NICOLE

NICO WAS GONE. I could sense it being a child of Hades. He was my half-brother and the only other child of Hades at camp. He was in Elysium, a section of the Underworld reserved for good mortals and demigods who died a hero's death and lead a good life. It was basically paradise for the dead. It would have been even more horrible if he had gone to the Fields of Punishment, a final resting place for a soul who has done evil deeds.

I don't know why Nico died, but I didn't want to know; it just made me sad. Even the fact that I was the new counselor of Cabin thirteen couldn't cheer me up. The only trace I had left of him was the Stygian iron black dagger he gave me which he got from our dad. I decided to just isolate myself from the other campers and read the inscription on it. Alexein. It meant "to ward off".

When Noah came, I just couldn't keep still. The moment he fell asleep, I left the cabin and headed straight to Cabin twenty. The only thing I could do was talk to one of the only people I actually liked at camp, Krissy Wu.

I arrived at the door of Cabin twenty, Hecate's cabin, and knocked. It was a cabin made of dark stones engraved with deep purple writing. People say that if one the stones fall, it explodes or causes everyone within half a mile to turn into a tree. I mean, that's not so weird, compared to my gift.

Krissy opened the door. She was about five-foot-four. She was an Asian girl with dark eyes (with a purplish glow) and onyx black hair that hung loosely over one shoulder. She was one of the only campers who didn't wear the usual camp uniform. She wore a dark grey tank-top, faded black jeans and brown fold over combat boots with khaki leg warmers.

"Oh," she said, "Nicole I haven't seen you in a while." She held her spell book in her hand. All children of Hecate can do magic. And by magic, I mean real life magic. I'm not talking about fake magic: pulling a bunny out of an empty hat or pulling a quarter that wasn't there before from behind someone's ear.

"Hey," I said, "can you show me some of your magic?"

She regarded me and smiled. "Like the good old times."

She walked out the cabin and closed the doors. She led me towards the woods so none of the other campers would see her. I hadn't seen her magic since forever ago. She stopped in a spot that was far enough for people not see us, but close enough for us to see approaching campers. She didn't bring her spell book, so I figured she knew the spell by heart.

"Okay," she said pointing at a dead tree, "I'm gonna do a replenishing spell. I'm gonna heal that tree, okay? Don't freak out."

"Okay," I said, "I won't." She clenched her fist and moved her hands in a circular motion, going slowly at first, and then getting faster. The small amount of purple in her eyes overtook. Her eyes glazed over a wicked shade of purple. She stopped rolling her fists and put her hands out unevenly in front of her. Purple energy developed in her hand. Usually I see green magic from children of Hecate, but I guess it depended on their level of power.

She chanted loudly in ancient Greek. The ground around her started rumbling and I held on to a nearby tree to keep balance. She forced her hands forward with all her power and sent a ray of purple light towards the dead, fallen tree. The tree slowly grew back its leaves and began to rise.

In a matter of seconds, the tree was up and looking brand new. The nymph that was the tree walked out and ran to hug Krissy who was now on her knees. The nymph ran back and camouflaged with the tree once more.

Krissy stood. "Sorry," she said breathing deeply and heavily, "that spell drains a lot of my energy."

"That's fine," I said, "and your spells have gotten a lot better."

"Thanks," she said, "but now you have to show me this gift you have again."

I rubbed my shoulder and shuddered. "Okay, but not now. It's getting dark; we better get to the amphitheater."

When we got to the amphitheater, Krissy gazed at Noah. "Is that the new kid?"

"Yeah," I said, "he doesn't talk much though."

Krissy started towards him. "I'm gonna go talk and introduce myself." She plopped herself right next to him and as did I.

"Hi," Krissy said, "I'm Krissy."

"Yeah he knows." Said an unidentified voice. "We told him about you." We turned to see Brady Simmons, son of Apollo, Anna Frost, daughter of Khione, and Jack Evans, son of Hermes, sitting right behind us.

"Yeah," Noah said, "Wassup…"

He was cut off by Chiron: "Hello campers. As you all know, there is a new Great Prophecy that has to do with saving Hecate. As Jack and Brady told me, Hecate is the goddess of the Mist, so if she is gone, so is the Mist. Jack has reported seeing trouble outside camp borders."

"Yes," Jack said standing up, "I have."

"Thank you, Jack, for confirming. Now please sit down. Anyway, since Jack has been seeing these things outside camp borders, and Brady has interpreted them…"

"Yes," Brady stood up saying, "I have."

"Thank you Brady. As I was saying, a quest will be issued with a child of Ares as the leader. A child of Ares has to die, so a child of Ares will die in battle."

Clarisse La Rue, the counselor of the Ares cabin, stood. "You know what that means guys! I will be leading the quest, and choosing my five companions!"

Everybody in the crowd sighed. Then Chiron spoke: "Clarisse, we can't be so sure of that. One of your cabin members could take the role as leader also."

"And who would that be?" Clarisse argued. Everybody stopped and gasped at me when she said that. Well, I thought they were gasping at me. Somebody pointed and shouted: "He's been claimed!" Then I realized they were looking at Noah. Over his head was a bright red, fiery helmet and spear crossed over each other.

"Noah you…you're…" I was cut off.

Chiron bowed and so did all the campers. "It is determined. All hail Noah Cruz, son of the war god; Ares."