daylight | percy jackson

camp rock prepares for war

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Is it true? That you're...really leaving?" her voice was shaky, the words coming out in short, sharp breaths.

Aria knew that Chiron was like the father that Annabeth never got to love. This camp was her home. 

Charon ruffled her hair and gave her a kind smile. "Hello, child. Percy and Aria, my goodness, you've grown over the year!"

Aria wasn't so sure about that. She was still the same height as last year, and at this rate, she just had to accept that fact that she was probably going to stay 5'4 forever. Percy on the other hand, had grown astronomically, and he was now a head taller than the brunette. 

Percy swallowed. "Clarisse said you were...you were..."

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

"Besides himself, you mean," Percy spat out, muscles tensing at the mention of the god. 

Since when did Percy have muscles? 

"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?" Aria asked. 

Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a latin-english dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boombox. 

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," Percy urged. "What about the tree? What happened exactly?"

He shook his head sadly. "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 crossed his arms, huffing. "Then we know who's responsible. Kro-"

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

"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus!" the boy cried, exasperated. "This has to be his idea. He's get Luke to do it, that traitor."

Aria watched as Annabeth nervously fiddled with her shirt, her eyes betraying a sense of sadness at the mention of the older camper. 

She had trusted him. 

"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..."

Annabeth stopped playing with the hem of her shirt. "Unless what?" she asked.

"No," Chiron said. "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."