Percy didn’t look so sure about walking all the way around the porch of the Big House, but that’s why Grover and I were there. He seemed amazed by the scenery that I now took for granted.
As we were nearing Mr. D and Chiron, I saw Annabeth leaning against the railing. Chiron was in his wheelchair, obviously wanting to ease Percy into this whole thing, and I couldn’t help but be grateful.
“That’s Mr. D.” Grover murmured, pointing at the man himself. “He’s the camp director, be polite. The girl, that’s Annabeth Chase. She’s a camper, but she’s been here longer than just about anybody.
“Except me.” I cut in.
“Tiffany and a few others yes.” Grover continued. “And you already know Chiron…” Grover pointed at Chiron, who had his back to us.
“Mr. Brunner!” Percy cried. Chiron turned around and smiled at us. “Ah, good, Percy.” He said. “Now we have four for pinochle. Unless, Tiffany?” he turned to me.
“Just observing this time around Chiron.” I said.
Chiron nodded and offered Percy a chair beside Mr. D while I walked over to Annabeth to lean against the railing.
Mr. D took one look at Percy and said “Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don’t expect me to be glad to see you.”
“”Uh, thanks.” Percy said, moving his chair away. I dunno hat his problem was, it was a warmer welcome than I got.
“Annabeth?” Chiron called to her. Annabeth stepped forward. “This young lady nursed you back to health Percy.” He said. I scoffed. He looked at me. “Aided somewhat by Tiffany. Annabeth my dear, why don’t you go check on Percy’s bunk? We’ll be putting him in cabin 11 or now.”
“Sure Chiron.” Annabeth said, and turned to Percy. He straightened up, like he was some huge hero, and expected Annabeth to compliment him. Instead she said “You drool when you sleep.” And sprinted down the hill.
I burst out laughing and Percy slumped down a little bit. “So, you, ah, work here Mr. Brunner?” he asked quickly.
“Not Mr. Brunner.” Said Chiron. “I’m afraid that name was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron.”
“Okay.” Percy said, a puzzled expression on his face. “And Mr. D…does that stand for something?”
Mr. D, who had been shuffling the cards, stopped. “Young man.” He said, “names are powerful things. You don’t just go around using them for no reason.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Percy said.
“I must say Percy,” Chiron broke in, “I’m glad to see you alive. It’s been a long time since I’ve made a house call to a potential camper. I’d hate to think I’ve wasted my time.”
“House call?”
“My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most school of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to… ah, take a leave of absence. Tiffany took a particular interest, and joined me.”
“You came to Yancy Academy just to teach me?”
Chiron nodded. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure about you at first. We contected your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that’s always the first test.”
“Grover.” Mr. D said suddenly, “are you playing or not?”
“Yes, sir!” Grover yelped, and shakily took the seat beside Mr. D.
“Hanson, are you joining us?” he asked me.
“Sitting out this round sir.” I said.
“Alright.” He gave me a look, then turned to Percy. “You do know how to play pinochle?”
“I’m afraid not.” Percy said warily.
“I’m afraid not sir.”
“Sir.” I could tell the Percy didn’t like Mr. D very much.
“Well, it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules.” Mr. D said.
“I’m sure the boy can learn.” Chiron said.
“Please,” Percy cut in, “what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you g to Yancy Academy just to teach me? Why were you looking to meet me Tif?”
Mr. D snorted. “I asked the same question.”
“And I had to ask that question.” I said. “If Grover thought you were special, I felt like I needed to know.”
“Why?” Percy asked.
“Personal reasons.” I said quickly. That was my excuse to cover up The Hex. If people found out about that, I’d be dead faster than anyone could lift a finger against it.
“Percy,” Chiron covered up, “did your mother tell you nothing?” He was smiling sympathetically, like he did back in the class room, just letting Percy know that he was liked the most out of the entire class.
“She said…” Percy looked pensive for a moment, then said, “She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably wouldn’t leave. She wanted to keep me close to her.”
“Typical.” Mr. D said. “That’s how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?”
“What?” Percy asked.
Mr. D quickly and impatiently explained bidding in pinochle. Percy looked a little confused, Mr. D isn’t the best teacher ever. I helped him bid.
“I’m afraid there’s too much to tell.” Chiron said. “I’m afraid our usual orientation film won’t be sufficient.”
“Orientation film?”
“No.” Chiron said in a tone that stopped me from going to set it up. “Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr.” He gestured to Grover. “You know that you have killed the Minotaur.” He pointed at the shoebox on the table. “No small feat either lad. What you don’t know is that your friend Tiffany is a demi-god.” He pointed at me. I silently thanked the gods that he said demi-god.
“Wait.” Percy said. He turned around and looked at me. “You’re half god?”
“Yup.” I said. I straightened up proudly, slightly on instinct.
“Then, who’s your parent?”
“Apollo. God of the sun, healing, and twin god of archery, among other things.” I smiled. Among other things was right. Dad was a busy guy.
“And that’s why you were helping that blond girl?”
“Yes. I’m a medic here, if we were to ever go to war.”
“War?” Percy looked uneasy and confused.
“Training gets a little crazy. I call it war.” I saved. Chiron gave me a grateful look.
“Another thing you may not know,” he said, “is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive.”
Percy looked at each of us in turn. Grover looked sympathetic, as did Chiron. Mr. D was studying his cards. I was watching Percy. He looked like he was waiting for someone to say it was a joke.
Quite suddenly, Mr. D said “Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!” and cackled as he tallied his score.
“Mr. D,” Grover asked shyly, “if you’re not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?”
“Eh? Oh, alright.”
Grover snatched up the can and bit a shard out of it, chewing it gravely.
“Wait.” Percy said again. “You’re telling me there’s such a thing as God.”
“Well, now,” Chiron said, “God- capital G, God. That’s a different matter altogether. We shan’t deal with the metaphysical.”
“Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-“
“Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That’s a smaller matter.”
“Smaller?”
“Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class.”
“Zeus.” Percy said quickly. I winced. “Hera, Apollo,” he gestured at me, “you mean them.”
Thunder rumbled again.
“Young man.” Mr. D said, “I would really be less casual about throwing names around, if I were you.”
“She said a name.” He pointed at me.
“I said a name with respect. Throwing about casual names, as Mr. D said isn’t very respectful.”
“But they’re stories.” Percy said, uneasily. “They’re- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They’re what people believed before there was science.”
“Science!” Mr. D scoffed. “And tell me Perceus Jackson” Percy flinched at the sound of his full name, but Mr. D continued, “what will people think ofyour science two thousand years from now? Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That’s what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they’ve come sooo far. And have they Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me.”
“Percy,” Chiron said, “you may choose to believe or not, but the fact it immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?”
Percy was about to respond, probably that it was a good deal. But he hesitated. “You mean, whether people believed in you or not.” He said.
“Exactly.” Chiron said. “If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, and old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perceus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just to explain how little boys can get over loosing their mothers?”
“I wouldn’t like it.” Percy said, he was getting a little annoyed I think. “But I don’t believe in gods.”
“Oh you better.” I said. I glanced at Mr. D, who was minding his cards. He was listening though, and he was radiating annoyance. “Before one of them incinerates you.”
Grover noticed Mr. D as wee. “P-please, sir. He’s just lost his mother. He’s in shock.”
“A lucky thing too.” Mr. D grumbled, and he played a card. “Bad enough that I’ve been confined to this miserable job, working with boy who don’t even believe!”
He waved his hand and a glass appeared on the table and filled with red wine. This wasn’t odd to me, but Percys jaw dropped, just a little. Chiron however, didn’t even look up. “Mr. D,” he said, “your restrictions.”
Mr. D looked at the wine and badly acted shock. “Dear me.” He looked up at the sky. “Old habits! Sorry!” he yelled.
Thunder.
Mr. D waved his hand again and the glass emptied of wine and turned into another coke can. He sighed in despair and popped the tab, then went back to the game.
Chiron winked at Percy. “Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits.”
“A huntress for my aunt no doubt.” I said, smugly.
“A wood nymph.” Percy repeated, staring at the can of Coke.
“Yes.” Mr. D confessed. “Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she was really pretty, and I couldn’t stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. ‘Be a better influence,’ he told me. “Work with youths rather than tearing them down.’ Ha! Absolutely unfair.”
“And…” Percy said, he was stuttering. “your father is…”
“Di immortals, Chiron, I thought you said you taught this boy with the basics. My father is Zeus, of course.”
“You’re Dionysus. The god of wine.”
Mr. D rolled his eyes. “What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, ‘Well, duh!’?”
“Y-yes, Mr. D.”
“Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite perhaps?”
“You’re a god.” Percy said in disbelief.
“Yes, child.”
“A god. You.”
Mr. D turned to looked at Percy, his eyes were narrowed. "Would you like to test me child?" he said quietly. I could tell he was showing Percy things that would scare him. I didn't like it.
"No. No, sir." Percy said.
Mr. D turned back to the card game. "I believe I win." he said, back to normal.
"Not quite Mr. D." Chiron said. He set down his cards and tallied points. "The game goes to me."
Mr D sighed through his nose, used to Chiron beating him, and rose. Grover stood too. "I'm tired." he said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."
"Y-yes, sir." Grover stuttered, he looked scared.
Mr. D turned to Percy, "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."
He and Grover went into the farmhouse. I was a little worried, but I was sure that Grover would be fine.
"Will Grover be okay?" Percy asked, and I was thankful.
Chiron nodded, but looked uneasy. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."
"Mount Olympus," Percy said in disbelief. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"
"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the convergence point of their powers, which indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."
"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like... in America?"
"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."
"The what?"
"Come on Percy." I said. "You can't tell me you've never heard of the Western civilization."
"I've heard of it, but..." he trailed off.
"Do you think it's just an abstract concept?" Chiron asked. "No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, nit unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names perhaps,- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."
"And then they died." Percy said.
"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do it look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in the Rockefeller Centre, the Greek facades of your government building in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-amd believe me, plenty of people weren't fond of Rome either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."
Percy looked totally lost. "Don't worry, Percy," I said, "it will all make sense when you get used to it. I was 7 when i found out about all this, you're a lucky one."
"Who are you Chiron? Who... who am I?" he asked, ignoring me completely.
Chiron smiled, and he shifted in his wheelchair. I though he was going to get out, but he didn't. "Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's a question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."
"Don't we all." I said, smiling.
Then he did get out of his wheelchair. He got out, the blanket falling off of the fake legs as his real legs stepped out. Percy's jaw dropped a little again, and I couldn't help but giggle quietly as Chiron showed his centaur self to Percy.
"What a relief." he said, stretching his legs out. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."