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After getting zapped to California by a cow-loving, demigod hating goddess, Percy had to redo junior year at a new high school. It was bound to be the worst thing he had ever experienced, not just because after everybody found out that Jackson (a new nickname his classmates took to) was held back a grade, they treated him like class idiot, but because none of his friends were there. Whether it was Grover or Rachel, he had somebody to get him through the year. Not this time.
This time, he had to do it all on his own. Beat that , Hercules!
Now, maybe, Percy was being a tad overdramatic. He wasn’t the biggest extrovert of his childhood life, but as a teenager, he’d grown. And in Grover’s words, ‘ dude, you’re like unbelievably hot now. People will be lining up to be your friends.’ People did line up at the beginning, but that was a story for another day.
By the end of his first semester, just as winter break was about to start, he ended up with three friends he considered his lifeline at school. Mehar, Caleb and Charlie.
“Okay, December 20th, I can do.” Caleb was saying when Percy approached their lunch table, “December 20th. That’s a Tuesday? Wait, Mehar, no I can’t, my—”
“Shh,” Mehar silenced, “You’re coming December 20th and that’s final.”
“Who’s coming where?” Percy slammed his lunch bag down, scooching over to make room for Charlie. She dropped her feet down right behind him.
“The Winter Break party Mehar’s throwing, duh—” Mehar threw a silencing look her way. Even Caleb slammed his hand against the table, “I MEAN— no one is coming nowhere.” Mehar kicked her under the table, “Ow! — I MEAN, we’re all going to the movies on Tuesday.”
Percy snorted, “Nice save, Charlie.” He took a bite of his lunch, which was a sandwich with bright (!!) blue (!!) bread. Mehar had learned not to be surprised at this point. She flicked Charlie’s nose from across the table, making her blush.
“Thanks a lot, Charlotte. I’m throwing a Winter Break party on the 20th.”
“And why was I not allowed to know?” Percy asked.
Caleb shrugged, “‘Cause you’d tell us you’re busy when you’re definitely not. We figured you just hated parties, so we were going to invite you to ‘hang out’ and then surprise you with one of Mehar’s specialty parties.”
“Excuse you, I am truly very busy on the days I tell you I’m busy.”
“Sure, Jackson. You don’t have to lie, you know.” Charlie said. When Percy opened his mouth to object again, Charlie added, “Prove it. Come to the party anyway.”
He closed his mouth immediately, stumbling over his words, “I— I can’t. I have a thing.”
“A thing? Jackson, you’ll have to do better than that to get out of this one.” Mehar said pointedly, raising her eyebrows.
“I have a thing!” He said, but his cheeks were red and his voice was an octave higher, “I’m visiting my summer camp.”
“Your summer camp?”
“Yes,” He doubled down indignantly.
“It’s winter , Percy!” Caleb exclaimed, and the two girls dropped their head into their hands, “Jeez, you’re bad at lying.”
“I’m not lying . It’s a year round camp, but I only go in the summer. I’ve never had a winter break before, so I’m visiting my friends.” Percy said.
Looks exchanged between his three friends, “Fine,” Mehar said, placing her hands down on the table. Percy stopped taking a bite because he knew this meant business. Mehar never touched the ‘nasty lunch table’ unless she absolutely had to, “How about we visit this so-called summer camp with you?”
Percy’s eyes widened, “You can’t!” He said immediately and then took a bite as if being unable to speak would rid him of this problem.
Charlie looked at Caleb, urging him to speak. Percy’s eyes danced between the three of them and then back at his lunch box, “And why is that?”
“Because. It’s a religious camp. And it’s kinda obscure, so they don’t like newcomers coming in. And they— they, um, don’t allow other people on the site anyway.” Percy rambled, fidgeting with his lunch bag.
Concern filled his friends’ eyes, “What?”
“Would you look at the time? I have to head to the library!” Percy shoved his stuff into his bag and walked off, bag unzipped. Mehar quirked up an eyebrow. Does he think we’re idiots? Charlie voiced her thoughts seconds later.
“I know. Like, we all know he’d never purposefully leave lunch to go the library.” Caleb said.
Charlie, Mehar and Caleb
Caleb: Okay, like not to freak y’all out, but I was super concerned so I researched summer camp percy jackson
Caleb: Look what came up
Caleb: nbc.gov/twelveyearoldboywantedbypolice/url
Charlie: bruh
Charlie: there’s no way our best friend is a wanted man
Caleb: It doesn’t say his name exactly
Charlie: it says mrs. jackson’s name and there’s a photo of bby percy
Mehar: WHO IS GABE??? isn’t mrs. jackson married to a paul or something
Caleb: That’s the thing
Caleb: Do you think he’s in a cult
Charlie: BFFR RIGHT NOW CALEB
Caleb: I AM SO FR CHARLES
Mehar: let’s just ask him guys
Charlie: omg what if he’s in the witness protection program or something
Caleb: he’s going BACK to the cult for break DUMBASS
Charlie: that’s why he’s acting sus, because he’s not SUPPOSED TO
Mehar: you both are so dumb please. shut up. for the love of god.
Charlie: hear me out MAFIA
Mehar: fml
Caleb: Okay, yeah bye
Charlie: HEAR ME OUT
Charlie: and you guys are gone. whatever
Caleb took the plunge the next Monday, “Percy…” Percy, who was clicking away at some game on his computer, “Your camp isn’t dangerous, is it?”
Barely audibly, he mumbled, “Understatement of the century.”
“What?” He practically screeched, earning him a dirty look from their study hall teacher. Percy closed the game, staring back into Caleb’s eyes with the most distraught look on his face.
“What?” He said back.
“Is your camp dangerous?”
“Pshh,” Percy said, waving him off, “Dangerous? It’s a summer camp! The most dangerous thing is the archery classes.” But he was practically sweating bullets.
“Right.” Caleb said, “You’re sure?” He said as the class began dismissing. He glanced at the clock. Oh, he had picked the wrong time to start this conversation. He practically could see Percy’s eyes glued to the exit, ready to make his escape, “No danger?”
“Not an ounce,” He said, beginning a skuttle away from the classroom before getting dragged back by Charlie, who popped out from behind the two of them, merging as their classes both exited out into the same hallway.
“Danger?” She questioned.
Percy sighed, “No danger here. Or at my summer camp.”
Charlie and Caleb exchanged a look, “Oh! Well, actually Percy, I did have one question about your summer camp. Well, you, really.” Charlie asked, stalling as Percy glanced at his classroom helplessly, “Have you ever been on the news ?”
“No!” He screeched panickedly before hobbling, practically running, away.
Charlie, Mehar and Caleb
Charlie: and that’s why we think that maybe the mafia cult theory has some merit
Caleb: No, the mafia theory is crazy, but the cult one fs
Mehar: you guys are overreacting. leave it to me to pry it out of him during gym
Charlie: have fun with that! percy is insane in gym classss
Mehar: what.
Charlie: he goes crazy in gym for no reason
Caleb: Can confirm, man is absolutely cracked at capture the flag
Caleb: Like aggressively cracked
Mehar: drama queens
Mehar: gotta go, mr. smith says that it doesn’t take fifteen minutes to change. this is sexism
Caleb: Yep, we’re the biggest drama queens
Charlie: okay but mr. smith is actually sexist
Mehar left the locker rooms to find Percy already waiting at the gym benches, sideying the guys next to him. He grinned as soon as he saw Mehar. That was one thing about Percy. He was way too nice, for his own good. Mehar was never into him, but she could see why everyone was. I mean, look at him. And he was super nice to his mom and cooked. Like come on. Someone had to snatch him up and fast.
“We’re doing fencing today! And for the next three weeks! Because we lost, ” Mr. Smith began rambling, “the budget to basketball , even though we haven’t won in fifteen years…”
“Blah blah blah. Have Caleb and Charlie been really suspicious to you too?” Percy said through the corner of his mouth.
“Oh yeah.” But she didn’t reveal the full details of their discussions. She wasn’t being swayed, but—
Mr. Smith noticed them, and chucked a fencing sword at Percy, “Wanna go first, Jackson?”
“Uh, okay.”
One of the most annoying popular boys at their school raised his hand, “I’ll go against Jackson. See what the big deal is.” Three of his friends laughed, but no one else.
Mehar leaned against the bleachers, pulling out her phone to occupy her time. She loved Percy, but he couldn’t be good at fencing. He didn’t fence. Only people who did fencing were super good at fencing.
There was a countdown and then a clash of metal before the entire class erupted into whispers. Mehar looked up and Popular Boy’s fencing sword was on the ground and Percy was trying not to laugh. Did he drop it?
She watched for the second round, but this time, it was clear. Percy hit the sword right out of his hands, with never more than four moves over the course of three rounds. Popular Boy demanded rematch after rematch and eventually, even Mr. Smith told him to sit down, stop embarrassing himself. He told Percy to sit down too and Mehar high fived him, “‘Bout time someone put him in his place.” Percy smiled sheepishly back, “Where’d you even learn that?”
“Summer camp.” He shrugged.
“He learned how to swordfight at his summer camp? You can’t not believe the cult theory still!” Charlie slammed her hands down. Caleb nodded.
“This is real proof.”
Mehar chewed her lip, “Well, what do we do?”
They looked among each other, shrugging before Charlie brought out her phone and began searching for answers online, “ What to do if you find out a loved one is in a cult?” She read aloud, “ Step 1: throw an intervention .”
A final look passed between each other. That felt like a plan to them, “Friday, my house, 3:30. Bring a cake.” Mehar said.
“A cake?”
“Yes. A ‘Yay. You got out of your weird cult and now you can stop being annoying about coming to my winter break party!’ cake.”
“What is this?” Mehar groaned, staring at the cake Charlie had brought. It read in practically unreadable cursive: You got out of your weird cult and now you can stop being annoying, “Where is the last part?”
Charlie shrugged, taking a lick of the frosting, “They ran out of room.”
Caleb sighed, turning the TV on Mehar’s living room, “And you made a powerpoint?” Mehar sighed. She was working with two imbeciles.
“I read it on WikiHow.”
“Of course you did.”
The doorbell rung and they all shushed each other, effectively shushing nobody. Mehar ran and answered the door, “Percy, hey!”
“Hi? Am I the last one here? I found the perfect movie to watch— and hear me out here: the Princess Diaries! — what is this? Oh and I—” He cut himself off mid-sentence to stare at the three smiling faces in the living room accompanied by a giant presentation entitled, CULTS ARE BAD!
“Percy, sit down,” Mehar instructed. Percy did so, still confused, “We’ve noticed some changes in your behavior.”
“Yeah. In the last few weeks, you’ve been really weird. Like, when you accidentally said your camp was dangerous, religious-based and didn’t like outsiders.”
Caleb switched the slide while Charlie speaked.
She checked the slide, “And here is the Merriam-Webster definition for a cult. A system of religious veneration and devotion regarded by others as strange or sinister. Does that not sound exactly like your camp?”
“Actually, that’s an Oxford definition.” A girl behind Percy pointed at the TV.
“Annabeth, how are you such a genius?” Percy asked.
“Thank you, Percy, but I’m not. It says it on the slide.” Everyone looked at the slide, which had Oxford Dictionary’s logo clearly uncropped from the picture.
“Oh! It does.”
The two of them mused quietly, while Caleb squealed, “Stranger danger!” He brought out pepper spray that Annabeth jumped away from.
“Dude!” Percy exclaimed.
“Sorry, that was instinct!"
“Who are you?” Mehar started speaking before Caleb even finished his sentence.
“Annabeth. Sorry for intruding. Percy wanted me to come.”
Over top of this, Charlie began announcing, “None of this is important. Percy is in a CULT! ”
The room went record-scratch still. And then Percy glanced up at them, “Wait, is this an intervention?”
“Oh my god!” His friends went in sync, “ Yes, Percy. Of course it is! Because you’re in a cult!”
“I’m not in a cult!”
“Yes, you are.” Caleb said, flipping through multiple slides, “Involved in crimes, you know how to fight with swords, there’s danger at your camp, and it’s religious. The proof is all there. ”
Annabeth began laughing from next to Percy while he stammered, “Okay, I know how this looks , but—”
“Denial! That’s the very first stage of cults.”
“That's grief, dumbass,” Mehar hissed at Charlie while Caleb kept speaking.
“You were on the news for your crimes, Percy. You are a wanted man because this cult indoctrinated you! Is she in on it?” He whispered, glaring down Annabeth.
“No, guys, no, there is no cult! I described it poorly— it’s a very normal summer camp.” They looked at him suspiciously, so he brought out his phone, “Let me show you photos. He scrolled through multiple photos that only Annabeth and Percy could see as being dangerous. To the three mortals in the room, it just looked like exactly what Percy had said it was: a normal summer camp.
They relaxed, “Really?”
“Yes, really . Annabeth goes to the summer camp— she can testify.”
Annabeth looked up, grinning, “Yes, I can. And Percy is…” They leaned in, awaiting her reply, “a hundred percent lying. It’s a cult, guys.”
And the entire group broke out into more screeching.
(Later, of course, Percy and Annabeth managed to calm them down and they were given the cake, to which started off a whole new fit of giggles from Annabeth.)