❛004❜
WORD OF THE bathroom incident spread immediately. which wasn't surprising, nothing remained a secret at camp for long. wherever percy went, campers pointed at him and murmured something about toilet water. or maybe they were just staring at ivy, who still remained soaked to the bone. to keep herself from gutting percy right then and there, ivy asked annabeth to join them.
the two girls showed percy a few more places around camp: the metal shop (briefly meeting beckendorf, who barely glanced up from the project he was working on), the arts-and-crafts room (where the satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of pan), and the climbing wall, which consisted of two facing wall that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.
finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.
"i've got training to do," annabeth said flatly.
"and a shower is calling my name," ivy added, sending percy a brief glare. subtly she pulled her sticky t-shirt away from her body, "dinner's at seven thirty. just follow your cabin to the mess hall."
"i'm sorry about the bathroom thing."
ivy raised an eyebrow, "uhu."
"and about your shoes too. even if it wasn't my fault."
annabeth and ivy shared a glance before looking at percy flatly. it was his fault. he had been to one to make the water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. the daughter of aphrodite didn't know how that could happen, maybe percy's father was the minor god of toilets.
"you need to talk to the oracle," annabeth said. ivy couldn't help but agree, percy was definitely...weirder than he looked.
"who?" he asked cluelessly. yep, ivy concluded, definitely didn't watch the orientation film.
"not who. what. the oracle. i'll ask chiron."
percy got a far away look in his eyes as he stared into the lake. while the brunette thought the oracle was the best choice for answers, she knew of the chances of it going wrong. people have gone insane, stopped speaking at all, and a hundred different variants as evidence of what horrifying things the oracle could show you. or was its face that ugly?
ivy noticed two naiads at the bottom of the water. sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about five metres below. wearing blue jeans and shimmering green t-shirts, their hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. they were smiling and waving, it took ivy a minute to realize that they were looking at percy. who was smiling a little stupidly while waving back. she slapped his hand down.
"don't encourage them, annabeth warned. a smirk was growing in her face, "naiads are terrible flirts. even worse than ivy."
ivy stuck her tongue out at her best friend. but didn't deny her accusation.
"naiads," percy repeated woozily. "that's it. i wanna go home. now."
annabeth frowned. "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?"
"apart from that," ivy said. "annabeth means not completely human. just half."
"half-human and half-what? alien?"
"no, you're not half-alien. i think you know what the other half is," the brunette crossed her arms above her chest. waiting not so patiently for percy to get it.
"god," he said. she almost let out a hooray of joy that he could connect the dots. "half-god."
annabeth nodded. "your father isn't dead. percy. he's one of the olympians."
ivy shrugged casually, "could be a minor god, too." she made a mental note to ask chiron about toilet gods.
"that's...crazy."
"is it really? you know what chiron taught us in class. all the gods ever did in the old stories was run around falling in love with humans and popping babies. old habits die hard," ivy said.
"but those are just– but if all the kids here are half-gods–"
"demigod," annabeth said. that's the official term. or half-bloods."
"then who's your dad?" the question was directed to annabeth, but it still made ivy tense. she wasn't going to talk to percy out of all people about her dad. the blonde's hands tightened around the pier railing, her father was a sensitive subject for her, too.
"my dad is a professor at west point," annabeth said. "i haven't seen him since i was very small. he teaches american history."
"he's human," percy said flatly.
"what? you assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? how sexist is that?"
"goddesses are the definition of girlboss," ivy said thinking about her mother.
"sorry, okay i get it. goddess equals girlboss. but still, who's your mom, annabeth?"
"cabin six."
"meaning?"
annabeth straightened, ivy held back a snickered. this happened way too often.
"athena," annabeth said confidently. "the goddess of wisdom and battle."
percy turned to ivy and asked, "what about you? i heard you mention your mom at yancy, so your dad's a god right?"
ivy tensed, she didn't want to answered. but it was better to get the cat out of the bag. "my dad's mortally dead–" she saw percy's eyes widened slightly, she faced away from him to not look at him. "–my cabin is number ten. aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty."
percy seem to understand that talk about her dad was a no no zone, since he didn' comment on it. he settled for asking, "and my dad is?"
"undetermined," annabeth said, "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."
ivy pursed her lips. one of the things that happened when discovering you're a demigod is what she likes to call, bubble bursting. basically, is when you start to see the truth in your life. you discover your parentage, what it entitles, and you're forced to face the fucked up reality of the life of a demigod. percy's bubble bursting ceremony was happening right about now.
"maybe you're right," ivy said. "maybe he'll claim you as his son. sometimes it happens."
"you mean sometimes it doesn't?" percy asked dumbfounded.
ivy looked out into the lake, she thought about all of the unclaimed. living to wonder if their parents loved them. cared for them. or if they even knew about their existence. it made ivy feel sad, angry, and a hundred other ugly emotions all at the same time. but it was sadly how things were. annabeth ran her palm along the rail.
"the gods are busy," the blonde said. "they have a lot of kids and they don't always...well, sometimes they just don't care about us, percy, they ignore us."
"so i'm stuck here," percy said. "that's it? for the rest of my life?"
ivy dedicated to change up the solemn mood, with a little smirk growing on her face. "no need to sound so appalled about spending the rest of your life with me, perseus." she flipped her now dry hair over her shoulder, the smirk on her lips turned from mischievous to flirtatious. "any time with me is precious, think of yourself as lucky."
percy's cheeks tinted red, she wasn't sure if it was from anger or because of her suggestive tone. but it didn't matter. she won anyway. he cleared his throat, "more like any time with you is absolute torture. you would be my form of eternal punishment."
annabeth sighed tiredly, "like i was saying!" she said forcefully before continuing. "your eternal punishment depends on your situation. some campers only stay the summer. if your the child of demeter or aphrodi–"
ivy made an incoherent sound of disagreement.
"i mean– if you aren't a real force. that parentage has nothing to do with. the monsters probably won't see you as a threat, they might ignore you. 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. most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble–about eleven or twelve 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 the names, you'd know them. some don't even realize they're demigods. but very, very few are like that."
"so monsters can't get in here?"
ivy shook her head, stucking the stray strand of hair that fell on her face due to the motion. "not unless they're kept here intentionally in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."
"why would anybody want to summon a monster?"
"practical fights. practical jokes. attempted murder."
"practical jokes? and who would want to murder somebody?"
"me. i would want to muder you, perseus."
"thanks for letting me know. you'll make the job easier for the police so they can lock your ass up."
"my ass? why are you thinking about my ass, jackson?" ivy smirked once again as percy looked up at the sky exasperatedly. the muscles of his jaw tightened as he clenched it. but he didn't do a good job at hiding his blush. it seems like she found her new source of entertainment.
"the point is," annabeth interrupted ivy's torture on percy. "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."
percy looked back at annabeth, "so...you're a year rounder?"
the daughter of athena nodded. from under the collar of her t-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. it was exactly like the one ivy had, although hers had an extra bead. annabeth's had a big gold right strung on it, her father's college ring.
"i've been here since i was eight. ivy since she was seven, although she's been going to boarding school for a few years," she said. the brunette nodded, pulling out her own necklace."every august, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. both of us have been here longer than most of the counsellors, and half of them are almost in college."
"why did you come so young?"
noticing annabeth's uncomfortable look, ivy said firmly "none of your business."
an uncomfortable silence sat over them for a minute, until percy broke it. "so, in theory, i could just...walk out of here right now if i wanted to?"
"if you're asking to be murdered by somebody else other than me?" ivy said. "yeah, you could. with mr.d's or chiron's permission, of course. which probably won't happen until the end of the summer session unless..." the best friend made eye contact, a silent message passing between them.
"unless?"
"you were granted a quest. but that hasn't happened since last time..."
ivy's voice trailed off. last time was luke's quest that turned into an absolute shit show. the luke that came back wasn't the same luke that left. and she didn't like this luke imposter. so, one could say that the two have drifted apart. a lot.
"back in the sick room," percy said, "when ivy was feeding me that stuff–"
"ambrosia."
"yeah, that. annabeth, you asked me some shit about the summer solstice."
annabeth's shoulders tensed. "so yo do know something?"
"well...no. back at yancy, i kinda...eavesdropped on grover, ivy, and chiron talking about it. grover mentioned the summer solstice, then didn't answer ivy when she asked what it was about. he also said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. what did that mean?"
"you eavesdropped on us?"
"i didn't mean to! but you were talking about me so it's only fair."
annabeth huffed, raising her head to get them to stop before they started arguing again, "ivy already told me about the deadline thing. from what we figure, only chiron and the satyrs know. they just won't tell us. something is wrong in olympus, something pretty fucking big. last time i was there, everything seemed so normal."
"you've been to fucking olympus?"
"some of the year-rounders," ivy said, "–luke, clarisse, annabeth, and a few others–took a field trip during winter solstice. that's when the gods have their big annual council."
"but...how can you even get there?"
"the long island railroad, obviously. you get off at penn station. empire state building, special elevator, on the humble six-hundredth floor." ivy looked at percy, she wondered what chiron was thinking when he didn't show him the orientation film. "you're a new yorker, right?"
"oh, sure," he didn't sound very sure.
"right after he visited," annabeth continued for ivy, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. a couple of times since, we've overheard satyrs talking. the best we 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, we–no, 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 you might know something."
percy shook his head. and ivy expected as much. they went to the same school for an entire school year. there wasn't going to be anything that she didn't know about first. which was nothing.
"i've got to get a quest," annabeth muttered to herself. "i'm not too young. if they would just tell me the problem..."
the smell of barbecue smoke reached them all the way from the pavilion. percy's stomach growled so loudly, ivy told him to go on. she too, left towards her cabin. a shower awaiting for her.
after ivy took a much needed shower, scrubbing her entire body and hair twice. the aphrodite cabin was bustling left and right. some were perfecting their makeup, others putting the final touches on their outfits. the brunette was currently debating her outfit choice. while she didn't care about the outfit she wore to do activities around camp, given that they always got ruined. ivy always dresses up for dinner and campfires.
finally, she settled for a plain white crop top, pink straight leg pants, and matching pink jordan one's. ivy let her hair dry naturally, letting it take its natural waves, taking two pink butterfly pins to hold the front pieces of her hair. as she wasn't one for much makeup, she applied a light coat of mascara, and her strawberry scented lip gloss. she looked at herself in one of the full-length mirrors and smiled. "oh, you look so pretty!" a voice said from behind her.
through the mirror, ivy could see her sister and co-counselor, silena beauregard, walking towards her with a beaming smile. when she reached ivy, silena wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a hug. "but would you let me put a little blush on you? or maybe eyelin–"
"thank you, lena," ivy said, smiling up at her sister. "but i'm going to go with a no, you can't play barbie with me every night." silena pouted.
turning around and pulling out of the hug, ivy scanned her cabin. sydney, her sister who was closer to her age, was sitting on the edge of her bed, with one of the younger ones standing between her legs while she shoved their head through the collar of a shirt. james bolt (yeah, close to james bond. the teasing never stops) was lounging boredly on his bed, twirling a piece of paper on his finger and she could assume that it was somebody's number, even if he was only twelve, the guy was a total flirt. over at the bathroom sinks, lydia kennedy was finishing up her very complex makeup. tobias was standing beside her, running his hands through his hair more than he needed to, it was perfect anyway.
silena looked at the clock in the wall shouting, "three minutes!"
shrieks of panic, sounded through the cabin. the two counsellors let out a laugh, it was always the same thing. walking towards james's bed, ivy plopped herself beside him. she plucked the piece of paper from his fingers. "hey!" james exclaimed while trying to take the paper from her, but ivy got up to avoid him as she read.
she wasn't surprised to see a new york phone number on it. with the name kayla scribbled above it. "you shouldn't talk to strangers so much, you know?" ivy jumped over a misplaced shoe, james just missing grabbing her arm.
he huffed, "she wasn't a stranger. i knew her for a whole hour before asking for her number!" ivy dodged another grab.
"oh, so you were playing hard to get, huh?" she made a long jump from one bed to another, "an hour would be your new record." ivy stood on top of the bed now, both of her hands on her hips. james replicated her move, but his foot just missed the bed. he fell face first into the mattress, groaning as he rolled on his back.
ivy smiled down at him, "and you would've made that jump if you took training seriously." he huffed in disagreement, holding himself up with his elbows. her eyes widened when she realized james was grabbing her by the ankles, and before she knew it, he yanked her down with him.
he sent her a mocking smile, taking the piece of paper from her limp hand. "training doesn't get me kylie's number." the brunette rolled her eyes.
ivy stood up from the bed, flattening the few wrinkles on her clothes. she was about to tell him that it was kayla, not kylie when the horn for dinner blew in the distance.
ignoring the few frantic people running around, ivy yelled, "dinner time!"
the whole cabin, just ten campers since the older ones left for college, filed into the commons yard. her siblings were lined up in order of seniority, silena and ivy leading as cabin counsellors. campers from the other cabins filled in at the same time.
cabin ten marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. satyrs joined the campers from the meadow. naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. a few wood nymphs came out of their trees, too.
in all, there were around a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.
at the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. a central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. ivy could see percy sat on the edge of a bench with half of his ass hanging.
at table twelve, gabriel was sitting with castor and pollux, his only siblings who looked nothing like him given that they looked exactly like mr d. grover, a few satyrs, and mr d were also sitting there. chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being too small for a centaur.
annabeth sat at table six with her siblings, a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids. they all shared her grey eyes and honey-blonde hair.
clarisse sat at the ares table. taking that she was laughing and belching right alongside her siblings, she already had a plan to get back at percy.
finally, chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, everybody fell silent. he raised a glass. "to the gods!"
everybody else raised their glasses, "to the gods!"
wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecue. ivy took a second to choose her drink, "pink lemonade," she said
she loaded her plate, making sure to grab chocolate covered strawberries. she got up while carrying her plate towards the fire in the centre of the pavilion. ivy approached the fire, making sure her hair wouldn't go up in flames, she bowed her head. "aphrodite, accept my offering" the brunette said, tossing the best looking chocolate strawberries. she smiled lightly as she smelled the familiar scent of roses and hot-chocolate.
when everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, chiron pounded his hoof again to gain the camp's attention.
mr d got 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."
the ares bunch rose from their table.
"personally," mr d continued, "i couldn't care less, but congratulations. also, i should tell you that we have a new camper today. peter johnson."
chiron murmured something.
"er, percy jackson," mr d corrected. "that's right. hurrah, and all that. now run along to your silly little campfire. go on."
everybody cheered. the campers headed down towards the amphitheatre, where apollo's cabin led a sign-along. they sang camp songs about the gods, ate toasted marshmallows, and joked around. ivy had never felt more at home.