Chapter Four
Love and Light Meet
Piper immediately grabbed a bathrobe and snuck out of her cabin. Now, being counselor, she knew this was against the rules, but also being a counselor made you the exception. She raced across the camp commons' area and called to them in darkness, "Jason!"
The girl who Piper didn't know, immediately summoned a bow and arrow, which reminded her of her dream with Artemis. But this girl had Diana's cold rage in her eyes that made Piper freeze. The girl launched an arrow at Piper and she thought she would've been killed had not another arrow intercepted it in midair, only an inch from Piper's nose.
"I shall not have you shooting arrows at my campers," said a stern voice that Piper was so happy to here.
Chiron had arrived and looked down upon them.
"Do you have any idea how late it is?" he asked them.
"I'm sorry, Chiron," said Rachel, quickly. "But it was important that Jason and I leave camp."
Chiron eyed the girl with the bow and arrow. Then, his eyebrow raised incredulously.
"We must summon the counselors, immediately."
And he rode off toward the Big House, disappearing in the night.
"I better go round up the troops," said Rachel, brightly. She glanced at the girl and said, "Please, your among friends here. We won't hurt you."
"It's not me I'm worried about," said the girl, as Rachel dashed off toward the cabins.
"Clarisse won't like being woken up in the middle of the night," observed Jason.
"Clarisse?" said the girl.
"Yeah," he said. "Clarisse, the daughter of Ares."
"You mean, Mars," the girl corrected. "They have brainwashed you."
"I'm sorry," said Piper, completely lost. "But what is going on? You know the Roman names for the gods too?"
The girl eyed her with disgust.
"I'm Dakota Starlight, the daughter of Apollo."
Piper smiled, brightly.
"Oh," she said, wistfully. "A new camper. It's so great to meet you. I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite. I can't wait for you to meet Will, he's head counselor for the Apollo cabin. He's really cool."
"Cool," the girl muttered, almost dazed and Piper hadn't realized she was charmspeaking. Maybe it was the close call with death that made her want this girl to befriend her and not see her as a threat. But then, she shook it off and looked outraged. "Were you charmspeaking me?"
"No!" said Piper, quickly.
"You lie," said Dakota, getting in her face. "I swear, I will stick my arrow through that pretty mouth of yours if you try that again. I can't stand when Venus kids do that. But your not really much for a child of Venus. Their a lot more tough looking and way prettier."
Piper had heard something like this from Artemis in her sleep and she knew exactly who this girl was now. And she didn't know if she should be worried or relieved.
"When you said your dad is Apollo," began Piper, "you mean…"
"The Roman Apollo," finished Jason. "She's from the Roman Camp Half-Blood and she's been looking for me."
"And all along you've been with the enemy," said Dakota, glancing around Camp Half-Blood with distaste.
"The enemy?" said Piper, reproachfully. "We're not your enemy. We have to work together. You have one of our campers, Percy Jackson."
"The son of Neptune," said Dakota. "Yeah, the Oracle and Jason filled me in on the way. Supposedly Juno swapped our camp leaders."
"Exactly," said Piper. "So, we need him back…"
"What you need is respect," said Dakota, fiercely. "Something your pal Percy had to be taught. No wonder Lupa didn't kill him when Reyna and Bobby found him in the woods."
"Bobby," muttered Jason. "And Reyna…"
"You do remember them, right?" asked Dakota.
"Yeah," said Jason. "I think so. Bobby is a son of Minerva and Reyna is a daughter of Mars, right?"
Dakota nodded.
"Your memory is coming back," said Dakota. "Bobby helped you plan out the battle at Mount Orthys Krios and Reyna lead the soldiers into battle with Karson, son of Vulcan. Reyna has been beside herself for months. But I guess I can give you all the full scoop when we get this 'counsel meeting' up and going. Seriously, how many people does it take to make decisions."
"We do things differently here," said Piper.
"I see," said Dakota, putting her hands on her hips.
"You know," said Piper, firing up a little, "just because we're from two different camps, doesn't mean we have to hate each other. We're all demigods from the same god, no matter if they were in Greek or Roman form."
"Uh huh." Dakota looked at Piper up and down again, as though sizing her up and looked at Jason. "You haven't told her who Reyna is yet have you?"
Jason was silent.
"I see," Dakota repeated.
Piper also remembered that Apollo was the god of prophecy. Could this girl be able to see the future?
"I guess I'll leave you two to talk."
And Dakota walked off toward the lights of the Big House.
"What she talking about?" asked Piper, feeling a sudden pain in her chest like someone grabbing her heart and giving it in a firm squeeze. "Whose Reyna?"
"I don't know," said Jason, not meeting her eye. "Someone from camp, I think. It's all a blur, I can't really remember. I don't know…"
Piper eyes began to sting. She knew it. She knew that there was someone else. Jason was too handsome to not have attracted someone else. But he didn't even really remember this Reyna girl. So, why should Piper be offended? Piper and Jason's relationship had been a trick of the Mist anyway. And Reyna was a daughter of Mars, the Roman god of war. Piper had remembered some myths about Mars. He was completely different from Ares. Less blood lust and more on the strategy side of war. He was worshiped more than any god and only came second to his father Jupiter. A powerful military god. How could she compete with one of his daughters? How could a lowly daughter of Aphrodite compete with a Roman daughter of war? No wonder Jason and she probably had something going on: two powerful Roman demigods.
She heard people approaching.
Rachel had gathered all the counselors and they would be on them as they headed toward the Big House. She didn't say anything else to Jason and ran off. She thought she'd get a head start, not wanting anyone to see her face as tears fell.