Project Percy (Kotlc Meets Percy Jackson)

Chapter 17

TW: Mention of su*cide

Percy was still trying to figure out which of the strange gadgets from Hephaestus's shop were school supplies when the chimes rang. Leo had arranged to meet him at Cerulean Stables so he wouldn't have to arrive at Foxfire alone. 

He laughed as he led Leo inside. "Aren't our uniforms awful?"

He couldn't believe he had to wear blue slacks with pockets at the ankles and a blue lace-up jerkin over a black long sleeved shirt. Well, that wasn't too bad. He liked blue. But the waist-length cape made him look like a really lame superhero. Captain Blueberry to the rescue!

"What's with the capes?" he asked.

"I know, they're stupid, right? But they're a sign of status, so we have to wear them."

"Capes?"

"Yeah, haven't you noticed that only the nobility have them? Foxfire is the only noble school, meaning that you have to go there in order to be in the nobility, so we wear half capes to demonstrate that. At least next year, we'll get rid of the wimpy halcyon." He pulled on the blue, jeweled bird that clasped the cape around his neck. "We'll be mastodons."

He laughed when he caught Percy's confused expression. "Each grade level has a mascot. Level Two is a halcyon, these dumb birds that can sense when a storm is coming. But Level Three is a mastodon, so at the opening ceremonies we get to dress in these cool elephant costumes. Be glad you missed wearing the halcyon costume. We looked like idiots."

Wearing an elephant costume didn't really sound that much better, but he'd worry about that next year. Assuming he was allowed to stay at Foxfire.

"Hey, you're wearing the Meda crest," Leo said, pointing to the circular patch sewn where his cape hung over his heart: a dolphin and a wave curving around a trident. His patch was triangular and had two hammers forming an X shape with some bird in the background - was it a crane? "We wear our family's crest on our uniform. If Poseidon and Sally are letting you wear theirs, they must be serious. Are they adopting you?"

"I don't know." He hadn't thought about adoption. Actually, he was still getting used to the idea of being an orphan.

Everything was just so temporary. His enrollment at Foxfire. His home.

"What are they, anyway?" Leo asked, looking around.

"A gnome ran in during breakfast and yelled something about a kelpie biting an eckodon and they both ran off."

"And people say I'm weird."

"It's crazy here. But they seem nice enough."

"Poseidon and Sally? Oh, yeah. They're great. They keep to themselves a lot because of what happened to Triton. I never knew them before it happened, but my mom said they used to throw these huge parties everyone looked forward to all year. Now they never leave the house. So weird."

"A lot of people are never the same after someone they love dies," Percy said with a shrug.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He started to ask Leo why he seemed so surprised, but then he remembered what Athena had said about the elvin life span. Death was probably a rare thing in this world. Which must make it even harder for the few elves who'd had to deal with it.

"My mom things it'll be good for them, having you around," Leo told him. "Maybe they'll get over it."

"I don't think they'll ever get over it," Percy said. "Grief is a hard thing. If you lost your parents, do you think you'd ever be ok?"