Chapter 3: The Call

Percy POV

"What?" I exclaimed.

I was so surprised; I didn't get pissed off at Mr. D for getting my name wrong.

"It's strange," the girl said, "I can't remember a lot of things."

She was sitting up on the bed. She looked around the room with her silver-green eyes. She wore a black, worn-out jacket with ripped-off sleeves. Her dark gray pants were smeared with dirt and monster dust. She had multiple knives strapped to her legs, which looked dangerously lethal. Some were longer than others, and the metals were different colors.

"That hit on the head must have been harder then we thought it was," Chiron said.

"What hit?" she said confused.

"Oh, you guys don't know each other yet," Josie said, "Percy, this is Tria. Tria, this is Percy."

"Hello, Percy," she said, with absolutely no sign of recognition on her face.

"Uh…you don't remember me…Tria?" I asked confused.

"No," she said, "I don't think I've seen you before…"

"Um…"

Okay, this was the most awkward conversation I've probably ever had. Chiron interrupted the uncomfortable silence by saying, "In a moment, Percy will show you the camp. The one you saw on the video tape."

Oh, she saw the introduction tape of Camp Half-Blood. She nodded and Chiron gestured me to come over. I followed Chiron outside the building. He was in his wheelchair form, his horse half was covered.

"What do you mean, she doesn't remember anything?" I asked.

"She only remembers a two things," Chiron said, "One, she knows her name. Those knives strapped on her legs? She remembers how to use those, too. She doesn't remember anything else. She has no memory of getting here."

Now, I felt even guiltier of letting the telekines get her. It must suck not to remember anything!

"All we can do its hope that she'll regain her memory," Chiron continued, "But for now, show her around camp. We'll start her training tomorrow."

Even though the introduction video of Camp Half-Blood explained a lot of things, the veteran campers still had to show the new campers a few things that a video couldn't explain.

"Can't Mr. D fix her?" I suggested, "He's good with mind problems, right?"

"Insanity differs from a great range of mind defections. Memory loss is one of the faults that he can't cure."

"Oh, that sucks."

"Go now, Percy," Chiron said, "Dionysus has challenged me to another game of pinochle."

"Um, okay?"

After my conversation with Chiron, I led Tria outside. First, I showed her the volleyball court. Outside, Camp Half-Blood was crowded with demigods like a busy airport. I still couldn't get over the fact how many demigods really existed. I then showed her the strawberry fields. A few campers were strolling around and picking baskets of berries. Some satyrs played a pleasant tune on their reed pipes.

"Are those satyrs?" Tria asked, "I remember reading about them somewhere."

Yes! She remembers something!

"Yeah," I replied, "Their music helps with the growing of the strawberries."

"Okay."

Then, I showed her the thick forest where we played Capture the Flag and hunted monsters. After explaining how we played Capture the Flag, I led her to the cabins. Over a year of time, the rectangle of cabins was almost finished.

Iris' cabin was made of iridescent white marble that glistened with multihued light in the sun. Depending on the angle of sunlight and how you looked at the marble, the pale rainbow glow shimmered differently. In front of the cabin were several marble poles studded with differently shaded milky white and silvery gray tiles. A few tiles were mirrors, and they were put in such an angle, that no matter where the sun was, the mirrors reflected a maze of rainbow bands that crossed in front of the building. (an architectural piece invented by an Athena camper)

The original design of the Iris cabin was drawn by a few uncreative demigods. The original sketch was a square building with rainbow stripes. It also had a cardboard rainbow as the roof. Thankfully, some other campers managed to convince them to change the design. Iris must've been relieved that we changed the plan.

Hecate's cabin was made of several different glossy dark stones. Each stone had different symbols carved into it and every one had its own unique shade and hue of color. There were a few silver torches with bright golden flames. The golden door was intricately decorated and had a brass number 24 carved into it.

Nemesis' cabin was a simpler, more modest building, then most of the cabins. I was told that the simplicity of the cabin represented Nemesis' balance. The building was made of white stones. It had a brass number 13 above a slick obsidian door. The roof was slate gray. Hanging in front of the door was a golden Greek-style balance scale. There was an apple tree in front of the cabin which I used to think was pretty random, until someone explained that the apple branch was Nemesis' symbol. There were currently two Nemesis campers. Nemesis' daughter leaned against the apple tree, reading an Ancient Greek book. The girl had short black locks and looked exactly like her half-brother, Ethan Nakamura. I suddenly remembered the incident on Mount Olympus, when Ethan fell to his death…

"Are you okay?" Tria asked concerned.

I realized I was staring at the middle of nowhere, thinking of Ethan's death. "Uh, yeah, I'm alright."

I glanced at the silver plaque at the foot of the apple tree. It read Ethan's name and underneath the plaque, the ashes of his shroud was buried. After a short silence, Tria said, "The cabins are so pretty. Do they all represent something?"

"Someone, actually," I answered, "Each cabin represents a Greek deity. Whoever your immortal parent is, you live in their cabin. If you're undetermined, that means you don't know who your immortal parent is, then you stay in Hermes."

"Okay."

After another look at the cabins, I decided to bring Tria to visit Blackjack.

Once I lead Tria to the stables, I fed the ebony pegasus an apple.

Aw, no sugar cubes, boss?

I didn't bother to tell Blackjack not to tell me boss anymore, he either had a very short-term memory, or he just didn't listen to me.

"Nope," I told him, "Too many of those make you high."

Begh, they're still good..

"You're talking to the pegasus?" Tria asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Since Poseidon's my dad, I can talk to horses."

"Mm, Poseidon the sea god, creator of horses," Tria mused.

Boss, you met my friend, Flapjack, yet?

"You made friends with a pancake?" I exclaimed.

Tria stared at me like I was crazy.

Well, technically flapjacks are kinda like granola bars…

"They're also a synonym of thin pancakes, but no matter about the definition. Why did you make friends with a pancake…or a granola bar?"

Tria cocked her head, her expression saying, You guys are talking about a definition of a flapjack?

Flapjack is a horse, boss. He's a little pegasus I found on the streets. I named him Flapjack.

"Why the F…" I started, "Why did you name him Flapjack?"

I'll introduce you guys. You'll see why I named him Flapjack.

Tria wasn't listening to our conversation…or half of our conversation, anymore. It was probably too confusing for her. She was observing at a new camper's pegasus riding lesson.

Blackjack ducked his head into the stables and after a few minutes he popped back out.

Here he is, boss.

Blackjack trotted out, followed by a small pegasus. By the looks of it, the pegasus was probably a toddler.

You can't hear Flapjack's thoughts, yet. He's still in his learning stage. You see why his name is Flapjack, boss?

Surprising, I could. Flapjack was a pale buttermilk color. He was really skinny, probably from living on the streets. His mane and wings were a beautiful crystal white, kind of like the color of whipped cream. His large and innocent brown eyes looked like fudge…

"Who is this little one?" Tria said.

"Oh, its Blackjack's new friend, his name is Flapjack," I answered.

Tria walked cautiously over and stroked Flapjack. "Flapjack…it fits him."

Flapjack nuzzled against Tria and neighed softly. It was troubling not able to hear Flapjack's thoughts; it was like trying to talk to a statue. Surprisingly, Flapjack had taken a liking to Tria quickly. Pegasi were normally very cautious when it came to strangers.

Suddenly there was a brilliant white flare. I looked carefully where the huge flash of light came from. "Was that from the campfire?" I asked.

"I think so," Tria said.

"Let's go," I said quickly, "It might mean trouble."

Tria gave Flapjack one last pat before following my sprint to the campfire. When I got there, a huge throng of half-bloods were crowding around something. They were whispering about something.

"Excuse me, coming through," I muttered, pushing through the crowd. A few campers that didn't like me (ahem, Ares campers) elbowed me and 'accidently' pushed me.

An Ares camper shoved me into Clarisse, "Oh, I'm sorry. That was an accident."

"Watch where you're going, punk!" Clarisse threatened.

I quickly slipped behind a few campers before she could pulverize me. Tria was following behind me, letting me do the job of clearing the pathway. Suddenly, the group of campers came to a clearing.

I looked up to see what the campers were looking at. The fire was flickering with white fire and sparks-the same color as the bright light that had struck just then. Next to the fire was a teenager with silver hair.

"Hello, Percy. Are those all the campers, Chiron?" she asked.

He nodded in reply.

"Greeting, demigods," she said, "I have come to deliver the call."