Canaries, Toffees and Superstars

A/N

I'm thrilled to be back writing- even if it's only fan fiction. I've taken a huge absence from writing anything special. (By special I mean not school related) I decided to write Percy Jackson fanfiction because during my trip to Spain and England, I really fell in love with the series. Just a heads-up, I'm not including the story of how my protagonist, Aaron, arrives in Camp Half-Blood. It's totally not that I'm too lazy to write a good original arrival! But I do really want to just jump into the proper story, so, sorry! is An edit! :0 But don't act suprised. I've just been playing a bit of Medieval 2 Total War, and I've found something in the game I really like. I've decided I'm going to write a proverb in each chapter! :D Of coruse, I'll save my favorite one for the next chapter... hehe, but here we go!

A nation without a language is a nation without a heart

Disclaimer- I don't own anything that is Rick Riordans. Thank you.

There was a pounding in my ears. Everywhere hurt. It was all I could do to force open my eyes. I took short, shaky breaths until I could raise my head. I heard a laugh.

I look over toward the sound and saw a guy, maybe 16, with black hair and green eyes. He grinned at me and said, "that was some entrance." I tried to say something but somehow I was too weak.

What in the world could've happened to me? The guy's smile was gone now, "Here," he said, "drink this." He picked up a glass with what looked like apple juice in it. He moved it toward my mouth and helped me drink. Turns out it wasn't apple juice, but a taste I couldn't quite place- delicious, yeah, and maddeningly familiar, but I couldn't place it. It surged me with strength, but before I could ask the guy what this wonder drink was, I passed out.

I woke up a few times before I came round for good. Once it was the dark haired guy, another time a blonde haired girl, and once, at the time I was sure I was still dreaming, but once it was a guy with eyes all over his body.

When I did come round for good, I could actually lift my head without straining with effort. I raised my arms, it felt strange after me being out for so long, and ran my hands through my hair. Frizzy, and unclean. Not dirty, but defiantly not clean either. I pushed back the covers and stood up.

I wobbled over to the window, and looked outside. I couldn't see much of where I was, but judging from the sun I figured it must be about 11 or 12. I shook my head, wondering where I was.

I turned around to have a look at where I spent the last, I don't know how long. The room was beautiful. I mean, it was totally my style. Kinda like an old country hotel. It's hard to describe, but I loved it.

Then the door creaked open. The blonde haired girl who I'd seen before was standing in the doorway, quite surprised. My jaw dropped. She looked a bit older than me, and she had beautiful grey eyes. She was drop dead.

She raised an eyebrow and said, "You're up." She was staring at me, but it's not like she was... interested in me, it was more like I was an interesting specimen in a scientific research project. "I'll be right back." And with that, she left, leaving a glass of behind.

I sat down on a chair next to the bed- sure it was comfortable, but I had just spent ages in it, plus I might've fallen asleep again, and after seeing that girl, I did NOT want to miss whatever she was coming back with- and waited. The girl came back a few minutes later with the dark-haired chill-looking guy. He grinned at me again. "Who, who are you guys?" I managed to say.

"I'm Percy, Percy Jackson," Said the dark-haired guy. "This is Annabeth. You look older than 13," He turned to Annabeth, "This guy should've been brought here and claimed lo-ong ago. What do you think?" Annabeth pursed her lips.

"Well, before anything else he should get a tour. After all, this IS his new home." This got my attention, after all, it's not every day you here someone talking about you like you're a pet.

"What are you guys talking about?" They exchanged glances. I don't like it when people do that. Like the time the coach and a Chelsea rep were discussing my contract - I'd better not get into it.

"Well, it's the only safe place in the entire world for kids like us." Percy offered.

"What d'you mean by that?" At this, Percy grinned.

"I remember when I first came here. You remind me of, well, me. Trust me, you belong here. Now, I don't wanna be rude, but- wait a sec, I don't even know your name." He raised his eyebrows at me.

"I'm Aaron, Aaron Stone. I'm from Rochester, New York." When I said New York Percy's eyes lit up.

"Hey, I'm from New York too! But the actual city, hehe. Y'know, Annabeth, I think I'll show this guy around." She tried to protest, and hey, she was hot. I kinda wanted to get to know her, but then something ruined it.

"See you at the campfire Percy," she said, before kissing him on the cheek. Well, that sucks. As she left the room, Percy turned his attention back towards me.

"So," He said, "let's check out your new home." We walked out of the house, which incidentally was called 'the Big House', and my jaw dropped. The valley this camp was in was a-maze-ing. There was an enormous forest that looked like it had escaped the Pioneers, a beautiful lake or ocean inlet, and a commons area the size of a couple of soccer fields. "So," Percy said, "Uh, do you like sports?" Oh man, he asked the question.

"I love sports. Well, I really love soccer. I'm not a big fan of any American or Canadian sports..." Percy looked tiny bit crestfallen. I guess he only asked because I look a bit like an athletic kid. "What about you Percy?"

"Well, I don't like soccer much, but I play a lot of basketball." He paused, "Problem is, we don't have a proper track here, so the only sports we can play are basketball, volleyball and tetherball." I was quite surprised. I mean, sure soccer hasn't really caught on quite yet in North America, but no football fields? No hockey rinks? They must get a few kids from Canada here. "Back when you said this would be my new home, what exactly do you mean?" He sighed. I got the feeling he was going to give me some bad news. "Ok, Aaron, do you know the Greek myths?" I blinked. Was he kidding?

"Are you talking about, like, pagan stuff?" At this, Percy smiled wistfully. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing... it's just I remember when I sounded like that. Good times..." He sounded really nostalgic, and suddenly, for some reason, I felt nostalgic too. He continued, "see, the Olympian gods are still here. Have you ever heard of Western Civilization?"

"You mean like pop culture and the opposite of the Russians? Because that's all I know about Western Civilization."

"Well, yeah. You see, Western Civilization has been around since the time of the Ancient Greeks. Although, the special thing is, they move around with the strongest force OF the flame of Western Civilization. Is this making sense?" I shrugged,

"More or less. So I'm going to guess that you'll move on to talk about how the Olympian gods still exist and mount Olympus is now on top of some big mountain in the Rockies." Percy laughed.

"Well, you're right and wrong. It's true that the gods still exist, but Mount Olympus isn't on a mountain." He was kidding, right? I mean, sure, I had no idea why I was here, or how I even GOT here, but he HAD to be joking around.

"So... where is Mount Olympus?" Percy looked at me like I was some kind of funny. "Well, if it isn't on a mountain then it's not 'Mount' Olympus!"

"I never really looked at it that way, but I would've thought the location of Mount Olympus would be obvious."

"Ok, you're obviously not kidding. But are you building up to something? Like, so what if the Greek gods are still alive?"

"Well, considering you're attitude I don't think you're gonna believe me, but it turns out that, well, what was the most common thing the Greek gods did in the myths?"

"Ran around having lots and lots of chil- no, no way. " Percy raised his eyebrows. "No. Fucking. Way." I looked at him with a mixture of apprehension and confusion. If he was telling the truth, than I was a... demigod. "Are... are you for real?"

"I don't joke about stuff like this. It's true, I'm a demigod, you're a demigod, and everyone else here apart from the nature spirits and Chiron is a demigod."

"No, but, oh my god! This explains everything! That was why, but, how did you know I was a demigod? And how can you be sure now?" Percy laughed.

"Well, you remember that stuff we were feeding you, that was ambrosia and nectar, only gods and demigods can ingest it, and for us it's dangerous if we eat or drink too much of it. And, hey, everyone here has bad memories. Let me guess, monster attacks?"

"When I was skiing up in Ellicottville, I KNEW that blue giant was real. They told me it was my ADHD again."

"Look," Percy said, "don't worry about ADHD or anything. ADHD and dyslexia are usual traits for demigods. And the monster attacks? We've all had them. I'm also guessing you were kicked out of a lot of schools?"

"No, not really. I, uh, well I actually go to a school in England. Remember when I was talking about soccer?" Percy looked a bit puzzled, it felt good to see someone else puzzled for a change.

"But, if you were in England, how did your searcher find you?"

"Well, see, for Christmas I was given a 2 month break."

"Ok, what sort of school were you at? What school gives out breaks? I WISH my high school was like that." Percy grinned again.

"Well, it's an academy. I am, or I suppose WAS training to become a professional soccer player. I had my contracts sorted out. I was going to play for Chelsea." Percy looked a bit awestruck, which was pretty flattering, but it also worried me a little bit. "Percy, if this is my new home, does that mean I can't go back and fufill my dream in England?"

"To be honest, Aaron, I don't know. If you're a son of a smaller goddess, than bigger monsters will probably ignore you. If your mom's Athena or more powerful goddess than you're probably gonna be stuck here." I tried not to show it, but I was pretty damn upset. Playing soccer was my dream. If being a demigod got in the way of that then I'd, I'd... well I don't know what I'd do, other than get angry. "Look, Aaron, we'll talk to Chiron. I'm sure that we'll work something out. Now, put that aside. You've learnt who you are, let's go check out your new home."

This place, I learnt the name was Camp Half Blood, was pretty cool. The cabins were a bit eccentric, but I guess being demigods you got to decorate your cabin differently from normal kids.

The dining pavilion was a bit weird, being open air and all, but I decided not to ask any questions. Sword and spear fights? Not AS good as soccer matches, but they sounded pretty cool. And the forge looked cool, although I unfortunately I was no good at making things.

I asked Percy where we were, and he said Long Island. Now, I know that Long Island isn't as warm as the Turks and Caicos in the winter, and he said that the camp has magical boarders, so even in winter it was warm and sunny.

That was pretty awesome. Looking back on it, we became friends pretty fast.

Maybe Percy was just a cool guy, or maybe we just had a lot in common. It was pretty awesome. Then I asked him about Annabeth. Turns out they were dating, and had been for the past few months.

That was weird until I found out that gods have no DNA, so it was OK to date your, uh, technical, cousins. The tour did come to an end, which sucked, but then again there was so much to see, to take in. The only thing that would've made this place perfect would be a soccer field. And if I knew who my godly parent was. I could talk to Chiron about getting a soccer field put in, but not about the latter. "So, Percy, who's my...?" Percy tried for a smile but it didn't really work.

"Hopefully we'll find out at the campfire tonight. But at least this explains why you weren't claimed at 13. You were in England then, right?"

"Yeah, I went to England when I was 11, to play for Liverpool's academy." I already missed England. I loved it there, all the people were so nice. Sure, I had no friends with me, but my foster family were so nice it was almost as if they had become my real family. I missed them quite a lot. Percy must've seen a bit of homesickness on my face. "Hey, don't worry. We'll become your new family. And, maybe tomorrow I can show you how to send Iris messages. I'd show you now but I have to teach Pegasus riding lessons. If I were you, I'd head over to the big house. Chiron'll probably be there. You can talk to him until dinner. If you want you can sit with me or Hermes cabin. They're still used to taking in new campers. I'll see you later." Percy left me standing amongst the cabins. I shrugged, and walked off toward the big house.

I went to the big house, walking through all the Greek cabins. They were all so different... I wondered which I would belong to.

The Golden one was way too bright, and the ugly one with the barbed wire looked a little too unfriendly. I was lost in thought before I realised I had actually gotten lost.

Now, that probably sounds kinda funny. After all, the big house was like the focal point of the entire valley, but I had wandered into the forest.

It was pretty cool. You never see huge forests in England, most of it is just farmland and the boundaries between farmland. Huge gnarled roots, trees like, 100 feet tall.

I remembered what Percy said, though, about there being nasties in the woods. I pondered the choice I had. Go back the way I came, or... what? I realised I didn't want to talk to anybody.

I just wanted to be alone, so I sat against a tree and... waited. I didn't know what for though. A sign or something. It was nice to be alone, to think about the situation I was in. It was all a bit overwhelming.

To take in the facts that I was the son of an immortal god or goddess, and the fact that I might not be able to go and play soccer. It was my dream, my passion... I must've drifted off, because the next thing I knew a horn was blowing. I knew it was a conch horn, even though I had never heard one before. I got up, feeling much better than I had back in the big house. Who knew that sleeping against a tree would do that?

Dinner was a pretty interesting affair. I arrived a little later than most of the campers, and I guess that not many of them had heard of me because they didn't know who I was, some of them even drew swords.

Go figure. Percy called me over to his table -for some reason he was sitting alone- "Hey Percy." I sat down across from him. Someone walked over and put a plate of food down next to me. I looked up and was about to say thank you when I realised she wasn't a human. I started back, and she laughed and moved away. I looked back at Percy and he grinned. "What was that?" I asked.

"That was a tree nymph. Be nice to them. If you're not careful they'll fill your bedsheets with mud and creepy crawlies. " I thought he was joking but he looked at me like he was serious. Ok, they have living trees.

"What else to you guys have? I mean, living trees and," I gestured toward Chiron, "horse people?"

"Well, we have a hellhound the size of a tank, satyrs, and naiads. There are also the monsters in the forest I told you about but they aren't very friendly." He laughed and said, "you'll get used to it, I remember when I first came here. Oh man, that was a weird summer."

Dinner went on in that sort of fashion. It was sort of cool eating outside, even if I was a little worried about rain.

Finally the big horse guy, I had learned at this point that he was a centaur, stood up and banged his hoof against the stone floor. He made a few announcements that made no sense to me.

Capture the flag was canceled because of the problem in the woods, Hephaestus cabin got a load of dity looks, and the bi-monthly chariot races will be next month.

This summer camp sounded pretty fun. I mean, I'm a huge fan of sports. I love 'em, and running a capture the flag every week and chariot racing every few months? Awesome. The only problem was I didn't get along with many animals. After a few more announcements, campers got up and moved off. Some went to bed, others, including me and Percy, went to the campfire.

Another A/N
Sorry about the writing style. I'm trying to mimic Riordan's writing style, although it's quite difficult. I'm sorry about the writing, I haven't written anything properly fictional that isn't schoolwork in a long time.
I need some help with my protagonist, Aaron. Who should his parent be? I'm inclining toward Hecate or Hades. What do you think?

BOOM- Mass edit. The story was shit because FF Doc Manager or whatever messed my sentences up. D: Keep reading guys, I've edited all three chapters, and soon there's gonna be a fourth. I promise.

And now I've just broken all the paragraphs up. Except for one. Hehe. Enjoy guys.