The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 11 - Alex - Dinner

Percy and I left our Cabin, chatting excitedly about his adventures for dinner. The mess hall was framed in Greek columns on the hill that overlooked the sea. There were no walls or roof that covered the mess hall. Torches blazed from the columns and a central fire burning inside a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each table had a white cloth with purple trim.

Percy told me that each cabin had it's own table and that campers were strictly forbidden from sitting at other Cabin tables. Percy and I sat down at the table, and I looked at the crystalline goblet next to me.

"The pavilion's goblets are enchanted," Percy explained, "and, on voice command, they'll be filled with whatever drink you desire as long as it's non alcoholic, of course. Even Mr. D has to drink Coke, no exceptions, and he's a god."

I nodded, watching as Percy said loudly, "Blue Cherry Coke," and the goblet filled itself with bright electric blue liquid. He drunk deeply, and put down the goblet, his lips blue. The goblet refilled itself again.

Thinking, I looked at my goblet, and said, "Oreo Milkshake!"

No sooner than I had uttered the words, brown chocolatey liquid rose in the goblet, topped with a straw. I took a sip. It was absolutely the most wonderful thing I'd had ever since Oreo cookies. It wasn't a big surprise when I'd finished the goblet in ten seconds.

Percy, on the other hand, was way more faster than I was in this regard. He had at least drunk five goblet-fulls of blue cherry coke, and his lips and tongue were the same color as the sky above, a deep blue. He grinned at me.

"Why blue?" I asked. "Just normal Cherry Coke would be great, right?"

"Oh, it's a long story," Percy started, his breath smelling like Cherry coke, (Duh!) "So, one time, Smelly Gabe told Mom that there was no such thing, and I quote him here, 'as blue food or drink'. And ever since that moment of her life, Mom has gone out of her way to make blue foods and make Gabe wrong. Ever since then, Mom always bakes blue cookies and buys blue candy for me, and she always makes a blue cake on my birthday. Also, my favorite color is blue."

"Blue for the sea, sea for Poseidon, gotcha," I said. "I like orange better though. Not the normal orange, the robust maple tree leaf orange, you know what I mean?"

"Then you could probably ask for Maple Orange Oreo Milkshake," Percy said, taking the goblet into his hand again.

"Nah," I said, taking the goblet from him, "don't drink more until we've started eating. Also, Orange Oreo Milkshake seems like not a good idea, you know?"

"Point made," Percy said, struggling to keep his hands away from his goblet once more. I shot him a glare, and he kept his hands back to himself. I laughed.

"I'd really love to meet your mom someday, Perce," I said as the dryads passed on plates full of steak, grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese and fresh bread. It all smelled heavenly. I picked up my fork, when-

"Wait, we need to offer it to the gods first," Percy interjected, rising from the table. "We're first cause Cabin Three, remember?"

"What do you mean, 'offer it to the gods'?" I asked, following him as he walked to the large fire in the center of the mess hall.

"Every night the half-bloods tribute a portion of their food to the gods by burning it in the pavilion fire," Percy explained, "apparently, the gods like the smell of burning food."

"Wait, burning food?" I asked, confused.

I watched as Percy went over to the fire, muttered, "Poseidon," and threw in a portion of the juiciest piece of steak he had. I looked as smoke rose up from the fire upward. Percy came back to me.

"Your turn," he said. "Just speak whichever god you want to sacrifice it to and throw it in. It doesn't smell that bad, you know."

Nervously, I went to the fire, and watched it blaze for a moment. And then I muttered, just as Percy had done, "Poseidon," and threw in a bunch of fruits and a piece of steak, "I hope you like it," I thought. The smoke rose into the air, and I understood why the gods loved it. It smelled delicious, warm, flowery, and things that my nose could smell but my brain could never describe. I watched it fly upward into the sky, and walked back to the table and sat opposite Percy.

"Not bad?" I said, "It smelled good, if you ask me!"

"Yeah? Not many people like it though," Percy said, biting into his fruit. "Like the Ares cabin kids."

"What, they prefer the smell of blood?"

Percy snorted. "Not exactly," he said. "But they do love the smell of gunpowder and petrol."

"Nice," I remarked, sipping the Oreo Milkshake.

The tables went quiet suddenly, as Chiron pounded his hoof against the table, and a man in the center table stood up. He had a chubby face, a red nose and curly hair so black, it looked purple.

His eyes were blue and watery, and bloodshot red from drinking. He wore a tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt and purple running shoes.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin six presently holds the laurels."

The Athena table cheered loudly, and Percy joined. "That-" he pointed to the man, "is Mr. D, aka Dionysus, the god of wine."

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Alexa Miranda."

Chiron murmured something that sounded like "Don't."

"Er, Alexandra Marine," Mr. D corrected, watching Chiron as he mouthed the words to him. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered.

Percy looked at me, "I totally forgot to tell you! We- we have a brother!"

"Another one?" I asked, still stuffing myself with grapes. They tasted good.

"Yeah, his name's Tyson, and he's a cyclops," Percy explained. "He'll be there at the campfire, I think."

"Cyclops as in, he has one eye?" I asked, one brow arched.

"Yeah, but it really isn't that noticeable, really. And he's really sweet and all that. Made me a lot of gifts."

We all headed down towards the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. Unfortunately Tyson was not there. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate toasted marshmallows and joked around.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins.

I stretched out on my bed at Cabin 3, feeling full and warm. My eyes drooped, and I felt myself falling into a slumber with every blink of my eye.

"You're not too bad, Marine," Percy's voice came from my opposite side, and he yawned loudly. 

"You're not great either, brother dear," I said, turning to the other side and covering myself with a large blanket. "Good night."

"Good night, meet you at the arena for the sword fight," he said tiredly. Before I knew it, he was snoring so loudly that Poseidon may have heard him from the Mariana Trench.