It's been five years since Thalia's Final Stand, and it makes me distraught that so many campers take the magic barriers for granted.
I am now twelve years old (yes, I was freaking seven when I first killed a hellhound). I have red hair and green eyes. I am ADHD because of superhuman battle reflexes, and dyslexic because my mind is built for Ancient Greek. I am also fast, strong, agile, telumkinetic, and odikinetic. People tell me that Ares must be proud to have a daughter like me. So of course I have to wonder, is he proud? Or is he disappointed?
I was in the sword arena engaged in an intense battle with a straw dummy. I literally ripping it to shreds with a sword when my friend May Taylor came in.
May is seriously beautiful, and even thought I've known her like forever, I still have to suck in my breath every time I see her.
It's not like she tries hard to be beautiful. Being a daughter Aphrodite, she naturally radiated beauty. She had blonde hair and greyish green eyes, and doesn't have to wear makeup to look good. But don't let her good looks fool you, she has incredible fighting skills, and out then to good use. I learned it the hard way.
May and I were paired up for sword practice shortly after she'd been claimed by Aphrodite. I had assumed she would be a pushover obsessed with makeup like the rest of Aphrodite's children, so I decided to hold back because I am such a nice person. Instead, my face ended up in the dirt.
Everyone stared at me because nobody ever expected a Daughter of Aphrodite to win against anybody, let alone a Daughter of Ares who was holding back (though I knew she could go on par with me even with me at my full extent). I remembered getting up and saying, "She's tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like her."
It was a good lesson: Never underestimate anybody.
"Grover's back, and he brought a new half blood," May told me.
"A newbie, eh?" I questioned. "Who is it?"
"A guy named Percy Jackson," May answered.
I followed May. Both of us had been here for so long that we could probably draw a map of camp entirely by memory. On the way, she filled me in on the details. Apparently, this bot hadn't been sensed by monsters because the stench of his stepfather's blood was overly mortal, even though Percy apparently had a strong scent. I never understood what exactly half bloods smelled like to monsters and satyrs. Meat sandwiches? Papa John's six cheese pizza? Taco Bell's burrito supreme? Whatever we smelled like, our scent could get us killed.
Apparently, Percy had fought off the Minotaur, which was impressive for a twelve year old, but not before the monster had killed his mother, Sally Jackson. I did not want to be the one to break the news to him.
"Annabeth's with him," May finished.
"Oh my gods!" I exclaimed. "You left him with Annabeth?"
"She's not that bad," May defended, crossing her arms.
"Remember my friend Maxwell Bean?" I questioned.
"Yeah, son of Dionysus, I believe?" May said with a snort.
Dionysus was the god of wine, and also our crabby camp director. It was a punishment from Zeus for chasing an off limits wood nymph. Poor nymphs. They're always being chase by God's and satyrs and in one weird case, a mortal. Long story, juicy gossip,but don't ask me unless you want a few broken bones. You can ask Malcolm Pace, the son of Athena. He was there, and I trust him not to give away any vital info.
"Annabeth-," I began, but another female voice cut me off.
"Did someone mention me?" Annabeth questioned.
Annabeth was my age, with curly blonde hair and stormy gray eyes, as custom for a child of Athena. Most cabins have distinct features. For my cabin, it's large muscles and godly sneers. For May's cabin, it's natural beauty and usually fear of looking bad. For Annabeth's cabin, it was blonde hair and gray eyes. I swear, the most popular Athena kid would be the dark haired blue eyed one that would come sometime. (I bet on it with Maxwell and our friend Klein Hatfield).
"Hi, Annabeth!" I said, hoping she hadn't heard the first part of the conversation.
"How's Percy?" May asked.
"I just got some nectar for him," Annabeth told us. "Did you know he drools in his sleep?"
I laughed a bit. "Of course he does."
We sat on the porch of the Big House, where Mr. D and Chiron were playing cards.
"Grover should be bringing Percy here," Annabeth told the camp director, who snorted in reply.
A few minutes later, Grover came, leading Percy
I glanced over Percy. He was rather skinny, with messy black hair and sea green eyes. He could have been a son of Hermes, only he didn't have kinda pointy ears, which most of Hermes's kids have. He wasn't muscular, so he couldnt be from Ares. Maybe he was the dark haired Athena kid Maxwell, Klein, and I have been talking about, but the expression on his face proved him otherwise. And he definitely wasn't an Aphrodite kid. I've been hanging out with one for years, and I know what kind of aura is expected of them even if they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, and this guy did not have it. Maybe he was Apollo's son. Yeah, let's go with that.
"That's Mr. D," Grover said. "He's the camp director be polite. And that's Annabeth Chase, Aria Orland, and May Taylor. They're campers, and they've been here longer than anybody. And you know Chiron..."
There was a friendly reunion between Percy and Chiron. Chiron then called us over and asked us to show Percy to the bunk after Annabeth checked it.
"Sure," I shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do."
May elbowed me painfully in the ribs.
"You drool in your sleep," Annabeth to Percy before sprinting away.
Percy, Mr. D, and Chiron engaged in a conversation. May listened, but I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I fiddled with Atromitos around my wrist as I listened to Chiron explaining the concept of the gods. Basically, when the center of power shifted to the West, the gods moved with it. That's the best way I can explain it at the moment.
"I need to get back to the cabin," May finally said. "I think Drew may have let out the perfume again."
"I'm going to make sure no one blew Cabin 5 up," I added, and the two of us left.
Cabin Five is the cabin where me and the rest of my half siblings stayed. It was bright red, and I didn't need to be an Aphrodite kid to know it needed a new paint job. The roof was lined with barbed wire and a stuffed hesd of a wild boar was mounted above the door. They always played rock music from popular rock bands, like AC/DC or Guns n Roses, the current song was Welcome to the Jungle, which accurately described the cabin. Inside, I saw Lance Silver and Sherman Yang arm wrestle while Marilyn, Isobel, and Gerti argued over weapons. Mark and Ellis were sparring with sharp knives, and Clarisse la Rue stood watching the campers.
Clarisse was large and bulky, with stringy brown hair and an XXXL camp shirt. She was my secon-in-command. She was older than me, but I had been on one more question than she had. (The quest involved that mortal chasing a nymph).
"So where's the newbie?" She asked me
"VIP tour with Chiron," I said, then glared at her. "And don't dunk anyone's head in the toilet!"
Clarisse shrugged. "No promises, A."
I rolled my eyes before continuing to the Hermes Cabin. Annabeth was reading a Greek architecture book. She wanted to be an architect when she grew up, and with her brains and creativity, I tell her go for it. For me, I just wanted to stay alive long enough to actually grow up.
May, Percy, and Chiron approached Cabin Eleven. I spoke, "You know, you're lucky Percy. You get to make a few friends here. I got claimed by Ares and I was put in the Ares Cabin and somehow I'm the head counselor of the cabin of ruffians."
Percy laughed nervously. "Is it Cabin Five?"
"Naturally," I said.
Percy entered the Cabin and tripped coming in the door causing the other kids to laugh. I caught sight of Klein Hatfield laughing and gave him the stink eye.
Luke Castellan, the counselor for Hermes, gave Percy his own personal spot on the floor of the cabin.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said.
Luke wrapped his arm around May. I knew they had been dating for a while, but I still turned away. I wasn't such a big fan of physical contact.
Across the lawn, I saw Clarisse and her three friends Anita, Diane, and Nikki (padum pff!). If you've ever watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you'd get the joke. While Annabeth and May explained how monsters work to Percy, I eased myself over the railing and jogged over to my half sisters.
"You planning to go dunking someone's head in the toilets?" I questioned.
All four looked at me. I noted the look of surprise on their faces with satisfaction. They apparently hadn't expected me.
"I wasn't expecting you," Clarisse said.
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah no, that was really obvious."
"We do it to everyone," Anita said. "What makes Percy so special."
"You have a crush on him?" Diane added, and the others laughed.
"I thought it was Aphrodite's Cabin's job to make bad matches," I said. "No offense to May."
I heard a crash from the Ares Cabin. I turned around and realized too late that it was a diversion created by Sherman or Mark for Clarisse, Anita, Diane, and Nikki. When I turned around again, I saw that they had already approached Percy, Annabeth, and May.
Sherman, Mark, Lance, Ellis, Marilyn, Isobel, and Gerti joined me on the lawn as a watched Clarisse.
"Wasn't the distraction clever?" Mark questioned.
"We're children of Ares, we aren't meant to be clever," I said, shaking my head.
"Those are true words," Sherman said.
Clarisse was now dragging Percy over to the girl's bathroom. Me and the rest of my siblings ran after her.
"Decided to join the party, Aria?" Nikki questioned. She was jogging backwards, her curly brown hair flying in front of her.
"She could do better," Anita shrugged. Anita had cropped blonde hair and brown eyes.
I saw Clarisse lowering Percy's head towards the water, and suddenly, the toilet exploded, showering Clarisse with water. She screamed as she hit the floor.
Anita, Diane, and Nikki ran to help her, and i made the mistake of joining them. Next thing I knew, I was soaking wet. My clothes felt heavy as they stuck to my skin. I stood looking like an idiot,y jaw dropped and arms out like a zombie. Through the sheet of wet red hair covering me eyes, I saw Clarisse, Anita, Diane, and Nikki get pushed out the door. The others cleared a path in order not to join the chaos. Not even Annabeth or May were spared from the start, but they hadn't been pushed out the door. They stood on either side of me, shivering a hit from the water.
"Someone's gotta pay for this," I growled. "No matter how big if assholes they are, nobody hurts my siblings and gets away with it."
"Ari, calm down," Annabeth put a hand on my arm.
I sneered at Percy before stalking out of the bathroom. The campers had gathered around. I paused only to push my wet bangs out of my face before snapping, "Out of my way!"
"Oh, you're so dead, boy," Clarisse snarled at Percy.
Percy should have kept his mouth shut, but instead, he retorted. "Wanna gurgle on toilet water again? Keep your mouth shut."
The other campers laughed. I glared at them to shut them up before I helped the three Area's girls drag Clarisse back to the cabin.
"I could strangle him!" Clarisse growled.
"Polish your spears," I announced once everyone was back in the cabin. "On Friday, during capture the flag, we'll have a new punching bag."