Furious, Rampaging, Irritated, Extremely Nettled Demon Skeletons = F.R.I.E.N.D.S
*First Person Point of View*
I was blinded by white, but as soon as I blinked, colors sprang to life in front of me. They folded out of a single point, and finally, I could see the vast expanse of Camp Half-Blood in front of me. It was just as I remembered it. The cabins in the distance were glowing in the sunlight﹣especially cabin seven. Everything seemed to have been recently repainted, and there were a few new buildings, but other than that, it was like I'd never even left. I knew I'd been here only recently, but I'd never really looked around at that point.
Breathing in deeply, I looked around at the place I'd once called home. It wasn't a bad place. It didn't have bad people. It just had bad memories. Memories of all the things I couldn't do, or couldn't be, because of my death. I left behind everyone and everything I loved; they all moved on without me, making something with their lives.
Before my thoughts became too out of hand, I snapped myself out of them and turned to look at Artemis. "Shall I escort your hunters to their cabin once again while you inform Chiron of our arrival?" I asked politely.
I couldn't help but shudder as I remembered the last time we'd stayed at the Greek camp. I'd put a camper of two in their place, and had gained the same fearful respect as the hunters. At least they wouldn't bother us during our stay.
Artemis nodded.
"Very well, milady," I told her, bowing slightly. Holding out my arm in the direction of the cabins, I said, "Right this way."
Thalia punched me as she passed.
We made it to the cabin without too much hassle, as the boys knew to to stay back. Luckily, the campers that had seen what happened last time were also advising the new campers to stay away. Good. That will keep both the hunters and the campers from being bothered in any way. That meant no unnecessary stress for me.
As Thalia walked in, she slammed the door in my face.
Staring at the door for a few seconds, I said, "Okay."
I stood there, awkwardly, before Thalia opened the door once more, laughing in my face. "Fine. You can come in. Just no funny business!" Her finger shot up to point directly in my face. Her eyes flashed with warning.
And so began the conversation of what to do with the campers during our visit. It seemed that there would be a lot of pranks in the near future.
Artemis arrived at the cabin later that night, just in time for dinner. The next morning however, Aremis decided to head up to Olympus to help with the preparations, because she knew that the hunters could handle themselves.
"I'll be back tonight. Don't kill anyone while I'm gone," she'd said jokingly before teleporting away.
Despite the hunters promising to be good, their faces morphed into evil grins as soon as their mistress vanished. I knew that I had to interfere.
"Hunters! As your guardian, I must tell you that I have planned to help train the campers today. There are too many for even my fellow guardians to handle teaching, so you may not see me very much today. Luckily, since I am going to be teaching, you won't see as many boys today as you would have. Try not to kill anyone," I informed them.
They all nodded earnestly, but I could tell that as soon as I was gone, they'd be planning something malicious.
"Campers! Get over here and stand in rows of eight!" I ordered. My voice was directed towards the large mass of orange and bronze that stood at the outskirts of the training grounds.
The mass immediately ran over, tumbling and tripping as it moved, and pretty soon, I had campers－both boys and girls－all standing in front of me in sloppy rows of eight. There were about nine rows, but the very back row only had six kids. So that totaled to seventy campers in my class. Oh, goody.
Pacing in front of the group like a dramatic general, I said, "Now! You are all new to camp, yes?" I asked.
There were quite a few mumbles of yes. Looking out at the crowd, I saw that most of them had their armour on crooked, or they were struggling under the weight of the heavy metal. Scoffing, I sighed.
"Very well! Today, I will be helping you to choose your weapon. From there, you may be sent off to a specific trainer to learn how to use it. This weapon will be the weapon you will train with until you master it, so choose wisely! To help you choose, we will have short, ten-minute training sessions with each weapon. When you find a weapon you like: remember it! At the end, you should have either a list of weapons you'd like to use, or a single weapon you've decided on," I explained. "We will begin with swords! By row, I want you to come up and get your sword!"
The rest of the training session went well. We practised one-handed swords, two-handed swords, bows, spears, maces, javelins, daggers, and throwing knives. Luckily, it wasn't much of a problem getting every camper their weapon figured out. There were at least ten that knew right away what they wanted to use. Five of the campers didn't like any, so they were a bit of an annoyance, but the rest all had a few choices, which narrowed down easily.
I was just finishing up polishing the blade of my sword after class when I felt a presence approaching behind me. Scratch that, a bunch of presences. There was a whole group of people behind me!
Turning, I saw the people I was dreading to cross paths with: Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Nico, and Will. 'Great. Just great!' I groaned silently.
Putting a polite tone in my voice, I said, "What can I help you with?"
Annabeth scowled. "Stop playing around Percy. We know it's you. Reyna told us that one of the Guardians said that you were Artemis' guardian."
I hummed in thought. "I see. So one of the guardians told you that? Very well. I guess sooner is better than later." I went to remove my mask, but immediately took off in a mad dash. They would never find out the truth! Never!
Unfortunately, they caught me. If it weren't for Nico summoning some skeletons to block my path, I would've made it. I stopped, bouncing on the balls of my feet as I searched for a way out. More and more skeletons were ripping the ground, crawling up from the Underworld. There was nowhere for me to go.
Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground, two heavy bodies holding me down. Frank and Jason then picked me up, holding my hands behind my back as Annabeth came forward and pulled off my mask.
She immediately dropped it. "Percy!" I was tackled by a cluster of people from all sides, but my vision was mostly obscured by the mass of blonde curls right in front of my face. "Annabeth." I chuckled. "I missed you too."
She stayed nestled in my arms for a few more silent moments, just letting her body heat sync with mine. Finally she unwrapped her arms from my shoulders and… punched me in the face.
"Ow!" I cried, grabbing my jaw. I could already feel it swelling. I'd heard a crack too; that couldn't possibly be good news.
I was about to demand what in Hades was wrong with her, but I stopped as I saw her face. Red eyes and nose, tears streaming down her cheeks, messy wet hair. I couldn't stay mad at her.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth., but I couldn't exactly come back after dying. This was my only chance to come back, and I had no idea how long it would take," I explained. "Besides, I saw you yesterday with that guy. You're married aren't you? With a son?"
She nodded.
"Good. I'm glad you're happy. Maybe I'll get there someday. Doubt it though. Guardian of Artemis? Doomed to forever hand out with eternal maidens? Good luck Percy," I muttered to myself.
Annabeth laughed, as did the others surrounding us. I smiled. It was just like old times. Well, except that they were all, like, thirty years old and I still hadn't reached my twenties. Besides that, though, just like old times. I guess them knowing wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be.
I returned to the cabin that night happy. Even though I'd had to help train two more classes of demigods after my friends left, my mood hadn't dropped. My friends knew I was alive and they wouldn't tell anyone else. It was a good day.
Pretty soon, Artemis appeared and we all went down to the Dining Pavilion together, every single one of us ready to eat,
I sat down at the Artemis table for dinner after sacrificing some food and met Annabeth's eye. I gave her a smile, one which she returned.
"Who are you looking at, Perce?" Thalia whispered to me before cutting off a piece of steak and popping it into her mouth.
"I told the others who I am. Now they know for certain," I explained in a quiet voice.
She nodded and swallowed her bite of steak. "I figured as much. You just can't keep a secret. It always comes out sooner or later."
I chuckled as she took another bite. "You got me. I can't stand lying to those I care about."
She shrugged, looking up from her food. "Whatever." Then she went back to eating.
Word Count: 1626