Chapter 14

The Decision of Winning

With that we climbed in though the butt hole of the giant horse and stuck the not on the side of it. The note said:

Noble Roman campers.

For beating us,

We give you this structure as a reward.

We heard the other campers run into the park and woe at the masterpiece.

"Wow," said one camper.

"Can we keep it?"

"We should let Lupa decide."

"I don't know, something doesn't seem right about this."

"A gift's a gift. Let Lupa decide."

"Yea, we'll bring it to camp and if she doesn't want it we throw it in the ocean."

"Fine."

They dragged the horse to the camp. It took two hours because of the weight. Once we stopped we herd footsteps pound on the ground.

"What is this?" said a female. I could tell it was Lupa right away. It sounded strict and powerful.

"A gift from the intruders."

"Given to us for defeating them."

"I like it. I wish it was an Eagle instead but I like it."

"It's your decision if we should keep it."

"Why should it be my decision?" asked Lupa, "I say that you decide."

Something about the tone of her voice told me that she knew about the horse and that she was testing her campers.

"Let's have a vote."

"Alright."

Vote? We never have votes at Camp Half Blood. The council always decided.

After a half hour, the votes had been placed and counted.

"It seems as though everyone except the voters from the Minerva cabin wishes to keep it and…" said Lupa, "We shall keep it,"

We waited for them to place us. They put us behind the cabins and they all seemed to have left. We waited till dawn, until all of the campers had gone to sleep.

I looked through one of the cracks in the horse and saw Violet and Jake in some sort of cage. Jake was sitting in a chair and Violet was talking to that boy. Then Lupa came over and forced him to his cabin. She then walked away and seemed to have disappeared. I told the others we had to wait another hour.

We waited until we herd someone calling out Eli's name. We listened more closely and it sounded like Miss Bask. I looked through the crack and I saw Athena. Except, I think now she's Minerva. I turned and saw Eli about to shout out to his mom's voice. I rushed to him and slapped my hand on his mouth. Then Minerva's voice changed to another parent like voice.

"Every one stay quiet," I whispered, "It's my mom. It's a test. If any of us shout out the Roman Campers will discover us."

The others nodded and after five parent like voices being called many, many times, I saw Minerva change to Athena and pass into the horse. However I knew this was still part of the test so I kept quiet.

"You've past the test," she whispered, "Yes… I named you well."

I gave her a puzzled look.

"I named you after the wisest of all the Greeks. Odysseus was always my personal favorite. You past this test the same way he did. I congratulate you. You make me proud and I assure you that you will win this battle."

I stared at her as she turned into an owl and flew out of the butt whole and away from the camp. With that we climbed out of the horse and crept to Violet and Jake's cage. I cut the lock off with my sword and opened the door. Violet gave me a hug but remained silent. Then we all stared at Eli. He said his curse on the roman campers and we all crept to each cabin at a time. Eli's curse forced them to stay asleep no matter what noise we made. We went from cabin to cabin dismantling the campers and then we threw nets on them. We then threw the net on Lupa but she woke immediately.

"Nice try," she said. She gave out a howl that broke Eli's curse and everyone woke up. We ran out of Lupa's dwelling place and saw her jump over our heads and look to see if her campers would leave the cabins. She gave out another howl but nothing happened

"Humph," She ruffed, "It appears you have won, and more quickly than others have. But you knew that I knew?"

"Yes," I answered.

"You are very wise for your age."

"Thank you, now, if we release the campers, do you promise to order them not to attack." I said.

"I swear it on the River Styx. However if you had lost I would have made you leave or I would have ate you."

On that happy thought, the others went to go release the camp but I stayed to talk to Lupa.

I explained that we needed help, but she refused to send more than seven demigods. After a bit of arguing, I gave in and let her choose the ones to come with us. As she left to choose our future companions, I went to go gather the kids from my camp.

Eli, Christian, Jake, and Lucas where playing pranks on some of the Roman campers, Alice found and was playing with a doll, and I found John making out with some Venus girl. I had to pry them away from each other. Once that was accomplished she slapped me and gave John one last kiss. I was a little weird, considering our age. However I couldn't find Violet anywhere. I eventually found her by the wooden horse, flirting with the boy she liked.

"Violet," I said, "We have to go. Lupa is picking out who's coming with us and I want us all present to meet them."

"Relax," said the boy, "You need to calm down. Lupa already came over here, I'm coming."

"I'm sorry," I said, "Who are you?"

"This is Joseph, son of Neptune," Violet answered.

"That's great," I said sarcastically. No wonder I didn't like him, Athena/Minerva and Poseidon/Neptune are rivals. That, + the fact that he's Roman and I'm Greek = enimies.

"So you're leading this quest," he asked.

"Yea, now come on." I answered. I didn't know why but I felt furious at this guy. We walked to the colosseum and I saw Lupa and six other Roman campers, all around the age of thirteen and all lined up. Joseph joined them and Violet and I joined our group, which was... not a line, it was more like a blob of people.

"Roll call," Lupa said.

"Peter, Jupiter," said the boy I saw earlier with the blonde hair.

"Joseph, Neptune."

"Salvia, Ceres" said a girl with long brown hair, she was pretty, and the Greek version of her mom was Demeter.

"Billy, Bacchus" said a boy who's hair was red and his eyes were an almost purple, brown. His Greek dad would be Dionysus.

"Brandon, Mercury" said an Asian boy. His Greek dad would be Hermes.

"Keith, Erebus," said a boy with black hair and black eyes. His dad was a preimortal god! Erebus is the god of Darkness and is both Greek and Roman.

"Our turn," I said, "Hi, I'm Odysseus, son of Athena."

"Hey, my name is John, I'm a son of Ares."

"Hi, I'm Violet; I'm one of Iris's daughters."

"I'm Eli, son of Apollo."

"I'm Lucas, child of Hephaestus."

"Hey I'm Jake, son of Hades."

"I'm Alice, daughter of Hades."

"My name is Christian, I'm a son of Eros."

"All of us except Alice will be accompanied by you into the underworld." I said. Alice stayed quiet. Jake had already told her that if she spoke out of turn Lupa might eat her, which probably was true.

"We will not be able to use the usual entrance to the underworld," said Peter, "We have received news that there are a few titans guarding that entrance. We will need to use another entrance."

"We'll use one of the entrances Theseus past by," I said.

"Which one?" asked Joseph.

"The entrance of Cercyon."

"Whatsion?" asked Jake.

"Who will challenge him?" asked Joseph.

"I will." I replied.

"No offence, but the rest of us, well except the kid with the pink eyes, the rest of us can beat you up easily." said Keith.

"Theseus beat Cercyon with his wits and quick reactions. Being a child of the goddess of wisdom, I would most qualify."

"Alright," Keith said, but something told me that he wasn't so tuff either. He didn't look it and I had already calculated how I would beat him in battle. He seemed like one of those kids who acts all tuff but is really not.

"Then it's settled," said Lupa, "I expect you to have left camp within the hour."

Everyone went to double check their things. I, however, walked strait over to Violet.

"Hey," I said. She looked up and seemed disappointed that I wasn't Joseph.

"Hey," she replied.

"Violet," I said.

"What?"

"I don't know about Joseph. I don't think you should like him."

"Why?"

"It's just… There's something weird about him."

"Oh my gods."

"What?"

"I can't believe your saying this to me."

"I'm just trying to be honest."

"Whatever."

"What's your problem?"

"I can't believe that you…"

"That I what?"

"I don't know! I really like Joseph and you won't just let me like him."

"Hold up… you can like anyone you want. Its just…"

"Good. And I choose to like Joseph."

"Why? You barley know him!"

"Why does it even matter to you?"

"Because…"

I didn't even know what I was trying to say. I wouldn't have had anything against Joseph if it hadn't been for Violet. This whole thing was stupid. I just walked away and waited for the others by the arches.