Ichor

Commander (Part XVII)

Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

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Lieutenant Jerry Tili was still best friends with Val. He was still part of the same squad, though, he now led the squad. And he still owed Ichor a drachma. Luckily for him, demigods were known for using drachmas regularly. The problem was getting his hands on one.

"I don't understand why you're so keen on finding a drachma. Ichor could ask for one himself if he really wanted to."

"Because, Val," Jerry explained for what seemed to be the hundredth time, "I owe him my life and it's the one thing he asked for."

"He specifically told you not to go look for one! Only that if you happen across one to give it to him. And snooping around the cabins isn't exactly happening across one. It's actively searching for one. Which is exactly what he said not to do!"

Jerry huffed in frustration. "I don't like owing a debt to someone."

"To be honest, Jerry, I doubt he even remembers asking you for it. He was still a private at the time. He couldn't really expect you to pay up."

"But the highest chance I'd ever get to finding one is here. I have to do this. Please, just help me search!"

"Ok, ok!" Val hunched over next to Jerry.

His amazing idea was to look for loose change. To see if anyone dropped one on accident by the cabins. Still no luck by the time they reached the Iris cabin.

"Please," Val whined, "I don't want to be late to training."

"We won't be," Jerry assured. "One last cabin. I hear they use drachmas for- AHA! Found one!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah, look! It's- humph."

As soon as he held it up, Jerry was tackled to the ground from behind. A dagger pressed into his neck. To his left, Val was backed up to the cabin with her hands raised in a surrender gesture.

"What were you doing?" a stern voice demanded.

The two soldiers recognized her as one of the leaders of camp, Annabeth.

"Nothing!" Jerry rushed to answer. "We were just looking around!"

"Snooping around our communication center? With a drachma no less?" Annabeth questioned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Val cut in. "Just what do you think you're implying?!"

"That you're spying for our enemies. Wasn't it obvious?" the daughter of Athena snapped.

"Hey! We aren't traitors! How dare you accuse us of spying on the Chaos Army!"

Val stared Annabeth down while Jerry did the smart thing and kept his mouth shut. It was a wonder how they didn't attract attention from all the shouting. Dylan didn't think it would help clear things up, so he took a calmer approach.

"Then just tell us what you were doing sneaking around by the cabins with a drachma," he said.

Jerry sighed. He saw no other choice than to admit the truth. "I've been looking for a drachma." Upon seeing their confused faces, he elaborated. "I owe a debt. And the drachma would pay it off. I wasn't stealing," he added before he could be accused of that too, "I found it on the ground. I figured someone might have dropped one around here, so I went looking. Please, all I need is the one. Can't you spare it?"

Annabeth and Dylan had a silent conversation. Dylan clearly wanted to let it go, but Annabeth was still suspicious. She only relented because there wasn't a good argument to push the matter further.