The senior counselor's were gathered around the ping pong table. The room had become the defacto headquarters for war council meetings. But when Annabeth, Chiron and I came in, it looked like more of a shouting match than anything else.

Clarisse was still in full battle gear. Her electric spear was strapped to her back. (Actually, her second electric spear, since I'd broken the first one. She called the spear "Maimer." Behind her back, everybody else called it "Lamer.") She had her boar-shaped helmet under one arm and a knife at her belt.

She was in the midst of yelling at Michael Yew, the new head counselor for Apollo, which looked kind of funny since Clarisse was a foot taller. Michael had taken over the Apollo cabin after Lee Fletcher died in battle last summer. Michael stood four feet six, with another two feet of attitude. He reminded me of a ferret, with a pointy nose and scrunched-up features—either because he scowled so much or because he spent too much time looking down the shaft of an arrow.

"It's our loot!" he yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"

Around the table, people were trying not to laugh—the Stoll brothers, Pollux from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter. Even Jake Mason, the hastily appointed new counselor from Hephaestus, managed a faint smile. Only Silena Beauregard didn't pay any attention. She sat beside Clarisse and stared vacantly at the Ping-Pong net. Her eyes were red and puffy. A cup of hot chocolate sat untouched in front of her. It was incredibly unfair that she had to sit here after Beckendorf had just died. And those two are just fighting about some loot.

"STOP FIGHTING," I yelled. "What the hell are you fighting about?"

Clarisse glowered at me. "Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk."

"Oh, that's perfect, coming from you," Michael said.

"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse shouted. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, already knowing what it was.

Pollux cleared his throat, and for a second his face after the Battle of Manhattan flashed in my mind, haunted and tired.

"Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, until her issue has been resolved. She hasn't spoken to us for three days."

"It's been wonderful," Travis said wistfully.

"What issue?" I asked.

Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"

Chiron shuffled his hooves. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael is correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters—"

"Sure," Clarisse snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and light when you need us, and not complain!"

"That would be nice," Connor Stoll muttered.

Clarisse gripped her knife. "Maybe I should ask Mr. D—"

"As you know," Chiron interrupted, his tone slightly angry now, "our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this."

"I see," Clarisse said. "And the senior counselors? Are any of you going to side with me?"

Nobody was smiling now. None of them met Clarisse's eyes.

"Fine." Clarisse turned to Silena. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost . . . Anyway, I apologize. To you. Nobody else." Silena didn't seem to register her words.

Clarisse threw her knife on the Ping-Pong table. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."

The counselors were all too stunned to say anything as Clarisse began to storm out of the room, but before she could get out I manipulated the water vapour in front of her, stopping her from getting out.

The counselors looked around in confusion as Clarisse hit a seemingly invisible wall. She growled in frustration before moving forward harder towards the door. Just before she got there I turned her around, stomped my foot, and created a chair below her, forcing her to sit.

"And just what, do you think you're doing?" I asked her quietly, staring her down.

"I'm punishing them for not giving the Ares cabin what we deserve." she growled out.

I chuckled, despite her armour and fierce face, she looked exactly like a petulant child. I wish I had seen just how childish and dumb this argument had been before. Maybe I could have actually tried to stop it before. But this wasn't funny, not when the lives of demigods were at stake.

"An what do you think the consequences of that will be?" I asked, slowly walking towards her. "What do you think will happen without the support of your cabin?"

She still looked angry, but as the daughter of a war god she could easily begin to think of what could happen.

"I applaud your support of Silena, she needs the support of her friends and family right now. But despite that, I still don't think you've realised something." I said, now directly in her face.

"We are at war." I said, turning away from Clarisse and to the rest of the counselors. "And during war we need to work together, and not have petty arguments about the spoils of war, when we currently in one."

As I looked around the room, I could see the rest of the counselors begin to realise that I was not just talking to Clarisse anymore. I was talking to all of them, because they were all not acting right. I walked back around the table, leaning down on the table with my forearms, staring each and every counselor down.

"Today we lost Beckendorf," I said, hearing Silena choke a bit on her tears at his mention. "He is not the first, nor will he be the last that we lose in this war, and if we continue to act this way the list of those lost will be far too long."

I turned to Clarisse, who was now watching me in shock and a little bit of regret. "So Clarisse, when you say you're punishing them for not getting what you deserve, you're doing far more than punishing. You are condemning them to die, and that is not what they deserve."

Clarisse looked at me with a mixture of shock, shame, and confusion, but most shock. I had, after all, just denied and rebutted her actions while none of the counselors had. I had never done that before, and I never did that until after the Giant War, so this was a few years early, but it needed to be done. Too many had died from this decision.

"I hope you change your mind," I said, pushing her into standing position with the chair. "You may go."

I gestured to the door behind her, taking away the chair that I had created with the ground below the floor. She continued to stare at me for a little while longer before moving towards her chair and sitting down, grabbing her knife from the effectively reversed her statement of non-support, but I knew she still had to verbally do so.

"Thank you," I said, smiling at her before turning to Annabeth and Chiron, who were staring at me like they had never seen me before. Which was technically correct I guess, they had never seen that before, it came with the experience of war. I walked over to them so that Annabeth could give me the prophecy so that I could read it to the counselors.

Right before I asked her for the parchment, her fist shot out at me, taking me by surprise, but I was already moving my hand, catching it before it hit my face. I narrowed my eyes at her, "What the hell was that?" I hissed at her, ignoring the reactions of the counselors.

"You're different," she said, staring at me, trying to think of why I was different.

"Yeah, I know Annabeth." I said. "I just got Beckendorf killed, and that because I didn't consider the consequences of this war."

Her gaze softened on me, and I knew that I had just avoided a whole round of questions.

"Can I have the Prophecy now?" I asked, holding out my hand for it.

She pulled it out of her pocket and put it in my hand, and even though the Prophecy was already burned in my mind, I still felt incredibly nervous just holding it. This parchment held the reason Luke died, and the reason that the Elder Gods hadn't had kids for decades. This Prophecy held my life ransom, and now I had to encounter it again.

"Now," Chiron said, getting the attention of everyone here. "if you please, counselors. Percy has brought something I think you should hear. The Great Prophecy."

I uncurled the paper, and even as I read it, I was reciting it from memory.

"A half-blood of the eldest gods,

Shall reach sixteen against all odds.

And see the world in endless sleep,

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.

A single choice shall end his days,

Olympus to preserve or raze."

The room was silent. Finally Connor Stoll said, "Raise is good, isn't it?"

"Not raise," Silena said. Her voice was hollow, and even though I knew she would, I was still startled to hear her speak. "R-a-z-e means destroy."

"Obliterate," Annabeth said. "Annihilate. Turn to rubble."

"Whoa there that's a little too much there," I said, smiling slightly and stopping Annabeth's listing of words for raze.

All of the counselors looked at me a bit weird. I mean in their eyes I had just been told I was gonna die, so they didn't really understand me joking about it.

Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. In horse form, his head almost brushed the lights in the rec room. "You see now, Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders without having to worry about this"

"I know Chiron, but I'm not entirely surprised that I might die." I said. "I've been at the forefront of this since the beginning, I've had a target over my head for years."

Chiron looked surprised at my response, but he also looked pleased. That was probably far more mature than he expected. But he still looked sad, he'd probably seen thousands of demigods die, but I suppose he never got used to it.

"But we have something more important to talk about," I said, "We have a spy."

Michael Yew scowled. "A spy?"

I told them what had happened on the Princess Andromeda—how Kronos had known we were coming, how he'd shown me the silver scythe pendant he'd used to communicate with someone at camp.

Silena started to cry again, and Clarisse put her arm around her.

Somebody kept passing information to Luke—like the location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago. It must be somebody who knew him well."

Maybe subconsciously, he glanced at Annabeth. She'd known Luke better than anyone, of course, but Connor looked away quickly. "Um, I mean, it could be anybody."

"Yes." Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies.

"Like one of Luke's siblings."

Travis and Connor both started arguing with her.

"Stop!" Silena banged the table so hard her hot chocolate spilled. "Charlie's dead and . . . and you're all arguing like little kids!"

She put her head down and began to sob. Hot chocolate trickled off the Ping-Pong table. Everybody looked ashamed.

"She's right," Pollux said at last. "Accusing each other doesn't help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too."

Michael Yew grunted. "We need to find this spy before we plan our next operation. Blowing up the Princess Andromeda won't stop Kronos forever."

"No indeed," Chiron said. "In fact his next assault is already on the way."

"Do you mean the 'bigger threat' that Poseidon mentioned?" I asked.

He and Annabeth looked at each other like, It's time. Did I mention I hate it when they do that?

"Percy," Chiron said, "we didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp. You needed a break with your . . . mortal friends."

I sighed exasperatedly. "Chiron, you already knew how important I was to all of this, please keep me in the loop next time."

Chiron looked a little ashamed, but I understood where he was coming from. We were at war, and I had been in the front of everything so far, and he wanted to me enjoy my break. But my role in this war is important, and I needed to be aware of things so I could help more.

"Tell me what happened." I said.

Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights. Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch, tossed it through the mist, and muttered, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show us the threat."

The mist shimmered. I saw the familiar image of a smoldering volcano—Mount St. Helens. As I watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash, and lava rolled out. A newscaster's voice was saying "—even larger than last year's eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done."

I knew all about last year's eruption. I'd caused it. But this explosion was much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous form rose out of the smoke and lava like it was emerging from a manhole. I hoped the Mist would keep the humans from seeing it clearly, because what I saw would've caused panic and riots across the entire United States.

The giant was bigger than anything I'd ever encountered. Even my demigod eyes couldn't make out its exact form through the ash and fire, but it was vaguely humanoid and so huge it could've used the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat. The mountain shook with a horrible rumbling, as if the monster were laughing.

"It's him," I said. "Typhon."

I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like No, that's our huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us! But no such luck. He simply nodded. "The most horrible monster of all, the biggest single threat the gods ever faced. He has been freed from under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two days ago. Here is what is happening today."

Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path—ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys.

"Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant—just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast. Other smaller forms darted through the clouds, circling the monster. I saw flashes of light, and I realized the giant was trying to swat them. I squinted and thought I saw a golden chariot flying into the blackness. Then some kind of huge bird—a monstrous owl—dived in to attack the giant.

"Are those the gods?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I couldn't just know that.

"Yes, Percy," Chiron said. "They have been fighting him for days now, trying to slow him down. But Typhon is marching forward—toward New York. Toward Olympus."

Even though I already knew it would happen, it still left a sinking feeling in my gut. Typhon was one of the greatest threats that the Gods had ever faced. "How long until he gets here?"

"Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are there . . . except your father, who has a war of his own to fight."

"But then who's guarding Olympus?"

Connor Stoll shook his head. "If Typhon gets to New York, it won't matter who's guarding Olympus."

I thought about Kronos's words on the ship: I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus.

I knew Kronos would attack Olympus. Typhon was a distraction for the gods, I knew that much.

"It's a distraction," I said. "We have to protect Olympus, something else is coming."

Chiron looked disturbed, "My boy, what else could be coming? You sunk the Princess Andromeda, Kronos has no more forces."

I desperately wanted to believe that, and had it been the time before maybe I could have, but I knew he did. Kronos had an army, and he was marching it on Olympus. But they wouldn't believe it, they didn't want to believe it. I sighed.

"I had a dream," I said. "It was of Krios and Hyperion, they were on Mount Othrys."

I could feel everyone's attention snap to me. I had just mentioned two Titans, and their homebase. You know, two pretty scary things in all honesty.

"What did they say?" Chiron asked me anxiously.

"They said that Typhon is only the first challenge, and that there is more to threaten Olympus that just that."

Chiron looked thoughtful before turning to the rest of the counselors. "Begin training harder than before, I will contact the Hunters of Artemis to see if they may help us defend Olympus."

The counselors faces hardened in determination and I smiled. It seemed my speech had gotten through to them. Last time we were still joking on the way to Manhattan, but it seems this time they will be taking it very seriously. They all got up to inform their cabins, they all knew what they had to do.

I saw Silena at the back, starting to get up, and I knew I had to talk to her soon, I knew she was the spy, and I needed to confront her about it. "Hey Silena, can you stay back a bit? I wanted to talk to you."

She looked at me a bit startled before nodded and heading over towards me. I opened the door to the kitchen and shook my head at Chiron and Annabeth when they walked with me, I needed to do this alone.

I walked her over to the table in the center of the kitchen before grabbing her some more hot chocolate, refilling her cup. She said a small thank you before sitting down, staring at her cup. I sat down across from her and sighed a bit, I really didn't want to do this. She had just lost Beckendorf, but I needed to make sure that she didn't get anything else out.

"Silena," I said, and she looked up at me. "I know that you're the spy."

She immediately reacted, jumping a bit and staring at me a bit wildly. "H-how? How do you know?"

"Kronos showed me the charm he uses to communicate," I said, reaching towards her left wrist. "It looked exactly like this." I grabbed the bracelet and took it off, showing her.

Silena stared at it for a little bit before looking at me with some fear on her face. "W-what are you going to do about it?" she asked.

"Why'd you do it?" I asked. "Why'd you start spying for them?"

Silena started to cry as she spoke, "Luke talked to me after he left, and he charmed me. He was always so attractive, and then he said I'd be saving lives." She started to cry harder, and I came around the table and put my arm around her, letting her lean on me and cry.

"And then," she hiccuped. "I wanted to stop, but he… he said he'd hurt C-charlie if I stopped."

I let her sit there and cry, after she said this. She had been manipulated and blackmailed into spying for Kronos, and it had cost her her boyfriend.

When she stopped crying, I backed up a bit and held her at arm's length, "Silena."

She hiccuped a bit before looking at me, "Y-yeah?"

"I'm not going to do anything to punish you. It's not your fault."

She looked at me with wide eyes before jumping and throwing her arms around me, hugging me. She was muttering thank yous faster than I could really comprehend, but I just hugged her back until she let go. She smiled a watery smile at me, and I smiled back.

"You can go to your cabin now, let them know about the increased training as well." I said, taking her now empty cup of hot chocolate.

She nodded and walked out the door, which Annabeth and Chiron walked through not long after. Annabeth was the first to say anything, "What was that about?"

I sighed before holding up the Scythe charm I had taken from Silena, and both of them gasped.

"Silena was the spy." I said tiredly, rubbing my face as Chiron grabbed the charm to examine it.

"How did you know?" He asked, turning the charm all different ways.

"On the Princess Andromeda, Kronos showed me the charm he and his spies used to communicate." I said. "During the meeting I noticed something shiny on her wrist, and I kept looking at it. Eventually I realised what it was, so I brought her back here to confront her about it."

Chiron was still looking at the charm, but Annabeth was looking between me and the door like I was insane. "If she's the spy, then WHY the HELL did she JUST. WALK. OUT." she yelled, poking me in the chest with every word.

I pushed her hand away from my chest, before giving them a rundown of her situation, and how Luke had blackmailed her to keep spying. Afterwords Chiron just looked sad, while Annabeth looked slightly devastated that Luke had done that.

Chiron rubbed his face before looking up, "Perhaps we should all go to bed. Tonight has been a long night."

Me and Annabeth looked at each other before nodding, it had been a long night. We both left, going back to our cabins to sleep.