Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

hey, ghouliesヽ('ω｀)ﾉ, it's your hostess with the mostness, Minty!

So! some warnings before we start.

1st! This is my first fan-fic, so please be nice! And apologies if I mess up or write weird. I'm alternating between using my phone, and a shoty temperamental laptop to write. Due to that, there maybe some formatting issues or minor spelling mistakes. (Which will be fixed later.) But let me know on what I need to improve, add, or change! All I ask is kindness when delivering any critiques.

2nd! I changed some of the camp lore and made some minor characters. But nothing to major.

3rd! y/n will speak using ASL! It's relevant to the character and plot. (so if I say "you said," its a slip up on my part and will be fixed later). You'll vocally say some words, but not very much (during this book at least).

4th! Im gonna combine the movies with the books. its basically the majorty of the PJO books (actors and all) with some movies events. Some events will be removed entirely (sorry crusty). And the characters are aged up to 16.

5th! This is cross-posted from wattpad. so ill add the author notes from previously posted chapters, and then all new chapters will have different author notes for each respective platform. With that being said, Wattpad will get the updates first, with Ao3 a day or two later.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Text

-🌊⚡️☀️-

[Y/n] woke up to her bunkmate rushing down the ladder and to other people shuffling, with their not so silent whispers. 'Who was stupid enough to get hurt in the middle of the night? The harpies always patrol at night,' she thought.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she sees a small crowd forming around one of the cots. The usual Apollo healers are there, with Lee Fletcher taking the lead and directing everyone. There's a healer working on someone with curly hair, with some scruff on his chin. He kinda looks like- 'Grover'.

After leaving for a year and only calling through the occasional iris message, this is not how she wanted to see her old friend again.

Now fully awake [y/n] headed towards Govers cot. As she got closer, she sees the healer that's helping Grover is Benny, the person who sleeps on the bunk above her and (although she would never tell them this) one the cabins more average cabin healers.

She snapped at them to get their attention. "What happened?" she signed worriedly.

"Oh man, [y/n], you're not going to believe this - Grover came back, with a demigod he's been following-"

'Yes!' She thought, celebrating internally. 'Grover needed a victory like this. But if both him and the demigod are here-' your excitement turned into an awkward grimace.

"-Well they came back tonight, obviously, but they fought something big. Annabeth and Chiron found them- She said they fought the minotaur!" they whispered excitedly.

"Minotaur? No way, like the minotaur." she asked, emphasizing the sign for minotaur, to make sure she heard it right.

"I know, right!? I'm more shocked that Grover actually brought someone back in one piece."

[y/n] gave them a sharp look.

"Oh, uh, sorry". He apologized.

She (lightly) punched his shoulder. "It's fine."

With that, she gave Benny some space so they could focus on helping Grover. But from what [y/n] could see, his injuries don't require much ambrosia, so he should be fine. He'll be incredibly sore and really bruised for a bit- but fine.

She then directed her attention to the small crowd circling the cot next to Grover. Everyone was invested in their own chatter that they didn't notice her eavesdroping.

"You really think he did it?"

"With Grover? No way. He's lucky he survived traveling with him!"

"How strong is this new guy?"

"This has to be a fluke."

"It has to be a prank or something."

[Y/n] snapped repeatedly to get the group's attention. "I see a lot of busy mouths and not busy hands. Either help out or get to bed." No one moved or seemed to care.

"I'll scream." She threatened.

That made the stranglers go to their respective bunks, leaving Lee, Benny, and [y/n] by the cots.

"Thanks for that [y/n]." Said Lee.

She pretended to dust dirt off her shoulder and gave a smug look. "No problem. Crowd control is my specialty."

Lee is very relaxed most of the time, if not always. But when he enters Head Counsler mode, he gets more serious. Even as the cabin leader, he needs help once in a while.

She looked down at Lee's patient and cringed. There had been campers who fell off chariots during the races- they looked bad. But this kid looks like the chariot wheels ate and spit him out for breakfast.

The newcomer had a big gash on his forehead, a puffy eye, and probably more injuries that she couldn't see. 'Poor guy,' she thought.

"He looks bad now, but he just needs some ambrosia and good ol' fashion medicine and he should be fine." Lee assured. He was one of the better healers, so [y/n] knows he meant it.

"Where's Annabeth?" she asked. Whenever there's a new camper, Annabeth isn't far behind.

"She's with Chiron. They're trying to find out what happened out there and if anyone else came with them."

She pursed her lips. 'Oh, Annie. Don't get your hopes up.' she thought. 'Not every newcomer is your ticket out'.

"I can take over watch duty in the morning. Tell Annabeth I'll let her know if anything interesting happens. She keeps thinking any new person coming in will help her leave camp- I don't want her fluttering around here while this kid heals." [Y/n] explained.

Although Annabeth is her dear friend- she gets a little uppity sometimes. And if she's going in and out of the cabin every 10 minutes to check if the new kid is awake yet- she might burst into a million pieces. Annabeth may be a handful sometimes, but she [y/n]'s handful. (And even then, that's too much at times).

Lee gave [y/n] a look. "We'll talk about it in the morning. I'm the counselor here. Besides, you're still on time out for what happened during training the other day."

Annoyed, [y/n] rolled her eyes and sighed. "That, wasn't my fault. The Hermes kids should know better than to prank me!" She cracked her fingers to try to blow off steam. Getting mad now wouldn't help, but getting mad later would. "It's a normal human reaction to scream! I'll fix the shed and-"

"I know, I'm on your side-" Lee interrupted. He began applying some disinfectant and was starting to apply some bandages on the new camper.

"-If we make it look like you're being punished, there won't be any worse punishment from Chiron. And you're being treated like any other camper would in this situation." He explained.

"You don't even wake up in the morning. You wake up at noon." Benny quipped.

She shot a glare at him, but Benny was right (but she won't admit that to him).

Even though you are an Apollo kid, you hated waking up early mornings. Ironic, right? And Lee was also right, like always. Someone from the Hermes cabin rigged an air horn to sound off, followed by rancid strawberry jam to fall when someone pulled a weapon from one of the training sheds.

"Supposedly", the prank was for any unsuspecting camper, but the weapon that was rigged to set off the trap was the one [y/n] would hide. (It was one of the newer training swords. Even though it was wooden, it was still strong. And it didn't have any splitters or chips missing)

But after she pulled it, and the air horn sounded- and like any normal demigod who just got airhorned in the face, she screamed.

But unlike other demigods, their screams don't blow a big hole in a shed and crack wooden weapons and- well, thinking about it won't make it go away. Or fix the shed. Or fix the training weapons.

She looked at the floor, embarrassed. Even though it was last week and an accident, she still got in trouble for it. (The only upside was she didn't get weeks old strawberry jam on her).

"Go to bed, and we'll talk about it tomorrow. And don't worry, we'll get some payback." He assured.

That made [y/n] lighten up. Lee knew how to get revenge, so the Hermes kids better watch out tomorrow.

"Thanks, Lee. Good night." she signed and smiled. As she walked back to her bunk, she flicked Benny on the ear and signed the same to him as well.

After getting comfy in her bed, [y/n] felt excited for tomorrow. Even though she wasn't allowed to participate in most of the fun camp activities like the campfire songs her cabin would lead, (she was only allowed to play a tambourine for the safety of everyone), and other camp games.

With the new kid here, it means there would be a game of capture the flag. And every camper had to participate, and hopefully, that meant herself as well.

A camp full of kids who have a Greek God for a parent, get powerful abilities from them as well, and learn battle tactics as self-defense against different Greek monsters- gets boring when you're forced to read old books from the camp library and take notes as punishment.

'Tomorrow is gonna be better.' She thought, or more liked hoped, as she fell asleep.

-🌊⚡️☀️-

Chapter Text

–🌊⚡️☀️–

Percy woke up sporadically while he was sleeping. He had weird dreams of barn animals. Half of them wanted to kill him. The other half just wanted food. Nothing he would see or hear made sense, so he would go back to sleep

He was able to wake up a little at some point. He could feel the softness of the bed and being spoon-fed butter popcorn, but it felt like pudding. 

He saw two girls hovering over him, one blonde and the other [h/c]. "What will happen at the summer solstice?" asked the blondie.

"What?" He croaked.

The blonde girl looked around as if afraid someone would hear. The other girl shrugged. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

The other girl punched the blonde girl in the shoulder and made gestures with her hands.

"I'm sorry, I don't..."

Someone knocked at the door, and the [h/c] girl took the spoon and shoved more of the pudding in his mouth. She was pushing the blondie to a window in a hurry.

The next time Percy woke up, the blond girl was gone. The [h/c] headed one was a few feet away, reading a book and writing in a notebook.

"So he didn't say anything after I left?" Annabeth whispered. 

"Nothing. He mostly slept like a rock." [Y/n] replied. She kind of hoped he did something interesting in his sleep, like turning around once in a while or snore. But no such thing happened. "He drools in his sleep. Had to wipe his face every half-hour. He talks a lot while he sleeps."

That made the pair chuckle a little. 

"Mr. Brunner!" a voice cried.

"Ah, good, Percy," Chiron said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

'Percy, huh.' [Y/n] thought.

Chiron offered a chair next to Mr. D. Who looked at percy, annoyed, and heaved a great sigh. "Oh I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks." Percy said awkwardly and scooted away from Mr. D.

"[Y/n]?" Chiron called. "This young lady nursed you back to health. And this-" He gestured to Annabeth "-is her friend and interpreter, Annabeth. My dears, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll put him in cabin eleven for now."

During Chiron's brief introduction of her, she was able to get a good look at Percy. Now that he was fully healed, and in natural lighting, he looked kinda cute with his sea green eyes and jet-black hair, almost like a surfer. [Y/n] started to feel her cheeks getting warm - she looked at the floor, finding it more interesting. 

Annabeth nudged her. "Sure, Chiron. No problem." said [Y/n]. She looked at Percy then at the broken horn. Seeing the horn made it more real. 'So he really did fight the Minotaur. But he looks so wimpy.' She thought and grimaced a little. 

She felt embarrassed again and signed quickly at percy before running down the hill.

"What did she say?" He said, confused.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "She said, 'You drool a lot in your sleep,'" and ran to catch up with her friend.

.

.

.

.

.

[Y/n] made it to the Hermes cabin, albeit out of breath. 'Gods, why am I making a fool out of myself?' she thought.

When Chiron approached her about showing the new kid around would end her punishment, she was ecstatic. Easy, she thought. Especially when Annabeth volunteered to interpret. 

But after having a brief interaction with the new kid, she felt like the wrong person for the job. 'I called him wimpy, cute, and told him he drools a lot in his sleep.' She sat on the cabin steps and buried her face in her hands. 'Why am I like this?'

"[Y/N]! What happened back there?" Annabeth demanded. "You were like a deer in headlights!"

[Y/n] knew the answer, but she wouldn't admit it to her. So she thought of the next best thing. She shrugged.

Annabeth arched an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Really?"

[Y/n] looked at her friend sheepishly, "I'll tell you about it later." She meant it half-heartedly, hoping Annabeth would forget about it or lose interest. (But knowing Annabeth, it wasn't very likely.)

"What do you think about the horn?" [Y/n] asked, trying to change the subject.

Annabeth sat next to her friend and thought for a moment. "I think it's a heck of a way to make a first impression."

"No kidding." [Y/n] agreed. 

Hearing hooves on dirt, they both turn their heads towards the main pathway. It's Chiron in his full centaur form, with Percy on the right of him. "Girls, I have a masters' archery class at noon. Could you take Percy from here?" Chiron asked.

Annabeth nodded, and [Y/n] gave a thumbs up.

"Cabin eleven. Make yourself at home." He told Percy, gesturing to the doorway. "Good luck, I'll see you at dinner." With that, Chiron galloped towards the archery range.

Annabeth opened the door for Percy and [Y/n]. [Y/n] walked in first, and she gestured for him to follow. "Be friendly." She signed discreetly to the people inside.

She knew seeing this cabin for the first time could be overwhelming, as the outside of the cabin looked worse for wear with paint chipping, and inside looking more packed than a sardine can. It can be intimidating for newcomers. 

It didn't help that some of the campers were glaring daggers at her. She didn't expect a warm welcome from them, since some of them can only speak in rhymes at the moment. It would be better if they talked outside. 

"Actually, let's talk out here." [Y/n] signed nervously, exiting the cabin. "The day is nice, so let's enjoy it. Your favorite counselor should be out soon." Annabeth blushed but rolled her eyes. She let go of the door and let it close.

"What did she say?" Percy asked.

"She said she's gonna give you the tour outside. 'Cause the weather is nice." Annabeth answered.

"Welcome Percy Jackson, to Cabin eleven, The Hermes Cabin. All children of Hermes stay here and any children who haven't been determined. It's a little crowded at the moment, so you most likely won't have a bunk, but the sleeping bags are comfy!"

[Y/n] tried to appear more friendly during her explanation, smiling more and keeping eye contact with Percy. Her main goal was to convey the feeling of 'I'm here to help! and make you forget how weird I acted at the big house!'

But if anything, it made him more confused.

"-If you have any more questions about the cabin, you can ask your counselor, Luke." Just as [y/n] finished explaining, and Annabeth finished interpreting, Luke came through the front door. 

"Hey guys, how's the tour going?" Luke asked.

"Good so far. We were just talking about you." [Y/n] explained, then gave him a fistbump.

"I hope you said only good things about me." He laughed.

"We did. That's why the tour was short." [Y/n] teased.

"So, are you regular or undetermined?" Luke asked, looking at Percy.

"Uh..."

"Undetermined." Annabeth interjected.

There was a chorus of groans that came from the window. [Y/n] made a 'shoo' gesture at them. Although she can't fully blame them for being noisy.

"That means I'm your counselor for now." Luke said

"For now?" Percy asked.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Like your tour guides explained, cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors, naturally. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

"How long will I be here?' Percy asked.

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers inside all laughed. Percy looked at [y/n] for an explanation. She tried to give a reassuring smile, but it looked more awkward than anything.

"Come on," Annabeth told percy. "We'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it."

"Come on." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. 

[Y/n] huffed. Knowing Annabeth, she's going to interrogate him about the Minitour and complain he doesn't look like 'the one'. But to be honest, he doesn't look like a 'one'.

Or at least not yet. He did beat the Minitour and got his horn as spoil of war, so that makes him someone. (Plus, It's still his first day, so he deserves some slack).

"I should go catch up with them. Just in case they need my tour guide skills". [Y/n] signed boastfully.

"Try not to get into trouble while showing him around." Luke joked.

"You know me." She shrugged. Just as she was about to run off, she remembered something.

"Sorry about some of your campers. The rhyming should disappear soon." She waved bye to Luke and ran to find her friend and the new kid.

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.

[Y/n] went in the same direction Annabeth dragged Percy to, and found them by the bathrooms. She can overhear some parts of the conversation as she gets closer. It sounded heated. 

"You don't know anything about me." said Percy.

"No?" Annabeth an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

'Geez, Annie.' [Y/n] thought. 'At least be a little nicer.'

"How–"

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Percy asked, trying to hide his embarrassment.

[Y/n] snapped to get their attention. "They mean a lot." She explained with Annabeth interpreting as she went. "Reading is hard, right? Words jumbled together, or float off the page? Your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. Can't sit still or pay attention? It's your battle reflexes, looking out for danger, trying to keep you safe! A lot of danger hides in plain sight. Like you teacher, Mrs. Dodds-"

"How do you know about her?" Percy asks, confused.

[Y/n] cheeks start to turn red. Annabeth arched an eyebrow at her, but [Y/n] nudged her to keep interpreting. "You talk in your sleep. You also mentioned her... real name." She quickly looks at the ground nervously, but shoves the emotion away. "We call them Kindly Ones. Names have power, so we don't use them. But monsters like her become teachers and try to keep people like us medicated. They don't want you seeing them for what they are. "

"You sound like... you went through the same thing?" Percy said to [Y/n].

[Y/n] looked at the ground. She heard how bad school was from Annabeth and some of the other campers she talked to. Since she was homeschooled before becoming a year-rounder, she never dealt with teachers, but she fought the occasional kindly one tutor her mom used to (somehow) hire.

She had the rare human tutor, but they sometimes felt just as bad as the monsters, sometimes worse.

Noticing her friend's mood change, Annabeth took over explaining. "Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar. 

"Ambrosia and nectar?"

"It's the food and drink [Y/n] gave you to make you feel better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand, and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."

Percy looked like he had a million questions but didn't know where to start. Do you get other abilities for being a half blood? Is this place all fighting and training, or will there be normal camp activities, like making a picture frame to take home at the end of the year?

"Well! A newbie!" yelled a husky voice.

'Oh great. It's Clarisse and her goons.' [Y/n] thought, annoyed. When she shows up, trouble usually follows. "Why don't you go polish a spear or something, Clarisse?" Annabeth said.

"Sure, princess." Clarisse said. "So I can run it through you on friday night!"

"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth yelled, and [Y/n] blew a raspberry.

"We'll pulverize you!" Clarisse threatened, "Who's the runt?" she juts her head to Percy.

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "Meet Clarisse, daughter of Ares."

Percy blinked "Like... The war god?"

"You got a problem with that?" Clarisse sneered.

"No," Percy thought quickly. "It explains the bad smell."

Annabeth smirked and [Y/n] laughed into her hand.

Clarisse growled, "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy."

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse-" [Y/n] tried to say.

"Stay out of it, squeaks." Clarisse snapped back.

Shock then anger flashed on [Y/n]'s face. She looked mad, and ready to fight Clarisse and her friends on her own, but Annabeth held her back. This wasn't her fight. It was Percy's. He didn't need help. He needed to earn his own rep. (But he'll try to get a punch in for her.)

Percy handed [Y/n] his Minotaur horn. She took it and calmed down. She looks at him, and touches her chin with her middle finger and twists her hand out at an angle, and signs something else. He has a feeling it means good luck.

He got ready to fight, but Clarisse was quick to counter him and put him in a headlock, dragging him to the bathroom

Percy tried to kick and punch, but Clarisse was strong, and her hold on him was strong like iron. He tried to summon the same strength he used to fight the Minotaur, but it didn't appear.

"Like he's 'Big Three' material." Clarisse mocked as she dragged and pushed him toward a toilet bowl. "Yeah, right. The Minotar probably fell over laughing just looking at him!"

Her friends snickered.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers. [Y/n] watched nervously, gripping the horn tight. 

Clarisse bent Percy on his knees and started pushing his head towards the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, the usual things that go inside the toilet. He tried to push his head back 'I will not go into that. I won't', he thought.

Then, he felt a pull, a tug deep in his stomach. The plumbing rubbled, the pipes shuddered. Clarisse's grip on him loosened. An arch of water shot over him, hitting Clarisse straight in the face.

Percy was sprawled on the floor just as another blast of water shot out from the toilet, knocking Clarisse to the floor and pushing her into a shower stall.

Her friends tried to help, but they were blasted with streams of toilet water. Soon, all the fixtures were aimed at them, spinning them out of the bathroom.

Once they were out the door, Percy felt the tug lessen, and the water shut off. He looked down, seeing a circle of dry floor around him. Not a single drop of water on him. 

Both [Y/n] and Annabeth had been drenched by the water blasts but hadn't been pushed away. They stared at him with shock.

"How did you..." Annabeth said.

Percy stood up, legs shaky, "I don't know."

The trio walked outside and saw Clarisse and her friends stuck in the mud, with campers gathered around them gawking.

"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead." Clarisse threatened.

"'You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

Her friends had to hold her back while they dragged her back to cabin five. The campers watching split a path for them to avoid her flailing limbs.

Annabeth and [Y/n] stared at him. Annabeth's expression was hard to read while [Y/n] looked excited. She nudged Annabeth to get her attention before starting to sign something rapidly. Annabeth nodded.

"What?" he demanded "What are you guys thinking?"

"We're thinking," she said, "that we want you on our team for capture the flag."

–🌊⚡️☀️–

Chapter Text

-🌊⚡️☀️-

The trio continued the tour, with [Y/n] showing off the more normal parts of the camp first like the arts-and-crafts room, (but there were satyrs inside sandblasting a marble statue), and the rec area. Then she led them to the more "unique parts" that belong to the camp, like the metal shop (where kids were forging their own weapons), the rock climbing wall with the lava pit at the bottom.

Percy appreciated the effort of [Y/n] showing the normal parts of this place. He tried to focus on the tour, but word about what happened in the bathroom spread fast.

As the tour went on, Percy would see campers point and whisper at them. And some of them would stare at [Y/n] and Annabeth who were still dripping wet from the toilet water.

[Y/n] didn't seem to mind as much since she continued the tour as normal, if not more enthusiastic as she was explaining the different parts of the camp.

But the enthusiasm didn't carry over when Annabeth would interpret. She seems the more the most mad of the two over the bathroom incident

Eventually [Y/n] led them to the lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

She then signed, but she seemed apologetic about something. "We have training and chores to do, dinner's at 7:30. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall." Annabeth interpreted flatly.

[Y/n] nudged her with her elbow.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets." said Percy

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

Annabeth looked at Percy skeptically and then [Y/n] signed to her. Whatever it was, Annabeth seemed to agree with it.

"You need to to see the Oracle." said Annabeth

"Who?"

Percy looked at [Y/n], who was probably giving a detailed explanation, but Annabeth cut it short. "It's someone who can help you. They can predict the future, it'll make sense later. I'll ask Chiron."

[Y/n] rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Percy stared into the lake. He appreciated getting straight-forward answers from [Y/n].

But he wishes he could understand her and ask her more questions about this weird place. She was one of the more normal parts of this place.

As he stared into the lake he saw 2 teenagers sitting at the base of the pier, 15 feet below. Their hair floated gently under the water. They waved at him like they were seeing an old friend.

[Y/n] tapped his shoulder, shook her head no and gave a thumbs down.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads," He repeated, feeling both confused and overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."

Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us. 

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know."

Percy felt a tingling in his limbs, a sensation he sometimes felt when his mom talked about his dad.

"God," He said. "Half-god."

Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead. Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

"That's... crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

"But those are just –" Percy remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, he might be considered a myth. "But if all the kids here are half-gods –"

"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

Annabeth's hands tightened around the pier railing. Percy felt he'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject. "My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. 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?'

"Cabin six."

"Meaning?"

Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"And your dad?" He asked [Y/n].

Hearing the question, she glared at the dirt for a second before she held a tight smile. She raised her arm slightly and pointed up, directly at the sun.

"The sun, you mean–"

"Apollo. God of the sun and prophecy." Annabeth finished

'Sure, why not?' Percy thought. "And my dad?"

"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Annabeth gave him a cautious look and [Y/n] held her hand open, with the middle finger bent in, and made a circle over her heart. Annabeth seems to take the hint.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail and [Y/n] crossed her arms, looking down. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

Percy thought back to the kid he saw in the Hermes cabin. How packed it was in there and how depressed some of the kids looked. Most of them were probably waiting for a sign that wouldn't come.

"So I'm stuck here," He said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

[Y/n] shrugged and tilted her hand side to side. [Y/n] started to sign and Annabeth interpreted as she went "Kinda? Some campers stay only during the summer session and others, like Annabeth, stay all year long. Depending on who your parents is, you won't get attacked often and can survive in the outside world with a few months of training. But for others it's more dangerous, they'll have to stay here. When you're around 10 years old, sometimes even older, monsters will start attacking and demigods will either make their way to camp or get killed. But we're safe here."

"So monsters can't get in here?"

[Y/n] shook her head. "Not unless someone summons them from inside the camp, or someone tries to goat them in."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"

"Practice fights- or for laughs."

"For laughs?"

Annabeth cuts in, "The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So... you're a year-rounder?" Percy asked Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with clay beads of different colors, with a big gold ring in the middle.

"I've been here since I was seven, [Y/n] came here when she was 10 would stay on and off, but became a year rounder when she turned 13." she said.

"Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?'

She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."

"Oh. 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. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless..."

"Unless?"

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..." Her voice trailed off and [Y/n] rubbed her shoulder in comfort. Percy could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.

"Back in the sick room," He said, "when you and [Y/n] were feeding me that stuff –"

"Ambrosia."

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice." Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"

"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

Annabeth clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time we were there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus? Have both of you went?"

"Some of us year-rounders – Luke, Clarisse, [Y/n], and I, and a few others – we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But... how did you get there?"

"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six-hundredth floor." She looked at Percy like this was the most obvious thing in the world. "You are a New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, sure."

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by 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 of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

Percy shook his head. He wishes he could help, but the events from today were catching up to him, making him too exhausted to ask any more questions. And he just found out the Greek gods exist- he doubts he can be much help now.

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I can handle it. If they would just tell me the problem..."

Annabeth started to draw faux battle plans on the pier railing. [Y/n] must've heard Percy's stomach growl. She started to sign something before quickly stopping. She gave him an embarrassed smile, gestures for him to head back to his cabin.

Thankfully Percy understood what she was trying to convey, and walked back to the hermes cabin.

[Y/n] put a comforting hand on Annabeth's shoulder. She knocks on the rail to get her attention. "Don't worry Annie. I'm sure you'll get your quest soon."

"I doubt it- Percy doesn't even know anything."

"Cut him some slack Annie. Most of the time he's been here he's been unconscious. But you saw what he did with the toilet water-"

Annabeth looked anyonned at the mention of the bathroom incident.

"-AND the Minotaur horn. That has to mean something big is gonna happen. Either someone powerful has their eye on Percy, or he keeps getting really lucky."

"Wasn't it you who was telling me earlier to not get my hopes up?" Teased Annabeth.

"That was before the toilet water cannons. But you know what else that means, right?"

"What?"

"We gotta get Percy on our side for capture the flag. He can blast the other campers away." Joked [Y/n].

That made Annabeth smile a bit. "Boo- bad pun."

[Y/n] Gawked "The pun was unintentional, I swear I'm not that corny!"

"Sure. Yeah right," Taunted Annabeth. "But let's go- we got things to do before dinner."

A conch shell blew in the distance.

All cabins started to march up the mess hill to the hall pavilion. Satyrs joined from the meadow, naiads emerged from the lake, and others came straight from the woods itself. Even a girl, who looked 10 years old, melted out from a maple tree and came skipping up the hill

There were about 100 campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

Everyone was at their respective tables. Grover at table 12 with Mr. D, Chiron, and the other satyrs.

Annabeth sat at table 6 with her siblings, who were both pre-planning for capture the flag and having normal conversations.

Clarisse sat at table 5. She looked like she'd gotten over being hosed down, since she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.

[Y/n] could see Percy at table 11. Their table was alway overcrowded and since Percy was new, he had to sit at the end of the table. He looked like he was half on it and half hovering. She gave him a small wave, as encouragement. He waved back.

[Y/n] sat in the middle of her table with her cabin. Half of the table were just talking and the rest were trying to figure out what songs to sing during the sing-along.

"So, how was showing the new guy around?" asked Benny.

"Crazy- he fought Clarisse and company by blasting them with toilet water. But other than that, he was fine. I was gonna ask if he wanted to learn sign, since we're gonna hang out more often." [Y/n] signed

"Oh, really now? Private lessons with the new kid, so soon?" Benny teased.

"I'm doing it to be friendly-" [Y/n] replied defensively, with a small blush on her face, "-since he's gonna be hanging out with Annabeth and Grover a lot, it makes sense to teach him, cause I also hang out with them. Besides, I offer lessons to any camper that wants to learn."

"Yeah, but you usually teach in a group with Chiron. Sooo-"

[Y/n] glared at Benny, "I swear to god Benny, I will turn you into canned soup-"

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent.

He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

'To the gods.' She thought bitterly.

Soon the wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread and barbecue.

[Y/n] watched as everyone spoke into their glasses, filling with whatever they asked for. Even though she hasn't been able to talk for years, dinner at camp always made her embarrassed. The glasses only work if you speak- and since she cant speak, she had to ask someone to speak into her cup so she can drink.

Everyone always helped her out when she asked, but she felt like a child asking their mom if they could have juice in their sippy cup. She tapped the person next to her with her cup, and when they turned to her she tilted it to them.

"Oh- what drink do you want?"

"Strawberry lemonade, please."

They leaned into her cup and said "Strawberry lemonade."

She thanked them and she started to fill her plate with her favorites. [Y/n] then got up and walked to the fire pit in the middle of the pavilion.

Usually, you're supposed to burn it as offering it to the gods, or to your godly parent. [Y/n] used to give offerings to Apollo, but after she lost her ability to speak normally, she stopped giving him offerings. She stopped doing most things related to him and even stopped going to Olympus during the winter solstice trips.

She wasn't allowed to stay at camp by herself during the trip, so she would wait at the lobby and read a book until it was time to go back.

Now, when she burns the best parts of her dinner, she offers it to Artemis, Iris, Hestia, and any other gods who help the camp. She even offers some to Mr.D once in a while.

'To Hestia,' [Y/n] thought 'Thank you for keeping the fire warm. I know that sounds dumb, but you make this place... feel like home.

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 to Mr.D.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr.D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered and headed down towards the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along, with [Y/n] playing tambourine. Everyone sang camp songs about the gods, ate s'mores and joked around.

[Y/n] always enjoyed the smaller moments like these at camp. Where everyone was having fun, and Camp Half-Blood felt like a normal camp, where they didn't have to worry about monsters trying to get them or godly parents who ignored most of them.

[Y/n] looked over the crowd, she smiled as she saw Percy was clapping along and having fun. He deserved something normal like this after everything he went through.

But since he was able to shoot water cannons from toilet water, and fought the Minotaur, she doubts he'll have an easy time at camp.

-🌊⚡️☀️-

Chapter Text

–🌊⚡️☀️–

Over the course of a few days, Percy settled into a normal routine. Or, as normal as you can get in a camp full of demigods with lessons being taught by satyrs, nymphs, and a Centaur.

Every morning his first lesson would be Ancient Greek with Annabeth and [Y/n]. Annabeth would teach him the history of the gods and the language and [Y/n] would teach him the signs for each god as well. After an hour, Annabeth would leave to start her own routines and [Y/n] would take over and teach him ASL.

[Y/n] would bring a notebook and some flashcards with her to help teach. The flash cards would act as a study guide and the notebook would be used if he had any trouble understanding in sign. They would work their way through learning the alphabet, corresponding words and some basic sentences.

Percy would look forward to her lessons. It felt very casual to learn with her. During his other activities, he could feel the eyes of the counselors and other campers watching him, trying to decide who his dad was and to see what other skills the newcomer who slayed the Minotaur had.

With [Y/n], it didn't matter. She made it clear during their first lesson.

[Y/n] rolled her eyes and waved her hand away dramatically, before grabbing her note book and hastily writing in it “Ignore them. Killing a monster and whoever your godly parent is, can only take you so far. It’s up to  YOU  to make a good impression here.  Everything else-” She waved her hand away, as if dismissing the notion.

Despite her words of encouragement, Percy couldn't help but dwell on who his dad might be. Every night he would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of his meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection. Nothing came.

Just that warm feeling, like the memory of his smile.

Percy started to understand Luke’s bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn’t they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn’t his dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?

[Y/n] snapped to get his attention back.

“How’s camplife been for you?” [Y/n] asked.

Percy thought for a moment before answering. “Could be better. I've been trying archery with Chiron, but I almost shot his tail off. I got dusted by the wood-nymphs in foot racing. And wrestling? Awful- it’s like I'm classires personal punching bag! On the bright side, I'm good at canoeing, which is great in case we ever need to canoe anywhere.”

Despite all his complaints Percy was enjoying camp. He liked waking up and seeing the morning fog roll over the beach, the smell of the strawberry fields in the afternoon, and even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. It was all becoming a strange comfort to him.

“Well,” She shrugged, “maybe instead of being good at one thing, you're ‘okay’ at a lot of other things. You might be a Hermes kid!” [Y/n] signed to lighten his mood.

“A what?” Percy asked.

“H-E-R-M-E-S” [Y/n] finger spelled. She took note to go over the signs for the gods again.

“Oh.” Percy said flatly. “Luke said the same thing, but I think he’s trying to make me feel better.”

“Don’t let it get to you Percy,” [Y/n] reassured. “It’ll happen when it happens…But sometimes finding out who your parent, isn't as all as it's cracked up to be.”

That made Percy curious. All of the campers back in the Herme's cabin would do anything to find out who their godly parent is. To be actually noticed by them. To finally be claimed, and move into their respective cabin.

“When did you get claimed?” asked Percy hesitantly. He wasn't sure on camp etiquette on asking about being claimed.

At the question, [Y/n]’s usual smile fell partially. She looked away for a moment, deciding on whether or not to answer the question. Her signing became more stiff, and there was a twinge of bitterness in her eyes, but it wasn’t directed at him (he hoped), but more to the memory.

Percy already regretted asking his question.

“I was in the H-E-R-M-E-S cabin for a summer, before I was claimed. A monster got close to camp, and I helped defeat it. After that, A-P-O-L-L-O’s symbol appeared over my head, and the rest is history.” she answered.

Percy could tell there was more to her story, and it was a story she didn't want to share. At least now, or ever. Deciding to drop the subject, he switched to another topic.

“I heard you’re the best sword fighter in your cabin.”

[Y/n]'s smile returned, but it wasn’t as big as before.

“Not to brag-” she emphasized the sign for brag, her movements becoming more relaxed and she looked a bit smug. (Which was a welcomed change from her previous mood) “-but yeah, I’m the best in cabin 7. But to be fair, that isn’t saying much when compared to the other cabins.”

Percy scoffed, “I didn’t know the great swordmaster of the Apollo cabin was so humble.”

[Y/n] put her right hand loosely clawed, over her left in a loosely clawed motion, and closed them both in a downwards motion “Trust me. I’m the humblest person in camp. But if you want, I can show you my skills. When do you start your sword-fighting lessons?”

“Later today, actually.” Percy clarified.

“Really?!” [Y/n] signed enthusiastically. “Are you excited for it?”

‘Excited to make a fool of myself in front of everyone? no.’ Percy thought. But there was always the possibility that he might be good with a sword. So that gave him hope.

“Yeah,” he laughed, “who knows. I might be the first camper to both sword fight while rowing a canoe.” He joked.

“Yeah!” [Y/n] made a smile like the scenario he described already happened, but she didn't want to burst his bubble “That's the spirit!”

She then reached to the side, and filed through them and grabbed some of the homemade flashcards. They were note cards with names of the gods written on them with hand drawn gestures of how to sign them. She straightened them out and handed them to percy.

“Here. Study these. You don’t have to master them, but get familiar with them, and I'll test you in a week.” [Y/n] explained. “Sounds good?”

Percy grabbed the cards and shuffled through the first few. Although he wasn't the biggest fan of homework, he feels like an exception could be made during their lessons.

“So, I'll see you at sword practice then?” Percy asked.

[Y/n] nodded, “I’ll try to come early. I'm gonna need some room to show off my skills,” she boasted.

She in fact did not arrive early, and showed up 10 minutes late. To be fair, she had a good reason for running late. She was doing agility training and foot racing with the nymphs and other campers. 2 of the campers got too rowdy while racing, and were bumping and pushing into each other, which (obviously) led them to crash and tumble down the trail.

Everyone rushed to where they fell and winced when they saw how the 2 campers looked. It looked like the earth swallowed them and spit them out. They were scratched all over and covered in dirt; one got a sprained wrist and the other had a broken leg.

[Y/n] volunteered to help take them to the Apollo cabin. She helped the camper with a broken leg up, and slung his arm over her shoulder. She led both injured campers into her cabin and told the designated healer of the day what happened. She gave the camper with a broken leg an ambrosia square while her sibling was helping heal the sprained wrist.

By the time she helped them both get settled in, she was running late. [Y/n] started running to the area, on the other side of camp.

When she got there, it looked like the groups were half way into doing basic sword techniques on the straw dummies. She ran into her own training dummy, which was stationed 10 feet away from the others. The reason being, is that [Y/n] was only able to get 3 decent hits in before the sword before it flew out of her hands.

This was a phenomenon that only affected cabin 7. Whenever they tried sword fighting, the sword would just slip and fly out of their hands. So that made most Apollo kids stick to archery (plus it was easy to learn when you had a natural gift for it).

Except [Y/n], who stopped learning archery years ago and switched to sword-fighting. At her current level, she wasn’t near most of the skill level of any of the campers here. But, with enough training and practice, she was able to land 3 good strikes before the sword flew from her hands, thus making her the best in the Apollo cabin.

Even now, when most campers were using real swords, made of celestial bronze, [Y/n] had to use a wooden sword. She didn’t mind using it, because if the roles were reversed, she’d preferred to get hit in the head with a wooden sword than a sharp, metal one.

She was doing basic slashes and stabbings slowly. Occasionally, she would look at Percy to check his progress. She cringed at his skills, or lack thereof. He couldn't find a sword that was right for him, so he would grab each sword awkwardly. ‘Well, it's his first day of sword training, he’ll get better.’ [Y/n] thought hopefully.

After a few minutes Luke called to start dueling in pairs. He announced what the pairs would be and then he called out to [Y/n], “Do mind doing solo practice today- we have an odd number today.”

[Y/n] shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, no problem. Does that mean your gonna-”

“Yep,” Luked smirked, “Percy, you're with me today.”

“Take it easy with him, Luke.” warned playfully [Y/n]. Although her demeanor showed she was joking, her eyes showed she was serious. “I know how you get with training and-”

“Don’t worry. I’ll give him the best treatment and the finest treatment while he's under my wing.” assured luke.

‘He’s doomed,’ she thought.

She walked up to Percy and patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck Percy,” [Y/n] signed, “Luke’s one of the best swordsmen in camp. He can get a little intense with training but he's also the best teacher- if he can teach me, he can definitely teach you.”

“In that case, I should be better than you by the end of the week, right?” quipped Percy.

“Based on your skills I saw earlier? I think you'll be better than me by the end of the year.”

Once everyone was in their respective pairs, they started to practice attacks, defenses, and parries. [Y/n] returned to the straw dummy she was using before, continuing her slow and slightly methodical training. And like clock work, her wooden sword would fly from her hand after every 3rd swing. She would run into whatever direction if flew to and retrieve it.

Everytime she would run after it, she would peek over to where Luke and Percy were training. She could see the older camper show the younger basic techniques the hard way, and would correct them the same way. During her frequent walks to retrieve her practice blade, she could see Percy look a little more battered and bruised.

She could overhear Luke’s corrections- “Keep your guard up, Percy,” he’d say, then whap Percy on the side with the flat of his blade. “No, not that far up!” Whap! “Lunge!” Whap! “Now, back!” Whap!

She knows how harsh the training can be, especially with a teacher like Luke. All these skills could (and most definitely will) save your life one day. ‘But jeez’ she thought ‘can’t the lessons be a little nicer’.

When break was called, everybody swarmed the drinks cooler, grabbed a cup and chugged the water. [Y/n] waited for everyone to get their turn before she got her own cup. As she was drinking her own water, she saw Luke pour ice water on his head to cool off. She saw Percy do the same. He instantly looked more refreshed.

[Y/n] turned and tapped him on the shoulder “How’s training so far?” she asked.

“Oh you know,” Percy wiped his forehead from the sweat and water, “could be worse.”

There was a sly look on her face,“Well…” she signed.

“Okay, everybody circle up!” Luke ordered. “If Percy doesn’t mind, I want to give you a little demo.”

[Y/n] patted Percy’s back in reassurance. “You should be fine, he does this whenever a new camper starts sword practice. It’s all normal stuff. On the off chance you get hurt, I’ll be here to help.” She then gave him a thumbs up and joined the circle that was forming around Luke and Percy.

Luke announced he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy’s blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

“This is difficult,” he stressed. “I’ve had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique.” He demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand.

“Now in real time,” Luke said, after he retrieved Percy’s weapon. “We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?”

[Y/n] crossed her arms nervously as she watched. She always got nervous when newer campers were put in the center of attention, and she got a little bit more nervous when it was Percy at the center. She could tell he was getting annoyed at being known at being the center of attention at camp, and this wasn’t helping.

As she watched closely, she saw Percy block Luke from hitting the hilt of his sword. Percy stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily. [Y/n] saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to push against Percy with more force.

Percy then tried the disarming maneuver. His blade hit the base of Luke’s and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust. Clang! Luke’s sword rattled against the stones. Percy held the tip of his blade- an inch from Luke’s chest.

Everyone surrounding them went silent. [Y/n] was shocked as well. ‘No way…’ She thought. A smile grew on her face, ‘No way!’ She thought excitedly.

Percy lowered his sword. “Um, sorry.” He said awkwardly.

Luke was too stunned to speak. “Sorry?” His scarred face broke into a grin. “By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!”

Percy looked conflicted, like he didn't want to do it again. But Luke insisted. Percy went into first position. This time, there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Percy’s hilt and sent his weapon skidding across the floor. It seemed like whatever momentum Percy had from before, was gone.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, “Beginner’s luck?”

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Percy with an entirely new interest. “Maybe,” he said. “But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword… .” Luke then called for everyone to return to pairs while he goes to one of the sheds and looks for another set of swords that Percy might be able to use.

When everyone returned to their pairs, they started to chat with each other while they practiced half heartedly.

[Y/n] ran up to Percy excitedly. “See! What did I tell you! You have skill- I never doubted you for a second.”

“Gee. Thanks.” he smirked.

“Seriously! No one’s ever been able to do that. I think you’ll definitely be better than me by the end of the month.” she joked. She can tell Percy had some skill with a sword (on top of the natural born sword skills most demigods have). He’ll easily surpass her in skill (which isn't too hard to do, but it was still good to see him be good at something).

“That's good to hear.” Percy smiled. “You know, since you came late, I didn't get to see your skills before we started. Do you think you can give me some pointers?”

[Y/n] nodded, with her cheeks a little red from embarrassment. Although all the campers know she has a fly radius when she wields a sword, Percy hasn't seen it yet. Even when they were practicing, he was focused on his own training with Luke and getting corrected by his sword. She knows Percy wouldn't say anything mean about her skills, but she felt a little embarrassed about him seeing her sword skills first hand.

But, she did promise to show him her skills. And it wouldn’t hurt to show him (as long as he’s able to dodge).

“Ok, I'll show you some tips, but stand 10 feet away.”

–🌊⚡️☀️–

Chapter Text

–🌊⚡️☀️–

"So... what's the plan for capture the flag?" Benny asked.

[Y/n] paused mid-chew at the question. She knew the question would come up eventually- but she knew Benny wasn't asking for the battle strategy. They were asking about alliances, and in turn, asking about what was traded to get said alliances.

"Uh, to win ?" She signed and continued chewing.

Benny took a sip of their drink staring flatly at [Y/n], unamused by her answer.

[Y/n] rolled her eyes and wiped her mouth with a napkin. " Fine . We're teaming up with the Athena and Hermes cabin."

At this point she wasn't too worried about other cabins knowing who her cabin was teaming up with. The game would start after everyone was finished with dinner, so it would be too late for last minute alliance changes. (Especially with different perks and privileges being traded).

"How did we get an alliance with them?" asked Benny.

"Through good negotiations and-"

"We traded shower times with Hermes cabin and we switched chores with Athena cabin." Lee interrupted [Y/n]'s explanation. The table released a chorus of groans and complaints. [Y/n]'s head slumped forward in embarrassment.

She didn't want everyone to find out just yet . [Y/n] was going to tell them after they (hopefully) won today, to soften the blow. (And she was eager to play capture the flag again after so long, it kind of slipped her mind.)

Switching shower times with Hermes cabin meant Apollo cabin would go last, and all the hot water would be gone. And switching chores with the Athena cabin meant more meticulous tasks, like counting and cataloging the armory and camp store everyday to see what was stolen, broken, ect.

[Y/n] slammed her fist on the table to get their attention "Okay! I know we traded a lot, but high risk, high reward . So complain now, so we can cheer later!" She held a fist high, to punctuate her point.

[Y/n] felt like she gave a good speech (short and sweet), but going by the faces around her, they looked more annoyed than inspired. The only people who looked mildly inspired were Lee, Benny, and two other siblings.

Embarrassed, she defaulted to giving a thumbs up and an awkward smile.

A conch horn blew in the distance.

'Thank god' [Y/n] thought, relieved. As soon as the plates were cleared everyone stood up at their tables.

At the edge of the pavilion came Annabeth and two of her siblings carried a large silk banner. Everyone yelled and cheered as they ran through. The banner was ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse ran in and her siblings carried a banner of equal size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. Both teams stood next to Chiron, with Clarisse on the left and Annabeth on the right.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

" Heroes !" he announced. "You know the rules. 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 disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. And now, for teams-"

Everyone went silent. There was clear excitement buzzing in the air.

"The blue team will consist of Athena, Hermes and the Apollo cabins," Chiron gestured to the right, "And the red team will consist of Ares, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and the Hephaestus cabins." Chiron gestured to the left.

'Oof. I hope Annabeth has a good battle strategy,' [Y/n] thought worriedly. While the cabins that Ares teamed up with didn't have a lot of campers, they had skilled campers.

The Dionysus twins were very athletic and very in sync . The Demeter kids (while not aggressive) knew how to make good traps. Aphrodite kids mostly stuck to the lake and weren't much of a problem (unless someone disrupts them, then they'll charmspeak you to do something embarrassing), Hephaestus kids have really good upper body strength. And the Ares kids, while very aggressive, knew how to fight.

"And now... Arm yourselves!" Chiron announced.

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal. On their respective tables, each helmet plume was either red or blue. Everyone quickly grabbed their equipment (With [Y/n] grabbing a wooden training sword and shield) and started to gather at their teams flags.

[Y/n] then ran up to Annabeth. She was excited to hear the battle plan. After being on probation and missing out on a few capture the flag games, [Y/n] was ready to fight again.

"So what's the plan?"

" Whoa ," Percy said. "We're really supposed to use these?"

Luke looked at him as if he were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here- Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."

Percy's shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. It could've been a good snowboard, but with the weight and size, Percy hoped nobody expected him to run fast.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward! "

The entire blue team cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts as they headed off toward the north.

As Percy tried to catch up with Annabeth, he saw her and [Y/n] arguing. Well, it looked more like [Y/n] was trying to convince Annabeth about something and Annabeth just shaking her head ' no '. [Y/n]'s hands were moving to fast, making it hard to understand what she was signing, but Percy was only able to pick up two words-

BAD. IDEA.

Seeing that made him worried, but admittedly, interested. He quickly pushed past some of his teammates and caught up with the arguing pair. "Hey! So, what's the plan?" He asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?" Percy added to lighten the mood between the pair.

Annabeth's hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid Percy had stolen something, and [Y/n] crossed her arms in and looked away from him and Annabeth, embarrassed.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," warned Annabeth. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means."

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." Annabeth started to walk faster, expecting [Y/n] to follow, but she stayed beside Percy, her arms still crossed with a serious look on her face.

Annabeth tugged at her camp necklace, slightly frustrated and annoyed. She breathed in and out deeply, before turning to [Y/n]. " Fine - but don't move any else. I'll have someone else cover your position-"

"Yes!" she signed excitedly, [Y/n] pumped the air "You're the best Annie!"

With a small smile, and slightly annoyed at her friend, she waved it off and continued marching into the forest with the rest of the blue team.

[Y/n] turned to Percy, "Follow me, Annabeth told me where to go," and she turned and walked in a different direction into the woods. "And watch where you step- there might be traps and snares set up."

The night was warm, and sticky. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. [Y/n] led Percy to a small creek. In the distance, the conch horn blew. The pair heard whoops, yells in the woods, and the clanking of metal..

She could see Percy's shoulders slump, looking into the distance where most of the action is taking place.

[Y/n] tapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, most campers' first game of capture the flag is kind of boring." she signed, trying to comfort him.

"Oh really ?" Percy asked, with a sly smile. It was obvious he didn't believe her statement. Boring isn't a thing that happens at Camp Half-Blood.

"I mean... for my first game I was on border patrol too, but I wandered off and got caught in a snare upside down. And let me tell you, you do not want to shoot arrows upside down- worst migraine of my life."

That made Percy laugh a little. "So you weren't always a master swordswomen?"

[Y/n] smiled, and flicked her hand away in mock boasting. " Please. With tallent like mine, you're simply born with it." After signing, she put her hand on her hips and took a heroic stance.

Percy laughed again. [Y/n] smiled at being able to keep his mind off of missing all the excitement happening around the forest. She thinks back to Annabeth's plan, and hopes it doesn’t come to fruition. 

Percy looked away for a moment, before turning to [Y/n]. "Can I ask you something?"

 She put her right pointer finger against her lips, and moved it forward in an arch motion "Sure, let's hear it." She responded.

"...What made you want to learn how to fight with a sword?"

[Y/n] usual smile faltered. She figured this question would come sooner or later, and she didn’t blame Percy for being curious. Most campers here already knew why she stopped doing archery, and other Apollo related things. The newer campers never found interest to ask, which she was grateful for. It’s hard to explain to a new camper who was desperate to find out who their godly parent is, when she hated her own.

[Y/n] shook her head to clear her thoughts. "It's good to learn how to fight with different weapons. You'll never know when you'll need the skill." she rattled off a basic answer.

"Yeah but, you're a child of Apollo. Everyone in your cabin is perfect with a bow and arrow. Most campers stick to one weapon, or train for a long time to get good, but you-"

[Y/n] interrupted him by taking her helmet off and rubbing her eyes. She looked briefly at a random part of the forest before turning her gaze to Percy. She tried to keep a relaxed demeanor, but her eyes had an exhausted look on them.

She let her helmet drop to the floor and she paused trying to find the right words. "My… It’s because archery-“

Suddenly, a low canine growl coming from somewhere interrupted her, the previous conversation forgotten.

Instinctively, the pair raised their shields. [Y/n] could hear the growling, but couldn't pinpoint where it came from. She then looked at Percy- who looked pale. Whatever made that sound must've freaked him more.

She raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, ' you heard that too, right? '

"... you... you don't feel that?" Percy whispered.

She shook her head no. Then she put her back against his, to make sure they were covered in every angle. She put a hand on the handle of her sword. Even though it was wooden, she knows how to cause damage with it. And, in the worst case scenario, she can use her voice.

After a few minutes, the growling stopped.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Six Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

'Aw Styx.' thought [Y/n].

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed. Her eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords-not like that was any better.

The small battalion charged across the stream.

Clarisse and another Ares kid went straight to Percy, the rest went to [Y/n]. She was able to block and deflect the attacks, but celestial bronze is stronger than wood, so her blade quickly became cracked and chipped. Her shield became her main line of offense and defense.

She then heard a surge of electricity go off. 'Percy!' she thought worriedly. She turned her head quickly to see another Ares kid slammed him in the chest with the butt of his sword and pushed Percy into the dirt.

One of the Ares kids [Y/n] was fighting used that moment to swipe to finally break her sword fully. Then he used his shield to slam into her. (Admittedly, if any other camper did this she would be able to push against them. But this particular Ares kid had a foot and a half and thirty pounds on [Y/n] so she was quickly slammed into the ground.)

Before they continued their attack, the Ares kids laughed at the fallen pair.

"Give him a haircut," Clarisse commanded. "Grab his hair, and take care of foghorn while you're at it."

The bigger camper sat on [Y/n], keeping her pinned down. She thought briefly of using her voice, but it would be too dangerous. Anything could explode, and anyone could get hurt. But if this continued, she might have to take that risk.

Percy managed to get to his feet and raised his sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew.

"Oh, wow ," Clarisse said sarcastically. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."

"The flag is that way," He told her.

"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."

"You do that without my help," Percy told them. Although not the best moment for comedy, [Y/n] thought it was funny.

Two Ares kids charged at Percy. He backed up to the creek, and tried to raise his shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear struck him straight in the ribs. Thankfully the armored breastplate took most of the blow, otherwise Percy would've been shish-ke-babbed.

As the shock of electricity went through Percy, one of Clarisse's cabinmates slashed his sword across his arm, leaving a large cut.

" PER-" [Y/n] almost shouted, but stopped before saying anymore. Even from saying one syllable a few rocks in the creek shattered. She then started to struggle and kick from underneath the large camper, trying to break free. She needed to find a way to try and help Percy.

Percy thought he heard someone call his name, then he heard the sound of rocks breaking apart. In a daze, he looked to find where it came from. Then, he saw [Y/n] struggling to break free from the large Ares kid sitting right on top of her, keeping her pinned down.

Seeing his friend in trouble, it gave him a new resolve. He had to find a way to beat them and help [Y/n]. Clarisse and her gang came after him because of the bathroom incident he caused.

Percy shakily stood up straighter, "This is between us-"

An Ares' kid interrupted Percy by pushing him into the creek, making him land with a splash. The small cabin five battalion all laughed. " Oops ," the camper taunted. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."

Clarisse and her cabin mates came into the creek and Percy rose steadily to meet them.

He gripped his shield and sword tighter, he knew what to do. Percy swung the flat of his sword against the first camper's head and knocked his helmet clean off. The Ares warrior crumpled into the water.

Two Ares kids then charged at him. Quickly Percy slammed one in the face with his shield and then used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quickly.

The last of Clarisse's cronies didn't look eager to attack and one on top of [Y/n] was stunned at how quickly Percy countered their attacks. This bought [Y/n] a brief moment where she launched all of her weight against the large camper and knocked him off balance.

She quickly grabbed her discarded shield, and slammed it against him as he stood up and knocked him in a daze. She then grabbed his discarded sword and pointed the tip of the blade against his throat.

With a roar, Clarisse then charged at Percy, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrusted, he caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and sword, and snapped it like a twig.

"AAAHHH !" she screamed. "You idiot ! You corpse-breath worm!"

Percy smacked her between the eyes with the butt of his sword and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.

Suddenly, there was yelling and elated screams. Luke came racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes kids covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus cabin.

The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick!"

They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers. The red banner they carried shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven.

Chiron then cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. The Blue team won.

As [Y/n] heard the horn blow, she sheathed her newly acquired blade. ' Finally' she thought, relieved that this awful game of capture the flag was over. She could hear everybody on the blue team scream, shout and celebrate. 

A few of her teammates ran up to her, patting her back, congratulating her on their shared victory. As much as she wanted to join in the celebration, she had to get back to Percy. She just saw him get a thrashing, then saw him fight and beat FIVE Ares kids on his own. She had to check on any injuries he possibly could’ve gotten and ask ‘ How in the hades did you do that?! ’

With a promise that they would all celebrate together later, she moved past her team mates and went to where she last saw Percy.

Walking through the rest of the celebrating blue team, (and upset red team) [Y/n] saw Percy and Annabeth talking. She waved at the pair to get their attention. The first one to notice her is Percy. As she got closer, she could see the anger on his face.

"Did you know about his- Annabeth's plan to use me as bait ?" He snapped.

The question made her pause, and felt the guilt eat at her. She technically did know about the plan, but only minutes before the game started. That's why she begged Annabeth to let her go with Percy, so he can at least have some backup during the fight.

[Y/n] didn't look him in the eye as she answered. "I did, but-"

"And you were just gonna let me get pulverized?" Percy accused, interrupting her.

"No! I wanted the opposite, actually ! I knew Annabeth's plan was stupid-"

"We still won , by the way." The blonde chimed in.

"Not now!" Both Percy and [Y/n] said to Annabeth. Taking the hint, she turned away and started to watch the still celebrating campers.

"That's why I begged Annabeth to let me patrol with you." She argued back, her signing became bigger and her face scrunching up. " I wanted to make sure you didn't turn into swiss cheese! "

She gestured to his arm. She quickly looked over his injury, as she looked, she saw it start to heal. She gasped slightly and took a small step back. She nudged Annabeth to get her attention, so she can look at the self healing wound, to make sure they were seeing the same thing

"What?” Percy asked, confused. “Is the cut that bad?" 

[Y/n] shook her head, " Look."

The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As the pair watched, it quickly turned into a small scar, and disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Questioned Annabeth.

"I-I don't get it," Percy said.

[Y/n] could see Annabeth was thinking hard. She could almost hear the gears turning inside her head. Annabeth looked down at his feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, as if connecting the dots, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it."

Percy came out of the creek and immediately almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied him and [Y/n] held her hands tightly together.

"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus..."

Percy looked like he was about to ask her what she meant, but he and [Y/n] heard a familiar canine growl again, but much closer than before.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron then shouted in Ancient Greek: "Stand ready! My bow!"

A howl cut through the forest.

[Y/n] readied her shield and sword.

There on the rocks just above everyone was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

Nobody moved. Nobody dared to breathe.

[Y/n] saw that it wasn't focusing on the group of demigods, but only on one person in particular. She followed the monster's line of sight- it led straight to Percy. She squeezed the handle of her sword. She wanted to move and help him, but she felt like her legs were frozen, she couldn’t move. But she had to do something.

Then, she felt her throat tighten. For the first time in a long time, [Y/n] used her voice, and yelled. " Percy, run !"

As she yelled the hound turned its head, recoiling at the sound of her voice. A giant pine tree cracked at the base and started to fall in front of the hellhound. 

But the monster was fast, it shook its head clear of the sound and dodged the falling pine. It leaped over her, the crowd and went straight to Percy

Percy stumbled backward as the beast landed on him. With its razor-sharp claws, the hound slashed and ripped through his armor. Then, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at Percy's feet.

[Y/n] quickly ran to Percy and knelt down to inspect him. By some miracle, he had survived. His bronze armor took most of the damage, but the claws still pierced through and cut Percy across his chest.

"Di immortales!" [Y/n] heard Annabeth shout, but she ignored it. She had to help her friend.

Her hands hovered around him, unsure of what to do or where to start. She thought of the ambrosia squares but they were all the way back in cabin seven. If she can get one of the faster campers to run across the creek- ' wait , the creek. '

[Y/n] grabbed his face to get his attention. "Percy, get in the water." she signed, her eyes pleading.

"I'm okay," he muttered, delirious from his wound.

" No , you're not," she stressed. Not wanting to waste time, she kept her response short. "Go. Water. Now ." and started to help him up. [Y/n] got him to lean on her for the first few steps until he was able to walk into the creek on his own.

[Y/n] walked a few back to Chiron and Annabeth. "Watch."

As he stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathered silently around him. As soon as he stepped in, his wounds started to heal. Above him, a bright green light appeared. At first it was shapeless, but then started to spin and morph slowly into a symbol. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

Instantly, some of the campers gasped and others were too stunned to say anything.

' By the gods... ' [Y/n] thought, shocked.

Looking around, Percy could see everyone's reactions. Judging by their faces, it wasn't good. "Look, I-I don't know why," He said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry-"

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

By the time Percy looked up, the sign was already fading.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

Percy looked to [Y/n] for her usual reassurances, but she looked just as shocked as everyone else. She rubbed hands nervously as she stared at the spot where the sign previously hovered.

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around him, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. [Y/n] knelt down as well, but she turned her head away, hiding her face.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God. "

–🌊⚡️☀️–

Chapter Text

-🌊⚡️☀️-

The next morning, Chiron moved Percy into cabin three.

Being the child of Poseidon meant he had the whole cabin to himself. He had plenty of room for his stuff: The Minotaur’s horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. He had his own dinner table, picked all of his own activities, called “lights out” whenever he felt like it, and didn’t listen to anybody else.

He felt absolutely miserable. 

He had just gotten accepted by the Hermes cabin and just started to feel normal. (Or the equivalent of being normal at a camp full of demigods run by an actual Greek god and a Centaur). Now, he's been cut out and quarantined as if he had some rare disease. No one mentioned the hellhound, Percy had the feeling everyone was talking about it behind his back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: 

One, That Percy Jackson is the son of the Sea God.

Two, Monsters would stop at nothing to him. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe

The rest of the campers steered clear of him as much as possible. Even Clarisse kept her distance. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with him after what he’d done to the Ares folks in the woods, so his lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed Percy harder than ever.

Annabeth still taught him Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time he said something, she scowled at him, like he just poked her between the eyes. After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: “Quest … Poseidon? … Dirty rotten …Got to make a plan…”

Then when he switched to his ASL lessons with [Y/n], it was just as bad. She tried to act normal around him, but he could tell she was affected by his claiming just like everyone else. He remembers how nervous she looked when Poseidon's symbol hovered over his head, and how she turned her head away from him.

It made him feel bad. He managed to weird out the only person at camp who tried to make him feel normal. But he knew it wasn’t like that. As he laid down on his bed, Percy rubbed his hands over his face, he thought back to the conversation they had together earlier in the day. 

They were halfway through their lesson, and admittedly, he started to zone out. He would nod and “uh-huh” occasionally. Everything that happened over the last few days weighed heavy on his mind.

Suddenly, [Y/n] clapped really loudly in his face and knocked on his head. “Hello! Earth to Percy, hello!” she signed, annoyed. “Were you even paying attention?”

“I was!” Percy defended.

“Oh really? What was I explaining before?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. 

Seeing him try to come up with an answer, [Y/n] sighed. “Don’t worry about it. It was some grammar stuff, we can go over it later. I know you're going through… alot right now. Do you want to talk about it?”

“...What’s there to talk about? Everyone is avoiding me. There’s not much to it.”

“Look,” She then looked both ways, checking if there was anybody around them. When she made sure there wasn’t she leaned close to him, like she was gonna tell him a secret. “-Did they tell you about the pact?” 

Percy nodded. “Yeah. The promise to not have anymore kids.”

[Y/n] breathed a sigh of relief, and backed up. “Good. That saves some explaining-” she then started to sign something, before restarting and starting to sign again. After a few more attempts she finally settled on something. 

“I know everyone is acting weird around you, and me included, it's weird having another child of the Big Three after-” [Y/n] stopped signing, her hands flinched back, like she just touched something sharp. When she continued, her hands moved slower, “The last time we had a child of the Big Three it… didn't need well… But don’t let it get to you. This will become old news soon. Big stuff like this dies down in two weeks. Tops.”

“How are you so sure?” Percy asked. He knows she can be optimistic, but he doubts something as big as him being claimed by Poesiden will die down that easily.

[Y/n] looks at her hands, as if she's contemplating something. She looks up at him with a steady face before responding, “Because I went through the same thing. Something… happened to me a few years ago and everyone avoided me like the plague. But after two weeks, people started to talk to me again.”

Percy was about to ask her, ‘what happened’, but [Y/n] interrupted him by sticking her hands out before he could get a word out. 

“How about this! Tomorrow my cabin is playing volleyball against the satyrs., I'll ask and see if they’ll let you join. To help you get reacquainted with everyone. To show everyone that just that you're still a regular demi-god despite… who your dad is.”

Percy liked the invitation to the game, but judging by it [Y/n] face, it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself that HE was just a regular demi-god.

“[Y/n]... you know I’m still me right. Nothing else has changed about me.” Percy said, but it felt more like a plea. He had to get her to understand that he was still normal. Or at least as normal as you can get in Camp Half-Blood.

[Y/n] reach out to grab Percy’s hand to give him a comforting squeeze. With her free hand she touches the side of her forehead with her finger tips, her hand flat, “I know.” 

She then let go of his hand and started to sign, “You're still Percy. You’re still my friend, who blasted toilet water at me the first day we met. Well, the first day we met when you were conscious at least. It’s just… I’m worried! Is it illegal to worry about your friend?! First you get attacked by the Minotaur, THEN a Hellhound, what’s next- harpies? A giant snake?! You're like a trouble magnet or something- you might need a bodyguard.”

“Why, are you considering being my bodyguard?”

“I’m not considering anything! But if you help us win tomorrow's game, then I’ll start to consider.”

He was happy to clear things up with her. He was also happy to have a normal conversation with someone again after everything. Prcy hopes that she’ll be able to convince her cabin to let him join. He felt excited to do camp activities again. To feel regular again.

“Lights out”, he called to the empty cabin, and fell asleep. 

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That night, he had his worst dream yet.

He was running along the beach in a storm. There was a city behind him but not New York. The skyline was different with palm trees and low hills in the distance.

About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing old Greek tunics, one clad in green the other clad in blue. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

Over the roar of the storm, he heard the one in blue yell, “Give it back! Give it back!” As he yelled, the waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying Percy with salt and sea.

“Stop fighting!” He yelled out. He had to stop them. Percy ran hard but the wind blew him back, until he was running in place, his heels digging uselessly in the sand. The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned his blood to ice.

“Come down, little hero," the voice crooned. "Come down!”

The sand split beneath Percy, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. He slipped, and the darkness swallowed him. Then he was falling.

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He woke up with a start. Percy checked his surroundings and saw he was still in cabin three. It was early in the morning, but it was dark outside. Thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing.

Percy then heard a knocking on the door.

“Come in?”

Grover trotted inside, looking worried. “Mr. D wants to see you.”

“Why?”

“He wants to kill… I mean, I’d better let him tell you.”

Nervously, Percy got dressed and followed. For days, He’d been half expecting a summons to the Big House. He felt like the other gods had probably been debating on the best way to punish him for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.

Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. 

“Do you think we should grab some umbrellas?”

“No,” said Grover. “It never rains here unless we want it to.”

Percy pointed at the storm. “What the heck is that, then?”

Grover glanced uneasily at the sky. “It’ll pass around us. Bad weather always does.”

In the two weeks he’d been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain that had gotten close skirted right around the edges of the valley.

But this storm … this one was huge.

As they walked past the volleyball pit, he scanned for [Y/n] on the volleyball court to tell her he had to skip. But he couldn’t spot her anywhere. ‘ Maybe she had to do something else, ’ Percy thought to himself. She wouldn’t ditch him after inviting him. Or at least he hoped. 

As he kept walking to the Big House, he noticed everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the Storm. 

Soon Percy and Grover walked up to the front porch of the Big House. At the pinochle table on the porch sat Mr.D in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt and Chiron in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents–two sets of cards hovering in the air.

“Well, well, ” Mr. D said without looking up. “Our little celebrity.”

Percy waited before moving.

“Come closer,” Mr. D said. “And don’t expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father.”

[Y/n] woke up early to help set up the volleyball court. After much convincing, (and some bridging), she managed to let her cabin include Percy in their game today. Although it was under the promise he play any matches by himself and [Y/n] had to set up the court by herself.

Just as she was finishing setting up the net, she heard footsteps approaching her. She turned around and saw Annabeth walking up to her. She waved ‘hi’ to her friend, and signed “Hey Annie, why are you here so early?”

Annabeth tried to look nonchalant, but she looked more impatient than anything. “No particular reason. Are you busy right now?”

[Y/n] looked at the barely rising sun, then back to her friend. “Not for another 30 minutes. Why what’s up?” She answered.

“Good. I need you to come with me to the Big House. I need all the help I can get to convince Chiron to let me go on the quest.”

[Y/n] scrunched in face in confusion, “ Quest ? There wasn't a quest issued. No one’s gone to the attic yet.”

“ [Y/n] ,” Annabeth put her hand on her hip, her face had the ‘ Did you really asked me that? ’ look. 

“Percy just got claimed by Poseidon , and the gods are fighting about something missing- of course there’s gonna be a quest. It's just a matter of when.”

“Annabeth. I can guarantee , no one, other than you, is going to volunteer for this quest.”

“I know, but I need them to see- Look, it’ll be quick. I’ll make sure you're back before the game even starts.”

Considering her proposal, [Y/n] gave the court a once over, making sure that everything was set up and in the right place.

”Fine, I'll go. But only for a little bit, I have a bet that the satyrs are gonna lose by two games."

The pair walk to the big house. She could see Chiron, sitting in his fake wheelchair, setting up for a round of pinochle. Noticing them, Chiron gave them a nod.

"Good morning girls." Chiron greets them with a nod. "What brings you two here so early?"

Annabeth quickly moved past [Y/n], and stood in front Chiron. "I want to volunteer for the quest. And [Y/n] can vouch for me, she's seen my talents and skills."

Chiron leaned back into his wheelchair, and put a hand on his beard. "A quest has not yet been issued, And yet, you want to volunteer? Why?"

Annabeth stood straight, and [Y/n] could instantly see her mood shift into a more commanding one. "I know I'm needed for a big quest and this is it. Percy being claimed means something big is going to happen, and whatever it is, he's going to need someone with tactician skills and great wisdom. I, Annabeth, of the Athena cabin-"

"[Y/n], is there anything you would like to add?"

‘My time to shine, ' she thought. She stepped forward to sign, "Yes. I can vouch for Annabeth. She's excellent at creating battle plans. She was the one to make the plan that helped the blue team during the last capture the flag game, and is an overall great strategist. She's also really good at working with others," [Y/n] knew that last statement was a kind of a lie, but whatever it takes to make this go by quicker so she can go back to the volleyball court. "If there's anyone I want on a quest, it's her."

Chiron stroked his beard, and thought, and contemplated. After a few moments, he spoke. " If your offer to help is accepted, and if a quest is issued, you may go on the quest."

Annabeth's mouth dropped in shock- after begging for who knows how long, asking for a quest, she was finally allowed to go.

[Y/n] went up and hugged her friend, congratulating her. She felt happy that Annabeth got her wish, and also happy that she would finally stop harassing every new camper about a quest.

"But Remember, Annabeth. Quests are rarely easy, and even more so, are they ever safe. So, please, keep that into consideration." Chiron warned her, cutting the pair's small celebration short.

"I- I know, but I'm determined to see it through. I have to see it through." Annabeth looked at Chiron with a hard gaze.

“Huzzah ." interrupted Mr.D, exiting the Big House and sat at the table across from Chiron "Now you can stop your incessant badgering about quests. It was more annoying than your usual antics."

Chiron shot him a disapproving look, but said nothing.

Annabeth ignored Mr.D words, and turned to her friend and hugged her, continuing their small celebration.

Chiron cleared his throat. “ If I may interrupt your celebration. We should be having company soon, and I believe they won't appreciate having an audience, or at the very least a visible audience.”

Catching the hint, Annabeth let go of her friend and put her cap on, turning invisible. [Y/n] on the other hand, tilted her head confused. She looked down the path that leads to the big house and she could see Grover and Percy walking and talking to each other. She then looked around for somewhere to hide. [Y/n] figured the best spot was inside the big house, hiding in the corner by the window.

“Okay,” Percy said, trying his best to ignore the storm. “So, I’ll travel overland.”

“That’s right,” Chiron said. “Two companions may accompany you. Grover is

one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help.”

“ Gee ,” Percy said, feigning surprise. “Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?” 

The air shimmered behind Chiron, then the front door started to creak open.

Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket. [Y/n] peered her body through the front door, and waved ‘ hi ’.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain,” Annabeth said. “Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you’re going to save the world, I’m the best person to keep you from messing up.”

“If you do say so yourself,” Percy said. “I suppose you have a plan, wise girl ?”

Her cheeks colored. “Do you want my help or not?”

“I’ll need as much help as I can get.” replied Percy. And as much as he hates to admit it, she was decent at making strategies. (As long as he wasn’t bait again, Annabeth can go on the quest).

He then turned to [Y/n], waiting to see if she was going to tag along on the quest. (He was also happy that she didn't ditch him during the volleyball game).

[Y/n] waved her hands rapidly in front of her, “I wasn’t here to volunteer! I don’t think I'm cut out for questing. It’s too much of everything- I came here for moral support. I’ll be fine here. But I’ll make sure to say bye to you guys before you go, I just need to… do something first.” 

Before Percy could say anything, Chiron cut in.

“This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own.”

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

“No time to waste,” Chiron said. “I believe you should all get packing."

Listening to Chiron, Grover and Annabeth left the Big House and hurried to start their packing. 

Percy walked down the stairs slowly, knowing that he didn't have much to pack or cabin mates to say goodbye too. He turned to ask [Y/n] a question, expecting her to be either right behind him or next to him. But she wasn’t there. She was still on the porch, arms crossed and glaring at the storm.

She then turned to Chiron and tapped him on the shoulder. “Can I ask you something?”

Deciding to give them privacy, Percy continued walking to his cabin.

- 🌊⚡️☀️-

Chapter Text

- 🌊⚡️☀️-

[Y/n] glared at the sky. Of course, the gods are making her friends do their dirty work. The gods could never take responsibility or just talk to each other. No, instead, they would rather blame someone else and risk going to war with each other than actually look for the lightning bolt. 

The gods can never do anything right. They always messed up somehow. [Y/n] then rubbed her throat and thought about the last time she used her voice. While the last time she spoke fully was three years ago, she technically spoke during the last capture the flag game, even if it was one word.

When she used her voice, the usual thing happened. Something (a pine tree) exploded and hurt someone (the hellhound). But [Y/n] thought back to the moment before the tree started to fall. She remembers seeing the hound wince at her voice. 

[Y/n] was used to the normal destruction her voice caused to various objects, but she’s never seen it irritate monsters. If her voice can do that, then there's a possibility that her voice can hurt them as well. 

If she goes on this quest, at least she’ll be able to help them out this way. It'll be the only way she’ll be able to help them out. She can’t exactly sing healing hymns, but she can do mortal medicine. (While she had sworn off archery, she had gotten better at swordfight.)

The best outcome is that her voice can fight off monsters and keep her friends safe. Worst outcome…we'll at least she’ll their official medic on the quest.

Taking her eyes off the storm, [Y/n] turned to Chiron and tapped him on the shoulder. “Can I ask you something?

"Sure, my dear, what’s on your mind?”

“Do you think… I can go on the quest?” [Y/n] signed nervously.

Chiron put his cards face down and turned his wheelchair to face her, his face stern. “[Y/n], do you know the danger of what you’re asking? Quests are kept to parties of three for a reason. It’s the gods' sacred number.”

He then turned his wheelchair around to fully face her. “If you wish to offer your help and accompany your friends on this journey, there may be consequences for you. You run the risk of having the quest fail completely; you may disappear or even parish.”

Chiron leaned in slightly. “Now that I've explained everything, do you accept these consequences?”

[Y/n] looked away from Chiron and thought. After a few moments, she looked directly at him, took a deep breath to steady herself, and signed, “I do.”

“Then, may I ask you a question?”

[Y/n] nodded yes.

“What is really encouraging you to go on this quest? In the last few years, you steered clear of matters involving...” Chiron trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

She knew he meant to say ‘gods’, and he was right about her avoidance. She had steer cleared of of all matters involving the gods ever since she lost her voice, with some exceptions (like the trip to Olympus, but that was because she wasnt allowed to be at camp alone.)

The only gods she trusted now were Artemis, Hestia, Iris, and (sometimes) Mr.D. But that's because they help the camp function in some form or another. (While Artemis didn’t help the camp directly, [Y/n] appreciated her work in pulling the moon across the sky and her skills in hunting.) 

“I know I have certain… feelings about them. But I think I found a “side-effect” to my voice. I discovered my voice can hurt kindly ones. I discover this during the capture the flag game when Percy was claimed. I figured…” [Y/n] paused and looked down, rubbed her hands. After a moment, she looked back up and continued signing. “I figured I can use my voice for something good .”

It felt hard to admit, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. She always knew her voice was a curse. It made sense to her, since she started to lose when she claimed by Apollo.

Chiron was about to speak when Mr.D interrupted. “I’d say let her go. If she comes back, whoopie ; Another brat to take care of. But if she doesn't,” he twirled his finger in the air

Chiron took a deep breath and exhaled. He had a tired look in his eyes, "...Then you may accompany them.”

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[Y/n] quickly ran back to her cabin. She was lucky her cabin was still playing volleyball; she didn’t want to say goodbye to everyone. She can already tell it's going to be sad, and that they’re going to try and talk her out of it (she also wasn’t ready to give everyone in her cabin hugs). And honestly, they would bring up good points on why she shouldn’t go, but she didn’t want to hear them.

The faster she packed, the faster she could leave and help her friends, and the faster she could come back to camp.

[Y/n] reaches under her bunk and pulls out her old travel bag. It’s a red backpack with one of the straps stapled together. It was pre-packed with a spare set of clothes (which are a size too small now), her old mythomagic deck, some toiletries, $40, and a couple of drachmas. At the very bottom is a small rectangular gift wrapped in bright yellow paper. She remembered when she found the gift that appeared “ miraculously ” on her pillow two years ago.

Rolling her eyes, she threw it under the bed.

Reaching back into her backpack, [Y/n] grabbed her old shirts and her deck and stuffed them under her pillow. ‘For safekeeping’, she thought. Even though the clothes didn’t fit her, and she doesn’t play mythomagic anymore, they were still her psychical memories of home.

She grabs a new set of clothes, puts them into her bag, and zips it closed. [Y/n] then slung her backpack on and walked to the front of the cabin. 

‘It's now or never.’ [Y/n] thought bravely. She swung the door open, ready to leave, only to nearly collide with Benny, who was clutching a bag of ice pressed against their forehead.

Quickly, she stepped aside to let them through. “Jeez, what happened to you?” She signed worriedly.

“Two words. Satyr. Volleyball.” Benner answered, irritated. “I got nailed in the head when one of the satyrs spiked the ball too hard. It's not bad enough for ambrosia, but I needed to sit out.” Benny sat on one of the unoccupied bunks to rest for a moment. 

“Where were you and Percy anyway? Everyone wanted to see if he could beat the satyrs by himself… Did you two sneak off together?” Benny teased. 

[Y/n] felt her cheeks turn red. She shook her head rapidly, and squished her index and middle fingers together, and tapped them against her thumb. “No, no, no! For your information, I’M going on a quest.”

“And who's going on this ‘quest’ with you?” Benny asked skeptically.

"Oh, you know... GroverAnnabethandPercy.” [Y/n] quickly signed their names, hoping Benny didn't catch it.

Benny shrugged their shoulders. “Not the worst group you could have, bu- wait a second!” They repeated the names and even finger-counted to double-check they heard correctly “No, no, no! Four people on a quest is bad!”

[Y/n] gave a nervous smile. “I know it sounds bad, but I know what I’m doing! I have a whole plan on what I’m going to do, and I have personal reasons also!”

“And whats your motivation?” Benny asked pointedly.

“To help my friends… and,” she tapped her throat twice, “I'm finally ready to start looking for answers.”

Benny could argue about being reckless and trying to help your friends on a quest (which is always ment for three people). But they couldn’t argue about her looking for answers about her voice. They remembered how [Y/n] was when she fully lost her voice. How she shut everyone out and had an empty look in her eye. It took her a while, but she started to return to normal (or rather, her new normal) and found new ways to communicate again. 

They put the ice pack on the bed and rubbed the bridge of their noses wearily. They let out a deep sigh. "Honestly, I highly doubt anything I can say will make a difference..." Benny glanced up, meeting your eyes. "But seriously, just... stay safe. Alright? You're actually a decent bunkmate; it’d be hard to find a good replacement.”

“Aww, you do care,” [Y/n] signed with a smug smile on her face. It’s rare that Benny showed their soft side, so she was happy to see it now (even if it took her going on a dangerous quest to see it). She walked over to them and gave them a hug.

Benny's face turned red in embarrassment from the sudden hug. Awkwardly, they hugged back. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

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[Y/n] ran to catch up with everyone on Half-Blood Hill. As she ran up the hill, she saw Luke coming down.

“Luke? What are you doing here?” asked [Y/n].

Luke arched his eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Oh. I’m going on the quest with Annabeth, Percy, and Grover.”

Luke’s mouth dropped in surprise.

“Don't even start; I already got two lectures about joining. I'm going, and nothing can change my mind.” [Y/n] answered defensively.

“No, it's not that it's-” He groaned and put a hand on his forehead. “Look. There isn't much time to explain; they're almost ready to go-” Luke was interrupted by a scream coming from behind him. [Y/n] looked over his shoulder to see Grover flying sideways down the hill.

“You gave them the shoes ?” [Y/n] asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah… They're going to need it later on.” Luke answered flatly. “Anyways, when you come back, I need to talk to you about something. Something important.”

[Y/n]’s eyes widened. “Why, what’s going on? Is something bad happening or-”

“Something… Something big. Just come back in one piece, and I’ll explain everything.” As he finished talking, he gave her a pat on the shoulder and walked into the main area of the camp.

“Relax,” Chiron told Percy. “Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history.”

“Relax,” Percy said. “I’m very relaxed.”

When he got to the bottom of the hill, Percy looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form. “Oh, and before you leave, you’ll have an extra member accompanying you, at her insistence.” Chiron explained.

“Who else?” asked Percy.

Coming down the hill was [Y/n], who waved when she saw Percy.

 “I thought you said you weren’t cut out for questing?”

[Y/n] smiled awkwardly. She then made her hand into a fist, holding it at about shoulder height, then bobbed it back and forth. “Yeah, well, I changed my mind. Plus, I figured you guys are going to need all the help you can get. Don’t you remember capture the flag?”

“Yeah, I remember one of the Ares kids used you as a seat cushion for most of it.”

“Not that!” She signed, exasperated and embarrassed. “With the hellhound- it’s fine. I’ll tell you about it later. Let's get in the van before I change my mind about joining you guys.”

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Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. Percy felt weird to be on a highway again, with [Y/n], Annabeth, and Grover sitting next to him as if they were normal kids going on a field trip.

After spending some time at Camp Half-Blood, the real world seemed like a fantasy to him. Percy would stare at every McDonald’s, every kid in the back of his parents’ car, every billboard and shopping mall they passed.

“So far, so good,” Percy told [Y/n]. “Ten miles and not a single monster.”

[Y/n] gave Percy a thumbs down and signed, “Don’t jinx us.”

“Yeah, seaweed brain. It’s bad luck to talk that way.” Annabeth chimed in.

“Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Anna folded her cap of invisibility. "Look... we’re just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals.”

[Y/n] rolled her eyes, like she had heard that answer a bunch of times before.

“Why?” asked Percy.

Annabeth sighed. “How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena’s temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her.”

“They must really like olives.”

“Oh, forget it.”

“Now, if she’d invented pizza—that I could understand.”

[Y/n] chuckled into her hand. 

“I said, forget it!” fumed Annabeth.

[Y/n] shook her head at her friend's reaction, then nudged Percy. “I kept telling her it's a dumb reason to hate you. We’re not our parents, and we shouldn't hold our parents grudges. If we did, the camp would be in totally chaos. I always thought it was better to ignore godly parents and-” her hands suddenly stopped, like she signed something she wasn't supposed to.

“What's the longest you’ve been in a car!?” [Y/n] signed quickly trying to change the subject. “The longest for me was 14 hours- It was me and my mom one summer when she was on tou-”

her hands stopped again, and she switched to another sign, “Vacation! We went to Miami and Orlando, and a bunch of other spots on the east!”

[Y/n] continued to ramble about her vacation and different places she visited. She was signing pretty fast, so he couldn’t understand most of what she was signing. He had wanted to ask what she had meant about “ignore godly parents”. During his time at camp, it was very obvious that knowing your godly parent was very important; it determined everything you could do at camp.

He waited for a chance to speak, but [Y/n] showed no signs of slowing down. Percy decided he ask her later when they got on the bus, figuring they would have a lot of time during their trip to Los Angeles. He was also fine with just watching her ramble. Even though he considered one of the n

He was also fine with just watching her ramble. Even though he considered one of the normal parts of camp, it was still nice to see she was also as weird as camp. He considered her a good friend, even if he only knew for a short time.

Argus dropped them off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side. He unloaded their bags, got their bus tickets, and then drove away. There was some time to kill; Annabeth started to read the book she brought along, and Grover and Percy started to talk to each other. From the looks of it, it looks like something personal.

To give them some space, [Y/n] decided to look into her bag and count what she has, or at the very least, pretend to look busy and tune them out. When she zips open the bag, she sees the familiar shade of yellow wrapping paper. [Y/n] glares at it.

Of course it comes back; every time she throws it away, it comes back. She wanted to throw it away, and not see it. But a small part of her has a morbid curiosity to open it; to see what's in the gift that’s practically been haunting her for the last four years.

Finding a fold a in wrapping paper, she began tearing. Past the first layer, she finds a white index card with writing- 

“The Best Gift Ever, From The Best Father Ever—Apollo'"

She rolled her eyes at the card, then stuffed it in her pocket. She kept ripping the paper away to reveal a brand new Walkman—well, new if you got it in the 80s. 

It had a white cassette inside, radio dial, and a pair of headphones already plugged in. With nothing else to do, [Y/n] decided to put the headphones on and listen to music. She turned it on and hit play, but she only heard a * click* . She pressed play again and heard the same * click* .

‘I guess the tape is jammed’, she thought, confused. [Y/n] then switched the button to radio mode. Maybe she could listen to music this way. She kept switching through to find a local station, but there was only static. Chalking it up to bad reception, she kept turning the dial to find any radio station. But static still came out of the headphones.

Then, she just started to push random buttons to see if the Walkman could do anything useful, but nothing changed. Frustrated, she put the headphones around her neck and shoved the Walkman into her pocket.

‘Of course HE would give me a broken Walkman,’ [Y/n] thought bitterly. Maybe she could give it to the Hephaestus cabin when she gets back. They could use it for spare parts or a paper weight. Or she could use it as target practice when she gets back to camp. (She wouldn't mind breaking her no archery rule for that).

To try and lighten her mood, [Y/n] watched her friends play Hacky Sack. After watching for a few minutes, she decided to join in. Percy tried to pass it to her so she could join in, but he accidentally kicked it too close to Grover’s mouth.

 In one giant bite, he ate the makeshift hacky sack. Grover blushed and tried to apologize, but everyone was laughing to hard to hear. [Y/n] chuckled hard, her hand covering her mouth. (She didn’t want to start off the quest by accidentally damaging the part Greyhound Station.)

As everyone was being to recover, their bus's arrival was announced through the station speakers. The group stood in line to board when music started to play from the walkman. [Y/n] rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, now you play music’ . She lifted half the headphone up to listen in.

“...Beggin' you to touch and go, Highway to the Danger Zone! Ride into the Danger Zone!”

Rolling her eyes, she let the headphones down again and kept walking to the back of the bus. They put their backpacks under their seats. Annabeth sat next to Percy, with Grover and [Y/n] sitting on the opposite side.

As the last passengers got on, [Y/n] heard music coming from her headphones again. She listened closely.

“... The further on the edge, The hotter the intensity…”

'Weird,' she thought worriedly. She looked up at the entrance to see who was the last to board the bus. It was an old lady. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. 

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. They looked exactly like the first lady—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, and wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers. 

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: Nobody leaves.

‘Ah styx’ [Y/n] cursed.

The bus pulled out of the station, driving through the slick streets of Manhattan. 

“She didn’t stay dead long. I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime,” voiced Percy.

“I said if you’re lucky,” Annabeth said. “You’re obviously not.”

“All three of them,” Grover whimpered. “Di immortales!”

“It’s okay,” Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. “The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We’ll just slip out the windows.”

“They don’t open,” Grover moaned.

“A back exit?” she suggested.

“And what? Jump on the freeway going sixty?” interjected [Y/n]. 

“They won’t attack us with witnesses around,” Percy said. “Will they?”

“Mortals don’t have good eyes,” Annabeth reminded him. “Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist.”

“They’ll see three old ladies killing us, won’t they?”

She thought about it. “Hard to say. But we can’t count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit on the roof...?”

The bus went into Lincoln Tunnel; everything went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. There was an eerie silence, with only the sound of the rain.

“I need to use the rest-room.” Announced one of the old ladies in a flat voice.

“So do I,” said the second sister.

“So do I,” said the third sister.

They all started coming down the aisle, walking in sync.

“Percy, take my hat,” said Annabeth. 

“What?”

“You’re the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away.”

“But you guys—”

“There’s a chance they might not notice us,” Annabeth said. “You’re a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering.”

“I can’t just leave you guys.”

[Y/n] pretended to clear her throat to get Percy’s attention. “Don’t worry about us. We’ve trained for this- longer than you have. We’ll be fine,” [Y/n] signed.

‘Hopefully,’ she thought.

Percy nodded, and put on the Yankees cap, and quickly vanished.

The first old lady kept walking down the aisle and stopped, sniffing at an empty space. [Y/n] held her breath, hoping Annabeth's plan worked. The old lady sniffed one last time, trying to find Percy. Not sensing anything, she and her sisters kept going to the back of the bus, sniffing and looking as they went.

The old grannies had started to transform and shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat’s wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.

The Furies surrounded Grover, Annabeth, and [Y/n], lashing their whips and hissing: “Where is it? Where is Percy Jackson?”

“He’s not here!” Annabeth yelled over the screaming bus passengers. “He’s gone!”

The Furies roared and raised their whips. The other people on the bus were screaming and cowering in their seats. 

Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can, preparing to throw it. [Y/n] grabbed her walkman, ready to use it as either a projectile or a bluding weapon. (She thought of using her voice, but it would be too dangerous.) Before she got to choose, the bus shreaked and jerked to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and the Furies smashed against the windows.

The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal and throwing sparks a mile behind us. They careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.

‘What in Asdophel is Percy doing up there?!’ thought [Y/n].

[Y/n] gripped onto the seat in front of her to stabilize herself as the bus shot off the highway and through half a dozen traffic lights. The only sounds she could hear were the screaming passengers and cars honking at the out of control bus.

The bus wailed as the energy brake was pulled. It skitted, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on, and the door flew open. The bus driver and the passengers ran to exit the bus. 

The Furies then regained their balance and started attacking. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans. And [Y/n] grabbed a forgotten purse and started to throw its contents at the Furies.

“Hey!” yelled a now visible Percy, trying to get the Furies' attention.

Every time the main Fury flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather. Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward Percy.

“Perseus Jackson,” The Fury snarled. “You have offended the gods. You shall die !”

“I liked you better as a math teacher,” Percy said.

The Fury growled.

Annabeth, [Y/n] Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.

Percy took the ballpoint pen from his pocket and uncapped it. It elongated into a shimmering, double-edged sword. Eyeing the weapon, the Fury hesitated.

“Submit now,” the lead Fury hissed. “And you will not suffer eternal torment.”

“Nice try,” Percy told her.

“Percy, look out!” Annabeth cried.

The fury lashed her whip around his sword hand while the Furies on either side lunged at him. Percy stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. He turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. 

Annabeth got the Fury in the middle of a wrestler’s hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands, and [Y/n] climbed over the seats and put the purse over the Fury’s head, blinding her.

The Fury on the left came at Percy again, talons ready, but he swung Riptide, and she broke open like a piñata. The final Fury was trying to get Annabeth and the purse off her. She kicked, clawed, hissed, and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got the Fury’s legs tied up in her own whip, and [Y/n] kept pulling the purse down, keeping her vision obstructed. 

Finally, they shoved her backward into the aisle. The Fury tried to get up, but she didn’t have room to flap her wings. With a roar, she grabbed the bag covering her head and ripped it into shreds with a scream.

“Zeus will destroy you!” she promised. “Hades will have your soul!”

"Braccas meas vescimini !” Yelled Percy.

Then, thunder raddled the bus. [Y/n] stood up straight, trying to identify whether a monster or the storm made that sound. But she didn’t see anything. She looked around and saw her hair start to float up. ‘Static?’

“Get out!” Annabeth yelled at the group. “Now!”

They rushed outside and into the crowd of terrified passengers wandering around, screaming, or arguing with the bus driver.

[Y/n] exited the bus right behind Percy. She was about to tell Percy to hide his sword when she heard the click of the camera. Instinctively, she raised her arms up to cover her face. Once the flash was over, she lowered her arms and heard Grover shout, “Our bags! We left our—”

BOOOOOM!

A giant bolt of lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof. The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover, and an angry wail erupted from the wreckage. 

“Run!” Annabeth yelled. “She’s calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!”

The small group ran into the woods as the rain poured down. The bus continued to burn behind them. The sound of screaming tourists mixed with the howls of the Fury. Thunder rattled in the distance as the rain continued to pour.

- 🌊⚡️☀️-