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Ch39 – SoM – Unpleasant Changes

The next day was a warm sunny day but there was a cool breeze blowing throughout Olympus as if mimicking the jovial nature of most of the gods. Almost everyone was in a good mood, especially the six elder gods. For reasons unknown to everyone else, even the king and queen of Olympus were for the first time in a very long time not grouchy but had actual smiles on their faces, which baffled a few of the younger gods and demigods.

After breakfast and little coaxing from the gods, they all decided to sit and read in the open air amphitheater. It was a huge semi-circular structure made out of limestone, which allowed even the farthest listener to be able to hear everything properly. In the middle was the hearth where Hestia was already tending to the fire when the gods, demigods and hunters filled up the area. It reminded the campers of their campfire and made them feel homesick and most of the campers took up their usual positions as if they were sitting at the campfire for sing along.

Nike decided to read the next chapter.

"I GET A NEW CABIN MATE"

"Ever come ... furniture polish?"

"All the damn time." The Stolls said in unison and a few other demigods and even some of the younger gods nodded.

"That's kind ... like ugly scars."

"Why is the forest getting affected?" Gwen asked.

"Because the camp borders are failing." Katie explained. "The borders aren't just for protection from monsters or hiding us from the mortals. They also create a separate environment inside the camp, which allows us to grow even those plants that shouldn't survive in North America. And Thalia's spirit only strengthened it. So, when the tree started dying, so did the borders and the magic shield around camp."

"So basically everything in the camp was also dying?" Hazel asked in a horrified tone. She couldn't imagine what she would do if something like that ever happened to Camp Jupiter.

"Yeah." Connor replied. "It was like staying in a hospital during an epidemic outbreak. Everything around us was either almost dead or already dead, except obviously the people."

"Somebody had messed ... out of a couple."

"So, like Camp Jupiter then?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Except that there was this feeling that something might attack us and we wouldn't be able to protect ourselves anymore." Percy said with a grimace as he remembered how those few days were like.

"None of that ... the toilets.""

All the older campers chuckled at Tyson's innocence and inquisitive nature, which thankfully had not been affected over the years of terrible quests and wars.

""Whasthat!"

... mom's group.""

"Thank gods we don't have that rule anymore." Chris said and the Stolls nodded. It was too much work for them when they had to take care of their siblings as well as undetermined campers.

"What do you mean? Where do the undetermined children go?" Nike asked.

"Well, most of the campers get claimed the day they arrive or in the next couple of days. Till then, if there is no extra bed in the Hermes cabin, then a few other cabins have volunteered to host the camper till they get claimed." Chiron explained. "So any god/goddess who doesn't mind another camper staying with their children, those cabins can take in the child till he/she gets claimed." The counselors had come up with that before the Giant War had started because it had been getting too difficult for the Hermes cabin to take care of everyone.

"Anyway, before this war had started, we had already talked to Lady Hestia and she had been alright with her honorary cabin being turned into a sort of cabin for undetermined campers, whenever it got completed." Annabeth added and Hestia smiled. She would obviously welcome any child into her cabin.

Satisfied that her children, if unclaimed, would have a proper place to stay, Nike read, "He looked at me in awe. "You ... have a cabin?"

"Number three." ... patch of kelp."

The amphitheater was filled with laughter at Percy's thoughts. Percy just shrugged when his dad and Triton looked at him in confusion. It was a genuine concern for him and he still didn't know what Poseidon might turn him into.

"You say that as if it was my goal to get turned into a pine tree." Thalia joked, lightly kicking him in the back. She was sitting behind Percy with Jason and Piper.

Percy mock glared at her while rubbing his back but turned to look at Poseidon when he quipped, "I would probably turn you into a dolphin or something along those lines."

"Huh. Still better than floating patch of kelp." Percy shrugged.

"When we got ... second father to her."

Chiron looked over and smiled at Annabeth. All of the children who came to him were like his own children. He knew more about them than their parents – godly or mortal – did. He knew what the children liked and disliked, he knew what made them tick and he knew how to calm them down. The centaur knew each child personally and he never forgot about any of them, even long after they were gone. Just like he still remembered that Hercules' favorite color was actually red and not blue like Zeus thought or that the hero felt cheated by the gods because of what Hera had made him do to his family or that he wouldn't back down if anyone so much as hurt his pride or ego. In the same way he knew things about everyone who came to him.

"Chiron ruffled ... over the year!""

"Everyone says that." Connor said.

"I think it's an adult's thing." Lou Ellen said.

"I swallowed. ... made me angry."

At once, all the demigods and gods who had children turned to glare at Dionysus, who shrank under the glares he was receiving. Apollo was the most annoyed. He had raised Chiron and taught him everything he could. How dare his brother remove the centaur from the position that Apollo had bestowed upon him?

""But this is ... circumstances?" I asked."

"Yes. Exactly what circumstances would make some of the Olympians to not trust Chiron?" Apollo seethed. Chiron was like his own child. Sure, if he went by relations, then the centaur would be his uncle, but nevertheless, it was Apollo who had found Chiron and raised him and so Chiron was like a child to him. And he did not appreciate that someday in the future, the Olympians would turn against the one person who took care of their children.

"There were some valid circumstances, Lord Apollo." Chiron said. He knew that Apollo would be the one person who would not tolerate such an action taken towards Chiron.

"Hardly." Percy scoffed. "All they had to do was use their brains and they would see that you would never do something like that."

Chiron offered a weak smile and rubbed his forehead when many of the demigods agreed with Percy. He did not want Percy to annoy any of the gods now that they were in such good moods. But, between Apollo's anger and the shock of Chiron being removed from his position, most of them hadn't even registered Percy's words.

"But, what circumstances are you talking about, Chiron?" Artemis asked.

"Well, if the Titan Lord is rising, then maybe that's why…" Athena mused and Apollo rolled his eyes.

"That's like accusing father or uncles or aunts because of parentage." Apollo said. "That cannot be…" he trailed off when he saw the older camper's faces. So Chiron's parentage was the reason that some Olympians did not trust him. "That's absurd!" he shouted.

"Please, Lord Apollo." Chiron pleaded. "This has already been done and I had been reinstated in a couple of weeks' time anyway." He looked at Nike and asked her to read.

"Chiron's face ... pits of Tartarus.""

"Did you ever find out what venom it was?" Jason asked.

"No." Annabeth replied.

""Then we ... do it, that traitor.""

"He didn't do it, did he?" Hermes asked. He still couldn't understand why his son would turn his back on their family.

When the campers offered no answer, Nike continued, ""Perhaps," Chiron ... lost centuries ago.""

"Lost?" Athena asked. "Surely, you are talking about the Golden Fleece. That is the only source of magic that can heal anything. Why would it be lost?"

"Everything will be explained mother." Annabeth said as she looked at Athena, who looked like she would throttle one Fate at a time for putting up the rule.

""What is it?" I ... do not leave.""

"Hmmph. You are not going to follow orders, now are you?" Theseus asked his brother.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure the whole of Olympus is waiting for the day Percy follows an order." Thalia said with a laugh.

""Why?" I asked... took your life.""

"It was a trap. Just not the kind we were expecting." Annabeth murmured.

"Was it a trap?" Dakota asked.

"Sort of." Thalia replied. It was more of a battle strategy, she thought to herself.

"It was true, ... wanted him around."

"Yeah, very subtle."

"But no. ... save her friends?"

Everyone unconsciously nodded and a few looked at Thalia in admiration of her fearlessness and willpower.

"Annabeth was ... "Just checking.""

The gods once again wondered how horrible this prophesy could be that they had forbidden Chiron to talk about it. Poseidon wondered whether this prophesy had already come to pass or were they still waiting for it happen.

""Chiron ... rumbled outside."

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. Why was Chiron insisting on Percy being kept safe? And why had Kronos been so adamant to go after Percy? Was the whole poisoning of the tree a ploy to get Percy? There must be some truth to it if Chiron had felt that the poisoning could be a trap.

"Wow." Leo whistled. "You actually swore on Styx to protect Percy." He looked impressed.

"Why would you make her do such a thing?" Athena asked Chiron. Then she turned to her daughter and asked, "Why would you agree and swear on River Styx?" If something happened to the boy on her daughter's watch, the River would not let it go. It would hurt Annabeth.

"I had forgotten about this." Percy whispered to his girlfriend. "If I had known how impossible it is to protect someone, I would not have let you make that promise." He thought about how he had made a similar promise but not on Styx, to Nico and how he had failed to keep the promise.

"And I still would have made it." Annabeth replied and quickly kissed Percy's cheek. She had a feeling what he would be thinking about.

""Very well," ... quickly as I fear.""

"That's optimistic." Frank mumbled.

"Surprisingly, there were no deaths." Travis said and the other older campers nodded. Between Dionysus and Tantalus, the children had been expecting some or the other fatal accident.

""Who is this ... forgotten you!""

"Why exactly is father after Percy?" Poseidon asked Chiron. "It is because of this prophesy that keeps getting mentioned, isn't it?"

"Yes, Lord Poseidon. But that will be explained later." Chiron said. He could feel the annoyance and worry rolling off the sea god but he did not want to go against the Fates. Anyway, it was fun for him to hold all of the answers. He was always doing whatever the gods wanted without asking too many questions because they never replied to his queries, so it only felt right to be able to do that to them.

"With that, he ... I didn't believe it."

Jason looked at Percy and thought that from such a small age, his cousin had started taking up responsibilities, even when he too was suffering from the same problems as others. Jason had thought that this leader persona of Percy had come up only because of the Second Titan War, but now it seemed like it was his natural role. It made sense, he supposed, a child of big three was always expected to fill up the role of a leader.

"The sun was ... right to lead the line."

Athena was proud that her daughter was a leader but at the same time wished that it hadn't been at the cost of her childhood.

"Next came ... to tell her about it."

"I am going to kill those disloyal idiots." Clarisse muttered under her breath.

Ares looked at his daughter and hoped that she better prove her worth soon, because if she couldn't even handle a couple of bulls then why was she even the leader. Then the god looked at Frank in pride. Now that was a child fit to be his, Ares thought. The boy was a leader of an entire camp!

"After the Ares ... you wanted."

Hephaestus grinned proudly at the mention of his son. It seemed that his son was pretty talented. The god wondered why he wasn't included in the reading, but he had a bad feeling about his child's fate when he saw the solemn and downcast faces of the campers.

The campers remembered the day Percy had returned with the horrifying news of Beckendorf's sacrifice. He had been a good friend to everyone and always created anything they asked him to – whether it was an armor or shield or even some machines for playing pranks. Percy gripped Annabeth's hand as he stared at the ground. The son of Hephaestus had been one of Percy's closest friends at camp and he didn't think there would ever come a time when he would move on from his untimely death.

"The other cabins ... I was a demigod."

Grover smiled at his best friend. He was lucky to have someone who cared for him so much, the satyr thought.

Pan, too was thinking along the same lines. He whispered to Hermes and Dionysus, "I like this child. He respects us." Hermes nodded while Dionysus just rolled his eyes. The boy was too perfect to be true, the wine god thought. Soon he would show his true colors as an arrogant people user.

"After the satyrs... and Connor Stoll."

"Ah! Finally!" Connor said.

"We were starting to wonder that maybe you had forgotten us." Travis said.

"You both are way too annoying to be forgotten by anyone." Katie said.

"Whatever. At least people will remember us." Connor said.

"They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. I could never remember which one was older."

"Hold on! You both are not twins?" Dakota asked.

"Wow. For not being twins, you both are identical." Gwen said.

"Of course we are not twins." Travis said. "I am older and taller."

"By one year." Connor said indignantly. "And I am much better looking. Like much, much."

"Wow. This is like listening to Artemis and Apollo fight." Thalia said and Percy agreed.

"They are still fighting about who is older?" Hermes asked.

"All the time. Like 99% of their conversation is about that." Thalia replied and the gods and hunters groaned. So, they would have to put up with the infamous debate even millennia later. Apollo grinned and looked at his twin, who just rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"They were ... down your shirt."

"Ooh. Good idea." The brothers said in unison.

"No!" all the campers shouted at them. They knew that the two won't drop a firecracker down somebody's shirt…well, they hoped that the brothers won't. It was hard to know with those two.

"I'd always ... get the joke."

"Oh. We got the joke…" Travis said.

"But it was a horrible joke." Connor finished.

"As soon as... out who'd spoken."

Percy gritted his teeth. Now all the insults from the campers would probably start. He just hoped that not too many were mentioned in the books. As it is Tyson would have to deal with Percy having horrible thoughts about him.

Poseidon winced and hoped that Tyson wasn't insulted at the camp. But, it was a camp of demigods and while they were quite nice to their own people, they weren't exactly the most accommodating people when it came to different species.

"From the head ... these days: Whatever.""

"You are so rude, D." Aphrodite told Dionysus who just sipped his wine.

"He was wearing ... one at a time."

Pan glared at his friend. Why was he treating the satyrs as his personal slaves?

"Mr. D's real ... the same time."

"It is him." Athena said.

"What is that disgusting creature doing at the camp?" Aphrodite asked, enraged that someone like Tantalus would be allowed anywhere near children.

"He should not even be allowed near children, let alone our children." Zeus said, glaring at Dionysus. If he was the camp director, then he definitely must have had a hand in getting Tantalus at the camp. What was his son up to?

""This boy," Dionysus ... me at length."

Poseidon glared at Dionysus and swore that if any harm came to Percy because of that diabolic creature, he would make the wine god's life miserable. Why would he discuss Percy with that Tantalus? Surely, Dionysus hadn't become that irresponsible over the years.

""I am Tantalus," ... gotten into a civil war?"

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. Why was Percy being ill-treated at the camp? Why was he being singled out? Was it because of the broken oath? Or was it because of the prophesy that kept on getting mentioned?

The campers thought about how during the earlier years, Dionysus used to mistreat Percy more than any other camper. No one ever gave much thought to it because Percy had always taken everything in stride and made jokes on Mr. D's treatment of him. But, they had never considered that he might actually have been suffering because of it. What else had they not known about their friend?

"A satyr inched ... now it will work.""

Hermes narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Don't tell me that you brought Tantalus to camp just because you wanted to torture someone." The god of thieves said in a grim voice, which worried some as they had never heard him speak in anything but a jovial tone.

"I don't know. It hasn't happened yet." The wine god said and hoped that he had a good reason for getting that miserable spirit to camp.

"Tantalus grabbed ... Tantalus muttered."

"At least his punishment hasn't been pardoned." Hades said. Even though he hadn't been invited to that dinner, he had been disgusted enough to hate the old king for all of eternity.

""Ah, well," ... trying to warn me."

"You really don't know when to shut up, do you?" Jason said in disbelief.

"You should know that by now that Percy has no brain to mouth filter." Thalia chuckled.

"How did you not remember? He is one of the most infamous people in our history." Annabeth said, shaking her head.

"I didn't read?" Percy told his girlfriend. "It's easier when people just tell me. And it saves time… for me."

Annabeth fondly shook her head. How did she fall in love with this vlakas?

As entertaining as it was, Poseidon hoped that his son didn't go around aggravating everyone he met. That would earn him a lot of enemies.

""I'll be watching ... sir.""

Everyone dissolved into giggles and chuckles. Leo dramatically said, "All hail the Lord of Sass." And the campers started laughing all over again.

"What did that mean?" Perseus asked with a grin when the campers had quieted down a bit.

"Sass?" Travis asked. "It means having an insolent attitude."

"That he has plenty." Theseus said, shaking his head. This younger brother of his was just too hilarious.

""Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours—the one where no one else ever wants to sit.""

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Apollo asked Dionysus.

Thalia narrowed her eyes. Even she was a child of big three – she was the first one for whom the oath was broken. But even then, when she had come to camp, Mr. D hadn't singled her out or mistreated her. Why was he behaving as such with Percy?

Reyna frowned and remembered when Percy had first come to Camp Jupiter. The entire camp had singled him out. They had been wary of him and many had been rude to him in that one week that he had stayed at camp. Back then, she had wondered why he hadn't reacted to any of that. But it seemed that he was already used to being treated that way.

"My face was burning, but I knew better than to talk back. Dionysus was an overgrown brat, but he was an immortal, super powerful overgrown brat."

Dionysus glared at Percy. He didn't know what the boy had just called him, but the demigod was starting to get on his nerves and the fact that he was a son of Poseidon did the boy no favors.

"What is a brat?" Apollo asked inquisitively.

"Uh… a spoiled child – paliópaido." Annabeth explained and hoped that Mr. D wouldn't hurt Percy because of that.

Dionysus' face was purple with barely contained rage. That disrespectful child of Poseidon! The wine god looked up when he felt someone glaring at him and saw that Poseidon was indeed glaring at him.

Don't you dare hurt my son! He speaks the truth. You are behaving as a child. Poseidon warned his nephew, who sat back but didn't stop glaring daggers at Percy.

"I said, "Come ...

Dionysus snickered."

Almost everyone glared at Dionysus. How could the wine god be so callous with their children's lives?

"You are forgetting D, that your own children live at that camp." Apollo said in disappointment.

"This is all in future so don't any of you dare look at me like that." The god snapped.

Nike huffed in anger and read, ""Leave us," Tantalus ... Not openly, anyway."

"Yeah. Never openly. But you disobey almost every order ever." Connor pointed out.

"Only when I have no choice." Percy defended himself. It wasn't like he went out of his way to break the rules, they just stood in the way of doing the right thing.

"Huh. When you're right, you're right." Clarisse said, thinking about how she would have never made it hadn't it been for Percy's annoying ways to flout rules and sneak out of camp.

""I'll be right ... are my friend.""

"And my best brother!" Tyson whispered to Percy. "Don't worry, I remember what you said last night."

Percy smiled gratefully at the cyclops and prayed that there would not be too many insults in the book against Tyson.

"Which made me ... silently. Please."

Poseidon looked at Percy and Tyson and realized that Tyson must have been the help that he had sent to Percy. The cyclops' particular skills might have been needed in whatever quest his son would go on. Otherwise, the god would have just called Tyson to his forges.

"The smoke ... really listening."

"It does." The sea god told his son.

"I went back ... for announcements."

"How worse could things get?" Frank asked.

"With Tantalus involved? A lot." Katie replied.

""Yes, well," Tantalus ... enough to eat.""

The gods grimaced, knowing that Tantalus could actually follow up on that thinly disguised threat. What had Dionysus been thinking? Was this his way of getting back at the Council for being punished? By putting their children in harm's way?

"Dionysus clapped ... fear, disbelief."

"That sounds like fun. Why would they have to be removed?" Ares asked. Chariot races were his favorite sport, right behind dueling.

"It should come up." Clarisse said.

""Now I know," ... Apollo table called."

"Whoa! What the…" Dakota said, his eyes wide open in disbelief and fear.

"How did that happen? Like… how?" Jason asked. He knew that the camp had chariot races even though he hadn't participated in one because the camp wasn't really into hosting games during a war and with Percy missing.

"They get really dangerous. The chariots aren't exactly built for safety. So, if you or the horses get hurt… that's it. A lot of times, the riders would get trampled by horses or get run over by other chariots. And the others cannot stop their chariots at a minutes notice because then they themselves would get badly hurt." Annabeth explained. She had been there when the last chariot race had taken place before Chiron had banned it. They only kept the chariot races in their schedule anymore because the campers had agreed that if anyone got seriously injured, the whole thing would once again be removed.

Seeing the alarmed looks on all those who hadn't participated at a chariot race, Percy said, "Don't worry. The few times that we had the race, no one got seriously injured." That didn't particularly calm anyone's nerves and they decided not to actually take part in it.

""Yes, yes!" Tantalus ... to object did so."

"Why would anyone object? Sounds like a sweet deal to me." Dakota said.

"It was. But, the camp was unstable remember. We were no longer safe and having to prepare for some stupid races wasn't going to keep us safe." Katie said.

"Oh yeah."

""But, sir!" Clarisse ... blushed. "Um, I didn't—""

"Are you kidding me?" Reyna said. She turned to Clarisse and said, "No offence, but had it not been for Tyson, the bulls would have killed or severely injured you all."

"Yeah I know." Clarisse said. She internally groaned as she remembered how attention seeking she had been during that time. It wasn't that she didn't deserve the attention, after all she had been protecting camp for a long time, but she had let that pride get in between her goal of protecting the camp and had it had almost cost her life and the camp.

"Tantalus had a real sweet spot for Clarisse here." Travis snickered.

"Yeah, she could have probably murdered us in our sleep and gotten away with it." Connor said but shifted away from Clarisse under her murderous glare.

"Tantalus was screwed up." Percy said.

"That he was." Katie agreed.

""And modest, too." ... a hand toward Tyson."

Poseidon, Amphitrite and Triton looked positively murderous. How dare Tantalus speak like that? Even the campers looked uneasy as they realized that Tyson had been treated horribly and had he not been so innocent, he would have just left the camp to die. He had saved their lives so many times, especially in the Battle of Labyrinth.

"Uneasy murmuring ... six-foot-three Cyclops."

"That wasn't the only reason." Travis said quietly.

"I know." Percy replied.

Something in Percy's tone made Poseidon feel that Tyson might have to face more humiliation than he already was. But Tyson looked completely at peace as he worked with fitting the drakon bone sword into the sheath. Poseidon hoped that his son was still too naïve to understand what was being said.

""Come now," ... above Tyson's head."

Tyson grinned as he remembered being claimed. It had been the best day of his life. He had gotten Percy as his brother! And he knew Percy loved him, no matter how he would behave in the book. He just knew it!

"With a sickening ... family resemblance!""

Poseidon grimaced as he realized that the campers would not be friendly towards Tyson. They would be bitter towards him because a god claimed a cyclops when so many demigods were yet to be claimed. He realized that the campers might even make Percy's life difficult if Tantalus' statement was anything to go by.

"Everybody laughed ... a half-brother."

The campers had an uneasy silence enveloping them. Most of them had laughed and made fun of Percy and Tyson for days to come and it hadn't been until they had returned from the quest that the campers had started accepting Tyson as a friend. Now that they actually knew the cyclops, they couldn't believe how judgmental they all had been. They quickly apologized to Tyson for mistreating him, but the cyclops, bless him, only stared at them in confusion and told them that they were his friends and shook his head at their apologies and went back to working on his project.

The sea god now knew for sure that the campers would have taunted both his children over this claiming. But he also had a feeling that claiming Tyson had been the right thing to do despite the insults that the children might have to endure.

Nike announced that that was the end of the chapter and passed the book to Iris.