Two things Katie learned over that year.
First, protection is a sneaky thing. You can be protected from the worst possible things and never know it. Then, when that barrier is gone and all hell breaks loose, you desperately want that wall that you never took notice to back. It was your lifeline and you never realized it. Now that you are fighting to live through the night, you feel privileged that you had it there for so long. Protection can mean anything or anyone.
Second, preparation is a tricky thing. You can train to fight and be good in a class but nothing is the same in the real world. Nothing can truly prepare a person for near death situations. And you can only prepare for what you know could happen. What you know to be the truth. If you don't know what exactly you are fighting against you are never 100% prepared for the future.
The fall and winter were relatively calm at Camp Half-Blood for a storm of impending doom heading their way. Schooling went on as normal. The older campers knew all or most of what had occurred at the end of the summer with Percy and Luke. Others knew enough about the trouble to know the future was grim. The youngest campers, most of who were in transit from camp orphanages where they would stay until they were pre-teens then come back to camp, had no idea. And the plan was to keep them in the dark. It was no use to drag small children into the godly mess.
Winter passed in a slow, snowy haze. No one dared to suggest a trip to Olympus for the Solstice. Riley was in Paris meeting up with his father for the holidays so Katie spent Christmas alone in her cabin. the next morning she woke up covered in Christmas tinsel courtesy of the Stoll's. She returned their gift with a good slap in the face for each and a stern yell. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day both passed, even Katie's Birthday passed before their camp was shook up once more.
May. That's when changes in the camp became noticable. It happened in the middle of the night. But no alarm sounded. Only two were aware of the breaching. Argus, the head of security at Camp Half-Blood had been on guard, as he is most nights. He saw someone or something approaching the boundary on the far side.
"Katie!"
Katie was lying dead as a rock in her bed. Not that she wasn't a morning person; she could deal with mornings just fine. But when someone woke her up, that was a different story. Everyone in the Demeter Cabin knew this.
"Kate! Get up," Riley urged.
Grouchy, the girl peeked open one eye just enough to read the clock next to her bed.
"What Riley? I still have a half an hour till the alarm," she asked annoyed by her brother.
"Chiron summoned us. Now get up already!"
At this news, Katie jumped out of bed. Chiron summoning someone to the Cabin was a big deal. The fact that it was both Katie and Riley made it a bigger deal. And it was a meeting before breakfast. That pushed it over the edge. Suddenly feeling rushed, Katie ran around to her trunk to get out her clothes for the day. She ran off to the bathroom to get ready. Once dressed in jeans and her Penn state sweatshirt ( a gift from Olivia), she meet Riley in the main room . Together they walked to the Big House. Neither of them knew what they were going to be met with.
Riley led her into the rec room. He told her this is where they held the counselor meetings. The room was a simple square. An obnoixous, green ping-pong table took up most of the space in the center. Chairs were along either side and small arcade games lined the walls. This was the first time Katie had ever been in this room of the large house. It seemed silly that this was where an important meeting was going to be held. Not thirty seconds after the two sat down along the ping-pong table more feet shuffled into the room. Seven more campers entered. All of them had the same glowing skin and sunlit blond hair. Apollo campers. Among them she saw Michael Yew and Lee Fletcher flanking a tall boy. The tall boy had taken over after Adam left. Katie also recognized Will behind them. Three girls stood in the back of the group. The campers seemed just as lost as unaware of why they were here as Katie and Riley. All of them took a seat on the opposite side of the green ping-pong table. Then Chiron walked in followed by Argus.
"Good Morning," Chiron said. The look on his face was grim giving the demigods the impression that it was indeed not a good morning. "Glad to see you are all here. Now I am sure you are wondering why I stole you from slumber. I am sorry to report that we," he waved between himself and Argus, "as well as the other campers are in need of your services."
The demigods continued to stare at the centaur.
"Last night, the boundary line was breached by a monster." He waved his hand to calm down the kids who opened their mouths to gap. "No alarm sounded. No one was hurt. Argus was able to fight it off. But upon further notice we saw that Thalia's Tree was not okay. It is what has kept the monsters out for years. Her spirit. It looks like she has been poisoned." Uproar threatened to come out of the camper's mouths but was once again held off by Chiron's wrinkled hand. "That's why you have all been called here. I will tell the others of what has happened at breakfast but after that you two cabins are excused from the day's classes. Hopefully using your knowledge of medicine," he pointed to the Apollo Cabin, "and your knowledge of agriculture," Chiron gestured to Katie and Riley, "we can save her."
Chiron's eyes were pleading, obviously scared for Camp. The demigods nodded their head. They too would do whatever it took to protect the camp. Chiron on gave them more information on the tree itself, the curse put upon Thalia's crossing of the border, then dismissed them to breakfast.
Three weeks passed. Three incredibly long, hot weeks of arduous work. And nothing happened. Neither the Apollo Cabin nor the Demeter Cabin made any headway. They were stuck. Rooted in place by the tree and the girl she was. The breaches in security worsened. Every few days some new creature crossed the line. The monsters became nastier and nastier each time.
And they weren't the only ones who knew. The longer it took to find a cure, the more agitated demigods and the Gods became. The Gods didn't seem to care that the boundary was broken and that the demigods were in trouble, they wanted someone or something to blame the event on. And that someone was Chiron.
Mr. D put the blame on the Camp Activity Director to get the other gods off his back. He fired Argus, the head of security as well saying he should have known and protected the borders.
By Monday a new monster crossed the borders into Camp Half-Blood. His name was Tantalus.