I Get Pimp Slapped by a Cloud

Breakfast was unfortunately delayed, on account of about half the cooks not turning up. Whatever could possibly have delayed those naiads from their responsibilities to the camp, I will never know.

Given the recent prank on cabin eight, Palírroia and Thŷella requested to pay a visit to their fellow handmaidens. We nearly slipped at the entrance, courtesy of a giant empty tub dangling over the doorway of the cabin. I decided to carry the nymphs into the cabin one at a time, lest their bare feet get covered in… yeah… you get the point.

In any other scenario, I probably would have been shot on sight. This time, however, I managed to walk into cabin eight while it was filled with half naked women.

Thalia bared her legs to the world, scrubbing her pants clean of lube and other stuff. Zoë and Kinzie were doing the same with their boots. Reyna, curse her bad luck, was completely topless and in the middle of getting her hair cleaned by Ashe and Rose. Nimba was off to the side, cleaning up Reyna's clothes. Palírroia and Thŷella joined them in the back.

"Is this a bad time?"

Reyna tried covering her chest, her face beet red. Most of the other girls spared me a glance, but continued about their business. Kinzie was all but undressing me with her eyes, but thankfully, the only bare part of her body was her feet.

"You can thank the Hermes cabin for this," Thalia said, not even bothering to cover up as I not so subtly checked out her legs. "At least it wasn't poison this time around."

"Consider yourselves avenged. Katie and I dealt with the Stolls, after Phoebe gave Travis the beatdown of his life."

"Good," she said. "Spares us the effort. And I know it might seem a bit obvious by now, but we need some more clothes. Almost none of us had any spares left from the fire."

"Well, there is the camp store. And it just so happens that the two people who run it are probably still trying to swim back to shore. In fact, that's where Katie and Phoebe are right now."

"Perfect," Zoë said, tying up her boots. "A number of hunter items have gone missing over the years, much of which were clothes. Perhaps a surprise inspection will be fruitful."

"Count me in," a new voice said. "Someone needs to run an inventory on our situation after all."

I turned to find Annabeth smirking at the entryway, arms crossed.

"Very well," Zoë said. "I would be pleased to have thee join."

"Don't worry," Annabeth said, giving me a hug. "I'll find something for you as well. Maybe something we can all enjoy."

"Ten drachmae says she gets him a speedo," Thalia snickered.

"Twenty on a banana hammock," Kinzie shot back.

"I don't think they have those," I interjected, suddenly feeling a bit warm.

"Oh, they do," Annabeth said. "Secret compartment in the southwest corner. Swimwear and 'delicates' provided by Erotes Luxury Items and Hedone Chic. You'd be surprised what people can sneak in when making purchases through the Hermes Catalog."

I forced a dry swallow. "Noted. By the way, are we still clear for the meeting after breakfast?"

"Well, now that breakfast is delayed, we have some extra time to take care of some essentials, but yes. I just got done reminding most of the other girls. The Aphrodite cabin is an absolute madhouse right now. Didn't get to Rachel's cave though. Could you go let her know? Looks like I'm about to relieve the store of some items."

"Sure." I pecked her on the lips. "Have fun with your shopping trip."

"Don't give her too many ideas," Thalia said, shimmying her pants back on, taking care to put her ass on display just long enough to tease me.

As Annabeth and Zoë left, Thalia strolled up to me with a shiteating grin on her face and threw an arm over my shoulder.

"So you finally bagged the mighty huntress," she said, keeping her voice low. "What was it like?"

I blanched. "How did—"

"She told me what she had planned before leaving last night. That and she practically reeked of sex when she came back."

I went to interject, but she steamrolled right over what I was going to say.

"Poor Phoebe was the first one to notice. She tried playing it off as venting her frustrations out in the woods. I doubt Phoebe bought it, but she obviously didn't want to talk about it. I, on the other hand, did."

Despite the massive grin splitting her face, she flicked my nose. A slight bolt blitzed through my skull.

"Consider that payback for giving her a wild ride, but holding out on me. When all of these curse shenanigans are done with, you and I are going to have a very long and thorough meeting. We're doing it right next time."

"Get in line," I groaned. "There are like a half dozen others who have said the same thing. Calypso is probably at the top of the list."

She shrugged. "If I have to share, then fine. You made her a mistress as well, right? May as well get acquainted."

All throughout our conversation, Kinzie was not so subtly eavesdropping. Bizarre as it was to have a woman in a suit striking a pose to seduce me, there was certainly an erotic air to her that the others didn't quite match. Likely due to her not so subtle attempt to fuck me months prior.

Before I got myself killed in the Artemis cabin by saying or doing something I would regret, I made a rather hasty exit and rushed over to Rachel's cave.

It was a generally unspoken rule that nobody was allowed in Rachel's cave. What with her possible manic episodes, we wanted to avoid any injuries she could inflict on anyone while under the influence of the Oracle. And of course we wanted to also value her privacy.

Most of us anyway. I was one of the lucky few who were exempt from that rule. Because of my history with her, both Chiron and even Mr. D believed my presence could somehow keep the Oracle calm and prevent a "hostile takeover." Probably the first time my presence was ever used to keep anyone calm.

The walk to her cave was thankfully event free. Nobody popped out of the amphitheater to hound me with questions nor did a stray satyr try to get me to wingman them for one of the dryads.

By the time I arrived at the cave, I was so caught up in my thoughts that I wound up fumbling my way through the massive purple curtain at the entrance. It caught on my arm and all but yanked my shoulder out of my socket, but I thankfully managed to slip free with a less than graceful faceplant on the floor. Nobody will ever convince me that curtain isn't sentient.

Inside the cave was always quite the sight. Rachel had always taken pride in where she lived, even if she was a bit of a slob. Not that I can judge. Purple curtains segmented the large chamber into separate "rooms," each of which was lavishly furnished. Apollo spared no expense in pampering his new oracle, though it always struck me as a little shady that the sun god had taken such a keen interest in Rachel while his previous oracle had been left in a dusty attic to rot as a corpse.

I strolled past the "gallery of foresight," as Rachel liked to call it. All across its walls were paintings of various prophecies. Some looked outright ridiculous, like a snake trying to swallow the sun. Others depicted raging battles, one of which was showered upon by giant rubber ducks.

After a brief attempt to wrap my head around the bizarre paintings, I moved on to Rachel's "bedroom." Though the curtained off room was arguably empty compared to the other more opulent rooms, it's not as if Rachel actually lived in the camp very often.

The resident oracle was snoring softly, buried in the lavish gold and purple bedspread provided by Apollo. As I approached her side, she kicked out with a soft whimper, caught up in whatever dream she was having.

"Red," I whispered into her ear. "Time to wake up."

She shivered as I brushed my fingers over her arm, but otherwise gave no indication that she noticed me. So I stepped up from a light brush to shaking her shoulder.

"Come on, Rachel. You can't sleep all day."

That got her moving, more or less. She grumbled for a moment and buried her face in her covers, muffling whatever it was she attempted to say to me.

"Care to say that again?"

She let out a yawn. "Can't I get… five more hours? It's not like we were trapped in a burning building yesterday or anything."

"In that case, you should be even happier to get some fresh air. Let's go. Lucky for you, breakfast is running late."

"Then I can afford a few more minutes." She pulled the covers over her head for a moment, only to peek out from under them. "However, maybe I could use some incentive. I'm not wearing any pants under here, and I know my panties wouldn't stand a chance if you tried to rip them off."

"Tempting."

I leaned down and yanked the covers out of her hands. True to her word, she was only wearing a green tee shirt and a matching pair of cotton panties. To say she looked like Christmas morning would be an understatement. It was rather tempting to unwrap her like a present and enjoy her to my heart's content.

"While I'd love nothing more than to eat you up in more ways than one, I've already had enough fun this morning."

"Damn. They already beat me to it?" She sat up with a pout. For a second, she put on a thoughtful expression only for it to melt away into a broad grin. "You know, it doesn't take much out of you to go down on a girl. And while we might miss out on breakfast, I know you enjoyed tasting this sweet little peach last time we were together."

To emphasize her point, she peeled away the covers, spread her legs and pulled her panties to the side. Sure enough, she was nice and damp.

"Maybe later."

I sat beside her and, for the first time in my life, pulled a girl's panties back into place without bothering to do anything with her.

She crossed her arms with a huff, but made no efforts to push the matter any further.

"After all, I kind of need my mouth right now. There's something you definitely need to hear."

Her raised eyebrow showed I'd gotten her attention, though likely was still far off from being forgiven.

"So I had a rather interesting dream last night…"

What followed was quite possibly one of the most surreal discussions I've ever had about my dreams. It's not like I've never talked about them before, but Rachel was surprisingly knowledgeable about the subject. Apparently, her dreams are a frequent medium for visions as well.

"And Morpheus said he's just going to stop?"

"Yep. There's no point for him to keep doing it. He'll probably go into hiding for a while until things cool off, but you should be safe from… whatever it was like to have a prophecy trying to break out of your body."

She shuddered. "Yeah, I'd appreciate not having to go through that again."

We sat there in silence for a moment. She had long since made herself comfortable, laying across my lap and idly playing with the hem of my shirt.

"Any chance you could check to see if he told the truth?"

"That would require another active prophecy. Until then, I guess we'll just have to fuck like rabbits and see if something slips in between the cracks again."

The fact she could say that with a straight face was equal parts amusing and alluring. Oh, if only things had turned out differently. It's likely I would have had her all to myself and vice versa.

"I'll take that under advisement. Though you might have to share me every now and then."

"Let me guess, Annabeth wants to establish her dominance?"

I shrugged. "Possibly. That's a murky situation right now."

"No kidding. But you can't tell me you haven't fantasized about this in the past. Annabeth, Thalia, myself. All three of us on our knees, mouths open, tongues hanging out…"

"Are you trying to get me riled up?"

"Am I that obvious?" she deadpanned. "What part of 'I could use some incentive' did you not understand? It's been a long few days. I'm exhausted. I'm horny. And it just so happens that a cute guy I almost had for myself is available to show me the time of my life."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Later. We need to get to breakfast. After that, we have a meeting in the Big House."

"Time to discuss our next plan of action? Lovely." She hopped off my lap and made her way over to a pair of jeans strewn on the floor. "By the way, not sure if this is a good time to bring this up, but I might need some new clothes."

Watching her bend over to grab her jeans distracted me for a moment, but I cleared my throat and turned away.

"Check the camp store for now. Annabeth and Zoë are getting stuff for everyone."

"In that case, I better hurry. No offense, but your girlfriend and I don't exactly have the same fashion sense."

So says the girl whose jeans are covered in paint and marker doodles.

"None taken. So I'll see you after breakfast?"

"Yeah. Big House. Rec room most likely." She strolled her way out of the cave before calling back to me. "You owe me a very thorough fucking when all of this is done!"

I sat there for a moment longer, going over her words. With a shake of my head, I stood up and stretched. Rachel didn't even bother seeing me out of her own home. Such was the way of the first girl I sort of dated.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I followed after her. By the time I made it out into the sunlight, a familiar face was ready and waiting for me.

"Will? What's wrong?"

The camper in question was panting. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, but he was trying his best to put on a smile.

"They're awake. Annabeth said you'd be here. Thought you'd want to know."

"Wait, both of them?!" I latched both hands on his shoulders, forcing a possibly manic stare into his eyes.

"Uh, yeah." He tried shrugging me off. "They're both pretty disoriented, but the real pretty one. Um, Calypso I think? She wouldn't stop asking where you were."

But I was already gone. I shouted a quick thanks over my shoulder and dashed over to the camp infirmary.

All things considered, I probably should have stopped by earlier. Given the circumstances of how both Calypso and Sierra went unconscious, it should come as no surprise that they were just slightly freaking out when they woke.

"Where is he? What is this place?!"

"My lady, please try to remain calm. You're safe."

Chiron was making efforts to hold Calypso together. Unfortunately, his attempts weren't working very well.

Calypso was struggling in her cot, a manic look in her eyes. The moment I stepped into the infirmary, relief overwhelmed her expression and she all but threw herself out of the cot and into my arms.

"I thought I lost you," she mumbled into my shoulder.

"Don't worry— Easy, the ribs! — you're pretty safe here."

Chiron raised an amused eyebrow and nodded his head.

"How are you feeling?" I managed to squeak out.

"Much better," she beamed. "Like a whole new person!" She eased her deathgrip. "Where are we?"

"Camp Half-Blood. This is basically my home away from home."

"Truly?!" Her eyes brightened. "So this is where you were raised?"

"As far as monster fighting and everything goes, yes." I pulled back from the hug and gestured to the resident centaur. "This is Chiron, our trainer. Chiron, I'd like you to meet Calypso."

The wrinkles in his face deepened as he let out a hearty chuckle. "Yes, we are acquainted. Separated by a great deal of time, but we knew each other thousands of years ago."

She smiled sheepishly. "You're not still upset about the incident with the monk seal and the olive tree, right? Because I was still learning—"

"All water under the bridge," he said with a swipe of his hand. "I'm just thankful to see you have been freed. More or less."

She squeezed my hand. "I'm more than happy with my current situation. Loneliness was my greatest punishment. Now I'm not alone anymore."

Chiron's smile deepened and offered me a pride filled smile.

"There will be times to regale one another with tales of the past," he said, "and perhaps show you more of what the world has to offer. But for now, I believe you were also here to see this young lady."

With a sweep of his hand, he gestured to another cot. In it, Annabeth and Zoë, now dressed in new clothes, were tending to the near identical twin sister of Nimba.

Sierra swayed a bit, sitting and sipping a spoonful of medicine. Her gaunt features were a fair bit sharper than Nimba's, particularly around the cheeks and nose, and her eyes a tad darker. Unlike her sister, her hair was completely straight, though no less wispy. It swayed gently, as if being blown by a gentle breeze, despite the lack of one in the room.

"It's nice to finally meet you," I said, stepping forward. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

She recoiled. Eyes wide, she pulled herself into the recesses of her cot, pulling her blanket over her chin.

I stepped back with my hands raised. "Hey, no worries. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. A lot of the others will be happy to see you're awake. Especially Nimba."

"Where is she?" She lurched forward, a manic gleam in her eyes. "Where's my sister?!"

"Um. Last I saw, she was helping a friend of mine get cleaned up."

"Take me to her! Please!"

With surprising agility, she slipped out of her cot and weaved between Annabeth and Zoë. Only when she was fully standing did her lack of energy seem to catch up with her. She stumbled for a moment before locking her knees in a standing position.

"I need to see that she's safe," she urged.

I raised an eyebrow towards the others. Chiron let out a deflated sigh. Annabeth shrugged.

"Sure. Are you sure you're in any condition to walk though? I can bring her here."

"No. I can do it."

She proceeded to take a step towards the exit. Her knees buckled. If not for Calypso and I standing right in front of her, she would have collapsed to the ground. Instead, she fell into our arms. With a shared glance, Calypso and I hauled her up and wrapped our arms around her back.

"Alright, you evidently can't. Let us guide you."

Sierra shuddered on contact, pulling out of our hold. Once more, she stumbled. Once more, we caught her.

"Fine," she groaned. "You can help. I just want to see her."

With Calypso and I guiding her, our little band exited the infirmary and made our way back to cabin eight. Chiron stayed behind to check on the remaining campers. I'm pretty sure I noticed Sherman stirring from his medically induced sleep.

We shimmied along, guiding Sierra towards the cabin. She kept silent throughout, shooting her wide eyes in all directions. Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was just trying to soak up the surroundings or plan an escape. On the other hand, Calypso was soaking in the camp like a sponge. Eyes wide and smile broad, she nearly tripped due to her scattered attention.

My thoughts were put to rest when Sierra lowered her head and pressed it to my shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered.

I said nothing in return. All of my effort was put into holding back my desire to celebrate. At least I was sort of on her good side.

Of all the things I expected to see as we dragged Sierra to cabin eight, Reyna getting pampered wasn't on the list.

Still bare of her top, Reyna was laying face down on one of the bunks with several nymphs tending to various parts of her body. Palírroia wove her hair into an intricate braid. Rose massaged whatever knots she could get out of her lower back. Nimba was right alongside her, digging her thumbs into the soles of Reyna's feet.

Thalia seemed to be going over some sort of exposure training with Cinder and Khione. Though the goddess looked nervous, she held out her open palm for Cinder to hop into. He did so with some hesitance, started to glow a bit, then jumped back into Thalia's hand.

In the back, Katie, Kinzie, and Ashe were tending to Phoebe, who wasn't exactly in the most modest state of dress at the moment. Though it shames me to admit it, I may or may not have snuck a glance at her exposed backside. Let me tell you, that ass could probably crush walnuts. Not that I'd like to test that firsthand.

Fortunately, the moment passed, and the other girls around her, taking note of our arrival, quickly slipped the clothes onto the momentarily oblivious Phoebe. Zoë went so far as to clamp a hand over my mouth, preventing me from sentencing myself to an early death by announcing my presence.

Once Phoebe was completely dressed, Annabeth and Zoë cut in front of us to announce our arrival.

"Enjoying yourself?" Annabeth said, smirking at Reyna.

"I won't even pretend like I'm not. These nymphs are absolutely magical."

Only then did Reyna notice me at the doorway. She might have had it in her to blush or cover up, but I think her attention was more focused on Calypso and Sierra.

"Alright, girls," Annabeth said. "Good news. Both of our resident hospital patients woke up. Speaking of which. Nimba, was it? You might want to turn around."

Nimba, who'd had her back to us since we approached, jolted to attention and whirled around. She choked and covered her hands over her mouth, her bright eyes watering.

Sierra, who'd kept her eyes locked on Nimba since we approached, was completely silent. She trembled in our grip. Lip quivering and tears running, she let out a shaky gasp.

"Nimba? Be— before we were taken, we were playing a game. What was it?"

Nimba took a step forward, giggling despite her tears. "Hide and seek. You just found me, but I ran away before you could catch me."

Bizarre of an answer as it may have been, it evidently was the exact answer Sierra was hoping to hear. With a surprising strength, she pulled herself away from Calypso and I, half stumbling half running to her sister, only to be caught in Nimba's embrace.

"It's you!" she cried. "It's really you!"

"I thought I lost you!" Nimba laughed, tears still streaming. "Oh, what a wondrous day!"

I couldn't help the grin splitting my face open. Neither could most of the others. Rose, however, looked as if she were staring at a ghost. As did Palírroia, who before now didn't know Sierra was even alive.

"One nice happy family reunion." I turned to Rose and gave her hand a squeeze. "And obviously, this means you can stop blaming yourself for what happened."

That's all it took to break her. With a sniffle, she leapt at the two girls and wrapped her arms around as I may have been to join the group hug, I settled for approaching them and patting Nimba on the back.

She wouldn't let me settle. Rather, she reached out and pulled me into the hug by my shirt.

"Thank you!" she cried. "Thank you so much, Master!"

Her eyes practically glowed with joy. She leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"Master?"

The mood darkened. Sierra went quiet. In her eyes were a maelstrom of emotions. Shock. Disbelief. Betrayal. Anger. And every one of them were directed at me.

"You?" she exclaimed in an accusatory tone. "You're the one who— You mean— We're still—"

"Now just hold on." I raised my hands like an act of surrender. "There's more to it than—"

SMACK!

I didn't even see it coming. One moment I was looking into Sierra's darkening eyes. The next, I was recoiling, my cheek stinging from where she backhanded me.

In an instant, she doubled over and groaned in pain. Her body trembled for a moment before she dropped to her knees and heaved.

"I trusted you!" she screamed. "I trusted you, and you're the one— the one who—"

She let out another scream, this one wrought with just as much physical pain as emotional. Her body collapsed and writhed.

Zoë swept in and scooped her up.

"The curse," she muttered. "Because she struck thee."

Right as I was about to suggest we take her back to Chiron, Sierra let out a gasp and stopped groaning. Instead, she let out a pitiful sob.

"We're still… slaves."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Zoë and I shared a concerned glance, but she carried Sierra out of the cabin without another word.

Nimba and Rose were both pale, each in shock at what transpired.

"Um… I… what… Master…" Nimba shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Master! I didn't know—"

"It's fine. Go with her."

She almost jumped, twisting and turning, unsure of whether or not to follow them.

"Please don't be mad at her. She's not—"

"It's fine," I insisted, though my cheek was definitely arguing otherwise. "Go with them. She needs you. More than ever."

That was all the convincing she needed to bolt after Zoë and Sierra. Rose quickly followed, albeit with a torn expression.

The remaining girls were all torn in various states of disbelief. Palírroia rushed to my side and checked my cheek, softly pleading for me not to hurt Sierra. Reyna was so caught up in the recent events, she didn't realize her entire upper body was exposed to the world.

Annabeth approached me while the remaining girls slowly drifted back into their activities.

"You okay?" she caressed my un-slapped cheek.

My shoulders deflated. "Right as I thought I was doing something good."

"Hey!" she snapped, gripping my shoulders. "That was good. You just reunited two sisters. One of whom was thought to be dead up until yesterday. Just let her cool down a bit. She'll come around."

"But will it be in time? You saw her. She hates me. We have what, a day? Two? There's no way she's going to go for it."

"Just let the rest of us worry about bringing her around. For now, you need to get your head figured around where we're going to live. And I sincerely doubt she hates you. She doesn't even know you. She hates the situation. You're just the easiest target for her to lash out at."

"Not exactly helping. This is falling back into why I never wanted this to begin with. I don't want slaves."

This time, it was Palírroia who stepped up, taking my face into her hands.

"But your slaves want you," she said. "I have never been happier in my life. Never have I loved another quite like you."

"The same is true for me," Thŷella said, stepping up and brushing my arm. "You have given me so much. Much more than I could ever hope for. I would rather be your slave than join the likes of the naiads or other free oceanids. At least I know you will treat me well."

"Not to mention, you fuck like a god," Ashe elegantly interjected. She shamelessly hummed to herself, pressing her hands to her cheeks and grinning while Phoebe paled and pretended to ignore her. "Mmm, hopefully, I can stay conscious the next time we're together. If not, there's always the time after that."

"Thank you for that greatly needed input," Annabeth said. "The point is, you're beating yourself up over nothing. You've proven to them that they can trust you. That they can love you. You just need to do that one more time." She glanced over to Phoebe. "Maybe two."

"Thanks," I said glumly. "I'll get over it. Just need some time to process everything. Still moving too fast for my liking."

"You don't need to convince me," she snickered. "Anyways, we should probably get that meeting started. Not sure why breakfast is taking so lo—"

The breakfast horn blared, deliberately mocking Annabeth.

"Nevermind," she said. "Come on everyone. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

It should come as absolutely no surprise that I wolfed my food down. Or tried to at least. The remaining three nymphs accompanied the rest of us to breakfast and decided to take over the job of the other nymphs.

"We can take care of it," Ashe told one, gathering a small plate of berries. "This is sort of our specialty."

Though it took some explaining for them to understand sacrificing my meal, they didn't press the matter too much, though Palírroia was clearly distraught over me tossing away the best pieces of bacon. I'll be honest, I was too.

So after a not so small number of prayers, namely to keep the peace with Artemis, find a home, and keep Aphrodite from raping me in my sleep, I returned to my lonely seat at the Poseidon table.

Though it didn't stay lonely for very long.

The nymphs followed after me and insisted on hand-feeding me. It didn't take long for a number of campers to start staring, despite my best efforts to ignore them. Of course, there were also a number of others who didn't quite have anywhere else to sit.

"So why do they have this organized this way?" Reyna said, slicing up her omelet.

"Not sure really. Keeps things simple I guess. Whoever your parent is determines your cabin and such. I think it's to prevent dating and stuff like that. You're not exactly going to try getting intimate with your half sibling."

"Tell that to Zeus," Kinzie said. "But it does bring up a valid point. Instead of creating cohesion by developing teams based on merit, interests, or anything of value, they divide you based on something you have no control over? Seems like a good way to divide people."

I shrugged. "I didn't create the system, though I do agree with you to some extent. It's almost always lonely in the Poseidon cabin, especially when I was first claimed. Plenty of space for myself though."

"It shouldn't matter for us though, right?" Calypso asked. "We aren't staying for long after all."

"Assuming we come to a decision," I said, "we'll probably be gone after the meeting. No pressure there."

Kinzie narrowed her eyes with a sly smile and slid along the bench until she was practically shoulder to shoulder with me. Ashe wasn't too pleased about having her spot intruded on, but said nothing.

"I can always help take that edge off if you want." Her hand subtly slid down to my thigh. "Besides, I think you could use a little break after that drama in the cabin."

"Of all the places to try this, you want to do it here?" Reyna said.

She shrugged. "Why not? It's not like we're going to be here much longer."

Her deft fingers fiddled with my pants. If not for everyone around us, I might have let her continue, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her hand away.

"This is why they separate based on parentage."

"Oh come on." She leaned in and whispered into my ear. "You can't say this isn't exciting you. That bulge isn't exactly hiding. Just let me slip under the table. I'll have you satisfied in no time. The other girls can just bunch together and cover me."

I quirked an eyebrow. "Have a lot of experience with this?"

"In a manner of speaking. This'll be my first time with the real thing, but I think that just makes it more exciting. What a way to get started!"

Reyna pinched the bridge of her nose. Calypso smirked, as if intrigued to go through with the idea. The nymphs paused, but began positioning themselves in such a manner so as to prevent anyone from seeing under the table. From the Artemis table, Phoebe pulled up the hood of her new jacket and pretended not to notice us. Given that it was the middle of August, she didn't exactly blend in. Khione was even less inconspicuous, given she was the only goddess in the camp.

Kinzie slipped her hand away, but decided to start rubbing her foot along the back of my calf. She had traded out her pantsuit for a more practical camp outfit, but that didn't exactly make her less distracting, especially with her playing footsie.

"Percy!" Chiron called, trotting up to us. "I trust matters are moving along?"

I paled, preparing myself for some sort of tongue lashing about my recent escapades. Fondling and near finger fucking Palírroia in front of a crowd of campers, my tryst at Zeus' Fist, putting on a show in the canoe lake. In my short time at camp, I hadn't exactly been a very good role model.

Despite that, no such scolding came.

"We're meeting after breakfast to see where we'll go after this. We won't be here for much longer."

He nodded grimly. "Truly, I would allow you to stay. Even if you had to distance yourself from the main camp. But this simply is not the right time. One day, perhaps. Do try to visit, at least."

"We'll just have to see what the Fates have in store for us. Worst thing that could happen is we wind up running around the wild for the rest of eternity with no place to call home."

His tail flicked anxiously and his shoulders sagged. "I can only pray it doesn't come to that. But I digress. The nebulae Lady Zoë brought to us is stable. I'm afraid there isn't much we could do but help her weather the curse. Divine magics aren't exactly curable. She's… definitely not happy, but she's more or less in the same shape as before."

"Well… It's better than nothing, I guess. At least it wasn't permanent."

"Oh, goodness no. To my understanding, the intent was to reprimand, not leave her permanently debilitated."

"And yet this is the first time this has happened as a result of someone hitting me. Thalia, Annabeth, Katie. They've all slapped me these past couple weeks and there were barely any repercussions. Well… maybe not with Katie, but still."

"Such is the travesty between the gods, their children, and nymphs. You and I may view the nymphs as people, but most gods don't view them in the same light. As such, their treatment is often more severe. This camp is thankfully a haven for most, but beyond our borders, almost any nymph could be snatched up by a god and no one would care."

I thought back to how my dad described them the day before. Depressing as the thought was, I decided not to push the matter.

"Either way, we should be out of here shortly. Thanks for at least letting us stay the night."

"Think nothing of it. You needed the rest, and if push comes to shove, I would not turn you away. But I would urge you to seek sanctuary elsewhere at least for the time being. Long enough for cooler heads to prevail here."

I snorted. "I'm pretty sure most of the 'cooler heads' are already in my harem."

He grimaced. "It pains me to admit there's some truth to that. On that subject however… After Zoë delivered Sierra, the infirmary was visited by two others. Two particular sons of Hermes you and your harem had a recent encounter with."

I paled, and immediately went to defend myself. Chiron raised his hand to stop me before I even started.

"I'm not here to reprimand you. Though I have no doubts that they would have tried to deceive me, fortune favored you in that Zoë was apparently one of their victims, and I have never known her to lie. Their later confessions certainly expedited the process.

"Anyone who was there, I would urge to go to the infirmary so that I may deliver proper check-ups and medical treatments. I'll see about proper punishments for the two of them, along with any of these so-called 'donors' who participated."

"I… thanks. And sorry all of this is happening so quickly. We weren't exactly planning for everything that happened."

He shook his head. "The blame is not on you. But I will not deny that I await the day I can take a reprieve from such manners. Never is there rest for the weary."

The smile he gave me broke my heart.

We said our goodbyes and he took his leave. Reyna followed shortly after, offering to trade places with Zoë so she could eat. I offered a share of my food to the other nymphs, but they simply giggled and politely refused, saying it wasn't necessary.

Kinzie continued in her advances, slipping her shoe off and stroking her foot along my leg. All the while, she leaned on her palm, nibbling her lip and staring at me with the most blatant "fuck me" eyes I've ever seen. Even Calypso was starting to shift anxiously in her seat. Not to mention the uncomfortable glances we were getting from the neighboring tables.

Thankfully, she didn't yank my pants down and blow me right then and there. I actually managed to finish the rest of my meal without any further incident. Zoë came along after a couple minutes and scarfed her food down so quickly I doubted she could taste it.

A glance around to the other tables told me the other girls more or less finished their plates as well. A number of campers were wrapping up breakfast and going about their daily activities.

"Hopefully, thou art ready for this meeting," Zoë said, handing her plate to a passing nymph. "I know of no place we can seek refuge."

"I am absolutely not ready for this," I replied. Regardless, I still stood. "Let's get this over with."

A/N - Long time no see. Totally wanted to have everyone wait this long (sweating profusely). It would seem we are finally getting some manner of plot moving along. Hooray! Calypso is awake, and we have finally broached the introduction of the last nymph! And what an introduction it was. None have gone so far as to actually attack Percy. What will become of this relationship in the future?

The meeting is up in the next chapter, so we'll soon find out what the next plan is after Camp Half-Blood. Where will they go? What will they do? And will Kinzie stop trying to molest Percy long enough for them to figure something out? Tune in next time and found out! In the meantime, leave your thoughts. Join the Discord. Hit up P atreon!

Speaking of which, after going over some stuff with the Discord server, there are two changes to address. First, the infamous alley fight scene has been re-written. So for all of those who are frothing at the mouth about how Percy would never lose a fight to mortals, maybe the new approach will change your mind about that. After all, it's not the gang members who beat him. They were just there to take advantage of an already beaten man.

The second change hasn't been implemented yet, and will take some time to change fully. The whole hierarchy of the harem has caused a great deal of confusion, what with the "wives" technically not marrying Percy and such. Granted, some of that confusion was intentional, but after polling the server, we have agreed to go back and change the system. Now Annabeth will hold the role of "wife," with Piper, Calypso, and Thalia taking on the role of "mistresses." This way, there won't be anymore confusion regarding weddings and such.

Lots to look forward to. Lots more to come. The task of writing this story may seem never ending, but we are approaching the final quartile! I'm certainly eager to wrap this story up, but we still have a ways to go. I'm grateful to everyone who's stuck with me so far, and will continue to stick with me to the end! This is Ronin signing off.