The Army of Chaos

You've Been Here Before

Percy’s P.O.V

Zoe and I burst through the doors of the dinning hall at the exact same time. We were both panting like crazy. I look around and see that everyone is looking at.

“Sorry.” Zoe says loudly before taking another deep breath.

“We are late.” I continue for her. Zoe nods her head like she was agreeing with me.

“It’s alright.” Chiron says once he breaks out of his trance, “We were just about to start eating.”
“So technically we are on time.” Zoe says.

“Yes, technically.” Chiron says smiling a little.

Quickly we both walk over to the table where all our friends were seating. They were all bitting their lips trying to hold in their laughter.

“As I was saying.” Chiron says, “I would like to propose a toast.” He says holding up his cup of ambrosia, “To the Army of Chaos, for helping when we need it the most.” He finishes.

“To the Army of Chaos.” Everyone echoes except for Pollux who scream:

“To us.” Instead.

A couple of campers look at him oddly. He just stares back at them as if he did nothing wrong. Soon enough the dinning hall is filled with laughter and people talking. 

My friends and I look around the table for a moment before we all laugh along with the other campers.

“Really Pollux?” Lee asks, “To us.” He mages to finish before laughing again. We laugh for a few more seconds before we all manage to speak.

“SO,” Luke says loudly, “Why were you two late?” He asks motioning to me and Zoe with his spoon before starting to eat his soup.

A small blush makes its way to our faces.

“Well we were just talking before we realized how late we were.” Zoe explains after she regained her posture.

“Then, after we realized how late we were, we ran.” I finish grabbing her hand underneath the table. She looked over from her spot beside me and smiled.

“Alright.” Luke says, “That’s understandable. So what were you guys talking about?” He asks casually before taking another spoonful of soup. 

“Oh, just stuff.” I say shrugging a shoulder not really wanting to talk about anymore than I have to.

He nods showing me that he understands the fact that I don’t want to talk about it. That’s one of the great things about Luke; he understands you. Luke is like my brother now. To tell you the truth I didn’t really hesitate to accept his apology. I wanted the Army of Chaos to be a new start for me, and that means that I had to forget the past and look at the future. 

“You guys up for some sword fighting after this?” Bianca asks from her spot next to Luke.

“In this camp?” Luke asks.

“Yeah.” Bianca answers. For a moment we all look, surprised that she would even bring that up.

“No thanks.” Lee says slowly.
“And, why not?” Bianca asks him with the same slow tone as he used.

“Because if we train here Chiron will most likely want us to train with the other campers. So we feel ‘involved’-” Pollux put air quotes on the word ‘involved’. “- And I really don’t want to train anywhere near them.” He finishes crossing his arms like a little kid.

An eery silence taking over our table, we just stared at them. Suddenly Bianca’s face light up, and I could almost imagine a lightbulb turning up on top of her head.

“Well, if we do get paired up with one of the campers we have an excuse to beat them up.”  Her voice was one of the scariest things I have heard when she speaks that sentence. Don’t get me wrong I love Bianca, she’s like my little sister, but arguing with her is like making a deal with the devil; you won’t win either way.

“Yeah. But...” Lee trails off not being able to finish his sentence.

“She got you there, Arrow.” I say smiling slightly at their childishness.

“I win.” Bianca says leaning back into the back of the bench she was sitting at, smiling broadly.

“Hello.” I hear a sweet voice say behind me. We all turn around and see the one and only Hazel Levesque standing there.

“Hey.” Bianca answers.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner.” She says shyly. 

“It’s fine.” Luke says before Hazel can continue. She smiles shyly at us.

“It’s just that Chiron said that one of us had to come talk to you, so I volunteered.” She says looking a bit nervous.

“One of us?” Lee asks.

“Yeah, one of the cabin leaders.”

“Alright.” Lee says, “Would you like to take a seat?” Hazel looks around the table as if she checking if it was okay.

“Yes, please.” She says after hesitating for a few moments. Zoe moves closer to me and taps the end of the wooden bench signalizing Hazel to sit.  

“So what is it that you wanted to talk about?” Zoe asks drawing all of the attention to her and Hazel.

“Well, we were wondering if you guys would like to go to your original cabins or if you would like to stay in your current cabin after you reveal you identities.” She says looking down at the table.

“We would like to stay in our current cabin.” Lee answers, “And who said we were children of the gods?” 

“Well you guys were here before.” Hazel answers casually.

“DINNER IS OVER.” Chiron’s powerful voice booms through the dinning hall. “YOU ARE NOW DISMISSED.”

All the campers stand up and start exiting the dinning hall. We follow their actions and stand up, but instead of leaving the dinning hall we stand in front of the table looking at Hazel who was in the same position as all of us. Soon enough we are the only ones left in the dinning hall.

“I think we should finish this conversation in the cabin.” Luke says, breaking the silence that had overtaken the table.

“Yeah, we should.” Hazel agrees.

Quickly we run to our cabins with Hazel with us. Pollux opens the door being the first one there, he holds it open for the rest of us and once we are all inside the cabin he locks the door making sure it’s properly locked before climbing up a bunk bed and sitting on the top bed.

“First of all, do any of the others know that we have been here before?” I ask her eagerly.

“No.” Hazel answers confidently.

“Good.” I hear Luke mutter under his breath on the bunk bed beside me.

“Not even the so called daughter of Athena?” Zoe asks from her spot in between me and Lee.

I give her a light with my elbow. Everyone in the room, except for Hazel, is giving her a look.

“No.”

“Alright.” Zoe says.

“So next thing.” I say.

“How do you know that we have been here before.” Luke continues.