Enjoy the chapter guys!
Replies:
Undeath9087: Chiron's gonna have a rough time adjusting to the whole 'I have an Egyptian Princess in my camp. Oh gods don't let her get herself hurt.'
Drizzle: Oh it's planned. Some people find out before others.
Batmanuchiha: Well at least you were able to read a few at once :).
After Percy was paraded through the camp- which she'd found awesome, she found herself clicking with the campers. That one stupid stunt had turned her from an outsider into a friend- and she loved it. It felt great, even Annabeth's disapproving lecture hadn't brought her mood down- especially since she'd ended up cutting Annabeth off with a sly kiss that had made the other teen stop and just stare at her for several long seconds before yanking her back into another kiss.
After that they'd settled a little, gathering in the camps dining pavilion where Percy found herself, Piper and Annabeth settling at the Hermes cabin table, Percy sat on it cross legged, Piper perched on it next to her, swinging her legs and Annabeth stood rolling her eyes fondly as they regaled the campers with their stories- including parts of the story about the whole Bolt and Helm situation, more and more joining as the story progressed, though Percy slipped away when they got to the Procrustes part of the story, saying she needed to go to the toilets- which was true enough. And when she returned she spotted, Luke, Chiron and Artemis stood slightly to the side of the large gathering of demigods, all three of them watching, Luke and Chiron with almost bemused looks on their faces. She slipped over to them, raising an eyebrow as she reached them.
"What's up with you two? You look kinda confused."
"Nothing-" Chiron shook his head, "It's just… strange."
"What is?"
"No one's arguing." Luke focused his gaze on Percy, "I don't think you realise how rare that is around here. There are always fights and bickering at the very least. I don't think I've ever seen the camp this united."
"Well I'll take credit for my fantastical story." Percy's voice was light hearted before she shook her head, "People just need distractions. No ones gonna get along all the time."
"You're correct there." Artemis nodded slowly, "Even my Hunters aren't arguing with the campers." And that was true, there were several silver clad girls amongst the crowd of demigods. She even spotted Bianca and Thalia talking happily enough- and given who their parents were it wouldn't have been surprising if Bianca had been weary of Thalia. Though speaking of Artemis' hunters…
"Where's that Zoe girl?"
"I believe she's in my Cabin." Artemis admitted, a frown on her lips. "She isn't taking my forbidding her from going on this quest well."
"She seems pretty loyal."
"She is." Artemis sighed, "Very loyal. She has fought by my side for many years, and this battle in particular is personal. But- I will not risk her. She is too important to me."
"I get why she wants to come." Percy said softly, "Even if I also get why she can't. She clearly cares about you. I wouldn't want someone I cared about to do something like this if they've been stripped of their abilities."
"Yeah, must suck not to have powers." Luke snorted- but his voice didn't seem quite as bitter as it might have once been, and he was rolling his eyes.
"I admit I don't believe I ever understood how vulnerable it feels to be mortal." Artemis conceded, "It is most strange. The hunger and exhaustion and aching that comes with mortality. It has given me much to consider."
"Good." Percy let out a little huff, "No offence but I think a lot of the gods could do with a taste of mortality."
"You may not be wrong. But alas it's unlikely to happen." Artemis shook her head, gaze flicking to the crowds of demigods and hunters- Piper was still telling them the story- though the daughter of Aphrodite was craning her neck, gaze clearly searching the crowd- and when it landed on Percy she brightened up, waving frantically.
"Percy! Percy come over here, I just got to the part where we spotted that asshole preacher in the Underworld. I was gonna tell them about the prank we pulled on him but you tell it best-"
"Oooh." Percy's grin was devilish, "Now that is a fun tale to tell." She wove her way through the crowds quickly, clambering onto the table next to Piper quickly, grinning at the fond look on Annabeth's face. She knew the daughter of Athena had heard this story a hundred times before and she'd likely here it many more times. "So, where were you?"
"I was just telling them that you'd met the preacher we spotted in the Underworld a few times before-"
"From that interview." Silena spoke up, eyes wide, leaning forward slightly. If Percy was shy she might get a little nervous under the intense scrutiny Silena was aiming at her- but thankfully she wasn't. Besides Annabeth had had much the same reaction the first time she'd heard the story- she'd found it hilarious. "I remember watching it on TV. He was being an ass and you tore him to shreds- it was beautiful to watch-"
"Is that the clip you made me watch ten times?" That came from Clarisse, who was giving Silena a look, and Silena nodded, clearly unashamed. Percy could appreciate that. It was best to try and live a life without shame after all.
"What can I say, I'm good at giving speeches- or as some people call them, rants."
"It's honestly concerning." Annabeth snorted, "The girl could give a speeches that would make walking around the North pole in shorts and a tank top sound like the best idea ever-"
"It's natural charisma." Percy flipped her hair over her shoulder, waggling her eyebrows, "Anyway- anyway so this preacher was one of those asshole Christians-"
"The type who yell at you on the street about god and sinning?"
"Yes, yes that's the type." Percy nodded sagely, "He decided the Blake Adventures were blasphemous works of sin created by the devil-" she snickered, "Which like- so so wrong. But yeah, I tore him to shreds on live TV. Which was great except that wasn't enough for me. That man slandered my mom. No one slanders my mom. And Piper could tell I was angry-"
"It was the way she was slamming doors and accidentally blowing up glasses every five minutes-"
"So she suggested we come up with some way to prank him. And I was like, well, we can easily break into his place- which was basically a mansion, and I mean, I have magic. So I figured I needed to come up with something that would really get to a religious con artist like him. So I figured, you know, why not strike where it hurts. I used my magic and I walked across his pool while Piper lured him out of the house-"
"No!" Thalia gasped the word, a look of glee on her face, "You didn't? Seriously?"
"Seriously." Percy nodded. "It was beautiful. I genuinely regret the fact that I didn't get Piper to film the whole thing because honestly you've never seen anything so perfect in your life I am telling you."
"Are you sure you're not a secret daughter of Hermes?" Connor was practically cackling, "Because I gotta say that is so the type of thing I'd do if I had cool magic."
"Yeah you'd fit right in. We're the camp tricksters-"
"Troublemakers." Silena huffed the word, "You're still going to pay for dying all of our camp tees vomit green."
"Oooh." Percy's nose wrinkled, "Nice, but yuck also. And yes I am sure that I'm not a daughter of Hermes-" Percy tried not to let her lips twitch too much as she added, "I know who my dad is very well and he's no messenger god." She met Piper and Annabeth's gazes, saw the way they were clearly forcing themselves to keep their faces blank. And she saw Bianca's expression too- she'd closed her eyes tightly and her lips were pressed together in a thin white line as she held up a hand at Thalia's concerned questioning- clearly the daughter of Zeus hadn't realised why Bianca looked like she was trying to hide her reaction to something. Well to be fair, it wasn't an obvious joke unless you knew the truth.
Then her eyes caught some movement and she grinned as she focused her gaze on a figure moving towards them quickly- curly hair, horns, a familiar grin.
"Annabeth! Percy, Piper! You're all here! Sorry I wasn't here earlier I had to go see… someone-" and oh, oh he was blushing, and Annabeth's narrow eyed look told Percy that the daughter of Athena was going to pick at that until she got an explanation. Percy made a mental note that she might need to distract her girlfriend if she got too intense about it.
"Grover!" Piper beamed at the Satyr, giving a little wave, "Perfect timing, we should tell the Polyphemus story-"
"NO!" Grover's face went scarlet and Percy couldn't help the cackle of laughter that burst past her lips- and the confused expressions on the crowds of demigods and hunters just made her laugh harder.
"Awe, is someone embarrassed-"
"What Polyphemus story?" Clarisse spoke up, eyes narrowed, "I want to know what story- he's tough. Are you saying you guys fought him or something?"
"Something like that." Annabeth shook her head, grinning, "It was… interesting."
"I was a bird." Percy declared, perfectly straight faced. Several campers looked disbelieving at that. "Grover was very confused-"
"It's not every day a bird tells me that my favorite color is wrong." Grover gave her a look that made Percy snicker.
"Well it was wrong. Everyone with any taste knows that the best color is blue-"
"No-" Annabeth spoke up, "No, no I think green is prettier-"
"Lies-"
"I actually agree with her." Piper had a sly grin on Percy's lips as the shorter girl shot her an evil look.
"How can you say that-"
"Because-" and oh but Piper was looking oddly smug, "Your eyes are the prettiest shade of green that I've ever seen."
"Yep." Annabeth agreed, "I could happily stare at your eyes forever and a day just drowning in them."
And there was the blush, oh Percy was going to have to come up with something really good to get revenge upon them for this. They were ruining her reputation as a badass gods damn it! She felt like there were butterflies in her stomach- which she was pretty sure was the ultimate cliché but it was accurate. Also- was that a pun? It was a gods damned pun and she couldn't even protest the ridiculousness of the pun because no one here knew she was a demigod yet and she wasn't quite ready to tell them gods damn it all.
She wanted time to brace herself, to prepare. She knew she should be ready but- things would change when the full truth came out to the wider world of the Greeks, when it wasn't just uncle Hades who knew. Hades who she trusted with her secret. Hopefully the changes would mostly be good ones but she didn't think she could be blamed for being a little hesitant. The biggest changes in her life had never been easy and she was sure it would be a huge change in a lot of ways when she did have to come clean. And she knew it was soon but... she wanted to at least be able to focus on their quest before dealing with the aftermath of that.
She shook her head quickly to dismiss those thoughts, instead flashing Annabeth and Piper a grin, "This coming from you two? Do you guys want me to describe your eyes-"
"No!" Piper sounded almost comically panicked. And huh, looking back on it both Piper and Annabeth had always gotten flustered when Percy had complimented them. She was beginning to realise just how blind she'd been to their clear interest in her.
She didn't have time to dwell on that though- not when someone came running from the direction of Half-blood Hill, a frantic look on their face as they called, "Chiron! Chiron somethings heading towards us! Whoever it is is flying!"
And Percy felt a wide grin spreading across her lips as she straightened up.
"That's probably our ride." And with that she was up and moving, a wide smile on her lips as she took off towards Half-Blood hill.