Child of lightning-Percy Jackson x reader-Book one

Things get a bumpy start

It didn't take me long to pack, after all, all I had was an extra change of clothes, a blue plastic hair brush, and a toothbrush. I stuffed it all into a paper bag Grover had found for me and I gladly left behind that creepy statue.

The camp store loaned us one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as thin mints and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth, Percy and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. Apparently our birthdays were pretty close, mine being July 1st and hers being July 12th. I was born a year after her though. She also carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got "bored". But like, really? Who reads books when their bored? Anyways she also had a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve that I was sure would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.

Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green Rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his dad had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on the reed pipes, but that is to say I did enjoy listening to the Hilary Duff one. It was pretty funny. I would never tell Grover that though.

Percy had decided to leave his Minatare horn in his cabin, which was probably for the best. Other than that he was pretty much empty handed, just carrying some toiletries and an extra pair of clothes.

We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia. Thinking about it now I guess she would be considered my sister. She was also a daughter of Zeus after all. I wished she wasn't dead, it would be nice to have some company in that stone fortress I was made to sleep in every night. Luckily for me I was leaving cabin one behind for a few days.

Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood a surfer dude Percy said he saw when we were recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron told us. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

I heard footsteps behind us.

Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes, and a black backpack

"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you guys."

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told us. "And I thought ... um, maybe you guys could use these."

He handed Percy the sneakers, and me the backpack

Luke said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels of Percy's new shoes, startling him so much that he dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.