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Percy had started his first summer at Camp Half-blood after his quest (totally not thinking about the last line of the prophecy that hadn't come true yet), and after a few weeks, he finally got used to the routine things.
He'd wake up, get ready, have breakfast and then do whatever activities he'd assigned himself (yay being the only member of the Poseidon cabin).
Today he woke up like any other day, got ready like any other day and had breakfast like any other day.
He sat at his table, ate blue pancakes and let himself get absorbed in the noise of all the other campers chatting with each other at their tables (he was totally not feeling alone).
As Percy and the other campers finished their food, Chiron chimed his cup with his knife, cutting through the noise, Mr D. next to him not even twitching at the sound. "Heros, today we'll be doing Sparta day!" He announced once he had everyone's attention, "make sure to prepare yourselves and meet at the Big House in two hours time!"
All the campers cheered at the news, especially the Ares cabin who roared their approval. Soon, everyone began to chant Sparta while banging their fists on the table.
What was Sparta day, Percy thought as he looked around at everyone in confusion, and what does Chiron mean in preparing yourself. He tried to spot Annabeth at her table to see how she felt about this and saw that she was grinning and banging her fists in excitement like all the others.
Hopefully she can explain this to him after.
Hopefully.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sparta day is where we train like the Spartans used to." Annabeth said as she stood outside her cabin with Percy, making sure she had her cap, dagger and what seemed to be a golden compass that Percy had never seen her have before.
"Oh, ok" said Percy who had no idea how the Spartans used to train, "and what exactly is that like?"
Annabeth looked at him with a wild grin, "it's survival training, Lord Hyacinthus comes to camp-"
"Lord Hyacinthus?" Percy cut in, "isn't that Apollo's old boyfriend person?"
"Yes," answered Annabeth and then opened her mouth to continue on with her explanation.
But, "isn't he supposed to be a flower?" Percy asked, he was sure he knew this story.
Annabeth rolled her eyes and waved a hand, "that's old news, Seaweed brain," she said, "he got better."
"Oh." Percy didn't want to risk asking how does one get better from being a flower, he could feel Annabeth was getting a little inpatient.
"Now," Annabeth said, "as I was saying. Lord Hyacinthus comes to camp and sends everyone over 10 years old into a random area in the woods and we have until the sun sets to get back. The 10 year olds and newer campers like you are sent to areas closer and all older and experienced campers like me are sent further."
Percy rolled his eyes at how proud Annabeth sounded with including herself as a more experienced camper than him. "What can we take with us?"
Annabeth patted her pockets, "only what can fit in here."
"What happens if we don't make it out in the time limit?"
"Lord Hyacinthus brings you back in front of everyone and it's the worst. Everyone knows you failed and you have to wait until next Sparta day to redeem yourself."
"Got it, get back in time or face ultimate shame."
"Exactly." She nodded.
"Thanks for that Wise Girl," Percy brushes a hand through his hair, "now I guess I need to get ready."
Annabeth raised her eyebrow, "do you know what you'll need?"
"Uh," he paused, "yes?"
She huffed and rolled her eyes, "come on Seaweed brain, let's go get you ready."
~~~~~~~~~
Percy made his way back to the the Big House with Annabeth and joined in with the crowd of campers that had gathered outside. The campers chatted about what might happen in the training and the air buzzed with their excitement.
Chiron stood in front of them all and next to him stood an extremely beautiful man that almost looked feminine, with wild hair, smooth tan skin and a perfectly symmetrical face. The man also wore a wreath of leaves on his head. Percy was sure he had never seen him before, but something about him felt familiar.
Percy elbowed Annabeth, "who's that," he whispered to her, nodding to the beautiful man with crossed arms looking over everyone with a frown that did nothing to dampen his attractiveness, "is that Lord Hyacinthus?"
Annabeth snorted, "definitely not Seaweed Brain, that's Mr D."
Percy quickly looked back at the man, "are you serious?"
"Yep," she said, "everytime Lord Hyacinthus visits, Mr D. always changes his form to that."
"Why?" Percy asked looking back at her.
Annabeth's face became a little pink and avoided Percy's eyes, "well, Lord Apollo named Lord Hyacinthus most beautiful among men for a reason."
"Do you mean Mr D. likes his brother's boyfriend," Percy whispered harshly to Annabeth, "doesn't he have a wife?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "This is the Greek Parthenon," she said with a hint of exasperation. "Everyone cheats on everyone here."
Her face flushed again as she continued, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "Look, you’ll understand better once you meet Lord Hyacinthus."
Percy snorted and turned back to the two Camp Directors, "ok Wise Girl, ok."
"Attention Heros!" Chiron shouted, ensuring all eyes were on him, "Lord Hyacinthus will be here soon. Make sure you have everything you believe is necessary to survive in the woods. Those under ten years old, you will be doing your daily activities as normal with some weapons training later on with Lord Hyacinthus."
The older campers let out loud groans at these words.
"Tomorrow will be your turn as it has always been." Chiron said in a long suffering tone.
He then cleared his throat, "Now, let me go over the rules again, for the new campers, first timers and veterans of survival training."
But, just as Chiron opened his month announcing rule one, the sound of an engine cut him off. As the sound got closer and louder, Percy could tell it was the sound of a motorbike, and looking around Percy saw campers nudging each other with grins. Annabeth next to him stood straighter and her grey eyes glimmered with excitement, "is this Lord Hyacinthus?" Percy whispered to her.
"Yes," she whispered back, "now stop talking."
Percy crossed his arms and huffed, suddenly a motorbike braked right in front of where Chiron and Mr D stood. The motorbike was a pearlescent white with images of swans detailed all over it. The man on the bike wore dark blue denim jeans and a black leather jacket, his helmet glimmered gold and when he took it off, it uncovered dark loose curly hair.
"I'll take it from here Chiron," Lord Hyacinthus said with a smooth voice and an audible grin, "and Dionysus," he paused then continued with a deeper voice, "don't you look well."
Mr D smirked, "nice to see you too, Hyacinthus."
The two looked at each other for a while and as they did the temperature seemed to get hotter, the sun shone brighter and just before it started to get uncomfortable, Lord Hyacinthus turned around. "Touchy, touchy," he said laughing softly and then smiled widely at everyone.
Finally seeing his face, Percy understood what Annabeth meant. Lord Hyacinthus was the most beautiful man he had ever seen, even more than how Mr D made himself look. Lord Hyacinthus' hair curled artfully around his smooth tanned face, unblemished other than a stark white scar near his left eyebrow that seemed to go into his hair. His grin was warm and inviting and made his purple eyes crinkle attractively.
Percy felt his cheeks tingle as his face went warm and embarrassingly bright red as he looked at Lord Hyacinthus. Having a quick look around, he was thankful to see that he wasn't the only one looking flustered.
"Now," Lord Hyacinthus clapped his hands and rubbed them, "who's ready for survival day!"
All the campers cheered and Percy tried to subtly rub his ears from the noise as Annabeth cheered along right next to him.
Lord Hyacinthus laughed, "Wonderful! Now before I tag on from Chiron and go over the rules that I'm sure most of you know, I'd like to shout out to my wonderful beautiful children. I love you and I'm proud of you, you're doing amazing and we'll talk later," he then made a heart shape with his hands. Percy could hear a few low groans in response and swore he heard someone say quietly "by the gods dad stop who taught you that."
The God held the heart shaped over his head and turned side to side, ensuring everyone saw it. Bringing his hands down he then continued on, "Now, for survival day rules. Rule one: you must only take what you can hold on your body. Rule two: you must not seek to harm or sabotage another camper. Rule three: you must make it back here before sunset. Rule four:," he grinned sharply, "survive."
A sharp clap sounded in the area and Percy felt a slight weight in his pocket. What is that, Percy thought and reached in to the pocket and took out a golden compass he had seen Annabeth hold earlier.
"The compass you newbies now hold," Lord Hyacinthus said while bringing down his hands, "are all pre set to point back to camp, they are only pre set for this year, next year you're on your own. Is everything understood?"
The campers screamed "YES!" collectively and Percy again rubbed his ears.
Lord Hyacinthus laughed, "Excellent! Now," he brought his hands out, "get to it." And clapped sharply again.
Percy blinked and found himself suddenly in the middle of the woods. The noise of the creaking trees, leaves rustling and bugs buzzing now surrounded him. "Ok," he said to himself, " I just have to get back to camp, easy."
He looked at the thick forest of trees in front of him, holding Riptide in pen form in one hand and the compass in the other, "just easy."