And now, chapter 2 of A Monster's Questions, brought to you by No.311, from his mobile, while on vacation.
Dedicated to Jake the Drake, for reviewing, Annechase for favoriting and following and That'70sfan for following. Thank you very much!
Disclaimer: If I did own PJO or HoO, then I wouldn't be writing this and posting it on fanfiction.
Any mistakes in grammar are to be blamed on my phone and it's wondrous digital keyboard.
After Jimmy had gone home one last time, to say goodbye to the man who raised him and to pack his stuff, he was all set to go. He figured that he would search for the girl in Camp Half-Blood first, because he was pretty sure that the girl was a demigod, and she seemed more Greek than Roman. He had a feeling that she knew something, and hoped that, even if she didn't, she could still help him convince other demigods that he wasn't a threat. After all, he didn't fancy being skewered every time he met demigods.
There was only one problem: he didn't know where the camp was. His mother hadn't known either, she had never been there. So he had to find someone who knew. He decided to travel around for a while while searching.
He smelled the air for demigods. He, as any monster, was able to smell demigods that were near. Sadly he couldn't smell any, so he applied the disguise-illusion and slithered off in a random direction to start his search.
After a while he became hungry, so he went to the nearest snackbar and ordered a menu. He munched on his burger while listening to his iPod. When he finished his burger he began with his fries. But it wasn't until he began with his shake that something happened.
A group of three people came in, hurrying to find a place to sit. The place was not full, but it was small, so the only place left was near Jimmy. One of the three kept glancing warily at Jimmy. 'Score!' Jimmy thought. For what other reason would anybody be wary of him? He shifted closer to the edge of his seat and listened to their conversation, just to be sure.
"So the Greek gods are real. Really? That's the most stupid thing I've heard since she told me of that woman that had two snake tails."
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
"It's not a joke, I'm dead serious!" The wary guy was on edge.
"Look, I'll show you." Jimmy couldn't see what happened next, but he heard hooves. The eyes of the others turned wide. "You see?" The satyr said. The others only nodded. Then he explained some things about Greek mythology to the others.
"We are kids of a god, who really exist, and because of that, we will attract monsters?"
"Exactly, and that's why you have to go to camp."
"Okay, we'll go."
Jimmy stood up, and went to them, still sipping his shake. Immediately the satyr tensed.
"We have to go, fast." He told the other two hurriedly.
"No, wait, I wanna ask you something!" Jimmy said.
"How to kill us best?" The boy said.
"No, I want to know the way to the camp." Meanwhile the satyr was handing the demigods weapons. Jimmy got a bit nervous.
"So you and your monsterfriends can attack it, huh?"
"No, to find someone."
"To kill her, isn't it?"
"No, of course not!"
"Suuuure. And next you're going to tell us that's a perfectly normal shake?"
"Actually, it is. Chocolate-flavor."
"Let's taste then." But before Jimmy could say anything, the boy got smacked by the girl.
"Are you an idiot? Maybe it's poisonous.
"Speaking of normal, how come you look normal? From what I smell, you're definitely a monster." The satyr asked.
"Illusion." Jimmy undid the illusion.
"What kind of monster are you? I've never seen you before."
"Lamia's son."
He looked at Jimmy sceptically.
"Last time I checked, Lamia had no sons. How old are you really?"
"Sixteen, over a few days." Jimmy had never seen a more sceptical look on someone's face.
"How do we know we can trust you?"
"I have no intention to kill, eat or hurt anyone. Really, I don't."
"We'll bring you to camp, but you have to give me your eyeballs on the way."
"But I don't even know if I can take them out! I can close my eyes just fine!"
"Lamia can, so you are probably able to do it too."
When he tried, he was astonished that they actually came out.
The girl winced. "Man, that's disgusting."
The journey was dark and short. For Jimmy anyways. He almost had to barf when they arrived. Damn Gray Sisters.
The boy and the girl were twins, Thomas and Kate. Thomas and the satyr hadn't wanted to give their names, but Kate gave them. The satyr was called Root. Jimmy thought it was a stupid name, but he kept quiet about it. He had told Kate some things about himself, and Kate told him some stories too.
When they neared the camp's borders, he got his eyeballs back.
"You will stay here while I go talk to Chiron." The satyr walked away.
So Jimmy waited. And waited some more. After a while he saw two kids running towards the border, with a small legion of monsters behind them. One of the kids looked dark, had a dark sword, and dark hair. The other looked like he had just awoken in a nightmare. He was small, with brown hair. Jimmy tapped in his illusion power to project a wall before the monsters. The kids didn't even notice it, and the dark kid got the brown kid safely over the border. Then he turned around, and confusion appeared on his face. The monsters where stopped by an invisible wall. The dark kid shrugged, drew his sword and proceeded by killing monsters. Jimmy tried to help him a bit by making some more illusions, but he stopped when the illusion of a glass prison accidentally hit the boy. He looked around, saw Jimmy, and glared at him in a way that sent shivers down his spine. Jimmy quickly dispelled all his illusions. When the dark kid was finished with the monsters, he turned to glare at him. Right at that moment, the satyr, Root, came back.
"Chiron has agreed to let you in the camp, so I hereby give you permission to pass through the border." They went through the border and left the confused dark kid behind.
Jimmy followed Root to the big house, where a man in a wheelchair was waiting for them.
"Hello, young one. I'm Chiron. I suppose you're Lamia's son?" He gestured to the tail.
Jimmy tried to answer, but was cut off by Root.
"Yes, he is"
"And what brought you here...?"
"Jimmy. I was se-"
"He found us at a snackbar, said he wanted to go to Camp. I made the decision to-"
"I can answer perfectly fine, you know."
"But you're a monster, so-"
"Now, now, Root. There are plenty of good monsters too. Take Tyson for example. He has proven himself to be a great asset for Poseidon's army."
"But that was a cyclops! This is the son of Lamia, an ancient and dangerous monster! How ca-"
Chiron was definitely losing his cool.
"Root. You know as well as I do, that this child means no harm. He let you take his eyes in free will, to get here, and he hasn't tried to hurt anyone since he got here. Not to mention that this is Lamia's son, not Lamia herself. He deserves a chance."
Root was silent after that.
"Now, Jimmy, what brought you here."
And Jimmy told them about what happened in the last few days, his nightmares, dying because of a misunderstanding, meeting his mother, finding out some things from his mother, reforming, and his search. He told Chiron he wanted to at least settle things with camp half-blood, so that he could search without getting attacked by every demigod he met.
After he was finished, Chiron nodded in thought. "It's not unheard of, such an agreement. But I must warn you. Many demigods have suffered at the hands of monsters. They will not hesitate to try to set other demigods up against you. Even if the demigods won't be allowed to attack you, you have to be careful. Travelling with your disguise-illusion may be necessary. And almost every demigod will be wary of you. Take Root for example. There will also be demigods who will try to provoke you or test you because they don't trust you."
Jimmy nodded.
"Come, Jimmy. I will introduce you to Annabeth, our camp leader. We will introduce you to the others at the campfire."
Chiron magically grew from his wheelchair into the centaur he was. Jimmy was amazed, but not that much. After all, he had a tail, slit eyes and fangs. Chiron led him to the arena and told him to wait a bit. After a minute or so he came back with the familiar blonde girl. They shared a look of recognition.
"What are you doing here?" Annabeth stuttered.
"Have you met before?"
Jimmy was happy that he found her and uncomfortable at the same time.
"Yeah... You can say that." He said.
Chiron was no fool, and he decided not to press the matter.
"Well, Annabeth, Jimmy is here to get into an agreement with camp half-blood against attacking eachother, so he can fully focus on his search, and not on hostile demigods."
"Ah... Okay."
"If you see it fit, you may give him a tour of the camp. I will leave now for you to settle things."
Chiron left.
Silence. They stood there for a while, tension almost visible, in silence.
Annabeth was the first one to say something.
"Is it... True?"
"...what?"
"That you only recently found out that you're a monster?"
"Yeah, I found out after you... You know."
"Oh."
Silence again.
"...And?" Jimmy asked.
"And what?"
"The tour?"
"Oh, of course." Annabeth led him to an oval of cabins.
Jimmy slithered along. "Uh, Jimmy, maybe it's best to hide your tail now."
"Oh, Sorry." Jimmy quickly switched the disguise-illusion on.
"These are the cabins where the demigods live. They are ranked by god. Over there is Zeus cabin..." She pointed to a large, stone cabin "Hera..." She pointed to the cabin next to Zeus' cabin. Jimmy guessed from the way she said 'Hera' that she didn't like her much.
"Poseidon..." Her voice cracked. "Hades... Athena... Ares... Aphrodite... Apollo..." She pointed out every cabin, in random order, and told him some things about minor gods. Jimmy found some cabins rather interesting. He didn't see green fire every day. Annabeth carried on with the tour. "Over there is the arena, the climbing wall, and the stables. Archery is trained here, and chariot races are held over there. The forge, the armory and the dining pavilion are there. We also have a lake, and a forest, where our oracle lives." Jimmy made a mental note to get himself at least one weapon before he left. _
The two had been walking around for a while, when Jimmy asked the question that had been bugging him for a while. "Have we met before?"
Annabeth didn't see that one coming. "What? We have, remember, at your school."
"No, before that."
"No, not that I know of. Why?"
"Just asking."
"Ah."
"Is that lava on the climbing wall?"
"Yes."
"Ah."
His nose exploded from the now sickly sweet smell. When he was with only a small amount of half-bloods, it smelled nice. In the camp, where a gigantic amount of half-bloods was spread over a distance of a few miles, it was bearable. In the dining pavillion, where all the half-bloods were at the time, it was killing him. But he endured.
Chiron clopped his hoof on the table, announcing the announcements. He also gestured Jimmy to come over.
"Campers! Today, we have a guest."
Muttering ensued. Chiron clopped his hoof. "Jimmy here, is Lamia's son." Jimmy undid the illusion. Some campers, who mostly consisted of Athena and Ares campers, booed.
Jimmy figured it was because the Athena cabin was probably the only cabin that bothered reading those myths, and the Ares cabin because, well, he was a monster. Chiron continued after the pavilion was silent again. "He has come here to make peace between the camp and himself. Any questions?"
"Didn't Lamia eat kids?"
Chiron nodded at Jimmy to answer.
"I don't, and Lamia doesn't eat kids anymore."
Chiron looked around and saw there were no other questions.
"Any objections?"
If there were any, they didn't say them.
"Okay, then it's settled."
Jimmy went to sit at the table were Chiron's wheelchair stood. He belonged to none of the cabins, so he guessed he had to sit here. He looked for Annabeth, but he spotted her at the Athena table.
Chiron didn't have too much announcements, so he joined Jimmy not much later.
The food was served, and he wanted to dig in, when Chiron stopped him.
"It's a custom here to offer some food to the gods."
"Oh, sorry. Where can I do that?"
"See that fire over there? You have to scrape some food in there to offer some to the gods." He pointed to a place where a lot of kids where already queueing. Jimmy nodded and made his way to the fire. Many people tensed and he got a few glares, but they didn't bother him much. He couldn't make them trust him after all. He scraped some food in the fire, and went back again. "Hey, Chiron?"
"Yes?"
"How can I get something to drink?"
"Your goblet fills itself with wathever drink you want, you just have to think it."
"Cool." And suddenly it was filled with chocolate shake.
"And another thing..."
"Yes?"
"Can I please eat somewhere else? My nose is killing me."
"Of course. If you want, you can join us at the campfire later, if there aren't any problems."
"Okay, thanks."
Luckily the arena was bigger then the dining pavilion, and there was a fire, so the smell wasn't unbearable any more. Jimmy went to sit next to Kate. The fire was the weirdest fire he'd ever seen. It was high and really colourful. It's size and shape changed according to the mood, Kate told him. She heard it from someone else.
"Before we begin, I have... something to say." It was Annabeth. Her voice quivered. "Tonight, one year ago, was the day our lord Hades saw Percy's shade for the last time until he dissapeared." The fire immediately became small and a dark blue. "I would like some time in silence please, to pay our respect to Olympus greatest hero." Annabeth went to her seat quietly and a little bit shaking.
It was silent for a long time. Even the weather and the woods were. Then a brave soul tried to uplift the spirits of the campers again with a song. It was one of those silly camp songs, but after a while, everyone joined in, to get their thoughts off the depressing subject, except for Annabeth, the dark-haired kid Jimmy met earlier, and some other older campers, but nobody blamed them. The rest tried to just enjoy the campfire, although the sadness still lingered in the colour of the fire for the rest of the night.
And that's all for this time. Writing from my phone makes editing a lot more difficult, so I'll update this chapter with proper linebreaks and bold for the AN when I'm home and hopefully have my laptop back.
Tips are highly appriciated. Writing from the phone also means losing the bigger view of the chapter, so if there are plotholes or questions, let me know. If you liked it, please review. I'll post the next chapter when I can't continue Infiltration (like vacations or laptop checkups) or when I've finished Infiltration.
See you then,
No.311
