Let me tell you this, it's hard trying to steal something. It's not the real stealing that's difficult; it's the period before you actually do the deed.
For one thing, I was so nervous that I was sweating bullets. Even Prometheus noticed and told me that I'd give myself away far too quickly. He even suggested that I let someone else do it, but I knew that he didn't really mean it. I refused. This was supposed to be my mission, and I would do it. Another thing was the fact that there was a high risk that I would end up being burnt to ashes by the gods. If I was caught, I had to make sure that the gods didn't get to know about the other demigods.
Prometheus transported me to what he said was Iris' shop. It was filled with all this Buddhist stuff, and before I knew it, a woman, who I guessed was Iris, popped out from behind the shelves. She was wearing this enormous pink robe which trailed all over the ground and these huge sunglasses.
"Hello there!" She shrieked. "It's nice to see some visitors today. You see, all of my helpers have left and I've been left all alone doing who knows what and-" She kept on talking non-stop for at least five minutes and I caught only every fifth word or so. Finally, she offered me a macrobiotic muffin, and I was too stunned to do anything besides take it and take a bite.
"Delicious," I said, while I was sure that at least three of my teeth had broken trying to bit into it. I stuffed the rest into my pocket while she wasn't looking.
We left for Olympus right after that on Iris' carriage. It left behind a huge rainbow trail as we flew up higher and higher, and I was sure that unicorns would be following us. Along the way, Iris seemed to be too busy to talk to me most of the time, but she did ask the occasional question like where I lived. I know I probably shouldn't have told the truth, but I hadn't thought of an alternative. And anyway, she had caught me by surprise.
She didn't seem to really care, anyway. When we finally got to Olympus, she said that she had some errands to run and would meet me back at sunset. She ran off in some direction, tripping over at least four people along the way.
I looked up at the sky. It was around noon. Perfect. I took out Hyperion's Cloak, and once I was sure that no one was looking, I put it on. No one really bothered to look at me twice anyway, which as a huge relief.
The moment that I put on that cloak, it felt like I was wrapping myself in actual light itself. It felt warm, and suddenly all of my fears drained away. I felt happier than I ever had before, which was rather odd. I looked down at myself, and saw… nothing. I guess that no one else could see me, either.
It felt weird moving with the cloak on, like I was swimming or flying instead of walking. And I had to be wary of shadows, because for some reason, I became slightly visible under them. For a minute or so, I just wandered around Olympus like that, taking in all the sights. No wonder Hyperion's Cloak worked so well, after all, Olympus was so sunny even though it was the middle of winter.
It was then that I made my way to the throne room. It was then that I faced my first obstacle. I thought only Poseidon and Zeus were supposed to be there, but Hades was there too. This was a bigger problem than you might think. After all, Hades controls shadows. If I went near him, there was a chance that I might be exposed. Not only that, but these gods were huge. Trying to move near them was a challenge, as if I was trespassing on a secret meeting or something. I ignored the weird vibes, though, and continued on with my plan.
However, I experimentally tried moving right in front of them, and they didn't notice me, so I supposed that it was okay. The next problem was disabling any traps the lightning bolt might have. Prometheus told me that someone had tried this trick a few years back, and since then Zeus might have thought to be a bit more secure with his belongings. I would be.
Then again, it was almost equally likely that Zeus didn't put any traps, because he couldn't believe that anyone would try to touch his lightning bolt.
The gods were huge and emanated power and were shouting, so they didn't notice me as I quietly inspected the lightning bolt for visible traps, and invisible ones too using a Tear of Rhea (something else Prometheus gave me.) Once I was sure it was safe, I took the lightning bolt.
I moved away from there as fast as possible. Step one was over, but now I had to find a way to pin the blame on Poseidon. Initially, I had planned to leave the bolt in Poseidon's temple as an offering, but that place was full of people today giving offerings. So much for that plan.
I couldn't keep it in a temple of the other gods either. If I did, then Zeus would just punish them and nothing worse than that would happen. If I wanted war, I would have to pin the blame on one of his brothers.
That's when I realized that putting the bolt in Hades' temple would work too. No one was there, probably because Hades wasn't very popular in Olympus. I quietly left the lightning bolt near a stone sword, which was supposed to symbolize Hades' sword and left.
I took off the cloak once I was halfway across Olympus. Then, I just wandered around the streets. Chances were that we would have to lay siege to Olympus at some point, so I wanted to memorize as much of the city's layout as possible.
It was around three hours later that the sky suddenly was filled with thunderclouds. Zeus must have realized that his bolt was missing. Again. I just hid beneath a small tree for a while. After around an hour, I came out, and saw that everyone was out on the streets, whispering to each other and muttering suspiciously.
I got a good grasp of the situation form eavesdropping. Apparently, no one left offerings at Hades' temple very often, so after about an hour, Hades checked on my present to discover the lightning bolt. Then, Zeus got really angry and started blaming Hades for the theft. Hades denied it, but then something happened that I wasn't expecting. You see, as the lightning bolt was offered to Hades, he could actually choose to keep it, as long as he wasn't the one who had ordered it stolen. So now Hades was claiming the bolt and Zeus was banging his fist trying to find evidence.
In reality, it was better than anything that I could have hoped for. The plan was going perfectly.
And it was then that everything went wrong.
