Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XLVII

Tori's pov

The council was nothing like I imagined. For one thing, it was in the Big House rec room, around a Ping-Pong table, and one of the satyrs was serving nachos and sodas. Somebody had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall. Every once in a while, a counselor would toss him a Snausage.

I looked around the room and tried to remember everyone's name. Thankfully, Jason and Piper were sitting next to me, and Leo (aka: He- who-must-not-be-named) was there too—it was their first meeting as senior counselors. 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 Stoll from Hermes was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will—what was his last name? Solar? Solangelo—Solace, that was his name. He was from Apollo, he was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. The counselor from Hecate cabin, Lou Ellen something-or-other, was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back.

Rachel Dare, the oracle, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table. She was wearing her Clarion Academy school uniform dress, which seemed a bit odd, but she smiled at me.

Annabeth didn't look so relaxed. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. As soon as I walked in she fixed me with an expectant look, as if she were trying to extract information out of me by sheer willpower.

"Lets come to order," Chiron said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Travis, is you'd kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Ping ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Tori, Piper, and Leo 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 to Jason and I. We cleared our throats and began the story. Piper and he-who-must-not-be-named (not Voldemort. Wow, I can't remember where I'm from but I can remember the Dark Lord's name) chimed in from time to time, filling in the details Grace and I forgot.

It only took a few minutes, but it seemed like longer with everyone watching me. The silence was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, I knew the story must've sounded pretty wild. We ended with Hera's visit right before the meeting.

"So Hera was here," Annabeth said. "Talking to you both."

Jason nodded. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her–"

"That's smart," Annabeth and I said. I really like this girl.

"—but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where Tori and I came from."

"Romans." Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. "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?"

"Oh, yes," Chiron said sadly. "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."