TWO. Tech help strikes again.

THE NEXT DAY, border patrol was a lot more eventful. And by that, Celosia meant that Camp Half-Blood was attacked by fire-breathing, celestial bronze bulls. One second, she was engaging in conversation with Clarisse; the next, Aasha was tackling her to the ground as they narrowly avoided a column of flames aimed directly at them.

"Border patrol, to me!" Clarisse ordered, raising her (broken) spear. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse-hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

Celosia swung down on the bull with her sword, only for it to dodge her strike and cause her to stick her sword in the dirt. She tried yanking it out of the earth, but it was stuck. Just as the bull began to run at her, she thrust her hands in front of her and willed it to stop in its tracks.

Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and someone that Celosia usually tried to avoid, appeared at her side.

"How do we beat them?" she shouted over the chaos.

Celosia shrugged. "I don't know; I was hoping one of you Athena kids would have an idea."

"You can't mess with the technology or anything?" Annabeth asked.

"No." Celosia shook her head, grimacing as the bull struggled to get out of her hold. "I'm not that advanced yet."

"Of course you aren't," the daughter of Athena muttered. Before Celosia could ask what she meant by that, Annabeth shoved her Yankees cap over her honey blonde braids and went invisible. An invisible force nudged her shoulder, and Celosia took that as, Let it go; I got this.

She let the monster run free and dove out of the way as it ran straight through where she had been standing a moment ago.

"Hey! Over here!" Annabeth's voice came from behind it. The bull turned around, confused, then ran towards the sound of her voice.

Celosia decided that Annabeth would be okay and scrambled to her feet, grabbing a discarded shield and joining the line of defense. Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. The other bull charged their line, and Celosia winced, bracing for impact.

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered them.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Annabeth. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.

"Behind you!" a voice yelled. "Look out!"

Whoever the genius was shouldn't have said anything; all they did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass. Celosia flew somewhere off to the side, sitting up and throwing her hands up just as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill, intercepting its attack.

Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon that Celosia also tried to avoid, lunged forward and dragged Clarisse out of the way by the straps of her armor. It was highly unnecessary, though, as Celosia had already flung her arms to one side and sent the bull sliding back a couple feet.

"Let me go!" Clarisse demanded. "Curse you, Percy Jackson!"

He dropped her in a heap next to Thalia's tree and turned to face the bulls. Celosia rushed to her feet and ran to stand next to Percy, flexing her hands at her sides and training her deep brown eyes on the bulls.

"How'd you do that? With the bull?" Percy asked her quickly.

"My dad is Hephaestus," she said. "How do you think?"

Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted.

Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back toward Celosia and Percy. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind, but then it broke through and kept coming. Bull Number Two turned to face them, fire sputtering from the gash someone had cut in its side.

Percy immediately lunged at Two, leaving Celosia with no choice but to take on One. She was weaponless, so all she had were the powers that she barely knew how to use.

The bull ran at her, and she side-stepped, allowing it to plow past her before she raised a hand towards it, watching as it immediately slowed down. She focused hard until small sparks began to appear around its body. Just as she began to slowly close her hand into a fist, willing the bull to malfunction, something slammed into her, and she hit the ground, landing directly on her wrist as she tried to catch herself.

"Sorry!" Percy exclaimed, rolling off of her.

"Seriously, Jackson? I almost had it!" Celosia snapped, rolling onto her back and bringing her wrist to her chest.

The bull stopped malfunctioning, the sparks stopping as it turned around and ran straight at them. No way could they crawl out of its path.

Annabeth shouted, "Tyson, help him!"

Celosia furrowed her brows. "Tyson?"

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, a voice wailed, "Can't—get—through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly, a Cyclops was there, barreling toward them, yelling, "Percy needs help!"

Celosia's eyes widened in fear. First, a fire-breathing bull, and now a Cyclops?

To her surprise, the Cyclops dove between them and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

"You know him?" Celosia asked incredulously.

"Of course I know him! He's my friend!"

The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. Celosia could only see the black silhouette of his body.

But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as Percy looked, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.

Annabeth ran over to check on the two injured teenagers.

Celosia's wrist felt like it was filled with acid, but Annabeth gave her some Olympian nectar to drink from her canteen, and Celosia immediately started to feel better. There was a burning smell that she later learned was Percy. The hair on his arms had been completely singed off.

"The other bull?" Percy asked.

Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

Percy turned to Celosia, who was slowly removing her bronze chest plate and unstrapping the armor on her arms. "You're Beckendorf's sister, right? Celosia?"

"Yeah," she said, dropping her armor pieces in the dirt next to her and moving onto her legs. "The only child of Hephaestus that can't weld."

"You don't seem like a daughter of Hephaestus," Percy observed.

Celosia suddenly paused, finally meeting his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's just—you know, you just don't—"

"Is it because I'm not ugly?" She raised her eyebrows. "Ugly, like my dad?"

"No! That's not what I—"

But Percy didn't have time to tell her what he meant because Clarisse came marching towards them. A strand of her curly brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You—ruin—everything!" she yelled at him. "I had it under control!"

Percy just pursed his lips. Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."

That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.

"Right." She turned to Celosia, then nodded at the bull running in circles. "Mind finishing that off?"

"Sure," Celosia reluctantly mumbled. She stood up and held up her hand, slowly curling it into a fist and watching as the bull slowed down before coming to a full stop and collapsing on its side. That was what she had been trying to do to its counterpart before Percy fully knocked the wind out of her.

"Thanks," Clarisse mumbled. She returned to glaring at Percy. "I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

Percy stared at Tyson. "You didn't die."

Celosia furrowed her brows at him. "Why would he?"

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, looking up at her. "Didn't you see him get blasted with fire?"

"Percy," Annabeth said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Reluctantly, Percy turned to stare at Tyson. After a few seconds, his face fell in realization. "You're a..."

"Cyclops," Celosia offered, crossing her arms. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire."

"By the looks of it, he must be a baby," Annabeth said. "Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

Percy's face twisted in confusion. "One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're... mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods—well, one god in particular, usually. They don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron; let him decide what to do."

Celosia winced. "About that..."

Before she could explain, Aasha came over with Beckendorf trailing behind her. "Percy, if you can stand, get up. Clarisse and Beckendorf need help carrying the wounded campers to the infirmary."

"Oh, hey, guys," Celosia said. "Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"Dude!" Beckendorf exclaimed, seeming to have just noticed her, and surged forward to wrap her in a hug. "I saw your sword sticking out of the dirt, and I thought you were a goner."

"Gee, thanks for having faith in me," she said, hugging her brother back before pulling away.

"Nice to see you alive, Beaumont, but we have to move," Aasha said. "We need to get to the Big House and let Tantalus know what happened."

"Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Celosia said, turning back to the son of Poseidon. "Tantalus is our new activities director."

"What?" He exchanged confused glances with Annabeth. "But Chiron is the activities director."

"Yeah, and where's Argus? He should be here." Annabeth added.

Beckendorf shook his head, pursing his lips awkwardly. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

Percy stood up. "But Chiron... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened," Celosia said quietly, pointing to Thalia's tree.

Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke had come to Camp Half-Blood, chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.

But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

"What—what happened to it?" Percy stammered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Celosia asked. "Someone poisoned it."

MATTHEO.
AND THEY FINALLY MET

Well technically they already knew each other but that was their first interaction AREN'T THEY SO CUTE

I made a gut wrenching perlosia edit to I know the end by Phoebe bridgers and not to plug or anything but I'll be posting that jawn on my tiktok @/meowvaldez so go ahead and follow that up so ur the first to see it...