A/N: Hey Guys! I hoped you liked the first chapter. It may have a slow start but I want to get all the proper explanation and foreshadowing into this story, as I hope to work on it for the next year or so. The word count will raise each chapter or so, and hopefully my writing will improve as well :).
Please feel free to review, and if you have a moment, please do; it really helps out to have your guy's feedback.
Anyway, here is the next chapter.
Disclaimer:I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but I do own my OCs.
Percy's PoV:
The next couple days following Zade's arrival, he was officially claimed before dinner. There were whispers of disbelief, and a shocked expression going around the dining pavilion. He seemed to be happy.
What I liked about Zade was that he wasn't a cocky jerk like some other powerful demigods; he was humble and modest, much like me. We bonded over activities such as the lava wall, sword fighting (which he was very good at), and in the newly added weight-room. The weight-room was added after the Second Titan War.
Grover was rewarded by Zeus for his actions, and for the safe arrival of his son. Grover, being the humble person that he was, tried to deny Zeus' reward, but ended up accepting in the end. The lord of the sky had told him not to reveal this gift unless necessary and that meant he couldn't even tell me what it was.
At first I was taken aback by Grover's distrust, but I understood when he told me that he had strict orders from Zeus. I did not want Zeus mad at me. Again. I thought. He already disliked me just because I was Poseidon's son, but he had grown a small, secretive yet miniscule soft spot for me I defeated Kronos.
I was heading towards the arena, getting ready to practice on some dummies and teach Zade some new moves, when I heard a familiar horn from the main camp. The hunters of Artemis had arrived. I could see a girl dressed in punk clothes, wearing a tiara, following a girl who looked around 16, with silver hair. Thalia and Artemis. My two favorite people.
Thalia and I were best friends, but Artemis has always hated me for some reason. Probably it's because I am a boy and she kind of founded a group all about hating boys, but I feel like its more than that. However, she had started to like me a little bit more after I took the sky from her back when I was 14. I guess she thought it was a brave thing to do.
I told Zade that it would only be a minute and then I would return. He nodded, and proceeded to practice some of the maneuvers I had taught him. I walked up to the big house, where I saw Chiron welcoming Artemis. Thalia, was looking into the distance, and then she caught my eye.
"KELP-HEAD!" she yelled as she ran towards me. She hug-tackled me, and pinned me to the ground. She punched me in the arm playfully, but it still hurt like Hades.
I pushed her off of me, telling her that it was good to see her too.
"Ow.." I said, rubbing my arm and my back. I turned to Artemis and bowed respectfully. "Lady Artemis," I said.
"Lady Artemis, what brings you to Camp Half-Blood?" Chiron asked quizzically. He looked at Artemis, almost knowing something was off.
"We have decided to rest here as we have researched and tracked an unknown, and mysterious power rising as of late. The presence was first felt at Tartarus, and we do not know what it is. I brought my hunter's here to rest as I report to the gods at a council meeting," she gravely stated. I could see fear in her eyes, as if there was a darkness approaching that even the goddess of the hunt feared.
"Ah, I see," Chiron scratched his beard, a thinking expression on his faced. Artemis ordered the hunters to unpack in the cabin as they would be staying there for the next week, and participating in this week's capture the flag.
I waved goodbye to Thalia, as hurried back to the arena.
Zade's PoV:I had waited for Percy for five minutes before I started to just practice on the dummies. I didn't know what was taking him so long, but I didn't care. I knew it would be some important camp crap that he and the other senior campers handled.
I swung my electric blade blessed by my father at one dummy's neck, severing its head. Immediately I feigned a strike at the second dummy's right arm, and then redirected it into its belly. To make it seem more realistic, I jumped and rolled out-of-the-way of a third dummy, as if he had tried to strike me down. I swept my sword at the third dummy's feet, cutting its legs off.
I heard clapping from behind me, as I turned to see who it was. Percy was smiling with pride at his newest student, and I blushed ever so slightly. You see, I'm not a normal, arrogant child of Zeus who thinks himself above all others. I am much more modest and humble, and I don't like to brag.
"Nice work, it seems you've perfected these techniques already." I smiled at Percy, ready for more.
"Now I get to teach you my personal favorite move," I got excited when he told me this, "the disarming technique. It will save your life and win you countless battles, against enemies big, small, strong and fierce. This helped keep me alive in the Second Titan War."
"Now hold out your sword in a basic fighting position," he said. I did so, and he demonstrated the move, first lunging at the blade's hilt, redirecting his sword into mine, and twisting it hard and fast, knocking the blade out of my grip. I gaped in awe, not expecting that to happen.
"Now, the hardest part of this is putting it all together. Timing is everything. You have to lunge and make it seem like you are trying to kill the opponent, but the swing quickly into the blade. The most essential part is to snap your wrist vigorously, so the sword will escape the holder's grasp. Do you get it?" he explained. I nodded. "Alright then, give it a try."
I tried it on him at first, not getting the timing right, and his sword just shook in his tight grasp.
"Again," he said. He drilled me hard on this technique, and time and time again I couldn't get it. I started to get frustrated, until I finally got it after about half an hour of practicing. Percy smiled, saying, "You're a natural Zade. This took me weeks to perfect. One day you'll be a better swordsman than me." It seemed like he was forcing himself to say this, as if he didn't want to. I grinned wickedly, and said thanks.
The conch shell sounded and we went back up to the eating pavilion. I was starting to really like this Percy Jackson.
Thalia's PoV:Finally home again at Camp Half-Blood, after being on the road for three months tracking a stirring evil felt throughout the country. We had little luck, and we were just resting here until Artemis informed the gods and attended a lot of council meetings. After tackling Percy and heading back towards the Artemis cabin, I unpacked my things, and took a nap on my bed.
I woke up from my short sleep to all the girls yelling outside, and cursing out boys. Oh boy, I thought, here we go again.I marched outside, and pushed my way through the crowd to see Phoebe holding up a boy from the collar with a cocky look on his face. Apparently he had tried to flirt with her, and when rejected, tried again.
"If you ever, ever, EVER, look at me again, pig, I will rip your head off and through you into Hades. Are we clear?!" She shouted into his face, fear entering his eyes.
"Y-ye-yes..." he squealed. Phoebe dropped him.
"Boys," Phoebe muttered, as she turned away smirking yet pissed off at him. The boy scampered away out of fright, but managed to bring up the courage to say, "You will pay for this hunter!" Phoebe flashed him a death stare, causing him to run further.
He seemed to be a son of Ares, seeming that he was a cocky prick until pain was promised. Those Ares campers could never handle pain.
The girls started cheering for Phoebe, as I patted her on the back.
"Just wait until Friday. You can do whatever you want to him during capture the flag." I flashed her a wicked grin, and she returned it.
The conch shell sounded, and we all headed up to camp for dinner. On the way up I saw Annabeth, and I ran up to her hugging her tightly.
"Annabeth! I have missed you so much! How have you been?" I bombarded her with questions, and she laughed, returning my hug and told me to slow down. She had matured since last time I saw her, and seemed a lot older than me. I realized that I was immortal and was eternally 15, thinking myself an idiot.
"Thalia! I've missed you so much. Come eat with me, and tell me everything!"
I was so grateful that I got to see so many friends again. I would dread the day the hunters took off.
Percy's PoV: I was eating dinner alone, until Zade sat next to me. We both were the only one's from our cabin, so we started to eat together. He began to tell me of his journey from Los Angeles all the way to Long Island.
"Wow, that must've been quite a trek," I stated, with disbelief in my eyes."
"Yeah it was," he said grimly, staring down at his plate.
"I ran away from home, after years of abuse," I flinched at that part; abuse stories always shook me up, "with I girl who I had met on the road. I had known I was Zeus' son for the past year, which is when I ran away. She was a daughter of Apollo. Her name was Malorie," he smiled sadly, and I didn't want to hear what happened next. But I nodded, a sad look on my face. "When we were in the midwest, on our way to New York, after we met up with Grover, we ran into a huge amount of monsters. I lost sight of her in the battle, but I was sure she was okay. She could hold her own in a fight. I slashed through dozens of monsters, killing waves and waves of beings, but it wasn't enough. We fought hard Percy, but.." his voice wavered. "Malorie.. she didn't make it." He looked down, and it seemed like he was going to cry.
I patted him on the back, feeling contempt for Zade and his troubles. I was just blessed that this did not happen to me.
He recomposed himself, and shot up a small smile, but the sadness in his eyes lingered. I decided to change the subject by talking about his really cool, electric blue sword. He said his dad blessed it himself, and I could hear it crackle with electricity as it went through the air. This seemed to take his mind off of the sorrowful subject that was brought up, and I was glad it did. That was a depressing story.
Right when we were talking about our lady life, a fun subject for all guys to talk about, Chiron stepped up in front of us.
In his calm voice, yet full of authority, he said, "I hope you all are enjoying your dinner. Anyway, this Friday, in 3 days time, is Capture the Flag!" Everyone cheered at this, and banged on the tables in excitement. Seeing the confused look on Zade's face I quickly explained to him the game that I had come to love over the years. He seemed really excited about this.
"Because the Hunter's of Artemis are joining us this week," groans went through the camp; everyone knew how strong, tactful, and well-trained the Hunters were and everyone hated playing against them, "this calls for special team making. Percy and Zade will each be team Captains, for they are the children of the big three. Percy, Zade, could you come up here." I flashed a grin at him, who was nervous yet excited.
"The Hecate and Morpheus cabins will be split up among both team evenly, because of their advantage of using spells and enchantments. Now, Zade, the first pick is yours. Now remember, the Hunters of Artemis will count as two cabins due to their abundant population."
Zade looked at me, then at Thalia, who nodded. It seemed like they had a brother/sister connection going on their. He smiled.
"I'm going to have to pick the Hunters of Artemis. I wanna bond with my big sis for a bit," Thalia flashed him an electric, wicked grin, saying Lets kick some ass little bro. The rest of the hunters cheered. I groaned; this would be a tough match.
"Percy," Chiron said, turning to me, "The next two picks are yours." The next two? That really evened the odds. I winked at Annabeth; she for sure was on my team. Who wouldn't pick their girlfriend.
"definitely the Athena cabin. I need my wise girl." I blew her a kiss, and she blushed as red as a tomato. The whole camp went Oooooooh, and I chuckled.
"And your second pick, Son of Poseidon," Chiron said. I scratched my chin looking between the Apollo cabin and Clarrise's Ares cabin. I wanted the Ares cabin; they were the best warriors in the camp. "I pick Clarisse's cabin!" Clarisse let out a war cry, lifting Maimer, her spear, into the air. She didn't know everyone called it Lamer behind her back. The rest of the Ares cabin cheered, intimidating the rest of the camp.
I needed Zade not to pick the Apollo cabin, led by Michael Yew, a stubborn kid standing at 5 foot 1 inch, with another two feet of ego. If he chose them, the camp's best archers, and all of them for that matter, would be on his team. I crossed my fingers.
"I'm gonna go with the Apollo cabin," he smirked, flashing me a taunting grin, as if he knew what I wanted. I cursed under my breath. This would be difficult indeed.
"Very well," Chiron noddede to Zade. He then turned to me. "Perseus, the choice is yours once again." I nodded to him, and thought hard about who my next choice was. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into my head.
"Hephaestus," I said, locking eyes with Jake Mason, the cabin leader appointed after Beckendorf's sacrifice during the Second Titan War. I mouthed the word traps, and he just nodded, smiling evilly. I turned back to Chiron, who then faced Zade, telling him to go ahead. Zade then looked around, saying something that shocked me and surprised me.
"Demeter cabin," he met eyes with this one girl it seemed he had his eyes on, who was known as Alexa Reynolds. She was a good fighter for the Demeter cabin, but what surprised me is that he picked Demeter of Hermes cabin. They were not the best fighters, but could will plants to trip other campers. I shrugged, it could be useful. Chiron turned back to me, waving his hand.
"Hermes cabin," I nodded right at Connor and Travis Stoll, the two rowdiest, funniest, and biggest troublemakers in camp. I flashed them a wicked grin. They high-fived, looked at me and laughed, making faces at the other team's cabins. I chuckled to myself. I knew their pranks would come in handy, and hey; they weren't bad fighters either.
We picked cabins back and forth, until the teams were as follows: Zeus, Artemis, Dionysus, Apollo and Demeter vs. Poseidon, Athena, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes and Aphrodite. The teams were dead even, and I knew this would be fun yet extremely challenging.
"The teams have been picked! Now, all of you, go to bed, it's past your curfew," announced Chiron, who then walked back to the big house. The curfew was the new rule taking effect after the Second Titan War. It applied to all campers, except for cabin leaders, nymphs and satyrs.
I decided to take a walk down to the beach, where I could empty my mind of something that has troubled me as of late.
You see, I've had these really wierd dreams where I die in gruesome ways, and then am cast into an eternal, endless darkness, where I hear evil voices trying to turn me into a bringer of death. I shuddered at thought, hoping it wasn't true, and wouldn't happen. I was sure that it was just a dream. Or was it? Demigod dreams are usually omens are warnings of the near future.
I brushed it aside. The one thing that really creeped me out though, was this deep voice, filled with ancient power. It said it knew me, that it had watched me for decades, knowing one day I would join him.
I was taken out of these dreadful thoughts when I heard a familiar, warming voice behind me.
"Percy?" I turned to see that it was Annabeth. She had a worried look on her face. "What's bugging you, Seaweed Brain?" She could see the troubled look in my eyes.
"I've had these nightmares, babe," I responded. "I get enveloped by darkness, and lose everything I love, especially you." I smiled at her, and she smiled back, blushing slightly.
"Aww, that's so sweet Perce. Just forget about the dreams. I know it'll be okay." She smiled warmly at me. I returned it, but looked grimly out into the sea again. I spoke back to her.
"But what if it is true, Annabeth? What if I do lose you." My voice wavered at that last line. I loved Annabeth more than anything, and someday, I knew we would get married.
"Percy, we'll get through this. As long as we have each other, we can achieve anything," she said. She held my hand, and kissed me on the cheek. My hopes raised again, because that part was true. We had achieved so many great things together over the past 6 years, and we both knew it.
"I love you, Percy." She pressed her lips into mine, and I wrapped my arms around her, laying her down. After about a minute of kissing, I pulled out, put my forehead to hers, and said, "I love you too, Annabeth." We continued kissing on the beach for another ten minutes, and I knew during this moment what I would get her for our 3 year anniversary.
We walked hand in hand back to the cabins, where we departed, she going to the Athena and me to the Poseidon cabins. I pecked her on the lips, before turning to my cabin.
I let out a sigh of relief as I jumped onto my bed. I knew what I was going to surprise her with. I smiled at the thought, and closed my eyes with pleasure.
On August 18th, in three weeks, I was going to propose to Annabeth Chase.
