Hey guys, Goose here.
This might end up being my usual posting routine, not sure yet. Also, I have no story board for this story, so it might be a little disconnected.
I pushed the door of the big house to see Chiron standing in front of two other campers. The campers look quite scared, and one was babbling on to Chiron.
"…and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-because-he's-bleeding-everywhere-and-the-apollo-campers-haven't-done-anything-yet-and-he's-just-lying-there…" The words came rushing out of the camper's mouth, who appeared rather young, thirteen at the most. I recognized him. He was a new camper who had just come to camp a week ago or so. A son of Demeter if my memory served. The other girl was a bit more of a regular, judging by her necklace. I remembered her too. The daughter of Hermes, who had come to camp last year.
Chiron held up his hand to stop the torrent of words coming from the camper's mouth.
"Woah there, calm down Nick. I heard what happened to Johan," Chiron said, and suddenly it clicked. Johan was the son of Ares who had saved Nick when he came to camp. He was being pursued by a flock of angry harpies, and Johan was handy with a spear. After that, Nick and Johan had become close friends, and by extension, so had Nick and I. Johan was one of my close friends outside of the seven, despite that he came from the Ares cabin. We helped each other with weapons skills often; he lacked finesse with a blade but had an innate mastery of a spear.
I came back to focus on the present as Chiron was finishing his explanation. "…haven't done anything because it's not serious. I don't think he's really bleeding everywhere, is he?"
Nick, when faced with the question, thought for a moment, then admitted it. "I suppose not."
"Trust the Apollo cabin," Chiron told him. "They know what they're doing and they're good at it."
"Ok," said Nick, quietly. He turned and noticed me.
"Percy!" He exclaimed. "You're ok!" Nick was a very peaceful kid. The thought of death and harm made him shudder. But I liked that about him. Sometimes, it's nice to talk with someone who hasn't seen tons of killing.
"Hey man, yeah I'm fine," I reassured him. I was about to pat him on the shoulder when I saw the deep cut on my hand.
"Well, maybe not quite," I said. Once I realized that I'd gotten cut, the pain also registered with me. I winced, then remembered the spear I'd grabbed to kill the Minotaur with. It must've been caused by that, but hey, at least the wound couldn't be poisoned. I quickly grabbed my shirt and ripped off my sleeve, then wrapped it around my hand.
"Hey Nick," I said, quickly moving my hand behind my back. "Why don't you head back to your cabin and practice a little more on that corn?" Nick loved accelerating the growth of corn. Must be a child of Demeter thing.
"Ok," said Nick, turning and walking towards the door. At the last second, he stopped and spun, facing me. "Percy, can you tell me if you find out when Johan wakes up?" Johan was almost like an elder brother figure to Nick, and Nick, a younger brother to him.
"Sure man," I said. Nick smiled, then turned and scampered out of the door. The quiet Hermes girl followed him. I started; I had forgotten she was there.
Chiron clapped his hands. "So, who have we here?" he asked.
The new boy, standing shyly, answered. "I'm…My name's Jude. Who…Who are you?"
Chiron smiled. "I am known as Chiron, and before you ask, yes, I am a centaur." He gestured at his equine rear end. "How familiar are you with Greek mythology, Jude?"
"Not very much" Jude replied, seemingly entranced by Chiron's hindquarters.
Chiron chuckled. "Not to worry, not to worry. Our introduction film will help with that."
I coughed into my fist. Chiron turned his head to look at me, and I raised my hastily bandaged hand.
"Ah, of course. Percy, you should go to the infirmary, get that treated. I will take Jude here through our standard introductory course." Chiron patted Jude's shoulder.
I nodded to Chiron. This cut was starting to sting even worse, but I had full confidence in the Apollo cabin.
"I'll see you around, Jude," I said to him as I walked out of the door. I saw him look up and give a slight nod. To shy to do much more, I thought, but who could blame him? It didn't look as if he knew much about what was going on.
I jogged over to the cabins where, in front of the Apollo cabin, a few tents had been set up. I could see them treating non-serious injuries like minor cuts and scrapes, as well as handing out salves for small burns and bruises. I looked at the kind of injury they were treating and realized that a cut of my depth, from celestial bronze, would be treated inside of the cabin. I made my way to the open front door of the cabin and slowly walked in.
Immediately, Will Solace was there. "What happened to you?" he asked, and I grimaced.
"Got cut by a celestial bronze spear. Deep in my right hand." I unwrapped my hand and showed it to him, palm up. Immediately, blood began to swell from the cut and fall onto the floor. Will raised his eyebrows slightly but otherwise didn't look too shocked.
"Ok, let's get you bandaged up properly." He said, and lead me over to a bed, which reminded me of a hospital. He had me sit down and lay my hand on my leg, palm up, as he thoroughly inspected the wound.
"This'll need stitches," He muttered to himself. "Hey Nico, can you fetch me a sterile needle and some thread?"
"Right here," said a voice from the shadows behind me. I turned my head and caught Nico Di Angelo walking out of the dark shadows of the corner of the room.
"Are you practicing shadow travelling?" I asked him.
"Yep," he replied. "It's like running. The more you do it, the easier it gets."
"I see," I said. "So that corner of the room is just kept in darkness when you need to help with the fetching supplies for healing and stuff?"
Will suddenly seemed very much interested in his treatment of my palms and, if I hadn't known better, I could've sworn that Nico was blushing. He shuffled a tiny bit from foot to foot, but I already guessed what was causing that.
"Or it's just kept in darkness permanently for, uh, 'recreational' use?" I asked. I admit, I was teasing a little, but hey, what are friends for. Will jabbed me with his needle, and I winced.
"Hey!" I started, but Will just smiled at me.
"Oops," he said, in a tone that brokered no arguments of the true meaning of that. I sighed; I guess I did deserve that.
"So anyway," I said, changing the subject. "How long will this take to heal?"
Will looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "between a week and three weeks before you can use the hand again. It's hard to say for celestial bronze." He stared at my palm. "And I can't even guess whether or not it'll scar. It's a possibility for sure."
"As long as it doesn't get in the way of me swinging my sword, I don't care if it scars," I said.
Will shrugged. "Then you're all set to go."
"Great!" I hopped off the bed. "Thanks, Will. I'll see you around."
"Will do" responded Will, and I left the Apollo cabin.
As I was on my way back to the lake, I saw Chiron walking towards me with Jude keeping pace a few steps back. Chiron made eye contact with me, so I assumed he wanted to talk to me. I changed direction and walked over to him.
"Percy, I want you to take Jude here on tour of the camp, and then put him into the Hermes cabin until he's claimed," Chiron said, simple and straightforward.
"Sounds good to me," I answered.
Chiron turned to Jude. "Remember, dinner starts at 7:30 in the mess hall."
Jude nodded. "Yes, sir."
Chiron frowned. "please, call me Chiron. Sir makes me feel old"
I chuckled. Chiron, the centaur who had trained ancient Greek heroes thousands of years ago, felt 'old'. Jude looked at me like I was crazy. He must've missed the joke, but I didn't try to explain it.
"Follow me, we'll start with the cabins," I said and turned to walk back to where I had just come from, Jude falling into step behind me.
I explained the order of the cabins, how each had their own god, why some were empty, and which ones to avoid when you were in a certain mood. I made sure he wouldn't step on the Ares' cabins landmines, and that he knew to ask the Hermes campers if every he was missing something and thought it might be stolen.
"And which cabin is that one?" Jude asked, pointing down the line. I smiled.
"That would be my cabin, the cabin of Poseidon." Jude looked at me, a surprised expression on his face.
"You're a son of Poseidon?" he asked.
I nodded. "Here, watch this." I lifted my hand, and, out of the ground, tiny droplets of water slowly rose up and start combining above my hand. Jude's jaw dropped wide open; he just watched. After a few seconds of intense concentration, the water had formed into a sword, almost an exact replica of Riptide. Now came the tricky part. I focused on the handle, and slowly closed my hand around it. It felt just as solid as my celestial bronze sword.
I grinned. "I've been practicing that one, it's tough." Jude, his mouth still agape, just nodded. I let the sword fall apart, and the water splashed onto the ground. I glanced at the sky.
"It's starting to get close to dinner time, let's get you settled into your cabin and then we'll go for dinner," I said, pointing at the Hermes cabin as I said it.
"Why the uh, Hermes cabin?" Jude asked. "You don't know who my godly parent is yet."
I nodded. "The Hermes cabin is where we keep unclaimed campers until they get claimed. With any luck, you'll get claimed at dinner." Jude, again, nodded.
"Ok, let's go," he said and started off towards the Hermes cabin.
After Jude found his bunk and dropped off his stuff, we parted ways. Him to explore by himself a little bit, me to do what I wanted. And what I wanted was to go jump in a lake. I strolled down to the lake and out on the pier. A pair of Hephaestus girls were just getting into what looked like a propeller repelled boat, except the propellers where swords. I shuddered; that was not a nice-looking boat. Quickly, before they could get it started, I dove into the water and started on my way back to the bottom, swirling the water out of my way that I was almost falling instead of swimming.
Once I reached the bottom, I closed my eyes. Dinner wasn't for another hour at least, and I was tired from the fight. I rest faster underwater, so I decided to stay a bit. I summoned my power and created a waterbed. I chuckled; Leo would have liked that pun. Shame he had to go on that quest. I hoped he would be ok.
After what felt like barely a few minutes, ripples passed over the water. At first, I ignored it, assuming it to be the sword-boat the Hephaestus kids were testing. Then, I frowned. The ripples didn't act like ones from a boat and, more importantly, they didn't feel like them either. I sat up, or floated upright, as sitting doesn't quite work underwater. I slowly started ascending, swimming in lazy circles, wondering and pondering these ripples.
It didn't take long for the answer to come to me. These ripples felt familiar as if I knew them personally. Or at least, I knew the source. Now, I had many friends among the campers of Camp Half-Blood. Some were recent, and some, like Grover, I'd known since I arrived. But there was only ever one person who I knew as well as I knew these ripples. I quickly sourced out the rippled, to find that they were coming from the end of the pier. I sunk a little lower and started swimming my way over there.
Sure enough, a pair of feet were hanging in the water at the edge of the pier. Don't worry, they were attached to a pair of legs as well, which in turn where attached to someone. I smiled. A couple of weeks wasn't a lot, but it had felt like an eternity. I swam my way underneath these feet, and then slowly ascended, so as to appear out of the depths of the water.
"Percy! I thought I'd find you in here," Said none other than Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and coincidentally, also my girlfriend.
"Want to join me?" I offered, holding my hand out of the water, and offering it to her.
"Dinner's in 20, but if I'll be dry afterwards then sure," She responded. I nodded; it made sense.
"Sure, no problem," I said. Annabeth gave me a smile, then slid down off the pier into the water beside me. She shuddered at the temperature.
"It's so cold!" She exclaimed, starting to swim a few strokes to warm up.
"Then come here," I offered, holding my arms out. Annabeth looked at me, then swam into my arms and kissed me on the cheek.
"Gods, I've missed you." She said as she started hugging me.
"Me too," I agreed, and I returned the embrace. "Shall we drop down to the bottom? It's nice and quiet down there."
"So long as it doesn't get colder." She stipulated. I nodded.
"Not a problem," I said and started to sink with Annabeth wrapped in my arms. I got the water to form a thin layer of air around her mouth as the mermaids had done with Leo and Frank. Self-replenishing, and large, she could breathe out of it for as long as I could maintain it. Since it was quite an easy task for something so small, there were no worries there.
I also had the warm water gather around us. I didn't need it, but Annabeth really didn't like the cold.
"Is that good?" I asked as we landed at the bottom of the lake.
"It's a little dark," She said squinting. "Can you do anything about that?"
I chuckled. "Let me show you." With a little concentration, I sent out a request for any small bioluminescent creatures to come to me. Within a minute, there were about six or seven small, yellow fish swimming around us producing a warm glow. "This better?"
She kissed me; this time full on the lips. "Much better."
I smiled, pleased with myself. I much prefer the yellow luminescence to other shades like green, and that was no exception.
"So how was the course?" I asked. Annabeth had been attending an intense study course on architecture for the last two weeks, taught by none other than her mom, Athena. Of course, none of the other students in the course new that. But hey, mortal minds are like that.
"It was amazing," She said. "I learned so many new things, ideas, strategies…" Annabeth continued to talk and talk, in a state which I usually call the 'actual enjoyment' state, when someone enjoys something enough to talk about it like Annabeth does. I know it's a bit backwards when I refer to her with it, but what works, works.
"Anything happen while I was away?" Her question snapped me out of my reverie, and I glanced at her before answering.
"We just had a new camper come in followed by a massive horde of monsters and the Minotaur again." I told her.
"Again?" She questioned.
"Again," I answered. "I sent him back to the pit, but got this in the process," I said, showing her the bandages on my hand.
"What gave you that?" She queried, with a sight note of concern. I shrugged.
"I got knocked down, and the Minotaur was going to run me over. Someone tossed me a spear, and I must've picked it up by the point." I explained.
"Well, at least it's not poisoned," She shuddered.
"Yea, that wouldn't be any fun." I agreed. Annabeth said nothing, just murmured in agreement. She leant her head on my shoulder, and sighed.
"As fun as the course was, I'm glad I'm back here." She said.
"So am I." I took her hand in mine, and we sat there, at the bottom of the lake, listening to each other breathe, until the bell rang, calling us in for dinner.
Hope you guys enjoyed. Again, please review.
Signing off for now,
Honk Honk Am Goose