La Vie en Rose // Percy Jackson

iii. food sacrifices and campfires

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever Percy went, campers pointed at us and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at me and Annabeth, as both of us were still pretty much dripping wet. I squeezed out my hair, staring at Percy.

We 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 we 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, Annie, I'm sorry about the toilets," Percy apologized.

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

She looked at him skeptically, and he realized it was his fault. He'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. It was obvious he didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to him. He had become one with the plumbing.

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

"Who?" Percy asked.

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

Percy stared into the lake, deep in thought.

He noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if Percy were a long-lost friend.

Percy didn't know what else to do. He waved back.

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

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

Annabeth 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?" Percy asked.

"I think you know," I said simply.

Percy clearly didn't want to admit it, but it seemed he was afraid if he did.

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

Annabeth 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-" Percy almost said myths again."But if all the kids here are half-gods-"

"Demigods," I said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who're your dads?" Percy asked.

Annabeth's hands tightened around the pier railing. My jaw clenched as I stared into the water.

"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

I nodded slowly. "My dad is an engineer working on building the tech for phones."