Just a few quick notes before we begin:
I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus or Trials of Apollo or the characters, places, etc. therein.
For this story, I have set the Battle for Half-Blood Hill (in Blood of Olympus) in the summer of 2010.
Occasionally I will be using dialog from one of the books in the series. The reason for this is because this story is written so that it doesn't conflict with canon material. Therefore if there is a scene that takes place in the books where Julia would be present, I will keep the dialog but not any of the other material.
Wish Julia luck in the Rio Olympics!
And finally, thanks for reading!
September 8th - three weeks after the Battle of Manhattan
Cabin 17 is nice I suppose. The building is made of white marble, with tall columns supporting the overhang over the porch. It isn't as grand as Cabin 1 or 2 - the only other cabins based on a Greek temple, but to me, it's perfect - a true monument to Victory. Annabeth's first design was a smaller copy of the Athena cabin: a plain gray building with nothing special about it. When she showed me, I quickly rejected it and proposed my own idea. After a few minutes of trying to change my mind, she relented and changed the final design.
Inside there are four bunk beds along the left wall. I complained to Chiron that we only needed one bed, but he insisted that each cabin needed to have space for the extra campers that would be arriving in the coming months. Luckily for me, I was the only one there and so got to spend the budget however I wanted. I bought a ping-pong table, an air hockey table, and a foosball table. Needless to say, I had a pretty sweet cabin.
I sit on my bed and begin to hang up my pictures.
The first is of me and my parents in Nagano just before my 6th birthday. I'm one of the lucky demigods who has met their godly parent. When I was a child, my mother would visit every four years. You see, my father was a different sort of Olympian. He was one of the best skiers in the world - maybe even the best. That's how he had attracted my mother. At 20, he'd won gold in ski cross - one of the youngest ski champions in history. And on the day of the closing ceremony - February 23rd - when he came back to his room in the Olympic Village, lying on his bed was a golden cradle with beautiful baby me inside.
The second is of me and my friend Melody right after winning my first track competition at the end of 5th grade. I was so happy… But my father had failed to show up for my first competition on the middle school team. That winter had been hard for him - it had been the first Olympics that he hadn't gotten a medal. His coaches were still thrilled since he'd come in 4th place even after a nasty fall on a jump. But 4th wasn't good enough for him - and certainly not for my mother. I had hoped she would still visit on the day of the closing ceremony like she always did. She didn't. Truthfully, I think that hurt him even more that losing the competition. After that, he stopped caring about everything. We went straight back to Indiana instead of vacationing out west for the spring like we'd planned. At the time, I didn't understand the full story. I didn't know she was a goddess, and what her absence truly meant for my father.
I look around the crowd hoping to see my father. He isn't there. He hasn't come to any meets at all this year, but I'd hoped he'd come to see the final. Instead, it is my best friend's mother, Mrs. Mantello, who comes up to me and tells me how proud she is. Her daughter Melody was also on the track team but had finished in the middle of the group.
"Great job Julia! You were amazing!" Melody says when she walks over with her older brother Lee.
"Yeah, I've never seen someone run so fast, and I've been to a lot of meets!" Lee says.
"Now, kids, don't give Julia a big ego. She can still improve," Mrs. Mantello leans in and fake-whispers conspiratorially, "But you sure are awesome, honey." She winks at me.
Then I feel something strange, like a breeze - but there's no wind in the trees. I look around and see something more amazing than windless wind: my mother. I excuse myself from the Mantellos and run over to her.
"Mom!" I throw my arms around her, and she awkwardly pats me on the back, "Are you proud of me?"
"You are a winner like you should be, and I am pleased."
"Mom, why didn't you visit this year? Dad says you were too busy, but you've always come before. And did you see my race? I was ahead the whole time, even if that 8th grader almost caught up in the middle."
"I was busy this year my dear. But it doesn't matter now. I've brought someone I'd like you to meet," she gestures to a short man eating a hot dog, "This is Gleeson Hedge. He's going to bring you to your new home."
"What do you mean? Am I going to live with you now?" I can't help feeling excited. I'd only seen my mother twice before now - and I couldn't even remember the first time since I had been so young. Just like any other child, I want my mother's love and attention.
"No," she sees my crestfallen expression and continues, "But you'll be staying with my side of the family for now until you train and it's safe for you to return to the mortal world."
"That makes no sense mom! You can't just come to me out of the blue and tell me I'm not safe and take me away from my father - the parent who's raised me!"
She doesn't seem insulted my me words, and smiles instead, "You accept nothing but the best, just like any child of mine should," she begins whispering to herself, "But unlike my other children, you can't go undetected. You really must go to camp." She lets go of me and calls, "Gleeson!" The man dropped the tin foil that he seemed to have been eating just as happily as he ate the hot dog and came running over to us.
"Where's the monster!"
My mother rolls her eyes, "No monster would dare come with me around. It's time you take my daughter to Camp Half-Blood."
"Camp what? I thought you said I was going to be staying with your family."
"Come on, demigod," Gleeson says to me as he walks with me towards the parking lot, "I'll try to explain on the way to New York."
"New York!" I say astonished, "But that's almost 12 hours away!" I turn around to my mother, only to find that she has disappeared. In fact, everyone is gone,aside from Lee. Now instead of a backpack, he has a quiver and is holding a loaded bow at Gleeson. "Lee?" I ask nervously, "What' going on?"
"Julia, just stay calm. I'll explain once this monster's taken care of."
"Monster!" Gleeson cries incredulously, "I'm no monster, cupcake!"
Lee lowers his bow but doesn't let it down completely, "Prove it." Gleeson takes off his hat and coming out of his head are a pair of horns! This seems to satisfy Lee as he puts his arrow away and slings his bow over his shoulder. He walks over to us and put a hand on my shoulder. I look at him nervously and he smiles grimly, "Welcome to life as a demigod."
Next, come a series of me with my adopted siblings in the Hermes cabin. There's one of me the night I was claimed, smiling brightly into the camera with the Stoll brothers arguing in the background. Another is of me and the rest of the cabin after Luke took us on an unauthorized "field trip" to the closest convenience store. I smile as I hang up a dozen more pictures of me with my friends here at Camp. Then I come to the last picture.
Castor. My smile immediately disappears and is succeeded my a quiver in my lip and tears in my eyes. Instead of putting it up on the wall, I kiss it and put it under my pillow. I'm about to get up when I hear a knock at the door.
"Come in," I say as I compose myself and dry my cheeks.
"I hope I'm not bothering you," Pollux says. Then he looks at me, "Today is the hardest to get by alone and I needed company."
"Oh, Pollux!" I gesture for him to sit next to me on the bed, and make no more effort to hide my tears. For a few minutes, we just sit next to each other and cry, knowing that we're in safe company and don't need to pretend to be strong. I turn to him and try to smile, "I hope you don't mind that I didn't get you a gift."
"I hate celebrating my birthday when I can't share it with him. There's just no point. How on earth am I supposed to have a happy birthday?"
"Lets toast to him then," I break out the Coke from my mini-fridge, and toss a can to Pollux.
I raise my can, "Happy birthday to Castor, son of Dionysus!" I clink cans with Pollux and am glad to see a ghost of a smile that mirrors my own.
NEXT TIME ON VICTORY IS SWEET, SOMETIMES: WE ARE DOWN A SON OF THE SEA GOD
