We Take A Toilet Out of Camp Half-Blood

Tyson was already packed when I entered Poseidon's cabin to get ready for the quest. My brother was jumping up and down with excitement. "Go see my friends!" At first, I figured that Annabeth, Grover, and I were mainly Tyson's friends

But then I remembered he spent most of his time in the Forges. He saw Cyclops just like him everyday and I bet they never had to get use to his one eye or child like talk. I bet they were never at first embarrassed by him like I had been.

I packed the least amount of things I could. The thing about a quest is you always want to travel light because you don't know how much time your going to spend walk or better yet, running. So, you had to be prepared.

I decided to take some extra clothes of course. And clean underwear without my mother even telling me to which showed I was growing up in a way. Riptide was always in my pocket as it would be.

I do wonder sometimes were Riptide would end up if I didn't have pockets but I don't ever want to find out. So, instead, I make sure to grab a jacket with pockets and all of my shorts have pockets too.

There was a knock at the door and I watched as Chiron appeared. "Hello Percy, I just wanted to make sure…have you practiced your Mist?" The Mist, incase you didn't know, is the view that humans see instead of the real thing. Hartford Circus Fire in the early twentieth century, that was actually caused by an out of control fire-breathing dragon. Statue of Liberty? Well, let's just say a few Cyclops and giants had helped out the humans to build that. They were lazy so it took a longer time then it was suppose to. Annabeth told me that last one, her being obsessed with architecture and all.

"Yes," I told him. All year I had to use the Mist to hide myself in public. Most half-bloods, gods, and demons can see through a Mist but if you bend it and use your own power into it, then almost no one can tell. "Helped me get away from a few monsters."

"Be careful now Percy, your birthday couldn't have come at a better time for Kronos. I'm afraid, if he discovers you out of the safety of Camp Half- Blood, he will do everything in his power to persuade you or kill you." Neither of those sounded like a good option.

I nodded my head though in understanding, "Sir, I've been told all of this before." Especially a lot of times by Annabeth while she tried to get me out of doing this quest.

"But you are a hero Percy, no matter what anyone else says. Your fault is in fact a noble one but if I were you, I would learn to control it. Kronos has no problem with hurting others to get to you." I had been warned that my fault was I would do anything to save the people I loved. That's why I chased after Annabeth on a quest that wasn't mine in order to save her. Why I went to Grover and tried to help him find the great god Pan. Why after being with Calypso for two weeks, I left in order to return to the ones who needed me.

"Time to go," Tyson announced. He stumbled past me with a bright blue backpack on his back. I finished packing by grabbing my flame resistant poncho (a present from Clarisse for helping Chis) and stuffing it on the top of the my bag when Chiron stopped me.

"You're going to the Forges, you'll need that." So, I grabbed the poncho and placed it on. There was a hood too so my face would be protected. Then, I shut my green, army styled backpack to step outside my cabin to find Grover, Annabeth, and an anxious Tyson waiting for me. Grover and Annabeth had on flame resistant ponchos as well.

"Are we using the lake?" I asked as Tyson led us the way.

"No," Annabeth whispered, "We couldn't. The lake is right on the border and if Luke is watching then he'll see us leave." Then, I got nervous and excited at the same time.

I was excited because Annabeth had said Luke's name and she didn't get sad or angry for mentioning him.

I was nervous because I wondered how we were getting to the forges.

Tyson led us to the boy's bathroom that no one used because they were made in the same fashion as the ancient greeks. The room was large enough to hold one Cyclops, Annabeth, Grover, Chiron and me and we weren't at all cramped. Along the walls were stone ledges and in those ledges were holes.

Those holes were the toilets. But the place smelled cleaned and then, I realized there were chains next to each hole. They actually had a pluming system. "We're taking toilets?" I asked, a little curious and disgusted at the same time.

"Yes!" Tyson shouted with excitement. I raised an eyebrow.

"It makes perfect sense," Annabeth stared at them in amazement. "No one uses them, expecting them to not have the plumbing system even though they did in Ancient Greek. And in this case, the pipes do in fact lead to the ocean. It's the perfect escape hatch."

Chiron nodded his head, "Exactly, we had asked Poseidon, in case Camp Half-Blood was in danger if we could use the Forges and parts of his castle for a safety. Besides Olympus, his kingdom is one of the safest in the world. Tyson has been using the lake entrance so Luke or whoever is watching knows he is either at Camp Half-Blood or at the Forges. They won't notice you gone and you can always use the systems to come back."

"So, we stand in the toilets?" I asked, hoping that no one forgot to flush, you know, in case they had an emergency and couldn't hold it. Shivers went up and down my spine. This was really gross and I understood why Tyson was the only excited one.

In fact Grover was about to protest, "Isn't there-" but Annabeth had smacked him on the head. As Grover rubbed his head and sent me a glare as if it was my fault she hit him. I shrugged, I couldn't tell Annabeth not to hit my friend.

"Yes," Chiron answered my question. "Be careful not to pull the chords at the same time. You might end up at the same entrance and cause a clog. There are four different pipe exits into the same room of the forge but you might come out the same one for all I know. The pipes change a few times. But you'll land at the Forge as long as you have Tyson with you. Cyclops are the only ones permitted through on a not emergency basis.

I saw Tyson smiled wide. Now I was really glad to have him for a brother. Not that I wasn't before. But now, it was like, the best and most convenient relative to have. We chose the four toilets in the back ledge. I stared at them, "Here goes nothing. Tyson start us off."

First Tyson pulled the chord.

Then Grover.

I followed him.

Finally, Annabeth.

I never expected traveling down a toilet to be so fun. Then again, I never expected to go down a toilet period. Except, for that one time when Clarisse tried to give me a swirly my first year back.

The pipes were actually large enough to fit a full grown Cyclops, which is the extremely large if you want my opinion. I wasn't getting wet either from the water because I have control over whether or not I want my clothes wet. I was just sliding down taking random curves. It would've been scary if the pipes hadn't been fitted with lights along the top. The entire structure was a bronze color which I'm sure Tyson was loving.

Then, I felt myself drop and I landed onto a hard floor. Fortunately, I hadn't been going to fast so it didn't hurt. It was the next second in time, that sort of hurt.

I heard a high pitched scream and I thought someone was hurt but then, it turned out to be laughter too. I was holding myself up to see Grover and Tyson both have dazed on the floor to finally connect that it was Annabeth. I expected her to come out the fourth pipe seeing as how it made the most sense. Tyson got the first pipe, Grover the second, me the third, but Chiron was right, the pipes liked to change.

Just as I realized where Annabeth was exciting, I had no time to react as she came right at me headfirst. My back hit the tiled floor as Annabeth lay on top of me. "Percy, are you okay?" She was dripping wet, her hair sticking to the sides of her face.

"Actually," I muttered, feeling her pressed up against me. Her heart was racing from the pipes but my was going crazy for a whole other reason. "I'm fine." I reached up and played with a strand of her golden hair. I saw a deep red blush creep up along her cheeks and neck.

She laughed and rolled off of me. I sat up and stared at her. I gave a wide grin and then remembered, we weren't here for fun. We were here for a quest. I realized now, that we were in a pretty small room and it wasn't even hot. "This isn't the forges is it?" I asked Tyson.

My brother shook his head, "No, Forges on other side of door. Come meet other family Percy." Tyson headed towards the door and my mouth dropped open. I had completely forgotten. Annabeth patted my shoulder and then reached down for my hand to tease me and reassure me at the same time.

I had forgotten that all Cyclops were children of Poseidon. I was off to meet my half-brothers.