Triton was furious with Chiron, and didn't even move from in front of the entire camp before he began tearing into him.

"-entrusting you with their children! You are supposed to protect and guide them! Handing them a sword and throwing them at a monster is not teaching!" He screamed at the centaur, accent thick on his tongue and eyes glowing a bright blue-green. He still had me tucked up against his side, but from the jealous looks and fearful ones, I knew better than to sit there quietly.

I pulled myself from his grip roughly. "Aidipa! Katap! Ohi takani, va takaohi eimius'ro lene. O hemitheos verois're."

Triton paused, looking at me and my balled fists and strict tone, before he stopped glowing. "Paidi mou, lenou're cula o yan'dimide vlak va pache athouois'ro."

I flinched at that. "Ohi."

"Ohi?" Triton echoed, irritated. "Eses ese kindynose!"

"Nobody is punishing nobody." I switched back to english, my words were calm. "Now, let's take this conversation somewhere private."

Triton looked around, seeing the crowd of campers watching us, and nodded. "Very well."

Chiron led us to the Big House, his eyes darting nervously to Triton every few seconds and he refused to turn his back to him.

Dionysus, on the other hand, was grinning like he'd just won the lottery. I was mildly concerned, but since he seemed more god of drama rather than god of homicidal madness at the moment, I didn't comment on it.

The second the door closed behind us, Triton was back to yelling at Chiron.

"Are you a FOOL?! Why are there children fighting monsters in the camp?" Triton snarled, getting all up in Chiron's face.

"The children must learn to fight against each other and invading forces- you never know what is going to attack!" Chiron shoots back, "I am protecting them! Do you not remember what happened during the Trojan War? The Gigantomachy? A time will come for war, and from the way you look at Perseus, you know it will come sooner than we are prepared for!"

"So you will send children to fight?" Triton hissed, lowly. Dangerously. "Child soldiers? Is that what you want your legacy to be? There are adults! No thanks to you, though, considering that you don't teach them how to live outside of this camp! Where do they go after they leave? The streets; where they're vulnerable to monster attacks? Maybe if they're lucky they stumble into our hellenic settlements."

Dionysus slid up next to me. "Wanna bet how quickly this turns into a fist fight? Five drachma that after three more sentences from Chiron, Triton will break his nose."

I gave him an incredulous look, "Maybe we shouldn't gamble on this. Shouldn't you, I dunno, stop them?"

He wrinkled his nose and drank from his coke. "I've been waiting for someone to set him straight for twenty years. The only time it got even close to happening was when Apollo visited to make the orientation video and nearly smote him for being disrespectful. The only reason he didn't was because he's too sentimental- he raised Chiron himself, y'know."

I opened my mouth to retort, then closed it. I don't have a good response for that. "I don't like it when Triton gets into fights." I said simply instead.

He sighed, "Nobody likes it when their parents fight, but sometimes it's necessary for them to fight to protect you."

I went to ask him why he thought Triton was my parent- the little part of my brain curled around Pallas tightened as if to hide her- but instead I heard a loud CRACK.

Triton was shaking his hand, knuckles stained by golden-copper blood, and Chiron had one of his hands cupped around his broken nose.

"I won," Dionysus whispered, before straightening and facing the other two immortals in the room. "Okay, that's enough."

Triton gave Chiron one last shake, his left hand curled around the centaur's sweater collar, before dropping him to look at Dionysus. "What? I know you hate him just as much as I do."

"Yeah, but my father will be upset if you smite him." He responded, "And truly, this is out of our hands and you know it. My father is the Gasileus: we have to listen to him even if we don't want to, and he says that your kid needs to go on a quest."

"Percy is twelve!" He roared, furious.

"Percy is right here!" I snapped, and everyone went silent. "Don't talk about me like I'm not in the room. I'm here, and this is my life you're arguing over, at least give me a chance to speak."

Triton looked exhausted, "Percy, I-"

"No. Let me talk. You said you would let me talk." Triton shut up. "Aren't you the one that told me being a prince means having responsibilities? This is my duty. If I complete this quest, a war is avoided. There is no more argument to this. I'll take my prophecy and I'll go- I have to."

"Percy… you're a child. This is different, this isn't your responsibility. This is on us gods." Triton looked pained.

"Like everyone else in this camp is a child? Yet they're given quests and responsibilities that are the gods'. This is bigger than that; I'm not a little baby anymore, let me go."

"Percy-"

"I'm not Pallas!" I snapped at him before he could continue. He reeled back, hurt.

"I'm not her." As I said that, I realised that I truly am not her. I may be her memories, her experiences, but I'm not her. I don't hold that same love that she did- I could never love Athena and Persephone the way she did because I am not her. Triton may have raised me, but as much as I wish it to be so, he's not my father. I can never have what she had. I'm Percy and I have to accept that.

"I won't die like she did. I'm sorry, but as much as we wish it, I'm not ever going to be her. You have to let me go."

Triton looked devastated, blinking back tears. "I- I'm sorry, Percy. I never meant for you to feel like you had to be her. I love you, I just want to protect you, but if you feel like you have to do this, then I'll let you. I- Forgive me, paidi mou."

That hurt. I didn't mean to snap at him like that- to hurt him so badly and twist that guilt he must already feel in his gut like one would a knife- but I did. I couldn't take the look of pain on his face, so I looked away. That just made the guilt worse.

Triton walked forward, kneeling down before me, and hesitated. Instead of his normal hug, he just pressed a very light kiss on my forehead. "I love you, truly, please don't forget that."

"I love you too."

After a few more seconds of silence, he sighed, and was gone.

I tried to hide my sniffles. Instead, I focused on the quest.

"You can take your cap off, Annabeth, I know you're here." I spoke up.

She appeared, looking guilty. "Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear that. Sorry."

Dionysus and Chiron looked like they were going to tell her off, but I spoke before them. "Can you go fetch Grover? I want you two to be my questing partners."

She nodded softly, before taking off.

"She's too nosy for her own good," Dionysus spoke up. "She's getting into far too many places she shouldn't."

"Curiosity is good for the mind. It's important that she keeps her mind sharp for what is to come." Chiron corrected softly. "She'll learn a lesson from this too. Curiosity does kill cats."

"Yeah," I agreed softly. "I'm going to go see the Oracle. My lord, you have to go visit the council, don't you?"

"Yes. Father will be upset by this development," He sighed as he pulled out an access card from his pocket. "Goodluck, brat." He snapped his fingers. The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind

Chiron sighed, his nose already on it's way to healing. "I'll be waiting for you when you return. The oracle is in the attic."

oOoOo

Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap-door.

I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.

The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes. I held my breath and climbed.

The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things-severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.

By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.

Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth.

A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled backwards in surprise, but then I quickly scrambled forward as the trapdoor snapped shut at my heels. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.

I wanted to run away, but I forced myself to take a deep breath.

The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of grue-some receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.

My hand sought out the pearl bracelet that was once mine in another life and clutched it. The being before me is ancient, but so am I. Sort of.

I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"

The green mist swirled, collecting in front of me. Slowly, I realised that it took a humanoid shape. Me. No, Pallas.

She smiled bitterly, as if she knew something I didn't. It's just an illusion- just smoke and an ancient deity- so she probably does. When she opened her mouth, smoke and an ancient voice came out.

"Westward, young prince, you must go,

To the god who has been puppeteered,

Stolen symbols you will return, although,

A price of innocence must be paid, volunteered.

Betrayal shall break you.

The Past shall forge you.

Heroes of prophecy."

The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.

I wanted to cry out and beg for more answers. Price of innocence? Betrayal? Puppet god? What is going on?

I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cobwebs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.

My audience with the Oracle was over.

"Well?" Chiron asked me.

I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."

Grover and Annabeth were sitting at the table, she was playing with the cards while Grover nervously chewed on a Diet Coke can.

Grover sat forward, "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."

I recited the first four lines of the prophecy perfectly for him, but when it came to the line about betrayal, my words failed me. "Yeah…" I awkwardly lied, "That's it."

"Uh," Grover spoke up. "What symbols are missing?"

"Zeus' Master Bolt has been stolen," Chiron said tentatively, "But I have not been made aware of any other symbols being stolen."

"You wouldn't have been." I said, and everyone's eyes came to stare at me. "Who would admit a weakness during wartime?"

"Nobody, not unless said weakness is a slight strong enough to start the war in the first place." Annabeth answered. "But I am more worried about the 'god who was puppeteered,' that doesn't sound good."

I shook my head, "Perhaps the thief was this god? Changing sides and working under a dominant leader might be it. But then again, the Olympians themselves might be the puppets."

"What?" Grover looked alarmed, and rightly so.

"If the war is being manipulated into being, are the gods not puppets? I didn't steal the Bolt, so obviously, someone else did. Someone else who really doesn't want the gods getting along. They're all puppets right now."

Chiron looked pale, "Perseus… I suggest you keep that theory to yourself."

Considering how horrified my two questing companions looked, I quickly backtracked. "Of course that's just a theory! It's probably just one god that stole it!"

Grover looked comforted by that, but Annabeth was still thinking about it. Oops?

"The west!" I quickly changed subjects. "That's where Hades lives, right? Maybe he has information and can help us."

"Help you?" Chiron echoed, frowning. "Perseus, in a war between the gods, who stands with the most to gain? His kingdom will grow with every death."

I stared at him. Does he… does he actually believe that? I- I want to call him stupid to his face, but admitting that I know how the Underworld's renovations are going means admitting that I trail Hermes when he works, which really isn't a good idea. We already let the fact that Triton helps raise me slip, I'd rather not have anyone else get in trouble.

"Uh," My mind raced. "Either way, we'll have to go see him, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Great!" I cut him off. "So we're heading west!"

Chiron looked like he wanted to say something else, but refrained. "Okay," Chiron said. "Tomorrow morning, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."

A/N

Hewwo! I'm back! Idk if it's the adhd or the depression kicking my ass, or it's the sudden amount of adulting I have to do, but I've had no energy to write for a while. Let's hope I'm back on track!

It was really funny to see my server bet on Triton and Chiron's "talk" alongside Dionysus, and Hatima won that bet, so congrats to her! Uh, I forgot how to write end notes it's been so long,,,,, leave a comment? Bai.

Lore/Translations:

Aidipa! Katap! Ohi takani, va takaohi eimius'ro lene. O hemitheos verois're= Brother! Stop! Not here, let us go elsewhere to talk. The demigods are watching.
Paidi mou, lenou're cula o yan'dimide vlak va pache athouois'ro= My child, You can speak but the dishonorable idiot will feel pain.
Ohi= No.
Ohi? Eses ese kindynose= No? They endangered you!

I also have a PJO discord server for this fanfic (and my other fics) that anyone can join! (Just remove the spaces) : / / discord . gg/ hfXGUeraTg