The Untold Story of Annabeth Chase

Chapter 29

In May of 2002, about a week before the summer session started, a new demigod arrived at camp.

He just showed up while we were eating lunch one day, accompanied by a satyr.
Grover stood up. "Felix? You're back already?"
The satyr nodded. "He was surprisingly easy to collect. No monsters or anything."

I studied the boy with excitement. He was tall, about eleven years old, with shiny brown hair and stormy gray eyes. I exchanged looks with Skye, the only other Athena year-rounder. It was clear she wouldn't be for long. Those eyes were trademark Athena, as was the calculating way he studied us, like he was trying to decide if he could trust us or not.

Chiron stood up from the head table and cleared is throat. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, my boy. I am sorry we are unprepared for your arrival, but we weren't expecting you so soon. Felix, well done." Felix smiled proudly and sat down next to Grover and his satyr friends.

Chiron faced us all and gestured to the boy. "Demigods, please welcome Malcolm Addison."

Malcolm did surprisingly well adjusting to camp. I had expected that, given the Athena blood we all knew was there. Some of Luke's brothers who normally led the bets for godly parentage were taking in so many drachmas they had to set up a rotation of Undetermineds to guard the cabin.

Skye and I made an extra effort to be nice to him, just in case we were right and he was our brother. He was friendlier than I expected him to be, and made a real effort to be nice to me even though he was two years older.

When I asked him politely why he had come to camp so close to the summer, he shrugged and said, "I don't know. I guess they expected that satyr to take a little longer so I'd get here right on time."

I smiled. "That would have been convenient. You could've taken one of the buses with the other kids."

He laughed. "Actually, I did take a bus most of the way here. Felix just showed up at my door the day before school ended and told me I was a demigod. At first, I thought he was crazy, but it made a lot of sense. I still wanted to finish school before I left, though, so he had to wait in a motel until I got home the next day!" We both laughed at the image of little Felix sitting in some old motel room, eating tin cans and watching reruns of '80s sitcoms. "Then we took buses and trains most of the way here. I live pretty far away, so it took a while, but I guess not as long as they expected."

I nodded. "Most demigods do take a while to make their way here. I lived on the streets for more than two months after I ran away from home." As soon as I said it, I winced. Why had I said that? But Malcolm didn't react, except to ask why it had taken so long. I guess his home life wasn't great either.

"Well, I just lived in an alley by myself for a few weeks, but then after I met Luke, we traveled for about a month until our satyr found us." I was careful not to mention Thalia. I didn't exactly want to go spouting that story to every stranger I met. "There were a lot of monsters chasing us, so Grover kept getting confused and giving us wrong directions because the scent was throwing him off."
Malcolm processed this, then asked, "Do lots of demigods get attacked by monsters on their way here?"
"Oh, lots," I answered. "You were one of the lucky ones."

He nodded slowly. "I guess I was."

The first night of the summer session, Malcolm was claimed.

Chiron was standing at the campfire, just like last year, trying to welcome everyone back. We were all chatting and laughing and having a good time with our friends again, when he pounded his hoof on the ground and we all turned to look at him. "We have a new camper joining us," Chiron said patiently, despite the chatter. "He arrived just last week. Please welcome Malcolm Addison!" We were all clapping and cheering and stamping our feet, when a large silver owl appeared from the shadows and landed on Malcolm's shoulder. It hooted and flew off again, circling twice in the air before disappearing in a flash.

We all stared at Malcolm for a minute, until Chiron got his bearing and knelt. "Hail, the son of Wisdom, War, Crafts and Battle Strategy. We welcome Malcolm Addison, son of Athena, ruler of owls and creator of the olive tree!"

We all knelt during his speech, then rose and began cheering even louder. Malcolm smiled a little as Skye shook his hand and gestured to me and a few of our siblings. I grinned and waved, and he waved back.

Even Mr. D, who was sitting in the corner on a grapevine throne, managed to clap his hands together once, looking immensely bored. Other days, he would have spoiled our mood, but not today. I realized Athena had been smart to wait until the summer to claim Malcolm. Not only was he getting lots of recognition, but we were all in an even better mood than we would have been in before. For two years in a row now, campers had returned for the summer to find a new friends waiting for them, and they had both been claimed right before our eyes.

The party was even louder than Clarisse's had been as we paraded our way back to the cabins, clapping Malcolm on the back and singing camp songs the whole way.

Turns out, Skye and I were smart to have befriended Malcolm, because as soon as we got inside the safety of our cabin and away from all the noise, Isaac tried to recruit him.
"I'm Isaac," he said, extending his hand. As Malcolm shook it, he continued in that snotty way of his. "I was junior counsellor, but these two took over. Does she look like a counsellor to you?" He whispered, inclining his head towards me.

"You know, I can hear you," I called from my bunk, exactly seven and a half feet from the action.

Malcolm pointed at Isaac, as if just realizing something. "Wait, I did hear about you!" Isaac grinned proudly. "You were the whiny jerk Skye told me about."

Isaac's jaw dropped as Malcolm gave him a friendly wave and sat down on my bunk.
I laughed and gave him a high five. "That was awesome."
He grinned. "I don't think I'll be making friends with him anytime soon."
"Good choice."

Malcolm stretched and yawned. "It's really different here in the summer. How many campers are there?"
I shrugged. "About a hundred."
Malcolm mouthed the word wow. "The gods are pretty busy."
I laughed. "Don't let them hear you say that."

Isaac clapped his hands together. "Well, glad we've all gotten a chance to catch up and badmouth me a little bit." Everyone laughed nervously, but his eyes were trained on me. "But how about some Trivial Pursuit to kick off the summer?"Everyone nodded and sat up on their beds as Cody, one of Isaac's buddies, got the game out. We divided into teams, Malcolm, Skye, Cody and I against Astrid, Isaac and his other two lackeys. I was a little worried that Isaac and Astrid on the same team would be difficult to beat, but Malcolm was the savior of the day. He upheld the Athena honor by answering even more questions than I did. Isaac stared at him jealously as he led our team in a victory dance around the cabin. Isaac's friends tried to cheer him up by making fun of how stupid he looked, but we were having so much fun, we didn't care. At one point, even Astrid laughed when I led them in my favourite victory song. We paraded around the cabin, acting sillier and stranger than I recalled in my whole time at camp, like all we had needed was a Malcolm to come in and show us how to have fun.