Author's Notes:
Well, here is the next chapter. I will try to update as fast as possible. Most of story is planned out, except for some minor details, so all I have to do now is to type, which is easier said than done… Someone asked about pairings, and no, this is not a Percy x Artemis story. Sorry to disappoint you, but I feel like most of the stories I come across are something about guardian of the hunt that lead to Percy and Artemis falling in love. To be completely honest, I'm not too sure if there's going to be a pairing in this story. Sorry to disappoint again… I do have an idea, so you have to wait and find out yourself :D As always, thank you for reading. Follow, Favorite, or leave a review to give me feedback is very welcomed. Enjoy!
*Spoilers*
First thing first, this chapter is mainly to set up for future events, so it's not really interesting. For now, I will stick to the cannon, but I promise that things will be different very soon. Second thing I want to mention is that a big thing I want to focus on in this story is the aspect of the hero's fatal flaw. I think it has a lot of potential to be play around with, hence, character development.
Third thing I want to talk about is Percy Jackson. This Percy will be a bit OOC because this is his second life, meaning that he has matured and will do things and view things differently. And before you ask, yes, this Percy will be quite OP in the end, however, he will have a learning curve. Alright, as always, hope you enjoy!
*Story Starts*
I'm going to be completely honest here, this really wasn't how I saw my day going. I mean, our odds of winning the war against Gaia was quite low, but I certainly didn't expect to be tortured and actually die in the end. Actually, on a second thought, I shouldn't even be surprised by this chain of events, seeing as how things would always go awry for me in the end. However, I didn't think that things would end up in destruction where I was forced watch all my friends and families die with my own eyes.
Then there was Annabeth.
The horrifying image of her getting engulfed by the earthen hands was something that would never be forgotten. The pair of grey, stormy eyes that I saw right before she disappeared was full of sadness and despair that no longer radiated bliss and joy. I never got a chance to say my goodbyes and sorrow to her or any of my friends, including Jason, Frank, and many other demigods that fought courageously in this war. It was obvious that none of them blamed me for their deaths, especially Annabeth, who would definitely slap me hard across the face if she ever found out about my guilt, but the sense of dread was impossible to be shaken off. The shackle called loyalty that chained to me tightly was both a curse for myself and a bliss to the people around me.
Initially, I didn't think the intense desire to care for and save my friends as a flaw, in fact, that very thought was outrageous to me. What was wrong in protecting them? How was saving people considered as a flaw? These were the questions that my immature self couldn't grasp.
Until now.
It was until now that Athena's warning after saving Annabeth from Atlas sunk into me. She pointed out that the most dangerous flaw was the one that was good under the right circumstances. Extreme personal loyalty was beneficial when it came to forming and keeping friendships or any kind of relationships due to the fact that betrayal was simply an incomprehensible concept to me. As a result, most people, and even myself included, would never consider loyalty as a flaw due to the essence of human nature, in which trust was a hard thing to be established. Knowing that you would never be betrayed was something that most or all people wanted.
Well, that was the bliss of personal loyalty, but it could quickly turn into a curse. The right circumstances that Athena mentioned may be referring to the time of peace. However, when it came to losing someone, the trait that everyone desired was now a flaw. Guilt would always pile up, and I would continuously place the blame of the world on my shoulders. Thoughts that 'I should've done more' or 'if only I protected them better' arose in my mind, along with many other what-ifs. Maybe if I was strong enough to defeat Atlas myself, then Zoe would still be alive with the hunters. Maybe if I was able to see through Luke from the very beginning, then Selena and Beckendorf would not be in Elysium right now, or maybe if I had held up my end of the promise and protected my friends, then Annabeth wouldn't be dead right now. If I had a chance, I was willing to sacrifice myself to the gods in exchange for everyone's happy and lively faces.
"Please don't think about sacrificing yourself," an ancient voice mused in my head, breaking my train of thoughts. The voice was too deep and also lacked the iconic British accent for it to be that of Charon's, besides, finding me in a sea of dead required too much effort for the lazy ferryman. I fluttered my eyes open in surprise and ascended into another level of shock when I took in the scenery before me. Fully expecting myself to be in the D.O.A recording studio with a bunch of other dead souls, I was instead greeted by an intense ray of gold that would make Apollo pale in comparison. Instinctively, I raised my arm over my eyes, trying to block out the shine, but was met with a very serious problem: I didn't have an arm. Scratch that, I didn't have a solidified body as I was basically transparent, floating in midair.
As if reading my mind, the mysterious voice spoke up, "Ah yes, as you noticed yourself, you died, so you're a ghost right now." After stating the obvious, it continued on. "Perseus Jackson, if you are willing to hear me out, I have a deal that I want to make with you." There could only be two explanations for the person to know my name. Either he was a divine entity or he was a monster, and judging by the fact that we lost the war not too long ago, I was leaning towards the former suspicion since all monsters should be busy celebrating their victory.
"I'm listening," I responded right back into the empty space, deciding that there was nothing else to lose, so might as well hear him out. I mean, I was dead, so the worst thing that could happen was probably Field of Punishment. "But first, who is it that I'm talking to exactly?" I voiced out my question. The identity of the person who I was talking to has to be known first because if it was someone who was helping Gaia, then I would have to reject the proposal no matter how tempting it may be.
When the lights dimmed down, a cloaked figure walked out with a staff in hand. It wasn't just an ordinary wooden staff, but one with an golden orb that seemed to warp reality spinning endlessly on top. Under the hood was a pair of golden eyes, shining brightly and radiating power. My initial thoughts as to his identity drifted to Kronos, who also possessed the same kind of orbs, but they differed from the Titan, the man in front of me emitted warmth instead of hatred and malice. His overall appearance reminded me of someone I knew, but the name was on the tip of my tongue.
Then it hit me.
"You aren't Dumbledore right?" I blurted out as I remembered the mortal movie that I watched with Annabeth couple months ago. The dirty grey robe along with the beard that trailed all the way down to the waist reminded me of the wizard in that film. I instantly regretted what I said, facepalming myself mentally at my ridiculous statement as I remembered that Dumbledore didn't have an hourglass necklace, let alone the golden eyes. To top it off, he was a wizard, not a divine entity.
"Dumbo- what?" The figure in front of me asked confusingly, and I waved him off, motioning him to disregard my comment. With a nod, he continued, "I guess people are right when they say you're dense. I'm Chronos, the Primordial God of time."
"So what is it that I can help you with, Lord Chronos?" I asked carefully this time. This was my first time speaking in front of a Primordial deity, and I couldn't help but feel a slight bit of nervousness in his presence. Not only that, since he and Kronos shared the same domain, the minor excitement that I had in the beginning was now replaced by skepticism. At the same time, I found it hilarious that I failed to recognize him after seeing the hourglass necklace and the pair of golden eyes.
"Since I have a request to make, please call me Chronos." The lord of the time insisted before he continued on. "As you know, the war is lost and Gaia now rules the world." I nodded in agreement and couldn't help but sigh at the outcome. Looking at me sympathetically, he went on. "The thing you don't know is that Gaia's plan of turning earth back to its original state will destroy the western civilization entirely, meaning that gods will all fade, including us primordials." I widened my eyes upon the revelation and couldn't help but feel responsible at the eventual extinction of humanity. My death was insignificant if I was able to save what mattered the most in the end, but that didn't happen. Because of my failure, the mortals, who were bystanders in this entire quarrel between the gods, would also face the consequence without knowing what hit them.
The guilt I I felt was brushed away at what Chronos had to say next. "Even now, I can feel myself fading. So Perseus Jackson," the lord of the time looked at me sternly. "If you are willing to accept, I will use my remaining power to infringe upon the laws that govern this world and reverse events that 'were' into events that 'may be'." It took a moment for the information to sink in and when it finally did, my jaw dropped a bit. Was I able to go back in time to make things right? My thoughts cut off as Chronos continued, "Return. As you will return under my power, you can be considered my champion. As such, I shall grant you a boon. May you enjoy the gift I have given you."
This, I acknowledged, may potentially be the single most life changing event to occur to me, but there was another question that I had in mind as I became more and more oriented with the sheer scale of what Chronos meant to do. "Why me? Why did you choose me out of everyone. I'm sure that you could ask another powerful demigod like Jason." I pointed out in confusion, which earned myself a chuckle from the primordial god.
"That is a valid question," Chronos nodded his head before continuing on. "You are loyal to a fault, Perseus. Your hero's path is to save and protect the ones you love and just as you believe in gods, perhaps it is time for us gods to believe in you." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head in embarrassment after hearing his reason.
"Yeah, you're right," I managed to get out and couldn't help but sigh. True, I never wanted any of this demigod nonsense. Maybe the idea of being a half god and have the ability over a certain element was exciting to mortals, but the chaotic events in this world made me wish for otherwise.
If I had a choice, I would rather be a mortal, studying normally in schools without having to destroy a classroom or a teacher that was actually a fury in disguise. My entire life was continuous training in order to have a better chance of surviving the merciless monsters out in the real world. After witnessing Bianca and Zoe's death, I realized that I needed to train harder to protect the people around me. To most men, power was equivalent to social status: the more you had, the higher up the ladder you were. In other words, the desire for power was purely based off of selfish reasons to achieve more fame and attention. For me, power was a mean to save and protect. I could care less about how people thought of me as long as my friends were well and alive.
"I accept this offer then, my lord," I said politely. "But what happens if I fail?"
Giving me a small shrug, Chronos answered, "If that is as the Fates decree to be the true end, then let it be so. Time would return back to its original path and everything will be erased. You and I, moreso, will be wiped from all existence for daring to break the Timeless Covenant."
I gulped down nervously at his casual revelation at the potential annihilation of humanity. Once again, the fate of the world was resting on my shoulders, and no different from last time, failure was not an option.
A confused look spread across my face when Chronos snapped his finger all of a sudden and moments later, three figures were flying in our direction, carrying something what seemed to be a person. Upon closer look, my rather perplexed thought morphed into that of surprised as I realized that the three flying figures were the Fates, and the body they were carrying was me. Not going to lie, it felt weird looking at my limbless body from a bird's eye view.
"Ah there it is," Chronos exclaimed while I looked at him confusingly. "That's your body Perseus, and all we have to do now is to put your soul back in there." I nodded in understanding but furrowed my brows right after when I realized that there was one more problem.
"Erm," I spoke up. "But what are you going to do with my missing limbs."
The lord of the time only stared at me strangely and waved his hand dismissively. "We put them back on, obviously."
I couldn't help but sigh at his response. I mean, he was not wrong about putting them back, but how was he going to do it? Perhaps regrow the limbs? I shook my head but couldn't help but chuckle and decided to wait and find out myself.
When the three Fates landed in front of us, Chronos nodded appreciatively. "Thank you for helping and please thank Nyx for me as well. Tell her that we will meet again some time to discuss more." The three sisters nodded and turned their attention to me. Looking at them only sent me chills down my spine as I recalled my first encounter with them on the busride home from Yancy Academy. Grover was terrified when he saw the thread of life being cut by Atropos, the Fate of Death, while I was utterly confused and couldn't understand how an old woman cutting a thread meant that I was doomed to die. What we didn't know was that the three sisters wasn't showing my fate, but Luke's. In the end, he died a hero's death: tragic but courageous.
"So uh," I began nervously when they were still staring at me. "Is there anything that I can do for you?" I asked politely. Offending Ares? No problem, since I could always whoop his ass again. But offending the Fate? I did not wish to have anymore unnecessary hardships in my life.
Finally deciding to break the awkward staring contest, Clotho, the Fate of Birth, spoke up. "Perseus Jackson," she began with a hoarse voice. "Your fate is no longer in our hands." Right when she finished, Lachesis, the Fate of Life, continued, "Not everyone can get a second chance. We will be watching you on your quest to defeat Gaia again. And if you fail again," Atropos cut in to finish the last part, and I swore I could see a smirk on her face. "I will not hesitate to cut your thread of life."
I couldn't help but gulped down nervously at her remarks. At the same time, I knew that this was a chance that shouldn't even be offered to me. By going back in time, I would be breaking a lot of ancient laws that could possibly doom my own fate. I guess it made sense when the Fates said that they no longer have the control over my life.
"Well," I managed to get out, trying to come up with a response. "I guess I'll see you soon?" I ended by chuckling nervously. In response, the three old ladies gave me a nod and disappeared.
"Now that they are gone," Chronos said. "There's only one last thing to do." I looked at the Lord of the Time in confusion when he began to chant quietly. After couple of seconds, my transparent outline began to glow softly, slowly merging with the physical body that the Three Fates brought earlier.
"Woah," I exclaimed when the entire process was completed, and it did feel good to be back in my own body instead of floating around in space.
"You have everything you need now, Percy," Chronos began seriously. "Now is it up to you to complete the deal." He paused a bit and gave me a mischievous look, which I didn't find it particularly comforting. "When you're awake, there will be some surprises awaiting you." Before I could even respond, he gave me a wink and snapped his fingers, and for the second time today—or was it even the same day? Hard to tell when you're dead—darkness was the last thing I remembered.
*Scene Break*
"Percy," a familiar voice yelled desperately. It sounded so far away, yet it felt like it was right next to me. My vision was blurry and my other senses were definitely distorted, additionally, the whole world seemed to be spinning around me, making it near impossible for me to comprehend my surroundings.
"Get up, Percy!" The voice screamed again. "Take Grover and run!" Wait a second, Grover? Now that got me confused. Get Grover and run? Run to where? Where am I?
Taking a deep breathe and pushing those questions behind, I slowly regained my own bearings. I blinked a few times to make sure that I wasn't dreaming because the event that was unfolding in front of me happened exactly six years ago. Maybe this was the surprise that Chronos was referring to.
In this dark and raining night, an exploded Camaro was flipped to my right with its windows all shattered into pieces. The trees around us weren't looking so great either as they were all torn down by the gigantic creature that was standing few feet away from us. Laying motionlessly next to me was the satyr that I first befriended while I was at Yancy Academy, Grover Underwood. As if time has stopped, I paused when I saw the other person. It had been ages since I last saw my mom, and I couldn't help but tear up a little inside.
"Stop staring Percy!" my mom shouted, snapping me back to reality. Right, the number one priority right now was to escort Grover back to Camp Half-Blood and fight off the Minotaur that almost killed my friend and family last time. At the thought of that, my blood began to boil as I stared down the first monster that I slayed years ago, and at the same time, a vicious feeling of deja vu coursed through my body.
I remembered I was confused and scared when this mythical creature appeared in front of me last time, threatening to take our lives. By sacrificing herself, my mom made sure that Grover and I made it past the boundary line safely before getting herself kidnapped by the Lord of the Dead right after. Nonetheless, the same thing won't happen again. No longer confused or petrified by this monster in front of me, I was ready to send him back to where he came from.
And of course, my demigod luck, or more accurately defined as misfortune, prevailed once again.
As I reached down into my pocket to find my trustworthy pen, my hand was met with nothing. The enchanted sword would always find its way back to my pocket, and I couldn't understand why it failed this time. My thoughts were racing, trying to come up with a logical reason that could possibly lead up to this. Maybe Chronos wasn't able to or forgot to send the sword back in time with me? Or maybe I just needed to give it a few more minutes for Riptide to reappear in my pocket?
The constant moaning and groaning from Grover was distracting my thoughts and I really wanted to kick him so hard that he would fly and crash into the Big House where Chiron and Dionysus were in, probably playing poker or some other card game. At that moment, I widened my eyes and bit back a curse as realization finally hit me. Chronos didn't mess up, and Riptide wouldn't show up in my pocket no matter how long I waited. At this moment of time, Chiron still had the sword and would only give it to me before I left for the first quest. Therefore, as of right now, I was weaponless and to make matters worse, the Minotaur in front of me was out for some snacks.
Getting Grover into safety was priority. His lack of consciousness and mobility would only hinder me, putting all of us in danger when there was an extra person, or satyr in this case, that I needed to keep an eye out for. At the same time, I was a bit hesitant because that would leave my mom out in the open to fend for herself, and I was not willing to put her life in danger again. Without a weapon, the situation was not favorable, and I had a bad feeling that history would repeat itself.
"Mom," I yelled, finally made up my mind. "I'm going to drag Grover into the camp. I will come back for you." Without another word, I knelt down and tried to carried the unconscious half goat, half human, bridal style, but quickly realized another problem.
"Actually," I spoke up again. "I think I might need your help!" I thought with the years of training I had, picking up Grover would be a piece of cake. How wrong was I. Simply walking or moving any part of my body felt weird or foreign, to be exact. In other words, it felt like I was learning how to move my limbs again, relearning how to use those muscles for specific tasks.
At my request, my mom sprinted towards me, while I dropped Grover back on the ground, flinging one of his arm behind my neck and the other behind my mom's. My heart sunk with every step that got us closer to the camp's border as I knew that the inevitable was bound to happen.
"Percy," My mom managed to get out while collecting her breath after we had reached the top of the hill. A sense of nostalgia washed over me when I bathed in the scenery before my eyes, reminiscing about the place that I once called home. "Go now! I can't go any further. Run for help!"
Before I could answer, the Minotaur grabbed my mom from the waist, squeezing her tightly, and the next thing I knew, she disappeared in a golden light. I knew she was still alive, only to be sent to Hades' realm as a hostage and later used as a bargaining chip against me for his missing Helm of Darkness. Despite knowing all that, I couldn't forget the pained expression that she had when the monster was crushing her. Even after having a second chance with all my memories remained, I still couldn't protect my mom from Hades' grasp. At least knowing that her life wasn't at risk right now was enough for me, but I was still extremely disappointed at myself.
After sending my mom in a one way trip to Hades' realm, the Minotaur growled ferociously, turning its attention towards me. Making sure that Grover was safe behind the boundary line, I got up and slowly advanced towards the monster.
"Let's see what you got, Ground Beef," I grumbled quietly, only loud enough for me to hear. The fight would be difficult without a weapon, but definitely not impossible with my demigod powers. Luckily for me, the Minotaur only knew how to charge in a straight line, allowing me to deviate a much simple plan unlike fighting a hydra or drakon.
With a dignifying roar, the bull charged straight at me, and with my monster fighting skills that had cummulated throughout the years of training, I side stepped the very last second and dodged the strike. Sluggish was the first thing that came into my mind after the Minotaur ran past me as I barely rolled to the side in time to evade the fatal blow. After missing me the first time, the Minotaur glared at me venomously before readying himself for round two. I took a deep breath and drew the godly powers residing within me. Using the rain to my advantage, I concentrated all the liquids around me into small but dense pellets, all pointing towards the Minotaur who began to charge again. With a wave of my arm, I fired my water bullets, but to my dismay, the impact was deflected when the monster raised its arm. Though my attack was able to deal out some flesh wounds, it still wasn't enough to slow him down, and unfortunately, my hostility only further enraged the bull in front of me.
Then next thing I knew, I was airborne and had to brace myself before I crashed into the trees behind me. Before I had time to collect myself, my battle senses told me to roll to the side to avoid being crush into a human pancake. Cold sweat dripped down from my forehead as I noticed the crater that was created few seconds ago not too far away. I forced myself to get up again when I heard the sound of dirt being kicked back; He was ready for round three.
To my surprise, it seemed that my body was having trouble to keep up with the physical stress that I'd been exerting up to this point. A small fight against a brainless opponent such as the Minotaur should be a piece of cake, additionally, after years of endurance training, it didn't make sense that I was being worn down so quickly. I shook my head and refocus on the fight, decided that pondering on those questions would not help me whatsoever.
"Alright then," I muttered to myself. "Let me introduce you to the son of the earthshaker then." Right as the beast began to charge, I called upon the other power within me and stomped the ground hard with my foot, generating a mini earthquake that instantly unbalanced the bull. No doubt that the camp itself was feeling this disturbance, but I could always blame it on Poseidon if they questioned me. Since the King of Gods and the Lord of the Sea were having a quarrel of their own regarding to the missing lightning bolt, directing some frustration to the mortal world by unleashing couple earthquakes or storms was something that Poseidon did frequently.
Allowing the shake to continue, I slowly advanced to the Minotaur who was still struggling to regain his balance. Without any other word, I drew the moisture in the air and hardened the water into an ice spear before driving it through the monster's chest, disintegrating him on the spot. I released my control over my powers, but couldn't stop myself from collapsing onto my knees in exhaustion. Just like last time, I passed out on the hills, and the last thing I remembered was Grover mumbling something about enchiladas and couple campers screaming down below us.
*Scene Break*
Demigod dreams were usually vivid and could often foreshadow upcoming events. Say for example, I was dreaming about eating blue pancakes at the dinner pavilion with other campers sitting in their respective tables, devouring food while chatting with their siblings. It was a rather pleasant sight but of course, nightmares always followed closely behind.
It wasn't surprising at all that my dream was displaying an ongoing argument between the two sons of Kronos. The throne room was completely empty with the exception of Zeus and Poseidon, with the former one sitting in his throne and the latter one pacing back and forth in the middle with his arms folded behind. No conversation was being made, and the only sound that could be heard was the crackling noise coming from the hearth.
"So," Zeus finally spoke up, glaring at his brother while doing so. "Do you want to explain why there is a demigod of yours? Especially after we swore upon to not sire anymore demigods."
"Might I remind you," Poseidon responded with a calm yet dangerous tone. "You were the one who broke the oath first. What was her name again? Ah, Thalia, right?" Poseidon taunted, enraging the King of Gods, who stood up furiously while slamming the arms of his throne.
"YOU DARE-" Zeus snapped angrily, but Poseidon cut him off in the middle of the sentence.
"I dare challenge you and your pride? Yes, I am" Poseidon admitted. "Your pride doesn't allow you to see your own mistake. Your pride also blinds you, thinking that I would steal your Master Bolt."
"And just why wouldn't you do so?" Zeus snarled with a challenging voice, which made Poseidon gripped onto his trident tightly. If only I could speak or transmit my thoughts in my dreams, then I could easily clear up this misunderstanding by telling them that Luke was being manipulated by Kronos to start a civil war between the gods.
I was scared that the God of Earthquakes and Seas would smash his trident and unleash natural disasters upon the mortal world, instead, he glared at Zeus and spatted, "I will make you regret what you said. If you're wrong, oh mighty King of Gods, then I demand an apology in front of the entire council." With that declaration, Poseidon dissolved into a sea breeze, leaving Zeus sending down bolts of lightning in fury.
Suddenly, I felt someone shaking my body violently, and I couldn't help but groaned and opened my eyes. I yelped in surprised when a familiar pair of stormy grey eyes greeted me. Those were the eyes that I would never forget, and the last time I saw them, they were full of pain and despair.
Looking at me in anticipation was Annabeth, and I knew exactly what she was going to ask. It was our first conversation, though it ended up with me saying something along the lines of "What?", it was still quite memorable.
"Yes, yes" I began and tried to wave my arm dismissively, but only to find that my muscles were all protesting at being abused last night. "You are going to ask me about summer solstice." The daughter of Athena widened her eyes in surprised.
"How do you know? But never mind that. What is going to happen?" she asked in amazement and prompted me to continue.
Struggling to get myself up from the bed, I asked her for help. "You wanna help me get up? Take me to Chiron, and your questions will be answered." Annabeth hesitated but decided to follow through what I asked.
WIth her assistance, I managed to get out of the bed, but found myself to wobble greatly, but thankfully, Annabeth noticed and allowed me to place my arm around her shoulder for support. An intense ray of sunlight hit me as I walked out from the rather dim room. Campers were all busy doing their chores or training, and in front of me, was a table with three figures sitting around it. The first one I noticed was the centaur and my mentor, who was busy reading a newspaper. Right next to him was the god that I disliked the most out of all Olympians. Instead of reading a newspaper like Chiron, Dionysus was flipping through a wine magazine while sipping on a cup of diet coke in a wine glass. The last figure who was sitting at the other end of the table was my friend, Grover, who was stealing nervous glances at the other two present with him.
"Ahem," Annabeth coughed and drew everyone's attention, except for the God of Wine, unsurprisingly. Chiron put down his newspaper and looked at me, while Grover widened his eyes and bleated, "Percy! You're alive!" His enthusiasm disappeared as fast as it came when he looked back at Dionysus. "I mean," Grover quickly added. "I'm sorry about your mom."
Chiron gave Grover a meaningful glare, and the already anxious satyr was no in full panic mode. "Oh gods," Grover palmed his face and began sobbing. "I didn't mean to say that. I'm sure your mom is still alive."
Thankfully, Chiron interrupted to save me from confronting him. "Ah I see our new recruit is awake!" Chiron said cheerfully. "And Grover, why don't you go check up with cabin eleven to see if they can make room for Percy here." With a nod, Grover got up and left without another word.
"Alright Percy," Chiron continued with a serious tone. "I know a lot had happened, so how are you feeling right now?"
"I'm not sure," I answered. I knew full well that Chiron was asking me about the Minotaur, but I decided to give him an ambiguous answer and played along. "What exactly happened to my mom?"
I could see Chiron grimaced a bit, but he quickly reassured me, "Percy my boy, I'm sure your mother is still alive." I nodded grimly but motioned him to continue. "I know this might seem to be shocking to you, but remember the Greek Gods and stories we went over during class?" I nodded again. "Well, they are all real."
The first time when I was told that Greek mythologies were not legends, but real facts, I was stuck in denial for a very long time. This time around, I merely shrugged, which earned myself a surprised look from Chiron.
"I mean," I began carefully. "That will explain my missing math teacher, Mrs. Dodds right?"
Shifting uncomfortably, Chiron nodded his head, "You are correct, but I was hoping that the Mist will be strong enough to hide the truth from you. But I guess you are still able to figure it out."
"Yeah," I told him. "But it's still hard to believe that the gods are still alive." I quickly added in the end to try to sound as surprised as possible. "So is this Dionysus, the wine dude?" At my remark, the God of Wine peaked up from his magazine and made eye contact with me for the first time.
"You mortals don't know anything at all," Dionysus muttered before he turned his attention back to his readings. "And don't call me that again, Peter Johnson. If you do, I'll turn you into grapevines and harvest you when you're ripe." I merely rolled my eyes at his threat, and I was glad that he didn't seem to notice.
"Uh, why don't you go follow Annabeth while she gives you a tour of the camp? She seems to be waiting," Chiron suggested, his face was covered with worries.
I gave the old centaur a nod of thanks and found my way to the daughter of Athena, who was sitting on the porch with a book in her hand.
"Hey," I began awkwardly, unsure what was I supposed to say. For some strange reasons, I felt nervous around her. "Erm, Chiron said you will give me an orientation."
Closing her book and looking up at me with those stormy grey eyes, the daughter of Athena studied me a bit and before she got a chance to say anything, I continued, "Right, I know I drool in my sleep, you don't have to do that."
Staring at me with shock, no doubt wondering how I've been practically reading her mind, Annabeth stammered out, "R-Right. Follow me this way." I hummed in delight and couldn't stop myself from smirking a bit, which earned myself a confused look from her.
"What's so funny," she said defensively.
"Oh, it's nothing," I reassured her. "It's just that the look on your face was pretty funny."
"Yeah," Annabeth replied in a grumpy tone. "We will see who's laughing by the end of the day." With that, she marched forward with balled fists and arched shoulders, reminding me of an angry cat that used to hang around near my apartment. Unknowingly, a small grin appeared on my face, and I thought to myself, this was going to be fun.
"So this is the mess up where all of us eat," Annabeth pointed out and continued on walking. She seemed to be quie annoyed from the fact that I was mocking her, so the majority of this orientation was immerse in an awkward silence, and she only spoke up when we walked past key locations in the camp. When we walked by the climbing lava wall, she pointed at it and succinctly said something like "this is where you climb" before moving on.
As we made our way to the cabins, more and more campers stopped their chores and stared at us, or to be specific, me. Once Annabeth returned them with her own glare, they all picked up what they were working on, except for the Ares' cabin.
"Annabell," a huge and stocky girl walked up with five others trailing behind her. "Who is this little punk?"
"It's Annabeth," the daughter of Athena said through gritted teeth. "This is Percy Jackson, our new camper. Go sharpen some spears and leave us alone, Clarisse." Clarisse and I had an interesting friendship. The first few years, her entire cabin hated me for defeating their father in combat and would make things as difficult as possible for me, but as time went on and the Titan war came along, we managed to set aside our dislike for each other in order to defeat Kronos. Ever since then, Clarisse had been my spar partner for the next couple of months until I was kidnapped by Hera and sent to Camp Jupiter.
I watched the entire scene unfold with amusement. The exact thing happened to me when I first came to the camp, and it ended up with me blasting Clarisse with some toilet water, and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that.
"Oh? That's him?" Clarisse challenged with a raised eyebrow and her expression slowly morphed into an evil grin, and I knew exactly what was coming once she drew her electric spear. "I heard he took down the Minotaur by himself. Let's see what he got, eh?" With a small flick of her wrist, she signaled her siblings to rush forward, and instinctively, I ran.
No, I wasn't running away because I was afraid that some children of Ares would embarrass me in front of everyone. In order to blast Clarisse with a mouthful of toilet water again, I would need to head for the bathroom. Since I didn't have a weapon and wanted to conceal my identity as a son of the sea god as long as possible, fighting them straight on was not an option. Besides, which demigod could draw moisture out of thin air without proper trainings? If I summoned a gallon of water out of nowhere, it would make things very complicated for me.
After finally making into the bathroom, I quickly found myself to be cornered with Annabeth fidgeting her fingers, looking very troubled. "So uh, you know this is a guy's bathroom right, so it's kind of off limit for you," I began accusingly.
"Oh wow," one of Clarisse's sibling facepalmed herself. "I'm so so sorry. I hope you don't tell Chiron about this." A round of laughters went off and I gave out a sigh.
"Well," I said as I scratched the back of my head. "I guess I have no other option."
Clarisse grinned at me and nodded sympathetically, "You're right. You have no other option besides getting your ass kicked right here." As they charged at me, I did the second most natural thing. I screamed.
Well, screaming was a planned distraction for what I was about to do next. A familiar tug was felt in my stomach, and for the second time, all the toilets exploded and I willed the water around me to blast Clarisse and her siblings in their faces. Annabeth watched the entire scene with horror, and I couldn't tell if she was terrified with the fact that I just stood up against the biggest bully in the camp, or the fact that we might get punished later on by Chiron and Mr. D.
Before Clarisse could recover, I stumbled out of the bathroom and looked at Annabeth, who was eyeing me strangely, with a surprised look. "What is it," I said defensively, putting in the best effort to hide my act. "I don't know what happened there. I don't know why the toilet exploded." I felt a bit guilty for lying, but if Chiron ever figured out, then there was a good chance that I would no longer be placed in the Hermes cabin.
Eyeing me one last time as if not buying my lie, the daughter of Athena shook her head and said, "Nothing. Let's get going."
Once again, the short walk to cabin eleven was in a complete silence, and I felt bad for making fun of her earlier. She introduced me to the twelve different cabins starting from cabin number one at the top of the "U" and slowly made our ways down the numbers.
"Hey Annabeth -," was as far as I got before she cut me off.
"We're here," she announced and looked at me. "Sorry, what were you going to say?"
Well, we never got to that part because right when I was about to apologize, a tall, handsome boy with a sandy cropped blonde hair and a mischievous smile opened the door as if he was expecting our arrival.
"Welcome," he greeted me with a warm smile. "My name is Luke Castellan, the head counselor of cabin the Hermes' cabin."
Alas, I finally met the guy that I wanted to talk to the most.
