Piper

Piper sat cross legged at the camp fire. The campers around her were singing, faces lit by the ever changing emotion of the fire. They all sounded so happy and carefree to an outside ear, however Piper had noticed the growing tension over the last few weeks.

The "anniversary effect", Chiron had explained to her. Around a year of a traumatic event, people become more on edge and paranoid. Nearing the year mark of the giant's war, Piper supposed that made sense. However, Piper could help but feel the paranoia wasn't coming out of nowhere.

Things had been off lately, all starting with Nico's freak out a couple weeks before. After he freaked out and he and Jason left to who knows where, people had started noticing things. Monsters had started appearing more frequently on the outskirts of the camp border. Nature creatures were becoming more skittish. The sky was appearing darker and darker.

Chiron of course had brushed off all of her concerns. "You are traumatized, and rightfully so. You're concerned about Jason, and angry at him for not explaining his quest with Nico well enough. You're trying to fill in gaps, but all you're doing is worrying yourself for no reason." He had said.

Piper tried desperately to convince herself that he was right, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She looked at the fire which was a bright yellow, reflecting the camp's mood. She glanced to the side at Leo, who had his arm around Calypso. Ever since coming back from the dead, Leo was much more at ease. Nothing seemed to bother him as much as it did before and his nervous energy had drained out of him, replaced by a calm sort of passion for Calypso. Piper was happy for him, he clearly needed her, but this new "calm Leo" was siding with Chiron. She wanted to shake him out of his honeymoon mood and get him to share in her paranoia.

Suddenly, a loud sound came from the woods. The fire turned a dim green, the color of nervousness. Campers leapt to their feet and drew swords and bows. Piper stood, but drew no weapon. Instead, she strained her eyes to see into the darkness.

Leo nudged Calypso behind him and drew his hammer. He glanced at Piper and they held each other's gaze. Suddenly, a large hell hound bounded out of the tree line, roaring and barreling towards campers.

Campers yelled battle calls and arrows flew. The hell hound was killed almost immediately. Although it was an easy victory, silence fell over the camp. No monsters were supposed to be able to cross their boarders. How did it appear here?

"Campers, to your cabins. I will inform you all as much as I can in the morning." Chiron spoke, bow still drawn tightly. He scanned the woods, searching for any more movement. Piper did not go back to her cabin, instead, she walked towards the camp leader.

"Chiron, how is this possible?" She asked, Leo and Calypso next to her.

"It shouldn't be. Not unless a camper let it in." He frowned. His gaze finally snapped to the three people standing in front of him.

"Counselor meeting. Tomorrow at 10. Alert the others." He nodded slightly, almost to himself, the looked at them in an obvious dismissal. Recognizing the sign, Piper went back to her cabin.

0000000000000000

The next morning, all the cabin counselors gathered around the ping pong table. Piper twirled her knife on the table. She glanced at it, hoping it would show he visions of the future that help her figure out what to do next, but it remained the blade of a normal knife.

Leo sat next to her, without Calypso by his side for the first time since arriving. Calypso had been sleeping in a room in the Big House since arriving, nobody exactly sure where to put her. Leo drummed his fingers on the table, some of his energy coming back already.

"We called this meeting to discuss the hell hound. Those absent are a counselor from Artemis cabin, Zeus cabin, Hades cabin, Hera cabin, and Poseidon cabin." Chiron paused slightly at the end of the sentence. Everyone looked at the end of the table where the empty chairs sat.

Piper stood up. "Something is happening. I know we all want to ignore it and act like everything is fine because we're scared, but we need to accept that something is happening. Jason and Nico clearly knew. We need to take action."

"Okay, but what action? We don't know what this is." Lou Ellen spoke.

"We know people who do." Leo stood with Piper.

"People who didn't want to tell anyone anything. I'm sorry, but Jason and Nico aren't the most trustworthy people right now." Conner Stoll leaned back in his chair.

"I trust both of them with my life." Piper said forcefully.

"But they didn't trust you with knowing." Clarisse looked at Piper.

"They must have had a reason. Look, if we find them, we can get them to tell us. Then we can help solve the problem." Will Solace stared at Conner, clearly mad at him for saying that about Nico.

"That still doesn't explain why they took off like that. Or how Nico figured something out." Malcom said, the standing counselor of the Athena cabin.

"Nico can only sense death and things relating to death. I don't know what he must have sensed." Will pondered.

"Do you think he felt someone die? Someone that he knew was important?" Castor asked.

"Oh no! Don't say that!" Lou Ellen gasped.

"Who would it be though? If it was anyone we knew, he would tell us." Katie Gardener shook her head.

"Annabeth?" Malcom said in a low voice. The entire table went silent. It had been almost a year since anyone had heard from her at all.

"No." Piper felt compelled to speak. "If she was in danger, she would come back." She was met with silence. "I know she would. She's my friend." Piper felt defensive.

"A friend you never even looked for." Clarisse snorted. Piper's blood went cold. Leo half rose from his seat.

"If she wanted to be found, we would have gone. She doesn't want to be found." Piper felt a buzzing in her chest.

"Look, I don't care if the Princess is here or not, I've gotten enough of her over the past ten years. But she doesn't even know that he's alive, and it's been months." Clarisse pointed a finger at Leo. "You keep getting all butt hurt because your boyfriend isn't telling you things, but you're not telling Annabeth things either. She could be dead in a ditch for all you know. You lost the right to call her your friend after you abandoned her like that."

The table erupted in a cacophony of voices.

Malcom yelled, "Don't say she's dead!"

Conner stood and said, "Why don't you go find her, Clarisse?"

Leo screamed, "Don't yell at Piper."

Clovis asked, "huh? What just happened?" As he just woke up.

Piper however remained silent. Clarisse was right. Piper was a bad friend. In complete truthfulness, Piper had a reason for not trying to find Annabeth. Piper wanted to move on from what happened. When Leo came back, Piper figured she could just forget the war in its entirety. However, with Annabeth, there was no forgetting. She was a walking reminder of everything they had lost. All the grief, all the struggles, all the injuries, filled her.

But she knew enough was enough. She had to find Annabeth. She had to find her and help her and regain the respect Piper had lost in herself. She thought for a moment, the yelled "STOP!" The room went silent.

"Okay. Leo and I will go find Annabeth. We'll pick up Frank and Hazel from Camp Jupiter too. Will is going to try to find Nico and Jason. Everyone okay with that?" Piper made her voice was commanding as possible. Everyone slowly nodded.

"Motion passed." Piper said in a somewhat sarcastic tone. She turned to Leo. "We'll leave tomorrow morning." He nodded.

"Oh, maybe leave Calypso behind." Piper added. Leo opened his mouth to protest, but then hesitated. After nearly a year of seeing each other every second of every day, the both could use a break. Leo nodded.

"Let's go find Annabeth." Piper set her mouth in a firm line.

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