That same night, Mr. D had another brilliant idea. The entire camp was sat at their tables for dinner, the fire blazing in the centre of the pavilion. Once again, I was sat with my back to everyone else.
There was a small table the sat at the top of the pavilion. Only Chiron and Mr. D were sat there, but there was room for others, should anyone visit. Then, there were six tables at either side of the fire, the two furthest away raised up slightly. It was supposed to be the six male gods and the six female gods, but since Hestia gave up her throne for Dionysus, it was out balanced. I was sat at the raised one, of course, which was Zeus's table. The other raised one was always empty and was there to honour Hera. The table directly behind me was Poseidon's and Percy sat with his back to me too. The only thing I could actually see was the edge of the hill and then the sea it over looked. I couldn't help but wonder why Zeus and Poseidon were still so mad. To me, it seemed like the water was trying to fight the sky, right in front of me. It made me extremely uncomfortable.
I had just finished eating and was gulping down diet cola, when Mr. D stood up and Chiron stomped a hoof on the stone floor to catch everyone's attention.
"Well, exciting day and all," Mr. D stared, sounding the exact opposite of excited. "But after the brats didn't kill each other-" Thunder boomed overhead and the sea churned angrily "- yeah, yeah. As you all should know, even the thick-headed among you, it's Capture the Flag again tomorrow after the mess Alice made last time."
"Acacia," Chiron corrected with a shuffle, gulping hard. Suddenly, the extreme uncomfortable feeling I had doubled. Behind me, the campers had begun talking excitedly, Athena's table glowering at Ares's. Most of the time, Capture the Flag was played in the same teams as last time. I smirked slightly when I realised the Ares table looking a bit worried. After Percy and I had had our little fight earlier, a lot of people had refused to train with us again. And Zeus and Poseidon both had, for now, alliances with Athena.
"Hang on, hang on!" Mr. D snapped impatiently. Everyone fell silent. "I have decided that the game will not be Athena vs. Ares."
"Uh-oh," Percy and I both muttered. It was loud enough that everyone could hear us and Dionysus turned, smirking.
"Exactly. Zeus vs. Poseidon. Now, neither team has any alliances, other than Athena, and one cabin can't be split. So, up you come brats and pick your teams."
"Well, this ought to be fun," I grimaced as we both headed for Dionysus.
"Fun?" Percy snorted quietly. "I'd rather just go against the Ares lot." I bit my lip and frowned as we stopped.
"Zeus's kid first," Dionysus told us. "Since he's leader and all that rubbish. And no arguing from the other cabins either. I haven't got the patience for you to make proper alliances." Thunder boomed again. I gazed out across the tables, trying to make sensible choices. But the problem was, I was impulsive and instinctive, not logical. So I had picked a cabin before I had even thought about it.
"Hermes," I picked.
"Athena," Percy said.
"Ares."
"Apollo."
"Hephaestus."
"Dionysus."
"Demeter."
"Aphrodite."
"There we go!" Dionysus said with sarcastic excitement. "Now all of you toddle off and sleep or whatever it is you do." With that, he strode around Percy and I and headed off to the Big House. I sighed heavily and Percy groaned. Chiron patted each of us on the shoulder.
"Acacia and Percy will need a hand making a flag each, since there isn't one for Zeus or Poseidon," Chiron said and everyone could hear the disapproval in his voice.
"We'll do it," Lee Fletcher volunteered. "Even Acacia. She's still alright I guess."
"Gee, thanks guys," I rolled my eyes. Lee smirked at me and shrugged, standing up and leading his cabin out of the pavilion.
"You'd better watch it punk," Clarisse warned Percy. He glowered at her as she walked off.
"Alright Acacia," Luke smirked as he walked past. "Good choices I guess. Might have been better with Athena, but I'm sure we'll manage."
"I'm offended," Annabeth frowned, but she still managed to smile. "Good luck tomorrow Acacia. We always have a plan and they rarely fail."
I snorted, smiling at her. "You seem very sure." She shrugged innocently, but there was a spark in her eyes that made me wonder if I even had a hope of winning tomorrow.
So we were ready. Michael Yew along with Kayla and Austin, two other Apollo kids, had helped Luke and I make the Zeus flag. It was simple, but looked quite cool really. It sort of had a marbled white and grey background, with a large, golden lightning bolt in the centre. Poseidon's flag was a seagreen with a trident in the middle, which I sort of expected.
Breakfast was tense. The camp seemed to have been divided almost exactly in two and neither side was talking to the other. Even Annabeth and Luke were ignoring each other. So when I walked into the pavilion with Percy, everyone stared.
"This was a really, really bad idea," I groaned, pursing my lips tightly and staring around at all the campers.
"You're telling me," Percy frowned. Even as he spoke, a fight broke out between Ares and Apollo. Lee Fletcher was suddenly being restrained by Will Solace, who looked ready to give in a join the fight himself. Clarisse was being held back by one of her friends, but they – like Will – looked ready to give in. I groaned again and moved forward. Percy followed.
"Okay!" I exclaimed, stepping between the two of them. "Could you quit it?"
"They started it!" both sides yelled. Clarisse's friend let go of her and now the only thing stopping her getting to Lee was me and Percy.
"Just stop!" I scowled. "Why are you fighting?"
"He mocked me," Clarisse glowered. Lee snorted, opening his mouth.
"Could you kids pipe down a bit?" a bored voice came. "I can hardly hear the music." We were all frozen on the spot, staring down the pavilion at Apollo. He leaned casually against one of the pillars, flicking through the tracks on his iPod. I waited for a moment, wondering if he would be more useful that Dionysus and split the fight up. But he didn't move. Go figure.
"Clarisse, would you please just sit down?" I sighed. "I'd rather Chiron didn't take out about a third of my team because they were fighting." Reluctantly, Clarisse moved back to her table and sat down with her back to the Apollo table. I rolled my eyes, turning away from the food and heading back out of the pavilion without eating. I had almost left the entire thing behind me, when Apollo's hand suddenly caught my arm and pulled me back.
He hesitated a moment when I looked up at him, stunned and a little nervous. His eyes dropped to the locket around my throat and a shiver ran down my spine. "Do you mind me asking where you got that?"
"That wasn't her fault, Lord Apollo!" Daniel's voice suddenly came. I started. In the midst of all the fighting, I hadn't even realised he was there. "It was me. I was trying to get back at Michael for something a month back, so I took it."
Something in Apollo's expression twitched, and his eyes flicked back to mine. I gulped. "Common theme at the moment. But how did you end up with it?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but once again, Daniel did it for me. Apollo's eyes didn't leave mine. "I gave it her when she was attacked. It was all I had. I'm sorry if it offended you, Lord Apollo, I had no choice."
Again, the god's expression twitched, but this time, his lips pulled into a smirk. "Don't worry about it kid," he replied. "I'm not offended." His eyes bore into mine, and my stomach twisted awkwardly.
Behind him, someone cleared their throat. "Lord Apollo?"
I shuffled nervously when he didn't look away, but merely tilted his head to the side. Chiron frowned as he trotted into the pavilion. "Is there something wrong? Acacia is due at archery in five minutes?"
"Oh, of course not." Apollo cleared his throat loudly and snapped his gaze away, finally letting go of my arm and turning away swiftly. I could feel everyone's eyes burning my back, but I was too shocked to say anything.
Chiron moved closer to me, and he held his hand out cautiously. "May I?" he asked carefully.
Pursing my lips, I undid the clasp for the first time since I put it on and placed it in his palm. Chiron frowned as he examined it, as though he didn't know what the fuss was about. For a second, there was a flash of recognition on his face, but it was soon replaced by confusion. Sighing, he handed it back to me. "Ready?" I nodded weakly, clipping the locket back around my neck quickly and following him out of the pavilion.
I didn't want to use my own bow anymore. I had this weird feeling and it unnerved me how much attention Apollo had suddenly started giving me. The Apollo kids, who I practised archery with, were a little put out. The god watched us carefully the entire time we were there and I could tell Chiron didn't agree with his behaviour.
"Acacia, I want you to try something else," Chiron muttered, standing beside me. "After watching your sword work yesterday and the incident in the first Capture the Flag match, I started to wonder if you could channel the same power through your arrows."
"You want me to channel lightning through an arrow?" I clarified. He nodded, indicating to a target separated from the others. I sighed, moving away and lining up.
Lee, Michael and Will all stopped what they were doing and stared as I pulled the arrow back in my bow and aimed carefully. Apollo shuffled in the background, straightening slightly. I frowned, but focused on the arrow and blocked the onlookers out. The side of my thumb rested against the corner of my lips. I pulled the bow back further, taking my time to position it carefully. I released it.
The tip of the arrowhead sparked dangerously as it sliced through the air. It slammed into the target with a deafening bang and the target exploded with a crack of lightning. I stared, eyebrows raised and smiling slightly.
"Wow," Michael gawped.
"Nice," Will breathed.
"That was amazing!" Lee exclaimed.
"Thanks," I grimaced nervously.
"Hold on," Michael frowned. "If she can make explosions like that with one arrow, how are we going to beat her this afternoon?" Lee and Will exchanged at glance and I pursed my lips together tightly to stop myself laughing at them.
"Well, we got Percy," Lee shrugged.
"He needs water," Will said thoughtfully.
"Erm, the creek?" Lee suggested, as though it should have been obvious.
"That's the boundary line," I pointed out. The three of them groaned loudly, and I couldn't help but laugh, placing down the bow I had borrowed.
"Hey Acacia!" I turned and raised my eyebrows. Luke and a few of the Hephaestus kids I thought were called Charles Beckendorf and Jake Mason, were heading for me. Each of the Hephaestus kids had a sword and a sheath in their hands, grinning at me broadly.
Luke smirked at me. "Hey, what's up?" I asked, leaning against the nearby fence.
"Well, you didn't have your own sword, so ta-da!" Jake said, taking the two sheaths and holding them out.
I raised my eyebrows. "There's two," I pointed out.
Beckendorf snorted, smirking at me. "You know, we can count," he said.
Luke chuckled, shaking his head. "Yesterday with Percy was the first time I've actually watched you fight as well as that," he started. "Every other time, I've been the one you were fighting. I thought you might be better balanced with two. If you've finished here, we could go try it out quickly before the game. You up for it?"
"Oi! Alice!" Mr. D's eyes were locked on me as he marched toward us, irritated.
"It's Acacia sir," I sighed.
He didn't listen to me. "You are required at the Big House," he said angrily. "Didn't know I'd become a messenger, but come along Alison."
I rolled my eyes, but grimaced at Luke. "Thanks, but I'll probably be lucky if I come back in one piece," I said quietly. Jake stopped me before I could go too far and handed Beckendorf a sword. I sighed as they strapped the sheaths around my waist like two belts. Each sword was sat on one of my hips and I pulled one of them out when they stepped back.
It was celestial bronze metal, engraved with Ancient Greek. I was pretty sure it translated into; Acacia Grace, Daughter of the Sky God. One side was jagged and deadly, the other smooth and sharp. The hilt was the bronze the doors to Cabin One was made out of. Just like that, lightning bolts seemed to reflect off it and I felt a shock of power as I clenched it in my fist. I flipped the blade over and the back was engraved with more Ancient Greek, but the letters kept changing and I knew it wasn't my dyslexia.
"Amy!"
"Acacia," I groaned, shoving the sword back in its sheath and moving to catch up to Mr. D. Luke, Beckendorf and Jake laughed at me as I left, but my hand automatically flew to my neck nervously as I felt Apollo's eyes follow me. What was with him?
I ran to the porch, where Mr. D was stood with his arms folded impatiently. His eyes narrowed, but he smirked knowingly, jerking his head silently toward the door. I knew I was supposed to go in, but I couldn't help hesitating at the look on his face. He snorted, turning and striding away without a word. I raised my eyebrows, but took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
The room was exactly like you'd expect it to be at a camp. Wooden floors and wood panelled walls. But light flooded into the room, brightening it up. A fire roared in the fireplace and a rug was laid out in front of it, two armchairs at either end of it. A table sat at the opposite side of the room and the first thing I noticed was the man stood at the end of it.
The man wore a neat, dark suit that looked priceless. His tie was done to perfection and never moved an inch and I couldn't see a single crease in his shirt or suit. His stormy grey eyes were narrowed, locked onto mine as though I'd committed some horrible crime. His hair and beard was neatly trimmed, marbled with black, grey and dull white that looked remarkably like a thunderstorm and reminded me vividly of the flag we had made last night. What surprised me more was that I remembered him. He was the man I'd seen on the street in New York when I'd first landed here.
Lord Zeus, King of the Gods and God of the Sky, frowned down at me curiously.
"Acacia, my daughter, I shall get straight to the point," he started. I gulped, pursing my lips and keeping quiet. "By the end of the day, Perseus Jackson will be offered a quest. If he is to live, he will have no choice but to accept it. I do not agree with this... truce the two of you seem to have. However, I shall trust your judgement this once. Consider it a trial."
I hesitated for a moment, but Zeus didn't continue so I gathered I was supposed to say something intelligent. "I – I don't understand," I said quietly. Zeus set his face straight and looked me directly the in eyes, as though daring me to look away or blink.
"You must also prove yourself to the gods," he answered. I felt my stomach drop and questions immediately burned the back of my mind. Why was Percy suddenly receiving death threats? And why did I have to prove myself, not just to my father, but all the gods? "You will go on the boy's quest. Each of you will pick another to travel with you. Chiron will explain the details, but if either of you want the gods trust, you must accept it." Something like pity flashed across his face for a brief moment, but it didn't last. "You and Perseus, Thalia as well for that matter, were born because of a broken promise. Your arrival does not bold well for Olympus and my brother, Hades, will do everything he can to kill both of you. Look at what he did to Thalia. And you the first time around. If Athena had not discovered his plan, you would still be in the Underworld."
He managed to say this without any emotion, but it's surprising how much you can read from someone's eyes. I gulped and stared down at the ground, blinking back the tears. Everything was quiet for a moment, but Zeus stayed where he was and one of the questions burning the back of my mind began irritating me.
"Father?" Zeus met my gaze again, but it wasn't as harsh this time. His face was still set into a frown though and I wondered if it just stayed there after all those years. "Can I ask, why did you turn Thalia into the pine tree?" My father didn't reply immediately. He dropped his gaze and for a second, he looked ashamed.
"Oaths made on the River Styx should be honoured," he finally said. "As a god, breaking it did not cause many problems for me. But it did for you and Thalia. I did not want to be the reason Thalia spent the rest of eternity in the Underworld, most likely the Fields of Punishment. The only thing she would have done wrong was to be born. I could not allow that to happen."
I'll admit, I was shocked. I hadn't expected Zeus to even answer my question, let alone be honest. The second I met him, I had instantly come up with the image of a man who pretends not to have emotions or feelings, who doesn't let a small thing like family change his judgement or decisions. But when he spoke about Thalia, it was easy to see the pain on his face and to hear the guilt in his voice. He had actually cared about her a lot. A lot more than anyone could have expected. I was stunned into silence.
"I would not have you travel out into the mortal world carrying two swords like that," Zeus suddenly frowned, extra energy behind his disapproving tone. I found it hard not to smile. "When you return to your cabin, you will find two different sheaths. They will appear as a normal belt to mortals."
"Thank you," I said, voice slightly hoarse, but Zeus didn't even seem to be paying attention.
"Do not disappoint me," he warned. With that, the house shook with thunder and there was a flash. Zeus had gone.
So, no pressure, huh?