Chapter 2
MEG POV
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. As the Leontes dove for Clarisse, her partner screamed, throwing himself into its path and pushing Clarisse out of the way and through the barrier. Realising this, the daughter of Ares yelled, "CHRIS! YOU IDIOT!" and tried to launch herself back through. Meg though, was having none of it. Standing up to the much older girl, she tried to keep Clarisse from getting herself killed alongside her partner.
On the other side of the barrier, Chris was crawling up the hill with a nasty gash on his side, the Leonte stalking him like a cat toying with a mouse. The satyr, Rowan came running up the hill and seeing the issue, pulled two apples out of his backpack.
"Gods damn it Rowan, this isn't the time for Hackey Sack!" Clarisse (notably distressed) yelled at the nervous satyr. Meg though, being a daughter of Demeter and knowledgeable in woodland magic, caught onto the idea and started rummaging through her own pockets for the peach she always kept to summon her Karpoi servant. (A/N I know Meg just wills Peaches into existence in ToA, but she's been at camp for four years. I think she would have found a more reliable way to summon him.) "Clarisse, me and Rowan can send in Karpoi to distract the Leontes while you grab Chris, got it?" Clarisse, to her credit, stopped struggling as she considered the plan.
"Fine, but hurry up!" Meg and Rowan hastened to summon their respective Karpoi. The Leonte had now been joined by its mate, who was prowling behind in case Chris decided to make a run for it.
"Come on, you stupid grain spirits. Help me out for once!" Rowan seemed to be having trouble calling upon his Karpos. Meg however, had no such trouble and was soon greeted by the furious cry of "Peaches!"
"Hey Peaches, good to see you again, one of my friends is in trouble and we need your help. Can you distract the Leonte for us?" Peaches nodded, spread his leafy wings and started flapping in the face of the Leontes closest to Chris, which promptly growled and swatted its claws at the grain spirit. The said demigod, seeing an opportunity, redoubled his efforts to get up the hill, but did not go unnoticed by the second Leonte, who got ready to pounce; arching it's back and crouching lower to the ground, staring at its target. Meg recognising this, shouted at Rowan to get his attention. "Don't argue with the fruit, just send your thoughts to it, think about how much you need it!" Rowan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Meg hoped he was concentrating on the fruit and not going into shock. Fortunately it was the former as two apple Karpoi burst into existence centimetres away from the pounce-ready Leontes, surprising it and giving Chris the extra few seconds to get over. Their jobs done,
Peaches and the apple Karpoi disappeared into whatever otherworldly fruit dimension grain spirits go to. Clarisse broke away from Meg and ran over to Chris, hugging him fiercely and berating him soundly.
"You vlacas, why do you always have to get yourself hurt on my part?"
"Well I'm your knight in shining armour aren't I?" Chris shot back with an attempt at a smile but faltered into a grimace.
"Hey, that gash looks pretty nasty, I'll go get an Apollo camper." Turning around, Rowan started dashing down the hill towards Cabin #7 before any of them could stop him.
"No wait- ah never mind, this'll only take a few minutes." Chris dug around in his back and brought out a bottle of golden liquid.
"Chris, you're gonna need more than that to-" Meg faltered in her speech as he drank from the bottle, noticing that the cuts on his back started closing at an ungodly rate. "Where did you get that nectar? Is it enchanted or something?" Chris laughed and stuck out his hand. "Chris Rodruiguez, son of Hebe, at your service. Because of the powers I get from mom, I can heal faster than a normal demigod, or recover from drastic injuries I shouldn't. Ambrosia and Nectar enhance my powers even further. Give me some claws and I'm a budget Wolverine!" At this Clarisse laughed and punched him in the shoulder.
"That joke went old long ago, idiot."
"It's true though. I've got a half-brother here, Paolo?"
Meg nodded her head. "Couple of years ago, he had his arms removed by a chainsaw while running a death maze, but Will Solace reattached them with no problems."
"There you go then." Chris, now fully healed, stood up. "So how is the camp anyways? Me and Clarisse spent the last few years in Phoenix going to University."
"Professors are Vlamenos." Clarisse muttered, earning a snort from her companion.
"That may be true, but at least they're easier to deal with than monsters. Remember that Cenocephali that broke into the restaurant?"
"Hey, whose fault was it that we lost bathroom privileges there?" Clarisse shouldered Chris, who in turn put his arm around Clarisse and drew her closer in. Meg, knowing how this could go, decided to cut in.
"Well if you've finished reminiscing about the last few years, I'm sure there are some faces here who would be happy to see you. You guys are basically as big a camp legend as the Seven."
"Oh, is Prissy still here? Nice. I can't wait to pound his skull in." Clarisse took off at a jog down the hill towards the rest of camp followed by Chris. Meg found herself, for the second time that day, thinking This should be interesting, and ran after them.
(A/N Chris isn't a child of Hermes, in case you were wondering. He was in Cabin 11 because he was unclaimed. We never get told his godly parent in the books, so i took the liberty of making him a child of Hebe.)
