Scaring the mortals

The time when Percy accidentally broke a record

With the arrival of the end of the school year, also came the interschool competitions for the teams.

During the previous week, the Decathlon team, which Annabeth was part of, had won first place.

Now it was the turn of the swimming team to compete in the finals.

The team was warming up when Percy heard someone scream:

- Kick their ass, Aquaman!

Everyone turned to see who had screamed and Percy couldn't help but smile, right there, next to Paul and Annabeth (Sally was on bed rest because the birth was scheduled for the next week, so Paul would video call her when the competition was about to start) were the rest of the seven.

Leo, who had just screamed, held a megaphone.

Jason and Frank held 'Go Percy!' cheering flags.

Piper and Hazel, together with Annabeth held a banner that said 'Go waterboy!' in Greek, with drawings of Nike on each side.

He waves to them saying:

- You got it, Human Torch!

- Human Torch? – asks Daniel, a member of the team.

- It's a joke. His name is Leo. We also call him Iron Man, because he likes to invent and forge things, but as he likes to play with fire and is always smelling burnt, Human Torch is more commonly used. I'm Aquaman, for obvious reasons – says Percy indicating the swimming pool – Jason, the blond with the glasses, is Superman because he likes to practice aero sports, uses glasses, and grew up in a small town, Frank, the huge Chinese-Canadian, is Hawkeye or Green Arrow because he is an amazing archer, but we also call him Beastboy because he is a beast while fighting and has a unique way to deal with animals.

Everybody just stares at him as if he had grown a second head.

He struggles and goes back to warming up.

Soon, the referee announces for the swimmers to position themselves.

When Percy jumps in the water and starts to swim, he tries to focus on keeping a normal speed for High School students, but higher than his adversaries.

He didn't realize that he was going way faster than he should, nor that he was faster than a normal human being should, not until he finished his laps.

When he came back to the surface, he was welcomed by the silence, except for the chant of "I knew it! I knew it!" from the rest of the seven, led by Piper and Annabeth.

He turned to look at his coach, then to the referee, and then to the swimming pool, when he saw that the person in second place was still in the first half of the pool, on his way back, of course.

- Percy – said the coach, changing looks between the chronometer and the student – You broke the speed's Mundial record in Freestyle for your age range by 5 seconds. I didn't even know it was humanly possible.

5 seconds.

It was a lot. And not humanly possible.

He blushed and avoided the impressed looks that his classmates were sending his way during the rest of the event.

All the members of the swimming team reached the podium in their modalities, but none of them broke the Mundial record.

With the award ceremony over, friends and family of the students who were watching were allowed to approach.

Percy was soon surrounded by his group.

Paul was the first, still on the video call with Sally, who smiled (and cried) proud of her son.

The couple congratulated him and soon opened space for the demigods.

Annabeth kissed him and said, smiling:

- Congratulations, Seaweed Brain.

Percy didn't have time to thank her, the others surrounded him with felicitations.

- Dude! A Mundial record? – says Jason – One very hard to beat at that.

- It was an accident! – Percy confessed – I was trying to keep a normal speed, faster than the others, but acceptable. I only realized that something was wrong at the end.

- There are no accidents – quoted Leo, trying to replicate Master Oogway's voice.

- Well, this time it really was an accident – said Percy, whispering – it's getting harder to contain the power. It won't... It won't take too long.

The group sobered up quickly.

Annabeth squeezes his hand, And Frank squeezes his shoulder saying:

- You know that we don't mind, right? You are our friend, our leader. That's never going to change.

For incredible as it may be, Jason didn't protest about the leader part.

Percy smiled at his friend, but it seemed forced. Piper interrupts saying:

- Hazel and I made a gift for you.

And handed him a package.

- We are Greeks and Romans – says Hazel – And to us a victory isn't a victory without a Laurel wreath.

Percy's eyes widened and he opened the package.

It was a Laurel wreath made of gold, with little gemstones encrusted on it.

Percy feels tears in his eyes. This is a present that he would hold dear for all eternity.

Annabeth takes the Laurels from Percy's shaking hands and puts it on her boyfriend's head.

-It's perfect on you – she affirms.

- Thanks Piper. Thanks Hazel. Thank you very much – he manages to say.

- You don't need to thank us, you deserve it – says Hazel – You knew me for only two days, and you didn't care about my past, Percy. To you, it may have been nothing, but to me, it was everything. So when Piper came to me with the idea, as was more than happy to provide the materials.

Percy hugs her and then pulls everyone into a group hug.

The mortals thought the whole conversation very weird, but they had given up trying to understand anything about Percy Jackson a long time ago.

The college scouts thatwere watching the competition invited Percy to their colleges, with a fullscholarship tied to the swimming team, but they were disappointed when Percy refusedno matter what they tried, he already had a college in mind, after all, wherehe would also have a full scholarship (being Rome's ex-praetor had itsadvantages after all) and he had already decided to go there.