Woohoow, this story has reached the 1.000 views milestone :D I guess updating regularly does influence the numbers. Talking about those: for this month alone the story has over 200 views and 50 visitors and they make me happy. It means people are actually reading this :) But there is also a more downside abou the numbers: they seem to go down after the prologue and fifth chapter (including the prologue), so it got me wondering, why then? My guess is that the prologue might be too revealing or not enough in some way, but then I have no clue as to why views drop after the fifth chapter. Are they not enticing enough? I would really appreciate some feedback on this. I could rewrite them to achieve that.

Then something different. Here's a thank you to This is the real deal for his shout out in the latest chapter of his fic The Guns of Solomon, as I was complimented with this story. If you haven't already, go check out this fic. It's pretty cool and has a different edge to it, PJO with a Supernatural vibe to it.

On with the story.

Chapter 20: Love Talk and War Talk (Gets You A Slap On The Head)

Sam had a metal aspis strapped to his left arm as he carried the axe with his right hand. John had insisted he'd wear the breastplate from the last Flag game as well. Lou had draped his cloak over his shoulders and wished him good luck before he had departed.

And now he stood next to Mike, his own axe trainer. The Ares camper had invited Sam to the weapons class that morning. After breakfast Sam had joined the other inexperienced fighters for a practice run. The small group consisted mostly of people who fought with melee weapons other than swords and daggers.

'Now class,' shouted Mike over the sword clashes of the sword classes. 'I'll show you what to do against an opponent with more defensive measures.' Mike turned around and swung his axe around to warm up. 'Sam, if you'd like to take a defensive stance.'

Sam lifted up the shield and held the battle axe crossways. Out of the blue, Mike let out a scream and struck the shield. The blow had made Sam flinch. He held as the shockwave coursed through his arm. Mike launched another blow and struck the handle of Sam's axe. Sam grunted as he felt his feet sinking in the sand.

'As you can see, striking the shield has no use. The enemy can still stand, which is crucial for heavy weapon users like some of you. Therefore…' As Mike retreated for another blow, Sam advanced and swung his axe at Mike, who deflected it and thrusted his axe-head against Sam's chest making him gasp for air. In that moment Mike used his axe to trip Sam over and place his blade on Sam's neck. 'You have to wait for an opening,' he finished with a grin.

Sam let out a laugh as Mike helped him back on his feet. He removed the shield and moved his arm to ease the ache.

'Nice action,' said Sam.

'You pick up some skills during a real battle.'

The two walked over to the group of demigods that carried shields and heavy weaponry such as maces, hammers and clubs. Most of them were Ares and Hephaestus campers, but one of the club wielders was Mike, the son of Demeter. George Frobischer had wielded a hammer before joining the group. Ares' Mike paired the demigods as he and Sam took a seat.

'You ready for Friday?' asked Mike.

'As I'll ever be. I hear the Hunters are unbeatable.' Sam took a swig of water mixed with sugar.

'You've heard the truth. We've never won. We came close a couple of times, but nothing worked.'

'That's a bummer, sort of takes out all the fun.'

Mike shrugged and picked up his weapon once again as Sam did the same. They joined the others.

Later that day Sam sat in the exercise room with Suzan. On the table between them laid the deck of cards and a leather-bound book that Sam was reading.

'So if I understand this correctly, this synchronity is a form of magic that gathers it's power from chances and possibilities,' said Sam not looking up. 'It says here that playing cards were adapted from the minor Arcana tarot cards who in turn were adapted from ancient magical symbols and that they've retained some of their power. That's why tarot is still viewed as a form of magic.'

Suzan hummed affirmatively. 'And that old magic is somewhat branched to my form of magic.'

'The voodoo manipulation?'

Suzan sighed and shook her head. 'Occult magic to be exact. I preform rituals of the occult for magical power.'

'Like controlling someone's mind and such.'

Suzan nodded. 'It seems easy, but isn't. You have to be able to weave magic in such a way that you are able to enter someone's mind. Since it goes against the principle of free will it's labelled as occult. Same goes for the shadow magic.'

'Did it involve a deal with a devil?' asked Sam as he shuffled the cards.

Suzan showed a sly smile. 'Of course it did, but I wouldn't say that to her face.'

Sam placed seven cards neatly in a row. Clubs and spades. 'These represented the elements of fire and air in mysticism and wands and swords in the old magic. Diamonds were earth and symbolised coins or shields. Hearts were chalices and water.'

'The tarots showed possibilities, not the future,' said Suzan. 'It seems that this magic goes back to the basics of magic, the possibility to manipulate our surroundings.'

'Let's try this out,' said Sam as he dealt the cards. 'You know how to play War don't you?'

'Of course I do.'

Over the course of their game, the mages felt the magic stirring around them. The game went on for an hour until Sam won the first game. Suzan distributed the cards again, but felt a different vibe coming from her brother. He seemed to be more at ease. She did notice her own magical powers increasing too.

As they played the second game it became clear that the magic was giving Sam an edge as he won it fairly easily. Suzan used her own magic to counter the effect. As the third round progressed she used her powers to keep track of all the cards. All the kings and queens had been played, until Sam pulled out another King of Clubs.

'You're cheating, aren't you?'

'Am not,' said Sam angrily. 'You're the one who's using magic to keep track.'

'You just played another king and we've had these already.'

Sam looked at his cards. 'I think you might be on to something. I wanted a high card to get that final win. To even out my chances.'

'You switched the cards?'

'Unconsciously, I guess. Why don't you play all the cards and I'll see if I can do something to win.' Sam watched as Suzan shuffled the cards. He yawned.

Suzan divided the cards and played both stacks as Sam watched. As she pulled an ace from her stack, Sam focused on a matching ace to appear from his stack. Suzan pulled out a ace of spades.

'You used your powers, didn't you? The aces were all in my stack, and I made sure that they were.'

Sam nodded. 'I wanted that ace to appear.' He yawned again. 'I also noticed that you used magic to look through the cards, your eyes seemed to change colour. A form of sense enhancement?'

'Very good, young padawan, seems you're picking up on skills. A trick John taught me. I guess we can finish up for today. You seem exhausted, why don't you take a nap?'

Before he could protest Sam yawned again.

'I'll wake you up for the meeting tonight.' Suzan shuffled the cards and put them back in their box.

'Alright.'

Suzan dropped off her brother in his room and made sure he was tucked in. She closed the door and joined John and Lou in the kitchen for their afternoon tea.

'He's definitely liking the magic,' said Suzan. 'It seems to me that he's able to channel his powers through the cards. He even managed to change one of the cards.'

'Any side effects?' asked John.

'He's tired and sleeping as we speak. He'll need some more stamina if he wants to keep it up for a longer period of time.'

'The meeting's tonight, right?' asked Lou. 'You know, the quest thingy.'

John nodded. 'They are going to try figure out to solve the major problems. Sam mentioned the final task as a hard one.'

'Can we do something?' asked Lou.

'You could always ask.'

Later that night Sam met with Annabeth and Cali to discuss the progress on the quest.

'Rachel is on board and the Hephaestus-cabin has constructed a automaton for the quest. We've been writing the prophecy and designing the questions for the Sphinx,' said Annabeth.

'I figured out a way to get them to separate for the tasks,' said Cali. 'We just need to weave it in the story. It would be a rule for the quest, like no one is allowed to be in more than two tasks before the final fight.'

'Keys,' said Sam. 'The Nemean Lion is locked in a room/cage that unlocks if two keys of each demigod are used. It would also require them to never leave a man behind.'

'I'll get the Apollo cabin to design something,' declared Cali.

Sam noted down the new information. 'About the Sphinx, any idea on how we might achieve that? It's not as if we can get an actual one through the border.'

'I was thinking of dressing up someone to play the role of the Sphinx,' suggested Cali. 'If memory serves me right, you got confronted by it, no?' Cali stared at Annabeth.

'Yeah, but what … Oh no, I'm not doing that.'

'O, come on, you'd be perfect for the role,' exclaimed Sam. 'Have you any idea how scary taking one of your tests is?'

'I'm not getting dressed up as the Sphinx,' said Annabeth with a fierce look in her eyes.

'I'll get you money, free magic or something else.'

'It's not happening, Sam.' The daughter of Athena stared the younger demigods in the eye.

'I'll let you analytically dissect me,' replied Sam after a minute of silence. 'From dawn till dusk I'm yours to test, prod and analyse for science's sake. Don't you want to some more knowledge about the demigod who talks smack to the gods, was late to getting claimed etcetera? Thought you were all about learning.'

The Athena counsellor stared Sam in eye with a her grey eyes that got analytical real fast.

'Deal. From dawn till dusk, on the day of my choice.'

'We'll get you some nice feathers to dress you up,' said Sam with a grin. 'And I've got even better news.'

'What?' asked Cali.

'I found us a goddess who wants to help us out.'

Later Sam and Cali walked to their cabins together. He carried his notebooks and listened to Cali's voice as she talked about her day. She seemed to spend quite some time with Gina and Jane, the daughter of Enyo.

'I saw you getting pummelled this morning,' said Cali. 'I joined the sword fighting class.'

'Yeah, Mike needed a volunteer,' said Sam while shrugging.

'Say that to someone who didn't see you getting your ass whooped,' said Cali with a laugh.

Sam smiled meekly as they arrived at cabin 20. Sam walked up the steps and stood on the porch.

'I'll see you tomorrow then?' said Cali. 'I'll see if I can get something done about those keys.'

'Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow.'

Sam opened the door and entered the cabin as Cali walked to her cabin.

'Did you leave her to walk home by herself?' asked Mia as soon as he closed the door.

Sam saw his sisters looking out the window, while his brothers sat in the couches. John shook his head.

'You told them?'

'Let's talk.'

The two mages entered the room and Sam turned on the lights. Lou took a seat on his chair as Sam sat down on his bed and popped off his prosthesis. He threw his backpack on his bed and watched his sister getting comfortable on his chair.

'It's allowed to hang up some posters or something,' said Lou as she looked around the room.

'You do realize I wasn't exactly expecting a nice room in a magically enhanced cabin? I only grabbed the necessities to survive the trip to this place and a load of clean underwear.'

Lou Ellen stared at her brother and sighed. 'Listen, about what I said earlier.'

'Yeah?' Sam returned the stare.

'I'm sorry about what I said. It just popped out. I don't know what I meant by it. Gods, I just don't know how many times I have you say it, I'm sorry.'

Sam let out a sigh. 'You did have a valid point, I mean have you seen me? I'm a scrawny kid who misses three quarters of a leg. I'm nearly not as athletic or smart as most people here. Haven't seen many people like myself here.'

'That's because most of us either die young or live long enough to tell stories about those who died,' said Lou.

A silence settled in the room. The two mages stared at the ceiling.

'Lou, what happened in the war?' he asked softly.

Lou got out of the chair and took a seat next to her brother. She leaned against the wall. 'Someone mentioned something, isn't it?'

Sam nodded.

Lou let out a groan. She breathed in and out and wringed her hands. 'Gods be damned. That bloody war cost us too much. I didn't even know all of our siblings by name at the time. Sixteen of us died during that war, eight in the Battle of Manhattan alone. four at Mount Othrys, three on board the Andromeda and one in unknown circumstances.' Lou wiped her eyes. 'I was at the Battle of Manhattan with John, Alabaster and Suzan. We also had George, Mikey, Fiona, Damien, Jack, Simon, Zhora and Bella. We waged war alongside the forces of Kronos, mom and Morpheus had used their powers to keep the mortals out of it. The Council demigods had set up defensive positions to keep the Titan's forces at bay.'

'We walked with the monsters down Manhattan's bridges and roads. We felt powerful, we were thousands strong, on our way to get recognition from the Olympians. At a point we got into a battle with Hephaestus campers and fought in the wake of victory. After they retreated we marched on until we reached a certain point and we breached off. Me, Alabaster, John, Suzan, Mikey, Bella, Damien and Jack continued on to regroup at the UN building. The others joined the army at the Williams bridge. They were children and got drowned or trampled.'

Lou cried for a minute as Sam tried to convince himself not to cry. 'Eventually we reached the UN. We stayed behind for a while as Alabaster convinced us to do something we've sworn to never do again. We used our magical powers to create a powerful spell that would've given us the advantage to win the battle. The fused magic became unstable, we were too inexperienced. It backfired and got some of us killed. Mikey and Jack vanished into thin air as they got engulfed while Bella and Damien got the worst of the blast. Damien died as he fell off the building and Bella…' Lou stopped and sobbed. 'She got stuck under some rubble with her arm torn off. She died in my arms as we tried to console her in her dying moments. She cursed Alabaster with her dying breath. We all eventually did. After the war we roamed around Manhattan for a while until we got invited to join the other survivors of the battle here at camp. You know the rest of it.'

Sam hugged his sister as she cried and cursed in ancient Greek. They just sat there until Lou dried her tears and sat against the wall.

'You gotta admit, this isn't the strong mage you're used to see, isn't it?' she spat bitterly.

'No it isn't. She's just human who went through some horrible shit.'

'Thanks,' she said before blowing her nose.

'You're not the only in this room though.'

'You've mentioned it. The car crash.'

'Yeah the crash,' said Sam. 'What I haven't mentioned was the year after that. The year where I had to learn how to walk again, had no one to talk to, had zero idea I had a bloody family waiting for me at Ancient Greece camp,' he spat.

'We had no…'

'No idea I existed. I spent months in a hospital under the care of social services and nurses and doctors. Have you any idea how it was? To not see friends or existing family, while I had to deal with all of it? I had my dad die next to me as I nearly died of blood loss.' Sam turned to Lou. 'I can't remember how many nights I wished to die. To take away all the pain. There was no one to hold me. Not you, not mom, no one.' Lou ignored his struggles and held him as he started to sob. 'It took me nearly ten months to get out of the hospital and visit his grave. I wasn't even there when someone buried him. Mom wasn't there, nobody.'

'Mom never talked about new siblings,' said Lou. 'I think she never truly recovered from the Battle of Manhattan and never wanted to see it happen again.'

Another silence crept into the conversation. Sam pulled out his headphones and turned up to volume to use them as a pair of speakers. He played Metallica's Black Album.

'For a kid you've got excellent taste in music,' said Lou. 'What else have you got?'

Sam handed her his mp3-player.

'Pretty good, never would've taken you for a Johnny Cash fan.'

'He's got a couple of good songs, same with Adele.'

'Adele and hardcore-punk? That's one strange combo. I ought to introduce you to Thalia, she's the punk and underground-expert here.'

'About Thalia, ain't she supposed to be like your age?'

'Immortality comes at a price. Although there was that time that we were both fifteen and we had a thing. Even thought about joining the Hunters for a moment.'

'You and Thalia? So you're gay? Nothing wrong with that, mom is bisexual, so it fits.'

'It fits? What kind of vulgar use of words is that?'

Sam laughed. 'You really look and sound like mom when you say that.'

'Am not,' said Lou as she smilingly stuck out her tongue. 'And yes, I am a lesbian. I like girls, there I said it.'

'Anyone in particular? You seem get along with a lot of the older female demigods. Harley for example. Or is it a Roman girl that you met at college?'

'Harley, you think Harley and me… Bless your innocence. And what do you mean with older female demigods? Annabeth and Clarisse are in a relationship, Katie and Miranda aren't my type.'

'So Harley is a definite option, but I'm guessing it's a Roman chick,' said Sam with a smile, which got him a punch on the shoulder.

'Don't get all smartass with me, mister I-like-the-girl-I-hurt. Yeah, don't give me that shocked expression, everybody can spot it from a mile away. You like Storm Girl.'

'Do not, she's a friend,' said Sam with a huff.

'Just talk to her, be a gentleman, ask her out. Worse thing that can happen is that she says no and you'll be left with nothing but an awkward relationship.'

'Do you realize that you suck at giving relationship advice?'

'Tell her how you feel, I bet she likes you too.'

'I'll tell her tomorrow, I wanna go to bed now, it's been a rough night.'

'You're brushing your teeth first, mister,' commanded Lou with a stern face. She pointed at his bathroom door.

Sam muttered a curse which got him slap on the back of the head. He yelped as he got out of bed and grumpily put on his prosthesis and went to brush his teeth.

Lou sat on his bed and moved his stuff to his table. A picture fell out of a notebook. She picked it up. It was a picture of Sam holding Sarah in a bear hug while they smiled. Lou pinned the picture to the wall. She tucked in her brother as he crawled into bed.

'Thanks for the talk,' said Sam.

'Ditto.'

She kissed his forehead and turned off the lights before closing his door.

Hope you enjoyed it, please review.