The dining pavilion was beautiful. Rachel and I arrived there just when the sun hit the horizon. The dining pavilion was big; the marble floor tiles were surrounded by marble columns. The whole place looked like one of the ruins in Greece: Just the columns with no roof. 20 tables stood in a circle around a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub, facing it with the short side. At each table more or less campers sat, some were crowded; some were just occupied with only one camper. I could spot Percy and Jason sitting alone at a table. Rachel led me to a table where a lot of campers sat.
“This is our guest, Florian.” She introduced me to the campers. “Be nice to him, he is new here.”
The campers all nodded and Rachel waved goodbye. I saw how she sat down her back facing me next to a really familiar shape with blonde hair. Thankfully the campers at the Hermes-table distracted me by bombarding me with questions:
“Where are you from?”
“Who is your godly parent?”
“How old are you?”
“What’s your shoe size?”
I was about to answer the questions, but the last one was so strange I just sat there, my mouth open. A tall young man with brown hair and blue eyes whistled with his fingers and said:
“Come on guys, leave him alone.” Another guy who looked exactly the same like the other one agreed: “Yeah, give him some space. And stop asking people about their shoe size, Maggie, it’s really creepy.”
A girl with black hair looked down, her face getting red.
The twins, because the two guys who spoke obviously were twins, turned to me and one of them said: “Sorry for that, they are all curious about you. By the way, I am Connor and this is my brother, Travis. We’re the head counsellors of Hermes cabin.”
I started to introduce myself and tell my story, but I was interrupted again, this time by Chiron. “Florian, nice you found your place among the campers. I am a little bit surprised why you are not sitting with the Athena campers, but I guess that’s up to you.”
“Ehh, Chiron, who is he?” Travis asked, and after a quick look to me he added: “No offense”
“None taken”
Chiron looked at him and just said: “After dinner at the sing-along you will learn. Now just let him eat in peace. Tell him stories about camp, do Smalltalk, but don’t push him into telling you something.”
He turned to me and whispered: “Don’t tell them anything.” He winked before he walked over to the table where Mr. D already sat.

The food was delicious. Nymphs brought plates full of barbecue, fresh bread and vegetables, along with loads and loads of fresh fruits. Before we started to eat each of us scraped a little bit of his food into the brazier as an offer to the gods. The other kids burned theirs to their godly parents, but I decided to burn it to Athena, she brought me here so I owed her that. Then, out of an impulse, I also whispered:
“To the goddess that interfered with my life so much.” and threw an extra slice of meat and bread into the fire. I was thinking about Aphrodite, because she was the one that represented the most important thing in my life: Love.
The others at my table were nice, but tricky: They asked harmless questions like if I had siblings, or what I did after High School, but I dodged them all. I answered generally, giving no hints about more than they already knew about me.
One time I looked over to Athena’s table, and caught the entire campers sitting there looking over to me and whispering excited. I caught Johanna’s look, but I quickly looked at my plate and concentrated on my food.

When our plates were empty and our stomachs were full Chiron led us to the Amphitheatre. I walked between Annabeth and Percy at the end of the row, so we had time to talk a little.
“So, I guess I was topic number one at Athena’s table, wasn’t I?” I asked Annabeth and winked at her. She made a face as if she bit into a lemon.
“You were, and since I brought you here everyone was pressing me to tell them about you. I should not have mentioned that you are favoured by my mom, our mom. I could also have told them that Poseidon and Athena would get married.”
I shivered. “So bad? What were the reactions?”
“Well, from total excitement to complete silence from a girl who said she knows you…”
“Tell me more about the excitement please.” I said emotionless. Annabeth looked at me strangely, but she continued talking:
“We discussed what to do, since this is the first time for almost two thousand years that someone is an ambassador. We came to the conclusion that we would talk about that during the sing-along, but some think about making you head-counsellor of Athena’s cabin, others said that you should be our leader in war, others have the opinion that you should be thrown out of camp since you are ‘just’ a mortal.”
“So there is a chance that I will either become a leader in war or an outcast.” I said sarcastically. “Great, just great.”
Percy laid his arm on my shoulder and said:
“That’s the spirit. But don’t worry; normally the Athena girls and boys are cool. There are a few exceptions, but in general they think before they do stuff.”
Annabeth glared at him. “I am sure you don’t refer to me with ‘a few exceptions’, seaweed brain.”
She turned to me and smiled. “But he is right, we normally think before we act.”
At that moment we reached the amphitheatre and Annabeth waved goodbye. While she went over to the crowd of blonde kids sitting in the front Percy and I sat down in the last row.
“I am a terrible singer.” I told him. He looked around, and then he said:
“I tell you a secret: Me too.”
We both laughed till the sing along started.

I really enjoyed the sing-along. I knew any of the songs, but I didn’t care.The melodies were easy, and since Percy sang along loud and wrong I just sang along too loud and wrong. We had a great time, and Percy also changed the texts so they were funny and often filthy. The magic fire that reflected the mood of the crowd blazed higher and higher with every song. When Chiron stood in front of the crowd and paced his hoof on the marble floor. When it finally was silent he said:
“What a great sing-along! Thanks to the Apollo campers for the great music. But before I let you all leave I have one more thing to announce.”
The fire became white and everyone started whispering.
“You all know that a new camper has arrived here at camp, and I heard rumours about his origin. I can assure you that he is neither an exchange camper from Camp Jupiter nor a spy from the monsters. I will tell you the truth now: He is a mortal, but not a regular one. He is a descendant of Odysseus, the conqueror of Troy, and he is also an ambassador of Athena.”
The fire pit almost exploded when the fire reached the highest point this evening. The flames were at least 4 storeys high and so hot they burned clear blue. Everyone in the amphitheatre stared at me and talked loud with their neighbours. Chiron tried to silence them, but he had no luck with that. A loud voice finally silenced them all.

“Ησυχία!“

Everyone looked around to find the source of the voice, but I actually saw the one who shouted like a jet engine. It was a strange looking guy that looked like he had eyes all over his body. A figure from the Greek mythology came to my mind, Argus, the one-hundred eyed. Percy confirmed my guess: “Did Argus just say something?” he said to no one special.
Chiron took advantage of the confusion and silence.
“Thank you, Argus. What I was about to say is that Florian is here for a special purpose, and that he is the ambassador of Athena just verifies that.”
He quickly told the campers the story about Percy’s dream and how I got here, including my report about becoming Athena’s pet I gave him just this afternoon.
“So this is why he is here, but there is another thing, the prophecy Florian received. Florian, would you be so kind to come down to me?”
I instantly became nervous, but I managed to stand up and walk down to Chiron. When I stood next to him he continued:
“Normally we assign a quest and receive a prophecy after that, but this time it’s different: We already have a prophecy, so we will send out a quest to do what is told in the prophecy.”
A voice from the audience interrupted the centaur.
“And what is told in the prophecy?”
Chiron took a deep breath and said: “The prophecy speaks of a symbol of power lost a long time ago, and since there is only one symbol of power that we haven’t found yet and is powerful enough to be that important I am pretty sure what we are looking for:
The statue of Zeus of Olympia.”
Now everyone was silent again, the fire just glowing. Someone from the crowd asked:
“Haven’t we found a statue just recently, a very powerful one?”
Chiron nodded. “Yes, the statue of Athena Parthenos. It’s really powerful and mighty, but the statue of Zeus of Olympia resembles the power of Olympus itself. It stood in the temple of Zeus in Olympia, and for almost 1000 Years the sacrifices for the Olympic gods were done in front of it. The statue became a symbol of the power of the gods, and for the past two thousand years the statue has always been there where the gods were. Every great civilization passed it on to the next one.”
Now I had to ask a question.
“Then where is it now when it is in danger? What happened to it in America?”
“The statue has always been hidden when there was a war, the last time during World War II. This was because one side could have misused its powers.”
“So where is it hid in America?” I asked carefully.
Chiron took a deep breath.
“I am sure you all have heard about Mount Rushmore. Everyone knows the four faces in front, but only a few know about the Chamber of Records.”
A blonde girl from Athena’s cabin stood up.
“I’ve heard about it.” She said “wasn’t that the place where the artist of the faces wanted to carve a hall and carve the history of mankind on the walls, but he ran out of money and only carved about 20 feet or so before they stopped working.”
Chiron nodded.
“Yes. But Borglum, the artist, was a son of Athena too, so he worked together with the President of that time, President Roosevelt, and carved a secret hiding place for the statue. When the War started they brought the statue there. I thought it was brought back to the normal place after the War ended, but obviously it never was. They must have made a copy and placed it there.”
Percy rose from the last row and said:
“So the quest will be to travel to Mount Rushmore, retrieve the statue before some mean monsters reach it and bring it back here.”
“Well, not here. The statue should be brought to Camp Jupiter, to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The statue there is what we always thought was the original, so we will bring the statue to them.”
Annabeth rose too. “When we bring them the Statue our relations would improve. They haven’t been the best since the Romans almost destroyed Camp Half-Blood, so this maybe makes them our allies.”
Percy came down to us, talking while he climbed over campers to reach us.
“And who will go is clear: A wise one, definitely a child of Athena, a brave one, that could be anyone, and one barely alive, whoever that would be. And what happens during the quest is also given: one will fall, probably to their death, one will shatter, so to speak this hero will be a mental case, and one will survive, yeah, at least something. ”He arrived next to me and laid his arm on my shoulder. “And we have our leader here, the heir of the sailor. Who will join him on this quest?”
Chiron continued for him.
“The best would be to send a veteran camper with him, a child of Athena for sure. And the third member should be someone with great fighting skills. The Athena cabin can discuss who they will send with Florian on their Quest, and the others talk who you will send to the travel as a fighter.”
The crowd started to talk, and Chiron turned to me and Percy.
“Nice speech, Percy. Very… encouraging.” He said with a smile. Percy laughed. “Chiron, I’ve been on enough Quests to know that these signs aren’t even the worst you could get. They are as vague as ever. The oracle is not the master of clear advice.”
Chiron laughed. “You are right.” He recognised my worried face and comforted me.
“Don’t worry Florian; we haven’t lost a camper on a quest for a long time now.”
“For how long?” I asked.
“Around 7 Years now.” Percy answered me, and before I could say something sarcastically Annabeth rose from the bunch of Athena campers and made an announcement:
“We have discussed what to do with the fact that Florian is Athena’s Ambassador and who to send with him on the quest. First, we decided to make him a counsellor pro honore. He will be a leader to us in war and peace and is given the right of a vote at our cabin. He has the right to sit with us at the Athena’s table and will be treated like a demigod.”
This announcement made me feel better, but what came next busted that feeling.
“And second, we decided to send a veteran camper with him, someone that has shown great skills with sword and brain. We agreed on sending Johanna with him.”
It must be a joke, a really sick, unfunny joke. Thankfully she didn’t stand up and came down to us. I managed it to not make a face. I had to concentrate on the things going on around me.
A tall girl that looked like she could fight the boar bare-handed rose and said:
“We have agreed on a camper too. We will send James McSerreny.”
A tall boy with black hair and a greasy smile stood up and made his way down to us. A group of girls giggled when he passed them. He was obviously not a passive camper, he was a ruler, a doer, someone who is never standing in the mobbing circle, and he is the one who picks someone to stand inside. When he arrived he bowed slightly in front of Chiron and Percy, but he ignored me.
“Thank you for the honour to lead this quest,” he started, but Percy interrupted him.
“Wait a second. Florian is the leader of this quest, not you, Jessie”
The look James gave me and Percy was murderous.
“A mortal can’t lead a quest, this is against the rules.”
Chiron looked at him for a second before he said:
“Well, he is no regular mortal, but he is also not a demigod. I think we can make an exception in this case.”
Before James could protest he continued:
“The quest will start in two days, since tomorrow is Friday, and everyone knows what that means: Capture the Flag. And now everyone off to bed!”
With that he walked out of the amphitheatre, followed by Argus.
“Well, then I will see you tomorrow, mortal.” James hissed when he walked past me. I looked after him, but this was my next mistake. Johanna was waiting at the exit arch, obviously for James. When they left he laid an arm around her casually.
Annabeth saved me from bad thoughts when she came over to Percy and me.
“Why did they choose this moron?” Percy said without an introduction.
Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. “No idea why they choose Jessie.”
“Who is he, by the way?” I asked them when we left the theatre too.
“He is a son of Ares, a born fighter. Most gifted swordsman at camp after me.” Percy explained. “His mortal mom is great in business; he has been at boarding schools his whole life. He is one of the few that don’t study in New Rome, he is at Yale. No idea what he’s doing there. And, what you have certainly recognised already, he thinks demigods are superior and mortals are scum.”
I laughed sharply. “I kind of got that.”
“Don’t worry about him, he is a douche, but he will do his job.” She stopped a second, and then she continued, more cautious.
“So, I know you know Johanna, she is from Austria too, and the way you are acting around her and she is acting around you is suspicious. So…?”
I took a deep breath and thought what to do. I only told my friends what happened, and only a few knew the whole story. It is a touch subject for me, but it would never get better if I didn’t talk about it.
“Is there a place where we can talk in peace?” I asked Annabeth. She gave Percy a quick look and he said: “Sure, just follow me.”

I followed them up a hill to a bench that overlooked the sea. The moon was almost full so we had no problem seeing.
Annabeth sat down to my left, Percy to the right.
“Ok, I will start at the beginning…”
I told them the whole story how I slowly fell in love with the sister of my best friend, how we started dating, how she seemed to change and finally broke up with me after 7 months. I told them how I thought it was my entire fault, how I got depressions and worse. It took me almost a year to be able to say I am stable again, but I was never the same again, at least according to my friends. My problem was that I could not forget about her. Everything in my surroundings remembered me of her. I lost her out of sight after I finished High School when I went to University.
“… and yesterday I saw her the first time again for 5 years.” I finished the story.
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other.
“I…” Annabeth started, but her voice faded.
“Oh, you don’t say anything. I know how that sounds. Incapable of forgetting, moving on, whatever.”
“No, that’s not what we thought.” Percy said. Annabeth nodded. “I think it is really romantic that you could not forget about her, that you fought for her. It’s something not everyone would do for a girl.”
“Thanks…”
Percy stood up and clapped his hands.
“So, tomorrow we will train with you so you will not suck that much when we get you in our team at Capture the Flag.” he said. “You better go to sleep now.”

We walked together to New Athens, talking about my training tomorrow.
We stopped at my doorstep and Annabeth hugged me.
“Good night Florian.” She said. I smiled.
“No, for you just Flo. All my friends just call me Flo.”
They both smiled.
Well, then good night, Flo” Percy said when I closed my door.

Notes