Replies:

NOO! You can't just end the chapter like that! –LizCraft

HAhaHa! If you liked that ending, you'll love the end of the book! :P

This was awesome! –Egplant (Guest)

umg. My first guest review? Thanks! I'll try to keep it up!

awesome chapter dude, loved the dream scene! –Omega Alpha Hydra

Thanks man, glad you loved that glimpse into my inner soul.

dude u should fire linebreak he just hit his keyboard for the line break –Pikachupercyharryfirestar

NUIJUSTSPEAKSBACKWARDS –LINEBREAKISTRILINGUAL

meh... go back to Percy in the past... :p not dissing your work! it's good! I just prefer the past events... :p –Josh the Pleb

Back to Percy's POV? That's what you want? Not continue from that big Annabeth cliff hanger? OKIE…. I was going to go write where we left off with Annabeth, but if you rather read Percy's situation, I guess I can do that… O_o

I just read the first chapter and its soo mysterious and good. On I go to the next chapter –ImpossibleThings12

Thanks, man! Two guest reviews in the same day? UMG, I feel special. Glad you liked it, I did my best to set the scene and mood of the story as well as possible with that prologue.

Luke?!I mean it seems like a ghostified slightly possessed version. _And nooo you can't hurt Percy! Also amazing writing and once again nooooo I just started reading yesterday you can't take long to update! (Jk but still) Can't wait for the next chapter! –ImpossibleThings12

Luke is a REALLY good guess. I mean, why would Backbiter be there unless Luke's in the story? Sadly, I will neither confirm or deny that. And sorry about the December hiatus. I just have a lot on my plate lately and my backlog of chapters was starting to wear thin…

-Part One: Pressed-

Chapter 8: Percy

HOLY HESTIA! Wow guys, I've got to say, thanks so much for all the support so far in this story. While I had some hopes this story would be more successful than my older one, 31 FOLLOWS? WAT?

You have no idea how surprised I was. I hadn't checked the follower count since the beginning of November, when it was at only 2 follows, lol. AND 35 REVIEWS TO MATCH IT? What THE actual... That might be little to some people, but it's the world for me! Thanks again for all the support! You guys are awesomesauce! :D

SO I know I left you guys with a huge cliffie last time we talked, but Josh the Pleb really wanted some Percy chapters, so that's what I did. ;P

Last time with Percy

I stared blankly.

Chiron sighed.

"No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are a part of it. The fire started in Greece, but then as you well know, it has moved. To Rome, to Germany, France, Spain, England, and now America. Oh different names have been used over the centuries, Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on – but the same forces the same gods."

I nodded, not wanting another lecture. I had already heard all of this.

Chiron started to stand up. I stared as his horse form emerge from the magical wheelchair.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been couped up in there for so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

Once I got over the fact that I was going receive another tour of the camp, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not reveal the fact that I already knew my way around.

We passed the volleyball pit. Several campers, many of them I recognized, nudged each other. One pointed at me, and mumbled, "Look, a newbie."

Most of the campers looked between fourteen and twenty. Their satyr friends were all bigger than Grover; all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts. I would've introduced myself, but they all stared at me strangely. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip of something.

We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while Erin the satyr played a tune on his reed pipe to encourage the plants to grow.

Chiron told me how the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mt. Olympus. "It pays for our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

I nodded in understanding. Dionysus had that effect on crops like that. Only wine grapes grew better, but he was restricted from growing those, so the camp grew strawberries instead.

After a more well-explained lecture about 'the intricacies of Strawberry farming,' which was totally fascinating, as Chiron put it, he led me towards the woods.

The woods are huge, just like how I remembered them. With my shortened height, they towered above me. I could almost imagine that nobody had been in their since the Native Americans.

Piper would've have probably killed me at the comparison.

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go in armed."

"Stocked with what?" I asked.

"You'll see. Capture the Flag is Friday night. Do you own your own sword and shield?"

I shook my head, not looking at him.

"No," Chiron sighed. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size 5 will do. I'll visit the armory later."

I wanted to correct him that I was a size 10, but I realized that I was smaller now.

Afterwards, he showed me the rest of the camp. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, and the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the amphitheater, and the arena. I tried to act surprised and amazed at everything I saw, but it was hard work.

"Sword and spear fights?" I asked, as we passed the arena while there was an intense match. I didn't recognize the campers through their armor.

"Cabin challenges and all that," Chiron replied. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh yes, then there's the mess hall."

He pointed towards the open air pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were about a dozen stone picnic tables – one for each god – but no roof. No walls.

"What do you do when it rains?" I asked. It seemed like a fair question when one didn't know that the camp's boundaries always dispersed any incoming clouds.

Chiron looked at me as if I had asked him if he was proud of his father's accomplishments.

"We still have to eat, don't we?" He responded flatly.

I decided to drop the subject.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a big U with two at the base and 5 in a row on each side. I looked at the various combinations of architecture.

After the Titan War, Annabeth had decided to remodel so much of the camp – especially the cabins – that many of the cabins had received a complete makeover. Many more were rebuilt, and since I had been gone for so long, I had almost forgotten much what the cabins had looked like before the remodel.

They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flowerbeds, and a couple of basketball hoops.

In the center of the field, was the huge stone lined fire pit. Despite the warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending to the flames.

I don't know why, but this time I felt like I was being drawn there. Kinda like that time when Grover, Annabeth and I had been drawn to Auntie M's Garden Gnome Emporium.

"Hey," I managed, taking a seat about a foot or two away from the girl. I stared as the flames of the hearth flickered between warm shades of orange and yellow.

Hestia looked up from her flames with a kind but melancholic smile.

"Greetings, hero," the hearth goddess acknowledged.

I stared at her.

"Wait, are you talking to me?" I blurted out. I hoped it didn't come out mean. I was going for a more surprised approached.

Hestia kindly nodded.

I faltered. "I'm no hero," I said, meaning it.

I thought about everything I've ever done. Every adventure or quest I've ever experienced. Everything everyone had given me credit for.

In my mind, almost none of it was actually my accomplishments. It had always been someone else.

Someone else's choice. Someone else's sacrifice that had saved the day.

It had been Luke who had beat Kronos. He sacrificed himself to right his wrongs. Leo flew into the sky, knowing he would die in battle, yet he sacrificed himself to save his friends against the Earth mother, Gaea.

Every time, it had always been someone. Someone's accomplishments. I was just the lucky guy with the fancy sword that somehow survived each time.

"I only beat one bull-man," I mumbled, mostly to myself.

Hestia smiled at the comment.

"Humble words, Perseus Jackson." Hestia murmured. "I like heroes who are not overconfident in themselves."

"Uh. Thanks." I stammered, looking up from the flames. "But, uh. How do you know my name?"

The goddess stared back into the flames. Her eyes glowed with warmth, like a mother's loving smile. The hearth. A place of comfort and refuge.

"I am Hestia. Goddess of the Hearth, and home," the goddess explained silently. "One may not always know where their home lies, but home will always know you."

I quickly bowed. "Lady Hestia."

It still felt weird sometimes that I had to bow to people that looked younger than me.

Hestia frowned at him. "None of that, Perseus Jackson. I do not bold well, being honored in that way. Visiting the hearth is more than enough."

I nodded.

"May I ask," Hestia leaned in, "What made you choose to come here?"

"Uh, a minotaur chased me into here," I answered uneasily.

Hestia shook her head. "That was not what I meant. Why have you come, to visit hearth? Most ignore home unless they seek a same refuge. They are lost, finding their way home."

I frowned at the question. "I – I don't know," I answered as honestly as possible. I didn't want to lie to the goddess, yet I didn't feel safe enough yet to explain to anyone my current – predicament. "It just felt right."

The goddess stared at me with a fiery gaze.

It could've been five years or five seconds, but finally the goddess nodded at my response and smiled.

"That response will do, hero."

I shook my head again.

"Don't call me that. I'm not a hero."

Hestia's smile darkened.

"Not for long at least," she said with a new tone.

But before I could've diagnosed what that meant, she flickered away in a shower of fire, taking the warmth of the fire with her.

The coals were burnt out, and the flames began to splutter away. Not before long, the last signs of that the hearth goddess had been standing there – just moments ago – were gone.

My audience with the Lady Hestia was over.

LINEBREAKDOESTHELINEBREAKDANCE

After that totally not ominous conversation with the hearth goddess, Chiron gathered me to show off the cabins. We started at the top of the U, where the cabins that belonged to the queen and king of Olympus laid.

Both were big white marble boxes with heavy columns that lined the front. Zeus' was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. It's polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram so that at different angles, the door would reveal lightning bolts streaking through.

Hera's cabin was more graceful somehow, with its slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and a colorful variety of flowers. The walls were full with carved images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.

"Correct," Chiron said, pleased.

"But why are they empty?" I questioned.

Chiron looked down at me with digress.

"You see Percy," Chiron started. Warning: Rant. "Each of the twelve cabins that lay before you belong to one of the twelve Olympians.

"Like that one is Poseidon's" I asked innocently, pointing towards cabin three.

Chiron smiled appreciatively.

"Percy, do you believe in the Greek stories I taught you at Yancy Academy?"

I looked at him. "Well. I just met Dionysus, the wine god. He likes pinochle. Hestia was there, as a nine-year girl, but she disappeared in a flash right in front of me. And finally, the centaur asks me if I believe in the Greek Myths?"

Chiron looked pointedly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if all of it was true," I shrugged.

"Well, as the stories have passed mouths for generations, often times the stories could be a bit…. Exaggerated. But yes, about 95% of modern remembrance of the Greek myths are close to accurate. But that is for another time. As you remember, it was…. Frequent, to say the least, that the gods themselves would come down and take more…. Personal interests with humanity."

I feigned incomprehension.

"That is, they would have children with mortals."

"Hercules? Theseus?" I pitched in.

Chiron smiled, "and like your namesake, Perseus. They were all the children of the Olympian gods. This camp is a safe place where children of the gods today can call home. Out there in the mortal world, life could be dangerous for demigods. Here, demigods can live in peace and safety. Train. Survive. The cabins are divided based on one's immortal parent. If say Apollo was found to be your father, you would be visiting Cabin seven." He pointed behind him.

"So why are the Zeus and Poseidon cabins empty? In the myths, they had, like a bajillion kids," I pressed.

Chiron looked away. "It was about seventy years ago. As often times throughout history, the mortal world mirrored the world of the gods. You could've possibly have heard of the mortal famed 'World War II.' As such, the war was basically a small disagreement between the children of – "

I spluttered, "Small disagreement?!"

Chiron smiled sadly. "The war was between the children of Zeus and Poseidon, and the Children of Hades. And like the war the mortal world fought, it had been equally, if not more devastating among demigods. The gods, horrified by the toll it had had on their children, made a pact. No more children of the big three. They were just simply too powerful. They could change the course of humanity in dangerous ways."

I looked back at Cabin one, trying to picture a war crazed Jason pound through the doors. I couldn't see it.

"So why the cabins," I asked instead.

"The cabins are just here for honorary reasons. That is the same with the goddesses Hera and Artemis. No children, yet we keep maintenance of the facilities… just in case."

There were double meanings to those words.

But I nodded, not seeing reason to interrupt. Chiron looked at the sky with a sigh, as if waiting for a list of instructions to fall down.

"Oh look," he finally said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

The second half bored you guys, but that part with Hestia was cool, right? Before you asked, no. That wasn't just some pointless OOC Hestia, but it is another hint. :)

Also, I'd like to address that the story WILL NOT be always be told from the three POVs (Percy, Annabeth, and figure) I've used so far. During the quest, I will be branching to people like Piper, Nico, and others…

Next chapter, still PERCY! :D

Remember to review!

Best Wishes, from a Junior Scribe of Camp Half-Blood,

~VCRx

(This chapter has not been betaed.)

[Last Edited: 4.18.2017]