Grover was having a snack in the living room. He was dressed for battle in an armored shirt made from tree bark and twist ties, with his wooden cudgel and his reed pipes hanging from his belt.

The Demeter cabin had whipped up a whole buffet in the hotel kitchens- everything from pizza to pineapple ice cream. Unfortunately, Grover was eating the furniture. He'd already chewed the stuffing off a fancy chair and was now gnawing the armrest.

I smacked his shoulder, making him turn around. "Dude!" I signed.

"We're only borrowing this place." Percy scolded.

"Blah-ha-ha!" I could just imagine his bleat. He looked very uneasy. He had stuffing all over his face.

"Sorry, guys." His hands were shaking so it was hard to actually understand what he was saying. I had to look to Percy, pleading in my exhausted eyes. He nodded and started to translate for me.

"He says: Louis the Sixteenth furniture. Delicious. Plus he always eat furniture when he's-"

"Nervous," I signed. "Yeah, I know."

Percy looked back at Grover. He waved Grover over to a table, where Katie, Connor and Teaves, Jake, Malcolm, and a few other head councilors were. Thalia and two of her
lieutenants walked in. She nodded to me and Percy and came and sat down, snagging a big piece of pepperoni pizza as she sat.

"Okay, so what's up? Reports." Percy signed for me and spoke to the room. He pointed to Grover.

He clopped on his hooves. "I heard about Annabeth. Is she . . .?"

"She's going to be fine. She's resting, Will and Nora worked their Apollo magic."

Grover took a deep breath. "That's good."

"Is everyone here?" Percy asked.

I double checked.

"Uhh...Will, will be head councilor...but he's busy with injured. I'll fill him in. Selina went to try rally Ares cabin. But yeah, everyone else is here." I signed for Percy.

He nodded and then looked back at Grover.

"All right man. Shoot."

Grover launched into his report, I did my best but Percy started to slow down and I was have a hard time following. I glanced around the table. Pollux caught my eye and picked up the interpreter job. He was the best other than any of the Hermes cabin, or Athena. Mr D's kids were the best ASL signers. He was so fluid in his sign, he was talking as if he were Grover:

"I've mobilized most of the nature spirits in the city- well, the ones that will listen to me, anyway. I had no idea acorns could hurt so much. Anyway, we're helping out as much as we can."

Grover told us, (Pollux told me) about the skirmishes they'd seen. Mostly they'd been covering uptown, where we didn't have enough demigods. Hellhounds had appeared in all sorts of places, shadow-traveling inside our lines, and the dryads and satyrs had been fighting them off. A young dragon had appeared in Harlem, and a dozen wood nymphs died before the monster was finally defeated. I cursed. Pollux nodded in agreement.

The reports got worse and worse.

"We lost twenty satyrs against some giants at Fort Washington," he continued. I watched Pollux's face twist in agony. "Almost half my kinsmen. River spirits drowned the giants in the end, but..." Grover trailed off.

Thalia finally leaned forward, sucking the sauce off her finger first. "Kronos's forces are still gathering at every bridge and tunnel." Her sign was fluid and second nature now. I thanked Pollux for signing for me. But I now turned my eyes onto Thalia.  "And Kronos isn't the only Titan. One of my Hunters spotted a huge man in golden armor mustering an army on the Jersey shore."

I waved a hand pulling attention to myself.
"Wait! Gold armor...gold eyes and  kinda harsh and shinny?"

Thalia nodded.

I cursed.

"I'm not sure who he is, but he radiates power like only a Titan or god."

"I do. Good ol' Hyperion. Helios's father." I added for Percy and Thalia, who both made big 'OH!' faces. No one else knew what I was talking about.

"Umm. Who?" Katie pulled up.

"Hyperion." I sighed. I guess now was a good time as any to explain everything. I looked at Percy and he looked apprehensive. I shrugged. How much worse could this get? They already didn't trust me. I turned to the group around the table.

"Look guys. Know my big bad prophecy?" I signed. Some nodded, and some looked to Percy to translate. I went on.

"Daughter of the Light, ne'er she be.
The lost child of Ally, Foe an' Rivalry. Means...well... I'm umm part Titan."

There were blank looks from everyone.

"What?"

"Okay... remember when Apollo took over as the sun god? 'Cause Helios, the sun titan was going a little crazy?" I explained.

There were nods.

"Ya," Katie said, "we remember your quest last year to rescue him from the Labyrinth."

I nodded. "Well...turns out he's also my dad."

"Okay...I understand the birds and bees talk and all...but this doesn't make sense! How can you be both?" Travis asked.

There was some kind of commotion behind me, because heads turned in the direction of the door. I turned to see Annabeth walking towards us. Her hands already working as her mouth moved.

"You know how the sun works, solar flares and little flames if fire flicker. Well as Helios was The Sun, he had a sun flare into Apollo the same night uhh... Nora's Mom and Apollo uhh...as Nora was..."

"The same night he hooked up with mom. So I have both Titan and God blood in my veins. So Hyperion is my grandfather, on my godly side."

"Whoa." Jake mouthed. "no wonder you can super Nova. That's crazy!"

I shrugged. Waiting for the backlash. I glanced around the table quickly, waiting for the accusations.

"So like is the fire explosion like Titan gifts or something else?"

"No...that's part of the Titan. Also the blessing from The Pheonix."

"Dude. You could probably kick Percy's ass!" Conner grinned.

"There will be no ass kicking right now. We need to figure out what's going on with Kronos." Annabeth rolled her eyes and she signed.

"Great," Percy said, his face was blank. "Now that my ass is safe-"

Malcolm waved his hands, catching our attention, well my attention, he was clearly talking, but again. I couldn't hear. I appreciated the wave. "What about the other lines in the prophecy?"

I shrugged. "no idea." I could see everyone at the table slump.

"Can we please get on with this?" Percy asked.

"Ya. Sorry." Malcolm signed. He looked sheepishly at me and Percy. Percy looked annoyed now. "Anyone here have any good news?" His signing was slightly choppy, indicating his frustration.

Thalia shrugged, and signed for me. "We've sealed off the subway tunnels into Manhattan. My best trappers took care of it. Also, it seems like the enemy is waiting for tonight to attack. I think Luke"- she caught herself- "I mean Kronos needs time to regenerate after each fight. He's still not comfortable with his new form. It's taking a lot of his power to slow time around the city."

"Well...he still wants to use me as a host body. He would love to get rid of Luke's mortal one. He told me again on the bridge."

"No one is going to offer you up." Percy said, his eyes narrowed, as he looked at the table, as if daring them to say otherwise. I didn't think that was the problem. Them trading me for Luke. At least I hoped not. Though Annabeth had an expression in her face that made me uneasy.

"No..." I started to sign, "but-"

Percy grabbed my arm cutting me off and then yanked me to the corner of the room where we could have a more private conversation.

"No. Nora you aren't offering yourself over." His green eyes flashed, almost dangerously.
"You know it would make this so much harder."

"Ya...but-" I tried to speak, but Percy smacked my hands down.

"Fighting Luke right now is bad enough. And there's both of us! And you have Titan blood!"

"Yes I know... But-"

Percy smacked my hands down again and kept going, "And you're so much stronger then him!"

"Cut it out!"

"Cut what out?"

"Smacking my hands and interrupting me!" I felt my exhausted frustration rise. "I'm trying to talk and it's annoying!"

"Fine. What did you have to say?" He signed and then folded his arms tight across his chest. Indicating he wouldn't interrupt.

"Okay, every time you guys bring up Luke, Annabeth looks like she's ready to swap me for Luke. If there's a way to save him, she wouldn't hesitate to trade me."

"No. She wouldn't." Percy said right away, shaking his head.

"Stop defending her. She hates me and you know it. You also know how much she still cares for Luke."

Percy ran a hand down his face in frustration. He looked like he wanted to punch a wall. I, on the other hand, just felt like melting into the floor and never getting back up.

"You know I'm right. You know she would do almost anything to save him."

I could see Percy deflate. He hung his head for a second.

"Fine. She still cares for him. In what way, I dunno. But she wouldn't offer a trade."

I raised an eye brow and put my hands on my hips and waited.

"She knows this war would be a thousand times harder if you hosted Kronos."

"Ahh gee. So glad I mean so much to her."

"Nora!" He closed his eyes for a moment. He took a so breath, "I won't let that happen."

"I know."

"Okay." He nodded his eyes glued to me for a second longer. We both looked exhausted. We had fought dozens and dozens of monsters and then I spent all morning looking for Michael and then healing campers. I needed a nap so badly, but Kronos's creepy warning made me hesitate again. I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I looked up and saw Percy again. His sea green eyes had softened slightly from our argument.

"Thank you..."

"For?" I signed confused. I pulled my eyebrows together and cocked my head.

"Not letting me do this alone."

I gave him a small exhausted smile. "It's what family does."

He nodded. He gave me an odd look. Which I frowned at. "What?" I signed.

"Annabeth and you pulled me out of the Styx."

"Ya ..I physically did." I rolled my eyes. "You weren't coming back up. I pulled you out. Imagine the son of the sea god drowning!"

"Ha. You're hilarious." He signed completely deadpanned.

"I know." I gave him a small smirk.

"No. I saw something. Like a vision. You and Annabeth. In a canoe both of you reached in and pulled me out, but you physically did...but the vision thing? I saw you two."

I frowned and cocked my head. It was similar to my vision.

"Did...did you see something too?" He asked, his face was eager.

"I heard...I heard people; the ones I care about...you, Nico, dad, Sally, Tyson, Will...um and uh-"

"Raph." Percy added for me.

I gulped around the sudden lump in my throat and nodded. Even saying his name ft like a twist to the knife in my heart. "Ya. And then I saw you and him, laughing at me, like I'd fallen out of the canoe, you were both standing on the dock and you both reached down and pulled me out. And I exploded out of the Styx scaring the crap out of Nico."

"Whoa. We're more similar than I thought. Sure we don't actually share DNA?" Percy asked. I shooky head.

"Weird. Well...now that we had this nice sibling chat...we should probably get back to the war meeting."

"Probably." I groaned silently. I was exhausted and felt so empty. Percy and I stepped back to the table. A few were looking at us funny.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Uhh..that was a mildly heated conversation." Thalia smirked.

"Huh?"

"Nora's sparking and the room hears up, and your causing a mini storm the water in the jug was swirling. Siblings bickering. Ahh it's perfect."

"Ops?" I signed, not feeling sorry at all. Thalia and the stole brothers sniggered.  No one else seemed to find it funny.

"Okay, back to business." Annabeth waved her hands and she sunk down into a chair. I followed her example. My legs felt shaky. I sunk into the chair beside Thaila. She slid me a piece of pizza. I smiled gratefully before devouring it.

Grover nodded. "Ya...okay. So Kronos and most of his forces are more powerful at night, too. But they'll be back after sundown."

I tried to think clearly, my head was fuzzy and my eyes were heavy. Percy asked "Okay. Any word from the gods?" It was hard to follow the conversations now bouncing back and forth. I had to see what they were saying and who was saying it. I wish I could have just laid my head down on the table and just listened. But no, I had to stay awake and alert to see who said what.

Thalia shook her head. "I know Lady Artemis would be here if she could. Athena, too. But Zeus has ordered them to stay at his side."

"Ya. Persephone said, Apollo deserted for 3 min...to step in in the throne room...back...whenever we were there. And he was scared he would end up a mortal on earth again." I signed while yawning.

"Not great." Percy signed back with a deep frown and matched my yawn.

"Nope."

"The last I heard," Thalia went on,  "Typhon was destroying the Ohio River valley. He should reach the Appalachian Mountains by midday."

"So at best," I signed, "we've got another two days before he arrives." If my mapping as were correct.

Jake waved his hand. I picked my head up and looked around, I had placed my head in my hand trying hard to focus.

"Ya...something else," he said, his ASL wasn't as fluid so I looked around. Pollux picked up for me. "Thank you." I signed quickly. My head flopped onto Thalia's shoulder and I watched Pollux translate for Jake as he talked.

"The way Kronos showed up at the Williamsburg Bridge, like he knew you and Nora were going there. And he shifted his forces to our weakest points. As soon as we deployed, he changed tactics. He barely touched the Lincoln Tunnel, where the Hunters were strong. Thalia and Nora blew the tank in what, under 3 minutes?"

Thalia nodded.

"He went for our weakest spots, like he knew." Jake finished.

"Like he had inside information," Percy signed. His face was pulled into a scowl, into concentration.

"The spy." I concluded.

"What spy?" Thalia demanded, I picked my head up off her shoulder, and had shifted so she was sitting straighter and stiffer- not a good head rest.

"Percy? Wanna explain?"

Percy told her about the silver charm Kronos had shown us on the boat, the communication device.

"That's bad," she said. "Very bad."

"It could be anyone," Jake said. "We were all standing there when Percy and Nora gave the orders."

"But what can we do?" Grover asked. "Frisk every demigod until we find a scythe charm?"

They all looked at me and Percy, waiting for a decision. I couldn't afford to show how panicked I felt, even if things seemed hopeless. I glanced at Percy and he looked back at me with eyes that held the panic right at the surface. I sighed.

"We keep fighting," I signed. I pushed myself to stand. I had to be the strong one for the group. There was no time for being exhausted. I needed to make the tough calls and the hard choices. I looked each kid in the eyes before continuing. I signed slowly and deliberately making sure each person here at the war meeting around the kitchen table knew what I was saying.

"We can't obsess about this spy. If we're suspicious of each other, we'll just tear ourselves apart. We need to trust each other. Completely. You guys were awesome last night! Seriously, I'm so proud of all of you! I couldn't ask for a braver army." I let that sink in. I absolutely meant it. These guys chose to show up and fight. They didn't sit back with Ares cabin, they came and fought.

"Now.." I continued. "Let's set up a rotation for the watches. Rest up while you can. Eat, shower, see a medic..whatever you guys need to do. We've got a long night ahead of us."

The demigods mumbled agreement. They went their separate ways to sleep or eat or repair their weapons or whatever. I slumped back down into the chair for a second.

"Percy, you too. Nora, you're dead on your feet," Thalia said. "We'll keep an eye on things. Go lie down. We need you in good shape for tonight."

"Ya. Inna minute. I gotta see Will first."

"No. You need sleep. I'll fill Will in on what happened." Thalia insisted.

"Why are you being so bossy?" I yawned.

"Artemis orders."

"Aww. Auntie Aetie is worried about me?" I signed as I stood up, I had to grip the table for a second. My head spun and I saw black spot in my eyes. I tried blinking them all away.

"Apollo doesn't get many daughters. You and Kayla are the only 2 in like 20 years. So...ya, Artemis gets quite protective of her nieces."

"Aww." I signed with a crooked smile. While my eyes fluttered. "Problem, though."

"Nora? What's the problem?!" Percy asked, stepping closer.

"I..I don't think I'm going to make it."

My knees buckled and my eyes fluttered closed. My body crashed hard and I was pulled into an exhausted dead sleep.

🔆

Did this war meeting even make sense?!?