Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter

The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: The Trials

Chapter One: Summer Fun and a Funeral

Beta: ShadowofAxios

Relaxing after a day of training, the demigoddess Rhode Evans surveyed her home as she laid down on her bed. The Poseidon Cabin at Camp Half-Blood was the first home that the daughter of the sea god had ever had and she'd taken pains to transform it into a space that was truly her own. She'd shrunk and put away the original bunk beds in exchange for a single more comfy one. At the same time, she'd added a TV area with its own couch, beanbag chair and coffee table for some nighttime chilling out; and an area for her hobbies that had a art desk for her to draw at and a corkboard where she pinned up all the best and most meaningful photos that she'd taken.

"I've really done a good job with this place, huh?" Rhode said aloud as she finished her examination. "Well, it's close to dinner. Oh! I still have to do my journal for today."

Picking her trusty journal off the shelf, the young scion of the sea plopped herself down on her bed. She spent a moment getting comfortable. Once she was happy with her position, she began to kick her feet in the air and began to pen her thoughts.

So Journal, I got my hair cut today. I decided to switch to a shoulder length cut. It was getting annoyingly long and Fergus, that cheating son of Ares, kept tugging on it in our last spar. The new style also lets me show off my new gold starfish earrings more too. Which is another big plus in my book.

Me thinking about how I look? The me from a couple years ago would gag at the very idea. I sure have changed, huh? Well, on this front at least, it's all Emily's doing. So past me if you read this somehow, blame her, okay?

But seriously, speaking of unwanted hair, I had some pop up on my arms and legs lately. Another gift of puberty no doubt. It was a good thing I spotted that ad in the Daily Prophet Lee loves to read. Thanks to that, I found a nice little potion that gets rid of unwanted body hair!

On an even more serious note, a lot of things have happened at Camp since the whole Lupin incident, hasn't it? I, well, I had to talk to Chiron about the voice from my dreams. They're getting more frequent now, sometimes I even imagine like I hear a faint whisper in my ear even when I'm awake.

He looked pale when I told him, dread written all over his face. Even the unflappable Mr. D seemed nervous. They played it off as my stress getting to me and causing aural hallucinations, or some such rubbish. I think they were just trying to lie about what it really is.

Though to whom? Me? Or themselves?

Either way, I don't like it.

Less ominously, Atlanta got accepted at some college under a track and field scholarship. I'm going to miss her and our little surf sessions together. Heck, I'm even going to miss our archery lessons, much as I fail epicly at it each time.

Rhode laughed at the passage. Calling her failures at archery epic were an understatement.

I know most Campers generally don't come back after they get old enough for college, but I hope she still visits. Speaking of Campers, we got a pair of new guys and they're Hermes' kids. Stoll? Yeah, the Stoll twins. Poor Luke, he's going to have his hands full with them. Personally, I've got mixed feelings about them. They seem like fun kids, but their pranks can be a touch over the line.

As for Luke, turns out he got selected for this summer's-

A knock rapped at her door.

"Hey Rhode! Come on, you said you'd give me a hand." Luke shouted from the other side of the door.

Closing her journal and climbing off her bed to put her shoes on, the daughter of Poseidon replied.

"Give me a second!"

Pushing a branch aside as she trudged through the woods around camp with Luke, Rhode regaled her friend with her latest trouble with the opposite gender, "Then he said: Hey, are you a riptide, because you swept me off my feet." Cutting out her obnoxiously masculine imitation of the jerkwad, she continued in a normal tone. "What the heck does that even mean? It sounds like a lame line my dad would use."

Luke raised a brow as he followed after her as she vented her frustration at the vegetation by stomping around the forest. Ostensibly the two were currently hunting monsters to help Luke prepare for his coming quest to the Garden of Hesperides, but it was quickly becoming a session of Rhode bitching about her life.

"Who said that?"

"Zack from Cabin Seven." The dark haired girl said with a roll of her eyes, "At least that wasn't the worst of it. Dominik from Ares dedicated, and I repeat, dedicated the wedgie of a new camper to me…what the Hades is that supposed to mean to me? Why do guys have to be so weird?"

"Puberty." Luke commented as he added muttered 'Maia' under his breath, making fluttering dove wings manifest from the sides of the new Converse sneakers that his Dad had given him for his quest. He leaped up into the air and perched onto a branch, looking further ahead in the woods.

Rhode looked up at him with unamused eyes, "Thanks for that tidbit. Well, at least it wasn't like with Adam." She groaned, cutting a bush out of her way with the sword in her fist.

Luke paused, looking down with a frown, "What'd he do?"

"The son of love asked if he could put suntan lotion on my back while I was sunbathing in my bikini." The daughter of Poseidon told him bluntly, the blond's frown growing in response. Rhode tapped her chin in thought, "Though he did say my dimples of Venus were nice…and he was sorta cute."

So were some of the other boys, but Rhode wasn't going to tell them that.

"Remind me to make sure we go up against Cabin Ten in CTF this Friday." Luke mumbled through the quiet woods. "Though I have to ask, why were you suntanning on the beach anyway? And in a bikini no less? You know how the boys are when girls try that."

"So we can't suntan?" Rhode asked him, her eyes narrowed.

"Just saying that it's a free country." Luke told her with a shrug. "You want to do something, someone else can respond basically however they want. You can't stand the hormone driven mid-puberty boys hitting on you then don't bait them."

"That's sexist." The daughter of Poseidon said, glaring at her friend.

"Just speaking the truth, Rhode."

The ground rumbled and the two half-bloods paused their increasingly tense discussion and went silent in anticipation for the fight that was likely to come. Luke pulled his sword out of its scabbard with a metallic hiss and pointed to the left.

Rhode nodded and she silently creeped towards the direction that Luke indicated, while he flew above her playing overwatch.

As they peeked into a clearing, they both saw a massive purple scaled, diamond headed winged dragon. The monster was the size of a bus and each step of its four immense legs shook the earth like a mini earthquake.

It looked like it was their lucky day. Luke was set to face the legendary dragon, Ladon, so what better monster to get some practice in than with another dragon.

Rhode grinned up at her friend and pointed at the soon to be dead monster. Luke nodded with a matching grin and they broke into the clearing with a war cry.

Jack Overland, son of Khione, was just finishing up a hand-to-hand combat class with Fergus, when the son of Ares had the bright idea to have his exhausted students do some full contact spars. And the jerk just had to pair him with Rhode!

The daughter of Poseidon was a monster in the ring. Outside of Fergus himself, she was the most skilled hand-to-hand fighter in the class.

Which was why Jack did the smart thing. He leveraged his superior reaction time and speed to stay out of grappling and hitting range of the girl. He knew that if he gave her the chance to land a single solid hit, then the match was over.

Judging by the way Rhode's predatory sea green eyes were narrowed, she'd figured that out too. Which was why she was pressing her attack. Hard.

If that was all, then it wouldn't be that much of a problem. But fighting Rhode was incredibly distracting for the boy. Seeing her fight was an amazing sight, especially since she tended to dress down for it. In fact, she was currently dressed in nothing more than a pair of black jogging shorts and a matching sports bra. As a result, she was showing off a distracting amount of sexy toned skin.

Sure he probably shouldn't be thinking about that in the middle of a spar, but he was a hormonal teenage boy. Sue him!

"Heh, you're a jumpy guy, aren't you Snowflake?" Rhode teased with that cute cocky smirk of hers, as he jumped away from another of her kicks.

Jack rolled his icy blue eyes, "I just like to not get hit is all."

"Funny, since I've been hitting on you all day."

"You're hilarious." Jack deadpanned.

Rhode just flashed him a grin and charged in again. She went for a right hook that Jack blocked, but she shifted her body inside his guard. Once in position, her hands lashed out and grabbed hold of his shirt.

The next thing Jack knew, he was in the air. He didn't get the chance to enjoy it though as before he could do anything, he found himself hitting the ground hard.

Did she just judo flip me? Seriously!?

As he laid there on his back, Jack tried to figure out where girls at camp learned that move. He was absolutely sure that it wasn't taught in regular classes, but somehow every girl in camp knew how to pull it off. Seriously, it was like the girls taught it to each other in secret or something!

He was pulled from his musings when Rhode came into his line sight, a victorious smirk on her lips as she looked down at him with her hands on her hips, "Looks like I win, Snowflake. Again."

"…I swear you're part Saiyan." Jack told her with a groan, sitting up. It hurt like a bitch since his butt ached badly from the whooping he'd just received but at least it got his abused back off the ground.

"Oh shut up with that already." The girl angrily scoffed as she wandered over to her water bottle and towel.

The son of Khione was about to continue teasing the daughter of Poseidon about her bloodthirstiness and skill at fighting, but what happened next made him nearly swallow his tongue.

In a bid to cool herself down, Rhode had opened her water bottle and started to let its contents spill over her head. The water spilled down her hair and droplets cascaded down her body. As she shook her hair, it looked like it was in slow motion to Jack.

It was like something out of a commercial. Or one of those adult films he was not supposed to watch, but had anyway.

He personally blamed his hormones and his crush on the daughter of Poseidon.

Releasing a content sigh at having cooled off, the girl turned towards him and her face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh, Snowflake, you cool? You're looking flustered? Did I work you too hard?"

Can you stop sounding so misleading! Jack mentally complained as he blushed so hard that his face felt like it was on fire. Turning away, he answered. "Nope, just getting my second wind is all." He answered, trying –and most likely failing- to play it cool.

Which was normally his strong point mind you.

"If you say so." Rhode shrugged, hanging her towel around her neck as she wiped her face. It was at this moment that he was glad the child of the sea was as dense as a block of lead.

It was the only reason he managed to get out of these situations without outing his feelings.

Taking his words at face value, Rhode reached down and flipped open her godly cellphone and looked at the time, "Hm, time for Arts and Crafts." She offered him an apologetic smile, "Guess we can continue some other time, Jack."

"I'm down for a raincheck." The demigod nodded as he stood up.

With a wink, the daughter of Poseidon turned to Fergus and after getting a nod of dismissal headed off, throwing an absentminded wave over her shoulder as she walked away.

As she left, Jack couldn't help but tilt his head a little.

Rhode was certainly growing up, her, um, derriere was proof of that. It was starting to look rounder every day.

"Thank you, Poseidon." He murmured as he gave a halfhearted wave in return due to his distraction.

A moment later, a seagull swooped by and somehow pooped in his eye.

"Ew! Gods why?!" Jack cried out, snagging his water bottle and spilling it over his eye, trying to desperately clean it out.

Maybe next time he wouldn't thank the dad of the girl he liked for looking so pretty.

"Ha ha!"

"Shut up Fergus!"

It was after dinner and Rhode was enjoying some free time. So deciding to take advantage, she chose to partake in one of her favorite hobbies and retreat to her cabin to do some drawing. She had recently come across some of Michael Turner's work that she'd quite liked and wanted to have a go at replicating.

Her attempts were frustrated though as just looking at the comic books she wanted to reference reminded her of the jabs she got in the latest CTF game and caused a grumpy pout to come to her lips.

Just because I have a famous shield, it doesn't mean I was going to hurl it like an idiot!

"Honestly, what are the idiots thinking?" She said, shading in a panel. "Captain America Girl? I'm British born turned American, it makes no sense. Why is everyone in Camp so immature at times?"

And so help her if Lee managed to finish his search for the 'ideal' theme song for her, she'd wring the son of Hermes' neck.

I don't care if he was joking! If he picks My Little Pony or Under the Sea, no god will be able to protect him!

"Rhode?" Su's soft voice came through the door alongside a soft knocking from the door. "Lee says he's sorry, he's looking into a metal band now. I-I think that's better, maybe. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Su, come on in." Rhode said as she stood from her artist desk, placing her pencil down.

The petite Chinese daughter of Demeter uttered a prayer to the sea god and entered the cabin. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, and her clothes had dirt stains on them, no doubt from working in the strawberry fields.

"Feeling better?"

Grunting, Rhode said. "I might go hunting in the woods before bed at this rate. Why is Lee such a dumbass?"

"Because he likes to be the center of attention. He has a complex that makes him have a need to stand out and reap praise or adoration from his peers in an immature fashion because he knows that'll appeal to us teenagers?"

Rhode blinked a few times. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, you probably mean for today? Well, I don't know." Su knitted her brow in thought.

"Boys." The taller girl rolled her eyes.

"Indeed." Su nodded, but offered a tiny smile. "If you want to work off some aggression, I'm willing to assist!"

"What do you have in mind?"

A tentacle-like vine snaked its way out of Su's right sleeve as the shorter girl replied, an excited gleam in her eyes. "I've got a few new techniques I want to try out with Helel here, want to help me with that?"

"...You named it?"

The tentacle hugged Su's arm in a fashion that somehow came across as loving.

"Of course! All good plants need a name."

"...You are adorkable."

Su's face flushed red at this.

"Now Rhode," Su started off as they stood in the training arena, "This is going to be a powers only fight."

"Alright," The daughter of Poseidon nodded.

"I mean it." Su pointed at her with a pout. "That means no punching, no kicking, no biting, no poking, and no wedgies."

"I promise!"

Su looked a touch dubious at this and pointed to a bucket of water. "That's all the water I could get."

The child of Poseidon crossed her arms, a smirk on her lips. "This a handicap fight now?"

"Do you really need more than that?"

"Point taken." The green eyed girl conceded as she held out her hand and willed the water to float around her. It swirled around her in deadly streams, waiting for her command.

There was a beat of silence as the two girls eyed each other. Rhode couldn't be sure what Su was thinking but she was trying to recall everything she knew the daughter of Demeter could do and coming up with counters for as many of them as she could.

There's just too many! Rhode realized quickly. Well, guess I'll have to force her to show her hand.

Acting on the thought, Rhode launched two ribbons of water at Su, who quickly dodged to the left. The taller girl's green eyes followed her and she whipped her wrist in the direction Su had leaped towards, causing the water to bend in mid-air and chase after her.

Having more distance this time, the petite girl decided to stand her ground. Stuffing her hand into a opened pouch on her waist, she pulled out a handful of acorns that she proceeded to throw at the ground in front of her. In an instant, a small patch of oaks grew out of the earth and acted as a wall that Rhode's water splashed harmlessly against.

"Good save." Rhode commented even as she pulled the scattered water back together into a single floating mass, as she plotted her next move.

"Thanks, but I thought that it would work better than that." The daughter of Demeter remarked with a pout.

"Thought what would work?"

"I was experimenting with getting my plants to rapidly absorb water. But the rate is still barely noticeable at all."

"You are making countermeasures against me?"

"...I really want to beat you in a spar." Su announced, her blushing cheeks luminous in the waxing light.

"A-dorkable." Rhode affirmed.

Su didn't really appreciate the sentiment though.

"I'll show you my adorability!" Su declared angrily as she raised her hands in the air, prompting a vine to snake out of her sleeve and sink itself into the earth, where with the help of her powers it quickly grew into a set of gargantuan thorny tentacles that broke through the ground and lanced towards Rhode.

"Whoa!" The child of Poseidon ducked under one vine and sliced another in half with a stream of water that she'd frozen the edge of to increase its cutting power. The number of vines proved almost overwhelming though, and Rhode found herself hardpressed to keep up with them.

"Do Helel and I look adorable now, eh Rhode!?" Su taunted.

With her tendrils of water preoccupied fending off Helel's other vines, a new one shot out of nowhere and blindsided Rhode by slamming into her side. The daughter of Poseidon rolled with the blow however, and managed to jump to her feet almost instantly. Her moment of distraction cost her and her control over the water slipped a little, thus allowing the plant's many appendages to lash out at her unimpeded.

Reacting quickly, she regained control over the water and intercepted them. However, in her rush she'd misjudged the number of vines whipping her way and one slipped through her hasty defense. Not wanting to be sent tumbling from another painful hit, she decided it was time to call on one of her trump cards.

Focusing on the vail hidden in her right sock, a stream of liquid shot into the air from out of her shoe and cut the offending vine in half. The two halves of the severed limb hissing as the severed portion fell to the floor with a thump and the stump hastily pulled back.

"What was that?" Su asked, surprised at the development, taking a step back in worry.

"Scorpio's venom." Rhode replied without elaboration as she used her Toxikinesis to have the small amount of deadly poison circle around her protectively.

"I, you, you managed to milk the venom? You finally gained proper control over your Toxikinesis?"

The smirk on Rhode's face spoke volumes as the tiny snake of venom lashed out like a bullet. It cut and dismembered the prickly vines, forcing Su to be more tactical and have her vines evade it even as they continued to attack.

"Ha ha! This is awesome Su!" The daughter of Poseidon declared as she fired off another ribbon of water.

The rest of the fight devolved into a battle of dueling tendrils. One in which neither side could gain a decided advantage. Rhode could destroy Helel's vines but Su just used her powers to help it regrow them, on the other hand despite Su's best efforts the plant simply couldn't outmaneuver the streams of liquid that Rhode used to defend herself.

After ten whole minutes of stalemate, Rhode decided to call the match. "Tie?"

"Tie." Su agreed with a pleased smile. "That was fun."

"Yeah, fun." Rhode agreed insincerely, a little bummed that even with her brand spanking new power to manipulate poisons, she hadn't been able to beat her friend.

Recalling their respective 'weapons', both girls began to cool down. Wiping the sweat off her brow, Rhode grabbed one of the nearby towels and tossed it to Su.

One of Helel's vines caught it.

"So, why Helel?" Rhode asked curiously, as she eyed the Devil Snare clipping pass the towel to its mistress.

"Devil Snare. Helel is one of the names attributed to the devil. I wanted something more unique than simply Lucifer or Satan." Su explained.

"Huh, biblical." Rhode confessed as she hung the towel from her neck. "Though wasn't he the one that pulled the sun or something? Isn't that kinda ironic since Devil Snares hate light?"

"It comes from how the devil was originally the Archangel who was known as the light bringer."

"Neat. Though I have another question."

"Yes?"

"Why do you have a tentacle plant in your shirt?"

Su blinked in confusion. "Where else would I hide him?"

Rhode looked away, unwilling to answer that as her mind thought back to some of the interesting places a girl could hide something like that. Having all the channels on her TV wasn't the best thing at times. You never know what you'd stumble across.

It was a late June morning for Camp Half-Blood. Everything was normal. The weather was perfect as usual and the dryads had cooked up a wonderful breakfast for everyone to enjoy. Though since it was getting late, most campers had already finished scarfing down their breakfasts so they could rush to whatever first activity they had for the day.

"Oi oi! What's dis shite?" Fergus exclaimed loudly as he eyed the newspaper in his hands disbelievingly. His cry drew the attention of most of the the campers still in the Dining Pavilion.

"What's up?" Lee asked the tall and broad son of Ares. "Something wrong with your funnies?"

The Scot wasn't much of an intellectual, but he still dutifully read the paper everyday for the comic strips.

In response to Lee's question, the son of war just flipped the newspaper around. Printed on the front page and now visible to all was a picture of Nils, the head of Athena Cabin.

He'd been away from camp for weeks now. The campers didn't know why, but one of the older Athena campers had been running the cabin in his absence.

For a moment, the campers thought that maybe he'd gotten into the papers for winning some academic prize or some such. Their hopes were shattered though when they overcame their dyslexia and made out the words 'Mass shooting', 'Loss' and 'Death' emblazoned in bold in the headline above the photo of their friend.

A dreadful silence filled the air as the realization slowly sank in. It was broken when the head of Cabin Four and Nils' girlfriend, Viridi, suddenly stood up from her seat, marched up to Fergus and ripped the pager out of his hands. Her hazel eyes ran along the words until she turned to the young man and shot him a venomous look.

"Is this a joke, Wallace?" Veridi hissed like a mamba, thorny vines breaking out from under the pavilion's stone floor in response to her anger.

"I'd never joke 'bout somethin' like this!" Fergus said, standing to his full height and towering over the blonde child of Demeter.

"It's not funny!" The young woman screamed out in fury. The vines, now as long as a school bus, reacted to her rage and lashed out at the son of war, sending him flying him ten feet across the dining area.

"Fergus!" Atlanta called out, even as she whipped out her bow and drew an arrow from her quiver. "What the Hades is your deal Viridi!"

"Hooray! Fight to the death! Nothing like a show with my breakfast." Mr. D commented cheerfully while munching on some bacon at Table Twelve.

Several campers drew weapons, each looking at each other nervously, unsure who to side with.

"Enough!" Chiron thundered, stomping his front hooves authoritatively. "All of you calm yourselves! Weapons away in the pavilion."

Fergus stood up, rubbing his scratched up chest.

"Fuck lass, I wouldn't make this shite up on my worst day."

Mr. D snorted, looking bored now. "Honestly, look at you whimpering babes. Getting worked up over a dead little hero. It's nothing new, so what's the, as you kids say, major malfunction?"

"Mr. D." Chiron hissed at him, looking very disapproving, but the god ignored him in favor of breakfast.

"N-Nils is dead? For real?" A son of Aphrodite asked as the entire pavilion fell into silence.

"Do I need to spell it out more clearly for you?" Mr. D asked condescendingly. The boy tried to say something, but the god just continued as if he didn't see him. "Yes, the Head Counselor of Cabin Six got himself killed being an idiot hero, trying to save a bunch of mortals from a mass shooter. He couldn't even do the right thing and die fighting a monster like he should have."

Hearing Mr. D's callous explanation of what happened, Viridi's entire frame shrank in on itself and her plants sank into the ground as she ran off, tears streaming from her eyes.

Soon silence turned into utter outrage.

"Why didn't mother say anything?" A young child of Athena demanded, even as she sniffled.

A son of Hephaestus echoed her sentiments. "Why were we left in the dark?"

"He said he was working on a thesis project at his campus." Gaige said shuttered out, even as Penny awkwardly patted her creator in an attempt at offering comfort. Emily had staggered over as well and pulled both her girlfriend and their robotic daughter into a tight hug as she cried her eyes out.

Back at Table Ten, Ethan looked frozen as he processed the news. Fergus meanwhile, still recovering from the blow Viridi hit him with, limped over to a crying Atlanta and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"But Nils is crazy strong, what could've killed him?"

Mr. D snorted at this. "A bullet, obviously. Weren't you listening to what I said earlier?"

Rhode sat at her table, stunned by the news. One of the most respected demigods to ever walk through Camp Half-Blood had been snuffed out like it was nothing.

And all because mortals were stupid and shallow beings.

The world could be a cruel place to even the best of people.

The sun was bright, the air was clean and fresh, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

It was a perfect day for a funeral.

Rhode, like every other demigod, was wearing a black tee-shirt for the funeral. The campfire that was usually vibrant and tall, reflecting the campers mood was now small and colored black.

All the demigods were gathered in the amphitheater where a funeral pyre had been built. Athena Cabin had woven a beautiful grey shroud out of the finest silk that they had decorated with symbols representing all the attributes of the goddess of wisdom as well as a number of things that uniquely symbolized Nils' traits and achievements.

It was the first time Rhode had been to a funeral here at camp, from what she had heard a lot of them happen during the school year. That was because most campers were away from the safety of Camp and end up getting killed by monsters. Or like Nils their demigod luck and/or heroic instincts get them caught up in some more mundane trouble.

Campers went up to the podium, offering their words of praise and love to Nils, speaking of him in the best light they could before walking off it in tears. Amazingly the most vocal had been Fergus, who recited Danny Boy and affectionately called Nils an "Utter Dewb of a Dumbass" for kicking the bucket before they had another scrap like old times.

"See ya down there someday, Boy Wonder." Fergus finished as he slowly stepped off the podium. Chiron soon took his spot and gave his own words.

To Rhode, it was getting repetitive. It felt as though everyone was saying the same things. She kept her opinion to herself however as the centaur, like all the other previous speakers, looked broken up and was struggling to keep his composure.

Viridi was nowhere in sight. No one outside of Cabin Four had seen her since her breakdown in the Dining Pavilion. According to Su, she'd been keeping a distance from her siblings too, choosing instead to hide under the covers of her bed and cry.

Still, all this sadness and all these tears, it rubbed the daughter of Poseidon the wrong way. She didn't like it. It was too sombre.

As the service finished with the burning of Nils' shroud on the pyre, Rhode found herself unable to bottle up her feelings any longer.

Turning to Atlanta whom she'd ended up standing next to, she voiced her opinion. "We should be celebrating the life he lived, not wallowing over the loss. That's not what Nils would want."

"This is how we do things, Rhode." The daughter of Apollo told her with a frown.

"This is so sombre though," Rhode told her in a loud whisper. "We already know about our own mortality, but why shove it in our faces further?"

"That's not the point of the funeral." The archer told her even as her frown deepened. "It's a way for us to show how much we cared for our friend."

"Then shouldn't we do what he would have wanted and celebrate his life instead of all this?" Rhode said in a confused tone, as she swept her hands through the air to indicate the still burning pyre and the mourning campers.

"And not grieve?" Atlanta demanded hotly.

"What? No." Rhode backtracked quickly. "It's just-"

"Just what? You might have the mood to celebrate, Rhode, but the rest of us can't. Not now. So be respectful and let us mourn our friend." With that the Head Counselor of Cabin Seven turned away from Rhode and stalked off, her frame visibly vibrating with barely controlled anger.

"What did I say?" The daughter of Poseidon asked aloud, uncertain at why her friend had got so upset.

Su walked up to her. "Rhode, think about what Atlanta just said."

"I am, but I still don't get it." Rhode confessed to her best friend.

Sighing, the daughter of Demeter was about to explain when Chiron stamped his hoof against the ground to gain everyone's attention.

"I'll explain it to you later." Su said as the two girls turned to face the centaur.

"We all mourn Nils' untimely passing and wish him good fortune wherever he is now. In spite of that and how much it pains me to have to do this now, Athena Cabin needs a new Counselor. To that effect, I would like to use this opportunity to announce that Annabeth Chase has been assigned the role." Chiron declared, the young blonde looking stunned by this.

Rhode's favorite plucky blonde, despite the tears in her eyes, kept herself together as she nodded in acceptance of her new role.

"I graciously accept this position and will do Athena proud."

To the daughter of Poseidon, it was as if the moment that Annabeth had been given this heavy task, the younger girl aged several years. It made her sad. She had hoped that Annabeth could enjoy herself for a while more without shouldering this level of responsibility.

Sure, she understood why the blonde was selected. She was smart and had plenty of experience from her years at camp. Plus she had the respect of her cabin mates.

Rhode still didn't have to like it though.

It was with these mixed feelings that she retired for the night.

It was only the next morning that she and everyone else would learn that the night had brought another tragedy to Camp Half-Blood. While everyone had been sleeping off their grief, Viridi had disappeared into the night. She took nothing with her and left only a single note behind. It simply read: Goodbye.

Done and done! Wow, it's been awhile guys, huh? Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always!

Rhode II is on full throttle! We got developement, we got romance, we got subplots, we got canon, we got character deaths! In chapter one no less. I hope some were attached to Nils, because I know a lot of you enjoyed the OCs we had created. But as they say, the older a demigod gets, the harder it is to stay alive. Remember that my faithful readers.

Nameless: A little heavy handed with the foreshadowing there, no? Though it's true. So anyways, hope you folks like this pilot chapter for the new 'book' in Rhode's adventures. It was a blast to write. Just doing this one chapter got our creative juices for the story flowing big time. Expect plenty of interesting developments ahead as we implement those ideas and more.

As for why Rhode wanted a more festive event for a funeral? Well she's still a street kid, she's never had time to sit still and mourn loss, she'd rather remember them fondly and smile at the best they had to offer. Rhode's not one to wallow. Outside of Thalia, her one hypocritical exception, that is.

Nameless: That said, even in that case she tended to focus a lot more on the happy times than her loss. Or at least tried. There's also a little subtext hidden in the different response too. Namely for all the closeness that Rhode feels with her friends at camp, they aren't her family. It's why she can be so detached when mourning Nils' death. Don't get me wrong, she's still sad and shaken but nowhere as badly as she was with Thalia.

P.S. from SoA: I know, it's rare I add to the post-chapter commentary, though I felt a need to do so in this case as I feel my busy schedule has kept this long awaited sequel from finally being published as I haven't had time to edit. I apologize to both the readers as well as E4E and Nameless for that. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the story.

You all know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you loved! No flames and peace off my peeps!

And have a good memorial weekend!