Author's Note: I don't own any of these characters except Andromeda. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan. All chapters 3rd person. Please review. And answer the poll. It's connected to my profile.
Chapter Nine
Dinner was easier than lunch had been. Campers were now looking forward to speaking with their parents. Though they saw them more often, rarely had the gods spent half a day this close to their children. The younger campers insisted on sitting right next to their parent with their older half siblings watching amusedly.
Talk was plentiful and loud as siblings tried to talk to each other and their parents over everybody else. Halfway through the meal, Zeus came to a decision. He stood, up, drawing everyone's attention and waited for everyone to quiet down.
Once silence reigned, he spoke. "I've come to the decision, that since we rarely get to spend an extended amount of time here with all of you, that for the next week, barring emergencies, we will come here every day and stay from just before breakfast until everyone goes to bed."
There was stunned silence for a moment before a loud cheer echoed throughout the entire camp, the gods participating in it as well. Zeus shouted above the noise that the minor gods would also be joining them for the campers whose parents weren't already there. The air buzzed with excitement as the campers told their parents what they usually did during the week and planned what they would be doing.
Everyone was startled when they heard a loud beep coming from the Poseidon table and they stopped and stared at Percy. He looked sheepish for a moment before standing and saying, "Excuse me." He hurried from the dining hall, pushing his sleeve up and revealing the source of the beeping, a watch of some sort.
Outside the dining pavilion, Percy activated the communications link imbedded in the watch and listened as Chaos told him that the rest of the Hunters would be arriving the next day and that they had been informed of what had occurred two hundred years ago. Percy was relieved to hear this, as the Hunters were protective of him and had been angered on his behalf when they learned of what had driven him and his family from Earth.
He stood out there for a moment longer than necessary, taking a few deep breaths before turning around and reentering the pavilion. A couple of people glanced up but quickly went back to their conversations. Percy stopped at the Hades and Zeus tables to tell Nico and Thalia what was going on before returning to the Poseidon table. He sat back down and told Andi who nodded and gave a mischievous grin, just like Nico and Thalia had.
Poseidon watched the two warily for a moment before shrugging and tuning back into the conversation. After dinner, the campers ran off to get a few things from their cabins and the gods converged on Zeus. He was overwhelmed by all of the gods and goddesses talking, asking, begging, and arguing to stay at the camp overnight. Zeus gave in, bellowing, "ALRIGHT!" at the top of his lungs. The gods and goddesses looked even happier after hearing that.
Hera was the only one to say that she was going back to Olympus overnight. She said, "Someone has to make sure nothing's going on up there and I'll visit during the day." She then shooed the others to the amphitheater before going to find Chiron to tell him the change of plans.
