LUNACY; percy jackson

chapter 2

    "Who?"

    "Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron later, maybe you can get some answers." Annbeth answered as they approached her, sitting down on the edge of the wooden dock.

    They stared into the lake collectively. Percy, in that moment, wished somebody would give him a straight answer for once since he arrived at the Camp.

He hadn't been expecting anybody to be looking back at him from the bottom of the lake, so his heart skipped a beat when he noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if he were a long-lost friend.

    Awkwardly, Percy waved back.

    "Don't encourage them," Andromeda warned, brows furrowed. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

    "Naiads," He repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed, pushing himself to his feet. "That's it. I want to go home now."

    The girl frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

    "You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

    "I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

    "Half-human and half-what?"

    "I think you know."

    "God," he said, never feeling so...sure. "Half-god."

    Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

    "Or minor gods." Andromeda added. He could tell from her posture, the tone of her voice, and that set, determined look in her eyes that she would not back down from...whatever she was supporting. Though, Percy wasn't sure what she was supporting or arguing.

    "That's...crazy."

    The girl's head dropped to one side slightly. "Is it?" She shrugged and shook her head. "What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans, having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

    "But those are just—" He almost said myths again. Then he remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, he might be considered a myth. Him and many others. Maybe even these two girls standing in front of him. "But if all the kids here are half-gods—"

    "Demigods," Andromeda said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

    "Then who's your dad?" He looked towards the blonde first.

    Her hands tightened around the pier railing. "My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

    "He's human."

    "What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"

    Percy let out a defeated sigh. "Who's your mom, then?"

    "Cabin six."

    "Meaning?"

    Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

    "And my dad?"

    "Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like we told you before. Nobody knows."

    "Except my mother. She knew."

    "Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities." Andromeda said from beside him, running her fingers gently over the wooden planks of the dock. She said it as if she knew that from her own experience, as if she had lived in the unknown, the same kind of unknown that she claimed his mother might have lived in.