"Clarisse did it!" A Hermes girl, Carson, screamed. This girl had some serious issues with Clarisse, and for the first time ever, Clarisse didn't do anything to her.

"What?" The curly haired demigods turned and glared at the other girl. She looked at Chiron with pleading eyes. She didn't feel like dealing with a punishment today, she had talked to her dad earlier. "I didn't! I swear!"

"I'm sorry Clarisse, but I can't really believe that," Chiron apologized. Carson smirked from behind him and kicked the evidence that it was fake.

Alana heard the whole thing and walked over. "She really didn't, sir," she said, glancing at Clarisse before giving Chiron her full attention. The daughter of Ares let out a breath of relief at the sound of her best friend's voice. "Trust me, I would be the first person to call Clarisse out on lying. Plus, she's been with me all day, ask Annabeth or Silena. How could she have done that without me knowing?" She quickly glared at Carson at the end. The other demigod gulped, knowing she was about to get caught for lying. She always forgot that Alana, the most trusted kid at camp, was friends with Clarisse.

The centaur looked at the young archer in deep thought. He believed Alana more than anyone else, he should probably trust her on this. He looked between all three girls and sighed. "Alright, Clarisse, you're free to go. Thank you, Alana. Now, Carson-"

Clarisse grinned and stuck her tongue out at the Hermes daughter. She glared at the best friends angrily. Alana and Clarisse got outside and smiled at each other. "Thanks Lana."

"I gotchu," Alana laughed.

"Seriously," the daughter of Ares started sincerely, "thank you for defending me. You didn't have to. Most people wouldn't."

The huntress shook her head. "I'll always defend you, Risse."

Alana laid against a crate in the truck, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. She didn't want to sleep. Sleep did things to the demigod now that she didn't like. Instead, she thought about how she needed to call Clarisse. The daughter of Ares needed to know about the chaos that was yesterday. That was all one day. Crazy.

Soon enough, all of her friends started waking up. They had been acting weird around Alana since Grover declared that he knew the lightning thief. She guessed they had their own little discussion about it, because she still didn't know who it was. They didn't want her to know for some reason. Maybe it was because she was friends with so many people. There were only a few people that Alana didn't like, meaning they probably thought she would be upset if it was her friend. It didn't matter to her. If they had proof this person was the lightning thief and caused all this trouble, she shouldn't be friends with them anyway.

Eventually, they decided that they should call camp to notify Chiron of the thief. Alana was going to hear this conversation and find out who the thief was, she didn't understand why they were being so secretive.

Ringing went through, signifying the iris call was working. "There. I've got a signal. Toss it, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth told Percy. Alana noticed how this was the second nickname she had given him.

"Okay, this will never stop being weird," Percy muttered.

"If you want the gods' attention, you have to pay for it." The daughter of Athena explained. "Oh, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Okay, show me Camp Half-Blood. Chiron's office."

The archer got up as the call went through, and stood next to Annabeth in order to see in on the call. She also wanted to make sure that she could actually find out whatever information was being withheld from her. The younger demigods glanced at each other as Alana stood there, knowing she was about to find out something she wouldn't like.

The other end of the call answered and Luke was seen standing in Chiron's office. "Luke?" The blonde questioned. Alana furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at her best friend, who did the same thing while looking at her.

Percy caught Luke's attention, causing him to turn around confused. "Annabeth? Alana? Percy? Are you guys ok?"

"Yeah, w... we're fine." Annabeth answered. "Where's Chiron?"

"Chiron's holding camp together with both hands. Everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides. Please tell me you're calling with good news," the oldest demigod pleaded.

"We know who stole the bolt," Percy responded. Alana scoffed. They did. She didn't.

"How do you know?" Luke questioned. Alana thought that was a weird question to ask. Not a "who is it?" but a "what's your evidence." Evidence with no cause for it to back up is a little ridiculous.

"We ran into Ares, and Grover got him talking and realized Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them." Annabeth told him. Ares wouldn't cover for anyone unless they had some serious blackmail on him... "So, who would Ares cover for other than..."

"His favorite daughter." Luke finished immediately. Alana processed what he said right as he finished talking. "Clarisse is the lightning thief."

Alana's jaw dropped and she felt her face get red. The others continued with their conversation as if they didn't say the most ridiculous thing ever. "Chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows. There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger. Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me."

"Okay, I'm on it. So,"

"Woah hold on!" The huntress interjected. They all turned to her. Annabeth sighed, knowing this was coming. Luke sighed, not looking forward to this part of the plan. "That's absurd! Clarisse would never do that! What reason would she have? And how would she do it? How could Clarisse possibly steal Zeus's lightning bolt without me knowing? We're always together. Ares would also never cover for her. He hates her! He said it himself. Grover heard it, he said he even hates his own children. There's no way any of that makes sense. You're all just jumping to conclusions because you want an answer for something you can't find an answer for. Well, news flash, you can't find an answer to everything in life easily."

Percy looked down. He had never seen Alana angry before. He didn't like it. He didn't like that she had a point, but they had already convinced him that Clarisse did it. Both made sense to the blonde. He didn't know what to do or to believe.

Annabeth tried to figure out something to say to calm her best friend down. "Alana, I don't know if-"

Luke interrupted her. "How do we know you're not in on it? You just said you're always with her then you could-"

"Luke! Now you really sound ridiculous." Annabeth cut him off.

Percy shook his head and decided to step in. "Ok guys, calm down. We're not getting anywhere with you all fighting with each other. I think for now, we warn Chiron about Clarisse, but tell him not to take action until we have solid proof. That keeps any false punishments from happening and keeps camp safer."

Alana huffed and crossed her arms. She bit her tongue in order to keep a war from breaking out from the four of them. They were being ridiculous. Then Luke tried to blame her?! Hello?! She'd literally been at camp longer than him and still talked to a god. Who would they believe? She decided to spend the rest of the call in silence, just listening to the other demigods.

"So, Ares, huh? What was that like?" Luke asked.

"Well... compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse." Percy joked.

"Medusa was Saturday." Annabeth corrected.

"I thought Sunday?" The son of Poseidon looked at her confused.

"No monsters on Sunday. Monday, you died in the river." She explained. This made Alana's head hurt and she had literally been there for all of it.

"Right. So, Medusa on Saturday."

"Guys, what is this?" Luke interrupted.

"What?"

"When did you turn into an old married couple?"

Alana had to agree with him. Ever since they had decided they were friends the two were inseparable and teasing and joking. It could've been friendly, but that doesn't mean Alana wouldn't tease Annabeth about it.

"Not to change the subject," Percy said, changing the subject. "but I'm gonna. We could use your advice on something. We're headed to Las Vegas to find your dad..."

The daughter of Artemis's eyes widened as Annabeth quickly ended the call.

"What was that about?" Percy asked.

"You can't ask Luke about his dad," the daughter of Athena urged.

"Well, now I certainly can't," the blonde sassed.

Alana shook her head, deciding to talk to them again. "If you tell him we're going to see Hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it."

"Yeah." Annabeth agreed. "We don't need that right now."

"They don't get along?"

"At all."

"Okay, got some updates," Grover called out. "The men driving this truck are not nice people. Traffickers."

Alana gasped and walked over to a few cages. "Aww poor babies."

"We can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardizing the quest," Annabeth told the two.

"Oh, no, no, no. They've already got a plan to get themselves out. And us, too. I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked," the satyr explained.

"What's that?"

Alana started whispering to the animals and they told her some of what they told Grover. "Thumbs," she laughed. "But we're here now, so... all good."

"And once the cages are open, they have a plan from there?" Annabeth questioned skeptically.

"Yeah." Grover nodded. "Really elegant. I mean, these guys, they're... they're like artists."

The animals were now wandering the streets of Las Vegas. Somehow that was the plan. Well Alana knew that, but she thought that maybe they told Grover a different plan. She quickly prayed to her mom that the animals would make it home safely, knowing it would work.

"This seems dangerous." Percy mentioned.

"Oh. They'll be totally fine. I gave them a Satyr's blessing, so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely." The satyr smiled, looking at Alana who smiled back.

"I meant for the people." Percy corrected immediately.

Grover looked at him and softly gasped. "Oh... Them."

"Meh," Alana shrugged. "No one cares about them."

"Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll... Yeah, I don't know. But the animals are all set."

"Okay, come on, before the cops show up." Annabeth decided.

"So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?" Percy asked.

Alana looked behind all of them and saw a flower shaped building. She clicked her tongue and glanced at her sister. "I'm guessing the one with the giant lotus blossom on it," Annabeth deadpanned.

"You were like two seconds ahead of me. Seriously. Sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?" The son of Poseidon begged.

Alana laughed and followed as they all walked in. Maybe they would forget all about suspecting Clarisse...

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A/N: y'all may not like what I'm thinking for the next chapter very much 🤪