Disclaimer : I own only my OCs.
~0~
Alexa the Druglord
~0~
Bacons, eggs, and mashed potatoes; a simple breakfast. The egg had so much cheese on it Percy thought it was pizza at first. It tasted good enough, though he didn't know why Ray decided that too much black pepper was a good idea. The bacons were untouched, except a drizzle of salt, but the mashed potatoes might as well be mashed cheese.
Still, his older brother watched him with expectant and proud eyes as he ate the plate in the empty pavilion, so he didn't have it in him to mention all of the above.
The pavilion was... fancy. There were torches on pillars all over the place, and a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub in the middle of them, its fire extinguished, though Ray said that it would lit up when eating time came. There were twelve long tables, all draped with purple-trimmed cloths.
Ray and him (and Stalker) didn't sit in one of them, though- they sat at a simple table at the edge of the pavilion, but this one had a small emblem stamped on one of its corners. It was a complicated emblem. In the background was a white heater shield, in its center were two blue snakes, circling each other. Then behind the snakes were a pair of red wings.
"Whose table is this?" Percy asked, with a mouthful of eggs.
"Swallow before you talk, Percy," Ray chided. "Answering your question, this is the Keepers-exclusive table. See that symbol? That's ours. The snake was supposed to be circling a weapon, like a cooler version of the caduceus, you know? But since my status in Olympus is 'unclaimed', we just left it at that."
He finally swallowed that egg. Oh yeah... the Keepers. Grover said that every satyr knew about the Keepers, since they always contacted the group if a monster too dangerous for them roamed near the half-blood they were protecting. Chiron also said that the Keepers brought in half-bloods when they did their weekly patrol in the city.
"Ray. The Keepers, are you one of them?"
Ray paused. "Yes, yes I am. I think that's pretty obvious given yesterday. Why do you ask?"
He shrugged. "Just curious. So... are you in charge?"
A wry smirk showed up on Ray's face. "Why yes, yes I am. However, due to the... ah, let's just say, matters in Olympus, a few like the fact that an unclaimed demigod is in charge of anything. And since no one in the main court of Olympus had claimed me, they all assume I'm the son of a minor deity, which is, according to them, is worse."
Why was that? "So you told everyone that Percival is the leader?"
"We never officially released a statement on that. Buuut in any official meetings Percival would be the representative of the Keepers. Let them make assumptions out of that, least they can leave me in peace." Ray blinked, then chuckled darkly. "Now that I said out loud, I think Percival's my scapegoat.
"Politics sound complicated."
"You tell me, brothah. Nobody told me this when we started this group. I'd take a monster battalion any day than go to a meeting with Nike."
Percy raised his eyebrows, surprised. "The shoe company?"
"What? Ha, I wish. No, it was the goddess of victory, Nike. I hate her. 'I disagree with your method of blah blah blah because blah blah blah and they could be victors but you blah blah blah.' I don't care, if they're not winners, woman, I want them to live. Who cares about winning a non-existent competition?"
Ray muttered some other unpleasant things like 'imbecile', 'entitled idiot,', and so on so forth. But he never actually cursed her, probably because he wasn't alone. Ray was really against curses- well, at least, curses that would make mom clean his mouth with soap.
Glancing down at the clean plates, Percy said, "Sounds tough."
"...Aye." Ray followed his eyes. "Oh you're finished. Oh crap, I forgot your drink. Wait here."
"Wait, I don't-" Ray had already jogged away. Percy sighed, slumping down.
He really didn't know what to think. So they were demigods, half-mortal half-god. While he was still processing it in his mind, his older brother had been into meetings with said gods, and had no trouble insulting them at all. They really were different- he didn't remember for how long they haven't met, but his brother became so different.
It didn't make him feel any better. Stalker crowed at him, tilting his head questioningly.
"It's nothing." Percy smiled at the bird. "Ray just... doesn't need to bring me a drink."
Stalker's eyes glinted, and suddenly Percy had a feeling the crow knew he was lying. They stared at each other, with Percy, on his part, becoming uncomfortable under the black bird's scanning gaze.
"Here," Ray said, handing him an empty golden goblet, surprising him. He looked up questioningly, and got a smile in response. "It's magic, see. You simply need to wish."
Even though Ray was still smiling, he sounded serious enough. Percy sighed, and said, "Okay, fine. Uh... Cherry Coke, please?"
To his surprise, the goblet was filled with red, sparkling liquid.
"A whole new world." Ray grinned. "A new magical point of view. Gods tell us what to do, or where to go, or just piss us off."
He ignored his older brother. He was experimenting, after all. "Blue cherry coke."
The soda turned to a drop dead gorgeous shade of blue.
"Nice." Both of them said, grinning at each other.
After he finished his coke, Ray admitted that he wanted to show more stuff in camp, but since Percy had seen most of said stuff, they didn't know what to do next. His older brother said that since this was his first day at camp, he got the day off to do whatever he wanted, no classes or otherwise until tomorrow.
Not like they had anything better to do. Percy asked, "Where did you put my feather?"
Ray stared at him for a second. "Oh, you mean that pig feather? I put it in..."
"Don't tell me you lost it."
"No, I assure you I didn't. Last time I saw it I put it on my... desk. In my office."
"What? Why?"
"Hey, there are children of the god of thieves roaming around here, I was making safety precautions. Don't worry, I'm sure it's still there. Come."
~0~
Percy didn't know what to expect, but he did try not to be worried when Ray led him to the monster-filled forest. Chiron said you can only enter it if you have the proper equipments (and proper guts), but neither of them had them, if any. The only weapon they had was his older brother's bronze revolver, and since Annabeth told him giant freaking scorpions roamed the place, he doubted it could do anything if the worst happens.
His bravery was tested when they passed their first monster. Like most monsters he had personally met until that day (as in 2 out of 3), it was the size of a minivan, scary, and deadly. Lo and behold, it was a giant scorpion. Its brown-ish golden armor glinted in the sun, its jagged pincers and stinger actually looking graceful from it.
It crawled around, not really doing anything, but it stood right in their path. It hadn't seen them yet, but if they tried circling it, maybe...
Before Percy could decide, Ray drew the first move. He raised a hand, and snapped his fingers.
Just as it dawned on him that his older brother might be giving away their position to a scorpion the size of a car, cold air blasted from the snap, ruffling his hair. It engulfed him, making him feel like he was wrapped in a cold blanket.
"Let us venture forth, my brother," Ray dramatically announced, Stalker crowing for added effect, then strode forward as if Scorpio wasn't bothering him at all.
Still, Percy trusted his brother. So he stepped forward too, not letting fear overtake him. Ray walked right beside Scorpio as it snapped its pincers, its beady eyes looking at nothing in particular. He followed Ray's lead, and the scorpion ignored him.
"It's my specialty," Ray suddenly said, looking at him. Percy tensed, since the monster was only a few feet away from them, but it didn't do anything. "At the moment, it can't see, hear, or smell us. The Mist allows me to do something like that, and lucky for me, I'm not bad at using it."
The first thing he said was, "Oh, is this your Jedi trick?"
"...Jedi tricks? I- well, I mean, technically it has the same effect, but I'll have you know that it's different. The Mist is basically illusions. I can make you see things, smell things, taste things, if I want. Heck, I can even make you remember things that aren't true."
"That's..." they walked next to each other from that point on. "That actually sounds terrifying. I don't think you call something like that illusions. It's more than that. And... holy crap, the longer I think about it, the more awesome it sounds."
Ray laughed. "I'm glad you agree. I can teach you, if you want."
Percy turned to him, surprised. "You can teach me? You mean, I can do it too?"
His brother shrugged. "Everyone can use the Mist. Some are just more proficient in it more than others."
"Do you even have the time? Don't you have work to do?"
"I can make time," Ray insisted. "Besides, this counts as work too."
Honestly, that sounded a lot of fun. Illusions could be pretty useful in normal life situations too, not just monster fighting. And he could actually spend more time with his brother, making up for lost time, and he would take any chance to do that.
"I'm not forcing you." Ray assured him. "I just thought that you might like it- you can talk to me later if you're still not sure. For now, we're almost there."
They walked further into the forest, as the sun started to lower from its spot high in the sky. On the way, Percy wondered when would they have lunch since they- er, he just ate. Ray sent Stalker first to alarm them if any monsters were in their path, so whenever he screeched somewhere in front of them, Ray enveloped them both in Mist. And hoo boy, were there a lot of monsters in that forest.
Finally, they reached a small cave entrance, which immediately descended. Percy tried to push down his nervousness, especially when he saw another monster dog- Hellhounds, Ray called them- bounded from inside.
But Ray just calmly entered the cave, so he followed. He heard fast beats of wings, so assumed that Stalker entered as well.
Percy felt his brother guiding him by the shoulders, and they continued further in. The sunlight disappeared, so they walked in total darkness. Then, they entered a significantly larger room. He heard all kinds of sounds there; growls, scrapes, thuds, hisses, everything. They definitely weren't alone in there, but with Ray there, who had his arm slung around him, he hardly felt afraid.
He heard whispers, too, but not unnerving ones. He heard Ray kept muttering, "...Two stalagmites, turn left, one stalactite, turn right, four tiny stalagmites and three stalactites, turn left again..."
Percy let himself be guided around, and they reached another hallway. The sounds were more muffled now, so he asked his brother, "Why is the base so hidden?"
"Hm? Oh, that. Well, there are many, and I seriously mean many, dangerous and/or important documents and artifacts put in there, from both quests and missions. Lady Athena insists on putting them in our base, since we agreed that some of the gods in Olympus shouldn't have access to this stuff."
"Lady Athena... you mean, the actual goddess Athena?"
"Yes."
"Wow. You... know the Goddess of Wisdom?"
"She's my teacher." He could feel his brother's shrug. "I have no time for school, all things considered, and since the day she found Percival and I sneaking into the Olympus library, she took it upon herself to teach us personally every Friday."
"You've been to Olympus?"
"Yeees. It's not that far from mom's apartment, actually. At least, not as far as you'd think."
So Ray was personally taught by the Goddess of Wisdom, have been to Olympus, have a secret base, and could use illusions. Percy suddenly felt the wall between them just became taller and thicker.
"At last, we have reached our destination." Ray pulled his arm back. "Now... Regulus Jackson, baínontas sti vási."
Percy immediately (and subconsciously) translated the Greek words in his head: 'Entering base'. The entire rocky cavern lit up with blue glowing lines, which was impossible to see in the dark. He could see they had reached a dead end, but the glowing lines traveled to the wall, climbing it, and formed the Greek letter Omega.
Ω
"Why Omega?" he asked. The wall pulled back in pieces into the sides- like pizza slices, each triangular part formed from the lines which had gathered there.
"It looks cool, and it sounds cool. Omega, Alpha, Beta... don't they just sound so awesome?"
The door's disappearance revealed a long hallway behind it, a different one. The uneven rocky walls were turned smooth, with large rectangular lamps and vents lined the ceiling and upper wall, respectively. The floor was tiled with rocks, and there was a sign you'd see in the mall hanging by the ceiling: ↑Main Room, →Restrooms, ←Utility Room, ↓It's Where You Came From Dimwit
The last one was probably a joke, though Percy wondered who wrote that and why was it allowed. As they entered the new hall, he was met with warm, comfortable air. Stalker squawked from Ray's shoulder, and flew on ahead into the direction of the main room.
They followed the bird, with Percy trying to ignore the bad feeling coming from there. As the door behind him formed again, he... couldn't help but feel that this wasn't a good place.
~0~
They passed the main room, which was just a large circular room with couches and tables all over the place. Then they entered one of the halls connected to said room, still following Stalker.
"So..." Percy began, searching for something to talk about. "Do you have to get past all those monsters again to get out?"
"If you're walking, then yes. Don't worry, I'll accompany you. Not many campers ever entered the Keepers' base, since really they had no reason to. If they want to contact us, they can go to Chiron, then he'll inform us of whatever it is."
"If I'm not careful can I be trapped in here?"
"No, you don't have to worry. Not everyone can get in, but everyone can get out."
At last, they stopped in front of a door titled 'Jackson's Office'.
"Well," Ray said, Stalker landing on his shoulder from a perch attached to the wall nearby. "Come in, Restroom Flooder."
What hit Percy the most as soon as he entered the office was how familiar it looked. A couch was put in the middle of the room, with a table in front of it, facing a television on the wall. There were furnitures scattered around; another table with a flower vase and some pictures, a water gallon with plastic cups stacked together, and a small rack of books in the corner.
The 'office' looked more like a living room than an office.
Specifically, it looked like mom's living room.
Except where the seeable kitchen would be, was a desk with a swiveling office chair. Behind it were racks of documents, a Keepers' symbol on a tapestry by the wall, and in the corner...
"I'm really sorry if you think it's weird." Ray sighed, walking over to the desk and sat down. Stalker flew up and landed on a nest on an upper corner of the room. "I... miss home, I really do. So I thought, to ease my homesickness, why not have my office similar to our home? And the result is what you're seeing right now."
Percy ignored what he said. He pointed a shaky finger right beside Ray's desk. "What... what the heck is that?"
The only word that came to Percy's mind was; It was his altar. A rack filled with random things to most people who would see it, but not to him. At the bottom, there was an ordinary rock, but he knew it because it was really smooth and he thought it was cool when he was little. Above it was a sheet of paper- a test result, one of the two A+s he had gotten in his life. Right on the top of the rack was a pink feather, and he knew it because he had just gotten it last night.
The rack was filled with stuff he had a hand in making, one way or another. From when he was a toddler until recently. And when he meant full, he seriously meant full, like it was stuffed.
"Oh that?" Ray merely blinked. "That's just a rack to remember you by. It makes me feel more at home, and just reminds me that I have a family waiting for me to come back. Oh goodness, it's so freaking cheesy, I'm sorry. Oh hey, there's the feather!"
As his older brother picked the feather from its sacred spot, Percy didn't know what to feel. "That's too much, Ray. It's starting to feel weird."
Ray's face fell. "I'm sorry," he repeated, genuinely. "It's just... it's lonely in here, and Stalker isn't a good conversationalist."
"Squawk," Stalker said.
"That is very correct." Realizing what he had done, Ray turned to him, frowning. "See? I'm talking to a bird. I'm mad, I tell you."
Percy shook his head, and eyed the altar again. He would appreciate it, but he only saw shrines of people who were dead. Nobody made shrines for people who were still alive.
Pushing the idea away, he scanned the stuff on display. He could see reports (the few good ones and the many bad ones), several photos of his family, and drawings. Childish drawings. But then, one drawing stood out to him.
It was a simple picture that he made when he was a kid, he couldn't really remember when. It was a picture of his family, with oversized limbs and bodies.
What stood out wasn't the picture itself, but the phenomenon that happened after the drawing was made.
"Ray." He looked at his brother, and held up the picture. "Do you remember what happened after I made this picture?"
Ray looked up from where he was making faces at a document on his desk. "Uh, yeah?"
"You know, you got a papercut..." the memories started coming back.
Ray smirked. "You freaked out."
"That's really not important." Percy's face felt hot. "After that, you washed your hands, and then there was this... symbol above your head. What was that? Wasn't that... a... uh, trident, was it?"
He honestly didn't expect this to be a very important matter. Ray narrowed his eyes ever-so-slightly, and the temperature dropped a bit. As if from warm to lukewarm.
"Yes," Ray confirmed. "That, my dear brother, was a trident."
"What did that mean?"
Ray didn't say anything for a few seconds- he just stared at him. Thinking of something to say. Finally, he said, "Percy, I swear to the River of Styx, I never lied to you, and I never will. There are things I kept secret, and this is one of them, but I never lied to you."
When his older brother said the 'Steaks' things the ground rumbled, and Percy instantly knew this was serious business. "What? What's going on?"
Ray took a deep breath, and sighed. "Just... let me ask you this instead. This is your first day in camp, you only recently was introduced to this life, and I for one know that you didn't expect the question you asked to have a serious question. Is that right?"
The drawing in his hand suddenly didn't feel as light as a sheet of paper. "Uhh... yeah?"
His older brother groaned, and put a hand on his face. "Oh godsdammit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- to scare you like that. It's just, that hologram was far more important than you would've thought. So I'm going to ask you another question. Do you want to know now?"
Well, this was getting weirder than Percy thought it would be. "Now? You mean you can tell me later?"
"Yes of course. However, knowing you... you're not an idiot, Percy, as soon as you exit the base, I know you're going to find answers, and you will. I can tell you right now, but I don't know how you'll react to it. Not after you find out just why this is a secret."
Well, this can be put in the already long list of 'Secrets kept from him by his own family', with Ray taking the lead of, currently known, 4 secrets. Yaay. What was so important about that symbol?
Percy sighed. "Okay, fine, you can tell me right now."
"Please don't take this lightly. Are you really sure?"
"Yes."
"Are you really really sure?"
"Yeah," he insisted, now a bit irritated.
How bad could it be anyway?
Ray didn't ask again, just scanned him if he was sure (which he was), and pointed a finger at the door. The water inside the gallon beside the TV burst from its cap. They flew at the door, covering it, and with cracking sounds, froze the entrance.
He stared at it. "What was that? What did you do?"
Ray ignored him. "That hologram, Percy, was a sign of being claimed. Which means you are officially claimed by your godly parent."
Something suddenly clicked in Percy's head. "Wait what? But you said you were unclaimed!"
"I did. And I am, technically. The god who's supposed to be our father never said anything about his apparent child, aka me, and by all means, that means I'm still unclaimed. Good for me, because fewer eyes and ears observing me every movement."
His heart started beating faster. He had no idea that the hologram was connected to his father! His godly father, the guy who left them all when he was little, who he initially hated, who now he couldn't care less about, was about to be revealed. He honestly didn't think he would still care about who it would be.
He almost ignored the fact that Ray had indeed lied to him.
"I didn't lie to you, Percy." Ray seemed to read his mind. "And I promise I never will. But living the life I have means I have to be extremely careful about what I say- I can't lie since ninety-percent of the beings I meet daily can see through any lie, but I can't say the truth either, since they would either kill me on the spot or bring me to Olympus so I can be killed there. Technicalities and loopholes are my saviors."
"Okay, okay." He was starting to get annoyed. It was a half-lie, then, he got it. "Just who is it?"
The remaining water inside the gallon flowed out and floated over to Ray. They took shape of a three-pointed spear, a trident, and like with the door, they froze in mid-air. It dropped right into Ray's open hand.
"Poseidon," Ray simply said, as if the four-foot-long pole of ice didn't bother him at all.
"Poseidon," Percy repeated. The god of the sea, he remembered, and the empty cabin. "Why is it such a big deal?"
Ray took a deeper breath and ran a hand through his hair. The trident evaporated in his hand.
And then he started explaining.
His older brother told him about the Big Three, how their children were stronger than the average demigod, and how World War 2 was the cover story they made for not having any more children, since the real reason was much more... closer.
"The Big Prophecy," Percy repeated after his brother. That sounded really ominous. "What is it?"
"It's a big prophecy." Ray shrugged. "I thought it was obvious given the name."
He fake-swung a fist at his brother, who smiled dryly and dodged. Percy scowled. "You know what I mean."
"Yes, well, I really don't want to burden you more than I should, thus the only thing you need to know is that the Big Prophecy is big and important, and... it involves either one or multiple children of the Big Three."
Including us, were the words Ray didn't say but were clearly implied.
Oh yay. Just when Percy thought it would be easier to breathe in this famed camp, surprise surprise, the situation just got better.
"So you mean we're not supposed to be alive?"
"Ehh... no, not alive, just... we weren't supposed to be born." Ray shrugged again, leaning back on his chair. "But here we stand. Uh, I mean here we are."
"What do we do? I mean, we're just kids, the gods won't kill us off like that, right?"
"I personally wouldn't be so sure. As for what we'll do... well, I'll keep doing what I've been doing. I've been at this for years, what's a few more? You, on the other hand... will be more difficult, especially considering your stunt with the restroom earlier. Chiron will certainly take notice, and make assumptions."
He winced. "Oof. That was on me, wasn't it?"
"If you want to get technical the blame falls on La Rue. At any rate, you'll need to learn how to hide your powers, and most importantly you'll need to hone your wit. The first is no problem, I can teach you the Mist. The second... hm."
"My wit?"
"It's what I usually do on a daily basis. You surely have done so in the past. School, maybe? You know, being rude while technically being polite. Half-lies and half-truths."
"Like what you said to me." Percy realized, remembering. "'But since my status in Olympus is 'unclaimed', we just left it that.' You never said you're unclaimed, you said those in Olympus think you're unclaimed."
Ray smiled widely, and pride glinted in his eyes. "Bravo, Percy. That's correct. One of the most useful things I said was this."
His older brother snapped his fingers, and the Mist gathered in the middle of the office- a slightly younger replica of Ray, looking up at above him.
"Who is your divine parent, Regulus Jackson?" a booming voice asked curtly.
Ray-replica (Rayplica?) looked down. "Well, I'm in Cabin Eleven... so... I think you already know the answer."
Some grumbles from an unseen someone, and the Mist projection disappeared.
"Really, I was lucky they didn't ask any more questions after that," Ray admitted. "I really like the words 'I think you already know the answer', it sounds so mysterious yet forcing those I ask to come to their own answers. I didn't lie that day, but I didn't reveal the truth either. This is very important when dealing with those who are significantly way more powerful than you are, so they know what type of person they're messing with, and in turn preventing them from screwing you over. But don't use it too much either, since they don't really like people being cheeky at them and their general response to things they don't like is blowing it to bits."
"...This just got way more complicated than ever."
His older brother smiled weakly at him, and stood up. "Oh, my dear brother, this is only the beginning. Don't forget about the feather as we leave, lest it shall return to its throne of honor."
~0~
After a promise that tomorrow Ray would make time that involves teaching Percy water-training, Mist-using, and sarcasm-practicing, his older brother dropped him off in Cabin Eleven and returned back to his base (not without ruffling his hair of course), a scowl growing on his face as he walked away.
It was already evening when they left the Keepers base. Percy could smell something cooking somewhere in camp, and his stomach started growling just at the thought of food. Smelled like... hmm... barbeque. Nice.
Nobody bothered him when he laid down to the spot Alexa Clayton, aka blue-streak Keeper girl, who was the counselor of Hermes cabin, had given him on the floor. The only thing on him at the moment was just the pink feather, and that really didn't look too intimidating now that he thought about. It probably looked weird.
"Heyyo kiddo."
Alexa approached him, carrying something. There was a lollipop poking out of her mouth, and her eyes were half-lidded. She now wore the camp's primary uniform, if you could call it that- a bright orange t-shirt with the words 'Camp Half-Blood' written on it, and a pair of jeans. Even then, she was still smirking as if the way he sat was funny.
"Got you a sleeping bag." She put it down next to him, before plopping down herself.
"Oh. Thanks."
"Eh, don't mention it. Your bro's gonna give me an embargo if I don't. Especially since you're in my cabin." Alexa moved the candy in her mouth, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Heard the restroom near here blew up."
"Oh, yeah."
"I heard you were involved somehow."
Percy grimaced. "Uh, yeah."
"Cool, just checking." He could hear Alexa crushing the lollipop in her mouth. The sides of her mouth curled again. "So... whaddaya think of this place?"
Just relieved at the change of conversation, he shrugged. "I can't say. I know Ray taught me, secretly, about all this, but I can't help but feel that I don't belong here. I mean, I never believed in gods."
The girl laughed, and pulled out the lollipop from her mouth, which was now gone. "You and me both, kid. I never did, either."
With perfect accuracy, Alexa hurled the plastic stick to an overflowing trashcan in the corner. It landed perfectly at the top. "And the longer you live knowing they exist, the more you'd like to believe they don't."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." She shot him a grin. She then pulled out a butterfly knife from her pockets and played with it. Percy could tell from the way she twirled it around her fingers without it cutting them off, that she was used to it.
"So..." he started to not let things fade into an awkward silence. "Your dad's Hermes."
"Yippity doo dah," she muttered. "Yeah."
"The messenger?"
"The guy with flying shoes, yup. He's the god that pretty much covers most people, so that's the reason why the unclaimed kids get shoved in here. And the kids of minor gods. Hermes mostly doesn't care about who he sponsors."
"How many of them? I mean, those who are unclaimed."
"Including you, around twenty to thirty, give or take."
"Wow. How long have they been unclaimed?"
Alexa glanced at him, and for a split second the ever-present smirk on her face seemed to turn into a scowl, but it was gone as soon as it came. She directed her eyes back at nothing. "Eh, some have only been here for a couple of weeks. Some are here for a few months. Some for years. Some, well, some never had the chance to get claimed."
Well that wasn't ominous at all. "What do you mean by that?"
"It means what it means, kid. Some things happened in the last few years, and some of 'em ain't pretty." She suddenly stood up, dusting her jeans. "Now get up, Percy. Dinner's just about to get ready."
He didn't have the chance to ask why Annabeth had called him someone special, back when she gave him a tour of the camp, just before they got interrupted by Clarisse. Did she somehow know he was a son of Poseidon? That didn't seem to be the case, though.
A horn- a conch shell, Percy immediately noticed even though he had never heard that sound in his life- sounded, echoing through the camp.
"Eleven!" Alexa shouted loudly so everyone could hear. She walked over to the door, putting her knife back in her pocket. "Fall in! It's time to get some grub!"
All the campers in Cabin Eleven, around fifty kids in all ages, immediately formed a line. He thought it would be based on age, but instead, it was seniority, so there were younger kids in the middle and some older kids in the back. Percy was dead last, and he noticed Alexa stood at the front.
Percy also noticed someone else, but not in the line. Far away from them, across the main grounds, his older brother strode ahead upside, to the direction of Luke's Tree, his hands in his hoodie pockets.
~0~
Ray didn't pay the conch horn any attention. He never liked being close to the dining pavilion anyway, the sight of fire always made his skin crawl. Besides, if he was hungry, the base was stocked with food, so he could always eat whenever he wanted.
Not that his stomach was a priority at the moment. Ray had signed some documents after he dropped Percy back at Hermes cabin. The usual; expenses for towing the crashed car, signed proof that the Keepers had 'borrowed' a 2003 Rolls Royce Phantom and a 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6 and returned it to their owners (or in Ray's case, back where he found it), etc.
Ray also made sure to check in on Marcus and had his earpiece fixed, a new wallet plus a credit card with precisely 450 dollars in it, and give a sick letter explaining he would meet Dr. Hermann first thing tomorrow morning to get some more pills for his stomach.
As dinner came around, Ray went to one of the things he had to do first. Luke's Tree stood tall ahead of him, its bark as dark as it always been, its leaves as lush. He could tell someone sat at the bottom of the tree, leaning against it.
From the smell.
Ray sighed, and said out loud. "Please tell me this is the first stick."
Thalia laughed harshly. "Yeah, and I'm fucking Batman."
His left eye twitched. The girl was lucky they were alone. Ray glanced down after passing the tree, and his frown dipped even lower when he saw a can of root beer and two more of those accursed dugans. But... hmm... the last time he saw her was yesterday night while bringing Percy into camp. He didn't see any of those things befo-
Ah. Of course. Jim's bar. Right down the road. You can't miss it. And with her admittedly well control of the Mist she could make a false ID, or just plain be an old man.
"Dinner time, Thalia," Ray said, "Come on."
Said teenage girl merely puffed smoke into the darkening air. 'Teenagers,' Ray thought, unamused. Was this how mom felt sometimes?
He tried a different tactic. "Does Annabeth know about this?"
Thalia chuckled. "Can't say I give a shit."
What was this, karma for psychologically manipulating Gabe? So Thalia turned into one? Yeesh. Ray thought whoever was in charge of vengeance had better taste than that.
Though, to be fair, Thalia didn't smoke and drink every day. Only once every year. Right at this day, the day Luke Castellan knocked her out after she offered to sacrifice herself for her friends, then held off all the invading monsters by himself and his golden golf club.
The first year after that happened, she didn't do anything on this... morbid anniversary. She just sat next to the tree, staring at the sky. The next year, apparently she had contacted Alexa to get her a box of cigarettes, since she always wanted to try it and take her mind off the incident. The year after that, Alexa seemed to went deaf at his orders on not to get whatever it was Thalia asked for next, thus the daughter of Zeus was found snoring at the base of Luke's tree, five beer bottles and one empty cigar box surrounding her.
'What my client do with the stuff I bring them is none of my business,' was Alexa's reasoning. She'd make an excellent drug lord, though if she did, well, he would know, and she would regret it.
Annabeth was disappointed, of course, but she never gave up on one of her idols growing up. Thalia never did curse or raise her voice at Annabeth, so even while intoxicated, her sharp mind never seemed to falter.
So Annabeth, Chiron, and the Keepers including himself (per Ray's orders) tried to prevent her from going down the self-destructive path of the sot. And preventing her from plunging herself into the worse choice, the drug path.
With the aid of Chiron, the Keepers went to a warehouse rumored to be storing several kilograms of marijuana. They found the accursed things, and brought them to a transformation facility, posing as cops, of course, and Misting everyone who asked for IDs and the such.
Meanwhile. Annabeth pleaded with Thalia not to do this anymore. She also expressed her sadness that Thalia turned to smoking and drinking instead of speaking to her. Thalia didn't say anything, and just walked away.
Annabeth didn't know why, Chiron muttered that he had an inkling, but Ray? Unlike Percival who studied everything he could get his hands on, Ray focused on psychology, being the weakest of the group.
So, it was obvious to Ray, at any rate.
It was survivor guilt. A form of PTSD, if you will.
He brought this up to Chiron, and the old teacher agreed. They had Annabeth seek Thalia out to talk, and if that failed, accompany her when she started smoking and drinking.
And they succeeded. Every time they checked near the tree after Thalia, they found that one of the beer cans was unopened, and there were some unused cigs in its discarded box.
The process went on and on, until finally, last year, Ray heard girls' laughter from the direction of Luke's Tree. A glance, and he smirked when he saw Thalia and Annabeth, laughing and smiling there. Ray saw, from the movements of their lips, that they were telling stories. Old stories. Stories from their adventures in the streets. Well, he didn't care what they were talking about, he just cared about the fact that Thalia had finally stopped.
So he wondered- what was the problem now?
"Have you talked to Annabeth today?" Ray asked.
It took a moment for her to answer. "...Yeah."
He had to cut her some slack. She only smoked what, three sticks? Instead of a whole box, that was a huge improvement. And only one can of beer was way better than the first time, which was five.
"You know," he started, "At this point, I might as well start experimenting on you. 'What would alcohol and nicotine do to a demigod'. How long does it take for a half-blood body to completely shut down? What are the lethal doses?"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Thalia snapped. "You don't like it. yeesh. You don't have to start bitching about it."
"Hm. Mind telling me what changed?"
She didn't say anything for a while. "...Something just happened, alright? Let's leave it at that. I don't want to think about it."
Hmph. "We both know Annabeth will pester you, so warning me is a futile action."
She cracked a smile. "I'm not warning you, I'm asking you."
"The great daughter of Zeus asking people? Wow, something serious did happen. Do I have to be worried?"
Thalia shrugged, and shoved the cigar to the grass, extinguishing it. 80% of it was still unburned, Ray noticed, smiling lightly.
"Oh well, time for dinner, I guess," she muttered, standing up and dusting her ripped jeans. "So, uh, how's your brother?"
"Your attempt at changing the subject did not go unnoticed." Ray's smile widened slightly. "But, answering your question, he's fine. He's a tough kid, he'll manage."
Thalia smiled at him, and pointed down. He followed her walk down the hill, after picking up the cigar butts and the empty can.
"Oh wow, how gentlemanly of you." Thalia grinned. "Thanks for picking that up."
"Hm. Thalia, I'm not that much of a good guy." Ray dumped the trash at Thalia's hands. "Clean up your own mess."
Thalia laughed. "Okay, fine, but still I'm gonna say fuck you."
"I love you too. Also, do you know that Alexa and Percival are betting on what kills you first? Percival thinks it will be lung cancer, but Alexa thinks it will be kidney failure."
She smiled and gave him a middle finger, which he just smiled back at. Teenagers.
After she left, Ray's smile turned upside down.
Just a few days before, Thalia left camp due to a call from Olympus. At the same time, Lady Athena informed that something important happened, but this was the purest of classified informations, meaning only Olympians were allowed to know. The Keepers, no matter how influential they were, were just still a group of teenage demigods. Very powerful, yes, and together unstoppable, but still demigods.
But Thalia was brought there. And the only reason was clear- Zeus asked her to come. He wouldn't call for a random half-blood, no, Ray could tell the god only trusted his daughter.
But Ray heard rumors, of course, which only increased his desire for his own reliable group of informants. They said something important was missing from Olympus, and Zeus was 'freaking out' as they put it, from its disappearance.
Ray deduced that Zeus called Thalia to help him find whatever this thing was, but why made her this way?
He scowled. Something was happening. And just his luck, it was just the same week as Percy entered camp properly for the first time.
Ray supposed the Jackson gene had always been cursed by bad luck.
~0~
A/N : Yes, more secrets have been revealed. Thalia has survivor guilt. Ray has an altar for Percy's accomplishment. No fight fight yet, sorry. I need to set up some things first.
Please review.
-Yami Tensei