by Emery Pugh
SPOILER ALERT: The following content may reveal parts of the plot of the Percy Jackson book series. There may also be spoilers about the Heroes of Olympus book series, which is a five-book sequel to the Percy Jackson series. The Trials of Apollo series, the sequel to Heroes of Olympus, will be mentioned. It is highly recommended that you read at least the Percy Jackson series AND the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series. If you don’t mind the spoilers, then read on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Chapter 8
Percy
Going through the sewer the first time was bad enough. The second time was much worse. I was super jittery and I constantly looked backwards, expecting a giant serpent to come slithering towards us any moment.
Finally, Annabeth and I emerged from the sewer. Mysteriously, the muck that we gained from tramping around in there had vanished as we rose to the surface in Camp Jupiter.
The campers had killed the drakon while we were gone. The carcass was spread across a blood-covered field with several javelins stuck in its mouth and one in each eye socket.
Frank and Hazel, the praetors of the camp and long time friends of mine, were assessing the damage done by the drakon.
“Frank, Hazel,” Annabeth rushed up to them. “Bad news.”
Frank’s face darkened. “Is it about the tunnel?”
“Yes.”
Annabeth related our encounter with the serpent in detail. Count on her to include the details.
“That can’t be good,” Hazel muttered.
“If the serpent shows up some day, we’re cooked,” I said. “It’s as thick as a dozen subway trains.”
Annabeth frowned. “More than that. Maybe fifteen of them?”
I sighed. “Isn’t a dozen subway trains depressing enough already?”
“But we need the exact details, Seaweed Brain.”
“Okay, Wise Girl,” I retorted. I wished I had a better retort than ‘Wise Girl.’
“Anyways,” Annabeth continued. “I don’t know what the serpent is doing, but it’s probably coming this way.”
“Does the serpent have any weaknesses?” Frank asked thoughtfully. “Does it fight poorly on land compared to at sea?”
I snorted. “No.”
Hazel pursed her lips. “Based on your description, this monster is more powerful than anything else we’ve faced, perhaps even the Titans or Giants. At least, it’s a lot larger.”
A haunting memory returned to me. I was back in the pit of Tartarus. The Titans Hyperion and Krios had just been sucked into the vortex of the god Tartarus. I doubted the Midgard Serpent was more powerful than Tartarus, who could permanently kill mortals and immortals alike.
Okay, let me clarify something. The pit Tartarus and the god Tartarus are two same yet also different things. The pit is the physical thing, and the god is the embodiment of the pit. Kinda like the difference between Zeus and the sky. Zeus is not the sky itself, and the same with the god Tartarus – the god Tartarus is not the pit itself. I hope that clears things up rather than making you more confused.
Almost forgot to mention: Tartarus has one little (actually very big and very creepy) difference in that analogy. Perhaps I’ll explain that another time.
“Hopefully not,” I replied after my momentary flashback. “But of course, things hardly go our way as demigods.”
“I’m going to call a Senate meeting tomorrow morning.” Frank decided. “Percy and Annabeth, you’ll have to attend as guests to explain the serpent stuff. Go get some sleep, everyone.”
At least I had a good night’s sleep before the meeting, right? It would be fair to let me have one night free of nightmares and visions predicting horrible fates of myself and the world.
Nope.
In my dream, I was falling. Total darkness surrounded me. The only thing I could perceive was the air rushing through my ears and my hand holding something. With a start, I realized this was a replay of a moment in my life: my fall to Tartarus. I was holding Annabeth’s hand.
The dream shifted. I was in Tartarus again – on solid ground this time. I could see the goddess of misery, Akhlys, running away into the distance. I realized again that this was a part of my past. This was the time when Akhlys shrouded Annabeth and me in Death Mist to hide us from the army of monsters at the Doors of Death (it might sound like she was trying to be helpful, but she betrayed us and attempted to kill us).
Annabeth and I were standing at the edge of a cliff, exactly as in my past. From the abyss below, a dark shadow arose – the goddess of Night, Nyx. I expected her to say what she said last time, but instead, she whispered, You and your demigod friends have won in the past, but you will not this time. Our forces are too strong, and even the gods are completely oblivious to our plans. The serpent is only a stepping stone to the destruction of Olympus.
The scene shifted again.
I was back at the beach with Annabeth where the serpent had emerged. The Midgard Serpent slowly rose from the sea. Suddenly, Annabeth vanished. Storm clouds covered the blue sky within seconds. The tropical forest behind me became barren. Acid rain began to fall.
Come to me. Your precious little camp cannot keep you safe, The serpent whispered.
Sunlight seeped through the hills. I looked outside the window, half expecting to see a monstrous serpent. A chill went up my spine.
The whisper unnerved me. Not just what he said – the power in the serpent’s voice. It was not unlike the effect Kronos’ voice had when he spoke – like the blade of a knife scraping up your spine.
A knock on my door snapped me to the present.
“Percy,” Annabeth called. “It’s time for the meeting.”
I sighed and threw off the covers, proceeding to change clothes as slowly as possible.
There was one thing I didn’t have to worry about, now that Annabeth and I didn’t live outside the city limits of New Rome (if you didn’t know, New Rome is a miniature replica of the actual Ancient Rome in Italy). I didn’t have to go through Terminus, the OCD border god, who guarded the Pomerian Line, which was the boundary between the city and the rest of the camp. I (and many others) call him OCD because… well actually, I don’t even have to explain. Just keep reading.
Oh, and another note about Terminus: his statue doesn’t have arms. Only imaginary ones – or perhaps he does mental pat downs. Never ask him about that, or he’ll probably make you measure every blade of grass in the entire valley.
I opened the door and confronted a frowning Annabeth, brows knitted together and a line of Romans was waiting to be evaluated by Terminus to my left.
“Frank, praetor, good,” Terminus was saying. “Hazel, praetor, pass. Wait. Can one of you move that brick? It’s an eighth of an inch out of line. Yes, that one. Thank you. Next. Come here. I’ll need to pat you down.”
“Uh, but you don’t have any… um…” the next person in line faltered.
“Never mind about that,” Terminus snapped.
Annabeth still seemed to be absorbed in thought. I touched her shoulder gently. “Hey. You’re thinking about a plan, right?”
“How did you know?” she asked.
“You ask me this question a lot. I know you.”
Annabeth sighed and took my hand. “Didn’t we come to New Rome to get away from all the demigod chaos? Well, now it looks like we might have to save the world again.”
I shook my head. “Our time is past. It’s time for some other demigods. We’re going to stay at camp. Together.” I squeezed her hand.
“Hey!” Terminus’s yell startled me. “Aren’t you supposed to be at that meeting?” He took on an expression of horror. “Percy, your underwear! They’re not centered!”
“What?” I looked down. “Wait. How can you see my underwear?”
“Just go on.” Terminus said miserably.
Annabeth and I smiled at each other. I took her hand. Together, we walked through New Rome into the Senate House.
We were the last ones to the meeting. Two guest seats were reserved for us.
Frank coughed. “Okay. Let’s begin. Centurions, anything to report? You know, other than the monster attacks and stuff.”
The centurion of the first cohort stood up immediately. “All of the first cohort’s barracks are covered in bubble gum wrappers.”
A ripple of laughter passed over the crowd. I noticed the fifth cohort members whispering to each other, which probably meant they were the ones who did it.
Frank paused and looked at Hazel expectantly.
“Okay. I know that recently, it’s been bad news after bad news, but we have some more bad news,” Hazel said. “Percy and Annabeth, you’re probably the ones who should explain.”
I really didn’t want to repeat my experience with the serpent, but I got out of my seat anyway and walked to the front of the audience with Annabeth.
Annabeth did most of the retelling. The only things I said were trying to defend myself from looking stupid.
After Annabeth finished, the Senate House was silent as a grave. Nobody jumped out of their seats and shouted, Great! We get to fight a massive serpent!
Frank cleared his throat. “So… we’re pretty sure that this serpent is causing the monster attacks. They’re getting more frequent and more deadly, which is what always happens with monster attacks. We’re dealing with enough already, so I didn’t tell you that one of our scouts spotted an army of monsters about twenty miles from the camp yesterday. They’re estimated to arrive tomorrow.”
The campers groaned. In the last few years, Camp Jupiter had endured dozens of attacks. Camp Jupiter was clinging on because of pure determination. I didn’t know how many more we could take.
A camper suddenly rushed in, out of breath. “Uh, sorry to interrupt your meeting, but… there’s a bunch of monsters outside.”
Campers stood up. Some of the Lares disappeared. Others screamed and still others jumped out of their chairs and ran around like mad.
A cannon shot echoed through the valley – perhaps from a siege tower. The building shook. Rubble rained on us. I bolted for the door.
Time seemed to have slowed down. The debris from the ceiling fell in slow motion. I was pretty sure that my muscles were running at full speed, but suddenly I felt like I was moving through syrup. A deep whisper echoed throughout camp: Come to me. Your precious little camp cannot keep you safe.
I hated that line. As I looked out the door, I saw the Midgard Serpent towering over Camp Jupiter.
Chapter 9
Godric
Time unfroze after the whisper. Wolves and campers clashed like nothing happened. I stood there, still frozen in shock.
A wolf snarled at me, jolting me back to the present. I slashed the wolf into many tiny pieces.
I hacked through several large groups of enemies, slashing left and right, smacking heads with the flat of my sword, making wolves go cross-eyed, and creating massive heaps of fur. The wolves were apparently slow learners, since they kept attacking me, hence growing the mounds of fur around me. All that fur could probably make a dozen coats.
Finally, the remaining dozen or so wolves apparently either got some sense in their head, or they got scared of the five-foot tall wall of fur surrounding me. They shuffled off down the tunnel, growling back at us.
Luckily, no camper was heavily injured. The worst anyone had were several scratches on their arms. But in a capture the flag game, there is no time no waste tending to wounds. The opposing team’s flag was within sight.
“Come on, everyone!” I yelled, pointing to the flag beyond the staircase. “The flag is right there!”
I bounded up the stairs two at a time and emerged next to Zeus’s fist.
“There they are!” an Ares camper shrieked. “Get ‘em!”
I lunged for the flag, using the wind to aid me. With the trap disabled, I didn’t have to worry about shards of metal being impaled in my back.
“Go!” I yelled to my team. I jumped to the ground and tore through the forest full speed. All I had to do was cross the boundary line, which was the creek.
Fifty feet away from the creek, I saw Clarisse about the same distance away from the boundary with our team’s flag.
“Get him!” Clarisse screamed. “Don’t let him get across!”
Clarisse obviously had no energy left. She tried to run the rest of the distance but tripped on a rock. I held back the urge to laugh.
I used the last of my strength to propel me over the creek. Clarisse had just gotten up, but it was too late. We had finally won. (I was too exhausted to put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence.)
I collapsed onto the ground. My teammates picked me up and carried me back to camp, chanting my name.
“Hold up!” I protested. “Hey, let me down!” Unfortunately, my voice was drowned out.
“Congrats, Godric.” Chiron smiled at me. “Your losing streak has come to an end.”
When the others finally let me down, I immediately found Sanderson and told him about the wolves and the serpent’s whisper in the Labyrinth.
“That,” Sanderson said. “Is not good.
I sighed. “When is it ever good?”
The conch horn sounded. It was time for dinner.
I thought I was the hungriest person at camp today until I looked at the Demeter table. However fast I ate, they ate faster.
Everyone lined up at the bronze brazier to offer a sacrifice to the gods, as we do every meal – the juiciest slice of beef, the ripest of the fruits. Unfortunately for me, the juiciest slice of beef and the ripest fruit are my first targets when eating. A few times, I accidentally ate the best parts of my meal. Maybe that’s why I’ve had such rotten luck.
After eating, Chiron pounded his hoof on the marble floor. The dining pavilion quieted down.
“Announcements!” Chiron called. “First, I congratulate the winning team in the capture the flag game.” I received several glares and perhaps silent vows of revenge from the Ares cabin. “Secondly, we will have to increase our border patrol at night. Monster attacks are getting more and more frequent and more and more deadly. Finally, we have found out that the Roman camp shares a similar problem about the monsters. They have figured out that a powerful serpent is controlling these monsters. However, we do not know –”
A party of around a dozen satyrs dashed out of the woods. A few satyrs were on stretchers, and a bloody, beat-up demigod (at least, I assumed he was a demigod) was in the middle of the group. Just a regular entrance for a new camper.
Everyone was staring at the new demigod. Most of them were probably wondering who his godly parent was.
Several Apollo campers immediately jumped up and took the satyrs on the stretchers to the infirmary. Chiron was talking to a satyr with a baseball bat on his shoulder, who was looking around as if he wanted to hit someone with his Louisville Slugger. I knew him as Gleeson Hedge AKA Coach Hedge AKA Coach.
“…then a pack of wolves attacked us,” Gleeson was saying to Chiron. “Well, you know what happened? I clobbered them all on the head and finished them off with a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick! The rest were so scared they fled!” He roundhouse kicked the air and swung his baseball bat, nearly hitting Chiron, as if reenacting the battle. Based on what I knew about him, he was definitely making up at least 99% of that story.
“Yeah, anyways, we got a new camper here.” Gleeson pointed at the new demigod. “His name is Hector. For now, his parentage is unknown.”
Chiron nodded and smiled grimly to Hector. “Hello, Hector. Come into the Big House. You’ll need to watch the, ah, orientation video.”
I spent the rest of the day in my cabin after dinner with the statue of hippie Zeus staring at me. The one time I didn’t have guard duty at night, I couldn’t go to sleep. Not that I minded much. Dreams for demigods were just horrible nightmares and visions predicting the fall of the world or a horrible death. (I say that a lot.)
The sun was about to dip below the hills when I heard a knock on my door. Sanderson’s head poked in.
“Hey, Godric,” Sanderson said. “Camp counselor meeting.”
I was glad for the excuse to avoid sleeping. I quickly changed clothes and slipped out the door.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Anything urgent?”
Sanderson shrugged. “Not necessarily urgent, but definitely important.” He looked at me. “We’ve been expecting this for a while.”
My heart sank. I already knew what was coming.
“Can you tell everyone that I need a moment alone?” I asked.
Sanderson nodded. He understood. I lagged behind.
I looked longingly at the hills where the sun was setting. I wondered whether this would be my last normal moment in my short life that was very likely about to end.
Everyone else was already around the Ping-Pong table. The Cheez Whiz crackers that were present at every meeting were set out.
Yeah, that’s right. We did our serious, depressing camp counselor meetings in the rec room.
Chiron looked utterly crestfallen when I came in. He looked at me sadly, but he tried to hide it. That only confirmed my suspicions.
“Ahem.” Chiron cleared his throat. “Camp Jupiter has discovered something about these monster attacks. A serpent is controlling the monsters. The attacks will only get worse. Scouts have seen a large assembly of monsters a few dozen miles from here.”
Connor Stoll, the head counselor for the Hermes cabin, leaned forward. “Okay. So what serpent, exactly? The Hydra?”
Chiron looked like the picture of sadness. “No. Something far worse.” The morale of the room was instantly decimated.
Nobody asked what “something far worse” meant. The topic was depressing enough. With more campers, new and old, coming to camp for the summer, we didn’t want to start with bad news. Camp Half-Blood was meant to be a safe haven for demigods, not a worry haven.
After a moment of silence, Chiron continued. “We’ll need a quest. Camp Jupiter reported that a prophecy asked for 7 campers in total, like the previous quest to defeat the giants. I hope that is a good omen. They will send 3 campers here.”
I already predicted the next line Chiron was going to say. I felt like I was being handed my death sentence.
“The prophecy mentioned something else,” Chiron said. He looked at me. “A son of Zeus must lead the quest.”
The Lighthouse 