Flower Food || [Percy Jackson x OC] || [🎵 included]

Chapter 4: I Accidentally Beat the Hot Son of Hermes

The Hermes cabin was number eleven of the bunch, and it was big. It was made of sturdy oak wood and was bursting with campers of all ages, some of them sleeping in hammocks, some resting in beds, and some even sitting on the ground on sleeping bags.

"Luke!" Calli waved at a particularly tall boy in the back.

He was talking to other boys but he smiled at her and trotted over, his sandy blond hair really emphasizing his whole surfer look along with his blue eyes. He had to be older than them, at least already eighteen, but he was at least friendlier than Clarisse as he said, "hey, Calli. You give Mr. D a hard time again?"

She looked amused as she said, "you know him. He always gets distracted by imperial grapes. I just had to lose a few seeds, but it's fine. Percy, this is Luke. He's the head counselor of Cabin Eleven."

"Luke, son of Hermes," Luke said, a charming smile on his face as he reached out a hand.

Percy shook it, taking note of the various calluses and cuts he felt on the boy's palm. Even his face had a scar, a long one that ran from eye to cheek, and if anyone was a hero, surely it had to be this guy.

"Percy," he said. "Son of... someone, I guess."

Luke laughed good-heartedly and clapped a hand to his shoulder. His touch was warm and felt a lot like Chiron's as he said, "well, it's okay to not know. That's why you're here. Hermes and his children welcome any half-blood."

"You're only staying here temporarily," Calli said, leading them deeper into the cabin. "Just until you get claimed. Annabeth already told everybody you were coming, so it looks like you'll be getting a bed this time around. Aiya!"

She yelped when she touched the bed post of one of the ones tucked into the corner of the cabin, and Percy was quick to rush over and blurt out, "what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sugar," she was quick to dismiss, her nose pink with embarrassment as she shook her hand out and glared at the numerous campers staring at them. "Did Annabeth not warn you all enough? If one of you curses this bed one more time then I'll be sure to make you grow dandelions out of your ears."

A few campers looked nervous at the warning, while several of them only rolled their eyes and shuffled away.

"She's a tough one," Luke stage whispered to Percy, ignoring the way Calli told him to cut it out. "She doesn't like pranks that much, which is a little sad considering Hermes is the God of Mischief and Trickery. But she's also good at making stuff grow out of places you don't want things to grow, so your bed should be fine from now on."

"Thanks," Percy said hesitantly, trying not to picture the disturbing image of someone with dandelions coming out of their nose and ears. "You said I would be here until I get claimed. How do I do that? Get claimed?"

Calli exchanged a glance with Luke and said, "there's no way to make it happen. You can't force the gods to do anything, Percy, and that includes acknowledging you as their own."

Percy gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his bitterness from swelling. This whole journey was for practically nothing, then. His mother's sacrifice was in vain. All because his stupid, boneheaded god of a father was too busy doing whatever the hell stupid deities did in their stupid thrones.

Percy let out a hot breath of air through his nose and snapped, "and why is that thing here?"

He pointed to the Minotaur horn that laid innocently on the bedside drawer. It was on top of his now clean and neatly folded clothes from when he got to the camp, and he resisted the urge to smack the thing away.