A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews guys :D
Now, the next chapter! Sorry for the late update, though. Class here in the Philippines start in June and well...it's June now.
Percy's POV
"Are we there yet?" a little kid in the back says. I'm surprised he managed to say it over the noise of the mortals.
"Not yet, sweetie" Thalia says, picking on her nails using a dagger.
"Since when did you call people sweetie?" Nico asks her, clutching his stomach. He tightens his grip on the pole as I hit a bump.
"Ever since the day I found out that Alecto keeps on calling people Honey" she smirks, sheathing back her dagger.
"But-"
"Yes?"
"Nevermind" Nico says, "I swear I'm going to puke"
"We are almost there" I say to them. Peleus' "smoke signals" were visible already.
Thalia points in the distance "Look! It's Argus!" I saw our many-eyed friend at the base of the hill, his eyes flitting around his surroundings.
"Of course he is there. He's the security guard" Nico says
"Since when did you ever like seeing our surfer dude guard?" I ask her
"Ever since he helped me prank the Stolls" she replies.
Mom inhales deeply, "I can already smell the strawberries" she grins.
"You have strawberries?" a parent says behind us.
"Yeah, it pays for our funds" I say
"I thought the gods can just give you money if you needed it?" A boy says in disgust "You know, 'cause you're their children?"
"If they did, then none of the demigods would suffer and their successes would be ignored" Nico says, "And, being a spoiled demigod is never good. It's one thing that we have power, but riches?"
"If I were rich, I'd-"
"No, Thalia. We don't need to be informed for your plan of world domination" I say.
"You're just jealous I can plan while you have to rely on Annabeth"
"Touche. Oh look! Half-Blood hill!" I say and slow down.
The moment I stopped near Half-Blood hill, Nico jumps out on the window (yes, from the window, hitting a passenger's face in the process) and hugs the ground, clutching the grass. He landed right next to Argus' feet.
"Sweet, not moving ground! I shall never take you for granted ever again!" he says. Argus rolls his eyes at him, which made his body swirl.
"Hey to you too, Argus" Nico says. Argus nods at him, the eye on his elbow winking.
I open the bus door and turn to Thalia and nod.
Thalia turns to the passengers, "Alright. Bus 1. Form a line the moment you exit the bus and wait for further instruction from the three of us. One being me, the other being Percy and the third one being the kid who jumped off the window" she shouts
"What is this? Military camp?" a girl with curly brown hair says
"No, this is much worse" Thalia smiles, "In here, you have a 20% chance of survival unless you follow orders"
"What if we don't follow you?"
Thalia smiles smugly, "Then I'll see you at your funeral"
That shut her up.
I stand up and stretch, "Well, first row first, then second and so on" I say, "To prevent injuries"
I step down the bus and take a deep breath of strawberry-scented air. The other buses stop behind mine. The Stolls stumble out from their bus, Travis covered in feathers while Connor covered in powder. The Hunters guided the mortal families of other demigods down the bus, being more kind towards the female species than the male.
Few minutes later. The passengers of all buses were lined up.
My mother goes up to me, "Is it me or does Argus have many eyes?"
"Remember that person who Hera gifted with many eyes?" I say. She nods, "That's him" I say to her.
"Oh" she replies and goes back to Paul.
"You guys stay here and wait for the announcement while the counselors meet" Thalia says to all the mortals, "Nico, you stay" she says to him
"I'm a counselor too you know!" he says, and turns to Argus, "Can you do my job for me?"
Argus sighs through his nose the nods.
"Why doesn't he talk?" a 4-year-old girl says, gripping her teddy bear.
"He prefers to act out than to talk" I say and sprint towards the other campers who are huddled.
Rachel runs down from the hill and greets all of us, "Hey guys"
"Hey Rache. Got any new Great Prophecies?" Travis jokes.
Rachel stiffens and her expression was blank, like her expression before smoke curls out from her mouth. Travis raises his hands ,"Who I didn't think-". Before he can continue, Rachel cracked a smile then ended up laughing.
"You should've seen your face!" Rachel laughs. "Okay, back to business"
"So, who's going to make the announcement of rules and etc.?" Katie says
"What about Annabeth?" Lou Ellen suggests.
"She's still in the bus" Malcolm says.
"I say Percy" Travis says "He is the Hero and Saviour"
I glare at him, "Really? That's your reason?"
"Yeah, what better way to introduce the mortals to the world of Gods than to make the Saviour itself introduce it" Leo says
"So, Percy it is?" Nico says
"Vote?" Connor suggests
"Oh, just let Prissy do it!" Clarisse exclaims and takes out Maimer, "I want to go to the arena later"
"So, Percy it is!" Rachel says, "Chrion told us to give them a simple introduction and he'll take it from there."
"Fine" I roll my eyes at them, "Dismissed" . We all went back to our respective buses, except for me.
I go and stand at the middle of everyone and wave my hands around to get their attention.
"Hey! Everybody!" I shout. Their attention turns to me, but their are still some mortals who were ignoring me.
Thalia walks up next to me and snaps her fingers, making a lighting bolt hit a random tree. It caught everybody's attention, but the tree nymph shot out from her tree, crackling with sparks. She twitches every few seconds.
"Woah look! A chick came from the tree!" A mortal from Hermes bus says. The tree nymph did a gesture to Thalia which was probably insulting.
"Sorry" Thalia says to the electrocuted tree nymph as other nymphs help her by singing hymns (I don't know how that'll help, though)
Thalia turns back to the mortals, "Listen up to Percy here! He'll give you some minor introductions" she says
"Minor only?" A parent says
"Chiron, the activity directory will handle the other" I say as Thalia go back to Bus 1's side.
"Hey everybody! I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, counselor of Cabin 3" I say, waving to them.
"Tell everybody all of your titles!" Will smiles.
"Yeah! For instant respect!" Leo laughs.
I start to protest "No, I'm not gonna-"
"Say your titles! Say your titles!" the Stolls start to chant. The demigods follow, then the mortals.
"You have no choice! The majority has vote! Say all of your titles!" a legacy of Vulcan says.
"Fine!" I say.
"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, counselor of Cabin 3, retriever of the Lightning Bolt, retriever of Hades' Helm of Darkness, defeater of Medusa, defeater of Echidna and her horrible Hydra, defeated Ares, god of war-"
Growls from the Ares/Mars kids. I ignore them.
"-survivor from the Sirens, sailor from the Sea of Monsters, retriever of the Golden Fleece, defeated Polyphemus, bearer of the Sky, for some time, defeater of Atlas, titan of the Sky, traveler of the Labyrinth, finder of Pan, the reason why Mt. St. Helens exploded-"
Some reactions from mortals.
"-defeated Geryon, survivor of the Battle of the Labyrinth, returner of Hermes' staff-"
Cheers from the descendants of Hermes/Mercury
"-defeater of Iapetus, retriever of Hades' sword, Bathed in the River Styx, survivor of the Titan War, Former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, retriever of 5th cohort's eagle, survivor of Tartarus, closed the Doors of Death, survived the Giant War, Savior and Hero of Olympus, along with many others, at your service" I bow at the end.
Silence greeted me.
"Are you sure about that?" a woman says
"I think you're making that up!" a dude says.
Thalia walks up to him, "Oh yeah! Bring it-"
"Thalia!" Nico says.
I turn back to the crowd of mortals, "So, yeah. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, one of the few places that a demigod can be safe, at least"
"Few is an understatement!" a child of Hecate says. I smirk at him.
"This is a camp? Where the hell to you sleep? In the grass?" A mortal from Aphrodite's bus says. I saw Leo holding Piper back as Jason held her hand.
"Nobody asked for your opinion!" Pollux says
Arguments shot up in the crowd. Nico rolls his eyes and went down to lean against a tree's shadow.
"Calm down, everybody" I try to say over the noise. Thalia wasn't there to help me now 'cause she was holding back a Hunter from rearranging a dude's face. Nico has crossed himself out from the "Help Percy" business. Paul himself was trying to calm down the other along with Mom, but it didn't work.
"SHUT IT!" I say, causing a minor earthquake that was probably a little shake, compared to the other earthquakes I have made.
"Earthquake!" a boy, about 13-yrs.-old, says.
"Calm down, dude! It's just Percy doing some of his 'Son of Poseidon' thing" Travis says
"Yeah, now shut up before we decide to put you on top of our list" Connor adds
"Thank you, Stolls. I think" I say to them. I turn to Travis, "Son of Poseidon thing?"
He shrugs, "I thought it sounded good at that time"
"You used your non-existent brain?" Katie says.
"Anyways!" I say before anybody interrupts. "This is not yet Camp Half-Blood, but we are in the entrance. This is Half-Blood hill"
A hand shot up in the air.
"Yeah, question?" I say, pointing on the hand.
"Did you name it 'Half-Blood hill' after the camp or was the Camp named after it?" a little girl says
"That was actually a good question. I had never thought of that" Mom says.
"This was one of the tallest hills that covered camp, shielding it from suspicious eyes. And, the hill had a history." I say. I drift my eyes towards Thalia, asking her a silent question.
She pushes herself out of the crowd in front. She strides next to me and turns, "You see that tree over there?" she points at her tree, which can be seen. Nods and "Yes"'s were in the crowd.
"Well, the tree was not there before. One day, a few years back, a satyr-"
"Half goat, half man" I say, "They are usually the protectors of demigods who didn't know about their heritage and they are usually the escorts towards camp" I explain. Gods, I was teaching something.
"-Yeah, what he said. So a satyr was escorting three demigods towards camp. The three were run aways. Living in the wild almost all of their lives. One was about 14 at that time, the other 12 and the last one 7"
"7? That's so young" A mother exclaims. I saw Annabeth walk towards us. I can also see Mr. and Mrs. Chase's face look down.
"Yes, but the 7-year-old was a demigod. They had learned to survive quickly" Annabeth says. "So, to continue the explanation. They were followed by an army of monsters. From the pits of Tartarus to the hellhounds from the Underworld, including the 3 Kindly Ones. Who you call as Furies-" she says
Thalia and some of the demigods looked on their surroundings, holding on to their weapon, expecting an attack.
"-attacked them as they made their way towards camp"
"The three demigods were tired and bruised as they fight their way to the top of this hill" Thalia says, one of her hands on her hunting knife, "One of them decided to stay back and fight the monsters off to let her friends go to safety"
Annabeth continues, "The others, especially the satyr, kept on persuading the girl to follow them and run, but she didn't listen. She was tired of living like an animal and she had enough. She made her final stand at the base of the hill"
"She held back the monsters long enough to let her friends pass" I say, "But she had fallen. Zeus turned the spirit of the girl into a pine tree, which strengthened the magic boundaries around camp because of the spirit of the girl"
"What...happened to the girl?" Travis says, sitting on the ground, acting like this was a story time.
"You already know what happened" Katie says.
"We don't" a mortal says.
I turn to Thalia, "Should we say it?". She shrugs, "Sure, as long as it makes them scared of me"
I roll my eyes at her answer, "The campers know what had happened to the girl now. 4 years ago, the tree was poisoned"
Gasps were heard
"Who would do such a thing?" A mortal says. Luke ,I thought, but he was controlled by Kronos
"Anyways, the magic boundaries weakened and the camp was in danger, since some of the campers were still untrained. There was a quest to find the Golden Fleece."
"The Golden Fleece?" a parent says. We nod.
"As you can see, the Golden Fleece is now hanging on that branch, protected by our dear dragon, Peleus" I point at the tree.
"Say 'Hi', Peleus!" Clarisse says. Peleus blows fire to the sky, his way of greeting everybody.
"The cable blew fire!" a kid says
"That's not cables, that's our dragon!" Lou Ellen says.
"The Golden Fleece did it's work well, though" I say
"Too well" Thalia says.
"Yes. Not only did it heal the tree, it released the girl" Annabeth says
"Where is she now?" a boy says
"You're looking at her!" Jason says, motioning to Thalia. Thalia steps forward and bow, "Yes, I was a tree. No, I'm not a nymph" she directed the last one to Leo.
"That is why that tree is called Thalia's tree. And the reason why Half-Blood hill is named to pay respect to the fallen daughter of Zeus" I say.
Thalia turns to me, "I'm not dead, Kelp Head"
"But you were dying" I point out.
Annabeth then clears her throat, "Yes, thank you Percy and Thalia for the most famous story in camp"
"I'm famous!" Thalia plunges her fist in the air.
"Even if you didn't turn into a tree, you'd still be famous" Nico says, "You're a child of the Big Three". Thalia stuck out her tongue at him.
"So, this is how we work. This day would be free time, so you can catch up with everybody, and maybe mingle a bit" Annabeth says, "curfew is 11:00 pm, if you would still be wandering around after that, the harpies wouldn't hesitate to eat you. Now, follow the demigods towards Thalia's tree for you guys to meet Chiron"
"Wait, what about the Mist?" I ask
"He has it all-covered" Annabeth winks at me
A/N: I tried to make this chapter long (Keyword: Tried)
So, I am currently having a writer's block. I have the idea written down, but the thought of school has stressed me.