𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌, luke castellan

𝐕𝐈.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈.
i knew it, i know you, i called it

ᯓᡣ𐭩

"𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐍, 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 is trying to wage war again," Maisie said lazily, as she passed the Big House.

This was the daily occurence now. Wake up, break up fights, stop the Ares kids from waging war. Classic stuff.

Camp Half-Blood was in shambles. Everybody was scared and picking sides. Maisie did her best to keep the spirits up and stop people from killing each other.

Chiron sighed. "Can you stay here while I fix that? Just in case anybody comes looking for me."

"Certainly, sir," Maisie nodded and went inside Chiron's office. As soon as she entered the room, someone entered right behind her. Maisie turned, prepared for anything.

"Luke," she said, smiling, when she saw him.

Luke smiled back at her. "Clarisse again?" he asked, knowingly.

"Of course." Maisie sighed.

"It's like she's the daughter of the war god or something," Luke said, sarcastically.

"I'm the daughter of the war goddess but you don't see me waging war every three seconds," she retorted, clearly exasperated with the whole situation.

"Yeah, but you're smart. Ares kids?" He clicked his tongue. "Not so much."

That made Maisie finally smile after a long morning of trying to bring peace back to Camp Half-Blood.

Before she could respond, a new voice sounded.

"Luke?"

The pair turned to the source of the voice, which was coming from an Iris message in Chiron's office.

"Annabeth? Percy!" Luke exclaimed.

"Are you guys okay?" Maisie asked, voice laced with concern.

"Yeah, w- we're fine," the younger Athena daughter reassured. She glanced at Percy, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Where's Chiron?" she asked the older campers.

"Chiron's holding camp together with both hands," Luke explained. "Everyone thinks we're going to war so the cabins are taking sides. Please tell me you're calling with good news."

"We know who stole the bolt," Percy said with certainty.

Maisie's eyebrows nearly reached her hairline.

"How do you know?" Luke asked with a tilt of his head.

"We ran into Ares, and Grover got him talking and realized Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them. So, who would Ares cover for other than..." Annabeth trailed off, letting the couple fill in the blank.

"His favorite daughter," they both said in unison. They looked at each other.

"Clarisse is the lightning thief," Luke finalized.

"Chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows," Percy said. "There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger. Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me."

"Okay, I'm on it," Luke agreed. "So, Ares, huh? What was that like?"

The younger pair looked at each other.

"Well," Percy started. "Compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse."

"Medusa was Saturday," Annabeth corrected him, making Maisie suppress a giggle.

"I thought Sunday."

"No monsters on Sunday. Monday, you died in the river."

"Right. So, Medusa on Saturday."

Maisie needed a bucket of popcorn.

"Guys, what is this?" Luke asked.

"What?" the pair asked.

"When did you turn into an old married couple?"

Maisie's eyes widened and she subtly, but not lightly, hit Luke's arm with her own.

"Not to change the subject, but, I'm gonna," Percy said, visibly uncomfortable. "We could use your advice on something, Luke."

Luke looked at him, expectantly.

"We're headed to Las Vegas to find your-"

The Iris message instantly vanished.

Maisie raised her eyebrows, interested in what the two kids were going to say. She had an idea, but, she wasn't going to share it with Luke. She turned to him, arms crossed.

"I can't believe Clarisse is the lightning thief," she said, her eyebrows pressed together.

"It makes sense, though," Luke replied. "We should've seen this coming. She's been the most vocal about war, too."

"Yeah. I guess so," the girl said, not quite as convinced as her boyfriend.

It was too simple. In truth, she had thought about Clarisse. She was her first candidate, in fact. But, ultimately, she decided that the daughter of Ares wasn't capable of a theft like this. Sure, she was tough and appeared as scary to most, but she wouldn't do this.

At least, that's what Maisie thought.

"I better tell Chiron," Luke suggested, turning to leave.

"Sure. See you later?"

He smiled at her, running a hand through her hair, before leaving the Big House.

Maisie stayed behind, pondering.

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dear reader!

smaller, kinda filler chapter before the big reveal >:)