The group of teenagers gathered around the ping-pong table looked completely average- orange t-shirts that read Camp Half-Blood, jeans, sneakers, and a leather chord with varying numbers of clay beads around their necks. They were all between sixteen and twenty. Yet they shared other similarities as well- a tense set of their shoulders, weary eyes, and a sort of hardness seen most often in veterans of war, which looked peculiar in those so young.
Annabeth's long blonde hair was swept back into a messy bun. Her t-shirt was damp down the front. Her left foot was tapping anxiously, her fingers spinning the small owl earing she wore. Percy reached out and grabbed her hand, stilling it, even as his own fingers drummed on the table. Every one of the teenagers in that roomed seemed to be thrumming with energy. Two identical boys with a mischievous light in their eyes kept stealing glances at a tall, well-muscled Asian boy shifting awkwardly in one corner. Percy shot him a smile, which he returned, before his eyes fell back to the scratched eight ball which lay between a bowl of popcorn and a flat of diet coke.
The low hum of conversations fell away as Chiron entered the room, his hooves echoing on the floorboards, worn shiny by the passage of feet and time. "She's going to be alright."
An outbreak of voices followed this short speech.
"What are you going to do with her?"
"Has she been claimed?"
"We can't just leave her outside. Think of all the monsters!"
"Why can't you just bring her inside?"
"How did you even heal her?"
Chiron put his hands out in a calming manner. "She had some ambrosia and nectar, which put her right. She is not a mortal, but she has not yet been claimed. I do not know why she cannot cross the border. Chiron looked troubled. "We'll need to post a guard with her. Demeter's cabin volunteered for now, but we'll need to set up a rotation."
"We can't keep her out there forever," Clarisse, a stocky daughter of Ares protested.
Annabeth scowled at her. "I thought it would be obvious. We just need one of the gods to claim her."
Chiron glanced at her once, briefly.
"I have a drachma," Percy volunteered.
"Gods claim campers on their own time Percy," Chiron said carefully. "Remember how long it took for your father to claim you?"
Percy suppressed the urge to scowl. He remembered, alright. How he had spent the nights on the floor in the Hermes cabin, last to eat, last to choose chores and showers, failing miserably at every activity put before him in an attempt to determine his parentage, and the snickers when all he was good at was canoeing- not exactly heroic. Anabeth raised her eyebrows at him, as if to say 'What can you do?' "But this is different," Percy protested. "It's a life or death situation, and not just for her; for the campers who try to keep her safe too. We can't just wait around until the gods have need of her." Though he had long since made peace with his father, age forced him more and more into understanding his former friend (and later enemy) Luke, who had attempted to unseat the gods after years of being their pawn. Percy wasn't that bitter, but still. He could see where the other boy was coming from.
The last war with Gaea had left them all a little on edge; easily annoyed and yet closer than ever. And with the two camps, Greek and Roman united, they were stronger too. But the back to back great prophecies and devastating wars had left their mark. The campers were lean, drawn, tired. There was a section in the woods where campers went to mourn, though not once did someone wish for their loved ones back- they had all been there and never wanted to go back. Percy shuddered, thinking of his and Annabeth's long trek through Tartarus in an attempt to close the Doors of Death from the inside. His heart constricted just thinking of Bob, the titan they had left behind to do it for them. Reflexively, he looked up at the ceiling, as if he could see the stars through the layers of wood and dry-wall and shingles- 'Bob says hello.'
Annabeth's voice brought him back to the present, as it always did. He squeezed her hand for reassurance. The war was over, and Annabeth was safe. That was what mattered. "-might work," she was saying. "We can at least try, right?" She looked around at the other campers, searching for support. Since the giant war she had been different; less confident and double checking every thought she had, asking for a second opinion on every decision before she made it. Annabeth was the smartest girl at camp, but, the pressure of her solo quest and the land without gods had stolen her confidence even as she should have gained it.
Percy nudged her, leaning his head down to whisper, "What might work?"
Annabeth suppressed a smile, wishing she could do the same to the flush that had risen on her cheeks at Percy's nearness. He was a space-cadet as always, lost in his own world, but she knew he was smart- he had proven it over and over again- even if he didn't always advertise it. She, daughter of Athena, was the brains in their relationship. "An iris message," she whispered back. "Still got that drachma?"
"No need," Percy smiled as a sandy haired boy across the room pulled one out of his pocket. "Jason's got it covered." He raised his voice a little, to be heard over the voices that had begun, sharing their doubts and hopes as they always did. The Stoll brothers, Percy noticed, were still watching Frank just a little too carefully. "Hey Superman," he called. "You might want to check that. We don't want it happening again." He winked at the other boy, grinning.
Jason smiled back. Last time he had volunteered a drachma for an iris message on a quest, he had tossed his weapon through the fountain instead, only realising his mistake as it turned to an imperial gold lance in midair. He and Percy had each had to choke down gluten free, lactose free, sugar free, vegan Twinkies to get the blade back. Even the memory made Jason feel a little sick. Luckily, Iris had been so pleased with the offering that she had sent the Python trying to kidnap Rachel running, sworn off beef jerky for the rest of eternity.
Even though the consequences couldn't possibly be so horrific this time, it was not an experience either of them wanted to repeat. He tossed the coin in the air, but when he snatched it back, it was the same smooth circle of gold. "All good."
The head counsellors filed outside, following the clip-clop or Chiron's hooves. They walked over to one of the fountains installed especially for this purpose, all leaning forward eagerly. Though many had been to Olympus during the battle against Kronos, it was a rare experience to view the godly city, and few enough had seen it since Annabeth had designed its remodelling. Then there was the added bonus of a chance to see their parent's, a rare enough opportunity to be as enticing as game seven of the NHL. But Chiron stopped. "I think it would be best if we do this in a smaller group. The gods are temperamental, and don't like taking advice at the best of times. To have so many of their children watching would only heighten their embarrassment and lessen our chances."
Looking around, Annabeth could see he had a point. Since the promise Percy had forced the gods to make at the end of the Titan war, they had more campers than ever; even with their most recent casualties. And there were at least two dozen cabins, all of which had a head counsellor. Their group was large, enough so to annoy the gods. She kicked herself mentally for not having noticed it.
"In fact," Chiron continued, "it might be best if I did this alone." Dejected, the campers turned away. Annabeth turned to follow, but Chiron stopped her. "You may stand a better chance at this even than I, so in the good graces of the gods are you. Hero of two wars, strategist, you have a way with words many envy, or should. Stay. I bet it will be you who convinces them." Chiron had been dropping these sorts of compliments on her more and more often of late, as if he too could sense the failing confidence of his star pupil, the camper he regarded almost as a daughter.
She shot a look over her shoulder at Percy, who gave her a reassuring smile. Looking back at Chiron, she nodded, and he tossed the drachma into the spray. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering."
"What'd they say?" Percy asked as Annabeth and Chiron traipsed back into the big house.
"They didn't," Anabeth sighed.
"You mean they didn't talk to you?"
Annabeth shook her head, looking thoroughly dejected. 'Another of your plans failed,' a malignant voice in her head whispered. 'What are you now? A daughter of Athena who can't even use her brain.' She imagined it to be an empousai, and she chopping its head off, but it was more like a drakon- it would take an army, and she would still be trampled.
"Annabeth," Percy said, sounding concerned as he pulled her in.
She allowed herself ten seconds to relax into his warmth, to inhale his scent of boy and- "Ugh," she smiled at him. "You need a shower."
Percy huffed. "You're no rose garden." He gestured at her stained shirt, the dirt caked under her fingernails, the black stains on her knees and the twigs in her hair, still left over from her frantic tramp through the forest to find the source of the screams. Caden. She wondered how the girl was doing. The Ambrosia must have helped- she hadn't burned up- but the girl still needed rest and some time in the sick room. "So? What happened with the gods?" Percy asked again.
Annabeth gave her head a little shake, and turned to face the room. "The message didn't go through."
"Meaning?" Piper twirled the dove feather in her hair. It was looking a little worse for wear; but had been a gift from her mother at the end of the giant war, a token of her parentage.
"I don't know," Annabeth sighed. She hated that phrase. She was the head counsellor of Athena, she was supposed to know.
Percy caught Frank's eye. "Think Fleecy made a mistake?"
Frank grinned.
"Iris would still handle all the calls from Olympus," Annabeth said. "She'd relish the chance to eavesdrop."
"So? What do we do now?" Frank asked, looking to Anabeth.
"We set up a watch rotation," Anabeth replied as confidently as she could manage. "All the cabins will have to take turns- that way you'll probably only have one or two watches a week, if it even takes that long to contact Olympus." She looked at the head counsellors, trying to determine who was best suited to calm the girl outside.
"Apollo, your next watch, but please, please, try not to frighten her. Ambrosia is a better medicine than poetry, so if she starts to feel bad, give her that, okay? Ares, you can relieve Apollo after dinner. Then Hecate, if you have watch until midnight? If Athena and Poseidon cover the graveyard shift, and Hephaestus the dawn one, we should be good until breakfast, when Chiron and I will have a timetable drawn up."
"Oh gods," Clarisse said angrily. "Really? You expect Ares to waste our time guarding some unclaimed, weirdly mortal supposed half-blood in the middle of the night?"
"Clarisse," Anabeth sighed, can you just-"
"No!" Clarisse cut her off. "Not okay. We won't."
"Fine you can switch with Apollo, and go before dinner." Anabeth said, frustrated, as she turned to a burly boy with a tattoo of a rainbow on his bicep. "Butch, do you think you can contact your mom, see if she knows anything? You too Jason, try to contact your dad and find out if Olympus has closed again, gods forbid."
The boys nodded, each hardened by the thought.
Clarisse spoke up again. "I will not keep watch at all. It's obvious, isn't it, what has to happen?"
"Clarisse," Jake Mason said in a low voice. "This isn't a war chariot, it's a person. Don't let there be another Selena."
Clarisse's face turned the colour of old porridge and her mouth snapped shut. "Screw off Mason, you were barely there." She turned to Annabeth, the manic light in her eyes reigniting itself as though she was channeling her father's flames. "What I was going to say, about this girl?"
Annabeth nodded, seemingly resigned to Clarisse's outburst, but Percy recognised the gleam in her eyes as one of an idea rather than anger, and tightened his grip on the ping pong table.
Clarisse grinned. "We need a quest."
Sorry for chapter confusion oooppps