"So this is the tree, huh?" Percy put a hand on the supposed pine tree that kept the camp safe from monsters.
"Yeah…this is where Thalia died," Annabeth said quietly. "When Ze—her father—then turned her into a pine tree right here at the edge of camp. It's what powers the barrier around the camp, making sure no monsters can get in."
The others stood around.
Luke looked at it solemnly with a heavy expression on his face, while Malcolm and Grover didn't say anything out of respect.
The majority of the campers didn't know who Thalia was beyond the story, but all of them owed her a debt of gratitude, and no one made light of her death or the support she gave them after the fact.
"Something smells rotten," Grover commented. "I think they were right; there's something wrong here."
Being a satyr, he had a much closer connection to nature than all of them.
"But it doesn't look wrong?" Annabeth looked around the tree but found nothing out of place.
"Uh, it's a Magical Tree…person? What exactly would be 'wrong' to find?" Percy asked.
Annabeth furrowed her brow because he raised a good point. "We heard people saying that the tree is dying, but wouldn't there be signs even if it's magical?"
"People were also saying that Chiron was the one who did it." Malcolm pointed out. "Maybe we shouldn't believe all the rumors at face value."
Percy scoffed. "As if Chiron would do something like that. Seriously?"
Annabeth too rolled her eyes. "I've known Chiron since I was young; there's no way he would do something like that."
"It's not just the other campers saying it though." Grover said quietly. "I heard other Satyrs and even some of the Dryads whispering it too."
That made them all go quiet for several moments.
"Of course Chiron would never do something like that," Luke spoke up. "It's obvious that someone is intentionally spreading those rumors."
"But who would try to frame Chiron for something stupid like that?" Percy asked. "Everyone here knows that he's a good guy. Like, we've all seen him tip-toe around flower beds because he didn't want to step on the flowers."
"It's not just the rumors that he poisoned the tree though…" Luke lowered his head. "People are talking about who his father is."
"You mean Kro–"
Malcolm quickly covered Percy's mouth. "Call him the Crooked One."
Percy had the presence of mind to look sheepish at the slip of the tongue. "Sorry."
Annabeth sighed, shaking her head. "It's still ridiculous."
"Oh hey, fancy meeting you all here." Someone stepped out of the shadows, immediately startling everyone else.
Malcolm and Percy were slightly less taken off guard, but the group altogether almost immediately looked ready to defend themselves.
"Wow, I feel like someone's going to try and stab. Chill out, will you?" The newcomer rolled her eyes. "Seriously, if I were going to do something, why would I give up the element of surprise, especially since I'm a squishy little spellcaster?"
Lou Blackstone had quite literally stepped out of the shadows from their point of view.
"You're…the head of the Hecate cabin," Annabeth named her. "Lou, right?"
"Oh wow, you actually remember me. It's not like we barely have over a hundred people here in camp." She replied sarcastically.
"Who's fault is that? It's not like your cabin really participates much in activities," Luke stepped in. "When was the last time the Hecate Cabin accepted one of our invitations?"
"Alright, that's fair," Lou acknowledged. "Most of us don't do well with strangers or crowds. And it's not like we've been in a cabin for very long."
"Why are you here?" Luke asked cautiously.
"Jeez, are you really treating me like that?" She didn't fail to notice that they were still heavily keeping their guard up around her.
"Well, it's hard to know who to trust right now. People are saying someone poisoned the tree? And there was even a monster attack inside the camp," Percy said casually. "Coming over here is kinda suspicious, isn't it?"
"Hey Pot, this is Kettle." She gestured to them and the tree. "Shouldn't I be calling out how suspicious it is that you're all here?"
"Hey, we're just making sure the tree is okay." Grover defended.
"Oh wow, since you said that, I guess I just have to believe it, right?" Lou rolled her eyes again. "Okay, but seriously, stop acting like a bunch of idiots. I already said if I were going to do something, I wouldn't have given up my hiding spot. Besides, we're practically family, barnacle boy."
"Family?" Percy blinked.
Lou looked at him in confusion. "You didn't know? Huh. I would have thought he'd been the type to not keep a secret."
"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked.
"Well, his brother is basically Mom's boyfriend at this point." She said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Pimp Bro!?" It was Percy's first thought when she said 'brother.'
"Your Mom!?" Annabeth's eyes widened. "And…his brother?"
They all sort of stared incredulously.
Even Malcolm, who had known Ocean Song the longest, was taken aback by that new information.
"Believe me, we were surprised too. But he came over to meet everyone, and my little siblings seem to like him. He's a bit of an idiot, but it's hard not to like him." Then her eyes landed on Percy. "He asked to look after you as well, so I've been keeping an eye on you guys from a distance."
Percy was about to open his mouth, but Annabeth put a hand up. "If you were watching us, why did you just now appear?"
"Well, you weren't wrong. It's hard to know who to trust. I didn't want to show myself around other people, so it was a good chance to pop over. Can't say I trust you all, but I trust Mom's boyfriend, so I'm willing to extend that out." She hummed.
"Pimp Bro is really dating your mom?"
"Eh." She made a so-so gesture. "Mom likes him; he likes Mom. But Mom is being all mopey and all 'Harumph harumph, I'm going to not say anything because reasons' and hasn't really made it official yet. Mom isn't really good with talking about her feelings, so it may take awhile."
They genuinely didn't know what to make of that.
From the moment they arrived in camp, the gods had loomed above them in every conversation, in every aspect of their new reality.
So to hear gossip like this…. It felt strange knowing the personal thoughts or feelings regarding a deity like this, as most of them still felt an invisible wall between them and their own parents.
"Anyways, it was a good time for me to come step out. And I wanted to check the tree too to see what was wrong," Lou added.
"You believe the rumors?" Percy asked.
"Oh, they aren't rumors." Lou all but ignored them, still being on guard, and pushed past them to examine the tree. While they were still wary, there was a slight release of tension. "The barrier around camp has definitely weakened. Most of my siblings felt it, considering it's a bit of magic. I just want to confirm the reason."
It was also hard to argue with her as well. Just as she said, she and her siblings were basically the only ones knowledgeable about magic enough to know things like this.
As many questions as they wanted to ask, they kept their mouths shut as they watched her work.
Or, rather, as they watched her almost literally poke around.
She went from holding a hand on the tree, to poking at it, to pulling off a piece of bark, examining it, and then the tree before tossing the bark to the side.
"Alright, I found the issue." She declared.
"Really?" Luke asked in surprise. "I don't see anything wrong with it."
Lou squatted down and started digging in the dirt, to their confusion. "Yeah, whoever did it was smart. The tree is connected to the barrier; it's a magical focus, basically. But it's also not wrong to call it a living spell either. The easiest way to deal with the barrier around the camp would be to cut down the tree."
"If someone wanted to harm the tree, why didn't they do that?" Grover asked. "Most demigods around here could cut down a tree in a few minutes."
"I should clarify. I meant compared to trying to destroy the actual barrier, cutting down the tree would be the quickest method, but that doesn't mean cutting down the tree is easy. It's still a magic tree that's acting as the focal point for a camp-wide protection spell cast by you-know-who. Good luck chopping through that even if you had a few days."
"If you can't hurt the tree, then the rumors are wrong, right?" Percy questioned.
"Oh, you can definitely hurt the tree, just not physically. As I said, whoever went through with this was pretty smart. Here we go." She pushed the dirt around the tree. "You were ignoring the roots."
They gathered around her; dug up was a thick root that had been concealed by the dirt previously.
It was green, not just green but a sickly necrotic green that almost looked like rotting flesh.
"That's some nasty stuff." Lou picked at it with her finger, then put it into her mouth before spitting it out. "Whew, yeah, that's some A-grade poison right there."
"D-did you just eat it?" Annabeth looked at her incredulously.
"I tasted it. Don't get your panties in a twist; I got some poison resistance from Mom's blood due to being a witch." She casually waved off. "It tastes similar to some snake venoms; otherwise, I don't know what it is." She stood up, wiping her hands on her pants. "It's working its way up the roots of the tree."
"Can we just cut the roots off?" Percy asked.
"You could try," Lou hummed. "But it's the same issue with the, you know, actual tree being magical. And it's not a 'normal' tree, mind you. I don't know what would happen if you cut off the roots of something that used to be human like this. Would it wither away afterwards regardless? Who's to say?"
"We could pray to Apollo? He's the God of Healing; he might remove the poison." Grover suggested.
"Well, you're welcome to try. Don't expect much; even if this was made by you-know-who, they can't really get involved in 'mortal' problems easily." Lou shrugged.
She was a tad more knowledgeable about certain 'rules' compared to the average camper.
"Then what do you suggest?" Malcolm looked at her.
Lou tapped her chin. "The benefit of poisoning the roots is that it's the tree's 'weak spot,' so to speak. The roots of a tree are what suck up water from the ground, so it's basically like sneaking poison into someone's mouth rather than trying to poison them through the skin. The downside here is that it's going to take a while for the poison to work its way up through the entire tree to actually kill it. Meaning, while there's a ticking clock, there is enough time to come up with a solution."
"And what's the solution?" Percy asked.
Lou shrugged. "I'm not a god. How would I know? Mom says I barely even qualify as a first-rate witch. But I can tell you two things." She held up two fingers. "One, the poison is strong, so whatever method you use to heal the tree will need to be very strong. Second, it's a magical tree, a living spell, meaning that normal methods of healing won't work. Like trying to use salt water to quench your thirst. Spells generally aren't compatible with other spells. So, do with that information what you will."
"That's it?" Percy frowned.
"What do you want from me? To pull a miracle out of my butt? You're welcome by the way." She huffed in annoyance. "Came all the way over here, diagnosed the problem so you wouldn't run around in circles trying to figure things out on your own, and I just get hit with that. I guess I can give you a time frame…maybe a few weeks to a couple months before it dies? But you can probably expect to start seeing more problems with the barrier in the coming week."
That left them each silent.
Maybe it was just bluntly being told about how much time they had, or that they were facing the reality of the barrier around the camp, that they mostly took for granted, that could potentially be gone in as little as a week.
Percy rubbed the back of his head. "You're right, sorry. Thanks for the help; it saved us a lot of time and trouble."
Lou snorted but ultimately smiled. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, it's unlikely to be Chiron. Ignoring everything else, just based on his story, he wouldn't use poison, y'know?"
"His story?" Percy tilted his head.
Malcolm nudged Percy. "We don't talk about it around camp, but he got poisoned by Hydra venom and, well…it wasn't a good experience."
"Oh," Percy whispered.
"Well, my job here is done; I'll be heading back. If you need me…I guess I won't turn you away at the turn." She threw her hand up goodbye as she didn't wait for them to respond before heading back through the woods.
"Luke?" Annabeth called out. "You okay? You've had a look on your face for awhile now."
"Y-yeah…" Luke cleared his throat and composed himself. "Just...a lot to take in." He forced a smile. "We should figure out what we're going to do."
"Man, I was hoping I'd be going home soon since summer was almost over. Mom is going to be upset that I won't be starting school on time." Percy sighed.
He already knew that he was getting pulled into another mess.
"Come on, let's go tell Chiron what we found. Maybe he had some ideas on who's responsible or has some ideas on how to fix the tree." Annabeth patted his shoulder.
[Line Break]
"I'm here." Eris came strolling into the meeting with the other lesser gods present; rather, some of them were.
It was hard to get 'everyone' in one room on short notice, as many of them had jobs they were doing daily.
A lot of them weren't simply able to be in multiple places like the Olympians, as they lacked the same amount of power and presence to do so.
"You're late." Themis pointed out.
"Fashionably." Eris flung her hair back as she took her seat. "Besides, I was busy."
"Doing what?" Nemesis asked. "Causing more chaos?"
"I was sneaking some more monsters into the camp." Eris said rather casually like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"You what?" Nemesis was taken aback by the blatant admittance. "You're the one responsible for what's happening at that camp!?"
All eyes were now bearing down on Eris.
Even if they were minor gods, even if they had all but agreed on the plans to try and claw their way upwards and possibly pull the Olympians down from their thrones, the majority of them had children at the camp.
Children that were now possibly in danger because they all heard what was happening. That the barrier around the camp was failing because someone poisoned the tree.
And it wasn't a simple matter to fix. Frankly, it was already a hot topic years ago that Zeus went and turned her into a tree and made the barrier in the first place. Whether the rules were broken or not was a very popular topic of discussion back then.
Eris scoffed. "Of course that wasn't me. But that doesn't mean I can't take advantage of what's happening, right?" The tension in the room eased ever so slightly.
"Then do you know who's responsible?" Themis asked.
"No idea." Eris shrugged. "But I figured since someone went to the trouble, I may as well make use of it. Besides, weren't you harping on how the ones upstairs were getting focused on our little friend? Now their attention is on the camp, especially since I've been helping spread the rumors that it's Chiron's doing and even mentioning the Crooked One to get them really paranoid." She let out a laugh.
Most of the lesser gods in the room were silent as the more…predominant ones were speaking. As even among lesser gods there was certainly a hierarchy present.
"It's not bad." Nike spoke up. "And she's not wrong. We were talking about how the Messenger was searching for him, so we were having trouble approaching."
It was known to them now that Hermes was trying to seek out Ocean Song and deliver a summons to Olympus.
There wasn't much they could do to interfere with that directly. However, they were just as well surprised that Ocean Song had been successfully evading Hermes and rejecting hearing his summons.
It wasn't something they heard someone doing before, but even so, it was difficult to approach him because of this still.
"Speaking of, what happened with Caerus? Wasn't he going over to that new guy's home to have a talk with him? Something about a mountain?" Eris asked.
No one immediately answered.
"What?" Eris looked around.
"Caerus isn't…feeling well." Nike cleared her throat.
"Come again?" Eris blinked. "Did he catch a cold or something?"
"More like he's huddled up under a blanket and crying. When we tried to ask him what happened, he kept saying that the mountain was full of monsters and something about a lot of eyes and wings. He hasn't left his room since he got back." Nemesis explained.
Eris genuinely didn't know what to say about that.
"...but he's a god?" She muttered. "What could have possibly scared him that much?"
"You're welcome to go find out for yourself."
Eris frowned and immediately dismissed that idea. Even if Caerus was perhaps at the lowest levels of godhood, barely better than the demigods in the camp, he was still a god. And Eris wasn't going to go get embarrassed like he did, for whatever reason or for whatever happened.
There was a reason they sent Caerus in the first place. He was the perfect test dummy, like when they sent him to go try and convince Hercules to join them and ended up getting shoved in a trash can.
"I plan on keeping causing trouble in the camp." Eris changed the subject. "Unless you all have any objections?" She ran her finger along the table they were sitting at.
"Are you doing it for a purpose or just for fun?" Themis looked at her.
"Little of both." Eris admitted without an ounce of shame. "But it'll keep them preoccupied in the meantime."
Themis let out a small sigh. "Very well. It will be a good opportunity for us to do some things away from their eyes."
Eris could only just smile gleefully.
"Now, about the other topic. How has recruitment gone for Triton? He has pulled away from Poseidon and established his own kingdom closer to the mainland. If we can pull him onto our side, it will be greatly beneficial." Themis asked as she continued the meeting.
[Line Break]
A/N
Just an interlude to establish the start of the next 'book,' as it were. Yeah, things are happening sooner because Luke wasn't caught here and all the butterflies that have been happening. I figured that the same plot was still applicable because being controlled by Kronos, removing the Demigod's protection seemed like an obvious choice of attack. And of course, other minor plot points like the Lesser Gods plotting their own things behind everything else.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name