The Forbidden Child

Nine

Drew looked angry when he got back in the car after saying goodbye to his dad. "I can't believe him!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Percy asked dryly, he'd seen this a million times.

"He knew the whole time and didn't tell me!"

"He was just protecting you, Drew. The more you know about it, the stronger your scent is, and the stronger your scent is, the more monsters want to eat you. Don't be mad at him." Percy rattled off like a speech he'd practiced a hundred times. Which, he had said it a lot.

Drew didn't look convinced but stayed quiet.

About half way through the ride there, Drew blurted out, "What's the real reason you didn't contact us this summer?"

Percy took a breath. "The world was ending. The Earth goddess, Gaea wanted to destroy the world and I had to go on a flying boat with six to seven other teenagers all summer to stop her. Not to mention getting amnesia at the beginning of the summer because Hera thought it would be fun to watch me squirm." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I fell into Tartarus with my girlfriend, which is the underworld for all the worst things, Tartarus, not my girlfriend, I mean. So I got some pretty bad PTSD. I also almost failed because of a nose bleed. But, in the end we won, the world is in great shape, and most importantly Octavian is dead."

Drew looked stunned, "You still came back okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after all that I would have wanted some time off. I wouldn't have come back to school, and I definitely don't blame you for ignoring us all summer."

"Thanks, dude. When your a demigod, you just kind of have to move on. It's a terrible thing, being a demigod, I'm not going to lie to you, it's rough." Percy shrugged.

"Oh, great." Drew sighed. "Just one more question, what's an Octavian?"

Percy scoffed, "You got that right."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Octavian is a panda pillow killing, manipulating, insane, one trick pony, world ender enthusiast. That's all you need or want to know about him." Percy growled.

"Oh, uh, alright."

The rest of the ride was quiet after that. But it wasn't awkward or angry silence. It was comfortable and respectful silence.

They finally arrived at Half-Blood Hill. Percy could hardly contain his excitement to see Annabeth. He had been jittery the whole time, (which kind of came with ADHD, but he was extra jittery). He couldn't wait until he could see the look on her face when he surprised her with his appearance at camp. His arms ached more and more to wrap themselves around her every second they got closer.

The car came to a stop and he pushed open the door. He ran inside the camp and embraced the smell of fresh strawberries and smelly Greek kids as he raced to the big house where he knew Annabeth would be. It's the only place she could find quiet to do her architect work for Olympus.

He flung the door to the farm house open and raced to Annabeth's personal office. He stopped at the door. Then knocked three times. That's what she had told everyone to do. Knock according to their cabin number so she could ignore you or welcome you in.

"Stolls, if that's you pranking me again you better run now or you will be sorry you ever met me!" She yelled from inside.

"No, wise girl, it's me." Percy said as the door swung open revealing a very excited looking daughter of Athena.

She nearly knocked him over in a bear hug. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" She asked with concern as she pulled away.

"Nothing's wrong, Grover and I just came with a new camper. The one from my school."

"Oh, good. Who was the demigod, I mean, have I met them?" She asked.

"Actually, it's Drew." Percy looked at the ground.

"Oh gods, that's awkward." There was a pause. "So he's here, then?"

"Oh, right. Grover and I were supposed to be showing him around and giving the whole orientation. I guess I kind of ditched them. Wanna come with me?"

"Sure, let's go."