Chapter IV: In Which He Replaces
Thrown into the air so high that the sky darkened and falling.
Percy jolted awake, flailing his arms like he was actually falling. He couldn't recognize where he was and the feeling in his gut, like someone was twisting his insides into knots.
Perseus, calm down. You are not falling Lupa's voice broke through the panic.
Percy sat up, "Lupa? Where am I?" He felt stupid even as he said it. He remembered that he was at First Legion.
Lupa regarded Percy with her dark amber eyes. Percy squirmed under her gaze. You are in the Infirmaria. After what had happened.
"What had happened?" Percy held his head as all of the memories of the eel returning. "Oh. Now I remember."
Lupa seemed to grin at him. Yes, you managed to slay the Ram Eel. I believe simply getting out of the water was not good enough for you?
"I couldn't get out! The water wouldn't let me!" Percy swung his legs over the cot and regretted it. His head felt like it was an anvil.
True, I have enchanted it to do so. Unless you had not proved yourself strong, the eel would have killed you, or the fall if you had not landed in the water.
"The fall! Where is Riptide?" Percy got off the cot and bent over to avoid the nausea. He was glad that the Apollo healers had remembered to dress him. A figment of a thought was left in his head, something about waking up in his underwear. He had on a loose purple shirt and grey sweats with no shoes.
Lupa pointed to the table with a bowl of ambrosia and a glass of nectar. The pen that was Riptide looked worse than Percy had ever seen it.
Percy gently grabbed Riptide and uncapped it. There was a noticeable dent in the blade and it was badly scratched. "Aww curses! I knew it was a bad idea to throw it. I'm such a vlacas."
Lupa growled lowly. What did you say?
Percy tensed. Lupa's growl made the hairs stand on his neck. "Vlacas?"
Where did you hear that?
Percy's instincts told him to lie. "I...uh..." He wished he remembered something to help him with this.
Lupa's attention briefly left him. Her ears twitched and she turned away from Percy. I have to go. We will continue this later. With that, she bounded out of the tent.
Percy was momentarily relieved that something had distracted Lupa. Whatever he just said had made her angry and he didn't even know the meaning. "Note to self," He muttered. "Stay in the English language."
He looked at Riptide, "And before she comes back. I need to talk to Tim." He drank the glass of nectar and left the tent.
Without his shoes.
They need to clean up the grass here. Percy thought as he stepped over of what he thought was the leftover remains of a gold hawk.
Percy had almost passed the Vulcan area. He had forgotten that the tent was an illusion; instead, it leads to a tunnel underground.
"Tim?" Percy called down the tunnel, shuffling his feet. "Are you down there?"
"Well, not anymore! I'm coming up!" Tim's voice echoed back. His mop of brown dreads poked out of the tunnel.
Percy backed up, careful of the scraps of metal behind his feet. "Percy! You're alive and with skin!"
He raised an eyebrow, "With skin? I thought skin came mandatory."
"Shut up! I meant as in, you have skin left. From the rumours, I've heard. The amour was melted on your skin and the Apollo campers had almost decided to make you an automaton."
This was interesting. "And?"
"The oddest thing happened. The melted armour fell off you like a chocolate shell." Again, the chocolate reference. Tim absolutely loved chocolate, almost as much as metal.
Percy stored this information as Tim continued to ramble on about what had happened. "Hey, Tim. I was wondering if I could ask you something." He interrupted.
"What? Oh! Your gladius! It's done, come and see." Tim motioned for Percy to follow him into the tunnel.
Percy felt jittery as he climbed his way down carefully. He was still barefooted and the Vulcan campers weren't known for their cleanliness. "Tim? I was hoping you could help me with something."
"Sure! What do you need?" Tim helped Percy down and led him through the forages and furnaces to Tim's tent.
"Can you help me repair Riptide?" Percy looked around and felt a pang of guilt. All of the inventions he saw that Tim was making had reminded him of a sad, perhaps preventable, death.
"That awesome sword? What happened to it?" Percy uncapped Riptide and showed Tim.
His silence wasn't reassuring.
"Listen, Tim. I had an idea. You know about celestial bronze, right?"
"In a small amount. I had never seen it in such a high amount. I can perhaps save it into small daggers."
Percy hadn't felt so devastated in a while. "No! You can't do that to Riptide! I have a feeling that it can be repaired."
Percy remembered the first time he made a sword. He began to see the Imperial Gold as Celestial Bronze. "I have a feeling that Riptide isn't t done yet."
He told Tim his idea.
Afterward, Tim looked at Riptide. "Percy, I don't know. Hazel wouldn't like it."
"Just let me use the forge. I swear it won't take that long. If you make the box that is."
Tim nodded and left to do what Percy asked.
"I had never heard of a sword being repaired this way. " Tim commented as Percy settled the still hot Riptide into the Imperial Gold box.
"Neither have I. It just came to me."
"And if it doesn't work?"
Percy didn't try to think about that. "Trust me; I have a feeling it will."
"By the way, your gladius is ready." Percy looked at Riptide in the box and muttered something in that same language he spoke earlier with Lupa.
The box, intricately decorated with patterns that resembled the waves of the ocean, glowed faintly as it began to fill with sea and fresh water.
Tim watched with amazement. News that Neptune claimed Percy was actually true. He pondered in telling Percy, when the Apollo campers were healing Percy.
"So you are actually the Son of Neptune." Tim murmured.
Percy looked at him, startled. "What? Neptune? The God of the Oceans?"
"God of horses, sea, water, sea storms and earthquakes." Tim corrected.
"What did you mean about me being the son of Neptune?"
Tim brought out Percy's gladius as he explained what happened two days before. "It was like someone had injected straight blue green neon gas into you."
I think that would've killed me if that were actually real. Percy randomly thought as he absorbed this information.
"So does that mean I have that blue-green tent?"
Tim was still holding Percy's gladius. "Yeah, that's where you're staying at. The fauns have already moved your stuff there. You need to name your gladius."
Percy's gladius felt a bit off-balanced in his hand, it was nothing major. The Imperial gold shined flawlessly in the glow of the forge. Percy tried a few stabs and moves with it. He smiled, "You're pretty awesome, Tim. How do I name it?"
"Pick a name in Latin. Any name. Usually, the names have something to do with the godly parentage."
"Tempestas." Percy said the first word he thought of. It must've been his imagination but he could've sworn that Tempestas glowed a bit brighter.
Tim snapped his finger. "Oh! I almost forgot! I made you a Celestial bronze knife as well. I felt like you might need it. You don't have to name it." He brought out and Percy had a flash of a memory, some blonde girl and blonde guy. The blade was about eighteen or seventeen inches long. It was doubled edged like a sword and the tip was wickedly sharp, even looking at it, Percy felt the possible pain by being injured by it. The hilt was wrapped in smooth leather that was dyed a faint sea green. There were small orbs that fit in so well into the hilt. Percy didn't even feel them.
Percy wanted to name the knife but he didn't know any name yet. "Tim, you didn't have too. I love it though."
Tim smiled brightly then looked up. "I think you should be going. Hazel is going to come back soon and she wouldn't be very happy to find you here."
"How am I going to leave? Isn't there only one exit?"
"That is the main exit. There are many minor exits. From exploring, we've figured out that there are tunnels leading to the Caput tabernaculum of each god centuria. I'll show you the one that leads to Neptune's Caput tabernaculum."
Percy sheathed Tempestas and the knife. He picked up the box that contained Riptide and closed the lid, keeping the combination of sea and fresh water in.
He followed Tim to a hole that was about the size of a manhole. Looking at the tunnel, Percy felt a small spark of panic.
"Just follow the tunnel up, it might be five minutes total if you move fast." Tim added as he glanced at Percy.
Percy nodded slowly and climbed up into it. He absently wondered how dirty his feet were.
If it weren't for the glow of Riptide's box, Percy would've had a complete panic attack. The tunnel was tall enough that he could bend over easily. It was as dark as it could be, possibly dozen of feet underground. He heard strange noises as he climbed up but Percy made himself think that it was simply the Vulcan area.
After 100 Mississippi (give or take a dozen or so), Percy had arrived at the end of the tunnel. He saw a handle and opened the door.
The air smelled so fresh that Percy had thought that Tim had tricked him and sent him to the beach. Percy climbed out of the hole and found himself inside the blue-green tent he saw when he had first arrived.
The glow of the tent made Percy feel like it was underwater. The tent was spacious, even more so than the other Caput tabernaculums he had seen. On the left side, there was a small pool of water that occasionally let out a spurt of steam. Like the others, there was a small area of shelves with books in relation to the patron god.
The floor was made of stone from the sea floor. From Percy's angle, he could see petrified shells and fossils. Some of the floor wasn't exactly even but it wouldn't cause any balance problems.
Percy looked around and saw that his stuff had been indeed moved in here. They were on a cot that was in the farthest right corner.
Percy felt more comfortable here than perhaps anywhere at this camp. He set Riptide on an empty shelf and changed his clothes.
"Percy?" He looked toward the front of the tent to see Reyna hovering at the entrance. Something appeared to be stopping her.
Why is she here? I haven't seen her since the first day. "Yeah?" Percy noticed at her hair was down this time and that she wasn't wearing any armour.
"Can I come in?" She sounded slightly nervous.
"Uhm, sure. You need something?" Percy wasn't exactly comfortable with Reyna. Those grey eyes made him feel like he was a science experiment.
Reyna came in and she looked around the tent. "Lupa told me that you would be on border patrols for the afternoon."
"What? What did I do?"
"You killed a guardian of the camp." She stated it as if it was obvious.
"But it was trying to kill me!" Percy felt frustrated again; can't he ever get a break at this camp?
"Not all triumphs are rewarded." Reyna replied. "You have fifteen minutes before the next watch starts." She left before Percy could reply.
The tent seemed to respond to Percy's emotions. The walls of the tent started to turn a storm grey and the water turned cloudy as the sand churned in it.
Percy grabbed Tempestas and the knife. He decided to leave before his emotions got him into trouble again. And he didn't want to destroy or ruin the tent.
He glanced at Riptide before leaving the tent for the stables.
The horses and Pegasi were happy to see him. Especially Bourlota.
My lord, you look down. What's wrong? Bourlota asked as Percy sat down on an up-turned bucket.
"I wish you guys wouldn't call me lord. Percy is just fine."
The Pinto that Percy had met, Daisy, shook her head. We possibly couldn't! It would go against our nature.
Bourlota nudged Percy, What is wrong?
"I've been sent to border patrol." Percy muttered. "I feel like I'm contained and isolated. And I want my memories back."
Bourlota tilted her head. Feeling contained is a flaw of the ocean, my lord. You of all people should know that.
"Yeah, I guess so. It's just so hard to control my emotions. Everyone is so mean here." The last sentence made him feel childish.
You should blame the Romans for that. They are more militaristic than the Greeks are. They aren't known for their toleration of weakness.
"What about the Greeks?"
Comparing, they were softies.
Percy couldn't help but smile at that. His mood was already more calm than before. Even though it was against rules, he fed the horses and Pegasi sugar cubes and apples.
"You guys always make me feel better." Percy commented as he quickly changed the hay before he had to leave.
It's our pleasure to serve you, lord. Bourlota nickered. Will we see you later?
"Perhaps. I have border patrol and you guys might know how long that lasts."
He said goodbye to them and jogged to one of the watchtowers.
"Percy! You're here early." Reyna commented, her eyes wary. Percy wasn't known for his ability to be on time.
Percy didn't reply, he gave her a dry look before asking, "Am I in your Contubernium? "
Reyna nodded. "Yes, we'll be doing the outermost patrol, near where we found you."
"Fabulous." Percy grumbled, slipping on the lightweight Roman armour. Border patrol involved exploring and occasionally, you would find a couple of monsters. A rumour around the camp says that there was a hydra in the forest somewhere.
Soon, perhaps after fifteen minutes of running, they found hydra tracks. They had to avoid the puddles of the bright green acid and fallen trees.
"Percy, you and Todd stay here in case it comes around." Reyna ordered. Todd wasn't on Percy's list of people to stay with alone. Todd had black hair like Percy but a part of it was dyed white. He had dark blue eyes and a black sword. He was a few inches shorter than Percy and the same age as him.
When Reyna was out of sight, Todd sat down and closed his eyes. "So, you're the son of Neptune?"
Percy started to nod before he remembered that Todd has his eyes closed, "Yeah. I am."
"So we finally have all three." Todd murmured.
"What are you talking about?" All three? Of what? Somehow, he knew that three was a sacred number.
"The three eldest gods. Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto."
"So you're what? Son of Jupiter?"
Todd snorted. "Hell no. My father is Pluto. Jason is Jupiter's son."
"Who's Jason?" Percy felt like he was missing something important.
"The top praetor of the camp. He was such a goody-goody."
"What happened to him?"
Todd opened one eye and looked at Percy. "Dunno. He just disappeared a few days before Reyna found you."
"Oh." Percy didn't know what to say, or what to feel. He hoped he had nothing to do with this Jason's disappearance.
Percy looked up and saw a black object in the sky. He glanced back at Todd and figured he wouldn't be missed.
He figured out that it was a Pegasus when it started to fly in circles and land. The Pegasus was as black as Bourlota was white. Percy wondered how it could stand the heat when a girl got off the Pegasus.
"Blackjack, why are we here?" The girl asked. Her voice brought a feeling Percy couldn't name. Unease? Love? Embarrassment?
Blackjack shook his mane and that was an apparent sign for the girl to start looking. Man, I miss the boss. Wish he'd told me where he booked off to. Maybe I could've gone with him.
Percy wondered why Blackjack couldn't see him; he was almost out in the open.
Most of Percy's attention was on the girl, so he didn't expect to hear Todd wolf whistle lowly. "Whoa. Chick's pretty hot."
Percy felt jealousy and anger. He felt protective of the girl. He simply nodded in agreement.
"Makes me wonder where she's from. She has a Pegasus and I'm pretty sure they don't like mortals."
"They don't." Percy stated. The girl was familiar. "Should we get Reyna?"
Todd shook his head, "Nah, the magical border keeps anything unwanted out. They can't see or hear us, even if we have a full on battle on this side. It'll just be silent on the other side."
The girl looked in their direction and Percy felt a jolt in his lower back. Her eyes brought back a flash. Being underwater and seeing those eyes bright and happy.
"I hear Reyna coming back. Let's go." Todd said, turning away. "Let's keep this a secret. Lupa wouldn't be happy to hear about this. Kay?"
Percy nodded, if telling Lupa was going to hurt this girl, he would keep his mouth shut for as long as needed.
Percy and Todd backed up and returned to their post. Turns out that Reyna was in fact coming back. They barely had time to sit down when she returned. The hydra escaped.
"So, how was just sitting and waiting?" She rhetorically asked. "Anything happened?"
Todd answered before Percy could open his mouth. "Nothing happened."
Reyna looked at Percy for confirmation. He simply nodded.
His mind was racing with questions. Who was the girl? Why did she have a Pegasus?
But most importantly, why did he feel like he knew her?
Now, Now I bet you guys are thinking But Annabeth didn't even suspect that Percy was in California until the end of The Lost Hero!
I would like to point out that the book didn't even mention where Annabeth was searching, for all we know. She could have been searching California. It's a fanfic and i thought it would be more interesting if that happened. Dont like it? Tell me in a review but no flames.
Plus, some Latin words are perhaps inaccurate (I used Google Translate) if there are any words that seemed confusing, tell me and i will try to fix it.
Merry Christmas! (Reviews make lovely presents for my email inbox)
