Percy
_

This peace was nice. The peace to relax under a tree, thinking about what was going to be served for dinner tonight and if anyone was going to try and sit with me again. After two wars, both of which I was forcefully a vital part of, I needed some relaxation time. I and the rest of the Seven were granted immunity from quests for a good long while unless it specifically called for us, which no one could help. Nico, too, now that I remember. He was a big part of the war, too.

Unfortunately for me, the Fates were not on my side.

It started when I was on patrol near Thalia's tree, wondering how she was doing in the Hunt. I was looking up into the branches, wondering where Peleus had gone to when I heard a roar, followed by a scream. I turned, unsheathing Riptide as I laid my eyes on a kid with brown hair scooting away from a cyclops that held its giant club high above its head, ready to smash the poor kid.

I launched myself down the hill, barreling into it and knocking it back a few steps. Before it could understand what was happening, I sliced through its throat, causing it to burst into dust.

As the golden dust rained down, I turned around to see the kid's moss green eyes glaring at me.

"You alright?" I asked, stretching out a hand to him.

He smacked my hand away. "I'm fine," he growled as he picked himself up. I frowned at his hostility.

"Okay, then. Well, since the monster's dead, why don't you go to the Big House and meet Chiron. It's that one right there-the big one. Oh, and don't freak out when you meet him. Not too much at least."

"I don't need your help."

I frowned even deeper, brows furrowing. "Sorry. Just trying to be nice."

Before he could retort, his eyes darted to something behind me. I whirled around, ready for it to be another monster, but it was only a dark-haired kid jogging up, waving his hand. I didn't get to register much else as I was suddenly hit with a bout of drowsiness. My legs suddenly went out from under me and I barely managed to catch myself. I glanced up to see a dark haired person running towards me when I was suddenly hit in the back of the head and lost consciousness.

When I eventually came to, I opened my eyes to see the roof of the infirmary tent. I tried to sit up but the pain made my vision swim.

"Hey, there." I heard a voice say. "Take it easy, you were hit pretty hard." The owner of the voice pushed me back down. When my vision cleared I saw that it was Will who was tending to me. He looked grim. Unusual for the blond son of Apollo.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse. Will handed me a glass of water.

"You remember that kid you saved earlier?" he asked. I nodded. "Well, his name is Alex and he claims that you were knocked out by a monster and that he saved you. He managed to convince a large portion of camp."

"Who all believed him?"

"Quite a bit," Will admitted. "I wanted to, but when I thought about it, it just didn't make sense. I mean, you needing to be saved by some newbie kid? I just can't see it. It was really weird, though. Like something wanted me to believe it..."

"It was probably charmspeak," I said. "He's probably just like Piper and has charmspeak. Probably an Aphrodite kid."

Will shrugged. "I don't know man. It was weird. Katie said she felt the same thing."

"You talked to Katie about it?"

"Oh, right! You were unconscious. Well, after you were knocked out, another kid who showed up and saw the whole thing started fighting Alex. Katie, who was in her fields, heard the commotion and went to check what was going on and found them. She said that Alex tried to convince her that he saved you, but when she thought about it, it didn't make sense."

"Who's the other kid?"

"His name is Michael Triest," he said before walking over to a cart. He broke off some ambrosia and continued, "He hasn't been claimed yet. Neither of them have. He seems to be a nice guy." He gave the ambrosia to me. "He also speaks Spanish. Like, more than Leo or Nyssa. Even when he speaks English he has a strong accent. When I asked him about it he said that it was his first language. He said his mother was from Columbia and moved to California a year before he was born."

"Where is he now?" I asked. I popped the ambrosia in my mouth and immediately started feeling better.

"Katie took him to the Big House to meet Chiron. He's probably still there now."

"Alright. Let's go. Help me up."

Will chuckled and helped me up. Before we exited, he stopped.

"Just so you know Percy, Michael is... weird." He grimaced. "That came out wrong. He's just... don't stare too much."He then pulled us out before I could respond.

We walked quickly to the Big House. I was too busy trying to figure out what Will had meant and Will wanted another look at him. When we arrived we heard three people speaking inside.

"Señor, I think you might want to try again," a smooth voice said, not masculine but not feminine either, just like Will described. "I think that he'll wrap his mind around it this time." His r's sound sharper than they should in English, like there was a 'd' in front or behind them.

"Speak English!" A male voice that I recognized cut in angrily. Will and I kept walking in until we found a red-faced Alex facing a stranger who I assumed was Michael, who had an amused look on his face. He looked to be around 16 or 17, I couldn't tell. He had a black hooded shirt over a gray long sleeve shirt and written-on jeans. What was bizarre—and probably what Will was talking about—was the fact that Michael had a bigger chest than half the girls in camp.

He noticed us before Chiron, who was in wheelchair form, did.

"Ello, Will," he said. He then noticed me."Ah, we have not been formally introduced, have we?" He stood up and strode across the room. "Michael Triest, apparently unclaimed." He held his hand up. "Whatever that means."

"Percy Jackson," I said while taking his hand and trying not to stare at him. His hand was long and soft, his fingers thin like a woman's.

"Hey," Alex yelled. "I was talking to you! You can't just ignore me!" I could see utter annoyance for the boy cross Michael's face.

"Chico estupido," he said under his breath as he turned around slowly. "You do not command me, ninito. All you are good for is lying. I can ignore you all I like and you cannot say anything about it. Now leave." Michael pointed towards the door. Alex fumed but did so.

"Thank you, Michael." Chiron thanked him.

"No es problema," Michael said modestly. "Now, what is this claiming business?" After that, Will and Chiron took turns explaining it. We talked until it was time for dinner.

"You will probably be claimed at dinner now," Will finished as the three of us left Chiron at the Big House and headed for the pavilion.

"Cool," Michael said casually. I was still mystified by his whole... himness, I guess. He didn't look like a guy, but he went by he and a male name.

"Are you really a guy?" I blurted out. Will looked horrified but Michael just laughed.

"Yes, I am sure," he told me. "Though it changes day to day. I'll let you know. I am just different. These are nothing more than nuisances." He grabbed his chest. "Honestly, el sostén is making it hard to breath. Puta prisión de pecho."

"So you're a guy, but you have breasts," Will said slowly, as if still processing it.

Michael smiled at him. "Yup! I also have a tummy!" He pat his stomach. "And it's empty from traveling across New York. So, food!"

Michael began walking ahead. I couldn't help but laugh at the weirdness of the situation. I ran to catch up with him, Will right behind me. The moment we stepped into the pavilion, a bright flash appeared over Michael. There were a couple of squeals and I heard several people hiss excitedly, "Yes!" at the symbol over his head. Will looked up and his smile faltered.

"All hail Michael Triest," Chiron said from behind us, "son of Khione, the goddess of snow and ice."

Oh, her. She was the one who tried to kill Leo, Jason, and Piper right?

"We don't have a table for Khione," someone shouted.

"He can sit with me, Chiron," I offered, turning to face the centaur. "I've got no one else to sit with."

Chiron ran a hand through his beard. "I will allow it, for now, Percy. But I will need to let Dionysus know of his existence."

"Oh, that'll be fun," I muttered. "C'mon, Michael. My table's over here."

After dinner, I asked Nyssa about making Michael a sword. She shrugged and agreed without too much of a hassle, which was nice. Since he was going to be staying with me in my cabin, which Chiron decided after dinner, he was going to go to all the activities I did.

The first activity the next day was archery. Like always, I was absolutely atrocious. Will told me to set the bow down after I nearly shot an arrow through someone's ear.

Michael, on the other hand, was slightly decent. He could barely hit a target to save his life, but at least he wasn't shooting the arrow backward.

Our next activity was lava wall climbing. Michael had surprised everyone by making it to the top first. Of course, when he got there, he was confused as to what to do next and simply hung there, holding the metal suspension that the wire was connected to with one hand, amazing everyone there by his show of strength.

After that was when the incident happened. It was time for sword practice, and I was teaching the Demeter and Hermes cabins. I don't know who put those two together, but whoever it was must live for chaos. The two cabins rarely got alone, even worse than me and Clarisse. The counselor for the Demeter cabin, Katie Gardner, hated Travis and Connor Stoll, the co-counselors for the Hermes cabin, ever since they put chocolate bunnies on the grass roof of the Demeter cabin.

It was going smooth for a while. I was teaching the younger campers how to slash correctly when a single word stopped everything.

"Oye."

Everyone turned to the source and found Michael getting up in Alex's face, Katie standing behind the son of Khione with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Take that back," Michael snarled. Michael had to only be a few inches taller than Alex but he towered over him. "And apologize."

"For what?" Alex retorted. "It's not like I was lying, was I? Could lay off the fries, couldn't she?"

Did he just fat-shame Katie? Oh, hell no.

"Hey!" I shouted. I grabbed my sword from one of the younger campers and stalked over. "Watch your mouth, kid."

"Or you'll do what? I already saved you from a monster, what could you do to me?"

"Don't you dare talk about one of my friends like that," I growled.

"Heyo, calm down a little, Perce." Travis suddenly appeared on my left, a hand on my shoulder. Wasn't he across the arena two seconds ago?

"Yeah, man," Connor added on my other side. "The wind's starting to pick up a bit."

I glanced around to see that he was right. The sky was darkening and the wind was getting rougher.

I took a breath and calmed down. Why was I getting so mad? I didn't even know Katie that well. Maybe it was because it was Alex, and so far, I hated him.

"Fine!" I said loudly, throwing up my hands. "Fine."

Alex scoffed at me. "What a wimp. Can't even defend porker over here. How can you be so fat at a camp that literally trains you to be fit? Seriously, I gotta know, how much do you weigh? It's gotta be, like, 300 pounds, right?"

I don't know what happened first. Either Katie burst out crying and ran away, or Connor and Travis tackling me to the ground to prevent me from running the kid through with my sword, or the sudden blizzard that appeared in the arena.

All I knew was at the end, the arena was covered in frost and snow. Some campers had their feet frozen to the ground, others up to their legs, and some unfortunate souls up to their necks. Alex, who seemed to have taken the brunt of the storm, was frozen in a thick, clear blue piece of ice.

"The hell?" Travis muttered as he looked at the damage. "Was this...Michael?"

"He is a son of Khione," Connor pointed out.

I wanted to shake my head at that. This seemed so much. So precise. No normal demigod could do something like this on their second day of camp. And I would know since I flooded the toilets in my first week.

Footsteps suddenly sounded. Chiron raced into the arena and seemed shocked at what had happened.

"Good gods," he breathed. He looked to the unfrozen demigods and shouted, "Get some fire, for Athena's sake! We need to thaw them out as soon as possible!"

I looked around at the arena and thought 'What the fuck is going on?'