Percy's POV
We were having a peaceful and ceremonious day... or at least, we were trying to. When you're a demigod, you don't get to have this kind of day because you're stuck trying to fend for yourself from monsters and angry sleeping Titans. We've been fighting their forces since I got into camp. We lost and gained some new allies along the way. To celebrate our victory and honor the lost, Chiron decided to hold a feast and ceremony at the Amphitheatre.
Every cabin came in, their counselors raising their flags. Connor and Travis Stoll, who are only distinguishable by their height difference, paraded down holding their white flag with a gold caduceus on it - the symbol of their father, Hermes. Their cabin has been silent and nonchalant ever since Luke Castellan betrayed the camp to join Kronos' forces. Luke was there former counselor, and apparently, a former friend of mine. Last month, during the fight with the Titans in Brooklyn, he killed himself with the cursed blade, the knife he gave to Annabeth. Things were gradually returning to normal, however. Cabins grieved for quite some time, but they are now determined to continue the legacy of the fallen.
We marched and took our seats. I was alone in my Cabin - the Poseidon's Cabin. I kinda miss my brother Tyson in such situations. The other two Cabins of the Big Three don't have much either. Nico and Thalia were absent in the ceremony. Thalia's been the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, Nico remains an ever-baffling mystery. He disappeared soon after the war, probably off somewhere in the Underworld again. I'm worried he'll be much distant again. He seems to still hold a grudge towards me, despite of the situation, for the death of his sister, Bianca. I was truly sorry about it; some things are just inevitable. But I understood his despise, Bianca was his only family and comfort.
When you're a demigod, your godly parents wouldn't just show up to welcome you into their arms or inform you that you're their child like some prize on the lottery. No. It means you're constantly at stake. And your loved ones will soon follow that fate. I shook my head and started to shift my focus on Chiron standing beside the campfire. I would not risk going to that though again, it was too painful. Chiron was in his full centaur form, relieved from the confines of his wheelchair. He had a long brown bears and hair that appears to have silver streaks on them, a result of the last predicament, probably. He was a middle-aged man from the waist up, having his usual middle school teacher uniform. It would have ended there, his lower half, however, was the body of a white stallion. His silver tail flicked as his bright brown eyes addressed as all.
"Good morning to you all Demigods," he said in a wizened voice. "We are all gathered here today to celebrate the defeat of the Titans, who had for a long time, ravaged our kind and reaped countless of lives. In such, we also honor the lives of the brave heroes who fought for our camp and for Olympus."
Holograph pictures of the fallen flashed above the ground. The contraptions were made by both the Hephaestus and Athena cabin. The projections showed the pictures of our former camp mates vividly. I could see Charles Beckendorf's cheerful smile, Selena Beauregard's determined look, Michael Yew's Musteline-like face, and many among others. It was nice to see their faces again. It was never good to keep dodging the fact that they were now dead. Death is something that all of us need to accept. Though, it may be difficult for others. The burial of these heroes was commenced over the last weeks. New counselors rose to the ranks, given speeches about their former leaders.
Everyone was hesitant to speak, but they all wanted their comrades to be remembered. Chiron gave his own account of experiences with the fallen heroes. He asked me to give mine too, even if it was too painful for me to speak. Especially with Charles, I was never ready to address how he sacrificed his life for our mission. A tear left my eye just thinking about it. I still felt the guilt surging in me. I could have done something. The thought was dampened down by Annabeth as looked at me from the seats of the Athena Cabin. Her silver eyes felt so reassuring that my shoulders stopped to tense. She might have noticed my lack of focus on the ceremony, which might not have been that uncommon since I tended not to focus on anything. Still, she gave me an encouraging smile, something that truly comforted me. Then it happened. My mind was already racing fast when we heard screams coming from the forests.
The sounds that followed were like gnashing teeth. It cut short Chiron's ceremony. Confusion soon took toll among the campers. It wasn't right. I was confused as them. The war is over is it not, but what in the world was that?
"What was that?!" Malcolm from the Athena Cabin echoed my thoughts. I had other plans on how I should find out.
I ran towards the sound, uncapping the ballpoint pen from my pocket. Riptide shone in its full length, ready for battle. I could hear Chiron telling the campers to calm down, obviously, it was not working. I couldn't hear any sounds after that, I was determined to know where that was coming from. I was not going to risk another attack. Annabeth was shouting after me.
"Percy, don't!" she said in rugged breathes. I know I should listen to her, but my previous thoughts decided otherwise. I ran as fast as I could, trying to shake any feeling of hesitation. It triggered something within me, probably my built-in urge to dampen any distress that comes in our way. When you get multiple prophecies about your struggles, tons of death threats, and a spectrum of bewilderment, your head would surely be fired up like each time you hear a sound of trouble.
I reached the clearing slightly east of a creek, which I saw just behind a couple of trees. That did not reassure me, however, because what I saw was never in my book of monsters. Ever watched those movies where people's souls just escape through their bodies while they're asleep, well, these creatures were sort of like that. Except that those bodies might have been buried underneath the ground for a very long time and developed the usual black feathers. These creatures were lanky and ghoulish. They had talons and were covered in black feathered loincloths. Saliva was dripping from their mouths.
Before the unthinkable happened, I was able to shift my gaze towards the center of their spectacle. Three figures were wrapped in skeletal hands, clearly struggling to get up. Two of them, girls that I might have seen before, but I could barely even remember at this state, were pinned to the ground, each of them trying to claw their way out. The other one was a boy cladded in black, who reminded me so much of Nico. He had black ruffled hair and that feisty look, the one that could deliver death immediately at your doorstep (wow, that's detailed). His pale arm was now grabbed by a protruding skeletal hand from the ground. A ghoul was sneering at him, whispering something as it showed its fangs at him.
My feet catapulted towards them. But they could only go so far as skeletal hands quickly sprouted from the ground, grabbing my limbs. I cut them off with my sword, celestial bronze against bones. The ghouls were staring at the two girls like they were their most awaited meal. The one with the black feather cloak was preparing to attack the boy. To catch their attention, I did what I do best.
"Over here Black Bird!" I shouted as I continued to run towards them. The skeletal hands did not make it easy; I could also hear Annabeth shouting my name as our fellow demigods came to the rescue throwing stuff that they could get their hands on. As I neared the captives, more hands shot from the ground, ultimately pinning me to the ground. All of the demigods around me fell, I could see Annabeth trying to free her legs as another skeletal hand grabbed her forearm. Riptide flew away from my grasp; it was now buried in a mound of bones. The creek, I remembered. I concentrated very hard, trying to muster my strength despite the struggle I was at. The ghouls were now breathing above us, their saliva dripping. I can't risk them hurting my friends. I concentrated until it triggered the switch. Being the son of Poseidon, I was able to summon water from any of its source. Water came crashing towards the ghouls, impeding their future plans of having demigods for dinner.
The skeletal hands loosened their grip but as the water subsided, the ghouls only shook the excess water from their feathers. They went back to planting their talons onto the ground and leaning towards us. I was barely up when skeletal hands shot from the ground again, pinning me with a much stronger force. Another grabbed my head as if trying to detach it from my body. I was unable to concentrate and summon water again. I was going to be buried along with them. I was trying to put up a fight, I can't end like this.
I could barely hear what Annabeth was saying. She was a few feet on my right, still struggling to get out. All of us were now buried by mounds of skeletal hands. The ghouls were coming much closer, their mouths opening like voids.
Dad… please, I said I silent prayer. I hope somehow, he heard me. Just then, a slicing sound echoed, like the sound of metal against bones. Maybe someone managed to break free. But a wave of blue energy soon washed over us. It was so strong that I had to close my eyes and let the hands cover my face until there were no skeletal hands to hold me. The ghouls disintegrated; the skeletal hands returned into the ground. The screams of Black Bird echoed across the forest. My eyes were glued shut again until I could hear the energy receding. I opened my eyes, not even a hand remained. All of my fellow demigods were lying on the ground, clearly shocked by what happened.
The energy dissipated completely. I inclined my head to the left. I saw Annabeth on the ground, clutching her stomach as the skeleton hands returned into the soil. Her right hand quickly swung towards her dagger as she slowly stood up. She nodded in my direction to reassure me that she was alright. Riptide flew about a meter from me. I lost my balance when I stood up, but quickly regained it as my fellow campers started to stir from the attack that happened.
"What's the whole deal about that?!" exclaimed Clarisse La Rue. The daughter of Ares was quick in picking up her spear and trudging towards the crowd to find nuisance that caused the attack. I pinched the bridge of my nose trying to make sense of what had happened – how ironic since for the past years that was what I had been doing. Only a powerful force could have made that energy blast. A powerful demigod maybe, but who, I would soon find out.
The demigods quickly formed circles around the group we caught first on the scene. I approached the group, Annabeth by my side. I caught a glimpse of a girl wearing a baggy red shirt and a weird pink jacket over worn out jeans. Her black hi-tops were firmly planted on the ground. Her curly black hair draped on half of her face. Her turquoise highlights popped up with the paleness of her skin. She squinted at the crowd, her blue eyes strangely bearing a look of concern and contempt at the same time. Right in front of her was another girl, who looked quite familiar. Oddly, I must have seen her in camp (since all other places may not be that possible). She had curly brown hair and amber eyes. She had a less weird get-up than her friend as she wore a simple grey shirt and blue jeans. She knelt next to a figure that quickly made me jolt. At first, I thought it was Nico di Angelo. He was the boy from earlier! I thought as I gradually remembered. He had the same aura and same color theme of attire (black… always). He had pale skin and was a bit thin, though, Nico may have been much thinner and shorter. He was around the same age as I am. He wore a grey shirt, black leather jacket, and laced up boots. A pouch was hanging from his belt, a faint blue glow coming from inside. His sword, which I could tell was made from obsidian, lay by his side.
"Zagreus," the brown-haired girl said as she shook the boy's shoulders. She was swallowing her sobs.
"Sabrina!" I heard a voice said. I turned around and saw Connor Stoll waving his hand towards the girl wearing the baby pink jacket. Sabrina ignored Connor's calls. So they must have been from camp then, I thought. With all the stuff I had been through, I could not possibly remember the all.
Will Solace, the healer from Apollo's Cabin immediately came to their aid. He checked for pulse and placed a hand over Zagreus' head.
"He's still stable. That blast must've consumed too much of his energy. We should bring him to the infirmary. He needs rest and some ambrosia," he said to the brown-haired girl.
The girl exhaled and stood up. Before anyone could depart, something glowed from Zagreus' neck. It was the same color as the explosion.
"What is that?" Annabeth asked.
"I think… I know what it is," Lou Ellen, the head of the Hecate Cabin, said as she approached Zagreus. She knelt beside him and grabbed the source of the glow, a pendant with a strange symbol engraved on it. It reminded me of a circular labyrinth, which made me completely shudder.
"This is the symbol for Hecate's wheel," she narrowed her eyes towards the pendant. "He must've performed strong magic that caused the explosion."
"He must be a son of Hecate," Lou Ellen continued, making the crowd stare in awe at the boy. We do not get a lot of claims from good old Hecate, but her children were always a fussy lot. I admit, it was rare to see power that strong, especially from the child of a minor goddess – no offense, though.
"Strange," I heard Annabeth whisper. Before I could ask what she meant about that, Chiron suddenly parted the crowd. He walked towards the source of the commotion.
"I have somehow heard what the fuss was about –" he was not able to continue much of his sentence as his expression immediately darkened upon seeing the boy.
Sabrina
"Would you quit following me, Stoll?" I shouted for the hundredth time. That imp would not leave me alone. His voice did not echo back, so I leaned on the base of the tree again. I found myself near the lake, the old place I used to go to when I wanted to be alone from all the demigod mess. It had been weeks since I last saw the place, I really thought it would be the last. I wanted to escape this place, away from the fate demigods usually have. Even now, I did not really understand what this whole world was all about. They kept telling me that we were different, that we were not part of the normal world so might as well stay in camp where we could train for battle. Am I even one of them? I kept asking myself all over again. I left the place because I could not stand that question anymore. They told me I would eventually know who my parent was. I was going to be 'claimed', a symbol would appear above me when that time comes – a symbol of my parentage. But that time never really came.
It was two weeks ago when I convinced Celine about the plan I had. She was very difficult to convince because she was never really down to doing things that appeared to be 'illegal', but I wanted to get away. Like me, she was also an unclaimed demigod. She was the first one to arrive at camp, only a few days before that great war happened. She told me how devastating it was to be at camp during that time. Many had died and a whirlwind of catastrophe and betrayal happened before that. She could not truly get over the stories the other demigods kept telling her. She too thought that the gods would claim more of their children after the war, but that did not happen to us. We were the only two who were not yet claimed. Unclaimed demigods stay in the Hermes Cabin (which I could not completely stand because of the annoying Stoll brothers). Sure, they would treat us like family but there was still that feeling of doubt if we truly belong. Months past and we were not yet claimed. I was thoroughly convinced that it would never happen, so I talked to Celine about it – about the plan to escape from Camp Half-Blood.
That plan actually worked well because we found ourselves back in the streets of New York. We had a few close encounters (mostly with cops rather than monsters), but we managed to survive in New York somehow. We were planning where to go next. It was a complicated story to wind upon. Our journey was doing fine until that dracanae attack. We badly needed some new clothes. We plan to 'borrow' (Celine did not want to use the word 'steal' for some reason) clothes from that boutique, but the saleslady apparently had other plans. As much as I'd like to admit it, good thing that boy, Zagreus, came or we would have been that monster's early lunch. I still feel weird around him. I sort of have this sense that he was completely bad news. Celine thinks otherwise. She completely bought the idea that that boy could be trusted. I could not be too sure, though. I kept my distance from him, seeing how he would react. At some point, I grew annoyed of his presence. But with what happened today… I think I should learn more. He prevented another fatal attack after all. I just did not like the idea of trusting him too soon.
A rustle from the near by bushes interrupted my train of thought. I stood up, careful not to make any noise, and attempted to view what was behind the bush. Before I could, I quickly saw a rope hidden beneath the bushes. There was something moving behind the bush, but I obviously did not check what it was. Nice trick, Stoll, I thought. He somehow found it amusing that I was the only one who did not fall for his tricks. I was up to turn the trick against him this time.
"Hey Stoll!" I yelled, "Wait up, I have something to tell you!" I faked run towards the opposite direction, angling myself to face the trees. When I was out of view, I swiftly went behind the tree near the bush.
"Huh- Wha-!" I heard someone exclaimed. I circled the tree and found myself face-to-face with no other than Connor Stoll.
"I guess the tables have turned so quickly, huh?" I smirked, folding my arms as I saw the imp finally getting a taste of his own medicine.
Stoll smirked, which looked like a sad face because of his upside-down state. His mop of brown hair hanged like curly pasta. "I guess you got me good now, Anderson."