The Ever-changing Tides~ (PJOxHP)

1:8

Chapter 8: WE CAPTURE A FLAG

The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.

Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was only slightly weird. Ancient Greek was surprisingly not hard to read. Apparently, it had something to do with my dyslexia, like my brain wasn't hardwired for English, so that's why I couldn't read it perfectly.

From Regulus' right side, Evan sat with furrowed brows. To not raise suspicion, he whispered so only Regulus could hear him. "Don't you have trouble reading our textbooks sometimes?" For only a second Regulus seemed to freeze. He recovered quickly enough as he whispered back, "I guess, but that doesn't mean anything." He had spoken sternly enough that Evan knew not to try and refute his statement, but he couldn't help but feel that there was more to Regulus than what meets the eye.

The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.

The blonde god next to Hermes snorted in amusement at this piece of information. Unfortunate for him, Percy heard his reaction. From her place still tucked under her father's arm, Percy blindly threw a dagger at the god. Without any warning there was a sudden yelp of pain ringing through the hall.

Hermes looked over and saw what had happened and sighed to himself with a small smile on his face. Meeting the other blondes eyes he said, "You know not to laugh at Percy's misfortune, Apollo." Said man rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself as he yanked the dagger out of his upper arm.

Turning to face Percy, Apollo saw that she wore a victorious smirk. Rolling his eyes again he said, "Oh quit it, Persephone." Percy lost her smirk and narrowed her eyes as she sat forward. "Don't antagonize me, Phoebus." The demigod and god stared at each other for several seconds after using their first names. Eventually, Apollo smirked. Percy had an idea of what was coming so she readied herself.

As fast as possible, Apollo threw Percy's dagger right back at her. Those around the hall gasped in fright. A mere girl couldn't possibly dodge something being thrown at her that fast. Almost everyone thought she would be impaled.

To everyone's shock, Percy not only stayed in her exact position, but she caught the dagger that was thrown at her. Twirling the dagger through her fingers Percy looked at Apollo and said, "I think you're getting slower, Sunbeam." Apollo just laughed as he replied, "Mhm, sure. Whatever you want to believe, Salt Water."

Foot racing? Pretty average. The wood-nymph instructors almost left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was slightly humiliating to be slower than a tree.

And wrestling? I was better than I thought I'd be, but not great. Every time I had to go against Clarisse, she would take me down and push me face into the mat.

When she'd mumble in my ear and say, "There's more where that came from, punk." I wanted to get angry and spit in her face. However, I restrained myself.

The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing. That made sense to me though, knowing who my dad was. But apparently that wasn't the type of skill people expected from the kid who had killed the Minotaur.

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or even Dionysus's way with vine plants. Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better, not that I really needed it. He didn't really know what to make of me either.