I sincerely apologize for not updating last week. ! I went on vacation (spring break, you know.)

Thanks for all the reviews! That was the most I'd ever had for one chapter, although it was for the ch.9 I deleted and the new one... well, seeing your replies, it is definitely Pertemis and not a tragedy.

Did you guys like my new prologue? It's still short, but a lot better than my other one.

I've got some ideas for a new story, but I need to add to and clear up the plots. Besides that, all I have to do is choose which one I want to write first. Actually, I think I'll choose two or three I like the best, and then let you guys choose.

Anyway, here's Chapter 10!

Word of my encounter with Clarisse spread immediately, and wherever I went, campers pointed at me and whispered, not even bothering to make sure I couldn't hear. The constant muttering of "demigod prodigy"s, "Beat Clarisse"s, and "He's so hot"s was incredibly annoying, and the latter completely freaked me out. I mean, seriously, I'm twelve! Physically, at least. Even the Venus girls back at Camp Jupiter- I felt a pang of longing- were't pedophiles.

The murmuring seemed to make Annabeth aggravated, too. She glared at everyone who was spreading rumors about me, and I was glad those menacing grey eyes weren't looking at me. Offhandedly, I wondered if there was a word for 'fear of gray eyes'. Probably not.

We went to some more places I haven't been to, at least physically. She showed me the metal shop (where a bunch of Hephaestus kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a statue of Pan), and the climbing wall, which I was a lot better at than the other two. Those years of training had definitely paid off.

Finally, we came back to the canoeing lake, where the trail went back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," said Annabeth rather distractedly. She still seemed to be pondering... about me, probably.

Gods. I'm starting to sound like a conceited brat...

"Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow you cabins to the mess hall." Annabeth continued, now in a neutral tone, like she hadn't decided whether she liked or hated me yet.

I decided to stay quiet, and out of nowhere she murmured, "You need to talk to the Oracle."

I stared at her, surprised. "What?"

"I'll ask Chiron about it..." and without sparing a single glance at me, she left, leaving me to wonder if she had been talking to me or herself.

I stared into the lake and suppressed my urge to go to the archery range- I could go there later, and besides, letting people see al my strengths in one day would probably shock them, and scare them off. If I hadn't already done that.

I tried to concentrate on my most urgent problems.

Saving Piper, and maybe help getting the master bolt and helm back.

Yep. So all I needed was to get a quest, and accomplish both. Never mind that the gods won't be at all thankful, except Aphrodite (who was the last person I wanted to pay attention to me, and meddle with my life.)

So, yeah, a quest. Annabeth was probably going to persuade Chiron to let me go on one, if what Kronos told me about quests and prophecies was true.

But why would she want to help... oh. I felt like a moron for not realizing. She wanted to go, too. Duh.

So three people on a quest. Me, her, and... Grover. He was probably my only friend here, and I hadn't seen him for a while. And the quest itself... I'd just have to wing it, as usual.

Back at cabin eleven, everyone was talking and horsing around. When I entered, however, some people threw anxious, maybe even scared looks at me. Maybe I shouldn't have made such a scene.

The campers I caught staring immediately went back to their own business.

Luke Castellan came over, smiling in a friendly way. If I wasn't so sure he was a traitor, I would've thought he'd be a nice guy. He seemed to be hiding his backstabbing, evil, bent on revenge side pretty well.

"Percy." He greeted me in a welcoming manner. "I never told you where you should stay. You can have that spot, right there." He pointed to an empty spot on the floor.

"Cool," I said in a rather aloof way. Getting all buddied up with a person I was ninety-nine percent sure was a traitor... not the best idea.

Luke pretended not to notice my tone, and continued blabbering. "Found you a sleeping bag. And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."

Better check for poison or some other form of sabotage.

"Thanks," I muttered in a not so thankful way. Shame he was a traitor. We could've been friends, if we weren't on opposite sides of a soon-to-be war. No, Percy, I reminded myself, he's going to be your enemy. And being former friends would just complicate things.

"No prob."

I went to the little bit of floor that was mine and sat down.

I was less than pleased that Luke had followed me to my spot, and sat down next to me. I wondered if this guy knew what 'not welcome' meant, or if he had marked me as a main opponent already and was trying to discover my weaknesses.

He leaned against the wall. "So, tough first day?"

I scowled at the floor. "That's none of your business."

"Don't worry, Percy," He said reassuringly. "The campers here, they're mostly good people."

Uh-huh. Look who's talking.

He continued, as if not noticing my accusing stare, "After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

Filthy, lying, deceiving hypocrite.

We sat in silence for a while, and then he suddenly said, "Come on, it's dinnertime."

A conch shell blew in the distance as soon as he said it. I wondered how I knew it was a conch shell. Probably something to do with my dad.

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"

The whole cabin, about twenty campers, filed into the commons yard. Because we lined up in the order of seniority, I was dead last. Campers came out of the other cabins too.

Except the three empty cabins at the end, one of which would later have one person in it, and cabin eight, which was emitting a silver glow as the sun went down. Maybe my bow and arrows were made of the same material. My weapons sometimes glowed, too, although that happened only on the nights of a full moon. She told me it was more dangerous on those nights, which proved to be an understatement. On the nights of a full moon, one well-aimed arrow could disintegrate a monster that usually took five to take down.

We went up the hill, to the mess hall pavilion. It looked as it usually did, full of satyrs, nymphs, and demigods, all blabbering loudly. Some tables, like the Hermes cabin's were way too crowded, and others, like the Poseidon cabin, were completely empty. Not that it would be for much longer, I thought. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it.

Everything was pretty much like Kronos showed me, although I noticed Dionysus wasn't there. Had Zeus released him from the probation? That seemed about as likely as Aphrodite being faithful to her husband. Right about then, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everyone fell silent.

He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everyone followed his example.

I stared gloomily at my empty glass, wishing I could get the quest over with, and have Piper back. It really sucked to know that I was the reason the person I loved the most (in a sibling way), excluding a certain goddess, was in danger because of me.

Luke misinterpreting my stare, explained, "Speak to it. Whatever you want- nonalcoholic, of course."

I pretended that was what I was thinking about, and muttered, "Cherry Coke."

Sparkling caramel liquid filled the glass.

Then I got an idea. "Silver Cherry Coke."

The soda turned into the precise shade of my favorite color, unmistakably silver.

I took a slightly cautious sip. Splendid.

I drank a toast to Piper. Strange how a girl I was only supposed to deliver to the Greek camp had suddenly become the second most important person in my life.

I reassured myself that there was no way I could not save her. But this time, the price of losing was so much higher than all my other adventures. Before, failure would only cost me my life. This time, Piper, Grover, and Annabeth's lives were also at stake. And any one, or mix of them could die.

No. I mentally swore on the River Styx that I would NOT let them die. Thunder boomed overhead, and many campers looked alarmed.

There. I just increased my chances of not making it by about four hundred percent. Kronos ought to be jumping with joy. The person he apparently risked a lot to bring back to life had just pretty much signed his own death contract.

Luke looked troubled, although by what, I wasn't quite sure. The worried look was quickly washed away, replaced by his usual friendly facade.

"Here you go, Percy." He said as he handed me a platter of smoked brisket.

I thanked him, although even I could hear that my voice was distant. Well, planning their death usually did that to a person.

I recovered and loaded my plate. I got up, holding my plate, and along with everyone else, went to the fire in the center of the pavilion.

"Come on," Luke said to me. I was faintly reminded of a nagging old grandmother.

As we got closer and could see the campers dropping in their offerings, Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

Already knew that. At first, I'd thought it was weird gods liked the smell of burning food, but Kronos had explained to me that it smells good.

When I made my silent offering to Poseidon, I caught a whiff of the smoke.

Whoa. What Kronos said was a total understatement. The scent was nothing like the smell of burning food. It was of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, of hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. It was almost the best thing I'd ever smelled.

Almost.

Not the best. No, she always occupied that space in my mind. She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen, the one I loved the most, the owner of the best scent in the world.

She smelled intoxicating. She had the aroma of fresh mountain breezes, the fragrance of the atmosphere just after a heavy rainfall, perfume of moonlight on the forest floor. She embodied the scent of innocence.

I shook my head, trying in vain to shake off the memory. That was totally perverted. Why in the name of the gods was I even remembering that?

When everyone had returned to their seats and finished their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.

"As you may have noticed, our camp director, Mr.D, is missing. He is currently attending a meeting up on Olympus." He had to pause and wait for the anxious murmuring to stop.

So they had noticed something was wrong.

Chiron continued, "The next capture the flag is on Friday, and cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of nasty cheering erupted from the Ares table.

"Also," Chiron continued, "We have a new camper today. Percy Jackson."

Apparently by now the whole camp knew about my incident with Clarisse, because when Chiron mentioned me, everyone stared at me with different expressions. Awe, fear, contemplation, lust, and an equal mix of hate and anger. The latter was, of course, from the Ares table, and the one before that... I shuddered. No one other than the Aphrodite girls.

Chiron called for us to go to the campfire, and the campers all cheered and went to the amphitheater.

Apollo's cabin led a sing-along, and we ate s'mores and joked around. And I felt that, maybe, just maybe, if Piper was here too, I could grow to like this place.

Later in the evening, when sparks from the fireplace were fading into the clear starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and everyone filed back into their cabins.

I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag and was dreaming- or having a nightmare- the second I closed my eyes.

Percy's favorite color is silver... hmm, I wonder why.

Sorry if the "smell of Artemis" thing was too much, I just wanted to try writing something more poetic. Maybe I should save that for my possible future one-shots...

I'm thinking of making Percy the guy who all the girls are chasing after, but none of them get him. A certain goddess of the moon will. :)

I tried to make things as different from the book as possible, but some parts are still similar... So, here:

Disclaimer: the parts that are in any way similar to scenes from any book is very likely not mine.

About 2,500 words. Not too bad. Hope you liked the chapter!