Ch. 7
I Am Offered a Quest… With A Son Of Poseidon
I put on my invisibility cap and fled from the scene. I couldn't watch. Seriously? I finally like someone besides Luke, and he has to be a son of Poseidon. I went back to my cabin and sat on my bed, lost in thought. I heard the door open, and I laid down, pretending I was asleep. Pretty soon, I was.
The next morning, I gave the Greek lesson to Percy, but I was distracted. All I could think about was how I needed to make a plan to get a quest… and I also knew I needed Percy. But I couldn't go on a quest with a son of Poseidon. I had to make a plan to get a quest.
It was less than a day later when I came up with a plan. I would tell Chiron my idea about how to save Olympus, and then I would go even if he said no. Genius, right? Anyway, I figured it was worth a shot to ask Chiron if I could go, at least.
But Chiron beat me to it. The next morning, I got back from the showers and saw Chiron waiting for me.
"Hi…" I approached cautiously.
"Annabeth." He regarded me. "Your brother told me you would be out soon.. Come with me." He trotted down the hill to the big house. We came to a stop and Mr. D looked up.
"Oh. It's just you." Mr. D said. I rolled my eyes.
"Put your invisibility cap on, Annabeth." Chiron said.
"Why? I asked, but did as I was told.
"Because. We're going to try to explain to Percy what is happening with the bolt, and the quest and such." Chiron folded into his wheelchair.
"What quest?" I hissed.
"We're offering the quest to find the lightning bolt to Percy." He said calmly.
"What?!" I screeched.
He turned his head. "You can volunteer."
I stomped my foot. "Fine." I said between my teeth. "I volunteer."
He chuckled, and turned his attention to Percy and Grover who were descending down towards us.
"Well, well." Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."
Percy waited.
"Come closer." Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."
Lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder boomed, louder than normal, shaking the windows of the house.
"Blah, blah blah."
Chiron pretended to have interest in his pinochle, while Grover stood nervously off to the side, hooves clomping from side to side. I rolled my eyes. Satyrs were soo scared of Mr. D. I didn't understand why. He wasn't exactly the scary type.
"If I had my way," Dionysus said. "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up your ashes and be done with a lot of trouble." I clenched my fists. As much as I knew this would never happen, I still didn't want to think about Percy being gone. I still liked him, even if he was a son of Poseidon. Mr. D continued. "But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."
"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D" Chiron added.
"Nonsense." Mr. D said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."
"Mr. D-" Chiron warned.
"Oh, alright." Dionysus relented. "There's one more option, but it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and dropped his invisible cards onto the table, turning visible. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."
Dionysus picked up a playing card and flipped it, turning it into a plastic rectangle. A security pass.
He snapped his fingers. The air bent around Mr. D. He became a hologram, then a wind, and then he was gone. Only the smell of fresh grapes was left behind.
Chiron smiled at Percy. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover." They obliged.
Chiron laid his cards down on the table. "Tell me, Percy." Chiron said. "What did you think of the hellhound?"
"It scared me." Percy admitted. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."
"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."
"Done… with what?"
"Your quest, of course. Will you except it?"
Percy glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.
"Um, sir," Percy said. "you haven't told me what it is yet." Oh my gods.
Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."
Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds have now reached the edge of the beach. It looked like they were coming straight for the camp, but that was… impossible.
"Poseidon and Zeus." Percy said. "They're fighting over something valuable… something that was stolen, aren't they."
Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.
Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"
He blushed. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft." I blushed when he said my name. "And… I've also been having these dreams."
"I knew it." Grover said.
"Hush, satyr." Chiron ordered.
"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!" Why would he want his best friend to go on a quest to his death?
"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."
Percy laughed, but it sounded nervous, like he wasn't sure this was really something he should laugh about it. "A what?"
"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."
"Oh." I snickered. Oh? What kind of response was that? It was still kinda cute though. I groaned silently. Ughhhh. I thought. I needed to stop thinking about him like that.
"Zeus' master bolt," Chiron said, clearly getting slightly worked up. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered off the top of Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers.
"And it's missing?"
"Stolen," Chiron said."
"By who?"
"By whom," Chiron corrected. "By you."
Percy's mouth fell open. I clamped a hand over my mouth to cover a giggle that has almost escaped.
"At least" -Chiron held up a hand-"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best, ' Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters, ' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."
"But I didn't -"
"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."
"But I've never been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"
Chiron, Grover and I glanced nervously at the sky. You never say that about Zeus. Ever. The storm clouds seemed to get angrier, and thunder rumbled. They slowly started to close in on us, not parting around us, like it was supposed to. Sucking us in like we were in a building.
"Er, Percy…?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."
"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam…" He looked at him as if he actually expected him to remember question thirty-eight.
Chiron was waiting for an answer.
"Something about a golden net?" He guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods… they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?" I raised an eyebrow, impressed. I did not think he was going to get that.
"Correct." Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along the proverbial last straw."
"But I'm just a kid!"
Percy," Grover cut in. "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you… Wouldn't that put a twist in you toga?"
"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon - my dad - he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"
Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty- first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus' temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"
"Bad?" He guessed. I rolled my eyes.
"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."
"Bad." Percy repeated. Oh my gods. He really was hopeless.
"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus' wrath."
It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and looked up at the sky, stunned. Some started to run towards shelter. Others just stood there, mentally pinching themselves, as if it was a dream and they would wake up soon. "So I have to find the stupid bolt," He said. "And return it to Zeus."
"What better peace offering," Chiron said. "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus' property?"
"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"
"I believe I know." Chiron said, his expression grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago… Well, some of the lines make sense to me, now." I curled my fists. This was one of the only prophecy's Chiron wouldn't tell me what was going on. "But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."
"Why cant you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"
"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenged."
He swallowed hard and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "Good reason."
"You agree then?"
Percy looked at Grover, who nodded encourage.
Percy paused for a moment. "All right." He said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin." I cracked a smile.
"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle." Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."
