A/N: OK. You know the routine…. First comes the THANK You's!
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Yay: I know it's a bit irritating what with the people who are supposedly wise to act and comment rather unwisely. However, believe it or not, it serves a purpose which will be revealed in the story in the further chapters. Possibly near the end.
Oh yeah, if you see things like this [1], it's something I clarified or explained in the note at the bottom of the page. That's all. Now, on with the chapter ^_^
Silena turned the page then she took a breath before starting.
"I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom" Immediately snickers filled the room, the loudest coming from the future demigods.
"I don't think becoming lord of the bathroom is something to brag about." Thalia said through her laughter. Apollo looked like he was in deep thought. This wasn't left unnoticed by Artemis.
"Tell me, brother, what's on your mind?" She asked nicely, startling Apollo for once. Apollo grinned but sweat dropped on the inside. She's not going to like this then...
"Well, I was just wondering if Percy here has experience with plumbing." This sent everyone into a fit of laughter. Poseidon and Percy gave the sun god weird looks though.
"Actually, as a matter of fact, Apollo, I do." This stopped the laughter momentarily. "What?" Apollo asked, jaw dropping. Percy shrugged.
"I don't think it counts as plumbing though... no wait, it does. You see, me and mom were celebrating my step-dad's promotion thingy. His name's Paul, by the way. So anyway, Paul got promoted and we celebrated with our own version of a buffet." Percy got interrupted by Thalia and Nico.
"When was this? And why weren't we invited?" They demanded. Percy sighed. "You were with the hunt, Thals and Nico was taking care of Cerberus if I remember correctly. Now, as I was saying, we had dinner. Then as we were cleaning the dishes, which was a lot, something got stuck in one of the pipes. Paul tried to fix it but couldn't as something was stuck. Then I got a brilliant idea of trying to use my powers as a child of Poseidon. I didn't think it would work but the next I knew, bits and pieces of pasta and meatballs as well as an old silver ring came flying out of the sink and into the floor."
By the end of Percy's mini-story, a lot were having trouble breathing. Others were coughing while some like Beckendorf and Hephaestus were thinking about the silver ring.
"What did your mother do with the silver ring?" Demeter asked. Percy shrugged. "How should I know? I think she either sold it to the jewelry shop, burned it since it was a bit rusty or kept it. I don't remember." Hermes and Apollo made popcorn appear and ate some, waiting for another sub-story from Percy. They didn't get one of course but still kept the popcorn.
"Let's carry on with the story shall we?" Athena asked. Everyone nodded and Silena started reading.
Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour,
"Lucky! You got Chiron to give you the tour. I got a really old satyr who apparently had memory loss." Katie said. "We got lost in the woods until a dryad helped us out." Grins were being exchanged after this. Travis slung his arm across Katie's shoulder.
"It's ok, Katie-cat. At least you got out right?" Katie narrowed her eyes at Travis before shrugging his arm off.
"Good thing too or else who knows what camp would be like if I didn't keep you and Connor in a leash." Travis and Connor let out nervous laughs and slowly leaned away from Katie. This caused Demeter to smirk ever so slightly.
though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times,
"Why were you doing pooper-scooper patrol?" Mini-Annabeth blurted out. Percy frowned.
"I think it was because I kicked a soccer ball into the principal's office. In my defense though, the ball went through the open window which was the principal's fault for leaving it open. I don't really remember the details."
The two Hermes kids in the room high-fived each other while the girls shook their heads at Percy. The hero of Olympus seemed unfazed though. After all, the past was the past. Then again, they were in the past, reading about the past and living in it.
and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.
This caused more snickering especially from the demigods, Dionysus and Hermes.
"I am so telling Chiron this when we get back, seaweed brain." Percy looked horrified but Silena didn't give him a chance to respond as she started reading again.
We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."
"Quite popular, eh, Percy?" Poseidon said an amused smirk on his face. Percy fidgeted, not liking the attention being given by everyone. "Err... no?"
"Oh please." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Almost everyone knew what you did even before you woke up, Percy." Dionysus snorted.
"Secrets. One of the things that don't exist in that blasted camp. News spreads like wild fire."
Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters.
Some of the females turned somewhat green while the rest just looked disturbed.
I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable.
Silena opened her mouth to read the next line but out of her peripheral vision, she saw Percy fidgeting in his seat.
"Is something the matter Percy?" she asked. All the demigods and some gods looked at Percy who shook his head without looking at Silena. Everyone followed his line of sight and saw he was having a staring contest (sort of) with Athena. Everyone sweat dropped but shut up, not wanting to feel the goddess's wrath.
"D-did you need something from me, Lady Athena?" Percy asked rather hesitantly, still not breaking eye contact.
"No, I did not, Perseus." Athena said curtly. Percy became even more uncomfortable as Athena stared him down.
"If you didn't need anything, stop staring at me, lady!" Percy shouted in his mind mentally. Suddenly the all deities except Athena started snickering or were trying to force down the snickers. Athena's eye just twitched. Percy paled as he realized all the gods in the room just heard what he said through their telepathic power thingy [1]. With some effort, he broke eye contact and looked stiffly at Silena.
"Please read."
I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.
"Knowing those brats, they probably were." Dionysus grumbled into his coke. Many were surprised he was listening.
"Hey Percy?"
"Yeah, Nico?"
"Can you do a flip? Like, right now?"This earned Nico a sigh and a weird look.
"Why would I do that?" Percy said, an incredulous look on his face. Nico put on his innocent face. "Because you love me?" He just got a blank look and a hit to the head, care of Thalia.
"OW!" Nico yelled. He rubbed the spot Thalia hit. "That was for being stupid." Nico rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at the huntress who did the same. Percy and Annabeth sighed and simultaneously looked at Silena who got the message.
I looked back at the farmhouse.
Nico, Connor and Travis all gasped suddenly. Percy groaned.
"What is it this time?"
"Since when was the Big House a farmhouse?" Connor asked. All the demigods, minus the three who asked, face palmed while the rest shook their heads. Silena decided to do the rational thing and read.
It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top
"Was it hot?" Apollo asked, smirking at Percy. Many of the female deities looked at him in disgust while the males snickered. It took the son of Poseidon a while before he understood what Apollo meant.
"Oh gross, Apollo! No! Just... no. It's a weather vane for goodness' sake."
"Who's goodness?" Apollo blurted out. Percy face palmed and groaned.
when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain,
Percy shivered, remembering what had been watching him.
just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.
"How right I was. I just had the wrong notion about WHO was watching me." Most didn't know who had moved the curtain. Only Percy, Annabeth, Dionysus and surprisingly Hermes and Apollo knew.
"It couldn't have been... my oracle... could it? It's highly impossible... but then again, it was also highly impossible to travel to the past. This is giving me a headache."
Meanwhile Athena was getting frustrated at not knowing what it was. "Will someone tell me who it was?" she asked. Those who knew the answer just shrugged, infuriating the goddess even more.
"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.
"That's what we all want to know." Zeus grumbled. Poseidon looked at his son worriedly again. I hope it's nothing serious...
He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded.
This caused many eyebrows to rise.
"Just the attic."
"Well, technically there's the thi-" Annabeth couldn't finish her sentence seeing as Percy placed his hand over her mouth. Then he addresses the curious people.
"You'll see." Was his response. Annabeth huffed from behind Percy's hand. Said hand was then removed cautiously from the architect's mouth.
"Somebody lives there?"
Mini-Annabeth shook her head. "If I remember, there's nothing there but junk brought back from quests." This caused even more confusion for those who don't know what had been watching Percy through the window.
"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."
Athena growled under her breath.
"If there's nothing living in that attic then nothing could have been watching Perseus." Hestia pointed out from her hearth. Percy only smiled and shrugged.
I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.
On the outside, Apollo was calm and collected but on the inside, he was jumping for joy. I knew it! It was my oracle.
Hermes shifted slightly in his throne, having the same thoughts as Apollo only he was more saddened. Hades eventually figured it out too because he began to look uncomfortable and guilty whenever he would see Hermes in his peripheral vision.
"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his light hearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."
Hermes and the Stolls shook their heads. "Chiron may be great at lying but he needs to polish his subject-changing skills." Hermes stated. The Stolls nodded and Connor took out a black notebook from his pocket. Travis handed him a pen. Then he began writing, peaking the interest of many. Their curiosity increased when Travis read the notebook, nodded and went to Hermes with the pen.
He handed the notebook to his dad. "Please sign here, here and here." Travis pointed to specific places in the notebook as Hermes took the pen. The god looked at the others before shrugging and signing. "Done."
Travis grinned and went to sit back beside his younger brother. Annabeth, Katie, Silena and Will eyed them suspiciously but chose not to act yet.
We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.
Katie, Persephone and Demeter sighed at the mention of the strawberries. The future saw this and started snickering to themselves. Nico raised an eyebrow amusedly at Percy who understood the message. Then he called out to Travis.
"Hey Travis. You know, in the future, well in our time, you spend your time in the fields, looking at a strawberry."
Annabeth and Thalia soon caught on and decided to join in.
"Yup. Not just any strawberry though. You look for that one single strawberry every day." Annabeth said. By now, Travis was thoroughly confused.
"You look at it every day, walk up to it even, but won't gather your courage and get the strawberry." Thalia said, sighing and shaking her head along with Annabeth, Nico and Percy. Then the four of them burst out laughing. Travis just looked at them blankly.
"Um, ok then." Travis said unsurely. "I don't get the joke." Connor added. Most shrugged it off, already getting used to the constant randomness of the futures. Silena read on, not wanting to waste anymore time.
Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus.
"So our strawberries go to Olympus as well?" Katie asked. The deities in the room smiled at her. "Yes they are. The big, red ones are pretty sweet." Persephone said.
Hermes blinked before rummaging through his bag. "Speaking of strawberries... oh where is it? ... AH! Here we go." He brought out a stylus and a touch screen and handed them to Demeter. "I'll need you to sign that to be able to receive the newest batch of strawberries as of yesterday." Demeter cocked her head to the side before conceding.
The goddess motioned for Silena to read while she signed the form.
"It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."
Katie grinned. "No. No they don't." She said with pride evident in her voice.
He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around.
"They do?" Nico asked. The gods rolled their eyes. Demeter made a small, 2 feet potted apple tree appear in front of Dionysus who just stared at it in boredom. All the demigods watched closely.
Almost immediately, the tree began to vibrate and on its small branches a bud appeared. It started to grow until it became a ripe, red apple which Hermes plucked. He took a bite out of it.
"Hm, juicy. Very juicy." He took another bite before tossing it to Apollo who was drooling. "Here you go, bro." Apollo grinned and caught the apple.
"Thanks."
It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.
At the reminder of grapes, Dionysus grumbled and made the tree in front of him disappear. He pouted childishly and glared at the floor. Many of the females rolled their eyes at him although Hestia gave Zeus a look. The King of the gods sighed and made a goblet filled with wine appear before Dionysus.
The wine god jumped in surprise. "What the heck?" Zeus sighed again.
"just this once, Dionysus. One cup. No more, no less." Dionysus' eyes brightened and he took the cup as if he were afraid it would disappear. He cautiously took a sip as everyone watched him. A small smile formed on his lips as he bowed to Zeus... or at least as best as you can bow while sitting.
"Thank you soo much, father!" Dionysus said, sounding like a small boy who was given his toy back after a grounding. Zeus rolled his eyes and sent Silena a message with one look. Read. In the background, Dionysus had little flowers and a pink aura around him as he held the wine-filled goblet.
I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.
Fake coughs could be heard from the past demigods. Mini-Annabeth shifted in her seat guiltily. "He can do it... just..."
"Horribly?" Clarisse supplied. The word made mini-Annabeth look guiltier.
The futures just laughed. "Don't worry about it guys. He gets better." Percy reassured them.
I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.
Demeter plucked an orange from her throne and threw it at Dionysus.
"Hey! What was that for?" He cried. Demeter huffed.
"Be nice to the satyrs." Dionysus grumbled. Hades looked at his immortal nephew and sent him a telepathic message.
Now you know what I have to deal with. You're lucky she didn't start ranting.
Dionysus gulped at the thought of a ranting Demeter. Just her talks about cereal were enough to deal with but a rant? NO no.
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."
"Aww." Many of the goddesses cooed, causing Percy to blush.
"You really are a good friend, Perseus." Hestia said. Percy smiled at her. "thank you, Lady Hestia." Artemis took a big breath.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's right. You're different than the rest..."
Her statement made Apollo choke on a bit of apple that he was eating.
Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable.
"Hey, those dreams are completely reasonable." Percy said, a frown on his face. Annabeth patted his arm to show her agreement.
To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."
"But Grover did that!" both Annabeths and Artemis exclaimed. Silena smiled as she reads the next line.
"But he did that!"
Many gave soft chuckles at the coincidence while the two Annabeths were blushing. Artemis just shrugged it off.
"I might agree with you," Chiron said.
"Might?" Annabeth demanded. "Alright, Wise Girl. Calm down. It's in the past... err... future? Um, well, past for us, future for them. Ugh, this is confusing." All the futures (except Percy of course) shook their heads at the son of Poseidon but they had to admit, it was also quite confusing.
"But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success.
Dionysus had to dodge the fruits that came his way from both Demeter and Persephone. "Be nice to the satyr" they said in unison.
After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."
Annabeth and Percy grumbled under their breaths. "I'll show those cowardly goats a thing or two about courage." Percy threatened.
I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty.
Thalia sighed again. "See? There goes your soft side again." Percy pouted. " I do not have a soft side... I think."
"oh puh-lease, Percy. You feel guilty about things that's not your fault. And don't say it is because I have that book as proof." Thalia quipped. Percy remained quiet but had a frown on his face. Annabeth took his hand secretly and gave him a discreet smile.
If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.
"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"
Mini-Annabeth looked at the floor. "That was his second chance."
"I know Annabeth. Believe me, I know."
Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.
Thalia winced at the reminder of what had happened to her. Nico saw this and gave her an encouraging smile to which she was grateful for.
Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."
Nico frowned. "Small?" Everyone shrugged except Athena.
"How old is he?"
"Oh, twenty-eight."
"Twenty-eight?" All the past demigods and Nico repeated. Thalia let out a low whistle. "And I thought I was old... so Grover was twenty-nine? Thirty when you guys found me?" the last question, she directed at Percy and Annabeth who, once again shrugged.
"Wait, found you?" Zeus asked nervously. Thalia tilted her head to the side and smiled. "It should be around the second or third book."
Zeus didn't like this answer but accepted it for now.
"What! And he's in sixth grade?"
"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."
All the males looked at the book horribly.
"That's terrible!" Apollo stated. "Studying the same things for SIX years! It's a crime."
Athena cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, is studying a crime?" Apollo's eyes widened at his mistake. "Uh, umm... well, what I mean is... why can't Grover be the equivalent of a college student instead? I mean, six years of the same things would tend to leave a mark on someone so shouldn't Grover have been sent to college when he applied for a school?"
A lot of people were dumbfounded at Apollo. Artemis even stood from her throne and checked her brother's temperature.
"Ok, you're not sick. I'm sure you don't have a hangover. Athena didn't bless you either... who are you and what have you done with the Apollo I know?" She asked seriously. Her seriousness turned to laughter when Apollo pouted, crossed his arms and huffed indignantly.
"I'm smart too you know."
"Yeah right."
"I am! You just can't see it because I'm too awesome." Artemis rolled her eyes and went back to her throne.
"That's horrible."
"Yes, yes it is." Hermes agreed.
"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."
Percy chuckled. "Not likely, Chiron." Nico smirked.
"Ok. One, it's obvious Grover would push through with his dream and two, you're talking to a book, cousin." Everyone laughed at Percy's face which turned into a nice cherry color.
"Shut up."
"That's not fair,"
"Life's not fair." Hera shot back. Everyone gave her weird looks for that.
I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Tact, Seaweed Brain, tact."
"I know, Wise girl. I know." Percy grumbled.
Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"
Hermes looked expectantly at his sons.
"Every Tuesday and Friday, 3:45 pm, right after Chiron's archery classes." Travis answered automatically. Hermes smiled and nodded in approval.
But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death.
Hades and Nico looked up at the mention of one of their favourite words. Poseidon however, mentally groaned at his son's line of thought.
The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.
This time, the groan made itself evident to everyone.
"Is something the matter, brother?" Hestia asked. Poseidon looked at her and slowly shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. Don't mind me."
Annabeth and Percy smiled at Poseidon sympathetically, knowing what he was thinking.
"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."
"Yes, child?"
"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"
As the question was given, the only thing everyone could do was remain quiet. You could hear a pin drop in the large room. Hades and Nico raised an eyebrow at the son of Poseidon amusedly. Persephone did the same.
"You're actually thinking about it, eh?" Hades said mysteriously, all while smirking evilly. He intertwined his fingers in front of his while his elbows remained on his throne's armrests. He leaned back too add effect as the shadows covered part of his face. A single smirk sent shivers down the backs of the past demigods but the futures just shrugged it off.
"Well, yes. Yes I was." Percy said bluntly. This caused Hades to lose his dramatic moment.
Chiron's expression darkened.
Poseidon inwardly groaned again. "I'm going to need some anvil soon... this book's going to give me killer headaches..."
"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."
"Great. Now you're not going to stop thinking about it." Thalia stated. Poseidon let out a sound that could have been a squeak or a small "What!"
"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"
"Duh, Percy. Chiron means until you know more." Travis stated.
"What other meaning would be there?" Connor quipped. Percy groaned for the umpteenth time and began smacking his forehead on the arm of the sofa. This caused many amused expression from the gods. Over to the demigod side, Will and Beckendorf sighed.
"I feel bad for their half-siblings who are pretty decent." Beckendorf nodded in agreement.
"Like that guy, Chris. Other than the occasional prank every now and then, he's pretty good."
"There's also Layla Carter and Bianca Savrin [3].If I recall they're the same age as us." Will said rather uncertainly. "At least, I think they're the same age." Beckendorf shook his head.
"Bianca's older by a year and a few months." Beckendorf corrected.
"So, mind telling us who this Layla and Bianca are?"
The two boys looked to up and saw practically everyone (except Ares, Clarisse, Dionysus, Travis and Connor) looking at them. Hermes had an eyebrow raised, recognizing the names of two of his daughters. Beckendorf blushed and nudged Will. Hermes spoke up.
"So, is there something happening with my daughters or is it something that I shouldn't know, seeing as the two of you were whispering." The messenger of the gods said, eyes narrowed at the two demigods. Will kept his cool.
"Nothing's wrong, Lord Hermes. We just feel well, bad for them seeing as they have to deal with them every day." He finished, motioning to Connor and Travis who were having a thumb-wrestling match and arm-wrestling at the same time. Hermes narrowed his eyes further but let it go seeing as it was the truth.
"Alright then." Hermes turned to the futures next. "Speaking of my daughters, how are they? Layla and Bianca I mean." Annabeth smiled at the god.
"Last I heard, Bianca from our time went back to Arizona to visit her mom while Layla should be returning to camp any day soon. Hermes smiled while Apollo patted his arm encouragingly.
"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."
The smile on Hermes' face instantly turned into a frown.
"My dear centaur, remember your skills. I am very disappointed." All the males snickered while the females except Clarisse rolled their eyes.
As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.
"The last person in there was actually Chiron. He made sure no one went into the forest since the Hunters rigged places in it." Mini-Annabeth said. Artemis and Thalia smirked at the mention of the hunters. The futures just rolled their eyes.
"Looks like the hunters don't change, eh, Thalia?" Annabeth said, a smile forming on her lips.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"
The demigods groaned again. Thalia mouthed the word slow to the other demigods. They barely contained their chuckles as Percy looked at them questioningly.
"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
This time the gods shook their heads. "Oh Chiron."
"You have to give the old centaur some slack though. We do give our kids some armor and weapons before they arrive at Camp." Athena said. Thalia perked up, just realizing something.
"So, just like me! I had aegis and my spear while going to camp." Athena nodded in agreement. "Exactly. As such, it is actually appropriate that he ask the question. Though why he thought this sea spawn would already have weapons is beyond me."
Everyone else rolled their eyes while some looked like the beginnings of a headache were forming.
"My own—?"
"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armoury later."
"Size five... it was three sizes too big for you during capture-the-flag." Annabeth whispered to Percy who frowned at the memory.
"I remember feeling like an idiot while wearing it." He said. Thalia smirked.
"I wasn't there but I could bet anything that you looked like an idiot."
Percy blushed and stuck his tongue out childishly. Thalia did the same. Nico on the other hand was thinking.
"Did I look stupid when I was first there?" He asked. Percy and Thalia shared a look before looking at anything and everything else besides Nico who pouted.
"I'll take that as a yes."
I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armoury,
"To answer you're innocent question, Percy, though you won't need it, a summer camp that has an armory would either be 1) part of the army, 2) it's a camp for demigods like us or, 3) the people or mortals there are plain weird." Beckendorf said, a playful smile gracing his lips. All the demigods hid smiles behind their hands while the gods just shook their heads in amusement.
but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range,
Artemis, Apollo, Thalia and Will grinned at each other.
the canoeing lake,
Now it was Percy's and Poseidon's turn to grin.
the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),
A lot of people tried to prevent the chuckles forming. Percy blushed, finally realizing how stupid that sounded.
"I wonder why Chiron doesn't like it…" Thalia said slyly, smirking at Percy who turned red. "Shut it, you."
the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre,
Apollo's grin turned into a full-out blinding light for the demigods. All of them had to cover their eyes while the gods just looked at Apollo.
"GAH! Turn the lights off!" Nico yelled, fiercely covering his eyes. Percy groaned.
"Normally, I'd say you were over-reacting but… damn it Apollo, it's too bright!" Thalia yelled. Apollo pouted and stopped his blinding grin. Immediately, the light in the room greatly diminished.
Everyone had to blink a couple of times to get their eyesight adjusted to the light. All the demigods had to rub their eyes numerous times.
"I am a child of the shadows." Nico grumbled. "How many times must blinding light be forced upon me?" This time, Percy and Thalia did roll their eyes.
"Sometimes, I worry you've been spending time with spirits of children of Zeus. Their dramatic personalities are rubbing off on you." Annabeth stated. All the children of Zeus (AKA Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Dionysus, Persephone, Ares and Thalia) cleared their throats and raised an eyebrow at the daughter of Athena. Annabeth, in turn, raised an eyebrow as well.
"Admit it, you guys can be overly dramatic about unimportant things." The gods looked like they wanted to protest but thought better of it. Thalia, on the other hand, protested outright.
"I am not dramatic!" She yelled. At the same time, lightning sparked from her hands as she glared at her female best friend. Annabeth nodded, proving her point.
"I rest my case." She said professionally. Percy rolled his eyes and took his girlfriend's hand secretly.
and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.
"Fights! Speaking of which, when is a fight coming on? This book is becoming boring already." Ares whined. Clarisse frowned and nodded in agreement. Poseidon glared at the god of war.
"I do not want my son to be in fights any time soon, Ares. So hold your tongue and wait. Knowing demigods, my son's life is gonna get hectic pretty soon." The god of the seas said. Ares pouted manly[2].
"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.
"Nooo, water balloons and string fights." Clarisse said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."
Hermes groaned. "Again with the poor subject-changing skills!"
Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.
"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.
Percy received a LOT of weird looks for this. He just rolled his eyes.
"I know, I know, it was a dumb question."
"but a valid one." Athena continued. This time she got weird looks. The wisdom goddess sighed.
"The sea spawn is new to all this and has a fair right to ask such a question."
Everyone was dumbfounded that Athena would defend Percy. The goddess smirked at the Saviour of Olympus.
"I can give praises too and can defend you as well. I just choose not to."
Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.
"You are weird." Everyone (minus Poseidon, Hestia, Persephone and Athena) said. The son of Poseidon huffed and crossed his arms indignantly.
"You guys are mean."
"Well, it is still pick-on-Percy month." Nico said. "There is no such thing as pick-on-Percy month!" Thalia, Nico and Annabeth rolled their eyes.
"It's an un-official month and occasion, Seaweed Brain. Like I said, Chiron has it on his calendar." Percy sighed and leaned back on his chair.
"I give up. If I find you guys are lying though…" He left the threat hanging, causing the three futures to become nervous all of a sudden.
"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.
All the demigods nodded their heads in approval.
Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.
All the gods (except Hestia, Hades and Persephone) made indignant noises. Then they looked at Hades and Persephone who just kept quiet.
"Why aren't you complaining?" Aphrodite demanded. Hades shrugged. "Don't have a cabin there."
Persephone smiled kindly. "I've been there once and from a demigod's point of view, the cabins are rather bizarre."
Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike.
"Well, that's true." Demeter said.
Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.
Hephaestus and Beckendorf perked up at the mention of their cabin.
Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.
Persephone and Katie shared a grin. Demeter spoke up again. "You added the tomato vines, Katie?"
The demigod shook her head. "It wasn't me. I heard the former head counsellor did it. His name was… Tristan?" Demeter smiled and nodded in recognition.
Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.
Apollo grinned at Will who just stared back. The sun god pouted and decided to act childishly.
"Will, why you no smile back at me?" Hermes tried to contain his laughter, recognizing the speech pattern to be the one used on the internet. Will only blinked.
"Well, the brightness caused me a headache once and now I don't know what to think about the cabin." Will deadpanned.
"Oh." Apollo said. "would you like it if I dimmed it a bit?" He asked uncertainly. Will smiled and nodded.
"Yes please!" Apollo nodded and snapped his fingers. The sound seemed to echo in the room. The sun god motioned for Silena to continue on.
They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).
"You play basketball?" Annabeth and Thalia said simultaneously. Percy nodded slowly. "you didn't know?"
"Well, you can't really blame us, can you? Whenever you come to camp, you always leave because of a quest." Poseidon paled at the revelation.
"You go on quests?" "Yeah more than one but I didn't want to though." "But you still went?" "Dad, I had to!"
The god of the seas grumbled. "Please tell me you're okay."
"I'm here aren't I?"
"Touché, son. Touché."
In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smouldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.
Hestia looked up, surprised. "You saw me?" Percy smiled and nodded. "Yes, Lady Hestia. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you though."
Hestia waved it off. "Don't worry about it, young hero. Most never do."
All the demigods, with the exemption of Percy and Nico, looked at the floor guiltily.
The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.
Zeus smirked. Thalia spoke up. "It's too cold there, dad. You don't even have a bed!"
The King of the gods blinked and put on a blank face although on the inside, he was feeling very sad about what Thalia said.
I bet she doesn't like it there. It most probably feels like a tombstone there.
Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
Hera smiled but was secretly met with glares from different places in the room.
"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.
"Correct," Chiron said.
"Their cabins look empty."
"They should be." Hera said all while glaring at her husband who inched away slowly.
"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."
Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.
"Well, that's one way to look at it." Hermes chuckled. "Mascots?" Athena whispered to Artemis. The goddess of the Hunt only shrugged.
Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?
I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.
Poseidon and the futures all smiled.
"It's like your dad's calling to you." Nico whispered.
It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"
Poseidon frowned. "Oh come on, Chiron. I won't blast him to pieces… unlike someone here." He gave Zeus a glare.
"It was one time!"
"Whatever."
Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."
Percy frowned at the remembrance. "It was a bit sad and lonely."
"But not anymore!" Nico, Thalia and the Stolls shouted.
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.
Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.
The demigods shivered. "It's not only the boar. Even Athena's owl seems to follow us." Percy whispered to Annabeth.
"The owl only follows you because of me, Seaweed Brain."
"Oh."
Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer.
Everyone turned to look at a smirking Clarisse.
She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit,
The smirk on the drakon slayer's face turned into a glare.
though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.
I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.
"Woohoo! Party Ponies!" Apollo, Hermes and Dionysus yelled.
"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."
"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."
He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."
"But, shouldn't you be dead?"
Another batch of face palms have been delivered to this line.
"Again, Seaweed Brain, tact."
Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."
All the demigods nodded. "You ARE needed, Chiron." Percy said.
"Talking to a book again, Perce."
"Not caring again, Nicki."
"Don't call me that."
"Kk."
I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.
"I don't think it would make anyone's top ten list." Poseidon said. Athena cleared her throat.
"Oh. Except Owl Head over there."
"Doesn't it ever get boring?"
"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
"Why depressing?"
Annabeth gave Percy a look.
"I know, I know. Tact. Gotcha."
Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.
"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."
Hermes opened his mouth again but was cut off by Ares.
"We get it, Speedy. Subject-changing skills. Jeez."
The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.
When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.
Athena nodded in approval while the rest snickered at Percy and Annabeth.
I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.
"That is a horrible pun." Apollo deadpanned. Percy pouted.
"Give me a break. I don't even remember thinking these things!"
There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.
"It was an architecture book, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."
Connor, Travis and Hermes all smirked mischievously at Percy. "Go on, Percy. Make yourself at home."
Percy shivered, discovering the hidden intention behind those words.
Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old.
Hermes furrowed his eyebrows while the Stolls tried to evade his gaze.
The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling.
The god's frown deepened. Then he suddenly grinned.
"Time for an upgrade, boys." The two brothers high-fived each other and grinned at their dad.
Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?
"A caduceus." Hermes supplied. Silena smiled, reading the next line.
A caduceus.
"Oh. Never mind then."
Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds.
Connor and Travis sighed while Hermes glared at the other gods who had kids.
"Could you all please claim your kids?" The messenger was greeted with silence. The futures huddled together for a while.
"This is exactly why we lost so many half-bloods to him." Thalia whispered, anger evident in her voice.
Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.
All the gods that had children suddenly shifted in their seats as Hermes, the Stolls and the futures glared at them.
Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.
"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."
He galloped away toward the archery range.
I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.
Percy groaned. "If it's like the routines, then the next thing to happen would be to make a complete fool of myself."
Annabeth laughed while Nico patted his back encouragingly.
"That's the spirit Percy!" He said, overly enthusiastic. Percy turned to look at his cousin who was full-out grinning and jumping in his seat. The Hero of Olympus paled.
"Alright, who gave you sugar?" He asked the son of Hades. Nico grinned and bounced in his seat. "No one gave me sugar. Well, Hestia did this morning and I brought it here with me to eat in case I get hungry." Percy, Annabeth and Thalia groaned and gave Hestia a pleading look. The goddess spoke up from her hearth.
"Should I not have done that?" She asked uncertainly. The futures shook their heads. "Oh. I'm sorry." She said.
"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."
So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.
"naturally?" Poseidon asked. "Naturally." Percy confirmed.
"I told you I'd make a complete fool out of myself."
"I remember trying not to laugh at that. You looked so stupid then." Annabeth said, hiding her mouth behind her hand.
"You're laughing at me!"
"I'm not."
"yes you are."
"No I'm not."
"yes."
"no."
"Yes."
"No."
"SHUT UP!" Thalia screamed, zapping Percy with her lightning. "OW! How come Annabeth doesn't get zapped?" Percy asked, rubbing the spot where the lightning hit him.
"Because she's Annabeth. She'd get a plan to whip my butt and I am NOT having that. No sir."
There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.
Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."
"Hi!" Connor and Travis yelled.
"Err… hi?"
"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.
I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned.
A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.
Annabeth's breath hitched at the remembrance of who it was.
"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
All the gods suddenly had puzzled looks. Floor?
The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cut-offs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.
Connor, Travis, and Hermes grinned at the mention of one of their favourite people.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow.
Annabeth (both older and younger) got raised eyebrows. Older Annabeth blushed while younger Annabeth shrugged.
I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.
Silena and Aphrodite suddenly started squealing like there's no tomorrow.
"OMG! A love triangle!" Silena squealed.
"I am a GENIUS!" Aphrodite said.
Everyone else leaned away from the two as they were emitting "scary love vibes" according to Ares. Percy and Annabeth shared a look and shivered while Nico and Thalia laughed at the couple known to the Aphrodite cabin and Aphrodite herself as "Percabeth"
She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counsellor for now."
"For now?" I asked.
"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."
Hermes childishly waved to anyone who looked his way. Apollo childishly waved back earning himself a few chuckles from the goddesses and demigods.
I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag.
"That's sad." Hermes said. "you should have asked for something."
Just the Minotaur's horn.
Travis' and Connor's eyes lit up. Katie saw their interest on the Minotaur horn and promptly smacked them both on the head.
"OW!"
"No stealing Percy's Minotaur horn." The two sons of Hermes pouted. Percy laughed.
"It's ok Katie. They don't steal it from me in the future."
I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.
Hermes' face dropped. "Darn. That horn would have looked AWESOME on one of my children's bunks. Heck, it's being in the cabin is awesome in itself."
I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.
"Ah. Now you know which ones are the Hermes kids. They always look like they want to pickpocket you." Katie said. Then she shot a glare at the Stolls. "These two do more than just look like they want to pickpocket…"
Connor and Travis were whistling innocently.
"How long will I be here?" I asked.
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?"
The campers all laughed.
"Why did the campers laugh?" Persephone asked. The futures looked sadly at the floor while the past demigods glared.
"It's very rare to get claimed nowadays." Mini-Annabeth said sadly. "Most of the unclaimed have been there for a long time already."
Hermes clenched his fists in anger and glared at the gods, some of which flinched.
"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it."
"Come on." She grabbed my wrist
Aphrodite squealed again and was looking very much like the emoticon ^_^
and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.
All the gods frowned. "Well, that's not nice." Apollo said.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "thank you for pointing out the obvious." Her twin did the best thing and stuck his tongue out at her. Artemis shook her head.
Boys…
When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."
Everyone smirked at the couple.
"Last name usage, eh Annabeth?" Aphrodite said slyly. "The first signs of love." Immediately, Poseidon and Athena snapped their heads toward her.
"They are NOT in love!" They said in unison before glaring at each other.
"Fish face."
"Owl Head."
"Kelp-for-Brains."
"Brain Girl."
"SEAWEED BRAIN."
"WISE GIRL."
"SHUT UP!" The two deities were shocked and looked incredulously at their children (the older ones) and Nico and Thalia.
"Good gods, they argue like the two of you." Thalia complained. Nico frowned, opened his mouth to defend his male cousin before thinking about it. He started nodding in agreement after closing his mouth.
"She's right, you know." By that time, Percy and Annabeth were blushing like crazy.
"We do not argue like that." Percy exclaimed. "Right, Annabeth?" Said girl looked at the floor, frowned then smiled sheepishly at her boyfriend.
"Annie?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh admit it, Seaweed Brain, we do argue like that."
"No we don't"
"Yes, we do."
"No we don't. Tell her guys." Percy pleaded with the past demigods. Some of them gave him blank looks while others looked away. The Stolls and Clarisse grinned at him.
"You argue like that." They deadpanned. Percy pouted and crossed his arms. "Whatever. As my mother says, to each his own. Silena please read."
The daughter of Aphrodite did what was requested or rather, demanded of her.
"What?"
"Huh?" Apollo said. "What were they talking about again? I got lost in the argument." Silena read the previous line to herself.
"They- meaning Annabeth- told Percy to do better than that... whatever that means."
Everyone nodded in understanding while Athena and both Annabeths rolled their eyes.
She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."
The goddess of love and her daughter started squealing again. The Stolls, Apollo and Hermes, and Will had smirks on their faces with matching raised eyebrows. Athena's eye was twitching while both Annabeths had their heads in their hands. Percy was whistling innocently but the blush was evident on his face. Thalia and Nico had creepy smiles on their faces while the rest just smiled or didn't pay attention.
"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"
"The bull guy... Nice Percy. Nice." Nico said sarcastically. The hero of Olympus promptly ignored him.
"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"
Many of the gods, Nico, Thalia, mini-Annabeth, Silena and Katie gave Annabeth weird looks.
"I know, I know. It was a stupid thing to say. You guys try staying in camp for seven years without going outside even once." She challenged. A lot of people looked away.
"To get killed?"
"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"
"Um, I thought we trained so that we could survive, not fight." Katie pointed out. Annabeth held up one finger to tell Katie to give her a minute.
"Well, we are trained to fight as well seeing as we are the connection between the gods and the mortal world. We fight to keep the peace." She said. Clarisse and Ares nodded in harmony.
"Still, a fight is good every now and then." Ares argued. This caused a lot of people to glare at him.
I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."
"Yes."
"Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right?
"Gajillion is not a word." Athena deadpanned. "It was for emphasis only." Percy countered.
"Then you could have just said a century ago if you wanted to emphasize." Percy kept his face blank then he stuck his tongue out at the wisdom goddess. Athena only rolled her eyes.
"That is very immature."
Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."
Poseidon and Athena smiled at the mention of the name of the old hero. Hestia smiled at the goddess from her hearth.
"Theseus is the only child of Poseidon which you like, right Athena?" Hestia asked, a warm smile gracing her lips.
"Yes. He was the smartest mortal I have ever met. Not only that, but he ruled my city greatly. All the mortals loved him and so, I respect him very much."
Poseidon was grinning proudly at the compliment for his son. Hermes on the other hand sneakily hid the voice recorder in his pocket. The god of thieves winked at Apollo, his sons, Poseidon and Percy.
Meanwhile the demigods were joking around with Percy.
"You actually listened in class, Kelp head?" Percy stuck his tongue out at his cousin.
"Yes, Thalia. I listened to Mr. Brunner when he was teaching. It was- I can't believe I'm saying this- interesting." Annabeth smiled and jabbed him lightly on the ribs.
"Now if you would only do that when we have Ancient Greek in the morning." At the mention of the subject, numerous half-bloods made a face while Annabeth just smiled.
"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"I always hated that." Percy said with a deep frown on his face. "Life would have been much simpler if they just died and never came back." Nico added.
Surprisingly, Ares asked the next question.
"And which monsters are you talking about?" The futures huddled together for a moment, bringing their hands side by side to start the counting. When they finished their grouping Annabeth spoke.
"Well, there's the Minotaur, the three furies, hellhounds –no offense Nico- dracaena, laistrygonians and many more which would take too long to dictate."
By the end, Ares looked bored and was regretting his asking. Poseidon on the other hand, paled at the mention of some of the monsters which his son would have to face. Silena leafed through the remaining pages and sighed. Will smiled slightly and patted her arm.
"Now you know how I felt."
Silena nodded then made eye contact with Hera, surprisingly. She tried sending her message through her eyes. Luckily for her, Hera understood.
"Ok, let's try and refrain from commenting too much. We still have a long way to go and we're only in the?" Silena checked the first page of the chapter.
"We're on the sixth chapter, Lady Hera." All the boys groaned.
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."
Percy started cursing under his breath. "Stupid arche types. Life would be easier without you."
I thought about . "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"
"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."
"How did you know about the math teacher?" Thalia asked.
"It's in the book." Was the reply that came her way.
"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"
Thalia twitched and shocked Nico who was laughing quietly at her.
"You talk in your sleep."
This time, Percy twitched and blushed lightly.
"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"
Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.
Hades received stares from the people in the room.
"It was one time! Jeez. One wrong act and you get branded for life." Persephone reached over and took her husband's hand into her. "It's ok, dear."
"I'm sorry, lord Hades." Annabeth apologized sincerely. Hades sighed and waved it off instead.
"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."
"Hey, why do we call them the Kindly Ones? They're not even kind." Percy said.
"You speak from experience Percy?" Hermes joked. The son of Poseidon looked at him seriously. "Yes. Yes I do."
Poseidon paled further as silence and awkwardness made itself known.
"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together?
Hermes glared at the gods who had kids.
"It's because some people won't claim they're kids." The gods who had kids shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Demeter sighed and raised two fingers. Everyone watched her as she stared blankly at the air. Then she smiled and nodded at Hermes. The god raised an eyebrow before his phone vibrated.
"Oh so sorry. Let me get that." He got his caduceus in phone form and flipped it open. His eyes widened and then he ran to Demeter and tackle hugged her.
"Thank you, Auntie Dem!" He grinned widely at her. Zeus cleared his throat. Hermes smiled sheepishly and sat back on his throne while snickers filled the room. "Sorry. Please continue."
Meanwhile, at camp half-blood, the Demeter cabin was having a sparring contest with the Hermes cabin when two unclaimed kids received floating holograms above their heads. Chiron came trotting forward from his place near the stands and smiled at the two. Then he addressed the two cabins.
"Hail, Rosaline Collins, daughter of Demeter and Tristan Smith, son of Demeter."
Back in Olympus...
There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."
I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."
She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.
"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.
"She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."
Almost all the females looked at the floor sadly.
"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."
"He's dead. I never knew him."
Percy bit his lip guiltily as Poseidon looked at the floor sadly. Zeus saw this and leaned on his armrest and poked his older brother.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
"What do you need, brother?" Poseidon asked, trying to hide his irritation. Zeus feigned innocence.
"Nothing. Nothing. Just checking to see if you were alive." Poseidon rolled his eyes while the others smiled at the king of the gods. Who knew he could still joke around with his brothers.
Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.
"Your father's not dead, Percy."
"I thought I just confirmed that." Zeus said. The corner of his lips twitched upwards.
"How can you say that? You know him?"
"No, of course not."
Poseidon grinned. "Now she does." Then he turned to Annabeth, both older and younger. "Err..."
"I already know you in the future, Lord Poseidon." Annabeth said. Poseidon nodded and turned to mini-Annabeth.
"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Chase." Mini-Annabeth blushed. "It's my pleasure, Lord Poseidon ." the god of the seas grinned again and leaned back into his chair.
"See? Now she knows me."
"Then how can you say—"
"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."
"You don't know anything about me."
"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."
"You're going to embarrass him Annabeth." Will whispered to the seven year old. "Shut up. It's in the future."
"How—"
"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."
I tried to swallow my embarrassment.
"See?"
"No one denied it, Will."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.
"Why couldn't it have been English and Ancient Greek?" Beckendorf asked.
"It's because our origin from the mortals' perspective is Greek so naturally, our children have a natural understanding of Greek."
And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive.
The futures sighed in relief. "Thank the god for your ADHD Percy."
"Yeah. If you didn't have it, you would have been dead even before you knew about the world of the gods." Nico said. Immediately, he was smacked in the head by Thalia.
"OW! What the hell, Thalia?" Thalia motioned to Poseidon who was hyperventilating in his throne.
"Good going, Death Breath. You most likely made Uncle Poseidon's blood sugar or whatever the mortals call it rise."
Sure enough, the mighty Poseidon was breathing into a brown paper bag courtesy of Apollo. Hestia tried to calm him down.
"Alright brother. That's it. In through the nose, out through the mouth." In a couple of minutes, the god was fine again. Slightly pale; but fine.
As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."
"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"
"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."
"Ambrosia and nectar."
"Sweet, sweet ambrosia and nectar. Always tastes like chocolate to me." Travis said.
"Really? It tastes like that dessert we ate during New Year's at my mom's last year." Connor said. Hermes and Apollo pouted then turned to the goddesses.
"You guys owe us some food." Hera rolled her eyes, along with Artemis, Demeter and Athena. "We'll read two or three chapters before we go to lunch. It's only 9:30 after all." The two brothers groaned. Suddenly, they had two plates full of ambrosia in front of them. They stared at it and looked around the room. Everyone else was looking at the food questioningly.
Persephone winked secretly at the two of them and shook her head slightly. The two gods grinned at her and took the plates. Silena decided it was safe to continue the second the two of them started eating the ambrosia.
"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."
A half-blood.
I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.
Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"
I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us.
"What are you going to do Clarisse?" Beckendorf asked, suspicion clearly printed on his face. Clarisse just shrugged.
"How should I know? This is in the future isn't it?" the daughter of Ares countered.
She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.
"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"
"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."
"Oh burn!" Apollo yelled, knuckle bumping with Hermes afterwards. Artemis groaned.
"How in Chaos' name are we related? He must have been adopted. How I wish he was only adopted."
''Erre es korakas!"Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched.
Clarisse got raised eyebrows from her fellow past demigods. She just shrugged it off.
Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"
"I was not a runt." Percy said. Thalia and Annabeth smirked at him.
"Yes you were. End of discussion." They said in unison. Percy grumbled while Thalia high-fived Annabeth.
"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."
I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"
Ares narrowed his eyes at Percy. "You got a problem with me, punk?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, yes I do." Annabeth stepped on Percy's foot hard. Percy rolled his eyes.
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."
"BURN!" the Stolls said. Clarisse turned on them and gave her glare. The two immediately shut up and paled.
"Did you two say something?" she asked menacingly. The Stolls shook their heads in sync. "No ma'am. Nothing at all."
This caused Artemis to smirk.
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.
"Stay out of it, wise girl."
Thalia and Nico gasped.
"So that's where you got it." Nico said.
"I would never have guessed it. Clarisse of all people!" Thalia exclaimed. Annabeth just ignored them while Percy sighed. "Get over it."
Nico and Thalia shook their heads. "Never!" Percy sighed and looked at Silena. She smiled and started reading again.
Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.
I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.
The futures (minus Percy) and Clarisse tried to keep their laughter in. Ares was smirking at Percy.
"Not so tough now, eh punk?" He said. "There's no way you'll beat my daughter at the rate you're going." Ares boasted. Percy just rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and ignored the god of war. The hero winked at his two cousins and at his dad and Annabeth.
I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.
All the demigods hid smiles and chuckles behind their hands as the gods (except Hera, Hestia, Artemis, Hades, Ares and Dionysus) either face palmed, blushed or coughed awkwardly.
Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.
"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."
Her friends snickered. Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.
Annabeth smacked Percy on the head only to bring her hand back toward her throbbing. She held it tightly before glaring at the Saviour of Olympus.
"I was not watching through my fingers."
"Yeah yeah. You keep telling yourself that, Wise Girl." Percy said, a smile forming on the corner of his lips.
"Watch it, Jackson." Annabeth warned.
Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl.
The goddesses looked disturbed while the other demigods only sighed.
It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets.
This time, the goddesses turned green while it was time for the males to look disturbed.
I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.
"ACTIVATE FISHY POWERS!" Nico yelled, surprising everyone.
"Hey! Those so called 'fishy powers' saved you countless times as well as kicked your demigodly podex." Percy said. The gods froze at the Latin word while the demigods looked at Percy blankly.
"My demigodly what?" Nico asked.
"Oh. It means butt in Latin if I remember. You see, it was a couple months before and believe it or not, Rachel managed to drag me to the library. Well, I randomly picked a book and just my luck, it was in Latin which I didn't understand all that much. I got in a couple of lines, a paragraph or two and then near the end of my browsing I came upon that word."
"So you searched it and now you know what it means." Annabeth finished. Percy grinned. "Yup! Aren't happy? I finally went to a library."
Everyone laughed at that.
"Anyway..." Silena said, searching the correct paragraph before continuing her reading.
Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened.
The smirk that was previously on Ares' and Clarisse's face suddenly vanished only to be replaced by frowns. Percy grinned at the memory of what had happened.
Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.
Clarisse glared at Percy while the others hid smiles behind their hands again. Clarisse and Ares took out weapons and were clenching their weapons in their hands.
"I am going to kill you, punk." Clarisse threatened. Percy looked at her lazily. Then he smiled at her.
"You're going to kill me, eh? Would you mind getting in line then?" The sentence caused confusion to those in the past (except mini-Annabeth, Athena, all the eldest gods and Artemis).
"Get in line/' Clarisse asked uncertainly, her grip on her spear loosening. Annabeth sighed.
"You see, sorry about this Lord Poseidon, but in the future Seaweed brain gets a lot of enemies like monsters and laistrygonians and all that stuff. A lot of demigods who turned wanted to kill him too."
Athena's eyes narrowed at the word turned.
Why would there be demigods who would fight us... unless...
I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.
Both Ares and Clarisse turned red with anger while the others were laughing till they couldn't breathe.
"Man, I wish we could have recorded that in the future." Connor said to his brother. Travis laughed and wiped the tears streaming down his face after laughing so hard.
"I know right? I don't think we do though. Who knows?" Travis said mysteriously, winking at his younger brother. Katie watched the two closely after hearing this short conversation.
The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall. She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.
"They shouldn't have done that." Poseidon said. He was trying to fight down the laugh that was coming but in the end, it escaped his lips and soon, everyone was either on the floor, literally doing a rolling on the floor laughing or a rofl'ing [4].
But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.
By then, only Ares and Clarisse weren't laughing. Even Hera, who hates demigods, was red in the face due to her laughing.
As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.
The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.
Immediately both Annabeths and Athena stopped laughing. The three of them glared at Percy.
"I still haven't forgiven you for that." Annabeth warned. Percy only pouted cutely, waiting for the architect to give in. Annabeth knew what he was doing and looked away.
"You're not using that trick on me again Seaweed Brain." Percy smiled though. He knew Annabeth had forgiven him since she called him Seaweed Brain. Had she been really mad, she would have called him either Perseus or Jackson.
She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.
I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.
All the males let out low whistles while Poseidon grinned.
"It's one of the perks of being my son." He said. Percy grinned back.
"You know, now that I think about, doesn't it seem like Uncle Poseidon's children, meaning Percy have a lot of water powers?" Thalia asked. Then she blinked.
"Oh sorry. Don't mind that question." Zeus had a frown on his face. "It is rather true though. You're kids have more power than either mine or Hades'. That's unfair." Zeus said. Poseidon only smirked at his younger brother.
"I guess my kids are just more awesome than yours." Poseidon stated.
Artemis leaned over to Athena and whispered. "Ego alert. Alert, alert. The ego is getting bigger." Athena let out a small giggle which only Artemis and Demeter heard.
I stood up, my legs shaky.
Annabeth said, "How did you ..."
"I don't know."
"You never do, Percy." Nico joked. Percy rolled his eyes again and shoved his cousin.
"Hey!"
We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk.
Percy and Annabeth laughed and high-fived. "I remember that like it was yesterday." Percy said getting a dreamy look on his face. "Oh and I think you were able to film it Connor. It was either you, Travis or one of your younger brothers."
The two brothers grinned at each other.
Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."
Percy poked himself. "Nope. Still alive."
Everyone shook their heads at him but he just ignored it all.
I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."
"Nice comeback, Perce." Hermes said raising both of his thumbs as a sign of approval. "There's hope for you yet!"
Poseidon narrowed his eyes at the god. "Hermes." He said warningly.
"I was joking, Uncle P. Chill."
Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.
Annabeth stared at me.
"Then you two kissed!" Aphrodite suddenly said. Everyone sighed at the love goddess. Percy and Annabeth shared a look and simultaneously thought about their first kiss at Mount St. Helens.
I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.
"It was both. That and I was planning for the next capture the flag then." Percy nodded like he was listening when he was actually staring at a bug crawling on Demeter's throne.
"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"
"Knowing Annabeth, she's thinking about a million things at once." Silena said, a smile forming. Mini-Annabeth blushed.
"I don't think about a million things at once. No one can do that." Silena only shrugged and read the last line for her chapter.
"I'm thinking," She said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
"Ahh the start of a beautiful partnership." Nico said, winking at the couple.
"Eh… not quite. Not yet at least." Percy said.
"Huh?"
"You'll see." Zeus looked outside the window before clearing his throat. He asked Hestia to make a few plates and some food appear for everyone since breakfast wasn't successful. Once everyone had finished eating their light snack, Silena picked up the book and held it in her hands.
"So, who wants to read next?" Beckendorf took the book from her hands, his fingers grazing hers slightly. Silena blushed lightly at the contact. Aphrodite smiled at her daughter then surprisingly at Hephaestus who was looking at his son.
"I'll read next." Beckendorf turned to the next page.
"My Dinner Goes Up in Smoke."
A/N: Here's the explanation thingies.
[1] This was not my idea. I remember reading it somewhere but I forgot who's story it was so if it's a copyright idea I'm so sorry.
[2] Can a guy pout in a manly manner? I don't think it's possible
[3] Those two (Layla and Bianca) are only OC's which were reference names from a role-playing site which I actively go on.
[4] Is that a word? XD rofl'ing… it counts as a word right?
If I missed anything, just PM me or tell me in a review. That's all. Oh and I won't be updating anytime soon since I have to start packing and checking things for school which starts on June 7th for me. So sad. Till next time then. ~Demi