Disclaimer: Don't own any of this etc. No profit being made.
Author's note: Next chapter! Btw, thanks to the review who noticed the Orpheus/Oedipus mixup, that was embarrassing. Don't really have any excuse except absentmindedness, and to note that it might just have been the ultimate Freudian slip. Anyway, it's fixed now. Any other errors people pick up I'd be grateful to have highlighted.
-Chapter Two-
'What just happened?' Percy asked, shaking his head as he and Annabeth exited the Big House together. Chiron had dismissed them all shortly after the new guy had disappeared, instructing them all to tell their cabins about the prophecy and ordering a full-camp meeting that evening.
'Looks like you found yourself a boyfriend!'
Percy turned and glared at Connor Stoll, who grinned back unrepentantly.
'You should have offered to let him stay with you in the Poseidon cabin.' Travis Stoll suggested, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
'Ignore them.' Annabeth instructed, pulling him in the direction of the cabins.
The Stoll brothers stuck with them, and they were joined by Leo as they settled themselves on the grass around the remains of last night's campfire.
'So. A quest. A big one.'
'Not a quest, a prophecy.' Annabeth corrected Connor.
'Sounds like a quest to me.' The curly-haired boy replied cheerfully. 'We've gotta go find these Romans to start with. How cool is that? Dyou think they have like legions and those stupid robes and stuff?' He stood up and struck what he probably thought was the dignified pose of an emperor.
'They're called togas.' Annabeth told him. 'And I doubt it; we don't really dress up like Ancient Greeks, and why should they have legions if we don't have phalanxes?'
The Stoll brothers looked disappointed.
'Do you think they have a camp like ours?' Leo asked curiously, absently plaiting strands of grass together.
Annabeth frowned.
'Probably.' She decided eventually. 'If they're the children of our parents, just in their Roman forms, then the gods are likely to have set them up with their own camp somewhere. What I don't understand is why we don't know about them. Did you see Apollo? He clearly didn't want to tell us anything.'
Percy snorted.
'His oracle revealed them. He wrote the prophecy.' Percy pointed out.
'That's true.' Annabeth admitted, flashing him an approving look that made Percy want to roll over like a puppy.
'The gods must have been deliberately keeping us apart.' Annabeth decided.
'But now, for some reason, we have to work together?' Leo asked.
'Sounds like it.' Percy replied, slumping back to lie on the grass and stare up at the terrifying blue expanse of Zeus' domain.
'So three of us, three of them, and that British guy.' Travis said. 'Off to save the world.'
'Fuck.'
Nico punched the wall. And then again. Less than a minute later a small mound of broken plasterwork and splintered brick was lying on the carpet. He shook his hands, willing away the pain as he watched blood well from his knuckles, mixing with the dust on his skin.
He walked through to the bathroom of the suite he'd rented, brushing on the tap and watching the muck on his fingers disappear into the basin. He dried his hands, leaving a trail of pink across the fluffy white towel. He caught his own gaze in the big mirror and sneered at himself.
Pathetic. You let yourself hope. Let yourself be seduced by an impossible promise, and now you're stuck in America on a ridiculous adventure in the service of the gods you hate.
Nico took dinner alone, as usual, brushing off the advances of the waitress. He wondered idly whether she'd have preferred the very generous tip he gave her or an invitation back to his room. Returning to his suite, he stopped outside the door, one hand on the handle. Something didn't feel quite right.
He allowed himself to melt into the narrow shadow at the bottom of the door, holding his breath as he condensed inside the bedroom. He blinked.
Are those… sheep?
Just then, one of the creatures turned towards him.
That is not an ordinary sheep.
Its eyes were glowing red, and its yawning mouth was full of teeth that didn't look designed to chew grass. It took a few moments for it to notice him standing there, pressed against the door.
'BAAA!'
If he hadn't had a demonic ball of wool charging him, Nico would have laughed at the sound, which sounded like it could have come from a cartoon animal.
A minute or so later, Nico was standing in the middle of a two thousand dollar hotel room surrounded by dismembered chunks of mutton. He wiped his dagger on the fleece of one of the dead sheep before returning it to its sheath at the small of his back and eyeing the room. For some reason, the creatures hadn't dissolved in the usual shower of golden monster dust. They remained sheep, though Nico could feel the Mist knitting around their heads to make the corpses look less carnivorous to human eyes.
This is gonna be a big bill.
He didn't dare imagine what housekeeping was gonna think when they turned up in the morning. They'd probably call the police. He supposed it was lucky he'd checked in under a random name and an anonymous credit card.
Well, I'm not sleeping here tonight. He thought, glancing regretfully at the enormous, bloodstained bed. Suppose I'd better go and find another hotel to make a mess of.
The campfire had been lit, and the smell of woodsmoke curled up into the warm night air. Every demigod in Camp Half-Blood gathered in a chattering crowd, full from dinner but still fighting for space to poke marshmallows on sticks into the heat.
Leo sat closest, arms holding his legs to his chest, chin resting on his knees, mesmerised by the flames. The other cabins made jokes about the Hephaestus cabin's obsession with fire, but Leo couldn't understand how they, too, didn't find it an endless source of fascination. The power it had, to shape, to bend and break and burn. To melt and forge anew. Gods, even its Promethean power to wage war against the cold and darkness, to give humanity a defence against an unforgiving world.
He could feel the skin of his face flushing from the heat, but he basked in the warmth. It was reluctantly that he turned his attention away from the play of light and colour to focus on the new presence.
'Good evening, campers.'
Chiron's calm, deep voice rolled across the assembly. He looked ancient and strange in the darkness, caught between the orange glow of the fire and the shadows it cast. Leo was struck anew by how weird this world was, for all the familiarity he now had with it. He was a kid who'd killed his own mother, heard her screams as she was engulfed by the flames that had sprung from him and been twisted by a force beyond his control. He was a boy off the streets, who'd probably fled from every foster home in eastern Texas before ending up trapped behind the high walls of the Wilderness School, a kind of educational prison for young delinquents. Being rescued from a monster attack by a half-goat creature and dragged off to a summer camp full of the offspring of Greek Gods had turned his world completely on its head. He was happy here, though, and for the first time in years he had no impulse to escape from where he'd found himself. He still suffered from the nightmares that had tortured him ever since that night, the vision of the mechanic's shop burning, his own powerlessness to do anything, the bitter memory of a veiled, dark-robed woman who'd stood and watched the conflagration without lifting a finger to help. His arms curled tighter around his knees.
'I hope that your counsellors have had a chance to inform you about our meeting this afternoon, and of the prophecy given to us by the Oracle.' Chiron continued. 'This evening I announce a quest, and the person chosen to lead it will receive a new prophecy from the Oracle.'
'We've already got a prophecy!' Someone shouted from the crowd.
Chiron looked grim, and a finger of trepidation ran down Leo's spine.
'A Great Prophecy, declared by the Olympian Council.'
Leo couldn't tell whether the sound that erupted from the crowd was horrified or excited. Probably a mixture of the two. The last Great Prophecy had resulted in war, had brought death to many of their fellows. But demigods died all the time, and the Second Titanomachy, as it was now being called, had made Percy and his companions heroes. Leo knew that few of those around him didn't dream of great deeds, of winning the approval of their divine parents and a place, come their time, in Elysium.
It struck Leo that there were no shouts of confusion. Everyone present knew what the last Great Prophecy had been, had led to. It emphasised anew to him that there were no fresh faces in Camp Half-Blood. He wondered what had happened to all the demigods who must have been due to arrive. He assumed satyrs had been sent out to find them, but he'd seen hardly any of the creatures around camp in the previous couple of weeks. Maybe they were dead, bleeding out in a carpark somewhere next to the children they were supposed to be guiding.
'Hey.'
Leo shook his head free of his morbid thoughts as he turned to Percy. The son of the sea god had sprawled himself out on the grass next to him, the nearby demigods hastily clearing room for the hero of the war.
'Hi Percy.' Leo smiled at his friend, wondering whether he, too, wanted to be regarded with awe by his campmates. It might be nice, he thought, to have everyone's respect. Most of the camp put up with him and his weirdness, but he wasn't exactly a sword-wielding demon like Percy or Clarisse, or even brilliant at working things out like Annabeth. He could build things, fix things, even invent things, but that was about it.
'You know,' Percy began slowly, staring at the flames and avoiding his gaze. 'If I'm the one who ends up leading this stupid new quest, I think I'd like you to come too.'
'What?' The word was out of Leo's mouth before he could stop himself.
Percy looked slightly embarrassed. He pushed his hand awkwardly through his short brown hair.
'I mean, well, if you wanted to go on a quest of course, and, umm, if I'm the one who's gonna lead it.'
He didn't sound arrogant about the thought of being the chosen one, more resigned.
'Why would you want me?' After the words came out Leo cursed how pathetic he sounded.
Percy seemed surprised.
'Well, you're the only one around here who can keep up with Annabeth half the time and, I mean, you're a cool guy… it'd be good to have you there.'
Leo knew he'd kind of made friends with Percy since arriving at Camp Half-Blood, but he didn't think he'd grown that close to him… close enough to become the third member of his questing team with the girl he was clearly half in love with.
'Umm, thanks, I guess.' He offered quietly. He turned back to the fire, jumping slightly when Percy slapped him on the back and left, probably to go off and find Annabeth.
Leo woke up early the next morning. He could see the three other demigods he shared the Hephaestus cabin with still lying motionless in their bunks, illuminated by the blinking LEDs of the various hibernating screens and devices scattered around the room.
He made his way to the bathroom, the only part of the Hephaestus cabin that wasn't stacked with electronic equipment and strange-looking mechanical creatures. He showered quickly, rinsing the shampoo from his hair absently as he considered the brain surgery he was currently trying to attempt on the dismembered bronze dragon lying in the workshop. He'd discovered the creature curled around a big tree in the middle of the woods. It had looked kind of pathetic lying there, with its wings missing and its bronze skin tarnished by the rain and wind. He'd been told it had been the pet project of Charles Beckendorf, who'd died during the war. The dragon had apparently gone kind of crazy after that, before disappearing into the forest one night never to be seen again. To his automaton-loving heart, catching sight of the poor creature, abandoned and hibernating, had been like finding stray dog and discovering a unicorn in one. He'd been working for months to bring the great beast out of its long sleep, but its head was still a mess of wires.
Leo knew there was food somewhere in the workshop, so he ignored the mess hall and walked straight across the grass in the direction of the forest. The square brick building standing just in front of the line of trees looked like a miniature factory, with its smokestacks and massive doors and lack of windows. It seemed to have sprouted a new addition this morning. Leo didn't recognise the vaguely familiar seeming guy sprawled on the grass in front of the building until he looked up.
'Hey!'
'Umm, hi.' Leo stared at the guy who'd turned up yesterday, wondering what he was waiting outside the workshop for.
Leo tapped in the code on the keypad next the door as the guy, Nico, stood.
'Can I help you with something?' He asked as the electronic lock beeped its approval and the door clicked open.
'Well,' the new guy began, and Leo was suddenly aware of how close he was, could feel the heat of his body, 'I was hoping you'd be able to help me with some engineering.'
Leo stepped into the workshop hastily, trying to conceal his surprise. The boy behind him let out a low, impressed whistle as the fluorescent lights blinked on to reveal a large, warehouse-like space that looked like a weirdly well-organised steampunk scrapyard.
'Engineering?' Leo asked, relaxing slightly as the other boy followed him at a safer distance and the reassuring smell of oil filled his nose.
'Yeah. I asked around this morning and was told to find one of Hephaestus' children.' He grinned. 'So I waited outside the workshop, and now I've caught one.'
Leo shifted slightly uneasily.
'So, what do you need help with?'
'My dad's cabin.' The other boy admitted, shrugging. 'I can probably design something suitable, and get the materials and stuff, but I need someone who can work out how to keep everything from falling down.'
Leo frowned. He felt sort of flattered, but he wasn't sure he could help.
'I'm not really an engineer.' He admitted. 'I can fix things and work things out and stuff, but I've never done a building.' He looked up after a moment as the silence between them stretched. The other boy was wearing an easy smile.
'Well now's your chance.' Nico declared. 'I'll pay you, of course. My dad wouldn't want one of his children indebted to another demigod.'
Leo felt like he was being swept along, but he couldn't deny the idea of actually being paid for something appealed to him. He'd never had a real job before, and he supposed he'd need to earn money if he ever meant to set himself up outside Camp Half-Blood.
'You know, I might volunteer to lead the quest.'
Percy, sprawled out on the beach with the sound of the water lapping a few feet away, jerked out of his doze.
'You what?'
Annabeth sat cross-legged next to him with a book open in her lap. Probably about something incredibly boring. Or incomprehensible. Or both.
'I was saying I was considering asking Chiron to let me lead the quest.' She replied, looking slightly annoyed.
Percy groaned.
'Haven't we done enough?' He asked, slumping back against the sand.
Annabeth snapped her book shut.
'You don't have to come with me, you know. I might not even choose you.'
Percy's head was suddenly full of images of Annabeth with the hot British guy. Her sitting next to him on a bus, sharing a meal with him, a motel…
'I'm coming.' He told her.
'Come in!'
Annabeth took a deep breath before entering the Big House. She was startled to find Leo and Nico already in Chiron's office with the centaur.
'Umm, hi. Sorry, umm, I can come back later?' She said, gesturing towards the door.
'No, no, join us.' Chiron said, waving her over. 'I'm sure we'd be glad to have your opinion on this Annabeth.'
She could feel the weight of the new guy's stare on her as she approached. She brushed her hair self-consciously behind one ear as she leant over to examine the sheet of paper on the desk the room's occupants were surrounding.
'Did you do this?' She asked after a moment, looking up and finding her stare trapped by a pair of dark eyes.
He shrugged.
'Yeah. It's just a vague outline, of course…' He looked almost uncertain. 'I mean, Leo's going to work out the engineering stuff, and I should probably check with my dad to make sure he's ok with it.'
'This is really good.' Annabeth told him. Her eyes were drawn back to the blueprint in spite of the sight they'd been resting on. She hesitated. 'This is for Hades, right?'
Nico di Angelo's laugh was as flawless as the rest of him.
'Well, yeah, I suppose so, but it's mainly for me.' He smirked. 'Have you ever been to the Underworld?'
Annabeth nodded, shuddering a bit as she tried not to remember the days she'd spent in that awful, endless place.
Nico laughed again.
'Yeah, well then you should have some idea of why I'm not gonna pay much attention to what my father would want. I mean, his palace looks like the kind of place Dracula and Louis XIV would dream up together. I'm not even sure he didn't get the two of them to design it, to be honest.'
While Annabeth was still trying to get her head around that idea, Chiron focused on her.
'What can I do for you, Annabeth?'
She straightened, having almost forgotten what she'd come for.
'Well, I, I was…' she'd felt slightly nervous before coming in, and under the scrutiny of the only person who was actually already on the quest she was even more on edge. 'I want to lead the quest to find the Roman demigods.' She declared.
Chiron cocked an eyebrow.
'Do you?' He frowned. 'Clarisse has already visited this morning, asking to be chosen to take command.'
Annabeth blinked.
'You can't possibly be considering Clarisse?' She asked, horrified.
Chiron stared at her, as though inviting her to continue.
'I mean,' she added weakly, flushing slightly, 'I'm not sure Clarisse would be the best choice for the mission.'
'And why is that?' Chiron asked.
'Umm, well, she's not, I mean, she's not the most thinking person.' Annabeth answered, cursing how clumsy her words sounded.
'Perhaps not.' Chiron acknowledged. 'But she has led the Ares cabin well, and has a number of successful quests under her belt. She's well-respected, and one of the best fighters in the camp.'
Unlike you. Came the unspoken message.
'But this quest isn't going to be about fighting!' Annabeth exclaimed, unable to help herself. 'We need to find these Romans before we can do anything, and if you're not going to tell us where they are then I don't think Clarisse is going be able to work it out.'
She felt suddenly embarrassed as the three of them stared at her in silence for a moment.
'Hang on,' Nico began slowly, 'we're going on a quest to find the Roman demigods? I already know where they are.'
Even Chiron looked startled.
'You know…' Annabeth trailed off.
'Yeah.' Nico grinned. 'Don't worry though, I'd much rather you came than that other girl.'
'How… how do you know?' Chiron interjected suddenly.
Nico rolled his eyes.
'I've spent months in the Underworld. There are loads of Roman demigods down there.'
Annabeth felt simultaneously relieved and disappointed. Thinking about it last night, she'd had the idea of going to the Underworld to try and find some Romans. The prospect of not actually having to go back to that place was just about enough to make up for having her brilliant idea preempted.
'What I don't understand,' Nico continued, 'is why the gods insist on keeping us apart?'
Chiron looked uncomfortable, well, as uncomfortable as an immortal half-man half-horse could look.
'I am not supposed to talk about it.' He said firmly, before sighing. 'As for who leads the quest, I have decided how we will work out who will be chosen.'
Annabeth didn't need him to continue. There was only one way disputes were resolved at Camp Half-Blood.
'Are you sure you're not the Boy Scouts?'
Annabeth glared at Nico, who was standing at the edge of the forest with a slightly mocking expression on his face. He looked annoyingly perfect, with his white t-shirt stretched over his well-muscled chest and shoulders and his dark hair artfully tousled.
'This is serious.' She told him. 'If my team doesn't win then you're going to be stuck with Clarisse, and I'm not going to get to meet any Romans.'
Nico nodded seriously.
'Those are very good points.'
'Are you making fun of me?' Annabeth asked suspiciously.
Nico's lips twitched.
'Maybe.' He admitted. 'So, where's the best place to watch this thing from?'
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him evilly.
'It's a camp rule that every demigod who isn't injured has to take part in Capture the Flag.' She made a show of scanning him for wounds, and couldn't help it when her gaze lingered.
Nico lifted an eyebrow.
'I'm not sure that's gonna work. If I have to go on a quest with the winner, then there's a chance I fought against them in the game. It's not exactly going to help us make friends.' He pointed out.
Annabeth had spent the morning plotting and, having decided she wanted Nico on her side, had anticipated his objection.
'But surely a team with you on it wouldn't be in any danger of losing…' she suggested, letting the words hang there.
Nico smiled and stepped closer.
'Of course not.' He told her, looking amused. 'Well played.'
Percy coughed from a few yards away. Nico glanced across at him.
'Gay, remember?'
Percy blushed and Nico's chuckle filled the air, before vanishing.
'What?' Annabeth bit her lip at how stupid her exclamation had been, but she didn't regret the sentiment as she stared at the space that a mere second before had contained an unfairly attractive son of Hades.
'Maybe he has something like my invisibility cap.' She surmised. 'Are you still there?' She demanded, frowning at the air. A few moments of silence passed before she began to feel foolish.
'So what's the plan?' Percy asked eventually.
It had started raining. Clarisse, standing in a thicket at the head of a heavily-armed group of her soldiers, glared suspiciously at the falling water. It was bound to be some trick from that useless Trident-spawn. She didn't have much choice, though. Her attack had been planned out in meticulous detail, and even now half a dozen Apollo campers would be showering the river crossing near where the enemy had positioned their flag with blunted arrows. Hopefully that not-so-clever daughter of Athena would underestimate them and think that Clarisse was trying to clear a path in order to attack from that direction.
She crouched beneath the leaves and drizzle, though, waiting for the signal.
'When—'
Brett, a pugnacious but none-too bright sibling of hers yelped slightly as her hand clamped over his mouth. They were probably a hundred yards from where Clarisse could see the enemy flag and its two guards standing on their rotting tree stump, but she wasn't going to take any risks.
Just as Clarisse was beginning to consider releasing Brett, the two guards next to the flag started shouting.
'Get ready!' She ground out to the campers clustered at her back, gripping her electric spear more tightly.
A flaming arrow arced high into the sky overhead, trailing sparks before plummeting somewhere into the depths of the sodden forest.
'Go!' Clarisse roared, jumping to her feet and charging towards her target, weapon raised. Half a dozen of the Ares cabin's toughest fighters surged after her, roaring their battle cries. Her feet slipped on the newly formed mud in a couple of places, and she cursed Percy Jackson in her head as they drew closer to the massive stump. She'd hoped the two demigods guarding the flag would have abandoned it to help their allies wrestling in the river. They'd stayed faithfully at their posts, but a daughter of Ares was never one to balk at a fight, particularly one that pitted seven battle-scarred children of the god of war against two sons of Demeter who looked like they'd much rather be gardening.
Clarisse, even encumbered by her spear and bulky armour, scaled the chest-high side of the tree stump in seconds and lowered her spear at her opponents. Its barbed iron tip crackled threateningly, bolts of red static jumping between the points.
The sons of Demeter, who were both at least a couple of years younger than Clarisse, glanced nervously at one another before hefting their swords.
She advanced, frowning as she noticed one of them muttering what sounded like a prayer. His sword didn't move to block her as she raised her spear to his neck.
'Drop it.' She growled. She jerked back with surprise as her own weapon hit the ground at the same time as his.
'Where are you?' She demanded, yanking a knife from her belt and waving it around threateningly as she caught a strong smell of fruit in her nostrils.
'Bah!' She coughed and spat as a soft, wet object made contact with her face. She jerked out of the way just in time as another peach sailed through the air, but she could hear it make contact with one of the guys behind her.
'Enough of this!' She roared, storming forwards and grabbing the smaller of the two demigods in front of her, completely ignoring the sword he was still holding. She pinned his arms to his sides and gripped his wrist until he squeaked slightly and dropped his weapon.
'Fuck off.' She bit out, addressing the nature spirit she knew must be hovering nearby. 'Now!' She pressed her dagger to her captive's throat, and was satisfied to hear a feminine squeal and watch as a basket of overripe fruit appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground.
'Take him.' She ordered, shoving her prisoner into Brett's arms before grasping the owl-blazoned blue flag flapping miserably on its pole and yanking it out of the tree stump. 'Grab the other one and let's go!'
Clarisse grinned viciously when they returned to the cover of the trees, prizes in tow. They moved as quickly as they could over the treacherous, root-snarled terrain, dragging their captives. They'd almost made their way back to the boundary of the Ares team's half of the forest when a terrifying howl filled their ears.
'Zeus' hairy bollocks!' One of her group exclaimed from behind her. Clarisse jerked round to find the largest hellhound she'd ever seen emerging from the trees. Her head would barely come up to its shoulder, and its glowing red eyes were each the size of her fist. She felt her heart rate skyrocket as the battle fury that seemed to come over all children of Ares in moments of peril descended.
'Spread out!' She called, hefting her spear in one hand and spinning the stout pole the enemy flag was attached to in the other.
The glowing eyes turned on her, fixing onto the source of the noise. Before she knew it, it had leapt towards her, a mouth the size of a hippo's gaping wide. Clarisse rolled out of the way just in time, landing on the flag pole, which snapped beneath her weight. She lumbered to her feet and found the hound growling and backing away slightly as it was surrounded by her companions, who were darting in to jab at it with their weapons when its head was turned. Clarisse pulled the half of the flag pole with the scrap of cloth attached from the mud and made to join her them, but found her mouth suddenly covered. She jerked her body violently and attempted to bite at the hand.
'I thought you'd do that.' An amused voice purred in her ear. 'It's why I wore gloves.'
Percy, a pole with a sodden red flag blazoned with a boar's head clutched in his fist, stared at an empty tree stump with consternation.
'Thank Athena!' Annabeth exclaimed, emerging from the trees nearby with a couple of Hermes campers at her back. 'We did it—' She broke off as her gaze turned in the direction of Percy's stare.
'I see you have the opposition's flag, but where is your own?'
Annabeth turned to the approaching centaur, her mouth still slightly open with surprise. A few more campers trickled out of the trees, weapons drawn.
'I don't know.' Annabeth admitted, staring at the place it should have been with annoyance.
'Adam, Ryan, run to the river and—'
'They have it! We're sorry.'
Two out of breath sons of Demeter stumbled into the clearing. They looked pretty bruised and Percy could see that the larger of the two was limping badly.
'What in Hades' name—' Annabeth began before breaking off again as she saw a shape emerge from the shadow of the huge tree stump.
'One flag, blue with owl, one captive, red.' Nico di Angelo announced, releasing the grip he had on his bound prisoner.
Annabeth blinked, before a smile began to emerge as she saw her team's flag safe on their side of the battlefield.
'And the blue team wins.' Chiron announced, before frowning. 'Did I hear a hellhound earlier?'
'Yeah, sorry, that was me.' Nico admitted. 'I needed a distraction to capture this one, so I got one of Cerberus' new puppies to give me a hand. He's safely back in the Underworld now. I don't think anyone got too badly injured.'
Chiron nodded. 'You may release Miss La Rue now.' He told the new arrival, nodding his head in the direction of the captive wrestling against her bonds.
'Oh, sure.'
'You tied me up!' Clarisse roared as as soon as the strip of cloth gagging her had been untied.
'Do we not do that?' Nico asked innocently.
'You're supposed to put them in the prison.' Annabeth informed him, nodding towards a small, roped-off section of grass nearby where a few members of the red team stood looking miserable.
'Doesn't look very secure.' Nico commented, releasing the last of the ropes restraining his captive.
'Why did you tie me up?' Clarisse demanded furiously.
'Because I'm kinky like that.' Nico answered blandly. He backed away slightly as Clarisse flushed and rounded on him like a furious animal.
'The game is over.' Chiron declared firmly as a few campers sniggered at the son of Hades' remark. 'Annabeth will receive the prophecy from the Oracle.'
It gave Percy no small amount of pleasure to watch Clarisse's face go even redder.
