Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belong to Rick Riordan.
~~PercyJackson~~
"I'll read next," Jason offered, taking the book from his girlfriend.
"My dinner Goes up in Smoke" Jason read.
"Awesome," Apollo grinned, realizing what this referred to.
"How is that awesome?" Frank asked.
Apollo and Hermes grinned, but when it became apparent they weren't going to answer, Jason continued reading.
Word of the ... toilet water.
"Oh, those stories were awesome," Travis grinned.
"Especially when we got our hands on them," Connor added.
"So you're the ones who started those," Clarisse said 'those' like she meant something more than just a story of her getting doused with toilet water. She looked at the Stolls, murder in her eyes.
"Uh, no?" the Stolls squeaked, backing away from her glare.
In an effort to save the brothers, Jason continued to read.
Or maybe ... dripping wet.
Annabeth sighed as the feeling of being soaked surrounded her again.
"Why didn't you go change?" Piper asked.
"I just got hit with the shower water," Annabeth said. "No point changing, I figured I'd dry off fast enough anyway."
She showed me ... goat-man),
"Percy," Grover moaned. "That's Pan!"
"How was I supposed to know that?" Percy asked.
Grover sighed, shaking his head. "You may be my best friend," he said with a grin. "But sometimes, you're impossible."
"Just sometimes?" Thalia asked.
and the climbing ... fast enough.
"The sounds ridiculously dangerous," Hazel said.
"That's the point," Chris replied, grinning.
"It's awesome," Leo said, a mad glint in his eyes.
"Only if you get to the top fast enough," Piper said, shivering at the memories of the close calls she had had on that thing.
Jason wrapped an arm around her while he held the book with his other hand and pulled her closer to him.
Finally we returned ... wasn't my fault."
"Hate to break it to you Seaweed Brain, but it really, really was," Annabeth said.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Percy said, grinning sheepishly.
She looked at ... the plumbing.
Jason was laughing so hard at the last line that he had a hard time getting the words out, and when he finally did, nobody understood what he had said.
"Huh?" Leo asked, grinning in confusion as Jason practically dropped the book he was laughing so hard.
Piper shook her head at her boyfriend and pried the book from his hands. She grinned, stifling her own laughter as she glanced at Percy.
"Weird thought alert!" Nico called out.
"Brace yourselves!" Connor hollered.
"I had become one with the plumbing," Piper finally managed to force out.
At this, all of the demigods, Rachel, and Grover started laughing, Jason's own laughter renewed tenfold. Really it wasn't that funny, but with everything they were going through in their lives right then, and all the impossible tasks that lay ahead of them, it felt good, really good, to just laugh.
Percy joined in with his friends, it was a very weird thought and looking back on it, it was funny. The fact that Annabeth was giggling uncontrollably in his arms only made him laugh more, glad that in all the crap they were about to relive they could find the time to laugh and relax.
The gods watched the children, amusement on their faces. Well, everyone's except Hera, who looked on disapprovingly, and Apollo and Hermes, who had joined the demigods in laughing outright.
It took several long minutes for everyone to calm down enough, hampered by the fact that if one of them snickered, they all started laughing again.
Finally, Jason took a deep, steadying breath and picked up the book, which Piper had dropped in her laughter. Voice breathless and ribs aching from laughing, Jason started to read.
"You need to ... ask Chiron."
"Hey, my Oracle is not a what!" Apollo protested.
"It's a 70 year old mummy," Artemis told her brother.
"Who was a person," Apollo said. "A maiden, so you should like her. I just wonder what happened. Why she won't switch bodies."
Hades looked down at this, but remembering how the Oracle had almost destroyed everything for him, had led to the death of Maria di Angelo, he looked up again. She deserved what she got.
Hermes sighed, thinking of May Castellon and what happened when she attempted to become the Oracle. He wished he knew what had gone wrong. He wished he had stopped her. He wished he could go back in time and save her. Wished he could unhear those horrible predictions about his son, Luke.
Percy glanced between the three gods, wondering how they would react to events in the book. Truthfully, he was wondering how they all would react to the events they were about to read about. Events that were in their near future.
He didn't think it was going to be very pretty.
Then again, that was probably why Hypnos had involved the gods in the first place.
I stared into ... for once.
"I cannot blame you there, boy," Artemis said.
I wasn't expecting ... a long-lost friend.
"Naiads," Poseidon smiled. "Maybe not long lost friends, but they would know you for who you are."
"Dang, those girls are hot," Leo said, remembering his own encounter with them and his thought that maybe he could talk with them.
Several of the guys nodded, causing Katie and Clarisse to smack their boyfriends. Annabeth glanced back at Percy, raising an eyebrow.
Percy shrugged. "I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world," he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "I don't think of other girls that way."
Annabeth grinned at that, her heart fluttering. Sighing, she relaxed back with Percy's arm around her waist. She still felt as if she were dripping water everywhere, but she did feel better in Percy's arms.
I didn't know ... are terrible flirts."
"Jealous?" Thalia teased her friend.
"No," Annabeth said. The truth was she had been. Even back then she had been attracted to Percy, although she hadn't wanted to admit it, and she had fought against the feeling.
"Naiads," ... home now."
Poseidon frowned. It must have been a lot for his son to take in, especially after thinking he just lost his mother. He was sorry that Percy had to go through all that. Or would have to. This dream stuff was confusing.
"After all that you saw and did, it was the naiads that made you want to leave?" Nico asked, remembering how he felt when he learned everything was real. It hadn't been hard at all, he had been so excited.
"It was more like the culmination of everything together," Percy said, feeling a wave of homesickness wash over him. Oh what he would give to see his mom again.
"Oh, I guess that makes since," Nico said as the others nodded.
Annabeth frowned. ... kids like us."
Jason pursed his lips but decided not to comment on the fact that it wasn't the only safe place. After all, Annabeth didn't know about the Romans, just like he hadn't known about the Greeks.
"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"
"That's the first smart thing I've heard you say, Perry," Dionysus said, looking up from his magazine to offer the first smile most of the demigods had ever seen. "It's actually quite an apt description for all you campers."
"Hey!" said campers protested.
"Are you smiling?" Apollo asked, staring at Dionysus in shock.
"No," growled Dionysus, lifting his magazine again, but not before everyone caught the grin forming on his face.
"You so are!" Apollo hollered gleefully.
Dionysus simply waved his hand, creating a new Diet Coke can and popping the top. Taking a long sip, he turned a page of his magazine.
"I don't think we will be getting anything else out of him," Demeter said.
"Yet," Apollo and Hermes chorused, grinning at each other.
"Oh dear," Grover said. He looked over at Jason. "You should probably start reading before something happens."
"I mean not ... and half-what?"
"Percy," Thalia and Nico groaned.
"Didn't you just meet me, punk?" Clarisse asked. "I was introduced as the daughter of Ares. Wasn't that kind of a hint?"
"I get it," Percy said, slightly annoyed. "I was slow to catch on."
"Slow?" Thalia snickered.
"Really slow," Percy rolled his eyes.
Jason had to admit he kind of liked seeing Percy getting ragged on so much. While he liked the guy and thought he was rather cool, it was still hard when everyone at Camp Half-Blood seemed to compare him to Percy only to find he didn't measure up. Jason thought he was rather accomplished himself and would like the recognition for it, instead of all the attention being on Percy.
The moment he thought it though, Jason felt bad. He knew he wouldn't want to have to read through all his past adventures and feel all the pain he had gone through all over again.
"Really slow?" Nico ribbed.
Before Percy could reply or anyone else could make a comment, Jason started to read, glancing up briefly at Percy, who grinned at him. Jason nodded his acknowledgement as he continued to read.
"I think you know." ... last few millennia?"
"Hey!" most of the gods protested while Hera and Artemis rolled their eyes.
"We've changed," Zeus informed the demigods.
"Yeah, clothes," Thalia muttered under her breath, causing those near her to snort in laughter.
"I do not see why you are protesting this, father," Artemis said. "It is true that none of you have changed your habits when it comes to having affairs with mortals."
"At least my husband didn't break his oath," Hera said, looking pointedly at Poseidon.
Zeus glanced guiltily towards Thalia and Jason as they both looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
"It's not gonna be pretty when she finds out," Percy whispered to Annabeth.
"No, it's not," she replied before biting her lip. Percy was nuzzling at her neck and it was very distracting.
"Just wait till she hears," Thalia told Jason. "It's bound to come up sooner or later."
"At least, the story with you," Jason replied. "Percy hasn't met me yet. Except for here."
"True," Thalia said, frowning. "Great. Good thing we can't be blasted to pieces here."
"Very good thing," Percy said, pulling himself away from Annabeth slightly.
"But those are ... considered a myth.
"Hate to break it to you," Grover said. "But you're already considered a myth at camp."
Percy snorted, not looked pleased at all by this idea. "Great, who's spreading rumors about me now? Honestly, I haven't done anything myth worthy."
"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Of course you have."
"And it's the younger campers," Grover informed him. "The ones who met you briefly before you, well, you know."
Percy frowned at this and Annabeth squeezed his hand.
"But if all the kids ... teaches American history."
Athena frowned, wondering why that was. Did her daughter not get along with her father? And why wouldn't she? He was a wonderful man, very brilliant, if a bit scatterbrained at times.
Annabeth was studying her hand, which was clutching Percy's, and thinking about how horrible things had been between her and her father. They were getting better, much better now, but it hurt to know that she would never have those years they lost back.
"He's human." ... sexist is that?"
"Very," Aphrodite sniffed. "Women can actually find love much easier than men. I should know, I find it quite often."
"I think that's just you, dear," Hephaestus muttered as he assembled a miniature helicopter before disassembling it again.
"Not so," Demeter informed him.
Both Katie and Piper looked mortified.
"Can you keep reading," Piper asked Jason. "Before my mother says something else embarrassing."
"Who's your mom, then?"
"Cabin six."
"And he's supposed to know what that means, how?" Hazel asked.
Annabeth shrugged. "I explained."
"Meaning?" Annabeth ... Nobody knows."
"Worst feeling in the world," Chris muttered.
"No kidding," Frank said.
The other demigods whispered while their parents looked at them, frowning. Maybe they didn't always have time to acknowledge their children, but it couldn't be that bad, could it?
By the looks on the faces of their children, they realized it could be.
"Except my mother. She knew."
"Yes, she did," Poseidon said.
"You told her?" Zeus asked.
"She figured it out pretty quickly on her own," Poseidon said. "I didn't need to tell her."
"Hmm," Athena hummed. "I still do not understand how you managed to attract such a smart woman."
"Jealous, are we?" Aphrodite asked, blinking at Athena.
Athena wrinkled her nose while Poseidon looked rather disgusted at the idea. Athena was fun to argue with and all, but having romantic feelings for her, no. That would be too weird. Athena seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
"Jealous of Kelp Head," Athena said. "Are you insane?"
"Jury's out there," Piper muttered, sure any mother who could force a permanent makeover on her unwilling daughter was at least slightly crazy.
"Maybe not, Percy. ... sometimes it doesn't?"
"But," Piper said as Jason and Leo looked up, confused.
Annabeth shook her head. "Later," she said.
Annabeth ran her ... They ignore us."
"That's not true," every god and goddess announced.
"We may not contact you, or claim you, but we do care about you," Athena said. "Always."
"Sometimes too much," Hera muttered, glaring at Zeus. "After all, you all have your immortal children to think of, with your actual spouses."
"I don't have a spouse," Athena, Ares, and Apollo informed her.
She sniffed at them, as if the fact they weren't married was a personal insult to her, which it probably was.
"The point is," Poseidon said, ignoring his sister. "We do care about you and keep tabs on you." I hope, he added to himself as an afterthought. He was keeping tabs on Percy currently, but he didn't know what he would do in the future. None of the gods did.
I thought about ... should behave better.
"Watch yourself, punk," Ares growled. "We are all very busy, so don't go thinking you can tell us how to live our lives."
"It was just a thought," Percy said, though surprisingly he was smiling, along with the others who knew of Percy's wish.
Annabeth studied her boyfriend for a minute, thinking. He was thinking about all the unclaimed kids even back then, she thought. Suddenly his wish made all the more sense. If it was something he had been thinking about for four years, of course he would jump at the chance to make it happen, even if it meant giving up the wish of a lifetime to a selfless cause.
"So I'm stuck ... real powerful force.
"Excuse me?" both goddesses mentioned glared at Annabeth.
"Hey!" Piper and Katie said at the same time as their mothers.
Annabeth frowned, realizing how wrong she had been about that.
"I'm sorry," she said. "That was wrong of me to say that. I know now that I was in the wrong."
Artemis frowned, studying Piper. Did that mean she was a daughter of one of those two? Looking closely at the girl, she realized that yes, Piper was. And what was worse, she was Aphrodite's daughter. Her eyes were a dead giveaway, looking just like Aphrodite's. She sighed. There was no way Piper would join her Hunters. Not as a daughter of the goddess of love.
Aphrodite, Demeter, Katie, and Piper were still glaring at Annabeth, so Jason hurried to keep reading before fighting could break out.
The monsters might ... Practical jokes."
"Attempts at murder," Clarisse muttered darkly, thinking of the hellhound.
Annabeth, having heard her, looked down. She knew it was true and she knew that that was exactly what Luke had done, but it was still hard to think that he would actually do that, even after everything that had happened.
"Practical jokes?" ... different colors.
"You've been there five years?" Athena asked her daughter. "But then, you would have had to come at the age of seven."
"Why go so young?" Leo asked.
"I started at the Roman camp when I was two," Jason informed him quietly.
"It'll explain in the book," Annabeth said, not wanting to explain more and not able to meet her mother's eyes.
It was just like Luke's, ... "It would be suicide,
"So please don't," Poseidon said. He still couldn't get the knowledge that his son had seen the Fates out of his head, and while his son was here, obviously alive at the age of sixteen, he still had a hard time not being worried for him.
"Don't worry, dad," Percy said. "I don't like to go looking for trouble."
"No, it usually just finds you," Rachel added. Percy's friends all nodded in agreement.
That didn't make Poseidon feel any better.
but you could, ... hadn't gone well.
"What happened the last time?" Hades asked, curious.
"Dear, you know they can't tell us," Persephone said.
"Unless it's not explained in the books," Apollo said, looking at the demigods hopefully.
Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Thalia shared a look. "It is," they said after a minute.
This made the gods frown, wondering what it could be. What could be so bad as to make Chiron decide not to grant more quests?
"Back in the sick ... everything seemed so normal."
"You've been to Olympus?" Leo asked as the Romans and Piper stared at Annabeth.
"Yes," Annabeth said.
"Most of us have," Katie put in.
"All of us here have," Travis added.
"That's," Jason began, but trailed off. He wanted to say unfair, no Romans had ever been to Olympus. But then he realized why. Olympus was in New York, which was right by Camp Half-Blood. Camp Jupiter was on the other side of the country. On top of that was the fact that Romans and Greeks weren't supposed to know the other existed.
"Awesome!" Leo finished for Jason.
"This place is amazing, if I do say so myself," Zeus said proudly.
"More so now though," Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear. She blushed but knew it was true. She had done a wonderful job redesigning Olympus, at least until she had been locked out of it.
"You've been to Olympus?"
There were a few chuckles at that.
"Some of us year ... you get there?"
"How do you get here?" Piper asked, curious. They had, of course, just appeared here in the dream, but she wondered how exactly one got on Olympus. She knew it was in New York, but didn't know where.
"I'll explain," Annabeth said. Everyone waited, watching her.
"She means in the book," Percy said, grinning.
"Oh," Jason said, looking down at the book to hide his blush.
"The Long Island ... New Yorker, right?"
"Right, because every New Yorker knows that," Will pointed out.
"I wasn't thinking straight right then," Annabeth said.
"You, not thinking straight?" Thalia asked, mock shocked.
"It's a little hard when you're waterlogged," Annabeth said. She still felt wet, just as she had been when trying to explain everything to Percy, was it only four years ago?
"That sucks," Clarisse said, realizing that Annabeth was still feeling the effects of the book. At least she got to be dry again, now that her part was done.
"No kidding," Annabeth said, sighing as Percy tightening his grip around her waist.
"Sorry," he whispered as Jason began reading once more.
"Oh, sure." As far ... important was stolen.
"What was stolen that could make us so mad?" Poseidon asked. When the demigods just stared at him he sighed. "Right, you can't answer that. Silly me."
"It must be something extremely important," Athena said, thinking. "Considering all the things that have been mentioned signifying your fighting."
"If we actually read the book, we'd find out," Ares growled.
And if it isn't returned ... might know something."
"Well, that's rather ironic," Persephone pointed out.
"What is?" Apollo asked.
Artemis shook her head. "She means that Annabeth and Percy started working together, despite the rivalry between their godly parents."
"Oh," Apollo said.
"Idiot," Artemis muttered.
"Why are you working with him?" Athena asked.
"I had my reasons," Annabeth answered, turning to glare at Travis and Connor before they could open their mouths. "Keep reading Jason."
Jason complied, after all, Annabeth scared him.
I shook my head. ... me the problem …"
"You're only twelve!" Piper exclaimed. She had had a hard enough time on her quest with Leo and Jason, and she was older than that. "I think that's plenty young."
"I'd been basically stuck at camp for five years," Annabeth said, not looking at her mother. "I needed to get out. I figured I could figure out the problem and fix it if I could get a quest."
Piper shook her head, amazed. Annabeth never ceased to stop impressing her.
Percy, recognizing the look on Piper's face, chuckled. "I know exactly how you feel," he told her.
Annabeth glanced between the two, trying to figure out what they were talking about. Jason pulled Piper closer to him, shooting a glare at Percy before realizing he was being stupid. Percy had Annabeth and it was abundantly clear that Percy really cared for Annabeth, that he would never look at another girl.
I could smell ... drawing a battle plan.
"How is it," Annabeth began. "That you can be so oblivious to such obvious things, yet pick up on such little things?"
"It's a gift," Percy explained.
"Oh you," Annabeth said, twisting around to look into Percy's eyes. He grinned that troublemaker grin of his that simply melted her heart and pecked her on the lips. Annabeth sighed, feeling content again. Now that Percy had left her in the book, she felt dry once more, which was extremely nice after having felt like a drowned cat for the past chapter.
Back at cabin eleven, ... peg as troublemakers.
"That's my kids," Hermes smiled.
"I don't think it's a good thing," Demeter said.
"Of course it is," Travis, Connor, and Chris grinned.
Thankfully, nobody paid ... his smile was intact.
"Scar?" Hermes asked, wondering what had happened to his son. None of the demigods would look at him. He sighed, figuring he'd find out, sooner or later.
"Found you ... stealing part.
"Of course not," Thalia said, trying to lessen the tension that had surrounded the demigods at the mention of Luke.
"Yeah," Travis said, catching on to what Thalia was trying to do. "We children of Hermes don't joke about stealing."
"Ever," Connor added.
"Good to know," Frank said, patting his pockets down to make sure everything was in place.
I said, "Thanks." ... get any easier."
"That's rather depressing," Aphrodite said as she fluffed her hair in the mirror.
"But true," the demigods answered her.
The gods frowned at this. It's not like they wanted their children to have hard lives, it's just what happened.
The bitterness ... about anything.
Hermes frowned, wondering why his son was so bitter. Wondering if it was connected to the fate May kept envisioning. He hoped not. He didn't want to think something like that could happen. He hoped it was all just the result of whatever the cursed Oracle had done and not the truth.
"So your dad ... to gut me,
"Probably wanted to," Nico muttered. Thalia frowned, but she agreed. She knew, even then, that Luke was working for Kronos.
but he just ... a lot on his mind.
"Unfortunately, I think he meant to," Thalia said quietly.
Percy nodded while Annabeth frowned, squeezing Percy's hand. She didn't want to think that Luke had been insulting Percy, even back then, but she realized he probably was. He probably wanted Percy to have low self-esteem, to make it easier to control him.
"He did the right thing in the end," Percy whispered to Annabeth, correctly guessing what she had been thinking.
"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.
"Once."
"He did?" Hermes asked. Percy nodded, but didn't elaborate.
I waited, thinking that ... done for me all day.
"That's very sweet of him," Hazel said. "He seems like a good guy."
The demigods who knew the truth looked down.
"Yeah," Percy said.
"What I want to know," Annabeth said, turning to glare at Percy once they had been quiet for a while. "Is why that was the nicest thing anybody had done for you that day. Didn't I just give you a tour of camp and patiently explain everything to you? Wasn't that nice?"
"Uh," Percy said, not meeting her glare.
"You were kinda short with him," Katie pointed out.
Thank you, Percy mouthed to Katie, who smiled at him. To Annabeth, Percy said, "And I said nicest. Not the only nice thing."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him for a minute, then sighed. "Fine, you win. This once."
Percy grinned, feeling relieved.
I decided to ask ... was that all about?"
"The Great Prophecy," Athena said, looking to the demi-gods for confirmation. She got it as she met her daughter's eyes before she looked down. If that was the truth, then was Percy the child of the prophecy? And if so, how was he still alive? Unless the prophecy had yet to come to complete fruition. After all, he had seen the Fates.
Poseidon, along with many of the gods, paled at the mention of the Great Prophecy and what it meant for Olympus. Hades scowled, hating that prophecy more than anything as it had taken Maria from him. If this Percy was truly the child of the prophecy, than Maria's death had been for nothing.
"They don't mean," Leo began.
"No," Annabeth cut him off.
"Then what?" Jason asked.
"You'll find out," Percy said when no one else was forthcoming.
Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."
"Excuse me," Apollo said, sitting up straight and glaring at the book. "My prophecies are the best. No one can hate them."
"I can," Percy said. Annabeth and Grover nodded.
"Yeah, they suck," Clarisse added.
Poseidon, thinking about the Great Prophecy and the very real possibility that it applied to his son, nodded in agreement.
"Your prophecies are nothing but trouble," Hades declared.
"Even I have to agree with that," Rachel said.
"They're horrible," Piper said.
"And confusing," Leo added.
"Unless they're given to you by Mars," Frank said under his breath.
"Hey," Apollo complained. "My prophecies are necessary. And awesome."
"Face it, brother," Artemis said. "No one cares for them."
"Not you too, sis," Apollo said.
"Don't call me sis," Artemis said.
"But you know you love it."
"I'll show you how much I love it when-"
"Children!" Hera shouted, glaring at the bickering twins. "Now is not the time to discuss such things. Read, boy."
Jason scowled at Hera, not liking the way she addressed him, but continued to read.
"What do you ... any more quests.
"So, Luke was the one who…" Hermes mumbled, lost in thought. He wondered why he had given his son a quest, and how it went sour enough for Chiron to stop allowing quests.
"What happened?" Athena asked.
Most of the demigods shrugged, while Annabeth and Percy looked down. Athena frowned, but didn't press for answers, allowing Jason to continue reading.
Annabeth's been ... came to the camp."
"Somebody special, alright," Connor grinned, raising his eyebrows.
"Shut up," Annabeth said, face turning red.
Travis opened his mouth to make a remark and caught Percy's eye, snapping his mouth shut once more.
"Somebody special?"
"And here's where his ego continues to grow," Thalia said, grinning.
"No wonder you've got such a big head," Nico grinned. "Chiron pays a house call."
"Annabeth calling you 'the one,'" Rachel put in.
"Luke referring to you as 'somebody special,'" Grover added.
"Hahaha. Very funny," Percy deadpanned, but he was smiling, a real smile that touched his eyes and lit up his face. He missed his Greek friends and it was nice to joke around with them.
"Don't worry ... its dinnertime."
"And there goes Luke trying to put him down again," Thalia said softly. Nico and Grover, the only two who had heard, nodded.
The moment ... one before.
"How'd you know that?" Leo asked.
"Conch shells are from the ocean," Poseidon explained, smiling. "So of course he would recognize its call."
"Oh," Leo said, then grinned. "That's cool."
"It comes in handy," Percy said, smiling at his dad.
Luke yelled, "Eleven, ... sun went down.
"It sounds beautiful," Hazel said, imagining the cabin all lit up in silver.
"It is," Thalia said. Plus, it was a lot more comfortable than Zeus's cabin.
Artemis smiled proudly at the description of her cabin.
We marched up ... skipping up the hill.
"Dryads," Frank said, impressed.
"It's quite a bit different than Camp Jupiter," Jason murmured mostly to himself.
Nico, who heard, nodded his head. He didn't mind Camp Jupiter, and mostly he was treated with respect there, even if it seemed as though they were mostly just humoring him. Camp Half-Blood though, that would always be home. Where satyrs and dryads ate with the campers, with the magical cups that filled with whatever you wanted and Mr. D's sarcastic comments while friends shouted across spaces to say hello to those from different cabins, holding whole conversations that way.
In all, there ... nymphs and naiads.
"Only a hundred campers?" Leo asked quietly, thinking. There were more than that now, and this was only four years ago. He knew it had something to do with the fact that every demigod child should be claimed by the time they were thirteen, which had something to do with some deal or something, but no one really talked about it more than that.
"Yeah," Percy said. "Only about a hundred at that point."
At the pavilion, ... butt hanging off.
"Why not just go sit somewhere else?" Frank asked.
"It's not allowed," Dionysus pointed out.
"Why not?" Hazel asked, thinking how lonely that would be to be the only child at her table. Except, thinking about it, Pluto, or Hades, probably wouldn't have a table there anyway.
The Greek demigods all looked at each other and shrugged.
Dionysus hid a sly smile behind his magazine.
I saw Grover ... honey-blond hair.
"Why do all of your kids look the same?" Zeus asked, looking at Athena while thinking about both Thalia and Jason.
"It's simple, really," Athena said.
"Oh gods," Annabeth moaned quietly.
"My children are born from an idea, making them the perfect children. They are not conceived in-"
"Okay, okay," Apollo interrupted. "Too much information there."
"Wait a minute," Leo said. "Does that mean they don't have, I mean," he turned to Annabeth. "Do you have a-"
"Finish that sentence and I will kill you," Annabeth said calmly.
Leo gulped and nodded. Percy chuckled. Taking pity on him he said, "Yes, she does."
Annabeth punched Percy's arm.
"Ow, what was that for," Percy complained, rubbing his arm.
"Wimp," Clarisse muttered. Ares grinned.
"Because I can't kill you," Annabeth said.
"Sure you can," Thalia said happily. "It's just that you won't."
No, Annabeth thought. I can't. Because I wouldn't survive without him.
"Gag me," Connor laughed as Will and Nico nodded in agreement.
"Dude, how are you dating her?" Leo asked. He still couldn't believe someone as laid back as Percy could be happy spending time with someone as scary and intense as Annabeth.
Percy felt Annabeth catch her breath next to him, waiting for his answer.
"Honestly?" Percy asked. Everybody nodded. "I think a better question is why is she dating me? I honestly don't think I deserve her, but I'm not letting her go."
Annabeth smiled at that and Athena looked thoughtful. The boy had a point; he certainly didn't deserve her daughter.
"Oh Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said softly, for Percy's ears only. "There is no one I would rather be with."
"Good," Percy whispered in her hair, planting a kiss on her head.
"Enough of the mush," Ares determined. "Let's read."
Clarisse sat ... alongside her friends.
Noticing the horrified expression on Frank's face, Percy smiled. "It's okay, man," he told Frank.
Frank just shook his head, wondering how his family on his dad's side (well, Greek side, but still), could be so, so, crude? He didn't know how else to put it.
"Don't worry," Hazel said, patting Frank's arm before pulling away and blushing at her show of affection. "You're nothing like them."
Ares glared at Frank and Percy, but said nothing. It's not like he could blast them into next week, anyways.
Finally, Chiron ... nonalcoholic, of course."
"Of course," Zeus said, nodding. "We would never allow alcohol at the camp."
"Of course you wouldn't," Dionysus grumbled.
"Good thing, too," Thalia said. "Could you imagine throwing alcohol into a mix of ADHD, hyperactive demigods that are needed to save the world?"
"Disaster," Nico nodded.
"Especially since alcohol makes you stupid," Annabeth said.
"And makes it impossible to sneak anywhere," Travis added.
"Don't understand what people see in that crap," Connor said.
"Excuse me?" Dionysus said.
"Nothing," the demigods chorused while several of the gods, Poseidon and Athena included, hid smiles.
I said, "Cherry ... to my mother.
"How sweet," Aphrodite squealed. "Oh, but you are just the perfect love story waiting to happen, I can tell. I see it all now, trials, fights, lost love, and broken hearts!"
"Aphrodite," Poseidon growled. "Stay out of my son's love life."
"Yes, stay out of it," Athena said, eyes flashing. She may not approve of Percy dating her daughter, but no way was she having the goddess of love mess with their lives. That would only spell disaster for her daughter, and she would not allow it. No daughter of hers would have a broken heart over sea spawn. After all, if there were going to be broken hearts, it would be the sea spawn's.
"But, you can just tell," Aphrodite protested. "His devotion to his mother makes him perfect boyfriend material. After all, everyone knows a boy treats his girl like he treats his mom, respect-wise, that is. Oh, you'll leave a trail of broken hearts in your wake, just you wait."
"No," Poseidon said, more firmly this time. "No messing with his love life."
"Too late," Percy muttered, thinking about Reyna's advance on him, and how hurt she had seemed. He hated it, because she was a wonderful girl, but Annabeth really was the only one for him. "But at least it works out for us," he finished, whispering in Annabeth's ear, his breath warm on her neck.
Annabeth smiled. She had worried about Percy finding someone at the Roman camp, like Jason had found someone at Camp Half-Blood, even though he didn't know if he had a girlfriend at the Roman camp. But the way Percy talked; she knew he hadn't, that he was only interested in her.
She's not gone, ... then someday…
"It's just not possible, boy," Hades said.
"Not to mention your mother would not thank you for it," Poseidon said, thinking of Sally and her stubborn, caring, worrying self. Good thing she's not dead, he thought.
"I know," Percy said. "But it was the only thing that was keeping me going."
"I still don't get it," Leo said. "If it's not possible to bring her back from the dead, then how do most people know her?"
"You'll see," Annabeth said, squeezing Percy's hand.
"I really hate that," Frank said. Leo, Jason, Hazel, and Piper nodded, although Hazel had a slight inkling that Sally might not really be dead.
"Here you go, ... dessert or something.
"Is it dessert?" Leo asked.
"Leo," Piper groaned. "Really? You know what it is."
"Oh, yeah, right," Leo said, blushing.
"Dessert would be awesome, though," Jason said.
"Sugar," Travis, Connor, Chris, and Will chorused, sounding eerily like zombies.
"Sugar is simply unhealthy for you," Demeter chided. "Now cereal, on the other hand-"
"Does NOT make good dessert," Hades cut her off. "Now, enough of the cereal, woman, there are other things to eat.
"What, like cursed pomegranate seeds?" Demeter snapped back. "Because we all know how well that turns out."
"Mother," Persephone whined. "Really, it was my fault, and I'm fine. Happy, even."
Demeter narrowed her eyes at Hades, who glared back at her. Jason decided it was probably for the best to just start reading.
"Come on," Luke ... "You're kidding."
"Nope," Apollo said, grinning. "It's the best."
"It really is," Hera said dreamily.
"How would you know?" Ares demanded. "You have no children to sacrifice to you."
"She shares with me," Zeus said. No one could read the expression on his face at this. Honestly, he loved his wife, he really did, but there were times she was just too much. And he was not looking forward to the point in which the fact that he sired Thalia and Jason (Roman form or not) would come out. She would not be happy with him then, and he would be in the proverbial dog house, as mortals put it.
His look warned ... burning food.
"Because it is simply divine," Aphrodite sighed. "Even better than chocolate."
"It's that good?" Hazel asked, blushing when everyone glanced at her.
"It is," Poseidon nodded, smiling kindly at Hazel. He liked this girl, even if he did not know who she was.
Hazel smiled timidly back at Percy's dad, not knowing quite what to think. Neptune was feared in the Roman camp, but Poseidon didn't seem scary at all. No, he seemed like the nicest, most easy-going god of the lot (unless you counted Apollo and Hermes, who just acted like children). Of course, thinking of Percy, she could see it. Percy was very relaxed and easy-going, not to mention accepting and nice to just about everyone, unless they insulted or threatened someone he saw as a friend. It made her wonder just what kind of enemy Poseidon would make which made her realize she really didn't want to find out.
Luke approached ... grapes. "Hermes."
Hermes inhaled deeply, as if he could smell the burning grapes.
"Can you smell it?" Chris asked, curious.
"No," Hermes said, sadly.
"It's not described in the book," Apollo pointed out.
I was next. ... tell me. Please.
"I will," Poseidon said, mostly to himself. "At least, I better."
"Are you sure you want to?" Zeus asked, narrowing his eyes. "You'd be admitting you broke the oath, if you did. There would be consequences for it."
"Dire consequences," Hades added.
"Like you already don't know," Poseidon snapped at his older brother. "Sending furies after my son."
"You're the one who broke the oath," Hades pointed out.
"Yes, I did," Poseidon said. "And seeing my son now, I don't regret it."
Thunder shook the throne room as Zeus opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by Jason's reading, shouting to be heard over the rumbling as Zeus's eyes flashed dangerously.
I scraped a ... off that smoke.
"Considering we do not need food to survive," Athena said. "It is possible."
"Yeah, but food is just too good," Apollo declared. "Ambrosia? Anyone?"
"You just ate a ton of it," Artemis said. "Eat anymore and you'll burn up. On second thought, here." Artemis waved her hand, creating a new plate full of ambrosia in front of her brother.
"Hey," Apollo said. "Thanks." He grinned.
"Idiot," Artemis said.
When everybody had ... from the Ares table.
"Yeah!" Ares cheered.
"We are the best," Clarisse declared.
"Oh, you wish," Annabeth said.
"Care to prove it, Brainiac?" Clarisse growled. Since Percy had adopted Wise Girl as his pet name for Annabeth, she had studiously avoided calling the blond that.
"Bring it on, Boar Head," Annabeth said, gripping her knife.
"Children," a soft voice called from the hearth, startling everyone. "What did I say about fighting?"
"Sorry, Lady Hestia," Annabeth and Clarisse said, settling down.
"One of these days, you will have to tell me how you do that, sister," Hera said.
Hestia smiled and continued to poke at the coals in the fire.
"Personally," Mr. D ... Peter Johnson."
"Who's Peter Johnson?" Leo asked, confused.
"Mr. D can never get our names right," Percy explained. "I think he enjoys it."
"Whatever you say, Perry," Dionysus said, flipping a page of his magazine.
"Actually, it frightens me when he gets my name right," Connor said. Most of the demigods nodded. That usually meant something dire was happening.
"Hmmmm," Dionysus seemed to consider this.
Chiron murmured ... campfire. Go on."
"The campfire's not silly," Apollo protested. "My kids lead that."
Everybody cheered. ... led a sing-along.
"See," Apollo said, triumphantly.
"Nobody said you were wrong," Aphrodite dabbed at her lips with a white handkerchief.
We sang camp ... I was home.
All the demigods smiled at that. It was true; camp was home, the best any of them had had.
"I miss it," Percy sighed, thinking of the campfire that changed with the mood, and the s'mores, and his cabin where he could hear the ocean, and the ocean itself, where he could walk along the beach, hand in hand with Annabeth.
Annabeth squeezed his hand. "You'll be back," she said. "I'll make sure of it."
Later in the evening, ... my new home.
"I don't like the sound of that," Poseidon said.
"Yeah, it does sound ominous," Jason said, closing the book.
"No, it sounds exciting, like this book will finally have some action," Ares said.
"Who wants to read next?" Jason asked, ignoring the war god.
