I sat around a ping pong table in the big house. Annabeth and I glared at each other the entire time.
The rec room was chaos.
Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin, had her boots on the table, but nobody seemed to care. Clovis from Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis's nostrils. Travis who was sat next to me was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from Apollo was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist.
Will had given me a lecture in the infirmary, it took a lot of convincing to let me come to the meeting and he only let me because he was going to be there.
The counselor from Hecate cabin, Lou Ellen was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back.
I laughed at the girls before going back to glaring at Annabeth.
Rachel Dare, the oracle, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table. I was still wary of Rachel and now I knew exactly why.
I don't wanna talk about it.
Annabeth was still glaring. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
I knew she shouldn't blame Annabeth but I was an expert in doing things I shouldn't.
"Let's come to order," Chiron said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Travis, if you'd kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Pong ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, Leo and Lila have returned successfully... more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in."
Everyone looked at Jason. He cleared his throat and began the story. Piper and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot.
I didn't say anything, I just made a popping noise while I continuously glared at Annabeth.
It only took a few minutes. The silence was heavy except for the popping. Jason ended with Hera's visit right before the meeting.
"So Hera was here," Annabeth said. "Talking to you."
Jason nodded. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her—"
"That's smart," Annabeth said.
"—but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from. Where Lila came from."
I just hummed. "Home..." I trailed off, not really knowing where home was.
"Romans." Clarisse tossed Seymour a Sausage. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."
Piper sat forward. "The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other."
"I can respect that," Clarisse said. "Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"
"We have. It's ends with everyone dead, like Macbeth." I said looking directly at Clarisse. We were related, sort of.
"You've read Shakespeare?" Annabeth questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, I did go to school before this." I said irritability.
"Oh, yes," Chiron said sadly, ignoring us. "You have, many times. It's always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded the race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities."
"More warlike," Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."
"Yuck," Travis put in.
"Watch it!" I warned. "Not all Roman's are as forgiving as I am."
Jason rolled his eyes.
"When have you ever been forgiving? Your mad at Annabeth for something that happened ten yea-"
"No!" I yelled, pointing at him.
Annabeth coughed uncomfortably, twirling her knife on the table. "And the Romans hated the Greeks. They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire."
"Not exactly hated them," Jason said. "The Romans admired Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times, demigods started to divide—either Greek or Roman."
"Did we admire them? I just remember us winning." I added.
"That's because you only stayed awake for the war portion of history." Jason said dismissively.
"And it's been that way ever since," Annabeth guessed. "But this is crazy. Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan War? Didn't they want to help?"
Chiron tugged at his beard. "They did help, Annabeth. While you and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans' base in California?"
"Hold on," Travis said. "You said Mount Othrys just crumbled when we beat Kronos."
Jason looked at me warily and I knew that he remembered the war properly.
"No," Jason faltered.
"It didn't just fall. We destroyed their palace. Jason defeated the Titan Krios himself." I continued not going into much detail.
"The Bay Area. We demigods were always told to stay away from it because Mount Othrys was there. But that wasn't the only reason, was it? The Roman camp—it's got to be somewhere near San Francisco. I bet it was put there to keep watch on the Titans' territory. Where is it?" Annabeth guessed.
Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. "I cannot say. Honestly, even I have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the sharing type. Jason and Lila's memory of it whereabouts, too, has been burned away."
"The camp's heavily veiled with magic," Jason said. "And heavily guarded. We could search for years and never find it."
Rachel Dare laced her fingers. Of all the people in the room, only she didn't seem nervous about the conversation. "But you'll try, won't you? You'll build Leo's boat, the Argo II. And before you make for Greece, you'll sail for the Roman camp. You'll need their help to confront the giants."
Leo's boat? What did I miss?
"Bad plan," Clarisse warned. "If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking."
"She's right, they'd blow us to hell." I said. Rome would win. I added in my mind
"But we have to try. We were sent here to learn about Camp Half-Blood, to try to convince you the two camps don't have to be enemies. A peace offering."
"Hmm," Rachel said. "Because Hera is convinced we need both camps to win the war with the giants. Eight heroes of Olympus—some Greek, some Roman."
Annabeth nodded. "Your Great Prophecy—what's the last line?"
"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
"Gaea has opened the Doors of Death," Annabeth said. "She's letting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea, Midas—there'll be more, I'm sure. Maybe the line means that the Roman and Greek demigods will unite, and find the doors, and close them."
"Or it could mean they fight each other at the doors of death," Clarisse pointed out. "It doesn't say we'll cooperate."
I hated to agree but the military part of my brain had but-in.
"I'm going," Annabeth said. "Jason, when you get this ship built, let me go with you."
"I was hoping you'd offer," Jason said. "You of all people —we'll need you."
"Wait." Leo frowned. "I mean that's cool with me and all. But why Annabeth of all people?"
Annabeth and Jason studied one another.
"Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leaders," Jason said. "A way for the two camps to learn of each other's existence."
"Yeah?" Leo said. "So?"
"An exchange goes two ways," Jason said. "When I got here, my memory was wiped. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you're not my enemy. The Roman camp—they're not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive."
"He needs to prove himself and even if he does they still might not accept him." I said for once I felt bad for Annabeth.
With that lovely thought the war council ended. Maybe I should of listened to Will and stayed in the infirmary, maybe gone back to sleep.
"So... Li Li, what'd you bring back?" Travis threw his arm around my shoulder.
"Wha- oh, a solid gold tea set I swiped from the King Midas." I grinned.
"No way!" He shook me slightly.
"DO NOT SHAKE MY PATIENT!" Will yelled from the Big House porch.
Travis waved his hand dismissively dragging me back to cabin eleven.
My siblings grilled me about every single detail of Midas' house (probably to plan some sort of heist).
"Hey Tommy, I think this belongs to you. He was very helpful."
"He was!" He grinned up at me with wide hopeful eyes clutching the stuffed dolphin tightly.
I nodded smiling at him. He really was adorable.
"Err... guys one more thing. I'm Delilah Castellan, my big brother is Luke Castellan." I fiddled with my fingers nervously.
They all stared at me for a moment before Alice laughed.
"Well, duh! Look at you. The eyes, the face, the giant scar, you're pure Luke. The only difference is the hair... and the fact you're a girl." Sophie said pointing at the large scar that stretched across my face.
"Wait, so you all knew? And you don't care?" I asked and they all shrugged except for Tommy who was too busy examining the tea set I stole.
"Why would we care? You're awesome." Connor ruffled my hair making me punch him in the shoulder.
"Shut up dummy." I said trying seem annoyed but I couldn't help the smile that made its way onto my face.
It felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. For the first time in days the ball of anxiety in my stomach disappeared.
They knew I was Luke's sister and they didn't care.
A/N
Tommy is my favourite. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think!