"What?" I yell after Hermes but he is already halfway up the floating staircase and out of earshot. I quickly set off after him. By the time I've caught up we are at the top of the stairs and the entrance to Olympus. I grab him by the arm and make him face me.

"What?"

"He loves you, honestly Percy I would have thought that you already knew."

"What?"

"Is that all you can say?" Hermes sighs heavily, "Why else do you think he tried to kill you?"

"What?"

Hermes chuckles softly,

"Wow Aphrodite was right; you really have no idea when it comes to matters of the heart." He turns and walks away again, still laughing to himself. Although still unable to form any sort of sentence I do still have sense enough to keep following him. We slowly make our way up to the throne room, at least that's where I think he is taking me. However, just before we get there he quickly veers off to the right and up a flight of steps that lead to a small, secluded, gazebo type thing. I quickly recognise it as the place from my dreams where Hermes, Aphrodite, Athena and Ares meet. Sure enough, on the table is the game with me in the middle. Hermes takes his seat and turns to look at me.

"I can guess that you came here tonight to face up to us and demand that we stop messing with your life. However, even you must have sense to know that there is nothing that you can do to stop us. I am interested in what you would have threatened us with though."

Unfortunately the past few minutes have shocked me so much that I forget to lie,

"I didn't really have anything planned, I was hoping that something would occur to me at the last minute."

Hermes laughs at me again.

"That rather seems to be your style doesn't it Percy?"

We both laugh, he seems to have softened to me a little. I slump down in one of the chairs and sit in silence for a while. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what he told me about Luke. How can he possibly love me, and what does trying to kill me have anything to do with it?

"I am shocked that you didn't realise how he felt about you," Hermes breaks our silence, "however it should not surprise me, you were rather preoccupied with keeping Zeus and your father happy."

"I just don't understand, why did he try to kill me if he loves me?"

"He, like many others at camp knows what the prophecy is. You were correct in that he does not want it to come true, but wrong about the reasons why."

"What do you mean?"

"Luke values your life Percy, you mean everything to him. He knew that there was no way that he could convince you to join Kronos and turn against the gods. The only reason he wanted to kill you was so that you would not waste your life for Olympus. He felt that you were worth more, that you deserved more but also knew that the only way to stop you would be to kill you himself."

"So the prophecy does predict my death?"

"That is not certain, many believe that to be the case, however prophecies are never clear. You yourself have had dealings with the Oracle and know full well that interpreting them can be difficult."

"So what you're saying is it probably does predict my death but don't give up cos we could all be wrong? Gee, that's cheered me right up."

"That's a very simple way of putting it but yes, look Percy the prophecy surrounding you is very vague and unclear. It does not at all say Perseus Jackson the daughter of Poseidon will perish. Anyway, we have gotten off topic."

"Yes because the outcome of my life isn't at all important to me," I reply sarcastically, however I know that there is no sense in dwelling on what might be. Hermes is right, prophecies are worse than fortune cookies. "So Luke only wanted to kill me because he didn't want me to waste my life saving all of you?"

"Yes, he believes that we are unworthy of you. Which of course is ridiculous, however it is this very feeling that you can use to save him."

"Okay I'm lost again."

"I want you to love him Percy, your love could bring him back to me, to Olympus. It could stop this Kronos nonsense and put things right."

Things finally begin to click into place. Slowly, far more slowly than I'd like to admit, I begin to see where this conversation is going, where the game they have been playing with my life is going.

"That's why you're doing this isn't it? You want Ares to keep me depressed so that I'll need to reach out to someone and who better than Luke? Before I realised what an evil psycho he is we got on really well. And you wanted Aphrodite to make me love him."

"Yes, our deal was that she would use her magic to make you fall for Luke."

"What was Athena's role to be in all of this?"

"I wanted her to drive you and Annabeth apart so that you would feel you had no one left to turn to, just like Luke. That way you would be more likely to reach out to him when I sent him to you."

"Don't I get a say in any of this." I stand up outraged at what I am hearing.

"Look Hermes I understand why you want me to love Luke and believe me when I say that I wish that I could, if only for the sake of Olympus. But I can't. What he has done is unforgivable don't you see that?"

"No Percy I don't, why can't you forgive him. He just needs someone to help him find his path again!" Hermes stands up fast, tipping his chair over.

"You're acting like he's a lamb that lost his way, he's a traitor! He never understood what it was to be a demigod!"

"Oh really? Well why don't you explain to me what it really means to be a half-blood?" Both of us are stood facing each other off over the game board.

"It means being a child of both worlds; fighting the fight that the mortals can't see and that the gods won't waste their time with. We belong to both the mortal world and Olympus. And whilst I hate most of the gods and in return most of them want me dead you are my only family and I will always fight to protect you. This means I won't let some psychotic, shamed demigod destroy everything just because he has unresolved daddy issues!"

"How can you blame me for everything that has happened, you know that we cannot get involved with the lives of our children!"

"Well that rule is stupid and besides it hasn't stopped you from interfering with my life!" With that I tip their stupid game over scattering the pieces all over the floor and storm down the steps and back onto the main streets of Olympus. Just as I reach the top of the floating staircase I hear Hermes yelling after me in what we half-bloods call his 'god voice'. Its when they make themselves sound all big and scary (you know like Hades in the campfire in the film?)

"You'll regret this Percy."

I take a deep breath and continue down the staircase. I daren't look back. Once out of the lift and back on the ground floor I make my way past the guard, out of the building and onto the cool street outside. I lean against the side of the building and try to make myself calm down. My conversation with Hermes took longer than I expected as its getting light outside.

"Well that could have gone better." I sigh to myself and head off for home. I think its safe to say that it couldn't have gone more different from what I had planned. I thought tonight would be easy, head over to Olympus threaten some gods and head home. I wasn't stupid enough to think that it they would actually do what I wanted them to do but I did think that I would feel better. Whereas now I feel ten times worse, I mean lets evaluate shall we?

I am being forced to remain depressed about the whole Bianca/Nico/Zoe thing.

Aphrodite is going to make me fall in love with Luke, and possibly this Jason guy too, which is going to be a riot I can tell.

Oh yeah, and at some point, thanks to Athena, I'm going to fall out with my best friend.

I really don't think that my life can get any worse, only I know that it can and probably will.