The Unusual Half-Blood

Chapter 13: The Lotus Casino

[Morning, June 15th (6 days before the solstice)]

"Is this enough?" Grover asked, standing atop a cage as he opened the small hatch on the roof.

A beam of sunlight poured in, reaching the other side of the trailer where I and Annabeth sat. She was holding a palm-sized glass prism, trying to direct the dispersed beam on the front wall.

"I guess. The signal isn't perfect but it'll do." She replied, gesturing me to hold the adjusted prism.

"Should we wait?" Grover questioned, "It's currently 11 a.m. The sun will become brighter in an hour or so."

"No. We've almost reached Vegas. If we don't do it now, we won't have time later." Annabeth decided.

Opening Ares's bag, she pulled out a golden Drachmae and tossed it in the rainbow-coloured pattern on the wall.

"Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering."

As she recited those words, the colored pattern churned for a few seconds before turning bright red.

"Good, now, show me Camp Half-Blood. Chiron's office."

"You remember what I told you before, right?" I asked

"Yeah, yeah I remember," she said, before giving me a questioning look. "Still, you haven't told me what you're after."

"I will. Just follow along for now."

She sighed. "Fine, whatever."

The mist cleared, showing us Chiron's desk. However, instead of the centaur, the portal showed a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top, sitting atop the table going through some paperwork.

"Luke?" I called.

"Huh?" he turned around, surprised. As soon as he saw us, his scarred face broke into a huge grin.

"Oh my god! Keith, Annabeth! Are you guys ok?"

"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. Her earlier bored expression was gone as she was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought....Chiron.....I mean-"

"He's down at the cabins." His smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called from the other side of the trailer.

"What kind of issues?" I asked

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke explained, "Things are pretty tense here, Keith. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

"Wait, how did it get leaked?" Annabeth asked.

"We're not sure. But I believe we have a traitor, maybe someone working for Hades. I've been thinking about it ever since the hellhound attack and even tried to discuss it with Chiron but he dismissed my claims." He complained.

"You may be right." I replied, "We believe there is a traitor too. Not only that, I think Annabeth figured out their identity as well."

"Wait, are you for real?" Luke's tone became serious, "Who is it?"