Child of lightning-Percy Jackson x reader-Book one

Starting to make scene

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. I got the feeling it was a conch shell. I'd never heard one before but it kind of sounded like something I had heard in a movie when I was little.

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"

The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course me and Percy were dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods- and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a tree and come skipping up the hill. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. All I could think was how insane this whole place was. I wasn't even sure what I was seeing was real, I mean it shouldn't be. Naiads? Satyrs? Anyways, when we finally reached the pavilion torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a big bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. Percy had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half his butt hanging off. It didn't help that I had to practically sit on his lap. I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of slightly overweight blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey blonde hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down by Percy, because she was laughing and burping right alongside her friends. I still couldn't really wrap my mind around the empty cabins and the empty tables though. I mean if they weren't gonna let anyone stay in them there didn't seem like much point in keeping them around. Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. I guess that was one way to get peoples attention.

He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue. Me and Percy's glasses were empty but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic, of course."

Percy said, "Cherry Coke."

To this day I don't get why he likes that stuff. I mean who even invented soda in the first place? The bubbles are super intense and the flavor kind of stings in your mouth. One word, gross.

None the less Percy's glass is filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then he had another idea.

"Blue Cherry Coke." The soda suddenly turned a violent shade of dark blue.

I eyed the drink and then looked up at Percy giving him a look like, 'your not seriously gonna drink that right?' I mean it was pretty cool how it just popped into his cup out of thin air but still, we were literally at a summer camp where Greek myths are real. for all we knew that coke could have been poison. He seemed to get what I was conveying but he took a cautious sip any ways. By the look on his face it tasted pretty good, it didn't kill him at least. Despite that I still wasn't eager to give it a try myself.

"Here you go guys," Luke said, handing us each a platter of smoked brisket.

I cautiously loaded my plate and was about to take a bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. Percy and I exchanged a generally confused look.

"Come on," Luke told us.

So we stood up, following Luke's lead. As I got closer, I saw that for some reason everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw-berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured to us, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

"You're kidding." Percy said in a puzzled voice.

But Luke's look warned us not to take this lightly, It kinda creeped me out a little bit. I thought about what might happen if I did something wrong. But at the same time I also couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. Usually when that happens at home we have to open up all of the windows to get the nasty smell out of the air. Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes.

"Hermes."

Percy was next. He didn't say anything but he stood there for a while like he was thinking about something. He scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag like I thought I would. It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together but somehow did. Of course it was now my turn, too bad I didn't have anything to say. The only thought that came to my mind was why? If my dads wasn't dead then why did he leave me alone. He must have known my mom had died, he's a god after all! If anything at all, why did he let Sally be taken away too. I sadly looked in the fire and tossed in the best looking piece of food. Just tell me who you are, I thought to myself, Don't make me be alone again. When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table, like the kind I would hear when smelly Gabe would put wrestling on the tv.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have some new campers today. Peter Johnson, and Julie Grape" Chiron murmured something to him. "Err, Percy Jackson and Joey Grace" Mr. D corrected.

When he said my last name I heard someone murmur behind me, "Grace? Like Thalia?"

My brain started turning at that. Thalia, I was at least seventy five percent sure I'd never heard that name before. For some odd reason though it felt like I had. Almost like it was the name of a close friend. Like when I would hear someone talking about Percy. The recognition that comes with hearing a name you know in a crowd. But that's impossible, I thought to myself. I mean I think I'd remember someone with a unique name like that, right?

"Hurrah and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on." Mr. D shouted, bringing me out of my head.

Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the campfire, where Apollo's cabin led a singalong. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me or even Percy anymore. It felt like we were home. Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag. I couldn't help but think of Sally, but I had only good thoughts that night: her smile. The way she would always braid my hair when we would have a conversation. How no matter what anyone said in her eyes I was her daughter. When I was about to close my eyes I looked over at Percy and could tell he was thinking of similar things.

I tugged on his sleeve, "goodnight Percy," I whispered.

"Night Joey"

I fell asleep the second I closed my eyes. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood. I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.

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