The Camp Dilemma
Jason had run through the scenario with Piper and Leo multiple times. He'd told them exactly what they needed to get across, and exactly what they needed to avoid. Piper for one was all too eager to dig into the love life of Percabeth. Jason however, was more concerned about his bolt, but he was willing to humor Piper for a bit.
Jason was one of the first to make it to the rec room, even surprising Chiron when he walked in.
Chiron was sitting in the main chair of the rec room when Jason walked in. He looked up and raised his eyebrows when he saw Jason standing there, "Jason. You're early, forty minutes early in fact."
"I have important news." Jason said, "I found out that Percy didn't steal the bolt!"
Chiron's face was void of any emotion, "Well, I think I told you that before. Jumping to conclusions isn't exactly the best plan of attack, is it?"
"I know but I was mad."
"Almost irrationally." Chiron added.
"Right, and I have to make up for that." Jason agreed, "I just need to tell everyone what we found."
"Okay then, just wait forty minutes."
Ω
"Is everyone here?" Jason asked, looking around the table. Turns out that instead of forty minutes, Jason had to wait a whole hour because he failed to account for Percy's unstoppable urge to be late.
Percy was sitting right next to Annabeth, who had to chase him down. Someone gave him too much blue Coke and he was on a rampage. He'd flipped over a whole table, crashed through the door of cabin five, and sent a category one hurricane towards New York before he finally calmed down.
Then there was the fact that Jason was trying to figure out how to approach the uncomfortable topic that was the night life of Percabeth.
"So, this gonna be another shouting match again?" Will asked.
By now, everyone was wearing armor and had their weapons just in case Percy and Jason went at it again.
"No, not at all." Jason said, "We found evidence that Percy and Annabeth couldn't have stolen the bolt."
Both demigods leaned forward at the mention of their names. Clearly, they hadn't known about the whole operation that Piper carried out to prove their innocence.
"But first, there's something else we need to talk about." Jason said.
One look around the table would tell any sane person that trouble was brewing. Piper was smiling widely and winking at Annabeth, who was narrowing her eyes at Jason and Piper. Percy looked utterly lost. However, it was Leo who was really driving the point home that something was about to blow up in everyone's faces. He kept mouthing 'score' to Percy the whole time.
"Um, I know it's really none of our business, but uh, Percy and Annabeth, are you guys…"
"You scored big that date huh?!" Leo cheered, rocketing out of his seat.
Everyone looked confused except Jason, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth. The daughter of Athena realized exactly what they were talking about as soon as Leo said 'date'
"Wait, what?" Percy asked.
"That night you took Annabeth on that date." Leo said, "You had some noise complaints at the hotel. What moves are you rocking, my dude?"
"Oh. Oh!" Percy's eyes widened before he started cracking up.
Annabeth smacked him on the back of the head, "Shut up, this isn't funny!"
"I bet you were doing the double thrust deluxe!" Leo mused, "Or what about the—"
"Leo, sit your hyperactive ass down please!" Jason jumped in. One look at Annabeth, and Jason knew that if he didn't do something quick, his best friend was going to be dead. Percy didn't seem to care, but Annabeth definitely did.
Leo picked up his chair and moved all the way across the table and sat right next to Percy. "I gotta give you a fist bump for that one. You know, between me, you, and Jason, you might've been the first one to score!"
Percy gave him a fist bump, but he was laughing too hard to say anything back. Annabeth was looking over Percy's shoulder at Leo like she wanted to kill him. Actually, she probably did.
"Okay, that's enough!" Jason said loudly. Leo being Leo was one thing, but bringing Jason and his 'scores' was another thing. "Piper just wanted me to ask if you guys are using protection." Jason said.
"Of course we are!" Annabeth said, "We aren't stupid."
"Okay, good." Jason said, "Now, the whole point of this meeting is that we found out that you and Percy didn't steal anything. You guys are in the clear."
"Told you so." Percy said, finally getting himself under control. Clearly, the son of Poseidon had mastered the ancient art of 'I told you so'
Annabeth leaned forward, "How did you guys figure out where we went?"
"The manager of the restaurant basically snitched." Piper said, "Just a little bit more digging around and we found out you guys rented a room in a hotel for the night. There's no way you could've been in Camp Half-Blood at the same time."
"Great, so while someone was stealing from thunder boy here, Prissy and princess were getting it on." Clarisse said, "So who stole the damn thing?"
A few eyes turned to Nico, who was going full emo. He came in, black hoodie on with the hood over his head. He hadn't said anything the whole meeting, even with Leo losing his shit.
"Don't even think I stole it." Nico said darkly.
"Okay, and why should we do that?" Connor asked.
"Because someone stole my hat too!" Nico said with rage, "The only person that knew where it was, is Will."
"And I wouldn't steal it." Will said, "I let him search my whole cabin, I don't have it."
This was news to Jason. Nico had already told Percy, mainly because he wanted Percy's help with looking for it. Now everyone knew.
"Someone is messing with us." Jason said, "The only issue is, we don't know who. We have exactly zero clues on who is might be. No pictures, no voices, no witnesses."
"Well, we have a list of people who are clear, we just need to find out who could've stolen Nico's hat. Chances are, they stole Jason's bolt too." Annabeth said.
Instantly, a bunch of campers started yelling about how it wasn't any of them. The entire room was in chaos. The last thing anyone wanted was for three sons of the Big Three to come after them. There would be no way out.
Chiron pounded his hoof, almost exactly like he did last time, "I need you all to remain calm. Annabeth's plan is a good idea, but clearly we need measures against stealing. I will publish a list of cabins who will be on patrol tonight. I want everyone to let me know if you see anything suspicious."
Everyone glanced at each other. Camp Half-Blood had grown to at least a hundred campers, probably even more than that, any one of them could be the thief. If it was a group, it could be even harder to track down the specific thief.
One thing was certain though, now there were two sons of the Big Three missing their gifts.
