There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it.

Athena

CHAPTER SIX

Daughter and Mother

XIV

Annabeth V

"And now, the Temple of Athena," Chiron said, as they all walked towards the large temple, having just finished their tour of the Temple of Apollo. It looked like the Parthenon that Annabeth yearned to visit one day. Great marble white pillars stood side by side. The gable had depictions of all Twelve Olympians, with Athena right in the middle. The friezes had depictions of everything Athena represented, owls, olive trees, snakes, armor and helmets, spears…

It was gorgeous. Annabeth wondered if her own mother built it, or an ancient demigod son or daughter of her built it.

"Let's take a look inside," Chiron announced, and they all went inside.

If Annabeth thought the outside was beautiful enough, she couldn't stop her jaw from hitting the floor at the sight inside.

Inside were statues of great heroes: Hercules, Achilles, Jason, Odysseus, Perseus… along with statues of the Twelve Olympians, like the ones she had seen at the gate, but even more detailed and larger.

"Wow," Percy whistled next to her, his head darting all around the room. "This is… big." The gigantic temple stretched on, as great art pieces were present on the walls, while great statues and monuments were present in just wherever you looked.

They spent a while looking around, and Annabeth tried to save everything she saw in her brain. She wanted to improve on the designs herself once she returned back to camp.

"What's that?" Percy asked after they reached to the end of the temple. He was pointing to the white building that seemed to extend forever, just nearby the temple.

"That," Annabeth said, "is the Archives Hall of Athena. It is like the Secret Archives of the Vatican. Only the Olympians can go in. The magical door only opens to them. Inside, all the secrets of the Gods are sorted and kept."

"Correct, my dear." Chiron nodded.

"Why would they trust Athena with that information, though?" Percy asked suspiciously. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Because my mother doesn't pry into their privacy. Inside is a lane for each Olympian. There is even one for your father, and they can come and go at ease. Ancient laws forbid them from checking any other one's stuff without permission."

"Ancient laws?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, forget it," Annabeth said, losing her temper. Her prejudice about him, his head is filled with kelp? She was one hundred percent sure of it.

"Come now, let's take a look at…" Chiron glanced at his map, and a smile came to his face. "Ah, the Temple of the Promethean Flame. Close by."

They left the temple and walked to the Temple of the Promethean Flame.

"It… looks like the Jefferson Memorial," Annabeth said once the building came in sight.

"Indeed, Annabeth. Practically every monument present in the United States, every federal building, is designed in ancient Greek and Roman design." Chiron said.

They walked inside the temple. The temple was mostly empty, but at the very middle of it, a monument stood over a red porphyry monument that was neatly sculpted, the size of a table. It had laurel leaves at its base, underneath a medieval torch case. Inside, an eternal flame burned in defiance, the yellow flames rose into the sky.

"This," Annabeth explained when she recognized the monument, "is the Promethean Flame. Prometheus sided with the Olympians instead of the Titans in the first Titanomachy because he could foresee the Titan's eventual loss. He wasn't sent to Tartarus, and instead, he was allowed to stay because his experience in creating mortal humans was greatly needed by the Olympians who had just taken power and had no idea how to deal with them. But he was meddling. He constantly deceived Zeus. He eventually stole this eternal flame from the Gods and gave it to humanity, giving us civilization." Annabeth sounded like a field guide. She was after all the best in Chiron's Ancient History lessons, Chiron disliked the name "mythology," preferring the word history instead. She always helped her friends study for the challenging exams of this course.

Annabeth continued. "That was enough for Zeus, and he was punished. Zeus chained him to a mountain where a group of huge vultures pecks out his liver every day, and since he was an immortal, he could never die, and his liver regenerated. Zeus did, however, tell him that if he ever told him if there was to be any coup against his power by any fellow Olympians, he would free him."

"Jeez," Lee Fletcher said, "what a horrible fate. Didn't he warn Zeus about… uh… that coup that happened?" he said, scratching his head.

"Hera's coup?" Annabeth rose an eyebrow, and Fletcher nodded.

Annabeth shook her head. "No. Prometheus never warned Zeus of anything. He holds a grudge against him over his imprisonment."

"What coup?" Percy asked, obviously lost.

"Long ago, Hera, your father, Athena, and Apollo decided to stage a revolt against Zeus, child." Everyone turned to listen to Chiron. "Enraged at her husband's abuse of power and affairs, Hera planned a coup to have Zeus agree without conditions to be a better ruler. So, Athena created a couple of unbreakable golden chains. That very same night, she, Apollo, and Poseidon snuck into his royal chambers, awaiting Hera, who herself was waiting for Zeus to come to bed, to give a signal. Zeus fell asleep, and they chained him up. When he woke up, as you can imagine, he did not take this lightly. As your father, Percy, tried to reason with him and ask for him to be a better ruler, while Zeus only kept thundering that there would be Tartarus to pay for all of this, they reached no resolution. So, Hera and the rest decided to leave him chained until he agreed to Poseidon's demands."

" ee," Percy whispered to Annabeth, " looks like there are stories where your mom and my dad cooperate. "

"Shut up." Annabeth scolded him, but it came louder than she meant it to be.

"What was that, child?" Chiron said, looking at Annabeth. Annabeth felt mortified. She blushed so hard, the tips of her ears went pink.

"N-nothing, Chiron." She stammered, then glared at Percy, giving him the evil eye so hard it killed Percy's slight chuckling, and mouthed 'you—are—dead—idiot.'

Chiron continued. "Zeus, who bellowed and trashed violently," Chiron said as if remembering it, "was so loud he could be heard anywhere. Eventually, he was discovered chained to the bed by the Nereid Thetis. Thetis agreed to free Zeus, so long as he would be fair to his jailers. That is, to not cast them down to Tartarus. Zeus grumpily agreed, and Thetis left to find the Hekatonkheire named Briares. She brought him to Zeus and had him unchained.

Meanwhile, the first ever democratic meeting of the Olympian Council was taking place, with Hera presiding over the meeting. Now free, Zeus took his Master Bolt and barged into the Throne Room, and you can assume what followed next." As if to prove his point, thunder boomed across the sky.

"Zeus remained true to the promise he gave to Thetis but still had all four, well three, of them punished. Apollo and Poseidon were stripped from godhood and forced to hard labor for fifty years. Athena, however, was able to talk herself out of receiving any punishment. However, perhaps the worst possible punishment ever to be cast in history blew up in Hera's face, as she was chained right above the Void of Chaos," the mention of the name causing the temperature to plummet for a moment, and Annabeth shivered. "Zeus would taunt her every day, threatening to blow off the chains with the Master Bolt and let her fall into the void, which would kill her."

"Did Zeus let her go eventually?" Lee asked, fascinated with the story.

"Actually, no, child. Hera, in pure fear, was wailing so hard it could also be heard anywhere. Out of all," he turned to Beckendorf, "Hephaestus could not bear to hear his mother's suffering, so he set her free with his tools. Zeus was so angry at him that he violently threw him off Mount Olympus all the way to Lemnos, which broke every single bone in his body, although as an immortal, he did recover. Zeus did feel ashamed at his actions and apologized to his son while Hera promised to never call him ugly again, and that was the end. Although, Zeus has not trusted Poseidon and Apollo ever since."

" Seems like your mother got away scot-free," Percy whispered again at her.

Annabeth could barely hold herself. " Percy, I swear to the river Styx," Thunder rolled across the sky again, " If you do not fucking shut up, I will gut you with my knife."

XV

Clarisse I

Clarisse La Rue was bored.

"Next up, we are going to visit the Arena of Ares," Chiron announced, which did pique her interest, but quite frankly, she would have preferred to stay back at camp and pulverize some dummies instead.

The group left the Temple of Athena en route to the Arena.

"So, Wise Girl, have any more stories to tell?" Clarisse said as she and Annabeth walked side by side.

"About what?"

"Eh, I don't know. About you and that Prissy , what's up with him?"

"He's just an annoyance, Clarisse. Nothing to worry about."

"And he is going to come to camp this summer?"

Annabeth nodded. "Seems like it." She said as the Arena came into view. It was your usual massive gladiator arena, nearly the size of the Colosseum in Rome. It had a grass field in the middle, where the gladiators would fight or fight something together.

"This is the Arena of Ares," Annabeth announced as they glanced around the arena. It had a small armory next to it, painted with red doors and had white walls.

"Seems like it hasn't been used for some time," Percy said as they looked around.

"Gladiator fighting in Olympus isn't popular during the winter," Chiron said. "It's more preferred during the summer."

Annabeth glanced at her watch. "Ah, now, the Winter Solstice is finally over." Just as Annabeth said those words when she glanced at her watch, Clarisse and her friends heard someone behind them. She turned around and—

Dad?

Her jaw fell open. Ares was behind them, holding a bag. He seemed angry and distracted, but when his eyes landed on the group, his eyebrows rose up.

"Lord Ares," everyone kneeled in respect, except for Chiron( since he couldn't kneel ), who simply nodded at him. Ares nodded at him as well, and then his eyes locked to Clarisse.

"Ah," he said, "one of mine." Clarisse blushed. Ares raised the bag over his head and threw it at the middle of the arena superfast, as if it was a spear, it was so fast Clarisse barely saw the blur. It landed with a Thump! on the grass field as if something heavy was within. Then, he raised a hand, and a massive spear flew into his open palm, busting the doors of the armory near the Arena open as it did so. Clarisse gaped.

For a moment, she taught he was going to pulverize them all.

"Come closer," he indicated to Clarisse with his finger, and she did so. "Let me get a closer look at you. You're the one Hedge brought to camp, aren't you? Got some good spirit, that satyr." His hand raised her chin and took a good look at her face.

He let go. "Got any good monster-slaying action lately?" Ares asked, and Clarisse blushed deeper, this time in embarrassment.

"Er, no, not really, dad," the word sounded foreign to her mouth, "we train a lot in camp but um—"

"Bah!" he groaned but then smiled. "I suppose your time hasn't come yet, then." She cursed at her beet red cheeks. Her' friends ' were trying to hold back their smiles and laughs. It was the first time they had ever seen the otherwise scary Clarisse in this situation.

Oh, I'll show you assholes once we get back to camp… Clarisse thought bitterly.

"Hmph," Ares muttered as if reading Clarisse's thoughts. "Here," he handed her the spear, and her eyes widened. "A gift, I see you are the head counselor of my cabin. Let those pesky brats fear you for a good reason." The spear crackled with electricity, and Clarisse grinned.

"Thanks, dad." She said, testing the spear. She moved it around, it had a switch where her thumb rested, and by simply pushing upwards, electricity would crackle at the tips. It was deep blue in color and a bit rusty.

"Right. No problem, you seem to be one of my spear-skilled children." Ares looked at the rest of the counselors. "The Winter Solstice is over. It's time for all of you to go meet your parents, blah blah. Go," he gestured to the top of the mountain. "Mommy and daddy are waiting for you," he glanced at Clarisse. "So long, daughter. You better get some good kills with that spear, don't disappoint me."

"Okay," she said, and Ares nodded. He jogged down to the arena, snatched the bag up back again, and slowly disappeared into the other side of the arena, whistling some ancient tune.

"Let's go, we don't want to be late. They are waiting for us." Annabeth said, her voice filled with excitement.

"Gonna see your mother, Wise Girl?" Clarisse bumped into her, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Hey," a voice nearly made Clarisse jump out of nowhere, "Sorry, I was sidetracked." Luke came from the exact same path where Ares came, and she frowned.

"Where the hell have you been, blond boy ?" Clarisse asked. Her nerves were still on edge from the excitement of meeting her father.

"Like I said, sidetracked , anyways, I heard the Winter Solstice is over. Annabeth, you know the route, right?"

Annabeth nodded, her cheeks pink.

"Well, guide us then. Let's go."

XVI

Annabeth VI

After a tedious five-minute climb upwards the spiraling mountain towards the Throne Room, Annabeth stood appalled by what came into view when they reached the top. A near-exact replica of the Parthenon, with its great white pillars, massive triangle dome, stood in the plain field on the top of the mountain. They all walked inside.

Inside were twelve thrones, in a backward U layout. Four in the middle and the rest in the sides. Twelve Olympians, Annabeth gulped, were staring down at them. Each one was gigantic, sitting on their vast thrones.

"Lord Zeus," Annabeth said, trying to speak calmly. She tried to mask the tremble in her voice but wasn't doing a great job. "We thank you for allowing us to visit Olympus in this grand solstice."

"My lord ," Luke continued, "we thank you and bask in your eternal glory and guidance." It sounded forced, but the King of Olympus paid no attention. All the counselors, and Percy, bowed in respect.

Zeus looked at her. His face was reserved, he had the bluest eyes Annabeth had ever seen, Just like Thalia's, she thought, and it made her shiver. It was as if a million lightning bolts were exploding and a million raindrops were constantly swirling in his brilliant electrical blue eyes. On top of them laid two thick gray eyebrows. His black beard, which had many white and gray strands, was neatly trimmed. He had shoulder-length jet black hair, which kind of ruined the serious image, as he had a deep navy blue suit on with a bright red tie. He sat on a throne made of pure platinum.

He simply nodded slowly, taking a look at every single one of the counselors and Percy.

At his right sat the Queen of Olympus, and Zeus' wife, Hera. Her throne was entirely made out of quartz. She looked like a supermodel, her black hair waved down all the way to her waist, her coffee brown eyes, which were unamused, didn't even bother to show a single ounce of affection. She had a golden tiara on her head and white pearl earrings. A cape made of peacock feathers rested on her shoulders, connected above her collarbone by a golden tie that resembled a yellow flower. She sat cross-legged. Her plain white gown looked great on her. While all the Olympians had beautiful golden thrones, to the right of Hera was a dull, gray throne made out of only stone.

Hades sat quite bored at the dull throne. He had a deep purple, that under the light sometimes even looked like blood-red, or it was just Annabeth's eyes playing tricks on her brain, she did not know, toga. His right hand was below his chin, and he looked like he wanted to get out of here as soon as he could. He had both black hair and eyes. His eyes looked like a dark pit that just kept going. He looked pale as if he was dead or suffering from a severe albino disease. Annabeth's eyes shifted to the left of Zeus, and there sat the first Olympian who looked straight down non-serious.

The man had deep sea-green eyes. He, just like Zeus, had a neatly trimmed beard, but it was all black. Neptune's LUCKY fishing hat , inscribed on a yellow cap decorated with fish lures, was on his head, a bit crooked to the left. He was the first Olympian also that Annabeth saw smiling. Poseidon, the rival of her mother. And the father of the idiot standing next to me, grinning at him. Poseidon had a Hawaii t-shirt. He seemed to have an aura of happiness around him, and he looked downright informal compared to Zeus. He wore navy blue khaki shorts and sandals the color of sand.

Ares was not at his throne, as he had already met the counselors and Clarisse and seemed to be busy anyway. That's when Annabeth's eyes moved to the right, and a beautiful, appalling goddess stood up as if on cue. She took a step forward, which made Annabeth take a step back because of her sheer size, but the Goddess shrank into human size. She was dressed in combat uniform. A golden gladiator helmet in pristine condition sat on her head, its bright red fur arched along the top. Her black hair, which had brown and even red strands, danced softly at the light breeze present inside the room. Her gray eyes, which were filled with energy that nearly seemed to crackle just like Zeus' eyes, stared at Annabeth. The Goddess' eyes seemed to shine with wisdom and knowledge of a thousand years. Her dark eyebrows were slightly raised. She looked divine, regal, scary. Her red lips pursed together, and she seemed to be thinking a million things at the same time. She seemed ready for anything and everything. A white dress stood beautifully on her below plates of armor.

"Mother," Annabeth gasped. She mentally face-palmed, here she was, a proud daughter of Athena, flustering in front of her mother. Athena seemed to not pay attention to Annabeth's sudden found giddy feelings, and a soft smile appeared on her otherwise always pursed lips.

Her head stood high when she spoke. "Greetings, my daughter." Her voice was rigid, icy, but not emotionless. It made Annabeth feel warm because it had an underlying caring tone. A tone that had been missing when Ares spoke to Clarisse.

"Bah," Hera sighed, "another worthless camper who has not even gone on a quest. Zeus," she frowned at him, "why did you even allow these pesky campers even come here? They are not even heroes. They are not worthy of our attention . And don't even get me started on this son of yours, Poseidon…" Poseidon said nothing while Zeus seemed to think for a moment. Annabeth frowned.

"Chiron and Dionysus asked me to," he said in a simple, bored tone like he also wanted them out of here soon. "they haven't been here for a while. Since it's tradition, they decided now was a good time. They won't be here for long."

Annabeth's anger at these words was not even comparable to the shock, and Athena rolled her eyes, then turned to Hera.

"My daughter," she said, her voice full of pride, to Hera, which made Annabeth's heart melt, "has already been through more than any ' hero' who has been here the last twenty-five years." Athena turned back to her, and Annabeth smiled gratefully. She loved her mother, she had guided her through much, and she had never had an opportunity to thank her. She opened her mouth to do so but was interrupted by Hera.

"Yes, yes," she waved her hand dismissively, "just like Luke Castellan over here," she sneered, "who couldn't even finish a quest properly. I suppose I must, however, be thankful, Luke Castellan, for helping fix my husband's mistake and reminding him of his oath."

Mistake , the word rang in Annabeth's ears.

Annabeth's hands balled into fists. Athena looked at her warningly, raising her eyebrows while slightly tilting her head, her lips pursed again. How could she even dare speak that way about her friend, Thalia? She was not a mistake. Annabeth felt tears prickle into her eyes.

Coming here, though, that was a mistake. Even if she had gotten to have a moment with her mother, she did not want to hear another damned word from Hera's mouth. Annabeth glanced at Luke, who was pale with anger and looked like he wanted to murder Hera.

" Enough ," Athena intervened, "let these counselors meet their parents, and then they can have dinner and leave." She turned to Annabeth again.

"I suppose you still have your birthday gift with you?" She asked once the mood calmed down, Hera and Zeus were now distracted as they chit-chatted about something, and for that moment, Annabeth felt her hatred subside. She was getting too emotional, and she hated that. She was the daughter of the woman in front of her, not some hothead who couldn't control and resist some temptation.

Annabeth pulled out a blue cap. "Yes, mother. It is convenient, I appreciate it. I also want to thank you for your guidance and for your wisdom." Athena nodded. Annabeth did already thank her mother every time at the dining hall by sacrificing the best parts of her meal to her mother, but thanking her in actual form was something completely different.

"Giving a camper who hasn't even gone on a quest a gift…" Hera rolled her eyes, then returned to her conversation with Zeus.

Athena ignored her. "I appreciate your kind words, and I hope your gift serves you well, Annabeth ." Annabeth's heart thumped. It was the first time she ever heard her mother say her name in actual form. She wanted to save her mother's voice forever. Annabeth…

Athena glanced at the other campers and then locked eyes with Annabeth again. That's when Hephaestus also stood up and shrank to Athena's size and walked towards Beckendorf. He, as usual, looked… deformed , Annabeth decided, he had a gigantic head that was misshaped in all directions. It looked burnt. Clearly, Hephaestus had been at the Forges before coming to the meeting. Next was Demeter, whose soft golden blond hair, the longest of anyone in the room as it was nearly about to touch the floor. The hair bobbed as she shrank and walked towards Miranda Gardiner. She had an earthly green dress that reached her knees. Apollo was next, handsome as always, he had long blond hair tied in a bun, which looked a bit weird, but his eyes were the primary source of attention. They were utterly yellow, and they were very bright, just like the sun. He was grinning, his perfect row of white teeth glittered. He wore a golden robe, which rested comfortably over his deeply tanned skin. He had nearly every female in the room's attention. Aphrodite was next, who had every male in the room's attention. The eldest Olympian, who was also the one to constantly change appearance, had decided on having beautiful brown hair in a bun and startling blue eyes. She looked a bit more serious, but she was so beautiful, one could not tear their eyes off easily when they landed their eyes on her. Her white gown hugged her properly in all curves. She was absolutely stunning. Dionysus was next, he had his usual Camp Director clothes on, which was a Hawaii t-shirt with tiger stripes and shorts. He approached Pollux, whom he already saw daily at camp anyway.

Luke was the only one alone by now, and Hermes was the last one to stand up and shrink to human size. Luke seemed to be very uncomfortable, and the two barely spoke at all. Hermes seemed to want to say something but could not. It looked very awkward.

"Such a family reunion," Athena observed. "It is a shame some of my fellow Olympians do not care as much as for their children," Athena said, looking at her daughter with affection and care. Annabeth nodded, thankful for her mother. Athena was really the only one who cared about her children at all. Hermes was also there, but with Luke, well…

Her mother took a step closer. "Annabeth, about your father…" Annabeth cringed, and Athena sighed.

"I do not want to speak about him, mother." Athena's eyes looked at the golden ring on Annabeth's necklace, and suddenly her eyes seemed distant and wistful.

"Very well, but I want you to know that he does care about you, Annabeth."

Annabeth scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

"Do not let emotions cloud your judgment, my daughter, for it is the exact same mistake your father did when he met you."

" Mother!" Annabeth cried in protest, but her mom did not even flinch. "I— I am not. You know what I went through."

Athena sighed again, clearly, this conversation was going nowhere.

"In essence, always keep your heart open even if you think you have cut ties, Annabeth. For the past only lays now in your head, and there is no meaning in allowing it to chain your future."

Annabeth sighed in defeat as well. "Okay, but I don't think he does care. He hasn't even tried to reach out to me after his last attempt , which was nothing more than treating me like a freak again, mother. I— I will consider it if he does ever try, but I don't think he ever will again."

Athena said nothing and instead looked at her, like the way a parent would drink in the sight of their newborn, savoring every moment.

"A great destiny lies ahead of you, my daughter," Athena stated, "and I am sure you will make me proud. I believe in you Annabeth, you are one of the best of my children, if not the best."

"And such a great love life, you will have!" Aphrodite suddenly cut in as she was standing right next to them, speaking to Silena. Athena sighed and rolled her eyes. Silena smiled sheepishly.

"You, Annabeth Chase," Aphrodite beamed to her, but Annabeth frowned. "Such a beautiful girl you are. And such an interesting love life you will have, filled with all of its hardships… Oh, I can't wait!"

"Aphrodite," Athena interjected, "as much as my daughter sadly has not joined the Hunters of Artemis, I am sure she will make the right decision when the time comes." Aphrodite wrinkled her nose in disgust when Athena said Hunters of Artemis as if Athena was talking about rotten eggs.

"We would love to have an amazing girl like you with us, Annabeth." Artemis agreed from her throne, while also a virgin Goddess like Athena, she wasn't able to have children, instead her children were the Hunters of Artemis, women who would swear off love forever and join the hunt. Immortal to aging, but still could die from wounds.

"Blasphemy!" Aphrodite rejected, "to give up on love is no worse than giving up on life. I'm also sure Annabeth will make the right decision when the time comes." Aphrodite winked at Annabeth, and she blushed, the talk about her love life making her feel embarrassed. Her eyes darted to Luke, wondering if Aphrodite was talking about him and her.

"Ah, no," Aphrodite said as if sensing Annabeth's thoughts and Annabeth suddenly wanted to melt into the floor from pure embarrassment, "it will be much more interesting." She said, her eyes locked on someone else.

" Mother," Silena cut in, and Annabeth smiled to her gratefully, "do leave her alone. Clearly, Annabeth has more to do than to go and ponder about her love life."

Annabeth mouthed a thank-you to her. "Fine, fine… But remember, Annabeth Chase, love is not as confusing as you think it is. Your mother seems to think that all answers to hardships in life are achieved through your head, but love can only be solved with your heart." With that, she turned to Silena, and the two kept talking about Silena and Beckendorf. They had recently begun to date a couple of weeks ago.

"Pay no attention to her," Athena said, "No daughter of mine could ever be that foolish to let their emotions get in their way."

"I won't, mother."

"Right, that should be enough," Dionysus announced after patting Pollux at his back, "it is time for all of you to go have some dinner and leave, as it is getting late, and I don't wish for you brats to be late, blah blah blah. Chiron, you can take it from here. I shall see you brats in camp again anyway."

Athena nodded, she even seemed to be sad at their departure, and Annabeth just wanted to hug her mother but knew it would be out of place. She instead awkwardly gripped her blue cap.

"Farewell, Annabeth, and do not forget what I said about your father."

"Farewell, mother," Annabeth said, deciding not to comment about her father again. Chiron gestured all campers to follow him after bowing to Zeus.

"Well," Beckendorf muttered when they exited the throne room, "that went amazingly. " Annabeth and her friends walked down the mountain, and halfway through, they heard a bellowing shout of pure anger coming from the top. It was probably nothing.

"Annabeth, I am so sorry for my mother, she just—" Silena started as they kept climbing down, but Annabeth raised a hand.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. I think it was more of a problem that your mother openly talked about you and Beckendorf, though…" Annabeth teased, chuckling, and the couple blushed violently.

Their good moods were interrupted when Zeus violently screamed again, this time a lot louder .

"WHERE IS IT!?"

Annabeth's heart sank. The voice definitely belonged to Zeus, and soon it turned into a screaming festival between the top three gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Was it because of their visit?

"Come on," Miranda Gardiner whispered, "let's go." They were all afraid of being turned into dust, but Luke seemed to not be surprised.

"Took them long enough…" he muttered when they reached the base of the mountain.

"What?" Annabeth turned to him. She hadn't heard him clearly.

"Nothing, and Annabeth, I'm sorry about what Hera said—"

"Luke, if there is someone who needs to apologize, it should be her. She was hostile to you, not me. She shouldn't have spoken about you or Thalia that way."

Luke said nothing but simply nodded.

They reached to one of the main dining halls near the mountain, which had an automatic table built by Hephaestus. They simply stated to the table what they wanted to eat, and voila, whatever they asked for would be delivered by the table, which would open up and push the plate of whatever they asked in front of them. Annabeth requested macaroni with tomato sauce and a glass of coke.

"What in Hades is going on over there?" Lee said after a storm cloud began hovering above the Throne Room. The air felt ionized, and the screams of the Big Three could still be heard from the dining pavilion.

"Di immortales, brother! Why in Mother Rhea's name would I even steal it, Hades?" Poseidon yelled, and Annabeth saw Percy frown.

"First of all, stop using our mothers' name in vain when you are clearly lying, brother, and second of all, let's do say you did not. Then how come your trident is still here?"

"Why is Hades screaming at my father?" Percy said.

"I don't know…" Annabeth pondered, but whatever it was, it was clearly not good. "It probably isn't about us, though."

"Probably?" Miranda gulped.

"I mean, none of us offended them or something, so they probably just said something to each other. So, it's probably nothing."

"Did they lose something? Poseidon said he didn't steal something." Pollux wondered, and Annabeth shrugged.

"Why would my father steal something?" Percy frowned.

"I don't know, Percy. Let's just—" the air next to the table shimmered, and Poseidon appeared. What had been a man in his thirties dressed non-casually was now an old man with a long white beard, his eyes tired, wearing only a toga.

"Percy, it is time for us to go," Poseidon said, and just as Percy opened his mouth to protest, Poseidon gripped his shoulder, and the duo disappeared in a blink of light, drops of water falling to the floor.

Annabeth blinked.

"Um…" Pollux gaped, clearly startled. "That's not good."

"You think?" Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"I am sure it is just a simple feud. The Big three have it from time to time." Chiron assured them all, but his tone indicated even he wasn't sure if he was right.

They ate the rest of their dinner in silence.

A/N

For God's sake Percy, pulling a reverse Nancy Bobofit on Annabeth was definitely wasn't written on purpose. Athena and Annabeth's mother/daughter relationship is really great. It was pretty fun to write them talk, Athena is my favorite Olympian from Greek Mythology. And the way Rick Riordan wrote her and described her is just... perfect, really. A shame we never got to see much more of her and her relationship with Annabeth other than that avenge-me identity crisis. I plan to add in much more content relating to her. P.S. Who possibly could have stolen the Master Bolt!? AND The Helm of Darkness? Who was Aphrodite looking at while talking about Annabeth's love life? Hmm... I wonder. P.S.S. Luke definitely has a good pokerface.