Chapter 4: Camp

Let me tell you something about carrying people. I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously. Why? Cause most people aren't LIGHT! Tyler was quite heavy actually. He didn't weigh much less than me, at 150 pounds.

Carrying 150 pounds of dead weight with a vertically challenged satyr to a car that doesn't look like it can make it out of the parking lot, definitely is NOT fun and NOT on my bucket list, thank you very much.

Anyways, we managed to get Tyler into the car, and surprisingly, it ran fairly smoothly. That is an exception to whenever you hit a bump, which was bad, since the car had NO suspension whatsoever. I must have hit my head on the ceiling of the Hybrid at least 20 times.

Yeah, big surprise. A satyr driving a Hybrid. NOT! This satyr alone must have been the world's biggest tree-hugger, since he wouldn't go over 30 mph so he could conserve gas.

"I thought we were in a hurry!" I yelled, maybe with a little bit more aggression than required. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come off that harsh."

"Don't worry about it kid, just focus on waking up Blondie. I will drive." Mr. Poplar said.

"Right," I said. I knew exactly how to wake him up. "TYLER! WAKE UP! YOU ARE GONNA MISS ARCHERY PRACTICE!"

Maybe I yelled a little too loud, since Mr. Poplar got surprised and swerved all over the road.

"Sorry Mr. P." I said, truly sorry.

"Don't worry about it. Just tone it down a little next time." Mr. Poplar said, maybe a little mad, or a little shaken.

"I'm awake! Can't miss... Wait, what?" Tyler said, a little bedraggled.

"Remember Tyler?" Lynn asked. "Camp?"

"Right, right." Tyler said, obviously confused.

"Here we are!" Mr. Poplar said as he slammed on the brakes, full force, and i hit my head on the dash, luckily, I wasn't knocked out.

"OW!" I said, sort of mad.

"Sorry kid, I had to, I almost missed..." He didn't get a chance to finish that sentence. A gigantic golden bull smashed into the side of the car, sending it rolling.

"Zeus, that hurt." I said, holding my neck. But then i realized i was the only one conscious in the car, and why did i say Zeus? A thing to contemplate for another time, I had to protect my friends.

I got out of the shattered window, and looked over the car to the golden bull. It had pure hatred in its expression, if it could have one.

"Bring it, beefer!" I said, sounding more confident than i was.

He didn't like that. He charged me, willing to go straight through the car. I wasn't gonna let this over grown pork chop hurt my friends. With an amount of strength I didn't know I had, I leaped over the car, on to the bull's head, driving it into the ground, and I jumped off.

"Wow." I said, not knowing what or how I just did that.

I turned around and faced it, getting mad now. It charged me, and i felt a power surge through me I never knew I had. I raised my fist and punched it as hard as i could, straight in the nose. I never knew how hard my hardest punch actually was. I imploded the bull's head in on itself. It fell down, and didn't move. All of a sudden it burst into gold dust.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and on instinct i turned around and punched him as hard as I could in the chin.

I heard a sickening pop and saw the person go sailing over the hill.

Oops, I thought. Maybe I overdid it.

"Nice right hook, I'm Annabeth, by the way." 'Annabeth' said.

"Jason, Jason Nightengale." I said. "Nice to meet you Annabeth, daughter of..."

"Athena." She said.

"Nice. I don't know my godly parent. Not yet, at least." I said, a little saddened.

"Don't worry about it, you'll be claimed soon enough, Jason."

The guy i decked was walking over the hill, holding his jaw. "Nice punch, just don't aim it at me next time." It looked like it hurt to talk.

"Here, i got this. It's just dislocated." I said. I grabbed his jaw with both hands, and reefed on it. I eventually heard it pop back into place.

"OW! GODS!" The man said. He had to be around my age. Maybe a little older. But he looked regal. He was tall, only about an inch shorter than me. He had black hair like mine, but his eyes were a deep sea green.

"Hi, sorry about the jaw, I'm Jason Nightengale." I said, trying to make amends.

"It's okay. I'm Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon."

"Nice to meet you, Percy." I said.

"You want to help me with this?" Annabeth asked.

I looked over and realized my friends were still in the car. "Oh no! I completely forgot." I said. Lynn was awake, but she was in no shape to move. All of a sudden I had an idea.

"Lynn, hold on to something. Don't ask, just do it." I said, not sure this would work.

I went over to the car, put my hands on the chassis, and lifted. It was hard, but I flipped the car onto its wheels. Everyone was stupefied.

"How are you so strong?" Percy asked, open-mouthed.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter at the moment. Help me get them out." I said, desperately.

"Right," Percy said, and pulled out a pen.

"A pen? Seriously?" I asked, a little irritated.

"Just watch." Percy uncapped the pen, and it turned into a 3 foot sword.

"Wow," I said, amazed.

Percy cut through the car's window like a hot knife through butter. He pulled them all out, and I noticed something weird. Tyler had a orb over his head, it had a bow and arrow in a sun.

"What's his name?" Percy asked.

"Tyler, Tyler Hardy." I said, wondering what was going on.

"Tyler Hardy, Son of Apollo." Annabeth said, smiling.

All of a sudden he woke up with a white light coming out of his eyes. Then they were back to normal, a deep, stormy blue. "What happened?" Tyler asked.

"You were claimed by your godly parent. We know who your Dad is."

"Who is he?" Tyler asked, earnestly. He always wanted to meet his Dad.

"Apollo, god of the sun, archery, medicine, music, doctors, and the arts." Percy said.

"Impressive." I said. "Apollo was declared the most handsome god, according to myth. He also had an irresistible charm, which explains your charm."

"I guess. Can I meet him?" Tyler asked, more sounding like a child now. I guess I can't blame him. We never knew our dads. Real dads I mean. After Apollo left Tyler's mother, she went insane, started doing drugs, and she turned into an alcoholic. My mom was luckier, she completed her teaching degree while she was pregnant with me, and found a nice guy. They got married when i was 3.

"My mom! What about her?" I said, just realizing it.

"The gods have it covered. Don't worry." Percy said, with a smirk.

"Okay." I said, not wanting to argue. Life is gonna be different from now on... I thought.

"When will I be claimed?" I asked, earnestly.

"Hard to say, by tonight's campfire probably." Mr. Poplar said from behind me.

"You're awake!" I said, enthusiastically.

"Takes more than an old cow to kill this goat!" He said, and puffed out his chest.

I couldn't help but laugh. He looked ridiculous. His moustache was singed, his hair was messy and flattened, so he was showing his horns over two inches above his unruly hair.

"What you laughing at, punk?" He said, offended.

"Sorry Mr. P. You just look ridiculous." I said, cracking up.

"You do Silenias." Percy said, smiling.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Silenias said.

"I never knew your name was Silenias, Mr Poplar." Tyler said, holding on to Lynn's waist. Cute couple... I thought, sort of down-hearted. I had never had a girlfriend before. Lynn is Tyler's third.

"Cheer up man. Let's get to camp." Tyler said, trying to lift my spirits.

"Alright Ty. Let's go." I said, and entered camp. Here we go... I thought.