Percabeth Betrayed

Chapter 43 - Percy Reads a Book

So there's a sign in my math teacher's class that says, "If it's important enough, you'll find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse." And basically, this measly dark blue sign with yellow cursive letters inspired me to update tonight, even though I was just gonna go to bed and maybe read The Odyssey (For those of you who haven't read the epic poem the Odyssey, go read it. It's so good. But a little warning, if you don't know your Greek mythology, you'll get confused). Anyways, thanks to my teacher and her "inspirational math sign," all you wonderful readers get an update! *throws confetti and blows a party horn*

Annabeth's POV

This was the first day where I could actually sleep in since the Chaos Warriors had come to camp. No strategizing, no arguing, no studying that STUPID PIECE OF METAL JUNK, just a normal Saturday. 

Well, as normal as it could get. For a demigod/Wings of Chaos Warrior, that wasn't much.

I was awoken that morning by a scream, followed by a groan, followed by an evil cackle. What the Hades? I sat straight up in bed to see Percy already up and pacing our room. The glass door that separated our rooms was closed, maybe in attempt to keep out his muttering, but it wasn't working. 

Unaware of my staring, Percy sat down and started to read a book. This must be serious, because Percy never read. Ever. He preferred to live life on the edge and experiment to discover new things.

"That's a stupid plan," he would say. "Do it." 

A pretty bad example for our daughter. I don't think I've ever seen Serilda read very much, either. Oh sure, she had my eyes and my competitive personality, but when it came to battle strategy, she preferred to pound information out of her opponent rather than sit down and strategize. Just like her father. And that was why our family relied on me to do the thinking.

I groggily wiped my hair out of my eyes. "Percy?" I croaked. "It's only 5:30 in the morning. We're not supposed to get up and train until six." Usually earlier. But I preferred to sleep in on Saturdays. 

Percy flipped a page of his book. "Not now, Wise Girl. This is important. You can loose 30 minutes of sleep for this." He gestured me over and I slouched across the room, sitting down on the desk chair and leaning into him. The title of the book read Wars and Battle Strategy, by J. E. Clitzy, a famous author back on Planet Chaos. 

I would've laughed at Percy's choice of reading had I not seen the urgent look in his eyes. "In three days time, the titans and giants will attack. They will send about a third of their monster army to weaken the camp before Gaea attacks. Porphyion is angry that Kronos betrayed them, and wants him back on their side immediately." He flipped another page in the book. Page 56, Double Crossing the Enemy. "And this is where my plan comes in."

I listened to his plan and nodded my head. It wasn't a bad plan at all. In fact, it was genius. I guess living for 5,500 years on a new planet and commanding an army payed off. 

Although, I urged him to  wait til after the camp ate breakfast to call a meeting in the big house. The campers weren't due to breakfast until 6:15. But as soon as the hand on the clock struck 6:45, Percy, Serilda, our dragons and I were zooming out the front door, screaming at Chiron to hold a meeting and to get out the Cheese Wiz. 

Kronos' POV

I ran to the big blue house at the center of the camp, trailing behind the three Chaos Warriors and their dragons. Campers in the area had stopped to stare as they flew by, one even cursing in ancient Greek about the Warriors interrupting their tether-ball game. 

A horn blew three times, and I noticed who I thought were the cabin leaders making their way to the big house as well. The blonde guy and the emo guy from earlier were walking together, hand in hand, and I fought down the urge to let out an "awe."

Once everyone had settled around the ping pong table, Commander Hair Salon began the meeting. It started out talking about battle strategy and weapons, and blah blah blah, nothing I needed to worry about as king of the titans. However, my ears perked up when I heard my brother and Porphyion were mentioned. 

The Commander explained his dream, and how the titans and giants planned to attack in three days time. Unless...

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" I thundered. "You are NOT sending me back there as an undercover spy. I'm staying here, thank you very much."

The commander rolled his eyes under his hood. "Do you think I wanted to come to Earth? No. Do you think I want to be at this camp? No. Do you think I want to wear that stupid crown? No. But I do it anyways. And so should you. Besides, we allowed you to ally with us. We're in charge here. You have absolutely no choice in this matter." 

Jeez. That was rough. I guess I sympathized with him. Wait. Nope. I didn't. I growled at him. "You don't know who your're talking to, boy. I'm the king of the titans, more powerful than you'll ever be." Jake snorted into his fist. "You meant queen?" he muttered, and I shot him my best glare. He closed his mouth.

"Well, you must have some sort of power, because you're the only one out of all of us who can get Jake to shut up." He retorted. Now all of the cabin leaders were holding back laughs. "What's so special about you that can make egotistical over here listen?" he gestured to Jake. 

I was going to respond when he sat back down in his seat and said, "Rhetorical question. Relax, dude." The gray cloaked girl whispered something to him and Epsilon smirked. "Sorry. I meant dudett." He emphasized the word tauntingly. 

I would've flew into a rage and flipped over the ping pong table right there if Chiron hadn't intervened. I think that was the only thing my worthless son was useful for, stopping fights between a demigod and the lord of time. "Kronos, you will find a way to stop Porphyion from attacking, and become an undercover spy for our side. No arguments. Understood?"

I nodded. At the very least, this assignment would get me out of this boring camp. I mean seriously. A lava climbing wall? How mildly dangerous can you get?

Commander Hair Salon waved his hand. "Meeting dismissed," and the cabin leaders walked out the back door, whispering and occasionally shooting glances over their shoulders back at me. I glared them all down, and they looked away, but for some reason the emo dude glared back. His eyes were a soulless black. Creepy. 

Then, without a second look over my shoulder, I sauntered back to the torturous Aphrodite cabin, in hopes of getting some peace and quiet, a nice time to plan. I was wrong.