Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Campers pointed at Percy and began to murmur something about toilet water. Annabeth and Phaedra are still pretty much dripping wet. Phaedra began thinking about how embarrassing it is to walk out of the bathroom, drenched in toilet water.
That was embarrassing. Lee is totally going to make fun of me now. And now I have to get the smell of the toilet out of my hair. Do you know how hard it is to take care of curly hair? Especially when it has a smell to it?
The girls show percy a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shake very violently, drops boulders, sprays lava, and clashes together if you don't get to the top fast enough. Finally they return to the canoeing lake, where the trail leads back to the cabins.
"Phaedra will agree that we've got training to do," Annabeth says flatly.
"Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall." Phaedra says
"Annabeth, Phaedra, I'm sorry about the toilets."
"Whatever." Annabeth says
"It's fine I guess..." Phaedra adds
"It wasn't my fault."
The girls looked at him skeptically.
How the heck wasn't it his fault? The Gods know that the rest of us didn't do that. He made water shoot out of the bathroom. This is totally his fault. But at least it gives me an idea as to who his dad is.
"You need to talk to the Oracle," Phaedra tells him, and Annabeth's gaze snaps to her
"Who?"
"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron." she told him
Percy started to stare into the lake. The girls roll their eyes when they see the naiads grinning and waving at the boy. Annabeth rolled his eyes while Phaedra gave him a disgruntled look as Percy was waving back with a small grin.
"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warns him. "Naiads are terrible flirts." Phaedra adds
"Naiads," Percy repeated. "That's it. I want to go home now."
Annabeth frowns at him. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."
"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"
What the fuck?
"Ok, that was kind of hurtful. That's not what she means, Jackson. She meant not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human." Phaedra told him
"Half-human and half-what?"
"I think you know."
"God," he said after a moment of silence. "Half-god."
Annabeth nods. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the
Olympians."
"That's...crazy."
"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around fucking humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?" Phaedra says flatly
"But those are just-" he stopped himself. "But if all the kids here are half-gods-"
"Demigods," Annabeth says. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."
"Then who's your dad?"
Annabeth's hands tighten around the pier railing. Annabeth's dad was a touchy subject for her. "My dad is a professor at West Point," she says. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."
"He's human." Percy says. Phaedra sighs as she knew that her best friend was about to go on a rant.
"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"
"Who's your mom, then?" Percy asks her, kind of annoyed
"Cabin six."
"Annabeth, how is he supposed to know which cabins are which?" Phaedra tells her with a sigh
"Meaning?" Percy asks
Annabeth straightens after rolling her eyes at Phaedra. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."
"Who is your Godly Parent?" Percy asks Phaedra curiously
Phaedra points to the golden-lit Apollo cabin that was beautiful and majestic in a way. "You see that majestic, beautiful, golden cabin?"Percy nods, "That's cabin seven. It's my cabin. My father is Apollo. The God of music, archery, sun, light, healing, light, art-"
"That's a lot. Honestly, you lost me as soon as you said sun..." Percy tells her. Phaedra groans and pinches the bridge of her nose
"Man, what is in your head? Like do you need a pen and paper, or do you not know how to hold information in that thing you call a brain?"
Ok, that might have been a little mean, but I was still kind of mad about the toilets. I should probably apologize. Maybe. I haven't decided yet.
"You must light up every room you walk into, huh?"
"You got that right. People love me." Phaedra smiles at him innocently. Percy rolls his eyes.
This one is quick with the comebacks. He might be the only other who could keep up with me and my snarkiness other than Lee and Annabeth.
"And my dad?" he asks the girls
"Undetermined," Annabeth tells him, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."
"Except my mother. She knew."
"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."
"My dad would have. He loved her."
Annabeth and I were cautious. He had just lost his mom. I don't want to burst that bubble that he seemed to have. Now, I may be mean, a little, but I'm not going to do that to him.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens." Phaedra tells the boy.
"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" he asks
Annabeth runs her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot
of kids and they don't always...Well, sometimes they don't care about us,
Percy. They ignore us."
"She's right. Most of the time they won't give a flying fuck. Then they only contact us when they want us to do their dirty work." Phaedra adds.
I can't help but think of the poor kids in Hermes' cabin. It was completely full of kids. Kids waiting to be claimed and loved by their parents. They never knew they existed before now, and all they wanted was to be accepted. And sometimes it never happens. It makes me sick.
"So I'm stuck here," he says. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"
"It depends," Annabeth says. "Some campers only stay in the summer. If 9you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful Force."
"I beg to differ. Demeter kids can control the earth, so I say that it's pretty powerful. The Aphrodite kids could practically make you jump into a lake and drown yourself by the way they speak. That's also pretty powerful." Phaedra tells Annabeth. She didn't notice the incredulous look Percy gave her.
"The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months
of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us." Annabeth continues.
"Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that." Phaedra adds on
"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy asks
Annabeth shakes her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the
woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."
"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"
"Practice fights. Practical jokes." Phaedra tells him
"Practical jokes?" and she nods
Yeah, I've totally never done that to the people I don't like....
"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out.
From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm." Annabeth says
"So...you guys are year-rounders?" Percy asks.
Both girls nod. From under the collar of their T-shirts they pull a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It is just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also has a big gold ring strung on it, like a college Ring.
"Annabeth and I have been here since we were seven," Phaedra said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. We've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."
"Why did you guys come so young?"
Annabeth twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business." Phaedra just looked away
"Oh." they all stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So...I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"
"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session Unless..." Annabeth says
"Unless?" percy asks
"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last Time..." Phaedra says, catching onto Annabeth's statement
Her voice trailed off. The last time hadn't gone so well.
"Back in the sick room," he says, "when you were feeding me that stuff-"
"Ambrosia." Phaedra corrects
"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice." he says directed at Annabeth
Annabeth's shoulders tense. "So you do know something?"
"Well...no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"
Annabeth clenches her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell us. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time we were there, everything seemed so normal."
Percy's eyes widened. He gives the girls a confused look, "You've been to Olympus?"
"Some of us year-rounders-Luke, Clarisse, Phaedra and I and a few others-we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."
"But...how did you get there?"
"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." Phaedra looks at Percy like she is sure he must know this already. "You are a New Yorker, right?"
"Oh, sure." Percy gives her a look that says 'I live in New York, so no shit.' "Right, because I already don't have a new york accent."
Phaedra tilts her head a little and narrows her eyes at him, and he does it back.
Ok, this kid is a little too sassy. He needs to dial it down a little bit. That's my job.
"Right...after we visited," Annabeth continues, looking between the two demigods, interrupting the staredown, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping...I mean-Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."
Percy shakes his head. Phaedra sighs.
I really want Annabeth to get her quest. She would be amazing at it. I also want to be there to see her do it. I would be so proud of her.
"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem..."
Phaedra puts a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and tells her "It's ok, honey. You're going to get your quest one day. And you'll do great." Annabeth nods in appreciation and smiles at her best friend, who smiles back.
Phaedra could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. The girls heard Percy's stomach growl. They told him to go on and he turned around to leave when Phaedra stopped him.
"Hey, Percy." He turns to look at her. "I'm sorry."
"For?" He says.
"Snapping at you. Twice. That wasn't fair to you. I was mad about the toilets. And a little embarrassed. So I'm sorry." She says to him. He nods in acceptance and she walks away to where Annabeth was standing and they walk off.
After a while Phaedra had left Annabeth to her own devices.
Phaedra decides to go back to her cabin considering that she is still wet from the bathrooms. As she walks in, Lee walks up to her and says "You look like you got into a fight with a hose. You definitely lost." cackling in laughter.
Will tosses her a towel to dry off. "Thank you, Will. Nice to know that I have a sibling who cares about me." Phaedra says as she glares at Lee
"Hey! I care!" her other brother, Micheal Yew shouts.
"Did you care enough to bring me a towel?"
"No."
"Exactly. That is why you are my favorite brother, Will." she says to the nine-year-old boy who smiles at her and her other brothers shout "Hey!" and Phaedra glares at both of them, making them shut up.
"Whatever. So what happened that made you look like....that?" Micheal asks her, gesturing to her wet appearance with slight disgust at the smell.
"Well, dear brother," She says sarcastically, "Percy made clarisse mad and she dragged him to the bathroom. She tried to dunk his head in the toilet but he made water go everywhere and on everyone but himself and now I have to clean the smell out of curly hair."
"I could help you with your hair if you want?" Will says to her
"Aww, thank you, Will. Once again, this is why you are my favorite sibling." She tells him
After a while, Phaedra and her siblings leave their cabin to go to dinner. Will keeps his promise and helps Phaedra with her hair, like the amazing little brother he is. As they file into the Apollo table Phaedra spots Percy at Hermes table. Half his body was on the chair and half was hanging off the side of the seat.
Wow, his day is full of embarrassing moments. Well, so was mine. But not as much as his, so I'm good.
Phaedra shrugs and makes eye contact with Annabeth, who is also looking at Percy and they start laughing.
"Are you going to participate in the singing for the campfire?" Lee asks Phaedra. "No, i'm just gonna go and sit next to Annabeth and hang out." She replies.
Considering the fact that Apollo is the God of music, Apollo cabin typically led the campfire sing-alongs. We mostly sing greek songs to get everyone in the spirit.
Finally, Chiron pounds his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody falls silent. He raises a glass. "To the gods!" Everybody else raises their glasses. "To the gods!"
Wood nymphs started to come forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue!
When it was Apollo cabin's turn to give their offerings, Phaedra scrapes some of her strawberries into the fire and says "Apollo, receive my offering. And please help Annabeth get a quest, she'll do great."
The smell that comes from the burning food smells like hibiscus. Phaedra hopes it was a good sign.
When everybody began returning to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounds his hoof again for our attention.
Mr. D gets up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."
A bunch of ugly cheering rises from the Ares table.
"Personally," Mr. D continues, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."
Phaedra tries not to laugh at Mr. D butchering Percy's name. Chiron murmurs something.
"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
Everybody cheered. They all head down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin leads a sing-along. They sing camp songs about the gods and they eat s'mores and joke around. Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and they all filed back to our cabins.
Word count: 2846
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