Percy began by showing her all the cabins. "So, we're in my cabin right now, the Poseidon cabin" "Oh, my mom doesn't like Poseidon" "She does, but unfortunately, I'm dating her daughter. So, this over there is the Zeus cabin. Jason lives there, he's Thalia's brother. Next to that is the Hera cabin. She hates Annabeth and I don't think she cares enough to make a difference between all of you so she probably hates you as well" "I'm used to that. From my stepmom" "Funny thing, Hera is also kind of your stepmom. Well, step-grandma I guess" "My family is weird" "It is. So, over here we have the Demeter cabin and next to that is yours, Athena" "I think I know that one. Can we go inside?" "Uh, sure, why not" Together, we went over to cabin six and Luisa opened the door. "Yes, I know this place" She said. A few of her siblings were in there, I think I recognized Malcolm.
"Oh, hi Annabeth. Well, I'm guessing you're not Annabeth right know, are you?" "I'm not. I'm Luisa, how did you know" "Well, Annabeth doesn't sound the way you do plus Annabeth wouldn't be surprised by recognizing the cabin that she essentially grew up in" "That makes sense. Um, who are you? I mean, I'm pretty sure you're my brother. I don't think I've met you and no one is telling me who you are" "Oh, I'm Malcolm. And yes, I am your brother" He wasn't offended, if anything he was a bit amused. "By the way, what are you doing at camp? Aren't you in school now?" "I don't know. When I came out I was already here" She gave Percy a help-me-please look. "So, basically, we killed a drakon in central park and decided to collect some scales for the Hephaistos cabin to make weapons from them since they're so strong. We dropped them off and haven't left yet" "And then you turned into a six year old" "I'm almost eight" "Sorry" I explained the situation. "So, Percy took a lot of cardboard and built Annabeth a little house because some of them feel safer in small spaces. You know, like a pillow fort. So, Annabeth saw this box fort and that caused Luisa to come out" "Because I like to feel safe. Then he hugged me and I felt even safer" "Aww. This is probably gonna get me killed but mom, what is wrong with you? How can you not approve of this" "She probably just hates my dad. Though she doesn't really have any reason to, she won their little argument" "Little argument isn't exactly the term I'd have used, but you're right. I didn't know sore winners were a thing, but here we are. But we're getting of topic. We were talking about how Percy made you feel safe" "He did. And now he's showing me around camp" "I won't be interrupting you then. Wait, I will. Someone left this for Annabeth" Knowing how well small children could take care of things (not very well), he handed me the package. All, I could see was a black triangle on purple background.
We left the cabin and Percy continued his explanation. "On the opposite side we've got the Ares cabin. They think every problem can and should be solved with stabbing, but apart from that they're really nice. Next to that we have the Apollo cabin. There used to be a lot of kids in there, but most of them died. The Artemis cabin is mostly empty, but the hunters stay there sometimes. Then we have Hephaistos. If you need any machine that hasn't been invented yet, they're your guys. Opposite of that is Aphrodite" Percy looked at me, telling me to explain my own cabin.
"Children of Aphrodite. Most of them only care about fashion and makeup, which doesn't seem that useful in demigod life, but most of them are still alive so they can't be that bad. I'm also one of them, but the makeup and fashion genes didn't work out for me and I'm actually a competent fighter. If you don't want to take permanent respiratory damage from perfume inhalation, I recommend not going there" "What's respitarory?" "Your lungs and stuff" "Oh, okay. So, what about the other cabins?" Percy continued his explanation. "Next up are Hermes and Dionysus. First is mostly kids who haven't been claimed and I honestly have no idea what the Dionysus kids are up to. Probably partying. Next up is Hades, which is just Nico. On the other side we have Iris, goddess of the rainbow and pride flags" "Wait, those are all old Greek gods, right?" Luisa asked. "Yeah, why?" "Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the Greeks didn't have pride flags" "You're right, but gods are always changing. For example, Helios used to control the sun, but then the romans told everyone that that was Apollo's job and now it actually is his job. You see, gods always change based on what the people who worship them are saying. I'm guessing the same thing happened with Iris and pride flags. They actually have a small pride flag factory and Nico is their main customer. Maybe we can get you some as well.
Next up is the Hypnos cabin. Absolutely nothing happened there outside of dreaming, though that can get pretty interesting. Next up, Nemesis. Not much to say there apart from the fact that one of her sons stabbed you. He was one of the reasons we built more cabins. Next up is Hecate. If you ever need to transform someone into a frog for being annoying and causing chaos, they can probably do it. Next up is Tyche, goddess of luck. They always win in luck based games apart from one exception that I'll get to later. After that comes Hebe, goddess of childbirth and stuff. Since most of us die before getting old enough to have kids, they don't have a whole lot to do. The last cabin is for the children of Nike, goddess of victory. Her children logically always win, unless their opponents are the Tyche kids and the game is luck based, in which case they're locked in an eternal draw. We've one had a game of rock paper scissors going on for like two days. Those are all the cabins. Of course, there are way more gods than that, but they don't seem to have a whole lot of children, so it's fine. By the way, the last four cabins were designed by you. Well, not you, it was Annabeth, but you get what I mean" "We made those? I like them. I've heard Annabeth is a pretty good architect" "Pretty good is an understatement. She's literally the architect of the gods. Kind of funny how such talent can come from a coping mechanism" "Architecture is a coping mechanism?" "There's a lot in your life that changes, right?" "Yes, like when I ran away" "And does that make you feel insecure?" "A bit" "Do you want to create something that doesn't change?" "If I could…" "You know what doesn't change? Buildings. Annabeth kind of became obsessed with creating something that stays, something permanent. And the best way to do that was to design buildings that last. A monument maybe" "I think you just triggered her" "Oh, sorry" "Don't worry, I'll stay in the front, this is way too exciting. What else is there to see?" Percy continued showing her around.
"Here, we've got the dining pavilion where we eat" "What do you do when it rains?" "We have a weather proof border so it doesn't rain unless someone pisses off Zeus" "By someone, he means himself" I explained. Percy decided to ignore me. "Over there are the training grounds. We've got a parcour wall with lava, an archery range and a sword fighting arena. Do you like sword fighting?" "I've never tried it. Swords probably aren't good against spiders" "I don't think they have a bug spray arena here. I mean, if I didn't know every non-deadly corner of this camp, I'd say that if there was one, I wouldn't be surprised. It's camp half-blood after all. A place where everything can and probably already has happened" "What's in that forest?" "A creek, a pile of rocks that either looks like a fist or a pile of poop, a massive bunker and an ant hill" "I like ants" "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like these ants. They're dog sized and eat demigods. I think all of us were almost eaten by them at one point or another" "You're right. I don't like them. Wait, how big is that ant hill?" "I don't know, maybe a hundred meters" "I wonder how it doesn't collapse. Oh, she's coming" Before she could say anything else, a switch started. It only took about a minute before she spoke again. "Hey. We're at camp, how'd that happen?"
"Remind me, when were you out last?" "In our room. I couldn't stay out because I was kind of overwhelmed with abandonment issues" "Right. So, Annie came out because, well, I guess you know why better than I do. She decided to go to central park to check out the drakon, see how much of it was already gone. I then had the idea to donate some scales to cabin 9, so we went here" "Annie you say? I'm pretty sure Luisa was just out" "Yeah, I had a flashback" Annabeth gave him a questioning look as if to ask "what was it?" "I'd tell you, but I think you'd be triggered as well" was his response which I thought was kind of cute, the way he always made sure not to trigger her. I could tell Annabeth was about to express her thankfulness but then seemingly decided it was obsolete. "So, I had this flashback and that triggered out someone else. Once we were at camp and she saw the cardboard box, Luisa came out" "Makes sense. It's a pretty strong trigger for the kids. Wait, she?" "Well, I didn't ask specifically, I just assumed that because of her name and voice" "But I'm the only girl in the system apart from the littles" "Not anymore. She recorded a video, I think it's best if you just watch that"
Annabeth got out her laptop, found the video and watched all of it. "A new headmate. Well, she seems nice and it's good to have a girl my age to hang out with inside. But an emotional protector, and the first one she protects is you? I don't think that's how this is supposed to work" "She said that as well. However, she also said that she has helped you before, she just prefers to stay inside. Comes with the job description I guess" "Makes sense. Her job is on the inside, to help me. Well, us. The body. Not sure why she came out at all though" "Maybe because Percy is so important to you that you don't even differentiate between him needing help and you needing help?" "Makes sense. You kind of are a part of me. A sometimes annoying part, sure, but- oh, no. Percy please, don't die" "Great, another flashback. Percy, are you gonna handle this or do I have to?" I said in the same tone you'd use to discuss an everyday annoyance like homework. Looking back at it, flashbacks were an everyday annoyance for most demigods. "The flashback relates to me, so if you try to handle it it'll probably end up like the lake day incident, so I'll do it. Annabeth, can you hear me?"
Percy
I tried my best to not sound annoyed and it worked out quite well, probably because my love for and desire to protect Annabeth were powerful enough to override any other emotions. Annabeth nodded. "Are you fine with a hug?" Annabeth shook her head. This was unexpected since she usually never declined hugs, but she probably had her reasons and I respected her decision. "What about holding hands?" She nodded, so I took her hand and began giving light squeezes. "What can you see?" "You" Was the only thing she managed to get out after a few seconds, so I went back to yes or no questions. "Do you see camp half-blood?" She nodded, but also made the -ish gesture with her hand. "Do you have like an overlay?" I asked, knowing that this sometimes happened in flashbacks. She nodded again. "And I'm guessing that it's of an event where I came close to death" She nodded again, then touched my underarm lightly. "Are you trying to tell me something with that?" She touched her own hair. Hair, what could that mean? Then it struck me. "The forest of curses? Where I got the gorgon blood curse" She nodded excitedly. "Okay, first of all, I'm not dead. Secondly, that was in the past" "Past?" She repeated. "Yes, it's been..." I looked at Piper for help. "58 days in your time" "…since then. You hear that? 58 days. That's so long. Just focus on my voice. Well, I was there back then as well, so it probably wouldn't help you disconnect from the past" I said the second part more to myself than to Annabeth. Telling someone they wouldn't make it was kind of not so nice when said someone was fighting a flashback. Luckily, Piper took over. "Annabeth, focus on my voice instead. I'm Piper, I wasn't down there, right?" Annabeth nodded. "And I'm with you know" Another nod. "So you can't be down there right now, right?" "I'm out" Annabeth responded after a few seconds, obviously able to talk again. "But Percy. He was dying. What happened to him?" "Relax, wise girl. I'm here. We made it out safely" I squeezed her hand once again, she turned towards and said "Oh, there you are" "Hug?" I suggested once again. This time, she said yes, so I wrapped my arms around her and didn't let go until the tears and shivers had disappeared completely. "Lesson learned; Don't overanalyze how much Percy means to me after one of his flashbacks triggered my insider" "You know what's kind of funny? My flashback was of the same situation. We were talking about something relating to Damasen and how he healed me" I tried to stay vague and focus only on the positive aspects in order to avoid another trigger. "What a coincidence. I think this is the second time we've had the same flashback, though that other time it was the same trigger for both of us" "Yeah, Tartar sauce. Is it just me or does your voice sound a little different" "Let's see. Hmm, Chris is close for obvious reasons" "That's good because we actually had a question for him. Do you think you can get it through to him?" "No, our communication isn't good enough yet. I think it's better if I just bring him out. You know what to do?" "If you mean using positive triggers" "Consent given. And I'm pretty sure he's also okay with it" "Then I know what to do. I was tired of my lady…"
Just a few lines later, the switch began. It only took about a minute before Chris began talking. "So, you wanted to ask me something?" "Yeah. I think Annie left you a voice message" He took the computer and played the message. Before answering, he hit record so other alters would be able to hear it. "So, from the outside drakon hide is almost impossible to cut. However, this hardness only comes from the scales. Even though they appear inseparable, the scales aren't actually connected to each other, only to the leather beneath them. When you have access to the inner side of it, you can easily cut the soft leather and separate everything without having to break the hard scales" He stopped recording. "Why are you asking?" "We were just checking out the drakon from yesterday and noticed that some its hide was way more cut up than we remembered it and thought that was weird because even celestial bronze had its difficulties getting through the scales, but that makes sense" "Okay. Next question: why are we at camp?" I responded with the same explanation I had also given Luisa and Annabeth before. "Sounds like something that might work. Though I wonder why Damasen hasn't done anything like this before" "Well, if you're six meters tall and immortal, you don't really need armor, do you?" Piper suggested. "Plus from what Annabeth has told me, the conditions down there weren't exactly ideal for making a fire hot enough for forging" "Probably not. Sparse, half dead trees and sulphur in the air don't make for very good fire. Did you know that the word sulphur is actually derived from the word smolder, which basically means bad fire?" "Sorry if this is rude, but do you have any alters that won't just randomly infodump?" He laughed. "Probably not. And no, I don't think it's rude in this specific context. But then again, we only discovered five alters so far, so who knows what's to come" "Six alters" I corrected. "Since when" "Since about two hours ago. She left us an introduction video" Chris watched that as well. "An alter based on your mom. Well, she is one of the most caring and comforting people we know, though I don't think I've actually met her" "I think she only met Annabeth and Annie on our birthday. And I guess you two were in the same house for a few minutes when we left for San Francisco, but you've never talked or anything. So, uh, anything you want to do while you're out?" "I don't know. I'm not that used to being in non-deadly situations. Maybe do something relaxing" "Something relaxing? There's not a lot of relaxing things here, it's pretty much a training ground" I looked around, trying to find a good place. "We could go to the lake. I always find that relaxing and Annabeth does too" "Sounds good. As long as the lake isn't made of, like, fire or despair that is" "Don't worry, it's just regular water" "Then what are we waiting for?" Piper decided to invite herself and we all made our way to the beach.