Deep as the Sea

Feet in the Water

It took all of Fall to organize everything, which passed easily for Percy and Annabeth. While the other's worked to discern facts from a huge amount of information from a variety of sources, put it together, weed out the falsities and rumors, and figure out what was missing, they had the relatively simple task of kicking the ass of anyone that tried to start something.

After they destroyed the Red Courts original outpost, following attempts to gain a foothold were much more cautious and subtle, but it was hard to simultaneously avoid the eyes of everyone on scout duty and hide from every plant in the city. If they killed anyone, Nico knew and sent up warning bells and Percy kept an eye on the rivers, just in case. Anyone who tried to enter was quickly caught and handed over to Drew.

While things had come to a relative calm, Percy was still wary about letting everyone go, because spreading them all around the nation where they were all far from any help seemed like an hilariously bad idea. It had taken some work on the Camps part, along with the help of a number of part campers, but they'd managed to enroll most of the camper into schools in the New York City area in time for school to start. Now that the camp had started expanding and new Cabin's were being built for the minor gods and goddesses, there was even talk taking things even further and just building a school on camp property.

Whether or not that talk would come to anything, Percy didn't know. He left issues like that in the capable hands of Chiron and the graduated Campers, who knew how to do things like build a school. His job was to keep the entire camp safe and that's what he did—though he thought the idea of a school for Halfbloods was kind of awesome; if there was something like that, maybe he wouldn't have been kicked out of school a dozen times.

Maybe if a school was actually built, they could go even further. The Camp was a haven for Halfbloods, but most only stayed there for a time—in the summers and only until they graduated. The Cabin's were great and all, but they were hardly a place for adults to live in, much less families.

If they could…

But he was getting ahead of himself, Percy though, shaking his head to draw himself back to the present. Even the school was still just an idea and nothing said it would even go anywhere. He should focus on the matter at hand.

Taking a moment to decide what he was going to say, he walked into the Big House.

As usual, the Rec Room was full and the arguments were long since underway. This was the official meeting place of the Camp Counselors—the leaders of each Cabin. In his first four years at Camp, there had never been more than eleven Counselors, even if one counted the leader of Artemis' Hunters.

Now, there were over twenty, counting the leaders of all the new Cabins. Even Thalia was present as the leader of the Hunters.

Only two gods shown for their absence: Hera, who still had no children to represent her and whose Cabin was still just honorary, and Zeus. Thalia, now represented Artemis instead of her father, so the King of the Gods had an empty Cabin as well—though with the Oath no longer applying, it was anyone's guess how long that would last.

The Counselors never gathered unless there was something important—and this was the largest gathering in History. Normally, it was up to the Counselors to make decisions for their entire Cabin at these meetings, but in this case, Percy had called for a vote of the entire Camp with the Counselors serving as representatives—though some Cabins, like his own, had only one member.

Still, what they were about to decide would affect everyone for a long time to come and Percy didn't want anyone to not have at least a choice.

"Since when do we make deals with monsters?" Clarisse demanded.

"I don't think anyone here wants to, Clarisse," Annabeth said calmly. "However, you know better than anyone else how different things are now. With so many unknowns, we made can't let our emotions decide this."

Percy walked silent around the walls of the room, neither saying a word nor doing anything to draw attention.

This issue had been raging throughout the camp for weeks and he'd been careful not to say anything either for or against it. He was aware of how much influence he had around the camp—if he said he was for it, Clarisse and everyone else who opposed it would fall silent and go along with it—as would Annabeth and those like her if he said he was against it.

Well, maybe not Annabeth and Clarisse, but everyone that supported them would defer to his opinion, whatever it was.

But he couldn't decide this for them. He didn't want to decide this for them. There were arguments to be made for or against it—and he had no idea what choice would be the right one in the long one. And even if he did, this was supposed to be a democracy—but could it be called a democracy when his word was law?

So…

Whatever the Camp decided, he would see done.

Seeing Nico in a shadowed corner, he quietly made his way towards him, before leaning against the wall to watch the proceedings. Nico glanced at him once, before doing the same—Percy silently wondered how he would vote.

"Has it been just Clarisse and Annabeth arguing or has anyone else gotten involved?" He asked.

"They're the figureheads of the different sides, yeah." Nico replied, understand what he was really asking.

Percy nodded. They'd been the leaders of the sides from the beginning—he'd just wondered if anyone else had voiced an opinion or raised a new one.

"Are you going to stop them?" Nico asked.

"I'll give it a few minutes," Percy said, shrugging. "Not everyone's here yet."

Annabeth and Clarisse both had good points, but after several weeks of this, everyone had heard them already. Percy suspected they were arguing just for show and part of him wondered if these were their actual opinions or just the opinions of their Cabin's.

"You've heard what Nico's reported!" Clarisse snarled, slapping a hand down on the table. "The amount of people they've killed in New York alone…!"

Annabeth's eyes hardened.

"No one's proposing me make friends with them, Clarisse." She said sharply. "I don't like them any more then you do. I'm merely pointing out that were going to have a hard time protecting people if we're all dead."

"I'd rather be dead then submit to monsters! You're telling me we should beg them to impose their rules on us?"

"Beg?" Annabeth repeated. "Hardly. We'll find a way to meet them as equals and negotiate."

"And what would we gain by doing that? How will being bond by rules and regulations that were made by monsters help us protect people?"

"If the rules get in the way of that," Annabeth said. "They will be broken."

A smile that was gone as quickly as it came reminded him that those two were really close friends, despite how much they argued.

"Then why bother with the rules at all? There's no punishment for breaking them as long as they don't apply to us—joining does nothing but invite punishment."

"But if by joining, we can prevent a war—or have the war on our terms—then it's worth it," Annabeth argued. "As things are, there is no punishment no matter how many of them we kill—but the same is true if they decide to kill us. Yes, there will be restrictions and if we break them—or, at least, are caught breaking them—there will be punishment. But they don't just apply to us—if we're both members, then they will be bound to obey those rules as well. Clarisse—if we fight like this, we'll be opposing an enemy of unknown power in a war with no rules or morals. Who's to say they won't strike at our parents? Or hurt innocent people? You don't understand—I hate this. I hate the mere idea of this. A peace treaty with monsters that kill innocent people by the hundreds or thousands? It disgusts me. But if we fought like this…a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt. Even if we win…is killing them worth all the innocent people that could die? Could we even win in the first place?"

Annabeth shrugged.

"I don't know. It kills me, but I don't. But I don't want to risk it. Besides…you and I both know that this wouldn't exclude the possibility of war. Let's play a long for just a little while, Clarisse. And if there's a chance to crush them and protect innocents…do you doubt for a second that I wouldn't be right there with you on the frontline?"

Clarisse went silent at that.

Perhaps due to fate, chance, or good timing—but probably because he'd been listening at the door—Chiron walked in at that precise moment, keeping the argument from restarting.

Percy pushed off the wall and stood up straight.

"Well then," He said, raising his voice so everyone could hear. The eyes of everyone in the room swerved to him in an instant. "It looks like we're all here. Is everyone ready to vote?"

He received a number of sounds and gestures of agreement in response.

"There are an even number of Counselors gathered here today," He continued. "To prevent the possibility of a tie, the Poseidon Cabin will abstain. I promise, however, that whatever the Camp wishes, I will do everything in my power to fulfill."

It was nothing but an excuse and everyone knew it. If he voted, it would just cause trouble, as everyone would follow his lead. Even if he voted last, it would probably cause more trouble than it was worth; he wouldn't be surprised if someone called for another vote.

Everyone knew that—and so, knew why he abstained—and they accepted it silently as a sign that he was a leader, not a master.

Percy scanned the room with his eyes for a long silent moment.

"Then if nobody has any complaints, shall we vote? Will Camp Half-Blood try to join the Unseelie Accords?"

The Accords.

They were the main topic of conversation during the last few weeks and a topic of much speculation since long before that. They'd known for a long time that they'd existed—Drew had dragged it out of some vampire nobody. They'd even known, in general, what it was.

It was a series of agreements and treaties, like the Geneva and Hague Conventions, between various supernatural powers, including the vampires.

It had surprised everyone; monsters making agreements? Even he'd been surprised.

Ever since Drew had reported that, the entire Camp had wondered what the nature of those agreements were. They'd spent weeks making up ideas that ranged from bizarre to horrifying.

Was it a sort of pact against them? Had the monsters been getting ready to gang up on them this entire time with none the wiser?

If so, how many? It was an agreement, so there had to be more than one party involved, but who had the Red Court made a treaty with?

With the possibilities both dangerous and frightening, the search for information had temporarily shifted towards learning as much about the Accords as possible.

And what they found was just…weird.

It wasn't an alliance.

It's a code of conduct. It governs the behavior of signatories when they interact with each other, detailing the limits and terms of hospitality, promises of safety, the delivery of messages, the punishment of crimes, and even the terms of peace and war.

It's something that applied only to signatories, however, which made it dangerous. In order to benefit from it, one had to be a part of it—but being a part of the Accords had its own downsides.

The question was whether the pros outweighed the cons.

The Accords did not prevent wars—they merely set the terms for it. Even if they joined, it wouldn't mean they couldn't kill monsters—but if they did, they might have to do it in a certain way, while paying respect to the Accords.

By joining, they could establish their territory and if anyone attacked them or their families, they could legally punish them—one of the laws, perhaps the most appealing, was that if one party wronged another, the wronged party could challenge them to a duel.

If anyone attacked his campers or their families, it would be within his rights to find them and make them pay and his actions would be supported by the other signatories of the Accords. That alone was tempting—his presence served as something like a defense at the camp, but if they joined, then it would be a shield anywhere they went.

–Yes, he could admit that he was tempted.

But in the end, it always came back to the safe issue. They were monsters. Maybe not every member of the Accords, but the vast majority was made out of creatures that weren't very kind to innocent people. Some killed them indiscriminately—or worse—and joining the Accords, while giving them legal rights and protections amongst fellow members, meant those members would have those rights with them.

And the question at the root of the problem could not be ignored: If they joined, would that help or hinder their attempts to protect people.

Annabeth said she had a way to turn the rules to their advantage, however, and if she said it, it was probably true, but…

Well, that uncertainty was one of the reasons he had chosen not to vote, wasn't it?

Percy took his seat at the head of the Ping-Pong table and turned to Katie, the Counselor of Cabin Four, nodding at her respectfully.

A lot of people underestimated Demeter's children and it would be a lie to say he hadn't once been among them, but after the Battle of Manhattan, he'd learned something.

That was a mistake.

They were passive, but that didn't make them any less powerful—and their Counselor was the best example of that. In the Battle of Manhattan, they'd turned Fifth Avenue into a jungle and raised twisted walls of thorns and poison ivy that had kept an army of monsters at bay. Of the three daughters of Kronos, Demeter was the only one to have any demigod children—it was important to remember whose sister she was.

Katie glanced at Annabeth once.

"Demeter's Cabin believes that the Accords are worth it if they'll keep our families safe. Annabeth says she has a way to keep it from getting in the way of protecting people and I believe her. We're for peruse negotiations."

Nodding, he turned to Clarisse. Even if they didn't get along, everyone acknowledged the children of Ares as both devoted to their cause and as skilled in battle. He and Clarisse hadn't always gotten along, but after the quest for the Golden Fleece they'd come to terms—and in the years after, had even become good friends.

Besides, he could respect anyone who charged a Drakon without any armor and killed it.

He already knew how she was going to vote, though.

"No," Clarisse stated flatly. "The Ares Cabin votes against—why should we bother dealing with monsters? If they kill people, we kill them—how's that for a law?"

He glanced at Annabeth, who began speaking immediately. After the Battle of Manhattan, they'd become boyfriend and girlfriend, but he couldn't show any bias in this. However, the members of Cabin Six were the children of the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle—even if they didn't have any obvious supernatural powers, he knew better to underestimate their minds.

"I'm for pursuing the Accords," Annabeth said simply. "I think we stand to gain a great deal from this."

Percy felt a bit sad as he looked at Will Solace. The years had been hard on the Apollo Cabin. Lee Fletcher…Michael Yew…he'd lost two good friends in as many years. Still, they managed to keep on—and no one could deny that they were dangerous warriors. Whether they're shooting arrows or playing basketball, he'd never seen one of them miss a shot. A part of him wondered how long it'd be before one of them picked up a gun, now that they were fighting opponents that could be harmed by mortal weaponry.

"We're for the Accords," Will said. "The Apollo Cabin considers at least trying to negotiate to be worth the effort."

Percy nodded acceptingly at that. He'd expected that, too—as strong as they were as warriors, Cabin Seven was also responsible for healing the wounded. When someone was near death, it would fall on them to bring them back from the brink—or try too. A part of him wondered how many had died anyway, but he didn't want to know.

He was sure the Apollo Cabin did, though.

Turning to Thalia, he flashed her a quick smile. It had been awhile since they'd gotten a chance to see each other and he missed his friend.

"And what do the Hunters think?" He asked.

While most were not technically demigods, the Hunters of Artemis were more than worthy of respect. Due to Artemis' blessing, they were stronger and faster than any normal mortal and even most demigods. Every time they're at Camp, a game of Capture the Flag is held.

They'd won the last fifty-six times.

When this meeting was over, he was gonna see about changing that—and the challenging gleam in Thalia's eyes said she knew what he had in mind.

"We can't approve of joining the Accords," Thalia said, her face instantly becoming professional. "Like the Ares Cabin, we've been out searching for information since the beginning, and I can't being to describe what we've seen them do. The Hunters vote against."

Whenever he looked at Jake Mason, it reminded him that Beckendorf was dead, which still hurt. From what Tyson had told him about whenever he worked with the Hephaestus Cabin, it was still hurting them, too. The greatest builders and craftsmen around, they could make anything—and when it came to battle, they made the camps weapons. However…since Beckendorf's death, the Cabin had been having some bad luck. On the bright side, their numbers had risen greatly since the war—after Manhattan, there had been only three of them left, but now they numbered about a dozen.

"The Hephaestus Cabin supports the Accords," Jake said. Percy could see the worry in his eyes and knew, one way or another, something was going to have to happen in Cabin 9. Maybe he should send Tyson over there a bit more often.

Drew spoke up immediate, not even waiting for him to turn to her.

"Aphrodite supports the Ares Cabin," She said, looking disinterested. She was standing behind Clarisse as a show of support—he would never understand how Ares and Aphrodite's kids got along while they were so different. A dark part of him wondered if Drew had used Charmspeak on her Cabin, but Annabeth caught his eye and shook her head.

He lifted an eye in surprise at that—so Aphrodite would rather fight monsters then negotiate? He couldn't help but be reminded of Silena.

Conner and Travis Stoll served as the Counselors of Hermes Cabin. Even now, it was the largest Cabin, even though only Hermes' actual kids remained.

"For!" They said at once, mischief in their eyes.

Naturally, the Hermes Cabin would be for negotiation—and for getting the better side the bargain. Percy wondered if Annabeth had told them what she had planned or if they had their own ideas.

The moment he looked at Pollux, he knew what his answer would be.

"I'm against joining the Accords," He said, speaking in singular for good reason. Castor had died, leaving him alone in the Cabin—and he had no love for monsters.

Once, that wound have been the end of things, with all the Olympians represented. Percy was happy to say that wasn't the case—now, every god had their own Cabin. Some were still under construction—and as more demigods were born, more would be made, but Hades, Iris, Hypnos, Nemesis, Nike, Hebe, Tyche, and Hecate were all represented.

"I know firsthand how many people they've killed," Nico said, rising from his seat. The Son of Hades wasn't someone you'd want to make an enemy—he held grudges like no one else and his powers were just plain creepy. "Hades sides against."

Leaving his seat as Percy nodded to the head of the Iris Cabin, Nico walked towards Percy.

"We need to talk," He whispered seriously.

Percy's gaze flicked towards him as Butch, the son of Iris, voted for the Accords. Skilled at arts and communication, the Iris Cabin naturally wanted to avoid war for as long as possible—though not because of lack of skill. In war, they serve well as messengers, a position that's more dangerous than one might suspect.

He gestured to Clovis, the Hypnos Counselor, and turned towards him.

"What about?" he asked seriously. One of Nico's faults was that he never reported good news. Though, granted, when your job is to talk to murder victims, how much good news can you get?

"The Red Court is preparing their forces." His cousin said.

Which was a nice way of saying that people were dying to support those forces.

Percy fell silent for a moment, as Clovis voted for the Accords.

"So it's really true?" He wondered quietly.

"It certainly looks that way," Nico replied.

Sometime in October, they'd started hearing rumors. Apparently, somewhere up in Chicago, some guy had declared War on the Red Court—or something like that. One can only pay so much attention to rumors, after all.

But ever since, things had fallen strangely silent. Apparently the guy had been the official representative of the White Council, so his declaration might have resulted in an actual war, but for awhile now, the Red Court hadn't done anything major. It had seemed like either the rumors were fake or things would blow over, and yet…

Apparently not.

He looked at his Counselors. Nemesis and Nike voted against, naturally, as the former were the children of Vengence and the latter would never do anything they thought meant 'giving up.' Surprisingly, so did Hebe, but Tyche surprised him even more by voting for it.

The Children of Victory were against it, but the Children of Fortune were for it…Percy wondered if that meant anything.

He wasn't a very introspective person, though, so he quickly stopped.

"What should we do?" Nico pressed.

"…For now, let's do nothing." Percy decided.

"What?" Nico blinked, surprised. "But if the White Council is making war on the Red Court—"

"I know. I want to destroy the Reds as well. But if we take a side in this war, we're putting our lives on the line—so before we start gambling, let's see if the White Council actually has a chance of winning, okay?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at his 'little brother.' Nico nodded after a moment. "And besides—all we know about the White Counsel is that they oppose the Reds. Who's to say we'd want to side with them at all?"

"Then we wait?"

"We wait," He said, nodding. "Do me a favor and keep me informed. If anything big happens, let me know immediately."

Nico nodded, sitting down on the armrest of his chair.

"The Hecate Cabin thinks it would be for the best if we join the Accords," Lou Ellen said, and Percy knew she was as interested as he was about the White Counsel. A faction of magic-users…it may have been mere curiosity that made her vote.

But it was the deciding vote.

Percy stood.

"Very well then," He said. "Camp Half-Blood shall try to join the Accords. I will lead the attempts to do so, as I promised—tomorrow, we will decide who we wish to attempt to approach. Meeting adjourned."

As the other's left, one by one, Percy hoped this was the right choice.

XxXXxX

"Well that was fun," Annabeth said, taking off her cap and suddenly appearing beside him.

He glanced at her, concerned.

"You okay?" He wondered.

She gestured dismissively.

"I'll be fine." She said, sighing. "So we're really going to do this."

Not many people knew it, but Annabeth didn't really want to join the Accords. A lot of the campers had been hunted by monsters and hurt by them and even lost friends and siblings to them—but not many of them had done so as much as Annabeth.

Unlike most, Annabeth had been chased by monsters since she was five years old. Percy distantly remembered a few things that had happened to him at that age, but he'd be fairly lucky, all things considered—he'd been kicked out of pretty much every school he went to for something or other, but things had never gotten so bad that he'd had to abandon his mom.

He hated Gabe—even now, years later. Honestly, he doubted he'd ever forgive the man for what he'd put his mother through—and he didn't feel an ounce of pity for the man's fate.

But he could at least admit that he was the only reason he'd been able to stay with his mother as long as he had.

But Annabeth…hadn't gotten along nearly as well with her step-mother, at the time. Or her father, really. Because of her, they'd been constantly attacked by monsters and they'd just had two new children.

So she ran away. Annabeth never really talked much about that time, but he knew that she'd fought monsters for several months before meeting up with Luke and Thalia—and that Thalia had 'died' before she'd joined the camp. For a long, this had been the only place she'd called home.

A number of people he'd known had died in the war. Silena, Beckendorf, Michael, Lee, Castor, and more. But Annabeth had been at this camp year round since she was seven years old.

He wondered how many of her friends had been killed by monsters. He also wondered how many had turned traitor. He'd probably beaten up some of the people she'd grown up with.

A part of him wanted to ask, but he knew that would be tactless.

So instead, he just put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm hungry," He said. "Wanna go get something to eat?"

She shot him a look that made it obvious she knew he was trying to distract her, but didn't call him on it.

"You're always hungry, Seaweed Brain." She stated, even as she stood.

"So, what do you think will happen now?" He asked as they walked.

Annabeth shrugged.

"We'll decide who we want to try negotiating with and approach them." She said.

"But who do you think we'll approach?" He wondered.

"Isn't that for the camp to decide?" She complained, but answered. "No one's going to suggest the Reds. The other vampires are possibilities, but…well, I doubt they'll get voted for either. Even the Cabins that wanted to sign the Accords aren't fans of anthropophagi."

A fancy way of saying people-eater—Percy was somewhat surprised that he understood it, but realized after a moment that it was a Greek word.

"That's probably for the best," Percy admitted. "I'll try my best to get us on the Accords, but if I walk in to find them eating people, negotiations are gonna break down real fast."

However…that didn't leave them with a lot of options. Technically they could contact anyone on the Accords, but…well, they didn't exactly have a list—and even if they did, a lot of the members were fairly obscure. Their best bet would be to contact one of the larger factions, simply because they were a lot easier to contact.

There were six. Three Vampire Courts, two Fairy Courts, and a Council of Wizards.

"The Fairies are a possibility," Annabeth continued. "The Accords were made by one of them, supposedly, hence their name. In addition, if their penchant for making deals if true, then it should be possible—though if they're as good at making deals as the vampires say, we should be wary."

Percy nodded at that, having though the same.

"I already talked to Travis and Conner," He said. "They'll be coming along to help me make any deals."

"I did, too." Annabeth said. "I've been pouring over everything I could find on fairies at the libraries—I'll go over it with them, if needed."

He didn't bother asking if Annabeth would come with him, as well, and she didn't bother saying anything about it.

It was just the type of thing that went without saying.

"The Wizards…" Annabeth looked uncertain. "I'm not sure. If there really is a War with the Reds, I'm sure they'd support us in return for an alliance, but…"

"Nico said the Reds are mustering their forces for an attack."

Annabeth frowned at that, looking thoughtful.

"What'd you tell him?"

"That we should wait and see how things go." Percy said. "I don't want to join a losing battle."

Annabeth nodded approvingly.

"Good. It's probably best to wait. If the Council manages to hold their own, we'll approach them." Annabeth's expression shifted as if she wanted to grimace at what she was about to say. "Though from a strategic standpoint, it would best to wait even if they do well—we'd probably get a better deal if we waited until after they suffered a major defeat and then rode to their rescue."

Percy grimaced at that and saw why Annabeth wanted to.

It was strategic and logical and it was probably the best choice for the Camp, but…

In a war, it went without saying that a major defeat would mean heavy losses. Not just exploiting it, but waiting for it…

The idea put a bad taste in his mouth, even if it was logical.

But then, it was Annabeth's job to point out things he wouldn't consider.

"—Like I said, let's just see how things progress." He said quietly. "We'll decide how to approach them, later—that probably won't be necessary."

Annabeth nodded.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.