The Fate of Olympus | Reynabeth [✓]

33. Exam Season

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8. We want peaceful negotiations to begin between other mythological entities, such as Norse and Egyptian deities and creatures.

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Demigods continued to train, but the attitude of many campers had changed. Many of them said that they trained to defend themselves, not their parents.

In mid-August, several days after Myles's death, Camp Jupiter heard rumors that the Ares cabin had burned down. No one was hurt. Some people said it was an accident, but others said they smelled lighter fluid.

If it had been an intentional fire, it would be an open sign of disrespect.

There was still no word from the gods. Some demigods urged patience; the gods were wise, after all.

The demigods opposed to the rule of their parents quoted Annabeth: Your children can't destroy you, so you make empty promises when they challenge the status quo, then you retreat to your comfortable silence where no one can question your authority. You can say you're acting out of immortal wisdom, but the reality is that you're acting out of apathy.

The gods loved their children, but they were not able to intervene. Ancient rules, said the demigods. Change the rules, said the other demigods. 

The gods were silent.

You're going too far, said some demigods to the others; you're making us look bad by burning down sacred sites.

Sanctity only serves the gods, said others. A rift formed within the camps.

To slow the flow of information between the camps and to appease the gods, Fleecy stopped delivering Iris messages between the camps, hoping to slow demigods' anger from spreading.

Cutting off communication had the opposite effect. Camp Jupiter was angry that they had been cut off from their brethren on the eastern seaboard. The day after the change, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at Camp Jupiter was "accidentally" flooded. On the altar, the place for offerings, someone left cow dung.

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Annabeth's final exam was scheduled during the upheaval. She half-heartedly wished that her professor of Comparative Mythologies would postpone the final exam, but she didn't, of course. Annabeth could not put as much time toward her studies as she would have liked, owing partially to how Loki had stolen her memories and how much Myles's death had impacted the entire camp at home. 

Before he died, Annabeth had honestly never paid attention to campers like Myles, but that only served to make Annabeth feel more guilty. How had she become so disconnected that she hadn't even said hello to the newest campers? Was her quest to liberate demigods self-serving?

Annabeth went to the edge of Camp Jupiter on a walk to calm down before the test. Annabeth looked at the pristine evergreen trees on the edge of Camp Jupiter, which had survived the intense heat wave, when she realized that she had somehow crossed the border of camp without even realizing it.

Terminus was not there to stop her. Annabeth knew that guards on sentry duty had been dispatched to monitor the camp's borders, but she hadn't realized that Terminus was gone.

Annabeth squinted and saw the border patrol on the other side of the hill.

Terminus's absence disturbed Annabeth. For some reason, Annabeth hadn't anticipated how far-reaching the consequences of her wish to the Fates might have been. The camp seemed almost defenseless now. She hurried back down to the college campus and arrived a few minutes before the exam was scheduled to start.

The final exam for Comparative Mythologies was based partially on a multiple choice section, in which Annabeth had to guess the majority of exam questions. She thought she might have recognized some of the names, but she couldn't recall all the stories; there were just too many. 

Her test anxiety returned. She found herself second-guessing all her responses. Annabeth felt nauseated. Her heart was beating so hard she thought the others might hear it. She had never felt this way before during an exam.

The second part of the exam had a choice of either an essay or verbal portion. Annabeth had opted for a verbal exam. She met with her professor at her appointed time.

After they exchanged greetings, Professor Artemisia Gentileschi asked about the different sun gods' compatibility with the underlying nature of reality.

"Ra was the Egyptian version of a sun god," explained Annabeth. "And Apollo assumed different characteristics when he was Greek and when he was Roman. In fact, every major polytheistic religion we studied in this class had some form of sun worship. But the interesting thing is that, instead of competing with each other, the different sun gods could be viewed as either sides of the same god, as the historian Whitman suggested. However, I would argue that the different gods could be viewed as separate entities whose spheres of influence overlapped."

While she was speaking, Annabeth remembered that Apollo could not have stopped the other sun gods from torching Camp Jupiter because Zeus had cast Apollo to Earth as a mortal, which had thrown the sun gods out of balance. Annabeth wondered what was in store for the other gods if her fears about the gods' silence were proven true.

Three days later, Annabeth's grades came in. She had gotten barely a C minus on the exam; she had performed better in the verbal section. She had a B minus in the class. Fair enough, thought Annabeth. She swallowed her pride. She really had believed she could get an A in the class. And maybe, thought Annabeth, there was a time that she could have.

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A/N: Thank you for reading!