Over the next few days, I settled into an almost normal rhythm of study, except that Percy and I were the pupils of satyrs, a nymph and a centaur.
Every morning Annabeth gave us lessons in ancient Greek, and we talked about the gods, even if putting them in the present tense seemed a bit odd. I didn't have much trouble with Ancient Greek, as Luke had told me.
The rest of the time, I did the other camp activities, hoping I'd find something I was good at. Chiron taught me archery, which I'd already done in my youth, yes, apparently my uncle really wanted me to be ready for anything. As for Percy, he blundered again, he really wasn't my type with a bow, he even sent an arrow into the hairs on Chiron's tail, I had to laugh at him, he was as red as ever.
Running, I wouldn't say I've got the best stamina but getting passed by a tree, yes our instructors were the nymphs, and I swear I'll never see a tree in the same way again, they're super fast, trees faster than me I couldn't believe the excuse we've spent centuries running from love-starved gods rather perverse I'd say but there you go.
The wrestling, what a joke, Clarisse, newly blond, hated me with every fiber of her being, even though I think blond suits her, but I still ended up on the ground and it was really, really painful.
I'd fallen off the canoe twice in a less than heroic fashion, and each time it was Percy who came to help me like... never mind the fact that he excelled at it.
I think I was being watched by the campers and counselors, and Chiron seemed the most intrigued by who my divine mother might be. Luke, for his part, said I could be a child of Demeter or maybe Aphrodite, but I couldn't see how I could be the child of either of his two goddesses, I wasn't very good with plants and even if I was interested, fashion wasn't my favourite subject and even with my level of archery I doubted it was Apollo.
But even with all that, I was getting used to the half-blood camp. The morning mist reminded me of the one that used to appear in front of my house, the smell of strawberry fields warmed by the afternoon sun, even the sound of monsters at night didn't bother me as much anymore, I had dinner with cabin eleven and threw away my meal, always my meal for no one, I'll say it again, I wouldn't do that to my divine progenitor. The almighty gods couldn't even call on the phone or save the parents of their children, my father and Sally Jackson had died my father was years ago but Sally I think it took me days to really understand that it had really happened and to really feel its sad effects, she too was like a mother to me. I preferred not to talk about it, especially with Percy.
In fact, I was beginning to understand why Luke was so bitter when he talked about his father, just as I was when I talked about my mother: we felt abandoned.
On Thursday, three days after our arrival at camp, Percy and I took our first sword lesson. Our whole cabin was there, in the big circular arena, this time with Luke as instructor.
First the basics of slashing and stabbing, I could manage I understood and my reflexes weren't bad. Luckily, I had a perfectly balanced sword, unlike Percy. Luke tried to help him, but none of them would fit, so we moved on to the duels. Luke announced that he would be Percy's partner.
"Good luck," chuckled one of the residents. "Luke is the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
"Maybe he'll go easy on me."
I didn't believe it at all, my best friend was being eaten alive by Luke and with each new assault he looked more bruised. Percy took the flat of Luke's blade on his ribs and several other places, really poor Percy.
He called a break, I was sweating a little but not like Percy who was really sweating, we all rushed to a cooler containing cold drinks, Luke poured water over his head, I saw Percy do the same, even if it was a little less graceful for him. Ah Percy how could I not adore him I laughed.
"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke shouted to us all, "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."
The "Hermes" all held back a smile, I think they've been in his shoes before. Luke explained that he was going to show us a disarming technique - how to twist the blade of the enemy with the flat of your own sword so that he has no choice but to drop his weapon.
"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."
He showed the move in slow motion and with a crash Percy's sword of course fell.
"Now in real time," he said, after Percy had retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
He nodded, and Luke followed. Somehow, Percy stopped Luke from pulling on the hilt of his sword. He retaliated. He stepped forward and attempted a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed and he seemed to start pressing on Percy with more force. Then Percy attempted the disarming maneuver. His blade struck the base of Luke's and he twisted, putting all his weight into a downward thrust.
Clang.
Luke's sword clattered against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his defenseless chest. The other campers were silent. Even my own jaw dropped. Percy lowered his sword. "Uh, sorry." For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.
"Sorry?" His scarred face split into a smile. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry ? Show me that again!"
Percy didn't want to, but Luke insisted. This time, there was no competition. As their swords crossed, Luke struck Percy's hilt and sent his weapon skidding to the floor.
After a long pause, someone in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat from his brow. He was enjoying it with a whole new interest.
"Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword...
Friday afternoon, Percy, me and Grover were by the lake after escaping death on the climbing wall. I was fine, but Percy still bore the after-effects of the lava jet I'd saved him from, as well as some collateral damage in the form of a T-shirt full of smoking holes and a few hairs I'd have thought nonexistent if they hadn't burned before my eyes.
The three of us were sitting on the pier, my head resting on Percy's right shoulder, Grover on his left, watching the naiads weave baskets underwater. It reminded me a little of Yancy, not in the super-weird way mixed with Greek mythology that you might call Yancy, weird but not "mythological", but rather the way the three of us were together, no pressure.
Percy asks Grover how his conversation with Mr. D went.
His face takes on a sickly yellow hue.
"Fine," he said. "Just great."
"So your career's still on track?"
He glanced at us nervously. "Chiron told you I wanted a research license?"
Actually-I didn't know what that was, what a goateed man would go looking for appart some plate to gnaw on or even some can of Coke :
"He just said you had some kind of big plans for the future, plans maybe too big for you, and that you needed some kind of test of courage to get the green light and that it was to keep Percy the test."
"Well?" asked Percy.
Grover went back to looking at the naiads and started talking again:
"Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
"Then your fate is tied to Percy's, you're really out of luck my poor Grover." I told him, laughing.
Percy looked at me with his usual bewildered face as if to say 'what the hell are you talking about', but being linked to Percy was like being hooked up to a walking mini nuclear bomb, a nice nuclear bomb but a nuclear bomb nonetheless. Speaking from experience, I'd known him for nearly five years now.
"It's not so bad, is it?" Percy asked him.
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest…and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Of course I'd want you along!" Exclaimed Percy.
Grover looked glumly at the water. "Basket-weaving…Must be nice to have a useful skill."
I got up from Percy's shoulder and went over to Grover. I sat down next to him this time and asked:
"Do you really think you're useless Grover?"
He looked at me morosely, as if he was going to start crying at the slightest remark, it meant everything.
"Actually Grover, I'd like to tell you that yes, you're useless."
"Kassi..." Percy said, trying to interrupt but I was on my roll.
"You're a terrible liar, just like you were to Yancy, you even lost us to your bladder, you couldn't get Percy and Sally safely to camp."
Here he was really on the verge of tears as a thin liquid engulfed his pupil.
"But you didn't," he looks at me this time with astonishment. "I think if you'd been really worthless to us, you wouldn't be with us, you're part of our destiny." "Do you really think so?"
I clutched his hand. "You've been our friend for almost a year, we've been together since the beginning so it's obvious, you're our protector remember you so don't come giving me the discouraging satyr routine again, okay."
Grover dried his tears and nodded. He'd stopped being depressed, finally. So we talked about canoeing and swordplay, then discussed the pros and cons of the various gods and goddesses. And finally we asked him about the empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."
"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"
Grover tensed. We were approaching a delicate subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job.
I heard this and thought how could the gods not be able to keep one and only one husband or wife, no but really, Hera was really the most rational of all.
"When we say the Big Three," Grover continued. "We mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades." I said.
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the underworld."
"Uh-huh."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Percy pointed out.
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here…" Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."
"But Zeus and Poseidon both had a billion children in the myths. Why are their huts empty?"
"I admit it surprises me, but they're notorious for not keeping in their pants," I pointed out.
Grover looked at the sky with concern, and shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "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. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. 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." Thunder boomed.
"That's the most serious oath you can make." Grover nodded.
"So you mean to tell me that World War II, which resulted in millions of deaths, was essentially, a quarrel over the honor of their divine daddies." I asked.
"'Basically, yes," Grover replied.
Demigods creating wars for their daddies, I really couldn't believe it.
"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"
Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. 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."
"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault," said Percy.
And he was right how the consequences of parents' actions could not, should not, fall on their children.
Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. 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. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
I looked at the pine tree.
This girl must have been amazing, sacrificing her life to save her friends. In a way, I understood her: she and I had made the same journey to the same place to save people we loved.
"Grover," Percy said making me look at him, have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"
I knew why he was asking - he wanted to bring Sally back from the dead.
"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."
"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"He finally asked his million dollar question
"No. Never. Orpheus came close.…Percy, you're not seriously thinking..."
"No," he lied. "I was just wondering. So…a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"
Grover studied him warily. He hadn't persuaded him that he'd really given up on the underworld idea."Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems." "And you found me and also Kassandra. Chiron said you thought we might be something special, he even called Kassi a powerful demigod."
Grover looked as if he'd just been walked into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were... you know... you'd never be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"
I got the impression that he was reassuring himself more than anything else.
"What about me, then?", I said to break the heavy silence that had set in. "Whose daughter do you think I am? Chiron did say I was a powerful demigoddess, didn't he?"
"Well, Kassandra, to tell you the truth, you're a real enigma. Given what you did to the Cyclops, everyone would normally think you were a very powerful daughter of Dionysus, capable of causing madness in her enemies."
"Madness? What do you mean?" asked Percy.
It's true, I'd never told him in detail the events that had taken place on the hill, so I took a few minutes to tell him everything that had happened, at the end he looked at me as if in admiration and asked:
"Can your father's ring really turn into a sword?"
I nodded. "I even think it can turn into something else, we'll have to test it."
"You should try it by capturing the flag, especially if you run into Clarisse after the haircut, she'll be furious with you." Grover trembled with fear.
"Don't worry," I said with a smile, "Then get back to my divine heritage."
"As I was telling you, Dionysus but he would have claimed you right away, Aphrodite is able to make people go crazy with love and you were able to change Clarisse's appearance but that was different, you could... maybe, be the daughter of a minor goddess."
His voice faltered at one point, so he wasn't sure what he was saying himself, Grover really had no talent for comedy.