Hey! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in the last few days. I ended up babysitting the last two nights, lot's of homework, craziness…but, now it's over and I can get back to writing, for the most part.
And someone asked about Percy and the deep sleep. Well, oops on me. I remembered it wrong. The chapter said he had woken up around 2 months ago at the wolf house. Now my conclusion, he woke up there after Jason, Leo, and Piper had that big battle but he couldn't have been there the whole time for obvious reasons. So he was like, asleep for a few days at least and being kept who knows where by Hera. So basically, Percy is either still asleep or just woke up, when this story takes place. Does that make any sense to you guys?
Well, anyways, on with the chapter and happy reading!
Disclaimer: No, I don't own PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does.
I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom
Piper laughed. "Someone has a big head."
"Ooh, you know what I want to be lord of," Travis said.
"Let me guess." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Pranks or something?"
"Noooooo! Candy! I wanna be the supreme lord of candy."
"You have no idea how lame you sound right now, dude." Connor rolled his eyes.
"Hey!"
Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,
"Yeah," Nico said. "That might take a while."
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, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.
Annabeth snorted. "Real classy, Perce."
"I hate pooper-scooper patrol." Grover shuddered.
"Do I even want to know?" Jason asked.
"Probably not…"
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."
"You know, I think that was me." Connor laughed.
"You're kidding me?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all."
"Well done bro, you were one more cause of the inflation of his ego." Travis high-fived him.
Piper muttered something about idiots.
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.
"What is it with Percy and shaggy hindquarters?" Grover brayed.
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.
"I doubt you can do a flip, Percy." Rachel laughed.
"His move with jumping onto the minotaur was impressive though." Jason said.
"What till you see him with Anteaus." Annabeth smirked. "Something tells me you'll like that."
Grover's eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"
"It's in a different book." Annabeth told him.
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.
"He would say seaside," Nico snorted.
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.
"Whoa. You have no idea how creepy that is." Thalia shuddered. Everyone who knew what had been up there nodded. "She was like, watching him."
"Who was?" Leo asked.
"I'm sure you'll find out," Thalia replied.
"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."
"Okay, know I really want to know." Leo whined.
"Calm down, Valdez." Piper said.
I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.
"Stalker!" Travis shouted.
"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."
We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.
"I wonder what kind of tune he's playing?" Annabeth wondered.
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.
"Literally." Nico snorted. "One time I accidently shadow-traveled into the fields and as Mr. D walked by, the vines and such started crawling up my legs and arms. Not fun."
"Did he help you?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah right. No, he just kept walking and when he was gone, they stopped."
It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, 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 have my answer," Annabeth muttered.
"Why are you talking to yourself, Annie?" Connor teased.
"Don't call me Annie!" Annabeth growled.
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.
"To that I was." Grover nodded.
"Was it bad?" Piper asked.
"Uhhh, not that bad." Grover lied.
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."
"Thanks, Perce." Grover smiled.
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."
"He did that though," Leo said.
Piper snorted.
"But he did that!"
"See?"
"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.
"Love the way he says that," Nico rolled his eyes. "So insensitive."
"He was talking about," Annabeth looked at Jason, Leo, and Piper. "Well, you should know what he was talking about."
"Whatever." Nico rolled his eyes again.
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."
Grover pouted. "Well if Zeus hadn't struck the car with lightning, I wouldn't have been unconscious."
"Thanks a lot dad," Thalia laughed.
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.
"It's good to know he was guilty." Grover nodded.
"Grover," Travis said innocently. "Do we need to put you in a mental hospital?"
"Oh shut up."
"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"
Chiron winced.
As did Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover.
"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. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age... "
"How old is he?"
"That's what I'd like to know." Leo wondered.
"Oh, twenty-eight."
"What?" Piper gasped.
"What! And he's in sixth grade?"
"Exactly!" Piper and Leo said together and Jason laughed.
"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."
"That is the most horrible thing I can imagine." Rachel said with wide eyes.
"You know what's horrible," Connor grinned. "When a teacher asks you if you would rather be trapped in a body-sized box full of spiders or maggots. I mean, they're both so horrible that it's impossible to choose."
"Connor, we're reading a book here." Thalia said. "This isn't the time."
"That's horrible."
"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... ."
"What other career can a satyr have?" Nico wondered.
"I have no idea." Thalia said.
Grover shook his head.
"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"
Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"
"Wow, he's absolutely horrible and subtle subject changing." Travis noticed.
"So he's good at lying and bad at this." Connor thought. "Maybe he needs lessons too."
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.
"Uh oh," Rachel laughed. "Everybody run."
"Rachel, this is serious." Annabeth sighed. "See what he says."
"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."
"Yes, child?"
"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"
"Oh," Rachel's eyes widened. "He does not!"
Annabeth and Grover nodded.
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."
"Until we know more?" Clarisse asked. "What?"
"Have you been paying attention to this chapter?" Jason asked.
"Not really, no."
"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"
"He's experiencing it and yet he doesn't understand either." Clarisse pointed out.
"Well that's because he's Percy." Annabeth laughed.
"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.
"Unless you count us." Thalia said.
"If you don't though-" Nico added.
"Then, yeah. Pretty much." Annabeth finished.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"
"He's very slow." Piper noted.
"At the start, yeah." Annabeth laughed.
"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
"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,
"Ours does!" Leo, Travis, and Connor yelled.
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),
"Well, no duh." Rachel rolled her eyes.
the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, 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.
"So reassuring." Jason snorted.
"I think my cabin makes it more awesome." Clarisse smirked.
"Of course you do," Annabeth muttered.
"What did you just say, Wise girl?"
"Nothing…"
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.
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, nestled in the woods by the lake.
"What?" Piper exclaimed. "There's a lot more than that."
"This happened like 5 years ago," Nico said. "Things have changed."
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.
"They are really weird to look at," Leo nodded.
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.
"Oh yeah!" Leo pumped a fist.
Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.
Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.
"Pretty much like Apollo's teeth," Thalia laughed.
"They're so shiny," Connor swooned.
"Whoa, dude, snap out of it." Travis snapped in front of him and Connor sat up with a confused glance.
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).
"Hey, me too." Jason grinned.
Annabeth smiled. She was glad that Jason seemed to like Percy.
In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. 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.
"So he did notice her." Nico realized.
"Who is it?" Piper asked.
"Hestia."
"Oh, Vesta." Jason acknowledged.
The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums,
"Well, that's cause they are." Annabeth sighed.
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.
"Hate it," Jason muttered.
"I know what you mean, bro." Thalia nodded.
Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
"Hate her." It was Annabeth turn to say and Thalia nodded again.
"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.
"Correct," Chiron said.
"Their cabins look empty."
"No duh, Kelp head." Clarisse snorted.
"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. Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?
"He really did not get the whole concept at first." Rachel said.
"I think it was more of the fact that he didn't want to believe." Annabeth replied.
I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.
Thalia smiled. "Of course he would."
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.
"Ughh, that's so unfair." Jason grumbled. "The Zeus cabin is super creepy and cold. I hate sleeping in there."
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.
"Pretty," Rachel smiled.
"And cozy," Piper added.
There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. 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."
"I think he knew who Percy was even then." Annabeth said.
"Probably," Grover agreed.
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.
"Especially Hermes," Connor scowled.
Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.
Clarisse smiled proudly. "That's cause it was."
The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.
"Creepy," Leo frowned.
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.
"And Clarisse enters the story," Travis said.
"Dun dun dun." Connor drum-rolled.
"Can it, punks." Clarisse grunted.
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.
"I take offence to that." Clarisse scowled. "I'm nothing like that wimp."
"We know, Clarisse. We know." Annabeth sighed.
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, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."
"The Party Ponies are really awesome!" Connor smiled.
"Party Ponies?" Leo asked.
"Uh huh!"
"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?"
"So tactless, Percy." Thalia laughed.
"It's a good question," Nico mumbled.
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."
"Definitely," Annabeth nodded. "I don't know what we'd do without him."
I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.
Travis shuddered. "Mine neither."
"Especially if it was a school teacher," Connor added.
"Doesn't it ever get boring?"
"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
"Why depressing?"
"What a stupid question," Rachel shook her head.
"He didn't know how the life of a half-blood was yet." Annabeth said defensively.
"True that," Rachel agreed.
Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.
"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."
The blond girl
"Really Percy?" Annabeth smirked. "I'm still the 'blond girl'?"
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.
"I was not!" Annabeth declared.
"Bet you were thinking about him though." Connor muttered.
"A lot," Travis added.
She glared at them, but didn't deny it.
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.
"Hmm, Annabeth with an architecture book. What has the world come to?" Nico gasped.
"I know, it's a miracle right?" Leo chuckled.
"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.
"Hey!" Travis complained.
"Our cabin is the best of them all!" Connor said.
"No it isn't," Leo smirked.
"Really guys?" Piper asked. "Really?"
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 theycall it... ? A caduceus.
"Oh yeah!" Connor pumped a fist.
Travis got up and started dancing and singing. "We rock, we rock, we rock!"
Clarisse pushed him back into his chair.
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.
"That is too true." Connor said.
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.
"Did you expect them to?" Thalia laughed.
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.
Everyone laughed.
"Only Percy would do that," Rachel smiled.
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,
"Of course he didn't." Nico said.
"He had it all under control," Leo nodded.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"Nothing…"
but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned.
"Well that wasn't very nice." Grover commented.
"Well, we're always so crowded in there…" Travis said.
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."
"Great spot to sleep, great spot." Piper rolled her eyes.
"That was all that was left." Connor told her.
The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with shortcropped 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.
Everyone who knew what Luke had done tensed.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.
"I was not blushing, thank you very much." Annabeth sniffed.
"Oh you so were." Travis laughed and he got a pillow in the face.
She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" I asked.
"So clueless," Rachel shook her head.
"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."
"He's way more than that!" Travis smiled proudly.
"We know, dude," Leo said.
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,
"Do it!" Connor yelled.
but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.
"God dammit." Connor pouted.
"Really, bro?" Travis asked.
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.
"They probably were," Grover laughed.
"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.
As did everyone in the room.
"Shows how much he liked it there." Jason smiled.
"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.
"It was quite amusing," Travis said.
"I'm sure it was," Annabeth smiled.
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."
Everyone but Annabeth laughed.
"But dear Annabeth, he is the one." Connor said sweetly.
"In more ways than just you leaving camp." Travis nodded.
Annabeth sighed.
"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill 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?"
"You wanted to fight him?" Piper asked incredulously.
Annabeth fidgeted. "Well, at that time I had barely been out in the world. Of course when Percy came, I was out there more than I was at camp normally."
"Percy's your hero," Leo fluttered his eyelashes.
"You got a problem with that." Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"…nope."
"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 ..."
"Here we go." Nico laughed.
"Yes."
"Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."
"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"It may make sense now, but you have no idea how confusing that sounds." Rachel said.
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
"See?"
"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 archetypes.
Eventually, they re-form."
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 that?" Thalia asked and to everyone's surprise, Annabeth blushed.
"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"
"You talk in your sleep."
"You watched him while he slept?" Connor laughed.
Annabeth was bright red. "I was bringing him back to health, I had to."
"Sure you did," Travis said slyly.
"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"
"They're so misunderstood." Nico shook his head.
"Really, Niccy?" Thalia smirked.
"Don't call me that!"
Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.
"Would it?" Leo asked.
Annabeth thought about it. "It's possible."
"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."
"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny,
"That's cause you are whiny." Clarisse reasoned.
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."
"Clueless, clueless, clueless," Rachel mumbled.
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.
"He's not going to, I'm guessing." Thalia looked at Annabeth who nodded.
"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."
Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. "Your father's not dead, Percy."
"How can you say that? You know him?"
"How he deduced that, I'll never know." Nico laughed.
"Well, that's Percy for you." Grover said.
"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."
"Wrong Percy. Annabeth knows everything about you." Travis said.
"Yup, she's a stalker." Connor reasoned.
"Cut it out you two." Piper snapped.
"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?"
"Everything, Perce." Rachel said. "Just about everything."
"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.
"Be that as it may," Nico said. "I still hate it."
"Ditto." Everyone but a few people agreed.
And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield 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."
"Monsters medicate people?" Leo asked.
"That's just too weird." Piper exclaimed.
"Tell me about it." Jason grumbled.
"Have experience with that Jason?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.
Jason scowled. "Trust me, you don't want to know."
"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."
"Yes Percy, A and N." Connor nodded. "You had some, remember?"
"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.
"Yup." Clarisse said. "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 wonder who that could be." Rachel said sarcastically.
I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin 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?"
"Oh man, I just realized what happens." Clarisse groaned.
Annabeth laughed evilly. "I bet you did."
"Do I have to listen to this?" Clarisse asked.
"Are you backing away from a challenge?" Annabeth taunted.
"Why you little-" Clarisse started to go at it, but a bright light filled the room and when it went away, Clarisse was gone.
"What in hades just happened?" Nico shook his head.
"I think Clarisse got her wish." Thalia laughed.
"Do you think she'll be back?" Jason asked.
"I guess we'll see." Piper replied.
"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 understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.
"That is true." Annabeth smiled.
"Annabeth, language!" Connor gasped.
"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.
"I love how he notices all the little details and never the big picture." Rachel laughed.
"That's why I'm so surprised he's still alive." Nico nodded.
She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"
"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, daughter of Ares."
I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"
"So slow," Thalia grinned.
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."
Everyone laughed.
"Good thing Clarisse left." Leo said.
"She already heard it once from him." Piper reminded him.
"Right."
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.
"Stay out of it, wise girl."
Everyone but Jason, Leo, and Piper gasped while Annabeth laughed.
"What?" Leo asked.
"So it wasn't Percy who came up with that." Thalia smiled.
"Nope." Annabeth said.
"Wow, never knew that."
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 nodded, at least Percy would be fine on his own and wouldn't rely on others at Camp Jupiter.
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.
"Now I get the name of the chapter." Connor realized.
"No duh!" Travis rolled his eyes.
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.
"That's a good thought." Nico said.
"Yeah, I hate the bathrooms here." Thalia agreed.
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.
"That's cause you're not fighting for your life," Rachel reasoned.
"He has plenty of strength though," Annabeth said.
"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."
Everyone snickered, except Annabeth who knew what would happen.
Her friends snickered.
Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.
"I was not!" Annabeth growled.
"Sure you weren't wise girl…" Travis grinned.
"Not you too."
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.
"Pleasant." Piper wrinkled her nose.
I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.
"So stubborn," Thalia laughed.
Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder.
"Here we go." Connor rubbed his hands together.
Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, 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.
Everyone laughed and Leo yelled "Go Percy!"
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.
"Fire hose? Really?" Nico grinned.
"Does little Percy want to be a fireman when he grows up?" Travis asked.
Connor shook his head. "Dude, you're talking to the book."
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.
"Great description!" Grover clapped.
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.
"Those are some awesome powers!" Leo exclaimed.
"That's nothing," Annabeth said. "Just wait till he learns more about them."
The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared. 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.
"It was pretty surprising," Annabeth said.
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.
"You know," Thalia realized. "I don't see how know one figured it out after that."
"Why?" Nico asked.
"I mean, come on. Controlling water. Not getting wet. Defeating the Minotaur like that. It seems pretty obvious to me."
I stood up, my legs shaky.
Annabeth said, "How did you ..."
"I don't know."
"I do!" Connor sang.
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."
"And this is where Annabeth got her brilliant inspiration," Grover said.
"For?" Piper asked.
"You'll see." Annabeth said slyly.
I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."
Everyone laughed.
"That was stupid." Rachel shook her head.
"But it did help us win." Travis said.
"True that."
Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.
"Wow, they stopped her." Jason raised his eyebrows. "Didn't think they would."
"Yeah, that was surprising too." Annabeth said.
Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.
"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," She said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
"And the plan is set forth." Connor laughed.
"Chapter's over," Piper put down the book.
"Do you think Clarisse will be brought back?" Leo asked.
A piece of paper appeared in the air and floated down to the table. Rachel grabbed it and read it:
"Dear demigods,
For your sanity and mine, I'm going to keep Clarisse away for a while. She may be back…she may not. Happy reading!"
~Sid-Nilos"
"Well, there's your answer." Annabeth said. "Who wants to read next?"
"I will." Rachel said and picked up the book.
There you have it, chapter over. I'll try to write another chapter tonight and past tomorrow, but I have a French quiz tomorrow that I haven't yet studied for so, we'll see. But keep your hopes up! Let me know your thoughts.
~Sid-Nilos
