Percy knew he was having a nightmare when he saw his girlfriend's mother.
The goddess of wisdom and battle strategy herself stood in front of Percy, arms crossed and grey-eyed gaze burning through Percy's skin. It was sunny, and the light reflected blindingly off of Athena's robes. Glancing around, Percy recognized Olympus, but there appeared to be no one else in the floating city. Just Percy and Athena.
Alone.
Thousands of feet in the air.
Great.
The goddess of wisdom didn't speak; she only stared at Percy with that uncomfortable intensity. Percy had seen that look before on Annabeth when she was faced with a calculus equation and had forgotten the formula.
"So, um… Athena," Percy began, rocking back on his heels. Percy generally felt pretty comfortable around the Olympians- borderline casual- but Athena had always made him nervous. Now that Annabeth was his girlfriend, Percy had to be extremely careful about what he said and did in front of her almighty mother. "You summoned me here- in my dream- so… what gives?"
"You are on the brink of a vicious war. You are in need of an Olympian's aid. The fact that you have not asked for help from the goddess of battle strategy is quite moronic."
"Thanks," Percy replied sarcastically. It was hard to keep a respectful tone when the Olympian in front of you kicks off every conversation with a bitter remark. "If you're so eager to help us, what do you suggest we do?"
Athena rolled her eyes, already annoyed with Percy's sarcasm. "I listened to your conversation with Chiron, and I agree that your best bet would be to convince the Giants that you are back on their side. However, you will need magic to pull it off. Thankfully, you've got Piper's persuasion and Hazel's Mist. They'll disguise your friends as monsters so that they can hide in the crowd, and from there they can attack. You, on the other hand, must journey on your own. Find the Giants, tell them that you are on their side, and follow their orders. That leaves us with just one problem."
She paused, as if Percy should know what this "last problem" was. He didn't.
"And that problem would be…?" Percy prompted, rolling his hands to signify Athena to continue.
"Your eyes."
Percy's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Athena sighed heavily, pressing her fingers to her temples in exasperation. Under her breath, she muttered, "Honestly I don't understand what Annabeth could possibly see in you." Bringing her focus back to Percy, she explained. "Your eyes are green again. The Giants will never believe that you are on their side if it is visually clear that you are no longer under their control. Have Hazel use her Mist to make your eyes look orange again."
"Great." Percy gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll tell her when I wake up."
"As for the Opening Ceremony, go along with the ritual until I arrive. You will need me to kill the Giants."
"Wait," Percy stopped the goddess. "If you're able to just show up at the monster base, why haven't the gods destroyed the army already?"
"It's not as simple as that," Athena scoffed. "As I'm sure you are well-aware by now, we Olympians can't always get directly involved in-"
Percy laughed drily. "Oh, of course. That's the way it always is with you guys."
"Percy-" Athena's voice grew louder and harsher, but Percy disregarded her implied threat.
"You always make us fight your battles and expect us to be on the scene as soon as possible, but when we need your help, there are 'rules' and 'traditions' you must uphold."
"I am trying to help you, boy-"
"But why now? Why not two days ago, when we were tied up in Dr. Derideo's lab? Why not when Giants were chasing us down the hallways? Why not when I attacked my friends?"
Athena dropped to one knee so that her large, unnaturally immaculate face was inches from Percy's.
Percy didn't flinch.
"You watch your mouth. I'm offering you my help, and I think it's in your best interest to accept it. Unless, of course, you'd rather not have the help of an Olympian and face the impossible task of killing a Giant's army without a god's help."
Percy took a deep breath and held up his hands in mock surrender. There was no point in arguing with Athena. "I'm sorry. We do need your help."
"You will not attack until I arrive. Alone, I guarantee that you will not succeed. And you, Perseus Jackson, have to keep in mind that this is your duty. You are loyal to the Olympians, not to the mons-"
Percy looked incredulous. "I'm not on their side!"
Athena eyed Percy suspiciously. "Remember that, then, in battle. I've seen your thoughts, boy. I know about your inner moral battle, concerning the lives of-"
"Stop; stop right now," Percy interrupted, hand swinging down to his pocket and whipping out Riptide, slicing through the air and pointing it directly at Athena. "Do not doubt my loyalty. I will kill every monster out there to protect my friends. Do not doubt me."
Athena smirked. "Good. I'll see you on the battlefield."
"See you on the battlefield," Percy affirmed, sheathing his sword.
Everything went black.
Percy's eyes fluttered open sleepily. He was cuddled in a pile of fluffy blankets that he didn't remember having last night- probably Hazel's doing. He smiled to himself, pulling the blankets up closer to his chin. He wanted to enjoy every last second of relaxation before he went out to act as a double agent among the Giants' army and proceed to kill every monster he comes across, all the while praying that Athena comes through on their plan- a plan that hung in the balance of a bond of trust between Percy and a monster. Happy fun times.
Percy finally sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"How's everyone d-"
"Percy!" Piper yelped, and before Percy could even take his own hands off of his eyes, she clapped hers over his eyes, knocking him back down into the blankets.
"Piper! What the Hades are you doing?" Percy yelled, trying to shove Piper off.
"Where's your blindfold?" Piper asked, but Percy managed to pry her hands off and stare up at her with bright, sea green eyes. She froze, if only for a moment, before easing off of Percy. "You…you're normal again."
"And wide awake," Percy added sarcastically, sitting up as Piper climbed off the bed awkwardly. "The Hyde wore off last night."
"Just taking precaution," Piper replied. "We don't want an extra battle today." Percy laughed it off, trying to ease the tension. Nobody wanted to repeat the fight from the map room, especially when they needed to be in tip-top shape for their ambush at the Opening. A door opened, and Nico stepped out of the bathroom, drying his dark hair in a towel. He smiled when he saw Percy.
"Hey, welcome back, Orange-Eyes."
"Ha, ha," Percy responded drily. Jason was over in the corner talking with Hazel as he cleaned his glasses and she attempted to run a giant brush through her frizzy hair. The casual nature of the demigods felt like the calm before the storm.
"So, uh…" Percy slid out of bed. "I had a dream last night."
That caught everyone's attention. The others gathered around the bed, and Percy described his dream- leaving out Athena's questioning of his loyalties. His friends had no reason to suspect anything, right? Kelli had mentioned that monsters had lives to live too, but that doesn't mean anything. Right? He knew that the monsters were disgusting, vile, rude, dangerous, lifeless…homeless…desperate…
Percy looked up at his friends' faces, all of whom were looking at him oddly. Apparently, he had trailed off in the middle of his discussion. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry. I was just- you know, lost in thought." He finished retelling his dream, summing up Athena's plan.
"So to recap," Hazel began, "we need to disguise ourselves as monsters in order to blend in while you go and convince the Giants you're back on their side. Then, during the Opening, we stall until Athena arrives and helps us stop the army."
"And in order to pull it off," Piper added, "we'll be transforming ourselves using Mist and charm speak- and turning your eyes orange again."
"Yep," Percy agreed. Then, looking out the window, "What time is it?"
"About 11:00," Jason replied.
"Well," Percy clapped his hands together. "Sounds like it's time to do some trickery."
Hazel and Percy stayed seated on the bed while the others raided the closet for every scrap of cloth, leather, and metal they could find. Piper dug through the drawers in search of anything that could help their costumes, and she managed to find some of Medusa's makeup. The poor woman had snakes for hair; Piper didn't blame her for using some beauty tools to enhance what people could look at safely.
Hazel had Percy sit crisscrossed in front of her, while she mirrored his pose.
"I've never done this before, so I don't know what to expect," she warned Percy, placing her small hands delicately over his eyes.
"What, changing eye colors in order to fake possession isn't on your top ten spells list?" Percy joked, which earned him a light slap on the head from Hazel.
"Close your eyes," she said. Percy did as he was told. Hazel blocked out all sound, focusing all of her attention on Percy. She imagined sunsets, orange juice, pumpkins, orange flowers, carrots- anything orange. She imagined the color running through her veins and traveling all the way down to her palms and-
"Gah!" Percy cried, pulling away and rubbing his eyes roughly. "That stings like manticore venom."
"Sorry," Hazel apologized, holding her hands close to her chest. "I didn't think it would-"
"No, no, it's fine," Percy replied, blinking hard. "Are they orange?"
A smile crept across Hazel's face. "As orange as a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt."
Percy grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks, Hazel. You're the best." He gave her a quick hug and hopped off of the bed.
"How are you going to keep this trick up all day?" Percy asked as he made his way into the bathroom. Hazel followed, and together they stared in the mirror.
"I've been practicing my magic back at Camp Jupiter, and at this point it's just getting the spell started that's difficult. It's like pushing a boulder- at first, it's almost too heavy to budge, but once you get it rolling it's pretty easy."
"So you can keep this up all day, if need be?"
"Sure- as long as I'm awake," she added. Percy leaned in towards the mirror, widening his eyes.
"I never got used to this look," he sighed. "It's just so..."
"Intimidating?"
Nico was leaning against the doorframe to the bathroom. How long he'd been there, Percy didn't know. Nico had a habit of sneaking up on people, both by accident and on purpose.
"You'd better get going," Nico continued. "You're going to need a lot of time talking with those Giants before they believe you're back on their side."
Hazel hopped out of the bathroom, brushing by Nico and shooting him a look of doubt- a look Percy happened to catch as she left.
She didn't have faith in the plan, and in all honesty, neither did Percy. The last time the Giants saw Percy, he was escaping along with the demigods he was supposed to kill. That's a little hard to brush off. Whatever Percy said to them, it had to be convincing. Percy was no Tom Cruise, but he could act fairly well. He did once get Procrustes- or Crusty, for short- to lie down in one of his own water deathbeds, and he tricked Phineas into drinking Gorgon blood. He could do this.
It didn't take long for Percy to suit up. The others kept busy by experimenting with outfits and weapons to give them a slightly monstrous appearance; it was Piper's charm speak and Hazel's Mist that would be the key to a convincing disguise in the end. As he tied the final leather strap on his armor, Percy noticed that nobody had looked him in the eyes since Hazel had turned them orange again. Of course, Percy understood why. The last time they saw him with those eyes, he had turned into a mindless murderer.
Percy must have looked pretty spaced out because Jason came over and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey bro, are you feeling okay?"
"Hmm?" Percy turned to face his friend. Jason noticeably cringed. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just pre-battle jitters. We'll be killing a lot of people-"
"Monsters," Jason corrected him.
"Right, monsters." Percy paused. "Jason, have you ever considered the fact that they're goal is the same as ours? The monsters want to kill all the demigods. The demigods want to kill all the monsters."
"That may be true, but they're declaring war by ambushing our homes."
"What do you think we're doing? We are attacking their home today. We're no better than they are."
"Percy." Jason took him by the shoulders. "Monsters come back from the dead. Demigods don't."
Percy didn't reply.
"We can't afford to think of them as people. We kill to protect ourselves, and today is not the day to start doubting our own motives. We're the good guys, don't worry."
Jason smiled sympathetically at Percy, and Percy gave him a small smile in return.
"Let's not waste anymore time, then," Percy responded.
Jason clapped Percy on the back. "That's the Percy Jackson I know."
Percy made his way to the door, and with his hand on the handle, turned around.
"See you on the other side," Percy called back.
"Good luck," Piper replied, and the others called out various good-byes.
"Time to outwit some idiots," Percy declared, swinging the door open wide and stepping out into the hallway. Percy felt confident until he heard the slam and click of the door closing behind him. This plan is crazy, he thought to himself. Then, straightening his back, he mumbled out loud, "Good thing I'm crazy."
Percy had no idea where to find the Giants, so he decided to wonder about until he found one. Solid plan. He walked down the right side of the hall, running Riptide along the stone walls and stepping loudly. He figured that if the Giants heard someone obnoxiously traipsing through the corridors, they'd come to him.
"Gee," he yelled. "I could sure go for some demigod blood right now." No response. Percy sighed and descended the first staircase he came across, jumping down each step so that each echo layered loudly on top of its predecessor. He kept Riptide unsheathed, just in case he came across a monster that killed first and asked questions later.
The corridors blurred together, turning into a twisting trail of left, right, right, left, right, staircase, left, staircase, right, etc. He went up and down, all over the Headquarters, completely undisturbed.
Where is everybody? he wondered.
"Hey guys!" Percy called out, turning into a corridor on his left. "V.I.D. out here! Very important demigod. Ju-"
The door in front of Percy flew open, startling Percy so much that as he swung his sword, he accidentally cut his other hand, leaving blood on the blade. Percy hissed and pressed his hand against his shirt underneath the chest plate.
In front of him, it was not a monster but Dr. Derideo who left the room- and froze upon seeing Percy.
"Perseus Jackson!" he exclaimed, bright eyes wide. A creepy grin spread across the mad scientist's face. "I caught you! I found him!" He lunged forward as if to grab Percy, but the demigod kept his sword in between himself and Dr. Derideo. You're friends, Percy reminded himself. You are on the same side.
"Actually, Doctor, I'm here to turn myself in." This caught the doctor by surprise. "You see, I was talking to Kelli the Empousa earlier today, and she made me realize that you and I aren't so different. We both want to destroy the other side for the same reason- to protect ourselves. That got me thinking, 'What have the demigods ever done for me?' I've got more respect here. So I've deci-"
"Why are your eyes still orange?" Dr. Derideo cut Percy off, face twisted in confusion.
"What?"
"Why are your eyes still orange?" Dr. Derideo asked again, head cocked to the side like a curious cat.
"Uh, your potion?" Percy replied, fidgeting with his shirt hem with his injured hand. The other kept Riptide poised.
"My potion lasts for 12 hours," Dr. Derideo explained, "and it's been well over 12 hours since administering it. How are your eyes still orange?"
Percy's mouth went dry. He'd forgotten about that little detail.
"Oh, well, you see… I surrendered last night. I spent the night in my room upstairs, and… and one of the Giants came in with a fresh dose of Hyde. I'm fresh and ready to go!" Percy finished with fake enthusiasm. His heart felt like it was punching his ribcage with each word.
"I didn't give any Giant a v-"
"Well, he got it somehow," Percy rushed, wrapping his free hand around the doctor's shoulders and steering him back into the room from which he'd come. "It's best not to question it. Heck, I don't even know where everyone is right now, much less the workings of the Giants' inner circle. This is only my third day here, you know."
"But I don't-"
"Ask the Giants, then!" Percy interrupted, pushing the doctor back inside. He was just about to slam the door shut when he paused to add, "When you see them, tell the Giants that Percy was looking for them."
Dr. Derideo was still stunned from Percy's outburst, but he was able to focus on the demigod once more to say, "Oh, I won't be seeing them today. Hmm! Too busy today, they say. They just use me and throw me out like an old equation."
Now it was Percy's turn to look confused. "Too busy? Too busy with what?"
"The Opening! Your grand unveiling! It's this evening- and you should be going!" Dr. Derideo shoved Percy out of the doorway. "You'd better hurry down to the courtyard." With that, the door shut with a loud boom.
"Huh," Percy muttered. "Surprisingly helpful." Finally sheathing Riptide, Percy sprinted down the halls, taking every staircase down. The farther down he got, the fewer doors there were. He had finally left the countless dormitories behind. When he finally reached the ground floor, he found himself facing a large archway that led out to a dark green courtyard, looking to be twice the size of a football field. The headquarters wrapped around it in a square shape, and because of the morning sun, half of the courtyard was covered in shadow. However, the immense size was not what threatened Percy.
It was the hundreds of monsters packed into the field, all suited in gleaming bronze and gold armor and chatting amongst themselves with bared teeth and claws extended.
Percy gulped and his knees locked. It was as if his body was screaming, Don't do it, idiot! They'll kill you! But, like always, Percy ignored reason.
He strutted forward, walking nonchalantly through the masses like he belonged- which was exactly what he needed the others to think. His brain's internal monologue became constant screaming and occasional curse words as he brushed by fur, slid against scales, and pushed through arms and legs of all shapes and sizes.
He finally reached the center of the courtyard, where a circular stage had been built. It was simple and wooden, but it was tall enough to be seen from all sides around the field. Next to it stood Forterae, Hectamedes, and Aralus.
"Giants," Percy announced, his voice booming louder than he'd expected. The three commanders of the army turned to face Percy.
Aralus roared, "You dare show your face here again? I will kill you, rip you from limb to limb, and stab you through the heart before I-"
Forterae held up a hand, motioning for Aralus to stop. The Giant reluctantly did so, taking a step back. She then pointed at Percy with a large indigo finger. "Friend… or foe?" she asked, her voice thundering amidst the silence of the army.
"Friend," Percy affirmed, reaching out to shake hands with Forterae.
Thousands of voices began yelling and shrieking, all in disbelief and outrage.
"He killed Callisthenes!"
"He's a demigod!"
"I hate him!"
Even before Percy's escape, the monsters hadn't wanted his help. Everyone had a bone to pick with the son of Poseidon, and the only reason that they had allowed him to work alongside them in the first place was because he was their only chance at winning this war. After he had turned his back on the Giants, however, the monsters thought that their leaders would finally see the truth and change their plan. Now, Forterae appeared to be giving the wretched half-blood a second chance.
"Silence!" Forterae commanded, and a hush fell over the monsters. She seemed to have been nominated as the new commander in Callisthenes absence. "Make your case."
"I am here to join your ranks," Percy began. "You were right. I understand the horrors we, the demigods, have put you monsters through. We have slaughtered you without cause, and I want to change that. It's time my people got a taste of their own medicine!"
Hectamedes raised his eyebrows and glanced at Forterae, but she said nothing. She waited for more proof of his allegiance. Percy's mind raced to find ways to persuade the monsters. His hand still burned from his cut earlier, and up until now, Percy had been blocking it out. Now it gave him an idea.
"During the escape, I slayed my former friends with my own sword!" he lied, unsheathing Riptide and holding it up for all to see. Blood stained the blade- but the monsters didn't have to know it was his blood. "Their blood is on my own hands to show you that I am against the demigods." Then, pointing to his orange eyes, he yelled, "I found Dr. Derideo and had him give me enough Hyde to ensure that I do not betray you any more. I am on the side of the monsters. I will fight with you." Percy bowed, and with his face hidden, he grimaced. He hated what he was saying with every fiber of his being.
Aralus roared. "I do not trust this weakling," he announced, grabbing Forterae by the arm. "He lied earlier, and he is lying again."
Forterae glared at Aralus and ripped her muscular arm out of his grasp before kneeling down beside Percy. She sniffed his sword before proclaiming, "It reeks of demigod! The boy tells the truth! He will bring Camp Half-Blood to the ground with us. He will drown every last demigod on this planet!" She shook Percy's hand.
The army cheered, roaring and yelling in a cacophony of noise. Aralus, however, was furious, eyes burning into Percy's soul. He doesn't believe me, Percy thought to himself. Percy approached the Giant, marching strongly forward before saluting Aralus. "I am at your service."
"I hope so," Aralus growled. "If you betray us, I will personally see to it that you are forced to watch your precious camps being burned and everyone you love being murdered."
"With any luck," Percy replied with his signature mischievous grin, "I'll be the one murdering them."
So, ah...over a month. Yikes. I really hate making you wait, and I'm so glad that so many of you stayed! Thanksgiving just passed, and I wanted to let you all know that I am thankful for every follow, favorite, and review you guys leave me! The next chapter will dwell more on how much and even if the Giants truly trust Percy, and the dreaded Opening will finally commence! Enjoy!
