Oh my god. I'm such an idiot. I'm a day late - I swear to god I thought only three days had passed since I last updated. I'm so sorry guys! Please, feel free to tell me off in the reviews :( BUT, to say sorry, here is a very long chapter. Longer than most, actually.
This chapter's mostly just introducing the Olympia family - I hope you guys like how I portray Thalia and Nico. If you have anything you want me to change about their personalities, feel free to mention something in the reviews. So...yeah. I've not got much to say here except I thank you to everyone who has shown support - ya'll are awesome, seriously. Much love 3 Hope you enjoy chapter 9!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON!
Percy's POV
Two hours later, we're in the car and driving off to the venue of the wedding; aiming to arrive at about half three as Poseidon didn't want to be the first to be greeted – if anything, he wanted to just slip into the crowd and not be noticed by anyone but his brothers. And even then, he didn't want to hang around with them for long.
The venue, surprisingly, is being held at Poseidon's brother's house. Zeus apparently has this massive mansion however I reckon that Poseidon's just exaggerating about that. We both have a habit of over exaggerating things.
"So, how are you going to break the news to them?" I ask, admiring the secluded road we drive down, through a thick forest towards the 'mansion'. It sounds quite far out of the city, but it's actually only a twenty minute drive from our house.
"'Oh, hey, family, what a pain it is to see you again – who is this you ask? Oh, just my son. Not that it's any of your business. Goodbye'," Poseidon mimics.
I roll my eyes. "Seriously,"
Poseidon sighs. "Fine. I'll probably introduce you to Zeus and Hades first, then their kids. Whatever order it goes in. After that, we'll find somewhere to sit and get on some people's nerves. Anyway, we're here now,"
At that moment we turn around a corner and the trees part to reveal a beautiful mansion. It's built on the outskirts of the forest, so that behind it there's nothing but empty fields. "Whoa!" I gasp. "Okay...you weren't kidding about the mansion part,"
"My brother can be quite a show off," says Poseidon, pulling up. There are a lot of other cars parked around the driveway, which is a large circle around a fountain. Before he climbs out, however, he turns to me. "If you get uncomfortable or anything, tell me – okay?"
"Sure," I reply. I'll admit; looking at the amount of cars has made me nervous.
"My family can be quite...um, how do you put it? Heavy. It's fine if you want to go home," Poseidon continues. I nod and flash him a smile and then we climb out of the car.
There's a butler standing at the door with the guest list. Poseidon doesn't even have to say his name before the butler greets him and leads us through the large house until we come to the back garden. It's quite warm for a September day and there's a big marquee set up. Guests bustle around talking with one another and gushing about the bride who is apparently gorgeous.
One woman worms her way through the crowd and comes to stand in front of Poseidon and I. "Poseidon!" she gushes, going to give him a hug. He pats her back awkwardly, as though the hug is more like being in a straight jacket than a friendly gesture. "How wonderful to see you!" the woman continues.
"And you, Hera," Poseidon says politely, putting his arm around my shoulders again once she'd released him. "Are my brothers around?"
The woman, Hera's, eyes land on me. "Who's this?" she asks sharply, ignoring his question.
"My plus one," Poseidon replies shortly. "My brothers, Hera. I wish to greet them,"
Her lips are pursed and she obviously isn't pleased. Hera glares at me, nods stiffly, and motions for us to follow her.
I stick to Poseidon's side as we head towards the marquee. A couple of time I nearly get separated from him, the crowd is so thick. Luckily Poseidon keeps his arm around me and I happily remain plastered to him. Inside the marquee is much less crowded. There are people who I notice look a little like my dad – black hair, handsome/pretty faces. So maybe outside the guests are all related to the bride and inside are related to Hephaestus, the groom. I don't know...
There are two men stood, slightly split off from the others, besides the banquet table. They're talking quietly though the conversation is clearly not very...smooth, if you know what I mean.
"My dearest," Hera says, standing besides the burlier man's side and laying her hand on his arm. There's suddenly a sweet, flashy smile on her face that looks slightly forced. "Your younger brother is here,"
The man turns to us. "Poseidon," he says, his face remaining neutral with no sign of a smile.
"Zeus," Poseidon says and shakes his hand, as though they were business partners rather than brothers. He turns to the other man, who's skinnier and certainly younger than Zeus, yet still older than Poseidon. "Hades,"
"Poseidon," says Hades, nodding curtly. His black eyes land on me. As do Zeus's piercing blue ones. Zeus gives Hera a short look and she walks away reluctantly, still glaring at me suspiciously. Okay, so Poseidon wasn't lying about her.
"Brothers," Poseidon says. "I'd like you to meet Percy Jackson,"
The two men stare at me. Their eyes are so intense, I feel like holding my hand up to block their faces from my view. I think that might come across as rude though. "Uh, hi," I say sheepishly. There, that's much more polite than blocking their faces from my view.
"He looks like you," Zeus states flatly, raising his eyebrow at his little brother and ignoring my greeting.
Poseidon nods and lifts his shoulders in a small shrug. "Well, that's because he is my son,"
The next thirty seconds are filled with the most awkward silence in the history of awkward silences. I blush after just a few seconds of it, eyes trained on the floor – willing it to suck me up and take me away from the Master of Awkward Silence. Did Poseidon want this to happen? Something tells me that he finds this amusing...
"Son," repeats Hades slowly, as though he doesn't believe it. "You have a son...and you never bothered to mention it,"
"In my defence, I myself have only known for a matter of weeks," says Poseidon, arm curling tighter around my shoulders. "His mother and I were together in the final year of high school. I never knew she had become pregnant until Hestia returned from her trip to Australia last month with a letter saying that I had a nine year old son,"
"You could have called," Zeus grumbles. He doesn't sound angry – more like he's in some sort of trouble because of it. "Hera's going to have a fit," Ah, that's why.
"I know. That's why I haven't told her,"
"And what? Now you have custody of him?" Hades asks. He looks around the marquee. "I see no mother. Is she not here?"
I wince. "She's dead," I tell him, carefully keeping my voice steady and plain. "She committed suicide last year while in jail,"
"I'll explain another time," Poseidon says quickly before his brothers can inquire any more. "Are Thalia and Nico around?"
"I will go find them," Zeus sighs, rubbing his tired eyes. Huh, throwing a big wedding party must be tiring. "You two had better go greet the bride and groom, Poseidon. It would be rude not to,"
"Of course," Poseidon replies. I can tell that he's trying not to roll his eyes. "Come on, Percy. We'll catch up again with you in a bit,"
And with that, Poseidon steers me away towards the woman in a long white wedding dress and veil, who is clearly Aphrodite, stood besides a man in a tailcoat who must be her new husband and my cousin, Hephaestus.
"They weren't so bad," I mutter, glancing back at Hades who now stood on his own whilst Zeus disappeared to find my cousins. Huh. It feels odd saying that.
"I guess not," says Poseidon, sounding confused. "Which is odd, for my brothers. I expected Zeus to make a more snide comment than 'Hera's going to have a fit'...I mean, an insult, at the least...he must be having a midlife crisis..."
He trails off as we come to the newly-wed couple. I manage to elbow him sharply in the ribs before either of them could notice us.
"Uncle Poseidon," says Hephaestus, smiling (though it doesn't really look right on his well-worn face). I try not to look at his twisted, lumpy leg that's supported by some sort of metal contraption. I think Poseidon mentioned that Hephaestus is crippled; apparently he was in an accident when he was a baby. Though no one knows the actual cause of the accident, everyone in the family agreed, behind her back, that it was probably Hera. She never liked Hephaestus when he was a baby, always claiming he was ugly. And, well, I can see what she meant.
"Hephaestus," Poseidon sounds a lot more cheerful around his nephew. I think that they get along. The two men shake hands, but in a more friendly manner than Zeus and Hades.
We're all introduced to one another; Poseidon briefly explains me, blah, blah, blah. Hephaestus seems nice enough, though I have the feeling that he's usually a very, very grumpy person. Though I guess that today is his wedding day so he's got no reason to be grumpy. Especially when you look at his bride – Aphrodite has to be the prettiest woman I've ever seen. Who wouldn't be happy marrying her?
When we're finish talking (and Poseidon made sure it doesn't take long) we return to the buffet table. Zeus is stood with Hades again, yet this time there are two children with them both. The girl standing besides Zeus looks like she's in her early teens – twelve, thirteen maybe. She's definitely Zeus's daughter; they have the same black hair (though the girl's is short and spiky like she'd cut it herself with blunt scissors) and her eyes are a piercing shade of blue, rimmed with thick black eyeliner that sort of throws off the effect of the pale blue dress she's wearing. She must be one the bridesmaids.
The boy standing with Hades bores a resemblance to the older man too. His black hair is a little wavy and being a little too long, falls into his black eyes that are darker than coal. He has an unhealthy look to his skin, though his small smile suggests he's a relatively happy boy, if you don't notice the gleam of trauma in his eyes – similar to the gleam I see in my own eyes sometimes. He has to be six years old at the most.
"There they are," Zeus says, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and looking at my dad and I as we approach. They must have been in the middle of talking about Poseidon and I.
"Uncle Poseidon," the girl grins.
"Hello Thalia – haven't you grown," says Poseidon.
The girl, Thalia, beams and gives Zeus an 'I-told-you-so' stare (a stare that I give to Poseidon all of the time now), which makes him shake his head.
"Who's this?" she asks, noticing me. Her bright eyes narrow and scan my body, sizing me up. I should know – it's happened to me hundreds of times.
"My son, Percy," replies Poseidon.
"I have another cousin?" Thalia blinks. "My age?"
"Hey!" the little boy exclaims. He goes ignored; Hades pats his shoulder sympathetically.
"How old are you?" Thalia inquires, tilting her head to the side.
"Nine," I reply.
The little boy was pouting. "I'm nearly nine," he says, chest puffing in an attempt to look bigger. He looks silly, being so thin and short, even for his age.
Hades shakes his head and pats his shoulder again. "In time, Nico," he says, sounding weary as though the kid says this all the time.
"You're six, Nico. You have...three years," Thalia says, glancing at her dad. He nods, telling her it's correct. Huh, is Dyslexia a family thing too?
"Why don't you three get to know each other?" Zeus suggests after a moment.
I glance cautiously at Poseidon. He nods, though his face sends the message 'if you want to'. I don't really want to make him sit on his own for the rest of the evening – after all, I did come with Poseidon just to keep him company. But he also seems to be eager for me to talk to my cousins and socialise a bit. After a second of hesitation, I give Zeus a small, timid nod. "Sure, why not," I say. Though I'm not sure what 'getting to know each' other will include.
"Great!" Nico says. He grabs my hand and tugs me towards the back of the marquee, where there's an exit leading outside to the garden – the section with no guests, whilst bouncing on the balls of his feet. "C'mon, hurry up! You can help me kill Thalia,"
Whoa, okay. This kid should lay off the sugar. And...whatever makes serial killers.
"Calm down, son," says Hades.
"Still hyper?" asks Poseidon, grinning at the tired look on his brother's face. Oh, right – Hades is a single dad most of the time, isn't he? Poor guy. I remember what I was like when I was six (well, when none of mom's boyfriends were around). Seriously, single parents with children under the age of eight should always get some sort of medal.
Hades sighs. "Oh, you have no idea,"
"Let's go – you can be a hero with Nico. I'm always the monster anyway because Nico's a baby," says Thalia, grabbing my other hand and pulling me away.
"Am not!" little Nico protests. I have a feeling that they argue about this a lot. Looking over my shoulder, I see Poseidon, Hades and Zeus all looking rather amused – my dad most of all. Poseidon shoots me a sarcastic smile and wave. I glare at him before I'm tugged outside.
The rest of the garden behind the marquee is empty. A few metres away there are some discarded toy swords and shields. Nico picks up the smaller sword and shield, both of which were made from foam and are painted black and silver; the shield has images of things like Toy Story and big, scary-looking dogs. Clearly it's been made just for Nico. The other shield and sword are wood. The sword is white and the shield is light blue, like Thalia's eyes, with images of lighting and some weird punk bands painted on it.
"You can use my sword and shield for now, until you have your own," says Thalia, handing me the wooden set.
"These are so cool," I say, marvelling the drawings. I've not been drawing as much as I used to, recently. Maybe I should go back to it when I get home.
"I know. Hephaestus made them for us for our birthdays. Maybe he'll make you your own shield too, but you'll have to tell him what you like so he can do these designs," Thalia says. "Now, you two go and hide. I'm gonna count to twenty and then come and find you,"
"Like hide-and-seek?" I ask.
Nico nods. "Yeah, but when Thal finds you we have to try and kill her because she's a monster. But not in real life. I think that Uncle Zeus would be mad if we killed Thal,"
Thalia smirks, like she knows it's true, and covers her eyes. "One, two..."
"No cheating," I call as I run after Nico.
"No promises," Thalia calls back, though I can tell she's joking.
Luckily, the Nico and I are both quite small and very fast. Within a matter of seconds we've found the perfect hiding spots; I'm crouched in a bush which is hollow on the inside (weird, I know, but they do exist) and Nico is sat in a tree hallow trunk, blending in with the shadows. He has this really evil smirk on his face which almost makes me want to hide somewhere else.
We play about ten rounds of hide-and-seek/ kill-the-monster. I'm a hero five times and the monster five times. Nico is a hero all ten times because when he can't find us he gets frustrated and starts bawling. And Hades, like Poseidon and probably Zeus too, doesn't like his child crying. Although he doesn't come across as an over-protective parent. I guess it comes with losing a child – to a murderer, no less.
Zeus, Poseidon and Hades leave the marquee to check on us during round ten. They find us just as Nico and I tackle Thalia, the monster, to the floor. Nico whacks her on the head with the hilt of his foam sword, crying in victory, and I point my sword at her throat as though it's the real thing.
"Got you," I smirk triumphantly. "Again,"
Thalia stands and shoves me, though she's smirking too. "Shut up. I got you in the last round. And the round before that. And-,"
Zeus clears his throat, drawing our attention to him and our other dads. "Having fun?"
I grin at Poseidon, who's smiling fondly. "I think I've just found my new favourite game," I say. "Beating Thalia,"
She tackles me to the floor. I laugh as Nico jumps to my defence, leaping on top of Thalia's back and pounding her skull with his foam sword. The adults let us wrestle for about thirty seconds before Hades picks up Nico and set him on his hip, signalling that the play-fight is over. Thalia clambers off me and offers me her hand, but I don't trust her and push myself to my feet. Thalia rolls her eyes, her blue irises glinting.
"Everyone's waiting to meet you, Percy," says Poseidon. "I've explained to my family who you are and stuff. They're all...well, most of them are eager to meet you,"
I try not to pale and the mention of meeting new people. Damn it. I'm so unsociable it's actually stupid.
Poseidon wraps an arm around my shoulder. I notice his brothers raising their eyebrows at him, like they're teasing him, but he ignores them. I glance at Zeus and Hades; Zeus is holding his daughter's hand and Hades is still carrying Nico, looking reluctant to put him down. Huh. I didn't expect either of them to be so loving of their children. Maybe...maybe it's a family thing, because Poseidon is pretty much like that.
We head back into the marquee and Zeus's wife, Hera, appears next to us (out of nowhere, seriously).
"So, Poseidon," she says, tone gritted through her sparkling teeth. "This is your...son, I see. Rather scrawny for his age, isn't he? Ares was much healthier,"
Poseidon glares at her. "I'm right here, you know," I say before he can reply, already peeved off at the lady. "Don't you think it's rude to make a comment about people whilst ignoring them?" I cock my head to the side, daring her to answer.
Hera looks somewhere between gobsmacked and angry. Hades, Poseidon and Zeus are all equally shocked, however try to hide it. Thalia and Nico are full-on beaming at me, like I'm their saviour or something.
"How dare you speak to me like that!" Hera fumes.
"Next time, keep your nose out of it," says Poseidon, arm wrapping tighter around me as he smiles proudly, getting over his shock. "Yes, this is my son. And he's perfect the way he is, thank you very much. I don't need you to compare him to your spoiled brat of a child,"
Hera scoffs. "Ares is a dream child! Better than your offspring by far,"
"Which explains why he's flirting with the bride, then," says Hades, rolling his eyes. Hera looks around and hurries away, face burning, to drag her youngest son away from Aphrodite. He was stood extremely close to her, hand hovering near her waist. She was giggling, like he had said something charming. Hephaestus was stood a few feet away from them, scowling, though not doing anything.
"Usually, I would be offended by that," says Zeus, watching his wife's retreating back. "However those genes are completely Hera's,"
"How you share a house with her, I don't know," Hades says, rolling his eyes.
"She's horrible," groans Thalia. Zeus gives her a half-hearted reprimanding look.
Out of the crowd two boys appear. Both seem to be in their late teens – one of them, the slightly younger one, looking like a model and the other a little geeky though still good-looking. That's another thing I've noticed in Poseidon's family. Everyone (except for Hephaestus) is freakishly beautiful/handsome. It sort of makes me feel out of place because I'm so skinny and not-handsome. I guess that makes me Hephaestus's best cousin, right?
"Yo, Uncle P!" says the younger boy. He grins at my dad and then at me. "You're Percy, right? I'm Apollo – give it an hour and I'll be your favourite cousin, promise,"
Right – he's the sixteen year old one with the twin, if I remember correctly. "Hi," I smile. I might as well be polite, forget my anti-social-ness and leave a good impression, right? Plus Apollo already seems like someone easy to get along with.
Before Apollo can say anything else (he certainly looks like the chatter-box, big-headed type) the other boy elbows him. "Apollo, be quiet before you scare him," he says. Apollo splutters indignantly. The boy continues, "I'm Hermes, by the way. This idiot's my little brother,"
"Keep your wallet hidden," Thalia stage-whispers to me as Apollo says something to Hermes and the two start bickering playfully. They're actually both pretty similar, except Hermes is a bit more mature than his little brother, as well has brainier, and Apollo has a rather big head (in a good way, though, if that makes sense). "Hermes is a master pick-pocketer. Daddy thought it would be cool to teach him,"
I'm sure whether or not that's good parenting. Then again, I've been taught the art of thievery too – just on a criminal scale. And Poseidon has taught me how to fight and occasionally teaches me swear words and their meanings. Hestia would skin him alive if she knew. Speaking of my aunt, I wonder where she is. I ask Poseidon and he leads the way through the crowd.
We find Hestia within a matter of minutes. She greets me with a hug and kiss on the cheek and introduces me to her sister, Demeter. We don't linger long, however. An argument brews between Hades and his sister within seconds over Persephone, Hades' on-and-off wife and Demeter's sort-of adopted daughter. She's here at the wedding somewhere.
Dionysus is already extremely drunk when I'm introduced to him. Artemis, Apollo's twin, is shooting him dirty looks as he hits on girls from Aphrodite's side of the family. Meanwhile she's texting some friends from her 'Hunters' group. Apparently she's the leader of these badass girl-scouts who believe in stuff like girl power and eternal-virginity and that all boys are idiots (Apollo's words, not mine). Ares and I don't get along. He sneers and looks me up and down, as though challenging me to a fight. Poseidon has to pull me away before I get too annoyed and punch him.
And that's about it for the Olympia family. Overall, they're...uh, nice. I can tell that they don't always get along, though. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are all acting extremely formal around each other, still. Once I finish meeting my family (it feels weird calling them that) I run back outside with my cousins to continue our game.
The next chapter is continues on from this, don't worry. Two more important characters will be introduced - hope you enjoyed this one!
Sorry this update took so long, guys. As I mentioned earlier, I thought today was when I was meant to update. I'd also been working on other chapters; y'know, changing them and adding other chapters. One reviewer asked if Percy and Poseidon could have an argument - DONE! Chapter 12 is now completely different and I've added an extra chapter after that. All I can say is that it's better than what it used to be.
If giving you a very long chapter wasn't a big enough apology, chapter 10 will be out on Monday. It might be late on Monday, though. I'm going with my nan and auntie to find out whether my cousin is a boy or girl and then going shopping for baby stuff XD I can't wait! I love children so much (not in a weird way). I've always been fascinated by the science of pregnancy and I want to be a midwife when I'm out of school. Plus, this is my first cousin - technically. I have three cousins on my mum's side of the family, but I've not seen any of them in about five years. In fact, I've never even met two of them...yeah, that's a long story.
Anyway, I'll see you all on Monday. Leave a review. I know this chapter wasn't so much about the plot and was more about introducing the characters, but hey, it had to be done. The next chapter will be more about the plot...in fact, it will be the start of the main plot, if you know what I mean. But no spoilers! Have a lovely weekend, guys - especially everyone who's off school for a week, like me. PRAISE BE!
I'm sorry, I'll shut up now...
