Mostly Normal: Our Path

Chapter Two: Cherry Tree

Frank chuckled. Reyna rolled her eyes at him. "Go ahead, all of you that are going to be making the trip to CHB. Just be quick; we'd like to go as soon as possible."

Fred and the five other chosen half-bloods stood from their seats and exited the Senate House, talking excitedly.

"I've never been to Camp Half-Blood," said Molli with a grin, "What do you suppose it'll be like?"

Madeline smirked. "It's really awesome," she said, "But the fauns work for the camp there. And we call them 'satyrs' instead of fauns."

"We also sort the demigods by who their godly parent is," explained Fred, "we don't have cohorts and barracks and stuff. And instead of tattoos, we get necklaces with beads." he pulled his own necklace out from under his toga to show the Romans. Eight beads, all different colors and with different designs on them.

"What's that one about?" Joe asked, pointing to a black bead. Fred's smile disappeared. "That was a sad year," he sighed, "the battle of Manhattan. See the Empire State Building?"

"Yeah," the Roman demigods chorused. Madeline jumped into the story. "And the names all around it?" she pointed to her own black bead. All the Romans nodded. Madeline sighed. "Those names are all the people who died in that battle."

"That sounds like a horrible fight," Annabelle remarked, squinting at Fred's bead, "Were you in it?"

"Everyone was," said Fred.

Annabelle's eyes widened and she sunk down in her chair, knowing that at that time when she was only ten years old, she was forced to fight alongside with Jason as they stormed the mountain and toppled his throne.

Molli leaned over and hugged her friend from the side. "We'll be fine," she whispered with a small smile.

Annabelle smiled at Molli and nodded, grateful for her friend's reassurance.

When the briefing was over, Fred and Madeline returned to their dorm to begin packing. When they had finished, Maddie pulled her boyfriend out of the door and into the courtyard where they continued to the East gate.

Upon arriving there, Fred noticed that there was a member of their party that he had not assigned. "Who are you?" he asked in a large voice, as he was the one that was leading this, 'quest.'

The girl under the hood only smiled and turned back to the unicorns that she was pampering. Fred shrugged off the bad feeling that was sinking into his stomach and turned back to the rest of the demigods.

"Alright, kids," he said, rubbing his hands together, "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes!" they all cried together, pumping their fists and, for some of them, their Imperial gold weapons. Fred turned to Madeline with a wink and said, "I think they're ready."

"Good," she replied, "Let's do this thing."

The strange girl smiled again before she stepped over to Molli, motioning for her to follow her. Molli did so without hesitation, clambering onto the unicorn when she was brought up to one. The girl did the same to every single one of the questers until every unicorn had two demigods atop its back.

When she was finally on one as well, they headed off. The surroundings seemed to whisk by, making the trip seem like it only took a few minutes when it should when it should have taken a few hours at the least.

Finally, the unicorns stopped and the strange girl called, "We're here!"

One by one the Romans climbed off their unicorns. Fred looked up at Half-Blood Hill and smiled at the majestic sight of the pine tree standing at the top. "We're home," he whispered to his fiance, who squeezed his hand.