Michael POV
The streets were noisy as we walked towards Camp Half-Blood, though my new little sister remained asleep for most of it, even when we switched off on who was holding her. I remember the day I crossed over the city, just to get where my gut was telling me to. And when I was finally there, I found two boys, on the hill. I had walked up to them, my guitar on my hip, and saw that one, who I now knew was Percy, was unconscious, blood pooling from underneath his head. Alex, the other one, jumped up and rushed up the hill, yelling for help. I didn't care as I had grabbed Percy and hauled him over. That was when I had first seen the camp. It was beautiful. But that was before I had to drop before and almost break someone's nose. It took off from there.
None of us spoke on the walk there. No one exactly knew what to say. I certainly didn't. I mean, I had just gotten to see the one person who never rejected me during my time in California. Granted, she did know me for little under an hour, but still. And now I knew who she truly was. And that she has a brother who is known for scaring people. And disappearing off the radar completely, but let's not dwell on that.
After a very long walk that had my legs aching afterward, we had reached the ridge of Half-Blood Hill. A couple of weapons were at the base of the hill, glinting in the sun. A black bow, a black sword, a golden sword, and a silver sword. The swords were exact replicas as the ones we had before the reset, as I am calling it. The silver sword, which I claimed as mine, had black markings, exactly like the one I had when I came to camp. It had a single sharp edge, like my last one, with a sharp tip.
Percy claimed the golden one. It was double sided and leaf-shaped, like Riptide. The gold gleamed in the sunlight, making it look like it was on fire. Nico claimed black one, obviously. It was also double sided but looked more like a knight's sword. The tip was a triangle, and the edges were sharp and straight, unlike him. The bow had silver decals on it, resembling the moon and skeletons. There wasn't a quiver, so that might prove to be a problem, but I still couldn't complain. I liked my sword.
The moment we picked them up the ground rumbled. Percy and I were instantly on guard, while Nico and Bianca took a second or two longer. Out of nowhere, a minitour, three hellhounds, and two empousai. "Up the hill!" Percy yelled. We turned and ran up the hill. I went faster than the others, don't know why. I always thought I was half satyr from my ability to climb up faster than others. When I was at the peak, I turned around and helped Bianca climb up the rest of the way. Once there, I heard the horn sound, signaling the camp that we were here.
The monsters charged us still, coming up the hill much faster than we did. We backed up until we were on flatter ground, and we braced ourselves. The second a monster was in sight, I saw Bianca pull back on her bowstring, and an arrow appeared. She quickly aimed and fired, hitting a hellhound in the head. It fell and started to turn to dust. Percy hid Estelle in a spot I'm sure he was monitoring, and charged the minotaur, so I took that as my signal to fight the vampire ladies. I dodged to the side of one's claws and slashed at her, cutting off her hand. She screamed before the other came up and tried to bite into my neck. I ducked under her and she went over my back. I used her momentum to my advantage and threw her off me and into the minotaur's swinging ax, which killed her. I made quick work of the last one, and turned to see Nico finishing off the last hellhound and Percy stabbing the Minotaur in the neck from behind. The monsters turned to dust.
"Not fainting this time, Percy?" A voice snickered. We turned to see a blonde boy with blue eyes standing at the camp entrance. He was holding a bow with an arrow notched. Several campers in armor were behind him, all at ease.
"Not this time, Lee," Percy smiled. He walked up to the blond boy, Lee, and hugged him.
"You have a lot of explaining," the other boy murmured. Percy nodded. When they parted, he waved the rest of us up before getting Estelle.
"Lee, this is Michael, a brother of sorts," I waved, "and this is my little sister Estelle. Bianca and Nico Di Angelo, unclaimed. Michael and I are unclaimed as well."
"So, Michael is a son of Poseidon?" The blond asked quietly. Percy shook his head.
"As you said, I have a lot of explaining to do," Percy smirked. "Come on, let's go into camp. Walking across New York makes me hungry." Lee and I laughed. Lee guided us into the camp, and we pretended to be in awe of everything. We saw a few familiar faces, but there were some who I didn't recognize. Lee led us into the Big House, where Dionysus was sitting.
"Ah, Lindsey," Dionysus said without looking up from his magazine. "Who are these young ones?"
"Mr. D, this is Percy and Estelle Jackson, Michael..."
"Triest," I answered.
"And this is Bianca and Nico Di Angelo. They are new demigods." Lee explained.
"You are quite old to just be coming to camp," Dionysus observed lazily. "You all look to be 17."
"We are," Percy said. "Michael and I were raised together and Bianca and Nico are twins. Estelle is my baby sister."
"Another pair of twin demigods," Dionysus said, showing the littlest bit of interest. "Very rare. That makes two pairs of twins in camp."
"Sorry, but what are demigods?" Nico asked even though he knew. He seemed to be a surprisingly good actor.
"Has it by been explained?" The god asked. Lee shook his head. "Well, children, you are half god. Half Greek god to be specific."
"Greek gods are real?" Bianca asked incredulously. Dionysus nodded listlessly.
"Awesome," I grinned. "Is this whole camp for demigods?" Dionysus nodded again. "So we will have more siblings?"
"Am I not enough for you?" Percy asked, trying to sound offended.
"I've known you my whole life," I said dismissively. "Estelle, on the other hand, I like so far. So the Greek gods are real? Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, the whole deal?"
"Yes, but do not call them by their names," Dionysus warned. "Names have power."
"Is dinner soon?" Percy suddenly asked. The rest of us laughed.
"Yes," Dionysus grumbled. "Laundry, can you lead them to the pavilion?"
"Sure thing, Mr. D," Lee agreed. "Come on, maybe you will be claimed once you get there."
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We were not claimed at dinner, but we did find out some valuable information. Apparently, Alex was taking Percy's place. And he had already done a quest. Almost fully successfully. He had retrieved the Lightning Bolt from Ares, accusing Hades in the process and almost losing his life, and was almost killed by Zeus later. Annabeth and Grover went with him, and now he was on a second quest. Well, he snuck onto it. It was actually Clarisse's quest, but he and Annabeth and Tyson and Grover has gone after her and was probably with her on the island by now.
Travis told me some more news in the Hermes cabin, where we were to sleep until we were claimed. Well, Percy was sleeping in the Big House with Estelle. Chiron apparently had a spare room with a crib for the baby. Who knew? It was also for us so that we don't get woken up by Estelle in the middle of the night. Actually, Percy keeps waking me up whenever she needs a diaper change, but I still did it. She was growing on me.
Alex wasn't like Percy in the least. He was almost killed by Zeus for demanding a thank you for all his 'hard work'. Alex thought he was entitled to fame and glory for being a son of the Big Three. He really wasn't.
During the time the questers were gone, Percy introduced me to a bunch of people: Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, Michael Yew, Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, and Castor Rani. The only other people who were dead that we had remember were Lee, Bianca, and a girl named Zoe. Bianca told me that Zoe was the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. That meant for me to watch out. I knew Artemis was tolerant of me, but that didn't mean her huntresses were.
The ones that were alive that we had remember were Lou Ellen, the Stolls, Katie, Clarisse, Chris, Pollux, Will, Malcolm, and five gods. Thalia was still a tree so not much could be done about that.
Fun fact about current Will; he's the exact same age as when we left him. I guess this was one of the surprises that Chaos had mentioned.
Clarisse was first to come back a week after we arrived. She came back with the Golden Fleece and was immediately told to put it on Thalia's tree. Apparently, someone had poisoned it. Michael Yew, another son of Apollo, told me that the person who did it was named Lace Wheat, a son of Hermes. An hour or so later, Chiron showed up with Annabeth, Grover, and Alex. Alex tried to claim credit for the quest but was shut down immediately by Clarisse, who actually came back with the fleece.
"Who are you?" Alex asked scornfully when he saw me and Percy for the first time.
"I'm Michael, who are you?" I shot back. He flushed angrily.
"I'm Alex, the only son of Poseidon." He taunted. "The most powerful demigod to ever live."
"I highly doubt that," Percy mused.
"What would you know?" Alex snapped.
"I know that out of all the gods, Hestia is the best." Percy grinned.
"Who's Hestia?"
"Of course he doesn't know the most powerful goddess," I said to Percy. "Such an uncultured swine."
"Whatever that means," Percy agreed. "Come on, bro. Let's go get food with some people who actually know who Hestia is." The two of us walked away, leaving the little son of Poseidon to growl.
The next day, things got interesting. It was lunchtime, and Travis and I were talking about would win in a fight: Percy with a lightsaber, or Anakin Skywalker with a lightsaber. I was finally beginning to convince Travis that Percy would win when a bright flash lit up the area around us. When it cleared, many gasps were heard.
"All hail," Chiron started. "Percy and Estelle Jackson, children of Aether, the primordial of upper air and light, and Michael Triest, son of Erebus, primordial god of darkness." I looked at Percy and grinned. He grinned right back.
"Where are we gonna sit?" I asked, looking to the centaur.
"Percy could sit with us, Chiron." Lee offered. "And Michael could fit with the Hermes cabin right now." Chiron nodded. He might've been in shock, I don't know. Dionysus was looking at us with interest, which was never a good sign.
I stood up, telling Travis that we would resume our debate later, and walked over to the Apollo table, deciding that if Percy wasn't going to go sit there, I might as well. He didn't come only because he was sitting next to a Hermes girl named Maddie who was holding and feeding Estelle.
When lunch was over, Percy and I were transferring his stuff from the Hermes cabin to the Apollo cabin. Percy was still technically staying in the Big House, but his stuff would still be at his chosen bunk. After we had done that, we walked out to see an unusual sight. Alex was standing there, backed up by several Ares campers.
"What's up?" I asked casually, sticking my hands in my jean pockets. Percy leaned against the cabin door, waiting to see what happened. Estelle was currently being watched by Nico, Will, Silena, and Katie.
"We're here to get rid of you," Alex stated smugly. I looked back at Percy. He shrugged.
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen," I said, turning back around to face Alex and his goons.
"You don't get a say in this," Alex snarled. "Once you're out, then we'll take care of your little friends. The Di Angelo's." My fists clenched. I heard Percy stand up straight behind me.
"Excuse me?" I inquired cautiously. I took my hands out of my pockets, still clenched. Alex smirked, knowing he had struck a nerve.
"I said," he repeated, "that we are going to run you out. Then we are going to do the same to those other freaks you call friends." Blinded by anger, I lashed out, grabbing the boy by his throat. He started choking, grasping my hands.
"You," I growled, "will not touch them." I let go and pushed him away. His goons caught him. They pushed him back and he came at me with his fist. I ducked, flipping him over my back, and kicked him away. Hard. He soared all the way to where Percy was. Percy dived out of the way as Alex crashed into the cabin, slumping to the ground afterward. I turned back around in time to get a fist in my face. I stumbled back, gripping my jaw. I must've looked pretty murderous because the guy who had hit me backed up a step. I leaped at him, slamming my fist into his face. I felt a crack and guessed that I had broken his nose. I whirled around, bring my elbow to his temple, and he crumpled. I backed up as the other five or six Ares kids all drew their swords.
"Michael!" I heard Lee call from behind me. I spun around to catch a bow and quiver of arrows. I looked at him questioningly. He shrugged and pointed behind me. I dodged to the left, narrowly missing a sword in my arm. I swung the quiver over my shoulder, took out an arrow and notched it. I prayed to Artemis as I aimed at one of the Ares kids and let go. The arrow struck him in the leg. I was aiming for the stomach, but I'll take what I can get. I twisted to the left as another swordsman came at my right. I plucked another arrow from the quiver as I hopped to the right as another camper came up to me. I twirled the arrow in my fingers before bringing the arrowhead down on the kid's shoulder. He let out a pained grunt. I sidestepped out of his swing before swinging my bow like a baseball bat at his head. He fell to the ground after it hit him in the temple.
I jumped back as the second to last lunged at me. I brought my foot up and kicked his sword arm. The sword clattered to the ground. I pulled another arrow out and stabbed him in the hand before he could grab his sword. He cried out before he joined his brothers unconscious on the ground. A crowd had gathered by now. I took my arrow out of the guy's hand and notched it, staring at the last kid dead in the eye. He looked over to Alex, who was limping over. Wimp, I barely did anything to him.
The last Ares kid shook his head. "I ain't doing this," he said and stepped back. I smirked. I aimed my arrow at Alex, whose eyes widened.
"I'll have you know," I taunted, "that I'm new to this. My aim isn't really good, so there's a chance I could hit you in between the eyes. You wanna risk it?" Alex looked like he was about to retort when a voice interrupted him.
"What is going on?" I let my grip on the bow and arrow slacken and stood at ease.
"Well, Chiron, I was just showing Alex and others how hard it would be to run me and my brother out of camp," I replied nonchalantly. "I must say though, I little more practice with a bow, and I'd be golden. Shooting arrows is fun, and there are so many more ways to use them in close combat."
"Ah, well," the centaur said awkwardly. "The cabins are no place to fight. If you want to fight, please go to the arena." I shrugged.
"That sounds like a good place for training," I responded. I stabbed the bloody arrow into the ground before walking up to Lee. "Do you think you could train me, Lee?" He grinned at me.
"Consider yourself in training." He decided.