The lost hero returns

9. Did you or did you not?

"Angel, Forge. Left. Fox, Huntress. Right. Alpha, you're with me." I order while running towards the cyclops.

I summon my sword from the void. The sword is made of black steel only chaos can make.
I still have riptide with me. But I don't use it as often anymore. And it would reveal my identity.

We split up and attack. The campers were slower and even less organized than they already were.

Within 10 minutes we defeated all the monsters. It wasn't hard but still strange. How did they get through the borders?
My team is unharmed and they walk over to me.

"Everyone okay?" I ask. They nod.
I look over to the campers.

"You are all horrible. You couldn't even defeat a practice dummy." Matthew screams at them. "If I hadn't been here-" He stops when he realized that we stood there.

He is dressed in silk pajamas. He probably just watched the battle. Not lifting a finger to help.

"Please continue. I would love to hear what would have happened if you didn't show up." I say in a warning tone.

"Never mind." He says. He starts to walk away.
I grab his pajama and hold him. He lets out a yelp.

"I thought I warned you about using charmspeak." I say.
Campers seem to snap out of a daze. They look at him angry.

"I wasn't!" He yells struggling against my grip.

"Fox." I say. Selina steps forward. "Please ask him if he used charmspeak." I say.

His eyes widen but he smiles.

"Let me guess." He folds his arms. His dark hair perfectly in model. His dark eyebrows raised.
"Child of Aphrodite?" He asks.

"Yes. Yes I am." She says. She pulls down her hood.

Shocked. That's what the campers were.
They were shocked.

"Selina.. How.. How did.. You died.." Matthew stammers. Clearly not prepared for this.

Selina smiles.
But I could see the pure rage in her eyes.

"Matthew. Did you use charmspeak on your fellow campers?" She asks with such power I saw some campers shake their heads. Not being able to resist to answer her question.

Matthew holds his lips sealed. But after a couple of seconds he burst like a bubble. "Yes." He spats out.

"Do you use your powers to control the campers?" She asks. I look at him.

I had thought of it. But it just seemed like a weird idea. How could you control so many people for such a long time.

"I did." He says.

After he said it he looks around in fear.
The campers went from shocked to angry.

"Not so much fun when your own power is used against you, is it?" She asks.

He shakes his head.
Selina looks at me. She wants to know what to do with him.

"Does annyone have a problem if he was locked away until tomorrow?" I ask the campers who look furious.

"No. We don't" Annabeth says angry.

"Great. Forge, huntress. Bring him away. We'll deal with him tomorrow." I say. They nod.
"I think Selina wants to spend some quality time with her friends." I say looking at Selina.

She gives me a hug and walks over to the campers.
Clarisse runs at her and cries. Some of Selina's siblings join them.

They hug and I let them have some privacy.
"Get some rest. You did well." I say to my team. They nod and head back to the cabin.

Annabeth came walking towards me.
"Thank you. I had no idea. He used to be my friend when I first arived to camp many years ago." She says.

"Some people do things we would never expect from them." I say.

"Yeah.. well I can't wait till I get my hands on him." She says. I raise my eyebrow.

"Sure. We will set things right tomorrow. Goodnight." I say. I walk away.

"Wait.." She says. I stop walking. "You wanted to tell me something before everything happened." She says.

"I wanted to tell you it will be all right." I say before walking to the cabin.

Leaving her standing there.

I need time to think.