Chapter Text
3 months after The Blood of Olympus
Percy Jackson's POV
Everything is going great today. Well, everything WAS going great.
It started like any other day. Waking up, ate some breakfast, and then did some training with the newer campers. Today I was going to get some lunch with the rest of the 7 and Nico then, most importantly, I was going to go on a date with Annabeth.
But, no. I just HAD to see them, I HAD to.
I was just walking to my cabin to get ready for lunch but, on my way there, I saw the strangers. I would’ve just ignored them, but they looked like they could see everything besides the strawberry batch behind the border. That, I can’t ignore. What if they were monsters in disguise? What if they were threats to the camp? So I went over to check it out.
When I got there, the strangers were still staring at the camp behind me. Not noticing me walking towards them. A boy with tan skin and reddish-brown hair pointed at me and said something.
“Hey!” I shouted, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Well, we are here on a short trip here, and we saw this weird pine tree sitting here, so we came to check it out and saw this place.” replied a girl with braided black hair and dark skin, pointing at the camp.
Now that got me curious. How can they see camp? They weren’t monsters. At least, they don’t look like it.
“Where are you guys from?” I asked.
“We’re from uh…” the boy started.
“Massachusetts! We’re from Massachusetts!” said the girl with braids.
“Oh, okay?” I replied. Why did they seem hesitant? “Then, uh, what are your guys’ names?”
“I’m Aster.” replied the boy.
“My name is Charlie,” said the girl with braids. “And that’s Ariel.” pointing at another girl with straight black hair.
Whoa. She was so quiet, I didn’t even notice her.
“Well, nice to meet you guys. I’m Percy.” I said, reaching out my hand for a handshake.
“Nice to meet you too, Percy,” said Aster, taking my hand and shaking it.
Okay, now it’s time for the big question.
“How can you guys see Camp?” I asked.
“Uh… Are we not supposed to?” Charlie answered back.
“Well, I don’t think you're supposed to see unless…” I trailed off. No, I can’t risk revealing our secret, at least, not yet.
“Unless what?” asked Ariel, with an air of suspicion.
I jumped a little, forgetting that she was there. Dam (you get it? *Wink wink*) she was quiet, kind of like Nico.
“Nothing,” I replied, hoping I didn’t slip up already.
Ariel looked me up and down before saying, “Alright.” with a skeptical look.
“Okay! Now, we got that settle, could we check out your camp?” asked Charlie.
“No! Uh… I meant no, not yet. I need to go check with our er…director.” I replied, silently cursing myself.
“Uh… Okay… You go check with your director, we’ll wait for you here.” said Charlie with an air of suspicion.
“Okay! Uh… Be right back!” I said as I slowly turned and ran down the hill.
“Yup! We’ll stay right here!” yelled Charlie in the distance.
I ignored her and quickly ran towards the big house. I was thinking of calling Annabeth but, she was there already, talking to Chiron.
“Chiron! There are strangers by the border and they can see the camp. Should we let them in?” I said quickly.
“Strangers? Hmm. Well, let me go see those strangers. Then, we will see if we should let them in or not.” replied Chiron.
“Okay. Let’s go. Annabeth, are you coming?” I said.
“Of course! I want to see them too,” replied Annabeth.
“Okay, now let’s go!” I said as we walked out of the big house towards Half-Blood Hill.