I'm so sorry that this took so long but my internet was down for almost a week and I've had so much science work to do that my brain literally hurts from chemistry.
One more thing. I want to thank everyone for the support that you have been giving me throughout the book since I haven't really told you all how much it means to me.
Chapter 29
Halloween. Should I say that I have been excited and worried about this day? Since it was Halloween we were allowed to get up whenever we wanted meaning I didn't get up till lunch. Based on the amount of people slowly traipsing into the pavilion I think most people had the same idea.
"Arabelle can I talk to you?" A familiar voice asked. I looked up to see Nico's sister Hazel.
"Sure." I muttered standing up from the Apollo cabin and following her to just outside the Pavilion.
"I just wanted to apologise for how I was to you when you arrived at camp with Nico." She told me sounding sort of embarrassed as she remembered how she reacted to me.
"It's fine Hazel." I told her. Hazel just shook her head.
"It's not. I judged you as just another girl who wanted to try and use Nico to get close to me and the rest of the seven, to try and become popular. If I'm honest at first I thought you were a daughter of Aphrodite that was just waiting to hurt him. I became defensive and protective and lashed out at you. I've seen how the two of you react around each other though now. I just need to apologise for that."
"I'd do the same thing if it was my cousin Hope and I was in your position so I understand why you did it. I practically raised Hope so I'm really protective over her." I replied giving her a faint smile which she returned.
"I was wondering if you wanted to be in a three with Nico and I tonight for...well I'm not allowed to tell you about Halloween?" Hazel asked.
"I would have thought you'd go with your boyfriend." I said confused.
"He's gone with Piper and Jason." She answered and I shrugged.
"Ok then."
"I'll see you later then."
"See you later then." I replied before the two of us headed back into the pavilion and to our respective tables.
"What did Nico's sister want?" Adrian asked me when I sat down. When did he even get here? He wasn't here when I arrived.
"To apologise."
"Wait, I thought you said to apologise then."
"I did."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
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"Ok Campers." Chiron shouted causing the huge crowd of Demi-gods, including myself, to go silent. "I'm sure most of you know the rules by now but for those who don't and those who need reminding I'm going to briefly go through them before starting.
You can only work in groups of three. Any more or less than three and you will be disqualified immediately for safety reasons. As most of you know the Camp borders are going to be taken down for exactly forty five minutes giving monsters that the gods have selected chance to get into camp. All the monsters have a piece of cloth with a symbol attached to them which you will be able to collect from the dust when you kill the monster.
Each group has their own flare so if anything goes wrong you can signal for help and someone will come and help you immediately. The group with the most pieces of cloth at the end wins." Chiron explained briefly. This is certainly different to anything I expected especially since the sun was almost completely set already casting shadows everywhere.
A few seconds after Chiron had finished talking the camp border became visible glowing a pale blue colour. It almost looked like a dome surrounding the camp. Starting in the middle at the top it began to slowly dissolve away until there was nothing left of the border for now. Obviously it would reappear once this was over.
Groups immediately began to split off and head off into the woods running to try and find monsters. Gods that sounds weird. I followed Nico and Hazel who jogged into the woods. How did this event even start?
"Wait a second." I called to Nico and Hazel pulling to a stop and crouching down to the ground. "Look." I told them circling my hand around an area of the ground.
"I don't see anything." Hazel told me confused.
"Something big headed in that direction." I told them pointing deeper into the woods.
"How do you know?" Hazel asked but got up and began to jog in that direction.
"When I was on a quest we picked up how to track in which directions monsters were heading in so we could head in the other direction." I explained to her as we continued jogging.
About a minute later all three of us ducked behind a bush but I guess the monster had a better sense of smell than we thought as it almost immediately came running at the bush.
Nico grabbed my hand and dragged me to one side out of the bush as Hazel ran out the other end. The monster couldn't turn to get to any of us in time and ran straight forward completely trampling the bush we were previously hidden behind. I quickly pressed down on a charm on my bracelet as the monster began to to turn to face us.
My silver bow appeared in my hand along with a quiver full of arrows strapped across my back. I grabbed an arrow out of the quiver and placed it in my bow before pulling the string back until it was almost touching my cheek. The monster began to bound towards Nico and I deciding that two demi-gods are better than just one. A second later I released the arrow which sailed through the air and hit the monster in the middle of it's eye.
The monster howled in pain and began to try and shake the arrow out of it's head without success for a second before giving up and turning back to face Nico and I. "I'll distract." I muttered to Nico grabbing a relatively small knife from a holder on my thigh. I had a feeling that I would need it. Looks like I was right.
I altered my grip on the knife in my hand slightly before running towards and to the left of the monster. It's gaze automatically flipped to me as saw me as the easier target for two reasons. I was running towards it and I only had a small dagger. It began to run towards me so I stopped standing my ground as it got closer and closer.
Any time now would be good.
When it was less than ten metres away from me it stopped, crumpling to the floor and fading to dust apart from a small strip of red cloth. "Took you long enough." I told Nico as he sheathed his sword.
"It was faster than I expected." Nico replied shrugging as he picked up the piece of cloth and passed it to Hazel. Of course the noise from the fight just must have attracted more monsters thinking there was an easy meal around and decided to pay us a visit.
I placed my knife back into the holder on my thigh and pressed the button on my ring for my own sword. Nico had his sword and Hazel had her strange Roman weapon sword thing. The three of us were engaged in battle seconds later.
I noticed, with surprise, that there was only hellhounds at the moment and no other moment. Perhaps the hellhounds weren't as smart as the other monsters. I don't really know.
As a hellhound ran at me with its teeth bared I prepared myself for a second before twisting to the side at the last moment cutting its cheek in the process. The hellhound growled in annoyance before beginning to charge at me again. I glanced across at a Nico who in that split second caught my gaze and nodded slightly before turning back to the hellhound that was trying to kill him.
I began to count in my head
1
2
3
4
5
I threw my sword in Nico's direction and began to run towards the hellhound. When it was only a few metres away I grabbed a knife from a holder on my thigh and slid under the monsters stomach. I threw the knife straight into the eye of Nico's hellhound giving him chance to throw me back my sword and for me to stab my hellhound as it reached me less than a second later.
The two hellhounds turned to monster dust.
I nodded to Nico in thanks before turning to another charging hellhound. I've got a feeling this may take a while.
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Once the 45 minutes had passed a blue ring appeared around camp slowly rising to form the barrier for monsters again. Who knows what happened to the monsters remaining in camp.
I returned my sword back to it's ring as I didn't want to carry it around with me. In the distance I could see a few other groups of three heading back in the direction of Zeus' fist like Hazel, Nico and I. Just before we reached Zeus' fist Nico passed me a piece of paper.
"It's from Thalia, tear it up once you've read it." He told me quietly. Not quiet enough so Hazel wouldn't hear but quiet enough so that only the three of us would. I nodded to Nico and put the paper in my pocket for later.
Once we reached Zeus' fist Chiron was there to count everyone in and make sure they were alright and also collect the red flag things and take note of however many each group had before sending them off to their cabin's.
"When did that event even start?" I asked the Hades/Pluto kids as we made our way back to the cabin's.
"A the year after the second war when the camp border broke down on halloween night. It just sort of stuck." Hazel replied. "The Hunter's always stay at Camp for the event and also what happens after."
"What does happen after?" I questioned confused.
"Read the writing on the piece of paper, it will explain it there."
AN: Halloween isn't over yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry for all the exclmation marks I'm just really excited)