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Four

I Make a Journey To the Past


The little mishap in the bathroom was turninng
into the topo, início gossip for the whole camp. I decided to show Percy around a few mais places. But it was kind of hard to focus with people always staring at me and mumbling things about toilet water. We pasted the metal shop, (where the Hephaestus kids were forging their weapons) the arts- and -crafts room,( where the satyrs were using a water-gun to paint a statue of a goat-boy) and the climbing wall, where lava scorched and if you couldn't make it up fast enough, two boulders would crush your body into pieces. I could barely make it up with out getting a little unwanted hair-cut from the boulders.
The whole time we were silent. All I could think was, Poseidon. No Annabeth I told myself. That's crazy. He's probably, Hephaestus. Yeah, that's it Hephaestus. I mean it was the toilets. But something in my gut told me I was wrong.
Once we had finished, I led him back to the canoa lake.
"I have chores to do." I said plainly. "Dinners at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabine to the mess hall."
"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."
"Whatever."
"It wasn't my fault."
I glared at him skeptically, then finally said , " You need to talk to the Oracle."
"Who?"
"Not who. What. I'll ask Chiron ."
I stared at him for a time, while he looked into the lake. Suddenly his eyes got wide as he looked at two naiads and waved.
"Don't encourage them." I scolded. " Naiads are terrible flirts."
"Naiads." He repeated. "That's it. I want to go início now."
I frowned" Don't you get it Percy. You are home. This is the only seguro place for kids like us."
"You mean mentally disturbed kids?"
Did he just call me mentally disturbed ? That's it, this kid is so going to be my bait for capture the flag.
"I mean not human. Not totally human anyway. Half-human."
"Half-human and half-what?"
"I think you know."
His eyes scanned the sky like he was afraid of the answer. "God. Half-god." he said at last.
"Your dad's not dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."
"That's...crazy."
" Is it? What was the most common thing the gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in amor with humans and having kids with them. do you think they changed their habits in the last few millennia?"
" But those are just-" He stopped abruptly, like he was trying to find the right word to use. Then he continued por saying "But if all kids here are half-gods-"
"Demigods. That's the official term. Or half-bloods."
"Then who's your dad?"
My hands tightened around the railing. I thought about the lonely nights with only my hammer as a weapon. Not know how much longer I would live." My dad is a professor at West Point." I said staring at my feet. " I haven't seen him since I was very little. He teaches American History."
"He's human."
"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"
"Who's your mom then?"
" cabine six."
"Meaning?” I let go of the pair railing and with as much pride as I could muster I said . " Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."
"And my dad." He asked hopefully.
" Undetermined." I explained. " Like I told you before. Nobody knows."
" Except my mother. She knew."
" Maybe not. Gods don't always revel their identities."
" My dad would have. He loved her."
I gave him a cautious look. Then decided not to tell him that his dad -whoever he was- had probably forgotten Percy's mother a long time ago.
" Maybe your right. Maybe he'll send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."
" You mean sometimes it doesn't?"
I made my had do a little race on the rail. " The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and sometimes they don't... well they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."
" So I'm stuck here." He said, sounding on the verge of tears. " For the rest of my life?"
" It depends." I said " Some only stay for the summer. if you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, then your probably not a real powerful force. Most monsters ignore you, so you can get por with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us it's too dangerous to leave. We're year- rounder's. In the mortal world , we attract monsters. They sense us. They come challenge us. Most of the time they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble- about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."
" So, monsters can't get in here?"
I shook my head. " Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned por somebody on the inside."
"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"
" Practical jokes?"
Even I didn't get that sometimes.
" The point is, the boarders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside , mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a morango farm."
"So...you're a year-rounder?"
I nodded I pulled out my Camp bead necklace, half of my coração filled with pride and the other with saddens.
"I've been here since I was seven," I said. " Every August, on the dia of the Summer Session, you get a bead for surviving another year." He flinched at the word surviving. " I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."
" Why did you come so young?"
I grasped my fathers ring on my necklace, so tight I thought it would brake. I thought of my dad. The dad who didn't want me.
" None of your business."
"Oh."
We stood there for a moment of silence. " So....I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"
"It would be suicide, but you could with Mr.D's or Chiron's permission until the end of the summer session unless....." I paused letting go of the ring.
"Unless?"
"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..."
I stopped. Scenes of thalia disappearing into a pine árvore flashed through my mind.
" Back in the sick room, when you were feeding me that stuff-"
"Ambrosia."
"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."
My shoulders tensed up at this news." So you do know something?"
"Well...no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. He mentioned something like we didn't have much time, because of a deadline. What did he mean."
Well, maybe he wasn't so useless after all. But, I clenched my fists. "I wish I knew." I hated not knowing things! " Chiron and the satyrs, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong on Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."
"You've been to Olympus?"
"Some of us year-rounder's- Luke and Clarisse and I and a few other- we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have they're big annual council."
" But...how did you get there?"
" The Long Island Railroad, of course." I explained to him how there was a special elevator that took you up to the six hundredth floor. A.K.A Mount Olympus.
"You are a New Yorker, right?" I questioned him, not that I expected him to know about the six hundredth floor or anything. I mean, he should know this. But, him not knowing another important fact about him-self , was starting be expected.
"Oh, sure."
" Right after we visited, the weather got really weird. The gods started fighting. A couple of times since, I've heard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something was stolen. Something important. And if it isn't returned por the summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping... I mean Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And she has a rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."
I was actually asking for Percy Jackson's help. The same Percy Jackson, I described as 'hopeless, annoying, and selfish.' I don't know what it was about this guy, but there was something, I couldn't put my finger on. Something special.
He shook his head. I suddenly became angry. Why couldn't Chiron just give me a quest? " I've got to get a quest," I mumbled to myself, even though I knew Percy could hear me. " I'm not to young. If they would just tell me a problem..."
My thoughts were temporarily cut off por a growling sound. For a moment I thought it was a monster being summoned into camp. Then I realized it was only Percy's stomach. He must have been hungry. " Go on I'll catch you later." I said.
He nodded happily, and walked off, leaving me with my thoughts.
" Why the long face?" a familiar voice said. I turned around to face Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. "Oh, nothing..." I lied
" So, what do you think about that Percy Jackson boy? He's pretty cute, I can give you some tips on how to impress him." she said, flashing a smile.
I smiled, " Oh shut up, Silena."
She laughed, " Anyway, it's almost jantar time. You should get going."
I nodded, " Thanks Silena."
"Anytime, and I'm not just talking about dinner."
I smiled and dashed off. Back at the cabin, everyone was already lined up like they were waiting for me.
I led them to the dinning pavilion, where we sat down at receive our food. I glanced around at the other tables, suddenly my eyes focused on the Hermes cabine where Percy sat. Well, mais like trying to sit.
Just then, Chiron stomped his hoof and everyone fell silent, " To the gods!"
"To the gods!" we repeated, raising our goblets. Afterwards we made our way to the fireplace. I made a silent prayer to my mother," Please, bring me a quest." Then dropped some frutas into the fire.
Then we returned to the tables to eat. Just when I was about to take a bite of my bread, Chiron stamped his hoof again. We returned our attention to him again. Mr. D got up and sighed, " Yes, I suppose I better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the seguinte capture the flag is Friday. cabine five presently holds the laurels."
The Ares cabin, stood up and started cheering. If only Travis Stoll hadn't tripped me, then we would be the ones cheering!
"Personally," Mr.D continued. " I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."
Chiron murmured something.
"Er, Percy Jackson." He corrected himself. Some people clapped, others muttered some.... Unkind things. Me, well you're not going to believe this. I actually stood up and yelled" Go Percy!" then quickly sat down. Some of the campers were snickering. I blushed and returned my attention to Mr.D
" That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
This time everybody cheered. We all headed over to the amphitheater, where Apollo' s cabine led a sing-along. We had a great time cantar and laughing and joking. But afterwards I called my teammates over to discuss some… battle plans for Capture the Flag. Soon I was in cama and for a moment, I forgot all about my wanting a quest, I stared at the ceiling and fell asleep.