Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson nor any of its characters, I just own my own character Antheia/Alyssa.

The bathroom incident immediately spread around. Wherever Percy went, campers were pointing and murmuring something about toilet water. Or maybe they were staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.

She led Percy and Alyssa to a few more places (Luke had gone back to the cabin): the metal shop, the arts and crafts room, and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropping boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top in time.

Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back up to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinners at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

As she started to leave, Percy caught her arm.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

She shrugged him off and continued walking.

"Whatever."

Percy called after her, "It wasn't my fault."

She stopped, turned around, looking at his skeptically before saying, "You need to talk to the oracle."

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

Percy stared into the lake, forgetting about his sister behind him who was feeling rather lonely.

"That's it." He exclaimed. "I want to go home now."

Annabeth frowned and shoved past Alyssa sitting down next to Percy.

"Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us?"

He looked us, a hint of humor in his eyes.

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

She rolled her eyes; "I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know."

Percy looked down, like he knew but he didn't want to.

"God." He said. "Half-god."

Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

"That's...crazy."

"Demigods," Annabeth said, "Thats the official term. Or half bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

Her hands tightened, gripping the edge of the dock. Percy knew he had just hit a rough spot in a sensitive area.

"My father is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American History."

"Who's your mom, then?"

"Cabin six." Annabeth stated.

"Meaning?"

Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"Then," Percy asked. "Whose my dad?"

"Undetermined." Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Annabeth gave him a cautious look. She didn't want to burst his bubble, so she just sighed. "Maybe your right. Maybe he will send a sigh claiming you as his son.."

"And Alyssa as his daughter," Percy finished.

Alyssa, hearing this from her forgotten place in the background, felt tears fill her eyes and she turned and raced off, not caring where she ended up. Percy and Annabeth didn't even realize she left...

"So I'm stuck here," Percy said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said, "Some only stay the summer. If your the child of Aphrodite or Demeter, monsters probably won't notice you. But if your a child of a powerful god, you can't go out because you attract too many monsters.

"So... You're a year rounder?"

Annabeth nodded. She pulled out a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors and a big gold ring in the middle.

"I've been here since I was seven," she said.

Before Percy could say more, the smell of barbecue smoke filled the air, coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must have heard his stomach growl. She told him to go on and that she would catch him later.

Percy stood up and raced back to cabin eleven, feeling a small annoyance in the back of his mind, like he had forgotten about something.

Meanwhile Alyssa was racing through the forest, her eyes filled with tears, her heart heavy with aloneness. She came to an little cove, similar to the one where she and Luke had been earlier before. She sat down on a large boulder, struggling to catch her breath, her hand clenched around the only thing that could help with her past: the golden necklace.

The tiny sun sparkled in her hand. Without thinking, she turned it over to see a small engraving on the back. It looked like a word that was written with twisting vines. As she squinted her eyes to try and read it, she let put a gasp.

Written on the back of her necklace was the word Atheia. Her memory took her back to a couple days ago when she was just getting on the bus, hearing the scary old ladies whispering, "Welcome back Antheia."

The name seemed so familiar, yet it was like it was blocked, locked away in a deep chest in the back if her mind. She tried to think of anything that might of happened, but other than the little snippets of faces, her mind went blank.

She started sobbing again, thinking to a different subject about what will happened when Percy gets claimed and he finds out that she isn't his sister.

She can see him getting mad at her, yelling for her to get out of his life.

She looked down when she felt a small nudge at her feet to see a small rabbit nestling against her shoe. She gave a little half laugh-half sob and leaned down to pick it up where it burrowed further into her arms. A deer emerged from the forest, along with a fox. They all cuddled around her, making her smile. Her stomach grumbled, interrupting the happy little gathering. The fox got up and tugged at her leg for her to follow him. She got up and set the bunny down, following the fox as it lead her back to camp.

When they reached the clearing, she leaned down again to give each of the animals a little hug. As she left, she head a voice in her head telling her goodbye.

Confused, she tuned around to see only the fox staring at her.

"Stay safe." She heard in her head again. The fox raised its paw and gave a little wave of goodbye before disappearing into the dark forest.

Alyssa groaned as she imagined that she was losing her mind, hearing animals talk.

But, hunger and exhaustion taking over her, she deemed it unworthy at the time and trudged back to her not so welcome home.

Back at cabin eight, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. Percy had just walked in, and for the first time, noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles- the kind of kids a teacher would peg as a troublemaker.

He walked to his little section of floor, grateful that no one was watching him and plopped down with his Minotaur horn. Thoughts of last night filled his head, the beast charging at him, thrusting the horn into its rib cage, Alyssa doing something crazy that caused the sky to go bizarre. Wait... Something he was forgetting.

He flew off the ground clutching his head. He was so stupid! He had forgotten about his sister, of all people! He searched around frantically, hoping to see the familiar brunette with green eyes. He went from camper to camper, getting more frantic as he searched longer. He saw Luke in the back of the cabin, leaning against a bunk bed. Percy raced over, but before he could say anything , the door cracked open, revealing a worn and tired Alyssa.

Percy sighed with relief. Running over to her and throwing his arms around her. She looked surprised, as if not expecting him to acknowledge her.

"Alyssa, please forgive me. I totally forgot about you and I'm so sorry."

Alyssa chuckled lightly, returning the hug.

"I suppose its ok, Percy. As long as you don't completely forget about me."

"Never."

The counselor, Luke, came over.

"Found you guys a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stoled you two some toiletries from the camp store."

"Thanks." Percy answered for the both of them.

"No problem," said Luke moving next to them, leaning his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"

"We don't belong here." Percy said looking down. "I don't even believe in gods."

"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."

The bitterness in his voice surprised both of the , for he seemed like a pretty easygoing guy.

"Luke," Percy asked, " What's the Big Three?"

He smiled. "Zeus, Poseidon , and Hades. Three sons of Kronos. Any kid of there's means really powerful. But thanks to some stupid prophecy, there aren't any more."

"What prophecy?"

"Don't worry about it, kid. It's not important right now. Besides, it's dinner time."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance.

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"

He led the cabin out of the building and over to the mess hall where they all squeezed into a table. Campers came from other cabins, too, except for the three empty tables at the end, and cabin eight, which was Artemis's cabin, but she swore to maiden hood.

Satyrs and Naiads emerged from the forest. In all, there was about a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

Alyssa saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor and raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody raised there glass, shouting again. Wood nymphs came forward with large platters of food, filed with several delicious assortments.

The glasses magically filled themselves with whatever they wanted.

Percy and Alyssa loaded their plates up and were about to take a bite when they noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates towards the fire in the center of the pavilion. Percy wondered if they were going for dessert or something.

"Come on," Luke whispered to them.

As they got closer, Alyssa saw everyone taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire.

Luke murmured in her ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

Percy, overhearing this, looked up in shock. "You're kidding."

Luke's look warned him not to take this lightly.

Luke approached the fire and tossed a cluster of grapes. "Hermes." He whispered.

Percy went next, wishful for a god to offer to. Finally he threw some brisket in, making a silent plea to have him father claim him.

When Alyssa went up, her eyes got lost in the fire, somewhat like a trance. The fire was somehow beckoning to her, pleading for her to come closer. She leaned in, feeling a warmth grow in her heart, but was grabbed and pulled away by another camper who was looking at her like she was crazy. Alyssa quickly threw some meat in and backed away, feeling ashamed.

When everyone had finished eating, Chiron pounded his hoof again.

Mr. D got up with a huge sign.

"I suppose I better say hello to all of you brats. Quick reminder that capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A cheer rose up from the Ares table.

"Personally, I couldn't care less. Oh, also we have two new campers: Peter Johnson..

Chiron murmured something.

"Sorry, Percy Jackson and Alyssa Jackson. That's right. Now hurry along to your silly little campfire.

Everybody cheered. They all headed down to the amphitheater where Apollo's cabin lead a sing-along. They sang, made s'mores, and joked around until all of the cabins filed back, ready for bed.

Alyssa and Percy both fell exhaustingly down onto their sleeping bags, closing their eyes, thinking of their first day at Camp Half Blood.

If only they knew how briefly they would enjoy their new home.

***Please Review***