Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or Camp Half-Blood or mythology. Rick does. Well, at least the characters and Camp Half-Blood.

Chapter 12

Percy stood at the campfire watching as Grover's shroud burned.

Normally, people didn't make shrouds for satyrs, but Percy felt inclined to. Grover was a person in his own right. He deserved more than just mourning.

Percy was, by no means, a good artist. He didn't want the shroud to be spectacular because that wasn't who Grover was. He wasn't ordinary, but he wasn't extraordinary, so Percy made his shroud very nature-like. The colours resembled that of the forest of camp, and there were a couple pictures of enchiladas, Grover's favourite snack. Percy hoped that would make him feel a little better but it didn't work.

All he could feel was anger. So much anger. He needed to blame someone, and the best bet was himself. He let Grover sacrifice himself. He couldn't hold the monsters back long enough. It was his fault that his best friend was dead.

There were quite a few people who turned out—some who had woken up with the shouting, some who had been on guard duty—but most of the camp was still sleeping. After all, none of them truly knew Grover. Those who did come offered their condolences and hoped that the magical border was truly Grover's spirit protecting camp.

Everybody drifted off to their cabins except for Thalia, Annabeth, Luke, Chiron and Clarisse.

The first three were somewhat hesitant to approach, but the daughter of Ares wasn't afraid to speak her view.

Clarisse was still in battle armour, and she looked a little choked up. Obviously, she wasn't showing it much—she hid her emotions more often than not—but she looked a little sad. Her armour clanked as she slowly walked over. With a gloomy expression, she said, "We've got borders now. I guess… I guess it's more—it's different from last time. But still the same in a way. They both gave their lives to protect camp. At least we know that."

"I suppose so," he replied. "Thanks for sticking around."

She awkwardly looked away. "No… no problem."

Without another word, she stalked off looking like a solider after another day of war.

It was odd of her to act like this, but he knew she was human after all. Like what Chiron said: "Children of Ares have feelings. They just tend to be more aggressive in their pursuits." Nevertheless, he appreciated the small gesture, even if it wasn't super heartfelt.

Thalia and Annabeth were next. They both looked devastated in their own way. Annabeth looked a little teary-eyed, and Thalia kept looking down guiltily, as if she felt it was her fault that he died. Truthfully, he could understand how she felt. The monsters were coming after her. If there were no monsters chasing her, Grover wouldn't have died. The true entity at fault was Hades, if he wanted to go to the extreme.

"He found us two weeks ago in Dover," Thalia said. "You wouldn't think people could become attached in two weeks, but Grover was a good person—good satyr. He had a good heart. We know it. How… how long did you know Grover?"

"Coming on six years." Percy's voice cracked. "Almost."

"Was he your best friend?" asked Annabeth.

Percy nodded. "Yeah."

The two acknowledged that and stared at the burned shroud. Both of them looked thoughtful.

After a minute of silence, Annabeth said, "It's Hades' fault, you know. It's his fault that the monsters came. It's his fault for wanting to kill Thalia. Don't blame yourselves for Grover's death. There was nothing you could have done about it."

"Doesn't matter," he said lowly. With a sigh, he turned to the two. "You guys should head off to the Big House. Chiron will introduce you both to camp and probably set you up with a temporary place to stay in the Big House for tonight. Tomorrow you'll be formally claimed and all that other stuff. Yeah so… Chiron's up there." He pointed up.

Thalia and Annabeth looked up. They gave him a sad look before trudging off to Chiron. Percy watched as the centaur and the two new campers disappeared over the hill. The campfire died out as only he and Luke remained. The son of Hermes inhaled and exhaled deeply as the silence of the night crept back over the camp.

Percy turned to walk away, but Luke spoke before he could leave.

"You didn't bring back the Fleece," Luke said.

"Go back to bed," Percy said through gritted teeth.

"You didn't bring—"

"I know!" Percy spun and shouted. "I know what I did do. I know what I didn't do."

"How could you be so careless?" asked the son of Hermes. "Now half of the plan can't work until later. Do you know how hard it's going to be to get the Fleece now? The Cyclops will be on the lookout now that you've been there recently."

"Are you serious?" The son of Poseidon's glare intensified. With a weak chuckle, he continued, "You've got to be kidding me. Grover just died, and all you care about is the stupid Fleece? You call me careless?"

Luke looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I—I know it's a little sad, but he matters more."

"Matters more?" bellowed Percy. "You're a heartless piece of crap if you think that. Who cares about the Cyclops? Who cares about the Fleece? What does it matter? Kronos can send in another stupid demigod to die trying if he wants it so badly. There are other ways he can heal."

"But the Fleece—"

"You didn't seem to care about the Fleece when you sent that Iris-message."

Luke looked stunned for a moment before he caught himself. "I forgot."

Percy laughed. "What a great excuse. I expected better from a son of Hermes. If you weren't delusional like the Olympians or the Titans, then you'd understand that not everything works out the way you plan. If you are cunning, like some Titans and gods, then you'd have made a back up to your back up to your back up. I'm never going back to the Sea of Monsters unless it is absolutely necessary. I'm not going to go and die for nothing."

"You sound like you're saying he is not a big deal," Luke pointed out.

"We have four years. Four years! The prophecy—the Great Prophecy—has something to do with a half-blood of the eldest gods when he or she turns sixteen. It doesn't matter if Kronos rises now; Olympus won't fall until I'm—until Thalia's sixteen."

"What?" Luke looked flabbergasted.

"And until you stop thinking about yourself selfishly, I'm not speaking to you." Percy showed Riptide, in pen form, to him. "If you try anything, I will run you through with this. I'm not hesitating."

Luke gave him a stony look. "Some friend you are," he scoffed.

"I only do this because the only memories I have with you are ones of your torturous past, and your vengeful future. I know exactly who you are, but you never show your light. That's what Grover did. And that's something I enjoy being around."

"You're becoming weak," Luke declared. "You're giving in to your emotions."

"Yeah, I have," Percy spat. "But guess what? So have you."

Angrily, he stormed away, leaving a confused son of Hermes to ponder his thoughts alone.

"Happy birthday, man," Charles Beckendorf congratulated.

Beckendorf was a son of Hephaestus. He was already tall for his age, but Percy knew he was going to grow into a huge dude. He was beginning to build muscles and was already making his mark as one of camp's best forgers of this generation. He didn't talk a lot and was shy, and despite his intimidating look, he was kind-hearted and hardworking.

"Thanks, Beckendorf," Percy said with a small smile.

Generally, people called him by his last name rather than his first name, and it sticked.

Silena Beauregard wasn't far behind. She gave him a quick hug and wished him a happy birthday before jogging off to the Pegasus stables. Other than him, she was the best equestrian that camp had to offer. The pegasi really liked her. And it wasn't just because she was good with animals. Percy knew a couple of the winged horses that fancied the young daughter of Aphrodite. It was amusing and disgusting at the same time. Hopefully it meant that they thought she was pretty. And only that.

Percy wished that his birthday was during summer camp, but camp always ends a couple weeks before school starts up again. His birthday, August 18th, was after everyone left. Well, everyone aside from winter campers. There were a few.

The Stoll brothers—brothers who looked so similar that at first sight they looked like twins—were named Travis and Connor. They were sons of Hermes and were pranksters, to put it simply. There were Beckendorf and Silena. There was Katie Gardner and her sisters from Demeter. There were a bunch of Ares kids, including Clarisse. And a few Apollo campers. And other campers here and there.

It was rather quiet during the winter, which wasn't much of an adjustment for Percy. For Thalia and Annabeth, it had been a huge adjustment from living on the streets alone to living comfortably in a camp with people—aside from the Ares cabin—who actually cared and helped them… mostly.

Annabeth, Thalia and Luke sat around him on August 18th watching the cake as he blew out the candles. The three of them cheered and congratulated him on his birthday.

Thalia was right. It was amazing how far friendships could grow in just a couple of weeks.

"So who made this cake?" Percy asked, eyeing it hungrily.

Thalia and Annabeth both looked at Luke. Luke looked at him. "I—I thought you knew."

He looked at his cake and touched the icing. It was warm. In realization, he shouted "Hit the deck!" and leaped from his seat. Luke followed his lead, obviously figuring out who had made the cake, or at least tampered with it. However, Thalia and Annabeth, confused, sat there as the cake exploded into pieces. Icing splattered everywhere.

"What in the name of—?" Thalia cried out.

"Run!" Connor Stoll shouted at his brother.

"Get back here, you stupid dumbasses!" Thalia shouted as she chased after them. "I swear I will kill you!"

Percy laughed and brushed his pants as he got up. He looked at Luke and gave him an accusatory look. The son of Hermes put his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, you told me to show my 'light,'" he said. "Here it is."

Percy rolled his eyes and shoved him back. "You suck."

Luke laughed. "Don't I?"

Percy turned to Annabeth who was wiping the icing out of her hair. He smirked and said, "You look great."

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "Don't I look great?"

He smiled. Reaching over, he picked up a piece of cake off her head and ate it. "Hey, you know, the Stoll brothers aren't bad at cooking if they can make something like this."

"Did you really just eat that?" asked a disgusted Annabeth. "That was in my hair."

"I'm sure your hair doesn't taste bad, unless you rub dirt on it all day or something." Percy took a piece off her shoulder and popped it in his mouth. "But I'd be amazed if your hair could withstand all that dirt. You know, because it's a pretty golden blonde."

She rolled her eyes. "Idiot." But her red face made it seem funny.

"I'm going to go wash up," Annabeth decided. "Tell me when the real cake gets here, if there is one."

"Oh, there is one," Luke confirmed. "We'll get you back when the real cake is here."

She ran off to the bathroom, her blonde hair flying behind her.

When she was gone, Percy punched Luke in the shoulder. "That's for blowing up my first cake."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Katie and her sisters—I'm surprised none of the guys stayed—are making the second cake right now. I told them not to make it too healthy. You know, considering their mother is the goddess of agriculture, and wheat is big in agriculture. Cake's made from flour and blah blah blah."

"Who was it this time?" a voice said from behind them.

Percy turned to see Chiron staring at the mess left in the dining pavilion. The centaur lifted his eyebrows in curiosity. Immediately, Percy pointed at Luke. Luke gave him a betrayed look as Chiron smiled. "Thank you. Luke, I advise that you clean this up before Mr. D sees this mess and decides to punish you long term for it."

Chiron began to walk away, but he seemed to remember something. "Oh, and if one of you could go tell Thalia it is camp's policy that we do not kill other campers."

Then the centaur left.

"I'll go tell her!" Luke said quickly before running off toward the screams of the Stoll brothers.

"Hey, wait! You're supposed to… You little piece of—" Percy cut himself off. "For the gods' sake, Luke. Why can't you clean up the mess you created?"

Percy looked around. There was no one looking. Maybe he could summon water to wash the food away. He ran to get a bucket and filled it up with water. He cleaned up the mess, summoning water whenever he needed to get rid of the icing. He was almost done, summoning the last little bit of water, when a stunned voice spoke from behind him:

"Percy?"

It was a girl's voice. He spun around at saw Katie Gardner staring wide-eyed at him. She was holding a beautiful cake in her hands, but it juxtaposed the look of horror on her face. Percy slowly stood up and approached her. He took the cake from her and set it down on the table.

"Are you—?" She didn't finish.

"A son of…" Percy continued, trailing off in case she wasn't thinking what he was.

"Po—Poseidon?" She finished.

"You can't tell anyone," he begged. "Please."

"Do the others—"

"Know? No. I can't let them know. I have to wait for the right time… for the right opportunity. This isn't the right time. Especially with Thalia being the daughter of Zeus. If people found out the boy living at camp for years was a child of the Big Three right after she arrived, it would look suspicious. Just promise me, swear to the River Styx, that you won't reveal this to anyone until I'm claimed properly."

"I—I swear to the River Styx."

Thunder rumbled in the sky.

"Thank you. And trust me I'm still the same person. I'm not any different just because I'm the son of Poseidon."

Katie nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. Of course."

He smiled. "And thanks for making this cake. I bet it tastes awesome."

She smiled back. "No… no problem."

Percy watched as Katie jogged back to her cabin. She occasionally looked back. He hoped she could see his reassuring smile. When she was out of his sight, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that hadn't gone awkwardly. He sat down on the bench and ate some of the icing. A smile split his face.

"Sugary," he said.

A couple seconds later, Thalia and Luke entered the pavilion, and they were laughing really hard. They sat down on the opposite side on him on the bench. Thalia looked at the cake and asked, "This one isn't going to explode on us, is it?"

"I'm not sure if you want to blow up the Demeter cabin," Luke said. "Katie and her sisters made this."

Thalia's eyes flickered behind Percy for a moment before she returned her gaze to the cake. Percy was tempted to turn around, but Thalia swiped some icing off the cake and ate it. Percy frowned and said, "Hey! We should wait for Annabeth to return."

"It's sugary," Thalia said with a grin. "It's good. Try some Luke."

He tried some. "Wow, the icing is good. The question is, though, is the cake itself good?"

"Well, when Annabeth gets back we can—"

A hand pushed Percy's head forward, cutting him off, and his face smashed into the cake. Icing coated his face, and he got a mouthful of the floury sponge cake. He lifted his head, cleaned his eyes and turned around. Thalia and Luke burst into laughter, but Annabeth was laughing the most. She cleaned herself up well. But he planned to dirty her up a little more.

He got up from his seat and lunged at her with his icing-covered hand. She dodged the hand.

"And you call yourself the mature one?" Percy snorted.

Annabeth gave him a sneaky smile.

"By the way," Luke said through his laughter, "thanks for cleaning up the mess. You really didn't have to."

"I just didn't want Dionysus to get pissed," Percy shrugged, licking some of the icing off his face. "That's all."

Just then, a sleepy Mr. D entered the dining pavilion and stared at them. He yawned and said, "That's a good look for you, Perry. You should keep it." He lazily trudged out of the pavilion without another word, and the other three burst into laughter again.

"Oh, thank you very much," Percy said sarcastically. "Have fun eating the cake I got my face all over. I'm going to wash up."

He walked over to the bucket of water and used the water inside to clean himself up.

"Are you really using water out of that bucket to wash your face?" Thalia asked.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. "I mean, it's like taking a bath in a lake or a river or an ocean or something. Pollution but you do it anyway. Besides, the water in here isn't that bad. For example, I could dump this water all over Annabeth in revenge. But I won't. I'm not going to sink down to her level."

"So you're better than me now, huh, Jackson?" Annabeth challenged.

He nodded. "Yup. I'm twelve now."

She laughed. "I turned twelve last month. Got this from my mom." She pulled out her Yankees cap. "It'll come in handy if I ever go on a quest. So technically, I'm older and more mature than you are. Trust me; you would do the same thing… and then some to any other person."

"What makes you think you're so special?"

"You tell me."

Thalia sighed. "I have to wait 'til December 21st. It's so far away."

"Wait, Annabeth's older than you?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "But I got the physical strength and power. She uses her mind a lot more than I do."

"You actually use your head?" Percy asked. "Shocker."

She zapped him.

In retaliation, he threw the water at her. It doused her, and part of Luke, and Percy's eyes widened. He knew he was in trouble now. Thalia's eyes crackled with electricity, the same way it had when she was chasing after the Stolls, but it was scarier now that it was directed at him. He ducked behind Annabeth as Thalia stood up, ready to blast him with a lightning bolt as powerful as Zeus' master bolt. Well… maybe half the master bolt's strength.

"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia thundered.

He cringed. "Sorry!"

"Stand up and stop being a coward," she snarled.

"No thanks," he said.

"I will come over there and—"

"Oh no you're not." Percy put his arm around Annabeth's neck and pulled her out from her seat. His forearm fit right until Annabeth's chin, and he squeezed so she wouldn't slip out. Unfortunately, this made it a little harder for her to breathe, but that wasn't his priority at the moment. Annabeth's hands slapped him as she squirmed, but it was better than being blasted by lightning. "Not while Annabeth's like this you won't."

"Let go of me," Annabeth hissed as she clawed at his face.

"Come on, Thalia," he urged. "It was an accident. We're still friends. Friends don't kill each other."

"You better not have ruined my leather jacket," Thalia growled. "Or bad things will happen to you."

He shivered. "I can fix it. I promise. I'll bring it back to you at dinner."

She hesitated for a second. Her eyes blazed as if she was going to smite both him and Annabeth but instead she took her leather jacket off and threw it to him. Percy let go of Annabeth and caught the jacket. Naturally, Annabeth punched him in the shoulder, but against her word, Thalia zapped him in the nuts.

Percy collapsed to the ground in pain. "I did not deserve that."

Thalia smirked. "Yes you did."

"You are a cruel, cruel girl," he groaned.

"As Annabeth would say, 'True friends stab you in the front,'" she said. "An Oscar Wilde quote."

"Who's Oscar Wilde? And how the Hades do you remember anything Annabeth says about books?"

"He was an Irish writer and poet," Annabeth said, clearly insulted. "And he was a son of Apollo. I should kick you in the balls for what you said, but I'll save that for another time." She gave him a sweet smile that was so sweet it looked malicious.

"What are we going to do?" he asked. "Stab each other until we bleed out?"

"It's a metaphorical term, Percy," Luke said.

"I know that."

"I'm just reminding you." Luke put his hands up in surrender again. "You know, in case you forgot."

Percy sighed. "Whatever, I'm going to clean this jacket. I'll see you guys at dinner. If Thalia hasn't hunted me down by then." He gave her a pointed glare.

She smiled innocently.

Percy turned to jog off, but Luke stopped him. The son of Hermes said, "Wait, Percy! Can I ask you something?"

"Sure?" Percy said uneasily.

"Okay, so… it's about that night." Luke gestured toward the ash tree that stood on Half-Blood Hill. "What happened that night? I know it makes all of you uneasy, but whenever we get close to talking about something related to that subject, you all look guilty. There has to be a reason. You couldn't have been fighting the monsters that closely all the way to camp."

Percy glanced at the two girls. Annabeth looked down. Thalia stared straight forward. Percy figured he would have to talk when Thalia piped up: "I thought we were dead when Percy found us. The details of him finding us are fuzzy because I was half out of it. I got a good whack on the head just before he came. But the night started with me, Annabeth and Grover in Philadelphia."

"Philadelphia?"

"I managed to successfully hotwire a car for the first time. I'm way underage, but my mother… she was a drunk. I was young and an idiot. I thought I could learn how to drive. I did without ever getting caught, and Grover, Annabeth and I made it to Staten Island when the first army of skeleton warriors reached us. I—I summoned a bolt and destroyed at least two dozen of them. We kept driving. The car broke down in Brooklyn, and Grover led us into Flatbush. We took some wrong turns, but it wasn't Grover's fault. We had to avoid monsters. He was doing his best."

"We were in front of an old house when the hellhounds found us," Annabeth continued, her face grim in the growing darkness of the late evening. "Thalia summoned another lightning strike, but she couldn't keep it up forever. We'd been running for a while. More monsters were lurking around, so Grover took us into the house to hide. There was an upstairs and a downstairs. We split up to check the place out and we got lost in the corridors. There—there was a Cyclops there. He…" Annabeth shivered. "He imitated our voices."

"I heard Annabeth's voice, she heard Grover's, and Grover heard mine," Thalia added. "We got captured. I could've beaten the Cyclops, but I was too tired. He knocked me to the floor with a good swipe, and I was useless after that. I was dizzy and everything."

"It was Grover first," Annabeth said. "Then I came across the main room. I put on my hat of invisibility, but the Cyclops sniffed me out. I don't know how he did it but he picked me up, dropping my Yankees cap, and tied me up next to Grover. We thought we were done for. The Cyclops started to make a fire. He was preparing to cook us. Thalia knew that it would end sooner or later, and I guess she figured it was her time. But Percy didn't."

"Thanks, by the way," Thalia noted. "I know it's already been a couple weeks but we still haven't thanked you."

"There're a lot of things you haven't done," Percy said with a small smile. "But then I again, I don't expect you to do them all. Then you two just wouldn't be who you are."

"He found my Yankees cap while I was trying to free myself with my knife. The Cyclops suddenly sniffed the air and said something about something being fishy. He knocked Percy away and began imitating voices that I'd never heard before—voices I now know belong to an ugly, horrible step-father, and a deceased mother. Percy was having none of that. And he fought like a whirlwind. It's… it's hard to describe. It was almost as if he'd fought a Cyclops before."

Luke caught Percy's eye. They shared a secret mental message.

"It's hard not to be amazed, but when Grover started boasting about him, it was hard not to be grudgingly appreciative of what he did. He did save our lives. But he was a stranger. I didn't know if I could trust him. I don't think Thalia could have trusted him that easily either. As we drove, Grover and Percy acted like they'd known each other since birth. It was quiet, but I could just sense it. And when Grover… when Grover died, and Percy killed all those monsters, and he cried after, it was heartbreaking. This machine of a monster killer was human. He had weaknesses. He could be prey. That's kind of what drew me to him."

"No offence, Annabeth, but it kind of sounds like you're talking about a boyfriend," Thalia said.

"I was kind of thinking the same thing," Luke replied.

Percy blushed, and Annabeth went so red she looked like a pimple ready to be popped.

"I say 'kind of' because what you said is pretty much my train of thought too," Thalia added. "Don't take this in a bad way, Percy. I like you… but as a friend."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he replied.

"We're all friends here," she said. "We can trust one another."

"No matter the circumstances," added Annabeth.

Percy and Luke shared a look. It was curious to see a different emotion in Luke's eyes. It was curious to see something other than hatred and the desire for revenge. For the first time since he arrived at camp, Luke actually looked happy to be hanging out like this. Maybe this could last. But if he knew what Luke was thinking, it would be a dark quartet.

Exploit their weaknesses, Kronos said. Turn them.

And for once, Percy shut off Kronos' voice. He ignored it and relished in the moment, because if Kronos was going to rise, he needed every last drop of happiness he could get before time's shadow could pass over and consume them.

Hey there, everybody!

Clarifications for this chapter: At the end of the first part, when Luke is left confused, Luke doesn't grasp the fact that he's joining Kronos' side due to his anger, which is an emotion. Only later does he realize that fun is a part of everything. The only thing about Luke that Percy believes is true is that Luke is a dark person willing to tear things down and build them new again. Percy believes Luke is mostly coldhearted and lacks some morality, which is a thing Percy believes he is good at: understanding people.

Percy, although he dislikes the gods, also desires to be a normal kid. He doesn't want pain, death and destruction, even though he knows it's coming. He wants to live a normal life, and often envies mortals, who live in ignorance. He wants to be generic, like many heroes do. The only difference-SPOILER ALERT-is that a part of his character and personality and beliefs is that he will never want to become the hero. He is just bold in sticking up for his friends and is willing to lead an army to defend what he thinks is right. SPOILER ENDED.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, ask. Please.

Thanks,
SharkAttack719