Chapter 5:

The next few days were really weird, but it soon became routine that mythical creatures were teaching Markus and Percy. Well, more for Markus than Percy, but whatever.

Each morning, they would go to Ancient Greek class, where they learned the Greek Language from Annabeth. Thanks to their Greek heritage, they could understand it. Strangely enough, Markus picked up Latin really well, but was unsure as to why.

Then after that and breakfast, they would participate in outdoor activities. This is where both boys separated to find out what they were good at.

Both tried archery class with Chiron. That turned out… bad. Apparently both boys sucked at archery. Like, really sucked. So badly in fact that Percy got an arrow stuck in Chiron's rump. Markus nearly took an Apollo camper's head off. He wanted to try again to see if he can do better, but everyone said that him and Percy can try something else, which he pouted at.

Later on, Markus and Percy did some foot racing with the wood nymph instructors. They left Percy in the dust, so did Markus, but he lost too. Markus told him he was used to running from thugs and police officers.

The nymphs told them not to worry about it. They'd had centuries running away from lovesick gods. However, Markus wasn't satisfied with that. He just kept on challenging them, eagerly wanting to get faster.

For wrestling, Clarisse seemed to enjoy beating Percy into the mat, whispering stuff to him. For Markus, Clarisse outright charged at him, wanting revenge for humiliating her. She seemed to fail at every turn, either with Markus slipping out of the way, or him charging head on and beating her down also. Huh, seems watching bums fight each other and participating helped a lot.

Afterwards, it was lessons with Grover, who taught both boys about gods and monsters.

At other times, Markus went to the stables to hang out with Silena, or learn pegasi-riding. Today he stood in the stables with her as he watched her demonstrate how to put a saddle on the back of a Pegasus. She'd been showing him for the last ten minutes. Surprisingly the pegasi seemed to like him, allowing him to ride them no problem. Silena recalled that no one became friendly with the pegasi that quickly, not even her. Markus simply replied that horses seemed to like him. Then he and Silena led two pegasi out of the stables. She was riding a white horse, while Markus was riding a beautiful brown horse with chestnut brown eyes named Porkpie.

Markus was about to steer Porkpie along when he heard a voice in his head, saying, Stupid boy. Probably try and fall flat on his face, riding a majestic steed like me.

Markus blinked, surprised and worried for himself that he had voices in his head. Did living on the street somehow go insane as well? Why was it just kicking in now? Was he going to a mental hospital, after all this time.

Then his brain, the one that started to accept all this randomness that he was living in, picked up on one word in particular that was said by the voice. Steed. Which meant horse.

Suddenly finding the thought ludicrous and ridiculous, but pointing out mentally that Greek mythology being alive was also ridiculous but true, he turned towards Silena, who was ready to ride her horse. She didn't seem to look strange, as if she didn't have voices in her head about horses. Or maybe she did, and was used to it. That was a worrying thought.

Turning to the only possible (impossible, though) suspect, he peered down at Porkpie. "D-did you just t-talk?" Markus asked, cursing himself for stammering.

Silena looked at him oddly. "Markus, you okay?" she asked, concerned.

Markus ignored her and continued looking at the Pegasus expectantly. He knew that he probably looked crazy right now, but he didn't care.

After a moment, he heard the voice in his head again, this time shocked, Y-you can understand me? The horse asked, neighing instead of speaking.

Markus continued ignoring the stare Silena was giving him and the absurdity of the situation and replied back, "Yeah, I can hear." He said with relief, happy that he wasn't insane.

A child of milord? The Pegasus responded, shocked.

"Uh… who is your… milord?" Markus asked, now realizing that he was about to maybe find out about his dad. Suddenly a thought came to him. Greek mythology was alive. Horses (pegasi, whatever) were talking to him. Horses related to…

Porkpie's answer confirmed his suspicions. Why, Lord Poseidon, of course. The Pegasus neighed proudly.

That was a shock. Markus' eyes almost popped out of his sockets. His dad, his deadbeat dad… was Poseidon? At first he wanted to deny it. But then he remembered that his dad was a god. He just didn't know which god. Thinking back to his encounter with the dracanae, he remembered falling into the river and being revitalized. He didn't know why that was, but now he did. He was the son of Poseidon.

"Markus. Markus." Silena snapped her fingers in front of his face, breaking him out of his thoughts. She pouted. "I've been calling you for two minutes. What was wrong?"

Markus blushed, both at being caught in thought and being embarrassed, and also at her cute face when pouting. "N-nothing," he said, filing his thoughts away for later. "Come on. Let's go riding."

XXX

After his surprising revelation, Markus found himself standing near the canoeing lake, wanting to test a theory. Since he figured out that he was a son of Poseidon, he's been thinking on what kind of benefits he was given. First, getting stronger from being in water. Then talking to horses. Now he wanted to find out more.

Looking around to make sure no one was looking in his direction, he quickly jumped into the lake, submerging himself. As soon as he made contact with the water, he felt the familiar boost he got from fighting the dracanae. But he didn't think on that.

He tried holding his breath. He had a theory that if he could do all that he can do, why can't he also breathe underwater? He'd never tried it, nor had the chance to try it. So he wanted to try it. He knew that if his theory was wrong, he could possibly drown. But he was sure.

After a moment, when he felt like gathering oxygen, he opened his mouth, fearing the worst. But as soon as he breathed, water filled his lungs, and he was breathing normally. No drowning. No shortage of breath. It was like he was breathing on land.

Markus waited, waited for something bad to happen. But he was still breathing normally. He was still alive. He was so happy with his discovery that he whooped in glee, not bothered by the water at all. In fact, in the water, he felt invincible, like he could take anyone on. He reminded himself to go into the water at some point later on.

After that, he tried swimming. He didn't actually know how to swim, which was kind of embarrassing for a son of Poseidon, but he didn't really need to. He just willed himself to move in the water, and he did. Pretty soon, he was swimming at speeds equal to Olympic swimmers. He continued on, eager to test of limits of his powers.

Markus didn't know how long he was at the lake, but when he re-surfaced, it was mid-afternoon. Promising himself to come back later, he immediately went back to the Hermes cabin.

XXX

After spending a few days reading on anything he could about sons of Poseidon from the Greek myths and utilising that information for more power, Markus was walking towards the camp store to buy some water bottles to test out his water powers. As he was walking, he saw the Stoll brothers, two sons of Hermes who happened to be identical to each other, harassing a girl with warm brown eyes and long black hair. The Stoll brothers, Conor and Travis, were stealing from the camp store, with the girl yelling at them, trying to shoo them away.

Feeling pity on the girl, and knowing how much of a hassle the Stolls could be, he marched up, yelling, "Oi! Go bother someone else boys! Shoo!", acting as if both boys were cats.

The Stolls looked up, grinning when they saw Markus coming towards them. "Why hello, Markus," Conor, or Travis, said happily, still looting the camp store. "How may we help you today?"

"Yes, Markus," the other boy, who Markus assumed was Travis, replied. "How are you on this fine day."

"Peachy," Markus said dryly. "Now can you leave the poor girl alone? We wouldn't want someone to get pranked later on, now would we?" Markus asked.

Both boys grinned challengingly. "Ooh, we have a prankster on our hands?" Conor asked gleefully.

"Possibly," Markus replied. "But let's deal with that later on, okay?"

"Fine," Travis sighed dramatically. "But we'll hold you to that promise, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just move on." Markus grumbled, probably going to have to deal with this later.

Thankfully both boys left, probably to prank some unfortunate victim, leaving Markus alone with the girl.

"You okay?" Markus asked.

The girl scowled, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for helping me."

"No problem. I know how much of a hassle they can be."

"You have no idea." The girl scowled cutely. "They are so annoying. And they never stop."

"Well I'm about to suffer for defending you later. So your welcome."

"Thanks." The girl reached out, offering to shake my hand. "I'm Katie Garderner."

"Markus Henderson." He shook her hand in return, feeling how rough it was. Which surprised him; he didn't expect a girl like her to have hands so rough, but then again, it wasn't right to assume things.

"So, Katie," Markus said, wanting to start a conversation. "Uh, who's your godly parent?"

She smiled, as if it were obvious as to who it was. "Demeter, goddess of agriculture." Oh, so she belonged in cabin four. That explained the calluses on her hands; from working in her cabin.

Then Markus opened his big mouth. "Well, that explains the name." In his defence, he spent too much time with Percy and caught his inablility to shut his mouth.

Thankfully Katie didn't look offended. Instead she giggled. "Well, I guess that also explains it." Markus was just thankful that she wasn't angry.

Then he remembered why he wanted to come here. "Hey, do you have water bottles? Like ten?"

"Sure," she said. "But why do you need so many?"

Here Markus gave a reasonable excuse. "I'm about to go sword-fighting with the Hermes cabin and decided to stock." Here he was telling a half-lie. He actually did need the water for sword-fighting, but also for a certain 'boost'.

Katie looked at him strangely, but nevertheless gave him the water bottles. She even gave him a backpack to hold all of it. She was very kind.

After going to the camp store, it was time for his first sword-fighting lesson, and everyone from Cabin Eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be the instructor.

He started with the basic stabbing and thrusting, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armour.

Markus found out that he wasn't too shabby with a sword, at least decent. The problem was that none of the blades felt right. When he started using the sword, he imagined fighting against thugs, dracanaes, the monsters that attacked his mum and he was fine.

In his opinion, Percy wasn't so bad with a sword either. He probably had the same problem as him: the swords weren't working for him. Luke tried helping him, but little good happened.

They broke off into duelling pairs for light combat before lesson started. Markus had the unfortunate draw of picking Luke. Even if he was new, he could still see that Luke was a very good swordsman. That still didn't stop Markus from trying though. He tried not to rely on the water given to him.

They had two fast matches, and were on the third one. Both times Luke won, though he did comment that he was getting better with a sword. Markus didn't see it though.

During their third match, they picked up a crowd, Luke wasn't trying as hard, but still pushing him. Markus deflected and blocked, but knew that he would be trounced in seconds. So he tried a different tactic. Markus threw his sword in the air, which probably was a bad idea. But he had a plan.

Predictably, Luke's eyes, and everyone else's, followed the sword briefly in the air. Thinking quickly, Markus lashed out, sweeping Luke's legs from under him. While a bit unorthodox, it did work.

Luke fell, he sword landing on the ground. Before he could recover, Markus caught his sword that he threw in the air. Pointing it at Luke's neck, he held it there. "Yield?" he asked, feeling as if he actually won, even if he did cheat.

Luke smiled from under him. Moving quickly, he grabbed his sword, knocking Markus' out of his hand using some disarming maneuver. His sword flew and he was checked into the ground. Markus groaned at him landing on his back and blinked at seeing Luke's hand in front of him. "That was good, Markus, really took me by surprise." He commented, helping Markus up. "But you should've used a sword, not your feet."

"Well you never said we shouldn't," Markus rebutted, and Luke conceded.

As people clapped a bit at the match, Luke announced he would start the lesson and take Percy as his partner, since it was his first time.

"Good luck," one of the campers said to Percy. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy said.

The camper snorted and Markus replied, "Doubtful, though hopefully you'll do well." Percy nodded, his shoulders slumped.

Luke showed Percy thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, the boy got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," Luke said, then whapped the younger boy in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now back!" Whap!

By the time he called a break, Percy was soaked in sweat. Markus checked on Percy to see if he was okay, but he tried to play tough, even though he was battered and bruised.

Everyone swarmed the drink cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head. Percy, seeing this, decided to do the same thing. But, when looking at Percy, he seemed all better, as if he got all of his energy back. Markus seemed to be the only one who noticed.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke roared. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

Percy had a grimace on his face. Markus tried cheering him up by patting him on the shoulder, but it did little good.

The Hermes guys gathered around, all suppressing smiles. Markus sat near them, watching the match. He figured they'd been in Markus' and Percy's shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used Percy as a punching bag.

He told everyone he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: the same one he used on Markus before.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

He demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of Percy's hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after Percy got his weapon back. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

Percy nodded, and Luke came after him. Somehow, Percy kept Luke from getting a shot at the hilt of his sword. Percy stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, as he narrowed his eyes like in the match with Markus. He started to press forward with more force.

Percy was moving a bit slower than when he started and then out of nowhere tried the disarming maneuver.

His blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his chest.

The other campers were shocked and silent. Markus was too, but he quickly broke out of it and applauded, "That was awesome, Percy! Whoo!" Hey, he had to give credit when due.

Percy lowered his sword. "Um, sorry." He blushed a bit, maybe at Markus' cheering, or the silence.

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.

"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

Percy seemed like he didn't want to, but Luke insisted.

This time there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Percy's hilt and sent his weapon flying and skidding across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Percy with new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword…"

It was Friday afternoon and Markus had just finished the climbing wall.

He got singed a bit, but managed to make it to the top. He definitely wanted to try that again.

It was free time and Markus was in the big circular arena, fighting off several Ares children with a sword.

After the sword-fighting lesson with Luke yesterday, Markus went up to him to ask for more training. Luke questioned why, but Markus said that he just wanted to improve.

So most of the times it was one-on-one with Luke or against Ares children. With Luke, he sometimes won the spars, but that was mostly because of his 'water boost.' With the Ares cabin, he won because of the boost and several tactics used that ended with each kid flat on his face.

Sometimes he sparred against Clarisse, who was eager for revenge against him. With each fight against her, he learned two things: one, despite her rude manner, she was a very good fighter. Markus lost several times, which ended with him being almost shish-kebabed and electrocuted. Oh, and two, her damn spear was electric.

He did however win against her sometimes, so that was a bonus. It was evident that Markus was getting better with a sword, but he wanted to be better. He went to the Hephaestus cabin at some point, and got a bronze shield for defence. He could barely lift it, however. To solve this, he usually did push-ups or used water as a boost to lift it. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

At other times, he was practicing with the water, trying to come up with different ways to use the water and shape it to his command. Surprisingly, he was able to form water spheres and small water shields as a result. It was small, but he was happy with that. Heh, he might even become a waterbender. He laughed at the thought.

Other times he talked with Silena or Katie or Annabeth. With Silena he went Pegasus-riding, chatting with the horses secretly, or just talking to her. With Annabeth he talked about reading Ancient Greek and battle tactics. While this did bore him, he was more interested in learning how to fight than tactics, which she helped him with. And with Katie it was just random stuff, either about camp or general life.

As Markus was walking around, he saw Percy and Grover by the pier. He waved, with Percy waving back and Grover responding weakly.

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. It was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Markus turned to Katie at table four. He asked if the teams were always Ares and Athena, but Katie said most of the time.

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.

Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, and the best slots for activities-in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. From what he'd seen, Dionysus' kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.

Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.

From Aphrodite, he didn't have to worry too much. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair and gossiped. Hell, Silena was the only one he saw right now that was actually ready. When she saw him, she winked. Markus (thankfully) didn't blush, and waved in response.

Hephaestus' kids were rough looking, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day.

They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares' cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids he'd ever seen. Otherwise, this was going to be a blast (note his apparent sarcasm).

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he 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!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, and ox hide shields coated in metal.

Markus grabbed a leather tunic that was rough, not wanting to be weighed down by heavy armour. Then some greaves and armbands out of bronze. He grabbed a short sword that wasn't too heavy, but still not his style. Then he took a shield (which still weighed the amount of a bowling ball, but he managed).

Percy had a shield roughly the same size as him. He also seemed like he could barely lift it. He had a helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, which had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes. Markus himself had a blue bandana wrapped over his head.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

Blue team cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at them as they headed off towards the north.

Markus rushed up towards Annabeth, who was talking with Percy, looking as if he was about to trip over his gear. "Hey." Percy said to her. "So what's the plan? Got any magic items you can loan me?" Markus noticed that her hand was hovering over her pocket when he asked that.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means."

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

"And what about me?" Markus asked, eager to see where he was going to be.

She turned towards him and said, "You'll be joining Percy also."

"Joy. Thanks, Annie," Markus muttered, totally depressed on the shitty job. On the plus side, he was going to be near water, so that was a bonus.

She scowled crossly, as if he'd poked her between the eyes. "Don't call me Annie." She growled. Markus merely smirked. "Make me." He responded back. She pushed ahead, still majorly upset. He nearly laughed at that.

XXX

Now into the game, Markus and Percy stood near the little creek that gurgled over some rocks. The two stood there for a little bit and groaned.

"I get it, border patrol is out of the way, so us newbies won't have to get in the way." Markus growled. After waiting a minute, he got impatient. "Fuck this," he muttered, and quickly zipped into the forest, leaving Percy on his lonesome.

As he went deeper into the forest, he came upon a few Demeter and Aphrodite kids. Upon meeting them, he didn't stop to chat. Markus fought them briefly and disarmed them, while knocking them out by shield-bashing them. Soon, more campers appeared, shocked at the easy take-down of their allies. Enraged, they charged at him.

Markus quickly got out a bottle of water, threw it and slashed it in mid-air. Now he was covered in water, boosting his abilities. Confident, he struck, taking out two Hephaestus kids, along with one or two Demeter kids also. Those smart enough tried attacking in groups, but it did little good. Markus was like a hurricane, slashing like crazy and dodging and weaving around attacks. Apparently one kid (who Markus could tell was an Ares kid he beat up in training) yelled and tried attacking. Markus quickly disarmed him and slammed the hilt of his sword into his forehead, knocking him out.

Upon seeing that all his attackers were down, he ran back to the creek. When he got there, he found that Clarisse and a few of her siblings were attacking Percy. Markus immediately knew that they were out for revenge. He just briefly heard Clarisse say, "Give him a haircut. Grab his hair."

Percy managed to get to his feet. He raised his sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Markus winced in sympathy for him, dealing with her electric spear.

"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."

"The flag is that way," Percy told her. From what Markus heard, it sounded puny. He almost laughed.

"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."

"You do that without my help," Percy growled out. It was obvious that that didn't help his case.

Before either of the group could fight, Markus leaped out. Still feeling the boost the water gave him, he struck out, swiping an Ares kid's leg by the flat of his blade, leaving the kid to eat dirt. Both parties were shocked at his appearance.

"Where the hell were you?" Percy yelled, looking perfectly fine now. Markus would ask about that later.

"Dealing with reinforcements," Markus said with a grin.

"Shit!" one of the Ares kids said. "Charge!"

Looking at each other, both boys nodded and got back to back. Both of them were standing in the creek. This obviously re-energized Markus, but he wondered why Percy was doing so. He was all healed up, and looked strong now; different from before.

Wait, Markus thought, thinking back on previous instances with Percy and water. Could it be…

Filing those thoughts later, Markus concentrated on the fight. Two Ares kids rushed Percy and he swung away their blades before hilt-slamming one in the forehead, while shield-bashing one in the face.

The other Ares kids rushed Markus, who smirked and ducked, sweeping their feet and making them land on the ground, knocking them out. Then he launched his shield at another, Captain America style. It hit the Ares kid's nose and smacked him down painfully. Markus winced. Okay, that was painfully.

He sliced another kid across the chest, a shallow cut. Then he disarmed them and elbowed him in the gut, knocking the breath out of him. Clarisse roared in rage and charged, her electric spear sparking.

Percy handled her easily. He caught the shaft of her spear between his sword and shield, then snapped it. She probably would have screamed, but Percy slammed his shield into her face, knocking her out cold.

Then they heard yelling, elated screams, and saw Luke racing towards the boundary line with the red teams banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollo kids after them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

Everyone converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned into grey. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everyone on the blue team picked Luke up and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. They had won!

The boys were about to join the celebration when Annabeth's, right next to them in the creek, said, "Not bad, heroes."

Percy and Markus looked around but couldn't see her. She then reappeared with her cap in her hand and said, "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?"

It just registered to Markus that she was invisible, with what seemed like her cap being the cause. Percy said, "You set us up. You put us here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

Markus growled, not amused. "I don't like being a pawn. If you'd told us the plan, Percy or I would be better prepared. Instead you used us."

"I didn't-" Annabeth started, then stopped, looking at Percy's arm. "How did you do that?"

Pissed that she was dodging his question, he turned towards Percy's arm, intent on seeing what was going on. There was a small white scar that was quickly healing.

"Sword cut," Percy said. "What do you think?"

"No, it was a sword cut. Look at it."

The 'wound' that was on Percy's arm, being all healed up.

"I-I don't get it," Percy said, shocked. The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was the white scar, and even that was fading, eventually disappearing.

Annabeth was thinking hard. She looked down at his feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it."

Sighing, hr got out and looked bone dry. He also looked to have the adrenaline rush gone. He almost fell over, but Markus caught him. Instantly he made the connection in his head. The water during the sword-fighting, the toilet explosion, and now the creek. "Holy shit," he breathed out, shocked. Percy was a son of Poseidon? He had a brother?!

"Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed. "This isn't good. I didn't want… I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Markus didn't get to voice his agreement as a howl ripped through the forest, interrupting his thoughts.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which Markus understood perfectly as, "Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword as Percy looked confused while looking up.

There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking straight at Percy and Markus.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Guys run!"

The blonde had tried to step in front of both boys, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-just as it was about to hit both either one of the green-eyed boys.

Thinking quickly, Markus pushed Percy out of the way, pushing him back safely. He had enough time to do that before it hit him. He fell down, the beast on top of him, shredding through him, tearing off his armour and hoping to pierce flesh. Panicking, Markus fumbled with his sword in his grip, which thankfully was still in his hand, and stabbed it into the hound's head.

It howled, more in anger than pain. Pleased with that response, Markus used that distraction and pushed, the hound falling to his side. It immediately responded, snarling and leaping up, ready to take a bite out of him.

Quickly grabbing a shield, Markus blocked, the force of the hound slamming into him, almost toppling him over and making his shield arm numb. Not giving up, however, he charged, the shield bashing into the hellish large dog. After doing that, he swung his sword in a wide arc, the blade catching the hound in the jaw and slicing through it clean. The monster howled, in real pain this time, then exploded into dust, coating the young boy in gold, and leaving a pelt of fur. Markus shook somewhat from his near death as a human chew toy.

He finally moved as he touched his body, feeling saliva and blood coating him, his armour torn to shreds. Chiron galloped over to check on him.

"Are you alright, child?" he asked gently.

"Still in one piece, so yeah." He nodded, and quickly moved to Percy, Chiron following him.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That was a hellhound from the Field of Punishment. They don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, worry on his face.

Clarisse, who woke up from her 'nap', yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her, obviously not believing her.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told Markus. "Quick, Markus, you need help."

"No worries," he said, waving her off, and stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him. Instantly, the wounds on his chest were closing up. Some of the campers gasped. But they weren't looking at him, they were looking above him and Percy.

Looking upwards, both boys saw an already fading symbol above their heads. Markus could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"Your fathers," Annabeth murmured, looking back at Markus and Percy. "This is really not good."

"About time," Markus muttered silently.

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around them, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Yeah," Markus answered him, clapping him on the back. "Which makes us… brothers."

"Poseidon," Chiron said. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Percy Jackson and Markus Henderson, Sons of the Sea God."

'Sup, everybody! How ya doin'?! Fine? Good! So, another chapter updated. Cool. So, just the typical story notice for a few things:

I know it may seem like Markus is stealing Percy's spotlight and growing stronger than him. That's because he trains a bit more. And this is because of his fatal flaw (read the summary of the story to figure it out).

I will plan to have both of them be a duo at some point, e.g. the fight against Ares and other future battles. They'll use their powers in tandem that fits them, don't worry.

Next chapter is the revelation of Markus' 'magic side', and him training to use the Mist. He'll probably start practicing real magic either at the end of the quest, or the start of Book Two. Reason being, he'll have more experiencing using the Mist and in the time frame between next chapter and the start of the quest, he won't be able to learn battle magic fully.

Read and Review!