Here's the 11th Chapter, thank you guys so much for the support once again and tell me what you guys think about this chapter and the direction of the story as a whole.
Oh and before you read away, I just wanted to ask the best time to update for you guys. Like I know most of this story's readers are American, but what time of the day do you usually check Fanfiction? Breakfast, midday, midnight? Feedback appreciated thanks guys. Now on to the chapter.
Chapter 11: Camp Half-Blood Here We Come
The aftershocks of the disturbance at Purgatory were only just beginning to fade. The trees still slightly swayed and the water was noticeably more excited. Birds were flocking away from their nests near the source of the disturbance and Percy was busy lying on the beach, staring up at the sky in shock.
"Please, just make it stop." Percy muttered, pleading for the birds to shut up and the trees to stop shaking. He stared at the sky, his field of vision filled with blue sky and fluffy clouds, void of the swaying trees and raging water that was causing him so much stress.
After a few minutes of staring at the sky and wondering what the hell was happening, Percy lifted his head and glanced at the trees. After the sound of a small tree thumping against the beach caused Percy to physically cringe, he got up to see the true damage he had caused.
A couple of trees had fallen over and displaced piles of sand. Branches and leaves were scattered everywhere, and Purgatory was all around just a gigantic mess.
"I hate cleaning." Percy mumbled, sighing and covering his face with both hands. He shook his head and resisted the urge to either bang his head repeatedly against the side of his house or try to drown himself in his own lake.
This would take a while.
"Zeus above, what in the name of my father was that." Artemis muttered, looking up into the sky and sensing one of those things that would be impossible not to notice.
A strange and powerful anomaly had caught Artemis' attention, along with the attention of basically every other god in existence, and she was everything but terrified.
She didn't know what to make of the power, but knew that it was something unordinary, something that was bound to lead to more.
As if on cue, a flash of lightning lit the clear blue sky above the camp of the Hunters, and the goddess of the Hunt knew what was to come. In a flash of light, the goddess was transported to Olympus, right into her throne, with a few Olympians already waiting in their respective places.
In a matter of seconds, all the Olympians were at their thrones, each with different expressions of indifference, worry, and confusion. Artemis herself had settled for confusion.
"I'm sure you all know why we're here." Zeus boomed.
"I don't." Dionysus mumbled to Artemis' side. As always, the party god looked downright bored at the situation at hand.
"There was an odd source of power in California. I believe this is connected to the threat I have sensed." Zeus said, obviously proud about the fact that he was right about the ominous threat approaching.
"Actually, I have reason to believe it wasn't." Poseidon argued. "I think Perseus was the source of the disturbance."
"Perseus Jackson?" Zeus asked in disbelief, doing a double take. His pride was instantly wounded at his brother's statement, and it was evident in his expression. "And how would he cause such a disturbance of that magnitude?"
"Brother, you know of his potential, of the power he is capable of." Poseidon reasoned.
"Yes, well…" Zeus trailed off. "Why then was he using such power? It is not as if he is on a battlefield or a quest."
"You know that strong emotions can evoke great power for descendants of the sea. Descendant of me." Poseidon said, staring his brother in the eyes with deep concern.
"If he is so volatile, why let him roam free?" Apollo asked, interrupting the conversation. Artemis stopped herself from reaching over and slapping him in the face.
"Yes, there is no reason for him to be using such power. What if he plans to overthrow us? He is the greatest demigod to ever live, after all. And we have seen how he views us." Hephaestus chimed in.
"My son would never!" Poseidon shouted, effectively silencing any side conversations and hushed whispers in agreement with Hephaestus.
"Poseidon, he's grown increasingly distant. He hates us now, you realize." Athena reasoned.
"I actually agree with my brother on this." Hades chimed in. "My ocean-residing brother. Perseus may not like us, but he is good-natured in his heart."
"I'd have to disagree. We have seen time and time again that he can be extremely hostile." Athena argued.
"Hostile towards his enemies. We are not his enemies." Hades said calmly.
"Whether or not he sees us as enemies, even the prospect of it should be reason enough to control him." Athena said.
"Agreed! Let's lock him up!" Ares said. A few agreeing sounds
"I actually don't think we should." Hermes said. "I think I know why he created such a power surge."
"Why?" Aphrodite asked, suddenly taking her attention away from her hot pink fingernails.
"Because he was attacked." Hermes said simply.
"Attacked? By who?" Artemis asked, shifting into her chair and straightening her posture.
"Monsters. Actually, he's been attacked multiple times." Hermes said. "And he wanted answers on why."
"And why would we know?" Apollo asked.
"Because the monsters are a part of the threat that I have sensed." Zeus said ominously.
"And how do you know that, oh wise father?" Dionysus asked.
"Because unless the Doors of Death are open again or Hades is sending his fiends onto Percy, I think this is something else. Something similar to the rebirth of Kronos and the gathering of the Giants." Zeus said.
"Nonsense! We all know that rogue monsters roam all over the world, and Perseus has an extremely strong scent being spawn of the Big Three." Apollo said.
"Yes, but we put boundaries up, protections around Perseus' home so that he would not be in danger." Hermes added.
"So at the very least something's happened to the barriers." Zeus said.
"Percy also informed me that the magic of Ogygia was fading." Artemis added, feeling that the information added to her father's argument.
"Then we know that I was right." Zeus said proudly. Artemis rolled her eyes at her father's obvious satisfaction. "Something is arising. We do not know what, but a threat is imminent, and we must prepare."
"And how shall we prepare for something that we have no information about?" Hephaestus asked. At this point, all gods except for Aphrodite were sitting straight in their thrones with their full attention on the new problem. Even Dionysus was at least appearing interested.
"Even if there is a problem - and I don't think there is - we can't do anything until we know what we're dealing with." Apollo said.
"Agreed. With the last part, not what my brother said about there not being any problem. Because there is definitely something wrong." Artemis said. As always, she wanted nothing more than to slap her twin brother in the face.
"Well what would you have us do? Wait until a titan leads a charge on one of the camps?" Hermes asked.
"Not at all. But we should retrieve more information before we partake in any specific action." Artemis specified.
"Why don't we ask Perseus? You say he has encountered these monsters, and the attack on Calypso was definitely a part of whatever is coming." Hephaestus said.
"He might not speak to us." Aphrodite said plainly, not looking up from her fingernails. It looked as if she was putting another layer of pink on her nails.
"Still, it doesn't hurt to try." Hera said, her first words of the counsel.
"True. So we put it to a vote. We ask Perseus for information, and then we shall decide on how to act. All in favor?" Zeus asked. The majority of the council voted in favor of the proposition, but not as heavily as Artemis believed. The noteworthy Olympians who disagreed were Athena, Ares, Apollo, and a few other gods and goddesses.
Artemis ignored the margin between the agreement and disagreement, simply happy that the gods were making the right decision in the first place.
"Alright then. Now that we have decided, how shall we contact Perseus?" Zeus asked.
"I can-" Artemis was quickly cut off by a more than excited Aphrodite.
"I'll fetch him!" Aphrodite practically squealed. Artemis held her jaw slack and rolled her eyes at Aphrodite's jubilation. "I can bring him back to Olympus."
"Okay…" Zeus said hesitantly. "A simple Iris message could suffice ri-"
"It's alright. I'll get him." Aphrodite interrupted once more. She looked at the king of the gods confidently, causing the god to roll his eyes and shrug.
"I guess there can be no harm in this." Zeus relented. Artemis resisted the urge to burst out and say that there definitely could be a lot of harm in it. "Once you bring Perseus back to Olympus as soon as possible, we will reconvene this meeting."
"Sounds great!" Aphrodite squealed again. Artemis had to hold back a surge of vomit as the goddess of love fanned her face and smiled brightly.
"Meeting adjourned. I'm sure you all have duties to attend to. We are not finished." Zeus said, standing up and striking his Master Bolt against the marble floor. As soon as he disappeared in a flash of silver light, the other Olympians began to follow his lead.
Soon, Artemis was left alone with Athena and Poseidon, who were glaring intensely at each other as they sat in their respective thrones. Neither dared to break the other's stare, and Artemis was too interested to see the end result to move.
After maybe a minute of uncomfortable silence, Athena disappeared in a bright light similar to Zeus, her light's color being a darker gray rather than a bright silver.
"Take care, Artemis." Poseidon said suddenly, switching his gaze from the now non-existent Athena over to the silver goddess.
Artemis simply nodded, causing the god of sea to nod in satisfaction and flash away himself. Now alone, the throne room all of a sudden felt very cold. With nobody else's body heat to help make the large room more comfortable, Artemis was almost shivering.
Beginning to feel slightly lonely, Artemis flashed back to the Hunters' camp, leaving the throne room to be void of the Gods of Olympus.
Percy didn't have many options. The one option that he was favoring included the action of no action. That might've made no sense at all, but in essence, he would've liked to do nothing. Just stay at Purgatory, train his ass off, and wait for the monster attacks to stop.
However, although this was the option most desirable to Percy's lazy side, he knew that this would ultimately not be the right action. Even if it was the "morally correct" action, Percy wouldn't go through with it. He knew he wouldn't, because even though he wanted to, Percy deep down would have that ugly, disgusting feeling.
Percy groaned and chucked a small rock into the lake, satisfied with the plopping sound emitting from the contact with the lake. The ripples from the rock's impact mesmerized Percy, drawing him into the hypnotizing repetition due to the singular action.
Again, an odd combination between a sigh and a groan escaped from Percy's throat. Now that he had (reluctantly) eliminated the option of doing absolutely nothing to help or gain more information, there was a plate of options in front of him.
One certain option both made Percy greatly intrigued and entirely terrified at the opportunity. He could go to Camp Half-Blood.
The last he knew, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, better known as the current Oracle, lived in Camp Half-Blood.
She might have answers, she might have a prophecy. Both prospects were as possibly optimistic as they could be completely depressing. There was also the opportunity to see some of his old friends again. The opportunity to see Chiron.
Then again, with every great memory of the camp, of Long Island and the greater New York, there was another memory of loss or battle. Each memory of laughing with friends brought with it a memory of losing one.
Deciding this was an option he would be forced to accept if he couldn't think of anything better, Percy spent the next few minutes racking his brain to come up with anything else. There were a few options he came up with, some being slightly reasonable and others being out of the question before he even fully processed them.
He could ask Nico and his father, but it seemed too soon to ask for another favor. The hunters also might've had some answers, but he had recently seen them and wasn't sure he wanted to see Calypso again before he figured himself out. He could even go to his dad's home in the ocean, but such a long trip would probably only amount to a few ominous warnings and a rib-crushing hug.
No, Camp Half-Blood had the best chance of giving him some sort of useful information. The Oracle, Chiron, and even Dionysus were all presumably at Camp Half-Blood. It was his best option, and his worst nightmare. Well, maybe not quite his worst nightmare, but it was up there.
He was going to Camp Half-Blood.
A tiny wrench was thrown into Percy's plan in the appearance of one goddess of love, Aphrodite.
Percy knew it was dangerous for him to go to an airport and hop on a plane to New York, but it beat any other sort of travel. He could've asked Nico to shadow travel him, but Percy wanted time to himself, time to think. It seemed like he always wanted time to think nowadays.
In the middle of packing a small bag of things he would need, including a couple of extra clothes, all his weapons, and his important belongings, a knock at his door made him freeze.
After approaching the door cautiously and opening the door with his sword withdrawn, Percy was both surprised and annoyed that the ever beautiful Aphrodite was smiling at him in his doorway.
His eyes traveled up her body, which was maybe a few inches shorter than he was. Tight-fitting blue jeans and brown leathered ankle boots were bland compared to the bright white blouse she wore. However, her clothes were not the most interesting aspect about the goddess.
She was different than when he last saw her. No longer did she have a mountain of dark-haired curls, eyes colored similar to spring water, and perfectly applied makeup. Her cheekbones were no longer reminiscent of Annabeth's own face shape and her lips not a cherry red.
Instead, Aphrodite appeared as more of a unique beauty. Light brown curls cascading down to her shoulders was probably the most subtle change. Her cheekbones were slightly sleeker, her overall face shape a little softer, and her lips slightly less colored.
What stood out most were her eyes. Blindingly silver with what almost appeared to be speckles of brown stood out to make Aphrodite's appearance all the more unique, and no less beautiful.
"Yoohoo? Percy?" Aphrodite whistled, snapping Percy out of his daze. He shook his head and blinked a couple times before he forced himself to clear his throat and take his eyes off of the hypnotizing beauty.
"What are you doing here?" Percy asked, slowly managing to turn back around to finish packing his things. Apparently, the goddess of love took this as an invitation to enter his home, and strutted in before closing the door behind her. Percy flinched as he heard the door squeak shut.
"I'm here to have a nice little chat with you, of course." Aphrodite said. "Oh, and to bring you to Olympus."
"And why would I go to Olympus?" Percy asked through gritted teeth, managing to busy himself by meaninglessly opening his fridge door. What was he looking for?
"The Olympians just have some questions, that's all. About what's been happening recently." Aphrodite said simply, strolling past Percy and plopping down on his couch. Percy closed his fridge door to look at Aphrodite seriously. He attempted not to linger his gaze on any of her alluring curves as he stared into her silver pupils.
"So you really don't have any idea what's going on?" Percy asked, exasperated. Aphrodite giggled and shook her head. Her wide smile made Percy want to grin back at her, but he forced himself not to.
"Of course not, Percy. We would've done something by now if we had." Aphrodite said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Sure you would've." Percy grumbled after turning away to once again open his fridge door.
"Oh, stop being bitter. We all know about your never-ending hatred toward us gods." Aphrodite said, groaning at Percy. "Honestly, you're too hot to be so angsty, Percy."
"What?" Percy asked, searching his fridge for an unknown object.
"I said you're too hot-"
"I heard you the first time." Percy said, quickly cutting a giggling Aphrodite off. "So why are you here? Couldn't Hermes just come and zap me back or something?"
"If he did that, we wouldn't be able to have our nice little chat. I have many things to discuss with you, Percy." Aphrodite said. Percy heard the sound of the goddess getting up from the couch, the sound of clicking heels approaching him causing him to begin to feel slightly uncomfortable. "And after we talk, I'll take you to Olympus."
"Actually, I have something I want to do first." Percy said, closing the fridge door once again without finding what he was looking for. Had he even been looking for anything?
"Oh?" Aphrodite asked, settling behind Percy and gliding a fingernail down his spine. Even through his t-shirt, Percy shivered under her touch.
"Yeah, I need to go to Camp Half-Blood for some answers. After that, I'll come with you." Percy said as he turned around and was greeted with a smirking Aphrodite right in his face.
"I'll join you." Aphrodite said. "Couldn't hurt."
Percy was frozen as Aphrodite inched closer and closer. He didn't know why he wasn't moving, he just knew that those eyes were so mesmerizing.
Their noses were basically touching when Percy released himself from his frozen state, cleared his throat, and retreated backwards. His stumbling caused him to bump into his refrigerator and awkwardly clear his throat once more. In the moment, he had never felt so clumsy and socially awkward.
Aphrodite's giggling after the fact didn't help either.
"Sure. Sure. I guess you can just teleport us there, right?" Percy asked, coughing uncomfortably and making sure Aphrodite stayed a respectable distance away.
"But where would be the fun in that?"Aphrodite asked, walking back to the couch and sitting back down. "We wouldn't be able to have an extended chat."
"Wouldn't that be a shame." Percy mumbled, going back to his duffel bag and stuffing random clothes in.
"Well, what's your plan?"
"What do you mean?" Percy asked through the side of his mouth.
"Are you going to trek all the way to New York? Ooh, hitchhiking would be fun." Aphrodite said, presumably fantasizing about something Percy would rather not picture. Or about people finding true love through hitchhiking across the country.
"I was going to take a plane." Percy responded simply. Aphrodite practically bounced off the walls at this, jumping up and down on the couch and clapping her hands together while making a sound reminiscent of an excitable school girl.
"Percy, aren't you not supposed to go in Uncle Zeusy's domain?" Aphrodite asked teasingly.
"Yeah, I realized that." Percy said, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm just hoping he doesn't strike down the plane and cause another 9/11." Percy winced as he said the rather dark joke. He didn't mean to say it, the words were just out of his mouth before he could stop it.
"Percy." Aphrodite scolded, wagging a finger and having a look similar to a chastising mother.
"Sorry, sorry." Percy said. "But with you with me, hopefully there'll be an even greater chance I survive."
"So I'm coming with you?!" Aphrodite asked, jumping up from her seat and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Percy sighed and slapped himself on the forehead a few times before nodding.
"Yeah, yeah you can come. Just don't be too flashy. We're going on an airplane, not a red carpet." Percy warned. Aphrodite pouted at this.
"But I can't help being naturally, inexorably delicious." Aphrodite said, smiling. Percy blinked and shook his head.
"I'm gonna ignore that." Percy said. "Just dress casually, and try to be subtle, please." Percy begged. Aphrodite sighed and smiled mischievously.
"Fine. For you, I will." Aphrodite said seductively. Percy was convinced that Aphrodite's sole goal was just to make him as uncomfortable as possible.
"Perfect." Percy remarked sarcastically.
"So, when do we leave?" Aphrodite asked excitedly. Percy held back a groan and zipped up his duffle bag. He glanced at the ring engraved with names that resided on his right hand and strode confidently past Aphrodite and out the door.
"We're leaving right now." Percy said as he exited his house. He took a deep inhale of the scent of Purgatory, already missing the familiar and comfortable home. "Camp Half-Blood here we come."
"Woohoo!"
Sorry if Aphrodite is a little OOC, idk I'm not too sure how she exactly is in the books, so her personality is basically how I see fit for the story. Anyways, here are responses to your reviews:
Percyfanjackson: That's good. I know I probably have kinda pissed off some Pertemis fans by not giving them much, but if you're patient, you'll probably get something.
TheFiction101: Thanks my guy. Or girl. Or neither.
DKay37: As I said, you never know. I feel like I keep unnecessarily repeating myself, but it's so fun playing this game that's highly likely to piss more than a few people off. If you think Artemis will flip this over, then she might flip this over. Or will she? Or won't she? (?)
HellRaiderS: Thanks for coming in every chapter and giving positive feedback. Always appreciated.
HotSox: That was the goal when I first made this. I wanted to make something kinda different, so here you go.