"That's the chapter! Umm, who wants to read next and who wants to wake up the demigods?" Sally asked, staring at the kids in amusement. Honestly, only these kids could just conk out like this.
Percy suddenly shot up and happily said that he would do it.
Percy ran out of the room really quick before anybody could say anything. Those left in the room were left to look at each other in confusion, wondering what on earth the boy was up to. The Hermes crew found themselves kind of looking forward to whatever it was.
When he came back, he had an air-horn. Sally groaned and Rachel motioned for the Romans to cover their ears.
Percy smirked before putting the horn right by Percy's ear. Those awake cringed at what was about to happen.
Percy pulled the trigger on the horn, and those closest to it were suddenly covered in bright pink paint, along with getting their ears blown out.
Everyone stared for a few minutes while the victims sat there and just stared at everyone and each other.
In those few minutes, the Hermes crew decided that they never wanted to get on Percy's bad side, because if this was what little Percy could come up with on the spot like that... and how did he even get bright pink paint in an air-horn in the first place?
Once everyone's brains caught up with their eyes, everyone, even the more serious gods, were either on the floor laughing or barely staying in their thrones.
Once everyone calmed down, which took a while because one look at the victims and they would be off again, the Stolls demanded to know if that was the best he could do at this age.
"Oh, no," Percy said, grinning. "I wanted to do something else, but I didn't have the time or resources. Plus, I don't like setting up in front of a crowd."
"Ok, but how did you get the paint in the air-horn?" Luke demanded.
"Sorry, Jackson family secret. It goes to the grave." Both Percy's said solemnly.
Hestia sighed before looking at the time and announcing dinner. She also (rather sweetly too) suggested that the victims go cleaned up first. To which Percy grinned and Percy groaned. Stating that this stuff didn't come off the normal way, there was a very specific way to get it off. He refused to tell anyone what it was though.
Sure enough, when he came back, he was the only victim that was clean. Well, him and Annabeth. He had told her how to get rid of it in the interest of not having an angry girlfriend to deal with. He had made her promise not to tell anyone else though. That would just ruin future pranks for both him and Percy if everyone in camp knew how to clean themselves and his prank area up.
When they came back from dinner, which was surprisingly uneventful, Sally tossed the book to Paul, silently demanding he read next.
Chapter six: I become supreme Lord of the Bathroom.
A few eyebrows rose around the room. Meanwhile, both Percy and Clarisse hid behind Annabeth and Chris respectively. Percy out of a sense of self-preservation and not wanting Clarisse to kill him, and Clarisse out of embarrassment for this happening in the first place.
The others who had been there thought back and remembered what happened on Percy's first day there, and they were gone. Clarisse came out from behind her boyfriend enough to glare, but it didn't help much that Chris himself was also chuckling as he remembered what happened that day.
(Once I got over the... Another said, "That's him.")
"I think that was me actually." Connor said.
"Yeah, I was too busy thinking up ways of getting that horn off him. Guy is really good at knowing when his stuff is stolen and who stole it." Travis said.
Both Percy's just shrugged. Luke and Chris snickered thinking of the short time when they still shared a cabin with Percy. The Stoll brothers had snatched the horn while Percy was in the shower, only for Percy to shut off the water, come storming out still wearing a towel, and start chewing the Stolls out for touching his stuff while grabbing the horn back from them.
Nobody knew how he did it.
(Most of the campers... do a flip or something.)
"Ooo, can-"
"No."
A few people started grumbling about stingy sons of Poseidon.
(I looked back at... brass eagle weather vane)
Percy grumbled something about it not being a Pegasus, a few demigods laughed thinking about that time he went up, took down the eagle, and had Blackjack stand up there in its place. It took days for people to notice that the weather vane had been replaced.
What was even funnier was watching Blackjack follow Percy everywhere he went for the next two weeks, bugging him about when he was going to go get his doughnuts.
Everyone ignored Zeus's boasting to Poseidon about his son admiring the eagle. They all, except Zeus it seemed, heard Percy's Pegasus remark.
(on top when something... I was being watched.)
Chiron sat up. The Oracle moved? She hadn't moved in...
Everyone else who had ever seen that mummy shivered. She gave them the creeps. The future Greeks who had all turned to Rachel and thanked her over and over again for coming into their lives. The Romans looked at them all like they were idiots. Rachel really didn't see the problem. Personally, she didn't think the old Oracle was as creepy as everyone else found it to be.
("What's up there?"... "Not a single living thing.")
"He wasn't wrong there." Percy mumbled, playing with Annabeth's hair and only half paying attention to what was going on.
(I got the feeling... take almost no effort.")
"It would be better with grapes." Mr. D mumbled.
That's when everyone who had been sleeping noticed the wine in his hands and got a quick explanation.
(He said Mr. D had this... they grew strawberries instead.)
Mr. D glared at Zeus, who just reminded him that this was his punishment. To which Mr. D pulled his goblet closer to him and threatened to take away his lightning, call it a punishment, see how he would like it. All under his breath, of course.
He didn't want to risk the first bit of wine he'd been allowed in years to be taken away so soon.
Hestia sighed. Mentally cursing her little brothers stupidity.
(I watched the satyr... kind of magic with music.)
"No/Yes." Grover muttered sadly while Grover stated it proudly. Grover whipped around to stare at his older counterpart. Grover grinned.
(I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.)
"No, actually, he sent me straight to the council." Grover muttered. Percy and those lucky few who had ever met the Council of Cloven Elders winced. Those old goats were not nice to their satyr.
Despite his new status as Lord of the Wild.
Even Mr. D looked apologetic about it!
("Grover won't get... protector. Really.")
Grover made a sound of disbelief while Grover shot Percy a look of gratitude. He knew Percy had always believed in him, but it was good to hear it sometimes.
(Chiron sighed. He..."But he did that!")
Percy nodded along with his book self. Grover looked at him in disbelief. Getting the mother of his protectee kidnapped while being unconscious during a fight between said protectee and the Minotaur of all monsters was NOT what he called bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill.
Grover saw his look and smirked his way. One would think that knowing Percy for the half year so far at school, he would realize by now what kind of friend Percy was.
("I might agree with you,"... on Grover's part.")
Percy rolled his eyes. "It's not his fault we got blasted off the side of the road and he happened to hit his head a little too hard." He grumbled. Everyone heard him though. He really didn't like those old goats.
Grover nodded firmly while a few others looked like they were trying not to laugh. They could see his point though, a couple people glanced at Zeus, it was his fault that Grover was unconscious when they arrived after all.
(I wanted to protest... second chance, won't he?")
Grover winced. This was his second chance.
(Chiron winced. "I'm... "Oh, twenty-eight.")
"Dude, that sucks."
"And still in sixth grade? Ouch."
("What! And he's in sixth grade?")
Frank got a few strange looks and a few chuckled at the look on his face.
("Satyrs mature half... "That's horrible.")
All the other demigods, even Paul for some reason, nodded their heads in agreement.
("Quite," Chiron agreed... Was it really so bad?")
Thalia turned to Grover and stared him down as if daring him to start thinking bad things about himself again. Honestly, that Satyr!
Grover caught her stare and burrowed himself into the couch cushions as best as he could. Beside him, Luke chuckled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He decided to ignore the way some of the other futures stiffened at his contact, mentally rolling his eyes.
Although, he supposed that with everything he did to them, they were a little justified in being a little suspicious.
(Chiron looked away... forming in my mind.)
Hades suddenly started chanting, 'please don't think about it, please don't think about it...' over and over again.
While Percy winced and looked apologetic, Hazel turned to Nico to question him about what their Father was going on about.
"Every once in a while somebody gets it into their thick skulls to go to the Underworld and confront dad to give them their loved ones back. Which, obviously, he can't do. However, whenever somebody manages to get down there, it means more paperwork, completely reviewing and redoing the security, going through and making sure nothing important was messed with and whoever came through didn't go somewhere they shouldn't have. Stuff like that. Overall, its a massive headache for dad." Nico explained for the room.
The other Olympians winced in sympathy for Hades. Maybe they should find some way to help him out?
Percy shrunk down in his seat, mouthing 'sorry' towards his uncle. Hades just glared before glancing at Sally and thinking that it was a good thing for the boy that she apparently never actually died. Although he still couldn't figure out why he would have taken her hostage.
He would think that his book self would be wanting to stay out of he brothers fight, let them find the stupid bolt on their own. Unless something of his got stolen as well...
("Chiron," I said. "If... Underworld is real, too?")
Hades started banging his head against the back of his chair. So much paperwork!
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover looked really guilty as they all remembered how they shoved past the security point. Yeah, that had to mean a lot more paperwork then normal.
(Chiron's expression darkened... Let's see the woods.")
"Way to change the subject Chiron." Hermes moaned.
Chiron looked at him apprehensively, he did not want to know what his nephew might do if he felt like he might need some lessons in diverting people's attention. The last time that happened...
(As we got closer, I... luck, but go armed.")
All of a sudden, Percy gasped. "Clarisse!" He called, looking over towards the daughter of war. The rest of the future Greeks groaned. Here they go.
"Yeah, man! As soon as you get back and everything has calmed down, yeah?" She said, excited.
"Yes!" Percy cheered.
Annabeth noticed everyone else looked confused and just told them not to ask.
("Stocked with what?"... sword and shield?")
"Why would he already...?"
"My book self sounds a little distracted for some reason."
"Ah."
Everyone who had already figured it out (everyone except Athena and a few of the more clueless ones like Zeus and some of the younger demigods) privately thought that book-Chiron had every right to be a little distracted.
"My own-?" "No,"... camp had an armory,)
"The kind that's interested in keeping the campers alive." All the future Greeks said at once. Leo and Piper raised an eyebrow and thought back to when they asked the same thing. Now that they thought about it, made sense.
(but there was too... seem to like very much),)
"Nope." Chiron muttered.
"It's ok, the Pegasi don't really like it either, they tolerate it at best." Percy said absently.
The past campers looked disbelieving, while the futures didn't react to him talking like he could speak with them.
"That's right, we were working on fixing it up more how they wanted it when you disappeared, weren't we?" Annabeth asked.
"You didn't finish?" Percy looked surprised.
"Well, we finished what was already drawn up and approved, but we couldn't ask them about the rest of it. Besides that, I mentioned that you were missing to Blackjack and next thing I knew, all the Pegasi were taking to the air and flying in all directions, we assume they took off to find you." Annabeth said.
Percy nodded, looking thoughtful.
(the javelin range, the... sword and spear fights.)
"And the fights with Percy and Clarisse are the best. Those two, well, and Thalia when she's in camp, don't seem to understand the concept of holding back when they go against each other." Connor said excitedly. All the other future Greeks were looking excited too, they couldn't wait for those two to challenge each other formally later.
Everyone else just looked at each other, wondering what was up with those two. Were they friends, enemies, sibling relationship? They couldn't tell.
("Sword and spear... "Not lethal. Usually.)
"Unless its Percy and Clarisse in the ring." Rachel muttered. The others nodded in agreement. Percy and Clarisse shrugged, so they liked going all out once in a while, so what?
Clarisse looked over the two Percy's thoughtfully, the younger one didn't look like much, but the older one looked like he could put up a good fight...
(Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall.")
"That's it, we're teaching you." Hermes decided suddenly.
Chiron groaned, wondering if he could use the 'I'm your Uncle you will stop this foolish nonsense' card to get out of this. It worked in the past when they were younger and he was on godsitting duty.
(Chiron pointed to... to drop the subject.)
"What on earth is with everybody? They keep on looking at you as if you're asking dumb questions with really obvious answers!" Jason burst out. Annabeth shifted, thinking about how she reacted when Percy asked where Mt. Olympus was.
"Wow, my future self is VERY distracted right now... has the fight really gotten that bad?" Chiron murmured quietly.
(Finally, he showed... buildings I'd ever seen.)
"What's that supposed to mean?" Athena demanded. It had been her children, after all, who designed them. With her approval of course. (Which meant that some of her children came up with designs, brought them to her, and by the time the rest of the gods were done with adding what they wanted, none of her children's designs had come out in the final product.)
Percy just grinned and gestured for Paul to keep reading.
(Except for the fact... nothing alike.)
"Oh." Athena sat back on her throne. Trying to act like she had not just completely jumped to conclusions.
Percy just smirked.
(Number nine had... impossible to look at.)
Each god smirked proudly as their cabin was mentioned, while those who didn't get mentioned scowled.
Percy saw this, "It's not like I knew what they really were. Besides, I named off the more... interesting ones." He did not feel like insulting them today.
He was in a good mood, it had been a pretty good day, he really didn't want to ruin that by insulting someone, again. Even if they didn't know about the first few times he insulted them.
(They all faced a... were more my speed).)
"We should take some time, play a game while we're here. I mean, it's not like it'll really affect anything. Times frozen until the Fates decide we've read everything they want us to after all. What's a day off of reading here and there, be with the kids?" Hermes said.
While everyone ages five and under (in personality anyway) agreed whole-heartedly, Hera was very much against this. She, personally, just wanted to finish reading these books and get out of here. A few people also couldn't stop staring at Hermes for saying something so smart sounding. Something that really ticked off those who liked Hermes the most once they noticed. (AKA Percy, Hermes kids, Apollo, etc.)
(In the center of... the coals with a stick.)
The gods started, glancing over at Hestia. It had been a while since they had heard about anyone seeing her.
"Ooh, only those with a really strong sense of family can see me." Hestia said softly, smiling over at the Jackson's.
Sally just smiled. Of course they had a sense of family. Nobody would be anything without their family behind them.
(The pair of cabins... images of peacocks.)
The Greeks all snorted. One of them whispered 'peacocks'. There was a running joke at camp about peacocks, being the vainest and not so bright birds around, were perfect for Hera to decorate with.
In their minds, the peacock suited her perfectly.
When Hera looked at them suspiciously they simply smiled innocently back.
Chiron was trying not to laugh. He wasn't about to admit it to anyone, well, except maybe Hades, Poseidon, and Hestia (there was a reason why they were regarded as the cool siblings), but he was actually the one to start the joke. He took it as his prerogative as the oldest sibling.
("Zeus and Hera?"... stays in one or two.")
"For good reason." Thalia and Jason grumbled.
"So cold..."
"Stupid statue stares..."
A few people stared at the Grace siblings while Poseidon and Hades stared triumphantly at Zeus. They told him not to put in the statue.
Did he listen. Nope.
(Okay. So each cabin... left, cabin three.)
Again, people were trying to figure out how on earth they missed who his godly parent was. Some of them had even watched him stop outside cabin three! That on top of his 'issues' with water should have been a dead give away.
Percy smirked at his cousins. At least his cabin was warm and inviting. The only issues he had with it was that he was the only one in there.
Thalia and Jason glared. Why couldn't THERE dad care about his kids comfort more than his own ego like Percy's dad?
Percy turned to grin at his dad, telling him silently that he loved the place.
(It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one,)
"Sometimes, it's the lowest of the low that can bring down the high and mighty." Percy whispered.
Poseidon heard it and beamed proudly at his son. That was a good way to live. He usually taught that to all his children at some point or another, somehow. He had found that his children tended to live longer if they didn't let their status as a Big 3 kid go to there heads. So, by teaching them that, there is less of a chance of them under estimating there enemies and therefore dying. His children had the longest life expectancy out of all the demigods for a reason.
In his experiance, the bigger the head, the quicker and harder the fall.
A few demigods heard what Percy said too and asked him about it, he just smiled and said maybe he'd tell them someday. Before smiling at his father and step-mother.
(but long and low... sheets turned down.)
"That place sounds nice." Hazel said.
Percy grinned. "It is. The only problem I really have with it is when Tyson is away at the forges and I'm the only one there."
Poseidon frowned. When did Tyson and Percy meet up? Sure, he was already thinking about introducing them, but... he also wished Percy wouldn't be lonely in there. Of course if his wife heard him say that he would be dead.
(But there was no..., and brown instead of red.)
All the demigods got really quiet as both Clarisse's turned to Percy at the same time. Chiron could be heard muttering in the background, 'oh dear.'
"Did you seriously just compare me to that... that... that... thing who calls herself a human being?" Clarisse demanded in a soft tone. Clarisse just glared and let her older self do the talking. After all, her older self knew Percy much better than she did.
"Um, well, ah... how about we keep reading and we can settle this tonight?" He asked hopefully.
"Don't think you're getting out of it, Prissy." She warned.
Everyone felt like they could breathe again, crisis averted. Although the older demigods had a feeling that their match tonight was going to get uglier than normal.
(I kept walking, trying... won't see any here.")
"PARTY PONIES! YEAH!" Was heard from all of the Hermes crew who had met the ponies. So, pretty much those who fought in Manhattan. Everyone else who heard who had met them groaned and started questioning their life choices, especially when they overheard Apollo and Hermes start to quietly plan their next party with them.
"You should invite them over more often Chiron." Percy said with a grin.
Chiron looked horrified. "And see my camp burned to the ground? I think not."
Jason and Piper had to grab Leo and hold him to his chair to keep him from setting himself on fire and start dancing across the room.
("You said your... Yes, Percy, I am.")
"Who cares about him? Now some of the other guys..." Percy muttered. Thalia and Grover nodded. They really did not like Hercules.
Zoe stared at him. Until this reading, she had thought all boys wanted to be just like Hercules.
Chiron smiled bitterly. Hercules had been his greatest achievement, and his greatest disappointment.
("But, shouldn't you be dead?")
"I suppose that's one way to have a conversation..." Katie said.
(Chiron paused, as if... that I'm still needed.")
"You are." Was echoed through the room. Chiron smiled around at them all.
(I thought about being... to Wish For list.)
Athena gave him a huffy look while most of the other guys muttered in agreement. They wouldn't want to teach for three thousand years either.
Now though, Percy was also thinking about those they lost in the Titan War. He'd been the one to teach them. And then he'd been the one to watch them die. He just couldn't imagine watching that happen over and over for three thousand years. It was hard enough watching it once when he'd only been teaching for a couple of years.
("Doesn't it ever get... boring."
"Why depressing?")
Percy shook his head and muttered something that nobody caught, but they didn't quite like the look on his face.
(Chiron seemed to turn... is waiting for us."
The blond girl)
"How long in this book am I going to be 'the blond girl'?"
"Er... Paul read!"
(I'd met at the... about how much I drooled.)
"Actually, I was debating whether or not you would actually be my ticket out of there." Annabeth admitted softly.
(I tried to see... mean, literally Greek.)
"No duh it is Greek, stupid, brainless..." She dissolved into random mutters. It would seem she had already forgotten the simple fact that in this point of the book, Percy was still very much in the dark about all things demigod.
"Either she's just this worked up about not being to figure out what's going on when Hermes and Apollo clearly can, or your mother has finally gone off the deep end of the pier, Wisegirl." Percy said, just loud enough for the other demigods and Chiron to hear.
Annabeth nodded mutely while staring at her mother in confusion before glancing over at her younger self, they caught each others gaze and nodded to each other.
They would have to keep an eye on their mother during this reading.
(There were pictures..."Make yourself at home.")
"Make yourselves at home."
"More like pull up whatever..."
"...bit of floor you found..."
"... that happened to be enough room..."
"...for you to sleep on." All four Stolls grumbled in turns.
"Why can't you guys all be the responsible thousand some year old beings that you are and just claim your kids already?!" ALL of Hermes children turned to the council.
A few of the gods jumped, not quite expecting that, while the Greek demigods all raised an eyebrow.
They'd been expecting a Hermes child to say something at this point, but they hadn't expecting them to say it all at the same time.
Hermes snorted and looked up at the ceiling when people looked over at him. "I've been trying to get them to claim their kids for centuries. What I find ironic, is that you all claim Apollo and I to be the most immature and irresponsible ones here, yet when it comes to our kids, we are the only ones responsible enough to actually pay any attention to them. Well, besides Uncle P and Uncle H, but they also didn't get many kids to take care of even before this stupid oath of Father's. Well, at least not without Zeus striking them down as soon as they showed any sign of power." He frowned. "For that matter, why is it that Uncle P is the only one not petty enough to kill Uncle H and Father's children? And even then, Uncle H only goes around killing them if they seriously did something to offend them. With one exception."
On the last bit he glanced at Thalia, although she just shrugged and said that Hades had already apologized to her for that and explained why. And really, that was Zeus's fault.
Everyone stared at Hermes outburst. They knew he'd been asking them to claim their kids, but they didn't know that he was this bent up about it...
Hestia smiled at the sons of Hermes and suggested to the disgruntled boys and their father that perhaps these books would show them just how wrong they really were in ignoring their children. She couldn't quite explain it, but she had a feeling that the over-crowded nature of cabin 11 seemed to have made a very large impact towards causing these books to be here.
(Out of all the cabins... the emphasis on old.)
All the Hermes kids shrugged. "We try to keep it as fixed up as possible, but with all those kids in there..." Connor said.
"The more kids there are, the harder it is to keep track of them, which means its harder to find time to do anything other than making sure everyone is where they should be for training and the like." Luke said.
Hermes glared at the other gods, the ones who currently had multiple unclaimed children in his cabin. Maybe now they would see how much not bothering to claim their kids hurt everyone. And not just their kid. It hurt his too, because his kids were the ones taking care of them, trying to tell them that their parent does care, their just busy... trying to find time to be with everybody in an overcrowded cabin where there was barely any room to walk, let alone sleep.
(The threshold was...? A caduceus.)
"Wow, he knows something." Athena muttered. Whether or not she meant for that to be heard was a mystery.
All the Sea people and Annabeth turned to glare at her, she ignored them and pretended she hadn't said anything. Everyone else just glanced around at each other before turning to their times respective set of Stolls. Giving them the look.
(Inside, it was packed... up an evacuation center.)
"Is it really that bad right now?" Apollo asked softly.
Hermes nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak. Luckily, Apollo was the only other one who claimed his kids on a regular basis. Sure, a couple of them slipped through the cracks, so to speak, on occasion. But he claimed them.
(Chiron didn't go in... it at enough schools.)
Sally sighed sadly. She really wished her boy had been able to stay at one school. Well, at least he wasn't kicked out of Goode. No, instead he was kidnapped. She turned to glare at Hera.
The one who claimed motherhood to be her domain, yet she took away a mothers boy without even considering how it would effect the mother. What she had been told of Jason, she wasn't the only one to have her baby boy taken either. How ironic.
("Well?" Annabeth prompted... "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned.)
Hermes and sons sighed sadly before fixing those with kids with looks that made them think a prank storm was coming on. Hermes gestured for his sons to come over to his corner and they started whispering to each other.
Everyone else watched in fear before Paul hesitantly started reading again when it was obvious they were going to take a while.
(A guy who was..., right over there.")
"How big was the space Percy?" Apollo called. He wanted the others to see just how bad it was in that cabin space wise. Since Hermes was too busy at that moment to ask.
Percy shrugged. "It was just big enough to curl up if I didn't want to be sticking an elbow in my neighbors sides."
"Oh, thanks for that, by the way." Chris piped in from the Hermes Planning Corner. He had been one of Percy's floor neighbors. He'd already had to deal with the person on his other side constantly invading his space at night, and had been using the space they gave Percy to sort of escape. He had been expecting to have it coming from both sides until that first night when he saw Percy curl up as tight as he could and leave as much space between himself and the two on either side as he could.
"No problem. You looked like you were having enough problems with Micheal on your other side."
"Yeah, waking up with somebodies elbow in your face every morning is not fun. Not to mention just plain uncomfortable." Chris nodded in agreement. Summer ending was one thing he looked forward to for that reason alone.
While those who had unclaimed kids in that cabin looked horrified, Apollo grinned. He couldn't tell if Percy and Chris caught onto what he was doing or if they were just talking about it, but they did it all the same.
It was then that Hermes asked the Percy's to join them in the corner. Their grins as they walked over made many in the room cower in fear and start praying with all their might that they weren't the targets.
(The guy was about... an old knife slash.)
Both Luke's looked over and winced, along with Hermes. "More like a claw." Luke beckoned for Paul to keep reading.
("This is Luke,"... she was blushing.)
Both Lukes looked over again and raised an eyebrow at their respective Annabeth. Neither of them were meeting anybody's gaze and stared at the ground. Athena revisited her earlier thoughts that Luke would be a much better match for her Annabeth.
(She saw me looking... the god of travelers.")
"And you all abuse that generosity way too much." Apollo said. He had sat with Hermes through many rampages after he visited camp to check in and saw how crowded the cabin was. He really didn't appreciate being used and taken for granted like that.
(I looked at the... Minotaur's horn.)
Everyone was suddenly reminded of what happened to Sally and how Percy, like so many others, came stumbling into camp with nothing but the clothes on his back. Unlike the other kids though, he had to watch his mother 'die' right in front of him.
(I thought about... the god of thieves.)
'And yet, he's the only person we've never managed to steal from.' All of the future Hermes kids thought.
And it was true. Somehow, Percy always knew if any of his stuff went 'missing' and conveniently had ways of getting it back within the hour. They didn't know how he did it.
(I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious,)
"Those are the Unclaimed." Katie said sadly. None of the Claimed kids at camp liked watching it happen.
A kid comes in, they are told that they are the children of the gods, they hope to meet their other parent, and then... that other parent never even acknowledges that they exist.
It was also the reason why so many of them joined Kronos. Kronos offered them something their own parent never gave them. A chance to prove to the gods that they existed. That they weren't about to be forgotten.
Chris and Luke glanced at each other. They had both joined Kronos because both felt that the gods just didn't care and felt the world would be better without them.
(some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.)
Hermes looked over from the planning corner. "My kids! You better believe they're just waiting for the chance."
("How long will I be here?" I asked.)
"Not long." Most of the futures chorused.
"Your's was actually the fastest claiming I had ever seen. Well, outside of Hermes and Apollo, but those two are different. Even I took a couple of months and I already knew who my mom was. However, because she hadn't officially claimed me I had to stay in cabin 11 anyway." Annabeth said.
Hermes was livid that Athena had quite literally abandoned her daughter for those few months. In not claiming her, Athena sent a message to everyone else that she didn't care. Her daughter knew and told everyone else who her mother was, her mother still refused to claim her. That was unacceptable.
("Good question," Luke..."I've already seen it.")
All the girls shook their heads at the cluelessness of the male gender.
("Come on." She... than that." "What?")
Thalia muttered, "Boys." All the boys shot her mock wounded looks.
(She rolled her... some bull guy-")
"Kid, I love how you put things sometimes. You just make things that were huge out to not be a big deal at all." Hades said, shaking his head.
Amphitrite spoke up then, "I think that's actually a Poseidon thing. Both he and Triton do the same thing sometimes, it drives Delphin insane." The four of them (Poseidon and his three children in the room) looked at each other sheepishly while everyone else laughed. They didn't think they were that bad.
("Don't talk like that!..."To get killed?")
"Guys got a point there." Most of the demigods in the room muttered.
("To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?")
"To survive." Thalia and both Luke's said, all staring at Annabeth with blank looks on their faces. Both Annabeth's made a face at them.
"Don't look at us like that, we taught you better than that. It doesn't matter how good you think you are if you don't live to see tomorrow." Luke scolded. Luke was giving Annabeth a similar one across the room.
Annabeth bit her lip and looked down at the ground. Even now, years later and after everything that happened, she still hated disappointing those two.
(I shook my head... But they don't die.")
"That clears the whole thing up." Grover muttered.
("Oh, thanks. That clears it up.")
Grover blinked while the others around him laughed.
("They don't have..., they re-form.")
"Unfortunately." All the demigods muttered. They really wished the monsters would stay dead. Especially since at the moment, with the Doors being open and all, they had a habit of coming back almost immediately after killing them. It was very annoying.
(I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-")
"Prissy, only you could 'accidentally' kill something." Clarisse said, shaking her head.
"Thanks, its a talent of mine." He grinned.
"The Fur... I mean... very, very mad.")
"Made her more than mad, I'd say. She keeps a training dummy in Percy's likeness in her room. She destroys it about twice a day, if she's in a good mood." Nico said cheerfully.
Percy groaned and put his head in his hands saying, "Thanks Neeks, I really wanted to know that."
"You're welcome." Nico chirped. A few people looked at him weird, he was in an oddly good mood today... in fact, he was almost acting his age for once... then some of them noticed the blue cake in his hands and the futures remembered how Percy had gotten him hooked on his mom's baking sometime after the Labyrinth fiasco. Kid took to it like junkies took to drugs.
Sally and Poseidon had gone pale when Nico said just how much Alecto really hated Percy, and Poseidon promised himself to get Percy under the Sea as soon as possible for higher quality training than Chiron could really provide for a demigod with Percy's quality and quantity of enemies. What had before been a passing thought was now a plan.
("How did you... Hades' torturers, right?")
Hades shifted a little in his seat. "Yes and no. While their main duties technically are in the fields of punishment, they actually spend very little time there these days, only really paying attention to the special cases." He refused to elaborate on what they did for him if they weren't in the fields.
He wasn't about to tell them that they now did the majority of the paperwork so he could have time to actually oversee his kingdom, or that he suspected them to be in charge of Nico's schooling in the future.
Nico grimaced and shifted when his father mentioned the Furies having duties outside the fields. The main one being his schooling when they weren't helping keep the paperwork to a manageable level.
(Annabeth glanced... and swallow her.)
Hades suddenly facepalmed, muttering about trusting the magical border and over superstitious demigods.
The others looked amused. You would think that she would have more faith in the barrier considering her friend was the one maintaining it.
("You shouldn't call them by name,)
Everyone glanced at Percy before deciding that it wasn't even worth it anymore. At this point, everyone decided to just let him get eaten because he happened to use a name it was hit when his back was turned.
(even here. We... bunks right over there.")
"There's an idea... if I can't get them all to claim their kids, then maybe we can move most of the kids to the empty cabins... free up space and then those who like their cabins empty would be the ones getting on their case about claiming their kids..." Hermes muttered running his hand over his face.
Those with empty cabin did not like this idea and got very vocal about it. Hermes was not happy.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID PROUD EGOS! Having that many kids in that small space is a health and safety risk for one thing, for another they are just kids who don't deserve to be crowded together like that just because their parent can't be bothered to have anything to do with them. The only one of you who has a legitimate excuse to keep their cabin empty is Artemis, and that's only so its ready for when the Hunters come around! CLAIM YOUR KIDS!"
"As for the health and safety risks, I believe we've told you all this before. The more crowded the living conditions get, the more chance the kids have to get sick and the faster it will spread to the others. And if there were ever a fire, its more than likely that not all the kids will make it out. There will be too many other kids running for the door at the same time, with too much stuff spread out on the ground for them to trip on and then potentially get trampled. But, hey. If you want your kids dying because you couldn't take two blasted seconds out of your day to snap your fingers and claim them, go right ahead." Apollo added.
He remembered the epidemic that swept through camp a few years ago, a few kids got fevers so high they didn't make it. That epidemic happened to start in the Hermes cabin. One kid got really sick, it wasn't caught in time, and all his floor neighbors got sick too. From there, it was wildfire. Since then, the Hermes cabin went through weekly health checks to make sure nobody even had a cold. He knew for a fact that Luke did his best to make sure that, except for at night, not more than half the cabin was in there at the same time. It wasn't always possible though.
The others pointed out that there were measures in place to reduce the risk, all the demigods shouted, "THOSE MEASURES SHOULDN'T BE NEEDED!"
Paul finally shook his head in disgust at how these gods were treating their kids and started reading again.
(I pointed to the... for me to get it.)
"Wow, she didn't know that you didn't watch the video, did she?" Jason asked, amused. She was treating him like he was really slow.
Annabeth blushed, no she really hadn't. She thought he was particularly dumb for not remembering this stuff so soon after watching the video.
("My mom is Sally... other parent. Your dad.")
"Oh boy, this is going to be a confusing conversation for a while, huh?"
("He's dead. I never knew him.")
Poseidon winced. That's not what any caring parent wants to hear.
(Annabeth sighed... You know him?")
"No/Yes." Annabeth and Annabeth said at the same time.
Everyone turned to Annabeth in surprise. Including Percy, he didn't remember her being so close to his dad before he disappeared. Annabeth just shrugged and smiled over at Sally.
She wasn't about to tell the room that Poseidon had disobeyed Zeus's orders after shutting down Olympus to come out and visit Sally, it was just coincidence if she happened to be visiting that day too.
("No, of course not."... you weren't one of us.")
"The way you put that could actually make it sound like a cult or something." Somebody noted.
("You don't know... Probably ADHD, too.")
"You know, Annabeth, those are things that people don't like just having thrown in their face by a total stranger. Especially these days when most kids will bully for those kinds of things."
Annabeth made a face and looked away, unfortunately, she looked towards Percy, who's eyes were shining with amusement.
(I tried to swallow... through the same thing?")
"Not me, everybody else." Annabeth muttered. Luke reached over and clapped her on the shoulder.
("Most of the kids... didn't know where to start.)
"Starting with, 'what's a half-blood'." Percy muttered. Those who heard him snickered. They all found it ironic how the guy who really had absolutely no idea what was going on more than half the time was the strongest of them and the one that everyone looked up to the most.
(Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!")
Clarisse groaned. This was possibly the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to her in a very long time.
A few others snickered.
(I looked over. The... or something?")
"For the third time that day..." Several people muttered. Both Clarisses shrugged, so what if they liked to take care of their weapons. It was good practice.
("Sure, Miss Princess,"... with it Friday night.")
The Romans, Percy, and Nico all glanced over to see Gwen pale. Percy leaned towards her and said, "Nobody actually got ran through. We just like to talk a lot sometimes."
Gwen shot him a grateful look while the Greeks looked at him in confusion. He just waved them off and looked to Paul to keep reading.
("Erre es korakas!")
A few of the councils eyebrows rose, that was not usually a curse used very casually, Annabeth must have been either really annoyed that day, or she and Clarisse really just didn't like each other.
(Annabeth said, which... through on the threat.)
Clarisse muttered something about over observant younger brothers. Those few who heard exactly what she said decided it would be wise not to say anything.
Sometimes, they still couldn't figure out their relationship, sometimes they acted like friends, sometimes enemies, sometimes argumentative siblings.
(She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?")
"Hey!" Percy said.
They all looked at him, "It's true!" They all said.
"You were kinda runty when you first got to camp." Luke said. Percy gave him a dirty look.
("Percy Jackson," Annabeth... the bad smell.")
Ares slowly turned to Percy, wondering if the kid had a death wish. Percy looked over at him and smirked, along with Grover and Annabeth. They were both thinking about a certain fight on the beach in Los Angeles.
A few people looked at their smirks after they were done getting themselves under control and wondered if all three of them had death wishes. Then they thought about it some more and decided, that yes, yes they did have death wishes.
(Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy.")
"That's where the nickname came from? The Toilet Disaster? Are you kidding me?" Travis asked. Clarisse and Percy shrugged.
("Percy." "Whatever... of it, wise girl.")
"And that's where Wise Girl came from. At least Prissy was original." Connor said. Percy, Clarisse, and Annabeth gave him a dirty look.
(Annabeth looked pained... I had to earn my own rep.)
"That didn't exactly go so well in the beginning, did it?" Percy mused. Annabeth and the other future Greeks shook their heads no.
"You looked kind of pathetic struggling there." Katie offered. Percy just gave her a look.
(I handed Annabeth my... had hands like iron.")
"Like we said, looked kind of pathetic." Percy gave them all a dirty look.
(She dragged me into... to afford classier johns.)
"I'm so glad you fixed that when we started redesigning the new cabins." Katie said.
Annabeth smirked. "Your welcome."
(Clarisse's friends were... 'Big Three' material,")
Poseidon sat back in his throne and cleared his throat, looking absently at the ceiling. Clarisse glanced over and paled while the Sea people tried and almost failed to hold in their snickers.
They could see the amusement shining and the twitching lips as Poseidon messed with the daughter of Ares. Most of the people in the room missed it though and wondered how much Poseidon was really offended.
(Clarisse said as she... It reeked like rusted pipes)
"Huh, you know, I forgot how out of shape the plumbing used to be." Annabeth muttered.
"You mean, we finally got to replace those old pipes?" Chiron asked. He had been asking for the funds for basic maintenance like that for years.
"Well, lets just say, that, when you have a son of Poseidon in camp who tends to blow up the plumbing whenever he gets mad... yeah the pipes have been replaced. At least five times since Percy came to camp." Annabeth smirked while Percy groaned and hid his head.
"I said I was sorry for that!"
"You blew up the camp!"
"Besides," Percy continued as if no one said anything. "The first time was before my claiming while the other was when I was still getting used to my water powers. How was I supposed to know they would react to my emotions like that!"
A few of the futures once again wondered why they had problems placing him into a cabin. Seriously; water powers, losing control of said powers when angry, the Pegasi almost starting to worship him when he went anywhere near them... now that they thought about it, they were idiots.
Poseidon shook his head and started watching Ares for his reaction to what was happening. He was oddly silent about his daughter's seemingly overpowering Percy... although by the look on his face, he had already realized that this wasn't about to end well for his daughter considering all the water in those pipes.
Everyone from the past stared at him. Paul decided to keep reading.
(and, well, like what goes... go into that. I won't.)
The Sea people started leaning forward in their seats in anticipation. Clarisse shrunk further into her seat while Ares collapsed muttering something about upstart sons of Poseidon who can control water.
(Then something happened... screaming behind me.)
While the Sea people were quietly discussing his power and extent of his abilities, everyone else who couldn't control themselves were dying laughing.
Poseidon was also keeping an eye on Zeus to make sure he didn't start acting like his paranoid self again, he really didn't want to have to warn his brother, AGAIN, to stay away from his family.
(I turned just as... into a shower stall.)
Clarisse was rubbing her chest, remembering how much that hurt. She'd gone to Apollo's cabin later and was told she had some bruised and a cracked rib from that. Will saw her and winced, he remembered helping Lee patch her up later this day, he just hadn't known what it was from.
What nobody else knew was that Percy had come to find her later on when he managed to get away from the Hermes cabin to make sure she wasn't too badly hurt from that.
(She struggled, gasping,... being washed away.)
"I'm so glad we caught that on camera."
"I know, right!" Travis and Connor high fived.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Clarisse screamed. The Stoll brothers looked up and remembered just who was in the room with them, they got up and ran to hide behind their fathers throne while Clarisse demanded to know who else had known about this.
All the future Greeks who had been there hesitantly raised their hands, Clarisse looked at them like they just signed their own death warrants.
The Romans looked on amazed, the Greeks were very... close, with each other. After all this time, not one of them ratted the Stoll brothers out for that video, they all kept quiet, even Percy who at this point in the book had just met everyone. They also all seemed to be constantly aware of where each other was, of what they were all doing. They didn't need to fully explain what they were thinking to each other, just make a random vague comment and everyone else immediately understood. Looking around at each other, they realized that they could only wish that the Romans became that close with each other.
Paul laughed softly, shaking his head before he found his spot and started reading again.
(As soon as they... as it had started.)
Percy's eyes glazed over slightly and he shuddered a little as he remembered, outside a corral full of carnivorous horses, inside Mt. St. Helens. Two very disastrous times where the water hadn't shut off when he wanted it to. He again promised to himself that he would never lose control like that again.
"Perce?" Percy looked up to see the rest of his friends looking at him in concern, he smiled and waved them off, saying it was nothing.
None of them missed how hollow that smile looked.
(The entire bathroom... water on my clothes. Nothing.)
Those Greeks who had spent the week and a half between the Bathroom Incident and the game trying to figure out Percy's parentage started banging their heads against their couches. They could not see how they could have possibly been so blind as to not see his parentage.
(I stood up, my... she smelled like sewage.)
Clarisse winced, "Yeah, my siblings were not happy about that, the smell wouldn't come out for a week." She grumbled.
Leo winced, he could relate to smelling like sewage for a while. Piper, Jason, and Hephaestus glanced at him, concerned.
(She gave me a..., Clarisse? Close your mouth.")
Jason whistled, "You do have a death wish, this is going to one interesting trip, isn't it?" He asked those who would be going to Rome. Everyone else besides Percy nodded, Percy just pouted and muttered something about not knowing him for two days and he's already a traitor.
Hazel paled a little, she wasn't too sure about how helpful she could be, after all, physically she was the youngest. She wasn't counting the time she spent dead.
(Her friends had to... for dousing her.)
"A bit of both, that and I was thinking about something." Annabeth said. Percy rolled his eyes, he knew what she was thinking about. He still wasn't quite sure if he should like that first game or absolutely hate it.
("What?" I demanded... capture the flag.")
Percy suddenly leaned over to whisper into Annabeth's ear. Whatever he told her, she paled and looked over at Poseidon before glancing away again.
Why wouldn't she be nervous about that game being read? She had literally used Percy as live, human bait for a bunch of Ares kids who had already decided he was the enemy!
While this was happening, a few futures glanced over at Luke, remembering the Hellhound, and wondering just how long he'd been with Kronos before this Winter Solstice meeting.
"Alright, who's reading next?" Paul called, holding up the book.
Leo immediately jumped up to grab it, but Piper got there first, she didn't even want to know how much of the story Leo would 'improve' as he went.
Hestia shook her head before announcing this next to be the last chapter for the night.
Chapter seven: My Dinner Goes up in Smoke