Lightning Child - Percy Jackson

007

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever Percy went, campers would murmur something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just entranced by his charming blue eyes

Annabeth showed me 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, I'm sorry about the toilets," Percy said again

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

She glared at him skeptically, and I realized it was his fault. Percy had made water shoot out of the bathroom. I didn't understand how. But he did like he was one with the plumbing. As Annabeth left, Percy let out a huge sigh and laid back on the lush grass by the lakeside; I fell back next to him. We stayed silent for a while, consumed with how overwhelming this day has been. 

He mumbled something. I turned my head to him. 

"Did you know you were one?" He said louder, "A demigod?"

"Not really. I knew I was weird, though," I replied 

"I guess it was a sign" He laughed numbly. I just stared at the clouds above us, the sun still hot on my head. The weight of my new identity as a demigod pressed down on me, and the day's events started ranking up my reputation as the freakshow in the camp.

"Do you like it here, Eve?" 

"It's better than where I was," I sighed. "But this feels so fake. Something isn't right"

"We need a quest," Percy announced. "Annabeth told me it's the only way campers get to leave"

"How do we do that?" 

Percy shrugged and dipped his hands in the lake; the crunch of leaves came up behind us. The counselor, Luke, came over.

"Found you two sleeping bags," he said. "And here, I stole some toiletries from the camp store."

I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part, but its kinda giving bad boy 

"Thanks," I said. I felt my ears get beet-red

"No prob." Luke offered his hand to me, I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. "Tough first day?"

"You have no idea" Percy groaned getting up from the ground, we followed Luke back to cabin eleven.

"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. It doesn't get any easier."

The bitterness in his voice surprised me because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.

"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked. He nodded, brushing mud off his sandals

Percy said, "The wing-footed messenger guy."  

"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

I figured Luke didn't mean to call me or Percy nobodies. He just had a lot on his mind, I hope.

"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.

"Once."

I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar. Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Eve. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that because an older guy like him- even if he was a counselor would've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toothpaste, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day. I could tell Percy felt the same way. He was hanging onto every word Luke said like a lost puppy. Then he stopped walking 

"Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?" Percy said

Luke folded his pocket knife. "I hate prophecies."

Percy pushed for more "What do you mean?" 

Luke's face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much that he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp."

"Somebody special?"

"Don't worry about it," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for, and there are two of you, not one. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. 

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"
The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of priority, so of course, I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods- and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.

There were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted woodnymphs and naiads. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze onto the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her brown eyes and pitch hair.

Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and, yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic, of course."

I had to think for a second, but Percy didn't hesitate. "Cherry coke, wait! Blue cherry coke"

M: I won't be able to write for a while, so I'm gonna post this now, 

I just started exam week and have had a lot on my plate, so hopefully, you'll enjoy this. 

Also lmk if you want any other stories or if you want me to add anything, I'd love the feedback

THANK YOU!