Jason Grace

They weren't kidding when they said Camp Half Blood was like a summer camp.

Once we got into the city, we took... Well, it wasn't Luke's car, but a family friend's car to Camp Half Blood, which was in the middle of the woods a ways out from New York City.

"Thanks for the ride, loser," Thalia told their boyfriend, giving him a short kiss before grabbing her bag from the passenger seat for and getting out of the car. "see you on the solstice? A while before the meeting?"

Luke nodded his head

"If anything happens and we have to reschedule, just let me know." He insisted as Octavian and I grabbed our bags. "you guys have fun! I feel like a dad sending my kids off to school right now."

Thalia rolled his eyes.

"We're moving in together in like, three weeks." She reminded him. "You could come in and say hi to Annabeth— I think she'd be overjoyed."

Debating his options, the son of Hermes messed with his bead necklace, which had six beads on it.

None of which matched Thalia's.

"Would you tell her to come to the Tree?" Luke compromised with his partner. "I'd love to get to talk to her more, but after this summer... It's probably not a good idea for me to show up without any warning. Also, if Chiron even tried to talk to me, I might start throwing hands."

Thalia chuckled.

"Yeah, I don't know if we want to deal with that right now— Mr. D might just turn you into a dolphin." My sibling insisted which was... An interesting consequence, I'll admit. "I'll track her down right away then. Love you."

"Love you, too, Thals. Nice meeting you, Jason and Octavian. Hopefully we'll meet again."

Returning the farewell, Octavian and I waved as the three of us walked the rest of the way up the hill, passed a sign that read Delphi Strawberry Farms, and then stopped next to a Pine Tree that had... A dragon guarding it.

"Hi, Peleus." Thalia said, petting the evidently friendly dragon on the head before turning to us. "Guys, this is Peleus— a dragon a child of Hephaestus I think it was tamed over the summer. He guards the Me Tree and the Golden Fleece— this is also the border to camp."

I furrowed my eyebrows, looking back at the field we just passed.

"Wh— so is the name of the strawberry farm a coincidence?"

"Hm? Oh, no." They clarified. "That's how the camp makes most of its money. Since Dionysus, or as we call him, Mr. D, is here but he's not allowed to grow grapes, so they made a strawberry farm. It's a vine plant, it still grows really fast. Then mortals can come pick their own or we ship them out. Um..."

Thalia looked towards camp for moment, thinking.

"This is very important for your own well-being and safety," she continued as we walked further in the valley. "We don't have fauns, we have satyrs."

"There's a difference?" Octavian questioned, which was also my question.

"I don't know, but we call them satyrs and here they also aren't beggars," my sibling responded as the camp started to come into view, which made one thing very noticable. "They're very important to the camp— they help bring demigods and make the camp run smoothly. So be warned that if you call them fauns, you're probably going to get punched."

The camp didn't have a lot of kids. Or at least, not out and about.

"By the f— satyr?" I asked.

"Probably." She confirmed with a smile. "And trust me, if they decide to kick? Their hooves hurt, so I'd try being nice to them."

There was a message hidden in their tone: we'd be nice and not call them fauns or he'd beat us up.

And honestly? Thalia scared me a little bit, so I didn't want them to beat me up.

I know he wouldn't beat me up for no reason, but if I messed up? He wouldn't hesitate to mess me up.

She also carries the Aegis with her, which is... Terrifying.

"What else?" My sibling went on as we continued towards the one not-greek looking building: a big, white farmhouse. "Oh! It's Thursday, so we have Capture the Flag tomorrow night. Did you bring your armor with you?"

Her asking about armor in the same statement as capture the flag confused me.

"Wh... Yes. We both did because it's a training camp. I assumed we would train like you do or like the other Apollo campers would." I confirmed for the oldest of us three. "What's the big farm house? It seems... Out of place."

"This," Thalia answered as we got to the mentioned farmhouse. He motioned for us to go up the stairs. Sitting on the porch was three people— a boy a little older than me but younger than Thalia with curly dark hair and sharp features. Across from him was a girl who was the same age as the boy across from her. She had curly blonde hair, but based on how she was looking at the card game in front of her, I had a feeling she was anything but a dumb blonde. The man between them was older, middle aged. He also has dark curly hair but his features were a lot more round, including his torso, so I doubted he was related to the boy. He was wearing an atrocious animal print shirt, which flashed horrendously with the orange shirts the other two wore. "Is the Big House. Where we hold all of our meetings and where our Oracle is kept."

"Kept?" Octavian asked, audibly concerned by that last statement. "Like... Is it just their bedroom? They get to leave, right?"

Thalia gave him a weird look.

"Wh....oh. Yeah. I'll show you later."

Octavian and I shared a look, having a conversation in looks.

Do you think they just have a prisoner in the attic or basement?

Do you think their prophecy source is human?

Still seems sketchy.

True.

"Hey, Timothy, you're alive!" The adult man called out. I looked behind us, but nobody else was there. Thalia rolled his eyes. "Amelia told me you got new pronouns— find them at a thrift store or something? Where've you been? You usually leave for like, a night."

And then he shifted his gaze to Octavian and I, mostly focusing on me, making me feel like I might get struck by one of my father's lightning bolts for standing here.

Then, without a hello, he looked back to my older sibling.

"Do you just live to spite me and the horse?"

The horse... Would be Chiron.

And if that would be Chiron, then this is...

"Oh, you're not that special, old man," my older sibling said, taunting the god of wine who she said turns people into dolphins. "Don't give yourself that kind of credit."

I nudged them.

"Thalia, that's a god." I reminded her, stress rising because I didn't want this to be how I was introduced to a god for the first time. "You shouldn't talk to him like that."

And they chuckled, not saying anything else.

"A child of the Big Three that knows what respect is?" But being called out forced me to stiffen and stand at attention. "I really should send you back to California, but if I do, I'm sure Theodore here will just go back to get you, and plus I like you, you can stay. Maybe you can teach him and Peter a lesson or two about respect. What's your rank, kid?"

"Praetor, sir." I answered, which he seemed impressed by. "I was promoted early in the fall. This is a friend of mine, Octavian. He's with because we're curious about how this camp functions, and he's specifically curious about your prophecy source. He an augur."

Dionysus tilted his head, examining my best friend.

"Son of Apollo?"

"Descendant, sir, but yes. I'm also a descendant of Mercury, but it's less prevalent in me than it is my cousin's. I have connections to Phoebus Apollo on both sides of my family."

"How close is the connection?"

"My mother is a daughter of Apollo— my father's grandparents were children of Apollo and Mercury."

The god of wine hummed.

"Hm." He figured, looking down at the playing cards in his hands, throwing one on the table. "I suppose you can stay, too. I'm sure war is on the horizon, I don't want to start another one right now."

And just like that, Octavian and I could breathe again.

"Where's Luke?" The blonde haired girl asked. "I thought he'd come to introduce Jason."

Thalia shook their head.

"He didn't want to come into camp— he's still pissed with Chiron." Thalia supplemented, messing with the girls hair. "You should head to the camp border, though. There's a surprise for you there."

With that, the girl ran off in the direction we'd come from.

"Anyways," the god of wine said as he scowled at his cards and laid them on the table before looking back up at us, causing me to stiffen again. "You wanna know how camp functions? We'll start with the orientation video before you brats get a tour. Tyler."

Then he slapped the table next to him, causing the boy to jump.

"My name is Travis— there's another T name here, Mr. D. You could learn our names."

"Whatever, Timothy— go get uh... Go get Leo from Cabin 7 and tell him he has to lead archery lessons today. These two can stay in your cabin tonight since they aren't claimed, but they'll move to their cabins tomorrow since they seem to know who their ichor comes from. If you see Chiron, tell him to come here."

"Does that mean that what we talked about—"

"Shut up and go do your job, Mr. Robb."

Or not Timothy mouthed to himself as he stood up and shared an annoyed look with Thalia before exiting the Big House patio.

The god scowled at us.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked the three of us, putting a can of something called Diet Coke on the table he was sitting at. "Go give them a tour of show them the orientation film or something. I'm busy."

"Oh, yes, sorry to interrupt your fourteenth diet coke of the day," Thalia insisted, urging me and Octavian inside the Big House. "Come on, I'll show you guys around— you don't need the orientation film."

The inside of the Big House seemed cozy— there were some desks, but also a fireplace with some couches.

"So this is a where Mr. D and Chiron stay— don't ask what rooms are who's, I don't know." My older sibling began. "It's three stories— the Oracle is apparently in the attic but I've never been. We also have our counsel meetings in that room over there."

She pointed to a room, and while I couldn't see all of it, I could tell that it wasn't a hall big enough for a Senate.

"Are you sure that's not just a room for table tennis?" Octavian questioned.

Thalia rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, I don't know why it's a tennis table, but that's the table we sit around for meetings. There's only a dozen of us at most, so we don't need much space."

"A dozen of you? Older members don't come in for meetings?"

"Older... Jason, remember how I was shocked that you guys had an entire city to live in? We don't live long enough to want to come back for meetings." He reminded me, which... Yeah. It was one of the reasons I'd wanted to come and investigate. "There's one, maybe two counselors per cabin in special situations, one cabin for each Olympian."

"And counselors are elected?" I asked as we made our way out of a side door that went right into the camps infirmary.

Thinking to herself for a moment, Thalia said hi to somebody in passing.

"Um... I guess in most cabins, there is probably some sort of vote." He told me, shrugging. "I've been a one person cabin until now, so I was just automatically counselor. If there's multiple people in the cabin, I know there's a list of requirements that can automatically promote you to being counselor if you want, but I don't know that that list is."

"If you've been on a quest or you've been at camp for longer than like, three years." One of the workers chimed in. He was a little older than me— maybe 16. "I've never been on a quest, but I've been here the longest, so I just sort of took over after Celeste left for college. Did you find more demigods or something? I thought it was just the uh, Italian kids that you brought with Grover."

"Hm? Oh, these two aren't brand new, they know their parentage and whatever." My sibling filled this dude in, then nudged my best friend. "this one will be staying with you— names Octavian. This other loser is my little brother. They're just here for... Not forever, I assume, but a week or two? They're from out west."

"Out... Oh, yeah! I remember you asking Chiron about that when you first woke up. That's cool you found him!"

He shifted his attention to Octavian and I.

"I'm Michael Yew, by the way." He introduced himself with a smile, and with how bright he smiled, I had no issue believing he was the son of Apollo. "Counselor of the Apollo cabin. If you have any questions, Octavian, just let me know. I'll leave here soon to get a bunk set up for you in the cabin."

"Oh, thank you." Octavian responded, sounding a little put off by this kids friendly attitude. "Is there... Is there anything I have to do in order to like, be accepted into the cabin?"

Michael shared a look with one of his siblings before looking back at descendant of Apollo.

"To be accepted... Do you think we like, haze our siblings?" Michael asked, confused. "Because we don't."

"No, not like that," Octavian clarified, shaking his head. "I mean that you guys don't need any letters or recommendation? Any referrals?"

"N... No. You've met the requirements already, Octavian. We're all dyslexic, why would we want to read letters of recommendation?"

"Do you guys need letters of recommendation at Camp Jupiter?" My sibling questioned.

I nodded my head.

"Well, you don't need them, but it's really hard to progress through the ranks if you don't have any." I explained. "Your referrals and recommendations will determine which cohort you join— first being the best, fifth being the worst."

"And which cohort are you guys in?"

"Octavian's in the first, I'm I'm the fifth."

"You could've been in the first or second," my best friend reminded me. "My parents said they'd write you each a letter and I'm sure at least one of our teachers would've."

"They still would've knocked me down to third or fourth with how my introduction speech went— oh, and also because they all figured I was a walking time bomb." I pointed out, shrugging. "It's not like the Fifth Cohort is bad, it's just full of people who don't have connections to other demigods or descendants. And either way, it doesn't matter anymore."

Octavian rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Mr. Praetor Grace."

Is Octavian upset that I got promoted before he did?

It's not like he's been aiming to become Praetor— he's focused on becoming the primary augur of camp. But I guess that doesn't change the fact that we always joked about becoming praetors once we were both at Camp Jupiter.

But even then, it's not like I can control the fact that Reyna showed up and flew threw the ranks.

"...anyways." Thalia said after a beat of silence. "This is the infirmary, so if you get hurt, come here— the Apollo kids are pretty good at their jobs. Let's go outside— I'll show you the training grounds."

•••

The camp was really nice, though the cabins looked a bit odd. Like, on their own, they made sense.

But together? It was almost an eyesore to look at them.

Walking up to one of the few normal cabins, the only indication that it belonged to any god was the cadecus on the banner above the door.

"This is where you'll stay tonight," Thalia informed us, knocking on the door. "Cabin 11— Hermes."

"I thought we stayed with the cabin that aligned with our godly heritage."

He nodded.

"You do, but you guys haven't been claimed." She explained. "And you said you wanted see how camp runs here— almost all demigods stay here before being claimed by their godly parent."

"But... Why Hermes?" I asked.

"God of travellers," Octavian reminded me. "How long are they usually here?"

Thalia shrugged.

"Depends on the kid." They insisted, sighing. "I have to go, but you guys can meet some other kids and get set up for the night. I'll see you at dinner. You'll train with the Hermes cabin today— don't be an ass."

And with that, my older sibling left us to our devices as Timothy answered the door.

"Can we— oh, new kids." He said, opening the door the rest of way for us to step in. "Travis mentioned you'd be here. Come on in— I'm your other counselor, Connor. Find a spot for your stuff and then you guys can come with us to swordfighting. Did Thalia get you guys any weapons yet?"

Who's Travis?

"We have weapons." I assured the demigod.

Octavian looked around the cabin and asked what I'd argue was a vital question.

"Where... Can we put our stuff?" And at first the question seemed dumb since Connor just told us to put it wherever. "is there multiple rooms or...?"

But looking beyond the counselor, I understood what he was really asking: is there room for us here?

In the middle of the common area in the Hermes cabin there was a hearth, which was cool. There was a couple kids sitting around it. To the left there was a big TV with some random chairs and next to the TV stand there was a handful of rolled up sleeping bags. To the right was a couch against the back side of the wall, and to the right and left of the couch there was a bunk bed. Behind the hearth I could see around 6 beds, all of which had stuff or people on them. All together, assuming the couch pulled out, I spotted sleeping spots for around a dozen kids.

There was easily 2 dozen in here.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, but the rooms are all full right now." Connor answered Octavian's question. "Just... Put your stuff down and we'll figure out sleeping arrangements when we get back after campfire— there's a couple other kids coming today and one that left for Christmas, so we'll figure it out then. What are your guy's names?"

"Oh, yes, sorry!" I apologized, extending my hand out to shake Connors. "Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

Connor froze.

"Grace?"

I nodded my head.

"You're Thalia's little brother?"

I nodded again.

"Yeah!" I confirmed for the son of Hermes. "Thalia and their boyfriend came to Camp Jupiter this last week. I'm just here to see how your guys' camp works compared to ours. Try to re-establish a positive relationship between the camps."

"Oh." Conor responded, never shaking my hand, his expression dropping before looking over to Octavian. "And you are? Luke got a long lost brother or something?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm not related to Thalia or Luke at all." My best friend defended himself. "I came here with Jason— my name is Octavian. I'm a descendant of Apollo."

"A descendant... So you don't know who your parent is?"

He shook his head.

"No, I know both of my parents— my mother is a daughter of Apollo."

Connor opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Got it." He said, looking back to the rest of the campers. "Cabin 11, fall in! We're going to be late for swordfighting!'

Octavian and I shared a look, and it was pretty clear between us:

Connor of Cabin 11 didn't like us.

•••
Hey wow I'm alive sorry I just had writers block for a minute there whoops