Chapter 34

Law of the Storm Cloud

There was fury in Annabeth's eyes – and with her mouth open, hollering at the top of her lungs, she was truly a sight to behold. The campers behind her fell upon the remnants of Kronos's army with vengeance, and other campers slid down the sides of the canyon, using leverage systems that she had requested be set up before the battle. Kronos, racing among the members of his army, turned to face the approaching army, holding up a hand to stop time.

"I've got this!" shouted Michael Yew, and again one of his arrows soared through the air as time froze, breaking through it and ripping into Kronos's shoulder. The titan roared in pain, and as the campers rushed forward, he brought out his scythe.

Annabeth's eyes widened, catching the glint of the blade as it swept through the air. Some of the campers hesitated as Kronos gritted his teeth, his eyes daring them to come forward and face down a titan.

She grabbed her knife from her pocket, picking up speed as she approached him. Leaping in the air, she came down with terrible ferocity upon him, his eyes widening as she approached.

Kronos lowered the scythe, using his free hand to bat her out of the air. She was flung into the side of the canyon, but she managed to make impact with her feet, rebounding onto the ground into a relatively steady position.

"You've got a lot of nerve, girl," growled Kronos, levying the scythe at her. "I will tear you to pieces if I have to!"

She held her knife close to her side, stalking towards him. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. For when Beckendorf had thrown the bomb, Kronos had not used the time to deflect it towards them, or rush at them and kill them. He had tried to jump onto it. In other words, in her mind, he was trying to save Beckendorf. And if that was the case… maybe he wasn't going to kill her.

She rushed him again.

Kronos swept his scythe at her, narrowly swiping her arm. It drew blood, causing her to fall back from him, but it wasn't fatal. In fact, she was pretty sure he could've maimed her significantly it he had wanted to.

"You can stand here and fight all you want," she growled, "but the gods will be coming soon. So you'll either have to murder us all before they get here… or run."

The other demigods stared at her in wonder, waiting to see if he would strike her down for speaking back to a titan in that way. Kronos's lips upturned with distaste, his eyebrows knit with frustration. "Any other god would kill you for that… any of your parents," he hissed, intoning to the rest of the demigods. "Let that be a lesson to you all." And with that, he took the back end of his scythe and jammed the wrought metal pole into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As he zapped out of the canyon, the demigods of the scouting corps rushed forward to check on Annabeth, who had fallen to the ground.

"I'm fine," she muttered, though her voice sounded pained. "Help me up."

Clarisse rushed forward. "Annabeth, are you sure–

"I hope you're not pitying me now, Clarisse," she said, glaring at the daughter of Ares.

Clarisse bit her lips. "No," she muttered. Begrudgingly, she leant Annabeth an arm.

Annabeth got up, surveying the demigods who were with her. The rest of the camp was still in pursuit, farther down the canyon. "Has anyone seen Percy or Silena?"

Alex scratched his head nervously. "Well… I could've sworn I spotted him wandering away from our corps."

"Away?" asked Annabeth, eyes wide with fear. "Which way?"

"Towards the battle."

"We need to find him!" she snapped. "Alex, you're on it."

He nodded, racing past them, into the mass of demigods and monsters up ahead.

"And what about Silena?" asked Annabeth, head glancing between campers.

An uneasy silence descended over the scouting corps. Several of the campers looked at the ground, their long faces betraying discomfort on the subject. Finally, Michael Yew parted his lips, taking a second to breathe before saying anything. "What about her?"

"Where is she?" asked Annabeth, a little more forcefully.

"Why does it matter?" he asked, stepping towards Annabeth just slightly. There was an edge to his voice, one that Annabeth had rarely heard before. "She's a spy. You said it earlier and there's no reason to doubt it. Is Silena our problem anymore?"

She glanced around at the campers. Some of them seemed to be listening to Michael very intently, but others seemed very offput by the suggestion. Michael watched her expectantly.

"Silena's part of this camp," grunted Clarisse, stepping next to Michael. "We can't just leave her to die here in the forest."

"She wouldn't die," said Michael, shaking his head. "After all, Kronos said that she could come back to him at any time. She can just join Kronos's army if she wants to."

Clarisse bared her teeth, glowering down at him. "Silena is the one who helped plan this attack. She's responsible for our victory over Kronos today, not–

"And for the deaths of other campers!" said Michael, pressing his face against Clarisse's. "She could've dished on Kronos at any time and saved us years of conflict!"

"You don't know that!" roared Clarisse. "You have no idea–

"Any amount of time serving Kronos is enough!"

"I should skewer you alive–

"No one's going to do any skewering today!" said Annabeth, thrusting the two of them away from each other. "And while I'm willing to hear you both out, the fact of the matter is, Silena is nowhere to be found. If we ever need to ask her any questions, or do decide she's welcome back in camp, we're really going to regret losing her. So we're going to find her." She looked over at Michael, her arms crossed. "Understood?"

He glanced away from her, anger brewing beneath his eyes. "Crystal."

"Good," she said. "Clarisse, pick someone from your cabin to go find her. As for the rest of us, we need to gather the rest of the cabin leaders to talk about… all of that. And to make sure that we round up the demigods who are still fighting."

It took Annabeth some time to gather everyone, but eventually, she had eight or so cabin leaders in her tent, all seated in a circle. Silena had been accounted for, and under Clarisse's command, the Ares cabin was keeping watch over her. She had done the obligatory status check on the death toll for the demigods, and they had done pretty well. Percy, however, was still unaccounted for.

"If anyone tries to put a hand on her," explained the daughter of Ares, "they'll wake up with a black eye that lasts for months."

"That's easy enough for you to say, Clarisse," hissed Michael. "But Lee died defending the camp. Without her, he would still be here, sitting in my seat."

Clarisse opened her mouth to speak, but apparently, thought better of it. She lay silent for a moment, then began. "Silena is not the only reason Lee died. I get that you're angry. But she couldn't have stopped the war."

"She just did, if you're all to be believed!" said Michael, glancing over at Clarisse. "We all saw the way the monsters scattered when the demigods fell on them, and the way Kronos backed down when up against Annabeth! There's no reason we couldn't have done that before–

"There were more titans back then," said Annabeth, her voice rising over the crowd. "We could've never carried out such an assault before with only demigods. And the gods weren't exactly volunteering to help."

"You still have feelings for Luke, don't you?" asked Michael.

Annabeth's eyes widened. For a second, she was silent, flustered, and then she grew angry. "You're talking out of your ass, Michael!"

"I'm talking common sense!" he said, looking at the other cabin heads. "Am I not? Lee's death affected me personally. The idea that we would even maintain any sympathy for someone like Silena is mind boggling! I get that she was friends with some of you, but… but how? How can you all just sit by and say nothing?"

"I don't know," admitted Katie. "Perhaps I'm hesitant because Percy trusted her. Maybe he thought she was just a strategic asset… or maybe he just cared for her as a friend. Also, without her here, there is no one from the Aphrodite cabin to represent her. If they would stand by her, that is."

Jake Mason, head of the Hephaestus cabin, leaned forward. "I have every reason to share in Michael's pain, having watched Beckendorf die, but… it seems that the reason he survived this long was because Silena requested that. It's not like she left us all to die. Why do you think Kronos backed down when facing Annabeth?"

"Maybe because of Percy," muttered Annabeth. "After all, that's his plan, right? Recruit him? It wouldn't do him good to strike down his," she paused, "his longtime friend."

"Unbelievable," said Michael. "None of you have problems with this?"

"Michael, most of us know someone who went to the other side," said Connor. "I don't mean to make light of Lee's sacrifice – we miss him too. But… Hermes campers in particular defected to Kronos's army a lot. There is a sense in camp that… that Kronos offered something desirable. If you listened to Percy's speech, he wasn't speaking as if Kronos were some unthinkable solution to our problems. Maybe the reason why is because Percy and Silena recognized something we, as head counselors, have avoided facing: how many campers actually doubt our parents."

Travis coughed. "For the record, not all of us… feel that way. Silena definitely did some fucked up shit. And yet… I just can't get behind abandoning her."

"I think I have to agree with Travis' sentiment here," said Annabeth. "After this war ends, camp's numbers will have depleted significantly. Much of that was due to death, but… desertion was almost equally as important. If we abandon Silena, Michael, how many Apollo campers do we have to abandon as well?"

His eyes widened. "I… that's something I would have to consult with my cabin about." His eyes fell. "But if I'm speaking personally… I would leave them behind? They were never much a part of this camp anyways–

"That's not true!" said Clarisse. "And even if it was, maybe they never got the chance to be!"

"What does it matter?" asked Michael, glaring at Clarisse. "Do you really care about the kids who ran off to join Kronos? Who abandoned us all? Clarisse, you didn't even know them!"

"But we know who they could have been," said Connor. "If things turned out a little differently. We've all seen terrible things happen to our friends with seemingly no explanation, seen the way their lives were wasted. We have the opportunity to give these kids – who often weren't even given a chance by their parents to begin with – a true chance to be a part of the camp."

Michael looked dejected. "I can't believe… you all just… this is ridiculous." He got up from his seat, walking past the other cabin heads and out into the wilderness.

Annabeth sighed. "It seems that, for the most part, we're all agreed." One by one, they nodded at her. "Then we're going to make sure Silena stays safe… and that Ares doesn't get to her like he did Luke. However, I should go speak with her. Whatever she has to say about Kronos, we need to know it now." She got up to head out of the tent, but the flaps sprung open and Alex passed in, out of breath.

"We found him," said Alex, breathing in and out. "He's delirious, but he's in the tent."

"Right," she muttered. "I guess Silena will have to wait, then."