Chapter 20

Percy

The sun was shining brightly. I was hoping that the war would have ended by now but the enemy seemed to be keeping quiet for now. I had the feeling that we were going to be leaving soon. Chaos’s army I mean. I would miss some people but not all of them. Fine. I admit it. I would miss all of the campers. It was nice to see some of my old friends but now, I had a new life with new people. I guess that I should forgive Annabeth before I leave.

Suddenly, a horn sounded through the area but it wasn’t Camp Half-Bloods. Quickly, I ran towards Half Blood hill. Once I reached Thalia’s pine tree, I saw that only a few creatures were standing at the bottom of the hill. One of them was carrying a white flag. Soon, campers came to see what was happening. Chiron came over to me.

“Do you want to talk to them or do you want me to?” He asked. I shrugged and I marched out of camp’s borders and down the hill.

“We surrender.” A monster said. I swear, my mouth hit the ground.

“What?” I choked out.

The monster repeated, “We surrender. This is a lost cause. You are too strong.” That must have taken a lot or courage to say. From behind him, his companion handed him a scythe which I soon realized was Kronos’. He set it down at my feet. Then, he brought out Gaea’s sword made of earth and did the same with it. “This shows our surrender.” The monster said and with that, their little group march away and out of our sight.

Quickly, I picked up both weapons and brought them up the hill to Chiron.

“They have surrendered.” I informed him. Suddenly, a black portal appeared next to me and my father came out.

“That bastard (Sorry for language but it is the only swear I am going to put) Mark is not getting away from my wrath.” He snarled. I didn’t know that my father could be so protective of me.

With a snap of his fingers, Chaos teleported Mark here onto Half-Blood hill and before Mark could react, Chaos kicked in hard in the stomach. Now, I realized that Chaos was wearing his pointy Chaos metal tipped boots. My father went on torturing Mark. Who knew that my father could be so violent?

(Skip if you don’t want to read the torture. It might be a bit disturbing.)

Chaos kept on kicking Mark over and over again and some made me even wince. He didn’t kick Mark in the most comfortable spots either. I think you know what I mean. After he was done with kicking Mark, Chaos started punching. The punching even drew some blood. Soon, Mark was black, blue, and purple all over. Chaos then grinned evilly and took out a blade. He took Mark’s hand and started to cut off his fingers. People started to look away right now and Mark was screaming his head off. After he was done cutting Mark’s fingers off, Chaos moved to stabbing him repeatedly in his thighs and when he would pull the blade out, Chaos would twist the knife to make it even more painful. Each scream Mark let out grew louder and louder. It got so bad that Chiron started to look away from the scene.

Chaos then snapped his fingers and held a ball of fire in his hand. Put Mark’s fingerless hands into the flames. The tortured victim was now crying, screaming, and whimpering at the same time. I felt bad for Mark and I swore to myself to never try to get Chaos this angry.

(Who ever skipped that part, you can read on here.)

Even though I hated Mark, I gave him some mercy.

“Dad, don’t you think that is enough?” I asked. My father turned toward me looking shocked. Chaos’s eyes were nuclear explosions. You could see galaxies exploding in his eyes. To say it bluntly, it looked scary.

“But he hurt you and he should get a punishment.” Chaos stated.

“I think that you have gave him enough torture, dad.” I told him. I looked at Mark and had to keep myself from puking. Mark was on the verge of fainting. He had blood spewing out everywhere and his hands were black from the fire.

“Fine. I want just one more stab and then I will kill him.” Chaos told me. He raised his blade and stabbed Mark in the chest and then sliced the blade across Mark’s throat slowly so that Mark could feel the blood pouring out of his body. Mark was dying slowly and painfully and my father was doing nothing but grinning with pleasure so I decided to take this into my own hands.

This was a fate no one deserved. I unsheathed Ice Storm and stabbed Mark in the neck to end his misery. Chaos looked half pleased yet half unsatisfied that I killed Mark when he was suffering. With a wave of his hand, my brother exploded into dust and Mark’s blood disappeared from the grass.

Everything was peaceful again. Campers started to look at Chaos in pure fear of what he could do to a person. I walked up to my father.

“Don’t you think that was a bit harsh?” I asked him.

“Nope.” He replied, popping the P. “He deserved it.”

“There are 8 year olds in this camp!” I exclaimed. They would probably have nightmares tonight.

“Don’t worry. I’ll wipe their memory of this if I have to.” Chaos told me.

“Fine.” I grumbled. “So, when are we going to leave? The war is over now.”

“I will give you and your soldiers one day to say goodbye to the campers and the gods.” My father told me. “Can you pass this message to your soldiers?” He asked me and I nodded. “See you soon, Percy.” My father waved in farewell to me and disappeared into a black portal.

“Soldiers, may I have your attention?” I shouted out. Everyone lifted their heads up; both campers and soldiers. “We are going to be leaving for home tomorrow now that he war is over. Say goodbye to the campers and start packing up your belongings. Thank you for your attention.” I finished making a professional announcement. I had always wanted to do that.

Jake soon came up to me.

“That last line wasn’t necessary.” He told me. I shrugged.

“I have always wanted to do that.” I told him.

“Whatever.” He decided to drop the subject. “Let’s go start packing. I’ll race you to the Chaos cabin.” With that, he took off. I took off right after him and I soon caught up. Then, I was beating him. I was going at a slightly faster pace than him so I made it to the Chaos cabin about 5 seconds before him. Jake was panting and wheezing while I was just inhaling and exhaling long slow breaths. “How do you do it?” He asked me and I just shrugged. He groaned.

“Come on.” I told him and I dragged my best friend into the cabin with me. We soon parted ways and I headed into my room. I just started throwing random stuff into my bag. Of course I packed all the weapons that I brought with me. Once I was done packing, I headed out of the Chaos cabin to take one last walk around Camp Half-Blood. I looked at each and every one of the cabins. Then, I started to venture off through the camp. I passed the Amphitheater, the Mess Hall, and finally, I ended up at the beach. I walked up and down the stretch of beach. There was no ocean like Earth’s. I inhaled the salty scent of the sea while taking off my shoes and socks. I sat next to the surf and let the water run over my toes.

There was a shimmering sound and soon Poseidon appeared.

“I am going to miss you, Percy.” The sea god said. I just nodded.

“I am sure that we will meet again. We are both immortal, right?” I asked. He nodded his head then went up and hugged me. For the second time, I hugged him back. I guess that I would miss my father but I knew that I would see him sometime in the future. “Bye dad.” I said as I broke the hug.

“Farewell, my son.” Poseidon said. After that, I just wandered around camp saying a few good byes to people. My first person was Chiron. He would always be the best teacher I would ever have.

“I hope to see you soon, Percy.” Chiron said to me.

“Me too.” I replied and I walked away from the Big House.

Thalia said goodbye to me by trying to beat me up. The same was for Clarisse. Nico and I just did the manly hug.

Finally, I had just one more person to say good bye too. That person was Annabeth Chase.

I found her in the arena hacking away with her knife at straw dummies.

“Annabeth.” I said and she whipped around.

“Hi Percy.” She said in a small voice.

“There is no need to be timid.” I said. “I have forgiven you for now but we are never going to be what we were before. Let’s just start out as friends.” I told her and she nodded.

“You are leaving tomorrow.” She stated. I nodded. “I hope that you know that I will miss you.” She said.

“Annabeth, we are both immortal. We will surely see each other again in the future.” I told her. “Well, for now, farewell.” I stuck my hand out to her and she accepted and we shook hands.

By now, I dinner should be happening. Soon the conch horn blew telling me that I was correct. I ran over to the Mess Hall and plopped down at the Chaos table. There, the nymphs served us barbeque with grapes, bread, and cheese. As usual, I got blue Cherry Coke for my drink. Then, I dove into my food. I was famished. Soon, my plate was empty. There would be no sing along tonight. Instead, everyone was going to stand in front of Thalia’s pine tree on Half Blood-Hill and we were going to take a picture.

I ran over to Thalia’s pine tree and people started to trickle towards the hill from dinner. We all gathered together in the semidarkness and Chiron took one picture of us. Then, somehow, he multiplied the photograph so that there were many other copies. Soon, everyone, including me, had their own picture of us all together. I looked at the photograph and saw that the Stoll brothers had put bunny ears on the people in front of them.

Slowly, I walked to Chaos’ cabin while breathing in the smell of strawberries. The moon and stars were out now and they shone brightly across the black sky. Soon, I had reached my destination and I walked to my room. My bag sat in the corner, all packed for tomorrow. I still held the picture of the soldiers and the campers in front of Thalia’s pine tree in my hand. I opened a compartment in my bag and put the picture in there carefully, not wanting it to get wrinkled.

Then I got ready for bed. After I had brushed and changed into my PJs, I crashed onto the bed. I lay there thinking. I could not believe that this was the last night I was going to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Slowly, I started to drift to sleep, ready for tomorrow.