𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕣||HoO

𝐗𝐗𝐗

THE NEXT day, Maisie sat around the Ping-Pong table in the rec room of the Big House with the rest of the senior councilors. Someone had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall. Every once in a while, a counselor would toss him a Snausage.

Jason, Piper, and Leo all looked nervous, which didn't surprise Maisie. Leo and Piper had only become senior councilors yesterday, and Jason had only come to camp last week and it was their first meeting as senior counselors. 

Clarisse had her boots on the table. Clovis was snoring in the corner while Butch was trying to find how many pencils he could fit in Clovis' nostrils. Travis Stoll was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. Lou Ellen, the counselor from the Hecate cabin, was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back.

It was a bit strange to have so many people at the table, but it was also pretty great that the minor gods were now getting a seat at the table.

Rachel sat next to Chiron at the head of the table. She was still wearing her Clarion Academy school uniform dress, which was much different than the clothes Maisie was used to her wearing.

Annabeth didn't look relaxed at all. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had tried to ask Maisie what had happened on their quest, but Chiron spoke up before she could answer.

"Let's come to order," he said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. 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, Maisie, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully...more of less. Some of you have heard part of their story, but I will let them fill you in."

Everyone looked to Maisie or Jason. Jason cleared his throat and began the story. Maisie, Piper, and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he'd  missed.

Jason finished with telling them how Hera had visited him only a few minutes ago. The silence was heavy once he'd finished.

"So Hera was here," Annabeth said. "Talking to you."

Jason nodded, "Look, I'm not saying I trust her-"

"That's smart," Annabeth said.

"-but she isn't make this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."

"Romans," Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. "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."

Piper sat forward, "The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other."

"I can respect that," Clarisse said. "Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"

"Oh, yes," Chiron said sadly. "You have, many times. It's always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded the race the would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities."

"More warlike," Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."

"Yuck," Travis put in.