The Next Generation go to... Camp Half-Blood?

The Prophecy

Piper's POV

My dream that night was the same as every night: Leo flying on that stupid dragon of his to go kill Gaea. Cue big explosion. Cue the death of my best friend.

Over and over my mind forces me to watch this scene unfold, in slow motion as if there's something it wants me to know. All I could see was death.

Luckily, I was excused from watching Leo's death too many times by Victoire, one of the new girls, as she gently shook me awake.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, trying to shake the dream out of my mind.

"I need some help. Are you good with make up?" she asked quietly.

"If I want to be, why? Aren't you?" I respond, confused. Children of Aphrodite usually have a natural talent for doing make up.

"Yeah, I guess," she says, "but I've never tried anything like this before and don't want to mess it up."

"Okay, I'll help but first you have to tell me what's happening." I suggest calmly.

"Teddy is... ugh I don't remember the word for it. Basically sometimes he feels like a guy, sometimes a girl, sometimes both, and sometimes neither."

"Genderfluid," I suggest.

"Yeah! That! Anyways, today's a girl day and I don't know if I can help her use make up to look like a girl. Now will you please help?"

"Of course. Lead the way!" Why Teddy didn't know how to do her own makeup I don't know, but I didn't want to sound rude and ask.

To be honest, I had never done make up like this before, but I had learned to trust my instincts, and Teddy ended up looking fairly great.

We finished up just before breakfast and headed down there together. We split up at the pavilion: Teddy and Victoire both went to their tables while I stayed where I was, looking around at the campers.

Mealtimes were my least favorite time of the day. Since the a lot of the campers were really struggling. Some people can't use weapons anymore because all they see are their dead friends. Others are prone to panic attacks just seeing weapons be used.

Everyone has to help out. Will keeps the only key to the ambrosia and nectar cabinet to himself to aviod anyone from taking to much. Jason watches over the lava wall in case anyone doesn't try to move a little too slowly. Nico tries to keep an eye out for campers with an aura of death around them.

Drew Tanaka and I do our parts during meals. So many campers lost their appetites from grief. Why should they get to enjoy this meal when their friends will never get to see another day? So every meal, Drew and I trade off staying in the dining pavilion or wandering the camp, looking for campers who are avoiding eating. We use our charmspeak to convince these campers to eat a full meal, since who knows if they'll successfully escape our attention next week.

This morning it was my turn to wander the camp. I started at Cabin 12, and worked my way around the outer edge of cabins, then the inner edge. After the cabins, I went to the forges, the beach, the stables, and anywhere else I knew people liked to hide. I found thirty three people who needed to be persuaded to eat. That was insane. That was crazy! I had to manipulate almost 10% of the camp to eat, and who knows how many Drew talked to today!

I sat down heavily on a bench near Hestia's hearth and buried my face in my hands. I couldn't help but feel like we were fighting a losing battle. How could we expect all these kids to be able to bear the consequences of not one but two wars, something that would scar a grown adult?

I felt someone sit next to me and I looked up. Drew. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot when I first arrived, but now I am so incredibly grateful for her and I don't know what I would have done without her.

"So?" Drew prompted.

"Thirty three," I sighed, head back in my hands.

"Twenty seven, but six of them agreed to eat without me using charmspeak," she responded.

"Sixty campers. I feel like we're drowning, and this is our feebly attempt at keeping our heads just above the water," I admitted.

"Piper, a month ago we probably had to convince close to 300 campers to eat. Three weeks ago we had probably 200. Two weeks ago we started counting and had 129. Last week there were 87. We are making a difference. It's slow, but we have to be patient. Time will heal, we just need to make sure we give them that time," Drew explained. "Now, have you eaten today?"

"Not yet. I got distracted. Victoire asked me to go do Teddy's makeup because hes genderfluid, then I had to make my rounds..." I answered.

"I figured," Drew pulled out an apple and a blueberry muffin and handed over to me.

I had just thanked her when Lacy came sprinting over. "Rachel is about to recite a prophecy. You guys better hurry!" she exlcaimed before running off in the opposite direction again.

Food forgotten, Drew and I exchanged wary looks before following Lacey's lead. A large group was gathering next to the Big House, surrounding Rachel Dare, the Oracle of Delphi. We reached the front just as Rachel's eyes started glowing green and she began, in an old, raspy voice.

"The hero of Olympus' bane,
Seeks to rise up and take his claim,
Fourteen ambassadors and six demigods,
Must split into five groups to fight the odds.

One will return to Tartarus leading his group,
The Wolf will search for Artemis and her troop,
The golden couple will follow to the ambassadors' home
Zeus' hunter will head towards the camp in Rome,
Love's child will travel to the place of lost heroes where an old friend dorms,
And all will wait for a soul's silvery form."

Everyone had been silent up, hanging on every word the Oracle spoke. But here, Teddy joined in with Rachel, matching her word for word as she finished the prophecy.

Each group must gather their armies,
Unite or everyone will have faced their last journeys."

Once again there was complete silence. What were we up against this time?

~~~~~~~~~

I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry!

I could give you a hundred excuses as to why I haven't updated (writer's block, lost my account info, schoolwork, sports, getting into college, etc.) but none of it means anything to you, does it?

At least I finally got this chapter uploaded, and hopefully I'll stay focused this time! Your comments really helped motivate me to finish this so keep it up!

Thanks for still reading this!
~Kylie