Ch.6

As soon as I crossed the fog wall I had to roll. The beast I was fighting had been near the entrance to the bridge and was already attacking. After dodging I stood up and swung my axe into its hind leg, just like before, this time though the tendon in the back of the leg snapped. The beast fell on its knee so I ran forward and performed a visceral attack, noticing that it was hurt pretty bad I decided to keep attacking. I didn't know what all this beast could do and I didn't want to chance it having a high healing factor. I swung my axe into its collar bone, I felt it crack under the impact. That's when the beast roared in pain and swung its larger arm at me, jumping back to dodge I noticed the beast backing away and going into a prayer pose. Deciding this may do something I don't want I threw a molotov to disrupt the beast, it didn't land in time though as the beasts hind leg had healed quite a bit.

"This may take a bit" I muttered while sighing.

I ran in and started swinging my axe while dodging the beast reckless attempts to hit me, every once in a while I would be hit with stone debris and I would have to attack even hard to heal myself. I didn't want to back off to use blood vials as that would give the beast time to heal its wounds. I could tell though that its health wasnt going back to its max as the beast was getting slower.

The fight was long, to long. When I finally killed the beast I noticed that while my strength was no where near it, my skill with my axe and my axes strength more than made up for it. I was just glad that I had defeated it, there were some close calls that could have resulted in my death. It was time for me to go back though. Going back to the dream I walked over to the doll and spotted her asleep, my movement must have wakened her as she looked up and said,

"Ahh, Welcome home, good hunter. I must have drifted off... What is it you desire?"

"I wish to strengthen myself." I responded.

"Very well, let the echoes become your strength. Let me stand close. Now shut your eyes..."

As I kneeled down I said, "I wish to increase my skill, and connection to the arcane."

"Very well good hunter."

Feeling a knew connection with my axe and a deeper connection to my father I stood up,

"I must be going doll, it's time I returned to the waking world." I said with a smile.

"Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world."

Looking around I found a lamp that had never been here next to the headstone I always used to get to Yharnam. Assuming it would bring me back to cabin 11 I kneeled infront of it. As I blinked I noticed I was laying in my sleeping bag next to Percy, looking around I saw that no one else was up. Deciding I'd wake Percy I leaned over and shook him,

"Huuuh?? What? Stooop." He groaned.

Laughing I stood up and kicked him in the rear,

"Get up sleepy head." I said, quietly enough that I wouldn't wake the others.

"Fine, fine, I'll get up. You didn't have to kick me so hard."

"Sorry," I laughed, "so whats the plan for today?" I asked as we both walked outside.

"As far as I know we are doing rock climbing on the lava wall, then capture the flag. I heard we will be using real weapons too, and I had sword fighting classes with real swords. Can you believe that? Honestly scared me. Luke is a great teacher though." Percy rattled off pretty quickly. His ADHD showing itself.

"The lava wall and capture the flag hmm, sounds fun. Lets brush our teeth and get some food though I'm starving." I responded.

□ □ □

That afternoon, I was sitting with Percy at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on

the climbing wall. I had scampered to the top pretty well, but the lava had almost

gotten Percy. Even 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, looking over at Percy I asked,

"Have you spoken to Grover today?"

"Not yet, did you see him on the wall though? He destroyed even you." Percy said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. At least I didn't almost die like a prissy boy Percy." I said, using a classic Nancy refrence.

"Shut up man, you know I hate that." Percy responded while punching me.

"Why don't you make me eh?" I said with a laugh as I pushed him into the water. As he was climbing out though I saw Grover coming over. Grover was Percy's best friend not mine so I decided to be a good big brother and let them have a talk. As I turned around to walk away I said,

"Percy your boy friend is here." And with a laugh I was gone.

~Percy Pov~

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads, just like I had with my brother, 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 career's still on track?

He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"

"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time

to ask. "He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you two yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we all came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"

"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of

you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"

"Of course I'd want you along! I'm sure even Adrian would as well."

Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."

I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable.

We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the

different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.

"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden

forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."

"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"

Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."

"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."

"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their

dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."

"Uh-huh."

"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Let's leave it at that."

"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their

cabins empty?"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed.

I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."

Grover nodded.

"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"

Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV

starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault."

Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other halfbloods.

They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the

girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of

Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."

He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly

Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when

Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters.

She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

I stared at the pine in the distance.

The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save

her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, our victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. I wondered, if we'd acted differently, could we have saved our mother?

"Grover," I said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"

"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea.

"Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."

"And you found Adrian and I. Chiron said you thought we might be something special."

Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If

you guys were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"

I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.

~Mc or Adrian Pov~

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion

carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I heard Percy lean over to Luke and yell over the noise, "Those are the flags?"

"Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he replied. "But often."

"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"

He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?"

He gave Percy a sly look, as if he knew something he didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two

biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and

Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.

Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly

from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.

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What do you think? It was more of a filler chap. If you're wonder why I glossed over the boss fight, that's because even for new players it's an easy fight. Don't worry his next boss fight with Father Gascoigne is going to be insanely hard. If you cam't tell alot of this is from the book, I didn't change much of what happened because there was no reason for it to change, don't worry though the game will change a lot from Adrian and so will the quest.

Enjoy the Chap and if anyone wants to say hi I'll most likely say hi back. Through any suggestions you have my way.