Percy Jackson

I continued to do not great at most activities. Foot racing? I was slower than the nymphs. I was bad at wrestling the one time I tried it.

Did it help that I was matched with Clarisse? Not really. She pinned me almost immediately, and immediately, I could feel my throat close up as a wave of panic rose through my chest as I realized that I couldn't do this.

At least the ref didn't make me suffer for long.

"There's more where that came from, punk." Clarisse said with a certain tone to her voice that sounded eerily similar to my step-father late at night when Mom isn't home.

I need to get out of here.

Scanning the room, I could see the rest of cabin 11 sitting on the benches or on other wrestling mats, either bickering with or wrestling with kids from cabin 5.

Maybe if I get some water... The water was around the corner.

I think it's in the hall. I'm pretty sure the water fountain was around the corner in the hall.

Looking at my feet as I walked, trying to steady my breathing, I walked towards the hallway and I got out of the door and I walked and if I can make it to the water fountain, even if my knees are starting to wobble-

SLAM.

My knees gave out from under me, like a rug was swept away, and my ass hit the ground.

Is he here?

But he's not a demigod. I tried to reason with myself as my breaths became heavy. And even if he was, there's no way he could drive here. You destroyed his Camaro.

Taxis exist, though. I argued back. He could've realized that you destroyed his precious car and now he's here to-

"Percy?"

Snapping my head up, I saw Luke standing a few feet away from me, near the door I must've walked through to get to where I am now.

When did I get here?

Why am I...?

SLAM.

I flinched.

He's here.

"Percy, hey." Luke rushed towards me, and kneeled down to try and provide physical comfort that I immediately pulled away from because it shouldn't be that hard for people to understand that I don't want to be touched, but I have to remind them constantly.

When I put my hand on my arm, I realized that Luke sounded concerned because not only was I on the ground, but I was shaking.

"Oh, right, sorry, you don't like being touched." Luke reminded himself out loud, putting his hands in his lap. "Did something happen during your match? Are you hurt? Do you want me to bring you to the infirmary?"

Frantically, I shook my head.

"Please... Don't... Get anyone else... Involved." I managed between breaths. "I'm fine, I'm... I'm fine, I-"

SLAM.

He's right behind me.

Trying to shrink into myself, I craned my neck down and hoped that the shaking would stop, even though I knew it wouldn't.

I heard a man speak and then I heard footsteps and I was surprised it wasn't followed up by the sound of leather hitting itself. By a can being crushed.

By a bottle being broken.

I heard footsteps that weren't followed by anything. Initially.

After a while, what could've been five minutes or fifty, i heard those same footsteps getting closer now with hooves following at a similar pace- rushed, but not running.

"Percy? Percy, hey, it's just me, it's Grover, it's okay." My best friends voice sounded distant, but I could feel his hand on my shoulder- a hand much smaller than Gabe's. "it's alright, it's just Luke and me right now. What's going on? Do you know why you're shaking?"

"I-" before I could start to form an answer, there was another slam that made me jump and recoil into myself.

He's angry.

"Is it the loud noise?" My best friend questioned. "Are you overstimulated and the loud noises are making it worse?"

But I wasn't even overstimulated- I was just paralyzed in fear and having a panic attack, so I shook my head, desperately trying to still feel Grover's hand on my shoulder.

I know it's there but I can't... Feel it.

Hoping it'd help ground me, I moved my left hand so it'd be over my right shoulder (where Grover's hand was), but within microseconds of making contact with his hand, I realized how bad of an idea it was to make that kind of physical contact.

At least I knew the hand was still there.

The slamming must've stopped for some reason, because eventually I was cognisant of my real life surroundings again, and realized, unmoving, that Grover eventually went from giving my shoulder a squeeze to holding my hands.

When did we start holding hands?

Has he done that before when I have... Moments? Panic attacks, breakdowns, episodes, whatever you want to call them.

I don't remember him doing that.

Not that it was a bad thing but... It must be bad if he feels the need to do it in order to comfort me.

"Where... Where did Luke go?" I asked Grover, pulling my arms back into myself as I sat up a bit more. Grover frowned, though I wasn't sure why.

"He left a little bit ago to help wrap up everything in the wrestling room, which is why the slamming noises stopped." My best friend answered. "Are you okay? You were out of it for a while there. You were also shaking."

I nodded my head, which was a lie.

"Let's head outside." Grover suggested when I didn't give more of an answer.

I nodded my head again and accepted help from my half goat friend to stand up.

My knees still wobbled, but didn't seem to threaten giving out for now.

For the remainder of the afternoon Grover brought me to a place on the lake to relax in the sand where there weren't many people.

I tried to ignore the looks a lot of kids in cabin 11 gave me when I joined them again before dinner, but that was harder said than done. Especially when Luke approached me after I got back and had sat down in my little area against the wall.

"Hey, welcome back," the son of Hermes said with a smile as he sat down near me. "Feeling better? You were out of it for a while."

I just nodded my head.

"I guess my dad isn't Ares." I said as a half joke. "If he is, i doubt he'll ever claim me."

"Hey, maybe you're a Hermes kid," Luke suggested. "Jack of all trades, master of none."

But I'm pretty sure he was just trying to make me feel less shitty about the days events and the fact that I have no idea who my dad is, just who he isn't.

"Maybe."

"Can I ask about what happened earlier today?" Not dwelling on the topic, Luke exposed his real motive behind talking to me. "were you just overstimulated or did something happen? Nobody hurt you, did they? I know Clarisse can get... Intense sometimes, she didn't hurt you, did she?"

Sighing, I looked down.

I don't want to be here.

"Not... No, she played by the rules," I recalled. "She didn't do anything wrong, but it was just... Being put in a head lock and then there was a lot of loud noise and slamming and yelling and I just needed to step away from it, so I went to get water, but then I fell and... Yeah."

There was a beat of silence.

"Then you found me."

But I don't want to know how much worse it might be if I go home.

"Okay. Has that happened before?"

I shrugged, not wanting to go into it.

"Not often."

Thankfully, he took the hint.

"I see," Luke responded. "Well if there's anything me or the old man can do, let us know, alright? I know you don't want me telling anyone, so I haven't mentioned it to him, but still."

The counselor hesitated as a new thought entered his mind.

"You're not supposed to be taking any meds, are you?" He asked. "We can send Argus to a pharmacy if we need to, he does it once a week already. "

"Am I- no." I insisted, hearing the horn for dinner go off. "I've never gone to the doctor about it before and even if they diagnosed me, it's not like we could afford the meds."

Is it sad that I knew that? Maybe.

The look Luke gave as he stood up made me think that it might be bad that I was aware of that sort of thing at my age.

It's hard not to be aware, though. Walls are thin. My parents usually saved those conversations for after I went to bed- but I wasn't actually asleep for most of them.

When I was 6, before Gabe started drinking, his doctor prescribed him a medication for stress or something like that (I was 6, cut me some slack) and he was only on it for less than a year before he couldn't do it anymore because we couldn't afford it. When I was 8 or 9 we found out that Mom was pregnant, which was super exciting because I always wanted a younger sibling and I still kind of do.

But they found out like, super late, that Mom miscarried and she still has to give birth to the kid.

To a kid that never got to live.

A kid they still had to pay the medical bill for that I think they're still paying.

They never tried to have a kid after that. That was Gabe's final straw.

His best friend dying was definitely a tipping point, but that was during Mom's pregnancy and so he still had some hope that he was going to be a dad, like, biologically, so he could put all of his energy into the kid.

And then the kid died and he was inconsolable.

Ever since then, we've mostly been living paycheck to paycheck. Montauk trips aren't nearly as often, and they're shorter.

My parents don't think that I've noticed, buts it's hard not to.

If Gabe loses my mom...

I've been here for two days and I already was starting to understand Luke's bitterness towards the gods. Or at least, towards Hermes, his dad.

Sure, maybe gods have important things to do, but why can't picking up a phone be one of those things? Dionysus can make diet coke appear out of thin air, why can't the others make sure that their former lovers and kids can live comfortably?

They're gods. That doesn't feel like too much to ask for.

I'm not saying that my dad should be paying child support (well, I kind of am), but making random nice surprises happen: the utility bill is cheaper now, there's a random extra coupon that we found, I got a scholarship for a school that costs money, etc... Can't be that hard for a god to do.

"Come on," Luke interrupted my thoughts as he stood up and the rest of the cabin started to gather. "Let's go eat."

•••

The next afternoon, Thursday, my third day at camp, I learned that I wasn't awful at sword fighting.

The part of that that sucked was not being to find a sword that felt balanced, though. The one I settled with felt slightly too long and heavy, but it at least fit in my hand okay. Luke said that I might grow into it, even if it didn't work perfectly now.

Thankfully, even though he was the instructor, Luke said he'd be my partner when we started to work in pairs.

One of the guys wished me luck, saying Luke was one of the best swordsman in camp.

I said that he might go easy on me.

The kid laughed.

Rightfully so, actually. He definitely wasn't going full out, but he was going more intently than he needed to with somebody who's never had a lesson before today. He'd tell me what to do before attacking and then I'd do it correctly but in the wrong spot and he'd hit me and it hurt.

A lot.

By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat and everyone was surrounding the water fountain. Looking over, I noticed Luke dump some water on his head so I did, too, and it instantly made me feel better. I got another burst of energy and almost forgot that I needed to also drink some water if I didn't want to faint.

"Alright, everyone, gather around!" Luke called before motioning me to come up by him, which felt like an awful idea. "If Percy doesn't mind, I'd like to give you guys a demo."

Great. I initially thought. Let's all watch Percy get pummeled.

But what was I going to do? Say no?

No.

I walked up to where Luke stood with my sword.

Once I was next to him, Luke started to explain a de-arming technique. After he summarized it once, he had me hold my sword out so he could demonstrate it in slow motion and talk through it until- sure enough- my sword skiddered away. As I retrieved my weapon he repeated himself a little faster about how to twist the enemies blade with the flat of your own to make theirs drop.

"This is difficult," Luke insisted as I walked back over to the group. "I've had it used against me before. No laughing at Percy, now, most swordmen take years to master this. In a real match, or real life, we'd go until one of us performs this move. Ready, Percy?"

We're sparring?

I barely know how to perry!

I've always learned by doing rather than hearing, though, so I guess I was doing It. I nodded my head and we started.

Somehow, I was able to prevent him getting a shot at my hilt, and the further we went, the more my senses seemed to open. I could detect his moves and see what he was about to do before he did it. After a few minutes, Luke narrowed his eyes and his expression changed slightly before he started to press harder and I struggled a bit more, but still evaded his attacks.

After a few more minutes, my sword not being balanced was starting to get to me and it was getting heavy. I knew I didn't have much more time left, another 30 seconds at best, so I was trying to think of what I could do to not be totally embarrassed by this when I saw the opening.

Looking at it, time almost froze, and I thought what the heck?

I tried to disarming maneuver, not expecting it to work, but hoping it'd at least throw him off his rhythm to give me a few more seconds.

The flat of my blade hit the hilt of Luke's sword and I twisted, putting my while bodyweight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword clattered to the ground, leaving my sword within an inch of Luke's chest- currently unarmored.

Silence fell over the group as I looked at my sword, up at Luke, who seemed as shocked as the rest of us were, and back to my sword.

I lowered my sword.

"Um... Sorry."

I wanted to rip my vocal chords out.

"Sorry?" Luke repeated, coming to his senses. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

I didn't want to- the brief burst of energy and clarity had drained me, but Luke insisted.

This time, there was no competition. Almost as soon as our swords made contact, Luke was able to disarm me and send my too heavy sword across the floor.

After a long pause, one of the kids in the audience suggested, "Beginners luck?"

"Maybe..." Luke raised an eyebrow, unsure. "But I wonder what you could do with a balanced sword..."

•••

Friday afternoon I'd been sitting with Grover at the lake resting after a nearly failed attempt at the hellish contraption they call the climbing wall.

Naturally, being half goat, Grover climbed up with no problem. I, on the other hand, had a few holes in my shirt from lava spraying. The hairs on my forearm were singed off, and if I had any chest hair before, I definitely didn't now.

We'd been sitting and watching the naiads basket weave for a while until I got up the nerve to ask him how the conversation with Mr. D went after I woke up.

His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.

"Fine." He said. "Just great."

"So your career is still on track?"

"C-" my best friend stuttered. "Chiron told you I want my searchers license?"

"Well, no," I clarified, not sure what a searchers license would even be. Maybe searching for new species? Or checking in on ones that are almost extinct? "He just said that you had big dreams and that you needed to like, get credit to complete with a protector assignment. So did you get it?"

Grover looked down at the naiads.

"Mr. D suspended judgement." He explained. "he said that the current one isn't done yet. Our fates are still tied together. If you got a quest and I went with and we both came back alive, he'd call it a success but..."

"But...? That sounds like good news, Grover. Or, not bad, at the very least right?"

Grover chuckled.

"He basically transferred me to stable cleaning duty. Percy, the chances of you getting a quest..." Grover began. "And even if you got one, why would you want me along?"

"Of course I'd want you along!" I insisted, nudging my best friend, intruiged by the idea of our fates being tied together.

It sounded like something you'd say during your vows.

Grover just stared glumly into the water. "It must be nice to have a useful skill."

I tried to reassure him that he had a lot of useful skills, but it just seemed to make him more depressed, do I finally changed the topic to ask about the cabins. Mr. D's kids kind if explained why we have four empty cabins, but I'd taken in so much information my first day that I couldn't remember and it was topic that seemed easy for Grover to talk about after we weighed the pros of cons of each god as a dad seeing as I could canoe and fight with a sword so far.

"So the first three cabins are always empty," I said. "Are they the Big Three you guys reference then?"

"Hm? Oh, no! Two of them are, cabins 1 and 3- Zeus and Poseidon, but cabin 2 is Hera. She doesn't have any kids since she's the god of marriage." Grover explained. "The Big Three are those two and then Hades. The most powerful of the Olympians."

"But Hades doesn't have a cabin."

"He doesn't have a throne, either, it would be... Odd if he did."

Not wanting to question the stigma against Hades right now, I brought into question the other thing that's been bothering me.

"But Poseidon and Zeus had like, a million kids in the myths." I asked. "Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover looked down.

"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the two of them and Hades made an oath on the Styx to never have children with a mortal again to prevent a war of that scale from happening again." He explained to me. "So far, Hades and Poseidon seem to have kept their promise, but around 17 years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. Some TV starlet with an 80s hairdo got his attention and he couldn't help himself. When their daughter, Thalia was born... Styx is serious about broken oaths. Zeus got off easy since he's immortal, but made an awful fate for his daughter."

"But that's not fair," I insisted. "She didn't ask to be born. It's not her fault."

"She didn't," Grover agreed, leaning against me. "But children of the big three are a lot more powerful than most demigods, and their scents to monsters are a lot stronger. When Hades heard about Thalia, he sent monsters after her. All three Kindly Ones and a pack of hellhounds had been chasing her and her protector, not to mention the two other demigods that were with at the time. It was too much, she... Thalia insisted that the others get across the border while she stayed behind to fight the monsters."

He paused.

"She died on the hill," he pointed out the tallest pine tree that currently stood on the hill. "Zeus took pity and turned her into a tree to protect the camp. That's why it's called Half Blood Hill. That's why we have the protective border now. Because she died."

I stared at the pine tree in the distance, slowly realizing who Thalia's protector would've been. I didn't know how to respond.

The story left me feeling empty. Guilty. Suddenly my victory against the Minotaur didn't feel so big.

Could i have saved my mother if I acted differently?

"Grover?" I asked softly. "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes." My best friend confirmed for me. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

"Houdini?"

I didn't allow myself to dwell on the fun fact.

"Anyways," I focused on what I wanted to know. "Have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

Grover pulled away slightly.

"Percy..." He began, sounding extremely skeptical. "No, never, Orpheus never even brought... You're not thinking about..."

"No," I lied to try and reassure him. "i was just wondering. So... A satyr is always assigned to protect a demigod?"

Studying me warily, Grover didn't seem convinced that i dropped the whole Underworld thing yet. Which was fair, since I hadn't. He relaxed eventually, returning to his rightful spot of leaning against me.

"Not always, we're usually put in schools and then if we notice a kid that might be more powerful, like a Big Three demigod, then we alert Chiron. Keep an eye on them since they can cause larger problems."

"And you found me." I concluded. "And told Chiron that you though I might be somebody special?"

I won't lie, when I first heard those words, I assumed a different meaning that I had much more interest in.

This meaning wasn't as cool.

"What?" Grover responded, adjusting to face me as he held my arm once again, a pleading look in his eyes. "Oh, no... I didn't... Please don't think like that, Percy. If you... If you were, you'd never be allowed on a quest and I'd never get my license and... You're probably the son of Hermes, right? Or maybe even a minor god, like Nemesis! Don't worry, okay? Please don't worry."

But his expression and the tone of his voice made it sound like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to reassure me.

•••

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement buzzing in the air. It was finally time for capture the flag.

Once the plates were cleared away, the cabins all stood at their tables and six kids ran in holding long, silk banners- Annabeth and two of her siblings with a silvery banner and an owl on it. Clarisse and two of her siblings with a gaudy red banner that had a spear and a boar's head painted into it.

"Are those the flags?" I asked Luke, who nodded his head. "Do Athena and Ares always have them?"

"Not always, but often."

"So do we... Paint it when we get it?"

"You'll see," he promised. "First we have to win it."

"Okay. Then... Who's team are we on?"

He let off a sly smile, his scar reflecting in the firelight making him almost evil with that expression.

"We made a temporary alliance with Athena." The son of Hermes explained to me. "we'll get the flag from the Ares kids tonight. You'll help."

Is he...

Did Annabeth and him make a plan?

Are they... Talking about me?

The teams were announced. Our team only consisted on the Hermes, Athena, and Apollo cabin- but those were also the three biggest cabins so it was more fair than it sounded. The rest of the cabins that had kids were with Ares- Dionysus, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite.

To get our attention, Chiron stamped his hoof on the concrete.

"Heroes! You know the rules," he announced, which wasn't true because I sure as hell didn't. "The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be unarmed, but not bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves."

I'm sorry.

What kind of capture the flag were we playing?

Chiron spread his hands and suddenly the tables filled with equipment and weapons: helmets with blue plumes for our team, red for the Ares team.

"W- woah." I said, still taking this new version of a gym class game in. "we're supposed to use this stuff?"

"Unless you want to get skewered by your friend in cabin 5," Luke said, looking at me like I was insane. "Here, Chiron thought this would fit. You'll be in border patrol."

The shield Luke gave me was the size of an NBA backboard and easily big enough for me to go sledding in. I could carry it, but hopefully nobody expected me to be fast when I ran.

From up front, Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We all cheered and shook our swords, following her down the path towards the woods and headed south. The red team went north.

Miraculously, I caught up to Annabeth without tripping on my equipment.

"Hey."

She kept marching.

"So uh, what's the plan?" I asked, mostly not wanting to die during this. "Any magic items you can loan me?"

As if I were an actual Hermes kid, Annabeth's hand went to her pocket, like she thought I'd taken something. I wasn't sure if I should've been honored or hurt by that.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she told me. "You don't want to get hit by that thing. Don't worry, we'll take care of the banner. Did Like give you your job yet?"

"Uh, yeah, border patrol. Whatever that means. Seemed kind of ironic."

She rolled her eyes, obviously not satisfied by my joke.

"Just stay by the creek and make sure the other team doesn't cross. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

Now, up to this point, I didn't mind Annabeth.

Well, that's not totally true. She got on my nerves when I first woke up and she like, invaded my space. But after that, she seemed okay.

The way she said that Athena always has a plan rubbed be wrong, though. A little too prideful, if you ask me.

She ran on ahead.

"Okay," I mumbled. "glad you wanted me on your team."

It was a warm and sticky night out. Annabeth stationed me at a part of the creek that was somewhat rocky, and then her and the rest of the team disappeared into the night, until I could only see what the fireflies allowed me to see.

Standing there alone, wearing bulky armor, a massive blue plume helmet, holding a bronze sword that weighed me down like it was a bowling ball, I felt like a complete idiot.

There was no way anyone would actually attack, would they? Olympus had to have liability issues.

Far away, the conch horn blew and I heard whoops and yells followed by metal clashing. Kids fighting. An Apollo kid, an ally, rushed past me like a deer and leaped over the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

Great, I thought to myself. I'll miss all the fun, per usual.

Then, from behind me, I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine. A low canine growl was coming from what was supposed to be friendly territory, low and nearby.

Instinctively, I raised my shield, feeling like I was being stalked.

Then the growling stopped, and I felt the presence vanish for a moment, but not long enough to lower my guard.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded and five kids from the Ares cabin all emerged, yelling and screaming as they raced towards me.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse yelled.

Through the slits in her helmet, Clarisse glared at me as they charged. Her siblings only had the standard bronze swords (which didn't help- I wish they'd had none), but Clarisse's weapon was a five foot tall spear that seemed to sizzle on the end.

There was no help in sight. I had two options: Run away, or defend myself against half of the Ares cabin.

Amazingly, I managed to sidestep the first swing from the closest Ares kid, but they weren't as dumb as the Minotaur was and I was almost immediately surrounded.

Clarisse went to jab at me, and I deflected with my shield, but it wasn't enough. I felt a tingle run through my body, my hairs standing on end as...

Electricity.

Her dumbass spear is electric.

I stumbled back as another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword, sending me into the dirt.

They could've beat the shit out of me just then, but they were too busy laughing at their work: bullying a middle schooler.

"Give him a haircut," Clarisse told one of her brothers. "Grab his hair."

Before they could get to me, I got to my feet and raised my sword.

"Oh, I'm really afraid of this kid." Clarisse mocked me, knocking my sword out of my hand with her spear, making my arms go numb. "Really scared."

Punch her.

Numbness is only a mindset. I reminded myself, wiggling my fingers.

"The flag," I informed the daughter of Ares, walking closer, knowing she wouldn't raise her weapon because she wasn't afraid.

I punched her square in the jaw in the direction of the other side of the creek.

"Is that way."

I heard anther growl, but this one wasn't like the one I'd heard earlier. This one was lower, more animalistic, from Clarisse.

"You see, we don't care about the flag, punk," Clarisse spit into the creek, straightening. "We care about the fruitcake that made the Ares cabin look bad. The same fruitcake that, what, can't even handle a wresting match?"

"Oh, you don't need my help to look stupid."

Two of the other cabin mates came at me, and soon enough Clarisse's spear knocked me in the chest. Had i not been wearing armor, I would've been turned into a kebab.

The impact felt like it shocked my teeth out of my mouth as I fell back into the stream. As I laid there, I debated how bad dying would be. I could taste blood in my mouth and my vision had started to blur. One of her cabin mates slashed a cut across my arm, which didn't almost send me into another panic attack.

Not at all.

"No maiming." I reminded them.

"Oops," the kid kicked me deeper into the stream. "guess I lost dessert privileges for a week."

They laughed again, and their laughter wasn't any sort of music to my ears, but it provided enough time for me to get another surge of energy like I had when I sparred against Luke the day before in class and dearmed him.

Clarisse and her cabin mates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them, and I knew what to do.

I swung the flat of my sword at the first guys head and knocked his helmet off, shaking his single brain cell around enough to cause some damage. He crumpled into the water.

Ugly Number Two and Three came after me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and cut the others plume off with my shield.

Not being complete idiots, the two of them backed off pretty soon after.

Ugly Number Four, maybe the smartest of the Uglies, didn't look excited to attack, but Clarisse kept inching closer to me. As soon as she got in range and thrusted her spear, I grabbed the shaft and snapped it like the stupid twig it was.

"Ah!" She shrieked. "you dumbass! You corpse-breathed worm!"

Had I not slammed the butt of my sword between her eyes, she probably would've said more, but I didn't want to hear it. She went stumbling back with the rest of her idiotic siblings.

Soon after, I heard yelling and elated screams as Luke came into view with kids from our team behind him, fighting off a couple Hephaestus kids. Luke was carrying the banner, running for his life.

The Ares kids stood up, Clarisse muttered a curse.

"A trick!" She yelled, as if I didn't tell her where our flag was. "It was a trick!"

She staggered after Luke, but it was no use. He made it to the creek, where the flag shimmered and turned from the gaudy red into a silver banner that had a cadecus on it, for Hermes. Everyone on the blue team picked up Luke and started cheering and I saw him smile and give me a thumbs up. Chiron made his way over and blew the conch horn.

The game was over.

We'd won.

I was about to join the celebration when a voice startled me to my right.

"Not bad, hero."

It was definitely Annabeth's voice, but where I heard her come from, she wasn't standing.

"Where the hell did you learn how to fight like that?" She asked, and the air shimmered around the source of the voice and she materialized, holding a Yankee cap in her hat that she shoved into her pocket.

But it frustrated me. I felt myself get angry, not even fazed by her sudden powers or invisibility.

"You set me up." I said. "you put me here because you knew Clarisse and her friends would come after me while you sent Luke around to the flag."

She smiled a shit eating grin that I could've smacked off her face.

"Like I said, Athena always has a plan."

"Oh, yeah? To what? Get me murdered?"

"I came to help," she insisted, which sounded like horse shit (no offense to Chiron). "I was about to jump in but... You didn't need it. Evidently. It's not often somebody lands a punch on Clarisse."

She looked at my wounded arm.

"...how'd you do that?"

"It's a sword cut." I told her. "Because I got cut. With a sword."

"No, it was a sword cut, I'm not an idiot." The daughter of Athena informed me. "Look at it."

Looking at my arm, the blood from the cut was gone. There was only a white scratch in its place, but even that was fading. Which I guess... Wasn't new.

I never got injured often as a kid, but when I did, Mom always told me to take a shower to wash away the wounds. I ever questioned it, but that was a... Big cut.

"I- i don't get it."

Annabeth looked like she might've, though. She looked at my feet, then to Clarisse's broken spear.

"Percy," she advised. "Step out of the water. Please."

Wow, even being polite.

"What-"

"Just... Do it."

Figuring I'd play into her theory, I stepped out of the water and instantly felt the exhaustion hit me. I nearly collapsed from the tiredness. Annabeth steadied me when I nearly fell.

"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is bad. I thought it would be Zeus's not... I didn't want..."

Before I could ask what she was talking about, I heard the canine growling again, and this time it wasn't just me.

The camp fell silent, looking over at a black hound the size of a rhino with lava red eyes and fangs like daggers. Chiron was the only one who initially responded in Ancient Greek, which I realized later I understood perfectly as yelling to stand ready, and requesting his bow.

Annabeth drew her sword.

The hound was looking right at me.

Nobody moved except for Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

She tried to step in front me, which was a sweet gesture, but didn't do much in the end. The animal jumped over the daughter of Athena, a shadow with teeth, and slammed into me, it's razor sharp claws ripping through my armor.

Before I could so much as react to being jumped, a series of thwacking noises seemed to stunt the animal as a number of arrows- maybe 40 sprouted from it's neck and it fell to the ground, dead.

By some miracle, I was alive. I didn't want to look under my armor, able to feel the wetness of my shirt from my blood.

Chiron trotted up to us, a bow in hand, looking from.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "that was a hellhound from the Underworld! They're not supposed to..."

"No, they're not." Chiron agreed. "Somebody summoned it. Somebody within the camp."

And because she was having a pissy day, Clarisse called out, "Percy did it! Percy summoned the hellhound!"

Because I was best friends with Hades, right?

"Shush, child," Chiron didn't believe her, thankfully.

We watched the hellhound melt into shadows and vanish before our eyes, much like my teacher had crumbled to dust.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told me, which seemed obvious. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm- I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Humor me," she argued. "Chiron, watch this."

Too tired to argue, I stepped back into the water and once again felt energy surge through me. The camp gathered around as I felt my wounds washing away. Some campers gasped though I don't know why, since my wounds weren't even visible.

Standing back near Mr. D, I saw Grover look like he was deciding what size coffin I would be.

"Look, I- i don't know..." But before I could finish, I realized they weren't looking at me. They were looking directly above me, at a new source of light.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing above me. "Um..."

It may be the only time she was at a loss of words.

By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make it out: a green, circle was a three-tipped spear in the middle. A trident.

"Your father." She voiced, her voice shaking. "this is... Really not good."

All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin (though they didn't look happy about it), which made me uncomfortable. I didn't like being the center of attention.

"My father?"

"Poseidon." Chiron announced as I felt my life shatter before my eyes. "Earthshaker, stormbringer, father of horses. All hail Perseus Jackson, son of the Sea God."