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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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How I got scammed

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

I wuz robbed.

More specifically, I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

Here's what happened. Over the Christmas holiday, I traveled to New Orleans. The day we landed, I hit a Chase ATM in the French Quarter for some cash, but the machine declined the transaction. Later in the day, we passed a little credit-union's ATM and I used that one instead (I bank with a one-branch credit union and generally there's no fee to use another CU's ATM).

A couple days later, I got a call from my credit union. It was a weekend, during the holiday, and the guy who called was obviously working for my little CU's after-hours fraud contractor. I'd dealt with these folks before – they service a ton of little credit unions, and generally the call quality isn't great and the staff will often make mistakes like mispronouncing my credit union's name.

That's what happened here – the guy was on a terrible VOIP line and I had to ask him to readjust his mic before I could even understand him. He mispronounced my bank's name and then asked if I'd attempted to spend $1,000 at an Apple Store in NYC that day. No, I said, and groaned inwardly. What a pain in the ass. Obviously, I'd had my ATM card skimmed – either at the Chase ATM (maybe that was why the transaction failed), or at the other credit union's ATM (it had been a very cheap looking system).

I told the guy to block my card and we started going through the tedious business of running through recent transactions, verifying my identity, and so on. It dragged on and on. These were my last hours in New Orleans, and I'd left my family at home and gone out to see some of the pre-Mardi Gras krewe celebrations and get a muffalata, and I could tell that I was going to run out of time before I finished talking to this guy.

"Look," I said, "you've got all my details, you've frozen the card. I gotta go home and meet my family and head to the airport. I'll call you back on the after-hours number once I'm through security, all right?"

He was frustrated, but that was his problem. I hung up, got my sandwich, went to the airport, and we checked in. It was total chaos: an Alaska Air 737 Max had just lost its door-plug in mid-air and every Max in every airline's fleet had been grounded, so the check in was crammed with people trying to rebook. We got through to the gate and I sat down to call the CU's after-hours line. The person on the other end told me that she could only handle lost and stolen cards, not fraud, and given that I'd already frozen the card, I should just drop by the branch on Monday to get a new card.

We flew home, and later the next day, I logged into my account and made a list of all the fraudulent transactions and printed them out, and on Monday morning, I drove to the bank to deal with all the paperwork. The folks at the CU were even more pissed than I was. The fraud that run up to more than $8,000, and if Visa refused to take it out of the merchants where the card had been used, my little credit union would have to eat the loss.

I agreed and commiserated. I also pointed out that their outsource, after-hours fraud center bore some blame here: I'd canceled the card on Saturday but most of the fraud had taken place on Sunday. Something had gone wrong.

One cool thing about banking at a tiny credit-union is that you end up talking to people who have actual authority, responsibility and agency. It turned out the the woman who was processing my fraud paperwork was a VP, and she decided to look into it. A few minutes later she came back and told me that the fraud center had no record of having called me on Saturday.

"That was the fraudster," she said.

Oh, shit. I frantically rewound my conversation, trying to figure out if this could possibly be true. I hadn't given him anything apart from some very anodyne info, like what city I live in (which is in my Wikipedia entry), my date of birth (ditto), and the last four digits of my card.

Wait a sec.

He hadn't asked for the last four digits. He'd asked for the last seven digits. At the time, I'd found that very frustrating, but now – "The first nine digits are the same for every card you issue, right?" I asked the VP.

I'd given him my entire card number.

Goddammit.

The thing is, I know a lot about fraud. I'm writing an entire series of novels about this kind of scam:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

And most summers, I go to Defcon, and I always go to the "social engineering" competitions where an audience listens as a hacker in a soundproof booth cold-calls merchants (with the owner's permission) and tries to con whoever answers the phone into giving up important information.

But I'd been conned.

Now look, I knew I could be conned. I'd been conned before, 13 years ago, by a Twitter worm that successfully phished out of my password via DM:

https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/

That scam had required a miracle of timing. It started the day before, when I'd reset my phone to factory defaults and reinstalled all my apps. That same day, I'd published two big online features that a lot of people were talking about. The next morning, we were late getting out of the house, so by the time my wife and I dropped the kid at daycare and went to the coffee shop, it had a long line. Rather than wait in line with me, my wife sat down to read a newspaper, and so I pulled out my phone and found a Twitter DM from a friend asking "is this you?" with a URL.

Assuming this was something to do with those articles I'd published the day before, I clicked the link and got prompted for my Twitter login again. This had been happening all day because I'd done that mobile reinstall the day before and all my stored passwords had been wiped. I entered it but the page timed out. By that time, the coffees were ready. We sat and chatted for a bit, then went our own ways.

I was on my way to the office when I checked my phone again. I had a whole string of DMs from other friends. Each one read "is this you?" and had a URL.

Oh, shit, I'd been phished.

If I hadn't reinstalled my mobile OS the day before. If I hadn't published a pair of big articles the day before. If we hadn't been late getting out the door. If we had been a little more late getting out the door (so that I'd have seen the multiple DMs, which would have tipped me off).

There's a name for this in security circles: "Swiss-cheese security." Imagine multiple slices of Swiss cheese all stacked up, the holes in one slice blocked by the slice below it. All the slices move around and every now and again, a hole opens up that goes all the way through the stack. Zap!

The fraudster who tricked me out of my credit card number had Swiss cheese security on his side. Yes, he spoofed my bank's caller ID, but that wouldn't have been enough to fool me if I hadn't been on vacation, having just used a pair of dodgy ATMs, in a hurry and distracted. If the 737 Max disaster hadn't happened that day and I'd had more time at the gate, I'd have called my bank back. If my bank didn't use a slightly crappy outsource/out-of-hours fraud center that I'd already had sub-par experiences with. If, if, if.

The next Friday night, at 5:30PM, the fraudster called me back, pretending to be the bank's after-hours center. He told me my card had been compromised again. But: I hadn't removed my card from my wallet since I'd had it replaced. Also, it was half an hour after the bank closed for the long weekend, a very fraud-friendly time. And when I told him I'd call him back and asked for the after-hours fraud number, he got very threatening and warned me that because I'd now been notified about the fraud that any losses the bank suffered after I hung up the phone without completing the fraud protocol would be billed to me. I hung up on him. He called me back immediately. I hung up on him again and put my phone into do-not-disturb.

The following Tuesday, I called my bank and spoke to their head of risk-management. I went through everything I'd figured out about the fraudsters, and she told me that credit unions across America were being hit by this scam, by fraudsters who somehow knew CU customers' phone numbers and names, and which CU they banked at. This was key: my phone number is a reasonably well-kept secret. You can get it by spending money with Equifax or another nonconsensual doxing giant, but you can't just google it or get it at any of the free services. The fact that the fraudsters knew where I banked, knew my name, and had my phone number had really caused me to let down my guard.

The risk management person and I talked about how the credit union could mitigate this attack: for example, by better-training the after-hours card-loss staff to be on the alert for calls from people who had been contacted about supposed card fraud. We also went through the confusing phone-menu that had funneled me to the wrong department when I called in, and worked through alternate wording for the menu system that would be clearer (this is the best part about banking with a small CU – you can talk directly to the responsible person and have a productive discussion!). I even convinced her to buy a ticket to next summer's Defcon to attend the social engineering competitions.

There's a leak somewhere in the CU systems' supply chain. Maybe it's Zelle, or the small number of corresponding banks that CUs rely on for SWIFT transaction forwarding. Maybe it's even those after-hours fraud/card-loss centers. But all across the USA, CU customers are getting calls with spoofed caller IDs from fraudsters who know their registered phone numbers and where they bank.

I've been mulling this over for most of a month now, and one thing has really been eating at me: the way that AI is going to make this kind of problem much worse.

Not because AI is going to commit fraud, though.

One of the truest things I know about AI is: "we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

I trusted this fraudster specifically because I knew that the outsource, out-of-hours contractors my bank uses have crummy headsets, don't know how to pronounce my bank's name, and have long-ass, tedious, and pointless standardized questionnaires they run through when taking fraud reports. All of this created cover for the fraudster, whose plausibility was enhanced by the rough edges in his pitch - they didn't raise red flags.

As this kind of fraud reporting and fraud contacting is increasingly outsourced to AI, bank customers will be conditioned to dealing with semi-automated systems that make stupid mistakes, force you to repeat yourself, ask you questions they should already know the answers to, and so on. In other words, AI will groom bank customers to be phishing victims.

This is a mistake the finance sector keeps making. 15 years ago, Ben Laurie excoriated the UK banks for their "Verified By Visa" system, which validated credit card transactions by taking users to a third party site and requiring them to re-enter parts of their password there:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094020/http://www.links.org/?p=591

This is exactly how a phishing attack works. As Laurie pointed out, this was the banks training their customers to be phished.

I came close to getting phished again today, as it happens. I got back from Berlin on Friday and my suitcase was damaged in transit. I've been dealing with the airline, which means I've really been dealing with their third-party, outsource luggage-damage service. They have a terrible website, their emails are incoherent, and they officiously demand the same information over and over again.

This morning, I got a scam email asking me for more information to complete my damaged luggage claim. It was a terrible email, from a noreply@ email address, and it was vague, officious, and dishearteningly bureaucratic. For just a moment, my finger hovered over the phishing link, and then I looked a little closer.

On any other day, it wouldn't have had a chance. Today – right after I had my luggage wrecked, while I'm still jetlagged, and after days of dealing with my airline's terrible outsource partner – it almost worked.

So much fraud is a Swiss-cheese attack, and while companies can't close all the holes, they can stop creating new ones.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to post about it whenever I get scammed. I find the inner workings of scams to be fascinating, and it's also important to remind people that everyone is vulnerable sometimes, and scammers are willing to try endless variations until an attack lands at just the right place, at just the right time, in just the right way. If you think you can't get scammed, that makes you especially vulnerable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #social engineering #phishing #ai #swiss cheese security #infosec #finance #fraud #carding

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k1nky-fool · 7 months

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The Better Half

Prologue Part I: The Better Half

Clarisse la Rue x OC: Jolene Concord

Summary: Jolene has managed to get the gods on Olympus to agree to bringing adult demigods back to Camp Half-Blood to help teach their younger siblings how to survive outside camp once they leave. Of course, asking such a big favor of the gods comes with a steep price.

Warnings: Technically aged-up characters, but since the Riordanverse spans almost 2 decades and there is a canon adult Clarisse, I'd say I've earned the right to think she's pretty, dammit! A healthy mix of callback characters and OCs, and plenty of angst to come.

Masterlist

By the unfortunate looks of things, none of the kids had been told about what was being planned. Several kids gathered near the porch of the big house as she was helped by a kind centaur that knew she’d have some trouble carrying her bags, and had stumbled upon her with the Party Ponies in New Orleans. The rest of the group was excited to see Camp Half-Blood again.

“I see you made some friends on your way.” It had been a long time since she’d heard his voice in person. “Welcome back Jolene.”

“Chiron, you know I’ve been going by Jo since long before I ever got here.” She laughed. “It’s good to see you, big boy.”

“Woah, why are you back?” She really should have expected the question from him, but maybe just a part of Jo wished Mr. D had anything else to say to her after all these years, even after what happened on Olympus.

“Good to see you too, dad.” Jo strained her features into a passive aggressive smile before turning back to Chiron with a much more relaxed expression. “Imogen, thank you for helping me with my bags, but you can go enjoy yourself with the party now. Don’t hold yourself back on my account.”

“We’ll see you again, right?” Imogen asked.

“As if I could miss Mardi Gras next year.” Jo feigned offense with a laugh.

“You ran into the Party Ponies.” Chiron noted with a small note of reminiscing.

Jo was off. “Sorry I’m late, I was in New Orleans, after Mardi Gras, and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time before my flight, but it was canceled! So I found the Party Ponies and I know centaurs can get across continents in a matter of hours, figured they’d be nice if I had something for them. But I remembered a massive commercial corn field that’s really been a problem for satyrs in the area, somethin’ about local pollinators gettin’ sick— and I told the ponies that if they got me to Half-Blood Hill before my appointment here, I’d teach ‘em how to make corn liquor and we could take out an invasive corn field. In hindsight, that was a bad idea, because we got drunk to celebrate their first batch, and when we made the shot for Half-Blood Hill, we ended up in Detroit.”

“Quite the adventure.” He nodded.

“Anyway, that’s my own fault, and I’m here now, so let’s talk counselors.” Jo smiled, heading into the big house with Chiron following closest behind. She took a seat at the table, grabbing a few snacks from the cupboard where she remembered Mr. D’s good stuff being ‘off limits.’ At least until she plied him with a bribe under Zues’s nose. “So, Camp Half-Blood is facing an itty bitty crisis.”

“A small crisis would be an appropriate term.” Chiron said. “I remember your presentation to the gods two summers ago, and I must say, that was quite the show.”

Jo knew Chiron was there, but she never saw him. The only security she’d had over the last few months was that she believed that Chiron hadn’t seen that fiasco. The problem wasn’t Zeus’s approval; sure, Jo was glad that the program had been approved for the first five years, but she knew as well as Chiron did that it had come with an ominous threat.

Chiron knew as well as she did that the world was dangerous, and he’d done so much to teach them what he knew, but the world has been changing. Young demigods need to learn more than just how to fight monsters.

“I’ve been in contact with several demigods across the world, even. Camp Half-Blood isn’t the only demigod sanctuary lookin’ to hiring staff counselors. I’ve spoken to a lot of half-bloods that would be willing to come back here to help out their little siblings.”

“Who have you been in contact with?” Chiron asked.

“Well, of course your favorite forbidden children said they’d be willing to at least stop by periodically to help out. Percy Jackson, and Nico di Angelo. But I managed to get an answer from Ruby Hendricks, Katie Gardener, Clarisse la Rue, Annabeth Chase, Jack Garcia, Nyssa Barrera, Nora Kingsman, Emily Schwartz, Butch Walker, Lilly Kandale, Willow Henderson, Laurel Victor, Jacob Lewis, Chiara Benvenuti, and Beatrice Herald.” Jo listed off. “From the looks of things, you have your pick.”

“Do we really need one for every cabin?” Mr. D asked.

“Probably not, but from the looks of things, it couldn’t hurt.” Jo gestured vaguely to the clearly busy camp. “Ever since you’ve got the new cabins gods have decided they suddenly don’t have that much of a space issue here at Camp Half-blood. I don’t know about you, but I probably wouldn’t be worried about having kids if I knew they’d be taken care of and my cabin can hold up to 20 at a time.”

Chiron and Mr. D looked at each other with a knowing stare.

“I’m not far off the mark from the look of y’all.” Jo laughed. “Listen, I don’t want the counselors to rain on y’all’s parade, but it’s clear with only thirty years left on Mr. D’s sentence here, you’ll have your hands more than full, Chiron. And who knows when any gods are gonna add another few bunks to their cabin to make room for yet another few bundles of joy.”

If there was anything Jo knew she was good at, it was talking people into doing things. Thankfully, this was probably the most charitable thing Jo has ever tried to do, so maybe talking someone sensible and kind like Chiron into this would be a little easier.

“Why are you doing this?” Mr. D finally asked in defiance. “Come on, you were never any kind of goody-two-shoes at camp. In fact, I remember well how you would blackmail me into giving you extra snacks and even a permanent gift from me.”

“I’ll give you that, I was a rough kid, but I will say as soon as I got to Ireland, that gift came in handy.” Jo patted her shoulder where the mark was left. “Still dumb enough to get a hangover or two, but it helped when I got poisoned by a chimera in Seattle five years ago.”

“What changed?” Mr. D asked again.

Jo didn’t want to be the one to tell him, so she did the next best thing. She took a tiny jewelry box out of her pocket and placed it on the table. “I’ll need that back.” Mr. D took the box and opened it, finding an item she knew he recognized, but would pretend not to.

“Just some camp beads?” He scoffed.

“Chrissy Callaghan is dead.” Jo told them. “She wanted me to return her camp necklace to her mother in person.”

All of the color drained from Chiron’s face as he realized exactly what Chrissy’s death meant to Jo. “I am so sorry, Jolene.”

“Not easy to get hold of Athena.” Mr. D taunted.

“Sorry to disappoint my father, but I ain’t smart enough to cook up this plan. The whole program was Chrissy and Annabeth’s idea.” Jo explained. “Chrissy stumbled onto a Lamia nest in Arizona. She got out the first time, but they caught her scent. She set a hotel room on fire, and got me out alive, down the fire escape, but she didn’t make it out.”

“Seems like a lot to go through if you just wanted to return her necklace to her mom.” Mr. D noted.

“Well, I reckon she’d be a lot happier if the program she’s been working on for five years actually follows through.” Jo responded, taking the box back. “As far as I’m concerned, the necklace is second priority for now.”

“You said Chrissy and Annabeth have been working on this for five years?” Chiron finally interjected. “How far have you come?”

“Meaning I’ve got seventeen demigods waiting for the call to come back to Camp Half-Blood.” Jo said. “That’s why I came here before the summer campers got here, so you had a little more time to prep. And you know that Zeus approved it for the first five years to test its validity. The only thing standing in the way is your answer, Chiron.”

“The only thing I’m concerned about is how these new counselors will handle meeting up with each other. I can think of a few demigods on that list that maybe shouldn’t be encouraged to compete with one another.” Chiron said.

“Listen, we’re all a lot older now. We’ve grown out of the petty cabin feuds we were obsessed with when we were kids.” Jo said. “Though, it would help if maybe you didn’t encourage the counselors to fight each other, like keeping them out of capture the flag and chariot races. Though, don’t blame us if some of ‘em wanna compete in their own exclusive events. But we’ll keep it sportsmanlike. After all, this is a job we can lose if we’re too stupid with it.”

“I will consider that on a case by case basis.” He warned.

“Fair enough.” She nodded.

“In the meantime, I will have their accommodations ready by tomorrow morning. We can discuss which cabins we need counselors for to know who we must call.”

“Sounds great to me. Could I take a look around camp while we talk? It’s been a while and I can tell a lot has changed since I was last here.”

“I’m happy to give you the tour one more time.” Chiron smiled, inviting her to come down to the cabins.

“Ever since Percy made his demands, the Zeus and Poseidon cabins have been well populated. So, I do believe Percy and Ruby would have their work cut out for them.” Chiron noted as they passed the first three cabins.

“I’ll note that. Anybody that doesn’t need a counselor?” Jo asked.

“Apollo’s cabin has been sparse for a while. The youngest in cabin 7 is already sixteen, but I suspect there will be more in a few years.” Chiron noted.

“Definitely sounds like some kids that need to learn about life outside of camp.” She figured.

“The only cabin that is currently empty is cabin 13.” He explained.

“Any idea why?”

“Hades has never been much of a social butterfly. I wouldn’t expect another demigod in cabin 13 for another decade, but I’ve been wrong before.” Chiron figured. “I will announce the program at dinner tonight. You may introduce yourself to your younger siblings if you’d like.”

“Thanks. I’m sure they’ll be excited that they’re the first to know about something for once.” Jo laughed, bidding him farewell until dinner.

The cabin was just as mellow and pretty as Jo remembered it. “What’s up with you?” It was still February so there were only three kids in cabin 12, while cabins 1 and 3 had been pretty full.

“I’m Jo Concord. I’m the first of seventeen counselors that will be returning to camp in order to help y’all learn how to survive after you leave Camp Half-Blood.” She explained.

“Aren’t we already learning how to fight?” The oldest asked.

“Yeah, but do any of y’all know how to find an apartment that you can defend from monsters?” Jo asked the group. “Any of y’all know how to hold a job or go to college with everything from gods to monsters betting against you?”

It was a harsh reality that life would get a lot harder after leaving camp. And Jo knew first hand just how much they hated thinking about it.

“Everyone is getting a counselor?” The youngest one asked, she looked no older than twelve years old.

“Everyone.” She assured. “Chiron’s gonna announce everyone else’s counselors at dinner.”

“Wait, I know the name Jolene Concord.” The oldest said. “When I first got to camp, the counselor was Jo Concord. You were seventeen back then.”

Jo took a closer look at the teenage boy. He himself was about sixteen, and he looked vaguely familiar. “Evan Tiffany?” The boy she remembered was only eleven years old, but the curly black hair, and blue, nearly purple, eyes stared back at her. “Oh my gods, you’re so big now, Evan!”

He swooped her up into a hug, now being several inches taller than her. “You almost took my head off with a sword on my first day!”

“I felt so bad, you were terrified of me for the rest of the year.” Jo recalled.

“I just steered clear of you anytime someone gave you a sword.” He defended. “I only ever trusted you when you had a doru spear.”

“Always needed a double side.” She shrugged. “How many campers here in the summer?”

“Seven total, so four more.” Evan answered. “I guess Mr. D’s managed to slip away from camp plenty during his sentence.”

“Well, it was a sentence not to drink, not a sentence not to have any kids.” Jo figured. “Who are y'all?”

“Amy Jefferson.” The youngest said.

“Enzo Malbec.” The other boy said. “So you survived five years outside of camp?”

“Had the help of an Athena kid, Chrissy Callaghan. We found an apartment in Denver that we could defend and monsters didn’t mess with us. But when we started gathering demigods to agree to come back to Camp Half-Blood, she didn’t make it past Phoenix.” Jo explained. “But we’re going to be here for you. It took a lot of work for this to be possible, and damn it, we didn’t give up.”

“How many survive outside of camp?” Enzo asked.

She knew this question was coming. Didn’t make it any easier to tell them the truth. “Not many, Enzo. But that’s why we’re coming. We’ve seen just how bad it gets out there for us, and we’re done leaving y’all to the wolves. You’ll learn from plenty of demigods that can show you the ropes, and even teach you things about your godly gifts you never even knew about.”

“Like what?” Amy asked curiously.

“Dionysus is a god of what was once called Maniae. Spirits of insanity, madness, and frenzy. You think children of Hecate or Hypnos are the only ones who can create hallucinations?” Jo asked, making it sound as though her voice was coming from all sides of the cabin but the place she was standing.

“Alright, that’s pretty cool.” Enzo admitted.

“That’s just the start of it.” Jo clapped in excitement.

Chiron took to the front of the mess at dinner, and made the announcement that Camp Half-Blood Alumni would be returning to be counselors for their home cabins. He started by announcing that he had spent his afternoon Iris messaging Alumni for the position, and he started with cabin 20, working his way up.

Cabin 20 didn’t remember Beatrice, which was understandable since the oldest was maybe fourteen. He made his way through the list to varying levels of excitement and chatter amongst the campers at their tables. At least until Chiron announced that Butch Walker would be returning to Cabin 14, and the table erupted into cheers and celebration. He announced Jo for Cabin 12, and Enzo, Amy and Evan gave her a competitive cheer since she was the first one here.

The rest of the remaining cabins tried to out-cheer the last, however Cabin 6 seemed genuinely ecstatic that Annabeth Chase was coming back. As was Cabin 5 for Clarisse la Rue. Cabin 3 was already praying that if Annabeth was coming that meant their favorite problem child had to be coming too. As soon as Chiron announced that Percy Jackson was coming to camp, all Styx broke loose at table 3. Table 1 was disappointed that their favorite problem children were off the roster for reasons outside Jo’s control. However, some clearly still remembered Ruby Hendricks

The counselors would be arriving tomorrow. It had been a while since Jo had seen some of those demigods. Jo had found Clarisse in Seattle well before she ever met up with Chrissy. It’s been almost five years since she’d seen her, and it didn’t help that the last time they’d even spoken to each other, Jo was four bottles of wine deep into trying to heal the chimera sting that nearly killed her. It worked. Wine to a child of Dionysus is pretty much a panacea. Which apparently, isn’t the kind of thing that therapists like to hear.

When Jo went to bed, it made sense that she’d wake up well after Annabeth got here, dragging a bleary-eyed Percy behind her. She was already holding a Q and A session with her cabin while Percy was giving sword pointers to a large group of his siblings.

Surprisingly, Lilly Kendale arrived before nine am. She said she set the date on her calendar a day early, so she’d panic and think she’d missed it and arrive on time. Which was the exact kind of trick Jo knew her siblings would need.

Most had arrived by noon, but as per usual, Beatrice Herald arrived in style, in her hearse and in full Addams family uniform. “Bea, whose funeral is it?” Jo called out.

“I haven’t decided yet.” She deadpanned as she walked briskly past her without even looking in her direction.

Nyssa Barrera and Clarisse la Rue were the only two left by four pm, but Nyssa arrived before the sun set. Clarisse was still nowhere to be seen. Jo wandered her way up to the big house’s porch from the galley with a snatched bottle of strawberry wine.

Mr. D noticed her fairly quickly, but he noticed the bottle before he knew who was holding it. “Oh no, what do you want for it?” He asked.

Jo chuckled, grabbing two glasses from the cabinet and filled them both. “Just to share it. I’ll ask you before I get the bottle if I want something from you.” She reasoned, offering him a glass. “If I want a good drinking buddy, I better have a good offering.”

Mr. D inspected the wine label. “Strawberry?” He asked unimpressed.

“It’s gotta be whatever I’ll miss the most right?” Jo defended. “I like strawberry wine, so you’re gonna put up with it. Consider yourself lucky I didn’t find a honey wine in there.”

“Honey? Are you sure you’re my kid?” He joked, taking the offered glass.

“Well you seemed pretty certain once I got here.” Jo said. “If I recall correctly, you said ‘Oh Styx, that one’s mine, isn’t it?’ and you claimed me as soon as I told you my name. Then you immediately forgot my name.”

“I’ve got a lot of kids.” Mr. D shrugged. Jo knew a little more about him than he liked to believe. After she’d left camp, she realized that forgetting names made it a lot less hard to accept when they were dead.

“I’m certain all your kids in the last sixty years have had the same curse.” Jo said, pouring herself and Dionysus another glass of wine. “We all get to know you when none of us could ever understand you. And we never understand you until long after we’ve left you behind.”

“Really? How’s that?” He asked cautiously.

“Wine to us is like healing. It doesn’t fog up the mind and interfere with our judgment like it does for everyone else.” Jo said, watching the pink liquid in her glass closely as the light reflected off the tiny, dancing bubbles. “We become the most honest versions of ourselves, sure, sometimes we still need help standing up straight, but there’s some kind of wisdom that comes to us when wine is involved. The biggest thing is that none of us can actually drink legally in this country until at least three years after we leave camp. But just a little after that we start to get it.”

“Get what?” He probed.

“Why you try not to get attached.” Jo stated. “I’ve only lived five years outside of camp, and I’ve had to say my last words to a lot of friends. But you’ve been alive for centuries. How could we even judge you when we know how much it hurts after just a couple decades? And right now, you don’t even got the wine to get you through the day. Zeus really didn’t think of the real world implications of keeping the God of alcohol, joyous gatherings, ecstasy, and insanity dry and out of his domain. In hindsight it seems cruel. Not just to you, but to your domain.” Dionysus stared at her with a skepticism she hadn’t seen before. “What?”

“Nothing- it’s just… You’re the first person in sixty years that bothered to see it from my eyes.” He said.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re not off the hook yet.” Jo eyed him. “You could afford to be a little nicer to your kids. I know it hurts, but if you’re treating them like disposable byproducts of you getting laid, can you really expect any of us to give a flying biscuit when you’re in pain?”

“Then what was all that about?” He whined.

“Because I wanna show you it’s possible to show some damn empathy, even for someone you’re pissed off at.” Jo explained. “Look, I get it, this whole ‘drying out’ thing is cruel and stupid. I’ll swear off flying and call Zeus out for that any day, but you gotta put in some effort too if you don’t want your kids to resent you. Give ‘em just some basic empathy, and maybe they’ll give you the benefit of doubt. The best thing is, it’s free, and you don’t gotta manifest it.”

“So really what changed is that you’re old enough to drink in this country.” Mr. D figured.

“I’ll be the first to admit, wine solved a lot of problems that I thought were just weird teenage things, but were actually godly gifts out of control because I couldn’t drink the medicine for it legally.” Jo recalled. “In fact Chrissy and I pawned almost thirty drachmas to go into a fund for Cabin 12 kids to go to Ireland for college so they can drink their scent away from monsters for at least the first three years of their education. Turns out solid gold, greek coins are pretty coveted by coin collectors. Some of those drachmas have been in circulation for almost three thousand years.”

“You always were clever as soon as you had a scheme.” Mr. D reminisced, the wine clearly influencing his attitude. “Speaking of which, how’s that mark treating you?”

“You mean the best thing I ever asked you for?” Jo asked, pulling up her sleeve and showing off the tattoo that he’d left when he bestowed the gift upon her. It was a long thyrsus symbol with spiraling ribbons, framing the staff. “So long as I remember to invoke it, it hasn’t failed me. I could be black out drunk, and just a small invocation later, I’m sober as the day I was born.”

“Means I did a good job.” He huffed proudly.

“Yeah, sure thing, buddy.” Jo laughed, pouring the last of the wine between them. “Only one left is Clarisse.”

“What, are you sad she's not here yet?” He jabbed.

“I’m just surprised she’s late.” Jo defended.

Mr. D wasn’t buying it, and she should have known. “Oh, come on! You sure it’s not because you used to have a crush on her?”

“You can shut your trap, old man.” Jo finished off her glass of wine in a fast swig. Clarisse was four years older than Jo. So she didn’t even know Clarisse’s name until the age gap was from thirteen to sixteen, turning seventeen. Every kid gets starry-eyed about someone older than them, but of course Clarisse wouldn’t ever look her way because that would be weird. It wasn’t until they met after camp that it really developed into a crush, and Jo wasn’t even dating Chrissy yet.

Clarisse was the one that saved her from the chimera in Seattle. She also went to a liquor store and bought every bottle of wine she could carry to help heal her. Jo was eighteen, and Clarisse was twenty-one. They hadn’t seen each other since then.

“You know the drunker you get, the better I can hear your thoughts.” Mr. D giggled into his glass.

“There ain’t no way you ain’t lying.” She called his bluff.

“You got a crush on la Rue!” Mr. D taunted in song.

“You’re still lying. Ain’t no way you can hear my thoughts.” Jo doubled down.

“Am I interrupting something here?”

Jo all but jumped out of her skin. “Clarisse! Welcome back!”

“Any reason you’re loud?” She took a step back.

“I’m drunk.” Jo said the first thing that came to mind.

“What’d you ask him for this time?”

Mr. D abruptly stood like his legs moved on their own. Jo figured that must have been the diagnosis from the pale terror on his face. She could feel emotions around him, clouding him like a drowning victim. Almost as suddenly as it had started, it all disappeared. The fear on his face never went away, but that only told Jo that he was now consciously hiding it from her.

“I have to go.” He said dry and quick as though he knew standing around for too long would give Jo more clues as to what was suddenly so wrong.

He disappeared into the air, leaving barely a trace he was ever there in the first place.

“What was that about?” Clarisse asked.

Jo was fixated on only one thing. “He left the wine.”

Clarisse cleared the last step and noted it with her. “Maybe Zeus saw it?”

“I’m allowed to give him stuff, I’m a demigod. It’s a general offering to keep myself in the good favor of a god, my father, no less.” Jo defended herself. “No, Zeus knows this is well within the rules. If that’s his problem, then it’s his own fault for lettin’ me back into camp, knowing I would empathize with my dad.”

“So what could scare him like that?” Clarisse asked. Apparently, she didn’t have to be a Dionysian Empath to see he was terrified of something.

“There ain’t much that could…” It was all Jo knew for sure.

“Well, that’s a wonderful start to the job.” Clarisse jabbed.

She joked back. “You’re late.”

“Hit a harpy nest in Virginia Beach.” Clarisse explained. “Lost my bike off a cliff, so I had to take the train, but we know how fun public transportation is.”

Jo hissed through her teeth. “What was on the train?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle, but I got here in one piece.” She shrugged. “Cabin 5 waiting for me?”

“We’ve got our own rooms.” Jo mentioned.

“Oh, hell yea.” Clarisse headed back down the hill to the Cabins and Jo didn’t have anything better to do but join her. They got down the hill a ways when she noticed everyone sitting around the bonfire. Or rather who wasn’t there. “That’s Annabeth.” She noticed first. “I thought-”

Clarisse stopped as soon as she looked at Jo. “Chrissy didn’t make it past Arizona.”

“Jo, that was a year ago.” She said like it could deny the truth. “You’ve been doing this alone for a year?”

“Chrissy taught me a lot.” Jo shrugged.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Clarisse asked. “I would have dropped everything-”

“That’s why I couldn’t.” Jo said, making her go silent. “We needed you in Florida. Sea Monsters crawling up the shores of Miami isn’t exactly the kind of thing I pull you away from.”

“But you being defenseless across the Continental United States is the kind of thing I would drop it for!” Clarisse argued.

“I ain’t defenseless!” Jo yelled back at her, but she immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry, Clarisse, but I can handle myself. I’d be pretty useless if I couldn’t learn from the best.”

“She was one of the best.” Clarisse recalled.

“Chrissy didn’t teach me how to fight.” Jo said, giving Clarisse a bit of a surprise. “Sure, she taught me how to think through a fight. But I’d say you kicking my ass for weeks taught me how to survive a fight.”

“I only ever kicked your ass until you kicked mine.” She defended. “I’d say I was a little freaked out by you, even after I left camp.”

“Sorry, I didn’t have control over it back then.” Jo apologized. “If I had to kick your ass now, I’d be a little more tasteful with my use of the hallucinations.”

“How about we just avoid trying to kill each other.” Clarisse laughed. “Leave that to the kids.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

Percy was standing in the middle of the circle, next to the fire, arguing that the distance between the St. Louis arch and the Mississippi river was in fact short enough for him to jump, while Annabeth waited patiently to prove him wrong.

“Percy, you would have had to jump over the entire highway as a twelve-year-old.” Annabeth argued. “The only reasonable explanation is that the water came to meet you. Which would not be surprising at all.”

“So he’s still insane, huh?” Clarisse announced her arrival as Cabin 5 excitedly brought her to sit with them.

Jo wished she’d grabbed another bottle of wine as Chiron started announcements on who got the first shower privileges from inspection, and the camp activities for tomorrow. Which included the good, old fashioned, Capture the Flag to celebrate the arrival of the new cabin counselors.

“Our new camp counselors may advise their cabins, but they will not be participating in the battle.” Chiron said. “You may split up to divide yourselves amongst your teams.”

“I don’t suppose you were the Capture the Flag wiz of Cabin 12 while you were here?” Enzo leaned over and whispered to her.

“Nope, I’m your sibling. That just means I know everyone, and what they’re best at.” Jo nudged him. “For Capture the Flag, you’re lookin’ for Annabeth Chase, Cabin 6.” She pointed in her general direction. “Really, what you wanna try to do is get Cabins 6 and 3 to get along. If they’re on different teams, then you’re gonna have a rough time with Cabin 6, but you have a good chance of winning. The idea is to get Cabins 5 and 1 on the same team. Hotheads from Ares and hotheads from Zeus don’t mix well when it comes to strategy, but make all the unearned confidence.”

“We should get Canin 20 on that team too.” Amy interjected.

“Interesting choice.” Jo said. “Elaborate.”

“Hecate’s kids are unmatched in stealth. I think Cabin 6 would be happy for the addition to the team.” Amy explained.

“Good thinking. Now this is a winter game, so everyone will be hurtin’ for numbers. Cabin 12 ain’t exactly a coveted squad, but we’re smart in a way they don’t know. We watch the people. Evan, you’ll need to reach the Athena cabin. Convince them that you can make them a perfect team.” Jo explained to the group. “Enzo, hit Poseiden’s cabin. Tell them that Cabin 6 could use their help. Play a little into the ego, but not too much. They tend to be a little more self aware than Zeus’s kids. And We’ll leave Cabin 20 to Amy. It was your idea, and you clearly know them the best. Do what you gotta.”

The three of them split off to do their various tasks, and Jo couldn’t help but be proud of them. She knew first hand that her siblings were very often labeled ‘twelfth place.’ It was hard to feel like you could stand out when everyone else was doing victory laps around you in every feat of physical strength that Camp Half-Blood tested. But there was strength in knowing how to find the strongest people to surround yourself with. As good as Clarisse was, Annabeth was always twelve steps ahead of her.

Maybe twelve steps was enough to get Jo’s siblings out of twelfth place.

However, that was until the eldest camper from Cabin 5, swept up Enzo on his way to talk to the Cabin 3 kids. Jo looked to Clarisse from across the fire, to find she was already looking back. Alright, she didn’t have the patience to play games.

Jo just got up, and made the walk across the loose dirt. “Alright, what’s your play?”

“Nothing, I just told my little siblings how it is.” Clarisse shrugged. “The way to win Capture the Flag is to make a good team. If you want the perfect team, then Cabin 12 knows how to make it.”

So they were just playing the same game. Jo caught Enzo’s eye, only a few feet away so she was sure he would hear, and gave him a smile and a sure nod. “Under one condition.” Jo said.

Clarisse didn’t look impressed. “Sure, what do you want?”

“Y’all gotta work with Cabin 6.” Jo smiled with excitement.

“What?” Clarisse stood to speak a little quieter to Jo. “I don’t know if Cabin 5 will be too happy about that plan.”

“The faster they learn that they can’t afford to be divided outside camp, the better off they’ll be once they leave here.” Jo whispered back. “They gotta learn to see past another demigod’s parents to survive out there.”

Clarisse watched her expression for a second, but conceded, taking a step back.

“Y’all want the perfect team, right?” Jo asked, turning to the rest of the cabin. “Then Cabin 12 will take the recruiting from here.”

Clarisse thought it through before turning to her siblings. “Well, it’s up to you guys.” She told them. “It depends on how much you trust Cabin 12 and the army they give you.”

The oldest kid, who Amy had said was named Kyle, called for a cabin huddle to discuss it. When it finally broke up, he asked a question. “What’s the plan?”

Enzo piped up excitedly. “The mind of Athena and the army of Ares. That’s a deadly combination, and it would secure victory, but it would mean you have to follow orders from Cabin 6. Strategy only gets you so far if your army is weak. With their strategy, your strength, and Cabin 12 keeping you both in line,” Enzo pointed at each accusingly and Cabin 6 in the distance, “Cabins 1 and 3 don’t stand a chance.”

At the very least, Jo was certain that he was her sibling. Cabins were weird like that. Especially when there were a lot of kids sharing one space, like-minded siblings always tended to cluster together in their own groups. When Jo was a kid, there were maybe three groups of sure siblings in Cabin 12. Hers tended to enjoy flying under the radar to avoid trouble while getting away with a lot of stuff they really shouldn’t have been doing.

“I’ve also got some other ideas.” Jo clapped. “There’s an odd number of cabins, but if we make Cabins 1 and 3 work together, they’re bound to mess up. Give them the extra cabin, and make ‘em feel safe, and I’ll tell you which eight will make your perfect team.”

Kyle shrugged. “Alright, tell us who to get.”

With Cabin 5 on the job, getting the rest of the team would be easy. However, Jo figured she’d need to convince Annabeth and Cabin 6 with a different technique. “Small change of plan, Evan. But mostly I need to inform our potential allies before they make an uninformed choice.”

“What’s this about, Jo?” Annabeth asked.

“Enzo and I ended up speaking to Cabin 5, and they’re prepared to take orders from y’all.” Jo explained. “And they’ve gone off to recruit the other five cabins for our team.”

“Five?” One of the younger kids asked.

“Well, if there’s anything that I’ve learned, it’s that people make mistakes when they think they’re safe.” Jo said. “The idea is to get cabins 1 and 3 to be overconfident in their abilities, while the mind of Athena wields the sword of Ares. And with the other five, I’m confident that Cabin 6 will know exactly what to do with their forces.”

“Who’s on your list?” Annabeth asked.

“Listen, Cabin 12 is here to keep you and Cabin 5 from turning on each other. Y’all don’t bother them and they don’t bother you, or else y’all incur the wrath of the god of insanity.” Jo said right off the bat. “Amy went to recruit Cabin 20. They’re unmatched in their powers of stealth, and Amy figured y’all would know how to use that.”

Several kids immediately began whispering amongst themselves with ideas for that kind of team.

“With Cabin 9, we can get the best defenses for our forces, and Cabin 11 will make great for guard posts. Gods know they’ve got numbers.” She continued, and the chatter grew with more excitement. “Cabin 17 might seem a little cliche, but we gotta face it, they’re great in a pinch, especially if things get bad. Cabin 19 as well, but your sword or spear falling just within reach or just out of reach is crucial when dealing with a team that really just has overpowering force going for ‘em.”

Annabeth turned to the kids, and simply allowed them to make the decision. “It’s up to you guys.”

The cabin was unanimous. If they didn’t want to be on the team, at the very least, they didn’t want to fight it when they had the opportunity to lead it.

The kids got to planning as the counselors stayed back, offering a small tip here and there.

“I haven't fought against Percy in a while, so this'll be fun.” Annabeth noted.

“I'm just surprised the kids are getting along.” Jo said. “Cabin rivalries are centuries old. I know I said this was the best team Camp Half-Blood has ever seen, but its success is entirely dependent on how fast these kids can mature and realize that demigods can't afford to stay divided out in the real world.”

“You really think our parents don't matter after we've left camp?” Annabeth asked, more probing for her thought process than questioning her statement.

“Maybe it's different for me ‘cause my dad's stuck at camp.” Jo admitted. “And maybe it's different for you, being Athena's kid and havin’ more than a snowball's chance in Hades in a fight, but I can't afford to care who your parents are out there. Demigods are my people. If I can't count on my people or they can't count on me, then we're all as good as dead. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner the kids learn that, the better off they'll be.”

“Not all Demigods end up in a good place.” Annabeth folded her arms against the cold breeze. “You can't trust everyone.”

“All the more reason for us to be here, then.” Jo stated. “Teach ‘em how to spot someone unstable, untrustworthy, or dangerous.”

“So we're stand-in parents for the gods?” Annabeth asked.

Jo cackled. “I'll note you've been hanging ‘round Percy too much, but I reckon that's called a nanny.”

“So we're demigod nannies.” Annabeth figured. “Fun. Not like we're known for trying to kill each other or anything.”

“We're getting paid to not do that.”

“I know, Chiron offered a nice salary in his Iris message. I just think we have our work cut out for us.” Annabeth said.

“I think deep down, all demigods know we're in this together.” Jo mused. “If we can't trust each other, then who else do we have?”

“Percy always said that if he was a demigod, then the human was always the better half.” Annabeth recalled. “It’s not hard to see why. Just look at how they treat each other. How they treat their kids, and even how they treat strangers. But I don't think centuries of rivalry between Ares and Athena will be washed away with a cute game of Capture the Flag.”

“One day at a time, Annabeth.” Jo assured her. “Sure, maybe it all goes pear-shaped, but that's when it's our turn to do our job. That's when all of our attention has to be on how they should have worked as a team instead of pursuing personal desires.”

“Yeah, we've got our work cut out for us.” Annabeth sighed as the conch sounded off for the kids to go to bed. The kids made their way back to their cabins while the new counselors stayed around chatting. “Jo, I know why I'm here.”

“Listen, I know you mean well, but I'm gettin’ real tired of explaining it-”

“You don't have to; Chiron caught me up.” She said, digging into her pocket. “I actually had something to give you.”

“What's this?” Jo asked.

“It was a gift from Chrissy before I left Camp.” Annabeth said. “She said ‘I'd need it out there,’ and I meant to give it back to her when you found us in Chicago. I figured she'd need it more than I did, but now I think you need it more than either of us.”

The object was an old Zippo lighter, but Jo knew better at this point than to assume it was as simple as it looked. Flipping the lid did nothing, but sparking the flint turned the lighter into a greek kopis that fit her hand perfectly. “I remember her havin’ this at Camp.”

“Yeah, Beckendorf made it. She called it his ‘first masterpiece,’ and named it Psithuros.”

“Whisper.” Jo chuckled. “She always did have a sense of humor.”

“Well, I’d say asking Nyssa to make a sword that’s hidden in a tampon was probably her best bit.” Annabeth mused. “What did she name that one?”

“Aimolypsia. Bloodlust.” Jo cackled, flicking the lid back of the sword and compressing it back into a lighter. “She might’ve lost her life, but she sure as Styx ain’t losin’ her sense of humor.”

“Who knows, maybe she decided to get reincarnated to take a shot at going to Elysium.” Annabeth said hopefully.

“I know she did.” She was sure of it. “In our vows, Chrissy and I promised that we would always find each other, even after death, even if it takes centuries. We included that line because we knew that if we died, we would do everything we could to find each other in Elysium.”

“She’ll probably be another demigod.” Annabeth said. “You’ll probably meet a kid that asks her Cabin 9 friend to make a shield hidden in a maxi-pad.”

Jo nodded. “Yeah, but give it at least a decade. Hopefully by then it won’t hurt as much to know she’d got some big challenge ahead of her.”

“Hopefully by then we’ll be a little more prepared for her than Camp Half-Blood was for Chissy.” Annabeth said. “I might have been the problem child of my siblings, but Chrissy was the wild card. So at least, she’ll be easy to spot.” Annabeth joked.

“Who knows if she’ll even be recognizable?” Jo figured, seeing Clarisse give Percy a playful punch to the arm that definitely hurt as she began heading their way. “Either way, I’ll be ready. Treat every kid with respect and I ain’t gotta worry about hurtin’ her, ya’know?”

“Well, it’s only our first day. I don’t think this will stay easy for long.” Annabeth said as Clarisse joined them.

“Hey, maybe we can get through a year before we have to worry about any fate-altering crisis.” Jo assured her.

“Hate to agree with Wise Girl, but she’s not wrong.” Clarisse said. “The gods take note of big changes at Camp Half-Blood. My father still isn’t a big fan of Percy or Annabeth, and every demigod from here has a long history with angering one god or another. It wouldn’t surprise me if many wanted us to prove our right to be here.”

“Wow, it’s like you're giving them ideas.” Annabeth deadpanned.

“Assume anything I say, my father has thought up well before me.” Clarisse sighed. “As far as I’m concerned, Jo is right. Demigods can’t afford to be divided outside camp. I’d be dead if I couldn’t trust Chrissy or Percy, Jo would be dead if she couldn’t trust me or Chrissy, and the Red Capture the Flag Team will fail if they can’t trust each other.”

“You really matured out there, huh?” Annabeth noted.

“Well an all-out war in the streets of New York definitely makes you reevaluate your priorities.” Clarisse shrugged. “And the next nine years of life after camp convinced me that I’m just happy when I meet another demigod. We don’t get to choose teams outside camp. Usually we only say it if we have time to explain before something is trying to kill us.”

“Well, considering we usually only ever cross paths when a monster is involved, I’d say that makes sense.” Annabeth said. “And a lot of us already know each other, but that won’t last forever. Eventually there will be a generation of young demigods leaving camp that none of us know.”

“Well, then good thing we’re here.” Jo said. “We can make leaving just a little easier. And I don’t know about you, but give me a couple decades, and I’m ready to retire, and get some young demigod to take up the job. If we do our jobs right, our numbers won’t be scarce enough to worry about.”

“Assuming we don’t face any fate-altering crisis.” Annabeth added.

“Don’t jinx us, Annabeth.” Jo nudged her. “I should probably head to bed. I ain’t gotta worry about weird growling sounds outside here, so I’m gonna take advantage of that while I still can.”

“I did miss the absence of creepy knocking on my windows.” Annabeth sighed in agreement.

“I’m just glad I’m out of the military.” Clarrisse deflated, breathing in the peaceful air. “But the amount of explosions I’ve heard has been at a nice zero since getting here.”

The next morning was full of Capture the Flag enthusiasm. At least everyone that was a morning person, of which Jo was not one, especially not after half a bottle of wine and forgetting to invoke her seal.

“Katharos” Jo commanded, and the lingering feeling lightened, but the headache would be a problem until she could get some Ibuprofen or a bite of ambrosia. Or until she drank enough water to subside it, but that always took forever, so she snuck up to the big house and snagged a small brownie-sized chunk and ate it quickly before heading to the mess hall for breakfast.

She couldn’t help but think of what Clarisse said last night. She didn’t even know how right she was, but of course she could only guess about how bad it could get.

Jo almost missed the mess hall offering fire. It was hard to afford a house with a fireplace, and it was even harder to build a fire outside and hope you didn’t get found by something dangerous. So the safe opportunity to ask the gods for something was not wasted. The counselors went after the kids in cabin order and all mumbled something to the fire for a brief moment before letting the next person come up. It seems that growing up gives you a lot more to ask the gods for. And as much as Jo wanted to beg Zeus for mercy, she knew she had a job.

“Athena, I have something that I gotta give you in person.” She said, dumping her entire serving of perfect bacon into the fire. “I know I wasn’t the person that was supposed to make it this far. I’m sure both you and I agree that I shouldn’t-” Jo took a deep breath to stop herself from breaking down. “We both know I shouldn’t have survived this long. But now that I’m here, I gotta be the one to make this work. Please give me the wisdom to make this work, and keep me alive until my work here is done.”

As per usual, there was no immediate reaction from the fire, except what smelled like a baking peach pie from the smoke. Gods answered in their own time, and demigods usually didn’t like the answer. It was never a straight yes or no to your request. It was either a ‘no, but this works better’ or a ‘yes, but this is gonna suck the whole time,’ and Jo wasn’t exactly excited for that, so she really hoped it was a ‘no’ from Athena. Just to save camp from the trouble of being bad for everyone.

Whether she liked it or not, Capture the Flag today was a wonderful way for the counselors to get a baseline for what they had to work with. It made sense why Chiron had chosen Capture the Flag instead of any other number of combat games. It was a challenge of strength, strategy, and teamwork, so it was a good idea for training young demigods how to fight for themselves. Though, several cabins had lost that ‘teamwork’ idea, or threw all caution to the wind with a strategy that sacrifices their team, or thought they could get by on the efforts of their team while they screwed off playing poker deep in the woods with their siblings. Maybe Jo knew a thing or two because she’d done a thing or two. Or a hundred.

As the conch sounded off for everyone to begin preparing for the game, Jo was eager to see how this played out. All of the counselors sat at the edge of the open territory with Chiron as he watched the forest.

“Jo, right?” Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned to see everyone’s favorite problem, Percy Jackson. “Your first year was the same as Tyson’s.”

The name Tyson rang a bell she hadn’t thought of in a long time. “The cyclops?” she asked, to which he nodded. “Oh, yeah. I feel real bad about how that went back then.”

“Everyone was on edge, but I remember you gave him a cosmic brownie, so I guess you were nicer than others.” Percy noted.

“I was never a big fan of brownies anyway, and he asked for it, so I wasn’t just gonna let it go to waste.” Jo shrugged. “Have you heard from him at all?”

“Tyson? Yeah, He and his wife came to visit for Thanksgiving -I helped my mom make a lot of food- anyway, I heard from Chiron that something happened when you presented your plan on Olympus.” Percy pried.

“Chiron can’t keep his mouth shut, huh?” Jo grumbled.

His hands went up in defense. “I’m kinda just the guy that people call when stuff gets weird, and I’m very persistent when I hear from Chiron that Zeus is mad at someone.”

Jo wasn’t the type to immediately call Percy when something weird happened. If she did that, she’d talk to him more than his wife. She was, however, aware that Percy was more experienced than any other demigod here with gods demanding they prove themselves. She pulled Percy aside, to speak a little more quietly. “Yeah, I ain’t exactly in Zeus’s good graces. What do you know?”

“Chiron didn’t tell me much, but Annabeth did manage to get him to admit that you were on the verge of something ominously dangerous.” He said. “And the only reason he’d know before Annabeth is if it happened while she wasn’t on Olympus for once.”

Jo took a deep breath before she even thought of telling him anything. “I swear if I tell you this and suddenly Annabeth is giving me tips, I won’t promise she will never find you, but that she will never stop finding you, Percy Jackson.”

“Alright, I can keep my mouth shut.” He assured. “Just tell me what this is about.”

It was hard for her to actually say it, but she had to admit it to someone, and the one guy that might actually be able to tell her what to expect was a damn good candidate. “You remember the plan that Chrissy and I showed you in Chicago?”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re all here.” Percy recalled. “I also wasn’t expecting to come here with Annabeth. I’m sorry to hear.”

“When Chrissy and I presented that plan on Olympus that summer, Zeus gave us an ultimatum. If we could not prove the worth of the program in five years, it would be discontinued.”

“That’s pretty tame for Zeus.” Percy noted.

“‘Cause that’s not all.” Jo said. “He said that proving the worth of the program would fall to me and Chrissy alone. Only our performances would be considered, in whatever way every god wanted to test our worth.”

Percy’s eyes snapped to her expression, as if searching for some clue as to how he was supposed to react to that. “Oh, my gods, Jo.”

“And with Chrissy gone-”

“All of that now falls to you.” Percy nodded. “Well, Annabeth said you were a little antsy about a ‘fate-altering crisis’ she didn’t figure out that you were the fate-altering crisis.”

“What did Annabeth tell you?” Jo scoffed, leaning back, and waiting for him to explain himself.

“She just figured you knew more than you were letting on.” Percy said. “And she also figured out that Chiron knew.”

“Is she gonna be able to wear you down?” She asked with impunity.

“Jo, I’m going to tell you something wild.” Percy said, “Annabeth trusts me when I tell her I promised to a friend that I would keep my mouth shut.”

“And what will she do after that?” Jo asked.

“I can never know for sure.” He realized all at once. “But she’ll find out one way or another. If it’s really that important to keep it from Annabeth, I suggest you threaten Chiron too.”

“I’m not worried about Annabeth finding out, I’m worried about Annabeth finding out from you.” Jo said. “If she really wants to press you about it, just tell her to ask me about it. At least I can tell her I don’t need her to interject herself into it. If I need her help, I’ll ask her.”

“I get that.” Percy figured. “Do you remember the exact words Zues used? I know that sounds dumb, but gods never say anything they don't mean to.”

“I- Uhh… ‘As the curators of this institute, you may not shirk responsibility in the event of its failure. ‘You two alone shall be obligated to prove the worth of this initiative. If you both are brave enough to face a trial from each god on this council.’” Jo quoted as she remembered.

“Alright, so I don't know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like you have thirteen trials ahead of you.” Percy said.

“No way, really? I hadn't thought of that.” Jo deadpanned.

“Well, Annabeth always said that Zeus likes to keep things simple.” He remembered.

“Maybe I should have just asked Annabeth.”

“Probably, but this was your choice.” He said quickly. “Now, that motion requires a vote, so do you remember the order they voted in?”

Jo wracked her brain for details, but while she was usually great at drawing details, Olympus always had a way of overwhelming her, and her attention was mostly on Zeus as he did what she thought was sealing her fate.

“Hermes voted first.” She remembered. “Demeter was next. After her… Hera voted no, but since it was a majority, she still has to participate. Then Hephaestus, but I don't remember if Apollo or Artemis voted after him, but I know Apollo voted yes while Artemis voted no. I'm sure Dionysus voted no after them, and Ares, Hades or Aphrodite maybe, no idea what order they voted in. And Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus went last in that order. Your dad voted yes if you're curious.”

“I'm actually a little relieved to hear that.” Percy chuckled. “But honestly, I expected your answer to be ‘no’ so you already have a great start.”

“So you think Hermes will be up first?” Jo asked.

“Hey, if there's anything the king of the gods loves, it's enforcing an arbitrary rule.” Percy said. “That being said, expect Ares to break it.”

“Yeah, figures.” Jo groaned. “Do you think they’ve already started?”

“I think you would know if they started.” Percy said. “When the gods get to testing their kids, they aren’t usually discreet. Zeus will probably give you some ominous warning that it’s time to start fighting for your life.”

“Usually.” Jo repeated with concern.

“Artemis, Athena, and my dad are more likely to be a little more covert, but they’ll follow the rules for one reason or another.” Percy said. “That’s just my experience.”

It occurred to Jo all at once that if there was anyone that could give her an honest idea of what the gods might do, it would be someone that knows them on a strangely honest and personal level. Like Percy. “What do you think they’ll do?”

Percy hissed through his teeth and leaned against the rock, staring up at the treeline. “Hermes loves a time limit. He won’t play around with a test of physical strength, but expect your life to be on the line in every single test.”

“Anybody that won’t try to kill me?”

He didn’t look too optimistic about that question. “Maybe Apollo. He’s always been a pretty chill dude. He’ll probably have some test of character or vulnerability, or poetry… You might have to rap-battle a god.”

That might be enough to get her to give up. “Sweet Styx stew, I hope not.”

“Maybe your dad doesn’t want to kill you?” Percy asked, but he looked over her shoulder to see Mr. D sipping a diet coke while two kids battled right past him without even batting an eye at the kid that fell face-first into the muddy creek bank. “I wouldn’t count on that.”

“So after Hermes was Demeter, what’s she like?”

“Jo, I could give you my best guesses as to what the gods could want from you, but in my experience, dealing with the gods is like dealing with cause and effect.” Percy explained. “Annabeth always said that the stories of the gods are like a guidebook to learning from them. Sure, they’re not going to tell you exactly what to expect, but the themes, and meanings of those stories are the lessons they want you to learn from them. Believe me, it’s better to have the formula than to just guess from someone else’s experience with the gods.”

“So, figure out the stories, and I’ll figure out what they want me to know.” Jo gathered.

“Hey, if they’re gonna test you, I think you should be allowed to study.” Percy gave her a friendly jab.

“Well, as much studying as I can do.” Jo figured. “Speaking of which, I had something I wanted to ask you.”

“Really?” He seemed a little perplexed.

“I suck at swingin’ a sword.” She admitted honestly.

“I remember.” Percy said, and got a reflexive punch in the arm, followed by a sharp hiss in pain. “Why are your fists so bony?”

“I got Chrissy’s sword from Annabeth.” Jo said. “It would make a great secondary weapon if I knew how to use it. When we have some free time, I’d appreciate it if you and Annabeth could help me figure it out.”

If his frozen expression was anything to go by, she had at the very least surprised him. “Yeah, sure. I guess we could help you out.”

“You sure?” She asked.

“Yeah, I guess I’m surprised you didn’t ask Clarisse.” Percy said.

“Well, she uses a spear, so I figured the swordsman would know a little more about swords.” She reasoned, but was a little confused as to why he’d assume that.

“Yeah, cool. I’ll let Annabeth know you want some sword combat pointers.” He said, as they took note of a few Cabin 11 kids rushing down the territory with the blue flag.

“Oh, will you look at that.” He chuckled. “Little thieves snuck it right out from under their noses.”

“You don’t seem all that concerned.” Jo noted.

“That’s because you didn’t count on Cabin 3’s counselor learning from Annabeth Chase.” Percy said.

All at once, a six kids in armor erupted from the ocean waves, blocking off the escape for the kids with the flag. “That’s a flashy trick.” Jo feigned offense. “But good work. Unfortunately, we actually had Annabeth Chase advising the red team.”

Percy’s expression dropped, knowing it wouldn’t look good for long. Jo knew it was coming, so she covered her ears, noting she might have to apologize to Clarisse for Cabin 9’s decision to raise the number of explosions on campus exponentially.

Kids hiding at the border, covered by foliage overgrown by the Cabin 12 kids, emerged and began throwing fireworks -courtesy of Cabin 9- at the shore, kicking up sand and snow alike, while the Cabin 20 kids froze the now flying water into a wall between Percy’s siblings and the sea.

“Now that’s flashy!” Percy accused her right back. Two separate teams of Ares and Athena’s kids fighting together cleared a way for their runners to complete their quest.

The red team had won Capture the Flag.

#percy jackson fanfiction #camp half blood #clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue x oc #clarisse x oc #oc: jo concord

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