Celestial - a Percy Jackson fanfic [BOOK ONE]

Chapter eight

The next morning, Percy was moved from the cabin eleven to cabin three. I went and visited him, seeing a lonely empty room with bunk beds. Percy only took up one bed and used another for his few things: the Minotaur horn, a set of clothes, and a toiletry bag.

Cabin eleven just didn't feel right to me. Percy was my partner; we always did stuff together. I didn't have a bond with other people in this cabin, well, except for Luke. But I'm sure he was only nice to me because I was new.

All the kids would whisper about Percy and glance at me wearily. These new kids show up, and now monsters are somehow invading the camp. I would probably feel uneasy too. But this secluded me even more from the rest. They didn't seem to want to accept me anymore. Even Clarisse kept her distance from me, though she always sent me dirty glances when I was around. I'm sure she was still pissed about her stupid magic spear.

I still did activities with cabin eleven, as well as sword class, but since nobody else wanted to spar with Percy, I joined him and Luke for extra lessons. And I was getting a lot better at it.

That night, I couldn't sleep. I kept fidgeting in my sleeping bag restlessly. I earned tired hushes from other Hermes campers, but my mind just wouldn't stop.

The weather outside seemed to match my mood. Thunder rolled across the sky, lightning flickering in the windows. I barely got any sleep that night, and before I knew it, the sun was rising. But the storm was still brewing.

I decided to get to the showers before anyone else woke up, since I couldn't sleep anyways. I grabbed my toiletries and headed out the door towards the showers. Some Apollo kids were already up, playing a game of volleyball with some satyrs. Dionysus's kids were already out at the strawberry fields, but I could sense the tense feeling in the air. Before I could even make it to the showers, I noticed Percy and Grover walking hurriedly across the grass.

Grover looked up and noticed me. "Cleo," he called out. "You should join us."

"What's going on?" I asked, upping my pace to move alongside them.

"Mr. D wants to speak with you guys," he said.

I was about to ask what about when thunder interrupted me. It was loud.

We made our way to the Big House, where Chiron sat in his fake wheelchair and Mr. D sat across from him on the couch, wearing an ugly Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke that he always had in hand.

"Well, well," Mr. D said. "Our little celebrities. Don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."

Lightning flashed across the clouds overhead. The thunder was deafening.

Mr. D glanced up at me. "I'm still curious about you, my dear. I don't know which God you belong to, but you've been stirring up trouble as well."

"Pardon?" I asked. "I've barely done anything."

Mr. D huffed. "If I had my way, I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp; to keep you little brats safe from harm."

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron said.

"Nonsense," Mr. D replied. "They wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. There is another option, but it's deadly foolishness." He rose from the couch. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."