New kids

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Percy's pov

Everything was a mess.
Kids all over camp knew something happened with the Barrier. Either they saw it or they felt the strong vibration in the ground. I don't think anybody knew what was exactly it was, as no one saw anything obvious yet. But nonetheless, everyone was now armored from head to toe and armed with Celestial Bronze weapons of all varieties and were taking battle positions at the crest of Thalia's Hill.
Annabeth and I were the only ones who didn't have armor on, as we made our way through the ranks of archers in the back towards the fighters in the front, and then pushed past them.
Everyone was murmuring uneasily between each other, and I noticed how some of the campers armor were sloppily strapped on in the haste. But I pressed on.
As I climbed the hill, I sneaked a glance at Annabeth. There were still evidences of crying - puffy eyes, wet cheeks, runny and semi-red nose; But at least she had her focus on something else.

When I had climbed to the top, i was wheezing for breath. I couldn't see any potential threats towards the camp - Not even a small monster in fact. I was a tad bit confused until Annabeth climbed up behind me and gasped. I looked at where she was pointing.
By the stump of Thalia's Tree, Peleus the Dragon was growling smoke at a girl who laid unconscious under the branches of the tree. As I took in her details, I was struck with deja vú.
The girl was about fifteen or sixteen, wearing a leather jacket and jeans. Her black, chin-length hair was spilled over her face as we rolled her to her back. I thought of pushing her hair away, but I couldn't move.
'Is it just me, or does this look like Thalia?' Annabeth asked shakily.
I was about to answer, when I felt a pat on my back. I instinctively uncapped Riptide and turned around, expecting to see a monster.
I was right.
'Tyson?' I asked. The big guy was grinning widely at me, his green perplexion suggested he had just gotten out of a car. I braced myself as he widened his arms for a bear hug, squeezing my ribs in his traditional way of greeting people.
At this point, Chiron was galloping is way over with full horse-armor, bow ready. The campers parted a clear path for him. 'Brother! I dont know what happened! She just ran and then she hit wall and fell!' It had been a while since I saw him. But his big, calf-brown eye gave it away that he was indeed my half-brother Tyson. I realized with confusion and shock what had happened to this Thalia imposter girl. She had somehow ran right into the border, and instead of being turned around like a normal mortal, she hit it like a physical force of magic.
'Is she mortal?' Annabeth asked, still on her knees next to the girl. 'No, Rick had me take her and Jack here to camp.' He pointed his thumb behind him, and i noticed that there was someone behind him.
I shifted myself around Tyson to see who this person was. At this point, Chiron had arrived and was treating the Thalia imposter, obviously recognizing this scenery as well.
The guy behind Tyson - who i understood was Jack - was standing in place, staring dumbfoundedly at where the Thalia imposter was lying.
He was big and buff like one of the Hephaestus kids, but looked tanned and healthy like an Apollo kid. He was wearing a black hoody over a red, torn up t-shirt. What appeared to be two antlers were strapped to his back in an X, making it look like those cliché skull-and-bones in cartoons, with the antlers being the crossed over bones and Jack's head being the skull.
       'Hey!' I waved him over. He shook his head, waking up from shock. 'Huh? he looked around, before hesitantly walking over.
I decided to go slow, seeing as the situation wasn't the best. I was also, in a way, relieved that this happened. I now had something else to think about other then Annabeth's pregnancy. 'Whats your name?' I asked, even though I already had it figured out what his name was. He hesitated, before finally speaking. 'My name's Jack.' I found it strange how a big guy like him could be nervous. But, then again, i knew nothing about him yet, plus that he just saw the girl get knocked out by supposedly nothing.
   I was about to ask what he saw, when Chiron Clip-clipped over. His celestial bronze armor barely even weighing him down.
   Jack stepped back at the sight of Chiron. I'm not sure if it was because of the war equipment or because of the fact that he was a centaur. Nevertheless, he looked nervous.

After a few minutes, we managed to get a hold of Jack and the girl's general origins.
   Apparently, they both were in death sentence in Chicago, but escaped in an explosion a while back. Jack and Nora - which I found out was the name of the girl - had spent seven months in different places since then, until Tyson had found them and brought them to Rick before bringing them to camp. Were Nora had gotten... issues with the magical border just like at Ricks home.
   Oh! And when I say Rick, I mean the Rick. As in Rick Riordan. You might've heard his books, which are sold as another way to sustain Camp Half-Blood of mortal cash other then the strawberry fields. There is another reason why besides letting every new member know everything about me and my life before I even know their names, but I won't get too much into that right now.
   Finally, after not moving at all, Chiron sighed in what sounded like relieve. 'I see, so you and Mrs. Blood here have been lost for all those months. You weren't killed after all.' To me, that sounded a bit curious. Did he know these kids already? I decided to ask him about that, and when I did, he got this grim look on his face. 'Remember that explosion in Chicago that was in the papers a few months back?' He asked. Now, there weren't many who even attempted to read the newspapers that we received from the mortal world, as we have severe dyslexia and the newspapers where in English. However, I did remember a picture of an explosion in the side of a building once a few months back. Were these kids the ones responsible for that?
'Um, excuse me, but aren't you Mr. Cliton? The warden?' Jack suddenly asked. Chiron and I looked at him. Chiron had a similar face as to when I discovered he was my teacher back in the days. 'Yes, I had heard from one of our scouts that the aura of two powerful demigods were residing in the prison there. And, as I did when you were discovered-' He looked at me. '-I came to see for it myself.' When Chiron mentioned this, I got a smile on my face, as I remembered those times Chiron had been my teacher, Mr. Brunner, at my school when I was twelve. Chiron looked like he wanted to say more, but then looked down the hill.
   The campers were now a bit dispersed, leaving only a few kids who now looked either unsure or bored. I knew what Chiron was going to say. 'Big house?' I guessed. He nodded.

On our way down the hill, the campers who were left in formation stood up, anxious to hear what the commotion was all about. Chiron had to wave them off, promising them that they would get their answers soon.
Tyson was carrying the girl, Nora, since he was a cyclops, he had no problem doing so. Jack was walking next to me, gawking at everything as if in a dream, vaguely taping me on the arm to ask a question every now and again. But most of his questions were about me and my origins of the camp grounds. It was clear that he had read the books... I swear, it's creepy that everyone knows everything about me. I only agreed with Rick's plan about the books because i didn't think it would get so viral as they did.
'Are those the bathroom stalls where you learned about your powers? Is that actually the Athena statue and the Fleece? Do you really have Riptide, the sword as a pen?' I got another wave of deja vú as I thought back to my second year here, when Tyson came here for the first time. And also when i met Nico for the fist time, when he asked a bunch of annoying obvious like if Riptide could run out of ink or if Annabeth and i were dating back then. I looked back at Tyson, he smiled and waved his free hand at me from behind our trail and I waved back before going back to trying to answer the new guy's questions. At least they weren't as bad as Nico's questions when we found him.
       I also noticed a few more things on him, now that i was a bit more up close and personal. The red t-shirt seemed wet and, upon a bit of a closer - but discreet - look, i noticed it was blood. He was actualy wearing a bloody and torn-up white t-shirt. Three, long scars lined the tears underneath his shirt, hinting that it wasnt torn, but rather scratched up. Since the blood was still a bit wet, it must've happened quite recently. What happened to these two?

'Hey, i just thought of something! Isn't summer break over at this point?' Jack asked. 'Shouldn't you be at home with your mother at this point?' He did have a point, however, my mom wasn't home at the moment. She was out traveling, researching for her new novel. And then there was the whole Annabeth straying away from me the past few weeks.

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