Percy
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"Guard up!" I yelled at Killian. He barely deflected my sword in time. The blow knocked him off balance and he stumbled back. "Learn to deflect the power behind the strike, not just the attack itself."

"Got it," he said. He steadied himself and raised his sword again, panting and sweating.

We'd been training for about an hour. He told me about his fight with Atlas and I chided him for not using a weapon. When he said he didn't know how to use one, I dragged him to the arena and began telling him the basics of sword fighting.

He was a quick learner. Before thirty minutes was up, we had begun going through the motions, practicing attacks and defense. Now I was putting him to the test, seeing if he could use what he learned.

"I'm going to attack again," I told him. "Keep your feet planted on the ground, and remember: deflect the power, not just the sword."

"Right," he said. He hefted his sword, borrowed from the armory shed. "I'm ready."

"Okay." I performed the strike again - a stab at the midsection. He turned his sword so that mine bounced off it and away from him. I stumbled forward but quickly regained my balance. "Good job. That was exactly what I wanted."

He nodded. "Thank you. Say, could we stop now? I'm sore from the stretches you made me do."

"Fine, we can be done. Go shower, then we'll go join the rest of the cabin with activities."

He nodded, grinning. He looked ready to take off but paused.

"Hey, Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For teaching me."

I smiled. "Hey, it's no problem. I used to teach kids much younger and clumsier than you how to not stab themselves with swords. It's relaxing having someone learn so fast. Gods know that Michael would if he just picked up a sword and not his twin staffs."

Killian half shrugged. "He seemed pretty good with them when he fought Atlas."

"That's fair." I sighed. "Whatever, it's nothing. Go on, you're starting to stink."

He grinned at me. He turned away but froze.

"What? Did your legs give out? I'm not carrying you to the showers."

He made a strangled noise.

"Oh, was it your brain, then? That's not good."

He made another noise and pointed. I turned and nearly tripped on my feet.

Walking towards us was a short, curvaceous woman in clothes that really didn't fit her. Her shirt was ripping from the bottom up and left her stomach exposed, which was flat and smooth. Her jeans were ripped along the seams, like she grew too big for them with them on.

And worst of all...I recognized her. The hair was the same pixie cut with low hanging bangs. The skin had the same deep tan. Even the face was the same.

"Michael?" I asked incredulously.

He-she-they raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You're a woman!"

"Am I?"

"Have you looked at yourself, you dolt!"

"Dolt? You're starting to sound like Zoe." They looked down at themselves. "Hm, would you look at that? My tits have grown."

"Language. There are children present."

They shrugged. "This explains why that guy who gave me a ride was so surprised when I said I was a man. I wonder..." They stuck a hand down their pants.

"At least turn away!" I exclaimed, turning the other direction. I grabbed Killian and spun him around.

"Well, I don't have a dick anymore. Odd. I didn't feel any change. You can turn around now."

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure they were telling the truth before turning around. "Maybe a god did this to you. Aphrodite, maybe? Did you see her on the quest to save Artemis?"

They shook their head. "Was I supposed to?"

"I don't know. She showed up when I went, but I guess things were different."

"I'm going to go," Killian said, his face bright red. It was funny seeing him so flustered and childish. Especially since he was beginning to grow taller than me.

"Yeah, go. I'll see you later," I told him, pushing him forward.

He looked away from Michael as he hurried past.

"Has anyone else seen you?" I asked, walking up to Michael.

They shrugged. "I don't know. I thought the Demeter cabin was supposed to be here right now, so that's why I came here."

"You were looking for Katie?"

They nodded. They lifted a plastic bag. "I got cotton candy for her."

"...why?"

"She's on her period, and her favorite food is cotton candy, so I thought it would cheer her up a bit."

"Oh...Well, the Demeter cabin is doing their activities with the Aphrodite and Hephaestus cabins cause there aren't as many demigods. You, Zoe, and Killian are doing activities with the Hermes cabin."

"Zoe agreed to do that?"

"Not really. I doubt she went to crafts. She's probably in her cabin."

"Probably sulking." Michael shrugged. "Okay. I'm off to find Katie."

"Oh no you're not." I grabbed them by the arm as they turned away. "I'm taking you to Silena. If her mother had anything to do with this, she should know what to do."

"Okay. That's where I was heading anyway."

Silena and Katie stared at Michael while Beckendorf did his best not to.

"And you're saying you didn't feel it happen?" Silena asked.

Michael shook their head. "Percy was the one to point it out. I had no idea my tits had grown so much."

"They are a lot bigger," Silena muttered. I felt my face grow hot and turned away from them.

"Is this Aphrodite magic, Silena?" I asked.

She clicked her tongue. "I don't think my mother did this. She would've given him - them new clothes. Revealing ones, too, with the way you've developed. How big is your butt?"

"Is it big? I do feel a little more weight back there, now that you mention it."

Beckendorf coughed awkwardly. "Can you do anything to reverse this, Silena?"

"Hm." She was silent for a couple seconds. "No. They're stuck like that."

"Great," I muttered sarcastically. "Now we'll have a literal piece of eye candy strolling around camp. Great for hormonal teenage boys."

"And girls," Katie added.

"Oh!" Michael exclaimed. I heard shuffling and looked over my shoulder to see Michael take out a bag of cotton candy. "This is for you, Katie! I know it's your time, so I thought you'd like some."

Katie brightened instantly. "Thank you!" She took the bag excitedly. It was a big bag, too. Probably 10 lbs of cotton candy, there. "What else is in the bag?"

"Two other bags of cotton candy, and some chocolate eclairs for Bianca."

And just as fast as Katie had lightened up, her mood darkened. "Oh...Goody. Thanks for the cotton candy." She turned and stalked away.

Oh, I thought. I made eye contact with Silena and she nodded, confirming my suspicions. She's upset because of Bianca, not her period.

Michael just stared after her, their head tilted, as it often did when they were confused. I honestly found myself picking up that habit, too.

"Mood swing?" they asked, looking at Silena. The daughter of Aphrodite shrugged.

"Go find Zoe and Bianca," I suggested. "Beckendorf, could you take them? And explain what we know, since I'm sure as hell that they won't."

He nodded. "Yeah. I'll be back in a few." He kissed Silena on the cheek before escorting Michael away.

After they were out of earshot, Silena said, "You've figured it out?"

I nodded. "Katie's jealous."

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p'. "Insanely. How close did you say she and Michael were before you went back?"

"Very. They were practically inseparable from when they first met. The only time I'd ever seen them get into an argument was when Michael tried to defend Travis and Connor for one of their pranks, but even then, Katie wasn't mad for more than a day."

Silena whistled. "Impressive. She hates them."

"Not so much anymore. She more so tolerates them, now. That's what happens when Michael nearly becomes best friends with Travis."

She nodded understandingly. "It's no wonder she's been so upset lately. She really likes Michael, I know that much. And I know he likes her. They did have a..." She thought better of her words. "But then he goes on a quest and returns with this beautiful, younger girl who he knows from his past and spends most of his time with now. Then they go on a quest together and Michael saves the girl in spectacular fashion." She snickered. "I'd be jealous, too."

"Yet Michael doesn't see it?"

She shook her head. "Not that I can tell. He went out to buy something for Katie, but he got something for Bianca, too. There's going to be a lot of jealousy going around."

"And we really don't have time for it," I muttered. "Not with the war happening next year."

"Hopefully this conflict with Michael's physiology helps to resolve all that." Silena tilted her head as she pondered something. "Katie's still attracted to them. She made that obvious when she added that girls will see them as eye candy, too. The question is, will Bianca be, too? If she is, then we'll have a hostile love triangle on our hands."

"That's your area of expertise. I just know how to stab monsters and look great while doing it."

We both laughed.

"What about you, Percy?" Silena asked. "How've you been? With Annabeth gone?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. Eventually, I said, "I don't know. It's weird, knowing she's gone. I may never see her again. But, unfortunately, I'm already used to her absence. Back before we reversed time, she was hanging out with Alex more than she was with me. I'd accepted that she was fooled by whatever fog was clouding everyone's minds and that I'd lost her already."

"I'm sorry, Percy," Silena said, laying a hand on my shoulder, which was hard for her since she was 5'2 and I was about 6'0. "At least you've moved on. That's the right thing to do."

I sighed. "Thanks, Silena."

"No problem. If you ever need to talk, just let me know, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

It was decided that Michael would be going by their original name, Michaela, while they were a she. Aside from that, most things went normally.

I trained Killian daily, sometimes at the same time Zoe trained Bianca. That led to some awkward situations when I would wipe my forehead with my shirt, revealing my midriff, and be startled by Bianca's sudden laughing. I'd look around, but all I'd see is Bianca laughing at Zoe, who had her face turned away from me.

Speaking of Zoe, she was finally starting to enjoy camp. It was better when there weren't so many people around, she said. She liked hanging out with Bianca and Michaela, and occasionally Katie and Silena. Before that, however, I had to drag her out of her cabin a few times. She would be sulking in her cabin, upset that she had to 'stay at this stupid camp' and 'be around men who couldn't even hold a bow correctly.'

I decided not to take that second one as a personal insult and kept bugging her anyway. Eventually, I managed to get her out of her cabin and to do a few activities. The only guys she was fine around were me, Killian, and Beckendorf. She despised doing anything around Luke or the Stolls, but she found her niche in arts and crafts. She would sculpt these beautiful carvings out of wood. Sometimes it was an animal, like a wolf or deer, and other times she would make miniature bows. She was so good at making bows that when Lee came to visit during a break from high school he asked if she could make full sized ones. He told her that he'd be in her debt if she helped him learn to make them and teach him archery, which I'm sure his father loved.

Begrudgingly, she agreed. Mainly because he flattered her so well, but also because she thought that she might as well make herself useful around camp.

As for the hostile love triangle, it hasn't gotten any better. (The fact that I called it that is a clear indication that I've been spending far too much time with Silena. She'd even got me thinking that Travis and Laurel, a daughter of Hecate, would make a good couple.)

We realized that Bianca also knew that Katie liked Michaela, and was therefore jealous of their relationship. The two girls would glare at each other from across camp at times. It didn't help that Michaela was oblivious to their cold war. All she had noticed was that both girls were trying to spend all of their time with her. She complained about it to me once, saying she rarely had time to herself. Then she clarified that she wasn't exactly complaining, but rather starting to feel stressed out by it.

It all came to a head when Luke and I were teaching sword training in the arena. Everyone was there since we still had a small number of demigods at camp. Though it was nearing March, so it was only two more months before the camp was filled up again.

Zoe was training Bianca with knives in the background. Michaela was hanging out with Lee, who had come back early since he graduated early. The dude was an Athena level genius, I swear to the gods. He had to be descended from her somewhere.

Luke and I split everyone up into pairs. Beckendorf, the only other one who didn't use a sword (he preferred a war axe, which was badass), was off to the side. Silena was paired with Laurel, Travis with Connor, Killian with Nico, and Katie with Lilly.

We let them practice for about thirty minutes. I mainly focused on Killian and Nico since they were the prodigies while Luke walked around, instructing campers on how to fix their form and how to better defend against attacks.

After those thirty minutes were up, we called a break. Everyone set down their weapons and went to get a drink. Even Zoe and Bianca.

I walked over to Zoe, who was distancing herself from the male campers. "How is she doing?" I asked Zoe.

"She's coming along," she responded. She took a drink from her paper cup. "She's very eager."

"I bet," I muttered. "Probably thinks it's gonna impress Michael."

Zoe half shrugged. "That's certainly part of it. She and Katie have been at each others throats as of late."

"No kidding." I ran a hand through my hair. "How're you doing, Zoe? You finally getting used to camp?"

"Well, the fact that almost none of you get up at dawn ticks me off," she admitted. "So lazy. The Hunters often traveled from dawn till dusk while hunting monsters, sometimes even going well into the night."

"Well, you were directly blessed by a goddess. That gives you an advantage there. Here, we just train to survive. We don't go hunting or anything."

"Like I said. Lazy."

I rolled my eyes. I opened my mouth to reply but was interrupted by someone yelling, "Fuck you!"

I turned in time to see Katie storm from the arena, tears staining her face. At the water table was Bianca, soaking wet but with a smug smile on her face.

"What happened?" I asked as Zoe and I rushed over.

"We don't know," Beckendorf said, looking between Bianca and where Katie had gone.

"Silena, can you go after Katie, please?" I asked.

She nodded and took off without a word.

I turned to Bianca. "What did you say?" I asked carefully.

"All I did was tell her I kissed Michaela the other day," she said, raising her hands. "It's not my fault she took it so poorly."

"Bianca, you should know that the last person to make Katie cry was Alex," I told her seriously. "And Michael has hated him ever since then, nearly killed him when he heard him make fun of her."

Bianca paled a little bit. "But...But he won't do that to me, will he?"

I shrugged. "I can't say. All I can say is that you need to stop with this petty jealousy. Michael will pick one of you eventually, so get over it."

She scoffed. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Percy. I knew him first! He said he loved me!"

"Yet he's also said that to Katie," I retorted. "Just keep your jealousy to yourself, alright? We don't need that type of negativity in such a time. Not when the war is so close."

She crossed her arms. "Fine."

That was probably as good as it was going to get for now.

"I'm going to go find Michael and Lee," I said to Luke and Zoe. "I'd rather let him know myself so he doesn't explode."

"No problem, Perce," Luke assured me. "I can handle things here."

I nodded my thanks. I pat Zoe on the shoulder before running out of the arena.

I found my two friends on their way to the Aphrodite cabin.

"What are you two doing?" I asked as I jogged up to them.

"We need to find Silena," Lee said. "Something's come up and we need her confirmation on if something happened."

"What happened?"

"I'm pregnant," Michaela said bluntly. Today she was in a black blouse and jeans, the clothes courtesy of Katie and Silena.

"What!" I nearly screamed. "Fucking how?"

"I had sex," she said.

"With who?"

"Bianca."

"Oh, fuck's sake!"

She tilted her head. "Is that not good?"

"Well, for one," I started, trying to calm down, "she's only fifteen, and you're seventeen. You're very young to be having kids. Two; Bianca and Katie just had a fight over you."

"Over me? Why?"

"Because you're so blissfully ignorant. Why do you think? Bianca probably told Katie that you two had sex and Katie got jealous."

"But Katie and I have had sex," she said like it was no big deal. "Why would she be jealous."

"Already knew that," Lee muttered. He took a breath. "Generally, Michaela, you only have sex with one person you love. Not switch back and forth between two. That is called cheating."

"But I'm not dating either one of them."

Lee and I face palmed.

"That makes it so much worse," I muttered under my breath.

"Why? Katie told me it was okay to have sex if you weren't dating. The first time we had sex, we weren't dating yet."

I wiped my face. "Zeus's thunderpants. Look, Michaela, you need to get this sorted. Who knows what they will try to do to each other next?"

Michaela nodded. "Okay. I'll go see Katie and talk to her first." She left before we could protest.

"Fuck," Lee breathed. "She really doesn't know how relationships work."

"Well, her mother wasn't the greatest example. Cheated all the time."

"And I repeat, fuck."

"So, why did you need Silena?"

"We wanted to see if she could change body parts."

"Why would-" I connected the dots in my head. I shuddered. "That explains pregnancy."

"Yup."

"Aw, fuck. I just realized something."

"What?"

"If it was Silena who did that for Bianca, then I just sent her with Katie. If she does the same thing for her..."

"Can Silena not say no to people?"

I gave him a blank stare. "Answer that for yourself."