orenda [leo valdez]

ii. Can't We All Just Be Friends?

"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"

The chariot was falling out of the air, and Kira's instinct was to grab Leo. He tried to shield her, but he wasn't Jason, and he couldn't control the air.

They pledged into the ice cold water, and Kira would have gasped if it hadn't let water into her lungs. The icy water bit at her skin, sending shivers up her spine. She clawed her way to the surface, desperately prying towards oxygen. Finally breaking the surface, she gasped, instantly chattering.

Leo stuck to her side as people handed them blankets and starting firing questions. Kira hated the attention, and she backed up a single step.

She was blasted with a big bronze leaf blower, and she was instantly dry.

There were at least twenty campers milling around—the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen—and all of them had orange T-shirts like Annabeth and Butch.

"Annabeth!" A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up the four. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked. He went to put an arm around Kira, but he thought about it, and lowered his arm. 

Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Percy was obviously a big deal to this camp, and Kira somehow felt responsible for his disappearance.

Another girl stepped forward—tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at Leo, eyes flying over Kira like she wasn't even there, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at Piper as if she were her life-old enemy.

"Well," the girl said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

Kira bit her lip, her newfound confidence wasn't carrying over. She just wanted a nap. She really didn't care how she was treated, but she did really want her friends to be treated right.

"Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned at the polished girl—"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Annabeth said, "Piper, stop."

Kira stepped towards her friend, placing a hand on her back and helped her calm down.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

A collective gasp rang out when Kira turned to Leo, he had a blazing holographic image above his head, a fiery hammer.