Chapter 6
Hey guys! As promised, here is your chapter. It seems as if the majority of you seemed to think that Percy would win against Nico if they were to have a fight. As the one who was vouching for Percy, I have to say that I am quite excited that you agree!
We are overwhelmed the positive response we have received for the story and we could not be more thankful. For the next chapter, we will be asking for a total of 75 reviews (only 15 more!). We know you can do it.
Also, whenever we get to 100 reviews, we will be doing a double update, so get excited! As always, all credit goes to Rick.
Enjoy!
A boy sits on the coastline of a beach, absentmindedly tracing his name in the sand. Owen Johnson. Owen Johnson. Owen Johnson.
He doesn't remember anything other than his own name.
Even that small piece of information was given to him by three strange old ladies who had been sitting on the beach several hours ago. He'd tried to ask other questions, but they'd disappeared without a trace.
Literally. Vanished, into thin air.
Owen has no memories of his former life, but even he knows that isn't normal.
The beach grows dark, and Owen decides it better be time to get moving. He hasn't eaten in hours, and doesn't have a place to sleep (unless he's counting the sand-covered shoreline, which he feels strangely comfortable upon).
"Hello? Is anybody there?" he calls into the night.
Owen hears two figures whisper, and stand up in the sand. "P-percy?" a guy calls out. His voice is choked and trembling. "I-is that - is that you?"
Owen takes two hesitant steps forward and finds himself staring into the blue eyes of a tall, blonde-haired man, whose arms are wrapped protectively around a beautiful brown-haired girl.
Owen is confused, and maybe a little bit scared. "Who's Percy?" he asks.
The girl's jaw gapes for a moment, before she forces herself to close her mouth, swallowing. "You're not him, then," she mutters sadly to herself, sounding oddly disappointed. She looks back up at Owen, and he can tell her eyes are wet with tears.
"Nevermind," she tells him shakily. "He's just - just someone that we u-used to know."
The guy squints, biting his lip. "I swear...you could be his twin," he shakes his head, as if convincing himself of something.
"I'm Jason, by the way," he finally continues after an awkward pause, "and this is my girlfriend, Piper." Jason sticks out a hand.
Owen takes it amiably, saying, "I'm Owen."
Jason lets go too suddenly, and Owen slips backwards, falling into the ocean water. Somewhat embarrassed, he stands up quickly, muttering about stupid first impressions.
Piper blinks and steps back. "What in Hades…" Her voice trails of in awe. "You - you're completely dry…" she whispers, shock evident in her tone.
"What?" Owen looks down at himself and finds that he is, in fact, totally dry. Talk about a weird day. First he appears on a beach in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no memories, and then three strangers tell him his name and vanish into thin air. Now, he's falling into water and coming out without an ounce of water on him. If this is what his life is normally like, Owen's not sure he wants to find out who he is.
Regardless, he still wants answers. "Like who?" he continues questioning. "What's going on? Is there somebody else like me?"
Jason's eyes squeeze shut. "Nobody," he coughs. "Forget it."
The two share a look. "It's exactly one year later, too." Piper whispers, and the tears in her eyes sparkle.
Jason takes her hand. "I know," he replies. "I know."
The couple stand in silence for a few more moments, looking sadly at each other. Owen shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot, because clearly these people know more about him that he does, and he gets the feeling that he's missing out on something. Something big.
"You're probably a demigod," Piper decides abruptly. "Especially if you were able to get onto this beach."
"A demi-what?" Owen asks, bewildered. "As in - half god? How is that even possible? And what's so special about getting on a beach? Where exactly am I?"
Piper's eyes flash in amusement. "One question at a time," she says.
Jason is on his knees, packing up the remainder of what seems to have been a picnic. "We'll explain it to you when we get into camp. It's where people like us go."
"Camp?" Owen groans. Now there was a camp full of these crazies? "What camp?"
. . .
Owen is more than a little confused when Jason and Piper tell him the white building in front of him is called the Big House. Owen follows the couple as they step inside and are greeted by a room full of paintings and other decor Owen finds oddly Greek-centric.
Then he wonders why he knows about Greek art when, oh yeah, he didn't even know his own name.
They pull him into an office where a middle-aged man sits behind a large oak desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. Owen hears another voice in the room, and the sound of hooves clip clopping back and forth, as if a donkey were pacing the length of the room.
What in Hades? he thinks to himself. A donkey?! Of course, then Owen remembers that no, normal people did not go around thinking about the Greek god of death. Great. Now I'm turning into one of them. Just great.
"There are just too many of them, and not enough satyrs to protect them!" A somewhat nasally voice is complaining. There's a sound of crunching metal, and when Owen peers inside the room, he realized that the voice belongs to a man (who is half-donkey) is chewing on a can.
Wait. Chewing on a can? Half-donkey?! "That's it," Owen mutters to himself. "I'm hallucinating." He resorts to pinching himself in the arm, which, naturally, does not make the freaking half-donkey half-man disappear. Okay, so not hallucinations, he amends, I've just been taken by a bunch of crazies in oddly realistic mythical costumes.
Oh gods. What had he gotten himself into?
"Um, Chiron?" Jason steps inside the office. "We...found a new demigod on the beach."
It isn't until the man steps out of his wheelchair and turns into a freaking centaur when Owen realizes that he might be in an insane asylum.
The half-donkey whining man looks at Owen and yells as he stumbled back a few steps.
"Is that.." his voice trails off into silence as he looks at Owen, joy and desperation filling his eyes.
Okay. Definitely in an insane asylum.
Piper steps in front of Owen. "It's not him," she states flatly.
"But-" the half-donkey looks tearfully at Owen, then back at Piper. "He looks...they could be twins," he mutters.
Piper gives a sad little laugh. "I know...I thought it was him too."
"Grover, meet Owen Johnson. We met him on the beach," Jason says. His voice sounds oddly bitter.
Owen can't take it anymore, with everyone acting as if he didn't know anything (which, of course, is true to some extent, but that isn't the point). He's smart enough to know he's missing some great chunk of information, something that will explain why Greek mythology is suddenly coming to life in front of Owen's eyes.
"So - are you like, half donkey or something?" Owen asks Grover.
For a second, Grover looks almost offended. Then, tears form in his eyes, and he gives Owen a watery smile. "Half-goat. I'm a satyr."
With that, he quickly clip clopped out of the room, leaving Owen with Jason, Piper, and the old centaur staring after him.
Well, Owen stares after him. The others act like this is normal.
Chiron looks at Owen. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? His eyes are stormy, as if he knows something Owen does not.
Owen suddenly feels nervous, as though this man is his teacher giving out a pop quiz when he hasn't studied.
"Um, that's the thing...I don't really know anything," he says almost sheepishly.
"What about your name?" Chiron asks.
"We think that he's a son of Poseidon," Jason blurts out before Owen replies. Oh, great. Now they think he's the son of the freaking sea god.
Wait. If they are children of the gods, too, then that means…
Great. Now he's related to these nutjobs.
Jason, oblivious, continues to explain the incident with Owen and the water.
"Hmm…if this is what I think this is then…" Chiron's voice trails off into silence.
"What should we do?" Piper asks. "Even if he is a son of Poseidon, he hasn't been claimed yet."
"Take him on a tour, and try to avoid...her." Chiron replies, giving the couple a significant look. "I want to talk to her before she sees him, if I can. I don't want her to get her hopes up. Or think that he's somehow...back."
Owen is now seriously annoyed with all these significant looks and tip-toeing around the truth. Who do these people think they are?
A tiny voice in the back of his head peeps up. Considering what you heard, they think they're the children of Greek gods.
Right. Sure. And Owen is a freaking Pegasus.
Jason gravely nods and exits the room, hand in hand with Piper. Owen follows, stepping out of the house and onto a pathway overlooking an area filled with campers. He's lost in his thoughts, already trying to figure out a way out of this insane asylum when he bumps into someone.
"Oh, sorry," he mutters.
He looks up into the eyes of a girl with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes.
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AOTD: Battle of the Labyrinth, Lightning Thief
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