Twelve: Ajax

Reason Number One of Why You Should Eat Your Local Harpy

Pax went to goof off after Matt left to tell his siblings about the Bunker Nine idea. By goofing off, he got bucked by a pegasis—apparently they didn't like it when he made rodeo references—started a food fight with the Stoll brothers when they were supposed to be preparing lunch, and trampled some strawberries when he told Clarisse she "missed a spot, or the whole thing," during her fight earlier with Reyna. The strawberries came in when Pax threw down a smoke bomb and ran from her into the fields, then frantically ran back when he remembered the Romans made camp there.

Several Athena campers tried to examine his utility belt after that. He'd make comments like, "that would take the fun out of the surprise," and—if they persisted to get too close—he'd pinch the nerve in their arm. The Hermes kids loved this, placing bets on who would get his belt first.

He spent most of his time with Chris, though he did cross paths with the other new campers. He got to compliment Kally for not being put on target duty and—in fact—proving to be an excellent shot with a bow. She blushed in disbelief with every Bullseye. Will, though probably quite a bit younger than her, was happily taking the proud, older-brother role.

At lunch, Merry was claimed in a huge spectacle. She'd gone to sit with her brother, Pollux, then stopped and shoved her elbow into Mr. D. Mr. D sighed, lounged back, and flicked his wrist.

A hologram grape vine erupted above her head in a purple blaze along with two hologram sparkling cider bottles that exploded violet glitter all over the dining pavilion. Satyrs tapped their hooves together and played their reed pipes in a joint song. Some shouted in alarm, as though this was against their will.

The whole scene lasted a total of sixty glorious seconds. Mr. D sat back, looking bored through the whole thing. The others at the table, Pollux and Dakota, nearly choked on their drinks, they were laughing so hard.

Everyone else was horrified. Percy stared in shock at Mr. D for the rest of lunch, like he was waiting for a finale of tap dancing velociraptors.

Pax saw the Demeter sisters at the arena for a bit. One of the Romans teased Euna, asking if she and Joey needed to go plant some flowers. She promptly slammed her heal into the point of a sword on the ground. That and—Pax assumed—some fancy spring-loaded grass made the sword hilt flick up into her hand. Although her form was rigid—like she'd learned more in a classroom than in combat—she held her own well enough to shut up the Roman. Pax had to nod in appreciation, feisty.

Each time Jason walked past, the data collector in him chattered:

Jason Grace

Powers: manipulation of air, weather, and lighting. Expert sword fighter

Potential weaknesses: suicidal loyalty to legionaries, especially fifth cohort. Potential for kidnapping. Blindly honor-bound. Seems to get knocked unconscious a lot.

New Edition: Piper McLean and Nico di Angelo

Really, his brain was on hyper drive for all of them, like a scientist had dumped a teeny rat into the labyrinth of his brain and given it twenty Red Bulls. Not that it mattered anymore. His father's whispers crawled along his ears like an annoying fly that phased out of existence when you went to swat it, "Knowing your ally's weaknesses can be more important than knowing your enemy's."

Because he couldn't get that part of his brain to shut up, meeting Rachel Elizabeth Dare was difficult.

On the way to the evening sing along, Chris and he spotted her, a tiny cyclops and a red harpy walking with Percy and Annabeth. Some of the Hermes children were surprised Pax wasn't scared of the cyclops, but he knew those were the Happy Meal toys of the Greek world.

Chris had finished telling him that the cyclops, Tyson, and the harpy, Ella, were a couple. Chris admitted they were the prime example of opposites attracting as he wasn't sure what they had in common.

"They've clearly have lots in common: they both have mouths, and they have two eyes—" Pax inhaled sharply. "Oh wait, my bad."

A hand clamped on his shoulder. He was about to scream that he had nothing against cyclopes—in fact he loved monocles—when he saw her behind him. He didn't know when she'd walked over. From the look on Percy and Annabeth's faces, she must have zombie strolled up to him.

She was a cute redhead with paint staining her jeans and freckles staining her face. Pax couldn't help but notice how her toes wiggled in the grass. Pax had to wonder how harshly Apollo would punish him if he flirted with his Oracle. After all, this was the twenty-first century. A chaste Oracle was so last century.

Her eyes changed his mind. They were blank. Not knock, knock, anyone-home-blank. More like a rotting-condemned-sign-blank.

Pax tried to peel her fingers off him. They were more solid than steel. He jammed her pressure point. Nothing happened.

Panic shook him. His mother said the Oracle couldn't give prophecies right now. Had she lied?

Then awareness lit up Rachel's green eyes. She stared at her hand. "Huh… at least I didn't try to kill you."

That sounded like something he would say. "Does that happen often?" he squeaked.

"To the last girl I blanked out on," she explained. She released Pax's duster jacket and flexed her fingers.

Percy and Annabeth raced over with Tyson and Ella. "I didn't hear a prophecy," Annabeth said; the statement was a question.

"Nope," Pax stated. "No prophecies here! Just a guilty looking Hermes kid, right?" His heart thudded. Prophecies were bad news.

Although Annabeth had a hand on Rachel's forearm—maybe to stop her if the Oracle went for the neck next—suspicion narrowed her gaze at Pax. "You were claimed by Hermes?"

"No, uh, I—j—just identify with them."

Rachel frowned. Her fingers shook. She rotated her hand, then slowly looked up at Pax. "I was supposed to give you a prophecy."

"Web of lies, kept by an oath," Ella agreed in Greek, fluttering her feathers, "Growth by death and death by growth."

They stared at her. Pax wanted to swat the chicken off Tyson's shoulder, but was too stunned.

"Well," Percy stated, "That sounded important."

"Ella smells a snake. Snakes are bad for harpies," she continued with a shudder. "Java Script Snake. Use the arrows to play the game. Titanoboa: gargantuan, prehistoric."

"I'll protect you from snakes," Tyson assured her. "I'll throw a bolder and they'll go smash."

Pax liked the image of this cyclops throwing a bolder at him about as much as he liked that prophecy. Also, what was up with this harpy? Her nervous twitching made Pax nervous. "This is fun, creepy, and all, but uh—I've got a toy python to throw into the Apollo cabin. Maybe that's what she's talking about?" He took a step to the side.

"Hold it." Annabeth grabbed his arm. He was pretty sure those grey eyes could pierce through his T-shirt and name every one of his veins. "We need to talk to Chiron about this prophecy."

"Prophecy?" he asked, tiling his head to the side and giving her his best I'm stupid smile.

Fortunately, the activities director was distracted setting up some tournament for the next day in honor of the Roman. After Rachel confirmed this was not something Ella quoted from the Sibylline Books before and Pax assured them he was clueless, Chiron told them they could talk about it after the games.

Most of the counselors helped set up. Calex could be seen darting by with messages. Pax felt queasy when he saw Reyna and Annabeth walk over the hill, to where Axel was fixing the van. No one had recognized either of them yet, but Reyna made him nervous and Annabeth was now highly suspicious of him. He hoped Axel wouldn't do something stupid.

That felt backwards, being worried that Axel would do something stupid.

Before they picked up Kally, Axel had told Pax to take all three days to complete his task, but Pax didn't want to get comfortable. After three days, he might be tempted to leave his brother. His brother needed him.

That night, he curled up on his bedroll on the floor. Everyone was disturbed he hadn't been claimed after the first day. Pax knew he wouldn't be claimed; his mother only wanted him when he was useful. Or, she'd wait until the least convenient moment, like when he'd be hiding from Romans and a floating hologram would scream out, Hey! Romans! He's over here!

He was happy to be in Cabin Eleven. There weren't enough beds. Even though there were less people there with everyone else getting claimed, Hermes still had a lot of elfish troublemakers running around. Pax loved it. Carefully, he rolled up his utility belt, wrapped it in his duster and slept on it. He'd be sore in the morning, but at least no one could steal from him without waking him.

Camp felt wrong when it was quiet. He could hear insects chirping outside, ones that only survived courtesy of the climate control. Year round strawberries=year round mosquitoes! Shadows slithered along the wooden walls. Pax wondered if the Leonis Caput would murder him in his dream tonight or if Phobetor would give him a rest.

"Haha—rest," he muttered. "Hey Ax—"

"Pax, shut up," Chris mumbled sleepily from his bunk.

Pax frowned.

With the sentinels they'd posted to watch out for Axel and the visits from Chiron, Annabeth, and Reyna, Axel would be wired. He wondered if Axel would walk to the closest gas station to buy a packet of cigarettes. And Pax wouldn't be around to throw them away or write a happy note on the container that said:

I am flavored with urea, a chemical compound that is a major component of urine!

Without the climate control, Axel would also be cold. True, he could double up with Pax's sleeping bag but—but Axel wouldn't try to sleep anyway. Pax wanted to stand up, storm out to the van and yell at Axel to throw out his theoretical cigarettes, put on an ugly sweater, and go to sleep. Why was he so worried? Axel was the strong one, right? Way stronger than Pax.

Then it hit him: this was the first night he'd spent without his brother since before he could remember, at least since the Battle of Manhattan. In Belize, his five siblings and grandparents lived in a single room shack. When Uncle Frasco promised to show them the world, they slept in the Tumbling Six trailer with Frasco's fantastic stories about mythology ringing in their ears. When they fought in the Titan War, they shared the same tent.

Still, Pax had never felt this… safe.

He wanted Axel to feel it too.

Three days would be way too long at this camp.

Phobetor… Pax silently prayed, if you're listening, and not too busy crushing people's hopes and ripping out their dream organs, could you scare me awake before anyone else in camp wakes up? It'll really help to speed things up a bit.

No response. Pax sighed. He was really hitting a low if he was praying to the God of Nightmares for help. He clutched his jacket. Two more apples formed in one of his pockets, ready for tomorrow's use. If everything went well, Axel and he would be on their way to their first quest. If it went poorly, Percy Jackson would kill him before the Romans could get the chance.

Pax stared at the wall. Tomorrow he'd have to swallow any regrets with a bite of his golden apple.