CHAPTER 2, ACT 1
IVY
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𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐒 cabin was like walking into a bathroom full of girls. In the sense that it was absolute chaos. There were campers everywhere. They were on the floor, sitting on bunks, not to mention the sleeping bags filled with items just lying on the floor?
It was a mess, really. Ivy felt a sense of guilt rise in her. She had a whole cabin all to herself while a bunch of kids were shoved into one cabin, because the stupid gods don't want anyone that's not their kid to live in their cabin apparently.
Putting all that aside, she was looking for someone amidst the chaos of the cabin. Who, you may ask, might she be looking for? That would be none other than the cabin counselor himself, Luke Castellan.
Unfortunately, he was no where to be found, so she settled with asking his half-brother, and one of her closest friends, Connor Stoll.
"Hey! Connor!" she had to raise her voice due to the overall noise of the cabin, but also because the idiot could never hear anything
"Wha- oh! Hi Ivy!"
She rolled her eyes. "Hey, where's Luke?"
"Uh, I think he's in here somewhere?"
"How in the world do you loose someone in a cabin?"
"It's surprisingly very easy when there's a million people in one" he shrugged.
She sighed. "Point taken. I'm gonna go find him alright?"
"Right, see you later Ivy!"
"See you."
She trudged through the cabin, careful not to step on anybody's stuff. She eventually found Luke, talking to a younger camper.
"Luke."
He turned around. "Ivy, what do you want?"
"Rude," she mumbled, "But anyways you have a new camper coming soon. I'm pretty sure Chiron is giving him the tour right now. His name is Percy Jackson."
"The one that killed the minotaur?"
"Yup. Also, can you try to get your cabin to be nice to him? The poor guy lost his mom a few days ago. The last thing he needs is a whole gang of kids picking on him."
"I'll try, but I can't promise anything."
"Okay," she sighed, "Bye, Luke."
Ivy and Luke had never been close. He helped her train occasionally, just as he did with every other camper, but they never really talked outside of what they needed to. There was something off about the Hermes boy that Ivy just couldn't quite place. Obviously, she couldn't say this anyone. Everybody at camp adored Luke Castellan, especially her best friend, Annabeth Chase.
She walked out of the Hermes cabin and joined said girl, who was sitting on the porch.
"Remind me to never enter that cabin again," she sighed, exasperated.
"And that is why I sent you in there," Annabeth giggled.
"No, you sent me in there because you were to nervous to see Luke," Ivy teased with a grin.
"Shut up!" Annabeth blushed.
The two girls fell into a comfortable silence, with Annabeth reading a book in ancient greek, and Ivy playing with the flowers near the cabin.
Ivy had zoned out staring at the flowers in front of her when she heard her name being called.
"Annabeth, Ivy," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"
"Sure, Chiron!", Ivy responded
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing towards the doorway. "Make yourself at home."
Ivy watched as Percy seemed to take it all in. His eyes widened with surprise, probably at how many people were in the cabin. The moment all the campers saw Chiron, they bowed respectfully.
"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner"
With that, he galloped away towards the archery range. Ivy turned back to the doorway, seeing all the eyes on Percy. Sizing him up, it seemed.
"Well?" Annabeth prompted. Ivy could tell by the tone of her voice that she was annoyed. "Go on."
Percy tripped the second he entered the cabin. There were snickers from almost everyone in the cabin, but no one said anything.
Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."
"Regular or undetermined?" asked Travis Stoll.
Percy clearly didn't know what to say, so Ivy responded for him, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned. Ivy was about to say something in his defense when Luke came forward, "Now, now campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
How comfortable.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said. Ivy looked at her and rolled her eyes. She was blushing so hard she could be mistaken for a tomato. Then she saw Percy looking at her and her expression hardened. Man, she really didn't like this kid. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" Percy asked
"Your undetermined," Ivy explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors"
"Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers." Luke continued Ivy's explanation.
Percy looked at the tiny section of the floor they'd given him, then looked at all the campers. "How long will I be here?"
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?"
The campers all laughed.
"Come on," Annabeth told him. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it." Percy snapped back
"Come on." the tone of her voice made it clear she didn't care if Percy had already seen it. "Ivy, let's go."
Annabeth grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside, with Ivy following right behind them. Ivy could hear the kids in cabin eleven laughing behind them.
When they were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."
"What?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't belive i thought you were the one."
"What's your problem?" Ivy could tell both of them were getting irritated with each other. "All I know is that I kill some bull guy—"
"Don't talk like that!" Ivy winced, and Annabeth continued. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"
" To get killed?"
"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"
Percy shook his head. "Look, if the thing I really fought was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories..."
"Yes."
" Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So..."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. She looked ready to say something that would make Percy either cry or even more mad, so Ivy finally spoke, "Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
Ivy sighed. "They don't have souls like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're really lucky. But they're primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they reform."
"You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"
"The Fur... I mean, your math teacher," Annabeth, who finally regained her composure, interrupted. "That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."
Percy, clearly confused, asked, "How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"
"You talk in your sleep."
"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers right?"
Both Annabeth and Ivy looked up and the sky nervously. Ivy knew Zeus was looking for any excuse to strike her down with lightning.
"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" He sounded whiny, but it was pretty justifiable given his situation. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven anyway? Why is everyone so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks over there."
He pointed to the first two cabins, and the two visibly paled. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or... your parent."
Both Ivy and Annabeth stared at him, waiting for him to understand.
"My mom is Sally Jackson," Percy said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."
"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy, I really am," Ivy said. "But that's not what Annabeth means. She's talking about your other parent. Your dad."
"He's dead. I never knew him."
Annabeth sighed. She'd had this conversation many times with campers. "Your father's not dead, Percy"
"How can you say that? You know him?"
"No, of course not."
"Then how can you say—"
"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us." She vaguely gestured to herself and Ivy.
"She's right, you know?" Ivy said
"You guys don't know anything about me."
Ivy raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school, probably kicked out of alot of them."
"How—"
"Probably diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD as well." Annabeth concluded.
Percy swallowed, clearly embarrassed. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Annabeth continued to explain. "Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your brain is hard wired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD— you're impulsive, you can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, not too little. Your senses are better then a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters that don't want you to see them for who they really are."
"You sound like... you went through the same thing?"
"Most of the kids here did." Ivy pointed out. "If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."
"Ambrosia and nectar?"
"The food and drink Annabeth was feeding you to make you feel better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand. You'd be dead. Sorry to say it, but your a half-blood."
Percy looked as if somebody had smacked him across the face. Ivy felt for him, his mom had just died and now he was being told that his dad was a deadbeat God and that he was half mortal half god. Talk about a confusing start. Percy opened his mouth, probably to ask a question, when a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"
Ivy turned around to see Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, walking towards them. Her and her three other cabin mates were all wearing ugly camo jackets.
"Oh my gods, what does she want now" Ivy groaned
"Uh, who is that?" Percy asked
She was about to answer when Annabeth sighed, "Clarisse, Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"
"Sure, Miss Princess," Clarisse said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."
"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which, for the record, is way worse than it sounds. "You don't stand a chance."
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, she sounded confident, but by the way her eye twitched, Ivy didn't think she could follow through on the threat. Clarisse turned towards Percy. "Who's this little runt?"
"Percy Jackson," Ivy said tiredly. "Meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."
Percy blinked. "Like the war god?
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
Percy looked scared shitless. "No," he said, quickly recovering his composure. "It explains the bad smell though."
Clarisse growled, and Ivy jumped slightly, " We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy"
"Percy."
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse—" Ivy tried to defend him
"Stay out of it, brat."
Ivy did stay out of it. Annabeth looked ready to murder Clarisse, but Percy gave her his Minotaur horn. He looked ready to fight Clarisse, but then she grabbed him by his neck, dragging him towards the bathroom.
Percy was kicking and punching, which, no offense, looked extremely funny. But it was no use because Clarisse had hands like iron. Clarisse dragged him inside with Annabeth and Ivy following closely behind. Clarisse's friends were all laughing at the predicament that he was in.
"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed Percy towards one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."
Annabeth was watching the scene unfold through her fingers while Ivy was watching with a worried expression on her face. Clarisse bent Percy over on his knees and Ivy actually gagged for him.
That's when she heard the pipes rumble. Her eyebrow furrowed in confusion as she looked at Annabeth, who wore a similar expression. Then, the toilet water exploded. Clarisse was pushed by an arc of water. Percy turned around just as another toilet exploded hitting Clarisse right in the face.
Normally, that would've been a funny sight, but it wasn't when even more toilets and even the showers exploded, leaving Ivy and Annabeth drenched in water. Ivy looked out of the door to see Clarisse and her little minions sprawled on the grass, also covered in water.
When Ivy turned back to Percy she noticed that he was the only one dry. Her jaw dropped. He didn't have a single drop of water on him, and there was a circle of dryness around him. What the fuck?
He stood up shakily. Ivy and Annabeth stood there, completely frozen, either from the literal cold of the water or from the shock of the fact that Percy destroyed the plumbing. She could practically hear Mr. D complaining already.
"How did you..." Annabeth said
"I.. I don't know."
They walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her siblings were still in the same position Ivy had last seen them in, except Clarisse looked less shocked and more like 'i'm going to murder you slowly and painfully' . "You are dead, new boy. You are absolutely fucking dead."
"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."
Ivy snorted as Clarisse's friends had to hold her back. She looked back at Percy, thinking about who is godly parent could be. It could be something like a minor river god, but something was telling her that it was something much more powerful than that.
"What?" he demanded. He must've noticed her staring. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," she hesitated. She didn't want to give Annabeth or Percy false hope about who his dad could be, even if she was fairly certain. "that you might be a good asset during capture the flag."
Lia speaks!
i need someone to stop me from making like 50 million fics... i have 7 in the drafts and like 10 in my notes 🆘
another shitty chapter with like no ivy-percy moments 😭😭 chapter 3 has a lot though don't worry 🤞🤞
tysm for 2k reads on this story!? i'll try to update again today or tomorrow!
also i forgot to say this before, but this is like the first fanfic i've ever written so bear with me please
is the title a friends reference? yes. yes it is.
(gif by thewhitehart)