Child of lightning-Percy Jackson x reader-Book one

The end of the beginning

Apparently we were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke's quest a few years back. So of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was super pretty—gray silk with embroidered owls—Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. Needless to say she punched him and told him to shut up.

Me being the daughter of Zeus, and Percy being the son of Poseidon, neither of us had any cabin mates. Luckily the Ares cabin graciously had volunteered to make our shrouds. They'd taken two old bedsheets and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

It was pretty fun to burn.

As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, I was surrounded by Percy, our old Hermes cabin mates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive me or Percy for disgracing their dad.

I was okay with that.

Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my mood. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll all have even bigger heads. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...."

I moved back into cabin one, but it didn't feel so lonely anymore. I had my friends to train with during the day. At night, I lay awake and listened to the wind, knowing my father was out there somewhere, probably doing something stupid. Maybe he wasn't quite sure about me yet, maybe he hadn't even wanted me to be born, but he was watching, I could tell. And so far, he was proud of what I'd done.

As for Sally, she had a chance at a new life. Her letter arrived a week after we got back to camp. She told Percy and I Gabe had left. Or more like mysteriously disappeared off the face of the planet. She'd reported him missing to the police, but she had a funny feeling they would never find him.

On a completely unrelated note, she'd sold her first life-size concrete sculpture, entitled The Poker Player, to a collector, through an art gallery in Soho. She'd gotten so much money for it, she'd made a payment on her first semester's tuition at NYU, and even put a deposit down on a new apartment. On top of that she said that if Percy and I go back home we'd get our own rooms, which would be crazy cool. The Soho gallery was even clamoring for more of her work, which they called "a huge step forward in super-ugly neorealism."

But don't worry, Sally wrote. I'm done with sculpture. I've disposed of that box of tools you left me. It's time for me to turn to writing.

At the bottom, she wrote a P.S: I've found a good private school here in the city for the two of you. I've put a deposit down to hold you both a spot, in case you want to enroll for seventh grade. You could live at home. But if you want to go year-round at Half-Blood Hill, I'll understand.

I let Percy keep the note scene he seemed unsure on his decision. I was a hundred percent sure that I wanted to go back and live with Sally for the school year. After all I'd miss her and I was already behind enough at school. I didn't want to end up working at McDonalds for the rest of my life. But I'd put that all aside if Percy decided to stay. Percy's my best friend, we've practically lived our whole lives together. I wasn't about to leave him. After all, as annoying as I am, he'd never leave me.