Child of the Moon

Ares' Kids Learn To Rhyme

A lot has happened since Kronos' forces tried to invade through the Labyrinth.  Typhon, the monster that had been imprisoned under Mount Saint Helens until Percy had blown it up, was making his way across the states.  The gods are fighting him as we speak, but Olympus has been left practically undefended.  Little battles were raging everywhere.  Camp recruitment was down to zero.  Satyrs were having trouble finding new Demigods and bringing them to Half-Blood Hill because so many monsters were roaming the country.  Our friend Thalia, who led the Hunters of Artemis, hadn't been heard from in months, and if Artemis knew what had happened to them, she wasn't sharing information.  As Annabeth and I walked to my cabin, a fight broke out between the Ares and Apollo cabins.  Some Apollo campers armed with firebombs flew over the Ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasi.  I'd never seen the chariot before, but it looked like a pretty sweet ride.  Soon, the roof of the Ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake rushed over to blow water on it.  Then the Ares campers called down a curse, and all the Apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber.  The Apollo kids kept shooting at the Ares kids, but the arrows bounced off.  Two archers ran by, chased by an angry Ares kid who was yelling in poetry.

Ares Kid: Curse me, eh?  I'll make you pay!

I sighed.  The last time Apollo cursed a cabin, it took a week for the rhyming couplets to wear off. I shuddered.  Apollo was god of poetry as well as archery, and I'd heard him recite in person.  Even though his voice was like honey, I'd still rather get shot than do it myself.

YN: What are they fighting about anyway?

Annabeth didn't answer.  I found myself staring at her, which was stupid since I'd seen her a billion times.  I mean, she'd always been cute, but now she was seriously drop dead beautiful.  Finally she answered.

Annabeth: That flying chariot.

I waited for her to continue.

Annabeth: They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week.  Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot.  The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but my siblings led the raid.  So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since.

We ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive bombed an Ares camper.  The Ares camper tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets.  He was pretty creative about rhyming those cuss words.

YN: We're fighting for our lives, and they're bickering about some stupid chariot.

Annabeth: You're giving them too much credit.  They're the children of the two most stubborn gods we know.  They'll get over it. Clarisse will come to her senses.

I wasn't so sure.  That didn't sound like the Clarisse I knew.  We got to my cabin and went inside.  I laid down on my bed and Annabeth followed soon after, her arms wrapping around me.  Who cares that it was against camp rules for two campers of different cabins to be alone together... a rule that may have only been made because of me Annabeth, Silena and Charles.  After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.  I motioned for Annabeth to hide and she quickly pulled the covers over her head as I opened the door.

Sean: Hey, YN.  Calypso's looking for-

He froze, staring at the bed.

Alexa: I'm not interrupting anything, am I?

I glared at him.  Annabeth slowly moved the covers and stood up.

YN: You think I didn't see Katie Gardner sneaking out the window of the Athena cabin this morning?

His face turned red.  Annabeth kissed me and went back towards her cabin, while I went and found Calypso talking with Juniper.  She turned and walked over to me.