Ichor Or Blood

Chapter I

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Rick Riordan.

More and more campers were gathering around them at a very fast rate. At first, they wanted to see what was going on, to see who had been injured, but gradually the looks on their faces turned from concern and curiosity to pure shock and bewilderment.

Percy was pressing with a hand on the side of his neck, where his adversary's dagger had cut him. He wanted to go to the infirmary, but the crowd growing bigger and bigger left the demigod confused and frozen in place.

The younger camper, with whom Percy had been training, was also staring at him in awe, his weapon fallen on the ground.

Something was wrong. Even an idiot could notice that, but what Percy didn't understand was what was wrong. Accidents always happened during training sessions, it was very common. And moreover, the wound was superficial. At least that's how it felt to him.

"Make room!" A familiar voice rang, and soon after, Annabeth followed by Chiron and Will Solace emerged from the tightly packed crowd.

"What the...!" Gasped the daughter of Athena in shock and clasped a hand over her mouth as soon as she saw Percy.

Chiron's eyes widened and so did Will's, but both of them held their composure.

Rapidly, panic started taking over the son of Poseidon. "What's wrong?!" He yelled at the others. "What's going on?!"

"Percy," Chiron said and carefully trotted next to him. His lips were taut and his eyes clueless. Seemingly reluctant he turned to the campers behind him and then back to the demigod. "Percy, look at your hand, at the one you're holding over the cut."

"What?" The other asked in confusion, but brought his hand from his neck in front of his eyes.

He had to blink and shake his head twice to make sure that what he was seeing was real. It was so unexpected that he didn't even know what to feel. He wasn't angry, nor scared, nor happy. Just puzzled because he couldn't comprehend what was going on.

"Wh— what's going on...?"

Annabeth, as if she'd just snapped out of a trance, appeared by his side in a flash and reached out to touch the golden liquid oozing out of Percy's wound, trickling down his arm and torso.

"I... I can't believe this..." She said, rubbing together two fingers covered in that liquid. "It's—"

"Ichor," Chiron said, taking the words right out of her mouth.

In that moment, every voice in the crowd died down. Percy felt a lump growing in his throat. He swallowed thickly.

That was ichor, coming out of his wound. Ichor. The blood of the gods. Of the gods!

Shiny liquid gold was coming out of his wound instead of the thick red blood which one would normally expect to see in an injury.

"But... it can't be!" Percy exclaimed. "I.. I don't— This is insane! I don't want it, I don't want any part in this mess, whatever it is! I don't!"

"Hey, calm down, let's not jump to conclusions and make assumptions without knowing our facts, we don't know what caused this yet," Annabeth assured him.

"Oh, but I think I know very well! The gods are toying with my—"

"Annabeth is right, Percy. You need to calm down," interrupted the centaur, squeezing the boy's shoulder.

Percy inhaled and skimmed over his friends and the crowd. "I know, I know. You're right, but I just can't help it sometimes..."

"I know, Seaweed Brain, you're not the only one," admitted the daughter of Athena.

"Will, take a look and see what you can do to heal the injury on his neck while I go and call Dionysus," instructed Chiron. "Now everyone, please go back to your activities!" He commanded the other campers. "Alexander, you're coming with us if that's alright." He turned to the young demigod who had injured Percy. The boy gulped uncomfortable, but nodded nonetheless.

By the time they reached the Big House, Percy's cut had healed completely without any medical attention.

As they entered, they found somebody already waiting for them.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this!