THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS
Chapter I: Percy
The seven demigods are now officially on their trip to the Ancient Lands. Percy should be nervous, scared or even happy that they are closer than ever to defeating Dirt Face' as Leo puts it. But all he feels is dread. Dread to the final battle. Dread to see camp. Dread to his own future.
He is standing on deck as he can't sleep. They are near the end of the Ionian Sea. Getting so far isn't easy. Though he is getting better from his nightmares because of Annabeth, his dreams still haunt him of Tartarus when the night came. He can see Annabeth is going through tough times herself but whenever they are together, things seemed so much better. They had been through Tartarus alone, along with Bob.
Bob...
The best titan in the entire world, the bravest of them all. Just the thought makes Percy's insides prick with guilt. Bob had sacrificed his life for Percy and Annabeth to get to the Doors of Death. Bob had helped them through every single problem they faced. Without Bob both of them would have never made it out alive.
Annabeth believes Bob is alive but Percy has some trouble following her example. Bob would have fought a million monsters to survive. Even with the help of Damasen, Bob couldn't have made it. However hard he hoped, the reality just made itself clearer.
Annabeth appears behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. You're okay, right?"
If only she knew. 'Yeah," He replies not entirely truthful.
"Jason's arranging a meeting and he wants you to be there."
He nods. "I'll be right there. You go on ahead."
She looks at him with her stormy grey eyes into his cool green ones. For a minute, it looks as if she is going to cry, but she doesn't. Instead she inhales deeply. "Okay."
Percy turns back to the sea once Annabeth walks away and presses his palms on the railing. Somehow the cool ocean breeze and the sound of the tiny waves lapping below make things feel a little less chaotic.
Percy walks to the dining hall alone. Everyone has already arrived. Jason is sitting at the head of the table but gives his seat up to Annabeth. Hazel and Piper slouch, no doubt exhausted with all the sword fighting lessons. Leo and Frank are arguing between each other but cut it out when Percy enters.
The hall seems a bit empty and Percy feels a sudden longing to go back home and have blue waffles with his mother and Paul. The last time he saw her feels like it was so long ago. It's so quiet without Coach Hedge.
The smile slips from his mouth as he remembers the Athena Parthenos, Nico and Reyna. Hopefully they were safely travelling across the Atlantic but Percy doubts they would get a nice ride back to camp. And he hopes Octavian had not destroyed Camp Half Blood yet. His home. Percy couldn't wait till he got the chance to strangle the scarecrow.
Percy takes a seat next to Annabeth. Everyone stares nervously at the both of them. They had promised to tell the others what happened in Tartarus. Percy didn't feel like it but it had to be sooner or later. As for Percy, he had learned to choose sooner. The others hadn't pushed them so far but he could tell they wanted to know.
Jason takes the lead. "So, I suppose we all know we have exactly two weeks or fourteen days to defeat Gaea before she rises and…" The rest of the sentence dissolves in silence. They all knew what was at stake.
Percy could hear Tartarus laughing "You might as well try to kill the Earth." Tartarus had said.
"Well the Argo II needs repairing. " Leo finally says. "I would need a couple of floorboards and tape and I need to fix a couple of gears. Thankfully Festus is intact and working or we would be whoosh." He makes the movement of something falling and breaking apart on his palm. "Except Jason."
"I'll go." Piper volunteers. "Anyone else?"
"Count me in," Percy sighs. Perhaps this little shopping trip would take his mind of the disturbing images of the giants, Tartarus and the river Phlegathon. If he started seeing all these when he was awake, he was definitely going crazy. But then again, that was a natural thing to say for a demigod. Regular mortals probably think us demigods are insane, but they couldn't see the world like the demigods. The powerful cloak of Mist blocks their sight of monsters.
"I'll go too," Annabeth says, raising her hand slightly. "My mind needs to take a break off things."
Piper nods. "Let's get going," she gets up from the table. As usual, everyone looks up, and Piper scowls slightly. Surprisingly, for a child of Aphrodite, she hates too much attention. But, you couldn't really help it sometimes. She takes Katoptris, her knife, and puts it into its sheath in her belt. It was a looking glass, and sometimes it was a big help in times of battle. Annabeth gets up and follows her, her sword already strapped to her side. Damasen had gifted it to her, and she wore it everywhere, prepared for any untimed battle. She looked pretty intimidating sometimes.
Percy is the only one left to leave. Leo, Frank, Jason and Hazel are all staring at him. They had been acting weird around him lately, as if expecting Percy to suddenly come up with a masterstroke and defeat Gaea, and it irritates Percy once in a while. He may have been praetor of the Twelfth legion, but that didn't make him some kind of supreme lord. And Jason always took the lead. What happened now?
"Leo," Percy breaks the silence. "What was it you needed?"
Leo looks up. "Huh? Oh, a roll of tape and some new floorboards," he says, circling his spaghetti with a fork. Percy nods. "We'll leave tomorrow." He turns and strolls out of the hall room.