The scream wasn't high-pitched, so I could tell it was a guy's scream. We all ran forward, Percy unsheathing his sword, Annabeth pulling her shield off her back and unstrapping a dagger I hadn't noticed before. I went slower, since I didn't know where my staff was. At the juu of the hill, a guy with dirty blond hair was stumbling backwards, holding a carving knife. An army of monsters followed him- dozens, maybe over a hundred. A few members of the leigon were demigods, none wearing the machungwa, chungwa shirts. They held flags, some with a strange symbol I didn't recognize, and some were the T-shirts campers wore- shredded to pieces. A single word was painted on a white banner carried kwa a young girl- Revenge. Annabeth paled at the sight of the flags. "Kronos' symbol," she breathed, and turned to Percy. "Let's go." She started towards the hill, but he grabbed her arm. "A kiss for luck?"
She smiled, and quickly obliged. kwa the time they were up the kilima fighting, I ran back to the Big House. Running through countless rooms, I finally found my staff and a bronze bow and arrow. I grabbed that, along with its quiver and my own weapon, and ran back out.
The kilima seemed to shimmer with golden dust from the dead monsters, but several still remained. A handful of enemy half-bloods were gagged and tied to a tree, but there were about ten left. I hurried to the dirty blond and shoved the bow and arrows into his hands. "Use these on the monsters- the carving kisu won't do it," I instruct. "Try not to harm the demigods- tie them to the pine mti with this if wewe catch one." I lift my staff and make a twirling motion, conjuring circles of rope and cloth and letting them settle around his neck. I turn, but see him shoot a monster from a decent distance. I smile, then send fifty daggers into the hearts of hellhounds. Annabeth backs up against me, and slips me an extra shield she must have taken off a captured demigod. "Those spit acid," she said, gesturing towards a large snake with claws. "They're small drakons, but their poison can kill. Stop it with magic if wewe can," she tells me. I raise my staff and their snouts are shut through muzzles and chains. A couple suffocate, since the chains went over their noses, but most of them die kwa stabbing. But we're not even close to stopping them- our demigods lie injured all over the hill. So I run around, tapping every person clothed in machungwa, chungwa I see, and when I'm sure I've set the protective spell over them all, I climb the pine and levitate atop the branches. I lift my staff and yell in Greek, then slam it down. It hits the air as if it's solid and it ripples, like water. All the monsters and enemies drop unconscious, and I yell, "They're not dead, just knocked out! Stab the monsters and capture the half-bloods!" I jump off the tree, and start healing the wounded. Fewer people than I though were injured, and I quickly reach the new guy. I found his kisu on the ground, so I hand it to him and touch his cheeks, where there's a big red welt on on side and a deep bloody gash on the other. I murmur ancient syllables of lore, and he sighs with relief. I brush dried blood off my right hand and hold it out to him. "Rose Chun-Li."
He returns my handshake. "Kendall Camren."
Just as we release our grip on each other's hands, Chiron walks up and says, "Rose, take-what's wewe name?"
"Kendall. Kendall Camren."
"Rose, take Kendall here to the Big House. Find the room just off the infirmary, it should have a ping-pong table. Wait there while I gather the head counselors."
I nod, and gesture to Kendall to follow me. "Bring your bow and arrows- they aren't mine, and we might need to return them."
"What about the arrows I shot?"
I flick my staff, and all of Kendall's arrows return to his quiver. "Come on, we should get there before Chiron."
We walk towards the house, me wincing with every step on my left foot. Once we reach the porch, I lean onto a column and pull the shard of wood out. Sighing with relief, I lead us both to the infirmary and turn left. The room with the ping-pong meza, jedwali was there, and we only waited a few dakika before Chiron arrived with Percy, Annabeth, and over a dozen zaidi demigods. We all manage to sit around the table, with me and Kendall squished on either side of Chiron. He cleared his throat softly and then began.
"We have two new demigods- Rose Chun-Li and Kendall Camren. We need to discuss where Rose is to stay and why Kendall got caught up in the revenge army."
A thin blonde with a maua, ua tucked behind her ear cocks her head to the side in puzzlement. "Why do we need to decide where she stays? If she isn't claimed, doesn't she just go into the Hermes cabin?"
Chiron nods. "That's just it, Katie. Rose has been claimed, she knows who her mother is."
"Who?" Katie says. "Is it a minor goddess we don't have a cabin, kibanda for?"
Chiron looks pointedly at me, and I squirm in my seat. "Circe."
Katie's jaw drops, along with everyone else's, excepting Percy and Annabeth. And Chiron, of course. But no one reacts nearly as dramatically as Serefina had mere hours before.
"Yes, Miss Gardener, wewe are correct in saying we do not have a cabin, kibanda for Rose. Any suggestions?"
Annabeth speaks up. "Well, why don't we just build a Circe cabin? She's still a goddess. Rose can stay in the Hermes cabin, kibanda in the meantime."
"Yeah, with all the half-bloods being claimed lately, there's plenty of room," Percy agrees.
"Alright," Chiron says. "That's settled. Now, Kendall, tell us how wewe came to be here."
He took a deep breath and started talking.
"I live in Boston. I'm used to walking down the streets and seeing dozens of people. But recently some of these people ahve been giving me looks...like I killed their grandmother au something.
"So one siku one of these guys takes a ngumi, punch at me. I don't know why, so I run. Outside of my apartment building is a bum, just the average homeless guy in Boston. He takes me kwa the shoulders and tells me to flee Boston. Grab a weapon and go to a camp off Long Island Sound. He alisema I'd be salama there, and to bring a weapon. I turned my head to see if the guy who'd punched me was following me, and when I looked back at the bum, he was gone.
"I ran up to my apartment, shaken but no way willing to take his advice. I stepped into the kitchen, and my mom was lying on the floor...dead...stabbed in the heart." He stopped for a moment, just stared down at the meza, jedwali in despair. I got up from my chair and wrapped my arms around him on a comforting hug. He looked up and gave me a weak smile, a cue to let go. I did and he continued.
"This scares me enough to go to this camp. I grab some chakula and a carving knife, take out all the cash from mom's and my wallets, and hop a train to New York. I figure I can ride a bus au walk to camp from there.
Once I get off the train, I have no idea where to go. It's about noon and the sun's directly overhead, when a beam, like a spotlight, seems to shine in one direction. On a gut feeling, I follow it. Once I'm halfway here, in a real rural area with no one around, the army springs up. I run to the hill, taking out my knife, and wewe know the rest." Kendall slumps back in his seat, exhausted from the fight and retelling his tale. Chiron looks a bit shaken, too. "Those were a leigon of Kronos' revenge army. Some ddemigods that survived, some newly gathered monsters....," He looks back and forth at me and Kendall, and tells us the full story of the Titan War, about Luke being overtaken, about the prophecy and Percy and Annabeth's huge roles in it. He even takes out his own bow and arrow and shoots at Percy. I shriek, but the arrow simply glances off his chest. Kendall and I gape, but everyone else seems to not even notice, like they're used to it. After a dakika of quiet, Chiron says, "Alright then. Kendall and Rose are to stay in the Hermes cabin, kibanda until Kendall is claimed and the Circe cabin, kibanda is finished. Annabeth, please draw up some plans for that as soon as possible. Kendall, wewe seem adept with that bow and arrow, wewe may keep them. The camp store should have extra clothes for wewe two-"
And the room goes pitch black. I scream, feeling a hand on my shoulder, fingernails plunging into my skin. Grabbing at whatever's closest to me, I latch on to someone's forearm. The hand leaves my shoulder and instead goes to my mouth. A light suddenly fills the room- a golden image of the sun floating over Kendall's head. Just for a fraction of a second, he sees Circe capturing me, and then we're gone. Completely gone.