Apollo's Hunt

The Prophesy

Ever since Ariston attacked Shizzle the day before, Shizzle has been avoiding him. Not because he did not want to lose his favorite hammer which Ariston threatened to melt down if he ever did something like that again. If he didn't stay away, Shizzle would have to get a new hammer. Again. He really didn't want to do that.

When ever Ariston saw Shizzle, he smirked at the mental picture of his terrified face when he heard the threat.

After he had threatened Shizzle, the campers followed his example and started to avoid Ariston. The only ones ever around him were the ones who were training under him.

At that moment, if happened to be the immortal campers. While before, Ariston was excited to put them trough the worst workout of their lives, he was also not ready to spend so much time with his old friends. Except for Connor and Travis whom he was supporting fully in the prank they were pulling on the others at the moment.

The Stolls were sneaking up behind their old friends with a bucket of ice water. An old trick but sometimes the oldest tricks get the most laughs.

Ariston did nothing but watched in silent amusement as the bucket was lifted and the water thrown at the other immortals. He even helped a little, using his powers over water to make all the water reach the ones farther away.

"STOLLS!" Leif, Annabeth and Piper yelled, spinning around to see the huge grins on the brother's faces.

Clarisse surprisingly is the one to speak up. "Leave them alone guys," she said wearily, "The Fates know we deserve it."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Leif demanded with narrowed eyes yet hiding behind Annabeth. Even when tired and depressed, the daughter of Ares gives off a dangerous vibe.

"It means that we deserve what ever punishment we get for doing what we did to Percy!" Clarisse shouted, now angry. Her face was beginning to turn red and her brow was scrunched up as she stared down those she was shouting at.

Leif and Annabeth, the stubborn piles of Minotaur dung, refused to shrink at her glare. Piper and Jason were trying to follow their example but they still shrunk at the force of her gaze. Frank and Hazel looked down, not even trying to deny it. They acted ashamed but Ariston could see the flash of defiance in their eyes.

Travis and Connor however, had completely different expressions on their face.

"I knew it!" Connor shouted. He started to do a little happy dance where he was standing. "Travis, you owe me fifty drachmas!"

Travis groaned as he reached into his pocket to grab the said amount of money.

Clarisse and the others looked confused but Ariston stayed silent, watching in amusement. He was slightly annoyed that the Stolls had kept this a secret though.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked, confusion lacing her hard tone.

"We suspected that Clarisse never betrayed Percy," Connor said happily as he counted the coins.

"Why would you think that?" Clarisse challenged. "For all you know I could have regretted betraying him in the first place."

Travis shook his head. "That is not the Clarisse I know," he started, "The Clarisse I know never regrets doing things. She regrets never doing things. You regret not helping Percy when he was accused of being a traitor."

Ariston raised an eyebrow in surprise. How come he never noticed this? He was the god of Loyalty for Chaos' sake! Pushing the thought aside, Ariston spoke up. Thank you Connor and Travis Stoll for that wonderful insight. But I would love to begin the training at this time.