The next few days, Percy, Kate, Terry, Nathan and Sydney have settled into a routine that felt somewhat normal, they were getting lessons from demigods, satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.
Each morning Percy took Ancient Greek from Annabeth and Terry. While Percy learns Ancient Greek, Terry teaches them and others who want to learn Latin, Italian and Spanish. They talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind weird for Percy.
Percy discovered Annabeth was right about his dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for him to read. Not that he needs it, Terry helps with his dyslexia, while he struggles, he can read words better than everyone else.
The rest of the day, the group rotated through outdoor activities, looking for something they were good at. Chiron tried to teach Percy archery, but they found out pretty quickly he can't aim for shit with a bow and arrow. Foot racing? Nope. The wood-nymph instructors left him in the dust. They told him not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. Which is weird to be slower than a tree or gods like to fuck trees? And wrestling? Forget it. Every time he got on the mat, Clarisse would always beat him. The only thing he really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had killed Asterius.
Kate on the other hand was the opposite of Percy, in physical activities at least, she was not the best at Ancient Greek. She was decent at bow and arrows but didn't like it. She can keep up with a wood-nymph, and she is excellent in all forms of weapons, no matter what weapon she picks up.
She a powerful warrior, as expected from the kid, who had ripped Asterius's head off, but her strength lead to issues, more than once Chrion or the others had to intervene to stop Kate from killing someone, wrestling always leads to the other guy being unconscious and going to the nurse, she get more triggered with a few people, having issue with shooting arrows, saying she doesn't like it, one hitting a tree. When the wood-nymph complained to her Kate threw an axe and nearly took her head off, was going to chop the tree down if Percy didn't stop her.
Sydney is proving to be just as good, she is very good at archery, matching a few Apollo kids. She proves fast enough in spear and whips, and outraced wood-nymph, surprising how fast she is, her social circles growing larger, when she is not spreading rumours about the others for a laugh here and there.
Terry isn't any better than Percy actually, isn't good with arrow or fighting, but uses his pistol. Scaring the campers and isn't giving it to Chiron. But while he isn't physically strong, he outsmarts everyone, teaching others. Terry is also learning magic from the children of Hecate, already learning fire magic and writing in a magical language, called runes.
However his sanity is still in question, now that he has magic.
FLASHBACK
Terry puts his hands together, rubbing it together.
"Careful Terry, fire is dangerous" Alabaster warns, looking at his student.
"Don't worry I got this" Terry said, blowing his hands as a blue fire came to light in his hands.
"See," Terry smiles, to Alabaster's look of awe.
"Incredible, you got to be my sibling or something" Alabaster said, never seeing anyone master fire magic so fast, the Son of Hecate was impressed.
"Maybe, if I was Hecate's, she owes me a lot of child support," Terry said, playing with the fire, throwing it between his hands.
"Terry, it's still fire, you could burn yourself" Alabaster said, afraid of Terry playing with fire.
"Shut it Ala, I'm doing this trick with fire now, don't interrupt me" Terry shouted, focusing really deep in the fire in his hands as Alabaster walked back.
"Ok, just be careful," Alabaster said, walking away into another member of his Hecate.
"He's really good, no one masters fire so fast" A female member said, others looking at him as well.
"Yeah, but a little…eccentric," Alabaster said, not getting used to Terry's insanity.
"But we learn so much, he figures out how to read prophecies better than we do" Another member said, seeing Terry learning about magic and he helped the members in reading prophecies better, pointing out a few things they missed.
"Yes, but it can be a little much" Alabaster said, learning from Terry as well, seeing his teaching was a little too crazy at times.
SSSSSTTTTTTTTT
BLLLL UUUUU FF
"OH GODS I FUCK UP!" Terry shouted, he on fire now, running between them.
"What are you doing?!" Alabaster panics, as does everyone else.
"I'M ON FIRE! I'M ON FIRE!" Terry screaming running around, others try to put him out, getting a blanket or throwing water at him, he was on fire but he was not burning.
A few members started laughing at him, Terry turns to glare at them.
"YOU NEED TO BE ON FIRE!" Terry shouted at them, throwing fireballs at the laughing members.
"OH GODS!" "I'M BURNING!" FIRE FIRE!"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Alabaster shouted, seeing people set themselves on fire and running around.
FLASHBACK OVER
Luckily no one was hurt, the fire burned but didn't cause injuries, so they keep an eye on Terry when he does something stupid.
Or anything really.
Nathan isn't really improving, he can't fight long without getting sick, he can barely run and other camp activities make him throw up.
But he became a good nurse, his knowledge in hospital and health really helps out everyone that suffers from any injuries, despite his illness he also helps those in need.
Helping Hephaestus's cabin with any heavy lifting or treating those with workplace injuries, also teaching them safety in metal works, help the Hermes cabin in spacing and helping everyone dealing with mental issues, the Demeter cabin in there planting and harvesting, even the other creatures in the camp, Wood-nymphs and Satyrs for example.
They also found out more about Nathan than they thought.
FLASHBACK
Katie Gardner, the counsellor of Demeter's cabin, was teaching the class. Nathan, and Percy are currently in one of the dozen strawberry fields, around us satyrs were using their flutes and pipes to guide insects away from the fruit.
The sound becomes irritating to Nathan.
Apparently despite being a camp for the children of the gods, Camp Half Blood sold strawberries to mortal restaurants for money, looks like even immortals needed cash, which Terry is trying to get in the business of.
Thanks to Mr. D the strawberries always seemed to bloom faster, that along with the satyrs woodland magic as well as the efforts of the Demeter cabin, the strawberries were in perfect shape.
"Most of you won't be able to do this; it's more of a born skill than one that could be learned." Katie explained to us,
"But if any of you have been born with the power to control plants then it will aid you both in and outside of battle. It is a power that defines and even controls nature itself, though most of us can only bring life to smaller plants or make plants bigger if we haven't been trained enough. But if you practise enough you could do this," Katie waved her hand and slowly a plant started to poke its head out of the ground. It was like watching a time lapse movie, the plant soon turned into a bush which then started to have blackberries grow on it. Soon enough we were looking at a full sized blackberry bush.
"Now all of you will try it, but we're going to start out small since none of you guys have done this before," she then gestured towards a row of tulips that were slowly dying, their stems were lowering and the petals slowly falling off.
"You will each try to bring back life to a tulip." Katie then starts to explain how to bring forth the power of nature and so on, Nathan looks on in wonder at the dying plant, remembering his dreams as he looks over it.
Katie assigned them to their flowers; they were spread out across the clearing so they would have enough space. Most of the kids who weren't children of Demeter stood there awkwardly and just stared at their flowers. One of them was staring at it so hard with a look of intense concentration that looks like he is taking a really big shit.
"Why am I doing this?" Percy asked why he was here.
"Because Terry is talking to people about business and Sydney and Kate are busy, I'm just curious about this" Nathan said, reminding Percy about Terry's doing.
"Oh right, I should check on him," Percy said, leaving this plant to stop Terry from making an investment deal, talking about NFT's now.
Nathan stood there looking at the plant in confusion, taking a deep breath and tried to do what Katie had instructed them to do. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, reaching out with both mind and soul.
Nathan felt something.
A force of power, so great it can destroy entire cities. Despite the power it felt calm, soothing even. Nathan could feel the power of the plant, feeling something urging him to release its power into the world.
Nathan hands dig into the dirt, letting out a breath as he lets go, feeling all his sadness, sorrow, his pain away from him, taking another breath if feels his body releasing something, something he felt like he was holding for a long time, but now he can let it go.
"NATHAN!" Katie's surprised yell snapped Nathan out of whatever trance he had fallen into. His eyes snapped open and looked at the scene around him.
His tulip started to break, the colours started to change, no longer yellow petals, but now white with red stripes, the tulips got smaller as well, Nathan saw other tulips are going through his as well. All breaking down, growing smaller and losing their bright colours.
Nathan saw other people backing away to show they weren't the cause, now more flowers are getting in effect and a few strawberries started to rot.
"Shit" Nathan said, seeing he was the cause of this.
Nathan put his hand, trying to stop it, but it proved difficult, Nathan struggled but he stopped the spread.
The Infection stopped, but the force was still in the air, clinging to it.
Katie and the others were staring at him in shock.
"What?" Nathan asked nervously, starting to cough, feeling sick again.
"Y-You just," Katie stuttered as she looked at the aftermath of the lesson with boggled eyes.
"This should be impossible, no one ever infected plants, you made a Tulip breaking virus" Katie said, looking at the infected tulips.
"Tulip breaking virus?" A camper asked. Looking at this as well as the others.
"Tulip breaking virus or TBV, also known as tulip mosaic virus, is a plant virus. In particular, TBV infection of tulips leaves a stripe pattern without pathologic lesions on the host. The petal is worth a lot, how did you do this?" Katie asked, in awe at the plant's infestation.
Nathan didn't look or feel good, not from his illness, not to mention the dozen satyrs that had appeared and were staring at the plants with shocked eyes. Their eyes were burning into Nathan, shocked at what he had done.
"Uhm… beginner's luck?" Was all Nathan could say?
Katie merely stared at him with wonder, as though wondering what he could accomplish if he mastered the skill.
"Class dismissed." Katie finally said, picking up each of the infected flowers and she and the other satyrs cut down the rotten strawberries.
FLASHBACK OVER
So yeah, they found out Nathan can infect plants and turn fruits rotten, an interesting ability but one he doesn't use, it got Demeter cabin attention as they experimented on his powers.
Which Nathan was willing to do, the more he infected something with his powers the better he felt, mostly on plants isolated from the main garden.
The Demeter cabin were amazed at Nathan, growing plants is one thing, but infecting them and rotting them was beyond what they could imagine.
LINE
A Friday afternoon later, Percy was sitting with the gang plus Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Sydney, Kate and Grover had scampered to the top without a scratch, but the lava had almost gotten him. His shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been signed off his forearms. Terry nearly got burned on his back side but was able to jump on another camper to avoid more injuries, Nathan didn't climb it at all.
They sat on the pier, watching the naiads go underwater.
"How did your conversation had gone with Mr. D?" Percy asked Grover, hadn't he seen his meeting with the god, Grover's face turned a sickly shade of yellow.
"Fine, just great." Grover said.
"So, your career's still on track?" Nathan asked, wiping his nose with some tissues.
"Sure, those other Satyrs would love for another to fail" Terry said, many fail to find the lost god Pan, making a lot of satyrs bitter.
"I'm sure he can do it" Sydney encourages but Kate scoffs, seeing the search as a waste of time. why waste time finding someone that either is dead or doesn't want to be found.
"Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?" Grover glanced at all of them nervously,
"I asked a few Satyrs what it was about," Terry said, talking to other satyrs.
"You were talking to trees" Nathan said to him, and trees as well.
"And waving your gun at rocks" Kate said, seeing him pointing a gun at some rocks once.
"Those rocks were talking shit to me" Terry said, those rocks had it coming.
"Yeah, well Chiron said you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?" Percy asked, ignoring Terry mutters about rocks, Grover looked down at the naiads.
"Mr. D suspended judgement. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you guys. Yet, our fates were still tied together. If any of you got a quest and I went along to protect one of you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete." Grover explained to them.
"Well, that's not so bad, right?" Percy said, his spirits lifted, Kate shakes her head.
"Newcomers don't get quests, he sets him up to fail" Kate said, hearing from others about how rare quests are.
"Blah-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. Even if you did get a quest, why would you want me along?" Grover agrees with Kate.
"Of course, I'd want you along!" Percy said, the others look at him, Percy looks back, turns to look at Grover depression.
"Yeah, I bring you along" Nathan said, adding his support.
"You would be my first choice," Sydney said sweetly to him.
"Maybe as a fodder or bait" Terry shrugs,
"Not a chance in hell" Kate states, not taking Grover on any quest, Grover groaned as he stared glumly into the water.
"Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill." Grover said,
"If you can make money from it at least" Terry comments, Grover depressed.
Percy, Nathan and Sydney tried to reassure Grover that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable.
"Look Grover, you need to stop thinking that people's opinions matter... only yourself matter, if other people can see it then fuck them," Kate said to him. Grover lifted his head and nodded, feeling a little better at Kate's honesty.
Then they talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, Percy nearly beating Luke, Kate proved to be a match for him, Nathan talking about his the Demeter cabin plant experiments, Sydney telling them about some rumours she heard, Terry poking at her about starting those rumours. Then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, Percy asked Grover about the four empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," Grover said.
"She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad." Grover said.
"A feminist getting mad for not having a cabin because she has no kids" Sydney said, a woman complaining about getting equal stuff without seeing they don't need it.
"Waste of space it is" Kate said to them, making Grover nervous.
"No, she had her hunters, girl sworn to her, making them her adoptive children at least" Grover said.
"Where are they anyway?" Percy asked, having seen any hunters of Artemis yet.
"They hunt monsters, they camp out in the wild, they visit here sometimes and sleep in her cabin" Grover explains to them.
"So we are sleeping in a homeless shelter while they get their own place" Terry said, annoyed at this.
"It's not that bad," Grover said, as they looked at him.
"I can't catch my beauty sleep with these assholes" Sydney pointing at them,
"You are not easy to sleep with either, also turning and moaning" Kate growls at her.
"If you stop hitting us in your sleep, it wouldn't be an issue" Terry said, someone always gets hurt whenever Kate wakes up mad, which is every night.
"Better than you're muttering or morning panic attacks" Nathan said, Terry never shuts up and always wakes up causing a ruckus.
"Don't you start Nathan, your body odour is horrible" Sydney said, Nathan just stinks.
"I can't help it, I shower here but there's no axe spray or anything" Nathan said, can't help his smell and there is no perfume or anything around here. The four start to argue who is the worse to sleep with.
It was hard on the other campers in the Hermes cabin.
"Yeah, what about the ones at the end, are those the Big Three?" Percy asked, Percy getting used to sleeping with them, others not so much.
"No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," Grover tensed, which'd stop the agreement between the four.
"That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kroon's." Grover explains.
"Why not, Affairs are a part of marriage" Sydney said,
"But Zeus would kill whoever she has an affair with" Terry said, Zeus being a prideful bastard would kill anyone who touches what is his.
"Right, anyway, after the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what." Grover nodded,
"Yeah Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld." Percy said, remembering his myth.
"Uh-huh."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Kate said, not seeing the cabin for Hades here.
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered.
"Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." Grover said.
"Now that's rude, Grover," Nathan said, judging someone based on their parents.
"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" Percy asked, Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably
"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more kids, afraid their children would overpower them, and getting too much attention. Apparently, World War II was basically their fucking kids having a pissing contest, sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath by them: no more fucking mortal woman. They all swore on the River Styx." Terry explains to them, Grover is surprised by this.
"How do you know that?" He asked Terry.
"Chiron told me." Terry said.
"Really?" Nathan asked, knowing Terry was lying.
"That's the most serious oath you can make." Percy said, Grover nodded.
"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?" Percy asked.
"Of course not, fucken gods can't keep it in their pants" Kate growls, already knowing they didn't do it, with Grover's face darkened.
"Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... Well, the River Styx is serious about the promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter" Grover explains. To the disgust of the group
"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault." Percy said, rightfully so.
"What's the point of swearing anything if they don't get punished for their part" Kate grits her teeth, pissed at the god.
"Good job on them, they swore an oath to make themselves feel better but they don't suffer the consequences of anything they do" Terry said, seeing their only done the oaths out of guilt.
"So they felt guilty about the shit they caused and put a Band-Aid on the problem instead of fixing it" Nathan said.
"Disgusting" Sydney said, all hating Zeus now.
"Guys, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill" Grover pointed across the valley, to the pine tree Terry passed by.
"All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of Hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill." Grover explains to them.
"You were that Grover, Thalia was your first fuck up" Terry figures out, Grover nods at this, they stared at him with pity.
Percy stared at the pine in the distance. The story made him feel hollow, and guilty. A girl his age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters.
Next to that, he's fighting with the Minotaur didn't seem like much.
"So instead of letting her move on, Zeus turned her into a tree" Kate asked,
"Yeah, in her honor" Grover said.
"He should have let her move on, not turn her into a bloody tree" Kate shakes her head, should have let her move on from his world, not make her stuck in one place, how many demi-god kids die at her roots?
"Hades attacks a child for being born, what an asshole" Sydney said, the other nodding, they felt a little rumble, but only a little. Grover looks scared but the short rumble didn't do much.
"That was weird" Nathan said, feeling the rumble but the others shrug, crazy weather is normal at this point. Everyone just signs the story.
"Grover, have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?" Percy said,
"Sometimes," Grover said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."
"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?" Percy asked.
"Don't start yet Percy" Nathan said to him.
"We save your mother together" Kate said, supporting Percy as the others nod to him.
"Wait you guys can't" Grover tries to say.
"We are saving Sally Grover, if you don't like it fuck off" Sydney said, getting a scared look from Grover.
"I was just wondering. So ... A satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?" Percy asked. Grover studied Percy warily.
"Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems." Grover said.
"Half-blood with weak auras is left to rot?" Nathan asked, Grover quickly shook his head.
"No no no…I mean if a satyr can't smell them then a monster can't smell them" Grover tries to explain.
"But that doesn't mean they're safe from humans," Kate said, getting an uneasy look from Grover.
"And you found us; Chiron said you thought we might be something special." Percy asked him.
Grover looked as if Percy had just led him into a trap.
"I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were —you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my licence. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?" Grover tried to say.
"Seriously Grover, Percy isn't vengeful or average" Terry said, knowing Percy connected to a water god.
"I know, just saying, it's because you were all together that got the attention" Grover said, Kate gets up.
"Let go, it captures the flag today and I need a full stomach for it" Kate said, a little excited about the game.
"Yeah let's capture the flag with metal swords and other dangerous weapons" Nathan said, already not liking the sport.
"Don't be a pussy Nathan, just heal everyone boo boo after" Terry said, getting an annoyed look from him.
"I'm not healing you when someone hurts you" Nathan said, Sydney smiles at Terry.
"Careful Terry, you know how dangerous this camp is" Sydney said, pulling out a knife as Terry goes to Percy.
"Let hope nothing too insane happens" Percy said to Terry, getting a weird look from Terry.
"You just had to jinx it," Terry said to him.
None of them knows the amount of chaos that goes down this capture the flag.