The Strategy of Athena

06. Ribbon

     Ribbon.

     "You want us to be fake questers, go on a fake quest, and follow the real questers on the real quest?" Isaac asked, dumbfounded. Sure, he'd been upset to find out that he wasn't a part of the mission- but wasn't asking to be second in line!

     Mr. D chuckled from the corner, sipping his cup of diet coke.

     "I want you to ensure the success of the mission. Both of you," Chiron explained, his head turning to each individual halfblood. "Leo is with some of our best fighters, and I believe they will do fine. The others... this necklace- it needs to be brought to Olympus."

     "Why didn't you just put us on the actual quest?" Erin snapped, but stopped herself from continuing on. She knew better than to talk harshly with Mr. D around, and didn't want to be rude to Chiron in general. No one did. The centaur was always there for the demigods.

     "It's usually three people per quest, and if both had more..."

     "...campers would start to worry."

     "Right," the centaur sighed. "Stay near them, but they shouldn't know you're there."

     "We'll do our best," Isaac said for the both of them, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. Once dismissed, he fiddled with the Rubik's Cube in his pocket. When tossed in the air, it transformed into an amazing celestial bronze sword. A brilliant daughter of Hecate had designed it for him.

     Cabin 5 stood tall like a soldier. It had awful red paint covering each nook, and the Aphrodite kids avoided it as much as possible. Two windows were boarded up beside the broken front door. The place was a mess, but neither him nor his siblings were up to fix it.

     The cabin was empty.

     Ares kids usually stayed up training, so this wasn't out of the ordinary.

     Isaac trudged around the ladder, his eyes falling on a necklace that hung from a hook. It had belonged to Blair Teslinn. She had been one of camp's best warriors, and everyone loved her. The Ares kids even enjoyed her company. A couple months ago she had disappeared. They assumed she'd gone outside of boundaries and been attacked, but no one knew the real story. 

     Seven demigods stood beside Half-Blood Hill, chattering amongst themselves. The sun was rising too slowly, and the air remained cool as usual. There were a few birds chirping, but beside them- the campers were the only cause of the noise.

     Chiron had kindly given them a wad of mortal money (So much that the Hermes kids had to have stolen it).

     Leo said his goodbyes to his sister, then watched as her group stepped out of camp. He held his breath as they exited, as if some monster was going to pop out.

     "Where are we headed?" Marley Emerson asked politely. She wore a beautiful blouse instead of an orange t-shirt, a thin jacket on top, and a pair of dark jeans. A scar ran across her nose, but it was hardly noticeable. The daughter of Aphrodite seemed a bit younger than Leo- probably just a year.

     Leo frowned. Thinking back to the dream he had had last night. He saw the sign again, but still couldn't read it in time. Instead, he had been focusing on the background. Luckily, he was able to take note of the building in the back. It was huge, and there was a crowd leaving from it.