Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson world or characters, or anything related to the Greek Mythology world etc., I'm just a fan :)
Short A/N - Sorry for uploading this three times but there was a problem with the site and new updates were not published. I'm reuploading this one last time just to make sure nobody misses it :)
This is where this gets pretty AU (more than it already did that is), so brace yourselves :)
Chapter 26: Rocks
1 Day Until Percy's birthday
Nico
The army of demigods, Artemis' hunters, satyrs and nymphs arrived in New-York fully armed, carrying weapons and ready for battle.
And what they found was, well, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Out of the way!" A middle-aged woman almost pushed Connor Stoll to the ground as she hurried someplace.
"So…" Michael Yew moved a stone on the ground with his foot, his golden bow shining in the sunlight, "what now?"
50 pairs of eyes moved to watch the twins, who looked at each other for a few seconds, and Nico thought to himself that it was a very 'twins' thing to do - with just a brief gaze, these two seemed to talk a whole lot. They had that silent conversation thing.
"Now we scatter around and protect the city," Penny finally said.
Malcolm from Athena's cabin cleared his throat. "From… what?"
"Look you guys," Percy straightened his backpack on his shoulder, "this is all going down now, okay? I'm 17 the day after tomorrow, and Penny's next. We did the smart thing and hit the road as soon as we could, and if it's before the bad folks come then it's for the best - we can prepare."
"Prepare?" Drew from Aphrodite's cabin repeated.
"Yes," Penny spoke up too, "each cabin has its strengths, its gifts. And we intend on using it."
/
Each major cabin took a bridge, and Nico was a backup force to support any cabin lacking in power.
The first half of the day passed in relative placidity. The unofficial, but quite agreed-on leaders were the twins, Nico and Annabeth, and the four ran from front to front and from bridge to bridge to speak to the cabins, give them advice and organize them.
It was around 6:30 PM, 7ish that it happened. And Nico would probably remember the sight for the rest of his life.
He was with the Apollo cabin, chatting with Will Solace and explaining to them a bit (the part he could tell) about his father's involvement when around them, one by one, mortals crashed to the ground.
"Ahh!" One of Apollo's girls jumped away from a falling man who almost crushed her.
"Whoa!" Will jumped to catch another man before he hit his head on the sidewalk.
It was so weird - they were standing there watching as around them dozens of mortals fell to the ground.
"What's going on?" Molly Flack, another daughter of the Sun God yelled.
"It's going down now!" Michael answered, running around to catch the mortals before they injure themselves.
"Endless sleep, here we go," Will Solace agreed as he too caught a little girl before she fell, "well, good luck to us all."
Percy
Percy must have imagined it, but when the mortals started to fall asleep around them, he saw two shiny, blinking eyes from a dark alleyway. And then those eyes winked at him.
Weird, yes, but not the weirdest thing to happen to him, so he thought little of it.
He got a call from a number he didn't recognize and Penny's voice told him the obvious.
"It's going down now."
"No, the mortals are going down now," he answered as Annabeth caught a drooly teenager and laid her down on the floor.
"Ha-ha," his sister sounded annoyed, "we now go up, yeah?"
"Yup, tell 'em all to come."
/
Everyone went up, to the throne room, and they all watched the four of them as they gazed at the gigantic thrones. Percy took a step backward and watched Penny and Annabeth standing close to each other, silently conversing. He knew they had an argument earlier that day, but they seemed fine at that moment.
Annabeth was standing upright, her hair ungathered and swinging in blond waves around her face, as her grey eyes were focused on Penny and her forehead was crinkled in concentration. He always thought her pretty, but lately, she'd seem absolutely beautiful to him.
Penny was leaning on the wall right next to her, her long hair gathered in a high ponytail, with a few strands falling from it and framing her face. Her green eyes were concentrated on Annabeth, and her gentle features slightly crunched as she was pondering Annabeth's words.
But it was Percy who managed to come up with a way to call Zeus, and a stupid way in retrospect, not the first nor the last stupid idea he'd ever have.
"Okay," he looked at the 50 demigods around him, "I need you all, at once, to pray to Zeus. Okay? Prey for him to come. On a count of three. One, two, three!"
It was a very busy silence, the one that followed. Everyone around him seemed concentrated as they silently prayed.
He himself in his prayer apologized for the inconvenience, wished the king luck on his fight but hoped he could, maybe, spare them 5 minutes?
'Look, Lord Zeus, we don't need much. All that we need is -'
"We know what you need," a voice boomed, as if answering Percy directly.
/
The same voice triggered different reactions in those present. Percy felt Penny straighten beside him, her eyes widening with recognition. Annabeth, in front of him, lowered her head.
The god that morphed in front of them looked to be 25, with curly, light-colored hair, and elfish features. He was dressed in a dark green pilot's overall and tiny birds' wings fluttered from the helmet on his head and from the black leather boots he was wearing.
He held his caduceus under his arm, the two snakes on it, George and Martha were looped on the top as always.
"Hello, Percy," he greeted, rather bleakly, and looked annoyed, as if angry with him, before his eyes moved to his sister, and the hard look in them softened somewhat. "Penny."
The two knelt down in front of him, and Percy glanced at his sister, who looked up at the Messenger of the gods with wide, sad eyes. "Lord Hermes," they both said in unison, and Percy watched as Hermes glanced momentarily at Penny before he waved his hand impatiently, as if to say they should get up.
'Oh, sure, Don't sssay hi to usss.' George's voice whispered in their ears. 'We're jussst reptilesss.'
'George, be polite,' Martha the snake said, and the twins looked at each other, Penny shrugging with the hint of her usual smile ghosting her lips.
"Hello George, Martha," Percy offered and Penny giggled.
"It's always nice to meet you," she added and grinned, "even during wars."
Percy watched as Hermes' eyes flew to Penny's face briefly and scanned her as she smiled. The steely look in his eyes melted somewhat. It was short, but it told him all he needed to know.
When did that happen? And why must he discover it now, during a war?
He knew that in the future, he'd be mad at what he saw, but now he'd decided to work with it.
Unfortunately, the snake outed his strategy.
'Our favorite twinssss,' George hissed, 'although I musssst ssssay, Penny issss our actual favorite.'
Nervous laughter erupted from behind them.
'George!' Martha scolded firmly, and a muscle in Hermes' jaw twitched as he averted his gaze quickly and watched the empty thrones instead. Percy could clearly sense the deity was very angry, and now embarrassed as well.
"Er, Hermes," Percy started to speak quickly, attempting to prevent more damage, "we need to speak to Zeus. It's important."
Hermes' eyes were steely cold again as they settled on Percy. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?"
Next to him, Penny drew a scared breath and stepped back. Behind him, the other demigods shifted restlessly.
Percy then caught Annabeth's eyes and the two reached an agreement. "You guys," he said. "Why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth, Penny and me back here in thirty minutes."
Someone argued but Annabeth immediately got involved, making the Stoll brothers in charge, and the two seemed very pleased to be granted a responsibility in front of their father. In a couple of minutes, they were all gone, leaving the god and the three demigods alone in the huge room.
"Lord Hermes," Annabeth immediately spoke, and Percy wished she'd waited a bit before speaking up. In the case of this specific deity, and despite his feelings on the subject, it appeared that Penny would be better arguing their case. "Kronos is about to attack New York. I'm sure you've suspected that. My mother surely has foreseen it."
"Your mother," Hermes grumbled. He scratched his back with the caduceus and George and Martha could be heard hissing in pain. "Don't get me started on your mother, young lady. She's the reason I'm here at all. Zeus didn't want any of us to leave the front line. But your mother kept pestering him nonstop, It's a trap, it's a diversion, blah, blah, blah. She wanted to come back herself, but Zeus was not going to let his number one strategist leave his side while we're battling Typhon. And so naturally, he sent me to talk to you."
"But it is a trap!" Annabeth cried out, "is Zeus blind or what?"
Thunder rumbled in the sky.
Hermes hissed. "I'd watch the comments, girl," his tone was icy, and his eyes filled with resentment, "Zeus is not blind, nor is he deaf. And he didn't leave the Olympus defenseless."
"Lord Hermes," Percy tried to look the angry god in the eyes, but failed as he was, well, pretty pissed off, "it's going down now, as we discussed, and we agreed that you'd help now."
His eyes gleamed with anger, or perhaps frustration. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't want to help you? I do! But we did what we could, I'm sorry, now we must fight our greatest enemy! Doesn't that make sense?"
He felt Penny stepping forward again as Annabeth opened her mouth to react. Percy reached out and touched Annabeth's shoulder, silencing her and gesturing with his head to Penny who walked slowly forward, shaking quite a bit as she did.
Hermes noticed her moving forward, and something flashed in the angry god's face, perhaps regret, as he watched Penny kneeling in front of him, looking rather scared. He himself hated the look of his twin so terrified, and hot anger started to fill his stomach at the sight. Why was Penny this scared, she faced countless monsters fearlessly, but this god, why does he get to scare her like that? Why was Hermes so rude?! Sure, they're at a war, but that doesn't give him the right to be so -
"Lord Hermes," Penny bowed her head, her voice soft, "we are sorry to have bothered you at a time of war. We know how valuable you are to the fighting forces."
His face softened immediately. "Penny…" He rolled his eyes, "why are you kneeling? And why are you speaking so formally?"
"Honestly?" Penny asked and the two locked eyes before Hermes nodded once, "you're scaring me a bit."
Hermes seemed deterred when hearing that, his eyes widening, stepping backward. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "it was not my intention."
"I know it wasn't," Penny immediately said, "and I understand. I truly do. Times are hard, and... and," she stopped herself and the two looked at each other again before Hermes averted his eyes, deep pain tightening his features forcefully.
"Did you see him?" He asked in a tiny voice, a mere whisper.
"In… in a dream."
Luke. They meant Luke. Well, that was news to Percy as well, she didn't tell him about it.
Hermes nodded mutely and was silent for a few more minutes. Annabeth made some impatient movements as if to say she wanted to speed things up, but Percy trusted his sister, and Penny watched the Messenger of the gods quietly.
"Why are you still kneeling? Get up," Hermes told her finally and they both suddenly smiled at each other as Penny got up.
"Do you want me to address you as Lord Hermes again? Would that help?" His sister was teasing an angry god she was shaking from not five minutes ago.
"Can it, you brat," but he was chuckling. Hermes shook his head, forcing calmness on his features, and eyed the demigoddess. "What do you three need? I should be back soon to the front line. And Penny, you know there isn't much else we can do for you."
"Of course," she agreed immediately, her tone serious, "we really don't want to hold you back, and you already did so much for us. It's just that, Athena is right. You must know it too, Hermes. It's a trap. They want to keep you busy while Kronos himself comes here with only us to defend Olympus."
"Don't underestimate yourself, Penny. I wouldn't want to be against you in a fight," Hermes joked lightly and Percy felt Annabeth' shocked gaze on him, boring holes in the side of his face.
He wanted to signal to her to calm down and not make a big deal.
Yes, a deity was flirting with his sister. Yes, it was rather annoying and very weird. But it served them right then, so don't make a fuss.
"What are these blue lights?" Percy inquired, raising his hand as if in class, and Hermes' eyes landed on him, but he wasn't as angry as before.
"Some mischief by that insufferable goddess of magic, Hecate, I'd wager," his eyes moved to Penny again, "but you may have noticed they aren't doing any damage. As I said before, the defenses of Olympus are strong. No one can reach Olympus by air. If anyone unwanted wants to come here, they must take the elevator. I doubt the titan would manage to transport his entire army that way." Penny smiled at him but shook her head.
"Still, Hermes," she started and then looked back at Percy, who nodded at her encouragingly, "we trust you did what you can to defend Olympus, but we… we feel that it might not be enough. Too much is at stake. And Athena agrees with us. Perhaps, if just a few of you came back and fought with us -"
"It's impossible, Penny," Hermes shook his head, "each of us is needed, and even we're not enough. Your father is busy with his own wars, so he's unable to help, and since you have Hades to join your forces soon, it means we do not. Typhon is our greatest enemy, and we need anyone we've got. Even right now, I should go back."
"I thought Kronos was your greatest enemy," Percy spoke up suddenly and Hermes turned to him.
"No Percy. In ancient times Typhon almost defeated the gods. We can never forget how close he came to destroying us all - how he humiliated us! We were more powerful back in the old days. And there were more of us. As I said before, we are lacking in power."
"We understand, Hermes," Penny said and quickly glanced back to silence her brother, sensing he was about to argue. But she silenced the wrong person.
Annabeth spoke up again. "We still need your help. You must have some messages for us."
"Messages," Hermes grumbled, his bad temper returning in full force, "'a great job you got for yourself,' they told me. 'Be the god of messages! Easy job! Lots of worshippers!' Right. Nobody cares what I have to say. Always passing others' words."
"You must know that's not true!" Penny protested passionately and they all watched her with surprise as she glared at Hermes, "you're vital. An army with bad communication is a dysfunctional one. And they chose you because you are the fastest, the best at it. It has nothing to do with your fighting abilities or what you have to say!"
There was silence for a few minutes, and Percy watched as his sister bowed her head, her voice desperate.
"Please Hermes. We need any help we can get."
Hermes rubbed his face forcefully and sighed, and Percy watched that with slight satisfaction. They won the argument (rather, Penny won it for them). There was no way the deity would refuse her when she pleaded like that.
He nodded grimly, leaning the side of his face on his open palm and sighing. "Alright. Fine. First, take this," and he started to fish in his pocket. He then lifted a wrinkled bag of ambrosia and handed it to her.
The young demigoddess fiddled with the ambrosia bag. "Hermes, that's…" she hesitated, "do you have enough? If not, I don't want to take it."
"Don't be silly, Penny. You're more vulnerable than me," he then scratched his chin, as if considering something, as he watched the girl in front of him.
"What's going on here?" Annabeth whispered to him, probably wondering why the Messenger of the Gods was giving his sister ambrosia from his personal stock. But Percy tried to ignore her. On this, he actually agreed with the god. Penny should have as many defenses as possible, and they always needed more ambrosia.
Meanwhile, Hermes seemed to have decided as he lifted his caduceus and mumbled something to Martha, who opened her mouth to the size of a human palm. A whistle appeared, not like the silver one Quintos gave him a year ago, but rather green in color and looked to be not frozen. "Take this as well. There's a magical being who answers to me, a great fighter, and with this you can call on him and ask him to join you."
"Amyntas?"
He seemed surprised. "Yes. You dreamt of it too?" When she nodded he smiled a small smile. "You're clearly very occupied with me," when she gaped in shock he seemed even more amused. "I won't complain. Well anyway, it is to call Amyntas," his eyes flicked to Percy then, "whichever one of you that needs it, prophecy twins."
"That's…" Penny started to speak as she stroked the whistle softly, then looked up into Hermes' eyes and grinned, "that's really cool."
His face softened, yet again, and he smiled back at Penny, his face calmer and the friendliest it had been all evening. Percy hated and loved her influence on him at the same time.
They'll have a long conversation about it later.
"Yes, well. I'm the god of the herd as well, one of my less known titles. Pan was my son, you know," he mumbled and looked down, grief evident on his features, "that selfless being."
He shook his head and inhaled deeply, calming himself down again, before his eyes returned to her.
"But really, others take most of the credit on connection to the wild. Demeter, just because she can grow plants. Apollo and his stupid cows, for another example," Penny laughed at his Apollo joke, Percy had found himself smiling too and Hermes finally cracked a smile at the thunder that rumbled. "Shut up and fight!" He rolled his eyes to Penny. "His ego would never be silenced, even in times of war," Penny grinned at him widely.
And it was then that he appeared to be staring at her for a few seconds, having a besotted gaze on his face with his eyes shining and focused on her face, and Percy hoped he didn't have that look when he watched… never mind that.
How could Percy have missed that? How could he have missed a god looking at his sister that way?
Penny bowed her head. "Thank you, so… so much, Hermes. This would help us enormously."
Hermes shrugged and looked away. "You're welcome, Penny. Try not to die."
He then turned to Annabeth.
"Daughter of Athena," he was formal again, and his voice cooled down, but Penny was still standing next to him, playing with his gifts in her hands, and her presence seemed to be calming him down. "Your mother wants me to tell you that you are on your own. 'You must defend Manhattan without the help of the gods'. Like I didn't know that. Why they pay her to be the goddess of Wisdom is beyond me."
"Anything else?" Annabeth asked.
"She said to try plan twenty-three. She said you'd understand the meaning. Oh, and one last thing. She told me to tell you two, twins, 'remember the rivers'. And, um, to Percy, something about staying away from her daughter."
Each of those present in the room looked incredibly nervous at that, avoiding each other's gazes. Hermes seemed to be avoiding the throne of a certain god as well.
Well, Percy hoped his dad would give him hell when he finds out. Nothing personal against him, but he did seem to want to date their Penny.
"Thank you very much, Hermes," Annabeth spoke up. "And… And I wanted to say that… I'm sorry about Luke."
His face froze as if turning into marble. Next to him, Penny's breath hitched.
His eyes were the polar opposite of his voice and were filled with a raging fire. "You should've left that subject alone."
Annabeth stepped back in fright. "... Sorry?"
"SORRY doesn't cut it!"
George and Martha twisted around the caduceus, that suddenly morphed into an electric weapon.
"You should've helped him when you could. You were the only one with a chance!" Hermes growled at Annabeth.
Percy immediately jumped between them, before Penny had the chance to stop it. "What are you talking about? Annabeth didn't -"
"Don't defend her, Jackson! She knows what it's about!"
"Percy, don't! Hermes, please -" Penny tried, but she was too late.
"Maybe you should blame yourself!" Percy yelled at him, "maybe if you didn't abandon Luke and his mom!"
"Percy!" Penny was horrified as Hermes grew to three meters tall, glowering at Percy and aiming at him. The aura of the shift tripped Penny to the floor.
"NO!" She jumped between them, and Hermes huffed in annoyance at her, but the sight of her at the end of his weapon seemed to sober him up a bit. George and Martha inched closer to him and whispered something into his ear.
Hermes gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes at what they said.
"Penny, move," he barked, and when she refused, raising her chin in defiance, he lowered his caduceus so it was no longer aiming at them and glared at Percy. "Percy Jackson, since you took upon yourself the curse of Achilles, I must spare your life. You are trusted to the hands of the Fates. But never, never, speak to me like that again. You have no idea how much I… How much I sacrificed -" his voice broke and he shrank back to normal height, placing his face in his palms, "my son, my greatest pride… my poor May…"
Percy seemed utterly confused as he watched the quick shifts in the god's temper. He looked ready to kill him not a second ago, and now his face was so tormented it seemed like he could use a hug.
His sister stood between him and the god, grim, tears falling from her eyes.
"Look, Lord Hermes, I'm sorry, but I really have to know. What happened to -"
"Percy!" Penny glared at him, and looked angry beyond words, "stop talking!" She demanded, wiping her tears forcefully.
Hermes watched her for a long moment.
"I must go now, I must return to the war," he finally said, his lips clenched. "Penny, look away," he ordered, and they all did as he started to glow.
Good luck, Penny and Percy, Martha added before he was gone.
And then Percy was surrounded by two weeping women.
Again.
/
He didn't know what to say to Annabeth, how to even begin that conversation. He tried, but when she closed off to him, refusing to answer and just burying her head in her hands, he turned to his sister, to whom he had quite a lot to say.
She was his twin sister. She was the person he knew most in the world. He knew how to anger her, how to make her laugh, how to get out information from her and how to comfort her. He knew what made her tick, what she hated with a passion and she liked.
But not what she loved, apparently. Or who she loved.
He sat down beside her as she cried into her hands, and was mostly confused. When the crying didn't cease he finally turned and pulled her into his arms, placing his chin on her head and sighing deeply.
"Are you in love with him, Pen?"
Her crying calmed down somewhat as she nodded into his chest.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She wiped at her face. "I was so… confused, Percy. I wasn't even sure what was happening."
"Since when? Are you, are you two already -"
"I think it started when I was lost in the Labyrinth," she mumbled, "and no. Nothing really happened yet."
"Penny, I…" and he shook his head, "this is crazy to me. How does that even work?"
"It doesn't work," she said miserably and started to cry again, "it doesn't work."
Percy didn't know what more to say, so he held on to her instead.
In love with a god… And he thought his love-life was complicated, with Annabeth and Rachel and even Calypso. But this… both of them would be miserable. His sister more than him probably, gods had a short memory.
And all he's done to Luke and to May…
"He's good, you know," she told him suddenly as if reading his mind. He looked down at her and their eyes met. "I know what you're thinking. But the gods, they… when they can bend the rules for those they love they do it. I don't know why he can't here, but I'm sure he would if he could. He really loves Luke."
That did make sense to Percy- something the god told them a few years back.
'The hardest part about being a god is that you must often act indirectly, especially when it comes to your own children. If we were to intervene every time our children had a problem… well, that would only create more problems and more resentment. But I believe if you give it some thought, you will see that Poseidon has been paying attention to you. He has answered your prayers. I can only hope that someday, Luke may realize the same about me.'
"So, so what, you'll, you'll date him and you're a mortal and he's an immortal and -"
"I'm not dating anyone, Perce. Let me survive this war first. There might not be an Olympus in a few days."
"Optimistic."
"That's me, Ms. Cheer."
Percy smiled at her, his hand taking hold of hers and squeezing. "You are Ms. Cheer. Don't become a pessimist."
"Oh, a pessimist like you?"
"Yes. The Jacksons can only deal with one pessimist."
She laughed, wiping at the last of her tears before she kissed his cheek and grinned. "I love you, you do know that, right? More than any man or god in the world."
Percy's heart swelled in adoration as he pulled her into a crushing hug. "It's mutual."
"Oh," and she smirked, "so you love me more than you do any man? How flattering."
"And you're back to being the cheeky insufferable sister. Great, I missed you."
She grinned and stood up, jumping up and down for a few seconds and then walking slowly to give a hand to the crying Annabeth. To his surprise, and unlike she did to him, to Penny she complied, and allowed the girl to pull her up.
"Come on, you two," Penny took hold of Percy's hand as well. "Management needs to do a regrouping."
/
They've decided it was absolutely crucial to call their dad, right then, and have him help the Olympians.
"If we want their help at any point, we need them to be free to do so," Penny concluded, and the other two nodded.
Annabeth then looked between the twins as Percy gestured to their father's throne and Penny nodded quietly. "What?" She asked with some suspicion.
"Well," Percy smiled, "there's really only one way to get his attention."
Penny
And they did just that.
Percy went to sit on the throne and had a discussion with their dad, in which he almost perished when the god was, at first, angry at someone daring to sit on his throne and started to set Percy on fire, but the bottom line was that Poseidon would join the Olympians.
They soon separated again, and Annabeth and Percy drove off to activate plan twenty-three and protect the rivers. She herself chose to go and fight alongside Hephaestus cabin, out of her fondness for the six demigods and because they weren't really much for fighting in direct combat, but mainly because the bridge they guarded was towering over a river.
"What's the plan?" Beckendorf asked her and clapped her back, and she had to hold the marble sides of the bridge to keep her balance - son of Hephaestus was strong.
"Well…" she grinned, "not to die. And while I don't have a specific plan for the upcoming fight, I do have a backup plan and quite a few nifty tricks."
"I love tricks!" He beamed and then walked away to help his siblings as they cleared the bridge from mortals and worked hard on building traps.
"Hey, you guys," they all turned around to watch her, "just one thing though. If you can, make the traps waterproof. And as soon as you can, clear out from the bridge."
"What?" They gaped at her. "Are you out of your mind?"
"You plan to fight them alone? Do you want to die?" Jake Mason was clearly not convinced.
She smiled at Beckendorf. "Well… You could say I just thought of a plan."
Soon the bridge was empty with the exception of her and all the hidden traps. Children of Hephaestus were behind her, bows at the ready. They weren't as good archers as Apollo's kids, but most of them had a good aim.
As for her, the first part of her plan was to serve as bait. So she sat down on the stone bridge and waited.
/
When it started, it quite quickly escalated.
The first row of Scythian Dracanae were eliminated solely by the traps as they advanced with their eyes glimmering at the sight of the seemingly unarmed child of the prophecy.
She watched as 20 of them were burned, 10 were thrown off the bridge and 5 were blown away so high and so rapidly that they disintegrated from the velocity alone.
The next line of hellhounds were more cautious, but they still suffered a similar fate.
More and more monsters seemed to disappear, and Penny was proud of Hephaestus' cabin, and was ready to strike any monster that passed the line of traps.
Is that all they had to face?
Well, good then.
But when the bridge shook and the air started to buzz around her with energy, she knew their actual challenge decided to show himself, and exactly when they were out of traps at that. And he was surrounded by dozens of monsters to add salt to injury.
She almost immediately knew that he was the titan Hyperion - muscular, tall and bearded, with fiercely glowing skin and golden eyes that seemed like miniature suns. He reminded Penny of Apollo a bit, except his light was much… harsher. He was wearing blazing golden armor and wielded a long golden sword.
"I will destroy you, little girl!" The titan then promised her.
Her heart was beating like a drum as she thought of her options.
Then she took off one of her necklaces - the one her father gifted her, that had a candy-pendant the shape of a bottom of a mermaid - and sucked on it.
As the army continued to advance, she knew the necklace was working as she felt something in her stomach shake aggressively. She closed her eyes, and raised her hands, thinking of heat, of fire, of warmth. Thinking of Hestia's hearth, of her mom's cookies, of Hermes' wonderful, candid, fond smile.
The river below her started to bubble, and soon all around the bridge mist started to rise up and surround her.
She soon disappeared from sight as the mist swirled around her and pooled in front of her, changing back into liquid form.
The army of monsters froze in place and watched her as the clouds slowly faded. Soon all that was left was her, still standing and with a somewhat large puddle right in front of her.
"BAHAHAH!" Hyperion cried of laughter, and his minions did the same, "a puddle? A PUDDLE? You weakling, do you think it's enough to defeat ME?"
Penny looked up from the puddle straight into his eyes, giving him a small smile. "Not… quite."
Then she threw her ring in the air and caught Thrill, now fully formed, before moving it downward and sticking it right in the middle of the puddle. As Thrill's spikes sank into the cement, the bridge started to shake, and Penny again made sure all six children of Hephaestus were safely away as about a hundred monsters fell down into the river along with chunks of stone, where hungry sharks awaited their arrival.
"Be careful from the rocks!" She yelled in her mind, but the sharks were great swimmers, and seemed to avoid those obstacles successfully.
Then it was 'feeding time', and anyone that survived the fall into the waters was not spared as they charged, chewed and attacked, waves of water moving and splashing around them.
Penny looked away from the sight and then straight at Hyperion, who glared at her with rage. "Are you quite done? Nice trick, but I'm still going to kill you."
"No thank you," she answered as she urged the sharks in her mind to finish the job and swim away as the waters were too filthy for them, "how about, I instead show you what else I can do?"
As he bared his teeth in rage, she raised her hands again, and this time the clouds that surrounded her remained around her, moving and swirling and gaining more volume and speed.
She smiled, the sight of her patron, Hestia, in mind. "Time to make my fire a bit more dangerous."
/
The tornado she created helped her move across the giant hole she did in the bridge. As she moved forward with her little tropical storm, she felt monsters decimating around her immediately. And if they survived, they were likely thrown off the bridge screaming their heads off.
Navigating the tornado was much easier than anticipated, and she was in somewhat control.
She didn't think much, though, just acted, but her movement was precise and she seemed to have aimed well.
Soon she reached the titan and her clouds immediately enveloped him.
"Rain," she ordered, and thought of the great sadness she experienced in her life, of her brother slowly pulling away.
And it started to rain. Not just in the five meters radius of her little storm, but all around them and anywhere she looked.
"AHHH!" The titan cried as the water clashed against his fire and turned it off, steam now rising from his skin, "you will pay for this, girl!"
"No! I'm thinking you're the one who should pay for invading my city!" She raised her hand and slapped the air, and indeed, the wave of swirling clouds and water hit the titan with force that threw him off the bridge.
She watched his fall, his gigantic body clashing with the air and slowly and surely nearing the river. She knew she had to time it with precision, and she waited for the giant being to hit the water before she yelled, "Alex, NOW!" And watched with satisfaction as four, deep-red tentacles came out of the water and wrapped around the titan in a tight grip.
"AHHHHH!" The titan roared, and that seemed to flee any remaining monster still standing on the bridge, away from the daughter of Poseidon and her storm, "AHHHH!"
Alex just wrapped his tentacles harder, and Penny watched as the titan's formerly golden face turned whiter and whiter, his eyes widening and instead of tears coming out of them, he cried ichor - the golden blood of the immortals.
When it seemed like he might blow up he was instead gone, and Alex was left pressing air.
"Yes!" She screamed with joy as the children of Hephaestus clapped from the other side of the bridge, "yes!"
The clouds around her dispersed and she ran forward to the hole and unafraid, jumped into the water.
Alex caught her midair, and his tentacle, unlike with Hyperion, wrapped around her gently as his head peeked above the water.
'Okay there?' The giant animal asked her, his big, blue eyes gazing at her with concentration.
"Never better. You were brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"
'Thank you, princess,' the octopus addressed her as sea-creatures sometimes did, with her being the daughter of Poseidon and all, 'now I must go, these waters are vile for me.'
"Thank you so much for coming," she said again and hugged the tentacle that held her, and he pressed, but again not too strongly, and she was grateful for that after seeing what it can do to a mighty titan.
She then jumped from his tentacle to the river and tried not to breathe in or swim too much in the filthy water before she finally tried something she wanted to try for a while.
Closing her eyes, she imagined the ring of water around her as bubbling lava, as a ring of fire.
And indeed, they started to bubble all around her.
It took a minute, but soon the liquid was hot enough to shoot her out in a big geyser of boiling water. She glided gracefully with a wind of hot air under her arms and landed on the bridge in front of the shocked children of Hephaestus without a scratch.
They all blinked at her, and she gave them a smile, slightly shrugging.
"That…" Jake Mason stammered, "that was…"
"AWESOME!" Beckendorf roared, and they all laughed and yelled and hugged her.
/
They sent her to the Plaza after an urgent call from Percy, and promised her they'd be fine guarding the bridge for the time being.
In the entrance of the hotel a guard-team of five skeletons marched, and at the sight of her they froze and looked at her with their white, bony, empty faces. Then one of them nodded, and they proceeded to march, uncaring about her as she passed them.
Her heart started to beat hard with worry - it was wartime, and nothing was off the table, especially when her twin called her to hurriedly come someplace.
She found Percy standing on the top of the stairs, ashen-faced and eyes as round as plates, but uninjured.
"She was hurt! She was hurt!"
"Who was?"
"Annabeth! When trying to protect me!"
Percy
It felt like a very 'twins' moment.
Penny followed him in, and they both stood in the entrance of the room and gazed at Annabeth lying on the bed, unconscious.
It was then that they both took a step forward and said at the same time, "it should have been me."
"What?" They both then stared at the other in confusion.
"I was the one who should have protected you!" Penny said in a high voice, clearly panicked.
"NO!" Percy was never closer to crossing the line of instability, but he was so sick of loved ones putting themselves in harm's way for him, "NO, you will not, nor should she! No! What is my life without her? or you?!"
Penny took a step back at the sheer anger emanating from him, but he really was hysteric. The girl he was probably in love with has almost sacrificed herself for him, and his twin was saying she wanted to do the same.
"Perce -"
"Look Pen, I don't want to talk about it, alright? I need some air."
Penny nodded immediately, probably not wanting to upset him further.
"I'll be back soon."
/
He left the room and jumped the stairs two at a time, before going outside and breathing the night air in deeply, letting it cool him off a bit.
He walked further away, not really watching where he was going and not really caring.
New York was his city. He can navigate in it.
How can he save them, save them all?
Well, there was a way. The only way.
To save Penny, he must be the demigod from the prophecy. Which means, he must…
It might save Annabeth too. Maybe she'd stop throwing herself into daggers.
It was only when he noticed he was in a darkened alley that he thought about going back.
But unfortunately, at this point it was a bit too late.
He turned around and looked around himself, trying to recognize where exactly he was, when he felt a light tap on the back that made him jump five feet in the air and turn around in alarm.
In front of him was a tall man, taller than him for sure. The man was wearing a long, black coat and had gray hair and blurry eyes - as if he was looking through a cloud. He was not a mortal, of that Percy was sure, his face couldn't be made out - it shimmered and changed when looked upon.
"Thank you so much for foolishly isolating yourself and making my task so much easier," his voice was somehow soothing, even when he clearly voiced his intent to kill Percy.
"Wha -"
"Sweet dreams, pest," the faceless god clearly laughed as Percy's eyes started to blink tiredly and he yawned.
"Why not -" he yawned again and blinked blearily, "- kill me?"
His knees gave and he slowly fell to the floor.
"Ah, because they think they can use your anger if everyone you love dies!" The god still sounded amused, "they think you're easily corrupted!"
The last thought Percy had before everything went black, was that maybe Penny would be the demigoddess from the prophecy after all.
A/N
Hello hello hello.
Is Percy going to stay asleep?
Is Penny the demigoddess from the prophecy?
Or maybe someone will find Percy and wake him up in TIME?
I'm just messing with you :D Valid questions and all, but I'm just amused because I rarely do the whole cliffhanger thing. And hey, if you think you know what's going to happen next feel free to review it. I'm actually very impressionable - even though I already have the ending written if your idea is intriguing enough who knows, maybe it will inspire something ;)
The scene in the Throne Room was actually one of the first ones I've written for this story, and it set the tone for the entire plot.
Well, we passed my first writer's block with this story with this chapter, but I can't promise not to have another with the next one - as it is the last one unwritten before we move to the, and I'm not kidding, 15 fully written, lengthy chapters I have.
Yup. I write funny.
So please, I beg you, give me motivation. Any at all - follow, favorite, review. When life is as hectic as mine is right now, one almost never finds the time to write.
And I promise you - prove to me that you're all still with me, that people are still reading, and once we pass the next chapter we can have updates once a week for, well, for 15 weeks XD
I'm too tired to reread my responses to the reviews so there might be errors. Sorry in advance :)
the8horcrux - Exactly, you got it right :)
Well, as I said before, you made me reconsider her status and she'll probably be more vital than I originally planned for her to be. As for the plant... Yes :D When the gods work together they create such wonderful things...
I'm familiar with the test, and thought that it'd be interesting to do it with characters, so here goes - Penny got the ENFP (Campaigner) which makes a lot of sense as she is very creative and idealistic, deeply emotional and cares a lot about those around her. So here you go :D
Agh, thank you so much! And yes, not to mention how it's only the beginning...
Three123 - Well this time it was actual weeks haha
Thank you for reviewing again!
Hey, you were right on money - night night Percy I'm afraid. To be awakened... when? And night night New York as well...
As for Permes and teasing, soon, soon. These two just need to reach calmer, happier times. And then. But honestly, I can only write sarcastic, so it's coming. As for Percy finding out, you're right on money again ;) And it wasn't very pleasant for the overprotective twin I'm afraid. Oh well.
Right on money for the third time, huh? You have a streak there. As for Thalia, well, she'll reappear too haha
Hopefully you liked the battle scenes as I gather it's something you like quite a lot. I find them interesting but more often than not hard to write - contrary to social situations and conversation which just flow out easily. But well, it's all about challenging yourself, is it not?
Well, I'm not telling anything obviously, but she fought a titan and for the time being Percy is asleep, so who knows, who knows (well I know, and you might know as well as all your guesses appeared to be correct in this review XD ).
So anyway, thank you for reviewing again :)
Emily - I always just love reviews from you. You're so kind.
Well, I never get sick of hearing that - given how Penny is an original character and Hermes is a secondary character in the original series, the fact that people like their relationship is important :) And if you thought that was magic... then you'd like what's to come :D
Ugh, thank you. I'm so glad you all really feel their pain, it is exactly what I aim with writing, for people to sympathize with the characters! Well, here you go, and as always thank you for reviewing :)
guest - As always - thanks a million!
Another prophetic reviewer... Yes, Penny would use her powers as she did in this one, and that scene was quite a vital part of this chapter and if you ask me, of the story in total! It makes sense... For me, at least, it truly showed me Hermes as a character and his story-potential. So yes, I indeed rewrote it, and Penny played a role in it. At this point, they're too vital to each other not to impact each other whenever they share a situation, I think :)
You too, stay safe and healthy, and thank you for reviewing!
Heheoop - Thank you so much! It's such a sweet review... As for the HoO books, well, we have some time before we reach them, and I honestly have a direction but not much much else... Anyway I'm glad you liked it so much and thank you for sharing it with me, it means so much! :D
PoptartzPr1ncess - Not gonna lie, it made me really smile, the knowledge that you not only binge-read it but spent two days doing so - that's just amazing to me! I always wanted to be one of those writers, haha
Well, here it is, the next one! I hope you liked it and thank you for reviewing :)
123wwww - Hahah yup I suppose?
Prapann - Ahh thank you so much! :)
Catta-chin - As always I absolutely adore your reviews!
I just like the fact that you felt so deeply about it. Knowing what's to come, well... let's just say that they have some better times ahead but some worse as well. But that's jst life when Fate loves you so much I suppose... They love each other truly, but they're both so different and passionate that they just follow their destiny almost blindly, sometimes not realizing how far they drifted until it's slightly too late...
But don't worry, water-children are good swimmers, they can always swim back ;)
Yes they did! And they're definitely going... places, haha :) Kidding. They won't have it easy either, but they're good together. Honestly, they have in store great happiness, and great sadness as well. I won't say more :)
I am a tease XD
Whoa thank you! First of all thank you for saying it was original, that's always nice to hear! As for Penny being quite what cannon Sally's daughter would be like, well that quite possibly one of the best compliments you could have given me! So thank you so much! That's almost all I aspired to - my original character was never meant to be so original, but rather more of a 'what-if'. What if she had twins. And to me, it is what would happen.
I'm so glad to hear! I like them too, though I'm still honestly surprised at how big their role, and especially Nico's role came to be. It wasn't planned! But well, stories have lives of their own I suppose...
I really meant it :) As for articulating verbally, well, in my experience the more you do it the more confident you are. It has a lot to do with listening to yourself say the words. But hey, that's my two cents. As for overthinking things... Well, it's a habit I'm trying to shake myself, haha
Poseidon is sure to make a comeback! Just not yet. He's too busy fighting the wars, haha
But don't worry, he sees it all and Hermes will hear from him ;)
Sting3 - Hey, thank you for reviewing! I hope you'd continue to enjoy the story :)
Vera - Hey, thanks for reviewing again! I'm glad and thank you so much :)
Belle Charzar - What a kind review, thank you!
I'm glad you like Hermes, Apollo and Hestia's depictions as they're three of the most vital ones... and again, I love hearing about how people like Penny and Hermes as it is very much something that did not exist before, so I'm glad I made it convincing! Thank you, and thank you for saying you love the writing style, it's one of the things I'm here to test and I'm glad people enjoy it!
Yes yes yes. I'm sorry, I respect anyone and their own preferences, but I kinda had enough of, as you put it, 'ballsy kickass heroines'. There was a time when this kind of heroine was quite original, but in this day and age, to me at least, it became cliche. Not to mention how, if badly written, they also become Mary-Sueish. So yes, writing Penny to me was a breath of fresh air, as I feel as if she is a person rather than an almighty-fierce fighter.
Well, I obviously sincerely (sincerely) hope you will come back (really, haha, do!) but anyways, it's very kind of you to still stop and tell me you love the story. It is very appreciated! And know that you're partly responsible for the update - so thank you for the kind review :D