Chiron has eased his way out of his wheelchair, revealing the back end of a horse. Something I didn't expect to see. Percy's eyes bulged out of his head as his mouth hung open like a fish out of water. I giggled gently closing it with my hand.
"Perce it's rude to stare," I mumbled nudging his shoulder. And soon he snapped out of it. It was then that Chiron had began giving us the tour, Annabeth walking along beside us, quietly.
As we made our way passed the volleyball court I noticed some campers looking at us. They were slightly older, all wearing orange camp shirts, and there were also satyrs that were bigger than Grover. "It's them," some of the whispered once glancing at the Minotaur horn clasped tightly in Percy's hand.
All the eyes gazing upon us made me very uncomfortable, and I could feel my anxiety rising. My hands must've been shaking because one was quickly taken into a warm hand. Averting my eyes from the ground, I looked up at Percy who was smiling back at me in reassurance. Which I returned.
"What's up there?" He asks Chiron, looking up to the attic part of the farmhouse. As I quickly glance I noticed movement from the curtain, which caused me to shiver. Someone was watching us.
As Chiron gave the tour of things, I sort of tuned everything out. Not really knowing how to process most things, however him and Percy talked about all sorts of things. Mostly about this place. Soon we were taken to the cabin where we had been placed. Chiron unfortunately was too big to fit in the door, so that's where he left us and Annabeth took over.
The cabin seemed to be over flowing with campers. It was the Hermes cabin and since the god was also of travellers, they took anyone in that wasn't assigned to their godly parents yet. Like how it goes at new schools they all were looking us over, sizing us up and scoping is out. Since their father was also the god of thieves, it didn't make me feel any better. I held tightly onto the strap of my bag. Glad I grabbed it from the car as we ran from the beast.
"Percy Jackson, Naomie Miller meet cabin eleven," Annabeth introduced us.
"Regular or undetermined?" A kid asked at we just awkwardly stood there, unsure of what to do or say.
"Undetermined," Annabeth answered for us causing the other to groan. I guess there was alot of unclaimed campers here, which seemed sad to me.
"Now campers thats no way to make them feel welcome. We should greet them with open arms. You both can have those spots on the floor right over there," a guy says walking over to us. He was the same one that called me Thalia when I had gotten here. He was quite a bit older than us, maybe 19. He had his sort of cool aura to him but with one glance something felt off. My instincts told me there was more than met the eye. And my instincts were never wrong.
"This is Luke. He'll be your counselor for now," Annabeth says and looking at her I swore she was blushing. As she caught Percy and I looking at her, she became stone faced.
"How long will we be here?" We both asked not knowing how things worked around here. As far as camps go this was my first one and it happened to be custom made for demigods. So I didn't have much to compare to.
"Until you're both determined," Luke states as if it were obvious.
"How long will that take?" Percy asked just being curious. However he wasn't met with an answer as everyone just laughed like he was some stupid kid. I fixed them all with an icy stare, feeling like electricity was crackling through me. They all flinched, shying away. However Luke just gave me this look of recognition, almost like he saw a ghost.
"Come on guys I'll show you the volleyball court," Annabeth states leading us back outside. Even though we'd already seen it.
~~~~
We were a few feet away when she spoke again "Jackson, Miller you have to do better than that," she was giving us a stern look.
She then went off on a long tangent about how lucky we were to have been given the chance to fight the Minotaur. Saying loads of campers wish they could be given a change like that.
"Do you really think that we wanted to be attacked by that vile thing. Because news flash Princess we didn't. Alright our whole lives have been some what normal up until this moment, and now we both find out our fathers are gods from Greek mythology. Yet we haven't the faintest idea as to who they really are and why all of this is coming into light now. We've been attacked by a guardian of hell and now the beast from Daedalus's Labrinth, yet you see it as some glory that we had no consent in," I ranted back to get the point that not everyone wants to have such opportunities. I left out the part about Sally, not wishing to upset Percy anymore than he already was about the whole situation.
Of course she countered my argument by explaining that everyone at this camp had been through similar things. Always having the change schools due to various monster attacks, having ADHD or Dyslexia or both which most demigods had both. Having better senses meaning we could see more than ordinary mortals could.
"Hey look at the newbies," a voice shouted which stopped Annabeth from her explanation. She rolled her eyes as this really buff girl came over. She was built like a freight train. Her posse were just as mean and ugly looking at her, all dressed in camo. Annabeth and the girl exchanged insults, that's when I learned her name was Clarisse. "Whose the little runts," she added looking us up and down. A gesture that made me mad.
"Percy, Naomie meet Clarisse daughter of Ares," Annabeth states. Great a kid of the war god, just our luck, I thought letting out a deep sigh.
"We've got an initiation ceremony for newbies," she smirked rubbing her hands together "Come I'll show you," and Annabeth tried stopping her. Percy handed her the horn, looking for a fight but we were both grabbed by the necks and they were dragging us towards the bathroom.
We punched and kicked trying to get free but these girls had hands like vise grips. Not even loosening as we struggled for freedom. The closer we got the angrier I'd gotten. My whole life I've been picked on and this Clarisse girl reminded me so much of that brat Nancy which only fueled my anger more.
The place smelled horrid even for a camp bathroom. And I did my best trying to find any ounce of strength like when I fought the Minotaur. Locking eyes with Percy I'd seen something begin stirring in his eyes, almost like a sea storm. Hearing the girls laugh as they bent Percy's head towards a toilet caused that feeling of power to erupt through me.
"As if they could be 'Big Three' material," Clarisse retorts inching Percy's head closer to the water. As she did the girls holding me jumped back. Electricity was dancing across my skin, causing them to get shocked.
At the same time the plumbing rumbled and the pipes burst. Clarisse loosened her grip on Percy's hair as the water from the toilet arched over him and slammed into her. Making Percy fall over, and as I helped him up there was a jet stream of water slapping Clarisse in the face. Pushing her down on her butt and staying on her like the way firehoses do and she ended up being pushed into the shower stall.
Looking over at the other girls, their hair was stuck up as if zapped by lightning. Their eyebrows singed off. It smelled like sewage and burnt hair. As they went to help their friend all the other toilets exploded causing water to got everywhere, as the showers and sink began acting up as well. It was like the fountain at the museum.
The pressure from everything had tossed them all out the door in a swirl of camouflage like garbage. The only place not soaked was a small circle around the two of us and our strength dwindled as we clung to one another. My legs felt shaky. Then the water shut off.
"How did you..." The voice of Annabeth says from the corner. She hadn't been spared either, she too was soaked and parts of her hair stood on end, luckily it didn't look burnt.
"This is just like at the museum," I exclaimed just as Percy chimed in with "We have no idea,"
We all walked outside to see the bully's sprawled in the mud. Some campers had come to see what was up as Clarisse shouted death threats at us.
Annabeth was either looking at us in disgust or admiration, although it was hard to tell.
"What are you thinking?" Percy asked also seeing the look and the girl smiled at us.
"I want you on my team for capture the flag," she states her smiling getting bigger.
I think we just made a friend.....
YOU ARE READING
In A Flash of Lightning (Percy Jackson)
Fanfiction(On Hold) Naomie Miller was what society would deem as a troublemaker. Which the majority of times was due to no fault of her own, as she was different from most kids her age. Not that she knew it of course, however because of her obliviousness on t...
