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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months

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Chapter 4: My loyalty is bound by blood

Here it is! Second flashback of Emily's childhood in my daughter of Ares fanfic. Hope you like it! <3

Word count:: 3600 ish words

Warnings: mean people :(

Fic masterlist here!

Seven year old Emily stood in the training arena, with a tight grip on a sword and a shield.

It had been a year since her arrival at camp half-blood, and she had changed a lot: she still slept with her teddy bear, and liked running around the woods playing with dryads, but she had also worked on her fighting skills. Last summer she had met the rest of her halfsiblings, and although many of them were… rambunctious, she got along with most of them; they didn’t take her too seriously, as she was the youngest of them (and one of the youngest campers as well), but they sticked to her, they let her stick to them, and they didn’t treat her poorly.

Camp was a lot different during the summer: there were no classes, only practices and activities to learn to shoot arrows, climb lava walls, fly Pegasi, go swimming or riding a canoe, and play volleyball. It was a lot of fun, and Emily was really sad when most of her siblings went back home for the school year; she stayed at camp, obviously, because she had nowhere to go, but she had slowly but surely started to think of camp half-blood as her home.

She started second grade then, and when she wasn’t learning what any other average kid her age would be studying, Chiron taught her ancient Greek, and told her stories that were known as myths in the mortal world, but that were basically family history for her. She listened to him in wonder, and remembered every single tale, completely fascinated.

And then there was training: she put on her first armour, and lifted her first ever sword, ready to learn. Most weapons were still too heavy for her to lift, but she managed well with what she could handle, and after a year at camp, well, no one could say she wasn’t a child of Ares: she had a natural skill for it.

Emily’s siblings, particularly her brothers who stayed at camp the whole year, were the ones that trained with her the most, although she had befriended other campers, descendants from different gods; she was advised by her brothers and sisters to not befriend children of Athena, though, as their father and the goddess had a well-known rivalry.

She didn’t think much of that, until one day, two new demigods made it to camp.

That day, at the training arena, under the light of sunset, Emily charged against her opponent, a daughter of Demeter, a bit older than her, but not as skilled. The girl defended herself from Emily’s attack, but she was quickly disarmed by the daughter of Ares, who smiled at her victory. It didn’t last long, though, as a boy from the Hermes cabin named Chris shoved her from behind, causing her to stumble. Her grip on her weapons didn’t falter, though, and she recovered fast enough to stop the next shove, protecting herself with the shield.

Her sword clashed against the one of the boy, and they kept going like that until the boy used brute force to hit her on her arm; Emily felt the impact of the blow on her limb, and she momentarily dropped her sword. She winced, but her now trained reflexes helped her recover quickly, and so when the Hermes boy charged at her again, Emily switched tactics: without missing a beat, she drew the dagger she had strapped to her side, the blade gleaming in the fading sunlight.

With swift movements, Emily maneuvered around Chris, and she aimed for his exposed side, still protecting herself with her shield. She threw the dagger. The blade didn’t cut deep, but it scraped his skin enough, making him hiss in pain, and causing him to step back for a second. Emily used this time to retrieve not only her dagger, but also her sword, regaining her initial stance, a determined glint in her eyes.

The Hermes boy was clutching his side, his fresh yet small injury burning under his hand. He dropped his sword, signalling his surrender against the daughter of Ares.

“Well done, demigods” said Chiron, standing on the side along other half-bloods “Chris, you may go to the infirmary before dinner to treat that cut”

The boy nodded, picking up his stuff and leaving the arena. Emily received a clap on the shoulders from two of her older brothers, who congratulated her.

“Good job there, little sis”

Emily sat later on by her siblings during dinner, and she smiled excited at the prospect of having the table full of people again in only a few weeks’ time, when the rest of the half-bloods came to camp for summer.

She then burned part of her food, as usual, thinking of her father.

Ares had kept visiting from time to time. He didn’t show up anymore last summer, but that was fine for her, as Emily had had all of her siblings to keep her company. He visited a few weeks after the end of summer, though, the same day she managed to climb the lava wall to the top all on her own for the first time, and she told him all about it, proud at herself. He kept watching her from afar, appearing once more in December, then in February, and then once again sooner than expected, in March, her birthday month; in true Ares’ fashion, he gifted her a throwing knife made of celestial bronze disguised as a bracelet, enchanted to have more accuracy and strength in her shot than with other blades, and that would return to her magically any time she threw it. It was the first birthday present she ever remembered getting from him, and she loved it.

He watched her progress at training, and each time he visited she told him about her new skills. All alone, more often than not Ares caught himself smiling at her sight, fighting other campers, every day stronger; she’d truly make a fine warrior someday.

That evening, in the month of May, Emily went straight to bed after a staying outside by the campfire after dinner. She had developed a habit of sneaking out after curfew at night every other day, watching the stars sitting at the beach or in a clearing in the forest; she knew she shouldn’t be outside that late, especially because there were actually some monsters in the deep forest, set there to keep demigods alert even at camp if they ever decided to wander around, but she always sticked to the safer parts of camp, where they wouldn’t catch her, and where monsters wouldn’t eat her.

If her siblings knew of her habit, they didn’t say anything, like that particular night when she walked outside of her cabin, alert for Chiron or Mr. D. The night sky was clear, not a cloud in sight, and the constellations were all spread on display for her eyes to find, which she was determined to do.

As she was focusing on connecting the dots of what she believed was the Ursa Major, a sudden commotion disrupted the peace of the night: there was shouting, and people running down the hill, straight to camp.

At first Emily was startled, afraid that something bad was happening, so she grabbed her bracelet, which transformed on command into the throwing knife. Other campers that still weren’t sleeping walked out of their cabins, some of them also holding up weapons, while the lights turned on in the big house.

Emily saw then that there was no apparent danger, as the newcomers were a satyr, a teenage boy and a girl who looked her age. She didn’t recognize them, although she knew the satyr: his name was Grover. He spent most of the year outside camp, like many other young satyrs, searching for demigods in schools, taking them to camp to protect them from the creatures that would attack them once they knew what they were (or if they were already too powerful). She guessed that the boy and the girl with him were half-bloods, which was normal, but that didn’t explain the commotion they caused entering camp.

Chiron and Mr. D made their way to them, and Emily went swiftly back closer to her cabin, pretending she wasn’t already outside when the newcomers had arrived: the teenage boy had short black hair, and dark eyes, although his skin was light, whereas the girl had deep chocolate colour-like skin, matching her brown eyes and her black braided hair. Both of them, just as Grover, looked dishevelled and tired, but also agitated. The girl was crying, and the older boy was trying to console her, while his own tears streamed down his cheeks. Grover was talking frantically to Chiron, and after telling him something that made the girl cry even harder, the centaur, and even Mr. D, ran up the hill, followed by the older campers.

The air was tense, and by that time, everyone had exited their cabins, wanting to know what had happened. One of Emily’s brothers who had stayed behind after Chiron left told her to stick to his side until they knew what was going on, and she didn’t need to be told twice.

As Emily stuck close to her brother, the camp buzzed with speculation, doubt, and worry. It was clear something bad had happened. You didn’t need to have heightened senses to pick up the somber atmosphere: in silence, they watched Chiron and Mr. D on top of the hill, out of reach for them to hear, but it didn’t look good.

An older girl from the Demeter cabin approached the new girl, who was still crying her eyes out, and offered her some tissues to dry her tears. By the time Chiron, Mr. D and the campers that had went with them were back, the boy and the girl (who Grover had introduced as Luke and Annabeth), were sitting on a bench together, still shaken, but a bit more calm. The looks on Mr. D’s and Chiron’s faces didn’t bode well.

Emily’s brother put a reassuring hand on her shoulders when their sibling joined them back. The night seemed to stretch endlessly as campers waited for answers. Eventually, they received them:

“A young demigod has fallen in battle. Thalia Grace… a daughter of Zeus” there was a collective gasp after hearing that “A forbidden child who has sacrificed herself in order to save her companions, Luke, Annabeth and Grover, from the monsters hunting them. She has now been turned into a pine tree by her father, to preserve her spirit, which has now created a magical barrier that will reinforce our protections against monsters luring outside. Her sacrifice, her courage and her bravery, will forever be remembered, as we are safer now thanks to her. Thanks to Thalia Grace, daughter of the king of gods”

A wave of shock and grief washed over everybody present: demigods, satyrs, dryads, nymphs… all of them felt a pang of sadness and shock at being so close to death itself, the weight of loss heavy. It was one of the toughest nights Emily had ever spent at camp half-blood, and the morning that followed wasn’t much easier: it wasn’t only that a forbidden child had been revealed (which was, apparently, really big news), but she had also died, and her soul had been preserved by Zeus himself in a way that would protect other demigods at camp, forever.

This was all a pretty big deal.

And then there was Luke and Annabeth. Their protector, Grover, blamed himself for what had happened, but they were trying to cheer him up, saying that he had brought all three demigod’s to camp, and that it was Thalia’s choice to protect them, to sacrifice herself, for them to live. Both half-bloods were officially claimed as well: Annabeth was Athena’s daughter, which she apparently already knew, and Luke was a son of Hermes. They slept in their respective cabins for the rest of the night, which seemed to bother them, as they seemed pretty close and didn’t like being separated, especially not after what happened to Thalia.

Emily eyed Annabeth curiously. From what she had learned, she was seven years old, just as her. She ate breakfast at the Athena table, with the few of her siblings who lived at camp full term; it seemed like she would be joining them as a year-round camper, and Luke as well.

There weren’t many kids as young as Emily at camp when it wasn’t summertime, so even if Annabeth was a daughter of Athena (something her siblings thought wasn’t all that good), Emily was secretly excited at the prospect of having someone else her age at camp for the whole year.

“Why are you staring at her?”

Emily looked to her left, where one of her brothers sat; he had caught her looking at Annabeth, which wasn’t all that weird, because basically all of the campers were staring at the newcomers, but Ares’ kids seemed to be ignoring Annabeth on purpose. Well, all of them, except Emily.

“She’s my age” it seemed like a valid explanation to her, but her brother shook his head “What is it?”

“We don’t mix up with Athena’s kids, remember? Our parents don’t get along”

“But that doesn’t have to mean we can’t” she frowned “Just because Daddy and her Mom don’t like each other…”

“Listen, Emily, it doesn’t work like that” her older brother, the oldest one of them, spoke. He was starting to look concerned “It’s not just about our parents not getting along personally. It’s about the history, the conflicts between Athena and Ares: they both represent different aspects of war. They clash, and so do we. It’s in our blood. Our cabins have a long history of not getting along”

“But… she seems nice” she insisted. Her young mind struggled to grasp the complexities of their family dynamics.

“It’s not about being nice or not” her brother looked frustrated now “This is about power, our cabins’, and our parents’. Mixing with Athena kids only leads to trouble”

“Really?” it didn’t seem right to her. Why couldn’t she befriend the girl anyways? Who cared about their parents’ rivalry? She only wanted to have a new friend.

Her brother, the one on her left, put a hand on her shoulder, like he did the night before.

“I know it’s hard to grasp now, but in time you’ll see that we’re right. For now keep your distance from her” he smiled pitifully at her, sensing that she wasn’t really convinced “Hey, we’re your big brothers. You know you can trust us”

Despite their warnings, Emily couldn’t stay away from Annabeth; you could say that was a trait she inherited from her father: always pushing it, challenging the rules.

She approached her that afternoon, during archery class. Annabeth was still pretty affected by the recent events, which was totally understandable, and she seemed to be struggling with her aim. By her side stood Luke, who didn’t seem to have that many problems with the bow and arrows, but his sad face gave away is sorrow mood instantly. Chiron had thought that trying out camps’ activities would help and distract them from what had happened the previous night, but everybody was still shaken up by it, not only those two. It wasn’t everyday that Zeus yielded his power in matters related to half-bloods, and especially not involving one of his own children (who shouldn’t even have been born).

Emily wasn’t all that bad at shooting arrows, so when her brothers weren’t looking, she walked up to the girl.

“Hi” she greeted, smiling “I’m Emily”

“I’m Annabeth” her voice was small, her throat sore from all the crying.

“Um… do you want some help with this?” she pointed to the bow in her hands, and then the target: a huge stuffed sac of straw shaped like an hydra, with a bull’s-eye painted in the centre. Annabeth looked at Luke, who nodded at her, encouraging her, and then she accepted.

Emily had had fun that afternoon: she taught Annabeth a few basics in archery she had picked up over the year from the Apollo kids (who were the best archers with the best aim out of all of the demigods by far), and she even got her to smile once or twice while they practiced. What wasn’t so fun, was the looks Emily received from her brothers when she was caught: disappointment, anger, coldness. They didn’t like it one bit.

And it didn’t end there: the next day, Emily was alone in the Ares cabin during the afternoon, catching up on some sleep. Her young body was tired because of the rollercoaster of emotions she had experimented during the last hours, so as any other kid, she took a nap to recharge her batteries. Clutching her teddy bear, she lay under the covers of her bunkbed, when suddenly the inside of the cabin turned darker, and the lock on the door was sealed.

She had just woken up, so it startled her pretty much. Sitting up, however, she relaxed when she saw her father sitting across from her on one of the unoccupied beds, on the other side of the room.

“Hi Daddy” she rubbed her eyes, getting rid of that foggy feeling that came with waking up, and smiled at him. She was starting to get accustomed to his sudden entrances.

Ares had been watching for the last few days. The news of a forbidden kid hadn’t only shaken camp half-blood, but also Olympus. His father had broken his promise of not having any more demigod children, and now said child, a girl, his half-sister, had died on the outsides of camp, fighting monsters to protect the other demigods she was travelling with.

Hera wasn’t pleased at the news. Ares wasn’t pleased at the news. Hermes wasn’t as well, like Athena, but they were also relieved that their children had survived their way to camp, where they would be safe (now even more, thanks to the barrier of Thalia’s tree). The atmosphere was tense at Olympus, and no one wanted to be there while said tension lingered.

“ ’Heard there was a lot going on down here” he said. Emily didn’t notice, but he looked tired; there had been a lot of fighting going up at Olympus after Thalia’s heritage was revealed “You okay?”

She nodded, standing up. With her teddy under her arm, she made her way to Ares, sitting next to him on the small bed: he was so large that he occupied most of the mattress, so Emily had to squish herself in between him and the bars of the bunkbed. It was a curious sight: a big strong man, a god, and his petite young half-blood daughter.

“I was scared… there were monsters outside of camp, and a girl died to protect everyone” she had been thinking a lot about the recent events, processing everything slowly but surely “She was very brave”

“Seems like it” he shrugged.

“I also met the new campers Grover brought with him. They seem nice!” she looked a bit less sombre, her mood becoming more light-hearted “Their names are Luke and Annabeth; his dad is uncle Hermes, and her mom is aunt Athena. They’re both going to stay the full term, like me! And Annabeth, she’s my age, and we’ve been practising archery together, and…”

“Hold up there” Ares raised his hand, effectively stopping her rambling “You said she’s Athena’s kid?” Emily nodded, having forgotten for a second what her father thought of the goddess “Nah, better not get mixed up with those. Stay away from her”

“But why?” it was like talking to her brothers all over again, her enthusiasm turning into uncertainty “She’s nice! We talked about constellations, and she can draw like, super well, and she…”

“Emily, I said no”

She scowled, displeased.

“Daddy, but-“

“No ‘buts’, Emily! I don’t want you near her! You hear me? Stay away from her!”

It was the first time Ares raised his voice at her, like, in a really angry, dark way. Emily flinched at his voice, eyes welling up with tears, overwhelmed, but she quickly nodded with her head, not wanting to hear her father yelling again and upset him even more. He scared her deeply.

Ares’ own eyes gleamed, but with fire. He came down from his outburst a few seconds later, standing up from the bed.

“Trust you old man, kiddo. I know what’s best for you”

He ruffled her hair, and vanished then, without another word; the light inside the cabin turned brighter again, the door unlocking itself, and Emily sat all alone with her thoughts.

Emily didn’t want to displease her dad. He was the only thing she had left, besides her siblings, who also weren’t keen on her befriending the daughter of Athena. So, even though something in her inside screamed at her to reach out to Annabeth (probably the part of her personality that came from her mom, more caring and loving than Ares), seeing a potentially great friend in her, she decided to follow her fathers’ and her siblings’ advice, in order to stay on their good side.

That doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt when the next morning Annabeth asked her in front of most of the campers if she wanted to practice together archery again, and she had to tell her straight in the face “no”, saying that she couldn’t, and that she didn’t want to be friends with her.

Emily’s brothers saw that interaction, and they congratulated her for having reconsidered where her loyalty stood. She just wished that their praise could’ve erased the feeling of regret she got after seeing Annabeth looking at her in tears after so blatantly rejecting her.

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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months

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Chapter 3: We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

Third chapter of my daughter of Ares fic! Back at age 12 here. I got a bit carried away with this... this episode of the show was actually really good so I wanted to make it justice. Hope you enjoy!

Word count: 12300 ish words (oops)

Warnings: none I can think of <3

Fic masterlist here!

Emily threw her dagger against a panel of wood, angry. She retrieved it, walked back to where she had been sitting, and threw it again. Annabeth sat beside her on a fallen tree trunk, watching her let out her anger with the knife.

“You can’t be mad at me forever” she told Emily, arms crossed over her chest “I already told you that I’m sorry. And I told Chiron that you had nothing to do with it”

“Still he thinks that I helped you shove Percy in the lake. And that I let Clarisse almost kill him” she huffed, picking up her dagger again. She traced the Greek letters engraved in the metal with her fingers, trying to calm down “And I would have if you hadn’t stopped me!”

“He survived, that’s what matters. And thanks to all of what happened, he has been claimed. It’s a win-win situation, if you ask me”

“I don’t see where there is the win for me. Chiron has never been mad at me… well, except that one time I accidentally started a fire inside my cabin, but that was on accident! Now he probably thinks that I’m bullying Percy or something, and that I’m becoming just like Clarisse”

“He doesn’t think that”

“If he doesn’t why did he ask us last night to meet him first thing in the morning in the big house” Emily put the dagger back in its stealth, frowning “He’s going to make us clean the stables for a week or… clean the kitchens for the rest of the summer!”

“Chiron’s not going to do that”

“How do you know? He did punish the Stolls once making them repaint the whole outside of the Hephaestus cabin”

“After they covered it in bright pink paint at the beginning of the summer, that’s an important detail”

Emily was about to reply, but the door to the big house opened, revealing Chiron and Mr. D; they both walked out to the porch, Mr. D looking pretty displeased at having to be awake this early. He had a diet coke in his hand, taking regular sips from it so to not fall asleep.

“Annabeth, Emily” Chiron trot over to them, both girls standing up out of respect “Thank you for coming”

“Let’s make this quick, I want to go back to sleep” complained Mr. D, taking off his sunglasses. He sighted, signalling at the two kids “Annie bell, Ellie, did you two push the water boy into the lake?”

“I did it” spoke Annabeth, taking the lead before her friend could; she knew that Emily wasn’t pleased at her or her actions, but she would definitely take the blame on her as well if she let her, so that Annabeth wouldn’t be punished that much “Emily wanted to stop me, she has nothing to do with it”

“But me not stopping her makes me just as guilty” Annabeth looked at Emily sideways, doing a face of ‘what are you doing!’, although she couldn’t hold her back anymore “We’re both deeply sorry”

“It was me who did it, though”

“True, but I let you do it”

“It’s cute, your loyalty to one another” Mr. D took a sip from his diet coke, chuckling to himself “I guess as camp director I’m the one who has to set out the terms of your punishment… but you know what? What you did was hilarious. Do it again. That’s your punishment. Aye, let’s go back to bed”

“I’m afraid we still have other matters at hand, Mr. D” Chiron looked down at him, the god sighting again “The rest of the selected heroes will arrive soon to the pavilion. We have to go meet them”

“I hate this place… gods, I need a drink” mumbled Mr. D, shaking his head. He really only wanted to go back to bed “Just another terrible day at camp half-blood”

He walked away heading to the pavilion, leaving Annabeth and Emily alone with the centaur.

The fact that Mr. D had decided to not punish them was a relief, true, but who they were really scared of disappointing was Chiron: he had been practically raising them since they started living at camp, and the prospect of letting him down seemed terrible.

“What other heroes?” Annabeth frowned “What is happening, Chiron?”

“It’s about our newest camper, Percy. He’s inside the big house now… in the attic”

“He went to see the Oracle?” Emily piped up, her eyes widening “He’s going on a quest!”

No one ever left to go on a quest before visiting the Oracle and hearing what she had to say about it – a quest wasn’t a quest if she didn’t say so. Emily had never seen the old lady, but she had heard things from her about Luke, who had been on his own quest not so long ago: her form looked kind of like an old Halloween decoration, creepy and dusty, but her spirit residing inside was as wise as in ancient days.

“It’s happening, isn’t it?” both Emily and Chiron could sense Annabeth’s hope radiating off of her; she was convinced that this was going to be her chance “This is the quest you promised me”

“Percy will have to choose two fellow demigods to accompany him on his journey. If the fates think that this is your destiny, he will choose you” Chiron put a hand on her shoulder, smiling fondly at the girl “And I’m glad to say that if it’s the case, you are more than ready to embark on a journey like that. I know my opinion as camps’ activities director doesn’t count much… but I’m proud of you, dear Annabeth”

“Thank you, Chiron. It matters, really”

“Now go, girls. Mr. D will surely already be at the pavilion. Wait there for me an Percy to arrive, and we’ll start the selection ceremony”

“Wait, both of us?” confused, Emily raised her eyes up to meet Chiron’s “Me too?”

“You are one of camp’s most formidable warriors, Emily. Of course. I’ve selected the best of the best, and you couldn’t be missed among that group”

“But I haven’t been alone outside of camp in years. I wouldn’t know how to get anywhere, or move around, or help, or…”

“Those are fears you shouldn’t face until the right moment, Emily, not beforehand. If Percy chooses you to go with him, I’m sure you will be an excellent companion”

“You sure?” the centaur nodded “Thanks, Chiron” he had a soothing aura around him that always helped to calm her insecurities. He was the best “Hold on… Percy’s quest, what is it even about?”

“I’m afraid to tell you that… troubling times are ahead. Zeus’ master bolt has been stolen. If it isn’t returned before the summer solstice, in one week, there will be war”

“But what does Percy have to do with that?”

“Well, for starters, he is a forbidden child. Considering who his father is, and that he has been claimed just now, when the tension between Poseidon and Zeus is growing more and more every passing day… The suspicions about who is the thief fall all upon him”

“I thought he has only just found out that he is a half-blood. He can’t be the thief, it’s ridiculous”

“Until proven otherwise, he is the most probable candidate. That’s why he has to go retrieve the bolt, and return it to its rightful owner”

“But who could have the bolt? Who would be interested in a war?”

“Well, both our parents are the deities of war” Annabeth grimaced, shrugging “Although… If I had to pick between Ares and Athena, I think it would most probably be Ares. No offense”

“None taken. I… I don’t know, like… who knows what he’s up to” Emily huffed, playing with a rock on the floor tossing it around with her foot “And why a war between Zeus and Poseidon? I get it, they aren’t the best of friends… but they have other siblings who could have stolen the bolt”

“Hades” muttered Annabeth “He’s always been put behind his other siblings, and he’d be stronger than Zeus and Poseidon if he had the bolt”

“That’s true” Chiron seemed stressed, but he was good at not showing it. Emily and Annabeth were better at seeing the signs, because they had known him for half of their lives now “Percy will have to head to Los Angeles and enter the underworld to get the master bolt back, before the lord of the dead starts a war”

“I’m sure some gods would like it if he failed to do so” Emily made a face, huffing.

“The Gods may have their flaws, child, but also their virtues. They are powerful beings who have been around for ages, yes, but every living being that roams earth never stops learning, including them. All of us can fail, do wrong, but also learn valuable lessons, and become stronger thanks to it” now he put a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly “And you, my dear Emily, have your father’s strength and resilience. Not because you were born with it, but because you’ve fought hard all your life, just like him. Never forget that although our steps can falter, the journey does not end there”

The selection ceremony started soon after.

All selected demigods for Percy to choose stood in the pavilion. Apart from Annabeth and Emily, there was also Luke, his brother Chris, Clarisse, and other half-bloods known in camp for being the strongest or smartest fighters.

Clarisse stood on Emily’s left side, and on Annabeth’s right, between the girls; when Chiron announced that two demigods had to be chosen to join Percy on the quest, Emily wished that if Annabeth was truly chosen in the end, she wouldn’t have to deal with her sister.

She doubted she’d have to, though. Percy didn’t like Clarisse. She had been nothing but mean to him, so it was pretty obvious that she’d stay in camp. Percy would probably choose Luke as well – they had mingled well over the past few days.

“Time is short” warned Chiron to Percy, turning then to the rest of the Demigods “I have selected our most compelling half-blood candidates, from which you will choose two to join you on this quest, and ensure that we succeed-“

“Annabeth”

Percy made his first choice even before Chiron could end his speech, or even start presenting each of the candidates; customarily one waits to at least hear a name or two before choosing, but not Percy.

“This thing, Zeus’s master bolt… we need to get it back, right?” the centaur nodded to Percy’s words ”And it’s gonna be hard to get, right?”

“Extraordinarily”

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed… you’d want someone who won’t hesitate when they do it”

Emily looked over at her friend, eyebrow raised; the whole ‘shoving Percy into the water’ incident had left a mark on the boy.

“Then it’s set” Chiron looked over at the daughter of Athena, announcing the final resolution “The first quest-mate shall be Annabeth Chase”

Her dream had come true.

What they didn’t expect, was Percy’s second choice.

Before Chiron could introduce him to the other candidates, he interrupted him again:

“I’m only going on this quest if Grover can come too”

The centaur looked baffled, alongside Mr. D, who stood to his left.

“Satyrs don’t go on quests, Johnson” said the god of wine, looking at the boy “You’re supposed to choose two demigods, not one demigod and a satyr”

“He’s been my protector for the last months, so I want him to come with me” he insisted, firm in his decision “I’m not going if he’s staying”

Mr. D looked at Chiron, and after a few seconds the centaur turned back to Percy, grimacing:

“Percy, a quest is undertaken by demigods. Satyrs are loyal creatures, and I understand your reasoning, but we would be much more comfortable if you chose two demigods to join you instead of just one”

“But I’m not only choosing Annabeth” he replied, looking then at the girl from the Ares cabin who had defended him every time since meeting each other “I choose Emily as well”

Everyone’s gaze turned to her, making Emily feel a bit uncomfortable, but she brushed those feelings away quickly, standing proud on her spot while Chiron announced her as the second quest-mate.

They allowed Grover to come as well in the end. Percy wanted someone he could completely trust, and both Annabeth and Emily could comprehend the boy – in this crazy world he had been thrown in, Grover was the only one somewhat ‘familiar’ to Percy. Both girls were also thrilled to be going together on the quest, so they understood why Percy wanted his own friend to go on the quest with him as well. He trusted the satyr.

Besides, Grover would definitely pack the best snacks.

The rest of the day went by in a haze, preparing for the upcoming trip. Emily filled her backpack with her essentials (some spare clothes, weapons… the usual), and she even went over to the Hermes cabin to ask Luke to take care of her beloved Teddy bear while she was out of camp.

“Are you sure you want to leave it here?” the bear was more of a relic from the first years Emily had spent at camp, from a time where she was younger, but she couldn’t give it away. It was the last thing she had left from her mom, after all “You know how my siblings can get”

“I also know you won’t let anyone do anything to it… and I don’t feel comfortable leaving it in my cabin without me there to protect it from Clarisse”

“Fair enough”

Emily also met up with Grover and Annabeth during the afternoon, to plan how they would start their journey – they wanted to include Percy in the planning as well, but he was somewhere in the woods doing some last minute sword-fighting training with Luke.

“So, who will take the lead?”

“We could vote” suggested Emily “Who votes for Percy?”

“It’s not like I don’t want him to lead” Grover bit his lip nervously after raising his hand on impulse, but then pulling it back down “You guys are more experienced than him”

“I agree”

“Then we girls lead” added Annabeth, looking at Emily for confirmation “Together”

“I’m surprised you’re sharing the team captain title with me, Annie”

“Let’s say you’re my second in command”

“See? There it is. I knew it”

The next morning, right before leaving for the quest, Emily and Annabeth met up in front of the big house, where Percy and Grover would also join them to get one final talk to Chiron before leaving. However, before any of the boys showed up, Luke made his way towards them, smiling fondly.

“You didn’t think you were leaving without saying goodbye properly, weren’t you?”

He engulfed both of them in a bear hug, taking time for each of his girls; they were the closest thing to real siblings they had. Sure, each of them had a bunch of brothers and sisters in their cabins… but their bond was stronger.

“You both take care of each other out there, you hear me?” he had a hand on one of Emily’s shoulder’s the other on one of Annabeth’s, looking alternatively between their faces “You are the strongest girls I know. You can do this”

“We’ll miss you” pouted Emily.

“I’ll miss you too” he ruffled her hair softly, and gave her another side hug.

“I wish you could come with us”

“Me too, Annabeth” Luke grimaced sadly at the girl, but he pinched then one of her cheeks, trying to get her to smile again “But I’m glad that you will at least have each other. I know you will be fine”

After one last hug to each of them, Luke went back to his cabin, and soon after both Percy and Grover appeared with their backpacks, ready to go.

Percy had received a visit from Luke before leaving as well, to say goodbye, and to give him a last farewell gift: a pair of flying shoes Luke had originally received from his dad. They came to life after saying the word ‘Maia’, growing feather wings from the strings of the sneakers – they resembled Hermes’ own flying shoes, able to lift up whoever was wearing them.

Saying goodbye to Mr. D was easy, not so much to Chiron, but the worst was definitely saying goodbye to Thalia.

Annabeth had it the hardest: Emily let her stand by the tree the time she needed, telling both Percy and Grover that they still had to wait for a moment until the girl was ready. Grover immediately understood, but Percy… not so much.

“She’s really gonna miss that tree, huh?”

“When Annabeth first arrived here with Thalia and Luke, they were being chased by monsters” explained Grover “Agents of Hades. Sisters. Furies”

“Mrs. Dotts?”

“Who is Mrs. Dotts?” Emily didn’t know who they were talking about.

“She was our Algebra teacher at Yancy school. Yes, that was Alecto. Back then… Thalia turned back to fight to buy her friends some time. Her Satyr protector tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen. So, at the last moment… Zeus intervened to save her life, and changed her form”

Emily remembered that day clearly. It had been a terrible night, filled with insecurities and uncertainness because of what had happened to Thalia.

“The most powerful being in the universe’ best idea to safe his daughter’s life… was to turn her into a tree?”

“She was the bravest demigod I ever knew” Annabeth had walked back to them, catching the last bits of their talk “She fought valiantly to safe us all”

“And she met a hero’s fate” added Emily, solemnly.

“She met a pinecone’s fate”

He had not just said that.

“Dude…” muttered the Ares’ girl, eyes growing big “Chill”

“Forbidden children are always in danger, even the strongest ones. Even Thalia” it was obvious that Annabeth felt personally victimized by Percy’s comment, and let’s be honest, she had all the right to do so “And you are not Thalia. Do exactly as I say, and maybe you survive this. Are we clear?”

She didn’t give him any time to answer, as she turned her back to Percy and started walking past the limit of the pine tree.

“You should probably apologize sometime about that comment of Thalia’s tree” Emily patted Percy’s shoulder, awkwardly “I… uh… I’ll go with her”

Emily caught up with Annabeth, as the boys lingered behind a few more seconds:

“Does she think she is in charge?” Percy referred to Annabeth, frowning.

“Technically, they both are. Who did you think would be?”

“I guess I assumed we’d do a show of hands or something… you know, democracy”

Hero’s quests are world-defining events. They have made and broken empires, altered the course of human civilization, changed the balance of power on Olympus… it’s a sacred thing, and to be charged with one is to be in conversation with the gods themselves.

It wasn’t like burning offerings, or praying to them. The gods handed out the missions for them to complete, because they were the only ones able to do so. It as an honour, and a privilege.

Although after being sat in an old uncomfortable bus for half an hour in the backseats right beside the toilet (the worst seats ever), and a huge guy using the restroom for most of that time, Percy thought that there was no way that scared smelled as bad like that.

“We’re soldiers on a mission. It’s not a vacation”

“Thank you for clearing that up”

After leaving camp, the three demigods, plus the satyr, had made their way to New York city to grab a bus that would take them through the country. Chiron had given them their bus tickets, albeit Percy hadn’t expected this kind of ride if the matter was so important.

“If this is so important, why didn’t Chiron spring for plane tickets? Or good smelling seats at least? This seems kind of… low priority, doesn’t it?”

“The smell hides us from the monsters” explained Emily. She was seated with Annabeth, in the window seat, while Grover was by Percy “It makes it more difficult to track us”

“And it isn’t just the monsters who are gonna be trying to stop us” Grover thought someone would have told Percy this, but apparently not “You’re a forbidden child. Zeus might decide to take a shot at you himself. The sky is his domain”

“We’d basically be serving you up on a silver platter to try to travel through it”

“That would’ve been a good piece of advice someone could have mentioned before leaving camp… but yeah, no one did” Percy sighted. He stayed silent for a few seconds, while his eyebrows slowly furrowed “If me travelling through the country is so dangerous because I’m a forbidden child, why did they sent me in the first place?”

“To exonerate you. Everyone thinks you stole the master bolt, so the best way for you to prove Zeus otherwise, is to return the bolt to him yourself”

“That sounds like a lame excuse to me” he huffed, grimacing “You both are much more skilled than me” it was true; both Annabeth and Emily were far more trained than Percy “It would’ve been just as good if you guys went to L.A. to get the bolt and then back to New York to return it. You could even take a plane if I wasn’t there to go faster”

“I may not be a forbidden child like you, but I don’t think Zeus is all that fond of me either” replied Emily “He doesn’t like Ares’ children. I’m by far not Zeus’ favourite grandchild, so I also wouldn’t be safe in the sky. Annabeth would have a shot, though, only because her mom is Zeus’ favourite kid”

“I still wouldn’t risk it” commented the girl, looking out the window.

“Let’s just say Zeus won’t get a ‘world’s best grandpa’ or ‘best uncle’ mug anytime soon”

The bus made it out of New York and stopped in New Jersey at a tank station; most of the passengers stood up to go stretch their legs, buy goodies or use the bathroom, leaving Percy, Annabeth, Emily and Grover sitting in the backseats.

“I’m gonna go get us some snacks” announced Annabeth, unbuckling her seatbelt. Percy wanted to tag along, but the told him no “You’ll stay right there”

“But it smells terrible back here. You’re not the only one who wants to escape this”

“Remember, the monsters won’t smell you here” Emily raised up from her seat as well, joining Annabeth “That’s where we want you”

“I wanna vote” Percy looked at Grover for support “Who thinks that we should all go get to breathe fresh air and buy our own snacks?”

“There’s no voting”

“Chips and sodas okay for you guys?”

“I don’t think you should just get to decide we don’t vote” Percy ignored Emily’s question, going back at Annabeth.

“I’m sorry to hear that”

“Okay… Then I wanna vote on whether you get to decide we don’t vote”

“Grover, please, can you help your…” but Grover interrupted Annabeth before she could finish her demand, clapping slowly “… friend?”

“I really don’t wanna be a tiebreaker” said the satyr, still clapping “I have a better idea”

“Oh, gods, please not this” muttered Emily, but it was too late. Grover started to sing:

“Oh, golly, the road’s gettin’ bumpy ‘cause I got me some friends who just can’t along! Oh, dear! When the team’s gettin’ grumpy the trick to gettin’ through it is singin’ this song-“

Percy cut him off before he could go any further.

“Dude, what are you doing?” he shook his head, trying to make Grover take the hint that he should stop.

“It’s the consensus song. Verse two encourages us to say nice things about each other! You get a few rounds in and you’d be amazed at how disagreements just kind of… fade away”

Emily looked at him unimpressed, slowly shaking her head as well; in all of her years in camp she had grown to love many things there, but the consensus song? Maybe it was her rebellious, aggressive Ares side, but she hated that song. If someone sang it to her at camp to try to solve a disagreement, she would end up punching said someone in the face before they could even start the second verse.

For once, even Annabeth and Percy agreed, looking at Grover just as unimpressed as Emily did. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them.

“Chips and sodas okay then?”

The boys muttered ‘yes please and ‘whatever’, and with that both Annabeth and Emily exited the bus. Emily heard Percy muttering defeated that the voting system was broken, and she almost laughed.

The store at the tank station was huge, or at least, that’s what Emily thought when they entered it. She hadn’t been in any kind of store in years, and she didn’t really remember much of how they were when she was little. Now, at twelve years old, she marvelled at the different aisles, and especially, the candy section.

“Which one do you think Percy and Grover will like the most?”

“Would it be too obvious if we got Percy blue candy?” Emily grabbed some blue chewing gum, showing it to Annabeth “You know… for Poseidon”

“I got it” Annabeth rolled her eyes, but there was a little smile on her face “Do you thing the blue ones taste different than the orange ones?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had candy since I was six, except that one time the Stolls brought some at the beginning of the summer, and it was yucky”

It was a tough choice to make. Both of them hadn’t tried most of the candies and chocolates they saw in that aisle, and if they had, they didn’t really remember what they were like or what they tasted like like.

“We can grab blue candy for Percy... Green ones for Grover, and red ones for you” Annabeth handed Emily some reddish gummy bears, and the girl thanked her “And some white ones for me. Then we can share and try them all”

Did they end up leaving that aisle with their hands full of too many sweets? Absolutely. Did they think it was too much, or that they could have grabbed less? No, not really. Chiron probably wouldn’t have let them get so much candy, but the wasn’t there to lecture them.

They also grabbed the chips and sodas, of course – it was what they had went to grab originally anyways. The cashier looked them up and down, staring wide eyed at the mountain of candy, chips, chocolates and sodas they left on the counter.

“Oh, Annie, I want a slushie”

“You aren’t five years old, you don’t need one”

“You don’t buy slushies because you need them” she looked at her friend making a face that represented the word ‘duh’ “Hey, you grabbed those chocolate-marshmallow bars even though I didn’t want to. Let me have my own treat”

She did get a slushie, a red one which supposedly tasted like strawberries; having been living at a strawberry farm for six years, Emily could tell that this was definitely not what strawberries tasted like. But it was full of sugar, so she was drank it anyways.

While Annabeth was paying, a woman walked behind the girls, and both of them tensed up.

Just as monsters could sense demigods, trained half-bloods learned to recognize the aura of a monster. Not literally, of course, but Emily and Annabeth had strong intuitive feelings, and even though it could not look like it, they were extremely aware of their surroundings. They knew that if they weren’t, they would be much easier to kill.

The mysterious woman stopped in front of a shelve to their right, and their suspicions grew stronger when she slowly turned her face to them, smirking.

It’s true that monsters are most likely to sense a more powerful demigod, like forbidden children, but it isn’t power exactly, that draws them. It’s more complicated than that. It’s kind of like how bees smell one’s fear: what a monster senses depends on the monster. Some sense inadequacy, the need for glory, shame… if a demigod has to confront one, the monster will attack wherever their armor is the weakest. Nothing will stop them, not even death.

Emily walked a few steps behind Annabeth, slushie in hand; if things got tough, she could easily access her bracelet and use her throwing knife; whereas she was completely visible, Annabeth had her Yankees hat on, hiding in plain sight. The bus was starting to get packed again with all of the passengers making their way back, and as Emily passed by the front row seats, she got that feeling of uneasiness again – especially when she walked by a woman holding a newspaper.

The key to not get surprised by a monster, was to spot them first.

“If you guys were better at your job, we might not have noticed you here so easily”

The woman folded her newspaper together upon hearing Emily’s words, holding a serious look on her face. The girl was still taking sips of her slushie, eyes focused on the woman.

“If Thalia were better at hers there might not be a family of squirrels making her their home”

“That’s a low blow, even for a monster”

“Is that why Hades sent you here?” Annabeth’s voice joined the conversation after hearing Thalia’s name, although she was still wearing her hat. The woman, the monster, couldn’t see her, alas she didn’t know where she was, even if she could sense her “To gloat over a job you almost did right once?”

“How things have changed… You’re not the frightened little girl I came for all those years ago” she looked back at Emily, expression unreadable “And you don’t seem so tough as I had expected at all”

“Don’t kid yourself. I wasn’t that frightened”

“And I can still kick your ass back to the underworld if you decide to make the wrong move”

The monster chuckled, amused.

“Maybe so, maybe so… Either way, now it would seem that you’re both exactly what they say you are. The pride of Athena’s offspring, and Ares’ most treasured child. Perhaps the most formidable demigods children alive”

“You won’t get to us by trying to manipulate us using our parents” Emily scoffed, definitely not buying it – and also not letting her face show how she had felt after the woman said that she was known as Ares’ most treasured kid “What do you want? If you were here to kill us you would already have tried”

“I’m here to collect your friend” she looked back through the gap between the seats, to where Percy sat unaware of what was happening.

“Collect him? For what?”

“Oh, I don’t question orders. ‘Bring him in, quick and quiet’. That is what I was told” she turned back to Emily, as she couldn’t see Annabeth, but her next message was for the both of them “Lure him off this bus where I can take him quietly away from so many eyes, and your quest goes on unimpeded an unburdened. You and I know he isn’t gonna be of any help to you, and maybe even a hindrance”

“We’re not going to do that” said Emily, firmly.

“Are you not?” the woman raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl’s side and then back to her “Where did your invisible friend go then?”

Emily tried to feel Annabeth by her side, but the hallway seemed empty. There was no body heat beside her like a few seconds ago, and she frankly couldn’t tell where the girl had went.

“Some children must learn the hard way” muttered the woman, sighting “It was a pleasure to meet you, daughter of Ares”

The monster began to transform before her eyes, her clothes and hair mutating into her true form: her once grey updo turned red and feathery, and her black coat along her red shirt grew feathers as well, covering her whole body up until her hands, where there were now long and sharp claws. Out of her bag two wings emerged, like big bat wings, hitting the top of the bus as they unfolded fully.

It was a fury. And where was one, there were always other two.

They had to leave now.

“Percy!” Emily shrieked, starting to get away from the creature “Run!”

In order to get the fury to back off, Emily threw her slushie at her, still full of ice and red liquid, hitting her in the face.

Both Percy and Grover perked up from their seats, and upon seeing what had made Emily scream, they both shot up, aiming for the emergency window behind them to try and open it. When they finally succeeded, the glass fell off of the bus shattering against the ground, and a security alarm went off. The driver ordered through the megaphone that everyone should exit the bus, and everyone started to stand up, slowing down Emily, but also the fury that was making her way to her.

“Emily let’s go!”

She turned to Percy, still looking for Annabeth – where was she?! She couldn’t have really considered the fury’s proposition, couldn’t she? No, her friend wasn’t like that. Emily would never accept, and neither would Annabeth… right?

A shriek coming from outside pierced through the air. Flying in the direction of the bus was another fury – she flew straight through the open window, almost hitting Percy and Grover, causing them fall to the ground.

“Hey!”

Annabeth appeared out of nowhere, and she threw a knife at the monster, who screeched when the metal hit her in the chest. The fury vanished, transformed into dust, and the knife fell on the ground.

“We’re done here, let’s go!”

She grabbed Emily’s arm, yanking her to the open window. Leaving their bags and the snacks behind, all four of them climbed out of the bus – Percy had grabbed the box with Luke’s shoes before leaving, though, and he was now holding it against his chest while they ran. The fury on the bus had been stopped temporarily by all the passengers that were making their way out of the vehicle to the front exit, and the other one who had attacked them was gone.

However, there weren’t just two furies – they were three sisters.

The third one attacked when they were all outside, screeching above them. She flew downward in Percy’s direction with her arms stretched out, terrible claws aiming for his face. He didn’t have enough time to react, turning around to see her almost catching him, when a throwing knife hit her in the middle of the back between her wings.

Emily had been the last one to climb out of the bus, so she had been behind Percy when the third fury had tried to snatch him. He had already started running, so he was a few meters away (alas, the fury wasn’t close as well), so she grabbed her bracelet, and it transformed into her magical weapon. She threw the knife hitting the monster right where she aimed to, and the next thing that happened was that the fury crumbled to dust.

“Come on!” she screamed, picking up her weapon, back to running again “We have to go!”

Ears pumping with the beats of their rushing hearts, they ran to the woods, hiding from the monster left behind. They didn’t stop until they were far enough to not see the tank station, or any building at all, deep inside the forest.

They had no food, or water. Their bags, left behind. They had nothing, except Luke’s shoes, and what they already had on or carried with them.

“This sucks” mumbled Emily, trying to regain her breathe.

As they were now at a ‘safe distance’ they stopped running and switched to walking, trying to recompose themselves but still keep going.

“Somewhere up ahead this turns into a Satyr path” Grover looked far ahead, as if trying to see it.

“What’s a Satyr path?”

There was so much that Percy didn’t know… it was starting to become concerning.

“It’s a road through the wilderness. Satyr explorers use them. Harder to track us”

“That’s… great” Percy still seemed uncertain “But if we stay in the wilderness, how are we gonna find a phone?”

“Why do you want a phone?”

“So we can call camp” it was pretty obvious to him “T-to get help. You know… because we’re lost?”

“We don’t need help. We’re fine” replied Annabeth.

“We’re still alive” added Emily, shrugging “That’s what matters”

“But we haven’t even gotten to Trenton! And we’re wandering through a forest. I didn’t even know they had forests in New Jersey, but we’ve found one!”

“It’s literally called ‘The Garden State’” Emily looked back at him, frowning “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know, but… I would say we’re the opposite of fine”

“We were sent on a quest by the Oracle… by the gods” said Annabeth “What’d you think, it would be easy? It’s supposed to be hard. That’s why only certain people are chosen. If we call camp, we’re basically saying it was a mistake to choose us”

“I’m… completely comfortable with that” Emily knew that Percy’s comment would only make Annabeth more mad. As her best friend, she knew that under that tough leader exterior, was the girl who had dreamed to go on a quest for years. Calling camp, was telling Chiron wrong, and with that, he would be disappointed in them. They couldn’t let that happen “Everyone makes mistakes”

“Why are you so afraid of who you are?”

Annabeth stopped walking, and she turned to Percy, scowling.

“What?”

Grover and Emily looked at each other, quickly picking up the tension rising between their friends.

“You know what’s interesting about this particular satyr path?”

“What so interesting about it, Grover?” Emily’s voice sounded nervous, because she was. If they started fighting again, it would only slow them down.

“It’s actually the one my Uncle Ferdinand took when he set out on his own quest”

“That’s such a cool fact, Grover!”

But Percy and Annabeth ignored them completely:

“What was that supposed to mean, ‘afraid of who I am’? I’m not afraid”

“Yes, you are. You aren’t just a kid. “Just a kid” doesn’t do what you did to Clarisse back at camp. “Just a kid” doesn’t have Hades sending top lieutenants to retrieve them. You know, you are part of something so much bigger than we can understand right now. We have to move forward, whether you like it or not. Whether you want to or not”

“If you don’t want to call camp, fine. Then, at least… let’s call your mom”

“Excuse me?”

If they thought things were gonna get rough, now they definitely were.

“Athena? Your mother. I’d call my father, but we aren’t exactly on speaking terms, because of the lifelong neglect, you know. Or we could call Emily’s dad. You both seem close to your parents. Why don’t we ask them for help?”

“Grover, will you explain to your friend that he needs to pull himself together?” Annabeth was tense. Very much so. Emily knew that she wouldn’t be able to collect herself much longer.

Percy looked at Annabeth, studying her face… and then he realized something.

“You can’t ask her, can you?” he had hit a button. He could see it “When was the last time she talked to you?”

“Grover” Annabeth insisted, but the satyr couldn’t stop him.

“I don’t know why you keep pulling him into this” Percy stood closer to Grover “He’s on my side, just as Emily’s on yours”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because he’s my protector, it’s his job, and she’s your best friend!”

“He was my protector first!”

“First?” he muttered, confused “… What do you mean, ‘first’?”

They both looked at Grover, who looked at Emily, out of words, and then back to their two friends:

“It’s very exciting… getting to walk in Uncle Ferdinand’s footsteps” he completely avoided the confrontation. Typical for satyrs “Next best thing to getting to talk to him again”

There was a frown on Percy’s forehead… he looked at the ground, thinking, and then he spoke up again:

“Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth had a satyr Protector” his eyes locked on Grover, almost accusatively “That was you” Grover couldn’t hold his gaze, which was enough conformation “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Do you guys smell that?”

That was not the answer they had expected. Grover seemed absent, starting to look around, sniffling. Emily did too, although she didn’t have the senses of a satyr – if he had caught the scent of a monster, they would need to be ready.

It wasn’t a monster what he had smelt, though.

“Grover, I’m not kidding-“

“No, neither am I. Just shush…” he continued to sniffle, concentrated “Hamburgers”

“What?”

He took the lead, walking ahead following the satyr path. He was still using his heightened sense of smell to find the way, and Percy, Annabeth and Emily could only follow him.

“Grover, what are you doing?” asked Annabeth, confused.

“Somebody’s making hamburgers, in the middle of nowhere, on a satyr path. Whoever it is… they’re from our world”

They reached a clearing, only it wasn’t a clearing, but a road. It led to a building surrounded by dozens of statues. It wasn’t gnomes or frogs, though, as in other gardens with statues – these were monsters made out of stone.

“Oh, come on”

Emily frowned at Annabeth’s comment, but then she saw the huge sign on a pole that said ‘Aunty Em’s Gnome Emporium”.

Dear gods this was bad.

“What is it?” asked Percy.

“Aunty ‘Em’ has a garden full of petrified stone folks. Yeah… this is someone from our world, all right. Anyone wanna guess what ‘Em’ is short for?”

Her nervousness was justified – no daughter of Athena would want to be in the presence of that specific monster. There wasn’t time to play guess, though. Before they could leave and run for their lives (again), a fury landed a few feet behind them: it was the only surviving one of the three sisters, Alecto.

Percy handed the box with shoes over to Grover, taking out a pen from his pocket. Emily saw it transform into a huge celestial bronze sword, the same one she had seen him fighting with before, once he took the tap off. She also unsheathed her own weapon, this time her dagger, just as Annabeth did with hers.

“You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance” said the fury, staring at the two girls.

“Offer? What offer?”

Percy looked at both Annabeth and Emily, but they didn’t move their eyes from Alecto, watching her every move.

“Not today, friends” the voice of another woman joined them. It came from the house, now behind them, and upon hearing it, the fury immediately looked away, covering herself with the help of her arms and her wings “Not on my doorstep”

Footsteps approached the group slowly, and while Percy looked behind him to locate the mysterious woman, Annabeth, Grover and Emily quickly looked away as well, closing their eyes just to be sure. He did too when he realized, although not completely understanding what was happening.

“If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I’ll help?” she kept on talking, now closer to them “Alecto! Will you be joining us?” the fury only closed her eyes tighter, turning her head even more, as if the sole sight of the woman’s eyes could harm her “No… well I wouldn’t think you would” She turned her attention back to the children, who also weren’t looking at her “She won’t bother you as long as you’re with me. But it isn’t as though she’ll leave either, not if it means reporting that she failed to retrieve the son of Poseidon”

“How do you-“ said boy squinted his eyes open, too intrigued to refrain his impulses.

“Percy, no!” whispered Emily, grabbing his arm.

“A forbidden child has been claimed, how long did you think that secret would keep?” the woman’s voice was calm, almost soothing, but Emily knew that it was only a trick to lure them to her, to confuse them, and trap them “It’s a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon…” their skin crawled, and fear embarked them as she spoke “I’m Medusa”

Oh no this was definitely bad.

“Percy don’t!” warned Annabeth “She’s a monster”

“We all choose who we make our monsters” commented Medusa “But right now, that one ahead of you wants to tear you limb from limb, whereas I am offering you lunch. The choice is yours”

They heard how she walked away, and soon after the door to the house opening and closing again. They were safe, sort of, for now.

“I think we can trust her” blurted Percy, suddenly. A chorus of ‘what?’, ‘dude!’ and ‘no!’ were heard as a response, but he stood firm to his opinion “I can’t explain it, I just… My mom used to tell me her story. And the point was always that she isn’t what people think. And I definitely trust my mom”

Emily remembered her own mother, and the almost vanished feeling after so long of trusting someone blindly as much as she did with her. It made her sad, but she could also understand Percy better.

“I’m going in” he said, serious “You guys do what you want”

He took the first step, and after looking at the house and back at the fury, Grover followed him.

“What are you-“

“Annie, we should go with them”

“Are you crazy? You know I can’t go in there! She’ll kill me!”

“And if we stay out here, that fury will eat us!” she glanced at the monster, who only huffed at her comment “Come on, trust Percy for once. I’m doing it”

“You’re trusting him more than me?”

“I’m not saying that” she replied “I just don’t want to die, and right now, we have more chances to live going inside than staying here. We won’t let anything happen to you. I promise”

Medusa’s house was decorated in an old fashioned way, in a style from a few decades ago. There was a huge dining room, with a big table set for many people to eat. There were plenty of sweets, desserts and other sugary dishes, and it looked almost as if they had entered the candy house of the bad witch from Hansel and Gretel’s tale.

“Thanks for coming” said Percy, after they joined him and Grover inside.

“This isn’t the same for me as it is for you” Annabeth felt nervous, and it was showing. Emily grabbed her hand in hopes of comforting her, but it was rather difficult, especially when Medusa came out of the kitchen to the dining room again.

“You’re concerned I would hold a grudge against you simply because you are a daughter of Athena?” she sounded almost hurt, not offended, but genuinely concerned about Annabeth’s thought on her. Emily had to remind herself that she couldn’t trust what Medusa tried to pretend to be, but what her gut told her about who and how the monster was “You shouldn’t be. We’re not our parents, after all. And you and I might have more in common than you think”

None of them were looking at her, too petrified of catching a glance of her eyes even under the veil of her cream coloured hat. She was wearing a matching dress, that looked like it was from a different decade, like the rest of the house.

“Please, sit and eat” she insisted, signalling to the table.

The boys sat down, but Annabeth didn’t dare to move, and Emily remained loyally by her side.

“So if you’re not a monster what are you then?”

“A survivor”

“You must be a little more than that” Percy served himself some food, and Grover was already munching on something “There’s a Fury out there that seems terrified of you”

“Because she knows what I think of her” Medusa sat down on a stool by another table, crossing her legs elegantly “I don’t like bullies. When one shows up on my doorstep, they end up spending a lot more time there than they planned for… I know you can understand me. None of you like bullies. Isn’t that right, Emily?”

“How do you know my name?” she blurted out the question impulsively before she could refrain her tongue. Thinking before talking wasn’t a skill she had mastered yet.

“A demigod child like you draws attention easily. Not many of you are brought to camp half-blood by their godly parents themselves, let alone if said parent is the God of War. He isn’t particularly known for taking care of his offsprings… not like he cared for you”

“You know nothing about my dad”

“Maybe not, but I’ve been around for some time now… and I’ve heard many stories about your father. He has a reputation he seems to be very proud of” she smiled softly at the child “I’m sure you want to make him proud, don’t you?”

“Of course” she answered, firmly.

“And has he ever shown that sentiment to you? For any of your achievements? For you going on this quest?”

Emily remained quiet, her jaw tense and her eyes on anything but the woman before her.

“He’s… busy” she mumbled.

“I’m sure he is… You know, I’ve had a few experiences myself regarding the gods… and I’ve even had the pleasure to receive a gift from them, which is a privilege not many of their adepts have had” she smiled sweetly, almost humanly “The gift the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore”

“What my mother did to you wasn’t a gift” replied Annabeth, with her arms now crossed “It was a curse”

“You are loyal to your mother”

“Yes”

“You stand by her?”

“Always” Annabeth shrugged, as if it was obvious.

“You love her?”

“Of course I do!”

“And so did I” Medusa’s tone was nostalgic, still sweet, but also with a hint of sadness “Do you know the story of how I came to be this way?”

“I do!”

All of them looked at Grover, who had answered between bites to his food. He looked up from his plate when he noticed how everyone had turned quiet, blushing slightly.

“Do you?”

“Do I?” he answered back, uncertain.

The bell inside a clock started tolling as Medusa told her tale:

“Athena was everything to me… I worshiped her. I prayed to her. I made offerings… She never answered. Not even an omen to suggest she appreciated my love… I wasn’t like you, sweetheart. I was you”

Medusa’s worship to the gods and the demigod’s worship to them were terrifyingly similar. What made them different from her, a monster? Fact is, she wasn’t a monster in the past. She became one… because of the same gods she adored.

“I would have worshipped her that way for a lifetime… in silence” she continued, her tone still somber “But then one day, another god came, and he broke that silence” she turned her head to Percy, smiling again “Your father. The Sea God told me that he loved me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I had never felt seen before… But then Athena declared that I had embarrassed her and I needed to be punished. Not him. Me”

Her voice, full of sadness, narrated how Athena had decided that Medusa should never be seen again by anyone who would live to tell the tale.

“That isn’t what happened” Annabeth fought back, although she already knew Medusa’s story, and also that what the woman had told them was exactly what had happened. The loyalty to her mom, though, made her retort “My mother is just. Always”

“The gods want you to believe that. That they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want: they want us to blame ourselves for their own shortcomings”

“That is not what happened. And you are a liar”

Percy, Grover and Emily looked at Annabeth in disbelief, not giving credit to her words: how could she so blatantly talk back to a monster nonetheless, if they didn’t have any way of escaping after releasing her wrath? What was she thinking? The consequences would be horrible! Deadly!

Medusa’s red lips tensed up, just like the rest of her body. Emily watched her discretely, scared of looking too much but also scared of watching too little, and saw her look back to the kitchen, shaking her head.

“Something’s… burning” she sighted, standing up. Her indifference to Annabeth’s words was just as horrid as if she had screamed and lashed out on them “Would you give me a hand in the kitchen, Percy? I think lunch is ready”

The boy looked at his friends, who were all shaking their heads ‘no’, but after Annabeth’s outburst, Percy wasn’t in the mood to listening to her, so he stood up, and followed the woman inside the kitchen.

“Grover” Annabeth called him, stopping her mid bite” Get ready to run”

“What was that what you just did?!” Emily forcefully turned Annabeth to her grabbing her shoulder, signalling frantically to the door that led to the kitchen “Are you really that keen on dying young?!”

“She was insulting my mother” she defended herself, angry.

“And she could also have turned us into stone!” Emily’s heart raced nervously “First the fury, now this…”

“What about the fury?”

“On the bus. Alecto’s offer. You considered it”

“What if I did?” she shrugged, looking away from Emily. She was ashamed of that she had really thought of accepting the fury’s proposition.

“You aren’t like this!” Emily shot back, frustrated “Stop letting your insecurities get to you! I know you want to complete this quest at all costs, but we have to trust each other! And that includes not selling your quest-mates to the first monster that offers to take them away just because they get a bit on your nerves!”

“But I didn’t, right?” Annabeth huffed “I’m sorry, okay?”

“Just… don’t do stuff like that again. And I’m not only referring to almost giving Percy away to Alecto, but also talking back to a monster who could literally kill us with only looking at us”

“Okay, okay…” she sighted, grimacing “I’m sorry, Emi”

“Apologies accepted” Emily hugged her friend, but a cough from Grover made them separate “What is it?”

“Percy’s been in there for too long, hasn’t he?”

They all looked to the kitchen entrance warily, and right a second after they heard small footsteps making their way towards their direction, and the squeak of the door’s hinges as it started to open. All three of them looked to the ground, stealing glances to the door, seeing a hand ever so slowly perking out… and then they recognized Percy’s green flannel shirt, and they let out a sigh of relief.

“We have to leave, like now” he said, whispering so that Medusa wouldn’t hear him. He grabbed the box that held Luke’s shoes, which he had left on the dining table, and he made his way to the entrance when Emily’s hushed voice stopped him.

“Alecto is still outside, we’re trapped!”

There was another option though: the door that led to the basement. Annabeth had located it after entering the house, already forming an escape plan in case things got tough (which was to be expected). They could hide there, and look for another exit – maybe a window, or another door. Anything was better than waiting there for their deaths.

“Grover, grab those shoes and leave the box, carrying things will only slow us down” Annabeth instructed, and the boy did just as she said. She led the way to the basement, and they made their way down the stairs quickly, away from Medusa.

In the dark, they waited – it wouldn’t be possible to hide forever, but they had at least gained a little time.

“Put the shoes on” Emily suggested to Grover “Come on, I’ll tie the laces tight so they don’t fall off”

“You know the word to activate them?” the satyr nodded, groaning when Emily pulled the cords too tight. She mumbled ‘sorry’, before Annabeth shushed them “Quiet… she’s upstairs”

They could all hear her. Medusa’s steps resonated over them as she walked around the dining room, surely looking for them. A sense of dread invaded the heroes when they heard how the monster’s steps approached the entrance to the basement, and how she opened the door – it creaked like the ones in horror movies, creepy, horrifying.

As Medusa started to make her way downstairs, fire erupted along the staircase, travelling all the way down to them, and following ahead. It lighted the basement, revealing the cream coloured stone walls, and a terrifying sculpture that made Percy scream when he saw it.

It was the statue of a woman, captured mid-scream, fear in her features. She wasn’t the only one, though: the fire began to lit up dozens, if not hundreds of torches, illuminating an enormous ancient cavern full of Medusa’s victims.

Not wasting any time, they ran. Away from the monster, ahead into the cave.

“There’s four of us and only one of her” said Grover, panting “If we split up she can’t be watching us all at once”

“I don’t think it’d be that simple”

“It could be” he insisted, stopping them; they were standing behind some huge wooden transport boxes, partially hiding for now “Here’s the plan: I’ll get in the air, I’ll draw her attention. As soon as you hear me say “Maia” you guys start to-“ he hadn’t thought it through, obviously, because once he said the magic word, the shoes listened and grew feathers, starting to fly. In a matter of two seconds, Grover was high up in the air, flying far into the darkness above them “Oh boy! Okay! Um- off! Down!”

None of it worked. And he was gone.

“Great” muttered Emily, looking at where Grover had disappeared to “We’re screwed!”

“We’re in need of a new plan, but not screwed” they kind of were, though.

They didn’t have time to think of one, though, as Medusa’s voice reached their ears. They ducked as fast as they could, listening how she moved forward to their position:

“We are not our parents, until we choose to be. And you three, have chosen” her footsteps echoed against the walls, her feet dragging against the dust on the ground “A daughter of a self-righteous mother, who chose self-righteousness for herself” Annabeth squinted her eyes, trying to find an escape, finding none “A daughter of a selfish man who lives herself out to please him, pushing herself to limits only for his approval” Emily crawled behind a wooden box, trying to be as quiet as possible “And you…” Percy sat on the ground, legs bend to his chest, listening to the monster “You could have shown your father what it means to stand up for someone you love. You could have chosen to save your mother instead of doing your father’s bidding… If none of you will help teach these lessons, then perhaps you should be the lessons”

Medusa’s voice wasn’t sweet and caring as it had sounded before, no. Now it was cold, still smooth, but also carrying a sizzle typical from… snakes. It gave them chills, especially with her now being this close.

“When I ship your statues to Olympus… maybe that will get my point across even better”

They had to move fast, or they’d be dead in seconds. Annabeth nudged Emily’s leg, and when she got her attention she signalled to her invisibility cap. The girl nodded, and she watched her friend disappear before her eyes.

Emily turned to where Percy was, but he was starting at the opposite site to hers. She threw a little rock at him, hitting him on the leg silently, and he looked over – she mimicked Annabeth putting on her invisibility cap, and him taking out his magic pen-sword keeping while keeping his eyes closed, all of that quickly before Medusa reached their position.

Percy nodded, obviously nervous, and she watched him close his eyes like she had instructed, reaching for his pen. The soft golden glow of the weapon grazed his scared features, but he held the sword tightly, firmly, brave as he was.

“Stand up” commanded Medusa, walking straight to Percy. The glow of the celestial bronze had also given away his position, revealing himself to the monster “Let’s have a look at you”

Gathering all the courage he could master in that second, Percy shot back to his feet, whimpering and trembling in fear, feeling Medusa right by his side. She started to caress his cheek and his hair gently, terrifyingly close to him, when a cry above them startled her.

It was Grover! The flying shoes… they were still flying, and he was still not controlling them.

“I didn’t really think this through!”

He blindly dive-bombed into a wooden box, shattering it completely, practically at Medusa’s feet. A rock hit her from behind then before Grover could accidentally catch her eyes, followed by others coming from the darkness, and Emily ducked before Medusa could spot her, having distracted her enough though: Annabeth took off her hat, standing by Percy’s side, and she put in on Medusa’s head, making her invisible!

“Now!”

Without thinking, Percy raised his sword up to where he knew the monster’s neck was, and he sliced through it completely, decapitating her. The head, still invisible, fell off the body, making a ‘thump’ noise as it hit the ground. It rolled a few feet away, leaving a mark on the gravel… and then it stopped, and it was all over.

“Are you okay?”

Percy didn’t answer. Instead he walked forward slowly, moving his foot around… until he hit Medusa’s head. He scoffed in disgust, and picked it up, while at the same time Emily helped Grover to get back up – he was still a bit foggy from his fall, but he would be fine.

“Aw, man” complained the son of Poseidon, groaning.

“That’s gross” muttered Emily; Percy had the head in his hands, still invisible “Wait, guys… We can use the head to get rid of the fury”

“Kill the monster using the head of a gorgon?”

“Well, you wouldn’t be the first Perseus to do so” said Annabeth “Come on, I’ll go with you”

While Emily remained by Grover’s side, helping him recover, both Annabeth and Percy made their way up to the dining room again, which seemed oddly human and quiet now having been under the house in the huge cavern full of statues.

“You want me to take it from here?”

“Non, no. I got it”

Percy and Annabeth stood in front of the entrance, looking for Alecto – as expected, she was still outside, waiting for them to come out if they managed to escape Medusa.

“Just make sure it’s pointing in the right direction before you take my hat off”

“Good tip” he nodded, and she muttered ‘okay’ in response. Percy looked at the door then, and back to the girl, signalling it to her with a shake of his head “My hands are kinda full with the head so…”

“Of course, sorry”

Annabeth opened the door for him, and taking a deep breath in, Percy walked outside. Annabeth watched him as he slowly approached the fury, who spread her wings now that it was evident that Medusa wasn’t around.

Alecto screeched flying up in the air, claws reaching out for Percy, when the boy took the Yankees cap off of the gorgon’s head, raising it up high into the air. The fury had no time to close her eyes or to escape, and with just a glance, she turned into stone; her statue fell to the ground, breaking into pieces as it hit the asphalt.

Percy stared at the petrified monster’s face, putting the hat quickly back on Medusa’s head. Breathing heavily he turned back to Annabeth, and smiled softly.

While they took care of the fury, downstairs, in the cavern, Emily had managed to fetch some water for Grover, and he was feeling much better now.

“This place is huge” the satyr said, looking around “And the ceiling too. I didn’t even reach it”

“This whole place is probably enchanted” she bit her lip, feeling curious, turning back to Grover “Do you want to explore a bit?”

“It can be dangerous”

“Yeah, and fun” she giggled, starting to wander around “Come on! The gorgon’s gone, let’s look at this place”

There were thousands of statues scattered around the cavern, may of them humans, but also mythical creatures, and even other monsters – although it seemed as if Medusa had kept the most terrifying looking ones outside in her yard. They found a table packed with papers, ink, pens and packing material, and a register book for orders; it seemed like Medusa had even been making money out of her condition.

Emily regretted a bit dragging Grover with her around the cave when she found him looking at the statue of a satyr. Percy and Annabeth descended the stairs back to the basement then, and they found them at the same spot, Grover still looking at the statue.

“Uncle Ferdinand” he muttered.

Oh, no.

“Grover, I’m so sorry” Emily put a hand on his shoulder, eyes looking sad.

“This is as far as he got on his quest… We aren’t even to Trenton” he sighted, defeated “But look at him” Grover chuckled softly, even smiling a bit “He’s not like the others, he… he doesn’t look afraid”

Emily squeezed his shoulder, and he smiled in her way. Clearing his throat, Grover asked Percy and Annabeth if they had gotten rid of Alecto using Medusa’s head, and they confirmed it.

“Uh, we probably should get going. It’ll be dark soon”

“But what are we gonna do with the head?” asked Percy “I just took down a Fury with it, and I wasn’t even trying. We can’t just leave it for someone to find”

“You want to take the head with us?”

“No, no. Leave the hat on, and bury it here, in the basement. That ought to keep it safe”

Both Grover and Emily looked at Annabeth in concern, but after looking at the ground for a few seconds, she just nodded, accepting.

“But your hat…”

“It’s alright, Emily” she shrugged, looking back at Percy then “Now, can we talk about the bigger issue here?”

“What bigger issue?”

“Medusa telling you ‘You could have saved your mother’? Like you had discussed it already?”

“Wait, Percy, is your mom still alive?” Emily thought she had died the night the minotaur attacked, this didn’t make sense.

“She’s with Hades. I appreciate your concern, but-“

“Guys, just please…” Grover interrupted them, shaking his head “Stop”

“Oh, I’m concerned” followed Annabeth, ignoring Grover’s ask “What are you actually doing on this quest? And why did I have to hear about this from Medusa?”

“Okay, while we’re at it” shot back, Percy “Alecto saying ‘You should have accepted my offer’? What’s that about do you think?” he accused not only Annabeth, but also Emily “And why did we have to hear it from the Fury?”

“Enough!”

All three demigods looked at the satyr, who really had had enough of their bickering.

“The hat was a gift from her mother. It’s the only thing she’s ever possessed that connects them. That ought to matter to you” he told Percy, solemnly “And Emily never even thought about accepting Alecto’s offer”

“Okay, but how are we gonna make sure this thing is safe?” Percy held the invisible head up, frowning

“I don’t know yet! And you” he turned to Annabeth, who seemed surprise to get a lecture from him, but she would have to go through it anyways “His mom’s alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who’s ever cared about him?”

“Why are you talking like this?” asked Annabeth, voice small.

“Because all day Emily and I have been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you! But maybe… Maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward”

“Grover’s right” added Emily, arms now crossed “You guys can’t keep fighting all day. We’re a team! We need to get along to complete this quest!”

“Annabeth asked you a question back in the woods and you never really answered” Grover looked at Percy again, who’s features had turned hard at his words “What are you so afraid of?”

“I don’t know”

“I think you do. You’ve been fighting with us all day-“

“Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me, okay?” silence fell upon them at the revelation “She said… ‘You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end’. That’s the rest of what she said to me. And that’s because I chose Annabeth… because I couldn’t imagine we’d ever be friends. I chose Emily, because she is loyal to Annabeth, and I never thought she would choose my side before hers, so we would also never become friends. And I chose you” he looked into Grover’s eyes with intensity “Because I thought if I can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you. And now, I’m feeling so… alone! I don’t know what to think or who to trust. I’m just… a kid”

The silence felt heavy after his words. Hearing what Percy thought of them, his real reasons to choose them to accompany him on this quest… it was a tough bone.

“I didn’t mean it that way”

“It’s okay” commented Emily, almost shyly “I… I’m loyal to Annabeth, yes, but I also stand to what’s right for me. And I trust you, Percy. I’d never betray you”

“Alecto offered to help our quest if we gave you up to her” explained Annabeth.

“What did you say?” asked Percy, curious.

“We killed her sisters”

“Medusa… she offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the three of you”

“And what’d you say?”

“Well… I cut off her head”

They chuckled, feeling the tension dissolving and the air getting lighter.

“None of you chose to be demigods” said Grover “We didn’t choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are gonna be alone. And if we can’t do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now”

“I’m not doing that” replied Emily instantly “Not until completing this quest. I can’t go back and have Clarisse mocking me all day” she complained “Please guys, don’t let that happen”

“We won’t” assured Percy, smiling at her “I think I’ve got a better idea for what to do with the head”

He guided them to Medusa’s work table, and he began looking over her register book:

“Hermes express!” he exclaimed “Medusa ship’s these things all over. Some of it even goes to Olympus”

“Percy” began Annabeth, wariness in her voice “You can’t ship Medusa’s head to Olympus!”

“Why not?”

“Because the gods won’t like it”

“At all. Like, ‘at all’ at all”

“Guys, that’s what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send’em back where they came from”

“This is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent”

“I am impertinent” he replied smugly, starting to put the invisible head inside a carton box, while Annabeth muttered ‘but we’re not!’. He ignored her “Look, Medusa tried to derail our quest. She’s got serious beef with your mom” he pointed to Annabeth “When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn’t it?”

“That’s taken like from really far, Percy”

“Yeah, but… this way, at least-“ he reached inside the box, grabbing the Yankees hat while quickly closing the package “This way, part of your mom is still with us”

He handed the hat over the table back to Annabeth, and after considering it, she accepted it back, thanking him.

“Here, let me help” Emily walked around the table, and aided Percy with the tape to secure the flaps of the box.

“This isn’t exactly what I meant by choosing each other” said Grover nervously “There are actual dangers involved here that cannot be…”

He didn’t finish his sentence though, as Percy interrupted him by starting to clap his hands in a rhythm they recognized a few seconds into the melody.

“You’re gonna sing the song, aren’t you?”

Not this again, thought Emily.

“Oh golly, the road’s getting’ bumpy-“

“Whatever”

“Please stop”

“Consensus!” Percy sang, not remembering the lyrics but making it up.

“Let’s make a pack, please” Emily perked up, having finished closing the box “Never come back to Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium… and never sing that song ever again”

A chorus’ of ‘deal’ resonated inside the cavern, and soon after they were all giggling and chuckling. The quest could go on.

----

Taglist: @strawberryys-stuff @ladysybilchronicles @kyuupidwrites @nhloversblog @beansficreblogs @priyajoyyy @zeeader @lightsgore @gengen64

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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months

Note

Just read the new chapter! So adorable the innocence of a child!

#percy jackson #daughter of ares #dad!ares #ares x reader #ares pjo #annabeth chase #grover underwood

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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months

Text

Chapter 2: Do you want me to burn your cookie?

First flashback chapter, yay! Let's see how things were with younger Emily at camp. So that you don't get confused, this is set before Annabeth and Luke first even make it to Long Island

Word count: 2500 ish words

Warnings: None I can think of

Fic masterlist here!

Age 6

It was during the last days of spring when Emily met Ares again.

She had been at camp for a few weeks now, and the arrival of the rest of the demigods was impendent. Until now, she had only met her fellow year-round campers, some of them also from the Ares cabin; it was weird at first for her to understand that they were her siblings (or half-siblings, to be clear), but Chiron had taken his time to explain everything to her, and answer every question she had: Why do we burn food? Can I ride the Pegasi? When will Daddy come see me?... and so on.

As she was still pretty young, and unfamiliar to their world, Chiron let her miss out on the last weeks of first grade, letting her explore the new surroundings on her own; she was a child of Ares, she would be fine by herself. So she met the people around camp, Mr. D (who she didn’t really like, especially after he insisted on calling her “Ellie”, almost as if wrong on purpose), and the satyrs, who she followed around the crops, marvelling at how they played music to help the plants grow. Once she was settled, and after a general introduction from the centaur to camp half-blood, Emily’s curious nature took over, and she spend her mornings roaming the wild.

Ares watched her. He saw her run through the forest, her teddy bear under her arm, discovering, playing, and laughing to herself. She found many animals, small and some bigger ones, and she befriended many, always guarded by the spirits of the woods to ensure her safety; she was a sweet child, despite her heritage, and they guarded her while she was alone outside. She didn’t seek destruction, or causing havoc; she was tranquil, and adventurous.

Maybe it was because her environment had been a good one during her first years, but she wasn’t as brute, gruff and brash as Ares had expected her to be. It surprised him, to be honest.

During the afternoons, Emily was introduced by her siblings to training. However, she was small, and they were older, taller and stronger than her, so she sticked to the side, watching them fight with swords, spears and other weapons of their choice against other campers. They were nice enough to show her the basics, although she was still too petite to hold a sword properly, so her siblings introduced her to using daggers and other small weapons first.

“Why do I have to learn this?” she pouted, frustrated at her failed attempts of doing what her older brother had taught her; it was still weird for her to think of them as her siblings, as she had never had any and now there were… a lot, but she was slowly getting used to it “I don’t want to do this”

“You are a child of Ares” said one of the boys, a son of Apollo “Fighting comes natural to those of your kind”

“But I don’t want to fight” she replied, still pouting “I don’t want to hurt anyone”

“Maybe not, but there are monsters out there who won’t hesitate to come after you, and kill you if they get their chance” the girl who spoke, a daughter of Hermes, received glares of reproach upon saying that, and she was shoved to the side by one of Emily’s brothers after seeing how scared she looked now “Hey, it’s true, the sooner she learns the better for her”

“There are monsters out there?”

“You are safe at camp, don’t worry” one of her brothers kneeled beside her, handing back to her the dagger that had fallen from her hand to the ground “But she’s right. The sooner you start training, the stronger you will be”

Strong. Emily watched her siblings, bulked, skilled, tough… and she honestly doubted if training would ever make her look as powerful as them. She was only six years old, she didn’t know if she was actually strong enough to grow into a warrior like them.

She sat alone later (although accompanied by her teddy bear, her loyal companion), on the edge of the forest in front of the beach, munching on some cookies Chiron had given her. The waves of Long Island Sound crashed rhythmically against the shore, whilst Emily couldn’t shake off the feeling of inadequacy that lingered within her; she could still hear her siblings at the arena, laughing while they playfully fought, and the music the satyrs played at the strawberry fields. Beside her on the grass lay the dagger she had been training with, and she looked at it with uncertainty.

Her little fingers wrapped around the hilt, her gaze examining the weapon: it was bronze, the handle was covered in leather, and the blade had small Greek symbols engraved into the metal. Due to her dyslexia, she’d always had trouble reading, however these letters didn’t dance in front of her eyes as it usually happened. This time, she only had trouble understanding the word itself, because she didn’t know the language.

“Need some help?”

Emily instantly recognized that voice. She turned around, and there he stood: her father, a few feet away, leaning against a tree.

“Daddy!”

Squealing, Emily stood up, the dagger falling on the ground beside her Teddy and the plate with cookies. She crashed into Ares’ legs, smiling up at him, jumping with excitement.

The first days at camp had been tough, especially because she constantly waited for Ares to show up and take her with him again; yeah, she was amazed by the nature surrounding her, the cabins and the new environment in general, but she missed her parents: her mother wouldn’t come back, she knew that, but she still had her father, right? Her siblings were no help, telling her that she shouldn’t get her hopes up, because godly parents weren’t known for being present in their demigod children’s lives, but she was sceptical, thinking that if he had come for her after her mother’s passing, maybe he would come again. So she burned part of her food at every meal like they had taught her, thinking of a message for her dad, just as her siblings had explained to her how she should do. She prayed to him, in her own childish way of how she thought praying was done, and thought of him when she was alone in her bunk bed at night, missing being tucked in; he had never done that, that was all her mother… but now she only had Ares, and she longed for him to care for her.

And on the verge of losing hope, fortunately, he came.

Ares wasn’t really sure what had motivated him to visit her. He never did stuff like that; the gods sometimes gave out missions, quests or requests for demigods to fulfil, and only then would they actually show up. But they usually never visited their children. Maybe the reason was that he had been sick of Hermes talking about his latest travels and the gossip he had picked up, or that he didn’t want to face his father after him requesting everyone to show up that day at Olympus. Maybe it was an impulse that arose from having been watching her from time to time the last few weeks, or maybe… something he couldn’t name. And he for sure wasn’t going to show up anytime soon once summer began, not with the rest of the campers there: he would definitely stand out, and he didn’t have time to deal with a bunch of dumb children if they noticed him.

Seeing Emily there, though, sitting on the edge of the forest, reluctantly clutching the dagger in between her hands, he appeared behind her, watching her study the engraving of the weapon. The breeze stirred her hair, while she mumbled to herself, trying to spell the word she couldn’t read, when he decided to reveal himself.

He awkwardly patted her head, definitely not expecting so much excitement from her side. He thought she would probably really hate him by now, after abandoning her there and not acknowledging her for weeks.

Emily began to talk, words thrown at him a hundred miles per minute, telling him everything she had seen and learned at camp half-blood about the gods, the goddesses, the satyrs, the centaurs… and that she loved the Pegasi, and the strawberries they ate, and that she had met her older siblings.

Ares wasn’t used to being around little kids very often; he kind of avoided them, as he didn’t really know how to handle them. Emily was very much like other children her age: small, innocent, and filled with excitement. It stirred something inside him, thinking that that sweet little girl came from him.

“What do you have there?”

He pointed to the dagger, and Emily went to get it, Ares remaining where he stood. His daughter, back at his side, raised the small weapon up to him, the bronze metal shining under the spring sun.

“My brother gave it to me. It says something here, but I don’t know what it means” she told him, frowning. Ares thought she looked cute when she did that, little face scrunched in confusion “Do you know it?”

It didn’t take him more than a glance to recognize the word.

“That word means ‘Ares’” he explained, smug smile on his face “That’s me”

“You?”

“The only one there is, princess”

He wasn’t planning on calling her that, and if so, it wasn’t meant seriously, more so in a mocking, sarcastic way. However, Emily’s face lit up, and he couldn’t take it back anymore.

“Daddy?” he hummed in response, listening “Are you a god?” It seemed that she had caught up on the meaning of that word. Of what that meant, and the power it held. Ares nodded, telling her that he was the God of war. She nodded back, biting her lower lip before speaking again “So… you’re like, really old, right?”

Ares laughed, not expecting that question.

“You could say that” he shrugged, still chuckling.

“Why are you the god of war?” her head tilted to the side, looking him in the eyes, her own full of curiosity “Why not the god of trees? Or the god of flowers, or clouds, or… dogs? They are sweet, I like them”

Something similar to a short circuit occurred inside his head. He didn’t expect those questions. She was just like her mother, full of curiosity. Ares paused, taken aback, and pondered for a moment, contemplating how to explain the complexities of his role as the god of war to a young child; his title had been given to him so long ago… he had just rolled with it over the centuries, throughout the millennia’s.

“I just am, kid” he couldn’t just tell a six year old that he was the god of war because he was seen as someone aggressive, violent, cruel and… just everything that accompanied the brutalities of battles. In ancient Greece, citizens used to hope he would not take notice of their cities, because they believed he only carried death and suffering with his presence “I’m territorial. I’m not afraid of fighting. I get what I want when I want, and don’t let anyone steal what’s mine. And if they do, I won’t let them go unpunished”

War isn’t only about that, though. It’s about protecting what you love, standing up for what’s right, and sometimes, making sacrifices for the greater good. Many use war to get what they desire, yes, and start a fight for unjustified reasons, but true war, a true fight, is for defending what you believe in. Ares also embodied all of that, even though he had forgotten it himself.

"But why not trees or flowers?" she persisted, her curiosity unabated. Ares smiled, amused by her innocence and inquisitiveness.

"Each god has their own domain, their own special role to play in the world. Trees have their own protector, as do flowers and clouds. And as for dogs… I like them too. My uncle Hades has a very cool one”

“One of Mommy’s friends had a big dog, and he brought it with him sometimes when he came visited” she explained, doing a face. She didn’t see Ares’ eyebrow raise when mentioning her mothers’ ‘friend’ “I didn’t like that dog, though. He had big teeth, and he barked a lot. He scared me”

“At camp you will learn to fight and to defend yourself, so you won’t have to be afraid anymore. Not of any dogs, and not of any monsters”

“But I don’t want to fight monsters, Daddy. I’m not strong enough. They’ll eat me!”

Ares almost chuckled, certainly amused.

“They’re not going eat you, Ems” again, that nickname wasn’t planned. He had to start controlling himself “Not if you win”

“But I’m tiny. They will get me and swallow me”

“You will not be tiny forever. You’ll grow, learn, and train. You’re my kid: fighting comes natural to you” it was the same thing the Apollo boy had said to her; coming from her father, though, she started to consider those words as a possible truth “You’ll be just fine”

“Do you think I’m strong enough?”

She referred physical strength, but also mental, even if she didn’t know what she really meant with that question. In her eyes, her siblings and the other campers she had met seemed all so strong and tough; it was of course the result of years of tutoring in the skills of combat, shaping their moves and reflexes, moulding their bodies. It seemed impossible to ever reach that level of strength.

“My kids are warriors. Eventually, you are strong” Emily did her cute frown, not completely understanding what he meant. Ares had to find the words, not really knowing how to answer her. Oh, his little girl, always asking the tough questions. He hadn’t really thought about that… if he considered her strong enough, but the answer came to him in a breeze once he contemplated it “Yes, you are strong enough. But Emily, strength is not only about size, or power. It’s about determination, and courage; believe me, I know what I’m talking about. Look… you may be small now, but you’re a strong kid. And one day, you’ll grow into a strong warrior”

Emily hugged his legs again then, smiling up at him. The sincerity and admiration in her expression towards him stirred something inside Ares, like the day he had left her at camp.

“Thank you, Daddy”

He nodded, acknowledging her words. She let go of him then, running back to where her Teddy and her plate of cookies lay, grabbing one of said biscuits, offering it to him.

“For you” she smiled, and he was actually speechless for a second, not knowing how to react to such an innocent and kind gesture. Emily understood that in her own way, remembering how she threw part of her food into the fire every day praying to him “Oh… do you want me to burn it for you?”

Ares snickered, a smile taking over his face, shaking his head no. He ruffled her hair, and accepted the cookie; he took a big bite out of it, and Emily smiled again.

----

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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months

Text

Chapter 1: Percy becomes supreme lord of the Bathroom

First official chapter for 'In his own twisted way', my daughter of ares fic! <3

Word count: 8800 ish words

Warnings: none I can think of (english is not my first language, though, don't kill me if there are any mistakes please)

Updates will be tuesdays! <3

Fic masterlist here!

Olympians. The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece, powerful, strong, eternal, immortals, seen as myths and stories told throughout the centuries. However, they are no myths, but real, and they still exist to the date. Omnipotent. Immortal. Unreachable.

Or, maybe not so out of reach: they’ve watched generations of mortals roaming the earth, and they often walk among them, disguised as one of them. But still, gods and goddesses, strong and powerful, and a different race from the common humans. They have lived thousands of lives, interfering at will in mortal affairs, seeing the world as their battlefield, and the people living there as their pawns. Because the gods can’t break the holy rules, but mortals… that’s a loophole many, if not all of the gods and goddesses have used in their favour throughout history. And because they needed powerful weapons as their pawns to execute their demands, they created half-bloods. Demigods. Mortal descendants born out of their union with a mortal companion, capable of fighting in the divine realm of existence, while living in the mortal world.

And so, over the years, decades, and centuries, demigods were born into the mortal world, some even reaching Olympus, the glory, kleos, and becoming part of the mystery that surrounds the story of the gods.

Myths aside, half-bloods still exist. Half mortal, half god, all real. And even if it sounds like a privilege to be a part of the gods bloodline… well, not many demigods will agree with that. Not only because they are in constant danger, it’s scary, and most of the times it only got them killed in very nasty ways, but also because they didn’t really fit into the human world, and they had to live up to their parents expectations, all the time. To make them proud, to honour them, and to show off their power.

And all of that is pretty difficult to do when the gods turn out to be shitty parents who don’t really deserve all that self-sacrifice.

Emily wasn’t indifferent to all of that.

As one of camps’ longest all year-rounders, she was well versed in the art of being the child of an absent godly parent. She trained, she learned, and she fought for glory, yes, but most importantly, to be worthy of her father’s attention and love. At twelve years old, she was one of the best fighters of her cabin: the children of Ares. Only her older sister, Clarisse, reached her level of skill; they fought on many occasions, both in the arena and outside of it, always to prove that they were better than the other one.

But Emily didn’t really care about being better than Clarisse, not really. She only trained, and fought and worked so hard to be the top warrior of her cabin, if not camp, to make her father proud. And she hoped that, if she would actually make him proud, she would finally see him again.

Not that she hadn’t seen him since he had left her at camp half-blood, no. Every winter, during the winter solstice ceremony, she encountered him. But he kept to himself, every single time for the last years. He didn’t acknowledge her or any of her siblings, and when the presentations were over, he always ran out of the room before she or her brothers or sisters could try to talk to him.

That’s why she had hope that if she stood out, maybe he would love her again like he did in the past.

“Are you listening to me, or are you daydreaming again?”

Emily turned her gaze to her left, where Annabeth was looking over at her questioningly. They were laying on the grass in a clearing of the forest, the afternoon light giving a golden glow to the top of the trees surrounding them. They were done with training for that day, having had a friendly competition about who of them both would hit more bullseyes at archery practice; Emily won, like she usually did, although Annabeth was also very skilled – Ares’ kids usually had a better aim for throwing weapons, or something like that. It’s what Annabeth always said when Emily ended up with a higher score than her.

“I am listening to you” Emily shifted her gaze back up to the sky, watching a round and fluffy cloud fly by “But I was also thinking about dinner. I can do both”

“Sure. So what was I talking about?”

“Something boring about an architect you read a book about”

“That was five minutes ago!” Annabeth laughed, shaking her head “And it’s not boring”

“Why do you think I started daydreaming? To not fall asleep!”

“You’re incorrigible” she huffed, although she was also smiling slightly.

“But I’m still your best friend, so I must be doing something right”

“I guess” Annabeth shrugged, sticking her tongue out to Emily. They both giggled “I was talking about capture the flag”

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous” Emily scoffed, looking at her “You’ve won three times in a row. You’ll manage a fourth”

“No one has won four consecutive rounds in a very long time. Everyone is waiting to watch me fail”

“That’s not true. I want to see you succeed”

“Shouldn’t you be on your teams side?” she raised one of her eyebrows, sarcastically. Annabeth fought with the rest of the Athena cabin, and Emily with the Ares cabin. The other cabins allied to one or another of them, but the main rivals in battle where always Ares and Athena – seemed logic, considering they were both deities of war “Don’t tell me you’ll just give me your flag. I don’t want an easy win”

“Of course I won’t do that. I will fight, tooth and claw, to get my victory. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t be happy if you win. You deserve it”

“Thanks, Emi”

“You welcome, Annie”

“Now… as I was saying a few minutes ago-“ she started talking about the architect again, and Emily groaned, sitting up “Hey, I’m trying to educate you. Better listen”

She wasn’t going to do that, not today. Fortunately, she found her escape: Luke was approaching the clearing where they lay, and he waved at her when he spotted Emily watching him.

He had arrived at camp with Annabeth five years ago, when Emily was seven. He was older than the girls, and he was like an older brother for the both of them; sure, they had their respective siblings at each of their cabins (Ares’, Athena’s and Hermes’), but the bond these three shared was genuine, and went beyond their heritage.

“It’s almost time for dinner!” he called out, a few steps away “Come on!”

They rose up, and met Luke halfway there. All three of them wore camps’ official orange t-shirt, like everyone else, and their summer camp necklace’s rested above the fabric, with the beads they earned at the end of each summer adding various pops of colour. However, they didn’t have identical pendants: Luke had five beads, like Annabeth, but she also had added her father’s college ring to the necklace after he sent it to her. Emily’s had not five, but six beads, and also a silver ring.

Ares had given it to her… a long time ago. When things had still been better between them.

“How’s my favourite duo doing?” although the three of them usually hang out together, there was always a duo in a trio “Heard you had fun at archery”

“I did. Annabeth not so much” Emily grinned at her friend, who rolled her eyes “Hey, let me have my win. If I competed against anyone from cabin seven I wouldn’t stand a chance”

They greeted some satyrs on their way to the dining area, and then separated to their respective tables: there were strict rules against sitting at another god’s table, so they were forced to eat with their siblings. Emily had a good relationship with most of her brothers and sisters, at least a cordial one; none of them were as close to her as Annabeth or Luke were, but they got along nicely. Then there were others, those of her siblings who stood more to Clarisse, her rival, who weren’t as nice to Emily. She wasn’t naturally prone to being mean to anyone, even if they weren’t friendly towards her, but after years of constant disrespect, Emily had had enough, and they knew that she could set her foot down if they caused her too much trouble.

Dinner went as usual, with camp being full of demigods, so the pavilion was bustling with voices and conversations, even if there were tables unoccupied, like the one’s for the children of the big three (who weren’t allowed to have children anymore, as they were too powerful), or the one dedicated to Artemis (which was only used by the goddess’ hunters if they ever visited camp… which usually never happened).

Chiron was also back at camp after being absent for some weeks at the end of the school year; Annabeth and Emily had been theorizing about the reasons for his departure, as he had never left camp for so long in the years they had been there.

“Do you think some demigod got into trouble on a quest and he has went out to help?”

“Well, maybe… but it has to be something important if Chiron himself had to go. He never leaves camp; he’s almost like… part of the décor or something”

“What if he left because… the quest he’s promising me is arriving?”

“You mean the one he’s been promising you for years? The one fated to a new demigod we haven’t even met yet?” Emily knew of her best friend’s aspirations, of her dreams. Annabeth was one of the strongest warriors at camp half-blood, head counselor at her cabin, and one of the smartest persons she knew. The only way left to prove herself, was to go on a quest, but Chiron had never allowed her to. She would only be able to when, according to the centaur, a demigod arrived who was fated to go on a quest not even Chiron could prevent – Annabeth had received that information under strict confidentiality, so of course only she and her best friends knew of it.

“Well, it could be. It’s been five years. How much longer can it take?”

“Keep studying the newbies, then. Maybe one of them will be the one”

But none of the new half-bloods at camp that summer seemed to be… something special – not that being literally children of Greek gods didn’t make them special. They just weren’t what Annabeth was waiting for.

That is, until one day, or specifically, one night, a new demigod made it to Long Island.

When Emily went to bed that evening, she didn’t expect to be woken up by a commotion before sunrise; it had been raining during the night, although it didn’t rain directly at camp because of the special weather conditions they had there, with the faint sound of water droplets echoed inside the cabins, almost soothing, until another sound joined its melody: frantic screaming, that came from someone running down the hill that led to Thalia’s tree.

Emily and her siblings made their way out of their cabin, like everyone else did, curious to know what had happened, and they saw Grover, dressed in a human attire, completely drenched from head to hooves. He ran to the big house, screaming and limping a bit, and soon after he got there, he walked out alongside Chiron, who dismissed everyone back to their beds, except the head counselors from each cabin.

At the Ares cabin, Clarisse was the head counselor. It wasn’t a title Emily really craved, but the power it held gave her sister some advantages, like right at that moment, being able to go alongside Chiron up the hill to see what had happened, while Emily had to stay behind. Annabeth was head counselor of her cabin, just as Luke was of his, so they both left as well, leaving her alone with a pout.

When Annabeth came back, though, she went straight to Emily, who was already waiting for her sitting in front of Athena’s cabin; there was no way in hell she would ask Clarisse about what had happened if she could just ask her best friend.

“He’s the one. He has to be”

Apparently, they had found an unconscious boy who looked around their age up at the hill. According to Grover, they were trying to make it to camp, when the Minotaur showed up, and attacked them; the boy, whose name was Percy, fought the monster, and he won.

Emily couldn’t deny that that was impressive. She had never fought monsters besides the ones she found at camp’s forests’ or the ones they sometimes brought in for training, but she knew it wasn’t an easy task, let alone if you didn’t have any experience.

“Grover said Percy’s mom was also with them” Annabeth grimaced “Grover believes that… the Minotaur killed her”

“Oh” Emily had lost her own mother when she was little, and she still remembered the pain of losing her and not having her there; she still felt it from time to time. Her thoughts went to Percy, as she knew it would be hard for him “Wait… he only believes the monster killed her? What do you mean?”

“They searched for her, but they didn’t find anything anywhere down the hill. Grover said that… he saw her vanish, like the monsters do when you kill them, just as when the Minotaur was trying to squish her”

“That’s not how humans die”

“I know” Annabeth bit her lip, deep in thought “So many questions and so little answers… But I have a strong feeling about this, Emi. He could be the demigod I was waiting for”

Said demigod spent the rest of the day, and the following night, sleeping in the infirmary. Annabeth, embracing her rebellious side, wanted to go see him herself that evening, and Emily tagged along, full of curiosity for the new boy.

“That’s him?”

“Is there anyone else unconscious here that I’m not seeing?” it was thundering above camp, the sounds of the storm muffling their voices.

“Hush, you” Emily frowned, watching the boy “Is he…?”

“Yeah, he’s drooling” Percy kind of blinked his eyes open then, catching a glimpse of Annabeth standing at his bedside; he asked her where he was, and the only thing she came up with saying was ‘you drool when you sleep’. He looked baffled at her, mumbling a ‘huh?’, and then he fell back into dreamland.

“That was a perfect meet cute moment you two had there, Annie”

“Now you, hush”

The next morning, after breakfast, Luke took both Annabeth and Emily to the side, and told them that he had met Percy.

“He’s staying with us until he gets claimed” that was standard protocol for newcomers who didn’t know who their godly parents were, as Hermes was, amongst other things, the god of travellers “He seemed… pretty rough. No one can blame him though; fighting the minotaur, losing his mom, and what he thought was his life… all of that in one night. It is tough, but so seems he”

“Did he really have the minotaur’s horn? I heard Chris talking about it” Luke answered yes to Emily’s question, and she whistled “Not bad for an untrained demigod”

They didn’t see Percy for the rest of the day, though, not even during the meals; he ate at his cabin after Luke went back after lunch or dinner with something for him. Apparently not even Grover could get him to talk much.

Emily imagined that if she had arrived at camp under the same circumstances as him, she probably wouldn’t act all that different; her case was also one of the rarest ones of them all, as not many of the demigods had been personally escorted by their godly parent to camp. She felt empathy for Percy, wishing he would settle in quickly.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow” she told Annabeth, before they went to bed “You should come too. Get to know him if you think he’s the one”

“I’ll stick to my observations for now. You can debrief me later about what you think of him after you guys talk”

“Sure thing, ma’am, yes, ma’am”

Percy walked out of the Hermes cabin alongside Luke, Chris Rodriguez and other Hermes’ children the next morning, wearing his orange camp half-blood shirt and his (for now) bare necklace. Emily watched him from the entrance to the Ares cabin, and she made her way towards them when she spotted Clarisse walking in the same direction; she was accompanied by her most loyal supporters, which were some of hers and Emily’s siblings, and she had that smile on her face that Emily knew all too well. She was about to do something bad.

Clarisse bumped her shoulder against Percy’s on purpose, and when he exclaimed ‘hey!’, she shoved him on the chest, and he ended up on the ground. Emily reached them when Chris helped Percy up, while Clarisse was asking her audience if that was really the kid who had killed the minotaur.

“Look, you want attention around here, dummy? You better be ready for it when it comes” she pretended to shove Percy again, and he jumped back, defensive. Clarisse only laughed, until she saw Emily appearing behind the rookie.

“Back off, Clarisse”

“Or what? Are you gonna call daddy to lecture me?” she mocked her, laughing again, accompanied by their siblings’ mocking snickers.

“I’ll just win again next time we fight at the arena” this time it was Emily smiling victoriously “And I’ll ask Luke to join me. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

Clarisse only huffed, and she walked away followed by her congregation. Luke high-fived Emily, while the rest of the Hermes’ kids dispersed as well.

“Well she seems nice” said Percy sarcastically pointing at Clarisse’s back.

“Ares kids” Luke rested his hands on his hips, also looking back at the girl who had just left “They come by it, honestly. Except Emily, of course… unless you steal her dessert” he smiled at his friend, and she took that as the clue to introduce herself.

“I’m Emily, by the way” she waved at Percy, now feeling slightly awkward “As Luke said, I’m in cabin five. Ares”

“So that girl is your sister?”

“Technically half-sister, but yeah. She can be… a bit difficult if she wants to. Sorry for that”

“That’s a way of putting it nicely” Percy had met many, many bullies in the last few years; he had been at plenty of schools, and some of them he couldn’t even really recall, but he remembered every single bully “Why doesn’t she mess with you two?”

“She knows better”

“Luke’s the strongest swordsman at camp” explained Chris, who had sticked around “And Emily has been her rival since the know each other. Always competing to be the best of their cabin, at everything”

“So… you mean that they leave you alone because of glory?” Luke had been explaining the concept of what glory (or kleos, in Greek), meant to the heroes, that is, the demigods; if you had kleos, you had fame, and the people knew that you had done something to be respected “So if I get glory, Clarisse wouldn’t mess with me either?” Luke said ‘exactly’, although Emily knew better than that; she knew her sister better than Luke did: Clarisse would still mess with Percy even if he gained kleos, but maybe she just wouldn’t do it everywhere, at any hour, and all alone against him “And my dad’s got no choice but to claim me!”

“That’s something you can’t control” Emily looked Percy in the eyes, shaking her head “You can’t just… force the gods to do anything. Trust me. It doesn’t work like that”

“Well, yeah, but… it would make it harder for him to pretend I don’t exist and not claim me, right?”

He seemed to have a point.

As Percy’s current cabin counselor, Luke took it upon himself to introduce the new boy to all the activities at camp half-blood – this is, with Emily’s help, of course.

“A good source of glory are feats of skill. We just got to find out what you’re good at”

They took Percy to archery practice, where Apollo’s children excelled. When he ended up shooting his arrow at the opposite side where he had to, almost hitting a bunch of demigods standing there (now, laying on the ground to avoid the flying arrow), they figured he didn’t belong in cabin seven.

“Skill comes natural, yes, but training is also important” Emily showed Percy how to properly use the bow (especially to know how to not accidentally almost kill everyone around him), hitting almost perfectly the bullseye “Even if you’re not initially good at something, if you work on it, you’ll improve”

“How long have you been training?” Percy thought she looked his age, maybe a bit younger, but she couldn’t be older than twelve.

“Since I was six. That’s when I first got to camp, and I always stay for the full term, so I’ve gotten many more practice hours than the average summer campers”

“You’ve been living here since you were six?” he couldn’t believe it “For real?”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, and there are monsters outside of camp, so I need the training”

“So you’ve never been outside of here in like… five years?”

“Six years, and no. Chiron sometimes takes us out on… field trips, I guess. And then there’s the winter solstice ceremony, and other gatherings half-bloods can attend”

They went to the strawberry fields, but Percy’s gardening didn’t improve the growth of plants in any special way, so he definitely wasn’t a Dionysus kid (for which Percy seemed very relieved about).

“So… Percy?”

“Yeah?”

“No, I mean, your name” Emily talked to him while they walked back to the more secluded part of the camp, on their way to the forges, where Hephaestus kids worked “I’ve never met a Percy. I remember that… when I was really little, at my mom’s, she would show me these movies and… I think there was one where there was a dog named Percy”

“I… uh…cool. But my mom told me that she named me after Perseus. You know, the hero who killed Medusa. There is a statue of him in the Met museum”

“I know who he is, don’t worry. He’s technically my uncle. Well, mine, and from most people here. Maybe yours too!”

“It still feels kinda weird to me, all of this” he lowered his voice as they kept talking, seriousness invading his expression “I’ve only ever had my mom. Where was my dad when we needed him? The rest of the gods? All you people?”

“Those are the questions most demigods ask themselves once they get here” Luke piped up from a few feet away, looking sadly at him “Why didn’t they tell me sooner? Why wasn’t my dad with us? Why does it have to be me?” his words resonated with Percy’s feelings deeply “But now you’re not by yourself anymore. You have us. And who cares where our parents may be, as long as we have each other”

“Thanks… I guess”

They didn’t have much success at the forges. Percy started out well… until he accidentally threw a burning piece of metal over to a pile of fabric, that burst into flames. Luke sneakily got the three of them out of there before it got worse, and before anyone could notice they were gone, pretending that they didn’t have anything to do with that.

“So… not Hephaestus, apparently” Percy made a face, defeated. They were at the dining hall again, eating at their respective tables, so Emily was now at the Ares table, and him, Luke and Chris at Hermes’ “Is there a Greek god of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid”

“We’re gonna find the thing that you’re good at. I know it”

Percy heard some invisible bells chiming, and suddenly everyone from the Hermes tables was standing up, grabbing their plates.

“It’s our turn” said Luke “Burnt offerings. The gods like the smell, so it gets their attention before you say a prayer”

“They like the smell of burnt Mac and Cheese?”

“They like the smell of begging”

Luke explained to Percy that in order to get the deities’ attention, he had to burn what he would miss the most, because that way they would know that he meant what he was about to say, and they would listen.

Emily was still watching them from her own table, when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“Don’t turn around” a voice whispered. It was Annabeth. She was invisible using the magical Yankees hat her mother, Athena, had gifted her “What do you think of him?”

That’s how things were between Emily and Annabeth: together they shared brains and strength, and they relied on each other for everything. In cases like this, particularly, Annabeth studied from afar, contemplating the facts, while Emily ‘got her hands dirty’, studying up close.

“He isn’t sure where he fits into all of this” Emily mumbled, pretending she chewed on some bread. She wasn’t in the mood for someone questioning her for talking alone out loud “He doesn’t know if this is really his place”

“It is. He wouldn’t have been able to cross the barrier if it wasn’t”

“That’s not what I mean. He’s… insecure. And angry. At his dad, and everyone who never told him about any of this. And he’s also grieving his mom, which doesn’t make the rest any easier”

“I’ll keep an eye on him”

Emily had practice for capture the flag in the afternoon, so she didn’t see Percy anymore until dinner, where he didn’t look any better than during lunch. He disappeared early after the offerings, and she shared a look with Luke when he caught her watching their table.

The Ares cabin had two tables at the dining hall, and Emily never sat with Clarisse; they were like two different teams under the same roof. When they weren’t fighting, both sisters ignored each other, but that doesn’t mean that Emily wasn’t alert for any suspicious moves on her part, like that evening, when Clarisse and two of their siblings were also watching Percy with too much interest.

She knew that Annabeth was also keeping an eye on the boy, so she hoped that if Clarisse was pretending to do what she liked to call her “initiation ceremony” to Percy, Annabeth would be able to prevent her sister from dunking Percy’s head in a toilet before it was too late.

Emily would also try to avoid that, of course. She snuck out of her cabin, like she had done hundreds, if not thousands of times before, and she searched for Clarisse and her minions, who hadn’t even returned to their cabin after dinner even though it was pitch black outside. Percy was also nowhere in sight, and she started to become worried, making her way to the bathhouse, when a loud noise coming from said place alerted her senses.

Hiding behind a nearby tree, accompanied by the owls’ hooting and the faint sound of crickets chirping, Emily saw how her sister and two more of Ares’ children ran back outside, completely drenched in water, anger written all over their face. When they were far enough, Annabeth removed her baseball cap, standing outside of the bathhouse, and she looked around until she spotted Emily.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked her friend, making her way over to join her.

“You’re my best friend. I just did” that was fair enough.

They entered together the bathhouse, where the floor was now flooded, and some faucets were spilling even more water non-stop. A door to one of the toilets’ was completely destroyed, and the wood that was once said door floated now around in the water, in dozens of pieces. Percy stood in the middle of it all, not a single drop of water on him, looking completely clueless. He spotted the two girls at the door when he turned around, both with their arms crossed, mirroring each other perfectly.

“I can explain” he said, warily. Although, he really couldn’t.

“No you can’t”

“…okay. I can’t” he looked at Emily, who he knew, of course, and then at Annabeth. She looked familiar “Wait. I know you”

“No, you don’t”

“Yeah, I do. You were there… that night in the infirmary” Emily hid her smile, remembering how those two had had their meet cute moment “Weren’t you?”

“Yes” this time, she went with the truth “I’m Annabeth”

“Are you stalking me, Annabeth?”

“Yes”

“Okay… Wait, Emily, were you stalking me too?”

“Yes” she shrugged, smiling slightly. She had done it for Annabeth, though, and at that precise moment, because she knew her sister had been up to something, but she didn’t owe him any explanation.

“Why?”

“We were waiting to see if something like this would happen” Emily pointed at the chaos that was now the bathhouse, reassembling a pond.

“So I’d know if you could help me” followed Annabeth.

“With what?” Percy wasn’t understanding much.

“Win capture the flag”

The three of them made their way back to the cabins after that brief conversation, without giving Percy any more explanations, so that they wouldn’t get caught in the flooded bathroom and be blamed for it. Annabeth entered her cabin the first, at the side of the Goddesses cabins, while Percy and Emily made their way to the opposite array of buildings, of the male Gods.

“What did Annabeth mean with ‘Capture the flag’?”

“It’s a game. Ask Luke, he’ll explain everything” Emily only smiled at him, thinking his confused frown looked funny.

“Oh… okay” he remained silent for a few seconds “Look… I didn’t mean to attack your siblings. I’m sorry for that” Percy whispered his apology to her, so to not be heard by anyone; it was past curfew so they shouldn’t be roaming the woods at that hour “Although I’m not really sure I was the one who… actually did that. The water just… disappeared inside the pipeline, and then it shot back up hitting Clarisse and the others”

“The water protected you from them” she bit her lip, thoughtful “I’m sorry that they ambushed you”

“It’s okay… It seems like bullies tend to like me. I’m used to it”

“Well, I’m glad that this time they got what they deserved. I don’t like meanies either” she smiled at Percy, now standing in front of the entrance to her cabin “Goodnight, supreme lord of the bathroom”

Emily took a long time to get asleep that night, analysing what she had witnessed; Percy didn’t seem to fit any particular trait of any of the gods, he wasn’t skilled in any specific task, and he wasn’t as mischievous as most Hermes’ children were.

There was a possibility she didn’t dare to think of: the big three. It couldn’t even be possible… right? They had made a pact to not have any more children after the incident (which was, the second world war), because they were too powerful; that kind of demigods couldn’t be controlled. And there were many other gods, minor ones, who could have fathered Percy.

It was the facts though, like all the fuss they had made about Percy getting to camp, the trouble Grover and him had faced, his victory against the minotaur, and that strange yet very revealing experience in the bathhouse, that made Emily doubt if he could be a forbidden child.

Feeling tense and uneasy, she finally fell asleep, off to dreamland: she was laying under the stars on the grass, watching the archer, the ursa major, and other constellations she knew by heart. She wasn’t alone, though. She didn’t need to look to know who it was: his hand, big and calloused, was pointing up to the sky above them, and although he was explaining something to her, she was more concentrated in the movement of his hand and the flex of his fingers. On one of said fingers was the same ring she carried on her necklace, glistening under the moonlight.

She felt safe in that dream, and a warmth washing over her, soothing her like a balm. She wasn’t really understanding anything he was telling her, his voice muffled as if they were far away from one another, although she could feel him right by her side. Her uneasiness slightly vanished, even if it was just for a few seconds, and she felt reassured by him. When she turned to look at his face, the warmth disappeared, and she woke up.

Emily fought to not open her eyes, clinging to the dream; it was a memory of what seemed another lifetime she deeply missed. She didn’t have time to mourn the past, though: today was the day of capture the flag.

Joining her siblings for one last morning practice, Emily temporarily forgot about her doubts concerning Percy, and focused on training: the Ares cabin had teamed up with Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Dionysus for this game, while Athena, Apollo and Hermes formed the other team. Although Emily’s team had more cabins, the two bigger cabins were the seventh (this is, Apollo), and the eleventh (Luke’s cabin, Hermes).

There were only two children of Mr. D, and Demeter’s offsprings weren’t very into combat, although they liked to fight the Apollo children for using arrows, which were made out of wood (which came from trees, and they refused to participate in any activity that encouraged the senseless slaughter of their arboreal friends!).

Aphrodite’s children weren’t bad at fighting if they wanted to, but they lacked of… the bloodlust Ares’ children had. Emily was friends with their head counselor, Silena Beauregard, as they had spent much time together at the Pegasi stables, of which Silena was in charge of. The Hephaestus demigods were built big and strong, so they were useful for combat, but their best virtue was the weapons they crafted and provided for the game.

One of their strongest weapons wasn’t made by them, though: Clarisse, leader of their team, owned an electric spear, gifted to her by Ares himself. It was her most prized possession, and she liked to show if off every chance she got, using it with her characteristic brute force.

Emily had her own weapon gifted to her by their father, an enchanted throwing knife which disguised as a bracelet, but it wasn’t as flashy or grandiose as Clarisse’s spear. She hated that spear.

Capture the flag would begin after lunch, so after grabbing a quick bite, and burning some of the food, Emily still had some little time to spare. She looked for Grover, and found him in the forest near the lake.

“I need to talk to you”

“Oh, sure, hi” he looked around them, seeming nervous. Although Emily wasn’t as aggressive as most of her siblings, she could be intense, and rather direct. She had often given Grover many jump scares “What’s up?”

“It’s about Percy” his face went serious “Annabeth and I… we are suspecting something. About his parentage”

“I don’t think I can help you with that” he said, shaking his head fast “No, I don’t…”

“You’re also suspecting something, aren’t you?” Grover’s face turned red; she had caught him. Emily smiled, walking closer to him, while Grover walked backwards, distancing himself slowly “I’m not saying you know anything, but… you know him better than we do. You guys were best friends at his school, right? Did anything happen there? Something… suspicious, that could make you think of a specific god?”

“I really can’t talk to you about this” he thought that Emily had been influenced too much by Annabeth, as she had her same ways of relentlessly asking questions, which combined with her resilience, made her implacable. And he would get in trouble if he said anything. Fortunately, the sound of a conch shell in the distance saved him “Oh, look, the game is starting. I would have loved to keep talking to you, but I really need to go now”

“You’re not even competing” she frowned.

“Yeah, sure, but this place is about to become a warzone, and no satyr wants to be around when that happens”

Fair enough, she let him go; she couldn’t be late anyways, so she ran back to her cabin, and quickly put on her armour, before going to the weaponry to grab everything she needed. Her preferred weapons were her throwing knife and a dagger she had had since she was six, which she always carried with her. For capture the flag she stuck to the standard sword and shield, although she was always tempted by the spears. She liked them, it was part of the typical Greek arsenal for battle… but the spears were also Clarisse’s thing, and she didn’t want to be compared to her sister.

Chiron had started to gather both teams at a cliff where the river split the forest in two sides, and fell down the mountain in a waterfall. Most of Emily’s team members were already there, wearing red striped armours like hers, and at the other side of the river, she saw Luke standing alongside the rest of his siblings and teammates, and also Percy; the blue eyed boy wore a blue striped armour over his orange shirt, with a blue crested helmet on his head. His weapons were a shield, and something small he was holding in his hand Emily couldn’t really make out from that far away. On Emily’s side was the red flag they had to defend, and on Percy’s and Luke’s side, the blue flag her team had to snatch to win.

The captains arrived, Clarisse and Annabeth on their respective sides, and Chiron, wearing his favourite tweed jacket and a cream coloured cape over it, greeted everyone cheerfully.

“Welcome, demigods!” he seemed delighted, and he sounded excited “A new game of capture the flag is ahead! As always, the rules are simple: the first team to retrieve the opposing flag and return it across the river shall be the victor. As always, there will be no maiming and no killing. I trust these rules will be respected” those rules had to be installed after some unfortunate events Emily had been glad to not have experienced “Any magical items you may possess, are permitted as well. Every camper who is not injured has to play. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged” those had also been things Emily was glad she hadn’t experienced “Let the games begin!”

After the conch shell blew again, the red team erupted in angry battle cries, banging their shields and various weapons in chaotic rhythms. The blue team let out a collective shout, hitting their shield in unison. Both teams had twenty minutes before the conch sounded a final time, and then it would be game on.

Emily winked at Annabeth, who winked back at her playfully before completely assuming her role as captain once more. Let the best one win.

Clarisse designated different troops for the game, and sent them scattered throughout the forest to attack the blue team and defend their flag. Emily was running off with her squadron, when she caught out of the corner of her eye how Clarisse and two of their siblings separated from their group, heading to a completely different direction.

“Emily, c’mon!”

Sighing, she followed her troop, hoping for the best.

She had her hands full soon anyways. Clarisse didn’t want Emily protecting the teams flag because of her friendship with Annabeth, so she was assigned to holding back the opposite team so that they wouldn’t actually get to the flag; Clarisse wasn’t Emily’s greatest fan, but she knew to not underestimate her. So she was quickly busy fighting Annabeth’s teammates: Emily wasn’t alone of course, as she had four of her siblings and four other demigods to help out. They won the first round, but the next battalion was commanded by Luke himself, and that would be tougher. Much more.

Luke went straight to her; he knew she would be the most difficult one to disarm, so he took it upon himself to fight her. He circled Emily, sword raised defensively, and she mirrored his movements. Luke’s first strike was easy to stop, and with practiced skill she raised her own sword, metal clashing against metal. As Luke pressed forward, Emily countered swift strikes of her own, until one of Luke’s brothers, Chris, joined him and attacked Emily from the other side. She raised her shield defensively, and Luke took his chance to hit her sword again, this time making her lose her grip.

Emily shoved Chris with force, using her shield to add strength to the hit, and when he tripped, she disarmed him as well. Luke attacked again, but Emily jumped to the side in time to avoid the hit of his sword; her own sword was laying on the ground, and she quickly retrieved it using her shield once again to block Luke’s strikes.

“Do you give up?”

“Never”

The two clashed relentlessly, swords meeting in a flurry of strikes and parries. Emily’s determination fueled her every move, strong and skilled, but Luke knew her weak spots like no one else, and so he used them against her. He sent Emily’s sword back clattering to the ground hitting her on the arm, and he dodged her dagger when she threw it at him furiously.

“You Ares kids have a temper!”

“Don’t provoke it then!”

Cornered against a tree, Emily charged against him, letting out an angry scream. Luke managed to get out of the way before she hit him, causing her to stumble forward. She recovered fast, doing a somersault, but when she faced Luke again, he had his sword raised just below her chin – He had the upper hand now.

“Are we done now?”

“Nuhuh, but I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends. I know you need the validation” she let go of her shield, signalling her surrender. She would never admit a defeat out loud, though. Her genes, Ares’ genes, wouldn’t let her.

Luke helped her up, while the rest of her team also recovered. Chris told Luke something about having to move quickly to get the flag before Clarisse showed up, but Luke seemed chill about it.

“Are you so self-confident that you think she won’t manage to kick your ass if she gets her hands on you?” Emily raised her eyebrows at her friend, surprised. Luke only smirked, shaking his head no.

“I’m not that crazy, no. But we suspect that she’s got her own quest going on beside capturing the flag. I’ve spotted her going up the hill in the opposite direction around fifteen minutes ago”

“What quest are you talking about?” she didn’t need to think much to guess it herself “She’s going after Percy?”

“Annabeth’s got a plan, don’t worry. He’ll be fine”

“I hope you’re right”

When Luke and his troop left to go find the red flag, Emily decided she would also leave; they had already been defeated anyways, so she couldn’t prevent Luke from getting her team’s flag, and so she went after Clarisse. The bad feeling she’d had at the beginning of the game seemed to have been right.

Emily ran through the forest, up the hill like Luke had told her, and after some time moving in the opposite direction of where most of the action was happening, she began to hear faint sounds of metal clashing against metal, and the familiar sizzle sound of an electric spear she knew all too well.

To some extent, Emily could understand Clarisse, which was probably one of the main reasons they didn’t get along well. Both of them had been ignored by their father for years now, and not a single thing they did to make him proud seemed to catch his eye. Not a single one. They both lived at camp the whole year, and they trained nearly every single say, trying to always become stronger, faster, and greater. Their mutual competition also helped, she had to admit – they always pushed each other, and it improved their skills. They were their best opponent.

That’s why, when a twelve year old with absolute no preparation got to camp, defeating the Minotaur all by himself, Emily had also had her suspicions. He couldn’t have done it alone, right? Turns out he could, and he did. And instead of being impressed by him and wanting to get to know him more to discover the reason for his spectacular victory, like Emily did, Clarisse could only focus on the fact that some little dumb twelve year old, untrained and unclaimed, had raised more attention to himself in a few days, than she had managed to get in years of being at camp pushing herself to extreme limits to excel.

And it killed Clarisse. She fought so hard to get scraps of her father’s attention, and he never showed her any kind of affection. In her mind, she thought that it was her fault, though, and that if she worked harder for him, he would love her – Emily felt the same way; that’s what she understood so well about her sister. Clarisse’s hard work had barely granted her anything since getting to camp, and Percy was receiving all the glory she deserved and dreamed of, and that he didn’t even seem to want. It wasn’t fair.

That’s why she embraced her darker side, and sought the next best thing after glory: revenge.

Emily got to the top of the hill in time to see Percy running away from her sister and two of her siblings, who went right after him. They would corner Percy from different sides, like hunters with their prey.

She couldn’t just shout out for Percy, as it would reveal her position to her siblings, so Emily ran behind them (lamenting the fact that she had just made it up the hill, and that she now had to run all the way back down with sore legs), trying to figure out their moves: Clarisse was running down in a straight line, not really following Percy, but getting ahead of him, probably to corral him further down the mountain. Her siblings were the ones directly on his toes, and while one of them followed his same footsteps, the other calculated where he would end up passing through, and threw himself at him, sending the boy to the ground.

Percy rolled down to the shore line between bushes and trees, landing on the hard and sharp soil gravel by the lake. Emily’s siblings caught up to him, and Percy stood up quickly, almost tripping while walking backwards to put a distance between him and them, with his sword up; he didn’t go far, though, as Clarisse was waiting for him with her spear pointing at him, ready to fight.

Emily was about to intervene, when a hand on her shoulder stopped her – an invisible hand.

“Annabeth, we have to help him” Emily protested, watching Clarisse laugh at Percy before launching herself at him, almost impaling him like a human kebab “He’s got no chance against them”

“He defeated the minotaur, right?” Annabeth was still invisible, but she could feel, and hear her right beside her. She probably had been watching Percy this whole time, waiting for a fight like this to happen “And he did that thing in the bathhouse. Just… wait and see how it goes”

“Are you sure?”

“Crystal. Trust me on this”

I was hard to look at, though. Emily’s siblings wouldn’t give Percy any respite, however, he managed to grab the electric spear at one point, both him and Clarisse grabbing it now from opposite sites, and he used it to temporarily block her. He landed some good hits on the other two Ares’ demigods, but then Clarisse got Percy to let go of her weapon. Percy rolled on the ground and got his shield back, and after a few seconds where his three rivals reconsidered their options, they attacked him again.

Percy wasn’t trained, but he had a natural talent and he defended himself good, to the point where he blocked Clarisse’s strike, managing to grab the end of her spear again, this time with the same arm he held the shield. After hits, grunts and metal clashes, Percy took the others down, and with both of her siblings on the ground, Clarisse desperately tried to free her weapon from Percy’s grip rolling on the soil, making him trip and fall a few feet away. Alongside the sound of his fall, pants and groans, there was the sound of something hard and metallic breaking apart and a large amount of energy being released all at once

Emily held her breath, just as Annabeth. Percy was alright, and so was Clarisse, but her spear… the electric spear her father had gifted her, which was the only thing she had ever received from him, was now split in two, broken. Both girls held their breath while watching Clarisse assess the damage, seeing the lower half of her favourite weapon in her hands, severed from the half in Percy’s hands.

Clarisse's scream tore through the air like a raw, primal cry of anguish and fury. It echoed off the trees, resonating with the intensity of her emotions as she beheld the shattered remnants of her beloved weapon, devastation on her face.

She charged against Percy, seeing completely red, and Emily couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped forward, just in time to stop Clarisse from grabbing Percy by the straps of his breastplate, who stepped back in terror.

Before Clarisse could lunge at her sister for getting in her way, the conch shell blew, and a second after, Luke and his soldiers ran to the shore holding victoriously the red team’s flag. Annabeth had won.

“The game is over, Clarisse” Emily looked at her sister warily. She was unpredictable when she got angry and hurt, which Emily knew “Leave him”

The older girl only huffed, and walked away with her two companions, holding the remnants of her spear in both hands.

Percy fell to the ground on his knees, panting heavily. The rush of adrenaline was wearing off, and his emotions started rise up him as he caught up with what had just happened – amongst other things, he had nearly died.

“Not bad, hero”

He turned to his right, where there was… nothing. At least, until Annabeth took her Yankees cap off; she walked over to him, and he looked baffled at her.

“Were you here the whole time?” she confirmed it “You were here the whole time and you didn’t help me?” he got the same answer “Why?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and extended her hand out for him to grab. She helped him up, and only then did he look at Emily.

“Thanks for… saving me” he panted, still breathing heavily. His heart was beating a hundred miles per hour, and his blood rang inside his ears “She was going to kill me”

“Listen, Percy…” Annabeth got him to look at her again. She looked him in the eyes, intense gaze studying his blue iris’s, which looked back at her holding onto every word she said “I’m sorry”

Annabeth shoved him in the chest, causing him to stumble and to fall into the lake.

“Annabeth!” Emily looked at her friend in alarm, completely taken aback for what she had just done.

“What is wrong with you?!” shouted Percy, now completely soaked. His cries and Emily’s got everyone’s attention, and the celebration of the blue team’s victory was cut short when every soldier turned to them, watching what was happening.

Percy stood up inside the water, but Annabeth didn’t answer him nor Emily. She only watched him, first with interest, and then with amazement. Emily followed her gaze, and she understood what she was looking at: Percy’s injuries, cuts and blood… were disappearing. He felt how his skin healed, and he watched every scrape vanish before his eyes.

What was happening? How was he healing?

“I don’t understand” he muttered.

The answer came in the shape of a trident.

“Your dad’s calling”

A blue trident floating over Percy’s head. He had been claimed.

Emily, Annabeth, Luke and every single other living being who was there looked at the boy in wonder, in utter silence, the greatness of this once in a lifetime moment embarking their souls. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing: a son of the big three. A forbidden child of the sea god. A demigod singular amongst heroes.

“Percy Jackson” Chiron’s voice resonated through the forest, carrying an intensity that was only possessed by those who had lived thousands of years “You have been claimed by Poseidon. Earthshaker. Stormbringer. Percy Jackson… Son of the Sea God”

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Taglist of the fic: @strawberryys-stuff @ladysybilchronicles @kyuupidwrites @nhloversblog @beansficreblogs @priyajoyy @zeeader @lightsgore

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