Percy watched as his new found sister disappeared between the trees. It took him a good thirty seconds to realize something important. "She's unarmed," he said, starting to run after her.
"Wait, Percy," Annabeth said, grabbing his arm.
"Someone needs to go after her, Annabeth," he said, a hint of desperation in his voice. Whatever just happened, she was still his sister and did care for the girl.
"Someone will look for her, but not you." When Percy looked at her, uncomprehendingly, she said, "You going after her may only cause a hurricane."
"She's right, son," Poseidon said. He expression was forlorn as he stared at Percy. "My demigod children tend to reflect the nature of the sea they are born and raised closest to. While you may hold the relatively calm nature of the Atlantic in and around New York harbor, Meara tends to be a bit more," Poseidon paused, searching for the right words. "Stormy."
"She reflects the Irish Sea," Annabeth said, something clicking in her mind. "Because of the coast, the storms off the coast of Ireland can be some of the worse." She looked at Poseidon, "You realize that she can be even more unpredictable than Percy."
"I'm not sure if that is a compliment or an insult," Percy said.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, but it was Chiron Who spoke, "It means her temper could cause catastrophic storms that could make Hurricanes look like a light rain." He looked at the sea god. "You haven't forgotten what happened the last time you had a Celtic child."
Poseidon nervously smoothed the front of his shirt. "In Sean's defense, Port Royal was built on sand. And every time a hole appeared, they filled it with more sand. So of course an earthquake destroyed three forts and half the city."
Everyone looked at Percy. "What?" He said. "I only caused one of earthquake, and that wasn't on purpose."
"That is what Sean said," Chiron muttered. Everyone stared at him. He shuffled his hooves. "Sorry. I was thinking out loud."
Remembering he had an unarmed half sister in the forest, he said, "Someone still needs to go after Meara."
"Someone did, Percy," Clarisse said. "Nico followed her when he thought no one was looking."
Nico was amazed as he followed Meara as she dashed through the trees. Not only was the girl running through the corset with bar feet, but she was doing so in a floor length skirt with several layers of petticoats. Nico has enough trouble running with his own weight, much less several pounds of wet cotton clothing.
He kept his distance, not wanting her to know she was being followed. He knew Meara wouldn't appreciate it, but he also knew that the woods were full of some very dangerous monsters and she was unarmed. Seeing as the girl had just arrived, she was unaware of that fact.
As he watched, Meara leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. It took him a couple minutes to realize that she was sobbing. He could understand. Finding out that not only was your absentee parent a god, but said god could have prevented the death of a much beloved mother.
Nico waited a moment or two before stepping toward Meara. "You know, the forest Isn't the best place to hide."
Meara jumped to her bare feet and spun to face him. "I didn'ea think anyone followed me," she said. The Scottish lilt was fading but still there.
He smiled. "I have a certain talent that can make it quiet easy to sneak up on people."Meara only raised her eyebrow at him. "Son of Hades. Allows one to control the dead, travel through the underworld, and travel through shadows."
Meara's other eyebrow joined the first. "Impressive. But if ya don't mind me asking, why did you follow me?"
"Chiron and the camp director tend to stock the forest with dangerous monster."
Meara face took on a confused look. "Why the bloody hell would they do that?"
Nico shrugged, his hands in his pockets. "Practice, this camp was created to train generations of heroes in a relatively safe place. Not a smart idea to be here without a weapon."
She gave a small smile, like she found something amusing. "What about you? You're not armed."
Nick smirked. "I've been told I smell of the underworld. Monsters tend to avoid me."
Meara made an ahh face before leaning against the tree again. "When Annabeth told me there were dangerous creatures in the woods, I thought she met bears and wolves and the like."
Nico was about to say something, but they heard a twig snap off to the side. "I think we should continue this conversation back at camp." Knowing Meara wouldn't follow him he tried to grab her wrist. But she twisted out of the tree way.
"I'm not goin' back there," she practically shouted, her accent getting thick again. "Not if that loony of a sea god is still there."
Nico's temper flared. "Will you keep your voice down?" He hissed. "You're gonna get us killed."
Meara opened her mouth to give was would have been a scathing retort, but before she could a growl came from the trees in front of them.
Meara's eye widened as the creature stepped out from behind the trees. "That's not," she tried to asked but her voice got stuck in her throat.
"Yeah," Nico said letting his Stygian iron sword. "That is a chimera."
Meara swore. The thing was huge with a lion head, a goat in the middle, and a serpent for a tail. "It has three heads," came her shocked reply. For indeed it did one each of lion, goat, and serpent.
"I noticed," Nico growled as a flawed paw came swiping towards them.