Chapter Title: I Accidentally Magically Incinerate A Hellhound

I wandered around camp aimlessly for a while, partly because I just needed space to cool off, partly because I wanted to explore, and partly because I really needed to find a place where I could cool off. After I forget how many minutes, I ended up at the armory, a large metal shed on the side of Cabin 6. I got there just as the sound of what seemed like an explosion of water erupted out of nowhere and into my ears. It caused me to jump, and look around. Seeing nothing, I just decided to walk on in.

There were quite a lot of weapons in there, more than I had expected. Swords, clubs, spears, knives, virtually every sort of ancient weapon the Greeks had used was in there.. along with weirdly, a few shotguns which really intrigued me since like Katie, I feel this attraction to it.. more in the sense that the type of weapon just called out to me generally.. like I was destined to use a gun as my main weapon. Swords had a pull as well.. but it was of a secondary kind of deal.

I must have been staring at the weapons for too long, because I heard a voice from behind me.

"The hell are you doing here kid?"

I turned around, and I gulped in a bit of fear. There, standing at the doorway, was Clarisse, albeit she was completely soaked. She met my eyes, and then her expression softened, as she recognized me.

"Hey.. wait a minute.. you're the other new kid.. Colton, wasn't it?" she asked, looking way less angry than before.

"Yeah, indeed. You're Clarisse right?" I replied.

"Yeah that's me. Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares.. now move.. I need to blow off some steam because of that twerp Percy.." she said, and that surprised me. He had pissed me off earlier, and now he had gone and pissed Clarisse off. It was a small world indeed.

"Funny coincidence.. I'm here for the exact same reason.. what he do to you?" I asked her, curious. She looked at me, a bit of an angry expression on her face once more.

"What I was going to attempt to do to you before Austin stopped me and my siblings.." she said, rather calmly. "We tried to dunk his head in a toilet.. that's our usual initiation ritual we do on new ones here. Instead, me and my two siblings got sent out of the bathrooms by water coming out of everything out of nowhere."

It hit me then, that must have been what that explosion was. "I heard that all the way over here.. wondered what the hell it was.." I muttered, scratching the back of my head.

"So.. what did Prissy do to you then..?" she said, and at 'Prissy', I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What's so funny...?" she asked, confused and maybe annoyed.

"P..Prissy.." I stuttered due to laughter. "Oh my god.. that is hilarious!"

She smiled. "Glad someone around here finds my choice of humor funny outside of my own cabin.." she said. "I think I kinda like you."

I stopped laughing and remembered what Percy did. "What he did to me.. Blake had me be the first one to talk to him when he got to the Hermes Cabin. I told him I was sorry for his mother's loss.. having watched it occurred before.. you know what went down.." I said to Clarisse. "He was insensitive to me, so I told him about me losing my parents to the Lydian Drakon a week before I came here.."

Clarisse reached out and grabbed my arm and interrupted me. "Did you just say 'Lydian Drakon'?" she asked, hot with anger now.

"Yeah. Son of a bitch killed my parents and nearly me too if it weren't for Dawson. I want payback on that monster.." I hissed back at her.

She looked back at the doorway and then back at me. "I haven't really told anyone this.. but Ares.. he saved me and my mother when we were attacked by the Lydian Drakon once.. that was when I was brought to camp by him personally.. so look.. don't tell anyone else I said this.. but I'm sorry for your loss, Colton."

She looked like she had tears in her eyes.

I was.. honestly moved. I simply put my hands on her shoulders, determination building inside me. "So.. how about we make a deal? I help you with Percy, you help me with training so I can take my revenge on the beast that killed my parents?"

She stopped crying, and she got a wicked smirk on her face. "Deal, kid. Deal."

- — - — - — -

To be fair, the next couple of days at camp weren't all that bad, to be honest. With Clarisse giving me lessons on how to use swords, and this son of Athena named Malcolm helping me understand Ancient Greek, I was really making strides in becoming a camper that had a chance at survival. I was also becoming fast friends with Alabaster, Lou Ellen, Luke, Clarisse, and Katie. Especially Alabaster, Lou Ellen, and Katie.

The bad news? Well.. a couple of things actually. First off, I still had no idea of who exactly my godly parent even was at this point. I was rotating through outdoor activities with the Hermes Cabin for the rest of the day, but like Percy, nothing we did I seemed to fit into. I was at least a bit above average, higher than Percy who missed completely when he tried it, but not enough to be a child of Apollo, even though I felt like I was eventually going to have a strong connection to the god of prophecy in another way. Like Percy, I was trash at being a thief and unlike Katie, I wasn't good at plants.. which was a relief for reasons I won't explain here.

You can probably already guess why.

On the bright side, the Ares Cabin for the most part was especially warming up to me. They felt sympathetic for me over how Percy had reacted to me saying I was sorry for his loss and that I did what I did for him out of pity, which was true.. I didn't want the kid to suffer like I was. The loss of my parents still hurt even now.

The senior campers and counselors were watching both me and Percy now, trying to figure exactly who our godly parents but by this point, we seemed to have stumped them. I was mostly decent at everything like Percy, aside from archery, but not at one of the activities we did in particular.

But I did like it honestly. Camp, I mean. I just wish I could feel a connection with whoever my godly parent was.

Hopefully, they'll come calling someday.

- — - — - — -

Percy somehow disarmed Luke on Thursday, which was surprising. Luke was said to be the best swordsman in three hundred years, with Blake right behind him, from what Alabaster had told me. So it caught me completely by surprise when I found out, since Blake had me doing some of his chores because of issues again. I honestly didn't mind it though. His chores weren't dangerous or anything, so even though I distrusted him, I didn't mind having some time to think about things while doing things with other campers.

Alabaster, Luke, and Lou Ellen had also explained quite a few things that I had wanted to ask about camp to me, as did Dawson. The reason that Cabins One, Two, Three, and Eight were empty were because of three reasons.

First of all, Artemis had vowed to be a maiden forever, so being a member of this cabin was basically sort of an honorary kind of thing, although the part about only females who had suffered being allowed in the hunt didn't really sit right with me at all, to be honest.

The second reason, concerning Cabin Two, was that because of Hera being the Goddess of Marriage, being a part of this cabin was also an honorary kind of thing.

As for One and Three, apparently after WWII, the Big Three (Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus) had made a pact not to have any more kids that Zeus apparently broke, because that's why there is now that tree at the crest of Half Blood Hill, which used to be a girl Luke and Annabeth knew called Thalia Grace. She sacrificed herself to save them and Grover a few years back. Tragic indeed.

That didn't explain Percy though. I had my suspicions for a while since the bathroom incident Clarisse had told me about, but I honestly had the feeling Percy might be a forbidden child of one of the Big Three, most likely Poseidon.

As to my own parentage, like the other campers, their guess was as good as mine to be honest.

- — - — - — -

Friday night after dinner was Capture The Flag time. Alabaster had told me that this was the campers' favorite activity, especially for the Ares Cabin.

Campers cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings came running into the pavilion after we all cleaned up after dinner carrying this silver banner which judging from the symbol, I had to guess that this was mostly likely the banner of the Athena Cabin. A few moments later, Clarisse and two of her siblings ran carrying a red banner that was probably the banner of the Ares Cabin.

Over the noise, Percy turned to Blake and said, "Those are the flags?"

Blake just nodded.

Soon, the teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes as they were the largest cabins. Somehow though, it absolutely hurt to know that Katie was on the other team. I don't fucking know why, but it hurt in a way that felt almost equal to the loss of my parents somehow. I didn't say anything about it though.

I doubt you would find this shit even believable on what happened next, but one minute, I'm standing there in the pavilion, and the next minute, I'm out in the woods in armor with the others by the creek, holding a sword in my hand, and everyone else is picking up Luke and carrying him on their shoulders while Clarisse and her team just stood nearby, apparently having lost the round. Percy looked hurt, had a few gashes as he was standing in the creek at the moment, and Annabeth was walking over towards him.

I blinked, and looked down at myself, confused. What the fuck just happened?

I didn't remember anything of what happened in between then and now. My mind was a blank.

It was so weird.. so weird that eventually, I decided to push it to the back of my mind and walk over to Percy and Annabeth who were now standing on a rock.

I walked up to Percy and Annabeth, and that's when I noticed something. He was healed.. he didn't have any injuries on him anymore, when he had injuries a minute ago. How the fuck?

Before I could say anything about it, I heard a canine growl close by, and my hair stood on end. Percy looked scared too. This was not good at all.

We heard movement bounding through the woods, straight towards us. Chiron said something in Ancient Greek, which sounded like a call to arms. I didn't have my sword at all at the moment, for Clarisse was still holding it at the moment, so I just put up my fists.

Everyone's eyes were darting every which way now, because sounds were coming in from all over the place, confusing us as to which way the monster was actually coming from. Then, just as I turned around back towards the bushes that Sherman was standing by, a black hound the size of a rhino with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers suddenly burst through the bush, knocking Sherman down to the side as if he was nothing, the monster aiming straight at me and Percy. Actually, I couldn't tell if it was me or Percy it was aiming for, it was kinda hard to tell. Both me and Percy tripped as we backed up suddenly, and time seemed to slow down as the beast got closer and closer to us. I unclenched my fists and cursed at how I didn't have a weapon.

Oh, how I wish I could set this monster on fire.

As soon as I said that thought in my head, I felt heat shoot out from my hands and the hell-hound screamed as I was knocked backwards into the water alongside Percy.

When I lifted my head out of the water, I was shocked to see what was left of the hellhound being consumed by fire and being burnt completely to a crisp. I turned to Percy.

There wasn't a scratch on him thankfully. But still, with regards to the monster being turned into a crisp..

Did.. I.. just.. do that?

Chiron trotted up to us, a grim look on his face and a bow in his hand. I took a quick look around. Everyone else was just frozen in shock, eyes looking like they were doubting what had just occurred.

"Di Immortales!" Annabeth said, holding onto Luke. I didn't even notice that she had stepped back and tripped either. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't.. they're not supposed to.."

"Someone summoned it.." Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

I looked into space in thought. That's now twice a monster has tried to kill Percy, I thought to myself. What's so special about this kid that monsters keep trying to kill him?

A group of gasps from other campers stirred me out of my thoughts. I took a look at the others. They were all staring me and Percy, or rather.. something above us.

I looked up.. and I don't think even I could have described how much I liked the answer to my own question.

The symbol of a blue trident was glowing above Percy's head, while above my head was the symbol of crossed torches that appeared to be.. spectral.

Guess this is what they meant by claiming after all.

"Your father.." Annabeth gasped, referring to Percy.

"This is not good.." Clarisse muttered.

Alabaster and Lou Ellen were looking on in awe and concern, while Katie was looking most concerned of all.

Suddenly, I realized why exactly Austin had promised to kill the Lydian Drakon for me if he ever saw it. He must have realized that I was a son of another goddess before anyone else had any idea. While I was very disappointed at being denied the opportunity to kill what had killed my parents, on the plus side, at least I might have siblings now. That was all the upside I needed, as while Percy looked on confused, I just grinned like an idiot as Chiron and everyone else bowed around the two of us, even if inside, I was also caught off guard as to who my mother was revealed to be.

"The bloodline is determined. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of the Sea God Poseidon - Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of Horses. Also, hail Colton Reynolds, son of Hecate - goddess of magic."

Turns out my hunch about Percy was absolutely correct. He's the son of Poseidon, a child of the Big Three.

A forbidden child.

Someone's trying to kill Percy Jackson simply for the crime of existing.

What an absolute load of bullshit.. I guess Percy has the worst hand when it comes to how shitty your life is.

And as we stood there, what sounded like a chilling, malevolent, psychotic laugh entered my ears, and what scared me the hell out of it is because my body didn't react to it with fear. It reacted to it as if it was normal.. as if eventually, I would be the owner of that hideous laugh.