Guess what, my friends? THIS FANFIC IS NOT DEAD! And it never will be. I apologize for the long wait, but I lost interest in this fic for a while and started focusing on others. Now, though, I've regained the desire to write this and I'm gonna keep on keepin' on! Thank you, everyone who's been patiently waiting.

Now let's begin the next chapter, shall we? Chapter 9 start!

Chapter 9: Situation Normal... Or Not

Helen

For the next two days, everything was fairly normal. Well, as normal as any day could get at Camp Half-Blood.

Then Alistair Shepherd woke up and it all went to Hades.

Even then, Friday morning was fairly commonplace. Camp activities ran as smoothly as ever. Warm orange rays of sunlight danced across our hidden demigod valley. The lake sparkled in the morning radiance, and the water nymphs coaxed wary campers to come join them in their pointless frolicking. Curled up next to Thalia's tree, the guardian dragon Peleus snorted smoke contentedly. It occasionally snapped at the oversized Great Dane, Laelaps, who would pace around the camp borders, waiting for Kris and Al to step outside. Meanwhile, Demeter's daughters chased the Stolls across the lawn furiously - - they'd turned the girls' hair to the color of rainbows.

One of the only people who wasn't in a good mood was, surprisingly, Chiron. Ever since Kris and Nico had come barreling in camp with Al in tow, the centaur had been frowning non-stop. His shaggy tail flicked restlessly back and forth. I couldn't help but recall how anxious and upset he'd become when he first saw Al. He'd looked like an estranged mother suddenly being faced with the prospect of caring for an unwanted son.

What was I doing that morning?

Simple. The Nike Cabin had been stuck with the greatly unwanted job of cleaning out the pegasi stables.

Let me just say something: For any of you farmer kids out there, if you think that chicken manure stinks, try smelling pegasi droppings! It's a thousand times worse than chicken stench. I picked my way around the stables, avoiding as much of the crap as I could. The smell was completely nauseating and had me gagging within seconds.

Now, being a proud American girl, I generally tried avoiding messy things whenever I could.

"Not even Hades could think up a punishment this inhumane," I choked, my voice whiny and nasal from plugging my nose.

The head of my cabin, a handsome redhead with dull blue eyes, laughed apologetically. "In the words of old grandpas everywhere, 'It builds character,'" he said.

I cast my eyes to the heavens. "So original, Nathan."

"Everything I say is original, Miss Weber." Gingerly, Nathan nudged aside a woodchip-covered pitchfork that stood in his way with his foot. "Gods, this place stinks to high Hades."

Nathan Truman was the first Nike kid to be claimed, and therefore had automatically become cabin director. He was sarcastic and strong of character. His protruding nose was crooked, like he had seen many fights before but hadn't always come out on top. He wore dust-covered denim jeans with a brown belt as well as his neon orange camp shirt. For unknown reasons, the ginger found the need to talk to everybody like he was a school teacher. He somehow managed to always get into political debates at mealtime.

"Hades isn't high at all," a short girl with silvery hair, flowing like a river down her back, pointed out. She was Tammie Jade, the 'second-in-command' of the Nike cabin. "It's underneath everything. Except Tartarus."

"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious," said Nathan originally.

Tammie's apple red lips twitched upward. "Don't mention it, Lieutenant Sarcasm."

"Lieutenant Sarcasm? Miss Jade, I am the prince of sarcasm. I'm sarcasm royalty. I am deeply affronted by your inferior description of my mastery for the derisive arts."

"Derisive arts? Affronted? What, was a dictionary dropped on your head or something?"

I sighed despondently. The extremely unpleasant smell of pegasi droppings choked the air, making it impossible to breathe without inhaling sour, nose-itching stench. While Tammie and Nathan bickered lightly, I carefully stepped over to a shelf full of horse and stable care tools. I selected a wide shovel and made my way to a nearby stall. I inched the gate open.

The pegasi occupying it was a beautiful stallion with a silk gray coat. His eyes were large and black. He whinnied reproachfully and shook his mane, as if to say, Pfft. You think you can shovel out my stall? You look like you've never been in a stable before in your life.

I couldn't understand it, of course, but it was amazing how much one flying horse could convey with a whinny.

I grumbled under my breath about pegasi and bad attitudes. My shovel stabbed into a dry manure pile bitterly.

Thankfully, my knight in shining armor burst into the stables at that moment, saving my from dirtying myself any more than I already had. Kris's deep eyes were wide with excitement. My half-brothers and half-sisters stopped what they were doing to glance up at him in confusion. What's an Apollo boy doing here? they were no doubt wondering. Shouldn't he be off shooting hoops while looking ridiculously gorgeous?

"Helen," he said shortly. "Al's up. Thought you'd want to meet him."

Al? I blinked. I'd almost forgotten all about the unconscious new camper.

I said, "Yes, please. Anything but scooping poop!" Then I blushed and turned to Nathan. "Er, I mean, can I go?"

"Sure." The counselor looked like he was making every effort not to tease me about my crush. It wasn't exactly a secret among my siblings. "Go ahead, Miss Weber. Try not to stare a hole through Mr. Smith's six pack!"

Kris furrowed his bushy brows in confusion. Heat immediately sprung to my cheeks. "Shut it!" I groaned, stomping over to my friend and letting my shovel fall against a wall. "Kris is wearing a camp shirt, anyway. I couldn't see his six pack whether I wanted to or not."

The son of Apollo coughed awkwardly. "Um... well, anyway... let's go," he said lamely.

Tammie and some of my other sisters had to bite back giggles. I sent them nasty glares as I came up to Kris. They'd probably drown me in a flood of questions when I got back, and I was not looking forward to that.

Even so, I couldn't help but grasp Kris's hand in my own giddily as we walked to the Big House.

(The big, dense idiot probably didn't realize I meant anything by it.)

The infirmary was far emptier than it had been three days ago. Only one other bed beside Al's had an injured camper in it, and its occupant was sleeping uncomfortably. Alistair Shepherd himself was sitting up, rubbing his head and sipping tenderly from a cup of iced nectar. A flimsy toy umbrella leaned off the rim, Chiron's own personal flare.

The man of the hour himself was small for his age - - about fifteen, so he was as old as me. He had chocolate hair and sea green eyes. He was wiry and had the kind of look about him that said to absolutely, positively never trust him around sharp objects. He sipped his nectar gingerly, looking at it like it tasted the opposite of what he thought it would.

"Hey, Al," greeted Kris with a small wave as we stepped through the doorway. "Better yet?"

"I feel like I got hit by a Japanese bullet train, thrown off a speeding jet, and then got caught in a stampede," said Alistair grumpily. "But other than that, groovy."

I raised my eyebrow. "Groovy? Alright, Shaggy Rogers."

"Hey, Scooby Doo was about half of my childhood!" the small demigod retorted warmly. Then he blinked. "Wait, who are you?"

"Helen Weber, Kris's best friend." I grinned and stuck out my hand.

He frowned. "Best friend, huh?" Then, almost under his breath he said, "And here I thought Kris didn't have any friends besides me..." The teen shook my outstretched hand firmly. "The name's Alistair Shepherd. I was born in Ohio, but my dad and I moved here a few weeks ago. There's nothing much to say about me, just a video game nerd with a remarkable sense of humor."

Kris laughed a deep, bass drum of a laugh. "Half the time I don't understand his jokes, but they're funny."

"Say, Kris, what's up with this drink?" Al said, tapping his partly drained glass. "It tastes like sweet and sour chicken from that Japanese place on 43rd street. Weird taste for a drink. And where are we, anyway?"

"You're drinking nectar," Kris supplied. "We're in Camp Half-Blood."

Al's smile quirked. "Camp Half-Blood? I'm not an Indian."

"It's not a reservation, Al," I said with a giggle. "It's a demigod camp."

"Demigod?" He nearly dropped the cup of nectar. Some splashed onto his bedsheets. Hastily he put it on a nightstand that sat to his right and had one of those old green desk lamps on it.

Kris rubbed his head. "Yeah. Demigods. Half-human, half Greek god dudes."

"I know what demigods are." Al's voice was numb, his eyes wide like he was unsure whether to be shocked stiff or blown away by the awesomeness. "I always loved mythology as a kid. But... that's just it, those were myths. The Odyssey was some bard's breadwinner, not a history textbook!"

I winced. "I don't think Odysseus's shade would appreciate being called someone's breadwinner," I said pointedly.

But Al was adamant. "And anyway, look at these arms!" He flexed his muscles - - his non-existent muscles, rather. He looked like he couldn't even bench press the bar. "I'm not in shape at all. I love to play hero and save hot girls and sink pirate ships, but that's online! Not real life!"

"You can use a computer?" I stared at him in awe. "Give me your autograph, please!"

He blinked owlishly. "Wait, what?"

"Normal demigods can't use computers," Kris told him. "It tips off monsters to our location."

"Oh, really!" Al laughed, snorting at him. "Now I know why you thought 'lol' meant 'lots of love.'" Then his smile fell. "Wait, did you say monsters? So then... Mrs. Jones... And that freakin' huge dog that chased us... they weren't a dream? Everything... everything you said as we were running away from it really is true?"

The door opened behind us so suddenly that even Kris jumped. "Yes," said Chiron, his voice smooth and calm but his eyes hard and calculating. He rose above our heads, his thinning brown hair only a couple feet below the ceiling. His scraggly tail, like a brush made of snow, flicked back and forth agitatedly. "And I'd be very interested to know why a minor monster like a Kynokephaloi would set the Dog of the Constellations after you."

"Um, Chiron, sir - -" Kris began, but Al, whose jaw had dropped like a sack of potatoes, suddenly gave a squeak of amazement.

"A centaur," said Al, stupefied. He blinked as though in a dream. "You're a centaur. And... did Kris just say your name was Chiron?"

Chiron raised his eyebrow. "Yes. I am indeed a centaur, and Chiron is my name. Why?"

The emerald-eyed boy said nothing. He simply keeled back in a faint. His head struck the bed boards with a hard thump as though in complaint.

For a moment, no one spoke.

"My, my," said Chiron stoically. "That went over well!"

Kris and I gaped.

Alistair's most recent faint only lasted about a half hour. By the time he woke up, it was already noon. The counselors for Kris and my cabins came to get us so we could eat lunch. Kris hesitated a little before going. We walked to the mess hall side by side, the big guy completely dwarfing me with his sheer size. Will Solace was conversing with Nathan about basketball stats.

"What do you think of Al, Helen?" Kris asked, nudging my arm with his elbow.

I grinned. "He seems nice. I'd like to hear some of his jokes! But there's one thing that's weird - - how the Hades can he have survived all these years while using computers daily? I mean, he's definitely a demigod. You didn't have to grant him entry when you carried him across camp borders, did you?"

Kris frowned. "No, I didn't. That bothered me, too, during the time I spent with Kris at school. Some of his favorite video games had monsters like hell hounds and gorgons, but he never got attacked by the real deal once."

"Until the Empire State Building," I added.

"Yeah," the son of Apollo said with a wince. "Then that happened."

As I previously mentioned, it was only noon. However, the sun had already straggled half-way down the sky. A mid-evening haze of sunlight now spread across the camp. I pointed this out to Kris and he glared upwards.

"I really don't like this whole shorter day business," Kris grumbled. I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

We didn't say much more after that, and parted ways to our separate tables when we got to the mess hall. Lunch passed by normally. The naiads breezed about the pavilion, handing everyone a plate of today's meal - - juicy hamburgers, perfectly sour pickles, and strawberries so plump they seemed ready to explode with redness. I picked up my cup and thought of my favorite drink. Iced raspberry lemonade clinked into it a moment later.

After I made my offering, I dug into my burger with gusto.

Most of the rest of the day dragged on without a hitch, too.

I returned to the Nike cabin's Friday activities. Somehow, everything we did ended up turning into a competition. Canoeing on Long Island Sound became a race on water; Arts and Crafts was a contest to determine the best stone carver. Obviously, training in the arena was the worst of all. It descended into a madhouse of screaming and name-calling and snide remarks at everybody, the latter of which was provided mainly by Tammie Jade. Then some unfortunate twelve-year-old accidentally hit me in the face with a Celestial bronze shield, causing my alternate personality to break loose. A grumpy Chiron had to be called in to restrain me.

All in all, it was situation normal for the children of Nike.

Then dinner came.

We returned from our daily activities grinning like idiots. The other demigods of Camp Half-Blood streamed in alongside us, chattering animatedly. There were the Aphrodite girls, glamorous at all times and under any circumstances. Pollux, the lone son of Dionysus, was already seated, staring sadly at the seat to his right. His late brother, Castor, used to sit there before he had died in the Second Titan War. Brian Eastwood came past him with his siblings in the Iris cabin, but paused and said something to him. Pollux smiled back sadly.

Al was now with the Apollo kids. Kris had apparently taken the teen under his wing.

Several races of non-demigods joined us, too. The satyrs pretty much sat wherever, and anyone next to them kept their silverware close protectively. Naiads came out of the trees and bounded up to the pavilion as well. The first time I'd seen that, back when I was a newbie camper, had shell-shocked me almost as badly as seeing Chiron in his centaur form had. Now I couldn't imagine a time when I hadn't thought a tree could have a girl living in it.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the floor to quiet everybody. "To the gods!" he shouted.

"To the gods!" we all cried. Al's was a bit late, and even more embarrassing, his voice cracked at the end. Several campers giggled, including my archenemy Zelda. Al pouted and mumbled something to Kris, who chuckled quietly in response.

I tore my eyes away from my crush's flaming hair and looked at my cup.

"Hm... Iced coffee," I decided. I'd need some extra energy for Capture the Flag tonight. Pulling out of my alternate personality earlier had taken more out of me than usual.

Talking and laughing resumed. At the same time, Wood nymphs handed out the meal for the night. I took some fresh salad, grapes, and a warm ham-and-cheese sandwich. The bread was so warm my fingers sunk right into it. Yum!

Next, all 200+ of us rose up as one to form the offering line. We stepped forward one-by-one, dropping the freshest pieces of fruit or cheesiest pieces of sandwich into the fire at the center of the pavilion. So many campers had joined in the past year that it took a fairly long time for me to get up there. I paused a moment, wondering what I could say to Mom that I hadn't already.

Then I remembered what Kris had said to Will Solace a few days ago: I haven't heard from Dad since last... October, I think. And these shortening days have made me get a bad feeling. Has Apollo spoken to you all, or have you gotten any dreams from him?

"Mom," I said softly, throwing a vibrantly green leaf of lettuce into the flame. "Please let me know how to make Kris feel better."

My lettuce's smoke smelled like wild sunflowers, dry parchment, cotton candy, and an uncountable number of other things. Somehow, it all converged to create a heavenly aroma. It lingered pleasantly in my nose for several minutes after I sat down at my place again.

I thought about Kris, Apollo and the darkening days while I played with my food.

"What's up, Miss Weber?" asked Nathan. His skin looked like crystallized honey in the pale darkness of the early night.

I took a bite of my ham-and-cheese sandwich. "The sky."

"I mean in your head, silly. What's happenin'? Whatcha thinking about?"

I blushed a little. "Kris," I said into a forkful of salad. My cabin counselor paused, then grinned knowingly. I glared at him and huffed. "Not like that, you weirdo. I've been thinking about his family probs."

"Family probs?" Nathan repeated, genuinely surprised. "What do you mean?"

He sipped cola from his cup and swirled the ice inside, so it clinked against the glass.

I shrugged. "I don't really know. Somethin' about a vision he got, and his dad not answering his prayers, and... I want to help him. The problem is, I don't know how. Or if I can at all."

Nathan nodded sagely. "A dilemma, to be sure. Should you console him? Distract him from his worries? Ask Chiron to check out Mount Olympus, make sure everything's alright up there?" He popped a grape into his mouth. "These endless possibilities, no limits, just epiphanies."

"You stole that from the American Authors," I accused.

The ginger looked abashed. "Did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did not!"

"Did too - - wait, what?" Nathan sighed in defeat. "Alright, I did. So what? They're a cool band. My point is, there's so many things you could try to do that it'll be hard to know what the consequences will be. The best bet would probably be not to do anything special at all."

I stared. "What are you talking about? What good will that do?"

He shrugged, his pale blue eyes thoughtful. "Think about it. If he's worried that his dad is missing, the thing that will help Mr. Smith most is normalcy. People going through tough times need something normal they can cling to in order to feel secure. In this case, you'd be that thing for Mr. Smith."

"I'm not a thing!" I grumbled, biting into my sandwich. My alternate personality flared up inside my head.

Nathan grinned. "I know you're not," he soothed. "You're much less important."

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

I reached down on my plate for a piece of cheesy sandwich to throw at him. My fingers touched cold porcelain. I blinked and shifted my hand to the right. I groped for food, confused. I knew I hadn't eaten all my dinner yet, so why would my plate be empty?

I blinked and looked at my place.

My sandwich, what remained of my salad, and my grapes were all stacked on top of each other on the side of my plate nearest to the table. I hadn't done that.

"Alright, who's been messing with my food?" I sighed. I glared pointedly at my silver haired older sister, who sat across from me and was talking to a younger one of our siblings. "Tammie?"

Tammie Jade blinked. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. For once."

I raised my eyebrow suspiciously, but reluctantly accepted her word as truth. Maybe I'd rearranged my food and forgotten about it. I reached for my sandwich... and it darted around the rim of my plate.

Tammie, Nathan and I gawked at it.

"What the Hades?" Nathan said. "Your food... moved on its own."

I frowned and grabbed for it again. It evaded my hand. Several more times I made to pick it up, and each time it slid around the plate elusively.

"STOLLS!" I snapped, my alternate personality taking over. I stood up and glared at the Hermes cabin, where Conner and Travis looked up curiously. "WHY THE HADES DID YOU MAKE A STUPID PRANK LIKE THIS!?"

"Prank?" said Conner, inclining his head. "Which prank - -"

Travis continued for him. "- - Are you speaking of? The one we did this afternoon, that made Chiron's record player play eight-bit Mario..."

"Or the tofu in Katie's ham-and-cheese sandwich?" finished Conner calmly.

Over at the Demeter table, Katie Gardner choked and nearly spit her sandwich back onto her plate.

By now several other demigods had decided to watch us.

"Neither!" I huffed. "I mean this!" I reached for my food, and just like before it skirted around my hand.

Conner and Travis guffawed. "We didn't do that," Connor said, nearly crying from mirth, "but whoever did is a genius!"

"Points to them!" Travis added with a snort.

I was so surprised, my alternate personality receded. I stumbled and clutched my dizzy head. Nathan caught me before I fell backwards on him. "But then..." I said, blinking stupidly. "If you guys didn't... who?"

"Well, that would be me," a voice as clear as the Indian Ocean said from behind me.

I stiffened and turned. "Who said that?"

My food had rearranged itself again. The bread of the sandwich had become a face; the lettuce made green leafy hair; and the grapes now formed a mouth, eyes and a nose. It looked strange and misshapen because of the bites I'd taken out of my sandwich already, like a child's Play Doh project that hadn't quite gone right.

For a second, all the Nike kids, Connor, and Travis just stared at it.

"How do you do?" my sandwich asked pleasantly. Its grape mouth moved like anime characters' do, not particularly forming any letters but still managing to enunciate every syllable perfectly. "The name's Aquaria. Man is it nice to be back on Earth after all these long millenia..."

Nathan was the first to recover. "Well," the ginger said, blinking. "This just got a whole lot weirder."

Done at last! You guys probably thought I was never going to release this 9th chapter, huh? XD Sorry about that. Well, the plot is finally moving forward again, and my characters should be leaving on their quest soon! Unfortunately for Al, who's had even less training than Percy did before his first quest.

I hope you enjoyed my newest update! If you did and are new to the story, your follows and favorites would be much appreciated. Neither action is necessary, of course! It just makes me feel good, is all. For fans both new and old, please leave a review. I'd be greatly interested to hear your thoughts on this chapter. What did you like about it? Was it funny? Did it feel a bit slow? Anything is welcome except flames! Thanks in advance. :)

-TheRealEvanSG