AN: I changed the name of the story! I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused!
Chapter 4. Connor: Freaks, Tweaks and Shrieks.
Camp Half Blood in the summer was hot. The rays of the summer sun was beat down our backs, making us sweat profusely. The Camp was the place-to-be for demigods in the summer and was bustling with campers, new and old. Campers greeted each other with yells, happy to see their friends all in one piece and Clarisse was already leading a bunch of newbies to the toilets. I shuddered, remembering my own 'initiation' by Clarisse.
"Hurry, Connor!" Travis hissed from behind me. We were crawling back to our cabin from the back of Demeter's after having 'redecorated' their cabin with some supplies we borrowed from the Aphrodite cabin's store room- which looked more like a shopping complex if you asked me. The sheer number of new cabins made sneaking around easier and the large rose bushes around Cabin Four provided good cover. Something Travis apparently didn't realize. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; I am the smarter brother after all.
"Jeez, I'm going! What's with you, dude?" I hissed back. He didn't bother to answer my question preferring instead to check our surroundings, making sure no one was watching us. No one was. I rolled my eyes. I didn't know why he was so uptight. It was like his clothes were too tight instead of mine.
Unfortunately, the Aphrodite cabin cursed us after a particularly awesome prank we played on them with the help of the Eris cabin. My clothes became two sizes too small no matter how many times I changed them. It made me feel like a geek. Travis was luckier. He only had permanent makeup on his face that made him look like a clown. He was one in the first place, so what difference did it make? He didn't have to live in fear of ripping his pants. In public.
"Con-ner!" He pushed me forwards. Gosh, what was wrong with him? Sure, we're playing a prank. On the Demeter cabin. For which Katie would probably hunt us down and kill us. Literally. But still we had done worse before. Travis shoved me again, interrupting my train of thought.
"Okay, okay!" I inched forward and suddenly we saw a truly spectacular view. Katie Gardner and Jenna St. Croix – which I'm told means St. Cross- the new head counselor for the Aphrodite cabin, were glaring daggers at each other in front of Katie's cabin. Man, if looks could kill those girls would have sent each other to Hades before you could say steal.
"Well, it's not my fault that someone saw your horrible taste in decorations and redecorated your cabin. " Jenna was sneering. Her voice was loud and dripping with malice. She looked like she just stepped off a TV screen. She had long lustrous blonde hair that reached her waist; every follicle of it was in place. Her nails were manicured and painted shocking pink. When I say shocking, I mean shocking. Jenna had on clothes that were probably stylish but looked more uncomfortable than my currently too tight ones. Her face was perfect right down to her glossy lips and bright blue eyes. Jenna St Croix, I decided, was a living, breathing Barbie. She looked pretty – and lifeless. "It was about time anyway." Her mean voice surprised me. Jenna was usually quite nice to everyone. Now, she looked downright evil; anger twisting her usually perfect face. For a second I thought I saw her eyes turn green but as quickly as it came, the green faded away.
I stopped and pointed the scene out to Travis when he protested. We settled down and began watching. This was even better than pranking Percy and Annabeth. Travis looked worried but I was grinning. Our plan worked faster than I thought it would.
"Very funny, Jenna." Katie's voice was calmer and more controlled. Her jet black hair was hanging loose around her shoulders. Her brown eyes were wide and accusing. She looked like Jenna's total opposite. She wore jeans that were streaked with dirt and a loose Camp Half Blood T-shirt. "We know it was you. We get what you're saying but please, just please, remove that hor- I mean, take all that stuff away. You're not doing us any favors" Katie tugged the ends of her hair, looking worried. I saw Travis follow the gesture with admiring eyes.
Frowning, I opened my mouth to ask him why in Hades was he staring at Katie like she was wearing Aphrodite's magical belt. What was it called again? A bridle? No, a girdle. Jenna's voice brought my attention back to the little spat before us. It was quite funny. I wished I had popcorn. This was better than TV.
"Now listen hear, Dirt Girl" Jenna walked – or rather, twitched, towards Katie and poked a finger in her chest. "I- that is, we didn't do anything. I was just searching for some stuff of ours when I heard about your new 'decorations'. Comprendre?" Now, speaking French was just way over the top but Katie managed to stay cool.
"Then, someone must have set us up." Katie's voice had changed. She looked around with narrow eyes, her gaze passing over our hiding place.
"Uh-oh" I breathed. Travis, needless to say, freaked.
"What is it? What's wrong?" I rolled my eyes again.
"Are you deaf, moron? Gardner suspects something. Let's scat." We scrambled from our hiding places but Jenna's next words froze us in place.
"Oh, you're so quick to throw the blame on someone else, aren't you?" Jenna threw her head back and laughed. Her perfect teeth flashed in the midday sun. The sound of her laugh attracted the attention of a few other campers. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Jenna was accusing Katie of stealing. But I pushed on anyway. We have to get away fast or we'll be discovered. Travis had other ideas. He scrambled through the bushes towards Katie. I caught the tail of his shirt and pulled him back.
"What in Dad's name do you think you're doing?" I hissed. Travis looked at me with glazed eyes. I shook his shoulders a little to get my point across.
"But she's blaming her." I had no doubt who the 'her' was.
"Yeah, so? It wouldn't be the first time we found a scapegoat" I shot back.
"But its Katie" This seemed to give my idiot of a brother resolve and he pushed me away, heading towards the two girls who were still bickering. Jenna had backed Katie into the wall of her cabin. Katie was listening to Jenna ranting on about something with a perplexed look on her face.
Fortunately, the camp alarm sounded, freezing Travis in his tracks. The alarm had been one of the latest additions to camp. After the war, Chiron decided that we needed something to warn all campers of an attack wherever they were. To put it simply, the alarm was very loud and very annoying. But it did its job though. All the campers began rushing towards the mess hall. I joined the, but Travis kept running towards Katie. Grabbing her hand, Travis pulled her away from Jenna who was looking at the two of us with a calculating look in her eyes.
"C'mon Travis!" I called over my shoulder. Merging into the crowd easily, I ran towards the mess hall, out stripping everyone else. Hermes kids had always been good runners. Travis, who was still dragging Katie, and I reached the mess hall and ran towards Chiron and Annabeth who were already there. They looked grim, I realized. Their faces reminded me of the day they told us that Luke was a traitor and was trying to bring Kronos back. In other words, this is bad. Very bad.
"'Sup, Annabeth?' I asked. Looking around, I added "Where's Perce?"
"Missing" Annabeth's voice was flat and emotionless. Her face was hard but her eyes were burning with anger. Travis and Katie looked shocked and I probably didn't look to cool anyway. For a second I thought Annabeth was kidding but one look at her face told us the truth. We let loose a babble of questions; how, when, what, why but Annabeth ignored all of us. Raising her voice, she spoke to all the campers who had gathered in the hall by then. "Demigods!" She called, her voice filled with passion. The campers immediately fell silent, struck by the power of Annabeth's voice. "What would you do if one of us was missing?"
The answer was instantaneous. "Find them!" chorused the campers. I had no idea where Annabeth was going with this. This was beyond surprising. This was scary. Percy. Percy was missing. Percy the most powerful demigod since the civil war was missing. Percy the hero of the Second Titan War was missing. Percy. Annabeth plowed on.
"What would you do if the person who fought for us, who asked that all the gods be treated equally, who is the reason every one of you have been claimed, was missing? What would you do if Perseus Jackson was missing?" Annabeth's voice had risen to a shout. Her words fell like blocks of stones on the campers who were now silent. When no one answered, Annabeth raised her arms and shouted. "What would you do demigods?" The look on her face was scary-she looked angry and determined at the same time. She looked like a person with nothing to lose, I realized.
"What are you getting at Annabeth?" Clarisse called out of the crowd. The other campers looked at her expectantly for an answer. I realized that Chiron had been quiet throughout the entire exchange. I looked up at him. Chiron met my eyes steadily. He looked old – the lines on his face deeper than ever- and so infinitely sad. There was something else too, another emotion flitting about the edges his face. Guilt, I realized. Chiron looked guilty. Just then Annabeth dropped the bomb.
"Percy is missing." All hell broke loose. Campers were yelling over each other, asking every question imaginable, and some girls even broke down in tears. The head counselors of all the cabins were shouldering their way to us with grim looked on their faces. Annabeth raised her hand and silence fell. Everyone was holding their breath staring at Annabeth. They looked scared. Scared at what will become of us now that our hero was gone. Will more of us disappear? Are we going to get him back?
"It has been three days now. Chiron, Rachel and me -" I looked up sharply when she mentioned Rachel and saw her in the shadows. She looked dazed. Dazed and weak like she just gave a prophecy. I got a very bad feeling. "have been IM-ing everyone close to him or acquainted to him in anyway. But…" Annabeth trailed off, looking at each and every one of us with a wild look in her eyes. "Will we stand for this, demigods?" Her voice had dropped to a whisper but it carried easily in the silent hall. "Will we let our hero be taken away without a fight?"
Her words spoke to something in me. Anger rose up and I stood up straight – ignoring my tight clothes- and said quietly. "No." Every demigod in Camp turned to look at me. I raised my voice. "No!" Annabeth smiled, her eyes met mine sending a wordless thanks. I nodded back.
The other campers took up the chant. "No, no, no, no!" Annabeth looked at Chiron smugly. Chiron still looked sad though. He stepped forward and clapped his hands for silence. We looked at him eagerly.
"No one, I repeat no one will leave camp." Chiron's voice was somber, like he was attending a funeral. Annabeth turned to him, giving him such a furious look that I was grateful that she was looking at Chiron like that and not me. Chiron, however, over rid our protests with a flick of his finger. His sad face made him looked scarier than ever. "Mr. D has gone to consult the gods. We all agree that this is no ordinary disappearance." Are disappearances ever ordinary? He wasn't making any sense. I wanted to go out and search for Percy. Why can't we? Percy can't be missing!
Annabeth stepped forward; she looked frustrated like she couldn't believe what Chiron was saying. Join the club. "Chiron, you heard them." She swept her hands out, showing Chiron all the campers that stood there with determined, sad and shocked faces. "They want to go! Let's search for him. Please." Chiron shook his head.
"You know the rules, Annabeth. No one leaves without a prophecy." Now, Chiron just sounded tired. We all looked at Rachel expectantly. I grinned. She had a prophecy. She just had it. C'mon Rachel! Show him! My mental cheers failed. Rachel just shook her head and said something in an undertone to Chiron. Then, she walked off. The rest of us stared at her, crushed. I couldn't believe it. She lied! She freaking lied to us!
But Chiron nodded like he expected nothing less. "It is done. All of you are to return to your activities." Seeing Annabeth's face, he added quietly. "Do you want to hurt more campers Annabeth?" Annabeth look taken aback at the question. I never heard Chiron talk to Annabeth that way before. She was like his adopted child. "I thought not." He turned and walked away.
Travis and I exchanged quick looks. We began making over way through the now disappointed campers to the cabin. Katie went with us and I saw that she and Travis were still holding hands. I felt alarmed. Travis and Katie? Katie Gardner? She who hated us since we decorated her cabin roof with chocolate bunnies? Which were absolutely delicious, by the way. Slowly, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Travis's glazed expression whenever she's around. His reluctance to get her in trouble. I realized with a jolt that recently he had been gone from the cabin a lot too. Travis Stoll having a girlfriend? The idea was laughable. And yet…
I was distracted by the sight of Annabeth coming out of her cabin. Her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying. I stopped in surprised. Travis and Katie didn't notice, absorbed in an intense discussion of their own. I walked towards Annabeth cautiously. She raised her head when I got close and I gave an awkward half wave that made me feel even geekier than my stupid clothes.
"Hey Conner." She sounded normal despite her red rimmed eyes. "I was just informing Nico of – our problem." I nodded, not sure what to say. "I called Grover too. He'll be here as soon as possible."
"Annabeth!" I turned to see an Apollo camper; Claire something-or-another, running towards us like the Minotaur was after her. "Rachel just fainted! We don't know what happened! Come quick!"
Exchanging dark looks, Annabeth and I ran towards the direction Claire indicated. I got a sudden feeling of foreboding. More was coming, I realized. The question was, more of what?
AN: Not exactly the best of my chapters I know. This is more of a beginning than anything else. I did drop a few hints though. Things will pick up in the next few chapters, I promise. Oh and for anyone who is curious, the prank Conner and Travis did was described in The Demigod Files. It's called the Golden Mango. I tweaked the details a little though. I apologize for the delay in publishing too, I had some home work to do regarding where this story is heading. I hope you like the new name!