three.
( the lightning thief.  )
❛ when your folks run the universe. ❜

COLETTE SIGHED INTERNALLY. She was trying to be reasonable, truly, but every step beside Percy Jackson seemed to chip away at her optimism. She wasn't disappointed or annoyed, simply confused. Maybe a little annoyed, actually. The Minotaur slayer, the one she'd conjured in her mind, had appeared more collected and aware.

Percy Jackson was anything but aware—he knew nothing of the camp, knew nothing of half-bloods, and his shoelaces had unravelled and threatened to trip him over.

Now that he was awake and active, Colette was more able to dissect the boy's appearance. He wasn't very tall but not exactly small either, probably around her height give or take an inch, and his hair was tousled and unbrushed as it fell over his forehead and dared to hide his eyes, which were illuminated in perhaps the most vibrant shade of turquoise-y green that Colette had ever seen.

He seemed fearful of the world developing around him, but not cowardly. She pursed her lips considerately, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as they walked soundlessly beside a scowling Annabeth. Colette was far too familiar with the look in the blonde's eye, the drowning suffocation of disappointment that threatened to pull the brunette under with her.

After a quiet moment, Colette turned to Percy with a wince, "you might wanna try harder than that next time, Jackson." She commented, her words slightly harsher than intended.

He whipped his head around to her so fast she thought he'd of gotten whiplash, and with a frown he blinked at her, "What?"

Colette glanced briefly to Annabeth, who was still watching distastefully. "Some people," annabeth and her, "--here have been relying on somebody—well, you for some time now and you're not really making the best first impression--"

Like the top of a kettle had burst in a watery heat of frustration, Percy's lips curled downwards and Colette would dare to say his eyes turned almost glassy. "What's your problem?" He snapped and Colette blinked in surprise, "All I know is, I kill some bull guy--"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth gaped at him as though he'd committed a crime. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?"

Colette let out an exasperated breath, "To fight the Minotaur, Moron! What'd you think we train for? swatting flies?" She shook her head at him. Her expression grew faintly bitter as she scowled at him.

Percy Jackson may've been special, but that didn't mean he wasn't the same as almost every other boy in the camp. Frustrated and angry.

He shook his head, looking between the two of them like they were crazy. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."

"Yes." Annabeth nodded.

"Then there's only one."

"Yes." Colette nodded.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, his voice carrying on slowly. "And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."

Colette shook her head at him whilst speaking, "Yeah, a gajilion years ago. Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed, sure, but they don't die. At least not permanently." She tried to explain, but Percy simply looked at her with a look close to irritation.

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."

Annabeth continued on with her best friend's previous words, "They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."

Percy grew quiet for a moment, pursing his lips in thought, and Colette could tell he was analysing every strange incident that had happened within his lifetime. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword--"

"Like the fu—your math's teacher." Colette quickly corrected herself, "uh... yeah, pretty much like that. You killed her, obviously, but she's not dead." She glanced to him and he swore he could've seen a faintly amused smirk form on her lips, "you just made her very, very mad."

Percy didn't seem to share her momentary amusement, instead glancing at her with a confound gaze. "How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"

Colette stared at him, tilting her head sideways with a shrug. A dull tone pouring into her voice, "you're a strange sleeper. You talk as much as you drool."

Percy flushed in embarrassment, his gaze falling to the ground under his feet for a second before he looked back to the brunette. "You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all." Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.

Percy let out a sigh through his nose. "Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" He whined, and he almost reminded Colette of a sad puppy-dog. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there." He pointed over to the first three cabins—Zeus, Hera and Poseidon.

Annabeth stared at him, slightly pale as she cleared her throat. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent." She stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to understand.

Percy continued to frown at her, glancing to Colette who'd taken to scratching at the skin beside her nails, not meeting his gaze. He then glanced back to Annabeth and stated, "My mom is Sally Jackson. She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station ... At least, she used to." His frown deepened and Colette caught sight of the growing sea of sadness in his eyes.

Colette glanced at him, sending him an apologetic half-smile. "We're really sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what we're talking about. Haven't you ever wondered about your Dad?"

"He's dead," Stated Percy in response, "I never knew him."

The brunette sighed from where she stood between the two, and Percy had gotten the feeling that maybe this hadn't been their first time greeting new campers. Annabeth shared her look, turning to Percy with a seemingly all-knowing look. "Your father's not dead, Percy."

Percy scowled at her, as though she'd taken to invading every hidden part of his life. "How can you say that? D'you two know him?"

Annabeth scoffed at the indication. "No, of course not."

"Then how can you say—"

Colette was quick to back up the blonde. "Because, Percy, we know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

The boy still continued to look at them with narrowed eyes, obvious confusion rippling through his expression. "You don't know anything about me."

"No?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

"How—"

Colette nodded, quick to add on with: "Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

Percy adorned a pout upon his faintly cracked lips, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom." Annabeth listed, her stormy eyes narrowed as she read him like a book she'd been forced to read one-too-many times. "That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little."

Percy stared at her with a slightly creeped-out and embarrassed gaze, and in his silence, Colette commented, "Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. It's not a surprise the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters anyway. Of course they don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like ... you both went through the same thing?" Percy guessed hesitantly, his eyebrows furrowed and his hands fiddling with the other.

Colette frowned in reflection, turning away almost saddened with the ghost of what could've been had normality taken course of her life. "Most of the kids here have, or have experienced pretty similarly. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar, and trust me the drool on your face was evidence enough that you did."

Percy flushed with tinted cheeks, almost desperate to change the subject as he instead chose to focus on two of her words."Ambrosia and nectar."

Annabeth nodded, crossing her arms over her chest, locks of curled blonde hair falling over her shoulder from her ponytail. "The food and drink you were given to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."

Colette wasn't really sure what she was meant to say after that, given Percy's expression of nauseated confusion. And she almost felt bad for him, even if he was still quite snappy and still fused with such curiosity that she wouldn't be surprised if it got him killed.

She grew quiet as she reevaluated the boy before her. He didn't seem like a Hermes kid, nor an Apollo, Iris or Demeter. Maybe he was an Aphrodite kid—but she was sure the world would end before an Aphrodite kid was attacked by a minotaur; their scent wasn't too strong in the mortal world, and she doubted strong enough to attract the attention of the minotaur. She glanced at him silently, inspecting him. Surely there was little to no chance of him being... well, the son of one of the big three. But then, how would he of managed to kill the minotaur with no experience?

Then Colette's blood could've turned into frozen fire as a gruff, dangerously taunting voice called out to them with dark amusement. "Well, a newbie!"

In all her husky annoyance, Clarisse La Rue thundered towards them, her smirk-fused snarl showcasing her teeth as she stormed towards the younger trio. Clarisse was a tall, muscular girl with unbrushed-looking brown hair and adorning a thick camo-jacket. Behind her, three girls all of similar appearance sauntered behind her, all overpowering in height and physique compared to Annabeth, Percy and Colette.

"Oh, gods."

The smaller brunette groaned, her eyes narrowed upon the fourteen-year-old as she stood almost protectively in front of annabeth and Percy. "Go away, Clarisse, haven't you got a spear to polish? Or are you here 'cause you miss your rabbit ears?"

Clarisse glowered down at the daughter of Artemis, her face flushed in anger and humiliation. It was clear she wouldn't be letting it go anytime soon, and up until now, Colette had been doing a very good job of avoiding her. "I'd watch that mouth of yours, Bambi. Might come back to bite you in the ass on Friday."

Percy gasped internally—realisation pouring into his features though the two girls were too caught in glaring at each other to notice. That's what Colette had reminded him of. Previously, he couldn't remember what gentle creature the girl had reminded him of, but now he finally could. With her delicate features—the upturn of her buttoned nose and shower of constellation-like freckles gently plotted upon her cheeks along with her long and dark eyelashes, Colette Archer was perhaps the walking epitome of Bambi, or well... a deer.

But at the mention of Friday's Capture the flag, Annabeth stepped forward with an overly ambitious snarl. "Erre es korakas!" She snarled in Greek, which translated to 'Go to the crows!'. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you too, little miss princess." Clarisse growled, but her eye twitched, as though she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. Her gaze shifted, swallowing Percy whole in the harshness of her eyes before spitting him out with malice. "Who's this little runt?"

Colette sneered up at the older girl, moving to stand directly in front of Percy and shield him from Clarisse's boiling gaze. She'd be damned before she let Clarisse torment another young and blissful camper, and Percy Jackson was no exception. At least not at the moment. "Nobody, Clarisse. Now piss off. Losing must be getting to your head."

Clarisse stepped back, analysing the scene before her with a wide and furious smirk, titling her head incredulously before turning to one of her siblings. "Oh Look, Little Lettie has a little boyfriend!" She snickered loudly at her own remark, "Oh, now what would mother say?" The taller girl watched with amusement as Colette flushed in annoyance.

She bounded away from Percy as though he'd burned her—as though it had been he who'd made the remark. She stood next to annabeth, her jaw clenched and her gaze locked onto the floor. Clarisse knew her weak spot and she had stabbed her spear straight through.

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth mumbled, her eyes of knowledgable grey growing dark with distaste, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

Percy blinked, his gaze previously having been on Colette who still refused to look at him as her cheeks burned in frustration. He didn't understand why Clarisse's comment had caused her such frustration and embarrassment—hell, he didn't even know who her mother even was. "Like ... the war god?"

Clarisse sneered at the younger boy, her thick eyebrows creasing as her nose scrunched in rage. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Percy said simply, shrugging his shoulders as he spared a sharp glance to the brunette beside Annabeth with almost hopefulness. "It explains the bad smell."

Clarisse growled, but Colette glanced back up in recovery, a daring smirk threatening to encase her lips whilst the older girl snarled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy."

Clarisse snarled, grinding her teeth against each other as she flared in irritation. "Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl." Clarisse glared and though Annabeth looked pained, she chose to stay out of it, sharing an annoyed look with the girl beside her.

Colette blinked as a weight was thrust towards her, Percy's precious minotaur horn lingering close to her face as the boy held it out to her, but he wasn't looking at her. He stared on at clarisse challengingly. He wanted to fight his own battles, but the moment Clarisse's large hand snatched the back of his shirt, he grumbled angrily.

The two girls followed quickly after, watching helplessly as Clarisse dragged the boy towards the cinder-block buildings where the bathroom resided in. He was kicking and punching, but his efforts were all rendered futile. She dragged him further inside, towards the girl's bathroom—There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. Behind Clarisse, two of her siblings turned to give dark, menacing glares to the two girls—challenging them to even try and peer closer into the toilet stall where Clarisse was pushing in Percy.

"Like he's 'big three' material." Clarisse howled with laughter and it reminded Colette of a hyena lost in madness. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."

Her friends snickered from behind her, watching with boastful grins as Clarisse forced Percy onto his knees, her hand gripping his hair so tightly that Colette honestly though when she pulled back, chunks of his dark hair was be glued to her fingers. She forced his head toward the toilet bowl, inching closer and closer despite how hard he tried to pull back.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers as Colette peered over the blonde's shoulder, both of them watching anxiously and just as Colette had reached out slightly in a demand for Clarisse to stop, the unexpected occurred.

Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over Percy's head and splashing straight onto Clarisse's face. She jumped back, letting go of Percy and letting out a scream as she fell. And once again, water spurred from the toilet bowl firing back at her. the water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.

She struggled, gasping and cursing, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of sewage being washed away.

Fortunately, Colette and Annabeth hadn't been pushed from the room, but we're not saved from the wrath of the water. The whole bathroom dripped as water flooded the floor, creating a horrible squelch when Colette attempted to step back—her gaze along with Annabeth's never leaving Percy. Percy, who had managed to flood the bathroom without trying to and was left the only person without so much as a speck of water on his clothes.

Annabeth looked at him as though he'd grown three heads, her jaw falling open in shock. "H... how did you?"

"I don't know."

Colette turned to the blonde thoughtfully, "this isn't good, Annie." She mumbled, turning back to Percy, "impressive, but still not good." Percy furrowed his eyebrows but refused to comment on her choice of words, instead standing and making his way over to them carefully before peering out the door.

Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave him a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."

Clarisse had quite literally crowned Percy as the supreme lord of the bathroom.

"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth." Percy sassed, his eyebrows raised and a smirk growing to enclose his lips, igniting Clarisse's anger. Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

Colette turned to Annabeth, who was observing silently and Colette could practically see the gears churning in her mind. "What?" She asked. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," she began slowly, glancing to the boy, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

gossip had always spread like the plague through the camp, trading from one cabin to the next, one creature to another. So it wasn't really a surprise to Colette that news of the toilet incident had spread like wildfire through the roots of the camp. And as they continued to walk through the camp, venturing through the metal shop, arts-and-crafts base and lava climbing wall ( which Colette was the reigning champion of ), the brunette couldn't tell who campers were looking at—percy or herself and annabeth who were still dripping litres and probably emitting a sickening smell of sewage.

Hell, if she'd seen two people soaked in toilet water walking alongside the Minotaur slayer, she'd stare too.

Finally, the trio had arrived at the canoeing lake where Colette had been resting near only a few days prior. They stood for a moment, all harbouring a different scheme of thoughts before annabeth brushed herself off, pushing back her web of soaking blonde curls and stating: "I've got training to do. Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

She spared the brunette one last telepathic nod before hurrying off, no doubt hurrying to dry herself off before she competed in her third round of training that day.

Colette and Percy were left in a dauntingly awkward silence, the two of them walking side-by-side and swallowing the lumps in their throats harshly.

The boy glanced at her briefly, turning back to look at his shoes as he walked. He was tempted to ask her what Clarisse had meant surrounding her remark about the girl's mother, but he wasn't even sure how to phrase it. It had gotten to her obviously, he'd seen the flush of her skin and grit of her teeth and his curiosity to know why was building with every passing moment. But he was also bubbling with curiosity to know why she had appeared so familiar—why he was so certain he'd seen her before the way she was sure she'd seen him.

She walked quietly, ringing out water from strands of her hair which he had noticed had stuck to the sides of her face and lost the small curls that had once adorned the ends. Her shoes continued to squelch uncomfortably and Percy cringed at the sound as it became the only one that resounded through the nearby atmosphere.

"I'm sorry about the toilets, Colette." She turned to him with a hum as he spoke, one of her brows arched in surprise. He looked at her hesitantly and she could recognise the sincerity of his apology but she simply shrugged.

"doesn't matter." She hated wearing wet clothes.

Percy shrugged with an ounce of defensiveness, "it wasn't my fault." And he cringed at his own words, given that... well, it kind of was his fault. the toilets had responded to him—He had become one with the plumbing.

She spared him a look, her eyebrows raised and her lips downturned but she never responded.

"You're probably gonna need to talk to the oracle sometime soon." Colette told him, brushing off his apology and walking forward towards the dock of the lake, not glancing behind her to check if he'd followed; she could hear his quick breaths and footsteps.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, "who?"

"Not who, Percy." She corrected, shaking her head at him like he was silly, "what. The oracle. You know, the Oracle of Delphi? Never-mind, you'll find out soon enough." She shrugged him off dismissively.

She heard him sigh from where he stood beside her before he jumped back in surprise at the two dreamy-eyed, smiling teenage girls at the bottom of the lake who winked up at him like lovesick puppies. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out.

Unsure what to do, Percy graced on an awkward smile before waving down at the two girls below. "You shouldn't encourage them." Colette warned from beside him, elbowing him and shaking her head disapprovingly. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads." Percy repeated, gawking at her as his face glimmered a sickeningly pale green. "That's it. I want to go home now."

Colette turned back to him as she leaned on the edge of the pier, tapping his temple with a loud sigh. "When're you gonna get it through your thick skull, Jackson? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

Percy frowned at her, lifting a hand to briefly rub against the side of his head before giving her a pout. "You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

Though it was expected, Colette still looked at him in offence. "I mean, not human. Well, not totally human. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

She didn't look at him but she nodded whilst tilting her head to him lightly. "I think you know." And he did wether he wanted to admit it or not, and he certainly did not.

He cleared his throat, glancing to her as he bit his lip in thought before whispering, "God," his voice became more clear. "Half-god."

Colette nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

Percy placed a hand over his stomach absentmindedly, obviously overwhelmed by the realisation. "That's ... crazy."

Colette let out a bark-like laugh, as though what Percy had said was something insane. "Oh? If the gods spent the last few millennia falling in love with humans and having children with them, why do you think it would change now? Like... Perseus! You should know that one. Perseus, son of Zeus. As is Heracles."

"But those are just—" he almost said myths but caught himself before doing so, "But if all the kids here are half-gods—"

"Demigods," Colette corrected. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

Percy spare her an inquisitive glance before asking with a curious hum. "Then who's your dad?"

Colette trailed her hand across the railing before giving him a flat look. "I don't have a dad." She responded simply. Percy raised his eyebrows and went to speak again before she held up two fingers. "Two moms. Don't ask."

Percy nodded slowly with wide eyes, "who's your.. uh.." he paused, unaware of how to phrase his words, "god parent..?" He cringed at his choice of words.

"Artemis." She stated, "Goddess of the moon, the hunt, and wild animals." She recited and Percy nodded at her words. "Also one of the three virgin goddesses, which means," she gave him a lopsided smile, "no men."

Percy nodded once, silently thinking before he let out a loud: "oh." He turned back to her, his eyebrows furrowed, "So... I thought Artemis didn't have any children and when Clarisse said about--"

"My mom, yeah." She shivered, but Percy guessed it was down to the cold chill of her still wet clothes and hair. "She took an oath to forever remain a maiden. And I guess people assume the same thing goes for her only daughter, not that they're necessarily wrong. She doesn't have any other children, just me. It's not bad though, the Apollo campers are practically my siblings." She shrugged.

"Then, who's my dad?"

"I don't know. You're undetermined," she replied, "like Annie and I told you before. Nobody knows."

Percy turned into himself quietly, and almost bitterly he mumbled to himself, "Except my mother. She knew."

Colette gave him an uncertain look, "Maybe not, Percy." She commented, and her voice was careful as though she didn't intend to hurt him. "Gods don't always reveal their identities. It's much easier said than done."

"My dad would have. He loved her." Percy persisted, nodding surely to himself. He didn't need her to believe him, though he wouldn't have protested against her doing so.

She gave him a tight-lipped, meaningless smile— She didn't want to dishearten him but it was hard not to. "He may've. I guess we won't know for sure, not until he sends a sign. And before you ask, a sign is, like, a ritual claiming thing. Sooner or later, or maybe not at all but I wouldn't worry about that, your father will claim you as his son."

Percy frowned, "what'd you mean, maybe not at all?"

She shrugged, placing both her hands on the railings and leaning back as far as she could, stretching out her arms. "Well... the gods are busy. They've got roles to fulfil and sometimes they just don't have enough time to claim all of their children. And when they're not claimed they just go to the Hermes cabin. You know, God of travellers." She harboured an almost saddened expression overwhelmed with pity, "we're not the most important things in their lives, Percy. Most of the time... well, they just don't care."

"So I'm stuck here," Percy shuddered at the thought of never leaving, but then again he hadn't actually seen any adults other than Chiron and Mr. D. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

Colette gave him a huff, "Don't say it like that." She scolded, "besides, some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you if you're lucky enough, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. Like Annabeth, she's a daughter of Athena before you ask. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them."

"So monsters can't get in here?"

Colette shook her head. "Unless they're summoned or they intentionally live in the forest, then no."

Percy scoffed, "Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" He asked as though he couldn't believe what she'd said, and truthfully he couldn't.

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

"Practical jokes?"

Colette nodded, glancing to him out the corner of her eye. "I know. But the point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

Percy nodded, recalling the sign he, Sally and Grover had drove past on their way there, before chaos unravelled and his mother had been a victim of the Minotaur. "So ... you're a year-rounder?"

She nodded in response, reaching out to pull a brown leather necklace from under her shirt. There was four beads on the necklace all individually painted but Percy wasn't really able to identify them. As she did so, he took notice to the small charm bracelet that enveloped her wrist. It reflected lightly in the sunlight and stood out against the tan of her skin. The bracelet consisted of translucent Star-shaped charms next to satiny white pearls connected by small grey beads.

"I've been here since I was eight," she stated, staring down at the necklace. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. There's people who've been here longer than me obviously like Luke and Annabeth, but most people here arrived within the last three or so years."

Percy raised his eyebrows, almost impressed as he  asked, "why've you been here so long?"

"Nosy, aren't you?" Mused the brunette before shrugging, "it's just when I arrived. But you shouldn't go asking many people that, it's really private for some people. For most campers here... things couldn't be much worse when your parents practically run the universe."

"But you're saying," Percy started, "I could just walk out here if I wanted to." He tested, and Colette could tell that if she gave him the get-go he'd leave a trail of dust in his wake as he used all of his energy to sprint back to his New York apartment.

"It would be total suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission." She eyed him carefully. He wouldn't be the first kid to try and escape the camp, and honestly she didn't think he'd be the last. "But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."

"Unless?"

She gave him an uneasy glance, "well... unless you were given a quest, but that seldom happens. The last time it happened..." her voice seemed to fade into nothingness, lost in a watery grave of thought.

Percy waited for a moment, watching her as she made no move to carry on. And sensing her discomfort, Percy cleared his throat. "Back in the sick room," he commented, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"

"It's called Ambrosia."

He gave her a look close to annoyance, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

She whipped her head around her him, leaning on one side of her body and staring at him intently, "So you do know something?"

"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice." Explained Percy, "He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

She pursed her lips in thought before responding, "I'm not entirely sure, Honestly. But it's something major—that's why the skies always storming recently. It's not like the last time I went there. And if you don't believe you're a half-blood, you're not gonna believe how I found out about it." She shrugged.

Percy seemed to disregard that she'd basically told him she knew what was going on, and instead focused on the middle of her words, "wait, you've been to Olympus before?"

"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Annabeth and I and a few others—we took a field trip during the winter solstice." She explained, smiling faintly as though reminiscing the experience. It'd been the first time she'd actually met both her mother and Uncle Apollo in person ( well, that she knew of ). "That's when the gods have this big annual council meeting, it's quite cool really."

Percy's eyes widened in bewilderment. "But... how did you get there?"

Colette scoffed a laugh, "The Long Island Railroad, Silly. You get off at Penn Station. Empire state building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at him like she was sure he must've known it already. "Aren't you a new yorker?" She asked, "you look like one."

Percy stared at her, his face flat as though out of all the crazy things he'd learned today, this was the craziest. "Sixth hundred floor?" He repeated and she nodded. He nodded his head slowly whilst turning away.

She arched a brow at him before rolling her eyes. It was as though every piece of information Percy gained was just a pinch crazier than the last. And frankly, it was getting tiring. "You doing alright there, Jackson?" He gave her a blank stare but she carried on nonetheless, "Well anyway, after we came back I started having some crazy weird dreams but that doesn't matter," she hurried her words, sparing him a quick glance before carrying on normally, "the weather got weird, and if you look carefully," she pointed into a much further distance where thunder rumbled in waves over the sky, "--there's no lightning in the sky. It's all thunder and rain. I spoke to the satyrs and the animals in the forest too. There's a rumour that revolves around Zeus' lightning bolt."

"Do you think so too?" Asked Percy in thought.

Colette shrugged, pushing back a piece of damp brown hair behind her ears. "I don't know. All I know for certain is that unless it's solved by the summer solstice, there's gonna trouble. When you came, I thought you would've been useful." He recoiled in offence, "I mean, Artemis doesn't have many enemies, well except maybe for Aphrodite but even then I've been getting along quite well with her children, well daughters. except Drew but she's always been a nuisance. And I know Annabeth was hoping we'd all be able to work together or something—but I don't know. I just... I thought you might know something."

Percy frowned at her, a pit of rejected guilt slowly brewing within his sight that spread through his body in a wave of irritation. He wanted to help—to help her and annabeth and Chiron. But he was too tired and he missed his mother and the pit in his gut had churned into hunger that awoke with the smell of barbecue smoke that drifted from nearby.

"Go." She said, "I'll see you later." And with that, the two parted ways.

( authors note: )

double update because it's taken so long to get a chapter out sorry. I'm planning on being a bit more consistent now cause I wanna at least get half way through the lightning thief book by the time the show comes out cause I know I've already said but I wanna make a fic for it :) probably an Aphrodite or Demeter kid at this rate but we'll see.

anyways sorry if you hate double updates or long chapters <3