Mostly Normal: Our Path

Chapter Two: Cherry Tree

"Come on, guys," Fred called back to the campers behind him, "Let's go. Just up this hill!"

The Romans began to hike up the hill, whispering excitedly. Most of them had never visited Camp Half-Blood and were eager to see what it was going to be like.

When they reached the top of the hill, the first thing that Fred did was shout, "Help has arrived!" This shout made several campers look their direction, most of them seemed to be in the strawberry field, though their numbers did seem sparser.

Rio and Nora jogged up the hill, sweaty from the sun. They were followed closely behind by Annabeth and Percy, as well as Jason and Piper. Rio flung his arms around his sister, even though they were related and very close, Fred couldn't help but feel jealousy bubbling up inside of his gut.

"We're really glad you guys sent help!" Nora cried, looking at Fred, "Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper have been acting as the camp leaders since they are the oldest." with the last words Nora gave a touch of air quotes along with one of the Janus cabin's famous eye roll.

"Nora," scolded Piper, suddenly looking perfect and beautiful, "Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you have to be rude."

"Uhh okay," said Nora, in a daze. Fred hid his smile behind his hand. Piper's charmspeak could be kind of funny sometimes.

Jason laughed. "Piper, don't do that," he teased, bumping her shoulder. She winked at him.

The mysterious girl that had been tending to the unicorns walked up the hill slowly, her hood still covering almost all of her face. She paused for a moment as Nora spotted her and ducked behind Thalia's pine. Fred raised his eyebrow and then watched as his fiance's sister walked sullenly over to her and then threw her arms around the small girl.

"Tanasha!" Nora shouted, the girl's hood fell off and it was none other than Nora's best friend from the Hypnos cabin. Fred sucked in a breath, having these two together for more than an hour would not be good for the already suffering camp.

Tanasha grinned. "Hi, Nora," she said, "Sorry, I'm on official business today, I can't play pranks or anything at the moment."

Nora shrugged. "It's okay," she said, "I don't think anyone could appreciate pranks right now anyway."

Fred inwardly sighed with relief. Maddie winked at him as he relaxed visibly, and he winked back.

Tanasha unzipped her hoodie and took it off, as the day was getting hot. Her T-shirt read, DEATH BY SARCASM.

She turned to some of the Greek campers, "Is there anywhere I can put these?" she asked, gesturing to the unicorns. Percy took a step forward with a smile.

"There's a stable down there. Would you like me to show it to you?" he said, is perfectly aware that the young girl had attended the camp before and was just being obtuse. Tanasha stuck her tongue out and then ran down the hill. When she reached the bottom, she stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled so loudly, Fred was sure that the mortals could hear it too.

"Look out!" Tanasha called to the group of campers. They all dove to either side just in time to avoid the stampede of unicorns following the call of their mistress. Nora giggled once the unicorns were passed. Rio rolled his eyes at her.

Fred shook his head and then turned back to the older demigods. The first person he addressed was, of course, his sister. "Annabeth, could you tell me more about what has been happening? I can tell that the numbers at camp have been depleting."