Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 28: Wait, Clovis is who? (PERCY WOAH)

Annabeth POV:

We all just stare at Hope. After about 10 seconds of silence, Lou speaks.

"You... you're joking, right?" She asks.

Hope shakes his head. "Nope. Michael is still alive and, in fact, is a massive pain."

"What? Why?" Clovis asks.

"He's Hemera's top lieutenant, the leader of her small band of... sentient beings. Hemera went insane because... well, because Tartarus sucks. But anyway, she went insane, and by proxy, her soldiers don't have the best decision-making skills. Combine that with lots of power and Hemera making them to random things, you get situations that yours truly has to fix." Hope says, out of breath.

Clarisse sits back down on her chair. "So you just decided not to tell us that one of our closest comrades during the Titan War was still alive? What's next, Fletcher is actually -"

"Lee is dead." Hope cuts in quickly. "He died an honorable death, sacrificing himself so that me and Hero could escape a dangerous situation."

Clovis narrows his eyes but says nothing. I, on the other hand, have much to say. My eye twitches.

"Are there any other secrets we should know about?" I ask angrily.

Hope turns to look at me. "What do you mean?"

I glare at him. "You, in the last 2 minutes, revealed that two people we thought were dead were brought back to life, with no hint or warning beforehand. Yesterday, Gaea randomly shows up, you act like you're all buddy-buddy with her, and she reveals that Leo is her child? And you didn't say anything, like you already knew."

Hope nods. "I did know."

I slam my hand on the table. "Well, then what else are you hiding? What else should we know? Is Percy even alive? Are we even actually fighting Tartarus? Are you really dating Artemis? Are you someone we know? What else are you HIDING FROM US?"

Everyone stares at me, shocked by my outburst, until Hope starts to laugh.

My glare evaporates. "What are you laughing at?" I ask.

He manages to quiet down. "I just think it's funny. I tell you that someone who you thought was dead is alive, and instead of asking to see him, you bombard me with questions. Did you see the look on everyone's faces? HA! They were absolutely terrified."

Jason's fingers drum on the table. "Even if it was funny, you didn't answer her question. What else are you hiding from us?"

Hope chuckles and reaches into his cloak. He pulls out a Nerf gun and shoots it at Piper, who flinches as the bullet hits her arm. "I'm hiding lots of things. Most don't concern you. While I may act like I don't do much real work, I have a team of people I constantly work with and a lot of immortal person work to do."

Everyone quiets down in understanding.

"So," Reyna says, trying to break the awkwardness. "Is anything planned for tonight?"

I smile. "Actually, yes. Tonight is Capture the Flag."

Hope shoots up in his chair in a way that reminds me of - no! He's gone. Stop thinking about Him and his stupid sea-green eyes.

"I love Capture the Flag!" Hope says.

Jonathan suddenly speaks up. "I hope you love getting your butt kicked too, cause I-"

He falters as he sees Hope casually pull a rifle out of his cloak.

"No, no, continue speaking," Hope says as he loads the magazine. "Our braincells have all already committed suicide by now, so it's not like you can do much more damage."

"Wha- how many things even fit in that cloak?" Jonathan cries.

Hope places the rifle on the table and reaches into his cloak. He pulls out a rocket launcher and stops when he sees our eyes, which are the size of dinner plates.

"Oops. Wrong item." He says. He puts the weapon back into his cloak. He pulls out a glass sphere with what looks like an explosion in it before quickly putting it back and pulling out a large notepad.

"Ah, here it is! The list of everything in my cloak!" He flips through the pages slowly.

"Hmm. These pages are all filled up. Anyway," he says as he puts the notepad back in his cloak. "About Capture the Flag, I would like my team to participate."

"Okay," I say. "Are you splitting your team 50/50 or..?"

Hope shakes his head. "Nope. My team vs. The Romans, Campers, and Hunters."

Jonathan laughs. "Deal! We'll win easily!"

Hope doesn't move his head, but shifts enough to make it seem like he smiled under his mask.

"Sure, kid. Whatever you say." He said before standing up.

"Well. This has been informative, I'm sure my team will be happy to learn about tonight. Goodbye."

He turns to leave and is in the doorway, about to step out when Clovis speaks.

"Yeah, make sure to say hi to Pirate for me." He says.

Hope's head swivels around 180 degrees with a loud CRACK. Everyone jumps out of their seats in fear, and Clovis pales, as if he's said something he's not supposed to. "Uh, I mean, uh, you -"

Hope laughs cruelly. "You almost got me there, Yew. I would have fallen for your trick had you not slipped up."

Everyone turns to Clovis. "What's Hope talking about?" Katie asks.

Clovis licks his lips. "Nothing important. You -"

He's cut off by Hope's body quickly turning and launching at him.

He scrambles from his seat but is too late. Hope punches him directly across the face, sending him flying into the wall.

He scrambles up and runs out of the big house, his face looking like it's melting. Jason stands in front of the doorway to try and block Hope, who turns to follow Clovis.

"Hope, I don't know what's gotten into you, but -"

Hope knees him in the gut and then punches him in the face, dropping him to the ground.

He runs out of the cabin, head swiveling to try and find Clovis.

We all run out and chase him, while Jason unsteadily stands up and runs to the Chaos Cabin.

We find Hope standing on one half of the volleyball court, with sand shifting beneath him, while he stares at Clovis on the other side of the court.

Only... it's not Clovis. Half of his face looks melted, revealing the older but easily recognizable face of Michael Yew.