Chapter 3
Just wing it
I woke up, opening my eyes to a bright light and assumed it was the sun. How ever as my eyes adjusted I realized it was Apollo. He had his back turned and from my view current view it looked like he was talking to himself but I soon caught the voice of someone else speaking back, not being able to make out the other voice I shifted my position to where my right ear was in the direction of however Apollo was talking to. With this I could finally here what they were saying "..if Percy doesn't make it out of this alive...", recognizing the voice of my dad I strained my ears too pick up more but his voice was drowned out by a over head flight of some kind of birds, screeching and yacking their way across the sky. When they were finally to far away to be heard I brought my attention back to the conversation between my dad and Apollo which sounded like it turned into some sort of argument. With the raised voices I was able to pick up much more of the conversation "you do realize how important he is? I see many things and one thing I know for certain is that he, again, will hold the fate of the world in his hands by making a choice. You can't protect him from his fate so whether you like it or not he is going to the Roman camp and you can't stop me, I have both Zeus and Hera on my side" said Apollo, who sounding like he was also sticking out his tongue. At this I could hear my father finally give in with a sigh saying "Alright Apollo but if anything happens to him its on your head." Apollo, mocking terror, gasped and swiped his hands through the mist to end the apparent Iris-message. Turning around he saw me leaning back on my hands with eyebrows raised quizzically. He just shook his head knowing what I was going to ask, "No Percy, You'll find out soon enough." Gods Apollo could really be annoying with the fact that he know everythingI thought Actually its more like how he acts like he knows everything I amended jokingly. Not wanting to get into it with Apollo, I got up and asked what the plan was. Trying to look as innocent as possible he shrugged saying "what plan?" Face palm, this was going to be one annoying quest I thought.
"Alright, so you understand why you're?" asked Apollo. I nodded grimly, we went over what was going on down at the roman camp, how they behaved, why I'll need to watch my back, how this wolf goddess called Lupawon't be happy with my arrival, and why it was me. The only thing we were missing is an actual plan on getting a quest but we did have something worked out so far. I was to be placed in the woods where Apollo would ask Hades to summon some monster from the underworld to chase my to the Perimeter of the Roman Camp where they will hopefully help me out and then emit me into their camp. I will then gain an audience with Lupa to explain my heritage and the real reason why I would be there. After telling her hopefully she will be able to come up with some kind of subtle way to get me on the quest to rescue Hazel so my real lineage will be kept a secret and the Roman kids won't unreasonably try to rip me in half. Now I know what you must be thinking, wait I thought you didn't have a plan? Truth be told since I started to hang out with Annabeth my opinions have changed greatly changed since she is the daughter of the wisdom goddess, so thinking about what would Annabeth do I cam upon the conclusion that our so called plan was about as valuable as some notes written on a post-it-note to Annabeth.
Looking out towards our surroundings I studied the forest. The forest was filled with tall Red Wood trees that looked like they were hundreds if not thousands of years old, it was filled with many noises from the chirping of small birds in trees to the faint growls of the monsters stocked in the forest to give the Roman Demigods something to do if they ever got bored, and also one of the most noticeable characteristics of the forest was a wide and fast flowing creek which, to my best guess, ran straight to the camp. Looking up I finally noticed that Apollo was no longer there. Cursing I looked around to see if he ran off some where but all I found was I note on the ground.
Dear Percy,
I thought that you might want a Haiku to boost up your spirits..
Skimming quickly down the note to avoid the Haiku I noticed a PS at the bottom
P.S. I know since you were probably distracted by my wonderful Haiku I should remind you that Hades has gladly supplied me with some monsters to chase you into the Roman Camp, oh and to prove to Lupa that you are from me I gave you my blessing so now you might actually be able to shoot an arrow straight
Good luck, The totally awesome god Apollo
"yeah thanks for the warning Apollo" I mumbled as I could make out the faint sound of the growling and yipping pack of hellhounds from my good old pal Hades. Throwing the Note on the ground I set off along the river at a brisk pace allowing the hellhounds to catch up and herd me into the way of the camp. When they finally caught up I looked back and saw a pack of 10 hellhounds lopping across the forest, mouths open, ferociously growling as they finally spotted the prey directed to them from their master Hades. Picking up my pace I realized that if I didn't hurry up I was bound to come a party size Percy sub for the hungry hellhounds. Running across the vast forest I kept my senses heightened and ready as the Roman campers might attack me if they feel threatened. After a while though all I could make out was the steady pound of my feet on the leaf invested forest and my irregular breaths from mouth as I continued to run away from the blood thirsty helhounds. I became so oblivious that the next time I checked back to make sure I didn't outrun my pursuers a hellhound lunged at my face, jaw open ready to snap me in half but as this happened I instinctively raised my fist and punched the beast in the mouth causing him to tumble over and get stampeded by his companions. However this barely affected him and when I looked back at him I saw him get up and shake it off eager to rejoin the chase. About 5 minutes later I thought I had reached my destination but all I reach was solid wall of rock as I realized I was at the bottom of a sheer drop of a cliff. And of course Apollo you lead me to a dead end I thought as I looked around for a escape route. Finding none I turned to the pack of dogs that created a makeshift semi-circle around forcing me to back up to the cliff face. Knowing that there was no way out of this except for fighting I took out my pen, and uncapped it turning it into a 3 foot long sword called Riptide. Touching my wrist watch I caused a shield to come spinning out. After the battle at Manhattan, Tyson realized that I didn't have a shield since I lost mine when we were fighting Kampe at Alcatraz. Getting into a stance I observed the hungry look in the eyes of the hellhounds. I calmly stood before them until one got antsy and lunged at me. Ducking under the lounge I came up with my sword ready as I guessed that one would lunge right after its brethren did. Not aware of my ready sword point a hellhound leaped at me when I came up but couldn't move out of the way as I stabbed the sword into its thigh. The hellhound exploded into dust but I couldn't ponder that victory as the other hellhounds started to join the battle. My mind went into autopilot as I cut, stabbed, ducked and slashed until there were only 3 hellhounds left of the original ten. Even with them wounded they looked angry at the killing of their pack mates and wanted revenge so not caring what would happen all three of them jumped at me. Raising my sword towards the oncoming attack I waited for the weight of the hellhounds to hit my sword instead I got covered with yellow dust as an arrow sprouted out of each monster killing them instantly. Looking around for my potential friends I noticed something weird happening to the cliff face. Out of the rock came 5 teenagers dressed in Roman Armor. 4 were armed with bows and quivers on their backs with a sword on their hip and one was armed with a very long and nasty looking spear. Probably a child of Ares I mean MarsI thought as I could visibly see the resemblance to Clarisse. Having my eyes leave the teenagers in front of me I looked up at the cliff as I began to disappear. In its place I saw something amazing. The Roman Camp Half-blood.