BOWIE WAS GLAD THAT EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO NORMAL OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. no more stymphalian birds, minotaurs, the fates cutting string, people's parents dying ( that bowie knew of ), or anything else too out of the norm. which bowie was very grateful for, she was beginning to get sick of all the exciting things that had happened recently. sure, it was nice to have some excitement in life sometimes, but she'd had enough to last her the rest of her short life.
percy seemed to be settling in well, his lessons were going good, so bowie figured he was doing fine. clarisse hadn't done anything malicious to him either, so maybe she'd forgotten about the toilet incident ( but probably not, this was clarisse who held grudges very easily ). but she wasn't making the fact she was pissed at percy everyone else's problem, like she sometimes did. so, it couldn't have been that bad.
except when it came to wrestling and she would pulverize percy. and there was still no sign of who his godly parent could be. he wasn't really good at alot of things, which made it harder to figure out who his dad could be. bowie was starting to second guess her idea of who it was and start to think maybe it was a minor god who had some association with rivers ----- like a god of one of the rivers. though, she didn't see why a woman like Sally Jackson would go for some river god.
Sally Jackson was very pretty. and bowie just couldn't imagine her settling for a minor, river god. that then brought back around the idea of percy's dad being a more. . . major god. it made sense for the god she had in mind to chase after a woman like sally Jackson.
it was all just too confusing for bowie. and so was everything else ----- like ethan suddenly disliking viktor. as in, if she was with viktor and saw ethan, he would walk away from them. and if she was with ethan and viktor came to join them, ethan would make up some excuse or just ignore viktor entirely.
which made bowie question ----- what did viktor do that made ethan suddenly hate him?
viktor seemed to maybe know but he wasn't telling bowie and would make up an excuse about being tired, or having to head to archery practise or whatever.
basically, bowie was completely in the dark about both boys and it was really confusing the fuck out of her.
"boys are complicated. . . creatures, bowie. what can you do about it?"
somehow, bowie had found herself making friends at a weirdly fast pace now. it seemed that by becoming somewhat friends with viktor, some other people in camp noticed her a bit more. and one of her. . . ( she supposed calling her a friend was a bit too much, considering this was one of their first conversations they'd ever had ) one of the girls that viktor was friends with seemed pretty willing to be friends with bowie.
her name was maisie and she was a fifteen year old daughter of hepheastus. maisie was. . . slightly odd, but bowie overlooked her little quirks. she found it slightly ironic, that a child of ares and a child of hepheastus were friends ----- given both their dad's. . . well, involvement with a certain goddess of love.
"i know, but. . . it's just so annoying that I don't know what's happening between them." bowie groaned,
watching as maisie worked at her workstation down in the forges. the others in the hepheastus cabin were currently climbing the lava wall.
maisie was excused because she had some sort of leg injury at the moment ( bowie couldn't remember what kind of leg injury though ). bowie had gone to the forges to see if there was any hepheastus kid to make her a new weapon.
much to her luck, maisie was there and recognised her as someone who hung out with viktor and basically deemed bowie her friend almost straight away.
"I know but, boys are just weird." maisie said, clanging a hammer on some metal, sparks flying everywhere. "I'm not really a boy expert either. you could always talk to siobhan. she's. . . well, we've all heard the rumors. she can read people's minds."
"siobhan is a last resort." bowie said, "I'd rather not speak to her. at all." she looked around the forges, wiping some sweat off her forehead, "is it always so hot in here?"
"pretty much." maisie said, though she didn't seem at all bothered by the heat, "I think its rather relaxing, being in the forges. it's my happy place."
"dying of heat is happy for you?" bowie raised an eyebrow, "well, I suppose everyone's a bit odd ----- especially you. you're really odd."
maisie laughed, not taking much offense to bowie's words, "I suppose I am. all children of hepheastus have to be a level of weird ----- we work around dangerous weapons, only crazy people are gonna do that willingly." she tapped the side of her head.
"you're the type of crazy person who would snap and kill five people consecutively." bowie said, not trying to be offensive, just factual. "if you kill anyone, tell me and I'll help hide the body for you."
maisie smiled, "you're too sweet, bowie. very concerning, but it's a sweet gesture. . . I think?" she shrugged her shoulders, "if I find out what happened between ethan and viktor, I'll let you know.
soon, it was time for capture the flag.
After the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and everyone all stood at their 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 gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.
From the opposite side of the pavilion, clarrise, bowie, and two other kids from the ares cabin ran in with their banner ----- gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and boar's head.
The Athena cabin had an alliance with the apollo and hermes cabin. while the ares cabin had an alliance with everyone else: dionysius, demeter, aphrodite and hepheastus. while the athena cabin had partnered up with the two biggest cabins, the ares cabin was full of the best fighters in camp. Mr D's two kids were pretty fast runners, the demeter kids had plant control so that was helpful. the aphrodite kids tended to not join in, though some of them sometimes did so maybe they'd get lucky tonight.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. "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. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal. everyone started hurrying to gear up. luke castellan, the head counsellor of hermes, was talking to percy. he was standing near where bowie wanted to go, but she really didn't care. she went over, trying to ignore him.
"hey, bowie, right?" luke said, trying to start a conversation with her.
bowie looked up at him, "yeah. luke, isn't it?" she asked, picking up a large shield, "you're teamed up with the athena cabin, if I'm not wrong."
luke nodded, "yeah. May the best team win." he told her.
bowie flashed him and percy a blood curling grin, "trust me ----- we will." and with that, she turned and joined her team.
as they saw the blue team, the red team, started yelling and jeering at them as they headed off to the north and the blue the south.
CAPTURE THE FLAG DIDNT GO EXACTLY ACCORDING TO PLAN. the plan was to "beat that stupid Jackson kid and the entire blue team", in clarisse's words. . . well, a more appropriate version of what she said. that did not really work. the other team won, which clarisse would probably make everyone's problem but that wasn't even the worst part.
the worst part was percy's claiming.
it had started with the hellhound.
everyone on the blue team had been cheering for their win. bowie was scowling at everyone, mostly luke since he was the one that stole their flag. then there was a growl, followed by a feral sounding howl. everyone went instantly silent. chiron called for everyone to stand ready and for his bow.
bowie gripped her brand new axe tightly, preparing herself to fight whatever this creature was. on the rocks just above everyone was a black hound the size of a rhino, with narrowed eyes the colour of pouring lava, with black scleras and these sharp, pearly white fangs that looked like they could cut through flesh with ease. it had its back arched up, its dark fur was rising up and it snarled lowly.
a hellhound ----- it was staring directly at percy.
nobody dared to move. annabeth shouted for percy to run and tried to step infront of him but the hellhound just leaped over her, a black shadow with canines the length of bowie's head. it's claws ripped through percy's armour. blood started leaking from percy's chest and bowie stumbled backwards.
it was going to kill him.
no one was reacting, too in shock to do anything. bowie felt something tug at her gut, and felt her heart let out a loud, defeaning beat then another, then another. she looked around but no one seemed to be hearing how loudly her heart was hammering away in her chest.
she heard a sickeningly loud snap! and crack! from within her, like her bones were being broken. and then a sharp pain shot through her entire being and she stumbled, falling to her knees. the hellhound was still attacking percy, violently with no remorse. bowie felt her gums start to ache, start to bleed and her teeth started to grow in size, become more wolf - like. her vision turned red and all she could feel was this overwhelming pain.
when she stood up again, everyone was staring at her in shock. she opened her mouth to speak, to ask everyone what was wrong but all that came out was this feral growl. her eyes narrowed as she saw the hellhound, it didn't seem as big to her now. she snarled, teeth bared and flexing her claws.
and then she lunged at it.
her and the hellhound became a mess of fur, teeth and blood. she felt its large canines sink into her shoulder but she was too fueled by pure, rabid adrenaline to even care about it, about any of it. she bit down into its throat. hard. she bit harder, feeling bone crack under her teeth and the hellhound grow gradually more limp underneath her.
she bit harder and ripped her mouth away from its throat, and she's pretty sure it's oesophagus came with her. she panted heavily. the hellhound disintegrated into golden dust. bowie felt pain rip through her again and she suddenly couldn't breathe. she felt smaller now. . .
ethan and viktor were at her side, ethan scowling at viktor. but both of them helped her to stand, she felt sick now. she stumbled around a bit and looked at everyone who was staring at her in shock.
"why's everyone looking at me like that. . . ?" she asked, having a really bad feeling in her stomach now. her bones really hurt, a permanent aching. her head hurt too, like someone had pounded it in with a hammer. a couple meters away, was her axe on the grassy ground.
"di immortales!" annabeth was the first to speak. "that was a hellhound from the Fields of punishment. they don't. . . they aren't 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!"
bowie threw clarisse a scowl, why would percy summon a hellhound if it was going to attack him? she felt a funny taste in her mouth ----- she was pretty sure it was blood. and her teeth felt weird too, like they were bigger and sharper than they were supposed to be. like they were more. . . wolf - like than human.
"You're wounded," Annabeth told percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."
"I'm okay." Percy insisted, even though he was bleeding badly from his chest.
"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."
Percy stepped into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him. the cuts on his chest started to close up.
bowie felt her throat close up as something appeared over percy's head ----- holographic green trident lit up the space above percy. the mark of poseidon. she let out a gasp but winced. it hurt to make noise.
"Look, I - I don't know why," Percy stammered, "I'm sorry. . ."
"percy," annabeth said, pointing to the spot above his head, "um. . ."
by the time percy looked up, the sign was fading. but bowie was pretty sure percy had seen the mark of the trident.
"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around percy, campers started to kneel. bowie struggled down onto one knee, staring up at percy in shock and wonder. bowie knew she was right about poseidon being his dad, and now she'd seen all the evidence she needed.
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
AUTHORS NOTE . . .
-----New character! I haven't quite planned maisies role yet but I'd say she might be an important character late on
-----bowies first transformation into the wolf. I haven't quite figured out if there's a moment in tlt where she'll be able to transform so I figured just incase, I'd shove a transformation in here
-----next chapter we'll be getting into the quest