'•' The Lightning Thief '•'

6 :: Water, Water, and Some More Water

Published: August 6, 2021

Edited: May 25, 2022

'•'

  Dinner that night was pretty average. Percy sat at the overcrowded Hermes table while Annabeth and I chatted with the other kids at the Athena table. I caught a few of the newer campers, (Percy included), staring at  the green-eyed noirette (aka me) at the table of grey-eyed blondes.

 After dinner there were a few quick announcements from Mr. D before everyone was dismissed. As there was no campfire tonight, most cabins headed back to their cabins for lights out. However the two leading cabins for capture the flag got to plan out their strategy. As winner of the drachma flip, the Ares cabin got to use the counselor meeting room and Athena had to meet up in the dining hall after the harpies had cleaned up the dinner mess. We spread out a list off all the campers and their cabins, as well as a map of the forest. 

"Well we obviously want the Hermes kids, they've got all the unclaimed and their the biggest group!" I reasoned, pointing out the list of Hermes campers on our paper.

"You think we could trade them the good shower time in the morning for it?" Malcom asked, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. I frowned at the paper.

"What if we trade with Apollo for morning shower privileges and offer to do Hermes' dish duties for a week? They'd probably do it, they always get one out of five on inspection." Annabeth mused, also studying the papers.

"We could ty to get da Demeter on our side." Eva, a younger girl, suggested. I smiled outwardly but I didn't think much of the idea. Demeter cabin always insisted we give them our dessert privilege's when we asked for an alliance. Not to eat it or anything, instead they used the extra brownies to feed the nereids in the lake. 

"They do have the upper hand in the forest, but none of them are strong enough to do much plant related damage. At least not enough for me to give up my dessert rights!" I admitted, starting to roll up the scrolls and maps.

"So that leaves us with Apollo and Hermes, while Ares has Demeter, Hephaestus, the twins from Mr. D's cabin and Aphrodite." Malcom counted off, marking it on the last piece of paper before I rolled it up.

"The threats there are Ares and Hephaestus. Which is pretty small." Annabeth noted, helping me gather scrolls.

"Don't foget about Katie from Demeter, she's good wit her tomato plants!" Eva chimed in helpfully, looking proud of her input. I smiled at the little girl, internally aww-ing over her lisp. 

"Course not Ev," I agreed, "C'mon it's getting late and we still need to wash up." I stood up and took her tiny hand in my own.

Eva Anthony was different from so many other Athena campers, she wasn't blonde and was the only colored child of Athena at camp. She had neat black cornrows and big gray eyes. She was very shy and had taken a liking to me, perhaps because I had black hair like hers. We walked back to the cabins and gathered our pajamas and our shower supplies. I then lead her towards the showers. We were halfway there when I heard yelling. I turned to see Clarisse LaRue, HBIC of the Ares cabin. She was dragging Percy towards the toilets while her siblings were following and laughing. He was struggling against them but one newbie against six big ugly war children is not a good match. I grabbed Eva's tighter and sped up. 

I rushed into the bathroom to see Clarisse behind Percy who was being forced to kneel in front of the toilet. My blood boiled with anger as all the Ares kids laughed stupidly. Percy growled like an animal. His face was contorted with anger. My fists clenched and everything seemed to shake. Then I blinked, everything was shaking. I realized what was going to happen and shielded Eva with my body just as every toilet and sink in the room exploded. Water was everywhere. Except on me. And Percy. And Eva. Clarisse spluttered in outrage.