WORD OF THE BATHROOM INCIDENT spread immediately, unfortunately. Wherever they went, campers pointed at Percy and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Y/N and Annabeth, who were still pretty much dripping wet.
She showed them a few more places: the metal shop, where kids were forging their own swords, the arts and-crafts room, and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if campers didn't get to the top fast enough.
Finally, they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. "I have training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. You guys just follow your cabin to the mess hall. Go and do whatever boys do when they're bored."
Percy seemed sheepish. "Annabeth, Y/N, I'm sorry about the toilets."
"It's ok dude." Y/N replied, smiling. "It wasn't your fault." Annabeth looked at Y/N skeptically. "Ok maybe a little." Annabeth rolled her eyes before turning back to Percy.
"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth stated, deep in thought.
"Who?" Percy questioned.
"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron." Annabeth explained. Y/N stared into the lake, still feeling overwhelmed. He wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at him from the bottom, so his heart skipped a beat when he noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They smiled and waved as if he were a long-lost friend. Y/N didn't know what else to do, so he waved back.
"Don't encourage them, Y/N." Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."
"Naiads," Y/N repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed.
"That's it. I want to go home now." Percy sighed.
Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, you two? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like you."
"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?" Percy muttered.
"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human." Annabeth explained nonchalantly.
"Half-human and half-what?" Percy asked.
"I think you know." She replied, raising an eyebrow. Y/N didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid he did.
"God," Y/N finished. "I'm a half-god."
"Half-blood." Annabeth corrected. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians. Same with one of your parents Y/N." She glanced at him. "Your Mother or Father is a god as well.
"That's... crazy." Y/N murmured. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"
"But those are just-" Percy paused. "But if all the kids here are half-gods..."
"Demigods," Annabeth corrected again. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."
"Then who's your dad?" He finished. Annabeth's hands tightened around the pier railing. Y/N got the feeling Percy just trespassed on a sensitive subject.
"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."
"He's human?" Percy questioned.
"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes, huffing angrily.
"Who's your mom, then?" Y/N asked, eager to change the subject.
"Cabin six." She replied, straightening her back. She seemed proud of her parentage. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."
"So if nobody knows who my father is" Percy asked. "Then what does that make me?"
"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like you Y/N. I told you guys before. Nobody knows."
"Except my mother. She knew." Percy's face drooped.
"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."
"My dad would have. He loved her." Percy insisted. Y/N cringed slightly. Annabeth gave him a cautious look. She didn't want to burst his bubble.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: Godly parent has to send you a sign claiming you as his son or daughter. Sometimes it happens."
"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Y/N questioned. Annabeth ran 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, Y/N. They ignore us." Y/N thought about some of the kids he'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. He'd known kids like that at the orphanage, kids without a parent, like him, wasting their life away in a dorm room.
"So I'm stuck here," Y/N said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"
"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. 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." She fiddled with her necklace.
"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 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."
"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy questioned.
Annabeth shook 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?" Y/N exclaimed, confused.
"Practice fights. Practical jokes."
"Practical jokes?" Percy seemed as surprised as Y/N was.
"The point is," Annabeth continued, "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."
"So... you're a year-rounder?" Y/N asked. Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colours. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.
"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counsellors, and they're all in college."
"Why did you come so young?" Percy asked. She twisted the ring on her necklace.
"None of your business." She mumbled.
"Oh." They stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence.
"So... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" Y/N said. 'Not that I have much to go back to anyway.' He thought.
"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission." Annabeth explained. "But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless..."
"Unless?" Percy insisted.
"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..." Her voice trailed off. Y/N could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.
"Back in the sick room," Percy recalled, "when you were feeding me that stuff-"
"Ambrosia." Annabeth corrected.
"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice." Percy raised an eyebrow at Annabeth.
Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"
"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it." Percy explained. "Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"
She clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."
"You've been to Olympus?" Y/N exclaimed.
"Some of us year-rounders." Annabeth replied. "Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others-we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."
"But... how did you get there?" Y/N asked, still curious.
"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already. "You are a New Yorker, right?"
"Uh not really." As far as he knew, Y/N had only seen the Empire state building, on the drive to the camp with Jeremy.
"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "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." She looked at him expectantly.
"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." She frowned. "I thought you might know something."
Percy shook his head. "I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem..."
A faint scent of barbecue smoke wafted through the area. Y/N's stomach decided to voice it's concerns, and let out a loud growl. Both Annabeth and Percy looked at him in shock. "Uhh... sorry. I'm kinda hungry." Y/N smiled sheepishly.
Annabeth smirked. "You guys go on. We'll catch up after dinner." Percy and Y/N shrugged, before making their way back to the cabin.
Back at cabin eleven with Percy, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, Y/N noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers.
Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to him as he walked over to his spot on the floor and plopped down next to Percy. Y/N turned to Percy, raising an eyebrow.
"Still can't believe most of this is real," Y/N muttered. Percy glanced back at him, nodding.
"I know right?" He confirmed. "It feels like I'm in a dream." Percy pulled out the Minotaur horn, staring at it quizzically. Y/N remembered him talking about his mother, so he tried to strike up a conversation.
"What happened to your mother?" Y/N asked. Immediately as he said that, he winced. 'Nice one idiot.' He mentally facepalmed. Percy's eyes seemed to flare with anger before a look of sadness crossed his face.
"She... was killed. I think," Percy explained. "Just before I killed him, the Minotaur grabbed her, and she turned into a golden shower."
"A what!?" He exclaimed. Percy's face reddened.
"I meant a shower of golden light, you idiot!" He groaned. "Get your head out of the gutter, Y/N." They looked at each other, before laughing. The counsellor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.
"Found you two a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store." Y/N couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.
"Thanks." Y/N smiled.
"No prob." Luke sat next to Percy, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"
"I don't belong here," Percy said. "I don't even believe in gods."
"Yeah," Luke replied. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier." The bitterness in his voice surprised Y/N, because Luke seemed like a pretty easy-going guy.
"So your dad is Hermes?" Y/N asked.
Luke pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second Y/N thought he was going to gut him and Percy, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."
"The wing-footed messenger guy?" Percy questioned.
"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you both are here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."
"You ever meet your dad?" Y/N asked.
"Once." Y/N waited, thinking that if Luke wanted to tell him, he'd tell him. Apparently, he didn't.
'I wonder if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.' Y/N thought. Luke looked up and managed a smile.
"Don't worry about it. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."
"Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material," Percy explained. "Then Annabeth... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"
Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies." His face twitched around the scar. "The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp."
"Somebody special?" Percy repeated, confused.
"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."
The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. "Eleven, fall in!" Luke yelled out. The whole cabin filed into the commons yard. They lined up in order of seniority, so of course Percy and Y/N were dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight.
They marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined them from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods. In all, there were maybe 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. The same girl sat near the fire, tending to the flames. Y/N glanced at her, and he could have sworn he saw her eyes mirror the flames. She looked over at him, smiling. Y/N smiled back. 'I should definitely talk to her later.' Y/N thought.
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. Y/N had to squeeze onto the edge of a bench with half his butt hanging off, with Percy squished beside him.
Y/N saw Jeremy sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her grey eyes and honey-blond hair. Clarisse sat behind at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down by Percy because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends. Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and 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, and fresh bread rolls. Y/N glanced around, seeing all sorts of different drinks campers were holding. He looked down to this goblet, frowning.
"Speak to it." Luke gestured to the goblet. "Whatever you want. Non-alcoholic, of course."
Y/N thought for a moment. "Hot chocolate." The glass filled with a warm brown liquid. He took a cautious sip. Perfect. Y/N looked around, smiling. No matter how confusing this all was, it felt good. Like he was finally at home.
.
.
.
"Here you go, Y/N," Luke said, handing Y/N a platter of smoked brisket. He loaded his plate and was about to take a big bite when he noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the centre of the pavilion. Y/N wondered if they were going for dessert or something.
"Come on," Luke said. As he got closer, Y/N saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire—the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.
"Burnt offerings for the gods." Luke murmured. "They like the smell."
"You're kidding." Luke's look warned him not to take this lightly, but Y/N couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."
Y/N was next. He wished he knew what god's name to say. Finally, he made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please. I just want to know. He scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When he caught a whiff of the smoke, Y/N didn't gag.
It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot cocoa and freshly baked bread, wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together but did.
He glanced to his right, seeing the small girl sitting down on a small rug, a little bit away from the fire. She looked up at him, smiling happily. He returned it, an unfamiliar sensation hit him. He glanced back to Luke momentarily, who was talking to Percy.
He looked back to the girl, who was still smiling. He walked over to her, sitting down carefully.
"Um...hi?" Y/N greeted her, smiling awkwardly. She simply smirked, giggling to herself.
"Hello...Mr...?" She raised a playful eyebrow at him.
"Y/N." He said. "I don't know my last name."
"Lucy." She replied. "I don't know my last name as well." He cut a huge chunk of meat off his plate, chewing happily.
"Guess we aren't so different." He murmured though a mouthful of brisket. Lucy frowned, slightly annoyed.
"You know, it's rude to talk with your mouth full." She chided. He just rolled his eyes.
"What are you? My mother?" He joked. A pained came across her face, and she breathed in sharply. Y/N looked at her, his head cocked to the side. "You ok?" He asked gently. She nodded hastily, attempting to regain her composure.
"Of course," she replied. "Just thinking about something." He swallowed his brisket before tearing another hunk of meat off.
"What's wrong?" He questioned.
Lucy smiled sweetly at him, her eyes shining with light. He swear he could almost see two smaller fires, burning in her own pupils. "Just thinking about my parents." She said. "I'm still waiting to be claimed." She glanced back at him expectantly, as if she knew exactly what he was going to say.
"Me too." Y/N sighed heavily, chewing on a fat piece of meat. "I wish I knew them." He muttered. The girl stiffened slightly, before relaxing.
"Do you know what happened to them?" Lucy asked in a cautious tone. He shook his head, still chewing on his brisket. She took a deep breath, seemingly calming her nerves.
Must be a sensitive subject for her as well. He thought. She looked up at him, the fire in her eyes dimming.
"Do you hate your parents?" She whispered softly. She looked into Y/N's eyes, and the same fire he saw just moments ago seemed to have disappeared, replaced with burnt coals and charcoal. He waited a minute before answering, the only sounds being the constant chattering of the campers and the crackling of the fire.
"I did." He replied. A sorrowful look crossed his face, and for some reason, hers as well. Another minute passed with either of them talking.
After finishing his plate, he set his knife and fork down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "But not anymore." He added. Lucy's eyes darted back to his, and the same fire relighted. A look of hope seemed to cross her face. 'Why does she care so much?' He thought.
"Not anymore?" She repeated cautiously. He nodded back, stretching a bit.
"I used to despise my parents." He replied. "Back when I was young, I wanted nothing to do with them. I wished to never see their faces." He paused, reminiscing back on his life. "But as I got older, I didn't really care anymore. I just wish they could have let me know what had happened to them." Y/N said in a small voice. He hated the feeling, but he just wished he could curl up in a ball and cry. He looked back at Lucy, a warm smile on her lips. Her gaze seemed to lift his spirits a little, and he instantly felt better. 'Weird', he thought.
"Do you hope to meet them someday?" Her question seemed more like an attempt to ask for advice, as if she was only going to meet hers because of his decision.
"Absolutely." He stated firmly. "Maybe I can give them a stern talking to them about how to properly raise a kid." This seemed to ease Lucy's tensions, and she sat back on the rug, smiling happily.
"I'm sure you will." She replied. Although she said it with such certainty, that it seemed like his parents were about to pop out and shout, SURPRISE! He looked around at the other tables, filled with campers. Some of them were giving him weird looks, as if he was a zoo animal. "You should get back to your table." Lucy said, her voice soft. He nodded back at her, smiling.
"See you tomorrow?" Y/N asked. She returned the smile, her eyes shining with warm flames.
"I hope so." She replied.
When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for their 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." A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table. "Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today. Peter Johnson." Chiron murmured something. "Er, Percy Jackson and Y/N." Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
Everybody cheered. They all headed down toward the amphitheatre, where Apollo's cabin led a singalong. They sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, he didn't feel out of place. He felt that he was home. Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the horn blew again, and they all filed back to their cabins. Y/N didn't realize how exhausted he was until he collapsed on his borrowed sleeping bag next to Percy. His fingers curled around the manticore necklace. When he closed his eyes, Y/N fell asleep instantly.
The first day at Camp Half-Blood.