Chapter 24
"Who wants to go in first?" Jessie asked, looking at Lily and Isabelle. "That place is supposed to have land mines all over the place, plus barbed wire and booby traps everywhere. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
The three were standing on the doorstep of the Ares cabin, staring up dubiously at the blood-red paint on the walls and the barbed wire decorating them.
"It might be smarter to just Iris-message Clarisse and find out where she is. If she's in the Big House, we're probably wasting our time here. And it's less risky to check there first, even if this is closer." Isabelle fixed her gray eyes on the other two, trying to convince them she was right. Which, of course, she was.
"Oh, heck," Lily grumbled. "I'll go in first. If I don't make it out, it's Jessie's fault for not listening to Isabelle."
Yanking the door open, she raised her eyebrows. The cabin was entirely empty – not a single camper was inside. Weapons were scattered around the floor, and maps littered the area, which was pervaded by the strong smell of Sharpies.
"Big House it is," Isabelle breathed, grabbing Jessie and Lily by the arms and pulling them backwards with strength somehow disproportionate to her slender frame. "Come on, guys, you can check the cabin out when there isn't a war looming over our heads, okay?"
They hurried over to the Big House, and found Clarisse pacing near the dining table, which was covered by a huge map of the camp. She looked up when they walked in, her eyes wide and worried.
"Is everything okay, Clarisse?" Lily asked nervously. A worried daughter of Ares was never a good sign – a bloodthirsty one or an angry one she could handle. But worry – that meant that something was going badly for them. Very badly.
"Everything is not okay," Clarisse growled, her eyes bloodshot, probably from a lack of sleep. "Have you seen how disunited everyone here is? If Isabelle hadn't started making out with her secret boyfriend" – she smirked at the younger girl's blush – "We would've wound up with a huge fight on our hands. And we can't afford that now! Why can't they understand that we need to work together to save our own skins?"
"It wasn't Connor's fault," Isabelle said. "He pranks people all the time – the others should've known that."
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is," Clarisse sighed. "Right now, I haven't even figured out who's going to be fighting with whom and commanding who, because I don't know who'll be able to work together."
"We can do that for you," Jessie offered. "And you can look it over afterwards and change things if you feel like you need to."
"That's a good idea," Lily said quickly. "Clarisse, honestly, it looks like you haven't slept in ages. Chris is going to die if you pass out in the middle of a fight, okay?"
Clarisse nodded and walked out, heading for her cabin. "Good luck, cupcakes," she called over her shoulder before the heavy door slammed shut behind her.
"I am not a cupcake," Jessie hissed under her breath. "Anyone got Sharpies?"
Ten minutes later they had the "demigods-in-charge," as Jessie liked to call them, chosen and placed. Jessie, Leo, and Thalia were covered the area near Thalia's pine tree – the main entrance to the camp. Lily and Nico were in the woods, stationed near Zeus' fist. Percy and Annabeth were at Fireworks Beach, and Clarisse and Will Solace were covering the strawberry fields. The eastern border would be guarded by Isabelle, Malcolm or David (depending on whether or not Malcolm had recovered), and Connor, who was surprisingly good with a sword.
Another twenty minutes later they had all the campers stationed throughout the camp and Sharpie marks all over their hands.
"I hope she's okay with this." Lily flopped down onto a comfortable couch, stretching herself out.
"She will be," Isabelle said confidently, pulling a pair of orange Ray-Bans from her sweatshirt pocket and fiddling with them. "Our arrangement is the best one possible. We should be fine."
Jessie's head whipped around suddenly. "Did you hear that?" They were silent as footsteps sounded softly from the hall. Isabelle jammed the glasses on her face and drew her sword, while Jessie notched an arrow to her bow and Lily crouched in a defensive stance, her sword drawn as well.
The door opened and Nico and Connor walked in, the latter carrying an orange balloon.
"Nice reception, guys," Connor grinned. He walked over to Isabelle, dropped to one knee, and offered her the balloon. "For my princess," he said, smiling as Jessie and Lily squealed.
Isabelle squeaked and backed away from him.
"Hey, come on, it's a balloon, not a bazooka," Connor protested. "Just take it, Isabelle, it's not going to hurt you."
Lily exchanged confused glances with Jessie, who was trying not to laugh. "Is she scared of balloons?" Lily whispered, watching Connor chase Isabelle around the room, trying to give her the balloon.
"Looks like," Jessie whispered back. "Oh, imagine the fun we are going to have with this one."
Lily squeaked suddenly as someone grabbed her shoulders from behind.
"It's me," Nico said from behind her. "Relax, princess."
"Awww," Jessie teased. "Well, I'm going to go find Leo. Nico, do you know where he is?"
"I'll walk you there," Nico said. "Lily will come with us too, right? Right." Without waiting for an answer, he looped a lazy arm around Lily's waist and pulled her along. "Leo will kill me – or try to – if I let you go there alone," he said to Jessie.
Lily raised her eyebrows. "Where were you two, and what were you doing there? Wait, I thought you were with Connor. What happened?"
"I was, but he decided to run off with Travis somewhere, so I made myself useful in the Forge. It turns out that sons of Hades aren't bad blacksmiths, considering that we tend to make our own swords and daggers and stuff. But it's a little dangerous in there right now – there's sparks and bits of bronze and steel flying everywhere – one girl almost got brained by a hammer that someone else had too loose of a grip on."
They had just stepped outside when Clarisse came running up to meet them. "Wherever you three are going," she panted, "You need to redirect yourselves. Percy and Annabeth went out on Blackjack earlier, and they spotted the monsters. They're damn close," she gasped out. "I'm going to get that map and explain to everyone where they're going – tell everyone who you meet if you can remember where they need to be. Grab armor and ambrosia if you want it, make sure you have your weapons, and station yourselves wherever you need to. Get going!" She jogged up the steps into the Big House.
"Good luck, Lily!" Jessie grabbed her friend and wrapped her in a big hug. "Keep Nico in one piece, okay?" Laughing, she ran off, shouting for Leo as she headed towards the Forge.
"You're with me," Lily said to Nico as chaos erupted around them. "We're at Zeus' fist – we've got a mix of mostly Ares and Apollo fighters with some Hermes and Demeter and others thrown in."
"Gotcha," Nico said. "I need to get my armor, and so do you. I'll meet you there in five minutes?"
"Okay." Lily grabbed his collar, pulled him close, and kissed him quickly before sprinting towards the Poseidon cabin. Seconds later she felt an arm around her hips and she was pulled into blackness, moving faster than if she were on a rollercoaster. When the darkness cleared, she found herself standing in her cabin.
"Sorry," Nico said, not sounding too sorry. "Probably should've warned you, but I thought that shadow-travel would be faster than walking."
Not bothering to reply, Lily divested herself of her sweatshirt and pulled on her breastplate and helmet instead, not bothering with the rest of her armor. Strapping a slender belt for her sword around her hips, and added a few knives to her weapons collection. "Let's go," she breathed, putting her arms around Nico and letting him shadow-travel them to his cabin.
He followed a similar drill, slipping a breastplate over his t-shirt and sliding a helmet over his face. His sword hung from his hips too, and he grabbed her arm to shadow-travel again. They melted out of the shadows near Zeus' Fist, which was crawling with demigods, and promptly terrified a young Aphrodite girl who hadn't known that Nico could travel through the shadows.
Nico winced as her shrill scream reverberated through his head, and walked away as Lily tried to calm the other girl, who couldn't have been over fifteen and seemed so scared about the coming battle that anything was enough to frighten her out of her wits.
The Apollo campers were perched in the trees, fitting arrows to their bowstrings and facing the darkness before them with snarling, nearly bloodthirsty expression. Lily watched them with a sense of pride and a sense of fear – apparently the musical, funloving children of Apollo were going to be excellent fighters. Not that she had doubted them. Lily rubbed her arms, which were nearly bare because of the short sleeves on her shirt, wishing she'd had a chance to wish Percy and Annabeth and Isabelle luck. She tried not to think about what would happen if she never got to see them again.
Hearing sniffles, she looked over to see the little Aphrodite girl fighting back tears as she stared at the surrounding trees. "Hey," Lily murmured, "What's wrong?"
The girl wiped her eyes. "Nothing."
"What's your name?"
"Daisy," she said. Suddenly she looked Lily straight in the eyes, striking the older girl with intense violet eyes and a beautiful face. "Are we going to die?"
Lily laughed nervously. "Of course not, who told you that?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? If there are too many of them, we don't stand a chance. Clarisse thinks we'll be too busy fighter each other to actually help ourselves. I heard her."
"We are not going to die," Nico said, walking up to the girls and crouching down next to them. "We are going to give those filthy monsters exactly what they deserve. We are going to kick some ass. Just because we don't always get along doesn't mean a thing. We're still family, and although we argue, we love each other and we will fight to protect each other. We'll be fine."
The girl eyed him for a moment, and then smiled. "I'll see you two," she said, standing up and giving Lily a knowing grin. "Good luck."
"Pretty good speech, huh?" Nico muttered, glancing at Lily out of the corner of his eye.
"Shut up," she smiled. "Yeah, it was pretty good. Very inspiring." Lily pulled off her helmet and stood, waiting until he followed her example before taking his helmet in her hands and gently pulling it upward, off his head. "But just in case, I wanted to give you something."
His voice was husky. "What?"
And then she kissed him, passionately, unlike the normally soft and sweet kisses she gave him. Nico didn't even try to fight for dominance – he allowed her to control the kiss, matching her intensity and holding her so close that he could feel her heart beating in time with his.
And miles below them, Hades stepped back from a scrying glass made of pure diamond. His eyes were full of pain as he wondered if he should warn his son that there was a very large chance that his girlfriend would not survive the battle.
A/N: And another quick update! Sort of…Please R&R! And thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/subscribed – I really appreciate it!