CHAPTER TWO
—stupid tantalus

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—THE children of Ares were frequent visitors to the makeshift infirmary at Camp Half-Blood. Most of the time, they were forced to go by Chiron or some older child of Apollo — Lee Fletcher was a persistent thorn in their sides. Frankly, they all believed the scars and bruises made them look tough.

  Judith was one of the few who did her very best to avoid the medic tents at all cost. She did her very best not to curse a powerful god — Zeus most definitely — every time Kya, a daughter of Apollo, touched part of the reddened burn. She didn't even understand why she needed to touch it so much anyway. She could just drink some nectar and be on with it. Snip snap. She voiced her thoughts.

  "You still need to clean the wound. If it heals without proper cleaning, it'll cover up all the bacteria that got in it and it'll be inside you, creating —" She rambled on and Judith just stopped her with a look.

  "Um, I got it. Just clean up my bacteria, I guess," she mumbled, tensing at every sting. Judith was handed a small bit of ambrosia by the small boy who had warned her of the attack earlier. What a good little courier he was — no doubt a son of Hermes.

  Kya finally finished wrapping up the wound, patting the bandage softly. "Did you see Annabeth and Percy come back?"

  "Yeah," Judith said, "they also had a cyclops with them. A baby cyclops." She blinked, still finding it strange how it was friendly.

  "Oh," Kya nodded. "So that's who fought the bulls off."

  Judith looked away, disappointed that they'd needed a different kind of strength to protect their home. "We're definitely lucky he was there." Clarisse would have done her in for admitting that out loud.

  "Welp, I just hope we don't have a situation like that again anytime soon," Kya said. Judith couldn't help but feel like her wishes might be for naught. "There's some extra camp t-shirts being handed out outside."

  Judith nodded and made her way out of the makeshift infirmary. The girl grabbed two pairs of shirts from one of the nymphs carrying them around. No harm in grabbing an extra.

—IT wasn't long until the dinner horn was blown and Judith was awakened from a nap. She grumbled along with some of her other half-siblings who had also found themselves bruised up from the day's events. Judith made sure to hit the bunk above her own extra hard to get Clarisse awake. She was a deep sleeper.

  "I'm up," Clarisse mumbled, taking her sweet time climbing down.

  "Come on," Judith's impatience roused her siblings. They all walked through the front entrance and down the porch steps. Clarisse fell in step beside her.

  "Was that fast enough for you?" Clarisse asked.

  "I guess." Judith shrugged and they raced off to the dining pavilion.

  The Stoll brothers came by and clapped Clarisse on the back. "Congrats on the big win over the big bully bulls," Travis said.

  Clarisse acted like she was about to smack one of the them and they flinched, quickening their pace up ahead. Connor glanced over his shoulder, throwing up a peace sign. "You Moo, girl!" he yelled. There were some chuckles from behind the two girls and Judith narrowed her eyes at the Hermes boys' odd behavior.

  She glanced behind her sister's back where the Stoll brothers had patted her and growled, ripping off the piece of paper that said exactly what Connor had yelled but in capital block letters.

  YOU MOO, GIRL

  "Stupid Stolls," they both uttered at the same time, finding their respected seats.

  Judith watched ... well, everyone watched as Percy walked into the hall with the cyclops at his side. He looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there. They made eye contact and Judith just turned away, smirking at his misery. Honestly, the baby cyclops didn't even seem that bad. She'd probably get annoyed with his garbled English and lack of manners after a while but he wasn't awful.

  "Whatcha' smiling at?" Clarisse asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. It was rare to see anything other than disinterest on the girl's face.

  "Nothing." But Judith stole a quick look over her shoulder again at the boy who ended up right next to who he wanted to get away from. The cyclops obviously didn't understand Percy's uncomfortable expression, continuing to blabber his ear off.

  Judith was in the middle of a big mouthful of pizza when a conch horn blew for nightly announcements. She tried to chew as quickly as possible without choking in order to listen to the news.

  "Yes, well," Tantalus ( a new camp director ) started, standing up from his spot. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." Everyone's eyes noticed his fingers chasing around a dinner roll that skittered away from his hand incessantly. "And here on my first day of authority, I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, eh, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

  Judith wasn't entirely sure if that was meant to be a joke or something, but it wasn't funny. Only Dionysus and a few intimidated satyrs clapped. She missed Chiron. Not that Judith interacted with the centaur much, but his presence was still ten times better than this guy's.

  "And now, some changes!" Tantalus's grin made Judith uncomfortable. It was one full of malicious intentions. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

  Judith's first thoughts on the news included: 'Wow, that's cool!' and 'Maybe this guy isn't so bad after all.' But after seeing an uneasy flash of fear in some of the campers' eyes ( mainly the Athena kids ), she realized it might not be all it's cracked up to be. She loved competition as much as her siblings, but dying was a little out there.

  It seemed she wasn't the only one with mixed feelings on the subject as a wide range of different murmurs broke out. Next to Judith, Clarisse was leaning forward curiously.

   "Now I know that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems," Tantalus said casually and shrugged.

  "Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," a guy from the Apollo table called out. Putting numbers to the evidence made Judith's heart twinge. She was never one to shy from violence but that didn't mean she wanted any of her fellow campers to die.

  "Yes, yes!" Tantalus calmed. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning!" Judith felt a stare from Clarisse. "The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. "Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

  Then it was chaos. Judith and Clarisse looked at each other, a thought seemingly going through both of their heads at once, a common occurrence between the two.

  Clarisse made to stand first. "But, sir! What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots —"

  "Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed, cutting her off. "Brave Clarisse. Who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls."

  Clarisse blinked with red tinted cheeks, glancing at Judith who just looked at Tantalus with fiery eyes. She wasn't conceited but Clarisse definitely did not defeat the bulls all on her own. "Um, I didn't —"

  "And modest, too," Tantalus laughed. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

  This time, Judith stood up. "But the tree —!" she gestured to the camp's borders almost helplessly.

  Tantalus didn't seem to enjoy Judith's voice as much as he interrupted rudely, "And now," Clarisse yanked Judith back onto the wooden bench, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." Judith shook her head as he waved at Tyson the cyclops.

  Judith looked over at Percy to see him fuming silently in his seat. So he did care for the cyclops? He was confusing.

  "Now, of course," he continued, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this cyclops is not as horrible as its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it!" Most of the campers cringed away at the thought of sleeping in the same room as Tyson. "I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

  Judith glared at the boys who stuck a 'YOU MOO, GIRL!' sign on her sister's back, and were now evading taking in an obviously harmless creature. It was their job to house the newcomers.

  "Come now," Tantalus said mockingly with a frown. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where the beast should be kenneled?"

  Judith made eye contact with Charles Beckendorf across the way and willed him to say something. He was a high up at camp and had some say in the way things went. Besides, Cyclopes were renowned for being good with their hands. He looked like he was about to say something when a harsh green light swarmed above Tyson's head. There was no need for Beckendorf's input anymore as there was no doubt where Tyson would be placed.

  He'd be sleeping in the Poseidon cabin.

  Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

  Judith might have cracked a smirk at the joke if she hadn't been disgusted with everything else the man was saying the whole night. She sighed as the whole Ares cabin laughed along with the whole camp.

NOTES;
I HATE EDITING AND I HATE THIS CHAPTER

edited : 05/19/20