VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- two

ROSE HAD NEVER BEEN SO EXHAUSTED.

preparing for war was by far the most tiring thing she'd ever done. going on combat missions, working overtime at the infirmary to heal people who had been injured on missions, nonstop training and planning, staying up all night trying to comfort the kids after they have nightmares, making empty promises that nothing bad would happen to them.

after breakfast, rose and percy walked down to inspect the cabins. actually, it was silena's turn for inspection, but rose was doing it, and percy was tagging along. his morning chore was to sort through reports for chiron. but since they both hated their jobs, they decided to do them together so it wouldn't be so heinous.

they started at the poseidon cabin, which was basically just percy. percy had made his bunk bed that morning (well, sort of) and straightened the minotaur horn on the wall, so he gave himself a four out of five.

rose made a face. "you're being generous." she used the end of her pencil to pick up an old pair of running shorts.

percy snatched them away. "hey, give me a break. i don't have tyson cleaning up after me this summer."

"three out of five," rose said. he didn't argue.

percy tried to skim through chiron's stack of reports as they walked. there were messages from demigods, nature spirits, and satyrs all around the country, writing about the latest monster activity.

little battles were raging everywhere. camp recruitment was down to pretty much zero. satyrs were having trouble finding new demigods and bringing them to half-blood hill because so many monsters were roaming the country. thalia, who led the hunters of artemis, hadn't been heard from in months, and if artemis knew what had happened to them, she wasn't sharing information.

they visited the aphrodite cabin, which of course got a five out of five. the beds were perfectly made. the clothes in everyone's footlockers were color coordinated. fresh flowers bloomed on the windowsills. percy wanted to dock a point because the whole place reeked of designer perfume, but rose ignored him.

"super boulot comme d'habitude, silena," rose said. ("great job as usual.")

silena nodded listlessly. the wall behind her bed was decorated with pictures of beckendorf. she sat on her bunk with a box of chocolates on her lap, and rose remembered that her dad owned a chocolate store in the village, which was how he'd caught the attention of their mom.

"you want a bonbon?" silena asked. "my dad sent them. he thought—he thought they might cheer me up."

"are they any good?" percy asked.

she shook her head. "they taste like cardboard."

rose and percy each had one. silena was right— they really did taste like cardboard. they promised to see silena later and kept going.

as they crossed the commons area, a fight broke out between the ares and apollo cabins. some apollo campers armed with firebombs flew over the ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasi. soon, the roof of the ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake rushed over to blow water on it.

"again?" rose sighed.

then the ares campers called down a curse, and all the apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber. the apollo kids kept shooting at the ares kids, but the arrows bounced off.

two archers ran by, chased by an angry ares kid who was yelling in poetry: "curse me, eh? i'll make you pay! / i don't want to rhyme all day!"

"will!" rose snapped. a young boy, about thirteen, with strikingly blond hair looked over with a face that said he clearly knew he was in trouble. "no more rhyming charms!"