Freak || Percy Jackson x OC

Seventy-Two: Artemis recruits a child

PERCY

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Percy watched Thalia pacing in the snow at the edge of camp, walking among the wolves without fear. She stopped and looked back at Westover Hall, which was now completely dark, looming on the hillside beyond the woods. He wondered what she was thinking. She'd only been back as a human for a few months now, and once in a while she would stand so motionless, you'd think she was still a tree.

 One of the Hunters brought Percy his backpack. Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and Grover helped Percy fix up his wounded arm.

"It's green!" Nico said with delight.

"Hold still." Grover told Percy. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."

Percy winced as Grover dressed the wound, but the ambrosia square helped. It tasted like Sen's homemade fruit tart, melting on his tongue with bursts of citrus, though perfectly balanced with sweetness. Between that and the magic salve Grover used, Percy's shoulder felt better within a couple of minutes.

Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had apparently packed for him, though how they'd snuck into Westover Hall unseen, Percy didn't know. Nico laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow- little battle replicas of Greek gods and heroes. Percy recognized Zeus with a lightning bolt, Ares with a spear, Apollo with his sun chariot.

"Big collection." Percy said.

Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."

"You've been playing this game a really long time?"

"Just this year. Before that..." Nico knit his eyebrows.

"What?"

"I forget. That's weird."

The boy looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?"

Percy showed Nico Riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.

"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?"

"Uh... well, I don't actually write with it."

"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"

"Well, yeah."

"Can you surf really well, then?"

Percy looked at Grover, who was trying really hard not to laugh. Nico just stared at Percy, wide-eyed and curious.

"Jeez, Nico." Percy said awkwardly. "I've never really tried."

"What was that thing Sen used?" Nico asked, making a motion with his hands, which he seemed to do a lot. "The swipey things that went WHOOSH!"

Oh gods, Percy thought. HE TALKS JUST LIKE SEN! NO!

"Her fans." Percy answered. "Razor-sharp fans."