Chapter 12

"Can we go back to trying to find out who killed me?"

"If you insist," Hera sighed.

"There's only one way I can solve this," I said.

I took a deep breath and announced my idea.

"We have to what?" Hermes asked.

"I said that you had to-"

"We heard what you said," Ares grumbled.

"Good. So you won't mind doing it?" I asked.

"But what if we don't want to?" Apollo whined.

"Unless you're guilty, you'll do it," I said.

"I'm not doing it," Ares said.

"Why not?" Nico asked.

"Because I don't want to, got it kid?" Ares glared.

"Hey, back off. Until we get everyone tested, you're not going anywhere," I said.

"You can't keep me here," Ares said, narrowing his eyes.

I stood straight and glared at him.

"You do not want to start a fight with me," I warned.

"Oh? And why not?" Ares asked, mocking me.

I lifted my hand and made a gesture. Ares was stuck in place. He couldn't move. He tried to wiggle out of it, but the telekinesis held him there.

"Let go," Ares growled.

"Make me."

I knew I got carried away. Challenging him like that was a mistake. His eyes glowed with fury and he snapped his fingers.

"Kill her!" He screeched.

Old ghosts wearing army suits came charging towards me when Nico stepped in.

"Be gone! I command you as the son of Hades, be gone!"

The ghosts looked at him and backed off, disappearing into the floor, leaving no trace behind. Ares's eyes were flaming in anger. He turned his head and looked over at Nico. For some odd reason, Ares smiled, as if he found something that satisfied him. Nico sharply looked up at me, anger clear in his eyes.

"Nico?" I asked.

All of the Gods were looking down at him, frowns on their faces. Well, except for Ares, who looked like he had just won the lottery.

"You're brother killed my sister."

"Oh no," I mumbled, taking a step back.

I looked from Nico to Ares, and back to Nico.

"Ares is using you Nico. He's redirecting the hidden anger. He's making you angry!" I said.

"I have every right to be angry! Percy should have died in that thing, not Bianca! It's all his fault!" Nico growled.

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"He's your brother! You're on his side just because you're his brother! I lost my sister; he deserves to lose one too. An eye for an eye."

Ii was confused for a second before it dawned on me. An eye for an eye.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

He took out his sword.

"Don't let the anger rule you!" I yelled at him.

He approached me.

"Bianca is dead because of Percy! He deserves to lose someone too!" Nico shouted.

I didn't understand what happened next. Lightning struck right in front of Nico, making him take a step back. I turned to look at Zeus, who looked slightly confused. I moved my gaze to my father who looked like he was using all of his might not to kill Nico right then and there.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, di Angelo?" I heard from the doorway.

Thalia angrily marched in and came to stand between the two of us.

"Percy deserves to lose a sister too," He muttered darkly.

"No, you idiot. Bianca was willing to die so you could get a toy from the junkyard!" Thalia said.

"Stay out of it."

"No."

"Thalia, get out of the way," Nico said through gritted teeth.

"Fight the anger, Nico!" I said.

"I don't want to fight the anger, I want to embrace it," He took a step forward.

"Stop, or else," Thalia said, getting into a fighting position.

"MY SISTER IS DEAD!"

This was it, I realized. A child of Zeus, a child of Poseidon, and a child of Hades. Fighting. Zeus and Poseidon vs. Hades. World War II all over again.

"Okay, stop it! Stop fighting right now!" Iliana yelled, coming over to us.

I looked at the tiny witch, surprised at her bravery.

"That is enough with the fighting!" She said.

"Says who?" Ares asked, clearly not scared of Iliana.

"The Witch Child and Wild Power," Iliana said, glaring at Ares.

Ares rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed.

"Okay, so now we're going to take this test," I said.

I started with Hermes. He held out his hand and I took it.

VISION:

"Dununu nununununu BATMAN!"

Hermes was muttering those words as he stalked through Olympus. He replaced Aphrodite's bottle of Shampoo with the exact same bottle, only I knew it had something worse than Shampoo in it.

I came back to reality.

"The only thing you're guilty of is pranks," I said to him.

He grinned at me.

"Moving on."

I went to Apollo next.

He held out his hand too. I touched his hand.

VISION:

Apollo was dancing with some girl at a night club. It looked like it was the early '80's by how the people were dressed. The music wasn't normal. It sounded like a peace filled with flower type of music. The funniest part? Apollo had an afro.

"Hey man, peace for all! I think this calls for a haiku man," Apollo stated.

"Your beauty is cool

Like a happy summer wind

Peace is so cool man!"

There were cheers all around the club.

I came back laughing. Apollo was smirking.

"I wouldn't be smirking there, Afro Boy," I giggled.

His smirk disappeared from his face. I went to Hephaestus. The same process went on.

VISION:

Hephaestus finished putting the final touches on his trap. There was giggling heard and Aphrodite and Ares came into view. He hid as the trap sprung and caught his wife and Ares.

"Hephaestus!" Aphrodite screeched.

He chuckled.

I moved on to Dionysus.

VISION:

"Woohoo! We're gonna par-tay!" He yelled.

He had a bottle of wine in his hand and he was gulping it down. He was obviously drunk. That's when I noticed where he was. He was in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood.

I came out of the vision. Dionysus was scowling at me. He knew that I knew that he shouldn't have been drinking at that time. I went to stand in front of Ares. He glared at me.

"I'm not doing anything," He said.

"Um excuse me?" A quiet voice asked.

I turned around. Mary-Lynette had stepped up. She looked a little scared, but she was also brave to stand up to a god.

"If you don't do the test, then it means your guilty, right?" She asked.

"Not if I don't wa-"

"And if none of the other gods are guilty, doesn't it make you guilty?"

"What? No, you stu-"

"And then you would have been the one who teamed up with Anna to try and kill Amber?"

"ENOUGH! Stop interrupting me, you little shit!" Ares growled.

Ash stepped in front of Mare and glared daggers at Ares.

"Mary-Lynette is not a little shit and the next time you call her that, I'm going to beat the shit out of you!"

"Like you could!" Ares laughed.

"You want to find out?" Ash asked, taking a step forward.

"ARES! Get tested or you will be cursed to the mortal world for a year!" Zeus threatened.

Ares glared at me and at Ash. He reluctantly held out a hand. I touched his hand.

VISION:

Anna was standing there, with her hands on Ares's chest.

"Mm, I can do it," Anna said.

"It'll teach the idiot to mess with me," Ares said.

"Yes…and I'll get my revenge. Then, Percy will think Nico did it for his sister. You're brilliant, my love," Anna said.

Ares smirked.

"The little shithead thinks he can mess with Ares? I'll show him," Ares said.

"You were going easy on Percy though, right?"

"Of course I was. I knew that if I killed him, old Barnacle Brains would kill me. So I went easy on him."

"Oh Ares, you're so hot," Anna said.

I came out of the vision recoiling.

"Oh gods, I did not need to see that!" I muttered.

"Well?" Thalia asked.

"You got mad at Percy for beating you in that duel all those years ago, didn't you? So you hooked up with Anna and had her try to kill me. This last attempt with Travis was so it would look like Nico tried to kill me because Percy would think Nico did it for 'a sister for a sister'. You're sick," I growled at Ares.

"The punk deserves to lose something!" Ares hissed.

"Amber, dear?"

I turned to look at Aphrodite.

"Did you say he 'hooked up' with my daughter?"

"Yes, he did. They probably did it too."

Ares got out of his throne.

"Why you little-"

"YOU TRIED TO KILL MY DAUGHTER?"

Cue overprotective dad.

"Only because your son beat me! I'm the God of War! I cannot be defeated!" Ares screeched.

"But you were! You were defeated by my brother!" I shouted.

He lifted his sword…and he was knocked aside by a lightning strike. Thalia walked up to him.

"Back the hell off or I'll skin you alive," She growled.

He made a move to get up, but he was knocked down again by a way bigger lightning strike and I know Thalia didn't make that one.

"ARES! YOU HAVE TRIED TO KILL A HERO! YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!" Zeus roared.

Ares disappeared without a trace.

"Demigods, I believe it is time for you to go back to Camp Half-Blood," Athena advised.

I nodded.

"Come on guys," I said.

Iliana waved goodbye. The only one who waved back was Aphrodite. Mary-Lynette walked with Ash. Nico was looking at his shoes as he walked. Thalia was watching me.

"You alright?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Thanks for saving me…you know. A couple times…"

"No problem," She smiled. "It's what I do."

-0-0-0-0-O.O-0-0-0-0-

We were walking up the hill at camp wen Nico pulled me aside.

"I'm really, really sorry. I just had the anger bottled up for so long and Ares tapped into that and…I'm sorry."

I laughed and kissed him.

"It's alright. I love you," I said.

"I love you too," He kissed me.

"Um, guys? I think you need to see this!" Mare called.

We both went to the top of Half Blood Hill. I expected to see bright happy colors and campers all around, training and talking. I even expected someone in the Hermes cabin playing a prank. But no.

"What the hell happened?" Thalia asked.

The buildings were gray. Annabeth would have started crying. All of the cabins she had worked so hard on…were all painted a dull gray. They strawberry fields were all gone. It was just open land now. There were no campers in sight. Everything was quiet. Out of nowhere, Travis Stoll came up to us, smiling.

"Nico! Ash! Hey guys! Welcome back," He said.

"Did you not notice us or something?" Thalia asked, gesturing to herself, me, Mare, and Iliana.

"That'll get you two days in the jailhouse. No talking, b****," Travis said, still smiling.

Thalia's eyes narrowed and she sounded like she was growling.

"What did you just call me?"

"Three days, b****," Travis continued.

She punched him square in the jaw. From the ground, he still smiled.

"A week and three days, b****. Guards!"

About five guys from the Ares cabin came out and grabbed Thalia.

"Hey! Let go!" She growled.

"A week and four days, b****."

They dragged her away. I gave Iliana and Mare a look saying 'don't talk'.

"What's going on Travis?" Nico asked.

"It's just normal stuff, Nico. Here, let me have some guards escort the b****es in their rooms," Travis said.

He called for more guards and two guys from the Apollo cabin and Pollux came over. They took me, Iliana, and Mare to what used to be the Big House. All of the other girls were there too. Once all the guards were out of the Big House, the girls all swarmed us.

"Amber, you're back!"

"You have to save us!"

"They've gone crazy!"

"Help us!"

I found Aurora and asked her to tell me what happened.

"It's awful," She said.

"What happened?" I asked again.

She looked me in the eye.

"The boys have taken over. They locked us up and made us do work or else we would be sent to the jailhouse…"

"What's that?"

"It's a place where we have to stay with barely enough food and water. It's terrible!"

"Who's there now?"

"Clarisse was sent there in the first five minutes it all started. Then Jenny and Troy. Then Luna and me. Luna got sent back again, but I backed down. We thought you were never going to come back!"

"I'm back now so we have to stop them."

"Amber, there's one more thing…"

"What?"

"Katie's set to die at sunset."

OMG! Anyway, please review, m'kay? If you have any confusion or questions about the story, please feel free to PM me. Thanks for reading!