¹On This Spring Day.

001.

               Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, but don't ask Violet how the children of Athena were born when the goddess was supposed to be a virgin. Annabeth had dark skin and startling, stormy grey eyes. She technically had black hair but Violet had managed to convince her that blonde braids would make her eyes stand out more. ( And Violet had been right! ) Annabeth had an athletic build and a sort of know-it-all look in her eyes, like she was planning the best way to take you down in a fight.

               Next to Annabeth was Thalia. Violet didn't know much about the daughter of Zeus—like, personally. She knew of Thalia and all she had done and been able to accomplish, but nothing personal. ( Besides the fact that Thalia still has some extremely complex feelings for Luke the Traitor, but that's a whole other story. ) Violet didn't even know Thalia's last name; that seemed like pretty basic information to her.

               Thalia was pretty in an ... intimidating way. She had short, spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She was just as athletic, and she preferred to wear darker clothing like a leather jacket. Violet even saw some black eyeliner traced around her eyes.

               "So what's the emergency?" Percy Jackson asked as Violet met up with them.

               Percy, a son of Poseidon, had sea-green eyes and curly black hair. He had gotten taller since the last time Violet had talked to him; they were now eye-level with each other. Not that Violet wasn't salty about it ( what was the point of being taller than the average girl if you couldn't be taller than other people? ). Still—the boy still had a thin face and a tall nose, even after two years of growing up and maturing.

               Grover looked at Violet, taking a deep breath. "I found two," he said.

               "Uh—we found two," she corrected.

               The satyr shot her a look. "We've talked about this before; I found them, and you're helping get them back to Camp."

               Thalia's eyebrows drew together as she asked, "Two half-bloods? Here?"

               Violet crossed her arms over her chest, looking around the gigantic gymnasium. She nodded and said, "Yeah."

               The fact Grover had found two was a miracle. Finding one half-blood was rare enough. For the entire year, Chiron had put satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade all the way through high school for any kids with godly DNA. Camp Half-Blood was getting to desperate times; they were losing campers faster than they were gaining them. They needed all the fighters they could get. And for once, the problem was the gods were having fewer kids, right as they needed them.

               "Sister and a brother," Violet explained. "Twelve and ten, I'm pretty sure. Grover and I haven't had any luck guessing their parentage, but Grover's sure they're strong."

               Grover nodded, chewing on his bottom lip nervously. "And we're running out of time," he warned.

               "Monsters?" Percy asked.

               "One. He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time me or Vi try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking us." Grover shrugged, looking helpless. "I don't know what to do. We've tried everything at this point!"