𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 [𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐗 𝐇𝐏]

iii: ariana reveals parents

╔═══════════════╗

chapter iii

(the lighting theif)

ariana reveals parents

╚═══════════════╝

 WORD OF THE BATHROOM incident spread like wildfire. Wherever they went, campers pointed at them and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Ariana and Annabeth, who were still pretty much dripping wet.

They showed him a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough. Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

Ariana looked at him sceptically, and it dawned on him that it was his fault. He'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

Ariana turned to the boy, who was staring at the naiads at the bottom of the lake. The two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below, wore blue jeans and shim-mering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if he were a long-lost friend.

He waved back.

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

"Naiads," Percy repeated, looking completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."

Ariana frowned. "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."

"God," he said. "Half-god."

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