Me, Mom and Alumi walked around with Chiron as we passed the volleyball pit.
Several of the campers nudged each other.
One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying.
Another said, "That's him, the Son of Poseidon."
"Isn't he the one to let Mr D have his wine," A girl with them said as they nodded.
Most of the campers were older than me.
Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orang CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their nare shaggy hindquarters.
I wasn't usually shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable.
I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.
I looked back at the farmhouse.
It was much bigger than I'd realized - four storeys tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upmarket seaside resort.
I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable.
Something had moved the curtain for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.
"What's up there," I asked Chiron as Mom and Alumi looked to where I pointed.
He looked where I was pointing as well, and his smile faded.
"Just the attic," I felt a great sadness come off him as I looked at Alumi
"Somebody lives there," I asked as he shook his head.
"No," he said with finality, so I decided not to push it, "Not a single living thing," He finished saying as we nodded because I felt he was being truthful.
But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.
"Come along, you three," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced, "Lots to see," He told us.
He said Mr D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants… I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.
I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr D.
Or if Mr D was drinking the wine that Alumi and I managed to return to him.
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he," I asked Chiron, as the Centaur turned to me, "I mean ... he was a good protector, as he made sure that Mom and Alumi made it to camp, and he knew that I could fight off the minotaur, so really," I said as Mom and Alumi nodded.
Still, I saw that Alumi was looking at me with narrowed eyes.
Chiron sighed.
He shed his tweed jacket and draped it like a saddle over his horse's back.
"Grover has big dreams, Percy," He told me as I nodded, "Perhaps bigger than are reasonable," He added sadly as I looked back at Mom and Alumi; they looked shocked.
"To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill," He said as Alumi looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"But he did that," She told him as he nodded.
"I agree with you," Chiron said as he looked over to her, "But it is sadly not my place to judge; Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide," He told us, and I could hear the hate when he said Council of Cloven Elders.
"I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success, as you were knocked out for a few days healing from your fight with the minotaur," Chiron told me as I nodded Alumi scoffed, "The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part," He continued.
I wanted to protest.
None of what happened was Grover's fault.
I also felt really, really guilty.
And angry at the Council of Cloven Elders.
Alumi had told me that she could only use animal spirits or spirits that were animals because of how her tribe so can only call on animal spirits, and she would be banished from the Patch if she used a spirit that was once human.
Mom is unable to fight.
And so, being the only one who could fight, I trusted Grover to get them to the camp for help.
"He'll get a second chance, won't he," I asked him as Alumi nodded.
But we saw that Chiron winced.
"I'm afraid that was Graver's second chance, Percy," He told us as we were shocked by that, and then we started to wonder what had happened the first time, "The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago; Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again," He added I looked back over to see that Mr D was walking with Grover into a forest.
"He's still so small for his age..." Chiron said as Alumi, and I looked at him; we thought he was fine as he was our age.
"How old is he," Mom asked him as he turned to her.
"Oh, twenty-eight," Chiron said as my head turned to him so fast that I thought that I got whiplash.
"What," I asked him.
"And he's in sixth grade," Alumi asked as he nodded.
"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, you see," He told us as we nodded, looking shocked by his age, "Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years," Chiron told us as Alumi shivered at the thought.
"That's horrible," She said as I gained a smile.
She was a top student, but she hated school with a passion.
I wouldn't say I liked school if you thought I did, but I tolerated it and tried to be a middle-of-the-road student.
"Quite," Chiron agreed with Alumi with a nod, "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic," He added as I looked shocked but then saw the look on Alumi's face.
"I don't think you have to worry about the last part any more," I said as Chiron stopped speaking before looking to where I was looking and saw the look on Alumi's face.
"Don't worry; if I can woop a son of Poseidon into shape that has great shaman skills as well as other skills, I can do the same for a satyr," Alumi said as her smile was evil with all teeth.
Chiron saw the smile and shivered as I could feel his fear, but Mom was the only one unaffected by the smile.
"Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream," Chiron said as he tried to recover from the Alumi smile, "Perhaps now he will find some other career..." Chion stopped speaking as Alumi's face became demonic.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Alumi said as a chuckle started to escape her lips, and for some reason, I was unaffected by it.
Oh no, I have become used to it.
My the gods and Great Spirit save my soul.
"What happened the first time," Mom asked as, for some reason, my gaze turned to the pinecone tree, "Was it really so bad," She asked.
Chiron looked away quickly, "Let's move along, shall we," He said as Mom let the subject drop, "Come, you three, let's see the woods," Chiron told us.
As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was.
It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been there since the Native Americans.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what," Alumi asked as her face returned to normal.
"Armed with what," I asked him as he turned to me, "I can only use a weapon that is forged in the sea, with the sea, or by a cyclops," I told him as he grimly nodded.
"For the first question, you'll see," He told us as we looked confused, "Capture the flag is Friday night," Chiron added as I nodded but had no clue what he was saying.
He then asked me, "Do you have anything you can use to fight with as a shaman," He asked me.
Mom pulled out the driftwood stick that I used before she handed it to me, "I use this as it aids in Soul Integration with Uninde," I told Chiron as he held his hand out, and I handed it to him.
"And Greek armour will not work for him," Alumi told Chiron as the Centaur looked at her to explain, "When Percy uses Soul Integration with Unidine or Hyōrinmaru, he needs to move free as with Hyōrinmaru, the man did not wear armour, while with Unidne, Percy's body needs to flow like water," Alumi explained as Chiron winched at that before nodding.
Chiron then looked at me, "How did you know about your weapon needs," He asked me.
I looked at him with a sad smile as Alumi and Mom gained one as well, "When my previous shaman trainer Silva, Alumi's father, taught me, we found that no weapon that I picked up would work for me, even if it were made for me," I told Chiron who nodded, "But when I was randomly in an antique store I found this sword, who I later found out that was owned by the same spirit that I got, that fitted perfectly in my hands and that was when Undine told me that she felt the sea from the sword," I told him.
"And that was when you knew about your need for a weapon forged with the sea," He asked me as I nodded, "I'll see if I can get one of the naiads if she can find some driftwood we could use to build a sword or a bokken that you can use," He told us as we continued with the tour.
We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.
"Sword and spear fights," I asked as I looked at the arena with a look before turning to Alumi, who had the same look.
"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained as we all nodded, but Mom looked frightened, "Not lethal, Usually," He added at seeing Mom's look.
"Ares," Was all I said as Chiron nodded.
"Along with the Athena cabin, but when the both of them fight well," Chiron said with a shake of his head.
"Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall," Chiron said as he pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea.
There were a dozen stone picnic tables.
No roof.
No walls.
"What do you do when it rains," I asked him.
Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird, "We still have to eat, don't we," He told me, but I saw the tracings of a smile, "We hardly have rain over the camp as we are protected by Apollo, with the rain only going over the fields," He told us as we nodded at him.
Finally, he showed us the cabins.
There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake.
They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side.
And they were undoubtedly the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.
Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, even on the right), they looked nothing alike.
Number nine had smokestacks like a tiny factory.
Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.
Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was impossible to look at.
They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).
In the center of the field was a vast stone-lined firepit.
Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smouldered.
A girl about ten years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.
She looked cute but also lonely.
But as I looked at her, my eyes narrowed, "Chipmunk cheeks," I said as Alumi zoomed in on where I was looking.
"Excuse us," Alumi said as she and I walked over to the girl who sat at the fire.
The girl that kept calling Chipmunk cheeks stopped poking the fire and turned to us with a smile as she looked at mine and Alumi's narrowed eyes, but she winched.
"Percy, Alumi, how are you," She said as Chiron walked over and saw the girl before bowing.
"Lady Hestia," Both Alumi, Mom and I looked over at him and then back over to the goddess in front of us, and we bowed as well, but Hestia stopped us.
"Percy, Sally, Alumi, you three don't have to bow," She told us as Chiron got up from his bow and looked at Hestia.
"How do you know these three, my lady," Chiron asked her as Hestia smiled.
"This goes back to when Percy was five, and Alumi was six, and I met them one day, and I did myself Sally and made sure to seal my godly power around her and grew close to the three of them," Hestia said as Sally nodded, "So much so that for the next five years I would go to the same school as them, and the three of us became inseparable so much so that I almost forgot that I was a goddess and it scared me," Hestia said as she looked frightened as Alumi and I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Did you not know that they were shaman," Chiron asked her as she nodded.
"I did know, but I feared what they would have done if they found out," Hestia said as it felt like someone winded me and Alumi was no better, "I feared that if you found out, you would think that I had some ulterior motive for getting close to you," She told us as her brown eyes looked deep in my sea green.
"Then you did not know me that good, Chipmunk cheeks," I said as she looked over at me with a surprised look, "I'm mad that you would think I would banish you away or anything like that, but you were one of my only friends for five years," I told her as Hestia smiled and hugged me.
"Your like your father," She said as I looked over to the pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, which looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front.
Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve.
Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a holograph so that lightning bolts seemed to streak across them from different angles.
Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers.
The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
"Zeus and Hera," I guessed as Hestia nodded before sighing.
"Correct," Chiron said.
"My youngest brother and sister," Hestia said with a shake of her head.
"Their cabins look empty," I muttered as I looked at Chiron, "I get Hera, but Zeus," I asked him.
"Several of the cabins are, and that is to do with something that has thankfully yet to reach Olympus," Chiron said as I nodded and thought back to the weather, "That's true, but no one ever stays in one or two," Chiron said as he looked at me.
"Not anymore, that is," Hestia said as we looked at her, "Zeus had a daughter that wanted to defend her friends on the way up Half-blood Hill like what you did," Hestia said as my headshot to the pine tree.
"Is she," I asked them as I looked at the large tree.
Chiron looked down, but Hestia shook her head, "She is alive, but she is healing slowly," She told me as I nodded.
So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.
Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians.
"But why would some others empty," I asked them as Hestia pointed at the first cabin on the left, cabin three.
It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long, low, and solid.
The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor with columns, waves on the top, and a trident over the door.
I peeked inside the open doorway has six empty bunk beds, and the walls glow like abalone.
I looked around the cabin and saw that the ceiling had sea shells and a mural of waves.
I looked to a wall to see a trophy cabinet before walking over and putting my Minotaur's Horn in it.
Behind me were Chiron, Alumi and Mom as they walked in, with Hestia taking up the rear.
I looked back over to the bunks and found that they had a nightstand sitting next to the bunk, and a lamp was stuck to the wall near the top bunk.
The bunks have light blue bed sheets with waves and two seashells next to the door on either side.
But there were not only bunks inside my cabin as it had a hammock, some chairs, a few desks, a life-sized metal Trident, a lot of scrolls, and a book.
There is also a decorative steering wheel, a telescope, and lanterns, stuff you would find on a boat or in the captain's cabin.
The cabin leads to a personal dock connected to a small lake connected to the bigger canoeing lake.
Before I could start speaking, the smell of the cabin was like that of the sea, and it calmed me down.
We soon left, Hestia returned to the fire as we nodded again, and we separated as we passed more cabins.
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red — a real nasty paint job as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.
The roof was lined with barbed wire.
A stuffed wild boar's girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music.
The loudest was a girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen.
She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALFBLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket.
She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer, but I also saw some fear in her eyes.
She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy and brown instead of red.
I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves.
"We haven't seen any other centaurs," Mom observed.
I soon saw the same thing as Alumi nodded.
"No," said Chiron sadly, but I could hear some joy in his voice, "My kinsmen are wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid," He told us as we nodded.
"You might encounter them in the wilderness or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here," Chiron told us as we nodded before he looked down at his wrist, "It seems that I'm going to be teaching Archery soon, so let me find Annabeth so that she can finish off the tour," Chiron told us as we nodded and followed him.
Then after a while, we spotted her, "Oh, look," he said as he nodded ahead of us, "Annabeth is waiting for us," Chiron said as the blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.
When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.
I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title.
I thought my dyslexia was acting up.
Then I realized the title wasn't even English.
The letters looked Greek to me.
I mean, literally Greek.
There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class soon; would you take these three from here," He asked her as she nodded.
"Yes, sir," Annabeth said as she guided us around.
As we walked, I saw Annabeth look at both Unidine and Hyōrinmaru and then at Alumi's spirits, who had decided to come out.
"Can we help you," Silver Rod, the snake spirit, asked her as she seemed to have caught Annabeth looking.
"It's just I have not seen animal spirits or spirits like you before," Annabeth said as Silver Tail nodded.
"That makes sense, dear," She said as Undine swam over to move.
"Do you think that Chiron could get you a bokken from driftwood," She asked me as I shrugged as Annabeth looked over to us.
"Why would you need that," She asked us.
"Hyōrinmaru is the spirit of a Japanese samurai that went into battle without armour," I told her as I pointed at the spirit, "When I killed the Minotaur, it was his sword I was using; Frozen Passion is its name," I explained to her as she looked at me.
"First, don't say its name as they have power," She told me as I raised a bow but letter her continue, "And why would you need a sword for that, why do you have his spirit anyway," Annabeth asked me.
"Name only have power if you give them power over you," Alumi told her as Annabeth looked over to her, "And for the second, Percy and I are shaman, those born to channel spirits and other beings thou us to either fight or fix the world," Alumi said as Annabeth nodded.
"Unidine and Hyōrinmaru are my spirits, or to give them their actual title Guardian Ghosts," I told her as she took in the information.
Annabeth nodded as we walked, but I felt she hated me even if she was civil.
We continued walking as Annabeth pointed at something, explaining it bearly, before Alumi turned to me, "As you were out for a few days, we have to go back to your training," Alumi said as I looked at her before signing.
"Yes, ma'am," I said as Mom giggled at me.
Annabeth looked at us with a raised brow, "What training is that," She asked us.
"Before we answer that, if you don't mind could you tell us who your godly parent is," Mom asked as Annabeth turned to her.
"My mother, Athena," Annabeth said as I nodded.
Sure.
Before more could be said, a husky voice yelled, "Well, newbies."
I looked over.
The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us.
She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.
"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed, so was the girl's name, "Why don't you go polish your spear or something," Annabeth asked her with the fakest smile I'd ever seen.
"Sure, Miss Princess," The big girl said as the boys and girls around her were smiling at her with her, "So I can run you through with it Friday night," She told Annabeth as the people around her were laughing.
"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded, "You don't stand a chance," Annabeth told her as I looked at Alumi and Mom who both shrugged.
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched.
Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat; she then turned toward Mom, Alumi and me, "Who's the runts and the woman," She asked.
"Alumi Niumbirch, Percy Jackson, the son of Posiden and his mother, Sally Jackson," Annabeth said to her, and Mom smiled at the girl.
"Mr D and Chiron decided that I would work here to help with the younger children," Mom said as the big girl nodded.
Annabeth then turned to us and held her hand out to the girl, "Meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares," She told us as I blinked but inwardly grounded.
"Daughter of the war god," I muttered as Alumi looked over to me, and I saw the same look I had on my face.
A look of annoyance.
Clarisse sneered, and both of us, "You got a problem with that," She asked me.
"No," I said, recovering my wits, but I could not help the sass that was going to come out, "It explains the bad smell," I said as I could feel the eyes of both disapproving and approving.
Clarisse growled at me as she looked down at me, man I hate being short, "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy," Clarisse said.
"Percy," Both Alumi and I corrected her.
"Whatever," Clarisse said as she then looked at me with a savage smile, "Come on, I'll show you," She said as she started to walk over to me.
I then turned to Annabeth and asked, "Bully."
She nodded as I sighed, holding my index and middle fingers at the group, "Bakudō # 1. Sai," I called out as I pulled my arm across as the group of Ares, and then suddenly, they all had their arms behind their backs and locked there.
I then let my hands go as the group of Ares children struggled to get their arms back in the correct position, "It's not going to work," Alumi said as Clarisse looked over to her, "Your going to need more than just strength," She told her as Clarisse glared at her.
"Stop this trick and face me," She growled at us as she started to gain a red aura.
While it did not affect Mom or Alumi.
I was affected, and then water burst behind me and hit Clarisse in the chest.
It sent her rolling across the ground as she, and the other Ares children, looked back at me, and their faces turned from anger to fear.
Clarisse looked over to me as her eyes shot wide, and I held my hand out as blue flames started to form, but Undine placed a hand on my shoulder, and then the anger faded.
I looked around before my gaze landed on Mom, "I almost lost to my anger, didn't I," I asked him with my head down.
"Yes," She said as she pulled me into a hug.
"Know this, daughter of Ares, if Undine did not stop Percy just then, he would have ended you," Alumi said as Mom let me go, and I found Alumi standing beside me.
I then looked over to Clarisse, who was frightened by the power I showed as I cancelled the Sai on her and her sibling.
"What do you mean," Annabeth asked as she dripped wet.
Oops.
"The daughter of Ares was summoned anger in a son of Posiden, not a good idea," Alumi said as the daughter of Athena nodded, "But not only that," Alumi said as I looked down.
"What else," Annabeth asked as I held out my hand and the blue flames formed.
"These are called the Cursed Blue Flames and can burn anything to ash," I told her as she looked at the flames, and I saw Clarisse shake from where she was, "And when summoned my anger, I was ready to burn to ash without a second thought," I added as I extinguished the flames.
"Can you put them out with water," Annabeth asked me as I gained a bitter smile.
"When both Alumi and I consumed these flames all those years ago, we learned that water or wind does nothing to these flames; they will burn for as long as we want them to," I told her as Annabeth looked amazed, "So we make sure to try to keep our anger in check or a lot of people could die," I said but made sure to look purely at Clarisse who looked right back at me with understanding in her eyes.
The Ares children got up and walked away as Annabeth still looked at me, "What," I asked her.
"What are you thinking," Alumi asked as Annabeth smiled at us.
"I'm thinking," She said as a smile formed on Annabeth's face, "That I want you on my team to capture the flag," She told us.
Alumi and I looked at each other before going back to Annabeth, "Uh, we did not watch the orientation video, so can you tell us what capture the flag is," I asked her as she raised a brow.
"You did not watch the orientation film," Annabeth asked us as we shook our heads, "Right then, capture the flag is a game that we play to get the other team's flag; we fight with real weapons and our demi-god powers to do so," Annabeth told us as we took in the information as people around us were talking about what had just happened with Clarisse and me.
"And when the winner takes the flag back to the winning team's base, the flag's magic will change it," She continued as we continued moving thou the camp.
The places that Annabeth showed us were the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satys were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.
Along the way, I pulled the water that was dripping on Annabeth off her and deposited it back into the lake as we rounded back to it.
Annabeth then turned to us, "I've got some training to do, and with what you now know, you can go about," She told us as we nodded, "Dinner's at seven thirty, you'll hear the conch, and when we do we give a portion of our food to the gods," She told us before she left and with the way she was looking at me, it felt that she could not run away fast enough.
Mom returned to the big house to see if Mr D was there so that she could talk about her new job some more while Alumi and I found a patch of land where we could train.
"Soul integrate with Undine, and we shall test your Aqua Cutter along with your reflexes," Alumi told me as I did as she asked as water formed blades around my arms.
"Shikigami Kooni," Alumi called out as leaves around her started to float up into the air; as they gained a glowing round body with stubby arms and legs with two stubby horns on their heads.
The Kooni started flying at me as I moved around, letting my body flow around them as they flew at me.
As my body got into a rhythm, I started to use my arm blade to cut at them, with people stopping as they walked past to watch as Alumi summoned more Kooni to join the other before she pulled out a piece of paper with a symbol on it 犬.
"Shikigami Inu," Alumi called out as she threw the paper at me; it flew through the air and gained a spirit outline that looked like a dog.
I moved out of the way of the Inu as it went after me, and I jumped around it, biting me as Alumi looked at me.
"Percy, we can't be on the defensive," Undine told me as I moved around the Inu.
"You're right," I told Undine as I got an idea.
I held my hands out as water formed around the Inu; before I could attack Inu, the Kooni started to fly around me, so I held up my hands as water gathered in my hands, and I threw it at the Kooni.
When they were trapped in the water, I made finger guns and started shooting ball piers in the water at the Kooni, defeating them before returning to the Inu.
I gathered water in my mouth before I shot it at the Inu, cutting it in two, and Alumi nodded at me, "Training is over," She said as I cancelled the integration as Unidne was excited from my body.
People around us started clapping before I felt something that sent me on edge as.
I looked around as a guy who was a little older than me walked over.
"Hi, I'm Luke; I'm the counsellor of the Hermes cabin, that's cabin eleven," He said as he held out his hand.
I shook it, but I don't know why, but I immediately felt apprehensive about this guy; something about his expression was wrong.
The smile on his face was comforting, but it just looked cruel to me.
The look of hatred in his eyes made me shudder.
I know how to see through a façade.
"I'm Percy, this is Alumi," I said as Luke looked over to Alumi before seeing the spirits, "Those are the Silver Arms along with Patium Fang and my second spirit Hyōrinmaru with Undine here as my main," I told him as Luke nodded.
"I see," He muttered as I saw something in his eye and with the scar on his face, it seemed evil, "Anyway, I just come over to introduce myself and tell you if you want to join my sword class, you're welcome to, but Chiron told me what you already know your way around a sword," Luke said before he walked off.
"Did you feel it," I asked Alumi, who walked over to me as the crowd dispersed.
But I kept my eyes on Luke.
"Yea," Alumi said as she looked at Luke's back.
Silver Horn, the American buffalo spirit, looked off where Luke went before looking back, "What is it, Horn," Alumi asked the buffalo spirit.
"I think that boy is not right," He said as I looked at him.
"What do you mean," I asked as Alumi, and I returned to cabin three.
"I don't know, but it seems that his mind is not all there," Silver Horn said as Silver Wing looked down at the buffalo.
"What do you mean," Silver Wing was with narrowed eyes, "How can someone who is looking like their mind is theirs but not be there, you horn for bains," Silver Wing said.
Night started to fall as Alumi and I walked about what we thought before I heard a horn blow in the distance.
Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.
We both headed out and started to follow the rest of the camp, and we passed cabin eight.
In the day, it looked normal but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.
It was breathtaking.
We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion.
Satyrs joined us from the meadow.
Ladies that I somehow knew to be naiads emerged from the lacks.
A few other girls came out of the woods - and when I say of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods.
I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.
In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.
At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns.
A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub.
Each cabin had its table covered in white cloth trimmed in purple.
Alumi and I walked over to table three, where Mom awaited us.
There were at least three empty tables, but I was shocked when I looked over to table eleven.
There were so many of them, and I doubted that All of them were children of Hermes.
"You see it as well," Mom said as I looked at her.
"The Hermes cabin," I asked her as she nodded.
She then looked over to them, "As you know, I was originally going to just be someone who helps demi-gods when they need me," Mom said as I nodded.
"Yea," Alumi said as she nodded.
"That changed when I found out about the state of the Hermes cabin," Mom said as I looked back over, "Hermes takes in all the children that have not been claimed by their godly parent or a child of a minor god or goddess," She added as I shook my head and held out a hand as Alumi put a leaf in it.
I summoned a Kooni and whispered to it before it flew over to Chiron, standing next to a picnic table.
He saw the Kooni as it moved over and whispered in his ear before it dispersed Cairon looked at me with wide eyes, and when he saw me nod, he walked over to the Hermes table and started to lead some of the younger kids over to table three.
There were around twelve of them, and when I said younger kids, I mean younger than me; they looked around five or six.
People looked shocked at what I just did before looking at the sky, thinking that the kids were about to get killed, but nothing like that happened as Hestia formed out of the fire that was in the brazier.
The kids were ready to run back to table eleven, but Hestia smiled, "Percy, your father is happy that you have decided to lend space for those younger than you, and he can come to say that these children are welcome to say in cabin three with you so that they can have a night's rest," She said as she joined us at table three.
The kids from cabin eleven smiled as I looked at them, "We can go get your stuff later, alright," Mom said as they nodded.
And each of them had a smile on her face as a girl with short black hair and bright green eyes, and you could pass the two of us off as siblings.
"Hello, I'm Andromeda Davis," She told me as I smiled at her.
"I'm Perseus Jackson," I told her as we smiled at each other.
Waiting for the food to come found, I looked around and saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys, and Chiron was next to them.
Annabeth sat at table six with other people with blond hair and grey eyes, and across from her was Claress with her siblings.
Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everyone fell silent.
He raised a glass, "To the gods," He yelled.
Everybody else raised their glasses, "To the gods," We all called out.
Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, cheese, fresh bread and a selection of meats.
"Speak into the glass," Hestia told me as I looked at the goblet in front of me, "Once you say it will fill with that drink so long as it is not alcohol," She added as I nodded.
I looked at Mom, who looked at me then we both turned to Alumi, "Blue Cherry Coke," We said.
She gained a twitch over her right eye as the goblets filled with a cobalt soda.
I took a sip and sighed.
Just right as Alumi looked at her goblet, "Dandelion and burdock," She told it as a dark liquid filled it and sighed.
We started to fill out plates before people began to get up, "Burnt offerings," Hestia told me as I nodded, "Put some of your food in, and just to tell you, I think Apollo like's the smell," She said to me.
As I took my place in the line, I saw that someone had put their juiciest strawberry or the most succulent bit of chicken into the fire.
I had three large chicken drumsticks as I held them over the fire, "Poseidon, Amphitrite, Hestia," I said as I dropped them into the fire, and It smelled nothing like burning food.
It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together but did.
Now I understood why Apollo could like the smell.
When everyone had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.
Mr D sighed as he got up but looked healthier when I met him this morning, and he seemed to gain some years back.
He now had a purple, dark purple suit, a button-up shirt, and a jaguar pattern.
His black hair was trimmed short, and his beard was a moustache with a pointed goatee.
He was looking thinner as well.
He now looked like an owner of a posh nightclub from the films.
"Yes, I'd better say hello to you all, and just to let you all know that our activity's director, Chiron here, has told me that the next capture the flag is Friday with cabin five holding the laurels," Mr D said and I could hear that he sounded when I first met him as well.
So that is what happens when you take a god's domain away from them; they start to lose themself.
A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.
"Personally," Mr D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations," He said as people smiled as they looked happy that he had not changed all that much.
"Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today along with someone who will help raise the children that were given to us by their mortal parent," Mr D said as people looked down sad as Mom looked around the pavilion, "So well comes Peter Johnson," Mr D said as people looked around.
And I was one of them.
Chiron murmured something to Mr D as he looked over to me, "Er, Percy Jackson," Mr D corrected as I blinked, "And Sally Jackson, his mother and Alice Newman," Mr D said as I looked over to Alumi.
Chiron muttered someone once more as Mr D sighed, "Fine, Alumi Niumbirch," He told us as he sighed once more, "Now, hurrah and all that, now run along to your campfire, go on," Mr D told us as everybody cheered.
We headed toward the amphitheatre, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.
I made sure not to sing as I did not was to use that ability.
We all toasted marshmallows and joked around before we all went back to our cabins; as the ten children followed me, and I made sure that I put them in a bed each as they all yawned cutely before drifting off to sleep, and I went over to the hammock to sleep in.
The next few days, I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.
Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was weird.
But every time I said something to answer a question or ask a question myself, shd scowled at me as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.
I discovered about my dyslexia.
When I was learning ancient Greek was more manageable, and it was nowhere near as hard as English.
But after each lesson with her, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest...Poseidon...Dirty rotten...Got to make a plan ..."
The rest of the day, I was doing different things to get the hang of it before Alumi put me thou training.
First, Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quickly I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow.
He didn't complain, even when he had to de-snag a stray arrow out of his tail.
And after I found out how bad I was, I looked into it and discovered that being a Son of Poseidon had to do with it because of what one of my siblings had done a millennia ago.
Foot racing was the next thing I tried.
Not good either.
The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust.
They told me not to worry about it.
They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods.
But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.
But I did laugh at Grover running after a wood-nymph as I turned to my instructor, "So just lovesick gods or," I asked as I pointed to Grover as the wood-nymph nodded.
I was not going to try wrestling with a child of Ares, so I walked passed that one.
I also stayed away from the sword field as I could feel the, but when they put me in a canoe, I would win each and every race.
And when it was just my cabin doing it, the race was as actually close as a boy named Jackson would move through the water, not behind me.
Friday soon came as I sat with Grover by the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.
Grover had scampered up to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost got me.
My shirt had smoke holes in it.
The hairs had been singed off my forearms.
But the scary thing was that Alumi was not looking happy with my performance on the wall.
Oh, no.
We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket weaving.
Talking of the naiads, Chiron had finally got me a bokken that was made out of driftwood that allowed me to channel Hyōrinmaru once more, and when I trained with it with the spirit watching me, I heard someone from the Hermes cabin say that I may be a match for Luke.
And when Chiron heard that, he had the two of us fight with both of us using wooden weapons; it would be unfair if Luke cut my bokken in half.
As Chiron got ready to start the battle waiting for me to integrate with Hyōrinmaru, but was shocked to see that I was not going to.
Chiron started the match as Luke and I met swords, and I saw the slight surprise in Luke's eyes at my skill.
We continued to mach swords as he started to go for strikes; I blocked with the years of training that Hyōrinmaru and the 'training' from Alumi.
Luke narrowed his eyes before he pushed me back, hoping that I would fall onto my back, but with a dancer's grace, I allowed my body to flow back.
"Done some ballet, have you," Luke asked me with a smile as I smirked at him.
"And some other types of dancing so that I could get my body to move like the waves," I told him as he smiled.
Luke then charged me as I formed a plan in my brain.
I closed my eyes as Luke zoned in on me and raised his sword as all sound vanished from my ears.
And I let out a swing of my bokken as Luke moved back, and I shot my eyes open as I let it go and grabbed it with my other hand.
"Next time, know if your opponent is ambidextrous," I told Luke as I slashed at him coursing him to stagger back, and that was when I went on the attack.
I went for Luke's arms and legs as he started to stagger back; I then went for a strike at his chest as he struggled to regain ground.
I then ran forward with my bokken out and stuck him in the chest as I knocked him to the ground before holding my bokken to his throat.
"This match is over," Chiron said as he stomped his hoof on the ground, "Winner of this match is Percy Jackson," He called out.
After that match, people were shocked, and I lost count of the times I saw Annabeth and Clarisse arguing about what team the Posiden cabin, me and Alumi, as I said that the other ten were not going to join the match, were going to be on.
Anyway, back to Grover and me.
We talked about different things, and I asked him how he would protect me if the worst came to worst, and he told me that he would use his magic.
I just shrugged before asking him how his talk with Mr D was.
His smile became strained, "Fine," he said as he let out a large sigh, "Just great, and it was voted that I did not fail," Grover said as I sighed in relief.
"So, your career's still on track," I asked him as he glanced at me nervously.
"Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license," Grover asked me as I shook my head.
"Well...no," I told him as I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask, "He just said you had big plans, you know...and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment, so did you get it," I asked him.
But I saw him hold his hand out and turn it side to side, "It's still on track at the moment as the only slip up was you tuning up to camp knocked out," Grover said as I winced, "But Mr D had told them that I did the right thing as I used my courage to get a shaman to camp so that I could get aid for the demi-god," He said as I smiled at him.
"Well, that's not so bad, right," I asked him.
"Blaa-ha-ha," He bleated his nervous laugh, "He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty," Grover moaned as I patted him on the back.
"And then there are the chances of you getting a quest . . . and even if you did, why would you want me along," He said as I looked at his shock.
"Of course, I'd want you along," I told him, but Grover stared glumly into the water.
He apparently did not hear what I had said.
"Basket-weaving . . . Must be nice to have a useful skill," Grover said as he looked at the naiad who was weaving a basket.
I tried to reassure him that he had many talents, but that made him look more miserable.
To get his mind off his sadness, I told him about the shaman lifestyle, which drew him in and took away some of his sorrow.
"So you eat meat because it gives you strength," Grover asked me as I shook my head.
"Yes and no," I told him as I looked over the lake, "As shaman, we are taught two fundamentals, we life and we die," I told her as Grover bobbed his head.
"Now, then, for our food, we have to eat a balanced diet of food with equal fat, meat, fruit and veg," I told him as he nodded, "But the animals that we eat have to be killed by someone why dose the animal husbandry right," I explained to him.
"But how do you know that they are doing that," Grover asked me as I smiled at him before I pulled out a card and handed it to him, "Okumura Farms," Grover read before looking at me with a raised brow.
"It's a family farm from Japan that all shaman get their meat from as it is run by shaman, and each member working there is a shaman," I told him as he looked amazed, "And I have a discount when shopping from them as Mom, and I have Okumara blood in our veins," I told him.
"Realy," He asked me as I nodded.
"Yea, my grandmother was an Okumura who met an American, fell in love and had Mom," I told him as he looked at me.
"And can you speak Japanese," Grover asked me as I nodded.
"It's my second language, and I must thank Hyōrinmaru for teaching me Japanese as well," I told him as he smiled and then our talking moved on to the pros and cons of the different gods and the three empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," He said as he nodded over to the silver cabin, "She vowed to be a maiden forever, so, of course, no kids," Grover said before a picture formed in my mind.
It was like I was looking thou a mirror at the bottom of the sea as the pitcher changed every second.
But a primary pitcher that formed was of a blond boy with blue eyes with six marks on his cheeks, three per cheek.
But the image faded as Grover continued, "The cabin is, you know, honorary," Grover as he looked at it, "Well, kind of, you see her cabin is there because of her hunters, so if she didn't have one, she'd be mad," Grover explained as I nodded.
"Then there are two of the big three," I said as Grover nodded, "I'm surprised then that the camp is still standing," I told him as Grover raised a brow.
"What do you mean," Grover asked me.
"My uncle is the god of the underworld, and he can drag this camp down there, and only Dad and Chipmunk cheeks could do anything," I told him as he nodded.
"That is true, but about sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes; their children were just too powerful," Grover told me as I nodded as from a young age from when Silva thought me, he made sure that I had control of my powers and anger, "They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage and World War II was basically a fight between the big three, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades," Grover said as I nodded.
"A son of Zeus and a son of Poseidon on one side while a son of Hades on the other," Grover said as I did wonder who my older brother was.
I hope it was Churchill.
"The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women; They all swore on the River Styx," Grover said as thunder boomed and I took a hissing breath.
I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make,"
Grover nodded as I swore, "I know Dad did not keep his word, but can you tell me that Zeus did first," I asked him as he nodded.
Thank the Great Spirit, because even thou I know of the daughter of Zeus being the tree...
My eyes shot wide when I thought that.
Grover's face darkened as he both did not know I knew got ready to tell the story, "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon; there was this TV star with a big fluffy eighties' hairdo — he just couldn't help himself," He said as I nodded, getting ready to hear the tail of the braze daughter of Zeus, "When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia...well, the River Styx is serious about promises; Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter," Grover said as I looked at the tree.
"Chipmunk cheeks told me that she did what I did," I told him as he nodded.
"When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath; Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia," Grover said as I thought back to the Minotaur.
From what I heard, Posiden and Hades were the two brothers that got on, so something was wrong, and he must have seen my face when I had put something together.
"What is it, Percy," Grover asked me.
I looked at him, then sighed, "From what information I could get from small sauces, Dad and Uncle Hades get along, so he only sent the Minotaur after me because something must be wrong and not because of my Dad," I told him as Grover nodded, "And for uncle Hades going after the Thalia I have an idea about that," I told him.
I told him to finish his story first before I told him my theory, "A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do," Grover said to me as I started to think about Grover being the satyr, but I had to keep my theory in my mind, "He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended; they almost made it, and they got to the top of that hill... So, Thalia made her final stand alone at the top of that hill, and as she died, Zeus took pity on her; he turned her into that pine tree, and her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill," Grover told me as I nodded before turning to hear my theory.
"Are you sure that you want to know," I asked him as he nodded, "My theory is that Zeus did something to anger Hades many years ago with Hades' children, and when Thalia came around, Hades got his payback," I told him as he took this in.
"But why sent the Minotaur after you," Grover asked me as I gained a grim look.
"Something must be wrong with the flow of the big three at the moment if Hades would send a monster after the son of Poseidon," I told him as he nodded.
"I was just wondering, are satyrs always assigned to guard a demi-god," I asked him as he shook his head.
"Not always, we go undercover to a lot of schools, and we try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes," He said as I wondered if I would ever be that great, but I shook that thought away.
One does not need to be significant to be known, "if we find one with a strong aura, like a child of the big three, like you, we alert Chiron, and then he tries to keep an eye on them since they," Grover was saying before looking at me.
"Can make problems," I asked him as Grover bobbed his head.
"Yeah, but I was hoping you were the son of Hermes or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge, " I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.
"You mean goddess, right," I said as I saw his eyes shoot wide.
"YES, I MEAN GODDESS, OH BENEVOLENT GODDESS OF REVENGE I AM A HUMBLE SAYTR I DO NOT KNOW ANY BETTER PLEACE SPEAR THIS INESGIFIGENT SOUL," Grover cried to the heavens as I burst out laughing before Grover joined in on the laughing.
The time before the game came, Annabeth and Clarisse walked up to me and looked at me when we were in the pavilion, "Who's team are you going to be on," Annabeth asked as she narrowed her grey eyes at me.
I opened my mouth to say something, "If you join Ares, we shall allow you any pick of your weapon," Clarisse told me with her shoulders wide.
"If you pick Athena, we will allow you to use this," Annabeth said as she handed me a pair of gloves.
I looked at the gloves and saw that they were Samuri arm amour as I felt not only the grey eyes on me from the Athena cabin.
But I could feel eyes from somewhere else.
I could not find out where, but I nodded.
"For this capture, the flag Posiden cabin will ally themselves with the Athena cabin," I said as Alumi walked beside me.
"It seems that the sea is fighting the war," She said as our spirits appeared beside us.
Clarisse stormed off, and Annabeth smiled.
We all walked over to the where the Athena cabin had a silk banner.
It was about three meters long, glistening grey, with a barn owl painting above an olive tree.
On the other side with Clarisse, who had a gaudy red banner the same size as the Athena one, but it had a bloody spear and boar head painted on.
I turned to Luke, who walked by and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags," I asked him as he nodded.
"Yeah," He yelled back.
I walked over with Alumi walking next to me as we saw the gauntlets, "Ares and Athena always lead the teams," Alumi asked him as he nodded.
"Not always," he told us/
I had my driftwood bokken next to me, "But often," He added.
The teams were Athena with Posiden, Hermes and Apollo, while the other team was Ares, who had Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus.
From what I'd seen, Dinoysus's kids were good athletes, but there were only two of them.
Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive.
Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about.
They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair, and gossiped.
Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and only four of them were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day.
They might be a problem.
That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island or anywhere else on the planet.
"Heroes," Chiron announced after he hammered his hoof on the marble, "You know the rules, the creek is the boundary line, the banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards," Chiron said as I took the information in.
"Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged; no killing or maiming is allowed; I will serve as referee and battlefield medic," Chiron added as people nodded as I felt the eyes of the Ares cabin on me, "Arm yourselves," He told us as he spread his hands.
The tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, and shields made of ox-hide coated in metal.
"So, who will you use," Undine asked me as she swam around me.
I looked over to Alumi, "Am I ready to try that," I asked her as she shrugged, "That is helpful," I told her before turning back to Undine, "I was thinking of using Over Soul with either of you with the bokken and then integrate the other," I told her as she nodded.
"On about that, where did they find my Kote," Hyōrinmaru said as he looked at my gauntlets, and I saw that it was the same that he was wearing.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward."
We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods.
The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed toward the north.
I managed to catch up with Annabeth, "Hey, what's the plan" I asked her as she kept marching.
"You, as the son of the sea god, along with Alumi, are going to be at the creek; keep the reds away," She said before I nodded, leaving her as she looked back as I guided Alumi away.
"Integrate with Hyōrinmaru and try to use Over Soul with Undine over your bokken," She told me as I nodded.
We both waited as I stabbed my bokken into the ground as I waited before hearing the horn blow.
Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl nearby.
I had the feeling something was stalking me.
Then the growling stopped.
I felt the presence retreating.
On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded.
Ten Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.
"Cream the punk," Clarisse screamed.
Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet.
She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light.
Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords — not that that made me feel any better.
But raised both my hands as the warriors stopped in pace, "Hyōrinmaru, Undine Spirit Ball," I called out as both spirit balls formed in my hands.
Undine in my right hand and Hyōrinmaru in my left.
"Soul Integration," I called out as I pushed the spirit of the samurai into me and the water spirit into the bokken.
Then with movement that only a samurai could do, I spun round and took my bokken as it had barnacles over the flat of the bokken and water dripping from it.
"O.S. Sword of Fathoms," I said with the double layered of mine and Hyōrinmaru.
Some brave Ares boys ran at me.
Bad chose.
For them.
"Ichi no kata: Minamo Giri," I said, calling out as I swung with Undine's Over Soul, but before I hit one of the Ares boys, I turned to the blade's flat.
I saw that the second of Ares's sons was trying to attack from behind me just as water shot out of the Over Soul and spun me around, and I blocked the attack.
"Next time, know who will attack my front," I told him as I moved my head out of the way; as a sword came at me as the sword almost but the boy in the eye; I tripped the one who went for my head and knocked him out with a kick to the chin.
"Gessen," I said as I released who waves of water in Undine.
I turned to see that Alumi was using Silver Tail, the coyote spirit, and Platinum Fang while dealing with five Ares girls by herself and it just leaf Clarisse for me.
"You should have joined Ares," She told me as we circled each other as Clarisse's knocked-out siblings were laid out around us.
"I was going to pick your side originally," I told her as I could feel the Over Soul about to break, "But when Annabeth gave me a part of Hyōrinmaru armour, it made me join wisdom instead of war," I told her as I stopped the over soul.
Undine formed next to me, and I caused the integration with Hyōrinmaru.
"Why are you doing that," She asked me as I held my hand out to Undine and integrated with her as I stuck the bokken in the ground and called out by Aqua cutters.
"My first Over Soul needs work, but I'm still good with these," I said, holding my hands up.
Clarisse thrust her spear forward as sparks flew, and I narrowed my eyes.
"A lighting spear," I asked her as she smiled at me with a savage smile.
"Gift from my father," She told me as I nodded and held a hand up as the water around us started to rise, "What you are doing," Clarisse asked me before we were in the water.
"Your lightning spear will not work in here as I am the one in control, and if you did well, we both would be shocked," I told her as she narrowed her eyes but managed to hold her breath.
I then pulled the driftwood stick from my pocket and pointed it at Clarisse, "Water Dragon," I said as the water around us formed the head of a dragon with sharp teeth.
Clarisse's eyes shot wide as she looked at the beast before it shot at her with a serpentine body.
The water ball we were formed into a dragon as it pushed Clarisse's back and into a tree.
I held a hand under her neck with the other hand at her spear, keeping it away, but I was ready to form a water blade at any moment.
"Yield," I told her as she looked at my hand that was dripping wet, then the water dragon I had behind me before she let her spear go.
"I give," She said as I twisted my free hand; the water dragon broke apart and formed water ropes around the Ares kids as Alumi walked over.
"You win," She asked me as I nodded, heard screaming from ahead of us, and saw Luke running at us with the rest of Clarisse's forces behind him as he held the banner high.
As Luke was only a few feet away, I made sure that I was in the creek with Alumi next to me, and I formed the water of the creek into a wall with only the blue team; I was allowed to pass thou.
Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran through the wall and across into friendly territory.
Our side exploded into cheers.
The boar turned into the symbol of Hermes, a huge caduceus.
The game was over; the Blue team had won.
Luke was hoisted on their shoulders as I let the wall down, but I kept the integration with Undine active as I looked around.
Something was just now right.
Right next to me, I heard Annabeth's voice, "Not's bad, hero," She said as I looked over as she became visible, "And it was good to see a shaman fight," She said before looking at Luke.
I saw the faint formings of blush over her cheeks.
I heard the growl again as I formed the aqua cutters over my hands.
The gowl was closer this time.
A howl ripped through the forest.
The campers' cheering died instantly.
Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready, My bow."
Annabeth drew her sword.
On the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
It was looking straight at me.
Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run."
But I did not as I ran forward at it shocking everyone as something told me it was here for me, and I would not let it hurt anyone.
The hound proved me right as it ran at me, but it was faster.
But I was not going to fail the camp.
And from what I would learn later, my eyes turned blue and green as if they were the ocean itself.
I felt my body become lighter and more slender, and water started to flow off me, truing into a torrent.
I do not know what happened next, but from what people told me, I became an arrow of water that shot right thou the dog.
Because all I know is that one moment I was in front of the demon dog, and the next, I was on the other side, breathing heavily on my knees with Undine.
Chiron walked over to me and helped me up, and I did the same for Undine, "Are you two alright," He asked us as I nodded.
"Give me a few minutes in the lake, and I'll be right as rain," I told him as he nodded.
"Well done taking out the hellhound," Chiron said as Annabeth walked over to something on the floor and picked it up before handing it to me.
"Hell hound fang," She told me as I looked at it, "Your spoil of war," She added as I put it in my pocket.
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said as his eyes swept over the kids, "Someone inside the camp," He added.
Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
But I saw his eyes gain some fear.
Why.
"And I will know who did it," Chiron said as he walked off, helping me as it looked like I would collapse at any moment.