Red Skies at Morning | Clarisse La Rue x OC | Percy Jackson AU

I Get American Citizenship from a Goat

"Yeah... I just transferred here a week ago. Why are you at my dorm?" It was kind of rude, but I didn't feel the need to be polite to this guy. If I was actually a student, he'd definitely be the one in the wrong here.

He was surprised by my bluntness. "I- uh, I smelled something and just wanted to come to say hi," he answered, raising his eyebrows at me. He had an expectant look on his face like he was waiting for me to get an inside joke.

I tilted my head a bit at his expression before I processed what he'd said. 'Smelled something.' I echoed in my mind.

Literally no sane human would give that as a genuine excuse to show up at someone's door.

Barely a moment passed before my whistle was out of my pocket and in its sword form, its hooked blade angled in a guard in front of me.

If it wasn't for his bizarre change in body language, I might've killed him right then and there. He'd obviously been uncertain before, but now he didn't look the least bit scared of me or the glowing orange-gold sword in my hand. In fact, he looked more relaxed than he'd been before. Which was really unsettling.

He'd even sighed in relief, flashing a wide smile before introducing himself.

"Well, I'm Ichneutae. But call me Icky," he took his hat off and gave a dramatic bow as he said this, which gave me a good look at the small horns poking out of his curly hair. "Camp Half-Blood's best keeper, at your service."

He'd dropped the fake accent and was now speaking more naturally, which sounded more like a less dramatic version of the New Yorker or Jersey accents I'd heard on TV.

Seeing the horns on his head didn't exactly quell my nerves and the theatrics were just weird, but a monster had never taken the time to introduce itself to me before, let alone bow. All the weirdness mixed with his confusing behavior almost caused me to miss the last part of his introduction.

"Camp Half-Blood?" I asked, slightly lowering my guard. "Does that mean you work there? In Long Island?" I asked, trying not to give away my excitement.

Icky raised a brow at me.

"You're not on a quest, are you," he asked after a short pause.

"That doesn't answer my question," I said, but after a moment I dropped my guard and shook my head. "Not that I really know what that means, but no. I'm not on a mission or anything like that."

"And you definitely don't have another satyr with you or I'd be able to smell 'em. You lose your keeper or something?" He sniffed the air, and I guessed he was checking for said other 'satyr.'

"Look, I don't know what a keeper is but you mentioned Camp Half-Blood, which means I have a reason to sorta trust you. For now. Or at the very least not vaporize you. What can you tell me about the camp?" I decided that this conversation was now an investigation as I raised my sword back up. This time closer to his neck.

"Alright, fine. But at least tell me your name first, kid." Icky agreed, ignoring my obvious threat.

I hesitated a moment before deciding that there was probably nothing he could do by knowing my name. "Zoe."

Icky seemed satisfied with that and went on to explain that he was a satyr, a half-goat half-man, and his job as a Keeper was to guide "half-bloods" to Camp Half-Blood (pretty on the nose name if you asked me).

In other words, he was the perfect guy to help me get there.

But despite my nagging, Icky refused to tell me what exactly a half-blood was beyond being able to see monsters, or why the camp was the only safe place for them. He claimed that knowing would put me in more danger than I already was. I asked him how that was supposed to work and he just brushed me off with some bull crap about smelling worse or something.