Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 23: More of the morning (betting time!)

Luke POV:

Percy exits the cabin, and I return to drinking my water. We all put our masks up and sit at the table to wake up, other than Leo and Calypso. We let them sleep.

Bellerophon walks back down, wearing his cloak, and checking to make sure no Hunters want to murder him.

We all sit around the counter. I'm between Zoe and Bianca, nursing a headache, while Hyacinthus sits on Apollos' lap, and the others just sit normally.

Orpheus sighs.

"Alright, intervention and betting time. How long will it take?" He asks.

Apollo perks up. "What are we talking about?"

Bianca drums her fingers on the table.

"How long it takes until Percy... breaks, so to speak."

Apollo raises an eyebrow.  "What do you mean by 'break?' Like... mentally?"

I nod. "Percy has a problem with switching moods or personalities. In one moment, he goes from the Percy you knew, a determined, happy-go-lucky ish dude to... a hardened war general, or a sociopathic killer, or, rarely... an emotional mess."

Apollo nods. "This doesn't strike you as odd?"

Zoe laughs. "Please. We all know it's not normal. But we've dealt with it for over 80 years. He won't hurt us. We're not worried about ourselves. We're worried about the campers. Percy may hide it well, but he really, REALLY doesn't like most people in this camp. Especially his old... friends."

Apollo pushes Hyacinthus off his lap, causing him to pout. Apollo kisses him on the cheek and sits forward, hands on the table.

"There's a possibility of Percy attacking the campers?" He asks, worried.

Orpheus laughs and lifts his hand, tilting it in a so-so gesture.

"Kind of. As more of our team joins us, it'll help him, and Artemis has helped massively." He says.

Everyone at the table nods.

"Oh yeah, My Lady keeping him company to stop nightmares has definitely helped," Zoe said.

I turn to look at Zoe. "You do realize that her and Percy are together, right?"

She looks at me stunned. "No. Although... oh wait, that makes more sense. How... how did I not notice?"

Bianca starts to laugh before a thump is heard. Everyone turns to see Nico bridal carrying Will in the corner, frantically looking around the room before relaxing.

"Oh, thank Chaos," he breathes out.

Will struggles out of his arms and slaps him.

"I told you no shadow traveling!" He says, frustrated.

Nico rubs his cheek and pouts. "I was bringing us to some actual friends..."

Will stares at him for a moment before relenting. He sighs and gives Nico a kiss on the cheek before sitting on the table, forcing Nico to take the chair next to Apollo, who laughed at his discomfort.

"So, what are we talking about?" Nico asks.

Icarus quietly flaps his wings. "How long it takes for Percy to break and possibly harm a camper."

Nico and Will nod, understanding.

"So," Apollo asks. "Has Percy always been... split?"

I nod. "I'm his second in command, so I'm around him the most. I was even on the ship when..."

I trail off, refusing to speak more. Zoe and Bianca grab my hands, giving me comfort.

"When what?" Apollo asks.

I shake my head. "Not my place to really say. Just... our strike team used to be bigger. We've only ever technically failed one mission. And that mission... was a train wreck, through and through. And it hit Percy the hardest."

"Why?" Apollo asks.

I squeeze Zoe and Bianca's hands. "Only me, Percy, and Chaos know what exactly happened because of privacy reasons. No one else gets to know unless Percy tells them, and I mean NO ONE. Even the team. they know the general events, but even those are heavily classified."

Apollo nods. "I understand. If I may ask, what exactly was the mission about?"

I take a deep breath. "We needed to blow up a spaceship headed to Earth with supplies for Tartarus. And... we had a prisoner on the ship we had-have to save."

Apollo nodded. "Okay. I won't pry anymore."

I sigh in relief. "Thank you."

Bellerophon clears his throat.

"If that depressing talk is over, I bet 1 month."

Zoe snorts. "The people here are too stuck up. 1 week."

Hyacinthus shakes his head. "2 weeks."

Leo, from the couch, raises a hand.

"No idea what we're talking about," he calls. "But I bet a day."

Then he falls back asleep, Calypso softly snoring on his chest.

I laugh. "Leo stole my bet number, so I'll bet two days."

Orpheus clears his throat. "Mind explaining what exactly we are betting for the people who don't know?"

Icarus laughs. "Sure. Basically, the winner gets 500 dollars in mortal money, they get to choose who does their chores for the next week, they get the best pick of the next package of donuts or other sweets, and pick what song Orpheus plays at night on the next camping trip."

Bellerophon shudders. "We try not to let Pirate win. His music taste is terrible."

Everyone around the table shudders, remembering our fifth ever camping trip.

The song Ethan picked was so incredibly bad that we were attacked by a herd of Pheonix.

Right after Percy had finally made peace with them as well. Needless to say, we needed the secondary tents we packed.

"Three weeks," Bianca says, breaking everyone out of their memories.

Nico looks at her like she's crazy.

"Bianca, Bellerophon already said a month."

Bianca looks offended. "And? What does that have to do with me betting three weeks?"

Nico ignores Wills' questioning look.

"A month is 3 weeks." He says confidently.

Everyone turns to look at him.

"Nico, dear brother of mine, a month is on average, 30 days. 30÷7 is 4.3 rounded up," Bianca deadpans.

Nico looks confused for a moment before blushing.

"I was thinking about February, sorry." He says, embarrassed.

Will shakes his head, a smile on his face, and grabs Nico's hand. "That's still 4 weeks, numbskull."

Nico blushes.

Leo's hand goes up from the couch.

"Did I win the bet?" He asks groggily.

Orpheus laughs. "Probably not, it's unlikely that Percy will -"

He's cut off by frantic pounding on the door. I look at Bianca, confused, and stand up, squeezing Zoe's hand.

I open the door to see a panting and beat up looking Jason.

"Hope... Big House... hurting a camper... ran... after getting beat up..."

He promptly passes out and falls onto the grass face first.

I run towards the big house, with Orpheus on my tail, masks already on our faces.

The last thing I hear is Bellerophon laughing hysterically, congratulating Leo for winning the bet.