The entire mess hall was silent as we all sat or stood there with our plates in hand, completely dumbfounded. I for one did not know what the hell (I should really start saying Underworld or Hades, shouldn't I?) just happened, but everyone seemed worried... like anxious and stuff. I chanced a look around the room and everyone was wearing the same expression of shock... then as if it were all pre-planned, the room burst to life with conversations. I looked over at Annabeth who tugged at the sleeve of my orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, her stormy eyes were dark with worry. If she's worried, then I should be terrified right now! She knew something though, I could tell from the way her eyebrows furrowed and the way she bit her lip. I realized all girls had that little habit a long time ago, my sister and mother both had that same expression when they knew something or were in deep thought. "Annabeth..." She looked straight into my eyes and asked,

"Who are you?!" Her tone was so urgent that I was taken aback. Who am I? I'm Jackson Yu, I told her already. I'm 17 years old, just some rich little boy that got washed ashore. What was so important about who I was?

"What do you-" I was cut off mid-sentence by this overwhelmingly strong wind that carried the smell of ripe grapes with it. A voice boomed after that wind and everyone grew silent.

"SILENCE!" We all looked toward the source of that voice and I found a stout guy. He was maybe 5'7" with a big potbelly and thinning hair... kind of like a frat boy who doesn't know that college is over. The man's hazel eyes scanned the crowd, and then landed on me... as if he was searching for me all along. I stopped breathing for a moment... this overwhelming pressure emanated from the man and it was suffocating.

"Who is that?" I whispered under my breath and Annabeth immediately replied with,

"The camp director, Mr.D... he's also known as Dionysus." The wine dude? No way, I thought Dionysus would look more... I don't know... young? Or... like Charlie Sheen or something, not that.

"Capture the Flag with the Hunters will be canceled tonight, and everyone is to remain indoors while I discuss this incident with the higher-ups. No one is allowed to cross the boundaries, yada yada yada..." Mr.D sounded bored, but I could hear how serious the man was. It was kind of hard to not notice when the God of Wine was staring at me. I knew then that he was talking to me specifically. What was so special about me? Some students were still in shock, but others -mainly the children of Ares- groaned at the thought of not playing the game. Honestly, what's so special about Capture the Flag? It's like hide-and-go-seek with a flag... A FLAG!

Everyone shuffled back to their own cabins after dinner, complaining under their breaths as they shut the doors. I still don't know what's so great about Capture the Flag. Either way, I was told to follow the Hermes kids back to their cabin since the Hermes cabin basically had all the "unclaimed" kids. I don't get it, what parent wouldn't claim their child? Oh. Right... my biological parents... I thought sullenly and sulked toward Cabin 11. Halfway there, Annabeth ran out of the mess hall and stopped me. "Jackson!" I turned around and she ran into me. It's a good thing I was prepared or else we both would have fallen. I steadied her and she murmured her thanks before shoving a slip of paper into my hand and then walking away. Confused, I peered down at the note and unfolded it. I was confused at first since it was written in weird symbols, but I realized it was Greek and slowly the words strung themselves together. It read:

Come by Poseidon's Cabin after lights out. Percy, Grover and I will wait for you there.

- Annabeth

Huh... okay, just wait until lights out, no big deal. I walked into the Hermes Cabin and just hung out there for the next little bit. The Hermes kids were quite nice, actually, they played cards with me and even offered me some stolen beverages and snacks from outside of the camp. I laughed and denied politely, they only shrugged and said "Suit yourself," then noisily chomped away at their ketchup-flavoured chips. Around the time the lights were supposed to go out, a kid placed a sleeping bag in the corner and indicated that it would be my bed. I had to tell him I didn't like corners and actually preferred the draft by the door... because that doesn't sound suspicious at all. The guy gave me a weird look as if he was mentally thinking, "Freak," but he placed the bag at the doorway for me anyway. The lights soon went out and everyone fell asleep rather quickly, just snoring away. I laid there for a while, and I contemplated not even going to meet up with Annabeth and Percy because my sleeping bag was so warm and comfortable... but I eventually forced myself out of the sleeping bag and quietly opened the door.

I arrived at the Poseidon Cabin not five minutes later, and Annabeth opened the door and told me to hurry up. "You're late." There was annoyance in her voice, well sorry Ms. I-don't-give-you-a-specific-time-to-be-here-but-you're-late-because-you're-not-on-my-schedule.Anyway, she pulled me into the cabin and closed the door behind me. Grover and Percy were already there, just like it said in the note.

"So, what's up?" I couldn't see Annabeth's expression in the darkness, but I had a sneaking suspicion she was biting her lip and furrowing her eyebrows.

"You know that weird thing Rachael recited today in the mess hall?"

"Who?"

"The redhead. Anyway, she's the Oracle... I think you know what that is, don't you?" I could sense her looking at me expectantly.

"Um... sure? It's the weird chick that tells the future or something, right?"

"Not the future, exactly, but she tells prophecies." Annabeth briefly explained.

"Right, right." I nodded, remembering some of this stuff from my World Studies class.

"Anyway, in this day and time, prophecies mean quests."

"Sweet, how many experience points do I get from this one?" I feigned excitement, and I could almost see Annabeth rolling her eyes at me.

"Be serious for a moment."

"Sorry." A sigh could be heard from the girl and I glanced at Percy. His face was bathed in moonlight so I could see the sheepish expression on his face, it was as if he were apologizing for his girlfriend's impatience.

"In the prophecy, she mentioned four people... I don't think it was a coincidence that you arrived just before this prophecy was told. You... I think your identity was kept from you for a reason. There's a line that keeps disturbing me... Born from water, the Son of Time. I think it's talking about you... but why would you be the Son of Time?" She sounded frustrated,

"Um... if I may interject," I raised my hand as if I were in a classroom,
"My dad sells Swedish watches as a part of his business, do you think that could have something to do with it?" I questioned.

"That can't be... it's too simple!"

"Annabeth, don't you remember our quests? Often times, the answers to them were so simple it seemed impossible." Percy spoke up for once, and Annabeth looked over at her boyfriend.
"I think that's it, his dad sells watches, and watches keep time. Voila, Son of Time!" The male grinned, making his explanation playful.

"Yeah... but..."

"But?" I asked,

"... He's not your real dad." That felt like a bullet through my heart. Right. Joseph Yu isn't my real dad, he's a Chinese businessman who adopted me because... I don't know. I think Annabeth sensed my sudden change in mood,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way." She quickly added on, trying to lessen the blow, but what's done is done.

"It's alright... I knew that. I mean... it's not hard to see that I'm not Chinese and I don't really fit in with the family. I'm like that one smudge that won't blend in no matter what." I laughed bitterly, why do I feel this way? They treated me well... and they're... most likely dead. So why do I continue to feel this way?

"Jackson..."

"No, I get it. Maybe this prophecy isn't even talking about me, maybe it's talking about Percy. He's the son of Poseidon, right?" I guessed Percy was the son of Poseidon since he was in this cabin to begin with.
"He's technically born of water, and honestly, we're all children of time. We've all lived through time."

"Jackson..." Annabeth tried again.

"No! I'm normal! Even Chiron said he couldn't sense anything from me, I'm not a demigod, I'm human! I'm not half a god, I'm nothing!" I don't know why I felt this rage building up within me... it's not like me, and yet it felt right at the moment.

"Jackson!" I stopped, and I realized the moon had shifted some... I could see her face now. Those stormy gray eyes stopped me.
"Whether you like it or not... this prophecy is about you. This prophecy is about the four of us. Percy is the trident, I am the owl, Grover is Pan's descendent, and you are the clock." I shook my head, but she continued to look at me in that way all moms did when a kid disobeys her.

"So... so what now?" Grover clapped his hands together at my question,

"Thought you'd never ask. Say hola to the emergency demigod supplies!" I realized then that Grover was holding a... a Yankees cap? Beside him was this tiny chest. Producing a key from his pocket, the satyr immediately unlocked it and opened the top.
"Ambrosia... some Benjamins..." Grover muttered to himself, listing the things he took out of the chest. I eventually got to the conclusion that the chest was magical or enchanted to hold more items than a normal chest since weapons started to come out.

"Uh... I don't know if you know this, but I've never held a sword in my life." I mumbled when Grover took out chestplates and all that jazz.

"Don't worry, I'll give you a crash course on the run." Percy offered as he took out his pen and made sword crossing motions.

"Right... with a pen..." He had an expression of annoyance, he must've been asked this many times since he uncapped it and it sprung into a bronze gladius in front of my face.
"Woah! Not a pen! Definitely not a pen!" I held my hands up, palms forward, in a "I surrender" pose. He laughed and placed the cap on the tip and it immediately shrunk into a pen again... weird stuff.
"Wait, so how do you answer the phrase, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'?" I joked,

"I would say my pen-sword is mightier than any pen or sword." He replied, grinning. We both laughed and Annabeth shook her head and sighed, muttering something along the lines of "Oh my Gods, boys" under her breath.

Grover handed me an actual sheathed blade, and I gave him a funny look. "Won't people kind of, oh I don't know, notice I'm carrying around a sword?"

"Not at all, the Mist covers everything magical up." Grover replied, and by this point, I was starting to get a headache. The Mist, pen-swords, magical chests... Ugh, can I get a demi-god crash course when I'm not involved in some quest or prophecy or whatever?

"Do I even need to know?" I turned my attention to Annabeth who just shrugged,

"It's basically a magic veil that covers anything magical up. It's like forgetting something and making up a memory in the place of it." Ah, I understood now. Pulling the gladius out of its sheathe, I tested its weight in my hand. It was really light... too light, I would say. I felt like it might shatter if I swung too hard. As it caught the moonlight, I realized it was brown... it's bronze. Really? We're in an age of steel and we're carrying around bronze weapons to slay monsters? I decided to not even ask.

Everyone was handed a backpack and it felt like a normal backpack in my hands. I bet it's normal, it's not enchanted or anything. Once the backpacks were distributed to everyone, the preparations were complete. It's time to move out now. I secretly wondered if I was high or not, to me, there's still no such thing as monsters or gods or anything of that sort. Even if there was, Chiron said he felt nothing from me. What if they misunderstood the prophecy? What if I'm only mortal and the stupid barrier just thought I was a demi-god? I've never heard of barriers with a mind of its own, but hey, anything's possible apparently. As we started to walk out, Annabeth nudged my arm and I looked at her. "Scared?" She asked.

"Shitless."

"Good, that fear will keep you alive." I laughed and shouldered my backpack as we walked.
"I'm serious... only fear can keep you alive." I understood what she meant.. only that fear will keep my on edge and alert of my surroundings. It's obvious I'm not like them, I don't have that courage that comes with good genes and many years of experience as a half-god. I don't have any of that, only my instincts and I seriously doubt I have good instincts. She turned to leave in favour of being next to Percy, but I called her back,

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" She turned around to face me once again,

"You need to seriously give me a demi-god crash course when you can, okay?" She chuckled,

"You bet. You need all the help you can get right now." I smiled and so, we walked out of Camp Half Blood and began our quest.

Notes

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Sorry about the long reads, I just can't find a good place to end off sometimes (all the time).