"I'm sorry."
"Blahhtbb."
Percy woke up to an apology and of course the only thing he could say was the noise equivalent to a bear giving birth.
This time, as he slowly blinked his eyes open, the pain was somehow less tolerable. The bright light shining in through the clinic's windows was too much, and he gurgled out some noise of discontent as he tried to shift his head away from it.
"Why're you...? Oh. Hold on."
There was a small shuffling noise, and soon enough the light that threatened to burn his eyeballs out receded into just a dim glow. He opened his lashes again cautiously, and even though his head still throbbed violently, the now dark room served a much less painful purpose.
"Thanks," he said hesitantly, looking straight into the grey, unhappy eyes of the girl everyone had screamed as Annabeth.
She leaned back in her stool and crossed her arms, frowning but nonhostile as she said, "yeah, sure. Listen, last night I pushed you too far, and I'm sorry about that. But it's true that time's running out. The solstice is only in seven days and we don't know what's - "
"Percy!"
Percy looked up and barely had time to process the sight of Grover's teary eyes as he rushed over and embraced Percy so tightly that he wheezed.
"Calli told me that you crashed last night," Grover wept, ever the emotional one, and started to rub his chin over Percy's already messy hair. "I'm sorry, Percy! I'm so sorry! It was my fault that I couldn't protect you properly, and now Sally - "
Percy tensed at his mother's name and he pushed Grover away. He didn't do it too hard, but maybe just the motion by itself was enough to shock his friend, who stumbled back clumsily and looked at him with wide, glassy eyes.
"So it's true, then," Percy said tightly. He glanced down to see the cloven hooves at the end of Grover's legs that tromped nervously on the tiled floor. "All of it. Everything. The Minotaur and my... my mom..."
Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks, hers being calculating while his was pure anxiety, but Percy couldn't find it in himself to care that much as he curled his fists on top of the blanket so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.
His mother was gone. The only person who had ever loved or cared for him was gone, and Percy hadn't been enough to save her. He'd done it in the end, managed to stab the Minotaur to dust, so he'd been capable of doing it; he just wasn't fast enough.
He angrily scrubbed at his eyes, his tears still melting past his fingertips anyway, but he didn't make a noise even when Grover made a soft bleat of despair and then clopped over to place something in his lap.
"This is yours now," Grover said mournfully, gesturing to the curved horn that Percy vaguely remembered snapping off of the monster. "A hero's tribute. You should carry it with pride, Percy."
"Keep it. Burn it, destroy it, I don't care," Percy spat. He couldn't even look at the thing without getting so angry that he wanted to crush anything he could with his bare hands and within reach. "I'm not a hero, so don't call me that."
"You should take him to Chiron," Annabeth said after a moment of tense silence. She seemed even more on guard now, her shoulders bunched and her face tight with her controlled emotions as she got up and headed for the door. "I'll prepare Cabin Eleven for him. Our non-hero needs a place to stay."
The whole room shook with how hard she slammed the door behind her, and Grover bleated anxiously as he wrang his hands.
"C'mon, Perce, we have some people for you to meet," he said miserably, and he seemed to be relieved when Percy didn't push him away this time as he helped him up.
The longer Percy stayed awake, the more he seemed to adjust to himself, and standing up wasn't as painful as he feared. Still, he pressed a hand to his left side, where he could feel a load of medical tape and a gauze underneath his borrowed shirt, and the sudden fragrance of oranges nearly made him stumble right into the doorway.
"Careful," Grover pleaded, as if he was only a moment away from exploding with his nerves, and Percy took a moment to clap a hand to Grover's shoulder in reassurance.
The door swung open, and Percy's jaw dropped at the sight.
The camp was, well, a camp, but so different at the same time. He saw two boys stroll past what seemed to be tilled dirt, only for bushes and vines of strawberries to grow so rapidly that he felt dizzy just watching. The flowers fruited right there underneath the sun, and soon there were so many fat, red berries that the children trailing behind didn't seem to have enough buckets to carry them.
In the distance just a little past the horrifying sight of mutant strawberries, a series of other children dressed in the same bright, orange t-shirt fought each other under the sun, actual swords clanging against each other ruthlessly as they shouted with each swing.
Even further, he could just barely make out the tops of twelve different buildings, and he felt rather numb even as arms circled around his neck and pulled him up into a hug.
"You're up!" Calliopsis said cheerfully, and her arms were warm and smelled like tangerines around him as she tugged him up slightly so he would match her taller height. "Gods above, you gave us a fright last night, sugar. Luckily Will was right there to help you out, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do much."
Percy blinked slowly. He didn't think he would ever get used to how fast she spoke or the way flowers literally bloomed in her eyes, but she smelled like those oranges that she fed him and he hesitantly hugged her back. "Uh, yeah, I'm up. Thank you for helping me out. Where's Will? I wanted to thank him, too."
"Oh, he's passed out in the room next to yours," Calliopsis said, seemingly unconcerned that her friend was apparently in a coma. She made a follow gesture and Percy started to trail after her, while Grover took every few seconds to curiosly sniff or even eat the flowers that sprang up everywhere she walked.
Yes. She walked with flowers in her footstep, literally, and Percy tried not to stare at the way the grass tried to tickle her bare heels anytime her sandals made contact with the dirt.
"Why is he passed out?" Percy asked, hopping over a sudden and newly bloomed poppy. Grover ate that one without reservation. "It... it didn't have to do anything with me, did it? Or..."
She must have realized the mood he was in, because she only shook her head and said, "no, sugar, don't think of it like that. Will just used his powers too much, that's all. He's gifted like that, you know, because he's one of his dad's favorites, even if he hates admitting it. All he needs to do is soak up some sun and he'll be up in an hour or two."
Percy glanced up at the sun and wondered just what kind of person was apparently solar-powered, and he said, "yeah, sure. And his dad is - ?"
"Apollo, of course."
Right.
Of course.
"Here we are!" She said excitedly, and in the minutes they'd spent walking, Percy hadn't realized she'd been leading them to the lone building he'd seen across the strawberry fields. She gestured to the side pavilion made of glass, and she said, "Mr. D and Chiron are waiting for you, Percy."
"Bah-ah-ah! You have to be careful, Perce," Grover said worriedly as he hurriedly ran over to catch up with them. "Mr. D isn't someone to be messed with. Chiron will be there and so will Calli and I, but you really, really need to make sure you don't push his buttons."
"Push his buttons?" Percy echoed, feeling a little offended as they entered the pavilion. "Just why do I need to be careful of that?"
"Because, young man, I have mind to blast you to smithereens right here and now."
Percy stared at the pudgy, ratty looking man who just said that. He was sitting at a glass table and seemed more interested in his solitaire game than blasting Percy to bits like he said, but when he glanced up, Percy couldn't help but take an instinctive step back at the purple fires he saw in the man's otherwise dark eyes.
There was something seriously wrong with this guy. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something told Percy that he wasn't joking about turning him into a preteen kebab.
"Mr. D, this is Percy Jackson," Calliopsis said, seemingly oblivious to the tension. She bowed her head and said in such a high-tone of voice that Percy nearly recoiled, "how do you do this afternoon, my liege?"
"Hmm," Mr. D said, slapping down an ace of spades and tapping the surface of the table. His attention was on her now, and he seemed far more relaxed as he said, "better than most, my dear, though that's not saying much considering how much of a dumpster fire this place is."
"Well, I brought you some fresh-pressed grape juice," Calliopsis continued to prattle, producing a goblet of deep purple liquid out of nowhere and presenting it to him. "While you enjoy this, I don't suppose you could welcome Percy to our camp?"
"Pah," Mr. D said, waving impatiently at Percy while he stared at the goblet with awe. "Good to have you here, welcome to camp, don't do anything to embarrass your godly parent, blah blah blah. My dear, is this fermented?"
"Not even a little." Calliopsis batted her eyelashes.
"Ahh. Perfect. This would be so much better after aging for a century or two, but who has the time," Mr. D muttered, and he started to suck the liquid down, seemingly forgetting the presence of the other three.
Percy was both impressed and disgusted with the gusto Mr. D drank the liquid. It was like his previous grumpiness wasn't there at all, and he startled slightly when he caught Calliopsis' eye and she winked at him.
She'd just saved him from Mr. D's wrath, he realized, and he almost thanked her, only to stop when he heard the clopping sounds of more hooves.
It wasn't from Grover, who was currently so anxious that he started to chew on one of the chairs while Mr. D continued to ignore him, and Percy rather felt like he was having his third stroke in just as many days as a familiar face appeared from the other entrance of the pavilion.
"Mr. Brunner?" Percy sputtered, only to nearly choke when he realized that not only was his latin teacher standing, but he was so abnormally tall that his dark hair nearly brushed the top of the doorway. "You're... walking!"
"Mr. D, you know the rules. That had better not be wine," Mr. Brunner said warningly as he walked in on - yes, really - horse legs. And a horse body. And, when he was fully inside, an actual horse tail, which swished side to side in light irritation as he eyed the goblet Mr. D was currently licking the rim of.
Percy was sure that the pudgy man would try to blast his half-pony teacher into little pieces of glue, but Mr. D only grumbled and said, "it's not fermented, you old coot. I can't have any fun anymore in this hellhole."
"Apologies for his attitude," Mr. Brunner said, ignoring the glare Mr. D shot him. He smiled kindly at Percy and said, "Mr. D is our camp director. He was sent here by his father as a way to reflect on his actions. Part of that sentence is to abstain from alcohol."
"That wood nymph was very pretty and was practically asking me to pursue her, hands-off policy be damned," Mr. D grumbled.
Percy eyed him uneasily and said, "and your father is...?"
Mr. D's eyes glanced over at him, the embers of purple flames still in his beady eyes, but just as he was about to open his louth an undoubtedly flat Percy's intelligence to shreds, Calliopsis wiggled her fingers and grape vines erupted at his feet.
The fat, luscious grapes began to squeeze themselves into juice on their own, and Mr. D was quick to flop to the ground with his goblet and try and catch as much of the juice as possible.
Jesus christ.
"Think carefully, Percy, of the many stories and legends I have taught you at Yancy," Mr. Brunner said, his voice still as teacherly and warm as ever despite having a horse's butt now. "Mr. D is a formidable being indeed. Not many can subdue him. Who would be the one person who could bend him to their will?"
"Stop it before my old man gets an even bigger head than he already has," Mr. D grumbled. In the distance, thunder rumbled somewhere, and he said, "yeah, yeah!"
Percy tried to sort through the various lessons and stories Mr. Brunner had spend two semesters trying to drill into his brain.
He stared at Mr. D, a supposedly powerful being, who was still hunched on the ground and cursing at the grapes for not producing more juice, and he tried to see beyond his perception.
A hawaiin shirt decorated with dancing dolphins, an obsession with grapes and alcohol, a deadly fire in his eyes despite his appearance, and above all, a father who was even more powerful than him...
Percy jolted slightly.
No way.
"Have it now, sugar?" Calliopsis said, looking at him expectantly.
Percy swallowed and glanced between her, Mr. Brunner, and Mr. D.
"The D stands for Dionysus," Percy said slowly.
Mr. D looked at him and for a brief moment, surprise flashed across his face before a fat scowl marred his features again. "Don't say it so disrespectfully, boy. I've twisted many stupid heroes like you into my own personal marionettes. Bah, my dear, can you not produce more of these wonderful grapes? It has been far too long since I've tasted your mother's spring and summer gifts."
"Sorry, Mr. D," Calliopsis said, sounding truly apologetic. "You know Mom doesn't like it when you eat all her fruits."
"Um, Chiron, I think we should tell Percy what's going on. He looks like he's constipated," Grover said in earnest worry, though Percy could have done without the flattering description. "Annabeth's already prepping Cabin Eleven for his arrival."
"Yes, you are right," Mr. Brunner said. "In the meantime, go ahead and visit the Council, Grover. They have summoned you to discuss this latest journey. Do not look so worried. You have done a fine job."
"Ha! The boy's mother disappeared and he nearly got himself killed," Mr. D cried out in frustration, his face red from trying to wrestle the vines into giving more fruit. He stumbled to his feet and scowled deeply at Grover, who shook like a leaf in the wind. "It's lucky anyone survived at all."
Percy felt like stabbing someone. "Hey! Don't talk to him like that, he did his best!"
"How dare you speak to me in such a manner, half-blood?" Mr. D rumbled, his goblet spilling juice all around its sides as he slammed it onto the table. His eyes were blazing again, and the scent of grapes was strong in the air as he seemed to suddenly tower over Percy, who had been certain that Mr. D had only been a couple inches taller a few seconds ago. "You impudent hero!"
"Mr. D," Mr. Brunner said sternly. "Enough. Grover, go see the council, and Percy, please."
Mr. D slowly seemed to shrink back into himself. He huffed out a breath of shocking violet flames, and then he sat down again, glaring at his cards.
Grover bleated once, looked sadly at Percy, and then trotted away, his furry shanks still shaking with fear.
"Always one for surprises, aren't you?" Calliopsis' eyes twinkled in the sunlight as she grabbed Percy's hand and led him to the table. Despite not wanting to sit across from the furious Mr. D, Percy allowed himself to be pushed into the chair anyway. "Chiron, should we start?"
"Yes, I think so," Mr. Brunner said, and though his words were kind, there was a grim look on his face as he looked at Percy.
"We have much to discuss, Percy Jackson."