Campfire
Word of the bathroom incident spread around camp like wildfire. Wherever Percy went, other campers pointed and muttered something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just looking at Annabeth and the other girls, who were still sopping wet. Annabeth showed them a few more places – the metal shop, arts-and-crafts, and the climbing wall… which looked absolutely bonkers; it shook, dropped boulders, spewed lava, and clashed into another wall and crushed anyone unfortunate enough not to make it to the top in time. Rainbow was already having all the ideas for that wall as they eventually made it back to the lake. “I’ve got training to do,” she said flatly. “Dinner’s at 7:30. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall.”
“Guys, I’m sorry about the toilets,” Percy assured.
“Whatever.” Annabeth rolled her gray eyes.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Percy assured… only to get a whole chorus of raised eyebrows, which made him realize that it was his fault. Somehow the plumbing had responded to him and flooded the bathroom.
“You need to talk to the Oracle,” Annabeth assured.
“The who?” asked Rainbow.
“Not who. What. The Oracle. I’ll ask Chiron.”
Percy was still confused and looked back at the lake with the others… reasonably surprised to see more than their reflections looking back up at them. Two girls dressed in jeans and shimmering green t-shirts were sitting near the base of the pier about twenty feet below the surface, who smiled and waved at Percy.
Unsure of what else to do, Percy waved back. “Don’t encourage them,” Annabeth warned him. “Naiads are terrible flirts.”
“Naiads,” Percy repeated… before he stood up and started walking toward the tree on the hill. “That’s it. I wanna go home now.”
Annabeth just frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us.”
“You mean mentally disturbed kids?” Percy asked seriously.
“I mean not human.” Twilight and the girls glanced at each other in concern at that, as if worried Annabeth was onto them. “Not totally human, anyway. Half-human.”
“Half-human and half-what?”
“At this point, I think we know,” Rainbow remarked. “The other half is god, isn’t it?”
Annabeth nodded. “Your father isn’t dead, Percy. He’s one of the Olympians.”
“That’s… crazy,” Percy said breathlessly.
“Is it? What’s the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them.” Annabeth reminded. “Do you think they’ve changed their habits in the last few millennia?”
“But those are just-” Percy almost said myths again, but then he remembered Chiron’s warning that he might be considered a myth in two thousand years. “But if all the kids here are half-gods-”
“Demigods.” Annabeth corrected. “That’s the official term. Half-blood works too.”
“Then who’s your dad?”
Annabeth’s hands tensed around the railing of the pier, and the group got the feeling Percy had just strayed onto forbidden ground. “My dad is a professor at West Point,” she explained bitterly. “I haven’t seen him since I was little. He teaches American history.”
“He’s human?” Rainbow asked in confusion.
“What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?” Annabeth huffed.
“Okay wow, that took a bit more of a turn than I was expecting,” Rainbow remarked in embarrassment.
“Who’s your mom, then?” asked Percy.
“Cabin 6,” Annabeth replied.
“Uh, first-timers, remember?” Twilight remarked.
Annabeth shook her head and straightened. “Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle.”
Percy thought about it for a moment and quietly shrugged. “And my dad?”
“Undetermined, like I told you earlier.” Annabeth shrugged. “Nobody knows.”
“Except my mother. She knew.” Percy assured.
“Maybe not, Percy. Gods don’t always reveal their identities.”
“My dad would have. He loved her.”
Annabeth looked at him cautiously, trying to pick out the right words. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe he’ll send a sign. That’s the only way to know for sure; your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.”
“You mean sometimes it doesn’t?” Rainbow asked as Annabeth ran her hand over the pier railing, a sorrowful look on her face. “More than sometimes.”
“The gods are busy.” Annabeth shrugged. “They have a lot of kids and they don’t always… Well, sometimes they don’t care about us, guys. They ignore us.”
Then it made sense; why so many kids in the Hermes cabin looked so sullen. They had been waiting for a sign from their parent for who knows how long, but they’d heard not even a peep. “So we’re stuck here,” Percy remarked. “That’s it? For the rest of our lives?”
“It depends.” Annabeth shrugged. “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 10 or 11 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 shook her head. “Not unless they’re intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside.” She glanced at Spike near Twilight’s ankles. “But I have to admit, ever since that dog showed up, I’ve been having a really weird feeling.”
Twilight wasn’t sure she liked where this was going, so she quickly changed the subject. “Why would anybody want to summon a monster?” she asked.
“Practice fights. Practical jokes.”
“‘Practical jokes’?” asked Rainbow.
“Watch yourself around the Stoll brothers,” Annabeth warned. “Look, the point is the borders around camp are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual; just a strawberry farm.”
“So… you’re a year-rounder?” Annabeth nodded at Percy’s question and reached under the collar of her shirt, pulling a leather necklace with five differently-colored clay beads. It looked just like Luke’s, except Annabeth also had a large gold ring strung onto hers, like a college ring.
“I’ve been here since I was seven years old,” she answered. “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’d you come so young?” asked Applejack.
“None of your business.” she returned, twisting the ring on her necklace.
“Okay…” Applejack remarked, cautiously backing off.
“So… I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?” Percy asked.
“It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D’s or Chiron’s permission.” Annabeth shrugged as she put her necklace back under her shirt. “But they wouldn’t give permission until the end of the summer session unless…”
“Unless what?” asked Twilight.
“You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time…” Annabeth’s voice trailed off enough for the group to figure out that the last quest hadn’t gone well.
“Back in the sick room…” Percy remembered. “When you were feeding me that stuff-”
“Ambrosia.”
“Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice.”
Annabeth’s shoulders immediately tensed. “So you do know something?”
“Well… no.” Percy shrugged. “Back at our old school, the girls and I… we overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice, said something like we didn’t have much time because of the deadline. What did that mean?”
Annabeth clenched her fists as she turned away. “I wish I knew. Chiron and the other satyrs; they know, but they won’t tell me anything. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal.”
“Wait, you’ve actually been to Olympus?” asked Twilight.
“Some of us year-rounders – Luke, Clarisse, and I, and a few others – we took a field trip during winter solstice,” she remembered. “That’s when the gods have their big annual council.”
“But… how did you get there?” asked Percy.
“Long Island Railroad, of course.” Annabeth shrugged. “You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor.” She looked at Percy like she was sure he already knew all this. “You are a New Yorker, right?”
“Oh sure.” But as far as he knew, there were only 102 floors in the Empire State Building. He decided not to push it though.
“Anyway, right after we visited, the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting.” Annabeth continued. “A couple of times since, I’ve overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn’t returned by summer solstice, there’s going to be trouble. When you guys showed up, I was hoping… I mean- Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course, she’s got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something.”
Percy and the girls all just shook their heads in response. They wanted to help, but were too hungry, tired, and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions. Annabeth looked destroyed as she ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve gotta get a quest…” she muttered to herself. “I’m not too young. If they would just tell me the problem…”
It was just then that Spike’s nose started twitching, and he licked his lips. “Mm. Somethin’ smells good.”
That was more than enough to drive Annabeth from her ranting as she looked straight at Spike in shock, before glancing up at Twilight… who simply shrugged. “We’ve all got our share of weirdness.”
“R-Right, right.” Annabeth nodded. “Uh, you guys go on ahead; I’ll catch up.”
“Right, thanks.” Twilight nodded as the seven made their way toward Cabin 11… which gave Twilight just enough time to chastise Spike. “Spike, we talked about this with Chiron; no talking.”
“Relax; if these people can have superpowers and fight monsters, I don’t think a talking dog will be all that weird to them.” Spike shrugged.
“You wanna look at Annabeth and tell me that again?” asked Twilight.
“Uh… not really.”
“Exactly.”
When they returned to the cabin, they found most of the other campers crowded around the door, with fairly similar faces; sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles, things like that. Twilight guessed that they really did belong in this cabin as Hermes’ children, as she and the others plopped down in their small spot on the floor. And Twilight could see she was right when Luke came over; he had the same attributes, only somewhat marred by his scar. “Hey. Found you some sleeping bags.” he smiled, passing them each a small plastic bag. “And here; I stole you some toiletries from the camp store.”
“That’s just an expression, right?” Twilight asked in concern, though the mischievous glint in Luke’s eye said otherwise. “Uh never mind. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Luke shrugged, leaning against the wall with them. “Rough first day?”
“Hmph. Rather an understatement.” Rarity remarked.
“I don’t belong here.” Percy groaned. “I don’t even believe in gods.”
“Yeah, that’s how we all started.” Luke shrugged. “Once you start believing in them…”
“Lemme guess; it gets easier?” Rainbow asked, almost knowing he was going to say the opposite.
“Mm, nah; not really.” She was right, of course. But something about Luke’s bitter tone surprised her; it didn’t seem like it fit an easy-going guy like him.
“So your dad is Hermes?” Percy’s question was answered by fear when Luke pulled out a switchblade. For a moment, he and the girls were worried they were about to be gutted, but Luke just used the blade to scrape mud off the sole of his sandal.
“Yeah. Hermes.”
“The wing-footed messenger guy?”
“That’s him. Messengers, medicine, travelers, merchants, thieves.” Luke nodded. “Anybody who uses the roads. That’s why you guys are here, enjoying Cabin 11’s hospitality. Hermes isn’t picky about who he sponsors.”
It was that moment that two boys who looked nearly identical walked over, holding a bevy of camp shirts. “Hey. We figured you guys might wanna change before dinner.” the one on the left smiled.
“Especially after your little impromptu bath.” the one on the right chuckled.
“Oh. Thanks.” Twilight smiled as she took the shirts and handed them out to her friends.
Luke chuckled. “I’d check those before I put ‘em on if I were you. Travis and Connor are notorious pranksters, even by Hermes’ standards.”
Twilight wasn’t sure what he meant, until she figured out that those two must’ve been the Stoll brothers Annabeth warned them about. Quickly, they all checked their shirts and after making sure nothing was wrong, they put them off to the side to change into later. “So have you ever met your father?”
“Once.” The long silence after that indicated that it wasn’t a very pleasant meeting. Twilight wondered if it was how he got that scar. Luke looked up and smiled as best he could. “Don’t worry about it, guys. The campers here, they’re mostly good people. After all, we’re all extended family, right? We take care of each other.”
Twilight realized he was right; considering the structure of the Olympian family tree, technically speaking, everyone at this camp was cousins with everyone else. It presented some unusual moral dilemmas, but she shook her head clear of those doubts and smiled; it was nice to know they were all in such a huge family.
Then she saw a look on Percy’s face, like he was about to ask one last big question. “Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being ‘Big Three’ material,” he said. “Then Annabeth… twice, she said I might be ‘the one’. She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?”
Luke just sighed and folded his knife. “I hate prophecies.”
“How do you mean?” asked Rarity.
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,” he explained. “Annabeth’s been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much 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’?” asked Twilight.
“Don’t worry about it, guys,” Luke assured. “Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she’s been waiting for. Now get changed and meet us outside, quick; it’s dinnertime.”
The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow Percy knew it was a conch shell, even though he’d never heard one before. “Eleven, fall in!” On Luke’s order, the entire cabin filed out the door. Quickly, Percy and the girls shed their tops and substituted the camp-shirts the Stoll brothers provided them – finding them to be pretty decent fits, even though Rarity wasn’t too crazy about the orange – before they zipped back out to join the line, which was lined up by seniority – so naturally, they ended up in dead-last.
The other cabins were doing the same thing, except the three empty ones at the end, and Cabin 8, which had looked normal in the daylight, but now seemed to be glowing silver as the sun went down. The inverse was true of Cabin 7, though; its golden glow was fading as it appeared more normal. Twilight immediately had a theory as to exactly why that was the case, but would have to wait until later to try and prove it. Right now, she was focused on her appetite so she marched up the hill to the mess hall with the others, including satyrs, naiads from the lake, and a few other girls who seemed to melt straight out of the sides of trees. Twilight assumed they were wood nymphs; it only made sense.
In all, when they reached the pavilion, there were around a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen other assorted nymphs. Torches blazed around the marble columns of the pavilion as a central fire burned in a brazier about the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four tables were empty but Table 11 was overcrowded like mad in contrast, as the girls were forced to stand as Percy tried to squeeze onto the edge of the bench with his left half hanging off. The others they’d met since they arrived sat elsewhere around the area, with Clarisse having apparently gotten over the hose-down as she laughed and belched along with the other Ares kids.
Rarity shuddered in disgust as she looked at the warlord of a child before Chiron stamped his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, drawing everyone’s attention as he raised his glass. “To the gods!”
“To the gods!” the campers uttered as they also raised their cups. With that, the wood nymphs came forward with platter upon platter of food that made the girls salivate. Though Fluttershy cringed a bit at the sight of the meat.
Rarity noticed something else odd. “Um, how are we supposed to drink a toast if we have no drinks?” She was right; their glasses were empty.
“Speak to it. Anything you want – non-alcoholic, of course.” Luke explained.
Percy shrugged. “Cherry Coke.” His glass instantly filled with sparkling caramel liquid, surprising the girls. Then he seemed to have an idea. “Blue Cherry Coke.” The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt blue, which apparently tasted perfect.
“Okay, I’m starting to like this place more and more,” Rainbow noted as she and the others filled their glasses with drinks of their choice before they filled up their plates with fruit and veg.
“Vegetarians, huh?” Travis asked, earning a nod from Rainbow. “You do you, girl; I don’t judge.”
“Thanks, man.” Rainbow nodded and was about to drop a grape in her mouth when she saw everyone getting up and going to the fire. “Uh… what’s everyone doing?”
“Must be dessert.” Pinkie rationalized. But what they actually saw was people dropping portions of their meals into the fire, burning it to ash.
“Burnt offerings to the gods,” Luke whispered. “They like the smell.”
“You’re kidding,” Rainbow said seriously. “What, it’s not enough that they’re omnipotent and all-powerful; they have to feel appreciated too?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Luke shrugged as he took a cluster of fat, red grapes from his plate and held it over the fire. “Hermes.” He dropped them in and the fire consumed them almost instantly.
Percy and the girls were up next, but none of them knew which god to invoke, so instead, they all made a silent prayer; “Whoever will listen, tell me. Please.” Percy’s was a bit more personal, but it was in the same vein as their offerings dropped into the fire. And the smoke smelled nothing like burning food; instead it smelled like too many nice things all at once to count, but enough to make them think the gods actually could live off that smoke.
When everyone went back to their seats and finished eating, Chiron pounded his hoof again to draw everyone’s attention to Mr. D, who got up with a huge sigh. “Yes, I suppose I’d better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello,” he grumbled, making Pinkie feel sorry for Grover and the two boys who had been forced to sit with him – the latter two presumably being his sons. “Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin 5 presently holds the laurels.” Clarisse and her table all roared in ugly cheers for a second. “Personally I couldn’t care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today; Peter Johnson.” The girls were confused until they saw Chiron mutter something to him and pass him a note. “Er, Percy Jackson. And actually, we have six other newcomers with him. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. I don’t understand their names either, but hurrah and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on.”
The whole camp replied with a roar of cheers as they made their way to the amphitheater. “Alright, you know what song we always start with.” Luke smiled as the others roared and laughed, as they obviously did.
“Wait, what’s the song?” Twilight asked him.
“Don’t worry; you’ll pick it up pretty fast,” Luke assured
(Play “The Campfire Song” – TLT Musical) {jump ahead a bit and skip Chiron's stanza}
One of the boys from the Apollo Cabin – Rainbow thought she’d heard his name was Will Solace – took to the stage first with a guitar and started strumming away a few bars. After a moment, Luke stood up and started singing.
Luke: Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your parents run the universe
Chorus: Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your folks run the universe
Luke: My dad is Hermes
He messengers things
You’ll know his sign by his shoes with those wings
I’d wait by the phone, but the phone never rings
Oh no
Everyone seemed to mutter in agreement at that, as if they’d all lived it.
When your dad’s a god, life can be tough
I met the guy once, and once was enough
“Oh, I hear that.” someone agreed.
“Annabeth?” The blonde was a bit surprised when Luke called her but took over anyway.
Annabeth: Well, my mom’s Athena
She’s smart and she’s wise
She’s sworn off gluten and she’s sworn off guys
But if she came to camp, it’d be a surprise
Oh no
Chorus: Oh no
Annabeth: Oh, and my stepmom? She hates me
And my dad works all-day
So I left Virginia
And I ran away
“Wait, is that true?” Percy asked in confusion.
Luke seemed to ignore him as he stood up with a cup of nectar in his hand. “Everybody!” The girls were getting into it, so they shrugged and sang along.
Everyone: Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your parents run the universe
Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your folks run the universe
“Alright, who’s next?” asked Luke.
A girl from Cabin 4 – Katie Gardner – stood up with her hand raised. “Oh! Okay, lemme see. Uh…”
Katie: My mom’s Demeter
Goddess of Grain
She gets excited when it starts to rain
But planting, and planting, and planting’s a pain
Oh no
Chorus: Oh no
Katie: “Right?”
For their sixteenth birthday, my friends got a car
I got a fern in some dumb mason jar
A lot of people laughed at that, including Grover who then stood up. “Ooh, ooh! My turn!”
Grover: I’m a child of Pan
God of the Wild
For those who love nature, they’re often beguiled
He’s not really my dad, but I’m sort of his child
Oh no
Chorus: Oh no
“How does that even work?” Rainbow whispered to Luke.
“I dunno.” he shrugged in return.
Grover: He went for a hike to explore new frontiers
And no one has seen him for thousands of years!
Grover broke down crying at this and sat back down with the others, Percy and Fluttershy doing their best to comfort him as the chorus went on.
Everyone: Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your parents run the universe
Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your folks run the universe
“Your turn, Silena,” Luke called over to a girl from Cabin 10 – Silena Beauregard – who stood up with a flourish of her long black hair.
Silena: The Goddess of Love
My mom’s Aphrodite
She tries to be cool, but mainly she’s flighty
I’ll bring home a boy, and she’s there in her nighty!
Chorus: “Oh no!”
Rainbow: “Oh, that’s bad!”
Silena: “It’s so embarrassing, guys!”
I’ve tried to seek help from even the Fates
‘Cause she steals my mascara and all of my dates
“Ah, alright Percy; it’s your turn!” Luke smiled, earning a big warm-up cheer from the rest of the crowd.
“Yeah, cmon Percy; let’s hear those pipes!” Applejack called.
“No-no-no; if I try to sing, it’ll probably cause an avalanche,” Percy assured.
The others scoffed and chuckled at that. “Cmon, we’re all friends here,” Twilight assured.
“Yeah cmon, give it a shot.” Luke smiled, patting Percy on the back.
“Okay.” Percy shrugged and stood up. “Um…”
Percy: My mom was named Sally
She loved scary movies
And food that was blue
And-
“He’s doing it wrong!” Katie called.
“Yeah, who’s your godly parent?” asked Silena.
“Oh- I don’t know.” Percy shrugged in disappointment.
“Hey, it’s alright,” Luke assured. “A lot of half-bloods never know their godly parent. Just give it a try, okay?”
“Um…” Percy really didn’t want to, but he saw the encouraging smiles on the girls’ faces and shrugged.
Percy: So my dad is some god
That’s great, I guess
Did he not want me, or not want the stress?
Too bad he’s the worst, and my life is a mess!
Oh no
“Oh yeah, Percy!” The whole amphitheater cheered like that and filled Percy with confidence as he grabbed his nectar and ran to the stage, holding his cup to the stars.
Percy: I hope he shows, even a trace
‘Cause I’ve got some choice words to throw in his face!
The whole camp cheered in agreement and raised their cups in a toast to that one verse as the song continued.
Everyone: Oh, things couldn’t be worse
When your parents run the universe
Oh, things couldn’t be worse
Luke walked to Percy’s side and raised his own toast as part of the song.
Luke: But I don’t care where our parents may be
As long as you are here with me
The rest of the camp stood and crowded together near the stage with their drinks in hand.
All: We don’t care where our parents may be
As long as you are here with me
As long as you are here with me!
The song ended with the whole camp slamming their cups against each other and cheering, knowing that even if they came from different sides of the country – or even different worlds in the case of Twilight and her friends – they were all family here in this camp.
This revelry continued with more songs and s’mores until finally, the conch sounded again and everyone filed back to their cabins. None of the girls even realized how exhausted they were until they and Percy dropped onto their sleeping bags and all fell asleep in a big pile, happy with how their first day at Camp Half-Blood had gone. If only they’d known how briefly they’d get to enjoy it.
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Wow I didn't know that there was a musical.
11189033
Yeah, dude. And the music is fire. Go listen to a few more tracks; you'll thank me later.