Annabeth POV

The second I saw Percy walking towards me with that look in his green eyes, I knew something was wrong.

I opened my mouth to talk to him, but he kissed me instead. For a brief moment I allowed myself to slip into his arms and forget about everything. As I closed my eyes, I stopped thinking about monsters and ambushes and fires and scared Romans.

Then I pulled away. If I could, I would kiss him for the rest of eternity. Unfortunately, we had a burning camp to worry about.

"What happened?" I asked, still in Percy's arms.

He took a deep breath then said, "Our son was trying to stop the horses using poisonous arrows, but he hit Leo instead."

"What?" I started to wonder if I heard him right. Ethan would never do anything like that, right?

"We'll deal with it later. Right now we have a senate meeting to attend."

Instantly my stomach started churning. "About what?"

"Who set the monsters on us, and why they were here in the first place."

I had wondered when we would get around to this subject. I was extremely curious as to what had just happened. My mind had been spinning trying to think of who could have caused this, but the possibilities were endless, and without any further proof, we may never know. Greek mythology was huge.

Percy and I started towards New Rome. As it came into view, I was astonished. The difference between the city and camp was unbelievable. Don't ask me why, but somehow New Rome was untouched. Every building was still standing and every cobblestone was in place. It was dark, but the streetlamps lit the way to the Senate House.

As soon as I ducked into the building, I nearly forgot how to breathe. The architecture was literally breathtaking. Seats rose up in tiers around a stone platform. There, in the middle of the House, were two huge satiny and ornate chairs. Jade was sitting in one and the other was empty.

Many conflicted Romans were talking - well, okay, arguing - in the stone seats. Some were wearing tattered togas and others were in charred t-shirts. Whatever the case, all seemed to be riled up from the disaster.

Percy and I found Jason and Piper, who were sitting to the left, away from the yelling teenagers. We took a seat next to them.

"Where're Frank, Hazel, and Leo?" asked Percy.

As if on cue, Frank stumbled into the Senate House, Hazel and Leo close behind. Frank was yelling and Leo looked defensive, which only meant one thing: the Valdez-Zhang showdown had begun.

Again.

The three demigods took a seat next to Jason and were silent, though Frank and Leo kept shooting each other glares from either side of Hazel.

"Romans, come to order!"

I straightened and turned at the sound of the deep instructions. Immediately the arguing diminished.

Russell was now sitting in the other chair. His praetor's cape was in ruins and his brown hair was covered in ashes. "Okay, listen up. It's late and we're all still traumatized, so forget formalties. We need to get to the bottom of this."

Jade continued. "The power of the Little Tiber alone should have been enough to repel the monsters. And that's not to mention we always have two guards posted at the camp entrance. Caroline, Nick, what happened?"

All heads turned towards two young and small-looking teenagers. The girl, Caroline, just shrugged, staring at the ground. Nick spoke up.

"Um, well, they were breathing fire."

"Breathing fire? No way, really?" said Russell sarcastically. "I think we realize that! The question is, why didn't you stop them?"

Nick started studying the ground as well. Typical.

"Well then," said Jade. "Does anybody have any proof as to why they showed up?"

"Gaea's come back for revenge!" shouted someone.

"It's the Titans again!" yelled another.

"Vulcan hates us!"

At that last one, Leo's head whipped around. "Excuse me?"

"Everybody settle down!" called Piper. At her charmspeak, all fell quiet. "What if we're overthinking this? They might have just been passing monsters who smelled demigods and decided to attack. It's very likely."

"She's right," said Russell, who seemed to be in a trance. That is, until Jade slapped him.

"Piper, you may be correct. However, if anybody finds out anything about this, let someone know immediately. Meeting adjourned."

Jessica POV

At long last, I saw him. Collin Zhang was making our way towards us, hands in his pockets and eyes narrowed.

"What happened? And where's my brother?" asked Helena.

He reached us and leaned against the porch railing, arms crossed. After a brief moment of silence, he barked, "I'm gonna kill Ethan."

"Is this still about war games? Because seriously, Collin, you need to cool it - "

"No!" he yelled, making us all jump. "Jackson is arrogant, cocky, and he thinks he can do anything."

Your point is...? I couldn't help wondering. I didn't know Collin that well, but from what Sammy had told me, he was also arrogant and cocky sometimes. Just not now.

"And because he thinks he can do anything, he decided to take down a pair of fire-breathing metal horses all by himself. The end result? That little brat nearly killed Leo!"

My mouth fell open. Helena sprang to her brother's defense. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. It's just your pride, getting in the way again."

"You're just saying that because he's your brother!" cried Collin. "If you were there, you'd get it! But wait, you were too 'let's do exactly what Mom and Dad say' to even leave this stupid house!"

"Shut up!" screamed Helena, her face reddening. "That's not it at all! I think you're just too embarrassed that you're not the best after all to realize that Ethan may not have meant to cause any harm!"

"So if you're not being Mommy's girl, then why didn't you follow us? Maybe you were just too scared to come help!" shouted Collin.

"I said, shut up! You know I couldn't have been any help even if I did go! So stop making nasty accusations about someone you don't even know!"

I stepped in between the two, stopping the heated argument. "Come on, guys. Let's calm down and think sensibly, okay? Where are our parents?"

"Senate meeting," growled Collin. He shoved me aside and stormed inside the house, slamming the door.

Helena sighed and walked to the other side of the porch, turning her back to me. I took a deep breath and looked at Sammy and Emily Marie. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by Ethan, who had just showed up.

"I'm back. Miss me?"

A/N: You have no idea how much fun I had writing that argument...

Anyways, thanks a billion to all my favoriters, followers, and reviewers. I appreciate it, a lot! Sorry this is so short. I'll try to update soon.