Percy Jackson

The Hunters of Artemis did not respect the counsel rule.

They were all here.

Not just one or two of them.

All of them.

Thalia already looked annoyed when I walked in, which seemed promising for how this might go. I sat down between her and Grover, earning a weird look from Thalia.

"Trying to get your face to stay that way forever?" I asked the daughter of Zeus.

"Oh, shut it, Jackson," she told me. "Since when do you and Travis hang out? I thought Annabeth told me you guys purposefully don't hang out."

"I mean, we don't hang out, but he was wondering about cabins and some of the stuff that Luke really pressed Chiron, so I talked to him about what I knew." I insisted. "He also apologized for what he said to me when he fought and when I told him that it forgave him he said that I must be Jesus if I could forgive him for it, so... Who knows if we'll actually hang out, but we cleared the air. He feels bad about what happened."

I nudged my boyfriend.

"He also definitely knew that I had a crush on you before I was willing to admit it. He knows my type."

Thalia scoffed.

"You're type?" She asked me. "Pray tell, Percy, what's your type?"

"Percy's type?" Travis heard from the other side of the table. "scrawny brunettes who can't fight worth shit in combat."

"Hey!" Grover, my loving boyfriend, went to defend himself. "I can fight."

"You don't even have a normal weapon, Grover," Annabeth reminded him. "your pipes could be considered weapons with how you play them at times but... Even Gleeson has a baseball bat."

"And yet I'm the only satyr who has gone to the underworld and come back without dying. And that came back from looking for Pan."

"Grover, you did not do those things alone."

"I never said I did." He agreed. "the facts are still facts, though."

"Okay, children, calm down," Chiron said, wheeling himself into the meeting room with Mr. D. He nodded at one of the hunters. "Zoë Nightshade, it's an honor to have you here, as always. Out first order of business: can you explain to the counsel how yesterday's recruiting efforts were? When did your group intercept the recruiting? Was it coincidental?"

"You as well, Chiron," Zoë responded, her accent sounding... Old. Like, I couldn't even place it. "We only saw the tail end of the regular recruiting process— the group leaving the school. Our arrival was coincidental, for you see, we were hunting the same monster that had been targeting the di Angelos. Upon arrival, the group has been in... Well, the group wasn't really in combat, though one of the demigods had been fighting the monster."

"Oh?" Chiron asked, sounding intrigued. "We're you able to witness Thalia Grace's capabilities against the monster, then?"

Annabeth and I shared an immediate look when Chiron said that— the same exact look you would share with a friend or a cousin or even a sibling at a group event when somebody is saying something unbelievable.

"Hm? Oh, no, it wasn't Ms. Grace fighting." But at least Zoë didn't just nod her head and agree. "it was... Much more terrifying. Or, perhaps a better wording is that it was a different type of terrifying than what I'd expect to feel from the daughter of Zeus."

Zoë looked at me, then back to Chiron.

"Honestly, I was going to let Percy have the kill— for as skinny as the kid is, there was no doubt in my mind that even without a weapon, he has the brute force to crush the Manticore. He'd had him pinned against the wall. When I saw his sword, though... Regardless, Lady Artemis herself took the shot. Only then did we notice that the satyr had been stung in the leg— nothing lethal, he simply needed some nectar before resting for a while. The girls escorted him down the hall and we all set up camp until Apollo arrived."

The immortal paused, thinking.

"Considering the circumstances, I'd say it was an extremely successful recruit, Chiron. Even us maidens received a new party member." Zoë confided, as if they needed her opinion to figure out that my boyfriend is good at his job. "though I'd appreciate more action from the women, they were still pleasant to speak with and showed potential."

Mr. D looked at me.

"You have a sword," he insisted. "and your first instinct was to choke the monster against the wall?"

I shrugged.

"It's good for shock value so I have time to get my sword out," I answered, half of the answer being bullshit. I was just angry. "I did the same thing to Tantalus last summer, why are you surprised?"

"You..." Chiron's voice faded, and I could read his expression as clear as day; why is this kid still alive? "Perseus, need we have another discussion about respecting your elders and mentors?"

I raised an eyebrow, challenging that notion.

"Need we have another conversation about how I've asked you to stop calling me by my full name?" I responded. "I respect the mentors until they do something to lose that respect. It's not my fault your replacement decided to be transphobic, but it is your fault for assuming my malice. Which, by the way, isn't the point of this meeting. Call me crazy, but isn't there something actually important we're supposed to be talking about while we're here?"

"There is," Zoë agreed with my last point. "we never received a check in with Lady Artemis last night, or this morning."

Nobody understood the problem.

"...okay? She's on a solo mission right now, isn't she?" Thalia questioned. "What's the big deal?"

"Lady Artemis checks in with us at least once every 24 hours when she's on a solo mission," one one of the hunters to the right of Zoë explained. "She told Zoë and I explicitly that she would check in before camp's curfew went into affect to make sure we'd settled in here. If she hasn't reached out to us yet, unless somebody accidentally intercepted the call..."

"We had no interception in the Big House." Chiron responded.

"Yeah, nothing in our cabin, either," Conner added. "We were all busy cleaning off an old bunk for the new kid."

"Who's been claimed, by the way," Travis said, using the chance of relevance to bring this up. "and not to change the topic or anything— Artemis not contacting you guys sounds important, too, but this is important for our demigods here, specifically in my cabin."

Travis took a breath as I saw Mr. D hold his breath, wondering what fight he was going to try and have.

"The new kid, Nico," Travis began. "Doesn't have a cabin to stay in."

Mr. D got up to go get a Diet Coke.

Chiron looked confused, as did many other counselors.

"What do you mean, Trav? He's literally in our cabin." Connor reminded his older brother like he was an idiot. "we cleared off Ethan's bed for him? Is your brain okay?"

Travis elbowed his brother.

"That's not what I mean— I know he wasn't sleeping outside last night," the slightly older demigod went on, causing Connor to roll his eyes. "I mean that his dad doesn't have a cabin. Why do we not have a cabin for Hades? He's one of the Big Three gods."

"Well, Travis, when we originally built the cabins, we modeled it after the throne room on Olympus." The centaur informed Travis of nothing new. "Hades doesn't have a throne and isn't an Olympian, thus he didn't recieve a cabin. As it stands, it would be a one person cabin, Travis— he isn't meant to have children any longer. Would you like to spend the money and resources to build an entire cabin for only one little demigod to reside in?"

Travis looked at me, looked at Thalia, looked at Castor, and then returned his attention to the centaur.

"You're joking, right?"

Chiron scoffed.

"Well, child, I know you don't have the funds to build a cabin, but my point is true. Why go through the effort? In the end, it's a waste of time and money."

"Be—no, it's not." Travis insisted as I could hear his emotions start to kick into high gear. "Chiron, you have two entire cabins dedicated to goddesses who can't have children! Sure, the one for Artemis makes sense— the Hunt does come and stay occasionally, but... Up until two years ago, cabins one, two, and three were vacant and expected to never have somebody live there again. Cabin 12 has two people in it! I don't care if it's because Mr. D can't have kids if he's stuck here, it's still two people! Castor, would you still want to be living in the Hermes cabin?"

"Wh— I mean, Pollux and I never had to since my dad is literally right there, but it'd be weird if we had to."

"I know I'd hate still being in the Hermes cabin." I supplemented, which seemed to surprise a lot of people. "What? Even taking away the fact that I don't get along with everyone in the Stoll's cabin, I wouldn't feel like I belong in that cabin after being claimed. Is that not why Ethan Nakamura ran away last year? Because he didn't have a place that he felt like like he belonged."

Mr. D crossed his arms.

"You're suggesting that little brat ran away?" The god questioned. "I thought we'd decided that he'd been kidnapped or killed."

"It's just an idea," I defended my knowledge (and appearance of ignorance). "I wasn't at camp when he left, but from what I've heard from others, it sounds like he ran away. He wasn't the first kid to do that, even since I've been at camp. Why do you think demigods are leaving? Even Chris Rodriguez left, and he only had like a year left."

"Chris was claimed, he was a Hermes kid," Connor told me. "Him and Luke were always close, nobody was surprised he left. Not in our cabin, at least. And you know what? Good riddance."

"I agree with Connor." Sherman Yang, Clarisse's brother, added on. It was the first time I'd ever really heard the kid talk. He was a little younger than me, maybe 13. "If the kids don't want to be here, let them leave. They're just going to die anyways."

"Okay, but that's not what either of them are suggesting." Silena joined the conversation. "they're saying that if more gods have cabins, less kids will leave because they feel like they belong here. Right?"

"Exactly," Travis confirmed. "And I mean, it's not like we have to do it all at once— we can literally just start with one cabin for... What would they be called? Minor gods? Non-Olympians? And then once we build a second cabin, it can be assigned a god or goddess. Hell, I'm sure some cabins wouldn't mind sharing with each other— especially if it's temporary. But we've had six kids either vanish or tell us they're never returning to camp again between Ethan's disappearance and now. And all of them are either unclaimed demigods who have been unclaimed for years, or they're demigods who don't have their own cabins. It's a problem."

Chiron appeared to consider this idea, but I knew that that was all it was: an appearance. A mask. A façade.

It angered me, but I bit my tongue.

"And what possesses you to believe that they wouldn't have left if they had their own cabin?"

I saw Mr. D roll his eyes.

"Well, for starters, the only claimed and cabined demigod who left prematurely was Chris," I threw in. "Who, like Connor said, was close to Luke and left around the same time Luke did, not prematurely. Has anyone else has a kid vanish or possibly run away since this spring? Or last fall?"

"We had one, but I'm pretty sure it was a suicide, not a runaway." Charlie Beckendorf, the counselor of the Hephaestus cabin told me. "His mortal sister died recently and he wasn't coping well. We tried to get him to go home for the year so he could go to therapy, but he refused. One day he said he was going to talk to Chiron about visiting home and he never made it to the Big House. We've never confirmed what happened."

"Same here— suicide, not a runaway." Both Silena and Katie Gardener added.

"So you're suggesting these kids commit suicide?" Chiron's gathered. "That that is a better alternative?"

The room fell silent because...

Well, honestly, because that was a fucked up conclusion.

"Wh— no, that's not... That's not at all what I'm suggesting," Travis insisted, getting worked up at the topic. "I just think that these kids deserve to feel like they belong in a place that doesn't seem to care about them right now. It's not..."

Mr. D and Chiron shared a silent conversation. For a first, Mr. D lost it.

"Look, kid," Mr. D began. "I get what you're saying, but the fact of the matter is that we don't have the time or money to take on a project that big. It's nice that you care about your cabin mates and whatever, but there's a reason we have the systems we do when it comes to where you guys stay."

"But... There isn't anything that could help?" Travis asked. "what about a scholarship? I'm sure that if we approached the gods that we'd be building cabins for, they'd give us a few dollars, right? They love attention and being honored— that's why temples exist."

Would a god really give camp a...

Oh shit.

"A scholarship?" Mr. D questioned.

And, not knowing the code behind that word, Travis repeated himself.

"Yeah, a scholarship." The son of Hermes said as I could feel the life drain out of me. "You know, money that doesn't have to get paid back? It usually requires some kind of action to be done— in this case, building the cabin."

Mr. D thought for a minute, looking to the centaur for any objections. Chiron didn't respond.

"Well, it doesn't solve the time issue, but I suppose it's not like the job has to be done immediately." Mr. D figured, sighing. "you and whoever else concocted this idea can talk to me after the meeting— I'll need a list of who I have to sweet talk at next weeks meeting. We can discuss the terms of the scholarships then."

And Travis, thinking that this was something that was actually going to happen, was content with that and agreed to meet with Mr. D after the meeting.

Thalia, Silena, and I kept our mouths sealed— knowing what Mr. D was really going to talk to him about.

"Thank you." Travis said. "anyways, sorry— I didn't mean to take away from Last Artemis. You guys were saying that you haven't heard from her yet?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." Zoë responded. "We have had no contact with her, and no visions of where she could be. All we know is that she mentioned the name The General, but none of us are familiar with that term. Would any of you happen to know who the general is?"

We all shook our heads, half of us lying.

"I suspected as much." She said, sighing. "well, then, please keep an ear or eye out for any sort of communication from Lady Artemis, and if you have any prophetic dreams, do let us know as soon as possible. As difficult a task as it may be, it is not impossible for gods to die— I'd hate to hear Lady Artemis met a fate we weren't able to prevent."

"We all would, child." Chiron concluded. "If that is all that you wished to speak of, Ms. Nightshade, then I believe this counsel meeting is dismissed. And, of course, welcome to Camp, Ms. Di Angelo. It's been a pleasure meeting you."

As people started to disperse, Chiron and Mr. D had a short conversation before Mr. D looked back towards the campers still here.

"Are you okay?" Grover asked me, sounding worried. "You seem anxious— do you want to go on a walk?"

Travis walked over to Mr. D, the god giving him a weird look.

"I—"

"Is nobody else coming with you, Steel?"

The son of Hermes thought about it for a second, looking back to me.

"Do you want to come, Percy?" Travis offered as I saw my step-grandpa look like he might need another Diet Coke with a little something-something in it to calm him down. "You're going to be better at articulating than I will be."

Luke's going to be pissed.

"Uh, sure." I said, slowly standing. "I don't know if I really helped, but... Sure. I'll be there in a second."

I squeezed my boyfriend's shoulder.

"I'll meet you at your place," I told the satyr, feigning a smile. "A walk would be nice."

"O...kay." Grover responded, sounding a little confused as he stood up. "See you soon— don't kill your grandpa."

"Or my brother!" Connor said, walking out of the room.

As if I have it in me to kill another human being.

Rolling my eyes at Connor, I faced the rest of the demigods left in the room once Grover and Connor were gone— the undercover crew, as we call ourselves.

You know, Silena, Thalia, and myself?

"I'm going to kill myself." I told the other two and Thalia looked like she could smack me.

"With that bracelet on? Shut the fuck up." The daughter of Zeus told me, and my jaw dropped, because how does she... Know? "You're not going to kill yourself— you're going to act like a fucking dumbass because Travis didn't know what that word meant when he said it. Go play stupid, I'll see if I can call Luke— he said he had to meet somebody in California this week, the General, so... I don't know if he'll answer. Go. Act dumb."

I sighed, taking a moment before opening the door to Mr. D's office.

Here goes nothing. I thought, turning the doorknob.

"There he is, finally." Mr. D said, lounging in his chair as Travis sat across from him on a purple couch.

"Sorry, Thalia was wondering about my bracelet." I apologized. "What exactly do we want to talk about? I just reaffirmed Travis' idea about building more cabins— it's a stretch to say I helped with the idea."

Mr. D raised his eyebrows, taking a swig of his favorite soft drink.

"Oh, cut the shit, kid." He told me, slamming the can down, causing me to flinch. "riddle me this: the summer you two were a thing, were you actually a thing, or did you just need an excuse to be in Cabin 11 so you two could conspire with Luke?"

"Wh... What?" Travis asked, completely lost not. "Conspire? About what? We spent most of our time in Percy's cabin."

"And we were definitely a thing— you therapised me most of that summer." I reminded my grandfather. "I would not have begged you to not tell Dad about it if it wasn't real."

Mr. D hummed, looking between the two of us as if there was an actual riddle to solve in what I said.

"I— sorry, sir, I'm still confused." Travis insisted. "What would we conspire with Luke about? Did Luke do something?"

The camp directed considered Travis' statement.

"I don't know," the god lied. "What do you think he did?"

"W... Well Connor thinks that he was the one behind the Master Bolt getting stolen and behind Thalia's Tree getting poisoned, but I don't... I've never believed him. Are you suggesting he... Did those things?"

There was a moment of silence.

Mr. D didn't respond, redirecting his attention to me.

"Remind me again, where the son of Hermes lives now?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know, I've never—"

"Oh, bullshit." Grandpa D cut me off, making me feel very similar to how his son did for a good few years after he lost his best friend and unborn child.

"What, I don't—"

"Percy, your parents know Luke," he pointed out to me, which of course had Travis' attention. "Not know of him, they personally know him. I've stopped by your apartment more than once before and your parents have told me that you're hanging out with Luke."

The camp director leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk.

"So, that's begs the question," the god continues. "What does hanging out mean? And why are you so nervous about it?"

"Wh— no offense, Grandpa D, but your behaviors are reminding me a little too much of your son." I defended myself for starters. "which puts me on edge. Also, you're giving me the third degree and accusing me of doing... Something? Being an accomplice? Sure, Luke and I have seen each other since he left camp— he brought some stuff over that was mine after he left camp. It got mixed in with Travis' stuff, which got mixed in with Luke's. After that, he offered to continue giving me lessons if I wanted, and I didn't want to get rusty, so I took the offer. We don't train at his apartment, though— we train at my parents storage shed. He's a good swordman, and there are things that he's willing to teach me that Chiron isn't. Demigod stuff can make my mom nervous, though, so I just say we're hanging out. Is that a crime now?"

"Hm? Oh no, not a crime," he promised me. "just an observation. Was it a coincidence that Grover went missing the same week we noticed Thalia's Tree had been poisoned?"

My eyes damn near popped out of my head.

"Are you... Are you accusing me of putting my best friend— my boyfriend in harms way for the sake of convenience?" I said, seething through my teeth at thought. "I hadn't spoken to him in a month when he created the mental link on his last stretch of hope— how dare you accuse him of helping poison the same demigod he couldn't help but feel like he could've saved. He had been in that trap before I got to Camp— don't try connecting dots of different colors."

Mr. D leaned back, seeming to be unsure if he should he intimidated or impressed by my sudden shift in attitude.

It intimidated Travis.

"And yet he's the one who found the Golden Fleece," the god persistent against my warnings. "I'm not saying he helped poison the Tree, Percy— I'm saying that the plan the whole time was to heal the tree. Or really, to heal Thalia. Bring her back from her coma."

"What... Then why poison it?" Travis asked.

Mr. D chuckled.

"Why poison it? There wouldn't have a quest without the poisoning." Mr. D told Travis, who slowly nodded. "I don't know who pricked the pine, but whoever did it surely did their research to find a poison that the Demeter cabin and Chiron couldn't cure. It's hard to believe they'd do that without knowing where a cure would be."

"Wh— who's they?"

He rolled his eye.

"Well, the obvious one: Luke." The god figured. "He wasn't the one to do it physically, but I'm sure he had a lot of say in it. Grover, possibly. You, probably. I doubt Annabeth is involved— she worships her mother too passionately. Too authentically. Somebody else— whoever actually pricked the pine. I haven't reduced them yet. Oh, and now that she's alive, Thalia. It's not secret how much she hates both of her parents."

I opened my mouth, dumbfounded.

"What... How did you go from the fact that I occasionally train with Luke to accusing me of helping poison Thalia's Tree?"

He shrugged.

"Just... A vibe." He insisted. "Your anxiousness. Your willingness to fight with literal gods. Your reputation preceedes you amongst the Olympians, Percy— none of them want you on their bad side after what you did to Ares."

I scowled, feigning confusion.

"When did the turn into an issue with the gods?"

Mr. D chuckled again, sounding almost too calm about the matter. He leaned back again, crossing his arms.

"Hasn't it always been about the gods, Percy?" My grandfather asked me. "Even before you knew about it— before you were involved, that's what this was about. Not that you aim to destroy Olympus—even you can see the faults in a plan like that. But poisoning the Tree was a scare tactic. One that had a 50/50 chance of earning you guys another player. And now? A goddess is missing."

He paused.

"So who gets to go on the quest this time?" Mr. D said, almost taunting. "You or Thalia Grace?"

"W... What quest? There hasn't been one issued yet."

The god shrugged, standing.

"I don't know, though I'm sure you already do, even if you don't want to admit it to me." He said, sounding so sure of himself it made me want to serve him a knuckle sandwich. "I'm not asking you if Luke stole the Bolt or had an influence on Thalia's Tree being poisoned— I know he did. Luke and I have spoken on the matter. I'm asking you if you're acting in compliance with him. But if you're unwilling to talk about it, that's okay."

He placed his hand on the door handle, reminding me of the fact that he likes to be dramatic at times.

"Only time will tell."