Dilemmas
Annabeth lay on her bed as she stared at the ceiling with contemplation etched on her face. This particular daughter was not the favorite child of her Celestial parent for no reason, she had taken after her mother in many traits, most prominent being the ability to see and think into matters that were not always clearly perceptible. Her gray eyes were clouded as she tried to decide whether to bring a certain matter to her camp activities director Chiron or not. It had been a week since she had seen her friend Percy fight the school's wrestling champion, and after her initial relief at seeing Percy come out unscathed, many questions about her new friend came into her attention.
Percy was unique, of that there were no doubts, and by all accounts everything that the raven haired boy had done so far was not anything a regular human could not do, but still he was an enigma that Annabeth just could not get out of her head. How was it that a guy who was blind from a very young age even held an interest in something like Mixed Martial Arts? Where did he grow up that he would be taught how to fight and, by the show of his skills, he was nothing short of an outstanding Martial Artist? Secondly, how can a blind boy, who is an orphan and grew up in foster care, even afford instructors who could teach the level of fighting that Percy had clearly demonstrated? As far as she knew about Max, he had started to learn about Karate since the age of three, and had gotten into extreme martial arts since seven. His parents, who were millionaires at least, had heavily invested in Max learning as much as he had about fighting. The guy had over a decade of experience in MMA, and went to a Martial Arts academy for three years, before he even started at Goode, and had gotten better because Goode offered the best facilities in the country to its Athletics Teams, especially the Wrestling Team.
Secondly, and this trait of his was much more subtle, Percy showed no symptoms of his disability other than wearing shades and sometimes carrying around a cane. He always seemed to know where he was, had complete bearing about himself, sometimes even better than people with perfect vision, and seemed to know exactly what to do to avoid knocking into people or objects in his path. She had noticed this first when they had taken him on a tour of the campus of Goode, and he had immediately started walking on the side-walk, as if he knew instinctively where it was rather than someone having him directed to it so he didn't wander off into the main road. After this incident, she had studied Percy's movements a lot more closely, scrutinizing on his movement patterns and trying to understand whether he had a habit or a trait that he followed when learning about new surroundings and environments. She had found none. Yet what baffled her even more was that he seemed to know like sense, when something was coming his way, like he had a sensory equipment on him. It was almost absurd, but he had even once pointed out that it was going to rain, and when Thalia had asked him how he knew, he had said he could sense weather patterns through the change in temperature, the way the wind was blowing, and even hearing the slight vibrations on the ground. Later when they were alone, Thalia had admitted that she also understood when a storm or rain was coming in the exact same way.
If Annabeth added all the given facts together, then the only conclusion she could reach was that Percy Jackson was a demigod, and a son of one of the Big Three to boot! He had Thalia's sense of elemental understanding, though she doubted he even knew or understood what that implied, he obviously had the physical reflexes and natural battle instincts that most, if not all, demigods shared, and finally he was an orphan. Now the question was, who could his Godly parent be? Thalia was the only one she knew who was an offspring of one of the Big Three Gods, so Annabeth was basing all the facts off her and her personality traits. Thalia had light-blue eyes: electric in color, jet black hair, and an angular face with slightly slanted eyes. Thalia herself had admitted that she looked more like her mother but her eyes were definitely from her father. Percy also had black hair, a...handsome face but his features were less sharp than Thalia's, with thicker eye-brows, and deep set eyes. His irises, though were completely black, you couldn't tell the difference between the irises and the pupils, and she knew that because she had seen his eyes when they were watching a movie in homeroom and the television light was flitting across his eyes and they were completely black. So, if she went by eyes only then he is the son of...Hades?
The blonde demigoddess turned on her bed to her other side as the thought crossed her mind. She could see the lumpy form of Thalia sleeping on her bed a few feet away from her, they were not just good friends, but roommates in the Goode dormitories as well, and for the first time since she had met Percy, she wondered who his roommate was? She could hear the even breathing of her roommate and knew she was asleep, then why the heck couldn't she fall asleep? Annabeth sighed loudly, what was it with Percy that she just couldn't get him out of her head? Her eyes cut back to the clock, it was 2:46 AM. She sighed once more and decided that the best course of action was to talk to Chiron after dinner. He would know what to do, he always did when it came to these kinds of matters.
LUNCH THE FOLLOWING DAY
In the week that Percy had been attending Goode, he had made a few friends. And by a few, it was the entire Cheerleading team that now followed around Percy every chance they got. During lunch, an entire row of tables were always put together so that the new student could sit with his 'best friends' even though the five camp members were quite sure that Percy was completely oblivious to the fact that Natalie Carson and her friends always went to all the effort of having boys put together a row of tables for him. The eleven thirty lunch seating dynamic completely changed the day after the fight took place between Max and Percy, and suddenly the entire cheerleading team's practice schedule changed and now they could have lunch with Percy and his group, how convenient. Grover, Travis, and Connor were quite overjoyed at the certain turn of events, but their pleasure soon turned to frustration as they realized that the cheerleaders were not at all interested in them, but was doing it because of the head cheerleader. Oh, and they also learned something new, Natalie Carson had a major crush on Percy, who was again, completely ignorant of that fact!
It was the same as it had been for the last three days and again Annabeth found her path blocked as she tried to go sit next to Percy only for Veronica to put a bag in her intended chair as she gave her a fake smile and said in a voice sweeter than honey that the seat was being saved for her best friend Natalie. The gray eyed girl just gave an audible sigh before joining Thalia, who was sitting in the chair squarely across from Percy. Oh, quick fact number two: Percy and Thalia were practically inseparable now, it seemed that the two had almost everything in common and she could honestly boast that Percy was her best pal and they could practically talk about everything as long as it was not girl stuff. The raven haired teen looked towards Annabeth with a raised eyebrow. "That was the third time you have tried and failed, why do you keep trying to get the seat next to Percy?"
"To save him from Carson," she whispered back so as the others already present at the table could not hear her as the majority were made up of members of the team whose captain she was insulting.
"Good point," Thalia whispered back as Grover and Connor sat down next to them.
"Hey, what's up?" Connor greeted with a small smile towards Annabeth and Thalia.
"We need a plan," Thalia replied as Connor's eye-brows rose.
"What kind of plan?" asked Travis, he too joined in as he put his tray of food on the table and gave his full attention to Thalia.
"Think of a way to get Natalie away from Percy," replied the blue-eyed demigoddess and Annabeth nodded showing her assent, to which the boys gave her incredulous looks before bursting into a chorus of protests.
"But why?" asked Grover.
"Are you out of your mind?" Travis nearly shouted.
"And you two call yourselves his friends?" Connor said with a look of surprise on his face.
"Damn it you three!" whispered Thalia hoarsely, noticing the many looks that the cheerleaders were giving them. "Keep it on the DL, jeez."
"Ok, fine," Connor whispered. "But if Natalie is genuinely interested in him, what's the harm? Heck if she was interested in me, I would be the happiest man on this planet!"
"Because Percy is not, in fact I think he likes Thalia out of all the people he knows so far at Goode!" exclaimed Annabeth, though she still maintained her whispering.
"Um, eww," muttered Thalia at what her best friend thought, but the blue-eyed demigoddess nodded nonetheless, Annabeth's analysis considering Percy's situation seemed right so far.
"And it looks like Percy is usually more annoyed than anything every time Natalie is with us," finished the blonde as she spied Natalie and Percy coming towards the table with their lunches, it was time to change the subject. "Anyway, I have a more important issue to discuss with you guys, I think I have figured out why Chiron is here?" Four sets of eyes were instantly on her with full attention as they waited for Annabeth to expand on her thoughts.
"Wow, I didn't think it would take Chiron more time than you to figure it out," muttered Grover, he was, as usual, impressed with his friend's analytical skills.
"Oh don't worry, I think Chiron has eyes on him already," the daughter of Athena assured her satyr friend as she gave him a small but mischievous smile, telling him that she knew more than she was letting on.
"So who is it? Come on don't keep us waiting!" asked Thalia, impatient and pushy as usual.
"It's Percy," she said with a self satisfied grin on her face as four pairs of wide eyes stared at her.
"Okay, now I know you are kidding!" said Connor before taking a bite out of his burger, visibly deflating as he realized that Annabeth had just pulled a fast one on all of them.
"I am not kidding, the facts do line up...kind of," she said as she pulled out a small notepad in which she had written down some bullet points of the things she was certain of. "So, since we know Chiron is here, he is a big-three deal, right?" she paused as she looked up to see the other four nod. "And we know that since this guy is a child of the big-three he is quite strong," again she got nods from the rest of the half-blood campers. "So, all things considered, who do you think has the most potential, not considering us, to fight off monsters and survive this long without training that goes to this school?"
"Alright, fine, for a second let us agree that Percy is a demigod," Thalia whispered back. "But we still haven't seen him display any of the natural attributes that almost all of us have."
"What natural attributes are you talking about?" asked Travis.
"I mean our dyslexic problems, or ADHD! Percy is as cool as a cucumber almost all the time, he is calm, collected, and quiet. Most demigods are usually considered hyper or active because of the ADHD and we have a natural tendency to do below average in academics because of dyslexia, but Percy has neither of those problems," responded Thalia.
"Hold on a second," cut in Annabeth as she looked at her best friend with narrowed eyes. "How do you know what Percy's academic performance is like?"
"I work at the office remember, and I often times have to put in the transcripts and grades of the new students into the school's online database for records, I did not do Percy's but I have seen his profile after I first met him. He isn't a bad student at all, right now his GPA is at a 3.88, and he has no record of showing that he has ever been involved in any sort of extracurricular stuff either," replied the daughter of Zeus in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Hmm, I guess you were wrong this time Annabeth," Travis said, but not in a joking or contemptuous way, he was actually going with the daughter of Athena's thoughts but some things were just not meant to be, he supposed. He turned his attention towards Percy as she saw him eating quietly while nodding every once in awhile as Natalie chatted away next to him.
"Hi Percy," Annabeth greeted.
"Annabeth," he responded with a slight nod in her direction.
"So Percy, you never told us who your roommate was," she asked as she saw him put his backpack down before taking a long drink from his water bottle. The corners of his lips quirked a little, he was smirking!
"I am surprised you don't know already," he replied, his smirk still there as his eyes were staring straight at Annabeth's, it was quite unnerving.
"Well, I don't know, who is it?" she finally huffed as Percy's smirk finally turned into a grin after hearing the annoyance in the blonde demigoddess' voice.
"It's Trent," he finally replied before taking another bite out of his sandwich.
"Y-you mean Trenton Brax!" Annabeth sputtered, unable to contain her surprise as it soon turned into anxiety when she received an amused nod from him.
"Percy can you open this for me?" cut in Natalie as she handed Percy her soda bottle when he turned his head slightly towards her.
"Here," he handed it back to her almost instantly, the bottle top in his left hand.
"Thanks," chirped Natalie as she happily took it from him while giving Annabeth a look that left her completely bewildered.
"Hey Percy," Travis said, drawing the guy's attention. "You wanna go into town tonight?" This also piqued the attention of Grover and Connor.
"What's in town?" asked Percy in an even tone but his eye brows were slightly raised showing curiosity.
"Um...uh, you know..." Travis was slightly red in the face as his eyes darted towards Grover and Connor as he looked for some help only to see them trying hard not to laugh at his current predicament. Thalia and Annabeth were looking at Travis now too.
"Yeah, Travis what exactly do you have to show Percy in town?" asked the daughter of Zeus in a sickly sweet tone that only increased the son of Hermes' anxiety.
"Well...you know I was thinking we could hit the...um the...arcade, yes the arcade, and maybe go to the mall and stuff?" he responded uncertainly before gulping as he noticed Thalia's glare was still on him.
"Sorry but I can't," replied Percy, almost instantly diffusing the dangerous situation at the table.
"How come?" asked the satyr, what else could Percy possibly doing tonight other than studying, he wondered.
"Natalie asked me to go have dinner with her at a new place called Cafe Bouvud," he responded as Connor's and Travis's eyebrows shot off their faces, even Grover looked like he was having a hard time believing it. Percy had a date...with the hottest cheerleader in Goode!
"A-are you serious?" asked the astonished satyr as the sons of Hermes nodded their heads, looking quite dumb-founded and shocked.
"Yes, it was actually my idea," replied Natalie from beside Percy with a small nod towards Grover. "I thought it would be nice if Percy got a chance to see Manhattan and go outside the campus, there isn't much to do here anyway."
"Right," replied Grover as he looked at Connor and Travis who also nodded at Natalie.
"How do you plan on getting there though?" asked Annabeth, if she knew correctly, all the nice places to eat were at least five miles out, and any fancy place in downtown was even farther away than that from their school.
"Oh, Veronica's boyfriend has agreed to give us his car for the evening," she replied as Connor let out an almost inaudible gasp, but was caught as Thalia turned towards him with a raised eyebrow.
"What's the deal?" she asked in a hushed tone.
"Veronica's boyfriend is Jacob Bullin Mars, or as we know him, the Bull-Mars, one of our Varsity football team's best linemen," replied Connor in the same hushed tone.
"So?" responded Thalia, not understanding what the big deal was.
"So? So, I know him, and if there is one thing that he likes more than football then it is his car, and I don't blame him, it's one heck of a ride! Got it as a birthday present from his parents when he turned sixteen, it's a new Porsche Correra GT convertible with butterfly doors and a Cosh-Cuvac folding metal hood. That thing is a beast in the form of a perfect molding of technology and machinery!" came the rather elaborate reply that left Thalia quite speechless as she also knew a thing or two about cars.
"Damn," muttered the daughter of Zeus.
MR. BRUNNER'S CLASSROOM, AFTER CLASSES
"You should, at no cost, allow him to leave campus," said Mr. Brunner as he rolled his wheelchair from behind his table to stop directly in front of the desk that Annabeth was sitting at as she told Chiron what Percy planned to do after classes that evening.
"But...why not?" she asked after a little pause as this was the first time she was questioning the centaur why he wanted to do something in a long time. Since she had known Chiron, he always warded caution when it came campers and their safety but this time it was a little confusing to Annabeth.
"Because he will be away from the grounds of this school," he responded after a short hiatus as the centaur decided to finally reveal the secret that he had held from the blonde demigoddess for nearly two years.
"Wouldn't that be the same as coming here anyway, I mean he will be in danger if he is in school or..." the gray-eyed teen suddenly trailed off as a small realization began to take place in her mind. She, along with Thalia, Connor, and Travis had been coming to Goode High since their freshmen year, and had been attending this school for almost two years now, yet there had been no monster attacks in the interim, not a single one.
"No, said Chiron as he looked away from the daughter of Athena towards the open windows of the classroom, the sun was glowing a healthy orange, signaling the day's slow decent into dusk.
"Why?" asked Annabeth with furrowed brows as she looked at her camp director with calculating gray eyes. It was obvious that he was hiding something from her, but she couldn't understand whatever the matter was, why did it need hiding in the first place?
"Well, when I proposed the matter of education for the teens at Camp Half-Blood, the initial reaction of the gods were to reject my offer because as usual they were afraid for the safety of their offspring. But a certain goddess decided that children needed school as it was the best way to gain wisdom and enlightenment, hence she said that as long as a select few members were chosen to visit a school outside of camp grounds, that place would be under her personal protection." Chiron did not need to say anymore as Annabeth deduced who the certain goddess was.
"So the school is under mom's personal protection. Well, if I had known that I could have stopped Percy from going!" she groused as she looked at the camp activities director with narrowed eyes. "How do I stop him now?" thought the blonde with a finger on her chin. Suddenly an idea popped into her head, she did not like it but at the moment that was the only one she had.
"Chiron, just be at Cafe Bouvud at seven thirty tonight," she said before running out the classroom, already sprinting towards the sophomore dormitories.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," muttered the centaur in the wheelchair with an amused smile.
PERCY'S DORM
As Annabeth looked for Percy's dorm, she ran into Trent Brax, who seemed rather annoyed by something as he was literally stomping down the hallway towards the elevators with an irritated look plastered onto his face.
"Oh!" said the blonde girl as she was quite startled when her face collided with someone's shoulder. "I am sorry," she muttered as she rubbed her forehead.
"Whatever," came the response as the person started to move again only this time Annabeth recognized who it was.
"Hey, hold on a second," she called as the teen stopped and tuned towards her.
"What do you want Chase?" he asked, irritation now thick in his voice.
"Just wondering if you knew which room was Percy Jackson's?"
"Come to join the party? There," he pointed at the room where she could hear multiple people talking behind the closed doors. "Should've guessed," thought the blonde as she turned back towards the captain of the football team. "Thanks Trent," she said as she hurried towards the indicated room. She was about to knock on the door, and the voices inside indicated that there were at least three people inside when she realized it was already open. Pushing it open, she was not surprised to find Grover, Connor, Travis, and Thalia already there. Travis and Grover was scurrying around the dorm, flinging clothes from closets and opening travel bags that, Annabeth assumed, belonged to Percy. Connor and Thalia on the other hand were apparently giving dating tips to Percy, but considering that neither had been to a normal date in their entire lives, the daughter of Athena was not too sure whether the tips would actually help or not. Thalia turned to see who was at the door, and smiled when she saw it was her best friend.
"Hey, can you pull out your laptop and check what kind of clothes people wear to Cafe Bouvud? We aren't too sure cuz the name says 'Cafe' but it is in one of the most aristocratic parts of downtown Manhattan?" Thalia asked and Annabeth nodded before she pulled off her backpack and started opening it to get her laptop out.
"And also tell him how much money he needs, if it's set where we think it is, a good dinner for two would probably cost more than a few bucks," quipped Connor and turned back towards Percy when he saw the blonde give a quick nod in assent.
"But wouldn't he only need to pay half, for his part?" asked Annabeth, not looking up from the screen, completely missing the three wide-eyed looks she got from the males present in the room, other than Percy of course.
"Annabeth," said Connor in a very serious voice which made her look up from the laptop towards the son of Hermes. "When a man takes his chica to dinner, it is his most solemn duty to take care of her as much as possible." Both Annabeth and Thalia rolled their eyes at him.
"I know, but Natalie is not his chica yet," said the blonde demigoddess, air-quoting the word 'chica'. "And it's their first date, I think it would be better if Percy started out as a friend. After all, they barely know each other." She returned her attention back to the screen of her laptop as Thalia and Connor went back to giving advices to Percy. "Oh my gosh!" Annabeth yelped, she couldn't hold her gasp down, the cafe had to be one of the most expensive restaurants at Manhattan.
"What now?" asked the daughter of Zeus as she went up to her best friend and started reading from the laptop from over her shoulders. "Holy cow!" she yelped too once she saw the price range for a meal at the Bouvud. "What kinds of food do they serve there?" Thalia wondered aloud.
"Why, what's wrong?" asked Grover, he seemed to have finally made a choice about Percy's clothes. The satyr was holding onto a silky red dress shirt, a black vest, and a pair of black jeans.
"Percy," Thalia cut in before Annabeth could respond to Grover. "You better take a good amount of cash with you, the cafe is crazy expensive!"
"Define crazy expensive," replied the dark haired teen from the other side of the bed.
"As in you better take at least four hundred bucks with you, or else you won't be able to afford a meal for two," she replied and was surprised when she only a got a nonchalant nod in return before Percy went back to talking with Connor, though it was quite obvious the latter was having a difficulty trying to find words.
"So...," Grover looked around the room uncertainly as suddenly everyone was quiet except for Percy. "Are these clothes alright?"
"Well, the jeans won't do," replied the gray eyed blonde after a small pause. "They expect customers to wear completely formal attire."
"Oh...in that case, this should do!" The satyr exchanged the jeans for a pair of dark khaki trousers and picked up a white tie.
CAFE BOUVUD
Natalie looped her arm around Percy's affectionately after they got out of the Porsche as they made their way towards the entrance of the cafe. So far, and to Natalie's surprise, Percy had been a perfect gentleman with her. He had been at her dorm room at exactly seven and even had a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses with him (courtesy of Annabeth). Even his clothes matched hers quite well, his mostly black attire with red complimented her red dress, with black trims, and white ribbons perfectly. As they entered, a waiter was immediately at their side as he gave them a small bow before saying "Madame, monsieur?" looking at Percy expectantly, assuming that the young man would take the lead as usual. He, though, wasn't the least bit surprised when the lady began speaking.
"We have reservations at seven-thirty," she spoke up as she gave a polite smile to the waiter. The man, his name tag read 'Greg Rames' flicked his left wrist as he looked at the time.
"Ah, two minutes early," he said, in an amusingly fake French accent before looking at the couple. "But no matter, your reserved table is ready. If you will, this way." Responded Greg with an elaborate flourish of his arms as he led Natalie and Percy on the second level and by the large windows overlooking the main part f Manhattan downtown. Natalie wasted no time as she flicked open the menu.
"Percy, what would you like to drink?"
PARKING OF CAFE BOUVUD
"Holy Rhea," breathed Connor as he hopped off the van that stopped in front of the cafe. The cafe was a massive structure, three stories high and was glittering like a diamond with all the lights that were coming off the place. Chiron had somehow managed to get them the job of waiters and waitresses for the night since a lot of the regular staff had taken a leave as it was the Friday before Spring Break in a matter of two hours. Apparently Mr. D had some sort of pull with the demigod owner of the place and at Chiron's request has got them a spot for the day's staff.
"Hurry up, or we'll be late," Annabeth reminded them as they swiftly made their way behind the restaurant where the staff and workers were expected to enter, through the kitchen and then in the changing rooms before it led out to the main hall where the guests were served, right next to the counter behind a rather large bar.
"Man, I ain't surprised this place is so expensive now," muttered Thalia to Grover who nodded quickly as he limped along, tugging the sleeves of his uniform uncomfortably.
"Hey, where's Chiron, he said he would be here," said Travis, as they finally made it to the door that read in large red letters "STAFF ONLY".
"I don't know, all he said to me was that he was going to be there," responded Annabeth. They were already inside and were instructed to put on uniforms before heading to the kitchen to receive further instructions.
"Hey, if Chiron said he was gonna be here then he will be here," interjected Thalia with finality as Travis, Connor, and Grover all nodded in a knowing manner, the centaur was and always had been very true to his word and followed that principle with religious zeal.
"You think Percy and Natalie are here already?" wondered Grove as they made their way to the kitchen.
"Yup," replied Connor with a nod towards the satyr. "Saw their car parked in the valet area."
"Man, the woman is making no effort to save Percy's money," Travis muttered but it was meant to be heard to the rest of the group.
"It doesn't look like his money needs saving though," the blue-eyed demigoddess said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Eh? Why would you say that?" asked Connor in a surprised voice.
"Because," this time it was the daughter of Athena that spoke up. "He wasn't the least bit surprised, nor fazed when we told him how expensive this place was how much money he would need just for one meal."
"So you are implying that even though he is a foster child, he is loaded?" asked Connor with a skeptically raised eye-brow.
"Well...yeah?" responded Annabeth uncertainly, her face showing a light frown.
"Actually, that doesn't sound far off, you saw how he barely cared when Thalia told him how expensive this place was," Grover said clarifying the blonde's claim.
"Hmm, you are right. But what's the big deal, right? His foster parents just might be rich people who can't have kids so they take care of kids who need parents," said Travis with a self satisfied grin.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound too hard to believe," concurred Conner with a nod.
"Well here we are," they were finally at the kitchen.
CAFE BOUVUD, FEW MINUTES LATER
"What would you like monsieur?" asked Annabeth, trying on her best impersonation of French accent, while Grover standing next to her snickered in a very audible manner. The customer they were serving right now was a middle-aged man, wearing a nice looking black tuxedo and was sitting in a wheel-chair reading the menu with apt attention, brows furrowed in concentration as he wondered what to order. He looked up at his servers and a small smile graced his lips.
"Ah, Annabeth my dear, I hope this job is going well for you and the others?" Chiron asked with raised eye-brows as he looked at the blonde before shifting his eyes to the satyr.
"Yes sir, we are handling this. Thalia is taking care of Percy and his date, she is their waitress, and the twins are outside, at the valet services. They will warn us should anything out of the ordinary happens. I am currently your waitress and Grover will attend to any other services you might need due to your err...disability," Annabeth finished with a slight pause at the end.
"Oh, marvelous, now would you mind getting me some champagne?" asked the centaur as Annabeth gave him a nod before heading towards the bar to tell the bartender the order for table thirty-two.
"Grover what do you think?" asked Chiron as soon as Annabeth was out of ear-shot. Technically he wasn't hiding anything from the blonde but it really was a protector's job to take care of a new demigod should they find one. And since Chiron himself was here, he believed that it would be rather good for everyone if the demigod campers did not get involved in this search. The child was sired by the big-three, any conflict surrounding the child could also pull in other demigods close to him/her and that was something the centaur was not willing to accept. Collateral damage or not, the demigods were his responsibility, and he would put himself before them without a second thought. Gods be damned!
"As far as I am concerned, I have not been able to pick up a scent from anyone, and while that is not completely unheard of, it's almost impossible for a demigod to not have a scent if he or she is from the big-three," replied Grover which was unsettling news for the centaur. The search was already taking longer than it should have, and if it continued that would mean putting the other campers at risk as well. Chiron did not even want to think what Zeus would do should something happen to Thalia. he was already angry enough that his bolt was missing, anything more and the Sky-God would likely jump to conclusions and a new world war would be at his hands.
"But the new power I feel coming from this school even dwarfs Thalia's by a considerable margin, how is it that you cannot pick up a scent?" asked the Chiron and was not surprised when he saw the satyr's eyes were bugging out when he heard it.
"A-are you sure?" asked Grover giving the centaur a curious gaze. Thalia was currently the champion of Olympus, a title that the Gods did not easily grant to any demigods, after her revival she had gone on a quest to find who was the real Lightning thief was and had brought solid evidence that Lord Poseidon was not in any way behind the theft. Since then she had been blessed by many Gods and Goddesses. She first gained her blessing from Zeus himself, and then was blessed by Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Demeter, and even Poseidon himself. Something that hadn't happened in many centuries, and it had only increased her powers as a demigod. And this new demigod was even stronger than her! That notion was quite hard to believe for Grover but he couldn't help but glance upwards where he knew Percy was sitting currently with Natalie.
"Quite sure," the satyr got his response, which did not help his dilemma because when Chiron was serious, he was never wrong!
Chiron, on the other hand, was remembering a certain event that took place about nine years ago. He remembered how a young demigod was cast out, by himself and Hecate because of Zeus by the consent of Poseidon and Hades. He also remembered the cause and hated what he had to do for the demigod. Could it be that somehow that child had broken through the mist enchantment that was placed on him by Hecate herself? He knew that it had never happened before when a mist was directly placed upon something by the Titan, that enchantment remained till today. The testament to that was the division among demigods between Greece and Rome, as the mist was placed after the Trojan War and it still held strong. Only beings that were stronger than Hecate could have broken through her enchantment, so that possibility was out the window.
Suddenly, a glass window shattered inwards with tremendous force, breaking him out of his thoughts as he turned around to see a Fury fly through the broken window into the cafe. The entire place was in complete chaos as everyone was screaming, shouting, and running. Most of the people were making their way towards the closest exits they could find, and many more windows were being broken in. This particular Fury's name was Tisiphone, and she was twirling a fiery whip in her hands as flew straight up towards the second floor of the cafe.
"We have to get everyone out of here!" Grover was already wheeling the centaur towards the main exit when he saw Connor and Travis run in, yelling for the people to get out.
"Grover, stop!" Chiron said as he emphasized his point to the satyr by holding his hand up. He stopped but gave a questioning look to the camp activities director. "I am not the one who needs help. You know as well as I do that I can take care of myself, help get the others out of harm's way," Grover hesitated for a moment but finally nodded, just as he was about to run off, the centaur grabbed his shoulder. "I mean, get everyone, out of harm's way."
WITH PERCY
As soon as Percy felt a disturbance in the air around him, he knew things were amiss and the situation was probably going to get really bad, really fast. Natalie was still chattering away about some of her classmates, but Percy stopped her as he held his hand out to her suddenly. She stopped talking as she saw her date holding his hand out to her.
"What's wrong Percy?" she asked, he usually held his hand out when he needed help or wanted something handed to him.
"Can you help me to the restroom?" the black-haired teen asked politely.
"Oh, of course," she replied as she took Percy's hand before guiding him towards the hallway that had restrooms labeled in large white letters. She walked with him until she saw the separate pathways, to the left were the females and to the right were the males. "Alright Percy to the left are the-" Natalie was cut off as she felt extreme pain burst out from the base of her neck suddenly and she collapsed on the floor, losing consciousness. Percy felt a little bad for knocking her out, but it he had to done and caught her just before she hit the floor as he heard sounds of glass breaking and then shouts and screams filled the entire cafe. He quickly pulled Natalie over his shoulder before running into the women's bathroom and set her down against the wall next to the sinks.
"Now, let's see what all this fuss is about," muttered Percy as he took his shades off and put them in his pockets. his demeanor was completely different than it was moments ago, this time he stood straighter, he was actually facing the entrance rather than looking down or having his eyes look in an off-direction so that his lie about being totally blind was believable. A feral grin was slowly stretching across his face as he sprinted out of the bathroom and came to a skidding halt as he felt three flying things were circling above his head. But currently their attention was on something other than him, and he looked over the railing to see what was going on down-stairs. The place was almost completely deserted, there was only one guy sitting there, he was in a wheel-chair and he was clearly speaking to the flying things over head, as he was directly looking them.
"Leave now before I decide to do something about it," he said, his voice was threatening and it looked like he had done this a lot of times before.
"Isn't that Mr. Brunner?" thought Percy with interest.
"You don't scare us trainer," one of the flying things cackled as she cracked her whip loudly.
"Well, it seems you have learned nothing in all these years then," replied the man in the wheel-chair as he rolled it forward a bit. His voice was low, and it seemed he was just about to jump out of the chair when another one spoke up.
"Wait, trainer, this does not concern you. We are here from the orders of the Fates themselves, do you really want to upset them?"
"What do you mean Alecto?" asked Chiron, this search was getting messier with every new revelation.
"The Fates, they were the ones that ordered us to test this new half-blood," hissed one of the flying things as the centaur's brows furrowed.
"Test? All three of you were sent to test one child?" he asked, no untrained hero could stand up to a single fury, let alone all three. To defeat all three would be a difficult tasks even for the best of them.
"We do not question the weavers," screeched the first one impatiently, as she cracked her whip. "Leave now or suffer the consequences," that was the final warning and Chiron could tell that the furies were here on a specific task and it was, technically speaking, way above his pay-grade. The centaur grudgingly gave them a nod before wheeling his chair backwards, before turning around and going out one of the side doors.
"Now young one, why are you so special?" asked Alecto, as she turned around, this time facing the demigod that they were sent to test.
"So you three are the Furies?" he asked, this time looking directly at Alecto. They looked at him again, this time visibly shaken, he seemed to know who they were? That was not what they had expected, they were told he was untrained, strong but new to the world.
"It matters not!" Alecto hissed when she saw hesitation in her sisters. "He will die!" she screeched as she dove at the demigod, her whip unfurling ready to wrap around his body, but it seemed he was expecting it, as he jumped out of the whip's way. What really surprised Alecto was that as soon as he landed, he took off, flying straight at her. Before the Fury could react, Percy was already hovering in front of her, his hand was holding her face and a low buzzing sound slowly filled her hearing. Smoke started coming out of Percy's hand before Alecto suddenly stiffened before her entire body exploded into powder and the air was filled with a sulfurous smell. Seeing their sister fall, the other two Furies screeched in anger before attacking the demigod with their whips, but he was too fast for them, as he flew around their whips as if it meant nothing to him at all. They kept on their assault, and Percy kept dodging, but after a while he grew tired of this and grabbed both the whips simultaneously. It was time to finish this. As soon as he grabbed their whips, he froze them before pulling them towards himself with as much force as he could apply, and the frozen whips shattered. Grinning at the horrified faces of the Furies, he flew first towards the one his left and punched her right in the face, his hands charging with electricity, and she burst into powder like a piñata. The last remaining one attempted to flee after seeing how effortlessly the demigod took her sisters down, but was too slow as Percy caught her by one of her leathery wings. He pulled her back towards him harshly before punching her straight in her back, she howled as he heard her spinal cord break before giving her a cyclone kick, catching her right on the side of her face. Her head exploded before the body fell limply on the ground, slowly turning into dust.
Percy landed back on the ground looking around, the place was completely empty, there was no-one around. The only sounds that were coming were from the fire alarms that were blaring inside the cafe, the kitchen was actually on fire. Most of the large windows were broken and some of the furniture were scattered across the floor. "Well...that was anti-climactic," muttered the black-haired teen as he jogged back towards the rest rooms. What he had failed to notice was the face of a man in a wheel chair as he had been looking at the entire fight with ever growing confusion and interest.
Hello Readers,
I know, I know this chapter has taken me much longer than I thought it should have and I apologize for this from the bottom of my heart. But what can I do, my school comes first. Anyways, what do you guys think of the chapter? Yes, Percy can fly! He also has other powers that will be revealed later and the reasons behind those powers too, so stay tuned because the next few chapters are going to be...interesting. I hope you like this chapter and ideas and opinions from readers are always welcome and if you would like to discuss the story in farther detail, just send me a quick P.M. And please, please, please don't forget to review.
Thanks,
Tanneal