Chapter 10: We Capture a Flag
3rd Person P.O.V.
"We Capture a Flag," read Jason.
The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.
Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.
All of the demigods winced at that, hating reading English, and still wondering why the Gods and Goddesses had to make their brains hardwired for reading Greek.
After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.
"He can do much better than that now," said Annabeth.
"How do you get him to read? Use some naughty methods of persuasion Annie?" asked Connor which caused all of the Gods and guys to laugh, while Clarisse knocked Connor out cold.
Annabeth was blushing beet red and gave Clarisse a look that said, "Thankyou." Clarisse nodded in return, because she was glad to have a good reason to get the Stolls to shut up.
Athena throughout the entire time, had a look of anger on her face, because that comment went too far for her to restrain her facial expressions, but she was able to restrain herself from incinerating the child of Hermes, and the sea spawn.
The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,
Everyone who had seen Percy try to shoot with a bow and arrow winced, knowing that would go terribly.
but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.
Everyone laughed at that.
Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.
Almost everyone snickered, and Leo said, "It does sound sad when you put it that way."
And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.
"Damn right," muttered Ares under his breath, and he gave Clarisse a nod and a smile, to which Clarisse didn't know how to react to, because her father had never smiled at her before.
"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.
Both Ares and Clarisse nodded.
The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.
A lot of people smiled, and Nico said, "Wait until he gets to sword training, then they'll see what skills he has."
I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.
Both Gods nodded their heads agreeing, though Apollo wouldn't have minded if his son was Percy, for he did like him.
I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork
Hephaestus and Leo smiled.
or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants.
"The feeling is mutual Perry," said Dionysus which caused all of the demigods to roll their eyes at him.
Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. \
Hermes only half-smiled, because Luke sort of complimented him, but he and his children were definitely masters at some skills.
But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either.
"No one did," said Annabeth.
"I knew he was a punk and a wimp," said Clarisse which caused everyone to roll their eyes at her and Chris to give her hand a squeeze before letting it go, because he knew Clarisse didn't like to be affectionate in public.
Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon,
"Just like Travis," commented Connor, which caused everyone to laugh.
"Shut up, I don't smell Katie!" yelled Travis, though both he and Katie's faces were the color of strawberries.
This, however, only caused everyone to laugh a little louder, and Demeter to eye Travis carefully, and make a mental note to watch the Son of Hermes from now on, to decide if he was both a good influence on, and good enough for, her daughter.
Annabeth just smiled, happy that the embarrassing relationship talks were not about her and Percy for once.
even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad.
Poseidon and Annabeth both smiled a little sadly at that, and Poseidon really wanted his future self to claim Percy soon, because he didn't like that his son was feeling the way he was at the time.
Nothing came. Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile.
Poseidon smiled I did visit you once, when you were a baby my son.
I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...
"If she isn't dead, then yes, but you will have to go through me and my realm to get her back," said Hades, with a slight smile.
Poseidon glared at his brother, and Nico said, "I still don't get why you would take her, she is so nice?"
Hades' smile dropped, because if his son liked Mrs. Jackson, then he probably should avoid doing anything that would make his only son mad at him.
I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes.
Hermes winced at that.
So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?
All of the Gods and Goddesses who had children glared at Hera, knowing that even though Zeus made the law official, it was Hera who gave him the idea and pressured him into making it a law, because she couldn't have any demigod children, so she didn't care.
Hera ignored all of the glares and just sat up high on her thrown, while Zeus looked down at his shoes, thinking Why did I let her talk me into making that law? I can't even see my children because of a law I made!
Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.
Hermes smiled a little bit, knowing his son was a great swordsman.
We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay.
"Ego much?" joked Nico, while everyone who knew him smiled, even though they knew Percy had no ego at all.
At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.
"Very good," whispered Annabeth.
The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.
Annabeth smiled, knowing Riptide was made just for him.
The Stolls and Clarisse scowled, because Percy used his sword to threaten the Stolls out of pranking him or Annabeth, and Clarisse didn't like how whenever her and Percy fought in the Arena, Riptide always ended up at her throat.
Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.
We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.
"Or so he could show off," muttered Chris, while Clarisse gave his hand a light squeeze, which caused Aphrodite to smile at them.
"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
All of the demigods who knew Percy smiled, knowing that Percy now had that title, except he may be the best ever.
"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.
The camper snorted.
All of the demigods who know about what Luke would go on to do looked down, or had angry looks on their faces, knowing Luke would have rather killed Percy, and would never go easy on him.
Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!
Hermes smiled, proud of his son for both, his skill and the fact that he was training everyone else and trying to make everyone else better with a sword, even if he was showing off a little bit.
By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.
Poseidon and Annabeth smiled, knowing Percy was now going to show just how good he could become with a sword at the time, and how good he was in the present.
Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.
Thalia and Nico muttered, "Lucky…" under their breaths.
"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."
Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.
Annabeth, Thalia, and Poseidon frowned, while Hermes was smiling smugly, but was careful not to let Poseidon see, because he really didn't want to be drowned in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.
The Stolls grinned, finally remembering what had happened, and how Luke had lost to Percy on Percy's first day at camp.
A few of the other demigods show them questioning looks, but didn't say anything, figuring that the Stolls were just thinking about something else.
"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."
"It probably took Perce all of 10 seconds to learn how to master it," said Nico, and all of the demigods who knew Percy nodded their heads in agreement.
However, all of the Gods and Goddesses, Jason, Leo, and Piper had to "pick up their jaws off of the ground" because if it took him that long to master a technique that many swordsman can never do in their lifetime, then he would be one of, if not the most powerful demigod, or at least the swordsman, of all time.
After Poseidon recovered from his momentary shock, he smiled smugly at the rest of the Gods and Goddesses, because of how powerful his son was.
He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.
"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.
This is probably when Luke realized that Percy was both more powerful, and more of a threat to him, and that's why he had the hellhound… Annabeth trailed off in her own thoughts, because she remembered seeing Percy all torn up and even though at the time, she wasn't as scared, remembering what he looked like at the time, definitely crept its way into a few of her nightmares.
The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right.
I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?
All of the demigods and Poseidon smiled, while Hermes frowned, both because he knew he Luke was going to lose, and because his other sons seemed happy that Luke gotten beaten and probably embarrassed.
I tried the disarming maneuver.
My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.
Clang.
Luke's sword rattled against the stones.
Poseidon sent a smug smile towards Hermes, who just ignored it.
The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.
If only he would have killed him them, it would have saved a lot of trouble thought Clarisse.
The other campers were silent.
I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."
Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico smiled at that, while Jason raised an eyebrow thinking He may be a amazing fighter, but if he does things like apologizing when you win a fight, everyone at my Camp will tear him to pieces for showing such weakness.
For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.
"All of us were," said Travis, while Connor couldn't help but grinning, which made Hermes even more confused about why his sons seemed extremely happy that their brother got beat.
"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"
Poseidon's smile left his face, knowing that Percy's short burst of energy was gone and he would probably be beat very easily.
I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.
"Probably wanted to show that he was still the best swordsman, and he wasn't going to let a twelve-year-old outshine him," grumbled Connor under his breath.
This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.
Hermes sent a somewhat smug smile to Poseidon, who just rolled his eyes in response.
After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"
All of the demigods who knew Percy, except for Clarisse, snorted.
Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."
"A lot more than you," said Clarisse, while all of the demigods except Thalia and Annabeth nodded, because they missed Luke and even though they knew that Percy was better than him, they didn't want to say anything bad about Luke.
Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.
A couple of people frowned or winced at the mention of the wall, while Grover and Annabeth smiled.
Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.
Annabeth winced, thinking about some of the things that could have happened to Percy at the Roman camp.
We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.
Grover winced, remembering that it had not gone well at all. His reaction did not go unnoticed by Thalia and Annabeth, who in response, glared daggers at Dionysus, who just ignored them as best he could; because he knew he couldn't say anything with all of the other Olympians here.
His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.
"Fine," he said. "Just great."
"Apparently Percy's sarcasm is wearing off on you goat boy," joked Thalia, while Grover frowned at the nickname.
"So your career's still on track?"
He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"
"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.
All of the demigods who knew Percy, except for Connor and Travis, raised an eyebrow, shocked that Percy actually showed some tact and wasn't blunt with Grover in the situation.
"He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"
"Not yet," whispered Grover under his breath.
Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
Annabeth and Grover shared a glance and then smiled at each other, knowing that was exactly what happened.
My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
All of the demigods who knew Percy gave Grover strange looks, not believing that Grover could ever think that Percy would want him along.
Grover just blushed and said, "I didn't know him as well as we all do now, even though I knew him better than most people did at the time."
"Of course I'd want you along!"
Annabeth and Grover smiled.
Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."
I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.
Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, and Zeus smiled brightly at the mention of their cabins, and Poseidon really hoped he claimed him soon, so that Percy could live in their as soon as possible.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."
"It's more for my hunters than anything, but I probably wouldn't be happy if I was left out," said Artemis.
"At least she has a throne on Olympus, and a cabin," muttered Hades under his breath.
"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"
Both Hades and Nico frowned, thinking that it should have been, but Nico smiled afterwards, knowing that, thanks to Percy, his father would get a cabin.
Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.
"Just like you shouldn't!" said Hera while glaring at Zeus, who just ignored her.
That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
The three brothers, Thalia, Jason, and Nico smiled smugly at everyone else.
"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."
There smiles just grew even more.
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."
Zeus, Jason, and Poseidon smiled, while Hades, Nico, and Thalia, who was muttering, "I hate being in the sky," frowned.
"Uh-huh."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."
Both Nico and Hades, who was glaring at all of the Olympians, frowned. Nico then smiled, and quickly went in a shadow, willed the shadow to go to his father, who was looking at him questioningly, and whispered something in his father's ear, then went back to his place like nothing had happened. All of the Gods and Goddesses gave Hades questioning glances when he was smiling brightly, or as brightly as the Lord of the Dead could, for no apparent reason.
"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 ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."
Grover blushed, shrank down, and muttered, "Sorry," under Nico's glare, who was hit upside the head by Thalia, though not very hard, because she did understand where he was coming from, and how it would be a very touchy subject for him.
"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"
Everyone on Olympus, except Jason and Leo, sighed, knowing the reason for why they were empty.
Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably.
"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes.
Hera snorted, and then glared at Zeus, who just ignored her, saying, "Way to keep your word."
Hades nodded his head in agreement, but was also glaring at Poseidon, but was able to not say anything because he remembered that he had Nico her, so still had children.
Their children were just too powerful.
Jason, Nico, and Thalia smiled smugly at the other demigods, who just rolled their eyes at them.
They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed.
I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."
Grover nodded.
"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"
"Nope!" was the response from everyone on Olympus, except Zeus, Poseidon, Thalia, Hades, and Jason.
Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.
Zeus, who was being glared at by Hades and Hera, glared at Grover, who shrunk under the glare.
This caused Thalia to say, "Dad, stop it!" which did indeed cause the Lord of the Sky to move his glare from Grover, who smiled a thank you at Thalia, to a spot on the floor.
There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
Everyone except Hera, Hades, who was being glared at by Zeus, and Thalia, who just winced, was sadly at Thalia.
"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault."
Thalia frowned, both because she didn't like being called a "little girl," and because she never really got to do anything that a normal little girl got to do, because she was a demigod.
Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods.
Cue the children of the big three to smile smugly, while those who knew Percy thought Percy is definitely more powerful than any other half-bloods.
They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do.
"Yes there was," grumbled Zeus.
He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died,
Thalia, Zeus, Grover, and Annabeth winced at that.
Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
Jason, Leo, and Piper were staring at Thalia with wide eyes.
Zeus had a look of extreme sadness written on his face.
Thalia, Grover, and Annabeth were looking down with pained looks etched on their faces, remembering the events of that day, and the pain they felt afterwards.
"Well, at least I'm here now," said Thalia, in an attempt to break the silence that had begun.
I stared at the pine in the distance.
"He's checking you out Thals," whispered Nico, which caused said girl to put 1000 volts into him, which effectively shut him up.
The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.
"Good, he knows I'm more powerful than him," joked Thalia, which caused Annabeth to roll her eyes and say, "He probably thinks you are too, even though we both know you're not more powerful than him. Thalia just stuck her tongue out at Annabeth in response.
I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?
All of the playfulness left the atmosphere at the reminder of Mrs. Jackson's "temporary" fate.
"Grover," I said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"
Everyone, who didn't know about Percy's first quest, had shocked expressions on their faces, not believing that Percy was going to go to the Hades, literally, to get his mother back.
Poseidon had a worried look on his face, knowing that if Percy went to his brother, he had very little chance of coming out alive.
Hades simply raised an eyebrow at the book, wondering if his nephew was truly going to "visit" him.
"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."
"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"
"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"
"No," I lied.
"I knew he was lying," said Grover.
"I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"
"They usually are," said Grover.
Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea.
"He hadn't," said Grover.
"Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."
"Way to boost his ego goat-boy," complained Thalia, even though she, and everyone who knew Percy, knew that he had no ego at all.
"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."
"You are Seaweed Brain," whispered Annabeth under her breath.
Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"
"You mean "Goddess of Revenge," which means that his immortal parent would have to be his mother?" asked Athena rhetorically, while looking at Grover like he was an idiot.
Grover just blushed and said, "Sorry, I was under pressure and wasn't thinking about what I was saying."
I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.
At last, it was time for capture the flag.
Ares, Athena, and all of the demigods smiled at that.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.
Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.
Athena and Annabeth smiled.
From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
Ares and Clarisse smiled.
I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"
"Yeah."
"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," he said. "But often."
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"
He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."
"Whose side are we on?"
He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."
"He definitely did that," said Annabeth, while looking smugly at Clarisse, who just glared back at her.
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.
The said two brothers, cheered and high-fived.
Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.
Athena nodded at Annabeth in approval of, both, the methods she used to form alliances, and at who she formed them with.
Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.
The Gods and Goddesses whose cabins were mentioned smiled, along with their children.
From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.
Dionysus smiled, but did not notice when all of the future demigods, minus Piper, Leo, and Jason who were looking at the other demigods in confusion, winced.
Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.
Demeter and Katie smiled.
"They can be plenty aggressive, trust me," muttered Travis, but Katie heard him and smacked him upside the head.
Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.
Aphrodite smiled, but Piper just frowned because she liked Capture the Flag, but she was the only one of her siblings who actually played it, and she wished they would play more often, or at least the ones she liked would play more often.
Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.
Hephaestus and Leo smiled and Leo said, "Our automatons cause the biggest problems."
Leo's comment caused all of the demigods who to glare at him, having experienced them first-hand.
That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.
Ares and Clarisse smiled, while Chris whispered, "I don't think you're ugly," to Clarisse, which caused her to blush a little and squeeze Chris' hand a little harder.
Aphrodite smiled at the young couple, while Ares glared at Chris, thinking If he does one thing to her, I will run him over with my motorcycle.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?"
Everyone on Olympus just sighed.
Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."
Annabeth winced, remembering what happened with the hellhound because she put Percy on border control, and because she told Luke where Percy was supposed to be.
My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.
I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."
She kept marching.
"So you guys weren't the best of friends when you first met?" asked Rachel.
Annabeth blushed in response and looked down, ashamed that she was mean to him for absolutely no reason.
Rachel thought that Annabeth was thinking about how Percy was missing, so she just decided to let it go and just gave Annabeth a sympathetic look.
"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"
Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.
Everyone glanced at her curiously, which caused Annabeth to blush and say, "He was in the Hermes cabin at the time, so I couldn't be sure that he wasn't your son Lord Hermes." Everyone nodded accepting the answer.
"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you.
Clarisse smiled at the mention of "Tamer," while a couple demigods winced, having been on the receiving end of it, and had their bones rattled from his electricity.
Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"
"Border patrol, whatever that means."
"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."
She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.
"Oohh, ignored!" yelled Connor, which caused the Gods and boys to snicker and Clarisse to smack him upside the head.
"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."
Annabeth looked down, ashamed, yet again, because of how she treated Percy when they first met.
It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.
Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.
There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?
"No, just don't die," snorted Apollo, which caused Artemis to roll her eyes at him and smack him upside the head.
Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.
Apollo smiled at the mention of one of his children.
Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.
Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.
Everyone in the room tensed up, even the demigods who were there and knew what that growl came from.
I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.
Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.
On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.
Ares smiled, while Poseidon frowned.
"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.
Poseidon shot Clarisse a glare, to which she ignored.
Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better.
They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.
"He would never run. He may be a wimp, but he isn't a coward," said Clarisse, and everyone was unsure as to whether a compliment or not, so they chose not to comment.
I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.
Poseidon winced, while Ares' smile grew.
Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric. I fell back.
Clarisse glared at the book because My spear is NOT stupid!
Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.
They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.
Athena shook her head thinking They have the same problem as their father, they boast too much. It will be their downfall.
"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."
Annabeth frowned, thinking about how much she loved his hair, and how badly she wanted to run her hands through it when she kissed him.
Aphrodite gave Annabeth a puzzled look wondering Why is she emitting all of this sad love? I wonder if they broke up or something? I will have to find out what happened.
I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.
"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."
"You should be," said Rachel, a comment in which Clarisse chose not to respond to.
"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.
"It didn't," said Clarisse, while Chris just rolled his eyes at her.
"He shouldn't have told them where the flag was," scolded Athena, which made a couple of the Gods and Goddesses chuckle at her.
"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."
"You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.
Most of the occupants of Olympus couldn't help the small smile that was on their lips at Percy's comment.
Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-kebabbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.
Poseidon was wincing left and right, and was giving Clarisse and Ares glares. Clarisse because she was the one inflicting pain, along with her cabin mates, and Ares because of the huge smile that had formed on his face.
Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.
"No maiming," I managed to say.
"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."
"Who makes the punishments!" yelled Demeter. All of the demigods looked at Dionysus who was busy reading a wine magazine.
Hephaestus lit the magazine on fire, which caused Dionysus to drop the magazine, and growl at Hephaestus, until he say the glares that all of the other Olympians, minus Hera, were giving him.
"What!" yelled Dionysus.
"YOU need to make worse punishments for MAIMING, so that IT WON'T HAPPEN!" screeched Demeter.
"Fine," grumbled Dionysus.
All of the Gods and Goddesses eventually stopped glaring at the Wine God, and all of the demigods had smirks on their faces, because Mr. D finally got in trouble for what he was doing at Camp Half-Blood.
He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash.
Poseidon smiled smugly at Ares, who kept smiling, unaware that his children lost the second they pushed Percy into the creek.
They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.
Now Ares' smile fell and turned into a scowl, which caused Poseidon to smile smugly at him.
Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.
A couple people were laughing, while Ares and Clarisse were glaring at anyone who was laughing.
Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.
Ares and Clarisse glared murderously at both the book and everyone else on Olympus, because they were all laughing hysterically.
"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"
She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.
Another round of laughter ensued after that.
Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.
Hermes was smiling that his cabin captured the flag, and his beloved son Luke was the one to capture it.
Ares glared, eyes ablaze, at Hermes because Hermes' cabin captured his flag.
"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."
"Obviously," said Annabeth, which caused everyone to snicker, and Clarisse to glare at Annabeth.
They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. We'd won.
Athena smiled at her daughter, realizing that Annabeth had planned for that to happen.
I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."
I looked, but she wasn't there.
"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
Athena smiled at Annabeth, realizing that the Yankees cap was a birthday gift from herself, to her daughter.
I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."
"Hee… H-He figured it out?" said Thalia, bewildered that Percy had the brain capacity to do so.
Everyone who knew Percy chuckled, while Jason, Leo, and Piper were curious as to how the Hero of Olympus was apparently not the "brightest of the bunch."
Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."
"You should copyright that phrase," said Nico.
All of the other demigods nodded their heads in agreement.
"A plan to get me pulverized."
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."
Poseidon smiled smugly at Ares, who just grumbled something incoherent under his breath.
Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"
"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"
"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it."
Piper's, Leo's, and Jason's eyes widened, shocked at Percy's ability.
Their response caused everyone else to chuckle at them.
The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.
"I—I don't get it," I said.
"That's more like it," said Thalia, and relaxed her shoulders to show that she was relieved.
Annabeth was thinking hard.
"Like always," said Rachel.
I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."
"What—"
"Just do it."
"He always does whatever you tell him to," whispered Thalia to Annabeth, which caused both of them to smile brightly.
I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.
"Awwwww! You're his heroine!" squealed Aphrodite, which caused everyone to cover their ears in an attempt to not lose their hearing. Annabeth didn't even blush, because she was to busy covering her ears.
"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want ... I assumed it would be Zeus... ."
Zeus glared half-heartedly at Annabeth, because he was in too much pain to do a proper glare.
Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.
Everyone in the room tensed at that.
The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"
Annabeth drew her sword.
There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
It was looking straight at me.
Poseidon let out what sounded like a whimper.
Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"
She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, knowing that with the Hellhound gone, Percy would be safe.
By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.
Poseidon and Annabeth winced, picturing that happening, and then thinking of anything else, in order to get that image out of their minds.
Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."
A lot of the demigods glared at the book, picturing it being Luke, and hoping he could have died from their glares before he helped Kronos.
Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
"Good," said Connor under his breath.
Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. She said, "I was mad and wasn't thinking about what I was saying," in response.
"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.
We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.
"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."
"No way…" said Leo, who had the same look on his face as a kid in a candy store.
"I'm okay."
"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."
I was too tired to argue.
"Or just didn't want to argue with his true love," said Grover, only loud enough for the demigods to hear.
Annabeth glared daggers at him, which caused him to flinch and mutter, "Sorry." Annabeth smiled at him, happy that he learned not to say anything about Percy being her true love, even if it was true.
I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.
Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.
"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."
"He is so modest," said Hestia, and everyone on Olympus nodded their heads in agreement.
But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.
"He's being claimed," said Leo, which caused Piper to smack him upside the head and said, "Obviously, not shut up Repair Boy."
"Whatever Beauty Queen," was Leo's response.
"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."
By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
Poseidon and Annabeth smiled, knowing that Percy was happier knowing who his father was.
"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.
"We didn't," said Clarisse.
"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
"That's it. Who would like to read next?" asked Jason.
"I will," said Leo while Jason handed him the book.
"I Am Offered A Quest."
That's it! I am sooooo sorry about the extremely long update. This chapter was both a lot longer than the other ones and I really didn't fell like writing until today, in which I wrote over half of the chapter. I will try to update more often, and I'll try to have the book done by at least the end of March, and my timetable for each book is about 3 months, at least the first 5. Also, don't forget to let me know who you think should be brought in next. I have a pretty good idea, and I'll let you know that it is two people, and a pair that no one has done yet, but if you guys really want someone else, I will try to put them in. Don't forget to review and that stuff. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story so far!
Nicene Quotes