"Percy? Can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes and found myself curled up on someone's cool marble floor. It felt much nicer than any marble floor had the right to. Immediately shutting my eyes again, I curled up tighter, wondering how I'd gotten there—and then, suddenly, everything hit me. It felt like the information literally slammed into my brain: who I was (Percy Jackson), where I was (Olympus), how I'd gotten onto the floor (collapsing), and what had been going on (the Olympians making me a god).

Wait…

My eyes opened. I sat up. And wow, I could see.

It wasn't that my vision had been terrible before, because the universe had been kind enough to spare me eyesight problems on top of all my other, more annoying problems. Like almost dying multiple times. But as I tried to blink the dancing white lights out of my vision, looking around the Olympus throne room, I could see every single crack in the columns; every little color in the gods' watching eyes; every laugh line in my father's face, now taut with worry as he held out a hand to help me up. Dazed, I ignored it and scrambled to my feet on my own. Even though I should've still been exhausted from the battle I'd fought, my legs felt like they could run for miles, and my arms could probably take the world from Atlas for an hour or two. The gods had turned me into Captain freaking America, which I was definitely starting to like.

Then I focused back on Poseidon, and the other weird aspect of godhood made itself known. He was…glowing. So brightly, in fact, that I wasn't sure how I hadn't noticed it yet. And as I took in the golden aura that surrounded him, I realized it wasn't a solid kind of glow, either, but rather a stream of interconnected threads that had their own subtle tints of different colors. One was golden-red, the other golden-blue, and so on, but there was no way I could've seen that without my new godly eyes. Instinctively, I mentally reached out and pulled at one of the golden-blue threads. This, my mind supplied, was Poseidon's loyalty to Amphitrite.

"Oh, whoa," I murmured to myself. Somebody snickered, but I ignored it in favor of reaching for another thread. This one, golden-gray, was Poseidon's loyalty to Zeus. It was slightly thinner than the first one, and I realized with a jolt that I could stand here for the rest of the day and figure out my dad's loyalties to everyone he'd ever met.

I really was a god.

"Hail, Lord Percy," said Zeus, and I turned in surprise to look at him. His aura was just as golden as my father's, but so bright that my eyes actually had to adjust for a moment. "God of loyalty and battles."

The reminder of my domain over battles made me realize the key to the auras I was seeing: those represented how powerful the person was in a fight. How did I know that? No idea. But it was such a useful ability that I wasn't about to question it.

Poseidon smiled, drawing me out of my thoughts. If I was honest, I'd never get bored of that smile; call me cheesy, but what son doesn't want to please their dad? "Well, Percy, I congratulate you. Surely Chiron wants to know what has transpired, and Camp Half-Blood must be anxious to know that you are safe. Will you be paying them a visit?"

"Yeah. I mean, yes. Can I teleport to camp now?"

My father laughed. "All gods have that power. Simply close your eyes and imagine where you want to be. Or you may imagine someone's face to bring you to them directly, but that is…" He hesitated. "Less likely to work. And do not forget to hide your true form from non-deities."

"Wait, my true form?" I glanced down at myself, then jumped back in shock. Though my own golden aura was far less blinding than an Olympian's, it was still clear enough to weird me out.

"Yes, my son. Be careful with it at camp."

"How do I change?"

"Poseidon!" Zeus called irritably. Sometime during the conversation, all the other Olympians had disappeared. Jeez, becoming a god had not improved my observation skills. "Will you be joining us or not?"

"A moment, brother," Poseidon said over his shoulder, before turning back to me. "Apologies, Percy, I must go, but disguising your true form is simple. Concentrate on any appearance you like, and it will be so. Good luck!" Without further ado, he began to glow, and habit made me look away before I remembered I didn't have to anymore. I watched in fascination as Poseidon seemed to explode in a burst of bright blue sparks.

With that, I was all alone in the vast Olympian throne room.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Any appearance I wanted, huh? Mine would just have to be good enough. I tried to envision myself the way I'd always been—black hair, green eyes, no aura—and when I opened my eyes, my body looked exactly like it used to. Now all I had to do was get to camp.

Hmm…I pictured myself at the base of Thalia's tree. I imagined its branches, swaying in the wind, and the grass flattened out beneath my feet. Just as I began to believe I could feel the sea breeze rushing past me, I blinked and realized that my surroundings had melted seamlessly into those of the camp's exterior. I was exactly where I'd imagined myself, just like that.

"That was awesome," I said to nobody in particular. A faint shudder shot through me as I took a step forward, passing Thalia's tree, and suddenly I could see the entire camp spread out below me in all its aching familiarity. I'd made so many friends and memories here that it was almost strange to look at with fresh eyes. Maybe that was why I concentrated on making myself invisible as I walked down the hill, a power that thankfully seemed to come included in the whole godhood package; sure, I could have let everyone fuss about me, but I wasn't entirely in the mood to face all the chaos just yet. First Chiron, and then everyone else.

I made sure no one was looking before knocking on the door to the Big House, and when Chiron opened it, I could literally see his eyes widen. The warm brown aura around him flickered in what might have been surprise. "Percy! Where have you been?"

How was I supposed to just come out with 'yeah, so I've been turned into a god'? "Uh, that's what I came to talk to you about."

"Of course. Come in. You must be exhausted after the battle, and…well, my boy, some of us thought the worst. Your friends will be glad to see you."

I followed the old centaur until we stopped outside the door to his office. He knocked on the door, and I felt my blood run cold when he said, "Annabeth?"

"Yes?"

"Percy's here. Would you mind if we came in?"

"No," she said after a moment, and Chiron opened the door.

There was a nasty-looking scrape on Annabeth's arm, and strands of her blonde hair were escaping from her ponytail, but she still looked as scarily beautiful as she always did—maybe even more so now that I could see her aura, glittering in a thin sheen of gray around her. Instead of saying anything to me, she tilted her head in silent greeting.

I nodded back. Normally I'd make some kind of wisecrack at her, but after our fight I wasn't sure if we were on speaking terms. Deciding to just forget about the tension between us, I said, "Zeus made me a god."

Chiron looked surprised, but I was watching Annabeth; she looked utterly dazed for a moment before regaining composure and saying, "You didn't happen to hit your head, did you?"

"Trust me, I don't have the imagination to come up with this stuff. I'm a minor god, of loyalty and battles." And, okay, wow, that sounded weird to say aloud.

Chiron clapped me on the shoulder. "While I won't say godhood isn't a dangerous gift, you certainly deserve it, my boy." His eyes didn't quite match the smile on his face. "Would you mind demonstrating some of your new powers for us?"

"Uh, okay." Focusing on the brown strands of light around him, I mentally tugged at the thickest one. It struck me as being a little more complicated than the ones I'd seen, and for some reason it felt like tugging a thick rope where the others had been silk strings. Camp, my mind suddenly supplied, which made sense. "Right now, you're most loyal to Camp Half-Blood. It used to be out of duty, but now you genuinely love the camp. And…" I took a look at the rest of his aura. This part was a lot less exact, but my powers told me what I needed to know. "You're immortal, and I probably couldn't beat you in a fight, but there's an injury somewhere on you that you're not telling me about."

Chiron smiled, a little more genuinely. "Well, that is excellent! Correct in every way, even down to my recent limp. Only remember not to be overly rash with your powers, lest the power begin to consume you."

I swallowed, despite not knowing if I still needed to, and nodded.

"Good. And, Percy, if you happen to hear a voice in your head, it's likely a god summoning you. The Olympians like to run the newer gods around, to see how they're adjusting, so be prepared to go back and forth from Olympus for a while."

"Right. Thanks. Should I, uh, go tell the rest of camp now?"

Chiron looked pensive. "Perhaps after dinner would be a better time."

As if she couldn't bear the silence a moment longer, Annabeth crossed her legs and said, "Can Percy and I have a private word?" She was looking at me with an emotion I couldn't identify, and without even thinking I reached for one of the gray threads around her. It was her loyalty to me, and to my surprise, it was one of the thicker ones. Well, no, that made sense, but…

Chiron clip-clopped outside the door, leaving her and me to sit in silence. Annabeth broke it. "So you're a god now."

"Yeah."

"I can't believe how much of a seaweed brain you are sometimes," she muttered, and I blinked. "Percy…just because we had a fight doesn't mean you can go turn yourself into a god!"

"What?"

Annabeth's aura flashed brightly for a moment. "Is it revenge? Anger? Are you planning on treating me like the other gods treat mortal women?"

"No—Wise Girl, of course not!" The nickname slipped out of my mouth before consulting the rest of my brain, but I kept talking anyway. "I wanted to protect you. You and Mom and Camp, and everyone."

"So leaving me behind is protecting me?"

"What? I mean—" Wow, girls were confusing. "I thought you—"

"That's the thing, Percy, you didn't think. You never do! How could I not still want to be with you?"

"So why can't you still be with me as a god?"

"I just don't know if it will work. Immortality is a huge price to pay for godhood, Percy. Do you even know what you got yourself into?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Maybe. Maybe I wouldn't have to if you hadn't gotten yourself into this mess, Seaweed Brain. Consider us on a hiatus."

"A…like a band? Like One Direction?"

"Who? No! I'm not breaking up with you, you dumb god. We just can't be much good to each other while you're still figuring out your powers and running around after the Olympians. It isn't fair to either of us, Percy."

She had a point. Annabeth always had a point. "So you're not mad, right?"

Annabeth raised her eyes to the heavens and got up out of her chair, stopping directly in front of me and whacking me none too gently on the head. It didn't hurt, but I said "Ow!" reflexively. "Go to dinner already. I'm sure the rest of camp is dying to see you; I just wanted to…tell you that."

"Yeah, okay." Risking a smile at her, I went to the door. "See you, Wise Girl."

I was rewarded by a very faint smile in return. "See you, Seaweed Brain."

Rereading the older version of this story, I was annoyed by how out of character I made Annabeth. Hopefully this version is a little more realistic, and don't worry, I plan for Percabeth to sail ahead as the story progresses :) Hope you guys liked this chapter, and please review if you did!