Camp Half-Blood... Again

"How'd they find us so fast?" Juan asked.

"Because three Demigods have a lot of smell, so it's easier for them to hunt you down," August said.

"But I had a shower a day ago," Juan complained.

"No, it's your scent. Satyrs and monsters use it to find you. Now let's go before we become monster-chow." August said as he ran across the road with Juan.

"Thanks again, Uncle Aaron," I said giving him a quick hug.

"Anytime, Woodpecker." My uncle patted my back.

"Let's go, Sunshine." I took Juniper's hand.

Juniper nodded and we ran across the road. August started running into the forest with Juan following closely behind. I held onto Juniper's hand as we made it through the forest.

"August! Get Juan to camp, we'll be right behind you!" Juniper yelled.

We skidded to a stop and took out our weapons. Juniper held her dagger up as we panted to catch our breaths. A crash came from the forest and one of the monsters roared.

"Juniper! Peck!" Alex came out of the forest where August and Juan had disappeared.

"Hey, man, you nearly missed the fight." I pressed the button on my bracelet and it transformed into a sword.

"No one else is coming until August and that Demigod gets back to camp." Alex took out his Celestion Bronze sword.

"Perfect, no one will get in my way." I smiled.

"Peck, I love you, but please don't get yourself killed," Juniper said.

"Quiet, do you hear that?" Alex hissed.

It was silent, I didn't hear anything except for our own breathing. "Where did they go?" I glared into the forest.

"Maybe they gave up and went home?" Alex guessed.

A monster came hurtling from the trees at Juniper. A wind blew through the forest as the monster got closer to her. My eyes widened and I slashed at it with my sword. Its dark scales shimmered white as light poured down from the moon, it shrieked and started to crumble to dust.

"Get away from her!" I snarled as it crumbled to dust.

"There's more on their way, we should get back to camp," Alex said.

"Thanks, Peck," Juniper said.

"Let's go." I took off back towards camp with the others following close behind.

I stopped and turned to face two dracaenas, they hissed and growled.

"Seriously, this is easy," I smirked.

The two dracaenas charged at me and I slashed at their necks and they turned to dust.

"Peck, we'll be surrounded soon, we need to get back-"

Juniper shut her mouth and dodged an attack from another dracaena. She stabbed at it but missed it.

"You two get back!" Alex snapped slicing with his sword making a monster vanish into dust.

"No! We won't leave you!" Juniper responded and the dracaena lunged at her.

I blocked the attack with my sword and took down the dracaena by stabbing it with my knife it turned into dust. "Alex we're not leaving you whether you like it or not."

"Fine, I guess we-"

Alex stopped when he saw something in the distance. His green eyes widened. "Peck, you can summon some skeletons right?"

I nodded.

"We're gonna need them," Alex said.

I looked into the distance and saw a familiar monster. I took a deep breath and raised my hand, the ground broke in front of me and a dozen skeletons climbed out. They all held some kind of weapon, from a small dagger to a pistol made of celestial bronze.

"Defend us, please," I wheezed, exhausted.

The skeletons nodded and started to attack the monsters in pairs. The one with the pistol shot at monsters wildly turning them into dust.

"That's one smart skeleton." Alex chuckled.

"Yes, and they just bought us a few minutes to get to camp, lets get out of here." I snapped and we started running again.

I felt the adrenaline in my body draining and I struggled to stay with Alex and Juniper. My eyesight kept blurring and I felt exhausted from summoning the skeletons. I fought the urge to collapse right then and there and forced myself to continue until we passed the border and entered the camp. The campfire was hardly a fire, the only light came from the burning coals.

The few monsters that remained crashed into the border and roared.

I fell to the ground when Juniper stopped beside me.

"Peck!" She gasped catching me before I hit the ground.

"I just need to lay down, don't worry, Sunshine." I panted.

Juniper nodded and sat down, she let me rest against her. "We survived and that's all that matters."

"Summoning those skeletons took a lot out of her," Alex noted sitting down.

I looked over and saw August racing over with Chiron. Chiron had a medkit in hand and stopped in front of us.

"Are any of you hurt?" He asked.

"Just some cuts and scratches nothing serious except Peck is exhausted," Juniper said.

"Summoning skeletons can be exhausting." Chiron nodded. "We should get you all to the infirmary so we can check on you."

"Alright," I mumbled trying to stand. When I stood up I just fell forwards as my eyes rolled up my head.