The winter solstice. A traditional gathering every year on Olympus. On this particular solstice, a group of demigods from Camp Half-Blood were taking a field trip to learn about 'godly politics'. But someone else had other plans.
/\/\/\/\
Chiron led the group of young demigods and a satyr through Olympus, explaining how the meetings usually went. The group was relatively small; Clarisse La Rue from the Ares cabin; Annabeth Chase from the Athena cabin; Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin, along with their half-brother Chris Rodriguez; Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin; Katie Gardener from the Demeter cabin; Pollux and Castor from the Dionysus cabin; and Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite cabin, along with Grover the satyr.
He was just about to move on from their location in the gardens and explain more about the solstice when suddenly Hermes appeared, making them all jump. "Dad!" cried Travis and Connor at the same time. Hermes smiled at his sons, but his expression was grim. "Hi boys. I'm sorry, but this is business. Chiron, we need you and the kids up in the throne room ASAP. There's been an incident," he said in a very urgent tone.
Chiron narrowed his eyes while the demigods began whispering to each other in surprise. "Alright then," he said, and he and Hermes both led the way up to the main palace of Olympus.
/\/\ Meanwhile, about five years into the future. /\/\
"So, you finally going to prove you have the guts to drive a car, fish boy?"
"You're on, freckle-face!"
Percy Jackson was walking toward his stepdad's Prius with his friend Rachel Dare, joking about his driving and fully intent on simply taking the car for a short spin, when a light suddenly exploded in front of them. They were both yanked forward into it, screaming in surprise as the light encased them completely.
/\/\/\/\
Nico di Angelo crept behind a huge pillar of stone inside the half-built palace of Othrys on top of Mount Tam, his eyes darting about, scanning for monsters. 'Weird. This is Kronos' headquarters. Shouldn't there be more guards?' he thought as he stared suspiciously at the oddly quiet grounds, but before he could contemplate this, a bright flash of light burst in front of him, and with a swift yank, he was flung head-long into a tunnel of light.
/\/\/\/\
Thalia Grace stood scowling down at her latest catch; a huge boar that had been causing her quite a lot of trouble along with her friends the Hunters. "Bizarre. It's like it dropped dead before I could hit it," she murmured quietly.
"Thalia! Did you find it?" yelled one of her fellow Hunters from behind a thicket of bushes. Thalia was about to yell back when she was blinded by huge supernova appearing in front of her and snatching her into it's light.
/\/\ Back on Olympus where we left off. /\/\
Chiron noticed five odd things about the throne room when he entered with Hermes and the kids. One: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades weren't trying to kill each other like they usually did on each solstice. Two: All of the gods and goddesses were gathered around a large golden table in the middle of the room. Three: Athena was holding a note, her eyes darting across it. Four: A stack of at least seven books stood on the table. And Five: A girl around thirteen with auburn hair and grey eyes was standing beside them, her eyes watching each god or goddess carefully, as if she were calculating a plan to beat them all in a fight.
"What is this all about?" asked Chiron as he entered. The demigods flinched in surprise that he would address them so casually, but when the gods and goddesses turned to him, Zeus seemed a little relieved.
"Ah, Chiron, good. We've had a- uh, surprise visit from someone who says she knows you. Care to explain a little?" he asked. He directed his eyes toward the girl with auburn hair, who looked back at him coldly, clearly unafraid to show open hostility towards him.
Now that he could see her a little more clearly, Chiron's eyes widened. "Andromeda Asphodel," he said, his voice filled with shock and sadness. "Who is she? Is she an enemy?" asked Ares, his eyes begging for a fight.
"Good to see you too, Chiron," the girl said, her voice cold and tired, as if she had aged a thousand years within the time it took her to turn to him. "Chiron, who is this? !" asked Zeus, a little impatient – though mostly he was angry that she'd looked at him like he was nothing but an annoyance.
"She's my half-sister," said Chiron, his eyes narrowing now that his shock had subsided, "She's a daughter of Kronos." As soon as he said the name, the room dropped a few degrees, and the gods stiffened, slowly reaching for their weapons.
Andromeda sniffed disdainfully. "No need to act so hostile, my dear Olympians. I am simply here on a request from my masters, the Fates," she said, freezing everyone in place out of surprise.
"What do they want?" asked Hades suspiciously, his hand still resting on his fighting staff just in case. Andromeda turned to him, her eyes still cold, though they held a bit of sadness.
"Peace, brother Hades. They have instructed me to help you change a few things in the future; things that went wrong, things that never should have happened. To do so, I had to wait for the best moment; a solstice where not only all of the gods were present, but also some very influential demigods are here as well. We are still missing a few demigods, but they will be here shortly," she said, her voice so filled with fatigue she sounded like she hadn't slept in years.
"Why would they do this? The Fates have never cared what happened to human-kind or the gods before now!" said Athena, looking both suspicious and confused at the same time.
Andromeda turned to her. "True. They have never shown any interest in human events before. Even I do not understand this completely, but I was instructed to come here. These books," she said, pointing her finger at the pile of books on the table, "Are from the future. The first is from a year from now. It details the events from the view point of one demigod in particular, and it details his role in the coming war. The Fates told me that to stop the bad things completely, we all would have to read these books, word for word. But not until the last few demigods arrive. Until then, we must wait."
Everyone in the room looked different; Chiron, Hades, and Ares still looked suspicious of her; Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena looked thoughtful; the rest of the gods looked confused; the demigods and Grover all looked dizzy with the information. Andromeda kept a completely neutral face, her eyes bloodshot with lack of sleep, but she stayed firmly on her feet.
"Alright then. We'll read them, but only to stop these 'awful things' from happening," said Zeus. The other gods and goddesses slowly nodded their heads in agreement, and they all returned to their thrones; small guest chairs popped up for the demigods, though Grover had to sit on the floor. Zeus was still mad about the Thalia incident.
When an extra chair appeared for Andromeda, she looked extremely sad. "Don't bother, Zeus. In exchange for immortality and my powers to control time, the Fates require that I never rest. No sleep. No relaxing. I cannot even sit down," she sighed mournfully, gazing at the chair longingly.
Zeus blinked and made the chair disappear quickly. Slowly time ticked by in silence…. Nothing happened. Finally, Apollo burst out, "Where the heck are these final demigods? ! I just want to get this over with!"
Hermes nodded in agreement. "Yes. Let's just get this over with already!" snapped a very moody looking Dionysus. Andromeda stared at him with her usual cold stare. "Silence yourself, you useless drunk. They will be here in a few moments," she ordered.
The whole room seemed to tense at her words as Dionysus's face turned purple with rage. "You dare insult me? !" he snarled. Andromeda smiled humorlessly. "Indeed I do. I am a daughter of Kronos; if you have the guts to blast me, I can simply twitch an eye and you will be dragged straight to Tartarus. Do not test me, you drunken moron, or I will not hold back." Andromeda hissed so icily several demigods trembled involuntarily.
Castor and Pollux looked horrified at the prospect of their father being dragged to Tartarus, but before either they or Dionysus could say anything, a bright light appeared above the table in the middle of the room.
"Ah, here they are," said Andromeda approvingly, and suddenly four figures came tumbling out of the light straight onto the table.
/\/\/\/\
Percy opened his eyes slowly, just in case the light hadn't faded completely and it blinded him again. "Percy?" moaned Rachel from nearby, her voice filled with fuzzy pain. "Yeah?" he said; he felt exhausted, like all of his energy had left along with the bright light.
"Where are we?" she asked. She slowly came into focus in front of Percy's fuzzy vision; her hair was strewn around her like it had been ripped around by a hurricane. "No idea," he said, looking around.
Another two forms were right behind him, and he recognized them instantly; his cousins, Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo. "What-the-hell? !" snapped Thalia, her voice filled with venom as she got to her hands and knees unsteadily. Nico sat up slowly beside her, shaking his head to try to clear it.
"Ahem."
A throat cleared behind Percy, and he turned to see a sight that made him recoil in shock; all of the Olympian gods and goddesses in their thrones, some of his friends from camp, and a strange girl all staring at him and his friends in something like surprise and slight concern.
"Whoa, what the hell? !" said Nico, his eyes wide with shock, "What are we doing in Olympus? !" "That's where we are?" asked Rachel, her eyes filled with awe as she gazed at the gods like they were skyscrapers; which they practically were, but that's beside the point.
As they all stared in shock, tongue-tied, the strange girl with auburn hair walked up to them, with a truly affectionate smile. "Welcome, heroes, to Olympus. I understand that this must be disorienting, but you have all traveled five years into the past," she said, and she went on to explain her name, her mission, and where they were and why.
"Well, that explains the dizziness; it's worse than shadow-traveling," groaned Nico, holding his head to try and drive away the pounding headache there. Thalia was gazing at Andromeda with open hostility, though Percy had a feeling her eyes were mostly trained on her father Zeus, who was directly behind Andromeda.
"Why do you need us here?" asked Rachel; she had handled everything pretty well, and now she was genuinely curious. Andromeda explained, "You four all play a significant role in the future. You were all needed to be here to help everyone understand what is happening. Besides, I'm sure if I simply came empty-handed, the gods would become suspicious and think I was lying. With you here, we can avoid unnecessary suspicion."
Nico narrowed his eyes. "Sounds OK. But why us in particular?" he asked. Andromeda smiled. "All four of you are more important than you can possibly realize. That is all I can say for now," she said.
Meanwhile, the gods had been waiting patiently for her to finish, but the demigods were all twitching with impatience. "Can we get a move on already? !" snapped Clarisse, scaring Travis and Connor out of their game of paper football.
Andromeda did not look pleased, but she nodded. "It is best of we get this going as soon as possible. Who has the books now?" she asked, and Apollo raised his hand. "I was looking at them and I must say, these sound awesome! Monsters and prophecies everywhere; just my kind of book!" he said, his eyes filling with fake emotional tears of joy.
"What are they called, anyway?" asked Demeter, and Apollo read, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the Sea of Monsters, the Titan's Curse, the Battle of the Labyrinth, and the Last Olympian. Then The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, and the Mark of Athena."
Murmurs of interest drifted through the air, but Poseidon did not join in; his mind was racing with surprise. 'Percy? He's only eleven right now; is he really in danger from monsters already? !' he thought, then he silently cursed in frustration; he couldn't ask Andromeda right now, not in front of the entire Olympian council. Zeus would storm right down to Percy's and his mother's apartment building and blow it up.
"So, who are these new arrivals?" asked Aphrodite, drawing Poseidon out of his shock, though she looked more interested with looking at her reflection in Ares' armor. Andromeda pursed her lips and said, "It is better if you only know theirs names. Their godly parents will be revealed in the books. Besides, I'd very much like to avoid one of you blowing them up."
She was talking to the entire council, but her eyes remained fixed on Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, and they all shifted uncomfortably.
Before things could get awkward, Percy stepped forward. "My name's Percy Jackson," he said, waving his hand in a choppy salute. Thalia elbowed him in the ribs playfully. "Save it for someone who cares, Perce. My name's Thalia Grace," she said. Everyone gasped sharply. Annabeth, who'd been trying to hold back from bursting out with surprise at her appearance, suddenly exploded, "WHAT? ! You're a tree! How are you here? !"
Several of her friends looked at her in surprise; they had never seen her so upset before, but Thalia laughed. "Oh, well, Prissy Princess Percy here saved me from my tree-ness. I'm guessing that'll be a part of the books," she said, and Percy grumbled, "And I regret it every day, Pinecone Face."
Thalia punched him in the arm, making him let out a strangled gasp of pain as he rubbed it tenderly. "Damn it! Must you hit me every time we see each other? !" he snapped. "Yes. Yes I do," she said.
Before either of them could kill each other, Rachel stepped up. "I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Um….. I'm not a demigod. Why am I here?" Some of the gods tensed, but Andromeda said, "You play a very important part in the story. We needed you here as well."
The gods relaxed slightly, though they looked a little uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Zeus was having a major inner freak out; his daughter was alive! HELL YES! It was all he could do to keep himself from leaping up and hugging his little girl like he'd wanted to do a million times ever since she'd become a tree. He kept his face neutral.
Hades was studying Nico like he was a nuclear bomb that had to be disarmed. 'There's no doubt about it; that's Nico alright. But how is he here? ! He's supposed to be in the Lotus Hotel and Casino!' he thought, panic rising slightly in his chest. If his son was I danger, hell was going to break loose on the ones who threatened him. Meanwhile Nico was trying to look anywhere but at his dad; he had his eyes trained firmly on the star-studded ceiling.
"Well, introduce yourself!" snapped Thalia, punching him in the arm to get him out of his stupor. "OW! Geez, Thals, you're punches hurt!" he gasped, covering his arm before she could hit him again.
She growled at him, and he sighed. "Fine. I'm Nico di Angelo. Happy now?" he hissed at her. Thalia rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. Now, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" she suggested.
/\/\/\/\
Four more chairs appeared for them, and they all sat down, a little separate from the other demigods to avoid their questioning eyes. "Now, before we begin, there is only one thing left to say; Percy, Nico, Thalia, and Rachel have lived thorough the first four books already, but none of you are permitted to pester them for information about anything past what we have read, and none of you can ask me about anything past the first four books as well. Is that clear?" asked Andromeda.
"What? ! That's not fair!" wailed the Stoll twins. "Yeah! We wanna know more-!" protested Katie, but Andromeda fixed her with an icy glare. She immediately shut up.
"Is that clear?" she asked again. A murmur of grudging assent rose from the group, the Stoll's, Katie, and even Apollo and Hermes looking the most disappointed. "Good. Who shall read first?" asked Andromeda, summoning the books to her hands.
Percy raised his hand. "I may as well start. This is from my point of view, right?" he asked, and Andromeda nodded as she levitated the book towards him. He caught it and opened it to the first page.
"Okay. First chapter's called….."
/\/\/\/\
A/N: Wow. Longest prologue I've ever written! LOL! Anyways… yep. I'm being a total 'follow the leader'; there are millions of stories like these out there, but I decided it's about damn time I started one, so here it is! I hope you enjoy this! I'll try to update at least once a week, but that just depends on the length of the chapter. Laters people!
-Wind
