Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE
I join a cult (but at least the food is good)
The day had started out pretty good too, Percy thought as he slipped in a patch of muddy leaves, scraping his hand on a rock as he tried to steady himself. The sting fell to the back of his mind, the rain washing away the blood, and he pushed forward to keep running.
Sure his day had started with being poked awake by bus terminal security and by the time he was ready to find a spot to nap again one of those weird looking donkey-legged fire breathing girls had blown up the park bench, but in between those two things he had gotten a chance to grab a breakfast sandwich and a coke. All things considered it was still one of his better days.
Percy swiped his hand across his eyes again, too distracted by the burning feeling in his chest to keep the pouring rain out of his eyes and his vision clear. It meant he could run, but he was running blind- the rain too heavy to see through.
Considering that he had no idea where he was or where he could even try to run to, he thought that the trade off of sight for speed made a lot of sense.
Percy slipped again, cursing a chorus of “fuck, fuck, fuck” under his breath as he tried to catch his footing. He pulled himself up and braced his hands on his knees, trying to slow his breath. Through the pounding of raindrops on the forest floor Percy could make out grunting and snorting behind him to the right. A chill ran down his spine and Percy pushed himself into running again. Once he put another handful of yards between them he ducked behind one of the larger trees, covering his mouth with one hand to muffle the sound of his panicked heavy breathing.
Days of being chased from spot to spot by the bovine linebacker had shown Percy that the monster’s hearing was bad, but his sight was worse. His eyes raced from spot to spot, as far as he could see in the storm, trying to find a spot to hide next. His eyes landed on a tree on the crest of the hill - a huge pine that looked like the biggest Christmas tree he’d ever seen, so tall that the top branches looked like they disappeared into the clouds above.
A plan started to form in his mind- that if he could boost himself up to the lowest branches then-
But the start of a plan was all he got because the Minotaur’s roar split the air, so close that Percy could feel its hot breath ruffling his hair. It had found him.
The damn thing might be blind and half deaf but apparently it could smell him just fine.
Percy lunged forward and ducked low, just missed by the clumsy swing from the Minotaur aimed at his head. Its claws lodged in the tree for a minute and it roared again in frustration. It only gave Percy another two steps up the hill before it was loose again. Its sharp claws gripped onto Percy’s ankle, yanking his feet out from under him, while his hands scrambled at wet grass and leaves trying to hold on. Percy let out a strangled scream that was half curse as he was hung upside down by its massive paw.
“Fucking eat grass, Bessie!” he yelled, tossing a handful of plant and rocks right at the thing’s eyes. While it was distracted Percy frantically shoved his hands in his pockets, finding only the plastic spork from his breakfast earlier. With an agility he didn’t know he had, he swung his torso up and used the momentum to stab the spork solidly into one of its eyes.
It dropped Percy and he was already scrambling to his feet when the monster let out an ear splitting roar of pain, forcing Percy to cringe and cover his ears for a moment. He didn’t stop running, even as the steps got steeper and steeper, the top of the hill further away than he thought.
That’s when he heard a voice break through the rain. “Holy fuck there’s a kid out there.”
There was a crash and then a second voice, deeper than the first, joined, “Oh my gods, there’s a kid out there with the monster. Get Clarisse. Hell, get Chiron. Now!”
The stupid minotaur let out another bellow, giving Percy warning to turn and see it charge at him. Percy waited until the last minute, heart pounding harder than the rain, before jumping aside and watching the monster ram head first into another tree.
“Oof that had to hurt!” Percy yelled out before he could stop himself, adrenaline bringing a smirk to his face.
“Kid! Over here! You’re so close!” The first voice called out again, sounding out from just behind the pine tree. A new voice joined it as Percy jumped out of the way of another charge, “We have to go get him. He’s not going to make it.”
“We can’t cross the barrier, Clarisse. You know that.”
“That’s bullshit!” She screamed back and Percy couldn’t help himself from thinking, yeah tell me about it.
“A little help would be appreciated!” He yelled towards the growing group of kids watching his weird deathmatch bull fight. The group just kept yelling encouragement for him to climb the hill, to cross the ‘barrier’ and that he would be safe.
He couldn’t believe that after everything he was going to die in front of these weird cult kids who thought they couldn’t walk past a pine tree.
“Oh my gods, Percy?” The familiar voice distracted him as the minotaur charged again, and being caught by surprise he couldn’t jump out of the way fast enough.
It was like time slowed down and for a delirious moment Percy could have sworn the rain paused around him so he could see better.
His legs tensed and, with no time to jump to the side, he lept straight up into the air. His sneaker planted on the creature’s head, bouncing off of it like a trampoline, and twisting to land on the back of its neck. It tried to shake him, but Percy clung onto its horns like he’d accidentally superglued himself (again).
Even holding on for dear life Percy gagged at the rotting smell of a dumpster behind a McDonald’s coming from the monster’s head. “Ew, gross.”
It shook its head again and Percy scrambled as his rain slick hands slipped off. His two hands grabbed one of the minotaur’s horns, too frantic to try and grab both. He slammed the heels of his shoes into the monster’s back and pulled back on the horn with a feral yell.
There was a grunt and then a snap.
Percy tossed the ragged bone to his other hand and drove it straight down on the Minotaur’s head. It crumbled into sand, chunks of it being blown away by the wind of the storm.
He’d won, but suddenly the fifteen foot creature under him, holding up his weight, had crumbled to dust. He hovered in the air for a second, almost in disbelief and then dropped to the ground with a comical belly flop.
His head cracked on a rock, and his vision blurred as he tried to push himself up onto his arms. Suddenly the sound of pounding footsteps surrounded him as half a dozen kids raced up to him. One of them reached down and rolled him over and, even though he mostly saw black spots now, he still made out a familiar face. “Grover?”
“Oh my gods, Percy. It’s you.” Grover’s hands started patting him down and Percy squirmed in pain and annoyance. “What happened? Percy, what happened?”
“Hold the questions, Grover,” another voice said, as smaller hands gripped his shirt and started dragging him past the invisible line drawn by the pine tree. Right, Percy thought, the weird cult kids. “We have to get him into camp.”
Another set of hands joined him and with the extra support he made it into the valley, spotting lights on in a farmhouse in the distance. A small part of Percy registered that he wasn’t getting rained on anymore even though he could still hear the storm raging in the distance. Instead, his gaze locked with a pair of cool grey eyes framed by pieces of blonde curls. “How did you get here? Who is your godly parent?”
He could hear his mother’s voice echoing in his ears, months and months ago, no one can know, Percy. Even the gods.
“I don’t know.”
Then it all went dark.
* * *
“Oh good you’re awake.” Percy blinked his eyes open to a monotone voice, looking to the side of his bed to spot the speaker. The kid next to him couldn’t have looked or sounded less excited to see him awake, but Percy felt himself relax a little anyways. The bed he was laying on was warm and soft, and despite knowing that he had hundreds of bruises from the fight, he felt like he had just taken a nap on a warm, summer day.
“Where am I?” Percy asked, rubbing at his eyes with his fists while he yawned. He felt like he had been asleep for years.
Instead of answering, the other boy shoved a spoonful of something into his mouth. Percy almost choked on it, until the taste of buttered popcorn hit his tongue and he swallowed instead. “You’re supposed to eat this when you wake up.”
“That doesn’t really explain anything but okay,” Percy said, licking the last drop of the weird popcorn cough syrup off his lips. “Have you just been watching me sleep?”
“Yes.”
The two stared at each other for a long minute until Percy figured that was all he was going to get as far as answers. “Alright then.”
“Oh good you’re awake!” A voice broke through the curtain hanging in the doorway and a second later it was followed by another boy. He looked a couple years older with reddish brown hair and a splash of freckles across his nose. At least he actually sounded glad to see Percy awake. “Michael, why didn’t you come get me?”
“Because I’m only here because I lost a bet,” the first boy- Michael- said with a rueful smile. Percy would have laughed if he wasn’t busy thinking about how his life could have been hanging on this kid providing him healthcare.
“How are you feeling?” The older boy asked him. He placed a gentle hand on Percy’s forehead to check his pupils and Percy felt sun warmed all over again. “It’s Percy right? My name’s Lee Fletcher. I’m one of the lead campers here.”
“Percy Jackson,” Percy filled in, letting Lee gently probe the back of his head. His fingers landed on a sore spot and Percy winced. “Did you say this is a camp?”
Lee and Michael shared a look before Lee answered Percy. Well not answered. “How do you know Grover, Percy?”
“He went to my school last year. He didn’t come back this fall though so…” Percy shrugged. “Is he okay?”
“He’s… good.” Lee answered and Percy had a feeling that ‘good’ was code for ‘he’s not human and we don’t know how to tell you.’. Percy briefly considered widening his eyes and asking them if Grover’s leg condition had cleared up yet, but figured he should just put them out of their misery. “Is this about him being a seder?”
“Satyr,” Michael corrected him automatically before it hit him what Percy said.
“Sure that.” Percy shrugged. “My mom told me about all the half-blood stuff. Is this the camp she was talking about?”
“Camp Half Blood,” Lee confirmed. He pulled up a stool so he could sit beside the bed. “Why didn’t you come to camp when Grover found you?”
Percy’s chest tightened and for a split second he could smell the overpowering scent of salt water and ozone. Then there was a sharp pain in his hands and blinked down, trying to relax his fists before his fingernails cut into his palm. “My mom wanted me to stay with her,” he finally answered, his voice cracking on the last word. “We had been doing okay hiding from the monsters and stuff. We told Grover it was fine but… then it wasn’t.”
Lee was looking at him with pity. It made Percy want to scream so he looked down instead, twisting his hands in the blanket on his lap.
“Did she tell you who your godly parent was?” Michael asked abruptly, making Lee slap him on the arm in exasperation. “What? We should ask. Everyone else is going to.”
“No,” Percy answered, without a second of hesitation. His mother’s voice still rang in his ears. “She never mentioned who my other parent was.”
There was another awkward moment of silence and Percy wanted to ask where the grown ups were and why two random kids were trying to comfort him when they were so clearly only kind of okay at it. Instead what came out was, “Do most kids find out who their godly parent is?”
Michael snorted, making Lee shoot him another dirty look.
“Some do,” Lee answered. “Some take a few weeks after they get to camp to get claimed. Others…”
“Others don’t,” Michael filled in. Percy had a feeling that the bitter smile on his face wasn’t for Percy.
“Others don’t.” Lee agreed.
“What about you two?” Percy asked, the question slipping out before he had a chance to wonder if that was an okay question to ask or if he had just asked the demigod equivalent to asking what grade someone got on a test in front of everyone.
“Apollo,” Lee answered, gesturing to both of them.
“That’s the…” Percy wracked his brain, trying to remember his class with Mr. Brunner. The memories from that year were slippery, like he was trying to hold something that wasn’t solid. “The sun guy right?”
A soft smile crossed Lee’s face, like the thought of referring to his godly parent as ‘the sun guy’ made him want to laugh but he knew better. “The god of the sun, that’s right. He’s also the god of healing, music, art, poetry, prophecy and archery. That’s why Apollo kids run our healing tent.”
“Wait.” Percy sat up with interest. “Do you guys have, like, healing powers or something then?”
“Not exactly,” Lee explained. “It’s more like we have an affinity for that area of the god’s domain. We can sense injuries, encourage healing along by appealing to Apollo and have an instinct for what remedies will be helpful. We still have to learn a lot about medicine the old fashion way.”
“And for some of us it’s against our will,” Michael quipped, resting his head in his hand and smirking at Lee. Percy stared at him for a second and then turned to Lee. “I guess Apollo isn’t the god of bedside manners then.”
Michael barked out a laugh and Lee rolled his eyes even though he also reached out to ruffle Michael’s hair at the same time. Percy felt a sinking longing in his gut and wondered if he had any siblings at camp. It would be nice to have… family.
“Like I said: Apollo is also the god of archery,” Lee explained looking back at Percy. “Some of us seem to have a stronger affinity for one of the godly aspects than the others.”
Percy’s stomach chose that moment to let out a loud rumble, reminding him that all he had eaten in at least a day had been a breakfast sandwich and some supernatural popcorn syrup. “Uh, is there like a camp cafeteria I can check out while everyone decides what to do with me?”
Michael and Lee shared another look which would be more annoying if Percy hadn’t been used to being the subject of concerned looks constantly growing up. After a minute of silent brother-talk Michael stood up, grabbing a bow and quiver of arrows off the floor where Percy hadn’t noticed them until now and slinging them across his back. “Sure kid. I can show you around. At least it will give me an excuse to get me out of here.”
* * *
Percy’s first thought when he stepped out of the medical cabin was that he was way too poor to be going to this camp. The place was beautiful- sprawling hills of strawberry plants that seemed to go on forever, an old farmhouse with blue shutters and a wrap-around porch, and a crystal blue lake with a sandy beach that was calling his name despite the chill still in the air.
“This way,” Michael said, pointing down the rows of wooden cabins and towards the main house. “We can grab a snack at the dining hall and then I’ll show you around camp a bit. The house at the end we call the big house. I’ll drop you off there at the end of the tour and you’ll be someone else’s problem to sort out.”
“Gee thanks,” Percy replied, mostly ignoring Michael’s words in place of focusing on the dining hall that they were approaching. It looked like someone had designed a picnic campground with a very aggressive Ancient Greece theme in mind. The tables were all inside a circle of columns with no roof and a large fire pit stood in the center, still burning even though only a couple campers were still milling around the space. They shot Percy a curious look but left him alone while Michael led him over to one of the long tables on the far side.
“This is Apollo’s table. Ah!” Michael caught Percy by the back of his shirt as Percy went to sit down. “Hold on. You don’t want to get vaporized do you?”
Percy glanced somewhat nervously at the sky, even while he tried to play it off as a laugh. “I’m going to get smited for just sitting at his table?” He paused. “Smited? Smoted?”
“Smited.”
Percy shrugged. “Sure that.”
Michael reached over to one of the platters on the table, grabbing an apple and some turnover looking thing. He tossed them to Percy. “No sitting at the other gods’ tables; no going in the other gods’ cabins. Apollo’s pretty chill so he might not smite you, but there’s always a chance you’ll get turned into a dolphin.”
Percy had been wolfing down the turnover, which seemed to change flavours each bite from strawberry to apple to cherry, but paused, mouth hanging open. “A dolphin?”
Michael just smiled at him and Percy couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. “Not every god is as cool as Apollo though. Athena or Zeus would definitely just turn you into a pile of ash.”
Percy swallowed the bite in his mouth around a lump in his throat. “Noted. No playing with the other god’s toys.”
Michael grabbed his own food, but took a detour over to the fire before tossing one of the turnovers and a piece of cheese in. “For Apollo. We make offerings to our godly parents at meal times, sometimes the other gods if you are asking for something in their domain but don’t do that too often. The gods get jealous.”
Percy made a face but ripped off a piece of his turnover and tossed it into the fire too. “For Apollo- thanks for the food. Oh and the healing I guess.”
With that they took off again with Michael pointing out some things in the distance like the Pegasus stables and lava rock climbing wall. Michael made a big deal of pointing out the archery field with a wistful note to his voice. It honestly sounded a little underwhelming after hearing about the magical flying horse stable and volcanic rock wall but Percy showed a rare burst of wisdom and kept that to himself.
“What about kids who don’t know their godly parent?” Percy asked as Michael started to point out the cabins. They passed a circle of stumps and boulders, with a large fire pit in the middle. Even though it was the middle of the day the space wasn’t empty- a young girl crouched by the flames tending to the fire. Percy absentmindedly wondered what Ancient Greek campfire sing a longs sounded like. “If we-”
“The unclaimed,” Michael interrupted to fill in. Percy made a face at the name which sounded like a horrible cliche to him.
“Sure, the unclaimed, aren’t allowed to use the other gods stuff where do we go? Is there like an abandoned bastard child cabin?”
Michael let out an actual bright laugh that seemed to warm the air around him. Maybe it was an Apollo thing.
“Unclaimed kids go to Hermes cabin,” Michael answered, humour still in his voice. “He’s the god of travellers so he’s a little less cranky about having the unclaimed kids in his space.”
“How hospitable of him,” Percy said in the flat voice that made Michael smirk again.
“Each cabin has a head camper,” Michael took up his explanation again, stopping outside of a cabin with white washed sides and windows that covered almost every wall. “This is the Apollo cabin. Lee is our head camper. Over there-” Michael gestured to the cabin directly across the courtyard. It looked like the quintessential summer camp cabin- wooden walls flaking with paint and even from here Percy could hear a faint shriek followed by laughter. “That’s the Hermes cabin. The head camper there is Luke. You’ll meet him soon, he’s always around somewhere.”
Percy nodded, filled with a sudden burst of anxiety. He was used to being surrounded by people- his hometown was New York City- but you could be invisible in a big city in a way he didn’t think he was going to get away with at this close knit summer camp. He’s only met two new people this morning and already that was more people than he’d met in the past couple months. The idea of meeting more, of them meeting him, made him feel itchy under his skin.
The next cabin they stopped at was made of brick with a large plum of smoke coming out of a chimney right in the middle of it. The door was round and metal, like a vault door, that was definitely giving ‘you aren’t welcome here if you aren’t working’ vibes. Two kids sat on the step leading up to it- one tall and buff with dark skin and the other a short blonde with pigtails and crazy muscular arms. If they were siblings they looked nothing alike, other than looking like they did pull up contests for fun in their free time. The older boy nodded to Michael as they walked past. “Yew.”
“Beckendorf.” Michael wandered over and Percy followed behind, feeling like a lost puppy. “This is Percy, and no, he doesn’t know who his godly parent is.”
Beckendorf shook his hand with a smile while the girl just nodded at him. “Hey, new kid. I’m Nyssa.”
“Hi,” Percy responded and then after a pause lifted his hand in an awkward wave. That was about the extent of his people skills lately. Luckily, Nyssa didn’t seem to notice or care because she kept going anyways. “You’ll like it at camp. I’ve been here for two years and Beckendorf - how long again?”
“Almost five.”
“Oh yeah your camp-aversery is coming up.” Both of them turned their attention to Percy again and he resisted the urge to blush. Or at least he hoped he did. “It’s safe.”
“I mean, other than the minotaur that nearly killed you right outside our camp,” Michael said. Beckendorf and Nyssa both rolled their eyes and gave Michael some supremely unimpressed looks. At least Michael seemed to have that effect on everyone and not just him.
Percy coughed uncomfortably. “I think that was my bad actually. It had been chasing me down for a few days.” He twisted the bottom of his shirt in one hand. “I think I kind of led it here. To be fair to me though, I didn’t know that there was a here, here.”
“It had been chasing you for a few days?” Beckendorf asked. Percy didn’t know him but it sounded like alarm in his voice.
“Yeah. It wasn’t too hard to get away from it because it was pretty blind and, well, dumb.” When no one said anything he continued, “I think it could smell me though.”
“Monsters can smell half-bloods,” Michael confirmed although he looked distracted. After a second he seemed to shake himself off and asked the other two if someone- Luke- was at the Big House. When they confirmed he was, they said goodbye - Michael with a grunted thanks and Percy with another half wave - and headed to the farmhouse at the end of the rows of cabins.
“Oh look! It’s a newbie!” They just reached the edge of the row of cabins when another voice broke the silence and Percy had to suppress a sigh. All he wanted was to be told where he was staying and to hide out there for another few days before he had to meet anyone else.
Michael did not suppress his sigh, barely turning to address the new group of kids. “Clarisse. Other ones.”
If being dismissed as the “other ones” bothered them, they didn’t show it. All three of the kids, including Clarisse in the front, were bulky like their only summer camp activity was lifting weights, with a mean sneer on their faces.
“What’s the problem, Yew? We just wanted to make sure the newbie gets a warm welcome.” The girl in the front cracked her knuckles, trying to look really threatening, but Percy accidently snorted out a laugh at the sight of it. “You got something to say kid?”
“Just go away before I shoot you, Clarisse.”
“Aw but if you shoot me and get pulled out of Capture the Flag on Friday who will I get to pulverize in the game?” Clarisse tried to play off Michael’s threat but her eye twitched anyways. “What’s your name, new kid?”
In Percy’s experience trying to ignore bullies just made them angrier. “Percy.”
“So, Prissy-” Percy sighed. “Who’s your godly parent?”
Percy stared at her for a moment before turning to Michael. “Is it going to be like this with everyone?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Alright then,” he turned back to Clarisse. Her face had gotten red with rage while he had been talking to Michael. “I don’t know who my godly parent is. Who’s yours?” Percy tilted his head to the side and pretended to think. “Is there a god of stink? Because if so-”
Clarisse lunged for him, knocking him to the ground and sitting on his chest. Percy struggled to take in a breath.
See this is why he didn’t talk to people much.
Percy was kicking his legs frantically, trying to dislodge her. He could tell there was yelling- Michael maybe? - but in his panic it sounded so far away that he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Clarisse slapped one of his hands away as he reached up to push her off and she used the opening to grab a fist full of his hair and slam his head back again.
Stars danced across his vision. Even though he could still feel Clarisse’s weight on top of him and the grass under his bare legs, for a split second he could have sworn he felt the cool tile in the bathroom of his old apartment against his back and the stink of Gabe’s breath in his face.
No, no, no!
Percy let out a choked off scream and the ground under him rumbled ominously.
Then suddenly the weight was off of him. He gulped in a breath greedily, scrambling to his feet in time to catch Michael drawing back his bow and stepping slightly in front of him. Someone else had arrived during his and Clarisse’s slap fight- he was holding her by the back of her shirt, pulling her a few feet away from him before turning to check on Percy. He was tall and muscular, with cropped sandy hair and the same bright orange t shirt that most of the camp seemed to be wearing. He was definitely one of the oldest campers Percy had seen so far and Percy’s eyes caught on the thick white scar that ran down his cheek, from his right eye to his jaw. He had been scowling at Clarisse but when he turned to Percy it was with a soft smile on his face and Percy felt himself start to relax almost immediately. “You okay?”
Percy nodded silently. Michael lowered his bow while the new guy held onto Clarisse and offered Percy his hand. Percy grabbed it and let Michael pull him to his feet, keeping his eyes on Clarisse warily.
“Go cool off Clarisse,” the older boy said. Clarisse opened her mouth, probably to argue it was Percy’s fault because that would be just his luck, but the other boy cut her off. “You can save it for Capture the Flag or you can not play Capture the Flag.”
With a scowl and a curse in some language Percy didn’t recognize but felt strangely familiar she stomped off, taking her two cronies with her. Once she was gone the other boy turned to Percy. “Nice to finally meet you, Percy Jackson. My name is Luke.”