Annabeth beamed at Chiron, whom had heard a lot of weird things in his life, but he still had not expected this. 'You think... learning the campers how to dance will help them in battle?'

'Yes. I have noticed that the way I move my feet in battle is a lot like the waltz my father used to teach me.'

'Are you sure?'

'Sometimes I think it might be more like the charleston.'

Chiron looked at the floor for a moment. 'I... have to think about that for a moment, alright, Annabeth? I assume you are right, but... it is something I have never heard before.' Annabeth gave him a nod. 'Yeah, I understand. Shall I ask again tomorrow, at breakfast?'

Chiron pursed his lips. 'I can't promise I'll have decided.' Annabeth shrugged.

'Alright.' She gave Chiron a quick kiss on the cheek. 'Thanks for thinking about it anyway.' She walked out of the Big House, to go brush her teeth and get a good night's rest.

Chiron trodded upstairs. Dionysus was sitting right on top of the table, with his feet on a chair. 'What'd she say?'

'Get off the table. Now, this might sound crazy...'

'That's my speciality, my centaur,' Dionysus answered while hopping off the table.

'...but she wants all the demigods to learn how to dance.' Chiron hadn't expected Dionysus' eyes to light up like that was the best idea ever. 'Did she specify which dance?'

'Well, she was talking about a waltz and the charleston, but technically she did not specify what she wanted to be taught.'

Dionysus sighed with a nostalgic look in his eyes. 'The charleston was wonderful...'

Oh, you've got to be joking, Chiron thought. Of course - dancing was a bit of a no-no during history, and Dionysus was all about breaking the rules of society. 'Did you know waltzing was considered scandalous when it was introduced? People touching each other and all...' Dionysus rambled on.

'Do you really think dancing could help them with fighting?' Chiron asked. Dionysus looked like he was most offended at that interruption, but gave an answer: 'Did Chase say that? Because she might be right. You know, the few kids that learned the basics of ballet seem to be better in the training fights.' Chiron wanted to ask how Dionysus knew which kids learned ballet and that they were better in the training ring, but he decided to just leave it.

'Could be. It teaches balance, swiftness and... other things, but then we will need a dancing trainer and I can say with quite certainty that you are not willing to teach children dancing.'

'That, Chiron, is completely right. Yet, you are not thinking out of the box, or better said, out of camp.'

'You mean Apollo?'

'Terpsichore, but Apollo will do and probably come whether we invite him or not.'

Terpsichore clapped in her hands. She looked giddy. 'Good morning, campers! I am more than happy that Chiron has asked me to teach dance!'

'Why thought?' Someone in the crowd yelled. Terpsichore smiled widely.

'Because it teaches grace, balance, swiftness and other techniques that are important in a fight, more so because monsters do not know about those techniques!' There came some understanding murmuring from the crowd. A few demigods still seemed to not believe it, but they chose this elective themselves, so why would they complain?

'If everyone is on board, we will get right on track!' Terpsichore chirped. 'Because we have just entered the new decade, I thought it would be fun to try a few easy steps of the Charleston!' She spread her arms. 'Now. You begin with...'

Out of nowhere, loud Charleston music boomed out of invisible speakers. Apollo appeared in a beam of light, wearing a Charleston suit. He began to do an impressive Charleston routine, with lights and background and eventually with Terpsichore.

When he was done, the lights and decor disappeared. He bowed deeply for the campers. Some of them clapped, others just sighed deeply. Apollo was back to being Apollo alright. 'Now now, I am not here to take the spotlight of my wonderful Terpsichore!' He softly pecked the muse on her hand. Terpsichore chuckled. 'Yet, I'd be happy to assist with the dancing class! The Charleston was not just a single dance!' Terpsichore softly tapped him on the arm.

'Apollo is right. Yet, we will still begin with the basics. With the Charleston, those are not difficult. You take a step forward, than tap forward. With the tapping foot, you take a next step, followed by a tap with your other foot, you see?' Slowly, she demonstrated it. 'Come, come, try it!' A few campers began to step and tap along. Unsure and slow at first, but it didn't take long before they got more enthusiastic and quicker on their feet. Campers who were unsure at first started to dance along.

Apollo started to feel better and better the longer he stood near the dancing campers. They seemed to enjoy dancing, at least for a bit, something that fuelled Apollo's divine soul. With starry eyes, he turned towards Terpsichore. 'We can teach them how to dance together soon!' Terpsichore smiled widely.

'Well, first they'll have to learn how to shuffle.' She clapped in her hands. 'Alright, alright, Campers! Now that you can do the basic moves, we will try the shuffle that is token for the Charleston!' She hopped onto her toes and begun to shuffle to her sides. 'The shuffle itself is not that difficult, but when you combine it with tapping and stepping it can get quite a challenge! Yet, we have the rest of the hour and quite a few more lessons to train! Come, come!'

Apollo laughed out loud. He snapped his fingers and music started playing in the background. 'Come on, this could save your life! Have any of you heard of how I defeated the monster emperor in the twenties? I impressed him with my moves before shooting him right in the chest! Not to mention what a certain son of Ares was doing! His footwork combined with his sword were a the nightmare of many monsters! And don't get me started about...'

Annabeth was searching for a couple pounds of clay, for crafts class. She passed the arena on her way to bunker 9. She stopped walking. She had not expected Chiron to take her idea so seriously. Apollo and Terpsichore? Now that was serious. She took a moment to look at what they were doing.

It looked like the Charleston, but she could not be sure. Apollo was jumping around too much. She walked closer to the arena. The clay could wait - someone else would probably get it eventually.

The campers were trying to Charleston shuffle. Terpsichore looked like she was trying to help and teach the campers, but Apollo seemed to be in so much euphoria that he was not looking at the campers much.

Annabeth wandered into the arena. 'Hello, how is everything going?' She asked Terpsichore. The muse smiled. 'Well, it's never as easy as it looks!' She answered. Her eyes trailed off to Apollo. Annabeth took a deep breath, before walking past her.

'Hey, Apollo?' Apollo turned towards her. Annabeth could see the divine enthusiasm in his eyes - oh, that explained why he was so happy. 'Annabeth Chase! Are you joining us? We can dance towards the sunset, destroy the minotaur with our moves and move towards a new era! It will be...'

'Apollo, these kids still have to learn the most basic dance skills. They are currently slowly trying out the footwork of the Charleston. There won't be any minotaur tramplings soon.' Apollo blinked.

'It's easy, Annabeth!'

'Yeah, for us, but...'

Apollo stopped dead in his tracks. 'Wait, you know how to do the Charleston?'

Annabeth knew she made a mistake. She looked around to see if she could still run, but it was no use - Apollo had already put a hand on her waist. With an eye roll, she put her hand on his shoulder.

'I truly do not believe that.'

Annabeth shrugged. 'It's true.' She put a step back. 'You'll see.' Apollo smiled and put a step forwards, before they took a tap respectively forward and backwards at the same time.

'Well, I guess you were not lying,' Apollo told Annabeth, a minute or so into the dance. Annabeth whipped her hair over her shoulder. 'Of course not. I was the one who recommended that Chiron do this.' Apollo raised his eyebrows and almost missed a tap (almost, of course. He almost stylishly missed a step).

'You were? I wouldn't have suspected that from a daughter of Athena!'

'Is that not our specialty, though? Having multiple unsuspected tricks up our sleeves?'

Apollo nodded a few times, with a lopsided grin on his face. 'I guess you are right. I am surprised Chiron listened to you, though - I told him dancing might come in handy a couple of times!' Annabeth wondered how that went. If the introduction video Apollo had made, he probably had been ever so slightly too dramatic in his pitch. She sighed. 'Yeah, weird.'

A few minutes later, they stopped. They heard someone clapping, which quickly got louder as more children applauded them. Apollo made a deep bow. Annabeth turned away a little. 'I must go find some clay,' she murmured, before continuing on her way to bunker 9.

Apollo spread his arms. 'Children, you can all learn to swing like that...'

'Yes, yes, very good,' Terpsichore interrupted him. 'Let's get back to shuffling, now...' Apollo looked at the group of kids. He took a deep breath and shook his head. Ugh. He got into a fit of ecstasy, didn't he? Alright, didn't matter, what happened happened, now he must help these kids...

'I do not hear training sounds,' Dionysus said while walking up to Chiron in the Big House. The centaur nodded. 'Yeah, that's right, I gave Terpsichore permission to give dance lessons in the arena.'

When Dionysus didn't answer, Chiron looked up. The wine god looked surprised. 'You... have actually made dance lessons a thing?'

'As a small elective, to see how it goes.' Dionysus didn't answer. Instead, he walked right out of the Big House, towards the arena.

He put his hands on his sides. Terpsichore and Apollo were hopping around with the campers. Dionysus could recognise footwork that was usually part of the Charleston, but it was also clear that the campers needed a lot more practise.

Apollo twirled around, when he suddenly noticed his brother standing by the entrance of the arena. 'Dio! Glad you have decided to come out of the house!' Dionysus teleported away so fast multiple campers did not even see him. Apollo narrowed his eyes. He had a pretty good idea of where his brother must have gone. With a small pop, he disappeared from the arena, to Shenandoah forest.

Terpsichore took a relieved breath. 'Sorry for that little interruption! Yet, I think you all understand the basics of the Charleston, which means it might be fun to try out dancing with a partner. If you would all make duo's...'

The demigods shuffled around, trying to find something to dance with. Sadly, they were with an uneven number, so that one girl stayed alone. But no harm done - Terpsichore grabbed her hand. 'We will show them how to do it, alright?' The girl nodded excitedly. Terpsichore turned her attention towards the group again. 'Campers, let me show you how to do it together...'

That evening, Terpsichore stayed over for dinner. Chiron stood up and tapped his spoon against his glass, so that the campers stopped talking.

'Good evening, campers! Today, we have done our first dance class since the victorian age!' There was a polite applause. Some of the dancers had liked the class, but others had found it utterly boring. They needed to get used to it.

Chiron waited until the applause was over. 'Thanks to Annabeth for the tip. Other news is that...'

'...That it will be more than illegal to disturb the geiser spirits. Take note of that.' Dionysus appeared in the middle of the pavilion. A few campers softly gasped, some chuckled. 'Also, Apollo is suspended from camp for a week, which I did not inform Chiron of, but I do not think he will be against it.' He slowly pulled of the tie. 'I dislike the suits from the roaring twenties,' he sighed, before disappearing again.

Terpsichore turned to Chiron. 'Are... is it Always sort of crazy in here?' Chiron gave her a tired smile. 'I would say today is a rather calm day,' he remarked.