December 2006

Argus slid the door of the van shut with a bang, the lack of a van weighed heavy on Kiara's mind. There were not enough campers to warrant three vans. This time they would just make do with two. It was strange. Everything came in threes, the three fates, the three graces, the big three. Three was a magic number. Multiples of three were magical. Two vans not three, fifteen campers gone. Fifteen they were not sure if they were alive or missing or working with the titans. Kiara had no clue how many faces she would recognize on the other side of the war. How many she had talked to and cared for? How many were gone?

With definitely too many people in each row to be legal, they made final checks. Kiara had fought tooth and nail to get the front seat. Malcolm was nursing a sore arm—not that he was really injured. His grumbling joined the cacophony of the rest of the protesting campers. Kiara could not pinpoint where specific complaints were coming from but she could guess. She turned around and sent a sharp look to shut up most of the campers.

"Numbers!" Kiara called out before Argus started the van.

It was standard camp procedure after losing Charlotte for the seventh time. Everyone had a number and called theirs out in order to make sure everyone was there.

"One!" Lacy responded, starting the chain reaction.

By the end of the loud call and response, Kiara felt the start of a headache growing. Argus gave her a sympathetic glance before starting the van. The quiet that she had just begun to sink into erupted into chatter. That along with the rolling in her stomach caused Kiara's headache to worsen. Looking at the side mirrors Kiara saw the other van following them down the dirt road. Maybe next time she should have sat in Chiron's van. On the other hand, he might force them to all listen to Dean Martin the whole way. She held her bag in her lap with clenched hands as they rumbled down the road. Kiara did not know if closing her eyes or keeping them open would help her situation but the endless rumble and noise was not.

After a few excruciating minutes of what was not much more than a dirt path, they made it to the main road. Kiara's tense form slowly relaxed as the ride grew smoother. The occasional bump still made her head spin but overall she was better. She looked back to check on the campers in their van. Bryan's eyes were closed trying in vain to sleep but it was hopeless with the noise of the road and the chatter of the campers. He huffed and opened his eyes to glare over his shoulder before leaning back against the window. Kiara threw her sweatshirt at him, which smacked Bryan's face. At his dirty look, she gave him an apologetic smile and gestured to the purple hoodie half covering him.

"Put it on. Pull on the hood." At his confused look, she smirked. "Trust me."

He pulled it on after a moment and Kiara watched, waiting for his response. A few seconds after he lifted the hood his eyes widened. He looked around the van in surprise. He gazed amazed at Will who was very loudly arguing with Alexandra. Kiara knew the reason for his actions.

Two weeks ago, Regulus helped her charm that specific hoodie with an altered silenco so that it blocked any noise from passing through the fabric. They had been assigned as a group in the only class they shared, Magical Theory. Hours upon hours were spent researching and perfecting the spell for their semester finals. The silencing charm was not the only spell they had imbued the fabric with. The original prompt was so simple the two of them got bored and explored past the requirements. They found that while warming charms did not stick to clothing long if they imbued the sweatshirt while dying it, the threads of magic seeped into the makeup of the cloth. There were a few other spells they had practiced on it. Kiara was pretty sure it was indestructible at this point. At least it could not be burned.

Bryan whispered his thanks and handed her a snack in exchange. He settled back against the window and within seconds was out. Kiara settled back into her seat tearing open the packaging. She reverently took out the pretzel chips and at Argus's waving hand passed some of them over. She looked away as he ate them— considering his multitude of eyes. After a few moments of peaceful silence that had lasted long enough to be worrisome, Kiara gingerly turned around. Argus looked through the rearview mirror—not that he needed to—at the commotion in the back seat. It seemed that someone had finally proposed a silent game. While there were no words spoken the chaos seemed to be worse than before. With all the arm waving and glares along with some people—Connor—egging people on, it was amazing they had made it five minutes. It would be a long ride to the Empire State Building.

-o-

"Never again," Kiara whispered brushing leaves and possibly glitter off Will's arms.

"You said that last time and look where we are," Michael snickered leaning on an equally joyful Charlotte, who was slightly less covered in shimmery leaves.

"That does not matter." Bryan sighed from his stance of neutrality.

"I feel like it does," Michael said, smirking.

"Shut up Micheal," Lee and Kiara said in perfect synchrony.

They all knew he was right. For some reason, they always ended up falling(read: racing) into one of their dad's official laurel trees. Kiara sometimes wondered if Nike had blessed or cursed Michael. He was always the source of their competition, particularly at inconvenient times. There was no way this one could not be considered inconvenient. They were waiting outside the throne room trying to look somewhat put together as cabin by cabin they were called in.

"Why can't we all just go in together?" Kiara winced at the glittering leaves on the ground around them.

"They like the drama." Bryan sighed.

"Well how would they like it if-"

"Cabin 7." Zeus called through the door.

Lee straightened and without even a glance at them walked into the room. The rest of them scrambled to follow him. The ceiling was so far away Kiara could barely see them and wondered if and who cleaned them. Maybe it was just sky. Less than half of the campers were already in the room standing by their parents. They were clustered around the thrones that were so big Kiara would have to be boosted up to even think about reaching the seat. The Olympians towering above them were extremely bored. Dionysus was reading a magazine not even flinching when Zeus beckoned them in. Hades was seated at the edge of the U in a guest chair. Kiara quickly looked away from his eyes once he noticed her. She needed to make it through this trip without talking to him. Hermes was the only one who at least seemed like he was paying attention, although with him randomly answering his phone and muttering to himself Kiara was not quite sure. Aphrodite seemed to be having a one-sided conversation with Demeter who looked like she would rather be anywhere else than this meeting. It was only halfway through the cabins and the gods had already stopped paying attention. Kiara cringed thinking about those in Cabin 11 who were still waiting outside. Their reception would no doubt be worse than her cabin's.

The center of the room was empty except for the mosaic under their feet. It depicted the gods and their creations constantly shifting like the beings it represented. Kiara almost jumped when she accidentally stepped on Mosaic-Hera's dress and the figure glared at her. Kiara carefully glanced up at the goddess hoping she did not notice. With swift motions, Lee stepped in front of them and thanked the gods for their hospitality during the solstice.

At hearing his son's voice Apollo looked at them and gave a weak smile before turning back to his lyre. Kiara tried to keep the flash of disappointment out of her face but she knew Charlotte had caught it. She gave her hand a tight squeeze as they were bowing. After their dismissal from Zeus, Lee led them to stand by Apollo's throne.

Kiara watched as cabin by cabin their camp filed into the room. Motioning at Will and Charlotte who had become fidgety she glanced at Bryan. They shared a dismayed look. None of the half-bloods present were good at paying attention, and this ceremony had been going on for almost an hour. Kiara felt herself start to twitch as they waited. Looking around the room she was not the only one.

-o-

Once Pollux and Castor were by their father, Zeus stood up. He towered over them looking expectantly at them. While the demigods all turned to attention, the gods did not even look up from whatever was keeping their attention. Zeus' eye twitched at their blatant display of disrespect. A bright flash of lightning startled a few of the gods who shot glares at the god. Zeus ignored it or at least he seemed to. Kiara never really knew when it came to the gods what things they held on to and what they let go. If they kept every grudge over their thousands of years nothing would be left on the earth. They probably forgot things on purpose so they would not have to think about them. Maybe it became a habit—to forget. Even her father acted that way—acted like some things were not worth the heartache of remembering. That it was easier, better to forget. It happened right now. The Olympians let go, forgot their earlier annoyance, and feigned interest.

"We have had a busy year. Many changes have passed. We are here to band together against the growing chaos that has emerged. On this the longest night of the year we welcome-"

"Yeah yeah," Dionysus interrupted. "We got it. Blah blah danger blah blah fighting. Can we get on with it I have a game I'd like to get back to."

Lightning flashed once more in time with Zeus' enraged scowl.

"As I was saying-"

"I agree with Dionysus," Hephaestus interjected, "Well not the game part, but I was doing something."

"As. I. Was. Saying. We welcome our-"

"Can we hurry this up I have couples I need to check on." Aphrodite looked down at her scroll not deigning to look at Zeus' slowly reddening face. "I have a few circumstances to perfect: ice to make slippery for an opportune meeting, wind to shut doors, convenient lights dying in rooms, the whole shebang. Eros is waiting for me. I do really need-"

"Enough." The shout echoed through the chamber.

"You did not have to interrupt me," Aphrodite muttered.

"Interrupt. Me interrupt her," Zeus grumbled, which would have been barely recognizable if not for the fact that he was giant and every noise he made seemed to grow to match his stature.

That was the tipping point. Someone, somewhere, laughed. All heads turned at the poor person who surely signed their death warrant.

Any questions are welcome. If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a comment or favorite. Thanks for reading!

Thank you to everyone who has read and interacted with this story so far!

Wait last thought. I originally started this story in Kiara's 5th year but I kinda want to write Lightning Thief which happened the summer before this started. Would you guys be ok if I wrote that and posted it before heading back to the current plot?

- Natalie