บท 80: Dad and Bolt are gone

{Camp Half-Blood, 1st of January 2006}

The sun had barely risen over Camp Half-Blood when I left my room in the Big House.

As I approached Chiron's study, the familiar scent of old books and coffee wafted through the air. I raised my hand to knock, but hesitated. The usual sounds of hooves clip-clopping across the wooden floor or the rustle of papers were absent.

I knocked anyway, my knuckles rapping against the worn oak door. No response. Frowning, I turned the handle and pushed the door open. The study was empty, my father nowhere to be seen. His wheelchair was gone too, the only thing out of place a half-empty cup of coffee growing cold on the desk.

It wasn't like dad to leave without telling anyone, especially not me. I stepped out onto the porch, my eyes scanning the camp grounds for any sign of him.

Instead, I found Mr. D lounging on a bench, a can of Diet Coke in his hand and a bored expression on his face. The god of wine looked as out of place as ever in his leopard-print Hawaiian shirt, his pudgy fingers drumming an impatient rhythm on his knee.

"Mr. D," I said, approaching him. "Have you seen dad?"

The god's bloodshot eyes fixed on me, a sneer curling his lips. "That stuck-up pony? Who knows where he's galloped off to."

I stared at him, waiting for more. When he didn't elaborate, I raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You don't know anything else?"

Mr. D's face scrunched up in annoyance. "What, you lost your eyesight again? Don't stare at me like that. I really don't know where he is, Oscar."

"Hey you got my name right," I commented faking happiness in my voice, Mr D always got our names wrong so I decided to play along with it.

He looked at me incredulously for a moment, before going back to drinking diet Coke and in between sips he added "I really don't know where he went."

Realizing I wasn't going to get any more information from the sober god of wine, I headed down towards the camp, for my first class. Still I thought about any reason as to why dad would have left the camp without telling anyone, especially not with the summer session about to start.

My feet carried me towards the archery range, where a group of Apollo and some Athena kids were already up and practicing. As I approached, snippets of conversation drifted towards me.

"Did you hear?" A young Apollo camper whispered to his friend. "They say Zeus' master bolt was stolen."

I froze, my blood running cold. The master bolt, the most powerful weapon in existence, stolen? How the hell did it get stolen? Shouldn't it have been under strict supervision?

Another voice chimed in, this one belonging to an Athena girl. "But who would be crazy enough to steal from the king of the gods?"

Who indeed? Immediately my mind flashed back to the expedition two moths ago, to Luke's unsettling grin in the elevator. Without thinking, I reached out with my powers, sensing for Luke's presence in the camp. Once I located him, I teleported instantly.

I materialized in the shadows near the sword-fighting arena, where Luke was instructing a group of younger campers. His sandy hair gleamed in the morning sun, his scarred face set in a mask of concentration as he demonstrated a disarming technique.

"Luke," I called out, my voice carrying across the arena. "I need to talk to you for a moment."

He looked up, surprise flickering across his features before being replaced by his usual easygoing smile, still I could see his true feeling for me the same rageful red as always. "Sure thing, Ozzy. Just give me a sec to wrap up here."

I waited impatiently as he finished the lesson, my fingers drumming against my thigh. When he finally jogged over to me, I didn't waste any time. I grabbed his shoulder and sank us both into the shadows.

We reappeared in my room in the Big House. Before Luke could get his bearings, I shoved him against the wall, my forearm pressed against his throat.

"Wow," Luke choked out, his blue eyes wide with shock. "Getting a bit aggressive there, Ozzy. Or is it just that you swing that way?"

"Shut up," I snarled, pressing harder. "Where's the bolt? I know you have it."

Luke's expression shifted from surprise to confusion. "The bolt? You mean Zeus' master bolt? Yeah, I've heard that rumor too, seems like it's spreading quickly.

I stared at his face intensely and without asking he seemed to have caught my message.

He just pout on that same eerie smile "You can check all my things if you want, I'm telling you I don't have it."

I stared into his eyes, searching for any sign of deceit. But all I saw was the same aggressive red aura that always surrounded him and the same prideful, easy going eerie smile.

Slowly, I released my hold on him, taking a step back. "Fine," I said, my voice tight. "You can go."

Luke rubbed his neck, shooting me a look that was part annoyance. He made his way to the door, but just as he was about to leave, he turned back to me. The same smile as always as if mocking me.

"You know, Ozzy," he said, his voice deceptively light. "I could ask you the same question. Where's the bolt? You were the one who was separated from the group for hours that day."

The accusation hit me like a punch to the gut, after all I had only told dad about the small army I fought that day. I opened my mouth to protest, but Luke was already gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

I sank onto my bed, my head in my hands. Luke's words echoed in my mind, mixing with the whispers I'd heard at the archery range. Zeus' master bolt, stolen. And if Luke wanted to there was enough suspicion for it to fall on me, after all if I said now that I had fought a small army it would seem like a poor excuse more than anything else.

"I know you stole it Luke, now I just need to prove it." I muttered in the somewhat empty room as I began to think over how and why Luke stole the bolt and most importantly where he kept it hidden. After all the Bolt was something more than a weapon to the stuck up gods, it was a symbol and if for whatever reason Zeus thought that a god stole the bolt, he would immediately suspect a rebellion.

Three crows were perched on top of my wardrobe, looking at them from my bed. I told them "Randy, Skia I want you to survey the surroundings try to find any dug up plot of land or suspicious earth hills. Corvus I want you to keep an eye on Luke, keep your distance from him, don't let him see you your anonymity and safety is what comes first understood."

"Yes, Master."

{Yancy Academy, 1st of January 2006}

Percy Jackson POV

I didn't like this, I didn't like any of it. The class suffocating me in, the murmurs from the demon in human skin, Nancy Bobofit. Luckily I had Grover at my side, a transfer student who came here about a month ago.

We became fast friends, maybe becuase our personalities aligned or he was just a fun person to be around or maybe the fact that we were both bullied by Bobo the kleptomaniac. The voice from the worst teacher at the school Mrs Dodds brought my head back to the class something which she did quite often and berated me for, every time.

"Honey, pay attention," Mrs Dodds barked her crooked finger pointed straight at me "I was introducing your newest teacher. Mr Brunner, will be your new latin teacher."

I looked forward at my new teacher or as I liked to call it my new nightmare, after all teachers hated me especially when it came to language since I had a thing called dyslexia which jumbled up the words, yay for me. He had thinning brown hair, a short yet scruffy beard, intense brown eyes, oh and he was in an electric wheelchair.

"Oh don't worry, Mrs Dodds I'm sure Percy wasn't doing so on purpose."

At my side I heard Nacy mutter under her breath, "Great we have two cripples, in school now."

I turned my head, staring at the kleptomaniac, 'Seriously what is wrong with this woman.'

[Greek Myth Fact: Today's fact will be about the greek goddess of souls, Psyche. Psyche was the goddess of the soul and the wife of Eros (Roman Cupid) god of love.

She was once a mortal princess whose extraordinary beauty earned the ire of Aphrodite (Roman Venus) when men began turning their worship away from the goddess towards the girl. Aphrodite commanded Eros make Psyche fall in love with the most hideous of men but the god instead fell in love and carried her off to a hidden palace. Eros hid his true identity and told Psykhe she must never gaze upon his face. Her jealous sisters, however, tricked her into disobeying and the angry god forsook her. Psyche searched the world for her lost love and eventually came into the service of Aphrodite. The goddess commanded her perform a series of seemingly impossible tasks (which she got over through sheer luck, like seriously this woman was the mosyt lucky person ever in greek myths) which culminated in a journey to the Underworld. Psyche was afterwards reunited with Eros and the couple were married in a ceremony attended by all the gods.]

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