AN: Hello everyone. Here is chapter 15. I am posting this earlier than usual because I feel like last chapter was not enough for 1 month of not updating. Next chapter, we finally get to the quest. After 8 chapters, the main plot has started. This chapter is a bit longer than the last one. I would say get used to these longer chapters, but I can't be sure. But please review if you like the longer ones. I hope you enjoy.

I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All credit goes to Rick Riordan.

Chapter 15: Goodbye Camp

I walked around camp, my shoulders slumped.

After I returned to Chiron with the prophecy, I only told him the first half.

I know! I know! Prophecies never turn out how you expect them, but it basically said I will fail. How could I say that to him when he thought I would succeed. I picked Grover as my quest mate because he was basically the only one aside from Luke that I completely trust aside from Luke and maybe Annabeth. With the line of being betrayed, I really need people I could trust.

The second quest member was Annabeth. Personally, I would have chosen Luke because he was undoubtedly the strongest fighter at camp and I trust him. But, Annabeth was so excited about finally getting out that I just couldn't refuse because as much as she liked to be nonchalant, I could see that excited gleam in her piercing gray eyes.

Luke later told me that Annabeth would be a great quest mate and we certainly needed some brains. I didn't know how to take that. Sure I know I'm dumb, but with Grover by my side? Together, we probably have at least the intelligence of an average 12 year old.

But I guess more than doubling that is good too.

Chiron gave us the whole day to prepare and we will leave first thing tomorrow morning.

I went back to the cabin when we were dismissed and laid in bed for a long time until Luke forced me to go to my classes.

At least I can skip some classes because my hand is still wrapped in bandages.

I just got done with Annabeth in Greek Mythology and have free time, so why not walk around?

That is where I am now.

Walking around aimlessly with nothing to do.

"Seph!" I heard a voice shout.

I turned to look at a brown-haired boy running up to me. Normally, I would have choked him for that, but I decided to let it slide as I require company this instant.

"Hey Connor." I greeted, hopefully getting his name right. I could never tell him apart from his brother. "What do you want?"

"Seph, are you okay?" he asked. His eyes scrunching up in worry but his eyes told a different story. Alright, I already had enough of this.

"First, don't call me that." I told him. "Second, I'm fine. And third, where's Travis?"

"Why are you asking where he is when a better version of him is right here?" He responded.

"Hey!" A voice shouted right behind me, startling me. "Stop spouting lies to poor Sephie."

I turned around to see Travis, his face twisted in false rage at his not twin (gotta remember that). In his hand was one of those pies that clowns used to smear on their face.

How'd he even get there? Those Hermes boys are seriously sneaky sometimes. And other times they're louder than those women you hear screaming in the street like there's n tomorrow.

I raised an eyebrow at the 'older' boy. "Travis, what are you doing?"

He hid the pie behind his back and put on an innocent face. "Nothing. What do you mean?" The scene was so comical that it actually made me laugh. My eyes were forced closed by the laugh, and that was the worst mistake I had ever made.

At that instant, my face was covered in the former pie-on-a-plate turned pie-on-a-Percy.

This only made me laugh even more that I fell to the ground. I knew what they were doing. Even though many campers view me as a weirdo freak, they didn't treat me any differently, and I was grateful for it.

I spent the rest of the day with them as well as some other unclaimed kids like Ethan and Chris. They consoled me by saying stuff like:

"It's from your absentee father. Not your fault."

"Doesn't even have the decency to have a proper claim for you."

"That's not a claim, we still don't even know who he is."

"Some all powerful being he is."

The comments made me feel a bit better, It still stung that most of the camp kept avoiding me like the plague.

The next day, I was woken up before dawn.

"Wake up. Your quest starts today. Don't wanna be late for the trip of your likely demise."

I groaned and shifted in my sleeping bag. I think I heard what seemed like scolding, but I was too sleepy to care.

"Don't scare her like that. Our fate depends on this."

As I was about to drift back to the realm of Morpheus, I was violently shaken awake.

"Percy!" a person in front of me said. The voice sounded like a girl but I wasn't sure. "We're gonna be late. What are you still doing here?"

I immediately opened my eyes. We're probably moving today. My mom always woke me up when we were traveling from state-to-state. I can't remember a time where she hadn't had to wake me up so we didn't get too much traffic.

"Sorry mom. I'm awa-" I cut myself off as I stared at the person in front of me.

Blonde, curly hair. Tanned face. Piercing gray, intelligent eyes. It was Annabeth.

"Mom?" She looked at me incredulously.

I remembered what was happening. I wasn't with my mom. I haven't been for a long time. I was in a camp for half-bloods and am about to go on a doomed quest.

That reminded me of my dream that seemed like just yesterday. 'My mom isn't here, and she's probably not–'

I stood up before I could continue my train of thought.

"So," I said. "When are we leaving?"

This seemed to put Annabeth out of her daze. Her eyes hardened.

"Right now." she said. "Come on. They already packed your bag."

Someone handed me a heavy backpack and I slung it over my shoulder as I silently followed Annabeth.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Travis being scolded by Luke. 'What's that about?'

We walked through camp in silence. I haven't seen camp this early in the day. The sun hasn't even risen yet. Chiron said we were leaving at dawn if I remembered correctly. Annabeth was probably just impatient and we weren't actually late.

The camp was blanketed by a peaceful silence and only a few campers roamed around. I saw a few kids setting up the archery range and sword arena. A few were sitting by the canoe lake. No one even noticed us walking around and no one gave me a weird look or steered clear of me. Probably because of the lack of people to do said things.

We reached the top of a hill with a pine tree that looked so graceful and just gave me a feeling of protection like when I'm with my mom, Luke, or Thalia.

Grover was leaning on the tree, two backpacks on the ground beside him. He spotted us and ran- galloped? - towards us.

"Percy!" he exclaimed. "I told Annabeth that you were probably still asleep but she insisted that she go get you. Sorry if she bothered you. We aren't leaving for another half an hour."

That got my attention.

"Half an hour!?" I half-shouted. "What the hell am I supposed to do in half an hour? That's soooo long."

My ADHD brain could not handle waiting for that long, and now I can't get back to sleep and I am too afraid to go to camp cause more campers are probably awake.

"Stop whining." Annabeth said. Then, she proceeded to walk up to one of the bags by where Grover stood earlier and pulled out a book. She sat by the tree and read the book while I was silently fuming.

I went to the tree and layed down to try in vain to get some sleep.

We stayed in silence for about 20 minutes, after Annabeth told Grover to stop playing his reed pipes as it in fact doesn't help her read (I was silently thankful she did that as Grover was honestly terrible at playing but I didn't have the heart to tell him).

When Chiron arrived, Annabeth put her book back in her backpack and stood up to greet him.

"Hey Chiron, when are we leaving?" Annabeth asked.

"Argus is driving the van here now." Chiron responded. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes Chiron." We chorused.

"Good." Chiron said. "Now Percy, you remember that prophecy you overheard?"

I racked my brain to remember but I recalled that yesterday I basically outed myself that I saw Chiron get a prophecy in my dreams.

"Yes sir." I responded.

"Well, you remember how one of the lines is me giving you a sword to protect you?"

When I nodded, he continued. "As the prophecy is not fully completed yet, and since you have no weapon, I present this to you."

I tucked his hand in his shirt pocket and pulled out a pen. The same pen he gave me in the museum.

I grabbed the pen out of his hands. "Thank you Chiron. I promise to return it to you after the quest."

His lips tugged up slightly. "No need for that." He said. "The sword is yours now. It has a long, tragic past and has been looking for a proper master to wield it."

I looked back at the pen. The word Anaklusmos was engraved on it. "Riptide" I muttered.

I thought about how many pens I had lost in my life and will most likely lose this extremely powerful pen in the near future. I miss it already, it was the only sword to feel balanced in my hand.

"You won't." He said as if reading my mind.

"What?" I asked.

"You won't lose it. It always returns to your pocket." He elaborated. "Test it out."

He gestured to the bottom of the hill. I hesitated for a second. What if I lose it before the quest even started?

I decided to trust Chiron and threw it as far as I could. I disappeared in the foliage at the bottom and it would have taken days to find.

I reached into my pocket to find it empty. Oh no. It didn't return.

"It takes a second." Chiron assured me.

I brought my hand out and we awkwardly stood there for a few moments.

I didn't know when, but I felt an object in my pocket and I reached my hand in and brought out the exact same pen I had just thrown.

"You see Persephone?" Chiron said. "Now, I believe your ride is here."

We heard honking and turned to see a van being driven by Argus.

As we were about to walk down, we heard a distinct "Wait!"

We turned back around to see Luke panting with a box under his right arm, he probably ran up here.

We waited as Luke composed himself. "Percy, Annabeth, Grover." he greeted. "Thank gods I wasn't late."

"Luke, why are you here?" I asked.

"I wanted to say goodbye." He said. "And, I wanted to give you this."

He opened the box, I now realized it was a shoe box, and it contained… well shoes.

Just plain converse shoes.

"Uh, Luke. I already have shoes." I told him.

"These aren't just regular shoes. These are a gift from dad." He said the last word like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

He continued, "It really helped me on my quest years earlier. They can allow you to fly, watch."

He placed the shoes on the ground and said "Maia!" The shoes sprouted wings and they circled in the air before they landed back on the ground.

"Thanks Luke. I really appreciate it." I told him. I tried to make it seem like I'm grateful, but I never told Luke I was afraid of heights. It's not that I'm ashamed, it just never came up. Plus, it's only because my mom told me I would probably be struck out of the sky if I even went on an airplane. Thanks Zeus.

"Percy," his tone went somber. "I'm really sorry."

I didn't know what he was sorry for. I knew he felt guilty about a lot of things. Maybe it was because we were separated, or because he and Thalia were separated, maybe even because he couldn't come on the quest.

So I just reassured him, "You have nothing to apologize for Luke."

He looked at me as though he didn't believe that and then moved to hug me. "Stay safe Percy."

He then went and did the same to Annabeth and Grover before running off.

"Hey Grover?" I asked once I was sure Luke was out of earshot.

"Yeah Perce?"

"Do you wanna have this?" I held up the shoes that moments before flew.

His eyes widened. "Oh no. It's yours, you should have it."

"I'm not really a fan of flying. In fact my mom said I would probably be struck out of the sky." I told him. "But Luke doesn't know that. So do you want it?"

"If you're sure." He tentatively took them out of my hands as if they might explode, but I could see from his eyes that he was extremely excited.

He put the shoes on and I got a glimpse of his hooves. I'm still not used to that. He said the magic words and he hovered in the air for a few seconds, before promptly nose diving down the hill.

Annabeth and I followed after at a much slower pace wondering what this quest would lead to.

AN: I know that other stories will have longer chapters, however, I am trying to make my chapters longer while doing it on time. I want to try slowly making the chapters longer. What do you think? Please review and until next time.