Camp Wildheart

Competitive much?

Percy

Percy thought about what Keefe had told him last night. 

He hadn't thought that any parent could be worse than Gabe, but from even the tiny amount Keefe had said, Percy could tell he had been wrong. In fact, it sounded as if the counselors of the Taiga Biome were more complicated than they had seemed.

Sophie was stirring half frozen blueberries, cinnamon, brown sugar and a pinch of salt into her oatmeal, and Percy decided to follow her example. 

He almost choked laughing when Sophie tried to pour a cup of coffee and Keefe stopped her by taking the pitcher from her and holding it over her head.

She didn't seem as scary as Magnus had said she was, and Percy was wondering briefly if the whole tragic backstory thing was a ruse. He had good instincts, though, and Keefe didn't seem like he was lying.

When they got back to the Grove after breakfast, Sophie clapped her hands and said in a voice that was barely below a shout, "Today we have the waterfall hike! Dress comfortably, but wear a swimsuit under your hiking clothes, because today's going to be hot!"

Percy hurried to get ready and half an hour later they were walking down the trail, Sophie pointing out all of the animals she saw, half of which they weren't able to see at all until three seconds later. 

It was almost as if she could hear the animals coming, except that was impossible, and his mind quickly began chasing another thought.

It was pretty peaceful here, and the hike was a great distraction from the general worry that came with being a demigod. 

Soon, there was a muted roaring sound, and the group as a whole rounded the bend and came into a clearing that had a large lake in the center, with a waterfall that fed into it at the far end of the pond. 

There was a buoy barrier keeping people from swimming too close, and the water was so clear that Percy could see the bottom of the lake even from where they were. There were two medium size locker rooms there, and a large rock they were instructed to put their stuff on. 

The sun was dappling down on most of the area, but the rock near the lake was bathed in sun, just like all but a few corners of the lake.

Percy ducked into the bathrooms for a second, and when he came back, ready to swim, most of the others were already outside. Sophie was smiling at Keefe, who had clearly just told a joke, based on how hard Leo was laughing. When she saw Percy, she jumped up and stopped blushing.

"Okay, I know you probably already know the rules and I assume you already know how to swim, but I'm required by law to say this stuff, so I'll make it fast. 

If any of you doubt your swimming ability, you can ask to take a swimming test. There are several buoys out there. 

Anything inside of the green buoys should be safe for literally everybody unless you are like a baby or something, but kids that young aren't allowed here, so you're good. 

Yellow buoys are for people who are pretty good at swimming. The orange buoys are the farthest anyone is allowed to go, they make a wall across the lake so nobody playing Marco Polo goes into the waterfall. 

We're the only ones here, so we get to choose where to sit. You can go swimming now, as long as you remember the rules. And yes, as long as you're careful to aim for the yellow/orange part of the lake, you can jump off the rock. GO!"

Percy ran, jumping off of the ledge in a perfect cannonball. Annabeth, Piper, Magnus, Carter, Will, Nico and Hazel went down to the edge of the lake with one of the beach balls Sophie had brought, and Leo, Frank, Alex, Sadie, and Keefe had jumped after him so that only Sophie was left on the rock.