The Half-Blood Magician, ch.11: I Talk with a Horse

"You should never have been born." Said the centaur as soon as we entered the rec room of the farm house."What do you mean? " I asked. "When the Fates wrote the ancient law, the most sacred of all proclamations, at the beginning of the world, the forbade many things. One of those things was the fratenizing of Greek and Egyptian magic. Your existence breaks that law to the farthest extent." He answered. "But I've read the ancient law, and it says nothing about that."

"Well, if they told the law to the general public, it would defeat the purpose. The only people on either side that know of the existence of the other are the highest on the House of Life, the Olympian council, myself, and my Roman counterpart, Lupa."

"What?" Zoe asked. The centaur hung his head. "I have said too much."

I turned to Zoe."Lupa is the trainer of Roman heroes, at Camp Jupiter on the west coast. And as for the Egyptian stuff-"

"Artemis told us of the magic of Egypt. But how could we have not known of this Roman camp?" Zoe asked. "The gods have worked desperatly to keep Greece, Rome, and Egypt apart." The centaur said. "Why? And who are you, anyway?" I asked. "I am Chiron, trainer of heroes. And as to why they have been kept apart... well whenever you come together, you kill eachother."

"We were together tonight and no fatalities occured." Zoe pointed out. "But the entire Ares and Aphrodite cabins have concussions or broken limbs."

"I guess you have a point." I admitted. "I am sure you would already have met with a horrible fate, if not for the deal your mother made with Olympus." Chiron said. "What deal?"

"In exchange for your services in retrieving the gods secret names, she ensured that you would not face punishment for existing." Chiron said. "Uhh... Isn't that sort of a given?" I asked.

Chiron's expression was gravely serious. "You would be surprised."

I decided not to ask.

"Neither of you must tell anyone of what you have heard in this room." Zoe and I both agreed. Then we all went back to the camp fire.

The campfire was fun, even though the songs were the cheesiest I'd ever heard. I'd never actually had a s'more before, and they were awesome. The Hunters and I all wore golden laurel wreaths. The Ares and Aphrodite cabins were absent do to injury, which no one really seemed to mind. After the campfire, we returned to Cabin 8. "So Stella, are you going to join the Hunters?" Anna sprung the question on me as we were entering the cabin. I was about to say 'Sure, I would love to, you guys are awesome,' but a voice from behind us said, "I am not sure that would be a good idea." We turned to see Hestia. "Bearing the blessings of two different goddesses could be dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"Burn-up-your-soul dangerous."

"Oh." I said with a small voice. I'd had that sensation before, and it was not pleasent. Anna patted me on the shoulder. "That's too bad. At least you can still hang with us while we're here, though." I'll admit, I was dissapointed. But now I'm really glad I got the blessing of Hestia. I mean, I'm sure I would have had an awesome life as a Hunter, but if I had joined the Hunters... well you'll see, won't you?

The Half-Blood Magician, ch. 12: I Join a Prank War