A/N Sorry I have taken an obscenely long amount of time (19 days!) but oh well. I wrote this at 1 am, so... yeah. It is again the other lightning thief, as I refuse to let her have any input with this. ha.
I am not Rick Riordan. And I am not depressed about it, as I have trouble staying depressed for any amount of time. Odd, considering my story.
Chapter 2: What They Know
Excitement permeated the air like the scent of strawberries that fund the camp. Like the rumor everyone knew without it being said. The rumor that said Percy would be receiving his quest, the one that would free us from fear or sentence us to the worst downfall ever, spiral us -everyone in civilization I set out to beautify- down into the deepest pits of Tartarus. Deeper even. But the hopeful possibilities, ones with less monsters, no fear of takeover, perhaps even a semblance of normalcy in our broken and confused demigod lives. The optimistic ands and ifs made the excitement tangible in the air felt by everyone at the camp. I could tell by the glances stolen at each other by everyone, by the way no one focused on their activities.
Finally, Chiron could bear it no more and camp activities were canceled shortly after lunch time. While I was sitting by the campfire with people and talking to Grover about environmental architecture to carry on Pan's wishes I looked over to Percy, expecting to find him looking out at the ocean, only to find nothing on my right side. Except, that is, a view if the infamous hill on which I walked away form him without a second glance. The cause of the tension, Rachel, hadn't crossed my mind for a while. Zeus! Shoot! My record of anger-less thoughts had almost been crushed. I had now reached the cabins looking for Percy and with a spurt of inspiration I sprinted, half expecting to run into something not there. I was right, my trusty baseball cap was no longer in my spot, illustrating the trouble of best friends. They know most everything about you, but the beauty of it is they make you feel more whole and could do an infinite number of things but choose to keep it and help you. At least Percy did this to me. I was by that same excitement again, triggered by the congregation of people by the field murmuring about prophecies and other "p" words, one of which I am sure was "Percy". It had turned out I was not the only one who had noticed his absence. This sunk into my bones and shook my heartbeats. I thought it was fear for going on Percy's quest because being Percy's friend I knew I'd get chosen to go with him. I tried fathoming Percy's feelings about deciding the fate of the world. Considering he was turning 16 this summer, I predicted his final battle would be on his birthday and what a wonderful way to celebrate it would be.
After searching all around camp for nearly three hours wondering what Percy could possibly be doing for this long I sat on the beach listening to the calming boom and crash of the waves. The Oracle was not this slow and even if he was confused wouldn't he want me to help him with my nick name of Wise Girl? Maybe who would go with him, however wouldn't that be obvious, Grover and I? Unless... no there can only be three people, any more is unlucky. I settled on that he was worried and scared despite the fact that I had complete faith in him. Me and a group of people, unfortunately not everyone was as sure of Seaweed Brain. I meandered towards the dining pavilion because the sun was almost setting and I had to lead my cabin in. I saw Percy sit down but he wouldn't meet my eyes, purposely it appeared. As I sacrificed my food, I asked Athena for help on my journey. I heard a voice not unlike my mother's saying, "more than you know". The eerie tone made me wonder and I looked at the sly of answers. Chiron looked as though he had something important to say. Mr. D looked as though he was reading Percy's thoughts and looked at me with something as close to pity as he was possible of expressing with his less-than-friendly ways. The confusion with the gods simply escalated today, with voices and sympathetic looks.
We walked to the campfire after Chiron said he would announce the news when we were eating s'mores. I tried to sit next to Percy but he sat on the edge next to Grover. He still would not acknowledge my presence. It hurt. A lot. I sat near some of my cabin mates and we discussed monuments and important buildings. We also talked about Daedalus' laptop, I was not even half way through in around a year had passed since I have had it. I glance at Percy again and was having a hard time keeping up my conversation with her, as Percy was occupying my mind.
Chiron stood up and tried to get the attention of everyone, a hard task even on a less eventful night. But with prophecy talk and semi-staring at Percy, I almost felt bad for him. He tried again and again over about 10 minutes. Mr. D at last bellowed so loud that everyone was shocked into silence.
"Well, I see we all are quite talkative tonight," he said in his characteristic that sounded warm and friendly while being commanding. "I am sure you all already know that the fate of Olympus is drawing nearer and the closest demigod is Percy, assuming he doesn't drop dead this night. You all presume correctly that he has received both prophecy and quest today in the Big House. Percy have you chosen your companians?"
Percy nodded weakly. He spoke, "But I can't say right now. It needs to be personal." Mr. D gave me that same look not helping my confused thoughts
Chiron said, "Well then, curfew is soon so get to your cabins!"
Read and Review. Please. Pretty please. First person to guess Percy's companion wins the satisfaction of being right!!