Chapter 2 so soon? Yes because I'm just that nice. And I'm trying to make up for the fact I still need to finish writing the chapter for Life Goes on. Anyways I really hope you like it. I know a lot of dialogue is from the Lightening thief but I think Percy's sarcastic commentary lightens the load. And don't worry not everything will be the same. The next chapter is Capture the flag so the ore reviews\comments the faster I upload it. Anyways read away and have fun.
Percy P.o.v
Camp Half-Blood was both the same and different from what I remember. I hadn't been home in over eight months but still, the lack of demigods and minor cabins made my heart feel heavy. As Chiron and I walked around people watched me and whispered behind my back and honestly remembering what I did I couldn't blame them. I should have died by the minotaur's hands but I got lucky. It seemed that most of my accomplishments were based on luck and I wondered when luck would finally fail me. Didn't it already? I mean I did just die like an hour ago. At least I'm pretty sure I did.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the curtains in the attic of the big house move. I was overcome with a feeling of being watched and not just from the surrounding demigods. I looked up trying to see who was up there but they were gone. Remembering this specific scenario from 6 years ago I turned to Chiron.
"What's up there?" I asked.
He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."
"Somebody lives there?"
"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."
Chiron was pretty clever. What he said was the truth because the oracle was very much mummified but still.
"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."
We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe. I lingered in the peaceful area just a little longer than necessary
Chiron explained why we grew strawberries and how they covered everything. I tuned him out a little more busy mulling over what being 12 years old again meant. The last 6 years of my life have virtually vanished and I'm nothing more than a scrawny kid with daddy issues and a supposed dead mother. My life was a mess.
"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron trying to distract myself. "He was a good protector. Really. I wouldn't be here without him" everything I said was true over had really helped me.
Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper, and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."
"But he did that!"
"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."
I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble. I was naive and stupid and would never purposefully jeopardize everything my best friend worked hard for.
"He'll get a second chance, won't he?" I continued playing along and took comfort in the fact Grover would eventually succeed in his goal.
Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age... ."
Thalia was still a tree how could I forget that important detail.
"How old is he?
"Oh, twenty-eight."
"What! And he's in sixth grade?" I said fainting surprise.
"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years." I've been the equivalent of a sarcastic ass demigod for the past 6 years. I got into so much trouble.
"That's horrible."
"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career... ."
"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"
Yes very very bad but it wasn't Grover's fault.
Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"
"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that is real ..."
"Yes, child?"
"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"
Chiron's expression darkened. Hook, line, and sinker.
"Yes, child." He paused as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."
"What do you mean, 'until we know more?"
"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods." It occurred to me Chiron liked to change the subject a lot.
I stared into the woods wondering if Juniper was out there somewhere.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?" Stocked with monsters and armed with weapons. Duh Percy, you know this.
"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
Chiron I'm 12 and just learned greek gods exist what the hell do you think?
"My own—?"
"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."
We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.
"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.
"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall." Just throwing that out there like that. No wonder 12 year old me was fucking terrified. And for the record cabin challengers were lethal especially if it involved the Ares cabin. Someone lost an arm last time.
Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. They would need a lot more eventually.
"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.
Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to let it go but in the back of my head, I wondered why he didn't just explain the weird powers camp had. If people explained things to me I would have been a lot better off and not a walking idiot.
Finally, he showed me the cabins and again my heart ached as I looked around. It felt so odd without the other cabins. Not to mention the Hermes cabin looked a mess. In my time they had finally fixed it up and with Annaeth's help renovated it to make it bigger. Unclaimed demigods no longer stayed in the Hermes cabin they had a home in a separate Cabin everyone had dubbed the halfway house.
I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.
It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"
As if my own father would blast me. besides, I missed my cabin. I hadn't seen it since the night Hera kidnapped me.
"Come along, Percy." And so I left cabin three behind promising to return.
As we passed Cabin five I saw Clarisse and almost waved before I remembered she didn't know and still hated me.
I kept walking. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed naively.
"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."
"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."
He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."
"But, shouldn't you be dead?" Shouldn't I be dead?
Chiron paused as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."
I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.
"Doesn't it ever get boring?"
"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
"Why depressing?"
Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.
"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us." I dropped the topic in favor of letting my heart try to tap dance away. My wise girl.
Annabeth sat on the steps of Cabin 11 pretending to be emersed in a book but I had spent enough time around her she was simply listening and watching her surroundings.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."
Annabeth stood and waited for Chiron to Trott away before I said what I had been thinking since
I woke up.
"What the actual fuck?" Annabeth snorted but ran a hand through her hair tiredly.
"Tell me about it."
"How did we get here?" Annabeth was the one with all the answers and I prayed with every fiber in my body she could explain this cluster fuck of a fiasco.
"The fates sent us." She said this as if it were normal. As if the fates sent people back in time on the regular.
"WHAT do you mean the fates sent us?!" I whisper screeched causing Annabeth to smack me.
"Shut up. Now if you would let me explain I will tell you what happened." I looked at her waiting for her to explain.
"Okay so after we, you know died. I woke up in an all-white room and let's just say I was freaked out. Then the fates appeared and I was like what did Percy do." I made a noise in protest but let Annabeth continue. "The fates said that they would have spoken to you but they didn't have time for you snark or attitude and being the impertinent Demigod you were you might have said no." I couldn't argue with this but I'd like to think I would have given the Fates some respect.
"They wanted me to choose people to send back with me to help fix our timeline and prevent the world from ending. I could only choose 12 people and even then I had to choose carefully. They warned me our time travel could not be broadcasted because our enemies would know and whoever we told had to be sworn to secrecy. We could change things but the first prophecy would still be about you and would still happen in 4 years. I think our biggest concern is Gaea and getting the gods to fight with us this time." I nodded before going back to what she said before.
"Who did you choose?"
" Well, you clearly. Thalia but she's still a tree so we'll need the golden fleece to wake her up. Nico because we need as much fighting power as possible but I couldn't bring Nico back and not Bianca so her too. The fates said she'll only know as much as she did before she died though. The rest of the seven so we should be expecting Piper and Leo within the next couple of days. Jason is at Camp Jupiter and I've already I-rise messaged him and he'll find Frank while keeping us informed about the Roman demigods. Nico will need to get Hazel but first, we need to get him and Bianca. Next, I chose Will because we need a medic who won't ask questions. Don't worry he's playing it safe and is honestly just happy to be with his brothers again. Rachel obviously because she's our Oracle and the faster she gets to camp the sooner we can get rid of the mummy. Last but not least I chose Zoe because we need as much help as we can get and Zoe can get Artemis and the hunters on our side. Not to mention Bianca will probably join the hunters again and at least this time someone is watching out for her. I'm hoping Thalia won't join the hunters this time at least not until after the wars because it would be great to have her around."
I was surprised Annabeth had thought this all through but then again no I wasn't she thought everything through. We had enough people in enough places to always be informed. Jason and Frank were in California and would be able to update us on rising Titans and keep an eye on Atlas. Zoe and soon Bianca would be in the hunt with Artemis and could give us updates on Olympus and monster progression. Will was our medic and basically thrived on camp gossip so he can help figure out who was working for Kronos. Piper had charm speak, Leo had bunker nine, Rachel was our oracle and could get us anything we needed in the mortal world, Thalia and Nico were fighters and both were favorites of certain gods. Not to mention Annabeth was our strategist. Everyone on our team bought something to the table and helped guarantee our win. At that moment I couldn't be happier to call all of them my friends.
"Yeah, it would be good to have Thalia around. I think you made the right decision by picking who you did. We have a lot of work ahead of us though. We can pick Bianca and Nico up on our way to get the master bolt but we might have to wait to wake Thalia up. Although the first things first what are we going to do about Luke?" I hesitated to broach the topic. Luke has been a sore topic for a long time and now we might have a chance to save him. I just hope he isn't too far gone yet.
Annabeth seemed to age before my eyes and thought a long while before she spoke up.
"I'm not sure Percy. All we can do right now is talk to him and try to persuade him to leave Kronos alone. He's already given the bolt to Ares so even if he does come back to us in the eyes of Olympus he'll have committed treason if they found out. Ares wouldn't keep that to himself." I nodded and sighed.
Stepping forward I gave Annabeth a hard hug because we both needed it. Currently, we were both the same height but I knew she would reach her growth spurt before me. Gods I did not want to be shorter than my girlfriend.
"Love you, Seaweed Brain."
"Love you too Wise Girl." Letting go I have her a big smile which she returned before we turned to the Hermes Cabin and finally decided to make ou way in. Annabeth went in first and I followed behind her.
This time I did not trip on my way in and was so entirely thankful to not have anyone laughing at me.
Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven.
"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.
Annabeth said, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned.
Luke came forward and I sucked in a breath. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
He was nineteen again and he looked healthy. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. Of course, he still had the familiar thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice wavered just a little. I glanced over and gave her a supportive smile. She saw me looking, and relaxed. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" I asked.
"You're undetermined," Luke 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."
I looked at the tiny section of the floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about how sad it was. Cabins here had nobody in them but here the Hermes cabin was bursting at the seams. It wasn't fair to anyone especially Hermes' own children.
I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.
"How long will I be here?" I asked.
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?" A week.
The campers all laughed.
"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you around the volleyball court." Good idea I couldn't stay here even if I wanted too
"Okay." I went to step forward but of course, with my luck tripped.
"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.
When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Wow Percy some things never change do they?"
"Oh, shut up" I shoved Annabeth causing her to laugh and push me back. I grabbed her hand and swung it as we walked.
"I missed the world not ending around us."
" Same," I told her looking around. "It's good to finally be able to breathe if only for a few days." Camp was nice. I saw Silena a little ways off holding hands with Beckonford and almost couldn't wait for Piper and Leo to get here. They would love their siblings and this time they wouldn't need to ever say goodbye.
"We need to draw up a plan and fast. We might know what to expect this time but that doesn't mean much when we still have a bunch of Titans to fight. On top of that if we just go around expecting everything and spilling information the gods will get suspicious. We should tell Chiron." I looked at Annabeth genuinely surprised and slightly nervous. I wonder how well that conversation would end.
"Tell him now?"
"No," Annabeth said quickly but it still took her a minute to give me a complete answer due to her thinking it through. "We can tell Chiron after the quest for the master bolt when we bring Nico and Bianca back. If we tell him sooner it might jeopardize us going on the quest altogether. I only wish we didn't have to include Grover in this. If we don't tell him I'll feel bad and he'll get suspicious anyway. If we do tell him he'll probably freak out."
I furrowed my eyebrows and thought about what would be the best thing to do. We could leave Grover and take Will instead-but Will was a healer, not a fighter. Besides, it wouldn't feel right to lead my best friend out of a life-changing quest.
" We'll tell him after we leave for the quest. That way he'll have time to freak out and by the time we get to Vegas, he should be fine. We have the empty link so he'll know I'm telling the truth."
Before Annabeth could respond we were interrupted.
A husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"
How could I forget about our little initiation?
I looked over to find Clarisse sauntering toward us. She had three of her sisters behind her.
"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"
Annabeth's lips twitched and I knew she didn't actually want Clarisse gone. She was enjoying herself.
"Sure, Miss Princess," the Clarrise said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."
''Erre es karakas!" Annabeth said, which was Greek for 'Go to the crows!'
"You don't stand a chance."
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. She knew full well what Annabeth was capable was, we all did. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"
"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."
I blinked. "Like the war god?"
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
No not with you just your dad.
"No," I answered. "It explains the bad smell."
I smirked and Annabeth facepalmed. What can I say some things never get old.
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
I didn't correct her this time just simply raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say but it was totally noncommittal. Gee thanks Wise Girl.
"Stay out of it, wise girl." Hey, only I could call her that.
Annabeth stayed out of it. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep...again.
I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn I was still carrying around and allowed Clarisse to grab me by the neck and drag me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.
I was kicking and punching. It wasn't as hard as I could but I decided to put up the pretenses of a fight. Annabeth followed behind silently and I fiddly thought about what awaited Clarrise and her friends.
Clarisse's friends were all laughing.
"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking." If only you knew.
Her friends snickered.
Annabeth stood in the corner, watching.
Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.
I felt a familiar tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing anyone knew Clarrise was screaming bloody murder.
I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall. This time I sprayed her friends as well and was careful not to get Annabeth.
Clarisse struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away. I snorted.
Only Annabeth and I remained dry nothing else being spared.
We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."
"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse?" I asked, "Close your mouth."
Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.
Annabeth burst out laughing and I soon followed.
" Your such a Seaweed Brain." she gasped with tears in her eyes.
" I know" Looking up Annabeth suddenly put on a serious look.
"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."
I grinned so hard my face hurt. Annabeth's eyes danced with mirth.
Maybe not everything was so bad.