Cai
Out of all the things I could've woken up to, a blonde dude, with the name tag 'Argus' clipped on his orange shirt, covered in a million eyes like some eldritch horror wasn't one I was at all ready for. I'm sure this guy would've ranked first on my list of bizarre sightings if it weren't for the monster Percy and I had…
Percy.
Urgency flooded through me as I began a hasty search.
"Your brother's resting a floor below us, his injuries were a lot worse than yours were, so we put him on priority. He should be fine though, now he just needs more rest," Eye-man said, stopping me in my tracks.
My attention snapped back toward my observer.
Percy was alright, then.
Good. This was good.
"And my mom?" I asked quietly.
He held silent as his eyes shifted away from me.
I stared at him, hoping that he would tell me that at the very least she had survived.
In the end all he could do was shake his head.
"R-right, thanks for telling me anyway…Argus," I said weakly.
He gave me a slight nod.
My mom was dead. Struck down by lightning. If I'd just been faster I could have gotten Percy out of the way, but now mom's dead because I hadn't done enough.
The door to the room creaked open as a blonde kid a little younger than Percy walked in.
"Oh, he's awake. I guess we can get you guys out now. You can leave now, Argus. " the kid said.
" What's your name?" I asked hoping to distract myself with conversation.
"Will Solace." He chirped. " I'm the nurse for the infirmary here at camp."
"And you're how old?"
"Nine."
"R-Right…" I said wryly.
Nine-year-old nurses…what sort of camp was this?
"Come on," he said. "Your brother just got up, Chiron asked me to get you two to him once the both of you came to."
"Who?"
"You'll see."
I climbed out of the bed still wearing the aqua green shirt, black jeans, and low-top converse I had on the night before. My black jacket draped over the metal headrest of my bed.
I got a better look at the room as I followed Will out. It wasn't that big, with four beds along each corner of the room each with a nightstand and lamp alongside it. It was pretty bland.
"Here," Will said, handing me a small piece of what looked like a graham cracker. " That'll help you regain some strength."
"Thanks…I guess?" I took it, but I was skeptical.
How was a piece of graham cracker supposed to have enough carbs to give me energy?
The confusion must've shown on my face because Will just gave me an odd knowing smirk. This kid…
"That's ambrosia. For our kind it has greater restorative properties, for mortals… not so much."
"Our kind? Does this have something to do with our 'divine blood' or something?"
Will paused for a second, "Yes, actually."
"Are you kidding me…"
Of all of Percy's stupid theories to turn out true this had to be the one?
"Cheer up! It's not all so bad–"
"It is when it very likely got my mom killed." I bit out.
"Oh…uh…right, let's keep moving?"
"Let's." I nodded.
We went down a staircase, turning left as we hit the lower floor into a hallway entering the furthest of the two doors on the right side.
Percy's voice sounded out from a corner of the room. "-dead by the time you got to us, Grover. I-it wasn't your fault."
"I'll wait for you two outside," Will said.
I gave him a nod before making my way toward Percy and Grover.
The first thing I noticed was Percy's hand on Grover's back, comforting him.
I didn't want to interrupt so I planned on just taking a seat and waiting for them to finish, but it seemed like Grover noticed me well before I could.
"C-Cai, I'm-"
I put a hand up gesturing for him to stop.
"It wasn't your fault, Grover, you did as much as you could and that's all we can really ask. The fact that you're here now looking after Percy is proof enough for me that you're doing your best. Thank you."
I watched as Grover wiped an arm across his face, a quiet sniffle ringing out as he did so.
"R-right, I'll let you two talk while I wait outside."
Now it was just me and Percy.
He was still wearing his blue shirt and jeans, his converse sitting next to the nightstand.
We stared at each other for what seemed like forever.
"Mom's gone." The way he said it was so… hollow. But I understood. Knowing–acknowledging that she was gone felt empty. It felt wrong.
"Yeah." I said.
"She's gone, Cai…"
"..."
"I…I-I didn't-"
"Mom wasn't your fault, Percy..."
He looked up at me with guilt and grief written all over his face. He felt guilty. But what happened to mom wasn'this fault.
It was mine.
I didn't do enough to keep mom safe– to keep either of them safe. I failed them.
I gave Percy a tight hug.
"It wasn't your fault, Percy, and it never will be so don't push this on yourself."
I let him go hoping that some kind of agreement or understanding had settled over him.
"We'll…we'll get through this alright?"
"R-right." He said with a hesitant nod.
"Then let's go," I said. "Some guy named 'Chiron' is waiting for us."
I wasn't sure what or even who I was expecting to see when we made it to the bottom floor of the building, but it definitely wasn't Mr. Brunner with a horse's ass.
"G-guys, this is Chiron," Grover said, gesturing over to Mr. Brunner who gave us a slight nod.
"What the hell? You're Mr. Brunner aren't you?" Percy questioned.
"I do apologize for the deception, Perseus, but it was imperative on my part that you remained ignorant of my identity, and the only way for that to be so is if I assumed another name," Mr. Brunner said
"So you're, like, The Chiron or something… right?" Percy asked.
"The immortal trainer of heroes," I added.
Chiron gave us a warm smile. "Yes, that would be correct. I am thankful that my lessons have provided you two with some measure of insight."
"You spent nine months with them Chiron, I certainly hope these miscreants learned at least something useful," A short, rotund man, at the back of the room said with a snort.
"And that they have, Mr. D, after all, it isn't every day someone slays Pasiphae's son, let alone children so young."
Pasiphae's son…
"You- You're saying that the monster we fought last night was the minotaur?" I asked.
"Indeed I am. Though I suppose I should take this chance to remind you that in our world you are to use their titles, not their names."
"And this matters why exactly? You never actually explained to us." I asked.
"Because, young Cai, names have power. In a world where Gods are nigh omniscient, their domains vast and expansive, and the monsters ever-present, names can give any, of those who claim one, in our mythos power in many forms."
"How the fuck does that work?" Percy questioned.
I cuffed him in the back of his head.
"Hey!" Percy cried as he rubbed his head.
Mr. D snorted as he took a sip from a can of diet coke he definitely didn't have a second before.
I raised an eyebrow at him, before turning my attention back to Chiron.
"He does have a point y'know," I said pointing at Percy.
" Well then I suppose an example wouldn't be remiss, Take Mr. D over there," Chiron said.
"I'm certain you've noticed something odd about him, yes?"
"Yeah, he's drinking diet coke, who the fuck drinks diet coke?" Percy said.
I hit him again.
"Quit it, Cai!" He whined.
"I will as soon as you quit cussing."
Chiron looked about as exasperated as he seemed amused while he waited for us to answer.
I took another look at Mr. D. His face plastered with the most amused look on his face, one of his hands whirling the soda can like you'd see someone with a glass of wine do. It still seemed odd to me that a can of soda could just appear like that. I mean sure I wasn't paying attention to him or anything, but there wasn't a fridge nearby or anything, and no one came up and gave it to him.
"His soda came outta nowhere," I concluded.
Chiron beamed at us with a small smile.
"And with what little knowledge you've gathered on him, what would you say the name Mr. D stands for?" He asked.
My face scrunched up in thought. Let's see, his name's Mr. D, has a weird soda/wine-whirling habit, a seemingly humorous guy. What guy in Greek mythology could have any of these characteristics?
Oh.
"You're Dionysus," I said.
'Mr. D's' eyes immediately flared in a flood of purple drawing me in as they did so. In his eyes, I saw– felt myself spiral into a daze of confusion and discomfort, stuck floating in the air above like a cageless prisoner, the ground below me steadily twisting into mounds that stacked higher and higher until it formed a mountain impressive enough to rival mount Everest.
It was beautiful and…strangely familiar, but between whatever fugue I was in, and the dread that was building up, I couldn't possibly enjoy its sight.
"Mr. D!" Chiron interrupted pulling me out of the haze I was caught in, heaving breaths in and out like an asthmatic.
Percy looked more alarmed and concerned for my well-being than I was comfortable because I knew if something bothered him enough he would do something about it.
And Percy had a habit of doing the dumbest things.
" You're the wine dude?" Percy asked.
Mr. D quirked a brow at Chiron as if to ask 'is he serious?'
Grover shuffled forward from behind Chiron, "P-Percy, I don't think-"
" You're a little slow, aren't you, child? " Mr. D said dryly.
Percy held Mr. D's gaze, expectantly.
"I suppose that would be me, yes." Mr. D sighed.
"Yeah, well god or not whatever it is you did to Cai, don't do that shit again."
Of all the things, he could've. Was he trying to get himself killed?
Chiron looked like he was going to have to dig another grave.
"Watch your tone, boy. You might think yourself mighty after slaying the minotaur, but I am no beast!" Mr. D said his eyes reignited, anger slowly building in his voice in a distorted echo.
I turned towards Chiron silently pleading for his help.
"You could be Zeus himself, asshole! You've got another thing coming if you think Imma just let you bully Cai just 'cause you're some old sack of shit!"
A thick crackle rang out in the air around us startling me and Grover as Percy glared at Mr. D defiantly.
Chiron, I noticed, was saying some sort of prayer. Whatever was about to happen he didn't think Percy would make out alive without it.
This was it then. My little brother was courting death through two different gods.
With no other option, I took a chance and stepped forward. No way was going to let him die like this.
"Sir, I know Percy can be-"
"Well alright then! I've decided," Mr. D said with a bit of joy. "You, young Perseus, are a truly interesting child."
"Huh?" Percy said, his face scrunched up in confusion.
I think at that moment Percy, Chiron, Grover, and I all blinked at once.
"Mr. D…?" Chiron asked questioningly.
"I've decided to spare the boy, now leave my sight before I change my mind, all of you."
Chiron needed no more incentive to usher the three of us away from the big house.
…
"I certainly hope that you do not make it a habit of angering the gods in your anger, Perseus. Far too many of them have killed mortals for much less. "
"Alright, man! I get it no more pissing off super old dudes. I wouldn't have even said anything if he didn't do whatever he did to Cai anyway." Percy said scowling.
Chiron rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I suppose that I share some fault in that encounter. Had I known it would escalate so greatly, I wouldn't have tried to turn it into a lesson. You have my apologies for that."
"What was the point of that anyway?" I asked.
"That was an exercise in expressing the dangers that lie within the use of a name. Many beings of our world derive power from their names with their method of doing so varying from being to being.
Much of this we'll expound upon in your studies here in camp, but none will express the weight names hold in our world more than the advice you've already been given. Names have power."
"So...does this mean bloody mary was real?" Percy asked slowly.
All three of us turned toward him, disbelief written on our faces.
What went on inside his head?
Chiron stared at him for a solid three seconds.
"What?" Percy asked.
Chiron only shook his head. "You never cease to astound me, Perseus, I'll be praying for you. Now more than ever, I am confident that you'll need it."
I raised a brow at that. "What do you mean by that?"
"You've seen the weather, yes?"
"It has been pretty crappy lately…" Percy said darkly.
I grimaced at that, last night was a strong reminder of that fact.
"Yes, well, weather like this can only be an indicator of one thing. Conflict. The gods of Olympus have found themselves in a conflict for the world to endure."
"You're trying to tell me that our mom died because a couple of your gods got in a fight?" I asked.
Chiron's face darkened. "I'm afraid The particular nature of her death might be a great deal more complicated than that, my child."
"So un-complicate it!" Percy broke in.
"I'm afraid that as it stands, I am unable to."
"Can't? or won't?" Percy growled.
As unsettling as it was to see Percy so aggressive, the fact was that some higher powers killed our mom and we needed answers on who and why.
"Can't, child, restrictions have left me bereft of much aid I might provide for you in understanding this affair. All we can do for now is wait for word from those above. Until then I ask that you familiarize yourself with the camp and the people within it." Chiron said, a glint of sadness in his eyes.
-break-
Percy
Before anyone could say anything else a blonde girl with grey eyes and a ponytail around my age came sprinting by.
She was sort of familiar...
"What remarkable timing you have, Annabeth, I was just about to show these two around camp, perhaps you would like to take my place?" Chiron asked.
"Actually Chiron, I was gonna ask about–if you know…. about the- thing…?" She asked.
Man if it was any clearer that she was talking about something confidential, she'd probably be trans….lucian….or something.
"That is something we can discuss later, Annabeth, for now, these two need to orient themselves to the camp."
"But Chi-"
"Please, child, there's much to be done now, especially with things shifting so rapidly…I believe I have to go help Grover sort things out with the council of Cloven" He sighed.
She didn't seem to want to let it go but after a half-minute eye-staring competition with Chiron, she relented.
"Fine," She pouted.
The girl, Anniebeth, or whatever, turned to us abruptly, grey eyes bright and gleaming, analyzing us- comparing us. It felt weird as fuck. Like at any moment she would figure out what element we were weakest to and start blasting us with it.
Just when it seemed like she was going to stop whatever she was doing, She turns to me and says, "You drool when you sleep."
A sneer made its way to my face.
This bitch…
-break-
The whole tour was bland as fuck, an armory, a forge, cabins dedicated to every olympian, crop fields full of strawberries, a basketball court, and a rock climbing wall complete with its own lava moat.
I had more than a few questions but after asking the first couple, I realized our tour guide was just going to ignore me in favor of getting through the tour quicker.
Eventually, she led us to cabin eleven, home to the Hermes kids.
"This is where you'll be staying for the time being," She said.
"Soo...is Hermes our dad?" I asked.
"I honestly doubt it. No, cabin eleven is just where all demigods new to camp half-blood stay."
"Why?" Cai asked.
"God of Hospitality," She said, clearly not wanting to elaborate.
We kinda just stood there waiting until she threw a hand out to the door of the cabin. "Well?" She asked.
" Well, what?" I asked.
She pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"Go. In," She bit out.
"Alright alright, chill! " I grumbled.
Cai had this ghost of a smirk on his face like he found us funny or something. Fuckin weirdo.
I followed behind him as he reached for the doorknob, but before he could even turn it, it swung open from the inside.
Holding the door open was this tall-ass blonde guy who looked around nineteen with a scar running down his right eye and muscles to really highlight it.
Dude was a little intimidating. Just a little.
"Oh! You two must be the newbies, huh," he said.
"That's us," Cai said awkwardly.
"Well, I'm Luke Castellan, counselor for the Hermes Cabin, welcome to your home for the foreseeable future." He stepped to the side in a way that exposed both of us to its interior.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. There wasn't a lot of positive shit to say when there were only three bunk beds and like, eleven kids covering the rest of the floor. The cabin itself was splintering and peeling everywhere. It was somehow worse than our apartment.
"This place looks like shit," I said honestly.
Luke's face grew dark at that.
And, of course, for my honesty, I got hit by Cai… again.
I was about to voice my annoyance before I caught Cai's look of silent fury. I decided to hold my silence. I might've deserved that one, but I was only telling the truth!
Not even a second later my heel got assaulted by the blonde behind me.
"The fuck!" I turned on her.
"Apologize!" She hissed.
I'll admit it. This girl could be pretty intimidating with a scowl on her face, but I wasn't about to back down.
Before anything could happen, though, Luke let out a sigh before combing a hand through his hair.
"No…he's right about that one, but it's not like we can do much about it. I'll introduce you guys to the cabin and then you two can go back to exploring the rest camp."
He led us further inside and announced, "Cabin eleven, this is…" He looked at us realizing he didn't have our names.
Annabeth chimed in " Cai and Percy Jackson."
"Regular or undetermined" Somebody called out.
"Undetermined," She said.
The rest of the cabin groaned. Did we fuck up already or something?
"Right, well, you two can have that corner of the cabin over there," Luke said pointing it out. "I've gotta set some stuff up for capture the flag on Sunday, I'll be sure to get you two some supplies while I'm out, though."
That seemed pretty cool of him.
Not even a moment later we were being dragged out of the cabin by Annabeth. She looked more than a little upset.
"Jackson," She hissed at me.
"What, Anniebeth." I asked.
That got me a kick in the shin. What the hell was her problem?
"Are you an idiot? What in Hades was that?!" She asked.
"That was his tongue moving faster than his brain," Cai said exasperated.
The sneer I gave him would've been unrivaled if I wasn't standing next to Annabeth.
"Look, I see something I say something, it's kinda hard for me to keep my mouth shut. My bad, alright?"
"An unfortunate fact," Cai said.
I scowled at him while Annabeth very clearly tried to calm herself down.
"Look, I know the both of you are new here but all I'm going to say is that you're gonna have to do a lot better than whatever that was in there." She pointed back at the Hermes cabin.
"Yea whatever," I said, rolling my eyes. It was childish I know, but I really couldn't care less.
"I mean it! Respect goes a long way here at camp, your comfort here-your life here– The way people see you here means a lot more than you seem to think."
"Yeah, well the way I see it, I don't need a bunch of people I don't know or care about ogling me like gods newest update to the animal kingdom."
"Ugh! There's no way you're the one." She grumbled.
Every second I spent talking to her made me feel like the short fuse I had was only burning hotter.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Alright, I think that's enough," Cai broke in.
"Nah! I wanna know what the fuck her problem is!" I growled. "A fucking monster chases us all the way into this weird-ass camp full of weird-ass kids, and she's here telling us to be cool about it!"
"Just calm down," Cai tried again.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to be a 'weird-ass kid' here?" She shot back, her eyes glowering; like a brewing storm, her fingers hung in air quotes. "What a monster like the one you guys got to fight would mean here?! The number of kids gunning for the chance to prove themselves?!"
"You think I give two shits!? In case you forgot! Our mom fucking died! Whatever proof we got fighting it means jack-shit to me!"
She winced at that, her face slowly shifting away from my line of sight.
"I think that's enough, you two are causing a scene. " Cai stepped between us.
Sure enough, there were some kids staring at us like some fucking moviegoers. Great.
" I think it'd be best if I took it from here, 'Beth," A beautiful girl with long black hair around Luke's age said as she walked up to us.
"Silena," Annabeth said, watching the older girl, her eyes unreadable. " They're all yours," she said eventually as she stalked off.
"Sorry about Annabeth, she can be a little much sometimes…" The new girl said.
"It's alright, she was probably just caught up in the moment, it happens easily enough whenever Percy's involved," Cai said.
"Are you f-"
Cai yanked my ear before I could even get my sentence out.
"Are you serious!" I corrected. "You're just gonna act like spend that entire time acting like she didn't wanna be around us?! She was being an asshole, Cai!"
"Maybe if you took the time to remember that Chiron basically forced us on her, you'd realize that she probably didn't want to be around us." Cai shot back.
"Not to mention the second we walked into our new home you decided it was cool to insult it. She could have been better about it, but you aren't blameless Percy."
"Alright, I get it! Quit talking my ear off." I grumbled.
I guess I wouldn't wanna be forced to escort a bunch of new kids either and maybe I shouldn't have said that, but she was still being an asshole. Why'd Cai always have to play advocate?
"Well! I'm Silena Beauregard. What do I call the two of you?" The older girl said with a small smile on her face.
"I'm Cai, and this little idiot is Percy," He said, nudging me with his elbow.
"Pleasure meeting you! Somehow I doubt you've gotten a very engaging tour, so how about I take you two on another and we head for dinner after?"
"Sounds good to me," Cai said with a shrug.
I was still a little miffed, but Silena already seemed a lot cooler than Annabeth. And it wasn't like there was anything else we could do so I just let out a grunt in agreement.
-break-
As it turned out, Silena was almost as annoying as Annabeth, maybe even worse.
The tour she gave was a lot more engaging than the one we got from Annabeth, and after she got us through the whole thing she took us to the armory. Something she was sure we would love. She might've been right if she didn't spend two hours trying to outfit us.
She did this whole big sister routine, pulling at our cheeks, ruffling our hair, and calling us cute. It made me feel like some puppy she found on the side of the road. She felt so much like mom I couldn't stand it. I could tell Cai appreciated it, though.
By the time she was done with us, we looked just about ready to go larping out in the field like some baby hoplites. Cai made the leather chest piece and the limb guards look a little better than I did, but he still looked goofy as hell.
The curved sword he picked out looked cool enough at least, a kopis, Silena called it.
"Do we really need to be wearing this crap?" I asked.
"It does seem a little much," Cai said, scratching his head.
"Don't worry~ You'll grow into it eventually," She said with way too much mirth in her eyes. "Dinners probably already started by now, off to the mess hall we go then gentlemen!" She said, shuffling us out of the armory.
I wouldn't call myself a self-conscious guy, but I felt beyond stupid walking around like some dumbass out of Halloween season, and when I feel stupid I definitely look stupid and the last thing I needed today was to give someone a reason to laugh at me.
So naturally, a big-ass beefed-up brunette girl and her posse pull up beside us laughing their asses off in our direction.
Yeah, I'm gonna hurt someone.
"Y'all find something funny?" I asked with a bit of heat.
Immediately the group rang out in a chorus of 'Ooos'. Were we in a fucking movie or some shit?
"Nahh, we're just admiring the two of you in all your heroic glory, runt." She-hulk peered down at me with a smirk.
"Claire-" Silena tried.
"Yeah, well maybe you can admire my fucking fist in your face asshole."
Look, alright, I never said I was any good with comebacks.
"Jesus Christ, Percy, do you have to pick a fight every two seconds?" Cai asked.
"Is that a challenge, kid? 'Cause if it is, we can set course for the arena right now!" She said with a glint in her eye.
I also never said I was any good at picking my battles.
"Yeah? Well, lead the way supergirl!" I growled
The bully grinned like she found out Christmas came early, the dudes behind her were whooping loudly in the background.
Cai looked just about ready to melt into the ground, palm on his face and everything.
I made to follow the bigger girl before Silena suddenly came between us.
"That's enough," she said with a bit of force.
Suddenly I found myself standing still. I looked up at the girl I was beefing with noticed she was in a similar state.
"Clarisse, these two have had a rough night, and today hasn't been much better for them, I'd appreciate it if you just left them alone for the time being."
They stared each other down for a moment before the beefier girl gave in.
"Fine! But only 'Cause you're the one asking Silena," Clarisse said, very visibly annoyed.
"Thank you, Claire," Silena said with a small smile.
"Yeah yeah." muscle-woman turned back to me with a sneer, "We are gonna get that fight, boy wonder. Don't forget. "
"Whatever, beef brain," I shot back.
Claire, or whatever her name was, stuck a middle finger out before she and her gang stalked off in another direction.
"Sorry about her. Claire-" Silena started. "Clarisse, I mean, is a child of Ares, and they tend to be a little more obnoxious than most."
"Only a little?" Cai asked.
"She's not as bad as she seems though, I promise," Silena said unconvincingly.
"Right…," Cai said.
I was getting tired of all this talking.
"Enough, I'm hungry, let's eat," I said.
-break-
The mess hall was about the only thing that I could actually appreciate about this place, self dispensed food and drink was the only thing that seemed godly about this glorified orphanage.
That included the actual God we met earlier.
"So, how do you guys like camp so far?" Luke asked us, dragging me out of my thoughts.
"Well, It's definitely been interesting. I do have a couple of questions, though" Cai said.
"Shoot," Luke said.
"Right, so this is a summer camp for half-bloods." Cai started.
"Correct."
"And that means that one of our parents is one of the Olympian gods from Greek mythology."
" Not necessarily, but probably."
"So, do the other non-Olympian gods exist too then?" Cai asked.
" If they do exist, why don't they have their own cabins?" I asked.
Luke looked almost surprised at the question.
"You two are sharp. Almost wouldn't expect it with what I've heard so far. That's good," He said as he ate. "You'll need it if you wanna get far," Luke said, forking a piece of broccoli in his mouth.
We waited for him to finish chewing before he continued.
"They do and they don't."
The confusion must have shown on my face. "They do exist, but they don't have their own cabins." Luke finished.
Huh?
"Why not?" Cai asked.
"Because…well…they aren't important," Luke said hesitantly. The air around the table we were eating at, Hermes', felt colder the second he said it.
I watched as the table and the conversation around us grew quiet, Cai's mouth twisted in a frown, and a couple of Luke's siblings, Travis and Connor, were looking at the three of us a little nervously. Somehow everything went from okay to off in a heartbeat.
Suddenly what Chiron was telling us earlier today started making sense. Luke might not have said any names but somehow I knew the gods were listening. They'd heard Luke diss them.
Luke let out a cough catching our attention again.
"I guess that might've been a little brash of me to say. What I mean is that all non-Olympian gods are considered minor gods. Where any Olympian would be a major god."
"Yeah that still doesn't really explain anything for us, man," I said.
"Doesn't it, though?" Luke asked.
The side of my face twitched. Did this guy think he was Chiron?
"Right now, of all the kids living in cabin eleven, only seven of them are my siblings. Almost twenty kids in cabin eleven, which includes you two, and only seven of them I can say for certain are my siblings, four of them might be children of Hecate, and the rest we just don't know.
Even knowing some of them might be Hecate's children doesn't really help things."
"Because even if they did get claimed they'd have nowhere else to go…" Cai mumbled.
Luke fixed Cai with a stare, it seemed like he was trying to figure how to best phrase his next words."Exactly," he said softly.
"I don't fucking get it. Why don't you just, y'know, spread all the extra kids out to the other cabins then? I know I saw a bunch of empty ones on our tour with bright eyes."
Luke shook his head in response. " It doesn't work like that, Percy."
"And why the fuck not?"
"Because at the end of the day these cabins are an homage to the gods they represent, not just homes for the children that live in them. The last kid to try and sleep in cabin eight got himself turned into a jackalope for the disrespect. The last thing we need right now is anyone trying to figure out if Zeus will let them have a good night's rest or force-feed them eight thousand volts of electricity instead.
The only reason Hermes lets unclaimed kids into his cabin is because-"
"He's the god of hospitality." Cai finished.
Luke gave him a wry smile. "Right again."
All this did was confuse me more. If the gods were gonna be dicks about letting random kids into their homes then the solution was obvious.
" Why don't you guys just build more cabins then? Or just make yours bigger." I asked.
"You say it like we haven't tried," Luke said tiredly. "Three times I've had Mr. D send a petition up to Olympus asking for permission, and three times we've been denied.
Turns out that when the queen of Olympus is in charge of giving any grant, hearing every claim and approving every petition under Olympian jurisdiction, things end up being a struggle. Moreso if it involves any of Zeus' bastard children, and with Mr. D being our camp director and the cabin in question belonging to Hermes…"
"It was a losing battle from the start." Cai finished, his brows furrowed in thought.
Turns out the gods were fucking over kids that were already in camp too. Go figure.
"Now, do you guys have any more questions or can I ask one of my own?"
"Sure," Cai said.
"...What's with the blue and green food?"
My jaw set.
"It," Cai started weakly. " It's something our mom used to do for us. Make us blue and green food for a special occasion."
Luke's face was painted top to bottom in regret like he was genuinely sorry for making us remember.
It seemed nice of him, but that didn't make things better.