A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I hope this lives up to your expectations.

Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters or plots belong to their respective owners. All original characters and plots belong to me.

"So then how are you alive now?" I asked.

"Um... Well... You see..."

"Spit it out!" Laila exclaimed impatiently.

"Uh... I..."

WHACK!

"Laila!"

"What? He wasn't answering the question! What other choice did I have but to smack him?"

"You could have been patient," I commented.

"No, I couldn't! I have ADHD! Patience does not come easily for me."

"Shut up!" Luke finally got out.

"Now he speaks," Laila murmured under her breath.

"Do you remember the guy who messed up your names during breakfast?" he said, ignoring Laila. We nodded. "That's Mr. D."

"What does D stand for?" I questioned.

"Dionysus." Laila sucked in a breath and I could tell that she was about to start fangirling. Again.

"Laila, shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were about to. I could sense it."

"Anyway," Luke said, interrupting our banter. "Mr. D and Hades had a bet a while ago. They were playing pinochle. Again. For once, Mr. D won, and, in a rare show of kindness for the camp, he asked for all of the half-bloods who died in the war back."

"And why are you telling usthis?" Laila asked.

"It was part of the deal. All of the half-bloods that were brought back have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And since I was the biggest traitor, I have to tell all the new campers the story. Well, it's time for you guys to get your weapons."

"Weapons?" Laila exclaimed excitedly.

"Don't get too excited Laila," I said. "You don't wantto hurt or kill anyone, do you?"

"Um... There's Suzzane Roshan, and Gauri Khan, and Avantika Ma—Khan, and Kristen Stewart, and James Patterson..." She trailed off, undoubtedly thinking of other people she wanted to kill in her head as she walked off in the direction of the armory.

As we followed behind her, I whispered to Luke, "I'm not so sure I trust her with weapons..." We both chuckled when Laila turned around and glared at us.

"Are you guys coming or not?"'

"Yeah, yeah," I said as we started following her.

As we walked into the armory, I noticed that guy that Laila seemed to have a crush on. When I looked back at her, it looked like she hadn't noticed yet.

"Hey, Laila," I whispered from behind her.

"Hay is for horses, Grace," she muttered.

"Fine. Laila, look! It's that emo guy you like!"

"Just because he likes to wear black does not mean he's emo."

"Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Laila."

"It doesn't!"

"Okay, girls. Time to choose your weapons," Luke said to put an end to our banter. "If anything catches your eye specifically, you can bring it over and I will see if it's usable by you, which it most likely will be."

I looked around to see if anything in particular would catch my eye, like Luke said it would. I could see every type of weapon imaginable, and more. I hadn't known that a sock could be used as a weapon, but apparently it could. There were daggers, knives, shields, spears, guns, bows and arrows, darts (most likely poisoned), swords, lances, axes, sickles, clubs, staffs, and I was pretty sure if I looked in the right place, I would find an atom bomb.

Laila was scurrying around from one weapon to the next, admiring and probably plotting how to use each weapon to kill whoever she wanted to kill.

"So many weapons! Not enough Laila!" She was hyperventilating as the spun around frantically to look at all the weapons, and looked a bit like a dog chasing its tail.

"Relax Laila, just take a deep breath, and think calming thoughts," I tried to say to her, but to be entirely honest, I was afraid of being with her in this room. Not to mention Emo Boy was staring straight at her like she had lost her mind.

Slowly, he approached her, as if he was afraid that she would attack him if he made one wrong move. I wouldn't have put it past her if she didn't have such a huge crush on him. As he walked over, he picked up a leather quiver, a bow, and some arrows.

"I heard Aria grumbling the other day about how she lost to you in an archery contest," he said to her. "How about a bow and arrow?" he suggested. Laila just stared at him wide-eyed like he was the answer to life, the universe, and everything, so I jabbed her hard in the ribs.

"Um... Yeah, sure... Um. Yeah, bows and arrows," she said, avoiding looking at his eyes. Or face. Or him, in general. "Um... Thanks, for, uh, recommending it to me, um, what was your name?"

"Nico."

"Yeah, thanks Nico," she repeated, still not looking at him.

"Well, I still need to find a weapon," I said to get the attention off of Laila. "Do you have any recommendations, Nico?"

"How about a dagger? You look like a dagger kind of girl." He handed me a few different daggers, but none of them felt quite right. It was then that I noticed that my ring was glowing slightly. I asked Laila if she saw it, but she didn't. I took the ring off to try to figure out what was going on, and then suddenly there was a flash, and in my hand was a dagger. Unlike the other ones that Nico had handed, this one felt perfect, as if it was made for me.

"That's quite a ring you got there, Grace," Luke said. I had almost forgotten that he was there. "It's like magic! But how does it turn back into a ring?"

"I don't know, but I'm guessing it's that button right there," I said, pointing to the Azurite stone. I pushed it, and it magically transformed back into my ring, and I put it back on.

"How did you not know it did that before?" Laila asked.

"I've never taken it off before. It's one of the last signs of my mother, so I keep it on so it won't get lost." I sighed, looking at my bracelet, another gift from my mother. I wondered if it did anything. "What if my bracelet does something too?"

"Is it another gift from your mother?"

"Yeah," I said, as I rubbed the rainbow moonstone. Suddenly, a slightly purple force field appeared around me.

"Wow! Forget the dagger, how did you not know that happened?!" Laila said, walking over and poking the purple shield. "Ow!" she exclaimed. "It's electric!"

"Are you alright?" Nico asked Laila, walking over to her. I put the shield down by touching the moonstone again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "It just stings a bit."

"Okay, I think we probably need to get out of the weapon shed now, come on." Luke said, leading everyone out.

"Aw! Why?! I like that room!" Laila whined.

"It's about lunch time Laila," I said to cajole her into leaving with the rest of us.

"Lunch?!" she yelled excitedly. "What are we having?"

"I thought we'd have a picnic in the woods. And we'll be having the normal picnicy-type food: sandwiches, lemonade, fruits, deviled eggs."

"Yes! Picnics are so much fun!" Laila exclaimed. "Let's go, I'm really hungry!" Her stomach grumbled loudly as she finished the sentence, emphasizing her point.

"I'll join you guys," Nico said. Luke looked surprised.

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to—"

"I'm coming. Do you have a problem with that?" He spoke through gritted teeth, glaring at Luke.

"Of course not," he answered sounding faintly scared. "Let's go!"

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