Son of the Lost god

6: Grover!

      Getting Grover was important to Jacob. He couldn't spend time here at camp Half-Blood while Grover was who knows where. Away from his home that's where, Jacob thought.
      Jacob stopped in his tracks when a loud crack came from behind him. He spun on his heels and came face to face with Clarisse. Again.
      "What do you want?" Jacob sighed.
      "To know what you're doing! Obviously," Clarisse demanded.
        "I'm taking a walk in the woods of course," he lied.
      "Oh you're doing much more than taking a walk. What are you up to?" Clarisse's face was pressed against his and her eyes were suspicious slits. Jacob laughed nervously and pushed away.
"It's none of your business," Jacob said walking away. Clarisse trudged after him.
"Hey wait a minute! That's no excuse! It IS my business. I'm the daughter of Ares, god of war. I can pulverize you in a second if you don't tell me," she threatened. Jacob stopped and turned around. He raised a brow.
"I can get a vine to throw you if that's what you want," Clarisse didn't look impressed by his comeback. He sighed and ran away towards the Zeus's fist. Clarisse ran after him.
"Hey you can tell me. I wont tell anyone,"
"Yeah right. Like I'd trust a daughter of Ares," Clarisse looked offended, then sad, then mad.
"I tried to be nice to you, newbie. But you just don't respect that. Good cop is gone. Bad cop is taking my place!" Clarisse said, leaving. Before she stepped away, she slapped Jacob across the face. Pain rushed up through his veins and he touched the red mark on his face. She left him standing there.
      As she left, Jacob could've sworn he'd seen fuming smoke coming out of her ears. He sighed, and walked on.
                          *
Jacob made it to the rock Percy said was called Zeus's fist. The big rock loomed high in the air and shaded everything below it. This was where he first met Percy. At the top. He kept walking until he came to the road that he ran from the ventus.
A crack of a twig made Jacob loose his train of thoughts. He looked behind him to see- to his relief- Grover.
      "Grover! I was just looking for you!" Jacob breathed. Grover smiled. His red hair gleamed in the sunlight and his white teeth were coated a bright white.
      "Well, i was just heading back to Camp Half-blood to see if you made it. The principal finally got the door unlocked," Grover explained. "C'mon. Let's get going,"
      Grover led Jacob back to Camp Half-blood. As soon as Jacob walked into camp with Grover, a crowd of excited campers rushed up to them. They crowded Grover and shunned Jacob away.
      Percy was the first person to hug him. Next was a girl who had come from the woods. She grabbed him and they sunk to the floor in tears of joy. Everyone else joined in. Except there weren't any tears.
     Jacob left them to do their thing, and went to the Ares cabin; cabin 5. On the top of the cabin stood a large, horrible flag. A picture of a terrifying boar was printed on it.
      He knocked on the door, and almost immediately a rough-looking teen boy came out and slapped him. He stared at the boy in confusion.
      "What do you want?" he asked gruffly.
      "I want to speak with Clarisse," Jacob replied flatly. The boy grunted and called for Clarisse. She came to the door and automatically slammed it in his face, shunning him like everyone else did. He sighed and left for his sword training.
     After his trainer said he was great at it, he left for cabin 11, the Hermes cabin.
     He opened the door and plopped down on his mat on the floor. A boy named Matthew came up to him. He was also an undetermined.
      "Hey," Matthew said.
      "Hi," Jacob sighed. Matthew looked closely at Jacob's slightly red cheek.
      "What happened here?" Matthew asked, poking his cheek.
    "Oh it's nothing. Just a few slaps from the Ares cabin," Jacob said annoyed. Matthew rolled his eyes.
      "Yep. That sounds like the Ares cabin. Let me guess, Clarisse?"
      "Yeah. Is that normal?"
      "Eh well, what can i say? Ares IS the god of war. Obviously his children like to slap people," Matthew teased, lightly punching his shoulder. It reminded him of Chaya. She did that all the time. He sighed. 
      "Get some rest. Big night tonight. It'll be your first campfire! Hopefully you'll get claimed," Matthew said, reluctantly getting up. He was about to walk away when Jacob stopped him.
      "Hey, wait! Why aren't you claimed?" Matthew showed pain in his electric blue eyes.
      "Nobody knows. It's very rare for a demigod to not get claimed. I'll just have to be patient," Matthew walked away.
      Jacob laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. His eyelids slowly shut and he slipped into darkness.

      His eyes opened to the flaming, red place he had last seen in his dreams. The horrible creature laughed his evil, deep laughter.
      "Come so soon, Jacob?" He rumbled.
      "Who are you?" Jacob asked.
      "What is it to you, young demigod?"
      "Please. I need to know!" The remark hung in the air. There was so much tension, Jacob could cut it with a knife.
      "Tell me child, do you remember where you are?"
    "Yes, i'm in Tartarus," Jacob replied flatly.
      "You are speaking to him as well," he laughed. Jacob was shocked. Tartarus was.. alive?
      "You mean, you're living?" Jacob asked stupidly.
      "Yes boy. How else would i be speaking?" Tartarus replied. Jacob could imagine that if Tartarus had a face, he'd be rolling his eyes right now. 
      "What do you want with me?" Jacob asked the question that was eating him up inside. Tartarus remained silent. Then, a sound of hooves came to his left. He looked in the nick of time to see a demon horse charging at him.
      The horse was so black, it looked almost blue. It was fast, no doubt about it. It's eyes were cherry red and blazed with fire. The tail was literally fire and it's hooves gleamed with what looked like blood. It's teeth were blades that looked sharp enough to tear flesh. And it was charging straight at him.
     Jacob ran like he never had in his life. The walls started to squeeze together, but that didn't stop the horse. It just kept charging. There was no escaping now. He ran and ran for what seemed like hours. The horse never grew tired.
      Jacob's breath suddenly stopped and he slammed into something hard. He looked up, but nothing was there. He quickly got up and tried to move forward. There was an invisible substance that was blocking his escape. The horse got closer and the walls kept moving closer together.
      On the other side of the invisible wall was a horrific sight. There was an extremely skinny man who stood in a pool of water. A tree loomed over him that bore delicious looking fruit. Every time he bent down to drink, the water resided and he couldn't scoop up the water. He reached up to pick a fruit, and the branch pulled up too high for him to get at.
      He looked at Jacob with hunger and thirst filling his eyes. He looked like he was pleading for help, but Jacob couldn't hear a word he said. A snort came from behind.
      The demon horse loomed over him. The walls now touched his shoulders. The horse didn't seem effected by the walls at all. The horse opened his mouth to bite him. The walls got tighter. Tartarus's laugh echoed on the walls as Jacob slammed his eyes shut. He could feel the hot, poisonous breath of the horse run down his neck.
      Something hit his neck hard and his eyes shot open.

     A boy loomed over him. He looked at his neck, but nothing was there. He could've sworn he had felt something there just a moment ago. His eyes cleared and realized that the boy was Arden. He smiled weakly. Arden extended a hand to him. He grabbed it and was pulled up.
      "It's time for the campfire. Don't want to miss it. Also, you are drenched in sweat. There's a bathroom over there where you can wipe your face off in," Arden said pointing to a door towards the back of the cabin. He thanked him and left to the bathroom.
      He turned the faucet on and cupped his hands. He splashed a few handfuls of water on his face, dried it off, and joined the rest of his cabin mates. They headed to the pavilion.
     All the other cabins came too. They had assigned tables, which Jacob didn't like very much. Percy sat alone at the Poseidon cabin. Jacob was tempted to go over there and sit with him, but he knew it was against the rules.  
      A plump man with a red face stood up front and the murmurs of the campers died down.
      "I'm Dionysus god of wine, and we have a new camper. Josh Frou-frou! Welcome, blah blah blah," Dionysus said unenthusiastically. Jacob stood up.
      "Um, Dionysus, sir, it's Jacob Froushwits," he corrected. Dionysus glared at him. He sat down immediately. The entire camp stared at him. His face turned bright red as the Aphrodite cabin snickered at him. He wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. Dionysus continued.
      "A few stupid announcements too. Capture the flag is Friday-" Dionysus stopped when a roar of cheer arose from the crowd. Especially from the Ares cabin. He caught Clarisse and Percy glaring at each other.
     "SILENCE!" Chiron yelled, stomping a hoof on the ground. The roar from the campers immediately stopped.
      "And as i was saying, capture the flag, and a pegasus race on Wednesday, and all that boring stuff. Now go back to your meal," Dionysus rolled his eyes and slumped down in his seat.
      Jacob was about to start eating, when everyone got up and went to the fire. They started to dump some of their food into it.
      He did the same.
      "It's an offering to the gods," Matthew explained. He understood that you had to scrape the best portion of your food into the fire.
      "To whoever my dad might be," Jacob whispered as he scraped his portion into the hot flames that trickled into the sky.