War council was more exciting than any other one Layla had attended. Each cabin counselor did his thing resulting to pure chaos.
Butch was trying to fit as more pencils as he could into the nostrils of Clovis who was, what a surprise, sleeping.
Travis and Connor, camp's biggest troublemakers and Hermes children, were trying set a ping pong ball on fire. Fortunately for everybody in the room, they hadn't succeeded. Yet.
Amaya, the nine-year-old counselor of Nemesis cabin was playing a weird card game with the counselor from Nike cabin. Of course, the daughter of Nike won most of the times, but you could see in Amaya's eyes that she was already planning revenge for that.
Lou Ellen Blackstone was playing 'got-your-nose' with Miranda Gardiner, only difference being that she, being a daughter of Hecate, had actually magically removed Katie's nose and the daughter of demeter was struggling to get it back.
Layla was losing at Bradefer from Clarisse probably for the hundredth time. Connor Travis would occasionally leave their ping pong ball aside and bet against her.
"Let's come to order." Chiron stepped into the room followed by Annabeth. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for a human nostril. Clarisse, we know you are strong but please give the poor girl a break and Connor, betting against your fellow campers is not very nice. Thank you. Now as you can see, Jason, Leo, Layla and Piper have returned successfully... more or less. Most of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in."
Once again, Layla let the others explain. She only added a few details from time to time. Everybody looked pretty fascinated with the story of how Layla defeated Enceladus although she tried to explain them multiple time that she didn't almost nothing, and that the others all the hard work.
Their story ended with Jason saying what Hera had told him before the meeting.
"So Hera was here, talking to you?" Layla frowned.
Jason nodded. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her-"
"That's wise." Annabeth muttered. Rich coming from a daughter of Athena.
"-but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."
"Romans." Clarisse said tossing Seymour,the leopard, 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."
"The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time we see each other, we try to kill each other." Piper explained.
"I can respect that." Clarisse said. "Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"
"Oh yes." Chiron said. "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 place that would some day become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different name and with slightly different personalities."
"More warlike." Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest and discipline."
"Yuck." Travis commented and several campers shifted uncomfortably.
"And Romans hated Greeks. They took revenge when they conquered the greek isles and made them part of the Roman empire. After the c-." Annabeth said.
"Not the best time for a history lesson." Connor groaned.
"They did not exactly hate them." Jason continued ignoring the son of Hermes. "The Romans admired Greek culture and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans as barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times demigods started to divide- either Greek and Roman and it's been this way ever since."
"This crazy." Layla said. "Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan war? Didn't they help at all?"
"They did help, Layla. While you were fighting to save Manhattan, who do you think conquered Mount Orthys the Titans' base in California?"
"But I thought Mount Orthys just crumbled when yo- when we defeated Kronos."
"No," Jason remembered. "It didn't just fall. We destroyed the palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself."
Annabeth turned to Jason and frowned as if trying to process the information. "The Bay Area. We demigods were always told to stay away from it because Mount Orthys 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 Titan's territory." Layla had to admit the girl was very smart. Only she, could figure that much out just by hearing Jason's story. The daughter of Athena turned to Chiron. "Where is it?"
"I cannot say." Chiron said as always. "Honestly, even I have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the sharing type. Jason's memory, 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."
"But you'll try, won't you?" Rachel said. During the counsil she had been usually quiet and Layla had almost forgotten she was there. "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."
"Bad plan." Clarisse said. "If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking."
"You're probably right" Jason said. "But we have to try. I was 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."
"Oh, so that's what Leo meant about you being a bridge. You're supposed to connect the two camps. Bring them together." Layla said.
"Finally. You're so slow." Leo joked.
"Give me a break fire boy. Anyway, why risk it? Why bring the camps together now?"
The oracle put her hand in the table. "Hera is convinced we need both camp to win the war with the giants. Eight heroes of Olympus- some Roman, some Greek."
Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Rachel, what was the last line of your Prophesy?"
"And foes bear arms to the doors of death." The girl recalled. "Why?"
"Gaia has opened the doors of death." Annabeth explained. "She's leting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea and Midas are just the beginning. There'll be more, I'm sure maybe the line means that 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 said. "It doesn't say we'll cooperate."
"Wow, Clarisse. That was really encouraging." Layla muttered. Clarisse started to reply but Chiron shushed her.
"I'm going." Annabeth said to Jason after a while. "Jason, when you get the ship built, let me go with you."
"I was hoping you'd offer." Jason admitted. "You of all people- we'll need you"
Layla wasn't really fond of Annabeth or they idea to join them but she understood that without her and her her help they would probably die in the first day of their mission.
"Why would you volunteer for something as dangerous as this?" Connor asked.
Jason and Annabeth looked at each other. "Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leader." Jason said. "A way of the camps to learn of each other's existence."
"Yeah, so?"
"An exchange goes two ways." Jason explained. "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 have to prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice it him, and if they learn where he comes from he's going to be in serious trouble."
"Him? You're talking about Percy, right?" Layla said, finally understanding.
Annabeth nodded. "He disappeared around the same day Jason appeared. If Jason came here-"
"Exactly," Jason agreed. "Percy Jackson is at the other camp and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."
After that last shocking discovery, the rest of the counsil went by without anything interesting happening. The real problems started afterwards.
Once they had exited the big house, Amaya, the Nemesis cabin counselor, approached Layla and pulled her hand to get her attention.
"Can you tell me the story with Enceladus again?" She asked the older girl. Layla didn't want to disappoint her but she was sick of telling that story.
"I really haven-"
"Please." Amaya cut her off with a pout. The Nemesis cabin counselor was just nine years old. She was couselor only because there were no other people in her cabin. Being one of the youngest campers at camp she had all the older campers wrapped around her fingers. They always did what she asked them to.
"I didn't so anything amazing. I would have died if my friends haven't helped me. Really, the story is that interesting." Layla said. Amaya looked so genuinely disappointed that it made Layla feel guilty.
"Oh, she was amazing." Leo said from behind Layla making Amaya look at him. "You should've seen her. How she flied and stabbed the giant in the back. She's just being modest."
His trick worked. Amaya's eyes lit up. Without saying anything else she sat next to Layla and looked at her expectantly. The daughter of Zeus shot Leo a 'I'll kill you later' look and started telling her story. Leo just laughed and sat down next to the two girls. He added small details from time to time mostly joking about how amazing Layla was. That made Layla want to kill him even more.
The problem with Amaya was that she liked the story so much even though Layla kept telling her she hadn't done anything much. The young girl was so excited with it, that she kept asking to hear it again.
After five times Layla's mouth was dry. Unfortunately, the daughter of Nemesis didn't plan on leaving anytime soon. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.
"Leo did a great job, too, Amaya. You should have seen him." She said. "Why don't yoy tell her how you turned with the lady Cyclops and her sons into dust with that robotic arm, Leo?"
Amaya turned to him exitedly. His face paled. He wasn't in the mood for jokes anymore. Layla laughed and mentally thanked Amaya's mother for helping her give Leo a taste of his own medicine.
Fortunately, Amaya got bored after a while so she and Leo didn't lose their entire evening telling stories. Instead, they went for a walk by the beach until it was time to head to their cabins to sleep.
"Goodnight, Jason." Layla said to her brother as they both lied down in the bunk bed of their cabin.
"Goodnight, sis." Layla smiled a little.
She didn't get to sleep, however. A loud thud made her jump from her bed. The sound was nothing else than Jason's head hitting the top bed because he had gotten up so suddenly.
"What happened? Are you okay?" She asked him.
"I know now." He said rubbing his head. "I remembered everything."