Chapter Six

Each betrayal begins with trust

-Martin Luther

Days passed. Each one being the same as the last: eat breakfast at the pavilion, soldiers of Chaos train the campers (with harsh workouts and many, many complaints), two hours of break (for me it was training in the Chaos cabin or sitting on the beach), and then training again until dinner.

The only thing that didn't bore me to death was my nightly talks with Parker. During those talks, I realized he didn't exactly fit any cabin stereotypes.

Ares campers were great fighters, but harsh and arrogant. Parker could practically handle every weapon perfectly- he mainly trained with a regular sword- but avoided boasting. Parker contained the wit and cleverness of Athena campers, but also an immature sense of humor that Hermes and Poseidon campers carried. The kid had good looks too, ones that would have the Aphrodite cabin jealous, but refused to rub in it other campers' faces.

"I just want to know who my parents are," Parker said to me while we walked along the shoreline.

Other campers would rather stick a fork in an electrical socket than come near me. Parker was the only person, aside from my army and Chiron, that spoke to me. They all tried to avoid me due to the warmup mile I gave to them on the first training day. Punishment miles for slacking off and rudeness were also given. But this was only during training...

The campers had no idea. They assumed I would make them run if they so much as looked at me.

I didn't hate the campers avoiding me. If they weren't, that would lead to questions about my identity. I don't need campers figuring that out and wondering why I left.

"What about you? Do you know your parents?" Parker asked me, coming to a stop.

I let out a breath. "My mother is a mortal and is probably better off without me. Chaos became my father after my real dad disowned me. Chaos is probably the best father you could ever hope for, even if he isn't blood."

"I guess my mentor is similar to Chaos then. I can't picture her adopting me or anything like that, but she took me under her wing and taught me everything I know."

"I'd like to meet your mentor," I told Parker, genuinely. "When is she coming back from her quest?"

He offered up a smile. "Any day now."

As on cue, the conch shell we used to use to signal monster attacks sent out a pattern of sounds I never heard before.

"Speak of the devil," Parker chuckled softly. He turned and began to jog away. I stood there for a second in confusion.

Parker turned around, walking backward. "Come on, Old Man! Just because you're old, doesn't mean I won't leave you behind!"

Chuckling at his antics, I followed him to Thalia's Tree where almost every camper was also heading. Some campers, especially the older ones, looked optimistic, but also not too optimistic. The majority of the campers were either confused about what was going on or curious. My soldiers just observed the scene with blank stares.

Right at the base of Thalia's Tree stood Blackjack and a girl jumping down from him. The person was wearing a Yankees baseball cap backward. Despite being far away from the person, I could tell that she was wearing armor underneath the gray sweatshirt.

Chiron trotted up to the girl. "Find anything?"

"No," the girl responded, taking her hat off and letting honey-blonde curls tumble down her back. "But a nymph suggested Alaska would be a good place to search next."

Just by hearing her voice, you could tell she was one of those people that hid their misery behind a mask. Well, at least I could tell since I dealt with the same thing.

Parker smiled from beside me. "Annabeth!"

I mentally cursed. Then thanked Chaos that he didn't give anyone in the army the ability to read minds. Especially mine.

Annabeth turned around, and as soon as her eyes landed on Parker, a smile grew across her face. The grey eyes I had fallen in love with so long ago, twinkled brighter than the star I accidentally blew up. Even after over a century of not seeing her, my heart wouldn't move on.

She held her arms out and let Parker come in for a hug. When they pulled apart, she ruffled his hair like my mom used to do to me.

"Hi Parker," Annabeth smiled. "Did you give Chiron trouble while I was away?"

Parker looked over to Chiron sheepishly. "I may have gotten into a fight with one of the Ares campers."

Chiron obviously wanted more, but he was satisfied with the answer nonetheless.

Annabeth sighed a little, trying to sound disappointed. However, a smirk betrayed her. "Did you win?"

Chiron did a double take. "Annabeth!"

"What? It's an Ares camper," she waved it off like no big deal. "Kid would've been back to training within the hour to get back at Parker."

"And," Parker added. "It was self-defense. You the one who wants us to learn how to protect ourselves."

"From monsters!"

"Yeah, yeah." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Now what did I miss? Clearly, I missed a lot since there are six random people here in cloaks."

"Annabeth, meet Chaos's Elite army. They're-"

"Helping us in the upcoming war." Annabeth guessed, picking at her nails.

Pretty much the entire camp was staring at her with shock. Everyone had the same question: how the fuck did you know?

"How-"

"It doesn't matter how I know," Annabeth said quickly. "Now, can someone tell me who they are?"

Luke stepped in line with me. "I'm Alpha, second in command of Chaos's Elite Army."

"Star." Zoë introduced, standing by Luke.

"Shadow, third in command," Bianca said, standing on the left-hand side on me.

Silena decided to make a MM connection with me after she introduced her codename. Look at how much different she is! Annabeth is so beautiful. I mean, she's always been pretty, but she's just... Oh, my gods! I've never seen her hair down before. Do you know what brand of conditioner she uses? I would kill for soft hair like-

I cut off the MM as Beckendorf presented himself. As much as I loved Silena (friendship-wise, of course), her Aphrodite side could get very annoying at times. Especially when she's talking about my- something. Annabeth and I never officially broke up, but it's been years.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I didn't introduce myself. "And I'm Omega. Chaos's son and Commander of the Elite Army."

"Your tense." Annabeth pointed out.

"Am not," I said as I tried to relax. Curse Athena for being the goddess of wisdom and Annabeth's mother.

"And now you're unreadable," she was right in front of me at that point. "That makes you a threat, and do you know what we do with those?"

Even though I knew she couldn't see my eyes, I tried to glare at her.

"We pickpocket them," Annabeth said enthusiastically, throwing me off.

She revealed my main sword from behind her back. I immediately snatched it from her as she laughed.

"Simple trick a Hermes camper showed me," she told me as I sheathed my sword. "I have a feeling,"-she cut herself off to look at where she assumed my eyes were- "that we are going to make a great team."

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A/N: Unedited, but hey,... i don't have an excuse

Word Count: 1265 words