Chapter 18

I got together some of my friends, except for Ruby and Tamsin. Their brothers and sisters stopped her from going anywhere near me (well Tamsin only had one brother and one sister but they were pretty stubborn). The kids from the Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Iris, Hestia, Poseidon cabins were there, and my brothers and sisters as well. The Hermes cabin took up nearly a quarter of the space around the camp fire by themselves. A Hephaestus kid called Leo made a special platform in the fire so I could stand in the middle of it without getting burnt. I stepped onto the platform, looking round and wishing that Theo were here. Chiron stamped his hoof on the ground for silence. I cleared my throat and looked around at everybody, gathered around and all looking directly at me. I felt faint. Then I glanced over at Anya, she gave me an encouraging smile. I gulped and took a deep breath.

"Hi everybody thanks for coming." I said. "Now you're all probably wondering why I've called you here tonight. Well, I've called you here because, as you probably know, camp has recently split into two sides. We are on the side for Hera and some other campers are on the side of Zeus."

I heard a Hermes kid whisper to their friend. Jessica, the Athena girl, nudged them and I saw her hiss, "Shut up!"

"So I will tell you straight. There may be a war."

The Athena kids' expressions turned grim and several of them pulled out notebooks and started scribbling down notes frantically.

"Some of us will need to travel to Olympus and other places to try and get some of the other gods on our side." Jessica called out.

"Good idea, any volunteers?" I said, looking around. Nobody raised their hands.

I sighed, "Ok does anyone want to volunteer anybody else to go?" I looked around again. About 30 people raised their hands. I pointed at a girl from the Hestia cabin.

"You should go Kalina!" she smiled.

"Me?" I said, surprised. Why me?

"Yeah." said everyone else, nodding.

"Um ok," I said, "on my own?"

"That would be better." said Jessica, "Monsters are less attracted to smaller groups of demigods. The scent wouldn't be so powerful."

"Ok then. I'll go alone. Anything else anyone would like to say?" I said.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Ok, meeting adjourned."

One by one, the cabins stood up and walked away back towards their cabins. My siblings fell back and asked if I was coming with them.

"I'll catch you up." I said.

I sat down on the bench that I had sat on, on that night when I first met Theo. That felt like a million years ago but it had only been two months. What I wouldn't give to have him here with me now.

O

Theo's POV

Gods, I miss Kalina. This morning was amazing but I'm just so used to being able to see her whenever I want. I tried tweeting her. I walked back to my cabin, walked past the girls' dorm, full of sparkly earrings and smelling of perfume and hairspray, into the boys' dorm. Part of it smells like hairspray because of Andy (my brother), and the other part is my room. I walked into my room and lay down on my bed. I picked my laptop up and opened it. I went onto Twitter and searched for Kalina on my followers list. I found her and clicked to send her a direct message.

"Hi Kali, I miss u so much babe. this morning was fantastic, can we meet somewhere later? Theo xoxoxox"

Send.

Twenty seconds later.

"Hey Theo, yeah let's meet at the lake tonight. Better wait until everyone's asleep so u can sneak out xx"

I replied, "Ok baby. I'll meet you at the tree xxx"

I closed my laptop and picked up my alarm clock. I turned to smallest alarm hand to 1. I put it back and then slid under the covers to get a few hours sleep.

Kalina's POV

My alarm went off at 1. I put it off quickly before it could wake anybody up. I turned on my light and got up. I padded across the room to my ensuite bathroom. I looked in the mirror and groaned. My hair was tangled, my eyes had bags underneath and I had a spot on my cheek. I managed to sort out my spot, I had a quick shower. I put concealer under my eyes and put on some light pink lipstick and some light brown eyeliner on. I put on a lacey white skirt and a white button-down shirt with short sleeves. I undid the top two buttons on my shirt. I looked in the mirror.

"No, too much," I said to myself, doing up one button. I slipped on some white pumps and put a white hair clip in my hair.

I walked back into my room and checked my laptop.

One direct message from Theo, "Sneaking out now babe! see you soon ;) xxx"

I closed my laptop, stood up and nervously smoothed my skirt. I tiptoed up the stairs. Sneaking across the room, my sister Julia heard me and sat up. I froze, standing there in my short skirt and pumps. It was obvious where I was going.

She whispered, "I won't tell anybody. You enjoy yourself."

"Thank you!" I whispered. She lay back down and I tiptoed across the room. At the door, I looked back. Through the dark, I saw Julia wink. I smiled and sneaked out of the door, closing it carefully behind me. I ran across the clearing into the forest, I hid behind a tree and checked to see if anyone was around. They weren't. I jogged carefully through the woods until I reached the edge of the woods and found Theo standing beside a tree. I ran to him and gave him a hug.

"You look gorgeous babe!" he smiled.

"So do you." I winked, and he did. He was wearing a dark blue button down shirt and jeans. I smiled and ruffled his hair. To my surprise he pulled away.

"I've got a surprise for you." He said, grinning.

"Um ok," I said, slightly nervous.

"Close your eyes," he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Close your eyes." he whispered. I shivered and then closed my eyes.