Chapter Text
Percy and Chiron were beginning on their walk of a tour with multiple people staring at them.
He looked up at the farm house, which was a lot larger than he remembered it was now that he was looking at it again. But when he looked up at the uppermost window of the attic he swore that he saw that someone had moved the curtain and for just a second got the distinct impression that he was being watched. And on his right shoulder he got the distinct feeling of being in the warm sunshine on a cool winter day.
So he couldn’t help but ask Chiron “What’s up there?” since it seemed in some way connected to one of his soulbonded. Chiron looked where he had been pointed, and his smile faded before he answered “Just the attic.” It was clear that Chiron was trying to hide something, but since it was connected with his soulbonded, Percy insistently asked “Does somebody live there?” “No,” he said with finality. “Not a single living thing.” He got the feeling Chiron was being truthful. But he was also sure something had moved that curtain.
They walked and talked some more, with Percy being largely left without answers despite trying to get them.
Then they reached the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I’d ever seen. Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike.
In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick. And from that Percy felt something on the soulmark that was over his heart. It was a hearth with the flames of the hearth being ‘animated’. His eyes were stuck on that little girl, only for her to wave and then disappear.
Which was majorly shocking for him because for the first 12 years of his life he never even came close to meeting any of the 14 original soulmarks. But now suddenly he had met two of them(even if one of them just from a distance) and had felt something similar to multiple of his soulmarks. As such Percy was internally screaming from all of this.
Now that the little girl was gone his attention moved onto the cabins.
While he felt a slight draw towards all of them, but he felt the strongest draw to 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. Percy peeked open the doorway, and he caught sight of the inside. There was a salty scent, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely…
So he was slightly glad when Chiron put his hands on his shoulders and began to lead him away, all while saying “Oh, I wouldn’t do that! Come along, Percy.” Still he felt a pang of hurt from the soulmark of waves on his right arm.
He looked at the various other cabins and with each one came a reaction from twelve of his soulmarks. It was a gentle reaction from each, although slightly different from each of them. There had been incidents in the past where there had been similar minor reactions, but nothing ever came from them. Even if he silently poked around, there was nothing.
After all there had been past cases where a born soulmark would show a minor happy reaction when close to someone of direct relation. That being parents, aunts/uncles, siblings, cousins, and children. But there was also the condition of them being close and feeling good about them.
Chiron and Percy continued on walking and talking, this time it was about Chiron but once again sometimes he would turn hard of hearing once again.
Then that same blond girl, Annabeth, that he’d met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. She looked at him critically, while he tried to see what she was reading but couldn’t. At first he thought it was just his dyslexia acting up, then he realized the title wasn’t even English, the letters looked like they were Greek.
Chiron asked for Annabeth to take over the tour, despite everything he had been saying about his situation being more complicated than normal. It made him clench his fists silently, while she agreed.
Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor’s symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it.
A caduceus. Even though the symbol wasn’t actually medically significant, it had gotten confused a long while ago and by the time it was caught it had already stuck. He knew this because the soulmark on his calves and shins. On each of his calves there is a hawk wing while on the front side, his shins, half of a caduceus that when his legs are together are complete. With pouches on the sides that have various valuables spilling out of them. So he had done research on the symbol.
That same soulmark was giving a distant vibrating happiness, as if happening behind a pane of glass. It was towards both the cabin and multiple of the people inside, but not all of them.
Annabeth introduced him and said that he was undetermined when asked, then someone who was named Luke calmed everyone down when they all groaned. Luke got an extra happy reaction from his shin/calve soulmark.
Luke explained that he was the counselor for the Hermes cabin and he was here until he was claimed by one of the other cabin’s patrons. He pointed at a spot on the floor and told Percy he could have it. Percy looked at the tiny section of the floor he’d been given, and then remembered that he had nothing to even put there, just the minotaur’s horn. He considered setting it down there, but then remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves. So he chose against that, which seemed to disappoint some of them that had noticed him considering it.
Once again he asked what he considered a reasonable question, how long he’d be there, only to be laughed at with no answer. And after that Annabeth dragged him away and berated him once far enough away. They got into a discussion about the Gods and monsters, about what had happened with them. And about their parents, about trying to force him to accept it.
Then there was a brief silence and he noticed her soulmarks, choice soulmarks as those were the only ones that can be seen by everyone. Some of them were weaves, owls, books, and weapons. A choice soulmark can be seen because this was a bond you chose, so it can be seen based on if the person wants it to be shown.
He carefully said “You’ve got a lot of choice soulmarks.” She startled before explaining “Yeah, most of the time we make soulmarks with our siblings, we’re being targeted by monsters so it helps us make sure we know that they’re alright when they're away for whatever reason.” Percy considered that, and it made sense.
And since he was actually getting answered he asked “What about the gods, our parents, do they form a soulmark when they claim us?” Annabeth actually burst out laughing hearing that, before calming down and rhetorically asking him “Do you really know nothing?” Percy held back a sigh and told her “Chiron told me my situation was special and didn’t even let me watch the orientation video, of course I know nothing.” with frustration clear in his voice.
She seemed genuinely stunned having heard that, and didn’t seem as annoyed with him anymore. She then seemed to gain an air of superiority as she told him “Well then I suppose that I’ll have to tell you everything.”
She then began to explain “I’ll start with soulmarks and soulbonded since you’ve already asked. Gods don’t have souls, so they can’t form choice soulbonds or soulmarks no matter if they want to or not. It’s said that they do have born soulmarks and soulbonded, but unlike mortals they can’t tell even when right next to them. So when a mortal has a soulbond with a God then they have to say so themselves. There are myths where people lied about having a bond and got punished for lying. But when it’s true then they are valued beyond basically anyone or anything else, since if they die then the God loses control of their powers and has the potential to fade from grief alone. But it’s been years since anyone has been found to have a soulbond with a god or even seen anyone who was immortalized due to having a soulbond with one.”
She continued on about some theories about whether it was all true or real, but in Percy’s head all he was hearing was static. And with that how Mr. D or rather Dionysus had reacted when meeting him made sense. The man or rather God genuinely had no idea about the soulbond. But that still didn’t excuse how he had been treated! So he still didn’t plan on telling Mr. D anytime soon, at least until something became better.
He was reeling with so many questions, he wasn’t even sure where to try and start. Only for then a husky female voice to yell over “Well! A newbie!” The large muscular girl from the red cabin was sauntering towards them, and she had three other girls who looked similar behind her. All of which made the soulmark on his left ribs pulse.
“Clarisse,” Annabeth sighed. “Why don’t you go polish your spear or something?” “Sure, Miss Princess,” the big girl said. “So I can run you through with it Friday night.” “Erre es korakas!” Annabeth said, which he somehow understood was Greek for ‘Go to the crows!’ though he had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. “You don’t stand a chance.” “We’ll pulverize you,” Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn’t sure she could follow through on the threat.
Then she turned toward me. “Who’s this little runt?” “Percy Jackson,” Annabeth said, “meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares.” He blinked and asked “The war god?” Which made Clarisse sneer “You got a problem with that?” And considering the fact that one of his soulmarks had just pulsed in response, so he was pretty sure that he was family soulbonded to her father, despite to what was now seeming like his soulbonded likely being all gods/goddesses was some kind of large cosmic joke that he was the punch line of, answered just “No.”
She seemed a bit surprised by how he had answered, but still growled at him “We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy.” This raised his mental hackles and he growled back “Percy.” But Clarisse just rolled her eyes and told him “Whatever. Come on, I’ll show you.”
“Clarisse—” Annabeth tried to say. But was threatened by Clarisse with “Stay out of it, wise girl.” Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and he didn’t really want her help. He was the new kid. He had to earn my own rep. And his mind was still going into overdrive with everything he had learned that day, that he really just wanted to do something that was likely going to be more physical.
He handed Annabeth his minotaur horn and got ready to fight or do something, but before he knew it Clarisse had him by the neck and was dragging him towards when he immediately knew was the bathroom.
He tried to fight her briefly but was failing pretty badly. She then tried to force his head into one of the toilets, but as his determination solidified to not go into that scummy water he felt a tug in the pit of his stomach. There he blasted the water out of the toilets and used it against the three Ares girls, and hit Annabeth in the crossfire who was standing in the corner watching through his fingers.
Then as quickly as he had felt the tug in his gut it had lessened, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started. He then looked down and realized he was the only dry thing still in the room, his clothes nor his person didn’t have even one drop of water on them. Just nothing.
He stood up on shaky legs as Annabeth asked with disbelief “How did you…” He had clearly controlled the water somehow, but he answered with just the truth “I don’t know.”
But the tug in his gut was still there, but it was fading and Annabeth had largely tried to help him so he decided to try and use his water powers again. He reached for the water that was soaking through her clothes and hair and tried to pull it out. It took a bit of effort, but he managed to make her mostly dry again as the water just floated in a ball nearby, which he then did his best to fling towards the shower drains but failed as it popped before reaching there. Annabeth was once again shocked, but seemed slightly grateful for his help drying her off even though she was still damp.
They then walked to the door, where outside Clarisse and her siblings had been sprawled in the mud but were getting up, with a bunch of other campers having gathered around to gawk at what seemed to be a shocking sight.
Clarisse’s hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave him a look of absolute hatred. “You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead.” He knew he probably should have let it go, but still said, “You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? 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 was still just staring at him with a calculating look in her eyes, he couldn’t tell whether she was grossed out from having just been doused with toilet water by him or if there was something else. “What?” he demanded “What are you thinking?” She smiled, but it wasn’t a kind smile. “I’m thinking,” she said, “that I want you on my team for capture the flag.”
The bathroom incident spread almost shockingly quickly, as it seemed no matter where they were, almost everyone was pointing at him and murmuring something about toilet water. Annabeth still continued the tour, and was a lot more open about explaining due to his explanation about how nothing had been explained to him yet nor had he watched the orientation video.
Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. “I’ve got training to do,” Annabeth said “Dinner’s at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall.”
She started to walk away before it seemed like a thought came to her, she turned around and walked back. Annabeth insisted “You need to talk to the Oracle.” Percy was confused and asked “Who?” Annabeth’s old frustration came back as she said “Not who. What. The Oracle. I’ll ask Chiron.”
Percy held back a frustrated sigh as he stared into the lake, wishing that people would just give him straight answers instead of assuming that he just knew everything.
Then, his heart skipped a beat, as unexpectantly from the bottom of the lake he saw what looked like two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend. He had no idea what to do with that, so he just waved back.
Annabeth pulled his arm down as she warned “Don’t encourage them. Naiads are terrible flirts.” with an added scoff. And he felt so tired with everything, all of the shocks he was experiencing back to back. He hugged himself, feeling so completely overwhelmed and just stated “That’s it. I want to go home now.” But Annabeth just frowned. “Don’t you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us.”
They continued talking about that, with Percy still being largely done with everything.
But Annabeth slightly opened up about the fact that her dad is a mortal while her mom was Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. While he finally got an explanation for what undetermined meant, it meant that no one knew who his Godly parent was.
Then they talked about what was needed to leave, which was unlikely to happen until the summer session ended, unless you were granted a quest. They continued on speaking about the solstice and then the weather going weird directly afterwards. But then Percy's stomach growled, so they separated until later.
He went back to cabin 11, where basically everyone was horsing around while waiting for dinner. The counselor Luke gave him a sleeping bag and some toiletries he claimed that he stole from the camp store. They then continued on talking, with Luke seeming to complain about the Gods and especially seemed to have a disdain for his own father Hermes. As well as the fact that Chiron had gotten a prophecy from the Oracle that said she wasn’t destined to go on a quest just yet, she had to wait until somebody special came to camp.
But before they could really continue a horn, that he somehow knew was a conch shell despite having never heard one before, blew in the distance which signaled it was time for dinner. The whole all lined up, with Percy as the new guy being dead last. They marched up to the mess hall pavilion, satyrs joining them from the meadow, naiads emerging from the canoeing lake, and a few other girls came out of the woods– and when he said out of the woods, he meant straight out of the woods. He would swear that he saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.
At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven’s was way overcrowded. But Percy had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off. He saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair. Clarisse sat behind him at Ares’s table. She’d apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.
Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. “To the gods!” Everybody else raised their glasses. “To the gods!”
Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, “Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course.” He was slightly sceptical still, but still said “Cherry Coke.” and the glass did in fact fill with that carbonated caramel liquid. Then an idea came to him and said “Blue Cherry Coke” and the soda turned into a violent shade of cobalt. He took a cautious sip, and it was perfect.
He drank a toast for his mother. She’s not gone, he told himself. Not permanently, anyway. She’s in the Underworld. And if that’s a real place, then someday…
“Here you go, Percy,” Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket. Percy loaded his plate and was about to take a big bite when he noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. He silently wondered if they were going for dessert or something. “Come on,” Luke told him. As he got closer, he saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll. Luke murmured in his ear, “Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell.” Percy wasn’t entirely sure if that was the real reason, but decided to just go along with it, just as he had with everything else.
Luke went first, then Percy was next.
The first offering he made was towards all of his soulbondeds, as he knew at least one of them was a God and had solid suspicion that the others were as well. Along with that he made a silent plea of “Please be kind to me when we meet.” After doing so he swore he saw Mr. D’s head snap up and looked around with a desperate search, but didn’t seem to find what he was looking for and his head snapped back down with a scowl. Then he made one to whoever his godly parent was and he wished that he had a name to say. Finally he made his last silent plea “Whoever you are, tell me. Please.” Scraping a piece of food off of his plate with each of his sacrificial offerings.
After everyone was done doing their offerings and then had finished eating, Chiron pounded his hoof again for everyone’s attention. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. “Yes, I suppose I’d better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels.” A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table. “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,” Mr. D corrected. “That’s right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on.”
Everybody cheered. They all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo’s cabin led a sing-along. Everyone sang camp songs about the gods and ate s’mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, he didn’t feel that anyone was staring at him anymore. He felt that he was home.
Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and they all filed back to our cabins. He didn’t realize how exhausted he was until he collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.
Percy’s fingers curled around the Minotaur’s horn. He thought about my mom, but he had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read him when he was a kid, the way she would tell him not to let the bedbugs bite. And when he closed my eyes, he fell peacefully asleep instantly.
That was the ending of Percy’s first day at Camp Half-Blood.