Not What He Seems (Original)

Prologue

Later that day, after recounting his adventures, in fighting class, Percy saw me and smiled.

"You're new here, right? Brandon Lee? New kids gotta learn how to fight. I want you to come up and help me demonstrate."

I shrugged and stood up. "Fine. Let's do this."

At that time, Percy was thirteen, a year older than me. I knew that he could beat me in raw power, but I could out-speed him. So, I posed a question.

"Do you want me to use my power or not?"

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Normally, we encourage people not to use their powers." He smiled, like he was remembering something glorious. "But, I'll let you use them. Just this once. I want to see what it is. Son of Hermes, right? Gonna steal my sword?"

He's getting cocky, I thought. "You're welcome to use your powers as well."

He seemed surprised by this. "Ok then. But I warn you, with this, I'll be hard to beat." With that, he doused his head in water. Of course, Son of Poseidon, water, made sense.

I smiled and hefted my sword. "Your go."

"Fine. 3..."

I got ready to go.

"2..."

"1!"

He surged forward. I dashed around him, grabbed his sword, ran to the kitchen and got a sandwich, came back, threw the sword across the room, and stopped.

Percy looked dumbfounded. My guess was that he had never seen someone do that before, nor had he been disarmed so quickly.

I chewed on my sandwich. "Super speed. And before you say it, I've heard enough Quicksilver and Flash jokes for a lifetime."

He smiled. "Yeah. I get Aquaman about twice a day."

I looked at him. "Need help?" I asked, reaching out a hand.

"Sure."

As I reached over, I suddenly ran to his pocket, grabbed his pen, and kept it in my hand.

"Can't have you keeping this, can you?"

Percy laughed. "You got me. How about no powers this time?"

"Ok."

After that was over, I had bruises all over my body. Dang, I thought, that guy can really fight. I lay down on my bed and slept.

After that day, Percy and I became good friends. We would never forget the day that a little boy kicked a man's butt and then got kicked himself. He never let me forget, all the way up to my death.

One day, I was just strolling through Camp Half-Blood and talking to the Stolls. They were really cool, even if they occasionally tried to steal my drachmas. Then, Percy ran over and said, panting, that there was a new kid and that we needed to go welcome her. So, knowing the brothers' welcoming tour, I decided to go with them to experience the comedy, and maybe to add a little myself.

When we got to the Big House, we got out first glimpse of the newcomer. She was striking. Even at twelve, she was beautiful, with long brown hair that fell to her shoulders and electric blue eyes. She had a nervous sort of smile that all kids on their first days had. I immediately fell in love with her. Being thirteen and in love, I made the response most people make when they see someone beautiful.

"Uh..ahm...gah...bluh..." I babbled. Four faces turned to star at me. I looked around nervously, turning red. "I gotta run." I blurted, and dashed away. I ran to the nearest park and sat down to gather my thoughts.

Okay, I thought, there is a cute girl at camp. She is new. You got this. She seems nice. Don't screw this up. I took a deep breath and went back to camp. I went back to find them in about the same position. I exhaled and smiled.

"Hey. Sorry about before. I'm Brandon." I did an awkward wave. Dang it. You're screwing it up. Keep it together.

Her jaw dropped. "How fast are you? That was, like, you disappeared for thirty seconds, and then you came back. How fast can you go?"

I thought about it for a minute. "I actually don't know. I never really carry a speed tracker."

Connor elbowed Travis and said, "Hey, buddy. How about we time you while you pick up a souvenir from China or something?"

I shrugged. "Ok." Ten minutes later, I was back with four bowls of chow mein and a lucky cat.

"Sorry that took so long. The guy behind the counter was slow and I didn't know which lucky cat to choose." They all laughed and we walked around camp while eating and listening to Connor tell the girl about it. I was looking at the strawberry fields when she suddenly turned to me and fired a weird white light beam. I yelped and got out of the way.

"Hey. What was that for?" I snapped. Woah, man. Don't be mean to the lady.

She laughed. "I wanted to see if you could dodge light." And she kept walking.

I dusted myself off and sighed. "Okay. Testing my abilities, that's fine. But knocking over my food? That is a whole new level of disgust."

She doubled over, laughing her head off. I had to slap her on the back and keep moving.

That night, at dinner, I sat next to her. She didn't know her godly parent, although I had a hunch, so she was with the Hermes kids.

I cleared my throat, making her jump. "I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Brandon."

She smiled. "Right. Dim Sum Boy. I'm Ashley. Ashley Stone."

I glared at her. "No one calls me Dim Sum Boy. Unless I get paid to deliver."

She dropped her head on the table and started snorting. I laughed a little too. "Oh, come on. It's not that funny."

"I know. But you act so serious, yet you can crack people up. Have you considered stand up?"

"Have I? I did a show back in Queens. Everyone was laughing so hard at the end. I guess a nerdy, short, preteen at the mic has its comedic touches."

We spent the rest of the night laughing together. And at the campfire, I was there to teach her all the songs. And that night, after Chiron introduced her, a little bow and quiver appeared above her head. And I was the first to kneel.

The new daughter of Apollo went with her cabin mates and waved goodbye to me. I smiled back. Hey, man, I thought, a couple years in the friend zone and maybe you can escape. Let's see how you play this.