𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘, percy jackson

𝐕𝐈𝐈. in which a flag is captured

CHAPTER SEVEN ——
IN WHICH A FLAG IS CAPTURED !

┊͙ 🚩 ˖ . *. ⋆

( "hail, perseus jackson." )

         THE NEXT FEW DAYS, Parker and Percy settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you didn't count the fact that they were getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.

Each morning they took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. The two discovered Annabeth was right about the dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for them to read. At least, no harder than English.

The rest of the day, Parker and Percy would rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something they were good at. They made sure to stand as far apart from each other in every class, Ancient Greek with just them two and Annabeth every morning was enough for Percy to be annoyed with Parker and for Parker to want to slap Percy for the rest of the day.

Chiron tried to teach Percy archery, but they found out pretty quickly he wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. Chiron didn't complain, even when he had to design a stray arrow out of his tail.

Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left Percy in the dust. They told him not to worry about it, they'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.

And wrestling? Forget it. Every time Percy got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize him.

And what made his blood boil the most, was that Parker seemed to be doing good at everything. She could read better than him in Ancient Greek, she could hit a target with an arrow, she could run faster, and could last at least three minutes against Clarisse in wrestling.

Luke told Percy he thinks she's a child of Hermes, like him. Someone who's a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. 

Even though Parker was doing better than Percy in most activities, she didn't show it. It surprised Percy that she wasn't rubbing it in his face every chance she got.

In fact, she didn't say much at all. Which Percy found both weird and beyond relieving.

Dark circles had formed under Parker's eyes and Percy knew she hadn't been sleeping since he had the unfortunate privilege of sleeping on the floor next to her. Sometimes Percy would wake up in the middle of the night and she'd still be awake, staring at the ceiling. He found it to be just a little bit creepy. Her tiredness and lack of smiles made her seem like a zombie who just rose from the dead. Especially with her pale skin and that nasty scar on her face.

The only thing Percy excelled at that Parker didn't was canoeing. And that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.

Despite all that, Percy liked camp. He got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, and even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. He would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of his meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to his real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling he'd always had, like the memory of his smile. Percy tried not to think too much about his mom, but he kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...