A/N: I am so, so sorry.

After reading my wonderful reviewers thoughts, Broken Gold (thank you!) brought to my attention that I had somehow skipped the Aphrodite cabin. I am now adding it in, and hopefully it will make the story better. Thank you reviewers!

-cc19

Chapter 11

After being thoroughly questioned by Chiron, camp life continued as normal. Or almost. The vote was still very much there, and it made its presence known. By two days before, the odds had shaped, and believe me: there were big bets going around. The night before the primaries, I had another dream.

I was underwater, at a coral reef that reminded me of the ones in Australia. There were mermaids chatting with the fish, and hippocampi everywhere. I observed the scene from a high perch, maybe a cliff. It felt strange, because I couldn't hear what they were thinking. I briefly wondered if this is what being deaf was like. A horn sounded behind me, and suddenly all the sea creatures were watching. They all looked expectant, and I panicked, wondering what they wanted me to do. This only lasted a second, because a Nereid swam up. She regarded me coolly with her green eyes, then bowed gracefully, and held out an envelope. It felt like the envelope Dad sent me two summers ago: full of power, as if the waves had suddenly stilled into paper. I took it and started to open it when the ground started to shake. The sea creatures swam around wildly, trying to find the source of the earthquake. Sand was everywhere. I scanned the ocean floor, and it hit me: the sea floor was glowing with a golden light.

When I woke up, I was gasping for air. After a minute, I realized that the envelope in my dream was lying right next to me on the bunk. Not taking the time to question, I opened it. Inside, there was a single sheet of royal blue paper. No writing, just paper. It didn't make sense, but I guess I've gotten used to my Dad's weird correspondences enough to know that they usually made sense later. I was all set to fall back asleep, when it hit me. In my earlier dream, there had been two colors we had to choose from: scarlet and blue. The blue was the exact shade of this paper. Was that Dad's choice? Did he want me one the blue team? As I was thinking, an invisible hand wrote on the paper a single word: Yes. It was Poseidon's handwriting.

"Thanks, Dad," I whispered, and the paper and envelope dissolved into mist.

The next morning, I was raring to go. With only five minutes until the vote, I stood waiting in the shadows. All the cabin leaders were here, but nobody talked, off in their own worlds. We had all been handed two feathers with our parent's name on them: a red one and a blue one. They hadn't explained.

A conch horn sounded, and Chiron herded us out into the ring. The half-bloods cheered. I looked for Nico, but he wasn't there. Once the crowd quieted, Chiron explained the rules. They had set up a blue pole and a red pole in the middle of the arena. We were to present ourselves, then make our choice. Everyone buzzed excitedly. Mr. D was handed the mic, and proceeded to call the names.

Hermes went first. I wasn't really sure what they meant by "present ourselves," but apparently, it was a show of power. Travis and Connor proceeded to pickpocket each other in record time, then put their "earnings" in a UPS box, and shipped it off. Drawing their caduceus-handled swords (minus the talking snakes), they held up the blue feather, and placed it before the blue pole. The crowd clapped.

Next was Apollo. Corydon (who everybody just called Cory), the new leader of Apollo, brought out a lyre shining so brightly that we had to squint, and played a Green Day song that reminded me of Thalia. He chose blue. More clapping.

Demeter. Diantha bowed to the earth, then flung open her arms. Within seconds, the entire arena was covered in grains and flowers, literally up to our knees. She clapped her hands, and it disappeared as quickly as it had come. She went blue. Clap-clap.

Hephaestus. Beckendorf came out with an armload of junk and a portable furnace. As fast as you can blink, he had made a small mechanical army of mechanical frogs, and a cloud of mechanical flies. The frogs snapped up the flies, and saluted us with tiny flaming swords. Beckendorf chose red, which didn't surprise me that much. I think he wanted a quest, but his dad probably didn't. Clapping, and a whoop from one of his brothers.

Dionysus. Pollux came out, snapped his fingers, and a mini vineyard sprang up. He squeezed the juice of a few grapes into a cup, and offered it to Chiron to taste, while Mr. D looked on wistfully. It was pronounced as the purest Retsina, the wine of Ancient Athens. He chose blue, which did surprise me. I thought Mr. D would be opposed to the quest, because if we did go, Dionysus might actually have to get off his lazy butt and help.

Aphrodite. Silena came out with one of her sisters, a chair, and a small handbag. From the handbag, she took out a tiny brush, and began to swipe it gently over her sister's face. A few seconds later, her sister stood up with perfect makeup, and outfit to match. Next, a brother of hers and the sister acted out a pantomime of two people falling in love. The clapping sounded a little awkward, but they were really good actors. They chose red.

Ares. Clarisse brought one of her brothers into the ring with her, and they sword fought. It was actually pretty scary. These two were ruthless masters, and the war cries they screamed chilled me. After a few minutes, Clarisse got in the advantage, and won with her sword pressed against her brother's neck. They stepped away from each other, bowed to the nervously cheering crowd, and chose red. That was a shocker. You'd think Ares would approve of an almost-war.

Athena. With Annabeth in the lead, an owl perched on her shoulder, three other Athenas came out bearing a small replica of the Parthenon. It was perfect; every detail had been given the utmost attention, and I would bet 50 drachma it was faultlessly to scale. The crowd oohed and aahed. Her consort went back and brought out a loom, a basket of wool skeins, and a stool. Annabeth sat down, and began to weave, fingers flying. It also sounded like she was singing something, but I couldn't tell. As boring at watching someone weave might sound, it actually wasn't. Maybe it was the song, or something about the way her hands moved, but I sat entranced, absorbing her every move. A quick scan of the audience showed that they were just as attentive. After about 5 minutes, she stood up and presented her tapestry. It was a perfect battle plan. The enemy wouldn't have stood a chance. And the weaving its self was beautiful, with intricate borders, and vibrant colors. On closer examination, I was surprised to see that the small river she wove on the right looked like it was actually flowing. I blinked, but I was right: there was a real tiny river on the tapestry. Suddenly I noticed everything on the tapestry moved. Wind blew throught the forests, and the miniature soldiers charged into battle. I was stunned. I never knew Annabeth could do that. While the crowd cheered, she appeared to be looking for someone. When she saw me, she stared at me hard, like she was trying to tell me something. The expression on her face was surprisingly sad. She turned away, and slowly put down the red feather.

And then it was my turn, and I didn't know what to do. Thinking furiously, I reached inside myself, and after a small earth tremor, and spring of salt water erupted in front of me. I pulled some of the water out, and by directing with my hands, I got it to spell out "CAMP HALF-BLOOD" before it exploded into fireworks. When I looked up, there was confusion in the stands. Some people were just staring at me in shock, but most were whispering animatedly with each other. I listened closer, and I heard the word "Earthshaker" whispered over and over. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but when I made the spring, hadn't it been accompanied by a small earthquake? Could I do that? Shutting off the fountain, I tried to make another earthquake, and came up empty.

"Well?" squawked Mr. D from the mic. "Make your choice. I haven't got all day."

It was 4-4. I would be the deciding vote. Annabeth wouldn't look at me. Everyone else stared. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to let my dad down, but I knew that if I chose blue, it would be Poseidon vs. Athena all over again. But then I remembered what Annabeth had said after the sprite messenger left: You know you're my best friend, right? Somehow, this would work out. And so, with a heavy heart, I chose blue.