AN 6/12/15: Hey there, thanks for the reply! I will have to check out that series, it sounds good: the Skullduggery one. Anyway, enjoy your week and since this is a shorter chapter I will post again tomorrow or Sunday.
Back at the cabin everyone was talking and horsing around while we waited for dinner. Nobody paid much attention to us as we found our spots. Percy was a few sleeping spots down from me so I sat and checked my bag to make sure nothing of value was taken. It all looked surprisingly good. I then caught a bit of Percy's conversation with Luke.
"I don't belong here, I don't even believe in gods." Percy was saying.
"Yeah, that's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier." Luke said in an uncharacteristically bitter voice. Percy said something I didn't catch over the chatter of the cabin, then Luke pulled out a switchblade. I tensed but then relaxed when he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal.
"Yeah. Hermes."
"The wing-footed messenger guy."
"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors." I scowled a bit, that was a bit harsh of him to say to a new kid.
"Have you ever met your dad?" Percy asked.
"Once." He said ominously. I saw Percy eyeing Luke's scar, then Luke looked up and put on a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of our own."
Percy seemed to absorb that information for a bit, then asked, "Clarisse, from the Ares cabin, was joking about us being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth.. twice, she said she thought we might be 'the one'. She said I should talk with the Oracle. What was that all about?"
"I hate prophecies." Luke said as he folded his knife. I immediately grew cautious. If there was some prophecy that I didn't know about that could involve Percy, I needed to know.
"What do you mean?"
His face twitched around his scar. "Let's just say I messed some things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. She has been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her that he already knew her fate. That she wasn't destined to go on a quest yet, he never told her the full thing though. She had to wait until.. somebody special came to the camp."
"Someone special?"
"Don't worry about it, kid. Annabeth always wants to think every new camper is the omen she's been waiting for. Come on, dinner time." Just as he said that, the dinner horn sounded and we filed out to the mess hall pavilion. I finally got a good look at camp as a whole.. There must have been about a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads in attendance. That made me suddenly realize that I had to be careful around some of the older satyrs and nymphs. They may look middle aged or young, but they would have been living during my first time at camp. They might recognize me. I caught Percy looking at Grover, who was sitting with Dionysus and a few other satyrs, and his sons at table twelve.
"To the gods!" Chiron said as he raised his glass.
"To the gods!"
I squeezed in next to Percy and watched as he filled his glass with Blue Cherry Coke. I decided to do the same, minus the blue. Nick and I would always get those when we could as a treat growing up. Of course back then they weren't made by the company, the vendors mixed them themselves with cherry syrup. It didn't taste as good as it did back then, but it was still a nice treat.
Luke passed us a platter of food and we loaded our plates. I stood with the rest of the cabin, made my offering, and sat back down. Percy sat back down after he was done and we are our meals. After we finished, Dionysus called everyone's attention and made his speech. He mentioned the current standings for Capture the Flag, which caused some cheering and taunts. He then introduced Percy as Peter Johnson, getting corrected. Then we left for the campfire. The camp campfire, I've missed these.
We all made s'mores and everyone sang the songs. It made me think of happier times, it was a nice change from recently. By the time bed came along I was really tired from all the fighting I did. I hadn't battled like that in ages. I fell asleep pretty quickly considering I was sleeping on the floor.
Over the next couple of days I got to enjoy life back at camp. Yeah, it wasn't my camp per se, all the people who I used to know had come and gone, but the activities still cheered me up a bit. I hadn't wanted to come back so soon, but what happens, happens. I noticed that a lot of the head counselors would watch Percy and I at our different activities to try to gauge who our godly parent was. I found I had a bit longer stamina than Percy distance running, from what I figured was all of that morning jogging around Yancy. He, of course, excelled at canoeing when I failed miserably at it. I made sure to always be in the same canoe as him for a safeguard just to be safe. We also soon found out to keep Percy far, far away from a bow.
I grew worried for Percy. I was worried about Sally too of course, but I needed to bide my time with her to figure out who had her. Percy was desperately grasping for any way to get her back. I talked with Chiron about her a few times but there weren't many possible solutions until something happened or the other person made themselves known. Percy would look up at the sky sometimes, as if waiting for a sign but huff slightly in frustration when nothing came. I knew the gods weren't always very good at claiming their children, but typically Poseidon was pretty good about it. There had to be some reason for him to not be claiming Percy.
I had to hide most of my soaring pride when Percy started sword fighting for real on Thursday. He had good reflexes and picked up on the transition from stick to sword pretty easily. At one point he had even noticed the similarities, he had said "Hey, Ally. This is kind of like our old stick games, huh?" I had to stop myself from grinning like a crazy person. That was the idea.
During his first lesson we had eventually broken up into groups focused around different parts of the arena. Luke had put me with another unclaimed kid, Ethan, while he took on Percy. I was a bit concerned about him being alone with Luke though, he had gotten a bit carried away in our first little sparring match, so I kept a close eye on the pair.
Ethan was a slim boy with glossy black hair and brown eyes, well, eye. Over Ethan's left eye was a black eye patch. I wasn't sure what happened to cause him to wear it, but I didn't ask. He seemed good with a sword despite his hindered sight. His style was more centered around defense and striking at inopportune times for his opponents. Luke had Ethan drilling me in different strikes and moves while he battered Percy. He was taking it a bit rough just as I had feared for his first lesson.
After a while of practice Luke called break and we gathered around to get water. Percy looked pretty tired so I suggested he take a good drink of water. I knew the water would refresh him, I had seen the Poseidon kids in the past use water as a kind of stimulant in battles to keep them going longer or help their fighting. He took my advice, even going as far as to dump the water over his head like Luke. Well that will get him going. Percy looked instantly better, not as slumped as before and he held the tip of his sword a little higher instead of letting it drag on the ground.
We then moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced that Percy would help him demonstrate a move and I heard a few whispers.
"Good luck with that," I heard one of the campers whisper faintly, "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
The way Luke had said it didn't leave much choice for Percy to back out. I nodded encouragingly at Percy and gestured for him to get into a fighting stance. Everyone was now gathered around the two, suppressing smiles. Luke was demonstrating a disarming technique that I had learned a while back and was one of my old favorites. It had provided to be very useful. It used the flat of your blade to hit and twist away your opponents weapon.
"This is difficult," Luke stressed after showing the move in slow motion. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work for years to master this. Now in real time, we will keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?" Percy nodded a bit reluctantly and Luke went at him.
Percy was managing to keep Luke's sword away from the base of his and I saw the change in his awareness after the water. He started countering and even took an experimental jab at Luke. Luke deflected it bit I saw a change in his face, not unlike the one I saw on him in our own fight. His eyes narrowed and he pressed Percy with more force. I saw Percy starting to slow down and silently willed him to try to make one last push. Then, like a miracle, he pulled it off. He caused Luke's sword to clatter to the ground and aimed his sword at his chest. Everyone went silent while I contained a loud cheer I so badly wanted to shout to his victory.
"Um, sorry." Percy said, a bit embarrassed as he lowered his weapon.
"Sorry? By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!" Luke said, his face breaking into a grin. Reluctantly Percy went at it again but I could tell his burst of energy was gone and he was easily disarmed.
Friday afternoon I accompanied Percy to sitting by the lake with Grover after an attempt at the climbing wall. I was severely out of practice and nearly got burnt to a crisp. I hadn't had any ways of keeping up with that type of skill in my time away from camp. I lay a little ways away from the two of them, off the pier and on the grass a decent distance away from the water but still close enough to hear them talk. I lay there, eyes closed, and just enjoyed the sun in my face. I wasn't too surprised to hear about Grover's dream of becoming a searcher - a lot of satyrs shared that dream. My ears perked up a bit at their conversation about quests but the sun was making me sleepy. I must have either zoned out or dozed off because I woke to Percy and Grove talking about the empty cabins and my father.
"When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
"Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, right?"
"Yeah, you know, after the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots."
"Zeus the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the Underworld?"
"Right."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Percy pointed out. I frowned a bit from my spot on the grass, that was still a bit of a sore topic for me and similar cases for the minor god's children.
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here.." I peaked my eye open to see Grover shudder. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." I scowled. It wouldn't be that bad, right? I know some of us can be a bit, scary, but not all of us are like that. Maybe if we actually had a cabin we wouldn't have to fend for ourselves and grow to hate. That hate was one of the big things that caused the war..
"But Zeus and Poseidon- they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" That question was one I was still trying to get out of Chiron. I saw Grover shift uncomfortably.
"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. Demigods chose sides, battles were fought."
After a short pause of what I assumed to be him thinking, he continued. "There is actually a story of a young daughter of Hades on our side, but she was killed before the war was through. She had apparently been hiding here but helped camp as an unclaimed kid. Something happened, I think, and an older camper went and killed her while they were on a mission together. I don't know the full story, but Chiron and some of the older satyrs who were alive at the time do. It was a bad war, lots of deaths, even the younger demigods were dragged into it against the attempts of everyone. Anyway, the winning side was Zeus and Poseidon. They made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
"Wow, harsh." Percy said and I had to stop myself from doing something that might give myself away as thunder boomed. Tears threatened to come when I heard the mention of me. I figured I would just get a funeral and that would be the end of it, but to know that it was actually a kind of noteworthy thing, that some people knew about me? Nick had promised he wouldn't let me be forgotten, but this? Then the thing about the oath though. This is what Chiron was hiding from me? Was that why Alecto was sent after Percy, because he was an illegal child? This was why Poseidon wasn't claiming him? It made me wonder if I was considered one too. Technically, I was born before the oath, but I was alive now. That complicated things.
"That is the most serious oath you can make. And the brothers, they kept their word?"
I saw the side of Grover's face that I could see from my position turn dark as he retold the story of Thalia. I was appalled to hear about what my father did, it wasn't Thalia's fault she was born a child of Zeus, she didn't deserve that kind of life - nobody did, well, except for a select few. Then I thought that maybe, my father had a thing for children of Zeus after what happened with Chester and I. That thought made me feel sick. Was it my fault she had that kind of life? No, my father probably wouldn't have held a grudge about something like that, I was just one of his different kids, but then again, you never know. Children of his are typically known to hold grudges, and the apple can't fall far from the tree.
I at least found out where that giant pine tree at the top of the hill had sprouted from. The conversation then turned to the Underworld, I tried to pay attention but there were just so many thoughts swirling around in my head. I wasn't too happy about the idea I could tell Percy was nursing, I would have to talk to him about that, or Chiron. As much as I wanted to rescue Sally, we didn't know where she was, and Percy didn't even know for sure that she was dead either. If he went on a trip to the Underworld for no reason... well I didn't want to think about that.
Grover went on to explain about satyrs at schools and then I almost laughed despite what I had been feeling with all the new information I had gathered. He said that Percy might be a son of Nemesis or something. Nemesis was a goddess, not a god. Sally was his mother.
As always, if you find any typos or things of that nature, please notify me.
Question of this week: What made you continue reading up to this point?