Yes, I know I am horrible for not updating in forever. Final exams, bonfires, vacation, tennis lessons, marching band. The list of reasons for not updating could go on but I will stop there. Important authours note at the bottom.

Disclaimer- Not the owner of PJO.

Chapter 11

Thalia

We quickly sat down as Ella caught the book Talia threw. She looked down at the title and grinned. She looked at all the boys before reading, "We Capture a Flag."

"Finally!" Cayden cheered. "Time to see what skills Percy has."

"But you won't actually be able to see it Cayden," Shay told him innocently. "Shutting up now," he said after seeing the look Cayden gave him.

The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.

"Really? I never notice," Ray said, oozing sarcasm.

"If I remember correctly, you were freaked out after your first lesson," Talia told him. "You had a really blank look in your eyes. Your eyes barely moved when I was flashing my light in front of you."

"That nymph kept looking at me weird, like I just killed her cousin."

Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.

After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.

Totally agree with you Perce. At least you didn't think it was Homer Simpson like the Stolls did…

The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at.

Chiron tried to teach me archery,

"The stupidest thing you could ever do," I muttered. Several of the campers looked at me trying to figure out what I meant.

but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.

Many of the campers snorted and chuckled, while Dylan, Ray, and Shay were laughing like hyenas.

Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.

And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.

"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.

The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing,

I could practically see the gears turning in Ella's head. She was giving me a look, like she already figured who his parent. I gave her a look in return. Luckily she understood what I meant.

While this was going on, the other campers were snorting.

and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.

"To must people, it would matter. But personally, who cares? You can do canoeing and you can fight," Talia pointed out.

"It is also seems to be like that," Ella said. "Take Shay. He can't change an apple to a bee but can make five people's hair burst into flames."

"I don't think I was talking about something like that."

"Well sorry but you know it is true." Shay started pout.

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it.

"I would imagine if many campers didn't get claimed right away. It would make it harder on the counselors to figure out if they had a new half-sibling," Cayden pointed out.

I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.

"Good wouldn't describe how horrible you are at in doing archery," I corrected. "Never practiced with you after that one day."

"What happened," Ray asked, curious.

"He hit a tree a few feet away from the target. It didn't help that it was a few inches above my head."

I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants. Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either.

Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile.

"So his dad must have visited him at one point," Jaycee guessed.

"It seems unusual but I guess he could have," Nathan muttered. "I never have heard of a god doing that before."

"But sometimes our godly parents visit us," Shay told him.

"But not when we are younger."

I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...

Murmurs of crazy were heard throughout the campers.

"He must really love his mom if he would go to the Underworld," Ella pointed out.

Nathan nodded. "Love for a family is always the sweetest, after your love for chocolate of course."

Some stared at him like he was crazy.

"After chocolate?" I questioned. "That seems so unusual."

"Chocolate is so delicious and sometimes creamy and it melts on your tongue…" He got some Are-you-serious look.

I 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?

One of the reasons why many joined the other side.

Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, who-ever he was, make a phone appear?

Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.

We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.

"Now your reflexes need to increase from good to EXTREMLY dangerous," Cayden said. "Then no one can beat you."

"So you are still working on that?" Dylan asked innocently.

"Unlike you, who is only at 'At least I can hold a sword', I might add," Cayden retorted.

"I killed more dummies then you."

"At least I-"

"Okay, stop this nonsense so we can continue the book!" I yelled at them.

The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.

I swear Riptide is the only blade you can use.

Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.

We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.

"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.

"Not if he suspected you were the demigod he was told about," I whispered to myself. Luckily Jaycee didn't hear me.

"Most never do and it doesn't help if they are your siblings." Dylan gave a pointed look at Ray.

"Sibling love Dill Pickle," Ray told him while hugging himself.

"I told you to never call me that again," Dylan hissed at his brother, who smiled deviously.

The camper snorted.

Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade.

"Now I wouldn't do it that extreme," Cayden pointed out.

"Liar! Just two weeks ago your half-brother came to the infirmary with a bruised arm," Talia told him.

"He needed to learn that he can't take my football cards."

"Not a good excuse bro," Nathan told him.

"No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap! By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.

I mentally grinned. Now Percy should be able to do some damage.

Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.

Ella looked at me with a small smile. I think she may have figured it out. At first I also thought Shay figured it out, but from him muttering "Water…strength…dye 61…one green scale from a hippocampus…" I figured he was trying to figure out a potion to make.

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

Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.

The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody 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.

"That is difficult. It took about maybe two years to learn how to do it," Shay bragged.

"You still can't do it," Jaycee told him.

"And if I can't do it, you can't either," Nathan added.

"I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now.

"To most people, that just tells you to laugh at him," Talia said.

"Considering how long it takes to learn that maneuver it would be very rude to laugh," Ella added.

"Even if they were once in his shoes," Nathan pointed out. "I bet they wouldn't like if anybody laughed at them."

Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword.

"The magic word is somehow," Dylan chuckled.

Cayden looked impressed. "For a newbie it is impressive to block the hit aimed at your sword's hilt."

My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.

The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck? I tried the disarming maneuver. My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

Many eyes lit up at that, especially Cayden's. He had a look of awe, admiration, and envy.

"I wish I learned that maneuver that fast," he grumbled.

"Calm down Cayden," Shay told the son of Ares. "It could have just been beginner's luck you know."

"If he could do that so fast, he must be a really good swordsman," Ray mentioned.

The other campers were silent.

I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."

I shook my head at Percy. "Why would you say you are sorry Percy?"

"It's not like you can run through a monster and say sorry to the poor monster," Nathan grinned.

For a moment, 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!"

I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.

This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.

"That energy must help him greatly," Jaycee thought out loud.

"You should make an energy potion!" Dylan said to Shay.

Shay grinned. "Already on it Dill Pickle."

"Not you too!"

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

"It would seem like," Talia admitted.

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest.

"Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."

"I don't even want to imagine what can do and if he did have water strength at the time," Ella said.

He would cause damage to the monster and the place.

Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat,

"Not a surprise considering he is half goat." Ray sighed as he said this.

but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.

"Horrid, rather curl up into a ball and whimper, was like picking strawberries for week nonstop," Shay named off.

"Please stop! We heard you rant about things like that before," Jaycee told him.

"But you went two weeks without hearing it."

His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.

"Fine," he said. "Just great."

"So your career's still on track?"

He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"

"Um, what's a searcher's license?" Dylan asked looking at me.

"A license to search," I told him.

"I figured that much out. I wanted to know what it is used for."

"For that you will have to wait for someone to give Percy an explanation on what it is."

"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.

"So much for that."

"I didn't say it would happen quickly," I smirked.

"He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"

"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"

"If he is your best friend, he would bring you along in a heart beat," Talia said.

"Of course I'd want you along!"

Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."

"Yes, back in the days of the 1800s," Cayden snorted.

"Or used to just relax the mind," Ella told him.

Ray grumbled, "My mom makes me do it as a punishment sometimes."

"You do fail at," his girlfriend told him.

"And how would you know?"

"Your brother showed me and the rest of us, expect Thalia, a video of you trying to basket weave something bright pink."

"I will get you Dylan."

I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable.

We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.

"There are really only three empty cabins now- Artemis', Hera's, and Hades'," Jaycee pointed out. "The other cabins at least have one demigod living in the cabin."

I guess Hades never had a kid in over a hundred years.

"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids.

Cayden snorted. "Maiden basically explains no kids."

"It does," I agreed, "but what a new demigod think if both Artemis and Athena are maidens but Athena has kids?"

"Probably that Athena wasn't a maiden anymore, or they would ask someone else why that is." He added the last part quickly when right outside the window, the sky started to darken.

The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."

"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"

Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job.

I started laughing, as did the boys while the rest of the girls were chuckling.

"He says it so blunt like it is no big deal," Ella chuckled.

"I never knew satyrs could be so funny," Dylan said.

When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."

"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."

"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

"Most days I think it may have been rigged," Nathan admitted.

Shay nodded in agreement. "Most likely it is to Hades."

"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."

"Uh-huh."

"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."

"And they always wear dark colors," added Nathan. "It makes them seem paler then they really are. They seem emo, dark, and creepy most of the time."

"That is not really true," I said. "They may seem like it but deep down they can be really nice."

They all stared at me.

"What?" I questioned. That was how it was with Nico, but I didn't say that out loud.

"It is just that most people would say they are creepy," Ray explained.

"But do you think that after you get to know them?" I asked them. They all shook their head no, well all expect Shay.

"They tell me to stay away from them since most of the time I would talk to them, it would be because I want a skeleton bone."

"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed.

I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."

"Percy actually is very observant," Jaycee said. "It seems like he can notice tiny little details that many may over look."

"Maybe he could be a detective," Dylan voiced.

Jaycee shook her head. "Since he has ADHD I doubt he would be able to be on a crime scene or in a house looking for clues for hours."

Grover nodded.

"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"

Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.

"Sorry to Lord Zeus but he does seem like the first one of the Big Three to have a kid first," Ray said.

"I am not surprised either," I admitted. "When I went to school for a year, we talked about the Greek and Roman gods and the teacher's step-daughter basically called Zeus a womanizer."

"Was she blasted into ashes?" Cayden asked.

"No because the step-daughter was a child of Demeter and Zeus didn't want to be forced to eat cereal for the next thousand years."

There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia…

"Wait," Ella said. "Your name is Thalia so-"

"So you are a daughter of Zeus," Shay interrupted, point a finger at me.

"Yes, Grover is talking about me. There is know need to get excited at him telling my back-story. You get to learn a few more things about me and the camp."

"What do you mean by 'learn about the camp'?" Talia questioned.

"Now, why would I tell you if you are going to find out?"

well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault."

"Why am I being described as a little girl?" I hissed. "I was twelve, not two."

Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia.

Most of them winced and sent me sorry looks. They probably couldn't imagine having a god send monsters after them because they weren't supposed to be born. Lucky them.

A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."

He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters.

More looks. Mostly the looks were in worry at my blank face as I stared at the nearest wall, trying to avoid their looks.

"I couldn't imagine taking on all three Kindly Ones and a hoard of hellhounds," Jaycee whispered.

"And about to be over run too," Talia added. "I don't even know if I would tell the satyr to take them to safety or try to get there myself."

"And you don't know how old the other demigods were that Thalia befriended," Ray pointed out. "They could have been young or older, and if they experienced at fighting monsters, if they were to train themselves or was coming to camp early from a break."

They were trying to tempt me into telling them more. I could tell from the looks that they were giving me. They probably thought I didn't see them since I gave no reaction to them or what they were saying.

She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill.

"Final stand almost sounds like death," Shay muttered.

Jaycee sent him a pointed look. "What was your first clue dummy?" she hissed at him.

As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill.

"That is why the hill is called that," Ella realized. "Because that is where you died."

"So your dead body was in that tree," Dylan guessed. "But if that was the case, how are you alive?"

That was when I finally spoke. "My father turned me into the tree before I actually died. When I was the tree, I was still alive, but I was in what you could call a coma. I also aged, but not normally, really slow like how a tree would grow. As to how I am "alive", you will have to wait and read about it in the next book and maybe even the third."

I stared at the pine in the distance.

The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.

"I was turned into a pine tree so it wasn't a total victory," I said.

Cayden nodded his head. "And considering how Percy killed the Minotaur without any training and after seeing his mom disappear, I would say it is a good victory."

I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?

"Grover," I said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

"No. Never. Orpheus came close…. Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"

"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea.

Ray shook his head. "Considering Percy's awful subject change, I can understand why Grover would look at him like that."

"I bet he and Chiron get along well then," Nathan smirked. "Chiron sometimes doesn't have good subject changes."

"Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."

"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."

Grover, you are increasing his ego.

"Grover is digging his own grave," Talia said, rolling her eyes.

Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"

I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.

"Now that I don't get," Ella said. "Wouldn't he be happy if Percy was a child of the Big Three, wouldn't Grover be happy? He would have found two children of the Big Three. I would look at that as an accomplishment."

"You forgot the fact that the first child of the Big Three he found was turned into a tree," Shay told her, pointing at me.

"But he should over look that and at least feel proud that he found her."

"Even when he knows that the first child of the three brothers to be born in many years is now a pine tree? Yea, that is something to be proud of."

"It was not Grover's fault," I defended him but Shay didn't hear me.

"Well then he can tell the people that talk crap about it to shut up," Ella argued.

"And then risk-"

"Stop!" Nathan yelled. "You two are giving me a headache."

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

"Finally!" Cayden cheered. "We get to hear about the greatest game ever and how Percy does."

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"

"Most new campers are surprised by the size of the flags," Dylan said. "I remember by one half-sibling tell me that when she played capture the flag with her friends, they used colored rags as the flags."

"But that was most likely a few mortals playing in someone's backyard," Jaycee pointed out.

"She did say that each side had a jail and the jail was standing on an area in the yard that had rocks. And that most of the time no one was watching so one of your other team mates could get you out."

"Just standing there is not a good jail," Cayden said.

"Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he said. "But often."

"Because one side makes the best plans to win and the other has good fighters," Ray said.

"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"

He grinned. "You'll see.

"Could you imagine painting the flags?" Nathan asked. "It would take forever and all the new paint could way it down."

"And that is why the flags change on their own," I told him.

First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?"

He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.

I gave a heavy sigh. Why did your fate have you become evil Luke?

"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.

"It is true," Ray told his girlfriend after she gave a pout at that.

"I know that."

"But you guys are pretty scary when you get really mad," Dylan told her.

"If nobody would make us mad, you wouldn't have to deal with that."

Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.

"Not me most of the time," Nathan grumbled.

"A few of your siblings do participate," Talia reminded him.

"But then they go back to the cabin and fix their hair."

Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.

"With all the traps they come up with, yeah, they will be a problem," I said.

That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.

Cayden rolled his eyes at that.

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. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.

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

"Considering it is his first time at camp, it is fair that he would be surprised by seeing the weapons," Ella said looking at Shay and Dylan shaking their heads at Percy.

"And if I remember correctly, you were surprised at the fact we were going to be using weapons," Talia added, looking at Shay.

Shay started to frown. "The only weapons I ever used in a capture the flag game was paintballs."

Luke looked at me as if I 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."

My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine,

I shuddered at the memory. I am never doing that again.

"Now that I think of it, that sounds like fun," Ray said.

I shook my head. "It really isn't Ray."

"Had a first hand experience at that didn't you?"

"Yes but that is a story the will never hear."

but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.

I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."

She kept marching.

"Someone is getting the cold shoulder," Nathan sang, really badly I might add.

"Are you sure you don't want singing lessons?" Talia asked.

Shay told him, "It could work wonders with your lack of voice."

"Then we can take them together Shay since your worse then me."

"Hurtful man, hurtful."

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"

Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you.

"I wonder why," Jaycee thought out loud.

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."

"Who here thinks that is her catch phrase?" Cayden questioned everyone. They all raised their hands, including myself. Annabeth did say that a lot.

She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.

I started to hum Another One Bits the Dust. I don't really like the song but the title I thought went along with what Percy said. The others just looked at me weird.

"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view.

Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.

Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.

"I am sorry but he is so picky with finding a sword," Cayden said. "He better find one soon or he will get killed."

"Maybe the Hephaestus cabin will make him a custom sword," Ella suggested.

"Maybe but I still don't get how he can't find a sword. For most campers it is either the length or the weight but not everything. It seems that he needs one specific sword."

"And you just spoke the truth," I whispered so he wouldn't here me.

There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?

Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.

Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.

"It couldn't be a monster in the woods, right?" Dylan asked.

Talia shook her head. "Most go away when we play."

"So one monster didn't get the memo," Shay concluded.

Or someone summoned it.

I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.

Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.

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

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.

Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet.

Dylan, Ray, and Shay started to laugh so hard that they had tears running down their face.

"Percy won't have a fair fight if he is verses five of the Ares," Jaycee said over the laughter.

"All fair in love and war," Nathan yelled.

"What love Nathan?" Ella questioned.

"Percy and Annabeth of course."

"They aren't really friends yet."

"Yes but they will be together. I don't know why but I have a good feeling that they will."

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 that that made me feel any better.

They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.

I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.

Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.

"Electric spears do work well against monsters," Cayden said.

"I wouldn't want to be hit with one though, neither would you," Shay told him.

"It would be cool to have one though."

I fell back.

Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.

They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.

"They should go a little easier on him," Ella grumbled. "It is his first time playing too and he can't find the right sword that feels good to him."

"It happens in every game though," Talia pointed out. "Then the campers would defend themselves by saying that they were training the new camper for the real world of fighting monsters."

"I know that but I still think that it shouts unfair."

"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."

I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.

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

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

"Even though he is being attack, you don't give away the location of the flag," Nathan said. "Unless you were sending them in the wrong direction, that might be the only exception."

I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.

"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."

"So having five against one sword fight in a game where your goal is to get the other teams flag is the best solution," I said sarcastically.

"Not the smartest revenge plan at all," Ray muttered.

"You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.

Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-ke-babbed.

"Thank goodness for armor," I shouted.

"If he wasn't wearing armor, it would have been bad," Shay stated. "You could have an angry god on your hands."

As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.

Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.

"No maiming," I managed to say.

"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege.

"How is that a punishment?" Dylan yelled. "He could be lying on the ground dead and all the person gets is no dessert."

"They must have changed the rules over the year," Jaycee guessed. "If that happened today, you would have kitchen patrol and cleaning the stables out for three months."

He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.

"Tonight I am going to try and make that potion," Shay said to Dylan. "We might need it for battles."

"Lets hope nothing drastic happens," Nathan said, looking at Shay. "I did not like having yellow eyes for a month."

Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.

Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me.

All the boys expect for Cayden, started to laugh.

"He gave them nicknames in battle," I said.

"I would be more likely thinking of how to defeat the enemy, not giving away nicknames," Ray admitted.

I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.

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

That would be Nico.

"I bet he was happy about that," I said aloud.

She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.

Dylan and Ray started to cheer at that.

"Revenge," Shay said, grinning like a madman.

"Karma's a bitch," Talia sang.

Nathan looked at them strangely. "You guys give me the creeps."

Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

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

"If they weren't so worried about attacking Percy, they might have won," Ella said, looking towards Cayden as if questioning him to disagree.

"I know that look Ella and you know I agree with you."

"I am surprised that you actually agreed with me."

"I seen that look before," Cayden told her. "And that was before Ray 'accidently' broke his wrist in a sword fight last year."

They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. We'd won.

I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."

I looked, but she wasn't there.

"Does she have super powers?" Dylan questioned me.

"Annabeth-"

"She was probably in a tree," Shay interrupted me.

Jaycee shook her head no. "He said that he heard Annabeth's voice right next to him."

"Maybe he is going crazy!" Ray put in.

"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.

Nathan looked puzzled. "Why would she be holding a Yankees baseball cap?"

"It also you to become invisible," I informed him.

I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

"A plan to get me pulverized."

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."

"Was she blind? Percy could have bled to death," Ella yelled.

"Annabeth probably didn't come to the area where they were fighting right away," Ray reasoned with her. "All she probably saw was Percy defeating the Ares campers."

"That would explain why she didn't jump into the fight," Jaycee added.

Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"

"Smart ass," I muttered.

"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it."

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

The others looked amazed at that. Ella looked like that was the last piece of information she needed to confirm her suspicion.

"That is so cool!" Shay yelled.

Jaycee seemed to be thinking at what she heard. "I can only think of one cabin with that power."

"I—I don't get it," I said.

Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What—"

"Just do it."

I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.

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

I may have looked calm on the outside but on the inside, I was horrified at the idea if Percy was my brother. No, just no. We may be similar but would be better off as friends not half brother and sister.

"It would make sense that she would assume that it would be Zeus," Cayden said. "He was the first one to break the pack that they made so most would think it was him."

"He is powerful but there are other powerful gods," Talia said. "His parent is most likely not Zeus but maybe someone else based on what we read."

Great, Talia figured Percy is Poseidon's son.

Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

"That almost sounds like a hellhound," Shay said. "What other monster usually growls or howls?"

"Maybe a werewolf," Ray suggested.

"I don't think there was a full moon at the time."

"Maybe it could have been a special breed."

"Why would there-"

"Are you really going to argue about this right now?" Jaycee asked them. "Your argument is really pointless and stupid."

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword.

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

It was looking straight at me.

"It is a hellhound," Nathan muttered.

"If it is looking at Percy then it must have been sent to attack him," Talia said, ending in a whisper.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, 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 my feet.

"That was close," I whispered. I knew about the hellhound attack but was never given the details, besides that Luke did summon it.

"Who would want him to be dead that bad?" Nathan asked. "He hasn't been at camp for that long and he already has someone hating his guts."

By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.

Did he really have to think the last part? He is going to give somebody a heart attack one day with his not-so positive thoughts.

Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!"Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

"Like I said, who wants him dead that bad?" Nathan repeated.

"How are we supposed to know Nathan?" Ray asked him. "We can never understand the minds of the campers from back then."

"I am just putting my thoughts out there."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

Ella rolled her eyes. "Yes, Percy summoned a hellhound, that he probably doesn't know about to I might add, and have it kill himself. Percy must be the most logical suspect."

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay."

Get into the water Percy unless you want to be dead.

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.

"They were probably wondering why Annabeth told him to get into the water," Cayden said. "He would have gone to Chiron to be healed or to an Apollo camper, not into the water."

"It must have been a strange sight," Ray said.

Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.

"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."

But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.

"He is being claimed!" Talia shouted.

"No, I thought he was ordering a pizza," Ray said sarcastically.

"I was not asking for your two sense."

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

By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"His father is Poseidon," Shay shouted.

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

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.

"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.

"Yes, that is what Annabeth just said," I muttered.

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

"End of chapter," Ella said, closing the book. "Now we know who Percy's parent is."

"But if he has powers over water, how could he die in a fire?" Cayden asked looking at me.

"Is there more to the story then you are telling us?" Talia added.

"Fine, I will tell the rest of the story without reveling too much," I told them. "An enemy of Annabeth and Percy wanted revenge on them. When they went to dinner with their friends, someone happened to put a potion in their food that would put the person who takes it will be in an endless sleep for twenty-four hours. The potion would start to work when they actually feel asleep. The person who wanted revenge then had an empusa and hellhound set the house on fire. Since they were asleep, Percy couldn't wake up and put the fire out. Poseidon or Athena couldn't save them because of the law that they can't interfere with their children's fate. Is it that the dinner signals? Well, we better hurry if we don't want to be late."

I quickly left the Apollo cabin before anyone could say a word to me. They will have to wait till dinner is over to read the rest of the next chapter.

Out of 17 votes, 15 of you said yes to having the ghosts of Percy and his friends come and read the books. I will have a new poll up because two people suggested two different ideas. One is two make them solid and the other is to have them be reborn and then come to camp. I will put up the new poll and you guys can decide. I really hope I can update in a week or two but I can't promise it since I am leaving for marching band camp in less then two weeks. Hopefully I cleared up most of the confusion on how Percy and Annabeth died. The person may be revealed soon. Hopefully where you leave it isn't raining.

~sciencelover