Blessings from Khaos

|Love Is Something that Not Even Death Can Touch|

"The ship blew up," Percy said. "He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where—"

Silena Beauregard pushed through the crowd. Her hair wasn't combed and she wasn't even wearing makeup, which wasn't like her. For a moment, Lea thought something had happened to Drew, but then Silena demanded, "Where's Charlie?", looking around like he might be hiding.

The old centaur cleared his throat. "Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the Big House—"

"No," she muttered. "No. No."

She started to cry, and the rest of them stood around, too stunned to speak.

"No!"

She dropped down hands clutching at her chest.

And then she screamed.

Her rage and pain flew out from her like a sonic boom, knocking all of them off their feet. Most of them twisted mid air with the motion to land safely, but some of them didn't have the chance as they hit the ground spraining wrist and ankles or getting knocked into each other. Her scream shook the foundations of the entire camp, her empathic power entirely out of control, stronger than Lea could ever have guessed.

(And Lea had said it once before, actually, she had said it on more than one occasion, she was terrified of that damn cabin! Sure, Silena had been fairly far down the list of who she had counted as threats amongst the Tenth, but not too far. She realized pretty quickly that there was a certain hierarchy within that building that didn't just stop at who was the oldest. There were alliances within there. A competition for who were the top dogs. Oh, if you went after even one of them, the entire cabin was on your ass, but inside? It was a different story. This just served as a strong reminder of just how she ended in the top spots next to Drew, Mirajane, and Brinkley. She was powerful in her own way and she weaponized Love so that it hurts.)

They climbed their way back to their feet and though they couldn't begin to understand the depth of pain that Silena felt—to lose their blessing? It was a risk that everyone took going on missions, but this was the first time it happened— but they did feel sorrow about it. They'd already lost so many people over the summer, but this was the worst. With Beckendorf gone, it felt like someone had stolen the anchor for the entire camp.

Finally, Clarisse from the Ares cabin came forward. She put her arm around Silena. Ever since Silena had given Clarisse advice last summer about her blessing, Clarisse had decided she was Silena's personal bodyguard. Clarisse was dressed in her blood-red combat armor, her brown hair tucked into a bandana. She was as big and beefy as a rugby player, with a permanent scowl on her face, but she spoke gently to Silena.

"Come on, girl," she said. "Let's get to the Big House. I'll make you some hot chocolate."

Everyone turned and wandered off in twos and threes, heading back to the cabins. Eliza hovered, wanting to stay and check in with Percy, but also wanting to help her sister. In the end, she stood at his side while Lea absently ran a hand over her arm to heal the scraps that she got from the blast. Annabeth and Chiron had stayed behind with them.

Annabeth wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm glad you're not dead, Seaweed Brain."

"Thanks," Percy said. "Me too."

Chiron put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you did everything you could, Percy. Will you tell us what happened?"

Lea could tell that Percy didn't want to relive it, but he did so anyway.

Chiron gazed down at the valley. "We must call a war council immediately, to discuss this spy, and other matters."

"Poseidon mentioned another threat," Percy said as Lea scowled. She was so tired of dealing with traitors. She might tear the world apart with her own bare hands if she had let another one get so close to her and loved ones. "Something even bigger than the Princess Andromeda. I thought it might be that challenge the Titan had mentioned in my dream."