Escape from camp half blood

Chapter3

For a few minutes Percy actually managed to forget that he and Nico were at Camp Half-Blood as they talked. It felt more like one of those Sunday afternoons when they hung out at Percy's apartment, or an evening on the weekend where they went to the arcade, or a party at one of Percy's friends' places.

Reality came crashing back down however, when a disturbance arrived. A small group of demigods back from an extraction stumbled into the dining area, led by Brendan Noonan and Clarisse LaRue.

"And this, my fine demigod friends, is where we eat," said Brendan, obviously having taken it upon himself to give them the tour. "It seems that we've arrived just in time. Like sleeping arrangements, what table you sit at here depends on who your godly parent is, and until you are claimed, Hermes, the God of Travelers, is your sponsor. You lovely ladies don't need to worry about not having been claimed yet. It usually happens at campfire in the evening, so if you girls will just follow me this way . . . and, uh, you . . . Hephaestus guy, you go over there . . . and you other person, you can come this way too, I guess."

Percy rolled his eyes at Brendan's behavior and knew he'd be hearing complaints about it at the next counselor meeting, how Brendan had acted like a ladies man to the ladies and completely ignored the new demigod boys. Out of curiosity he let his gaze drift away from Nico's animated face as the boy chattered about an aquarium in Seattle that had a real live sea serpent, but that the Mist made people see as a shark.

A Hispanic demigod drifted toward the Hephaestus table, while Brendan led the other new demigods over to the Hermes table. Hovering close to him, and actually holding his hand was a tiny girl with brown hair and an elfin face that looked like she might actually be a daughter of Hermes. On Brendan's other side, looking as though she was thinking about twisting the arm Brendan had slung around her shoulders was a very pretty girl who seemed to be actively trying not to be attractive. Her hair was cut unevenly and she was bundled up in a puffy skiing jacket that hid her figure. He couldn't peg her at a glance like he could a lot of new demigods who'd stumbled in. She was pretty enough to be one of Aphrodite's but her aversion to looking pretty made that seem unlikely.

Maybe Demeter, or Ares, Percy thought to himself. Plenty of the girls from that cabin were as beautiful as the flowers they grew without putting any effort into their appearances, and some of the daughters of Ares were beautiful in an Amazonian-kick-butt-River Tam kind of way.

His eyes drifted to the last two members of the small group, just as he raised his cup and took a drink. Familiarity struck him like a bolt out of the blue, much the same way that a geyser of blue Coke struck Nico as Percy spit out his drink in shock.

Nico yowled and jumped up, his expression somewhere between alarm and annoyance. "Percy! What was that for?" he yelped. "You could have just said, 'No, Nico, I don't really care to go see the stupid aquarium.' You didn't have to spit all over me!"

"Nico," said Percy, his eyes now locked on Sadie and Carter who had spotted him because of this outburst.

"I thought you would like to go!" wailed Nico, looking hurt. "I was trying to be nice!"

"Nico," said Percy, raising his voice urgently. "Turn around and look behind you."

Nico blinked at him several times, blue Coke still running down his face. Then he calmed down and turned around, and saw Sadie and Carter. He spun back around to look at Percy, wide-eyed, and tipped over his own drink by mistake. "Gods, damn it!"

"Settle down," said Percy urgently.

"What are they doing here?" hissed Nico. "How'd they even get in?"

"I don't know. Just be quiet," Percy hissed back. "Everyone's staring at us now."

"Probably because you spit on me! And you have the nerve to tell me to settle down?" Nico looked livid.