Disclaimer: I do not own this series

Chapter 4: I Strike a Deal With the Devil

This section is in Percy's POV

To clear things up, I did not faint. I simply went to sleep because I was over exhausted. Fighting monsters to save Olympus really drains one's energy.

Ok fine, I passed out. The pain was too much. My eyes felt like I was on fire, my hair felt like it was being ripped from my scalp, and my legs, well, I'd rather not describe that.

When I woke up, I was face down in a candy shop, or what used to be a candy shop. Cement rubble was scattered on the black-and-white checkered floor. Lollipops were scattered around the floor, combined with a few gumdrops. I seemed to be invisible to the employees in red, white, and blue uniforms parading around the store, trying to get things back into order.

This was no random candy store, this was the store my mom owned! "Sweet on America," it was called. It looked like the place had been hurt badly by the monsters of Kronos. The lighting was dim, and candles were lit since it was pretty late in the day. I groaned as I pushed myself up into sitting position. My back ached, and I felt like an old lady. Maybe one of those old ladies that crocheted at Central Park. I looked around the store for my mom. I couldn't find her among all the Fourth of July colored workers. Where was she?

More importantly, I realized, what was I doing here? I was supposed to be on Olympus, right?

"Uh, excuse me?" I asked the blue worker next to me, "Have you seen Sally Jackson?" She brushed past me like I was a fly.

Hmm, maybe they can't see me.

I set out to test my theory. "Hey! I'm Sally Jackson's son…Whoa!" The male employee that I was talking to had walked right through me, causing a strange sensation to ripple through me, kind of like I was being tickled.

"That's interesting," I said loudly. No one turned or looked my way. "Look!" I waved madly, "Angry cantaloupes riding rhinos!" No reaction. Huh, interesting.

"Percy?" A familiar voiced asked from behind me.

"Mom!" I ran over and gave my mother a hug. Her brown hair was ruffled and there was a black smudge on her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she brushed away my question. "I've been worried about you. I told you to give me a sign that you were okay before you went up to Olympus, remember?"

Oops. I was going to turn the top of the Empire State Building blue, but the whole "let's-make-Percy-a-god-affair" had ruined my concentration.

"Sorry Mom," I apologized, "I can explain-"

"And then there was a rumbling, like thunder," my mom continued ranting, "a few hours after you went up. Do you have any idea how worried I was? The city has been destroyed by Kronos, and then you give me more to worry by dashing off-"

"I can explain," I cut her off hurriedly. "See, the gods were awarding Grover, Annabeth, and me, and they offered us important positions. Mine was to be Dad's second-in-command."

There was silence accompanied by the sound of crinkling as candy pieces were shuffled around in the background. My mother's face, lit dimly in the candlelight, looked like it had aged in seconds.

She took a deep, slow breath. "Excuse me? As in… a god?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I know it sounds really insane, and it's really sudden news, but I accepted-"

My mom huffed loudly.

"-and now I'm a god." I figured my mom would send me to a hospital for crazy, mental convicts after she heard this. Maybe I should have explained more slowly.

"I couldn't really turn it down, I mean-"

"Percy. Is your father okay with this?"

"Well, he's the one who kind of suggested it…"

I could see my mother take a deep breath. "Why would you accept a gift from the gods? A gift that seemingly great certainly has a huge price hanging from it. You should have asked me before you made any decisions."

"Sorry," I said guiltily.

"No words can describe how disappointed I am in you," my mother muttered. "But at least you're safe and alive."

"I'll be alive forever," I offered, hoping to reassure her.

"What about safe? And do you really want to live on forever? What will you do after I die? What about Annabeth? Grover? All your friends?"

When she put it that way, immortality didn't seem that great. What a stupid mistake I made. I really wanted to go back to the past and smack myself in the head. And then again for good measure.

My friends were the most important thing to me. Everything I did, fighting monsters, risking my life, was for Camp Half Blood. And now I had to leave them, physically (even though my domain as a god was the Camp). There was so much I would miss out on: the training, laughing with my friends, the campfire, Grover, and the other campers.

And Annabeth. Oh gods why did I even accept immortality? I'd probably never get to hear her call me "Seaweed Brain" again. I'd hurt her by becoming a god, and I'd guess she'd hurt me back, literally, by stabbing me with her dagger. Great. My life was so messed up.

"What am I going to do," I moaned to my mother, who just glared at me.

"This is your problem. You put this burden onto yourself. Fix it yourself, after all, you are a god." There was a moment of silence again. "Percy? You're flickering."

"Huh?" I looked down. My shoes disappeared and reappeared again within a second. "Uh…"

"Looks like your time with me is up. Maybe Zeus is calling you back," she suggested. I was utterly confused. My mother understood so much more than I did, and she was only a mortal. "Percy, I love you so much. Be safe. No matter what horrible decisions you make, I'll always be there to support you."

"I love you too mom, stay safe," I managed to say before everything in front of me turned white. I felt a blast of wind hit me, and I was thrown off balance. Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of an extremely tall man with buff, tan arms.

"Dad?" I asked when I saw the familiar three-pronged trident in the man's hand.

"Looks like you ventured elsewhere while you were passed out," Poseidon rumbled.

"You mean Mom's candy shop?"

"It's complicated," Poseidon sighed, his face aging another decade. "Sit," he patted the bench next to him that faced a fireplace. I obeyed his command and sat down in front of the fire. I rubbed my hands to get them warmed up. Squinting my eyes, I looked into the fire and caught sight of a little girl dancing among the flames. She winked at me and then disappeared.

"What time is it?" I asked my father. "I should be getting back to…" And then I realized I wasn't going to sleep in my cabin at Camp Half Blood ever again.

"We gods don't really pay attention to time, but if you must know, it's nighttime," Poseidon chuckled like he had made a funny joke.

"Ha ha." I grumbled.

"Now onto a more serious topic, do you understand what happened after you passed out at the ceremony?" my father asked.

"Umm, I journeyed to Mom's candy shop?"

"More than that. See, gods can have different forms, so part of you left your actual body and ventured off to visit your mother, who I guess wasn't too thrilled when she found out you were immortal."

"Yeah," I rubbed my forehead, "she wasn't happy. So I left my body? Like, my spirit?"

"Not exactly. Gods can be in multiple places at the same time, as long as their domain is involved."

"What?"

"You're god of heroes and bravery. Your mom was being brave and tending to her shop even though she was scared and wanted to go home. You were able to go to her because you're a god of bravery. And also because she's your mother, but if she wasn't…"

"So if there was this person being brave, I could just pop up and say hi?"

"Well… yes. If you wanted to. Like I said, it's complicated. You'll figure stuff out as you experiment."

Maybe I could visit Annabeth and tell her how sorry I was and beg for forgiveness. Since my domain was Camp Half Blood, I could go there no problem. All gods could probably visit anyways since gods popped by sometimes. Hmm, if my domain was Camp Half Blood, did that make me the god of the Camp? That would be-

"Percy! Did you hear what I said?" Poseidon waved his trident in front of me.

"Y equals MX plus B," I blurted. "Oh wait. What?" I blame everything on my ADHD.

"We're not in math class," Poseidon said sternly, with a joking glint in his eyes. "I said, don't ever venture into another god's domain. Unless they invite you, or your domains overlap, don't ever trespass. Only the messenger god and goddess can do so."

That made sense. If a god came to a lake, could I use my cool, apparently non-existent, powers to zap him or her?

"Being a god is so complicated," I complained.

"Ask me questions then. I'm a god."

"Am I god of Camp Half Blood?"

"In a way, yes, since that is your domain."

Cool.

"Do I have a symbol?"

"Err, Ares suggested a rock, Aphrodite demanded it be a slug. So I guess it's undecided. It takes centuries for mortals to recognize a new god and associate a symbol with a new god."

Not cool.

"Do I have cool powers?"

"That's for you to find out."

Drat.

Poseidon's image flickered for a moment, and he frowned. "There's a disturbance at my palace. I think a giant squid ran into the bowling alley we just fixed." He had a bowling alley in his palace? "I must go now. Don't do anything rash." He disappeared out of sight.

The huge palace of the Olympians was quiet, aside from the crackling noises from the fireplace. After poking the fire with a stick for a few minutes, I realized that I had another problem.

Where was I going to sleep?

This next section is in Annabeth's POV.

Farm Road 3.141

Long Island, New York 11954

Camp Half Blood: home of Greek demigods, champions, and heroes. Also home of some of the most annoying people on earth.

Drew led me outside of the cabin and closed the pink door behind us. "I know about you and Luke, dear, and it's just so unfortunate how he had to die." Drew cooed. I was still in shock to defend myself or correct her.

"He was such a handsome boy, and pity that he had to join Kronos. I know you must be in immense pain," Drew batted her fake eyelashes in fake sympathy.

"Drew," I snapped, "I'm not in love with Luke."

"I can still sense your grief and loss over him."

I blinked. "Luke was one of my best friends. Of course losing him would make me feel grief. But we were only friends. I've come here to talk about another equally frustrating boy."

Now it was Drew's turn to look shocked. "Percy?"

"Yes," I snapped again, "Isn't that obvious?"

"But you hate him!" Drew widened her brown eyes that contrasted greatly against the orange eye makeup (or whatever they called it) around her eyes.

"Well," I squirmed uncomfortably. I wasn't really used to talking about boys with other girls. Architecture and math were my strong suits, not love and romance. "*Hate is a four-letter word used to convey a strong, passionate feeling, usually mistakenly or purposely used in the place of another four-letter word also used to convey a strong and passionate but much more pleasant feeling."

Drew blinked rapidly. Ha. The gears in her brain must be working too slowly to process all of that information.

I sighed. "I mean, I like Percy. Like, love, whatever. You know, affectionately. As in like like, or love, but not-"

"I know what love means," Drew snapped. "I'm a child of Aphrodite for gods sake. I know love with I see it."

"Then can you help me?" I pleaded.

Drew tapped a perfectly manicured finger against her equally pampered lips. "Depends… what will I benefit from helping you?"

"I can give you a pass for free food at one of the snack shacks I'm designing near the entrance of Olympus," I offered. "The gods made me official architecture of Olympus." Well, sue me. Of course I couldn't resist the urge to flaunt my latest accomplishment.

"Why not a makeup store," Drew pouted.

"Because Olympians don't use makeup," I rolled my eyes. "They snap their fingers and get perfect skin and everything."

"Then no deal."

"If I construct a makeup store in New York City and give you an unlimited free pass to all the makeup, will you help me?"

"Depends on if it's open yet or not…"

I gritted my teeth. "If I start construction tomorrow, and you come with me as a witness, will you help me?"

"How fast can you get it up?"

Are all Aphrodite kids this fastidious? "A month. Maybe a week with help from the Hephaestus Cabin and my siblings."

"Can you make it five days?"

I clenched my fists. "Yes." Hopefully the Hephaestus kids were fast workers. I'd seen them do miracles with their inventions. Maybe they could work a miracle with the shop Drew wanted.

"Then deal." We shook hands.

Aphrodite kids drive hard deals. Note to self: never underestimate the power of even the daftest people.

"Great," Drew smiled sweetly, "Meet me tomorrow morning in front of my cabin at ten." She turned and disappeared inside her cabin.

Phase One; Get Drew to help me: Complete. My plan was going to be put into action. Things were going smoothly, so far. But why did I feel like I had struck a bargain with the devil?

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Please review/comment, thanks!

* Said by my friend, Good Luck Charms: White Lies.