Chapter 3 - Demigods

Visions plagued Percy as he saw fates worse than death, one after another without pause. He was a sailor, a warrior, a monster, a civilian, and everything in between. The only similar thing about the events he experienced was that they all died painful deaths. Almost losing himself in the never ending world of life and death, Percy suddenly found himself on a mountain cliff overlooking a massive storm.

In the distance Percy could spot a massive golden eagle and against this creature was a horse of some kind. Both radiating what Percy could only describe as raw power as he couldn't move a muscle or think, just exist in their presence. The two creatures reared back before clashing against one another, creating a wave of energy that passed by Percy, burning his very being.

"Ahhh!" Percy screamed in pain before opening his eyes and finding himself in an medical bed of some kind.

"Percy!" A familiar voice, Grover said as he woke up from the chair and stood up. "Are you ok? No pain or anything like that?"

"Just a headache that's getting worse with your screams." Percy said as he rubbed his head as strange memories still flooded his mind. "What happened after I fainted?"

"Well." Grover started to explain. "I managed to convince some campers to come and help rescue you from the horde of monsters but, it looked like you had things covered. Oh, and you've been asleep for about a week."

"What!" Percy said in shock before remembering what had happened as well as the last fury. "There was one last monster about to kill me. Did someone take her out?"

Grover was about to speak until a knock sounded from the door. Grover and Percy turned to face a lean brown haired girl with hazel eyes holding a large horn that had a finely cut base. She seemed to be just a tad older than Percy, wearing an orange shirt just like Grover and brown shorts with running shoes. She walked over and tossed the ox horn at Percy who caught it in one hand effortlessly.

"Nice reflexes killer." The girl said before introducing herself. "Name's Sarah Smith, daughter of Hephaestus and I've got to say, you've got quite the interesting weapon."

"Uh. Nice to meet you too." Percy said before introducing himself. "Percy Jackson, and it's not really my weapon but it's called Riptide."

"Percy Jackson huh." Sarah said before going wide eyed. "Wait! Riptide?! Anaklusmos! You mean the weapon that was wielded by Heracles in the old days?!"

Percy was also shocked at this as he didn't know the weapon he was using had such a history. He felt the now familiar weight in the pocket of his pants, which weren't even his own pants, as he pulled it out. Hearing a loud exhale, he turned to Sarah and found her holding her cheeks with a strange look.

"Can I please hold her?! Just for a second!" Sarah begged on her knees and Percy nodded.

She snatched the pen from Percy's hand as she uncapped it, releasing it's full length as she touched every corner of the blade. Even cutting her finger on the edge but she didn't care much for the blood as she simply sucked on her finger before she capped the sword back into a pen and handed it back to Percy.

"She's beautiful. Too bad about the bad history it has." Sarah said, seemingly satistfied with whatever urge she had.

"Did something bad happen with the sword?" Percy asked.

"Kind of." Sarah said before explaining. "This sword originally belonged to Zoe Nightshade, forged in the fires of Mount Etna and cooled in the River Lethe. She gave it to Heracles on his quest to the golden apples she was guarding and was banished due to this. Heracles didn't even give her credit for his victorious accomplishment and even took the blade for himself."

"Wow. That sucks." Percy said before asking. "So what happened to her?"

"I heard she joined the Immortal Girl Scouts of Artemis." Sarah said before making her way out of the room. "If you ever need some weapons or armor made, please come to the armory and find me."

After she walked out, Percy looked back at pen and the horn that he had in his hands. No, the minitour horn in his hands as he somehow knew. Memories about the minitour surfaced in his mind again as he remembered fragments about a maze of some kind. Before he could delve deeper into the memories, Groover interrupted him and the memories started to fade.

"Here. Have some nectar and ambrosia." Grover said holding a cup with amber liquid and what looked to be brownies on a platter. "These are the food and drink of the gods. Having just a little will help any magical creature or demigod heal faster than normal. Well, more than you already heal I suppose but don't give it to any human mortal."

"Why's that?" Percy asked as he took the cup and plate from Grover.

"They'd explode." Grover said simply.

"Noted." Percy said before trying the drink first.

The liquid was almost like a syrup as it tasted like chocolate chip cookies, freshly baked. As for the brownies, they tasted like smores that were toasted in the flames just right. As he swallowed the combination of food and drink, Percy felt his body's energy levels rising just as Grover had said before. Deciding he was ready to get up and about to find his answers to what had happened yesterday, Percy rolled over and stood up.

Only to fall down as Percy muttered. "Ah crap."

Luckily Grover grabbed him and put him back into the bed, explaining. "You need rest Percy. You've fought a literal small army of monsters that would have killed any demigod multiple times over."

"Fine." Percy said before stating. "But I believe it's time I got some answers."

Grover was about to explain until another knock was heard by the door and a girl about Percy's age with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes walked in. She wore a similar outfit to the previous girl with an orange shirt with the words camp half blood on it with blue short jeans.

"I believe I can help you with your questions." The girl said with a smile.

Percy looked back at Grover who nervously introduced her. "This here is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

"Percy Jackson." Percy said as he asked. "So does that mean you're super smart or something?"

"Oh. So you do know your greek mythology." Annabeth said.

A comment which made Grover laugh as he stated. "This guy? Good at greek mythology? He's failed the first two quarters of the class and the third would have been next if it wasn't for, well, this event."

Percy raised an eyebrow at Groover before he started speaking. "Athena, daughter of Zeus though not in the conventional way as she was born from his head after he had a headache. She's then since become the goddess of Wisdom and War, a part of the twelve major Olympian gods."

Everyone was shocked as Percy stated to Grover. "So, did I pass the third quarter."

"Um. Yeah." Grover said before shyly stating. "I didn't know you were studying."

"Well we weren't close now were we?" Percy said, feeling a warmth beginning to spread throughout his body from his core.

Grover had a sad expression as he said. "Sorry."

Even after hearing that apology, the emotions boiling within him seemed to want to explode but luckily Annabeth took his attention away as she clapped her hands.

"Alright." Annabeth said. "What do you want to know?"

Percy thought for a second before he spoke. "So am I correct to assume that demigods are the children of divine beings and humans."

"Yes." Annabeth answered.

"Then that means my supposed dead dad is still alive and kicking around huh." Percy said, his eyes going cold.

Grover and Annabeth turned a little pale as she stated. "You can't go around saying things like that Percy."

Percy's sea green eyes turned a shade darker before they settled down and Percy took a deep breath to calm down, stating. "My mom died just a month ago, I was almost killed by my math teacher, then almost killed by multiple monsters. Then I finally learn that my dad, who's a god by the way, left my mom alone to suffer by herself with an abusive husband. So yeah, I'm a little upset."

"And you have every right to be." Annabeth said before explaining. "But he's still your father."

Percy looked at Annabeth for a moment before sighing. "I guess I should be happy to have at least one parent still alive."

Though Percy had said this, inside of his mind all he could think about was how his father could have done something to save his mother. To try and save him when he was surrounded by monsters but in the end, Percy moved past this. He decided that he didn't need his father's help as the man had left him since his birth. No matter who his father was, the man was already dead.

"I feel like your still angry so take some time to think." Annabeth said as she started walking to the exit. "Once you feel better you should come to the big house up the hill. You'll find the camp Mr. D who runs the camp and Chiron the activities director. There are some shoes by the door when your ready."

"Alright." Percy said as Annabeth left the room.

"I've got to go too." Grover said as he left the room.

Once the two had left and Percy was alone, the boiling emotions within him settled down and he could finally breath in peace. It was a strange sensation that had never happened before and he would have chalked it up to puberty if it wasn't for all the supernatural evens that were happening around him. Deciding to take a walk to calm his mind, Percy tried to stand up and despite getting a little blurry vision he had managed to do it.

Looking at his clothes which consisted of dark sweats and an orange shirt, Percy took the same exit as the other two and found himself standing before multiple campers of all ages within the teens but never below or above. This was strange but living in a world of monsters, Percy could only guess that assume that living long wasn't a demigod specialty.

"Well. I guess I should explore a little." Percy said as he put on some running shoes that fit him perfectly. "That's nice."

Walking around the paths in the camp, Percy found kids practicing their swordplay, climbing what looked to be a fake mountain with lava spilling down, and many other sports. It was quite interesting and Percy felt a little excited to try them out until he bumped into someone.

"Watch it you... Oh it's the newcomer." A nearly masculine voice rang from a large girl.

Percy found that the person he had bumped into was an older girl that had pale brown hair, built like a rugby player. She had two boys beside her as she grinned like a typical evil villain.

"Sorry about that." Percy said as he tried to move past her but the two taller boys blocked him.

"Where do you think you're going?" The girl said before introducing herself. "I'm Clarisse La Rue and since you're a newbie here, we're going to have to give you an initiation."

Cracking her knuckles, Clarisse grinned and stated. "Welcome to Camp Half Blood."

Quickly understanding the situation, a hot sensation exploded from within Percy as grabbed the boy on the left by his hair and pulled him down. Raising his knee, Percy shattered the boy's nose and proceeded to evade a punch from the other boy, locking the boy's arm within his own in the same movement. With a tight grip and a strong twist, Percy snapped the boy's arm and kicked his knee inside which brought the boy down.

The girl named Clarisse tried to grab Percy and since she was already too close, he headbutted her nose and struck her throat with a punch as she stumbled back in pain. Struggling to breath, Clarisse held her neck as she fell to her knees and Percy walked behind her, grabbing her hair, pulling her until her left ear was next to his mouth.

"I'm tired and need some alone time so do understand why I'm not playing nice." Percy whispered before stating. "If you try and play any stupid games with me, be prepared for the consequences because next time I won't be so nice."

Pushing her into the ground, Percy walked away. Ignoring the stared and mutters being said by the strangers who were most likely also demigods. After he walked all the way to the nearby beach which was empty, Percy couldn't help but sit down, leaning back into the sand as he looked at the sea in front of him. Thinking back to a few moments ago when the bully tried to act against him, Percy couldn't help but wonder why he had acted like that and how he could be so merciless.

Reminded of the strange warmth he had felt before he went wild alongside the strange memories he had been seeing, Percy sighed and muttered to himself. "What the hells happening to me. Demigod puberty?"