Sorry for my lack of activity, My excuse though is that trying to find a beta reader who would beta read for my stories, and so far my stories are, shall we say hard to find an audience much less a beta reader. Also I've been working on an actual novel.
Anyway without further adieu , here is the first true step in my series of Carthaginian Percy Jackson fanfics.
This takes place just before and during the events of The Lightning Thief and several years after my previous fanfictions about Carthage.
Note: chronologically this comes after my previous fanfictions I advise reading it first because its in the point of view of someone new to Carthaginian culture as apposed to my earlier fanfics which require a knowledge in it prior to reading. (Believe me starting those was a real pain for me as prior to that I also had very little to go on.
I own nothing.
My name is Nicolas Blackadder and it all started the last day of junior high. The entire ninth grade class was basically having one giant party, shooting hoops, talking about summer plans, signing yearbooks, trying to flirt, unsuccessfully I might add, its junior high gosh darn it! Watch movies on the classrooms televisions or hang around the library awkwardly because some of us had nothing better to do. I was one such person. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't awful at sports, I just didn't want to experience the humiliation of being picked last for a team again.
So instead I just awkwardly sat at a library table by myself trying not to look like a total loser. I was about to see if anyone would notice if I went over to the fire alarm and pantomime pulling it until a boy with a rolled up piece of paper sat down at my, correction the schools table.
"Do I know you"? I asked surprised having never remembered seeing this boy before.
"Really"? The boy responded wiping his blond hair out of his eyes, as he started to set the chess board up. What caught my eye wasn't the chess board but the pieces that were in a bag that he pulled out of his bag; they were carved wooden pieces,
"After three years of being in the same homeroom as each other, also the fact that I always gave the announcements you don't remember my name"? "I just hope you're not as absent minded on the battlefield of chess as you are with names." he said turning the board around so that I was in front of white.
"Oohhh, you're that Chase guy, right"? I asked remembering the guy a little, he was always helping out the teachers and acing all of the tests he took He looked like he was going to correct me but then he just shook his head and responded, "You're move."
"You didn't want to get your teachers to write little essays for you in your yearbook." I said moving knight my right out of the formation.
"I did that yesterday." he told me mirroring my move.
"Of course you did." I responded turning my attention back to the game.
A couple minutes later he had managed to take my queen but by doing so he had opened up a serious weakness, before he could patch his defenses back together his two bishops and one of his rooks were mine for the taking.
"Aughh." the boy said leaning his hand against his fist grimacing. I could almost swear I heard him mumble to himself "People are counting on me",
"Either this thirteen year old is an officer in the army or he takes chess way too seriously." I thought to myself.
We continued playing until the bell rang; I helped the boy pick up the pieces and handed them to him.
"Thanks, you know…" he started to say something but then he stopped himself "maybe we could continue this game in High School"?
"You have plans that stretch over all of summer"? I responded jokingly.
"Yeah," he said shouldering his backpack, "I go to a summer camp that usually only takes two weeks out of a summer but I signed up to help around as an advisor for the entire summer.
"How old are the kids"? I asked confused that a freshmen in high school would be able to calm down an eighth grader one year his junior.
"All around," he said starting to leave "but usually in between seven years old and seventeen. Anyway, have a good summer." he said exiting the library.
"Well, that was fun" I thought to myself. As I rose from the chair I felt my foot land against a hard object and would have slipped if not for the chair that I had been sitting on. I quickly grabbed the chair and reached down to pick the offending object up; it was a bishop, one from the kids chess set who had just left.
I was about to put it in my pocket and try to find the kid but then my thumb brushed up against a folded piece of paper taped onto it.
Now I know why curiosity killed the cat. If I had not looked at the piece of paper I could still be living an ignorant blissful life, however there's also the chance I would have been killed or eaten if I hadn't read the scrap of paper that day.
I unfolded the piece of paper and on it was a small drawing that looked like one of those ink blot tests, a white background with a black stain of ink, I happened to see a bow and arrow being held by what I assumed was an Olympian athlete, I mean who else uses bows?
And underneath the picture was a hastily written sentence with many misspelled words, honestly I was surprised I could read it, that said
If you observe a lethal weapon in this depiction call my psychiatrist,
He left a number underneath but I didn't pay it any heed.
I chuckled a bit and threw the note away, who knew had a side of humor? Anyway, I walked out of the doors of the building for the last time and started to head home, having decided that he left the chess piece for me intentionally.
I live in a small suburb of Philadelphia Pennsylvania where my mother works in the schools as a biology teacher, so instead of waiting around for her to give me a ride back home I walk usually. Our school was a small one only about six hundred students on average, so I was surprised when a giant group of students ran past me all in one direction. Usually there were only smaller groups going much slower than running. I decided not to think about it too hard though, chances are they were all graduating and were just running off to somewhere to celebrate their new freedom.
I found that silly though, I mean they still have to go to school next year.
I eventually made it back home and was able to open the refrigerator before I heard a knock at the door.
This is how it always was, one moment settled down, or in the middle of something important, in retrospect I guess drinking orange juice isn't that important but whatever, and then it's either a knock on the door, or the blasted phone starts to ring.
Annoyed, I closed the door and walked to the door and opened it revealing the same guy I had played chess with.
"Sorry to bother you but did you happen to see a bishop after leaving the library"? He asked out of breath like he had ran all the way from the school to hear and back again.
"Yeah," I responded digging into my pocket and pulled out the piece. "Question though, why did that piece of paper have a boy on it, I mean aren't there easier weapons to draw"? I asked handing him the bishop.
"You saw a bow and arrow"? He asked me like he had not drawn that.
"Yeah, why was it really just an inkblot test"? I asked not feeling like I had an anger issue.
"No, it's, uh, I think you should come to the camp." he said frantically looking around.
"An anger management camp? Geez this sounds fun. No thanks." I said.
"No it's not an anger management camp; it's a camp for children of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses."
"…"
"…"
"Are you sane"? I asked, because I quite frankly thought the guy lost his marbles.
"Just follow me home, if you still don't believe me after this then I'll never speak to you again and you can continue living your life in peace." he said looking at me desperately.
"Alright," I said "I'll see this through, just don't let it be one giant waste of my time."
I left a note to my mother telling her I was going over to a friend's house and left with the boy.
"So," I started after a couple of moments of uncomfortable silence passed between us "tell me about this camp you go to."
The boy responded, "It's actually more of a training ground, since being a demigod attracts monsters we have to learn how to deal with them, there are three major weapons that we teach how to use, the most common weapon is the sword, some people, like my sister, learn how to wield a knife but that's not one of the main ones."
"Wait, you have a sister"? I stopped.
"Right not on my mortal side but on my godly side."
"Ah, I remember, you said something about Greek gods and goddesses."
"Yeah, my mother is Athena." he said turning down a street.
"OK, if I was buying this I thought that Athena was a maiden goddess, so how could she have children"?
"It's, umm, like how she herself, was born right out of the skull of Zeus."
"Oh," I said, not wanting to continue this line of conversation.
"Anyways, he continued, "the other weapons are javelins and bows, usually bows are reserved for children of Apollo, but anyone who's good at it could learn to wield one."
"Besides combat training our camp also offers crafts art and music, it's basically a giant summer school that corrects any false information that school gave us." he said guiding me into a small one story ranch style house.
"Take your shoes off and follow me." he said going down a hall.
I did as instructed and followed him to a small room that was decorated as a library shelves of books, stacks of papers and a skeleton that hung on a wall.
"False information"? I asked.
"Yeah, there's a lot of it, for instance George Washington was a son of Athena and Blackbeard a son of Ares. Anyway the reason I brought you here was to convince of this." he said taking a small broad bronze sword from behind the rack of books
"This sword is made of a special substance called celestial bronze, what do you think would happen if I swung this at that skeleton over there"?
"Ok, quick question, why do you have a skeleton."
The boy shrugged, "My dad is a got it from his friend who's a professor."
"Well, for one you would have one very angry father, and a broken skeleton." I responded.
"Actually, I would have neither of those, what I would have would be a completely fine skeleton and a father who was unaware that anything like that had taken place." to emphasize this he stepped forward and took a swing across the skeleton's rib cage. To my surprise sword passed through the skeleton without breaking a single bone.
"Now what do you think would happen if I pressed it against my hand." the boy asked.
"Hold on." I said raising my hand. I went over to the skeleton and placed my hand on it, sure enough the skeleton wasn't a hologram. I turned back to see him press the blade against his finger, sure enough the blade did not pass through him as it had the skeleton.
I stood straight not moving for a while. "What would have happened if this skeleton was from a demigod"? I asked.
"I would have broken it." the boy shrugged.
"Hold out your hand." he asked.
I hesitated; not wanting to open my finger had that effect on me. Curiosity eventually overcame me and I gave in extending my hand. Thankfully instead of trying to open my hand he just rested the flat of the blade on my open palm.
"Well," the boy smiled taking the blade away from my hand "I don't know if this warrants congratulations but you're definitely not mortal."
"Yeah." I responded.
"Anyway, I really think you should come with me to the camp." he said motioning for me to follow him out of the room.
I thought about it some more, I wasn't doing anything this summer, or any summer for that matter, and decided why not, this should prove interesting if nothing else.
"Should I get packed at least"? I asked him.
"Yeah," he said entering a smaller room, I presumed it was his bedroom, and grabbed a small duffel bag with the words Malcolm Pace written on it.
"Pace"
"Your last name is Pace, not Chase."
"Oh, yeah I'm Malcolm Pace; of course you would have known that if you paid more attention in class. You shouldn't worry too much though, all of us demigods have ADHD, and it helps us with our battle reflexes." Malcolm said looking at me almost sympathetically with his bag in hand.
I nodded thinking about my condition, it was minor though, nothing too serious but I was glad that Malcolm had indicated that he too shared it.
"Go home and pack a bag of about a week's worth of clothing and then come back here, my father is taking a personal day and is taking me to camp halfblood, I'm sure there's enough room for you too." Malcolm said showing me the way out.
When I arrived home I told my mother who had just returned from the school about Malcolm's offer of attending a summer camp.
Surprisingly, she agreed to let me go, whether she knew something more about this whole demigod thing or she was just happy for me to actually express an interest in socializing I don't know.
An hour latter I was standing in the pace family driveway with a medium suitcase filled to the brim with clothes and a wallet with about eighty dollars and her business card.
"Are you ready"? Malcolm asked followed by a light haired man in his mid forties who I assumed to be his father.
"You're Nicolas Blackadder correct? The man asked.
"Yes." I answered.
"I'm Gregory Pace, attorney at law."
"Sir." I said greeting him.
Mr. Pace took my suitcase and packed it in the back of the car soon enough I was in the back seat of a car of some sort, traveling north to New York and a camp that I have never heard of before.
"Son, don't the satyrs usually do the finding of new half bloods"? Mr. Pace said looking over to his son.
"Usually, but most of them are trying to find Pan, the god of the wild," Malcolm said for my sake, "and the others are all in more populated areas, that and Grover and Chiron are personally overseeing some Jackson fellow."
"Not saying that this wasn't a pleasant surprise." Mr. pace said looking back at me.
"Thanks, I guess." I replied. The rest of the two hour car ride Malcolm reminded me about the old Greek myths, I wasn't by any means a bad student but I just bolted the names out of my memory but kept the principles behind the myths in mind, Never in a million years would I have dreamt that the names would be this important.
Finally we came to a to a strawberry field were Mr. Pace let us out and handed us our bags, after Malcolm said his farewells he started to lead me to a large central building.
The camp didn't seem like much, a bunch of cabins forming a U around a small fire where there was a girl in … the … fire?
I shook my head and continued to follow Malcolm, there was a small lake where there was a camper canoeing in the middle of the lake who was flirting, with what seemed to be the lake, or his reflection I guess.
"Naiads." Malcolm said not missing a beat, "They practically flirt with anyone."
I opened my mouth to respond when I was interrupted.
"Is that him? It has to be him. Doesn't it"?
The interrupter was a small girl with curly blond hair and an orange tee-shirt that said Camp Half Blood.
"Jeez Annabeth, at least let the poor guy talk to Chiron before you bombard him with questions like you do every newcomer." Malcolm turned to face the girl.
"Just because you're older doesn't mean…"
"Yes, yes, I know, you're the head counselor and what you say goes, but he hasn't even seen the orientation film yet."
The girl turned and looked at me, squinting her eyes, "fine but in the meantime I want to talk to you."
"Alright, fine, Nicolas just enter the building that way and ask for Chiron tell him you're a new camper. Also tell him I'll be there as soon as my sister is done with me.
I nodded heading over to the building. The first glance at the inside of the building didn't seem anyplace out of the ordinary, just a guy in a wheel chair, a middle aged man wheeling a purple suit, and a teenager were sitting around a table.
"whose idea was this? And what were they thinking." The middle aged man said looking at the others.
"Don't be too harsh on the young satyr;" said the man in the wheelchair, "Louis just suggested a game that three people can play since we're missing our fourth that means no bridge."
"Go fish is a game three people can play, and yet our young satyr suggested that we play three way war instead, tell me, why not just pick the… Chiron, it appears we have a guest." The man said noticing me in the middle of his rant.
"Oh, come on over." The man in a wheelchair said turning towards me. "Who brought you here, was it Greg"?
"What? No sir, A boy named Malcolm Pace brought me here, well his father did anyway."
"Oh, well, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Chiron, I am the activities director here at camp half blood, this Dionysius, and this over here," he said pointing to Louis, "is Louis the satyr."
"Like in Greek mythology"? I asked.
"Has Malcolm not told you about yourself"? Chiron asked arching an eyebrow.
"No," I said "I just wanted to make sure he wasn't kidding about this all."
"So another camper, yeah," the other man said, I swear if he sounded even a bit less interested it would be like attending a very very slow baseball game, not that I found any sport particularly fun.
Malcolm has already shown you around"? Chiron asked.
"Uh, yeah," I responded he said he'd be along in a minute after he finished talking with a girl." I said remembering the small blond girl who had basically assaulted me with questions.
"That would be Annabeth," he responded "I'll have to talk to her about that; she tends to irritate newcomers ever since...never mind."
"Sorry that took so long." the door opened revealing Malcolm "Lord Dionysus, Chiron." he said greeting both of the adults in the room.
Chiron turned around to greet Malcolm while Dionysus just grunted a response. After Chiron and Malcolm exchanged some words involving some student called Percy Jackson, Chiron turned to me and said.
"I'm sure you can give him an official tour Malcolm."
"Yes sir. Come on Nick, I'll show you around." Malcolm said leading me out of the big house and into the heart of the camp.
