viii.

  —LEO would have totally protested against the giant horse-man taking Savannah away from the dining pavilion ( a.k.a. away from him, his mind interjected ), but she needed to get away from the fire, and Chiron could probably explain what just happened better than he could. He'll pick a fight with a half man-half horse guy another day, though he doubted his odds in a match like that.

The boy watched them leave as Savannah was carried on the horse-man's back. She still wouldn't lift her head for the other campers to see her face, but Leo knew she was crying. He'd only seen her cry on two other occasions, both of them having been happy tears. A letter from her father saying rehab was going well, and when he, Jason, and Piper planned a miniature party for her birthday. Leo liked it when she cried like that, but not like this, never like this.

"Dude, is she okay?" Christopher asked, nudging him.

  Distracted, Leo nodded. "Yeah, um — fire ... isn't really ... her thing."

  His half-brother ( that was strange to think about ) scoffed. "Ironic then, isn't it? You and her?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Leo finally turned away from where Savannah was led.

  "Well, you know, she doesn't like fire — you're going to be around fire twenty four-seven in the forges. I think your relationship is kind of strange."

  "Relationship?" Leo repeated quietly as Christopher walked away. But then he thought deeper into what the boy had told him. Fire and Savannah never mixed well, he knew that. She wouldn't even roast her own marshmallow that one time the Wilderness School allowed them to have a bonfire. What did that say about their relat — whatever they had?

  He stared at his hands, thinking of what they could do and thinking about how many times he's held her hand. If only she knew.

  —SAVANNAH really didn't belong here.

  At least, that's what she was thinking the whole time Chiron mumbled to himself on the way to a big blue house — like three stories, plus attic and probably a basement big. The guy was muttering about vows and oaths, and how the gods were being very rebellious this century. Savannah couldn't understand any of it.

  Once inside the house, Chiron set Savannah down on a couch and left to a different room and when he came back, he was half his size and in a wheelchair ... Savannah's only conclusion was magic.

  He wouldn't look at her and it was making her incredibly nervous, more so than she already was. Savannah looked down again, thinking she'd let this man down somehow and in doing so, let down all of the campers. Her new friends. Her old friends.

  The man held two golden coins in his hand and said something about needing to make an Iris-message. She had no idea what it meant. And he was gone for a good few minutes before rolling back into the room, his eyes weirdly vibrant again.

  Chiron seemed to look at her in a new light, like she hadn't done anything wrong, like she wasn't to blame for anything. Of course, that could just be her hopeful heart talking.

  "Savannah, would you like to take a walk with me?" Savannah blinked — didn't he mean roll? Not the time! — and nodded. Apparently, her mind's interjections reaches him and his wheelchair converted back to his horse counterpart. Savannah had looked away, thinking it was more a private transformation than he seemed to make it.

  They exited the big house and Savannah recognized the path they were taking as the way to the pavilion. She wasn't ready to face the campers, but she already told Chiron she would walk with him. It'd be rude to back out now. They walked slowly in silence until Chiron sighed.

  "Your mother, Savannah, wasn't a goddess," Chiron started.

  The girl's head swiveled to look at the centaur. "But Annabeth said —"

  "And Annabeth would have been correct ... if you were a true blooded demigod, but you aren't."

  "So I'm just ... mortal." Savannah knew she didn't belong here. It all made sense now. He wanted to talk with her because he was going to kick her out. She'd go back to the Wilderness School, this time without her friends. An awful thought and it made her heart hurt.

  "I didn't say that. You, my dear, are a special case. A goddess knew your father, and was rather close with him."

  "But you said my mom wasn't a goddess."

  "That's true. She wasn't. Your mother was mortal, like your father, Thomas," Chiron explained, but it did little to clear confusion.

  "I don't understand."

  Chiron smiled softly. "Your mother was able to conceive you, but died in childbirth."

  Savannah nodded slightly. That was the story her father and the court used. She grew up believing that. Evelyn McGhee. There weren't that many photos of her, but the girl had definitely seen some.

  "And you were too weak to survive on your own," Chiron told her gently.

  "What does that mean?" Savannah asked, growing scared.

  "You were dying as well, Savannah. You were a premature baby." She took a sharp breathe. Her father conveniently left this part out of the rare stories he was able to speak about. "But a very close friend of your father —"

  "The goddess?" Savannah cut in, hoping she was understanding this.

  "Yes, the goddess. I think you'd know her better as Hestia," Chiron said. Savannah wracked her brain for that Greek mythology lesson she took freshman year. "Goddess of the hearth, home, domesticity, and family. You were Thomas' only family left, and she couldn't have you leaving him so soon."

  "So she saved me?" Savannah asked, feeling touched by what this woman or goddess she had never met had done for her, for her father. "How?"

  "Since it wasn't in Hestia's power to bring life back into a soul, it defies all laws of the Underworld. She had to give up some of hers. Which brings us here, to you being claimed as Hestia's."

  "And the fire went crazy because ...?"

  Chiron chuckled at her word choice. "It must have felt a connection to you. The fire tends to go wild when Hestia is around as well, but she can usually calm it down." Chiron smiled at the thought of his half sister.

  "Will it always do that?" She didn't know if this was a new occurrence or something, because the only fireplace in her house was the one in her father's room, and she wasn't allowed in there. The first encounter with fire up close was when an old family friend took her to an old temple.

  Let's just say, she was not allowed to go back there ... if they ever rebuilt it ...

  Chiron thought on it. "I believe ... that you will learn to control it, as Hestia did."

  Savannah scoffed. Control it, sure. Let it control her? Definitely.

  "You mustn't dwell on what happened in the pavilion, Savannah. You have many people here that can help you. I see you've made friends with a couple of the Hermes campers already. You'll fit right in," Chiron gave a warm smile.

  But Savannah did dwell on it, though. How could she not? She may never be able to walk casually through Camp Half-Blood without drawing attention to herself: the girl who was afraid of fire and wasn't even a demigod.

  —"YOU can take a seat with Annabeth for the time being. I'm sure someone has informed her of your claiming, so you won't need to explain everything." Savannah nodded, but saw Annabeth in the front row, nearest to the fire.

  Savannah shook her head to dismiss the thoughts in her mind. If she just stepped closer to the steps, she wouldn't be too close. She made her way down and sat next to Piper as she'd also taken the offer to sit with the Athena kids.

  Piper looked over at her friend. "Hey, Savi, you okay?"

  Savannah smiled faintly. "Um, yeah. I'm fine."

  Piper looked her up and down once before she nodded. "Okay, let me know if you need anything." Piper knew that Savannah wouldn't go to her first for help, it will always be Leo, but she kept the offer on the table.

  Savannah looked around at all the campers. Leo wasn't aware of her entrance, but she didn't want him to be. He was laughing along with his cabin mates, probably charming them like he had when first meeting Jason, them eventually her and Piper.

  The campers eventually ended their singing with loud applause. Chiron trotted up with a long spear with marshmallows on the end.

  "Very nice!" He scraped the ground with one of his front hooves. "And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first —"

  "What about capture the flag?" Someone yelled. Murmurs erupted in a certain section of the crowd. They were all wearing armor, and sitting under a red banner. Looked like a violent crowd.

  "Yes," Chiron said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

  "And kill people!" Another shouted. Savannah gulped. Did they really fight to the death here? It wouldn't surprise her, the lava wall was intense.

  "However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible." Piper and Savannah look at each other. A dragon?! Savannah was shocked with the pegasi, but a dragon? "Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

  He faced Leo's group's direction. The boy looked up then, seeing Savannah surrounded by the blonde and gray eyes. He gave a cheeky grin and winked at her and Piper. Savannah gave a soft smile in return and shot a finger gun at him, hoping that it would communicate that she was better now.

  The girl next to him stood up, tense. She was dressed similarly to Leo with an army jacket, but she had bandana encircling her hair. "We're working on it."

  The whole camp seemed to deflate at the news that they, in fact, did not have control of the dragon yet.

  "How, Nyssa?" An Ares kid demanded. Savannah didn't like the voice he took to the girl who said they were trying. If the Ares kids were supposed to be tough, why weren't they doing anything about the dragon?

  "Really hard," the girl breathed, sitting down when yelling broke out. The fire sputtered with the complaint, making Savannah wince and shift in her spot. Chiron immediately took notice of that and banged his hoof against the stones surrounding the fire three times. The campers fell silent and stared at him.

  "We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

  A little voice from one of the groups spoke up, "Percy?" And Savannah could already tell it was Mia.

  The fire dimmed greatly at that. Savannah looked around at the anxiety filled campers. Percy had made such a huge influence on all these people.

  Chiron gestured to Annabeth, and she stood up with a shaky deep breath. "I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice hitched, but she ignored it. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover," Savannah recognized that as the half goat Mia and Julia told her about: Percy's friend, "Tyson," the cyclops who was related to Percy, "Nico, the Hunters of Artemis — everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

  The word 'quest' sounded very old-fashioned, but it didn't surprise her with the Greek camp. She should have expected it.

  "It's the great prophecy, isn't it?" A girl called out. Almost the whole camp turned their attention to her, making Savannah and Piper look over as well. They saw Drew standing amongst her cabin mates under a pink banner that had a picture of a dove on it.

  Savannah guessed it was for that goddess of love — whose name she couldn't recall. She was terrible at this mythology stuff.

  "Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

  "Well, come on," Drew threw her hands out to her side in a huff. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with four new demigods in one day." — Correction, three demigods and some blessed mortal — "I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started," she looked at the campers around her, "right?"

  "Great Prophecy?" Piper whispered to Savannah next to her.

  Everyone looked down near their direction, and Savannah found a girl with flaming red hair ( lighter than Savannah's ) on the opposite side of Piper to be the center of attention. "Well, you're the oracle," Drew called. "Has it started or not?"

  The girl stepped forward from her seat and addressed the camp. "Yes, the Great Prophecy has begun."

  The campers went wild with her statement. Savannah watched on as the fire crackled loudly. But she was expecting it this time and only flinched. The talking eventually calmed to dull mutters and Rachel took another step forward. Savannah leaned back in her chair. She wasn't scary, not even that intimidating, but she carried an air about with her that screamed not to mess with her or bad things might happen.

  "For those of you who have not heard it," Rachel said, "the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this:

  "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"

  Savannah's eyes connected with the fire, the destructive element. She had no doubts that the world could burn up with its chaos. She must have been thinking too hard about it because the flames rose another ten feet, scaring the front row of campers. Savannah did her best to reign it in, but she had no idea how.

  Jason, despite the horrified faces of some people, stood to his feet and continued the prophecy in an odd language.

  "Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus. Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

  Silence was what followed. Some were trying to translate what Jason had said, but also trying to figure out what had happened in the flames to make them rage.

  "What—" Rachel pointed to the fire but shook her head and pointed to Jason next. "You just ... finished the prophecy," she stammered. "— An oath to keep with a final breath. And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death —"

  The fire was out of control and turning blue with heat. Savannah stood up and shook her head, moving quickly away from its closeness. Leo brushed by his cabin mates and latched onto her wrist, pulling her to sit with his family, away from the fire. She accepted his guidance and huddled into him.

  Savannah's mind raced, but she was wary that if she thought too hard, the fire might do a thing again, so she avoided sticking on one thought for longer than a few seconds. Leo helped by rubbing her arms comfortingly, his arms a different ( and better ) source of warmth.

NOTES ;
THINKING ABOUT REWRITING AT
THIS POINT