This is the sequel to Reyna's Party. I hope everyone enjoys.
Piper would like to think that she was a patient person. She could handle most situations without violence. If a situation did seem like it would turn violent, she could use charmspeak as a last resort. All of these diplomatic thoughts did not occur to her as she saw Clarisse LaRue.
Clarisse was not someone you would want to fight. Like all children of Ares, she had dark, beady eyes that glared everyone down. Her hand ran through her brown hair before it moved to the dagger that was resting on the table in front of her.
Most campers had kept clear of Clarisse and her cabin over the last month. The children of Ares had been on a warpath that seemed to have no end in sight. No one knew who to blame, since Olympus was closed. Was Ares manipulating his children to cause them to fight, or were his children simply bored?
The Aphrodite cabin could not claim innocence. They had broken up almost every relationship in the camp. It didn't matter if you were a child or Ares or not. If you made the children of Aphrodite mad, your relationship was going to pay the price.
Something had to be done about the relationship between the two cabins. That was why Piper and Clarisse had agreed to meet. Chiron agreed to oversee the meeting, so he could keep the bloodshed to a minimal.
Piper took a deep breath as she examined the room. Her gaze turned towards the ping pong table that separated her from Clarisse. The daughter of Ares was flanked by two of her siblings. Piper decided to come alone.
"Thank you both for coming," Chiron began. He stood in between the two of them. That only made it easier to see his horsetail flickering nervously. "I understand that your parents are fighting each other, and the fighting has created tensions between your two cabins."
"Well, we could just wipe every child of Aphrodite from the face of the earth," Clarisse suggested with a sneer. Her two siblings laughed. "That should relieve the tensions."
"These peace talks are not going to work," Piper said as she looked at Chiron. The words just slipped out of her mouth. While she did want peace between the two cabins, she could feel herself preparing to attack Clarisse. There didn't seem to be anything she could do to stop herself.
"We both know that this is only a formality," Clarisse snapped. "There is nothing to talk about. Your mother is accusing my father of killing some loser that she was seeing. Father didn't do that, but your mother is angry regardless. Maybe, I should give her something to be angry about!"
"Try it," Piper snapped as she jumped to her feet. She didn't know why her mother was angry. All she knew was that her mother had been courting a man for half of a year. Apparently, that was a record for her.
Ares took offense to the prolonged relationship. He sent one of his own children to kill the man that Aphrodite was courting. Once the deed was done, the assassin disappeared off of the face of the earth.
Since Aphrodite had no proof of who killed her lover, she could not punish anyone without backlash from the other Olympians. Ares taunted Aphrodite about it, and that only caused more problems. Tensions between the two immortals quickly increased.
Then, Ares tried to attack Aphrodite. Athena was able to separate the two, but word quickly leaked. It became a struggle to keep the two cabins from fighting. The breaking point came a week before when three children of Ares attacked a child of Aphrodite. The poor girl had practically been killed, and the cabins were not allowed any activities together after that.
"You both need to calm down," Chiron said. He seemed to understand how tense everyone in the room was, and he looked ready to break up any fighting. "There has been another incident on Mount Olympus, and Ares is threatening war."
"And?" Clarisse wondered. She propped her feet up on the table and started to clean a dagger. Piper's hand moved to own dagger.
"War is one of the worst things that can happen," Piper argued. She bit her tongue, so she wouldn't say anything else. Chiron glanced at her and motioned for her to take a deep breath.
"Miss McLean is correct," Chiron confirmed, and he took his own deep breath. "Ares is threatening war on more than just Aphrodite. Athena and Bellona are also facing his wrath."
"What do you mean?" Clarisse asked with a raised eyebrow. She moved her dagger to clean her nails. "Why would Ares blame Bellona? I thought they were friends."
"I don't know the exact reason," Chiron replied. "The Olympians have been tight lipped. For now, we must discuss how we are going to stop the conflict between your two cabins."
Piper remained silent and thought about the new information. Her eyes moved to the ceiling. Seeing a child of Ares caused her blood to boil. She wanted to attack them instantly, and it had been like that for the past month. Piper first discovered it when she attacked Frank during Reyna's birthday party, and now, she had an explanation for it.
"How are we going to do that?" Piper finally asked. Chiron seemed to ponder the question. After a few moments, he opened his mouth to respond. A door behind Piper slammed open.
"Chiron," a young camper wheezed. Piper whirled around. A girl was panting for breath and leaning on a wall. "I think I just broke my sister's record for running here, and the children of Ares and Aphrodite are about to fight."
Chiron swept towards the camper and gently grabbed her arm. He slung her across his back and looked behind him. Chiron spoke, "We must hurry."
Before they could respond, Chiron galloped away. Piper walked towards the door, and Clarisse shoved right past her. A sneer was shot at Piper. It took the daughter of Aphrodite a moment to ignore it and jog towards the dinner pavilion.
When the dinner pavilion came into sight, Piper's stomach dropped. Most of the campers were still sitting at their tables, and they seemed too scared to move. A brave line of demigods were standing in between the children of Ares and Aphrodite. There seemed to be no violence, yet.
"Calm!" Chiron yelled. He deposited the camper on his back and walked towards the two tensed cabins. "We must all stay calm!"
"We have been calm long enough!" a child of Aphrodite yelled. Piper slowly made her way forward. She stopped by Chiron's side. After a moment, Clarisse followed her.
"Maybe, you should grow a pair and fight us!" a child of Ares yelled back. One of his hands wiped pizza sauce from his face. Piper glanced at her siblings. Thankfully, no one had grabbed their weapons, but it seemed inevitable that fighting would break out.
"We all need to calm down," Piper yelled. She put as much charmspeak as she could into the words. Anger made it harder to focus. It took a deep breath to help her forgo just telling her siblings to attack the children of Ares. They cold not afford any violence.
Before Piper could say more, a bright light blinded her. She took a few steps back and blinked rapidly to try and see again. The only thing she heard was shocked noises and babbled words. Piper finally rubbed her eyes and managed to see properly.
A woman stood ten feet from her. The woman wore a set of golden, Greek battle armor. Her face, excluding her mouth and red eyes, were covered by a helmet. One hand gripped a spear, while the other hand gripped a shield.
"Greeks!" the goddess yelled. Her voice radiated power. For what seemed like dramatic effect, she slammed her spear into the ground. Piper felt adrenaline rushed into her body, and she felt like she could take on the world. The other campers seemed to have the same look in their eyes.
"Most of you may not know me," the goddess said. She didn't raise her voice, but it still echoed throughout the dinner pavilion. Her voice reminded Piper of the generals that she had seen in war movies. "My name is Enyo: goddess of war! Many of you may have mistake me for that Roman Bellona. I can assure you that I am not."
Enyo glanced around the at the campers before continuing, "I know you have heard the rumors of discontent on Mount Olympus. Ares and Aphrodite seem to be at war. They are not now, but soon, they will be. My brother, Ares, has had his shield stolen. Who would dare steal the shield of the god of war?"
Enyo stopped talking and seemed to wait for a response. When no one offered one, she smirked and spoke, "I have a few ideas of who it could be. Before I identify these traitors, I must establish the consequences. For the last time, my brother has been humiliated. The other Olympians refuse to take his claims seriously. They stand by the usurper: Aphrodite. War is the only solution."
"Ares will start a war on anyone who dares to defy or insult him. I will follow him, as will his sons. This can be avoided, if two stipulations are met," Enyo continued. "First, Aphrodite must understand that Ares was not involved with the murder of her so called lover, and with this understanding, there must also come an apology. The second is that the thief, or thieves, steps forward into the light and returns what they stole."
When Enyo finished, no one made a sound. The threat was slowly sinking in, and everyone started to whisper. Piper stared at Enyo. A confident smirk was plastered on Enyo's face. After a few moments, Chiron stepped forward.
"Who do you believe stole the shield?" Chiron asked. His voice seemed to break the stunned trance of the campers. The children of Ares huddled closer to each other. Everyone else stepped away from them. A few other children moved from their tables to join the children of Ares.
"I say we start with the obvious: Piper McLean!" Enyo said. Piper looked up in surprise. She met Enyo's shining eyes. "Piper McLean is the favored daughter of Aphrodite. It makes sense that she would steal the shield for her mother, or that she used her charmspeak to convince someone to do her dirty work for her."
The children of Aphrodite moved closely to Piper, as if to protect her. Jason was also making his way through the children of Aphrodite. He spoke, "Piper would never do any of those things."
"Would Annabeth Chase steal the shield then?" Enyo questioned. She seemed to enjoy the spectacle that she was making. "The daughter of Athena owns a hat of invisibility, and did I mention that she was a child of Athena? Her mother and my brother have been feuding since they were born."
"Why wouldn't Athena steal the shield? No one would suspect her, and it would weaken Ares," Enyo continued. "Annabeth Chase is also one of the few people that have been allowed on Olympus, since it was closed. No one would suspect the architect of Olympus."
"Every time I am on Mount Olympus, I am with my mother and Zeus," Annabeth said calmly. She was one of the demigods that had been separating the Ares and Aphrodite cabin. Now, she was standing near Percy. "And, my mother would understand the consequences of stealing Ares' shield."
"If it was not you two, it must be the third suspect, and she will be confronted shortly," Enyo stated. Piper exchanged glances with Annabeth. Who was the third suspect? Before Piper could ask, Chiron cleared his throat.
"How do you know the shield was stolen by a camper?" Chiron wondered. He had moved his way to Piper's side, so he was standing in front of her protectively.
"Hypnos saw the gleam of the shield as the thief disappeared in the elevator. The damned fool did not realize what was happening, and he was too tired to identify any of their features. Thankfully, he was able to sense that they were a demigod."
"You could always cross reference the day that he saw the shield disappear to the people that visited Olympus at the time," Malcolm, a son of Athena, suggested. Enyo looked at him and laughed cruelly.
"Do you think we did not try that?" Enyo demanded. "Hypnos had been sleeping the entire month, and Ares has been away for two months. We don't know what day the shield was stolen, and Hypnos thought it was one of his dreams. He only offered the information when he overhead Ares questioning other immortals."
"I have faith that Piper McLean and Annabeth Chase did not steal the shield," Chiron promised.
"That remains to be seen," Enyo said coldly. "The thief, whether they are here or not, has only a week to return the shield, or my brother will start a war. Everything that you love will be destroyed."
With those happy words, the goddess began to show her true form. Everyone quickly looked away from the blinding light. When it was gone, every camper slowly turned back.
Piper met Annabeth's eyes again. Her own concern was reflected in Annabeth's eyes. Jason's hand gently grabbed Piper's shoulder in a protective gesture.
It only took Piper a moment to realize that everyone was staring at her. Most of them were whispering to themselves. Their faces all held accusations they didn't dare voice.
"Go back to the Big House," Chiron whispered. Piper nodded and felt Jason gently led her away. It only took a moment for Percy and Annabeth to follow. As they moved further away from the dinner pavilion, they could hear Chiron giving orders.
"Why is Ares accusing you two?" Jason asked. He fell in step with Piper and gave her a reassuring smile.
"They're children of Aphrodite and Athena," Percy replied with a shrug. "It's natural for Ares to suspect them first. I'm only wondering who the third suspect is."
"Someone at Camp Jupiter," Annabeth suggested. "I'm guessing a child of Venus that is there. Either way, we'll have to find the shield to clear our names."
"It looks like we're back to saving the world, again," Percy agreed with a goody grin. "Hopefully, there isn't some terrifying prophecy to go with this one."
"I thought you two would be tired of saving the world," Jason commented. Piper nodded her agreement. Saving the world once was enough for her. She didn't know how Percy and Annabeth could stand it.
"It's become a normal things," Percy said with a shrug. "Besides, what is the worst that can happen?"
