Gaea was stopped a decade ago, the monsters now reside in Tartarus, and the surviving heroes of Olympus have begun new generations of demigods. Fifteen year old Yvette Grimes doesn't know anything about this, but she does know something is different...
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From far away, yes, the camps smelled worse than the Underworld. At the actually camps, however, I wouldn't be surprised if Hades wouldn't step foot in it. I held my sleeve to my face, going toward the empty camp and inspecting the pile of...whatever for burning. My left arm still throbbed in pain, not something a little ambrosia wouldn't fix I'm sure, but it was still distracting. Looking up, I noticed that this pile was bigger up close; ten feet tall but not very wide. I needed some serious luck to find the wheel before the giants came back.
"All or nothing," I muttered, pushing my sleeves above my elbow. I grabbed onto a club shaped item and yanked on it. As it emerged, I shook my head and threw it into the bonfire. The wood sizzled as the fire consumed it, as if it was a monster and it was growing stronger with everything it ate.
I continued to throw things out of the pile, until my arms were covered in soot and goop and... blood. Not my blood, but whatever blood was in the pile. This was getting nowhere.
My hands found a slimy, hard stick like object. My face soon scrunched in disgust as I pulled out gnawed on bones. I tossed it aside, ready to dive in again.
Now, with the snow soaking the pads of my knees, I looked up, my eyes growing wide in fear. The pile was slowly tilting dangerously close to me, and I knew that unless I wanted to take a nice mud bath, I'd better get out of the way. With no time to spare, I hastily slid to the side, watching the sludge of meat, broken weapons, and snow covered dirt turn into a mudslide.
I was splattered with Gods know what, but it didn't taste good. Wiping my face with my shoulder (because, let's be honest, that was the only thing not covered in dirt), I wobbled to my feet.
"Great, just great," I said, looking at the mess I made with blazing eyes. "I won't find the wheel at... this... rate. Huh."
There, beckoning me like I was a toddler and that thing was the biggest thing of cotton candy I've ever seen, was one of Apollo's wheels. How did I know? It was golden, sparkling, clean. It was buried in this dirt and it was clean. I could have wept with joy right then and there.
But there was no time.
I jerked the wheel out of the pile, wondering how I was going to carry this monster of a wheel around. As soon as I said it, the wheel shrunk in my hands. At least Apollo did one thing right. I threw the wheel in my backpack and headed toward the other camp.
From what we could see from all the way behind the trees, there was a camp someone in Fort Yellowstone. And I just so happened to get that camp. The thing about Fort Yellowstone though was that it was huge. I only hoped that Cash would come here soon to help me look.
Fifteen minutes later, I was at the center of the Fort. It was eerie; empty, quiet. Most importantly, there was little sign of giants even here. If I had known better, I'd think they avoided this place entirely. That is, except for the giant bonfire in the middle of the place.
