Crouching Percy Hidden Jason (the son of Neptune with a silly title)
A Percy fanfic, the name is a spoof of 'crouching tiger hidden dragon', that old Kung fu movie.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Percy
Percy's life just got a lot worse. At least, he thought it did, because he couldn't remember his life in the first place. He awoke in an orchestra Room with a cello on his lap. The girl sitting next to him held a flute, but in the other hand had a Game Boy and was playing a violent- looking game. When she saw his anguished expression she gave him a puzzled look, her deep brown eyes full of worry. "Percy, Why did you stop tuning your cello?" she asked. "Um, I don't know who I am, much less how to tune a cello." He replied, putting the cello on the floor. He let go too early and the instrument hit the floor, causing a crack to appear in the wood. The conductor at the front winced and looked around. "Very funny Percy." The boy in front of him said as he turned around, putting his violin down. He had hazel eyes and sandy brown hair. "I'd think you did forget everything judging by the way you put down your cello. Mrs. Child will be out for blood!" "She's always out for blood!" the girl said mischievously. The two of them laughed like everything was fine. "Seriously who are you people? Where are we?" Percy decided they weren't going to believe him no matter what he said. The boy laughed. "You're seriously going to carry this through? What did we do to deserve this?" The girl put down her Game Boy and studied him. She had black hair put into a messy ponytail and pale skin. "Wait, are you serious? Do you not remember us?" The boy shook his head. "Of corse Carly. He couldn't forget us! This to get back for yesterday." The girl, Carly, giggled. "Oh yeah Quincy. That was pretty funny! You rock at pranking!" Percy stood up and walked to the end of the row. "I'm telling the truth! I don't know what happened yesterday!" Carly stared at him quizzically. She turned to face Quincy. "Should we believe him, I mean we can tell Mrs. Child. He could have amnesia or something!" Quincy rolled his eyes. "You know how much she hates Percy. She'll be glad he has amnesia. That means he would forget how mean she is so she can torture him all over again!" Percy just stood there, arms crossed, waiting for an answer. "We could tell Mr. Hill, his office is right down the hall." Carly suggested. "Are you insane?" Quincy yelled. "Mr. Hill is a psychopath! And besides, are you really going to believe Percy? Remember the Time when he fooled us..." He was cut short by Carly. "But that was before! I don't think he's lying this time!" "Of corse I'm not! That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Percy called from the end of the row. The conductor, who must have been Mrs. Child, walked stiffly over to their row. "What on earth are you doing? And who is he!" she snarled, pointing at Percy. "You don't know him? That's Percy Jackson! How could you forget him?" Carly asked, now truly confused. Percy looked around. For the first time he realized that everybody was staring at them. "You three, out in the hall. Now!" She turned to face the other kids. "Err... Continue practicing, class. I have some business to take care of with these three!" Her red eyes glinted against her brown hair. Wait, red eyes? Percy thought. He didn't have time to wonder, because Mrs. Child pulled them out into the hall. "I have known about you two for months! But him," she said, pointing at Percy, "my patron will be delighted when I bring her him!" "What are you talking about? Are you insane?" Quincy screamed. "Oh, Percy knows. I can tell he does. But you will die before he can remember!" Mrs. Child
laughed evilly, morphing from a graceful teacher into a 15-foot one- eyed monster with a wooden club. "Challenge me if you wish demigods. But you have no weapons. Although you do have a choice." "What is it?" Carly asked stupidly. Quincy kicked her in the shin. "And what is a demigod?" He added, turning to Percy. "Do you know what the heck she's talking about?" Percy got the feeling he did, but when he tried to think about it, wrenching pain lodged between his eyes. "I...I don't know" He stammered. Just then a short man in roman armor dashed in, brandishing a sword. "Mr. Hill?" Carly asked. "Aye, Carly." he said as he slashed and hacked, trying to scar the Cyclops. Quincy made the mistake of looking at his legs. "Mr. Hill, what the heck is wrong with your legs?" Mr. Hill was about to answer when Percy interrupted. "Are you a satyr?" he questioned. Mr. Hill bleated angrily. "Baaaa! I'm a faun! Satyrs are Greek! Now are you three going to stand there and do nothing or come in and fight?" "All of you people are insane!" Carly screamed. But Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen. For some reason, he uncapped it. Then the strangest thing happened. It grew into a three-foot long gleaming bronze sword. Percy was thinking his life must be pretty messed up if this is what he was doing, but he charged the Cyclops anyway. "Ha, you have decided to face me demigod?" Mrs. Child, or whoever she was now, said. She looked at Percy's sword, and her face went pale. "Is...is that a celestial bronze sword." "I don't know" He said. "I don't know anything" "You are an interesting one. But I will still have to kill you!" she said as she threw some spikes at Percy. "Percy, no!" Carly screamed. Percy braced himself. He wondered what death would feel like. But when the spikes hit him, they shattered harmlessly off his skin. "Impossible!" The monster wailed. She started throwing anything she could find at Percy. It all bounced off of him. "Percy, who...who are you?" Quincy stammered. "I've been trying to tell you, I don't know!" Percy shouted over the roar of fighting. Suddenly, Percy pushed over the Cyclops and thrust his sword at her head. With one final blow, He chopped it off. The monster melted into a pile of glittery gold ash. Mr. Hill stood up and stared at them. "We need to get you to camp." he decided. "What camp? And will somebody mind explaining what is happening?" Quincy pressed. "I agree." Carly said. "Because I have no idea what is going on." Percy was thinking the exact same thing. "Lupa will explain. You three get in my car. Now!" They followed him to a beat up jeep and jumped in. "Who is Lupa?" Quincy asked. "Hush boy. You ask too many questions. Now as for explaining, you three are demigods. When a roman god falls in love with a mortal, it results in demigod. You will have to be taken to Camp Romana to train." Mr. Hill explained. "Cool!" Quincy said excitedly. "No, not cool! I still don't get it!" Carly yelled. "Oh, Lupa will explain further" Mr. Hill Said as he swerved and floored it. "How will we get there?" Percy questioned. "By plane, of corse. That's the fastest way to the bay area from here." Percy's face turned green. "Oh no, I don't do planes." "Do you remember why?" Carly asked softly. The pain behind Percy's eyes returned. "No." "Percy, what was up with the way all of that stuff was bouncing off of you?" Quincy pressed. "I'm getting tired of saying this. I don't know." Percy replied. "I'll have to call a flying chariot from camp." Mr. Hill sighed. Percy was relived. "Thank you." Mr. Hill swerved into an alleyway and told them to get out. He whistled. Just then a chariot drawn by two white flying horses swooped down. "Beautiful!" Percy said underneath his breath. "Hop in, kids!" Mr. Hill said as he turned to them. Soon they were soaring across the sky.
Chapter 2: Quincy
"Okay we are here right now, in Wyoming, New York," Mr. Hill said as he pointed to a map. "And we need to get to SanFransisco, which is here." "How long will it take?" Carly asked. "Yeah, it has to take at least 5 hours!" Quincy added. Percy just stood there, silent and unmoving. "Just as Mr. Hill was about to speak, Percy finally said something."It's magic. It won't take more than forty-five minutes." Mr. Hill was astonished. "How...how did you know that?" he stammered. "No idea." Mr. Hill studied Percy's face. "Ug, you're telling the truth." "Of corse I am!" Percy was starting to look green. Quincy was wondering if he should have brought his video camera, because people puking got a lot of hits on YouTube. He was really excited about coming to camp. Growing up as a poor kid unwanted by his mother, He'd go to a boarding school, poke around, make a few friends, but always get kicked out by the end of the year. He'd never had a home. But now, he would be going to a place where everybody would understand him, or at least not make fun of him as much. He couldn't wait! Suddenly, the chariot tipped forward and crashed. Mr. Hill stood up and set the chariot upright. Quincy got up and brushed himself off. "Cool!" He said as he looked around. "Welcome to Camp Romana!" It looked like a Roman city, but it was brand new. It even had an exact replica of the coliseum in the middle! "Awesome." Carly muttered. "Time to see Lupa." Mr. Hill said. But he didn't sound exited as usual. He said it more like he was delivering a death sentence. Percy must have noticed it too. "Um, why did you say it like that?" "Lupa will decide if you are worthy to live or not." Mr. Hill explained. "Hold up, you didn't say anything about that!" Quincy exclaimed. "You will become wolf food if you are not strong enough."Mr. Hill said solemnly. "Wolf food?" Carly asked. Quincy could tell from her expression that she was really confused. "How 'bout I just show you her." Mr. Hill said as he walked towards the coliseum, urging them to follow. On the inside a large Wolf was standing in the middle. Quincy could see that Percy was just about to draw his sword when the wolf spoke. "Drop your weapon, Perseus Jackson. I am Lupa, the she-Wolf." Despite Quincy's fear, he turned to Percy. "Nice name." he joked. Percy's face turned red. "Now is not the time for jokes, Quintin. I will test your skills. If you are not worthy, you will become my diner." All of the color drained from Quincy's face. He hung his head, ashamed. Percy stepped forth. "I'll go first." Lupa studied him. Her face turned pale. "Do you know what your shirt means? Do you not see your necklace?" "I don't know what you mean." Percy replied. "You are the tradeoff. I have a special challenge for you, demigod. You will face me. I will let the others live too if you win. All you have to do is knock me down. If not, you will all die!" Quincy heard Percy say something in a language he didn't recognize, maybe a curse, then accepted to her terms.
Chapter 3: Carly
Carly held her breath. If he survived, Carly was going to thank Percy for being so brave. Percy picked up his sword. He ran up and charged. Lupa shot an Arrow at him. It bounced harmlessly off him like everything else. She drew a sword and lunged at him. He countered and stepped back. Percy fainted and jabbed at her sword, then he twisted and knocked it out of her hand. Lupa cursed in Latin. Carly was astonished to know that she understood this. Percy held his hand up and concentrated. Suddenly the water fountain at the side of the arena exploded. Lupa was now sopping wet, but Percy seemed perfectly dry. While the she-wolf was still distracted, Percy pushed Lupa over with one final slam. Percy capped up his sword and it shrunk back into a pen. "You are an amazing fighter, young demigod. You will prove very useful. But now we know exactly who you are. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of Neptune. Percy looked confused. "You mean Poseidon." "Aye, young hero. But around here we call the gods by their roman names." "Oh." Percy said. Lupa then called up a camper who was practicing her swordplay to show them around camp. "Go now" Lupa insisted "Yes Ma'm!" she shook each of their hands. "I'm Hazel Marytine, daughter of Venus. Welcome to Camp Legion, the only demigod camp in the world!" Percy's face paled. "The only?" "Of corse. Now what is your name, son of Neptune?" Percy didn't sound convinced but he answered anyway. "Perseus Jackson, But just call me Percy." She turned to Carly with a look of distaste. "What is yours?" "Carly. Carly Watkins." she faced Quincy. Carly could almost see Quincy's heart throb. "I'm Quincy. My real name is Quintin Harlem, but nobody calls me that." Hazel smiled coldly and started walking, leaving Quincy running after her. "Let's see the camp." She went around talking about all of the great stuff the camp had to offer, as well as the fact that a camper, Jason Grace, was missing. Percy flinched when she said Jason's last name. Hazel got right in front of him and drew her knife. "Do you know where he is? Are you keeping back information? Tell me!" "I don't know. That last name, Grace, just sound familiar." Hazel sighed and sheathed her knife. "Let's keep moving." She started talking about all of the camp's cabins, but she still didn't believe Percy. Carly could tell. Just then, a girl in Roman armor ran up to Hazel. "Hey Reyna!" Hazel said. Reyna didn't even bother to say hello. "Get any leads on Jason? Hazel shook her head, and then looked at Percy. "Although this one, Percy Jackson, says the last name "Grace" sounds Familiar, but he swears he has no idea why." Reyna studied Percy carefully. "Do you swear on the River Styx, son of Neptune?" "I swear on the River Styx that I don't know why I recognize the last name 'Grace'." Percy mumbled. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Hazel interrupted whatever Reyna was about to say. "Reyna, you're the weapons expert, so you will you help me find some suitable weapons for these three?" "We get our own weapons? Sweet!" Quincy shouted. Reyna laughed. "Yes Quincy, you do." She led them into a large tool shed filled entirely with weapons. "Even our best weapons, Imperial Gold, won't do any good against some monsters. Look around, find what you like. What do you want, Percy?" "Um, I'll just stick with Anaklusmos." Everybody was confused. "What does that mean?" Carly asked. Percy looked embarrassed. "Oh, that means riptide, it's the name of my sword. I think it's important, but I don't know why." Reyna and Hazel just stared at him. "You already have a sword?" Hazel asked. "He has a lethal pen." Quincy added. "A what?" Reyna said, genuinely surprised. "His pen turns into a sword. Show her, Percy." Carly said. Percy uncapped Riptide. Everybody watched in amazement as the ballpoint pen grew into a 3 foot long bronze sword. At last, Reyna said something. "Why do you use a Greek sword? It's too long, and we don't like seeing things those filthy Greeks made." Percy looked offended by that. "Well, excuse me, but Roman weapons are too short, and I can't read Latin engraving. Plus there's a big piece of the puzzle that I'm missing, something about Greeks. It's really important." "Please don't be a Greek. I don't want it to be "Last time" all over again." Hazel muttered. On that happy thought, Quincy and Carly started to shop for lethal objects.
Chapter 4: Annabeth
It had been 4 weeks since Percy's vanishing act, and Annabeth was anxious to see her Boyfriend. It's not that they didn't know where he
was, because they did, it was just that the Argo 2 was taking forever to finish. The Hephaestus campers were pretty clumsy. Every day they would build and build, but they always knocked over something. The only thing they hadn't knocked over so far was Festuses' head, and that was because Leo was hiding it in a vault deep in bunker number 9 (so nobody can knock over his most prized possession) until it's time to put it on the mast. The boat was almost finished until Jake Mason knocked over the Motor, so now they're rebuilding it. Once the motor is finished, all they will have to do is touch up the magic and add details. But still, that would take at least five weeks. "Five weeks too many." Annabeth mumbled. She wanted to see Percy NOW! She was sure everybody felt the same way,
who wouldn't want to see the greatest hero of the century? Besides Clarisse, she thought. Jason, Piper, and Leo didn't seem to believe her. She was 100 percent telling the truth. It all seemed too unreal, but she was sure it had happened. Right now she just didn't have Percy to prove it. She was awoken from her trance by somebody calling her name. Was it Percy, finally coming back from the Roman camp?
"Annabeth, time for dinner!" She sighed. It was just Malcolm, her annoying Half-brother. "I'll be there soon." she called, not really putting her heart into it. She needed more time to think. "Chiron has something important to tell everybody." That got Annabeth off her bunk. She ran out the door of the Athena Cabin and ran to the dining pavilion. She sat down at her table before anybody else. Chiron raised an eyebrow, but didn't question her. Once everyone sat down Chiron cleared his throat. "Leo and cabin 9 have "something VERY important to tell you. Go ahead Leo." said Chiron, nodding to the boy. "Thanks to some magic, we were able to build an amazingly fall-proof motor out of the old one and some new parts. It has been proven to work." Leo said as he glared at Nyssa. "We will be finished in less than a week now." he said, grinning one of his idiotic grins. The whole camp burst out in cheers. Annabeth couldn't help but to join in. They could finally go on the quest to save Percy! For the rest of the night, Annabeth was in a festive mood. She helped herself to pizza and Ice cream, and had an extra marshmallow at the campfire. "Only six days, twelve hours, and approximately eighteen minutes until I see Percy!" she muttered happily before dozing off.
Chapter 5: Leo
Leo was stoked that night. The looks on everyone's' faces when he told them about the motor? Priceless! He was glad he learned how to engrave control disks with magic, or else he would of never been able to finish the motor or and the fall-proof coating, which s a nice idea on Jason's part. If he hadn't of thought of that, he would have been back where he started…twice. On the other hand, nobody had knocked over Festuses head. Yet. He had locked it up in a vault in bunker number 9 for that very reason. He didn't want people crushing his fondest memory, physically and mentally. Leo loved working with the boat all day, every last bit of it. He loved the smell of machine oil. He
loved putting everything together. But most of all, he loved the joy of finishing. Leo was floating away from the rest of the world when a voice woke him up. "Leo, we have a problem. We need your help." Leo sighed. Who could it be this time? People were always asking him to fix things for them. It was probably Annabeth with laptop problems again. Leo got up. Surprisingly, it was Jason.
"Jason? What's wrong?" "Giant fire-breathing monster in the woods." "Why couldn't you have woken up an Ares camper? They would be much more helpful." Leo grumbled. "You know the old saying. Fight fire with fire." Jason chided. "And besides, it's getting closer to your cabin..." "Fine." Leo groaned "Gimme a minute to get dressed." "You got it Valdez. Piper and me will hold it off best we can." And with that, Jason dashed out. Leo wondered if this was a joke. The Hermes kids were great at convincing people to pull pranks. He hoped it was, being laughed at was better than dying. He threw on jeans and an army jacket, and grabbed his tool belt off of his dresser. He strapped it on as he ran out the door, tripping over something in the dark. He cursed in ancient Greek and pushed the hammer out of the way. He ran to where there was screaming and fire, otherwise known as the obvious place to look for a dragon. The whole camp was
still sleeping; nobody seemed to even notice the large dragon in the woods. "Heavy sleepers." he muttered. Leo saw Piper stabbing with her knife and Jason slashing with his sword. They were quick, but so was the dragon. It kept dodging their blows and trying to bite them, in other words, they needed help. Piper's eyes brightened when she saw Leo. "Jason, it's Leo!" she shouted over the dragon's ear-shattering roar. "Come to help at last. Distract him while we get him from behind." Jason said as he madly swung his sword. "I was only gone like, 2 minutes!" Leo protested. "2 minutes too many. Now go! I can't hold this much longer." He glanced at Piper for help. "Yeah Leo, I can't either." she said. Leo recognized her tone of voice. She was charm- speaking him. He was trying as hard as he could not to listen, because he still wasn't sure if that was a hologram or something, because this could still be a prank, but he broke. "Hey fire breath! Over here!" he screamed. He lobbed a large fire ball at the dragon's face. Jason gave him a silent 'thank you' and snuck behind
the dragon. Leo had gotten it's attention all right. The monster turned to face him and let loose
with a column of flames. Defiantly not a hologram. It didn't hurt Leo, it just stung. He desperately started throwing things from his tool belt at the dragon. It just seemed to make the dragon angry. Suddenly, Leo's tool belt started to tingle. He looked down and realized that his tool belt had overheated, and it was starting to smoke. Leo cursed and grabbed his lucky hammer out of his backpack. "I only have one shot at this, so I better do it right!" Said Leo as hurled his hammer at the monster. He nailed it right in the eye. Leo pumped his fist. He saw the gleam of blades and then, right where the beast was, was…nothing. Just a pile of golden dust. Jason and Piper high-fived each other and turned to Leo. "Leo, that was..." "Awesome."Jason finished. "Completely awesome." Piper shot Jason a dirty look. "I was going to say 'insane', but that works too, I guess." Leo walked over to the ash pile and grabbed his hammer. He stuffed it in his backpack. "Boy, monster slaying makes me
hungry. Who wants snacks?"
Chapter 6: Jason
Leo was right. Monster slaying DID make Jason hungry. They sat down on some logs while Leo started the fire. Jason was guessing that it wasn't very hard considering Leo's fire abilities. He watched in amazement
as Leo set his finger in flames, set the wood on fire, and shook out his flaming
hand as if it were a match. "Food is on me." Leo passed out large bags of chips, which were forbidden by camp rules. Piper looked bewildered. "How did you get these?" "Leo, stop stuffing yourself with chips and answer Piper!" Jason added. Leo looked up from his bag and looked around. "All right, I'll tell you. But
you have to swear you won't tell ANYONE!" He hissed. Jason looked at Piper quizzically, but she just shrugged. "We swear on the river Styx." they said together. "You know the Stoll brothers from Hermes cabin, um Cory and Tyler or something." Leo said cautiously. "You mean Conner and Travis?" Piper said blankly. "Yeah, whatever. I had them run out in the middle of the night yesterday to pick up some chips and sodas. I miss junk food at this camp!" Piper gasped. Jason kicked Leo in the shin. "You are so dead Leo!" Piper cried. "You already swore by the river Styx. Besides, it only cost me like 4 golden drachma." Jason just sat there shaking his head. At last he sighed. "Let's go back to bed. We'll tell people about the dragon tomorrow, but not Leo's snacks. Good night everyone." Leo and Piper both gave him muffled a 'Good night' and walked back to their cabins. Back in cabin one Jason pulled out a picture. It showed him and a girl who he was sure was Reyna. He missed the Roman Camp, whatever it's name was. He remembered most of his life now, just a few crucial things missing. Like the exact location of the Roman Camp, who his friends were, and who HE was, which was the thing that bothered him the most. He only remembered some of his past quests, and he was sure there was at least 1 other. He knew he had lead the Roman Camp to battle at Mount Orthys and slew the titan Krios but he didn't know any details after that. He also knew that he had defeated a sea monster, but he had no memory of doing so. It was annoying to have so many things going on and no idea how to stop them.
And, to top it all off, he didn't know if Reyna was his girlfriend or not. That made all of his other problems
look like cracks in the sidewalk compared to one
huge earthquake. Nothing was worse
than that. He had no idea what to do! He walked over to his alcove and lied on his bed. "Maybe some sleep will help." he muttered as he drifted off.
Chapter 7: Percy
Everything felt all too familiar to Percy. He felt like he'd been through the exact thing, just with less aggressive people. Seriously, everybody treated this place like a war camp! There was barely any laughter, and almost all day they did war preparations, even though they weren't going to war anytime soon. "It was just in case." they were told. Every time Lupa said that, her face darkened. Percy wondered what kind of wars they would have to go to. Wars... Percy pondered. He was getting so close to an answer it was scary. He STILL had no idea who he was and why he was here. He had an uneasy feeling at camp. Granted, he had an uneasy feeling anywhere. Sometimes it was so bad that Percy felt like he was going to puke! Percy wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Percy was thinking about himself in pity when somebody called his name. It was his swordplay instructor, Julien. "Perseus! Percy! Earth to Percy!" Percy blushed. "Sorry, Julien." Julien grunted. "Will you please demonstrate the disarming maneuver?" Something felt vaguely familiar about this question to Percy, like he'd been asked the exact same thing before. "Uh, sure?" he stammered. Julien blew his whistle. The style that Percy was expected to fight with felt...different. He just didn't feel comfortable using it. They wanted him to analyze the opponent, find their weakness, and use it against them. Percy would rather just wing it, start slashing, and come up with a plan while he worked. He was thinking about this as he waited for his opponent to strike first like
He was used to. Apparently Julien had the same idea. "So, make your move!" someone in the crowd screamed. Percy sighed. He may not know who he was, but he knew he didn't like going first. Julien wasn't budging. Percy stepped in, just like his opponent had hoped for. Then Percy's mind seemed to go on overdrive. Slash, stab, roll, counter, defend... It seemed to go on like that for hours, with Julien having trouble because he was going too fast for him to figure out his weakness. Finally, Percy stepped in and locked his sword point on Julien's hilt. He twisted with all of his might. It clattered effortlessly on the ground. Instead of cheering like he thought they would, the audience just stared like they couldn't comprehend what was happening. "Nobody's EVER beaten Julien before!" he heard someone whisper. "He fights weird." said another. "His sword is strange!" "Is he another one?" Were some other things he frequently heard. Julien just stood there. He didn't move at all. "We," He said at last, "are moving you into advanced swordplay." Nobody argued that.
Chapter 8: Quincy
Quincy was confused. He didn't know who he was…sort of. It wasn't like Percy's amnesia, where he didn't know ANYTHING about himself, it was just that he couldn't figure out who his dad was. He knew his mom was Gwendolyn Harlem, the head of Harlem travel agency. Quincy didn't know which god could fall in live with that freak. All she ever did was tell Quincy how horrible he was and lecture him on all of the different places she had been, along with telling him to be a better student. It was like she forgot that Quincy was ADHD and dyslexic. She was always telling him that he should get straight A's, which was basically impossible for Quincy. Nobody, nobody, could fall in love with such a freak! Quincy didn't exactly know how this could help him get out of the Mercury cabin and into his own cabin. He wasn't as strong as the Mars kids, he didn't have Percy's way with water, and he certainly couldn't shoot arrows like the Apollo kids! At least his friends felt his pain with arrows. Carly kept shooting this girl from the Ceres cabin for no apparent reason. It just kept hitting her! Carly always seemed to be aiming for the target. Quincy wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that the Ceres girl called Carly a simpleton. Percy always shot his arrows at the target like everyone else, but they always hit Lupa. Quincy could tell because of the howling in the distance shortly after an arrow was launched, followed by an angry wolf saying "When I find out who shoots these arrows, I will give them Kitchen patrol for a month!" Percy's face turns bright red when he does this. Every day Quincy asks the fauns if they can tell who Quincy's father is. They always tell him "No, but your sent is pretty strong, probably not a minor God." that makes only one thing clear. That monsters are even more likely to kill him. Great. Just great. I could use some help down here, dad. Quincy thought as he flung a strawberry into a brazier. At the head table Lupa raised her goblet and chanted in Latin. Quincy somehow knew that it meant "May the gods watch over us!" He could tell that everyone else knew exactly what it meant too, beside Percy, because when everyone else raised their glasses and repeated the saying in English; Percy just sat there and stared at everybody, which somehow meant that everyone stared at him, which they were kinda already doing because he was the only kid at the Neptune table. Nobody was staring Quincy, thank god, or did you have to thank all of the gods? So was it thank gods? Just as Quincy was pondering this, he felt fifty eyes avert to him. Not directly to him, but slightly above his head. Quincy sighed. A bird must be on his head again. "Can somebody get this stupid bird off my head?" strangely enough, everybody didn't burst out in laughter like last time. Instead, they all got down to their knees. Lupa was the first one to speak up. "Foolish boy. That is no bird on your head." "You've been claimed!" someone in the crowd shouted. Quincy had been CLAIMED? "By who?" Quincy called. "Can somebody tell me?" "You have just been claimed by…" Lupa started. She was interrupted by Percy. "Hermes. The messenger of the gods." he added helpfully. Everybody stared at him, confused. Carly, who Quincy hadn't realized that she was sitting next to him, explained that Hermes was Mercury. Lupa got on the ground with the rest of the campers. "Nothing matters more boy. Hail Quintin Harlem, son of Mercury." sure enough, when he looked up, a faded caduceus was floating above his head. It disappeared just as quickly as it had shown up. "At least I don't have to switch tables." Quincy muttered.
Chapter 9: Carly
Carly knew Quincy didn't like to start a commotion. Well, besides when he pranked. But she knew he was a hundred percent unhappy with the whole claiming business. She always heard him grumble "Why does Mercury like my mother?" But Carly had bigger problems to deal with. She had no idea which god was her parent. She didn't pull pranks like the Mercury kids, she couldn't grow plants like the Ceres kids, and, gods forbid, shoot an arrow like the Apollo kids. The only person who seemed to like her at Camp Romana was Reyna. She was teaching her all about magic, which was her favorite part of the day. It was really cool to see how everything came together and made a spell. She always had liked magic. Carly was an orphan, she didn't really remember her father. He'd died when she was two. She'd never known her mother. She'd always questioned that, but it now made sense. Anyways, Carly had always brought her books along with her to every orphanage. It was really hard considering her dyslexia, but she worked around it. She'd finished Harry Potter when she was five, Narnia when she was seven, and the Witch and Wizard series when she was nine. That's when she got put into "The Wyoming School for Troubled Kids". Carly had been blamed for an explosion in the science lab at the orphanage's school. She was getting really mad at the class bully for calling her a 'stupid jerk'. She wanted revenge but Carly knew she couldn't get any. She was bubbling with anger and kaboom a burner exploded and everybody was spattered with oil. No one knew who had done it, so naturally the school expelled Carly. The teachers had disliked her every since she asked if they were seven dwarfs when her class read snow white in kindergarten. Carly protested greatly all the way to the principal's office. Carly had been sure it wasn't her fault, until now. Since she knew she was a demigod, she thought it possibly COULD be her fault. Carly didn't know goddess her mother would
have to be for her to posses those kind of powers. She thought about this as she finished the forth book of the 'Secrets to Spells' series. Carly sighed. She would have to stop by the Minerva cabin to ask Reyna for the next one. She hopped off her bunk in the Mercury cabin and ran out of the door. She gazed at the Minerva cabin in awe. Could this be where she belonged? The cabin looked like a library with beds. It had scrolls and battle strategy maps strewn across the floor, and shelves that were bursting with books. The bunks were shoved against the wall like nobody cared about sleeping that much. Carly found Reyna lying in her bunk, looking at pictures of some boy that she assumed to be Jason, the guy who's missing. When she saw Carly she quickly shoved the pictures away and plastered a fake smile on her face, but it didn't work. She could tell that Reyna had been crying. Her stormy gray eyes were tinged with red and puffy. Her blonde curls were tangled and frizzy. "Hi, Carly! Did you finish the next book?" Carly nodded. "Hold on a sec. I'll go get the next one." Carly watched as Reyna hopped off her bunk and walked towards a shelf in the corner. "Were you on book three or four?" she asked as she rummaged through the books. Carly handed her book four. "Ah." Said Reyna. She handed Carly a beat-up leather book. Carly smiled and ran as fast as she could back to the Mercury cabin to start book five. She kept reading it all through the day; she only put it down for her activities. At dinnertime she put it on her lap and read as she munched on pepperoni pizza. She sat next to Quincy at the Mercury table. She didn't feel as comfortable sitting next to him now that he was claimed. She knew she didn't belong here. Carly didn't have the distinctive gleam in her eyes or the upturned nose like Quincy and Mercury's other kids had. Carly was reading up on advanced shrinking spells when Quincy tapped her shoulder. "Hey Carls, can you help us think of a killer prank to get back at the Ceres kids for torturing us at sword play?" "They figured out that it was us who replaced their flowers with bricks and stuffed the plants in their beds." one grumbled. Carly figured she didn't have anything better to do, so she shrugged and closed her book. "Why not?" they began scheming an elaborate plan including packing peanuts, some Vulcan kids, powdered plaster, and lots and lots of duct tape. Carly was glad this was against the Ceres cabin and some other one, because she still wanted revenge for that girl calling her a simpleton.
Carly didn't know why those arrows kept hitting her, but it was pretty funny. They were even now, but Carly doesn't play to get even. She plays to win. The plan was pretty weird, but it would defiantly work. The Ceres kids love cooking and they like making dinner when they have the time, so they would plan the prank in the kitchen. "They have time to cook on Tuesday nights, so it would be on this Tuesday." Quincy nodded. "First we'll take everything out of the fridge, fill it with packing peanuts, and duct tape it shut. Then we'll get some mechanics from Vulcan Cabin to make the fan go on when we turn on the lights. The powdered plaster will be on the ceiling fan. We can duct tape the handle of the sprayer nozzle on the sink." Carly watched as everybody put this together in their minds. "Lemme get this straight," one kid said. "When they turn on the sink, the nozzle will soak them all. When the lights go on, the fan does too, so they plaster flies off and sticks to them." "Then," a girl interjected, "when they open the fridge, the peanuts will stick to them." Carly could see that everybody was figuring out what was this was leading up to. Everyone started shrieking with laughter. People turned around and stared, but then they just shrugged and turned around. As demigods, it probably wasn't the weirdest thing they'd ever seen. "They would look like giant Styrofoam snowmen!" someone said between snorts. Everybody was set. They all knew the plan. Just then, the kid sitting next to her gasped and got to his knees. So did the rest of her table. One by one, the whole camp did the same. Carly decided that was no bird on her head, no, she'd been claimed. Carly looked up and saw a beautiful glowing magic wand. Lupa stood up and bowed. "Hail Carly Watkins, the daughter of Trivia, the goddess of magic."