Chapter 4 - Strange Extra Senses

Once Percy had calmed down, he suddenly felt a wave of vertigo hit him. Similar to what he had felt after killing almost all of the monsters before but more akin to a starved feeling than an explosion of heat. Thinking that it was due to his earlier fight with Clarisse after having just woken up from a coma, Percy got up and made his way to the big house up by the top of the hill.

On the way, he could see demigods still talking about him or someone opposite of him but he wasn't as optimistic enough to think that. What was stranger even more so was that Percy could feel their presence around him like little bonfires giving off some strange heat. Shaking his head from the sensations he experienced, he soon found himself before a rather large house, a big one, just like Annabeth had said and found two individuals sitting on the porch between a card table.

One had long brown hair and wore a brown suit and tie. While the other man wore a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals. The latter one scowling while the former smiled at the board game they were playing a game called Pinochle.

"....How do I know what that is?" Percy wondered as the two men finally noticed him.

"Welcome to Camp Half Blood Percy." A familiar man known as Mr. Brunner, Percy's Latin teacher said as he stood up.

"You can walk Mr. Brunner?" Percy said, remembering the man was in a wheel chair before noticing that Mr. Brunner didn't lower body like a human but that of a horse. "...And you're a Centaur?"

"So you were paying attention to my class." Mr. Brunner said before stating. "Yes. I am a centaur as well as the camp activities director known as Chiron, my real name."

"Seems like everyone's got a secret identity here." Percy said before looking at the other man who turned to him with a scowl.

"Looks like the newest Demigod has awoken from his beauty nap." The man said. "Welcome to camp. I'm Mr. D and you'd best not cause me any trouble."

Percy was about to yell at the man and accuse Mr. D of bringing trouble to him but felt something was off and stopped himself as something told him to not finish his words. Percy listened to his instincts as they were the only reason he was even alive at this point. He then finally noticed something different about Mr. D compared to everyone else using the strange sense he had noticed he had.

While the Demigods could be comparable to bonfires, Mr. D could be said to be like the sun itself with a heat that threatened to kill Percy at any moment. It was suffocating to even be in this presence but even so, the warmth within him tried to come out. Thinking between death and life, Percy forced his mind to calm down and stay silent. Fighting the urge within him to pull out Riptide and slash at the man.

"Nothing? No screams of anger? Annoyance? Sadness?" Mr. D said before laughing. "I don't know whether to be pleased or disappointed in you. Then again, without any wine in my life everything is disappointing."

Seeing that Percy wasn't in the right mindset, Chiron interjected and said. "How about I give you a formal guide around camp. You should still have some time before Annabeth get's your bunk ready in the Hermes Cabin."

"Sure." Percy said, biting his tongue in hopes that he could move his mind away from murderous thoughts.

Walking away from the big house, Percy couldn't help but ask Chiron. "Who was that man?"

Chiron chuckled as he answered. "That being is no man Percy, but a god. Can you guess which God he is from just seeing him."

Memories roamed through Percy's mind as one name popped up and he answered, quite angrily as the events earlier was still fresh in his mind. "Dionysus."

"Correct." Chiron said, slightly surprised before stating. "He is one of the twelve major gods of greek mythology and runs the camp after being punished by his father. Another thing to note is to never say their true names if you can help it. Especially in such an emotional manner."

"Why is that?" Percy asked.

"Names, especially godly names have power beyond what you might think is possible. Just muttering their names can get their attention on you." Chiron explained.

"Oh. That's just great." Percy said as he was shown around, visiting all of the places he had already seen.

With the last stop being the cabins, Percy noted that there were only twelve buildings in the shape of a U and a large bonfire in the middle as Chiron explained. "These are the demigod cabins, dedicated to the twelve major gods and their children. At the far back middle, you can see the cabin of the king of the greek gods alongside his wife with their symbols etched onto the entrance. The lightning bolt and lotus respectively. You can guess the rest."

Percy understood as he saw a trident, a black helm, and many other symbols of the greek gods which confused him once again as he didn't know how he knew this. Even so, through this confusion he couldn't help but notice that more than a lot of demigods gathered around one cabin while some didn't even get close to the others.

So Percy asked. "How come there's so many demigods around the Hermes cabin but not the big three. I'd have expected the Zeus cabin to have at least a hundred."

"The myths do indeed say many things about Zeus' mortal affairs and you would have been right if not for what happened over a hundred years ago." Chiron said before explaining. "The children of the great three were powerful considering their heritage and due to some differences, they had a war. You might know it as world war 2."

"Woah." Percy said, quite shocked.

"The battle was terrible and after this event, the big three made an oath to the River Styx to never have anymore children." Chiron said.

"Well I suppose that's one way to do it." Percy said as once again, memories of what the River Styx flowed into his mind.

The River Styx was one of five magical rivers which separated the realm of the living and dead. If one were to make a promise or oath in the river's name and not fulfil what they have said, they would suffer through a fate worse than death. With the exception of the gods as they were divine beings too powerful to outright kill or affect. So instead the River Styx would target their loved ones or someone they had affection for.

"Quite a terrible deal for their loved ones." Percy noted before seeing Annabeth coming out of the Hermes Cabin.

"Huh. I thought you were a daughter of Athena?" Percy said with a raised eyebrow.

"I am." Annabeth said before stating. "But since you're undecided you'll be staying in the Hermes cabin until that happens."

"Undecided?" Percy repeated as he questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means your godly parent hasn't decided to show everyone you are their child. All of them go into the Hermes Cabin until then but after about a week that chance becomes near zero. Even then if your godly parent does become known, you'll still stay there due to the fact that there are no cabins for the minor gods. " Annabeth said and was about to continue speaking until he felt a chill run up her spine.

Percy had a frown but that wasn't what turned her blood cold as his sea green eyes darkened visibly with a light glow, which was strange even for a demigod. Conclusions ran through her head as to how and why this was happening before she smiled. Thinking that Percy had felt angry for those that were left undecided. She was half right as Percy was indeed angry for those kids but he was also angry at the gods and how they couldn't even be bothered to create more cabins. Not to mention that whenever the gods or any monsters were brought up, Percy felt the strange heat rise up within him.

"It seems your tour will have to end here as I have other responsibilities to attend to. One being setting up the capture the flag game we have later this afternoon." Chiron said as he walked, no, galloped away.

"Come on." Annabeth said as she waved for Percy to follow.

Which he did after shaking away the strange heat that had popped up again, wondering. "I need to find out what the hell that thing is."

Once inside the relatively empty cabin, he was shown his bunk which was quite small but Percy couldn't do anything about it since he was undecided. A fact that he felt was quite sad as it had meant that a demigod's parents had neglected their children, seeing as so many demigods were in the Hermes cabin. Making Percy feel that the gods were extremely irresponsible even with all their powers.

"So this is your bunk. How do you like it?" Annabeth asked.

"It's better than the floor I suppose." Percy said as he tested the bed and felt that it actually wasn't all too bad.

"Good." Annabeth said before asking in a quite voice. "So is it true?"

"About what?" Percy asked, wondering what she meant.

"About you beating up Clarisse." Annabeth said. "People are saying how a new guy had beaten up Clarisse and her two henchmen with almost no trouble."

"....I'm not going to get in trouble for that am I?" Percy asked, slightly hoping he wouldn't be thrown out into the woods.

"What? No." Annabeth said before stating. "We're demigods, heroes. We're supposed to fight and train ourselves to survive against the monsters in this world. Only when you kill another demigod will there be a problem. Especially if you're undecided of if your godly parent is weaker than the other, though it depends on the situation honestly."

"Well that's just wonderful." Percy said before asking. "So is Clarisse undecided or..."

"She's a child of Ares." Annabeth said before grabbing Percy's shoulder and holding her head as she stated. "It was fun meeting you while it lasted."

Memories appeared and Percy felt a little despair as he realized that Ares was the god of War in the greek world as he said. "Well shit."

Annabeth laughed at this as she slapped Percy's arm and stated. "Relax Percy. Ares only respects his strong children and if they lose, he'll just ignore them."

"Oh." Percy said feeling a little relieved while also angry at how weak he was with no control over his own fate.

"So how about you join me in this afternoons weekly capture the flag contest?" Annabeth said. "It's going to be red vs blue. I'm in the blue team and Clarisse is in the red team."

"What's the catch?" Percy said as he felt this couldn't be any normal capture the flag game considering a demigod's lifestyle of monsters and survival.

"Well it's going to be more or less a battlefield. Almost like an actual battle with weapons and armor and strategies to take out the opponents through knockouts or surrenders." Annabeth said while adding. "Just no fatal attacks."

"Just no fatal attacks huh. Well that's totally safe." Percy said sarcastically before answering. "I think I'm good."

"Everyone's going to think you're weak though." Annabeth said, egging Percy to join. "Plus, your powerful so you've gotta join."

Percy felt a tinge of irritation and was about to refuse again until he felt the strange heat rise up from his core as he said. "Fine."

"A good decision." Another older male voice said, coming from the entrance of the cabin.

The person who walked in was a man about nineteen years old with blonde hair and a deep scar running down his eye to his chin. He looked athletic, like a runner with more muscle and had a sword on his hip a little longer than Riptide.

"Luke!" Annabeth said, turning red as she played with her ponytail.

"Hey Annabeth." The young man named Luke said before turning to Percy. "She'll never give up once she's determined to do or get something, she can get quite stubborn. Might as well make it easier on yourself kid."

Percy didn't answer right away as he felt something not quite right with Luke. Aside from the usual power he decided to call divine energy within demigods and demonic energy in monsters, Percy also felt something darker within the core of his being. With nothing to compare it to however, Percy could only guess that it was due to some unnatural ability like his strange sensory ability and strange heat within him.

Seeing that he couldn't keep silent forever, Percy stated. "I've already agreed to the match and I can see how she's like that."

"First of all, I'm not stubborn. I'm Driven." Annabeth said, still red as she stated. "Secondly, I know when to give up when the time is right!"

Storming outside, Percy looked on in confusion as she seemed to be quite a smart and cool headed girl. This was quite the opposite impression he had but it was interesting to see. Especially since the man in front of him, Luke, seemed to be the cause.

"How did you make her all flustered like that?" Percy asked.

"Dunno." Luke said before smirking. "But I've heard it's because I'm just naturally charming."

"Ok then." Percy said before introducing himself. "Percy Jackson."

"Oh I know. The Bully Slayer, as some have been calling you now." Luke laughed and said. "As you've heard from Annabeth, my name is Luke. Luke Castellan and I guess I'll see you in about three hours at the game."

"Alright." Percy said before he watched Luke walk out.

"Looks like not all demigods are bad." Percy said before suddenly wondering if he could direct his strange extra sense inwards.

Deciding to experiment, Percy sat on his bunk and closed his eyes to concentrate. A feat Percy had thought would be hard considering his ADHD but instead was quite easy, even relaxing. He could feel the presence of the other demigods and noticed that their divine energy's had different sensations to them like how everyone had different faces. Moving back to himself however, Percy was so shocked he almost lost his concentration as the divine energy within himself was enormously large, almost ten times larger than even Luke who seemed to have the largest pool of this energy.

Diving in deeper, he also noticed that while his divine energy was almost sea blue in color with a hint of green and golden wisps. There was also strands of black and red energy swirls similar to the monsters he had killed which worried Percy. Moving past it for now as it didn't seem to hurt him, Percy found something dark within the center of his being surrounded by his divine and apparently demonic energy. Something that seemed to be the source of his strange power that appeared with a burst of emotions of rage. It also gave him a frightening sense of doom beyond anything he had felt before. This was after comparing it to a literal god and monsters too.

Opening his eyes, Percy decided not to make contact with whatever it was within him for now and focus on the capture the flag game. Looking at the clock to see how much time was left, Percy was shocked to find that two hours had passed and there was just one hour left.

"Well that's just great." Percy said, his stomach rumbling at the same time. "And I'm hungry."