Picking up severed heads and using a wet vac to clean up venomous blood isn't necessarily as hard or as morbid as it sounds. What it is, is time consuming. It was nearly sundown when Alexa tramped towards the Big House, a lawn and leaf bag full of Hydra heads slung over her shoulder and a nearly full four-gallon jug of venom clutched in her free hand. Just as she had hoped, Chiron was sitting on the front porch just as he had been on her first day, with a map out in front of him and his eyes focused on the sky. He smiled as she approached, folding the map and adjusting the packs draped over his equine half like saddle bags.
"I was hoping you'd be here before it got too dark. My relations tend to get a bit wild after the sun sets." Chiron smiled as he got up.
"So, you're really going…?" Alexa could barely hide her incredulity.
"I'm afraid so, my dear." Chiron sighed. "Thalia's tree was poisoned on my watch. Someone had to shoulder the blame."
"It's unfair and we both know it!" Alexa huffed "Anyone who spends three minutes with you would know it wasn't you!"
Chiron gave her another one of his gentle smiles and a pat on the shoulder. "It's really heartwarming to know you have that much faith in me."
"Even if it was you, which it wasn't, why would they replace you with that creep, Tantalus?" Alexa huffed.
"He wouldn't have been my first choice either." Chiron admitted. "There wasn't a candidate available who was both alive and fulfilled all the requirements. Unfortunately, that meant desperate measures had to be taken. Tantalus fulfilled all the requirements, and he was available, so they let him out of Punishment to watch over the campers."
"Wait…you mean he's the original Tantalus?" Alexa asked, aghast.
"I'm afraid so." Chiron sighed.
"That makes it even worse! Why would they let someone like him anywhere near children? Why not ask someone from Elysium to do it? Or Asphodel?" As Alexa complained she and Chiron began to move, walking back towards Half-blood Hill.
"I believe the reason given was 'to build character' according to Mr. D." Chiron mused.
"Ugh!" Alexa groaned. They began trotting up the hill which Alexa was furious to see was still left unguarded. Thalia's pine almost seemed to droop in the fading sunlight, the sunset dying its yellowing needles red.
"He's going to end up destroying the camp before the monsters do." Alexa muttered to herself.
"It won't be so bad." Chiron said gently, his hand falling on her shoulder.
"Yeah, because we're going to prove you're innocent so you can come back. Nobody can replace you here…best anyone can hope for is to fill in until you get back." Those words caused Chiron to smile, but more importantly, it caused an idea to form in her head.
"Wait…you said he was picked mostly because he made himself available…what are the requirements for being your substitute?" Alexa asked, the gears turning in her mind.
"Well, the applicant has to be over 18 years old, have 5 years' experience with fighting monsters, a background of working with children, and the approval of at least three of the gods." Chiron responded. He looked down at her, the ghost of a smile on his lips and a knowing look in his eye. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh…no reason." Alexa said casually. "Try to enjoy the break, okay Chiron? We'll hold down the fort until you get back."
Chiron chuckled.
"Of that, my dear, I had no doubt."
It was the middle of dinner when Alexa finally got to the dining pavilion. Most of the Campers appeared to be in something of a sour mood, most sporting cuts and bruises after the day's events. Her eyes found Percy, sitting with his new half-brother at the Poseidon table, glaring daggers at Tantalus at the head table. If Alexa had to guess she'd have assumed Tantalus had further cemented himself as the wrong choice in front of the entire camp. Maybe he had called Chiron something, or maybe he made a snide comment about the camp itself. Alexa didn't know, but either one seemed likely.
It didn't take long for Tantalus to notice her arrival.
"Oh good! Our newest janitor has arrived! I trust you managed to leave the hill intact, it would be a shame if your incompetence finished the job the centaur started."
Alexa didn't answer. Instead, she marched across the dining pavilion to the head table. She dropped the massive bag of severed heads directly on Tantalus's plate, the pork chop and mashed potatoes disappearing under the black and lumpy plastic. Without a word to Tantalus, she turned to face Mr. D.
"Mr. D, I'd like to formally put forward my name to take over the Head Counselor position." Alexa said, loud enough for the entire pavilion to hear. A hush passed over the crowd of campers, broken seconds later by the angry squawk of Tantalus.
"What?!" Cried the temporary counselor, jumping to his feet.
"The position has already been filled, Miss Baker." Mr. D said mildly, giving Tantalus a small sideways nod.
"Yes, but with all due respect, we both know the job deserves better." Alexa pointed out.
"Are you saying I made a mistake in putting my trust in Tantalus's abilities?" asked Mr. D, the slightest hint of danger in his voice. Alexa pushed on, undeterred.
"No sir, I think you made the best decision at the time. I just think all your options were bad ones and this blowhard was the best of the worst." Alexa explained.
"What did you just call me?!" Tantalus growled, his face starting to grow red.
"She called you a blowhard." Mr. D answered helpfully before turning his attention back to Alexa. "And you think you're a better choice?"
"Yes." Alexa agreed.
"Do you have the proper qualifications?" Mr. D asked.
"You can't seriously be entertaining this lunacy! My lord, this girl-" Tantalus's voice rose in pitch, but Alexa cut him off with a quick look.
"Hush, mommy and daddy are talking." This little comment caused Tantalus to splutter indignantly. Alexa ignored him and returned to the conversation "I have years of monster fighting experience, even if you don't count the years I spent at this camp, I still have 7 years out there in the real world."
Mr. D didn't say anything in response to this. He just let out a small thoughtful noise and nodded at Alexa to continue.
"Last year I ran the training sessions with Cabin 5, a few years before that I was the assistant teacher to a class of sasquatch for a day, and before that I was head counselor for Cabin 9…though I admit I wasn't really in the best place for that last one at the time." Alexa added sheepishly, giving Mr. D a slight shrug.
"Aha!" Tantalus let out a triumphant shriek, jamming his finger in her face. "My lord, she just admitted to a mental illness. Are you really going to give your support to someone like that?"
"Thank you for emphasizing my final point." Alexa responded, lightly knocking his finger away from her nose.
"Mr. D, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but unlike this moron, I can actually own my mistakes." Tantalus's eyes practically popped from his skull.
"What did you just call me?" He growled, more and more blood rushing to his face.
"Too big of a word for you?" Alexa asked mildly. "I called you a moron. What else can you call someone who did what you did? You get a slap on the wrist for petty theft, and you say to yourself 'How dare they call me out! Better commit murder and something even worse to see how deep I can dig this hole!' Only someone with a massive ego and no sense would even consider that as a good idea!"
The attack was quick and vicious; Tantalus's hand whipped out from under the plastic bag of Hydra heads. Sometime during her spiel, he had managed to inch it underneath and grabbed hold of something. With his weapon in his hand, he drove it straight at Alexa's throat! It took him just one thrust to realize what he had grabbed wasn't a fork but a pork chop, the bone held tight in his grip, the meat giving Alexa's throat a light smearing of grease but nothing more. Tantalus blinked, his anger rapidly turning to rapture.
"I…I got it…" He said in a hoarse whisper.
"I've made my decision." Mr. D announced. "Miss Baker, as much as it pains me to admit this, you raise several valid points, and your qualifications are well within the standards of the camp. I've decided to approve of your application. Which means, Tantalus, your services are no longer needed."
"W-what?" Tantalus yelped, ripping his eyes from the pork chop.
"You may return to the underworld, with my thanks for your service." Mr. D said, waving his hand in a dismissive way.
"No!" Tantalus cried. He brought his pork chop to his mouth and tried to chomp down on it, but his teeth passed right through it as if they were made of smoke. He let out one last painful noise before his form completely dissipated, the pork chop bouncing off the bag of Hydra heads and falling into the sacrificial fire with a light popping sound. Mr. D gave Alexa a rare smile and waved to the seat Tantalus had just vacated. Luna, dutiful as ever, trotted forward, retrieved the bag o' heads, and dragged them off to the Big House for later taxidermizing.
"Well…" Alexa said, dumping the rest of Tantalus's plate into the fire and getting a fresh one. "I suppose that means we have a bit of restructuring to do."
The Dining Pavilion exploded with noise. Cheers of celebration, clapping, and a few slight groans at the word 'restructuring' nearly bowling her over with the force of the din. Alexa raised her hands and was pleasantly surprised to find the shouts dying down.
"We're going to try to have as much of a normal summer session as possible, but we do need to make some concessions." She said as gently as she could. Her head turned first to Cabin 4 and then Cabin 12's tables. "Katie, Pollux, I'm going to need as many of your best horticulturalists tending to the pine. Full access to the greenhouse's supplies. Nothing is off limits. Do as much as you can to slow the poison and keep her kickin'!" While the serious look on Pollux's face never wavered, Katie seemed to visibly perk up when Alexa had mentioned the greenhouse supplies. A lot of the higher end stuff had been kept under lock and key for as long as Alexa could remember. Apparently there had been an incident involving Cabin 4 and some poison sumac that had left the camp uninhabitable for 4 months, a few years before Alexa had arrived. Alexa turned her attention to Cabin 11.
"Connor, Travis, we can't let them catch us with our pants down again. I need you to organize a patrol of every exit or entrance to the camp that you two know of. If it's big enough for them to get a horse through, it's big enough to be a danger."
"We can't just-!" Travis started to protest.
"I'm not asking you to tell us where your secret snack run trails are." Alexa cut him off with a small smirk. "If no one comes down those, they can remain a secret to Hermes Cabin. But if they're used, you must tell us."
Connor saluted and turned to his brother.
"Trav, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Connor asked with a huge grin on his face.
"Well, I think so, Connor, but I don't think Kevin Bacon is considered kosher." Travis answered. Connor gave his brother a flat look.
"I hope you're kidding." Connor muttered.
"You will never know!" Travis grinned back.
"Great, moving on." Alexa said, turning to look at Cabin 6 "Annabeth, we're going to need a defensive strategy with the tree itself in the center. Can you and your siblings handle that?"
Annabeth didn't even hesitate, her and her cabin mates all nodded in unison.
"Great, any resources you need for implementation can come from Cabin 9. Chuck, you good with that?" She asked, turning to Beckendorf. Her brother grinned and gave her a thumbs up.
"Anything you need, sis!" Beckendorf called.
"Good, until we can get a full game plan in place, we're going to need people on guard duty around the tree. Clarisse, Lee, we're going to need at least one good up front fighter, and one archer who can keep an eye on things. Think your cabins can handle it?" Clarisse nodded once, and Lee Fletcher laughed.
"Between us, any monsters are going to get skewered!" Lee boasted, grinning at Ares's table.
"Good to hear. That should handle things for now…but I think we need a quest to make sure we can actually bring an end to this. Does any-?" Before Alexa could finish her question, the sacrificial fire suddenly turned as red as spilled blood. Out of it a smokey vulture rose, spreading it's massive wings over the assembled campers. The apparition soared from the fire, circled the room once, and landed on the head of Clarisse la Rue. The counselor for Cabin 5 looked surprised, and a little scared for a split second before her face hardened into a scowl of determination. The buzzard faded and the rest of the camp shared a quiet look.
"That answers that…Clarisse, you have a date with the oracle...Counselors, meeting at the Big House in ten minutes. Until then, figure out who's going where. I expect to have those decisions by the singalong…" Alexa stood from her chair, and gently motioned Clarisse forward, walking with the daughter of Ares back to the Big House and the mummy that waited in the attic.