Authors Note: There were a couple of messed up details with the original upload of this chapter (that's what I get for not proofreading as much as I should). They should be fixed now!
Aphrodite had told Percy a story, once.
It was only one of many. Nothing more than a single experience shared over those seemingly endless years underneath the Burden. Back then her words, her voice had been the only things keeping Percy going. He was either waiting for her, speaking with her, or thinking about her. Aphrodite had told him she was the same. They were tied together, in that way.
Sometimes it felt like those lighthearted memories were the only reason Percy hadn't crumbled away into dust. That and the warmth of sacrifice in his stomach, anyway. It had still been far too close a thing.
So what was this story about, this one specific tale? It was about Athena.
Percy hadn't known her name. Or, rather, he hadn't had the available mental capacity to figure it out yet. That would only come much, much later. At the time, Athena had been nothing more than the strict younger sibling, the level headed strategist, the always frustrating but reliable sister. Aphrodite, or as he knew her just 'the woman' back then, both loved her and loathed her. Such was the norm among the Olympian family.
The story was one of Aphrodite's old ones, the kind that dripped of ancient history. Percy had believed it to be the musings of a grown woman thinking back on her high school days, which might have been somewhat true in the emotional sense but not so correct as far as timelines went. Instead, the story really started somewhere far before the fall of Troy, in a strange foggy place where everything was a little bit different and the gods were a little more human.
"My sister used to be quite the musician, you know." That was how the story had started. Percy had been instantly interested - never had the exacting little step-sister been tied to anything so creative. "Surprising, I know. But she occasionally dabbled in those sorts of things. Weaving and such." Aphrodite had mused. "It made our sunny younger brother terribly jealous, at first." That had been her cheeky term for Apollo.
The tale was a bit winding at first. Aphrodite described, from a third person perspective, how her little sister had been inspired by the sound of snakes after a walk in the woods and promptly picked up learning the flute. "You could say she was a natural." Aphrodite had giggled. "From the moment she picked it up, she could play near perfectly."
"That good?" Percy had been stuck to two words or less, back then. It must have been during those early years when his lungs weren't as strong and every breath was a titanic struggle.
"I fear I'm underselling it, if anything." She had assured him. Of course, the love deity forgot to mention that it was because Athena had literally invented the instrument. "She was terribly excited, and also of course a little bit proud of herself." Aphrodite sighed, the noise nostalgic.
"Not bad." Percy had grunted, ignoring the way the technicolor sky leaked down his eye sockets and into his open mouth. "Sometimes good." The message was garbled, but even then he had no fear whether she would understand.
Aphrodite had hummed contemplatively. "Pride is a dangerous thing in my family, love." She had eventually replied. "But I will concede you may have a point. She was good, after all." Percy could feel her smile, then. "Perhaps a bit of pride was warranted."
"What happened?" That was always his next question. He had asked it over and over and over again.
"The first time she played for us, well . . ." Aphrodite's voice had turned, and the way she petered out was anything but happy. "I suppose I was just as prideful too, you see. When sister was playing I wasn't concerned for the beautiful sound, non." The love deity had sighed, the sound sad and remorseful. "Instead I had eyes only for the way her face scrunched up against the reed. When her performance was done, I was anything but kind."
"Oh." Percy had answered. A lot of the older stories went that way. He never judged, even when she asked him too. Aphrodite always sounded guilty enough for the both of them.
"Sometimes I wonder how things might have changed, had I not ridiculed her in my own short-sightedness." The love deity went through such contemplative moods occasionally. It wasn't hard to imagine why, for someone with literal eons of history. "Perhaps we would be able to work together, just that little bit more. Beauty should unite us, dearest." Her voice had grown passionate as her short tale came to an end. "If there is one thing to learn from my failure that day, it is that everyone is capable of creating."
"Just because it may appear silly does not mean it, or they, are any less deserving."
Percy wasn't quite sure why, but that last line flashed through his mind after turning the corner of the Big House.
The sight was, at first glance, a little bit silly. There was no great open space, no purpose-built stage or dance floor. Just an open patch of grass in between the Big House and the edge of a line of trees, the ground lumpy and pockmarked and dotted with weeds. The budget figure for the party seemed . . . economic, to put it politely. Percy wasn't sure he spotted a single item that didn't look re-used, passed down, or purpose-built. Camp had no servants to be found, no magical hanging lights or sky-view balconies.
Percy could understand how someone like Aphrodite could have taken in a sight like this and seen nothing but the short-comings. Even he wasn't exempt after spending so much time on Olympus. But to only look at the scene and dismiss it after only a single moment would be like making fun of a talented flutist for puffing out their cheeks to play - such a shallow, immature judgment would have ignored all of the underlying beauty. And much like Athena and her woodwinds, what her daughter had created here was something far more than just 'silly'. Oh no.
Annabeth Chase planned out parties the same way she planned out wartime defenses.
Such an idea might have seemed comical at first, but that would imply a level of humorous, bumbling whimsy that certainly was not present. No, the sight that greeted Percy was efficient. Calculated. Every single possible contingency had been imagined and accounted for. Considering the sheer physical constraints she must have been operating under, Percy was half convinced the woman was a miracle worker.
"See?" Grover was standing with his hands on his hips, chest puffed out like the world's proudest satyr. "I told you. Camp Half Blood knows how to party! All that fancy stuff on Olympus doesn't have the same charm, dude." The smile on his face was brimming with sincere, honest belief.
"Yeah." Percy found himself agreeing as his eyes took in the scene. "I guess you're right." He didn't try to stop a half-smile from lifting his lips.
Aphrodite's advice had been good.
Planning a party, Percy realized, was nothing more than efficiently answering a series of important questions. It was no wonder Athena's daughter was so gifted at it. That was basically her home territory.
Need decorations? Try a veritable mile of retail-store fairy lights. The plastic lines had been strung all along the underside of the awning, across the grassy expanse, before ending tied off to any available tree branch. Someone definitely had a fun time lining them so perfectly parallel, Percy was sure, although the single outlet on the Big House's wall was a wire jungle that was most definitely some sort of fire hazard.
The lights were glowing blue at the moment. It was a bit hard to see against the relatively cloudless sky, admittedly, but it certainly gave the shaded space underneath the Big House's roof and the closest trees a sort of otherworldly air. Oh, and then on top of all that you had to add on tinsel and streamers and groups of balloons all placed with maximum visibility and optimal party enjoyment in mind.
Feeling a bit thirsty? Three folding tables were stacked with soda cans, water bottles, and punch coolers. There was even some sparkling, fizzy liquid in a couple of large bowls that Percy couldn't even name. The last option looked . . . vaguely threatening. It was fine, though. Probably. It's not as if there would be any alcohol with so many minors around, right?
"I'll have to check that." Apparently Chiron was thinking along similar lines. The tall centaur sighed, his tail flicking as they slowly approached the first line of hanging lights. "I wouldn't be surprised if Dionysus was kind enough to leave us a 'gift' or two." The air quotes around the word were more than just implied.
Percy had to suppress a shiver. Whatever the wine deity served as the engagement party had been strong enough to knock a minor deity flat on their ass - he hesitated to think what would happen to a mortal after more than a couple of glasses. Even he, a literal god, had a hangover the next morning. Drew must have been out of commission for a day or two with how the daughter of Aphrodite had been pounding back drinks.
The sky bearer side-eyed his goddess. The love deity didn't look concerned, but he supposed he was doing enough of that for the both of them. Instead the personification of beauty was silently taking in the view with a surprising level of seriousness. Was she thinking of her own advice from that day, perhaps?
Percy turned his mind back to the present. Surely Drew would be attending, right? Given the woman wasn't still bed-ridden, of course. She might have been scornful and domineering, but that didn't warrant a spontaneous case of alcohol poisoning. He could empathize with the feeling of having your whole world turned upside-down, and it wasn't like he had made it through the evening sober either.
"Good idea." Percy mumbled, half to himself. Maybe taking a quick stop to check on Aphrodite's daughter before they left wasn't such a terrible plan.
At least if the drink station was compromised, it had a decent enough choice for an overseer. That was where the previously missing Pollux could be found, carefully sorting about a dozen brands of pop by brand and flavor. The blond son of Dionysus must have been roped into the task after running off to fetch his father. From the sheen of sweat on his forehead, the heavy-set demigod was either taking the task very seriously or had been suitably threatened into submission.
Were you hankering for a bite to eat? No problem there either. Katie was not exempt from her patrol-mate's fate, Percy saw. The daughter of Demeter had shed her armor and weapons, and instead of manning the trench now took to supervising several elfish nymphs while they set up a second group of folding tables. The wide range of skin tones matched the variety of foodstuffs on display. The son of Poseidon spotted everything from traditional American barbeque to the expected Mediterranean options.
Katie was currently busy taking quick samples of the dishes with a clear plastic fork, giving the assembled nature spirits either a nod or a shake of the head after every bite. It seemed the blond woman's word held a great deal of weight in the camp's culinary space, which made sense given her mother's domain over cooking and other related fields. Each and every nymph was listening with rapt attention. One green-skinned dryad in particular nearly fell to her knees when her offering, what looked to be a unique spread of battered and fried eggplant, got an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"We'll be eating well." Grover chuckled when he noticed Percy eyeing the food. "I know all about your appetite, man, don't worry." The satyr's eye turned a bit hazy. "I wonder if Juniper remembered to set aside a few of my stash of special tins cans for this . . ." He reached up to swipe at a bit of drool before it ran down his scruffy bearded chin.
"Juniper?" Percy dared to ask, noting how the name had literally perked up Aphrodite's aura. The young god received no reply, which caused the goddess on his arm to purse her lips. Grover was a lost cause, though, off in his own little world. Back to observing it was, then.
A delicious spread necessitated an equally impressive array of physical activities to burn off any excess calories. Annabeth clearly thought the same. Percy didn't think he had ever seen so many lawn games all in one place, missing memories be damned.
A task force of purple and orange clad campers were either setting up or testing out the activities. Each station was seemingly spaced equidistant from the others, just like the lines of hanging lights under the nearby awning. The demigod helpers had all been perfectly placed to maximize the use of their divine-assisted talents, because of course they were.
A demigod with hair so bright he had to be related to Apollo was in the midst of setting what had to be a world-record on a couple of cornhole boards. Each throw landed with accuracy that would have made the god of archery proud. Another more reasonably-colored set were busy setting up some sort of small racetrack, the kind you would see for the forty-yard dash with no curves. The way they sprinted around to mark the boundaries and distance with small orange cones reminded Percy of how Hermes always seemed to appear and disappear at will.
A short distance away, a mix of Greek and Roman campers had attached some targets to a couple of dragged-in hay bales. A veritable armory of hopefully (but probably not) dulled weapons sat in a wooden rack nearby. The group all shared the same sharp nose and severe eyes. As Percy observed, one of the orange-clad campers put a throwing knife through the bullseye from at least thirty paces away with enviable ease.
"Nice one, Clarisse!" One of the younger helpers cheered.
The woman only snorted derisively and stomped away to grab another weapon. Her hair was a wispy pale-blond, held back from her face by a bright red bandana. The vicious sneer on the demigod's wide face was practically identical to one the sky bearer had almost punched off a couple of days ago. A bunch of Ares' and Mars' kids, then.
What Percy supposed was a reasonably safe distance away, another younger camper was putting together a couple of jury-rigged racks for ladder toss. There were a couple of coal smudges on the demigod's cheeks nearly the same color as his dark curly hair. As he wrenched two pieces into place, it was obvious the teen's arms were completely ripped. Maybe not on Percy's literally godly level, but certainly buff enough that the sky bearer wouldn't have been shocked if the demigod could bend steel with his bare hands.
The thick beige overalls obscuring the camper's orange shirt practically screamed of Hephaestus. That and the fact that the projectiles needed for the game were two steel ball-bearing secured with thick industrial tubing, rather than rope and plastic. At least they weren't spiked, from what Percy could tell.
The Fates did say the forge god had at least some sense, so maybe that translated to his kids.
"Oops!" The demigod fumbled one of the round steel bearings, dropping it to the soil with a heavy thud. Instantly on contact, the thing exploded into sharp points like a metal pufferfish. "Aw, dangit." The teen proceeded to try and pick up the thing from various angles without stabbing their own fingers, all with relative yet uninspiring success.
Or maybe not.
Threats of grievous bodily harm aside, Grover had been generally correct with his original description. 'Charm' was a good way to categorize it all. The entire set up was imbued with that same sort of endearing earnestness that defined the satyr's every interaction. It was no wonder Grover was so proud of how things had come together. The sky bearer couldn't help but be a bit fascinated by it, honestly.
At the very least Percy could rest assured that not a single one of the vapid Olympic socialites would be caught dead in a place like this, with wind and dirt and good old fashioned elbow grease instead of polished marble floors and high end champagne. That was actually a pretty big point in the camp's favor. Percy could put up with a little bit of a mess if it meant actually having a decent time for once.
In total, there were about a couple dozen helpers scattered across the various stations. All of the, admittedly, well-coordinated chaos was centered around a traditional sand-volleyball pit. The mesh net across the sunken rectangle was the spiritual heart of the entire party setup, with all the other activities and tables spiraling outward in a coordinated pattern. Knowing what he did about Annabeth's mother, Percy wouldn't have been surprised if he grabbed a tape measure and found that it turned out to be the exact mathematical center as well.
On the closer side of the net, a couple of younger campers were fighting over a hand-powered air pump. Neither could have been more than nine or ten. The cylindrical object of interest was most likely intended to fill up the small pile of volleyballs near one post, though the deflated sphere lay forgotten. How long the argument had been going down was anyone's guess. The kids looked to be on the verge of throwing hands (maybe not for the first time), until a familiar daughter of Athena swooped in to save the day.
"Andrew, Jessie!" Annabeth stood over the bickering kids with fists on either hip. The stern expression she leveled down at the younger half-bloods was as stormy as the color of her eyes. "Are we really having this fight again? Do I have to separate you two?" She leaned downward, spearing her targets in place.
Dressed in a bright orange camp shirt and a pair of color-washed jeans, the sharp daughter of Athena still commanded attention from her presence alone. Only the pencil holding together her curly blond bun and the clipboard under one arm marked Annabeth as the woman in charge. That was, of course, if the orderly execution of every surrounding task and her professional aura didn't give it away first.
"It's not fair!" The camper on the left, a pale boy with an orange tee, immediately cried out in despair. "It's supposed to be my turn!" The kids' brown hair was muddied by patches of sandy tan, evidence of previous tumbles across the volleyball pit that Percy hadn't arrived early enough to witness.
"You don't get a turn!" The boy's opponent was a larger red-headed girl. She had her opponent beat by more than a few pounds and at least a year or two, demonstrated by how she practically ripped the pump away from his hands. "See?" The girl crowed, even as the boy's face flushed in anger. "Unclaimed kids don't deserve to help." The purple-shirted demigod taunted, with the simple viciousness only a child could display. Andrew's eyes started to well with unshed tears.
"Jessie!" Percy had expected Annabeth to intervene. What he hadn't foreseen was the not-so-gentle smack the woman laid on the back of the red-head's scalp. "Andrew has the right to help the same as everyone else." When the older demigod reached down, the shocked girl let go of her prize with an expression of comical astonishment. "Where did you hear that? Who told you that?" Annabeth drilled.
"Oh, jeez." Percy was so caught up observing that he almost forgot Grover was standing only a foot or two away. The scruffy satyr was hiding his face with a palm. "Of all the things to say." Chiron nodded along. The tall centaur was cloaked in tired solidarity.
"You're not the boss of me!" The small red-head, Jessie, recovered from her shock and stared down Annabeth as best she could. The young demigod bared her teeth. "You're not even a Roman! You're just . . . just a sordida graeca." The young girl spat the Latin words like a deadly insult. Andrew looked set to faint.
"Don't make me wash your mouth out." Annabeth met the younger camper's vitriol with a perfectly calm face. "Leila's your older sister, isn't she?" Jessie paled, taking a hasty step back. Annabeth had the decency not to smirk but her steel-gray eyes lit up. "I know her pretty well, since we work together. I don't think a centurion would allow for that kind of language, young lady."
"You don't have to tell her!" Jessie slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late to stop her knee-jerk exclamation. After a second or two, the small red-head realized the situation and promptly folded like a bad hand in poker. "Please don't tell Leila. Please. I'll be good."
The girl wrung her hands, green eyes snapping to the lost air-pump in Annabeth's clutches. "Andrew can blow up the volleyballs!" The pleading smile Jessie gave the daughter of Athena was anything but confident. The older woman only raised an eyebrow. "He can even have one more than me. Promise!" Jessie bargained nervously.
Annabeth held out the pump. "Two more." Her tone left no room for argument.
"Two more." Jessie didn't even try. The young red-head reached out to grab the thing before shoving it into the other boy's hands like the world's hottest potato. The black-haired demigod was still gaping, silently awed.
"Good." Annabeth sighed. She looked both satisfied and exasperated as she re-adjusted the clipboard under her arm. "Don't let me catch you doing that again." With a much softer pat to both kid's heads, the daughter of Athena shooed them away and back to their task.
When Annabeth straightened, her gaze shot right across the grass and unfailingly onto the group standing at the edge of the Big House. Percy saw her cheeks heat visibly as she took in the two Olympians, the two demigods, the satyr, and the centaur. Somehow, Annabeth's eyes drew along every single pair in the entire vicinity. It wasn't long until all of the little groups were still and watching. Basically all chatter in the area ceased in an instant.
It was something Percy had, unfortunately, gotten a bit used to.
"Oi!"
Like a very thematic crack of lightning, a certain punk-rock huntress broke the silence. Were he still mortal, Thalia's sudden manifestation next to Annabeth might have had him jumping out of his still-somehow-pristine high tops. As it was, Percy only tilted his head a bit. The tingling static against the young god's aura had been more than enough warning.
"You gonna just stand there or what?" Thalia's piercing blue eyes were almost glowing. They matched the fierce grin on her face and the electricity arcing between the ends of her dark bob cut. "Get over here so I can crush you, Percy. I don't even care what game!"
The huntress was bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, this time dressed not in Artemis' traditional hunting garb but instead in wintery-camo cargo pants and a gray tank top. "The other girls are pissing me off, so you better bring your A-game, dumbass." Percy noted that there was a can of mace strapped to her belt, strangely enough.
"Language, sister." Aphrodite's warning was somehow both perfectly polite and completely terrifying. Some of the watching demigods even flinched. "There are young ones present," the love deity reminded firmly. When Percy glanced over, his goddess was not-so-subtly inclining her head in Eloise's direction.
To her credit, Thalia only flushed instead of backing down. "Hey, hey, she's heard way worse than that. And not just from me!" The huntress cracked a smile at the youngest daughter of Aphrodite, who only furrowed her little brows in response. "Isn't that right, squirt?"
Annabeth had taken her clipboard into both hands, face torn somewhere between hiding behind it and smacking the daughter of Zues upside the head. Grover was hiding his face with both hands this time. Apparently one set of fingers didn't have enough coverage.
"Ma said swearin' ain't polite." Eloise replied, spine straight and voice completely confident. "Unless someone deserves it."
"Well I guess I'm not very polite then, pipsqueak." Thalia glared back, one eyebrow twitching. "Or maybe he deserves it."
"Thalia Grace."
The way Aphrodite spoke the name was dangerous, otherworldly. The air seemed to ripple as the syllables crossed the field. The force was clearly felt by every demigod present. The son of Hephaestus in particular had grabbed a steel wrench from . . . somewhere, which he was holding in front of his chest like a shield or a sword. The demigod's hands were white around the handle, the half-assembled lawn game forgotten.
Percy could only shuffle in place, giving Thalia a look that he hoped communicated how bad of an idea it would be to talk back any further. Lacy, subtle as ever, was quickly slashing a hand across her throat. Somehow the sky bearer didn't think his goddess would settle for shutting the huntress up with a kiss, like she had taken to doing for him over the past couple of days. Aphrodite' smile promised something much, much worse.
"Tch. Fine." Being around Artemis so much must have given the daughter of Zeus some immunity to the Olympian's flaring aura. Even Percy was impressed that the only reaction he saw was a brief shiver. "I'll keep it down. Sorry." Thalia grimaced, scuffing a boot against the ground and bending her neck in what could have passed for a half-bow of acquiescence.
"Merci. Thank you, Thalia." As suddenly as it had been summoned, the increased gravity was gone. Aphrodite's smile literally brightened the grass for a foot or two. "Your restraint is much appreciated." As her fingers relaxed, the risk of Percy's sleeve sheering apart reduced significantly.
Still, Aphrodite's tonal whiplash had Thalia pausing, face twisting a miniscule amount. Annabeth's expression was pinched, too. They both glanced at him in unison. Percy could only shrug, even as he raised his free hand to pat his goddess' knuckles in silent thanks.
Guess they weren't used to how Aphrodite operated like he was.
"With that said." Chiron clapped his hands once the quiet had stretched on for a beat too long to be comfortable. "How goes the preparation, Annabeth? The time is nearly upon us." The centaur strode forward with a purposefully relaxed gait and an easy smile. "I imagine you've gotten this whole group whipped into shape."
It wasn't hard for Percy to catch how all of the gathered half-bloods, even those with purple shirts, relaxed as Chiron passed on his way towards the volleyball pit. In fact, Percy was so caught up watching that he didn't even register that he was supposed to follow until Aphrodite was nudging on the back of his arm with a couple of fingers.
It took the sky bearer a beat to actually get his legs into gear. If Chiron eased the atmosphere, he and his goddess had the exact opposite effect. The demigod's glances, even those of the awed Greek campers, felt detached, distrusting. Aphrodite in particular received more than her fair share of suspicious side-eye. The younger kids were almost peering through him, as if Percy was less of a person and more of an idea given form.
Putting aside those stares was a bit of an effort, but not too much of one. What the sky bearer found significantly more difficult, however, was ignoring the part of his brain that kept pointing out that he was supposed to be the god of this place and of all these people as of literally five minutes ago. The part that told him that maybe they were all looking at him that way because he was that way. Isn't that what being an Olympian meant? That specific question was much more stubborn than the son of Poseidon would have liked.
Fake it 'till you make it, Jackson. The thought sounded suspiciously like his mother.
"Oh, um. Yes." Annabeth cleared her throat, still gripping her clipboard like a lifeline. Her eyes flashed between the approaching immortals, as if she couldn't quite settle on who she was supposed to be talking to. "Everything should be just about done. We're right on schedule." She must have caught the same glimpse of Andrew and Jessie nervously peering around one of the volleyball net's posts as Percy had, because her next words came out with sheepish smile. "We might need someone to help inflate the volleyballs, though."
"Oh, oh, I can do it!" Lacy bounded out from Aphrodite's side with a wave. Her infectious cheer sent a flurry of pink blushes across practically all of the male demigods within sight. "I've been doing that since I was a kid! I'm a great helper." The teen's pigtails swung side to side as Lacy thrust a thumb into her puffed out chest.
"Oh." Annabeth appeared understandably taken-aback. "Lacy, right? Piper's talked about you." The teen in question beamed, her head having to tilt up significantly to meet the older blond's gaze. "Sure. You can help." Percy could almost physically see Annabeth's brain rebooting.
"Sweet!" The daughter of Aphrodite fist-pumped, before jumping off towards the huddled children. The boy and girl wavered as she zoomed close, eyes wide and unsure. "Hey, you two! Want to learn all the super secret bad words you're not supposed to say?"
Percy didn't know that two kids could go from petrified to ecstatic so quickly.
"Hey!" Thalia squawked. "What the- why does-" The huntress' head pinged around, before catching on the smirk Aphrodite was hiding in Percy's shirt sleeve. She growled and stomped one foot. "Asshole." The huntress growled out under her breath. The love deity clearly heard, yet only shrugged.
"I have strong willed daughters, little huntress. Stubborn as love itself, non?" Aphrodite giggled a bit, pleased with her own turn of phrase. "One can only suggest wisdom, not implant it." Despite what could have been understood as a complaint, there wasn't a single iota of the love deity's face that wasn't steeped in maternal affection as she watched Lacy whisper to the enraptured young half-bloods. "You'll understand, when you're a mother someday."
"Oh. Ew." Thalia gagged. "No. Holy Hera, no." Percy wasn't sure you could fake that sort of natural disgust. "Keep that fu- I mean, freaking- stuff far away from me, thanks." The huntress' cheeks were even tinted a bit green. "I think you just like to play favorites, my Lady." The last words was sarcastic enough to burn your eyebrows off.
"Perhaps." Aphrodite's swirling eyes twinkled knowingly.
"Take it from me, Thalia." Percy was actually a bit surprised that it was his own voice to speak up next. He wasn't sure where the courage was coming from, but decided to run with it. "Aphy's mean." He could feel one half of his lips lifting up as he met the huntress' electric gaze. "She told me herself."
"Oui, parfait- perfect, love." As she withdrew her head, Aphrodite's fox-tail hair floated up to re-secure the wrap on his left wrist. The love deity hadn't stopped wearing that alluring smirk. "A lesson well learned, it seems." One finger raised to tap a painted nail provocatively against her bottom lip. "I shall reward your diligence later. Thoroughly." Each impact sent heat down Percy's spine, his eyes completely fixated on the bare, pillowy flesh.
"Oookay." A completely red faced Grover stepped forward, his tone literally bleating. The satyr had his hands out like a shield against the love deity's seductive splash-zone. "Why don't we finally get this party on, dudes? Hey, Will!" Grover turned to call out. One of the blonds near the race track shook his head rapidly before standing at attention. "Can you have the Hermes' kids spread the word? We can start a bit early." The demigod in question, notably, had barely reacted to Aphrodite's blatant flirting.
"You can count on me!" The shaggy blond saluted playfully, his face the only one within several yards that wasn't a bright pink. "I'll get the Mercury kids, too!" A couple of the purple-haired campers shook off their stupor and nodded along. "I'll have them be around camp in back in five minutes or less, or your money back."
The only blemish on the man's otherwise kind-looking face was a jagged scar across the left side of his upper lip. He was certainly old enough to be a veteran of the war, though he probably wasn't Percy's age. That thought was compounded when Will turned and started dishing out orders like a seasoned professional. There was no questioning the attention he demanded, and within thirty seconds the pack of definitely-faster-than-normal half-siblings had taken off down the hill.
"Reyna's going to love starting early. She likes schedules more than I do." Percy didn't even think Annabeth realized she had spoken for several seconds. When she did, the clipboard-wielding woman cleared her throat and instantly smoothed her grimace. "Ignore that."
Percy could only nod, bewildered. Thalia, meanwhile, wasn't even trying to hide her playfully mocking smile. Grover was facepalming again. Chiron's long-suffering expression was yet another reminder that yes, apparently Camp Half Blood was just like this all the time.
"Hey, Percy?" A tug on his pant leg caused the sky bearer to look down. Percy discovered a confident Eloise with one hand fisted into his jeans. "Is your pegasus comin' back soon? I wanna' ride 'im." The brazen honesty of such a dangerous proposal nearly made Percy laugh out loud. That was until his brain finally caught up to what the little demigod was actually wanting and he felt a certain divine mother's eyes on the back of his neck.
"Um." The young god looked to his goddess and was met with a completely straight face. "I don't know if that's a good idea?" He offered hesitantly. Eloise pouted and looked away, but the briefest uplift of Aphrodite's lips told him he chose the right answer. "Maybe next time." Percy tried to hide his sigh of relief by reflexively patting the girl's hair, but he probably wasn't successful.
"Fooey. They always say that." The tiny demigod grouched, but accepted the brief contact nonetheless.
It was such a tiny, miniscule thing, that Eloise didn't pull away. Really, if he had been thinking straight, Percy probably wouldn't have touched her in the first place. It felt as if he was crossing one too many boundaries, like the young god was tempting fate by putting hands that crushed marble like chalk on the head of someone so small and fragile.
The urge to reach out and do it again was almost overwhelming.
Percy had to physically snatch his hand back. The addictive softness of Aphrodite's hair was clearly a genetic trait. Even then, his fingers still twitched. Percy satisfied them with his engagement ring, noting how Grover's eyes flashed to the motion worriedly before quickly steering away.
"Hey, enough stalling." Thalia had apparently worked her energy back up. The huntress was bouncing in place again, her grin a touch more feral than before. "Grover said the party's on so let's get it on." She clapped her hands together. "I've missed out on six years of kickin' your butt, shark boy, so let's get into it."
"Each station has a sign up list, Thalia." Annabeth broke through her stupor to hold out her clipboard, tapping its contained pages with a stern finger. "You can't just claim every game for yourself. That'll cause chaos." The daughter of Athena sounded like the very idea of throwing off her plan was borderline unthinkable.
"Why can't we?" The huntress shrugged, stretching out her arms. "Just put our names at the top of every list or somethin'. It's not like there's anyone on there yet." Annabeth sputtered, but couldn't come up with a quick enough reply. Thalia continued with a satisfied smirk. "Besides, basically everyone is coming to take a peek at Percy anyway. Watching us will be a win-win."
Percy expected that idea to put him off of playing any games. Ever since his return he hadn't particularly enjoyed being observed, least of all by complete strangers. But, even after several seconds, the nervousness never manifested.
Instead, Percy found himself actually enjoying the idea. His heart pumped fast, golden ichor signing in his veins. The thought of a whole camp of people watching while he and Thalia competed had form thrumming with a powerful surge of competitive vigor. The sky bearer was almost blindsided by the urge to wipe the smile off of his cousin's face with extreme prejudice. He could feel his own smirk growing, and when Thalia saw her blue eyes literally glowed with arcing sparks.
"It's been millenia since I have engaged in such . . . mundane, mortal pleasantries." Aphrodite spoke up next, still hanging to Percy's arm. She was eyeing the hand-built ladder toss with a kind of detached, clinical fascination. "It would be a shame for all this work to go to waste, je suppose." One glance up at the stare-down between the huntress and her beau had the goddess signing in fond exasperation.
"No interfering." Thalia hooked a finger at the love deity, breaking away from Percy's gaze.
The brazen command drew several quiet gasps from those nearby. Annabeth only slumped, clipboard hanging in defeat. Aphrodite raised a thin, sculpted eyebrow.
"I wouldn't dream of it. Such a thing would be unfair to mon amour, you see." The goddess turned to smile up at Percy, her sharp grin completely cutthroat and undeniably attractive. "Besides." Aphrodite's throaty purr had his blood running hot in a completely different way. "I don't believe it will be needed."
"No. It won't be." Percy's wind swirled with his words, throwing his curls about his forehead and sending the hanging lights swinging madly. "I got this." The sky bearer didn't even notice when Chiron turned and trotted away, heading towards the drink station with a shake of his head.
"Heck yeah, dude!" Grover had been swept up right alongside the surrounding air. "That sounds more like the Percy I know." The satyr was smiling so hard his cheeks probably hurt. "We can judge!"
A loose circle of demigods had grown around the group, far enough away to stay out of Percy's reaching aura but close enough to betray how interested their faces were. Basically all of the party set-up helpers had joined. Even Katie and Pollux had wandered over at some point. The former was wearing a supportive, motherly smile. Lacy, meanwhile, was vibrating fast enough to blur.
Almost unconsciously, two groups formed around the volleyball pit. The outer ring was mostly purple-shirted Romans, some of whom were still bothering to pretend to be aloof. The inner ring was predominantly orange-clad Greeks who watched with unfettered curiosity. The Hermes' and Mercury campers hadn't returned yet, but Percy's ears caught a stirring in the town that sounded suspiciously like a great march of half-bloods towards the Big House.
"I guess we can." Despite Annabeth's sigh, the daughter of Athena looked to be fighting off her own smile. "Just to keep things fair." The blond woman's expression was torn - one part warm nostalgia and one part deep, bitter acceptance.
"You talk big game, kelp head." Thalia was anything but deterred. For calling Percy 'shark boy' earlier, she certainly looked the part at that moment. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is." With every person that joined the crowd of spectators, the huntress only seemed to become more riled up. Percy was right there with her.
Over the next few minutes, the growing circle of half-bloods learned a couple of important lessons. First, Thalia was good.
The huntress earned that descriptor - Thalia approached every activity like a predator stalking its prey, a lion in camouflage pants and a loose tank top. She was accurate on the ladder toss, breezed through the cornhole. When someone broke out a croquet set that looked like it hadn't been touched in half a century, the daughter of Zeus wielded the wooden mallet like she had been born with one in her hand. Her smile was scary enough that some of the watchers almost edged Percy's way unconsciously as she flowed from game to game. Thalia was almost unbeatable.
The second lesson that was learned that day? Almost unbeatable didn't mean actually unbeatable.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me."
From the way the crowd oohed and ahed after Thalia's first first throw on ladder toss, Percy had expected the game to be difficult. That was . . . not the case. It was a little disappointing, but the thrill of the competition burned the feeling away. Thalia wasn't taking it quite so well.
"Who's the idiot who put spikes on these things, huh?!"
The instant he picked up the definitely-heavier-than-regulation projectile, Percy knew he was about to pitch a flawless turn of his own. Tossing something into the air meant very little when your hands were said air, after all. His first throw was more like continuously passing himself a baton over and over again.
Draping the tubing casually over the top-most rung was basically child's play compared to levitating Riptide around. If Percy's bola happened to deploy its spiky defenses and knock off Thalia's own bola off the same rack, then that was all the better for him. He couldn't help his subsequent smirk. It felt unusual on his face, but the good kind of strange.
"I'll get you back for that you smug prick, you just watch."
Thalia did, in fact, return the favor.
The daughter of Zeus aimed her next two projectiles like an NFL quarterback, knocking off Percy's first two throws with her own second and third. Unfortunately for her, that left the sky bearer to go last. When both of the huntress' remaining bolas hit the grass, the score sat at Percy's one to Thalia's zero. That had earned him some cheers from the crowd and a congratulatory kiss on the cheek from Aphrodite.
The love deity seemed to be having more fun playing the stereotypical cheerleading girlfriend than actually watching. Percy wasn't about to complain, even if she was playing it up for the crowd a little bit. The number of appraising looks he could feel against his skin was nowhere near the level from the last party he had attended, but the sky bearer's clothing fit tight to his frame and it definitely showed. Thalia, though, cared little about the love deity's affection theatrics beyond some narrow-eyed glances.
"Oi. You're going first on this next game, got it?"
Her voice was even snappier than usual. Percy had only shrugged, face more smug than was probably polite.
Cornhole didn't go much different than ladder toss. It turns out that under handing a bag filled with corn was almost identical, mechanics-wise. Percy barely even had to move his arm. The son of Poseidon only had to get the projectile in the relative vicinity of the slab wooden board before plucking the thing up with a few fingers of air and dropping it neatly down the hole.
What was actually more impressive was the fact that Thalia managed to shake off her budding rage in order to pitch another perfect match for herself. It was a testament to her skill that the games were even close at all. The lack of sabotage opportunities that cornhole's format presented just meant that they both tied the first round, and then the subsequent tie-breaker. Annabeth had called the game after that, forcing the pair and their mob of spectators to move on so that someone else could take up the station.
Percy still one, Thalia still zero. Twenty minutes later that was still the score, and the huntress was getting a bit desperate.
Apparently, whoever had picked out all of the games heavily favored formats where an even score was always theoretically possible. Ring toss? A flawless tie on every throw. Lawn bowling? Try twenty-four strikes in a row, some with extreme prejudice. Grover seemed both impressed and frightened by that one.
Despite their increasing numbers, the cheering of the crowd had actually reduced over time instead of increasing. A steady trickle of new faces grew the mob until the entire lawn was packed, and whenever the dueling pair moved on from a station it was immediately claimed by someone else. Percy caught glimpses of Aphrodite's other children, waving and cheering from the front few rows. By contrast many campers of either the younger or the Roman persuasion simply wandered away, taking with them Katie and Pollux as demand for drinks and food rose.
The longer and longer the games went on, the more the silver sheen around Thalia brightened and her frown grew. The smell of petrichor and storm clouds teased Percy's nostrils whenever he walked past his cousin to exchange turns. The sky bearer could almost physically see the huntress wringing every drop of divine assistance from both her blessing and her blood.
Percy could tell Aphrodite sensed it too, though when he looked to her in concern she merely shrugged one shoulder and patted him on the bicep. Despite how physically affectionate she was being, the love deity had been strangely quiet. Percy could feel her eyes observing him the whole time, prickling against the back of his neck. Whether or not her intense focus was the reason the gap of empty space around her form was twice as wide as his own, he couldn't say.
When the competition had first begun, Percy had been all in. There was something poetic about Zeus versus Poseidon, demigod versus god that had him excited. The sky bearer couldn't deny that seeing Thalia rile herself up over the first few stations had been enjoyable, and the excited reactions of the spectators had stroked his ego.
Divinity was all about desire, as Aphrodite had taught him, and Percy really really wanted to win. In the beginning, anyway. Gradually, though, that started to change.
"Get over here, Percy." By the time they made it to the last station, the frazzled look on Thalia's face wasn't as fun anymore. "I know something that's going to finally even the score." If looks could kill, the painted targets on the round hay-bales would have burst into flame ages ago.
Even Ares' kids had mostly scattered as the storming huntress approached the weapon racks, all except for the blond leader Percy had heard called 'Clarisse' earlier on. The muscular woman instead stood off to the side, arms folded and face grimacing. Her eyes hadn't left Percy's general vicinity, and every time he caught her looking her scowled only deepened. The attention felt both antagonistic and not at the same time.
"There's no way you can beat me on this one." Thalia ignored the other demigod, snatched two basic longbows from their resting places. Her black boots stomped heavy as she walked over to slap the thing into Percy's chest. "An archery competition." Her eyes were glowing electric blue. Sparks jumped between her fingers.
"Okay." Percy was trying hard to keep up the competitive fire, but that was a losing battle. "Sure." It was all he could do to keep his voice even. "That works." Thalia nodded and turned sharply towards the targets, like her feet were trying to cut open the soil with every movement.
Percy frowned as he watched her go. It took him a second to find a good grip on the bow's leather-wrapped grip, like his hands weren't sure exactly how to hold it. Compared to Riptide, the ranged weapon felt large and unwieldy. Maybe Thalia was onto something?
"How interesting." Aphrodite tilted her head a bit, eyeing the bow. "A classic bout of skill, then." It seemed the love deity found some ironic humor in that fact, her voice amused. "If Apollo wasn't watching before, he certainly will be paying attention now." She was right - the sun felt just a bit warmer against the young god's face than it had a moment ago. Percy wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"Heads up."
Thalia gave no more warning than a quick shout before tossing a bundle of arrows in Percy's direction. Instead of letting them hit his chest and clatter to the ground, the sky bearer roped the wooden shafts together with a rope of wind. He tapped one point with a finger, noting that the steel tips were at least blunted. By the time he stepped up to the line, the huntress was already testing out the bowstring's draw weight.
Percy couldn't help but glance over at Thalia's preparation. The motions were drilled, smooth. It was a surety born from an action performed without conscious thought, and the dangerous gleam in her eye made it clear the daughter of Zeus had gone through the process during the war more times than she could probably count. Percy, meanwhile, just plucked at his string with a single finger.
For a mortal, the thing was probably pretty heavy duty. It was all sturdy wood and leather, crafted to hold up to a demigod's strength. To him, it felt flimsy. Weak. Fragile, like when he put his hand on Eloise's head.
Without any sort of divine blessing, Percy could have snapped the thing with barely more effort than breaking a strand of hair. He could have done the same to the ladder toss projectiles, disintegrated the cornhole bags, and sent the lawn bowling ball over the roof of the Big House. The sky bearer hadn't of course, because that would have defeated the entire point.
Wasn't this supposed to be fun? As he watched Thalia notch her first arrow, Percy couldn't keep the thought out of his head.
The young god wasn't sure when he had started asking himself that question. Somewhere after the sixth perfectly tied game, probably. At first Thalia had risen for the challenge, putting her all into each and every match to achieve feats of outdoor fun that were almost unthinkable. She had sweat and swore and sneered through the effort. Honestly, watching her was the most fun he had had all afternoon.
Why? Because Percy really wasn't, y'know, trying that hard. At all.
It wasn't so much a disparity in skill as it was in the sheer breadth of Percy's available tools. What Thalia had to really work for, he could achieve with less than a wave of the hand. That made her the crowd favorite, especially after the novelty of Percy's wind control wore off. The sky bearer came to understand why Aphrodite was so disinterested in playing along - it was no wonder she had called the games 'mundane'.
At some point, Percy had actually started rooting for the huntress a little bit too.
"Beat this, Jackson." Thalia's first draw was a work of art. The prominent muscles of her shoulder and back all tensed in fluid motion, moving like a well-oiled machine until the arrow's red fletching rested on the huntress' right cheek. "Bullseye."
With a held breath, Thalia paid off her words. The arrow screamed through the air, sinking nearly half-deep into the straw right at the center of the target. Somehow, she still seemed unsatisfied. Her next words came out pinched.
"Your turn."
Percy stepped up to the line. He still couldn't get a grip on the damn bow. His hands were too big, so his fingers kept slipping off the grip and onto the bare wood. His scalp was almost uncomfortably hot, but no one else seemed to notice. One second thought, so were his palms. It wasn't until Percy looked down that he realized the bow string was glowing ever so slightly yellow when contrasted against the green of the grass underfoot.
Apollo, you bitch.
It was petty. It was so petty, in fact, that Percy actually had to wonder if Artemis had put her twin up to it or if the sun deity had come up with the idea all on his own. But it was also smart. Unfortunately so.
Archery was Apollo's domain. The blond Olympian could curse the bow all he wanted, technically. If confronted the sun god could probably argue, even if everyone could tell it was mostly bullshit, that Percy was somehow 'intruding' on his domains by agreeing to an archery competition in the first place. Besides, it wasn't like it was a huge deal. Or so he would probably say.
And as long as nowhere else was hurt, Apollo would also be right. If Percy couldn't beat a demigod with a bit of a handicap, what use was he as an Olympian? That sounded like exactly the sort of logic that Zeus would eat up.
Percy looked to Aphrodite, still fighting with the bow's leather grip. It felt like he was holding a bomb rather than a training weapon. The love deity only inclined her head a bit, fox-tail hair swaying in his breeze.
There was not a single iota of surprise on her face. He could almost read her thoughts behind those swirling irises - they both knew that the crusade against his betrayer would make them enemies. The flawless smile on her stunning face seemed confident enough, and it bolstered the sky bearer just to see it. He would have to wing it then.
"You gonna start or what?" Thalia snapped, one foot tapping restlessly. Annabeth, gripping her clipboard and standing a few feet off to the side, shot the huntress the same look she had given Jessie and Andrew. "Sorry, Percy." The daughter of Zeus grumbled, crossing her arms and looking away.
"It's okay." Percy waved a hand. The motion still hard portions of the crowd flinching, like they were expecting something more violent. He ignored it. "I'm getting there."
If the bow in his hand was a no-go, which it definitely was, that limited Percy's options. The sky bearer actually felt a bit of a thrill up his spine. Finally, a challenge! Percy turned to eye the targets once again, gaze lingering on the dead-center shaft of Thalia's first shot. He hefted the weight of the arrows in his wind, pinching his eyebrows together.
Surely if he could make a tiny pebble break the sound barrier, he could put an arrow into a target. Aiming would be the most difficult part. The young god didn't think either of them would be satisfied if he just floated it over and shoved it in slowly. That was a step too far removed, even for him.
Percy let himself smile again. He had a plan. It would require focus, but he was used to that by now.
With a bit of extra care, the sky bearer pulled one of the arrows from the bundle before lining it up at eye-level like he was aiming down the barrel of a rifle. It was good that the targets were up against the tree-line, since that meant if Percy went overboard the only casualty would be some unfortunate tree trunk. He sucked in a preparatory breath, preparing to shove his hand forwar-
"Hey! Stop!"
Percy was shocked from his concentration. The arrow fell from his control and clattered against the ground. A heavier set of steps accompanied the scratchy yell. When the young god turned, he found the previously silent Clarisse bulldozing her way towards him.
"What sort of prissy bullshit is this?" The woman's wide face was flushed red, her eyes dark and glinting. The orange-shirted daughter of Ares moved like a freight-train, all mass and muscle and force. "What are you even doing?" That sneer was back again.
"Clarisse!" Grover was the first to recover, springing forward. "You can't just-"
"Get outta my way." The satyr was shoved aside like he weighed less than nothing, windmilling his arms to stay on both hooves. "I'm not talkin' to you." Clarisse crossed Percy's teal border without even a pause, though her face did pinch. It made her look even angrier.
"Clarisse." Annabeth must have learned that tone of voice from Percy's mother. The daughter of Athena looked on the verge of either panic or rage.
"Don't get your panties in a twist." The daughter of Ares shot back, but she did pause her forceful march a few feet in front of the shooting line. The woman's hands were fisted tight. "My station, my rules." She snarled. "Don't like it? Piss off."
"Careful, young one." Aphrodite spoke for the first time since the competition had started. Her deceptively smooth tone of voice had sweat dripping down the back of even Percy's neck. "You stand in the presence of not one but two Olympians, non?" Aphrodite smiled, but it was a dangerous thing. "I know your father couldn't have raised you properly, but I would be sure to mind your manners. I already warned the huntress."
Percy had to resist the urge to step back and try to calm his betrothed, but instead he found himself still under Clarisse's gaze. It wasn't that he was frozen or threatened - far from it. He was . . . intrigued. The woman had ghosts, dripping down her orange camp shirt and the obvious knife sheath tucked beneath her belt. Their haunting faces stared back at him.
"Yeah, yeah." The muscular demigod rolled her eyes, but her tone was a degree or two closer to the normal talking spectrum. Percy had a feeling that it was as good as they were going to get. "I'll be quick, or whatever." Aphrodite seemed to allow the concession, the pink saturation of her aura dimming a touch.
"What's the problem, Clarisse?" Annabeth massaged her forehead with a hand, like she was fighting off a bad headache. Her tone made it sound like dealing with the other half-bloods 'problems' was a frequent occurrence.
"You." Clarisse jabbed a finger towards Percy's chest, and then down to the bow he still held limp in his hand. "You're doing it wrong." She sounded so frustrated, like it was some something so completely obvious and that everyone else were idiots for not noticing.
Percy blinked at her. "I'm not good with bows."
That seemed like a plausible enough excuse. The son of Poseidon wasn't about to shout about how he was literally holding a cursed weapon, not with so many squishy mortals around.
"No shit, sherlock." Clarisse threw her hands up. "Everyone knows that. You've always been terrible with them. That's why little miss huntress suggested it in the first place." The daughter of Ares snorted, reaching up to fiddle with the knot of her bandana. "That's not what I mean."
Percy tucked that little tidbit of information away, eyes narrowing. Thalia only huffed and turned her head, neck flushing red. Apparently his excuse had been better than 'plausible', which would explain why the ranged weapon felt so wrong to hold. Glowing divine curse aside, obviously.
"What do you mean, then?" Percy couldn't help himself from asking, levitating the fallen arrow back up to join its siblings in the air.
"Listen. Like, we all get that you have these fancy powers now." The daughter of Ares fidgeted in place, visibly struggling to move her words into a less vitriolic space. "You want to show them off, look good for your lady, whatever. I literally couldn't care less about cornhole or stupid ladder toss." Her face looked like she was holding herself back from turning around and punching something. "But this whole thing is my whole thing, so if you're gonna hit my targets you're gonna do it right."
Clarisse spun on her heel, reaching out and snagging a short spear from the weapon rack. With a smooth, practiced motion, the daughter of Ares put her weight onto her front foot and heaved.
The woman's whole upper body spun like an exploding spring. Percy watched the spear shoot from her hand, flying impressively straight across the field and right through the bullseye of the second target. Clarisse only sneered at the sight before turning back around.
"See? You get it?" When Percy only looked at her blankly, the half-blood's face only reddened further. "No tricks, no magic. Not here." Clarisse thumped a fist into her chest with a sound like a football player striking pads, a brief flash of gory red around her form. "Just you and your weapon. Pure competition." The woman's smile was as sharp as any weapon Percy had ever seen. "We know you could just blow up the target, or something equally dumb and useless. We get it." Just like that, the demigod turned to storm away. She called her last line over her shoulder.
"But if you're not going to do it with your hands, then what's even the fucking point?"
The crowd was silent after that.
Or, they might have been. Percy wasn't really listening.
Aphrodite's aura had flared, probably because of Clarisse's parting profanity, but the sky bearer was lost in his own thoughts as he watched the daughter of Ares re-take up her position near the edge of the crowd. Clarisse's eyes found him immediately. There was something not quite taunting but certainly daring in her expression.
The world was moving in slow motion as the sky bearer turned back to the targets. He considered the arrows in his winds' grasp, then held up the bow to eye-level. It felt solid enough when he ran his fingers over the wood. The string was still glowing. Grover and Annabeth and everyone else were watching. Waiting.
Thalia's first shot had been a bullseye. Percy's first shot didn't even hit within ten feet of the target. The demigods cheered. Aphrodite actually smiled.
Percy had never been so happy to lose.