Suspected Terrorists

《52》

Peter

"You have a broken arm!" I heard Will shout...but I ignored him in favour of investigating the people I'd seen from my window.

He eventually caught up with me as I neared the top if the hill. That was when I heard voices.

"Clarrise, Chris," I heard a girl say.

I glanced at Will who looked at me with a sad expression. He stopped running and slowly walked the last couple of steps to the top. I followed.

"Hey guys," another guy said, dejectedly.

I saw four people stood at the base of Thalia's tree. I could just about make them out in the darkness. There was tall skinny guy with messy hair holding hands with a shorter girl. There was some muscley-looking dude with his hair in a bun tied off with a bandana. He was stood with his arms crossed leaning against the tree, taking no notice of the dragon he was close to stepping on. The guy next to him was slightly leaner, but still bigger than the first guy.

"Hey," Will greeted, announcing our presence to them.

The four turned to us. "Hi Will," the girl acknowledged. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too Katie," Will returned. "Though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"You and me both," agreed the guy who was holding Katie's hand, his voice drained of any lightness. Katie gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"Who's this loser?" Demanded the burly dude (though judging by the voice, I guessed she was in fact a girl). "He looks a little old to be a newbie."

"Clarisse, this Peter," Will introduced. "He's one of the mortals that are helping us fight the big guy."

I gave a shy wave and mentally cheered that I hadn't addressed Clarisse as a guy, seeing as she looked like she would wring my neck for doing so.

"Why are there mortals here? What good are they gonna be?" Clarisse argued.

"Hey," the boy next to her butted in. "We need all the help we can get."

Clarisse growled at ne menacingly, but made no move to attack.

"Come on. I think I saw Percy down at the arena." Will gestured in the other direction and the four new arrivals began to trudge downhill. I made a move to follow when Will stopped me. "I think you should...uh... head back to the Big House," he suggested.

I frowned. "What? Why?"

"I think you should let these guys talk to Percy alone, okay?"

I sighed. "Okay. I'll go let everyone know it was a false alarm."

Will nodded approvingly, before following the others to see Percy.

《<>》

Percy

I just stared at the patches of red which soaked the clay floor. I knew they weren't really there - they'd been cleaned earlier - but somehow I could still see them. I could see the puddles of blood each marking where a friend had lost their life. And for what? What were we fighting for at this point?