Through Annabeth's Mind: Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief (Annabeth's POV)

6) We Finally Burst Percy's Bubble

After the little incident, I showed Percy some places of camp he hadn't been to. The metal shop, where the Hephaestus kids were forging some swords, the arts-and-crafts room, and the lava wall (or climbing wall, how Percy called it).

Wherever we went, campers were pointing at us, probably because I was still wet and smelled really bad, and they recognized Percy from the bathroom incident, which had spread around camp like wildfire. But I saw a group of Aphrodite's kids and heard them say:

"Don't they make a cute couple?"

"What? No."

"Yes, I hope the boy's not an Athena kid."

Then they saw me staring and they kept quiet. Percy didn't hear any of it, he was too distracted with the "climbing" wall.

Finally, we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," I said flatly, I was still mad at him for soaking me. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets," he apologized.

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

I just looked at him skeptically, of course it was his fault! He made the toilets and the showers explode and he knew it! Then he realized. My mind started wandering again like it always did. Which kid would have the powers to make the toilets explode? Maybe he was a son of Po- NO. That was impossible, I refused to believe it. Maybe he was a powerful son of Ares, Apollo or Hermes.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," I said, maybe it would help us.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

Percy jumped as if surprised. At first, I didn't understand. Then I realized he had spotted the Naiads at the bottom of the lake. I chuckled. Then the Naiads waved and smiled, Percy blushed and waved back, and I felt a burning feeling in my gut.

"Don't encourage them," I warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts,"

"Naiads," Percy repeated, looking overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home."

His answer surprised me. I frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

Okay... Percy was getting on my nerves now.

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

I just looked at him. I knew he knew, but was just scared to admit it, just like I did when I reached Camp Half-Blood. "I think you know."

"God," he finally said. "Half-god."

I nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians," I carefully said.

"That's... crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

"But those are just -" myths, he was about to say. "But if all the kids here are half-gods -"

"Demigods," I interrupted. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."