Sorry for the long wait. Here's the entire chapter.

Aphrodite shrieked. "Why are you two pulling me?"

Ares and Hephaestus looked down at Aphrodite and dropped her on the floor.

"Ow!"

Aphrodite started yelling and screaming at both Hephaestus and Ares, chasing them around the throne room. For someone who didn't work out much she ran fast and it helped that she didn't have her stilettos on and that she had one in her hand to use as a weapon.

Jason jumped out of his seat startled by Aphrodite screaming and dropped Piper who woke up and messaged her head while glaring at Jason.

Rachel who had used Connor as a pillow when she passed out woke up and screamed when she saw where she was. She tried to get up but Connor rolled over in his sleep and put his arm around her waist and pinned her down to the floor. She began whimpering and struggling against him.

Clarisse got up and tried to untangle Dionysus, Zeus, and Chris who managed to get tangled up through this whole incident.

Artemis sat upright in her seat clutching her head. The ichor had run all the way to her head when she had sat upside down. If she had sat like that for an extra minute, she would have probably passed out like everyone else. She looked around to find her baby brother standing on his throne, still in leather, still with black and white face paint, and still singing 'Don't Stop Believin'.

"Apollo! What are you doing?" She shrieked. Apollo didn't seem to hear her though. He kept singing like there was no tomorrow.

Artemis leaned over to Hermes who just happened to be filming everything. "When can you get him to the nearest mental institute?"

Nico who just got out of his daze felt the sting from the punch Thalia had given him. "Ow! What was that for Thals?"

"Sorry," Thalia said. "I wasn't really in control of what I was doing."

Nico nodded and accepted her apology.

Athena shook her head, "I'm sorry Annabeth did you say something?"

Poseidon nodded as he got off the floor and got back onto his throne, "Yeah, it was something about Percy. I just can't remember what?"

Annabeth was relieved. She had no idea what she was thinking when she said that. Apparently only Poseidon and Athena heard because everybody else who wasn't occupied looked at her confused.

"I just said that he's lucky enough to have survived because he went through a lot of things to get to camp." She hoped that they would buy the story because she didn't feel like explaining her boyfriend. It would be better if they found out through the books.

Athena was still dazed from the incident so she didn't press Annabeth for information. Poseidon accepted it and so did the others.

Travis finally pried Connor off of Rachel. When he picked up Connor, they both went tumbling to the floor while knocking over Katie.

Connor sat up and felt new fresh teeth in his mouth. "Yes I can talk again!" He walked over to Apollo's throne and started singing 'Don't Stop Believin' with Apollo.

Aphrodite chased Hephaestus and Ares around Apollo's throne. Ares tripped rounding a corner of Apollo's throne and fell onto Connor. Connor grabbed Apollo's leather pants before he could fall and pulled Apollo down with them. Apollo landed on Dionysus, Zeus, Chris, and Clarisse who was still trying to untangle the three.

Hephaestus got banged on the head repeatedly by Aphrodite who used her remaining stiletto.

After a while, a loud chorus of, "Ow." Was echoed in the throne room. After everything was put back into order, Apollo was signed up for a psychiatrist, and Dionysus was dealt with they got back to reading.

"I'll read." Chris said.

"I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom" Chris read.

Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,

"I don't think Chiron would like being called a horse." Katie said.

we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, but I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.

"Huh…" Apollo mused. "Poseidon, do you have a back end?"

Poseidon huffed. "Just because I'm the god of horses doesn't mean I have a back end Apollo."

"Then where does the food go?" Hermes grinned.

"Oh, shut it."

We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."

Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.

"You know, if Percy did a flip do you think he would do it like a dolphin?" Travis asked.

"If he did," Connor replied. "We could videotape it and send it to one of those shows where you send stupid videos and win thousands of dollars."

"Yeah but he's not here." Chris replied. "Besides, I doubt that he would do something like that."

Leo gasped. "What if we got Poseidon to do that?" They all turned to him.

"Oh no, absolutely not. I will not do a flip." Poseidon protested.

"Why not?" Nico whined.

"Because," Hades teased. "He probably does do it like a dolphin. Isn't that right Poseidon?"

"Hey! N-now… W-wait a minute-"

The room burst out into laughter as Poseidon stuttered excuses.

I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.

Everyone except the trio shivered. Rachel had seen the mummy when she was becoming the Oracle and it was not a pretty picture.

"What's up there?" Jason asked.

"Nothing that you'll ever meet or ever want to see." Katie sad. She had seen the mummy during the capture the flag game.

There was so much fear in her voice that Jason decided that he really didn't want to see or meet whatever was up there.

"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.

He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."

"Somebody lives there?"

"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

Again everyone except the trio shivered. Apollo smiled sadly. He didn't know why his Oracle wouldn't change bodies. After May had been affected by it he had been more determined to help his Oracle. Apparently his Oracle would change soon because Rachel was here.

I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.

Jason frowned at this.

"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."

We walked through the strawberry fields,

"Which Travis likes to stare at so much." Connor grinned.

"I wonder why?" Rachel said slyly.

Piper who caught on to their game said. "There must be some very good looking strawberries there then."

"Maybe." Annabeth said. "But Travis is too scared to pick one."

"So he settles for staring instead." Thalia concluded.

"Guys!" Travis whined. "I get it already. Just stop."

"Are you sure you get it Travis?" Hermes asked.

"We might have to spell it out for you because it's so obvious." Apollo joked.

"Oh, don't worry Travis," Demeter said. "We all get it." She pointed at Katie who was blushing to her roots.

Aphrodite sighed happily. Ah, young love.

where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.

Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those,

"For a very good reason." Zeus huffed. "A reason that you just proved with your little incident."

Everyone turned to glare at him and he grinned sheepishly.

so they grew strawberries instead.

I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.

I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.

Dionysus sighed. "Most likely."

"Good." Zeus said. He still didn't like Grover. Thalia rolled her eyes at her father.

"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."

Thalia and Nico nodded. Zeus rolled his eyes.

"He was your protector too?" Hades asked in disbelief.

Nico sighed. "Along with Bianca."

"He let Bianca die?" Hades screamed.

"See brother," Zeus started. "I told you-"

"No. That's not what happened." Nico interrupted. "You'll find out probably around the third or fourth book."

Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."

"But he did that!"

"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

"Exactly." Zeus snorted.

I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.

"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"

Thalia and Annabeth grimaced. That was his second chance.

Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.

Thalia's grimace got worse. Jason glanced at Thalia wondering why she would grimace. Was she his first chance?

Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."

"How old is he?"

"Oh, twenty-eight."

"I will never understand a satyr's age." Leo stated.

Hephaestus agreed. He'd never understand organic life forms.

"What! And he's in sixth grade?"

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

"That's horrible." Piper said.

"It's not that bad." Hermes said. "I've been the equivalent of a college student for the past three thousand years." He smiled like it was the greatest thing in the world.

"I'm pretty sure Percy would disagree." Nico smiled.

"Oh yeah," Apollo grinned. "When you go back, ask Percy if he wants to be a god or not. I dare Mr. Jackson to refuse my offer."

Those who had been present in the Titan War grinned.

Thalia leaned over to Annabeth. "How ironic is that?"

"Very." She answered.

"That's horrible."

Everyone snorted while Travis exclaimed. "Oh no! Not Piper too!"

"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."

"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"

"Yes." Zeus said icily.

"Oh stop it." Aphrodite said. She hit Zeus in the head with her purse.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"It's obvious that Grover is trying his best to make up for what happened."

Zeus huffed and rubbed his head.

Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"

But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.

Jason sat up. If Percy's mom wasn't dead then what was Percy planning.

"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."

"Yes, child?"

"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"

Jason's eyes bugged out. So that's what Percy was planning.

Hades raised an eyebrow. If Percy wanted to get his mom it would take a lot more than coming up and asking for her.

Poseidon sighed. He loved Sally but Hades wouldn't give her up that easily. If Percy went into the Underworld there was a 97% chance that he might not get out. It was too risky.

Chiron's expression darkened.

"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."

"That's not going to work is it?" Thalia sighed.

Annabeth shook her head. "Nope."

Rachel snorted. "If it had worked I would've been surprised."

"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"

"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."

As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the coincidence. 'you could imagine nobody had been in there'

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

Clarisse snorted. "Why would he?"

"My own—?"

"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."

I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),

Several people snickered.

the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.

"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually.

"I wonder why?" Artemis said looking pointedly at Ares and Clarisse.

"That's an understatement." Leo said glancing at Clarisse. He had tried to sword fight before but he wasn't that good at it. The feel of a hammer in his hands is better.

Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."

Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.

"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.

"That's what I asked when I first got there." Nico stated.

"Yeah." Thalia said. "But of course little Nico had a lot of questions."

"I remember that." Connor said. "You danced like you needed to pee all the time."

"I did not!"

"Yes you did." Clarisse countered. "You were super hyper."

"I thought you were about to launch into the sky and explode into fireworks." Travis said.

"Travis," Katie said. "They only do that in cartoons."

"So?"

Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.

"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them,

Piper frowned. "What-"

"We'll explain later." Annabeth said.

nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.

The Olympians smiled.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.

Hephaestus and Leo grinned.

Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.

Demeter and Katie beamed.

Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.

Apollo smiled which was hard to look act because his teeth were too bright.

They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).

"Mines too." Jason murmured.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

Poseidon smiled warmly. "That must be Hestia."

Zeus and Hades nodded. Hestia was by far their favorite sister.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.

Zeus beamed at this. Thalia and Jason smiled wryly. They both still didn't like the Zeus cabin much.

Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

Almost everyone rolled their eyes. Thalia, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper glared a little. Leo smiled slightly. His Tia was so crazy.

"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.

"Correct," Chiron said.

"Their cabins look empty."

"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."

Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.

"You could say it like that." Athena mused but then changed her mind. "I'm not a mascot."

Most of the Olympians agreed.

"Well," Hermes started. "In a way, we kind of are." Then he added quickly because most of the Olympians were staring at him. "I think he just means we represent our cabins the way a mascot represents a team or a school."

Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?

I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.

Poseidon beamed.

"Of course Percy would stop there." Thalia shook her head.

"It's like he's foreshadowing who's his father." Rachel stated.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor.

Poseidon nodded. "They were."

I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"

Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down.

"Wow." Jason said. He shared a look with Thalia and knew they were thinking the same thing, Kind of better than the Zeus Cabin.

But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.

"I wonder why?" Hermes scrutinized the other gods who did their best not to look at him.

Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.

Ares smiled smugly.

The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.

Clarisse smiled smugly at this.

I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.

"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk,

"Go party ponies!" Apollo cheered.

"They are so cool!" Travis screamed.

"I know right." Hermes grinned.

"They threw an awesome party last summer." Connor said.

"Didn't they get drunk on root beer and start shooting paintballs at us?" Katie asked.

"Yes." Clarisse said. "I had to re-clean and re-sharpen my sword twice."

"Do you guys mean during the-" Nico started.

"Yeah."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Trust them to throw a party in the middle of all of that."

"All of what?" Hades asked.

"You'll find out soon." Annabeth replied. "If we can get through these books."

I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."

He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."

"But, shouldn't you be dead?"

Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.

"Mines either." Nico grimaced. Leo agreed.

"Doesn't it ever get boring?"

"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."

"Very depressing." Annabeth muttered.

"Why depressing?"

Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.

"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

Athena groaned and Poseidon sighed.

"He couldn't have chosen a different way to change the subject?" Poseidon sighed. Then he turned to the Stolls. "When you get back teach Chiron how to change a subject correctly okay."

They nodded and Travis pulled out his book to write Chiron's name.

The blonde girl

Annabeth sighed. "Seriously, blonde?"

I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.

When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.

All of the demigods snickered while Annabeth rolled her eyes.

I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.

There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.

"Which makes total sense since you're the Architect of Olympus." Piper said.

"Wait a minute." Apollo said. "Why would Olympus need an Architect? What happened to it?"

…

Apollo sighed. "Keep reading Chris."

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old.

Hermes smiled fondly. "It's not that bad. I would fix it but it's overflowing right now." He pointedly looked at the other gods.

The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it...?

"A caduceus." Hermes said.

A caduceus.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."

So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.

Annabeth and Thalia rolled their eyes while everyone snickered.

"Naturally?" Jason said incredulous.

"Did we mention he was sarcastic?" Nico asked.

"Oh."

There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.

Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.

I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."

Everybody groaned.

Some of the gods shifted in their seats.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.

"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

Throughout this entire paragraph, the older campers grimaced.

Jason sat up. He recognized Luke from the picture he had seen of him with Thalia and Annabeth.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.

"I was not!" Annabeth growled.

Aphrodite, who didn't notice the grim expression on the camper's face said, "Oooh! A love triangle."

Athena grimaced and Poseidon relaxed a little. Piper raised an eyebrow at Annabeth but didn't say anything. Thalia and Nico ignored the fact that Luke had come into the story and grinned at Annabeth, So much blackmail material.

She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."

"For now?" I asked.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down,

Hermes grinned wildly. "Go on Percy. Set it down." The goddesses rolled their eyes at him.

He fist bumped Apollo. When he looked up and saw Poseidon's glare he said, "Never mind."

but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.

The said god silently cursed.

I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.

"And that's how you know which children are Hermes'." Athena said.

"How long will I be here?" I asked.

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers all laughed.

"Wow." Artemis said. "They must be really sad."

Apollo, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Ares squirmed in their seats.

"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it."

"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.

When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"Oh," Aphrodite beamed. "And what does that mean?"

Athena and Poseidon looked towards Annabeth. She blushed and said, "Probably the opposite of what you're thinking."

"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I killed some bull guy—"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

Annabeth snorted. "Not anymore."

"I'll be perfectly fine if I never get a chance again." Nico said.

The others agreed.

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."

"Yes."

"Then there's only one."

"Yes."

"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right?

Almost everyone sighed.

Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."

"I hate that part." Connor muttered.

I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"

"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"

"You talk in your sleep."

Travis wiggled his eyebrows. "Of course you would know Annabeth."

He got hit on his arm with a knife which produced a very nice bruise.

"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.

"Would it?" Jason asked Hades.

"Sometimes, yes it would." Hades replied.

Piper shivered. Leo turned to Poseidon. "I thought Zeus was the dramatic one?"

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "He is. Hades is just deranged."

"I take offense to that."

"It's true." Ares said. "Yesterday I saw you whispering to your Helm of Darkness."

"I was not!" Hades protested.

"Yes you were." Hermes countered. "I recorded that too. I could show it to everyone." He pulled out a video camera.

"Fine! Fine! I was. Just don't show anyone." Hades said.

Some people busted out laughing. "Dad!" Nico yelled.

"It's not my fault if it talks to me." Hades stated.

"This is a whole new level of deranged." Artemis muttered. "Maybe we should check him in with Apollo at that mental institute."

"No mental institute on Earth would be able to help that man." Demeter stated. "Like I said before, craziness runs in the family. It's only a matter of time before it happens to Nico."

"Hey!"

"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

"Which is a totally bogus name if you ask me." Leo stated.

"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny,

"That's true." Annabeth said.

"When does he ever not sound whiny?" Clarisse snorted.

"When he's fighting in battle." Thalia joked.

Clarisse huffed. He may not like Percy but she had respect for him.

even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."

I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or... your parent."

She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.

"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."

"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."

"He's dead. I never knew him."

Poseidon winced.

Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.

"Too many times." She muttered.

"Your father's not dead, Percy."

"How can you say that? You know him?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how can you say—"

"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I beg to differ." Connor said leaning over to Nico. Nico merely smiled.

"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

"How—"

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right?

Connor gasped. "I just realized something. Annabeth has dyslexia. A daughter of Athena can't read."

The others gasped.

"Oh wow. Really. You all know I have dyslexia." Annabeth said.

"Yeah." Nico said. "But we never really thought about it."

"'Cause you're the daughter of Athena and all." Leo stated.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Read Chris."

That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"

"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and nectar?"

"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."

A half-blood.

I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.

Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"

I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin

Ares frowned.

was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.

"It is."

"You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat.

"Yes I could." Clarisse stated.

"Oh yeah," Travis said. "And how'd that work out for you?"

She growled at him but said nothing.

She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."

Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Oh," Leo said. "So that's why you call him Prissy."

Clarisse nodded.

"Percy."

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

All of the demigods except Annabeth, Jason, Leo, and Piper gasped.

"Is that when-"

"So that's how-"

"That's why he-"

"Yes." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's not a big deal you guys."

"Yes it is!" They all chorused.

"I don't get it." Piper said.

"That's Percy's nickname for Annabeth." Thalia answered.

"Oh."

Again the gods raised an eyebrow for this.

"Nickname?" Athena asked just to be sure.

"Yes." Before she could answer Chris kept reading. He had a feeling Athena would start asking questions.

Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.

Jason thought Percy had a real chance at the Roman camp. He seemed like a tough kid.

I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.

Clarisse grimaced remembering what had happened there. Ares smiled smugly.

I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron.

She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.

Some people chuckled.

"Yes Dionysus," Zeus rolled his eyes. "Why don't you have classier johns?"

Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.

"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."

Her friends snickered.

Poseidon glared at Clarisse who sighed.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets.

Many people wrinkled their noses.

I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.

Despite the situation Nico chuckled. When everyone looked towards him he said, "No matter what's going on, even if it's going to happen, Percy's always stubborn."

Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.

Poseidon was the one smiling smugly now. Ares frowned and Clarisse grimaced even more. Annabeth sighed at the incident.

I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet,

"Ewww."

making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.

I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.

The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.

She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.

But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.

At the end of this everyone was laughing hysterically. Some falling off their chairs. Ares and Clarisse glared at everyone until they stopped laughing.

As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.

The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.

The said girl huffed.

She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.

I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.

"That's pretty cool." Leo said. "He's water resistant." While I'm fire resistant.

Poseidon nodded.

I stood up, my legs shaky.

Annabeth said, "How did you ..."

"I don't know."

We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage.

She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."

Ares scowled. He would've said something but Poseidon glared at him and he wasn't stupid.

I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

Some people resumed laughing at this and Clarisse huffed. Ares glared at anyone laughing.

Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Kind of both."

"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," She said, "That I want you on my team for capture the flag."

"Awww." Aphrodite cooed. "You want him on your team."

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Chris held out the book. "Who wants to read next?"

Will try to update faster next time. Erudite19