The waters of Chaos ~ A Percy Jackson Fanfiction (editing)

(EDITED) Breakfast is complicated

A shimmering bubble of air drifted up through the rays of light illuminating the glassy water. I could feel soft seaweed beneath my feet; it looked like I was in some kind of deep rock column filled with water. Spinning around, some vibrant fish dashed past me towards a cave disguised by a display of colourful corals. A deep rumbling vibrated through the water as if a huge animal was roaring just above the surface.

I heard a faint voice whisper "Hiding" as the water began to swirl around the column, pulling me closer to the cave. As I was dragged past the coral, a flash of light caught my eye from behind a curtain of seaweed. I pulled the seaweed apart and saw some pale blue eyes, the colour of a frozen ocean.

My vision blurred as my surroundings went dark, the two eyes morphing into two glassy orbs. One was filled with swirling darkness, the other containing pale clouds lit every so often by crackling electricity. I heard the voice whisper once again, "Stolen", before the pale orb zapped me and my eyes snapped open.

Gasping, I jumped up and slammed my head into the bed above me. Still half-asleep, Luke fell out of bed with a kitchen knife in his hand and yelled, "Percy, don't eat that! S'not cooked yet!".

He dropped the knife and staggered over to pat my shoulder, chuckling as I groaned and clutched my head.

"The bunk-beds strike again, my dude. Or rather, you strike the bunk-beds again." Luke mumbled, wandering through to the kitchen, probably going to cook whatever he was dreaming about.

My head pounded as I felt the large egg swelling up underneath my skin. I could hear it in my ears, it sounded a lot like... Someone pounding on the door?

I grabbed a hoodie and my mask, picking up Luke's knife so I didn't trip over it on my way to the door. I could hear one of the girls from camp yelling outside.

"Flame, let me in! I know who you are, I'm an oracle for gods sake!"

As I waved my hand and pulled back the branches covering the door I saw Leo standing with his hands up in front of a shorter girl with flaming red hair and jeans covered in spots of paint.

Her eyes widened as she saw me. "Uh, I wasn't trying to break in or anything! Don't worry, you don't need a knife!"

I'd forgotten I was holding the knife. Ignoring some indignant yells as I chucked the knife back into the cabin behind me, I stepped out on to the grass.

Leo whispered, "I didn't tell her anything, I swear! She just started yelling at me and then she said she knew us and I couldn't get her to go away or she said she'd tell everyone and-"

I peered at her freckled face. "Rachel?"

She squealed in a very un-Rachel-like way and ran forward to hug me. "Percy, I knew it was you! I saw you coming back, and I knew you weren't dead!"

She released me and started pummelling my stomach.

"Why did you leave?! I figured you found a way around the dying part but why didn't you come back?!"

Rachel screamed at me for a few minutes, but I was too shocked to answer her. She was the same as before like nothing had changed. I almost couldn't remember what life was like before I left camp.

Leo whispered behind me, "Hey if time moved differently since we joined the Imithon, does that mean we're all 95 years older than them?"

"You're what?!" Rachel froze long enough for me to step backwards and avoid any more friendly I'm-so-happy-to-see-you punches.

"Rachel?"

Annabeth stood near the steps of the Chaos cabin with a murderous look in her eyes.

"What did they do? Don't worry, they're so gonna get thrown out of camp when Chiron finds out." Annabeth glared at us, then pulled Rachel away and started marching her back towards the rest of camp.

"Hey Annabeth, nothing happened. I was asking Omega some stuff about the Imithon and where they're from." Rachel was usually a great liar but Annabeth just turned and held Rachel's face in her hands.

"It's ok, you can tell me, Rachel." Annabeth said, her eyes glassy and unfocused. Rachel looked slightly nervous.

"Annabeth, really, nothing happened. Everything's fine."

Rachel looked really scared now. Annabeth was staring at her, and some nearby campers with similar vacant expressions had started to notice and walk over.

"Annabeth, I think you should leave." A familiar voice spoke behind me. Annabeth shook her head, her eyes refocusing. She opened her mouth to speak as her cheeks grew redder and redder, then turned and walked off. The other campers seemed to lose interest and followed her towards the food hall.

I turned and saw a familiar pale face and mop of black hair.

"Hi, I'm Nico. I see you've already met Annabeth?" He seemed much older, although it could just be the constant frown he wore.

"Yeah. She seems... enthusiastic about camp security?" Leo spoke, unsure of how to speak to our former friend.

Rachel pulled on my sleeve, whispering "You have to tell him!" under her breath.

Nico smiled painfully. "She used to be a lot nicer. People change I guess." He shrugged, then glanced at me again. "Do you guys... eat breakfast?"

"Oh yeah, we were just about to head inside. Did you want to join us? Peaches is great at cooking." I waved my hand to open the branches that had grown across the doorway again.

Nico looked slightly concerned. "I guess? I think we missed breakfast at the food hall anyway."

I poked my head through the door and glanced around. Calypso spotted me and gestured for everyone to put their masks on. Nico and Rachel gawked at the ceiling as they walked in, glancing around at the spacious interior.

"Dang it, Omega!" Luke slammed his spatula down on the counter and poked his finger in my face. "Why didn't you tell me I needed to cook extra food? How are Forge and I supposed to maintain these rippling muscles when we only get a regular-sized portion each? You're starving me!"

Beckendorf chuckled from his seat on the sofa next to Silena. "Yeah Omega, Visage won't want to hang out with me anymore if I'm not completely ripped. What, you think she likes me for my personality?"

Silena giggled and leaned into Beckendorf. "You'd be fine but what about poor Peaches? He doesn't have a personality, he'll never find someone without his muscles."

Luke gasped dramatically "You don't appreciate me enough. If I wasn't such a good chef you guys would never taste a crappy burger and fries again! There'd be no fast food in space without me!"

Nico's frown had shifted to confusion. "You guys are from space? Like... aliens?"

Altering her voice slightly, Bianca explained, "We've lived in space for quite a while, but we're originally from Earth. Some of us were even campers here."

"Huh." Nico seemed lost in thought. "Some of you seemed kind of familiar," he said, glancing around the room.

"There were a couple of people who used to come here... We thought they were dead but when I last went to the underworld, before this whole mess started, I couldn't find them anywhere. Have you guys seen any dead people walking around?" He chuckled sadly.

"Yeah, just a couple." I said, taking off my mask. Leo, Calypso, Grover, and Juniper all took their masks off as well.

Slightly shocked, Nico murmured, "Yeah, figures." Looking back at Leo and I, he walked over and punched us both on the arm. "How are you both alive? And why didn't you tell us!"

I winced while rubbing my sore arm. "It's good to see you, Nico. Sorry we didn't tell you sooner, it's just tricky because-"

Leo jumped in front of me and started yelling, "Hey it's not our fault! The reception in space is terrible and I don't even know your phone number! Do you even have a phone? Iris message doesn't work there either because it's all in Chaos' domain! How were we supposed to tell you?"

Luke shouted over the noise, "HEY, BREAKFAST IS READY! COME AND TELL ME HOW GOOD MY FOOD IS!" and I grinned as we all sat down to eat.