Percy: Yaaaaaaahhhh!
Before Lazuli or I could stop him, Percy rushed towards the giant hellhound in the corner of the room. Quintus rushed towards him to intercept. Percy brought down Riptide on Mrs. O'Leary's enormous backside, but was blocked by the old swordsman's blade. The hellhound pricked up its ears, barking. It's barks sounded like a fifty caliber sniper rifle being fired. Percy jumped back and instinctively struck at Quintus, who parried his attack with no problem.
Quintus: Whoa there! Truce!
Mrs. O'Leary barked again. The hellhound's bark shook the arena.
Percy: That's a hellhound!
Quintus: She's harmless. That's Mrs. O'Leary.
Percy stared at the man like he was crazy. Which... yeah, kind of.
Percy: Mrs. O'Leary?
At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward Lazuli.
Lazuli: Good girl.
She walked over and grabbed the armored mannequin with one hand and chucked it towards me. I caught it as Mrs. O'Leary bounded after her prey and ran over, ignoring the dummy. Instead, she tackled me to the ground and began licking my face. I laughed a bit, and she turned back to the dummy, and began chewing on its helmet. Quintus smiled.
Quintus: Mrs. O'Leary is my pet. I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her.
Percy: Who are you?
Quintus: Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?
He sheathed his sword and held out his hand.
Quintus: Quintus.
Percy shook his hand.
Percy: Percy Jackson.
YN: Sorry about him, he's not used to dogs the size of a garbage truck.
Percy nodded towards Lazuli and I, then turned back to Quintus.
Percy: How did you... uh...
Quintus: Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with a death and quite a few giant chew toys. I'm the new sword instructor. Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away.
Percy was obviously trying not to stare as Mrs. O'Leary ripped off the target dummy's shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee.
Percy: Wait, Mr. D is away?
YN: Yeah. The gods are preparing for war, even Dionysus has to help. He's gone to visit some other beings. Make sure they're on the right side. I probably shouldn't say more than that.
Percy looked partly relieved, and partly worried. I knew how he felt. Mr. D hated us campers. On the other hand, if Dionysus had gotten off his butt and actually started helping the gods recruit against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad. Off to my left, there was a loud bump noise. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. I hadn't noticed those before. Mrs. O'Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them. I ran in front of her. I didn't know what was in the boxes, but I assumed Quintus didn't want them being let out in the arena... probably.
YN: Whoa, girl, those aren't for you!
She started licking my face again, until Quintus distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee. The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with my dyslexia they took me a few minutes to decipher. They read "TRIPLE G RANCH, FRAGILE, THIS END UP".
Percy: What's in the boxes?
Quintus: A little surprise. Training activity for tomorrow night. You'll love it.
YN: Uh huh.
Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O'Leary lumbered after it.
Quintus: You young ones need more challenges. They didn't have camps like this when I was a boy.
Percy: You... you're a half-blood?
Quintus chuckled.
Quintus: Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies.
Percy: You know about my prophecy?
Quintus: I've heard a few things.
Just then Chiron trotted into the arena.
Chiron: Ah, YN, Lazuli, Percy, there you are!
He must've just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR t-shirt. He'd trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass.
Chiron: I see you've met our new instructor.
Chiron's tone was light, but there was an uneasy look in his eyes.
Chiron: Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Percy?
Quintus: Not at all, Master Chiron.
Chiron: No need to call me master.
Chiron sounded sort of pleased.
Chiron: Come, Percy. We have much to discuss.
He took one more glance at Mrs. O'Leary, who was now chewing off the target dummy's legs.
Percy: Well, see you.
As they left the arena, I turned to Quintus.
YN: I'm gonna head out. Go see what Nico's up to.
Lazuli waved and went back to playing with Mrs. O'Leary. I walked up to the newly constructed Hades cabin, where I found Nico and Zoe on the front porch, playing chess. Zoe had come back to camp, after retiring from the Hunters of Artemis. She was now the sole resident of the Artemis cabin. She was also starting to talk like a regular person now.
YN: Nico, good to see you bud.
Nico: Hey YN.
(Since Bianca is still alive, Nico isn't quite as angsty. He's still dark and kinda depressing, being the son of Hades)
Zoe: Were you still spending time with the old man?
YN: Yeah. Well, Mrs. O'Leary mostly.
Nico: Who?
YN: Nobody took you to meet her?
I'd been gone a few weeks. Lazuli and I were sent to try and find the Amazons, to see if they would help us in the war against the Titans. I know, send a boy on the mission to find the tribe of psycho women. But shockingly we found them. Because of course, Amazon, the company, is run by them. We'd met a few, but they wanted no part in it. Still, Hylla and Kinzie weren't TOO bloodthirsty. At least not after they found out they couldn't restrain me or get through my skin.
YN: You a dog person, Nico?
Nico nodded.
YN: There's a hellhound the size of a dump truck in the arena. She's really friendly. And she'll probably love you, considering your father.
Nico shot up, knocking the table over and spilling the chess set on the floor. He ran off towards the arena. Speaking of his dad... there's no more hiding it. He was claimed a few days after we got back from freeing Artemis. Chiron was shocked, needless to say.
YN: Nobody told him?
Zoe: It would appear not.
YOU ARE READING
The Automatons (Percy Jackson)
AdventureYN and Lazuli Vomi. The twin children of Hephaestus, who were born ill. They'd have died if their father didn't take them in and make some... improvements.
