Damn…I'm definitely long overdue for a level-up and some point allocation. When I get a second to check my breath, I'll take care of that.
Hestia stared at me. "Percy…"
"It's okay," I assured her. "It won't change my plans too much. All I ask is that I will still be able to go to school in peace. I promised my mom I would. Other than that, I don't care."
"Still, doing it alone…"
An idea formed in my head. "Could I bring someone with me?"
"You're going to have to present your case to the big man," Hades said, completely calm now. "But I don't see why not. Who'd you have in mind?"
"Piper," I answered instantly. "Well, if she wants, I mean. The last time I talked to her, she was looking for a way out of camp, so I'll see if she's interested in helping out."
"Kid, you're going to be in some hairy situations," Hades pointed out, sighing. "You're sure you want her there?"
"I'll train her," I said offhandedly. I looked back to my mom, who was still frozen in the position she'd been in before our little argument had started. "It'll help put my mom's mind at ease, too."
"Do you think she'll hear you out?" Aphrodite asked, logically a bit skeptical. "You guys kind of got off on the right foot, and then the wrong foot, and then the wrong foot again. She's stubborn."
"I'll talk to her before I go back to Atlantis," I said, glancing down at my empty plate again. "Which I should do right about now. I don't want to be gone for long with this whole traitor situation."
"Okay. Listen…sorry for losing my cool a bit," Hades rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a…touchy subject. I'll tell you more later, but I had kids of my own that got swept up in this whole mess, so I get pretty pissed off when other demigods don't get the same unfair treatment. It's kind of reminiscent of how I've been treated since I got to Olympus."
"I understand, uncle, but that sort of thinking is wrong," I said calmly. "I know bad things happened, but you can't keep taking them out on innocent people. I don't expect you to change overnight, but just think it through a couple of times."
Hades nodded, throwing up another lazy hand as he melted into the shadows behind him, disappearing instantly.
I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "That was… something."
Hestia sighed, "He's had a hatred of demigods ever since my little brother killed his own. You handled that situation very well, though, Percy."
"Thanks. I was trying to—"
SLAP!
"Now, what the hell were you thinking?" Hestia seethed, the fire from her eyes growing brighter. "Squaring off against an Elder God, even in that capacity, was foolish. What would you have done if he truly decided to attack you?"
"I had faith," I said simply. My eyes met Aphrodite's. "In both of you. I knew if things got rough, I'd be fine with you here."
"Be that as it may," Hestia snapped her fingers, unfreezing my mom. "Do be careful in the future, my champion."
"I will," I said, lying straight through my teeth. I wouldn't go looking for fights, yeah, but there's no way in hell I'd let my friends and loved ones get caught in any sort of crossfire. "Don't you worry about me at all."
My mom, understandably, had been confused when she walked back to the table. The rather abrupt disappearance of Hades was pretty obvious, but we assured her that he just had some things to take care of.
I think that if we told her the truth, she would've honestly combusted on the spot. Her beloved son, taking on the Lord of the Dead? Yeah, she'd be torn between crying and reprimanding me for my stupidness.
Aphrodite and I left a few minutes later. She grabbed my shoulder, and one other squeezing feeling later, we appeared in front of camp.
"Well, it was nice seeing you," Aphrodite said brightly, her face still glowing with happiness. I could see a little bit of sadness work its way in as she realized this was it for now. "Make sure to let me know the next time you want to visit!"
"You don't have to go anywhere yet," I said, holding her hand. It felt weird to think that the last time we'd been in this position, all I'd wanted was for her to leave. Now, well, I actually kind of wanted her here. I shot her a smile. "I, Perseus Jackson, give Aphrodite permission to enter the camp."
"Thank you!"
If I thought she was happy before, she was absolutely beaming now. She leaned forward and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
"It was no problem," I replied honestly, still grinning at the warm feeling of her lips on my cheek. "Let's go!"
Camp…well, the camp was the same as it had always been. The same fields, the same Big House, the same kids walking away from the dining pavilion. I took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the Long Island water mixing in with the fresh berries.
"I see why you like it so much here," Aphrodite said softly, looking around the camp. Her nose was cutely scrunched at the Big House. "What an odd shade for a house, though."
I could've sworn I saw a shadow dash across the attic of the Big House, but I put it out of my mind for now.
"Believe me, baby, that's the least odd thing about that house."
We walked toward my cabin, but we were cut off on our way there.
"Percy! Percy!" I heard a yell.
I turned, and a gigantic grin broke out on my face. Malcolm was running at me, absolutely tearing down the big grassy field.
"You're back!"
I felt a really warm feeling take over my body at his excited look. For some reason, I felt, oddly enough, like crying a bit. He was just so tiny and defenseless—if there was any lingering doubt in my mind about whether or not I'd make the right decision, it was gone now. I'd take on every quest in the world to protect the little guy.
"Malcolm!" I yelled back, jogging over to him.
The tyke lunged at me, his tiny arms barely wrapping around my waist now. I picked him up, giving him a tight hug.
I know I haven't spent too much time doing stuff like relaxing or just lazing around, but some of the most fun times I had here were hanging around with Malcolm and Annabeth. I missed him more than I thought I was going to.
"Hey, kiddo," Malcolm squealed as I tickled his stomach a bit. I laughed as he jokingly hit my shoulder—well, uh, he wasn't joking, but I could barely feel the punches, so they were jokes to me. "Miss me?"
"Yeah! I did!"
Malcolm settled into my arms. Did he get a haircut? I patted his head. "Anna's been sad since you've been gone! But she said if I was a good boy and did all my studies and ate well, you'd visit!"
"Well, did you?" I asked pointedly, ignoring Aphrodite's giggle.
Malcolm wrinkled his nose at me, but I continued, "Veggies are very important."
"I did!" He said excitedly, hugging me again. His head perked up a bit on my shoulder, and I felt a little bit of his shyness return. "U-uh, who's that, Percy?"
"That's my friend, Amy," I introduced Aphrodite to Malcolm, intentionally leaving out her true identity. Malcolm retreated a bit more into my arms, hiding from Aphrodite. "And, Amy, this is Malcolm! The smartest kid around!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Malcolm," Aphrodite said sincerely, giving him a warm smile. She held out her hand, and his tiny one reached out and grabbed a few of her fingers as a greeting.
"It's nice to meet you too," Malcolm replied quietly.
I gently placed him down as Annabeth's screams became audible.
"Malcolm!" Annabeth was hollering. "Where did you—wait a minute!"
Damn, that girl's fast. Annabeth cleared the field in, like, two seconds.
"Seaweed Brain, you're back!" Annabeth said with a grin, giving me a quick hug. She scooped down and picked up Malcolm. "That's why Malcolm got so excited!"
"Come on, Annabeth, of course, he's going to run to his favorite person in the whole wide world!" I teased, enjoying the look of annoyance on her face.
"I can't believe I missed you," Annabeth complained as we all shared a laugh. She turned her attention to Aphrodite, giving her a suspicious glance. "I don't believe we've met."
"Amy," Aphrodite offered kindly, playing into the fake name I gave her. I'm just glad she didn't do what she did in that taxi…that was very weird the last time around. Maybe she had been trying to show off for me? "I'm Percy's girlfriend."
Girlfriend?
I blinked a few times.
"Oh, wow," Annabeth looked a little shocked. She looked at Aphrodite critically. "I don't think I've seen you around camp before."
"I'm a legacy," Aphrodite smiled. "I met Percy at school."
"Oh, that's pretty cool, actually," Annabeth said sincerely. I knew she wasn't lying—come on, we all know by now that she's a terrible liar. "We don't get many legacies around here."
Aphrodite placed a hand on my bicep. "Yeah. Most of us just kind of exist out in the world. Percy, here, offered to show me around camp."
"Yeah, as if Seaweed Brain could ever give anyone an accurate tour," Annabeth scoffed, patting Malcolm's head. "All the guy knows is training and reading."
"That's not true! Entirely!" I complained as Aphrodite giggled beside me.
"Would you like to give us the tour?" Aphrodite asked curiously a moment later.
I smiled to myself—she was probably just trying to see more of Annabeth, one of my self-proclaimed two friends. I'm pretty glad they're hitting it off, though…
"Gladly," Annabeth replied with a pleasant smile. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear— one of her nervous tics. "I don't have too much time today, but we can squeeze in a little tour."
I sized her up, "Everything okay, Annabeth?"
"Yeah, yeah," She waved off my concern. "One of the Hermes kids just came down with something last night, so we're a man down for Capture the Flag. I wouldn't normally care, but I bet Clarisse I'd win—I put up bathroom duty for a week this time."
I paused. Any other time, I would've just gone ahead and glossed over the topic. I mean, come on. When you're focused on fighting a war deity and training under your superpowered dad, things like a camp Capture the Flag kind of fade away. It seems irrelevant, stupid.
This is the kind of thing my mom was so worried about, though. For good reason, too—I've been conditioned to think a fun game is useless! What kind of weirdo doesn't like a good game of Capture The Flag?
Damn, that also probably played into my relationship with Annabeth. Just because it doesn't matter to me doesn't mean it doesn't matter to her. From her point of view, this is probably the equivalent of a big fight for me, and I used to kind of invalidate that.
Well, it's never too late to start doing the right thing, is it?
Ugh, looking back, though, I was probably like one of those stuck-up kids at school that tried to one-up everyone. Oh, I got only like six hours of sleep last night! Well, hey, I only got four hours of sleep, and I have to run a marathon later, so stop complaining.
Yep. It's official. I hate myself.
"Don't sweat it, Annabeth," I assured her with a grin. I pointed to myself. "The Poseidon cabin has graciously just agreed to help you out in your time of need."
"No way!" Annabeth basically yelled. "You're going to play? Percy, you're like one of the strongest demigods in camp, this is going to be a cakewalk!"
"I'll join too," Aphrodite offered, shocking the both of us even more. I'm already broken enough on my own, but now a goddess wants to tap in? I swear, Annabeth's the luckiest person alive… "If that's okay."
"Y-yeah, no, of course," Annabeth was beside herself. She bounced Malcolm on her hip. "You hear that, buddy? Anna's got no bathroom duty for a week!"