𝒞𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝒸 | ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ¹

2. Out of all the gods! Why did it have to be him?

❈  Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with two angry girls.

Percy tried to talk to Annabeth, but all he managed to get out of her was that she'd had a monster- infested spring in San Francisco, she'd come back to camp twice since Christmas.

"Any word on Luke?" Percy asked Annabeth.

She shook her head. It was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counsellor for Hermes who had betrayed them and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but Percy knew she still liked him.

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

That didn't make him feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp. We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fiddled with her bead necklace. "You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

"Is Grover a Satyr?" Helena asked Annabeth.

Now, Percy thought Annabeth was hard to get information from, but Lena... she was stubborn. And it seemed like the only person she wanted to talk to was Annabeth. Percy had no idea what he did wrong. He tended to be a bit oblivious, but he knew it must have been something big for her to ignore him.

"Yeah, he is." Annabeth answered Helena. "How did you know?"

"Deductive reasoning." Helena shrugged. "Pan is the god of the wild, and he has been missing for, what, 200 years? Satyrs are his offspring; it would make sense for them to search for him."

Annabeth regarded Helena with a curious gaze. "You said your father was your godly parent, right?" Helena nodded. "Are you sure it's not your mother?"

"Why do you think it could be a goddess?" She asked, eyes dancing with amusement. "Athena, perhaps? Dad would hate that."

"Hate that? Why?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Helena answered simply. She turned to Percy. "What's camp half-blood? And how long have you been going?"

For the next 10 minutes, Percy explained everything. Well, almost. He explained how he reached camp when he was 14 and it was now his 4th year attending. Annabeth gave him an odd look when he decided not to include parts of the story. He didn't want to tell her about that stuff yet.

Helena stayed quiet throughout the whole thing, nodding along to show that she was listening but nothing else.

"When did you find out about them, Lena?" Percy asked as he finished his explanation. "The gods, I mean."

"I've known about them since I was young, Percy." Helena sighed, playing with the rings on his fingers. He bought them after he picked up on her habit of twisting her rings. "Dad raised me, remember."

"That's just it." Annabeth said. "The gods don't usually pay so much attention to their children, and now you're saying your father raised you. Why? I don't get it. Maybe Chiron will know more?"

Helena sighed again, leaning her head against her boyfriend's shoulder, still twisting the rings on his fingers. Then she said with reluctance. "When mother died giving birth to me, my dad decided to raise me, there is nothing strange about it. I know my father is stereotyped a lot. He well...My dad is the worst man alive, and I am his favourite child. I don't believe the worst man part, though, but that's what everyone will say."