I swung my legs and watched as Leilani heated the glass in the forge again.
Leilani had been learning how to make stuff out of glass last year, so today's forge was dedicated to her continuing that, while Tyson worked with Beckendorf. Next one would be focused on our cabin sun dial again.
"Percy," Silena said.
I focused back on her, "Sorry, what did you say?"
She studied me, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened with you and Annabeth?"
I tugged at my veil, gaze drawn back to the molten glass on the end of the pole.
"Percy?"
"It's fine," I told her. "Just… you know, she doesn't like Tyson."
My stomach twisted uncomfortably as I remembered her words and expression. I really messed up, but I didn't know how to fix it.
And I really didn't want to talk about it.
Silena sighed.
"Percy… you know we're here for you, right?"
I nodded, swallowing. "Yeah, thank you."
"Well… let me know if you want to talk. Or if there's anything I can do to help…"
"I will," I mumbled.
Leilani drew the pole out of the fire and grabbed the tongs to pull at it. I wasn't sure what she was making but it was blue (she'd asked me for a color) so it would probably be cool regardless.
I wondered if she was good at it because glass was made of sand. Could she learn to control glass? Could normal earth benders learn to control glass? That would be cool. Or maybe it was a fire and earth bender thing.
Maybe Annabeth would know-
I swallowed and shook the thought away.
Maybe I could check on the tree later, see if the unicorn draught had improved anything. If so I could use more of it.
I only had a few bottles but if it saved the tree and undid my mess up-
"Percy," Silena said softly. "You do know that you aren't at fault for the tree, right?"
I looked away. Annabeth had told someone what happened, probably someone from her cabin. They likely were worried when she returned crying… And well… the whole camp was aware of my screw up now.
It didn't help with the inter-cabin relationships.
"Yeah," I mumbled. "I'm fine."
I jolted at the light touch on my shoulder.
"Can I hug you?"
I blinked at her, swallowing hard.
"Yeah," I croaked. "If you want-"
She tugged me into a tight hug.
"It'll be okay," she whispered. "It's okay to not be okay right now though."
I sniffed and leaned into her hug. Her charm bracelet clinked as she ran her hand through my hair.
I stood in the dark cave again, the figure once more undoing the weaving.
The figure, Grover if my last dream were telling the truth, didn't look up.
The wedding dress really didn't fit him well though. The dress was tattered and caked in mud, the veil wispy and barely holding together. The neckline was drooping, and one sleeve slipped down on his shoulder.
The cave was lit only by torches, flickering light making the view a bit uneaven.
I could see a cot in the corner opposite of Grover though.
"Percy?"
I turned back to Grover, to find him looking right at me.
"Oh thank the Gods-"
I woke up.
I idly guided the water around the canoe to bring it to a soft stop by the dock and let Tyson clamber out.
I started tying the rope to the dock only to pause.
"You know, it used to be when people suspected someone was a witch, they threw them into lakes with rocks tied to them and if they drowned they were innocent. I wonder if anyone ever tried testing if someone was a proper monster that way?"
I stilled.
"I do not know," Tyson said. "You could ask the owl cabin?"
"Maybe we could test it ourselves."
I strode over beside Tyson, "Maybe you could go back to your cabin before you find out what happens when attack a child of Poseidon by a lake."
There was a brief pause as the two campers (one was an Athena kid, the other was… maybe Hermes?) stared me down.
"Oh sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt your relaxation time," cooed the Athena kid. "You didn't add any salt to this lake, right? It's fresh water is pretty important to the plants."
I stiffened, "No. The lake is perfectly fresh water. But that certainly doesn't inhibit my ability to manipulate it."
"Shame you didn't remember that sooner," muttered the Hermes kid.
My stomach twisted painfully but I simply glared at them. Triton trained me to handle insults and I wouldn't let them know they were hurting me.
"Well, we're just gonna continue our patrol. You know, guarding the camp from monsters coming through the weakened barrier," snipped the Athena camper with a sharp smile. "Stay safe you two."
I took a slow breath as they left.
"Percy?" Tyson said hesitantly. "The lake is shaking."
I unclenched my fists and shook my head, forcing myself to keep a calm expression.
"Sorry."
Grover was slowly working on the loom again. A figure was leaning over him.
"How much longer my lovely wife?"
"Just another few weeks, sweetums," Grover said in a strange high-pitched voice.
I blinked, what-
"But you said that… forever ago!"
"I said it only a few days ago, snookums. I want this to be perfect for our wedding," he turned his head up to the massive figure.
I craned my head up to try and get a better look at it but the uneven lighting and the size of the figure made it all but impossible.
"Well, perfect is good…"
"Exactly dearest," Grover simpered in that weird voice. "Only the best for you."
The figure grunted and straightened, turning away.
"I will return to work and get good meat for the wedding," His voice turned sickly sweet towards the end. "Finish quickly, honeypie, I can not wait to see under that veil, hehehe."
Grover waved, "Take care, pumpkin."
"Pumpkin?" I asked once the figure left.
Grover snapped around.
"Percy! Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, what- is that a woolly mammoth?" I gaped at the woolly mammoth that shuffled out of the corner.
"Yeah."
"Oh… then those other dreams where you had a woolly mammoth-"
"Yes, I found a woolly mammoth, a blessing from Pan I'm sure. But that's not the point right now. Percy you have to help me. I'm trapped in this cave, on an island in the middle of the ocean."
"How did you get there?"
"I got to Florida and turned left-"
"What?"
"Look, it's a trap. It's the reason that no satyr has ever returned from the quest-"
"What? Did you find a second Medusa?"
"No! Okay most satyrs- but the point is that he has an object-"
I woke up.
I wanted to talk to Annabeth about the dream, to see if she knew what was up, but she was avoiding me.
And I wasn't able to get through the Athena kids protection of her.
I just wanted to talk, but it… didn't go well.
I tried to take a calming breath and work past their words.
Leilani was picking berries next to me as I tried to show Tyson how to pull the strawberries without pulling up the whole plant.
"So, you have to grab it right here, to keep the roots and all in. Otherwise the berries won't grow back."
Tyson nodded and grabbed onto the berry, squishing it.
"Oh… sorry."
"Just- just grab it like this," I said, showing him.
We'd been trying to show him how to pick berries for almost twenty minutes and I was nearing the end of my rope.
Tyson tried again and tore the plant.
"Just grab the stem right above the berry, don't tear it-" I let out a frustrated sound.
Tyson shrunk down, "Sorry."
"Just- just try again, without crushing the berry or messing up the plant this time."
Tyson nodded quickly and reached for another berry, only to lean on top of another plant and crush it.
I threw my hands up, "I give up. I can't-"
"Here," Miranda said leaning over. "Come here Per- Percy, help me ov-ov-over here with your ocarina. Darius will help Tyson."
She led me to a spot no one else was at and sat us down.
"I think you need some time to de-st-st-de-st-str-stress, you've been deal-dealing with a lot lately."
I bit my lip, trying to keep the ball of frustration and anger from bursting out.
"Sorry, I'm just-"
She nodded, "I know. Things have been really te-tense and you've been the focus of a lot of it."
I looked down at the plants.
"I just- I'm frustrated."
"I know. It's under-underst-st-standable. Can we help?"
I shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know. I… I'm mad and sad and… I want to scream but I-"
She slowly placed a hand on my shoulder, "Take s-some time here to jus-just play your feeling-feel-feelings out for a bit. You can come to our cabin and make some cookies with us ton-ni-night if you want?"
I nodded, "Yeah… that sounds nice. Thank you."
She smiled and started reaching out to the plants to coax them to grow riper and left me to my ocarina.
I didn't really want to play any of the calm songs I normally did while out here. But she said I could play what I wanted….
I put the ocarina to my lips and focused on the fast-paced song we'd learned this year in music.
The notes were complicated and it was hard to do, requiring a lot of focus, but maybe it'd help. I didn't have my note sheet either but-
I started playing, only to miss a note. I frowned and tried again.
And again.
And again.
No matter how many times I restarted I just couldn't get the song to sound right. I scowled after the dozenth time and dropped it, letting the string catch it while I glared at the plants.
Miranda shot me a worried look, which only made me more frustrated.
I knew they were worried for me, I knew they cared, but I was just- They couldn't fix it.
Everyone hated Tyson for being Kyklopes (which was so dumb) and they hated me for being his brother and they hated me for messing up with the tree and making it worse.
There was nothing I could do to fix things no matter how much I wanted to and nothing they could do either.
I was so-
So frustrated. Angry. I wanted to scream but I couldn't.
I wanted to be back in the sea where I was with people who cared.
You don't understand what it's like- what it's like to lose everyone who actually cares for you
I wrung my hands, trying to get the feelings out. They hurt but- I was so-
Annabeth was right that I hadn't lost any of them. But I shouldn't feel guilty for being happy with my family-
I-
I did care for her though. She hadn't-
I just-
I didn't know what to do. It was so frustrating.
"Why don't we head back early?" Katie said, interrupting my thoughts.
Miranda nodded beside me, "Yeah, let's make cookies."
I let them guide me up and lead me away, feeling even worse than earlier.
Imani braided my hair slowly, doing a bunch of little small braids. She hummed as she worked, occasionally adding a small ribbon in with the braid.
Katie was finishing up cookies (she made them blue even) and some sweet tea (apparently the only proper way to drink tea) in the kitchen area.
Why didn't my cabin have a kitchen? I would have to bring that up with Triton. I would love to cook some stuff, or bake cookies, or cake, or brownies- my mom had the best brownie recipe.
"And there. How do you like them?"
Imani handed me a mirror.
I smiled at the braids with little blue ribbons scattered through them. There were over a dozen that swung when I shook my head.
"I like them," I said, touching one of them.
"I'm glad!" Imani beamed at me. "My hands hurt, haha. I've never done that many alone. Normally my mom would do them."
"They look cute! I love the little ribbons," Katie chirped as she came over.
"Thank you! I only spent like five hours doing his hair, so I'm glad they look nice."
I fingered the braids, "Thank you."
Miranda leaned over, "You didn't add beads?"
"Nah, they'd take about the same amount of time, but they make it hard to be stealthy. All the beads click when you move. Also, I don't have any here, I haven't done mine with beads in… years."
"Well, thank you," I said. "I really like them… and thank you for letting me stay here."
"Of course! You're always welcome to hang out with us, Percy. You seemed like you really needed an excuse to have space so…"
"I… I did."
I tugged at one of the braids.
I felt a lot calmer after so long letting Imani do my hair. They had music playing and plants scattered around and the smell of cookies in the air and-
It just felt… comfortable. It wasn't like home for me, but it was safe. Soothing.
I still had that uncomfortable knot in my stomach, still felt worried about it all, but- but I finally felt like I could breathe.
And also didn't feel like yelling at the next thing to upset me.
That was definitely a big improvement. I'd… been snappy with Tyson earlier. I felt bad.
"Well, I hope you're feeling a bit better now."
I nodded, "Yeah, thank you. I- I definitely needed this. It helped."
She flashed a grin at me and held up the cookies, "Now time for snacks!"
"Why can't I get it working again? Come on, Percy, come back.
I woke up
Leilani sat tense on the edge of the ice floe.
"It's so weird that you can freeze salt water. Like, isn't that supposed to be really hard to freeze?"
I shrugged, "It just has a lower freezing point, like twenty eight ish degrees? The saltier the water the colder it needs to be though. And the deeper in the ocean too. Also! Did you know the salt won't freeze? When I freeze the water I basically like… push the salt out."
"Wait really?"
I nodded, "Yeah."
"Wow, that's cool."
"Yeah, I thought so. Of course, it takes a lot more work to freeze the water in the middle of summer."
She looked up at the sun, "Yeah, that makes sense. It is pretty hot today, but the ice is good at fixing that."
I grinned, then perked up when I noticed the fish swimming over.
"Okay, so Leilani, this is Mappa, she's a bluefish."
Leilani blinked, "Is she?"
I snickered, "That's what her species is."
"She's not very blue."
"Yeah, I'm not sure why the species is called that. But it is. She's a migratory fish, so swims all over. Last summer she had cool stories."
"Thank you, Aipri," Mappa said. "I come bearing more stories."
"That'd be amazing!"
"I can't understand her," Leilani said.
I nodded, "And we're gonna see if you can after a bunch of stuff. So first test-" I grabbed her hand "-can you understand her now?"
"When I swam down south to the warmer water's I found fish of spectacular colors-"
"If she's speaking no."
"Hmm, okay, test number two-"
Grover was once more in the cave, alone this time.
"Hi," I said.
"Percy!" he looked relieved to see me again. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, sorry for waking up before."
He shook his head, "It's fine. But now, okay, listen closely. This island, the Kyklopes that rules it he's- he's been luring satyrs here."
I frowned, "How? Why? Are you okay?"
"He likes how they taste. I'm only alive because of this disguise," he motioned towards his wedding dress. "I've kept him off my back by insisting I need the perfect bridal train, it's the most modern style of marriage of course, but I can't do it forever."
"How did you- no, you got caught in the bridal boutique right?"
He nodded, "Got all the way to St. Augustine. I hadn't been trying for an empathy link then though… how did you know?"
I shrugged, "My normal dreams I guess."
"Right well-"
"Oh, Honeypie!" Sang the voice of the figure from last time. The Kyklopes I assumed. "I'm back."
"No," Grover hissed. "Not again. Okay, Percy, just remember, he's luring satyrs with-"
I woke up.
Pollux walked with me on patrol. Minos had assigned us to do another three-AM patrol… which was getting ridiculous. I kept getting the worst patrol times and I was pretty sure Minos had a grudge against me.
He insisted I had great recommendations from other campers though. It might have been the rest of the camp with the grudge against me.
(They definitely didn't seem to like me so that made sense too)
"It's very annoying how many monster attacks have been happening," Pollux grumbled. "Like really, can't they attack one of the other demigod hot spots?"
"Are there many around here?"
He hummed, "Well, not really in New York. I think there's a study area for Demigods and Clear Sighted mortals in one of the State Parks but otherwise no… but there are several locations with demigods in several other nearby states so it's unfair we're dealing with these attacks."
"Really? How come they don't have to deal with them?"
"They have their own barriers. None are actually as strong as the camps is- was… they're more what the camp's barrier was before Thalia."
He kicked at the ground.
"I wish we could call for help. I don't know why we don't…"
I considered, "That's a good point. I remember last year someone said that there were people we could call to support us?"
He nodded, turning to look at me, then jolted.
"Uh- do your eyes always do that?"
I blinked, "Do wha- oh… yeah apparently. I'd never noticed before."
"Huh… cool… well uh, the other places- not all Demigods come to camp. So not all are trained to fight and stuff. So those that are, a lot of them aren't nearby anymore. They might be having trouble getting time off of jobs… or we haven't called them. I think Tantalus doesn't want anyone to get in the way of his authority."
I grimaced, "That sucks. Can we call for them behind his-"
There was a faint growl and red eyes caught my eye. It was my only warning before a hellhound attacked.
"Come on, just a little more-"
I woke up
I wanted to try to heal the tree some more, desperately even, but I didn't trust my skill enough for it.
The most I was willing to do was sit under the tree and play my ocarina while on tree guard duty.
I wasn't put on that job often, but when I was I sat there and played music.
I didn't know if Thalia was still there, still listening, but if she was I hoped she liked the music.
"Can't believe they put you on tree duty today," muttered a Hermes camper as he walked by in his armor.
Patrol duty for him it seemed.
"I mean really, between your monster brother and your horrible healing skills who would put you in charge of this?"
I scowled at him, doing my best to ignore the pang at his comment about my healing.
I hadn't put enough work into it, it wasn't interesting, and now I was paying the price.
"I'm just doing my job," I said coolly. "Maybe you should continue with your patrol. It would be very unfortunate if you missed a terrorbecause you were insulting my brother."
"No wonder you call the monsters terrors, you have one as a brother. Honestly, it's like you don't even respect your heritage."
My jaw clenched, "You're the one forgetting your heritage. Or did you forget that the Gods' greatest weapons were made by Kyklopes?"
"Yeah, and many demigods were eaten by Kyklopes. Just cause your brother is a young one doesn't make him any less of a monster."
"Now see here-" I started, only for him to roll his eyes and walk away to continue his patrol.
"Slacking on guard, Jackson?" drawled an unfortunately familiar voice.
I turned quickly to face Minos.
"No, your majesty, I was simply comparing notes on the patrol with my fellow guard."
He studied me for a long minute, "Well, see that you keep up the guard. It would be unfortunate for something else to happen to the tree while under your watch."
I held still by force of will.
"As you were," he murmured as he swept past.
"It's like there's something interfering. I got it working once already-"
I tried to reach out.
"Ugh, I wish I knew more about empathy links," Grover muttered. "Only real thing that could interfere when it's already made is emotional turmoil-"
I woke up
"So then trident, sword, and knives… maybe a catapult? Hey, Tyson?" Leilani called.
"Yes?"
"Can you add a catapult?"
Tyson paused in his construction work.
"A small one?"
"Yeah."
"I will try."
She beamed, "Awesome. So, a catapult. Anything else we need?"
I poked at our plans and shrugged, "That looks good to me. We seem well prepared. Don't forget a shield though."
She nodded quickly, "Right. We're going to do amazing at this chariot race."
I grinned, "Best team for sure."
"Future winners!"
Grover was visible for just a minute, just long enough to see the Kyklopes sitting next to him petting a sheep.
I woke up
I worked slowly in the field, watching as Castor and Pollux worked a bit farther away.
I appreciated them, they didn't really blame me or treat Tyson badly. Castor just told me that I'd tried to help and that was more than most campers could even begin to do.
Lord D was sitting in the field too, though he couldn't do the same story telling he used to do. Tantalus loved to get in the way whenever Lord D looked like he was going to tell stories. It was not fun to do gardening with Tantalus hanging over our shoulders.
At least Minos was too busy handling the patrol's and checking the barrier strength to bother the campers off guard duty most of the time. He wasn't nice but at least he wasn't actively malicious to people… mostly.
Point being, Lord D wasn't doing much more than sitting near us and nibbling on strawberries these days. He didn't seem happy either.
"Jackson," Lord D drawled.
I straightened, "Yes, Lord D?"
"You've been watering the same plant for five minutes."
I pulled the watering can back. Oops.
"Sorry."
He sighed, studying me.
"What are you doing, Jackson?"
I blinked, "Um… gardening?"
"Not that. You've been distracted all week. Talk."
I looked down, biting my lip. I didn't really wanna talk about my failings but I could hardly ignore a direct order from a God.
Well, I could. But it probably wouldn't end well.
"I- well… I tried to heal the tree…"
"I heard."
"Yeah… I just- I should be able to. I learned about healing, I was supposed to have lessons this year but I just- it's so boring for me and I didn't do much for it and only had one lesson- and even then I should've- well I have purification and that's a big part of healing poisons so-"
Once I started speaking I couldn't stop.
"I messed up healing the tree, but I should be able to. If I'd just put more work into healing lessons I might be able to and it feels like my fault and it is my fault the tree is worse now because I messed up and I just… I'm really frustrated."
He popped a strawberry in his mouth, "Sometimes people just don't have a knack for something."
I blinked at him in confusion.
"You could put a lot of focus into healing, but you aren't really a healer."
"I can heal myself though!"
He shrugged, "You can't do everything. And people shouldn't expect you to be a master of everything. You're not a healer, you knew you weren't and tried anyways. You just don't have a knack for it and if you did put focus into it then your other skills would suffer. Do what you want, focus on your strengths. The camp has healers that have also tried to heal the tree and failed. It's not your responsibility alone."
"But- but my power could heal it if I'd worked harder…"
"Do you think your power is more than mine?"
I shook my head quickly at his dry question.
"I've already worked on the tree some. The poison used is old, and powerful. Khiron tried to heal it and failed. I tried to heal it and failed. You can hardly be expected to do more than us."
I nodded slowly, "I guess… I just… I wish that I could do something."
"Unless you get a prophecy that guides you, just focus on training and staying safe."
He leaned back, nibbling on a strawberry.
"And don't die, that causes me extra paperwork."
I snorted, "I'll do my best, Lord D."
I went back to watering the plants when he said nothing more.
I slept, my mind swept aware by the current of dreams once more. Shifting sands drifted.
Poison dripped from a vial, slowly pouring into a tree.
A cloaked figure slunk away, disappearing in a flash of a tossed card.
Voices spoke, shifting sands curled over me.
"Very few things could counteract the poison. I had it made specifically to lead to one solution."
"Only a specific combination of Godly power-"
"Why do we bother with this elaborate plot?"
"The only thing in reach for them is in an area we dare not enter."
"But the ruler of it-"
A scroll painted gold, a ram with two figures on it's back.
"You know the issues retrieving it, unless you wish to incite His wrath-"
"We'll just have to wait."
"The camp will need it to survive."
Gold gleamed, sand curled.
I was swept through a gold current to tumble into a familiar cave.
"Grover," I called the moment he was clear.
He straightened, "Percy!"
"Where are you?" I asked, determined to get the big info out of the way first this time.
"I'm in the Sea of Monsters of course!"
"Grover- how did you get there?"
"I don't know!" He cried. "But I just- I'm here on this big island- the Kyklopes island. It's only got the one Kyklopes on it but I know mythologically there were more and-"
"Grover, hold on a sec, who's the Kyklopes? Wait- there's only one major one in Greek mythology in the Sea of Monsters-"
Grover nodded miserably, "Polyphemus. Thankfully he's still got bad eye-sight from Nobody poking his eye last time."
I stared in shock, "But then-"
I felt the dream cracking at the seams.
"Grover, listen, I'm leaving again but I need you to hang on, okay? I'll rescue you, I pro-"
I woke up.
I kicked at the ground as Annabeth brushed past me without speaking. It was frustrating. I just- I wanted to talk to her. I didn't know what I'd say but I wanted to try and apologize.
And of course, I needed to talk to her about my dreams. Both Grover and the one about Metani.
This was important!
The shifting sands were what Metani felt like- was it a message from him? Was he trying to help me save Grover and letting me know what might save the camp?
Was it a manipulation?
Was he the one who poisoned the camp?
Regardless, it was possible there was a cure for the tree… I just had to find out what it was. And I also needed to save Grover.
I could swear I knew a myth with a golden ram, but Annabeth wasn't talking to me and I didn't know where to start looking.
I tugged Tyson away from the glaring the Athena campers, my mind focused on a golden ram and Kyklopes that liked sheep.
"Percy?" Tyson said hesitantly as we lay in bed, Leilani finishing up her shower.
"Yeah?"
"Do you wish I wasn't here?"
I sat up, staring at him in surprise.
"Of course not!"
"People are mean to you… because of me."
"No, it's not- well some are yeah but… even without you being my brother, you're my friend Tyson. I wouldn't abandon you just because of some biased jerks."
"I am a monster though… monsters hurt you."
"You don't hurt me," I said firmly. "You're my friend and brother, I'm happy to have you here. I wouldn't want to be here without you... and I'm sorry that I've gotten short with you. You didn't deserve that."
He stared at me with his one big eye.
"Really?"
"Really."
"I love you, brother."
"I love you too."
Luke POV
I sighed as I watched the team get ready, Alabaster and some newbie named Ethan leading the demigod group. I wanted to be there too, but Lord Kronos decreed I was to stay here. I wished I could do something more than just handle our spies.
Sure, we had several in the camp now. And I knew it was important to coordinate with them and collect their intel, but I wanted to do more.
Alabaster was practically the second in command now, being the one to poison the tree got him some attention.
Ethan was new, just recently picked up. I wasn't sure what to think of him yet, but he seemed very dedicated to "making a difference" and "changing things for the better". I didn't think he'd ever been at camp, so I wasn't sure what was up with that.
Maybe he knew someone at camp?
Regardless, his dedication to aiding Lord Kronos had definitely caught attention. Lord Kronos had started giving him and Alabaster some of the jobs meant for me originally.
I didn't like either of them.
If only I hadn't failed to kill Percy, then maybe Lord Kronos would see I have what it takes to be his right hand.
I refused to be replaced by those two just because I couldn't be active right now.
Hmm, maybe I needed to start looking for something else to aid Lord Kronos. Percy was out of reach… but... there were other things I could do without telling Lord Kronos. I knew of some other important plans.
All I had to do was handle them for Lord Kronos.