Author's note: I'm sorry for you guys who wanted Percy to leave the camp ASAP and reunite with Annabeth, but there are too many things I have to cover before that. And yeah, I did make a mistake in Chapter 10: I mistyped Thalia's age. Thanks to all who noticed and feedbacked :)

Having made that decision, Percy stood up, grabbing his pen/sword as an afterthought. From what he'd seen of the camp so far, there was no telling when he'd have to defend himself from murderous co-campers. A fresh, cooling ocean breeze greeted him in the abalone corridor which glowed with a mother-of-pearl sheen, once more teasing Percy's memory – the concept of abalone being used to pave floors and panel walls just wasn't new to him. Pushing on the sliding glass door, Percy exited the corridor and to his outdoor pavilion, heading straight for the shed with the metal objects – it'd been bugging him for the longest time, what could possibly be in there? The shed was rusty, like it hadn't been moved in a long time, and when Percy tried to move the hinges they creaked deafeningly. The shed was still bound by an iron chain, but it was so rusty that when Percy slashed at it with his sword it broke instantly.

It turned out that the shed contained parts of a chariot. Well, there wasn't much space to drive it in this area. Percy slammed the door closed and headed to the water fountains, where the thin layers of water spraying through the air were forming beautiful rainbow-coloured projections of horses and hippocampi. In the water, he could see his reflection for the first time since he'd awakened in that museum – he had black hair, relatively pale skin, but what stood out most were his sea-green eyes. Must've been an inherited trait from my father, thought Percy. He reached out towards the film of water and his finger reached through. Instantly, his reflection dissipated and the water followed the movement of his finger, forming arcs and waves. Experimentally, Percy waved his hand. A torrent of water soared in the air in the form of a horse, and galloped to the next white marble fountain. Not even a drop of water landed on the multicolored stone tiles. It was an amazing sight.

Still, Percy quickly grew tired of this pointless fooling about and the restlessness came back. He headed down the corridor back into the lobby, where the vase of flowers had been replaced with a gleaming statue of a god with a bushy black beard and misshapen form – Hephaestus, god of the forges. Or Vulcan, whichever. The circular design on that part of the floor had also been replaced by triangular mosaics of palaces and parties.

Before Percy had time to wonder about how it could've happened, the section of the floor containing the statue slid soundlessly down into the ground. Surprised, Percy peered downwards. He couldn't see anything but blackness before the section of floor with the table and vase of flowers rose smoothly back up to lobby level, carrying two passengers – Reyna and Leah. "Oh, hey Percy," Reyna said.

"Hey."

"We've just been to the forges," Reyna said casually. Leah was holding a different sword this time – a gold one with a double edge. "Kenneth, James and the others are working down there."

"Okay." Percy understood why Reyna had glanced at the flowers when she'd mentioned his weapon earlier. "So, uh, the Hephaestus kids have their workshops down there?"

"Vulcan's kids' forges, yeah." Leah pushed the sword into a beautifully ornate sheath. "And much more." She walked off towards her room, pushing open the door. Percy glanced over and saw a Goth-looking lamp holder nailed to the wall right behind her door before Reyna brought his attention back. "The Vulcan – Hephaestus – children of our legion have been excavating the ground under the building, constructing new facilities, finding new bunkers. It turns out that a long time ago, the ground on which this camp is was used as a hideout for demigods at a time of peril. There are still countless troves of never-thought-of creations to be found, not to mention the remains of war heroes."

"That's cool, I guess." Percy wasn't sure about the "remains of war heroes" part. "So – the rest of you guys, where do you have your workshops, or studios, or wherever you do your stuff?"

"Mostly Main Building," Reyna said. "But I'm sure the others have their own secret stations. I know there's a rumour that the Apollo kids have a portal to The Fields of Music."

"I've never heard of the Fields of Music."

"It's not a part of the myths, but apparently our legion's Apollo children have access to a musical paradise where they create new music, revisit the old, and as long as there is music in this world, the Fields remain open."

Wow. Percy didn't recall anything vaguely like that. "What about you children of Athena – Minerva?"

"We never give away our secrets." Reyna said mysteriously, and Percy mentally rolled his eyes. "Though we have our own mapping studios and stuff in the Main Building, you can see those."

"Sure." If Percy was going to leave this camp, he might as well see more of it first. Reyna walked out the door of the building. The training grounds which had been empty when Percy first saw the buildings were now occupied by campers training hard. Judging from the way they spun, kicked, somersaulted, balanced and threw, they could all have been Olympic athletes. As Reyna and Percy left Building I, everyone in the complex turned to look at them. Ignoring them, Reyna walked around to the central area with the gazebo. Some campers were playing on instruments that vaguely resembled harps while others sparred on the ground right outside. They really did take every opportunity to train. What was their motivation, wondered Percy. If he attended this military-school camp, and they'd been given a day off, he would have been chilling out in his room or hanging around with friends, not working extra hard. A few campers were seated in the gazebo, watching the fights, listening to the music.

Numerous campers were entering and leaving the other buildings, up to Building V. Even for Building V, the youngest kids Percy could see were aged around twelve to thirteen. He turned to Reyna. "Didn't you say you guys get claimed at – what? Three, four?"

"Around that age, yes," Reyna said calmly, moving through the crowd.

"Then why don't I see any kindergarten-age campers here?"

"The younger campers live on the other side of our camp," Reyna explained patiently, with a slightly patronizing tone. "They don't get involved in Legion training until the age of twelve, so there isn't any reason for them to be allocated to a legion. At twelve, everyone is put through an assessment. Most have to start from Fifth Legion and work their way up, but occasionally some campers are accelerated."

"So were you accelerated, at twelve?"

"No."

"Was anyone?"

"Nobody that you've met," Reyna said. "Jason Grace, however, was accelerated to Third Legion when he first met the required age. It was quite a feat."

"What about Dakota?" Percy asked, not knowing why he bothered.

"No, she joined the camp aged fourteen," Reyna answered. "Before discovering camp, she'd been in the Underworld for almost all her life, training with the dead. When she joined camp, she was put into Third Legion."

"How old are you?" Percy asked.

"I'm fifteen, going on sixteen."

"And how old am I?"

"I can't be sure, obviously," Reyna said sarcastically. "But, judging from external appearances, I'd say seventeen? Same age as Dakota."

Percy was quiet for a while, then he remembered that he'd wanted to tell Reyna about his dream. "Listen, I had a dream … about Jason."

Reyna's ears pricked up at once. "Yeah? What was it about?"

"Is he a fifteen, sixteen year old guy with short blonde hair?"

"Yeah."

"In my dream he was just looking at this picture of a girl with black spiky hair. She looked kinda familiar, so I'm guessing you haven't met her before. Do you know who she is?"

"No." Reyna looked puzzled and surprised. "How would Jason know her?"

"You're asking me?"

Reyna was silent for a while, deep in thought. "So did you see where he was?"

Percy tried hard to remember. "The room was very dimly lit, but he was definitely in an alcove of some sort surrounded by pillars. There was a statue somewhere, and the doors were at the far end."

"That's too vague. There are a thousand places that could fit that description."

"Sorry."

They walked in silence to the Main Building, Percy observing all the campers around them. The lake had a few canoes on it, and campers were canoeing – training competitively, of course. The nasty obstacle courses on the other side of the lake were clearly not as popular as those near the living quarters, there were only two or three campers agilely dodging spikeballs and jumping over beds of knives. While the campers back at the living quarters were incredibly athletic, these campers had even more – from their movement, it was obvious that they had mastered more than just speed and strength. They were able to sense, to pre-empt, to move fluidly as if the air was liquid.

Reyna showed Percy the various high-tech studios and laboratories that occupied the upper floors of the Main Building, then the Sun was setting and it was time for dinner. The dining pavilion was further on beyond the amphitheater, and it was in a stone cave, buried into the side of a mountain. The area was lit by flaming torches, and there was a carpet on the floor.

Reyna moved towards a table near the entrance, and Percy made a move to sit next to her, but Reyna stopped him by holding up a hand. "Our seating arrangements are based on parent, not Legion. You'll be seated at the table over there with Dakota, since she's almost fully recovered from her injuries."

"She's a child of Hades."

Reyna shrugged. "They didn't want to waste valuable space, so kids of Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto all sit there." She pointed to a table very far in the cave.

One-on-one with Dakota. Brilliant.

Groaning internally, Percy walked towards his allocated table and sat down. The table was big enough for five, but he assumed there wouldn't be anyone else joining them at their table.

He was right. As the last of the campers filed into the dining hall/cave, Dakota strode over to Percy's table and sat down, hanging her sword on the wall behind them. She sat down briskly and glanced at him. "Enjoying camp so far?"

"You've got to be kidding," Percy answered. "Where's dinner? And why is there an empty table over there?" Percy was referring to an unoccupied table big enough to seat twenty, beside Reyna's table.

"Here, we take turns to make dinner," Dakota informed. "Today it's Ceres' kids turn, so dinner will be great."

This system was new to Percy. Probably the other campers would all have indigestion when it came to his turn to cook. He voiced this out loud, and Dakota agreed. "Yeah, I'm a terrible chef. Jason was pretty okay, but ever since I started cooking alone the campers have been throwing up."

Before Percy could respond to this pronouncement, a buffet table wheeled out of the kitchens which came from a concealed door in the wall of the cave. One tall guy with a crew cut arrived at Dakota's and Percy's table first, pushing the cart. He put two dishes on their table and moved on.

Dakota dug in. Percy looked at the food – it was pretty normal-looking stuff, barbecued lean meat and potatoes, so he started eating. Dakota was right – the Demeter kids were great cooks.

Drinks were served next, by a guy who could've been the first guy's twin. "What do you want?" he asked Percy whilst handing Dakota a glass of water.

"Uh … do you have Coke?" Percy asked. He registered his cravings for the drink, not quite remembering what it was.

"Of course not," the guy replied. "Are you kidding? There's too much sugar in the stuff. No health benefits at all."

"Okay." Percy looked at the guy's cart of drinks and pointed at the jug of gold liquid. "I'll have this."

"That's nectar shake." The guy poured out a glass of the stuff and gave it to Percy, who sipped at it. It tasted like homemade chocolate chip cookies, which was a shock, because Percy had been expecting something that tasted like honey. The stuff was excellent – warm, melting, and with a hint of nostalgia that Percy couldn't place. Before he started looking like a moony-eyed daydreamer, Percy quickly started eating again. The two of them ate in silence.

When Percy was done, he got up immediately, deciding to head back for an early night's rest. He was inexplicably tired, despite not having done anything in the afternoon. "Where do you think you're going?" Dakota looked up from her food. "You're not allowed to leave yet."

"Why not?"

"We still have to make the sacrifice," Dakota explained impatiently. "Sit down!"

Reluctantly, Percy sat down. "Fine, tell me what the sacrifice is." He could feel his eyelids closing.

Dakota sighed in annoyance. She had a really, really short temper. "We've got to make a sacrifice to the gods every night, just a short ceremony. We usually burn food for them."

A conch horn blared.

"That's the cue." All the campers got up and started filing outside towards the amphitheater. In the afternoon, there had been nothing in the center but a pit, but now there was a fire lit in the center of it. A Ceres kid stood beside the fire with a food cart, a feast fit for royalty set on it. Percy jostled amongst the crowd, getting a few glares from people he bumped into, and sat down in the front row next to Dakota and a guy he didn't know.

A Ceres kid threw a shimmering coin into the fire, and it lit up purple. Everyone stood up at attention, as the Ceres kid raised an arm. He had the tattoo of a demigod consul, and he held in his hand a shield with the symbols of the twelve gods embossed on it.

"For the gods!" he yelled.

The entire crowd echoed him in one deafening cheer, and the food was thrown into the fire by some other Ceres kids standing to a side.

After the brief ceremony, several campers went to sit by the lake, while most headed back to the living quarters, Percy amongst them. He trudged up the steps of Building I behind Dakota, and went back to his own quarters for a night's rest. He resolved to leave the next morning after breakfast.

AN: Thanks for reading. I'm transferring this back to the HoO archive soon. Please feedback if you want:

Percy to leave camp ASAP

Percy to kick butt at Legion Training the next day

Percy to get a quest

A God to visit the camp

School has started, so don't expect too much from me though I'll try to update whenever I've got the time.