1680 words

Around lunchtime, I went to my mother's tent.

I stopped at the flap, which was closed, and called, "My lady, may I come in? I need to speak with you."

There was a rustling inside, and my mother, Artemis, opened the tent flap. She was in twelve-year-old form, which I was used to by now, after 4 years of being her Lieutenant.

"Yes, you may come in," Artemis said, stepping aside so that I could come in.

Dad was already standing up with his white wolf, Snow, at his side. He was also in his 12-year-old form.

"Hey, kiddo," Dad said. "I'd like to stay and chat, but I gotta go. Phoebe challenged me to a berry-eating contest, and there's no way she's beating my record."

"We will finish this discussion later, Orion," Artemis told Dad.

Dad bowed. "Yes, my lady."

He hurried out of the tent, Snow trotting at his heels.

I sat down on one of the bear skin rugs in the tent. Agro laid down next to me, and Zade perched on my shoulder.

"What is it you need to speak to me about, Ainsley?" Artemis asked, sitting down on a deer skin facing me.

"Well," I said. "Last night, I had a dream. In it, my satyr friend Grover, was being chased by a dark figure. I think he's in danger."

Artemis studied me for a moment before saying," And?"

"And I believe I need to go to Camp Half-Blood," I said. "If Grover is in danger, then I must help him. I do not wish to leave, however, but I must help Grover. Do I have your permission to leave the Hunt and-"

"Yes," Artemis said. "You have my permission."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean I can always stay here-"

"Ainsley," said Artemis firmly. "You may go."

"Thank you, Mother," I said, standing up and bowing to her. "I'll be back as quick as I can."

I started to walk out of the tent when Artemis said, "Ainsley."

I stopped at the tent flap and turned back. "Yes, Mother?"

"Be careful," she said.

——————————————————

"5 more! 5 more! 5 more!"

"Okay!" I said through a mouthful of marshmallows, and I grabbed five more marshmallows and stuffed them into my mouth.

"Coward!" Naomi yelled, stuffing 10 more marshmallows into her mouth. "I'm going 30!"

"You both are pathetic!" Hunter yelled, though I could barely understand her because she had, like 50 marshmallows in her mouth.

I grabbed a marshmallow and chucked it at Naomi. It hit her in the nose.

"Oh, it's on!" Naomi shouted, seizing a deer rib and throwing it at me.

"Food fight!" Dad shouted.

It was soon chaos, with marshmallows and deer meat flying all over the place. I managed to grab a bag of marshmallows and dumped it over Hunter's head.

We only stopped when a bird came soaring out of the sky, squawking, I have a message! I have a message! Urgent, urgent! Urgent message for Ainsley Theron!

"Come down here!" I called up to the robin.

The robin landed on my outstretched hand.

"What's going on?" I asked the bird.

Camp Half-Blood is under attack! Camp Half-Blood is under attack! the robin squawked.

I froze.

"Agro, Zade!" I shouted, and they came over. "We need to leave, now!"

"Where art thou going?" Zoë asked.

"Camp," I said. "My friend is in danger."

"Wait! Kid!" Dad tossed me my backpack. "You'll need that. Good luck!"

I hugged him quickly, tapped my bow so it shrank into a crescent moon necklace, and shouldered my backpack.

"Let's go!" I shouted to Agro and Zade.

Zade landed on my shoulder, and Agro trotted to my side. Then, I started to run.

I'm not talking about normal running. I'm talking about running-so-fast-everything-is-a-blur kind of running. As a demigod daughter of Artemis, that's one of my powers: running at superhuman speeds.

After about 5 minutes, we reached the edge of Long Island Sound, on the shores of Connecticut, about 100 miles down the shoreline from New Haven.

Without hesitation, I ran across the water.

Ugh!  Zade squawked, shaking his feathers. This is wet!

When we got land again by Montauk, I heard shouting.

"Draw arms!" a girl's voice yelled.

I squinted my eyes. My vision sped forward and stopped on a bunch of people wearing armor and feathered helmets, who fighting were fighting four bronze bulls the size of elephants.

"Prepare arms!" I shouted as we neared the entrance to Camp Half-Blood.

Even though it had been 4 years since I had last been here, I still remembered where to go.

I stopped running by the border by the pine tree and surveyed the scene. The people in armor were getting their butts whipped, with some of them having their helmets on fire.

Worst still, two drakons were sneaking up on the group.

"Agro! Zade! Take care of those drakons!" I shouted.

We're on it! Agro and Zade barked/squawked together, and they both assumed their huge forms and charged at the drakons.

"Hey!" I yelled at the bulls, putting on my fighting expression. "Over here, metalheads!"

Two of the bulls heard me, snorted fire in rage, and charged at me. When they caught sight of my face, however, they fled in the opposite direction.

I should probably explain why. Over the 4 years that I've been with the Hunters, I've developed what the other Hunters call my "Hunter Stare" or "The-stare-that-makes-you-look-so scary-we-almost-wet-our-pants." Word got around to the monsters, and now they're all terrified of me.

"I don't think so!" I shouted, and I shapeshifted into a lion and raced after them.

"No! Don't!" a vaguely familiar voice screamed behind me, but I ignored it.

I caught up to the first bull and slammed it into the ground with my front paws. The bull rolled for a few feet, before getting to its feet again. While it was rolling, I shapeshifted back into a human, drew my daggers, and ran to it. I leapt up onto its back, scanning for a chink in its armor. The heat from the bull didn't really affect me; honestly, it felt like a warm breeze. I found the chink, raised my daggers, and plunged them into the chink.

The bull stopped in its tracks. I pulled my daggers from its back, leapt off, and charged at the second bull that had run from me. I raised my dagger, willed it to thunder, and brought the dagger swishing back down again. A lightning bolt reflected off my dagger and struck the bronze bull. It melted part of its bronze plating.

The bull snorted in rage and tried to snort fire in my face, but I just smiled at it. "Won't work, metalhead."

Another power I have as a demigod daughter of Artemis is the ability to control gravity. I can lessen the gravity and basically make people float in the air, but my favorite of all: gravity blasts.

"Bye, bye bully!" I shouted, and I flicked my hand in the bull's direction.

The bull was blasted backward and slammed into the ground next to the first bull.

"Agro, Zade, you two good?" I yelled over the shouts of the people in armor.

All good! Agro barked, shouting to my side.

I'm fine, Zade squawked, soaring over and landing on my shoulder.

"Okay," I said. "Second to last bull. Let's go!"

I charged one of the two remaining bowls, flicked my hand upward, and used a geyser to send it flying into the air.

I stared up at it, craning my neck to see it. "What do you reckon? 50 feet?"

I'd say 45, Zade squawked.

70's my bet, Agro barked as the bull came falling back down.

I suddenly realized that the bull was about to flatten one of the campers. She wasn't paying attention because she was busy fighting with the last bull.

"Watch out!" I yelled, sprinting toward the person.

The person heard the bull coming, but I could tell she wasn't going to move in time. I reached the person just in time and tackled her out of the way.

"Get off me!" the person shouted.

It was the same voice that had shouted in my vision. The person had a gruff voice, and I could immediately tell it was the kind of person who was a bully.

"You're welcome," I said, standing up.

"You're welcome?!" the person repeated indignantly.

"Yes, you're welcome," I said coolly. "I just helped you."

"I don't need help!" the person shouted. "Especially from people like you."

"Okay, next time I'll just let you be squashed by the bull!" I yelled back, pulling my "Warrior Expression" back on and looking them in the eye.

The person faltered when they saw my expression.

"Jackson!" the person shouted. "Get up! We need to take the wounded back to the infirmary. Let Tantalus know what's happened."

"Tantalus?" the person called 'Jackson' said blankly. "Who's Tantalus, Clarisse?"

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Excuse me," I said to Clarisse. She shrank back slightly but still looked me in the eye. "What happened to Chiron?"

"That happened," Clarisse said, pointing at the pine. "He's been fired."

I took a closer look at it. A huge pile of dead, yellow needles was littered around the bottom of the tree, and the rest of the needles on the tree were yellow, too. I frowned, put my hand on the trunk, and tried to will it to heal. Nothing happened, so I knew that this tree had been damaged very badly.

Look, Agro barked, pointing with her snout.

Oozing green sap, in the middle of the trunk, 3 feet above the ground, was a puncture mark with the same proportions as a bullet hole. Now, I understood why there were so many monsters around the camp. The magical borders of the camp were failing because someone had poisoned the tree.