Percy talking

Percy thoughts

Adamos talking

Adamos thoughts

Characters are owned by Rick

(Except Adamos he's mine)

Chapter 20

Easing Back into Things

It had been two weeks since the whole incident with Luke and I was finally out of that damn bed. The entire time my ADHD was making me want to jump out of bed and move around just a little bit. The only form of entertainment was the bits of news about camp that I get from Chiron.

Apparently after the whole incident with Luke was cleared, the camp did some sort of tradition of burning shrouds. The Ares cabin decided to make my shroud for burning and I can only imagine what monstrosity that they concocted while I was out. Luckily it was burned so I don't have to see what it looks like. The next bit of news was that Grover was apparently given his searchers license by the counsel of cloven elders. He left for his search almost immediately but passed on a get well soon message for Chiron to give me. Overall, I was happy for him getting the chance to pursue his dream. The next piece of news was that Annabeth still hasn't really left her cabin unless necessary. She's refused to speak to anyone, and even Chiron only received a few words. I felt like I needed to speak with her at some point when I got better. The final bit of news was a letter I got from my mother that had arrived about a week after I got to camp. According to her Gabe had been having mysterious accidents ever since I had left. The most recent one was when he fell down the stairs of the apartment building and broke his leg.

While he was in the hospital a bunch of men from the FBI showed up at the front door with a warrant for his arrest. Apparently, Gabe has been doing backroom deals in various illegal substances and black-market products from his store for years. The FBI just about hauled him out of the hospital as soon as he got a cast on his leg set. The court date is within a month and my mom is going to file for a divorce along with the other charges. They apparently never signed a prenup or anything so the divorce lawyer my mom hired is confident that she will walk away with every bit of money that Gabe owns, which apparently adds up to around three hundred-thousand dollars. I couldn't help but inwardly laugh at how quickly the curse that Adamos placed on him works and I felt so happy that she can finally have the life she deserves that I didn't care how much my body was still aching. She also wrote that she might have found a new school for me, but I didn't really care about that.

Speaking of my health my body has apparently been healing much faster than one normally should when poisoned. I think that its partially due to Adamos's powers being easier to access, making healing easier. After the first week I was able to walk around the room a bit, and by the end of the second week I could do basic exercises. Needless to say, Chiron wasn't exactly happy with me every time he caught me out of bed. But he was surprised by how fast I seemed to recover. Apparently, I was supposed to be in bed for another two weeks since the poison was so strong, but the recovery time was cut in half and Chiron was able to, albeit a bit reluctantly, clear me to leave, though I wasn't allowed to do any activities for a while.

The time of my release was actually good timing as it coincided with the fourth of July. Just about everyone was there on the beach in order to watch the show. A large barge sat in the middle of the lake filled with massive missiles. According of some of the campers, the rockets are sequenced so tightly that when they explode, they look like an animation. Honestly, I was looking forward to the show but at the moment I had something important to do.

As everyone else was heading down to the beach I made my way further to the cabins, or rather one specific cabin. This one looked like a marble temple on the outside with intricate carvings of an owl above the door along with the number 6.

I was sure that Annabeth was still inside as I saw the rest of her cabin already heading towards the lake, but she wasn't with them. I knocked on the door a few times. "Annabeth?" I called out, but there was no response. I try again but knock with more force. "Hey Annabeth!" Still no verbal response, but I can hear shuffling inside, so I at least know that she's inside.

"Annabeth. Chiron said that you've been stuck inside your cabin for weeks. Can't we just talk?" I asked once more.

"What do you want?" A voice said from behind the door. The tone was quiet, but I could hear the harsh edge beneath it.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. After everything that happened a since Luk—"

"Shut up!" Annabeth cuts me off harshly and opens the door. Her eyes are a bit bloodshot and there are shallow bags under her eyes. She looks like she hasn't slept in days, but there was an intense focus in her look. "Why do you care. Everything was ok until the gods decided to arrest him out of nowhere after we finished the quest."

"Annabeth," I spoke evenly. "Luke was a traitor. He gave the bolt to Ares and cursed the shoes Grover was wearing."

"And how do you know?" She said challengingly. "What makes you think he did any of that?"

"And what makes you think he didn't." I say with narrowed eyes. "Those shoes almost killed Grover in the underworld, and Luke was the one to give them to me."

"And you automatically assume it was him. What if they were switched out?" Annabeth points out.

"Those were shoes from Hermes. I highly doubt that they are easy to come by." I counter.

"So, what. If the Masterbolt could be stolen than something like that can be stolen to." I grit my teeth as she speaks. She has a point there, but I wasn't about to let her feel like she was right.

"But he was the one who stole the bolt and the one who poisoned me in the woods." I growl.

"How could you know? You don't know the first thing about him!" She yelled. "You're just someone who only came to camp for a week, while he's been here for years."

"Yeah well you clearly don't know him like you think you do!" I shout back. "Open your eyes Annabeth. I've only known him a week, but I can tell that there was something wrong with him."

"Your just jealous. Luke's been a part of this camp for years and you couldn't take him being preferred over you. Can't have some other demigod showing up a kid of the big three." She said mockingly.

"Like I care about something like that!" I shouted at her. My patience was being pushed to the limit with her pointless accusations. She was clearly in denial of the evidence that Luke was the thief, but she wasn't willing to admit she was wrong. "I don't give a damn about some position he had. What I do give a damn about is that we were nearly killed because of him!"

"Just go away Percy. I don't have anything to say to you." She says with an edge to her voice. Without another word she closed the door on me and retreats back into her cabin.

I don't even bother to try to speak to her. She clearly wasn't willing to listen to reason so there was no point in trying with her. I turn and walk away from the cabin as fast as I can. Any semblance of a good time watching the fireworks display was now lost to me.

I don't even bother paying attention to where I was going as I marched off. I could have been wandering around camp for who knows how long before I felt okay enough to stop. The anger that was once an inferno inside me was now reduced to a dim blaze. I let out a soft sigh. "That…didn't go how I want it to." I mentally say to myself. I look up to see where I managed to wander to. The dozen of tables around me are clear of any people, unlike earlier. The only source of light at the moment was the large hearth in the center.

A loud bang sounds out behind me and the night sky now glows brightly in sudden flashes. In any other time, I would have wanted to watch the fireworks go off, but now I didn't want to be around so many people by myself.

"Percy. What brings you here?" A soft voice speaks out clearly despite the sound of fireworks going off nearby. I look over to the brazier in the middle of the pavilion, spotting a certain goddess sitting next to the fire in her thirty-year-old form.

"Nothing." I reply, but she gives me a look that says that she clearly sees through what problems I'm trying to hide. She pats the spot right next to her and almost immediately I cave. Now don't get me wrong, the woman just has a presence that makes you want to tell her anything in confidence, it's not that I felt like I needed to whine or complain.

"So, tell me Percy. What really has you so downtrodden." She says as I take a seat next to her. The warmth of the fire washes over me like a blanket, and I feel any residual anger flow away and before I know it, I'm telling her everything.

"It's just… I thought that Annabeth and I were finally becoming friends. Now this whole thing with Luke has just ruined whatever amount of trust we had made during the quest." I say as I hang my head. Looking back, losing my cool was not the best way to deal with Annabeth even if she was wrong, but you know what they say about hindsight being a bitch. Actually, I think that's the first time I said bitch, I'm beginning to think that Adamos is a bad influence. Now I'm getting off topic, stupid ADHD.

"You must understand Percy that it isn't easy for her to find out that someone she has known her entire life and looked up to, has suddenly turned." Hestia calmly explains.

"I guess." I begrudgingly admit. "But that doesn't mean that she needs to blame me for it. If he was a traitor, he would have left camp anyways. Probably done a lot worse on his way out then." I grumble.

"And you are right." Hestia states, and I must have given her a weird look as she continues to speak. "She is clearly denying the truth. Her pride is causing her to deny what has happens for what she believes."

"Well if she wants to live in her own fantasy world, I say let her." I grumble. "She's a pain anyways."

"Now Percy I know that you don't really mean that." Hestia gives me a chastising look and I feel an immediate sense of guilt as she looks at me. "You're a good person Percy, and I know you don't truly resent her."

"Maybe," I say as I look at the ground. "But I just don't think I can be around her any time soon."

Hestia puts a comforting hand on my shoulder and gives me an understanding smile. "Of course, Percy. That is understandable. Now if you wouldn't mind, I would like to hear about your quest." She said. I had the feeling that she was changing the topic on purpose and internally I was a little grateful. So, I began to tell the hearth goddess all about the quest. This time I spared no detail on what happened since Hestia already knew about Adamos I didn't need to keep anything a secret from her, and honestly it felt good to finally be able to talk freely with someone. I told her about the fight on the bus, the arch, the gryphon, everything.

"That is quite an adventure you had Percy." Hestia said with a smile once i finish. "Not many heroes can say that they encountered and bested that many monsters in a week."

I blush at the praise and scratch the back of my head. Her words sounded so genuine and I wasn't really used to such sincere words unless they were from my mom. "Thank you."

"I know." Hestia said as she had a look like she had an epiphany. She then pulled out her all-knowing book and began to turn through the pages at a rapid pace.

"Um, Hestia? What are you doing?" I asked as I looked over her shoulder. The pages were turning to fast for me to read, and those that I did manage to see were written in a language I couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"You deserve a reward for completing your quest Percy." She explained without taking her eyes off the pages.

"I don't really think that's necessary." I try to brush it off, but the goddess wasn't having it.

"Nonsense. My brother might be ungrateful for what you have done, but I am not. Ah here it is." Hestia said as she stopped flipping through pages. She began to tear one of the pages out and I almost called out to stop her. After all this was supposed to be a divine book, and I didn't think Adamos would be to kind about ripping pages out of his book. But when she ripped the page out a new one grew back in its place with the same texts. "Here you are Percy. Your reward." She held out the piece of paper and I took it. On it were lines and squiggles, it looked a lot like a map.

"That's because it is a map." Hestia said, and i looked at her with wide eyes before remembering that the gods can read minds. I guess since Adamos was asleep, that meant that he was no longer blocking out other gods.

"And it's a map to…" I said with a raised brow.

"To your reward." She said like it was obvious.

"So, after I complete a quest across the country, I get another quest as a reward?" I asked, and I must have been giving her a look because she rolled her eyes at my expression.

"Trust me Percy." She said with a good-natured smile that only showed the best intentions. "This will help you. Just tell Adamos that I asked for you to do this and he should help you get to where you need to go."

"And what exactly am I looking for?" I asked, now my interest was piqued.

Hestia looked at me with a mischievous smirk. "Now where's the fun in telling you." I just let out a groan in annoyance. "Oh, don't be like that," She gives me a small smack on my arm. "but if you want some advice, I would do this quest during Thanksgiving break." I gave her a look asking why but she didn't say anything after that. I shrugged my shoulders and then the two of us descended into a comfortable silence and just watched as the fireworks flashed in the distance.

LINE BREAK

After that night the days seemed to pass by. Annabeth and I aren't really on speaking terms and the times that where are in proximity, she usually gives me a glare or just ignores me. In all honesty, if she wanted to be a brat than let her.

I took out all the things that Adamos put in my backpack and I have to say, I didn't know what to do with it all. There was a literal pile of weapons in the middle of my cabin that I didn't know what to do with. After about an hour of thought I just decided to give them to the camp. I really had no use for all of it and I wasn't sure that I would need to use most of it. I managed to convince the Hephaestus cabin to come in and take it all away. They were a bit skeptical at first, but once Beckendorf saw the stockpile I actually saw him smile for the first time.

They hauled off the goods and Beckendorf said that he would personally forge me something in the future if I wanted. Especially since I managed to get my hands on some firearms with Celestial bronze bullets. I was confused at first until he explained that Celestial bronze bullets were insanely difficult to forge for some reason I didn't really understand. I just thanked him for the offer and told him I'd think about it.

Now, I didn't let them take everything. I still had a backup sword, a knife, a few grenades, and that revolver that Adamos seemed so obsessed with. I don't know why he wanted it so much, but I guess the rarity of it was a to good for him to pass up. I personally didn't really see much appeal in firearms, something with them just didn't sit right with me.

It was that afternoon that Adamos actually woke up and began to talk to me again. I was actually glad. After having him to speak to for so long, it tended to get pretty quiet when I was alone. Although the mood wasn't entirely cheerful as he began to sulk as soon as he found out that I gave just about everything away. Though he got over it pretty quickly once I told him about the quest from Hestia.

(Flash back)

"So, this is what she gave you?" Adamos asked as we looked at the page in my hands. I was sitting in my cabin

"Yeah, she said you'd know where it was." I said as I looked over the paper once more.

"It's a location to one of my vaults. I think it's the one in Acadia National park." He says and I let out a groan.

"And where is that?" I ask. I didn't really have much knowledge on where national parks where other than Yellowstone being in Wyoming.

"Acadia National Park is located on Mount Desert Island near Maine. Its also the highest point on the east coast."

"Well," I say as I rub the back of my head. "At least Maine isn't too far away." I was beginning to think about what I needed for such a trip. Maybe I could ask Chiron about this park. He's old so that musty mean he knows things, also I'm pretty sure that he and my mom would be too thrilled about me going on another quest without consulting him. "Hestia did give me a time restraint."

"Oh? When is it?"

"She said to go during Thanksgiving break. She seemed a bit insistent on that time."

"She probably knows something that we don't." Adamos says with a shrug. "But this is actually a good for you. If this is the vault that I think it is, what's in it can be very useful."

"Well, all I know is that I have some time between then and now, and I'm fine with that." I say as I store the map into my backpack.

(Flashback end)

I made my way out of my cabin this morning and walked to the secret cove for the first time since I got back. It was a rather nice day today; I mean the weather is controlled but for some reason the weather just felt better, if that makes any sense. A few of the campers at the basketball court waved to me as I walked by.

Another thing that happened. The campers have started to treat me much better than before. They were more friendly and some of them would even ask me to join them in activities. The daughters of Aphrodite have been especially…forward with including me. That was a new experience, luckily for me though Selina, the head of the Aphrodite cabin, stepped in and rescued me from there clutches.

I didn't take me long to get to the cove, after a while I memorized the path. I looked around just to make sure that no one was following me, and I entered the secluded beach. The sparring golem, Kevin, was sitting on the beach doing nothing. He seemed to have grown a bit of foliage over his stone body, and what I assumed to be a half-finished bird's nest on his shoulder while I was gone. He was perfectly still until I came within ten feet of him, and he stood at attention. The empty bird's nest breaking apart at the sudden motion.

"Hey Kevin." I said a bit awkwardly. The golem gave a mechanical wave to me. I decided to start greeting him because at some point in my training before the quest, I got a certain thought in my head the maybe the stone man actually had a bit of a personality. It wasn't completely there but I remember a few times in my training that he would do some vaguely human like things. Like giving me a thumbs up after sparring, or I swear I saw him clapping when I had my first successful Quen spell.

"I think that I'm ready to get back into training." I say as I draw out Riptide and take a combat stance in front of Kevin. In response Kevin summons a stone pole the same length as Riptide.

"You sure Percy?" Adamos asks. "Pit Scorpion venom is no joke. You sure that you don't want to rest for a few more days?"

I give an eye roll at his questions. "If I have to sit around any longer, I'm going to go insane. I need to do something." I could feel Adamos let out a shrug of his shoulders and I guess that was the sign to go ahead as almost immediately Kevin strikes me with a thrust without warning. I manage to block it but the force was enough to push me back and on the defensive. This spar goes on for a while, and I could feel Kevin getting faster and using a new style every time I think I'm matching his flow. It wasn't too much faster or overly skilled techniques that would have beaten me, but they were spontaneous changes that would throw me off guard. I did manage to get in a few hits and counters, but most were deflected or dodged. Every twenty minutes or so Adamos would stop the sparring and point out a few flaws in my form and a new technique to use, some of which were just straight up punches and kicks. He reasoned that a weapon wasn't the only thing to rely on, and that a well-timed kick can end a fight just as quickly as a stab. At one point he even had me summon the backpack just to practice with the revolver after reassuring me that the barrier around the area would block the sound of the gun firing. However, we quickly gave up on that training as soon as I fired a few rounds with mortal ammo. It turns out I was just as bad with the hand cannon as I was with the bow. They didn't shoot backwards thankfully, but the bullets didn't even make it close to the target. Even after Adamos set up the stance for a perfect bullseye for me the bullets still missed. He kinda got depressed about that and was mumbling about getting rid of a red trench coat and silver hair dye. I didn't even want to know what he was planning with that.

Then like every time before, after a few hours I laid on the sand, covered in bruises and scrapes. My lungs burned and I felt like my muscles were being torn apart. I was smart enough to lay near water and let the tide wash over me. The relief of the water was a godsend to my aching muscles.

"So, are you ready to learn more magic?" Adamos asked as I lay there on the ground, still trying to catch my breath.

I push myself to my feet and start to breath with my hands behind my head, a recovery method to get more air into my lungs. "Yeah." I say with a deep breath. "I think I'm feeling good enough." I was glad that we were moving on as I doubted my body could go another round physically.

"For today's lesson we are going to be learning two spells. The two of them are sort of similar, and to learn were going to try a different style."

I raised a brow in curiosity. Learning the Quen spell was a bit painful due to having the barrier tested with thrown rocks. And since my spell failed more often than not, I was left with some pretty sizable welts from the experience. "So, no rock throwing?" I asked warily.

"No Percy. No rock throwing. Well, at least i don't think so." He said and that just left me more confused. I couldn't really think of a magic that involved throwing rocks. Maybe it was an earth magic, but I doubted he would teach me what seemed like an obviously redundant ability when I can move the earth with my own powers. "I think you have a knife in your bag. Bring it out for me along with the book of spells. And then grab a bunch of random stones." He instructed and I followed suit.

After a few minutes I was standing in front of a decent pile of rocks with a bronze knife in my hand, still at a loss as to what I was supposed to do. Adamos sensing my confusion decided to explain.

"The lesson today is teaching you to work with magic circles." As he said that, Kevin the golem came over and took the book of spells and turned to a random page within. I looked at the pages and focused on the two large symbols on opposite pages, the smaller text I could read latter. One looked like a backwards G in the shape of a triangle, while the other looked the letter A except that it had a pair of stick figure arms reaching upwards from the line in the middle. The second spell was inside of a rather simple magic circle. At the top of the page the two spells were labeled Aard for the G shaped one, and Sha'an for the one that looked like the letter A.

"These two spells are opposites. The Aard spell is the quick cast spell for the concept of repulsion, while Shaan is the low tier spell for attraction." Adamos explained. "One forces something away while the other pulls something to you, and to test those you are going to learn how to draw runes and magic circles on those rocks."

"Okay, I think I understand, but how am I supposed to write them. I don't have a marker." I brought up. The exercise made sense. It was like when I summoned the backpack onto the Arch in St. Louis, only this time I wasn't going to have Adamos guide me in the drawing.

"That's where the knife comes in." He says and I give a skeptical look.

"Adamos, I know this is a decent knife, but I don't think its gonna last long carving rocks."

"It will after I modify it." Adamos says and I feel him asking for control, so I give it to him. He turns the sand into a flat surface and a magic circle forms in it. He places the knife in the center and then pours his power into the circle. Like I saw many times before, the circle glow, followed by the knife. Then the metal weapon begins to contort and alter in shape before it finally settles on a shape that resembles a metal handle with a needle on one end and a scraper on the other. It looked exactly like any other tool that you would see in a ceramics class, but I could sense that it was more than just that. There seemed to be a simple enchantment placed on it. "You will use this to write the runes and such. Both ends are enchanted to carve through regular stone like clay. You won't have to worry about the needle going blunt due to the enchantments as well but do be careful not to force it through as you might accidentally stab your hand." Adamos warns.

I pick up the tool as well as a stone and gingerly press the tip to the stone. I push it in and while there is some minor resistance, the needle passes through. I pull it out and where it was is now a hole in the rock. "Ok, this is kinda cool." I said with a smile as I begin drawing random things into the stone. Not many people know this but I'm actually a pretty good artist. Drawing was one of the few ways that I could cope with my ADHD in class. I doubted that I was good enough to win some kind of major award in any competition, but I was definitely good enough for people to take notice.

"Alright, let's get back on track." Adamos brings me back to what we were here to do. "I want you to carve the spell onto the rocks, then we are going to study how well you did." At that I sit down on a small dune of sand and spend the next few hours carving the spells into the stones. The first half was on the Aard spell since it was just a rune, and the second half was learning the magic language and writing for the low tier spell Sha'an. Occasionally Adamos would inspect my work and sometimes he would point out simple mistakes like one line being too long or I made an edge round instead of straight or I misspelled something in the spell circle. My hand began to cramp after a while but luckily, I heard the horn for lunch and took a break for that, but after I was finished, I headed back and started carving again until I ran out of stones.

By then it was around three in the afternoon and my hands were seriously throbbing to the point that I dipped them into the water to soothe them. I switched hands partway through after a particularly nasty cramp.

"You think you're ready to cast them?" Adamos asked.

"I just spent hours carving the same things into stone." I retorted. "I think I've memorized the basic shape of the runes and circles." I then held out my hand and brought the image of the Sha'an spell to my mind. I wanted to try out the low tier spell first. Adamos said that is was a spell used to attract things and I looked at one of the rocks that I used for a carving and thought about it coming to me.

"You need to be careful when trying out new magic Percy. Sometimes magic can ba—"

"SHA'AN!" I shout, cutting Adamos's explanation off. I feel a slight pull in my gut. It was the same amount I used in the Quen spells during the quest as it was the only spell i had experience with. In front of my hand the magic circle for the spell glows into existence. The main rune sits at the center of a square inside of a ring and a few words in the magic language rotate inside the ring. A matching one appears on the rock I'm targeting, and it begins to glow a light blue.

The rock then shoots at me faster than I expected it to, and I yelp as I jump out of the way, cutting the spell off out of reflex, and the rock hitting the tree behind me with a loud thud.

"That…wasn't what I expected." I say as I say as i look at the small dent in the tree trunk.

"Maybe next time you'll let me finish speaking before you try out the spell."

"Noted." I said as I get back to my feet. "What do you think went wrong?"

"Maybe try putting less power this time." Adamos suggested.

"Ok. Second times the charm." I say as I try again at half power on a different rock. This time the rock flew at me at a much slower pace, one akin to a casual toss, and I easily caught it in my hand. "That was much better." I say as I toss and catch the stone a few times before dropping it.

"Alright. On to the next one."

"Remember Percy. Half strength."

"Right." I acknowledge, taking a stance. In my head I began to think that about the Aard spell. If the Sha'an spell was attraction, then for this I have to imagine the opposite effect.

"AARD!" I shout as I bring the image of the rune into my mind and imagine a pushing action. I once again feel a pull in my gut and the backwards G shaped rune lights up in front of me without the magic circle surrounding it like the other one. The space in front of me explodes with a concussive force, kicking up sand and even pushing some of the rocks closest to me a few feet away. I was grateful that I took a stance this time as the force was enough that it threw me off balance slightly.

"Woah." I said as I looked around at the results of the spell.

"Congratulations Percy. You are now a Jedi." Adamos said with a tone of satisfaction. I felt a grin spread on my face and satisfaction at the results as well.

"This is so cool." I whisper. "I wonder what else I can do?"

"Well Percy. If your willing to learn. We can go over magical application, alteration, and theory lessons."

I grin at the idea. "Let's get started!" I said excitedly and then Adamos and I went over lessons in magic, and for the first time I found myself actually paying attention to the lesson and trying to understand what he was teaching. This went on for the rest of the day, and few times a week for the rest of the summer.

A/N: Hey everyone. Momentei here. This chapter is a bit overdue. Mostly because I've been sick and my college has been under watch of a potential coronavirus case, so I've been a bit testy. Anyways onto recent news on the day that I finished writing this chapter TeamFourStar has finally ended the Dragon ball abridged series. I just want to say that those guys are a huge inspiration to me for how well their works increase in quality over time. What started as amateur abridged works has become something so coveted and well made that it has become just as beloved and memorable as the actual series. I don't care that there won't be another season, in fact the end with the cell saga is good enough for me. My only wish is that they make a short abridged clip of Vegeta's sacrifice from the Buu saga. Now onto me I just want to say that if there are those that have some problems with my work, I just want to say that I'm sorry. I consider myself an amateur writer and I hope to grow better to meet your expectations. I have taken your critique into consideration and have planned a bunch of things for future chapter and how I want them to go. I've even talked with some of you about what the future chapters hold( Those of you know who you are) and I will be incorporating them in. Now like always, leave a review for the story, if you have suggestions for how to improve my writing I will take them. And finally please follow and favorite the story.

Momentei, Over and Out.