Anthízo, Percy Jackson

V. frank gets lectured on cereal

AT MOST CAMPS, THE FOOD USUALLY TASTES LIKE MOTOR OIL and sweat, but at camp jupiter, the food is heavenly.

invisible wind spirits-aurae-waited on the campers and seemed to know exactly what everyone wanted. they blew plates and cups around so quickly, the mess hall looked like a delicious hurricane. if you got up too fast, you were likely to get beaned by beams or potted by a pot roast. karina definitely knows what that's like.

karina got what she usually gets, fettuccine alfredo and warm bread sticks (specifically from olive garden) and sprite. percy got a cheeseburger and a strange-looking soda that was bright blue. she didn't understand that, but percy tried it and grinned.

"this makes me happy," he said. "i don't know why. . . but it does."

"how'd you make it blue?" karina asked, mesmerized.

he shrugged his shoulders, "i just asked for blue coke."

she looked to her glass and said, "green sprite." a moment later the liquid started morphing into a brite green color and fizz bubbled up at the top. karina giggled excitedly and took a sip.

"how have i been missing out on this?" she asked in shock. percy laughed at her reaction and took a bite out of his burger, his eyes not leaving hers.

the mess hall seemed especially noisy tonight. laughter echoed off the walls. war banners rustled from cedar ceiling beams as aurae blew back and forth. keeping everyone's plates full. the campers dined roman style, sitting on couches around low tables. kids were constantly getting up and trotting places, spreading rumors about who liked whom and all the other gossip.

as usual, the fifth cohort took the place of least honor. their tables were at the back of the dining hall next to the kitchen. my table was always the least crowded. tonight is was karina, and hazel and frank, as usual, with percy and nico and their centurion dakota, who sat there, she figured, because he felt obligated to welcome the new recruit. karina really didn't have to sit with the fifth, she could sit at the praetor's table with reyna, but she liked sitting with her friends, and even though reyna seems like a cold and hard person most of the time, she probably knows about all the gossip around camp. and she knows that if she sits with her, they will go down the gossip train and talk for hours, so she needed to stay away.

dakota reclined glumly on his couch, mixing sugar into his drink and chugging it. he was a beefy guy with curly black hair and eyes that didn't quite line up straight, so it felt like the world was leaning whenever karina looked at him. it wasn't a good sign that he was drinking so much so early in the night.

"so," he burped, waving his goblet. karina wrinkled her nose. "welcome to the percy, party." he frowned. "party, percy. whatever."

"um, thanks." percy said, but his attention was focused on nico. "i was wondering if we could talk, you know. . . about where a might've seen you before."

"sure," nico said a little too quickly. "the thing is, i spend most of my time in the underworld. so unless i met you there somehow-"

dakota belched. "ambassador form pluto, they call him. reyna's never sure what to do with this guy when he visits. you should have seen her face when he showed up with hazel, asking her and karina to take her in. um, no offense."

"it was pretty funny." karina agreed, taking a sip of her green sprite.

"none taken." nico seemed relieved to change the topic. "dakota was really helpful, standing for hazel."

dakota blushed. "yeah. well. . .she seemed like a good kid. turned out i was right. last month, when she saved me from, uh, you know."

"oh, man!" frank looked up from his fish and chips. "percy, you should have seen her! that's how hazel got her stripe. the unicorns decided to stampede-"