Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 3: Darkness Rises
I awoke early the next morning refreshed and ready for the day ahead. Chiron gave the campers a day of rest after the incredible capture the flag battle yesterday. I didn't mind, that gave me some time with Percy and our friends.
"Good morning brother, what do you want to do today?" Percy asked.
"Well, I was thinking we need a little relaxation and some fun, of course." I said.
"What did you have in mind?" Percy said.
"How about a beach party?" I said.
Percy looked at me, smiled and said, "You read my mind."
"Well maybe a little, we are brothers after all." I said chuckling to myself.
Percy and I got cleaned up and headed down to the beach. I guess the word got out about the party. Well actually, Percy told Conner Stoll and the rest as they say was that. The whole camp was pretty much down at the beach, except for the Ares campers who were still sulking in their cabin. Ares was always a sore loser and I guess the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.
We setup chairs down at the beach and beach blankets for people to lounge around. The Stoll brothers setup a volleyball net and campers were playing beach volleyball. Other campers had barbeque pits setup and were grilling whatever they could find in the mess hall. Many campers were swimming and playing in the water. Annabeth was making a sand castle and of course it was architecturally superior to anyone else's. Even Artemis and the huntresses were participating. They played badminton, now you haven't seen anything until you have seen huntresses playing badminton. First of all no boys allowed and second of all they hit the badmitton so hard that I thought several times that they would either take off someones head or at least put out and eye or two. Malcolm was entertaining some Aphrodite girls, talking about capture the flag. Percy and I were surfing which is even more fun when you can control the waves. The only person who didn't seem to be having fun was Nico, he just sat under a tree looking at everyone. I think he was worried that he would get sun poisoning or that he would have fun, who knows for sure. Hades children can be as weird and morbid as they're father.
Percy and I sat on our surf boards and just looked at everyone having fun.
"Theseus this is great fun, everyone is so happy." Percy said.
"Except for the Ares campers and Nico!" I said trying not to laugh too hard.
"The Ares campers always were sore losers and Nico well I think he's just worried that a girl might try to talk to him." Percy said.
"You think so, I just thought that he was being weird like his dad." I said.
"Nico is a good kid!" Percy said trying to defend Nico.
"I know he is, but you have to admit he can be a little weird." I said.
"Well your right he can be strange." Percy said.
"I see you staring towards the shoreline, what are you thinking about?" I asked.
"Well, you see that sand castle that Annabeth just finished?" Percy asked with a wicked smile on his face.
"Yes, ah no! Don't even think about it." I warned.
"Think about what?" Percy deadpanned.
"You know you were thinking about surfing into her sand castle." I said accusingly.
"Well maybe, it would be funny." Percy said.
"No it wouldn't you would be in some serious trouble. I can see why she calls you seaweed brain. You've been hanging around the Stoll brothers too much." I said.
"Maybe your right, sometimes I just get a childish urge to be mischievous." Percy said.
"Are you sure your a son of Poseidon, you act like your dad is Hermes or something." I said with smirk on my face.
"Come on Theseus, that hurts, I just want to have fun while I'm young." Percy said.
"Well, first rule of being a good boyfriend, don't piss off your girlfriend, especially if she is a daughter of Athena. Thats all I have to say." I warned.
"Alright, but can we play a trick on someone else?" Percy asked.
"Well, lets see." I said as I looked around the shoreline for a suitable victim. I saw Annabeth and I knew to scratch her off my mental list. I saw Malcolm and he was talking to some girls so I would spare him. There was Nico sitting under a tree sulking. I just felt sorry for the kid so he would be spared for now. That left the two perfect targets, Connor and Travis Stoll. They were trying to impress several Aphrodite girls with they're volleyball serving skills. I motioned to Percy and he saw who the targets should be.
"Yes, they deserve all they can get. What are we going to do?" Percy asked.
"Well let's see." I said as I leaned over and whispered in Percy's ear telling him my plan.
"Thats great, they won't know what hit them." Percy said not even trying to hide his excitement.
Connor and Travis were in the middle of a one on one volleyball game with four Aphrodite girls watching them. Before we initiated our plan, I saw Thalia swimming by looking much better since the last time I saw her.
"Thalia, can you swim over here?" I asked.
Thalia swam over and held onto Percy's surf board. "What's up?" She asked.
"I have a plan to get the Stolls and we need your help." I said.
"Anything to get those two, the huntresses are still trying to get jello out of they're hair." Thalia said trying not to laugh.
"Good, here is the plan." I said as I whispered in her ear.
Thalia smiled devilishly and said, "Good plan, I'm in."
"Good, let's initiate plan Stoll Babies" I said with a big smile on my face.
Thalia swam back to shore while Percy and I stayed on our surf boards preparing our plan. The Stoll brothers continued to play they're one on one volleyball match. Suddenly an arrow flew between them and hit the volleyball, instead of popping the volleyball the arrow pushed the ball into the ocean. Conner ran to the ocean and just as he was about to jump in to get the ball a large hand reached out of the surf, a hand made a water. The hand grabbed Conner and pulled him into the ocean. The look on Travis's face was priceless, first he screamed in terror and then ran around in circles. He eventually ran off down the beach, but made a fatal error. He accidentally ran straight through Annabeth's sand castle. Annabeth's face turned a dark crimson color. She grabbed the nearest weapon she could find, a badmitton racquet. She started chasing Travis along the beach hitting him with the racquet until he took off toward the Hermes cabin. Suddenly, Conner was thrown forcibly out of the ocean straight onto the beach, but he had his own problem. When he was underwater he had lost his swim trunks and he was completely naked on the beach. He tried to cover himself as he ran around the beach. Then he made his own mistake, he ran straight into and fell on top of Nico.
"Man, what in Hades are you doing, your wet and naked!" Nico screamed.
Conner got up and tried to apologize but even from the water I could see the fire in Nico's eyes as he began to chase Conner around the beach shooting flames at him. Several flames hit Conner right in the butt and he ran for the Hermes cabin. Suffice to say Percy, Thalia and I were laughing hysterically. All of the campers on the beach were laughing as well. After it was all over my side hurt something fierce from all the laughing.
"Theseus, that was great, my side is killing me!" Percy said trying not to laugh anymore.
Percy and I swam back to shore and sat on the beach looking out at the ocean. Annabeth, Thalia and Nico came over to join us.
"That was so funny, we never have that kind of fun with the huntresses." Thalia said.
"That wasn't funny, did you see what Travis did to my sand castle?" Annabeth said not looking happy at all.
"I did, we're sorry wise girl, we didn't know he would do that." Percy said sincerely.
"I know." Annabeth said as she grabbed Percy's hand.
"Well a stupid sand castle is not as bad as having a naked and wet Stoll brother land on top of you." Nico said. We all started to laugh at him.
"You've got to admit that was funny, especially the way you shot the flames at his butt." Thalia said laughing.
At that Nico smiled and said, "It serves him right."
We continued to talk until I heard a rumbling noise from the sea and out in the distance I saw a darkness that was black as the night sky.
"What is that?" I said as I pointed to the horizon.
"Some kind of storm." Annabeth said.
"Its not like any storm I ever saw." Thalia said.
Then all of a sudden something or someone exploded out of the water and landed about thirty yards from where we sat. It was Triton, he looked like he had been run through a ringer as his clothes were torn in multiple places, he had cuts and bruises all over his body and his hair was singed around the edges. We all ran over to him to help.
"Triton whats going on, are you alright?" I asked.
"He's escaped … father is fighting him … can't stop him …. too powerful." He said trying to talk between large gulps of air.
"Who escaped?" Percy asked, but before Triton could answer he passed out on the beach. Percy and I carried Triton to the infirmary followed closely by Thalia, Annabeth and Nico. I asked Malcolm on the way to the infirmary to go inform Chiron. We all waited patiently in the waiting room of the infirmary, hoping that Triton would be alright.
Chiron walked in to the waiting room.
"Triton is doing fine, he's sleeping comfortably." Chiron said.
"Can we see him?" Percy asked.
I saw the look on Chiron's face and knew he needed to talk to us. Suddenly, Artemis ran into the room.
"I heard what happened, whats going on?" Artemis asked.
"I think Chiron was about to tell us." I said.
"Perceptive as ever my old friend. Yes, I know whats going on." Chiron said.
"It appears that Typhon has broken his chains and escaped the watery prison that Poseidon and the Cyclops had created for him." Chiron said.
"Is my dad alright?" Percy asked.
"Triton said that Poseidon was alright but that Typhon is too powerful and he needs help." Chiron said.
"That's why Triton came to us." Annabeth said.
"Yes, he couldn't reach Olympus. I have already iris messaged Lord Zeus and he and the other Olympians are preparing." Chiron said.
"Then I must leave as well. Thalia take care of the huntresses while I'm gone." Artemis said as she ran out the door. Thalia nodded in response to the order.
"What can we do?" Percy asked.
"Nothing, Typhon is way out of our league." I said, everyone including Chiron nodded in agreement.
"It is up to the Olympians now." Chiron said.
I hope you liked this chapter even though it was short, the next chapter "Light versus Dark" will be longer.