The Hermes cabin was number eleven of the bunch, and it was big. It was made of sturdy oak wood and was bursting with campers of all ages, some of them sleeping in hammocks, some resting in beds, and some even sitting on the ground on sleeping bags.
"Luke!" Calli waved at a particularly tall boy in the back.
He was talking to other boys but he smiled at her and trotted over, his sandy blond hair really emphasizing his whole surfer look along with his blue eyes. He had to be older than them, at least already eighteen, but he was at least friendlier than Clarisse as he said, "hey, Calli. You give Mr. D a hard time again?"
She looked amused as she said, "you know him. He always gets distracted by imperial grapes. I just had to lose a few seeds, but it's fine. Percy, this is Luke. He's the head counselor of Cabin Eleven."
"Luke, son of Hermes," Luke said, a charming smile on his face as he reached out a hand.
Percy shook it, taking note of the various calluses and cuts he felt on the boy's palm. Even his face had a scar, a long one that ran from eye to cheek, and if anyone was a hero, surely it had to be this guy.
"Percy," he said. "Son of... someone, I guess."
Luke laughed good-heartedly and clapped a hand to his shoulder. His touch was warm and felt a lot like Chiron's as he said, "well, it's okay to not know. That's why you're here. Hermes and his children welcome any half-blood."
"You're only staying here temporarily," Calli said, leading them deeper into the cabin. "Just until you get claimed. Annabeth already told everybody you were coming, so it looks like you'll be getting a bed this time around. Aiya!"
She yelped when she touched the bed post of one of the ones tucked into the corner of the cabin, and Percy was quick to rush over and blurt out, "what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, sugar," she was quick to dismiss, her nose pink with embarrassment as she shook her hand out and glared at the numerous campers staring at them. "Did Annabeth not warn you all enough? If one of you curses this bed one more time then I'll be sure to make you grow dandelions out of your ears."
A few campers looked nervous at the warning, while several of them only rolled their eyes and shuffled away.
"She's a tough one," Luke stage whispered to Percy, ignoring the way Calli told him to cut it out. "She doesn't like pranks that much, which is a little sad considering Hermes is the God of Mischief and Trickery. But she's also good at making stuff grow out of places you don't want things to grow, so your bed should be fine from now on."
"Thanks," Percy said hesitantly, trying not to picture the disturbing image of someone with dandelions coming out of their nose and ears. "You said I would be here until I get claimed. How do I do that? Get claimed?"
Calli exchanged a glance with Luke and said, "there's no way to make it happen. You can't force the gods to do anything, Percy, and that includes acknowledging you as their own."
Percy gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his bitterness from swelling. This whole journey was for practically nothing, then. His mother's sacrifice was in vain. All because his stupid, boneheaded god of a father was too busy doing whatever the hell stupid deities did in their stupid thrones.
Percy let out a hot breath of air through his nose and snapped, "and why is that thing here?"
He pointed to the Minotaur horn that laid innocently on the bedside drawer. It was on top of his now clean and neatly folded clothes from when he got to the camp, and he resisted the urge to smack the thing away.
"It's still your tribute, sugar," Calli said softly. He hated how empathetic she was, how she reached out and held his hand to squeeze it. He hated how the smell of sweet oranges almost made him forget his anger. "You're the real hero here, Percy. You were incredible."
"Stop saying that."
"It's true, man," Luke said with a gentle pat on the back. "Everyone's been talking about it. Stuff like that is how you get glory. If you really want to capture the gods' attention, glory is the way to go."
"Luke," Calli said warningly.
Percy glanced between the both of them. "Is that true?"
"Of course it is," Luke said.
"It's one way," Calli said, frowning at Luke. "But it's never a guarantee and it can be dangerous, too. The feats of a hero are great and sometimes the price to pay can be too much."
"If it'll get my father to talk to me, I don't care," Percy said tightly.
He didn't care anymore. None of this, any of it, mattered to him. All he cared about was getting answers from the god who was supposedly his father, and how he would bring Sally back.
Gods could do that, couldn't they? They were all powerful or something or other, and Percy was too weak to do anything otherwise. Part of him loathed that he had to ask his father for help, but a larger part said that the god owed it to him.
He had abandoned Percy for all twelve years of his life, and in the moment he had needed him most, he never stepped in, and Sally was gone.
Percy always knew how to hold a grudge.
"Perfect," Luke said, his smile boyish and charming as he gestured for Percy to follow him out of the cabin. "Then we can get started right away. You ever held a sword, Percy?"
"Yeah, but I didn't know what I was doing," Percy said, glancing over his shoulder in time to see Calli frowning before she turned away and began to straighten his bed covers and fluff his pillows.
He could see the stiffness in her shoulders from here, but Percy resolved to ignore it as Luke grasped his shoulders and steered him to the training grounds.
Whatever her problem was, it didn't matter.
Sword training, as it turned out, was pretty natural to him, even though the blade Luka handed to him felt off balance and too top-heavy. Still, when he managed to dodge the first five strikes from Luke, it felt good, surprising, and the slowly gathering crowd whistled their encouragement.
"Don't go easy on him, Luke!"
"I got my bets on the new kid. Two drachmas."
"That's it? Hey, Stoll, put me down for five!"
Campers cheered and passed around massive gold coins like it was an actual match. Two boys with curly hair seemed to relish in the betting, shouting out about the raising stakes, and Percy absentmindedly twirled the blade in his hand as he took note of Luke's stance.
The boy was taller than him so he had a wider reach despite their blades being the same length. He was also definitely way better at Percy technique-wise. He had to be one of if not the best swordmaster in the entire camp.
"Don't freak out, Percy," Luke said. His voice was calm in the sea of crowding campers and their cheers. His eyes crinkled slightly with his encouraging smile as he continued to talk. "Breathe. Battle is about instinct more than anything. Just lift your sword - and - "
Luke charged at him like a bolt of lightning. The son of Hermes was light on his feet and had wicked reflexes, but when Percy successfully blocked his blow and hopped back several paces to make more room, he realized that Luke was right.
Something in his brain allowed him to have just as fast reflexes, and he could feel a small smile forming as he continued to trade blows back and forth.
But as the clash of swords rang through the arena, it became more apparent to him that even if he could keep up with Luke in just this moment, there was no way he had the endurance or stamina.
Luke had honed his over several years while Percy's experience was isolated only to turning Ms. Dodds and the Minotaur into dirt, so after five minutes, Luke called break.
He seemed sympathetic as Percy bent over his knees and wheezed.
"Maybe I pushed you too hard," Luke said, accepting a bottle of water from a girl who was abnormally pretty and batted her lashes at him. "Thanks, Silena. You sure you wanna keep going, Percy?"
"Yeah," Percy gasped out. He swiped the back of his hand across his chin, where his sweat accumulated and dampened his skin, and he grinned for the first time since he got to camp. "Glory, right?"
Luke's matching smile was almost proud. "Right."
"Here."
Percy blinked as a sudden hand thrusted a water bottle into his vision. He glanced up and saw stormy grey eyes look at him in a calculating view, and he hesitated before he took the plastic and said, "thanks."
"Don't mention it, seaweed brain," Annabeth said. Her eyes twinkled with amusement and he didn't even have time to stutter out a comeback before she was melting back into the crowd, particularly a group of kids who all had the same blond hair and grey eyes as her and were furiously whispering amongst themselves.
As soon as Percy took a sip, it was like everything felt right again. His strength returned in a flash and he didn't feel so tired. Actually, he felt amazing, and he quickly chugged the rest of the water before he tossed the bottle aside, a satyr running up to catch it in the air and eat it before it hit the ground.
The next time Luke charged, Percy was ready.
It was like everything was in slow motion, and he had never felt so good in his life.
It was as if Percy could see right through Luke's thought process. He was going for a feint and would try to trick Percy into dodging to the side and right into his blade.
Percy raised his sword and swiftly blocked the proper swipe. Actually, he blocked it a little too hard, and the handle of the sword was ripped out of Luke's hand.
The blade spun through the air in an arc before it sank into the dirt behind them.
It was silent.
"Um," Percy said. That was seriously not what he meant to do. "Sorry?"
"Sorry?" Luke grinned slowly. "Percy, that was awesome! You're going to be the best swordsman in camp soon, I can feel it."
"He'll be on my team for the next game!" Someone suddenly shouted, and Percy swiveled his head to see someone who had to be a child of Athena practically hop up and down out of excitement. "He's mine!"
"Whoa, whoa, why is he yours?" Beckendorf said loudly.
"I think he should be in ours!" The girl from before, Silena, said sweetly.
"Why're you even arguing, Silena? Aphrodite never participates! All you do is paint your nails and gossip!"
Percy watched as the grounds became chaotic, voices swelling over one another as they argued who got him for some game.
He didn't fully understand what it meant, but it was the first time people fought so visciously to have him by his side, and he felt victorious, not just from the spar, but in more ways than one as he let his hand go limp and the sword tip dragged into the ground.
"Don't worry," Luke said, ruffling his hair and giving him a wink. "You'll be on my team, no matter what anyone says. You're our trump card this time. You hungry, Percy?"
"Yeah, I am," Percy said, trying not to let out a bark of laughter when he saw the Athena kids argue fiercely with who he had to assume were the children of Aphrodite. "This is... a lot different from what I expected."
Luke's face was warm with his laugh, and his voice was equally just as soft as he said, "come on, champ. Let's get you some dinner."
They both left, laughing at the absurdity of it all, and when Percy looked back, he could only smile wider when he caught the eye of Annabeth, who appraised him with more than passing interest.
It was like his luck was looking up.