SilentProwler I want to let you know that I have some plans regarding Percy's affinity for Theater. They will come to be known later in the story but I still have some plans for them. Plus I did want it to be obvious why Nyx was granting Percy with this gift just yet ;) As for the Vamps knowing about the godly world- I struggled with that for the longest time, but I decided that they should know about it, expecially due to things that I have planed to be brought up. Happy Reading!
After class, Professor Nolan had taken me aside to see what Monologue I had picked. She got excited and gave me some pointers for the monologue chosen; how to project my voice and things like that. Once she was done, she gave me a note to give Professor Penthesila as our conversation ran into the next hour. I had missed walking to class with Zoey and entered the classroom awkwardly- but Professor Penthesila just smiled at me as she read the note and continued with starting her lecture about the book we were going to be reading. I noticed that Damien, Zoey, and Stevie Rae had saved a seat for me near them, and I couldn't help but relax as I sat next to them. When I sat down, Damien sat a book on my desk, A Night to Remember, and I inhaled a bit, hoping I would stay on track with the rest of the class. I didn't have to worry for long when I heard Penthesila start to read. Her voice was soothing yet firm as she read, similar to how Chiron taught Latin when he posed as Mr. Brunner. I sat back at my desk and followed along.
I was disappointed when the hour was over, primarily since she assigned the next chapter as homework. I found it funny how I was still dyslexic when becoming a vampyre. My disappointment turned to anger when I heard the bell actually ring and saw a student call Damien the F slur before pushing through him. Luckily for me, Stevie Rae decided to express her anger too.
"I should smack the crap outta that jerk!" She yelled, and Damien shook his head.
"Don't worry about it," He explained as the four of us moved out into the hall. "That kid has major problems."
"I've beat up kids for less," I muttered under my breath, and the three of them looked at me. It came out louder than I meant it to. "I was a troubled kid."
The three of them chuckled, and Damien caused us all to think up in arms Wizard of Oz style as he and Stevie Rae led the way to the fourth hour. Fencing. Finally, a class I excelled in because of experience, not because my new goddess decided that I needed to excel in it. When we got to the gymnasium, Stevie Rae had already parted from the group, and it was just Damien, Zoey, and I. Zoey took my schedule from my hands as I took it out, looking it over. She then got this big smile, took hers out, and showed it. We were in all of the same classes. We all started to laugh as we entered.
That's when our Professor Dragon Lankford, or just Dragon as the students, called him. I got a good look at his tattoos, too dragon serpents framed his face and caused him to look somewhat intimidating. "Zoey, Percy," he addressed us, and I noticed Damien heading to the locker room. "It's good to meet you both; I understand that you excelled with Professor Mars, correct?"
I nodded and smiled, feeling proud of myself. "Yes, sir, that mostly has to do with my experience in sword fighting."
"I understand, I never studied at Camp Half-Blood, but my mother is Nike. Though I found that out long after I had completed my change." He smiled and sighed, watching the surprise wash over me. "It did explain some peculiar things in my past."
He sent me on my way to get ready before he addressed Zoey, the one new to fencing.
Fencing was excellent; Dragon wanted to see where I stood as a "Sword Master," so he and I spared as he had Damien instruct Zoey. When I needed to take a break, I couldn't help but watch how skilled he moved. It was memorizing. I had to snap myself out of it before anyone noticed, going back to continue my placement spare with Dragon. I enjoyed myself. I thought back to whenever Clarisse challenged me to a fight, calling me Prissy and then getting close to kicking my ass before I pulled the last-ditch trick out of my book.
It was getting to the end of the hour when I felt the claymore Dragon had given me felt unbalanced in my hand. I used the breathing techniques that Chiron taught me to extend my endurance, yet Dragon seems unphased. Either this works, or I lose. I then used the disarming technique Luke Castellan taught me when I was 12. Go in…Now! I heard the sword fall onto one of the mats and saw Dragon's hands empty, and he looked at me, beaming with excitement. I then straighten up, taking slow deep breaths setting the claymore down, hearing students clapping around us.
"Well done, Percy," Dragon said, clapping along with the students. "You are more skilled than Mars was able to get across. Nothing less than I'd expect from the Savior of Olympus." He then dismissed the class to the locker room. Every guy clapped me on the back, and I felt more awkward than I did when I walked in lit late. The only saving grace was Damien, who was raving about what he saw of the spare and how quickly Zoey was picking up Fencing. It was long before we had all changed, and we were on our way to lunch.
The traditional Salad Bar gave me so much comfort as the three of us got into line. I was starving and may have piled on as much as the plate would allow. It earned laughter from Damien and Zoey as we walked to the table. We all sat down together, and The Twins and Stevie Rae were already sitting at the booth.
"Get enough food?" Erin asked Shaunee giggling, and Damien spoke up for me.
"You wouldn't be judging if you saw him today," Zoey nodded, her mouth full of food. "He disarmed Dragon Lankford."
"No fucking way," Shaunee Said and looked me up and down.
"Impossible," Erin added, giving me the same look.
"We'll get back to that," Stevie Rae said and gave me an excited smile before looking at Zoey. "But, Zoey, you gotta tell us about Erik Night."
Shaunee and Erin immediately had Zoey's attention while I realized I missed a fun conversation before lit started. I shook my head, beginning to eat as Zoey tried to tell us about Erik Night with a mouth full of salad.
"I'm sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "Erik Night stared at me while he delivered his monologue in Drama. He also might have smiled at me?"
"Oh, for Erik to smile at me," Damien said, leaning back in his seat.
"Give it up," Erin said, rolling her eyes at Damien. "He doesn't play for your team."
That's when Shaunnee changed the conversation, looking right at Zoey. "Erik Night is the hottest damn thing on this planet."
"Not hotter than Kenny Chesney!" Stevie Rae interjected, and Damien rolled his eyes.
"Stevie Rae, while I normally appreciate your love of Chesney, Erik is hotter than Chesney," Damien said, and Stevie Rae frowned slightly before Damien changed his attention to Zoey. "Do not let this opportunity pass you by."
"Pass me by?" Zoey asked, and I nodded in agreement with her statement. "He didn't even say anything to me."
"Uh, Zoey," Damien started with a kind smile. "Did you smile back at the boy?"
Zoey went a bit pale, and I started to chuckle, remembering how she just watched him leave. I wasn't any better, but I wasn't facing those feelings just yet. Damien snorted when Zoey said a simple 'I don't know.'
"Next time, give him a smile back," Damien said with an amused tone.
"I thought Erik was just a pretty face," Shaunnee said, looking at Zoey. "Until he dumped Aphrodite like the piece of trash she is."
"We can already tell he has something going on down there," Erin said, wiggling her eyebrows at Zoey, and I immediately looked at Damien, who seemed highly shocked.
"That is his you'll make me uncomfortable," I said, and Damien nodded, looking at Erin.
"You both are gross." He said, and the Twins rolled their eyes.
"We only meant he has the cutest butt in town, Miss Priss," Shaunnee said, and I half expected her to add a Y to the end of her sentence.
"As if you hadn't noticed," Erin continued, and before Damien could retort back, Stevie Rae spoke up.
"If you started dating Erik, it would royally piss off Aphrodite." Everyone turned to look at her like she killed The Minotaur at 12 with no experience at all.
"That's very true," Damien said, looking ashamed he had forgotten something.
"Ah," I said, and they all turned to me. "So he and Aphrodite we're a thing."
"Which makes it better that he likes Zoey," Shaunee said, and then Zoey spoke up.
"He was probably just staring at my mark!" She said, and I shook my head.
"He wasn't," I said, and Zoey turned to me. "I'd recognize that stare anywhere; it was how I looked at my ex-girlfriend. Plus, his eye line didn't go to your mark."
Zoey had a blush on her face, and Stevie Rae spoke to her. "Just say hi to him next time, and maybe you can ask Percy for advice. He was actually in love with a girl."
Everyone started to giggle as Damien faked being offended as we continued our lunch, and before we knew it, it was over too soon.
Spanish class was a blur as usual, and that's when I was faced with the fact I'm Dyslexic and definitely an ADHD kid. I wish I could say my past in Latin has helped me in Spanish, but it didn't. I was able to follow along enough to get an idea of what was being taught. I made a mental note to see if Damien could help me with the Spanish homework. Then it was time for Equestrian Studies. Aka, the new class for me, and the class I dreaded.
Sure, horses are my dad's creation, and I do have a deep appreciation for the respect they showed me. I just didn't want a stable full of horses to call me "Lord" as I picked up their shit. Talk about stupid irony. In any case, Zoey and I talked the whole way there. Until stern upperclassmen gathered all the students, 10 of us in all, to lead to the stables. I would be lying if I didn't say I felt at home when I stepped into the stables. It just took me back to the pegasus stables at CHB. My dread turned to excitement immediately. No matter how loud my mind would be, it was a familiar task. A task I didn't mind completing. So taking a deep breath of that stable air, I looked around at the students. They all seemed somewhat nervous, except the one kid that I still wanted to beat this shit out of. I shook my head and saw our Professor come into the stable on a prideful black mare.
The mare stopped inches from my face, and I couldn't help but smile as I heard that familiar respect. Apologies, my lord; Master Lenobia likes to show off, as do I. I looked up at the mare's rider, who stepped off the mare gracefully and gave me a knowing look. I caught a good glimpse at her tattoos, and I could see jumping horses woven into the intricate sapphire swirls. Her expression changed from knowing excitement to a traditional sternness as she led the mare away from me and guided her to show the rest of the class.
"Good evening. I am Lenobia; this is a horse." She said her voice was ringing against the walls. "You are all my new class of third formers. Each of you chosen due to our high priestess believing you have an aptitude for riding. Half of you not continuing next semester, less than half who continue will become decent equestrians. Any questions?" Her pause was short, not long enough for anyone to speak up. "Good, follow me."
She led us further into the stables to 10 empty stalls, pitchforks, and wheelbarrows outside each one. Of course, our first task was cleaning. I looked over and saw Zoey had a look of recognition in her eyes.
"Horses are not big dogs," Lenobia started, causing us all to look back at her. "Horses take work, education, intelligence, and time. You'll begin the work part." She then stood up a little taller and smiled. "Down this hall is our tact room; choose a pair of mucking boots and gloves quickly. Then you'll take your stall and get to work."
"Professor Lenobia?" A girl at the end of the line asked, raising her hand.
"Lenobia will do; The name I in honor of the ancient vampire queen needs no other title." She explained, and the other students nodded before she urged the student to ask her a question. "You had a question, Amanda."
"Er- yes," Amanda said, fidgeting a bit, clearly nervous. "Get to work doing just what Lenobia, ma'am?"
"Cleaning out the stalls. The manure goes in the wheelbarrows. When your barrow is full, you can dump it in the compost on the wall side of the stables. Fresh sawdust is in the storage room beside the tack room. You all have 50 minutes. I'll be back in 45 to check your work. You begin now."
Zoey and I led the way to the tack room. I fell into the rhythm of cleaning out a stall once I picked up that pitchfork. Music played from the loudspeakers, but I ended up drowning it out with memories from camp. Something about the smell of horse shit made me think about my second home. I wonder why? It didn't feel like any time passed at all once I was done with the mucking and was heading my way to dump the manure and grab some new sawdust when I noticed Zoey was as well. We smiled at each other as we spread the sawdust around our stalls. I stepped back to check my handy work when I heard Lenobia's voice.
"Well done, you two." She said, and Zoey and I turned around to see she looked at our stalls. She held the lead ropes of a doe-eyes roan mare and a painted mare. Both the mates looked at me, and I smiled at them. "You've both done this before."
"My grandmother used to have a lovely gray gelding I named Bunny," Zoey said, and I saw her blush. "When I was 10, his color reminded me of Bugs Bunny, so I started calling him Bunny."
"So it was Bunny's stall you cleaned?" Lenobia said with a hint of an amused smile, landing Zoey a brush from her belt.
Zoey nodded and smiled, "Yeah, I liked to ride him, and Grandma said no one should ride a horse unless they clean up after one." She then shrugged, holding into the brush. "So I cleaned his stall; I didn't mind it once I got used to it. It became soothing."
"Good. Meet Persephone," Lenobia said and looked over at the roan mare, who seemed to stand a bit taller as Lenobia introduced her. "You cleaned her stall, and I believe you've earned the privilege of brushing her."
Zoey and Persephone got to know each other as Lenobia looked at me. "How about you, Percy? Where did you get your experience?"
"Camp Half-Blood," I said, looking at the painted mare who stared at me curiously. "We have pegasus stables, and one of the routine tasks campers have to do is clean the stables. I never minded it, though; it was the only place I was shown respect at camp."
"The pegasi gave you respect?" Lenobia asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, my dad created horses, and pegasi are related to horses, so they treated me like I was their Lord," I explained, and Lenobia nodded with a smile. "They also made it easy to clean their stalls, staying out of my way while I did it. They didn't do that for other campers."
"Well, this is Hestia," Lenobia said, and Hestia approached me, nudging me to face a bit. "You've created her stall and earned the privilege of brushing her."
I held the brush from Lenobia and led Hestia into the stall, taking the lead off before I started brushing her.
"You both have five minutes before class is over officially. I'll see you both tomorrow." Lenobia said.
As I brushed Hestia and she started to eat the hay in her stall, I began to relax. My first day was over, and I was in an environment that felt like home. I drowned out every other noise but the sound of the brush going over Hestia's fur until I heard Zoey get passionate about something. I chuckled a bit once I listened to the ending of her speech.
"That's why I believe the way to end stupidity is to not procreate with losers," Zoey said very firmly, and Hestia and Persephone both agreed.
I was about to tell Zoey when a familiar Okie twang called out to us.
"Zoey! Percy!" She yelled, running up to us both. "There you are; The full moon ritual is about to start in two minutes!"
"Ah, shit!" I said and quickly gave my goodbyes to Hestia and the other horses as Zoey, and I moved to put away the brushes.
We started our way back to the school when suddenly it hit both Zoey and me that we had another ritual we had to go to after this one.
"Ah hell," Zoey muttered, and I nodded in agreement. This was going to be a long night.