Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Percy Jackson & the Olympians.
I just started reading when Chiron trotted over with Percy.
"Annabeth," Chiron told me, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told him, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."
When the campers saw Chiron, they all stood up and bowed respectfully.
"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."
He galloped away toward the archery range.
Percy stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at him, sizing him up.
"Well?" I prompted. "Go on."
So naturally he tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of himself. There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.
"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven," I announced.
"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.
"Undetermined," I said.
Everybody groaned.
Luke stepped forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
"This is Luke," I said, my voice slightly higher. I saw Percy looking at me amused, so I hardened my expression. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" he asked.
"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."
He looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing him as if they were waiting for a chance to pickpocket him.
"How long will I be here?" he asked.
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?"
The campers all laughed.
"Come on," I told him. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it."
"Come on."
I grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside.
When we were a few feet away, I said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."
"What?"
I rolled my eyes and mumbled under my breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."
"What's your problem?" He was getting angry now. "All I know is, I killed some bull guy-"
"Don't talk like that!" I told him. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"
"To get killed?"
"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train here for?"
He shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories…"
"Yes."
"Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth, so…"
"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
"They don't have souls like you and me. You can dispel them for awhile, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually they re-form."
"You mean if I killed one accidentally, with a sword-"
"The Fur…I mean your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."
"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"
"You talk in your sleep."
"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades torturers, right?"
I glanced nervously at the ground. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."
"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" by this point he was starting to sound really whiny. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."
He pointed to the first few cabins, and I'm pretty sure I turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or…your parent."
I stared at him, waiting for him to get it.
"My mom is Sally Jackson," he said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least she used to."
"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."
"He's dead. I never knew him."
I sighed. 'This is going to take a while,' I thought. "Your father's not dead, Percy."
"How can you say that? You know him?"
"No, of course not."
"Then how can you say-"
The moment of truth, "Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."
"You don't know anything about me."
"No?" I raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."
"How-"
"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."
He tried to swallow his embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD- your impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see to much, Percy, not to little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."
"You sound like…you went through the same thing?"
"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."
"Ambrosia and nectar."
"The food and drink we were giving you to back you feel better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."
Suddenly a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"
I looked over to see Clarisse and three other girls behind her.
"Clarisse," I sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?" "Sure, Miss Princess," Clarisse said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."
"Erre es korakas!" I said. "You don't stand a chance."
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. She turned toward Percy. "Who's this little runt?"
"Percy Jackson," I said," meet Clarisse, daughter of Ares."
He blinked. "Like…the war god?"
No, the singer.
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," he replied. "It explains the bad smell."
Wow. Brave kid.
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse-" I tried to say.
"Stay out of it wise girl."
Percy handed me his Minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but Clarisse already had him by the neck and was dragging him to the bathroom before you could say 'Athena'. He was kicking and punching, but Clarisse had hands like iron.
I followed them into the bathroom. Clarisse's friends were all laughing.
"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed him toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."
Her friends snickered.
I stood in the corners, watching through my fingers.
Clarisse bent him over on his knees and started pushing his head toward the toilet bowl.
Then something happened. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on his hair loosened. Water shot out of toilet, making an arc straight over Percy's head. He was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind him.
He turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.
She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom.
The entire bathroom was flooded. I hadn't been spared.
I was dripping wet, but I hadn't been pushed out the door. I was standing in exactly the same spot, shocked.
Percy looked down and realized he was sitting in the only dry spot in the room. There was a circle of dry floor around him. He didn't have one drop of water on his clothes.
He stood up, his legs shaky.
"How did you…" I said.
"I don't know."
We walked out the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. She gave Percy a look of absolute hatred. "Your dead, new boy. You are totally dead."
He probably should've let it go, but of course he didn't. "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."
Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her back to cabin five.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to me. Clarisse would want revenge.
"What?" Percy said. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," I said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
