#nectarplotdrop

[nectarhq]

it’s early morning, sunlight is trickling into the valley where camp half-blood lies. sleeping peacefully, except for the few campers who are on border patrol. a boring job, more often than not. except when one of them sees something glistening in the cool morning sun. a sword lies at the border of camp, neatly placed under the gate like someone left it there. why? whose is it?

the first assumptions are that it’s a prank. ‘the hermes cabin at it again,’ chuckles one of the demigods who found the mysterious item. then someone gasps, ‘there’s dried blood on it’. not monster dust, but blood. on a celestial bronze sword, that’s more than suspicious.

border patrol abandons their job to bring this to chiron’s attention, the look on his face speaks volumes. he knows who this sword belongs to. or rather, belonged. as camp wakes up, and campers start crowding the dining pavilion, an announcement is made.

—— CAMP ANNOUNCEMENT

“this morning border patrol found a sword which i know belonged to dexter holt. as you’ll all surely know by now, neither heather mckinney nor aria davis brought this item back to camp. all we know at the moment is that someone placed it under the gate, and if anyone knows more about this or has seen something, we strongly urge them to come forward.

secondly, as camp director i would’ve liked to keep this a secret until we’d have more answers to avoid useless speculation, but as always news and rumors alike spread fast through camp. as some of you might have heard there was blood found on the blade. as this is a celestial bronze sword, it can only hurt demi gods, gods and monsters. since there’s only one of those categories who bleeds, we’re treating this very seriously. the apollo and asclepius cabins will be assessing the dna to determine if it is anyone we know of. hopefully we’ll have some answers soon, i’ll let you know when we do. i’d like to remind you all that if anyone needs any support around these dreadful events, we have a grief support group meeting every wednesday afternoon. but for now, enjoy your breakfast”

[nectarhq]

The days after an announcement like Chiron’s about Dexter Holt’s sword were always tense at camp. It’s something that lingers at the back of campers’ minds, eating away at them. As if the clouds that seem to hang above camp more and more frequently weren’t ominous and oppressive enough. However, this isn’t the first time camp has lost one of their own. Yes, these circumstances are seemingly more suspicious than usual, but there’s nothing more to than move on with their lives, right? Not for the Asclepius and Apollo cabins. Their most skilled campers are up to their shoulders stuck within the troubling aftermath. Troubling, yes. Testing blood doesn’t take all that long, but when the results came in, they felt it was needed to test them again. At least before warning Chiron, or the rest of camp. There had to be a mistake there, someone must have swapped the samples. This must be some really bad practical joke. While waiting for the blood results the sword is also tested for finger prints. Also quite a few times. Because these results just don’t make sense. Then finally, 6 days after the sword was found, a decision is made. The results are unwavering, despite the dreadful and illogical scenario they paint. And so, with heavy hearts, they bring their findings to Chiron. The next morning an announcement is made.

—— CAMP ANNOUNCEMENT

“ Good morning camp. I hope you all slept well last night. I am aware times are troubling right now, and I’m afraid I will not be able to lift that heaviness any time soon. In fact, I received some information last night which I find severely disturbing. As you all know the blood on Dexter Holt’s sword was found just five days ago, placed under the gate by an unknown being, has been tested these past few days by our medical team. They also swept the weapon for fingerprints to find out who possibly brought the sword back to camp, since they clearly know more about what has transpired on that doomed quest. However, I’m afraid that what they found will only add to the confusion. The blood belongs to none other than Dexter Holt himself. And if that isn’t unnerving enough, the fingerprints found on the hilt of the blade are only from two people. Two people who we already know. Aria Davis, and Heather McKinney. Now before - Silence please! - Before anyone decides to question any of these individuals for themselves, I’d need to tell you that we can’t allow that. Both Heather and Aria will be questioned by me personally. After this I will arrange a war council meeting which will be mandatory for all cabin counsellors. Lastly, I’d like to once again point out our support group meetings on Wednesdays. This will be all. ”