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15: Council Meeting

Watching Percy and Grover having to carry the old mummy back to the Big House while looking like complete idiots made me and Thalia smile. Always love to see my brother look like a fool.

"Well, you do know this prophecy involves you right?" Thalia said after a moment.

"No, I could have sworn that it involved the Stolls..." I mutter sarcastically.

"Alright mealworms!" Mr. D called out. "All cabin leaders, meet in the rec room for a prophecy meeting." Now, Percy was the leader of our cabin, but I knew I was part of this prophecy. I'm coming to this meeting. Thalia was told to get my brother while the rest of us where directed to the Big House.

The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. When none of us made a move towards the wine, Chiron reminded him that wine wasn't allowed since most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. But, nobody touched that either.

Mr. D and Chiron (in mortal form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (the new assistant to Zoe) took the other end. Thalia, Grover, Percy sat along the right, and the other head councilors-Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard (which I totally ship), and the Stoll brothers- sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs ("accidentally") during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

I, however, leaned against the far wall seeing I am technically not supposed to be here. Rolling my eyes at the idiotic sight of this meeting, I tuned into the conversation.

Zoe kept telling us that, "This is pointless," and was being annoying as per usual.

I heard Grover gasp, "Cheez Whiz!" And he began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with spray cheese.

Then Zoe decided to get everyone quiet and to continue her obnoxious complaints. "There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said. I was amazed at how different she looked after just a few days with the Hunters. Her dark hair was braided like Zoe's now, just like how I did when we would stay up talking about cute boys (not that there were any) at school. She had a splash of freckles across her nose that I had never seen before. She looked like she'd been working out, and her skin glowed faintly, like the other Brats, as if she'd been taking showers in liquid moonlight. "You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and go."

"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."

"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."

"Your" Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."

Zoe paused, trying to form the word on her mouth. " Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

I rolled my eyes. "Forget it." Thalia sighed.

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"