DISCLAIMER: All the characters except the OC's, belong to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 16: I claim the flag, but not the truth.
The Athena cabin burned Carmen's shroud once every resident of the cabin showed up at camp by Tuesday.
Annabeth finished her ancient Greek class in the arts & crafts building. She gave a brief lecture on Hades' realm and walked towards her cabin for a short break. The cabins settled into their routines in the first few days. During the daytime, she had practically hounded Percy and tried to be on friendlier terms with Piper. Despite looking simple on the outside, she knew they held so many secrets.
For one, they both didn't have much trouble reading ancient Greek verses from Homer and had good reflexes and senses during the camp activities. They proved to be average in every event, despite being new to the mythical world; it was uncanny. The senior counselors carefully observed them during their respective activities, trying to figure out their parents, but they had difficulty assessing them.
The only thing they managed to obtain so far that was Percy's father and Piper's mother belonged to the godly side of the mythical world. Percy was plain, albeit sharp-looking with his keen senses, but he wasn't good at forging or archery. He didn't have Hermes' sneaky looks or Dionysus' way with vine plants. He refused to wrestle with the Ares' cabin, stating that he can't fight. Though his proclamation diluted Clarisse's ire on him, it brought forth questions about his fight with the Minotaur.
Annabeth has heard many of the senior counselors assume he was a child of Hermes; a jack of all trades, master of none. It was backed by his mischievous and laid-back nature and his getting along well with the Stoll brothers in pranking others.
Piper, on the other hand, proved to be quite a contrast to him. She probably had a native American descent with high cheekbones and a caramel complexion. She had snappily cut dark-brown hair, braided and all the ends tied like a knit basket. She was dressed simply in distressed jeans, a camp t-shirt, and canvas. Annabeth noticed a ring and chain made of Celestial bronze on the brunette. Her lithe form gave out she was athletic though she was probably downplaying her charms using her clothes and hair.
Her archery skills proved to be top-notch, matching the Apollo kids at every turn. She turned out to be a nature lover and got along well with the Demeter residents, nature spirits, and satyrs. And unlike Percy, Piper took every challenge head-on in the wrestling classes and trounced her opponent to the ground in no time.
Incidentally, this contrast led the campers to doubt the veracity of the result of their fight with the Minotaur. Most came to speculation that it was probably Piper who fought with the ancient beast, with Percy and Grover providing support for her.
"I say Solace exaggerated," she had heard Steve from the Demeter mutter as he passed. "Like, did you the see the kid? Scrawny against a giant bull-man? Puh-lease."
Personally, Annabeth couldn't care less about the comments, since she had been present during their entrance and stayed overnight with them. Percy had overexerted his limit to slay the Minotaur after their crash. He was anything but scrawny; she had seen him without a shirt on. And the image had burned permanently into her brain. This simplicity in his attitude made her even more suspicious of him. He was the mysterious one among the two, numbing your senses to dull the danger level he pose.
If her reasoning was anything to go by, handling Clarisse as easily as he had wasn't something anyone at camp could do; though surprising her was doable. She had been torn between amusement at Percy's wisecrack, admiration at his boldness, and exasperation at his stupidity. Taunting Clarisse was like poking a sleeping dragon in the eye. You needed a ton of guts to do it, but if you had half a brain, you wouldn't even consider it. She had the sudden feeling like it wouldn't be the first time she'd find herself caught between conflicting emotions.
It was with such intentions that she had revealed everything she'd gathered, hoping they would see her genuine intentions and share some crucial information; a clue to his parentage, a lead on the stolen item, or something they knew to add to her arsenal of arguments to convince Chiron to permit a quest. Sadly, she was only left with frustration and disappointment at his noncommittal.
When she entered the cabin cluster, she found Grover talking animatedly with Percy by the central fountain. Grover had finally gotten his license for his personal quest, the search for Pan. He had enough determination and courage to defy the odds twice, and he'd never given up on his dream even when the Council Elders tried to dissuade him.
As she approached them, she heard them debating the pros and cons of different gods. Hoping for Percy to reveal something useful, she slipped on her invisible cap and neared them slowly. The debate arrived at the Big Three fairly quickly. Grover reviewed how the battle with the Titans and how the three brothers took over the world from their father.
"I wonder how they'd decided who gets what?" she heard Grover muse about the Big Three domains.
"My father said they picked three cards. It wasn't the best way, but they honestly had no other idea on how to choose." Annabeth clamped her mouth to avoid gasping to Percy's mutter.
"What did you say?" Grover asked. Percy shook his head.
The topic of discussion moved towards the Big Three pact of no more demigods after WW-II since they were too powerful and were affecting the course of moral events too much, and causing too much carnage. To Annabeth's surprise, Percy asked about who had broken the oath, like he was sure of it, with no hesitation at all.
Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with an eighties perm hairdo—he couldn't help himself—and their child, Thalia was born. The promises on River Styx were a serious issue. Zeus' got off the hook because he's an immortal, but it brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
Annabeth waited for Percy to protest the disparity of things, just like any normal demigod would, but to her utter incomprehension, he sat still, stone-faced, and waited for Grover to finish.
"When Hades found out about this girl, he was furious about Zeus breaking the oath and let out the worst monsters from the Underworld to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to bring her to the camp, but he also had to bring a couple of other demigods she befriended. They almost made it there." Grover mournfully added and pointed across the valley, to the pine tree on the crest. Annabeth sighed sadly at the reminder.
"All three Kindly Ones along with a horde of hellhounds. Thalia told the satyr to bring the other two to the camp while she fended off the monsters. She was wounded, tired, and didn't want to live like a hunted animal. And she made her final stand alone at the crest. But Zeus took pity on her and turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps strengthen the borders of the valley."
Annabeth gauged Percy's facial features over the entire spiel, hoping to find a certain reaction towards his half-sister. She watched him gaze at the faraway pine tree, his face unreadable. She was almost certain of his identity at this point.
"Hey, Grover." she materialized a little farther away and called them. Either her acting was awful or it was something else, Percy studied her warily. She didn't speak, fearing to drop something for him to latch on to. She thanked Grover's sense of distraction silently when he called them to attention.
He was dressed in his usual jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers, but he looked like he'd had a growth spurt in the last few days. Completing his assignment must've bolstered his confidence; his goatee had gotten thicker and his horns had grown out of his hair.
"I'm off," he adjusted his Rasta cap to cover the horns. "I just came to say...well, you know." She gave him a big hug and told him to keep his fake feet on. "Where are you going now?" she asked.
"Kind of a secret," he managed, despite looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, but humans and Pan..." he trailed off.
They both wished him luck. He'd need it, embarking on a quest with a zero percent success rate so far. Still, if there was one thing Grover had, it was heart. If anyone could do this, it would be him.
When she entered her cabin to change for the archery class, surprisingly, she overheard her half-siblings gossip about the mysterious Percy Jackson. Intrigued, she listened in.
"I bet he'd be a certified hottie if not for his eyes." one of her regular half-siblings Emily snickered to the other girls.
"His eyes? What's wrong with them?" they all turned to the new member, embarrassing Annabeth. She didn't intend to intrude on their talk, but it came out before she could stop herself.
"What...you like him or something?" Now she was mortified at the knowing looks from the girls. Being one of the youngest at camp and in her cabin, she was the subject of light teasing now and then. Then again, though her question sounded normal, her phrasing was kind of defensive.
"Nuh-uh," she squeaked at the end, "Percy and Piper.., they're together, I guess.." she said.
"Yeah, thought so, too." Noelle agreed. "It's weird. The two of them don't make any sense as a couple to me. I could see Piper with Jack from Apollo, though."
"So...what about his eyes? I don't see anything different with them." Annabeth inquired again.
"I don't know. They kinda make me uncomfortable. Like he's trying to see through me or something. It's creepy too." Celia said.
"Exactly. He's like a Coffin-faced Neanderthal with anyone other than the residents of cabin Eleven. You should see him, pranking others with the Stoll brothers. He's an enigma, for sure." Holly added.
Another time, Percy stumbled upon her at the canoe lake. "Hey, I've got a question," he asked once he sat on the pier and dangled his legs over the water, skimming the surface from time to time.
Annabeth motioned for him to go ahead, though she was mildly annoyed because he'd interrupted her train of thoughts. She'd been in the middle of working out her latest theory about the Solstice deadline and how it might not be related to Percy at all, and the distraction made it fly straight out her head.
"Who cleans the four empty cabins daily? I mean, despite the blowing wind year-round, the floor and walls were in pristine condition."
"Um," she said, looking away. His green eyes were intent and focused on her, and when he stared, she lost her train of thoughts. She realized the casual phrasing of his question masked a strong desire for an answer. She remembered Percy's nonchalance when he talked to Grover about Thalia. "They don't require cleaning unless occupied. The residents mostly clean their cabin before inspections." she was floored, once again by how his goofy persona had covered up his sharp and clever mind.
But there was one more incident that affirmed her assumptions about Percy; a son of Zeus, specifically sent to the camp to retrieve the stolen item and resolve the issues on Olympus. During the wrestling class led by Ares's cabin, Peter Koslov taunted Percy mercilessly for being a coward and making a name out of a girl. Though Percy remained nonchalant, Piper, on the other hand, became enraged. She cursed him as a lowlife, relying on others to gain attention. Their arguments escalated till they decided on a duel to settle their dispute.
Soon, the arena was filled with bustling campers, while the participants stood in the center, facing each other. A bunch of ugly cheers rose from the Ares campers. Annabeth, on the other hand, remained mute throughout the incident, her gaze shifting from Percy to Piper. She chose to observe from the sidelines and wouldn't argue for a chance to watch their actual abilities. Up until now, all she had were speculations about the duo. It was the same for the counselors as well.
The Hermes cabin opened up a betting pool with two times the odds on Peter's victory and five times the odds on Piper's. Since no counterfeits could occur in a friendly match, betting on the outcome was extremely exciting to the ADHD-induced demigods. Even the demigods who weren't gamblers also started to place bets, but for the most part, everyone had bet on Peter's victory.
Although Piper had defeated an Ares' demigod previously, at that time, she had caught her assailant off-guard, and had taken advantage of the opening. Such a miracle wouldn't occur a second time. So, only an extremely small portion of people, who either liked to mess around or were desperate, decided to take a gamble and bet on Piper.
Percy heaved a sigh and handed a pouch to Annabeth. She saw him hand it to her, only after Piper winked at him. "Who do you want to bet on?" she asked.
"She'd kill me if I let go of easy money. I'll draw more attention if I place a bet. So, please do me the honors." he handed a pouch containing fifty golden drachmas to bet on Piper. Annabeth looked over at him suspiciously. All the demigods only had some meager savings—if not none at all—but Percy had so much. Where had he gotten it from? Watching how assured he was, she clenched her teeth and added another five drachmas to the sum.
The arena turned silent once all the bets were placed. Once the signal for the fight was announced, Peter pounced on Piper immediately. With a loud bellow, he converged his whole strength into his arms and charged at Piper, hands turned into claws aiming at her shoulders.
The demigods in the crowd nodded watching his move. Last time, their cabin had been extremely unlucky; they hadn't made any preparations to protect their bodies, and Piper had used one surprise attack to defeat them. But this time, he had properly prepared and set up his defenses. Piper coldly smiled as she looked at Peter. Taking one step, her whole body turned into a blur as she charged forward.
BANG!
An explosive noise rang out, causing everyone to be completely dumbfounded. No one had noticed how, but at some point, Piper had appeared right behind Peter, like a demon. Peter's claw hit nothing while she viciously kicked Peter in the back of his knee with such ferocious force that his whole body lurched forward. She frowned a little; her attack should've caused enough pain for her opponent to limp, but Peter merely grunted and shrugged it off. Adding to his burly frame, he almost looked uninjured.
Having failed to obtain the intended result, Piper gracefully jumped back to a distance, but Peter lunged at her, keeping her on the defense and raining punches rapidly. The whole audience burst into cheers as Piper dodged all the punches with minimum movement while Peter relentlessly attacked her in the arena.
Annabeth glanced over Percy, his expression filled with contempt and ridicule. "What?" she couldn't help but ask, even knowing that Peter's moves have a lot of mistakes. He uses brute force to overpower his opponents, and Annabeth would probably have a hard time fighting him unless she wasted his energy first.
"This is pointless. A fight between a hunk and a frail girl. It looks novel only in theory. He's the type to look at the difference between your physiques and probably try to subdue you with brute strength." he revealed Peter's—perhaps, Ares'—line of thinking.
"So use that force to get a counter in. It won't work in a spot where he has trained." True to his words, Piper used the transition period between his attack and launched a high kick to his chin. The original beaming with confidence and elegant Peter now had an expression like a purple eggplant. Piper's kick has clearly caused him extremely severe pain, making his facial features warp and preventing him from moving. He collapsed on all fours, panting and mouth contorted in pain.
It was no suspense the match ended in Piper's victory when she said, "Beat it, you've dislocated your jaw." For a moment, the whole audience was completely silent. Everyone's eyes roved from Peter on the stage to the distant Piper at the betting booth, haggling about her victory rates with the Stoll brothers, and their expressions became extremely odd.
Nobody had expected the trained and strong Peter from the Ares cabin would be beaten by a frail newbie girl, in such a quick manner. Moreover, she had done it cleanly and efficiently.
Once the matter died down, Percy pulled Annabeth aside to give her share of the bet: twenty-five drachmas. Piper sulked on a rock and when they approached, she directly blew up on Percy.
"Perce, this is ridiculous. I had taken that much effort to blow the matter out of proportions to set a betting booth and you only placed fifty drachmas. And I've performed like a circus monkey only to get five times the price. Though drachmas weren't much to us, it could help us settle some desperate situations." she muttered the last part and rapped him mercilessly.
Percy smiled wryly. He directly handed the pouch to her, "Your reward for not letting the cat out of the bag." Annabeth watched Piper's eyes widen and took the bag giddily. Watching the joyful Piper to an indifferent Percy, Annabeth affirmed her speculations even more. She couldn't unravel the mystery of Percy Jackson.
He might be so many things; a son of Zeus, a demigod with a special purpose. He was smart-mouthed, enigmatic, and completely irrelevant, like a prophecy; incredibly vague and impossible to make sense of.
From then on, whenever some of the residents of Ares encountered Percy or Piper, they boldly threatened to bash them, and even a few tried to charge them, but the rest of the cabin would drag them back, displaying a rare moment of wisdom. Clarisse was even more demanding, directly challenging the duo to a mock fight. Her sister would drag her back to the cabin, every time.
Watching the flailing and kicking Clarisse, demanding to let her get back at them, an idea sparked in Annabeth's mind. Despite not knowing Percy's real abilities, she was convinced he couldn't be worse off than Piper. And for the moment, they both belonged to Hermes cabin, who just happened to be in alliance with the Athena for the next capture the flag on Friday evening.
A battle strategy slowly started to fall into place. Ares' fatal flaw was their pride and inability to accept a loss. They're all muscle heads and couldn't stand coming off worse in a fight. Percy and Piper had already shown Clarisse and her cabin up; she was going to be out for blood, the first chance she got. She could set them with Percy to win the game and witness his real abilities in a bind. He couldn't fly under the radar all the time.
oOo
There was a lot of excitement after dinner on Friday night. It was time to capture the flag.
The game held a lot of significance for the Athena cabin, especially Annabeth. She'd led her cabin as the winning team for two consecutive summers. The winter session doesn't count, because there weren't enough residents in the Athena or their allies to launch a proper offense. She wasn't about to lose now when she was co-counselor and especially not when it felt like a quest was almost within her reach.
The Athena cabin had already allied with the Hermes, and she managed to successfully recruit the Apollo archers, promising enough shower time schedules for a week. She met the cabin counselors before the dinner at the arts & crafts cabin to explain the strategy that had come to her when watching Piper bash Peter from the Ares.
She spread out a map of the forest on the table. "The Ares cabin always prefers offense. They're strong enough to break through most defenses. If we can converge them..."
"Clarisse's spear is electric," Trent Harrison, a senior member from Apollo winced. "It's quite tricky."
"Yeah, but what if we have a decoy?" she circled a point on the map. "We'll plant the flag here. It has a good vantage point near the creek. Lee, we shall put two of your best archers on guard. They'll have an easy time picking off attackers from this direction."
"Paxton and Trent, it is then. I'll be on the offense." Lee decided their positions, studying the map. "What about the south side? I'd come this way if I were attacking."
"We'll booby-trap this side." she pointed to the area between the south creek and the flag position. "Chris, do you think you guys can set things up in time?"
"With Connor and Ryan on it, we'll finish it in no time," Chris assured. "And a few more on monster patrol. Why only this area though?" he pointed at several other paths. "They could sneak past along these spots. We might miss Clarisse when most of us are on the offense."
"She'll come through here," Annabeth said confidently.
"How can you be sure?" Lee asked.
"We'll plant the baits here." she circled the south crossing creek and the northern border. "We'll lure half of the Ares fighters to each spot."
"Bait?"
"Percy Jackson and Piper McLean." Chris and Lee exchanged looks and grinned.
"You're right," Lee said. "She's been threatening to get back at them for a while." he nodded his head admiringly. "If she sees any of them on the border alone... it's crafty but effective." he gave her a thumbs-up.
"Will they go for it, though?" Chris asked.
"They're your cabinmates, you handle them," she said.
"M-me?" he stuttered. Everyone around the table nodded in encouragement. He agreed reluctantly.
"I'll go for the flag. I have the invisibility cap. I'll lead the flag team while the other offense teams divert the Ares defenders."
"No, Annabeth," Elliot protested. "We're setting the newbies as baits to distract the attack teams, what if they slip by? We need someone to cover for them discreetly since we're trying to make it appear like they're easy prey."
Annabeth wanted to protest, but Elliot did have a point. She was setting Percy and Piper up quite cavalierly; it was fair to keep an eye on them. Though it makes their chances to snatch the flag harder.
"Okay, set an archer to cover for Piper. I'll go after Percy." Everyone exchanged a knowing look at her arrangement and a few snickers rang, but they knew better than to voice out.
"Great," Elliot said. "We got this."
Once the dinner was finished, they geared up for the game. Amidst the cheering, Annabeth and her siblings carried the flag—a ten feet long, gray silk banner, with an owl perched on an olive tree—into the pavilion. She'd chosen Malcolm as the flag bearer since it was his first time, and also because he'd only get to be on border patrol. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse brought out the Ares flag, a badly painted spear, and an imitation of the Ermanthyian boar head on a gaudy red banner.
In the middle of the pavilion, Clarisse and Annabeth stared at each other challengingly, quite confident in their strategies.
"Heroes!" Chiron announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
The usual armaments appeared in the pavilion: helmets, swords, spears, and shields made of Celestial bronze.
She searched for Percy and Piper. They were standing next to Chris, nodding occasionally. Chris then helped them gear up. All according to plan.
"Listen, guys." she turned to her tablemates. "This is how we split us up. Elliot, you'll be with Lee on the flag team. Arthur, take Carter and Holly and run an offense on the southern edge. Noelle, take Celia and Rupert to the northern side. Malcolm, you're on the border patrol north of the creek, near the flag with Roger and Isaac."
"For Athena!"
"For Athena!" everyone cheered.
Annabeth raised her sword. "Blue team, forward!" she shouted and led her team into the south woods, followed by both Hermes and Apollo.
Once they reached the south crossing creek, she split the teams accordingly. The Hermes group split off into the woods to set up traps in the area. Once she made sure Piper was in position, she marched forward to the vantage point to set the flag and arrange Percy's position. The flag team set off on their way, with the offense teams creating diversions and clearing the path ahead.
Once everyone was set in their position, Annabeth picked a high tree for a good vantage point and slipped on her invisible cap to wait for the game to begin. It was a warm night, with only the light from the moon high up above and fireflies popping around them.
Far away, Chiron's horn blew, signaling the start of the game. It wasn't long before she heard whoops and yells from the woods, and a red team neared the creek to scout the area, a few hundred meters north. As planned, they were misled by a defense team to dart around the area. They led the red team to the booby-trapped area.
The red team's offense was nowhere to be seen, and Annabeth hoped Elliot had broken through their defenses. Clarisse and her cabin had yet to be seen. Since everything was going as planned, Annabeth jumped down and darted to the northern creek to find Percy. On her way, she felt a strange tingling sensation. She stopped near the boulders to scout the area. A low, canine growl rang somewhere close by, jostling her of her thoughts. There was a flash of black, large shadow passing, and Annabeth felt like she was being stalked, so she drew her dagger, holding it ready.
Eventually, the growling stopped but Annabeth had more pressing problems than scouting the spot in the woods. She heard a triumphant yell from the creek, accompanied by armors clinking and splashing water. She then heard Clarisse's battle cry. "Cream the punk!"
Annabeth sheathed her dagger and ran for the creek. Just as she predicted, Clarisse had brought nearly half her cabin after Percy, probably sending the rest after Piper. She got there just as Percy deflected two fighters, knocking their helmets off and Clarisse slammed her spear straight into his shield—he jerked a little, and Annabeth winced, fully knowing the red tip was electric—and Alex Gomez tried to slice up his uncovered arm. Percy shifted the sword to his other hand and deflected the blade.
"It's six against one, punk. You won't be lucky this time. Where's your girlfriend? No one escapes after humiliating Ares." Clarisse threatened with a cold sneer under her helmet. The rest of them were too busy laughing at the cornered Percy to add their comments.
"Oh, Piper got something important to do, so she can't host you right now. It seems I'll have to do, though even I'm an overkill—" Percy froze and looked around, searching for something. Annabeth gawked at him from a distance, his confidence knows no bounds, even facing six burly, threatening fighters.
Though he stopped his comment mid-sentence, it had already angered the war god brood that they stopped laughing and charged at him. Percy swung his sword on Martin Nivens' helmet and it trembled with the older boy falling to his knees.
"Clarisse, you have one chance to walk away." Percy threatened. "The flag's in that direction." he pointed to the booby-trapped zone to them. Annabeth hoped he'd only pointed a direction subconsciously.
"Attack together!" Clarisse screamed and lunged at him. Annabeth decided to sneak in to help—by taking out the Mark Copley and Alex Gomez at the back—but to her surprise, Percy threw his sword at Alex's shield, making him double over. The rest of them didn't miss a beat and charged over.
A flash of bronze passed Percy and he simultaneously parried a strike from Mark and Martin, slapping their helmets with the flat of his new blade. Alex halted in his tracks, but Clarisse—of course—wasn't about to retreat. Her spear crackled with red light as she charged to run him with it. Percy hefted a shield from the ground to stop her onslaught; he deflected her strike lightly with the shield before bringing his sword onto the spear heavily.
SNAP!
The electric spear that all the campers dreaded snapped into two, like a dried twig.
Clarisse screamed in fury. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!—" she might've let loose a string of curses before Percy smacked her face with his hilt, and sent her tumbling into the creek.
Screams and elated yells rang out from further upstream. Annabeth caught glimpse of the Ares flag racing towards the creek and pumped her fist in victory. It seems Elliot and Lee had done their part, a lot quicker than she'd expected. She grinned as Clarisse staggered to her feet and threw a venomous look at Percy.
"A trick! It was a trick!" she staggered after the flag with the teammates, but it was already too late. Annabeth smiled in satisfaction. She watched the red flag stream out to the boundary, followed by Apollo guys, flanking the flag and Hermes covering their rear.
Annabeth jumped from her place, near the creek, looking at Percy with contemplation. "Not bad, hero," she praised. "Those are some good moves."
He stared blankly at her and Annabeth realized she was still wearing her invisible cap, whipping it quickly. His eyes narrowed a little at that. But Annabeth realized something was off about Percy. "Hey, you're unarmored? And you're sword? Where's the other one you just pulled."
He shook his head. "The armor is too clunky. I'd be a disaster on stealth with it." Annabeth had an urge to roll her eyes at his lack of proper response. She finally found what was bothering her about the mystery of Percy Jackson. She was unable to get answers from him. Either she got half-baked answers or none at all.
She wanted to press for more answers, but he pointed at the woods. Following his finger, Annabeth saw a group of familiar faces running towards the common ground by the creek. They were none other than Apollo and Hermes teams on the offensive. And leading them, with a red flag was Piper McClean herself.
Once she ran across into the friendly territory, the blue team exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin Eleven. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
"How did—" Annabeth wanted to ask how did Piper manage to sneak past the enemy lines to snatch the flag, but an even more astonishing incident took place and she was forced to put any question on hold.
Just as she crossed the creek, a holographic white dove appeared above Piper, lightening up the dark forest. The banner once again shimmered and turned hot pink. The caduceus turned into a flying dove.
"That's impossible!" Annabeth muttered. There was a reddish glow around Piper and everyone stared at her like she grew another head.
"τi ŏnom κεράτωσε θεούς...?!"(what in the name of gods...?!) Piper swore and unsheathed a dagger from a golden cord at her side to see her reflection. She donned the same camp clothes: jeans and a t-shirt. But her hair was perfect: lush and long locks of chocolate brown, braided with golden ribbons down one side on her shoulder. She even had makeup on her face, subtle touches to make her lips cherry red, and eyeliner to bring out different colors in her eyes.
The Aphrodite cabin gawked at her in horror. They couldn't imagine a tomboy like Piper to be their half-sibling. One of their residents, Drew's face was full of revulsion. "No! That's not possible."
"What kind of joke is this?" Piper protested. "Mom! Come on!" she cried indignantly. Chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example.
"Hail, Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."
Annabeth turned from an indignant Piper to a flabbergasted Percy, who was staring at the former, "Pipes, you're..."
"Shut it! One more word and I'll kill you." the brunette warned, her burning face betraying her threat. Percy gulped but relented. Amidst the blue team's cheering and red team's screaming, Annabeth stared at Percy until a loud growl broke through the forest, but much closer than before.
Her first thought it was one of the leftover monsters from the game, but then she heard Chiron issue a sharp, urgent command in ancient Greek. The cheering in the opening died down and everyone turned toward her. Annabeth took a battle stance, immediately alert.
They appeared out of nowhere as if they had risen straight from the shadows, which they probably had. A group of six hellhounds, the size of rhinos with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp fangs, growling menacingly at them—more precisely—at Percy. They stood on the rocks above them, surrounding the duo, ready to pounce.
Annabeth's heart pounded. The last time she'd seen an army of hellhounds, Thalia took her last stand near the camp. It was the same situation, where the creatures from the Underworld wanted her friend—probably—but she wasn't helpless this time.
She unsheathed her dagger, ready to attack. "Percy, look out," she warned and lunged forward.
The hellhounds leaped. Annabeth swung her dagger, but it only managed to slice off an inch of fur from one of them. Her attack didn't even slow them down as they barreled into Percy, swallowing him whole in inky darkness. Her insides twisted. It was like being transported back five years, as she watched the army of hellhounds and Furies descend on Thalia, sinking their claws into her...
"Fire!"
Only then, they weren't surrounded by a band of archers. At Chiron's command, every Apollo camper let loose a barrel of arrows, sinking into the hellhounds. The giant dogs collapsed, their carcasses slowly sinking into the shadows, their essence returning to Tartarus.
Annabeth swore and ran forward. Everyone gathered around, stunned at the empty spot after the monsters melted into the shadows. Percy was nowhere to be found. Annabeth gripped her dagger hard, her knuckles turning white. She felt sick all of a sudden.
SWISH!
An arrow whizzed past everyone at the point a few meters from the hellhounds, drawing everyone's attention towards the dark forest. Annabeth shuddered a little at the figure approaching them. Percy stepped out of the shadows from the nearby woods, but his attention was on the wiggling shadow near the boulders.
All of sudden, a huge black wolf jumped out of the shadows and threw its claws at Percy, at his unguarded right. The wolf was as huge as a truck, but it had a smoke-like layer on its surface making it semi-transparent. Percy slashed at the outstretched claw, but it passed through the wolf.
Annabeth watched a flash of red on Percy's left arm and the next thing she knew, a sharp sword was sticking out of the wolf's head, its still body lay on the ground, emitting black fog. Percy's left arm was lacerated badly, claw marks covered his lower arm, but his expression remained grim as he observed the corpse.
Annabeth wanted to step forward but her legs remained glued to the ground. "What in Hades was that?" she heard someone murmur.
"That's a Barghest." She confirmed, her voice shaking. She swallowed hard and tried to steady it. "From the Fields of Punishment." Only it shouldn't have been able to breach the camp boundaries. "They don't...they're not supposed to..."
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said grimly. "Someone inside the camp."
"It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!" Clarisse accused, which was possibly the dumbest thing Annabeth had ever heard her say. How stupid would anyone have to be to summon a demon to kill them?
Chiron told her to be quiet. Everyone stared at Percy.
"You're wounded," Annabeth noticed. Chiron took a step forward towards him, rummaging his supply bag for ambrosia.
"I'm okay," Percy said and stepped into the creek. The water at his feet churned and crawled up his body and onto his injured arm. In a few seconds, it was no longer bloody. It looked as though he'd scraped tree branches, rather than gotten sliced by a claw. It was still healing as they watched, the thin scars that they had turned into faded away. Even nectar and ambrosia didn't work that quickly.
Annabeth remembered how the water glided his feet at the canoe. She thought about how Clarisse had stabbed him with the electric spear, Percy stepped into the creek for a moment before resuming his fight with her. She'd thought it might be a sign of Zeus' power like Thalia had been able to call on sometimes but hadn't occurred to her until then that he might've gotten his powers from a different Eldest god. It was pretty convincing proof. And that really sucked.
Once his injuries healed, a glow appeared around him, bathing everyone in green light. Annabeth immediately recognized it as something more than healing, the beginning of a powerful sign from the gods. The shimmering claim arrived, in the form of a green glowing trident above him.
"Oh, Styx, this isn't good!" she glared at him, though it wasn't exactly his fault. "I didn't...I assumed it'd be Zeus.." she muttered incoherently. Like all the things about Percy, this new information brought her a wave of mixed feelings.
If he was the son of Poseidon, he still fits the bill for the prophecy, which was a good thing in theory. In practice, Poseidon and Athena had one of the biggest rivalries in godly history. One that Athena won a lot, which didn't tend to endear her to the god of the sea or his children. Annabeth already didn't think she'd made any favorable impression on Percy, which didn't bode well for a future partnership.
All around her, campers started kneeling, including the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.
"Hail, Perseus Jackson," Chiron announced. "Son of the Sea God, Father of Horses."
oOo
A few days later, Annabeth had a dream. She stood at the entrance to a familiar golden temple. A woman in Greek chiton stood inside the temple, facing her back to Annabeth. When she entered, the tranquil atmosphere was torn by a loud squabble, like the tussle of a pair of toddlers.
Annabeth dropped to her knees, once she recognized the temple and the woman before her. "Mother!"
"Rise, child." She got up and waited for Athena to speak. The goddess smiled down at her but rolled her eyes once she overheard the racket.
"This is giving me a headache," she said, rubbing her temples. "They've been at each other's throats. I can't get any peace..."
"Who..?" though Annabeth asked, she had a feeling like she knew. "Lord Zeus? And..."
"Poseidon's a fool," Athena said contemptuously. "He should know claiming the child would annoy Father. And Father's being silly, too. We've been over this already. That's a far-fetched accusation..."
"He's mad that Poseidon had a kid," Annabeth summarized.
"Well, that too, though really! Talk about a sword calling the dagger sharp. It goes beyond that, child. It's been going on for months. He didn't approve of the latest twist." Athena turned her piercing eyes on her. "You must solve the riddle, look past your emotions. Sometimes it's necessary to move past our rivalries, for the greater good. The quest depends on it."
"The quest?" her heart pounded. Athena smiled mysteriously.
"How's the sea spawn?" she had a faraway look in her eyes.
"You're talking about Percy... well, he's good, I guess. He's a lot of secrets, and he's growing on me, a bit." he had annoyed her with a lack of response, but he was also kind of cute, for a goofy kid.
"Just don't get too close. My children were not meant to fraternize with his." Athena warned. "Make me proud, my daughter."
A bright light enveloped the room and consumed Annabeth whole. When she woke up the next morning, she went straight to Chiron.
His response was still the usual. He flat-out turned her down. Even after she told him about the previous night's dream and all the speculations. Chiron listened quietly, steepled his fingers in front of his face, and said heavily, "I do believe you're right, Annabeth. I had hoped... but there's no fighting it. The attack was just the beginning." he said grimly
"But I believe you're ill-suited for this specific task. It's very dangerous."
"Chiron, please. My mom—Athena—said my presence was necessary for the success of the quest. I can do it. I can help Percy solve the problem." she pleaded. After a lot of begging, Chiron relented.
"I'll only allow if he agrees to take you with him," he added his condition.
"So Percy is the one," she asked hopefully.
"Perhaps. Tell me, Annabeth, have you figured out the quest?"
"Athena said that Zeus and Poseidon have been fighting for a while now. And someone had stolen something from Olympus...di immortals, it was something of Zeus', wasn't it? His..." she recollected all the things Zeus had.
"His Master Bolt," Chiron confirmed.
She swore again. The situation was direr than she had imagined. "Who would dare...surely not Poseidon?" she hoped not.
"While Poseidon has not always been guileless in past attempts to usurp Zeus's power, I think it's highly unlikely this time. I believe both brothers were sincere in their desire to maintain peace after the last great war. However, we must not forget that there's a third brother who may not have been quite as sincere."
"You're talking about Lord Hades, aren't you?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"If he stole—or sent someone to steal—the bolt on the Winter Solstice and he's been sending monsters after Percy, he must think that Percy's destined to retrieve it."
"I believe so."
"Does Percy know yet?"
"Yes, everything has started from him." Then Chiron went into the detailed story of Percy being accused, attacked, and finally clearing his name. To say Annabeth was astonished was mildly putting it. To have the whole council after him, but still act normally...
"You've known he's a son of Poseidon all along, haven't you?"
"I had my suspicions. As I said, I've spoken to the Oracle, too." Chiron acquiesced. "The council has already given their verdict. Mr. D confirmed that much. Now, my dear, do you understand what this quest would entail?"
"We'd have to go to the Underworld." Annabeth had to keep her voice steady. It was the one place you wouldn't want to have to go for a quest. But she wasn't going to back down now. If she didn't take this chance, who knew if another opportunity would ever come around?
"We'd have to face Hades," she said, determined. Chiron nodded.
"Any of Percy's companions—assuming he takes on the quest, of course—would incur the wrath of Hades. And any other... I hope I'm overthinking things..."
"Sir?"
Chiron shook his head. "It's probably nothing." But he still looked unsettled. "All right, my dear. Assuming you are still willing to take on the quest—"
"I am," she stood straight.
"—then all we need is our stalwart hero." He sent her to go wait in his office while he talked to Percy. Thunder rumbled outside. Annabeth studied the row of pictures on the wall. She'd seen them before; It was the hall of fame, a photo montage of great heroes Chiron had trained.
A few of the photos had grainy quality from the early eighties, others were even older in black-and-white texture. The oldest were painted portraits rather than actual photos. There was Hercules, Achilles, and many more. Her pulse quickened as she tried to imagine herself among them.
Could I ever live up to their deeds?
Her eyes searched for the female heroes among the photos and picked out the tall, athletic-looking blonde, standing proudly in one. A picture was signed in bold letters: Atlanta '13. Then there was Elias Wiseman, Amelia Earhart, Heloise Lane, Marie Curie, and many more, but they were surrounded by guys on all sides.
Her focus was drawn to the footsteps plodding up the stairs to the attic. Her heart pounded. That had to be Percy, off to consult the Oracle, which meant he must've accepted the quest. She felt too jittery to sit still anymore. She had a sneaking suspicion that Chiron will try to convince Percy not to take her along on the quest.
So she slapped the invisible cap on her head and went back to the hall. Chiron sat in his wheelchair, his expression grim. Piper sat opposite him, shuffling Mr. D's pinochle cards. Neither of them seemed to have noticed her yet.
In a few minutes, footsteps rang outside. A young man with sword-like brows and bright green eyes slowly walked into the room. His body seemed to have a unique aura, giving off a profound feeling. He appeared just like a well; nothing out of ordinary on the surface but was impossible to see through. No one could manage to see through his depths, and his existence appeared like a mystery to her.
Annabeth couldn't help but feel some fluttering in her heart when she saw him. Compared to the Percy she had seen in the past, it was like the difference between day and night. The current him appeared to be full of self-confidence, like a sword drawn for its sheath.
He plopped down in the empty chair, his gaze unfathomable.
"Well," Chiron prodded. "How did it go?"
"She said I'd find the missing item and see it safely returned."
That sounded good to her. A prediction for success, with no restrictions on the companions, yet.
"What did the Oracle say exactly, Percy." Chiron insisted. "This is important." Annabeth agreed with him.
"Sure, before that though," he said and turned in her direction. "There's one thing I'd like to clear," his gaze rested on her, invisible or not. Annabeth's heart leaped into her throat when he called her directly, without any hesitance.
"Annabeth?"
xXx
A/N: I wonder how Percy found her? Do you know? You know the drill. Reviews are highly appreciated.
