Percy gagged as he licked open his locker. "Apollo's choice again?" he whined to Leo. In the three weeks since midterm they'd already suffered through burned hair and sweaty feet flavors. Apollo was on a roll.
Leo plugged his nose as he licked his panel, but still winced. "Ugh, that's exactly how I imagine a fart would taste."
Percy grabbed a small scroll waiting on his top shelf. It was a special assignment from the Universe mentors. Each list had six stars that fit some sort of pattern, and each prodigy was supposed to bottle a sample of the starlight from each, figure out what the pattern was, and choose a seventh star that fit with the others. He and Leo had plans to work together that night.
Leo took him to Moonglade, a wide, round meadow filled with thousands of fireflies flickering in the darkness.
"Everyone else goes to Siren Rock," Leo explained as he set up the stellarscope, which looked like a bent, upside-down spyglass. "But it's so crowded there it's hard to find a space to work. Plus, the view's better here." He pointed to the sky, where billions of stars sparkled through the inky black, then handed him a thick wad of star maps. "Finding stars takes forever, so let's tag team it. First star on my list is Amaranthis."
Percy stared at the sky, following the trails he'd already memorized. "It's right there, fourth star to the left of Lambetine."
Leo's jaw dropped. "How did you do that?"
"Photographic memory."
"I know. But...the stars?"
He nodded smugly.
"Wow. Well...awesome." He stuffed the maps into his bag and attached a small glass bottle to a spout at the wider end of the stellarscope. "This is way easier than elementalism. Want to try?"
Percy took the scope from him and held it up to his eyes. "How does this work?"
"It's easy. You find the star and use the knobs to isolate it." He came up behind him and used one arm to level the scope while using the other to move Percy's hand to the cluster of dials.
"Found it," Percy said, focusing on Amaranthis.
"Then turn the knobs until you see the star change color, and flip the lever by your thumb. The stellarscope will do the rest."
Percy did as he said, and a bright purple flash filled the bottle. The glass clinked as the scope sealed the light in.
It took them only a few more minutes to fill bottles with scarlet light from Rubini, yellow light from Orroro, pale blue light from Azulejo, deep orange light from Cobretola, and dark blue light from Indigeen.
Percy stared at the six twinkling bottles, scratching his head. "I don't see a pattern."
"It's the colors of the spectrum." Percy rearranged the bottles. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet. "What's missing?"
"Green! Can you find Zelene?"
He pointed to an isolated star on the left. "There."
Leo bottled the deep green glow. "This'll be the first time I get it right. Usually I just pick a random star and try to bluff."
Percy laughed and dug his list out from his pocket. His stars were much harder to find, and he had to really push his memory, but eventually he had bottles of silver, gold, black, white, copper, and green light.
"Any idea what the pattern is?" Leo asked.
"No clue." Something felt familiar, a shadow of an idea, no formed enough to make sense. He poured through his memories, scrounging for the clue he was missing. The pieces clicked. "Elementine."
"What's the pattern?"
"No idea. Elementine is right, though." He grabbed the stellarscope.
"Are you sure? I've never heard of it before."
"I think I would know better than you. Besides, why would I make it up?"
"Good point."
He followed the strange trails through the stars as the minutes ticked by. "I know it's there."
He focused on a dark space and fiddled with the dials.
"I don't see anything," Leo said, squinting.
"I think it's just really far away."
More turning and adjusting. Still nothing. Leo was getting antsy when Percy finally said, "There!" and flipped the latch.
The stellarscope hummed, then turned white hot. Percy yelped, dropping the scope.
"What happened?"
"Ow, ow, ow!" He waved his hands, trying to cool the burning, but the pain made his eyes water.
"Let me see." Leo took a jar of moonlight from his bag and grabbed Percy's wrists, shining the light on them. "Whoa. Are you ok?"
He hissed at the sight of the purple welts on his palms.
"What should I do?" Leo asked, sounding frantic.
What Percy needed was was a doctor. "Can you get my Imparter from my satchel?"
Leo did as he asked, pulling out the silver square. "Who are we calling?"
Percy sighed. "Apollo."
YOU ARE READING
Project Percy (Kotlc Meets Percy Jackson)
Fanfiction12 year old Percy Jackson has a secret. He's a Hydrokinetic, someone who can control water - something that he's never spoken about, and has made him an outcast, even to his own family. But everything changes the day he meets Annabeth Chase, a myste...
