authors notes: chapter 4! Hope you all enjoy :)
Chapter 4: Rustle
Percy's P.O.V
A sharp knock on my cabin front door tore me from my not so peaceful dreams, I looked at the clock and saw the time *5:36am* and I blinked.
"Who in the gods names decided to wake me up this early" I growled quietly to myself. I quickly answered the door, standing in front of me was a huge, looming, horse-like figure.
"Chiron?" I guessed.
"Yes boy, I am sorry to wake you up at such and hour but I believe a quest has thrust itself upon you.
"Gods damn it." I hissed to myself. I had thought this summer would be peaceful, or relatively so because of the defeat of Kronos and his army of monsters and Demi-gods alike.
"It's not monsters this time Percy, but it is not necessarily better or worse" Chiron whispered grimly, trying not to wake up the other sleeping campers.
"Let us talk in the big house Percy, we may be able to get a little privacy" said Chiron, I looked around but didn't see anyone at all, I looked at Chiron and raised an eyebrow in question but he just shook his head and we walked on, to the big house.
Once we were in the big house Chiron started shuffling around nervously, clacking his hooves on the scuffed wooden floor.
"Percy, before I tell you what the quest is, I have to know if you accept it or not." He said in a serious voice. A bunch of things rolled through my mind struggling for dominance; should I take the quest, what would await me, SLEEEEP and who would I bring on my quest? I battled them all of and tried to clear my head.
"Okay, I accept." I yawned, trying not to sound like I was dying from lack of sleep was harder than I expected. I looked at Chiron and could tell he was worried, maybe it was because I was tired, I thought drowsily?
"Alright." He said with a resigned sigh, "This quest is a special request from Hephaestus, several of his Automatons have gone, haywire." Said Chiron, "and they are spread all over the continent." He added, almost as an after thought.
"Great." I thought, Automatons are notoriously hard to kill, because usually they are only fully killed after you dice them up into small pieces or you disconnect the motherboard from the connecting wires, that will shut 'em down as well, in other words, cut there heads off and they "might" stop working.
"Okay, when do I start?" I said.
"You may leave whenever you like, within a reasonable time frame" said Chiron, "Oh." He said, his face paling a little, "this quest, is to be done on your own".
I walked back to my cabin, and looked around. It was still dark but I could see streaks of a brilliant orange and pale pink bordering the almost dark purple lake, it was a very picturesque scene and reminded me of a postcard cover. But just like that, I was jerked out of my deep thoughts by rustling in a nearby fern tree, I spun around wondering who was there and was greeted by a pair of brown eyes staring at me, unblinking. I realised that it was the same pair of eyes that I had glimpsed on my way into camp, it could not have been a monster because they couldn't get in through the camp boundaries... Unless someone wanted them to. With a start I realised it was a dog, it slowly trotted out of the tree, and started to sniff my hand, huh. It must have classified me as a friend, he looked up at me his dark brown eyes glinted with intelligence.
Yes, I decided it was a he, he just... Looked like a he?
This dog definitely wasn't what he looked like though, nothing ever was in Camp Half-Blood, he wouldn't have wandered in if he was just a normal bull mastiff. Then as quick as lightning he was off, and scurried into a nearby bush. I realised I hadn't heard him disappear, I wonder I heard him in the fern tree? Maybe he had wanted me to find him.
As I got to my cabin I started to get stuff ready to go and fight robots, sounds comical doesn't it? I packed my backpack full of stuff to help out my quest, counting it off; Ambrosia, Nectar, over 300 dollars worth of mortal money, roughly 30 drachmas, food, water and all the other essential things. I put on a pair of durable jeans and a green Camp Half-Blood shirt and set off. Half way up the hill I realised something... I couldn't leave Annabeth just like that, she would be worried sick.
I placed a crumpled piece of paper on her bed-side table, before quietly tip-toeing out of her cabin, mindful not to wake anyone up...they would be pissed. I hiked to the peak of the hill to Thalia's tree and looked back down at the camp. The sun had almost fully risen and the sky had turned a crisp blue colour, for some reason I felt like I wouldn't make it back to the camp in as good a condition I was now. I walked down the hill and realised the dog I had seen earlier on, was running behind me, I waited a bit for it to catch up then kept walking.
"You coming along for the journey then, buddy?" I said to the dog, he barked at me in agreement.
"Well, what we gonna call you then?", he looked at me and I realised he must be giving me the choice. "How about... Justin?"
He barked again. Off we walked, to battle giant robots. I grinned.
The Note
Dear Annabeth,
Did I ever tell you why I liked you?
It's because your independent and can look after yourself, otherwise I wouldn't have left so quickly. I wanted to get to fighting huge robots.
I guess you could think of it this way; the sooner I leave, the sooner I come back.
Don't worry, I'll be back.
Love ya ;)
-Percy
