The Power Of Fear

## Disclaimer

This is an AU style writing to Rick Riordan's 'Percy Jackson' novel series. Some places, elements, and characters may belong to him, which will be listed here as the story goes on. This is based off of Greek Mythology, and all gods and monsters are either based on or directly from such mythology. Some creatures or characters may also be species from Greek Mythology. If you are found to be stealing this or editing it without permission, you will be warned, and if it continues, myself as an admin will take action. Thank you, and please enjoy.

## Introduction

I was eating breakfast, spreading jam on my toast. When I went to leave the house, that’s when everything went wrong. You see, I’m what we call a half-blood. And this was the day I found out that very dangerous piece of information. When you’re a half-blood, it’s risky to even exist. You don’t often have the luxury of safety, and if you’re the kind of half-blood that I am, you never, ever do.

You see, to monsters, half-bloods give off an energy that screams ‘come get me’. And when you’re a child of the gods we call the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), that energy is amplified so greatly that you may as well always be screaming it at the top of your lungs. I happen to be a child of the second, and while he isn’t the king of the gods as Lord Zeus, he’s still far up there. So, because of his…decision to keep having half-blood children, I am forever in life-threatening danger. Fun, right? No. No, absolutely not.

## Chapter One

Penny grabbed the toast off of her plate and mowed down on it as fast as she could. She wanted to get to school as fast as she could, and just get it over with. Penny hated school with a burning passion, she was dyslexic, and her school hadn’t seemed to figure out that they couldn’t just hand her the regular school work and tell her to just work it out. She stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and calling goodbyes to her mother.

Almost as soon as Penny left the house, her neighbour’s son, Arrow, limped over to her. He just seemed to have a limp, and Penny didn’t know him well enough to ask why, she figured it was personal and she had just never bothered.

“Penny!” There seemed to be a weird air of desperation in how he was moving and talking, but once he got there, it didn’t lessen, “Penny, wait up!”

She paused, unsure of what she should do, “Uhm…good morning to you too, Arrow. Listen, I’d love to talk but I have to-”

“No! No, just listen to me for a minute, please,” He took a deep breath, and when she didn’t leave or interrupt, he continued, “I’m going to say something that’s going to freak you out, but you have to believe me, okay? You won’t want to at first, but you just have to.”

Penny thought for a moment she could just run away, but the way he was saying it made her just want to hear him out, it wouldn’t make her late for school, so she could just listen. No harm, no foul, right?

She sighed, “Okay, go ahead.”

Arrow glanced back behind him nervously, and Penny swore she could hear some type of inhuman screeching in the distance, “You, Penelope Brooks,” She was more than a little freaked he knew her full name, “Are a child of Sarah Brooks, as you know,” He was increasingly scaring her, “But more importantly, a daughter of Lord Poseidon himself.”

Penny took a hesitant step back, and the fear must have been very present on her face, because he continued rapidly, “You’re a half-blood, a demigod, and a really powerful one at that. I’m supposed to take you to Camp Half-Blood. It’s a place where you’ll be safe. I’m a satyr, that’s why I have a limp. I can prove it to you, but right now there’s a harpy after you, which is why I had to tell you now. And we need to get going before something happens to you, Penelope.”

“You’re crazy. Get away from me right now, I swear to god I’m going to-”

He cut her off, “Stop! First of all, it’s gods, and second of all, I’m not crazy. If you would just let me show you, we need to get out of here as fast as we can. Alright?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Penny cried out, and that’s when she saw it coming over the row of houses.

Behind Arrow, about five or six houses back, was a giant bird flying directly as them. Except, it wasn't a bird. It was a woman with large wings, clawed hands, and talons and bird legs where her legs should have been. She was greasy and ugly and awful, letting out a hungry screeching noise, the one she had heard before. Her talon-feet were stretching, she was anticipating prey, and from the look on her face, Penny was the prey. She glanced rapidly at Arrow, and he nodded frantically. Suddenly, he kicked off his shoes, and his feet came with them. But they weren't really his feet…they were fake feet! They had been covering up hooves, and from what she could tell, his pants held fur above those hooves. He had been telling the truth, either that, or this was an incredibly elaborate prank. She took off running, and he took the lead. Together, they raced off, trying to lose the monster, and Penny had no idea where she was going. She could only hope he knew, that he could save her.

=+=

It just so happened the harpy was much faster than they were. She swooped down, talons outstretched with a horrifying shriek. She almost got Penny, but Arrow dove at her, pushing her down, and rolling out of the way himself. Penny cried out as the harpy caught herself just before she hit the dirt. She launched again, and Arrow pulled out what seemed to be a set of wooden…things. Penny was pretty sure they were reed pipes, her elementary school had done the Peter Pan play a few times.

He played a song she didn’t know, and the grass grew up, wrapping around the harpy’s talons and pulling her to the ground. She screeched, using her claw-like nails to scratch at them, but he kept playing and they kept wrapping around her legs, crawling up to her torso. As she kept clawing, Arrow stopped playing and kept sprinting away. Penny followed in a rush, and looked back only once, to see the harpy was struggling with the grass, so they were gaining distance between them and her.

After what seemed like hours, they reached a shed-like barn structure, Penny wasn’t sure exactly what it was meant to be. Arrow ran inside, and she followed quickly. He closed the door just as they heard the harpy’s angry screeches come into earshot, and Penny hoped that she wouldn’t find them, or they would be trapped.

Penny waited with bated breath, as the sounds of flapping of wings and screeching reached the barn doors, and stopped. It took a minute, but she passed by, the anger in her shrieking somehow more intense. She looked over at Arrow, eyes wide. Both were out of breath, Penny holding her knees to catch her breath. She had never been an athlete, and that was more running than any race the school athletes could do, she was sure. She thought maybe it was adrenaline, she had heard it could do some really weird things, like give people the strength to lift cars.

She sank to the ground, legs too weak to hold her up anymore, glancing over at Arrow, she muttered, “What the hell was that?”

“A harpy.”

“No, really? Thanks genius, I could have never figured that out. I meant, how was it real? How are…you real? You’re a goat!”

“I’m a satyr,” He corrected, “Calling me a goat is kind of offensive, I’m only part goat”

“Right…right, sorry. I’m just not used to th-to any of it, actually. So, let me just get this straight, yeah? You’re part goat, she’s part bird. She’s hunting us because I’m some sort of god’s kid, Greek Mythology is real, and we almost just died. Is that it?”

“Pretty much, and yes, you’re a daughter of Lord Poseidon.”

Penny took a deep, unsteady breath, “Okay. Why don’t you explain this to me while we sit here before we go anywhere else? I don’t want to use my legs after all that running.”

He shrugged, “Understandable,” He took a bottle of water from somewhere in the shadowy darkness behind him, and passed it to her, “This should help. Not only because of the obvious hydrating reasons, but because your father is the god of sea, and really just water, it should help a lot more with your exhaustion.”

Penny nodded, unscrewing the cap and taking a big swig as Arrow began to explain. It made sense, she guessed, water had always really quickly helped her with tiredness, and she seemed to heal a little quicker. She just assumed it was genetics or something, which she supposed it was, technically. But if this was all real, and she was a demigod, it would explain that decently outright.

## Chapter Two

Arrow had explained most of the things Penny would need to know for the moment. He told her about the gods, monsters, The Mist, some weird vibes that demigods give to monsters that lets them find them, especially children of The Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), how Camp Half-Blood was a safe place for them, and a few other things. They then decided that it would be better to spend the night in the barn, so they wouldn’t risk going out for more monsters to find them in the open. Penny thought it would be just as bad, if not worse, if monsters cornered them in the barn, but she didn’t say that.

Arrow grabbed some lanterns, which Penny helped him light. She could now see where he had gotten the water bottle from. There was a shelf with a large supply of water bottles, bags of food, little golden cubes and thermoses. There were also about five sleeping bags, the lanterns, matches, and an assortment of knives, daggers, and even two swords. He handed her a sleeping bag and a dagger, saying it was just in case, before he went on to explain what the golden cubes were and what was in the thermoses. It turned out they were nectar and ambrosia, the food and drink of the gods. He explained that consuming a small amount can help heal demigods, but if they ingest too much, it will kill them. Penny thought that was just a lovely line to ride if you were severely injured and needed it.

They both laid out their sleeping bags, and soon Penny could hear Arrow snoring. As she lay awake, trying to fall asleep, her mind ran over all of the monsters, myths, and gods she could remember from her mythology phase when she was eight. The more she thought about it, the more everything terrified her. Because the myths were never about joyful things, or happy endings. They were always filled with pain, misery, and death.

=+=

It was early morning when Penny awoke. She hadn’t had the best sleep, and through the small window on the side of the barn she could see that the sun was just starting to come up. She sat up in the sleeping bag, yawning slightly. Arrow was still asleep, so she tried to be as quiet as possible as she rolled up her sleeping bag, set it back with the rest, and grabbed one of the many, many granola bars that were stocked up. She sat on a wooden box and unwrapped the bar, biting into it. The last time she had eaten would have been exactly a day ago in a few hours, but she didn’t want to take much more from the stash. From the way it was stocked, she figured it would come into use for someone else in the near future, and that they may need it more than she.

As she ate, Penny found herself once again lost in thoughts. Mainly, she still couldn’t wrap her head around the facts of what happened, but now a new thought was creeping up on her. What about her mother? She hadn’t even thought of it until that moment. Penny didn’t have a phone, or anything to tell her she was okay. That led to more questions. Arrow had told her about how demigods shouldn’t use cell phones, how it projected the signal they gave off to monsters a whole lot more, but what other way could she tell her mother she was alright? Did she already know what Penny was? If she did, why hadn’t she told her sooner, or at all? The questions swirled around her brain for a good while before Penny could push them down, surely her mother had a good reason not to tell her. Surely.

Many ideas and questions still swirling in her brain, Penny was brought back to reality with a soft tap on her shoulder. She looked up, and Arrow was standing beside her, the dagger he had given her for protection still in hand. He passed it to her, and she took it by the handle, careful of the point. He also handed her a sheath and told her to keep the dagger at her waist, so she wouldn’t be waving around a weapon, but it would be easy to access. Penny stood up, doing so, and pulled her shirt over it, and it did an okay job at hiding it. Arrow had explained The Mist, so she figured it was a good idea, mortals (that was still very weird to Penny to call people mortals) would be alarmed if they saw a child holding a weapon, especially a dagger. Arrow himself had a backpack, Penny wasn’t sure what it held inside, and she didn’t ask quite then.

“We should get moving again. It’ll probably take all day today if we walk, and I don’t think you want to sprint again,” Arrow looked out the window, “There’s nothing waiting out there for us, at least I don’t think, so let’s move while the going’s good.”

Penny nodded, “Definitely don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

Arrow laughed to try and lighten the mood, but Penny gave him a look and he just nodded in agreement. She knew he didn’t want a repeat of that disaster as well, and there was no denying it.

They got moving once more, leaving the barn and beginning their journey. The sun rose in the sky, and it grew warmer as the day passed them by. Arrow spent most of the time explaining more about Camp Half-Blood, their traditions and customs, and just more things about the way of life in general. The rest of the time they spent walking in silence, until Arrow continued on speaking. Penny didn’t mind, she was grateful for the advice, and warnings for what was going to happen when they arrived. She was very conscious of the sheath and blade, it scared her. To her, it was a symbol that nothing would ever be the same. That her whole life had been uprooted and it had been shoved in her face without any chance for protest.

Penny sighed, and Arrow looked over at her, it had been one of their moments of silence, “Are you okay?”

She laughed a little, and it caught her off guard, “No, no not really. This is a lot, and it’s only been like a day and a half.”

“Yeah. I hate to say it…but everyone feels like that at first. You’ll never enjoy getting attacked by monsters, but you will enjoy making friends that are like you; learning your strengths and powers, maybe even meeting your father some day.”

Penny nodded absentmindedly, she knew Arrow was probably right, but there was something in her gut she couldn’t quite shake or place. It was like the feeling of being suddenly overcome by nausea in a car, but that wasn’t entirely right either. She hugged her torso, hands landing on her soft green sweater. After that discussion, the two were mostly quiet, and that was how they heard her screeches.

At a point unknown to Penny, the harpy had come close enough that they could hear her still-angered screeches behind them, but she was far enough from them that they couldn’t see her. At least, they couldn’t see her yet. Penny glanced over at Arrow, eyes wide. She knew she had the dagger in her sheath, and that comforted her slightly, but not enough. She didn’t know how to use it! She knew he would know what to do, though, hopefully.

He looked back, and as she did, she noticed that she could see a small blob on the horizon that was very likely to be the harpy. They were safe for the moment, but Arrow suggested to her they pick up the pace to a run, so they continued to stay safe. The two continued on, running now, but kept steady. Eventually they slowed down and stopped for a minute before continuing walking and then running.

They reached the bottom of a hill by dusk, where they decided to sleep and eat a little bit of food. Arrow slung the backpack from his shoulder, putting it on the ground in front of him. He handed her a bag with a ham sandwich inside, and she also found another granola bar. Then he pulled out a couple of aluminium cans, and Penny was confused because there wasn’t anything in them, they were empty. She frowned, and he began to munch on them.

Penny kind of cleared her throat, just a little uncomfortable. Humans weren’t supposed to be able to eat metal, but he wasn’t necessarily a human, at least not entirely. He looked up at her, waiting for her to talk, as most people do when they clear their throats. But, she didn’t, so he kept eating his…aluminium cans, and she ate her ham sandwich and granola bar, unsurprisingly very hungry after all of the walking they had done.

Once they finished, Penny asked about the cans, not meaning to be rude, but she was too curious not to ask. Arrow explained, and then they both laid down and went to sleep as the sun sunk behind the hills beyond. Penny found that she was having trouble sleeping. Arrow didn’t quite snore, but he did make some sort of sounds similar enough to keep her awake. It also may have been her extreme sense of impending doom and her whole life being turned upside down to never go back to normal, but it was probably just Arrow…right?

## Chapter Three

The two had no more unwanted encounters with the harpy, and Penny was grateful for that. They continued to trudge along the road as it slowly became dirt, and then a path through dense forest. There was something that surprised Penny, probably the most, and it wasn’t the monsters or gods or danger (though thinking about those too much made her head spin). It was actually how fast you could form a bond with someone. Three days before that, she had never really talked to Arrow, and two days before, she thought he was insane. But, now, she felt as though he would protect her, and she would do the same, if she could. She was sure they would be close for life, if not at least for a long time. She was in debt to him; he had saved her life so many times.

They had been silent for most of the time, Penny was still absorbing everything, and she thought that Arrow understood. Maybe he sensed what she was thinking, because he smiled, nudging her slightly. When she looked up, brought back to reality from the state of deep thinking she had been in, she found that he was grinning, not just smiling.

Something about it was infectious, and Penny found herself laughing slightly, “What? What happened?”

“Nothing. You just seemed like you needed a break from…well…yourself,” he looked out at the path ahead, “So, let’s have a normal people conversation. What do you do for fun?”

She thought that was ironic, because he was part goat and she was part god, “Uhm, I like art. And I like to paint.”

He nodded, “I’ve really never been able to draw or anything like that. Good on you, though. I’d love to see something sometime, maybe I can keep it when you’re famous and say I had a piece of yours before everyone else.”

She chuckled, “Thanks, but I don’t think that I’ll ever be famous.”

“I don’t know, you’d be surprised at how many famous people are demigods. I can’t tell you exactly who, or how many, but trust me, it’s almost too many.”

They shared the somewhat inside joke and laughed together, despite everything that was going on. Their smalltalk continued to fill the day as they walked, and carried through as they stopped for something to eat. Arrow told her they were almost there, and honestly, she was glad. Penny didn’t think that she could handle many more days of walking non-stop. Her feet were aching, legs also hurting. It was something she had never really experienced, as Penny was a little athletic, she did well in phys ed, and she did do some fitness activities from time to time, but she wasn’t an athlete by any means, and she definitely didn’t play sports.

The entire time they walked, Penny was very conscious of the dagger strapped to her side, and the many conflicting feelings that came with it. At the same time, she was glad she had it, in case something were to attack them, but she was also scared. Scared that this meant she would be in danger, that she could be changing, that this could be her new life. What if she failed? What if she couldn’t keep up with the life that was thrown at her, and something incredibly bad happened to her?

The spiral Penny thought she may have been about to fall prey to was interrupted once again by Arrow, who had stopped walking. They were at the base of a large hill, and somehow, even without him telling her, she knew that this was the place, the camp. That was strange, because from that point she couldn’t see anything that would suggest to her that it actually was, it could have just been another hill that they needed to cross to be headed in the direction of Camp HalfBlood. She glanced at him, and he nodded, so they both began to ascend the hill.

Penny had a sudden surge of panic, urgency to move; a certain danger she felt to the core of her bones. On what she felt was simply instinct, she grabbed the dagger and turned, slashing in an arc across the air. She almost jumped back in shock and horror when she found that the blade (that didn’t have very much reach) had struck the harpy, who’s claws were outstretched, it had almost gotten them both, and neither had seen nor heard it. It erupted into a cloud of black smoke that smelt like it came straight out of an outhouse, and the harpy was gone. She dropped the dagger, more shocked and afraid than anything. Arrow picked up the dagger and returned it to her, where she returned it to the sheath numbly, and he carefully put a hand on her shoulder.

“That was close,” Was all that she could manage to breathe out, shivering. It was actually fairly warm, but that didn’t stop her. The words tumbled out of her mouth, and she wasn’t even sure that’s what they were, or if they were in the right order, or if she even made any sense.

“It was,” Arrow had seemed to understand her, at least, “Hey, you saved us. First monster kill for Penelope the demigod, yeah? I know it’s scary, but that was awesome. Good job.”

She nodded slowly, calming down a little more with each passing minute, with his lighthearted jokes assisting that, “Thanks…”

He nodded in return and guided her up the hill, she had momentarily forgotten about where they were going, and like he had always seemed to do the past few days, he not only understood, but redirected and helped her. She had been grateful, though maybe she hadn’t realised that until he had continued to help her in that moment. That was when Penny had solidified her previous thought for good in her mind: he would be the person that she trusted the most, her best friend, and she was so incredibly sure of it.

They walked under a large entryway, she supposed she would call it, carved with the words ‘Camp Half Blood’ in what Penny could best describe as a pointy, Greek lettering. Arrow walked in like he knew the place, like he had been there before. But the more that Penny thought about it, the more she realised that he probably did, and that he probably had been.

“Okay, we have to go find Chi-” Arrow was interrupted when another boy about their age approached.

His voice was careless; lazy and slow, “Hey, Arrow, who’s this you got there?”

The boy had short, fluffy black hair, violet eyes, and a lean frame. He was tall and thin, towering over both Penny and Arrow. He leaned against a nearby tree, still tall enough to look down on them. He had tanned, smooth skin, with freckles that almost bled into his skin colour. He had on a pair of jeans and an orange t-shirt with a winged horse in the centre, and the words ‘Camp Half Blood’ written on it. So he must have been a demigod, right? She figured he probably was, something about him just seemed that way.

Arrow sighed, “This is Penny, Seb.”

“Penny? Penny, Penny, Penny…” he frowned, “Can’t say I’ve heard of you, never seen you ‘round, either. Demigod?”

Penny nodded, though she couldn’t say that he was actually talking to her, or if he was talking to Arrow and directing the questions at her, even though they weren’t for her. He obviously didn’t think about it too much, because he shrugged, pushing himself off of the tree. He nodded to her, said ‘good on you’ and walked away again, leaving Penny and Arrow standing there alone. She glanced at him, cracking a smile. He smiled back, shaking his head slightly and explaining (Penny learned his name was Sebastian) and his weird way of interacting with her. He just doesn’t really talk to people all that much, especially people he doesn’t know, Arrow informed her. Then, they decided to go find the camp leader whose name Penny didn’t know, and get her set up.

=+=

The leader of the camp had been very kind to her, as she had hoped. And even though they knew who her godly parent was, he told her that until she was officially claimed, that she would be in the Hermes cabin, classified as a Hermes camper, and she would be classified correctly once she had been claimed. She thought it was strange, they all knew who’s child she was, the camp leader had said that himself. But, she was okay with doing that, because she would get claimed soon, whatever that meant. At least, she hoped it would be soon. She heard from a few people in the Hermes cabin that they had been waiting months, some even years, and they had never gotten claimed. She hoped it wouldn’t be like that for her, but she also hoped that they would get claimed soon too. No one deserved what they had to endure. To be thrown into a new world and not even getting to know who your parent is, not having them pay attention enough to say ‘oh, hey, that one’s mine’.

Penny was sitting on the sleeping bag she had been given, which was squished between the sea of other sleeping bags and beds meant for one crammed with two or three sleeping bags. A lot of people were in the cabin, but it was few compared to the full amount of campers that would be in there that night.

As Penny sat, she thought about the events of the last few days. Soon, she found herself in a sort of rabbit hole with too many unanswered questions filling her mind. The danger and adrenaline from it had begun to wear off now she knew she was safe, and felt exhausted. She supposed that for the last few days she was so alert because of the adrenaline running through her, the constant fear of dying looming over her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that way a lot, at all, even. But she knew deep down that the second one was far too much to ask for.

## Chapter Four

That night had been, most prominently, warm. There were a lot of people, too many, in that cabin. Penny still wasn’t sure how they all fit, especially since they were still adding other people; it amazed her. She had eventually gone to sleep, though it had been a little difficult. They had all been kind of squished together: not so close they were touching, but it was still a little too close for comfort, especially because she didn’t know a single person in that cabin.

Penny woke up long before the others in her cabin. She knew that it was late enough she could leave the cabin, it was just really early. She slipped out of her sleeping bag, weaving through people and making sure she didn’t step on anyone. That bit was harder than it sounded. But, it was worth it. The view from the steps was nice, but as she walked down closer to the water, it was even more beautiful. She sat on a log that lay across the ground, staring out at the sparkling water. She felt it calling to her, more strongly than it ever had, and it clicked, that was her home. Not literally, of course, but she felt that connection to the water, one that somehow she knew connected her to her father. It was a great thing for her, but she found herself wondering again if he would ever claim her, or if she would ever meet him.

“Hey stranger,” Arrow’s familiar voice pulled her out of her thoughts as he sat next to her on the log, looking out at the water.

Penny couldn’t help but smile, “Morning,” She looked over, “Why are you out here so early? I didn’t think anyone else would be up.”

“I’m always up early,” He shrugged, “But normally no one else is. Why are you awake? I didn’t think you’d wake up for a week after the last few days.”

She laughed, “I just…I don’t know. Actually, I’m not usually a morning person. Maybe it was sleeping in a room with a whole lot of people I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

He nodded, “Hopefully you’ll get claimed sooner rather than later.”

Penny nodded, too. He didn’t say it, but she knew he meant ‘I hope you don’t get forgotten’. She looked out at the water again, and the two sat in a comfortable silence.

Not long after, Arrow stood up, so Penny followed him. They walked down to the water, and Penny was definitely confused. Arrow seemed like he was doing something, though, so she asked him, “Why are we over here, exactly?”

Arrow shrugged, “We should probably head back, but the water’s really nice this time of day, so I figured we should see it up close before we leave.”

Penny nodded and they stood for a moment, watching the water. Then, they both walked back up to the camp, seeing Sebastian nearby. Arrow walked over, and all three talked for a while. Then, Arrow took Penny over to a large arena. When she inquired, he told her it was the sword-fighting arena, and he was going to try and help her learn how to use a sword.

Penny thought it was probably important that she learned how to use a sword, and also figured that Arrow was the best person to teach her. He was really the only person she knew, and she trusted that he would actually be able to help her. Then, she realised this was in fact true, even before they started learning moves. It took a while to find a sword of the right length, and Arrow talked her through how it should feel in her hands until they found the right one. There were three or four that were the right length, and only one of those felt right to her. She wasn’t sure how to explain it, maybe it was the weight, the handle, the metals it was made of, or a combination of those, but it felt like she could wield it and it was sort of comfortable, given the fact it was a pointy deadly weapon.

They spent the rest of the morning learning basic moves. They mainly focused on defence, no flashy moves, either, just the basic stuff you would really need to defend yourself in a combat situation. They stopped for breaks every once in a while, both getting water and once or twice a small snack. In the afternoon, they worked on some more defence and a few offensive moves. Penny was picking it up rather quickly, and she was both surprised and proud of herself. Arrow was very supportive throughout the day, too. He was really helping her, and she was beyond grateful. Penny knew that someday, this could save her life.

Penny had significantly improved over the day, and pretty much had the basic swordplay moves down. She didn’t necessarily need to learn fancier moves, and she knew what she was learning was amazing, but eventually she wanted to be able to do more complex things that could catch an enemy off guard. That was her new demigod plan. She would learn, and she would succeed. It was kind of startling to her how much both she and her life had changed over the last days, and it was very prevalent in her thoughts of new life goals. But, that was the way it was going to be, and she couldn’t change it. So, Penny would accept it and persevere, find a way to navigate it and navigate it well.

Now she saw for the first time the ritual at dinner that Arrow had explained to her. Everyone had their food, and one by one the kids from different cabins would go and scrape part of their food into the fire. It was a sign of respect to the gods and your godly parent, that you would give something up for them, it was a tribute. Penny had followed what some of the campers in the Hermes cabin had gotten to eat, which was burgers. That was a little surprising to her, but she was happy and it did make sense. She thought they would just have food that was from Ancient Greece and around there, but because they were in North America, and all the campers there were pretty much from North America (though she couldn’t be completely sure), that they would have food the campers would actually eat.

Penny sat and ate in quiet, and she was sure she was the only one at the Hermes table who did so. Most of them were laughing and joking around with each other, or calling over to kids at other tables. She didn’t have anyone she even knew besides Arrow, and she guessed Sebastian. But she didn’t know him well enough to try and talk to him and she didn’t see Arrow, so she simply enjoyed her burger in silence. The night went by smoothly, or at least, it did until the end of dinner.

As campers left the pavilion, Arrow came from somewhere to join her. She didn’t see him, but heard the clicking of hooves that meant it must be him, because she didn’t think another satyr would randomly approach, but you could never know. She turned her head to look at him, assuming it was Arrow, and found herself to be right. He raised a hand in a gesture of greeting, saying hello without actually saying anything at all. Something was off, Penny could tell, because he then sighed deeply, looking out at the forest beyond the open areas of camp.

“Hey, Arrow. What’s wrong?”

“What?” He laughed nervously, “I don’t know what you mean, everything’s just great.”

“You and I both know that’s not true, what’s wrong?” She stopped walking and turned to look at him; he stopped as well.

“Well…okay. So, I know you’re new and all, but I have news. I heard Chiron talking to Mr. D, and you might be going on a quest soon. It sounds like a dangerous one, too.”

Penny inhaled sharply, and she guessed that Arrow noticed, because his eyebrows went down, slightly coming together as he frowned. She looked at him and he looked over at her, taking a moment before she finally spoke.

“Dangerous? How dangerous are we talking? Like…burning your hand on hot metal dangerous or the end of the world dangerous? Because the way you're talking makes me think it’s the last one, and I think that’s a little soon. I just got here.”

“No, it’s end of the world kind of dangerous. That’s just how it ends up being. You get thrown in head first and they hope you come out alright,” He paused for a painful moment, “Or at least alive.”

“Wonderful. Just great. I already ran for like three days straight from something that wanted to murder me! Why can’t they pick somebody else?”

“That isn’t how it works, Penny. I don’t know all the details right now, but I think the oracle said something like ‘a child of the sea’ in her prophecy. That’s you, even though you haven’t been claimed yet. As far as we know, you’re the only child of Poseidon here, a ‘child of the sea’. That means it has to be you, especially once you get claimed.”

“If I get claimed,” Penny mumbled miserably, and Arrow assured her that she would. The two walked back to the Hermes cabin, he explained most of what he had heard, and she listened, growing more fearful by the minute.

As Arrow had said before, he hadn’t heard all of the details, but what he had heard was bad. People in Hampton Beach were disappearing, and there had been suspicious trails of plants and dead fish, as well as a strange illness befalling the town. Arrow hadn’t heard what they thought was doing this, just that they knew it had to be stopped. They had estimated around fifty people that had disappeared or been found dead, all in the span of two weeks. That was terrifying on its own, but accompanied by the illness and claw marks covering buildings, it was even worse. Arrow told her to be prepared to accept the quest, and that he didn’t recommend denying it, as they would find a way to make her do it anyways. He also told her to start thinking about two others she wanted to help her, as quests were normally taken on by a group of three. He had already told her why that was, so there was no need to question it.

Penny slipped into the already almost-full Hermes cabin, and found her sleeping bag. She laid there, eventually falling asleep. She had nightmares about the issues going on at Hampton Beach, some that seemed too vivid to be just nightmares. None of them awoke her throughout the night, at least that she could remember by the morning.

## Chapter Five

When Penny woke up that morning, she didn’t expect to get claimed, but she had been. It was late afternoon, and Penny and Arrow had just finished up training (well, he was training her). They were sitting together, talking, on the edge of the water, sitting on dry sand. Sebastian came sprinting over, and Penny was a little confused. He was out of breath, taking in air and pointing tiredly above her head. She looked behind her, thinking there was something around them, but then Arrow smiled, jumping up and going on about how he told her it would happen.

She was still confused, but the sand around them, she noticed, was bathed in a turquoise light. When she looked up, she found the source. A glowing turquoise trident symbol floated above her head, bathing their surroundings and them in a wonderful light. She had been claimed!

There were so many things she could have said; that she wanted to say, but none of them would come out. Instead, she stared at the symbol above her in awe until eventually it faded, and finally disappeared. Arrow was talking to her, and eventually it brought her back into the real world. Sebastian was still there, and at some point Chiron had arrived. No one else was there, and she was pretty glad for that, but some were beginning to walk over. Chiron said something and Penny didn’t fully process it, which made her realise she hadn’t yet been brought back to reality. As he started to leave, Arrow brought Penny with him, following. She supposed he had said something about going with him, so she asked Arrow and he confirmed it for her. That was incredibly helpful.

They made it to the Big House, and Chiron brought the two inside. Penny didn’t know why Arrow was there, but she was glad he was. She assumed they were going to discuss the quest, as she had just been claimed, and it made her feel better that he was at least there while it was explained. He motioned to two chairs, and she assumed he meant for them to sit, so she did, and so did Arrow. Chiron sighed, and faced them; Penny braced herself for a more in-depth description of what she had already heard, figuring it would be worse, and it was already bad.

“As, Penelope, I’m sure you know, the Oracle has spoken; given a quest. She specifically stated it to be for a ‘child of the sea’, and as I’m sure you know, we did not know of a child of Poseidon. Well, until five minutes ago. Now, I’m almost certain the quest is meant for you, and currently you are the only one able to uptake it.

“I don’t know how much you’ve heard, or if you have heard anything at all. Hampton Beach is in severe danger. People have been disappearing over the last two weeks. Trails of dead fish, plants, and pearls have been found all over the town. Twenty people were found dead, most of them drowned, and thirty have gone missing. Illness has befallen them, and a strong magical presence has been detected by the people we have sent out to investigate. Claw marks have also been found: on beaches, the streets, metal, and the sides of vehicles and buildings. The magic we have detected is incredibly powerful, and incredibly negative. Several things have been speculated, but we can’t know for sure. All we can guess is that it has something to do with the sea, in part because of the trails left behind and in part due to the calling for a child of Poseidon.”

Penny nodded slowly, absorbing that. She hadn’t known that twenty of the fifty people had died, and it was new information that they were drowned. This was definitely something she was worried about, but she was worried about the whole quest in general.

Chiron continued, “I would just like to lay out a few ground rules for the quest. You are allotted two others to aid you on the quest, which I would like you to choose when I’m finished. You and your chosen allies will leave tomorrow, and you should gather weapons, food, mortal money and drachmas, and other things you think you’ll need; I recommend bringing backpacks, actually,” he paused for a moment and Penny nodded, so he continued, “Who are you going to take, if they accept?”

Penny thought about it for a moment, but she had pretty much had it figured out since the night before, “Arrow,” she gestured to the satyr beside her, “And…Sebastian, from the Dionysus cabin.”

He nodded, “I would ask you to go speak with him, and I will speak to you all again in the morning, before you leave. Thank you, Penelope.”

She nodded and they both stood up, leaving the Big House. Penny looked at Arrow, and he suggested they go talk to Sebastian now, and they could talk about it after, or, as he said after that ‘do whatever’.

=+=

The talk with Sebastian went surprisingly well, in Penny’s opinion. He agreed to go on the quest with them, and actually said that he had been waiting to go on a quest for a really long time. She was glad he agreed, mainly because she was tired and didn’t want to go looking for someone else. But, it was pretty clear he and Arrow were friends, so she was glad that it was him that was coming; maybe they could become friends as well. She also thought that was rather optimistic for going on a quest that could very well end in death. But, maybe it was good she was being optimistic; that meant she hadn’t given up hope of it being something she could deal with, something that would be okay. Penny also had to remind herself to stop thinking such morbid thoughts, because she already had enough to worry about without those thoughts catching her by surprise.

She knew a few things were for certain, at least ones she knew about. Her mother had lied to her for years, and she wasn’t actually normal. Magic and a whole whack of things were real. Her dad was a literal god, and she was at a camp for people just like her, with half-goat and half-horse people in it. She was going on a quest with her new friend Arrow, and his friend Sebastian. It was a dangerous quest, and they might all die. And, they were leaving for this possible-death mission tomorrow.