Aricia Beauregard was busy running the blade of her magical sword Atrophos over a whetstone on the steps of the Big House's porch. With every run sparks flew from the sides of the honing tool, and every so often seared Aricia's pale white arms. At her side, Herakles, her pet peacock was pecking at the ground. He'd been a gift a month earlier from her mother, Hera and the self righteous bird was only now braving the Camp grounds beyond the walls of Cabin 2.

"Squack!" Herakles protested loudly when he ventured too close to the sparking whetstone. His multicolored plume of feathers puffed out and he waddled away in annoyance. "Caw!" He shouted over his shoulder, like a last insult.

"I told you not to come too close." Aricia chastised while she examined her progress and twirled the blade in the beams of the mid-morning sunlight. "And don't wander in to the stables like yesterday, you know the pegasi don't like you."

The door to the Big House slammed shut followed by heavy footsteps from a black set of combat boots. That was followed by the almost silent padding of paws as a Hecate daemon companion slinked her way past Aricia. The shadow cat caused an involuntary shiver to crawl down the Daughter of Hera's spine. When she looked up Aricia met the bright gold eyes of Celeste Helsingr, Daughter of Hecate.

Celeste was a year older than Aricia with long, dark red hair that was nearly crimson in color. She was Councilor of Cabin 20 above only three other kids; Lou Ellen, Summer Alden, and Peter McKnight. All four of them owned animal companions made completely from morphing shadows that reflected their personalities and gave everyone else the creeps, especially when they spoke.

"What are you doing out here Calf?" Celeste asked, using the nickname almost everyone had called Aricia since she'd arrived at Camp Half Blood. "Shouldn't be over in the archery field already?"

"Shouldn't you?" Aricia responded. "Atrophos!" She hissed, forcing her freshly sharpened weapon to revert to its original, inconspicuous form of a small silver peacock feather. The Daughter of Hera grinned up at her friend. They usually had archery at the same time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Aricia's schedule was altered for today. "As for me, I gave up my archery spot to Clarisse to bring her over to our side for Capture the Flag tomorrow night."

"Good idea, I was going to send Senka to scare the Aphrodite over in 10 to side with us. But knowing them, only three or four will fight and that includes Piper and Britani." Celeste sat down and allowed her daemon to weave in and out of her legs. "Even so, that would be Cabins 1, 2, 5, 10, 14 and 20. The Isis kids told me earlier they'll play."

"That's probably as good as we'll get." Aricia admitted and wrinkled her nose while she watched Senka morph from housecat to lynx in bone chilling matter of seconds. "So, you never answered me; what are you doing inside the Big House?"

"Oh, that." Celeste's tone darkened. "I was hoping I could convince Chiron to allow my cabin to order some magical herbs, but he said it wasn't 'in the budget' this month. I think he's just afraid we Hecate just want to give you all potions that will turn you into frogs or something."

It was hard for Aricia not to laugh, and even harder not to agree with Chiron out loud. Though they were more the most part, nice enough, there was just something undeniably and unsettlingly creepy about the Hecate kids as a whole. They barely slept; Celeste always seemed to have dark purple circles under her eyes. They also loved playing pranks, which were always ten times more intense than other camper's due to the fact that Cabin 20ers had real magic on their side. Once Aricia had witnessed Lou Ellen steal one of Demeter kid's noses right off her face. The Daughter of Hera couldn't judge though, ever since her true birthmother had been publically declared, she was treated like an anomaly too.

Celeste stood up and nudge Aricia with the toe of one of her black combat boots. "C'mon Calf, let's head to see how Leo is doing on the ship." Her eyes flickered uncertainly. "I mean…you're going next week with Leo, Piper and your brother right?"

"Step brother." Aricia snipped out of habit. "You don't see us sitting together at dinner, do you?" She continued a bit bitter. "I love Jason, but you won't be seeing us in any family Christmas cards Zeus or Hera send out this year."

The statement made Celeste snort with laughter. "I don't think there's a camera lens big enough to fit the entire family. We'd all look like tiny specks in orange shirts if you tried." The older girl traced the toe of her boot in the dirt into the shapes of weird glyphs that Aricia half expected to glow bright green or something. "Anyway let's go."

Aricia stood up and clipped her peacock pendant back on to the silver chain around her neck. Her eyes scanned the horizon for Herakles, but the peacock had disappeared somewhere, probably the stables again to harass the horses. Senka bonded off the steps of the Big House and ran a few paces before her bond to Celeste forbid her to put anymore distance between daemon and mistress. She hissed impatiently until Celeste started to walk.

Beside the flying ship Leo was covered head to toe in a thick black substance Aricia could not distinguish from oil, grease or sweat. There was also the overpowering aroma of hot sauce floating through the air. Piper was busy searching through a toolbox while Jason was looking over a schematic with Annabeth. Aricia smiled wide and waved when Piper's ever changing eyes caught her bright indigo ones.

"Hey! Ari! Celeste!" She wiped her filthy hands on her equally dirty jeans and sprinted towards the two older girls. "Everything is right on schedule, we should be ready to test launch tomorrow night!" Her tan face was glowing with excitement. "Right after we beat Leo and Annabeth over here at Capture the Flag of course." She grinned.

"Hey, no bueno chica bonita." Leo remarked. "Don't forget, I've got like, an entire armory in my belt!" He lovingly patted his magic tool belt. He looked over and winked at Annabeth who just rolled her eyes. He chuckled and looked back to Piper and the others. "So, what can I do for you ladies?"

"Came to see how it was going." Aricia answered and stepped around her former cabin-mate. "And if you needed any of our help, but it looks like you got it all covered." She looked over to her half-brother and nodded in acknowledgment. He'd stood up for her last month when Hera had publicly claimed her, but it hadn't exactly made them close. Her relationship was even rockier with Thalia, who had even attempted to assassinate Aricia on the orders of their father a few years back. "C'mon Leo, Annabeth can't I persuade you guys to join Blue Team tonight?"

Leo laughed and gave Aricia a 'thumbs up'. "Only if you agree to gimme a big smooch chica." He playfully puckered his lips. "And then protect me before your boyfriend kicks my butt!"

"That's a no then." Aricia remarked with a wicked grin. "Annabeth?"

"Nah, I like the competition. We'd smash Red way too easily if Athena joined Blue." Annabeth folded up the blueprints into a neat square small enough to tuck in her back pocket.

Piper squirmed back next to Aricia and asked, "So, do you miss the cabin yet? You need to come visit you know, a lot of 10ers miss you, not just me and Britani."

"How is Cabin 10 now that you're in charge? I saw a few more Aphrodite kids than usual on the training field this morning, some of them girls but mostly the guys."

"It's a slow process, but they're slowly adjusting to the idea." Piper admitted. "It'll be a long while until you see all the Aphrodite out here, and a cold day in Hades if Drew ever does anything remotely heroic. At least she isn't trying to openly raise a coup against me anymore." Piper knelt down and rubbed Senka's shadowy fur. Being half Native American, she'd grown up with dozens of stories about spirit animals.

"Thankssssss." Senka hissed in the whispery voice of hers that faded in and out like wind. "Feelssss good."

Again, involuntarily Aricia shivered. The thing just creped her out more than her Uncle Hades and her dark cousins did. Once, one of Celeste's sibling's daemons had passed right through her as if she wasn't even solid. It'd been enough to make her throw up and never want a repeat experience.

"I'm going to head back to my Cabin and get cleaned up before dinner, see you guys later."

Aricia announced and turned on her heels. She kept a steady jog as she made her way across camp and flung open the door of Cabin 2. Herakles was back, lounging lazily in from of the fire at Hera's altar. The Daughter of Hera hesitatingly picked up a gold drachma and twirled it between her fingers. Things would soon be pretty complicated if her plan was discovered once the Greek demigods reached Camp Jupiter.

Four years ago, when Hera had admitted to Zeus that Aricia was in fact his daughter too and not just the product of pathogenesis as originally thought, Aricia had briefly been a Goddess in her own right. But back then, she hadn't wanted the title, only to stay with Silena in Cabin 10 and be like the other demigods. After Silena's death last year, Aricia had disappeared from the camp for three months, after first hearing the Second Great Prophecy. There, she'd worked tirelessly until she had completely split herself, into her Roman half, like the other Olympians. If Gods and demigods were supposed to work together to win this war, she'd be a goddess here, and her Roman half on the West coast. Thus her 'twin' sister Carynn had been 'born'.

Finally coming to a decision, Aricia tossed the drachma in to the rainbow Hera's altar fire and a squirt bottle created. "Carynn,, Barracks of the First Cohort at Camp Jupiter." She waited until an almost identical face appeared in the Iris message. "Hey sis."

"Aricia, a pleasure as always." Carynn responded evenly. "The Son of Neptune has arrived, just like Mother said he would."