𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃

4

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever Percy and Bridget went, campers pointed at them and murmured something about toilet water. 

Bridget showed Percy a few more places: the metal shop, the arts-and-crafts room, and the climbing wall.

Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. 'I've got training to do,' Bridget said flatly. 'Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall.'

'Bridget, I'm sorry about the toilets.' 

'Whatever.' 

'It wasn't my fault.' 

At that, Bridget looked at Percy skeptically. She sighed and rubbed her temple. 'You need to talk to the Oracle.'

'Not who, idiot. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron.' 

Percy stared into the lake, and so did Bridget. She noticed a couple of Naiads at the bottom. They smiled and waved as if the two were long-lost friends of their. Bridget just rolled her eyes as Percy waved back. 

'Don't encourage them,' Bridget warned. 'Naiads are terrible flirts.' 

'Naiads,' Percy repeated. 'That's it. I want to go home now.'

Bridget groaned. 'Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us.'

'You mean, mentally disturbed kids?'

'I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human.'

'Half-human and half-what?' 

'I think you know.' Bridget stared at him.

After a while, Percy spoke. 'God. Half-god.' 

Bridget nodded. 'Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians.' 

'That's...crazy.'

'Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?'

'But those are just- But if all the kids here are half-gods-'

'Demigods,' Bridget intervened. 'That's the official term. Or half-bloods.' 

'Then who's your godly parent?' 

Bridget's hands tightened around the pier railing. 'I don't know.'

Percy frowned. 'You're... unclaimed as well?'

Bridget shook her head. 'Nope. I'm claimed. I was claimed as soon as I was born. Only Chiron knows who my godly parent is, and he refuses to tell me.'

'Wait... you were claimed when you were a baby?' Percy asked in total shock.

'Yep. Annabeth, the girl you met, her mom's Athena.'

Percy looked at her, blinking causing Bridget to get annoyed. 'What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?'

'And my dad?'

'Undetermined,' Bridget said, 'like I told you before. Nobody knows.'

'Except my mother. She knew.'

'Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities.' 

'My dad would have. He loved her.'

Bridget sighed and looked at the sky. 'Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.'