Silena walked along the beach, thinking about how unfair the Fates were.
Not only were her parents, yet again, on another dangerous, exciting quest, she was left babysitting her younger brother Leonardo. Not that there was much that went into it. At Camp, you really just let the kid run wild and hoped he survives long enough to make it back to the cabin that night. Ever since the two camps had united, half-bloods tended to live longer. Which meant more legacies, as the Romans put it, and Silena and Leonardo's choice of cabin housing: Zeus or Aphrodite. And since Silena wasn't exactly the beauty queen type, she and Leonardo chose Zeus. It was a spacious place, and since the only previous two tenants hadn't exactly spruced up the joint, the task had fallen to her. She had actually done a pretty good job- while staying true to Zeus's character. The electric blue lights hung from the tall ceiling. The beds were all king sized, with stormy grey blankets and pillows. The entire place was lit by glowing neon edged walls, giving the place a very Tron like feel. Overall, it was awesome.
Still, no matter how cool the Cabin was, sharing it with an annoying little brother was bad enough. Then their mom dropped the news on them.
"The Jackson kids?!" Silena exclaimed.
"What?" Her father adjusted his glasses. "I thought you and Zoe were pretty good friends,"
"We were- I haven't seen her in three years! And Charlie? Robert? They're coming too?" she moaned. "Kill me now,"
"Come on, Silena. They aren't that bad. Like you said, you haven't seen them in three years," their mom, Piper Grace, shook her head. "They're sweet kids, I promise."
"So, if they're so sweet, why do they need to come over here to prove it?" Leo grumbled, snapping his fingers. Electricity zapped between them. "Not that I'm against it- Charlie and Robert are chill as Hades-"
"Mouth, mister," Jason Grace looked sternly over his glasses at his fifteen year old son. "And c'mon, guys. Please. I'm asking you a favor. Can you tolerate them, for two weeks?"
Silena rolled her eyes. Leo looked at his sister's cue.
"Fine," she mumbled unhappily. "Two weeks. It's weird, though. Why can't they stay at New Rome? Zoe's the youngest, and she's eighteen!"
"Percy and Annabeth are coming with us on this trip, and they're meeting us here," Piper explained. Silena's heart lifted at that. She loved those two. "The kids are coming with them because they've all been Praetor and it's a good opportunity to show good blood between the camps,"
"I'm down," Leonardo grinned. "When they getting here?"
"Day after tomorrow. Oh and so are..." Jason hesitated. "So are Leo and Calypso's kids. Essie and Sammy-"
"Aw, yes! Sammy's my homie!" Leonardo grinned. Piper smiled. Silena frowned.
"Wait...Leo's going too? And...Frank and Hazel too, I'm guessing?" Silena questioned. Her parents exchanged a look. Silena couldn't help admiring her parents together. Both, though in their forties, were in great shape. Her moms hair was still dark and thick, not a gray in sight. No wrinkles lined her face- though Silena guessed that had something to do with her grandmother, Aphrodite. Her dad's hair had silvered in some places- but with the dark rimmed glasses he looked very distinguished.
"Yes..." Jason said slowly. "Them too,"
"Oh wait, no. The seven? The Giant War seven?" Leonardo jumped to attention. "Rachel's prophecy included all of you for the quest? Am I the only one who's seeing a red flag here?"
"No, you're not," Jason put a hand on his shoulder. "But you know how well it works out when you try to avoid a prophecy,"
"It's in the Sibylline books as well," Piper said gravely. Silena's eyes widened. This was serious.
"So...what do we do for now?" she asked. Piper cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Well now," she said placatingly. "We have guests,"
Silena and Leonardo looked at each other. Guests?
"So it's safe to come in now?" A tall, regal looking woman with dark hair and obsidian eyes entered, smiling.
"Reyna!" Silena ran to her, hugging her tightly. Reyna grinned.
"Hey kiddo. Long time no see," she patted her back.
"RA-RA!" Leonardo wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She groaned.
"You know, I had really hoped your namesake would've let that die out," she ruffled his hair. "You're getting tall, kid. Like your dad,"
"The kids here too?" Silena looked around anxiously. Reyna laughed.
"They're settling down in their father's cabin," she said. "I'm just here to see your parents safe journey to the start of their quest,"
"That being...?" Silena prompted.
"Ah, ah, ah, nice try," Jason steered his children out the door or the Zeus cabin. "Go find your friends. Gods know they'll need rescuing from that cabin-"
"Hey now," Reyna shot a warning glance. Piper pushed him and Jason threw his hands up in surrender. Reyna smiled forgiveness.
"C'mon, Sil, let's leave the grown-ups to their boring grown up talk," Leonardo looped his arm through hers, dragging her away. The sun was blinding outside the cabin, and Camp Half Blood was alive with activity. All around, satyrs, nature spirits and campers roamed around, Roman and Greek alike. The purple and orange shirts had been tossed aside in favor of green- the color of unity. The fauns, who had begun adopting some of the satyr's qualities, playing pan flutes and learning nature magic. The campers were busy organizing the next round of chariot races, capture the flag and war games. The dryads and naiads were busy weaving and flirting. Everything was at peace-
"DIE, GRACEUS SCUM!" Silena was tackled from behind, landing flat on her face. Standing victoriously with her foot planted firmly on Silena's back, was Victoria Ramirez-Arellano. She smirked down. "Ready to surrender, Graceus?"
"Half greek," Silena grunted, flipping herself over, grabbing Victoria's foot and sending her sprawling. Silena slammed down her shoulders in a satisfying pin. Victoria laughed.
"Glad to see you haven't lost your edge," Victoria grinned. Silena beamed back, helping her to her feet. The two girls smiled at eachother- then enveloped each other in an enormous hug.
"It's good to see you, girl," Silena squeezed her friend, who though several years younger, was her closest friend. "It's been too long this time,"
"Three months!" Victoria pouted. "Your last visit to New Rome was so short! And I haven't seen your brother in nearly a year- not that I'm anxious to,"
Silena laughed, rolling her eyes. Those two were always at odds, since they were little. Victoria, the dark haired, blue eyed commander who dominated the room, and Leonardo the blonde mischief maker. Especially when their godly lineage was what it was...
"So," Silena looped her arm through Victoria's. "It's been three years since you saw Camp Half-Blood- let me give you the tour,"
"Um, excuse me- are you forgetting someone?" A voice called behind her. Silena closed her eyes and grinned. Markus.
She spun around to face Markus Ramirez-Arellano, Victoria's older brother. With his close cropped black hair and startling eyes, he was exactly what Silena expected the perfect Roman to look like. His eyes always glinted with a slight hint of humor, like he was enjoying a joke you would never get to hear. Silena hugged him.
"Ay, kiddo. How you been?" he looked down at her. He was three years older than her, and sure, he was attractive- but he was also the one thing Silena couldn't stand. He was just so...stoic. Nevertheless, the two had remained close throughout the years.
"Oh, you know. Questing, electrifying people, asking the impossible- the family business," Silena smirked. While it was true she had inherited her father's ability to conduct electricity, her brother could actually summon it from nowhere. Silena had to have a preexisting source. On the other side, while Silena could usually talk anybody into doing whatever she wanted, Leo had gotten the Aphrodite ability to change his appearance- and he had gotten pretty damn good at it, too.
"Sounds like you got it all figured out then," he nodded. "Where did Leo run off to?"
"Oh, probably trying to find a way to enhance his superhuman abilities to the point of godly potential," Victoria rolled her eyes. Silena shrugged. She probably wasn't wrong.
"C'mon, let's go," Markus looped his arm through Silena's other side. "Didn't I hear something about a tour?"