Energy Unbound

Chapter 01

The New Half-Blood

It was a bright summer day. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson leaned against the tree on Half-Blood hill, arms around each other. They sat facing the camp, watching the campers engage in their daily activities. Neither of them were still campers, for after Gaea rose and the Seven defeated her, the couple had bought a home together in New Rome and were attending the college there. It seemed an era of peace had finally arrived. As classes were off for the Summer, they'd come back to camp to see some of their younger friends.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Annabeth sighed, shaking her boyfriend out of his thoughts.

"What's nice?" Percy asked, being his usual oblivious self.

She laughed and turned her face up to meet his. He loved her laugh, the way it made him tingle inside. "The summer day, Seaweed Brain. What else?" she replied with a smile.

"Oh yeah, it sure is. Wouldn't be the same without you though," Percy said, hugging his girlfriend tighter.

Another musical laugh rang out from Annabeth. "You're getting better at the complimenting, Percy," she smirked.

Percy just shrugged and smiled. "Having an awesome girlfriend does that."

Annabeth blushed and pulled him down into a deep kiss. When they could breathe again, she asked with a smile "Awesome girlfriend, huh?"

"Yep. Definitely," Percy said.

"Better be," she said lightly punching him in the arm.

"Ouch," he muttered, and was about to say more when Annabeth pulled him in for another kiss. "Feel better?" she asked mischievously.

Percy had a giant grin on his face. "Maybe a couple more would fix it," he said with a sly tone.

"Don't push your luck, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth replied with a mock scowl.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl," Percy said, then drew her in for another kiss.

When they drew away, Percy was looking right into her swirling, storm grey eyes. They had captivated him since he arrived at Camp Half-Blood and she met him in the Big House. He never got tired of seeing them.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing. I just love looking at your eyes."

"Same here," she said, setting her head down in his lap again. "Think it'll be this peaceful for a while?" Annabeth asked, a sad tone on her voice.

Percy laughed. "Not likely. Another primordial will decide mortals are worth wiping out, or another prophecy will occur, or the gods will steal something from each other again," he said with slight resentment in his tone.

"It's not our problem anymore, Percy," Annabeth assured him, "The new generation will have to handle it. We've got a life to build."

"Together," Percy said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Together," she agreed, and clasped his hand in hers.

The couple sat that way for the rest of the day, just resting in each other's company, and watched the sunset together.

-LB-

"Now where is that bloody camp?" A girl asked, walking alone through a forest. She looked around, trying to get a glimpse of the giant pine tree she was told to look for. "Go to New York, Ari. Find Long Island Sound, Ari. Look for a giant pine tree, Ari," she grumbled. "You can't miss it or the PHANTOM SUMMER CAMP next to it, Ari!" the girl, apparently named Ari, yelled, shaking her fists at the sky.

"Goddess comes into my life, tells me she's my long lost mother, and sends me on a wild tree chase," Ari said, disdain relevant in her expression. "Couldn't just teleport me there, oh noooo. That would be 'too easy'. Make me find it in the middle of the woods on my own." The girl turned to the heavens. "Super helpful, all-powerful mom! Thanks for the useless advice!" she yelled and shook her fist at the sky.

Ari turned back to the glowing piece of paper in front of her. One of her 'gifts' from her mom. Did the piece of paper have a map on it? No. Just one word written in orange text: "Forward". The near useless guide she'd been given only rotated around her, hovering in midair and pointed in the direction she had to travel. "Ever heard of Google Maps, millennia old deities?" Ari muttered under her breath. Thankfully, she had, and had her phone out in front of her to keep from getting lost.

Another half hour of travelling and the paper suddenly changed the message. "Good luck," it read, before curling up and disappearing into flames. In front of her was a tall hill with a lone, very big pine tree on top. "Can't miss it. Right," she muttered, "hilarious." Ari walked up the hill, somewhat excited her journey into insanity might finally be at an end.

Whatever she was expecting of a 'training ground for the children of the gods', this place did not deliver. A relatively normal, though large, blue farmhouse stood in the middle of a large swath of field on the other side of the hill, and beyond that were several clusters of buildings. The only things that looked out of place was the cabins, obviously arranged in a Greek Omega symbol, and several other buildings constructed to look very Greek, including what might have been an eating pavilion if the roof wasn't missing. And the dragon standing next to the tree, staring at her.

It took a couple of seconds, but then her brain processed that last bit. "Holy crap, a dragon!" Ari screamed, summoning her favorite weapon to defend herself. A low hum could be heard for a second, then a gun with a large barrel appeared in her hands.

The gun was made of a dark metal with orange glowing lines inlaid everywhere. Her mom had demonstrated the ability to summon nearly any object she could imagine made of the material that Ari had jokingly called Forcium, much to her mother's amusement. She had no idea why it was amusing, but never felt the urge to ask. Why a goddess would find something amusing was probably beyond Ari's comprehension.

Nonetheless, her mother had then taught her how to use the ability, and told her to summon a weapon to defend herself on the way to this camp. Apparently demigods had a strong scent that attracted monsters, and yes they were real. Something about the nature of her mother made Ari only attract very powerful monsters, as weaker ones would be too afraid. Despite continued pestering, her mother never told her why this was. Ari assumed it was because her mom was way more powerful than she said she was, but she couldn't pull the information out of thin air, and when asked, her mom had cut her off with a 'this discussion is over' look.

Ari gave up and promptly summoned her gun, based off a design she had seen on a TV show. A look of shock had gone over the goddess' face for a second, then replaced with her normal expression. She asked Ari why not a sword or a spear, perhaps a bow? In response Ari simply aimed the gun at a wall and left a 3 foot hole straight through it. That ended the discussion promptly, offering Ari a little bit of revenge for the goddess's earlier silence. Her trip to camp was thusly trailed by lots of golden dust piles, previously monsters that had attacked Ari and received gaping holes in their chests.

This was the weapon the girl now aimed at the dragon, neither moving to engage the other. After a few seconds of stalemate, Ari wondered why she wasn't lizard food. She was too smart to believe that a dragon was afraid of her gun. So she looked at the dragon's stance, and more importantly where it was standing. Behind the tree, inside what could easily be the camp line, if they had one. Sighing in relief, she returned the gun to wherever objects went when she summoned them, and walked over to pet the dragon.

"You're just the guard, aren't you?" Ari asked, petting the dragon's snout. The dragon purred affectionately, nodding it's head up and down. The girl let out her remaining adrenaline, worry melting away. "So do I have to do anything special to get into this camp or what?"

The dragon looked her in the eye in a way that Ari somehow understood as meaning 'Just get here alive'. She gulped. How many demigods hadn't?

The dragon huffed, then laid down next to the tree. Ari spotted a wool blanket laid over one of the giant tree's roots, glowing gold. That's not even close to weird after meeting a real dragon, she thought. Catching her breath, Ari slowly stepped over the imaginary boundary line. And was suddenly looking into the face of Santa Claus, sans white hair and beard. And he looked mad.

"Uh, hello," she said to the randomly appearing guy. "Who are you?"

The man glared at her, looking over her like she was a threat. "I'm the director of this camp," he said with a bored tone, "Lord Dionysus."

"What, like the god of wine?" Ari scoffed.

Dionysus' eyes were replaced with purple fireballs and he scowled. "Yea, twerp. Exactly like that."

The girl's eyes widened, and Dionysus was sure he'd scared her to madness. He was quite shocked when she simply said "That's cool."

The god looked at the demigod in bewilderment. "You're not frightened?"

Ari laughed. "Frightened of the god of parties and booze? Pfft, nah. Would much rather get settled in, I've been walking for hours."

"Not even a little bit?" he pouted.

"Nah. Sure, you have godly powers and could smite me any time you wished, but you won't. People like you don't do that."

"There are no people like me," the god growled.

The girl looked at him like he was the one who was crazy. "Of course there are. Everyone has one."

Dionysus' confused look prompted her to elaborated.

"Everyone has a father figure. Now can I go?" she said.

Too stunned to try and intimidate the girl further, the god just nodded and pointed to the big blue house. She thanked him and began to walk down the hill. Dionysus just stood there, speechless. Not even Percy Jackson had treated him that way. This girl trusted him. Before the god of wine could process what just happened, she turned around and told him one last thing that would leave him standing there all night.

"If my trouble coming here is any indication, the demigods here need a dad. Hope you can take that job."

Dionysus just nodded with a blank stare, and the girl went down the hill to the house.

-LB-

The porch was lit by a solitary lantern, positioned above a large wooden door. On the way here from the hill, Ari swore she had seen a few women with bird wings. Harpies. Shaking off a shudder, the girl walked up the few steps to the porch and knocked on the door. Nothing happened for a good half minute, so she knocked on it again. This time the clatter of horse hooves could be heard from inside, along with some muttering. Guess whoever owns this house was asleep, thought Ari.

She heard a bolt sliding open, then the handle turned. The large door opened, and the girl was standing face to face with a middle-aged man, quite handsome in appearance. He looked wisened beyond his years, and though his face told of his unhappiness at being woken, his eyes conveyed nothing but kindness. And he was riding a horse.

"Excuse me, but why are you riding a horse inside a house?" Ari asked him.

The man peered at her oddly and asked "How did you get into the camp, child?"

"I walked down the hill," she replied, pointing to said hill.

"If that is true, you must be a demigod," he said.

Ari blinked. "Yeah, of course I am. Why are you riding a horse?"

The man raised an eyebrow and said "You should come in."

Unsure of what to do, the girl complied with his request. And promptly dropped her jaw once her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. The man was definitely not riding a horse.

"You're a... You're a... You're a centaur," Ari stammered.

"I am Chiron, young one," the centaur replied, nodding his head.

Ari glared upward and crossed her arms. "You're hilarious, you know that?"

Puzzled, Chiron wondered who she was talking to. He momentarily looked up, saw nothing but the ceiling, and looked back down at the demigod.

"To whom are you speaking, may I ask?"

Ari scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "Just telling off my mom. No biggee."

Chiron's eyes widened. "You know who your godly parent is?"

"Sort of," she replied, "I've met her. Do I know who she is? No, she neglected to tell me that. Just sent me here," Ari finished, glaring up once again.

"It is not wise to taunt the gods, young one," warned Chiron.

"You mean it's not wise to taunt the Olympians," she corrected. "Thankfully, my mom is not an Olympian, so I can tell her off if I care to."

Ari sighed, but before Chiron could respond, she held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Ari, pleased to meet you."

Never having met a demigod arrival already this confident, he merely took the offered handshake.

"What do you mean, she's not an Olympian?" Chiron asked.

"Pretty sure it means she's not bound to Olympus or Zeus," Ari shrugged, "at least that's what she told me."

"Your mother might be a minor goddess then. Most of them are not bound to the laws of Olympus."

Ari scratched the back of her head. "That's the conclusion I almost came to as well. But what I encountered on my way here says otherwise."

Chiron looked intrigued. "Go on."

Ari held up her left hand, fingers outstretched, and began ticking them off. "I had to kill six hydra, something over forty snake women with two tails, easily two hundred harpies, most of which attacked me in gangs, and no less than two giants."

The centaur nearly fell over. "How are you still alive?" Chiron asked, gazing at her in amazement.

"Frankly? Pretty sure the attacks and my survival are because of who my mom really is," she replied.

When Ari realized Chiron was waiting for her to continue, she scoffed. "I don't know who she is, obviously. That's part of why I came straight here. Was hoping someone could fill me in."

"Part of why?" Chiron asked.

"Yes, I'm also supposed to talk to you directly. My mom gave me a message for you," Ari clarified.

"What is the message?"

"She gave me explicit instructions to quote 'Ask to speak to him in a secure area' unquote"

"Hmm," Chiron muttered, "follow me. My office should be secure enough."

"Thanks."

Chiron turned around and walked further into the house. They passed two doors, one containing something like a kitchen, the other a sort of living room/medical ward hybrid.

"A medical ward?" Ari asked the centaur, "do people here get hurt often?"

Chiron paused, looking sadly at the doorway. "Far too often for my liking," he sighed, "some don't recover."

Ari gulped and they continued on in silence. A hallway appeared on the right, and Chiron turned into it, opening the first door on the right. They entered the office, and the centaur went behind his desk, where a rather peculiar wheelchair was sitting. He backed up and somehow his horse half compacted into the wheelchair, leaving a rather shocked Ari staring at him. Now he just looked like a disabled professor, not the half horse he really was.

"You said you had a message for me, Miss Ari?" Chiron asked, jolting her out of her stupor.

Shaking her head and writing her face, she summoned a small orb of Forcium, which her mom had told her was basically a recording and playback device.

Chiron stared at her, shock evident on his face.

"What?" Ari asked.

"How did you do that?"

Ari looked from Chiron to where his eyes pointed, the small ball in her hands, then back to him several times before it dawned on her. "Oh, summoning? It's one of the powers passed to me from my mom."

"No demigod I've met can materialize items from thin air," the centaur responded wearily.

"Really?" Ari asked, clocking her head to the side, "I must be pretty unique then, because that's not the only thing I can summon."

She placed the orb down on his desk, then summoned her gun. Unlike with the orb, the air hummed, and then the gun popped into existence in her hands. "Cool, huh?"

"What is that?" Chiron asked in wonder.

Ari merely stared at him dumbfounded. "It's a gun. Duh.'

He raised his eyebrows. "You can summon weapons?"

"Not just weapons," Ari said, dismissing the gun. It faded away with a hum before she focused on making something else. "Anything I can imagine, if it can be made with this metal, I can summon it," she finished, placing a small statuette of the centaur on his desk. "Though summon doesn't seem to be the right word for it, since nothing I create goes away unless I explicitly will it to stop existing."

Chiron's eyes were wide as dinner plates now. "That's the power of creation. Only gods have that ability." He looked at her suspiciously, as if suspecting her to be one.

Ari quickly corrected that assumption. "Sad to say it, but I'm definitely mortal. I get sliced, I bleed. Very red blood. No ichor here. Though there is something peculiar about me in that regard."

Ari quickly summoned a knife with a small hum, and proceeded to cut a gash in her hand to the horror of the centaur. He began to get up, but Ari stopped him with a wave of her knife hand, then held up the cut palm. What used to be a giant red wound had sealed itself to little more than a scratch, and that was quickly fading. The only evidence she had ever been cut was the blood on the centaur's desk, and even that seemed to be disappearing.

Chiron looked at her with incredulity. "How?"

Ari shrugged, then tossed the knife in the air. It vanished with the same hum it had appeared with. "No idea. Mortals call it 'spontaneous regeneration', but no mortal doctor has ever figured out how I do it."

"Well then. Maybe we could get some Apollo kids on it, they might be able to find out."

She shrugged again. "If it helps more people, uh, 'recover from their injuries', I'd be glad to help," she said with a smile. Ari readjusted her shirt, then cleared her throat. "However, all of this is very off task. We have a message to see, don't we?"

The centaur looked at her with confusion. "We?"

"I haven't seen it either."

"Ah, Yes. Let's see the message."

"Alright then," she said, and lightly double tapped the orb. It began to glow orange and rise into the air, hovering at their eye level. In front of both of them, an image of a woman with crimson hair and orange eyes faded into existence. The woman looked up, staring into both their eyes.

"Hello Chiron," she said, "I see you've met my daughter."