Titans Wrath

Athena sat in her palace library. She had barely slept since the display with Perseus a few days ago. She held a cup of warm nectar in her hand as she studied her large shelf. Clarisse sat at a desk in the corner, pouring over maps and charts of the 3 main established trade routes between the camps. I pulled Homer's original copy of The Odyssey. Not the version he ended up releasing and became widely popular, but the version that he scrawled onto thick parchment as a rough draft. I glanced at it dismissively before putting it back on the shelf and sighing, turning back to my guardian. "What do the reports say?"

Clarisse sighed, pushing her bangs out of her face, her face twisted into a scowl. She looked so much like her father, it sent a pang of loss through my chest. 

"The Hephaestus kids that are stationed in Camp Jupiter to help the Vulcan kids are running out of celestial bronze, but have almost fully armed the legion. Camp Half-Blood reports the same thing, but still have an excess of celestial bronze. Too much of the metal is needed to just do in one normal trip and risk losing." I nodded and glanced down at the maps. It was jarring to see some charts that my daughter had drawn up before she was murdered. 

"You have enough excess demigods to arrange a mass transport. You could run a group of 30, get 15 from Camp Jupiter and leave with them. When you make it to Camp Half-Blood, load up the metal between 10 vehicles and get 15 more, since the romans put in for a request for more healers, you could take those with you back." She stared at the map and clicked her tongue softly, a tension in her voice. 

"That sounds fine, but what if we get ambushed? We'll have half a group of healers and not enough warriors. Most of our fighting able warriors are on the front lines with Percy and Artemis." She raised a good point. Now, my scowl mirrored hers. Most of the demigods still at the camps were either long term specialty healers, or blacksmiths. Not many fighting able demigods were left at camp. 

"What do you think?" I intoned. "Does the need outweigh the risk? You could guard it yourself, maybe even take another Guardian with you." She seemed the think about it before sighing and waving me off. 

"It's alright, I'll handle it. The others are busy with their own duties. Speaking of," She continued, "Poseidon and Leo are going to send a squad of Cyclopes up from Atlantis. They're supposed to be being escorted by Poseidon and Leo themselves." She shot me a glance, and I glared at her. She had a knowing smirk on her face. Ever since my daughters wedding, the daughter of Ares had never let me forget that she had caught me holding his hand. 

"Go to your escort, Clarisse, before I bring up when I caught you with that boy, Chris, in my temple." Her face flushed dark red. She was not simply holding his hand when I found them. 

I waved a hand and she shimmered out of existence, sent to Camp Jupiter. 

Clarisse

Clarisse materialized at the edge of Camp Jupiter with a sharp jolt, the magical transport leaving a tingling sensation across her skin. The crisp air of New Rome was thick with the scent of metal and sweat, the sounds of a training legion echoing through the valley beyond.

She adjusted the straps of her armor, rolling her shoulders to shake off the stiffness of teleportation before striding toward the central barracks. Demigods bustled around her, hauling crates of supplies and sparring in open courtyards. The war had pushed Camp Jupiter into overdrive. What once had been a proud, regimented force was now a desperate, battle-hardened army trying to outlast the storm.

At the armory, a young daughter of Mercury checked over a clipboard. "Guardian La Rue, right?" she asked without looking up. "Your convoy is being prepped outside the main gates. You've got fifteen legionnaires, that's all we could spare."