PERCY
When the earth began to violently shake beneath our feet, I knew our hopes of having a quiet summer had just flown out the window.
I had embraced the chaos that came with the demigod life and figured that after years of fulfilling prophecies and helping eternal beings with their to do lists, the fates would grant me a break. As per usual, I was wrong. I was so wrong, in fact, that in the week that followed the Johnsons arrival to camp, the universe did absolutely everything in its power to prove to me just how wrong I was. Annabeth's weariness whenever the strange trio was around didn't let out, and it didn't help that ever since they had arrived at camp her visions had stopped. Like turning off the TV, I had thought when she had mentioned it. It also didn't help that Chiron was MIA that week because he had been called on some important meeting in Mt. Olympus, leaving behind the cabin-heads council in charge for the time being, which was always a complete disaster since we could rarely agree on anything. Three meetings were called before Chiron returned to camp, and I probably would've paid more attention to whatever drama was going on, had it not been for my own preoccupation with Annabeth's wandering stares and fidgeting fingers. She had spent most nights that summer in the Poseidon cabin with me, and while she made for an excellent roommate it worried me that if before she couldn't sleep because of her dreams, now she refused to sleep because of her lack of them.
That Friday night, as the meeting at the Big House ended with Clarisse throwing one of the decorative bowling pins at Connor's head over some scheduling dispute, I jogged slightly to catch up with Annabeth who was heading towards the Dining Pavilion. Her blonde hair was pulled back with a dark red scrunchie, and she was wearing an old jean jacket, as a soft breeze chilled the air that night. She looked as though she could've played the main character in a cheesy 80's movie, and I smiled at the thought.
"Where are you heading so fast?" I asked, sneaking up behind her, and I felt her jump slightly before shooting me a small smile, the sight of her still made my heartbeat fasten.
"It's lasagna night and I wanna get there before it runs out, Seaweed Brain." She responded as she stared ahead. I frowned at her.
"Isn't the whole point of the Pavilion that we can have whatever we want and it never runs out, Wise Girl?" She shrugged at the question and shook her head.
"Well, yeah, but I like to pretend it does run out and that way it tastes better since I know I walked fast enough to get there before anyone else, now stop slowing me down!" She responded, poking a finger in the middle of my chest and I laughed. Now that she mentioned lasagna, I could feel my stomach growl at the thought of food.
"Hmm, seems like solid logic." I replied sarcastically, to which she responded by dramatically flipping her ponytail behind her shoulder.
"I am a daughter of Athena; logic is my middle name." She said and I raised an eyebrow at her.
"I thought your middle name was Olivia," I responded and felt her soft punch on my shoulder as she laughed.
"You're such an idiot."
"I'm your idiot," I said, watching her blush from the corner of my eye.
It felt good to see Annabeth's face light up with laughter, considering how much she had been avoiding any discussion surrounding the new campers all week long. She would always glance away, pretending she hadn't seen them or keep her distance whenever they were in the same space together, and it seemed they had been doing the same, for the most part. Out of the three of them, the one I'd had the most contact with was Hector, who had come to see my sword fighting class one day and had stuck around after it had finished. The boy had seemed unsure on how to approach me at the time, and it had struck me as strange since I thought the few interactions we'd had seemed friendly enough, but I could feel the younger boy's intense stare burning holes on my back as he watched the class.
"You're really good at this." He said from the arena's bleachers, fixing his glasses as they slipped from his nose. I turned around to face him and shot him a small grin.
"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you've been doing the same thing since you were twelve," I responded and he looked surprised.
"You've been sword fighting since you were twelve? That's younger than Kass," He replied, his burning stare replaced with disbelief mixed with admiration. I shrugged, running my hand through my hair, which was wet from the sweat.
"Yeah, I mean sort of, I got to camp when I was twelve, and I've had a sword ever since," I replied and the guy shook his head. His dark hair was longer and more unruly than mine, falling right above his eyes.
"The Minotaur? I heard some campers talking about it. Must've been tough." He said and I nodded.
"Come over here."
I watched as the guy looked around, blinking at me before standing up and making his way down the bleachers. He was slightly shorter than me, but not by a whole lot. Probably by two or three inches at most, I thought. He gave off a laid-back impression, with his wind-swept hair. his tanned skin, and his dark green sandals, he reminded me of a surfer; but his body language suggested differently. His eyes reminded me of a mixture of slate and smoke, as the sun glistened, and Hector squinted to avoid being blinded by the rays reflecting off the bronze armor. His hands were deep in his pockets, and I could see him shift uneasily as he got closer to me, his eyes fixed on the beige gravel he was pushing around with his foot. I stood in front of him, keeping a comfortable distance and tried to meet his eyes.
"I don't bite you know," I said and the boy's eyes shot up. As he met my gaze, I could feel the intensity brewing beneath his stare. Hector bit his lip, unsure of how to respond, but simply gave a shrug, his voice quieter than I had expected.
"I'm sorry… It's just been a rough week." He said, and while he didn't come any closer, his expression softened as he adjusted his glasses.
I noticed for the first time, the small red line that ran through Hector's left eyebrow, which was only partially covered by the dark frame of his glasses, and wondered what had happened to them. I waved my hand and gave him a small smile, wondering if I had looked so unsure of myself when I had first gotten to Camp Half-blood. I figured I'd probably looked worse given at the time I believed I had just lost my mom and thought my best friend was about to die.
"I'm guessing you've never fought with a sword, right?" I asked him, and he shook his head.
"People in Washington prefer cold brew as their weapon of choice." Hector said with a small smile. Maybe I was getting somewhere.
"That where you're from? I can't imagine cold brew will be of much use against a harpy, no offense." I replied as I grabbed a medium-length sword from the shed, and I heard Hector laugh. He hesitated before responding.
"Uh yeah, I can't imagine it will, and not exactly. I mean, my parents- we moved through a bunch of places, but I guess we were in Tacoma for the longest." Hector replied and I nodded.
From the way his breath hitched when he mentioned his parents, I guessed something must've happened there, and I remembered what Helena had mentioned during our first meeting. I wondered if they had passed away recently, and felt a soft, burning sensation in my chest. Whatever happened, like the stories of almost every demigod I knew, it wasn't fair. I handed the dark-haired boy the sword by the hilt. He studied the intricate design, the two snakes that faced each other by the cross-guard. His eyes glanced up at me in confusion before he took the grip in his hand.
"That was King Aga-meme something's sword, you know before he went kaputz" I said, making an exploding gesture with my hand, only vaguely remembering Annabeth's explanation about the artifact. The boy looked at him wide-eyed.
"You mean, Agamemnon? As in the King Agamemnon of Troy?" Hector asked, suddenly looking at the sword like he was afraid to touch it.
"Yep, that's the one!" I said, embarrassed that someone who'd been here for a week already knew the names of Greek figures better than I did and thinking I would have to ask Annabeth for another tutoring session.
"So, the first thing is learning how to hold a sword properly, you're gonna take the grip, and you want to make sure the balance is good, like this," I said, demonstrating what he needed to do with Riptide.
Hector followed my lead but was struggling to lift the bronze sword up completely. Despite only being two years younger than me, I realized how young he looked trying to balance the sword in his hand, like a kid playing pretend. I continued practicing basic drills and movements with him, working on making him feel comfortable with the weapon, but after about a half-hour Hector was panting, as sweat dripped down his forehead and made his t-shirt cling to his body. We kept going for a while longer, as I showed him basic defense moves that could've been handy in combat, and although I could tell he was tired, the boy never said a word. In his silence, I wondered if, despite the ease of the conversation earlier, his walls had come back up.
"I don't know how you can do this all day." Hector finally said between pants, dropping the sword to his side. I let out a soft chuckle.
"Guess I didn't have much of a choice, I either fought or died a pretty painful and horrible death, and between the two, fighting seemed like a better idea at the time." I said with a laugh before capping Riptide and putting the pen in my pocket. I reached over to the small cooler by the side of the armory and handed Hector a water bottle.
"Yeah, I guess that would make for pretty good motivation." He said, as he took the bottle and quickly began gulping it.
There was a pause before either of us spoke. I didn't know what it was about him that made me want to open up, to try to genuinely help him. Maybe it was that he reminded me of a younger version of myself, with the witty remarks that hid the anger and confusion that was always bubbling underneath the surface. I could feel it, the shift in the atmosphere every time his past was brought up, every time I got too close. I sighed, picking my words carefully before speaking.
"You know, when you mentioned the Minotaur earlier, you reminded me of when I was first stuck in the Hermes cabin because I was unclaimed, and how things were when I got here." I said, looking at the ground. Now it was Hector who was staring at me, his dark gray eyes fixed on me.
"I'd thought my mom had died at the time, and I was terrified. I wasn't trying to be a hero, you know, but here I am, I guess." I continued, as the boy listened.
"I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I know what it's like to lose people you love and have your life change in an instant. I know Annabeth wasn't the most welcoming person when you guys first got here, but she's a good person, a great person, she'll come around. And I gathered, from how you talk about your family, that something happened, something bad. And I know you don't know me, you don't know us, but almost everyone here has gone through something similar, so just, if you ever want to talk, Cabin Three is open." I said, taking in a quick breath.
Hector was pushing some gravel with his foot, looking at the floor, an expression of sadness on his face. I felt a similar burn course through me, feeling as if I had stepped over some sort of invisible line. What are you doing?, a voice in my head kept saying but I pushed the thought away. The boy bit his lip before responding.
"I-uh, I know. Thanks. I should go." He said, and without another word he stood up and walked out of the arena, leaving me alone with a half-empty bottle and an ancient sword resting against the bleachers.
As I walked with Annabeth, the lights of the pavilion at a short distance, I kept thinking back to that moment. In the following days, Hector hadn't returned to class, and I feared I had overstepped. After that, I had wondered what to make out of the trio, who was always together, and always alone. Annabeth looked at me, furrowing her brows together.
"You're thinking about them, aren't you?" She asked, and without giving it much thought I nodded.
"I don't know what to think, it's just, I want to help, but every time I see them, they just seem so… out of place." I said as we reached the pavilion. Annabeth glanced out before stepping in, most of the tables still empty.
"They seem mortal." She finished and I knew she was right.
Even though they hadn't been claimed, they just didn't seem to possess any demigod abilities either. I had noticed that most of the time, the group looked frailer than the rest of the campers, and at first, I'd assumed something was going on but then, as the days passed, neither of the kids seemed to be getting better.
"I know we are waiting for Chiron, but… what if we let someone else handle it this time?" She said, standing in front of him and taking his hands.
"What do you mean?" I looked at her, a confused look crossing my eyes as I met her gray ones.
"I mean, maybe we leave it alone, maybe this time it's not our job to step up. I stopped having the dreams and I know I didn't make the best impression, but Helena won't even be in the same room as me, I've tried, so maybe we just, let it go." She said, and I stared into her eyes for a moment,
I knew what Annabeth was saying, and I understood where she was coming from. I had thought the same thing, but even if a selfish part of me wanted to carry on business-as-usual, I couldn't shrug off the burning sensation I'd felt when I spoke to Hector. Deep down, I knew we had a connection, I didn't know why, or how strong it was, but regardless, it existed. I gave Annabeth a weak smile and as if she could read my mind, she nodded. Words weren't really needed between us, she understood. We walked in silence, sitting at a table by the far end of the pavilion, and waited as the dryads served them their food at a perfect temperature, and without much resistance, we dug into their dinner.
I had half a spoonful of a blue sea-salt-dark-chocolate sundae in my mouth when I heard the voice of an angry blonde echo through the walls as she marched her way to cabin eleven's table. Two figures trailed behind her, who seemed about as happy as she was, a girl with long dark hair and a boy who I recognized despite his missing glasses. All three of them stood in front of the table as Connor looked up from his plate. I gave Annabeth a curious look, but she just seemed as lost as I was.
"I know one of you took our stuff, so which one of you weasels was it!" Helena said threateningly, slamming both her hands on the ends of the table. Connor looked as confused as everybody else.
"One of us took what?" he asked which only made Helena more infuriated.
"Don't play dumb with me, you stole our stuff while we were sleeping!" She said again, slamming her hands down once more, before crossing them over her chest. Her green eyes stared down at each one of Hermes' kids so intensely, that it made my skin shiver. Connor shook his head, standing up from his seat, a half-eaten brownie on his plate.
"Look Lena, I have no idea what you're talking about-" He said, clearly losing his patience with the girl, who just rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't call me that, your dad is the god of thieves for crying out loud, you really expect me to believe you have no idea about what's going on? Just give us back our stuff, it's important!" She said, her voice trembling with exasperation.
Without giving it a second thought, Annabeth and I stood up and quickly made our way to the table, ignoring the gathering crowd and curious glances at the spectacle. Upon a closer look, Kassandra's eyes were puffy, like the small girl had been crying, and Hector looked expressionless. Helena on the other hand looked like she was ready to rip Connor's head off if he was remotely complicit in making her little sister cry.
"What's going on?" Annabeth spoke, as she stood behind Helena. Without turning to face her Helena snapped.
"You two stay out of this." She said and then directed her gaze towards Connor.
"Lena," Hector began, but his sister ignored him.
"Like I was saying, it's our stuff. It's important, and we want them back." Annabeth shot Connor a warning look, ignoring what the honey-colored blonde had just said to her.
"Connor, just get whoever in your cabin to give them back whatever's missing, the prank really isn't funny." She said, placing her hand on her hips.
The curly-haired boy just let out a frustrated sigh, running his hands through his hair.
"Listen Annie, for the last time I don't have their things and neither does anyone in my cabin, so why don't you let us finish our dinner in peace-" He began before turning to Helena, "Oh, and tell your cry-baby sister to shush it with all the dead parents talk, it's a bummer, it's creepy and it's getting old." He replied, taking one indifferent look at Helena before returning to the cold, chocolate square on his plate.
"What did you just say to me?" Replied Helena, an eerie coldness in her tone.
Before the harshness of Connor's word had fully sunk in, or he could reply, I felt the trembling of the earth beneath my feet. The shock waves were slow at first but gradually intensified, like a train nearing a station. I shot Annabeth a quick glance, but everything happened too quickly. The soft buzzing grew louder and louder until it was all I could hear as the trembling grew stronger until I could barely keep my footing. As the ground shook unevenly, it felt as if we were standing on water. Some campers hid immediately under the tables, others ran out of the pavilion, but didn't make it too far before falling to the ground. The harder the ground shook, the more cracks began appearing all over the columns and walls leading to the temple-like building where the dryad's chambers were located. I could barely make out any words over the terrified screams of the campers, as the earthquake rattled violently, rummaging everything in its path. I tried to move, but I was already on my knees, fighting to remain still, that's when I saw Annabeth throw herself onto Helena, who despite the chaos unfolding around her, remained paralyzed in the same spot.
"Helena, HELENA! Look at me! Look at me, you have to stop!" Annabeth said, engulfing the girl in a hug, and as suddenly as the earthquake started, it stopped as the girl buried her face into my girlfriend's shoulder.
I looked around and noticed that Hector was on the ground shielding Kassandra, who had her head hidden in her brother's chest. He was whispering something in her ear, probably soothing words to calm her down. Around us, campers started coming out of their hiding spots, staring in disbelief at the two girls. With all the commotion, I had barely noticed the large crack on the floor that ran underneath the table where Connor had been sitting, the split ending just inches from where the quick-witted son of Hermes had been just minutes before. I quickly glanced over at Annabeth, a panicked look in my eyes, who was still hugging the trembling girl, running her hand through the dark blonde curls in a soothing fashion. When the girl finally looked up, she took quick and jagged breaths.
"I-I'm sorry, I don't know how, I was just so angry, and-" Helena began, all eyes on her as she spoke, but before she could finish Annabeth gave her a firm look.
"It's not your fault, it's probably your godly powers manifesting." She began, but before she could continue someone yelled the words look, and Annabeth quickly stepped away from the girl, moving to my side.
I stared dumbfounded, as Hector and Kassandra stood up, all three teenagers staring at each other. Everyone else took a step back and began to kneel. I looked at Annabeth for answers, but she seemed as taken aback by what was happening as I did.
"Uh Lena, you have something in your head…" said Kassandra, pointing to the top of her older sister's head.
"You do too, Kass." Helena replied, staring at her siblings in confusion.
"We all do." Said Hector, pointing upwards, staring at the holographic symbol that had appeared on top of all of them.
They were being claimed, as a small, trident appeared above their heads. I had seen it before, it was the same symbol that had appeared above my head five years ago, Poseidon's symbol, the trident curving above their heads shimmered as the silver light reflected off it. Annabeth gave me a look, and I knew, this was one of those rare moments where she was as confused as I was.