Leo POV

"Camp Jupiter is on fire!"

A sick feeling blossomed in my stomach. Sure enough, all of the seven turned to me, a shocked and horrified look on their faces.

I laughed nervously. "Come on, Collin. You know that can't possibly be -"

"See for yourself!"

Percy was the first one out of his chair. He tore towards the door, Annabeth hot on his heels. Jason, Piper, and Frank followed and Hazel scooped up Emily Marie and held her close. Collin was glaring at me. Helena, Jessica, Ethan, and Sammy sat there for a second, then got up to follow their parents.

I took one last look at Collin Zhang, then ran towards the door as well.

Everybody was standing on the porch, which made it a pretty squished porch.

"Holy Hephaestus," I murmured. Being a fire user and all, you'd expect me to love fire. If you said that, I would most likely laugh in your face.

Fire has tormented me since age eight. It killed my mom. It made me an outcast. And now, it was going to get me in trouble again.

Everyone most likely assumed I set Camp Jupiter on fire. Here's the truth: I didn't. Why would I set a whole camp on fire? Just because I'm Greek doesn't mean I want to see the Romans go down in flames. Besides, people should really stop assuming that everything fire-related had to do with me.

There were screaming Romans running everywhere. A tall woman with a dark braid dashed by us, screaming, "Don't just stand there, Jackson! Aren't you the water boy? Do something!"

"Reyna?!" asked Percy in disbelief.

"She's right," said Annabeth. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! Helena, Ethan, stay right where you are. Don't leave the house!"

Annabeth took her husband's hand and the two of them sprinted towards camp. Jason and Piper decided to go and try to bring some of the campers to safety. After all, New Rome was still untouched by the blazing fire.

As I watched the flames dance over thing the Romans held dear, horrible memories came rushing back. I clearly remembered the end of the Giant War, when I had made one wrong move and everything was on fire. The red-hot flames had consumed everything.

To storm or fire the world must fall.

And fall it had.

Now it was happening again: the fire was taking over, and I would be to blame.

I felt conflicted. Should I go down and try to help? That would be the noble thing, but if I did that, I would have to deal with people accusing me.

Screw accusations. They needed all the help they could get.

I glanced at Hazel and Frank, who looked terrified. Frank's stick, I thought. There was no way they were going near that fire.

"Really, Valdez?" said Frank, sounding steamed. "Don't you think setting camp on fire is crossing the line a bit?"

There were a bunch of replies I could have given Frank (and most of them weren't very nice), but I settled with, "I didn't do it."

Then I raced towards the camp.

Things looked worse up close. Everything was burning - the barracks, the armory, even the fort from today's war games. Campers were screaming everywhere, running like chickens with their heads cut off.

I caught up to Annabeth. She was watching Percy, who was controlling the Little Tiber and pretty much drowning everything he could. Some of the flames went out, but more fire just kept appearing.

"What's going on?" I yelled to her. It was so loud, I could hardly hear my voice.

She jumped when she realized I was right next to her, then pointed up the hill and screamed, "Cabeirian horses! They're fire-breathing automatons of your father!"

I looked to where she was pointing. Sure enough, standing over all of Camp Jupiter, were two huge bronze horses. They had wicked-sharp teeth and were blowing flames all over everything in sight. They stomped their brass feet and roared loudly. Are horses supposed to roar? I thought.

For some odd reason, no one would go near the things. If you killed the horses, you killed the source of the fire, right?

"Why isn't anyone stopping them?" I bellowed.

"What do you think, idiot?" she screamed back. "We'll get burned to death!"

"I wouldn't!"

"Then go! Finish them off yourself!"

She was right. I was the only one who could stop those monsters. Besides, if I did it, everyone wouldn't think the fire was my fault anymore. I bolted for the horses.

Sammy POV

"Mom, what do we do?" I asked.

She took a shaky breath and said, "I don't know."

"We should go help," said Dad.

"What? But Frank, your - "

Dad cut off Mom with a wave of his hand. Looking me in the eye, he handed me a small package wrapped in cloth. "Keep this safe. Don't let it near the fire, and protect it like it's your life. Keep it on you at all times, and never set it down or give it to someone else." Lowering his voice so only I could hear, he added, "Not even one of your siblings."

I nodded and took the package. The silk cloth felt smooth underneath my fingers.

Mom set down Emily Marie. My little sister looked terrified. Helena went to hold her hand, but the little girl nudged away from the stranger. Collin grabbed her instead.

"Don't lose track of her," said Mom. "And please, all of you stay here. I don't want you getting hurt."

The six of us watched Mom run off with Dad. For a moment we were silent, and then Ethan said, "So, where do we start?"

I turned to look in shock at the Jacksons' son. He was crazy, right? Mom just told us to stay put!

"You're insane," said Jessica. I agreed.

Collin put down Emily Marie. "He's right. As much as I hate to be on the same page as Mr. I'm-so-cool-because-I-won-war-games, they need our help."

"You're both insane," said Helena. I agreed.

"Look, I'm staying here," I said. "Dad told me to stay away from the fire, and Mom and Annabeth both said not to go anywhere."

Ethan and Collin looked at each other. Green eyes met gold, and a look of understanding passed between them. With that, they both stepped off the porch and started jogging to camp. They didn't look back. Emily started crying, and Jess said, "Shh. It'll be okay."

I only wished I could believe her.

Leo POV

Fire engulfed me as the metal horses doused me in their fiery breath. Why did my dad have to make such horrible monsters?

I was wielding a giant hammer, ready to bash those Cab-what's-it's-name horses in the head. I was five feet away, four, three . . .

Then something pierced my side and everything went black.

A/N: Hello! Looks like I'm back to updating a lot.

To Mila-is-a-bookworm-101, kat callan, and girlwiththedarkhair: I can't believe you guys thought it was Leo! I didn't even think about that when I was writing it...

To Natsucrush106: I agree with you on the stealing Hazel from Leo thing, though it doesn't make me hate Frank, really. I actually started writing this before I read your review, but here's a Leo POV!

And to AugustSummer: Thank you a billion times!

Here's another question for you experienced FF users: If we write a songfic, are we allowed to put lyrics in the story? Cause I've been writing this awesome Percabeth one, but it won't work without the lyrics.