"Um... Dude, your slowing down," Sheen said to the panting man below him.
"Well, I'm carrying a hundred-twenty pound weight with two working legs," Sid complained between breathes.
"You should probably work on your cardio."
"Get Off." Sid ordered.
"Fine, no need to be rude," Sheen said as he released Sid's back and fell into pace beside him. "I haven't seen Sam, have you?"
"Nop." As they neared the creek, they heard cheering, and as they emerged they saw Garrett hanging from a tree by some rope. Underneath him were the cheering red team with a tall, black haired girl on their shoulders waving the blue team's flag. When the grouped saw Sid and Sheen the girl stuck her tongue out at them, and Garrett gave a confined wave.
"Well that's a ball buster,"Sheen said as he released the red flag.
After their loss Sid, Sheen, and Garrett stalked to the customary bonfire. They all wore faded jeans and various t-shirts, only Sheen wore a ratty straw hat and a leather bracelet. As they arrive a couple girls came to greet Sid and he was soon whisked away. Garrett walked to the buffet and began to help himself. Sheen stood alone with his hands in his pockets until he felt someone jump onto his back.
"How does it fell to be a loser?" Tes gloated into his ear.
"Not as good as you might think," Sheen replied.
"You remember our bet?"
"Sadly, yes."
"Good." Tes then dropped from his back and plucked the straw hat off his curly brown hair and placed on her own head. Together they stared into the fire. After a minute of silence they heard the clap of hoofs and a centaur halted in front of the two. "Hello, Chiron," Tes greeted.
"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your fun, but your both needed at the Big House, in about a half a hour," Chiron said.
"Why?" Sheen questioned.
"Too important to discuss here," Chiron stated
"Of course it is," Sheen muttered.
"We'll be there," Tes said.
"Very good and now I must bid you ado," with that Chiron galloped off.
"Well this is going to be interesting," Sheen stated. Tes just smiled.
Brian banged on the patio door of the Big House. After a couple seconds of staring at his mop of blonde hair in the glass, the door opened revealing a tall girl with black hair.
"Hey, Sam," Brian said.
"Don't hey me you hooligan, your late, now get in here," Sam commanded as she yanked the boy in by his collar. Around the ping-pong table in the main room of the big house sat Sheen, Tes, Sid, Garrett, Sam, Chiron, Summer, and the newly added Brian. As soon as everyone was settled Chiron cleared his throat and began to speak.
"So children, your probably wondering why you are here." There was a collective nod from the audience, "Well there has been a slight disturbance on Olympus."
"What kind of disturbance exactly?" Sheen asked.
"A thievery," Chiron responded.
"What was stolen?" Sam questioned.
"Three items," Chiron answered.
"Dangerous?"
"Yes."
"Who stole them?"
"Unknown."
"Why are you telling this?" Sheen asked.
"You seven are the strongest half-bloods we have at the moment, so we are sending you to retrieve them."
"So that's it, your just going to send us out there?" Summer questioned.
"Yes, you are leaving tomorrow at noon."
"Are we traveling in one group?"
"No, its to risky for you to all travel together, so you are being split up into teams of twos and one of three, you will get to decide who goes with who."
"Well, we better get going if we are going to be ready for tomorrow." Sam stated.
"Very well, you are dismissed and you will be given the finer details tomorrow," Chiron said with a wave of his hand.
The group left the table and exited the Big House. They exchanged farewells and journeyed through the darkness to their cabins to prepare.