Miles Dilara and the Quest for Legends (A Percy Jackson fanfic)

16: Getting Distracted from Making Actual Plans

After an interesting jump, hop, and a skip, where we did a little talking to get the three of us out of the underworld, we appeared back at Camp Halfblood, the three of us standing on the table that the head counselors were sitting around.

All conversation halted as they stared at us.

Jackson gave a wave. "We're back."

I watched as Roxanne punched Tony in the shoulder, then engulfed him in a bear hug. Then she roughly pulled him away and put her hands on his shoulders.

"What do you think you were doing?" she yelled.

Tony grimaced and rubbed his shoulder. "You could say thank you for saving your life."

"No, I won't say thank you. You could have been killed!"

"They needed me, and they thought I was on their side. I'll be fine. Plus, I didn't even break the oath that I made."

"I know, you sneaky fox," Roxanne laughed. She gave him another hug, and Tony groaned, "Roxanne!"

"Sorry," she quickly said, backing away. And I smiled as I saw her eyes look a little wet.

"Um, can someone explain to the less intelligent people over here what is happening?" someone shouted.

There was a small round of laughter.

"Tony here," Jackson said, "is a genius."

Tony's ears turned red at the praise. "I just convinced them that I was on their side."

I felt a little guilty. Tony didn't know that Soma had been onto him, and had let him escape.

"Also Soma is partially helping us," I added.

There were more than a few confused looks.

"It's true." I glanced over at Tony. "I hate to burst your bubble, but she said that she was letting us escape because... I really don't know why. But she said something about us being determined?"

"The point is," Jackson interrupted, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "We think she isn't helping Styx whole heartedly."

"Okay, wait, wait, wait," Xander called. "Why should we trust her? If she wanted to help us, she wouldn't have brought us to the underworld in the first place!"

"You weren't there," Jackson said. "While we were captured, she was acting just like herself. We were all agreeing that Bryce was annoying and we laughed when Roxanne punched him, and she just- she's still the same."

"You did?" That came from Tony, looking at Roxanne.

"Wait, how do Jackson and Miles know?" Alyssa frowned.

"Ah," Jackson said. "Right. Soma put cameras all around camp."

Xander cleared his throat. "Does that mean that even Soma knows that I'm Bri- never mind. I don't want to know."

"Let's get back on topic," Lena yelled.

"Right." I glanced around the room. "The camera was angled this direction, so it should be right... here." I walked over and sure enough, there was a small device planted on the wall, disguised amazingly well. It was the same color as the wall, and if any one saw it they would have thought it was a smudge of some sort. It was about the size of my fingernail.

"Anyone want to say hi to Soma?" I asked. I gave the little camera a wave. "Save me some popcorn."

Roxanne was close behind me. She glared at the camera. "I should hate you for betraying us like that. But," her voice softened. "Thanks for letting Tony go." She grinned. "And I'll be sure to punch Bryce more often for you."