Smoke burned Alexa's nose almost a mile from camp. Luna whined, her body shaking beneath her, a red light began to blink on the instrument panel on the canine's metal back. Alexa swore under her breath. Something was wrong and it didn't take long for them to realize what it was.
It looked like half of the camp was in battle formation on Half-Blood Hill. Stinking, smoking puddles of ooze coated the grass, in all likelihood spewed by the beast they were fighting; a hydra, pale green with banded yellow stripes, and at least fifty heads that Alexa could see, the massive necks weaving and twisting like a massive monstrous mound of spaghetti noodles. Three of the necks had somehow found a large blue polo shirt, with one each sticking through an arm hole and the one in the middle fitted through the neck hole. A group of campers ringed the scaly creature, shields held in one hand and either weaponry or a burning implement in the other, ranging from flaming weapons, to torches, to a hair curler in one case.
The hydra let out a loud hiss, six or so of it's heads reared back and covered a group of campers' shields with smoking venom. Two campers stumbled and three of the diamond shaped heads darted for them. Before Alexa even knew what was happening she was diving. Her sword was out and Jazz's hat was on her head and changing into its helmeted form. The three heads turned and recoiled at the last minute, hissing furiously at her, right before they were relieved of their heads. The campers still standing leaped forward, cauterizing the blistering stumps with a blowtorch and a quick pair of exploding arrows. The defeated necks waved feebly for a moment before slowly retracting into the main body again.
"Everyone okay?" Alexa asked, never taking her eyes off the hydra.
"I think I twisted my ankle." Whimpered one of the boys from behind her.
"If you can still stand, brace behind your shield. We're going to get through this together." Alexa whispered. She slid off Luna's back and whispered to the winged dog. "The forges, anything that can hold a sustained flame. Fetch!"
Luna took off like she was fired from a canon. Two of the heads started to swivel, drawing a bead on the metal pitbull. Alexa's response was quick, a bolt of lightning cracked through the air, striking the two heads in quick succession.
"Hey! We're not done here!" She barked. The hydra let out a hiss, several more of its heads turning to glare at her. No less than five heads shot towards her, venom dripping from rows upon rows of shark-like teeth. She managed to scramble out of the path of three of them, but the final two she had to lop off. She squeezed the handle of her sword, causing the electricity to surge along the blade. As the blade of her sword passed through both necks the electricity burnt and cauterized the wound, in addition to causing the hydra to seize up.
Alexa grimaced; she didn't know how much power she had just used but she knew she wouldn't be able to do that too many times. A sustained charge like that needed way more juice than a lightning bolt. Lucky for her, she wasn't doing this alone. The campers had taken advantage of the hydra's moment of weakness and the largest force had consolidated back into a single mass.
"Phalanx formation!" The command came from an armored girl, Alexa immediately recognized the voice as Clarisse, one of the Campers from her boot camp last year. At her order the campers around her locked shields together. "Archers, get those burning arrows ready! Front line, get to chopping! Forward!"
The line of campers surged forward, cutting through monstrous throats like a lawnmower decimating a patch of crabgrass. A dozen of the hydra's heads met their doom and were prevented from reforming before it could retaliate. The beast roared and swung some of its remaining heads like a club, forcing the campers back.
The hydra lunged at the shield wall, its venomous fangs scraping against the bronze. The screech was so loud she barely paid any attention to the screeching of tires from the road. Most of the hydra's attention was focused on the shield wall, but three of the heads, the three in the polo, swiveled to face Alexa and the small group of demigods she had joined. Now that she was actually facing it head-on she could see a name tag on the polo, shaped like a yellow ticket stub, with dark blue font that seemed to say that the hydra's name was "Sssstan".
Sssstan shot those three heads directly for Alexa's group; the two in either armhole weaved around Alexa to get at those behind her, but the one in the neck hole barreled straight for her with its fangs bared. The Alexa of last year might've been able to dodge it, but a year of no practice and a pickled brain had applied rust to her reflexes. She leaped to the side and just managed to avoid the fangs, but in doing so, she had slammed onto the hydra's nose. The reptile reared up and snapped forward like a bull whip, launching Alexa through the air. She tumbled end over end, spinning like a Frisbee through the smoke scented air.
"Flying lady!" Said a voice from somewhere down below her. The voice wasn't one she recognized, but the one that answered it sure was.
"What're you- woah!" All at once Alexa came to a stop, caught by a large pair of hands which had managed to catch her around the middle. The wind had been knocked out of her, and everything was upside down and at a funny angle, but she was still alive.
"Good catch." She managed to wheeze, twisting slightly to see who had caught her. She was surprised to find herself in the grip of a cyclops, a young one with teeth like crooked tombstones, messy brown hair, and an eye that for some reason brought a baby cow to Alexa's mind.
"Alexa, what's going on?" This voice drew her attention to the much smaller shapes around her. Percy and Annabeth stood close by, Percy holding onto her lost helmet, Annabeth looking concerned.
"Oh uh…" She gave the cyclops a pat on the arm. "Can you put me down, big guy?"
The cyclops responded with a big grin, a nod of his head, and quickly turned her right way up and put her back on her feet.
"A hydra somehow got in! Come on!" Alexa reeled off, grabbing her helmet from Percy's grasp. Percy and the cyclops seemed confused, but Annabeth visibly paled. Alexa would have to come back to that later. The quartet retook the hill to find the chaos had yet to abate. More heads seemed to have sprung from the beast, hissing and spitting at the campers Alexa had left behind. As they approached another head was removed, but before the stump could be cauterized the others quickly swarmed around it, burying it in the forest of protective scales.
The moment the new demigods got within range, a set of heads turned to face them.
"Look out!" It spat venom at them, forcing them to scatter, Percy went one way, drawing his own sword, Alexa and Annabeth were sent stumbling in another. Three heads shot towards each group. Alexa couldn't see what was going on with Percy, but she heard the cyclops cry out in distress.
"Tyson!" Annabeth shouted, stabbing one of the hydra's eyes. "Percy needs help!"
"Can't…get…through!" Grunted the cyclops, pushing against a wall of air as if he were walking in hip deep mud. In that moment Alexa made a split decision. They needed help, and a cyclops could do a lot.
"I, Alexa Barber, give you permission to enter camp!" Thunder boomed and Tyson lurched forward towards Percy. Alexa didn't get to catch what happened next due to the timely intervention of another hydra head. Like before, Alexa charged her blade with lightning and sliced into the neck of the hydra. She only got about two thirds of the way into the scaly mass when the sword seemed to shutter in her hand, and the lightning cut off abruptly. As the head dropped the unburned section of the stump bubbled, a new head bursting from the untouched wound…but given how much Alexa had taken already, it appeared as if a garter snake had attached itself to the body of an anaconda.
The tiny head let out an angry hiss at Alexa as it retracted into the shaking and shuddering mounds of coils. In that brief moment of calm she could see Tyson, struggling with a pair of Hydra necks in each hand, while Percy decapitated one of his own, creating two additional heads to deal with. A flash of bronze was the only warning Alexa got as Luna burst back into the fray like a furry comet. She landed next to Alexa, a bow and a quiver of arrows clutched in her mouth, glass fragments sprinkled over her muzzle.
"What? Luna, I asked you to fetch me something that could sustain a flame, not something with a fletching!" Alexa yanked the canine out of the path of a hydra head as she admonished her. Luna responded with a plaintive little whine, nudging her arm with the quiver. Her creation yanked her backwards, dragging her behind a group of campers who were wordlessly offering a spare shield to Annabeth. Again, Luna whined and pressed the quiver towards Alexa.
Reluctantly Alexa took them and read the messy label; Experiment 282: Etna Arrows. There was a mark on the label she recognized from her own Cabin, a stamp that, to her, said that these were dangerous, unstable, and worst of all, still in the prototype stage. She pulled an arrow from the quiver and found the end to be a clay bulb which rattled as she pulled it free, indicating the inside of the arrow's head was packed with something. Alexa could only assume it was filled with Celestial Bronze buckshot. The oddest part of the arrow was a large, notched button set into the shaft where it would set against the bowstring. From the button stretched a line of ignition wire, like what they tended to use in timed Greek Fire bombs. That didn't make any sense to Alexa. If it was in a small enough vial to fit in the arrowhead it'd be real dicey whether or not it'd have the power to get through the type of clay they used. If it didn't shatter all that would happen is the heat would build up and just make a mess of boiling-
It clicked.
"Luna! You're a genius!" Alexa cried, grabbing the bow and taking careful aim.
"Everybody get down!" Alexa screamed at the top of her lungs before letting the arrow fly. The arrow whizzed past the hydra's flailing necks, a glow building in intensity as it flew. Alexa felt the heat building, forging that connection in her mind as she encouraged it along. At the top of the arrow's arc the bulb burst like a firework sending a spray of liquid metal in every direction.
Alexa gritted her teeth and kept the liquid from solidifying as it fell like a burning rain. With a pull of her will Alexa curved the liquid down towards the hydra's body, straight at the trunks of the necks. The hydra let out a chorus of pained shrieks as, one by one, the puddle of enchanted metal lava burned its way through each neck. Head after head toppled mid shriek as if felled by an invisible ax. The air filled with the stink of burning monster, a smell not too dissimilar to a dumpster fire outside a pizza joint. The hydra continued to flail and shriek, but the wary campers stayed behind their shields or dodged out of its path as the carnage continued. Finally with one last guttural cry the final head left the hydra's body. The body shivered one last time and then dissolved into a noxious green mist. Alexa let the metal cool and nearly toppled into Annabeth. All that was left of the monster was several dead snake heads, a small pond's worth of venomous blood, and a blue polo shirt with that yellow ticket stub name tag.
"Are you alright?" Annabeth asked as Alexa wiped the sweat from her brow and shakily stood up.
"Yeah…" Alexa panted "That just took a lot out of me…"
"And what is going on here?" Alexa turned towards the Big House to find a group of three heading their way. She recognized Mr. D immediately, there was no mistaking a shirt that loud. Trailing in his wake was a curly haired satyr she had only talked to a handful of times named Bucky. The one who had spoken was the only one Alexa didn't recognize; he was tall and emaciated looking, his sallow skin hanging thin on his bony frame. He had a thin and wispy beard the same dusty gray as his hair, and he was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit. Honestly, Alexa felt like he looked like an older, grumpier, and half-starved version of Luke Skywalker.
"Would you just look at this mess!" He shouted, waving at the monster heads and the steaming piles. "Couldn't you kids have taken care of that thing further away from the house? I'm going to be smelling that stink for weeks! How am I supposed to focus on tortur- I mean, coming up with fun activities if it smells like a burning zoo!"
The campers all grumbled and grunted their apologies in response. Alexa's gaze hardened on the man.
"Who are you?" She asked, drawing the man's attention for the first time.
"Ahh, the illustrious Miss Baker has returned. How exciting." Mr. D muttered in a bored voice. He turned towards the man in the jumpsuit.
"Tantalus, this is Alexis Baker, the woman I told you about." As if to punctuate his statement he made a motion as if he were tilting a bottle. Alexa growled.
"My name is Alexa." Alexa snapped.
"Well Alexis." Tantalus said, putting an emphasis on the incorrect name. "I'm the one taking over as head counselor."
"What?" Alexa and Percy yelped in unison.
"What happened to Chiron!" Percy demanded.
"Fired." Tantalus responded curtly.
"Why?" Alexa asked hotly.
"That'd be the reason." Tantalus answered with a smirk, jerking his thumb at Thalia's pine. Alexa blinked and stared at the tree. She could feel her heart snap in two. The bows sagged with yellow and brown needles, some branches near the tip were bare and outstretched like zombie fingers. Sticking out of the trunk was a dart, venom and sap still dripping from the tip like blood.
Alexa took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. The pine was dying…the girl she had failed to save was dying a second time. The panic and guilt in her resolved into determination. She was not going to let her die again!
"And who is responsible for this…thing?" Tantalus's voice cut through the mental fog. Alexa tuned back in to find him glaring up at Tyson. As she watched Percy moved to get between the cyclops and the counselor.
"I am." Alexa piped up. "I'm the one who let him in."
Tantalus glared at her, his lip curling. "You should know the rules by your age. No monsters in camp."
"Great. When are you leaving?" Alexa's little quip earned her a more intense glare from Tantalus, a few campers fighting back smirks and an unmasked snort from Mr. D.
"Did you just compare me to that thing?" Tantalus growled.
"Oh, you're right. That was rude. There's really no comparison. I mean he rushed in to help during a hydra attack with no hesitation. You were probably sitting on the porch with a set of binoculars and a bucket of popcorn." Behind Tantalus, Bucky tried to hide his chuckle behind a fake coughing fit.
"He tried," Mr. D conceded. "But I'm afraid the old boy's curse hasn't quite lifted. Perhaps after a few days."
Tantalus gave both the satyr and the wine god such a venomous glare it put the hydra to shame. Bucky grumbled and glanced away but Mr. D met his glare with a 'What can you do?' sort of shrug. Tantalus rounded back on Alexa.
"Well, Miss Baker, you just earned yourself clean up duty! I don't want you leaving this hill until all that mess is clean!" He rounded on Tyson, who flinched back. "And as for you-!"
Before he could say another word, a blue glow washed over the group. Most of the crowd gasped as a sea blue holographic trident appeared over Tyson's head, slowly rotating for everyone to see.
"Well, that settles that!" Mr. D chuckled. "Ol' barnacle butt claimed him. Can't do anything about it now. All hail the son of the sea god."
The campers muttered to themselves as Tyson tried to grab at the fading hologram and Tantalus fumed.
"Bucky! Soda!" Barked the new head director, turning to head back to Camp. Seconds later a can of coke shot from the group, propelled by a contrail of soda vapor.
The crowd began to disperse, leaving Alexa alone with Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Luna.
"We should talk to Chiron." Percy muttered. "There's got to be something we can do."
"You guys go ahead." Alexa sighed. "I gotta clean this up…just tell Chiron I want to talk to him before he goes." The trio didn't argue and slowly trudged away. Luna produced a garbage bag and thick gloves from her innards and Alexa started picking up hydra heads. As she got to the stained blue polo, and it's faded yellow name tag she let out a sigh and looked up at the pine tree.
"We'll figure this out…I'm not letting you down again." She promised.
Author's Note: Things that killed Blockbuster: Netflix, late fees, cooperate meddling, Alexa Barber.