Do-over (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

4. I mess with Clarisse

I missed being at camp.

Before the Fates decided to throw me back in time, I had spent almost five days in a sleeping Manhattan, nobody to keep me company except my friends that decided to come fight by my side. Some of them I let down, some of them died because I asked them to fight.

Even though I have only been away from Camp Half-Blood for a short time, being in constant fighting made me miss the peacefulness of a war-free environment. Looking around camp made me smile, a smile for appreciating the small things. I watched as my friends, the friends that didn't know me yet, mingle around camp, their faces free of worry and stress from the war.

I didn't even listen to what Chiron was saying about the camp. I already knew everything anyway, from the pegasus stables to the moving climbing walls spewing lava. I was just focused on how everybody was so care-free. Nobody worrying about when the next big fight was going to go down. Nobody worrying whether they were going to die or not.

Chiron made his way to the cabin area, me following closely behind him. I looked over to the commons area, in the middle of all the cabins. The Apollo kids were shooting hoops, hitting nothing but net every single time. The hearth burning in the middle of the commons area, a small girl sitting next to it poking the glowing coals with a stick. As my stare lingered longer on Hestia, her head suddenly snapped towards my direction, her brown eyes staring straight at me. Something told me she knew something by the way she looked at me.

I hesitantly looked away from the goddess and followed Chiron to the Hermes cabin, the cabin that looked like it was a run-down hut. I still didn't get why the Hermes cabin got all the old, hand-me-downs of literally anything at camp. Maybe I could try and change that. They deserved better.

I wanted to run, away from Chiron and away from the Hermes cabin. I have already established that this was the past and that meant that I would see everyone that I have seen since I was twelve. That meant I was going to see someone I honestly didn't want to see.

Chiron started slowing down. I looked past him and saw Annabeth reading a book, standing next to the door of cabin eleven. My mind immediately translated the Ancient Greek on the front cover and I smiled when I realised it was a book about architecture. I had forgotten how obsessed she used to be over architecture and cool-looking buildings.

'Annabeth,' Chiron said, causing Annabeth to look at him. 'I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Cabin eleven,' he told me as he gestured me to go inside. 'Make yourself at home.'

I gulped and looked at the doorway like I was looking at the entrance to hell. I could feel my nervousness growing.

'Well, then,' Chiron said as he started making his way to the archery range. 'Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner.'

I tried to gather my breath but seeing all the faces of the demigods, the unclaimed demigods and demigods that didn't feel wanted, made me uneasy. I looked around the crowded cabin and saw a lot of people. The Stolls were both sitting on the same bed, staring at me and the Minotaur horn in my pocket with a mischievous glint in their eyes. There were a lot of undetermined campers in the cabin, campers that had run away to join the wrong side. People that had, or will, try to kill me. People that I had no choice but to kill for the sake of Olympus.

I remembered everyone's lives I ended during those days of fighting. I remembered every single one of them. Some of them had even been my friends.

'Well?' Annabeth said as she poked me. 'Go on.'

I slowly walked forward, carefully minding the small tripping hazard I had fallen victim to too many times. I felt everyone's eyes on me as I walked into the cabin, people sitting on the bunks while some stood with their arms crossed, looking me up and down while also sizing me up.