Percy: A Not So Easy Summer After All

The summer after high school graduation, this sort of thing had not been on my agenda. Going to camp – check. Spending time with Annabeth – check. Fighting some monsters – check. Fighting a Drakon and finding a mysterious girl – check. But that I hadn't been planning on the last one.

Now, don't get me wrong, helping a fellow demigod and fighting a Drakon is a thing I like to do. But this clearly wasn't an ordinary girl.

She was about 15 or 16. She was skinny, but she didn't look weak, she actually looked pretty strong; like a gymnast. She had deathly pale skin and pale pink lips. Her hair . . . where to start? It was unlike any sort of colour that even mortals could come up with. It looked like it was made of pure fire or something. But it was streaked with a glittering blue.

She was also wearing a slightly unusual outfit. A light blue tee-shirt, with an army green jacket that had multiple snap pockets rolled up to the elbows on top. Attached to her grey caprices' was a belt sporting a pouch on one side, and an empty sheath for a dagger on the other.

So, we had a passed out girl that was far from normal. We did the obvious thing: pick her up and take her to the Big House. Now, the Big House is this 4-story farm house painted bright baby blue with white trim and a bronze weather vane on top.

As me and Annabeth carried her there, we were discussing what had happened during the fight. Annabeth had the idea that it had something to do with the girl. I wasn't so sure. But I was a little ticked that she was about 15 and had only just arrived. See, about 3 years ago, after the second titan war, I had made the gods promise to claim all their demigod children by the age of thirteen. So far, they had been keeping their promise. Mostly.

Anyway, when we got to the big house, Chiron was playing pinochle on the porch. He was in wheelchair form, and was playing against three invisible players (Mr. D had disappeared that morning for an unknown reason). His beard was freshly trimmed and he wore his tweed jacket.

As we walked up to Chiron he noticed us and the look on his face wasn't the most comforting. He looked about as confused as us. Not even shocked or nervous. He put down his hand of cards and motioned for us to place the girl in one of the chairs. We placed her in the chair directly across from him and took the two remaining.

"Now," Chiron said, "tell me what happened. And who is this young lady?"

I glanced uncomfortably at Annabeth, "That's just the thing Chiron. We don't know. She fainted before she could say anything. We're thinking she was the one we heard scream." There wasn't much more to say then that. Well, there was Annabeth's theory. I know Annabeth is a lot smarter than me, but the idea was still a little strange.

"Well Chiron," Annabeth started, "there was something extremely odd that happened. See, we were all fighting the Dracaena and me and Percy were fighting the Drakon. We were all around the girl, when the air started to . . . swirl. It was almost alive with energy. Then the force exploded, and the monsters disappeared as soon as the energy-thing hit them. We were all safe, but even the Drakon had vanished. The energy seemed to have come from the girl."

Well, that's Annabeth for you. It did make sense, but I still had my doubts. It was an untrained girl, well; she had wound up at the base of Half-Blood Hill alone. But for all I knew, she could have run away and received a message from a god. Chiron turned to me, clearly expecting me to say something. I was saved when Grover ran up with Juniper in tow.

"Percy! What happened? I heard the commotion, and I could smell that girl from Juniper's tree! She has the most powerful scent I've ever encountered!" Grover exclaimed in a rush, like he always does when he's excited. Oh, by the way, Grover is my best friend, the Lord of the Wild, and a satyr.

"You should have seen him when he noticed," Juniper chimed in, "he had no idea what was happening. He used to say you had the most powerful scent. I guess this means things are pretty serious."

I nodded; I wasn't too surprised by what she said. But the fact she had a strong scent . . . that never meant anything good. You could ask just about anyone.

"So, who is she?" Grover asked. We all shrugged.

"No idea," I told him. His face got that sort of pleading look, the kind he gives me when he knows I'm holding back information. Unfortunally, this time it was the truth.

"Grover, she passed out before she could say anything," Annabeth said. Grover's face suddenly lit up like he got an idea. "No," Annabeth cut him off, "I don't think playing your reed pipes would do much help. It wouldn't even work anyways."

"But, the question remains," Chiron broke in, "we don't know who she is. And the fact she seems to be quite powerful does not help the situation. I believe we should take her to a room in the Big House until she regains consciousness. Once she heals we can get to the bottom of this."

We all nodded dutifully, no sense in arguing with Chiron. He had practically seen it all; he would know what was best.

A rustling interrupted us. We all looked over and saw the girl beginning to stir. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment; they were sea green, like mine. She closed them again. It took her a minute before she finally opened then properly.