A/N: Hey, just wanted to let you know that updates will be coming later starting August 16th because of school. So I will post as many chapters as I can before then.
VIII. Burnt food is good
Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.
"Of course it would with both the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins there to help out." Jake said grinning at the blushing members of both cabins before going back to his tinkering.
Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.
"Annabeth you know that you could have gone back to our cabin and change clothes?" Malcolm asked his sister who blushed; she was really not on her top of that day.
"To bad that Percy doesn't know how to intentionally use his powers jet, he can dry people with a touch." Poseidon said at which the demigods looked up at him with wide eyes.
"That is really useful." Jay said to his fellow Romans, the son of Neptune didn't sound like a bad person and neither were his siblings and father.
"Since we are here have we learned that the Gods are much more relaxed in they Greek forms and some even childish." Reyna added in, she would have liked to see her mother, but she was not part of the council so she put down from that one.
"That is true, they are kind of fun." Trickster added in while looking over at Felix who nodded, he just like Reyna would have liked to see his mom no matter in which form, but at least was he in the presence of his godly grandparents.
She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords),
At this looked Hephaestus, Beckendorf and Jake up from they tinkering grinning while Mich did the same, he loved that place.
"I think the Vulcan kids would love that." Reyna mused before leaning over to where Connor sat and asked for some paper and a pen before getting back to her fellow Romans and started writing on it.
"What are you doing?" Gwen asked her praetor curiously.
"I'm making a list about the things we should do in camp when we are back, first we will do something about the fauns, they can help out in the gardens and fields, help new kids get from the Wolf House to camp and also a metal shop under the lead of Marcus and his siblings. Also we could do beside the War Games also some group building things like sitting together at least two nights a week and have some type of program by the campfire, we can talk about that later with the others. I will ad more things as they come up." Reyna said while placing the pen behind her ear like she used to when doing paperwork.
"I will help out with the fauns." Dakota said confidently if his dad liked them and was friends with the Lord of the Wild then she should now really do something as his son.
"Good." Reyna said while the others nodded in agreement even Octavian, reluctantly, but he was agreeing which made things much easier.
the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),
"Huh?" asked a few people in confusion.
"I think he means that the satyrs made a marble statue about Pan." Annabeth said at which both Hermes and Dionysus looked a bit offended.
"That's my son/best friend!" they both yelled while Reyna added to her list, the fauns were proving to be more talented then they would have ever thought.
and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.
"Dad's/granddad's work." come it from Beckendorf, Jake and Mich at which said god looked pleased, his work sounded like a challenging work while the Chases paled at that thing, the Romans only looked wide eyed at the Greeks.
"Is it even possible to get up on that thing if you are not the child of my mother?" Felix asked incredulously.
"Of course, you only need to have a good strategy, be observant and fast." Malcolm told him with a smile at which Mitchell scowled making his mother look at her son with an understanding smile on her lips.
Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.
"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."
"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."
"Whatever."
"It wasn't my fault."
Everyone raised and eyebrow at this looking sceptically at the book.
She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.
Cue everyone breaking out laughing even Clarisse had a small smile on her lips, no matter how she wanted to scowl that guy had a way to make one smile.
You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.
The Greek demigods shuddered at this.
"Who?"
"Not who. What.
"Why are you calling my Oracle a what?" Apollo asked the children.
"Uhm…you will see dad." Lee replied while his brothers nodded nervously they were not sure how they dad will react when he finds out that his Oracle is a mummy.
"Okay." replied Apollo frowning as he leaned back in his throne.
The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."
I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.
"We will be sure to do that in after we return to our time." Chiron said reassuringly to Poseidon who had turned to him when that sentence was read.
I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.
They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.
"Technically could dad be called that being a son of they lord." Sally said in a thoughtful tone remembering how the naiads babysat her when she was little and would always run down to the lake.
I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.
"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."
"How cute, you were jealous." Silena gushed, this will be such a wonderful love story right in front of them, her siblings will love it as outside looked some naiads offended at the accusation, there was noting bed with greeting the son of they master.
"Will be not." Annabeth retorted.
"Uhm…mom." Annabeth turned around when she heard Sally's unsure voice from behind her.
"I was not jealous was I?" she asked nervously to her daughter who looked kind of sheepishly at her.
"Technically are you and uncle Will the most protective people about your husbands so you kind of were." she finished making both Annabeth and Will go a deep shade of crimson.
"Is that colour even healthy?" Demeter asked both Apollo and Athena who were looking at they children trying to figure out the answer to they aunt's question.
"I would more like to know if that colour is even possible to achieve without all blood in your body going up into your face." Jake said while looking at the two blondes before raising his eyebrows, he could have sworn he saw smoke a few seconds ago.
"Uhm…I think we should continue and let them calm down." Lee suggested while looking worriedly at his little brother when Michael started fanning Will to get his temperature down a few degrees.
"Agreed." everyone said.
"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."
"He faces both Alecto and the Minotaur, meets a God and this is what breaks him?" asked a confused looking Athena, her eyes occasionally flicking over to her still red and frozen daughter.
"He is even for demigod standards a bit strange." Luke told his grandmother with a shrug.
Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."
"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"
"Considering the things we go through one could call us mentally disturbed." Connor said snickering while the others nodded seeing where he comes from.
"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."
"Half-human and half-what?"
"I think you know."
I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.
"Your other side which wishes to break to the surface." Malcolm supplied while glancing over at his sister who was still not back to normal, but at least had the red on her cheeks lessened slightly.
"God," I said. "Half-god."
Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."
"That's ... crazy."
"Only for a short time." Admitted the Greek demigods, they were out of a time where not many people believed in gods and even the religious ones believed only in one god not several.
"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them.
All divinities who were listening to this leaned back there where they were sitting and groaned, this was not something they wanted to be a prominent part of the history, the world having a bunch of tabs about your love life and your lovers.
Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"
"Seeing how there are two camps and now also the same number of cities filled with demigods and some are even sitting here in front of us I would say no." Hera said, but managed to keep her voice natural which again pleased her, she was making progress.
The gods who had kids here all blushed and started squirming in they seats while the kids were also doing they best to not look at they parents.
"But those are just—" I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth.
The legacies snorted at this.
"You were way of with that number Chiron." Mich said to the old centaur who nodded.
"That seems to be true, I should have used a much smaller number in his case." he answered.
"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"
"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."
"Then who's your dad?"
"Wrong thing to say uncle Perce, but in his defence, there are more myths regards the affairs of the male gods then those of the goddesses for each story where a goddess starts an affair with a mortal there are nearly thirty about a god having an affair going on." Henry said at which all male gods started squirming in they seats uncomfortably while they children tried not thinking about those stories, you don't want to know about your godly parents love life punk.
Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.
"Yes, you did." Annabeth said having finally calmed down while her father flinched, he never wanted to become a sensitive subject to his daughter.
"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."
"He's human."
"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"
"Uhm…they also go on occasions for guys, ask dad and Apollo." Hermes said while both Zeus and Apollo blushed while they kids avoided they gazes, those were also myths they didn't exactly like reading about while Will went red again and Jay remembered why exactly he avoided looking at the Aquarius constellation.
"Also as said before the only myths he would hear in school about a goddess falling in love with a male would have been about Lady Aphrodite or if a teacher really goes into detail Selene." Henry said while beside him Enysswe scowled as she remembered the myth, her granddad didn't deserve that heart break.
"I see." Artemis said nodding in understanding; it was interesting that this hero didn't try to act as a sexist like some others would.
"Who's your mom, then?"
"Cabin six."
"Chiron you really should have told me that he didn't see the video, I would have parsed this a bit better." Annabeth said sighing.
"I will show him the video when he comes to camp child or explain it better to him." Chiron said again, it was rally a bad idea to leave the boy so much in the dark, really he is starting to get careless.
"Meaning?"
Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."
The Romans tried not to flinch at this as they remembered how they ancestors have stripped her counterpart Minerva from her role as a war goddess.
Okay, I thought. Why not?
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Athena, her children and Odysseus.
"I think it was around this time where he got into the phase when the shock and confusion started to day down." Beckendorf said frowning slightly, he was usually better in detecting what was wrong with an automaton, but noticing Lee nod at him made him more confident. His friend was much better with living things, well him being the head of the infirmary required this little fact.
"I see." replied Athena still frowning, but she was much calmer as were her children and Odysseus.
"And my dad?"
"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."
"Except my mother. She knew."
"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."
"Well, no not clear sighted mortals they often don't do that, but those who can see through the mist is it hard to not slip up." Malcolm said while the heroes of old looked together, the world will have surely changed in the future if only a few people know that the gods are walking amongst them.
"My dad would have. He loved her."
Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.
"Turns out he had been right and his mum had really known all along." Annabeth said quietly.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."
"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"
All the gods flinched when they saw they children avoid they eyes, they will really need to do something in the future, that is much sooner then they will be.
Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy.
"One should never be to busy for they family." Hestia chided softly from her spot beside the heart as she looked at the children who had they heads bowed.
Sensing the tense mode looked Jason down to continue reading, but flinched when he saw what was standing further there, this will only make things worse, but there was no way around it so taking a deep breath before starting to read.
They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."
The gods flinched again and looked panicked at they children who were still looking at the ground no matter that they know that it will change it still hurt them that the children thought that about them. They current children were looking at the younger demigods, trying to imagine how they would feel in they place if it were them.
I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better."
The legacies stood up and walked over to they parents to comfort them somewhat before the gods who did have children stood up from they thrones when catching Hestia's eyes and made they way to they children and grandchildren, gently hugging them while Persephone went over to Reyna whose mother was outside, but she still needed also an adult by her. Meanwhile was Fredric watching the exchange, the urge to go over to his daughter to hug her, but he feared that she would hide in her mother's robes like a little child if he neared her.
They all stayed like this for the coming twenty minutes after which the demigods started to squirm a bit feeling slightly awkward by the situation and signalled that they were fine now and that they should continue with they reading.
"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"
"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter,you're probably not a real powerful force.
"HEY!" exclaimed said two goddesses and they children looking offended.
"I'm sorry." Annabeth said hurriedly she had seen both cabins take revenge on the Stolls for pranks and some of those were not things she wished to experience.
he monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old,
Again the Romans shuddered, they Greek siblings had it really not all to easy while the Chases flinched as they remembered some of those monster attacks.
but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."
Fredric looked thoughtful at this, he already knew since seeing the Diamond boy here that probably some of the most prominent models were children of Aphrodite so he wondered who else could be a demigod and who they parent could be.
"So monsters can't get in here?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."
"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"
"It gets answered here." Jason said when he saw that some were opening they mouths to ask or to answer it depended on the group one was looking at.
"Practice fights. Practical jokes."
"Practical jokes?"
"It was never anything dangerous, but no one does that since the incident which will probably be in the next chapter." Luke growled while Sally patted him on the back and they grandfather looked pale.
"As said, he will be a bit moody till the end of the fifth book so just ignore it." she told everyone.
"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."
"So ... you're a year-rounder?"
Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors.
The Romans, those of the past and the Chases looked curious at this while those in orange pulled out they necklaces with the clay beads looking proud.
It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.
Fredric looked hopeful at this, but then remembered that she confirmed that she stays all year-round and his hopes crashed down again.
"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year.
"So your necklaces are like our stripes." Jay said as he raised his arm to reveal his SPQR tattoo with the symbol of Zeus in it.
"What does that word stand for?" Hercules asked his younger brother.
"It means Senatus Populusque Romanus meaning 'The Senate and the People of Rome'' Lupa explained to the hero who nodded with the others in understanding.
I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."
Fredric flinched at this information while Athena frowned.
"Why did you come so young?"
She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."
"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"
"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."
"Unless?"
"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"
Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.
The ones who knew what that quest was about and what went wrong flinched again.
"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"
"Ambrosia."
"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."
Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"
"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"
She clenched her fists.
"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."
"You've been to Olympus?"
Only the newcomers looked confused at that the others had already heard about that a few chapters ago.
"Some of us year-rounders—Luke
The legacies scowled at this, but mostly they Luke.
and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."
"But... how did you get there?"
"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.
"So this is were Olymphos is in our time?" Felix asked in surprise.
"Actually both of the camps got place strategically to the places they are now, Camp Half-Blood is there to guard Olymphos seeing how the original form of the Gods is Greek while Camp Jupiter was placed in San Francisco to guard Mount Tam." Nathan told the demigods.
"Why do they guard Mount Tamalpais?" Fredric asked in confusion seeing how he had always liked San Francisco and planned to work there if he gets the chance.
"Uhm…in our time is it the place where Mount Othrys is placed." Henry said for his fellow praetor at which the room seemed to have turned a bit colder as all the gods went rigid at the mention of Kronos's dark castle.
"Ugh…nice to know." Dakota said shuddering while behind him the other demigods exchanged unsure glances before looking at they trainers who nodded gravely that the children were correct they camps were placed in they camps were placed since the first shifting of the Western Civilization so that they could guard those two places.
At the same time exchanged the heroes of old grateful looks that they had never been burdened with such hard tasks like they younger siblings will be.
"You are a New Yorker, right?"
"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.
"Someone really should have told me that he hadn't seen the Orientation video." Annabeth groaned not only was she confusing the poor guy, but also coming over as bossy and slightly rude and she just knew how she would act when she finds out that his dad is the rival of her mom. Talk about a complicated start of things.
"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares.
"Of course." said both Athena and Ares at the same time.
"I represent the bloody and chaotic side of war, the bloodlust it brings." Ares said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"And I represent on the other had the strategical and logical side of war, we kind of balance each other out." Athena said while the Romans were again trying to not squirm all to noticeably on they sitting spot, they had kind of made Mars the Roman counterpart of Ares into a male Athena, they never knew that the two stood for the balance of war together.
And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.
"And we can see how that turned out in the end." Silena said teasingly as everyone looked over at a blushing Luke and Sally.
"Please don't even remind me" Athena groaned as she leaned back in her throne sighing. ", but as I was told I will wait till the end of the last book to decide if I approve or not." she finished before waving to Jason to continue.
But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together.
"Oh, you will do so much more then work together." Aphrodite said suggestively at which the kids all went bet red while the adults paled.
"APHRODITE!" Artemis beat Athena in screaming. "THERE ARE MINORS HERE!" she yelled at the other goddess.
"Oh, please you would think differently if you started having a love life." Aphrodite replied back as she winked at a now blushing Orion.
"She doesn't want a love life so lay off of my sister." Apollo stepped in with a growl and sent a glare at both Aphrodite and Orion who paled slightly and hid behind his two brothers.
"Oh come on Apollo, you are usually not like that, except if you want to have something with her then of course I would understand." Aphrodite replied in a thoughtful while both Ares and Hephaestus immediately jumped up from they thrones and grabbed the twins who had they bows out.
"HE/SHE IS MY TWIN BROTHER/SISTER! I WOULD NEVER TOUCH HIM/HER LIKE THAT!" they screamed with mortified expressions which soon morphed over to pure furry making now everyone be able to see that they are really twins, mostly as they fought to be able raise they bows so that they could shoot the Goddess of Love in her pretty face.
Meanwhile watched the demigods the whole exchange wide eyed, Gwen, Silena and Mitchell looked slightly uncomfortable and apologetically over at Lee, Michael, Will and Octavian who had a sickly green colour on they faces while Enysswe shook her head to get the images out of her head, but at least had her grandfather some moral standards regards his twin sister, that was always nice to know.
"Aphrodite, I think you have gone with that comment to far and I agree with Artemis that you should not make such comments with minors present and now apologize to both Artemis and Apollo for your suggestion." Hades spoke up as he appeared near the currently blonde goddess and gave her a stern look which made her squirm in her seat.
"I'm sorry if I have offended you to, please forgive me." she said while bowing her head, the Lord of the Dead tended to make even her shudder some times if he stood close enough.
Hades only nodded before turning to his still struggling nephews and niece. "You heard her apology now all four of you sit down and let us continue reading." he told them at which the twins reluctantly nodded as they brothers carefully let them go and sat back to they thrones with Hades going back to his while Hestia smiled at him, her brother was always good with keeping order between them when they were growing up inside they father's stomach and he seemed to have retained that trait. "Continue Jason."
"Lord Hades is really good with being an authority figure." whispered Katie to Annabeth who nodded.
"With him being the oldest brother and the second oldest sibling after Lady Hestia I'm not that surprised though the managed to break that nearing war up pretty quickly." Annabeth said while looking over the gods from which the oldest ones were looking as if they were remembering something, but she didn't have time to analyze things more because Jason had started reading again.
I thought you might know something." I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.
The atmosphere was still somewhat tense with both Apollo and Artemis still gripping they bows and glaring at Aphrodite as both her husband and boyfriend looked ready to act as her bodyguards should they half-siblings attack. The other gods only shook they head at the situation.
"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"
"You are being overconfident daughter." Athena said as she shook her head and Annabeth hung her head she had also noticed.
I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.
Said girl blushed while the others snickered, well the Apollo kids managed a weak snicker they were still trying to not think about the Love Goddess's suggestion, this sounded perfectly like something Annabeth would do.
Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.
"Those would be mine." Hermes said grinning, but on the inside was he still thinking about what he could do to get his brother back to normal, he hated seeing Apollo angry or sad.
They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers.
"Why thank you for the compliment." chorused Hermes and his present kids and grandkids together.
"I doubt that he meant that as a compliment." Athena told Hermes.
"For me and my kids is that a compliment Thena, you are only sore about that prank when you teached me math and I pulled a prank which ended with you chasing me around Olymphos looking like a huge chicken and smelling like horse manure." Hermes replied back, he knew that he was getting himself into danger, but Apollo's laugh and Artemis's eye rolling and muttering about 'how immature boys are' was clearly worth it.
"Hermes, you better run." Athena growled as she stood up from her throne.
"Yes ma'am." he replied before jumping up from his throne and making a mad dash for the exit, proving why he was also the patron of athletes as his half-sister run after him.
"Should we wait for them or continue?" Hera asked while looking around the throne room.
"I think we should continue, they will eventually be back." Zeus said while the others nodded.
Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.
The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.
Everyone noticed Luke scowling and muttering something under his breath, but no one could understand what he was saying, but it kind of unsettled those who knew the Son of Hermes and could not imagine what he could have done to make a person named after him both hate and like him at the same time. This was also the first time that they noticed the conflicted expression's on Lance's, Misty's and Ace's faces, but knew better then to ask the books would eventually tell them.
"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."
I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.
"Probably not." the demigods said at the same time.
I said, "Thanks."
"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"
"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."
"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."
The demigods nodded in agreement.
The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.
"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.
He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me,
"Wait a bit more dad and he will be happy to try that." Luke mumbled bitterly while his sister leaned against his shoulder, she knew how hard it was on her brother to be named after a hero who had done so much terrible things before sacrificing himself for them all.
but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."
"The wing-footed messenger guy."
Apollo snorted at this in amusement, acting much calmer then a few minutes ago. "That's a new way to describe him." he said in amusement.
"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."
His brothers and some of the others frowned at this.
"That isn't nice to say about dad." Travis said having a strange feeling in his stomach, but he tried to ignore it.
I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.
"Oh, he clearly had dad and you are right he was thinking more along the lines of calling you a pawn." Luke said with a bitter grin on his lips which made everyone nervous, this was also the time around which Athena and Hermes returned, the former looking pleased while the later had again a bruise on his face which looked suspiciously like the print of a book.
After sitting down took Apollo care about his brother's new face decoration while Jason continued.
"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.
"Once."
I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.
At this Hermes immediately went pale and leaned forth in his throne, his eyes wide.
"I…I didn't…" he didn't want to imagine that he hurt one of his children.
"No granddad, you had noting to do with it." Misty said before anyone of the Greek demigods could say something as she walked up to her grandfather's throne and sat down in his lap. "Can I stay here a bit?" she asked in an innocent voice while pulling the puppy eyes trick on her grandfather, she didn't like doing this, but she wanted to stay close to him knowing that he won't like the things happening in the first five books happening to his children both old and new.
"Uh…su…sure Misty…" Hermes replied blushing while his granddaughter beamed at him and leaned back against his chest while he carefully placed his arms around her to keep her steady. From the corner of his eyes had he the freaky thought that Hera was smiling at them, but he shook of the idea that his stepmother would ever smile at him.
Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."
"This kind of sounds better when Uncle Percy is saying these words." Henry said while tipping his head to the side.
He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that,
Luke was again mumbling something under his breath what no one could understand.
because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.
"And he will be the one doing the worst for you in a few days." Luke growled which made everyone raise they eyebrows at him while trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in the back of they minds.
I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"
Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."
"No offense Lord Apollo, but most people hate them." Annabeth said carefully as she remembered that her adopted older sister needed to die because of a prophecy.
"No one taken, sometimes I also hate them, it is hard seeing the bad things that will happen to others and knowing that you can't do anything against them." Apollo admitted as he remembered the picture he saw about his sister which made him hold back a shudder, he hated being able to see, but not prevent.
"Please continue young hero." Hestia said softly to Jason who nodded in understanding.
"What do you mean?"
His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour,
"See, you had no fault in his scar." Misty told her grandfather who nodded to her with a small smile on his lips, but also glad that at least his son made it out of there alive.
Meanwhile Artemis's eyes flashed with anger at the mention of her Lieutenant's old home while Hercules glumped when she glared at him with pure venom in her eyes.
"Jason, read." he whispered to his friend who nodded with a shudder.
Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much
Annabeth blushed at this while Chiron only shook his head fondly; she had acted then so much like any normal young girl and not a demigod who all need to grow up to fast so that they can survive.
he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."
"Oh, he certainly was special." Silena said grinning at the blushing girl.
"Chiron, could you tell us the prophecy now?" Annabeth asked curiously to divert the attention.
"I think I can it said…" but before he could tell the prophecy Enysswe took out her scroll again which was glowing faintly and unrolled it.
"What is it En?" Henry asked his cousin.
"It reads; "Wisdom's daughter must still wait to know what the Oracle of Delphi had foretold for her." Enysswe finished glancing at Luke and Sally who tired not to shudder that the fates had used the exact words to address they mother like the staring line of the prophecy Ella had said 'Wisdom's daughter walks alone…'
"I'm sorry my dear, it seems as if the Fates wish to keep the Oracle's words from you for a little wile longer." Chiron said as he glanced at the Fates Assistant who nodded before putting the scroll away slightly wondering why it was currently having its original form and not the black IPAD with silver stars sparkling on it, but it might be because IPADs were still not discovered in this time.
"Jason continue." Henry said to the man who nodded after snapping out of his small daze.
"Somebody special?"
"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for.
And Annabeth was back to blushing again.
Now, come on, it's dinnertime."
The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.
Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"
The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.
"My cabin?" Artemis asked curiously at which the campers nodded.
We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.
In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.
The Roman demigods frowned at this a little listening to this sounded the Greek camp not only more relaxed then theirs, but also more closer to the nature all they had were wind spirits, beggars fauns and Lares.
At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple.
"That sounds really pretty." Gwen said in a dreamy tone as she imagined the scene how it must look by night time when all the stars are alight.
Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. 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
"We are not plump!" yelled both Castor and Pollux indignantly while outside had Ariadne a little frown on her face when hearing this, but then her face suddenly relaxed when a voice inside her mind whispered something to her much to the confusion of her friend who was sitting beside her.
"Well, compared to Dakota who is your brother you kind of are." Connor said while aforementioned boy felt a bit jealous that his brothers could each day have they meals sitting with they dad, he had enjoyed lunch with is father and wouldn't mind doing that more often.
"Is that so Stoll." Castor said as Connor let out a yelp when the brother's effulged him into wine plants and made him hand upside down.
"Now if he would be blonde and hanging like this from a cliff I would be having a serious feeling of déjà vu." Dionysus said with pride in his voice.
"I know what you mean." Artemis said in agreement as she smirked at her blushing brother.
"Could you two please set him down again?" Hermes asked his nephews.
"After the next chapter." Pollux replied smirking so Jason decided to continue.
who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.
"Just give me a call and I will have that fixed." Hephaestus told Chiron as he looked up from his work.
"I will do that Lord Hephaestus." the centaur replied.
Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.
"So in the future are blondes Athena's taste." Poseidon mused while turning a swarm of angry owls which were heading his way into flying fish without looking as Fredric blushed much to his wife's displeasure.
"Poseidon, could you please get rid of the fish?" Zeus asked his brother while his family snickered as one of the flying fish got caught in his beard.
"Of course baby brother." Poseidon replied cheekily while snapping his fingers and making the fish disappear.
"Don't call me 'baby brother'." Zeus growled as others continued to sicker.
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.
"Siblings." this time it was Ace who corrected.
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—nonalcoholic, of course."
"That sounds great." Trickster said as some of his friends nodded.
"Yes, I could drink so much Kool-Aid." Dakota said dreamily while his friends shuddered deciding that self filling glasses which gave you any type of drink which was non-alcoholic were maybe not such a good installation to they camp.
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.
Yes, they will definitely not get those type of glasses for Camp Jupiter, for they own safety.
I took a cautious sip. Perfect.
I drank a toast to my mother.
"He is really loyal to his mother, I appreciate such people." Hera said at which Hades looked over smirking at his now blushing nephew who had also proven a fierce loyalty to his mother.
he's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...
At this all who have been to the Underworld or lived there as well as Poseidon and his sons groaned.
"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 toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.
I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.
The Romans were agian looking curiously at the book.
"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 straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.
Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."
The Romans started blinking.
"You like the smell of burnt food?" Jay asked his father.
"Yes son we do, I think you will soon understand and also burnt sacrifices to us are an old tradition which is good that our children still remember." Zeus said to his son.
"It is a form of showing respect to us." Hera said while Reyna took out her list and scribbled 'food sacrifices to the Gods by every meal' on it.
"It is kind of interesting to see them getting along and trying to learn from each other something other then how many one side can kill in the duration of a hour." Chiron whispered into Lupa's ear.
"I can only agree with you on that one, I may be harsh with them, but that doesn't mean that I like seeing my pups hurt or dead." she whispered back to him at which Chiron nodded, he hated losing even one of the children they were all like his own.
"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.
"As already pointed out it is a form of respect and we like the smell." Apollo said casually.
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'm sure I will son." Poseidon said again no one wanted to point out to a God that they were talking to a book.
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.
The Romans looked stunned at this; they will surely install that tradition in both the camp and hopefully with the help of the Senate also in New Rome.
"Is this why you said to the others that they could freely eat?" Octavian asked suddenly realizing the meaning behind that comment before lunch.
"Yes, we wanted to let them know that they don't need to sacrifice for us as long as they are here in our presence." Athena answered to the now nodding demigods.
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."
At this grinned Ares smugly at Athena while outside his twin sons cheered.
A bunch of ugly
"He better start dropping that term if he knows what's good for him." Clarisse growled in annoyance, she hated that word.
"I'm not sure when he will drop it, but I think he will." Misty said thoughtfully while still sitting in her grandfather's lap who was slowly getting used to that fact.
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."
At this the legacies snorted in amusement.
"That is the name on which Mr. D insists to call dad while he always corrects him." Sally said giggling, those debates between Mr. D and her dad tended to look kind of amusing.
Chiron murmured something.
"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.
Apollo grinned at this proudly.
"Well that is understandable seeing that no one else would start it out of they free will, it kind of only happened once that we needed to pull straws about who should start it." Travis said while Lee, Michael and Will frowned while Lee started rubbing his right leg, Michael his stomach and will his left arm.
"What happened?" Apollo asked when noticing his children's expressions.
"The whole cabin was in the infirmary after getting pulverized by the Ares cabin in Capture the Flag." Lee replied flinching at the memory, they had all a good deal of broken bones after that game. "It was one of the rare times when the Athena cabin had allied themselves with them as well with the Hephaestus cabin so we were in a pretty bad situation against that team." he finished while they dad paled.
"They went down like flies." Clarisse said as she remembered that game.
"Good girl." Ares said approvingly while his brother glowered at him.
We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores 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.
"Because for most us is it home." Annabeth said softly while her father flinched again.
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. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.
My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.
When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.
That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.
I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.
"I don't like the foreshadowing of the last line." Orion said while the others nodded in agreement.
"This was the end of the chapter, your turn Bellerophon." Jason said as he passed the book over to the left.
To be continued…
