A/N Thank you all for the fantastic reviews. I enjoy writing AU, and it's good to have people encouraging me, I never know how my story will turn out. I believe this is the first AU with Percy having a different god for a father... I'd like to challenge you guys to try this out too!

Grimm

The next day I got sent to the Big House.

Dionysus was there, playing pinoloche with Chiron. He was wearing his Hawaiian shirt and had his purple hair in a cowlick, his plump little hands holding the cards just so, so that no one but he could see them. When I entered he gave a little sigh, as if I'd interrupted the most important thing in his entire life (Which was pretty impressive, since he'd been alive maybe three thousand years).

"So," Mr. D muttered, setting his cards down. "Our new celebrity."

"Sit down, Percy." Chiron looked tired. He set his cards down too, and clopped over so he stood next to Mr D, still looking regal and impressive but in a kind of weary way. I immediately felt guilt rise up to my throat. Here he was, already with all this pressure training kids to fight Ancient Greek monsters, and I had to turn up with the most dangerous god in the twelve Olympians for a father. That would make anyone crack.

I sat. Dionysus shuffled his cards for another moment, then set them down again with another sigh.

"I have the strongest urge now to set every atom of you aflame," he began, but Chiron cut him off.

"We have your best interests at heart, Percy," he said, "and it's your choice if you want – "

"Chiron here seems to think I can't blow you up if I want to. I would have done so long ago if he had not reminded me that it is my job to keep you brats safe from harm." Mr D looked as if he was a kid denied his favourite toy. I felt grateful.

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr D." Chiron reminded him.

"Nonsense," Dionysus waved him off. "Boy won't feel a thing. Anyway, since Chiron has convinced me out of that particular feat, I have decided to turn you in to Olympus and let the other gods do the rest. It would save me a good amount of time and trouble, to say the least, and I simply mustn't waste any of that on a lowly hero like you, though you seem to be a special case. In this case, old Corpse Breath won't be able to save you. Majority shall do the rest."

He eyed me beadily, as if he expected me to understand anything he said. I just gawked back, and might have said something real smart, like, "Gubbah Goobah Wha?"

"Mr D…" Chiron warned.

"Anyway," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "I must be off. Emergency meeting, you know, I must not miss that. Father will add another hundred years to my confinement if I elude this one…" Mumbling to himself, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Chiron turned to me.

"So, Percy? Do you accept this quest?"

I blinked. Throughout the whole thing I had been tuning in and out, but I was pretty sure there wasn't any mention of a quest.

"Wh-what quest?" I sounded wimpy, I know, but I wasn't able to manage anything above that. It was just too creepy, with the entire Burst-Me-Into-Flames-And-Skewer-Me-Like-A-Shishkabob episode and the shock of finding that I was one with the Underworld. Grover, who had sidled up next to me through the entire thing, gave a little bleat of terror.

Chiron looked grave.

"You must help Olympus, Percy. We are at the edge of a full-blown war…"

Grover whimpered.

"Lord Zeus' master bolt has been stolen."

Lighting flashed outside, a net of pure electricity lighting up the gloomy sky. The sea sloshed vehemently, throwing up waves that were ten feet high, as thunder rumbled, sounding like the canine growl of the hellhound I had commanded yesterday.

I blinked again.

"By who?"

"By whom." Once a teacher, always a teacher. "By Poseidon, apparently. Though now he suspects Hades."

Grover was now eating pinoloche cards like potato chips.

"Why?"

"Because of you." Grover neighed and mumbled through his cards in fear.

"Look, Percy," he whimpered, "Zeus had never trusted Poseidon, nor Poseidon to Zeus. But both never trusted Hades, ever. He's the most dangerous, secretive god of them all. Zeus and Poseidon had an argument on the Winter solstice, the last annual council of the gods, the day the bolt was stolen, so obviously Zeus first suspected Poseidon. Then you turn up, a son of Hades, so now Poseidon has someone to point a finger at and Zeus has another likely suspect. You were in New York on the winter solstice. You could easily have sneaked in and taken the bolt."

"But I didn't!" I didn't get why everyone was so cold toward my dad. Okay, he's the god of death and despair, but that didn't make him evil. My mom said my dad was the best man she had ever encountered, and I believe her. I don't care what everyone else says. If she said he was wonderful, then he was.

Chiron sighed.

"I know you didn't, Percy, but now there is not enough evidence for judgement. Therefore," he held up a hand before I could interrupt, "there is time to redeem yourself, to reclaim your honor, and your father's. Zeus had demanded his lightning bolt back by the summer solstice. Judgement for both you and Poseidon are on the same date. You will have time for your quest."

"What quest?" I was mad now. Zeus was blaming my father and me for something we didn't do. Nothing angered me more than being accused of something that wasn't my fault. Believe me, I have the experience.

"You will find Zeus' lightning bolt." Thunder boomed again outside.

"What? I don't even know where it is!" I admit, I was taken aback. Here I was, a twelve-year-old ADHD dyslexic kid, with no mom, being asked to retrieve a weapon that had more power than a dozen nuclear bombs. You'd probably be surprised too.

"I admit, I would have liked to train you more." Chiron smiled ruefully. "However, there is so little time, and a quest is long and hard, especially for a hero as young as you. As for the whereabouts of the bolt, it is most likely it was hidden near the prime suspect of the case. My suspicions would concern the Underworld."

I felt my breath stick to my throat.

"I have to go…to my father?"

He bowed his head.

"Yes. Young Grover must go with you, being your protector…and a third party has already volunteered."

Grover looked worried.

"I don't have to go, you know. I can stay. You don't have to have me along. Can't the master bolt be in somewhere like Florida? Or Maine? Maine's supposed to be very nice this time of year…" He trailed off, and turned a tender shade of green.

"I accept." Lightning boomed again, and flares of lightning erupted, white-hot in the gloomy sky. Grover nudged me.

"Do you really…want me along?" he whispered.

"'Course I do, man." I slapped him on the back. I saw his frightened face and added, " But you don't have to go. I can just leave with this other person…"

"No, no. I'll come." Grover looked nauseated at the very idea. I quickly turned away before things got nasty and asked Chiron, " So, uh, where is the Underworld?"

"Do you not know?" Chiron looked at me oddly, as if it should be something I should know. "The Underworld moves like Olympus, following the heart of the west. It is always in the west of the heart…

"The entrance of the underworld is in Los Angeles."

I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes from the corner of my mouth.

"So, I, uh, have to travel across the whole country to get there? Um, so I hop on a plane – "

"Your dumber than I though, Corpse Breath."

I started.

Annabeth Chase appeared beside Chiron, holding her Yankees cap as if she'd just taken it off. She looked stern standing there, with her blonde hair in tangles and wrinkles creasing her tanned brow.

"Think about it for one second, Percy Jackson. You fly, you die. Air is Zeus' domain, and you're his prime suspect, remember? Or are you too dumb for that?"

I shuffled my feet uncomfortably.

"Percy, meet your third quest member," Chiron said, stern.

"WHAT?" I shouted, as Annabeth crossed her arms and turned her back on me.

"You're stupid, Skeleton Brain, because I say so, and if your going on this stupid quest, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up." Her glare was piercing, but I glared back. It was a few moments before Chiron cleared his throat to get our attention.

"Is this going to be a problem?"

"No!" Annabeth and I said at the same time. He smiled. Score one for Chiron; Percy, zero.

"Now, you three better get packing. You leave tomorrow at nine, or Mr D will combust you into barbecue."