Hi! Sorry it took so long to update. I was super busy and had loads of homework. After a lot of thinking I decided to not add Zoë to the harem. I am really sorry but she is an eternal maiden and she still dies. It would be unrealistic to just make her a person that is attached to Percy. She does respect Percy though. Currently in the harem there is Nancy and Thalia. No maidens cause I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible. Now, on with the story!
Chapter 6: I'll Crush You!
After Chiron pried Nancy off of Percy, and she insisted on joining the two of them, they had a nice tour. Although Percy was careful not to walk behind Chiron. He'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, though he was sorry, he would not trust Chiron's back end the way he trusted the front.
They passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn Percy was carrying. Another said, "That's him."
Percy sighed, 'Wonderful...' he thought. 'Outside for a few minutes, and I'm already getting recognised.'
'Could be worse...' Willow told Percy. 'We could be back at Yancy Academy.'
'That's a ghastly though,' Percy gagged.
Most of the campers were older than Percy. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. Percy wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at him made him feel uncomfortable. He felt like they were expecting him to do a flip or something.
'Well I mean...we did hang in the air for awhile. We could probably do a few flips in that time.'
'First, no,' Percy told him. 'Second, we have no idea how we did that in the first place. And third...you really want to do a flip to entertain them?'
'...Well played,' Willow admitted.
Percy looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than he'd realised- four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. He was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught his eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and Percy got the distinct impression he was being watched.
"What's up there?" He asked Chiron.
He looked where he was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."
Nancy looked as well, and shook her head, unwilling to talk about the attic.
Percy pressed on however, "Somebody lives there?"
"No," Chiron said with finality. "Not a single living thing."
'Living?' Willow mumbled, which Percy head. 'Then...why not something dead?'
Percy paled a little at that thought. Something had definitely moved the curtain...Percy just prayed it wasn't watching him with bad intentions.
"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."
"Yeah Percy!" Nancy smiled, only slightly forced. "Let's have a look at the strawberry fields!"
They walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.
Chiron told Percy the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."
He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.
He watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. Percy vaguely wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. He wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" Percy asked Chiron. "I mean...he was a good protector. Really."
Nancy sighed a little. She looked at the big house, her eyes a little mournful. "Grover has big dreams, Percy," Nancy told him, instead of Chiron. He just stayed quiet and let her talk. "Perhaps bigger than he should have. To reach his goal, he's gotta show great courage by succeeding as a keeper, which means finding a new camper and bringing him or her safely to Half-Blood Hill."
"But he did that!"
"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate...ah...fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."
"Can we not beat around the bush?" Percy said, annoyed. "Don't dodge around my mother's fate to make it seem unfortunate, no matter if it was. She sacrificed herself for me. She died a hero! Don't belittle her sacrifice by phrasing it like that!"
Nancy looked at Percy surprised, and Chiron fell into silence. It was only a few minutes before Chiron spoke again, "Forgive me, Percy, I did not mean to make you angry."
Percy just grumbled, before he glanced at Chiron, focusing back on the last subject. "Grover, he'll get a second chance, won't he?"
Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."
"How old is he?"
"Oh, twenty-eight."
"What! And he's in sixth grade?"
"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."
Percy winced. Hard. Going through middle school once was going to be enough for Percy. But going through it for 6 years? Percy's respect for Grover grew a notch. "That's...wow that sucks..."
"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."
"That's not fair," Percy said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"
Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"
'I happened,' the soft feminine voice Percy heard during the Minotaur attack said to him.
His eyes widened and he turned, looking for it, before his eyes settled on the huge pine tree. 'Did you just...?'
'I heard it too,' Willow told him. 'There is...something...no...someONE in that tree...'
"Percy?" Nancy's voice snapped him out of it. He looked towards her, seeing her concerned face.
His gaze fell on the tree again, before he tore it away forcefully. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just thought I heard something." Suddenly, a spark lit within Percy's mind. A crazy idea, but one he could work with... "Chiron," he said. "Since the gods and Mount Olympus are real...that means the Underworld is too, right?"
Chiron's expression darkened. "Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now...until we know more...I would urge you to put that out of your mind."
"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"
"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."
As they got closer, Percy realised how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?" Percy asked. "Armed with what?"
"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
"I have a sword and spear," he told Chiron. "Does that count?"
Nancy looked at Percy in surprise, but didn't say anything on the matter, and so the tour continued. They saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.
"Sword and spear fights?" he asked.
"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."
Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.
"What do you do when it rains?" he asked.
Chiron looked at me as if he'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?"
Once again, Percy got annoyed. Did Chiron REALLY expect him to understand? "Stop looking at me like I'm stupid," he snapped. "I was introduced to this not long ago, you expect me to NOT be curious about why you aren't bothered by the rain when it's time to eat?!"
Percy honestly had no clue where this aggression was coming from, but it felt good to use it.
Chiron winced again, "Forgive me, Percy, it is easy to forget."
Nancy looked at Percy in amusement, as if his anger was funny to her, but not in a bad way. She almost seemed...pleased by it.
Finally, he showed Percy the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings Percy had ever seen.
Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dot-ted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more Percy's speed).
In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smouldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.
Percy stared at the girl for a minute. She looked at him and he suddenly paled as he felt a heavy pressure fall over him. 'Wh-what is this?'
'That girl...' Willow breathed out. 'She...isn't human!'
Percy could only agree to this, but he never broke eye contact with the girl, instead his eyes set in hard determination. The girl blinked before giggling and going back to poking the coals. Percy finally tore his gaze from her and focused on the cabins.
The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
"Zeus and Hera?" Percy ventured a guess.
"Correct," Chiron said.
"Their cabins look empty."
"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."
'Okay...' Percy thought. 'So each Cabin represents a different god...twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But...why are some of them empty?'
'I imagine we'll find out with time,' Willow grunted.
Percy stopped in front of the cabin on the left, cabin three.
It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. The cabin almost seemed to call out to him for some reason, but something kept Percy away. He took a step away from it. This cabin...it felt familiar but...he wanted to stay as far from it as possible.
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.
Number five was bright red- a real nasty paint job, as if the colour had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow Percy. Inside, he could see a bunch of mean looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on Percy and gave him an evil sneer. She sort of reminded him of Nancy, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.
Oh, and she looked like kind of a bitch, where as Nancy was a lot nicer for...some reason.
"You'll wanna keep away from five," Nancy whispered to Percy softly, which was a little surprising since she'd been rather quiet for awhile. "It's full of a bunch of bullies."
Percy nodded, and they kept walking, while he tried to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," he observed.
"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."
"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really..."
He smiled down at Percy. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."
"But, shouldn't you be dead?" Percy immediately winced at how rude his questioned sounded.
Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish...and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."
Percy thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. He felt like gagging at the thought. 'If I'm ever offered immortality,' Percy said to Willow, 'Then tell me to wish for something more worthwhile.'
'Alright,' Willow shrugged. Not like they'd ever get offered immortality.
"Doesn't it ever get boring?" Percy asked him.
"No, no," Chiron said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
"Why depressing?"
Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again. "Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."
'Fucking asshole...' Willow muttered. He really didn't like the centaur. Probably never would.
The blond girl Percy met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.
When they reached her, she looked Percy over critically, like she was still thinking about how much he drooled.
'Doesn't the bitch know it's rude to stare?' Willow grumbled in annoyance.
Percy tried to see what she was reading, but he couldn't make out the title. At first, he thought his dyslexia was acting up. Then he realised the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to him. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"
"Yes, sir," Annabeth threw a glare at Nancy. "But why is she here?"
Nancy rolled her eyes, "I can't walk with a friend bird face?"
Annabeth growled, "Don't push me you two bit bitch!"
"You wanna throw your owl droppings at me?" Nancy snapped at her.
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing toward the doorway and ignoring the two girls. "Make yourself at home."
Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. A caduceus.
Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.
Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.
"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."
He galloped away toward the archery range.
Percy stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at him, sizing him up. Percy knew this routine. He'd gone through it at enough schools.
"Well?" Annabeth prompted, turning away from Nancy. "Go on."
'If you trip, I will kill us,' Willow warned Percy darkly.
He looked at Annabeth with a raised eyebrow. "And what exactly do you expect me to do?" he asked her. "I literally woke up a few hours ago, and learned about this...I don't even know how long I've been out."
Annabeth just rolled her eyes and announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."
"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.
"Considering I JUST got here," Percy spoke up before Annabeth could open her mouth. "I'm going to make a WILD guess and say undetermined." Percy was starting to wonder where his attitude was coming from. Usually he was a lot calmer, like the sea on a sunny day. Right now, he felt like the raging tide in a storm.
Everybody groaned.
A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different coloured clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.
"That's Luke," Nancy told Percy as Annabeth stared at Luke. "He's the counsellor for cabin eleven, meaning he is your counsellor, as well as mine...well, at least for now."
"For now?" Percy asked.
"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."
Percy looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. He had nothing to put there to mark it as his own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. He thought about setting that down, but then Percy remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.
he looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing him as if they were waiting for a chance to pick his pockets.
'They are making me uncomfortable...' Percy thought, shifting nervously.
'Gimme control for a sec,' Willow told Percy, and the sane half could hear the grin.
Percy complied, and everyone felt the temperature drop a few degrees. Green faded into amber. Willow looked at the entire cabin without a trace of emotion in his eyes. "Weren't you ever told it's rude to stare?" he asked them, his ominous and dark tone in full effect. A lot of the cabin shivered and looked away from him.
Luke, Nancy, and Annabeth stared at Willow with wide eyes. He just smirked, "It is so fun to scare you people...ah, I believe I should introduce myself," he bowed. "The name is Willow. I am Percy's insane part."
"Um..." Nancy whispered to Luke. "I haven't been here all that long...is this normal?"
"Not at all," Luke muttered back to her, equally as surprised.
"You know I can hear you," Willow smirked at them. "Oh well...I suppose I've had my fun."
Percy's green eyes returned. "Sorry," he told them as the temperature returned to normal, "but everyone was staring at me, and it was super uncomfortable, know what I mean?"
"Come on," Annabeth told Percy, having recovered. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it."
"Come on." She grabbed his wrist, and Percy immediately smacked her hand away. She looked at him in shock.
"Don't. Touch me." He growled at her angrily. He left the cabin, Nancy following behind him, and silence trailing behind them.
When they were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."
"What?"
She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."
"What's your problem?" Percy was already angry, and Annabeth was only making it worse. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"
"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"
"To get killed?"
"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"
Percy's eyes narrowed at her, "Oh I'm so sorry," he snapped at her. "I didn't realise you all trained to see your loving parent get killed in front of you!"
Annabeth flinched. She appeared to have forgotten that little detail about what happened.
"Woah, woah, woah," Nancy made the time out symbol before looking at Percy. "I heard about the Minotaur, but explain to me about your mother."
Gritting his teeth at the memory, Percy explained about what he remembered, leaving out the part about the voices he'd heard. He didn't know why, but he felt like those voices shouldn't be mentioned. He also left out about what Gae Bolg's name was. He didn't feel they'd be too keen to hear the name of a cursed spear.
"Oh..." Nancy hugged Percy, much to his surprise. "I'm so sorry..."
Percy felt rather awkward, but he pat her on the back. "It's fine," he told her. "I'll live...life will be a hell of a lot shittier, but I'll live." Percy then reluctantly turned to Annabeth. "So, why do I have to stay in cabin eleven exactly?"
"You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or...your parent." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to get it.
Percy's eyes narrowed, "Yeah, I know my father is a Greek God you idiot." Nancy giggled, and Annabeth turned red, though Percy didn't really care. "I also know who he is."
"You do?" Annabeth looked at him in surprise, before leaning towards him eagerly. "And he is...?"
"None of your fucking business," he snapped at her.
Annabeth blinked in surprise, and was about to say something to him- probably a comment about his shitty attitude- when a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"
Percy looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward them. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.
"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"
"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."
''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which Percy somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though he had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward Percy. "Who's this little runt?"
Nancy let go of Percy, as Annabeth spoke up again. "Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."
"I can introduce my self cock goblin," Percy snapped at her, making her face go red, and earning snickers from the rest of the girls. He turned his gaze towards Clarisse. "Ares...the war god?"
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," Percy said, then mumbled. "It explains the bad smell."
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say.
"Stay out of it, wise girl."
Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and Percy didn't really want her help. He was the new kid. He had to earn my own rep.
Clarisse reached out to him, but Percy grabbed her wrist, dropping the Minotaur horn without a care in the world. He wasn't in the mood for this crap. He'd lost his mother, was being forced to stay at this shitty camp, and now some bitch was trying to make him miserable. "You get one warning," he told her, a storm in his green eyes. "Try to touch me again...and I'll crush you!" he shoved her away.
She didn't appreciate that. Clarisse rushed at Percy, aiming to hit him in the face.
Unfortunately, she'd never be able to. Percy's anger had been increasing more and more since that morning, and now it was all coming out at once. The sea roared as his ears as a voice screamed at him, 'DESTROY HER!'
Sea green turned to venom green. Percy dodged out of the way of her punch before crouching down and throwing a punch to her stomach as he rotated his body. His fist slammed into her gut with enough force to make the girl cough up blood. He didn't stop there. He swept his legs out from under her, and raised his fist. Clarisse began to fall, and Percy's fist followed her. Just as Clarisse hit the ground, Percy's fist was buried in her gut again.
Clarisse's eyes bulged as blood came out of her mouth. Percy didn't know how he was doing this, but he didn't care. All that mattered was he was doing it. His right eye kept focused on Clarisse, while his left eye glanced up. Her two friends were starting to come towards him. His fists turned flat and he put both palms on Clarisse's stomach, before lifting into the air and spinning slightly, knocking both girls off of their feet, before he pushed off Clarisse, his feet facing towards the girls, and nailing them both in the stomach. They coughed and got sent back.
With those two out of the way, Percy put his knee on Clarisse's weirdly soft chest, and glared down at her with cold, venom green eyes. "Gonna try that again, turtle bitch?"
The daughter of Ares could only look up at Percy, a barrage of emotions in her eyes. Shock, fear, admiration, respect, and...lust? "You know...you aren't too bad, Prissy."
"It's Percy," he snapped at her.
She just grinned, "Mind letting me up? We won't put you through initiation."
Percy eyed her for a few seconds. Venom turned back to sea. He stood up and backed away, picking up the Minotaur horn. Clarisse stood and dusted herself off, before wiping the blood off of her chin. "See ya around, Percy," she turned and walked to her friends. They spoke for a minute, before all three left.
'Good job,' Willow told him. 'I was ready to step in, but you didn't need me. That's a side of you I've never imagined existed.'
'The last few days have pushed me past my breaking point,' Percy told Willow. The crazy half of Percy Jackson was in agreement on that.
He turned towards Annabeth and Nancy. Annabeth looked shocked. Nancy looked stunned, but was grinning.
"That was awesome!" she told Percy. "How come you never did stuff like that at Yancy?"
Percy just shrugged, and his gaze focused on Annabeth, who was looking at him with her calculating eyes. "What?" he grumbled. "What are you thinking."
"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
'Oh god have mercy on us!' Willow cried.
'I didn't know mercy being applied on us existed...' Percy said dully.
Willow was quiet for a second, 'You make a good point...oh god, you heartless fuck bag!'
So, how was it? Believe it or not, Annabeth and Percy become pretty good friends. Willow though, despises Annabeth so when he gets in control, Annabeth becomes road kill. Well that's all for today. I have to get back to class.