§Lyra§

Rider shuddered dangerously from the weight of two as we soared over the city. I patted his neck nervously as Annabeth pointed out important buildings. "And there's the Library of Congress. Oh, yeah, behind you, with all the glass? That's the botanic garden. I've never really been into plants, but the Demeter kids rave about it after their field trips there."

"So… you guys are all half-bloods?" I interrupted, partly because I was curious about their powers and stuff, but mostly just to stop her ranting.

"Yep. We have one mortal parent and one Greek-god parent. I'm daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom."

"Wait- so all the myths are real?"

"They're not myths, that's the point," Annabeth snapped. I took that to be the end of the conversation, then, hating the awkward silence, I just switched the subject.

"Rider's so cute, isn't he?"

Annabeth bristled at the word "cute". "Yeah, I guess." I chewed my lip and turned away from her to face the land ahead.

Several minutes later we reached the water. I shrieked and clung to Rider's neck. Then Annabeth tensed in excitement. I looked forward to see buildings in the distance. As we got closer, I couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Below us was cabin after cabin, all clashing in style, yet each was breathtaking. One was bright pink with white trim, while the next was bloodred, and after that was a simple wooden one. In the center of the camp was a fire pit where what seemed like thousands of children were gathered around. When they burst out into applause as the pegasi dipped lower, I guessed that they had been awaiting our arrival. Rider landed, trotting on the pine-needle-covered ground to soften the impact before halting. Annabeth slid off of him with ease, patting him affectionately and offering him an apple from her bag. My landing was rougher, and as my feet slammed against the tiled ground, pain shot up my ankles. Annabeth looked at me with disdain. Not wanting her to think of me as weak, I smiled and squared my shoulders.

Everybody started to ask Annabeth, Percy, Leo and Jason questions at once while Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and I stood awkwardly to one side. I shifted over to where Leo was talking to a muscular girl with a pretty but stern face and dark hair, trying to ignore the pang of jealousy I felt. Leo saw me, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Lyra, this is Nyssa, one of my half siblings, Nyssa, this is Lyra, my girlfriend." She raised her eyebrows as she shook my hand, and I felt the color in my cheeks rise. Sensing my discomfort, Leo tactfully said, "Hey, I just remembered. Lyra, there's something I wanted to show you." I gratefully followed him away from the firepit and the crowd.

§Jason§

I heard someone shouting my name, and turned to see Piper rushing towards me. I smiled, wrapping her in my arms. It had been months since I'd seen her. Since then, she'd grown taller so now she was almost the same height as me, and she'd gotten slightly better at cutting her hair, but other than that, she was just the same as she had been when I had left. Just then, a tall boy with brown hair turned on a huge stereo system, and music blared into the firepit. I offered Piper my hand which she accepted at once.

"Jason!" I searched for the source of the voice and noticed Chiron along with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Percy and Annabeth. Who knows where Leo and Lyra went… I smirked the more I thought about it, then pushed that thought away. He was my friend, so I had to support his judgement.

Chiron beckoned me over. "To the Big House," he said nervously, pointing to the sky-blue house I recognized from my time here. We trekked away from the campfire as the other campers started singing about Olympus again.

We climbed up to the wraparound porch and stepped through the creaky door. "This way," said Chiron. We followed him downstairs to the rec room where several people in robes perched daintily on the sofa and across the nearest edge of the Ping Pong table. Hermione sighed in relief as she noticed a tall, dark man stand up and make his way to us.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic," he said, shaking the hands of Percy, Annabeth, Leo and me. His tone was official but his eyes still sparkled with warmth. "Please sit down." I looked around, and, not being able to find a seat, started to sit on the floor. "Oh, forgive me." Suddenly I was jolted up by something red and soft, and realized Shacklebolt had conjured up a chair beneath me. The others shared the same surprised face while they sank into their own armchairs.

"First, may I congratulate you on your success. That was a difficult feat for eight- nine- wizards and… half-bloods," he said, saying the last two words uncomfortably as if still getting used to the idea. "But now that the 'quest', as you call it, is over, it is time to address what comes next. Ron, Harry, as it is summer work is generally more relaxed, but we'd still like to give you two a short break. Oh, and Professor McGonagall has told me letters from school are coming in a few weeks. Hermione, I'm sure it's been so hectic you haven't really kept up with your studies, so I'd suggest quickly reviewing your notes from sixth year. Although, knowing you, you probably brought a few books along while horcrux hunting." Hermione blushed. "Mr. Jackson, Miss Chase, Mr. Grace, and wherever Mr. Valdez are, we thank you for helping this quartet. It took a while for the Ministry to learn they had companions, but when we did, it brought a ruckus. We discussed many topics, along with the definite fact: two magical races are much more powerful than one. And, judging from the quest, it is clear that wizards and demigods can work well together to demolish evil, and we hope to do so again in the future. When we talked with Chiron and your camp director, Mr. D," Shacklebolt continued quickly, and I knew Mr. D was probably as kind to wizards as he was to demigods, "They agreed with our note. So we decided we will keep an ongoing connection between the two."

Chiron cleared his throat. "And, probably on a less important note, we've decided the camp bead for this summer will be a wand crossed over a sword, to symbolize our the new relationship between wizard and demigod."

"But what about Lyra?" demanded Percy.

Shacklebolt swallowed. "Ah, yes. We have informed her family of her safety, even though we still do not yet know the details." He looked at us expectantly, and I saw Harry give him a look clearly saying, We'll talk about that later.

Chiron walked over from his spot in the corner. "If we have no more to discuss, I know there is a party of demigods bursting to talk to our heroes." He winked and opened the door to let us up.

When we exited the Big House, I was assured of Chiron's claim. A kid about ten years

old had been waiting on the steps to the porch. "You're still alive," he exclaimed, eyes bright with admiration.

A tall girl with dark hair met us as we stepped to the ground. "The punk and the princess. You're back. Fight any monsters?" asked Clarisse LaRue.

"You betcha," Percy answered. To anyone else his tone would have seemed

good-natured, but I found a hint of agression and competitiveness. Clarisse rolled her eyes, and faded into the large throb of people surrounding us.

"Chiron said you're magic wizards or something. You look mortal. Let's see some magic!," someone jeered. Ginny looked around anxiously, but Ron seemed to grow three sizes.

"You want magic? I'll give YOU some magic! Levi-" Hermione snatched the tip of his wand and pulled it away. "What? He was asking for it!"

§Leo§

I led Lyra down a path of trees. She stumbled on a root in the dark and I caught her clumsily. "Oh, hang on a minute." I urged heat to the tips of my fingers and we continued walking, now with a built-in lantern. Eventually we reached the cabins. I waited and smiled as I heard her gasp in amazement. "Yeah, this is where we all sleep and stuff. Mine's over here." We walked up to Cabin 9, and for the first time I became embarrassed with my home-away-from-home as I looked at it with the eyes of an outsider: crumbling brick walls, a dark chimney spewing out dark smoke that looked bad for the environment but was in reality enhanced as it left the cabin so it did no harm. I undid the latch on the vault-like metal door and we stepped inside. She gasped again.

"I wasn't sure exactly why you wanted me to see where you sleep… but now I get it," she murmured as she observed the bunks, the fire pole where I'd reenacted "Singing in the Rain" moves countless times, and the blinking LED lights. She hopped nimbly across the room, avoiding the crumpled paper, screwdrivers, dirty underwear, and other junk that littered the floor. "Oh. My. God. Is this yours?" She eagerly climbed into my bunk and started playing with the stereo system.

"Yeah. I inherited it from the old counselor."

She looked back at me and then at the bed, then jumped off, her cheeks red, though she glanced wistfully at the built-in refrigerator. "So…"

"What are you going to do now?" Even I could hear the longing in my voice.

"I don't know. Go back home, start working again, I guess." She sighed.

"You never told me anything about your family. Do you have any siblings?" I asked, desperate to delay talking about her leaving.

"Two little brothers. Twins. They were- they are going to start school in the fall."

"Oh, yeah, that cool magic school you guys all went to? Back in the UK?"

"Yep. Hogwarts. Actually, Ginny and Hermione are still at school. I mean, I don't really know the others, like, personally, but I've heard of them. They defeated a dark wizard last year. Well, they'd been doing it almost every year- I'm a year older than them but I remember watching their pudgy little faces get sorted, years ago…" I didn't understand anything she was saying but I clung to every word. "Look, I'm guessing we have to go back now. There's people from the Ministry who wanted to talk to us, right? And I'm sure you have to catch up with your friends."

I shook my head. "That can wait." Luckily she didn't notice my knees shaking. "I still want to learn more about you." I leaned in and quickly pecked her cheek, then looked down at my shoes, self-conscious. But Lyra just smiled and grabbed my skinny, unmanly forearms. And then I took a trip to Elysium.

Someone was standing in the doorframe. I pulled away from Lyra to see Jason standing awkwardly in front of us. "Um, sorry to disturb you guys. We couldn't find you so just had the meeting without you, so that's done. But… you're wanted at the campfire."

"Of course," I said, going to joing him. Then I joked, "I don't know how they've survived this long without THE LEO." Lyra giggled even though it was obviously lame. And that was just one of the reasons why I liked her.