A Fire Burns Dark With Fear

Juniper and I sat down together at the Amphitheatre. The fire blazed brightly with colour while some kids roasted marshmallows. An Apollo girl was playing the guitar while another Apollo girl played the harp. Some Aphrodite girls were giggling and gossiping about some celebrities and makeup.

Chiron and Mr. D talked in hushed voices near Juniper and me. I heard two names mentioned, one name was Luke Castellan, and another I recognized from ancient greek stories, Kronos the Titan god of time, harvest, fate, justice and evil.

"Juniper, who's Luke Castellan?" I asked.

The kids around us stopped talking and looked at me. The music continued playing but the flame flickered with black. The kids around me and Juniper continued talking.

"He is a Demigod, a child of Hermes who betrayed camp last year. We don't really talk about him though." Juniper responded I could hear the pain in her voice.

"You knew him well?" I asked.

"Lots of us did." Juniper looked back at the fire. "Um, so how has training been?" She changed the subject.

"It was good, this bracelet is my sword." I raised my hand to show the black bracelet.

"It matches your personality." Juniper smiled.

"Thanks." I looked over at the forest, I worried about my friends Alex and August.

"What's the matter?" Juniper asked.

"Nothing." I looked over and smiled.

A crash came from the forest and the campers jumped to their feet. I pressed the button on my bracelet and it transformed into a sword, I put my left arm in front of Juniper to protect her.

"Stay behind me." I looked over my shoulder for a moment at Juniper then back at the forest.

Another crash came from the forest, the fire turned black at the edges. A roar of a monster echoed in the night and I cursed in ancient greek as I realized it was my fault this monster was here. I had played that one song and it summoned some monster.

"The border will hold it back, right Mr. D?" The girl who was playing the guitar stood up with a sword in hand.

"It should." Mr. D narrowed his eyes and placed down his Diet Coke on the ground.

"And if the border can't hold it?" I asked.

"Please don't make me think of that, Peggy." Mr. D said.

"Its Peck not Peg-"

I was cut off as the monster hit the border again and roared.

"Should a group of us go fight it?" Clarrise asked raising her spear.

"No, everyone stays here," Chiron responded.

"Clarrise is right Chiron, I mean if it stays there who knows? It might break the border." I said.

"Peck this isn't training, this is the real deal. Someone could die if we're not careful." Juniper said quietly putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Miss Harrelson is right, we don't know what we're dealing with," Chiron said.

"So we do what? Just wait it out? What if a Demigod is in trouble?" I snapped.

"Lots of the Demigods here are trained well. If there is a Demigod they would know how to defeat a monster." An older kid spoke up.

"And if they can't defend themselves?" Clarrise snapped.

"Then their dead," I said quietly, "Chiron let me, Clarrise and Juniper go, we all know how to fight. Plus we might need an Apollo kid, Clarrise is one of our best fighters and I can shadow travel everyone out of there if I have to."

Chiron looked at Mr. D, Mr. D nodded and Chiron rested his blue eyes on me. "Go and make sure no one dies."

Clarrise raced into the forest as Juniper and I raced after her.

"Clarrise if there is a Demigod or someone that needs help, we'll need a plan." I ran beside her.

"I have a plan, kill whatever monster that's out here," Clarrise growled.

"I swear to... Dionysus if we don't have a plan we'll all die and I don't want my dad scolding me when I'm only twelve for eternity!" I snarled.

That caused Clarrise to stop. "Fine, what's your plan?"

I explained the plan but as soon as we reached the border we realized dying would be much easier than defeating the monster we face.