The Half-Blood Project

13- Under The Waves Tonight

Percy Jackson

"You think that they care about us?" The question was out of my mouth before I could think to not say it. Annabeth shrugged, her blonde curls down again today, her grey eyes stormy as ever. It had been two weeks since the claiming in the warehouse, everyone started to pair off into groups based on their parents, I tried to tell them that diversity was important, but they did not listen. 

"I think if they cared, they would have done a lot more than just shoving an image above our heads marking us as theirs." 

Everyone was learning just what they could do, honing their abilities, destroying parts of Leo's inventions on purpose, which made him furious. The Hephaestus kids-Harley, Nyssa, Shane, Beckendorf, and Leo were almost always building something in the forge. They said it was need-to-know, but as a leader, I pointed out that I needed to know if anything was going to explode. 

Grover Underwood, the satyr that brought Pollux to the Project, he was always rambling on about something and for some reason, had an odd fetish for aluminum cans and furniture when he was nervous. I found this highly amusing, Annabeth did not. 

"Is there anything you can tell us about the gods, anything?" 

Grover gulped down a paper plate uneasily. "You're right about the culture, how it moves from country to country every few centuries. Mount Olympus is located above the Empire State Building in New York, the last place they were in was in Europe, thats how the Revolutionary War broke out, some gods wanted to move here and other's didn't. My great-grandfather told me it was a whole fiasco." 

If his great-grandfather was in the Revolutionary War, it made me wonder just how old Grover was. He was young, about my age but I couldn't tell, he had little horns jutting out of his curly mop of brown hair, he smelled like that forest Febreeze stuff. 

"A-and the gods swore an oath after World War 2, a bloody mess for demigods. All of them, minor gods, the Big Three, made a pact not to bear any children for the next several centuries. IF they did, there would be severe consequences. They swore on the River Styx and if you break that oath, you either die or suffer a terrible fate." 

What had made our parents just break an oath that would curse them forever? Weren't gods supposed to be smart? 

"Why exactly did they swear the oath?" Annabeth perked up and Grover smiled at her weakly. 

"World War Two was caused by demigods, and back then, there was hundreds upon hundreds, Adolf Hitler was a son of Eris, goddess of strife and they blamed it on her. When the dust settled, the gods knew this could never happen again and swore, minor and major gods. But they broke it, twenty-two years ago when Luke Castellan was born." 

At the mention of her ex-boyfriend Annabeth's face turned into an ugly shade of mixed concrete and looked to the floor. 

"After Luke was born, half-blood started to crop up everywhere but both camps were destroyed." 

"Both camps?" 

"Camp Jupiter in the Berekely Hills and Camp Half-Blood on Long Island. Housed both sides of the gods, Greek and Roman, you probably have Roman kids in your ranks here just don't know it. I think that Frank's kid is a son of Mars, not Ares, Ares kids are brutal and built for battle, Mars is built for strategy and planning." 

Grover was our only chance at knowing the gods and the world around us at this point. 

I patted Grover on the back happily. "Anything else?" 

"Yeah, yeah. The gods are angry. At all of you. For creating the Half-Blood-Project, I get dreams of them sometimes, they argue whether or not to kill you. They blame the Seven of you for this. And Zeus, he said you'll pay for this."

I looked up, where my supposed Uncle would be. "No, you broke the oath, not me," I growl under my breath and the sky rumbles in response. Good, he heard me. I'm glad they understand it's their fault we exist, not us. 

They can blame us though, make us take the fall for them to exist endlessly. It's unfair, but our lives are nothing compared to theirs.

"Thanks, Grover." I smiled, dismissing him. He clopped off, joining someone in the mess hall. Annabeth whipped her head around, blonde curls soaring and her grey eyes held this calmed sort of panic, held back so they no-one else would see it rage on the inside. 

"Percy, we have to go to New York City, we have to." 

I shake my head. No. I won't go to New York City. I don't care if I have to save the world, it holds too many memories. Of Mom, of Gabe, of everything that went wrong. 

"We have to! To understand more about this unfamiliar world, we have to go." 

"No, Annabeth, and that's final. I don't care about understanding this world. All I want is Kronos to be dead and for the gods to stop meddling with my life." 

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever think? We can find out more about Kronos and stop him if we go to Olympus in New York, we can take Grover." 

"Annabeth I don't think you understand, we can't up everything and leave. I have a role here as a leader and I need to uphold it. I can't leave my post." 

It's true if I leave my post, I'm a weak and powerless leader who does not care for my people. My friends, the family I've worked so hard for. I will not leave them behind without someone to lead them. 

Annabeth got up, kicked her stool out, and stormed off angrily. Good. Let her be angry. We are not going to New York City and that's that. I won't abandon my post. 

Not like our parents abandoned us and left us to die. 

--

I sat beneath the ocean waves, letting the water cool my anger down, soothing my skin and soul. 

The water would always be a second home to me, a place I could go to relax and rest. It felt different now though, knowing the ocean was my father's domain. I could find him, find him and ask why, why he never contacted me, never went to my mother's funeral, or helped me with the abuse.

He could have stopped me from making the decision that haunts me, my nightmares, lurks in the corner and waits for me to let my guard down. 

It's always his face, cruel, unforgiving. Sometimes I hear his voice in the dark. 

Gabe. 

I killed him. Left him to die and ran away, ran from the scene of the crime, and never, ever looked back. I found Chiron, he showed me my powers, gave me Riptide, and told me to go find the only family I had left. Jason, Nico, Hazel, and I would later meet Thalia. 

I killed my stepfather at the age of twelve. 

Killing him hardened my soul, made my heart crumble into a thousand pieces. I was so angry and scared that night, he had thrown the beer bottle at me, the leftover liquid splattering over my chest, cutting the open bits of skin. The scars are still there and they remind me of my sin. 

I just had to escape, Mom had died three months before and he always had beat me up, but after the funeral, his anger burst out on me and I suffered the consequences. I'm sure he only fed and clothed me because he wanted to keep me alive to beat me more. 

Grabbing the nearest object, stool I smacked him in the head with all the strength I had. He crumpled to the ground, and I hit him several more times until he wasn't breathing and I was positive he was dead, the light from his eyes gone. 

The worst part? I felt satisfied, not at all feeling regretful. That son of a biscuit deserved all of the pain he caused me and Mom.

Afterward, I felt like a part of me had been ripped away, bleeding, and angry. I'd never get that innocence back. Never. 

Everything around me, the water, the fish, they did not judge me, I'm human, or partially human, and they can't judge me for that because they will never know what it is like to be working, thinking, self-conscious person. 

Settling comfortably I closed my eyes, watching the final rays of the spring sun sink below the waves and out of sight. 

For a moment I felt far away from all of my problems.