Hey guys! Thanks for reading and also for the reviews! Especially the ones about me explaining to much and
writing shorter paragraphs were really helpful :) (and also the one about me messing up Ares being Percy's uncle. Olympian families are complicated)
Hope you like chapter 7, feel free to let me know what you thought of it!
7 All the Gods Send Me Presents
After walking and jogging on and off for a few more hours I reached a long dirt road. As my feet had begun to tire I started walking until I stumbled upon my next challenge.
In front of me lay a very long and outstretched field of grass. This time there was no big message written on the ground but instead, the field was home to fifteen very long rectangular tables. The tables seemed to be covered with boxes. As I walked on to one of the tables, my eye caught the second table to the right that had the name Perseus on it.
As I approached my table I closely started examining the boxes that were on it. Since the table had my full and undivided attention, I hadn't really noticed that a person was approaching me until he was standing right in front of me.
Saying that I freaked out when I saw him was and understatement. And a big one at that.
The guy standing in front of me, if he/it actually could be called a guy, was unusually tall and muscular but that wasn't what freaked me out about him. What did, was that on top of his broad and muscular shoulders he sported not one, but two heads, which was pretty weird, even for demigod standards.
'Hello Perseus Jackson, I am Janus, god of doorways, beginnings, endings and choices. It is nice to finally meet you.' 'Euh, Hi' was my instant and highly intelligent reply. I mean, cut me some slack. I don't really walk into two headed gods on a daily basis. 'I mean, it is nice to meet you too' I finally managed to stutter. Janus laughed at me and winked, which was again, pretty weird looking at the fact that the guy had four eyes.
'You need not fear me, son of Poseidon. I am here to help you.' I smiled back at him and Janus went on. 'In front of you there are thirteen boxes. Each box contains one gift. A gift a god sent you.' Now I indeed noticed that all boxes were slightly different. The first one for instance showed little flickering lightning bolts when caught in the light.
'The first box is from Zeus' I said. 'Smart kid' the other head of Janus replied, while the other head went back to the explanation. 'Every box belongs to one god. It is up to you to choose and open two boxes. The gifts you find inside will be yours to use in your next challenge.'
Janus started walking along the line of boxes, touching each and every one with the tip of his fingers which, to my relief, were present on his hands in normal numbers. 'But beware Perseus Jackson. Not every god wishes you well on your quest. Gifts may turn out to be different than you expected. Choose wisely. Goodbye and good luck.'
With those words Janus started walking away from me. The last thing I heard was his heads starting a discussion about whether it would be cooler if they would finishing each other's sentences when explaining this challenge, which made me feel glad I only had one head. With a poof Janus was gone, and I was alone again.
With thirteen boxes at my disposal I had to make the right choice. First I started identifying every box, making sure I knew which gift was sent by which god.
The first one was from Zeus. The box next to Zeus's was all black. Obviously a box from Hades, god of the underworld and an uncle that wished me dead and preferred it happened in a nasty and painful way. The third box showed familiar little shimmering fish and I smiled. Obviously that box belonged to my dad, Poseidon.
The fourth box was made out of shimmering pure gold, which meant the box came from Apollo. Next to it stood a box of pure silver, which I guessed could only belong to Apollo's twin sister, Artemis. The next box was covered in little flying shoes which obviously meant it belonged to Hermes, god of transport. The box next to that of Hermes was covered in little grapevines that grew all around it. Obviously a present from Mr. D. I could only image what his idea of a helpful present would be.
Five boxes were left now, and the next in line I could not identify. It was a normal grey box with nothing special on it. As I decided I would leave that one for later, I recognized a little box fully covered with little hearts next to another box that was covered in equally cute little daggers that pierced through a person that looked suspiciously a lot like me. A box from Aphrodite and a painfully unsubtle one from Ares. The box next to it closely resembled a cereal box, which meant it must have been a present from Demeter.
The single last box was covered in little shivering hammer's, which of course meant it came from Hephaestus. The last box didn't look special from the outside, but when I examined it closely I actually heard wedding music play. A box from Hera, goddess of marriage. Counting all the gods I had identified, while silently thanking Annabeth for making me memorize all of them and their symbols, I concluded that the grey box belonged to Athena.
Choosing wasn't going to be that hard. I immediately disregarded the boxes from Hades and Ares. I could only imagine what my favorite uncle and cousin would have in store for me. After that I also decided that Zeus's and Aphrodite's box would be left untouched. To Zeus I was the living proof that his brother Poseidon had broken their agreement, which meant he wasn't exactly my biggest fan. Also, having read some stories about Aphrodite, which were forced upon me by Annabeth of course, I knew she always tried to help people with stuff like love potions, and I couldn't really see what good that would do me right now.
Though Apollo's box looked really tempting and so did his sister's I decided to choose neither. Somehow choosing them didn't feel right. This left the boxes from Demeter, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Hera and my dad. I decided to leave Hera's box for what it was, just because of the fact she was Zeus's wife. You never know how killing a nephew might have come up at Friday night dinner.
In all honesty I didn't really know that much about Demeter, so I also decided to leave that box alone. The last decision was the hardest but as I walked past the boxes somehow Athena's box jumped out at me.
It was a gamble because she and my father had been in a fight for, like, multiple decades now, but when I looked at the grey box I didn't see a family feud. I saw Annabeth's laughing face, telling me that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is the only book I have ever voluntarily read, didn't qualify as literature.
As I had just decided the boxes of Athena and my dad were going to be my gifts for today, a small, green box I had overlooked, caught my eye. When I looked at this box I didn't see a box but Grover's goofy face, while devouring an enchilada that left a trace of molten cheese all over his face. As I started to laugh the sentence Never choose easy came to mind and suddenly I was sure.
As illogical as it sounded, I was not going to choose my dad's box but Athena's box and the box I identified as the box of Pan. My dad would understand and well, logic has never been my strongest point anyway.
First I touched the simple grey box that was the gift of Athena. As the box automatically opened I jumped back, just to be sure, but nothing happened. I carefully took a step forward and looked into the box. What I saw in there made me smile. As I prayed a silent thank you to Athena, I grabbed the circle that was in the box and thumped it. Immediately a big, steel grip formed around my arm and I was holding a big round combat shield. Really, really cool. As I thumped the shield again it went back to its small circular shape and I put it in my pocket next to Riptide. Somehow I felt I was going to need those later.
I walked over to the small, green Pan box, and as it opened I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Inside this box lay an enchilada and a can of coke. You could say a lot about Pan, that, for instance, he was unfindable or boring, but the god really did have a sense of humor. As I grabbed my enchilada, which was still nice and hot, and the not-thrown-at-my-head can of coke, I walked on with a good feeling, ready to face my last challenge.
