Hey there all! I really hope you all can leave a few reviews :D and uhh with that said, enjoy Chapter 7!
P.S: I don't own Percy Jackson. All rights to Rick Riordan!
-X-
Chapter 7: Safety at last
Percy, Grover, Annabeth and Thalia sprinted through the woods as fast as their legs would let them, with a swarm of monsters the size of an army right on their tail.
"HOW BADLY DO THEY WANT ME?!" Percy panted, out of breath.
"Judging from the amount of monsters behind us, pretty bad." Grover said. Then. Thalia shouted out, "CAMP! GET IN THE BORDERS!"
Percy craned his neck and true enough, he saw an arch labelled "Camp Half-blood".
He could make out a translucent layer of something around the camp, and when he was almost there, he broke into a slide and slid past the barriers, into camp.
Thalia, Annabeth and Grover followed suit, running past the barriers before collapsing, gasping for air.
"Where are we?" Percy asked. Thalia grinned. "Welcome home, kiddo."
As the trio led Percy to what they called the "Big house", Percy was amazed by what he saw. He caught sight of stables, but instead of the usual horses, Unicorns-unicorns- And pegasi, winged horses, occupied them.
"Do you guys ride those?" Percy asked, with an eyebrow raised, gesturing at the Pegasi.
"Oh, not just the Pegasi. You haven't seen the Unicorns in battle yet.' Annabeth grinned. Percy shuddered a he imagined those sharp unicorn horns used as lethal weapons on the battlefield.
They arrived at the Big house, and Percy understood why it was called big house.
It had 4 floors, and was painted baby-blue with a white trim. Being homeless ever since he was young, Percy had never felt the safety of home before. Stepping into the Big house, Percy looked around in awe.
He heard a distinct clip-clop of horse hooves, and the rustle of a curtain as a centaur, half-man, half horse, made its way into the room. "Ah, I see you all have succeeded in retrieving the demigod." Said the all too familiar sound. Percy's eyes bugged out, and looked at the Centaur's face, who was stroking his beard.
Percy was about to faint. It was Mr Connor.
Percy felt like he would keel over and die, not from all the deadly monsters outside, but for the sheer weirdness of it all. First, his first teacher turned out to be a Manticore, a bloody manticore, but wait, there's more! He is then told that one of his parents is a god, and then dragged off into a dark alley, where Echidna and Chimera ambushed them. Now, his favourite teacher is a centaur.
Sure, why not?
"Mr Connor. Mr…" Percy gaped, opening his mouth but no words came out.
The old centaur smiled. "Hello there, Percy. I'm glad you made it back safely. Around here, I am known as Chiron, and I will be your mentor. "
Percy was trying to wrap his mind around the concepts.
Thalia, Annabeth and Grover reported the whole incident to Chiron. Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"Yes, I understand why the General would want to seek an audience with our friend Percy here," Chiron said. "Percy, are you really sure that you don't know who your godly parent may be?"
Percy shook his head.
"Yet, with such power rolling off of you, it would certainly be logical you attract monsters by the likes of the Manticore and Echidna. And furthermore, taking them out singlehandedly…" The old centaur sighed to himself.
"I believe that with any chance, your godly parent might claim you tomorrow at the Campfire."
Percy help up his hands in the "woah, woah" gesture. "Wait, waaait a second." Percy said. "When you said 'godly parent', you mean as in uhh…"
Chiron smiled. "Greek gods, yes."
Despite himself, Percy felt his heart leap. But if one of his parents was a god, where was the other? "Chiron, I grew up an orphan. If one of my parents was a god, then could my other parent also be… you know…" he asked sheepishly.
Chiron shook his head, to Percy's dismay. "It is impossible for 2 gods to bear a mortal child."
"For now, you will have to spend the night in the Hermes cabin." Chiron announced grimly.
Thalia sighed. "Chiron, the Hermes cabin is already overflowing with unclaimed demigods. You can't just stuff him in there." Chiron rubbed his temples, as if he were suffering from a headache. "There is no other choice, Thalia. You know that."
Thalia sighed, yet again, and stalked off.
Chiron said, "I'll leave you 3 alone. Do some catching up, I'll see you soon." And he left.
Percy, Annabeth and Grover left the Big house, and started talking. "So, everyone here has a godly parent?" Percy asked, curious.
Annabeth and Grover nodded. "Although everyone here has a godly parent, not all have been claimed yet." Annabeth said, shaking her slightly. "What's claiming?" Percy asked.
This time, Grover replied. "It's when the gods officially recognize you as their child. It normally happens every Saturday, during evening."
However, despite all the excitement of being "half-a-god", Percy's mind wandered to his 2 friends at Aaron's.
He panicked. "Wait, wait, wait. If the monsters didn't get me, would they target my 2 friends?" He asked, sweat forming on the back of his neck.
To his surprise, Annabeth smiled. "Would your friends happen to be Bianca and Nico de Angelo, brother and sister?"
Percy raised his eyebrows. "And you know this because?"
"They're demigods, too." She answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Percy's panic grew even more. "Then why didn't we take them with us?"
Annabeth laughed. "Percy, you radiate more power than any other demigod I know, even more than Jacob. That naturally leads the monsters to you, you were in more danger than them. Not to worry," she added, smiling. "Another rescue group was sent to help them."
Percy let go of the growing ball of worry inside him, but Percy asked, yet again. "You mentioned a Jacob. Who's Jacob?"
This time, Annabeth sneered. "He's the son of Poseidon, one of the big three. And a really cocky dude, no one likes him."
She looked up at the skies, and said "It's getting dark, I think I better head back to my cabin. Your cabin," she said, pointing towards a worn and old looking cabin in the distance, "is that one there. Good night!"
Percy made his way to the cabin that Annabeth had pointed out, but as he walked, he noticed smoke billowing up into the skies, which came from the auditorium. Percy raised his eyebrows. Didn't they say Campfire was tomorrow?
He knew he shouldn't, but he made his way towards the auditorium.
There, he found the source of smoke. The campfire bit was dark and cold, but beside it lay a girl, tending to a separate fire.
After what happened today, Percy knew that the young girl was not a young girl, but he approached her anyway.
The girl was facing the other direction, but even though Percy was careful not to make noise, the girl turned and smiled.
"Ah, Percy Jackson." The girl said, and in the voice of an 8-year old girl.
Percy raised his eyebrows. If he got a dollar every time he raised his eyebrows, he'd probably be rich. "After all that happened today," he said, "I know that you're not just an 8-year old girl."
The girl smiled. "Indeed, Percy Jackson. My name is Hestia, goddess of the Hearth."
Percy looked at her, and asked, "Uh, no offense, but if you're a goddess, why are you, uh, an 8-year old girl?"
Hestia smiled. "This form represents my state of mind. Unlike my brothers and sisters, I do no partake in their battles. I have no interest in violence."
She regarded Percy, albeit curiously. "Ah, a child of the shadows, yet not a child of my brother Hades. And of immense power as well." Percy looked at her, stunned, before trying to play it off. "Uhh, child of the shadows? I don't know what you're implying here. And I certainly don't have 'immense power'."
Hestia smiled. "As modest as I thought you would be, Percy Jackson." She waved her hand at the fire, which formed images. Percy saw, through the fire, how he had knocked out robbers that tried to rob him in the midst of the night. He saw how he knocked the Chimera out of the way, earlier today, and how he had stopped Echidna's deadly hairclips in mid-air.
"Percy Jackson, a child of the darkness, but yet, I sense a burning fire within you."
Percy took that as a compliment.
"I see many things, Percy Jackson. And I see that you have the choice." "The choice of what?" Percy asked, puzzled.
"The choice of the fate of human mankind." She said nonchalantly.
Before Percy could say anymore, Hestia smiled warmly at Percy. "Percy Jackson, I am Hestia, the goddess of the Hearth and Fire, and you are a child of the darkness. Yet I sense the burning fire within you, brighter than any other flames I have tended. Which is why, I will offer you this."
Percy raised his eyebrows, yet again.
"I offer you the chance to be my Champion. My first ever, in fact." Hestia smiled
"Uhh…" was all Percy could manage. What the heck was a champion?
Hestia seemed to understand his confusion. "I will take you under my wing, provide you with the powers of the Hearth."
She held out her hand. "So, what will it be Percy Jackson? Will you become my first ever Champion?" Percy looked at Hestia's hand.
Letting out a deep breath, Percy took it. Hestia smiled.
Coiling flames curled up his arm, stopping at his forearm where it seared a symbol on his forearm. Strangely, he felt no pain.
When the flames died, Percy looked at his new tattoo. The very top of the tattoo was what looked like a sharp-tipped, curved capital "U". The "U" shape lay upon what reminded Percy of the sticks of a pole vault pit. It looked something like this:
Percy looked at it in awe, as he felt warmth surge through him. "Percy, I must first warn you," Hestia said, and Percy noticed the use of his first name now, instead of his full name.
"The Hearth has both the power to heal…" she said, proving her point as she laid her hand on his arm, closing the wound from the manticore spike, "but it also has the power to hurt."
To prove her point, she snapped her fingers and the calm, comfortable fire suddenly shot up into the air, turning white hot.
Percy backed up instantly, but Hestia waved her hands again and the fire died down.
"Thank you…" Percy hesitated, "Lady Hestia."
Hestia smiled, shaking her head. "There is no need for formalities with me, my champion. Just Hestia will do."
He smiled. "Thank you, Hestia."
She smiled and waved her hand. In a flash of flames, she was gone.
Percy headed back to the Hermes cabin, shaking his head at the sheer weirdness of it all.