ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪ : 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛 | 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter 4

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. After Percy changed and came back out, campers pointed at him and murmured something about toilet water.

Annabeth and Y/N showed him a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if they didn't get to the top fast enough.

Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

She looked at him skeptically and said, "You need to talk to the Oracle."

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron," Annabeth looked at Y/N, eyes holding some hope. Ofcourse, she wants to go on a quest. She's been waiting for so long.

"How is he supposed to know that?" Y/N said and turned to Percy with a smile, "It's just someone who kind of predicts the future? You'll get it later."

"And how is that even a proper explanation?" Annabeth sighed, "Anyways, I'm getting late. Y/N can tell you the rest."

She probably left because she wasn't that great in explaining things politely, but mostly cause Percy did annoy her with his sassy comments. In these instances, Y/N's bright smile calmed people down instead of overwhelming them any more than they already are. Besides, Annabeth wanted someone to take her place in taking care of the newcomers. She felt like Y/N was a good candidate for it, and she wouldn't lose her cool that easily.

Percy stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give him a straight answer for once. He wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at him from the bottom, so his heart skipped a beat when he noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if he was a long-lost friend.

He didn't know what else to do and waved back.

"Don't encourage them," Y/N warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads," Percy repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."

Y/N sighed, "Sorry, I'm getting used to this too. But don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know."

Percy didn't want to admit it, but he did. He felt a tingling in the limbs, a sensation he sometimes felt when his mom talked about his dad.

"God," he said. "Half-god."

Y/N nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

"That's...crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"