Chapter 3: Now Who Knows What's Real
It was storming on Montauk beach and at the edge of the surf; a stunning white horse and beautiful golden eagle were fighting to the death. The eagle slashed at the horse and the horse kicked at the eagle. Below them, the ground shook and a voice chuckled beneath them, taunting them to fight more. I ran to stop the fight, but I was running in slow motion. I wouldn't make it in time to save them both. The eagle dove down at the horse, talons ready to kill. I screamed, No!
I awoke with a start. It really was storming, but it felt like a hurricane was coming. Lightning cracked in the sky, illuminating the cabin, and the waves pounded against the shore. When the thunder clapped, my mom awoke.
"Hurricane." she said, eyes widening. I knew that it was highly unlikely though, it was just a freak storm. Montauk never had hurricanes this early into summer. Over the sound of the wind, I heard screaming that gave me goosebumps and banging slowly followed. Someone was pounding on the door. I watched my mom run to the door and open it, only to see Grover standing in the doorway.
"I've been searching all night! What were you thinking?" He gasped. My mom turned to face me.
"What didn't you tell me about this school year?" she asked glancing between me and Grover.
"He's right behind me, you didn't tell her?" Grover yelled.
I couldn't even process what was happening at the moment. How did Grover get here in the middle of the night and why was he wearing no pants? Where were his legs and why was he half donkey?
"Percy! Tell me now!" My mother said sternly. I've never heard her talk like this before.
I rushed through the basics of the story with Mrs. Dodds and my mom's face grew pale. She grabbed her purse, threw a rain coat at me and told Grover and I to get in the car. Grover trotted to the car and I realized why he could run perfectly but limp when walking. I jumped in the car and instantly smelt wet barnyard animal. Grover sat in the backseat, glancing through the back window nervously. My mom got in the car and pounded her foot on the gas.
"So, how do you two know each other exactly?" I asked. I felt like I was losing my mind. I watched my math teacher transform into a hideous flying bat thing and my Latin teacher give me a pen sword and now my best friend was half donkey and my mom knew about it.
"Well I don't really know her; I mean we've never actually met... She just knew I was keeping an eye on you and making sure you were okay. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't pretending to be your friend, we are friends Percy." Grover replied.
"And what are you exactly Grover?" I asked.
"It doesn't really matter Percy..."
"What? Of course it matters! My best friend from the waist down is a donkey!"
"GOAT!" he cried.
"What?"
"I am a goat from the waist down. NOT a donkey."
"I thought it didn't matter?" I asked.
"I know Satyrs who would run you down for that." He huffed. Whoa whoa whoa.. Satyrs? Like all of Mr. Brunner's myths? Does that mean Mrs. Dodds was real too? Before I could ask, the screaming noise from before return but now it sounded like more of a battle cry. Whatever was behind Grover was catching up to us.
"Percy," my mom said desperately. "There's no time to explain it all, we have to get you to safety now."
"Who's after me anyways?"
"Oh no one really, just the Lord of Dead and a few of his minions." Grover retorted, still mad about the donkey/goat thing.
"The what?" I asked more confused than ever. This wasn't a dream because I could never dream up something like this, but I couldn't get my head around it. What was happening?
My mom made a sharp turn down a large narrow road. We passed a sign about picking strawberries and I asked where we were going.
"The summer camp I mentioned earlier." My mom answered. "The place your dad wanted you to go."
"But you didn't want me to.."
"Percy this is hard enough as it is please do not make this harder. You're in danger, I need you to understand that!"
Before I could respond, we swerved off the road and I saw what my mom was trying to avoid hitting, a brief shadow on the road behind us. I thought of Mrs. Dodds and how she planned on killing me at the museum that day. I thought of Mr. Brunner and the pen sword that he gave me. Suddenly there was a bright flash, a loud bang and our car exploded. I felt like I was being crushed and I could hear my mom calling my name. I tried to shake off the dazed feeling as Grover kicked in the windows.
I looked behind me and as the lightning stuck, I saw it. It was a huge man, bulky and hairy with a blanket over his head and his arms wide above him making them look like horns.
"Percy!" My mom cried when we got out of the car. "See that big tree? That's the property line! Make it past the tree and you'll be safe! You'll see a big farmhouse and when you see it run and don't look back. Yell for help and don't stop until you get there."
"Mom, you're coming with me!"
"He doesn't want us, he wants you Percy." she told me. "Besides, I can't cross the property line, I'm not like you."
I looked over at the thing again and I realized how terrifying it actually was. His hands were swinging at his sides, which meant the blanket he was carrying was actually his head and he actually had huge horns. He walked slowly towards us and we turned and ran.
He followed.
We ran as fast as we could and then we saw the big tree. Grover and I ran past it and I turned to see my mom, standing at right beside it. She looked frozen, like a statue and I ran back to see what was happening.
"Run Percy!" she yelled. "I can't go any farther!"
The monster charged at her, and she tried to side step away, but instead it grabbed her by the next and lifted her off her feet.
"MOM!" I screamed running towards her.
The monster roared, tightening his grip and my mom dissolved into a gold shimmer and vanished. He turned to look at me and I backed up against the tree. I figured I'd just jumped out of the way at the last minute, but it didn't work that way.
He bolted towards me, arms out to grab me no matter where I ran. Instead, and I don't know how, I kicked against his head and leaped onto his neck. I gripped my hands around one of his horns and pulled back as hard as I could to pull him back. snap
The bull-thing flung me off of his shoulders as he cried out in pain. I landed on my back and smashed my head off the rock, and when I lifted my head, I had a jagged horn in my hand.
The monster turned to me and charged. Without thinking, I rolled out of the way and as he ran by I shoved the horn under its ribcage. He cried in agony and changed into sand and disappeared, just like my mom.
I rolled over to see Grover running beside me and he picked me up under my arms.
The last thing I remember was falling down on a wooden porch with a bearded man and two blonde girls beside me talking to Grover.
"He must be the one." The one girl said. "He must be."
"Silence Annabeth." The bearded man said. "He's still conscious. Let's bring him inside."
Before I finally woke up, I think I woke up several times, each time different. I remember being spoon-fed what tasted like butter flavoured popcorn in pudding form. One of the blond girls smirked as she wiped drips of it off my chin. Her hair was light and curly and she had startling gray eyes. She asked me what would happen at the summer solstice and what was stolen. She told me we didn't have much time and then someone knocked on the door. She filled my mouth full of pudding and I passed out again.
The next time I woke up the girl was gone and a blonde surfer dude was standing in the corner. He had blue eyes - at least a dozen - on his cheeks and forehead and on the back of his hands.
When I woke up again, the other blonde girl was there. Seeing her again I realized her hair was more golden then a light blonde like the other girl and she had hazel eyes instead. She smiled at me and placed a straw in my mouth. When I sucked in, instead of apple juice like I expected, it was like drinking liquid chocolate chip cookies, but not just any cookies, they were my mom's homemade blue chocolate chip cookies. She pulled it away and told me not to drink anymore. Before I could ask why, she stood up and walked to the door while humming a soft melody.
By the time I finally came around, Grover was sitting in the chair beside the bed staring me down. There was no surfer guy with eyeballs everywhere and neither of the cute blond girls, just Grover.
"Hey man, how you feelin'?" he asked sitting up.
"Like I could kick Nancy Bobofit's ass." I smirked.
"Good, well Mr. D and Chiron are waiting."
I followed Grover around the porch, carrying the horn from the night before. Grover told me I killed the Minotaur, the half-bull half-man monster from Mr. Brunner's myths. I gripped onto the horn, thinking of my mom the entire time. Grover told me I was out for two days, and just struggled to believe that my mom had been dead for two days.
When we turned the corner I lost my breath. There were acres of land all leading up to beach where the water glistened about a mile in the distance. The land was spotted with what looked like Ancient Greek buildings. There was an amphitheatre, an open-air pavilion and an arena, and they were all new with their white marble columns glistening in the sunlight. In a sandpit, there were kids and satyrs playing volleyball and canoes gliding across the lake. There was also an archery range and a stable with horses that had wings. There were also a bunch of kids in orange camp shirts running around a series of cabins near the woods. It was the biggest camp I'd ever seen; and the most bizarre one.
At the edge of the porch, two men were sitting at a card table and the light blonde girl that fed me the pudding was leaning against the railing. The man facing me was short and pudgy with a big red nose, watery eyes and hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like a cherub from those old painting of the baby angels, except he was a cherub who was middle-aged and grew up in a trailer park. He was wearing a tiger print Hawaiian shirt and reminded me of one of Gabe's friends.
"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director, so be nice. The girl is Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper but she's been here for, well, ever. And you already know Chiron.."
"Mr. Brunner?" I asked.
My Latin teacher turned around and smiled at me.
"Ahh, Percy." He smiled, gesturing me over to him. He sat me just beside Mr. D, who turned to look at me, and sighed.
"Okay, I guess I might as well get it over with, welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Don't expect me to be happy you're here Peter."
"Percy," Chiron corrected, then turned to smile at me again. He looked up at the girl and gestured her over. "Annabeth, would you mind checking on a bunk for Percy? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."
'Yea, sure Chiron." she smiled. Analyzing her, I realized she was my age, probably a little bit taller than me, and way more athletic. She looked like she was figuring out the best way to take me down and then she looked at the horn in my hand. I expected her to say something about how awesome I was for killing the Minotaur but instead she murmured something about how I drool in my sleep as she sprinted away.
"Do you work here Mr. Brunner?" I asked.
"I'm afraid Mr. Brunner was just a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."
"Okay.." I said, even more confused. I turned to look at the director. "Mr. D? Does that stand for something?"
"Young man." Mr. D began. "Names are very powerful things, you don't go throwing them around."
Mr. Brunner-Chiron then went on to explain how he convinced my other Latin teacher to leave when Grover contacted him and told him I was special. I tried to remember my Latin teacher before Mr. Brunner and I remembered he was around for about a week. He told me how he contacted my mom and talked to her about me being ready for Camp Half-Blood and how she was afraid and wanted to keep me close to her. Mr. D murmured something about how that's what always happened and that's how most of them died, but I brushed that off and concentrated on Mr. Brunner.
"Percy, " Chiron began, "You know your friend Grover is a satyr and that you have killed the Minotaur. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods - the forces you know as the Greek gods - are very much alive."
I stared around the table and expected someone to tell me he was kidding, but instead Mr. D tallied his card game score and Grover ate a Diet Coke can. He continued to tell me about how the Gods we learned about were real and that they were in America.
The first question that popped into my mind was 'Who am I?' and when I asked Chiron, he told me that's what we still had to find out.. and everyone wanted to know the answer. He told me I was to live in cabin eleven for now and that I'd meet a lot of new friends and that there was going to be a bonfire tonight. When he got up out of the wheelchair, a white stallion came out instead. My Latin teacher was a centaur. He sighed in relief and smiled at me;
"What a relief. I'd been cooped up in there for so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come Percy. Let's meet the other campers."
