"Perce!" A heavy lump landed on me. "GET UP! Mr. D is getting mad!"
I groaned, pushing Madi off of me. She tumbled to the ground, but not before letting out a high shriek. I covered my ears with my pillow and tried to go back to sleep. That's when Madi dumped a bucket of freezing water on my head.
"MADI!" I screamed, sounding like a girl. Luckily, since my dad is Poseidon, god of the seas, I can control water and I didn't get wet. But it was still cold! Madi sprinted out the door, laughing maniacally. I grumbled and climbed out of bed. I noticed my younger brother, Jake, asleep like a log. Since I was awake, I decided to change and go to breakfast. I changed into a white tee and black jeans. I pulled on a pair of Vans, a gift from Jake, and a plaid blue jacket, ran a comb through my hair, and headed out to breakfast. As I walked past Aphrodite's cabin, which reeked of perfume, I heard a bunch of giggling. Seconds later, one of my close friends, Allie, bounded out, dressed in a emerald-green shirt with a jean skirt and green sandals, her blonde hair thrown into a messy bun.
"Hey Percy!" she greeted me cheerfully. "Got any new quests?" Now, maybe I should explain a little bit. My name is Perseus Jackson, but everyone calls me Percy. I'm a half-god, meaning one of my parents are mortal and the other is a god. Like a real Greek god. My dad's Poseidon that is cool because I get control over water and the seas. I spend the year at Camp Half-Blood, which is a camp for people who are half-bloods like me. I have ADHD and dyslexia so it's pretty hard for me to go to school anyways. So, in the summer, Camp Half-Blood is full of half-bloods training, like right now. I have friends from a lot of the cabins, such as Allie. I have two half-siblings, Jake and Madi, whose real names are Jacob Matthews and Marissa Nelly Madison, but everyone just calls them Jake and Madi. The girl who just greeted me is Allison Montgomery, but I just call her Allie.
"Nope," I grinned, "just heading down to breakfast." She nodded, grinning.
"To breakfast it is!" she cried. "Race you!" And Allie broke into a sprint. Most of Aphrodite's kids are real shallow, really just caring about their appearances. But Allie was cool; I guess she inherited some of Dad's genes too. Allie didn't see her dad a lot, as she was also a year-rounder, like me. Her dad is a surgeon at Seattle Grace, and one of the best cardiologists, like ever. I met him once, and he seemed really nice and smart, someone Aphrodite usually stayed away from. But he used to star on Grey's Anatomy, so I guess Aphrodite also goes after the famous!
Not wanting to be beaten by the goddess of love's daughter, I immediately broke into a run, passing Allie about twenty feet before we reached the dining pavilion. When she reached the pavilion, I smirked.
"Beat you again Allie," I said cheekily. She punched me in the arm, though not too hard; she was still wheezing from the run.
"Shut up," she panted. "Let's just eat." Just as we turned around, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to face Mr. D, the camp leader. He didn't look happy. Allie disappeared behind me; no one really like grumpy Mr. D, except for his son, Pollux.
"Hey Mr. D," I said weakly. "What's up?"
"You have inspection all this month Peruses! Didn't Matisse tell you that I wanted to talk to you?"
One thing I hated about Mr. D is he refuses to call us by our real names. I'm thinking Matisse means Madi.
"Yes Mr. D," I grumbled.
"Well I wanted to tell you we have two new campers." He pushed two girls forward, who until then had been standing meekly behind him. One looked older than me, with curly blonde hair and soft brown eyes. The other looked a few years younger with wavy, dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. They were both wearing the same grey jacket and jeans, although the younger one was wearing a blue tank top underneath and Converse, while the older one wore a lime green tank top and white flip-flops. They didn't look too similar, but they were definitely siblings.
"This is Angela and Alice, daughter of Apollo and Hermes. They have the same mortal mother," Mr. D grudgingly said. "Go show them their cabins and help them unpack. Then you can eat."
I sighed and beckoned to them.
"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon," I told them. "Your names aren't Angela and Alice, right?"
The older one nodded, the younger one staring at me with a glazed look on her face.
"Um, so what are they?" I prompted.
"I'm Angel," the one with curly blonde hair said, "and this is my younger sister, Alyssa."
"Right, well Angel, you should know that Mr. D refuses to call anyone by their real names, except for his son, Pollux, so get used to it."
She nodded and smiled, revealing a set of sparkling, straight, white teeth.
"So, Mr. D said something about you two having the same mother?"
Angel nodded.
"Our mother is Audrey Reynar, and Alyssa's dad is Hermes, but mine is Apollo."
I was surprised. It was common that siblings often had the same parents, but not so often that demi-gods had the same mortal parents, but not god parents.
"So why are you here?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," Alyssa said quietly, speaking for the first time. "We woke up one morning and our mother was gone, but there was a note on the table."
She held out a yellow sticky-note with loopy, cursive writing. Curious as I was, I reached out and grabbed the sticky-note.
"'A & A,'" I read, "'Don't flurry about—"
"Worry," Angel corrected. I nodded; being dyslexic and all, it was hard to read anything, let alone cursive!
"'Don't worry about me. Go to Camp Half-Blood. It's at Long Island. Your father's spirit will guide you. Go, and don't come back.'"
"We immediately packed our bags and drove here," Angel said, taking the note back. "When we reached the hill, some guy with lots of eyes came and took our bags."
"That would be Argus, our security guard," I informed her. She nodded.
"So, you know all about the gods and monsters and everything?" They both nodded.
"Right, ok well, this is your cabin Alyssa," I said, stopping at the Hermes cabin. It was large and made of stone, with painted white wings that fluttered, a gift from the Hephaestus cabin. Alyssa stepped up and opened the door. Almost immediately, a tall boy with messy, light brown hair and shining, hazel eyes opened the door. His blue shirt was crumpled and so were his jeans. His sneakers were untied and his hair was all over the place. It seemed as if he had just woken up. Behind him, there were about ten other campers lying around, on the bed or eating candy, including Madi.
"Who're you?" he asked groggily. Sighing, I stepped up.
"Parker, this is Alyssa," I introduced. "Alyssa this is Noah Parker, leader of the Hermes cabin. You'll be staying here."
Now remember when I said Alyssa was staring at me with a glazed look on her face? Well, it was nothing compared to now. Her hazel eyes were as big as saucers and her mouth was hanging open. I shoved her lightly, and she came back to focus.
"Alyssa," she managed, practically coughing up the word. Parker smiled, and opened the door fully. She walked in and I swore I saw Madi scowling before Parker closed the door with a snap.
"That was Noah Parker," I informed Angel. "But we call him Parker."
Angel grinned mischievously.
"Seems like Alyssa really liked him," she commented cheekily. I laughed and we continued on to the Apollo cabin.
The Apollo Cabin was white with gold streaks. The wooden floor was carpeted with a plush, gold carpet. Black musical notes were scattered all over the walls. There were framed poems on the wall and music pieces everywhere. A few violins and flutes and clarinets and cellos were lying around, and a huge, grand piano took up the corner of this musical paradise. A high-tech stereo dominated the back wall and there was a 4-meter square of hardwood for dancing. There were only about 5 beds in the cabin, as most of the campers had left to go to Julliard this year.
There was no one here. I showed Angel to an empty bed and left her to get settled. Then, I went out to try to go eat breakfast again.
Again, I failed.
This time though, Chiron, a centaur and my teacher, stopped me.
"Percy, hello dear boy," he said, "Have you heard anything from Rachel?"
Rachel is this girl I met a few years ago, who is one of the only mortals who can see through mist. She also has the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi in her body. About 10 months ago, she predicted the next great prophecy, something to do with seven demigods, the world falling to snow or fire, and the "doors of death". Not a nice bedtime story to tell you the truth. Rachel is currently attending some finishing school in Manhattan. No one's heard from her for over half a year now.
I shook my head.
"I have," a sweet voice said from behind me. I turned to face Genevieve, or Gen as we called her, Lucas, daughter of movie star Chase Redwood and Aphrodite. With her brilliant, violet doe eyes and her shiny, dark red hair that just hung in her eyes and blonde highlights, she could capture any guy's heart. When she first came, all the girls were jealous of this rich, famous, pretty, enchanting girl. But everyone eventually got over it when they realized she was kind of like her half-sister, Allie, sweet, nice, funny, down-to-earth, nothing like her dad. In fact, my half-brother, Jake, was even now her boyfriend!
"Rachel IM-ed me last night," she said, stepping closer, her silver diamond choker glinting in the sunlight. Her strapless purple dress seemed a bit short, but hey, I wasn't complaining. Her matching, purple Louis Vuitton pumps brought her up a few inches, almost reaching my height, which was pretty impressive since I was 3 years older than her; Gen had turned 13 last month.
"What did she say?" Chiron asked urgently.
"She said something about staying at St. Thomas with her parents until the Fourth of July and then coming back to stay until that Academy starts again in the fall."
Chiron nodded, understanding. Rachel's father was very rich, as he was the owner of Dare Enterprises. Her family owned a private island near the Caribbean, where they visited every summer.
"Right, tell her when she knows when she's coming, to let us know a week in advance so we can prepare a room in the Big House for her. The gods know how much more property we need now!" he muttered while galloping away.
Chiron was right. Since the gods swore on the river Styx to claim all children by the age of 13, whether they were major or minor, there was barely any room in the cabins, excluding the Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades cabins. We already had to buy an extra acre to build another training field. The Big House now housed any unclaimed kids under the age of 13. It was also where the Oracle of Delphi was housed for the last half-century, and since the spirit was now in Rachel's body, the Big House really now belonged to her. She let the campers stay there, but she let Annabeth redesign the attic so there was now three bedrooms up there, one for Chiron, Mr. D, and one for herself when she visited. Only Annabeth had ever been to her room, and from what I heard, it was "gorgeous", whatever that means. Annabeth had said there was a mattress on a shelf on one wall and that artwork covered every surface. It was said to be carpeted in a thick, green carpet hand woven by Arachne herself. One dresser stood in the corner with a few pictures standing. One was of her and her friends and some fundraiser they did, another of her and I last year on the boardwalk, one of Annabeth, Grover, and me and some other pictures. Her parents were no one to be seen.
"Have you seen Jake?" Gen asked calmly, tapping her foot against the grass. I shook my head.
"I'm going to breakfast," I told her. "I think Jake might still be in the cabin."
We went our separate ways: me to breakfast, and Gen to the cabin.