Percy pov
The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.
Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia:
Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.
The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quickly I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.
Foot racing? Not good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.
And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.
"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.
The only thing I excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.
I knew the senior campers and counsellors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or — gods forbid — Dionysus's way with vine plants. Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He didn't know what to make of me either.
I love to camp but there is one thing I hate about it how most of them treated Amara. The night she got claimed a huge cabin emerged on a hill near the other cabin. it has the primidionals symbols.
she didn't look surprised for she later told me after I helped her moved that her old family died and she was adopted by them.
"if they had not taken me in... I would be in the underworld as a spirit. I lost my sister, brothers, and grandpa. my parents already died long before." she said
She told me that I visit her cabin anytime which I do. Luke and Chiron took over her training and surprisingly she can handle the train and even taught them and them her power.
Fishface looked so cool and it was fun riding on xlr8 back zooming around camp which attracted the younger campers to play with her mostly a kid named will which made me jealous of how clingy he is.
I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, and even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat
dinner with cabin eleven or with Amara at her table in cabin 0, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.
Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back. . . .
I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes but he doesn't fully resent him after I saw him talking to Amara.
So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he
was, make a phone appear?
Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven and Amara gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.
We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armour I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good but Amara was a bit better as her green diamond sword looked balanced unlike mine
Either they were too heavy, or
too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.
Amara used her watch and summoned another green diamond sword which was perfectly balanced. She said it is balanced for her and is not common to be balanced for another. She looked like she hid something for she was red for some reason.
The sword felt better and I was able to do better.
We moved on to duelling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner since this was my first
time.
"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.
The camper snorted.
Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got better at blocking "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!
By the time he called for a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke
poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.
Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. Amara dried my hair with a towel saying j should not get sick
"Okay, everybody circles up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."
Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.
The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes
before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me as a punching bag. He told everybody he was going
to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.
"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."
He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.
"Now in real-time," he said after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword.
My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.
After some moves, I tried the disarming manoeuvre.
My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.
Clang.
Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.
The other campers were silent.
I lowered my sword. "Urn, sorry."
For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.
"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"
I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.
Due to the balance sword, Amara gave me. I was able to easily disarm him again and again making luke smile.
Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised me with an entirely new interest. "You're a natural Percy
Yet strange that Amara's sword is balanced like hers. It must mean...oh..."
I got lost as Amara looked away red and luke was smirking
Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the
climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. Amara almost too got burned but she went alien on a heatstroke guy which allowed her to fall into the lava safely.
She was banned for her safety from the wall as it takes her longer to heal.
We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do basket-weaving a bit above water with Amara as she talks to them. I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr D.
His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.
"Fine," he said. "Just great."
"So your career's still on track?"
He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"
"Well . . . no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask. "He just said you had big plans, you know . . . and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"
Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest . . . and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Of course, I'd want you along!"
Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving . . . Must be nice to have a useful skill."
I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We
talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods.
Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So
of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."
"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"
Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades." Amara said joining us
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and
drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."
"Uh-huh."
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Amara said " He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld.
"If he did have a cabin here . . ." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." Amara looked mad at that
"But Zeus and Poseidon — they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" I asked
Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, was a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed.
I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."
Grover nodded.
" Hitler was Hades' kid? " She wondered and shivered
"And the brothers kept their word — no kids?" Amara coughed at that
Graver's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo — he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia . . . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault." Amara said
Grover hesitated. "The children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her
satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps
protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
I stared at the pine in the distance.
The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her
friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. I wondered if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?
"Grover," I said, "have heroes gone on quests to the Underworld?"
"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."
" the magician?" Amara said surprised
"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"
"No. Never. Orpheus came close. . . . Percy, you're not seriously thinking — "
"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"
Grover and Amara studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded then that I'd dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them since they could cause huge problems." He said
"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."
Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't . . . Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were — you know — you'd never be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay? And also surprising I never smell demigods on Amara. She is mortal but she blessed hy the primordials which is amazing"
I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me. Amara pat my back and smiled.
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.
At last, it was time for capturing the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.
From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"
"Yeah."
"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," he said. "But often."
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do — repaint the flag?"
He grinned. "You'll see. First, we have to get one."
"Whose side are we on?"
He gave me a sly look as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost wicked in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."
Amara's pov
The teams were announced. Athena had allied with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Privileges had been traded — shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities — to win support.
As for me, I am with Chrion to assist him on maintain order. He is worried I might be badly hurt from the game so I was told to stay on his back or stay far from the game yet watch.
Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.
The wine kids are quite fit. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive.
Aphrodite's sons and daughters aka my honorary aunts and uncle loved to doll me up. They look like they didn't care but u should have seen their hidden knife in their combs.
Glad I gave Percy my sword to fight.
Hephaestus's kids were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day.
They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest and meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. Percy, I pray for you
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble as I sat on his back holding first aid.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic with Amara. Arm yourselves!"
" Wait maiming?" I said shocked
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords,
spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
Percy Shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds perfect for sledging but I am worried he will not run.
He still has my sword which works better than a normal demigod sword. I wished him luck.
Soon the game begins and Chiron and I got busy healing and being referred till I saw Percy take down half of Ares's cabin and broke Clarisse's spear.
" Never talk about her like that again!" He said which confused me
"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"
She probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with my sword butt and sent
her stumbling backwards out of the creek.
Then I heard yelling, and elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.
"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."
They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across
into friendly territory. Percy's side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver.
The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the
team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from
the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. He won. I ran and hug him. He held me relieved and laughed.
I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."
I looked, but she wasn't there.
"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
I felt Percy getting angry. He wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," He said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."
Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always always has a plan."
"A plan to get me pulverized." I held Percy back
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but . . ." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."
Then she noticed Percy wounded arm. "How did you do that?"
"Sword cut," He said. "What do you think?"
"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it."
The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar and disappeared. Of course, water heals him
"I— I don't get it," He said.
Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at our feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."
"What—"
"Just do it."
He came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. His arms started to go numb again. He almost fell over, but I steadied him.
"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good."
Suddenly I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.
The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would
realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow! " As I stand away from the campers aPercyrcy
Luke drew his sword.
There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
It was looking straight at me.
Nobody moved except Percy, who yelled, "Amara, run!"
He tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leapt over him — an enormous shadow
with teeth — and just as it hit me.
" HERO TIME!" I transformed inDiamond'sond head and grabbed the dog's jaws and tossed him aside before turning my arms into blades.
Percy aslo tried to attack but got claws on his armour and chest before I stabbed the dog and it fell dead at my feet. I transform back and went to Percy helping him up
By some miracle, he was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of his shredded armour.
His chest felt warm and wet, and I knew he was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've
turned him into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.
Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.
"Di immortales!" Luke said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't . . . they're not supposed to . . ."
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."
Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"
"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.
We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.
"You're wounded," I told Percy "Quick, Percy, get in the water.It's time you knew your father"
"Wait what ."
"Trust me...I figured out who is your dad long ago. But I had to be sure" I said helping him to the creek where he looked refreshed and wounds healing as the whole camp gathered around him.
Some of the campers gasped.
"Look, I — I don't know why," He said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry. . . ."
But they weren't watching his wounds heal. They were staring at the symbol above his head.
"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Urn . . ."
By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading, it was a three-tipped spear: a trident.
"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around Percy, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about
it.
I went in front of them all and I curtsy to him.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
.
This was a long chapter