σɾɳιƚԋαʂ (ρʝσ x ɱαʅҽ σƈ)

I Meet My Best Friend's Brother

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 a human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. In fact, he'd passed himself off as my Latin teacher during my sixth-grade year. But most of the time, if the ceilings are high enough, he prefers hanging out in full centaur form.

As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze.

Tyson: Pony!

Chiron: I beg your pardon?

Annabeth ran up and hugged him.

Annabeth: 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.

Chiron: Hello, child. (turns to Percy) And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year! (turns to Theo) It is good to see you again, Theo.

Theo gave him a nod with a strained smile. I could tell he didn't like the fact that Chiron was leaving.

Percy: Clarisse said you were...you were...

Chiron: Fired. 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.

Theo: (angrily) Other than himself, you mean.

I didn't blame Theo for being angry. Just the thought of the camp director, Mr. D, made me angry.

Annabeth: But this is crazy! Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!

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

Percy: What circumstances?

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.

Tyson: Pony?

Chiron: My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur.

Percy: Chiron...what about the tree? What happened?

Chiron: (shakes his head) The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus.

Percy: Then we know who's responsible. Kro—

Chiron: Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now.

Theo: But he tried to start a civil war in Olympus last year! He was the only one who'd stand to gain from that! I bet he had Luke so this for him, the prick!

Chiron: Perhaps. 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...

Annabeth: Unless what?

Chiron: 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.