[Percy POV]
I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off. I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr D, a few satyrs and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.
Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her grey eyes and honey-blonde hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.
Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!" Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!" Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread and yes, barbecue!
My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want – non-alcoholic, of course." I said, "Cherry Coke." The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke." The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt. I took a cautious sip.
Perfect. I drank a toast to my mother. She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then some day... "Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.
I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates towards the fire in the centre of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something. "Come on," Luke told me.
As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll. Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell." "You're kidding."
His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."I was next. I wished I knew what god's name to say. Finally, I made a silent plea. "Whoever you are, tell me. Please." I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag. It smelled nothing like burning food.
It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.
When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. Mr D got up with a huge sigh."Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels." A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table."Personally," Mr D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Chiron murmured something. "Er, Percy Jackson," he corrected.
"That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on." Everybody cheered. We all headed down towards the amphitheatre, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.
We sang camp songs about the gods and ate toasted marshmallows and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.
Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. That's when an arm wrapped around my shoulder, I turned to see someone I hadn't met yet
It was a boy around my age, maybe a little older, he was tall, a bit more than Annabeth, he had a pale skin, dark brown hair and greenish blue eyes, wore a black leather jacket over the camp shirt, brown jeans, and leather boots, he smiled at me, looking friendly, but something about him gave me a bad vibe, like I was in danger, everything in my head was telling me to run, until he spoke, he had an obvious british accent but something else made me felt almost stuck, hypnotized by his voice.
[Cassidy POV]
As everyone made their way to bed, I figured it would be a good time to make my move, it's harder to see who's attacking whom in the dark. He was a lot younger then I thought he would be, this was my first half decent view of him.
"Sup, you're Jackson right?" I said, trying to act like one of the campers, remembering my first day. He jumped a little and nodded, his eyes already darting away from me, those will be the demigod reflexes kicking in.
"Did you really take that?" I said, laughing a bit, slowly tightening my grip as I slipped an arm around his shoulder. He shook his head quickly, "I haven't taken anything, I promise." He sounded really worried, then again, I would too if I had a God out to get me.
Still I had to wonder, why do they always play dumb? It just wastes time. He was holding something to his chest, it looked like a cow's horn. Weird, was he a cattle wrangler or something?
"Listen, I really don't like doing stuff like this, but I have a job, so I really need you to give me that thing, I can even tell boss you didn't have it and I found it buried somewhere." His eyes widened, his hand gripped onto the horn he was holding.
"I'm trying to be nice, which is why I let you all finish your singalong and let you have marshmallows." I had to take my arm off his shoulder as he swung the horn at my chest, I retreated and sighed.
"Just hand it over Jackson, nobody needs to get hurt and we can forget all about this, you can go to your cabin and sleep." I pleaded, hoping this would be easy. His eyes widened into saucers as it dawned on him why I was here. He looked behind him to a group of campers heading for their cabin before another voice joined the talk.
"Cassidy. Why have you come here?" Chiron asked. Finally, someone worth speaking to. "I've been sent to hunt the kid. Big guys orders" Jackson called out "I don't-" "Not now Horn boy, the adults are talking." I hushed him.
"I was under the assumption you hunted monsters-" "-and threats to the gods" I nodded. "I don't have time for this Chiron. I'm just doing my job, you know that. After this, I just need the thing and we're all square, then I'll be out of your hair. Well, actually I won't, but I'll be like normal camper and, well, not like this at least."
Chiron sighed and nodded. "Come to the big house, we can talk this over, maybe come to some arrangement" We were already on our way before Jackson opened his mouth.
"Wait just a minute. Chiron who is he?" Jackson asked pointing at me. "I'm here you know?"
"Don't worry child I can explain it to him." Chrion told me, thanks the gods I don't have to explain everything around here. "Percy, this is Cassidy van Gloss, Olympus' hunter."
So what do you guys think of Cassidy? Who really is he? Why is he and what exactly is the Olympus' hunter? Who are his parents and why is he after Percy? Read the next chapters to find out.
See you soon.
