Chapter Twelve

Percy

Monday, August 9th

For the first time, Percy and his cousins were allowed to go outside of the arena. They stood alone in front of Chiron in a line. Off in the distance Percy could see Omáda's House. It seemed to be like theirs, with a small deck running around it except for the fact it was orange and white instead of blue and white. They seemed to be in a forest because they were surrounded by tall trees. In the distance Percy could hear running water.

Chiron sat tall in his wheelchair, "Because of your…unique abilities I'll have to be doing most of your training to do with that. I'd like to give you your Omáda uniforms…"

He passes out the orange t-shirts. Along with it came white jackets. Thalia was laughing quietly, "What are these, dance jackets?"

Chiron rolled his eyes which was extremely out of character, "We wear them on missions."

"Any missions coming up?" Percy asked slyly as to not raise any suspicion about Hawaii. Smooth, Percy, smooth.

Chiron narrowed his eyebrows, "Worry about being trained before you six go on any missions." Percy frowned at that. Chiron continued to talk, "Today we will have an eight hour session." Percy inwardly groaned. He hoped there would be breaks. "Four hours will be dedicated to swords and archery, then we will have a short break and then get on with your special training. Good?"

Everyone nodded. "Any questions?" Chiron inquired.

Bianca raised her hand, "Does anyone else have abilities?"

Chiron flinched like he was thinking of a bad memory, "Yes…but they've been trained to control them. You have yet to learn."

Percy nodded. When he was younger this random kid was getting bullied so Percy jumped into the fight. A fire hydrant nearby burst. And nobody knew why. Now Percy knew.

"Now twist your sword," Luke instructed. Percy twisted it and the blade fell from Luke's hand, "You're good at this for a twelve year old."

"Thanks." Apparently he liked to give compliments. Percy and Luke had been partnered up for today. Percy had been learning new tricks by the minute—not that he didn't learn anything when he was with Annabeth. Annabeth taught him the basics like how to hold a sword and his stance. Luke was teaching him how to actually use the sword.

"Watch your stance Percy, keep that arm extended," Luke instructed. The two of them continued their mock sparring match. After a bit Luke and Percy headed towards a cooler. Inside were bottles of water. They sat on a bench.

"When are we going to learn to fight for real?" Percy asked after he took a sip of his water. It was really refreshing.

"At this rate, I'd say by the end of the week," Luke replied. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Is that a good thing?" Percy asked.

Luke nodded, "A very good thing."

"So…" Percy's words faded, "Have you ever met the Olympians?"

Luke grimaced, "Yeah. All of Omáda did about a year before we met you guys. They were all there except for Chiron's mysterious bosses. We were told they were busy," Luke shrugged. "I mean, I guess they would be being basically America's anchors."

"What's your story?" Percy took another sip of his water, "Like," Percy paused. "I was sitting in my room when my mom got a phone call. It was Poseidon and he wanted to meet me. At first I said no because who would want to meet their father who couldn't even stick around in their lives?"

Luke nodded, "That's basically everyone's story. A mom or dad that left them and all of a sudden wanted their help. Except for Zoë, Grover, Juniper and Reyna."

"What's their story?"

Luke hesitated before significantly lowering his voice, "Zoë's dad is with Kro—K. With K. She lives with her mom. Grover's parents left him at the adoption centre and this super nice lady adopted him. She owned some flower shop that Grover worked at and every day, ever since Grover was ten I think, Juniper would walk in and just admire the flowers. Juniper told us the first time she went into that flower shop was with her dad to get flowers for her mom for their fifteenth anniversary. They got divorced a year later. And Reyna…I don't know about her. She never talks about it."

Percy frowned. He wondered what else there was to the story.

"Well, c'mon, let's get back to it," Luke stood.

Percy nodded slowly and they both walked back towards the main area.

Chiron studied each one of them. They currently stood together in a line as Chiron analyzed them. The rest of Omáda was still inside the arena. Percy was sure everyone else could hear is loud heartbeat.

Chiron narrowed his eyes, "Let's see what you can do."

Chiron led the six children down a path. It led to a narrow river that flowed out of sight. Around them were tall oak trees that seemed to be touching the clouds.

Chiron gazed at the river, "Your powers, at this point, are emotion based. We're trying to increase the knowledge you have in order for your powers to come at your will." Chiron faced them, "Thalia, if I were to ask you right now to make it rain, could you do it?"

Thalia shrugged, "I could try."

Chiron nodded. "Concentrate. Simply will the sky to rain." Thalia closed her eyes as Chiron continue to talk, "To make it rain, you need storm clouds. Get storm clouds."

Percy watched the sky. Nothing changed. Chiron continued to speak, the volume of his voice increasing with each word. Suddenly lightning cracked. Percy glanced up at the sky. There was a loud boom of thunder as storm clouds bundled in the sky. It suddenly began to rain. Thalia opened her eyes and grinned.

"Now make it stop," Chiron instructed.

Thalia nodded and the rain stopped near immediately. Chiron nodded in approval, "Very good." He scanned his crowd, "Jason, give me your sword."

Jason immediately gave Chiron the coin. Chiron flipped it so it was in sword mode and tossed it at least fifty feet up into the tree. Jason gave Chiron a questioning look. Percy was more concerned about Chiron's sudden spurt of strength. "Go get it."

"Go get it?" Jason gaped. "How?"

"Tell the wind to take you up that tree."

Jason blinked.

"Go on," Chiron urged.

Just like Thalia had he closed his eyes. After seven minutes of nothing, the wind picked up. Percy watched as the leaves fell from the trees. By the time Percy looked back at Jason he was gone. Percy looked up and saw Jason advancing on his sword. He swiftly grabbed it, switched it back, pocketed it and was back in the ground.

Chiron smiled and turned to Hazel, "I want a diamond, a ruby, a sapphire and a topaz."

Hazel frowned, "Okay?"

"Tell the ground to bring me a diamond, a ruby, a sapphire and a topaz."

Hazel nodded slowly and stared at the ground. After about fifteen minutes a red jewel popped from the ground. One second it wasn't there the next it was. Beside it came a blue jewel. Then a yellow one than a big diamond.

Bianca reached for the jewels when Chiron called out, "Don't touch it!"

He closely examined them, "You're jewels can cause death. If they have the tiny black speaks, don't touch. Fortunately, these ones don't. On darker jewels there will be white specks."

Hazel bit her lip and nodded. Chiron turned to Nico, "Tell the ground…to bring a skeleton."

Percy and the others automatically baked up creating a semicircle around Nico. Percy wasn't looking to get harassed by any dead people today.

Nico didn't argue. He waved his hand and a skeleton came from the ground—like he's been practicing for years or something.

Bianca advanced on him quickly, "How did you do that?"

Nico shrugged, "I've practiced before."

Bianca narrowed her eyes as he let the skeleton back into the ground. "Bianca," Chiron said. "Create hellfire."

"How?" Bianca asked.

"Whatever feels comfortable. Snapping—"

Bianca cut him off, "Snapping," she repeated. She wiggled her fingers before snapping. It made a loud sharp sound. It did nothing. She glared at the ground and snapped some more. Frustrated, she stomped her foot. The ground caught fire. But something was…different about it. Percy couldn't tell. She grinned, "Stomping it is." The fire died out.

Chiron finally turned to Percy. "Go to that creak and lift the water."

Percy obediently stepped towards the river. He looked down at his reflection. Bright green eyes stared back at him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He kneeled down towards the river. He lifted his hands in the air. Nothing. He bit his lip and tried again. When nothing happened he stopped and looked behind him. His cousins were watching him expectantly. Percy turned back towards the water. He lifted his hands again and felt a pull in his gut. The water sprouted up at least five feet. Percy grinned at his accomplishment.

He dropped his hands to his sides. Chiron gasped, "No, Percy—"

It was too late. The water crashed back down sending a wave over them. Percy heard screams behind him as he ducked down. He checked himself over. Completely dry.

Slowly he turned around. Everyone was soaked. Thalia looked murderous with her hair sticking to the sides of her face and her fists clenching. Chiron wiped his face with the sleeves of his shirt.

"Class is over," he muttered, wheeling away.

Okay, sneak peek in the next chapter because I'm feeling generous:

Bianca slipped into the seats as Percy nearly spilt his popcorn. It was Thalia, Percy, Bianca, Nico, Hazel and Jason.

Thalia groaned, "You picked a little kid movie."

Bianca looked around the large theatre. It was filled with many little kids and parents but had the occasional teenager too. Bianca shrugged as the movie started.

Hazel's eyes were glued to the screen as she stuffed her mouth with popcorn. Bianca leaned back into the seats as some kids started to sing.

A few minutes in Thalia cocked her head, "It's like a girl version of Percy except with snow."

Okay, I'm sure you can all guess what movie they're watching. But can you guess why?