"Are you sure they're not having a council? Because I don't see anybody here other than us." Annabeth Chase pushed her blonde curls back behind her ears and raised her eyebrows questioningly.
Percy Jackson looked around confusedly and shook his head. "I thought Chiron said it should be fine. But you're right, this is odd."
Percy and Annabeth had been sent to Olympus to look for Dionysus, who hadn't shown up at camp for the last three days. As he usually never missed a single day, Chiron had assumed there was something wrong and decided to have someone try to find out where he was. They had come up the elevator to the six hundredth floor (after first having to convince the operator, again, that they were allowed up there) and found Olympus pretty much deserted.
"So what do we do?" Annabeth asked. For once, she didn't have a plan.
"Let's go to the throne room," Percy suggested, "and just peek in the door."
Annabeth shook her head. "Nice try, Seaweed Brain. And get blasted to bits? No thanks."
"You know, Wise Girl," Percy retorted as he started down the hall with Annabeth following, "my dad won't let us get blasted to bits. Or your mom either."
Annabeth winced. "My mom might. Remember when she voted to kill us?"
"But they didn't." Percy grinned triumphantly. "And now she likes me because I saved the world."
Annabeth snorted. "And said you couldn't have done it without the rest of us."
"I was teasing," Percy assured her. "Quiet, there's the throne room."
The two peeked into the throne room from each side of the door. Annabeth fully expected to be confronted with a dozen angry glares, but there was no one there but Hestia at the fire. This seemed completely normal until Annabeth's eyes landed on the end of Hestia's poker- it was stabbed into a marshmallow. She looked at Percy and tried desperately not to burst out laughing. "Hestia's roasting a marshmallow!" she whispered, stifling her giggles.
Percy had a hand clamped over his own mouth to stifle his own laughter. When they finally quieted down, he whispered, "But seriously, something's the matter here. Let's go talk to her." Annabeth nodded, and the two of them walked cautiously into the throne room.
Hestia looked up from her marshmallow as they approached. "Ah, Percy Jackson. You come just in time."
Percy looked like he was about to say something of a complaining nature, so Annabeth started talking before he could. "Just in time for what, my lady?"
"To do something about the situation here on Olympus," said Hestia. "Shall I show you?"
Percy nodded, followed by Annabeth, more reluctantly. Hestia started sending a scene into their minds...