THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.

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THREE
WE PLAY TAG WITH SCORPIONS
The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.
Apparently around three in the morning anAethiopiandrakon had been spotted at the borders of camp. I
was so exhausted I slept right through the noise. The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it
prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in our defenses, and it didn’t seem anxious to go away until Lee
Fletcher from Apollo’s cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in
the chinks of thedrakon’s armor, it got the message and withdrew.
“It’s still out there,” Lee warned us during announcements. “Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made
it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green.It’s eyes—” he shuddered.
“You did well, Lee,” Chiron patted him on the shoulder. “Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has
happened before.”
“Aye,” Quintus said from the head table. “And it will happen again.More and more frequently.”
The campers murmured among themselves.
Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most
of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn’t help that our
attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. Three years ago, when I’d started, there had
been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.
“This is a good reason for new war games, “Quintuscontinued, a glint in his eyes. “We’ll see how you all
do with that tonight.”
“Yes…” Chiron said. “Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat.” He raised his
goblet.“To the gods.”
We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.
Tyson and I took our plates to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of our food into the flames. I
hoped the gods liked raisin toast andFroot Loops.
“Poseidon,” I said. Then I whispered, “Help me with Nico, and Luke, and Grover’s problem…”
There was so much to worry about I could’ve stood there all morning, but I headed back to the table.
Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover came over to visit. Grover was bleary-eyed. His shirt
was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to me.
Tyson shifted uncomfortably. “I will go…um…polish my fish ponies.”