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That night after dinner, Quintus had everyone suit up in combat armor as if they were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious.
"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. "Gather 'round."
He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his grey hair made him look like a ghost. His pet hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.
"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled, "Which have already been chosen!"
"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.
"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course... you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."
The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward. Slay monsters — that was what they trained for.
"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."
"Aroooof!" Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.
Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Charles Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which they both looked pretty happy about. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. (No surprise. They did everything together.) Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Apollo cabin — melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat. Quintus kept rattling off the names.
"Annabeth Chase with Michael Yew."
Immediately, Rory turned to her friend, whining, "No, Annabeth!"
Before she could respond, Quintus called out, "Percy Jackson with Aurora Leigh."
"Nice." Percy grinned at her.
Annabeth smiled. "You'll be fine." Then she jogged off to pair up with Michael.
Rory turned back to Percy. "Your armor is crooked, Wonder Boy," she told him, and she redid his straps for him.
"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."
Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but—"
"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy—"
"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"
Tyson and Grover both looked at them pleadingly. Percy tried to give them an encouraging nod, and gestured that they should move together. Rory gave them two thumbs up. Tyson sneezed. Grover started chewing nervously on his wooden club.
