Hey guys.
I owe you all an apology. But anyway, here it is! It is a huge thanks to my brother, without whom it would probably take me another month to complete this.
Just a quick note- I changed the cover page. What do you think? The new or the old?
Word count: 12630 (Without AN, as usual. Longest yet!)
Chapter-7 True form of the unbeatable pinochle master
Artemis eyed her brother warily. "No haikus while you're reading."
"What? Why?" Apollo protested.
"No haikus." The entire room echoed.
The god of the sun pouted, "I'll get you all for this! There'll be- OW!"
Hermes very inconspicuously stomped his cousin's foot as he hissed. "Try not to give us away, genius."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at them with a sense of foreboding.
"Oh, fine! Fine!" Apollo rolled his eyes. "Chapter 5 I Play Pinochle with a Horse."
Percy snickered. "I think I know what this about."
"Percy knows something?" Thalia mock gasped. "That's new."
Son of Poseidon rolled his eyes, smiling lightly, "Come on, Thals. This joke is getting old quickly."
Daughter of Zeus, like the mature person she was, stuck out her tongue.
I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.
"Nice way to sum up the last chapter," Leo said, tinkering with the upgraded version of Rachel's weaponized blue plastic hairbrush. Stolls had insisted he try to finish it by the lunch break. He had a feeling it was related to their plans…
I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.
Most people in the room nodded in agreement as if to say, 'That's fair.'
Athena glared at the son of Poseidon.
I remember lying in a soft bed … she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.
Aphrodite squealed. "You played his nurse!"
Athena glared at Percy as if everything wrong in the world was his fault.
When she saw my eyes open, she asked, 'What will happen at the summer solstice?'
'As I thought, the summer solstice is the deadline.' Athena thought.
"Wait." Thalia interrupted. "You thought he would know that? A new camper?"
'Because she's a dumb blonde.' Octavian wanted to say but his self-preservation instincts won out.
"Chiron and Grover were with him for an entire year. So I thought maybe they told him." Annabeth replied. "And I might have been a little desperate to get a quest."
Thalia almost asked her why but thought better of it. It was going to come up in the book anyway.
I managed to croak, 'What?'
She looked around … What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!'
"'We'?!" Athena hissed and somehow made the single word sound scandalous.
Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.
"That's one way to shut someone up." Piper chuckled.
Aphrodite squealed. 'So romantic!'
The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.
Aphrodite squealed louder. "You already miss her!"
Frank asked, "She does realize she's talking to a book, right?"
A husky blond dude, like a surfer … the backs of his hands.
"Argus," Hera stated aloofly.
All the Greek demigods glared at Her Most Annoying Bovine Majesty at the casual dismissal.
When I finally came around for good … but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest.
"You have the weirdest descriptions," Reyna remarked.
My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.
"Oddly accurate is how I'd put it." Percy corrected.
On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.
Numerous growls filled the air on the cue.
"Food." Travis moaned.
"Lunch after this chapter." Conner reminded him.
"Gotta soldier through…"
Deciding to do something about poor demigods' suffering, Sally requested Hestia to conjure a kitchenette to get started on her cookies. The request was met with cheers and a fully equipped kitchen in the middle of the throne room.
It would also give her something to distract herself with. She was still, after all, wrapping her mind around everything going on. It wasn't every day you get summoned to Olympus to read about dangerous quests your son is about to go on with gods, the future version of the said son and his friends, also from the future. Or the fact you were going to 'die' and, more importantly, that your precious little baby would have gone on the said extremely dangerous quest in a few months without this divine intervention.
But on a less depressing note, her abusive husband was personally punished by the gods themselves and sent to Underworld with a horrible punishment.
Sally Jackson was no sadist, far from it, but that thought did make her feel better.
My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.
Ares rolled his eyes, "Pathetic."
"We'll see who's pathetic by the end of the book." Percy said cheekily as his girlfriend retorted at the same time, "You'll be eating those words by the end of the book."
"Eating?" Son of Poseidon turned towards the daughter of Athena with a mischievous smile. "You must be really hungry."
Annabeth blushed and gave him a look that could be deciphered from 'Shut up, Seaweed Brain' to 'Like you're not hungry'.
"Right." Travis nodded. "Can we please get through this chapter quickly?"
Being hungry (and wanting those blue cookies) was only a part of the reason for the rush but no one outside of their plans needed to know that…
'Careful,' a familiar voice said.
Grover was leaning against the porch railing … plain old Grover. Not the goat boy.
"Is that where the nickname come from?" Rachel asked.
Percy shook his head in negative, "Annabeth already called him that from before this."
So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay.
We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And…
"Oh, Percy," Sally whispered as she abandoned the cookie dough she was kneading in favor of hugging her son. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, mom," Percy murmured, hugging her back. "It wasn't your fault."
It would be a lie to say that, at that moment, not a single demigod was jealous of Percy for having such a caring mother.
'You saved my life ... I thought you might want this.'
Reverently, he placed the shoebox in my lap.
Inside was a black-and-white bulls horn … the tip splattered with dried blood.
"Spoils of war," Frank commented idly.
It hadn't been a nightmare.
'The Minotaur,' I said.
'Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea –'
'That's what they call … The Minotaur. Half man, half bull.'
"That's right." Thalia grinned. "You never did drop your habit of throwing names around, did you?"
Percy grinned back, "Of course not."
A high five followed the comment. As did a glare by Hera. Not that anyone cared about the latter.
Grover shifted … out for two days. How much do you remember?'
"Not the longest period of time I've been out." Percy wanted to say but didn't because he most certainly did not want his mother to be any more worried than she already was.
'My mom. Is she really…'
Few of the demigods and gods winced but none commented.
He looked down.
I stared across the meadow … in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top.
"Look, Pinecone Face, you're mentioned again." Percy jokes, trying to lighten the mood.
Roman demigods had a feeling they would be impressed by Camp Half Blood's description if it wasn't put in such a depressing context.
Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.
My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold.
Nothing should look beautiful.
And all of Percy's efforts to lighten the mood went down the drain.
Aphrodite burst into tears.
Sally hugged Percy again.
Sniffles filled the room.
It wasn't a surprise considering how evocatively and enkindlingly Apollo read, being the god of poetry and all. He read like he was singing an epic, bringing the text to life and stirring up a whirlwind of emotions within the listener as if they themselves were going through the event.
"Dude," Hermes exclaimed. "Don't be so depressing!"
Apollo stared at him and started,
"You don't understand
Art of-"
"NO HAIKUS!" The room exploded, effectively shrugging off the blanket of gloom Apollo had unwittingly tucked them in.
(Sally leaned over to her son and asked, "Are they really that bad?"
Percy shuddered, "You have no idea, mom.")
"Hey!" Apollo protested. "No fair! Let me at least finish it!"
"No haikus! That's what we had agreed to before starting this chapter!" Artemis narrowed her eyes at her brother.
"Aw. Come on, sis." God of sun pouted.
"No." Came a crisp reply. "Unless you want me to tell everyone just what exactly happened to cause the first solar eclipse."
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no." Apollo paled dramatically. "No need to go there, right sis? No more haikus." He trailed off with a nervous chuckle.
Artemis leaned back with a satisfied smirk.
"No, no. Go right ahead, Artemis. Tell us." Hermes leaned forward with an impish gleam in his eyes.
"I'm not giving away my most effective blackmail." Goddess of moon said primly.
"Out with it already," Ares grumbled, crossing his arms and trying to not look too interested.
A glance around the room revealed that all the gods (and goddesses) were in the same boat.
"First solar eclipse?" Hazel asked.
"Ah, yes." Hermes turned towards demigods, and ignoring Apollo's 'They don't need to know that!', proceeded to explain. "First, what is a solar eclipse?"
"It's when the moon gets between Earth and sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth," Piper answered.
"Yes, well, that's what mortals think." Hermes grinned. "Solar eclipse is actually a glorious event that occurs every few years when Apollo does something so incredibly stupid that Artemis has to yell at him in broad daylight in front of half of the world."
Apollo sunk further into the couch, hiding his face with the book. "I don't necessarily do something stupid, Artemis just vents off on me."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, "Do you want me to list off some-"
"NO!" Apollo jumped to his feet.
"So why is the first one so important?" Jason leaned forward.
"Why you ask?" Hermes cackled. "According to Artemis, it's the stupidest thing he has ever done. But the thing is it wasn't flashy or anything like that. Nobody except Artemis knows what it was."
"And Apollo hunted down everyone else who did know." Ares looked torn between approval and disappointment.
Silence reigned for several moments until Nico broke it.
"Imagine being yelled at by your sister so hard that it makes the world go dark for several minutes." He said in awe.
Thalia grinned. Jason shivered. Octavian cowered just at the sight of the shark grin Thalia wore.
"Yes, yes." Apollo half snapped, half grumbled. "Let's move it. I thought people were hungry."
He cleared his throat went back to his evocative reading.
'I'm sorry,' Grover sniffled. 'I'm a failure. I'm – I'm the worst satyr in the world.'
"Good thing he snapped out of it on his own," Thalia muttered. "Otherwise I would have had to beat it out of him."
Greek demigods and Rachel nodded in agreement.
Despite the earlier argument, Zeus couldn't help but want to blast the satyr into a billion pieces.
He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off.
"What?!" Hazel exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Other demigods sported similar looks of confusion.
I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.
"Oh." Daughter of Pluto breathes out a sigh of relief.
'Oh, Styx!' he mumbled.
… Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.
"I bet you wouldn't even have to shave all the hair." Annabeth mused. "I mean, he had to wear a rasta cap but the end of the summer of our first quest, so I guess his curly hair just barely hid his horns."
"Or maybe he had a growth spurt during the last week of the summer and his horns grew then," Percy suggested.
Daughter of Athena's eyes lit up as she turned to look towards her boyfriend and launched into a rant about satyr growth.
"Annie," Thalia called out. "Are you seriously thinking that deep about goat boy's horns?"
Annabeth paused mid-rant, and huffed lightly, "Don't call me that."
Athena would never admit it, but she too was thinking along the same lines as her daughter.
But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed … my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.
"Such love!" Aphrodite wailed, bursting into tears again.
I was alone.
"That's not true." Sally protested. "You would've been welcomed at the camp."
"I know." Percy raised his hands in surrender. "But back then I didn't even believe in gods."
An orphan.
"I know. Also not true."
I would have to live with… Smelly Gabe?
Sally's frown sharpened.
"No." She declared in unison with Poseidon.
"No." Their son agreed.
No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army.
Light chuckles and snorts were heard throughout the room.
"With how scrawny you were back then?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching upwards. "That would have been a difficult task."
"Come on, Wise Girl!" Son of Poseidon pouted. "I wasn't that scrawny."
"I'm afraid you were, Seaweed Brain." The daughter of Athena smiled at her boyfriend. "And short."
"Come on, you're supposed to be on my side!"
"I'm on side of whoever pulls your leg!"
"Stop flirting already!" Rachel rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
Percy leaned forward and pecked the daughter of Athena on her lips.
Sally smiled. As did most demigods. Thalia gagged.
Athena glared murderously.
Aphrodite squealed.
It was honestly getting creepy how quickly the goddess of love changed gears, one-moment sobbing, and the next shrieking about her OTP.
But at least the tension had receded with the light-hearted display of affection.
I'd do something.
Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid – poor goat, satyr, whatever – looked as if he expected to be hit.
"He probably did." Percy mused. "First Thalia incident and then my mom."
"You should have knocked some sense into his head." Thalia declared.
"I think the quest did a good enough job on his confidence." Annabeth deliberated.
"Oh, I think the second one did a better job," Percy smirked.
"Now that you mention it." Annabeth snorted. "Definitely."
"Second quest?" Sally interrupted, frowning.
While she did consider her son might be going on more quest, it didn't mean she had to like it.
Green-eyed youth laughed nervously. "Yeah, I might have gone on a couple of more quests after this one."
Sally furrowed her eyebrows, "I see."
"You really don't need to worry!" Percy exclaimed hurriedly. "I can tell you more about them during lunch…?"
Sally nodded. "That would be nice."
I said, 'It wasn't your fault.'
… 'But why…' I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.
"Water references are back," Jason noted.
'Don't strain yourself,' Grover said. 'Here.'
He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.
I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice … mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.
Stomachs growled all across the room.
"Why do you have to be…" Connor groan-started.
"So freaking descriptive, Jackson!?" Travis groan-finished.
"We get it, Percy." Rachel sigh.
"-getting to eat those cookies-" Nico grumbled incoherently under his breath.
"-and even in nectar and ambrosia-" Thalia followed her cousin's suit.
"If I can just crack the recipe…" Annabeth was muttering.
"Cookies will be done soon," Sally informed.
All the heads snapped towards her in an instant.
'You are a goddess,' Their eyes appeared to be telling silently.
"I am looking forward to those cookies," Hermes said, his mouth already watering.
"Are they really that good?" Hazel asked curiously.
All the demigods who had ever tasted the cookies (and Rachel) nodded vigorously.
"They are amazing." Rachel praised.
"Like heaven in the mouth." Thalia exalted.
"Most delicious thing I've ever had," Annabeth added.
"It's something to kill for," Nico dutifully complimented.
"That pretty much sums it up," Percy said, nodding in approval.
"I see my cookies are highly spoken of in the future." Sally smiled.
Leo looked at the oven excitedly. "Now I'm really looking forward to those blue cookies."
Nods and sounds of approval soon followed.
'Though, is giving Leo sugar a good idea?' Jason wondered.
Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.
"We never do have the time to appreciate nectar outside of its healing properties, do we?" Frank looked at the book thoughtfully.
"Hm." Reyna agreed. "We only ever use it as an energy shot or to heal wounds from monsters."
"That's right." Piper nodded. "It's supposed to taste like comfort food."
Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.
"Magic," Connor said, nodding sagely.
"Or maybe nectar wasn't actually warm, it just tasted like it," Hazel suggested.
'Was it good?' Grover asked.
I nodded.
'What did it taste like?' He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.
'Sorry,' I said. 'I should've let you taste.'
"Bad idea, Pasta Juice." Dionysus snorted. "Satyrs can't have any of that. They'll turn into a pile of ashes."
The last part was completely ignored. People started cracking up.
Percy stared at him in muted horror.
"Why?" He demanded. "Why do you hate me? I know you know my name, you've even said it correctly a couple of times! And why am I always some sort of food item?"
"No idea what you're talking about, Pizza Jelly roll."
His eyes got wide. 'No! That's not what I meant. I just… wondered.'
'Chocolate-chip cookies,' I said. 'My mom's. Homemade.'
He sighed. 'And how do you feel?'
'Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred metres.'
"Who's Nancy again?" Reyna asked.
"Yeah," Percy said. "You guys were swapped back from time."
"SHE'S SOMEONE WHO'S IN DESPERATE NEED OF A MAKEOVER!" Aphrodite screeched.
"She's a bully," Piper stated, sweatdropping at her mother's antics.
Jason looked between the goddess of love and the girl sitting beside him with wonder.
Leo whispered to his best friend, "Are you sure you two are related?"
Piper hummed, "I do wonder about that sometimes."
'That's good,' he said. 'That's good. I don't think you should risk drinking any more of that stuff.'
'What do you mean?'
He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table.
"For him," Hazel remarked. "It probably is."
'Come on. Chiron and Mr D are waiting.'
As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.
We must've been on the north shore of Long Island … unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.
"The camp sounds beautiful!" Sally smiled.
"It is!" Jason agreed.
"I'd like to visit it after the war is finally over." Hazel could almost imagine the camp, the vast strawberry fields and grounds full of lively demigods.
Frank nodded in agreement. "It sounds so much like Camp Jupiter and yet so different."
Reyna concurred, though her mind kept replaying the last line. She was still grieving her faithful companion Scipio, after all.
"Speaking of camp," Dionysus spoke up. "Wasn't Chiron bringing those brats here tomorrow for the err… what did he call it again, yes the 'educational field trip'?"
"Have him cancel it." Zeus waved dismissively.
Rachel and demigods from after the giant war frowned and exchanged worried glances. Canceling the trip would change a major event, and they still had no idea how their interactions and the reading were affecting time itself. And even if the trip wasn't canceled, they didn't know how their interaction with their younger selves would change future events.
So should they try to convince gods to not cancel the field trip or go along with the flow? Either way, things were going to change.
They looked at Annabeth as the daughter of Athena contemplated her options.
On one hand, if she argued for them to not cancel the trip, they could see all their friends who die in war again but it would raise suspicion and the obvious question of why. More demigods would know about time travel along with an increased number of chances monsters and any god or goddess with a vendetta against Olympians would learn about it too, giving them a chance to exploit it. Not to mention the word would definitely reach Kronos, seeing he was already manipulating Luke at this point. And Kronos was the titan of time.
On other hand, if the trip was canceled, Zeus and Hades' symbol of power would never be stolen, the blame wouldn't fall on Percy, the quest they are reading about would never happen, and Luke most likely wouldn't reveal his true allegiance. Creating a paradox and effectively erasing them from existence if the linear timeline theory anything to go by. Not that them reading about the quest wasn't already creating a paradox.
It certainly sounded like the better option, the safer option, until they learned more time travel from George and Martha.
But then there was the matter of Luke…
If he did come to Olympus, maybe she and Thalia could set his head straight before he did something stupid like stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. And convince him to cut all connections with Kronos. They could convince gods to not punish him. But…
But it would bring the suspicion right to him. And what if gods didn't listen to reasoning before blasting him where he stood? No, that would be counterproductive. And the fact remained that more people would know about them meaning more troubles and more complications.
'No, it would be for better for everyone if the trip was canceled.' Annabeth decided, biting her lips. 'Besides fates didn't send any notes regarding Zeus's decision so I guess it's fine…'
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her mother observing her.
Annabeth glanced at her friends and discreetly shook her head no.
It was a testament to their trust that they accepted it without question.
While Annabeth was contemplating, Jason and Piper were describing Camp Half-Blood in more detail to the Roman demigods. Leo was telling Rachel about the additional features in her weaponized blue plastic hairbrush.
But apparently, Octavian had enough. He couldn't quite stomach the fact that Greeks could create something even remotely as good as Camp Jupiter.
"Your little camp sounds pathetic." He scoffed. "As if it could ever stand up to something as grand as Camp Jupiter. Or New Rome for the matter of fact."
He finally managed to squash the last of his self-preservation instinct and continued, "Your camp sounds more like a playground. You're completely unorganized, have no chain of command, send fawns for recruitment and accept completely unknown and untrained demigods! And volleyball? Art and crafts? Campfires with songs and s'mores? What are you all? Six? And farming? And that too strawberry? You take orders from a centaur!
Camp Jupiter is the proud legacy of the Roman Empire! The Twelfth Legion Fulminata! We train soldiers and carry on Roman Empire's will! After they serve the legion we provide them with a life of comfort in New Rome! Whereas you all you Greeks do is goof around and get yourself killed! You're all just a bunch of unsophisticated and artless fools. "
It was a miracle that Octavian finished his rant without any interruption.
But what followed the rant was neither unexpected nor surprising.
But before the angry mod of demigods and gods could kill the stupid blonde, a note fluttered down.
Dear gods, goddesses, demigods, and mortals
As disheartening as we are sure it is you are not allowed to kill Octavian accidentally, intentionally, expectedly, or unexpectedly. Gods and goddesses are also not allowed to hurt him accidentally, intentionally, expectedly, or unexpectedly.
Fates
Apollo read out the note aloud.
Octavian blinked and only then realized what he had said. 'Oh, why do I do something like that every chapter?'
"You are so lucky." Thalia glared at him.
Every single occupant of the room glared at the roman legacy. Except for Sally, but she frowned at him, looking disappointed and displeased so it was just as bad if not worse.
Leo jumped to his feet, "People, people. Let's not cause a riot here. Instead, let me demonstrate some of my newly updated fully functional weaponized blue plastic hairbrush functions. I promise it will be worth your time"
Rachel side glanced at him, "You're going to use that mode?"
Leo grinned impishly. "Yup! But before that, can we all agree that the note only said not to kill him but not to not inflict severe near-but-not-enough-fatal injuries?"
Choruses of excited consent filled the air.
"Well, then!" Leo grinned like a Cheshire cat (a truly terrifying expression). "Octavian mode Level 1 activate."
Immediately the hairbrush in his hand whirled to life and buzzed for a few seconds before ejecting tiny, just big enough to break the skin even over some cloth, green spikes all over the upper edge.
"Wicked," Percy muttered, sensing some sort of liquid in them.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Sally's eyes widened at the projectile. "You can't hit him something like that just because he spoke against the camp. It's just a difference of opinion. Everyone likes their home better."
"But, mom, he didn't just speak against the camp." Percy protested. "He insulted the camp, Chiron and all the satyrs! And all the Greeks in general! And tries to destroy the camp and kill us all!"
Sally sigh. "I get it, dear, you're still angry that he tried to destroy your home in the future. But he hasn't done anything yet. Do you think it is right to hold grudge against him for something he hasn't even done yet?"
Percy wanted to argue but the thought of Luke made him pause.
"Fine but he insulted Camp Half-Blood now and even other than that there are plenty of things he did as Reyna mentioned during the previous chapter," Percy said stubbornly. "And he doesn't even want to listen to anything remotely nice about us. It's always he who picks the fight first."
"Mindset like his is the main reason Greeks and Romans could never get along," Reyna added.
While Sally was trying to prevent a massacre, the weaponized hairbrush in Leo's hand started buzzing loudly.
His eyes widened, "Oh, the time limit."
"Throw it!" Rachel exclaimed urgently.
Son of Hephaestus did just that. He threw it towards the person he was already aiming for.
He threw it at Octavian.
The hairbrush's tiny green spikes hit Octavian straight in the guts. He fell on the floor with something that sounded like a mixture of a cat screeching and a newborn baby crying. Just as he took hold of the hairbrush's handle, a small cylinder launched out flying a little above his head before promptly blowing up, effectively and completely covering him some sort of power.
The effect was instantaneous. Octavian screeched and began scratching himself all over.
Sally turned to raise an eyebrow at Leo.
"'Octavian mode' was already activated, it would have blown up at me if I hadn't thrown it! A voice-controlled self-defense mechanism in case an enemy got hold of it." Leo confessed as if he was a six-year-old caught eating illegal candy. "I wasn't particularly aiming for him! I just threw it in his general direction and it miraculously hit him! Not that I'm complaining about it or anything- I mean, I didn't mean to!"
"What happened to him?" Sally sighed as she looked back at the now very still blonde legacy, who was staring at the ceiling as if saying 'Is killing teddy bears really that big of a crime?'
"The paralyzing agent kicked in?" Rachel guessed.
Leo nodded.
"What exactly did you do?" Reyna asked slowly.
Leo's grin came back full force, "Those green spikes? They were load with a paralyzing agent. And the capsule that blew up? It was filled with itching powder. So he's itching all over but can't do anything about it. And that impact with spikes however small had to hurt."
"They hurt, you imbecile! And now I can't even scratch myself, you Latino elf!" Octavian yelled.
"Awesome," Frank muttered, ignoring the background noises the former Augur was emitting.
"You said Octavian mode, right?" Thalia asked. "What's that?"
"It's a special mode specially created for Octavian," Rachel answered as she walked over to the immobile blonde to pry her weapon out of his fingers. "It has different levels. With each level, the injury inflicted gets more brutal but never fatal. And as Leo said, it is voice-activated so we can ambush the enemy or monster if they ever get hold of it. There are, of course, more fatal options for monsters like the one I had suggested before with the celestial bronze spikes and the plastic casing."
"Neat." Annabeth nodded in approval.
"So, how long is he going to stay like that?" Sally asked.
"Yes, how long?" Octavian yelled and promptly fell silent with a terrified squeak when dozens of glares were directed his way.
"Oh, it'll wear off by the time we finish this chapter." Leo waved his hair dismissively.
"NOOOO!" A certain blonde wailed.
Hephaestus looked at his son proudly.
Dionysus wondered if he should give the Latino boy a severely dilated serum that makes the victim go hysteric for a specific amount of time.
Hermes looked like he was having time of his life.
Artemis wondered if she could convince Hephaestus to make arrows or darts like that. They sounded rather convenient to use on annoying males.
Other gods and goddesses had, once again, a single thought running through their minds, 'What is wrong with them?!'
Because the demigods were, once again, ignoring them quite casually.
Rude.
"How come he didn't make any weapons like that when we were on the quest?" Nico scowled lightly.
"He was quite busy with Festus and Argo ll." Hazel reminded her brother.
Leo's ears perked up, "I complete Argo ll?"
Hazel nodded.
Apollo cleared his throat. "As fun as it is to watch you all, let's continue with the chapter, shall we?"
Without waiting for an answer he continued.
Down at the end of the porch, two men sat … girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavoured pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.
"Popcorn flavored pudding…" Travis drooled.
The man facing me was small, but porky ... looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.
Dionysus's eye's narrowed at the son of Poseidon as gods and goddesses snickered or openly laughed. Demigods tried to be more discreet but they too were amused.
"What was that, Pancake Jam?" He asked in a dangerous tone. "So I look like a cherub?"
"What? I never said that!" Percy laughed nervously, not even calling him out on getting his name wrong on purpose, and trying to ignore the fact he had chosen 'Pancake' and 'Jam' this time, cuz that definitely didn't imply anything, nope, he was definitely imagining things (cuz 'pancake' and 'jam' definitely didn't remind him of 'SPLAT!'). "I didn't even write this book!"
"You thought it."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Hmm…" The god glared at the demigod but let it go. It was he who chose this appearance to spite his father, after all.
He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt … got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.
God of wine snorted, "As if that sorry excuse of a man could ever compare to me in any way."
'That's Mr D,' Grover murmured to me. 'He's the camp director. Be polite.
Hazel smiled, "When has Percy ever been polite?"
"Et Tu, Hazel?" Percy pouted.
The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Just a camper? Jeez, Grover. It isn't like we were best friends of anything."
Thalia squinted at her best friend, "Percy has rubbed off on you too, Annie. You didn't use to be this sassy."
"Sassiness is contagious." Annabeth nodded. "Extended exposure to Percy Jackson tends to do that a person."
Daughter of Athena and son of Poseidon high-fived.
but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron…'
He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.
First, I realized … the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.
'Mr Brunner!' I cried.
"You called him Mr. Brunner…" Connor started.
"Right after Grover called him Chiron?" Travis finished.
"With everything going on, my brain was in overdrive." Percy shrugged. "It was a lot to take in."
The Latin teacher turned and smiled … he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.
"That's a good strategy." Athena nodded.
"But if he does that more than a couple of times, won't everyone know that all the answers are gonna be B?" Piper asked.
"Not necessarily," Percy disagreed. "He did that sometimes just to confuse us."
'Ah, good, Percy,' he said. 'Now we have four for pinochle.'
He offered me a chair to the right of Mr D … Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you.'
Zeus frowned at Dionysus, "You're supposed to be working with them, at least welcome them properly."
Dionysus snorted, "I'm stuck with those annoying brats as a punishment. I don't have to take interest in them."
Zeus's frown deepened, "You have a chance to directly influence demigods' life! You don't have to make it sound like a chore!"
"The way I see it, Father, is you punishing me for the same things you wanted to do."
Apollo coughed, "Well, he's not exactly wrong."
And continued reading before the king of gods could say anything.
'Looks like even my children are ganging up on me now.' He thought sullenly.
'Uh, thanks.' I scooted a little … If Mr D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.
Zeus glared at the god of wine. For drinking alcohol.
'Annabeth?' Mr Brunner called to the blonde girl.
She came forward … 'This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy.
Aphrodite squealed.
Annabeth, my dear … We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now.'
"And that's why my cabin is always crowded." Hermes sigh.
Annabeth said, 'Sure, Chiron.'
She was probably my age, maybe a couple of centimetres taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking.
"Time when I towered above you." Annabeth shook her head mournfully. "Ah, the good days."
"You didn't tower above me!" Percy protested. "You were just a little bit taller."
Daughter of Athena hummed nonchalantly.
With her deep tan and her curly blonde hair … stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.
Aphrodite gasped.
("She way too invested in their relationship." Poseidon muttered. "Not good.")
"There's nothing wrong with my daughter's eyes!" Athena glared at Percy with a look that could best be described as 'lethal'.
"What?" Percy looked at her innocently, trying to hide his nervousness. "Of course not! They're beautiful."
"Smooth, Jackson. Smooth." Thalia chuckled.
Aphrodite squealed.
They were a startling grey … as if she were analysing the best way to take me down in a fight.
She glanced at the Minotaur horn … You killed a Minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.
All the demigods burst out laughing, including Percy.
"Were you still going with that stereotypical dumb blonde idea?" Annabeth chuckled.
"I don't even remember thinking half of this stuff. But I most definitely never thought of you as a dumb blonde." Percy smiled.
"So what did she say?" Aphrodite squeed.
Instead, she said, 'You drool when you sleep.'
Demigods cracked up again.
"You'd know all about that," Thalia smirked. "Playing his nurse and spoon-feeding him."
"Oh, shut up." Daughter of Athena rolled her eyes, her lips tugging into a smile.
Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blonde hair flying behind her.
"Oh, you two were made for each other!" Aphrodite gushed. "I can just see it! The red thread of fate connecting you two!"
"The what?" Percy blinked.
"It's something from Chinese mythology," Frank said. "Sort of like soulmates."
"Soulmates, huh?" Annabeth looked at her boyfriend before smirking. "I don't really mind."
Athena glared at Percy, as usual.
Octavian sobbed for no reason.
'So,' I said, anxious to change the subject. 'You, uh, work here, Mr Brunner?'
"It's still Mr. Brunner after Grover and Annabeth called him Chiron?" Leo asked.
"Overdrive." Percy reminded.
'So,' I said … You, uh, work here, Mr Brunner?'
'Not Mr Brunner ... You may call me Chiron.'
'Okay.' Totally confused … Mr D… does that stand for something?'
Mr D stopped shuffling the cards … names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason.'
"I don't think we ever followed that bit of advice after our first quest." Annabeth mused.
"We were quite casual with names during the Giant war," Percy murmured.
"No wonder Gaia woke up." Stoll brothers sweatdropped.
"Nah. That was because of my nosebleed. Give me some credit!"
"And that's something to be proud of?" Nico deadpanned.
'Oh. Right. Sorry.'
'I must say, Percy,' Chiron … glad to see you alive … long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time.'
"That's why he's glad Percy's alive?" Jason raised an eyebrow.
"Probably didn't want to lose a student before he even introduced himself for real," Thalia said. "Sort of a coping mechanism, maybe?"
'House call?'
'My year at Yancy Academy … other Latin teacher to… ah, take a leave of absence.'
I tried to remember the beginning … without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr Brunner had taken the class.
"Mist?" Hazel asked.
"Most probably." Thalia shrugged.
'You came to Yancy just to teach me?' I asked.
"Still don't see why…" Dionysus grumbled.
Chiron nodded … contacted your mother, let her know … in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood.
Sally nodded, "I appreciate that."
But you still had so much to learn … you made it here alive, and that's always the first test.'
"I'd say it's the most important test," Percy said. "Right after staying alive even after making it to the camp."
"That's right." Thalia frowned, crossing her arms. "But at least you made it to the camp alive. Not everyone does."
"Oh, cheer up." Annabeth bumped the huntress's shoulder. "Technically, you never died, you were turned into a tree before you did. And now, you're back to yourself." And you saved my life that night, remained unsaid, but understood.
"Hmm. I guess."
They let her be, knowing it was the best they were going to get out of her.
Sally glanced at the timer on the oven and smiled. 'Just a little while longer…'
She knew just the remedy for all the gloom and doom.
'Grover,' Mr D said impatiently, 'are you playing or not?'
'Yes, sir!' Grover trembled … why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.
"Would you be liked to turn into a dolphin, Pop-Tart Jelly-Doughnut?"
"Noo!" Percy cried.
Though what it was for, being turned into a dolphin or the new dessert name, nobody knew.
"Come on," Son of Poseidon continued. "It's not like I knew my mind was going to be projected to everyone! Can we please ignore and not take offense to any unflattering description I might have come up with?"
Of course, Percy knew how tall an order it was for Olympians but he had to at least try. If they were going to threaten to kill him at every single minor offense even when they were specifically ordered by fates not to do so they were never going to get past their first quest let alone all the others.
Dionysus sniffed and turned back to his magazine, muttering something about 'stupid punishment' and 'being stuck with brats'.
'Wait, did that actually work?!' Percy stared at the camp director in shock. He didn't exactly expect that to work.
'You do know how to play pinochle?' Mr D eyed me suspiciously.
'I'm afraid not,' I said.
'I'm afraid not, sir,' he said.
'Sir,' I repeated.
"Percy being polite?" Thalia said in mock surprise, her eyes twinkling with humor.
I was liking the camp director less and less.
"Nope." Daughter of Zeus said cheerfully. "I take that back."
"The feeling is mutual." God of wine said.
'Well … along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented … expect all civilized young men to know the rules.'
"Most people don't," Dionysus grumbled.
"It isn't exactly the most popular pass time." Hermes pointed out.
"I don't even know anyone who plays it anymore," Rachel added.
"Except Mr. D." Percy reminded.
"Except Mr. D." Rachel agreed.
"Chiron plays it too!" The camp director protested.
"Yes, but he only plays it to keep you company." Travis grinned.
"It doesn't count." Connor nodded sagely.
'I'm sure the boy can learn,' Chiron said.
'Please,' I said, 'what is this place … you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?'
Dionysus snorted, "I asked the same thing."
Apollo spared him an amused glance.
Mr D snorted. 'I asked the same question.'
Chuckled filled the room.
God of wine rolled his eyes, half dropping his pretense of not paying attention to the reading, the magazine in his hands still claiming half his attention.
The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.
Chiron smiled at me sympathetically … He expected me to have the right answer.
Athena nodded, "It's always easier to believe when you reach the conclusion yourself."
'Percy,' he said. 'Did your mother tell you nothing?'
Sally frowned lightly, "Would telling you about everything really change things that much?"
"No," Percy answered honestly. "Not really. Other than saving me from the initial confusion, it wouldn't really change anything."
"Actually, things might've changed for worse if you did tell him." Nico crossed his arms. "If he knew the truth, his demigod scent would have been stronger and that pig of a man's scent might not overpower it. Other than that, if you told him the truth about his father and the word somehow got out, it would have been disastrous."
"That's good to hear." Sally nodded. "Because I don't regret my decision."
'She said…' I remembered … She wanted to keep me close to her.'
'Typical,' Mr D said. 'That's how they usually get killed.
Poseidon glared at the god.
Young man, are you bidding or not?'
'What?' I asked.
He explained … bid in pinochle, and so I did.
'I'm afraid there's too much to tell … orientation film won't be sufficient.'
"You have an orientation film?" Sally asked.
"Yeah, we do?" Leo looked up from the project he was working on. (It's Anti-Aphrodite-Shriek-Earplugs.)
"We-" Annabeth was cut off by Apollo.
"Yes! And it's awesome!" He exclaimed. "I had personally written, directed, produced, hosted, and starred in it!"
"It's horrible." Nico deadpanned.
"Traumatizing." Percy shuddered.
"And cringey," Rachel added.
"It's sixty years old," Thalia carried on.
"I wouldn't wish that on any camper," Connor said.
"Especially not a newbie," Travis said.
"We used to have an orientation film." Annabeth scowled at the god of the sun. "But it was, as Thalia said, sixty years old and a lot has changed. So we, demigods, wrote Camp Half-Blood Confidential, a definitive guide to life at the camp, complete with the lay of the land and inside, the behind-the-scenes scoop on just about everything."
"It's a whole lot better than that film." Percy nodded sagely.
"But…" God of sun' shoulders sagged.
"Don't worry." Rachel smiled at the god. "It still features you."
Apollo's face lit up like a bulb. "Of course! It would be incomplete without me!"
"We didn't get Camp Half-Blood Confidential either." Jason thought out aloud.
"We write it after the Giant War," Annabeth informed.
"A guide…" Reyna mused. "That's not a bad idea."
"Actually, not long after we write Camp Half-Blood Confidential, you and Frank re-print a legionnaire's journal, with their permission, of course. But it's as good as a guide." Percy nodded towards the praetor.
"A guide does sound nice," Hazel remarked.
Frank concurred.
Octavian wails. But it almost sounds like the sound of agreement. Almost.
"Enough!" Zeus boomed. "You can discuss these trivial matters during the lunch break!"
Honestly, it was a miracle he had even let them finish the conversation.
'Orientation film?' I asked.
'No,' Chiron decided.
"Chiron did you a favor." Nico nodded.
"I remember you liking it when you first saw it." Thalia glanced at her cousin sideways.
The son of Hades frowned, "I was ten years old. I used to like lots of stupid things."
'Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know –' he pointed to the horn in the shoebox – 'that you have killed a Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad.
"Hey, do you think Mr. D doesn't really like me-" Percy whispered furiously.
"Mr. D doesn't like anyone, Kelp Head." Thalia interrupted.
"Yeah, I know, I know." Son of Poseidon waved it off. "I mean more than usual. He only started disliking me to the normal extent after Pollux."
"You sure about that? He did help with that Manticore."
"That's because I said 'please'. And he knew things would be completely screwed up if we died and that quest failed."
"Hm. True. Continue."
"So anyway, as I was saying, it's because I killed a Minotaur just like Theseus. Theseus, my half-brother, who dumped Ariadne, Mr. D's now-wife, after he used her. He does hate all heroes just because of Theseus, so I guess the parallels just make him not like me more."
"It isn't implausible."
They both snuck a glance at the wine god, who was still pretending to read his magazine.
They shrugged in unison.
The two children of Big Three knew while it wasn't implausible, it did have its holes. Mr. D pretends he doesn't care about campers but he did cure Chris of his insanity even when he had switched sides. He gave Percy more advice than he ever gave to any other demigod. He can pretend he doesn't like 'Peter Johnson' but they both know they have mutual respect between them.
What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods – the forces you call the Greek gods – are very much alive.'
"Way to be blunt, Chiron." Annabeth sigh.
I stared at the others around the table.
I waited … yell, Not! … Mr D yelling, 'Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!' He cackled as he tallied up his points.
'Mr D,' Grover … eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?'
'Eh? Oh, all right.'
Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminium can and chewed it mournfully.
The soft ping of the oven timer filled the room.
"Cookies are ready!" Sally made her way to the oven and pulled out a tray full of warm, delicious, blue chocolate chip cookies.
Cheers filled the room as the delicious smell filled the room, making all mouths water and many of the demigods jumped to their feet.
"Let them cool for a minute, otherwise they'll break." Blue-eyed mortal said, putting in another tray full of cookie dough in the already preheated oven.
Aww's filled the room but nobody complained.
'Wait,' I told Chiron. 'You're telling me there's such a thing as God.'
"Gods." Thalia corrected absently.
'Well, now,' Chiron said. 'God – capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical.'
Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows as a nagging thought formed…
'Metaphysical? But you were just talking about –'
'Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter.'
"Smaller!?" Zeus burst out.
"Hold on a second." Daughter of Athena muttered. "Metaphysical, smaller…"
"Metaphysical? It's a branch of philosophy, right?" Percy asked, ignoring Zeus. "One that deals with abstract concepts."
At his girlfriend's nod and his fellow demigod's bewildered stare, he was quick to defend himself. "What? I've been studying for my SATS."
"Mother, gods exist because of the collective consciousness of mortals and worshipers, correct?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes, that is correct." Athena raises an eyebrow as to ask why she was asking such basic questions. "We move from place to place, wherever the convergence point of our power is at its highest."
"So basically, metaphysical concepts put into power. Percy," The blond demigod called out. "You remember Magnus, right? And Sadie and Carter? Didn't they say something like that for their Pantheon too?"
"Uh, yeah."
Annabeth nodded, "So if Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Norse all exist on the same principle, what's to say all other Pantheon don't exist as well?"
Gods shifted uncomfortably, not liking where that was going.
'Wait what?' Most of the demigods thought.
'Hold on, did she just mention Egyptians and Norse?' A few of the gods caught on.
Octavian shrieked. "ENEMIES! I WANT TO SCRATCH MYSELF! MORE ENEMIES!"
"It's possible." Percy agreed, remembering the time an Inuit Indian had helped him out in his quest and told him about Inuit gods. That time he had just put it out of his head, with everything going on but now…
"And if that means all the other Pantheon exist, what's to say God doesn't exist? God, with capital 'G' and no 'S' at the end. I mean, the metaphysical concept of a monotheistic God is the most popular one among mortals.
And going with the same belief, it can be said that gods' powers are also extended only to the extend mortals believe they can exercise, not the other way around. So it can be assumed that God is the strongest of them all considering the popularity of monotheistic religions." Annabeth concluded.
"That explains why Chiron called Olympians 'smaller matter'." Percy agreed, before realizing- "Wait, does that mean Chiron already knows about this?!"
"I wouldn't put it past him. He already did know about Romans. And I bet he knows about Egyptians and Norse too."
"Hold on, hold on," Thalia said, wide-eyed. "Back up. Egyptians? Norse? God? What the Hera are you talking about?"
"The same way-"
"No! I got the explanation!" Thalia cut off the grey-eyed blond, with a frustrated sigh.
"I think what she means is how you know those things about the other two Pantheon. How do you know they exist?" Reyna frowned.
"Answer her, girl," Zeus growled, his hand itching for his master blot. 'Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.' His mind played in a loop.
"We know some people from the respective Pantheons." Annabeth frowned, unwilling to divulge much information about her friends, Zeus wasn't exactly the most trustworthy individual, not when he was all paranoid. "We're on good terms."
"When did you meet them?" Frank asked curiously.
"We ran into them on a quest and a funeral." Percy answered, and after a moment's thought added, "After Giant war."
Hades and Nico raised an eyebrow.
"A funeral?" Hazel blinked.
"Funny story, that one." Percy smirked, glancing at the blond sitting beside him.
"And why didn't we…" Connor pouted.
"Ever hear about it?" Travis pouted.
"Because even though we're on good terms, it's still dangerous. We almost had a war with the Romans. Pantheon should stay separate." Annabeth groaned, burying her face in her hands. "And I just foolishly when ahead and let out that secret, I'm so stupid."
Percy patted his girlfriend's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. We're literally reading about the future."
Daughter of Athena looked at him gratefully.
"Percy, tell us exactly what happened. A war with another Pantheon could be catastrophic." Poseidon insisted.
"There won't be any war!" Percy frowned. "We're on good terms! And like only we knew about them, only the ones we met know about us too."
"And how would you know about that?" Athena challenged. "Mixing of Pantheon is a delicate matter. Even the slightest offenses can result in wars. Why do you think we kept Greeks and Romans separate for so many centuries?!"
'War doesn't sound so bad.' Ares thought, grinning internally.
"Why is this even necessary? Future is obviously going to change and the events that led to us meeting them most likely won't even happen." Annabeth challenged right back.
"We don't know how this is going to change the future." Athena frowned.
"Well then we can listen to what George and Martha have to say on time travel and if it affects the current timeline, we'll tell you more about it." Annabeth proposed, crossing her arms. "Otherwise, it's just a waste of time."
Before any god (or goddess) could protest, Hestia spoke up. "That is a fair proposition."
Hestia raised an eyebrow to her brother's complaints, "I do not see why we shouldn't accept it. If the future events do change, then what has already happened between demigods and the other Pantheons is of no concern to us, seeing that will never come to pass."
There was a beat of awkward silence, nobody saying anything, before Sally said, "Have a cookie, it will help you process everything."
As if someone flipped a switch, the room was, once again, filled with cheers.
But the first batch was only big enough for all the demigods and half the gods to get one cookie each.
"It's incredible." Hazel sigh.
"Best cookies ever." Frank praised.
"Best cookie? Best food item I've ever tasted." Jason admired.
"These are simply incredible." Reyna commended.
"Are cookies even allowed to be this delicious?" Piper said around her cookie.
"This is better than nectar or ambrosia," Leo said giddily.
"And you get to taste this every time you have ambrosia or nectar?!" Travis exclaimed.
"Man, I am so jealous." Connor pouted.
"Marry me." Apollo proposed, only for Poseidon and Percy to yell, "STAY AWAY FROM HER!"
"Are you sure you aren't the goddess of cookies?" Hermes asked.
"These are quite delicious." Artemis complimented.
"ALL HAIL BLUE COOKIES!" Percy acclaimed.
"ALL HAIL BLUE COOKIES!" All who tasted it saluted.
Zeus stared at the blue crumbs doubtfully. 'They can't be that delicious.'
Sally smiled and politely accepted the praise. "The next batch will be done by lunchtime. I'll bake more then."
And as it turns out, Sally was right. The cookies did help them process everything.
Without any more protests or complaints, they continued.
'Smaller!'
Zeus looked at the book disdainfully.
'Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class.'
'Zeus,' I said. 'Hera. Apollo. You mean them.'
Apollo's tone took a smug turn.
And there it was again – distant thunder on a cloudless day.
"You really don't have to keep doing that every time someone says anyone's name." Poseidon rolled his eyes.
'Young man,' said Mr D. 'I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you.'
'But they're stories … myths, to explain lightning and the seasons … people believed before there was science.'
"Well, by all accounts, many of science's theories are metaphysical." Annabeth mused.
'Science!' Mr D scoffed. 'And tell me, Perseus Jackson –'
Percy snapped his fingers, "That's right! You had called me by my name that time!"
Dionysus rolled his eyes, "What are you talking about, Plum Jam-Cookie?"
"You're hungry, we get it." Percy crossed his arms defiantly. "But blue chocolate chip cookies are still the best."
I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody.
"Speaking of which," Poseidon looked at Sally. "Why did you name Percy after my brother's son?"
Sally shrugged, "He was the only hero who had a happy ending."
'– what will people think of your "science" two thousand years from now?'
"That's a topic for debate," Leo said enthusiastically, tinkering with Anti-Aphrodite-Shriek-Earplugs.
Mr D continued. 'Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals – they have absolutely no sense of perspective.
"Hey! That's not true. We did come this far didn't we?" Rachel protested before remembering gods didn't know she was a complete mortal. And she was not in the mood to explain why she was here. Gods didn't know about the curse on Oracle of Delphi, after all. Maybe later…
Fortunately, they didn't see it that way.
They think they've come so~o~o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me.'
I wasn't liking Mr D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if… he wasn't.
"Of course I'm not a mortal." The god of wine, who was most defiantly not a mortal, grumbled.
It was enough to put a lump in my throat … chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.
"Always trust your instincts." Jason nodded.
'Percy,' Chiron said … but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying?
"Technically, gods can still fade away, right?" Hazel asked.
Hermes nodded.
Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?'
"Sounds boring, actually," Frank muttered, earning some raised eyebrows.
"Life only has meaning because it ends." He repeated his father's words.
Percy nodded enthusiastically.
"That's deep." Apollo scratched his chin. "I feel like a haiku coming-"
"Apollo…" Artemis called out to her brother warningly.
"Fine! Fine! No haiku!" The god of the sun sigh, "No appreciation for art."
I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal
"It doesn't." Percy's eyes flicked between his mother, his girlfriend, and his friends. "Imagine living in a world where everyone I care about is dead."
Annabeth smiled, "I know."
"Is that why you don't really interact with your children?" Piper asked with a tilt of her head.
"Among other reasons," Aphrodite answered, her voice laced with regret and a hundred unspoken apologies. "And there are the ancient rules we have to follow."
Her daughter nodded in understanding.
(Octavian kept yelling, "IMMORTALITY! I'M ITCHING ALL OVER! IMMORTALITY SOUNDS GOOD!" in the background, not that anyone was paying attention but Rachel silenced him with a threatening wave of her weaponized hairbrush anyway.)
but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.
'You mean, whether people believed in you or not,' I said.
Hades grumbled something about 'unbelievers' and 'having to do the job anyway'.
Nico sympathized.
'Exactly,' Chiron agreed … someday people would call you a myth … to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?'
"That's harsh." Sally frowned.
"He needed to make me empathize. Get an emotional response, those always work the best." Percy said.
My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him.
"Perspective." Reyna praised.
I said, 'I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods.'
'Oh, you'd better,' Mr D murmured. 'Before one of them incinerates you.'
Poseidon glared at the wine god.
Grover said, 'P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock.'
"Naturally." Queen of Olympus muttered under her breath. "Such a fine woman too."
Sally winced at the reminder that she was apparently dead.
'A lucky thing, too,' Mr D … Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe!'
"It's your own fault." Zeus boomed.
"I didn't do anything you haven't done before," Dionysus grumbled.
"He's not wrong, you know," Hades smirked.
Apollo continued before his father could pop a vein.
He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table … The goblet filled itself with red wine.
"DIONYSUS!" The said god's father thundered.
"Well, I am the god of wine."
"Don't give me the cheek! It's your punishment!"
The wine god just rolled his eyes, knowing his father was too prideful to admit defeat.
My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.
'Mr D,' he warned, 'your restrictions.'
Mr D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.
'Dear me.' He looked at the sky and yelled, 'Old habits! Sorry!'
"Old habits, I'm sure," Zeus grumbled. "Even the boy could read you."
More thunder.
"You really need to calm down." Poseidon sigh
Mr D waved his hand again … changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily … and went back to his card game.
"Oh, this explains that tribute with Diet Coke," Hazel said softly.
"Diet Coke was just a part of it," Frank muttered.
Chiron winked at me. 'Mr D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits.'
Hera glared sharply at her husband. "And just why was that wood nymph declared off-limits?"
Zeus turned red, laughing nervously. "Ahh… She was really pretty, you see, and…"
"And?" His wife continued frostily.
"And I was protecting her?" The king of gods finished somewhat lamely, making it sound like a question.
"Protecting her?" His wife repeated, clearly not buying it for a second.
"That has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard," Dionysus stated blankly.
"Yeah." Hermes agreed, looking at his father a bit disappointedly. 'Come on, you can at least lie better!'
"Admit it already, brother," Poseidon said.
"It's not like we don't know the reason," Hades added.
"Stop ganging up on me already!" Zeus exclaimed. "Apollo, read."
While his wife didn't complain, she sent him an icy look that clearly read 'We're not done here.'
'A wood nymph,' I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.
"I was seriously contemplating that," Percy admitted.
'Yes,' Mr D confessed. 'Father loves to punish me.
"That's not true." God of thunder protested.
"Then tell me when was the last time you punished someone else?" God of wine asked. "Everyone has disobeyed you at least once, how come all of them got away with it while my punishment lasts decades?"
"That's-"
"Not untrue." Thalia cut off her father. "You broke the oath twice and you punished Mr. D for chasing after a wood nymph?" Then added. "Not that I'm belittling the wood nymph."
"They've got a point, father," Athena said calmly.
Hera glares at her husband murderously.
Apollo noticing the mounting fury in his stepmother quickly starts reading.
The first time, Prohibition … Ha! Absolutely unfair.'
Mr D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.
"You have to admit, he's not wrong." Hermes grinned at the wine god. "You do sound like a pouting six-year-old."
The god of wine continued reading his magazine, giving no indication he even heard what the god of thieves just said.
'And…' I stammered, 'your father is…'
'Di immortales, Chiron,' Mr D said. 'I thought you taught this boy the basics.
"He did." Percy shrugged. "My brain was already in overdrive and 'the gods are real and alive', as Chiron had so bluntly put it, certainly didn't help."
My father is Zeus, of course.'
I ran through D names from Greek mythology.
"There aren't many, to begin with," Rachel noted.
Wine. The skin of a tiger … The way Grover cringed as if Mr D were his master.
'At least the sea spawn is observant.' Athena thought, glaring at the said sea spawn.
'You're Dionysus,' I said. 'The god of wine.'
"Obviously." Dionysus, the god of wine, muttered. "A god of wine not allowed to have any wine."
Mr D rolled his eyes. 'What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, "Well, duh!"?'
'Y-yes, Mr D.'
'Then, "Well, duh!" Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?'
"Not for a second." Percy clarified.
"Of course not!" The goddess of love seemed to have calmed down after there were no more 'Percabeth' scenes to fangirl about.
'You're a god.'
'Yes, child.'
'A god. You.'
Demigods winced.
"There you go again." Hazel sigh.
"Politeness streak could only last for so long." Travis nodded sagely.
"It's Percy we're talking about, after all!" Connor added.
Dionysus just rolled his eyes.
He turned to look at me straight on … I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust
'That time on the beach with Manticore.' Percy's mind flashed.
sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts.
'Chrysaor.'
I knew that if I pushed him … plant disease in my brain … straitjacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.
"Dionysus!" Poseidon snapped, glaring daggers at the wine god.
The wine god frowned, "I haven't done anything yet."
And he knew he wouldn't have done anything like that either. Making a camper go crazy would probably only extend his punishment. And he wasn't interested in making any camper go deranged anyway.
Sally glared at the god.
"Yet?" She questioned.
Dionysus frowned. The woman sure was something, having the courage to question a god to their face. His uncle had chosen well.
"I wouldn't have done it anyway." He said. "It's just easier to make them believe that way."
"Then perhaps think of some non-traumatizing methods to do so?"
Yes, he could definitely see what tempted his uncle to break his oath.
'Would you like to test me, child?' he said quietly.
'No. No, sir.'
"'No, sir.'" Thalia's eyebrows shot up. "Is that politeness I'm hearing?"
"Oh, shut up." Percy rolled his eyes. "I can be polite when I want to be or I think I should be."
"Sure but that's the thing, isn't it? You never want to be polite."
"Touché."
The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. 'I believe I win.'
"You won against Chiron?" Hermes raised an eyebrow. "That'll be the day."
'Not quite, Mr D,' Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, 'The game goes to me.'
"That's more like it."
"Chiron is like the unbeatable pinochle master," Apollo commented before turning to look towards Dionysus. "You've never won against him, have you?"
A grunt was all the answer he got.
I thought Mr D was going to vaporize Chiron … as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher.
The god of wine muttered something under his breath gloomily.
He got up, and Grover rose, too.
'I'm tired,' Mr D … Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment.'
"Less than perfect?" Sally asked. "But he brought Percy to the camp alive."
"I said the same thing," Percy answered. "But apparently when the Council of Cloven Elders says 'perfect' they literally mean everything going without a hitch."
Annabeth nodded, frowning, "The fact Grover was unconscious and Percy was carrying when they crossed the camp borders went against his case. So did the fact you had 'died'." She said making air quotes at the word 'died'.
"I see." Sally frowned.
Mr D turned to me. 'Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners.'
Before anyone could say anything, Percy spoke up. "Yeah, yeah. I get it already."
"The lesson's finally sinking in," Nico said with a ghost of a smile.
He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.
'Will Grover be okay?' I asked Chiron.
Chiron nodded … another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus.'
"Only time I'm allowed to be home is during those stupid meetings." The god of wine grumbled.
'Mount Olympus,' I said. 'You're telling me there really is a palace there?'
"Used to be." Hermes shrugged.
'Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece … but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do.'
"Palace moves…" Piper muttered. "That just sounds weird."
Leo's eyes lit up, "Moving palaces!"
His hands were a blur as he pocketed his half-finished Anti-Aphrodite-Shriek-Earplugs and pulled out some pipe cleaners, rubber bands, and some Lego wheels from his tool belt to make the typical Disney palace with wheels at the bottom.
Jason sigh, "Too much sugar."
'You mean the Greek gods are here? Like… in America?'
'Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West.'
"That almost sounds romantic," Aphrodite muttered.
'The what?'
'Come now … "Western civilization" … a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years.
"I thought he said he wasn't going to deal with metaphysical." Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows.
"He did say that, didn't he?" Percy shrugged. "I got quite the speech anyway."
The gods are part of it … they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated.
"Before the invention of the internet, it was still possible for us to fade if every single mortal were to magically forget all about us," Athena said. "Internet basically made sure the knowledge would never we lost."
Apollo agreed to the sentiment, "Wikipedia is a wonderful thing."
The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know – or as I hope you know, since you passed my course
"I did know." Percy clarified.
the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names … but the same forces, the same gods.'
Jaws dropped open all around.
"He practically told you Roman gods existed all the way back then!" Thalia looked at the book in disbelief.
"What the Hera?!" Percy exclaimed. "I knew about that all along?"
"And I suppose you just forgot about that bit of information after the conversation?" Reyna asked calmly.
"See, this is why you should never tell important information like that to me when my brain is already in overdrive!" Percy continued. "I don't think I ever focused on that part in the first place. I was still stuck on the 'Gods are alive and real' part."
"It would have been helpful when Jason arrived but now it's pretty much useless anyway." Annabeth sigh. "Both the parties know about each other."
"CRUSH THE GREEKS! CRUSH THE GREEKS!" Octavian wailed.
Reyna, sitting closest to him, kicked him where the sun doesn't shine after a moment's hesitation.
"OUCH! IT ITCHES! OUCH!"
He was Octavian. He deserved it.
A few of the males who watched the display cringed.
"The chapter's almost finished." Apollo glanced at the next page.
'And then they died.'
'Died? No. Did the West die? … They spent several centuries in England.
"Hey, do you think Harry Potter is real?" Annabeth asked idly.
Rachel snorted, "Who knows? But I thought you didn't like Harry Potter."
"I don't." Annabeth shrugged. "Just curious."
Apollo looked at the red-haired mortal intrigued. She gave him different vibes from the rest of the demigods.
All you need to do is look at the architecture … you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings.
Annabeth nodded in agreement.
And yes, Percy … Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center,
"An automaton?" Percy asked.
"Maybe." Annabeth shrugged. "He did plant them all over the city."
the Greek facades of your government buildings … plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome,
"Understatement of the century." Nico rolled his eyes.
Octavian wailed.
either – America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here.'
"Why didn't I ever get an explanation like that?" Rachel pouted.
"I didn't get a speech like that either." Nico crossed his arms.
"Because both the time monsters were attacking," Percy replied. "But you got slashed by my sword, Rachel, and Nico, you saw the orientation film, so all good, right?"
"You slashed me with your sword!"
("You slashed your friend with a sword?!" Sally turned towards her son wide-eyed.
"No, mom! It was an accident. And it didn't really hurt her!" Her son hastily explained.)
"You're calling that monstrosity 'all good'?"
"Okay, fair points." Son of Poseidon raised his hands in surrender. "But if you wanted a proper explanation, you should have gone to Chiron."
"Guess, that's true."
"Whatever."
It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.
"Welcome to the club." Annabeth smiled.
'Who are you, Chiron? Who… who am I?'
"Careful, Kelp Head." Thalia laughed. "Your dramatic side is showing."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "You do realize it has already happened for me?"
Daughter of Zeus shrugged.
Chiron smiled … as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair … He was paralysed from the waist down.
'Who are you … toasted marshmallows at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore them.'
"Don't we all?" Travis drooled.
"Marshmallows." Connor agreed.
Many of the stomachs in the room rumbled.
Apollo empathized. "Only half a page left."
And then he did rise from his wheelchair … I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear
Everyone in the room burst out laughing.
"How does your brain even come up with all that?!" Hazel giggled.
"Power of awesome." Percy flipped his hair.
"Sure. Whatever you say."
Frank blinked before grinning wide. "You were right, Annabeth. Sassiness truly is contagious."
Annabeth grinned in response.
but as he kept rising out of the chair … I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear
Chuckles filled the room once again.
"Don't let Chiron hear that." Piper laughed.
it was the front of an animal … and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.
I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair … my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.
"Horse…" Thalia snorted.
'What a relief,' the centaur said … come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers.'
"That's the chapter." Apollo closed the book.
Cheers filled the room.
'Only two tries at haikus.' Artemis thought. 'Not bad.'
"I'll set up the lunch table outside." Demeter offered.
"Finally, some answers and some food," Annabeth muttered.
As if these words triggered something, Rachel's eyes turned misty green for a fraction of a second. When she blinked, they were back to normal.
She put on a cheery smile and walked over to the Stoll brothers, who were just about to blot out of the room.
"We need to have a little chat." She said with exaggerated cheer. "I know."
They both paled.
"Name your price," Connor asked quickly.
The Oracle grinned, "Now we're talking."
As everyone walked out of the room, a small group composed of gods and demigods walked particularly slow, forming a group.
"We might have to change the plans a bit," Travis stated nervously.
As they explained the situation, Hermes frowned thoughtfully.
"Yes." He said. "But we should be fine. Just a bit of tweaking and we should be fine…"
After everyone was outside, in the gardens, Apollo suddenly realized something.
"Hold on a second," He turned towards Hermes. "How did your son say the girl came to know about our plans again?"
The god of thieves blinked, "He didn't."
Sooo, was the wait worth it? I'm not particularly happy with this chapter but I do like some specific parts. And this chapter is filled with Easter eggs and references. How many of them did you catch? Like almost all the breaks have at least one or two Easter eggs.
Other than those two questions, which interruption/break was your favorite?
For the next update, I don't know if I'll be able to finish the chapter in May but I'll try. If not, there's always June. A lot's going on in life and my school has deemed us free 24/7 and bestowed upon us tons of projects. Also, I'm going to regularly update my profile with the word count progress of my chapter, so you can keep tabs there.
Don't forget to tell me what you think about the new cover page!
Reply to reviews.
addindanishah93: Thank you! What did you think of the explanations of this chapter? The metaphysical discussion, in particular.
xxPercyRoxxx: Thank you! Yeah, I tried not to go too far this time. I'll be addressing more of that joke problem in the future.
Evanora Emrys: Haha! Glad you like it! What about this one?
Believer1991: Thank you! I often think Sally is overshadowed. I just wanted to give her a moment.
lilyemma: Thank you so much! Your review had really made my day! Glad you enjoyed it! What about this one? This one was harder to make funny with all the depressing stuff at the start. I hope I did well! 😊
Guest (ch 7, Feb 18): Glad you enjoyed it! Please do leave a name next time so I can thank you properly!
Guest (ch 5, Feb 18): Thank you for pointing that out! I've changed it. And learned something!
: Thank you! Yes, I do plan on doing all the books. Though just the thought of reaching that far is daunting! I'll try my best!
11Geronimo (ch 2): Haha. Your comment was the only one that actually made me laugh. Just wondering if you even read past that chapter. There aren't any math-related jokes in the (foreseeable) future, I swear! 😊
ZacksterMcaster: Thank you and sorry to make you wait! How did you like this chapter?
Anam Rafiq: Our fandom really hates Octavian, doesn't it? There isn't a single vote for redeeming him! Haha. Just the way I like it!