LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . pjo

XXIII.

MIA ARRIVED AT camp just in time to see the horrible effects of her past decisions.

"Good, you're here," Chris Rodriguez, who stayed in the Hermes cabin with her, led her to the Big House. "Silena needs you."

Mia's heart dropped. She always felt on edge whenever she was around Chris — for a short period of time, they'd been on the same side of the war, after all — but after his insanity curse had been cured by Mr. D, he seemed to not remember that she and Silena were on the enemy side.

Silena . . . she and Mia had been best friends for over a year, mostly because they were the only two people they could really be open to.

"What happened with her?" Mia asked. "Chris, I swear to the gods—"

"It's Beckendorf," he told her. "He's dead."

The senior counselors had gathered around the Ping-Pong table in the Big House, and there was a shouting match going on.

Mia's only focus right now was on Silena, though, and she immediately walked over to her chair and hugged her upper body tightly, dropping her head down on hers as she shut her eyes tightly and tried not to cry.

"I'm so sorry," Mia muttered into Silena's hair. "I'm sorry that I — that I caused his death."

Silena let out a whimper, and slightly shook her head under Mia's.

Mia only looked up when she heard two very loud voices taking her out of the moment, wincing as she folded herself into the chair next to Silena.

Clarisse was in full battle gear. Her electric spear was strapped to her back. She had her boar-shaped helmet under one arm and a knife at her belt.

She was in the midst of yelling at Michael Yew, the new head counselor for Apollo, which looked kind of funny since Clarisse was a foot taller. Michael had taken over the Apollo cabin after Lee Fletcher died in battle last summer. Michael stood four feet six, with another two feet of attitude. He reminded Mia of a ferret, with a pointy nose and scrunched-up features — either because he scowled so much or because he spent too much time looking down the shaft of an arrow.

"It's our loot!" he yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"

Around the table, people were trying not to laugh — the Stoll brothers, Pollux from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter. Even Jake Mason, who probably was replacing Beckendorf, managed a faint smile. Silena didn't pay any attention, staring vacantly at the Ping-Pong net. Her eyes were red and puffy. A cup of hot chocolate sat untouched in front of her. It was unfair that she had to be here. Mia couldn't believe that Michael and Clarisse were arguing when Silena was suffering through the loss of her boyfriend.

"STOP IT!" Percy yelled, and Mia looked up to see him, Annabeth, and Chiron in the doorway. "What are you guys doing?"

Clarisse glowered at Percy. "Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk."

"Oh, that's perfect, coming from you," Michael said.

"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse shouted. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin."

"What are you talking about?" Percy demanded.

Pollux cleared his throat. "Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, until her, um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days."

"It's been wonderful," Travis said wistfully.

"What issue?" Percy asked.

Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"