The looks Chiron was giving Percy and I didn't do anything to calm me down. He sat opposite us in his wheelchair, his eyes flicking between the two of us cautiously. We had taken the armchairs by the fire, and while Percy slouched into the chair as though he wished it would swallow him whole, I sat on the edge, my back perfectly straight. At my feet, the wolf Sasha sat like a loyal guard dog, staring into the fire like it was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. Apollo, on the other hand, was sat at the table behind us, his feet up and his iPod turned up so loud, I was almost positive I could make out I Feel Like Dancin' from the pop-punk band, All Time Low.

Finally, I couldn't take it any longer. "Chiron," I sighed exasperatedly, casting an awkward look down at Sasha by my feet. "What's going on? Why is there a wolf talking in my head?"

Sasha whined, her head turning to look up at me with her piercing blue eyes. I am sorry if I unsettled you, my lady, her soft voice came. Sometimes I forget most of my kind cannot communicate with humans like I do.

I pursed my lips tightly, trying not to get too freaked out by it all. Chiron grimaced at me. "I understand this must be confusing for you," he said. "For both of you, in fact. But I'm afraid we no longer have a choice. We must act now."

Percy and I exchanged a look, and he pushed himself forward with a frown. "Act on what?" he questioned slowly. Apollo scoffed in the background, but when he didn't offer anything useful, Chiron sighed heavily and continued as though he hadn't made a sound.

"An incident occurred on Olympus awhile ago," he told us.

I blinked. "Olympus? As in, Mount Olympus?"

"Where else?" Apollo asked. "You believe in gods, but not Olympus?"

I felt my cheeks flush. "I . . . never really thought about it," I admitted.

"Just wait," he winked with a small smirk. "You might even get to see it."

"Lord Apollo," Chiron frowned pleadingly. The god shrugged once, then leant back into his seat again. Percy shot me a confused look, but I just shook my head in bewilderment. It was slowly becoming a permanent state.

"So what happened?" I asked, clearing my throat awkwardly.

Chiron pursed his lips. "Something was stolen," he told us. "Something of great value. Lord Zeus did not take it very well. He believes that his brother, Poseidon, in behind it."

"What?" Percy gawped.

"Don't sound too shocked," Apollo winced. "Theft isn't exactly Poseidon's style, but I wouldn't put it past him to rebel against Zeus. There was that one time that your Dad and Hera ganged up on him. Refused to back down until he promised to be a better leader on all that. Zeus was furious for years after that one! The look on his face, you should've-"

"Lord Apollo, please," Chiron blinked, eyes a fraction wider than they usually were. The smirk I was quickly coming to think of as a permanent feature of Apollo's expressions slipped back across his lips. He pursed them pointedly.

"What was taken?" I questioned.

Chiron hesitated, glancing between Percy and I with a deep breath. "Zeus's Master Bolt."

"What?" Percy breathed, and a tiny whimper escaped my lips before I could stop it. "How? How does that happen?"

"Well, if you listen to the big guy, Poseidon convinced you to take it for him," Apollo answered, yawning widely and leaping to his feet. Chiron groaned, letting his head fall forward in defeat. Apollo, however, didn't seem to notice. Instead, he strode around the table and squeezed himself with remarkable ease onto the armchair right beside me. "See, gods can't go around stealing each other's symbols of power. It just doesn't happen."

"So when Poseidon claimed Percy . . ." I gulped, but Apollo just nodded at me.

Percy's face had paled considerably and his jaw hung low. "I didn't steal anything," he insisted weakly. "I didn't even know about the Master Bolt until five seconds ago!"

Chiron took another, calming breath and straightened back out again. For a second, he stared at Percy sympathetically. Then he caught sight of Apollo sat beside me, and his expression hardened. "Apollo," he frowned.

I couldn't help but notice the lack of 'Lord' from his title.

Apparently, the god noticed too. His eyebrows tightened, but he didn't say anything or move. Instead, he slouched back to make a point. I shuffled awkwardly beside me. "What do we need to do?"

Chiron tore his eyes away from Apollo. "Percy is to be given a quest, if the Oracle sees fit. Percy, if you will make your way to the attic. All shall explain itself there."

Apollo winced. "Sort of." Percy blinked, but slowly pushed himself out of the chair and started toward the stairs. As he left, Sasha got to her feet and padded after him a few steps. Her head tilted to the side slightly.

Is the boy always so instinctive? she asked me curiously. I was watching him during his fight with that aggressive Ares camper. He doesn't seem to have your . . . compassion.

I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to answer. Percy seemed like a perfectly nice guy to me, but before I could say as much, Chiron turned to me. "I'm afraid your task is a little harder, Miss Grace," he said.

I blinked with a sense of impending doom. "Lovely," I gulped. "And the task is?"

"Not one task," Apollo corrected. "Twelve."

My jaw fell before I could stop it and he winced at me with a shrug. "If it makes you feel any better, you've already done one."

"I . . . I don't follow," I admitted quietly, shaking my head in confusion.

Chiron didn't say anything as Apollo shuffled, sitting up a little straighter and meeting my gaze sternly. "The presence of you and Perseus Jackson doesn't bode well for Olympus," he told me. "The gods want action to be taken, and while both of your fathers agree killing you isn't an option, they understand that something must be done. Percy is being given a chance to prove he is not the thief, and to find the person who did do this. If he achieves this, Zeus may even let him live. You, on the other hand, are being tested."

"What? Why?" Apollo raised an eyebrow, and I rushed an apology hurriedly without meeting his gaze. He just snorted.

"Because you were chosen by Sasha," he answered. "As you might notice, Sasha isn't a normal wolf. She had been blessed by my dear sister, Artemis. The gods were told to chose one half-blood – either you or Percy Jackson – to be put through their paces. The tests are supposed to be designed to gauge your values. You know, loyalty, trust, faith, wisdom that kind of thing. Artemis volunteered to go first. She sent Sasha to decide which of the two of you held most promise. You, who made a point of being overly compassionate, were chosen."

There was silence for a moment.

"I still don't understand," I sighed, shaking my head. "Why would the gods want to test my values?"

Apollo smiled tightly. "That's the bit I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Quite," Chiron commented with a frown. "Perhaps you should inform Zeus of what has happened."

The god seemed to border on a scowl, but he nodded curtly and pulled himself out of the chair. "Good luck, Ace," he winked back at me as he strode out of the room. The nickname made my eyes widen in surprise, but he just smirked at me and stepped outside.

"Acacia," Chiron warned. "It would not be wise to continue associating with Lord Apollo."

I blinked. "Associating? I don't get it, he just answered my questions."

"Exactly. He isn't supposed to be helping you, no matter how small a gesture."

I didn't say anything for a moment. It was all a lot to take in. For one thing, I was about to be tested by twelve Olympian gods. For another, there was a wolf talking in my head, and as far as Chiron was concerned, Apollo was taking an unnatural interest in my trials. So what made me so special? My father, the ruler of Mount Olympus, had gone out of his way to deliver his own warning. Apollo shows up, causes trouble, then disappears when Sasha starts talking in my head. I started to wonder what test each god could possibly give me.

Zeus had already made it clear my test from him was to help Percy. I wondered what Poseidon would have me do. He would have worried me the most, considering I don't like water, then I thought of Zeus's wife, Hera. She was bound to detest me. I remembered the stories of what she did to Hercules, all because he was Zeus's demigod son. I gulped. Having a god for an enemy wouldn't be the best idea. But how could I ever prove myself to her?

Chiron didn't say anything else as we waited for Percy to finish with the Oracle. I wondered what the Oracle was exactly, but then thought I might not want to know. All I wanted right now, was to be told what I had to do and when to do it. I shuffled and fidgeted so much, I thought I might actually wear a hole in the chair. The two belts Zeus had given me were still wrapped around my waist, and my locket was burning through my skin. I needed to train, to fight something, someone, anything so long as it wasn't sitting here waiting.

"Percy," Chiron finally said, looking past me toward the stairs. I turned in my seat and watched him walk back toward us and sit back down. He looked worried, his face slightly paler than it should have been.

"That made no sense at all," he breathed.

"What did the Oracle say?" Chiron insisted, sitting forward in his wheelchair. Percy gulped and took a deep breath, his face scrunched up as he tried to remember what he had heard about ten minutes ago.

"You shall go west and face the god that has turned," he said slowly, as if pained. "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned." He hesitated, and I could help but fidget. "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end."

Chiron and I shared a glance and the first thing that popped into my head was; did he think that friend was me? And, if we found Zeus's master bolt and returned it, what mattered more? What would we fail at? I didn't want Chiron to ask me to see the Oracle. I didn't want to have questions like this circling my head. I already knew I was being tested. That was as much as they would tell me, so that was all I needed. Simple.

"West?" I frowned. Chiron glanced between me and Percy and I knew the son of Poseidon was nervous, anxious and angry all at the same time. I sighed.

The boy believes you will betray him, Sasha snarled, shaking at my feet. May I attack him my lady?

"No Sasha," I breathed. "Percy, you don't honestly think I'd betray you, do you?"

"What? No!" he insisted. "I just thought . . . I mean, what happens if we do fail? Zeus and Poseidon will go to war, won't they?"

I realised immediately what he was thinking. If our fathers went to war against each other . . . did that mean we would have to? Camp was bound to get divided, just as Olympus was. Would all of this end with me fighting my best friend?

"Then I suppose we can't fail," I suggested with a shrug. He didn't look entirely convinced. I took a deep breath. "So from the top," I started, trying to sort everything out in my head. "Zeus's Master Bolt is gone and he blames Poseidon because he has tried to unseat him before."

"Correct," Chiron nodded.

"How could Zeus think I stole it?" Percy frowned. Sasha snarled at my feet, but I shushed her quickly.

"Apollo said gods don't steal each other's symbols of power, right?" I clarified. Again, Chiron nodded. "So, when Poseidon claimed Percy, my father automatically thought he was the one who stole it."

"Exactly," Chiron agreed.

"But I didn't," Percy insisted, as though we still didn't believe him. "So who did?"

"You shall go west and face the god that has turned," I mumbled. I vaguely remembered one of Annabeth's random facts, one that should fit here, but it was as if the words were in front of me, yet blurry.

"West? Which god is at the west?" Percy asked. Chiron's eyes were on me, and something like fear flashed in their depths.

Suddenly, the random fact came rushing back, and before I realised what I was doing, I had leapt to my feet and bolted to a large sink in the corner, gagging loudly.

"Acacia!" Percy exclaimed in surprise. "What in the name of . . ."

"The Underworld, Percy," Chiron said softly. "You have to travel west, to see the Lord of the Dead."

"Last time I saw him, he tried to kill me," I mumbled, splashing my face with water and filling a glass with a shaky hand.

"And Zeus wants her to come with me?" Percy scowled. "That's insane! He'll never let her go!"

"It's hardly a walk in the park for you, either," I pointed out, slumping back into my chair and sipping the water cautiously. "Hades tried to kill me because Zeus broke the oath. You're in the same situation, Percy."

"Hey, Hades never kidnapped me before," he frowned back. "Acacia, you were physically sick just at the thought of going back there!"

I flinched. "Percy, it's not like we have a choice, is it?" He didn't seem to have another argument, but his fists clenched at his sides.

"If Zeus and Poseidon were to weaken each other in war, Hades would gain most," Chiron grimaced. "The war would be the worst in human history. Nature would be at war with itself. The dead would vastly increase Hades's numbers."

"But why now?" I asked. An horrible idea was stirring in the back of my head and I needed to be told it was wrong. Only, I wasn't sure Chiron could tell me that. "It isn't... you know, all because of me and Percy?"

Percy raised his eyebrows, but Chiron pulled his together in thought. "That might be one reason," he shrugged. "Hades, Poseidon and Zeus took the oath never to sire half-blood children again. It could possibly be that Hades is angry with his brothers for breaking this oath. But it's a very extreme way of showing it."

"Do we actually know it is definitely Hades?" Percy asked exasperatedly. "What if it isn't? What if we waste a load of time making our way to Hades, just to find out he hasn't got it?" I gulped, shrugging.

"Who else could it be?" I questioned. Percy and I turned to Chiron and he suddenly looked uncomfortable. I got the feeling he knew of someone else who could be doing this.

"I think it is safe to say Hades is the culprit," he said quietly, with absolutely no conviction. "If it isn't... well, that would be a considerable amount worse."

"Worse?" Percy and I gawped.

Chiron frowned, glancing between each of us. "You are allowed to have a companion each, excluding Sasha of course," Chiron continued, as though he hadn't just scared me so much, I might end up taking the quick route to the Underworld. Via heart failure. "Percy?"

"Erm... Grover," he said, after about two seconds thought. Chiron smiled weakly, nodding at him.

"Acacia?" he asked politely. I thought about it carefully for a moment. I knew Percy had chosen Grover because they were good friends, but we needed someone better equipped, as awful as that sounded. I also knew Percy could be very hot tempered, and I was rather impulsive. I didn't exactly think things through first.

"Annabeth," I finally decided.

Chiron chuckled, nodding. "Perhaps you should go and inform them. You shall set off first thing in the morning. But be warned, you only have until summer solstice to find and return the bolt. By that time, Zeus expects the bolt back and Poseidon expects an apology. Remember, June the twenty first." I let out a low breath and nodded.

This Grover is a satyr my lady? Sasha asked as we stepped outside.

"Yeap," I sighed.

A satyr, a boy and two girls, she said thoughtfully. Hmm.

"Is there a problem?" I chuckled.

Sasha barked once, offended. Of course not my lady. Is this Annabeth girl intelligent?

"I'd like to think so," I snorted. "She's Athena's daughter." Sasha's tail wagged happily. I smiled, knowing she was as loyal as they came and I knew, even after just having her here for an hour or two, she'd never stray and she'd do whatever I asked. With Sasha, two deadly swords and a bow and arrow, I should be feeling pretty safe right now.

So why didn't I?