Annabeth heard a light knocking on her cabin door. Groaning the daughter of Athena stomped towards the door.
"What!?" She opened the door with a glare. Percy blinked down at the angry girl.
"Sorry," He whispered and smiled. "I couldn't find the tape," Percy held up a hammer and nails. Annabeth looked at her door, there was a paper half nailed in, displaying the ranks.
Annabeth turned around and went to the nearest desk and grabbed a roll of tape. She handed it to a still smiling Percy.
"It is five in the morning, you might want to be more quiet. Here." Percy grinned at her, trying not to laugh at the girls bed hair.
"Thanks, and sorry for waking you," Percy turned to leave.
"Just be thankful you didn't go to the Ares/Mars cabin. If you had woken them up you would have been dead by now," Annabeth grumbled and slammed the door.
"Were those the ranks?" She was greeted by her whole cabin, still in pajamas and robes.
"Yeah, go back to bed, it is still too early." Annabeth snuggled back into her covers. Her siblings on the other hand were outside comparing results.
"You are the only one that got into the expert class, Annie," Michael talked between a piece of sausage.
"Don't call me Annie," Annabeth sighed.
"Campers!" Chiron trotted in. Percy followed close behind. This time, though, he did not smile or wave. In fact, the boy frowned at the ground as he grabbed his breakfast. "I presume you all saw your rankings." Murmurs rose between the campers. "The way the schedule will go for the next couple of months will be simple. Beginners class will run from the time breakfast ends to half an hour before lunch time, intermediate-"
"What?" Those in the beginners class exploded.
"Those in intermediate will train from after lunch to half an hour before dinner."
"Why?" The intermediates whined.
"And those in expert are scheduled from after dinner to half an hour before lights out."
"We are dead," Jason groaned from the Zeus/Jupiter table.
"Don't show suck glum faces." Chiron chuckled. "It is only for a couple months honestly." Chiron looked down at the glaring Percy who was murdering his eggs. "Perseus-"
"Percy," the boy snapped.
"Perseus is only with us until the next Solstice." Percy glared at the centaur. "Now, enjoy your breakfast. Percy, may I speak to you?" Percy smirked.
"Sure thing," He smiled sweetly and followed the centaur out.
"Did you see them?" Nico whispered as the clan walked towards the arena.
The group of the expert class consisted of Nico and Hazel, Thalia and Jason, the Stolls and Chris, Clarisse, Frank, and Reyna, Leo and Piper, Annabeth, Octavian, Dakota, Gwen, Bobby, and most surprising, Rachel. There were other kids from different cabins, but none that the group were very familiar with. Some consisted of Romans and descendants.
"Yeah, relax." Jason clapped the boy on the back. "How hard can he actually push us? And we did survive two prophecies, we got this." They turned the corner of the armory and entered the arena. The campers' eyes bulged out of their sockets.
In the middle of the arena Percy was fighting some of the new automatons the Hephaestus/Vulcan cabin built for practice. Needless to say, he was chopping them to pieces.
Percy had changed clothes since breakfast. He was now wearing brown combat pants with different pockets to store knives and other weapons. He had a dark brown leather vest with a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His black leather boots reached a little under his knee, she produced a knife from his left boot and threw it at one automaton, hitting him right in the eye. He had two swords in his hands, one celestial bronze, the other imperial gold. He was jumping over the automatons, kicking their feet from under them, slashing his swords across their throats, oil spilling everything. The others did not make a single noise and just stared dumb folded.
Percy stuck an arrow through the last automaton and finished crouched on the floor glaring. He finally noticed the group staring at him.
"Oh, great." He grumbled. "Shouldn't you all be at dinner?" Percy stood up and wiped the sweat off his face. He sheathed both his swords and began collecting his knives that were scattered around the floor.
"Dinner was over 10 minutes ago," Nico took the initiative to walk forward, the rest followed close behind.
"Can we not mention me training to Chiron...or Mr. D. I will appreciate it. Now lets get started," Percy sat on one of the stands by the edge of the arena.
"Now, I need you all to get into partners." Annabeth and Nico shared another look. "But..." Percy grinned. "Here's the catch. Think of the person you least like in the group...and pair up with them," There were confused looks and groans.
Percy threw them a glare and everyone looked for another partner.
Nico sat next to a sighing Leo while Annabeth glared at Reyna.
"Very well," Percy stood up and began to walk around. "I am only here for a couple of months and honestly I don't think that is enough time to teach you everything. I am not going to lie to you and say you will enjoy this class. Odds are you will end up hating it...and me. I will try to make it the most entertaining sword fighting class as possible." He grinned at his class. "And now...please leave all your weapons by the edge of the arena."
"Are we not going to start training?" Frank question taking his spear off his back.
"Not just yet," Percy grinned again. The campers threw their weapons down and began whispering to each other. "Now, if I say Hercules Maneuver one, how many do not know what that means?" No one raised their hands so Percy nodded in appreciation. "How many Hero Maneuvers do you all know?"
"Chiron thought us all of Heracles' and began with Perseus" Annabeth explained.
'"Wow! That will make things easier. Alright, I will call out numbers and you will perform the maneuver, think of it as a pop quiz," Percy smiled at their confused looks. "Heracles four!" She yelled making a couple of the kids jump. Slowly they all performed the maneuver, getting in crouching positions and mimicking slashing through the air and stabbing. "Good, good, now Heracles ten," The campers slashed twice in the air quickly and mimicked kicking someone in the stomach. "Heracles 29," No one moved. "29?" Percy frowned at them.
"There is no such thing," Octavian glared.
"Up until what number did Chiron teach you?" Percy leaned on one of his swords.
"Fifteen," The campers answered.
"So, not even a sixth of them," Percy mumbled. "Okay, this is what we will do. For what is left of December and all of January we will work on hand to hand combat. February and March I will teach you Hero Maneuvers in depth. April and May will be defense and attack. June...I will see what else I can teach you before I leave," Percy smiled again.
"Leave?" Jason raised his hand. "So Chiron was not joking when he told you are only here temporarily, Mr. Jackson," Percy face palmed.
"Percy, call me Percy."Percy smiled weakly at him. The class blinked back at him.
"Chiron told us you wanted to be called Mr. Jackson," Nico smirked.
"Next lesson, don't pay attention to the horse," Percy deadpanned. There were chuckles around the group. Percy cracked a real smile this time. Maybe teaching won't be that bad.
"Now, lets get started for real this time."
Percy walked around the arena as the campers were fighting with one another. His expert class was better than he expected. He laughed as he saw Nico and Leo punching and kicking each other. The son of Hades had the son of Hephaestus on a choke hold on the ground. Leo growled and his hand caught on fire, he punched Nico who let go and fell back wards.
"No fair!" Nico groaned, Leo jumped on top of him. "This is hand to hand combat, no powers! Percy!" Nico yelled.
"Alright, break it up," Percy was tempted to douse both of them with water but remembered he was not allowed. He got Leo off of his cousin and dusted Nico off, mainly to put off the small fire that began on his back. "Try this," Percy demonstrated how to get out of a choke hold without setting the opponent on fire. "Now you two try," Leo got out quickly but it took Nico a couple of tries. "There you go, keep at it and try not to kill each other," Percy continued to check the others
"No promises," both yelled as they continued fighting. Percy shook his head, those two will never change.
He continued walking and gave pointers to campers here and there.
"Octavian, try to push yourself with your legs so you get more momentum," Percy demonstrated how as Jason and Octavian watched.
"I know how to crouch and jump, thank you," Octavian snapped and launched himself at Jason. Percy shook his head. Even if Octavian did not know who he was it seemed the Augur still hated his guts.
"Alright, that is enough for tonight, get rest and see you tomorrow," Percy grinned at the exhausted demigods in front of him. One by one, the campers stood up and left.
"Bye, Percy,"
"Bye," Percy grinned as some of them waved goodbye.
In a blink of an eye he was left alone. Percy sat on the floor and smiled sadly. It really irked him not being able to tell them who he was. He had to stop himself from staring at Annabeth too much.
"So, you are encouraging my pupils to not listen to me, hm?" Chiron trotted up to him. Percy smirked up at him.
"I never listened to you and I turned out alright,"
"Yes, your near death experiences are something to encourage and applaud," Chiron sighed.
"Thank you," Percy jumped up and dusted his pants off.
"I saw you training," Percy gulped. "Percy, you have to be careful,"
"I didn't use my powers and what I did was not fighting out of the ordinary," Percy defended himself. Chiron's tail twitched, his face fell with worry.
"I just worry they will take away what little time you have with us because of your recklessness,"
"Oh relax, when have you known me to mess things up because I am reckless?" Chiron chuckled at the son of Poseidon's innocent look.
"You should get rest. I hear you have been waking early to run around camp," Percy kicked some snow as he walked out of the arena.
"Old habits die hard," Percy and Chiron made their way to the Big House.
"Hello, Mr. D," Percy jumped on the couch and yawned.
"Perseus," Dionysus grumbled as he poured himself a glass of wine, sitting next to him on the couch. Chiron wheeled himself in the room.
"When are you going to call me Percy?" Percy grabbed the remote and began changing the channels on the T.V.
"When you stop calling me 'the Wine Dude'" Mr. D yanked the remote off his cousin's hands and turned the T.V off. "You should be in bed," Mr. D glared at the boy.
"I just got in, I want to relax and watch television," Percy tried to take the remote back but the god shoved him off the couch.
"Off to bed! Do you want me to tell your mother!" Percy pouted and stomped to his room.
"You suck," Percy closed his door and sank on his bed. He stared at the ceiling waiting for his mind to drift to sleep.
"Taking off your combat clothes might help be more comfortable," Mr. D yelled from the living room.
"I sleep how I want!" Percy yelled back, Mr. D's only response was to chuckle.
"Good morning," Mr. D greeted Percy at the foot of the stairs. Percy frowned and look at his watch.
"It's five fifteen, what are you doing up?" Percy whispered. Dionysus never woke before ten in the morning.
"You can't go running anymore," Dionysus explained.
"Why?" Percy began to make his way to the door.
"You are attracting to much attention," Chiron wheeled himself in the room with a coffee mug in his hand.
"Oh, come on! I am only working out," Percy tried to leave but Mr. D made vines cover the door. "Dionysus, please," Dionysus walked into the kitchen.
"The doors will open five minutes before breakfast. Now go back to bed," Percy groaned and stomped back to his room.
"I should of seen this coming," He grumbled. "He stomped to the window and slammed it open. He jumped out the window and landed on the porch roof. He leaned over the edge and grabbed onto it. He jumped off and landed quietly on the front porch. Grinning he put his head phones on and began to run away.
"He left through the window didn't he?" Mr. D sighed as he poured himself some coffee.
"Yes, he did," Chiron blew on his coffee to cool it as they continued to discuss the upcoming camp competitions.
"By this rate he would reveal himself in a month,"
"Have some faith in him, Mr. D. He might be reckless but the lad is not dumb," Chiron sipped his coffee and smiled warmly. "Plus, revealing himself might not be a bad idea,"
"Try telling Zeus that," Thunder shook the ground. "See! Stubborn as a mule!" Lightning struck outside.
"Must be a family trait," Chiron chuckled and began to eat his breakfast.