Chapter 2
Quest
When Percy woke up the next morning he lay there panting in the darkness. It had been another dream of Tartarus of course. He had begun to get them under control before she died, but now...now they came every night. He let out a soft groan and looked at the clock, it read 4:13. Wonderful, it was still the middle of the night. Despite the hour Percy got up and started getting ready for the day, he knew there was no point in trying to go back to sleep.
When he was dressed he headed down to the practice arena. As Apollo's chariot slowly rose over the world, and pink light began to stain the sky, slowly fading into orange, then blue Percy practiced. He pushed himself as hard as could, trying to drive the memories from his mind by working his body to the brink of collapse. His sword flashed in the chill morning air and dummy after dummy fell, but it wasn't enough, it was never enough to make him forget about her.
When the sun was fully up, and the rest of camp was beginning to stir Percy sheathed Riptide, put it back in his pocket, and went to shower.
At breakfast he sat alone at his father's table, trying to ignore the echos of a woman's laughter ringing in his mind. When he was done eating, he walked over to the Athena table.
"Hello Amy, I see you were claimed."
"Hi, Percy. Yeah, I was claimed at campfire last night. Isn't it great?"
A ghost of a smile flashed across Percy's face.
"I'm glad you found your family Amy, try not to get into too much trouble," Percy said, then walked away heading toward the Big House.
Climbing the steps of the Big House Percy wondered what his next assignment would be. Mostly it had been collecting new campers, but he'd also done some unusual things like rescuing a satyr from a jail cell, after he had been accused of kidnapping the demigod he had been sent to rescue. What had made that so interesting was the dragon on their tail. A dragon of all things. He'd also done some errands for some of the gods. His least favorite being delivering a box of perfume from Ares to Aphrodite. He couldn't get the smell of the perfume out of his nose for a month.
He walked into the Big House and stopped in surprise. In front of him stood Lady Hecate.
Bowing slightly Percy murmured, "Lady Hecate." Part of him rebelled at the movement, but he didn't care enough to say something with any bite to it. He knew that once he would have said something snarky, but ever since she died he was too dead inside to sass anyone. He supposed that could be a good thing when dealing with gods.
"Perseus, you are early." Hecate's voice somehow seemed to come from all around him. Hades, he hated this woman. He knew she was Hazels patron, and supposedly regretted what had happened in the second Titan war, but still.
"I assume you need me for something my lady?" Percy asked.
"Yes, come in and sit down." Percy followed Hecate to a chair. He sat down across the ping pong table from her.
"What errand do you wish me to do my lady?" He tried to bring himself to ask why she wouldn't just send one of her own children, or Hazel, but the words wouldn't form. They seemed to sink into the blackness in his mind.
"What I need from you Perseus is no simple errand. It is a quest, and dangerous quest, that could take up to ten years to complete."
"Percy, my name is Percy, and why in the Hades would I accept a quest like that?"
"Because, Perseus, in accepting this quest you can get something you want desperately."
A surge of hope flooded through him, the only thing he wanted was to be with her again. "Annabeth," he croaked.
"No," Hecate said firmly, but her eyes showed a surprising amount of sorrow, "no Perseus, I'm afraid that the dead must stay dead. No, I can give you something else."
"There isn't anything else I want," Percy said the flood of hope sinking with the tase of bile.
"What I am offering Perseus is a new life," Hecate said.
"How will this give me a new life?" Percy asked.
"After Rome fell the gods became more and more reclusive, losing most of their power. There are of course still signs of the impact we have had on history, but our power wained. All of us dealt with this in different ways. Many gods simply accepted it as inevitable and chose to focus on their children, manipulating them. I... I was not content with that. Around fifteen hundred years ago I blessed a mortal man with the ability of magic. I gave him, what has come to be called, a magic core. This is a power source within him that allowed him to connect with and manipulate the Mist.
"I didn't expect that the power would last beyond Merlin, that was his name, but it turned out that his children inherited the power core as well. He had three sons, Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus. All three had the power core. They each married and had children, and those children had children with some of my children. From these unions a new race was born.
"These beings are still mortals, but they cannot truly be called humans. This new race is that of witches and wizards." Hecate paused, looking to see Percy's reaction.
"Are these witches and wizards still around?" Percy asked calmly. But he didn't feel calm, he felt excited. He didn't know what to do with emotion, it was so foreign to him these days.
"Indeed, there are many lines that connect back to those of Merlin, but many more children are born with a magical core."
"You continue to give children a magical core, who aren't part of this race?"
"Just as all gods do, I draw power from my domain. These witches and wizards fuel my domain, and give me strength. Mostly it is random who I give the magic core to, but occasionally I will choose a special child to bless. Or give the gift to the child of someone who has done something for me.
Percy found himself tapping his fingers against his leg, his old habit whenever he was thinking hard. The damn ADHD made it hard to sit still.
"My lady, as interesting as this is, how will this provide me with a new life?"
"A war is coming. A civil war among wizards. This will not only harm my power, but many mortals will be caught in this war."
"So, you want to send me back to war." Percy frowned. He had already fought and won two wars and had no interest in fighting another one.
"Not exactly," Hecate said, "There is a prophesy of a hero, what I want you to do is protect him, and train him, so that when his time comes he is able to do what he needs to."
"What makes you think I can even do that?"
"Who better than you? You know exactly how it feels to be born to a prophesy, and have to take the mantle of hero and lead a war as a child. You understand the dangers of war, both the physical and the emotional dangers and can guide the boy to have the strength of character to accomplish his task."
"And what exactly is his task?" Percy asked. Hecate handed him a folder.
"All the information about this quest is in here. I want you to read through it and then decide. I will be back in three days. Do not disappoint me." Then she was gone in a flash of godly light.
"Why she couldn't just tell me herself..." Percy muttered, looking down at the folder. There was a name on the outside of it. Harry Potter.
