Chapter 25: The Callis

Chapter 25

The Callis

||Annabeth Chase||

In this few weeks that I've seen Percy, I don't think I've seen him as irritated as he is now. Not that I can't blame him, I am too, in all honesty.

"I don't understand why I'm forced to be in the back line instead of the front! I'm the strongest demigod!" Timothy Leon argued. I don't know what's clogging this guy's brain, but apparently, he just has to keep provoking the guy he shouldn't be provoking.

"Timothy, sit down." Jason sighed, looking exhausted and irritated as we all are.

"No! I can't allow myself be humiliated like this!"

Jokes on you, Leon, you're already humiliating yourself. 

"Timothy, it's not your place to choose. You're not in charge." Reyna stated firmly.

"This is my camp!"

It was as if I was watching it, I could sense Percy's veins pop in annoyance. "Son of Poseidon, I advise you to sit your ass down in that chair or so help me Chaos." stated the commander, finally standing up. His hands palming the shiny wooden U-shaped table.

"This is your fault!" Timothy fought back.

In a blink of an eye, two of the Army leaders, Castor and Beckendorf, had Timothy sitting down, both holding his shoulder down. Percy coughed, straightening his outfit. "The Army and I have been looking at the statistics of your training, and you, Timothy Leon, is hardly improving in terms of weapon abilities. You might've been good once, or at some point, but now, your abilities have gone so far down that the only one you surpasses is the youngest campers. In physical abilities, yes, you are in good shape but you can't be used in battles in terms of weapons."

There was nothing to describe in Timothy's face the moment it dawned on him. He gave no effort, after all, I suppose now, he's just reaping the benefits of it.

"Now, I'm giving you two choices. I could put you in with others who are more in physical, basically, those who refuse to fight, and you'll be with those who carries the injured or supplies to the fighters. Or..." Percy took a deep breath as if steeling himself. "As much as I dislike you, Son of Poseidon, I am willing to give you another chance. You need to increase your weapon abilities, and in order for this to happen, you have to put in extra hours like the others. One of us in the Army would be there to supervise you, I would be there to supervise you from time to time. Pick your poison by the end of tonight."

He didn't wait for any response before moving onto another topic, gesturing to those who held Timothy down to let him go and then to Nico. The second-in-command pressed something in his screen and all of a sudden, the empty table in front of our side now held a stack of papers.

"This," Nico gestured to the papers, "are every campers statistics. Aside from Leon, the others are undetermined which position they go in. It's your decision in who goes where not ours. I advise that you choose well and hard, it's not going to be an easy battle. Pick the wisest, strongest and brightest."

Jason, seated right beside Piper and Reyna, spoke: "Will you be fighting with us?"

The Army, silent for a second, exchanged glances with each other with the exclusion of Percy who was typing away on his holographic screen. They, then, waited for their commander to answer. Sea-green, red tinted eyes stared up at us, eyes calculating. "If worse comes to worst, then yes."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Chiron piped in.

The commander's eyes settled on our camp advisor a moment more than necessary before nodding, "Yes," a brief, millisecond, passed before he continued, "let's hope it doesn't."

~

With the holographic screen disappearing in front of us, the meeting is concluded as finished. We all stood up with hearts pounding from fear of what is about to come. Just as we were about to exit the room, the door burst open and revealed a breathless and panting form of a woman. A brunette with light highlights in a fashionable messy bun, wearing a jean short and a loose tank top paired with converse.

She was not someone new to the camp, however, to see her here right at this time is certainly something very curious.

The brunette looked up, eyes seemed to look everyone around us. Chiron stood up, probably thinking that she was looking for him but she hardly look at him, nor did she pay attention to a couple of servants Percy had brought in, running towards her with a frantic look on their face. "Lady, you are not permitted to enter this building!" One of them exclaimed, trying to stop her before it was too late, and unsurprisingly, it was.

She ignored them and stormed straight ahead, it seems she found what--or who-- she was looking for. With a purposeful stride, she passed by us, demigods, and the Army, heading straight to the last person I would expect she would associate with.

The Commander, however, said nothing; only motioning for the servants with a wave of his hands that it was all right, who left with a curtsy and scattered around, while we were all left flabbergasted. Especially, the moment she stopped in front of him and said her greeting, "Well, if it isn't the dark cold-hearted bastard known as Perseus Jackson."

All jaws dropped at her blatant disrespect; judging by the Army's reaction, this was a new scene, a new act for someone not inside their circle and they're not used to.

Not to think that badly of the hero Percy Jackson, but I expected the brunette to be threatened just like Timothy but it was a completely different track. Instead, I saw Percy's lips quirked to one side in a beginning of a smile, "And I see you're still the same disrespectful, obnoxious ass I know, even after...what? 500 years?"

The Commander stood up, towering over the lithe frame of the brunette; he looked at her with a soft smile and look that had never been directed to us demigods, except for Damien Callis. "Percy Jackson, gone for many centuries," the woman said, "and to return to his home planet and I don't hear anything from you. What kind of friend are you?" She scolded, crossing her arms in a disapproving manner.

Percy shrugged, "I was going to but you know, duties calls."

"Screw your duties, Jackson," she said, "a phone call would've been nice. Instead of hearing from the person himself, I get a really excited phone call from my grandson, chattering on and on about this Tardis-like, floating house and about spending a copious amount of times with his hero."

"Speaking of the grandson, you look quite young for your age, Grandma Natalia."

"Screw you, Jackson. At least I look better than you."

"Percy," interrupted Zoe, eyes roaming all over the demigod in assessment. "What's going on?"

"Oh, well, aren't you that famous Artemis' Hunter who turned into a constellation?"

The previous hunter raised her brows in questioning, looking at Percy who only shrugged. She turned her gaze back to the Natalia, "And who might you be?"

"Guys, this is Natalia Callis. Nat, this is everyone. You probably heard of them if you went to this camp."

Chiron trotted towards them, with us following suit. Just standing close by, with an unsurprised look in his eyes.

"Care to explain how do you guys know each other?" Reyna questioned.

"Oh wait, did you say Callis?" Silena inquired, "is she by any chance related to little Damien?"

"Yeah I am, he's my grandson, as I've mentioned before. And as for Reyna's question, it's a long story," Natalia answered before her eyes roamed to all of us and smiled, "It's nice to see you guys."

"AH!" We heard someone exclaimed, we all swiveled around to the front to see Damien standing at the doorway before running towards us. One would expect the kid to run straight to his only living relative but, honestly, it's not surprising seeing him run straight to Percy, clinging to him like glue. Percy, almost like an instinct opened himself up for the kid to just run into. "Nana! You're here!"

"Yes, I'm here," she said, "so why are you giving this man a hug instead of me?"

"Because I love Big Brother Percy!"

I saw Natalia send the Commander a horrified look, "My gods, what did you do to him?! You've completely hypnotized him."

"It's not my fault he's completely taken by me, just like his grandmother," Percy grinned.

Natalia Callis, I thought, her name resonating seemingly everywhere within me. The girl who appeared at the entrance of the Camp Half-Blood Hill a few years after Percy left. The memory of her at that top of the hill waiting patiently, bruised and bleeding. Her stance, the way she speaks, the look in her eyes, all are very different from what most campers look like the first time they realize their demigods.

Suddenly, a swirling, now-familiar, vortex appeared right behind Percy and revealed Fyna. The maid glanced from Percy then to Natalia then back again, if any emotion struck her, she didn't show any of it. Instead, she curtsied in front of all of us before turning to the raven-haired commander. "Your Highness, you've got a meeting with the generals of Serliom coming up in 10 minutes."

Percy nodded then motioned for Damien to step back as he closed the distance between him and Natalia, wrapping her up in his arms -- very muscular arms, might I add. "I'm really glad you're here, Nat."

She smiled, wrapping her own around him, "I am too, Perce. I am too."

They pulled away not long after, I watched as Percy turned to Fyna, "Will you please escort Natalia to the guest room, Fyna?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Percy, there is no need for that," Chiron chimed in, staring at his former student with a knowing look, "she can stay in the Big House."

Much to everyone's shock, the Commander who bowed to no one, did so in front of Chiron. "Despite everything, Chiron. I thank you, deeply from my heart, for taking care of Natalia."

I made eye-contact with Natalia's disbelieving eyes and then moved my gaze to the Army, whose jaw dropped seeing the action their Commander has just made. "My boy, there's nothing to thank me for. I don't deserve it. It was my job."

"Nat," said Percy, standing up and wiping away the invisible wrinkles, "has the tendency to get into deep trouble--"

"HEY!"

"Thank you for not letting anything happen to her," he continued, ignoring the protest of the woman herself. "Well, Nat. I have to go, I'll come find you tonight," he said, patting the brunette's hair softly, then turned to Damien who grinned at him, bright as the sun. "Hopefully, you don't mind me stealing your grandson. Ready to go, Damien?"

With a nod to the Army, he walked over to Fyna and whispered something in her ear. Too low for any of us to hear but judging by Fyna's face, it was a very private thing. He took Damien's hand, the kid bounced up and down the heels of his feet and the moment the swirling vortex appeared, he dragged Percy with him, jumping to the portal with no problem. It disappeared and left only an echo of Damien's endless amusement and Percy's chuckle.

Fyna curtsied in front of Natalia, hands pointing at the direction of the exit and said, "Now, Mrs. Callis, this way..."

~

"A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversation, doesn't always need togetherness, as long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part." 

~

Note: I'm putting the quotes here too because I realized some images are not working and I forgot those images to put find them again soooo, I'm putting it down here as an insurance. 

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own anything except some the plot and made up characters. All else belongs to Rick Riordan, neither do I own the pictures.  

HEYYYYY guyys, look who's back! I'm sorry I haven't been updating and I'm sorry for the shitty update, it's not my best. Forgive me I'm a bit rusty. 

I still hope you like it anyway. 

Also, new character. What do you think???

Anyway, I will try and update as often as I could, hopefully, I finish this book by the end of this summer. XP I never expected to get that far, lol. 

Also, this book has reached newer levels that I didn't think I'd get to see. You guys, thank you so so so so so much for the support. For real, I love you all. It's not the best story and things are cliche sometimes and all but I'm still very grateful that you're here to read my writings, however, crappy it may be. 

Thank you so much! 

One last, vote and comment and tell me what you think. A feedback is always appreciated! 

~ Leannexo