PERCY
We decided to do it on the sixth. It would have been a more intense argument, but we called an emergency meeting at six in the morning, so everyone was basically a zombie with a heartbeat. We stuck with the sixth though, instead of doing it a couple weeks later to avoid campers, because more campers means more people to get the message. Which is kind of the whole point of the mission.
Anyway the meeting ended after ten minutes(I told you we were tired) and another one was scheduled for the sing along tonight.
"Hey, Percy I want you to meet someone," Jake said, making his way over to me.
"This is my second in command, Leo Valdez. He's the best with technology and I think he should be in charge of getting the security down." Sounds good, I thought.
"Seems like a good idea to me." I looked at the guy. He was seventeen or eighteen, Spanish looking, with curly hair. He was covered in grease and had a tool belt. So it was quite obvious he was a Hephaestus kid, but his face reminded me of a Hermes kid. I actually put my hand in my pocket to watch my wallet, except then I remembered that I didn't have a wallet. Leo gave me an only slightly crazy smile, and stuck out his hand.
"I'm, of course, Leo Valdez," he looked down at his hand, which I just realized was covered in oil and dirt. "You probably don't want to shake my hand."
"So you're a good mechanic?" I asked.
"Well, I don't want to sound egotistical or anything, but…Yeah I fricken' am. Most of Hephaestus's kids are, I haven't met one that isn't. Are you good at swimming?" Jake rolled his eyes.
"So do you think he could be in charge of getting security down?"
Why's he asking me this?
"I don't mind, but I'm not in charge." Leo snickered.
"Dude you are so in charge. You are so far in charge that if you walked over to one of those kids and told him to shove a penny up his butt he would do it, unless it was an Ares kid you'd probably have to threaten them a little. Man we've all been hearing about you for the past three years, you're like Hercules."
"Huh, then I guess you got the job. I'll go tell the others," I said, just a little surprised. I'd never really thought about what I symbolized. Then I didn't have to time to think about it, because I'd spotted Travis across the room.
"Hey Travis, for monitoring security let's have Leo be in charge." Travis didn't he blink befoe he answered.
"Okay, sounds great. Isn't Leo the second in command for Hephaestus?"
"Yeah."
"That's what I thought. Oh and I've got some campers on dish duty so you guys'll get breakfast by ten or so."
"Thanks." I turned to go.
"Oh and Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"Get some sleep, you look like a freaking zombie." (What did I tell you?) I grinned.
"No problem."
NICO
It's been three years since I've seen Camp Half-Blood. I'm not counting yesterday, because I could barely seen anything. I want to know what changed, but I'm not dumb enough to go up there alone.
I found Raven looking at the blueprints at around eight o'clock.
"I want to go up there," I announce. Raven shrugged.
"That's funny, I thought you liked being alive."
"I'm serious," I argued. Raven had to help me.
"So am I, why do you want to go up there?"
"I want to see what changed, obviously some serious stuff happened. Besides it'll be easier to sneak around late at night if we know the lay out." Raven sighed, and I knew she was in.
"Stupid logic," she muttered. "We'll need disguises, well, you will. None of them are old enough to remember me, except for Chiron and Mr. D." Raven pulled me over to the small room they'd given her last night.
"Okay you need to put on this shirt and these jeans," she tossed me an orange camper shirt, and some light blue jeans. "Now, I know I have some hair dye some where," Raven murmured. I paused in my hurried changing, she was going to dye my hair?
"Relax, it's not permanent," Raven assured me. "Ah-ha!" she yelled triumphantly a moment later. I turned around Raven was holding up bottle of blonde hair dye.
"This stuff is great because all you have to do is squeeze some in your hands and then rub it in your hair. Then it comes out in one wash, be careful of rain though." Then Raven was running her hands through my hair and I was trying to ignore the tingles that were erupting in my head. Next Raven handed some colored contacts and shoved me into the hallway. I stared at the box trying to figure out what color they were, but there weren't any pictures, and I couldn't read the words.
The door opened and Raven appeared with red hair and hazel eyes in an orange t-shirt and jean shorts.
"Hey what color are these?" I asked pointing at my eyes. Raven stared at me for a minute.
"Green, I think," she decided.
"Wait, you don't know?"
"Hey, it's not like I can read any better than you can," she protested. I shook my head.
"Where did you even get this stuff?"
"Don't bother asking," Raven answered, scratching her neck. Then I remembered.
"We need necklaces," I said, remembering the beaded, leather necklaces which I'd come to think of as collars.
"No we don't, we say we're new if anyone asks. Oh, but you do need to take your ring off." I pulled my skull ring off, after all these years I decided to keep it. Partly so I would remember, but mostly because it looks really cool.
"You ready?" I asked Raven. She smirked.
"Aye Captain." She grabbed my hand, and I fumbled for something to say.
"Leave the hiding to me, if we stay in the shadows no one will see us," I said. Raven grinned.
"And if they do see us leave the talking to me."
"It's a deal."
THALIA
Travis ran up to me after the meeting.
"Thalia do you think you could help me make the teams? Conner is going to cover for me."
"Aren't we letting people pick?" I asked him.
"What? No that would take way too long. Later we're announcing the teams and going over the plans."
"Makes sense, but why me?"
"One, you used to be a hunter so you must know about strengths and weaknesses, and organization. Two, Percy looks like he might fall over," Percy did most of the driving here. "Three, I can't find Nico, and I don't think he'd want to help. What do you say?"
What do I have to lose? I wondered. Then thought, sleep.
"Yeah, sure." Travis grinned.
"Great I'll see you at seven thirty!" Then he dashed off.
I walked back to my room. Last night Jake told us they had a ton of these, and they weren't sure what they were going to use them all for.(Some had parts, others oil, and some had broken machines.) When we decided to come they just turned the five closest ones that were empty into bedrooms. They weren't very big, but who cared?
I laid down on the bed to snatch some more Zs before Travis came back.
Exactly an hour and a half later, Travis was pounding at my door.
"Hey Thalia, I hope you don't mind, but I brought Raff along. I ran into him and he wanted to know if there was anything he could do. I also thought we could decide what to do to the gods thrones while we're here. I don't even want to think about how long that could take if we put it up to the campers, but I figured Raff should be pretty creative," Travis said in a rush when I opened the door. I nodded slowly.
"Okay, do you guys want to do it in here?"
"Sure," Raff answered.
NICO
Camp felt different, it looked mostly the same though.
"Hey they painted the Big House," I pointed out. Raven looked at it. If I remember right the Big House used to be a light blue, now it's a light green.
"Hey, yeah, didn't it used to be red?" Raven asked as we walked back.
"I don't know, when I was here it was blue," I replied. Raven blushed. It was interesting to watch her see all the things that have changed. I never realized how much was invented in the twenty-three years before I was banished.
"Now I feel old."
"If it makes you feel better, I should probably be in my eighties." Raven stopped and looked at me, then she made a face.
"No, it doesn't really help."
Raven and I were on the edge of the woods, we thought it'd be the easiest place to hide. We were right, but we can't see much of Camp. Then we stumbled onto a very well worn path. This was defiantly not here before.
"Nico, was this here three years ago?" I shook my head.
"I wonder where it goes," I mused, glancing up the path. It turned a couple to the left a couple yards up. Then Raven shoved me back in the woods, and clamped a hand over my mouth. At the turn three people appeared, one was Lea. We waited five minutes after they passed before we spoke.
"The path must lead to their cabin. Remember Lea said one new cabin was built in the woods?" Raven guessed. I nodded and got up.
"Let's check out the Pavilion, everyone should be eating now," I decided.
The Pavilion looked the same, the fissure was still in the floor, and there were still stone tables that the cabins ate at. It was set up differently though. Around the fire were the cabins of the top twelve, with the Athena cabin in the best spot and the Hephaestus cabin in the worst spot. Then there were other tables, I'm guessing for the other gods, but they were at the fringe, and no one at those tables was eating. I looked back over at the other tables, it seemed like only the Ares cabins and the Hephaestus cabins were still getting their breakfast. After a moment they all had their food, then someone blew a shrill whistle and one by one the kids from the tables on the fringe got up and got their food.
"They're not getting their food from the same place," Raven whispered in my ear. She was right, the other kids were getting their food from a completely different place. The place they got their breakfast was on the outside, closer to their tables, but then they had to walk all the way up to the fire to offer food to the gods.
"It must be some form to embarrass them, and I bet the food isn't as good," I whispered back. We were silent for another minute, until something worse happened. This little boy went back to his table, instead of going to the fire to give an offering. Nobody noticed right away, but before he made it back to his seat everyone had fallen silent. Then out of the shadows came a man, a big guy, with tattoos up his arms. He was big and full of muscles. He marched right up to the kid.
"I saw what you did," he stated in a calm voice. He didn't yell, but everyone could hear him. "Is this how you thank the gods? They give you safety and you can't even give them a piece of bacon? What do you have to say for yourself?"
The boy started whimpering. "I'm sorry, I was just so hungry. Please don't hurt me!" he wailed. A sick feeling started to form in my gut.
"Oh no," Raven murmured. The man shook his head at the now crying boy.
"Pathetic," he snarled. He raised his hand and slapped the boy across the face, hard. The little kid fell back a couple feet, and the man approached him. The guy picked the kid up by the neck and raised him up for everyone to see.
"You see this kid? He has disrespected the gods and he shall be punished! Tomorrow afternoon he'll receive ten lashes and then have lemon juice poured on the cuts. I will have someone heal him then and the process will be repeated. Today though he will be starved, he deserves no food. I hope you all take him as an example, for this will be the official punishment from now on! And every time you do it you will have five more lashed added!" the man yelled. Then he grabbed the collar of the boy's shirt and dragged him off. The kid started screaming and begging and crying, until it suddenly ceased. Raven grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"That was awful, I mean, I've seen worse but nothing like that for something so small," Raven began. I could only nod. I wanted to take down the gods before, but now I wanted it ten times as much.
"I hope he gives him water," was the only thing I could think to say. Raven and I walked by the lake, to a part hidden from sight.
"Hey, Nico do you know how that big fissure got there?" Raven asked curiously as we sat down. I grinned and nodded.
"I know."
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Why should I?"
"Because I asked."
"I asked you a lot of things that you never answered."
"I couldn't answer your questions."
"Yes, you could."
"Well, I wasn't allowed to."
"Since when did you care about rules?"
"Hey! For your information I am a law abiding citizen."
"Yeah, sure."
"Come on, please tell me."
"Well, since you said please I guess."
"Thanks!"
"It happened after my sister died, the winter before the Battle of the Labyrinth," I started.
"Wait," Raven interrupted. "What's the battle of the Labyrinth?"
"I'll tell you later. Okay, three years ago I was banished, that was right after the Second Titan War. A year before the Titan War was the Battle of the Labyrinth, this took place the winter before that summer. You get it?" Raven nodded.
"Okay so Kronos made these zombie things that were made to like hunt you down and they followed Percy around on his quest that winter. Then the quest was over and he came back to camp, they followed him but he didn't know that. When Percy came back I found out my sister died, and I was mad. You see I made Percy promise he'd bring my sister back,but she died. I ran to the Pavilion and Percy followed me. I got upset and started yelling at him, then the zombies came out. I hate to say this, but I thought Percy was trying to kill me. I opened the ground up and killed the zombies. Then I ran off, that's also how everyone figured out I was a son of Hades."
Raven stared at me for a minute and I glanced at the ground feeling embarrassed. Then she hugged me. I was completely caught off guard.
"That must have sucked, you were all alone. You didn't know how to use your powers. I don't know what that's like, in the Hermes cabin there's tons of us, and if you're ever sad there's always someone there to make you laugh," Raven sympathized. I smiled slightly think of my time in the Hermes cabin.
"I know I was there for a while."
"Oh," Raven was silent for a moment. "So how 'bout we just go into the heart of Camp and see what changed? We are in disguise."
"Alright, but let's try to avoid the campers," I agreed. It was obvious things had changed and we wouldn't learn anything new by hiding in the shadows like stalkers.
Raven and I walked to the cabins, there shouldn't be anyone over there right now. On the walk there we saw a bunch of posters stuck up on random buildings and trees. They said things like; Zeus knows when you're bad, Only the good go to Elysium, The gods are on your side, and Everything happens for a reason.
"It's almost like being back in the school counselor's room," Raven muttered. "And Zeus sounded like Santa Claus in that first one." I rolled my eyes, then I imagined Zeus as Santa Claus and smiled.
"Zeus isn't jolly enough," I reminded her. Raven snickered. "Yeah, I suppose Santa doesn't sit around threatening to kill kids," She joked.
"Of course not! If he did nobody would let him into their houses."
"He goes in with or without their consent, then he eats their food, and leaves something behind."
"Santa's kind of creepy," I decided.
"Yeah, who wants a big fat guy walking around their house in the middle of the night?"
"I think that would actually be kind of scary. You wake up in the middle of the night and stumble downstairs to get a cup of water, the you run into a giant fat guy eating your food," I hypothesized.
"That would defiantly freak some kids out." We laughed as we walked into the Cabins area.
The cabin area hadn't changed much. The cabins were still in a U shape and there was still that grassy area in the middle of the U. The only change was a huge wooden sign in the middle of the grassy area (seriously, what's this grassy space called?). There was nothing around the board for ten feet and at the top it read Rules in big letters.
"Ya know, I'm thinking' we should check that board out," Raven commented.
"Gee, thanks for the idea Captain Obvious," I thanked sarcastically.
"No problem, Lieutenant Sarcasm," she retorted.
We glanced around quickly to make sure there really was no one around. Then we walked up to the board. It read:
RULES
1. If you're not at the sing along you're in your cabin
2. Powers are only to be used in the arena; use of them in other places is prohibited and should be reported immediately
3. Food is only to be consumed at meal times in the pavilion
4. Punctuality is important
5. No one likes a mess; stay clean
6. The best things go to the best campers, so work hard
7. Quest are dangerous. Therefore only the smartest people and the best fighters may go quests.
8. There is a fine line between reporting someone and tattling, remember that.
9. Pranks aren't funny
10. It's not 'cool' to walk around angry all the time
11. If you are going to be in the woods during capture the flag you must be playing. Otherwise you must be in your cabin
12. Being out after dark requires a pass
13. Do not use the gods names in vain
14. Anyone who forgets to give offerings to the gods shall be punished severely
15. The gods come first, then other things
16. If you directly disobey a direct order from a god you can be sentenced to two weeks in the fields of punishment
17. Plotting to overthrow the gods is grounds for banishment to Tartarus
18. Thinking or boasting that you are above or better than one of the Olympian gods is wrong and they may punish you however they see fit.
19. Yelling at or contradicting a god is a crime
20. It is sometimes considered treason to speak scornfully of the gods, so watch your mouths
If you obey all these rules and respect the gods all should be well and you'll have a good time at Camp.
If you disobey these rules not only will you be punished you will be marked down and watched until your mark expires.
Remember Camp Half-Blood is the only safe place for kids like you and having a good time here is simple.
If you have any questions you can put them in the ask box outside of the Athena cabin.
If you need to report someone there is a report box and paperwork outside the Athena cabin as well.
"This brings it all into another light," I whisper. Raven nodded gravely.
"Looks like the gods have gone power crazy. I guess it was bound to happen eventually," Raven muttered. I shook my head.
"I think it's because of the war. The gods need us demigods and I think they were worried we wouldn't obey them. Then they banished us and started all of this," I theorized.
"When we go on our mission someone needs to come over here with a can of spray paint and write bullshit across that board." I grinned at her.
"That's a good idea, we should tell Travis when we get back."
"Yeah," Raven agreed. "You know what the worst part of the board is? A lot of these rules sound like suggestions. It's like they're daring kids to disobey them so they can make an example of them," Raven said quietly.
I felt a rising hatred in my stomach. I tried not to think about it in Tartarus, I didn't think there was any point. Now that we're back though it was all coming back. The things that the gods are doing just make it worse.
" 'Plotting to overthrow the gods is grounds for banishment to Tartarus'," I read. "They showed that they could do it. But you realize the other rebels, well Tic Tacs, they knew this could happen and yet they still met in secret and helped us get here. They knew what could happen, why did they start this rebellion? Why?" I ask no one is particular.
I couldn't stop thinking about it. The reality of it wasn't just hitting me in the face, it's picking me up and slamming me into a brick wall. I really wanted to screw the gods.
"Let's get out of here," I muttered, pulling Raven away from the board.
"Where do you want to go now?" Raven asked curiously.
"Let's go get a closer look at the Pavilion, it'll take our minds off things," I decided.
"Or more likely kindle the deep seated rage inside of us as it reminds us how much we despise the gods, but if you want to check it out it's fine by me," Raven said, except I think she was more talking to herself than me.
The Pavilion was just like we saw it a few minutes ago, nothing had changed. Raven and I walked forward cautiously at first, half expecting that dude from earlier to run out and try to kill us. Obviously he didn't.
We walked up to the fire first, I don't know why. It was still going and we were drawn to it. Then we heard the crying. It came from the other side of the fire and it looked like it was coming from a young girl.
"Should we approach her?" Raven asked quietly.
"I'm not sure, it could be a trap," I answered.
The girl looked up at us.
"Nico, Raven, you're just in time. Come over here, I want to talk to you." Raven and I exchanged looks. This can't be good, especially if she knows our names. We walked up to her though, yeah we're idiots, when it hit me.
"Hestia," I murmured. I really hope she's not like the rest of the gods. She wasn't like them before, but people can change. Hestia smiled.
"I'm glad you recognize me. Sit, there's much we need to talk about and not much time." Raven and I hurried to the bench across from Hestia.
"It's so nice to see you both again. The gods can be quite foolish, throwing demigods in Tartarus for nothing."
"So can you tell us what's that all about?" Raven asked.
"Not really, Zeus has ears listening for certain words. It centers around a prophecy though," Hestia explained.
"Of course it does," I muttered. "Because fate decides everything and the gods can't make choices for themselves."
"Be careful what you say, there usually aren't many ears around the Pavilion at this time of day but you never know," Hestia warned.
"So can you brief us on what's been happening around Camp?" Raven and I asked simultaneously. Hestia chuckled.
"That was the main reason I wanted to talk to you. I don't usually quote Athena, but 'Knowledge is power'."
"And power corrupts," Raven added quietly.
"That's much smarted than what most thirteen or fourteen year old children would say," Hestia noted.
"Dude, I should be like Thirty-eight."
True, back to what I was saying. After you were banished quite a lot of demigods were angry, so the gods made changes. You've already seen a lot of these changes. They put the Athena cabin in charge of everything."
"Wait," I interrupted. "How do they know the Athena cabin will stay loyal?"
"I believe it's called emotional abuse, the gods have been planning this for years. Athena just ingrained it in her children's heads that she knows everything and can't be wrong.
They made the Camp stricter because demigods thought if Percy could get away with back talking the gods why can't they? They even changed the Mythology classes to make them sound good. There's a giant mythology class in the arena an hour after lunch today.
There are also random check ups from the gods, as you will see, and what the god judges depends on the god. Basically the god just comes to install fear in them and remind them how weak and imperfect they are.
Also, since the top twelve are the ones making most of this up their kids get better treatment. If the gods don't think well of your parent you get treated worse."
"Wow, I'm kind of glad I got sent to Tartarus when I did," Raven commented. "I missed out on a war, year years of turmoil, punishment from the gods, pain, death, and destruction." I gave her a look.
"Okay maybe not pain," Raven amended.
"There are two things I request of you. One, I would like you to stay here and watch the check up. Second, I would like you to give this note to Travis Stoll." Hestia handed me a fold piece of paper.
"Do you mind if we read it?" Raven asked. Hestia raised an eyebrow.
"Would you do it no matter what I say?"
"Psh me? Disobey the will of a god? Please, of course I would. No offence." Hestia rolled her eyes.
"I don't mind if you read it. I must be leaving soon, make sure you two find a good hiding spot."
"Before you go I have one more question," I started. "Why were you crying?"
"Oh," Hestia smiled sadly. "Because of that little boy, he'll be in so much pain for just one offering. You see the minor demigods are only allowed a certain amount of food and they have to give a fifth of their food as an offering. I felt so horrible for the child." I nodded in understanding. Then Hestia murmured a goodbye and disappeared.
"So what does the note say?" Raven asked. I opened it up and looked down.
"It says 'Travis please put me on team three and four ~ Hestia
P.S. I will see you at the meeting', " I read.
THALIA
Two and a half hours later we had figured out the teams. It was pretty simple when you thought about it. We had six groups, two of them were for the actual operation and the other four were to make sure they didn't get caught.
Team One is the Vandalism Crew. They're the ones who are destroying the gods' thrones. On it was Percy, Nico, Lou Ellen, Raven, Raff, and I. It would be hard enough to sneak up to Olympus unnoticed so we went with as small of a group as we could.
Team Two is the Propaganda Crew. They're the ones who are hacking into the Athena cabin's mail system. Their crew is Angel, Jake, Clarisse, Leo Valdez, a Hecate kid, a Hermes kid, and a Iris kid.
Teams Three and Four are surveillance and distraction for Team One. They kind of work together since both can do the other's job. We put Travis in charge of both teams. Besides Travis, their crews have Lea, Chris, and a mix of kids from Hermes, Hecate, Hephaestus, Ares, and Nemesis.
Teams Three and Four are pretty much the same. Except they work for Team Two, Connor is in charge, and they have Butch and Will.
Right now we were trying to decide what to do to the gods' thrones that would tick them off the most.
"What if we just burned them all to the ground?" Raff asked. Travis shook his head.
"The things are the gods' seats of power, they would know if they were damaged. That's why this is hard. We need to find a nondestructive way to mar their thrones," Travis explained. I nodded.
"So we'll probably need a lot of spray paint," I summed up. Travis grinned. "We should start at the top," I continued. "First we'll think of what to do to Zeus's throne and so forth. Before we do that though do either of you guys have an idea already for a throne?" Travis raised his hand.
"Miss. Grace I do indeed have an idea," Travis answered. I nodded and waited for him continue. He didn't.
"Are you just gonna keep it to yourself or are you planning on sharing your idea?" I asked.
"Well, I was just letting guys know I had an idea. Now that you mention it I might as share it. So Hermes is on our side, ya know?"
"Wait, he is?" Raff interrupted. We both looked at Travis surprised.
"Huh, I could've sworn we told you. Oh well. Anyway since Hermes is on our side I don't want to do anything too bad to his throne. I figured we could get Lou Ellen to make his throne disappear, then the gods wouldn't be suspicious and we don't have to vandalize his throne," Travis told us.
"I like it," Raff complimented.
"Yeah, it's a good idea for a son of Hermes," I agreed teasingly.
"Hey, no hatin' on Hermes kids. One of your good friends is a daughter of Hermes," Travis countered.
"Yes, said friend also tried to convince us to rob a bank. Several times," I retorted.
"Point taken," Travis surrendered.
"I'll just write that idea down next to Hermes then," Raff muttered. Travis glanced at him and smirked mischievously.
"I don't know how robbing a bank will help us vandalize Hermes' throne, but I guess we can still do it. If we get caught I'm blaming you," Travis commented. Raff looked completely taken aback.
"What?"
"Don't play innocent with me. We all know you're an evil, twisted little demigod on the inside. Tartarus changed you for the worse, and now you're going to unleash your evilness on the world!" Travis threw out his arms dramatically.
"First you'll rob from all the banks of small quantities of money so you'll be rich. Then you'll start dealing drugs, and building your empire. After that you'll add contract killer to your list of achievements, that way people will know not to screw with you.
All you need to get started is a few tips from some master thieves and you'll be ready to go. You think you can just trick us like that? You think we're dumb? Don't answer that. We're so onto you," Travis accused. Raff's mouth just opened and closed like a fish.
"Dude, I swear I have no idea what you're talking about," Raff said. Travis put his hand up.
"I can't listen to this. You're pathetic."
"Seriously, I swear I was referring to the whole 'make Hermes's throne disappear thing'," Raff tried to explain.
"Oh, so now you're plotting to steal my dad's throne are ya?" Travis questioned. Raff pulled at his hair.
"No! Why don't you get it?"
"I get that you're completely evil and are out to destroy us." Raff his himself on the head with his notebook.
"I hate my life."
"That's funny I thought criminal really liked their lives," Travis commented. Raff glared at him.
"Are you usually this dumb or did you forget to take your medication this morning?" Travis cracked a grin.
"Finally, man chill out I was just screwing with you. I wanted to how long it would take for you to crack."
"Did I pass your test?"
"Yeah, you did okay. I didn't know it was a test though, I just really wanted to screw with you." Raff shook his head muttering something about children of Hermes all being the same. I just leaned back and watched it all.
"Back to the thrones what should be do to Zeus's?" I asked. "I suppose we could pour water all over his throne, but that's kind of boring."
"Well how about instead of just dumping water on it we freeze the water so when he sits down he slips and falls out of his chair," Travis suggested.
"And we make it magical so he can't remove it," Raff added.
"We should also put dye in it, so when he does get it off his throne will look ridicules," I mused.
"The dye should be like pink with golden hearts," Travis decided. We all grinned at each other, now this was teamwork.
"Two thrones down. What should we do to Hera's throne?" Raff asked.
"Oh that's easy, we cover her throne in piles of cow poop, and decorate it with cow parts," I decided.
"I guess you'll be the one doing that?" Travis guessed.
"I don't know, Percy really doesn't like Hera," I informed them.
A couple hours later we had a plan for all the thrones.
Zeus: We were going to freeze magical dyed water on his throne, so it would take forever to melt and when it did it would dye his throne pink with golden hearts.
Hera: Her throne was going to be covered in cow poop and cow body parts. Yeah, we know, it's gross.
Poseidon: A never ending ring of flames was going to surround his throne. And we were going to have dead fish roasting in the fire.
Hades: We had a lot of trouble on this one. In the end we decided to cover his throne with stuffed animals, and make it squeak out 'I love you' whenever he sat in it.
Ares: Here we decided to take all of his weapons and write girly things on them, or put bows and ribbons on them. We also thought is would be funny to put little cupids all over the throne and have them sing an embarrassing song about Ares, whenever Ares threatened someone.
Dionysus: We're going to put a bunch of broken wine bottles on his throne, with the wine still on the ground. Whenever he tries to fix them or clean them up they'll just reappear broken. The wine will turn to pee if anyone tries to drink it, and using a magic pen we'll draw faces on the leaves of his throne. But the faces will be animated and able to talk because of the pen.
Hermes: His is just going to disappear.
Aphrodite: This was simple and obvious. We just cover her throne in dirt and bugs, and we steal her makeup.
Apollo: We decided that the easiest thing to do would be to graffiti his throne and write over all his poems and stuff with a permanent marker. And we'll cover his the foot of his throne in snow, we might see if we can get a snow cloud over it.
Artemis: According to Travis Artemis almost never talked to the gods anymore, and didn't seem too happy with them. We decided to be nicer to her and just cover her throne in pictures of male actors and singers.
Demeter: None of us were really sure what her throne looked like so we were kind of stumped for a while. Then we remembered her obsession with cereal and decided to smash up cereal boxes and stuff, and pour milk on her throne. Yeah, not our best idea.
Hephaestus: We weren't sure if Hephaestus was on our side or not. If he was we didn't want to tick him off, but we still have to vandalize his throne. In the end we decided to plant flowers and things on his throne.
We were congratulating each other on a job well done when Percy burst in. He was half dressed, his hair was a mess, and he looked slightly crazy.
PERCY
I feel asleep before I even hit my mattress. Of course I didn't have a nice peaceful sleep either. I floated around in darkness for a while which was kind of peaceful, at least I felt well rested.
Suddenly I was in the woods with two campers who looked to be in their early teens. I think there's something wrong with my dreaming connection because I only caught half of the things they said. We were on a worn path in the woods, so not hearing everything they said was really annoying. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss this path during my four years at Camp, so I kinda wanted to know where we were.
I heard the girl say something about Lea and a cabin, I managed to puzzle out where the path went. I heard the kids say they were going to the Pavilion and then I wasn't there anymore.
I was standing by the kids again, but this time I couldn't hear anything. We were standing in front of a giant sign labeled "Rules". It took me a moment, but I realized I was at the cabin area. I turned my attention back to the rules, they kind of sucked. Not very fair at all, it seemed like the gods had done us a favor by throwing us in Tartarus. Somehow I don't think the gods knew about the factories in Tartarus. I wonder why Hades would keep that a secret.
I was still reading the rules when my dream changed again. I was still with the boy and girl except this time we were hiding, and I could hear everything. The hiding spot was over looking the Pavilion and I guessed it was about lunch time.
"What do you think the check up is going to be like?" asked the girl. The boy shrugged. Huh, now that I'm closer he looks kind of familiar.
"I don't know, but Hestia wants us to see it. It must be important," the boy responded. Hestia? What does she have to do with this?
"I wonder which god it'll be," the girl commented.
"I just hope it isn't one of the smart watchful ones," the boy said. The girl snickered.
"I think we'll be fine." That determines it, they must be some of the rebels. I wanna know what a checkup is though. Is a doctor going to come and give everyone flu shots? That would explain why they were hiding. Something tells me that's not quite it though.
The boy and girl stopped talking and turned their attention to the Pavilion. All the Campers had fallen silent. There was a big puff of pink smoke, and then the Goddess of Love was standing next to the fire.
"Surprise, it's a good thing I came today. Camp is becoming an absolute mess," Aphrodite greeted. She then pointed at a boy standing near a table in the way.
"What's your name?" She demanded.
"A-aaraon," he stuttered. Aphrodite put one hand on her hip and then waved her other hand upward. The boy's pants flew up and lifted the boy off the ground for a moment. I winced, that's gotta hurt.
"I don't know what's with you boys and wearing your pants on your knees, but I hate it." Aphrodite turned her attention to Chiron, and immediately all the boys started pulling their pants up.
"What's she talking about? The whole wearing your pants low thing?" The girl whispered to the boy.
"I'll explain later." How can she not be aware of that fashion trend? It's pretty obvious.
Aphrodite turned back to the Campers.
"I like things to be neat and organized, so Chiron has provided me with a list of all the Campers here. I'm going to do a roll call."
"Oh no," murmured the girl.
"What?" the boy asked.
"Travis isn't here," the girl whispered. I glanced towards the Hermes table. She was right, Connor was sitting there looking slightly panicked, but keeping it under control.
"I hope everyone is here, because any Camper not present won't love their life very much," Aphrodite announced.
Then I woke up. I laid there for a moment in shock. Then once the realization that Travis could be in big trouble I leapt up from the bed.
I dashed from room to room, trying to figure out where Travis was. I was passing Thalia's room for the second time that I thought she might know. I burst in ready to blurt out a million things at once. Then I saw Travis sitting there.
You can't imagine how relived I was. If Travis got caught everything would be ruined, people would lose moral. Plus who knew what would happen to Travis. The gods are capable of terrible things.
I wondered if they were even going to take me seriously. I must look crazy to them. They might just tell me to go back to sleep. That doesn't matter though, Travis is in danger.
All of this flashed through my mind in seconds as I entered the room. I didn't hesitate to start talking.
"Travis you need to get to the Pavilion now," I ordered.