Here we are, back again in the story. I hope the wait was worth it, if only a week or so. This is a really fun hobby of mine and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. We have no reviews this time, so lets get right into the story shall we?
Capture the flag, it was a strange tradition that I had only seen once, and I had to admit it wasn't the most fun. Running around in the woods with a bunch of bloodthirsty teenagers trying to get something dumb as a flag? Yeah, no, that wasn't my sort of fun. Though, I supposed that was before I had friends to revel in the victory with, or enemies to want to see crushed beneath my foot. Now I had both I supposed, though said enemies and friends were in the same cabin so I couldn't fulfill both desires at once. Hopefully, that would change soon.
The two days after the whole "Castellan's Coconut's" incident, and most of the camp still hadn't gotten over it, which sucked majorly as I went around. Some of the other campers cupping their crotches mockingly at me, trying to taunt me. Their snickering was annoying, but it was fun to watch their eyes widen in fear as I cracked walnuts in my bare hands in front of them and ate from the shell. The yelp of a few Apollo campers, still somehow harmonizing with each other, was something I would revel in for a while. Thankfully, a few people seemed to agree with my assessment that "anything goes in a fight" and had decided that managing to beat Luke at all was an impressive feat.
So that was nice, some kids from the Hephestus cabin and Dionysus's kids seemed to stick by my side. Castor, in particular, told me that confusing his opponents by giving them maddening hallucinations for a few seconds for a critical opening was one of his favorite tricks to use mid-battle. I decided that I really liked the twins after that. It was too bad they were going to be on Ares's side today, I would have loved to work their powers of chlorokinesis and madness induction into a strategy of mine. But whatever, tonight, I would be focused on keeping Percy from getting his potus from being kicked too badly.
Speaking of a certain fish boy, he currently ran up beside me, his armor looking a size too big, and he had a shield and sword that didn't seem to fit in his hands at all. Especially the blade, he kept adjusting his grip on the handle, as if he was trying to get used to the weight. That was bad.
"So, what are we doing? I never got the chance to be debriefed, just that I was stuck on border patrol. Whatever that means." I raised an eyebrow at that, putting a newbie on an important role like border patrol? I had been here a week, and even I knew that wasn't common.
"It's easy enough, keep the enemy from crossing the border with the flag or at all really. The border is...the...creek." The creek would certainly give Percy power, the rumor of his excellent defeat of Luke yesterday had spread far, and well, my friend had told me about the incident that day, feeling completely bad about the incident for some reason. Of course, I knew that the water dump had energized Percy, and I had seen him work his magic on the bathrooms on his first day, so of course, I would put him near water, but...No one else was supposed to know that.
"Annabeth? Are you doing alright? You went silent suddenly. The border is the creek, right? You're not remembering things wrong?" Percy's worried tone snapped me out of my haze before I nodded.
"Yeah, just thinking. Anyways, just keep people from going over the border, and we will end up fine. I will do my best to cover you. Keep yourself from looking too stupid out there, won't you?" He shrugged with a playful smirk dancing on his face.
"I'll try, but making myself look stupid is kinda my specialty."
"I thought that was accidentally causing wanton destruction? Or do I need to bring up the cannon incident again?" He shrugged with that same smile on his face, though his cheeks were dusted with a very light pink.
"What can I say? I'm a multi-talented guy, a true Donatello man" I snorted at his joke, only to be met with a stare.
"Percy, do you mean renaissance man?" He shook his head again, and it was my turn to be confused.
"No, I was talking about the giant talking turtle. But that works too, I guess." His tone told me he was completely serious, what the Hades were mortals thinking up these days? Shaking my head as my lips started to curl up on each corner, I just fell back, letting him go ahead.
"Hey Percy, a little advice. If you feel like you are on the losing side of a fight, get into the creek!" He just gave me that classic confused look, then I put on my cap, discarding the mandatory shield and armor I had only loosely put on for ease of removal. He seemed to understand something, before nodding and heading his way to the creek once more.
My style required stealth, dexterity, and precision. All of which were hard to achieve while wearing that stuff. I was less protected sure, but well, I had a suspicion that Percy was the person that was going to need the defense more than I would tonight. Soon enough, my hand fell to the sheath on my hip, gripping the wooden handle with a smile.
Sneaking myself around, I followed him and heard the loud screeching of a half-dozen banshees as at least half of the Ares Cabin, maybe more came charging out of the woods. Their voices causing a slight ringing in my ears, and I had to hold back a growl to not give away my position as they encroached upon a nervous Percy.
While the six idiots started to attack my friend in turn, Clarisse, in particular, using that electric spear of hers to disable his shield arm, I charged in.
Moving lightly on my feet towards the person on at the farthest back, who seemed to have a cruel sneer on his face, and was right about to go in for his turn at Percy when I drew my blade, a wooden facsimile of a bronze dagger with no edge on it, and wet paint along the outsides. Leaping forward quickly, I got up on the kid's back and drew my knife along his neck, leaving a red mark of paint right along his throat. I moved swiftly, efficiently like a Panther, ending the fight in a single move.
"You're dead, now go to jail," I whispered into his ear before dropping and deciding to charge at my next target, the old one reluctantly sighing before he nodded and headed his way off to jail as I was already on the move. My eyes occasionally flickered back to Percy, who was still surrounded by four people with highly dangerous weapons, and from the gash on his arm, they weren't using edgeless weapons like I was here.
The next girl was about to strike at my friend once more when I made my move, leaping from my position I grasped the woman's hair and pulled back as my blade slashed across her neck, elegant, simple, and deadly. The force was enough to stop the swing of the sword and only made the Ares camper push Percy into the creek with a loud splash before she reluctantly turned around. Admitting defeat when beaten fair and square.
Looking towards the creek, I smirked, seeing Percy standing in the middle of it, the remaining three campers seemingly not noticing their falling ranks as Percy fended them off all on his own. Flowing from one movement to the other like water blocking one strike while he slammed the hilt of his sword onto another's head, stunning the young man and making him stumble back right onto my waiting blade. I drove the fake wooden right into his back to leave a remarkable dent in his skin, but not piercing through, just enough to let the guy know if this was real combat, he would be dead right now.
Deciding to concede, the young man went off to join his cabinmates in jail just as Percy slammed the flat of his blade against another kid's head, the sharp clang ringing out throughout the forest as the kid stumbled back a few steps before he slipped and fell right on his butt into the water, leaving only Clarisse to fight. I playfully flipped my wooden dagger in my hands, thankful for the Hephaestus kid, Beckendorf, I think who had helped me sand it down to the current state and even helped make the paint lined sheath in two days for my purposes.
Clarisse looked red as a tomato with rage, looking around to see all of her back-ups had fallen. She focused right on Percy, taking him the sole reason they were gone and let out a furious cry. Then brought her spear for a brutal thrust, one that would undoubtedly have maimed Percy badly if I didn't interfere, dashing forward, not caring about the noise I made. I brought the blade forward to slash at the back of her neck, take her out as far as the game went before she could seriously harm Percy.
Percy didn't need my help there, though, as he moved naturally and quickly, bringing up his sword and shield to catch the shaft between the two, right before the spear reached his chest and snapped the wooden shaft with a sharp crack, echoing throughout the forest.
"You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" Ooh, that really riled Clarisse up. I was looking forward to what other insults she had for Percy when he slammed the butt of his sword against her head, making her stumble back in a daze before slipping and falling to the ground. Smiling at that, I removed the cap, my form appearing once more, and I nodded to Percy with a small smile on my face.
"Told you, I would cover ya, didn't I?" I playfully twisted the dagger in my hands as I saw an Apollo camper rushing over the creek, covered by a barrage of arrows headed for the Hephestus campers chasing after him few of them letting out little whizzing noises as they sailed through the air. The flag was in his hand, and I nodded to them. Percy looked between me and the banner, his eyes widening a bit in amazement as it shimmered from the ugly blood red and turned bright gold, the Boar's head becoming an arrow crossed with a Lyre, the symbols of Apollo.
"Did...Did you plan that?" There was a tinge of anger in his voice, and I shrugged, not sure what to tell him because I didn't plan it out really, my cabin wouldn't have listened if I tried to announce a plan like that, and the Hermes cabin certainly wouldn't listen to me.
"Not really, I may have let the Apollo kids know that my friend had managed to piss off a lot of Ares campers. That they were likely to focus on him, leaving the flag vulnerable. But really, it wasn't planned." I hoped that would appease Percy.
"You used me as bait then? I wish you would have told me about the plan. Would have been helpful to know." I then pointed to the Ares campers that I had "killed" tonight with my dagger.
"Maybe, but it wasn't like I didn't back you up, right? Did you notice your opponents dropping like flys? That's cause I took em out as you kept them distracted. Pretty good combo if I do say so myself." He shrugged, conceding to my point, I guessed, smiling at me, and I returned it...This felt nice, having a friend. I liked it...Suddenly, I felt my skin prickle up, all the hairs standing on end, and a shiver being sent down my spine.
Then I heard a harsh growl from the woods and screams from behind us as I turned to see the beady, blood-red eyes of a hellhound staring us down. Its eyes boring right into Percy. Shit! "Percy! Run!" I started to dash forward, cursing as I realized I only had the wooden dagger on me, I hadn't planned for any demon dogs to show up!
"Ready my bow!" Chiron's voice echoed through the clearing as the dog pounced at Percy, and desperate to do something to save the boy that I had promised to get to 16. I threw my dagger hard as I could at the thing's eye, hitting it square in the iris, making the dog flinch back slightly in pain as its claws rendered Percy's armor and chest, pulling back it's paw a little as it reeled. Instead of making Percy shredded seaweed, it just made three large gashes on his chest that started to bleed profusely. At least he wasn't instantly dead, right?
"Get to the water! It healed you before, right?" Percy stumbled a bit, his breathing clearly quickening in fear as he stared at the gashes on his chest. I could imagine the pure terror in his eyes before a dozen arrows imbedded themselves into the monster's body before it dissolved into dust. Rushing forward, ignoring the mumblings and talk of the hellhound, I grasped my friend to steady him some.
"I'm fine. I'm fine, right?" I cringed a bit, feeling the hot, sticky blood staining my shirt, the liquid soaking through the fabric easily as I shook my head, bringing him along to the creek and helping him in. Watching as the water started to heal his chest, the wounds quickly closed up and healing in seconds, and I sighed, thank Zeus, that worked.
What happened a second later shouldn't have been a surprise, no one could really deny it. A giant, glowing holographic trident appeared above Percy's head. I had seen it a few times before, but it was still amazing how much of a show claiming usually was. I bowed with everyone else with Chiron's speech. Percy was the Son of Poseidon, and all of the campers now knew it.
For the next few days, I wasn't able to see much of Percy sadly. Our schedules didn't coincide at all, and as much as I disliked hanging around a bunch of people that literally felt like I was a monster. I couldn't really defy them constantly, and my counselor made our schedules precisely so that all Athena kids had nothing to do with Percy. Even removing my position as his greek tutor! "Mom wouldn't appreciate us fraternizing with a Sea Spawn. I shoulda known a kid like that was dangerous, had the look of nothing but destruction. Guess that lies in his name, though." That, combined with his cruel chuckle, made it really hard to resist breaking the man's jaw and giving him the Castellan treatment.
The only contact I had with my friend was vicariously through Grover, who had managed to finagle his way into my arts and crafts class every time I had it. "Please tell him that I really, really want to be close to him. Caleb has practically forbidden all of us from even looking at Percy." Grover nodded, I looked over, he looked like he was creating a new set of reed pipes for some reason.
"Will do, I'm sure he will appreciate you're thinking about him. I wish I could do more to help, but I'm just a satyr, not good enough to actually comfort my best friend, it seems. Especially when he is probably going to get a quest soon." I raised an eyebrow at his little grumbling. Why was he going on a- oh yeah. Zeus was probably pretty pissed about the Master Bolt thing and would be accusing Poseidon now.
"How long do we have?" He let out a choked bleat, the sound would have been humorous if not for our main topic.
"Probably until the Solstice, listen Annabeth, I need...I need you to go along and help protect him. Percy won't want a cowardly, useless satyr-like me coming but you. I think he will want you along though. You are the best friend he has ever had." I rolled my eyes, looking down at the reed pipes he was carefully making, obviously preparing for something big.
"Grover, I agree that Percy would want his best friend coming to support him." He nodded. "And that's you, not me. Grover, you are that Seaweed Brain's best friend in the whole world and always will be."
"That's impossible, though. I lost him in the City, I found him too late, I am the reason he wasn't able to make it to camp in time! I was the reason that his mother died! He must hate me like Luke and Malcolm do." I raised an eyebrow, and he mournfully gestured to half blood hill. Oh. Still, I shook my head.
"You are also the one who made sure he was able to survive last year to get to camp. You are the only person who has stayed as his friend for more than a few months. You are the person that he goes to when he is insecure. I bet he told you a lot about crushes and stuff when you were at Yancy, right?" He shook his head with a small laugh.
"Not crushes no, Percy isn't really the romantic type. He did give me the details on his candy smuggling operation and gave me two free Reese's per week, though, said it was "payment for putting up with him" like I would ever need that."
"Reese's? Is that some kind of mortal snack?" I swear I saw Grover's eyes bulge out of his head at that.
"You've never had Reese's? What kind of food do they have upon Olympus? I thought it was supposed to have like, godly feasts up there, but here you are missing out on the perfect blend of Chocolate, Peanut butter, and Wax Paper that is Reese's Peanut butter cup." He shook his head in disbelief, and I grinned at him.
"Ok, I get it. Anyways he gave you free food and trusted you with his secrets. That's the point. Percy trusts you, and I bet that he will ask you to go on the quest with him. So, make sure you have those reed pipes ready soon, ok?" I stood up with a small smile on my face, looking around to make sure no one was watching and put on my cap and headed off towards Cabin Three. I needed to see Percy's schedule, plan when I could sneak away to see and talk to him.
The few times I had managed to see him, walking from one activity to the other over the past few days, Percy looked absolutely miserable, almost as bad as the day he came into camp. When his entire world had collapsed around him, and he had been ripped away from everything he knew and placed into a new world. I supposed this was a similar circumstance, and I wanted to be there for him again. I wanted to stay friends with him, I didn't quite get it, but I felt a lump in my throat when I saw him so sad so...I wanted to help fix that.
Getting into the cabin, I cringed a little bit, seeing the messy cabin that was Percy's. How was I supposed to find anything in here? Looking around it, though, I noticed he had a nightstand with the correct schedule on it, and I hummed reading it before nodding. I would check in with him at around five-ish, that was when I had a free hour, and he was supposed to be at the beach. Turning to slip out, I almost let out a yelp seeing Percy come in. His face broody again, though his eyes had a small spark in them. Cautiously I stepped away from the nightstand, thankfully the wood didn't creak under my weight.
"Well, at least she is thinking of me, I don't think I have had any friends like that before... I wish I had never been claimed, then we could still hang out." He growled to himself as he made his way to the bed, mind wandering with my own musings. So Grover had told him about our talk, that was good. Percy needed to know that there were "people in his corner" that was the correct phrase, right? Then the boy looked towards the trashcan, I could only catch a glimpse of his eyes from my position, but there was a look of pure, unadulterated hatred towards the paper inside. I still wasn't that good at reading modern English, but I caught something about a missing woman and a delinquent son. That wasn't good; looking back to Percy, I saw his hands shaking, and tears starting to form in his eyes. Through if these actions were from rage or sorrow, I didn't know, however, I was sure that I wanted to stop it.
Quickly I removed the cap from my head and approached, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. The boy promptly whipped around, his body going into what could be seen as a fighting stance, his eyes sparking with conflict before he seemed to realize who I was. "Annabeth! How...When did you...Did you watch me sleep?" He was half curious, half sheepish and half-embarrassed, at least he wasn't raging like before.
"I have been in here for about five minutes, I came in to check on your schedule and see when I could sneak off to see you. I've missed your porpoise headed style of commentary in my life. No, I didn't watch you sleep this time." He seemed to relax a bit before he let out a confused hum.
"This time?"
"Yes, who do you think was looking after you during those days you were passed out?" He looked stunned but just nodded.
"Well then, uh, thank you for that? Not letting me die and stuff, that was pretty cool."
"It felt like it at the moment, sometimes I regret it though, cause now I feel like I'm bound to keep you alive from now on."
"I would appreciate it if you did. I kind of like being alive, it's the only state where I can get a good bite to eat." As we spoke, he seemed to stand a bit straighter, amusement replacing his anger slowly while we chatted.
"Speaking of, do you have a watch? I can't tell you what time it is, but at around five-ish, I have my free time and you go to the beach. We can have a chat, I can bring snacks." My lips curled up as he groaned some.
"I mean, I was going to take a nap, like right now. Last I checked it was around five, was going to just mark myself present and go to sleep for a bit, Luke was ruthless with training today." I felt my skin prickle a bit at the mention of Hermes' boy, so he was still hanging around Percy, even out of his cabin? I wanted to say something but bit my tongue, I had to admit Castellan was a superb swordsman, and Percy would need every bit of training he could get for the quest and well...Being the Son of Poseidon, instead, I opted to turn and start sauntering out.
"Ok, your choice. Though I was going to bring my secret stash of huckleberries, those half tart, blue berries are so good when dried." I looked over my shoulder, emphasizing the world blue as I spoke it. From his body language, I could tell he was hooked.
"You have access to blue food? Why have you been holding out on me then?!" There was a slight whine to his voice that made me giggle some.
"Because I only have the one bag, and I wanted to save it for when you really needed to be cheered up, and my own oratory skills weren't enough." His eyes then darted a few times between his soft, unmade bed. Ripe and ready for a nap, and me, with the siren's song of blue food beckoning him to spend an hour at the beach with me.
"Well, I guess I will meet you down at the beach then um...Wise Girl?" I groaned, he ruined the friendship moment.
"Please, do not call me that. I don't want to be associated with my mother any more than I have to." His face erupted in a small blush.
"Oh, of course, then something with your dad...What about...Hothead?" Hmm, I repeated the words in my head a few times before nodding.
"Perfect."