Hello guys, I hope you enjoy! I wasn't gonna update but, well, it is our Seaweed brains birthday so I felt I had to.
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Undeath9087: Yep, you were right, I wondered if anyone would guess- it just made the most sense to me.

Bianca wasn't exactly happy. She was stressed of course, and worried. Though she was sure both of those emotions were completely understandable. She'd finally had a taste of happiness. She finally had hope for the future- for a future with Reyna- and if things weren't so tense then that thought would send a shiver of pure joy through her veins. As it was she just felt anxious.

She was certain that leaving the other girl alone was a bad idea. She should have stayed with Reyna, splitting up at this stage just didn't feel right. And yet- yet Bianca knew Reyna had been right. Someone needed to sabotage the onagers and that person needed to be Bianca.

But that didn't mean she had to like it did it?

In any case it didn't take them too long to reach land and when they did Bianca tied up the boat at a private dock- she could see a black SUV parked on the beach, presumably what the Romans had used to get to the beach from their base.

And she helped Leila and Dakota haul Michael Kahale ashore. The big guy was still only half-conscious, mumbling what Bianca assumed were football calls: "Red twelve. Right thirty-one. Hike." Then he giggled uncontrollably.

"We'll leave him here," Leila said. "Just don't bind him. Poor guy..."

"What about the car?" Dakota asked. "The keys are in the glove compartment, but, uh, can you drive?"

Leila frowned, "I thought you could drive. Aren't you seventeen?"

"I never learned! I was busy-"

"I will handle it." Bianca rolled her eyes, tucking a stray lock of hair out of her face- it had come loose when Reyna had kissed her to distract her from her worry- the traitor.

"You- but uh-" Leila looked hesitant, "You're just-"

"I was a member of Artemis' hunt." Bianca pointed out, "For years. I look younger than my actual age-" by a good seventy years she resisted the urge to add. "And Zoe insisted in teaching me even if I'd get a lot of questions if I was pulled over."

"Huh." Dakota blinked before shrugging, "Sure, let's do this."

And with that they made their way to the SUV, and Bianca quickly climbed into the drivers side, grabbing the keys from the glove compartment as Dakota slid into the passenger seat and Leila slipped into the back.

And soon enough they were on the move once more- and Bianca was willing to admit she was slightly tense. She hadn't driven for well over a year- possibly longer than that even. And whilst she could drive it wasn't like it was something she'd done often.

Still, she thought she handled it very well, even when she had to drive straight up to an encampment of wild centaurs and navigate through them.

The only sign of her discomfort was her white knuckle grip on the wheel.

The centaurs were nasty looking- she'd seen some like them with the hunt but never so many at once. They had back ends like palominos, tattoos all over their hairy arms and chests, and bullish horns protruding from their foreheads.

At least two hundred were sparring restlessly with swords and spears, or roasting animal carcasses over open fires. Their camp spilled across the farm road that meandered around Camp Half-Blood's southeast perimeter.

The sight of them all set Bianca's every nerve on edge, and she felt so angry. Camp might not have ever been her home but it was a home to her little brother. And Octavian had surrounded it with monsters. She gritted her teeth, trying to force those thoughts down as she nudged her way through the crowds, honking the horn when she had to.

Occasionally a centaur would glare in through the windows, but Bianca gave them her best impression of her father when he was angry and the centaurs would back away- clearly she was good at it.

"Pluto's pauldrons." Dakota muttered the words "Even more centaurs arrived overnight."

"Don't make eye contact." Leila's voice was worried, "They take that as a challenge for a duel to the death-" she paused, "Unless you're the daughter of Hades apparently."

"It's the glare." Bianca felt her face flushing- and she was sure she suddenly looked much less scary, "I've seen my father angry. I'm pretty good at imitating it." as she spoke they rounded a bend in the road and Bianca felt her breath catch. There were more monsters … hundreds more. Dog-headed men prowled in packs, their poleaxes gleaming in the light of campfires. Beyond that milled a tribe of two-headed men dressed in rags and blankets like homeless guys, armed with a haphazard collection of slings, clubs and metal pipes.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Bianca hissed the words, "Even Octavian isn't that arrogant right? Does he really think he can control these creatures?"

"They just kept showing up," Leila said. "Before we knew it … well, look."

The legion was arrayed at the base of Half-Blood Hill, its five cohorts in perfect order, its standards bright and proud. Giant eagles circled overhead. The siege weapons – six golden onagers the size of houses – were arrayed behind in a loose semicircle, three on each flank. But, for all its impressive discipline, the Twelfth Legion looked pitifully small, a splotch of demigod valour in a sea of ravenous monsters.

Bianca felt her stomach sinking uncomfortably. The idea of having to fight that many monsters- even if all of the Big three kids teamed up she wasn't sure they'd be able to handle the threat. Gods above what had Octavian done?

"I have to disable the onagers. We don't have much time."

"You'll never get close to them," Leila warned. "Even if we get the entire Fourth and Fifth Cohorts to follow us, the other cohorts will try to stop us. And those siege weapons are manned by Octavian's most loyal followers."

"You might not but I can do it on my own." Bianca gave a slightly strained smile, "I'm good at stealth." she she spoke she stopped the car, "You two will have to get to the legion lines yourselves. Go talk to your troops. Convince them to follow your lead. I'll need a distraction."

Dakota frowned. "All right, but I'm not hurting any of my fellow legionnaires."

"That's not what I'm asking for." Bianca snapped the words. "If we don't stop this war the entire legion will be wiped out. You said the monster tribes take insult easily?"

"Yes," Dakota said. "I mean, for instance, you make any comment to those two-headed guys about the way they smell and … oh." He grinned. "If we started a brawl, by accident of course..."

"Reyna seems to trust you guys. So I will too. But I really hope she's right. Now I need to go."

Leila frowned. "But how will you –"

"I'm taking a risk." and with that Bianca closed her eyes, focusing and slipping into the shadows.

It nearly killed her. A part of her knew that it would even before she did it-but what choice did she have. Even after rest and the healing help of Calypso she was still weak. She could feel her limbs turning to vapour, feel herself slipping into the shadows.

But she forced herself to focus- to think of the reasons she had to hold on. To keep fighting.

She could picture Reyna- feel the other girls lips on hers.

Warmth flooded through her, limbs turning solid as she stumbled back into the mortal world, collapsing to her knees and grabbing at the closest thing- Thalia's tree she realised, resting her forehead against the rough bark, heaving in deep shaky breaths.

As she did she noticed a few things- the Golden Fleece, the one which she happened to know her brother had once placed in the tree, was gone, and so was the dragon that usually guarded it. Maybe they'd been moved to a safer spot, given the looming threat of war. It would make sense.

And she spotted the Roman forced, arrayed outside of the valley and she felt sick and lightheaded again.

The nearest onager was a hundred yards downhill, encircled in spiked trenches and guarded by a dozen demigods. The machine was primed, ready to fire. Its huge sling cupped a projectile the size of a Honda Civic, glowing with flecks of gold.

And there was no doubt about it. It wasn't hard to figure out what Octavian was up to.

The projectile was a mixture of incendiaries and Imperial gold. Even a small amount of Imperial gold could be incredibly volatile. Exposed to too much heat or pressure, the stuff would explode with devastating impact, and of course it was deadly to demigods as well as monsters. If that onager scored a hit on Camp Half-Blood, anything in the blast zone would be annihilated – vaporized by the heat, or disintegrated by the shrapnel. And the Romans had six onagers, all stocked with piles of ammunition.

Of course. Octavian was a coward- he'd wipe out Camp without even having to fight. And fuck but what was Bianca supposed to do. There was no way she'd be able to destroy all of the onagers in time. And she couldn't let her little brothers home be destroyed.

Maybe if she could just get to Octavian- it would honestly be kind of satisfying to kill him like she'd killed Bryce- though she knew just stabbing him would be more practical. At least then he'd not be able to give the order to attack.

She took a deep breath, focusing ready to slip into the shadows when a voice from behind her called- "Bianca?"

And Bianca whirled, sword instantly in her hand. And she blinked slowly, gaze focusing on a familiar figure- though it took her a moment to realise where she knew the girl from. "Wait you're-"

"Kayla. And you're Bianca. What are you doing here?" the girl had her bow and arrow at the ready- which Bianca was pretty sure from what she remembered was normal for the girl.

Kayla was one of Nico's friends- or she thought the girl was. She'd definitely been the girl who had left with Nico that first day.

And with Kayla were two other campers who Bianca didn't recognise.

All three of them had binoculars at their necks and daggers at their sides. They wore black jeans and T-shirts, with black grease paint on their faces like commandos.

"Me?" Bianca managed, "What are you doing? Trying to get yourselves killed?"

"We're not idiots. We do know what we're doing." there was just a hint of disapproval in Kayla's voice- and Bianca wondered if she still held a grudge for the past. After all Kayla had been protective of Nico, if Bianca was remembering right.

"The hair kind of stands out- with the green and all."

"Lou Ellen wrapped some Mist around us too." and Bianca did vaguely recognise that name, her gaze shifted to the girl, focusing on the green eyes.

One of Alabaster's siblings, she'd been found by Percy, Annabeth and Rachel. "Hi." Lou Ellen wriggled her fingers, "You're Nico's sister right? I've heard of you. And this is Cecil from Hermes Cabin."

"Hi." and why was Cecil looking like a deer in headlights and blushing. That didn't make much sense but Bianca decided against questioning it. Instead she decided to ask a very important question.

"Coach and Calypso-"

"They made it." Kayla pulled a face, "Thank the gods. I was left in charge and I am not the medic my brother is. Cal was amazing though, I don't know how she handled it."

"The baby? Mellie and the kid-"

"Are all good." Kayla seemed to soften very slightly. "I was just glad to get out of there. I am not like Will."

"Right." Bianca nodded before glancing back down at the onagers, "Listen I don't have time to talk. The Romans are attacking at dawn and I've got to-"

"Don't even think about it."

"What?" Bianca blinked, "Uh- I don't-"

"Nico is literally my best friend." Kayla was giving her a stern look. "I have seen shadow exhaustion before. I have helped Will wrangle him into bed after nearly killing himself and I am not having a Di Angelo die on my watch."

"We don't have a choice I need to-"

"You can help, but I swear on the Styx that if you try and shadow travel I will use the skills I picked up wrangling your brother and I guarantee he is harder work than you."

And Bianca's mouth snapped shut at that, she pressed her lips together tightly.

But it didn't seem she had much choice did it. "Fine. What exactly is your plan?"