Tia stayed in her room because she couldn't go out during the day while Percy and Thalia went out and headed for the dining pavilion. Percy was in charge of the camp now and he couldn't leave without raising any suspicions. When the conch horn sounded, campers started to pour into the pavilion slowly. Some were still looking like a homeless person while some already got ready for breakfast. I sat on the head table with Reyna.
"Are you feeling okay now?" Reyna asked. Percy sighed a bit in relief. The water had healed him so his face wouldn't look like a total wreck.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better now." Percy said. "Maybe I should've thought twice before challenging the creator of the universe." Reyna just chuckled lightly.
"We both know you're a Sea- I mean, an idiot when it comes to thinking twice." Reyna said. Percy just chuckled along and Reyna sighed in relief. Thalia had informed her about Percy still haven't gotten over Annabeth yet. The slightest reminder of her will send him down in an emotional roller coaster ride. Reyna had almost called him Seaweed Brain, which was Annabeth's nickname for Percy. Thankfully, Percy didn't seem to notice that.
Hey, Percy, Hermes spoke in his mind. I've got a delivery for you. Mind coming to Olympus? Besides, Zeus had asked an audience from the Olympians and also, you guys.
Percy was a bit confused. A delivery, from whom?
Uh, I don't really know actually. It doesn't have a sender's address. All it says is 'Send to Perseus Jackson'.
Well, I'll pick it up later and I'll tell the others about the meeting. Thank you, Lord Hermes.
Happy to help.
Percy turned towards Reyna. "Reyna, can you do me a favour?"
"Sure thing, Percy."
"Tell the ones that had trained with Chaos to come meet me at the Big House. I have something to tell them."
Reyna looked confused, but she didn't object. Percy stood up from his seat and faced the hundreds of campers.
"Listen up!" Percy said out loud. "As Camp Half-Blood's tradition, tonight we'll be having a game of capture the flag." There were some murmurings of excitement among the crowd. Percy assumed that they hadn't had played that game for a while because of the things that were going on. "You have the day to yourselves. Do what you please, but don't do something that I won't like and don't step out of camp borders without my permission."
Line Break
Percy waited at the Big House for the others. He was thinking about how he would get to the Sea of Monsters without raising any suspicious suspicions. The last time he went there, Clarisse had helped him with a steamship that her father gave her to aid her in her journey. He could just try and swim at the coast of Florida, where it's closer, but undoubtedly, the gods and especially Chaos will keep an eye on him. He needed to find some answers on why Annabeth was haunting him.
"Percy?" He heard Thalia called. He turned around to see Thalia, Jason, Reyna, Nico and Piper had already gathered and arrived. "Reyna said you had something to tell us."
Percy nodded. "Zeus asked for our presence in the council meeting. Don't ask me why, because I really don't know."
"Would Chaos be okay with that?" Piper asked.
Percy just shrugged. "My guess is, it's going to be a short meeting anyway." Percy said. "It won't take long."
In the end, they all agreed to go to Olympus. Percy prayed to Hermes so he could transport them from the Big House to the throne room of Olympus. In a matter of seconds, they all arrived at the throne room. Every god and goddess had already taken their seats in their respective thrones. For the first time when he came to the throne room, he didn't feel so powerless in the presence of the whole Olympian council. When he was still a kid, he felt weak and powerless but now, he barely felt the pressure from the powers radiated from the Olympians. Perhaps both Chaos's and End's blessing had an effect on him.
The atmosphere in the throne room was, different. Usually, it's a bit noisy, friendly, rivalry and tension all mixed up together. That's how it is in the throne room when you have twelve super-powerful beings in the same room. But now, the atmosphere was quiet, almost eerie. The Olympians stared at them with blank eyes.
"Perseus, I see you've gotten my invitation." Zeus said emotionlessly.
"I have, Lord Zeus." Percy bowed slightly. "I believe you called us into a meeting, right?"
Zeus smirked. Zeus always smirks whenever he boasts or everything is going his way, but this smile was different. It was . . . evil. Zeus was never known in evil glares. Heck, Thalia got that trait from her mother's side of the family.
"Not quite." Zeus said. Then, his voice changed into a voice that sounded more like a funny, joker and very creepy voice. "You're here to entertain me."
Before their very eyes, the Olympian council melted into the shadows except for Zeus. Zeus lips curved into an evil grin as he raised his hand. The masterbolt appeared in his hand and he was going to strike them down.
"Weapons ready!" Percy shouted. Everyone took their weapons out, Thalia with her chain, Nico with his katana, Jason with his spear, Piper with her rope/knife combination and Reyna with her sword.
"What's going on?" Nico asked.
"I'm assuming it's a trap." Reyna said. Then, her eyes widened when she realized what Zeus was about to do. "Hit the deck!" She shouted. Everyone rolled sideways towards left and right as Zeus's bolt struck on the spot where they'd been standing. They couldn't believe Zeus would strike them like that.
"It's not him," Piper muttered. "Who are you? Show yourself!"
Zeus- or someone- chuckled with a funny voice. "Is this Chaos's chosen warriors?" The voice boomed with laughter. "I might as well let my minions do all the work!" Everyone clenched their teeth and gripped their weapons tighter. No one likes being taunted, especially Romans. Jason and Reyna looked like they were ready to fight whoever's saying that.
"Is he controlling Zeus?" Nico asked.
"Looks that way." Percy muttered. "I'm going to test him first." Percy then charged towards Zeus.
"No, Percy, wait!" Thalia tried to stop him but Percy was already on the move. He ran with his main sword and then jumped high. He was about to strike Zeus, but something knocked him out of the air. Percy landed hard onto the ground. It felt like a person tackling him like a football player.
"Percy!" Jason ran to his side. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Percy muttered as he regained his footing. "Something knocked me down."
"We saw it too." Jason said. Then, he tapped his earpiece. "Bob, Dina, can you hear me?"
The only thing Jason heard was static sound for a few seconds before Bob answered. "Loud and clear, Jason."
"Bob, can you pinpoint our location?"
"Sure, you're at the throne room of Olympus." Bob said
"Duck!" Thalia shouted. Percy tackled Jason to the floor as something swooped down and almost got a hold of them. The thing was moving at supersonic speed, making it impossible for them to keep track of its movements.
"Jason, you might wanna be careful because I'm sensing a lot of power disturbance there." Bob said casually.
"Bob, we're under attack. The Olympian council is gone and the only one here is Zeus, and he's attacking us along with someone else." Jason explained.
"What?" Bob said, suddenly alert. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you later, but help us out. This guy is moving too fast." Jason said. Percy scanned the throne room and saw blurry movements of something moving way too fast. It was moving above them, bouncing from wall to wall without even touching the floor.
"You guys stay put," Bob said to everyone. "I'll help you out."
"Hurry up, or we'll be in big trouble." Nico said.
Then, something gave a very weird giggle, like the giggle of a clown, which is a bad thing because he's, well, he's not scared of clowns but he's creeped out by them.
"My, my," The voice said. "Are the warriors of Chaos in trouble?"
Percy gritted his teeth before he spread out his single wing. "Percy, I know what you're thinking." Thalia said. "He's too fast for you." Then, Thalia had a wide grin across her face. "But not for me." Thalia then turned into pure lightning and tried to chase the figure. It looked like an even cat and mouse chase, but Percy knew Thalia would lose, because even with all the training Thalia was doing with Chaos, even her endurance has a limit.
"I can't get a good aim on that thing." Nico said with one of his hands turning into machine guns. Percy tried flying towards it, but he got knocked out of the air and landed on the ground, again.
"We're losing in aerial combat." Percy said.
"No shit," Jason muttered. Then, Zeus moved and tried to strike us with his bolt again. "Move!" Jason shouted. Everyone got out of the way as the bolt let loose another blinding and fatal blast.
"We need to take Jupiter out." Reyna said.
"I can't allow that," The funny voice said again. Then, Thalia got knocked out of the air by something that Percy failed to see. She landed on Piper with a yelp.
"You okay?" Thalia asked.
"Yeah," Piper answered. Then, the thing stopped bouncing around and landed at the foot of Zeus's throne. At first, Percy thought he would be a badass villain with wings and wicked sword.
He never expected to see the Joker.
Well, at least he looked like it. In front of them, standing next to Zeus's throne, was a man in a purple jester outfit. He appeared to have a white skin rather than makeup. It's like paper white. He even had a purple jester hat and eyeliners around his eyes. His lips were wider than the rest, which made it creepy when he's grinning. He even walked funny, as if he really was a jester, or joker.
"Hey, hey, demigods." He talked funnily. "It's your little friend, the Jester."
What a surprise.
"Why are you here?" Percy asked in a calm and steely tone.
The Jester giggled. "End sent me to play with you guys, along with the Olympians. Little Zeus here is under my control now, right?" To prove his point, Zeus hurled another bolt at them. They dived sideways out of the way.
"Let him and the rest of the Olympians go." Percy growled.
"Oh, no can do. I can't do that unless you beat me, but that won't happen anyway." The Jester said as he skipped happily around.
"He's getting on my nerves." Percy said as he dashed forward with his sword drawn. Jester simply did a cartwheel and dodged Percy. Using his quick reflexes, Percy turned around and slashed at him, only to find Jason in his place. He would've taken his head off if Jason hadn't been any quicker. "Why are you here?"
"How did I get here?" Jason said.
"That's not good you know, turning your back against friends." The Jester said. He was standing right where Jason stood before. They'd switched places.
"Sorry, man." Percy said.
"It's okay." Jason muttered.
Thalia tried to grab the Jester with her chains, but he managed to dance (literally, he danced) himself out of the way. Reyna and Nico tried to strike him at the same time, but he just ducked as both of their swords clashed together. "Here's a little present for you." Jester made something that looked like a box out of nothing and placed it underneath Nico and Reyna and then rolled out of the way. The box played a tune, a merrily tune, as it vibrates.
"What the- ack!" Nico didn't get to finish his sentence because when the tune ended, the tune ended, the box exploded into a thick white smoke.
"I am the trickster," The Jester said with a giggle. "I am the clown. You cannot touch me, because you are bound, to the Human Realm." That line confused everyone.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked. The Jester just giggled. Percy gripped his sword as he floats slightly off the ground with his wing and flew towards the Jester. That's when Percy noticed something odd. It was probably his trained eye, or probably because of the blessing either Chaos or End gave him. When Percy got close to him, something about him shifted. In the untrained eye, it will probably too hard to see, but Percy saw it. He became slightly transparent when Percy got close to him. Percy tried to attack and the Jester moved a bit too late. His sword would've hit him, if it hadn't went straight past him. It was only by a centimetre or so, so people would think that they missed.
"Percy, look out!" Thalia shouted. Zeus was about to strike Percy down with his bolt, but Thalia turned into lightning and intercepted the bolt, using her body as a shield for Percy. The voltage won't affect Thalia, but the pain would still hit her. Thalia's body arched with pain as thousands of voltage from Zeus's masterbolt flowed through her body.
"Thalia!" Percy shouted. Anger overtook him as his left hand lit up in black flames. The Jester took one look at him and his grin twitched a bit.
"W-what? How are you d-doing that?" He asked while his grin twitched. "I-I-Impossible!" He shouted in defiance. "There's no way End would bless you!"
Percy gave him one of his famous maniacal grins. "Guess what, Jester?" Percy moved so fast that Jester barely had the time to react. "You're going to die today."
To his surprise, the Jester grinned. "The only thing that could kill me, young hero, is lightning and as far as I could tell, you're just a sea spawn." The Jester than summersaults backward, leaving a funny looking box that let out laughing sounds before it exploded, sending Percy to the wall of the throne room. Percy managed to send a stream of water down on the Jester, making him soaking wet. "And what do you think that's going to do?"
Without him realizing, Piper had snuck up behind him and surprised him by wrapping her rope around the Jester's neck. Nico and Reyna helped her by sweeping the Jester's legs underneath him. The Jester yelped as he fell hard to the ground.
"Jason, now!" Percy shouted. Jason understood and struck his spear to the marble floor, sending a stream of lightning down on the floor trailing down towards the Jester. When it reached him, Jester disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Everyone heard him giggling.
"Interesting," The Jester giggled. "Very interesting. It looks like Chaos has some fine warriors in his side."
"Leave this place and let the Olympians go!" Nico shouted. The Jester giggled again in response. Then, Percy felt his presence leaving the throne room. He grunted as he got up and rushed towards Thalia. Thalia groaned as she moved.
"Thals, are you okay?" Percy asked.
"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I can't feel my body, but otherwise I'm fine." Percy took out some ambrosia from his supply and fed her as he cradled her head in his lap. The other gathered around them while Zeus slumped back in his throne, apparently unconscious. When Thalia ate the ambrosia, she felt the pain subsiding inside her body. "Thanks, Percy."
"Everyone alright?" Percy asked, turning towards the others. They all grinned and just nodded.
"Hey, everyone?" Bob said through the earpiece. "I lost track of him."
"It's okay, Bob. He got away." Jason explained.
Line Break
Everyone then settled near the foot of the hearth to rest for a bit. They tried waking Zeus up, but it's no use. It seems like Jester had put some sort of spell on Zeus, so they'll have to contact Hecate later. As for the other members of the council, they had no idea where they are. They tried praying to them, but no one answered.
"So, from what we know, End sent Jester to kill us." Piper muttered.
"That sums it up," Nico said. "The question is, why?"
"What do you mean why? We're going against End; of course he's trying to kill us." Reyna rolled her eyes.
Thalia kept an eye on Percy. She saw how his hand got enveloped in black flames and how Jester got scared of him. The others didn't really heard what Jester screamed about at Percy, but he was surely pale. "I'm more interested in what happened with Percy."
Percy turned his head over to Thalia. "What about me?"
"Yeah, I was wondering about that too." Nico added. "What did Jester said to you? He looked scared when he saw you with those wicked flames."
Percy kept his eyes on the ground for a moment before he turned towards them. "He told me that it was impossible for me to have End's blessing." Percy opened up his hand and it was enveloped with a small black flame. "This one. Whatever it is, apparently he's scared of it." Then, Percy stared at the flames in his hands. He grinned at how much destruction he could do with the powers of these flames. He could imagine the carnage, the chaos, the destruction and the death that he could cause by-
"Percy!" Thalia shouted. Her voice brought him back to reality. He quickly extinguished the flames and shook his head.
"Sorry," Percy muttered. "I got a little distracted."
Thalia didn't believe it for one bit, and neither did the rest. When he stared at the flames, a creepy grin crept across his face. He almost looks like someone who was power-crazy, someone who wanted nothing than to create chaos and destruction. They tried calling him, but he didn't seem to notice them. When Thalia shouted his name, only then he pulled his eyes out of the flames.
"We were talking about what Jester said." Jason said. "He said that we were stuck in the Human Realm, which was a bit weird. I don't know how, but it is weird."
"Oh yeah," Percy said suddenly. "When I got close to him, I saw that his body became a bit transparent for just a moment. He tried to dodge it, and the blade went through him."
"I thought you missed him." Reyna said.
"That's what you see if you're far away. But I know I hit him. My sword went past through him."
Piper had a thoughtful look on her face. "From what I could tell, he probably shifted into another dimension or realm, that's why he became transparent."
"I'm not sure if I understand you or not." Nico scratched his head.
"It's like when you shadow-travel. You enter a different kind of dimension, right?" Piper explained. Everyone just nodded. "Well, I think it's a bit like that. He's still in the same world, same room as us, only he's in a different dimension. Like a parallel dimension."
Percy just shook his head in exasperation. "Let's save the confusing stuff for later." Percy said. "For now, let's just wake the King of Olympus. You guys have a drachma?"
Line Break
It didn't take long before Hecate arrived after they'd Iris Messaged her a few minutes ago. They explained the situation to her and she decided that she would help out. She examined Zeus for a while as Percy and the others watched her.
"He's asleep." Hecate said.
"Uh, we kind of figured that out." Thalia said. "Is there anything we can do to wake him up?"
"Well . . ." Hecate said. Then, she walked up to Zeus and made a bucket of water appear and floating above Zeus's head. Hecate snapped her fingers and the bucket poured all of its content down on Zeus. Zeus shot straight up.
"Who dares to interrupt me in my sleep?!" He roared. They couldn't help it. All of them burst out laughing, including Hecate. Zeus looked furious as his nostrils flared and he glared at everyone.
"We're sorry, Lord Zeus," Percy managed after containing himself. "We tried waking you up, but you wouldn't wake up, so we had to call in Hecate for assistance."
"We fear that you might be in some kind of spell, because you didn't wake up, Father." Thalia added.
Zeus seemed to realize that and calmed down a bit. "Oh, well, I thank you for your help, but . . ." He turned to Hecate. "Why did you dump a bucket of water on me?"
"Oh, Lord Zeus, it wasn't just a bucket of water. It was a magical concoction that I made to wake you up." Hecate said. It was a complete an obvious lie, but Zeus, being the dense god he is (no offence), didn't notice and believed it. Hecate was trying hard to suppress her smile. "If that is all, then I'll be taking my leave."
"Of course, Hecate. Thank you for your help." Zeus said, still a bit confused. It took all of their willpower not to burst out laughing. After Hecate left, he turned to them. "What brings you here, may I ask?"
"Oh, uh . . ." Percy forgot an explanation for that. They'd originally come here because the Jester had tricked them that there was a meeting within the council.
Then, gladly, they were saved from the trouble of explaining things when they were taken away by Chaos. They were engulfed by dark energy and were transported into an empty space, what Percy calls 'Chaos's favourite place'.
In front of them, Chaos emerged from the darkness in her robe with her face covered and shrouded by the shadows. "Are you guys alright?" She asked.
"Everyone's still in one piece." Nico grinned.
"Consider yourself lucky, then." Chaos muttered. "The Jester had never been one to leave his targets alive, or even conscious. Even at your level, the Jester is a formidable opponent."
"Who is he anyway?" Thalia asked. "He looks more like a clown to me."
"Looks can be deceiving," Chaos answered. "The Jester is one of End's oldest and most loyal allies. Although he dresses funny and he acts weird, he's highly skilled and intelligent. He is full with tricks that could annoy you, or kill you in the most brutal ways." Chaos took a deep breath. "Here's what I want you to do. Percy, you will stay at Camp Half-Blood and guard it. Train and lead the campers as best as you can. The others will resume your training with me right now."
They all nodded. "Very good then. I'll give you a minute to say your farewells." Chaos said before disappearing.
Nico sighed. "Well, looks like we won't be seeing each other again for a very long time." Nico then grinned. "I'm gonna miss you, bro." Percy gave him a smile.
"I'll miss you too, Nico. I will miss all of you." Percy said.
Piper rolled her eyes. "Stop being dramatic, Percy. We could always IM each other."
Percy said goodbyes to everyone until it came to Thalia. She smirked as she punched Percy at shoulder slightly. Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that how you say goodbye?"
Thalia chuckled. "That's my way of annoying you."
"Well, it worked." Percy said with a grin. Then, he gave Thalia a . . . Percy didn't know what it was. Was it a normal hug? A friendly one? Or was it more? Percy couldn't tell, but one thing is for sure is that Percy didn't want it to end and neither did Thalia. She wrapped her arms around Percy's neck even tighter as she buried her face at the crook of his neck. Thalia took in his scent which was intoxicating for Thalia. She mentally slapped herself. She was still a hunter of Artemis for Zeus's sake! She can't be having these thoughts now, especially not at a time like this. They had bigger problems than Thalia's feelings.
Thalia felt his hand gently caressing her head. "You should get going," She heard Percy whisper in her ears. His soft voice so close to her ear sent a chill down her spine. After a struggle within herself, she managed to pull herself away from Percy's embrace. Both of them blushed when their eyes met.
"I-I'll see you soon, Percy." Thalia said surprisingly shyly.
The others watched the two who were behaving weirdly. Deciding to let it pass, Jason tapped his earpiece. "Bob? Yeah, tell Lady Chaos we're ready to go."
Line Break
Percy's POV
Percy was a bit sad that they had to go back to Azurea already, but that's what had to happen if they were to beat End. When Percy arrived at Camp Half-Blood, he was surprised to see all of them training. Percy had given the day to them and they decided to train. If Percy hadn't come to camp, they would probably do some things that would bring shame to the term 'half-blood'. Seeing them like this, Percy can't help but feel a bit proud at himself, because he managed to change demigods back into what they were before, heroes.
Then, Percy noticed a bunch of people on the stands at the arena which Percy recognized as his friends. They were watching some demigods training with their melee combat skills. Percy walked over and sat next to them. The Stoll triplets were busy trying to prank the demigods that were training by covering the floor with oil without anyone noticing. The Stoll with two people were troublesome enough, but with another one to the family, it's beginning to feel like too much to handle.
Clarisse was overlooking the demigods train. In a weird way, she looked just like her father. Percy noticed Will chatting with his half-brother, Jacob.
"How is everything, Clarisse?" Percy asked.
Clarisse smirked at Percy. "I'm filling in for my father for the moment. He said he has migraine. I didn't know gods even have migraines." She scratched her head. I just chuckled.
"Where's my sister?" Percy asked.
"She's probably at the beach," Clarisse said. "You know, she's a lot like you."
"Yeah? How is that?"
"Annoying and childish, but one thing is for sure is that she's not as much as a pussy like you." Clarisse smirked. Percy glared at her, but then laughed softly.
"Well, I'm going to look for my sister." Percy said, standing up. "See you later, Clarisse."
"See you around, Prissy." Clarisse said. Then, she looked at the arena at the sparring demigods. "Come on! Swing your sword like you mean it!" Percy shook his head with a smile. Those poor demigods are going to have a rough time. Percy made his way to the beach where Lucia was sitting on the soft sands with her feet touching the waves. Percy decided to prank her just for fun. Percy whipped up a big wave and slammed it on Lucia. Lucia, being the daughter of Poseidon, wouldn't be affected by water, but Percy knew it would annoy her. As the wave retreated back to the see, Percy could see Lucia glaring at him, but her clothes were still dry.
"What was that for, brother?" Lucia demanded.
"Nothing," Percy admitted. "I just wanted to annoy my sister." Percy sat down on the sands next to her. "We never really had the chance to talk, haven't we?"
"What do you mean?" Lucia asked.
"You know, talk. Just a chat between siblings." Percy smiled. "So, tell me, how did Dad convinced Paul so that you would be born? I doubt Dad would do that knowing our mother was married."
Lucia smiled as she looked at the sea. "I was never born because they had sex, brother." Lucia said. "Although, I am your sibling, in everything including blood."
"So, what happened?"
"It was more like how children of Athena were born." Lucia explained. "I'm not saying I just sprung from our mother's head or anything like that. Dad just, well, I'm not sure how to explain this. Uh, he breathed life into me, if that made sense."
"Kind of," Percy scratched his head.
"You'll get it," Lucia chuckled.
There was a peaceful moment of silence before they started talking again. "How old are you exactly?"
"I'm fifteen," Lucia said. "I'll be turning sixteen in a few months."
"Which is?"
"Eighteenth of August," Lucia said. "Dad did that on purpose so we could celebrate our birthdays together."
A smile crept into Percy's face. It was nice to have a sister of your own.
Line Break
That night, the campers were excited for the game. Percy, of course, was going to be the referee of this while some of the older campers stayed back and watch at the new ones. Some were teaching their younger siblings. Percy was a bit worried to let Lucia in the game, but she insisted.
"Relax, Percy," Leo reassured him. "She might be new, but I doubt your father didn't prepare her for these types of things, right?"
Percy sighed. "You have a point there, Leo." Leo did have a point. Poseidon knew what kind of dangers that a demigod would face, especially if he had one himself. Surely, he must've prepared her in some sort of ways. If Poseidon didn't do anything, maybe their Mom would've asked Paul to teach Lucia a bit of swordplay. Either way, he shouldn't be worried.
"Demigods!" Percy shouted, earning the attention of the campers. "You will split into two teams. One goes at the East of the forest and the other will go at the opposite side. The creek is the boundary line. Bring your opponent's flags across the creek to win. No intentional maiming or killing is allowed. Any magic items are allowed to use." The campers nodded and went on into two teams Percy had trouble remembering which cabins is which, but he figured that it was an even split.
"To your positions!" Percy shouted. The demigods marched towards their position with one side going to the West and the other to the East of the forest. Lucia and Nick were on the same team. Percy wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Percy and his friends stood out of the way of the battle to observe the demigods. Percy signalled at Connor and he blew the conch horn.
Cries of battle could be heard from both sides of the forest. Both sides came pouring down and clashed at the creek. Percy watched at them and was slightly impressed. They had improved from when Percy last saw them battle. Although their skills were still amateurish compared to the old campers, it was clear they were improving. At the edge of the forest, Percy saw the opposing team of his sister's team was marching on to enemy territory. His sister's team is going to lose if they don't stop that runner. Percy saw Nick swiftly making his way towards the other side of the creek, leaving something behind him that looked like a trail of green powder. Nick gave a mischievous grin before lighting a match and throwing it at the end of the green powder. In an instant, the powder lit up in green flames that Percy recognized as Greek fire. It was a neat trick.
"Connor, Travis, I need to talk to you guys later on about stealing from the camp store again." Percy said with a smirk. The Stolls groaned in frustration.
Percy turned his attention back towards the battle. It was an equal fight for both sides. Then, at one side, Percy saw the runner with the flag and he was a few meters away from the creek. Percy smirked. Guess his sister's going to experience her first lost.
Then, as fast and swift as a gazelle, Percy saw Lucia weaving herself towards the opposite side of the creek, with the opponent's flag in her hand.
"Stop her!" The opposition shouted. The campers noticed that she got the flag and charged straight at her. Percy could almost see her grinning from where he was standing. Lucia charged forward even faster. Then, she threw the flag upwards across the creek. Lucia jumped up, planning to jump over the enemy. Percy knew that wouldn't work. The enemy was at least a few inches taller than Lucia, and there were a few of them.
Then, in front of Percy's eyes, Lucia vanished in an instant but she instantly reappeared behind her enemies. She caught the flag midair and continued on sprinting, until she made it past the creek. The opposition's runner was stuck in one of the traps that they had lain out throughout the forest. The moment Lucia crossed the creek, Connor blew the conch horn. The battle stopped. Percy was surprised that no one was knocked out. They managed to pull through it without getting major injuries. They just experienced a few cuts and bruises, maybe a broken bone or two, but nothing that's incurable.
"The game is over," Percy announced. "This side wins," Percy said, gesturing to the winning side. The campers cheered, both from the winning and the losing side. "That is all for tonight. All of you who have severe wounds, report yourselves at the infirmary. For those who have mere scratches and bruises, just suck it up." Percy said. "Curfew will be starting shortly. Clean yourselves and get to bed." The campers muttered in agreement. Percy saw his friends congratulating their siblings. Percy caught up with Lucia, who was grinning at him happily. "So, what was that?" Percy asked suspiciously with a smile.
"What was what?" Lucia asked back innocently.
"How come you can teleport?" Percy whined.
"Says the dude who can create hurricanes and earthquakes." Lucia countered. "Dad balanced out our powers. Don't ask me how he did it, because I really don't want to know."
"What do you mean balanced our powers?"
"You get all the destructive powers like hurricanes, earthquakes and making tidal waves. Dad gave me powers that were more based on, uh, non-destructive, I guess. For instance, I can transform my body into water vapour and transform back wherever I want, but for the moment, I can only transport for a short distance."
"I think I get it," Percy said. "What other powers do you have?"
"I can create illusions of myself. They will dissolve if attacked. I can command them to move wherever I want it to, but it can't speak." Lucia explained.
"That's cool," Percy said. "What else?"
"So far, that's it." Lucia said. Percy grinned as he ruffled her hair. Lucia frowned. "Why are you treating me like a baby?" Lucia grumbled at her brother.
"Because you are one," Percy joked. Lucia grumbled again, which made Percy laugh.
Line Break
Percy entered his cabin while Lucia went to clean herself a bit. When he entered, she was . . . uh . . .
They were not alone.
"Tia, who is that?" Percy asked in a slow voice.
"A werewolf," Tia answered with a growl. In front of them was a canine twice the size of a dog house and was as long as a car. Its fur was greyish red and its eyes were glaring straight at Tia. A low growl could be heard from both of them. Both Tia and the wolf were ready to pounce at each other. "He snuck up on me when I was hunting."
The wolf growled in defiance and lunged at Tia. Tia reacted quickly by pouncing as well, tackling the wolf in mid-air. Both of them were clawing and struggling to fight each other, so Percy decided to interfere.
"Enough!" Percy shouted and fired water at both of them, dousing them both. Both of them retreated and hissed at each other. When they were about to lunge, Percy froze the water enveloping their body. Both of them couldn't move. "Now, we're going to settle this the easy way, or I'll have you frozen for the rest of the night."
Both looked reluctant, but Tia managed to nod. "F-F-Fine." She chattered.
Percy started a fire in the middle of his cabin to warm both of them. "You're a werewolf, right?" Percy pointed at the wolf. It gave a slight nod. "Change into human then." The wolf grunted. Then, the furs of the wolf started to retract back into its body, his skin slowly turning into human. His snout began to shorten and his fangs shrunk.
"It's worse when they turn into wolves." Tia muttered while still shivering.
When the werewolf's transformation was complete, it revealed a male with a well built athletic body. No, he does not look like Taylor Lautner, but his face is handsome.
"Speak for yourself," the dude grumbled. "Ever seen a vampire in a period?"
Tia started to hiss at the werewolf, and it growled at Tia.
"Stop it!" Percy shouted. "What's your name?"
"Just call me Vic," He said.
"Okay, Vic, what really happened?"
"Nothing," Vic said. "I saw a deer and I grabbed it and would've had it if this bloodsucker hadn't interfered."
Tia growled. "I saw it first. I was about to lunge at it when you jumped in my way."
"Hey, I was the one who-"
"Shut up, both of you!" Percy shouted. Both of them went quiet after that.
"Brother?" Percy heard Lucia's voice from the door. Lucia was there, already ready for bed. "Is someone there?"
"Hey, Lucia," Tia said.
"Hey Tia," Lucia replied back.
"Wait, you know her?" Percy asked.
"Of course, she's in the same cabin as us, how can I not know her?" Lucia said. "Uh, who's the shirtless guy?"
"A werewolf named Vic," Percy said.
Lucia gasped in surprise. "I didn't know werewolves existed."
"They do," Percy answered. "Remember Lycaon?"
Vic let out a low growl. "They are not real werewolves. They're merely talking dogs. Werewolves are stronger, faster and bigger." Vic huffed.
"Well, whatever." Percy said. "Lady Chaos said that mythical creatures do exist, so you can expect to see some weird creatures at some point of your life." Lucia just nodded.
"So, why do we have a werewolf in our cabin?" Lucia asked.
"He chased me here," Tia growled.
"You stole my meal," Vic growled back.
"Stop it," Percy interfered. "Vic, can you just, leave and settle this matter another night? It's getting late and I'm so tired."
Vic looked at him warily. Then, he started to sniff at Percy. "You smell different,"
"Okay, I don't really fancy being sniffed at, but do you agree on my terms?" Percy asked, getting a little irritated.
Vic gave one last grudging growl before he nodded. "I'll let this one slide only this one time." Vic said. "Remember bloodsucker, if you get in the way of my meal again, there won't be a third time." Tia just snarled at the werewolf before he ran off through the window and into the woods.
"I would've taken care of that my way," Tia said grudgingly. "But thanks anyway, Percy."
"I would've let you take care of that, but I want to sleep." Percy muttered.
"Why do vampires and werewolves had some kind of rivalry between them?" Lucia asked. "Do you guys have any bad blood history before?"
"That's ridiculous and from your conclusion, I know you've been reading Twilight." Lucia rolled her eyes. "There was never any bad blood between us, Lucia. It's just the werewolves annoys us when they interrupt our hunt."
Lucia chuckled as Percy crashed onto the bed. His consciousness was about to drift away into slumber, but his eyes shot wide open when he heard a terrified scream that shattered the quiet atmosphere of the night.
Then, there was an explosion coming from . . .
Oh no . . .