CHAPTER SEVEN - OUR FRIENDSHIP IS TESTED

Annabeth continued Percy's tour of camp, and I followed closely behind. She and I were still soaked, and we didn't smell all that great either.

As we walked, Annabeth showed Percy things around the camp: the forge, the arts-and-crafts room, and the lava rock wall. One look at it, and I knew that I wasn't going to climb it.

We stopped at the canoeing lake. I sat down on the pier and wiggled my feet back and forth, my legs dangling over the water. Percy and Annabeth stayed standing.

"I've got training to do," the blonde said. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess-hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets," Percy tried.

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

I turned my head and looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Annabeth had a similar expression on her face. Percy looked uncomfortable, like he was just realizing that it was his fault. He just didn't know why, yet.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.

My shoulders tensed. "Are you sure about that?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Not who," Annabeth answered Percy, ignoring my question. "What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

Percy sighed, and leaned against the pier railing. He did a double take looking into the water. I followed his gaze and saw two naiads. They waved at Percy, giggling. Percy waved back, a dumb smile on his face.

I elbowed his knee as Annabeth spoke up. "Don't encourage them," she said. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads," Percy repeated. "That's it. I want to go home now."

I snorted. "You've seen a lava wall, half-goat men, and a centaur as our Latin teacher, and you draw the line at water spirits?"

Annabeth frowned at me, and then turned her focus back to Percy. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home, you and Avalon. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

I stood up and bumped Percy's shoulder with my own. "I think you already know the answer to that, Perce."

He hesitated, but he answered anyway. "God," he said. "Half-god."

Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

"That's...crazy."

"Not completely," I said. "The most common thing the gods did in the old tales, was have love affairs with humans. Old habits die hard."

"Avalon, those are just–" Percy stopped himself. He shook his head, like he couldn't believe what he was saying. "But if all the kids here are half-gods–"

"Demigods," Annabeth interrupted. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

I elbowed him sharply in the ribs, shaking my head frantically. But neither of them seemed to notice me.

"My dad is a professor at West Point," Annabeth said, her voice tight and calculated. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human."

"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"

Percy sighed. "Who's your mom, then?"

Annabeth stood up taller, her face shining with pride. "Cabin six."

"Meaning?"

I spoke up again. "Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle-strategy. Also known as the coolest Olympian goddess." The last part slipped out of my mouth without me realizing it. I glanced at the sky nervously, hoping that I wouldn't turn into a pile of ashes because of my big mouth. But the sky was silent.

Annabeth gave me a small smile. "You're cool, Avalon."

My face lit up. "Thanks," I said.

"Okay..." Percy spoke up. He turned to me. "And your dad is...Apollo? The sun god?"

I nodded. "Apparently. He has many talents, so his kids are pretty diverse. Like Will, he's a healer, taking after Apollo's medicinal aspect. Me? I love archery."

"And...and my dad?"

"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their true identities," Annabeth replied.

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Annabeth threw Percy a cautious look. I set my hand on top of his, giving him a small smile. "She did, Percy. She knew who your father is."

Percy looked at me, bewildered. "How could you know that? Actually, that's not even my first question. How are you not freaking out about any of this?"

I winced. "It's...complicated. I can't tell you much, I should probably wait until we're talking with Chiron. He'll be able to explain it better than I can."

Percy looked ready to argue with me, but Annabeth saved me from the trouble. "Maybe you're right," she said. "Maybe he'll send you a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son."

"Like what happened to Avalon today."

I nodded. "Sometimes it happens. Sometimes quicker than others."

Percy looked at me. "You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

Annabeth ran her palm along the pier railing. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always...Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

Percy looked out across the lake, a sad expression washing over his face. He didn't want to be like the kids in Hermes cabin, waiting for a sign that would never come. I wanted to hug him, tell him that it would alright, that his father will claim him soon. But I was frozen in place, my tongue feeling like lead once again.

"So I'm stuck here," he finally said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble – about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?"

Annabeth and I both shook our heads, but I was the one who spoke. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods for games, or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Practical fights. Practical jokes," I said, shrugging.

"Practical jokes?"

"The point is," Annabeth said, "the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"Like in Harry Potter," I piped up. "If muggles somehow stumble across Hogwarts, all they see is a decrepit, abandoned castle in the middle of a Scotland forest."

Percy rolled his eyes at me. Over the past few months, I had been referencing to a bunch of book series that I had read when I wasn't in this parallel universe. After a while, he had gotten used to it, and accepted the fact that I was just a giant book nerd. Of course, I had kept reading even after appearing here, but it took me much longer to get through a book. I wondered if they had Harry Potter written in Ancient Greek at camp.

Percy turned to Annabeth, and said "So...you're a year-rounder?"

She nodded, and pulled out her camp necklace. I admired the different beads, all five so intricately designed. "I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?" Percy asked.

Annabeth closed herself off, like she had when she was talking about her dad. "None of your business," she grumbled.

"Oh." Percy looked around, awkwardly. "So...I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"

Annabeth snorted. "It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless..."

"Unless?" Percy prompted.

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..."

Annabeth stared out over the lake, her eyes full of pain. I gave her a sympathetic smile, which she returned, hesitantly.

"Back in the sick room–" Percy began.

"Infirmary, Percy. It's called an infirmary," I said.

"–when you were feeding me that stuff–" he continued, ignoring my comment.

"Ambrosia," Annabeth said.

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

Her shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"

"Well...no. Back at my old school, Avalon and I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

"How is Grover, by the way?" I mused. "I haven't seen him since I woke up. I'm assuming he's still with Mr. D. Did he look nervous?" I looked at Annabeth, who had an impatient expression on her face. "I totally just interrupted your conversation, didn't I? Sorry, continue," I said, ducking my head down and tracing my finger along the wood-grain of the pier railing.

Annabeth focused on Percy again. Her gray eyes were stormy, the color of thunderclouds. "I wish I knew," she said, answering his question that he asked before I interjected. "Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus?"

"Some of us year-rounders – Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others – we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But...how did you get there?"

"The Long Island Railroad, of course," Annabeth deadpanned. "You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at Percy. "You are a New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, sure," he said.

"Right after we visited," she continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. I bet you know what it was, don't you, Avalon?" She asked me.

I nodded, but I couldn't say anything again.

Annabeth didn't seem to mind, but I was sure she was just covering up her disappointment. "If it isn't returned by the summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you two came, I was hoping...I mean – Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got that rivalry with Poseidon," I coughed, trying to cover up the laugh that tumbled out of my mouth, but Percy and Annabeth ignored me. "But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together, the three of us. I thought that you might know something. And Avalon, since you've already been claimed by Apollo, there isn't an issue there."

I went to reply, but got distracted when Percy shook his head in denial. I felt bad for him, being thrust into this world so suddenly. I supposed, we were in the same boat, in a weird, twisted way.

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth mumbled under her breath. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem..."

She was cut off by Percy's stomach growling. I covered my mouth with my hand, stifling a laugh.

Annabeth sighed. "Go on, meet your cabin mates. I'll see you guys at dinner."

*

Percy and I walked back to the cabins together. I could tell he was burning with questions.

"Okay," I said. "Let me hear it."

"You knew about all of this, and you didn't tell me anything. You knew who I was, you know who my father is, but you're keeping it a secret. Why?" His voice sounded bitter. He was trying hard not to get angry at me.

"I...I'm sorry, Perce. I wanted to tell you, I did, but I can't. Like I said, it's complicated." I looked down at the Minotaur horn in his hand. "It'll make sense soon. But for now, I can't say anything. This is how it has to happen."

"You said the same thing at the bus station, before I went home. You said I had to be with my mom. Did you...did you know that my mom was going to..." He trailed off.

I couldn't look him in the eyes for a long time. When I finally did, my vision was blurry. I felt a tear fall down my cheek. I didn't have to say anything, it was written all over my face.

Percy's eyes widened. They shined with complete and utter betrayal. "I can't believe you. You could have saved her, and you let her die." His voice was low, raspy.

"Percy, I tried..." I put my hand on his upper arm, but he shrugged it off. "Perce–"

"Leave me alone," he growled. I opened my mouth to try again, but he ran off to cabin eleven.

I took a shaky breath. My best friend hated me, great. I wiped my eyes, catching any stray tears, and made my way to cabin seven. It was high-time I met my brothers and sisters.

*

I opened the golden door of my cabin, and peeked inside. There were about a dozen or so other campers milling about, most with blonde hair. When I stepped inside, they all stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I blushed and shuffled my feet, not comfortable with all of the attention.

"Hi," I said in a small voice. "I'm Avalon Green."

Recognition dawned on their faces. Will had obviously already told them about me. I looked around for him, but he wasn't there. Everyone looked older than me. I suddenly felt very small.

A boy about seventeen came up to me, a welcoming smile on his face. He had curly hair and dark blue eyes, and he radiated friendly. "Lee Fletcher," he said, extending his arm out for a handshake. "I'm the head counselor."

I smiled. "I know," I said, taking his hand.

Lee smirked, but didn't say anything about my comment. "Welcome to cabin seven," he said, gesturing around the room. "These are your siblings. We'll put you over in the back with Carla and Naomi, the other two girls."

They were obviously twins, around nineteen or twenty. They both had brown hair, the color of rich chocolate, and hazel colored eyes. They stood out against the rest of our cabin-mates. As far as I could see, only one other camper had dark hair, aside from me. He was short – like, even shorter than me – and had a wicked gleam in his eye. A bow was strung over his shoulder. I knew who he was, of course: Michael Yew.

At least I knew I wouldn't be the only one in the cabin with brown hair. That would have sucked.

I walked over to my sisters. One of them clapped me on my shoulder. My good one, thankfully. My left arm wasn't bandaged up anymore – I took them off after the bathroom incident – but it was still a little sore.

"Naomi Rivera," the one who had her hand on my shoulder said. "This is my twin sister, Carla. It's so nice to have another girl around, we thought we'd be the only ones here until we left."

I nodded. "It's good for me, too. I wouldn't want to be the only girl in a cabin full of boys," I said. "If you don't mind my asking, why is Lee the head counselor, and not you two?"

The other girl, Carla, shrugged. "We stepped down. We never wanted to be the counselors. We came here about two years ago. Lee had already been here for a year or two before us. With our age, we were next in line to be the counselors, but Lee had more experience."

While she was talking, Naomi was setting up an empty bunk. "Here you are," she said. "You look exhausted."

As she said it, my knees buckled, and I crashed onto the bed. Carla and Naomi sat on the bed opposite me. Carla reached behind her and pulled out a small bag from underneath the bunk. My suitcase from Yancy.

I stared at it, it looked so foreign to me. I realized that I had left it in the taxi that Grover and I took. I reached for it, my hand brushing over the blue fabric. "How did you find this? I left it in a cab."

"One of the satyrs tracked it down, at Chiron's request. He thought you would like the familiarity."

I nodded, setting the bag at my side. "What about Percy? He had a suitcase at Montauk. Did anyone go get his?"

"Don't think so," Naomi mused. "The Minotaur most likely went to the cabin first, probably took his suitcase to try and catch his scent."

"Speaking of the Minotaur," Carla said. "That was seriously brave, taking it on like that, with no weapon. Especially for a twelve year old. I'm not even sure I could have done that, and I've been training for years."

"I was just trying to protect my friends. A lot of good it did me," I mumbled, tears threatening to spill over again. I couldn't get the look on Percy's face out of my head.

"Hey," Naomi said, reaching out and grasping my hand with hers. "What happened to your friend's mother wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have prevented that."

I went to protest, to tell her that yes, I could have prevented it, but I was cut off by a conch horn sounding in the distance. Dinner time.

"Seven, out the door!" Lee yelled.

I gave Carla and Naomi a small smile. They were just trying to help, get me through my first day of camp.

We filed out the door. Will ran up to us, and lined up in front of me. "Get settled in okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah, thanks," I whispered back.

I caught Percy's eye as we made our way up to the dining pavilion. He was last in his line, the same as me. When he saw me, he scowled and turned his head the other way. My stomach dropped. Because of what I knew, I probably just lost one of the only friends I had.

I sat next to Will at our cabin's table. Lee Fletcher was on my other side, laughing at something Naomi had said, who was sitting across from us.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve. He looked nervous, next to Mr. D and his sons. I waved at him, and his eyes lit up in relief.

Once everyone was situated, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion. The entire hall grew silent. He raised his goblet in the air, and toasted "to the gods!"

I picked up my glass and followed in the toast. "To the gods!"

Dryads came forward, loading the Apollo table with all sorts of healthy food. I was in heaven. For the most part, I was a total health-nut. I had tried veganism at one point in my life (after I was twelve), but I caved after a few weeks. I couldn't stay away from cheese; it was my kryptonite.

I loaded my plate with fruits, nuts, brisket, and two rolls spread with goat cheese. I willed my magical goblet to fill with iced tea. I waited for my siblings to get up, and then I followed them to the brazier, watching as the other campers tossed in their offerings to the gods.

I picked up the biggest, ripest strawberry on my plate, and threw it in the fire. "Apollo," I murmured. "Thank you for claiming me. I'll make you proud."