Chapter Text
The conversation was not going well. They were stuck in a taxi driving all the way to Camp Half-Blood and it couldn't be any more awkward.
"How've you been?" Cordelia tried to ask.
Annabeth was staring out the window and replied bluntly, "Fine."
"That's good."
Cordelia didn't even know what she'd done wrong. She was sure they could've simply snuck into a museum and avoided the police. And they could still spend time together at camp.
"About camp—"
"Everything's fine."
"The empousa said otherwise, she said it would burn."
"All monsters do that. There's nothing wrong, I've been back a few times."
"Yeah, so have I." Cordelia paused, "You never told me you were there."
Annabeth shrugged, "I must have missed you."
As they headed through Brooklyn, Cordelia used Annabeth's phone to call her mom. They both knew this would end up happening, it always did. She left a hurried message on their home voicemail and explained very thoroughly that the cheerleaders were evil and that she was on her way to camp.
Cordelia also asked her mom to tell Paul Blowfish she was sorry. Just in case.
She was silent for only two minutes after handing the phone back. "Anything new with Mount Tam?"
"No. It's still overrun with monsters, I didn’t dare go close."
"And—"
"I don't think Luke is up there." Annabeth said, "I would know if he was."
Cordelia was truly left alone with her thoughts after that. She knew the consequences of bringing it up.
They didn't talk about Luke. It was an unspoken rule.
Cordelia hated him. She hated him even more after what he'd done to Annabeth and Artemis. After the price Zoë had to pay.
But Annabeth's feeling were more complicated.
They'd only end up arguing.
So, Cordelia turned her focus to the anklet. She twisted the shell charm until there was a click and she immediately felt the energy drain from her. Fire flooded through her veins and for a good few seconds she didn't dare move. Kala said there would be risks to the charm, that the side effects were numerous. But Cordelia was getting thrown into more and more danger and there wouldn't always be water around to wash away the pain.
She unclasped the anklet and held it tightly in her hands. Once she got to camp she could charge it in the sea.
"What's that?" Annabeth asked, finally looking over.
Cordelia held up the bracelet, "Something I made. Kala helped me."
Cordelia had to do it all herself, to make it more personal or something, from the threads she had to tie into knots to form it and the pearls she collected from oysters in the ocean.
That really was an odd experience, oysters were sea creatures but Cordelia couldn't connect with them, they were a blank slate and it felt wrong. In the sea she could connect mentally with almost anything. But not them.
"It's nice." Annabeth said. "Lorna likes macrame."
Lorna was Annabeth's sister, Cordelia could vaguely remember meeting her.
"Thanks." As the conversation had turned into something lighter, Cordelia thought it was the best time to ask, "Is something wrong with Grover? I've been getting panicked feelings from him."
Annabeth turned her attention back to the melting Brooklyn skyline, "He's on trial."
"What?"
"You'll see when you get there."
Many complications. were waiting at camp. The most prominent being the Labyrinth issue.
Last winter had been full of excitement, with all the kidnapping and the scouting and the fact that Cordelia wasn't the only one to come back with a long lost titan affiliated camper. She'd had a good Christmas, that was all she wanted, but the second January 1st hit she was back at camp and ready to deal with whatever problems she could.
There were rumors whispered throughout camp, that Luke and his army were planning some sort of invasion. They would storm Camp Half-Blood. It would be overrun with monsters. It would all burn. Those threats had never felt more serious than they did in that moment.
A low ridge of hills appeared on her left and Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road. The man frowned as he did so, "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"
"Yes, please." Annabeth handed him a roll of cash and he didn't argue.
The painstaking hike to the crest of the hill only got worse every time Cordelia did it. Peleus was wrapped around Thalia's pine tree like a copper coil, even bigger than the last time she saw him only a few weeks ago. With the rate he was growing he'd end up larger than the tree.
"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said, scratching under his chin. "Keeping everything safe?"
He purred like a cat, steam hissing out of his nostrils. His wings stretched out so much one of them brushed against the Golden Fleece, which was once again hanging the lowest branch of the tree. Cabin Eleven had healed as much as it could from whatever mysterious magic was making it sick. There were still issues but there were less people sleeping on the floor.
Something scratched at her pants and Cordelia looked down to see Fishsticks clawing at her. He was bigger, too. Malcolm and Katie said the cats were sabre-toothed tigers, spartoi gone wrong. Cordelia would've taken Fishsticks home with her permanently but her mom would definitely draw the line at an ancient skeleton cat.
Cordelia scooped him up into her arms and started making her way down to camp. Everything looked relatively peaceful, campers wandered up and down the thriving strawberry fields, the Greek style buildings shone a harsh white in the sunlight, the forest was sprouting lush green leaves.
The blue-roofed Big House sat proudly beside the fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered.
Even with the sense of peace, the was tension in the air, as if the hill itself was holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.
Nobody else seemed to notice it, they were going about their typical day at camp. The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields helping the fruit grow with their magic, smoke rose from the forges and hammers rang as campers made their own weapons.
The Athena and Demeter Cabins were having a chariot race around the track and other kids flew overhead on pegasi. Over on the lake the Queen Anne's Revenge sat swaying, Cordelia had left her behind last time. In case it ended up being useful.
"I'll tell Chiron that you're that here." Annabeth said, "He'll want to see you before the hearing."
"What hearing? Grover's trial thing? What's happening?" Annabeth was already jogging towards the archery fields by the time Cordelia got to her final question. "Great talk."
In the Big House driveway she spied Connor and Travis attempting to hot-wire the camp's SUV for what must've been the millionth time. Argus wasn't pleased by the fact that his van hadn't returned last winter and he certainly wasn't happy that the Stoll's kept trying to steal every other vehicle.
Cordelia stopped by the car as she passed, "Do you guys know what's going on with Grover? Or Annabeth, for that matter."
One of them stuck their head out of the open door, "No idea about that last one, but Grover has his thing with the Council of Cloven Elders."
Travis (possibly) popped his head out the other side, "Mr. D was complaining about it before he left."
Cordelia had to process the words as she heard them, "He's…gone?"
"Yep."
"For now, at least."
Well, if anything, it explained why they were so openly hot-wiring the car. "Huh."
"Don't tell Chiron!" One of them yelled as she turned away.
Snitches end up with stitches, or was it in ditches? Chiron probably knew already and was simply dealing with a more prominent problem.
Cordelia wandered into the arena hoping nobody else was occupying it. Really, she should go and recharge her anklet, but too much reliance breeds…something…something… she should've listened more.
Fishsticks purred in her arms drawing Cordelia out of her mind. She froze up on entering the arena, her heart constricting painfully.
In the middle of the arena floor was the largest hellhound she'd ever set eye on.
And she'd seen a few hellhounds: the one that left it's permanent mark on her back, the ones sniffing around that warehouse, random ones charging down the street.
The hellhound in front of her was bigger than a tank. It looked right at home, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy.
Cordelia placed Fishsticks on the floor and quietly reached up for her hair-clip. Riptide elongated in her hand, the bronze metal glowing. If she got any closer it would sense her. And she was still drained from earlier, her anklet was tied around her wrist and out of power.
Cordelia whistled, the high-pitched sound echoed around the arena and the hellhound spun rapidly.
Her blade was raised as the monster ran forward, but her prepared slash was blocked by another sword.
CLANG!
The hellhound pricked up it's ears and it's eyes seemed to spark with enjoyment. "WOOF!"
Cordelia jumped back and struck at the man who blocked her—a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried the attack with no problem.
“Whoa there!” he said. “Truce!”
“WOOF!” The hellhound’s bark shook the arena.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
“She’s harmless,” the man said. “That’s Mrs. O’Leary.”
Cordelia blinked. “Mrs. O’Leary?”
The hellhound barked again at the name. The monster was excited, Cordelia could see it in her ominous glowing red eyes.
She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.
“Good girl,” the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it toward the bleachers. “Get the Greek! Get the Greek!”
Mrs. O’Leary bounded after her prey and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor. She began chewing on its helmet.
"That's an odd game." Cordelia muttered.
The man smiled dryly. He was in his fifties if she had to guess, he had short gray hair and clipped beard. He wore standard bronze armor and there was even an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt underneath.
Cordelia hadn't seen any of the older demigods wear the shirts when they visited. They seen to relish in the freedom of not being forced into neon orange.
Drew was so jealous of that.
At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before she could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar.
Who was she to judge? If she took of her jacket her scales would be on full display, and horrible dehydrated. She needed to take a very long soak in the bath.
“Mrs. O’Leary is my pet,” the man explained. “I couldn’t let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her.”
“Who are you?”
“Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?”
“I guess.”
He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. “Quintus.”
She kept a hold of Riptide but shook his offered hand, his skin was as rough as sandpaper.
“Cordelia Jackson,” she said tentatively, "You named the hellhound...Mrs O'Leary?"
Quintus nodded, "And from what I hear, you are the one that named that spartoi Fishsticks."
Okay, Cordelia was put into a corner with that. In her defense, Fishsticks made much more sense than Mrs O'Leary. But then there was McWhiskers the runaway rubber mouse.
There was apparently nothing she could judge this man for without turning it back on herself.
"How did you, um—"
“Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys. I’m the new sword instructor, by the way. Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away.”
Cordelia nodded, "I heard about that. Where's he gone?" She tried not to sound too happy.
“Well…it's busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He’s gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they’re on the right side. I probably shouldn’t say more than that.”
On the right side? If Dionysus, of all Gods, had gone to recruit, of all things, there must be trouble.
Off to the left the was a loud BUMP..Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O’Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.
“Whoa, girl!” Quintus said. “Those aren’t for you.” He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee.
The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, in Ancient Greek, oddly enough:
TRIPLE G RANCH
FRAGILE
THIS END UP
Along the bottom, in smaller letters:
OPEN WITH CARE.
TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS.
“What’s in the boxes?”
“A little surprise,” Quintus said. “Training activity for tomorrow night. You’ll love it.”
"Of course I will." The 'excruciatingly painful death' part didn't sound so appealing.
Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O’Leary lumbered after it. “You young ones need more challenges. They didn’t have camps like this when I was a boy.”
“You—you’re a half-blood?” Cordelia didn't mean to sound so surprised, it should've been common sense that he was.
But most of the adults she saw were in their late twenties, maybe early thirties. Nobody ever seemed to push forty.
Quintus chuckled. “We do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies.”
“You know about my prophecy?”
“I’ve heard a few things.”
Cordelia wanted to ask about those few things but Chiron clip-clopped into the arena and. “Cordelia, there you are!”
He must've come from teaching archery, he was wearing his #1 CENTAUR shirt and their was still a quiver strapped to his back.
“I see you’ve met our new instructor.” Chiron’s tone was light, but there was an uneasy look in his eyes. “Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Cordelia?”
“Not at all, Master Chiron.”
“No need to call me ‘Master,’” Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased. “Come, Cordelia. We have much to discuss.”
She picked up Fishsticks from where the cat was attempting to join Mrs O'Leary in chewing of a dummy’s legs.
"I'll be seeing you." She said to Quintus. She really couldn't help how suspicious she sounded. It was a natural reaction to sword-fighting instructors.
Once they were far enough away, she whispered to Chiton. "Quintus seems kind of—"
“Mysterious?” Chiron suggested. “Hard to read?”
“Yeah.”
Chiron nodded. “A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman. I just wish I understood…”
Chiron did that think where he was about to say something super important but trailed off into a different subject. Cordelia didn't even try turning the conversation back to Quintus.
“First things first, Cordelia. Annabeth told me you met some empousai.”
“Yeah.” She told him about the fight at school and how oddly Kelli had disappeared.
“Mm,” Chiron said. “The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Cordelia. She simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring.”
“What were they doing there?” she asked. “Waiting for me?”
“Possibly.” Chiron frowned. “It is amazing you survived. Their powers of deception…well, if you were male you would likely be devoured."
"That's lovely. I probably would've been anyway if it wasn't for Rachel."
Chiron nodded. “Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt. What the empousa said about an attack on camp—we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there.”
“Where exactly?”
“At his formal hearing,” Chiron said grimly. “The Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate.”
Cordelia agreed to ride on Chiron's back, only because they were in a hurry and Grover’s thing sounded serious.
She barely managed to take in the scenery as they passed. Chiron took her through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.
A bunch of satyrs sat in a circle on the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. The Council of Cloven Elders, if she had to take a guess.
Cordelia didn't know much but she knew she didn't like them. They were the ones that blamed Grover for Thalia’s tree-ification.
Grover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his T-shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair.
Cordelia realized with a slight hint of satisfaction that she was now taller than him.
Chiron dropped her off beside Clarisse who glared at Cordelia and muttered, “Punk,” which was really much less intimidating than when her father did it.
It also meant that she was probably in a good mood.
Annabeth had her arms wrapped around Juniper, Grover’s girlfriend—they'd finally gotten together.
“It’s going terribly,” Juniper sniffled, her face blotched with green.
“No, no.” Annabeth patted her shoulder. “He’ll be fine, Juniper.”
“Master Underwood!” the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. “Do you seriously expect us to believe this?”
“B-but, Silenus,” Grover stammered. “It’s the truth!”
Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them, he was an honorary member of the council after all. The council didn't look so impressive, they looked like they sat around doing nothing all day.
But still, Grover was nervous and the feeling buzzed around her like a swarm of bees ready to attack at any second.
Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. “Master Underwood, for six months—six months—we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak.”
“But I did!”
“Impudence!” said the elder on the left.
“Now, Maron,” Chiron said. “Patience.”
“Patience, indeed!” Maron said. “I’ve had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to…to him.”
Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up.
“Wrong fight, girlie,” Clarisse muttered. “Wait.”
Cordelia would've personally let Juniper go at him, that was a fight she would love to see. Clarisse being the one to hold her back was probably the most shocking thing of all.
A hand touched Cordelia's shoulder and her head spun, only to see Katie standing behind them like she'd melted out of the greenery. Her brown hair was tied back and her skin was freckled like she'd been in the sun for weeks, but there was a deep frown on her face.
“For six months,” Silenus continued, “we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher’s license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?”
“I just need more time,” Grover pleaded.
“Nothing!” the elder in the middle chimed in.
“You have found nothing.”
“But, Leneus—”
Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn't look happy but Chiron stood straight up and his eyes locked onto Cordelia.
She was going to hate this.
"A witness, perhaps." Chiron announced, "Two people present today were present at the time of Grover’s encounter."
The satyrs grumbled and argued amongst themselves, "This is not half-blood business!" One yelled.
Silenus, the one that yelled the least, silenced his companions. "Come forth."
Chiron mentioned for Cordelia to come forward and Katie nudged her back. She didn't understand why she had to be the one to go, Katie was there too.
She stood in the center of the circle beside Grover, gently stroking Fishsticks.
"Why is that beast here?" Leneus sneered
Fishsticks growled in her arms, "I wouldn't call him that, he's hungry."
"You have not been present for this trial." Silenus stated, "Therefore, you, Cordelia Jackson, can give an objective recount if events."
Well that was a lot of pressure.
"It started in... Cloudcroft, New Mexico." Cordelia tried to make her voice louder, "Painted birds became real, they flew right off a cup. A rubber mouse turned into a living one in my hand."
"Bah!" One satyr huffed, "Tricks."
"A large boar appeared and trampled on the skeletons attacking us. There was nothing normal about that animal, or that whole event."
"I felt it." Katie said, stepping forward. "The wildness of the Erymanthian Boat. It was sent there. It was sent to Grover."
"Ridiculous, you know nothing of the wild—"
"Would you deny Lady Demeter's connection to nature?" Cordelia asked, attempting to remain calm as if the question hadn't just blurted out of her mouth.
Maron scoffed in offense, "Never."
Cordelia carried on and hoped what she was doing made sense to them, "And would you deny Lady Artemis's connection to the wilderness?"
No one uttered a word at that. Artemis was cruel when she wanted to be, so was Demeter, for that matter.
"Of course not." Silenus said.
She saw her opportunity and ran with it.
"Three of her hunters were present." Cordelia announced, "Artemis's lieutenants, both former and current, witnessed it. Are you saying they can not recognize what it is their Lady stands for? I'm sure we can call them here—"
"NO!" The chorus of denial was loud.
While most satyrs worshiped the ground Artemis walked on, they had a tendency to bother the Hunters which usually ended up with them getting arrow stuck in their goat legs.
Cordelia had watched her mom use her words to work around Smelly Gabe for years, talking him into letting them have more clothes money or using his failing hardware business as a warning.
It was never too much, never anything so outright. Simply a tiny way to make life slightly easier.
And it worked. The trio of satyrs were resigned, the two beside Silenus didn't look happy when be raised his hand to quiet the murmurs.
“Master Underwood,” Silenus announced, “we will give you one more chance.”
Grover brightened. “Thank you!”
“Two weeks.”
"What!"
“What? But, sir! That’s impossible!”
“Another outburst and it will be one week, Master Underwood. If you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing.”
“But, sir, I—I can’t lose my searcher’s license. My whole life—”
“This meeting of the council is adjourned,” Silenus said. “And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!”
The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food.
For one tiny second she wondered if Medusa was available for requests. Grover’s breath hitched and he looked at Cordelia like she was crazy so he probably got the gist of what she was thinking.
"Hi, Cordelia," he mumbled, "That went well, huh?"
"I'm sorry." She could feel how heartbroken he was, his life's dream was just ripped away when he was so close.
She tried to push some happy feelings towards him, he smiled slightly but his face dipped back into a frown almost immediately.
“Those old goats!” Juniper said. “Oh, Grover, they don’t know how hard you’ve tried!”
“There is another option,” Clarisse said darkly.
Cordelia would've liked to listen to whatever was being suggested, but Katie slipped her arm around Cordelia's and dragged her deeper into the woods. She didn't even get to say goodbye.
"Someone wants to see you," Katie said, pulling her past all the nosy wood nymphs popping out to look at them.
"Who?"
"You'll see."
Cordelia grumbled as she stumbled over roots and fallen branches, trying to keep a hold of a whining Fishsticks. "You're almost as bad as Chiron."
Katie snorted, "No one's that bad."
Soon enough, everything started to look a little familiar. There was a winding dirt pathway almost entirely covered by green leaves and colorful flowers, but she recognized it nonetheless.
"I hoped Grover's trial would go better," Katie said, "They wouldn't let me confirm anything because I was there for the last few meetings."
"How long as that been going on?"
"Miranda said the Council started making noise in late April, sometime after your visit."
Cordelia hummed, "You never mentioned feeling anything."
"It was always too hard to explain." Katie shrugged, "There was something there, though. Old and wild."
"Pan."
They reached a clearing in the woods, a line of trees circled around it, their branches reaching up high, trying to block out the sun. In the center was Dimitra's old oak tree, still the oldest tree Cordelia had ever set her eyes on.
Miranda was standing by the ancient wood nymph with one f her siblings, Juma. Cordelia had only met the other girl a handful of times, usually on the strawberry fields.
"I thought you were coming tomorrow?" Miranda called.
"I was," Cordelia sighed, "There was an incident."
She got no sympathy from the girls around her, they seemed to find it rather amusing.
"Good day, Katie, Cordelia." Dimitra greeted.
Cordelia waved awkwardly, her expression becoming more strained as the other three started walking away.
You got this, Katie mouthed and then snatched up Fishsticks.
Cordelia had no idea what she was supposed to have.
Dimitra didn't look any different, green moss covered most of her body, forming a chiton style dress. Her wild hair was wrapped around a wreath of sticks and there were blooming flowers dotted all over her.
Cordelia couldn't help but wonder about the sticks and if she'd stolen them off of other Dryads.
"No."
"What?"
Dimitra smiled, "Whatever your thinking, no."
Cordelia sat on the grass as Dimitra offered her hand, she ignored the tingling shooting up her legs. She'd been meaning to see Dimitra all year and had just never gotten around to it, she wasn't going to pass up the chance now.
"You appear to be doing well." Dimitra said.
Cordelia nodded in agreement, "I'm doing better. Better than I was when I last saw you."
A full two years ago, now.
"Did you want me for something?"
"Not really," apprehensiveness laced Dimitra's voice, "I simply wanted to see how you were faring. How are your dreams?"
"My—" Cordelia hesitated, Katie promised not to tell anyone about the dreams or the drawings. "My dreams?"
"Yes, your dreams. You haven't been seeing anything too odd?"
"Define odd."
Dimitra released a deep breath of air, "Your sister used to get strange dreams."
The name chimed in her head like bell, "Josephine."
Cordelia had that dream last year, of Josephine and Dimitra walking through the woods. She couldn't understand why, the girl was long dead and Cordelia didn't want to know anymore. She hid those chests in her bedroom and never acknowledged them again.
"You remind me of her."
"You've said." Cordelia huffed, "I see her sometimes, rarely. I think Thalia mentioned something similar once."
"Those that do not know history are doomed to repeat it."
Cordelia blinked slowly, "Right. And that means—"
"The last children of the Big Three started a war because they could not trust each other."
"Is that it?" It seemed like a pretty small reason.
Dimitra threaded her hand through blades of grass and they sprouted up higher, "That lack of trust made them easy to pit against each other. The damage they caused took decades to recover from."
Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, I trust Thalia. And Nico."
She froze immediately, her face paling. Thoughts raced through mind rapidly trying to come up with some excuse as to why she would bring up Nico.
"Uh—I mean—not Nico—you see he's—"
"I know about the son of Hades." Dimitra said lowly.
Cordelia whispered, "Did Chiron tell you?"
"No, but he carries a sensation of death, all my nymphs can feel it."
She paled even more. There could be dozens of nymphs that knew about Nico.
"Do not fret, they simply think he his some Underworld demigod. There would surely be more uproar if the Lord of the Dead had broken his oath."
Cordelia tried to calm her beating heart, it thumbed so loudly in her ears. "That's good. Great. Really."
"Where is he now?" Dimitra asked.
"Hmm?"
"He did not enter camp with you."
She winced internally, "I don't really know."
Dimitra shot her a look saying, are you serious?
"He disappears a lot. Into the shadows…" Cordelia was so serious when she said she had no idea where Nico was. "He always comes back. Like, last month he went to see Bianca and nearly got shot with a dozen arrows and then he came home."
Dimitra nodded with reluctance, "Is that a good idea? He is ten, correct?"
"Eleven. And no, my mom hates it. But he's more likely to permanently run away if we stop him from leaving. He wants to know about himself."
"What do you mean?"
Hades wouldn't kill her for sharing this information, would he? It wasn't like Dimitra didn't know most things, and Cordelia hadn't really been the one to tell her Nico was his son.
"Both he and Bianca have no memory of their life before boarding school. My mom tried googling some, there wasn't much." Cordelia fiddled with the clip in her hair, "I get being bothered by it, but Nico's, like, really bothered."
Dimitra hummed, an unreadable expression flashing across her face. "It's a dangerous world out there, keep an eye on him."
"I'm trying to."
"You best go," Dimitra said, "Don't want to miss the cabin inspection."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, yes. Juma told me it was Silena's turn to inspect."
"What!"
Haiti was usually pretty clean, but when she got distracted she caused disasters without even thinking. There were still a dozens of paper cranes scattered around the girl's bedroom.
Not all of her panic was coming from the cabin inspection. There was also the fact that Silena was doing it. The same Silena that could spot a spec of dust a mile away. The same Silena that... Cordelia didn't know how she was going to handle this.
She paused just at the edge of the treeline after running away from Dimitra.
"Your as old as the camp, right?" She yelled across the clearing, the question that popped in her head was too hard to ignore. "Two thousand or something?"
"Yes," Dimitra said, "Two thousand years old."
Cordelia nodded, "Right."