Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: I really didn't know if I was gonna get this out in time, tbh. This week has been rough. College, health issues, etc. Oh, well. I did it! :)

Hope y'all enjoy, and until next week,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 31: Fight Like An Ancient Greek~

I didn't get my hearing back until we reached Silena's car.

For her sixteenth birthday, her dad had gotten her a brand new fancy Buick. It was light blue in color, and so not the kind of car you would want to have in a life or death situation, which this pretty much was (for Callie, anyways), but it was what we had in the heat of the moment.

And it was a lot better than the alternative, which was to call up the Grey Sisters. I'd heard some kids at camp last summer talking about what their so-called method of "transportation" was like, and it could be so much worse.

So. Much. Worse.

Callie was still freaking out, so I had to practically shove her into the front passenger's seat before climbing in the back. Silena got into the driver's seat and started up the car. Reaching over Callie, she opened up the front cabinet and pulled out a Ziplock baggie and tossed it to me. I caught it in midair and opened it, plucking a square of ambrosia out and putting it into my mouth.

A handful of seconds later, after I'd swallowed, my ears gave a distinctive pop!

And just like that, I could hear again.

" – give him drugs?" Callie cried. Her voice was loud and my ears were tender. I winced. "What the hell?"

"Callie," I said, patting her shoulder as Silena ignored her, shifting her car into gear. "Callie, calm down."

"Oh my God!" she shrieked, twisting in her seat. My ears pulsed in misery. "Percy, you can hear?"

"I've had my medicine," I quipped. I nodded at Silena, noticing her hesitation. "Silly. Drive."

My best friend didn't need to be told twice. She floored the gas pedal.

"Wait!" Callie shouted over the sound of the wind and honking cars, Silena driving past them all with no mind. "I don't understand! What are you two? Where are you taking me? Take me back to my dad!"

"Percy," Silena gritted out.

"I know," I snapped back. There was a strong desire within me to start pulling at my hair, but I wasn't going to do that. Yet. Instead, I gripped my friend's hand in my own, and noted with some satisfaction that she didn't instantly pull away. "You're the same as us, Cal. We're like you."

She gawked at me with wild, frenzied eyes. Like the ocean during a storm. "What?"

...Man, I really wish I had Chiron here right now. Or Katie. I'd never had to explain to anybody else they were a demigod before, and I had a feeling I was going to fail miserably.

"Not to freak you out, but you just destroyed my eardrums with your own scream," I pointed out slowly. "And I bet it's not the first time you've ever done something like that. You've probably done other weird shit that shouldn't be possible, right? Had something happen to you that nobody else, except for maybe your dad, believed when you tried to explain it?"

Predictably, her eyebrows knit together. "How do you – ?"

But I continued over her. "And I know you have ADHD and dyslexia, too. And you know that I do. So does Silena. Because we're the same. We're – "

"Demigods," Silena interjected. She smiled at me through the rearview mirror. "Sorry, Percy, didn't mean to steal your thunder."

"You mean like the Greek myths?" Callie asked quietly.

"Exactly like the Greek myths," I agreed.

"But they don't exist!" she shouted.

My ears almost grew vocal cords and groaned.

I squeezed her hand comfortingly. "Look, Callie, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. If the Greek myths didn't exist, then I wouldn't, either. It's like the Lastry – Leistry – " I had no idea how to pronounce the name, or what the English equivalent would be. I decided to stop while I was ahead " – the giants said. I'm a son of the Sea God. Poseidon."

"And I'm the daughter of Aphrodite," Silena spoke. She winked at Callie. "Goddess of love."

Callie huffed. "I know who Aphrodite is." She scanned the cars moving past us in what I presumed to be a way to try to calm herself down, but it didn't work. No offense to Silena, she would kill me if she knew I was saying this, but her driving skills weren't exactly good back then. And she was going something like eighty, ninety miles an hour down the highway. "Okay, so I believe you. Actually, why should I believe you?"

Silena smothered a laugh.

I stuck my tongue out at her. Then, "Because I'm your friend and the only person you let listen with you to music from your MP3 player. And I've known I'm a demigod for about a year now, I know shit."

Her expression was speculative. "That's not very long."

Yeah, but I might be the child of a prophecy that says I'll "reach eighteen against all odds."

"Maybe," I replied out loud. "But I've killed the Minotaur and been on a quest before, and I'm not schizophrenic. I don't have the imagination to come up with this shit."

Reluctantly, Callie seemed like she was beginning to believe me. "Okay," she repeated. She grabbed a lock of her hair with her free hand and twirled it around her finger. "But, why am I only finding out I'm a demigod now? Why not sooner?"

"Because, if there's one thing you need to know about being a demigod first, it's this," I told her giddily: "We smell."

We had to stop for gas at a town about halfway to camp.

"I need to use the restroom," Callie muttered, her face tinged green. She bolted out of the car as soon as Silena turned off the ignition.

We both watched her go. Silena's fingers twitched towards her purse, where I assumed her dagger to be. "Should we – ?"

"No," I decided. "She won't run off. And even if she tries, she won't get far."

I hopped out of the vehicle, trailing after my best friend to the gas pump. I leaned against it as she took out her credit card, made of shiny metal, and hooked the nozzle up. "Where are you going to park this when we get to camp?"

"Oh, Chiron has a place for the campers who have to bring their cars with them," she said absentmindedly. Then her eyes widened. "I – I mean – "

A sense of déjà vu shivered down my spine. I crossed my arms. "Silena, what's going on at camp?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit." I scowled. "Why else did you come to my school to pick me up?"

"Because I wanted to go shopping with you later?" she tried, only to deflate as I simmered. "Alright, fine. You're right. Something is going on at camp. Have you been having the dreams?"

"About Katie?"

Her face paled. "Wha – ? No, never mind," hurriedly, she stopped the nozzle before it could overfill her tank, putting it back where it belonged. "I had a dream like, three or four days ago. I called up camp about it, and...Percy, it's not good."

I felt my heart sink, like it had earlier that morning with my mom. "What happened?"

Her eyes were mournful. "It has to do with Luke."

Abruptly, I felt like the air was knocked out of my lungs.

See, look: had Silena and I talked about Luke over the past school year? You bet your ass we had. The daughter of Aphrodite had raged something awful the first time we'd met outside of camp after Luke had almost killed me, and it had truly been a sight to behold. "I can't believe he would do that!" she'd shouted while I'd laid on my mom's couch, my arm clutching my stomach. Her kaleidoscope eyes had been alight with a vicious fury. "He – he loves you! And then he goes and tries to kill you? How dare he? He – you know what, I'm gonna kill him myself. If you don't, I'll take my dagger and shove it up his – "

But there was this thing with our discussions about him: they were always on my terms. I was always the one to bring him up, not her.

So the fact she was doing so now...

"What did he do, Silena?" I asked lowly.

She opened her mouth.

"Hey," Callie announced herself then, approaching the car. Silena shut her mouth as the other girl watched us warily. "I'm ready. Take me to this place for demigods or whatever."

"Camp Half-Blood," I corrected her.

"Yeah, that."

I didn't get a chance to talk with Silena about camp for the rest of the drive. I could've, but I didn't want Callie to hear our conversation before we got to camp, and figured I would find out what the problem was then anyways.

And that I did.

By the time we were approaching camp, Silena had gotten tired of the terse silence Callie and I were making, so she'd turned on the radio. Thus, Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles was playing as Half-Blood Hill came into view.

"Oh, no," Silena moaned, her grip on the steering wheel tightening.

There were ten campers, all dressed in armor, on the hill. They were fighting a pair of bulls, ones that were bronze and the size of elephants. But, of course, that wasn't bad enough, because I soon saw one of them breathe fire, too.

But none of these things worried me too much. At least, not when compared to how the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even back behind Thalia's pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic didn't allow monsters to cross past her tree, forming a boundary where all demigods were safe. But the metal bulls were doing it anyways.

This was not, however, the only thing I noticed. As one of the campers narrowly avoided a breath of fire, I saw that Thalia's tree...it – she, I'd decided since last summer it didn't feel right calling the tree an "it" when she'd originally been a person – didn't look good. Her needles were yellow. Even though I was really far away, I thought I could see some of them laying at the base of her trunk, dead.

Panic seized my body.

Was this what Silena had meant, about Luke doing – ?

No. I couldn't think about such a thing, and not only because of the battle playing out in front of me.

Because he wouldn't do such a thing, right?

Right?

"Silena, stop the car here," I ordered.

"Percy," she said warningly.

"Just do it!" I insisted.

I didn't want her car ending up like Gabe's Camaro had.

As soon as she stopped, I was out of the car. Grabbing Riptide out of my shorts' pocket – Silena had let me start keeping a pair of jean shorts in her car, just in case. With demigods, you never knew what could happen – I uncapped it and ran off, charging straight for the battle.

When I got close enough to the fighting, I heard a girl's voice say, gruff and familiar, "Border patrol, to me!"

...Border patrol? I thought. The camp wasn't supposed to have a border patrol.

Whatever.

The girl that had spoken was Clarisse, and she was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged at them. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree, which dangerously looked like she was going to get set on fire, too. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran around in circles, the horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end uselessly embedded in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

I didn't really have a plan. Vaguely, I recognized the bulls from the story of Jason and the Argonauts, but if I remembered correctly, Jason only defeated them because of a potion Medea gave him. And I didn't exactly have a murderous witch/granddaughter of Helios on my side.

Regardless, I ran up the hill towards Clarisse. She was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into a phalanx formation. It was a very good idea, because the larger numbers would've given them an advantage and the shields could've formed an impenetrable wall.

Unfortunately, her efforts only mustered up six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. One of the bulls charged towards them, up until I saw a flash of yellow run towards it. Tilting my head slightly, I saw another warrior enter the fight – Annabeth, judging by how she promptly disappeared by putting on a baseball hat. Luke had told me her mother had given it to her as some sort of present.

Usually, I wouldn't have cared too much to be fighting alongside her, but right now she was a welcome ally. I was only halfway up the hill – not close enough to help. Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet.

The bull which Annabeth was distracting moved deadly fast for something so big. It was a lot like the Minotaur in that respect, only it seemed to have a better internal steering wheel. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun, as did its fist-sized rubies for eyes and horns of polished silver. When it opened its huge mouth, blue flame came flying out. Gods only knew how hot that was.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse shouted as she and the other campers stood in front of the other bull.

But at that moment, the one closer to Annabeth turned around. Its metal nostrils flaring, it charged at Clarisse, heading towards her unprotected side.

"Clarisse, behind you!" I shouted. "Look out!"

Too late, I realized I shouldn't have said anything. The daughter of Ares startled. The bull in front of her crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. She went flying backwards and landed in a smoldering patch of grass, while all of the other heroes were knocked down to the ground like bowling pins. Their shields melted right off of their arms. Hurriedly, they stood up at the last second and ran, leaving their weapons as both bulls converged on Clarisse for the kill.

Lunging towards her, I grabbed her by the straps of her armor and pulled her back. The two bulls collided with each other in a feat which was almost comical, letting out groans as their horns clacked, but they didn't remain that way for long. In the blink of an eye, they went back to attacking, although they didn't go after us.

Angrily, Clarisse punched my arm. "Let me go!" she snarled. "Percy, curse you!"

I did as I was told, dropping her at the base of Thalia's tree in a heap. Then, I looked at the bulls. I hadn't touched either of them, but I was pretty sure I had felt their heat even from several feet away. Up-close, I figured they would be hot enough to heat a frozen burrito.

They couldn't be allowed to get past us, on the other side of the hill and into camp. They'd utterly destroy the valley Camp Half-Blood was in – the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House, and etcetera.

But I didn't know what else to do.

Annabeth shouted orders to the other demigods, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted.

Nervously, I wracked my brain. There had to be a way to defeat the bulls other than the one said in the myths.

Think!

Where were the other children of the Big Three when you needed them? Like the di Angelos?

"Percy!"

Callie and Silena were both running up the hill. The former was waving her arms, the latter holding her dagger out in front of her.

Huh?

Callie pointed to one of the bulls. It was coming at me in a wide arc. As it passed down the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line was supposed to be, it slowed a little; but then it broke through and kept coming. The other one sputtered as it also turned towards me, huffing, puffing.

I couldn't fight the two of them at the same time. I hadn't even managed to get a hit on one.

"Perseus," a voice whispered to me then, lilting in the wind. Instantly, I knew who it belonged to: Demeter. My patron goddess. "Remember who your father is. What is he the god of again?"

"The sea," I breathed. But also, "Storms. Earthquakes. Soil. Horses."

I'd never tried causing an earthquake before. I knew it was possible, because Theseus was said to have the power, but between only knowing I was a demigod for a year and not getting to use my powers for months, I hadn't had a chance.

Like a forgotten dream, I began to think about the feel of the tugging behind my navel. It came sparingly, slowly. I could feel the earth begin to move beneath my feet.

But then –

One of the heroes let out a shriek as she fell on her ass, sliding down the hill. A bull stumbled, letting out what seemed to be a confused noise as it did the same. I felt the ground shake, and it was a very terrifying thing.

Because I wasn't the one doing it.

Callie was holding out her hands as if to steady herself, but the earth beneath her wasn't exactly moving. She seemed to be in the calm of her own storm, as the soil crackled and rippled around her, sending a couple more demigods to their knees, Silena included.

"Holy shi – " I thought I heard one of the heroes closer to me say.

I didn't hear anything else. Somehow, the second bull had managed to avoid being pulled down by the earthquake, and it was still coming straight for me, blowing flames. I rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. All of the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs. My foot caught on something – a tree root, maybe – and pain shot up my ankle. Still, I managed to slash up with my sword, cutting the bull's neck. It let out a roar.

From out of nowhere, Clarisse appeared. With a cry, she shoved the remnants of her spear into the bull's back leg, then twisted. The bull wailed, a miserable sound like the grinding of metal, before most of its body disappeared in a flash of golden dust. All that remained of it was its head, which toppled down the side of the hill, towards where I could see Annabeth slicing off the snout of the other bull, the shaking of the earth having stopped as soon as it'd started. A tremor of violent magnitude, if you will.

With a thunderous expression, Clarisse turned towards me. "Why do you have to ruin everything?" she screamed.

Her actions directly contradicted her words, though. She held out her hand to me, and gladly I took it, my ankle throbbing to the point where I gasped. It was definitely sprained. Maybe broken.

"I had it controlled," she continued, grabbing a canteen of nectar from around her waist and handed it to me.

I took two or three sips of it greedily, then handed it back to her, wiping at my mouth. Silena and Callie were coming up the hill, my best friend basically dragging my – well.

Contrary to what you're probably thinking, I hadn't forgotten what the Lady Styx had told me. I had a half-sibling out there, somewhere. And there was only one god who I knew could cause earthquakes and maybe siren-esque powers like that, even if it didn't really make sense to me because Callie's mortal parent was her dad.

Still.

"Jackson," Clarisse said, unknowing of my inner monologue. "Come on, follow me. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let the activities director know what happened."

Activities director? I wanted to ask. Nobody referred to Chiron like that.

But I only had the thought process for the space above Callie's head.

Come on, Dad, I prayed silently. You might as well do it.

Just like that, a hologram shimmered into view above her head. Clarisse made a choked noise, while the heroes that weren't wounded let out gasps or exclamations of surprise. As there was the trident, composed of green light.

"All hail Callirrhoe Blofis," a voice said from behind us, deep and ancient-sounding, like the kind you would have expected to hear during the actual age of heroes. "Daughter of Poseidon, God of Seas, Earthquakes..."

...Yeah, you get the point.

Word Count: 3,457

Next Chapter Title: Camp Half-Blood's Increased Turnover Rate