THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

2

"Eliana!" 

I winced at the voice wishing I was still in the lake with Naiads. 

Will with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"I'm sorry! I promise I'll get it fixed." I said sincerely. He smacked the back of my head and sighed.

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked. 

Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted. The campers muttered. 

A girl stepped forward from the crowd. She was tall, Asian, with dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at Leo, then fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at me as if she were a week-old burrito that had just been pulled out of a Dumpster. I scowled at her. The last thing I needed was to deal with Drew.

"Well," Drew said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

"Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned at the glamorous girl—"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her,  but I said, "Piper, stop."

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," I said, with a pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. At first Piper thought she'd done something wrong. Then she realized their faces were bathed in a strange red light, as if someone had lit a torch behind her. 

Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image —a fiery hammer.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch, the son of Iris muttered. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him.

"Jason," I said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him.