In the media section is Octavian forming a plan.... Yes, that plan will be executed soon... 

Alice POV

Rachel peered through the binoculars one of the Hermes kids had given us.

"There's Nico," she said, pointing through the trees. "And that's Reyna. What is she doing here?"

"Same question about the statue," I said. "I thought it was a myth. A story."

"Nothing is ever just a story here," Rachel said, taking a few cautious steps to her left. "Is it the same m where you live?" I shrugged.

"Sometimes. Jerome says that if you search for the answer in a story, it's harder to find. Experiencing it is the best way to learn." Rachel tapped her foot in the brush, as if debating how to answer.

"Not bad, but sometimes you don't want to experience things. Hearing a story about something may be a better way to learn." I pondered about that for a while.

"But why?" I asked. "Why is not experiencing things better? Why are stories better?" Rachel lowered the binoculars and hesitated.

"Think of it this way: would you take drugs to just experience how bad they are?" I scoffed.

"Of course not. That would be stupid."

"So you learn from other people?"

I nodded. "Yeah." Rachel looked over at me.

"Than you are learning from stories. Learning from others." She far the camp again. "Clover learned from stories. Mostly modern mortal books. When I first came here, Clover was one of the first people I got to know. The more we got to know each other, she told me she loved some of the more popular books in the mortal world." Rachel smiled slightly. "She paid a Hermes kid to sneak them into camp. She'd read them in less than a week." She lowered the binoculars and sighed. "She read the book 'Matched' by Ally Conde in two days. She lent it out to me." She sighed again. "It's been a while since I've read a good book. Anyway, when we discussed them, Clover made connections to our Demigod lives. In 'Matched', she said it was like her life. Split between herself. Wanting to find a place to fit in. Not quite all the way there." Rachel shook her head. "Clover is an amazing person. If you ever get the chance, let her loan you a book. Then, when you finish, let her teach you." She looked over at me. "You can learn from stories. Even fictional ones."

I sat there, completely stunned. Rachel had proven it to me. Almost perfectly.

"You could write a pretty good argument paper," I joked, nudging a stick with my foot. Rachel laughed quietly.

"Trust me, I have to convince people of things all the time. It's a hard job, being the Ora-" she stopped abruptly.

"What?" I asked.

"I haven't had glimpses of the future. That's really odd... I usually get them when is a lot going on, like wars and stuff."

"Maybe it's because you're not focused on it." Rachel nodded.

"Yeah... That must be it."

Just then, someone shouted: "Cuff her! Quickly!"

Rachel and I tensed. Our hearts pounded in our ears as we gazed up at Half Blood Hill. Roman soldiers had quickly surrounded Nico and Reyna. One soldier had Reyna in his grip. She was struggling and demanding to be let go. Nico tried to pull out his Stygian iron sword, but a few soldiers pushed him down. He went sprawling in the grass while his sword was quickly taken by a soldier.

I almost kept out of hiding, but Rachel put a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait," she insisted quietly. I did. I gazed up at the hill. Someone stepped through the line of soldiers. It was the evil teddy bear slayer master himself.

"Well well," Octavian said, a hint of displeasure in his time. He walked toward Reyna with a superior Ora. "Decided to come back now, have we?" Reyna glared at Octavian.

"I have come to make peace," she stated firmly.

"Ha!" Octavian mocked. "Peace? The Greeks destroyed our home, so now it is out turn!" The majority of the soldiers nodded in agreement. Nico cursed under his breath and stood. A few of the Romans pointed swords and spears at him, but Nico held his ground anyway.

"Gaea's minions destroyed your camp! Not the Greeks!" He stepped forward and the soldiers stepped back. Even from where I stood, I could feel Nico's ora of anger. "Gaea is using you, Octavian. She's using all of you!" He glared at the crowd. "I know you can feel it Octavian. The cold inside of you? Gaea is putting us against you so she can destroy both of our groups!" The soldiers shifted uncomfortably and gave Octavian sideways looks. They were waiting for his judgment. He seemed cool and collected.

"How dare you make that assumption!" Octavian sneered. "We work on our own."

"Then how did you accomplish so much?" Nico demanded. "I know you, Octavian. I watched you at the temple of Jupiter back at camp. You pleaded to Apollo, since you’re his so called grandson in the mortal world. You asked him to help you. Help you get answers to please Reyna. What happened when he didn't answer? You turned to someone else. Someone who whispered in your dreams." Nico stared Octavian down. "You make others do your dirty work. Why are you fighting?" Nico stepped right up to him, or as close as he could with the guards stopping him. "Is someone prodding you with a stick, Octavian? Pushing you over the line? Making you take your anger out in someone else? Someone who isn't as powerful? Or..." He looked at his belt. "Teddy bears?"

"Nico," Reyna snapped. Nico whipped his head to look at her.

"You see it too, don't you?" He pressed. "You can see the change in his behavior." Reyna scowled at him.

"Nico, that is enough. We are here to make peace, not accuse each other of evil." Nico scowled once more at Octavian, then huffed.

"Fine." He had finished his piece. I could tell he had been wanting to say that for a long time. Octavian exhaled and started giving orders to a guard. I looked over at Rachel.

“Now can we go?” I asked. She bit her lip and pulled her hair behind her ear.

“I’m not sure we should. It will just cause more chaos and that is something we have enough of.” I sighed and leaned back against the tree.

“I don’t like just sitting here. They are going to be taken to the prison, just as Clover was. I know you know that Octavian doesn’t want to make peace.” I scowled at the ground and picked up a twig. “Octavian is so connived.” Rachel sighed.

“In a way, Clover is too.” I looked up at her.

“How?”

“Well,” Rachel started. “Octavian is connived in a bad way because he pretends to have good intentions, when he really doesn’t.”

“But what about Clover?”

“She is connived because she creates plans to defeat someone, or fix something. When they don’t work out, she goes into a separate option that nobody would know about. But, the option is good.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said, tossing the twig I was twirling in my fingers into the bushes.

“She stands up for the people she cares about. She doesn’t turn her back on them,” Rachel added. I nodded.

“Do you think she would agree with that?” I asked. Rachel shrugged.

“I would hope so, because it’s true.”

“Men,” Octavian shouted on the hill. “Watch this statue as I, uh, make our visitors comfortable.” The soldiers nodded.

“You’re not taking me so easily,” Nico snarled. “I know what you’re planning to do. No use hiding it.”

“Nico,” Reyna warned, stepping between him and Octavian. “We will make peace.” She looked him in the eye. “No matter what it takes.” Nico scowled at Octavian, but allowed himself to be taken away. Once they were gone, I stared at the statue on the hill. It gleamed so brightly, I had reason to believe it wasn't real.

But it was.

“Now would be the best time for attack,” Rachel said, while crouching behind a bush.

“But how?” I questioned. “There are at least a dozen guards.” Rachel smirked.

“That’s the fun part.”