Chapter XIII
Ah, Old Friends! Good to See You, Good to See You...Now, About That Whole...Thing...
"Percy! Leo!" Jason called out, jogging up to them. Their heads snapped to him, breaking off their conversation about what Terminus was doing. He was slightly out of breath, having run from a distance. "Thalia just IM'd me, she said she'd be heading over soon with the Hunters, they thought that they might be able to help track down who's killing the Gods if we can give them more information." Jason said.
"What information? What do we have that they can use?" Leo snorted.
"I..I'm not sure. But maybe they'll be able to look at the cabins or something, maybe recognize a signature, I'm not sure...but we have to do something, don't we? We can't just let the Gods die…" Jason said, tone solemn and face hard. Percy bit his lip.
"Really, Jason, what can we tell them? 'Yeah, some of the cabins have been ruined more than others, and that's all we really know'. Doesn't seem like much." Pleaaaassseee don't let the Hunters come, I don't need more noses up my ass! Mentally, Percy was groaning, sighing and bemoaning his hardships.
"I don't know about you, but I don't know how the Hunters do their whole...tracking thing. Who knows what will help them? All we can do is hope they'll be able to use something." Jason shrugged, unable to do anything else. Percy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Have you told Nico?" Leo asked.
"He's training some younger campers. I'll let him know once he's done."
"When are they supposed to get here?"
"Sometime tomorrow."
"Alright." With that, Percy walked away. He didn't have a particular destination in mind, but after a minute he figured he'd go back to what was now 'his' cabin. Jason had agreed to share his cabin for the time being, and had helped Percy bring his bed from his cabin, which wasn't too ruined. Once inside the Zeus cabin, he flopped down onto his bed, staring at the statue of Zeus in the middle of the room.
"You'll be dead soon…" Percy murmured to himself. "Stupid fucking hunters." Growling, Percy covered his eyes with his hands. "I'm being dramatic." Percy deflated. "They can't do much, really." He murmured to himself. "They'll stick their noses into the camp, but after that...they'll go away, chasing a dead trail...they can't stay, their cabin isn't open." Percy turned onto his stomach. "Stupid fucking hunters." Mumbling into his pillow, Percy stuck his hands underneath it. His finger his a cold, round object.
Confused, Percy pulled it out. A wicked smile graced his lips as he sat up, fingering the object which reflected purple in the sunlight streaming in through the windows.
His trusty dildo!
Nah. It was the bottle of persuasion dust. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of it before? Percy winced at his own self-misery that he had been experiencing just moments before. That was pathetic. Let's not do that again...Now in a better mood, Percy put the vial in his pocket and went for a shower. He needed to plan this out a bit. He would also need another vial…
Leo can probably pull one out of that tool belt...but what am I going to tell him if he asks what it's for? Percy shook his head. The water would help him think. Murmuring lightly to himself, Percy stepped into his shower.
Night had fallen over Camp Half-Blood like a blanket. In the dead silence, the door to the Zeus cabin creaked horribly loud, at least, it did to Percy. Wincing, he quickly exited the cabin, blowing out a breath once the door was closed. As he walked the distance to the Hephaestus cabin, Percy stopped and smacked himself. He used his cool shadow-travel-tool-thing (he wasn't sure what to call it yet) for the rest of the distance.
Once at the door, he once again shifted himself inside. No more traitorous, squeaky doors for him. Though he doubted Hephhy's cabin would have a squeaky door. Considering, you know...Percy sighed. He was such a nerd. A diabolical, handsome nerd, but still such a nerd.
Once inside, Percy looked around himself, searching for the bed that housed Leo. He had to walk several feet further into the cabin, bunk-beds crowding him and making him feel more trapped the father in he went. Even if Hephhy was his buddy, didn't mean his kids were.
Finally, Percy found Leo; one of his arms were hanging off the side of the bed, face smushed into the pillow and drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth.
So beautiful…
Now that he had found Leo, the belt would be somewhere close-by, wouldn't it? With that thought in mind, Percy searched diligently (as he could whilst struggling to stay silent) as he could, only to come up with nothing. Huffing in frustration, Percy looked back at Leo. Then, his heart dropped. Leo is wearing the fucking belt...Percy feebly realized that he really didn't want to try and get a vial out of a belt, whilst it rested on a small Latino man, who was sleeping on a top bunk. Groaning, Percy ran his hands through his hair.
He would just have to look around the cabin. That's all he could do. He would find the workshop, and hope for the best. Rolling his eyes in satirical frustration, Percy walked (some would say stomped) to where he new the door to the workshop section of the cabin was. He risked the door this time, not surprised when no noise sounded. He walked through effortlessly, at this point just tired and wanting to go to bed. The room was an odd combination of messy and clean.
It was messy...but a tasteful messy, he guessed. Benches and workstations were lined up neatly, but random things littered the ground and desks and chairs. Toolboxes were in rows, sorted alphabetically, but draws were opened, some with tools on the ground near them or just sticking out slightly.
Percy couldn't say he was honestly surprised. With a sigh, he ruffled through various things, wincing whenever the metallic tools clinged together, constantly fighting his sense of self-preservation. When the tool boxes came up empty, he started to sift through the stations, which had little pieces of paper on the top, labelling whose was whose. Around the third stop, when he was becoming slightly careless of his movements, Percy froze upon hearing the sound of glass contacting with something. He looked around himself cautiously, finally spotting the precariously small vial of something at his feet. He didn't know what it was, but at the moment, he didn't care.
He opened the vial of green stuff, prepared to dump it out, when a sudden noise made him jump.
"What're you doing with that? Do you know how dangerous that is?" Percy's head snapped up. In front of him was a girl, not very old, thirteen, twelve? "Dude, just put that down…"
Percy's eyes flickered to the vial he was holding. A light green liquid sloshed around. He was suddenly weary, and snapped the lid closed.
The girl's shoulders dropped in relief. "Thank you. Why are you in here? At this time?"
"I'm sorry, did I wake you? What is this?" Percy inquired, ignoring her question for the moment. Until he could come up with a reasonable excuse, that was.
"That's Greek fire."
When Percy stared blankly at her, she gave him a deadpan face. "Greek fire. The most explosive and deadly weapon we have. You seriously don't know about it? You're running the camp."
Having absolutely no idea what she was talking about, Percy nodded, making his eyes widen in realization. "Oh." He breathed. The girl nodded.
"Yeah. Why're you here? I noticed you hadn't answered." She said, raising an eyebrow impressively. Percy just kinda stared at her. In fact, if he hadn't, he might have missed the little shuffle she did towards the door; hardly noticeable, but there. He lashed out in panic. Suddenly, Nightshade came out, and attacked the girl before even Percy knew what was happening.
The only sound was a body dropping to the floor, and a slight woosh as Percy vanished from the room.
Percy reappeared on the dock of the ocean, breath heavy, panicking. He hadn't meant to killer, he hadn't wanted to! Nightshade had lashed out on her own. Percy dropped to his knees, legs having been shaking. He felt...weak. Like Nightshade had seeped energy from him to do what she wanted.
Percy took a rattling breath. In his mind, he could hear her, whispering to him, encouraging him to get up, to be strong, that he could do this. He didn't even know why he was freaking out so much. He had killed so many already. So many that were so much closer to him; he hadn't even known that girls name.
But she was so young...Percy despaired, only for his thoughts to be countered by a soothing voice. He sighed, and looked at the vial in his hand. Now he had a vial of greek fire, apparently the most explosive and dangerous weapon available...how was he supposed to use it? Mindlessly destroy a cabin for no reason? There was absolutely no reason to do that; he would just be cutting down his numbers if he were to do that. And he had to do something soon, so he could use the vial itself...Percy growled furiously.
Reckless abandon taking over, Percy jumped into the water. He was so frustrated. The vial of fire was in the pocket of his sweatpants, bumping gently against his leg. Percy wasn't worried. The cap was completely sealed, now that he had looked at a for a moment. He sunk through the water, letting his clothes get soaked as he floated to the bottom, hitting it with a slight movement. He looked up above him, not able to discern the surface of the water; it was too dark. Rolling his eyes, he rolled over, letting his hands wander around the sand, half-heartedly digging through the sand. He was so tired suddenly. Objects scraped against his hands; he didn't bother to identify them. Rocks, metal, glass, coral, whatever.
Suddenly, something slapped the back of his head. He whipped around, glaring daggers at the nymph that had dared to hit him. He grabbed the first thing his hand touched, and flung it at her. With his powers, it traveled much faster through the water than it should have, hitting the nymph squarely in the forehead. She fumbled, flipped him off and swam away. Percy glared daggers at her, contemplating killing her. But then he noticed the object that was floating down softly.
It looked like a metal flask, the type people would carry booze in. Percy grabbed it gently. It had a dent on it's side now, but it looked as though it still opened and closed easily, and sealed shut tightly.
Whooping, Percy shot out of the water, instantly regretting not caring if his clothes got wet. He dumped out the flask, and vanished into his cabin. He set the vial and flask down, hurriedly changing and getting into bed as quietly as he possibly could, so as to not awaken Jason. The flask wasn't quite dry yet, but he fixed that with a quick snap of his fingers, causing the water to evaporate. He grabbed the flask, and the vial of purple dust that was stored under his pillow. He smiled at his fabulous hiding place, and the smile remained on his face as he poured a little more than half of the vial contents into the flask. That would be for Thalia. He would keep the remainder; he was sure there would be a use for it eventually.
It was during breakfast that the Hunters arrived. By then, the body of Nyssa had been discovered, spooking many of the campers with her sudden death that no one could seem to find the cause of. It cast a somber mood across the camp, only strengthening with her mourning burial and pyre. Percy stood, alongside Jason and Leo, the flask and vial of Greek fire rattling quietly in his jean pockets. Jason ran to his sister, hugging her tightly, as she held him just as close. They smiled at each other, just happy to know the other was safe. Percy didn't catch much of their murmured conversation, only saw a few grim faces as he walked up.
"Hey Thals." Percy waved. Thalia smiled softly, if not a bit tightly at him. No matter what she may believes about my 'possession' we went through a lot; she trusts me. Percy realized, giving her his own smile. Percy hadn't expected the hug she pulled him into, casting a confused look at an amused Jason. His eyes flickered over to the rest of the hunters, who were glaring, but unable to do anything. Percy hugged Thalia back finally.
Satisfied, Thalia pulled away, fixing her headpiece-crown-thing that showered her as the lieutenant of the Hunters, second to only Artemis herself. It had become slightly askew.
"Hey Leo, did you finally grow some?" Thalia teased, smiling. Leo snorted. They hadn't known each other for long, only meeting a few times when Jason had been memoryless.
"Still scared of heights?"
"Shut it, midget."
The two laughed, and Percy reluctantly found a smile tugging his lips. "It's good to see you guys again. I wish it could have been under better circumstances. Oh, hey Percy, can I talk to you for a minute? I..wanted to ask about Annabeth." Gulping, Thalia hardly got the last part out, struggling through clenched teeth. Percy gave her pity, and nodded. She pulled him away, and Percy mentally noted that this is exactly what he needed to have happened! Of course, rely on Thalia to give him the perfect chance to manipulate her. Obviously she would want to ask about Annabeth, she had become a tree for the girl, after all.
The two walked away from where the rest of the camp was, climbing a hill not too far away, but out of sight. Perfect. Thank you Thals. You've made this so much easier for me.
After a moment of silence, Thalia took a deep breath. "How did she die?"
"Fighting."
Thalia gave out a shaky laugh. "Of course she did. She would have made a brilliant hunter." Thalia whispered, closing her eyes and cupping her face in her hands. This is my chance! Hurriedly, Percy grabbed the flask from his pocket. Thalia looked up at the sound of him unscrewing it. She snorted. "Alcohol, Percy? How did you even get that in here? More importantly, give me some." Thalia murmured. Percy cracked a smile.
Then, he made a jerky motion. The dust floated out, onto to Thalia, who flinched, and coughed violently as she ingested it. Percy watched with trepidation, ready to kill her the moment he decided to needed to. He really, really hoped the dust would work. Now that he thought about it, what was he going to do if it didn't? Ansty, Percy bit his lip.
Thalia straightened. Her eyes were blank, glossy. Percy let out a tiny whoop, jumping up and down slightly. "Uh, Thalia?" He tested. She nodded at him. Smiling, Percy giggled. Then he coughed. He needed to get a hold of himself. He would give himself away one of these days, he knew it. Percy coughed once more to steady his voice.
To be honest this story is really hard to write. But eh. I'm working through it...just keeping on trucking...*Sigh*
