Annabeth ignored me while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both

cabins a one out of five.

 

I found myself staring at her, which was stupid since I'd seen her a billion

times. She and I were about the same height this summer, which was a relief.

Still, she seemed so much more mature. It was kind of intimidating. I mean,

sure, she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful.

 

Finally she said, "That flying chariot."

 

"What?"

 

"You asked what they were fighting about."

 

"Oh. Oh, right."

 

"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods

were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the

battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets

it ever since."

 

We ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper

tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets. He was pretty creative

about rhyming those cuss words.