"Did you hear me, you—" whatever Gabe said was drowned out by his pounding.
Percy turned to his mother. "I thought you said you'd handle it."
She shot a dry look at him. "I have, Percy. Let me call the police."
"What?"
"He's violating his restraining order," she said, shrugging.
Percy's eyes narrowed. "Restrain… wait, how often has he come around?"
"Only a couple of times, once he finally tracked down where I'd moved to. It's fine, Percy."
"It doesn't seem fine! I still think you should let me handle him."
His mother's next look was even drier. "You cannot just kill him. He's not a monster."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Percy."
The time-traveler sighed. "Fine. Call the cops. How did he even get in the building?" She sighed and shook her head as she dialed the phone.
"Sally! You open this door right now!"
"Shove it, Smelly Gabe!" Percy yelled to him. Wow. Three hundred years, and that was the best he could do. Trauma and age regression do not mix well.
(He really hoped he could avoid The Pit this time… that would undoubtedly be a monumental disaster.)
"Percy, you aren't helping!" his mother said.
"What did you just say to me, brat?"
"I said go away. You're not welcome here!" Then he turned to his cousins and Grover. "Sorry about this. He's a really awful guy who thinks the world owes him a living. Mom married him because he smells human, but thankfully divorced him. Even after a trial, apparently, he didn't get the memo."
Grover nodded emphatically. "I can smell him from here." His nose wrinkled.
"Who are you talking to?" Gabe yelled. He had to be drunk. This early in the morning? Or maybe it was late for him?
"None of your business!" Percy shouted back.
"You were… just kidding… about killing him, right?" Nico asked, looking suddenly small.
That took Percy back. Again. Because the Nico he knew would be all for it. Maybe that was because future him lived in the underworld, constantly seeing where everyone went when they died?
He looked at Bianca and Grover, seeing the fear on their faces too, before sighing. "Yeah. Of course. Sorry for scaring you."
Nico and Bianca looked relieved. Grover didn't.
Empath. Right. He'd definitely have to talk to his best friend later.
xXx
The morning was a fiasco, ending with Gabe in handcuffs and a bunch of cops trying to take everyone's statements. They didn't get on the road until almost noon.
"I'm so sorry about this morning," Sally said as she turned out of the apartment complex. "Normally, that doesn't happen, I promise."
"It's not like you could help it, Mrs. Jackson," Grover said. "And between Percy and me, we managed to explain most of it to Bianca and Nico."
"Good," his mom said, sounding relieved. "Because you are all welcome at my apartment at any time you need, and that won't happen again. Not if I can help it."
"Really?" three voices asked, surprised. Percy just kind of smirked at the dark undertone in his mom's voice. And people thought he got his dark streak from his father.
That smirk turned into a grin as his mother nodded firmly, looking at the kids in the rear-view mirror. "Really."
They looked so grateful.
Had Percy mentioned he loved his mom?
Thankfully, the rest of the trip to the Camp was relatively uneventful, with the exception of Percy seeing the Fates and their fruit stand knitting enormous socks again on the side of the road. This time, the string was black, with a sort of translucent, oil-slick kind of color. It was very nice as far as life-yarn went.
It wasn't Luke's. He was sure of it.
He wasn't entirely sure what to feel about that. Part of him definitely felt elated and successful. But part of him…
Who had he condemned in Luke's place?
Well, he supposed he'd find out soon enough. By the end of the summer most likely.
He could deal with this. He chose this. And it was better than the alternative of not doing anything.
(He had to keep believing that.)
xXx
Percy bid his Mom goodbye with a long hug before he turned and made his way up half-blood hill towards the big house. With one last wave, they stepped over the ridge, and he got to see the look on Bianca and Nico's face when they saw the Camp for the first time.
"Wow!" Nico said breathlessly. "This is Camp Half-Blood?"
"Yup!" Percy said, grinning down at the horseshoe of cabins surrounded by areas for activities, the beach in the distance, and the forest. Yeah, there was just something about this particular camp. Also, he realized, this was definitely better than their introduction last time. No Manticores, or the Hunt, or running for their lives… or Thalia and her fear of flying while driving the Sun Chariot…
Actually, now that he thought about it, he hadn't had a normal entrance to camp his first few years. First, the Minotaur, and then the Automaton Bulls in his second year, then riding the Sun Chariot into camp and crashing into the lake…
Well, he was happy to start a new tradition. Hopefully.
At the reminder of his other cousin, he glanced to the side, at Thalia's tree. The sooner they took care of that, the better, but it would probably have to wait until the whole thing with the Master Bolt was handled. Unless something came up that stopped him from going.
Yeah, right. He withheld a sigh and turned to the group again.
"So, Grover," he smiled big, trying to make sure he looked as friendly as he could—no sharpness to this one at all (it was surprisingly difficult, and maybe he should look into that), "why don't you take these two to meet Chiron and Mr. D? I want to go put my bags in my cabin."
"W-wait," Nico said, suddenly unsure. Beside him, Bianca shifted nervously.
"You guys are safe here," Percy assured. "As safe as a demigod can be, in any case. And you said you trust Grover. Good decision in my humble opinion. He's done everything he can, and will keep doing everything he can to protect you both, 'cause that's just how he is. If you ever need anything, though, I'm in cabin three. Or by a body of water; we have that lake over there—" he pointed to it, noting that the Athena cabin was just coming back from canoeing— "and then there's the ocean. Sometimes, I may be in the battle arena, practicing or sparring. And I'll be happy to help you however I can.
"But right now," he eyed the Hermes kids currently filing out of cabin eleven, "I have someone I need to talk to, okay?"
The other two still looked uncertain. Which meant Percy couldn't just leave. So he fell back on adding a couple of things he remembered from his time overseeing this particular camp.
"Also, while the introduction movie can be a little… graphic, it can really help. If you can look past its cheesiness. I highly recommend you watch it, just so you have a basic understanding to work from. I'm pretty sure Grover and I have missed a couple of things just because there's so much to go over."
The two exchanged glances. At least they looked a little less nervous. Percy would take that. He nodded to Grover, who took over from there. "He's right. So why not meet the camp director and activity head? Just follow me."
They just needed a little more of a push, so Percy tapped Nico's Mythomagic cards to drive the point home. "Mr. D," he whispered, having explained that earlier. Nico caught on almost immediately and his uncertainty disappeared in a flash.
"No way! That is so cool! Come on, Bianca!" Percy watched his youngest cousin whirl around and make a bee-line for the Big House. His sister seemed surprised, but hurried after him.
"Nico!"
Even Grover had to stumble to keep up. He waved to Percy before bounding after the other two like the half-goat he was.
Percy watched them go, shaking his head fondly. He missed the Nico he remembered, but he could handle this one hanging around for a while. Then he turned and made his own bee-line for the Hermes cabin. They seemed to be heading to lunch, which was perfect.
"Hey, guys!" he called out with a wave as he got close.
"Percy!" Johan, Mara, and Amy all said at once, grinning widely. Chris, Ethan, and the Stolls lit up at seeing him, too. Luke stood in the back of the group, watching Percy warily but calmly. They were leading the new campers to the pavilion. Percy looked them over, smiling warmly (this time he made sure not to show any teeth, just in case).
Just as he thought, there was Alabaster Torrington, along with a couple of kids he'd fought beside but hadn't known well, and even more he didn't know at all. He could still tell their parents more or less right off the bat. The obvious ones were the Apollo kids and one Athena kid who would probably be claimed by the end of the day (still something he had and would always respect Athena for, and one of the few thing's he'd say to her face too). The others ranged from Ares, to Demeter, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and, of course, finishing off with more Hermes kids. The only kid who wasn't a child of one of the main Olympians this year seemed to be Alabaster himself, and the Di Angelos.
"Who is this?" the boy in question asked Luke. Di Immortales, he looked so young.
"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon," Percy introduced himself before anyone else could. "Just coming to say hi to my friends. Where's Roxanne?"
"Oh, didn't you hear?" Chris asked. "She was claimed by Aphrodite last year, around Christmas."
Percy blinked because no, he hadn't heard that. He'd known who her godly parent was, but hadn't heard about the claiming. It hadn't helped that she'd seemed to grow more and more shy as the previous year wore on, or that Percy had gotten a little side-tracked with Erin and school and the monster attacks and everything. He'd need to fix that.
"Nope. But I'll find her at lunch," he assured. "Though I'd better get my bags put away first. Luke? Mind walking with me to the cabin?" The older boy seemed a little taken back at the request, so Percy clarified. "I'd really like to talk to you about something."
The blond's wariness shot up, but Percy had been polite and mostly friendly (the slightly sharper grin at the end may or may not have been a threat), and he must have decided to get whatever was wrong out of the way, because he nodded, albeit hesitantly.
"Sure. Um, Chris. You're in charge while I'm gone. You know where to go."
"Sure thing," Chris said, grinning. He really did seem happier now that he'd been claimed. Go figure.
"Aww," Travis said, almost pouting, "why not us? I'm older!" He gestured to himself and Connor who looked equally put out.
Luke shot them a dry look. "Because I can trust Chris not to prank every new camper before they get settled. I can't stop you all from stealing everything in sight, but please try and wait a day or two first?"
Percy, and many of the other older campers, laughed at Travis' pout, but no one refuted Luke's claims. Not even the Stolls themselves.
"Alright, everyone! This way!" Chris called out, heading up to the pavilion while Percy turned to trek to his own cabin with a wave. Then he turned his gaze to Luke, keeping the boy within sight until they were walking side-by-side towards cabin three. He only took his eyes off of the son of Hermes when they passed the fire and he saw Aunt Hestia. As always, he smiled and nodded respectfully to her. She nodded back at them kindly, though Percy saw a thoughtful look in her eye.
Speaking of… He sent a mental prayer to her. Aunt Hestia, can you please put up a barrier? Luke and I have to have a talk.
Her smile dimmed, but she nodded solemnly and Percy felt a barrier rise around them. She'd know if any god tried to break through it. Good.
"It's safe to talk," he said.
Luke glanced back at Hestia before fixing his wary gaze on Percy. "So… what did you want to talk about?" he asked slowly.
"You went to Mount Olympus at the solstice, right?" Percy asked, deciding to get right to the point.
The son of Hermes frowned. "Yeah. Like every other demigod here."
Well, at least he'd have a list to work with after he confirmed it wasn't Luke. Because he did have to confirm it.
"I have to ask, Luke: Did you take it?" he asked, tapping into his ability to sense demigod emotions. He didn't like doing it, but he had to know.
Luke looked (and felt) surprised. "Take what? The golden dishes? I mean, we sent them back. We always do. We're not stupid."
Percy took a deep breath, then made sure he calmly opened his cabin door and gestured for Luke to follow him inside. A little reluctantly, he did. Percy could sense his trepidation, and offense, but was that a cover? It could be… even if he didn't know Percy could sense his emotions.
Once they got inside, Luke scanned the room warily, not used to being inside a cabin that wasn't his own. Understandable. Percy closed the door and walked over to his preferred bed, dropping his bags by the side of it before turning to fix Luke with his most neutral stare.
"The Master Bolt, Luke. Did you take the Master Bolt?"
Shock. Shock that showed plainly on the older boy's face. That was genuine. Okay, but was that because Percy had accused him or because he'd figured out—
"That's what was stolen?"
Hmm. Still shock. And incredulity. Which could fit either way. Percy nodded slowly.
"Di Immortales…" Luke whispered, hand coming to the side of his head. "No wonder the weather's been… wait," he paused, expression (and emotion) switching to disbelief. "Don't tell me I was the one who stole it last time?"
Percy shrugged in a 'what can you do' gesture, still watching the other teen carefully. Luke's slowly growing horror still reflected on his face.
"What was I, insane?"
A pause. "No, just… desperate. Didn't help that an ancient Titan had been poking and picking at your fatal flaw for who knows how long."
"Di Immortales," Luke said again, running a hand through his hair.
Percy sighed. "I need a 'yes' or 'no', Luke."
That made the older boy blink in surprise. "What? No!" Offense and still horror… and fear, but more at the situation. There was a distinct flavor to 'being found out' that Luke did not have.
Percy let out a long breath, both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because he'd helped Annabeth's family, disappointed because now he had no idea who else to look at.
"Good."
"I mean, I won't say Kro—The Crooked one didn't try. Ended up with a few dreams here and there, but I told him to go… um…" He coughed, anger and frustration melting back into wariness. "Take a long walk off of a short pier."
Percy snorted. "I was the camp director in the future, Luke. I'm not now. I won't get upset at you for swearing unless it's in front of kids."
"You're a kid," he muttered, though Percy could sense his relief.
The time-traveler shrugged. "With three-hundred years of memories."
"You still look—and usually act—like you're twelve." Petulance and embarrassment.
"You would too if you were shoved in your twelve-year-old body," Percy pointed out.
"Back on track," Luke said abruptly, obviously not wanting to think about that particular possibility (fair, Percy knew what he'd gone through), "why does Kr… um… the Crooked one want the Master Bolt? Can he even use it? I thought it was for… the King of the gods alone."
"It's stronger with him, but anyone can theoretically use it," Percy said quietly, then ran a hand through his hair. "Luke, even out of Uncle Z's hands, it's one of the most powerful weapons that has ever been created. The weapons they have are part of what makes the Big Three, the Big Three. The Crooked One himself has a weapon too, given to him by his mother to destroy his father." He paused, frowning. "Speaking of, you wouldn't happen to have found a new sword recently, would you? One that can kill both mortals and immortals."
Annoyance, frustration, offense, and more horror. Luke took a deep breath. "I get why you're asking this, but again, no. It wasn't me. Not this time. I like to switch up swords to keep me on my toes anyway. I use random ones in the armory. Haven't noticed any new ones."
Truth.
Percy withdrew from Luke's emotions and nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Sorry. Like I said, I had to ask."
Luke returned the nod. "And like I said, I get it."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until Percy straightened up. "Alright. Looks like we need to start looking for a new traitor. It would help if anyone got a new weapon recently?"
"That… won't be as easy as you think," Luke warned. "Most kids who went to Olympus got something from their parents. Clarisse got a spear, Annabeth got a baseball cap that turns her invisible—for her twelfth birthday, just half a year late," he sounded annoyed and bitter, but not as biting as he had in Percy's memories so he let it slide. "Even I got a magic lock-pick set. Most of the Hermes kids got something along those lines, too."
"Great," Percy muttered. Then he sighed and strode past Luke to the door. "Could you get me a list of everyone who went to Mount Olympus, then?"
The blond studied him for several seconds before nodding and following him out of the cabin. "I'm the senior counselor this year, so I should be able to. I'll ask Chiron."
This time, Percy shot him a real smile as they began to head back to the pavilion. "Thanks, Luke. That'll be a huge help.
"Now, about the two new kids I brought with me…"
Luke didn't groan, but he did sigh. "Do I want to know?"
Percy shrugged. "I did know them in the future. Just know the younger one especially can hold grudges like none other. But if you give him respect, he'll respect you back."
"Why do I get the feeling that they're going to be really involved in things?"
The time traveler shrugged, then waved at Hestia again as they walked by. Her smile seemed warmer this time, more relaxed and relieved. The barrier she placed around them fell and he sent her a quick thank you prayer. She nodded at him again. He should probably talk to her about everything. And his father too, now that he was back at camp and it would be safer to do so. Especially with Aunt Hestia around.
After lunch, though.
"Do you know who their godly parent is?" Luke asked tiredly. Right. Nico and Bianca.
Percy didn't flinch, but it was a near thing.
"Not my secret to tell. Besides, if their parent found out I knew… let's just say, I am not looking forward to meeting them anyway, but this would just draw more attention from everyone and make it ten times worse with their godly parent."
"When you meet them… is that alluding to something that will happen this summer? Or just their nature in general?"
Percy considered that. "Both."
Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is going to be one of those summers, isn't it." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah, probably," Percy said, apologetically.
The older boy opened his mouth to say something, but a shout cut them off.
"Luke!" Both boys paused and turned to look behind them to see a small sea of blond signifying Athena's children. Annabeth was running towards them, though she faltered when she saw Percy.
"Percy."
He hated the wariness in her voice, but chose to ignore it, smiling brightly at her instead. It wasn't difficult to smile warmly at her. Naturally.
"Annabeth," he said.
"Percy was just telling me about some kids he brought with him to camp," Luke said.
Annabeth's eyes narrowed. He wasn't entirely sure what she thought of that, so Percy decided to clarify, just in case.
"Well, Grover really found them. They were on their way here to camp when he saw me. They had some monsters on their tail so I helped them out."
"So Grover found both you and them?" Annabeth asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically.
Percy nodded. Of course she would catch onto that. "I was on my way home from boarding school."
"Boarding school?" Luke asked.
"Yeah," the time-traveler nodded. "One of the only schools my Mom could get me into. I… kind of got kicked out of too many others. Weird things happen to me, and of course I get blamed for it. Though the thing with the kids and the shark tank made a lot more sense once I found out about my heritage."
"Shark tank?" Annabeth yelped.
"No one got hurt," Percy said. "Besides, sharks are adorable. Like dogs, but in the sea."
Annabeth joined Luke in rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I'm not sure I want to know."
"It's a Poseidon thing."
"Oh, now you can say names," Luke muttered, though he didn't sound annoyed.
"He's my Dad," Percy said. "And he's a fairly decent one as far as godly parents go." At least Percy could trust him, more or less.
The two blonds exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.
"Anyway," Percy said as they started up towards the pavilion, "I think you'll like these kids, Annabeth." Or, at least she'd like Bianca. It had taken her a while to warm up to Nico, though that was probably due to circumstances—circumstances Percy hoped he could prevent this time around.
"They're not… yours, are they?" Annabeth asked quietly. Luke snorted. Percy shot him a glare before looking back at her.
"No." He'd only ever had two kids. Both with her. Well, another her from another timeline. He needed to remember that. And he usually did, but still…
"Well, then, who's their—" Annabeth started, but shouts and exclamations from the pavilion drew their attention. Glancing at each other, the trio broke into a run. They got to the dining area just in time to see two symbols spinning over Percy's cousins' heads. A curved 'Y' shape with a floating dot in the center, making it look like a wizard's staff. It glowed black.
A claiming symbol.
"Already?" he asked, surprised. Meanwhile, Luke took him up on his offer of not getting upset at swearing while Annabeth stared in open-mouthed shock. Even Mr. D looked surprised. And a bit pale.
Finally, Chiron stepped forward. "The bloodline is determined," he said quietly. "Hades—King of the Underworld and Earth, Giver of Wealth. Hail Bianca and Nico, children of the God of the Dead."
"Well," Percy whispered to Luke as they all bowed, "now you see why I didn't say."
Luke cursed again.
xXx
AN: Soooo FFnet is STILL being dumb about my e-mail (and apparently everyone's from what some of my commenters have said), so I have to go back and read all your reviews from here. But I do love going back and reading them all. Sorry FFnet is like this. Why, ffnet? Why? I mean I know why, but WHYYY?
*ahem* Anyway. Update on Hubby: He's standing up almost entirely on his own now. He still has to have someone there to watch him and make sure he doesn't fall, but he's definitely getting his fine motor skills back. One of the worst-hit things from the stroke. Now if only his disability checks would come in. TT . TT
Unfortunately, future writing may come to a stand-still for a while because I have to focus on my own original stories. I will still be posting this once a week for the next while, but I don't know how much I can write. Hopefully it won't be a problem, but if it is... well, you've been warned. *sigh*
Thank you for reading!
A special thanks to my beta readers, discord helpers, and tier 3 and 4 readers: Berix, The Shadow Slayer, Asterius Daemon, Quathis, Harlequin, Speedster, Snow, Starlightluv, Squirps, and The Chronomancer! Also, all of my discord peeps and my readers here! Thank you!
Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)