The council is nothing like I imagined. We're in the Big House rec-room, around a Ping-Pong table, and a satyr is serving nachos and sodas. Theo is seated next to Leo in a beanbag chair, they're whispering and laughing together. Theo kisses him on the cheek. Good for Leo.
I look around and try to remember everyone's name. Leo gets up and joins me at the table, while Theo moves to the head of the table. Piper sits at my other side. Theo keeps tossing Seymour snausages, like it's a habit. I suddenly remember she lives here. She looked so at home, but this is her home. This is her house.
Clarissa, the leader of the Ares cabin who Theo clearly hates, has her boots up on the table. Clovis from Hypnos cabin is snoring in the beanbag chair that Leo and Theo abandoned. Butch from the Iris cabin is seeing how many pencils he can fit in Clovis's nose. Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin is holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it'll burn, while Will Solace from Apollo is absentmindedly wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin is playing got-your-nose with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, but she's actually magically taking her nose.
I wish Thalia would show. She'd promised to meet me back here, but she's nowhere to be seen. Chiron told me not to worry about it. She often got sidetracked fighting monsters or running quests for Artemis, and she'd probably arrive soon. I'm still worried.
Theo smiles when Chiron comes in with Rachel Dare, the Oracle. I've never seen Theo so relaxed. I think she's happy to be home. She's got her hair loose, so it hangs in waves to her waist. Her eyes look bright, like she's got a bit of makeup on, and she's got a fresh Camp Half-Blood shirt tied up at her waist, with a pair of white jean shorts. I notice now that she's wearing a necklace, with seven beads on it, each with a different little symbol painted on it. She looks like your average happy camper. It's hard to imagine her with glowing white eyes and a magical godly aura. I remember, seeing her and Hera go nuclear. Theo had scared me, especially since she didn't remember any of it.
Annabeth doesn't look so happy. She's got armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled into a ponytail.
"Let's come to order." Chiron announces, and Theo sits up straighter. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda back her nose. Travis, if you'd kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Pong ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, Leo, and Theo have returned successfully... more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let you fill them in."
Everyone looks at me, but I look to Theo. This is more her territory than mine. They all follow my gaze to her, and she clears her throat. She explains everything that happened, leaving out no details. We chime in and help her out with the spots that are blank, but she gets most of it on her own.
It only takes a few minutes, but it seems like so much longer. The silence is heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, I know the story has to sound wild to them.
I finish off with what Hera has just said to me in Cabin one before the meeting.
"So Hera was here," Annabeth says. "Talking to you."
I nod. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her-"
"That's smart." Annabeth nores.
"-but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."
"Romans." Clarisse sneers. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."
