By the time he had made it back to Camp, Annabeth and Grover were already explaining everything to Chiron and Mr. D.
Though no one could be sure that the god of wine was paying attention.
The rest of the campers were still waiting with bated breath to see if Percy would make it back to camp alive and Cabin 11 was especially anxious to hear of his survival.
So, what Percy returned to was a large crowd of campers surrounding the Big House as they all tried to listen in on Annabeth and Grover's recounting of their quest. It was kind of amusing, when he walked up behind Chris Rodriguez and tapped him on the shoulder Chris didn't even turn back to look at him.
"What are we doing?" Percy whispered.
"Listening in on the quest. Now shush."
"Did you just shush me?"
"Oh, for Gods'-" Chris finally turned around to see Percy smirking at him.
"YOU!" Chris pointed at him accusingly.
"Me!" Percy grinned back.
The rest of the crowd was whisper shouting at them to be quiet so the rest of them could hear.
"Percy Jackson, you crazy bastard!" That got everyone else's attention.
Percy was quickly swarmed by the other campers and many of the residents of Cabin 11 let out a breath of relief.
"See Connor! I told you he wouldn't need a eulogy!"
"Glad to have you back with us Perce!"
"When did you get here?!"
Luke somehow managed to push his way over to the son of Triton and admonished the rest of them for crowding him. Then the head counselor of Hermes' cabin tried to pick him up and Percy spun out of the hold and backed away. Unfortunately, he back away into the Stoll brothers who were happy to gang up on him with their other siblings and residents of Cabin 11 to carry him up to the Big House. Percy gave up struggling after Clarisse offered to carry him on the tip of her spear.
It was good to be back.
Chiron announced that they'd celebrate their return at the campfire that night and a massive cheer rose from the campers.
Percy handed the letter his grandfather had given him as per his request to Chiron who read it aloud to camp to even louder cheers from Cabin 11.
At the campfire they burned the shrouds their cabins had made for them. Annabeth's was a beautiful gray with depictions of owls and other symbols of Athena. Percy's had been made by cabin 11 and it was a dark blue and decorated with seashells.
A few more of the unclaimed in Hermes' cabin were claimed that night now that the children of gods without a cabin in camp had somewhere to go. Among them was Ethan a son of Nemesis who Percy used to share a section of the floor with.
Even some of the children of gods with cabins already were claimed as the gods remembered for once to check-in on them. Will Solace went to Apollo cabin, and Chris Rodriguez was already in Hermes cabin anyhow but now he could upgrade to a stolen bunk bed instead of the sleeping bags that littered the cabin floor.
After the campfire Percy and the rest of the children of non-Olympian gods gathered their belongings from Cabin 11 and marched across the green to Cabin 3. They stood outside of the cabin in awe for a few moments before they started jostling each other and Alabaster Torrington, a son of Hecate, opened the door and led everyone in. Percy was grateful because he didn't really want to be in charge of the cabin despite being the one to get them permission to stay in it.
Poseidon's cabin was really nice. There were plenty of beds to go around (Percy was once again reminded that he had had a lot of Aunts and Uncles on his father's side because of how much Poseidon got around in the mortal world), and they had a great view of the beach from the windows.
Another surprise was waiting for them too.
On each of the beds was a slip of paper with one of their names and a container of brownies addressed to them was sitting on a table by the back windows. The biggest surprise was the small fountain in the main room which created a fine mist by which any light almost immediately created a rainbow. There were a bunch of gold drachmas already in the waters of the fountain and a note attached to the stone rim of the fountain telling them to "keep in touch".
There were about thirteen of them and they quickly settled in for the night and decided they'd figure out who was in charge of what in the morning.
Alabaster was named head counselor of the cabin after a quick vote with Percy as his second, so in the event the son of Hecate wasn't available Percy was in charge of the cabin by default.
The choice made sense for the most part. The children of Hecate made up the greatest portion of the cabin with five out of the thirteen being children of the goddess of magic and Alabaster was the oldest of them. The rest were all the children of other gods. Hypnos, Iris, Nemesis, Nike, Hemera, Eris, and Triton. They made for an odd bunch, but it was still much more comfortable than the floor of Hermes cabin.
The rest of the summer passed quickly as they all fell into a new camp schedule as a cabin. Near the end of the summer, they had to see Grover off to start his search during the fireworks show Cabin 9 put together every summer. Percy was really going to miss the goat-boy.
Percy wasn't sure whether to go back to live with his mom during the school year or stay at camp.
On the one hand his mom is awesome, but on the other hand school is awful and he'd probably learn better at camp. He still had a few days to decide though and he was great at procrastinating.
Last week he had put in a weapon request with Cabin 9 for a trident. It seemed like the most popular weapon in the ocean given that his father and grandfather each wielded one. Jake had dropped it off yesterday, so he'd finally get the chance to practice with the arena mostly empty as the summer wound down and classes began.
Percy wasn't really surprised to see Luke hacking the dummies to shreds when he got there. His new sword was a bit off-putting though. It was split right down the middle with one side a silvery color and the other the usual celestial bronze.
Luke had been acting weird ever since the three of them had returned from their quest. He had been weird before the quest too, but it had seemed more like worry and paranoia then. Now it was something different that Percy couldn't put a name to. Maybe it was nerves. Word on the camp gossip vine was that Luke would be leaving camp this year to make his way in the mortal world. Whatever it was Luke had been strangely hesitant in the few conversations he'd had with him, and Percy got the feeling that the older boy had been avoiding him.
Percy wasn't entirely sure why they were walking through the forest looking for a monster to fight. Sure, the forest was right there and stocked with monsters for exactly this sort of thing, but it was hardly the best activity camp had to offer and if Luke had just wanted privacy for their talk they could have gone out on the lake or stayed in the arena.
They walked for a while and there still weren't any monsters in sight though Percy thought he had heard the occasional rustle a ways off in the forest, but whatever was out there didn't seem interested in fighting them.
They eventually gave it up after reaching the creek and Luke took out the sodas he'd promised.
"Why did you have to make this so hard?" Luke sounded defeated and sad.
"Make what hard?"
"You weren't supposed to get involved!"
"Luke, I don't understand? What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry Percy, but it needs to happen. The gods have ruled poorly for too long. It's not your fault, but the world needs to change."
Luke made a cutting motion with his new sword and a shimmering line of air stayed for a moment as a monster passed through it. It was a hell hound like the one that had attacked him during capture the flag the day he was claimed.
Suddenly the last lines of the prophesy that the oracle gave me made a lot more sense.
"Luke, you were the one who stole the bolt and helm, weren't you?"
"Of course, who else could have done it! Clarisse?" Luke huffed a bitter laugh.
As Luke spoke more about what his own quest had been like and why the gods needed to be overthrown Percy couldn't help the small passing thought mostly hidden behind the shock and betrayal. If the rest of cabin 11 had known that Luke stole the master bolt and helm of darkness and got away with it they would probably be ridiculously proud and throw him a party or something for the achievement.
"You don't have to do this Luke."
"I really do."
In a way it made sense. There was no way Zeus would just let Luke go with a warning if he found out he was the thief. But the gods hadn't known he was the thief, except for Ares, and they hadn't known Percy wasn't so they couldn't know everything or be everywhere. There had to be a place beyond the reach of both the gods and that voice from the pit. Percy had more immediate concerns though with the hell hound stalking ever closer.
"You could join me. Fight against the gods who wrongfully accused you and only helped you after you risked your life for them."
No. That's not right. Percy remembered how Amphitrite had given him the pearls so they could escape the Underworld, and how Hades had promised to protect his mom in the Underworld until it was safe for her to return to the mortal world.
Percy didn't outright say he was turning down the offer, but Luke could probably read it from the face he was making.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry it had to end this way."
And then he just left him there to defend himself with a weapon he'd never used before against a monster that almost killed him the last time. Percy figured he held out pretty well all things considered, until he was thrown into a tree while getting a hit on the hell hound's side. The hell hound didn't seem to be to hurt by getting stabbed with the trident if the way it immediately moved to pounce on him was any indication. Luckily, this worked out in his favor since the hell hound landed right on the business end of the trident a good few feet away from where it could cause him any more damage and burst into black sand that quickly disappeared into shadows.
Percy just sat where he was for a bit trying to get his breath back and wondering whether he'd cracked a rib or something from being tossed, because there was this dense aching feeling in his chest that was weighing him down.
The dryads were the ones to find him there and help him back to camp after he defeated the hell hound. Some of them had heard what Luke had said to him and had run ahead to inform Chiron and Mr. D.
Percy spent a week in the infirmary.
Alabaster and the others making their home in Cabin 3 showed up every day and tried to cheer him up with magic tricks, or in Ethan's case bad puns about medical instruments.
The Stolls stopped by the first day after Luke had left. It had been…something. They had all just sat there in silence while the two brothers looked like someone had kicked their dog. Percy wondered if he was the dog in the scenario.
The second time they visited they made jokes and told him about some of their pranks from years past, and generally just pretended that nothing was wrong.
Annabeth surprised him by showing up with Malcolm and a bunch of texts. Apparently even the injured couldn't get out of mandatory study sessions.
Everyone was walking on eggshells around him and the reason he was taking up a bed in the infirmary in the first place, and Percy was getting tired of it. The only one who wasn't treating him differently so far was Clarisse, and she only interacted with him to the extent of shouting insults at him through the door for 'being too much of a wimp to even show up for the last capture the flag of the summer' like she didn't know he'd been specifically banned by Chiron from participating after he tried to escape the infirmary and only got about two steps out the door before collapsing.
It made his decision to go back home for the school year a little easier. He lived close enough to camp that he could visit and do lessons on weekends. It wouldn't be too bad.
Currently attempting to determine whether to move onto the Sea of Monsters storyline or do some shorts of the school year for Percy. Please comment your suggestions!