I spent some time with Percy in the stables. He introduced me to a black Pegasus named Blackjack. Apparently he could communicate with them, which was awesome. I secretly wished I could talk to horses.

"You know those aren’t good for you, Blackjack." He said.

I frowned, but watched as he rolled his eyes and pulled a handful of sugar cubes out of his pocket and held them on his open palm for the Pegasus. The horse whinnined and shook his main like he had a sugar rush. I chuckled.

"Blackjack and I went back a long way. I sort of helped rescue him from Luke’s demon cruise ship a few years ago, and ever since, he insisted on repaying me with favors. Blackjack, this is my sister, Nora. Nora, Blackjack."

There was a pause and he rolled his eyes.

"Stepsister." He said and then looked at me over his shoulder, "he says nice to meet you, and he thinks you smell good." Percy paused, and then gave a lopsided smirk, "ya it is what you said buddy. And I quote, Yo Boss sh-"

The hose have a loud whinny and stomped his feet. Percy threw his head back laughing.  Blackjack bowed his head and shook his main, and ruffled his wings.

"Is he embarrassed?" I chuckled.

"Yes."

"May I?" I asked the beautiful black Pegasus. His coat was so dark and shinny he looked blue, his wings were huge and jet black, shinny. He looked so soft and glossy.

"He says yes."

"Really?" I asked with a small squeal.

"Well his exact words were Yo anything for you Boss."

I chuckled, and gently laid my hand on his neck, and stocked his sleek coat. Heade a whinny noise.

"He asks why your hand is so warm."

"Daughter of Apollo. Apparently were all warm blooded."

He neighed and pawed the groaned. Percy frowned at the Pegasus. "what do you mean more? How can a person be more?"

"What? What's he saying?"

"I dunno he's having a sugar rush. He says you feel different."

"Like I'm warmer, 'cause the whole Apollo thing?"

"I dunno. How a horse can feel a demi god is beyond me. And I dunno know what he means by you feel more." Percy shrugged. He patted his friend on the nose. "You gotta lay off the donuts."

I leaned in and stocked his sleek neck, "don't worry, I'll bring you donuts!"

"Don't encourage him!"

"I'll encourage him all I want." I folded my arms and turned to Percy, Blackjack nodded his head with another huff.

"Ya ya." Percy rolled his eyes affectionately and waved a hand dismissively, but I saw his smile. Percy came over and patted his nose. "Not sure, man." Percy said miserably.  "Everybody keeps talking about underground mazes." He said to the Pegasus.

Blackjack whinnied nervously. Clearly they were having a deep conversation. I felt like I should probably leave.

"Nice to meet you Blackjack. Percy I'll catch you later."

"Ya...ya okay." He said absentmindedly.

I slipped out of the stable and back into the sun. I was just wondering where to go when a huge shadow passed over me.

"Mr Brun- I mean Chiron."

"Eleanora." He included his head, "how are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Tired. Did you know only Cabin 7 can hear a really terrible guitar solo at 4am just before the sun rises? It's terrible!" I complained.

"Yes. I did know that." He nodded. "And many a camper have tried to figure out a way to stop the alarm."

"I might just steal his keys and break the radio!"

"I would advise against it."

"Ya, you have to say that. How's Slushious?"

Chiron sighed. "The engine works, but it smells like grapes everytime Argus turns the van on."

I chuckled. We were slowly walking down the path towards the open sparing arena.

"So. Eleanora, any word on that prophecy? I was going to call a counselor meeting."

"I think I got the first two lines."

"Indeed?"

I nodded. "Ya, the three who go, me, Will and Raph."

Chiron nodded his head thoughtfully, "do you mind explaining your thought process?"

"Me..."

"Well yes, the Orical chose you..so yes that's self explanatory."

"The next one was The Healer, I mean you can try take that metaphorically...but I think it means Will. He's the camp healer. And I'm sorry I gotta take him when he might be needed-"

"If the Orical has called him away, there is nothing I can do, the fates have decided." Chiron sighed. "and Mr Raphael?"

"The line says Son of the war god, Ares, clearly. He has also been I side the Labyrinth before. Which is where I think the next time takes about. Twists and turns....the maze."

"How do you -"

"You brought Grover over to the table... Annabeth came over and the four of us talked about Grover's problem...and she explained what it is. Everytime she said the word I had a weird feeling like I was going to faint and green smoke after taste showed up."

"Very well. I do not like it, two quests into this confounded Labyrinth, but such is the way of the faits." His tail swished in annoyance and he was rubbing his scruffy beard. "Have you talked to them?"

"Will, yes. He hasn't fully agreed. But I'm sure he will and no, I haven't talked to Raph yet."

Chiron hummed. "Well, you might want to get on that. We're running out of time." Without anything more he trotted off leaving me very confused. All afternoon I tried to work up the courage to go talk to Raph. I felt weird asking him to come with me on a deadly quest into an underground maze full of deadly traps and monsters and possibly an army of angry demigods and monsters. And I felt a weird butterfly feeling in my stomach. Grumbling I headed for the showers to clear my head, seeing as I was off work duties and chores for the day- doctor's note for the win.

Once I was showered and cleaned I felt better. Standing in the mirror I just looked at myself. The blond I had put in my hair had all faded, leaving me with my natural bright gold red hair, now that it was summer all my freckles were out. Dusting my whole face but concentrated on my cheeks and nose, shoulders and down my arms, and my skin was tanned even though it was hardly a week into summer. And my brown honey eyes seemed to almost glow like polished amber.

I flinched the a shower door opened. I really hoped it wasn't Clarisse, I didn't want any more bathrooms to explode. Instead of was just Selina. I smiled at her. He wet hair was twisted up in a pink towel.

"Hey Nora!" She smiled brightly.

"Hi."

"Feeling better? You had a rough start to camp."

I shrugged. "Ribs are almost back to normal, that Ambrosia and Nectar are something. Will also have me a doctor's note stating I'm aloud to skip chores."

"Ahh. I'll have to remember that one! Oh! I forgot to tell you, there's an unspoken rule, and even Mr D allows it. If you have your period you can have quiet space in Artimis's cabin and you get a free pass for chores. It's on the honour system, so don't abuse it. But so the infirmary is packed with whatever you need, same with my cabin, your cabin and Athena's. Actually Artimis's too. And go see Conor or Travis in Hermes cabin, they'll get you the good chocolate."

"Oh! That's awesome. Thanks Selina!"

"There are a bunch of pranksters, but they're good guys. Sure some of the guys- mostly Ares guys, think we're faking and don't care or whatever, but everyone else gets it."

I nodded. Turning back to my reflection I wasn't sure what I was still doing here. I hardly wore make up, and I didn't really care about my physical appearance all that much. I slowly started packing up my stuff when Selina caught my wrist and held it up.

"You talked with my mother!" She gasped, her cylitascope eyes went wide and she looked at me. I slowly nodded.

"Yes-yesterday after the whole... prophecy thing. She showed up on the beach." I was nervous, she suddenly seemed jealous, her eyes flashed and then she blinked and it was gone. I blinked a few times wondering if I imagined it all.

"She...she was talking about love and anger and how they can be mistaken for each other but also how you can use one to help the other...and why love is stronger...and...I dunno what she was talking about!"

Selina smiled. "Ya. She does that. And same with the other gods. They never actually tell you straight up. It's always shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I don't know why, like they think they're helping but it's more annoying and frustrating."

"Exactly!"

"But once you're in the situation it's like oh! Ya okay I get it."

"They want us to instantly trust them and love them, and then they show up and think they're being helpful...but it's just making it worse."

She nodded in understanding and went back to her make up.

"Selina..?" I asked suddenly.

She hummed, her lipstick gliding across her perfect lips.

"I need...uh..advice?"

"Ask away, Love."

"Okay, don't go all....squeally girl on me."

She straightened up and looked at me curiously, but the way she was eyeing me up, I had a feeling she knew. I felt my PM's become sweety and I felt my heart beat speed up for a second.

"You want to know how to go talk to Raph. Not about feelings or anything, because you don't really know him yet and he's the son of Ares, and can make your blood boil, and it might be the anger or something else, but you litterly just met. No you're nervouse to talk to him in general, but need to talk to him about the quest."

I stood frozen, my mouth hanging open.

"Well...ya." I squeaked.

"Easy. Pin him to a tree like yesterday so he can't run off and ask. He's a boy, and a son of Ares. Straight direct questions. Beating around the bush is never fun, the hints and expecting the male population to just know what we're thinking isn't cool. Leading them in, playing with their emotions...not cool. Just be yourself, be firm and direct. Raph seems different then the other Ares boys. He's a bit more level headed and not so loud and obnoxious. Clarisse picks on him for it, despite how much bigger he is. He doesn't always jump into fights, like the others."

"You seem to know alot about him."

"He's been at camp for about the same time as I have. We showed up the same summer, almost 5 years ago. He's a year round camper."

"Okay, how old is he really?"

"Almost 17."

"He looks so much older!"

"Ares blessing...or curse, depending how you look at it."

"And the tattoos?"

"His mom owned a shop."

I made an oh face. Okay, makes sense. Weird how Selina knew all this. I glanced at her.

"We thought about dating." She said before I could ask. "But we never did. We both thought it was kind of weird, since our parents were also together. It was mutual."

I just nodded.

"Also, he hasn't dated anyone else."

"Oh...uh okay."

She smiled and went back to her make-up.
I packed up my stuff and headed out to dump my stuff before supper.

🔆

That night after dinner, Quintus had us suit up in combat armor like we were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. Sometime during the day the crates in the arena had disappeared, and I had a feeling whatever was in them had been emptied into the woods.

"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. "Gather ’round."

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs. O’Leary, his huge terrifying looking hellhound, who was just a giant puppy was bounding happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps. She paused and rolled onto her back for a belly rub. While Quintus was talking I whispered to the dog.

"Whos a good girl?" And used both hands to rub her belly. Percy joined in, and together the two of us scratched her belly. Her tongue hung out of her mouth and she made happy puppy noises. Quintes glanced over at us.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"

"AWWWWW!" everybody complained. Miss O'Leary whoofed like she agreed that pre picked teams sucked.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course…you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward. Hey, we’d all slain monsters before. That’s what we trained for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

"Aroooof!" Mrs. O’Leary jumped up and bounded over to a table with some leftovers and buried her face in a plate of pizza.

Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Apollo cabin- melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat. Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."

"Nice." He grinned at Annabeth.

"Eleanora Blofis and Raphael Marino."

Selina caught my eye and smirked and indicated with her head. I exhaled heavily through my nose. I guess this is one way to talk to him. He had marched up beside me, his helmet held under his arm..

"Sunshine."

"Hot head."

"Did you just call me hot?"

"No. I called you A hot head. Like you get angry. And make me angry."

"Whatever you say." He smirked.

"Dude. That's my sister. Don't!" Percy narrowed his eyes at the guy. Raph held his hands up in a defensive manner.

"She's the one calling me hot." He smirked.

I ground my teeth. Maybe it was a mistake to ask him to come. I readjusted my chest plate. My ribs still had a dull ache. Quintes was almost done with the names

"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."

Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but-"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy-"

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"

Tyson and Grover both looked at Percy, Tyson's big pleading eye looked to me, like I could help. I tried to give them an encouraging nod, and gestured that they should move together. Percy doing the same. Tyson sneezed. Grover started chewing nervously on his wooden club.

"They’ll be fine," Annabeth said with a nod. She grabbed Percy's arm and together they walked off.

"Come on, Sunshine. Let’s worry about how we’re going to stay alive." His smirk had morphed into a stone cold hard look. His mind was spinning with battle strategy.

"I know this is your domain, I'm not as good at hand to hand as you. But I'm a wicked shot."

"I think we play to our strengths. Stay behind me and use the bow. I'll take whatever makes it through those arrows."

"Sounds good to me. And if we need, it's good practice with Twin hunters. Your blades need to see some battle."

I nodded. I had no real option but to trust him in this war game.

"Led the way Hot Head."

🔆