Update: 25/12/2021
Merry Christmas Everyone. I hope you all have a great and safe Christmas/holiday. Have fun and enjoy yourselves. But take time to think of those who can't be with you by distance, by illness, unable to travel or those that have past on. But also take time to think about the less fortunate.
Have Great Christmas or Holiday
and
A Happy New Year: And I hope it will be a good one!
And on a personal note to my Nan who passed this year. I'll miss you at Christmas the most. I love you and I hope you have quite the celebration in Heaven with the rest of our family and friends that have gone before you. I hope you know we will be thinking about you and everyone else at Christmas.
Love you guys and this Chapter is just as much for you as it is for everyone.
Chapter .6.
After Poseidon had tried to get over the fact his son had many mortal enemies. With Amphitrite and Triton too trying to come to terms with it.
Zoe and Artemis had been studying him trying to figure this demigod out. As he appeared to be everything they normally didn't think males were possible of.
And after some arguing from Hercules thinking their was no possible way that a puny son of the Sea God could have many enemies.
They gathered around again to read another chapter.
"Please tell me nothing bad happens in this Chapter?" Poseidon asks/begs.
"I don't know Dad. I didn't write the book", Percy replies cheekily.
Oh and it would probably show what happened with Clarisse. He really hopes she doesn't kill him. It wasn't like it was his fault. As it was known among them that Clarisse had started that fight and just got what was coming to her.
At least that had made her rethink things and getting the Golden Fleece helped too.
"Who wants to read?" Thalia asks holding up the book.
"I will", Amphitrite offers
Amphitrite takes the book and opens it.
Chapter 5: I Play Pinochle With A Horse
"What is it with these chapter titles? Is this how it is in your time?" Perseus asks.
"Don't look at me I didn't write this book. If I had a choice I would obliterate it", Percy replies.
Luke silently agrees with that.
"And no not really how it is in our time. Mortals have just got more inventive", Annabeth replies.
Hermes, Apollo and Hephaestus looked interested in that.
I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.
Laughter bursts out about that. Even his Mum.
"Are your dreams really like that?" Pollux chuckles.
"Is it any wonder with how he acts sometimes?" Nico teases.
Percy pouts. But then thinks of something to pay Nico back.
"At least I didn't dream of Tha…I mean a certain someone naked", Percy lies innocently.
Nico's eyes widen.
"What?" Thalia asks clueless.
"Nico?" Will asks.
"Nothing", Nico squeaks, "He is lying"
Percy smirks at the squirming Nico.
Payback was a bitch sometimes.
I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoonfed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blonde hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.
"Oh that is so cute!" Aphrodite exclaims.
"So Annabeth was playing your nursemaid?" Theseus teases his brother.
"Basically", Annabeth confirms smirking at Percy.
"Has Annabeth feed you like that since then?" Thalia asks.
"Won't you like to know", Percy teases.
"I don't need to hear this", Frederick says loudly.
"No I haven't", Annabeth replies shooting Percy an angry look.
"Do you make a habit off leaning over someone smirking?" Hazel asks Annabeth.
"NO!" Annabeth exclaims blushing.
"She basically was his shadow after he came to Camp", Luke says smirking.
Annabeth whacks him on the arm.
"Shut up", Annabeth mutters.
"That must of been creepy having her sitting over you smirking", Nemesis states smirking.
"It was. I didn't even know her then", Percy confirms.
"I wasn't trying to be creepy. I just was excited at your arrival", Annabeth tells him blushing.
"You bet she was! He was all she could ta…", Luke starts but Annabeth slaps her hand over his mouth.
"Shut up", she hisses at him, "Or I won't protect you when the Gods find out your little secret"
That shut Luke up.
When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the Summer Solstice?"
I managed to croak, "What?"
She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear.
"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"
"Really Annabeth?" Thalia asks smirking.
Annabeth blushes.
"I'm sorry", I mumbled, "I don't…"
Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.
"Nice way to shut him up", Travis laughs.
"Works on any boy. Including you", Katie teases.
Now it was Travis's turn to shut up.
The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.
"Ahhh do you have a crush already?" Nico teases, "Your going to kiss her if she was"
"Shut up cousin", Percy replies a warning in his voice, "Of I will tell everyone your first kiss"
Bianca looks at Nico wanting to know who her brothers first kiss was with.
Nico splutters, "You won't dare"
"Try me"
"Percy be nice to your cousin", Sally scolds.
"Yes Mum"
A husky blonde dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping what over me. He had blue eyes and at least a dozen of them – on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.
When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer that I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. Call that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.
"Nice", Piper says winkling her nose.
On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.
"Careful", a familiar voice said
Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.
"Is that true?" Thalia asks curiously.
"No. It felt like two weeks through. I was really worried at that point", Grover replies blushing.
"You just care too much", Juniper says kissing him.
"Thanks for caring G-Man", Percy says.
Poseidon smiles his son sure had good friends that were willing to look out for him.
Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He wearing blue jeans, converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-Shirt that said Camp Half-Blood. Just plain Grover. Not the goat boy.
"Really goat boy?" Clarisse chuckles.
"Shut up I was 12 and in shock still", Percy replies.
"Anyway I have heard kids say much worse about satyrs", Grover says sticking up for Percy.
So maybe I'd had a nightmare.
"Your not that lucky Perce", Nico comments.
"I can be lucky", Percy protests.
"No you can't!" ALL the future Demigods say ganging up on him, including Annabeth.
"You too Wise Girl?" Percy asks.
"Yes. You have the worst luck imaginable", Annabeth replies trying too keep a straight face.
"It is like Lady Tyche herself has cursed you", Frank teases.
Percy pouts at them.
Most of the Gods chuckle at their actions.
Maybe my Mum was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this Big House for some reason. And…
"Oh Percy I am so sorry", Sally says sadly.
"It is fine Mum. This is the past for us", Percy replies giving her a reassuring smile.
"You saved my life", Grover said, "I…well, the least I could do…I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this"
Reverently he, placed the shoe box in my lap.
Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn,
"My first one of my set", Percy mutters.
"What was that?" Poseidon and Sally ask eyes wide.
"Nothing", Percy replies quickly.
the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.
"The Minotaur", I said
"Um, Percy, it isn't good idea –"
"That's what they call it in Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded, "The Minotaur. Half Man, Half Bull"
"You're a genius", Hercules says snidely and sarcastically.
Grover shifted uncomfortably, "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"
"My Mum. Is she really…"
He looked down.
I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with a huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.
"Thanks for the complement", Thalia says too her cousin.
Making the Roman Demigods confused. As they didn't know her story. And the Gods and Past Heroes even more confused.
My Mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.
Everyone looked at Percy in pity. It obviously had been tough on him. As it seemed all he had was his Mother at that time in his life.
"Percy…", Sally starts.
"I know Mum. But at the time I thought you were gone. At that point you had been the only one to believe in me", Percy replies.
Chiron and Grover winced at that. They hadn't made that easier at that point.
"You have many people who believe in you now and will continue to do so. You bring hope when everyone needed it", Chiron tells him.
Percy smiles at him, "I know. My Aunt told me that a while ago", he says looking at Hestia.
Whose eyes widen.
"I'm sorry", Grover sniffed, "I'm a failure. I'm – I'm the worst Satyr in the world"
"Of course your not!" Annabeth says.
"It is NOT your fault I was what I was at that time. You never failed me Grover", Thalia tells him, making all that didn't know confused by her words.
"Without you Annie and I wouldn't be alive", Luke points out.
"You have saved many of us. So your far from a failure", Katie states.
"Actually you found ALL the children of the Big Three", Travis points out.
"Does that sound like a failure to you?" Conner adds.
"Well he found them all but Hazel", Travis points out.
"Different circumstances", Conner dismisses.
"Yeh G-Man if there was any satyr I need at my side I would choose you first", Percy tells his friend clapping him on the back.
"Same", many of the Greek Demigods say.
"Couldn't think of a better satyr", Meg states.
Making Grover blush and his heart walm.
"By the way I want to give you my thanks. Because of you and Thalia of course my little girl is alive. So thank you", Frederick says sincerely.
Athena looks worried at that.
"No need to thank me. I did what was right", Thalia says, "My life in exchange for three"
Zeus and everyone's eyes widen at that.
Did that mean Thalia died? The daughter he only now as met and seemed to like so far.
He moaned, stomped his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.
"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled
"Careful", Hermes warns.
Thunder rolled across the clear sky.
As he struggled to ger his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.
Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head. But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even Minotaur's.
All that meant was my Mum really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.
"That means she's not dead", Apollo says helpfully.
"We know as she is sitting it front of us you idiot", Artemis says whacking the back of his head.
"Ouch what was that for?"
"For being an idiot"
I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with…Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first.
"I agree from what we have heard so far. You would be better off on the streets", Thalia comments.
"Anywhere would be better then with him. From what you have said", Reyna states.
I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.
"You won't last in the army punk", Ares snorts.
"He would be killed in a second", Hercules agrees.
"You would be surprised", Percy retorts looking forward to the chapter about himself defeating Ares.
He truly hoped that was included. Everyone would get a kick out of it.
And he hoped the Gods wouldn't let Ares live it down.
Grover was still sniffling, The poor kid – poor goat, satyr, whatever – looked as if he expected to be hit.
I said, "It wasn't your fault"
"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you"
"Did my Mother ask you to protect me?"
"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least…I was"
"But why…", I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.
"Where you alright?" Poseidon asks his son worriedly.
"I can assure you I was fine", Percy assures him, "I had worse", he mutters softly, "Much worse"
Much too Poseidon's worry and Sally's. Even Triton, Theseus and Amphitrite look worried.
But Amphitrite continues on.
"Don't strain yourself", Grover said, "Here"
He helped me hold my glass and put a straw to my lips.
"Now Grover is playing nursemaid", Chris jokes.
I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies – my Mum's homemade blue chocolate-ship cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.
"I love you cookie's Aunt Sally", Thalia tells her.
"They ARE the best", Jason agrees.
"More then that", Meg states.
"Loved them. Better then any other cookies I tasted", Hazel states.
"Me too. It makes me hungry. Can we have some?" Nico asks.
Sally chuckles, "I'll see if I can find some ingredients here. If not I'll make a batch when we get home for ALL of you"
Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my Mum had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told my everything was going to be okay.
Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.
"Was it good?" Grover asked
I nodded.
"What did it taste like?" he sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.
"Sorry", I said, "I should've let you taste"
His eyes got wide, "No! That's not what I meant. I just…wondered"
"Chocolate-chip cookies", I said, "My Mum's. Homemade"
He sighed, "And how do you feel?"
"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundreds metres"
"Go right ahead I don't think any of us would mind", Thalia comments.
"We would cheer you on", Castor states.
"Even I might", Zoe mutters quietly.
"That's good", he said, "That's good. I don't think you should risk drinking any more of that stuff"
"What do you mean?"
He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and sat it back on the table.
"Come on. Chiron and Mr D are waiting"
"This will be interesting", Travis says smirking
"It was so much fun", Percy says sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Grover had too nod in agreement remembering what happened.
"Like I don't get threatened to be turned into something everyday or they just do it", Percy mutters.
They all looked curiously and come concern at him.
"Who is Mr D?" Hecate asks.
"Oh you'll see Mum", Lou states, "Oh I am Lou Ellen Blackstone, daughter of Hecate, Head Councillor of Cabin 20"
The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.
My legs felt wobbly trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.
As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.
We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to Long Island Sound, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture – an open-air pavilion, an amphitheatre, a circular arena – except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school aged kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-Shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooden trail, and unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.
The Greek Demigods smile at the memories they had of Camp Half-Blood. Both the good times and the bad. No matter who they were or who their parents were, or if they were a mortal, satyrs, dryads or a cyclopes and a seer harpy, they all had the good memories and no matter where they would go in life those memories would stick with them and the friendships would last a lifetime.
As they had been forged in fire, blood and battle. But also in the good times, the grief and the hard times. So those bonds couldn't be easily broken.
Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blonde haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavoured pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.
The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, but watery eyes and curly hair so black it was almost purple.
Everyone chuckles at Percy's description of Dionysus.
"WHAT!?" Dionysus shouts, "Why I am at that blasted camp"
"You were stupid enough to chase a nymph", Luke mutters.
"What was that boy?" Dionysus asks glaring at him.
"You were chasing a nymph that was basically announced off limits", Clarisse tells him.
Artemis and Zoe glare at him. Which nymph?
"But you have got too admit Dad your look is not the best", Pollux states.
"Your my Son?" Dionysus asks distracted.
"Pollux, twin son of Dionysus, Head Councillor of Cabin 12", Pollux states.
"Castor, his twin, son of Dionysus, was Co-Councillor", Castor continues with a slight smile, "And I agree with Pollux you don't look the best"
"That is the understatement of the century", Leo adds only too get smacked in the head by Calypso.
"Behave", she hisses in his ear.
"Fine", Leo pouts.
But they could see the mischief in his eyes and knew Leo wasn't going to behave.
Did they really expect him too?
He looked like those paintings of baby angels – what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle aged in a trailer park.
Apollo and Hermes were now on the ground with hysterical laughter.
Ares was roaring with laughter with Hercules, Theseus and Perseus.
Hera was supressing laughter as was Poseidon, Triton, Hestia, Persephone, Amphitrite and Hecate.
Hades, Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Nemesis were chuckling.
Demeter was smiling, as was Artemis and Athena.
Zeus looked a cross between amusement and disagreement.
Thanatos looked neutral.
Ariadne didn't know what to do.
Many of the demigods join in the laughter.
Dionysus was grumbling and trying to get support from his wife.
"You need a makeover", Aphrodite chuckles.
"Shut up", Dionysus snaps at the Love Goddess.
"Touchy", Aphrodite replies smirking, "Should I book you an appointment to get you fixed up? Silena, Piper you two what to help?"
"Bugger off", Dionysus replies glaring at everyone who dared try to laugh.
Too bad not many were intimidated by a cherub.
He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt,
"Also do you want fashion advice?" Aphrodite asks him.
Dionysus just glares at her.
"I couldn't book you in for a tutorial on what can and can't go together? We can do it after we finish these books", Aphrodite states.
Dionysus goes to answer but she starts again.
"I'll just clear my schedule. We'll have you right in no time! You'll get the Aphrodite treatment!"
Snickers were going around the room again and Dionysus glares at them for his situation.
, and he would've fitted right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.
"There goes Percy's good instincts again", Annabeth points out.
"With the way Mr D looked he didn't need his instincts", Ethan points out.
"That's Mr D", Grover murmured to me "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron…"
"Just a camper?" Annabeth asks Grover in mock anger.
"Of course your not just a Camper. Your amazing, you helped…", Grover states.
"I was only messing with you Grover", Annabeth chuckles.
The others chuckle too and Grover sighs why were they picking on him?
But Juniper kisses his cheek. So maybe they all weren't against him.
He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.
First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.
"Mr Brunner!" I cried
The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple-choice answers B.
"That is unacceptable", Athena complains, "You can't do that"
"That is stupid", Zoe states.
"Ah, Good, Percy", he said, "Now we have four for pinochle"
He offered me a chair to the right of Mr D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh, "Oh I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't except me to be glad to see you"
Everyone looks at Dionysus in disapproval.
"What this is the future not now. You can't be disappointed with me yet", Dionysus argues.
"You want to beat", Thanatos mutters.
"Uh, thanks", I scooted a little further away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.
"Good guess", Travis and Conner comment.
"But too bad for him he is on a sobriety streak", Chris snickers.
"Wine into water", Luke snickers with his brothers.
"WHAT!?
"Annabeth?" Mr Brunner called to the blonde girl.
She came forward and Mr Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now"
Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron"
She was probably my age, maybe a couple of centimetres taller, and a whole lot more athletic-looking.
"Not anymore", Annabeth mutters.
Percy chuckles at her put-off expression and kisses her lips.
"Your perfect the way you are", Percy tells her lovingly.
Wolf whistles come from the Demigods and Apollo and Hermes.
"I don't need to know this", Frederick complains
"At least he knows how to treat a girl can I have him?" Aphrodite asks.
"Not a chance in hell. Percy is MINE"
"Get a room", Nico calls out
"As we don't want to see that", Thalia adds teasing her cousin and friend.
"You two are just jealous", Percy jokes.
"Why would I when I have Will?" Nico asks kissing his boyfriend.
"Cut the lovey dovely stuff", Clarisse grumbles.
"Before we get a tooth ache", Thalia adds.
"Or we barf", Jason states.
"Can we just continue this chapter?" Reyna asks rhetorically.
With her deep tan and her curly blonde hair, she was exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were a startling grey, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating too, as if she were analysing the best way to take me down in a fight.
"Again good instincts. But I was looking at you for other reasons too", Annabeth tells him.
"Like what?" Percy asks curiously.
"Oh I am sure you can figure it out", Annabeth teases.
"Yeh she wasn't being subtle", Luke mutters.
She glanced at the Minotaur born in my hands then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a Minotaur! Or Wow, you're awesome! Or something like that.
"Not a chance of that coming from my sister", Malcolm comments.
Annabeth glares at him.
"Well what did you say to him then?" Malcolm asks her.
Annabeth blushes.
"Sister?" Athena asks.
"Crap. Malcolm Pace, son of Athena, second in charge of Cabin 6"
Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep"
Malcolm laughs, "That is my sister"
Annabeth whacks him.
Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blonde hair flying behind her.
Everyone chuckles again at what Annabeth just said.
"Did that have to be put in the book?" Percy groans/grumbles out rhetorically
"Yes!" many call teasing him
Poseidon chuckles at his son's put out expression. Triton and Theseus smirk at their brother.
And Sally and Paul weren't much better.
"So", I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr Brunner?"
"You really are a Seaweed Brain", Annabeth states.
Percy chuckles and kisses her.
"But I'm your Seaweed Brain", Percy tells her as they part.
"I'm going to be sick", Clarisse mutters.
"Oh lay off them. It is sweet", Piper tells off Clarisse.
"I'm with Clarisse", Chris says supporting his girlfriend.
"Like you and Clarisse don't suck face", Percy mutters.
"What did you say punk?" Clarisse asks.
"You and Chris suck face whenever I see you"
"Who is good enough for my girl? She is my girl right?" Ares asks the ground.
"Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares, Head Councillor of Cabin 5"
Chris pales at that, "Thanks Percy"
"No problem"
"Not Mr Brunner", the ex-Mr Brunner said, "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron"
"Okay", totally confused, I looked at the director, "And Mr D…does that stand for something?"
Mr D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly, "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason"
"Oh. Right. Sorry"
"I must say, Percy", Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper, I'd hate to think I've wasted my time"
"House call?"
"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you, He sensed you were something special,
"Has anyone noticed that Grover has found ALL he Greek children of the Big Three?" Katie asks everyone
That got everyone thinking about how that could be.
What were the odds of the same satyr finding all of them?
"He didn't find me", Hazel points out.
"Or me", Jason states.
"Well the Greek Big Three", Katie clarifies.
so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to … ah, take a leave of absence"
I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr Brunner had taken the class.
"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked
Chiron nodded, "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your Mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test"
"That is very reassuring", Travis and Conner say sarcastically
"Yes very reassuring", Chris says agreeing with his brothers.
"Never fails to make you feel better", Luke states.
Chiron just shakes his head at them.
"How many people have died making it too your Camp?" Gwen asks.
"We honestly don't know", Annabeth replies, "Nobody had kept record. But if anyone knows it would be Chiron"
"You don't want to know children"
"Grover", Mr D said impatiently, "Are you playing or not?"
"Yes, Sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.
"You really have no fashion sense", Aphrodite complains, "But I'll fix that after this!" she states brightly.
Dionysus actually groans at that.
"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr D eyed me suspiciously
"I'm afraid not", I said
"I'm afraid not, sir", he said
"Sir", I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.
"Don't we all after meeting him", Travis says.
"Couldn't it be his charming attitude?" Conner asks.
"Couldn't possible be the fact he gets our names wrong?" Travis asks.
"Couldn't possible be because he treats us like crap…", Conner asks.
"Couldn't possible be that he smells like…"
"Stop. We get the point", Hera says as Ares, Triton, Perseus, Theseus, Hermes and Apollo snicker.
Hermes gives his twin sons a wink.
"Dad takes time to get used to", Pollux says glancing at his grumbling Father.
"A lot of time", Castor mutters.
"You could say that again", Chris snorts.
"Some of us never get used to him", Miranda states.
"Well", he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules"
"I'm sure the boy can learn", Chiron said
"Please", I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr Brun – Chiron – why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"
"Because you are the most powerful demigod of this generation", Will comments.
The Gods all looked at each other at that comment. Just how strong and powerful was the Son of Poseidon?
Was there something too worry about?
Hercules snorts sure the little snot was powerful. He could beat him in a snap. And Ares was thinking just about the same thing.
Hestia looked at the Son of Poseidon she was hearing that this particular son of Poseidon had self esteem issues. She didn't like it.
Sally and Paul were sad that Percy truly had such low self-esteem.
How could they not have seen it?
Mr D snorted, "I asked the same question"
The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.
"Why you flinching?" Tyson asks Grover.
"Because Mr D's an ass brother", Percy mutters.
Snickers come from selective few.
But Dionysus glare deepens.
Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answers.
"Percy", he said, "Did your Mother tell you nothing?"
"She said…", I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her"
"I still do. But Camp Half-Blood is where you belong"
"Typical", Mr D said, "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"
Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Piper, Meg and the others all growl of that.
"Sally is the best Mother anyone could ask for", Thalia says angrily.
"And she is the most generous and kind woman I have ever met", Meg adds.
"And knows just what to say to comfort a person", Nico adds.
Many now wanted too thank the woman who took their kids in like their own.
Sally had blushes at the praise and smiled at all the Demigods she had obviously helped.
"What?" I asked
"I'm afraid there's too much to tell", Chiron said, "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient"
"Orientation film?" I asked
"Yeh film?" Leila asks.
"What is a film?" Perseus asks.
"No", Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know –", he pointed to the horn in the shoebox – "that you have killed a Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods – the forces you call the Greek Gods – are very much alive"
"He could have been more gentle easing you into that", Piper comments.
Many agreed with her words.
"Sometimes that is not enough", Chiron tells them.
I stared at the others around the table,
I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" he cackled as he tallied up his points
"Mr D", Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"
"Eh? Oh, all right"
Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminium can and chewed it mournfully.
"Wait", I told Chiron, "God – capital G, Gods. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical"
"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about –"
"Ah, Gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter"
"Smaller!"
"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class"
"Zeus", I said, "Hera. Apollo. You mean them"
"Yes he knows about me!" Apollo cheers.
Percy rolls his eyes as Artemis smacks the back of her brothers head.
"Oww what was that for Arty?" Apollo asks.
"First don't call me Arty! And second I want you to stop acting like an overgrown child", Artemis replies.
"Live a little Sis", Apollo advises her.
"Don't call…", Artemis starts.
"Little, little Sis"
"Stop calling her that!" Zoe yells.
"Baby Sis then"
"You…"
"Lets continue Amphitrite", Hestia interrupts.
And there it was again – distant thunder on a cloudless day.
"Young man", said Mr D, "I would really be less casual about throwing names around, if I were you"
"He actually gives good advice somebody catch me as I faint", Luke says dramatically.
"I AM capable of giving advice", Dionysus defends himself
Many look at him like he was crazy. Including his own children.
It was like they were ALL saying, 'Really since when'.
"Name one time", Hermes states.
Dionysus didn't say a word.
Hermes smirks at his handy work and winks at Luke.
"But they're stories", I said, "They're – myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believe before there was science"
"Science!" Mr D scoffed, "And tell me, Perseus Jackson –"
I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anyone.
"He actually got you name right?" Austin asks shocked.
"Must have been a fluke", Lee states.
"Your imagination", Michael Yew states.
"- what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr D continued, "Hmmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals – they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come So-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me"
I wasn't liking Mr D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if…he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.
"Percy", Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"
I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.
"You mean, whether people believed in you or not", I said
"Exactly", Chiron agreed, "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their Mothers.
"Easy Chiron", Thalia mutters.
"Chiron!" Sally exclaims.
"Jesus did he have to be so harsh", Frank mutters.
"He could have tried a different approach", Hazel says.
"It would have been nice if he did. But would Percy take his words in if he didn't?" Pollux asks.
"Still he could have been more gentle. He only had a short time to process it", Silena points out.
My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods"
"That is basically what I said when we first met you", Bianca says with a smile.
Percy gives her a sad smile, "I know. I believe we all had trouble believing the truth"
Everyone nods but Meg. Who shrugs.
"I grow up mostly knowing. So I can't say. But after what HE did too me and others I would wish too have been told the normal way", she says too their silent question.
"Oh, you'd better", Mr D murmured, "Before one of them incinerates you"
"Been there, missed that", Percy mutters.
Poseidon and Sally again look at him with concern.
Grover said, "P-please sir. He's just lost his Mother. He's in shock"
Many looked at Grover in surprise. As he stood up too Percy from a God. Many had come too guess Grover and Percy had a deep bond of friendship. Probably due too similar events in their lives.
"Thanks Mr Underwood for standing up for my son", Poseidon tells him.
"It was no trouble Lord Poseidon. Percy is my best friend and has always stood up for me. I was returning the favour", Grover replies honestly.
"Aren't we your best friends?" Annabeth asks with Thalia nodding.
"All three of you are", Grover says hoping a fight doesn't break out.
"What about us?" many ask.
"Bugger"
"A lucky thing, too", Mr D grumbled, playing a card, "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe!"
He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass, the goblet filled itself with red wine.
Smirks come from around the Demigods knowing what would happened.
"Oh this will be good", Leo states rubbing his hands.
My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.
"Mr D", he warned, "your restrictions"
Mr D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.
"Dear me", he looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"
"Lier", Apollo coughs under his breath.
"Your not sorry at all", Hermes adds.
Dionysus glares at the pair of them.
"What is that about my wine?" Dionysus asks.
"You were cut off"
"WHAT?!"
More thunder.
Mr D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He signed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back too his card game.
Chiron winked at me. "Mr D offended his Father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had just been declared off-limits"
"You pig!" Artemis snarls.
"A wood nymph?" I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.
"Really Percy?" Annabeth giggles.
"I was 12!" Percy says in defending himself.
"Yes", Mr D confessed, "Father loves to punish me. The first time, prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time – well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away – second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. "'Be a better influence he told me. Work with the youths rather than tearing them down' Ha! Absolutely unfair"
The Gods look at each other. Was it really a good idea too have Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood in the future?
Mr D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.
Laughter comes again from Apollo and Hermes with Travis, Conner, Chris, Leo all joining in. Even his sons Pollux and Castor couldn't help a chuckle.
Katie, Clarisse and Calypso tried too reign in their boyfriends with a smack to the head. While Annabeth, Piper, Thalia, Nico and Will watched in amusement.
Reyna, Gwen, Leila, Frank, Hazel were wondering just how bad Dionysus was. But they secretly hoped they would never have too.
And many others were a mix between the two.
"And…" I stammered, "your Father is…"
"Di immortales, Chiron", Mr D said, "I thought you taught thus boy the basics. My Father is Zeus, course"
I ran through D names from Greek Mythology, Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr D were his master.
"You're Dionysus", I said, "The God of Wine"
Mr D rolled his eyes, "What do they say, these days Grover? Do the children say, 'well, duh!'?"
"Y-yes, Mr D"
"Then, 'Well duh!' Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"
"Oh Gods no! How dare you say that! That is insulting!" Aphrodite growls at Dionysus.
Dionysus shrugs not looking bothered.
"You fat, lazy, bastard…", Aphrodite starts too swear at him.
Many had to admit she was getting creative with her cursing.
"Why don't you just pay him back by giving him the makeover you planned? Maybe add some pink?" Percy suggests innocently ignoring the dirty look he was getting.
Aphrodite brightens, "Absolutely"
Dionysus glares at the Son of Poseidon as many were laughing at his expense.
"You're a god"
"Yes child"
"A god. You"
Apollo and Hermes chuckle again.
"It is hard too believe isn't it?"
He turned to look me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that his whinny, plump, little man was only showing me the tiniest bit if his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a straightjacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.
"DIONYSUS how dare you mess with MY son's mind!" Poseidon booms looking pissed off.
"You can't be angry as I haven't done it yet and that is technically not me", Dionysus replies.
"Dad it is the past. Let it go", Percy replies sighing in exasperation at the things that were being revealed.
"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly
"No. No, sir",
The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game.
"I believe I win"
"Not quite, Mr D", Chiron said. He set down straight tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me"
I Thought Mr D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighs through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher, He got up, and Grover rose, too.
"I'm tired", Mr D said, "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight.
"I love leading those songs!" Austin states.
"We ALL lead them", Kayla corrects him.
"Wouldn't be a sing-alone without the Apollo Campers", Michael Yew states.
"It would just be wrong", Will states.
"And wouldn't feel right", Lee adds.
"Your my children", Apollo states.
"Austin Lakes, son of Apollo"
"Kayla Knowles, daughter of Apollo"
"Michael Yew, son of Apollo, Former Head Councillor"
"Lee Fletcher, son of Apollo, Former Head Councillor"
"Will Solace, son of Apollo, Current Head Councillor"
But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment"
Thalia and Annabeth growl at what Dionysus was implying.
"Don't you dare punish him", they say together
Their defence of him warmed his heart.
"Remind me when we get make to get some of the Strolls stink bombs and place them where Mr D can run into them", Thalia growls.
"Not a problem!" Travis states happily.
"We'll give you ten for free!" Conner adds.
"It is not like we haven't done worse!" Travis adds.
Hermes and Apollo snicker just thinking about what Travis and Conner might have done. Maybe they would remember and capture it on something for proof? And to hold over his head?
Grover's face beaded with sweat, "Y-yes, sir"
Mr D turned to me, "Cabin Eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners"
"When does he mind his manners?" Leo jokes.
"I can turn that back at you elf", Percy retorts.
"How?" Leo asks.
"You fired on New Rome in the middle of trying to make peace. Doesn't matter if you were forced. That is not 'minding' your manners", Percy retorts.
Even the Romans had to snicker at that. Percy was right. That wasn't minding your manners.
He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.
"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron
Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled.
"Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been … ah grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he'd allowed to go back to Olympus"
"WHAT!? A blasted century of those brats! No wine! What torture is this?"
"Poetic justice. Even if we have to suffer for it", Luke mutters.
"What was that boy?"
"Mount Olympus", I said, "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"
"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home if the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. Its still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves Percy, just as the gods do"
"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like … in America?"
"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West"
"The what?"
"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western Civilization'. Do you think its just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years, The gods are part of it, You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western Civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know – or as I hope you know, since you passed my course – the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps – Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on – but the same force, the same gods"
"Chiron you shouldn't be telling him this", Athena says frowning.
"What harm did it do Owl Head? Just let it be", Poseidon advises.
"Anyway we can't change it", Hera states.
"And then they died"
"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there, They spent centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings, And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at symbol, the eagle of Zeus, Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not – and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either – America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here"
It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.
"Who are you, Chiron? Who …who am I?"
"You're the Great Percy Jackson!" Leo announces.
"The one and only!" Nico adds.
"Thank Gods there is only one of him", Thalia adds.
"Lovely cousins I have"
Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralysed from the waist down.
"Who are you", he mused, "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be toasted marshmallows at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore them"
"One of my favourite parts", Lee states.
"They are good", Beckendorf agrees.
And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it, His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of his chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some king of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobbly-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.
I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.
"What a relief", the Centaur said, "I'd been copped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Lets meet the other campers"
"That's the end of that chapter", Amphitrite declares.
"Just what should we expect next son?" Poseidon asks.
"Yeh brother what mess did you get yourself into next?" Theseus asks.
"I am not saying a word. This is embarrassing enough", Percy replies.
The Demigods (plus Apollo and Hermes) groan they didn't know if they had the patience for that.
"Can we eat? I'm starving", Leo asks.
"Your always staving", Frank retorts.
"Anyone else hungry?" Hestia asks.
All the Demigods nod. They were starving.
"Well then I am sure I can whip something up", Hestia replies with a kind smile.
Author's Note: What do you think? Please Review:)