A/N: A quick note to my guest reviewer, Matt. First, good eye with the drachma problem! However, that is not actually a problem, as while there are four people there, there are only three humans. Nymphs, satyrs and such do not have mortal souls (according to Nico in TLO: I Drive My Dog Into a Tree) and as such, only see Charon in life, and would most likely never be charged for the ferry. As for Alex meeting Carter and Sadie, well, there are going to be at least three parts in this series, one for Greece (PJATO,) one for Rome (HOO,) and one for Egypt (KC,) so yes, the Kanes will be showing up. In fact, if you don't mind spoilers, I have published three pre-revision chapters of the Egyptian Alexander Chronicles, all three of which will soon be replaced with my post-revision versions.

The Alexander Chronicles

Part I: Greece

Book I: Enigma

Part VIII: Olympus

We were mobbed before we could get to the airport. Apparently, Percy had been a fugitive before the fight with Mars, and since then was cleared as a kidnapping victim, along with his three friends. (What? I didn't pay attention to the news much at the time.) When Percy gave his interview, well, it was completely unbelievable. "All I want is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew ... somehow ... we would be okay." Like I said, unbelievable, especially to me and Grover. We just stood to the side in shock, until he finished his statement. "And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number." When he said that, all three of us just burst out laughing.

When we were getting on the plane, Percy confronted me about the Trident I had in the pen. "When we you going to tell me about it? And why do you even have it? You obviously knew that Poseidon wasn't your father, so why carry it?"

I'd already thought of an answer, so I said, "Well, I thought one of us could use it if we got into a fight like you did with Mars. With a trident, you could easily break a sword if necessary. And as I said earlier, you insist, I think I could convince Charlie and Jake to separate the trident and give it to you." Percy turned it down saying that Anaklusmos was good enough for him, and he actually gave me permission to keep it. I still decided to remove it and place it in his cabin when we got back to camp. I highly doubted that we were the only children of the Big Three that were out there right now.

Before going to Olympus, we had Annabeth and Grover head back to Camp Half-Blood (just in case Zeus decided to zap us anyway.) We had only fifteen minutes left by the time we reached the Empire State Building. When we got to the front desk, Percy asked to go to the 600th floor. The guard eventually turned to us and actually claimed there was no such floor. "We need an audience with my father, Jupiter."

"Sorry?"

"You heard Alex."

"No appointment, no audience, kiddos. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced, not even his own kids."

I was getting annoyed by this point. "Oh, I think he'll make an exception for us." I opened my hand, where I held the Bolt, in a miniature form.

The guard looked at the little bolt for a few seconds, obviously not believing what it was. Then his face went pale, and he stuttered, "That's not . . ."

"Yes it is. You want Alex to just leave it here with you then?"

"NO! NO!" He scrambled out of his seat, pulled out a security key and handed it to us. "Here! Insert this into the keyhole marked 'Staff Inspection' then hit Omega! That will take you to Olympus!" We did as he said, and by the time we reached Olympus, one, I was ready to destroy the elevator speakers; and two, we were down to five minutes to get to the throne room. Looking at Olympus, I wasn't sure we'd be able to get there in time. It was literally a mountaintop covered with a city built in the style of Ancient Greece, with what was obviously the throne room at the peak. Oddly, no one seemed to be worried about the impending war, in fact, they seemed to think that it was a time to celebrate (I would later learn that that's the way Olympus always was, no matter what was happening.) We got there just as my father said "Time has run out."

We weren't prepared for what greeted us though. In front of us were twelve giant thrones and an equally large fireplace. Around the fireplace, there were four giants, each at least 40 feet tall. One I recognized immediately as Vesta, although she seemed quite different from when I met her last month at Camp Half-Blood. With the other three, I could have sworn that we were looking in a mirror that aged us twenty years, at least it would have seemed that way if Annabeth were there. The woman was by far the most beautiful I'd ever seen, and she seemed to be a mirror image of Annabeth, except the woman had black hair. One of them had blonde hair (the same shade as mine) and a full beard and sky-blue eyes, the other had black hair, a slightly thinner beard and sea-green eyes that were identical to Percy's. We bowed to our fathers and Percy greeted Neptune. Jupiter was not happy about that; "Should you not address the master of this house first, boy?"

"Peace, brother. The boy defers to his father. That is only right."

"You still claim him then? You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?" Father asked.

"Hypocrite. Your own son is standing there too. I thought you had agreed to my advice sixty years ago. You play a very dangerous game with him, Father."

"You're wise as always, Athena, but I know what I am doing. Now, give me the Bolt, Lightning Thief." When I tossed the Bolt to my father, he was surprised to say the least, but he still thought Percy was the thief. "You were wise to betray your father."

"Percy didn't steal it, father. I was with him the whole day on the winter solstice, and we weren't even in New York City that day. In fact, we didn't even know that you existed until about four months ago."

"If he didn't steal it, then who did?"

"We don't know." Percy and I then proceeded to tell our parents and Minerva all that had happened over the past four months. When they started to talk about whether Mars would have done such a thing, we interrupted and explained our idea, telling them about our dreams and experiences in the Underworld. They had a quick discussion, and even with my gifted hearing, I only caught one word, Father. "I believe that this assembly's business is finished. Perseus, if you ever attempt to fly again, I will turn this on you. But in any case, well done, both of you. And Alex, when you return to the camp, I shall claim you as my son."

"Thank you father, but no."

"No? Why not?"

"I want you to wait until the final day of the summer camp. I don't want to come off as power-hungry to the other campers. Besides, this is Percy's summer, let them honor him on this years' bead. I'm content knowing that YOU are proud of me."

"Very well, so be it. I shall claim you on the final night then, right after the toast." After that, I headed down to the ground floor, and back home to Camp Half-Blood, while Percy stayed and talked to his father.