chapter two
002. the minotaur slayer!

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     PERCY HAD no idea what was happening. 

     The night outside was a blur of vicious rain, lightning and rolling thunder. His own heart pounded with a breathless desperation▬a pleading desperation to know what was going on. To understand why his mother was so scared. To understand what that dream was. To understand why Grover had furry donkey hindquarters for legs. To understand why his dad wanted him to go to a summer camp. To understand what those old ladies were. To understand why Mrs. Dodds attacked him▬and why everyone made him feel crazy for thinking she existed. To just know▬

     Percy yelped when the car shuddered over a pothole in the road, jolting upwards in his seat. He had no idea how his mom was seeing anything in this storm, but she didn't slow down, heading down a long and winding road that seemed to lead nowhere. He glanced at Grover sitting in the backseat of the Camaro beside him▬and he seriously began to wonder whether he was going insane. He had to be wearing some weird set of pants and shoes. His best friend didn't actually have donkey legs ... right? Right?

     And yet Percy knew it was real. He could smell it. His best friend smelt like a wet dog. 

     There was a rather bright flash of lightning▬almost immediately, the entire sky split in a horrifying crack of thunder that shook Percy to his bones. He took a shaky breath, terrified. There was so much he wanted to say▬so many questions he wanted to ask. But as they sped dangerously down the narrow road, he turned to Grover and blurted out: "So, you and my mom ... know each other?"

     Grover's dark eyes darted to the rearview mirror. Percy glanced back as well, but there was nothing behind them. No lights, no cars▬just the complete blackness of Long Island woodland around them. "Not exactly," he decided to say eventually. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."

    "Watching me▬?"

    "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay." Grover pursed his lips and held his breath for a second. "But▬but I wasn't faking being your friend," he told Percy, some part of his voice seeming to crack as he feared Percy's response. "I am your friend."

     Percy didn't know what his response was. His mind was buzzing with so much▬flooded with questions, reactions and more questions. His ADHD didn't help, either. Instead of worrying and focusing on questions and responses that were focused on what they were running from, all Percy could think of was▬was his friend half donkey? He took a few quick breaths, clenching his hands to stop them from shaking. 

     He nodded at Grover, trying not to be so obvious, but he failed miserably. "Um ... what are you, exactly?"

    "That doesn't matter right now."

    "It doesn't matter?!" Percy let out, eyes wide and heart racing. "From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey▬!"

     "BLAH-HA-HA▬!" Percy jumped, shocked at the sound Grover let out, sharp and livid. "Goat!"

    "What?"

    "I'm a goat from the waist down!"

    "You just said it didn't matter▬!"

     "Blah-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"

     Percy threw his hands up, giving up until he had to take a moment to backtrack and realise what his friend just said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa▬wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"

     Grover seemed exasperated by his realisation. "Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

     He gasped and pointed at his friend. "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

    "Of course, there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

    Percy couldn't believe any of this. "What?! Then why▬?"

    "The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," said Grover quickly▬as if that was supposed to be obvious. Percy just shrugged, annoyed. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realise who you are."

    "Who I▬Wait a minute, what do you mean?!"

    Their conversation came to an abrupt halt when the bellowing noise echoed out into the stormy night once again. Percy hitched his breath, his heart skipping a few terrified beats as he noticed that it was closer than it had been before. Whatever was cashing them was still on their trail.

    "Percy," said his mom, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

    "Safety from what? Who's after me?!"

    "Oh, nobody much," grumbled Grover, still miffed about the donkey comment. "Nobody much at all▬Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

    "Grover!"

    "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

     Percy sat back in his seat, his head spinning. He tried to wrap it around what was happening, but he couldn't. Some part of him still wondered whether this was a dream▬wanted it to be a dream. But he knew it wasn't. He had no imaginationn. He couldn't dream up something this weird.           

     He yelped when his mom made a hard left. They swerved into a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. 

     "Where are we going?" cried out Percy. 

     "The summer camp I told you about." His mother's voice was tight▬she was trying hard not to be scared for him, but Percy could tell. "The place your father wanted to send you."

    "The place you didn't want me to go."

    "Please, dear," she begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

     Percy shook his head, scoffing out pleading disbelief. "How? Because some old ladies cut yarn?"

     "Those weren't old ladies," Grover told him. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means▬the fact that they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to▬" he stopped and backtracked, "▬when someone's about to die."

     Percy's eyes widened. "Whoa▬" he swallowed his heart that had lurched up painfully into his throat. "You said 'you'."

     Grover's eyes widened, too. "Uh▬No, I didn't," he said quickly. "I said 'someone'."

    "No," Percy argued slowly. "You meant 'you'. As in 'me'."

    "No, no▬" Grover shook his head, making a face, "▬No, I really think I meant you, like 'someone'. Not you, 'you'▬"

     "▬That doesn't even make any sense▬!"

     "▬Boys!"

     Percy's mother pulled the wheel hard to the right and he got a glimpse of the figure she had swerved to avoid▬a dark, fluttering shape now lost behind them in the storm. 

     "What was that?!" 

    "We're almost there," murmured Sally Jackson, ignoring her son's question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please▬"

     He didn't know where there was▬and yet he found himself leaning forward in the car with hitched anticipation, wanting them to arrive. 

     Outside, there was still nothing but rain and pitch-black, velvet darkness. They had reached the empty countryside that was getting close to the tip of Long Island. Percy thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment she had shifted▬morphed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. His breath left his lips as his limbs went numb with delayed shock ... She really hadn't been human. She had meant to kill him. 

     His mind darted to Mr. Brunner and the pen he had given Percy▬a pen that had turned into a sword. But before he could ask Grover about that, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His breath hitched once again and before he could react, there was a blinding flash, a bone-shuddering boom▬!

     And their car flung up into the sky. 

    Percy didn't remember much▬at all. The feeling of when he lifted off his seat and propelled forward as the car spun and turned was something weightless▬almost imaginary, like he had been thrown into a dreamland far away from reality. 

     He didn't know whether he blacked out once they hit the ground again. But the next thing he knew, he was peeling his forehead off the back of the driver's seat. "Ow ..." He groaned. 

     "Percy!" he heard his mom shout and he was jolted back to reality. 

    "I'm okay!" he managed, pushing himself back. Percy tried to shake the daze out of his eyes, blinking and pressing a hand to his pounding head. He wasn't dead, which he supposed was a positive. They had somehow swerved into a ditch. The driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof was split open▬cracked and splintered, and rain poured in like sheets of ice. 

     Lightning, Percy realised with a chill down his spine. That was the only explanation▬they had been blasted right off the road. Another realisation hit him and he gasped, turning to where his best friend sat beside him▬and there was a motionless lump. "Grover!"

     His best friend was slumped over. Percy shook him, but he didn't stir. He noticed blood on his chin, dripping out of the corner of his mouth. His heart started to race with a new terror. "Grover!" he cried again, pushing his friend, hard, at his furry hip. Even if his best friend was somehow also a barnyard animal, that didn't mean Percy wanted him to die. "Agh! Get up you satyr donkey!"

     The donkey insult worked because then Grover groaned: "Food...!" and Percy knew that he was going to be okay. 

     "Percy," his mother took a deep breath, shaking the daze from her eyes as well, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. 

     Percy looked back. He winced at the bright flash of lightning through the mud-splattered rear windshield. He felt his heart hitch to a stop to see a figure running towards them in the darkness; its shadow lumbering on the shoulder of the road. His skin crawled. It was a man, and yet, it wasn't a man. He was large and tall▬bigger than any person Percy has seen in his life with broard shoulders and ... and his hands were raised up▬almost making it seem like he had horns. 

     He swallowed hard. "What▬Who is▬?"

    "Percy," his mother cut him off, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

    She threw herself against the driver's seat door but it was jammed shut. Percy tried his own, slamming his shoulder so hard against it, it left a painful ache afterwards. It didn't budge. Frantic, he glanced up at the hole in the roof of the car, but the edges were burning with smoke. 

     "Climb out the passanger's side!" his mother told him, growing frantic, too. "Percy▬you have to run! Do you see that big tree?"

    "What?"

    There was another crack of lightning and the whole night sky lit up in a piercing, blind strike. Through the smoking hole in the roof Percy saw the tree his mother meant: a towering pine tree at the crest of the nearest hill. 

     "That's the property line," said his mom and he glanced back at her, shaking▬and not from the rain. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

     Percy didn't understand what she meant. He stammered. "B▬But ... Mom, you're▬you're coming, too."

     Her face was pale. Percy's heart fell with the gaze in her eyes as she looked at the ocean. He shook his head. That lump in his throat returned▬more painful than ever. "B▬But▬No!" he cried out, stubborn. "You are coming with me! Help me carry Grover."

    "Food!" moaned Grover helpfully.

    The man with the raised hands was getting closer and closer. The sounds he made were strange▬grunting, snorting noises; but they weren't weird to the point it was funny. Percy was terrified of the sound. As he got even closer, Percy then realised he wasn't holding his hands up in the air▬they were swinging at his side. Which meant ... which meant those things at the top of his huge head that looked like horns ...

     "He doesn't want us," Percy's mother told him, urgent. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

    "B▬But▬"

    "We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please!"

    Percy clenched his jaw. He got mad▬really mad. At his mother, at Grover, at the thing with horns that was racing towards them▬charging like a bull. Then, he shook his head. He wasn't going to leave them. He was never going to leave his mother and Grover. He climbed over his friend and pushed the door open into the rain. "No. We're going together. Come on, Mom."

    "I told you▬"

    "Mom!" He didn't want to shout at her, but he had to make her agree. "I am not leaving you Help me with Grover." 

    Percy didn't wait for her answer. He rushed outside, scrambling amongst mud, shattered glass and wet grass. He then dragged Grover out of the car with him. He was surprisingly light▬but Percy knew he couldn't have carried him very far if his mom hadn't helped. Together, they threw Grover's arms over their shoulders and forced their way uphill, stumbling and breathing heavily though waist-high grass. 

     When he glanced back, he wished he didn't. The monster was seven feet tall at the very least▬strong in an unnatural, but terrifying way that made Percy sure he could squeeze the life out of him with just his fingers. He wore not a single thing except for a loincloth and seemed to have never shaved once in his life. Course brown hair started at his stomach and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to an enormous head with a snout as long as Percy's arm. And his horns▬his horns ... great, big black-and-white horns with vicious, glinting points. A monster that was half-man, half-bull. 

     Percy gaped, shocked and quivering at the knees. He knew what this monster was, but ... but he wasn't real. "That's▬that's▬"

    "Pasiphae's son," said his mother. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

     "But▬But he's a Min▬"

     "Don't say his name!" his mother cut him off, urgent and with warning. "Names have power."

     "What does that even mean?!"

    The pine tree was way too far away▬a hundred metres uphill at the very least. Percy was fearing they wouldn't make it in time. He glanced back again. The Minotaur hunched over their car, looking in the windows▬shoving his head and his nose up against the seats and the doors. Percy frowned, wondering why▬they were only just fifteen metres away.

    "Food?" moaned Grover.

     Percy elbowed him. "Shh!" he whispered. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

    "His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

     Percy wondered how his mother knew all of this, but his questions went dry as a roar of bellowing rage erupted from the Minotaur's snout. He picked up Gabe Ugliano's Camaro by the torn roof▬it bent; it creaked and it groaned under his mighty grip. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

     He and his mother stepped back, hunching up with visible winces at the firestorm that was once Gabe's car.

    ("Not a scratch..." He had said ... Oops?). 

    "Percy," his mother fixed her grip on one of Grover's arms, hoisting him up higher. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way▬directly sideways. He can't change direction very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

    "How do you know all this?"

    "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

     "Keeping me near you? But▬?"

    There was another bellow of rage and the Minotaur started to make his way up the hill. Percy wished he wasn't trembling because that didn't make him sound brave. But the truth was, he was absolutely terrified. The monster had smelt them▬and it was probably because of Grover's wet backside. 

    The pine tree was only a few more metres away, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker▬and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. The monster was closing in; a few more seconds and he'd be on top of them. 

    Percy's mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover by herself. "Go, Percy!" she cried at him over the wind and rain. "Separate! Remember what I said!"

    He didn't want to split up. He didn't want to split up▬at all. But if his mom had been right about the smell, and knew about this camp and everything else she knew, then she had to be right about this, too. If they split up, then perhaps they will all get out of this alive. Percy sprinted to the left and turned▬the creature bore down on him. His eyes were a hellish black colour; a bottomless pit that seemed to burn with an obsidian fire-pit of hate. 

    The Minotaur lowered his head and shook out his horns▬they aimed right at Percy's chest.

    He charged. 

    There was a jolt in Percy's stomach. A gut-wrenching fear that nearly made him bolt, but he knew that wasn't going to work. He forced himself to stay still. He planted his feet amongst the tall grass and at the last moment, he leapt to the side. 

     The monster stormed past him like a freight train. Percy watched him skid to a stop, almost tripping over. He roared with fury and turned▬but not back towards him. Instead, it fixed its beady, bottomless-pit eyes on Percy's mother, who was setting Grover down on the grass.

     They had reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side, Percy could see a valley just like his mother had said. There were lights glowing▬the lights of a farmhouse that blinked at him like distant yellow spotlights through the rain. It was half a mile away. They weren't going to make it. He wanted to scream. Those lights, they weren't comforting; they taunted him, they laughed at him ... they told him how close they were, and yet how far away at the very same time. 

     The Minotaur grunted and pawed at the ground. It was a wild sight to see. He was a man chest-up and a bull waist-down. His hands slammed against the mud and it splattered his hairy chest. Somewhere, halfway up his neck, skin and hair morphed into his head▬the head of a bull with nostrils that flared with anger and teeth bared. Percy has never been more scared of cows in his life. It kept eyeing his mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back towards the road in order to try and lead the monster away from Grover.

    "Run, Percy!" she told him. "I can't go any further. Run!"

     But Percy just stood there, frozen with fear as the monster charged her. He didn't do anything as he watched his mother try to side-step but the monster had learnt his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. Percy's heart rose up high in his throat, and he wanted to scream, but no words came out as the Minotaur lifted his mother into the air, kicking and struggling. 

     When he did manage to find his voice, it came out as a croaked, pleading and desperate: "MOM▬!"

     She caught his eyes and managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

     And with an angry cry, the monster closed his fist around Sally Jackson's neck and she dissolved right before her son's eyes. She melted into light▬a shimmering gold form ... and then in a blinding flash she was▬

     She was gone. 

     Percy did scream this time. It ripped through his throat and tore out into the lightning storm like a furious ocean wave. "NO!"

     Anger replaced his fear. It swept up inside his chest until his lungs were breathing a burning fire. He clenched his hands and a newfound strength surged in his limbs. The Minotaur loomed over Grover who lied helpless in the grass. He hunched over, sniffing Percy's best friend as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve and burst into light, too. 

     Percy couldn't allow that. 

    "HEY▬!" he stripped off his red rain jacket. He threw it up and waved it over his head, screaming at the top of his lungs. "HEY, STUPID! GROUND BEEF!"

     The monster spun to him, heaving furiously. 

     Percy had an idea▬a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. He pressed his back against the big pine tree and waved his red jacket into the raging wind. He was going to charge, and Percy would jump out of the way last minute.

     His plan went sideways almost immediately. 

    The Minotaur charged, but he charged too fast. He spread out his arms, ready to grab Percy whichever way he tried to dodge. And he knew he was screwed.

     Until, just like that, time seemed to slow down. 

    Percy's legs tensed. He couldn't jump sideways and so he leapt straight up, kicking off from the creature's head and turning midair. He had no clue what he was doing, or how he had done it, but he landed back down on the monster's neck. He had no time to figure out what had just happened because the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked Percy right out. 

    The monster staggered around, trying to shake him off but Percy locked his arms around his horns to keep himself steady. He should have backed up into the tree and squashed Percy flat ... but he started to realise that this thing had only one gear: forward. 

    Meanwhile, Grover started to groan in the grass. Percy wanted to tell him to shut up, but he clenched his jaw shut▬unable to move it at all as he was tossed around, clinging on for dear life. 

    "Food!"

    The Minotaur wheeled towards him. He pawed at the ground again▬he was getting ready to charge. Percy glanced back at where his mother was▬had been and the fury returned to his chest ten-fold. He cried out and wrapped both of his hands around one horn. He had no idea what he planned to do, but his anger fuelled every movement he made and▬

    Snap!

   The monster screamed and flung Percy into the air. He grunted as he landed, painfully back onto the grass. Something struck the back of his head, and his vision started to go blurry. As he managed to sit up, he glanced down and stared, gobsmacked at the horn in his hand. A ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

     He had ripped the horn right off the Minotaur's head. 

    The monster charged once again. 

    Percy didn't think. He rolled to one side and skidded onto his knees. As the monster barreled past he lunged his hands upwards and drove the broken horn straight into the monster's side▬right up and underneath his ribcage. 

     The Minotaur roared. He flailed. He clawed at his chest and then, right before Percy's eyes, he began to disintegrate; he crumbled and split apart like sand, blown away in the wind. Just like Mrs. Dodds.

      And then, just like that, the monster was gone.

     The rain had stopped. The storm still brewed above the clouds, but only in the distance. Percy breathed heavily, unable to tear his eyes away from where the monster had just been. The grip he had on the horn was trembling▬so were his knees. That lump in his throat returned and he wanted to throw up; his head felt as though it was splitting right open. He wanted to just lie down and cry▬he wanted to lie down and wake up back at the cabin on the beach ... and for all that has just happened to be one, horrifying bad dream.

     But he couldn't. This wasn't a dream. Grover was still moaning in the grass, Percy had just killed a monster with its own horn and his mom...

     He glanced over at his best friend. Grover needed his help. Percy stumbled back onto his feet, the world around him spinning. He managed to haul his friend up and staggered down into the valley. He dragged Grover with him, towards the lights of the farmhouse. It was all a blur▬he didn't think he remembered much of it. He remembered the wind howling, and thunder rolling above in the clouds, he called for his mother ... thinking that perhaps maybe, she would be there, waiting for him. That she had magically escaped when the light flashed ...

     But there was one thing Percy was sure of. He did not let go of Grover. He wasn't going to let him go. 

     Somehow, he made it to the porch. He collapsed on the wooden deck. And he remembered a ceiling fan. He remembered it circling ... around and around and around ... 

     Faces blocked his view. Two of them. The stern face of a bearded man who looked familiar ... and▬

     Percy's vision seemed to focus▬just for a moment when he saw her. A pretty girl with blonde, princess girls and startling grey eyes. They glinted and they glowed▬ghoulish, almost, in the yellow porch light. But he recognised her. It was her. The girl from his dream. 

     She stared back at him, and Percy wondered whether the look on his dazed face was just as shocked as hers. Her breath hitched. "I▬Is it him?" she whispered, and Percy's vision started to blur all over again. She turned to the stern-looking man beside her. "It's▬it's him, isn't it?"

     "Quiet, Wendy," said the man. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

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    WENDY COULDN'T stop looking at him. She had abandoned her drawings. Abandoned her books and her quizzes▬she abandoned her chair in the Athena Cabin and found her way here. She should be at her Ancient Greek lessons, or the canoe lake, or with her siblings at arts and crafts, furiously trying to weave something together▬as was another random talent children of Athena had. But instead, she was here. 

    He drooled in his sleep. 

    She didn't know much about him, at all. She knew that his name was Percy Jackson because Grover told her. (Only after she threatened to throw his reed pipes into the lake). She knew that he was the boy she was waiting for. He had slayed the Minotaur▬he had collapsed on the Big House porch with the Minotaur's horn in his hand. He had messy black hair that was a little curly now that it had dried and slept with his jaw slack.

    And he drooled in his sleep.

    Wendy's brows were knitted, a little perplexed at the sight. He didn't look like a Minotaur slayer. Minotaur slayers don't drool in their sleep. But Percy Jackson does. 

    She had the sudden urge to reach out and poke his cheek. He didn't stir. 

    He had been out cold, unconscious for an entire day. Wendy would like to say she had left and gone about her day since then, but he had grabbed her focus and she had narrowed down on it. She could not think about anything other than the boy with the Minotaur horn. 

    She was anxious for him to wake. She wanted to know why she had dreamt about him. She wanted to know what he meant▬not just for her, but for all that was going on right now. She wasn't stupid, she knew that his arrival right now meant that the boy with the Minotaur horn and the gods' anger was linked. Maybe that meant that Wendy will have something to do with it, too▬Does that mean she wasn't some boring demigod with nothing set out for her? Will she finally have the chance to prove to her mother that she didn't make a mistake in claiming her? 

    Wendy wondered who his godly parent was. To be able to slay a Minotaur, he would have to be the son of a powerful god. Who was the most powerful god? Zeus? Was he the son of Zeus? With jet-black hair, he looked like he could be the son of the lightning god. 

    Except, Zeus was one of the Big Three, and they made a pact▬he, Poseidon and Hades▬to never have children again. 

    Annabeth seemed to think that there was going to be a child of the Big Three coming to camp soon for a reason Wendy didn't know. She hated not knowing. But a child of either Zeus, Poseidon or Hades seemed even more unlikely to happen than Wendy's desperate belief to see the boy with the Minotaur horn. The last time there was a child of the Big Three, it didn't end well▬Annabeth knew that all too well ... and yet, no one believed the boy from Wendy's dreams would arrive ... and here he was.

    Maybe he was the son of Zeus. Only the son of Zeus could slay a Minotaur. And there had been a lightning storm when they found him ... maybe...

    Wendy made a face when he started to drool again, incredulous. Do children of Zeus drool in their sleep? She pursed her lips and reached out for the plate of Ambrosia the Apollo kid who had been on infirmary duty had given her. She had told her that if she was going to hang around, she might as well be useful. 

    Ambrosia was the food of the gods. That and Nectar healed demigods whenever they got themselves injured (and at Camp Half-Blood, it happened quite a lot). They could only handle it in small pieces; too much, and they'd burn up. But Wendy risked a little piece and tried to spoon-feed it into Percy's mouth hoping it would wake him up sooner. She frowned, having to catch it in the spoon when it fell out of his mouth.

    "Stop drooling..." she muttered. Perhaps this was a good thing▬the impressed feeling she had was starting to go away and was being replaced with dubious disbelief. But amongst it all, a warm amusement lifted in her chest and Wendy found herself biting back a smile. 

    Perhaps the little bit of Ambrosia had done the trick because as Wendy pulled the spoon away, she noticed the boy's eyelids flutter. Her own eyes widened and she set the spoon down, staring as Percy Jackson woke up in a slight daze. Her grey eyes bore into a confused pair of sea-green ones. 

    There were many things Wendy could have said as they continued to stare at each other. She had many questions to ask him. But the only smart thing she could think of was: "Do you know you drool when you sleep?"

    The boy with the Minotaur horn stared at her, his mouth agape. "Uh ... What?" he croaked.

    "You drool in your sleep," she told him again, just in case he didn't hear her properly. 

    He blinked at her. He frowned, very distant. There was a moment where he was silent, then: "Okay...?"

    Wendy frowned back at him. She probably should have taken into consideration the fact he had just woken up from being unconscious▬but she didn't. "You should close your mouth when you sleep. Or wipe it."

    "Are you real?" he asked her bluntly.

    She leaned back, startled and bewildered by his question. Wendy looked down at her hands as if to double-check if she was▬and then she blushed at how stupid her actions were. Embarrassed, she told Percy Jackson: "Of course, I'm real."

    He made a face, still looking very dazed▬as if that didn't make sense to him. Wendy made a face back at him, a little miffed and still very bewildered by his accusation. 

    He drifted back off to sleep after that, and almost immediately, he started to drool all over again. 

    Percy Jackson didn't fully wake up until a few days later. Until then, neither Wendy nor Annabeth could get much out of him about the summer solstice. Argus, their camp security with many eyes on the back of his head (and all over his body), caught Annabeth trying to get answers out of him and Wendy's sister was now barred from the infirmary▬or at least from being anywhere near Percy from the infirmary until he woke up. 

    (It was actually really funny because Annabeth looked like she would blow up a storm▬poor Malcolm got a new bruise on his shoulder from how hard she punched him in retaliation to teasing her). 

    Wendy didn't give up, though. She kept trying to listen around and eavesdrop on the conversations Chiron had with Mr. D or the satyrs▬but he was ridiculously secretive. Anything about Percy, or the summer solstice, and whether they were connected was kept in a locked jar▬and no matter how hard Wendy tried, she couldn't unscrew the lid to reveal all of the secrets. 

    She skipped her monster class to try and catch sight of the boy with the Minotaur horn. While Annabeth was tasked with checking with Cabin Eleven whether they have a bed for him, Wendy had to continue on with her day. Though, she had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that Chiron knew how nosy Wendy had been recently▬ever since she had the dream. He was keeping things from her. Probably for her own protection, but she was stubborn. She wanted to know everything she could. 

    Now that it was only a few days before June, Camp Half-Blood was filled with its seasonal campers. No longer was the sword arena, the canoe lake, or the lava wall practically empty▬but instead, the woods and fields that were her home were buzzing with energy. Already, the Ares campers were squabbling with the Apollo campers. The children of Aphrodite had grouped together, gossiping in groups and doing the hair of the Demeter campers instead of practising their archery. A pair of water nymphs laughed the moment they had sneakily tipped over the canoe that had a son of Hermes sitting inside. 

    Wendy doesn't really know anything else other than her life here. Her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and her beaded camp necklace were her home. She may as well have grown up here. There were a few campers that have been here since they were young, like Annabeth. Most came around the age of eleven or twelve▬the age at which monsters start to find them easier. Most went home for the winter. Unless they were too powerful to be able to head home safely without constant monster attacks. Or they didn't have a home to go to. 

    She waved back to some wood nymphs who were hanging around. Wendy doesn't know what her father was doing these days. He had dropped her off at Camp Half-Blood when she was just five years old because, already, things had started to become too dangerous for her to stay at home. She was a bit too young to understand that he wasn't coming back▬that he couldn't come back. It took her a few years to fully grasp the concept that she was too dangerous▬that her being around endangered her father. But she remembered the spiders. She remembered how they had covered the walls and the floor of their Chicago apartment. She remembered her father waking her up and carrying her out of their apartment, both of them covered in spider webs and bites. Wendy still had nightmares about them crawling all over her▬into her ears and mouth. Sometimes, they whispered at her. They taunted her. 

    Spiders and children of Athena don't go so well. Arachne, the first spider, had challenged Wendy's mother to a weaving competition. She had been so prideful that she believed she would win, and even though she did, for the price of her hubris, Athena turned her into a monstrous spider. And ever since, her children sought their vengeance against any child of Athena. 

    Wendy sometimes had the urge to find her father once again. But she always got too scared. Not because she didn't think he didn't want her or that he wouldn't reply ... but because Wendy was scared that something like that night would happen again. The spiders would find her, and next time, she and her father wouldn't be so lucky. 

    Her father's name was Pierce and he was a football coach. At least, he was when she was little. She often wondered why her mother had chosen him▬had fallen in love with him. Athena was a maiden goddess, she never had children the natural way. They had all sprouted from her mind just like she had sprouted from the head of Zeus. This meant that just like they were created from the beauty of the mind, the love Athena felt with mortals was the love of the mind. Wendy liked to think she fell in love with her father's unique strategic ability and eye for detail. She could remember him sitting in front of the television, making notes and watching football games▬over and over again, looking for ways to improve the high school team he coached for their next game. 

    Wendy doesn't know whether he's still a football coach. She doesn't know whether he's still in Chicago. She doesn't know whether he's married and he has kids▬in summary, she doesn't know whether he's moved on. Sometimes it's easier to think that he has. Other times, it hurts. 

    She made her way down to Cabin Eleven eventually, a little confused to see Annabeth still sitting there on the front steps. She was reading a book on Ancient Greek architecture (translated into Ancient Greek for the dyslexic demigod reading▬). Wendy walked up to her, swinging her arms. "Where is he?"

    Annabeth frowned. She waited until she finished reading the sentence before glancing up at her sister. "He's with Chiron." She answered, knowing exactly who Wendy was talking about. 

    She pursed her lips, admittedly disappointed. "Oh."

    "Shouldn't you be at monster class?"

    Wendy made a sheepish face. "I ... I already know everything."

    "No one knows everything."

     Wendy crossed her arms and went to argue that she knew quite a lot▬about everything. More than a lot of people. She was going to rant about how she could already guess what monster they'd be learning how to defeat and how she'd be able to defeat the monster in her sleep (the children of Athena were never modest when it came to their knowledge) when Annabeth noticed something behind her. 

    She heard voices and glanced back. Wendy immediately hunched up and kicked her sister to stand up. Annabeth scowled and the two sisters scuffled as she tried to keep her feet rooted on the spot and Wendy tried to hide behind her to avoid the look on Chiron's face. In the end, Annabeth won and dragged her sister to stand beside her. Wendy elbowed her in retaliation. Annabeth would have pushed her right off the steps when Chiron cleared his throat. 

    Both girls hunched up and pursed their lips, wearing the same sheepish look on their faces like they had been caught stealing from the candy jar. 

    Wendy managed to get the last say and shoved her sister off the side of the stairs. Annabeth stumbled and burned with embarrassment, turning to glare up at her younger sister. Wendy knew she was going to be on cleaning duty tonight just by that withering look. 

    Chiron sighed to himself. With a voice that wasn't entirely chiding, but not light-heartened, either, he greeted the two girls. "Annabeth. Wendy▬" he turned to the younger daughter of Athena. "I do believe you have lessons on monsters right now?"

    Wendy pursed her lips and merely shrugged, pretending like she had no idea what he was talking about. 

    It was then that she noticed Percy Jackson standing next to him. 

    Now that he was awake, any evidence of him drooling was erased. He stood around her height in a blue shirt and cargo shorts. The laces of his sneakers were undone and Wendy fought the urge to point that out. His hair was even messier than it had been when he was asleep. It stuck up at the back of his head and hung over his eyes▬side-swept like he had just taken a walk on the beach. In his hands, he clutched the Minotaur horn▬tight like he was afraid he would lose it. 

    Chiron noticed the two of them watching each other and he clasped his hands together. He was out of his wheelchair, today, towering over them all. His hooves trod on the grass and his horse tail flicked back and forth, almost as if he was nervous about something. "Ah, yes. Percy," he gestured to the young girl standing on the cabin steps, "this is Wendy. She helped nurse you back to health. Wendy, this is Percy Jackson."

    She stared at the Minotaur horn in his hands. Wendy chewed on the inside of her cheek, finding herself suddenly very nervous. She took a deep breath and unclenched her hands. "Your shoelaces are untied," she blurted out.

    Percy frowned as if briefly remembering her comment about his drool a few days ago in the infirmary. "Uh ... cool, thanks?" He replied, and she heard sarcasm clip his words now that he wasn't so dazed and exhausted. 

    "Girls," Chiron spoke up again, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"

    Annabeth nodded. Today, her braids were pulled off her face into a ponytail. "Yes, sir."

    "Cabin Eleven," the activities director gestured towards the doorway for Percy. "Make yourself at home."

    Wendy tried to hide her wince. Percy was yet to see inside the Hermes cabin. Even the outside wasn't too pleasing. It was worn down, with peeling brown paint and the floorboards creaked whenever you stepped on them. The inside wasn't much better. As they stepped through the door, Wendy saw Percy's face drop at how crowded it was. There weren't enough bunks for the campers and so most of them found a spot on the floor and lied out sleeping bags. The thing was, the Hermes cabin didn't just take children of Hermes ... but all of the unclaimed demigods and children of minor gods and goddesses at Camp. And▬well▬there were many of them; too many to count. 

    The door itself was too low for Chiron to enter, but the campers all bowed when they saw him. 

    "Well, then," said Chiron. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

    He galloped away, heading down the slope and to the right towards the archery range. 

     When Wendy realised Percy hadn't followed them inside, she glanced back with a slight frown. He stood at the threshold, staring at the many campers inside. "Uh ... you coming?" she asked him.

    He pursed his lips and took a step inside the door. 

    He tripped over his shoelaces. 

    Wendy's gaze went flat. Annabeth watched him trip over, making a dubious face. There were some snickers from the campers around them, but none of them said anything as Percy rushed back to his feet, flushed with embarrassment. 

    She couldn't stop herself. She leaned sideways and whispered to him: "I told you about your shoelaces."

    "Shut up," muttered Percy in a weak reply.  

    As they whispered, Annabeth announced. "Percy Jackson, meet Cabin Eleven."

    "Regular or undetermined?" someone asked.

    "Undetermined."

    Everybody made a collective groan. Wendy looked down at her shoes, shuffling awkwardly. But someone held up his hands and stepped through the crowd, quietening the grumbles and sighs in his cabin with a loud, but gentle: "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor▬see that one? Yeah, that one right over there."

    The camper that had spoken was Luke Castellan. Everybody loved Luke Castellan. He had this charming look about him and a mischievous smile▬but he was also a charming person as well. He was a tall and muscular nineteen-year-old, with short-cropped sandy blonde hair. Though, even though he had a kind look about him in his blue eyes, like most children of Hermes, Wendy was never sure if he was being genuine, or if she should be checking over her shoulder or feeling her pockets. There were a lot of things that made Luke stand out: his personality, his experience, his fantastic swordsmanship, but also the thick white scar that ran from just underneath his right eye down to his jaw. 

    Annabeth glowed to see him. She quickly hid her smile and cleared her throat, nodding at her friend. "This is Luke," she told Percy. "He's your counsellor for now."

    Percy frowned. "For now?"

    "You're undetermined," explained Luke. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin Eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."

    "Also the god of thieves," muttered Wendy under her breath. She couldn't stop herself. Whenever there was the chance to add additional facts, correct someone or just randomly speak something she knew, she did▬it burst out of her mouth before she could even stop and think about what she was going to say. 

    Percy heard her. He clutched his Minotaur horn a little bit tighter. "How long will I be here?"

    "Good question," said Luke. "Until you're determined."

    "How long will that take?"

    The campers of Cabin Eleven all burst out into laughter. 

    Wendy could see the distraught confusion on Percy's face. "Let's go to the volleyball court," she quickly told him. 

    "I've already seen it."

    She tugged him by his shirt sleeve and dragged him outside. "Just come on." 

    Before Annabeth closed the door, they could still hear the kids of Cabin Eleven laughing. 

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    a/n: 

    no one:
    wendy: imma poke it-

    i don't really like this chapter i'm sorry guys lol. 

    also i've already given myself minor plotholes with the og book lol but we'll deal with it its fine. 

    (percy and wendy are already cute). 

     lol wendy's reaction to percy is already soooo different to claire hahahah it's funny.