I Have a Chat with Percy is the fifty-fifth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on April 2nd, 2018.
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Chapter Annabeth, Toothless, and I agreed to keep our suspicions of who Percy’s godly parent might be to ourselves. Annabeth hopes that it’ll less-liken the chance of it being true. It doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever. At dinner that night, Annabeth and I sat with her siblings at table six, like we do every night. I sat near the edge so that Toothless could sit next to me. I noticed Percy sitting with Luke and everyone else from the Hermes cabin at table eleven, and it was overcrowded. I hate seeing it that way. But luckily for them, I use my powers to extend the table so that they all can sit there comfortably and not have their butts hanging off the bench. I looked over at table seven right in front of me where the children of Apollo are always sitting. I caught Will’s eye, since I always catch him looking at me, and I waved to him. He waved back. “Dude, just ask her out already,” Alex, his brother, sitting right next to him, whispered. I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I can’t always control my super hearing. But I agree with Alex. Chiron pounded his hooves on the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised his glass. “To the gods!” Everybody raised their glasses. “To the gods!” I said it half-heartedly, and refrained myself from saying “Screw the gods!” because I really couldn’t care less about them. Especially Mr. D. The wood nymphs came forward with platters of food. We filled our plates and headed toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. Annabeth gave her burnt offering to her mother, Athena, of course, and I gave mine to my parents, which really work. It’s also my way of telling them, “I’m eating dinner. Don’t disturb me for at least the next thirty minutes.” We went back to our seats and finished our meals. Chiron pounded his hoof again. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. “Yes, I suppose I’d better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels.” A bunch of cheering rose from everyone at the Ares table. “Personally,” Mr. D continued, “I couldn’t care less, but congratulations. Alas, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson.” I rolled my eyes. “He always gets our names wrong,” I whispered to Annabeth. “That’s only because he doesn’t care,” she whispered back. “No, he doesn’t.” Chiron murmured his right name to Mr. D. “Er, Percy Jackson,” he corrected. “That’s right. Hooray, and all that. Now run along to your silly camp fire. Go on.” Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo’s cabin led a sing-along, as always. We sang songs about the gods and ate s’mores and joked around. Emily came to join us, and Percy seemed to be having a great time. I wanted to go be with Will, but I didn’t want to leave Annabeth alone. So I stayed with her and we chatted about random things while I had Toothless do some tricks and give him s’mores for doing them. After a while, the conch horn blew, and we all went back to our cabins and turned in for the night. The next few days have been the usual. Even Percy seems to now have adjusted to his new life, which is good for him. I would help Annabeth teach him Ancient Greek, then I’d watch him suck at a lot of things that I do with him. Archery, which was hilarious when he shot Chiron in the ass; foot racing, which I do both as myself and a dog or cheetah or horse, but Percy was far from keeping up with me, much less, the wood nymph instructor; Wrestling, which Clarisse would totally kick his ass. “There’s more where that came from, punk,” I could hear her mumble to him. But then I’d kick her ass and mumble the same thing to her. I kind of cheat at that because I have super strength, but I can control it down and still kick her ass. Percy and I also canoed together, which he was good at. I do this with most of the new demigods for the first whole week that they’re at camp to make them comfortable. I try to get Annabeth to do it with me, but she won’t, and it’s the only thing I won’t force her to do, though I do think that she should do it this time with the boy of her visions. Right now, he and I, along with Toothless, were taking a break on the shore, drinking our own cans of Coke. “So, how do you like camp so far?” I asked. “I’m getting use to it,” Percy replied. “That’s good. Umm, may I ask about how your life was before you came here?” “Hard. Especially thanks to my step-dad.” “Is he an asshole?” Percy smirked. “Uh, yeah. My mom married him when I was five. His name is Gabe Ugliano, but I call him Smelly Gabe because he—” “Smells?” I guessed. Percy nodded. “Yeah. Really bad. He doesn’t care about either me or my mom, and never has. He just had her as his own personal slave.” “I’m sorry. But why did your mom marry him if he treated both of you like complete shit? I mean, it doesn’t sound like he ever loved her.” “No, he didn’t.” “I’m sorry that you lost your mom. I can tell that you loved her.” “Thanks. When did you first come to camp?” “With Annabeth when we were seven.” “Why did you two come so young?” “Umm, it was mostly because of Annabeth, but it’s personal, and she doesn’t like to talk about it, nor does she want me to talk about it. But we’re best friends, and best friends don’t talk about each other’s personal things to anyone else unless we allow each other to. But if you want to know why we came here so young, you’re going to have to ask Annabeth.” “Ok. I will. But are you a demigod?” “Oh, God, no. I’m just an Immortal, which isn’t exactly like a god.” “Then how come you’re staying in cabin six instead of cabin eleven?” “Because Annabeth is in cabin six, and she’s my best friend, and best friends stay together, no matter what, and they don’t let anything or anyone get between them. So, yeah, I was supposed to stay in cabin eleven after Annabeth was claimed, but I pestered Chiron and Mr. D so much to let me stay with her in her cabin and I won.” “Ok. Remind me not to get between you and her.” “It’d be suicide if you do.” “Annabeth told me that your parents adopted her when she was about eight.” I nodded with a smile. “Yep. And I’m proud to call her my sister, even if she is a pain in the ass sometimes. My grandma also adopted Luke then, too, making him my uncle. She actually knew him a few years before I met him.” “I’ve met your grandma, too.” “Oh, really?” He nodded. “Yeah. She’s Raylee, right?” I nodded. “Yeah. The Protector of America. But that doesn’t surprise me that you two have met. I’d say that at least half of the demigods here have met my grandma, but not necessarily because of what they did, but because of what monsters did to them. Am I right that you have experienced the same thing?” He nodded. “Yeah. Your mom’s a celebrity, right?” “Right,” I replied. “A singer, to be exact, and has been since she was eleven.” “Don’t you get followed by paparazzi's a lot?” “No, not really, for two reasons. One, our powers and our pets keep them at bay, and keep them from finding us. But even if they didn’t, we have the ability to teleport wherever we want to go, which is good since my family also lives a secret life, even before I was born.” “Doing what?” “Studying and protecting cryptids. You know, like Bigfoot and the Chupacabra.” “Those are real?” I nodded. “Yep. If you know how to find them. But they’re supposed to be secret, so keep that to yourself. I actually love animals of all kinds, both existent and non-existent, and they love me.” “How can you tell?” “Well, I have an aura that I was born with and inherited from my mom, who was also born with it, and it allows any animal I come in contact with to feel protective of me, like I’m its queen, though I want to be its protector instead of it being mine. My aura also allows me to communicate with any animal, even though my powers allow me to as well since they activated a year ago. I also have the ability to control them with special powers that I inherited from my dad and was born with like he was. Do you want me to show you?” “Uh, sure.” I looked over at Toothless, who was playing near the water. I closed my eyes, held out my hand, and activated my powers. I opened my eyes and could tell that they were glowing orange. So were Toothless’s, which means that I’m in control of him. I had him fly over to us and land right in front of us. I deactivated my powers and rubbed his head. “See?” I said. “That’s cool,” Percy said. “Yeah. But it’s also bad too.” “Why?” “My powers are very strong. And with my dad’s powers and my mom’s aura, I’m stronger than even most Immortals, and that’s dangerous. I even have the ability to conquer this whole planet with animals.” “You do?” I nodded. “Yeah. Every animal knows that, and some want me to do it. My brother has the ability to do it too. Our family has to keep that about us a secret from people because if they know that we can cause the destruction of the human race, like the people that my grandparents work with, they’ll come after us and try to destroy us, like they tried to do to my dad when he was my age, and almost succeeded a couple times if it weren’t for his family and my mom. But my brother and I are even stronger than my dad was. This is a secret, Percy, so you better keep it as one.” “I will,” he said. I smiled. “I know.” “So how did you get Toothless as pet, and why do you call him that? He looks like he has teeth to me.” I laughed. “Well, he use to be Luke’s pet dragon and he named him Black. But when we met, Toothless and I got along so well that Luke let me take him as my own pet and rename him Toothless because I didn’t like the name Black, and neither did he. And here’s why I gave him the name Toothless.” I summoned a fresh dead fish to my hands and held it up to Toothless. “Open your mouth, Toothless,” I said. He did and opened his mouth wide, showing all his perfect white teeth that I brush everyday. “Retract them.” He did and his teeth disappeared, much to Percy’s surprise. “Show them again.” He did, then I gave him the fish, which he happily ate. “His teeth retract like claws,” I told Percy. “How?” he asked. “I have no idea, and he doesn’t either. I guess it’s just genetics.” “It’s still cool.” “Yeah.” I sat back down next to him and finished the rest of my Coke. “So are you ready for your first sword-fighting lesson with Luke?” “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Percy replied. “Alright then. Let’s go.” We headed to the arena where everyone in cabin eleven were waiting, and Luke is the instructor, as always. They started with some basic stabbing and slashing, using straw stuffed dummies in Greek armor. Percy was doing good. But there was one problem: Luke and I couldn’t find the right blade for him to use. They were either too heavy, too light, or too long. We tried our best, but we agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for him. They moved onto dueling pairs, and I decided just to watch from the stands since Luke announced that he would be Percy’s partner since this was his first time. “Good luck,” I heard Chris tell him. “Luke’s the best swordsman in the last three hundred years.” I snorted. I mean, I agree that Luke is very good, but that compliment was a bit over the top, and he hasn’t even lived three hundred years, so how would he know? “Maybe he’ll go easy on me,” Percy said. Chris snorted, and I agree. Luke has never ever gone easy on me when I was seven. Ok, he has, but only until I told him not to, which he liked. And even then it took me a few years to finally beat him myself. Toothless watched with me by the entrance to the arena, and I felt someone else near me, but I couldn’t see anybody there. But I recognized the power surging from there easily. “Annabeth?” I asked. She shimmered visibly right where I was looking, holding her Yankees cap in hand. “I can’t sneak up on you,” she said. “No, you can’t,” I agreed. “What are you doing here?” “Well, since I knew you’d be watching Percy, I figured that I should, too, to see how good he is if he’s going to be on our team for capture the flag tomorrow night.” “Ok. Well, we’re about to find out, so keep your fingers crossed that he’s good, even though he doesn’t stand a chance against Luke.” “You’re right about that.” “But he stands more of a chance than you do since he doesn’t have a crush on him and blush every time he’s around him.” She glared at me and I just smiled back. We watched intently as Luke showed Percy thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. That’s one of the things I don’t like about Luke: he’s determined to always win against anybody who dare challenges him, even someone he’s training. And he gets a little upset when someone gets the upper hand on him, except me and Annabeth. Well, really only me since Annabeth is too fixated on him to even try to get a stab in and let’s him beat her every time. Frankly, I’d say she was a better fighter when she was little than she is now, even though she should be the opposite. Stupid puberty. Why does it have to make things so damn hard? Anyway, every swipe that Luke gave to Percy, he got more battered and bruised. “Keep your guard up, Percy,” Luke would say, then slap him in the ribs with the flat of his blade. “No, not that far up!” Whap! “Lunge!” Whap! “Now, back!” Whap! “Oh my God,” I said. “This is just torture.” Annabeth smirked, clearly enjoying it. Luke finally called for a break, and Percy was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, and I swear that Annabeth almost died from watching him do that, and I almost did too for laughing at her. I hate to do that to her since she’s my best friend, but best friends can laugh at each other when they flush over the guys they have a crush on, even if they give them death glares for doing it, like Annabeth’s giving me right now. But I couldn’t help it. What I can say, I love to laugh. I mean, after all, it is the best medicine. Percy seemed to like what Luke did, because he also poured ice water on his head, but Annabeth wasn’t the least bit fazed by it like she was with Luke. I went up to Luke and pulled him aside for a moment. “You could at least go a little easy on him,” I said. “Jasmine, he’s not going to learn how to fight good if I go easy on him,” Luke replied. “Well, he won’t learn anything if you keep beating up on him like that.” “You did. And you hate it when I go easy on you. He’ll get the hang of it eventually.” I sighed. “Fine. But I’m going to train him later and actually help him.” “You do that.” “Hey, I learned from the best.” “And you don’t think he can?” I opened my mouth to respond, but he got me there. I crossed my arms. “Touché.” Luke smiled and ruffled my hair, much to my dismay. “That’s my little girl.” I waved him off and walked back over to Annabeth and Toothless while I fixed my hair. I hate it when people touch it and mess it up. “Okay, everybody, circle up!” Luke ordered. “If Percy doesn’t mind, I want to give you a little demo.” “Oh, great,” I muttered. And I could tell from the look on Percy’s face that he didn’t like it either. They all gathered around and suppressing smiles at Percy, because they knew what Luke was going to do, as do I. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy’s blade with the flat of your own sword so that he has no choice but to drop his weapon (or get his hand broken). “This is difficult,” Luke stressed. “I’ve had it used against me.” “By me,” I muttered happily. “Jasmine, shut up,” Annabeth whispered. “Fine.” “No laughing at Percy now,” Luke continued. “Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique.” “That’s true,” I agreed. Luke demonstrated the move on Percy slowly. And, of course, the sword clattered out of his hand. “Now in real time,” Luke said, after Percy retrieved his sword. “We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?” He nodded, and Luke came after him. “Luke’s going to pull it off first,” Annabeth whispered to me. “Of course he will,” I agreed. Percy was holding himself better against Luke this time. Whenever Luke attacked, he countered. Then he stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, but I noticed a change in his face. His eyes narrowed and he started to press Percy with more force. Percy was about to lose it, and he knew it. But then he did something incredible. His sword hit the base of Luke’s and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust. Luke’s sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy’s sword an inch from his undefended chest. The other campers were silent. Even me and Annabeth stared at him in disbelief. Percy lowered his sword. “Umm, sorry.” Luke was too stunned to speak for a moment. “Sorry?” he asked, grinning. “By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!” “Totally,” I agreed. “That was pretty awesome.” Annabeth didn’t respond, and I couldn’t quite read her expression. But she didn’t look quite happy and kind of jealous. I wanted to see Percy do it again, too, but I could tell that he was worn out from the first one, like I was the first few times I was able to do it, even with my dual blades. But Luke insisted. This time, there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Percy’s hilt and sent his weapon skidding across the floor. After a long pause, somebody, I think Chris, said, “Beginner’s luck?” Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at Percy with an entirely new interest. “Maybe,” he said. “But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword . . .” My thought was that he would do very well with a balanced sword. “I think he will be very useful on our team for capture the flag,” I said to Annabeth. “So do I,” she agreed. “But I also wonder how much better he’d be with a balanced sword.” “Then we better find him one.” Please review here. |