Snow White- Percy Jackson¹

Chapter Five

Attack of the Demon Pigeons

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The revelation of Tyson being Percy’s brother brought a lot of humiliation and frustration towards Percy. One of them came from the campers who found the whole situation amusing for some reason. They never spared either Percy or Tyson, though their torment was more directed towards Percy than the young Cyclops because he gave the kind of reaction they were looking for. 

“He’s not my brother!” Percy would yell whenever Tyson wasn’t around. But he would gladly say it in front of Snow, even though she would give him a stern glare. “He’s more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like…a half-brother twice removed, or something.”

Even with the half-brother terminology, the differences between the two has never been more evident in the way they handled the news. Tyson, the sweet guy, was over the moon. When Percy explained that they were related, it was the equivalent of a kid being given a birthday present early. Snow smiled fondly at the way he was overjoyed that he was related to someone he considered a friend. The big guy wouldn’t stop saying how amazing it was that he and Percy were related to Snow, since she was the only one aside from Percy who could stand being near Tyson without recoiling or snickering. 

Percy–well–his was a different case. He was nothing short of humiliated and embarrassed. His rant was how he degraded so far down from being the cool kid who retrieved Zeus’ bolt to now the ‘poor schmuck with the ugly monster for a brother’ in his words. 

“But you never had an issue being seen with him before, even standing up to him publicly. So why is this any different again?” Snow had said, eyebrows raised.

She and Percy were in his cabin, her sitting on his bed, legs crossed and left arm on top of her leg, watching as her friend paced back and forth, mouth running a mile per second as he vented his feelings and frustrations. Normally Snow wasn’t allowed here, but Percy really needed someone who would listen to his rant, and Snow was his number one person. Plus, he didn’t want to do this outside, at the risk of Tyson hearing.  

“I didn’t know we were related then,” said Percy. “We were just friends with no known relations whatsoever. And now…” he glanced over to a window where a group of campers were pointing and snickering at him. 

“But this shouldn’t be enough to change your attitude towards Tyson,” said Snow in a scolding tone. “You should be happy! You have a sibling, that’s what you always wanted.”

“I wanted a human sibling, Apple,”

Frowning, Snow crossed her arms. “Fine, but make sure Tyson never hears your opinion on this news. Unlike you, he’s actually happy.” Snow wanted to argue with him more, but she thought to leave her friend to his thoughts, maybe something could happen that would change his mind on this situation. 

That, Percy could agree on. As humiliated as he was, he would never let Tyson hear it. It would hurt the guy’s heart. 

Snow wasn’t the only one trying to make Percy feel better. Annabeth walked up to them after Percy’s ranting session on that same day, suggesting that the three of them team up for the chariot race, to take their minds off their problems. Because yes, there was another, more major issue than the newest addition to Percy’s family. 

And that was the new camp director Tantalus. 

Tantalus was everything Snow feared of the new camp director and more. It was very clear that he cared little to none about the camp, even more than Mr. D and that's saying something. So instead of grumbling and ignoring the campers for the most part like the wine god often did, Tantalus decided that he would bring everyone to join in his own suffering. The man was cold, apathetic, narcissistic, unkind, everything that Chiron wasn’t. His presence left everyone frustrated.