Flower Food || [P. Jackson] ||

Chapter 9: My Father is a Dramatic Clown(fish)

A howl rang through the air just as Will finished speaking. It rang through the trees of the forest and goosebumps ran along Percy's spine at just how loud and reverberating it was.

His grip was slack on Clarisse's shirt, and she had no issue shoving him off of her while snatching her spear back from him. She looked up at Will and barked, "get down here, Solace!"

Will winced and did as told, and as he was slowly making his way down while stopping every few seconds to make a noise of pain, Percy looked towards Song-ee, who was jogging over with a serious look on her face.

"What's going on?" Percy asked in a low voice as soon as she was within hearing range. He tried to hide the way his hands shook minutely, but she glanced down and held his fingers and squeezed. "I thought monsters couldn't get in."

"They can't," Song-ee said, her eyes flickering with cautious begonias as she summoned Harvest Moon again, the bronze weapon leaning against her back as she glanced back up at Will. "Thalia's tree protects the camp and doesn't allow anything that isn't a demigod in. That either means the tree's weakened, which is impossible because of Zeus' blessing, or..."

"Someone summoned the hellhound from the inside," Will finished, and he looked even worse from up close. He had an arm around Clarisse's shoulders for support, who didn't look very happy about being a human crutch, and he said, "it attacked near the red flag by Zeus' Fist. I was stationed there with my siblings and we were already tired from trying to fend off the Athena kids. It got to some of us."

"How many?" Clarisse demanded.

"At least a dozen, including me," he winced, and he lifted his shirt slightly to show what had to be claw marks that were dragged across his hip. The edges were jagged and there was enough blood for Percy to feel rather sick, and just the size alone was suggested just how big this dog was. "We need to get back to camp. Last I saw, it was headed in this direction."

"Hold on," Clarisse grunted, and she carefully shifted Will so she could free one hand. She lifted her fingers to her lips and blew, but there was no sound, and after several seconds she tilted her head up to the sky and said, "my siblings are on the hunt already."

"What'd she just do?" Percy asked quietly.

"Signal," Song-ee whispered back. "It's how the children of Ares communicate. It was a technique he gifted to demigods when World War I was happening."

It always made him feel a little stupid for not realizing just how many different talents the gods granted their children. He should have known that any skill or technique to do with war would be automatically innate for someone like Clarisse.

"What about my siblings and the Athenas?" Will asked a little desperately. "I tried healing them before I came here, but I didn't have time, and I don't think I even managed to fully heal Matthew - "