Hey there, here's another chapter and it has Octavian again and no Percy, sorry! I know you've been asking for it so I posted another story entitled Talking to a shadow, it's not related and it's just a percy/zoe oneshot but Percy won't be coming in for a while in this story so read it if you're interested. I can't guarentee it's good.

Anyway, here is the next chapter and do tell me if I still need to make Zoe more intelligent, I like criticisms and feedback.

Octavian had made my life here much harder than it really needed to be. I would've been content to have been completely unknown at camp, perhaps slowly gaining a little respect due to my experience. Instead, thanks to him, everything I did was looked upon with suspicion and any skills I showed were evidence against me. And he didn't particularly care.

When I'd meet with him, he described it as a sacrifice for the good of the camp but really it was a way to further his own aims. I could see that now and he didn't appear to feel any guilt for it, though since he generally had an unreadable face, it wasn't a great indicator.

However there wasn't really much I could do about it, I think people would be suspicious of me no matter what I did. I might be able to wreck his carefully laid plans to set himself up for Praetor, but for what? Revenge that won't improve my situation? What if he was the ideal candidate for the next Praetor?

I hadn't met anyone so far who would be much better than Octavian and if I helped him then he might help me. If I became his enemy, he could likely find some way to make my situation worse.

Still, I refused to be intimidated by him, sure in our last meeting I had implied that I would support him but that wasn't in any way binding and I could change my mind. I didn't think he'd retaliate in any way as he hadn't appeared keen on me supporting him anyway. Even if he did try something, what was the worst he could do? And if he did, I would do everything in my power to prevent him from being Praetor, that was a decent threat, wasn't it?

So there was a lot to consider with people like Octavian which was why I rarely liked dealing with them. Of course there was something delightful about all of it as well, it was like a game with high stakes and high rewards.

I'd learned that chances were, another Praetor wouldn't be elected for several months, assuming Jason didn't return, which was unlikely. So I had time and would be fine if I didn't commit myself to Octavian, but didn't act hostile towards him either.

I was think of all this as I walked to meet up with him, as we'd planned a week previously. I entered and, as expected, Octavian was alone and had been waiting for me.

"Good morning, how are you?" He greeted me politely.

"Horrible, everyone keeps glaring at me for some reason," I replied, wondering if he could act sympathetic.

He only chuckled at my reply so probably not. "You're exaggerating, most people just avoid you and its not like you're utterly alone."

He had a point, the last week hadn't been that bad even if I was getting far too much attention. I did hate being blamed though, especially as I was already upset about Jason's disappearance.

"If these are your methods then I'm not sure if you'll be a very good Praetor," I replied furiously however.

He stopped smiling and looked at me seriously. "I care about the camp as a whole, whereas you seem to only care about yourself and a little suffering," he said coldly.

He was calling me selfish? I tried to calm myself down though, he was probably just trying to get me angry.

"You see the forest, not the trees," I said quietly. "Be careful with how much you sacrifice for your aims; someone will rise up and kill you in revenge."

"I'm sure I will anticipate it," Octavian replied, dismissing the danger.

I clenched my fists, irritated that he wasn't taking my advice seriously. I was listening to him, and I had considered how the camp has benefited from the order in having just one person to blame for what happened to Jason. I couldn't see many benefits. Though it had definitely helped Octavian and he was calling me selfish.

"You will overestimate yourself. I'm sure you have great intentions but actions speak louder than words," I advised him, keeping my anger hidden.

"You certainly appear wise, don't you Zoe? Quoting adages, well they're just words," he said, a little defensively, I thought.

Maybe I did need to prove myself somehow though, and not just to Octavian. I could show the camp a reason not to hate me, a reason to accept me. If I do genuinely kind and helpful things then maybe people will respect me. In fact, that was probably why Louise and John were my friends - as I'd shown them how to enchant arrows.

"Very well," I replied, "what shall I do?"

Octavian looked at me in surprise, apparently not expecting me to agree so easily. After a moment he spoke however, "you could go on a quest, well a journey, for supplies for the camp."

That was a little larger than I had agreed to do but perhaps Octavian didn't understand the idea of little acts of kindness, only big acts. But it would be undeniably useful as I remembered how the camp was low on gold and Reyna's Pegasus, Scipio, was the only Pegasus at camp. I wouldn't mind hunting for some more.

"I will do it then. Where can I get permission to leave the camp?" I said, becoming excited by the prospect of seeking out Pegasi.

Octavian grinned, possibly scheming in order to find a way to take credit for my deeds, if he did then he clearly hadn't listened to me and I would lose all respect I had for him. Of course he could be thinking of something else entirely.

"I'll tell Reyna, don't worry about that, you won't need much, will you?"

"A little food and supplies preferably," I replied, though I could've managed with less.

"Excellent, you stay here and I'll get anything you need, you can leave within an hour," he said eagerly and began moving.

Well that was quick. "Wait, tell everyone I'm going in aid of the camp, not some ridiculous lie or else," I warned him.

He froze and turned to face me. "Don't bother threatening me, I can make your life unpleasant too, dead girl," he threatened with a smirk and I really hoped he didn't... know anything.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand, you can't hide your past from me, I read prophecies," Octavian said, grinning wickedly and I realised he'd been waiting to mention this, he was ready to blackmail me.

Somehow, he knew I used to be dead and he was ready to tell anyone if I didn't listen to him. But I couldn't let him control me like that. I had remembered why I wanted to work with him, but against him though.

"If you cross me, I will cut out your tongue," I declared with a mad grin of my own. "But we can work together."

Octavian considered my threat, trying to figure out if I would follow through with it but I didn't even know if I would. "Very well," he said, "we can with together."

Because it seems that the alternative would be to destroy ourselves and I wasn't one to be defeated with any ease.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps from behind us, someone was coming in! There was no time to disappear so I turned to face the newcomer. It was a pale, dark-haired boy that seemed very familiar, had I met him before?

"Ah! It's the ambassador of Pluto, he visits the camp sometimes, Zoe," Octavian said, looking pleased that it was him.

The boy stared at me, he clearly knew me - I must have seen him before somewhere.

"Zoe? Zoe Nightshade? What are you doing here?" He said in a stunned voice.

Octavian was surprised too, "have you met Nico di Angelo before?"

So Nico has entered the story, and next chapter Zoe will leave camp for a while next chapter, I want to get this story moving. Thanks for reading and please do review!

By the way 'She could not see the forest for the trees' is an adage/saying meaning being too focused on details and not the whole picture. Zoe says the inverse, that Octavian is too focused on the bigger picture to notice the individual trees.