I was surprised to see Luke coming to sit down next to me by the lake.
"I asked around about your religion," He told me after a few beats of awkward silence and me staring at him expectedly. "I had to get Mr D to explain it. Specifically, he went around the topic and alluded to a book in the Cabin 6 library that hasn't been read in a long time."
"You could've asked me," I offered. "I'm always happy to discuss it."
He raised his eyebrows, "No offence kid, but you can be just as bad as Annabeth on one of her architecture lectures. You'd have left me in the dust."
"Oh."
Nobody had ever told him he was too smart before. Sure, a few kids at school have teased him for being a nerd or for babbling on too much or never sitting still, but none have ever told him that that means that he confuses them. He feels a bit confused when it comes to architecture with Annabeth, but he never needed to go looking for a different source.
"I have to admit I was surprised," Luke spoke up after a few seconds of quiet. "I never knew…" He paused, thinking.
"That there was a whole culture?" I offered.
"Yeah," he sighed. "A bunch of rules and customs and traditions that I should have been taught- that my father should have taught me- but hadn't."
"I'm sorry." I offered.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Luke frowned, insisting. "You weren't even born when I was supposed to get taught this. It's on the go- the adults," he stumbled over the word, "On the adults to teach me and every other camper here. They didn't, and I can't find any good reason why they didn't." He threw a random rock into the lake with all his strength, eyes hard.
"The gods aren't allowed to talk to their kids and our mortal parents don't exactly get taught this," I tried to reason, but it fell flat even to my ears.
"Chiron should have taught us then. Camp should have. There have been a million chances for them to teach us about our own selves- our roots and ancestry- but they didn't." He looked down at me, before averting his eyes. "Don't make excuses for those who don't deserve them, kid."
I wanted to tell him that I'm not, but a little seedling of doubt was brewing in my head. Why did I get to get taught all that I did and they don't? Why did I get to have the gods raising and teaching me and they didn't? I know the answer. Maybe. It's something to do with the fact that I shouldn't have been born- the fact that I'm a child of the Big Three. The fact that there is a prophecy nobody talks about when I'm in hearing range, and Hermes has been very careful to hide some specific paperwork from my view. The fact that when Hermes first met me, he asked Athena if she was making sure that my allegiances are to Olympus.
They may love me now, but I know they started off with different motives.
"What are you going to do now?" I asked him.
"Learn. Try to reconnect, and inform the others on what they're missing out on." He said, looking out towards the horizon.
"Today is Agathos Daimon," I told him. "The last day of the three-day monthly observance festival. We're supposed to pour out a libation for household and family spirits."
He blinked, looking back at me. "I don't have a family spirit."
"Neither do I, but the Camp certainly has a few household spirits lurking about." I shrugged, "I saw a few snakes lurking at the edge of the woods today- spirits usually take the form of serpents or young men with horns of plenty." I playfully squinted at him, then shook my head. "Nope. Definitely must have been the snakes, you don't have a horn."
Luke let out a surprised laugh, "I look like a spirit?"
"You're pale enough to look like one," I shot back.
"I'm tan!" He insisted, amused. "You're just not white."
I understood that, but also how dare he! "At least I have eyebrows, blondie!"
Luke gasped dramatically, smirk sneaking itself onto his face. "That's it!"
I had no warning, just a sudden tickle attack that left me shrieking and breathless. "No! N-no! Luke! Ple-eease! Stop! Sta-ah-ahp!"
"Not until you say you're sorry for calling me an eyebrowless spirit!" He crowed, tickling me more, fingers poking my armpits and ribs.
"Sorry! Sorry!" I begged, and he finally let off, smile on his face as he brushed his dishevelled hair away from his face.
He got to his feet with a groan, and I think I heard his knee click. "How about we go pour out those… libations, did you call them? Yeah, you have to teach me what that is. And maybe afterwards I won't prank you for those comments."
"Sure old man," I teased, then quickly yelped and had to run away from Luke's cry of outrage, which probably promises revenge.
oOo
It did end up promising revenge, and I ended up with half of the strawberry juice libation poured on me.
I'd have used my powers, but I'm hiding right now, so I had to settle for glaring at Luke and whining about how I'm all sticky now. His only response was that next time he'll pour jam on my head and that I'm lucky it was only juice. I'm totally going to use the prank idea Hermes was thinking about (messing with Apollo's speakers to only play one annoying song on loop, but with one really obscene song thrown in at random intervals) on Luke. He deserves it!
I bumped into Grover on my way back from the showers, and since it was the first time I've seen him since I arrived, I practically manhandled him into having a conversation with me.
"Chiron said that you had a meeting with the Council of Cloven Elders," I told him. "What happened? Did you get your searcher's license?"
He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"
"Uh," He didn't, but I know that that's what basically every satyr wants. "Well... no. He just said you had big plans, you know ... I heard other satyrs talking about getting their licenses... So did you get it?"
Grover looked across the way to the naiads sitting on the rocky bank of the lake. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
My spirits lifted a little. "Well, that's not so bad, right?" I'll probably end up with a quest sooner rather than later, especially with the whole 'son of Poseidon and 'Ais of the Sea' thing. Though, I remembered with a little pang of fear that my uncle isn't exactly very happy with me.
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Of course I'd want you along!" Okay, maybe that was a bit of a lie. I would prefer a very well-trained demigod- maybe even one of the Sea demigods from the Sea camp that I'm pretty sure Triton would threaten to protect me on pain of death- but if it helped Grover out and got him his searcher's license.
Grover stared glumly at the lake. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."
I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then he tried dissing a few gods- 'debating their pros and cons'- but I shut that down real quick. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad." Not quite, but sure.
"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?" I asked, knowing full damn well of the answer.
Grover tensed. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky," I recited; I know this story by heart. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."
"Uh-huh."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." I pointed out. One more thing that gets me angry: not every god is equally respected at camp.
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." Wow Grover, can you be any ruder to Hades?
"But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" I know I shouldn't be poking and prodding this line of questioning, but someone was finally going to tell me why I'm so special, and the guilt for the manipulation was pushed aside for the desire to finally know.
Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed. "Beware your broken promises and fates!" The ancient tongue screamed at me, and I flinched.
Damn it. That's definitely more than I've explicitly gotten out of anyone, but still frustratingly vague and most definitely not the entire story. Argh! When will anyone ever actually tell me the important things when they concern me!
I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."
Grover nodded.
"And the brothers kept their word-no kids?"
Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo-he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
Oh great. I'm screwed… Maybe I should have taken Triton's immortality offer sooner- then there's no 'terrible fate' in my future because I'll be immortal too-
Wait. Gods still get punished for broken promises on the Styx- Hermes taught me that ages ago- oh shoot what was the punishment? Something about seven years? And the dark? I should have paid more attention during that lesson, shoot!
"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't her fault." I said almost mechanically, brain working in overdrive to try and figure out what is going to happen to me when I get claimed.
Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to tor-ment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
I stared at the pine in the distance. I don't want to be a tree! Oh gods, I feel sick.
The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. Fuck, it never was much in the first place…
I quickly made my excuses, and ran away from there as fast as I could, leaving Grover behind.
This isn't right. Something is desperately wrong and I'm in danger and there are kids dying and oh gods-!
I desperately blinked back the tears as I ran into Cabin 11 and sat on my sleeping bag, near hyperventilating. Please, Triton, help me!
There was no answer.
oOo
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.
At last, it was time for capture the flag.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"
"Yeah."
"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," he said. "But often."
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you win?"
He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."
"Whose side are we on?"
He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."
He did not answer my increasingly distressed and harried questions of what my help consisted of. Asshole.
...Don't tell Athena I know that word!
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.
From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids- the Mercier twins (and the Stolls' partners' in crime)- were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them (hopefully neither of them inherited their father's power over madness). Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't the most aggressive cabin. Aphrodite's children I wasn't too worried about- Aphrodite's war aspect wasn't well known at camp, and everyone always says they don't do anything during the game, so I guess they'll continue that pattern. Hephaestus's kids; there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: 5 of the strongest, burliest, and biggest kids in the camp.
Great, we're evenly matched.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
"Oh, so these are war games-war games!" I realised as I looked at the weapons array. "We're like, actually fighting."
Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here- Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."
My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. This is way too big on me- did these guys never get lessons on appropriate weapon sizes? Triton did, I usually got stuck using 'babies-first-shield's but that's fine if it means I don't have to lug this liability around with me. I discreetly slid the shield back into the pile.
No weapon beats an ill-fitting weapon sometimes; this is totally what Athena's lecture meant, right? It totally didn't refer to good strategy versus a large army. Yeah, totally.
My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.
I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over the tree roots all over the place. "Hey."
"Hello,"She kept marching even as she tersely replied.
"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Cause I think I missed the memo, or maybe I was excluded on purpose? Sorry, very confused here."
"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?" Great, avoid a spear, not like I died from that already once.
"Border patrol, whatever that means."
"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.
"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad I came to your lecture. Very enlightening."
Seriously, does nobody in this camp value the skill of 'communication'? I'm very lost here!
oOo
It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.
Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my slightly too-big armour, I felt like an idiot. Curse my tininess, none of the camp armours fit me properly, and none of the ones that were a close fit wasn't broken in so they pinched. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, was balanced wrong. The leather grip felt wrong in my grip, like touching the itchy seaweed underwater by mistake.
There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus has liability issues, right?
Oh who am I kidding, nobody in this camp knows the basic Olympian laws, much less that I could sue them for attacking without due cause!
Far away, the conch horn blew.
I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.
Great, they're all actually really excited to attack each other.
My old spear wound twinged in pain, and I frowned, putting a protective hand over my sternum. That… doesn't feel good. Especially since Pallas has been silent since yesterday morning.
Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.
I raised my sword instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.
Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.
Even weirder- strange growling doesn't just back off for no reason.
That's the only warning I got before the entirety of the Ares cabin burst through the underbrush.
Clarisse had a warcry on her tongue, but she very suddenly stopped when she realised who she was about to ambush. "You're on creek border patrol?" She asked, squinting at me like this was a trick.
"Uh, yes?" I replied, hitching my sword up a little more. "Is that, uh, important? Luke and Annabeth just kinda left me here and told me to fight any reds that try to pass."
"They didn't tell him he's guarding one of the most important border spots?" Clarisse's only sister- I think she is named Yvette- asked incredulously.
"Oh, is it?" I stated, then got into a fighting stance. "I suppose I should defend it then."
Clarisse blinked, then nodded. "If you think you can, punk."
I eyed her spear warily as my chest twinged again. I can do this. I nodded, and she took that as the okay to attack.
I side-stepped the first kid's swing, and parried Clarisse's electric spear away as it nearly struck my arm. The electricity travelled up the bronze sword and made my hair stand on its end.
Just like when Zeus- This is NOT the time for a flashback, Perseus!
Kicking Yvette in the knee and sending her down to the mud, I twisted to strike at Mark and nearly landed if not for Clarisse going at me again with her spear.
It really is all my worst fears as one weapon, isn't it?
Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my blade, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been run through.
That was too much for me to handle, especially with the sudden chilling numbness from the electricity mimicking the numbness of death.
I screamed and panicked. The creek reacted.
Athena, no!
Please, Pater, save me!
It was supposed to be just a spar, oh Pontus-!
Please, I don't want to die!
I'm sorry!
I was hyperventilating and thrown into a flashback, but it was Clarisse's cry that snapped me back to the present, blurrily.
"Percy, what the Hades was that?!"
I was wrapped in the water's protective cocoon up to waist, and the Ares' kids were all drenched, thrown several feet back by what I could only guess had been a miniature tidal wave.
"I- I didn't mean to-" I began stuttering out, but got interrupted.
I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse of "What the fuck kind of trick is this?"
Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. We'd won.
I don't feel very good. Pallas had reawoken out of nowhere, and their presence is silent again.
Oh gods, I want to rip her memories out of my head and retire them in Chaos or the Underworld where they belong. I shouldn't be her. I shouldn't be feeling like this- terrified of things I never had a fear of before.
I was about to start reacting to the celebration- to run away from it, probably- when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "I didn't expect that, hero."
I looked, but she wasn't there.
"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
"Fight?" I echoed numbly, hands shaking. "You saw what I did with the water, I-"
"Yes," she said grimly. "And I will be telling Chiron as soon as I can get him in private. How did you learn to do that?"
"My Pater-" I began, then cut myself off. Triton isn't my pater, he's my aidipa. Gods, Pallas has me so messed up right now…
"Pater? You mean father?" Annabeth asked, "Percy?"
I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.
The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek: "Stand ready! My bow!"
Annabeth drew her sword, and I, mine.
There, on the rocks just above us, was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me.
Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"
She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her- an enormous shadow with teeth- and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows.
The monster fell dead at my feet.
By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut from experience as Pallas. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.
Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."
Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
Vaguely, I was affronted about the fact that I was bleeding out right of them, yet none of them are calling a healer.
We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.
"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water. Chiron, watch this."
I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.
Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.
But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.
"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."
By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around me, campers started kneeling.
Suddenly, the symbol changed.
From a green trident appeared a blue conch shell. Triton's symbol.
"It isn't determined?" Chiron said, confused.
I didn't care for that, or for all the confused, kneeling campers.
I spun around instinctually, then threw myself full-force at the figure behind me with a cry of " 'Pa!"
Triton caught me easily, tucking me into his arms and my head cradled protectively between his left hand and his chest. A kiss was quickly pressed against my forehead.
"Percy!" He gasped, relieved. "I'm so sorry, paidi mou! I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Lord Triton?" Chiron spoke up, baffled at the scene before him.
When his eyes left Percy, they turned steely.
"Chiron," Triton sneered. "We need to have a talk."
A/N
*Laughs evilly* Who expected that?! So, Luke has realized that he has a whole heritage he was robbed of, and for that white boy, that is a novel and horrifying experience because he doesn't have The Minority Experience TM of not knowing your own culture and having to explore/research it on your own because it's been erased. Percy has a lot less loyalty to Grover here because he knew that Grover was lying to him from the very beginning and had to hide his true self from him, so that's why he kinda manipulates that convo, but he's still guilty. Poseidon has claimed Percy, but more importantly, Triton is done sitting on the side-lines while he watches the kid he raised suffer.
I'm free from the devil named high school, and now I have a few short months before I start University! I might update more often for a while since my time is far more free, but at the same time, I might not. Fic doesn't really take priority in my life, as much as I wish it could.
I also have a PJO discord server for this fanfic (and my other fics) that anyone can join! (Just remove the spaces) : / / discord . gg/ hfXGUeraTg