by Rick Riordan
Page 13
Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.
Clarisse sat behind me at Aress table. Shed apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.
Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"
Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"
Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course. "
I said, "Cherry Coke. "
The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.
Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke. "
The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.
I took a cautious sip. Perfect. . . . . .
I drank a toast to my mother.
Shes not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. Shes in the Underworld. And if thats a real place, then someday. . .
"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.
I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.
"Come on," Luke told me.
As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.
Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell. "
"Youre kidding. "
His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldnt help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.
Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes. "
I was next.
I wished I knew what gods name to say.
Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.
I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.
When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didnt gag.
It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldnt have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.
When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.
Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose Id better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels. "
A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.
"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldnt care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson. "
Chiron murmured something.
"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "Thats right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on. "
Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollos cabin led a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate smores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didnt feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.
Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didnt realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.
My fingers curled around the Minotaurs horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.
When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.
That was my first day at CampHalf-Blood.
I wish Id known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.
8. WE CAPTURE A FLAG
The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you dont count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.
Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasnt that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.
The rest of the day, Id rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quick I wasnt any good with a bow and arrow. He didnt complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.
Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. Theyd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.
And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.
"Theres more where that came from, punk," shed mumble in my ear.
The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasnt the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.
I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they werent having an easy time of it. I wasnt as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I didnt have Hephaestuss skill with metalwork or—gods forbid— Dionysuss way with vine plants. Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didnt know what to make of me either.
Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling Id always had, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back. . . .
I started to understand Lukes bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldnt they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldnt my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?
Thursday afternoon, three days after Id arrived at CampHalf-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.
We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.
The problem was, I couldnt find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.
We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.
"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Lukes the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. "
"Maybe hell go easy on me," I said.
The camper snorted.
Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," hed say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!"
Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!
By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.
Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didnt feel so awkward.
"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesnt mind, I want to give you a little demo. "
Great, I thought. Lets all watch Percy get pounded.
The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured theyd been in my shoes before and couldnt wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemys blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.
"This is difficult," he stressed. "Ive had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique. "
He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.
"Now in real time," he said, after Id retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.
The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasnt right. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?
I tried the disarming maneuver.
My blade hit the base of Lukes and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.
Clang.
Lukes sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.
The other campers were silent.
I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry. "
For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.
"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"
I didnt want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.
This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.
After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginners luck?"
Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword. . . . "
Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.
We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.
His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.
"Fine," he said. "Just great. "
"So your careers still on track?"
He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searchers license?"
"Well. . . no. " I had no idea what a searchers license was, but it didnt seem like the right time to ask. "He just said you had big plans, you know . . . and that you needed credit for completing a keepers assignment. So did you get it?"
