Chapter 2: A Whole Lotta Bullshit
The next week passed by in a flash. I worked out a schedule with the other residents of the Hermes cabin. In the mornings I would wake up and do physical training and swordsmanship lessons with Luke. Initially I balked at his insistence, but I quickly found out using a sword had me working out muscles that I never used much before. So, it was a new challenge at the very least.
The only problem was no sword ever felt right to me. The closest I ever got to something usable was when I tried a two-handed longsword. Luke was less familiar with the techniques involved with those blades. Therefore, I did some digging in the Big House's library and found some old fighting manuals by renaissance sword masters (and demigods) Achille Marrozo and Joachim Meyer. Those editions had illustrations, making it much easier for me to absorb the information.
It was after one of our sparring matches that Luke clocked my sources.
"Those are pretty old." he said over my shoulder as I studied a defensive stance.
"Yeah, but they're dead useful." I said.
"I'm not disagreeing with you there." Luke said, "When the whole camp is here in the summer I split duties with Chiron and the Ares cabin for sword lessons. I'm the only one who bothers to incorporate classical fencing theory."
"I take it the Ares kids are a little headstrong and Chiron is too set in his ways?" I said.
"Pretty much." Luke said, "Although the Ares councilor, Clarisse La Rue, is very good with a spear. I wouldn't want to be on the end of it again."
"What's it do?" I asked.
"Now, now." Luke said, "I can't give away everything."
I scoffed, "Fine." I paused, "Who is this Clarisse anyway? Anyone I would've met by now?"
"No, she's been away for a bit." Luke said, "I think she's coming back soon actually."
"Sounds like someone I should get to know." I said.
"She's alright when you catch her in a good mood. Which is almost never." Luke said, "She's a lot like her father in that way."
"How so?" I asked.
"She just has a chip on her shoulder." Luke admitted, "One thing you'll find out when you get claimed is that the gods don't really keep up with their kids. Some people get bitter about it."
I hummed in acknowledgement. If she was anything like Revy, maybe I could befriend her.
"Anyways, we've got time for one more spar. So, hop to it." Luke said.
"Alright, alright." I said. I stood up and took my practice longsword.
Later in the day after lunch, Chiron insisted that I took lessons with Annabeth on Greek mythology. I thought about telling her about Rock and the fact that Japanese mythology existed. But I was already having a tough time getting her to talk to me about Greece, let alone Japan.
A day's lesson usually went something like this.
I would meet her in the Athena cabin. She would ask me to explain some concept or story we had gone over the previous day, she would tell me exactly why and how I was wrong, then she would drag out the next two hours explaining something completely different. For all of her mother's gifts of wisdom, she certainly did not have a gift for teaching. It was as today's lesson was dying down that I noticed a detail about her.
"Say, Annabeth." I said to get her attention. She loved to bury herself in a book until I left for the day.
"What?" she asked curtly.
"What're those beads on your necklace about?" I asked. She seemed taken aback by the question. I'd never talked about anything but business with her.
"They're handed out at the end of every summer." she said. She felt each one as she told me about them. One had a centaur in a prom dress from two years ago. She called it a weird summer and left it at that.
"What do you think this summer will be about?" I asked as she finished up.
"I don't know." she said softly, "Each year is really different. There are always new people who come in. Old faces you never see come back." She paused and I could tell she was reliving some unpleasant memories.
"I understand the feeling." I said.
"How could you?" she asked, "You only just got here." She sounded hostile, maybe continuing this conversation was a bad idea. But I was too stubborn to leave it there.
"Back where I came from, Roanapur, there was danger just about anywhere." I said, "One thing I've noticed about demigods, yourself, Luke, Lou, and the others, is that you see monsters very differently than I do."
"What do you mean?" she asked. It looked like I piqued her interest somewhat.
"In Roanapur, people don't see winning as glory, or treasure, or even safety." I explained, "From what I lived through and grew up in, for most people, survival is their victory. And the reason for that is just the same for why you lost people."
"Monsters." she guessed.
"That's right." I said, "It sounds like a cliché, but where I'm from, people can be just as monstrous as a chimera or a hydra. It's in their nature." Annabeth fixed her expression at that. And we both stayed quiet for a time.
"Have you ever killed anyone?" she asked me.
I took my time to answer. I didn't like to kill. Unlike some people in Roanapur, I never found it to be thrilling or pleasurable. It was just part of the job.
"Not in cold blood." I said. Her face was stiff.
"Okay." she said simply.
"Lou said you were a year-rounder." I said, "When was the last time you were outside the Camp on your own?"
"On my own?" she thought, "Not since I came here with Thalia and Luke." I recalled the story Lou told me about Thalia's tree. It seemed like a real heartbreaker.
"Do you not have people on the outside?" I asked softly.
Her expression turned sour. She couldn't look me in the eye anymore. Definitely crossed a line.
"Sorry." I said. I began to clear up my books and notes into my bag.
"No, Percy." Annabeth said as I stood up, "I-" she paused.
She looked down.
"Never mind." she finally said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I left without saying anything else.
After dinner I made my way down to the camp forge. Most of the building was taken up with industrial equipment for weapon smithing and other crafting needs. But situated above a web of supports and catwalks was a small office. Inside I met with Lou and Charles to work on developing firearms that were effective against monsters.
So far we'd gone through the things they already developed using some of the weapons the Camp had collected over the years. Tonight, we had planned to go over our findings since we'd started.
Lou was sitting in an office chair, her feet kicked up on a desk. Charles was leaning against a tool chest opposite the door. He was fiddling with some trinket.
"Finally!" Lou said, "I was just getting bored of annoying poor Charles here."
"Well, you can annoy me anytime." I said with a smirk. She chuckled and I put my bag down. inside were my guns along with some notes I'd taken.
"So, what do we know so far?" Charles said, "First, pure Celestial Bronze bullets do work at killing monsters. The drawbacks are both the cost and the wear they put on normal barrels after moderate use. Second, the type of weapon doesn't affect lethality towards monsters. A rifle will kill just as reliably as a pistol if the bullet hits."
"Sounds about right to me." Lou said.
"I don't think we needed to spend a week figuring that out though." I said. Lou was leading the efforts when it came to testing and collecting data. And as the most experienced gunslinger here, I had shot hundreds, if not thousands of rounds in the last few days. With supervision by Chiron initially, we had been using pit scorpions to test monster lethality. We had yet to try it out on anything bigger.
"Womp womp, cry about it." Lou said, "Now that we know these things, let's talk alloys."
She turned to Charles, "Silver seems to be the most compatible material with Celestial Bronze. The only trouble I'm having is finding a good ratio." he said.
"Ideally we would want to use less bronze, right?" I asked.
"Ideally, yes." Charles said, "But I'm wondering if diluting the alloy will make the bullets less effective. It's well known that Celestial Bronze blades will kill on contact with a monster. But I don't think anyone's done serious testing on alloyed blades before."
Lou seemed to be getting giddy, "I'm not doing the testing." I said flatly.
"You're no fun." she said. It came with a playful hit on the arm.
"Anyways." Lou continued, "I think that alloys are probably the best way forward with ammunition. If you want to get started on that, I wanted to review some rifle designs with Percy." Charles nodded and made to go down to the forge, he gave me a sly look after Lou turned around. I wasn't sure what he meant by it though.
I sat down next to Lou at the desk. She talked to me about designs she had drafted for a completely custom battle rifle. It took inspiration from Cold War classics like the FAL and the G3 while incorporating modern elements from the AR platform, which I guided her through. It was an hour into our work when I leaned up from a sketch I was making and looked over to her.
Lou was by far the friendliest person I'd met at camp so far. She had a certain energy about her that was hard for me to resist. It was odd to think that less than a month ago, I only had one person I'd consider to be a friend. Now that was doubled.
Her design sketches were also much more impressive than I'd seen anywhere else. Even Praiyachat back home, a decent artist in his own right, wasn't on her level. I wondered to myself if she was good at design for function, or if she practiced art generally. And now that I gave it any thought, there were loads of books and journals near her bunk.
"Percy?" I heard Lou say. It snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
"Sure, why'd you ask?"
"You've been staring either at me or into space for the last two minutes." she said.
I could feel my face flush, "Oh, uh." I started.
"Are you seeing things?" Lou asked, "Like apparitions, stuff that's not normally there?"
"No, I don't think so at least." I said.
"Are you sure?" she asked. She reached out a hand and felt my forehead.
"No, I was just thinking is all." I admitted.
"You don't seem to have a fever at least." Lou said, "I only ask because in the past some people have gotten hallucinations after hanging around me for long enough. I asked my mom about it last time we were on Olympus, and she said it was a side effect of magical exposure."
"Trust me Lou, I'm not having any magical hallucinations." I said with a smirk, "At least not yet." She gave me a small smile.
"So, what were you thinking about then?" she asked.
"It's pretty silly to be honest." I said. I broke eye contact as I tried to figure out what to say.
"I'd never think you were silly." she reassured, "I'm basically a witch after all."
I smiled, "Ture." I paused, "I'm just thankful that you've been a friend to me ever since I got here. Annabeth seems to hate me, Luke is kinda distant, and Charles feels more like a drinking buddy. If you know what I mean."
Lou's smile only widened, "I know the feeling." she said, "When all the summer kids get here I'm usually left out of a lot of things."
"That sucks." I said. I honestly couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Yeah, but c'est la vie." she said, "I'm just glad that the Hephaestus kids are always looking for help in here. And with you on board for this project, it's only bound to get better."
We talked for a long time. Mostly about the projects she'd helped with in the past. Around midnight Charles had come up to check on us. Lou was in the middle of a rant about an enchantment that went wrong on a bidet she'd tried making. He simply hung his apron up on a hook and silently waved at me. Lou was pouring over her old sketches and didn't notice him.
Charles gave me that same look as before and winked before leaving for good. I had a feeling about what he meant, but I didn't want to rush things. For all the vice that I saw in Roanapur, I'd never participated in the carnal side of things.
The next day I ate breakfast at the pavilion. I was feeling tired from last night since Lou and I talked until three in the morning. It wasn't until Argus found us that we went to bed. Luckily he wasn't a rat, but it felt like he had given me a hundred versions of the same look that Charles kept giving me.
I was just about halfway through my waffle when I heard someone stomping up the stairs to the tables. I looked up and saw a brawny girl. She had longish light brown hair and a nasty look in her eyes. Especially for a Saturday morning. She plopped down at the Ares table, which had been previously empty. She shouted at one of the nymphs to bring her some food.
I turned to Luke, who was on my right, "Is that Clarisse?" I used a hushed tone.
"Yeah." he said, "Daughter of Ares."
I nodded and went back to my meal. I heard another set of footfalls on the stairs and saw Lou enter the pavilion. Her hair was more frizzy than usual. She clearly wasn't a morning person. Something I could sympathize with.
She sat down across from me and a naiad brought her a plate of food and some orange juice.
"Good morning guys." she said wistfully.
"Mornin'" Luke said.
"Sleep well?" I asked.
"Yeah, just need more." she said.
"Maybe we should set an alarm next time." I said, "We don't want Argus walking in on us again."
"No, that wouldn't be ideal." Lou said, "Something bothering you Luke?" I looked at him, and his face was a little rosy and I could tell he was trying to hold in his drink.
He carefully swallowed before speaking, "Please don't tell me you two were-"
"Oh!." I quickly said, "We were in the forge talking about designs."
"Really?" Luke asked. He looked at Lou to confirm.
"Yeah, Charles was there too." she said nervously.
"Is that right?" Luke asked. He looked up towards the Hephestus table. Charles was sitting there with a girl. I think her name was Silena from Aphrodite's cabin.
"Hey Beck!" Luke called out. Charles looked up and Luke waved him over.
"What's up?" Charles said as he sat next to Lou.
"How's progress going on the guns?" Luke asked.
"Well, I actually made a breakthrough with the alloys we were discussing." he said, "But these two were yapping like foxes. And I didn't want to interrupt them." Lou blushed and I found an interesting part of my bacon to pick at.
"What kind of breakthrough?" Luke asked.
"It's a bunch of technical stuff with the ratio of silver to Celestial Bronze used in the bullets." he explained, "I managed to create an alloy mixture that's stable and only uses five percent bronze."
"Holy crap that's amazing!" Lou burst. Any inhibitions were long gone. "We've got to test it out. Can we do it today?" I looked at Luke, he said we would do reduced practice sessions on weekends.
"Fine, but I want to come along." he said, "We'll see if my sword is out of a job."
"What's this?" a voice came from behind me. Clarisse was walking back to her table from the offering brazier. "Did your little pop guns finally go bang?"
"Percy Jackson, nice to meet you." I said with the fakest smile I could conjure.
"Yeah, I already heard about you." Clarisse said, "Let me tell ya something. There ain't no substitute for good old muscle. When those toys jam up, you'd better be ready to face the heat head on."
"Believe me Clarisse, I've met that heat plenty of times." I said. My tone was deadly serious, and I looked into those piggish eyes of her. They were almost completely black. I didn't back down.
She scoffed and turned back to her table.
"Well, if you wanted a target on your back, that's the way to do it." Charles said.
"Please, she's nothing but a paper tiger. Seen her type plenty back home." I said, "Has she even been on a quest or fought in a real life or death situation?"
"I don't know." Luke said, "But when capture the flag comes around again in the summer, she'll be gunning for you."
"I can't wait." I said.
It was pretty chilly outside. Mr. D was apparently in the mood for a snowy day, and there was about an inch covering the camp with flurries coming by every so often. Around noon we set out into the forest to find something to shoot. The new bullets Charles had made worked well enough on the pit scorpions we'd been using. But we all wanted to see more results.
Lou had shown me around the Camp's armory to find a weapon to test out. I'd chosen a beat-up Beretta 92. Revy trained me on hers, so I was all too familiar with the pistol. At the tree line I loaded a magazine. I had made the cartridges myself. Charles and Lou were still amateurs when it came to that. I didn't need a hot load or an ill-fitted projectile screwing with the testing.
"All set?" I asked the others. Accompanying me were of course Lou and Charles. Luke had also decided to tag along, and he brought Annabeth, much to her dissatisfaction.
"Let's go." Annabeth said. I could tell she really didn't want to be here.
"Cheer up Annabeth." Lou said, "Shouldn't you be excited about this? Innovations in weaponry unlock so much strategic potential."
"There's a difference between innovation and wishful thinking." she replied, "I haven't seen enough to be convinced."
"Fair enough." I chipped in, "But I'm a pretty good shot. And Luke's our insurance for if things get too hairy." Luke looked pleased with himself, and Annabeth blushed. In the short time I'd been here, I could tell the poor girl was whipped.
I waved the others along and we went into the forest. It didn't take long for the well-traveled paths to become more and more covered. Pretty soon we were up to our ankles in dead leaves. I was happy to have the foresight to bring combat boots. There was no way I was going to spend an hour trying to get ticks off me.
We reached a clearing after a short hike and there was a patch of bushes close to the edge. I crouched down and motioned for the others to do the same.
"Let's wait here." I whispered, "Maybe we can catch something passing through." So far I'd been looking for tracks in the light dusting of snow that covered everything, but to no luck.
"Or maybe." another voice said, "You'll keep crouching there and find nothing."
I looked around for the source and the others bolted up. There I saw Chiron in his centaur form. I would be lying if I said I was used to it.
"Sorry, sir." Annabeth said quickly, "We were following him." Obviously talking about me. I gave her the side-eye. It wasn't a good showing of her discretion to throw blame when it wasn't asked for.
"You'll find it hard to catch any monster in these woods if it doesn't want to be found." Chiron said, "But you're in luck." He beckoned behind him and Grover appeared from behind a tree. He looked like a nervous wreck.
Chiron decided to speak for him, "There's been a creature skulking around the woods for the last month or so. It's been raiding the stores of not just the local nymphs, but it's now going after satyrs." he looked again at Grover.
"We'd- I'd like to ask you to kill it." he said.
There was something fishy going on here, I could just tell.
"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" I asked Chiron, "You knew what Charles, Lou, and I were doing."
"Because I wasn't completely confident in the project's viability." Chiron said honestly, "Then again I like to encourage creativity. So, will you all help Grover and the Council of Cloven Elders with this task?"
"I see that we don't have a choice." I said.
"Hop to it then." Chiron said before trotting away.
"Jeez man." I said, "Is he always to cagey?"
"Not all the time." Lou said, "He probably doesn't know what to make of you yet. Not many demigods come here with the background like yours."
I hummed in acknowledgement and turned to Grover, "So, what's this monster needs killing?"
He looked like a nervous wreck, "The Minotaur." he said quietly.
"You're kidding me." Luke said.
"What's so bad about that?" I asked.
"The Minotaur is half-man, half-bull." Annabeth said, "By all accounts it's smart and very fast."
"Should be a good test then." I said, "I say we split up. Luke and I will lead two groups."
I looked at Luke and he nodded, "I'll take Annabeth and Charles, you take Lou and Grover." he said.
"Fine by me." I said, "Let's meet back here if we can't find anything."
"Do any of you have drachma?" Luke asked.
"I do." Lou said.
"What would gold do for us here?" I asked.
"Iris-Messaging." Luke said, "Lou can explain."
At that, we split up. My group went left, and Luke's went right. I took point with Grover behind and Lou as the anchor.
"So, Grover, any ideas where we can find this thing?" I asked.
"No, not really." he said as we passed through the brush. "He just kinda showed up one day about a month ago. The Council thought they could handle it, but it was only this morning that I was sent to ask Chiron for help. It's already killed two dryads and a satyr hunter."
"That doesn't sound good." Lou said, "We'll find the bastard."
"Lou, what was Luke saying about Iris Messaging?" I asked.
"It's a way of communication." Lou said, "If you toss a drachma into a rainbow and say a short prayer to Iris, she will connect you with anyone. It's like a video call."
"How do you just find a rainbow?" I asked.
"Water sprays are the most common, but I usually carry a crystal prism to help with magic stuff, so it doubles as a rainbow maker too." Lou said. She took a rectangular prism out of her jacket's pocket and waved it around.
"Are those standard-issue?" I asked.
"Not really." she said, "Lots of people don't care for trying out magic. They think only Hecate's children can do it, but anyone can learn the basics with training."
"That's cool." I said, "It'll be something else to do late at night."
Lou chuckled at that, and I noticed Grover looking very uncomfortable. Was everyone at this camp so sheltered that they couldn't handle two friends bullshitting with each other? In that moment I realized just how easy it would be to manipulate these people. But that was more of Mr. Chang's style, not mine. At least Lou seemed to get it.
We continued silently, I made sure to lead the others slowly and to avoid big patches of loose leaves and branches. If this Minotaur was so terrifying, giving away our position wouldn't be ideal.
Eventually we reached a clearing, smaller than the last one we set off from. I looked at the snow from the trees and saw tracks going through the middle. I pointed them out to the others. I checked the gun, flicking off the thumb safety. Lou brought out her prism and a bronze knife. Grover stayed put.
Lou pressed a drachma and the prism to the satyr's chest, "Call Luke when things kick off." she whispered, "I know you can smell him."
"Where's he at?" I asked quietly.
"Almost directly across from us." Grover whispered. I thought for a moment about how to play this.
"Lou, you go right and stick to the trees." I whispered, "I'll try and draw him out to the clearing. If the gun doesn't work, I'll have my knife ready too. Jump in when you see an opening."
"Sounds good. Let's do this." she said before sneaking off through the brush. I patted Grover on the back and gave Lou thirty seconds before I went into the clearing.
I stood up straight and walked forward confidently. I made sure to kick up as much snow and leaves as I could. I held my pistol with one hand and drew my knife with my other. Across the way I heard some shuffling in the brush. I aimed my pistol.
The tree line broke apart and I was met with a bull rushing towards me. I fired a few rounds, but the monster dodged and deflected my shots off its horns. I'd have to aim lower. I dove out of the way and let the monster pass me by. It skidded to a halt and whipped around.
"C'mon Cow-Nuts, that the best ya got?" I called. The beast roared and it charged again. This time I ran towards it. I sheathed my knife and readied my pistol. I should've had about half a magazine left.
I slid under the Minotaur's horns and held my gun upwards. I fired and got shots into the chest and guts. It roared in pain and stumbled to the ground, sliding a few yards. I got up and reloaded. I only had one spare magazine. I approached the monster carefully. It didn't burst into powder like Alecto did.
I held my pistol and heard the beast whining. I heard footsteps to my right. I saw Lou approaching it cautiously.
"Did they work?" she asked, "Doesn't look like he's down and out just yet."
"Stay back." I said, "I'll double-tap him."
As I said that the Minotaur gave another roar and lumbered up. I tried to get a headshot, but its back was facing me, and its shoulders were too bulky. It turned towards Lou and charged. Her expression hardened and she stood her ground.
I switched my target to its legs and took aim. But before I could shoot, it reached Lou. She tried to dive to the right, but the beast predicted the move. It caught the hood on her jacket and whipped her down. I fired at its bare legs and hit a knee. It roared again and knelt down. But it kept its grip on Lou and raised her up. She grimaced and slashed with her knife.
I dashed forward to get a better shot. I dumped the rest of the mag towards its head, and I must have hit some of it. The monster fell back, and it raised its arms high. Lou was thrown towards me, and I dropped the gun to catch her.
That was an overestimation on my part. We ended up tangled in each other when she hit me. But at least I broke her fall. She was lying on top of me, and I was winded.
"Thanks, Percy." Lou groaned.
"Anytime." I said, "Did we him?"
Lou looked up, "Yeah, seems like it."
I laughed but coughed at the same time, "Mission accomplished."
"Good job, soldier." Lou teased.
"Aye-aye, ma'am." I replied. She had my right arm pinned down, so I couldn't salute. She gave me a genuine smile.
"Well, well." another voice came from the tree line where we left Grover. "You two definitely aren't beating the allegations. Late night talks, flirting, and now this?" I looked backwards and saw Luke approaching us. Lou got off me. I took her hand, and she pulled me up. Her face was bright red.
"Got the thing." I said. I bent down and picked up the gun. "This worked like a charm."
"Really now?" Luke said, "I suppose we'll have to make more."
"I'll get right on it." Charles said from behind. Annabeth tailed him.
Lou wandered towards the pile of dust the Minotaur left and sifted through it. She gasped and lifted out something. I walked to her side and saw her holding two horns.
"Spoils of war?" I asked.
"More than that." she said, "Trophies."
She handed me one. It was surprisingly lightweight.
"Need something to show off, hero." she said slyly. I gave her a goofy grin.
"Let's get back." Luke said, "Sun's starting to get low." I hardly noticed the time. Tints of scarlet, orange, and lilac were showing in the sky. I followed the others as Luke led us back to camp.
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