Control ° PJO

ix

As they were running through the woods, Mirren could hear a faint conch-horn, which made her stop abruptly in her tracks.

"What was that?" Mirren questioned. Jake looked back at the woods.

"I think somebody already has the golden laurel." He said dejectedly.

Mirren almost leaped in glory, happy that she will not face those terrifying monsters. But, her poker face facade was still up, seeing that Jake definitely wanted the stupid laurel.

"Oh," she said, "I'm sorry, I'm a horrible demigod."

"No, it's okay." He said, a little more relaxed. "Let's see who won."

They trudged back to the clearing, which was way far, and Mirren tried to say ahead Jake, avoiding the small talk or worse - the big talk.

The talk about how she glows when she trains. What demigod does that? Right, nobody.

When they arrived, Clarisse La Rue was standing proudly with the laurel wreath placed on her mucky hair. Beside her, Lee Fletcher was being congratulated for his winning of not dying. Jake silently cursed.

"Of course, they would win. A bow and a spear." Jake said bitterly.

"Next time?" Mirren suggested.

"Next time."

The victory for them did not go long as somebody asked, "Where's Percy and Annabeth?"

Chiron looked disturbed, as if the moment of peace and joy was suddenly ripped off like a bandage. The usual mop of blonde hair and the son of Poseidon who looked to startled to hear about her was gone, invisible to the large crowd of people surrounding Clarisse and Lee.

"Counselors, check your cabin. Check if any of your siblings are missing." Chiron said, a little bit on the yelling side.

The already messy sea of demigods became even more messy as the counselors searched for their cabin members. Mirren stayed rooted to her spot while Jake was pushed away to his cabin by his counselor, Beckendorf. A hand pulled her backwards, and she is met with Castor and Pollux, who was paired together for the war game.

"Thank the gods," Castor muttered. "So, it's just Percy and Annabeth then."

The counselors started reporting to Chiron, claiming all the members were present, except for a panicked Malcolm, who's counselor was Annabeth.

"Get your torches and flash lights, we need to find them." Quintus announced.

They searched for nearly an hour after the game finished, and darkness seemed to coat the sky of camp. Camp Half-Blood may be the only place in New York where Mirren could actually see the stars and constellations. The glittering glint of the moon seemed to be guiding them, though not as much as Clarisse's constant demands of searching every nook and cranny in the damned woods.

"Prissy! You idiots, gods, where are you?" Clarisse called, though she sounded like she demanded for Percy and Annabeth to come to her.

As the hunt party reached up to a bunch of boulders that certainly looked like a poop-pile (Castor said it was called Zeus's fist, Mirren pointed out it looked nothing like a fist), Percy and Annabeth stumbled into Clarisse.

"Where have you two been?" Clarisse demanded. "We've been looking forever."

Chrion trotted up to the group, followed by Grover and Tyson. Mirren, already up-front with Castor - no Pollux, he wasn't big on being in the woods - closed over to the three.

"Percy! You are okay?" asked Tyson.

"We're fine," Percy said. "We fell in a hole."

Mirren looked at Percy and Annabeth skeptically. It's the woods, perfectly explainable to fall into some hole, but for an hour? Really, what were they doing?