'•' The Lightning Thief '•'

5 :: The New Kid Knocks out Grover

     Published: November 5, 2021

Edited: May 23, 2022

'•'

Five years. That's how long it had been since the pine tree grew upon Half-Blood hill. Five years was how long it took for Annabeth and I to become two of the best fighters at camp, rivaled only by Luke and Clarisse. Five years was the period of time that was long enough for me to become acquainted with THE Chiron the centaur, get officially blessed by the goddess Athena, AND hear the Great Prophecy. Yet in those five years my godly parent never claimed in. During five long years I got not so much as a hint that they even knew I existed. But I didn't tend to brood on that.

What I was brooding on was when Chiron was going to finally be back at camp after teaching at some boarding school in Manhattan, Fancy Academy or something. Apparently, Grover had found a really powerful demigod. Naturally Annabeth and I were excited and as soon as we heard that Chiron was back, we raced to the Big House to talk to him. I secretly hoped that this new 'powerful' half blood would be the one who was prophesied to get me claimed and send Annabeth and I on a quest. 

Annabeth and I had always wanted to go on a quest, even more so after we saw Luke get to go on one a few years previously. Camp was great and all, but the real world was the only place to see if you were really good enough. Unfortunately, Chiron had spoken to the oracle which had predicted that we would be an important part of something big in the future but we could only go on a quest once I was claimed by my godly parent. Which apparently would only happen when a- quote, unquote - "special" half-blood came to camp. Annabeth was more passionate about the whole thing than me. I mean obviously I wanted to get out of camp a make a difference but Annabeth was borderline obsessed. She believed that every new camper was the omen we were hoping for. However this time even I was hopeful, it wasn't every day that a demigod was so powerful that Chiron went on a house call.  

I looked out the window and saw it was raining hard outside the border as, Zeus was clearly miffed about something. It probably had something to do with the summer solstice. During archery class a while back I had overheard a few satyrs fretting about a 'summer solstice deadline'. It had peaked Annabeth's interest which of course meant that we were now dead set on finding out what it meant. I snapped out of my thoughts just as Annabeth was finishing her barrage of questions for Chiron (none of which he was able to answer). Somewhere in the distance an enraged roar sounded. Normally this wouldn't have been a cause for alarm, monsters in the forest often growled or screeched at night, but the thing that made it abnormal was the sudden flash of bright light that accompanied the sound. Annabeth leapt up defensively, her hand on the hilt of her trusty old dagger. I followed suit, both of us charging outside to the porch. Chiron followed us quickly, trotting along in his centaur form.

I pulled my retractable pen, Whirlpool, from my pocket and clicked it. The pen melded into my perfectly balanced bronze sword, the handle wrapped in leather and studded with two pearls. Our small group reached the porch just in time to see gold dust swirl up from Half-Blood Hill. Another distant roar sounded and gold dust swirled up from the spot. Someone had just vaporized a monster. Annabeth and I gripped our weapons tightly, ready to help or fight if needed. Soon it became clear that a lone figure was stumbling down Half-Blood hill and towards us. The person seemed to be dragging another. I felt a thrill of fear run up my spine, who had died? As the person neared the pool of light cast by the porch fans, the person still standing was revealed to be a boy of about twelve. He had messy black hair and clothes that were burned and torn. He was covered in gold monster dust from head to foot and dragging a limp  Grover who was moaning about food. 

I relaxed when I saw that even though he was unconscious, at least Grover wasn't dead. The boy was another story, he seemed unsteady on his feet and many scratches laced his body. The boy made it up the few porch steps before he collapsed onto the wooden boards. At last I saw his face clearly for the first time and I drew in a sharp breath. Not because he was cute or anything (though he certainly wasn't ugly, just not my type), but because his face was a carbon copy of mine. He had the same Mediterranean complexion and round eyes as me. Even down to the shape of his nose he could have passed for me if only he had longer hair and a smaller figure. The boy's eyes were nearly closed but under his heavy lashes I saw a sliver of the same luminescent green I saw when I looked in the mirror. His hair was wavy and untamed, as ebony black as my own. I was finding it hard to draw breath, not only because this boy could have been my male doppelgänger, but also because I recognized him. This was the boy I had been having dreams about since I was seven years old. The one who had been abused by the ugly man who scared me so much to this day. I could even see the whitened skin of scar tissue along the exact spot where I had dreamed the ugly man had hit the boy with a bottle in one of my first nightmares. I didn't take my eyes off of him as Annabeth whispered in awe.