Chapter 8: We Capture The Flag

Dear Journal,

The next few days, everything started to feel normal, even though I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs and a centaur. Each morning, Annabeth taught me everything about Ancient Greece and we talked about the Gods and Goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird for me. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia and that ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least it's not harder than English. The rest of the day, I'd go do different outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me Archery, but it didn't turn out so well. I also did foot racing, not good enough. I was horrible at everything even at wrestling, every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me. But there was one thing I was good at and it was canoeing it was the only thing I did well in. I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching trying to find out who my dad is, but they were having a hard time finding out who my dad was.

I kind of liking camp, I felt I was at home. I got used to everything, such as the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. Every dinner, I would scrape my into the fire and feel the connection between me and my father. All the time I would feel nothing, just that warm feeling I'd always have, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think about my mom but I kept wondering, if gods and monsters are real then there must be a way to bring her back from the underworld.
Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword fighting lesson. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I thought I did okay, at least I did what I was supposed to do. The only problem was that I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy or too light, or too long. Then we moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced that he would be my partner since it was my first time. After he called for the break, I was soaked in sweat.

Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Then we sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket weaving. Then I asked him about the conversation with Mr.D. He said "Fine, just great" Then I asked him about the four empty cabins. He said " Number eight is for Artemis, number two is for Hera and the others are Zeus and Poseidon, but Hades doesn't have a cabin here." "But Zeus and Poseidon have a bazillion kids, why don't the cabins have anybody in them?" Then Grover said that, in the world war 2 it was a war between the sons of Hades and the sons of Zeus and Poseidon. Then when it ended, they made an oath of not having an affair with mortal women. But Zeus couldn't help himself, so when his child was born, a little girl named Thalia. So when Hades knew that his brother had broken the promise, he started tormenting Thalia and she was so close to making it here at camp.

That night after dinner, there was a lot of excitement than usual. It was now time to play capture the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn blew and we all stood at our tables. Annabeth and Clarisse were the two leaders, Ares and Athena. The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.Then Chiron announced the rules and we had all our weapons ready. Then Annabeth told me to watch out for Clarisse's spear, so I kept that in mind. Then the conch horn blew and I heard all the metal hitting each other. When I was walking slowly, I knew that something was stalking me or following me, so I raised my shield and Clarisse came out of nowhere and said "Cream the Punk!" I managed to dodge the first kid's swing, but they were not as stupid as the minotaur. They all surrounded me and I looked at Clarisse's spear it was actually an electric one. Then two guys brought me somewhere with the team, and Clarisse cut me right in the ribs. I felt dizzy seeing my own blood, but it was good that I was wearing armor because I would be dead. Then they pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash, I thought I was going to die., but then something happened, the water seemed to wake me up to my senses. As soon as I stood up I started fighting back until Clarisse was the only one left. And I smacked her between the eyes with a sword butt and sent her down the creek. Then I heard yelling and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. The other team tried to catch up but it was too late. The game had ended, we won. I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice said "Not bad, hero." Then she noticed my sword cut and she said "How did you get the cut?" I was about to tell her but then the wound started going away. Then I heard another growl just like the Minotaur's and there it was staring at me, so I ran as fast as I can but the hound caught up to me and ripping my body. Then the monster died right at my feet. Annabeth said that I had a wound so she told me to go to the water and called Chiron to watch. Instantly I felt better all the wounds on my body was all gone. Then Chiron announced "It has now been determined." Percy is the son of the sea god, Poseidon.

Chapter 7:My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke

Word of the bathroom incident spread really fast. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was pretty much dripping wet. She showed me a few more places, the metal shop, the arts and crafts room, and the climbing room, which were actually two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough. Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. Annabeth said, "I've got training to do, and dinner is at seven-thirty, if you don't know where it is, just follow your cabin to the mess hall."Then there were these group of girls that smiled and waved at me as if I was there long lost friend or something. So I waved back. Then Annabeth said, "Don't encourage them, they are terrible flirts." So I said, "That's it! I want to go home." "You are home." Annabeth said. "Because we are half-bloods, Percy." So that means that my father isn't dead then?" I asked. She said "Nope." Then she told me that her mother was Athena, Goddess of wisdom and battle." Then I asked her if she knew who my father was. But she said that it is undetermined and that I will find out some time.

Me and Annabeth were talking for a pretty long time. She told me everything about the camp, everybody in the camp, and what there is to do in this camp. One thing she told me is about the people that go here and cannot go in the camp.The mortals would only see a strawberry farm and nothing else. Then the last thing we talked about was if we wanted to get out of the camp, we could just walk out but only with Chiron and Mr.D's permission. Unless we are granted a quest. Chiron and Mr.D would have to tell me to go on a quest with some people. Then I asked Annabeth "Back in the sick room, you were feeding me that stuff, and then you asked me something about the summer solstice. What is the summer solstice?" She said, "I don't know anything about the summer soltice, but I wish I knew. Something is wrong in Olympus, last time I went there, everything seemed so normal." I said, "You have been to Olympus? But how did you get there?" She said "The Long Island railroad, then a special elevator to the six-hundredth floor." I knew there was only a hundred and two floors, but I didn't tell her." Anyways, we went for dinner and everyone was seated in their cabin number. Then after the dinner Mr.D told me to go to a campfire and there we talked about the capture the flag game and that it is on Friday.Later in the evening, the conch horn blew again and we all went back to our cabins. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.

Chapter 6: I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour around the camp, though I was careful not to walk behind him. We passed through the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other, and while we were walking one camper pointed to he minotaur horn and another camper said "That's him." Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them were trotting around in orange shirts that said, Camp Half Blood. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me, made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something. When I looked back at the farmhouse, it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, it was four stories tall, like a seaside resort. When I looked up, something had moved just for a second, and I thought I was being watched. So I asked Chiron " What's up there?" He said, "Just the attic. Nobody lives there" I wasn't sure if he he was lying, but I sure somthing is in the attic. Then he said "Come along Percy, there are lots more to see."

Then we walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyrplayed a tune ion a reed pipe. Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. I asked Chiron if Grover will get a second chance to protect people. Chiron said "I am afraid that was Grover's second chance, See, the Counsel was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He is too small for his age." I asked how old Grover was and Chiron said twenty-eight years old. I was shocked! He is twenty-eight, and he is in grade 6! I said "That's horrible." Chiron agreed "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards." So, we moved on and Chiron "Come, Percy. Let's see the woods.

As we got closer to the woods, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick. Chiron said, "The woods are stoked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed." Then he said "You will see what I mean, friday is capture the flag day. Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a letter, the letter U, and they were the coolest collection of buildings I had ever seen. I noticed one thing though, the odds were on the left, evens on the right and they looked nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made out of solid gold, which was so bright in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They were all different. I asked Chiron why cabins one and two look empty. Chiron said that there are twelve cabins for the twelve olympians. When I looked in some of the cabins they all looked crammed or crowded, when I looked in cabin number five, I saw a bunch of kids that looked mean, both girls and boys. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL camp half blood shirt, for some reason, she reminded me of Nancy Bobofit. Finally, our tour is over.

Chiron left me with Annabeth and Annabeth led me to cabin eleven. She introduced me to everyone in the cabin and someone asked "Regular or Undetermined?" Then Annabeth said, "Undetermined." Everybody groaned. A guy who was a little bit older than the rest came forward. He was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was also tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. Annabeth said "That's Luke" And I asked him "How long will I be here?" And he said "Until you are determined." The campers all laughed at me. Then Annabeth took me to the volleyball court. While we were walking, the big girl from the ugly red cabin was walking towards us. She had three girls behind her, all wearing camo jackets. Her name was Clarisse and she was a really mean girl. Annabeth introduced me to her and she was actually the daughter of Ares, the war God. Then she told me "We have an initiation ceremony for newbies." Annabeth tried to stop her but then she told Annabeth to stay out of it. We were actually going to the bathroom and they were going to give me a swirly. I kept fighting out of it but she was too strong. Then she pushed me into one of the stalls and tried to put my head in the toilet, but then, all of a sudden the water came out of the toilet and it hit Clarisse and everybody else in the washroom except for me. The whole bathroom was flooded. My legs were shaky as I stood up. Annabeth said, "How did you do that?" "I don't know?" I said. Then she said "I am thinking I want you on my capture the flag team on Friday."

Chapter 5:I Play Pinochle With A Horse

Dear Journal,

I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals, Most of them wanted to kill me, the rest wanted food. I knew that I woke up several times, but everything I heard or saw made no sense, so I passed out again. The only thing I remembered was that I was lying in a soft bed, being fed something that tasted like butter popcorn, but it was actually pudding. Then the girl with the curly blond hair hovered over me, and when she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?" I managed to say, "What?" She looked around and said" What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!" "I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't....." Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding. Then when I woke up again, the girl was gone. One thing I saw was A blond dude, like a surfer, and he was standing in the corner of the bedroom watching me. He had blue eyes, but he had a dozen of them, on his cheeks, his forehead, and the back of his hands.

When I finally gained my conscience, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a chair on a huge porch and on the table beside me was a tall drink, it looked like iced apple juice. My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it. "Careful," a familiar voice said. I saw Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept for a week. I also saw him wearing a T-shirt that said Camp Half Blood. He was the plain old Grover. Not the goat boy. So maybe I was having a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. "You saved my life," Grover said. Then he gave me the shoebox and inside was the bull's horn, that I broke off from the minotaur. It wasn't a nightmare. It was real. I asked "Is my mom okay?" He looked down and said "I'm sorry, Percy, I am a failure. I am the worst satyr in the world."Then he helped me hold the glass and put the straw to my lips. I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting an apple juice, it was actually chocolate-chip cookies. And it wasn't just any cookies, it was my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Then after I drank, he asked if I was okay now. I said " Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."Then he took my glass , and set it on the back table. He said "Come on, Chiron and Mr.D are waiting."

The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse. My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. when we got to the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond haired girl who'd fed me the pudding was leaning on the porch next to them. Grover said "That's Mr. D. He is the camp director, and that is Chiron, I think you already know him. I actually did, it was Mr.Brunner, my Latin teacher. Grover said " And that is Annabeth Chase she has been here longer than anybody else." They all said hi to me and I said Hi back to them. I asked Mr.D what the D stands for and he told me that it was Dionysus, He was the God of Wine. I was amazed and I said "You are a God!" Then Chiron talked to me for a while, he told me why he was at Yancy and everything else. All of a sudden Chiron was changing, like changing to something else. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box he had was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached. I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallionb. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacherk, smoothly graftyu to the horse's trunk. "What a relief." the centaur said." I'd been cooped up in there do long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

Chapter 4: My Mother Teaches My Bullfighting

We tore through the night along dark country roads. There were hard wind blowing against the Camaro. My mom kept her foot on the gas and we were going really fast. Every time there was a huge lightning bolt, I looked at Grover next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I have gone insane, or he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom know each other?", he said, Not exactly,I mean we have never met in person. But she only knew that I was watching you.", "Watching me?" I said. "Making sure you were okay." Grover said. Then Grover let out a sharp goat sound. Then he said that he was a goat waist down. So he was actually a satyr, like in Mr.Brunner's myths. Then he asked me if Mrs. Dodds was a myth or the three old ladies who were knitting. There actually was a Mrs.Dodds! Then he told me that the less I knew, the less monsters I attract. Then we heard something that was almost following us. Grover said to my mom to go faster because the monster will catch up to us. I asked where we are going and my mom said that " We are going to the summer camp your father told me to bring you in."

After another mile, there was a surprising boom! And our car exploded! "Percy!" my mom shouted. I tried to shake off the daze. The car didn't really explode. We actually swerved into a ditch. Grover was lying down on the mud with blood dripping from his mouth. Then he groaned, "Food," My mom said to leave him alone. When I looked back, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. It was a silhouette of a huge guy, like a huge football player. I said "Who is that?" Then my mother said to get out of the car and run to a tree. She told me to run and yell for help. I said to my mom "You are coming with me! And help me carry Grover!" As the monster got closer. I could see the monster clearer, it was a minotaur. It was Pasiphae's son. They wanted to kill me! The minotaur went to the car and I think he was looking for us. My mom told me that the minotaur has horrible sight and hearing, and he can only smell us. If the minotaur comes charging at us change direction, and the minotaur will keep going straight because it cannot turn very well. So I took off my rain jacket and used it to attract the minotaur. When it charged, I jumped up and hit the Minotaur's head, I went straight up into the air and landed on the neck of the minotaur. It was moaning in agony, then I drove the broken horn into its side and it disintegrated, just like Mrs.Dodds.

When the monster had disappeared, My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with fear. I wanted to lie down and cry, but someone neede help, so I pulled him up, pulling him down the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse, looking for my mother. The last thing I remembered is collapsing on a wooden bench, looking up, I saw a bearded man and a pretty girl. The girl said, He's the one. He must be."

Chapter 3: Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

Dear Journal,

Today, I ditched Grover when I got to the bus station. I know it was rude but he kept freaking me out all the time. He would always mutter "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always happen in Grade Six?" Whenever he got upset or became sad, he would always go to the bathroom all the time, so as soon we got off the bus he made a run to the bathroom, instead of waiting for him, I made a run for it and found a taxi to go home.
Before you meet my mother, I need to tell you a few things first. Her name is Sally Jackson and I think she is the best mother in the world. She wanted to be a novelist, so she wanted to save money for her career, but then her uncle, who took care of her when she was young, had cancer and she had to quit school and take care of him. When he died my mom was left with nothing, no money, no diploma, no family. The only good thing that happened to her was when she met my dad. I don't know anything about him because I didn't spend a lot of time with him because, one day he set sail across the Atlantic Ocean and he never came back. He is not dead, all that we know is that he is lost at sea. Then he married this guy named Gabe Ugliano, who was nice to my mom but then he became a world-class jerk. His nick name is smelly Gabe because he smells really bad.

Anyways, when I got into the apartment, Smelly Gabe was just in the living room playing poker with his buddies. He didn't say anything to me he just said "You got any cash?" And I thought to myself "No welcome back?"He looked like he put on a lot of weight since the last six months. I really didn't like the smell, it's even worse than the three old ladies and Mrs.Dodds. I could feel someone watching me, but then my mom said "Percy?" and my fears melted. She was so happy to see me! And we talked about a lot of things but the only thing we didn't talk about is my getting expelled. Then Gabe told my mom to make him some bean dip, I wanted to punch him in the face but my mom stopped me from doing that.
An hour later, we were ready to leave. Gabe stopped playing poker with his buddies, to help us put in our bags in the car. He told me "Not a scratch on this car, brain boy." We were going to go to our rental cabin on the south shore, really far away from the apartment. As we got closer to Montauk, my mom seemed to grow younger not worrying about anything.

When we got to the cabin, we made blueberry smoothies, and we made a fire with roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. She also told me stories about me when I was a kid. Then she said to me " I wish your other dad saw you I bet he would be really proud right now!" Then I said "What was so great about me? A dyslexic , hyperactive boy with D+ report card, kicked out of school for six times in six years. Then I asked "are you going to send me away again, to another boarding school?" All she said was "I don't know, honey." You don't want me around, don't you?" I said Then I said " Or maybe because I am not normal? She said " But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy would be far enough. I thought you'd finally be safe."
Then I said "Safe from what?" She told me one story, though. She said that a man in a black coat kept stalking me when I was playing on the playground. In every single school I went to, something weird would always happen to me. Then she told me "Your father wanted me to send you to this summer camp, but I can't let you go."

In the middle of the night, a huge lightning bolt woke me up and I noticed that Grover was standing by the doorway. But he wasn't actually Grover. Grover said "What were you thinking!"
My mother looked at me with terror, saying What didn't you tell me?" I was just too shocked to answer because Grover had different legs. Then Grover told us to get in the car and he ran, but he wasn't running he was limping. He had no feet, he had cloven hooves.

Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

Dear Journal,



Today I asked a lot of people if they knew or remembered who Mrs. Dodds was, but no one knew who she was and they thought I was PSYCHO. After asking everyone if they knew who Mrs.Dodds was, I started to believe them. But I noticed something about my best friend, Grover. He was acting kind of weird when I told him about Mrs.Dodds, he would always turn pink and go away. I knew he was lying, because he is not good at lying.

Anyways, when I was going to ask Mr. Brunner for some pointers for the exams. So I walked down to the faculty offices. Most of the offices were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's office was a little bit open. There was light coming out from his office. I could hear who was inside the office, Grover and Mr.Brunner was inside. They were talking about me because I heard Grover say "I am worried about Percy, sir. They were talking about me! Then I heard Mr.Brunner say something about me "We need the boy to mature more." Then I dropped my mythology book and both of them went silent. Then Mr.Brunner told Grover to get back at the dorm. So I quickly ran up to the dorm. When I got there he was there studying for the exams looking like he was there the whole time. He asked if I was okay and I said "just......tired" I knew one thing though, They were obviosly talking about me.

It was time for me to leave for the Latin exams. And while I was boarding the bus I saw these three old laddies kntting socks, but something was unusual they kept looking at me. Then Grover pulled me inside the bus and he told me. "Did you see those three old ladies knitting the socks? And I replied "Yeah." I wondered if they were like Mrs. Dodds or even worse. Then he told me "what did you see?"Then I told him "I just saw the middle one took out her scissors and cut the yarn off." Then Grover closed his eyes saying "This is not happening!" I asked him "Why are they so important?" No answer. I asked him "Do they mean thet someone is going to die?" Still no answer. But I always wondered what was going on lately.............

Chapter 1:I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

My name is Percy Jackson and my life is hard!I am a boarding student at Yancy Academy a private school for troubled kids. Last May, my grade six class took a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Mr. Brunner my Latin teacher was the person leading the field trip. He is a middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. All my other field trips were just trouble to me. There was one time, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had an accident with a revolutionary war cannon, but I think you get the point. Mr.Brunner led the museum tour and he told us what everything was inside the museum. I tried listening to what he said, but everyone kept talking around me. And every time I told them to be quiet, the other teacher Mrs.Dodds would give me an evil eye.

Mrs.Dodds was a math teacher at Yancy academy. I always thought she wasn't human because she would always act weird during math class. She loved Nancy Bobofit, but she doesn't love me, she thinks I am the devil or something. Anyways, Nancy Bobofit blabbered something about the naked guy on the stele, I told them to be quiet, but I said it too loud and I got in trouble. So I had to answer one of Mr.Brunner's questions. But I answered it perfectly, with no mistakes. Then Mrs.Dodds called me and told me to follow her inside the museum. She was everywhere really fast and I started to get scared, then I couldn't find her any more. Now I was really scared. Then when I went inside, I saw her standing in front of a big marble statue of the Greek gods and she was growling. Then all of a sudden, she turned into a monster! Then Mr.Brunner came out of nowhere and threw me a pen, that turned into a sword! And when she went flying to me I quickly hit her shoulder, and she turned into yellow powder. She disappeared and I was alone inside.

When I went outside, I asked if any of them saw Mrs. Dodds, but strangely no one knew her or even remembered her. I said to myself "What just happened?"