Woo, another Friday! Thanks to all of you who reviewed last chapter - glad I can still surprise you guys, haha. Think I can do it a few more times? We'll find out later! Heh heh.

Enjoy!

XXVIII
PIPER

The council was restless. They'd been called together so suddenly that evening without warning or explanation, their only clue being that an extraction team had just returned to camp and gone straight to Chiron. Something important must have happened, because within minutes all the council members present had been rounded up and ordered to the Big House rec room immediately.

Piper had been eating at the pavilion when Jason's sister Thalia had approached her. At first, she'd been worried Thalia was planning to start some sort of confrontation about Jason. But all the hunter had said was that Chiron had called an emergency council meeting, and that at the moment no one knew the reason. So now here she was, sitting in the big, cushy armchair Leo liked to occupy while all around her people spoke in hushed whispers, speculating the cause of the sudden gathering.

Piper thought the council appeared rather sparse. Leo, Nico, and Reyna were missing of course, still off on their quest. Nyssa, a tough, scary-looking girl from the Hephaestus cabin, was filling in for her brother. Butch had returned from the infirmary with a cast on his leg, though in return they'd lost Travis Stoll, who was still in a coma. Connor and Katie were sitting together, both ashen-faced and silent. Will Solace stood in a corner, his face shadowy. Jason and Octavian sat on opposite sides of the room, very obviously avoiding each other's eyes and each surrounded by a few Roman centurions—all except Pete, who still couldn't walk, and Frank and Hazel, whose whereabouts Piper didn't know. Clovis was snoring on the couch again, with Pollux from Dionysus poking him every now and then in a weak effort to wake him. Lou Ellen of Hecate and Clarisse of Ares were missing as well. Lastly, Thalia was leaning against the wall beside Piper's chair and Annabeth was pacing impatiently past them, looking highly anxious. Her boyfriend's absence was perhaps the most conspicuous of all of them.

"Would you stop that?" Piper said suddenly, exasperated. "That pacing is making me nervous."

Annabeth halted abruptly, biting her lip. "I can't help it. Earlier, Miranda told me… I mean, if it was that bad, we'd know right away, wouldn't we? Nothing could have…" And with that helpful bit of information, she shook her head adamantly and resumed her pacing. Piper growled in frustration and dropped her head into her hands. This waiting was driving her nuts.

Suddenly—finally—the door opened and Chiron strode in, wheelchair-less and in full centaur mode. He had to duck to fit through the doorway. Once he'd entered and moved across to the largest empty space, a group of people followed him in—Percy, Clarisse, Frank, Lou Ellen, and three boys Piper didn't know. Presumably they were the demigods the extraction team had been sent to recover. Annabeth exhaled and immediately rushed forward, throwing her arms around Percy with a cry of "Oh, thank the gods! I thought…" But she pulled back and noticed the look on his face at the same time Piper did—a strange mix of worry and pain. "What's wrong?" Annabeth asked softly.

Percy placed a hand on her arm and guided her a step to the side, his eyes sliding over the room. Everyone was watching him, so quiet they could have been holding their breath. Piper took a second to survey their appearances—all four campers bore a number of small cuts, bruises, and burns and looked generally worse for wear. It was clear they'd just been in some kind of fight. But what Percy said next was something nobody was expecting: "Drew's dead."

No one spoke. Piper felt like she'd been stabbed in the gut. Her half-sister was… dead? How? Why? That couldn't be right. Sure, she had never particularly liked Drew. But she couldn't imagine her just… not being there.

"How do you know?" someone asked. Piper was still too stunned to realize who.

"We…" Percy began, his voice faltering. He exchanged a glance with Lou Ellen, who blinked a tear from her eye and looked down. "We saw Erebos kill her."

The silence shattered like thin glass.

"You saw Erebos?"

"Where was he?"

"How'd you get away?"

"What happened?"

"We saw a vision," Percy shouted over the many voices. "In Central Park. We were fighting these two drakons and—"

"Drakons?"

"Erebos has drakons?"

"Two of them?"

"Enough!" Chiron's voice instantly silenced the crowd as he stamped his hooves on the floor. "If you would please refrain from interrupting, I'm sure Percy and the others will be more than happy to fully explain what has happened." He turned and nodded to them, folding his arms across his chest. The situation had to be serious for Chiron to seem so distressed, which people must have begun to realize as the muttering did not continue.

"We, uh…" Percy went on, looking distracted, "we beat the drakons and were about to head back when we all suddenly had the same vision. It was Erebos, sending us a message. I mean, uh… sending me a message." His eyes turned a bit cloudy and he grimaced as though in pain. He opened his mouth, but hesitated.

Clarisse was watching him with narrowed eyes. Then she took over abruptly, "He wanted Jackson to turn himself in—go to Olympus unarmed and surrender. Every day he doesn't, Erebos plans to kill somebody from the camp."

The little color in Percy's face seemed to vanish, confirming that Clarisse hadn't been exaggerating. A few people gasped in surprise. Piper felt her eyes widen. Katie threw a hand over her mouth. Annabeth's hand jerked like she wanted to reach toward her boyfriend, but she seemed to resist the urge and instead only watched him with sad eyes.

"So… he killed Drew just to prove a point?" Will asked, revulsion on his face. Piper felt a swell of anger toward the King of Darkness. She knew gods didn't have much regard for human lives, but that was going too far.

Connor leaned forward and asked with a frown, "What does he want with you, Percy?"

Percy blinked at the sound of his name, seeming to rejoin the conversation from some sort of dream. "I don't know," he answered, "but I'll find out soon enough. I'm doing what he says."

"No, you're not," Annabeth argued at once, crossing her arms resolutely.

Her boyfriend rounded on her. "Yes, I am," he repeated in the exact same tone of voice. "I'm not letting him kill anyone else."

"So we increase border security," Annabeth shot back. "No one leaves camp. If he can't get to us, he can't hurt us. Percy, we don't even know why he needs you. There's no sense in letting him win until we at least figure out what's going on."

"Sure would be great if we had the gods' help right about now," Butch pointed out.

Which brought up an important question. "Hey," Piper said with a frown, "shouldn't Leo and the others have reached Death Valley by now?"

A low murmur of assent rippled across the room as everyone realized the truth in this statement. Leo had claimed they could make the trip in fourteen hours. It had been nearly twenty-four, and still their situation remained unchanged. If all had gone according to plan, the gods would have awoken by now. Had they run into trouble? Was Hypnos not in Death Valley at all? Were they even still alive?

"There must have been a holdup," Thalia suggested, though she didn't look convinced. "I'm sure they're fine."

"I think if Erebos had found them, he would have been all too happy to let us know," Octavian pointed out. "He didn't mention anything of the sort in his message, did he?" When Frank and Lou Ellen shook their heads, Octavian went on, "Then it should be safe to assume he's still unaware of our little side-mission. If Nyx had either caught them or been defeated, Erebos would be the first to know."

Piper caught Octavian's eye and a silent sort of understanding seemed to pass through them. A sense of pride swept over her—it looked like he'd taken her words to heart after all.

And what was more, he made a very good point. Of course, that didn't mean Leo and the others hadn't run into some other danger along the way, but she was relatively confident that anything less than the goddess of night would be something he, Nico, and Reyna could handle.

"For what it's worth," Chiron spoke up, sounding considerably calmer than before, "I agree with Annabeth. No one—" he glanced sideways at Percy, who avoided his eyes, "—should do anything reckless until we obtain more information. No one will leave camp unless absolutely necessary, and never alone. We aren't taking any chances with the King of Darkness." He paused and glanced first at Jason, then at Octavian. "I can't give orders to the Roman Legion, but I hope you'll agree when I say I see this as the best option."

"It's a good plan," Jason said with a frown.

Octavian nodded to Chiron. "We'll follow your lead." Jason raised his eyebrows at Octavian, but neither he nor any of the other Romans said another word on the matter.

"Very well," Chiron said grimly. "Lou Ellen. Your cabin has been in charge of maintaining the barrier around the camp. If there's anything you can do to strengthen it, now would be an excellent time to do it. Jason, Octavian. I think we should increase the border patrol and overlap the shifts. The Romans are known for their organization and discipline. If you'd accept the task…?" They both nodded curtly, and Chiron inclined his head in thanks. "Nyssa. I understand you and your cabin are working on a solution to our electricity problem?"

Nyssa nodded. "Hydraulic power. Leo's idea. We've managed to modify a few electrical converters to increase output area. All that's left is to re-route all the wiring to the Sound and get the converters installed. Should take another day or so."

"Good, do it," Chiron said. He held a hand out toward the three boys beside Frank. "Lastly, I'd like a volunteer to show our new residents around the camp and explain a bit more of our situation in detail."

"I'll do it," Piper spoke up. She needed something to do to take her mind off of the loss of her sister, and to put off the time until she had to see the rest of her cabin mates.

"Thank you, Piper," Chiron said with a nod. Then he paused a moment, looking at all of them in turn. "Now more than ever, it's important that we work together in this. Apart, we make much easier targets for our enemies to hurt and manipulate. But as one army, we may still be able to resist them. I want you all to inform your cabins and Cohorts of this development—they must know that Erebos is moving. It may scare them, but fear spurs action. And in any case, it's better than a false sense of security we can no longer afford. It's time we all start facing the truth of this war."

Piper hated the way he said that, even though he was right. She wasn't looking forward to bringing the terrible news to her cabin mates. And by the looks on the others' faces, neither were they.

"Where's Hazel?" Annabeth asked after a long moment of tense silence. "Wasn't she with you guys?"

"Infirmary," Frank replied. When a few people looked at him in alarm, he added quickly, "She's okay, just got a bad burn off one of the drakons. Nothing serious."

"It's very lucky none of you were hurt," Chiron put in with a frown. "Drakons aren't to be taken lightly. That you all defeated two with no real injuries is very impressive. That being said, I think we've spent enough time discussing tonight's events. We have work to do." He waved his hands and as one everyone rose to their feet and began shuffling out of the rec room.

Piper was slow to move; her arms and legs felt sort of numb and tingly as the truth of their situation started to sink in, like liquid cement slowly filling her body and weighing her down. The unease among her fellow campers was so obvious and thick it was like walking through a fog. She got up and started toward the door where the new kids were waiting, but stopped when she saw Percy and Annabeth a ways away, talking in harsh whispers that she couldn't make out. It was clear, though, that they were arguing—especially when Percy tore his arm from Annabeth's grip and stalked away from her. Halfway to the door he suddenly stumbled and grunted in pain, hands going to his head, and Piper, now beside him, reached out and grabbed him tightly before he lost his balance. As she steadied him, he fixed her with pained, unfocused eyes and she felt her stomach turn over in alarm.

"What—?" she started to ask, but that was all she got out before he shook his head and pulled away from her, shoving past the remainder of the leaving crowd in a way that was so unlike him that it only further proved how much their situation had changed. Stunned and worried, Piper looked over at Annabeth, who turned away as soon as they made eye contact—which didn't help to ease Piper's anxiety. She knew Annabeth and Percy quite well. They argued, but somehow they were always on the same side, always together. They cared too much about each other to let any sort of fight get between them. And now, this war seemed to be driving even them apart.

Shaking that uncomfortable thought aside, Piper approached the three boys she'd volunteered to show around. "I promise this place isn't usually so depressing," she told them with a small smile, lightening her tone. "I'm Piper. What are your names?"

"Grant Parker," the second-oldest boy, who was probably about nine, introduced himself. "This is my brother, Nathan." The youngest boy grinned, showing two missing teeth.

Piper noticed that the third and oldest guy, who looked to be about her age, was only half paying attention to her and instead glancing warily around the room as everyone filed out. His eyes—one of which was strangely white—kept landing on Chiron with guarded interest.

"You'll get used to him," she told the guy, and he looked down at her as though just realizing she was there. She smiled. "You got a name?"

"Kendall," he answered, looking her up and down critically. "Kendall Donelson."

"Well, boys," Piper said, clapping her hands together. "Let's get this tour started."

-ψ-ψ-ψ-

Grant and Nathan, Piper quickly learned, were very easily excited. They didn't seem to care that they'd just been taken in by a wartime refugee camp. All that mattered to them was that they were now surrounded by a bunch of people who could swordfight and do magic. Piper didn't try too hard to dissuade them from their excitement, though. It lightened her own mood to see even a few people so happy. Good feelings were contagious, after all, and right now they could all use a bit more good feelings.

Kendall was quieter throughout the tour. He listened to everything Piper was saying and took in the sights, but it was clear that at least he understood that they were at war. Judging by the scar over his eye and the way his nose looked like it had been broken and reformed, he'd seen his fair share of fights before. But even a rough childhood couldn't exactly prepare you for an immortal war. Still, a new recruit that made a potential fighter wasn't an unwelcome thing these days.

"So do any of you have an idea who your godly parent is?" Piper asked the boys as they walked up from the fireworks beach. When they all shook their heads, she said, "Don't worry. The gods have been, well… tied up lately. I'm sure we'll get you sorted out once the war is over."

"I wish we could know now," Nathan complained. "I hope it's someone super cool so we get awesome powers. Who's your parent, Piper? Do you have awesome powers?"

"My mother is Aphrodite," Piper explained. "The goddess of love. I don't really have any superpowers, but… I do have this ability called 'charmspeak'. I can use it to convince people to do stuff."

Grant's eyes widened in interest. "What kind of stuff?"

"All kinds of stuff." Piper felt a little awkward and self-conscious discussing the ability that used to get her in so much trouble. She wasn't exactly proud of some of the things she'd used it for.

"Sounds lame," Nathan said off-handedly.

Piper raised an eyebrow. Okay, so charmspeak wasn't a glamorous demigod ability. But it was still pretty useful. "You think so?" she said. Clearing her throat and lacing magic in her voice, she said firmly, "Jump up and down and quack like a duck." Nathan did immediately as she ordered, causing a few people in the vicinity to look around in alarm. Grant burst out laughing and Piper chuckled in amusement. Even Kendall cracked a grin.

"Monsters are usually just as susceptible to charmspeak as humans," she told the boys once Nathan had stopped making animal noises and given her an apologetic and sheepish smile. "Sometimes it comes in major handy. It's saved me and my friends' lives on a number of occasions."

"Okay, it's not so bad I guess," Nathan admitted. "But I still want something different. Earlier, we saw a guy move a whole bunch of water with his mind and make it kill a giant snake monster!"

Piper smiled to herself, picturing that scene. "That'll be Percy. His father is Poseidon, the Sea God." She felt her smile break a bit when she remembered how frustrated and hurt Percy had seemed at the council meeting. Trying not to dwell on it, she added, "I wouldn't get my hopes up, though—there haven't been any other Poseidon kids in a long time."

"What other kinds of powers do people here have?" Grant asked.

"Well, it varies a lot, actually. Some are just good fighters or weapon-makers. Others are more special—my boyfriend can fly, for instance. And my best friend can create fire at will."

"Fire?" Nathan repeated, eyes widening. "Cool!"

"There's also a guy who can call an army of skeletons," Piper went on, enjoying the excited looks on the young boys' faces. "And the other guy you were with tonight, Frank? He can change into animals."

"You guys sound like a gang of comic book superheroes," Kendall pointed out wryly.

Piper shrugged. "I guess we kind of are. So… do you guys have any family?"

Grant and Nathan's faces fell a bit. "Not anymore," Grant said solemnly. "We had our dad, but… he died a few weeks ago. We told them he was killed by a monster, but they didn't believe us so… we ran away."

"I'm sorry," Piper said sympathetically. It wasn't uncommon for the family members of demigods to fall victim to monster attacks. Half-bloods apparently gave off a pretty strong smell, and monsters were too good at tracking it. The war probably only made things worse, with creatures roaming the streets in higher numbers. "Where did you live before?"

"Newark, mostly. We traveled a lot, though. Our dad played pro football for the Giants, and he always took us with him on the road."

As Nathan interrupted his brother to speculate more about superpowers, Piper turned to Kendall. "What about you? Any family?"

"No, just me," he said a bit flatly. "My mom gave me up when I was little. Never knew anything about my dad." He shrugged, clearly not planning to go on, but when Piper raised her eyebrows expectantly he gave a short sigh and added, "I grew up in a foster home, okay? Not that exciting. I'm sure it's pretty common around here."

Piper didn't answer. It actually wasn't all that common, though she supposed she could understand why he might think it was. Gods were notoriously bad parents, after all. With a twinge in her chest she suddenly thought of Leo, who was one of the only other people she knew who'd spent a lot of his childhood in foster care. She hoped that wherever he was, he was okay.

"So…" she began as a change of subject, leaning forward and looking interestedly at Kendall's face, "can you see out of that eye, or…?"

"Not really," he replied. "Just dark shapes. It was really disorienting at first, but I've gotten used to it."

"What happened?"

"When I was thirteen, me and a friend were hanging out by this convenience store in Queens. This guy came around and tried to rob the place, pulled a knife and stabbed somebody. I don't know if she lived. My friend and I tried to stop 'im, but it didn't go so hot. He killed my friend, and gave me this." He pointed halfheartedly at the scar over his blinded right eye.

"That's awful," Piper said, grimacing.

Kendall lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, but his brown eye had darkened. "It's been two years. I'm over it."

Piper sighed heavily, eyes going to the shadowy sky. "Things will look up once the war is over. You can find a home here, just like we did. There are people here just like you, who would understand what you've been through more than anyone else ever could. Trust me, it's… it's nice to have a family like this."

"Once the war's over?" Kendall repeated skeptically. "How can you win against gods?"

"Some of our campers are on a quest that might succeed in waking the rest of the gods, all our parents. With them on our side, we have a much better chance against Nyx and Erebos."

"What makes you think they'll help?"

Piper bit her lip. She knew exactly where he was coming from and understood his doubt. She used to feel the same way, like kids like them were nothing to the gods. But after spending so much time at camp, she felt she understood her mother and the other immortals just a little better, and they weren't as distant and heartless as she'd once thought. Eventually Kendall and all the other new kids would realize that too.

"Because they aren't evil," she answered. "The gods may not pay much attention to individual people—even their own kids. But they do care about the world as a whole. They wouldn't stand for this darkness and death that Erebos and Nyx are causing, I know it. They would help us because they know we can't save the world without them."

Kendall wrinkled his nose. "Sounds arrogant."

"I guess you're not wrong," Piper admitted ruefully.

As Piper returned the boys to the Big House so Chiron could find them a place to sleep now that the quick tour was through, she considered this observation further. It may have been accurate to call the gods' possessive outlook on the world arrogance, but in a way they at Camp Half-Blood could relate. She'd liked to think that their small pocket of believed safety existed because of hope, but couldn't it just as easily have been their own sense of arrogance? Was it haughty to believe that they could keep each other safe from the troubles of the world, or was believing it the only thing that made it possible?

Chiron's words from the meeting still rang in Piper's head as she left the Big House, finally resigned to speaking with her cabin mates. '…A false sense of security we can no longer afford…It's time we all start facing the truth…' And that was it, wasn't it? Up until now, they'd just been playing at war—a battle here and there but still a cold war all the same. But with Erebos's threat, and with Drew's death, things were getting real. There was no avoiding it anymore, no playing safe or biding time. The King of Darkness was coming for them. And ready or not, they would have to answer.

Time for things to start getting serious, as you can assume. The next chapter's more exciting than this one. I'll get it up early next week probably. How 'bout a review in the meantime?

Later days, everybody!

-oMM