Annabeth Chase and the Lightning Thief

Chapter 7 - I confuse the newbie

I showed Percy more places, although it was hard to concentrate when there were people staring at you every where you went. I didn't know whether it was because the toilet incident had spread, or because I was still soaking wet. Either way, it did nothing to improve my temper.

We finished at the lake and I was glad to finally get rid of Percy.

"I've got training to do," I told him emotionlessly. "Dinner's at seven thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

I went to move off when he stopped me.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets," he said, looking actually regretful.

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

I looked at him skeptically. Toilets didn't usually erupt by themselves, not all of them anyway. And they definitely weren't strong enough to actually push girls away. Not even demigod toilets. I could see that he was beginning to realize that too.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," I told him.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

Percy looked completely lost. I didn't blame him. I could be pretty cryptic when I wanted to. And I definitely wanted to at the moment.

He was looking into the lake, frowning. I saw that there were naiads below him, smiling at him and waving. He waved hesitantly.

"Don't encourage them," I advised. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads," he repeated dumbly. "That's it. I want to go home."

He tuned to look at me defiantly, as if daring me to stop him. I sighed.

"Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know," I answered impatiently.

He looked downcast and reluctant to admit it.

"God," he muttered. "Half-god."

Finally.

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

"That's . . . crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits over the last few millennia?"

"But those are just -" he hesitated. "But if all the kids here are half-gods -"

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

"Then who's your dad?"

I tightened my grip on the pier railing, holding back the flood of emotion that threatened to crash over me. I hadn't spoken about my dad for years and I wasn't sure that I wanted to. But I guessed it couldn't harm telling Percy.

"My dad is a professor at West Point. I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human." He sounded confused.

Anger boiled in my stomach. Why did he effect me so much?

"What? You assume that it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"