It Would Have Gone Fine if the Clumsy Kid Wasn't Here
Percy's PoV:
The oldest (meaning longest) campers from each cabin gathered at the Big House. Chiron had asked for an emergency meeting. We sat around the ping-pong table, waiting nervously. At last, Chiron came through the door. Chiron wore a sad and troubled look. I looked nervously at Annabeth and we made eye contact. "This isn't good news," said our eyes. I looked closer at Annabeth. The gray streak was still in her hair from holding the sky about two years ago. But she was changed- different. She no longer bothered to worry about her beauty- it was natural. Her eyes shined less confidence.
I brought my attention back to Chiron. He clasped his hands together. "The war with Kronos draws near. We must protect ourselves with all we can. But there aren't many half-bloods out there. We need ideas- we need them fast," he said. No one raised their hand. Then- we heard shouting. An Iris-message appeared near Chiron. I recognized the 12 Olympians.
"Hello, half-bloods," boomed Zeus. I saw Travis Stoll flinch- scared of the sudden noise. "I believe you are discussing the tactics to protect you and your camp. So are we- but along with many other things. My brethren and I are wondering- why have the Camp at Long Island- when you can bring it to New York City, closer to us?" continued Zeus- but- it didn't sound like him. It sounded different than when I heard him two winters ago. I looked closer- it didn't look like Zeus either. His nose was slightly deformed. Poseidon's hair was brown. Athena's eyes were blue. I leaned over to mention this to Annabeth. But apparently- she already knew. The had her bronze knife in her hand. I pulled out Riptide in pen form. I leaned over to Silena in Aprhodite's Cabin. "If you have a weapon- get it out. I don't think those are the gods. Pass it on," I whispered. Silena nodded, her eyes saying, "I know.", and leaned over to tell Travis Stoll.
The message went to Charles Beckendorf, then to Aaron from Apollo's Cabin, then to Ashley from Demeter, and so on, and so forth. As far as I knew- all the other campers were unsheathing their weapons under the table. I spoke up.
"Chiron? Can Beckendorf and I check something really quick? We were working on something before you called the meeting- and we think it might explode from being in the fires too long," I said, making eye contact with Beckendorf. Chiron nodded suspiciously, and Charles and I ran out the door. "You're right. That doesn't look like my dad," said Beckendorf. "Maybe they're trying to distract us," I said.
There was a rumble coming from Zeus's Fist.
"I think you're right," said Beckendorf, his hands clenching into fists. The rumbling got louder and louder by the second. "Cut off the Iris-message, then tell Chiron what's happening," I shouted. I ran to the Emergency Attack button on the side of the Big House. The sound of an alarm could be heard through the chaos. Campers spilled out of their cabins. I saw Beckendorf running out with the others, grabbing the walkie talkie that hung onto his utility belt. "Beck to Shane, Beck to Shane- can you hear me?" I heard him yell.
I ran to the camp forges. Tyson was vigorously pounding at sword against the anvil. "Tyson!" I yelled. "Percy! Come here!" he yelled. He grabbed my sword and smashed the sword he was just pounding against it. The two swords became one. Then he tossed me a shield. It looked heavy, but when I strapped it to my arm, it was as light as a feather. Tyson grabbed another sword and shield and put them on.
Tyson and I ran towards the center of the camp. The Hephaestus kids were setting metal cubes on the ground, which quickly exploded into catapults, cannons, etc. I also saw a few of them throw some into a hole they dug a few days ago. I wondered what that was for.
The Apollo cabin was up on a cliff, readying their bows. Our tactic team was going over tactics.
I think we're lucky. We have a tactical team that was amazing. Its members were: Annabeth (of course!), Aaron from Apollo's Cabin (whom was running up to join his fellow siblings on a cliff), Clarisse (who knows how she got in there), Beckendorf, Brian from Hermes Cabin, and Connor and Travis Stoll. They came up with great tactics. They had each cabin assigned to its strength. Like Apollo's Cabin- they were on a cliff, preparing their bows. Hephaestus was manning the traps and mechanical stuff. Demeter's Cabin was behind the Apollo kids- they were going to be riding bird automations that Hephaestus's kids made, dropping bombs and firing arrows (which is amazing). Even the Aphrodite kids where doing something involving battle- they were using mirrors to blind people (AN: LOL I just HAD to put that there).
Annabeth signaled for me to join her. "Hey, Seaweed Brain. Got any ideas on how we can defeat them?" she asked. I shrugged. "You'd think it was stupid," I said. "At this point, I'll listen to anything," she replied.
"Well, I was thinking-- maybe use some sort of invisibility thing to cover us, then surprise them. Give them a nice little shock. When they reach a certain point, we'll appear out of nowhere, then y'know, normal battle stuff," I said. The other people on the tactical team listened. Beckendorf was tapping his chin. "That's not a bad idea, Jackson. I think the Hephaestus cabin can come up with something like that very quickly," he said. Annabeth nodded. "We'll help. If this is going to save us, we'll do anything."
As she was talking, Beckendorf was already scratching down ideas for the invisibility plan. He slammed the table and got up. "I've got to get these plans to the others," he said, and ran out the door. Annabeth was giving the other cabins their jobs, then she followed Beckendorf.
I ran over to Tyson. He was helping the Hephaestus kids that weren't working on the invisibility thing set up the catapults. Adrian, Beckendorf's second-in-command, pulled a remote out of his pocket. "Let's explode these tunnels," he said, with a wicked grin. He pushed the button.
The ground shook. Adrian signaled me to follow him to the hole they dug up. We jumped inside. There were tunnels so long, I couldn't see the end of them. "Whoa," was all I could say. "Impressive huh?" he asked. I nodded. "Don't worry, we made sure that if there were any surviving paths from the Labyrinth, they wouldn't connect to these tunnels," he said.
We ran back out, where the Hephaestus and Athena kids were setting tiny antennas into the ground. "That quick?" I asked. Annabeth smiled. "We're not that stupid," she said, jokingly. Beckendorf walked over to me. "Man, if we get out of this mess, I'm going to do anything," he sighed. I smirked. "Even ask out Silena Beauregaurd?" I asked. He blushed crimson. "I didn't say that." "You said anything." He didn't deny it. Over the summer, Beckendorf had confided in me that he liked Silena fromm Aphrodite's cabin. Now I was trying to play matchmaker (which I am HORRIBLE at).
The rumbling got louder. And louder. And louder. Everyone was struggling to get up. Beckendorf pushed the button on some kind of remote control. Zeus's Fist erupted. Kronos's Army came out, but when they got a good look at the camp, they were dazed. It worked.
The dracanae were scratching their heads. Two Empousai were perched up on the remains of Zeus's Fist, looking high and low for us. They charged blindly, not exactly knowing where to go. I smiled at Beckendorf. He was good.
Tyson gave a silent signal to the Hephaestus kids to fire the cannons. They struck monsters, with their bretheren looking very confused. I waved at the Apollo kids, who fired their arrows. It looked like we were doing good- but we forgot about the clumsy kid:
Grover.
Grover had stepped on one of the antennas. Dear Gods, help us. Chiron was afraid now. There were only a few hundred campers. There were thousands in Kronos's Army. He blew on a conch shell- the signal to retreat. But the Ares kids were so bigheaded- they wouldn't leave. I felt soo annoyed. But we grabbed them anyways, pulling them to the Big House. Chiron had already arranged transportation to Olympus just in case this happened. There was a huge red plane zooming down behind the Big House. Apollo stepped out, waved to his kids, and asked, "Need a ride?"