𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 5

  When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. I guess I should mention–Chiron is a centaur. From the waist up he looks like a regular middle-aged guy with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he’s a white stallion. He can pass for human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. Which always disguised him to human public, but in most times where the ceiling was high enough, his legs would be unpacked for a stretch.

  As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze. "Pony!" he cried in total rapture.

  Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

  Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what’s happening? You’re not ... leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.

  Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You’ve grown over the year! Oh, (y/n), still as tall as ever, I see!"

  I swallowed. "Clarisse told us you ... were–were ..."

  "Fired." Chiron’s eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he’d created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

  "That's not fair," I gloomed. "You didn't even do anything, and yet, Mr. D puts the blame on you."

  "But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "Chiron, you couldn’t have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia’s tree!"

  "Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."

  "What circumstances?" I asked.

  Chiron’s face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.

  Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron’s flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"

  Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

  "Chiron," I said. "What about the tree? What happened?"

  He shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia’s pine is something from the Underworld, (y/n) . Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

  "Then we know who’s responsible. Kro–"

  "Do not invoke the titan lord’s name, (y/n). Especially not here, not now."

  "But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He’d get Luke to do it–the traitor."

  "Perhaps," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless ..."

  "Unless what?" Annabeth asked.

  Chiron kept his face closed and didn't seem like he was going to answer it any time soon.

  "Unless what?!" I asked more firmly, throwing my arms back and forcing my voice higher.

  "There comes the mother's temper," Chiron giggled before he sighed and gave up from his train of thought. "No. A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."