Hey everyone! I'm back with more PenJackson! And so we go.
Eelong
Beckendorf had just finished Silena's latest journal as the train pulled into the station at Black Water. The revelation that there was even more to the Travelers than met the eye was more than a bit disconcerting for the group.
"So, uh, anyone else notice that Silena's on journal #8 when she ought to be on #7?" asked Beckendorf, in an attempt to break the ice.
"You know something very similar happen to me one time. I know being a Traveler means we can understand any language, but I guess numbers just aren't our thing," said Gunny.
"Still though, I feel like I've heard about that Harry Potter guy and those Hunger Games somewhere before, I just can't think where," said Clarisse.
"Who's Harry Potter? What are Hunger Games?" asked Sau.
"They're uh…from a story I'm writing about a girl named Silena who…has to save the world, well a bunch of worlds, from an evil monster named Saint Dane. But it's all just pretend and in no way based on any sort of truth!" said Beckendorf, adding the last bit hastily.
"Cool! Will you read it to me sometime?"
"Well it's still a work in progress…"
"And we've got more important things to do at the moment, like finding Mosu," said Kasha.
The group made their way a sculpture-fountain in the center of Black Water; it seemed to be bronze and was rectangular in shape, each side with the face of a famous Gar on top and a depiction of an important event in Black Water's history, and the whole thing seemed to give off a strange energy.
"In the old days Gars were slaves to the Klees and treated like wild animals, but then a group of Gars escaped by murdering their masters and founded Black Water as a safe haven for Gars throughout Eelong; without the Klee's suppressing them the Gars made many technological advances, but perhaps their greatest had to be Link, or radio as you call them on the Earth terri…islands! The Earth Islands, that you guys come from," said Kasha, thinking on her feet to keep up the mascaraed.
"So where'd the turning point come in?" asked Clarisse.
"When the Klee food supply couldn't keep up with demand, fortunately the Gars in Black Water had found a way to produce more food without growing it in soil, but tensions were still strong between the species. When the Advent came, Saint Dane, in his guise of the Klee Timber, convince the Circle of Klee to commit genocide against Black Water using a poison brought from Cloral; fortunately Pendragon's acolytes went to Cloral to get Spader and the antidote, and ultimately we were able to save Black Water, and after seeing how intelligent Gars are, the Circle of Klee declared them equal citizens and started smoother relation between the two species. Of course there was that business with the flume…"
"Well, we know what happened after that, and here we are now," said Beckendorf. "
"So any clue where we should look for Mosu?" asked Clarisse.
"He walked with a limp, and he wears a cloak that completely covers his legs. He has curly brown hair, but he keeps it hidden under the hood of his cloak," chimed in Sau.
The group walked down the streets of Black Water and admired the jungle paradise set in the crater of an extinct volcano; suddenly Clarisse spotted a Gar matching the description that Sau had given, and before long she was in hot pursuit. For all its limp, the Gar certainly ran fast, but if Clarisse had learned on thing in Ares cabin it was to never given in. The two zigzagged their way thru the bustling crowds, and jumped over (or in Clarisse's case, charged thru) nearly a dozen fruit stands, but eventually the chase came to an end when the Gar blotted into one of the house and quickly bolted the door.
"Jackpot!" said Clarisse as she eyed an open window.
"You can't just go climbing in people windows and snatch them up! Didn't you listen to the bad intruder song!" Beckendorf chastised.
"This guy is clearly the one we're after, and clearly justifies breaking and entering. Am I right, or am I right?"
"Now we don't exactly know he's who we're looking for, now do we?" said Gunny.
"But we can't rule it out either, so…"
"Mosu says we can come in," interjected Sau.
"Huh?" asked everyone.
"I am terribly sorry for running away, I knew there was something odd about your scent, but I thought you might have been monsters as I wasn't expecting any half-blood. Do come in," said the old satyr, poking his head cautiously out of the door.
Mosu's house was relatively simple; just a bed, a table with a few chairs, a fireplace, and of course a few sets of panpipes. Clarisse and Beckendorf couldn't have cared less, as far as they were concerned having a satyr around made things just a little less crazy.
"Alright pal, so how did you get here?" asked Clarisse.
"I ran," said Mosu, with more than a hint of confusion.
"No I mean here, Eelong!"
"We're nature spirits; we form as part of the natural cycle of things."
"How'd you get here from Earth!" shouted Clarisse in frustration.
"Clarisse! You know we can't mention that around Sau!" said Beckendorf.
"Oh come off it Beckendorf! Like anyone's seriously going to believe a kid like him!"
"If one knows, then soon all the demigods we find on Eelong are going to have to know!"
"Violence is never the answer," said Boon in a sing-song voice.
"Not now Boon, the grown-ups are talking," said Beckendorf, not taking his gaze off Clarisse for a minute.
Clarisse pulled out one of her swords and placed that flat side on Beckendorf's head. "If your head were but a bit higher…"
"E…nough!" said Mosu before blowing a loud note on his panpipes. "I feared just like all the others that this day would come. Oh the gods liked to think otherwise, but we nature spirits saw the signs, and with that Silena girl being selected as the Traveler from Second Camp Half-Blood…"
"You know about Silena!" exclaimed Beckendorf and Clarisse in unison.
"Indeed, and judging by your strange clothing and general remarks, you two aren't just from Second Camp Half-Blood, but you're Silena's acolytes."
"But what does this mean? What are we supposed to do?" asked Beckendorf with growing frustration.
"I don't know, but…one, two, three, four, five, where's Sau?"
"I'm in here! I thought I saw something shiny!" called Sau from the bathroom.
"Remember what I said about not drinking from the toilet!" called Boon.
"I've got a lot of explaining and catching up to do with him, why don't you all enjoy yourselves in the city for the rest of the evening," suggested Mosu.
Beckendorf broke away from the group for a while to gather his thoughts, he gazed out at the rich jungle foliage that surrounded Black Water he thought about how the countryside forest the train had past would be the perfect place to put the camp Hera had commissioned them to build. As Beckendorf pondered this possibility he found a shady tree to sit under, and before long he heard someone sitting next to him.
"Beautiful place Eelong, I might be best with machines, but I often come here for inspiration or when I need to get away from it all."
Beckendorf recognized the voice instantly. "Dad? Is it really you?"
Sitting next to him was a somewhat cubby muscular man with a unkempt beard, he was wearing the attire of a blacksmith, looked a little lopsided, and his face was marked from long days in front of a furnace; he was Hephaestus, god of the forge and father of Beckendorf.
"Hello son," said Hephaestus with a warm smile (or at least, his best attempt at one).
"What are you doing here?" asked Beckendorf.
"I'm here to give you some advice. I know that Hera's sent you and your friends on a mission here on Eelong, that sort of thing doesn't stay secret on Olympus for long, believe me. So that thing you were thinking about, building a camp in the forest, that's a good start. Might want to do it somewhere with lots of fruit, so that you can sell it to help pay for the camp."
"So where are we supposed to get the building materials, it's not like that stuff grows on trees!"
"Have I taught you nothing boy! Wood is a perfectly viable building material!" Hephaestus chastised.
"Valid point, but we're also going to need a lot of marble, some celestial bronze as well, and what about putting it all together? If it's just me and my friends it'll take forever, and that's not even getting into what we'll be building!" exclaimed Beckendorf.
"So get the nature spirits to help you, and as for what to build? Just model off of Second Camp Half-Blood, and adjust it as needed, or go wild and do it how you think a camp should be built! I know you're feeling freaked out, and there is a lot of pressure on you guys because this is sort of the trial run for setting up camps on the other territories of Halla, but I know you can do it Chucky Choo-Choo!"
"Dad! You haven't called me that since I was like…seven!" said Beckendorf, feeling thankful he and Hephaestus were the only ones within earshot.
"You're still my kid no matter how old you get, and as such I have full confidence you'll get the job done, and I don't say that to just anyone so don't take it lightly. And remember, just ask and you'll get it," said Hephaestus, and with that he turned into a column of fire and disappeared.
Beckendorf rushed to find the rest of the group; he soon found them gathered around the bronze fountain-statue at the central square of Black Water.
"Guys! My dad, he was here!" exclaimed Beckendorf.
"What!" said everyone in unison.
"He said we're supposed to build that camp like Hera said, to go for the nature spirits for help and gathering the demigods of Eelong, the gods will provide us with the materials for building the camp, and…no pressure, but we this is kind of the trial case for building camps on the other territories, so it's not just the demigods of Eelong, but demigods throughout Halla we'll be vouching for."
"High pressure, just the way I like," said Clarisse, nodding in agreement.
"But this ain't no battle you can just fight your way out of, it's a mighty responsibility to train and mentor kids, take it from me," said Gunny.
"Aw, we can take it! Nothing's been thrown at us we couldn't tackle!"
Mosu agreed to do all he could to arrange for a meeting of the nature spirits in an agreed upon location, but the growing worries would have to wait for morning, as everyone collapsed in exhaustion shortly after dinner. As a demigod, Clarisse had seen some weird dreams, but the one see had that night was the strangest by far; in the dream she saw Percy walking deep into the woods at camp, but then something hit him on the head and the dream shifted. When the dream came back into focus again Clarisse was looking into a darkened room, and Percy was strapped into some gurney with a shadowy figure leaning over him and administering some kind of injection.
"Wh…what's going on?" groaned Percy.
"Don't worry Percy, it'll all make sense soon," said the figure, who seemed to be female.
"I…I think that's my name, but…I can't remember anything else!"
"Stay calm Percy, I'll tell you everything. For starters, my name is Nevva Winter…"
As much as Clarisse disliked Percy she had to admit that even he didn't deserve to be brainwashed by Nevva (and quite possibly Saint Dane himself), but just as she was about to rush in for help she woke up; Clarisse's body clearly hadn't gotten the memo about the vision being a dream, because he charge towards the first thing she was that moved and tackled it at top speed, and unfortunately, that first thing happened to be Mosu.
"Oh damn! Sorry, I…thought you were part of my dream," said Clarisse.
"It's understandable, you are under a great deal of stress," said Mosu as he gingerly got to his feet.
"Well there's that, and then there's the fact that Jackson's been captured and brainwashed by Nevva Winter!"
Clarisse explained everything she'd seen in her dream, much to everyone's growing concern.
"If only there were a way we could tell Silena," Beckendorf sighed.
"Maybe there is, remember who Elli's acolyte is?" said Boon.
"But she doesn't have one, she does it herself…oh, you think we could get it to her, and she could get it to Silena?"
"It's worth a shot, what's the worst that could happen?" said Kasha.
As soon as the note was finished Clarisse set her ring in the middle of the floor and everyone gathered around; the acolytes had noticed that their rings, in addition to the ten symbols of the territories, had recently developed a new set of symbols, perhaps in acknowledgement of the sub-territories.
"Elli Winter!" Clarisse called out.
The symbol for Quillan lit-up, and the ring expanded to receive the note; Clarisse dropped the note in the mini-flume and before long the ring shrank back to normal size.
"It's real! It's really, really, real!" said Sau with growing excitement.
"Indeed it is, but now we must acquire some Zenzens if we are to meet with the Council of Cloven Elders, Eelong Branch," said Mosu.
Zenzens, as it turned out, were similar to zebra, but with an extra leg joint; Clarisse and Beckendorf's experience at the camp make ridding the Zenzens through the jungles of Eelong that much easier, but at the same time it made them think of how much they both missed Silena and wished they could be with her. Mosu had given Clarisse special permission to bring her electric spear just in case any Tangs tried to attack the group, but so far all had been calm.
"I'm starving, are we there yet?" Clarisse grumbled.
"We're almost there, just a bit further," replied Mosu.
The sweet smell of freshly cooked meat tantalized Clarisse's nose, making her stomach growl even louder, and soon she saw it; hanging from a tree was what looked to be a roasted bird of some kind (probably one of the blue turkey looking things). Clarisse dismounted her Zenzen and charged towards the succulent bird.
"Stop! It's a trap!" called Kasha.
"No, that is clearly food, and I am clearly hungry!" said Clarisse.
"Yeah, a roasted bird that just happens to be hanging from a tree in the middle of the jungle, doesn't that strike you as just a tad suspicious?"
If Clarisse had heard Kasha, she made no sign of it as she pulled out a celestial bronze sword; everyone else dismounted and rushed over to her just as she sliced through the rope, which caused everyone to be pulled into a net that had been lying in wait for someone to activate it.
"Thinking with your stomach, choice move, real choice!" snarled Kasha.
"I was hungry! I wasn't thinking strait you flea-ridden…"
"What did you just call me!"
"Girls, we're never gonna get out of this is you don't cooperate," said Gunny.
"I think I can poke my arms through the openings, if we can somehow force the net down I might be able to grab it," said Mosu.
With some difficulty the group was able to arrange themselves in such a way that they were able to lower the net enough to where Mosu was just able to brush the tips of his fingers against the sword…only for the net to snap back to its original position.
"Gosh dang it! We were so close!" shouted Mosu in frustration.
"Who wants to see my new invention?" asked Sau.
"It can wait, right now we have to…" but before Beckendorf even had a chance to finish, the net ripped open and everyone spilled onto the jungle floor.
The group tried to get to their feet again, but they soon found themselves facing spear tips; at the other end of the spear were various kids, both Gar and Klee, that all seemed oddly familiar in some way…could it be?
"Are you guys Half-Bloods?" asked Beckendorf.
"Shut up your face!" said one of the Gar boys as he wacked Beckendorf with the blunt end of his spear.
"Demigods! Are you demigods?" demanded Clarisse.
The Gar boy tried to whack Clarisse, but she grabbed the spear and threw him against one of the trees; some of the kids with bows and arrows tried to shoot Clarisse down, but she charged through the barrage and slammed into the archers. Some of the more muscular kids came at Clarisse with swords, but by then she had recovered her spear and sword, and she was more than ready to take them down.
"Stop it! This fighting isn't solving anything!" shouted a female Gar who looked about in her twenties; she had auburn hair, forest-green eyes that matched her chiton, and pointy elf-like ears.
"Excuse me, but are you a dryad?" asked Beckendorf over the roar of the battle.
"Well sure I am, why?"
"I'm a Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, and the girl kicking everyone's asses is Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares. We're demigods, and we're here to meet the Council of Cloven Elders, Eelong Branch."
No sooner had Beckendorf finished explaining this than there was a chorus of panpipes that brought the battle to a screeching halt; everyone, still frozen mid-battle, turned to see the entire council standing before them.
"What in Pan's name is gone on here?" asked the satyr who seemed to be in charge.
"She started it!" said one of the Klee girls.
"So you're the one who set that trap! Why you little…"
"Both of you stop it! Clearly Ms. La Rue needs to control her temper better, but I'm very disappointed in you Nera. You've been getting out of control with these pranks lately!" scolded on of the other dryads.
Nera shrugged, "I'm a daughter of Hermes, it's in my blood, or whatever we've got."
"Those of you traveling with Mosu please follow us to the sacred grove so we can commence the meeting of the council," said the head satyr.
The sacred grove was very much like the one at Second Camp Half-Blood, but with more of a jungle theme to fit the jungle environment of Eelong; the council members took their seat on chairs that seemed to be made of intertwined tree branches, while everyone else sat on tree stumps.
"This meeting of the Council of Cloven Elders, Eelong Branch, will come to session, with the honorable Boreneos as head of council!"
"So, it would seem Mosu spoke the truth. Half-Bloods indeed, but you two aren't from Eelong are you?" said Boreneos.
"Second Camp Half-Blood actually, and we've been sent by the goddess Hera herself," said Beckendorf.
"So we heard. Tell us, so you truly intend on building a Camp Half-Blood for Eelong?"
"That's kind of what Hera told us to do, and Chuck's dad popped by to say as much," added Clarisse.
This lead to murmuring amongst the council. "As you may have seen, we satyrs and other nature spirits have long known of demigods on Eelong, but have lacked a safe place to bring them to. We have waited many a sleepless night for the gods to answer our prayers, and today it would seem they have answered us. With that in mind we of the council vote to support you in building and maintaining this new camp."
Clearly the other Half-Bloods had been eavesdropping, because there was a roar of applause after the council's verdict; Clarisse and Beckendorf were so overjoyed they hugged each other…and then quickly pulled away when they realized what they were doing and tried their best to pretend it had never happened.
"So uh, any plans for the where we'll be building that camp?" asked Clarisse, in an awkward attempt to make conversation.
"If the Earth territories are any guide, then it needs to be somewhere near a major population center like Leeandra of Black Water," said Beckendorf.
"Funny you should mention that, because I know a place that's just perfect," said Kasha, with a knowing smile.
So what did you think? Like Beckendorf said, camps are always near major centers of populations, so where do you guys think I ought to put Camp Half-Blood Eelong? Oh, and don't forget to review! =)