Chapter Text
I knew this was going to be my year.
Everyone tried to put me down.
"Annabeth, you're not getting a quest this year," they all assured.
I didn't believe them, though, and I was right not to because this guy had to be the one.
He had killed a minotaur, a minotaur, and he hadn't even made it to camp yet.
When I saw him on the wooden bench of the Big House front porch, I was surprised to see a scrawny little boy, about my age, maybe younger. He had black hair, and he was slightly shorter than me.
He had finally opened his eyes slightly to see Chiron and I above him.
He had the prettiest eyes. Like, I'm talking absolutely gorgeous. They were this beautiful sea-tinted green, and I swore I could've gotten lost in them.
"He's the one. He must be," I assured Chiron with excitement.
"Silence, Annabeth," Chiron replied, "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."
-8-
I sat with him for days, watching him. He hadn't opened those pretty eyes again, so he wasn't much of a view. I had to bring a book. They had me feeding him with ambrosia, and he had finally woken up, and I decided to ask him some questions, take matters into my own hands, you know? I scraped drips of ambrosia off his chin.
"What will happen at the summer solstice?"
"What?" he murmured.
He wasn't fully conscious, clearly, but I kept prying. I looked around to make sure no one was listening. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I don't..."
He doused back off. I sighed, and I didn't come back to see him again.
-8-
I tried everything to find answers on my own, but no one was any help. I had to wait for that stupid boy to wake up. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long. He woke up a few days later (thanks to me). I was sitting on the Big House porch with Chiron and Mr. D, chatting about the new boy, Percy, his name, Percy Jackson. Grover turned a corner with the boy, clearly giving him a tour. Grover was talking to Percy, explaining who Mr. D and I were, I assume.
Percy pointed towards Chiron.
"Mr. Brunner!" he cried out.
Chiron turned and smiled at the boy, that mischievous look he gets when he knows more than the rest of us.
I hated that look.
"Ah, good, Percy," Chiron chimed. "Now we have four for a pinochle." He signaled Percy to sit in the chair next to Mr. D. "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 grunted, scooting away from Mr. D slightly, his eyebrow raised and a confused look on his face.
"Annabeth?" Chiron called, giving that look he always gives me when there's a new camper. I came over toward Chiron, holding out my hand for Percy to shake it. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now.
I nodded. "Sure, Chiron."
Percy seemed to recognize me. He was looking at me, studying me almost. I looked down at the minotaur horn then back up at Percy. His face turned proud, clearly noticing my gaze. I focused in on his face.
"You drool when you sleep," I told him.
I sprinted off to the cabin eleven right after that.
You drool you sleep? Is that seriously the friendliest thing I could've thought of to say? I sighed as I ran faster towards the cabin.
I made it to the Hermes cabin quickly, knocking on the door.
The door opened to Luke's smile. "Hello," he beamed.
"How are you always so chipper?" I wondered.
"I look on the bright side."
"Do you guys have a spare bunk?" I asked.
"For the new kid, the one that killed the minotaur?"
I nodded. "Bingo."
"Top bunk in the right corner."
"Thanks," I said, climbing up to make the bed.
"Hey, Annabeth?"
I turn my head to Luke's voice. "Mhm?"
"Do you think he's the one?"
I sighed. "I hope so, but I guess we'll just wait and see."
Luke smiled. "That's all we can ever do."
I finish fixing up the bed then climbed back down from the bunks. I walked over to Luke and reached up to high-five him. He smiled and high-fived me back.
I went to sit on the cabin eleven porch and read until Chiron and Percy came over to me.
I only had to wait about two chapters.
I scanned Percy up and down once him and Chiron stopped in front of the porch.
"Annabeth, I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," I responded with a nod.
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing toward the doorway.
Percy walked up to the doorway, scanning the outside before he walked just in the doorway and scanned inside there as well.
Chiron didn't go in, as usual, but all of the campers bowed to him. "Well, then," Chiron said with a clear of his throat. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner." He galloped away toward the archery range.
Percy just stood there, not moving. Everyone was staring at him, including me.
"Well? Go on," I told him.
He tripped on his way in.
I had to fight back a laugh.
"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven," I announced.
"Regular or undetermined?" Jamie Robertson, a Hermes boy a little older than me asked.
"Undetermined," I informed.
Cabin eleven replied with a groan.
Luke came forward (thank the Gods). "Now, now, campers. That's what we're her for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
Percy scanned Luke.
I cleared my throat, a blush evident on my face. "This is Luke." Percy noticed my blush, and I'm sure my face turned back into a grimace. "He's your counselor for now."
"For now?" Percy asked.
"You're undetermined. They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."
I pointed over to Percy's bunk and storage area. He just set down the minotaur horn. He didn't have anything else. "How long will I be here?" he asked.
"Good question. Until you're determined," Luke told him.
"How long will that take?" Percy wondered.
The whole cabin laughed. I didn't.
I truly pitied the boy. I remembered how I was when I had first come to camp.
"Come on. I'll show you the volleyball court," I insisted.
"I've already seen it," he told me.
"Come on," I ordered, grabbing his wrist and dragging him out of the cabin, leaving the campers laughing behind us.
I took Percy into a small, private clearing a few feet away for Percy's sanity and social life. "Jackson, you have to do better than that," I told him.
"What?"
I rolled my eyes and dropped my tone to a mumble, almost talking to myself, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."
"What's your problem?" Percy hissed. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"
"Don't talk like that! You know how many kids at this camp wish they had your chance?" I cried.
"To get killed?"
"To fight the minotaur! What do you think we train for?"
He shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the minotaur, the same one in the stories..."
"Yes."
"Then there's only one."
"Yes."
"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So..."
I sighed. He was helpless. "Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."
"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."
His cluelessness was really starting to bug me. "They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."
He paused for a moment, thinking this over. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-"
"The Fur...I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."
His expression turned confused again. "How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"
"You talk in your sleep."
Something clicks in his brain. I can see it on his face. "You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"
I redirected my glance to the ground, deciding to peer down at my shoes. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."
"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering? Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there," he whined, pointing over to cabins one through three. My gaze followed his arm. I'm sure my expression shifted into worry.
"You don't just get to choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or...your parent," I explained, catching my slip up. I turned to him and stared him down right in his green eyes.
"My mom is Sally Jackson. She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."
I gave an expression of pity. "I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."
"He's dead. I never knew him."
I sighed. I'm really getting bored of this conversation. "Your father's not dead, Percy."
"How can you say that? You know him?"
"No, of course not."
"Then how can you say-"
"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."
His gaze was stern. "You don't know anything about me."
I raised my eyebrow. I liked this part of the talk. "No? I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."
"How-"
"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."
He gulped. "What does that have to do with anything?"
“Taken together, it’s almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That’s because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you’re impulsive, can’t sit still in the classroom. That’s your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they’d keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that’s because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal’s. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don’t want you seeing them for what they are.”
“You sound like…you went through the same thing?”
“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.”
“The food and drink we were giving you to make you 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.”
I could see the boy processing. I was going to give him a minute, and then, I heard my least favorite voice, Clarisse La Rue, "Well! A newbie!"
Percy looked over and saw her. I sighed. "Clarisse, why don't you go polish your spear or something?"
"Sure, Miss Princess. So I can rub you through with it Friday night."
I hated the nicknames she gave me. I yelled a Greek curse at her. "You don't stand a chance," I told her.
"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse stated, turning towards Percy.
This was the bad part.
"Who's this little runt?" she inquired.
"Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares," I introduced.
Percy blinked, and I was sure he was about to gulp from nerves. "Like...the war god?"
Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"
"No. It explains the bad smell."
That was a bad call on his part.
Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."
"Percy," he corrected.
That was an even worse call.
"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."
"Clarisse-" I stammered, trying to defend him.
Clarisse cut me off, "Stay out of it, wise girl."
I hated that nickname the most.
I sighed, but I did stay back. I knew better than to pick a fight with Clarisse.
Percy handed me his minotaur horn and entered a fight stance, but Clarisse already had him by the neck.
He was fighting back, though. I'll give him that.
Clarisse was muttering little degradations to him, trying to pull the poor boy down. I put my hands over my eyes, but I still looked through them to see. She was about to give him a swirly when some miracle happened.
Water shot out of the toilet straight towards Clarisse, towards everyone, towards ME!
It came at me before I realized, soaking my whole outfit and hair.
I didn't mind.
Percy finally stood up.
"How did you..." I asked.
"I don't know," he said.
It had knocked Clarisse and her friends out of the bathroom, and Percy and I walked out to see them.
"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead," Clarisse yelled as her friends dragged her back to cabin five.
I didn't take my eyes off Percy. I couldn't.
"What? What are you thinking?" he insisted.
"I'm thinking that I want you on my team for capture the flag."