This is the longest chapter so far. Enjoy!

-L

"Tyson!" Percy shouted, rushing forward to greet his half-brother. Or more like dashing forward to get his bones crushed. Piper winced when the Cyclopes enveloped Percy into a huge bear hug. She had heard about the former's amazing strength, and certainly wouldn't want to get on the bad side of his Cyclopes army. They would probably pelt her with peanut butter sandwiches before outrunning her with their long legs if she ever did.

"Brother!" Tyson greeted heartily, pulling back while Percy massaged his ribs. The latter's smile came out in a grimace. He'd probably forgotten that his half-brother was a lot stronger than him, having worked in Hephaestus' forges. Tyson was blissfully ignorant of his brother's pain and observed the camp from his position. "Why is everyone so sad?"

Piper noticed Percy's face tighten, and decided to help him. "Well," she started, "you know, during the trip to the Sea of Monsters? Yeah, the sorceress Circe cursed Annabeth, so she's in a coma now."

"Coma? As in…endless sleep?" Tyson asked, scratching the back of his head. Piper shifted her weight to the other foot and nodded. "Annabeth's in danger. She may die."

"Annabeth? Die?" Tyson wailed, his single eye suddenly a little too bright. Piper felt bad that she had to deliver the news to Tyson, but Percy probably couldn't stand to tell his half-brother about his girlfriend's plight. The daughter of Aphrodite fidgeted. Sure, she knew what to do when mortals and demigods were sad, but when it came to a Cyclopes who was on the verge of crying, she was absolutely clueless. The only thing she could think of doing was to pat him on the back and console him. "Yes, we're trying to save her. Percy and I will be leaving on a quest to Aeaea."

"Aeaea. Bad island. Evil sorceress," Tyson muttered angrily, clenching his huge fists. Out of blue, Percy jumped and snapped his fingers. "Of course! Tyson, you worked in the forges, right? You can help us figure out how we can activate this ring so that we can save Annabeth!"

Tyson snatched over the ring, seemingly eager to save the blonde girl. He ran a thick finger over the smooth silver surface and closed his eye. Piper had seen Leo do that many times before, when he had been trying to figure out how the gears of the old, rusty machines in Bunker Nine worked. Percy and Piper were silent, letting the Cyclopes concentrate on the work at hand.

"I don't know what it is," Tyson frowned while saying. Piper felt her heart plunge towards her stomach. The rest of the Hephaestus Cabin was busy with making new weapons, and distracting them might result in metal scraps, springs, daggers, swords and colourful Ancient Greek curses flying around. A whole batch of newly-made weapons would be gone to waste. Not a great idea to call them for help now.

Percy was obviously devastated, his former hope and gusto completely wiped from his face. He took the ring and half-heartedly fiddled with it with his eyes closed, as if he was trying to imitate Tyson in order to figure out what secrets the ring held. Finally, after a few minutes, he opened his eyes and looked down at the ring. "It's weird. I can feel something which is definitely not related to any engineering."

"Maybe it's magic," Piper suggested. "We should look for Darla and Clara." Percy nodded in agreement, his sea-green eyes holding a little spark once more. The trio started towards the Hecate Cabin.

"This isn't normal magic. I'm sorry, but...we don't know what it is either," Darla stated. Thunk went Piper's heart once more. She could nearly hear the flame in Percy's eyes extinguish with a hiss. Tyson had started crying again, his sorrowful tears retracing the paths of the former ones.

Clara and Darla exchanged an anxious look before turning back to them. Clara said, "Bellona is the Roman goddess of war, isn't she? Mars, the Roman form of Ares, is her twin brother. We think that if this ring belongs to the daughter of a goddess of war, maybe the Ares campers can help."

"Ares? But isn't it all about strength and muscles and stuff like these?" Percy asked incredulously. "As far as I know, Ares kids don't work magic or make rings." All they do is try to terrorize and pulverize the other campers, Piper finished his sentence for him. With an exception of Clarisse, of course. According to Percy, that girl had changed a lot. Before the second Titan war, she had tried to stick his head into one of the toilet bowls in the female toilet. Big mistake. Clarisse ended up getting her mouth washed by the not-so-pleasant water that normally resided in toilet drainages. After the war, however, she'd become extremely kind, especially to newcomers. Annabeth had told her (three months ago) that the former suspected it was due to the death of Silena Beauregard, her best friend, who was once the cabin counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin. She'd died during the Titan war trying to save the camp. Hence, even though she had been a spy for the Titans at first, the campers (excluding Drew) still respected her and missed her.

"Seriously, Percy, stop being so big-headed," Darla chided, crossing her arms. Clara was pursing her lips, showing that she, too, was annoyed by Percy's behavior. "Even though Ares campers don't 'work magic or make rings', Ares does. Remember your Roman friend, Frank Zhang? He got the blessing of Ares, and that is considered as a form of magic."

Piper glanced at Percy. The son of Poseidon had slouched in defeat and was muttering under his breath. Piper caught something that sounded like 'Ares kids' or 'Alice's needs'. The former seemed more likely to be what he had said. He sighed, "Fine, fine, we'll go."

Really, the Ares Cabin should have a motto that was somewhere along the lines of 'Naturally intimidating.' Just looking at the spear and the hog's head above the entrance, both drenched in fake blood, Piper felt her knees turning to jelly. And the daughter of Aphrodite had faced things that were far worse than a skewered hog's head dipped in red dye. The barbed wire around the cabin didn't help much either. Furthermore, the paint job was horrible. The Aphrodite part of Piper badly wanted to grab a bucket of fresh paint and cover up the ugly, crimson splotches. In fact, Tyson had been so scared of this cabin that he'd made a quick escape to the lake in hopes of looking for Rainbow the hippocampus. Well, that was his (un-valid) reason. (One did not simply pluck a hippocampus from the sea and throw it into a lake.)

Percy took a shaky breath and knocked the door. From his expression, Piper inferred that he probably had had nightmares about this place. The door, which had 'ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK' hastily painted on it in red, bold letters, creaked open to reveal Clarisse La Rue. Percy and Piper heaved a sigh of relief that they would live longer for at least a few minutes. The burly girl questioned, "What is it? Do you need help?"

The duo explained everything to her. Clarisse nodded, then said, "I'll look at the ring, but I'd better come outside. The guys are having a fight-fest in there."

Percy and Piper were more than willing to let her come out. No way was Piper ever going to enter that cabin without a responsible adult chaperone. And that adult had better not be Coach Hedge. He'd probably start doing his Chuck Norris round-house kick to the fast rhythm of the heavy metal music (was that even music?) which blasted from the stereo.

"Let me see," Clarisse said the moment they got to the campfire which sat in the middle of all the cabins. Percy handed her the silver band. The moment the ring came in contact with Clarisse's fingers, it flickered and turned into a shade of gold. The other two gasped in surprise when some inscriptions appeared on the surface of the ring in bright, gold letters.

"Holy Poseidon," Percy said in awe. Piper and Percy moved forward to get a closer look of the inscriptions. It was written in Ancient Greek. "'Will of Ares' child make it work thrice to save three.'" Percy translated with a frown. "Will as in, Will Solace?"

"No, it's will, the noun," Piper explained, the gold light reflecting into her multi-coloured eyes. "Fancy how the meaning is all crammed into one sentence." Clarisse narrowed her eyes. "Which means…I'll have to come along with you for the quest. Only my will can make this work."

"But 'Wisdom's saviours come in pairs'," Percy replied, comprehending what she was trying to say. "Only two can go on the quest." Piper's eyes widened when she thought about the rest of the prophecy. Oh, gods, why was everything so complicated all of a sudden? Surely the Fates weren't playing a nasty trick on them. However, the more she played it through her mind, the more it seemed like something that the three immortal old ladies would weave with their long yarn. She whispered her thoughts, "'A magic tongue will break the spell, And Ares' child shall be dispelled.' All three of us must go. Only two will survive to save Annabeth... Clarisse-"

Piper choked. Surely it didn't mean that. Clarisse couldn't go all the way to Aeaea just to die. But it was cruel enough to be another work of the Fates. Piper wanted to cry to the gods. Most demigods were heroes who saved the world. They didn't deserve such twisted fates. It wasn't fair for their lives to be controlled by someone else. Why did it have to be like that?

She felt like cursing Janus, that stupid god of choices and doorways. But no, she should be cursing Hecate now. The three demigods were at crossroads. It was likely that one of them would die. They had a choice to quit, but they couldn't leave Annabeth to rot. If three of them went, it was likely that Clarisse would die. If Piper quit, there wouldn't be a 'magic tongue' to complete the prophecy. If Clarisse quit, there wouldn't be someone to provide them with protection from Circe's magic. If Percy quit-no, that guy would never quit. Besides, the quest was issued to him.

They had to make a choice. Piper's eyes flitted from Percy's face to Clarisse's while she contemplated. Protection was more important than charmspeaking. Besides, Circe was a charmspeaker too, so hopefully she'd suddenly go cuckoo and start spouting cures to Annabeth's curse. Yes, that was it. Piper took a deep breath and told the other two, "I'm quitting the quest."

If the situation wasn't so serious then, Piper would've begged Kronos to freeze time in order for her to rush to her cabin to get her cell phone and take a picture of Percy's and Clarisse's expressions.

They were positively priceless.

You guys are awesome.

-L