TWENTY-SIX

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
—dumb goats

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  —THROUGH breakfast the next day, Judith kept her eyes from straying to Percy across the way, instead choosing to stab at her scrambled eggs like they'd wronged her. She didn't want know his answer before she was ready to hear it; didn't want to see him give up everything in just one look. She'd given a portion of her meal to the Titan Styx, goddess of the river, with the hopes that she'd have some type of mercy when dealing with the son of Poseidon ... whenever he chose to deal with things ( if he chose to deal with them ). Hopefully she liked bacon.

  Clarisse was busy conspiring with the rest of their cabin, making sure everyone knew that they would not be lending out help of any kind to the camp's efforts. Ellis seemed apprehensive about following his sister's orders, sending a look Judith's way that blatantly asked — are you going to do something about this?

  Judith just shook her head and finished off her plate. Ellis had been closer with Maya Brown than the rest of them and had been most effected over her loss during the Battle of the Labyritnh. It was only reasonable that he would want revenge on Kronos and his army, so to hear Clarisse tell him to stand down was giving him some sort of stress. He voiced his opinion, despite Judith's obvious glare to not push their head leader to the brink of murder. "So we're just going to sit here and expect everyone else to fight this war without us?"

  Just as Judith suspected, Clarisse fumed with clenched fists. "You got a problem with that, Ellis?"

  "I do, actually. Maya died fighting those monsters and I intend to avenge that. I thought you'd do the same," he returned. "She deserves more than this."

  Clarisse slammed her fork on the table. "No! We deserve more than this! All we've ever done is come at their beck and call, and for what? I won't lose any more of you to a war where we gain nothing."

"That's what you care about?" Judith suddenly joined. "You're keeping them from a fight all because you think we won't benefit? Look around, Clarisse! This is home, our home! That should be reason enough to stand with everyone else. We gain nothing from staying out of it, anyway, so what does it matter?!"

  With that, she got up from her bench and flew out of the pavilion, fully expecting Percy Jackson to follow her in her wake without having to look at him. If Clarisse wanted to be stupid and sit back, then Judith wouldn't stop her, but that didn't mean she could drag the rest of their siblings down as well. The problem was her siblings wouldn't go against Clarisse, afraid of whatever threat she'd given them. Ellis would fight it to his last breath, but in the end, he would stay with his family, on the battlefield or not.

Judith headed straight to the sword arena, knowing full well that people avoided it nowadays because of Mrs. O'Leary. The hellhound refused to reside anywhere else as it had the most remnants of Quintus — or Daedalus ( whatever ). Judith felt for her, but at the same time, taking care of all the hellhound's needs throughout the school year by herself had been — well, hell.

  Percy tailed her, keeping a safe distance while she cooled down. Everyone in the mess area had seen the argument go down, had seen Judith outright defy her sister. While the boy appreciated her loyalty to the cause, he couldn't help but think that it was tearing her family apart. No one deserved that, no matter how dysfunctional they were.

  Percy stopped at the threshold of the arena, looking in with growing amusement at the scene in front of him. Judith was scolding Mrs. O'Leary with flailing arms, oblivious to her entertained audience.

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