Percy POV
How had he ended up here?
Less than a week ago, he had been expelled from his boarding school for bad grades, gone to his favorite place with his mother, and been attacked by a being that should not even exist in the first place. Along with his mother's apparent "death," he found out that his father was actually a Greek god.
Who?
He did not know. Apparently, his father would have to claim him or something like that for him to know who he really was.
After that, he suffered an attempted hazing that ended badly… but for the veteran campers, not him. He did not even know how it happened. One moment they were in the bathrooms, and the next, all the pipes exploded, soaking everyone except him.
Currently, he was standing in front of the main hearth, where the campers were… donating? He could not even remember what they had called this action. Apparently, it was a way to earn a favor from the gods or thank them for something.
Well, he had already been standing in front of the hearth for five minutes. He did not know who to give a bit of his food to. It was not like he knew much about the Greek gods either. The little he knew was thanks to the Disney movies he had watched as a kid and the occasional video game.
"Percy, just do it," said the voice of a blond teenager beside him.
Judging by his tone, he sounded a little impatient, but how could Percy blame him? He had been standing beside him ever since Percy positioned himself in front of the hearth.
In fact, he was one of the people who had shown him the Hermes cabin, where he was currently staying.
Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes.
Apparently, the current best swordsman in the camp. They had held a small duel to test Percy's skill with a sword, and he had been defeated in seconds.
What do you expect from a thirteen-year-old whose closest experience to holding a sword was using a knife to cut a piece of cooked meat on a plate?
That said, he could feel something strange while holding the sword's handle, as if he had been born for this.
Hermes, the green-eyed boy thought.
How had he not thought of that before?
With the help of a knife, he pushed a piece of meat into the hearth and proceeded to thank Hermes for letting him sleep in his cabin.
His eyebrows rose slightly, surprised by the smell the piece of meat produced after he threw it into the fire.
Honestly, he had expected the smell of burned meat to flood his nose, but no.
As soon as he threw the piece of meat in, a pleasant sweet scent, along with the crackling of the branches feeding the fire, reached his nose and vanished.
Too bad it did not last long.
He turned his neck toward the blond, who remained to his right with a pleasant smile on his face.
It seemed like he had also been surprised the first time he saw this.
…This still felt insane.
You do not appreciate what you have until you lose it.
Well, he was starting to miss his somewhat chaotic but still normal life. It could be annoying most of the time, but, well… better than being chased by a half-bull man who had "killed" his mother.
He missed his mother… He still had hope that she was alive. At least that's what they had told him, and despite his insecurities, because he had never seen a damn Minotaur before in his life, he had also never seen a human being "die" the way his mother had.
Exploding into golden dust was not normal.
No matter how much he tried to compare it, he was half aware that when he saw the Minotaur dissolve into golden dust after they destroyed it… that was the truth.
With just one move, he defeated it. On top of that, he looked cool with that strange rotating blue orb in his hand.
Maybe one day I can be like him...
So, in the end, everything reached one conclusion....His mother was not a Greek mythological being… right?
Fuck…
He was not very sure how to answer that.
Leaving those depressing thoughts aside, he turned to return to the Hermes table. Which, as if this were some role-playing game, made him swear he heard a mission alert in his head.
Great, he thought sarcastically.
Daily mission: find a place to eat.
Difficulty: Legendary.
I'm starting to go insane.
The Hermes table was completely full. Not even a pin could fit there. He looked up to see many other campers of all ages eating while sitting on the grass, chatting with others as if they were used to this situation.
As he also noticed, there were four other enormous empty tables, large enough to hold all the campers sitting on the ground.
Why don't they sit there? he wondered.
Honestly, it was a logical question.
If there was free space, why sit on the ground when you could eat comfortably at one of those gigantic tables?
Following his logic, it did not take him long to head toward one of those tables, not a specific one, just the closest.
Without realizing it, he was being watched by Luke, who did not know what he was doing until he saw him heading toward the table with an engraving of a crescent moon at its center.
Artemis's table.
He wasted no time stopping him.
"You can't sit there," Luke said, while Percy looked at him with a confused expression.
"Why?... I mean, it's not like it's occupied or anything."
"It's like the cabins," he answered calmly. "You can only sit there if you've been claimed or if you have permission from the deity the table belongs to."
He seems… angry.
Even if it did not look like it, Percy was good at reading people to a certain extent. After receiving mockery from other kids in almost every school or boarding school he had attended, he had been forced to learn that skill.
If you let yourself be fooled by a pleasantly fake smile, you would end up being hit by some cruel prank meant to make you the laughingstock of everyone around you.
He did not think too much about it either. After all, he was also upset with this whole thing about exclusive places just to be able to eat at a table.
Without realizing that they were being watched by some of the campers who had seen Percy's actions, a few of them were about to stop him themselves. Others simply mocked him alongside those sitting next to them because of the green-eyed boy's stupidity.
Out of all the empty tables, he had chosen Artemis's.
And worse, while being a boy.
It was a suicidal action, almost like looking lustfully at Persephone in front of Hades.
In either case, only death awaited you.
"Percy."
The rough voice of a man made all the campers look in his direction, Percy included.
When he looked up, he saw Mr. Brunner gesturing for him to come closer, a kind smile on his face.
There were some things you simply could not get used to quickly.
Chiron's appearance was one of those things. He had gone from being a history teacher in a wheelchair to a being around two meters tall, with the lower half of his body belonging to a horse.
Just seeing him was a strong reminder that everything Percy had heard and seen over the last week was not some cruel joke.
Wasting no more time, he went toward Chiron, saying goodbye to Luke before leaving while being watched by everyone.
He could not help shrinking a little from being the center of attention. At least noticing a few sympathetic looks calmed him enough not to bury himself five meters underground.
"How have you been?" he heard Mr. Brunner's voice again as the centaur offered him a seat right in front of him.
"Fine. Mythological beings, gods… nothing new," Percy answered with clear sarcasm, earning a sad look from Chiron.
After all, he knew Percy well enough to know that he hid many feelings behind sarcastic comments to spare himself other people's pity.
"I know this can be difficult to process," the half-horse said with a gentle voice to comfort Percy. "But it is reality. You are the son of a Greek god, and even if you try to find logic in it, nothing will change."
"That's not the problem, Mr…"
He stopped himself to correct it.
"Chiron."
Even though he said the name of the trainer of heroes in an informal way, Chiron did not seem bothered and continued speaking.
"I feel lied to," Percy added, now with a bitter tone.
"My whole life, I thought my father died at sea… and suddenly, one day, I wake up being hunted by a half-bull man who wants me dead. My best friend is actually a satyr who only got close to me because it was his job. My father, apparently, is a god who never had the decency to tell me he was alive. And my mother…"
He did not want to finish that last part.
Even with hope in his heart, it was hard enough that he did not want to talk about it.
"The gods have to follow the laws. Even if some of them are painful for others, they cannot break them, Percy," Chiron said, trying to avoid the subject of his mother for now, knowing it was a very delicate topic.
"But I don't know. Not a single message, a gift… damn, just knowing he was alive would have been enough," Percy replied. "He's a god, right? I'm sure he has enough time to tell me something… even if it means sending someone in his name. Anything would have been enough."
"Then you would think he abandoned you."
Although it sounded too direct, Chiron thought saying it was necessary to make a point.
"I still think that now that I know he's alive," Percy muttered, lowering his gaze, trying to hide the pain he felt.
Chiron could not help sympathizing with the green-eyed boy, who kept his gaze lowered. He, too, had been abandoned by his mother at an early age. Although the circumstances were different, the feeling was the same.
Truly Percy's Loneliness :(
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A little bit of Percy sht lol gotta give him some screen time just cause his Percy yfm lol 😆
Anyway Drop some stones if you feel like it lol
https://discord.gg/4pWzzQkZa
P@treon: Brotato up to chapter 96