Chapter Eleven

To forgive is toSet a prisoner freeAnd discover thatThe prisoner was you

-Lewis B. Smedes

Once Luke was finally calmed, I told him that if he absolutely needed me to, I would send him back to Προέλευσης.

"No," Luke responded. "If anyone is going to send that titan back to the depths of damnation, it's gonna be me."

With that, we went to the discussion. As we walked in, a few people began to stare. Luckily for me, even with my cloak hiding my features it's obvious when I glare. More specifically, when I'm death-glaring.

(A/N: I feel like that was a 13RW reference. Idk)

Needless to say, they turned right back around in their seat.

Each of the Elite seemed choked up. None of them looked like they moved in ages.  Annabeth hovered over a piece of paper when a pen in hand.

"This line is confusing as sh-" Leo started to say before realizing Chiron was in the room. "Crap! I meant to say crap."

"Heroes of past must return home..." Annabeth mumbled. You could practically see the wheels in her head turning.

"The next line isn't any less confusing," Frank added. Seeing him so confident in his words and actions was different, but a good different. "Masks reveal the eldest son, stars, and dead."

"Maybe some kind of metaphor?" Leo asked.

Zoë shook her head. "It's us. My codename is Star. Silena did technically die. And perhaps the prophecy meant the son of the eldest person. The eldest person being Chaos. The rest is self-explanatory."

Jason gave her a nod of approval while Piper looked around the room looking at everyone else's impressed faces. "Can we keep her?"

"No," Luke pouted like a baby, walking over to his girlfriend and wrapping his arms around hers. A small smile emerged from under Zoë's cloak. "She stays with me."

"Big baby." She said, but didn't move.

Calypso faked a cough. "Whipped."

Piper snorted and said; "No kidding." Causing Zoë to send a scowl in both their directions.

"Let's get back on topic." Annabeth said with a small smile. "After we're done analyzing this prophecy-" she cut herself an evil chuckle- "we can fangirl all we want."

(A/N: Instead of chuckle, I accidentally wrote chuck. xD I actually had to look up how to spell chuckle because I kept spelling chuck xD)

Once again, Zoë scowled. I found myself trying- and failing- to hide my amusement.

"Star is going to wish she never met us after this." Hazel added giggling.

"Count me in," Silena said. "I have all of th-"

"I know where you fucking sleep."

Leo nudged me. "Do you have the power of summoning food because I'd kill for some popcorn right about now."

Dam it, I wish I had those kind of powers now.

"Ha! You forgot I don't sleep alone," Silena said, reaching over to Beckendorf. "You'd protect me, right?"

Beckendorf smiled to himself, wrapping his arm around her waist.  "Sure would."

Silena looked over to Zoë in a 'beat that' matter.

"But," He drew the word out in a playful manner. "Who's to say I won't be in there by the time Star murders you."

Everyone, but Silena, laughed. Some were full on cracking up, while others tried concealing their amusement.

I guess that's just what you get when you put a bunch of hyper-active demigods together; Immaturity.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Annabeth do you mind reading the next line of the prophecy? I don't want to  die from our enemies destroying us because we had no idea what to expect."

"Of course, Chiron." Annabeth answered. "Loyalty of the leader marks beginning's end,"

"Perhaps a praetor or Commander Omega?" Jason volunteered.

Bianca shook her head. "No, the prophecy specifically stated the leader. I'm sure if it meant a praetor or commander would've said that instead."

"We don't exactly use the title of leader at either camp unless there is a quest leader." Piper interjected.

"I mean," Calypso started. "The younger campers considered Annabeth and- nevermind!"

The Elite looked at each other confused while the campers looked at Calypso like she almost caused World War 3. Annabeth was the only one who wasn't effected.

"So it's a question of my loyalty then?"

"Yeah," Rachel, who I had forgotten was here, said awkwardly. "Let's move on."

"Proof of ancient rivalries destroyed decides the path." Someone, I think it was Katie, cited.

"This was the one line that really confused me." Clarisse spoke up. At this moment I was kind of drifting off since I wasn't exactly contributing to the conversation. "I mean, we had some rivalries here at camp, like Travis and Katie. That feels ancient now, but what in Hades does this prophecy mean by proof?"

Oh, Parker is here too. Nice.

"Maybe Greeks and Romans?" Reyna said. "The rivalry between us is ancient and destroyed."

"Yeah, but where is the proof of that?" Jason asked.

"Lacy."

I noticed Parker's face go a little red. Does he have a crush on Jasper's daughter? That explains why he mentioned her a few days back.

"Perhaps, but the rivalry was over about a year before Lacy was born." Piper pointed out. She turned to Annabeth. "You're the smart one, what do you think?"

"I think that Reyna's idea makes sense. It checks off all of the boxes: ancient, proof, rivalry. Personally, I cannot think of any reason it wouldn't work."

Here's the thing, on top of knowing Annabeth for a long time and stopping war after war on different planets has made it very easy to catch lies. Especially her's.

And she was lying.

***

A/N: I'm so sorry this is out so late! I thought today was Tuesday :/ It happens to best best of us.

Word Count: 970 words

UNEDITED