It was just an ordinary day at Camp Half-Blood for Percy Jackson.
Wake up; eat breakfast; meet up with Annabeth and Grover; Practice archery; sword-fight; play Capture the Flag. The usual.
Until Clarisse decided to show up.
"Yo, Seaweed Brain!" Clarisse LaRue, daughter of Ares, yelled across the pavilion. Percy stiffened.
Without turning around, he called back, "Only Annabeth can call me that, Clarisse." Percy knew that when his girlfriend called him Seaweed Brain, she used it as a term of endearment -but when Clarisse tried to call him that, it was meant as an insult.
Clarisse sneered and took a few long strides to shorten the distance between Percy and herself. Once she was close enough, she tapped him on the shoulder and waited for him to turn around.
Percy, who had been talking to his half-brother, Tyson -who also happened to be a Cyclops -paused for a moment. He knew that if he turned around, Clarisse would take that as an invitation to continue to harass him, just to his face this time. Quite frankly, Percy had had enough of Clarisse and her angry, taunting demeanor that she apparently reserved especially for him. Firmly deciding to not be baited by the brute girl, Percy ignored the persistent tap on his shoulder and resumed his conversation with his favorite brother.
"Anyways, Tyson, I was thinking maybe we should go to the beach. We could ask Dad if he'd let us visit him at his underwater palace while we're there -he might say yes this time, since there's no danger going on right now. How do you like the sound of that? "
"I LOVE IT! I wanna go to the beach and see Daddy!" Tyson clapped his hands eagerly, looking like an exuberant, bouncing little boy. Percy couldn't contain his smile. It was hard not to love Tyson.
"Hey! Percy! I'm trying to get you to look over here, can't you see that? Look at me." Clarisse yelled even though she was standing right behind Percy and knew he could hear her perfectly well, even if she whispered.
Again, Percy tried to ignore her. He remembered what Chiron had told him that last time that he and Clarisse had gotten into a… disagreement.
It had been during Capture the Flag. Percy's team won. Clarisse's team lost. Needless to say, Clarisse hadn't taken that news too well, losing to a son of Poseidon, when her dad was the God of War himself.
"Don't forget, Clarisse, that Percy was on MY team and my mother is Goddess of War. Ares and Athena both own battles and combats, remember? My team had a fair chance -besides it's not anyone's fault if Percy's better than you." Annabeth had argued. Percy had been encouraging her up until that last statement. That was what had sent Clarisse over the edge.
"He is not better than me!" She had shrieked and lunged towards Annabeth, where Percy instinctively stepped in. He knew Annabeth could handle herself just fine against Clarisse, but as her boyfriend, he felt it was his duty to protect her at all costs.
Percy had summoned up the river that they had been standing close to and had initially soaked Clarisse to the core when he threw the entire river at her. One of his favorite things about having the God of the Sea as his father, was that he could control water and make it do his bidding whenever he pleased.
"You'll pay for this, Jackson." Clarisse had threatened. She had stalked off just as Chiron had come galloping towards them. He noticed how Clarisse had been dripping wet, he noticed how the campers laughed, and he noticed how the river was now empty. He had immediately known it had been Percy's doing.
"But, she tried to attack Annabeth! Chiron, I had no choice!" Percy had pleaded when Chiron informed him that he would be grounded to his cabin.
"You could have stopped her another way, Percy. You could have prevented this whole fiasco if you would just learn to control yourself. You can't abuse your powers like this, Percy." Chiron had admonished sharply. "This is your last warning. If you fight with Clarisse again, I will sentence you to no activities for one month instead of one week; and I will have to be calling in your mother. Or perhaps even your father himself."
At that revelation, Percy had paled a few notches. The thought of having to bring Poseidon from his busy work under the ocean or at Mount Olympus, just so that he could deal with his errant son who wouldn't stop taking advantage of his powers to win a fight, didn't sound like it would sit well with Poseidon.
"It won't happen again, Chiron." Percy had promised.
That had only been three weeks ago.
Clarisse had left him alone for the week that he was on restriction and then for some time after. But, it looked like she was back to her regular self, doing what she loved to do most -harass Percy.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth greeted as she entered the pavilion and sat on Percy's right. She leaned over and kissed him chastely, before turning to say hi to Tyson and Grover. It was obvious that she, too, was making a show of ignoring Clarisse.
Suddenly, something hit Percy in his back, right in the center of his spine. He lurched forward and groaned at the pain that had just been inflicted. He reached back to rub at his back, but someone caught his hand and twisted it painfully behind him.
"I told you that you would pay for it." Clarisse whispered harshly into his ear before dragging him up and backwards.
Immediately, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover were on their feet.
"Let go of my brother; you're hurting him, you big meanie!" Tyson whined and Clarisse laughed.
"That's the point, my dear Cyclops." She snarled before spinning Percy around and grabbing him in a headlock.
"Uh uh. I don't think so, Clarisse. You better get your big paws off my best friend before I get angry." Grover warned, stomping his hooves in warning. Clarisse ignored him. It was Annabeth's turn now.
"Clarisse, I'm warning you. Let him go. Now." Annabeth hissed through clenched teeth. She looked absolutely menacing at this point, but Clarisse was unfazed.
"Make me."
The pavilion grew deadly silent. Even Percy, still in Clarisse's strong headlock, stopped struggling and breathing all together. Grover was the one to break the eerie silence.
"Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong!"
Clarisse let go of Percy and he went crashing down onto the floor. She stepped in front of Percy and held him down with one foot, preventing any chance of escape or even of standing up.
"War God's daughter vs. the War Goddess' daughter! Look, everyone, this is gonna be good!" Someone yelled out, and everybody else gathered around closer to get a look at the fight that was about to begin.
"Annabeth, don't -" Percy began but was silenced when Clarisse kicked him in the stomach. That was the last straw for Annabeth.
The tall, blonde, usually pacifistic girl, saw red and swiftly drew her sword out from its sheath. The collective gasp from the on-lookers made it obvious that they just realized how serious this fight was going to be. They could only hope to prevent it if it became one to the death, but they doubted it would come to that.
Clarisse looked around nervously before fumbling for a weapon of her own. When she finally found one, what she produced was an arrow lodged safely in her boot. She snatched the bow away from one of her siblings, while another one provided her with a sword as well.
One of Annabeth's half-brothers handed her a small dagger, which she accepted stoically while one of her half-sisters offered a shield, which Annabeth promptly denied.
Never once taking her eyes off of Percy lying on the ground, watching her, Annabeth began to circle Clarisse.
"Hold him down." Clarisse barked to no one in particular, but several of the other Ares kids rushed forward to seize him. He tried to kick his way free, but their grip on him was too strong.
At first all that happened was an intense stare-down between the two girls -until Clarisse decided to land the first blow. She increased the distance between her cousin and herself and launched her only arrow.
"No!" Percy screamed, knowing that at the angle it was thrown, it would hit Annabeth squarely in the head.
Time seemed to slow as the arrow whizzed over to where Annabeth stood still standing. As soon as the arrow came close enough, Annabeth arched her back and threw her head back and down, as if she were doing the limbo.
The arrow went right above her neck and head, sticking to the wall behind her. The Athena and Poseidon cabins cheered. For Annabeth, it was all about precision and perfect timing and logic.
One glance over at her boyfriend captured by the Ares cabin, and the girl's anger surged once more. She lunged at Clarisse, swinging her sword expertly and nearly catching Clarisse through the head.
In all her fear, Clarisse had a mind enough to actually duck, just as the sword passed through the space where her head had previously been. The tip of the sword grazed her scalp and Clarisse let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She drew her own sword and the battle officially begun.
All the half-bloods present moved back quickly, allowing the girls a certain range of space for their intense swordplay. It was obvious to everyone that Annabeth was winning. The evidence were the gashes Clarisse now sported, along with the fact that Annabeth was not sweating a drop while Clarisse struggled to blink her own sweat away from her eyes.
"Tell your cabin to release Percy!" Annabeth shrieked as she dove for Clarisse once more.
"No!" Clarisse yelled bravely, though she was feeling anything but brave. Embarrassed and defeated more like it.
"Fine, have it your way. I can do this all day." Annabeth mumbled. She didn't want to actually stab Clarisse, because she wasn't that kind of person, but she could have a long time ago.
The two girls circled each other and continued swinging their swords around, shoving and grunting at the effort.
Finally, Percy just couldn't take it anymore. Even as he stared in awe at how wonderfully his girlfriend handled herself, and he knew that she was more than capable of handling herself and taking care of him all at once, he didn't want her life to be at risk any longer. He knew Clarisse wouldn't be able to hurt her, much less stab her, but he didn't want to take any chances.
Peering over at the water fountain in the back corner of the gazebo, Percy willed the water to rush out. And it did.
Slowly at first, just a trickle coming out of the fountain's faucet… Then, WHAM!
A wave of ice-cold water surged from the tiny fountain and soaked Clarisse, her siblings, and anybody who was rooting for her, to the core. Percy made sure to have the water steer clear of Annabeth.
Some of the water splashed at the feet of the Aphrodite girls and they squealed.
"My feet!" they screeched, glaring at Percy. He immediately drew the water away from them and left in as a giant puddle.
"AGAIN? SERIOUSLY!" Clarisse bellowed in anger and frustration. Her, now wet, siblings began to attack Percy viciously. The Athena cabin surged forward to save their sister's boyfriend while the Poseidon cabin -which now had more members -charged forward as well. Even the Hephaestus and Apollo cabins came to help Percy. Pretty soon, the entire camp was fighting with someone else, Clarisse and Annabeth still going at each other, Clarisse slipping and sliding around while the water obediently steered clear of Annabeth.
In the midst of all the fighting, and through all the blows, Percy managed to control the water in the sinks and toilets in the bathrooms that were located on the other side, by the door.
Every gallon of water erupted from the bathrooms and caused a "mini" tsunami in the pavilion. This time, Percy wasn't as focused, so he drenched everyone on the opposing side, and accidentally some of his own "teammates".
"Sorry!" He yelled to those that he hadn't mean to wet. They shrugged it off, smiling.
"What in Hades is going on here?!" Chiron bellowed as he dashed into the soaking pavilion. He noticed that half of the campers were dripping with water and a lot of them were sporting bruises and several injuries, none too serious.
"Percy. This was your doing?" Chiron asked tensely, not even looking in Percy's direction. Before he could answer, Tyson, of all people, spoke up.
"It wasn't Percy's fault, Chiron! Clarisse attacked him! Annie-beth and the meanie started fighting with their big knifes and THEN Percy made the room get wet. Everyone started fighting and a tsunami came." Tyson explained, thinking he had just helped Percy, which in fact, he had only made matters worse for him.
"Thank you, Tyson. Does anyone have anything to add to that?" Chiron spoke calmly. When nobody answered, he continued in an equally calm tone, though everyone knew it meant trouble.
"Very well then. Clarisse, Annabeth, Percy -I would like you to come with me to the Big House please."