By the time Percy had returned to cabin eleven, he thought he was going to collapse from mental exhaustion. He found a nice cozy spot and slid down the wall onto his butt. He'd listened to too many stories, been introduced to too many people, and made to force down that dead things were actually what was alive the whole time.

"I know how you feel," Luke's voice entered his ears. "All of us were like that," he said. Luke was carrying a sleeping bag and another bag full of toiletries. "Stole these from the camp store," he said as he set them next to Percy and then sat along the wall with him.

"Thanks; real heroic," Percy said, not really meaning to be rude at the moment, but it just came out from how tired he was.

"Well, I suppose that's what you get when you're the son of the God of Thieves, right? Did you know?" he pointed to his shoes. "That these are actually a pair of Hermes' flying shoes?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, stole 'em from my dad's place a while back," he explained.

"You're serious? You stole from a god?"

Luke waited for a moment, letting the tension build before finally releasing it. "Nah, just kidding," he said with a sly smirk. "The real shoes are somewhere in the cabin. My dad gave 'em to me when I went to Olympus."

"Going to Olympus, huh? Wonder what that's like…"

Luke shrugged. "It's nothing special," he claimed.

"You say after you've had years of experience with this stuff," Percy said.

"Yeah, maybe, and a good few more years before that," Luke said.

"…hard life?"

"Very. Mom's kind of a freak, ran away from home, ran toward a whole bunch of monsters before I even made it to camp. Then my dad wasn't exactly in a rush to claim me, so it took a few years, and then-" he was cut off, but as he rambled, Luke's voice grew a bit more of an edge, like he was bitter.

"Alright, got it," Percy interrupted him. The two sat in silence for a moment. "…It sounded like you had some issues with your dad."

"Well, he gave me those shoes…" Luke tried to pass it off. Percy wasn't buying it. "Well…what's there to like, you know? He never talks to me, left me with my crazy mom…sure, he gave me the shoes, but that doesn't exactly make up for that kinda…empty feeling, whenever I think about him."

It was incredible; it was like Percy was staring into a mirror. "Tell me about it…my dad always hurt my mom. Like as in she looked hurt whenever she thought about him…I wish I knew who he was, at least. You're lucky, Luke," Percy claimed. "At least you know who to be pissed off at."

"Well, at least you don't have to know," Luke returned. "That kinda feeling, when directed at someone…can be dangerous. It can bring out the worst in you sometimes."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Well…" Luke looked hesitant to share the story, but he eventually relented. "A few years back, I went on a quest, to steal a Golden Apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, right?"

"The who now?"

"Just, it doesn't matter," Luke claimed. "Anyway, long-story-short, things didn't exactly go as planned. Got this big bad scar, right here," he pointed to the one on his face. "But I didn't get the apple. I could've turned around before I approached the tree, but no. I wanted to prove myself."

"To who?" Percy questioned. Luke gave him a look like it should've been obvious. "Your dad? Pft, screw him."

Luke raised his chin, like he was impressed by Percy's character, or perhaps that he hasn't yet been smited for his insolence against the gods. Either way, Percy never saw it. Luke then lowered his chin again. "Percy…" he said the boy's name cautiously. "You don't know what you're talking about," the son of Hermes claimed. "About what it's like to have that kind of feeling eating away at you," he wanted to say. "But you've got guts," he said instead, standing. "Come on, it's dinner."

The next few days passed in a blur to Percy. He'd been forced to try out a whole assortment of different activities to try and figure out who his godly parent was, and none of it exactly thrilled him.

Archery: crap

Foot-racing: crap

Arts and crafts: crap

You get the idea. Only horseback-riding really spoke to Percy, but that wasn't out of any love for the animals themselves, or their winged subspecies, the Pegasi. At that point, Percy had just kind of accepted the surrealness of it all. Anyway, the only other thing he was half-way decent at was canoeing, which wasn't exactly uber-heroic.

Percy got regular sword-fighting lessons with Luke, which he actually enjoyed, as he came to appreciate Luke's sense of humor more, and as Percy's own barriers slowly dropped as they had for Grover.

Speaking of Grover, he was usually the one to talk to about anything having to do with the weird things coming from the trees or anything else that was weirder than usual around the camp. He explained that the tree things were wood nymphs, by the way.

He also got Ancient Greek classes from Annabeth, who insisted on giving the lessons. She usually spent the first twenty minutes letting Percy eat an extended breakfast as she sat staring at him. While he didn't like that particular aspect, he accepted it because it was more food, which he always enjoyed.

Soon enough, Friday rolled around. After the dinner, where Percy gave an offering to no one, Chiron called the attention of the campers. "It's time!" was all he had to say to get the campers in a frenzy. "Cabins! Choose your team!" two groups of kids dash into the pavilion carrying giant sixteen-foot banners, each emblazoned with symbol respective of the god whose children carried it; owls for the children of Athena, led by Annabeth, and a bloody spear and boar head for the children of Ares, led by Clarisse.

"Huh, girl power…" Percy muttered under his breath as Luke called cabin eleven's attention. It was pretty unanimously to Athena. For some reason, Percy felt just a twinge of animosity toward the decision, even as he himself wanted that outcome.

He looked to Annabeth, who expressed interest in him before, but now, it seemed, he was just one of the faceless fighters that were on her team.

"You're on border patrol," Luke explained to him after hearing the plan.

"That sounds like a bad eighties cop show," Percy said in return, appearing really intelligent and focused in the process.

"Stick to the river, guard it with your life," he said the words ominously.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Of course," he said. "Just a joke," he said, and he meant it too. "But I don't know with those Ares kids, right?" he pointed over to Clarisse, who was giving them a glare back.

Somehow, Percy could tell he'd have to fight her.

Sure enough, once the bell sounded, Percy shot off to the river that they'd specified, and waited. Of course, he was never good at waiting, so Percy's mind drifted. He barely was shaken from his ADHD-daze by the group of five Ares kids, led by Clarisse of course, approached him.

"Payback, you undetermined," she said it like it as an insult.

"Last I checked, you beat me in that fight."

"I meant after that!" Clarisse snapped. "You made Ares look like a push over!"

"You…kinda did that to yourself…just look at how you're dressed…and how you smell…"

Percy wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from being a smart-ass. What he got, however, was his ass on a silver platter. The first two guys ran up, and Percy could handle them just fine, but once a third was added in, he had trouble keeping up. During his battle with the Minotaur, Percy had this overwhelming strength, equal parts brought on by adrenaline and desperation. In this particular situation, he didn't have that at his disposal, and let's just say that his sword skills weren't exactly refined compared to the Ares kids'.

He was easily knocked to the ground, sword still in hand, and then swatted away by the spear that Clarisse wielded. The blow sent a massive jolt into Percy's system, like he'd just been shocked by someone, only the feeling was about a hundred times more potent.

Percy struggled to stand, even as the Ares kids charged him again. Percy barely had time to put up his shield and then attempt a counterattack, but it was a pathetic one. He was knocked to the ground by just the two guys this time, but even as they got hits on him, battered his shield against his chest, and slashed his arms, Percy stood once again. It wasn't out of belief that he could win, that was for sure.

"Damn, why won't you stay down?" Clarisse cursed. "You could at least beg forgiveness."

Percy smirked beneath the blood that trickled down form a cut on his forehead. That only made the demigods angry, and they once again put him into the ground. The blows from Clarisse's spear hurt the wors,t because they had the added shock. They knocked him into the river, approaching him to further attack.

Percy, suddenly, felt empowered. It was like a thousand suns' energy coursed through him, or perhaps all the energy in the ocean. He surged up, filled with vigor once again. "What the hell's gotten into him?" Clarisse asked her cabinmate, but they looked just as confused as Clarisse. Percy pointed to her and gestured for her fight him.

It wouldn't be like the last time.

Clarisse agreed, unwilling to back down from a challenge, and engaged Percy, who had only his sword, Riptide, to his name. Percy could almost see Clarisse's attacks before they came, and was able to dodge and block them effectively. Clarisse was even having trouble competing. "Oho! Keep up, little girl!" Percy mocked, even as Clarisse was older than him. She growled in frustration, trying to get a foothold in the fight, but Percy was too fast for her one-on-one. The other campers soon joined the fray, but even they were unable to fight back. Percy had a wild grin on his face, milking every second for its worth, until each of the children of Ares were exhausted on the shore.

"Not bad," he heard behind him. He whirled around, ready for another fight. Annabeth reared back when she saw his eyes; hungry. When he saw who it was, Percy cleared his throat. "Where'd you come from?"

"I've been here the whole time," she said impatiently, showing him a Yankees cap. "This turns me invisible."

"Cool…"

"Bet she uses it to peep on the hot guys at camp."

"I bet you use it to check out the guys around camp."

"Ew!" heat rushed to her cheeks. "No, of course not!"

"Maybe people like Luke. Tall, dashing?" he knew he'd hit a soft spot when she turned away from him.

"Gods, you're slow."

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means; you're so slow!" she turned back to him, her face back to its normal color. "You didn't even realize I set you up, did you?"

"Eh?" he looked at the unconscious Ares kids.

"They were only ever going to go for you, and these were the ones that would give us the most trouble."

"So…" Percy was having trouble keeping up.

"So, I put you somewhere out of the way, they follow and beat the crap out of you while-"

Suddenly, Luke came barreling into the clearing, with the opposing team's flag in tow, with a few other campers covering his retreat into friendly territory, marking the end of the game. They won, but Percy then couldn't help but have this empty feeling. He'd only been a decoy? Boy, that sure was heroic.

He shuffled out of the river, trying to put on a happy face to congratulate Luke on his victory, but as soon as he stepped out of the water, his strength failed him. His wounds now caught up with him, making him fall over from dizziness. No one came to help him up. Only Annabeth seemed to notice.

"Oh gods!" she gasped as the others crowded Luke. She rushed over to Percy. "You…what just happened?"

"I…I-I don't know," Percy claimed, holding his arm where it had been slashed, and just as the Minotaur wound was healing… "I just…walked out of the river, and…" he trailed off.

"Gods…" Annabeth put a hand to her mouth. "I didn't think…you couldn't be…"

"Come, all!" Chiron called. "For a feast, celebrating cabin eleven!"

Author's Note:

I want to reiterate that I am indeed reading every review you give me, even if it doesn't show up.

Also, to address one review I got, I promise it'll deviate from the actual books more as it goes on, but thank you for bringing that up!

Anyway, let me know what you think!