Aaron

'I'm never believing a thing Clarisse says ever again' Aaron said to himself as the fifth meeting in the Rec room began. Clarisse mentioned that Camp Half-blood was a safe haven for demigods, yet he had never felt more in danger in his life. Since the witch attacked last week there had been exploding silverware, camper's going blind, and swords attacking their wielders all on their own. It was clear that the camp was under attack.

"I say we find these witches a burn them at the stake!" Aaron rolled his eyes at Clarisse statement. Wasn't the first, nor the last time, she would make such an unhelpful suggestion. Leo and Annabeth had spent every day researching and gathering data about witches. So far they hadn't found anything of use.

"This is crazy, how are we supposed to fight something that can be attacking us from anywhere on the planet." Jason said letting out a sigh of frustration. "It's not like we can just search Tiffany the witch in google. " It was completely an inappropriate time but Aaron and Piper couldn't help but laugh. Ever since the attack the two had started to bond, and were quickly becoming close. Aaron could see Piper felt a little shut out from Jason who as spending all waking moments trying to figure this problem out. She had begun opening up to Aaron, and he was happy to listen. Anything to get his mind off of the insanity around him.

Aaron looked up from the table and noticed his laughter didn't go unnoticed. The only counselors missing were Annabeth, Leo, Percy and Lou Ellen Daughter of Hecate. The other 15 counselors were giving him the same look. 'Are you kidding me?'

"Sorry." He said clearing his throat. He had to remember he wasn't supposed to even be in this meeting. Chiron only insisted because of the part he played in the battle. To Aaron all he did was get caught and talk a lot. He wasn't really sure how much help that would be.

"All we know is she wasn't working alone." Nico broke the silence. "Before she left she said they were right. That has to mean she wasn't working alone."

"That would explain the power of the magic at work." Hazel was looking out but not directly at anyone. "No one witch could be doing all of this. It would have to be Hecate herself."

"Who said we haven't ruled that out?" Clarisse replied. "She's turned on us before"

"Trust me. If this was the work of a goddess, we wouldn't have lasted this long." Hazel had become the constant defender of Hecate and her children. Since the attack some campers had started to think of them as sleeper agents for the other side. The girl said she was a witch. Witches were naturally the children of the goddess of magic. Aaron was starting to think conspiracy theories were becoming the new "it" thing.

"For a group of witches' magic to be this strong they have to be close. Even for a larger group, casting a spell to take place hundreds of miles away is dangerous. It could miss, backfire, or nothing might happen at all." Hazel started to open her mouth to speak again but Nico cleared his throat.

"Besides, if it were me…I'd want to see the damage I made." Nico didn't raise his head to make this comment. Aaron rolled his eyes again. 'He's so dramatic'. This time he held his laughter to himself.

"We can make some conclusions then." Chiron spoke commanding attention. "We are looking for a group of Demigods close by. Most likely within the State."

"So that shouldn't be hard. With that many demigods in one place, I'm sure monsters will give it away." Piper looked around pretty pleased with her assessment of the facts.

"I don't know Piper. This magic, it's different." Hazel was still looking into the abysses. Aaron assumed it was that Mist stuff every kept talking about. "It doesn't feel familiar." That is when Lou Ellen walked into the room.

"She's right. This magic does not belong to Hecate alone." Lou Ellen took her seat almost embracing everyone staring at her. Aaron was just glad they weren't looking at him anymore.

"Lou Ellen, I presume you and your team have found a lead?" Chiron had one eyebrow raised; his universal sign for 'what do you think you're doing?' Aaron knew because he got it 3 times while joking around with Piper.

"Leo is still running searches and Annabeth and Percy took a lunch break, but I think we did find something. I've been feeling the mist with the help of some of my siblings, and noticed the same thing as Hazel. This magic isn't pure."

"I thought all magic used by humans was through Hecate." Will Solac spoke. Ever since Aaron discovered he could Charmspeak a lot of his cabin mates started treating him like an outside. Luckily Will was not one of them.

"Originally yes," Lou said "But magic has been around become infused with the earth. Just as not every flame today is given from Hephaestus, not every spell comes from Hecate. When I do a spell its power source can be traced directly back to my mother. But these spells have a mix lineage. Some of these witches are new to the craft, others were born into it."

"So that's good right? That means you and your siblings are stronger right? Their stuff is like diluted." Aaron spoke up for the first time. If he had to be there, he might as well do something.

"Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. While not Greek, their magic is still strong. The strength of magic is determined by the user more than the origin."

"Look magic girl, speak English." While Clarisse was rude, Aaron was thinking the same thing.

"What she is saying, is we are not dealing with Demigods. These are witches practicing a craft handed down through generations. If any of them do have a a godly percentage, it's probably maybe untraceable." Chiron looked down at Piper "Which means monster probably don't detect them."

As the meeting adjourned Piper walked next to Jason with Aaron behind them.

"I come up with one good idea, and bam shot down." Piper was pretty upset her monster theory was a bust.

"You just didn't have all the facts. You need facts to make a good strategy." Jason put his arm around her, but everything looked robotic. He clearly wasn't in the conversation. He was in his head. "Hey, I just thought of something. I'm going to run back to my room."

"Oh, ok. I'll come wit-"Piper was cut off.

"No need. I'll see you soon. "Piper leaned in for a kiss but her boyfriend had already sprinted away.

"He really knows how to cheer a girl up." Aaron nudged Piper.

"I wonder if this is what happened to all the Disney princesses; their Prince Charming's turned into normal guys." The two laughed.

"You got a good guy Pipes. He's just busy trying to save the world."

"Way to make me feel selfish." Piper nudged back. "I know. I just miss us being us."

"For what it's worth, the monster idea seemed like our best lead…for that whole three seconds."

"You're a jerk" Piper punched Aarons arm. As they walked out of the big house they saw the camp as busy as ever. Some campers were practicing battle drills while others climbed the rock wall. A tingle went up Aaron's spine. He turned around and saw Nico walking into the shade. Aaron hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to him since the battle, so he figured now was as good a time as any. Before he could step in Nico's direction, Tamara appeared out of nowhere.

"Hi." She was smiling ear to ear.

"Oh umm Hi." Aaron was a little taken back by her enthusiasm.

"Oh wow. Look at the time. I think I hear Leo calling me." Piper winked at Aaron and ran away. Piper had been trying to get Aaron to tell her how he felt about Tamara for the last 3 days, but she had no luck. This was mostly because Aaron had no idea. He obviously felt something in him when he saw Tamara and Nico were captured, but it couldn't just mean he had feelings for her. Aaron had never been liked before, so the whole idea just made him incredibly uncomfortable. Piper told him he was recently referred to as "Skinny cute" by some of the Demeter girls, so he started avoiding them any chance he could. But he couldn't avoid Tamara. She would pop out of nowhere to have awkward conversations. Every time he thought of their kiss his stomach tied itself into knots. Piper called it butterflies, Aaron called it annoying.

"Did you need anything Tamara?" He asked while looking for an escape.

"I just saw you over here, wondered what you were doing later."

"Trying to stop a witch for destroying us. You know. The usual." Aaron wanted to run out of his skin. Tamara just laughed and stared into his eyes.

"You know, I heard some of the girls talking about you-" Her voice trailed into the background as Aaron noticed Nico wasn't where he last saw him. He looked around and then saw a shadow shake in the shade about 20 feet away. From it Nico came falling out looking hurt.

"Hey that's really cool. I'm sure we can talk about it later." Aaron grabbed her shoulders and moved her out of his way. He ran down to Nico who still on the ground when he got there. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Fine." Nico replied dusting himself off. "Looks like I still can't get out of here."

"Oh. Trying to leave?"

"I kind of feel like I overstayed my welcome." He gave a slight smile. Most facial response Aaron had seen from Nico since he tried to kill him.

"Come on, you're really good to have in those meetings. You seem to have good instincts." Nico's eyes tightened at Aaron's sentence.

"If my instincts are so good, I should probably kill you right now." Aaron let the pause rest in.

"Well, they aren't 100% accurate." With that Nico let out a hard puff of air. Aaron could hardly believe he heard a laugh from Nico Di Angelo.

"I think you should know I'm still watching you. Something isn't quite right about this."

"You're telling me. I have no clue what's going on. One minuet I'm son of Apollo, the next I'm glowing pink and Charmspeaking." Nico winced again at the mention of possibly having Cupid as a father. "Can I ask why you hate Cupid?" Nico lost all enjoyment of the conversation from his face.

"No" He replied coldly.

"Right, too far." Aaron found himself rubbing his shoes together searching for another way out. The awkwardness starting to breathe in. The shofar horn blew three times; another attack. At least that conversation could end.