The Remembrance of Chaos (PJO)

Chapter 14

For them to test out Percy's hypothesis, they had to wait until morning. It was so dark outside, that if there was another city out on the planet, they wouldn't even see it. Even if it had a full wall surrounding it like End's did.

Even if it was an inch away from them.

Instead of waiting in the darkness in miserable silence, Percy decided to use the time wisely; by coming up with their third escape plan. This time, however, Percy wanted to hammer down all of the details, from what they would eat, to the ending point of Planet Chaos. He did not want to get surprised again.

Still, he had the sinking feeling that their next plan—whatever it might be—would still be incomplete and a missing detail would unravel it.

Apparently, Artemis had the same idea. "What's our backup-backup-backup plan?" Artemis asked. "It's obvious this one's a failure . . ."

"It might not be," Percy pointed out. "This is all just a theory; we need cold, hard evidence."

"But it makes sense. Why in the world would End let another city be built on her land?"

"If there's a city, maybe it's not someone else's."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Maybe it's another city run by End."

"Why would she have two cities? Why not have one—it's easier to manage."

"How should I know?" Percy asked. "Maybe she couldn't merge them, because the people in each city had a disagreement over something."

"Oh, and what would that be about?"

"Maybe one city likes mustard on their hotdogs, while another likes ketchup . . ."

"Who likes mustard on hotdogs?! It's like not putting sauce on pizza."

"It was just an example! You asked for one, and I gave one!"

"But how would that stop End from merging the cities?"

Percy wasn't going to admit defeat without some more arguing. He knew that they were way  off topic, but they still had a few hours. "Maybe it started as a minor argument, but then turned violent."

Artemis scoffed, telling Percy that she wasn't going to give up anytime soon. "Violent about some type of condiment? Face it, there isn't a city out there."

"Maybe it was . . . like the Peloponnesian war!" 

"How on Earth are those two thoughts connected?"

"Presumably, the mustard gang . . ."

"The mustard gang?! Where did that come from?"

"What am I supposed to call them then? 'The People of Mustard?'"

"Never say that again," Artemis muttered.

"Which one, the first or last . . . ?"

"Both."

"Fine . . ." Percy surrendered. "As I was saying, the people who like mustard might've been worried their neighbors were getting too powerful, and started a fight. End didn't want a civil war to strike out, so she separated them."

"Why did 'Mustardopolis' start the fight? Spartans were red, not yellow."

"'Mustardopolis' . . . didn't think of that one . . . ," Percy mused. He then caught himself. "Of course, you could change the order, so 'Mustardopolis got attacked instead of attacking . . ."