The Ghosts of Millennia

The Return of the Corn Plant

A bolt of lightning hit the tree, and it came crashing to the ground. Percy and Rachel ran to the smoking mass. The two of them ripped branch after branch apart, trying to dig Hazel out from under. "I see gold!" Rachel shouted. Percy dug where she pointed and, yes, the Fleece was there. "Hazel?! Can you hear us?!"

"M'okay! The Fleece healed me!" They pulled a bleeding Hazel out from under the tree. She'd wrapped her chest and head with the Fleece to protect her vital organs. She tried to stand, but her legs were broken. Rachel tied the Fleece around Hazel's waist like a towel, and Hazel sighed in relief. "I'm good," she reassured them.

Percy heard his mom scream. He sprinted to its source with his friends right beside him. His parents, Blaise, and Hestia cowered in front of a mangled, fallen tree as a gargoyle swiped at them again and again. The few times they had an opening, they threw rocks and shot spells, but nothing was working. All five of them were injured.

Percy drew Riptide. Hazel held him back, concentrated for a moment, then smiled. "I'm covering us with the Mist."

Percy grinned. "Hecate helped us for once."

When the gargoyle dove down again, Percy slashed its hands off. It screamed in pain, screams that increased in volume as Riptide tore it limb from limb. One last jab and the monster met its end.

"Big House! Now!" Rachel shouted. "I, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, give you permission to enter the camp!"

His parents and the followers of Hecate passed through the border. As they ran, hundreds of branches, rocks, and dead wildlife hit their arms, legs, and faces, trying to knock them down. They jumped over more than one fallen trunk, some on fire from a lightning strike. Finally, they reached the Big House porch and made their way into its crowded basement.

They opened the door. Forty campers looked up in unison, all with varying degrees of shock. "Hazel!" Frank shouted. Hazel ran into his waiting arms, sobbing in relief. Percy saw Jason, Piper, Will, and Calypso sat in the corner. Leo lay bleeding between them.

"You have to heal Hazel's legs," Percy told Will. "We can give the Fleece to Leo, but she got hurt pretty bad." Will beckoned her over. She untied the Fleece from her waist and gave it to Calypso, who threw it over Leo. Hazel shuddered as Will got to work.

Leo opened his eyes. Everyone held their breath. "I saw Lou Ellen, Grover, and Reyna run into the Hephaestus Cabin," he croaked once he was strong enough. "Last time I checked, they were alive."

Percy should've breathed a sigh of relief. His family was safe. All his friends were alive and accounted for. There was only one person missing.

Annabeth.

____________________NICO____________________

Even though it was the middle of winter, Ceres' domain was unaffected. Of course it was, since winter was the goddess's annual tantrum. Why should she harm herself? No, she only wanted to starve a few billion mortals, no big deal. He shouldn't complain, though. After running through a blizzard for sixteen hours straight, eighty degrees and a clear, blue sky were welcoming indeed.

The palace sat in the center of New Arcadia, surrounded on all sides by vast crop fields. A wide river separated the land into sections designated for different crops. Countless varieties grew in acre-wide squares. One-lane bridges connected the sections, each with a sign specifying if it was the cucumber part, the barley part, etcetera. Crops were watered by a sophisticated irrigation system stemming from the river, and fertilized by its regular flooding. Nymphs, satyrs, minor gods, and adult demigods--probably her children--were hard at work planting, maintaining, and harvesting the crops. Nico and the others walked down the long, dirt road to the palace, occasionally jumping out of the way of an incoming tractor or bulldozer.