Chapter 9: An ungodly amount of confessions

When I opened my eyes everything was blurry. It didn't take me long to realize I was dreaming. Surrounding me were metal bars. I was in a cage, like one you might see a wild animal locked up in. I tried to move but was unsuccessful. When I looked down I noticed chains around my ankles. Next I tried to open my mouth to yell for help, but that failed too.

You know how in dreams it can feel like it's only been a few seconds before you wake up? This felt like the opposite. I was laying down unable to move for minutes before I heard footsteps. I tried to focus on the rest of the room but it was too dark to see anything. I tried to see the figure approaching the cage. All I was able to make out was the outline of the person.

"All right, here's your supper," the figure said with an old man's voice and dropped a lunch bag inside the cage.

My body went to the bag like someone else was controlling me which made me feel uncomfortable. Inside the brown bag was a turkey sandwich and potato chips just scattered inside the bag. Against my will I ate the turkey sandwich, the bread was stale and only had mustard on it. The chips were also stale. My body only ate a couple bites before I spoke.

"You won't get away with this. Someone will come find me. The whole camp is probably out looking for me!" I said, only it was a girl's voice. The voice sounded weak and tired, almost raspy. I tried to say some of my own words. Nothing came out again. The man seemed to ignore the girl and walked away.

"Why are you doing this? What will you get out from kidnapping me?"

The man stopped." I'm sorry you got roped into this, really I am. This is nothing personal toward you." He paused to think about something. "Well maybe a little personal. Considering you help the gods and everything."

"We're demigods, and were assigned with quests and tasks all the time by the gods. As much as I don't like some of it, we don't have much of a choice!"

"There's always a choice. You just have to find the right path. Ha, I'm pretty sure Hecate would have liked that quote." The man finished talking and walked away.

My vision started to get blurry again like a messed up water painting. When it started to clear I found myself in an almost open space. The room was huge and had open windows on all sides. Next to me was a fire pit similar to the one we put offerings in at camp.

Toward the top of the room was two thrones both decorated with gold, silver and other precious metals with the one on the right being slightly smaller. On both sides were five other thrones, each decorated to match the other Olympians. I was able to move again only slightly. I remembered this was a dream, so I moved like I was in a dream. I was startled by a familiar voice coming toward my right.

"So father, where would you like to station Alectrona?" A massive figure facing out toward an open window said. The figure was wearing a purple toga across his shoulder down to his knees. In one hand held a golden chalice that he drank out of. In his other hand was a clipboard. Next to him was an even larger figure in a blue tuxedo, also facing out the open window.

"Alectrona has been dead for a millennium," Said the figure in the tuxedo.

"Ah, my apologies lord father Zeus. Working at that camp for so long, well you just lose track of time. I don't know who is president or if the alcohol seltzer craze has died down yet." The god said sarcastically.

The god of the sky slowly shook his head but remained silent. Mr. D was eyeing the clipboard pacing back and forth. After a couple seconds he turned around. In a panic I hid and crouched behind the fire pit, hoping he didn't see me. For a moment I was sure he noticed me when he put his head up. He flipped a couple pages on his clipboard and turned back to his dad.

"How about Aristaeus? The god of cheese-making would be perfect for Wisconsin," He spoke toward Zeus.

"He will do fine, let Hermes know."

Mr. D signed the paper then raised the clipboard into the air. In the distance a flash came running up and then the clipboard was gone. The god then started to walk away from Zeus. "Where are you off to? I released you from that camp to prepare for this war, not for you to do as you please."

Dionysus stopped and turned to face his father. He glanced at the firepit, then looked down and smirked. "Lord Zeus, with all do respect. Do you really believe that Pedro Jackman and his girlfriend are really planning a war? I've trained and taught them myself and they've never really been the rebellious type. Well except for that one time-"

"Do not lie to me Dionysus!" His voice sounded like thunder.

"While you were at that camp you let many things go unnoticed. You let Luke Castellan help your grandfather rise to power. You've ignored the demigods that went to join him in the titan war. And don't lie to me about you knowing Percy Jackson when you don't even remember his name!" Zeus' eyes lit up toward the end of his speech but went back to normal.

"There are many rumors going around the minor gods about Percy Jackson. Someone put it in their minds that he is a threat to Olympus, even Ares believes them. When he disappeared, it only got worse."

"And do you believe these rumors, lord father Zeus?"

Zeus went silent for a moment. " As much as I dislike the half-blood, I don't believe he is plotting against us. However, to quell the worries of the gods I must take precautions. Although I wouldn't mind smiting the boy."

Dionysus chuckled to himself. "Very well I understand. However I really must be going. Its Graduation season and there's this one party I have to attend. I believe they rented out a town hall in Springfield."

Zeus didn't seem amused by this news. Dionysus finally was able to leave the throne room. Once he did I was able to wake up. It was hard to wake and I felt a minor headache. When my eyes adjusted I realized I was outside somewhere and it was dark out. I was leaning against a tree. When I tried to get up I found it impossible like in my dream. When I looked down I saw I was tied up to a tree by rope.

"Its about time you woke up," Said a voice to my left.

When I looked over I saw Sabrina sitting next to me. Her clothes looked a little dirty and her bangs were covering her eyes. In front of us were our belongings. My backpack was spilled over and everything was laid out. I got startled when I heard a car horn behind me.

"What happened?" I asked. I tried to move again to see if I could wiggle out but found no success.

"You passed out after getting hit with the arrow. Glen and I were able to carry you to the outskirts of the city without anyone noticing us. We settled right next to the Road of Athens and gave you some ambrosia. Then Glen decided to tie us up since he's a warmongering traitor!" She screamed the last part.

In the distance I heard some walking and branches snapping. Glen came out from behind a tree. In his hand he had Eros arrow that struck me. In his other hand he had one of his golden swords and was using it to pick something off of the heart shaped arrow. He put his head up and looked at Sabrina.

"Oh you're calling me a traitor?" he asked.

"Don't play that stupid game with me! You just tied us up and you don't expect me to call you a traitor! Do you want me to bring up the-" Sabrina had distaste in her voice but was cut off by Glen yelling louder.

Glen scoffed. "Well a god just told me that Percy and Annabeth are plotting a revolution and you both didn't tell me that! How am I supposed to trust you two!" He pointed his sword and waved it at the both of us. Sabrina gave him an angry glare but didn't fight back.

"Glen," I said to get both his and Sabrina's attention. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you the whole truth when we started this quest. Sabrina and I didn't want any rumors to spread through the camp," He started to lower his sword. "And trust me, the other Aphrodite campers have ears that can hear gossip a mile away. But we talked to Chiron and we all believe that Percy and Annabeth have been set up." I tried my best to sound both sincere and truthful. To be fair, I was telling the truth.

Glen looked up and behind us toward the highway like he was thinking. He approached the tree Sabrina and I were tied up to and raised his sword. I braced myself but in one swing of his sword, he swiftly cut the rope we were tied up with. The first thing I did was stretch. While Sabrina quickly got to her feet and grabbed her stuff. Her and Glen were exchanging glances the entire time.

"I'm going to be right over there, I have my tent set up. " He pointed behind a tree and started to walk toward the direction. During the walk back he started to repeatedly repeat a line from the prophecy. "Play their parts, play their parts, play their parts".

Sabrina then laid out her sleeping bag and I did the same nearby. "I'll take the first watch. You get some rest." I told her. Her hair was messy and she proceeded to lay down in her sleeping bag with a thump. After she fell asleep I started to inspect the area. I grabbed all of my belongings and put them back in my bag. I then went over to watch the highway. There weren't that many cars that were going by. But when they did they zoomed by so fast it was kinda scary.

I started to think about the other two. Glen can be a jerk sometimes but he hasn't done anything bad. Well, except for just tying us up but I could understand where he was coming from. I also probably didn't care too much since I still felt a little tired. Sabrina really hates Glen more than anyone else.

I headed back to our camp spot. I sat down crisscross next to Sabrina. "Hey, Sabrina, are you still up?"

She didn't move but gave a tired "Yea,"

"What's with you and Glen? Yea he can be a jerk at times but you seem to get really mad at him, more than anyone else." She laid motionless for a moment before getting up. Her hair was still a mess and I could only see her left eye through it. She gave a menacing glare which suited her when she's not her sunshine self.

" Glen…" She paused. "Glen and I used to be in the Hermes Cabin together. We arrived at camp around the same time before the gods agreed to acknowledge all their children." She stopped again and looked down like she was remembering something awful. " Glen always knew who his dad was, however he was never claimed. Then Luke decided to recruit campers and Glen was one of them".

I heard that name Luke in my dream when Zeus and Mr. D were having their conversation. I also heard his name be mentioned in camp a few times when the Second Titan War was brought up.

"Sorry," was all I was able to muster up. I couldn't think of any other words to someone who felt betrayed. I started to get up to go back to my sleeping bag to keep watch.

Sabrina grabbed my hand as I was getting up which tingled and made me sit back down. "I didn't ask you this earlier but how are you feeling?" She motioned her hand toward my stomach where I'd been shot. So much happened between the three of us that I didn't even process that I was shot and then passed out.

"It's fine I think," I placed my hand over where the arrow landed.

"Are you, you know? Feeling any side effects?"

I had forgotten completely about the magic effects of the arrow. When Eros shot at Sabrina earlier and missed, the arrow went up in flames. According to myth, when the arrow hits someone it's supposed to make the person fall in love and infatuated with the next person they see.

"I don't feel any different? I felt a tingling sensation throughout my body when I was hit but that's it. Maybe since I'm a child of Aphrodite it doesn't affect me?" That would make sense to me, however right now there's no way to confirm if that's the case.

"Oh. That's. Good," Sabrina slowly said, breaking up the sentence.

"I'm going to try and get some rest now. Just let me know when you want to switch shifts," Sabrina told me before slowly curling up in her sleeping bag.

Once I finally could tell she fell asleep I got up to go to my spot. When I got to my sleeping bag I stopped and decided to go the other way. I tried my best to watch where I was stepping to not make any noise. I made my way to Glen's tent which was past a few trees. When I was right next to his tent I started whispering his name.

"Glen," I whispered.

"Glen," I whispered slightly louder, which got his attention. He walked straight out of his tent like he never bothered to go to sleep. His arms were crossed and he didn't seem to be in a very good mood.

"What?" He asked.

"I just wanted to check in with you and see how you're doing."

"I'm fine"

"Cool, um I see you kept the arrow that shot me."

"It's a spoil of war, you can't have it." He didn't sound very amused. "Is there any other reason you stopped by"?

"Uh yea um, I wanted to apologize again for lying to you. You're a part of this quest, we shouldn't have kept it a secret".

" Huh, and you told me that I have to 'play my part'," He said sarcastically."How do you expect me to be a team player when you're lying to me and Sabrina just yells at me whenever I do anything"! He started to yell before stopping himself. He took a deep breath in.

"Here come on in," He said, going into his tent. I followed crouching down since it was a small tent. When I got inside I quickly stood up straight and looked around. The inside of the tent was the size of a bedroom. There was a desk, an armor stand, and even a twin sized bed that was neatly made.

"How did you get this?" I asked

"Spoils of war. I got it during the Second Titan War," he said sitting on his bed. I went over to the desk to sit in his chair and looked at him.

"What about your golden sword, spear thing? Is that also a spoil of war"?

"Yeah, I also got it during the war". He seemed to have calmed down a little.

"So what is it exactly? When we fought for the first time I grabbed it and it melted. Then when we were in New York and you grabbed the liquid it turned into a pair of swords?"

Glen grinned like he enjoyed talking about weapons. "It's a magic weapon, that's it, just a magic weapon," He grinned. "Whenever someone tries to disarm me it will melt. Then when I pick it back it will turn into whatever weapon I need." His grin turned into a full on smile like he was proud of the magic item.

"That's pretty cool. Hey speaking of the Second Titan war, Is it true you fought against the camp?" I asked suddenly, trying to sound casual. Glen's smile quickly faded. Instead of an angry look like usual his face held that of concern and worry. It was hard to tell, but it looked like his hands were shaking too.

"Who told you that"?

"Um, Sabrina did. Look I wasn't around for the wars so I don't know that much about the wars other than a few people mentioning them from time to time. I don't really know what happened and why some campers went to the other side," It was a lot for me to bring up all of a sudden. I basically just confronted the guy but he seemed more scared than angry.

"Yeah, I did join the titans during that war but-" he faltered. " I was young and thought what I was doing was for the greater good. My mom knew who my dad was and told me. She was an army nurse and met my dad at a military base. She told me despite his war obsession he can be a really kind, great man or god I mean. She wanted me to meet him so badly. Let me tell you something, going around camp knowing who your dad is and him still not claiming you. It doesn't make you feel good about yourself."

I was actually shocked at what he was saying. He opened up to me and I wasn't expecting him to tell me everything right away. He was only about twelve when he joined and probably heavily influenced. He sounded scared talking about his past.

"Why are you telling me all this stuff now?" I asked.

"Because, you told me I have to come to play my part. It's in the prophecy and I'm trying to make it work. I know you think I've been the problem, but Sabrina excludes and lies to me all the time. I know she hates me because of what I did, but Children of Ares follow orders and do their jobs. That's what I intend on doing." Instead of his loud rough voice he sounded calm during his speech.

I nodded my head and stared into his eyes. It was the first time I stared directly into them and I just noticed how blue they were. They were baby blue. Instead of a loud color it was softer and they had a gentle look to them. I started to stand up and head toward the exit.

"Hey, I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I don't care what anyone else says. I think what you did during the titan war was justified."

He shook his head and looked at the ground, his face reddened. "Thanks" was all he said to me.

When I walked out of the tent, the sky started to dawn. How long was I passed out for? I slowly walked back to Sabrina. She was still asleep in her sleeping bag. I decided we were safe enough and I got in my sleeping bag. We only have eight days left to find Percy and Annabeth. Tomorrow, I thought. We are going to have a serious team meeting.