Inspiration continues to inspire me (does that sound too redundant?) so I have another chapter! :D

Weeks of hostility and violence plagued the camp after the death of River. Training became much more intense, capture the flag became much more violent, and fights erupted everywhere. It would start out as something minor—taking a basketball that someone else wanted, accidentally bumping into someone—then turn into fist fights and broken bones.

It was hard, but I found out why each cabin took the sides they were on. Clarisse blamed Travis and Connor for "a prank that went too far". As such, the entire cabin blames them. The other kids in the Hermes cabin then hates the Ares cabin. Apollo's cabin knows that the Stolls wouldn't go that far just to get a laugh, so they sided with them. Katie and Miranda believe Connor and Travis, mostly because Katie was with Travis was with her when the explosion happened and Miranda believes Connor because he is a close friend of mine. Dionysus chose their side because they don't like the Ares cabin in general. Hypnos, Nemesis, and Hecate chose their side because they have rivals on the other side.

As for Ares cabin's allies, Aphrodite was in love with Ares so they felt they had to be on the same side. Hephaestus cabin claimed to see Connor with a lighter and explosives a few nights ago. Nike was to be on the "winning" side and she think that this side would "win". Hebe and Tyche have rivals on the other side, and as for my cabin, they were on this side, because they'd been pranked and agitated by the Stolls so much, they wouldn't defend them.

It was so hard to wrap my brain around that. Everything was so complicated, nothing made sense. However, I didn't want to get involved, so I went on ignoring the fight. (Not that it was easy.)

Every day I did the same routine: ate breakfast in silence, attempted to learn to use different weapons with Nico. (Note how I said attempted. I still sucked at fighting and still couldn't hold a weapon correctly, let alone actually use it to kill monsters.) And in the afternoon, I would do cooperation techniques and things like that with Connor. I hoped it would show that even though Iris and Hermes are at opposite ends, we could still function together.

That was a stupid mistake.

One day after rock climbing with Connor, Butch came up to me.

"What are you doing hanging out with that dipstick?" He jabbed his thumb in Connor's general direction.

Anger flair inside me slightly. "Training."

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously. My question really meant why? You know we aren't on their side."

After losing my friend, opening up my biggest secret, having to cope with all the violence and carnage around camp, being divided from some of my friends, and being forced to stop being friends with someone, I lost it.

"Y'know what, big brother?" I spat. "You can hate anyone you want, but don't expect me to take sides on this. What sides are there? No one knows who did it for sure, no one has any proof of anything—it's all he said/she said—and no one is getting along. I'm sorry, I thought camp was supposed to be a place where half-bloods can come together to be a family. This is not family. This is a war and you know it. It needs to stop!"

He laughed in my face. "You're so naïve! Do you even hear yourself. What you want is world peace, but news flash, sweetheart: that's impossible! Nothing will ever get better just because one or two people have hope. Those idiots hurt us before too many times. We don't trust them. If you choose to trust them, fine. Whatever. But if you end up like River because of it, don't expect me to cry!"

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry, I told myself, running away. I can't do with anymore.

I went to the tree house Miranda showed me near Zeus's fist. Maybe there is was still untouched from all the madness at camp. Thankfully, it was. I was alone for a few minutes before I heard someone behind me.

"Knock, knock," Connor laughed, nervously. "Can I sit down here?"

I smiled and nodded, moving over to make more room for him.

"I, uh… heard you defending me to Butch. I wanted to say thanks. Not many people have the guts to do that anymore."

I looked into his eyes. "Tell me the truth. What do you think happened. I'm not blaming you. I just want to hear your side of the story."

"No lies?"

I shook my head, laying my head down on his lap. "No lies."

"Well, I was on my way to set off fireworks to celebrate Chiron's birthday—he's, like, ancient—and I wanted it to be a complete surprise, right? Well, my dad taught me very young never to trust anyone with a secret. Once you do, you can't stop them from telling another person. And gossip runs around fast here, so I didn't tell anyone. When I went to light the lighter, I looked up and saw Jake, from Hephaestus looking at me. I was distracted, burned my thumb and ran back to my cabin. That's it."

After a moment of silence, Connor groaned. "You don't believe me, do you?"

I got up and shook my head. "No, no. I do. I believe you, I'm just wondering… What if we explained that to Clarisse and gave her an offering of some sort. Something that would cool the tides before things got too out of hand."

He looked at me and smiled broadly. "You are a genius! That's perfect, Anna. Thank you so much for the help." He hugged me and ran down the tree as fast as he could, me following close behind.

We found Clarisse in her room, talking strategy to two of her brothers. She was serious when she said she would go to war with the camp.

"Clarisse!" I yelled. Brother number one attacked Connor and the second one was about to grab me, but Clarisse called him off.

"What do you want, punk?" She asked.

"I have a proposition for you."

She laughed coldly, taking out her knife. "Oh yeah? Well listen here, missy. The only reason you're not in a headlock right now is because your cabin is fighting with me and if I kill you, that alliance would be terminated. But amuse me. What's your proposition?"

I took a deep breath and explained what Connor said he did and my idea to solve everything. Surprisingly, as I went on, Clarisse looked like she might actually give me a chance. She thought long and hard over the idea of a peace offering.

"Alright, hippie. Here's the agreement: I will not fight until it's initiated by the others, but I will hold off the war for three days. Got that? You have three days to bring me back one holy shrine of Ares. It's known that there is a shrine in Maine called the Sacred Groves of Ares. Get it, bring it back, you got three days. If you return later than that, or don't get me the shrine, expect war, princess. Now, get out. It's almost nighttime."

I was excited walking out with Connor. "That's great! We have a chance. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless!"

"Yeah, well, it's not going to be easy. Because I'm a son of Hermes and you're a daughter of Iris, I doubt it would be any trouble to fly, but once we get to Maine, it won't be easy. Ares's shrines are guarded by drakons. Those are tough monsters to beat."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Some breathe fire, but most don't, which is good, but others spit acidic venom, which is bad. They have hard plate-y scales, and most paralyze you with their eyes. They are very hard to kill. In fact, there is a certain type of drakon that only a child with Ares with enough rage can kill it."

"Oh."

"Well, good night, Anna. We'll leave tomorrow morning." He hugged me good night and went to his cabin for the night. I was about to go to my own, when I heard my brothers and sisters talking about me through the door.

"She isn't going to stay here until this war is over. She can't be trusted." Butch.

Someone—a girl—defended me. "What in Tartarus are you talking about? She's our sister, this war doesn't change that!"

"Too bad. If she wants a place to sleep, she can sleep in that stupid tree of her's. If she wants a family, maybe she can get her freaks of nature friends, Nico and Connor to be her brothers."

My tree.

I ran to my tree, careful to avoid the harpies again. The tree was wrecked—toilet paper streamed all over it, spray paint everywhere saying "traitor" and "tree-hugger". The one place of peace was gone, tainted by hatred and resentment of my own brother.

I did the only thing I could do at a time like this.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nico didn't mind taking me to McDonald's. In fact, he was about to go there himself. As I ate, I told Nico about everything that had happened. He listened intently, his expression unreadable. He only spoke when I finished.

"Okay. I'm in," he said. "You're going to need help fighting a drakon, because one person alone can't do it. Besides, I'm always going to be there for you, even if you don't want me to."

Okay… wait, I thought. "Back up just a minute. I'm going with Connor. We'd be fighting together. And why do you feel the need to babysit me?"

"You know that when put into situations where you need to fight, you run away. Connor would be alone. As for the other thing, I'm not babysitting you. I had two people to look up to: Bianca, who died and River, who—as you are well aware of—died. They were my guardians. Now I'm your's."

"Don't put your life at risk because of me!" I yelled.

"I'm not. I'm putting my life on the line, because you need me and you know it."

I sighed. It was true—I wouldn't get very far with him. Nico was my rock. He stood there and no matter what, had my back. Even though I didn't want him to come, risking his life, I felt happy that he didn't just turn around and abandon me. "So we're in this together?"

He nodded. "You got it," he looked at the clock on the wall. "Okay, we need to make a stop by the cemetery. I want you to say hi to a few people."