The blast from a horn interrupted an otherwise peaceful morning. Percy groaned and rose from his yoga mat. Did they really have to hold a council meeting right now? He had purposefully cleared out the day for relaxation. No goofing off with friends. No stupid council meetings.
Nothing.
Why couldn't he have just one day off?
Percy reluctantly obeyed the noise and headed towards the Lodge. The enormous pantheon was the newest addition to the camp. Named after demigod Jason Grace, the building was as big as three football fields. Several columns supported the structure. They all had Latin phrases engraved on the foundation. Percy's Latin was a little rusty, but he could still get the jist of what they said. Something about family, loyalty and honor. Three classic Roman traditions.
Percy walked up the dreaded marble staircase. There were over one-hundred steps in total. Each step meant to symbolize how many months Jason dedicated himself to the Legions. All those stairs were to Percy was a pain. Any other day out of his week he would have been less bothered by trudging up the stairs.
For some reason that he couldn't quite pick out, he just did not feel right.
The inside of the pantheon was even more impressive. Twelve seats were lined up in an oval greated him. Meant to represent the Council of the Gods, one of those seats was his. As head counselor of the Poseidon cabin, it was his duty to attend these meetings. He had other things to do on a Monday, but he had no choice. It was his birthright.
Seated next to him were Annabeth Chase on his right, and Nico di Angelo on his left. He thanked the gods he didn't have to suffer through this alone.
"Glad you decided to show up." Annabeth quipped.
Percy shrugged. "Yeah, well. Today was supposed to be my day off. Now I'm behind on my meditation."
No response. Percy guessed she wasn't too keen on his eye roll.
"So any news on Grover?" Percy said in a whisper.
"Not that I'm aware off. That might be why Chiron called us over here today."
It had been weeks since his friend last reported to camp. There had been news of possibly yet another demigod camp somewhere in the country. Grover had been sent into the Deep South to find it. Scouts had said that was the most likely place for it. Percy shifted all negative thoughts of the meeting from his mind. If his best friend was in danger, he needed to take in as much as he could.
"Quiet!" Belted Gleeson Hedge. All conversations simmered down to only a few whispers. Percy noted the satyrs' megaphone. The room was big enough to where anyone, least of all Hedge needed any sort of mic. Guess everyone was out to annoy him today.
"Normally I wouldn't be scheduling a meeting first thing Monday morning, but some urgent news has come up that we need to address." He said staring right at Percy.
Percy's heart sank. Annabeth was right. If Hedge was calling an all hands meeting, things were getting bad. Though, not reporting back after a while was not always considered a problem. Usually it took demigods a week or two to get their first report. Even for the more experienced ones. If the report didn't come after that, then it turned into a problem.
"It has come to my attention that Grover Underwood has not reported back to us. Now, for those of you who weren't at the meeting a month ago, and there were quite a few, we sent our Head Scout, Grover Underwood, on a mission about a month ago. He was headed for the Deep South. Some time before that, our intelligence committee found what appeared to be yet another demigod camp."
Percy sat up in shock. Another camp? He had heard rumors of one, but he had brushed those aside. Camp Jupiter should have been the only other one. The Greeks and Romans were the only civilizations to adapt these set of gods. Unless.
"Sir, may I have the Council's permission?" He asked.
Hedge nodded. "Go right ahead, Percy."
"Well, if Grover really did stumble upon a third camp, chances are his position is compromised."
A buzz hopped around the room. He had them talking. Percy waited for a moment before he continued speaking. He wanted everyone to have some thought as to what he said.
"What do you mean?" Hedge asked.
"I've been brushing up on my history recently, and I remember something about a civil war. Could it be that camp was one that split from us?"
"That very well could be the case. I haven't heard about that civil war in a long time."
Hedge scratched his beard. Percy wondered what he could be thinking about. The man was old enough to have lived through that civil war. The event wasn't talked about much in their history books. Just a small footnote in what was wrong with this place.
Nobody had ever mentioned the war to Percy. Not even after he had gained so much respect from the rest of the camp. He had to do his own digging. He had found the book tucked away in a dusty corner of the camps' main library. It was titled The Secret History of Camp Half-Blood.
"Excuse me sir, but what civil war?" Another voice piped up. It came from Abby O'Brian. One of the newest council members. Percy could sense the shakiness in her voice.
"Ah, I forgot how new you are!" Hedge wheeled his way over the girl. "Some time ago- how long that was escapes me at the moment- there was a debate. Said debate was on what kinds of people that this camp should allow. Mind you, for context this takes place during the nineteen-fifties."
The murmores grew louder. The civil war took place during the fifties?
"Annabeth, was race involved at all apart of the fight?" Percy asked his girlfriend.
"Yeah, it's not a proud moment of the camp." She replied. "You found secret histories."
"I did." Percy nodded. "I can't believe there's so much that was kept from us. Why would they do that?"
"Even I don't know that one babe. Hell, I was barely trusted enough to keep the prophecy secret. The last thing they'd want to trust me with is all of the trouble this place has been through."
"Because you'll tell, won't you?"
"Exactly!"
They smiled at each other. Percy knew how much of a loudmouth she could be. He wondered how much convincing she had to do to even hear the prophecy. Let alone know the full meaning behind it.
"Ahem." Hedge cleared his throat. The room went silent. "Thank you." He rotated back to the center of the room. "This might come as a shock to some of you, but we did indeed fight a civil war. If Grover has not come back yet, then proof exists of another camp. We have been speculating for decades on where the exiled might have gone. I have called this meeting to send an official expedition to his last known location. You may now talk amongst yourselves before we put it to a vote."
Percy hesitated to put up his own opinion. If he did, he knew people would want him to go. He was once of the senior officers in the camp. Who better to send? And the quest was also very personal to him. Everyone would expect him to go. Instead, Percy just simply stayed silent. If he did not speak up, then people would forget he existed. Or so he hoped.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Abby sitting stone cold in her chair. He made his way over.
"How's my favorite daughter of Hermes doing?" He smiled. That eased her tension a little.
"I'm doing alright. Just kinda nervous." She said.
Percy looked down at her hands. They were shaking as if she had Parkinson's disease. He could feel for her. She looked like she was barely even ten years old and already was thrust into a leadership position. They had met a week ago, so he figured she was still new to camp. She reminded him a lot of Annabeth.
"It takes some guts for someone your age to be up here. You're probably the youngest out of everyone here." He said.
"Thanks." She didn't seem too thrilled at the revelation.
"So how do you like camp?" Percy asked. Maybe if he switched gears she'd be more willing to talk.
"It's alright I guess. Better than living at home."
"Once you get settled in you'll feel better. It takes everyone a while to adjust."
She smiled at him, and started humming. Percy went back to his seat. Maybe Annabeth could get to her. It was a bit weird that a man his age would approach a pre-teen out of the blue like that. He really should have known better.
"So how's the new girl doing?" Annabeth asked.
"She seems fine. Extremely quiet."
"She's probably scared to death, Percy."
He bit his tongue. She was probably right. Seeing as how most of them had gotten there from some sort of monster attack, there was more than likely some sort of emotional trauma the girl had to be dealing with. He thought back to his first few weeks at camp. He averaged around two hours of sleep a night. Abby was going through the same thing.
"How do you suppose we help her?"
"I don't know. I haven't met her yet."
"Why don't you go up to her after the meeting, Annabeth. She'd be more open to a women talking to her."
"Sounds good babe. Now about the vote?"
As if on cue, Hedge blew his whistle. Percy had completely forgotten about the vote. He had been so fixated on making sure Abby was okay. A slight panic began to settle in. They were all going to vote for him to go. He had no doubt.
"We shall now proceed with the vote."
They all got up one by one, and cast their vote. Percy decided to go with Annabeth. If anyone was up for the task, she would be better suited than him to go.
"I have counted the votes, and they read as follows: twelve yes, zero no. I shall now offer up four of you to go on a mission: Percy, Annabeth, Abby, and Alexander."
Shit.