Choosing the Quest Members
Chiron had announced a meeting of all the camp councillors. As the Lieutenant of the Hunt, Zoe was considered to be ones of the councillors. She had decided to take two other Hunters with her to the meeting. Me being one of them, Bianca being the other one. The meeting was held round a ping-pong table in the rec room. I could not understand the logic behind that decision. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron ruined it by reminding him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke.
Mr D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe, Bianca and I took the other end. Thalia, Grover and Jackson sat along the right, and the other head councillors sat on the left. I recognised none of them, but I would probably be able to guess which cabin they were from if I wanted to. One councillor was missing. I assumed that it was the Ares one. The entire Ares cabin had somehow accidentally ended up with broken limbs and were recovering in the infirmary.
Zoe started off the meeting with a positive note. "This is pointless."
"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped. Had he really just noticed it? And did he really need to say it out loud? He began scooping up crackers and ping-pong balls and spraying them with topping. I shot him a look.
"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."
"And go where?" Chiron asked.
"West!" Bianca said. Her dark hair was braided like Zoe's now, so you could actually see her face. She had a splash of freckles across her nose. She looked like she'd been working out, and her skin glowed faintly. "You heard the prophecy. 'Six shall go west to the goddess in chains.' We can get six Hunters and go."
"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her." And they were massively missing the point here. They were completely ignoring the line of the prophecy that said that Campers and Hunters had to work together to succeed.
"You're missing something as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together." As much as I hated to admit it, Thalia was right.
"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."
"Your," Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in like three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times." Wow. English was a really confusing language.
Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. "Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help." It took everything I had to not laugh out loud at that. It made her sound like a pirate.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."
"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said, "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."
"Or do they?" Mr D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"
"Mr D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?" This time I snorted out loud.
Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."
"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"
Zoe grimaced, but I could tell that Thalia had scored a point.
"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."
"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."
"Artemis must present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."
"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.
"Yes, Lord Dionysus."
Mr D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."
"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now we must decide who goes on this quest."
After Chiron had said that, I decided to tune the rest of the meeting out. I vaguely registered Jackson making a suggestion about the numbers of Hunters and Campers that would go on the quest but I didn't pay much more attention than that. I just played with one of my knives. Despite the fact that I wasn't actively listening to what was being said, I still caught little bits and pieces. Even if I wasn't fully aware of my surroundings, I was always somewhat aware of them. Therefore, I was still keeping track of the conversation. That was because of what my mom had taught me when I was alive. However, I was still surprised when Zoe said my name. "What about me?" I asked, putting my knife down on the table.
"You have been selected for this quest," Chiron said. Oh, shit.
"Me? On a quest? Are you sure that that's a good idea?"
"Yes. You are one of my best fighters," Zoe said. I looked at her in shock and zoned out for the rest of the meeting, thinking about why it was a bad idea to let me on a quest such as this. I'd probably have to tell Odin about it. Or maybe he already knew.