come back at that point, drawn in by the spectators whereby Annabeth announced that this was claiming, and when Leo started to question what he'd done which was then followed up with a yelp that his hair was on fire, I arched an eyebrow as I thought about which god or goddess had something to do with fire.
"Ares?"
"No, Hephaestus." Annabeth corrected me. Well, this ought to be good. Butch muttered that this couldn't be good and started to mention the curse but Annabeth hastened to tell him to shut up. "Leo, you've just been claimed…"
"By a god." Jason suddenly spoke up, much to everyone's surprise. "That's they symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?" By now, everyone was stunned. When Annabeth asked him how Jason knew that, Jason didn't have a clue. Guess he was still holding onto that amnesiac thing, but I couldn't quite be sure whether he was telling the truth or not.
"Vulcan? I don't even like Star Trek. What are you talking about?" Leo still sounded very concerned that his hair was about to be set on fire by the symbol over his head.
"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire." But still Leo didn't really seem to get it, so with a tired sigh Annabeth asked Will if he would take Leo to see Cabin Nine where all the Hephaestus kids lived and to give him a tour. Will readily agreed to take Leo away, calling him Mr Spock rather jokingly before leaving with him so that the rest of us remained with Piper and Jason. "Hold out your arm." Knowing that Jason had a tattoo on his arm, I wondered if this was what she was asking for. "I've never seen marks like this. Where did you get them?"
"I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."
"They look burned into your skin."
"They were." He responded a little too quickly, making me frown as I folded my arms once more. "I mean…I think so. I don't remember."
"Yeah, there seems to be a lot that you don't remember." I muttered under my breath before rubbing at my temple. I never got headaches anymore, but now it was more like a habit to rub my head whenever something was bothering me. "I'll take him to Chiron, Annabeth. Maybe he'll know something. I'll leave the rest to you, alright?" She gave my hand a squeeze which was her way of nodding to me when I couldn't see, though Drew protested and tried to insist that she should take Jason up to the Big House so I just scowled at her. "Oh go suck on a lemon, Drew. Come on Jason, you're with me." I waved my hand as I turned to signal that Jason should follow, Snowstorm giving a snort and a toss of her mane as she fell into step beside me. Jason hesitated only for a moment, but then I heard his footsteps follow behind us, taking large strides until he was at my side. "I know this is a lot to take in and we probably haven't made the best first impression, but don't sweat it too much. Things are a little tense around here with my brother missing, usually when that happens it means something really bad, or they've been…"
"Killed by monsters?" I shot Jason a look which told him that there had been a reason I didn't want to finish my own sentence. "Sorry, I'm sure he's fine. If he's anything like you, then he's probably doing okay wherever he is." Sighing heavily, I didn't talk about Percy any further. "So…what is this place?"
"It's called Camp Half-Blood. If the name doesn't already tell you, it's a camp for the demigod children of the Greek gods. We're protected by a magical barrier so no monsters can get in, and this is where we train and learn how to protect ourselves in the outside world. Some of us even go on quests like the old heroes, and those of us that come back successfully are seen as seniors and experts around here. I myself handle pegasus riding and some of the fighting lessons in the arena, when I'm around. Usually that's only in the summer. Anyway, there's a whole bunch of things you can learn here. Archery, arts and crafts, monster fighting, that sort of thing. We've built some pretty epic obstacle courses too if you wanted to have a go." Jason responded that he'd think about it, making me throw my thoughts towards him in order to consider his presence. He seemed…strong. In fact, when I deliberated on Jason, I couldn't help but think about both Percy and Luke. He had a great deal of strength about him, his stride was confident yet calm and steady. His voice never quavered, he didn't sound afraid, but defensive and sometimes a little confused. That much was understandable, but there was something more about him that I couldn't quite put my finger on. He was an enigma, but what was still funny was the fact that he was still wandering around with only one shoe. I almost laughed at the thought. Taking Jason to the Big House, I sensed him grow increasingly tense the closer we came to it.
"I'm not supposed to be here."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just a feeling. I can't explain it." I paused for a moment, my hand going naturally towards Snowstorm to rest upon her shoulder as she murmured in my mind that Jason was suspicious and we should be watching him closely. I sensed his eyes flicker towards me and felt a spark, something like static prickle at the back of my neck so that I almost shuddered. I resisted, however, and gave a gentle and understanding smile to him because I could understand him feeling out of place. If anyone could know that feeling, then I could.
"It's okay if you feel that way. Even if you feel like you don't belong right now, you'll find your place eventually. It just takes a little time. Once you've been claimed, you'll know who your godly parent is and then maybe we can work on that memory problem of yours. I know some great healers in the Apollo cabin, maybe they can help you if it's an injury that's done it or something. If not then Chiron might be able to give you some answers. He's been around a long time, he's trained hundreds of thousands of heroes for millennia. I'm pretty sure there's nothing he hasn't come across before." I tried to reassure Jason but he still didn't seem to settle, so I dared to reach out to him and place my hand on his shoulder, though I missed initially and brushed against his chest. "Sorry, didn't mean that. Anyway, word of warning before you meet Chiron. He's a centaur, so don't be surprised when you see the upper body of a man attached to the rear end of a horse. He's a great guy though, hands down my favourite teacher ever. Come on. The sooner we find him, the sooner you might get your answers." Leading the way once again, I listened to the light chiming on the air of the wind chimes that hung about the outside of the Big House. I always loved that sound and I naturally smiled at it. I then heard the sound of Chiron's hooves, and I was glad I'd forewarned Jason because even after I called out for Chiron and he rounded the corner, Jason still jumped next to me in his shock. "Hey Chiron! Over here!" Giving a wave, I started forwards eagerly as I began to introduce Jason, however when I heard Chiron's voice and the genuine astonishment and even hint of fear in his tone, my voice fell flat.
"You…you should be dead." Okay, not the best first impression he could have gone with.