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【】
Rick Riordan,
Writer of Percy Jackson,
What have you done?
You killed Jason!
Everyone settled into their seats as Hestia took the book.
"Chapter 21- I SETTLE MY TAB" she read.
"Well, that's assuring." Poseidon muttered.
It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.
"Yeah. It really is." Travis said. All the demigods who had fought in the Titan War shared a knowing look. They had fought a full-fledged battle in Manhattan which had almost destroyed the city, and the mortals had put it down to a series of freak storms. They had excellent compatibility issues.
Chiron had told me that long ago. As usual, I didn't appreciate his wisdom until much later.
"That happens to all of us demigods." Katie sighed.
According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. ...
This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted me and two other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.
Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal after all.
...
(and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus-"Why didn't I remember him before?").
Several people let out laughs.
The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. ... Finally, brave Percy Jackson (I was beginning to like this kid)
Annie smacked Percy Junior on the head. "Don't let it get to your head." She told him.
had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. ... Percy Jackson and his two friends were safely in police custody.
The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.
"That shouldn't have bene hard. You were victimized, after all." Thalia muttered.
"All I want," I said, choking back my tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew ... somehow ... we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number."
Everyone turned to stare at Percy Senior, who gave them a sheepish grin.
Then everyone burst into hysterics.
"Awesome!" Leo burst.
"That would give him quite a kick in the podex." Frank mused.
"I love this dude!" Apollo exclaimed.
"Dude, you ever need any help, come to me. I'll give you whatever you want for free!" Hermes offered.
The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to New York.
I knew there was no choice but to fly. I hoped Zeus would cut me some slack, considering the
circumstances.
"Ha! As if." Poseidon snorted.
But it was still hard to force myself on board the flight.
Takeoff was a nightmare. ... we touched down safely at La Guardia.
"I feel you, kelp head." Thalia muttered nervously to both the Percys.
"How would you know ?" Percy Junior asked the daughter of Zeus.
Um, let's keep reading." Thalia said quickly.
The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then rejoined us at baggage claim.
Annabeth patted her Yankees cap fondly, then frowned as she remembered that it wasn't supposed to be working.
We split up at the taxi stand. I told Annabeth and Grover to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron
know what had happened.
"I hated you for that. Sending me away and facing Zeus alone. I was worrying out of my mind till you returned." Annabeth muttered to Percy Senior. "I hated it too. I too was worried out of my mind." Percy Senior agreed.
They protested, and it was hard to let them go after all we'd been through, but I knew I had to do this last part of the quest by myself. If things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe me ... I wanted Annabeth and Grover to survive to tell Chiron the truth.
...
Thirty minutes later, I walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building.
I must have looked like a homeless kid,
...
I hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours.
I went up to the guard at the front desk and said, "Six hundredth floor."
Percy Senior turned to Zeus. "Can't you tell him to let atleast demigods returning from quests come in. We deserve it."
"I'll consider that." Zeus said with an indignant expression. He didn't like being told what to do by a kid.
He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front.
"Hary Potter. Phil likes Harry Potter." Annabeth said.
"How do you know his name is Phil?" Percy asked with raised eyebrows.
"I am the architect of Olympus, seaweed brain." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Right."
I wasn't much into fantasy,
...
"No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."
"Oh, I think he'll make an exception."
...
The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder, not getting what it was for a few seconds. Then his face went pale. "That isn't..."
"Yes, it is," I promised. "You want me take it out and-"
"He certainly knows how to threaten people too." Hermes mused.
" No! No!" He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me.
"Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."
"Threatening your way into my house. Unacceptable."Zeus muttered under his breath."
"I agree. I should have just taken the bolt with me. Would've saved a lot of trouble."Percy Senior joked.
Zeus scowled.
I did as he told me. ...
Muzak played. "Raindrops keep falling on my head..."
"Dude. You seriously need to select something better for that elevator." Percy Senior told Apollo. Apollo nodded.
Zeus scowled again. It was true that Apollo needed to select something better for the elevator, but who was this sea spawn to tell Apollo that? Zeus was the king. Zeus should be giving the orders.
Finally, ding. The doors slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack.
I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air.
...
Look again, my brain said.
We're looking, my eyes insisted. It's really there.
A few snickers and chuckles. Athena smirked. It had been her idea, after all.
From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, ... It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago.
Athena nodded her head proudly.
This place can't be here, I told myself.
...
But here it was. And here I was.
My trip through Olympus was a daze.
...
Nobody seemed
worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood.
"Of course they were in festive mood. You saved them the trouble of war." Poseidon added with a sigh.
Several of them turned to watch me pass, and whispered to themselves.
...
It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld.
There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything glittered white and silver.
I realized Hades must've built his palace to resemble this one.
...
Despite my bad experience with him, I felt a little sorry for the guy. To be banished from this place seemed really unfair. It would make anybody bitter.
"Atleast he understands." Hades sighed. "Though I don't want your pity, boy. I am happy with my kingdom."
Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room.
...
The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been, but I could barely look at them without feeling a tingle, as if my body were starting to burn. Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit.
"What's it with you and pinstriped suits?" Poseidon asked Zeus. "What's it with you and Hawaiian shirts?" Zeus asked Poseidon. "Touché."
He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum.
...
his eyes rainy gray.
As I got nearer to him, the air crackled and smelled of ozone.
The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently.
...
But his eyes, sea-green like mine, were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too.
Poseidon smiled widely.
His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair.
...
The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument.
"They probably had." Hades mused. His brothers and their stupid arguments.
I approached the fisherman's throne and knelt at his feet. "Father." I dared not look up.
...
If I said the wrong thing, I had no doubt they could blast me into dust.
To my left, Zeus spoke. "Should you not address the master of this house first, boy?"
Everyone turned to look at Zeus. "Can't you cut the boy some slack. After all he has done?" Artemis asked. Several people's jaws dropped to the floor. Artemis was speaking up for a boy. And the boy was surely not Apollo.
I kept my head down, and waited.
"Peace, brother," Poseidon finally said. His voice stirred my oldest memories
...
The boy defers to his father. This is only right."
"You still claim him then?"
...
"I have admitted my wrongdoing," Poseidon said. "Now I would hear him speak."
"Wrongdoing?" Several people blurted. Poseidon frowned. He didn't understand what the problem was.
Wrongdoing.
A lump welled up in my throat. Was that all I was? A wrongdoing? The result of a god's mistake?
"That's not what I meant." Poseidon put his head in his hands as he realized what the others thought. "By wrongdoing, I meant breaking my Oath. I bought him a hero's fate. A hero's fate is rarely happy." Poseidon explained the Percy s. Both of them nodded reassuringly.
"I have spared him once already," Zeus grumbled. "Daring to fly through my domain
...
"Let us hear him out, brother."
Zeus grumbled some more. "I shall listen,"
...
"Perseus," Poseidon said. "Look at me."
I did, and I wasn't sure what I saw in his face. There was no clear sign of love or approval.
"Gods are not allowed to show love or approval so easily. And perhaps I was worried about your fate. And also, to admit the truth, I probably didn't know what to think of you yet." Poseidon supplied.
Nothing to encourage me. It was like looking at the ocean: some days, you could tell what mood it was in. Most days, though, it was unreadable, mysterious.
I got the feeling Poseidon really didn't know what to think of me. He didn't know whether he was happy to have me as a son or not. In a strange way, I was glad that Poseidon was so distant. If he'd tried to apologize, or told me he loved me, or even smiled, it would've felt fake. Like a human dad, making some lame excuse for not being around. I could live with that. After all, I wasn't sure about him yet, either.
"Why can't the other godly parents be like that, genuine and honest?" Chris muttered.
"Exactly..." Katie agreed.
The gods frowned. They didn't like it, but now that they were seeing it from a demigod's point of view, it made a bit more sense. But still...
"Address Lord Zeus, boy,"
...
Zeus opened his palm. The lightning bolt flew into it. As he closed his fist, the metallic points flared with electricity, until he was holding what looked more like the clas-sic thunderbolt, a twenty-foot javelin of arcing, hissing energy that made the hairs on my scalp rise.
"So much drama." Poseidon muttered quietly.
"I sense the boy tells the truth,"
...
"In the dreams," I said, "the voice told me to bring the bolt to the Underworld. Ares hinted that he'd been having dreams, too. I think he was being used, just as I was, to start a war."
"You are accusing Hades, after all?" Zeus asked.
"Of course you would blame me." Hades grumbled at Zeus.
"No," I said. "I mean, Lord Zeus, I've been in the presence of Hades.
...
Something powerful and evil is stirring down there ... something even older than the gods."
Everyone in the throne room shuddered. Zeus sighed. He knew he wouldn't be accepting the truth from this boy, in the book. Now he was starting to see some sense as he heard the things from the boy's perception.
Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other.
...
"We will speak of this no more," Zeus said.
"How paranoid can he be." Poseidon muttered. Zeus gave another deep sigh.
"I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taint from its metal."
He rose and looked at me. His expression softened just a fraction of a degree. "You have done me a service, boy. Few heroes could have accomplished as much."
"I had help, sir," I said. "Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase-"
Annabeth shook her head. "You didn't have to mention our names. Especially when Zeus was trying not to kill you."
Percy Senior shrugged. "I couldn't have done it without you. I had to mention your name. And don't say you don't like having half credit." Annabeth smiled and pecked him on the cheek.
"To show you my thanks, I shall spare your life.
...
Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone.
"He is more dramatic than even Apollo." Hades mused.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Apollo and Zeus argued together.
"You know it is the truth." Poseidon told them.
"Fine. Whatever" The father-son duo said.
I was alone in the throne room with my father. "Your uncle," Poseidon sighed, "has always had a flair for dramatic exits. I think he would've done well as the god of theater."
Cue the snickers and laughters. "It's true." Poseidon shrugged at Zeus's indignant expression.
An uncomfortable silence.
"Sir," I said, "what was in that pit?"
...
"Kronos," I said. "The king of the Titans."
Even in the throne room of Olympus, far away from Tartarus, the name Kronos darkened the room, made the hearth fire seem not quite so warm on my back.
The same affect came upon the throne room.
Poseidon gripped his trident. "In the First War, Percy, Zeus cut our father Kronos into a thousand pieces, ...
Zeus puffed his chest proudly and held his head high. Poseidon sighed and shook his head at the antics of his brother.
...
Whatever is left of Kronos is still alive in some hideous way,
... hungering for power."
"He's healing," I said. "He's coming back."
"I think I announced this discussion closed." Zeus grumbled.
Poseidon shook his head. "From time to time, over the eons, Kronos has stirred.
...
But to suggest he could rise from the pit is another thing."
"That's what he intends, Father. That's what he said."
Poseidon was silent for a long time.
"Lord Zeus has closed discussion on this matter. He will not allow talk of Kronos. You have completed your quest, child. That is all you need to do."
"But-" I stopped myself. Arguing would do no good. It would very possibly anger the only god who I had on my side. "As ... as you wish, Father."
A faint smile played on his lips. "Obedience does not come naturally to you, does it?"
"No ... sir."
All the demigods smiled knowingly. Both the Percys gave them a sheepish grin.
"I must take some blame for that, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained." He rose to his full height and took up his trident.
...
You must go, child. But first, know that your mother has returned."
Percy Junior gasped with relief. He let out all the worry and pressure he didn't know he had been holding for his mother.
I stared at him, completely stunned. "My mother?"
...
Even the Lord of Death pays his debts."
"What do you mean even the Lord of Death?" Hades snarled.
"It's true. He always keeps his promises." Percy Senior gave Hades a smile. Hades frowned, then smiled a little. A little.
My heart was pounding. I couldn't believe it. "Do you ... would you ..."
Poseidon's eyes turned sad.
...
Poseidon's eyes took on a little sadness. "When you return home, Percy, you must make an important choice. You will find a package waiting in your room."
"A package?"
"You will understand when you see it. ...
I nodded, though I didn't know what he meant.
All the demigods shook their heads and sighed. The gods never told them things directly. They always conveyed the messages through mysteries and riddles, and none of it made sense till a lot later.
"Your mother is a queen among women," Poseidon said wistfully. "I had not met such a mortal woman in a thousand years.
Aphrodite cooed. Poseidon smiled as he remembered his times with Sally.
Still ... I am sorry you were born, child. I have brought you a hero's fate, and a hero's fate is never happy. It is never anything but tragic."
"Well, that's true..." Nico mumbled .
I tried not to feel hurt. ...
I was five steps away when he called, "Perseus."
I turned.
There was a different light in his eyes, a fiery kind of pride.
...
You are a true son of the Sea God."
"I am proud of you." Poseidon added with a bright smile. Leo, the Stolls, Apollo, and Hermes dramatically sighed and wiped fake tears at the father-son relationship.
As I walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert.
People and satyrs and naiads all turned toward me, their faces filled with respect and gratitude, and as I passed, they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero.
"You were, and you are." Annabeth told Percy Senior. Percy gave her a thankful smile though he didn't feel he was the herl everyone looked at him to be.
Little Percy choked " Me? A hero?" "I had touble believing it too." Thalia muttered. Annie smiled at Percy Little. Now she was sure that Percy Junior wasn't going to become an arrogant big-headed brat.
Fifteen minutes later, still in a trance, I was back on the streets of Manhattan.
...
my beautiful mother, smelling of peppermint and licorice, the weariness and worry evaporating from her face as soon as she saw me.
Both the Percys, a few other demigods, and Poseidon heaved a dreamy sigh.
"Percy! Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my baby."
She crushed the air right out of me.
...
I was shaking, I was so relieved to see her.
"Mama's little boy." Ares smirked.
"And proud to be it." Both the Percys said together, grinning.
"Aunt Sally is the best." Thalia added.
"She makes amazing blue chocolate chip cookies." Annabeth added with a smile.
"She let me live at her place for two days." Nico added gratefully.
"When did that happen?" Will asked. "You never told me."
"On Percy's birthday, after the Battle of Labyrinth. I visited Percy to -er, offer him something. Aunt Sally took a look at my frail skinny body, and decided that she wouldn't let me go till I was healthier. After two days of convincing and pleading, she let me go." Nico said.
"Dude," Leo turned to Percy Senior "I want to meet your mother."
"You met her when she was here." Piper pointed out.
"Yeah, but back then I was too busy with all my projects and building stuff that was going on with this reading thing. Now I realize what I missed."
Percy Senior promised all the demigods that he would take them to meet his mother, then motioned to Hestia to continue reading.
She told me she'd just appeared at the apartment that morning, scaring Gabe half out of his wits.
"Nice." The Stolls grinned. They were still deciding on what pranks they should pull on Gabe.
She didn't remember anything since the Minotaur,
...
Gabe had forced her to go into work, saying she had a month's salary to make up and she'd better get started.
Several grunts and yells.
I swallowed back my anger and told her my own story.
...
"He isn't going to be happy to see you, Percy. The store got half a million phone calls today from Los Angeles ... something about free appliances."
"Oh, yeah. About that..."
She managed a weak smile.
...
Dirty socks and underwear hung off the lampshades.
Everyone wrinkled their noses. "Yuck! I can never forget his ugly stench!" Grover gagged.
Gabe and three of his big goony friends were playing poker at the table.
When Gabe saw me, his cigar dropped out of his mouth.
...
"Bad enough I had to give back your life insurance money, Sally,"
"WHAT?!" The whole throne room yelled. People started grumbling and fuming.
he growled. "Get me the phone. I'll call the cops."
...
For the first time, I realized something. Gabe had hit my mother. I didn't know when, or how much. But I was sure he'd done it. Maybe it had been going on for years, when I wasn't around.
The room started yelling and cursing. It started shaking with everyone's anger.
"CALM DOWN!" Percy Senior yelled. "EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN!!!"
Everyone calmed down. "Gabe got a pretty good punishment for his deeds. You'll see."
He told everyone. Everyone leaned forward, eager to see what punishments Gabe would get, and how.
A balloon of anger started expanding in my chest.
...
Gabe looked at him resentfully and mimicked in a falsetto voice: "Just a kid."
His other friends laughed like idiots.
...
My mother took my arm. "Please, Percy. Come on. We'll go to your room."
"Beat the punk!" Ares yelled. "Cream him!" Clarisse agreed.
I let her pull me away, my hands still trembling with rage.
...
"Gabe is just upset, honey," my mother told me. "I'll talk to him later. I'm sure it will work out."
"No. That will not work." Percy Junior muttered angrily. "Stupid Smelly Gabe."
"Relax, Seaweed Brain. I am sure your future-self took care of him." Annie patted him.
"Mom, it'll never work out. Not as long as Gabe's here."
...
She lowered her eyes. "I'm trying, Percy. I just... I need some time."
A package appeared on my bed. At least, I could've sworn it hadn't been there a moment before.
...
The address on the mailing slip was in my own handwriting:
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON
...
Suddenly I understood what Poseidon had told me on Olympus.
A package. A decision.
" Ooooohhhh,"the room oh-ed. So maybe Gabe was going to end up as a nice little statue somewhere ?
Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the Sea God.
I looked at my mother. "Mom, do you want Gabe gone?
...
She hesitated, then nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes, Percy. I do. And I'm trying to get up my courage to tell him. But you can't do this for me. You can't solve my problems."
"He can." A few demigods mumbled.
"But she wouldn't like it. She would want to solve her problems on her own." Percy Senior said.
I looked at the box.
I could solve her problem.
...
That's what a Greek hero would do in the stories, I thought. That's what Gabe deserves.
...
I thought about Gabe's spirit drifting forever in the Fields of Asphodel, or condemned to some hideous torture behind the barbed wire of the Fields of Punishment-an eternal poker game, sitting up to his waist in boiling oil listening to opera music.
Hades politely took out his notebook and made a note in the Fields of Punishment section.
Did I have the right to send someone there? Even Gabe?
"Nope." Hades spoke up. "If anyone has the right to take the decision, it is your mother, because she was the victim. Even after everything you went through, your taking that person's life wouldn't be justified. It wouldn't be the right thing to do."
Everyone else stared at Hades.
"I get it." Percy Senior said, and Percy Junior nodded.
A month ago, I wouldn't have hesitated. Now ...
"I can do it,"
...
"No, Percy," she said, stepping away. "You can't."
"Poseidon called you a queen,"
...
Her cheeks flushed. "Percy-"
"You deserve better than this, Mom. You should go to college, get your degree.
...
"You sound so much like your father," she said. "He offered to stop the tide for me once. He offered to build me a palace at the bottom of the sea.
...
"What's wrong with that?"
"She wouldn't want to depend on others. She would want to do things on her own terms." Percy Junior said.
"That's her rebellious, free-spirited nature. That's why I fell so hard for her." Poseidon sighed.
"For the first time in my life, I appreciate your choices." Athena muttered. Poseidon didn't bother to argue or agree.
Her multicolored eyes seemed to search inside me. "I think you know, Percy.
...
I have to ... find the courage on my own. Your quest has reminded me of that."
"That was... deep." Hermes commented.
We listened to the sound of poker chips and swearing,
...
"I'll leave the box," I said. "If he threatens you ..."
She looked pale, but she nodded. "Where will you go, Percy?"
"Half-Blood Hill."
"For the summer ... or forever?"
"I guess that depends."
We locked eyes, and I sensed that we had an agreement. We would see how things stood at the end of the summer.
She kissed my forehead. "You'll be a hero, Percy. You'll be the greatest of all."
"You are." Annabeth smiled.
"Along with many others." Percy Senior added.
I took one last look around my bedroom.
...
"Hey, Sally," he yelled. "What about that meat loaf, huh?"
A steely look of anger flared in my mother's eyes, and I thought, just maybe, I was leaving her in good hands after all. Her own.
"The meat loaf is coming right up, dear," she told Gabe. "Meat loaf surprise."
She looked at me, and winked.
The last thing I saw as the door swung closed was my mother staring at Gabe, as if she were
contemplating how he would look as a garden statue.
"Cool!" Leo exclaimed. "I am definitely going to visit your mother." He added.
"End of chapter." Hestia said. "Who'll read next?" Grover raised his hand.