The Demigod Trials 2

CHAPTER TWO

The helping hands didn't stop swarming around him until they had succeeded in brushing the dust off his shirt and shorts.

He capped his sword quickly before anyone noticed it and tucked it into his pocket, concealing it from sight.

Percy shoved the hands off of him and stood up, taking in his surroundings. One of this kids snickered and reached out to poke him with a finger that odly enough was lit on fire. He ignored it and continued to look around. There was at least fifty of them, and from what he could tell they were all demigods. Their clothes were dirty and sweaty as if they'd been hard at work, all shapes, sizes and races, their hair varying lengths. Percy closed his eyes and counted to five, trying to take in everything at once. It was overwhelming.

They stood in a vast courtyard several times the size of a football field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots with thick ivy. The walls had to be hundreds of feet high and formed a perfect square around them, each side split in the middle by an opening stretching upwards as tall as the walls themselves. Beyond that were long corrirdors and pathways leading farther than Percy could see.

"Look at the Probatio," a voice laced with sarcasm said randomly from the crowd. "Gonna break his shuck neck checkin' out his new camp." Several boys laughed on cue.

"Shut your yap, Nico." Another voice boomed, from somewhere in the crowd. A tall boy with blonde hair and a tight face stalked up to Percy and sniffed at him, his face deviod of expression. A shorter boy, with a fidgety look stared at Percy with wide eyes, like he was concerned about what would happen to him. A thicker guy, who appeared to be African American studied Percy, his tight shirtsleeves rolled up to show off his biceps. There were so many faces, that Percy had to look away so he wouldn't get dizzy.

"Where am I?" Percy asked, his voice hoarse from disuse, but somehow sounded more confident then he'd thought it would. His voice was strange to his ears, hearing it for the first time saying words other than yelling.

"Nowhere good." This came from the blonde guy next to him as he scanned Percy up and down, making him feel uncomfortable.

"Which cohort he gonna get?" Someone shouted from the back of the crowd.

"Shut it Chris. I'm telling you, he's going to be in the fifth. You can already tell he's useless and has no idea who his godly parent is. Ain't no way he does." The kid who answered laughed at his own joke and a few others joined in.

Percy's forehead tightened, and he probably would've shouted out an insult, but the blonde guy intterupted.

"Let this shank prove himself. Now quit yapping and next idiot to speak is going to feel my blade!" His face was taunt with anger, and Percy had the feeling he wasn't kidding.

That must be the leader, he realized. And their words...shank...those were probably the worst insults they had. Hating how everyone gawked at him, he concentrated on studying the place the older boy had called the Glade.

The floor of the courtyard looked like it was made of huge stone blocks, many of them cracked and filled with long grasses and weeds. An odd, dlapidated wooden building near one of the corners of the square contrasted greatly with the gray stone. A few trees surrounded it, their roots like gnarled hands digging into the rock floor. Another corner of the compound held gardens- from where he was standing Percy could make out tomatoes, strawberries and fruit trees.

Across the courtyard from there stood wooden pens holding a kinds of livestock such as sheep and cows. A large grove of trees filled the final corner, the closest ones looked cripppled and close to death. The sky overhead was cloudless and blue, but Percy could see no sign of the sun, despite the brightness of the day. The creeping shadows of the wall didn't reveal time or direction- it could be early morning or late afternoon. As he breathed in deeply, trying to settle his nerves, a mixture of smells bombarded him. Freshly turned dirt, pine trees, the smell of food cooking in the air and sweat.

Percy looked back at his captors, feeling akward but desperate for answers as to what was going on. He wasn't ready to start calling this band of rogues friends yet. He scanned their faces, taking in each expression, juding them. One boy's eyes flared with hatred, stopping him cold. He looked so angry, Percy wouldn't have been surprised if he found a dagger and hurled it at him. He had black hair and a gaunt face. They made eye contact and he looked away muttering to his companions, and then walked away towards a wooden bench.

Shaken a little, Percy stared at the boy's back until he turned and took a seat. He looked away.

Suddenly the leader of the group- pherhaps he was 17- took another step forward. He wore normal clothes, black T-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes and a digital watch. Other than his tall figure and the scar across his face, nothing was intimidating about this guy.

"It's a long story, shank," the boy said. "Piece by piece, you'll learn- I'll be takin' you on the Tour tomorrow, Till then...just don't break anything." He stuck out his hand, clearly to shake Percy's hand. "Name's Luke by the way, in case you shucking cared."

Percy stared at his hand, then grasped it firmly. Then without saying anything else he turned around. "Tell me your long story." He said evenly, still refusing to look at the other boys. He didn't care if he looked stupid, he wanted to go home. Wherever home was.

He could tell Luke was laughing behind his back and as far as he could tell, so were the other demigods. He noted that most of them were in their midteens to young adults like Luke, who seemed to be on of the oldest. At that moment, Percy realized he didn't know how old he even was. His heart sank at that thought- he was so lost he didn't even know his own age.

"Seriously," he turned to face the crowd again. "Where am I?"

Luke frowned a little then shook his head. "If you aren't scared, something is wrong. I don't care if your a shuck kid of the Big Three- you could be- but if you aren't scared I'll throw you off the Cliff no questions asked. 'Cause that would mean you were crazy, losing it."

"The Cliff?" Percy asked, trying hard not to let his fear into his speech.

"Shuck this," Luke rubbed his eyes. "We aren't starting this conversation. We don't kill shanks like you here, I promise. Just try to avoid being killed, survive or whatever. Man I'm not good at welcoming Probatios. Your the first ya know since Dakota landed himself with the med jacks. Probably dying, screaming his guts out right now."

Percy's eyes widened and he took a step back, but another guy stepped up and slapped Luke playfully on the shoulder. "Wait for the damn Tour, Luke," he laughed, his voice calm. "Look at him!" He gestured to Percy. "He's going to have a heart attack before we ever get him out there for real." He stuck out his hand to Percy. "Name's Jason Probatio. Nice to meet you."

His manners were far better than any of the others here, Percy noted and shook his hand. He seemed a lot nicer than Luke anyways, and he was younger than Luke too. "We call this place, where we are right now the Glade. We eat, sleep and whatever here. The life you had before you came here? Gone, man. Gone for now."

Percy was anxious to ask more questions, but he could tell that the others were done with this conversation.

"Good that." Luke said. "First Day. That's what today is for you. Night's coming though, the Runners will be back. We'll do the Tour tomorrow." He looked at Jason. "Get him a place to sleep. Find someone, or tuck him in yourself, I don't care."

Percy fumed, he wanted to punch someone in their 'shuck' faces but he didn't say a word. He let his expression remain calm and collected.

Luke turned to look at Percy again. "A few weeks, you'll be happy and helpin' us out. Non of us knew jack on First Day either. Your new life begins tomorrow." He turned and pushed his way through the crowd, off to the slanted wooden building in the far corner. Most of the kids just eyed Percy one more time and walked away.

Percy watched as Jason came back with a smaller boy with curly hair. Atop his head, was a something that seemed out of place. Small horns, poked out of his head. "This is Grover." Jason said simply. "He'll do whatever ya want, good night kiss the works. Good that?"

Percy frowned and stared at the horns. "Why do you have horns?"

Grover bleated- an actual bleat like a goat- and folded his arms, clearly offended.

Jason glanced at the offended Grover then shrugged to Percy. "He's a faun. They tend to have horns, although normally they're bigger then his-" He was cut off as Grover flashed him a glare.

"I'm a saytr Roman shuck face." The words sounded weird coming out of his mouth. He was smaller than Percy and Jason too, so it was weird that he would threaten him.

Just then, a high pitches scream echoed across the stone courtyard; every kid in sight turned to look toward the source. Percy felt his blood turn to ice as he realized the shriek came from the wooden building. Even Jason jumped as if startled, but it melted back into his normal expression.

"Shuck this," he muttered. "Can't the Med-jacks leave me in peace for 10 minutes?" He glared at the sky then shook his head and turned to Grover. "Your in charge of this Probatio. Never caught your name by the way."

"Percy."

"Good that. Percy is now under your protection Grover. Don't mess up." He then saluted mockingly and jogged off in the direction of the wooden building.

Grover somehow managed to drag Percy up the hill but he refused to go any farther. The saytr seemed to understand, he didn't argue with the fact that his hostage was tired. Percy slumped to the ground, leaning against a boulder, wishing he would wake up from this horrible nightmare.

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