▬▬▬ CHAPTER NINETEEN ▬▬▬

ESMERELDA FELT LIKE SHE WAS drowning. Tears were streaming down her face as dark tendrils invaded her mouth, pushing themselves down her throat. She could feel her energy being sapped away from her. She was growing weak.
       
"Almost time, my little hero," the evil voice crooned, sounding gleeful. "You are almost ready. My army will come to me soon, they just a need more persuasion. And soon, you and I will join together."
       
Shut up, she wanted to say, but she was choking. She could feel the inside of her body get invaded. It was taking over her now. Her conscious was slowly slipping away. The last thing she heard was his dark chuckle before everything disappeared.
       
Gasping for air, she shot up from her sleeping bag. Her face was wet with tears and every inch of her was shaking with uncontrollable fear. She hunched over and pushed her hair away from her face.
       
That voice... He spoke of an army. An army that had yet to come to him... Apparently they still needed more persuasion. What was the army? More importantly, who was in it?
       
Her breath started to grow a little more steadier as she mulled over his words. Whoever spoke wanted her body for something... and he was trying to assemble some sort of army by persuading them to join.
       
Could it be Kronos? Her face paled at the possibility. He's all the way down in Tartarus, but then again, he was able to convince Luke to join forces with him. Was it possible that he did so through dreams? But wouldn't Morpheus try to block him out...?
       
She shook her head wildly. She was going to drive herself crazy at this point. Maybe she should try to go back to sleep... The voice usually never came back for a second round.
       
Suddenly, she heard a whimper.
       
Tensing up, she looked around the quiet cabin for the source of the sound. Ethan was snuggled up in his sleeping bag, pressed against her right side while Lyra was on her left, her head lolling a bit but sleeping soundly nonetheless (it was a miracle neither of them woke up from her jostling). She could see the Stoll brothers snoring away at their shared beds at the top bunk while Chris and another Hermes camper slept under them. Her siblings seemed okay too...
       
There it was again. Another whimper. Her gaze traveled to the front door, where one of unclaimed kids was sleeping at it's left—the worst spot to have since they were in danger of the door hitting them whenever it was opened.
       
It was ten year old Peyton Sweeney, a new camper that arrived a little over a week ago. She was unclaimed and would unfortunately stay that way (unless she was lucky like Esmerelda). Her scrunched up, sweaty face were strong indicators that she was having a nightmare, plus the fact that she was whimpering too.
       
Esmerelda would've gotten up and tried to comfort her, but there were too many sleeping bodies in her way. Peyton whimpered, but then began thrashing around until she finally woke up.
       
"Are you okay?" Esmerelda whispered from across the floor.
       
"F-fine," Peyton said between heavy breaths. "Sorry, I just..."
       
"Did you have a nightmare?" She asked sympathetically.
       
The younger girl nodded, and her next words caused Esmerelda's heart to stop.
        
"It was just... this darkness... and this voice...*" Peyton whispered. She let out a breathless chuckle that held no humor. "Ah, just forget. I'm sorry if I woke you up. I'm gonna try and go back to sleep."
      
Esmerelda didn't respond, she was too stunned to speak. Her stomach churned with dread as her mind filled itself with suspicions.
       
Was the voice in my dreams speaking in Peyton's too? And are there more of us experiencing it?

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Alabaster, have you been sleeping lately? Maybe you should take a break." Esmerelda said pleadingly to her eldest brother, who looked just as drained as all her other siblings.
       
The noirette tensed up before shooting her a teasing look. "Are you trying to get out of Mist lessons? Nice try, but it won't work on me. I'm just a little tired from patrol duty, so don't worry."
       
Patrol duty, huh? She thought, full of worry. Funny, you haven't been in patrol duty this whole week.
       
After a few days since she discovered the possibility that she wasn't the only one dreaming of that menacing voice, she was now absolutely certain that the rest of her siblings were dreaming of it to. Along with Ethan and Chris... and possibly more demigods.
       
If only she knew what the voice was telling them...
       
Alabaster caught the miserable look on her face and misunderstood. "Perk up," he happily clapped her shoulder. "Children of Hecate have a natural affinity to manipulating the Mist. Plus, you're part witch, so maybe you'll pick up on this much easier."
       
Cyrus, Aiden, Theodora, and Ursula (the four children of Hecate who had yet to gain total control over the Mist) listened with rapt attention as Alabaster spoke. Esmerelda listened as well, but it was hard to do so since she was so concerned over the evil voice that kept haunting her abnormal dreams.
       
"Most of you guys probably know this already, but I'll explain it just in case," Alabaster began. "You can do a bunch of cool things with the Mist. You can create powerful illusions, manipulate peoples' memories, hide the real forms of things—like how our weapons look like everyday objects to the mortals—hide locations, objects, and people, disguise people and beings, Charmspeak, and summon Mistforms."
       
"Like what you can do?" Cyrus asked excitedly.
      
Alabaster showed them all his index cards. "Yep." He tucked them away.
       
"What's Charmspeak?" Esmerelda asked.
       
He grinned. "It's like a sort of hypnotism where you can make people do whatever you want. It's a rare power that a child of Aphrodite could have**."
       
That would be nice, she perked up a little. I can tell Snape to stop being mean to me and act like a decent person once in a while...
       
"Anyways," Alabaster continued. "You have perfect control over the Mist, then you can basically alter reality. You can also Mist travel, but I don't know anyone who could do that besides the gods... and Essie."
       
"Huh?" Said girl said dumbly.
       
"Oh yeah, you're right!" Theodora gasped, her black eyes lighting up with remembrance.
       
"I Mist traveled?" Esmerelda furrowed her brows. "What even is that?"
       
"Teleporting through the Mist." Alabaster answered.
       
She just looked even more lost. "When did I do that?"
       
"Like, two years ago, remember?" Ursula pointed out.
       
She stared at them in pure confusion.
       
"I don't remember that either," Aiden said, patting her arm.
       
"That's because you weren't in camp yet," Alabaster reminded him before turning to Esmerelda. "You were climbing the wall...? A rock was about to fall on you?"
       
"OH!" She exclaimed. "Ohhhh yeah, you're right!"

Theodora facepalmed.
       
"You vanished in a swirl of green mist," Ursula informed her. "How did you not notice that?"
       
"I didn't see any mist," she replied sheepishly, shrugging. "You think I can do that again, though?"
       
"Who knows," Alabaster frowned. "We might have to put you in a life-or-death situation to find out..."
       
"Never mind," she said quickly. "I don't need to Mist travel."
       
"Aw, come on, Essie!" Cyrus whined. "You heard Alabaster. So far only gods are able to teleport! If there's a chance for you to learn it—and become better—then you gotta keep trying!"
       
"Yeah, Essie," Theodora nodded in agreement. "That could be a really useful trick to learn. It could help you out if you're ever trapped with a monster."
      
Esmerelda's face turned serious. Theodora was right. "Okay, I'll learn how to do that, but I think it's better if I learn the basic's first. Baby steps, you know?"
       
Alabaster nodded in acceptance. "Good point. Now let's get started. The most important thing to remember when manipulating the Mist is that you have to focus on what the target wants to see, not the user. For example..." He racked his brain for ideas. "Ahah! Okay, let's say some random mortal sees your weapon—"
       
Aiden raised his hand as if he was in school. "—But I thought the Mist already covers that—"
       
"—Well let's say they don't," Alabaster quickly interrupted. "Anyways. A mortal sees your weapon. Naturally, they freak out. So, you have to use the Mist on them. You gotta think of your weapon being something else, like a cellphone, and you gotta make sure you focus really hard on the mortal seeing a cellphone instead of a weapon. You understand?"
       
Everyone nodded furiously.
       
"Good. Anyways, it's a lot easier to trick mortals with the Mist—unless they're Clear Sighted of course—then it is to trick a demigod. Unfortunately, we don't have any spare mortals lying around that we could use, so you'll have to practice on me." He motioned to himself. "We'll start out simple. Take out your weapons. Good. Now either make it disappear completely or turn into something else—and no, Essie, no Transfiguration. I'll notice."
       
Everyone stared down at their weapons. Esmerelda used one of her throwing knives, while Cyrus used his sword (which was a little unbalanced for him), Theodora her dagger, Ursula, her kopis, and Aiden, one of his arrows.
       
It's a pen, Esmerelda thought firmly. My knife is a pen, and Alabaster will see it as such. It's a pen, it's a pen, it's a pen...
       
Alabaster gasped. "Theodora, you're—ah, never mind. You almost had it."
       
"Darn it," the blonde girl sighed. "This is hard."
      
"Just focus really hard, you guys. There's a chance you're manipulating the Mist right now, but it's only strong enough for a mortal to see." Alabaster soothed. "If it makes you feel better, it took me a few weeks to get the hang of it."
       
Esmerelda stopped focusing to gape at him, so did everyone else. "You?"
       
He nodded. "Yep. The Mist would be wishy-washy with me. One second, I'd have it, then it's gone the next and I wouldn't be able to control it for the next few days. It was annoying. It took a lot of concentration and practice. I think I finally mastered it after half a year... And then two more years passed and I was able to make my first Mistform." He grinned at the memory.
       
It was hard for Esmerelda to imagine Alabaster having trouble with his powers. He was always so good at magic—Hades, he was the strongest child of Hecate! But her sensible side told her that it made sense. After all, nobody was born skilled.
       
After two more hours of Mist training, Alabaster finally called for a break. Nobody had managed to successfully trick him. He assured them that tricking demigods was hard for first-timers and that all it would take was daily practice.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

It was Christmas Eve, and midnight was slowly approaching. Every cabin was decked out in Christmas decorations—even the Hermes cabin, though they couldn't really put any indoor decorations because of how crowded it was. Even worse, they couldn't put a Christmas tree inside either (they never could...), but they sufficed with having one outside while their presents stayed indoors.
       
Usually, Thalia's Tree would be decorated too with a nice bright star at the top, but due to it's dwindling condition, nobody dared to touch it in fear of making it's state worse. Mr. D allowed the camp to snow so basically everyone was outside making snow angels or having snowball fights.
       
Everyone was enjoying themselves. Even the camp's security was loose in order to give everyone an equal chance to enjoy the festive move.
       
That was their biggest mistake.
       
Connor grabbed Travis' wrist to glance down at the watch. "It's almost time!" He said giddily. "Just two minutes away 'till it's finally Christmas!"
       
"Oh, I can't wait!" Esmerelda squealed, grinning brightly at Ethan who looked bored out of his mind. "Cheer up, would you? You're going to absolutely love my present!"
       
"Was it something from Diagon Alley?" He asked, sounding almost... hopeful.
       
She caught the tone and grinned even wider. "Yes," she sang. "You're gonna love it, it's the coolest thing ever!"
       
"What'd you get us?" Chris asked eagerly.
       
"I told you, you'll find out soon!"
       
"One more minute!" Connor announced before Travis smashed his face in with a snowball for snatching his wrist again. He tackled him and they started wrestling on the ground.
       
"Did you get me something?" Esmerelda asked Ethan as they ignored the two brothers playfully fighting in the background.
       
"'Course I did... Dunno if you'd like it though," the older boy muttered. "I heard you mentioned it once..."
       
She opened her mouth to tell him that she'd love any present from him, but was cut off by a bunch of sudden cheers.
       
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" A daughter of Aphrodite shouted for all to hear.
       
The Stoll brothers stopped fighting.
       
"TIME TO OPEN THE PRESENTS!" They yelled in unison, and bolted for their cabin while everyone else followed.
      
The Stolls and a few of their other siblings started handing out people's presents. "This one's for Chloe, this one's Chris'—ooh! This one's mine! Here's yours, Ethan—hand this to Essie too, and this one's for you, and you, and you..."
       
Chris ripped open his present eagerly. "Ooh, Essie, what's this? Dungbombs?"
       
Esmerelda grinned. "Magical stink bombs. Throw them and it'll be like releasing a bunch of skunks."
       
"Awesome!" He laughed maniacally.

Alabaster let out an excited squeal as he held out his present from her. "It's After the Afterlife! You got me After the Afterlife!" After the Afterlife was a book written by one his favorite authors, Dr. Howard Claymore. She read the first page of his books and closed it immediately since it was so full of big, complicated scienc-y words. She had no idea why Alabaster was such a big fan of him.
       
While the campers grew excited about the presents they received from her, Esmerelda unwrapped her presents. Basil gave her a bunch of cute succulent plants and the Stolls gave her a stolen wallet that contained over a hundred bucks. When she received Ethan's present, she eagerly ripped it open and gasped.
       
"Is this Dark Souls 3?! You heard me when I was talking about it?!" She only mentioned the game once to Lyra, saying she wanted to play the game so she could create a bad-ass female character who could slay all the monsters and enemies. She couldn't believe Ethan had heard it! And remembered it nonetheless!
       
Ethan's cheeks flushed at the bright, admiring look she was giving him. "I overheard you talking to Lyra about it. Figured you might like it so I went ahead and bought it."
       
"Aw, thank you!" She said, bringing him into a bone-crushing hug. She pulled back and beamed at him. "Now open up my present! I think you might like it!"
       
He rose a brow as if to say You sure? but opened it anyways. He didn't comment on the black gift wrapping and pried open the box.
       
"A knife?" His eyes widened, gingerly picking the weapon up.
       
"A very special knife," she said brightly. "I bought it off Borgin and Burkes and had the Hephaestus kids melt the metal and replace it with celestial bronze. Anyways, it secrets this really dangerous poison called Venomous Tentacula juice. It doesn't kill unless you hit somewhere vital, but the poison creates this painful burning sensation. All you have to do is press the snake engraving at the bottom. I asked Mr. Borgin, and he said that it works on monsters too!"
       
"Di immortales," he whispered. "Essie, this is amazing. This is way more impressive than my crappy present to you."
       
"No it's not!" She disagreed. "I love your present! Trust me when I say I'm gonna be playing the game twenty-four seven. Heck, I'd bring it to school with me but apparently electronics malfunction there."
       
"That sucks," Ethan said, looking like it was a serious loss. "How do you even entertain yourself there?"
       
Easy, I don't. I just train myself until I drop dead. Instead of saying that though, she shrugged and replied, "There's a lot of cool things to look at there."
       
Ethan returned his gaze back on his brand new weapon. His finger lightly caressed the bronze blade as if he was already imagining the many ways he could kill with it. Then, he looked up at her and grinned. "Think you can teach me any knife-throwing too?"
       
"Oh definitely!" She grinned back. "Now there's something I can finally kick your butt in!" She was getting very tired of Ethan wiping the floor with her during sword-fighting lessons.
       
He snorted. "Oookay, Essie. Just don't go bawling like a crybaby when it turns out I'm better than you at this."
       
She barked out a laugh. "Yeah, right! I've seen your javelin throws, Ethan, they're not pretty."
       
His cheeks turned pink. "Javelins and knives are two very different things!"
       
"Whatever you say. Let's go look for the rest of our presents now! I think the Stolls stole a wallet for you too!"
       
The rest of the night (or early morning) was filled with pure happiness. Once everyone opened their presents, they joined the rest of the camp outside where nymphs were serving out hot chocolate with marshmallows. The Stoll brothers got into a mini snowball fight with one another about the amount of marshmallows in their cup and Travis accidentally hit Chiron on the back of the head when Connor ducked. Much to everyone's surprise, Chiron actually threw a snowball back and the whole camp joined in and turned it into a full out war. The Hephaestus cabin even brought out their catapults and everything.
       
The excitement started to die out around three o'clock (Christmas was one of the few instances where the curfew was lifted) and everyone retired to their cabins for a good nights rest. Esmerelda nestled herself in her sleeping bag, squished between Ethan and Lyra but for once, she was perfectly comfortable.
       
Today was a good day.
       
But it didn't last long.
       
Around an hour later, the Hermes cabin was rudely awakened by a frantic knocking on their door. Only half of the cabin woke up (Esmerelda included). Suddenly the door was slammed open—smacking poor Peyton Sweeney. Everyone woke up that time, but it wasn't because of the door opening loudly.
       
No, it was the blood-piercing screams of a hundred campers outside that did.
       
"What's going—" Someone started to ask.
       
"—Arm yourselves!" Katie Gardiner shouted hoarsely. Her pajamas were ripped and she was covered almost head to toe in blood. There was a giant bleeding gash that ran down her leg.
       
"K-Katie, are you—?!" Travis sat up, eyes wide with alarm at her appearance.
       
"Camp is under attack!" She cried out. "It's a Drakon! It's killing everyone! Summer, she—" She started to choke as fresh tears rolled down her bloodied face.
       
The whole cabin was stunned for a single second before all Hades broke loose. Everyone scrambled out of their beds or sleeping bags, scurrying around for their weapons and armor while Travis rushed over to Katie who had broken down at the doorway.
      
Esmerelda clumsily slipped her bracelet on while she turned her brooch into a labrys. She rushed outside the cabin only to freeze at what she saw.
       
It was pure chaos. Campers were scrambling through blood-stained snow, either trying to drag the injured to a nearby Apollo camper or trying to fight, and a few were out waking up the remaining cabins. She spotted at least ten or so dead bodies littered on the ground, and maybe an arm or two sticking out from the snow (she didn't know if they were still attached to the bodies, but she hoped they were). The volleyball courts were ruined, as was the arts and crafts station. The ground was caved in—imprints from the drakon no doubt. Her green eyes followed the path and her blood ran cold.

The drakon was at least ten feet tall, and ran about half the length of a football field (which was 360 feet). It's scales were silver, almost like looking at a bunch of little shields. It was currently wrecking havoc on the amphitheater. Esmerelda watched as a bunch of campers climbed up the stands and dived down to launch a stronger attack, only to be swallowed whole by it's gaping mouth or—if they're lucky enough—be swatted aside. When she caught sight of it's face, she felt herself grow faint.

She saw an endless row of sharp teeth soaked in blood. It was salivating heavily, and she could see it's beady black gaze from where she stood.
       
"Oh my gods..." She heard Ethan say from beside her.
       
She shook the fear away from her and slapped his shoulder, still staring at the horrific scene. "Come on, we have to help them!"
       
As they ran towards the amphitheater, they were joined by Malcolm Pace and Chiron, both who looked like they had just woken up.
       
"What is that thing?" She asked desperately.
       
"That's the Thespian Drakon," Chiron informed, notching an arrow. It was centimeters away from piercing it's eyes. Instead, it hit the scales on its face and bounced off.
       
"The Thespian Drakon?!" Malcolm paled. "I learned about it. It destroyed the land of Thespiai in Boiotia!"
       
"How did it die?" Ethan asked, jumping over a dead body.
       
"A hero—Menestratos—jumped into it's mouth wearing a spiked breastplate. It died when it swallowed him."
       
"Y-you're joking," Esmerelda stuttered.
       
Chiron's face grew grim. "I'm afraid he's correct." He shot another arrow but missed. "It's skin's almost impenetrable, that's why Menestratos had to attack from within. I wish not to have a repeat of that though. If there is another way we can defeat it without one of us making a sacrifice, then we should take it."
       
Esmerelda agreed. Judging from all the bodies in the snow, they had lost more than enough.
       
"Where's Mr. D?" Ethan asked. They were just a few yards from the amphitheater now.
       
"He was called over to Olympus before Christmas." Chiron replied grimly.
       
Just great, she thought bitterly. Our one powerhouse, and he's gone.
       
She heard a shrill scream the second they made it into the amphitheater. It sounded terrified, pained—and worse: very, very familiar. She turned her head towards the sound and found of her younger half-siblings on the ground with a horribly twisted ankle.
       
"BLAIR!" She shrieked, and sprinted for her. She dodged passed frantic heroes and fallen bodies and dove for her sister. "Get up, come on!" She tugged her back up, but Blair shrieked again and a dark shadow loomed over them.
       
She whirled around and saw a wide mouth bordered with razor blade teeth and instinctively raised her hand. "INCENDIO!" She screamed, and a jet of bright orange flames shot out from her palm and into it's mouth. The jaws shut before it could reach them and the drakon screeched at the minor inconvenience.
       
Even though her flames were weak, it bought her enough time to grab her sister and get out of there.
       
Ethan came and assisted her while snapping, "That was suicide you idiot!"
       
"I had no choice! Now shut up and help me get her outta here!" She snapped back.
       
They found a group of Apollo kids tending to injured campers and had one of them treat Blair's twisted ankle. Malcolm Pace was there as well with two crushed legs (the drakon's heavy body slithered over him) and Nyssa from the Hephaestus cabin.
       
"I have a plan," Malcolm Pace said, looking at Esmerelda. "I formulated it after I saw what you did. Nyssa, your cabin has Greek fire, right?"
       
"Y-yes," she said, coughing up some blood.
       
"And the catapults?"
       
She seemed to realize what he was planning, as did everyone else. "Yeah... They're still out in front of our cabin from when we had that snowball fight!"
       
The snowball fight. It felt like it was so long ago but it happened only a few hours ago. How did things go so bad so quickly?
       
"The greek fire'll definitely kill the drakon, even with it's impenetrable scales... But it'll take awhile to kill. We can't risk it wrecking havoc while it's covered in Greek fire. Too dangerous. I know that it's only weakness is the inside of it though. It'll die instantly if we aim in," he explained. "We need your siblings to put the Greek fire in the catapults and shoot it once the drakon's opened it's mouth."
      
By now they were gathering a small crowd who were intently listening in.
       
"But it only opens it's mouth when it's about to eat someone," Will Solace pointed out. His face turned white. "Oh gods... S-someone needs to act as bait..."
       
Ethan and Esmerelda instinctively glanced at each other in warning to prevent the other from volunteering. The crowd went silent as they looked at each other apprehensively. Who was going to be the bait?
       
"It needs to be someone fast enough," Malcolm said softly. "Because once the Greek fire enters the drakon's mouth, it'll explode on impact. They'll die if they get caught in it. So they have to fast enough to run away as far as they can."
      
Suddenly, a small, but brave voice came forward. "I-I'll do it."
       
It was Alyssa Rodriguez, Chris' younger thirteen year old sister.
       
"No!" Chris immediately objected.
       
"There's nobody else, Chris!" She shouted hoarsely. "Your leg's all cut up! Travis has a concussion and Connor's calf broke! And I'm definitely not going to let any of our younger siblings be bait either! I have to be the one to do it!"
       
"You're going to get yourself killed if you—"
       
Alyssa turned away from him and said to Malcolm. "I'll do it."
      
Malcolm nodded shakily. "Okay... okay. We do it at the beach, it has the most open space so there'll be less damage there. We still need to buy some time for the Hephaestus kids to wheel the catapults over there and prepare the bombs."
       
"I'll do that," Esmerelda volunteered, earning herself an angry look from Ethan which she ignored. "I'll keep that thing contained here until it's time."
       
"You are an idiot," Ethan hissed at her. "I'm staying too. The rest of you that aren't going to be working at the beach, help evacuate the campers from the amphitheater while we distract it."
       
There were nods of agreement and everyone quickly went to work. Campers spread out informing others of the plan while the Hephaestus kids hurried over to their catapult and began wheeling it to the beach.
       
Esmerelda whipped her wand out and it started shooting bright green sparks that caught the drakon's attention. It's beady black gaze locked on her and rapidly started slithering her way.
       
Gods I hope they get it ready quickly, she thought as she directed the drakon away from the other campers. There were still a few of them trying to get out of the amphitheater and an unfortunate one caught the drakon's attention when he added too much pressure on a sprained ankle and cried out.
       
The drakon darted his way instead.
       
"HEY!" Ethan screamed, waving a wooden stick with lava quickly melting down the top of it. He threw it at the snake's body. It shrieked and went after him, giving the other camper time to run.
      
Esmerelda chased after Ethan and the drakon, fearing that it would clamp it's jaws around him if she didn't find a way to occupy it soon. Once she reached it's head, she grabbed onto the monster's skin and boosted herself up so now she was riding it.
       
Holy Hera, she thought, not expecting the ride to be so bumpy. She prayed she wouldn't throw up.
       
She raised her wand, the only weapon she could grab while trying to stay on, and brought it down. There was a squish sound as it pierced the drakon's eye. It shrieked with rage and swung it's head to the side, causing Esmerelda to go flying.
      
She landed on the ground with a loud thud. When she gathered herself together, she realized with misery that her wand had snapped in two.
       
Ethan came running after her and hauled her back up to her feet. "Keep running, Essie!"
       
"Right, right," she grunted, tossing the broken wand aside.
       
Together, Ethan and Esmerelda worked together to keep the Thespian Drakon within the amphitheater, which was now fully cleared of the other campers. It felt like they had been at it for hours when it had only been fifteen minutes or so.
       
"IT'S READY!" Alyssa screamed, emerging from a small group of trees that led the way to the beach. "ETHAN! ESSIE! GET OUT! I'LL HANDLE IT FROM HERE!"
       
The two aforementioned demigods nodded at one another and hurried over the stands, then promptly jumped over it. They landed in a roll, and pressed their backs against the wall as they listened to the drakon hiss at Alyssa. They heard it's heavy slithering and knew that it was after her now.
       
There was a small group of demigods gathered back at the beach. There were four or so children of Hephaestus (those who weren't injured) and Chris Rodriguez. The catapults were loaded up and ready, now all they had to do was wait for Alyssa to return with the Thespian Drakon in tow.
       
"Please father," Chris whispered under his breath. "Let her be fast enough," he begged. "Let her make it through alive. Help her. Please help her."
       
He didn't know if Hermes would listen to his prayers. He hoped he would listen for once, because now he needed him. Alyssa needed him. Hermes never showed any signs of him watching over them, even when they were on the run and trying to live on the streets, or when their mother was screaming bloody murder at them for things they couldn't help.
       
This is important dad, he pleaded. Alyssa will die if you don't help her. Please, make sure she gets out of this safely. I'll never ask for anything else.
       
There was an intake of breath from Charles Beckendorf. "There she is!"
       
Chris looked up and saw his little sister running for dear life. The drakon was just a few yards behind her, but it's mouth was closed.
       
"Dammit, dammit, dammit," he cursed. "The mouth—it's not open...!"
       
Please dad, please, please, please!
       
"Get the catapults ready!" Beckendorf ordered even though the drakon's mouth has yet to open.
       
Suddenly, Alyssa stopped running and turned to face the monster. Chris didn't know what she was up to. She seemed to be waiting for something...
       
The drakon opened it's mouth.
       
"NOW!" Beckendorf screamed, and Chris heard the sound of something being fired into the air.
       
"RUN, ALYSSA!" Chris screamed into his throat went dry. He didn't know if Alyssa heard him, but she was running anyways. The Greek fire soared over her head.
       
No, Chris tensed up. She's still too close. No. No! FATHER HELP HER!
       
The Greek fire made contact with the inside of the Thespian Drakon's mouth. There was a violent explosion of green. Chris didn't dare wince, didn't dare look away. He watched, whatever faith he had in his father sinking, as Alyssa's body flew through the air and landed harshly on the sand in an awkward ankle, engulfed in green flames.

— author's note —

* I'm so sorry for not making this obvious to you guys, but the dark voice Essie's been dreaming about IS Kronos. Not only that, but that's how he's been speaking to the other kids (the ones that are more susceptible of manipulation). He especially targets those who are unclaimed or those whose parents are minor gods. It's easier to manipulate them into joining his forces and it's how he managed to get Luke too. I tried to hint on it by describing Essie's cabin-mates as tired looking, it's because Kronos has been speaking to them in their dreams.

** IF U SEARCH UP MIST CONTROL/MANIPULATION, IT WILL ACTUALLY TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN CHARMSPEAK WITH IT?!?!?! WHat???! I thought it was just a child of Aphrodite thing, but didn't Medea use charmspeak on Jason and Leo too? And she wasn't even a daughter of Hecate, she was just taught magic by her, so could it be something that can be learned through magic???

I wrote this chapter because as I was reading through the Sea of Monsters, the book briefly mentioned that a drakon came in and pretty much did a lot of damage to the camp (this was before Percy and Annabeth arrived). No deaths were mentioned, but I'm pretty sure having a shit-ton of delicious smelling demigods all in one place would attract A BUNCH of monsters and the borders wouldn't deter them since it's weakened. Tasty demigods + weakened borders = dead demigods.

And I wanted to write about Chris Rodriguez too cuz why not 🤷🏻‍♀️ His sister, Alyssa, isn't a canon character just an OC but I added her in because I wanted to give Chris a reason for joining the Titan Army and ur god dad letting ur sister die even after you prayed to him to save her, would be a good reason to join the revolution against the gods.