On the Fringe // Chapter Two
Title: On the Fringe
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: EventualLuke/Percy, past!Percy/Annabeth. Also some OC pairings, but those are very minor.
Warnings: AU, slash (m/m and f/f). Spoilers for The Last Olympian. Also, there's a handful of OCs, but most of them are camp counselors with minor roles.
Author's Note: I'm planning for this to be a relatively short fic, maybe six chapters tops, but we'll just have to see. This fic completely changes Luke's fate in The Last Olympian and will otherwise have spoilers. And if you bothered to look at the pairings and warnings, there will be slash, both with boys and girls, so if you don't like it, use your handy little back button right now. If you're still reading this, enjoy the fic.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are copyright to Rick Riordan and if he had any idea what I'm doing with his characters, I'm sure he'd be out for my foolish mortal blood. I do, however, own the OCs.
Additional Note: This chapter introduces slashy stuff and may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
Chapter Two
Without the threat of Kronos, Camp Half-Blood was once again much like it had been that first summer Percy had been there. Schedules were set up, daily activities divided up by lot. The daily inspections always caught Percy off-guard, but Alima was always ready to help get the cabin clean before the inspectors came with the scrolled checklists. Because there were two of them, Percy and Alima were able to keep themselves from winding up with kitchen duties with the cleaning harpies.
Every day, the campers trained, learned and generally lived life the best way they could at the camp. Things were usually calm, though sometimes, there would be some kind of accident -- nothing major or life-threatening, but the occasional stray arrow catching someone off-guard or someone would go into the woods to fight some of the monsters stocked there and end up with some injury or another. The Apollo cabin would help out in the infirmary for these happenings, putting their healing knowledge to work.
Percy would hang out with Grover a lot during his break time, just to spend time with his best friend. Alima had her own friends to hang out with, but sometimes she would drop by to chat briefly with Grover. Today, Percy and Grover were just hanging by the lake, skipping stones across the smooth surface.
"So, have you talked to Annabeth since your party?" Grover asked.
Percy threw his stone, counting one, two, three, four jumps across the lake. "Yeah," he said. "She sent me an Iris Message last night. Asked how camp was, how Luke was doing."
It kind of hurt him still that Annabeth cared so much about Luke. She'd confessed last year that she loved Luke more as a brother, but Percy had known that she had said that to spare Luke. Annabeth would always consider Luke to be her first love. It made Percy a little jealous. It was true that he and Annabeth had broken up for the time being, but he still considered her to be his girlfriend. They still cared about each other, after all.
"You know that she's just worried about him," Grover told him. "He was her friend for years. She can't let go of that and he wouldn't understand if she did."
Percy gave a soft grunt of acknowledgment. He knew that; he didn't like it. "I kind of wish she were here," he said. "If she was, I wouldn't have to talk about him to her." He looked at Grover. "Do you have any idea how awkward that is?"
Grover threw a stone across the lake. "Pretty awkward?"
As Grover's stone skipped across the surface of the lake, one of the naiads surfaced, glaring at the two of them. "Do you mind?"
"Sorry!" Grover called to her. He dropped the other stones he'd gathered to skip, letting them clack against the other stones that covered the shore.
Percy shoved his hands into the pockets of the khaki cargo shorts he wore, heaving a sigh. "Let's head back to the arena," he suggested. "I want to practice while Luke's not there."
Grover followed Percy across the campgrounds. "You know, avoiding him isn't going to help anything. He thinks of you as a friend, since he doesn't remember…what happened. He's going to start asking questions."
Percy thought about that. It was bad enough that the Aura twins had been asking about Luke a few days ago. If the newer campers had figured out there was something odd about Luke, there was no doubt that Luke himself would eventually start catching on. Between the curiosity of the newer campers and how the older campers tended to shun Luke, things would start going downhill.
"Maybe we should talk to Chiron about this?" Grover asked. "He's the one who suggested the oath in the first place. He could get the others to make the oath, too."
"I don't know," Percy said, approaching the arena. He could hear the clashing of sword against shield and gave a groan. He hoped that the noise was being made by other campers, not Luke. He'd been expecting Luke to be with the rest of the Hermes cabin at the climbing wall.
Entering the arena, Percy was somewhat relieved to see Clarisse practicing her sword-fighting against one of the many dummies set up around the arena. Though he was about as happy about seeing Clarisse as he was about seeing Luke, the daughter of Ares was somewhat of a step-up from the son of Hermes.
Clarisse had actually arrived late to camp this summer, coming in a week after Percy had arrived. Rumor had it that she had been looking into colleges, something that surprised Percy; he had never thought of Clarisse as the type to sit in school, much less college lectures. But she was reaching the age where college would be a good idea and she had spent most of the last several years at camp. School might actually do her good.
Percy watched Clarisse practice for a while and he noticed something a bit different about her style. She usually fought with a fierce determination, even while just working with practice dummies, but today, she seemed particularly angry. Her attacks were flawed, like her mind was fogged by a sense of utter rage. Even when Silena, her close friend, had been killed last year, the anger hadn't blocked out Clarisse's ability to fight.
"What's got her so mad?" Percy asked Grover quietly.
Grover gave a shrug, unable to take his eyes off the daughter of Ares. "If she were against something alive, she would've been taken out, fighting like that."
Clarisse gave a sudden frustrated shriek of rage and brought her sword down hard on the dummy, shredding the straw figure and breaking the wooden shield attached to it. She then threw her sword across the arena with all her might and dropped her own shield, kicking at it harshly. The sound of steel-toed boots hitting the shield echoed through the arena.
Percy flinched. In the years that he'd known her, he'd never seen Clarisse so angry. Even when he'd drenched her with toilet water and humiliated her, broken her electrified spear in the first game of Capture the Flag he'd ever participated in, her rage hadn't been anywhere near this feral. He would hate to be the person who'd made her this angry.
Clarisse spun around, her stringy brown hair whirling around her face as she faced Percy and Grover. Her eyes were narrowed to near slits and her face a violent shade of crimson. She clenched her fists and glared at them.
"What are you staring at?" she demanded. "Get lost!"
"We just came to practice," Percy said, trying to remain calm. Though he had no love for Clarisse, he was a little worried about her. There was no way she was alright, as angry as she was.
"The arena's closed!" Clarisse spat at him.
"A-alright," Grover told her, feeling a little nervous. He really didn't like confrontations, much less confrontations with Clarisse.
"Get lost!" Clarisse repeated, tearing off a piece of armor from her arm and throwing it towards them.
Grover jumped out of the way of the armor projectile and grabbed Percy by the arm. "C'mon, Percy!"
"Yeah, coming," Percy told him.
The two of them hustled out of there before Clarisse could throw anything else at them. Behind them, they could hear Clarisse screaming in rage, swearing alternately in English and ancient Greek. They hadn't gotten far when Chris, Clarisse's boyfriend, caught up with them. He'd followed them out of the arena.
"Hey, guys," he called as he approached. "Sorry about Clarisse. She's not having a good day."
"I could tell," Percy deadpanned, stopping to talk with Chris. "What happened?"
Chris slouched, placing his hands in his pockets. "You know we just got back to camp, right?"
Percy and Grover nodded. Chris continued.
"Well, we'd left camp before Chiron had everyone take that oath," he said. "The one about Luke. We took a year off to travel and get away from camp, look at colleges for next year. When we got back here yesterday, Chiron called us to the Big House to take the oath."
"She's not happy about it, is she?" Grover asked.
"Obviously," Chris told him. "But it's more than that. Because of the oath, she can't get back at Luke for what happened to Silena."
Percy blinked. "Oh."
It was well known that Ares and his children were famous for holding grudges. Clarisse had probably sworn to get revenge for Silena's death and the oath, aside from keeping everyone quiet about Luke's past, also kept anyone from doing anything about it, like Clarisse's desire for revenge. Not everyone had been willing to take the oath because of the restrictions and had been forced to take the oath before the gods. Because an oath on the river Styx was such a serious promise, no one could back out of it or do anything to even bend their word.
"Yeah," Chris said. "She's furious. I've tried to calm her down, but she won't even talk to me. She's been in the arena since six this morning, doing nothing but destroy dummies."
Percy actually felt sorry for Clarisse. Though he, too, was angry with Luke for all the deaths the older half-blood had caused, he hadn't been seeking revenge. Clarisse, on the other hand, had likely been thinking up ways to avenge her friend all year. The oath had now taken all that away from her.
On the other hand, Percy was a little relieved. Despite everything that Luke had done, he didn't want to kill him. There had been times when he had wanted to, but that had all faded away. Killing Luke now would not do any good and, besides that, it would be like killing an innocent man; the gods had absolved Luke of the crimes he'd committed because of his last minute sacrifice.
"I hope she'll be alright," Percy told Chris. His words were genuine; just because he and Clarisse didn't get along didn't mean he wasn't sincere in his hopes for her.
Chris nodded. "I hope so, too."
* * * * *
Over the last few days, Percy had continued to have dreams of an empty campground. Unlike his dreams before, this recurring dream never picked up where it'd left off. It always started the same; he was walking through Camp Half-Blood, alone. Each night, he wound up somewhere else in the dream -- usually somewhere he'd been the day before the dream happened. The latest dream took place in the arena.
Again, he'd been looking for signs of other campers and, again, he found none. That was, up until the point where someone was calling his name. The familiar voice called for him this time and Percy waited, preparing himself to catch the mysterious intruder off-guard. Percy was ready for him -- for the intruder's voice was male, Percy had concluded in a previous dream.
"Percy Jackson."
The pair of arms that had been grabbing him in the last few dreams wrapped themselves around Percy's waist. Though Percy had been ready for them, prepared to fight back and win this time, he was once again held tightly. He struggled, grabbing onto the arms and trying to pry them off so he could face his attacker. The arms remained latched around his waist.
"I'm waiting for the answer, Percy Jackson," the intruder told him, mouth right next to his ear. Percy felt a warm, wet tongue brush against his earlobe and he shivered. "I know you hold the key to this."
One of his captor's arms moved, running over his body smoothly. Percy froze, finding himself frightened and, more worrying, a little aroused. His breath caught in his throat. He could hardly believe this was even happening, dream or not. He resisted, tried to tell whoever his captor was to stop, but that sensation of his captor's tongue against the soft, sensitive skin just below his ear has Percy's voice halting before he could speak.
"Tell me who I am, Percy," the intruder whispered into his ear as his hand lowered to cross below Percy's waistline.
* * * * *
Percy woke with a gasping start, covered in sweat and blankets wet with more than. Upon this realization, his face heated, flushing a brilliant red. He quickly looked across the cabin to where Alima slept, praying to any gods that she had not been woken up. Fate apparently looked kindly on him now and the young girl slept heavily, uninterrupted. After checking on Alima, Percy then prayed that the emotional link between him and Grover didn't involve anything like wet dreams.
Percy got out of bed, quietly moving to change clothes and bed sheets. Even after he'd done that, he wasn't quite ready to return to bed, more than a little worried that his dream would come back to haunt him again. Though it was already well past curfew, Percy grabbed his shoes and slipped them on before sneaking out of the cabin. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep any time soon.
Tip-toeing carefully through the group of cabins, so as not to bring any attention to himself, Percy headed along the edge of the woods towards the shore. He knew that being closer to the ocean would help him clear his mind, help him forget his dreams. That was exactly what he needed right now.
Once he was past the cabins, Percy picked up the pace, hurrying across the campground towards the beach. Upon reaching the beach, he kicked his shoes off and walked across the sandy shore to the very edge of the water. The moment the waves came against his feet, it felt as though the water washed away all his worries.
For a few minutes, he just stood there, letting the waves come up to him as he stared out over the ocean. Though it was summer, the night air was cool, a light breeze coming in from the ocean, making Percy shiver slightly. He didn't mind though; he'd never really minded. The feel of the waves washing over his feet and the smell of the salt in the air from the ocean calmed him immensely.
After a bit, he waded deeper into the water and sat down under the surface. Because he was the son of Poseidon, his natural abilities allowed him to breathe under water and see clearly, even in the dark. He remained dry, though the cool touch of the water was all over his body. He liked this part of being the son of Poseidon; it gave him something that no one else had.
This allowed him to think clearly, keep his mind off everything except the water and the few fish that swam in the water at night. Because he could breathe underwater, he could easily stay below the surface for a long while. He would have to be careful not to stay too long, though; he had to get back to camp before the patrol harpies figured out he had snuck out.
In the mean time, he allowed his mind to go blank, focusing on nothing. He let his eyes slip shut and simply sat on the sandy bottom of the shallows. His breath slowed as he slipped into a meditative state. He stayed like that for several long minutes before he decided to head back to camp. Surfacing, he waded back out of the water, still dry as he'd been when he'd arrived to the shore.
Percy slipped his shoes back on and hurried back up to camp, keeping alert for any sound that signaled that the harpies had picked up on his scent. He'd reached the cabins before he ran into anyone. He hadn't even seen the other person in the dark, only knowing someone was there when they collided.
Both of them stumbled. Percy managed to keep his balance, but he heard a thump and a quiet yelp of pain from the other person. A few faint words were spoken and a soft glow illuminated the darkness close to him and the other person. With the pale light, Percy could see Tayen, the head counselor for the Hecate cabin pushing herself to her feet.
"Watch where you're going!" the dark girl hissed at him.
Percy bit back a retort and managed to apologize, though somewhat bitterly. "Sorry," he told her quietly. "It wasn't as if I could see you."
Tayen glared at him. "What're you doing out of bed?"
"What are you doing out of bed?" Percy countered.
Tayen's eyes narrowed at him. "It's a new moon out. What do you think I'm doing?"
Percy vaguely recalled that Hecate had once been associated with the moon, before Artemis took over its properties and powers. Even though her mother no longer ruled the moon, Tayen was probably honoring Hecate somehow. The children of Hecate were amongst the few who were allowed out of their cabins after curfew because of some of the rituals that had been part of their mother's worship. Many of them still drew power from the moon's light.
Tayen extinguished the light she'd conjured, though Percy could still see her silhouette. "You'd better get back to your cabin, son of Poseidon."
Percy nodded silently, though he doubted Tayen could see it. "Night."
There was a slight pause before Tayen responded. "Good night, Percy Jackson," she told him, voice softening from its previous harsh tone. "May your dreams be well."
Percy ignored Tayen's last comment as he hurried towards the Poseidon cabin. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was dreams. As he reached the cabin and silently opened the door to slip inside, he prayed that he would not dream again that night. He toed off his shoes as he entered, closing the door behind him, then snuck past Alima, who was still sleeping heavily. He didn't bother changing much, just slipped off the baggy shorts he'd put on before sneaking out, and crawled into bed.
He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
* * * * *
"Are you alright, brother?" Alima asked. "You do not look as though you have slept well."
Percy looked up at Alima, who sat across the table from him at breakfast the next morning. He was tired. Even though he'd fallen asleep quickly after returning to the cabin, he had been out of bed for a good part of the night. When he had fallen asleep, it had been a restless sleep. Though he had not dreamt again, he'd woken often.
"I haven't," he mumbled. He poked at his scrambled eggs, not awake enough to feel like eating them.
"Perhaps you should see Chiron?" Alima suggested. "You could ask him for the day off from training. Or you could go to the Apollo cabin for a sleep aid."
Percy shook his head. "I'll be fine."
Alima frowned. She pushed her own breakfast aside. "Do not think that because I am younger than you that I cannot tell a lie when I hear one, Percy. I am worried about you."
"It's nothing," Percy insisted, managing to give Alima a small grin, as if that would confirm what he said.
Alima sighed. "I do not appreciate it when you lie to me. However, I will not push the matter. If you say it is nothing, I will not argue it."
That said, Alima stood up from the table and headed across the pavilion towards the cabins, leaving Percy sitting alone. Percy heaved a sigh and pushed his own breakfast away. Too tired to eat and now miserable because he'd pushed away the only sibling he had near him, he leaned forward, arms crossed on the surface of the table in front of him. With a groan, he let his head thump against his arms.
He wished Annabeth were at camp. He wanted to see her, talk to her. While he could send her an Iris message, it wasn't the same as having her there. Nothing could compare to seeing Annabeth, holding her hand as they talked, the warmth of having her just standing next to him. He wondered if she could take a break from her work to come down and see him again.
Heaving another sigh, Percy lifted his head, his green eyes focusing on the Hermes table across the pavilion. He found himself looking at Luke, which made him frown; he'd been focusing on avoiding Luke for the last several days, why decide to check on the older half-blood now?
Upon looking closer at Luke, Percy was surprised to see how bad the son of Hermes looked this morning. Where Luke had been alert most mornings, today it looked as if he, too, had not slept well. His blue and gold eyes were heavy-lidded and his sandy-blond hair, normally kept in a short ponytail, was loose and tousled, as if he hadn't care what he looked like before leaving the cabin. This was something that immediately sent red flags up in Percy's mind.
He also noticed more of Luke's siblings had started sitting further away from him. Only a handful remained around him, Loki being one of them, as head counselor. A couple of the younger girls, Luke's sisters, stayed with him as well. Percy noted that the Hermes campers sitting with Luke were newer campers, where the ones who were further away were all campers that had been around for a while. The Stoll brothers were at the far end, pointedly ignoring the other end of the table.
As Percy recalled, it wasn't just the other Hermes children that were avoiding Luke; he hadn't once seen any of the older campers really get near Luke. Campers who'd once been Luke's friends, before his betrayal, were going out of their way to stay away from the former follower of Kronos. Much like how Percy had been avoiding him.
Why do I care? Percy asked himself. If they're mad at Luke and don't want to be around him, I don't blame them. Look at what he's done; regardless of if the gods forgave him, we can't.
Luke had destroyed so much in the mere four years that he'd been active with the Titan army. There were too many deaths to count because of the son of Hermes. Not just campers, but Bianca di Angelo, Zöe Nightshade, Daedalus; people who would still be alive today if not for Luke's treachery. Too much sadness, too much pain, came from the things Luke had done.
There was no forgiving that, Percy believed. Not for him, not for so many campers that had lost so much. The gods could give their forgiveness easier than their half-blood children could. As far as Percy could tell, Luke hadn't deserved such easy forgiveness.
Not that there was anything he could do about it. He could only move on.
Percy had intended to continue to avoid Luke, but the older half-blood caught up to him later that day. It was just past noon and Percy had been on his way to the volleyball court to watch today's game between the Apollo and Hebe cabins when Luke stepped into his path. Percy inwardly cursed, knowing that part of what had allowed the other to catch up to him was his lack of proper sleep; his reflexes were all but shot because he was so tired. Resigned, Percy looked up at the taller half-blood.
"What do you want, Luke?" he asked.
"We need to talk," Luke replied. He grabbed Percy by the shoulder and led him towards the top of Half-Blood Hill, where Thalia's tree stood, guarded by Peleus, the dragon. Since Luke's return to Camp Half-Blood, Peleus had been taught to recognize him as a camper and not a danger to the camp.
For a while after they reached Thalia's tree, Luke just sat under the branches of the great pine, leaning against the tree's trunk. Like this, he looked so calm, so much like the Luke that Percy had first met that first summer of his life here at Camp Half-Blood. Luke tilted his head back, so that it bumped gently against the trunk.
"So, I heard Thalia recovered and joined Artemis' hunters?" he asked.
Percy nodded, seating himself a couple feet away. Peleus opened one eye lazily to make sure that neither half-bloods were going to cause any trouble or try to steal the Golden Fleece that hung on one of the branches of Thalia's pine. After he was certain there wouldn't be any problems, Peleus closed his eye again to rest, giving a puff of smoke out his nostrils.
Percy turned his attention back to Luke. "I doubt you brought me over here to talk about Thalia."
Luke gave a sigh, closing his eyes. "No, I didn't," he replied. "Actually, there's something that's been bothering me. I know you can tell me the truth, Percy."
At hearing Luke's comment, a shiver ran down Percy's spine. He wasn't sure if it was Luke's words or Peleus' hot breath against his back, but he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Sitting here with Luke, with no one else around but the dragon was probably not the most brilliant idea, he realized.
Luke shifted, sitting upright and looking at Percy. His odd blue and gold eyes met Percy's green ones. That only made Percy more uncomfortable. Looking at Luke would never be something that he could say was comforting, but ever since things had gone down the way they did, there would always be that unsettling, dangerous feel in the air.
"Ever since I got back to camp, things haven't felt right," he told Percy. "I can't explain it, but there's something not right about camp. At first I thought it was just because things had changed so much while I was gone, but it's not that. It's not what's changed, Percy. I think it's me."
Percy's breath caught in his throat. He was reminded too much of the time Luke took him to the woods to gloat about his betrayal. He half-expect the older half-blood to summon another Pit scorpion to sic on him. "What are you talking about, Luke?" he asked, trying to remain nonchalant.
"I'm talking about how everyone looks at me," Luke answered, eyes narrowed slightly. "You included. You all look at me like I'm something to be pitied. Just like after my first quest."
Luke raised his hand to his right cheek, letting one finger trace the ragged scar that ran from his eye to his jaw. "I hated that," he added, focusing on the camp behind Percy. "I hate the misery that comes from pity. What's worse is, this time, there's no reason to feel sorry for me."
"Luke, stop," Percy said sharply. He did not like where this was going.
Luke ignored him. "I'm missing something, Percy. There's more going on than what I was told. Something happened in the last four years and I don't think it was my getting caught by some stupid trap in a casino."
He turned his gaze back to the teenager he sat with. "What really happened to me, Percy?"
"I don't know," Percy lied.
"Tell me the truth!"
Percy flinched away from the sheer anger in Luke's voice. The words echoed those in his dreams, though with none of the seduction that had been present in the last dream. There was no way it was coincidence that Luke spoke almost the exact words that had been haunting Percy in his dreams. His dreams had been a warning after all, a warning that Luke was catching on.
"I know you know the truth, Percy Jackson," Luke said, voice low and threatening. "I will get an answer from you."
Percy stood abruptly, glaring down at Luke, who remained seated. "No. You won't."
Luke stood up as well, stepping close to Percy. His eyes flashed, more gold than blue for a brief moment. "There's a tapestry of lies covering this camp. You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy. I want answers and you're the key to unraveling the lies."
His arm snapped forward, grabbing Percy's orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and pulling the younger man towards him. Their faces were mere inches apart as Luke glared at Percy. "Think about that, Perseus Jackson."
Behind Percy, Peleus growled lowly. Luke looked past Percy to see that the dragon had risen from his nap and was crouched, ready to strike if either half-blood made a wrong move. Luke gave a 'tch' and dropped Percy, pivoting on his heel to go back to camp. Peleus growled again as Luke passed him, eyes moving to watch the blond young man. Once Luke was out of sight, Peleus turned his gaze to Percy, narrowing his eyes as the son of Poseidon.
Percy raised his hands as if to tell Peleus to calm down. "I'm going," he told the dragon. "I'm going."
With that, Percy headed towards camp, making sure to keep as far away from Luke as humanly possible. He should have known better than to go with Luke. He should have paid more attention to his dreams -- maybe not that last one, though, he thought.
There was no doubt about it now; the oath that had been sworn was not enough. Luke was asking questions, trying to puzzle out what had really happened to him. He'd even gone as far as trying to force an answer out of Percy. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. Percy had to talk to Chiron about this now, before it got out of hand.
As he headed for the archery range to find Chiron, Luke's words echoed in his mind.
"Tapestry of lies…"
"You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy."
"You're the key."
Author's Note: Haha! 5,000 words exactly! *proud of herself* Whew! Well, there we go. I promise there are still at least three more chapters (though if I make each chapter longer, I may need to cut them in two and have more chapters than I originally planned). Things are definitely not over yet. This is just the beginning. If you liked this chapter, leave a review! Reviews are like crack to me; don't leave me stuck in withdrawal!
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: EventualLuke/Percy, past!Percy/Annabeth. Also some OC pairings, but those are very minor.
Warnings: AU, slash (m/m and f/f). Spoilers for The Last Olympian. Also, there's a handful of OCs, but most of them are camp counselors with minor roles.
Author's Note: I'm planning for this to be a relatively short fic, maybe six chapters tops, but we'll just have to see. This fic completely changes Luke's fate in The Last Olympian and will otherwise have spoilers. And if you bothered to look at the pairings and warnings, there will be slash, both with boys and girls, so if you don't like it, use your handy little back button right now. If you're still reading this, enjoy the fic.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are copyright to Rick Riordan and if he had any idea what I'm doing with his characters, I'm sure he'd be out for my foolish mortal blood. I do, however, own the OCs.
Additional Note: This chapter introduces slashy stuff and may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
Chapter Two
Without the threat of Kronos, Camp Half-Blood was once again much like it had been that first summer Percy had been there. Schedules were set up, daily activities divided up by lot. The daily inspections always caught Percy off-guard, but Alima was always ready to help get the cabin clean before the inspectors came with the scrolled checklists. Because there were two of them, Percy and Alima were able to keep themselves from winding up with kitchen duties with the cleaning harpies.
Every day, the campers trained, learned and generally lived life the best way they could at the camp. Things were usually calm, though sometimes, there would be some kind of accident -- nothing major or life-threatening, but the occasional stray arrow catching someone off-guard or someone would go into the woods to fight some of the monsters stocked there and end up with some injury or another. The Apollo cabin would help out in the infirmary for these happenings, putting their healing knowledge to work.
Percy would hang out with Grover a lot during his break time, just to spend time with his best friend. Alima had her own friends to hang out with, but sometimes she would drop by to chat briefly with Grover. Today, Percy and Grover were just hanging by the lake, skipping stones across the smooth surface.
"So, have you talked to Annabeth since your party?" Grover asked.
Percy threw his stone, counting one, two, three, four jumps across the lake. "Yeah," he said. "She sent me an Iris Message last night. Asked how camp was, how Luke was doing."
It kind of hurt him still that Annabeth cared so much about Luke. She'd confessed last year that she loved Luke more as a brother, but Percy had known that she had said that to spare Luke. Annabeth would always consider Luke to be her first love. It made Percy a little jealous. It was true that he and Annabeth had broken up for the time being, but he still considered her to be his girlfriend. They still cared about each other, after all.
"You know that she's just worried about him," Grover told him. "He was her friend for years. She can't let go of that and he wouldn't understand if she did."
Percy gave a soft grunt of acknowledgment. He knew that; he didn't like it. "I kind of wish she were here," he said. "If she was, I wouldn't have to talk about him to her." He looked at Grover. "Do you have any idea how awkward that is?"
Grover threw a stone across the lake. "Pretty awkward?"
As Grover's stone skipped across the surface of the lake, one of the naiads surfaced, glaring at the two of them. "Do you mind?"
"Sorry!" Grover called to her. He dropped the other stones he'd gathered to skip, letting them clack against the other stones that covered the shore.
Percy shoved his hands into the pockets of the khaki cargo shorts he wore, heaving a sigh. "Let's head back to the arena," he suggested. "I want to practice while Luke's not there."
Grover followed Percy across the campgrounds. "You know, avoiding him isn't going to help anything. He thinks of you as a friend, since he doesn't remember…what happened. He's going to start asking questions."
Percy thought about that. It was bad enough that the Aura twins had been asking about Luke a few days ago. If the newer campers had figured out there was something odd about Luke, there was no doubt that Luke himself would eventually start catching on. Between the curiosity of the newer campers and how the older campers tended to shun Luke, things would start going downhill.
"Maybe we should talk to Chiron about this?" Grover asked. "He's the one who suggested the oath in the first place. He could get the others to make the oath, too."
"I don't know," Percy said, approaching the arena. He could hear the clashing of sword against shield and gave a groan. He hoped that the noise was being made by other campers, not Luke. He'd been expecting Luke to be with the rest of the Hermes cabin at the climbing wall.
Entering the arena, Percy was somewhat relieved to see Clarisse practicing her sword-fighting against one of the many dummies set up around the arena. Though he was about as happy about seeing Clarisse as he was about seeing Luke, the daughter of Ares was somewhat of a step-up from the son of Hermes.
Clarisse had actually arrived late to camp this summer, coming in a week after Percy had arrived. Rumor had it that she had been looking into colleges, something that surprised Percy; he had never thought of Clarisse as the type to sit in school, much less college lectures. But she was reaching the age where college would be a good idea and she had spent most of the last several years at camp. School might actually do her good.
Percy watched Clarisse practice for a while and he noticed something a bit different about her style. She usually fought with a fierce determination, even while just working with practice dummies, but today, she seemed particularly angry. Her attacks were flawed, like her mind was fogged by a sense of utter rage. Even when Silena, her close friend, had been killed last year, the anger hadn't blocked out Clarisse's ability to fight.
"What's got her so mad?" Percy asked Grover quietly.
Grover gave a shrug, unable to take his eyes off the daughter of Ares. "If she were against something alive, she would've been taken out, fighting like that."
Clarisse gave a sudden frustrated shriek of rage and brought her sword down hard on the dummy, shredding the straw figure and breaking the wooden shield attached to it. She then threw her sword across the arena with all her might and dropped her own shield, kicking at it harshly. The sound of steel-toed boots hitting the shield echoed through the arena.
Percy flinched. In the years that he'd known her, he'd never seen Clarisse so angry. Even when he'd drenched her with toilet water and humiliated her, broken her electrified spear in the first game of Capture the Flag he'd ever participated in, her rage hadn't been anywhere near this feral. He would hate to be the person who'd made her this angry.
Clarisse spun around, her stringy brown hair whirling around her face as she faced Percy and Grover. Her eyes were narrowed to near slits and her face a violent shade of crimson. She clenched her fists and glared at them.
"What are you staring at?" she demanded. "Get lost!"
"We just came to practice," Percy said, trying to remain calm. Though he had no love for Clarisse, he was a little worried about her. There was no way she was alright, as angry as she was.
"The arena's closed!" Clarisse spat at him.
"A-alright," Grover told her, feeling a little nervous. He really didn't like confrontations, much less confrontations with Clarisse.
"Get lost!" Clarisse repeated, tearing off a piece of armor from her arm and throwing it towards them.
Grover jumped out of the way of the armor projectile and grabbed Percy by the arm. "C'mon, Percy!"
"Yeah, coming," Percy told him.
The two of them hustled out of there before Clarisse could throw anything else at them. Behind them, they could hear Clarisse screaming in rage, swearing alternately in English and ancient Greek. They hadn't gotten far when Chris, Clarisse's boyfriend, caught up with them. He'd followed them out of the arena.
"Hey, guys," he called as he approached. "Sorry about Clarisse. She's not having a good day."
"I could tell," Percy deadpanned, stopping to talk with Chris. "What happened?"
Chris slouched, placing his hands in his pockets. "You know we just got back to camp, right?"
Percy and Grover nodded. Chris continued.
"Well, we'd left camp before Chiron had everyone take that oath," he said. "The one about Luke. We took a year off to travel and get away from camp, look at colleges for next year. When we got back here yesterday, Chiron called us to the Big House to take the oath."
"She's not happy about it, is she?" Grover asked.
"Obviously," Chris told him. "But it's more than that. Because of the oath, she can't get back at Luke for what happened to Silena."
Percy blinked. "Oh."
It was well known that Ares and his children were famous for holding grudges. Clarisse had probably sworn to get revenge for Silena's death and the oath, aside from keeping everyone quiet about Luke's past, also kept anyone from doing anything about it, like Clarisse's desire for revenge. Not everyone had been willing to take the oath because of the restrictions and had been forced to take the oath before the gods. Because an oath on the river Styx was such a serious promise, no one could back out of it or do anything to even bend their word.
"Yeah," Chris said. "She's furious. I've tried to calm her down, but she won't even talk to me. She's been in the arena since six this morning, doing nothing but destroy dummies."
Percy actually felt sorry for Clarisse. Though he, too, was angry with Luke for all the deaths the older half-blood had caused, he hadn't been seeking revenge. Clarisse, on the other hand, had likely been thinking up ways to avenge her friend all year. The oath had now taken all that away from her.
On the other hand, Percy was a little relieved. Despite everything that Luke had done, he didn't want to kill him. There had been times when he had wanted to, but that had all faded away. Killing Luke now would not do any good and, besides that, it would be like killing an innocent man; the gods had absolved Luke of the crimes he'd committed because of his last minute sacrifice.
"I hope she'll be alright," Percy told Chris. His words were genuine; just because he and Clarisse didn't get along didn't mean he wasn't sincere in his hopes for her.
Chris nodded. "I hope so, too."
* * * * *
Over the last few days, Percy had continued to have dreams of an empty campground. Unlike his dreams before, this recurring dream never picked up where it'd left off. It always started the same; he was walking through Camp Half-Blood, alone. Each night, he wound up somewhere else in the dream -- usually somewhere he'd been the day before the dream happened. The latest dream took place in the arena.
Again, he'd been looking for signs of other campers and, again, he found none. That was, up until the point where someone was calling his name. The familiar voice called for him this time and Percy waited, preparing himself to catch the mysterious intruder off-guard. Percy was ready for him -- for the intruder's voice was male, Percy had concluded in a previous dream.
"Percy Jackson."
The pair of arms that had been grabbing him in the last few dreams wrapped themselves around Percy's waist. Though Percy had been ready for them, prepared to fight back and win this time, he was once again held tightly. He struggled, grabbing onto the arms and trying to pry them off so he could face his attacker. The arms remained latched around his waist.
"I'm waiting for the answer, Percy Jackson," the intruder told him, mouth right next to his ear. Percy felt a warm, wet tongue brush against his earlobe and he shivered. "I know you hold the key to this."
One of his captor's arms moved, running over his body smoothly. Percy froze, finding himself frightened and, more worrying, a little aroused. His breath caught in his throat. He could hardly believe this was even happening, dream or not. He resisted, tried to tell whoever his captor was to stop, but that sensation of his captor's tongue against the soft, sensitive skin just below his ear has Percy's voice halting before he could speak.
"Tell me who I am, Percy," the intruder whispered into his ear as his hand lowered to cross below Percy's waistline.
* * * * *
Percy woke with a gasping start, covered in sweat and blankets wet with more than. Upon this realization, his face heated, flushing a brilliant red. He quickly looked across the cabin to where Alima slept, praying to any gods that she had not been woken up. Fate apparently looked kindly on him now and the young girl slept heavily, uninterrupted. After checking on Alima, Percy then prayed that the emotional link between him and Grover didn't involve anything like wet dreams.
Percy got out of bed, quietly moving to change clothes and bed sheets. Even after he'd done that, he wasn't quite ready to return to bed, more than a little worried that his dream would come back to haunt him again. Though it was already well past curfew, Percy grabbed his shoes and slipped them on before sneaking out of the cabin. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep any time soon.
Tip-toeing carefully through the group of cabins, so as not to bring any attention to himself, Percy headed along the edge of the woods towards the shore. He knew that being closer to the ocean would help him clear his mind, help him forget his dreams. That was exactly what he needed right now.
Once he was past the cabins, Percy picked up the pace, hurrying across the campground towards the beach. Upon reaching the beach, he kicked his shoes off and walked across the sandy shore to the very edge of the water. The moment the waves came against his feet, it felt as though the water washed away all his worries.
For a few minutes, he just stood there, letting the waves come up to him as he stared out over the ocean. Though it was summer, the night air was cool, a light breeze coming in from the ocean, making Percy shiver slightly. He didn't mind though; he'd never really minded. The feel of the waves washing over his feet and the smell of the salt in the air from the ocean calmed him immensely.
After a bit, he waded deeper into the water and sat down under the surface. Because he was the son of Poseidon, his natural abilities allowed him to breathe under water and see clearly, even in the dark. He remained dry, though the cool touch of the water was all over his body. He liked this part of being the son of Poseidon; it gave him something that no one else had.
This allowed him to think clearly, keep his mind off everything except the water and the few fish that swam in the water at night. Because he could breathe underwater, he could easily stay below the surface for a long while. He would have to be careful not to stay too long, though; he had to get back to camp before the patrol harpies figured out he had snuck out.
In the mean time, he allowed his mind to go blank, focusing on nothing. He let his eyes slip shut and simply sat on the sandy bottom of the shallows. His breath slowed as he slipped into a meditative state. He stayed like that for several long minutes before he decided to head back to camp. Surfacing, he waded back out of the water, still dry as he'd been when he'd arrived to the shore.
Percy slipped his shoes back on and hurried back up to camp, keeping alert for any sound that signaled that the harpies had picked up on his scent. He'd reached the cabins before he ran into anyone. He hadn't even seen the other person in the dark, only knowing someone was there when they collided.
Both of them stumbled. Percy managed to keep his balance, but he heard a thump and a quiet yelp of pain from the other person. A few faint words were spoken and a soft glow illuminated the darkness close to him and the other person. With the pale light, Percy could see Tayen, the head counselor for the Hecate cabin pushing herself to her feet.
"Watch where you're going!" the dark girl hissed at him.
Percy bit back a retort and managed to apologize, though somewhat bitterly. "Sorry," he told her quietly. "It wasn't as if I could see you."
Tayen glared at him. "What're you doing out of bed?"
"What are you doing out of bed?" Percy countered.
Tayen's eyes narrowed at him. "It's a new moon out. What do you think I'm doing?"
Percy vaguely recalled that Hecate had once been associated with the moon, before Artemis took over its properties and powers. Even though her mother no longer ruled the moon, Tayen was probably honoring Hecate somehow. The children of Hecate were amongst the few who were allowed out of their cabins after curfew because of some of the rituals that had been part of their mother's worship. Many of them still drew power from the moon's light.
Tayen extinguished the light she'd conjured, though Percy could still see her silhouette. "You'd better get back to your cabin, son of Poseidon."
Percy nodded silently, though he doubted Tayen could see it. "Night."
There was a slight pause before Tayen responded. "Good night, Percy Jackson," she told him, voice softening from its previous harsh tone. "May your dreams be well."
Percy ignored Tayen's last comment as he hurried towards the Poseidon cabin. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was dreams. As he reached the cabin and silently opened the door to slip inside, he prayed that he would not dream again that night. He toed off his shoes as he entered, closing the door behind him, then snuck past Alima, who was still sleeping heavily. He didn't bother changing much, just slipped off the baggy shorts he'd put on before sneaking out, and crawled into bed.
He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
* * * * *
"Are you alright, brother?" Alima asked. "You do not look as though you have slept well."
Percy looked up at Alima, who sat across the table from him at breakfast the next morning. He was tired. Even though he'd fallen asleep quickly after returning to the cabin, he had been out of bed for a good part of the night. When he had fallen asleep, it had been a restless sleep. Though he had not dreamt again, he'd woken often.
"I haven't," he mumbled. He poked at his scrambled eggs, not awake enough to feel like eating them.
"Perhaps you should see Chiron?" Alima suggested. "You could ask him for the day off from training. Or you could go to the Apollo cabin for a sleep aid."
Percy shook his head. "I'll be fine."
Alima frowned. She pushed her own breakfast aside. "Do not think that because I am younger than you that I cannot tell a lie when I hear one, Percy. I am worried about you."
"It's nothing," Percy insisted, managing to give Alima a small grin, as if that would confirm what he said.
Alima sighed. "I do not appreciate it when you lie to me. However, I will not push the matter. If you say it is nothing, I will not argue it."
That said, Alima stood up from the table and headed across the pavilion towards the cabins, leaving Percy sitting alone. Percy heaved a sigh and pushed his own breakfast away. Too tired to eat and now miserable because he'd pushed away the only sibling he had near him, he leaned forward, arms crossed on the surface of the table in front of him. With a groan, he let his head thump against his arms.
He wished Annabeth were at camp. He wanted to see her, talk to her. While he could send her an Iris message, it wasn't the same as having her there. Nothing could compare to seeing Annabeth, holding her hand as they talked, the warmth of having her just standing next to him. He wondered if she could take a break from her work to come down and see him again.
Heaving another sigh, Percy lifted his head, his green eyes focusing on the Hermes table across the pavilion. He found himself looking at Luke, which made him frown; he'd been focusing on avoiding Luke for the last several days, why decide to check on the older half-blood now?
Upon looking closer at Luke, Percy was surprised to see how bad the son of Hermes looked this morning. Where Luke had been alert most mornings, today it looked as if he, too, had not slept well. His blue and gold eyes were heavy-lidded and his sandy-blond hair, normally kept in a short ponytail, was loose and tousled, as if he hadn't care what he looked like before leaving the cabin. This was something that immediately sent red flags up in Percy's mind.
He also noticed more of Luke's siblings had started sitting further away from him. Only a handful remained around him, Loki being one of them, as head counselor. A couple of the younger girls, Luke's sisters, stayed with him as well. Percy noted that the Hermes campers sitting with Luke were newer campers, where the ones who were further away were all campers that had been around for a while. The Stoll brothers were at the far end, pointedly ignoring the other end of the table.
As Percy recalled, it wasn't just the other Hermes children that were avoiding Luke; he hadn't once seen any of the older campers really get near Luke. Campers who'd once been Luke's friends, before his betrayal, were going out of their way to stay away from the former follower of Kronos. Much like how Percy had been avoiding him.
Why do I care? Percy asked himself. If they're mad at Luke and don't want to be around him, I don't blame them. Look at what he's done; regardless of if the gods forgave him, we can't.
Luke had destroyed so much in the mere four years that he'd been active with the Titan army. There were too many deaths to count because of the son of Hermes. Not just campers, but Bianca di Angelo, Zöe Nightshade, Daedalus; people who would still be alive today if not for Luke's treachery. Too much sadness, too much pain, came from the things Luke had done.
There was no forgiving that, Percy believed. Not for him, not for so many campers that had lost so much. The gods could give their forgiveness easier than their half-blood children could. As far as Percy could tell, Luke hadn't deserved such easy forgiveness.
Not that there was anything he could do about it. He could only move on.
Percy had intended to continue to avoid Luke, but the older half-blood caught up to him later that day. It was just past noon and Percy had been on his way to the volleyball court to watch today's game between the Apollo and Hebe cabins when Luke stepped into his path. Percy inwardly cursed, knowing that part of what had allowed the other to catch up to him was his lack of proper sleep; his reflexes were all but shot because he was so tired. Resigned, Percy looked up at the taller half-blood.
"What do you want, Luke?" he asked.
"We need to talk," Luke replied. He grabbed Percy by the shoulder and led him towards the top of Half-Blood Hill, where Thalia's tree stood, guarded by Peleus, the dragon. Since Luke's return to Camp Half-Blood, Peleus had been taught to recognize him as a camper and not a danger to the camp.
For a while after they reached Thalia's tree, Luke just sat under the branches of the great pine, leaning against the tree's trunk. Like this, he looked so calm, so much like the Luke that Percy had first met that first summer of his life here at Camp Half-Blood. Luke tilted his head back, so that it bumped gently against the trunk.
"So, I heard Thalia recovered and joined Artemis' hunters?" he asked.
Percy nodded, seating himself a couple feet away. Peleus opened one eye lazily to make sure that neither half-bloods were going to cause any trouble or try to steal the Golden Fleece that hung on one of the branches of Thalia's pine. After he was certain there wouldn't be any problems, Peleus closed his eye again to rest, giving a puff of smoke out his nostrils.
Percy turned his attention back to Luke. "I doubt you brought me over here to talk about Thalia."
Luke gave a sigh, closing his eyes. "No, I didn't," he replied. "Actually, there's something that's been bothering me. I know you can tell me the truth, Percy."
At hearing Luke's comment, a shiver ran down Percy's spine. He wasn't sure if it was Luke's words or Peleus' hot breath against his back, but he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Sitting here with Luke, with no one else around but the dragon was probably not the most brilliant idea, he realized.
Luke shifted, sitting upright and looking at Percy. His odd blue and gold eyes met Percy's green ones. That only made Percy more uncomfortable. Looking at Luke would never be something that he could say was comforting, but ever since things had gone down the way they did, there would always be that unsettling, dangerous feel in the air.
"Ever since I got back to camp, things haven't felt right," he told Percy. "I can't explain it, but there's something not right about camp. At first I thought it was just because things had changed so much while I was gone, but it's not that. It's not what's changed, Percy. I think it's me."
Percy's breath caught in his throat. He was reminded too much of the time Luke took him to the woods to gloat about his betrayal. He half-expect the older half-blood to summon another Pit scorpion to sic on him. "What are you talking about, Luke?" he asked, trying to remain nonchalant.
"I'm talking about how everyone looks at me," Luke answered, eyes narrowed slightly. "You included. You all look at me like I'm something to be pitied. Just like after my first quest."
Luke raised his hand to his right cheek, letting one finger trace the ragged scar that ran from his eye to his jaw. "I hated that," he added, focusing on the camp behind Percy. "I hate the misery that comes from pity. What's worse is, this time, there's no reason to feel sorry for me."
"Luke, stop," Percy said sharply. He did not like where this was going.
Luke ignored him. "I'm missing something, Percy. There's more going on than what I was told. Something happened in the last four years and I don't think it was my getting caught by some stupid trap in a casino."
He turned his gaze back to the teenager he sat with. "What really happened to me, Percy?"
"I don't know," Percy lied.
"Tell me the truth!"
Percy flinched away from the sheer anger in Luke's voice. The words echoed those in his dreams, though with none of the seduction that had been present in the last dream. There was no way it was coincidence that Luke spoke almost the exact words that had been haunting Percy in his dreams. His dreams had been a warning after all, a warning that Luke was catching on.
"I know you know the truth, Percy Jackson," Luke said, voice low and threatening. "I will get an answer from you."
Percy stood abruptly, glaring down at Luke, who remained seated. "No. You won't."
Luke stood up as well, stepping close to Percy. His eyes flashed, more gold than blue for a brief moment. "There's a tapestry of lies covering this camp. You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy. I want answers and you're the key to unraveling the lies."
His arm snapped forward, grabbing Percy's orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and pulling the younger man towards him. Their faces were mere inches apart as Luke glared at Percy. "Think about that, Perseus Jackson."
Behind Percy, Peleus growled lowly. Luke looked past Percy to see that the dragon had risen from his nap and was crouched, ready to strike if either half-blood made a wrong move. Luke gave a 'tch' and dropped Percy, pivoting on his heel to go back to camp. Peleus growled again as Luke passed him, eyes moving to watch the blond young man. Once Luke was out of sight, Peleus turned his gaze to Percy, narrowing his eyes as the son of Poseidon.
Percy raised his hands as if to tell Peleus to calm down. "I'm going," he told the dragon. "I'm going."
With that, Percy headed towards camp, making sure to keep as far away from Luke as humanly possible. He should have known better than to go with Luke. He should have paid more attention to his dreams -- maybe not that last one, though, he thought.
There was no doubt about it now; the oath that had been sworn was not enough. Luke was asking questions, trying to puzzle out what had really happened to him. He'd even gone as far as trying to force an answer out of Percy. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. Percy had to talk to Chiron about this now, before it got out of hand.
As he headed for the archery range to find Chiron, Luke's words echoed in his mind.
"Tapestry of lies…"
"You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy."
"You're the key."
Author's Note: Haha! 5,000 words exactly! *proud of herself* Whew! Well, there we go. I promise there are still at least three more chapters (though if I make each chapter longer, I may need to cut them in two and have more chapters than I originally planned). Things are definitely not over yet. This is just the beginning. If you liked this chapter, leave a review! Reviews are like crack to me; don't leave me stuck in withdrawal!