Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 57: Reunion. (Breakdowns of many colors)

Clarisse lunged at Silena, enveloping her in a hug. Both burst into tears as they held each other, happy that they could be reunited with their best friend. Beckendorf chuckled and took off his mask.

"I suppose there's no point in me wearing a mask either, huh?" He said.

Jake, who had been elected head counselor, stared at him.

"Beckendorf?" He asked quietly.

"Yep, that's me," Beckendorf said, smiling at the assembled group.

Annabeth stared at them both, and Percy could see the gears turning in her head. She turned slowly and looked at him.

"Where's Percy," she said.

Percy shrugged. "Didn't we tell you? He's a mercenary. He works with us sometimes, but right now, he's doing his own thing."

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't believe you. He was easily the strongest demigod of our Era. Chaos wouldn't possibly let someone of his caliber be a simple mercenary."

"Okay," Percy said with a shrug. "If you don't believe me, that's fine, but it won't change the truth."

Annabeth slammed her fist on the table. "What truth?! Because I know for a fact that Percy has to be in your team!"

"Alright, fine," Luke said, entering the conversation. "If you're so confident that Perseus is on the team, take a guess as to who it is. Because you've guessed once, and you were wrong."

Annabeth stared at him, her mind trying to work out who it could be. It couldn't be Red, because... well, she just had a hunch. Truthfully, she had barely interacted with the team. They usually skirted around her or went out of their way to avoid her and what was the rest of the 7, which...

Her eyes widened. "Percy is on your team, and I can prove it."

"Really?" Ethan asked, leaning on the table. "And how can you do that?"

"Because your entire team avoids me, Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Clarisse," Annabeth answered confidently.

"And how does that prove that Percy is our team?" Hero asked.

"Simple. You all know what we did to him, and you avoid us because of that," Annabeth said, smiling smugly.

At least until Beckendorf burst into laughter. "Please. That doesn't prove anything. Percy did tell us what you did, but that was when he was doing a job with us, as a MERCENARY."

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but Jason cut her off. "This conversation is getting us anywhere. We came here for introductions, so please introduce us."

Hero nodded to him. "Thank you."

He gestured at Eurydice, who waved at the assembled demigods. "I'm Eurydice. You all probably know me, so move on."

Pirate took his hood off and let them see his mask. It only had one eye hole covered by an eyepatch. "I'm Pirate."

He flipped his hood back on while Hero turned to look at Patroclus, who was...

Sitting on Red's lap, face to face with him, distracting him from the meeting.

"Heart!" Luke said, startling the man. "Have you been distracting Red the entire time?"

Patroclus looked at Luke and pursed his lips under his mask. "No. Uhm. No."

"Who?" Piper asked.

Hero sighed. "That's Heart. As you can see, he's very attached to Red."

"Hey!" Patroclus said, pointing an accusatory finger at Luke. "I haven't seen him in a while. Cut me some slack!"

Achilles laughed and pushed Patroclus off him. "We can catch up later, hun."