Chapter 1
Harry Potter, also known as Percy Jackson, was having a nightmare. The sleep vision involved the warlock standing in the middle of a deserted street in a Florida beach town at midnight. The perceptive sorcerer instinctively knew the dream's location was Florida from the smell of the ocean air around him. The teen turned at the sound of hooves clopping down the street to see his satyr friend Grover running towards the demigod.
The wind was blowing hard as Grover clopped along as fast as he could with his tennis shoes in his hands so he could run faster. Grover was terrified of whatever was obviously chasing him. The human goat hybrid's fur was caked with wet sand so he had apparently just come from the beach. A bone rattling growl suddenly emitted from a shadowy figure at the end of the block. A shower of sparks was created as the large figure swatted aside a street lamp.
Harry couldn't see what the creature was but the phoenix mage could hear the shadowy beast's angry mutters. Grover had just run into a dead end. The panicked nature lover ran into the nearest store which had a sign reading: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE. The green eyed wizard's satyr friend dove behind a rack of wedding dresses to hide. The shadow of the large creature descended on the shop. The warlock could smell the creature easily enough. Grover's pursuer smelled like wet sheep wool, rotten meat, and that strange sour body odor only monsters emit. Grover breathed a sigh of relief as the shadow passed.
Just then lightning flashed as the front of the store exploded before a loud voice boomed, "Miiine!"
At that moment Harry woke up from his nightmare in his bed at the nice apartment he shared with his mother, Sally Jackson. The experienced wizard quickly used his occlumency training to calm his racing heart because the blood pumping organ had become prepared for battle during the nightmare. The fully awake teen soaked in the morning sun's rays which shone through his bedroom window. For a second Harry thought he saw a shadow at the window which looked vaguely human. Just as the son of Poseidon reached out his power based senses to see what the shape was there was a knock on his door.
"Percy, you're going to be late," Sally Jackson called through the closed bedroom door. Whatever was at the wizard's window was gone when he turned away from the door to check after his mother's shout. The warlock was amused that his mother had apparently scared the figure away. "Come on dear. It's the last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it," Sally encouraged when she got no answer from her son.
"I'm coming mom," the mage replied as he got out of bed.
Harry quickly ran through a set of morning exercises he routinely carried out. Not having the time the conventional way the crafty sorcerer used a time dilation spell on a region of space surrounding his exercising form by several feet in each direction. The exercises not only kept the son of Poseidon in shape but relaxed him as well. While working out, Harry thought upon the meaning of the dream for a while before finally deciding that he should put it aside for later. Whatever comes would come and the powerful Godling would face it.
Finishing his workout Harry released the time dilation spell causing the world around him to speed back up to a normal pace from his point of view. The view around the warlock appeared frozen before the spell field collapsed as the dark haired youth moved through time extremely fast compared with the rest of the universe. Walking into his private bathroom (Harry loved the new apartment) the water wizard concentrated on the water in the pipes. The H2O shot out of the pipes and surrounded its master, moving at extremely high speeds. He also took control of some soap and shampoo from several bottles in the shower. The mixture of water and soap took the dirt, sweat, and other nasty things away from Harry's body leaving him feeling refreshed and clean. With a blast of phoenix fire the remaining water rose as steam off of the clean teen's dry body.
"It's great to be me sometimes," Harry mused aloud with a grin and a laugh before dressing for his last day of school.
Harry was especially excited because tomorrow he would be returning to Camp Half-Blood, his second true home besides the new apartment he lived in with his mother. When the raven maned sorcerer arrived in the kitchen he discovered his mother had made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. It was a running joke between mother and son as to why she enjoyed using blue food. Today the mage suspected the special coloring's use was in celebration of her son passing seventh grade, and at the top of his class too. Ever since Harry Potter and Percy Jackson had merged Percy Jackson's grades had gone from abysmal to straight A's.
"This food is great mom," Harry praised his mother's cooking as he hungrily ate after his workout.
"Someone is sure chipper this morning," Sally observed with a smile as she loaded the dish washer.
"Mom I told you that you don't need to do that anymore," the exasperated mage pointed out before waving his hand and causing the dishes to start loading themselves.
"I know I just feel so useless around here. I mean you can clean the entire apartment with a wave of your hand," Sally explained as she sat down beside her only son.
"Mom you are never useless. Your job is to make sure I don't do anything too stupid," the warlock seriously informed the caring woman before hugging her.
"Ahhh…thank you honey but I thought that was Annabeth's job," Sally teased as she pulled back from the hug.
"Only when we are at Camp," Harry answered with a grin as he thought of his girlfriend who the mage hadn't seen in person all summer.
The couple had been in contact constantly throughout the summer via the communications mirror Harry had given Annabeth. The warrior warlock was proud of his mother for not reacting negatively at the mention of Camp. Sally was much more relaxed about the fact that her son was a half blood Son of Poseidon with monsters always trying to kill the teen after he showed her a bit of his true power. Even only showing the intelligent Jackson female a fraction of the phoenix sorcerer's real power convinced her that he wouldn't be getting hurt from any average run of the mill monster.
"I tell you what. To celebrate you passing seventh grade I will take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like," Sally informed her son.
"Well that would be a rather nice send off to camp," agreed the Hallow master.
"Ah, dear, about that…I got a message from Chiron last night," Sally began hesitantly.
"What did he say?" Harry questioned.
"He thinks…it might not be safe for you to come to Camp just yet. We might have to postpone," Sally clarified.
Harry snorted before replying, "Safe is a relative term mom. I'm safe as long as I have my wits about me."
"I know that dear. We'll talk more about it after school," the woman declared with a smile as it was getting close to the time for Harry to leave for school.
"Ok, we'll talk then. I love you mom," the wise wizard proclaimed before kissing his mother on the cheek and giving her a hug.
Harry made sure never to forget to tell his mother how much he cared for her whenever he left her because a person never knew what would happen in the future. A previous life as an orphan really makes a person appreciate their parents.
"I love you too dear," Sally assured her son as she returned the hug.
Harry grabbed his backpack which had a feather light charm on it before leaving the apartment to go meet his friend Tyson.
The day at Meriwether College Prep started out pretty calmly. Meriwether was labeled as a "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan. The progressive label means the students don't get grades, they sit on beanbag chairs instead of desks, and the teachers wore jeans and rock concert T-shirts to class.
So it needed to be put into perspective what exactly it meant for Harry to be top of his class. The mage's class didn't exactly contain the brightest stars in the sky metaphorically speaking. A good example of this lack of intelligence was in the warlock's English class for that last day of class. The students had just finished reading Lord of the Flies. The book involved kids going psycho while being marooned on an island. For the class' final exam the teachers sent the students into the break yard with no supervision for an hour to see what would happen.
What the progressive educators got was a wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, several pebble fights (that's right they threw pebbles at each other), and a game of full tackle basketball. A kid named Matt Sloan, the school bully, led most of these activities. Sloan was giving everyone wedgies until the moron tried it on Harry's good friend Tyson.
Tyson was homeless until Harry had found the tall teen. It took the mage a bit but eventually the wizard could see through the mist surrounding Tyson. Tyson was a Cyclopes. Despite the myths surrounding cylcopes Harry wasn't prepared to judge an entire race by a few legends. Tyson had never done anything to harm the sorcerer or those Harry cared about. It didn't even take a small chunk out of the wealthy wizard's bank account interest to set Tyson up with a small apartment near the school.
Tyson was six foot three and built like the abominable snow man (Harry would know because he had encountered a Yeti in his old reality). Tyson cried a lot and was scared of his own reflection but he was a good kid. Tyson talked like he was slow in the head like all Cyclopes were rumored to be but the teen was very intelligent in certain things and when it matters most.
Harry found the one eyed teen in a cardboard refrigerator box in an alley off 72nd street. The school staff and students had adopted Tyson as a community service project to make themselves feel good. This pretty much meant the institution of learning provided Tyson's meals during the school day so Harry didn't have to, even though the mage would gladly do so if the extra help was necessary. When the other students found out that the tall Cylopes was actually a softie at heart they started picking on the single eyed teen, but the bullies never were brave enough to do too much. The cruel students knew if they hurt the scary Percy Jackson's friend the dark haired teen would hurt them back much worse.
When the short and stocky Matt Sloan snuck up behind Tyson and tried to give the much taller teen a wedgie the one eyed intended victim panicked. Tyson swatted Sloan fifteen feet away where the bully got tangled in a children's tire swing.
"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"
Tyson began sobbing and went over and sat down on the jungle gym, bending the steel bar in the process.
"I would suggest you apologize, Sloan," Harry spoke with a calm tone.
Inside his mind Harry was using his occlumency to suppress the rage he felt. Using the word freak around the abused as a child wizard was a bad idea. The hateful description brought back bad memories of a time when the Dursleys ruled Harry Potter's life.
"Why do you even bother Jackson? You might actually have friends if you weren't always sticking up for that freak," Sloan declared with a sneer that reminded the warlock of Draco Malfoy.
Sloan would definitely be getting a visit from Harry later on when school wasn't in session. The sorcerer wasn't stupid enough to cause a fight during school. The green eyed mage had no desire to undo all of the hard work his loving mother had performed to get her son into the progressive school close to their apartment. Of course he knew he could just memory charm the teachers if anything serious happened but he preferred to obliviate mortals as a last resort in most cases.
Harry noticed Sloan and his many thuggish goons were laughing hysterically. It seemed like there were more bullies than usual. There were half a dozen more Sloan cronies that the warlock didn't recognize. Something tickled at the back of Harry's mind about the thugs but the wizard ignored the sensation, having more pressing things to worry about, like Tyson's feelings. If there had been any immediate danger the well practiced warrior wizard's instincts would have driven him to action.
"Just wait till PE Jackson. You are so dead," Sloan threatened with a shout while keeping his distance from Tyson.
Harry promised to buy Tyson several extra peanut butter sandwiches at lunch which calmed the upset Cyclopes down a bit.
"I…I am a freak?" The one eyed teen hesitantly asked his only true friend.
"No Tyson you are my friend. I will always stay your friend," the world wise mage assured his magical friend.
"You are a good friend. Miss you next year if…if I can't…," Tyson trailed off.
Harry realized the Cyclopes didn't know if Meriwether would take him back for the community service project.
"Tyson no matter what I'll make sure you have a good place to stay and you can hang out with me," the warlock assured his friend.
Harry was rewarded with a big goofy grin from the taller teen which the wizard returned.
The next final exam was in science. Mrs. Tesla, the teacher, had the groups mixing together chemicals until they made an explosion. Personally Harry thought the woman was insane. The teacher didn't specify how big she wanted the explosion to be. The reality traveling mage could have easily generated a nuclear explosion after what he did as he was leaving his old universe. With Tyson as the warlock's lab partner a nuclear explosion turned out to be completely unnecessary as Tyson's big hands accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals into the trash can, creating an orange mushroom cloud.
After the class had been evacuated and the hazardous waste removal people were called Mrs. Tesla praised Tyson and the demigod as the first people to ever ace her exam in less than thirty seconds.
During the social studies class Harry opened his notebook and stared at the picture inside. The dark haired sorcerer's girlfriend Annabeth was staring back at him while she was on vacation in Washington D.C. The attractive demigoddess was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. The daughter of Athena's blonde hair was pulled back in a bandana. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself. The warlock smiled as he thought of his lover's dream to be an architect when she was older. Annabeth was visiting famous monuments on her vacation. The reminiscing wizard couldn't wait to see his girlfriend the next day.
Before Harry could close the notebook Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the picture out of it. Faster than any human could have managed; the immortal's hand shot out and grabbed the thieving bully's wrist. The super strong teen squeezed hard until Sloan dropped the prized picture in pain. Finally Harry put the image back and applied sticking and unbreakable charms to the picture this time.
Harry was caught up in the rush of students as soon as the bell rang. The hurried Godling could have sworn he heard a familiar female voice call his name but the careful warlock was forced to go to PE. If the phoenix mage didn't allow himself to be carried along by the crowd he could have injured one of the pushing students. As far as the Potter mage could tell he was invulnerable and immensely strong. The son of the sea god had yet to find something he couldn't lift or move when his magic augmented his strength instinctually.
Harry quickly changed into the weird tie dyed Meriwether uniform. Before leaving for the gym the sorcerer remembered to guard the door for Tyson so the shy Cyclopes could change. The taller teen changed in a back room of the locker room because he had bad scars running the length of his back. The warrior wizard had never asked his friend about the closed wounds but he suspected the one eyed teen had been attacked by some monster in the past.
Harry ended up getting picked as one of the team captains for dodge ball while Sloan was the opposing team's captain. The stocky bully had all the jocks and his big group of visiting goons on his team. The green eyed Godling had all of the geeks plus Tyson. Normally this would have been ok but Sloan's goons were almost as big as Tyson.
"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."
"What smells funny?" The perceptive mage questioned Tyson, immediately alert.
"They…smell funny," the Cyclopes asserted as he pointed at Sloan's big goons.
Harry didn't have time to do anything else as a ball slammed into his stomach hard, harder than any human could have launched the orb. The invulnerable immortal shrugged the blow off. Another ball whistled in but the fast sorcerer snatched the impossibly fast projectile out of the air.
The goons around Sloan began to grow as the mist cleared from around them. The bully's comrades became eight foot tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and valentine hearts.
"Whoa you're not from Detroit," Matt Sloan declared stupidly as he dropped his ball.
The other kids began screaming and backing away. Before anyone could get out of the gym one of the giants threw a ball into the door. The normally passable portal slammed shut and the magically sensitive sorcerer could feel enchantments encompass the room like an imperturbable charm. Kids were banging on the sealed entrance but it wouldn't budge.
"Let them go and I might make your deaths less painful," the demigod ordered the giants.
One monster snorted before replying, "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch."
The same giant waved his hand and the center line of the gym floor became filled with searing hot bronze balls that the giants began picking up. Each ball was perforated with flames licking out of the holes.
As soon as a burning ball was launched at the immortal son of an elder god the dark haired teen snatched it out of the air. The mage's phoenix core sang at the heat of the fire shooting out of the perforated holes in the ball. With the speed of his immensely powerful form the teen launched the weapon back at the wide eyed giant that threw it with even more force. The targeted monster exploded into a cloud of dust like all monsters do when they are mortally wounded.
The other giants roared in rage and began throwing their fire balls. Tyson caught two projectiles and launched them back at their owners. Cyclopes are naturally resistant to fire. After that it became an all out frenzy as spheres of bronze fiery death were hurtled through the air. Tyson wasn't able to dodge one of the projectiles and got blasted back through the outer gym wall.
The one eyed teen was dazed but ok. When there was only one giant left the monster was smart enough to take a student hostage. Before the powerful mage could act the hostage taker sprouted a blade out of his chest and promptly turned to dust. Standing behind the quivering and saved student was the green eyed warlock's girlfriend Annabeth. Athena's daughter's face was grimy and scratched. Annabeth Chase had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.
Matt Sloan finally came to his senses as he recognized Annabeth from the picture.
"That's the girl…That's the girl…" The bully managed to stutter.
Annabeth punched the bully so hard he was knocked out cold.
"And you lay off my boyfriend," the demigoddess commanded the unconscious boy protectively.
The gym was in flames with kids still running around screaming.
Harry almost apparated to Annabeth's side he moved so fast. The warrior wizard pulled his beautiful lover into a relieved kiss.
"I missed you. What's going on?" Harry questioned after he broke the lip lock to allow Annabeth to breathe. "And you changed your hair," the mage observed as an afterthought, noticing Annabeth's normally blonde locks were midnight black.
"I missed you too," the relieved teen replied breathlessly, happy to be in her boyfriend's arms. "I thought it was time for a new look."
"You look good in any hair color," Harry finished saying just as the gymnasium doors broke open before the school administration came pouring in.
"I'll meet you outside. I need to get Tyson," the athletic demigod told his partner.
The observant Harry didn't miss the look of disgust Annabeth threw the Cyclopes but she nodded before vanishing under her invisibility cap. When Sloan woke up and started blaming Percy Jackson for everything that happened in the gym the wise mage decided it was time to leave. It certainly didn't help that the incompetent gym teacher just looked up dumbly and muttered yep when questioned if Sloan was telling the truth, always replying yep while reading his paper during gym classes. The mist was screwing with the minds of all the mortals. It would be best to do damage control later on when everybody was calmer. If it came down to it the well trained wizard could always modify some memories at a later date.
Harry quickly helped Tyson out of the rubble of the wall and the pair exited through the newly made doorway.
Tyson and Harry found Annabeth in an alley off of Church Street. The two males quickly ducked inside the alley as a fire truck screamed past heading to Meriwether Prep.
"Where'd you find him?" Annabeth demanded as she pointed at Tyson.
"He's my friend," reassured the sorcerer.
"Is he homeless?" Annabeth wanted to know.
"He was until he became my friend, honey. He has a name you known and can answer questions. You should ask Tyson these questions yourself," the reality traveler suggested to his girlfriend calmly.
"He can talk? Annabeth queried with surprise.
"I talk. You are pretty," Tyson pronounced.
"Ah! Gross," Annabeth exclaimed as she stepped away from Tyson towards her best friend.
Tyson seemed to be fascinated with Annabeth's hair as he tried to touch it. Harry's girlfriend swatted the Cyclopes' hands away.
"Tyson please don't touch Annabeth's hair," Harry requested simply.
"Ok Percy," the amiable one eyed teen agreed.
"Come on, we need to get out of here," Annabeth urged.
"Ok," Harry responded before following his girlfriend.
"Have you been having the dreams too?" Annabeth asked as the three walked.
"About Grover or something else?" The wizard clarified.
"What about Grover?" The demigoddess prompted as her features paled.
Harry told his best female friend the dream he had about Grover before asking, "Now what were these dreams you were having?"
"Camp, there's big trouble at Camp," the Athena camper simply answered with a far off look in her storm gray eyes.
"My mom mentioned something about that this morning. She didn't get to say much. Do you know anything specific?" The mage probed.
"Not exactly but I can tell something is wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?" The intelligent young woman inquired.
"I haven't been attacked all year until today. And why didn't you contact me? I would have come for you immediately," the powerful son of the sea god pointed out.
"I was afraid they could track my communications mirror so I didn't want to risk using it. How could you not have been attacked at all?" Annabeth mused curiously until her eyes drifted to Tyson with a look of realization sweeping across her face. "Oh," was her follow up statement.
"Yeah I suppose you would have to be pretty stupid to attack with him around wouldn't you," the sorcerer spoke with an amused grin while thinking about what Tyson really was.
Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class, asking, "Giant Canadians in the gym called Percy something…Son of the Sea God?"
"Yes Tyson, Poseidon is my father. That would make us half brothers," explained the warrior, recalling the mythological origins of Cyclopes as the offspring of the sea god and nature spirits.
Harry was answered with a big grin from Tyson. The trio of half breeds was interrupted by the wail of another siren.
"We need to get to Camp now," Annabeth urged.
"Ok, hold on," Harry instructed as he wrapped his arm around his girlfriend's waist before grabbing hold of Tyson's arm.
As the immortal teen enveloped Annabeth, himself, and Tyson in a field of fire to flame their group to Camp the warlock noticed Annabeth was looking extremely worse for the wear. There was a scratch on her chin, twigs and dirt in her hair, and she sported torn clothes. The skilled and unbelievably powerful male extended healing energy from his phoenix core while channeling a cleaning and repairing charm into the female he loved. When the three arrived at the base of Half Blood Hill the wizard saw that his partner looked like she had just showered, put on new clothes, and slept a very good night's sleep. The sorcerer was distracted from admiring his girlfriend by the sounds of fighting nearby. The Poseidon camper looked up in time to see several other half blood campers under attack at the top of Half Blood Hill.
As the trio raced up the hill to help the besieged Godlings the battle honed warrior quickly assessed the situation. There were two bronze bulls the size of elephants breathing fire at the campers.
"This isn't good," Annabeth declared with worry in her voice.
Harry silently agreed with his lover. The really worrying aspect of the fight the new arrivals were watching wasn't that the ten heroes in armor were getting their asses kicked but the fact that the bulls were inside the tree line of the Camp, where the wards should have stopped them cold.
"Border patrol to me," the warrior warlock heard Clarisse call to rally the fighters.
"The border patrol is new," Harry pointed out to Annabeth.
"Times are tough…now come on. We have to help Clarisse," urged the wizard's girlfriend.
"Never thought I'd be agreeing to that," the mage muttered as he rushed into the fight.
The campers already fighting were panicking due to all the fire decimating the hillside. One camper was running in circles waving his arms as the plume on his helmet blazed with fire. Clarisse had her broken spear buried uselessly into one of the mechanical joints of a bull.
"Dumbass…Take the damn helmet off," Harry shouted towards the camper.
Uncapping his ballpoint pen the magical item and gift from Poseidon grew into Anaklusmos also known as Riptide. The celestial bronze blade glistened in the sunlight.
"Percy honey, what are you thinking about doing?" Annabeth asked nervously.
"What do you think? I'm going to kick their bronze asses," replied the green eyed demigod with a feral grin.
"Percy those are the Colchis bulls made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's sunscreen SPF 50,000 or we'll be burned to ash," the pragmatic young woman pointed out.
"And do you have any of this sunscreen?" The warlock questioned his best friend with a knowing smile.
"I…I might have left it at home," Annabeth admitted sheepishly.
"I guess we do it my way then love," the wizard pointed out before capturing her lips in a kiss.
"A kiss for luck," Annabeth whispered knowingly with a grin as the couple broke apart.
"Of course," Harry agreed before charging the massive bronze bulls.
The creatures moved fast for beings so large. With its metal hide gleaming in the sunlight and its fist sized glowing ruby eyes the bull facing the warlock looked rather intimidating. When its mouth opened a column of white hot flame blasted out. The water wizard concentrated on the air surrounding the besieged campers. With the Camp being located on Long Island the ocean was close enough for the sea god's son to sense the large body of water. The sensitive teen also sensed the moisture in the air around the group of fighters.
Pulling with his water power core Harry increased the density of the water vapor until it coalesced into actual liquid water. That stream of water intercepted the stream of fire. Steam shot above the two streams as they opposed each other. The fire was converted into heat in the steam while the steam itself was just another form of the water. The multiple environments thriving immortal absorbed the heat into his phoenix core and converted the now cool steam back into water.
A stream of water directed by each of Harry's hands shot into the mouth of a bull to extinguish their flaming breath. Annabeth was ordering the campers around to try to get them organized while her boyfriend distracted the creatures. Already the sorcerer could feel his bronze opponents' bodies heating up to a higher temperature to reignite their flames. It didn't matter because the twin bulls decided to use their much bigger bodies to their advantage. The bulls both charged the powerful Godling while releasing more fire.
The unbelievably hot fire swirled around the bubble of water Harry enveloped himself with as he broke off the water streams.
"Percy," Annabeth cried out as she thought she was about to see her lover crushed below tons of bronze bull.
There was a huge crash and rending sound. Smoke and steam shot everywhere as the bulls' super hot bodies met the wizarding warrior's water shield. The campers' vision of the green eyed teen was obscured for a time. When the air finally cleared the sight that must have greeted the half blood campers was one of Harry crouching down on one knee with his hands resting on a pair of massive icicles planted in the ground at the thick end with a bull impaled on the sharp tip of each ice spear. The bulls were obviously dead as the icicles were big enough to kill even the creations of Hephaestus.
"Percy," Annabeth cried in relief this time as she rushed her wizard and swept him up in a tight embrace.
Even Harry thought he would not have enjoyed all of the weight of the bulls hitting his icicles but luckily he had quickly willed a strong magical shield around himself which blocked physical attacks. Harry wasn't willing to put his physical limits to the test under such observed and risky circumstances.
Chapter 2
You ruin everything. I had it under control," Clarisse screamed at the victorious bull smasher as the disagreeable daughter of Ares stalked over while throwing off her helmet.
"Good to see you too Clarisse," grumbled Annabeth.
"Argh! Don't ever try saving me again," answered Clarisse in a scream of rage.
"Don't worry I won't," Harry assured the demigoddess having had enough of her bitchy attitude.
"Clarisse you have wounded campers," Annabeth pointed out in one of her brilliant moves.
Clarisse quickly rushed off to help her injured fighters. Even the war god's daughter cared about those who fought for her.
Annabeth and Harry took the opportunity to make their way back over to Tyson. As the trio headed towards the Camp boundary wards from where the fighting had occurred down by the road, Annabeth stopped for a moment.
"Oh hold on a second. I Annabeth Chase give permission for Tyson to enter Camp Half blood," called out Annabeth.
"Annabeth," the teen wizard said in a curious tone.
"Tyson is a Cyclopes," the raven haired young woman pointed out.
"Yes," Harry agreed with a nod.
"He is a baby by the looks of him, which is why he couldn't get through the camp boundaries to help us like the Bulls and other monsters. Tyson is one of the homeless ones. They are in all the major cities. Most people consider them mistakes Percy. They are children of nature spirits and gods…well, one god in particular, usually…and they don't always come out right. No one wants them and they get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets," Harry's girlfriend explained gently.
"Well thanks for explaining that to me," said the warlock as he squeezed his partner gently with his arm wrapped around her waist.
"We should go help the others," suggested Annabeth.
The daughter of Athena was right of course. The whole hillside was still on fire and there were injured campers. Not to mention there were some big metal bulls which needed moving.
Harry raised his hands and summoned his power. By this time the moisture in the air the water warrior had already used was replaced by the steam and moisture from the nearby ocean. This time Poseidon's son commanded the H2O to coalesce into rain, which quickly put out the fire. The campers were staring at their newly arrived savior in shock at the display of power. Even after everything they had watched the son of one of the elder gods do controlling any aspect of the weather was still rather shocking.
"You are so getting lucky soon," Annabeth purred in her man's ear as she pressed herself into him from behind.
"In that case I better hurry this up," the grinning wizard pointed out cheekily as he walked towards the injured group of campers.
One by one Harry assessed the injuries before redirecting some of the rain water to the site of the damaged tissue. The injuries vanished as the water ran over the area afflicted.
"Thanks Percy," was spoken by many wide eyed campers as their burns and cuts disappeared quickly.
All of the campers knew water could heal the son of the sea god. It wasn't too much of a stretch to let them believe the powerful teen had learned to extend that ability to others over the summer. In truth the water was covering for the reality traveler's use of healing spells from his wizard power repertoire.
"We need to go inform Tantalus of what has happened," Clarisse informed the two in love Godlings as she walked up at that moment in a much calmer mood than before since the fires had been put out, both literal and proverbial.
"Tantalus," the mage spoke with a question in his tone.
"The activities director," Clarisse tried to clarify.
"Did Chiron get replaced and what about Argus…shouldn't he be here as head of security?" Annabeth queried.
"Argus was fired and yes Chiron was replaced after that happened," Ares' daughter answered while pointing towards Thalia's tree.
The tree which was actually the transfigured daughter of Zeus was very sickly looking as Harry and his friends gazed upon the plant. Its needles were yellow with a huge pile of dead ones at the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark oozing green sap.
"Thalia's been poisoned," Harry whispered in dismay.
"Which is why the magical borders are failing," Annabeth concluded.
Harry walked over to the tree and placed his hand against it, over the wound. Concentrating on his power the sorcerer tried to summon some of the poison out. The attempt proved not very helpful because the toxin was mixed throughout the tree's circulatory system by this time. Channeling some plant healing charms the mage had learned in Herbology class at Hogwarts gave a little better result. The tree didn't look quite so sickly.
"What did you do?" Clarisse questioned.
"I diluted the poison a bit. It won't completely stop what is happening but it will slow the degradation down," the warlock answered.
The warrior wizard was not trained to specifically heal trees. If worse came to worse the skilled wizard could always see if he could transfigure Thalia back into her human form and heal her that way. That plan would be a last resort for the time being since doing so would serve to illustrate that the reality traveler's powers are similar to a god's abilities since only deities have shown they can transfigure in that universe as far as Harry knew. It was possible other beings could wield transfiguration magic but Harry had yet to meet them.
Camp Half Blood possessed an air of danger around it now. The feeling reminded Harry strongly of Hogwarts after Riddle had returned to a body. Instead of playing volleyball in the sand pits satyrs and counselors were busy stockpiling weapons. Dryads possessing bows and arrows were guarding the edge of the woods. All of the plant life looked somewhat sickly, as if the greenery were sympathizing with Thalia. In short the camp looked like it was readying for war, Harry would know seeing as he had lived through one.
Tyson was getting some strange looks, one or two campers doing double takes, but that was expected. Tyson didn't even notice as he showed child-like fascination with everything he saw.
"Whasthat," the Cyclopes gasped rapidly while pointing.
"The stables for Pegasi...winged horses," explained the patient mage, adding the last bit for clarification when he saw the one eyed male's confused look.
"Whasthat," Tyson questioned again while gesturing at a different place.
"The toilets," Harry answered.
"Whasthat," the warlock's brother asked him while pointing at the cabins.
"Those are the campers' cabins. You'll be sorted into the correct one if your Olympian parent claims you…until then you'll be in the Hermes cabin," the sorcerer explained.
"You…have a cabin?" Tyson asked in awe.
"Number three," the water manipulator answered as he pointed to his cabin built of sea stone.
"You live with friends in the cabin?" Tyson inquired.
"Not normally no but sometimes friends come over to visit," the water wielder answered with a smirk as he squeezed his girlfriend's waist to indicate he meant her, Choria, and Furusia.
When the trio arrived at the Big House they found Chiron in his apartment listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while the centaur hero instructor packed his saddlebags.
"Pony," Tyson called out the one eyed teen while he froze with a look of total rapture when he laid eye on Chiron.
"I beg your pardon?" Chiron replied as he turned with a look of offense on his regal and wise face.
"Chiron, what's happening? You're not…leaving are you?" Annabeth questioned shakily as she ran up and hugged the centaur who was like a second father to her.
"Hello, child…and Percy my goodness you've grown over the year," Chiron greeted as he returned Annabeth's hug.
"Clarisse said you were fired," Harry announced with an inquiring tone in his words.
"Ah, well someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone," Chiron explained as his eyes glinted with dark humor.
"Of course…Mr. D couldn't be expected to take the blame…it's not like he's a god after all and can protect Thalia's tree better than you can or anything," the sharp minded sorcerer mused sarcastically.
"But this is crazy! You couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree," Annabeth protested.
"Nevertheless some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances," Chiron pointed out with a melancholy sigh.
"And those circumstances would be?" The son of Poseidon probed.
Chiron didn't answer as he shoved more books into his saddlebags.
"Pony," Tyson whimpered like he wanted to pet Chiron.
"My dear young Cyclops…I am a centaur," protested Chiron.
"What happened to Thalia's tree, Chiron?" The determined mage asked, trying a different approach.
"The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus," the departing Centaur explained to clarify the situation.
"Then it's quite obvious who is responsible, Kro-," began the dark haired teenage immortal only to be cut off.
"Do not invoke the Titan lord's name, Percy…especially not here, or now," Chiron instructed with a grave quality to his words. "Perhaps you are right Percy but I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless…," Chiron trailed off.
"Unless what?" Annabeth probed.
"Months Chiron, the tree has months. I could not cure it fully because she isn't in a human form…even then I don't know if I could…but I've managed to extend the time left to months," the well trained wizard informed Chiron.
"Thank you Percy…I did not think it was possible. In any case my idea for a cure is foolish. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago," the centaur declared dramatically.
"Are you going to stop being cryptic and tell us so we can go find it?" Harry questioned with a sigh of exasperation.
"Percy you must promise me you will not act rashly. I told your mother that I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard…learn to fight but do not leave," Chiron instructed his most powerful student as he looked the skilled Godling in the eye with a hand resting on the teen's shoulder. "Stay with Percy child…keep him safe," Chiron instructed Annabeth as he brushed a tear from her cheek.
"Chiron…you told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from Camp…," Annabeth began but couldn't voice her worry aloud.
"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger. Swear upon the River Styx," Chiron insisted.
"I…I swear it upon the River Styx," Annabeth replied as thunder rumbled in the distance.
"Very well…perhaps my name will be cleared and I will return. Until then I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved…one way or another," the human-horse hybrid announced, declaring his intentions. Harry pulled his girlfriend tightly to his side as she cried a bit harder. "There now child…I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new Activities Director. We must hope…well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear," the former Activities Director of Camp Half Blood mused humorlessly.
"Is this the same Tantalus of legend?" The warlock queried.
Just then a conch horn blew announcing dinner.
"Go, you will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother Percy and let her know you are safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment the Titan lord has forgotten you," Chiron warned before he left.
Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth while Chiron left.
As the trio made their way to the dining pavilion the sun was setting with a golden hue cast over the horizon. Campers were slowly making their way to the food line. Annabeth squeezed her handsome lover's hand tightly before stealing a chaste kiss behind one of the marble columns. The warlock's best female friend then went to join her siblings at the Athena cabin table. The powerful Godling watched his companion lead the line as the Athena camper who had been at the camp the longest.
Harry had to struggle to suppress a smile as Clarisse led the Ares cabin with a sign on her back saying YOU MOO GIRL! The funniest aspect of the situation was that none of her siblings informed her about the sign. One of Ares' children might have even placed the funny sign there to taunt her for the fiasco with the bronze bulls. Soon after the Ares campers followed the Hephaestus cabin led by Charles Beckendorf, a large fifteen year old Africa American teen. It was rumored among the camp that Beckendorf could make anything given the most basic components of the desired object.
The last cabins filed in: Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Dionysus. When Harry saw his two Naiad lovers, Choria and Furusia, a genuine smile lit up the Hallow Master's features.
"My lord," Furusia greeted before pecking her favorite halfblood on the lips and sitting on his right at the Poseidon table.
Choria mimicked her sister and sat on her lover's left. Harry shook his head with a smile on his face, this time from amusement at the antics of his two Naiad loves. The pair of water spirits always insisted on calling their wizard by the title of lord instead of just Percy. The Hermes cabin brought up the rear of the line entering the pavilion, led by the twins Travis and Connor Stoll. Those two children of Hermes reminded the reality traveler so much of the Weasley twins with their antics. The cautious wizard always kept a revealing charm in his mind whenever he spent any significant amount of time near the Stoll brothers.
Tyson came into the Pavilion to sit at his half brother's table after the last camper took their seats. Conversations faltered, heads turned, and someone from the Apollo cabin asked, "Who invited that?"
The warrior wizard with exceptionally good hearing turned and fixed the offending Apollo camper with an intense angry stare.
"I did you limp dick pansy. What are you going to do about it?" The water manipulator growled.
"Nothing Percy…I didn't mean anything by it," the son of the sun god quickly replied, not wanting to anger the one to take down the God of War in a fight.
"Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete," Dionysus A.K.A. Mr. D said from the head table when the God of Wine noticed the attention drawn to his ocean ruling Uncle's offspring.
"Hello D," Harry greeted cheerily without the slightest hint of being bothered by the Wine God's misnaming of the younger immortal.
Harry figure it rankled the wanker more when the crafty warlock always gave a happy response. Next to Mr. D was a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jumpsuit. The number on his pocket read 0001. Blue rings under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut gray hair completed the man's look to make him appear truly hideous. The haunted mortal stared at Harry looking fractured; angry, hungry, and frustrated all at once.
"This boy you need to watch; Poseidon's child you know," Mr. D informed the man.
"Ah that one," spoke the prisoner in a tone which told the sorcerer he and D had already discussed the camper in question at length.
"I am Tantalus…on special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing anymore trouble," declared Tantalus with a cold smile.
"Why whatever do you mean trouble sir?" The teen queried with false respect. As Dionysus snapped his fingers that day's New York Post appeared on the table in front of Harry. Somehow the warlock had gotten blamed for what had happened at the Meriwether School. "I shall endeavor not to be so troublesome again," Harry announced sweetly in a voice that would have made that toad Umbitch green with envy.
The skilled sorcerer watched in satisfaction as Tantalus attempted to eat from a plate of barbeque only to have the food and even the cursed mortal's drink roll away from him no matter how hard he tried to get at them.
"Ah, well perhaps your old curse will lift in a few more days. Working at this camp will be torture enough," Dionysus informed Tantalus with false sympathy in the spoilt deity's voice.
"Eventually…do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?" Tantalus muttered angrily.
Harry recognized that Tantalus was indeed the figure from legend; cursed to stand in the Fields of Punishment with the fruit trees hanging over him but unable to eat or drink. The wizard didn't say anything, preferring to gloat internally. The phoenix mage kept a low profile as he walked up to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of his food in as an offering.
"Poseidon, accept my offering," Harry spoke aloud but not too loud to the flames.
Harry was rewarded with the smell of a clean sea breeze with wild flowers mixed in. When the sea lover sat back at his table between Choria and Furusia, Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to begin announcements.
"Another fine meal…or so I am told," Tantalus spoke as he inched his way towards a nearby plate to see if he could get at the food but his curse prevented such actions as the plate shot down the table. "On my first day of authority I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat," announced Tantalus receiving some half hearted clapping from Dionysus and the satyrs. "And now some changes…we are reinstituting the chariot races," announced the new Director of Activities with a crooked smile. As murmuring broke out Harry got the feeling this was one of those events that was ended for a reason, much like the Triwizard Tournament. "Now I know that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems," continued Tantalus.
"Deaths," muttered Choria.
"And mutilations," added Furusia.
"But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win," the cursed soul casually mentioned dramatically.
Naturally this announcement garnered much excitement as KP, stable cleaning, and other rather nasty chores were not very popular with all cabins which were forced to do them in a rotating shift. If not for his wizarding powers Harry was sure he would be chief among the chore haters because as the only occupant of the Poseidon cabin when it was his turn the warlock had to do all of the assigned chores himself.
"But, sir…what about patrol duty…I mean if we drop everything to ready our chariots…," Clarisse trailed off nervously as she stood at the Ares table.
"Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes," prompted Tantalus as if this were a normal camp for normal teens and not the half god half humans that lived at the camp.
Any other objection Clarisse may have put forth was ignored as Tantalus continued.
"And now before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit to bring this here," Tantalus announced as he pointed at Tyson sitting down the table. "Now of course Cyclopes have a reputation for being blood thirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes' cabin, possibly," suggested the camp activities director Harry was at that time imagining the best way to obliterate from existence.
"He will stay with me," the green eyed demigod declared firmly.
A sudden gasp filled the room as Harry noticed a green glowing trident appear above Tyson. Being claimed by Harry's father settled the matter of where Tyson would stay but Tantalus just couldn't leave the matter alone.
"Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance," roared Tantalus with laughter.
A few of the campers started to laugh with the director until the warlock's angry gaze shifted to offending half bloods. The snickering demigods immediately stopped their actions and gulped as all amusement fled, having witnessed some of the Poseidon camper's power before. Laughing at somebody who beat a god in a fight was very hazardous to your health…a fact Tantalus would learn one day. Dead or not the cursed soul was Harry's.
After moving Tyson into the cabin and getting the one eyed teen settled Harry headed straight for the lake to have a proper reunion with the wizard's three favorite residents of Camp Half blood.
Insert Smut Scene Here (See hpfanficarchive or ficsite for erotic version)