A web of fates | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

IV| Chariot Races

The next few days were torture, just like Tantalus wanted.

The person who was having the worst time? Percy.

First there was Tyson moving into the Poseidon cabin, giggling to himself every fifteen seconds and saying, "Percy is my brother?" like he'd just won the lottery.

"Aw, Tyson," He would say. "It's not that simple."

But there was no explaining it to him. He was in heaven. And Percy? He couldn't help feeling embarrassed. Ashamed.

And then there were the comments from the other campers. Suddenly, he wasn't Percy Jackson, the cool guy who'd retrieved Zeus's lightning bolt last summer.

Now he was Percy Jackson, the poor schmuck with the ugly monster for a brother.

"He's not my real brother!" Percy protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like ... a half-brother twice removed, or something."

Nobody bought it.

Annabeth tried to make him feel better. She suggested they team up for the chariot race to take their minds off their problems.

Travis and Connor had already elected themselves to represent Cabin Eleven in the chariot race but Daphne offered to help out the pair in anyway she could.

They all hated Tantalus and they were worried sick about camp-but they didn't know what to do about it.

Until they could come up with some brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree, they figured they might as well go along with the races.

One morning Daphne, Annabeth and Percy were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some jokers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked Percy if he needed to borrow some eyeliner for his eye... "Oh sorry, eyes."

As they walked away laughing, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's not my brother!" Percy snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster."

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp."

"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean ... I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-"

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, any-way?"

"Percy that isn't a smart-" Daphne began to say, her eyes widening.

Annabeth's ears turned pink.

"Just forget it," she said. "Now, the axle for this chariot-"

"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," Percy said. "He saved my life."

Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with him."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The daughter of Athena stormed off.

*•*

The next couple of days, Daphne kept her distance from both Annabeth and Percy - she refused to get in the middle of it.

Instead, she spent her days doing a variety of things: training with Oliver, gossiping with Valentina, helping out Ellis, annoying Theo and most importantly moping about Luke.