Hello my dear readers! Here is the next chapter! Enjoy!


The next morning, I woke up in my cabin. I smiled as I remembered becoming Hestia's champion, but then I frowned at what had occurred just before that. I can't believe she would cheat on me! For Jerkules, too! I sighed and cleared my head of those thoughts. It's all in the past now. I stretched out my hand and felt a tiny tug in my gut. I watched in awe as flames danced to life in my palm. They were mesmerizing, swirling in my hand. I heard the conch horn sound for breakfast. I darted out of my cabin; I was extremely hungry since I didn't eat at the party last night. I looked around the pavilion. The other members of the seven were missing, probably god duties. As if on cue, the Olympians, the seven, Nico, and Reyna appeared in the pavilion in a bright flash.

"Demigods," Zeus announced, "these new gods and goddesses will now be the directors of Camp Olympus." Oh yeah, after the war, both camps were combined to form Camp Olympus. It had a small city and a college for demigods who wanted to grow up and live their lives. "Please treat them with respect, for they now run this camp. Good day." With that, the Olympians flashed out. Annabeth stepped forward. "Hello, campers. Our first order of business as camp directors: Perseus Jackson, you are hereby banished from this camp due to conspiring with the enemy and betraying Olympus."

My jaw dropped. First, she cheats on me, then she decides to banish me! "Annabeth, that's crazy! I never betrayed anyone!" She swelled in rage. "You dare talk back to a goddess, boy? This is the only explanation why you were able to beat Gaea so easily!" The rest of the campers started joining in Annabeth's accusations. I noticed the rest of the new gods and goddesses looking slightly disgusted at Annabeth and realized that they didn't believe her claims. "Annabeth, I never did any of that! You are insane!" I told her. She snarled. "That's it! I, Annabeth Chase, Goddess of Architecture and Director of Camp Olympus, hereby exile Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, from Camp Olympus." I felt a tugging sensation in my heart, and next thing I knew, I was standing on Half-Blood Hill overlooking camp. I put my hand out, but felt nothing but an invisible wall. A tear trickled down my cheek as I turned away from the one of the only places I could call home.

Speaking of home, that's where I decided to go after Annabeth exiled me. So, here I was, standing in front of my mom's apartment. However, my instincts were screaming, something's wrong! First sign: the door was cracked open. My mother never EVER left the door open. Second sign: it was dead silent. There were no sounds of a TV or of my mother talking to Paul or anything. I uncapped Riptide and inched open the door. When it was finally open, I stepped inside and I couldn't breathe.

My chest felt like it was rolled over by a tank and then stomped on by Typhon. There were my mother and Paul lying dead upon the floor. Paul had a spear through his heart and my mother had two teeth marks on her neck. Dracaenae and empousa. I knelt down on the floor, cradling my mom's body in my arms and sobbing harder than I ever had before. This felt even worse than Annabeth by a lot. My mother was the best person in the universe, and here she was, dead. I don't know how long I sat there crying. It felt like an eternity. All I knew was that my mother was gone and was never coming back. The thought made me keep crying.

"Champion?" I looked up to see Hestia along with Hera and Hades. "Hestia? Lord Hades? Lady Hera? What are you doing here?" Hestia and Hera frowned sadly and Hades looked sympathetic. "We felt your loss of home and family." Hera told me. "And I sensed your parents' deaths and figured you would be here." Hades explained. I looked down at my mother, fresh tears making their way down my cheeks. Hestia put a hand on my shoulder. "Percy? Would it be okay if I were to adopt you as my son? I'm not trying to replace your mother. I have just never had a son before and you look like you could use a motherly figure." she asked. I smiled at her. "Of course… Mom."

She beamed and I glowed with a fiery orange light. I felt more in tune with my fire powers and I felt calmer. Hestia smiled proudly. "With your new powers, you can use fire, heal, summon food, control temperatures, give or take away hope, and give off warmth." I hugged her tightly. "Thanks Mom."Hera and Hades stepped forward. "Nephew, I would like to give you my blessing. You restored my throne and allowed me to see my family again, and I can never thank you for that." Hades told me. "I would like to give you my blessing," Hera said, "because I would like to apologize for all I have put you through. You have changed my view of demigods and taught me that it is not their fault they were born." I smiled. "I would love to become your champion, Aunt Hera and Uncle Hades."

Hera looked happier than I had ever seen her when I called her Aunt. She shot a brown ball of energy at me, which was soon followed by a black one from Hades. "Nephew, with my powers, you can read the memories of others and your mind cannot be affected by influence, penetration, madness, and mental attacks. This extends to seeing through illusions." I walked over to her and gave her a tight hug. She hesitated, surprised, but soon hugged me back. Hades cleared his throat. "Ahem, nephew, I think you forgot me. I'm actually hurt! Anyway, with my blessing, you can control the shadows, shadow travel, summon and control precious metals, and manipulate earth, similar to my son Nico." I gave Uncle Hades a hug, which I could tell he wasn't used to. Then I remembered my mother.

I pulled out of the hug and knelt down on the floor. I picked up my mother bridal style and carried her out of the apartment. I walked all the way to Montauk, since I had always known Mom would have wanted to be buried there. It was where she met my dad and had the happiest time of her life. I stopped next to the tiny cabin that we used to spend three days of every summer in. I started digging a hole in the sand on the beach in front of the cabin. That way she could always be in between the cabin and the sea. Once the hole was dug, I jumped into the ocean and swam down to the sea floor.

I found a sea-green piece of coral and shot back up to the surface. I laid the coral on her chest and folded her hands over it, so that she could always have the sea close to her heart. I cut off a piece of her hair with Riptide so that I would always have a piece of her with me. The last thing I did was place a golden drachma on her forehead. I murmured a Greek lullaby to her before I covered the hole with sand. Tears made their way down my face as I said goodbye to my mother for the very last time.

I turned around to see Hestia, Hades, and Hera watching me with tears in their eyes. Hera looked especially saddened. I guess as the goddess of family, she would feel all ties to family and could feel the love I still had for my mother. I couldn't help it. I just started full on sobbing and my mind was reduced to a blank state. All I could think about was the fact that my mother was gone. I vaguely felt arms wrap around me and the sensation of teleporting, but I was too consumed with grief to notice. My mother was dead. I would never have one of her blue cookies again. She would never be there if I were to have a bad day.

Already, I missed her laughter and the smell of baking cookies that always seemed to surround her. I missed her smile that could light up even the darkest room. I missed her soothing voice that would calm me down if I was frustrated. Then I realized something. My chest no longer hurt. I no longer felt a lump in my throat. I felt nothing. Emptiness. Something had snapped inside of me, and I couldn't feel anything. No anger, sadness, regret, or happiness. Percy Jackson was gone. The last sensation I remember was falling asleep.


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Daily Question: What is your favorite dessert? Mine is chocolate soufflé