Lord Hermes flashed into Camp Half-Blood. He was not looking forward to telling Teo of his children that they will have to be part of the games, but her saw no other choice. What could he do? The Olympians had their vote so now possibly two of his children are going to die. Who was he kidding, it wasn't a possibility it was a certainty. Even back in Ancient Greece, Hermes' children only won a couple of games. Most of the time the winners were children of the big three, seeing as they were the most powerful, but occasionally a child of a lesser god such as Ares or Hephaestus would win.

Hermes walked around Camp Half-Blood looking for everyone. There was no one in the sword arena or at the archery station. He kept on walking until he reached the cabins. He looked around and saw no one playing volleyball or basketball in the common area. Hermes kept on walking towards the cabins and found his own cabin. It was run down, paint chipped and dusty. To say the least Hermes wasn't too impressed with the state of his cabin so he quickly walked in to check if anyone was there (which there wasn't) and walked back outside. Hermes concentrated on what he wanted the cabin to look like and with a snap of his fingers the cabin was sparkling new, with the paint restored and all the dust cleaned off. Hermes smirked to himself, proud of what he had done. But the unsettling thought of where everyone had gone whipped the smirk off his face.

"Hey loser, what's up? Preparing your children to die, yet again?" The rude, obnoxious voice of Ares, the war god echoed throughout the common area. Hermes face fell as he turned to face the other god.

"What do you want Ares? I don't have time for this." Hermes snapped at Ares, resulting in Ares smirking and striding closer to where Hermes was standing.

"I just wanted to come and say good luck because you will need it. Clarisse is going into the games this year and there is not a doubt in my mind that she will win." Ares smirked as he turned on his heel and flashed out if camp.

Even after Ares was gone, the anger that he inflicted in anyone in the vicinity was still there. Hermes was determined that this year it would be different. This year he would put Ares in his place and win the games. He stormed to the dining pavilion and spotted his son Travis and his daughter Amelia. They would be the children that would be going into the games. Hermes hated doing this to them but he knew that they were his best option for winning.

When Hermes started walking towards his table Chiron spotted him and came trotting forward. "Lord Hermes, can we talk in private for a minute?" Hermes looked back at his children and nodded. He wanted to prolong ruining their lives for as long as possible. "Dionysius has told me of the games. You do not have to do this Lord Hermes; you can simply not put anyone in." Chiron tried to reason with Hermes as they walked a little way out of earshot of the people in the pavilion.

"It's not that simple Chiron. There is a rule that every god or goddess must put two of their children in, one boy and one girl. The only exception to that rule is if the god or goddess does not have any children or they don't have one child of each gender." Hermes explained to Chiron whilst running a hand through his hair, feeling exasperated.

"I understand. Do what you need to Lord Hermes. I'll be seeing you soon and good luck." With that both Chiron and Hermes walked back to the dining pavilion. Hermes walked towards his table and tapped Travis and Amelia on the shoulders and gestured for them to follow him. They walked for around ten minutes of which Travis and Amelia were nervously exchanging looks. Their dad was acting weird… well weirder than normal. They could tell something was up but they both knew better than to ask. After another couple of minute Hermes finally turned around and sat down. Travis and Amelia followed his lead and sat on the grass.

"I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Hermes asked, looking both of his children in the eyes, knowing that at least one of them would die.

"Bad news first, so hopefully the good news will even it out." Amelia was the first one to speak. Travis merely nodded, fiddling with his dagger and looking at his father.

"Both of you have been chosen to compete in a game that we used to hold in ancient Greece. This game was called the Games of Olympus. The rules are simple, each god or goddess will put two of his or her children into the games and only one comes out alive." Hermes said, he tried to look his children on the eyes but he just couldn't.

"Wait, so you're saying that we have to kill the other demigods in order to win? What if we decide not to, huh? What if we all just form one big alliance?" Travis questioned his dad, getting angrier and angrier every second. Travis knew that he wasn't as important as Percy or any of the seven, but he had been in two wars and he had seen enough death for a life time. He didn't want to kill more people, that wasn't who he was and to make things worse the people that he would have to kill were his friends. Travis finally understood what Luke had meant by siding with the Titans. The gods didn't appreciate the demigods, they treated them like they were nothing and in return expect respect and to be honoured. All of these thoughts rushed through Travis's head in a matter of seconds.

"The games don't work like that Travis and you didn't let me get to the good news. If you survive the games, you get everything you could ever want. You get to be turned into a god and live on Olympus. There will always be one person in the games who wants that badly. Badly enough to kill everyone else if that is what it takes and even if there was no one like that in the games, the gods control the arena you will be put in so they would easily kill all of you if you didn't do what they wanted." Hermes explained to his son, who was now scowling at the dirt. "I'm sorry to both of you. I don't want to have to do this bu-"

"But you're going to do it anyway." Travis interrupted his father and stood up. "You know what? Luke was right, all you gods do is treat as like we're nothing but who returned Zeus's master bolt when Luke stole it? Who went into the sea of monsters and retrieved the Golden Fleece? Who rescued Artemis when she was trapped? Who went into the labyrinth and destroyed it? Who defended Olympus when Kronos was attacking? Who rescued Hera when she was trapped? Who rescued Thanatos? Who returned the Athena parthenos? Who closed the doors of death? Was that you or any of the other gods? No it freaking wasn't. It was us! And do you know how many demigods died in the process? Or do you not even care enough to find out? I'm so sick of this, but hey I guess I don't have any choice but to compete in your games and act like I'm so honoured. And don't act like any of this surprises you, because it sure as hell shouldn't. If you push someone too far, they snap." Travis yelled at his father and stormed off, into the tree line of the forest, looking for something to take his anger out on. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at his father, but the gods made him so mad sometimes and he just couldn't deal with it anymore. He knew that he would have to compete in the games and he knew that he had no intention of coming out of them.

"Is what he said true? Do we really have no choice whether or not we participate?" Amelia asked her father, anxiously awaiting the answer. She had agreed with what her brother had said but she thought that he should've kept it inside and not yelled at their father. After all he is a god.

"Yes, you will be forced to be in the games. I'm sorry to both of you, please forgive me." Hermes voice choked up and it sounded like he was going to cry but Amelia just shook her head and ran away, back to her cabin and lay down on her bed and started crying.

AN: Hey guys! I know it's a little short so I'm sorry. Also only two of the contestants have been announced and Amelia is my own character. Please tell me who you want to win because at the moment I have no idea who should win or what should happen at the end…

As always please vote/heart, comment, follow and check out my other stories!

Lots of Love

XX Hannah 3