the next-generation

by naomitheminion

The war against Gaia is finally over. But what happens when three strange kids appear out of nowhere? Three kids who claim to be their children? Rated T just for safety.

2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, thank you for reading the next-generation. I hope that it is fun to read. It was certainly a lot of fun to write.

Chapter 11

A pajama with pink smileys

Will

Where did Nico go? He had promised me three days at the infirmary. I was not the type to accept any excuses.

I found Nico at the big house. He was talking to Chiron. "Nico! Why are you not at the infirmary? "

"Will, I had something to discuss with Chiron, and-"

"No excuses. You are going to the infirmary. Now. "

He sighed. "I did promise that, didn't I?

"Yes you did. "

I followed Nico to the infirmary. I brought him to his bed. "OK Nico, this is your bed for the next three days. I suggest you go to sleep now. You must be tired. "

"Can I have a shower first? "

I nodded. "Go ahead. Do you want me to bring you some toiletries and a pajama? "

"That would be nice. "

After a few minutes I came back with shampoo, showergel, deodorant, a toothbrush and toothpaste. I had picked a linen pajama too.

Nico stared horrified at the pajama. "You want me to wear something with pink smileys? That pajama is even more ridiculous than the stupid Hawaiian shirt! "

Oops! I had been so lost in thought that I had not exactly payed attention to wich pajama I had picked.

I smiled. "You will look adorable. "

Nico gave me his best death glare. Most people would have backed away. I was not most people. I gave him a pleading look. "Please? For me? "

Nico grumbled. "Fine! " And he took the pajama.

Chapter 12

I take a nap

David

I decided to go back to my cabin to take a nap. I had hardly slept last night after all.

A kind of pretty girl with really horrible fashion sense came after me. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Uhm... My cabin? "

"Didn't you say that you lived in the Aphrodite cabin? "

"Yes? "

"Why have I never seen you before? "

"Maybe because it's only my second day? " She seemed to be considering this.

"That's possible, but unlikely. "

She held out her hand. "I'm Piper, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. "

I frowned at that. "Bella Colombo is the head counselor of cabin 10. "

"Who in Aphrodite's name is Bella Colombo?!"

"The head counselor of cabin 10. Beautiful young lady. Italian. Bronze skin, glossy black princess curls, chocolate Brown eyes with long lashes. A good fashion sense to. "

"Never heard of her before. "

"Can we discuss this later? I'm exhausted and I want to go to bed."

"It's afternoon! How can you be tired? "

She was starting to annoy me. My mood was usually not that good when I was tired.

"I didn't sleep well last night, so I seriously need a beauty sleep right now. "

"Why? "

"Because the lack of sleep will ruin my skin otherwise." Could she really be that stupid?

"That's not what I meant. I meant: Why didn't you sleep well?"

"I was a little bit homesick. "

"Oh. I'm sorry. But that will go over eventually. "

It wasn't exactly a lie. Just not the entire truth. I was a bit homesick, indeed. But that was not the reason I couldn't sleep. And sadly, The real reason was not something that I could get over.

I opened the door of the cabin , and walked in. I crashed on my bed. I realized that something was wrong. Someone had changed my sheets.

Piper, who was standing beside me, cleared her throat. "What are you doing on my bed? "

"What do you mean? This is my bed. Or at least, it used to be my bed. Someone has changed the sheets. I don't know why. I don't like these sheets. I will have to change them. "

I got up and opened my closet. "Where did my stuff go? "

"Excuse me? This is my bed, with my closet. I'm sorry kid, but I don't know anything about your stuff. "

I sighed. I just wanted to go to bed. I was exhausted. The Aphrodite magic that I had used to impress Luke was probably fading already. Soon people would be able to see how tired I was. I would get bags under my eyes. Yuck.

Piper looked worried. I could see pity in her eyes as well. Maybe she could see how I felt.

I glanced quickly at the mirror beside her. Shist! My eyes had become red like I had been crying, and I had dark heavy bags underneath them. My perfect porcelain skintone with just a slight hint of pink at the cheeks had been replaced by a sickly greenish kind of pale. My hair was a real mess. There was absolutely nothing left of the magic. I looked like a monster!

"You can sleep in my bed for now. I will try to fix you a bed of your own as fast as possible. "

"Can I wash the make-up from my face first? "

"Go ahead. The bathroom is that way. " She pointed at a pink door.

"There is one problem. I've kind of lost my beauty-case. I don't have any toiletries. "

A boy with a toilet bag came over to us. "Here, you can borrow mine.

"I looked inside the bag. No eye make-up remover, no cleansing oil.

"I'm sorry, but this is not exactly useful. "

"I isn't? "

"It misses a few essential supplies. But thank you anyway. "

"No problem man. I suggest you ask one of the girls. "

"Hey lacey, " He shouted at one of the girls "Could we borrow your beauty-case, please?"

"Sure you can, Mitchell. " She handed me a large, heavy (Almost as large and heavy as my own), bright pink beauty case. "Be careful. Some of these products are really expensive. "

"Oh, come on! Why would you want to give your expensive beauty products to that loser, who probably doesn't even know how to use them?!" A pretty Asian girl snorted.

The girl who had given me the case glared at her. "Do you always have to be so mean, Drew? "

I smiled at her and opened the case.

Eye make-up remover, normal make-up remover,

cleansing oil, foam cleanser, tonic, a peeling, a serum, after-sun lotion, moisturizing night cream.

Expensive brands. Most of them French. Excellent.

I looked up and smiled again. "Perfect. Don't worry, I won't bother you again. I will head into New York and by some supplies of my own right after my nap. "

Piper frowned. "You can buy toiletries at the camp store, you know? You don't have to go to New York. "

I sighed. "Does the camp store sell Japanese cotton masks or Chanel make-up? "

"What's a Japanese- Never mind. "

I sighed again. She was hopeless.

I took the case to the bathroom.

Chapter 13

Archery

Will

Nico and I had already talked about Bianca, and how she could possibly be our daughter. The idea gave me a headache. But it made me happy too. The idea of marrying Nico Di Angelo and raising a family with him made me grin like an idiot. I have had a crush on him ever since the battle of Manhattan.

Nico was sleeping now. He must have been exhausted, because he had crashed on the bed right after his shower. He looked so cute while sleeping. Sadly, I could not sit by his side and watch him all day. I had other things to do.

Nico had told me that Bianca had gone to archery practice. So that was where I was going to now.

Bianca was standing beside my sister Kayla. Kayla was just demonstrating her how to use a bow. My daughter laughed.

"It's OK. I don't need an instructor. I know how to shoot. " Kayla looked at her skeptically.

"I 've heard that before. Why don't you prove it? " She pointed at one of the targets.

Bianca took her large stygian iron bow and a pure black arrow from her quiver. I shivered. That bow was no toy. It was a deadly weapon without a doubt. And I had a feeling that she knew how to use it.

She had hit the target. She had hit it in the bullseye, and she had barely looked at it. She had taken another arrow already and she was ready to shoot again.

Kayla's jaw dropped. "How did you do that?!"

Bianca shrugged. "My dad has taught me a few things."

She had hit two more targets by now.

"I bet you are the best archer in camp already. And it's only your first day. "

"Second. " Bianca corrected her as she aimed for another target.

"Still, I have never seen anyone shoot like that before. Are you sure that you're not from the bloodline of Apollo? "

"I'm a legacy of Hades. "

Another perfect shot.

I was beaming with pride (And a little bit jealous too). She was a better archer than I would ever be.

I decided to approach her. Hi I'm Will. I'm the head counselor of cabin 7.

"That's funny my father's name is Will too, and he used to be the head counselor of cabin 7."

I smiled. "I know. "

"You do? "

Chapter 14

Dinner

Percy

My arms were aching. Luke had made me scrub the floor for ours.

It was dinner-time. I sighed. I could use a break.

"Don't think you're ready. We still have got a lot of work to do. "

"We do?

"We haven't cleaned the bathroom yet, have we? "

I was not looking forward to having Luke Jackson as a roommate.

We went to the dining pavilion. I noticed that David and Bianca had come as well.

"Hey Luke, how was your day?"

"Hi Bianca, my day was awful. My new roommate is a pig. There was pizza and dirty underwear on the floor! Of course I made him clean it. But I had to watch him to make sure he didn't mess up."

I was kind of offended by that. "You didn't have to watch me. I know how to clean my room. "

He snorted. "Yeah, I 've noticed. "

He turned back to Bianca. "Anyway, I had to babysit him. So I didn't have time for swimming practice. Worst. Day. Ever. "

"Because you have a pig as a roommate, or because you didn't have time for swimming practice? "

"Both. I'm the captain of the swimming team. My father is the coach. If I return from camp out of shape, my dad will kill me. "

"You can go swimming after dinner. "

"I can't. We are not done with the cleaning yet. "

"How about this: I 'll babysit the pig, and you go swimming. I will guarantee you that the cabin will be clean when you come back. "

"Thank you, Bianca. You are the best! "

"You're welcome. Are you hungry? "

"I'm starving! "

I took a blue cheeseburger. Luke took a plate full of blue lasagna. It was pretty cool to see that my son liked blue food too.

"Do you like blue food? "

He grinned. "It's a family tradition. My grandmother started it. "

"Cool. Could you tell me something about your family? "

""Sure. I live in a beautiful mansion in New Rome with my parents and my sister Bobby. My mother has designed it. She is an architect.

She has designed lots of stuff. Most of them in New Rome, some of them in the mortal world. You should see the new library that she has designed for the university of Los Angeles. The opening was yesterday. I'm sure you 've heard of it. It was even on the news.

"Uhm... I don't watch the news. "

He shrugged. "whatever. How about the bridge over the Little Tiber? She has even won a prize for that one, you know? It's absolutely stunning. A huge bridge completely made of white marble and imperial gold."

I was so proud of Annabeth. She had made her dreams come true. I knew she could do it.

"Sounds impressive. How about your father? "

"My father is a teacher at CS. He teaches marine biology. He is also the coach of the swimming team. That is pretty cool. "

I smiled. Marine Biology. Swimming team. That did sound like something I would like.

"Didn't you say that he would kill you, if you returned from camp out of shape?"

"Yeah, he's fanatic. I don't mind. I'm fanatic too. I am a good swimmer, but I still need to train. Especially if I want to be the best. I want to be an Olympic swimmer, you Know? "

"Wow. "

"Yes, definitely wow. Someday, I will win a gold medal at the Olympic games. It's something I have been dreaming of since I was a child. "

"That's a good dream to have. And your sister? "

"Bobby is extremely smart. She is just like mom. A true descendant of Athena. She always gets the highest grades, wins every spelling bee etcetera. Marine Biology is her favorite class. Not just because dad is the teacher, she is actually interested in the topic. "

Luke made a face.

"You aren't? "

"Marine Biology is cool. Sometimes. I mean, dad talks about lots of cool stuff. Like sharks and dolphins. But he talks about boring stuff too. Like plankton, jellyfish, and sea sponges. Most people snore during those lessons. Not Bobby. She listens and takes notes. And after class she starts asking all kinds of questions. Listening to stuff like that is dull enough in class, but it's even worse when discussed during dinner. Dad and Bobby once talked about jellyfish for two ours. It drove mom and me insane. Dad told Bobby that her high grades in marine Biology are unfair because she had a private teacher. So he made extra hard tests for her only that she has to do instead of the normal tests from then on. She had to memorize a list of 200 different kinds of plankton and their Latin names for the last one. Bobby didn't mind. She does that kind of stuff for fun. "

I smiled. Bobby sounded like the perfect combination of Annabeth and me.

Chapter 15

Swimming practice

Luke

I was swimming in the lake.

I loved the way my muscles burned when I made myself swim faster. I loved the way the water cooled my skin. And there was nothing in the world as amazing as the rush of swimming at top speed. It cleared my mind and, helped me to relax. And of course there was the satisfaction that you feel when you have managed to break your personal record.

I climbed out of the water and looked at my stopwatch. Five seconds faster than yesterday. That was good.

I looked up and noticed David, who was watching me.

I did my best to act casually, wich was not easy when looking into his startling blue eyes.

"Hi David. What's up? "

"I came to watch you swim. "

I blushed. "You came... To see me? "

Was it possible that David Grace, who was way out of my league, might be interested in me? It seemed to good to be true.

He nodded. "I came because I wanted to spend some time with you. "

"Is it OK if I go on with my training now? "

"Go ahead. Do you want me to time it? He picked up the stopwatch.

"That would be great. "

Chapter 16

Cleaning

Percy

I went to the bathroom and filled the bucket with water. Bianca looked at me uneasily, almost scared.

"Are you OK? "

She took a shaky breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. "

"You don't look fine. "

"Let's just start cleaning, OK? Why don't you clean the bathroom? I 'll dust of the furniture. "

I blinked. "You are going to help me? "

"Yes, why not? "

"Luke just sat there and watched me clean. "

"That was because he was mad at you. He's OK, you know? He just doesn't like it when things are messy. "

"I noticed. Is he always like that? "

You should see his room in New Rome. It's clean as a hospital. You could eat from that floor, I swear. Though he would most likely kill you if you ever tried that for real.

Chapter 17

The campfire

Piper

David had looked much better after his nap. He had taken me to New York for shopping. We came back with two very heavy bags with all kinds of cosmetics.I did not understand why he needed all that stuff, but David had insisted that all those creams and whatnot were absolutely necessary.

We had gone to dinner together. I had a soy-burger, and David had some strange kind of soup.

After dinner, I had gone wall-climbing with Jason. David had decided to visit Luke.

It had become evening and everyone was heading for the campfire.

I noticed David and Luke who were talking. Luke asked David something while staring at his feet. David smiled and said something back. Luke blushed deeply. I wondered what they were talking about. On the other hand, it seemed like a personal matter. Asking them would be kind of rude.

Will and Bianca sat down beside the campfire. Will offered her a marshmallow. Bianca smiled at him. She took the marshmallow and chewed it slowly.

"Hi Bianca, are you having fun at camp? "

She smiled. "Yes, I am. Thank you. "

"What have you done so far? "

"Archery, and wrestling. And I have helped Will at the infirmary. "

"Wrestling, uh? I hope Clarice didn't hurt you to much. She tends to be a little rough. "

"I let her win. "

I shook my head in disbelief. "Yeah, right. "

"Seriously, I could have beaten her. But why would I? Winning was for her obviously much more important than it was for me. "

"No-one can beat Clarice at wrestling. "

"I can. " She said it with so much confidence that it was hard not to believe her, no matter how unlikely it was.

Suddenly, David ran away without reason.

"What was that about? "

Bianca's eyes widened. "Oh gods!" She cursed in ancient Greek. "I should have known! "

"Known what?!"

"I'm really sorry guys, but I have to check up on him. Bye! "

She ran of.

Chapter 18

Problems

Bianca

I ran to cabin 10 where I found David.

He was sitting on his bed and shaking violently.

I sat beside him. "Hey buddy, are you OK? "

He shook his head. He looked even paler than usual, and his eyes were wide with fear.

"Everything will be alright, I promise. Do you want me to close the curtains? "

He nodded silently. He still looked uneasy, but my presence had calmed him down somewhat. At least he was not panicking anymore.

I closed the curtains, and turned on the small lamp on his nightstand.

His breath became slower and more regular.

"You know that I am here for you, right?"

"Thank you. "

"Hey, no problem. That's what friends are for. Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"I'm fine. "

Chapter 19

Night

Piper

Jason had his arms around me. We kissed,

fed each other marshmallows, and sang silly songs along with the other campers.

But my heart was not in it. I was worried. David and Bianca had acted extremely weirdly. Something was wrong, I could feel it.

Jason must have noticed. "Are you OK, Pipes? You seem a little tense. "

"I was thinking about David and Bianca. What they did was so weird. I don't understand. "

"I don't think anyone understands what happened."

"I feel like I should go after him. "

"Your intuition is usually right. I think that you should give it a try. "

I decided to go to my cabin first. I heard talking. David and Bianca were sitting on David's new bed.

"I understand how you feel, Dave. I am going through the same thing, remember?"

I hid myself behind a mirror. I did not like eavesdropping, but it might help me to find out what had happened.

"It's not the same! You are a fighter. You are brave. Nobody minds if you are scared from time to time, because it so rarely happens. I am a whimp. A good for nothing. A shame to my family. "

I bit my lip. It sounded as if David had serious self-esteem issues. I wondered what had caused them. Apparently, it had something to do with something he was scared of.

"I don't belong here, Bianca. I can't even sit at the campfire without freaking out. I'm such a chicken. "

Was he maybe afraid of fire? It would explain why the bonfire scared him so much.

"You are not a chicken. We all have our phobias. I am not any braver than you are when it comes to that. Do you know that I even can't have a bath? "

He grinned. "Seriously? "

"Seriously. My fear of water is so extreme and out of control that I can't have a bath or a shower without panicking. I only wash my hair in the basin. I wash the rest of my body with wet wipes. "

I did not know wether she just said that to cheer him up, or because it was true. It sounded kind of stupid to me.

"Now you're just kidding me. "

"I'm serious. I swear it on the river Styx. "

"Wow. And I thought my phobia was awkward. Does anyone know about this? "

"My parents do. "

"It must be hard to hide something like that. "

"It is. Good thing my dad is a doctor. He made me a note for my P.E. teacher that said that I was not allowed to swim."

"Your dad is awesome. "

"I know. "

"But a note won't help me with my problem. "

"Do you think that you will be able to sleep tonight? "

"I doubt it. Tonight will probably be just like last night. "

"You must be exhausted. "

"I had a nap this afternoon. That helped somewhat. "

"That's not a solution Dave. You need to sleep. "

"I know. I'll need to think about it. "

His phobia made him unable to sleep?

"I think you should tell your head counselor. She seems nice enough. I'm sure she will understand. "

"She will think that my fears are childish and ridiculous. "

"You can't hide it forever, Dave. They are probably suspecting you already, after you ran of without explanation. "

"I know. Its just awkward. "

"I don't see why. I don't think there's anything wrong with being afraid of the dark. "

So that was the problem. Everything made sense now. I felt kind of sorry for him.

I could hear footsteps and laughter coming this way. The campfire must had been over.

The door opened and the Aphrodite children came in. I tried to blend in with the crowd.

Lacey looked at me in surprise. "Where did you come from. "

"Shut up. I don't want him to see me. " I whispered.

Her eyes widened as she noticed David and Bianca. "Were you eavesdropping? "

"Ssht. "

"It's OK, I won't tell anyone. "

"Good. "

David looked up and noticed the crowd. "I think you should go back to your own cabin, Bianca."

"See you tomorrow? "

"At breakfast. "

Chapter 20

Giant war II

Bianca

It was breakfast time. I walked over to cabin 10 to pick up David. I knocked. A girl with red wavy hair and moss green eyes opened the door. Are you here for David? "

"Yes please. "

She let me in. "He's still sleeping, as you can see. I wanted to wake him up, but Piper told me not to."

That was good, considering that he probably hadn't fallen to sleep until dawn. Waking him up for breakfast would be a very bad idea. I would spare him some food instead.

I walked to the dining pavilion along with the Aphrodite campers. The girl that had introduced herself as Piper asked me if I wanted to sit with them.

I noticed that the other child of Hades was not sitting at the Hades table.

Piper smiled. "Nico is at the infirmary. Will won't give him permission to leave. He'll have to eat there. "

"Oh. What has happened to him?"

"He almost faded in the war against Gaia. "

"The war against Gaia? "

"Yeah. Gaia, the evil mother earth who tried to make a come-back. "

"I know who Gaia is. When did this happen? "

"A few days ago. "

"That's impossible. I think I would have noticed if

Giant war III had started. "

"Giant war III? I was talking about Giant war II. "

"Giant war II happened years ago. My parents fought in that war. "