Hi! What's new? Thanks for the reviews! Thanks to Arashi OniTenshi Mitarashi, and Jocasta Silver (don't worry if your character isn't used a lot at first, I have plans for her.)
Btw: Ohhh! You caught me, If you look closely in this chapter, I gave away a hint that I'm an American. Congrats to all the stalkers, you're one step closer to knowing my location…
Reyna's POV
It had been a whole two and a half hours since Lupa SaF ed (Snapped and fogged) her to her tent.
Now Reyna was sitting at evening muster with the group that she had been reading with earlier. Minus Gwen. She refused to sit with them because Naomi was unofficially banned.
They had all agreed, plus Gwen, to meet after a half an hour after muster to meet. Luckily they wouldn't be missing any evening activities because Reyna had planned them for tomorrow.
They all scarfed down as much food as they could so they could get to the next chapter faster.
"Bobby, please pass the mashed potatoes."
The mashed potatoes crashed into Bobby's head before he passed them to Hazel.
"Dakota, that's disgusting! Cheesecake with their hands! Your hands must be stickier than bob crustulum scriptor." This I said while gagging, thoroughly disgusted. How in Pluto's name did he get New York style cheesecake? Camp Jupiter didn't serve anything that… modern.
Frank started laughing, and I grinned. Everyone looked at us funny. But to us, it made sense, in an oddly gross way. So we didn't explain.
Jade and Nico looked weirded out the most. It was probably because they thought everyone else knew what we were talking about.
It was something else, I could tell. It's like they have never heard latin in their life.
"Are we supposed—" Nico said before Jade coughed and looked pointedly at him.
"Haha! So funny!" Jade laughed trying to look natural. Nico followed, or at least tried, to follow her lead.
Yep, they defiantly had no idea what was going on.
I tried breaking the tension by ordering a hamburger with extra tomatoes. Instead, a large bowel or macaroni and cheese collided with Bobby's head again. I didn't know they served mac and cheese!
"OUCH! Reyna, order more clearly next time, or do you like intentionally giving me concussions?" Bobby complained. Everyone was silently staring.
I laughed, "Hey, you think you've gotten it hard? Look at Jo over there!"
A rather large Vulcan son was sitting next to a small Minerva boy. This must have been an unnatural child of Vulcan because the whole meal all he ordered was blocks of Iron. Every ten minutes the boy would call for more, and each time the block would slam into the son of Minerva.
After twenty minutes the child of the goddess of wisdom got up and switched seats, this time next to a child of Somnus. Yes, those kids could get boring. Especially because all they did was sleep.
But they sometimes forgot to eat, so Jo would have no problem with being slammed by food.
Bobby cringed in condolence.
Quickly changing the subject to something that managed to capture everyone's attention.
"So when do you guys think Percy is going to die?" Bobby cough, laughed.
Octavian rolled his eyes. Did we invite him to sit with us? I can't recall doing that.
"He isn't going to die, idiot."
How did he know? For once, the way he said it, not at all in a mysterious voice, made us pay attention to him. He sounded like he knew, and was correct. Outside of his head, I mean. To him everything he said was right.
"What makes you think that? The kid has death coming for him. Like death to Nico, only not so friendly." Jade contradicted.
"I am a seer."
"You must be deaf then. Have you heard a word we have been reading?" Nico sided with Jade. Funny how they both were always on the same side, and both so very sure of themselves.
It was a coincidence. They were great friends, and very powerful. Who wouldn't be sure of themselves, if they were Nico or Jade?
A camper interrupted the argument. I didn't know him that well, all I could say was his name was Alexander. Brother to Jade. He didn't do any bidding in the underworld. I could tell because he didn't have as dark of an aura.
Alexander was two inches smaller than Jade. So make that about 5' 4". Not that I could tell from a distance.
Another reason that he looked vastly different than Jade was because while she almost blended with the shadows, he reflected in the sun. If you had never met him, you would guess he was a son of Apollo. Don't tell him that, he'd be very offended.
Anyway, he was about twelve years old. I'm not sure because I don't even remember the last time I've seen him. He had a light tan, to us at least. Some of the kids here looked so tan, an outsider would have thought they had just come out of a deep fryer.
The light tan matched his complication, though. He had white/blonde hair that matched his silver eyes. There was no way he wore contacts.
He wore black pants, and a long sleeved silver shirt. How could he stand it? It must be ninety degrees outside!
A bunch of Venus girls giggled as he walked past. He grinned goofily. Immature twelve-year-old.
Some people turned around to see what the commotion was about.
Being the silly person he was, he got along real well with the Mercury children. As soon as they saw him, a whole group of them waved him over.
Alexander just held up the 'one second' finger and continued walking towards us.
"Hey citizens of Camp Jupiter! Praetor!" I mentally rolled my eyes, "Nico, Jade." They both looked slightly offended and put off. Like he spilled a major secret. Jeez, they didn't have to be so dramatic. This guy was only joking after all.
"Alexander…" Jade replied stiffly.
"Yes wonderful to see you too, dear sister!" this time he turned towards me "Ahh, yes, I am going to be staying here for a while. Could you just let me room with Jade?"
Without waiting for a reply he gave me his thanks.
"Great! Now I'm going to pull Jade aside for a moment. It's ok, she won't be at whatever event you have planned tonight." He pulled Jade away by the arm and dragged her away.
Jade cried out in pain, reached for Nico and successfully pulled him away with her. Who knew that, that twelve year old boy was so strong. He certainly didn't learn get the strength here! The most he's ever spent here was four days total in his whole lifetime.
"So let's meet after dinner ok?" I asked thoughtfully. It had been several hours since any of us had been in the clearing. I should get some of my favorite nymphs to prepare the area.
Who knew how many animals stopped by to drink some left over Kool Aid?
Everyone agreed. I didn't have the choice on how to use my Spare time, because I had to 'chaperone' the dishwashers. There was a time when no one had to chaperone, but that was before a child of Mercury started a waterfight, and the water damaged some ones eye.
You see, at Camp Jupiter we use a saltwater rinse to kill a bacteria to the core of the plate.
The power of salt.
It was an hour after dinner and I knew everyone was waiting in the clearing.
That little son of Bacchus!
No really, he was a son of Bacchus.
The point is, he must have sensed my impatience. So every four dishes he washed, he filled the whole sink with white wine. Then his drying partner would drop the dish in surprise when they found it was sticky.
Currently I was sprinting past the field of Mars, into the clearing, and stopped in shock.
Everyone was sitting strait, in a circle prepared to read. Someone even had a book in their hands, poised to open.
I looked up and saw it was Alexander. He was casting arrogant smirks in my direction, as if to say, 'I'd like to see you try to get me to leave!'.
"What are you doing here?" I could feel my nose crinkling.
Nico started grumbling. With his short sleeves, the red marks of where Jades hands had grasped were on display.
"I was invited." He said this simply. Doubting my ability to remove him from our ranks.
"Do you really?" I asked.
I know that my answer didn't match my question, but he seemed to understand. What I asked was, did he really think that I wouldn't practice my authority over him.
Oh great. Now I know why half the camp thinks that I am cold hearted and doesn't know how to have fun.
Crap! Alexander's trick is working!
"Jade made a promise that she will die if she breaks!"
Was there such a promise? It's not like we're reading anything important.
Jade looked up at me. She was pleading me with her eyes. Maybe he was telling the truth.
Not wanting to start up old arguments I reluctantly complied.
Alexander grinned mischievously. Frank started telling him about what was happening in the story, catching him up.
"—No it's ok, I already know." How in Pluto did he know?
"Then start the chapter then!" Frank looked frusterated.
It's ok, Frank. Alexander has that effect on some people.
"I BECOME SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM" Alexander started the chapter.
"We all knew this day would come, it's ok, just be yourself Alex." Bobby looked at him with great condolence.
Alexander groweled.
Jade, who must still be angry at him pushed him from his sitting position, that way he was laying sideways on top of his arm.
Alexander rolled his eyes, brushed the grass off his metallic silver sweatshirt, and began again.
Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, 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.
"Don't the delinquents choose whether or not the get pooper patrol, or litter snaggers at Central Park?"
"If New York is anything like it is here, I would pick pooper scooper patrol too."
"OR, how about you skip breaking the law on Thanksgiving for a day, and plan whatever you were doing for the next. Postpone your crimes!"
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."
Do tell, was the word italicized out of disgust or awe?
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.
"Oh, they don't do that on purpose? I thought it was a special technique! That's how Dan's friend, Larry got my twenty bucks for coke!" Nobody cares Bobby.
I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.
Well that would be entertaining.
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 shivered. Gwen flipped around and whimpered. Out from behind a tree hopped a grey bushy tailed rabbit.
"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."
"Not a single living thing. Someone's keeping dead bodies in their closet."
Nico laughed. "More ways than one!"
I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.
"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.
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."
Pleasures of have many Demeter (felt weird thinking that) campers. We do bug (monster) extermination.
The truth is, that many mortals believe that their house had been infected with rodents or large insects. While in truth, It really is just a monster protected by the mist.
Ok, growing strawberries is cooler, I'll give them that.
He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around.
"Or they are trying to grow fast enough to strangle him." I glared at Octavian. Those Gods may be Greek, but they aren't afraid to kill one Demigod. That is, if they're anything like the Roman ones.
"Jeez Reyna, just a thought."
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 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.
That cranky wine god did love degrading people…
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."
"Admit it, Percy. What was he doing when you were fighting for your life against the Minotaur?" This is the first time Alexander spoke other than reading the book. How was it that he took the least time to grow comfortable, but the he had the most people hating him already, out of everyone?
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!"
"Is he implying that he switched places with Grover on the bus, so that it was actually Grover saving Percy?" Frank asked.
"What does that even mean?" Hazel looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time.
"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.
Tripilty do-DUH!
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?"
Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy.
"Wait! Did the book say what happened the first time?" Jade looked around, searching faces.
"No, but they wouldn't have mentioned anything if it wasn't important to the plot." Nico answered. A look of realization washed over his face before he answered. What the heck?
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?"
"Oh, twenty-eight."
"How in the world!—" Bobby exclaimed.
I quickly explained to him the life span of fauns.
"But Dan looks like a fifty year old hobo! He can't be…"
"A) He is a hobo. B) fifty plus fifty is one hundred. Yes that would make him a century old. Bobby, I think it's time to learn to count. I can't add for you anymore." I decided to teach him later. No matter how many objections I received from that one particular member.
"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"
Grover signed even more miserably than before.
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. 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."
Horrible! And that's why fauns here choose to be unemployed.
"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 was there for fauns? I don't think they would make that much money on anti-animal-slaughter movement.
"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?"
"It's official, someone died." Dakota said with smug satisfaction on his face.
Jade gave him an odd look. "How'd you know?"
Funny that she didn't say how do you know, but how did you know. Like she wasn't denying it.
"It's a gift."
"You're son of the wine god. What does that have to do with death? Shouldn't that be my gift?" Nico looked put out.
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.
"Do tell me, how many people do you know that have survived coming back from the Underworld?" Bobby asked the book horrendously.
" I have!" shouted all three new comers. I forgot you could get from one side of the country to the other in an hour if you were able to travel in the Underworld. Handy skill.
Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."
"Yes, child?"
"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"
"Subtle, very subtle Percy." At this Alexander laughed.
Gwen laughed. What was it with those Venus children? It was like they were under a spell or something.
Chiron's expression darkened.
"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully.
Maybe he should've just denied it.
"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."
"Well he didn't have to be so morbid about it! How bout' saying 'Yeah, there's and Underworld. But it's a bright happy place down there! In fact your mom is in the attic right now, waiting for you!" Hazel laughed.
"But dear Hazel, that would be lying." Gwen said in a sweet voice.
"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"
It only means that no body's ever come back, idiot for asking!
"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."
"A lot of bad things happen in the woods!"
Yeah Bobby, like this book.
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.
Doubtful. It's just that the fauns wouldn't let the demigods pollute it like mortals do.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?"
"Squirrels, Percy stocked with squirrels." Dakota pointed towards the closest one sitting in a dead tree a few feet away.
I asked. "Armed with what?"
"Muffins, armed with muffins, Percy." I scowled at Dakota. It was annoying to have to stop reading because the moron had to make some comment regarding Percy's non-existence stupidity.
It was new to him, they acted the same way when they first found out too.
Wait! Why was I defending him I was supposed to be outraged at him.
You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
"He's new, why would he have his own sword and shield?" Nico rolled his eyes.
"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,
"We went over this already! It isn't a summer camp, it's a safe haven for demigods in need of protection in order to train!"
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),
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.
"dot, dot, dot usually. Implying something?"
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.
Yeah, it doesn't usually rain in New York does it?
"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.
Aren't there magical borders around their camp to protect it from bad weather? That would be lame if they didn't. There were borders around Camp Jupiter!
Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, 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.
"Well why would they have every god specializing in the same sort of thing? That would make the world black and white! Literally!" Jade debated this outloud to herself, unaware people were staring.
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).
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.
"Vest—I meant Hestia!" Gwen said excitedly. She looked proud she knew the name. Shouldn't it be the other way around, they were Graecis after all.
Maybe it was because they were gods. They are like the Romans, only they were drunks.
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.
Raising my eyebrows I made a revelation "Looks like Lord Jupiter, it feels odd saying this, Zeus is just as arrogant."
"Isn't that the truth!" Jade grinned happily at me. It was weird to see that at on her usually dark face.
Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
"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."
"Wouldn't that be weird if he was a child of Jun—Hera?" Frank asked.
"Percy doesn't strike me as a son of Hera, not that I've ever known one. Why would she name him after a son that Zeus cheated on her with, the mom I mean, not Percy." Hazel contradicted.
"Yes…I guess, good save!"
Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.
Is it just me, or is he choosing to be stubborn?
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.
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.
"Uh-oh! Why is he attracted to that cabin? He'll get trampled by horses or drown in salt water!" I bit my lip nervously.
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. 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."
"Thank Gods Chiron stopped him before he could step inside!" I cried in relief. Neptune, or Poseidon must be, a powerful god who doesn't make mistakes and won't think twice before punishing someone who deserves it. But acts with mercy when their intentions are in the right place. Well, I guess you could say Percy is innocent… Maybe.
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.
Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.
"The Mars cabin." Frank looked disgusted. He was the only decent one in the cabin.
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.
I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.
That might just be a sore subject.
"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."
"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."
"Yes Percy. Or did Mr.D's display not scare you enough?" Alex laughed. "Boy, those are horrible." Both Jade and Nico's eyes widened.
"What I didn't tell you guys, I mean, I meant to say, I've met Bacchus before." Alex scurried to fix the mistake he made.
Dakota's face fell. I knew why. Alex met his dad on numerous occasions and Dakota hadn't met him once.
"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."
"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."
I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.
"Well it wouldn't be on mine either, if my 6th grade algebra teacher tried killing and accused me of stealing something too." Bobby said this solemnly.
"Doesn't it ever get boring?"
"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
"Well that could mean two things, correct? People have died, and they died painfully, and it was exciting." Frank said.
"Well of course someone died, silly!" Gwen said as if it were painfully obvious.
"Why depressing?"
Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.
It was painfully obvious… to everyone but Percy.
"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."
That grey eyed girl! More information on what their punishment will be when I hunt them down.
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.
Mercury, or Hermes in this case. Usually takes undecided demigods. But for some reason the halfbloods here have been getting claimed right away for some reason. Lucky streak I guess.
When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.
"She's just jealous." Nico smirked.
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.
We all groaned. Octavian burst into fits of laughter. What's wrong with him?
There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.
"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."
Why did they organize groups by parents? That's stupid. Actually that's a good idea. Why didn't we think of that?
Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. 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.
"Does anyone know what caduceus is even made to do? I would hate to have a useless staff printed on my arm just cause' my dad thought it was a cool symbol."
Octavian was referring to the tattoo of Camp Jupiter all campers get when they first arrive. At the bottom of every campers tattoo, if they were claimed, they got their parents symbol printed with it.
Most campers who were claimed displayed it, because it was a thing to be proud of. It showed that your godly parent thought you were important or cared.
Bet that made the nonclaimed campers feel bad.
What was weird was more of the already campers were getting claimed. Which is something that never happened before.
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.
Look at what they stooped to. Do the gods even care?
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.
"Sounds suspiciously like 'they rode off into the sunset' right?" Only Bobby would make that comment. Well, maybe Dakota would, but he would never know where that was coming from.
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.
"That's a bit depressing. But hey, that's all our life story." Hazel flourished the dramatics in the sentence. Gwen added a sigh for affect.
"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."
Friendly person.
So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.
"I've barely met anything about Percy, but I can already tell that it's typical." Alexander said this, but it gave me a feeling it meant something deeper.
Paranoia, I thought. Alex could do that to people.
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.
"Whatsit matter, he's going to be stayin there anyway." Gwen's started speaking slurred. It had gotten late into the night without me realizing. I persuaded everyone not to fall asleep before the chapter ended.
I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned.
Friendly folks.
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."
"Well at least there's one gracious kid in the cabin. I thought that the parents kid was supposed to inherit their skills. Mercury is the best actor on the face of the planet. Why aren't they?" Octavian's lip curled.
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.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.
This girl was making it too easy. Just another way to break her defenses.
She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" I asked.
"Does the word undetermined have any meaning to you?" Gwen was getting restless. I didn't blame her. But we were all demigods, and you don't see me complaining.
Oh yeah, I want to be here.
"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, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.
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.
"How long will I be here?" I asked.
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?"
"Why is he acting like a toddler! Weak kid." Octavian was getting on my nerves. I'm tired, can we finish the damn chapter already?
The campers all laughed.
So did the ones reading.
"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it."
"Way to make your situation worse. Embarrass yourself as much as you can."
"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?"
Doesn't she get it! He doesn't want to be there!
She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."
"A) Gag B) Why'd she say that outloud? C) If she thinks he looks good, she should see me. D) Awkward…." Frank laughed with the rest of the group.
"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"
"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."
"How many people will have to tell him until he believes? It's not just something you give up on, then I will leave you alone."
"Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right?
Yes.
Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."
"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts." Alex murmured to himself.
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
"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 about Mrs. Dodds?"
"She's a scary stalker who stole Pluto's helm of darkness." Dakota grinned at his joke.
"We don't joke about that, that would be very bad." I said wide eyed, That would be VERY bad.
"You talk in your sleep."
"Good, no helm of darkness involved."
"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.
If only! It would make my job loads easier!
"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?"
Like I thought before, he's a toddler in disguise,
I sounded whiny, even to myself,
The only person who agrees with me is my target of elimination.
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.
"Wait for it, he's going to say Sally Jackson."
"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.
There is a thin line between deranged and exhausted. I think he just crossed it.
"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."
"Dramatic moment of realization," commentated Nico like an announcer.
"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."
"She would know, wouldn't she?"
"How can you say that? You know him?
"Back to the creepy stalker idea." Dakota added. Maybe he was right.
"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."
"A secret universe for troubled kids, basically." I sighed.
"You don't know anything about me."
"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."
Dakota smirked. Bobby opened his mouth to object.
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? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.
"Or for some kids Latin." Hazel added knowingly.
"Right…" Nico coughed. Alexander shot a not so subtle wink at him. Oddballs.
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."
"Because they want to be your friend. Then at the last moment they'll kill you brutally and leave you to bleed and rot." Bobby tried to upstage Dakota.
I really didn't need to hear that. It was so graphic I am traumatized.
"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.
"Best and worst thing that can happen to you. Hurts so much but tastes so good." Frank moaned before taking a slurp.
Maybe I should get a nymph to raid his bunk for secret stashes before he has to go through withdrawal.
"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."
"When you thought your life couldn't get any worse, your parents betray you by falling in love with a god or goddess." Gwen giggled at the thought. She probably thought it was tragically romantic.
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 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?
Her name is Clarrise. How come all the bullys have old fashioned names?
"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. "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.
"Typical children of Mars. Can't live up to their threats." Bobby looked at Frank like he were disappointed in him.
She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?
"Turning the attention away from her. Usually they're attention hogs. Well unless they lose that is." Bobby named off the characteristics.
"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."
"Ares is…" Gwen looked a little bit confused. It's not like we havn't been name the forth mentioned god a couple hundred times in the chaper!
"Ares is Mars." Jade answered shortly. Maybe Gwen was taking the place of Naomi.
I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"Well a lot of people do…"
"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."
Frank looked up.
"I don't smell that bad do I?"
If he was looking for someone to reassure him, no one did.
We all inched away.
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
Don't tell me. Is it getting your head dunked down a toilet?
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.
"Stay out of it, wise girl."
"Smooth, does he want his head down a toilet?" Dakota sneered.
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.
Nice. I really don't know what to think of that…
I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight,
He trusts her with his minotaur horn?
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.
Bobby and Dakota high fived. Frank put his hand up to his face to try to smell his breath, Hazel and I moaned in disgust. Octavian had a smirk on his face waiting to hear what would happen to Percy.
Whatever he was wanting to happen, wasn't good. For Percy, I mean.
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.
They take showers in the bathroom?
Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Is that even sanitary?" Gwen was just as grossed out as me.
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.
Back to my earlier thought, do the gods even care?
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.
Because Clarisse isn't trying to kill you. And she didn't kidnap your mother, squeezing her into a gold light.
"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."
"Why do they think he's one of the Big Three's sons. Isn't that against the oath? He's very powerful, but they don't know that much yet. And just because your powerful doesn't mean your Dad is King of dead, sky or sea.
Her friends snickered.
Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.
"You can tell that they're going to be great friends." I said this to everyone sarcastically.
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.
We all shot embarrassed looks at eachother.
"I can't believe I am reading this." Nico murmured outloud.
I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.
"Hey, at least he finally admitted he didn't want his head there!" Alexander laughed.
True, where this was going, I almost thought he was excited.
Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder.
Oh my gods.
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.
EWWWW.
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.
Gwen started giggling. Pretty soon everyone joined in.
Everyone just continued laughing throughout the scene except Sean. But I could tell that even he was slightly amused.
The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.
I'll have to look up 'The Greek god of Toilet Water' in the college's library.
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.
Everyone was choking on their laughter. I think I heard
Frank mutter something along the lines of 'how come nothing funny like that happens here?'
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.
Hey, she didn't help him when he needed it most. Why should she be 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.
I guess she doubted his skills, just like Clarisse had. She didn't have to be so open about it though.
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.
Dakota glowered in jealousy. Do you think that the demigods at the greek camp were more powerful? Maybe. Except for Jason. Maybe he's Greek.
I shook that thought away.
I stood up, my legs shaky.
"Well if I used toilet water to attack the camp bullies, I would be just a little skittish too." Jade laughed.
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.
The whole groups stomaches hurt from laughing. Yes we all laughed again.
Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage.
I'm gagging at the mental picture in my mind at the moment.
She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."
I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."
"That'll teach her a lesson!"
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.
"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
"Hey guys! Aren't we playing capture the flag tomorrow?" I asked. Maybe if I—
"Yes Reyna, you would know, you scheduled it after all." Hazel looked annoyed.
"I'm going to bed." Everyone got up to follow her. I was left alone in the clearing to think.
It wouldn't hurt if I…
A/N
Sorry this chapter took so long. I was working super hard on it. How about in the next two days, if I get 10 reveiws I will post the first half of the next chapter early, and it will be a bonus chapter.
Except there will be no reading, only action. I want in this story, to be more than reading, because to me, I am just copying Rick Riordan and adding a tiny bit of my own stuff. If you don't like it, then review and skip the bonus chapter.
This feels like my longest chapter yet. It's 10,136 words and 52 pages. It beats chapter 7 by around one thousand words. So I think it is my longest chapter
Sorry for the wait!
Please Review!
Lilyflower11
