Meanwhile, at Camp Half Blood, the year round campers were celebrating Chris Rodriguez's birthday. (AN: it's March) Some of the summer campers had even shown up to celebrate. After curfew, some of the older ones (Chris, Clarisse, the Stolls, Percy, Rachel, Thalia, Grover, etc) had snuck out. They were lying on the beach. Percy had used his powers to create a giant water bubble to surround them. They were just talking, laughing, drinking, and messing around.
Percy had an arm around his girlfriend Thalia. Chris and Clarisse were holding hands. Connor Stoll was talking with his brother Travis and Rachel. Grover was with Juniper and they were just quiet.
The sounds of "Strip" by Chris Brown blared out, causing everyone to look for the sound. They all looked at Rachel who was holding in her phone and turning red. She held out a finger and walked away from the group taking the call.
"Hello?"
"Rachel. It's Nico."
"Nico?"
"Yeah. Look something big is going to happen. I can't explain now but talk to Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. She'll tell you what's going on. I know you probably hate me and Annabeth, but you don't know the whole story. You need to trust us, please. The gods will need our help soon, so we will be at Camp soon. You know this probably you had dreams."
" What? Why? How did you get my number? How do you know about my dreams? I'm confused."
"Talk to Katie. Don't tell anyone about this phone call, not even Chiron. It's important. I promise when I get a chance to I'll come see you. This story needs to be told in person. Tomorrow morning at I'll meet you in the woods. I will tell you my half of the story. I got your number through a friend that owes me a favor. I'm guessing you have dreams because Scott has them too. Look Rachel … Aria, Lucy go to sleep. Your mom will kill me if you are tired tomorrow. We have training. Sorry, Rach. Just meet and talk to Katie as soon as possible. Okay?"
"Nico.. fine. I'll talk to Katie. But who's Scott, Aria, and Lucy? Mom? Training? You better have one hell of an explanation. But is Annabeth with you?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Good. Is she safe?"
"Annabeth, safe? Yes she is. She's the one keeping everyone safe."
"Look, Nico I don't hate you guys. I just wish I heard from you. I got back to camp and everyone said horrible stuff about you. I was scared and confused. I tried to IM you, but.."
"Iris agreed to keep us off IM for a bit. I wanted to tell you but Annie needed me. She was struggling with some stuff. And I know what they were saying, that's why we kind of left. I will tell you everything I promise."
"Okay. Nico… I missed you. I missed you and Annabeth. Camp wasn't the same. I love you."
"Rach, I missed you too. And so has Annie. You were the one thing she missed the most from Camp. She really wanted to tell you but things got bad… deadly even. It's not the same without here. Annie…. She's too grown up. She's not 19, she's more like 100. I wish you could have been with us. And Rach, I love you too but in a friend way?"
"She's turning 19 in a few months right? And Nico, I love you in a friend way too. Besides I'm the oracle… I can't date."
"Yeah, in May. Yeah, I know you can't date. Scott can't either. There's so much to tell you. I might have an answer to some of the problems. Look I have to go. I have early training tomorrow. I'll see in about 6 hrs. Bye!"
Rachel stared at her phone. Her mind was whirling. Nico. Annabeth. Aria and Lucy? Training? Katie Gardner? Scott?
Okay Rachel. Deep breaths. She started thinking about what she knew. Nico and Annabeth…nothing but Percy and the camp's side of the story. Aria and Lucy…girlfriends or daughters of Nico? Training, well they are demigods. Katie Gardner… hmm. Wait! She might be that girl I found in the Hades Cabin the night of the storm? She's that girl everyone ignores. The one who got kicked out of her cabin and sleeps in the woods. But why? Scott? Nico said something about him dreaming and not being able to date. Maybe he's like me? Nah.. Nico.. he sounded happy, not his usual emo self.
"Rachel! Who was that?"
Rachel jumped and spun around to see the whole group looking at her weird. She walked back to them.
"Percy, what happened to Nico and Annabeth?"
Everyone took a deep breath. Percy growled and Thalia grabbed his arm. "Rachel. We told you what had happened. Don't you believe us? Who was that on the phone?"
"Yes. Percy I know you told me but I want to know the whole story. And I don't know if I can believe you. I want to but there's other things to think about. What happened to Katie Gardner?"
Percy was taking deep breaths. He opened his mouth but it was Travis Stoll who answered.
"Katie ran away. She's probably dead or something. She stood up for them, so she's a traitor. Why do you care? Rachel who was that on the phone?"
Rachel was surprised at the malice in his voice. She saw that everyone looked angry. She sighed.
"It was an old friend of mine. He thought that he saw Annabeth. I told my friends that she went missing. Look I'm tired. I have to go." Rachel took off running to her cave.
The campers looked at each other. It was Conner who stated the obvious. "She's lying."Clarisse hit him over his head. "No duh."
Thalia narrowed her eyes. "What me to find out? I can shoot her with my bow and arrow."
Percy shook his head no. "I'll find out."
Travis bit his lip. "Do you really think Katie's dead? I know she kind of is a traitor but she was a good person."
Percy sighed. "I don't know Travis. I'll admit it, I do miss her but she made her choice."
They all looked at each other and thought of how much things had changed after the war. It was Thalia who broke the silence by pushing Connor into the water. Everyone got into a water war with Percy having the advantage. They didn't notice a shadow dart away from a tree going towards the arena.
The shadow ran into the arena panting. She focused her energy and found what she was looking for. She ran quickly and her fingers closed around the blade. She shoved it through her boot and grabbed a bow and arrow. She crept out and ran towards the woods. Running toward a huge oak tree, she knocked on the wood and it fell in. She crawled through the tunnel and entered a small room. A small brown haired girl had a knife pointed at her chest.
"Katie, it's me Melanthe. Sorry to barge in but I needed to get something. I have news."
"Prove that you're Melanthe."
"I'm Melanthe. I'm the youngest of my family. I have two older twin siblings. My best friend is Hunter. And I'm the daughter of Hades and Persephone. So I'm a goddess. I'm a member of Chaos' Army" She flashed Katie her wrist where a small dark flower was chained to her wrist. "I got this as a gift from Hunter. I also have a bow and arrow tattooed on my back."
Katie nodded and dropped her knife.
"Sorry, Mel but I'm paranoid. I feel like something is going to happen. What's the news?"
"It's fine Katie. Yeah, something is up. Rumor has it that Chaos has big news to tell us, something about the camp. So we might be coming soon. Then you can go out instead of having to hide. Also, Nico called Rachel, the oracle. He told her to come to you to talk. So you might need to let her find you. He wants you to explain some stuff to Rachel, just the basics. Nico is also coming by tomorrow morning around 5 AM. So you should ask him, for more news. I have to go soon. I just stopped by to drop these off. And cool tree house."
Katie took the weapons and placed them in a basket, where other weapons were stored.
"Thanks, I didn't want to have to sneak in and out of cabins to sleep during winter, so about two years I ago I created it. It can probably house all of us. And great, I need to ask Nico some questions. It's been two years since I last heard from anyone. Three since we found Chaos. I was worried, thought that something went wrong."
Melanthe shook her head. "No, it's just most of us went undercover and Annabeth been busy. We are getting new members. Look sorry but I have to go. I didn't tell anyone that I was coming and I don't want them to worry. See you soon."
Giving Katie a quick hug, she disappeared into the shadows. She shadow-traveled to her house where she stayed with her siblings and friends. She crept quietly to her room and turned on her lamp.
She caught sight of her bed. More specifically on the person sitting on her bed. "Oh, Hades." I'm so screwed."
