Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I hope you enjoy! This chapter is definitely a tease, but I'll try to update again tomorrow so it's not like it's too much of a wait.

Chapter 10- Annabeth's Mom Is Scarier than Her

My mom wasn't happy when I told her I needed to be dropped off at the Empire State Building.

I suppose she knew what was there. Sure it's possible that she was just annoyed that I was ditching her the moment I got home, but that's not really my mom. She didn't mind if I went and did my own thing. She minded if she thought I would be in danger. So when I casually mentioned stopping at the Empire State building, I knew her silence wasn't just because she didn't want to sit in traffic.

"Percy, what's this about?"

One of the things I love about my mom- she always gives me a chance to explain. She treated me like an adult, or at least like someone with a brain in their head, (which was debatable if you asked my teachers.)

In response, I always tried to be honest with my mom. I won't pretend I always told her everything, because I didn't, but I tried not to lie to her. And in this case, I decided that if I deserved to know the truth about my father, she deserved to know the truth about this. "All the gods meet there for the Winter solstice. A group from school are taking a field trip there and I want to go."

Okay, it was most of the truth, at least. Like I said, I was more comfortable with omission than lies.

She pursed her lips, and carefully said, "Your school didn't send me anything about this."

Inside, I was sweating. I knew I needed to go to Olympus. Needed to confront my father. But if my mom told me 'no', I wasn't sure I had it in me to disobey her. It's hard to disobey someone you know only want what's best for you. That was why I just needed her to agree.

"Well, not all the parents know about the gods. So they can't just send out permission slips for a visit to Mount Olympus."

Silence for a moment more. We were approaching the city at this point. The path to our apartment and the Empire State Building would diverge quickly enough. But I didn't push my mom. I gave her a chance to think about what I was saying.

"If I told you your father's name now, would you still want to go?"

I almost said 'no', but stopped myself. Honestly, it wasn't true. I knew my dad was Poseidon. The facts were impossible to deny; the water powers had kinda given it away. Sure, there was a chance I was wrong, but I didn't think I was. This wasn't about figuring out who my dad was, not mostly, at least. It was about making my dad notice me. He didn't even need to claim me. I just wanted to remind him I existed at all. From what Luke said, our parents desperately needed little reminders like that.

"Yes, I would. Mom, I need to see him. You keep saying that I can't live my life for someone else, so don't ask me not to go. I need to do this."

She bit her lip, but slowly nodded. "Alright Percy. If you're certain this is what you want, I will drop you off downtown."

I've explained how awesome my mom, is right? Well even if I have, I know I haven't said it enough. She was actually the coolest mom ever.

We'd left AA the same time the kids taking the field trip did, and I caught sight of them climbing out of a van. Luke was in the lead, a backpack slung over his shoulder. Annabeth chattered behind him. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I'll bet it had something to do with architecture. Maybe she was explaining how mortals didn't notice some three-hundred floors to the building. Now that I would have liked to hear.

"They're right there," I told my mom. She quickly pulled over, and let me go. The worry in her eyes bothered me, but I put on a bright smile for her sake and said, "I'll be home tomorrow. I promise."

I hadn't mentioned that I needed to sneak in invisible, so if she was surprised when I put on a baseball cap and disappeared… Well, I wouldn't blame her.

You would think it would be easier getting through NYC while invisible. It's not. You couldn't risk stepping into the road because you were guaranteed to get run over, and no one even tried to make room for you on the sidewalk. I ended up jostling through a bunch of very confused tourists to catch up with the kids from AA. I fell in the back. Annabeth at one point paused and turned around, probably wondering whether-or-not I'd made it. I wished I could get through to give her some sort of sign it had worked, but Clarisse was standing right in my path, and she wouldn't hesitate to clobber me. Invisible or not, she'd know it was me. I swear Clarisse was like monsters; she could just smell her victims.

Chiron wasn't there. I wondered if for some reason he wasn't supposed to go to Olympus, or maybe he just trusted Luke and the other heads-of-house to keep the kids inline. There weren't that many of them, twenty-five tops. That made sense. Most people would rather visit their mortal parent than their godly one. The only kids who stayed at school year-round were those unfortunate enough to have mortal parents who somehow stunk more than their godly ones.

(For a second, I even felt bad for Clarisse. I'd never stopped to think about her mortal mom, but she had to be bad or Clarisse would go home. I didn't really want to think about that too much though. If she knew I was pitying her… well she already wanted me dead.)

Luke scanned the lobby, as if looking for threats, but then went up to the receptionist. He handed the man something which made his eyes bulge, but I head the receptionist say, "You'll have to make multiple trips. And don't let any tourists in the elevator with you!"

The second bit wasn't very difficult. Few people will willingly place themselves near a bunch of unsupervised teenagers. Nearby, I heard an old woman say, "Someone should tell them all to tuck their shirts in."

I looked down to see if my shirt was tucked in. Then I remembered I was invisible, so she wasn't talking about me.

I snuck in the elevator with the third group. Luke and Annabeth were there as well, having waited to make sure everyone got up well. The only other people in with us were Connor and Travis Stole of Hermes House, so there was enough room for me to finally approach Annabeth. I stepped around Connor, and grabbed Annabeth's hand. She jumped, and reached for her knife, but must have realized last second that it was just me.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked glancing at her suspiciously.

"Nothing," Annabeth answered just a little bit too last. You would think a girl like her would be a better liar. But Luke must have been distracted thinking about the upcoming visit, because he didn't push her. Annabeth and I both sighed in relief.

Mount Olympus was on the non-existent 600th floor of the Empire State Building, which didn't make much sense at all, so I don't know why it surprised me that we didn't have to change to the secondary elevator like you would if going to the main observation deck. Yet it did. Though that didn't surprise me half as much as the absolute terrible music playing in the elevator as we went. It took three songs for us to reach the top, but I couldn't tell you where one song ended and the next began. Or maybe it was just one really long, really bad song. Whatever the case, I just didn't get why the gods couldn't get themselves something good.

I forgot all about it the moment I stepped out of the elevator.

Mount Olympus made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Every time I'd pictured it, I'd been expecting something the size of the main school building. Maybe the rooms could magically expand or something, but the place itself wouldn't be that big. Boy was I wrong. It was like someone had taken the better part of a mountain, cut it off from the bottom, and then suspended it 300 feet in the air over New York City. The place spanned for miles around. Streets wound around the cliffs, filled with gods and nymphs and other things I couldn't even name. They were dancing, talking, selling, buying, laughing, and, in one case, they were shouting about a pithos being too expensive. And that was just in the area right by the entrance.

A little piece of advice. If you ever get to visit Olympus, don't look down. I made the dumb mistake of doing so, and I was certain I was about to die. The second you look down and start thinking about how none of this should be possible, it ceases to be possible. I looked down and suddenly the ground seemed to open up beneath me, and I was about to fall. Then I jumped forward, and the ground was solid again. From that point on, I kept my eyes on the back of Annabeth's head, and did not let them wander.

Okay, that's a lie. They did far more than wander. Sure the back of Annabeth's head is fine, I guess, but it's nothing compared to the sights of Mount Olympus. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to wander off from the group and explore. There was one vender selling these celestial bronze war axes and I wanted so badly to just pick one up and start playing with it. But I told myself I needed to stay with the group or I'd never find them again.

In retrospect, I really wish I hadn't been so sensible. I would have been much better off wandering away from my classmates and spending the rest of my life lost on Mount Olympus. Sorry, I keep getting ahead of myself. But I figured you deserve fair warning.

I didn't know where we were going. I can only guess that the trip had some sort of itinerary, but since I wasn't actually supposed to be there, I didn't get one. But eventually we reached a big old temple with the words 'hostel' on it, and Luke led us all inside. It wasn't very nice. I mean I guess it was nice for a hostel, but it was just one room with a few dozen beds lined up within. You would think the gods could do better than that, but I suppose they didn't want to. Sure, we'd been invited to spend the night on Olympus, but we didn't belong here. By cramming us all into one barren room, the gods were making that very clear. You can glimpse this world, but you can't ever belong. Don't get any thought about staying. The room seemed to say.

I wonder if Luke had the same thought as me, because he frowned, looking as bitter as I suddenly felt. It was unfair for the gods to be so cold. They didn't need to take every opportunity to remind us we were unwanted; we already knew.

"Alright, does everyone have their drachmas for lunch?" Avery, the head of Demeter House, called out. I tended to avoid Avery; she had a reputation for smothering people with affection. But I supposed her maternal instincts worked well in situations like this. "Alright, well you're free for the next two hours before we're supposed to be at the theater. Stay out of the Throne Room of the Gods. Run the other way if you see Hades. And just be on your best behavior. We're guests here, so xenia is in full-effect. If you're courteous, you'll receive courtesy, but if you insult our hosts… Well just don't."

Hey Percy, You're probably thinking about now, Isn't sneaking around invisible an insult to your hosts?

Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're smarter than me. Let's move on.

I had hoped Annabeth would hang back so I wasn't all alone, but she didn't. Instead, after Luke told her to go on without him, she set out with Stella and Malcom, the other two Athena kids there. I decided to tag along, which I regretted instantly, because they just started talking about art when all I wanted was to double back and find those giant axes. On the bright side, Annabeth did sneak me some lunch, though something about how she did so reminded me quite a bit of people tossing scraps to pigeons in Central Park.

All and all, two hours later, I was torn between thinking Olympus was the coolest place ever, and wondering why I was there. Don't get me wrong, it was really, really cool. There were minor gods playing skee-ball while the muses played Led Zeppelin on a lyre. And even though I didn't know what Annabeth meant about 'Corinthian columns' or 'peer-polity interaction', I could appreciate that the place was pretty.

But I guess I had just expected we would, I don't know, actually go see the gods. My gaze kept slipping towards the throne room where I knew the Olympians were holding court. What did they talk about? What did they do? Did any of them have any desire to wander down the streets of Olympus and find the demigod children they'd invited to visit them?

Yes, one of them did, which didn't work out very well for me.

We were taking the long path back to our rendezvous point because Annabeth wanted to see some aqueduct (weren't those Roman?). All of a sudden, all three of the Athena kids went very still, stopping so suddenly I almost rammed into Annabeth. The reason why was obvious to anyone with eyes.

The two women looked a decent bit alike, though one was more a teenager than anything. Both were stunningly beautiful, with elegant white robes, striking grey eyes and long, flowing hair. The two goddesses (for they had to be such), were chatting casually as they moved towards us, but once they noticed us, they paused.

The older woman smiled, "Ah yes, our visitors. Annabeth, Malcom and Stella, and who is..."

Her eyes landed upon me, and my heart stopped. In that moment, I knew I was dead. This goddess could see me, and she did not appear the least bit happy by my sneaking around. In a second, she shifted. Suddenly I wasn't looking at a beautiful Greek maiden. In her place, I was faced with a fully-armed warrior, and a face more terrible than anything in the world. Some part of me knew the face wasn't real, that it was just an image upon a shield, but that certainly didn't make me any less terrified.

The goddess seemed to grow as she shouted, "What deception is this? Did you think I cannot see through my own magic? You would steal from my daughter to attack us! Who sent you?"

I don't know how she expected me to answer, not with her shield shaking me to my core, and her spear inches from my chest. Luckily, for me at least, Annabeth knew exactly what was going on, and apparently she didn't want me dead. "Mother no!"

Annabeth reached out, smacking the hat off my head. Malcom and Stella both jumped a yard away as I suddenly appeared. But Athena didn't waver. Not until Annabeth stepped between her mother's spear and me. "I gave it to him! He didn't steal it. Percy has just as much right to be here as the rest of us."

Athena lowered her weapons, and seemed to shrink down to a normal size. But her glaring gaze didn't wander from my face, not even as she order her daughter, "Explain, Annabeth."

I'll give Annabeth props. I don't know how she remained so calm when faced with her mother's fury. My mother wasn't the goddess of war and I still cowered on the rare occasion she got really mad. But Annabeth kept it together, and tried to explain why her mother shouldn't kill me on the spot. "Percy hasn't been claimed. When I first learned we were coming here, I asked Chiron if Percy could come as well, but he told me Percy had to go home with his mother. But he lives here in New York, so I gave him my hat so he could come and figure out who his dad is. Surely you can appreciate someone on a quest for knowledge?"

Athena frowned, studying me. Then the other woman approached. Somehow she seemed younger, and her eyes were fixed upon Annabeth. "Your daughter is brave Athena, but she is also wise. Let us bring him to the throne room and let our father determine if his quest is true. I must say, he does not look like much of a threat to Olympus, and I am curious as to who sired such a boy."

I knew she was insulting me, but honestly, I was just relieved not to be speared that I didn't mind the insult. Especially when Athena took a deep breath, and nodded. "Annabeth will come as well, so we may discuss the proper uses for gifts. Stella, Malcom, you two should get back with the group."

Neither of them were about to fight with their mother. Malcolm at least gave us both a sympathetic look, but promptly left. At that point Athena pointed towards the temple, and Annabeth and I began our march.

How many myths are about being careful for what you wish for? I wondered. You wish to see all the Olympians, well now you're going to see all the Olympians. And most likely they're just going to kill you. Especially if they figure out who your dad is. This was exactly what everyone was afraid would happen when you asked to go, so of course it's what's happening when you disobey. There's a goddess of retribution isn't she? The Greek karma? I bet she's around here somewhere laughing.

I felt bad for having gotten Annabeth in trouble. Maybe it was insignificant considering Zeus was probably about to smite me, but I didn't like seeing her get yelled at by her mom. Annabeth was probably the demigod I knew who had the best relationship with her godly parent. She credited her mom with helping her survive right after she ran away, and with bringing her to find Luke and Thalia. Her mom had even dropped by on her twelfth birthday to give her the Yankee's cap. If my stupidity ruined that relationship… well I might be glad to be dead, because I'd feel really bad. She was annoying, yeah, but Annabeth was also one of my best friends, and I hated seeing her look so sad. I could practically see her beating herself up. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The moment we arrived in the throne room, however, we both forgot our worries. It was absolutely impossible to feel scared, or upset, or anything but awed upon stepping into Zeus's throne room. The twelve thrones lined the hall in the same pattern as the houses at school, but I could easily have told you which one was which.

In the center, was Zeus's. Solid platinum with lightning designs on the side, it was ever-so-slightly bigger and grander than the rest. Or maybe it was just the man sitting upon it which made it seem so. His hair and beard were shaggy, but no one would mistake him for a hobo. He was sharply dressed in a pin stripe suite, and just inches from his hand, I watched terrified as electricity crackled around his master bolt. What would it feel like if he decided to zap me with that? Would it hurt, or would I be dead too quick to notice?

Speaking of death, next to him, engaged in a bitter argument with Zeus, was Hades. The god of death was sitting in a folding chair, not a throne, but it wasn't funny to look at. Mainly because the dude was ten feet tall, completely pale, and looked at me with eyes so dark they looked like pitch. I only looked at him for a second, but I felt ten years come off my life.

Then my eyes landed upon the god next to him, and my heart stopped. I immediately looked away, but the Bermuda shirt and tanned skin was impossible to forget. My dad (no, Poseidon. I didn't know for sure he was my dad, and if he wasn't, I was far less likely to die today). Poseidon wasn't looking at me. He was talking to another god I recognized, the golden Apollo, and didn't even seem to notice we'd arrived. In fact, none of the gods noticed us at first. Not until the younger goddess floated over to her own throne, and Athena cleared her throat, "Ahem. It seems there is one more matter for us to discuss."

The gods ignored her. Now that I'd seen it first-hand, I had no idea how anyone, god or not, could risk Athena's anger, but the gods didn't seemed worried. They continued their conversations until Athena suddenly doubled in size, her voice radiating, "This is important."

My heart had stopped beating at this point. Maybe I was already dead from the terror of it all. Under my breath, I whispered to Annabeth, "I'm sorry about this."

"It was my idea," she muttered, and I felt a little bit of my courage come back to me. I was in trouble once more, but for the first time, there was someone on my side.

I wondered if my dad was on my side as well. I refused to look over at Poseidon, terrified that I'd see recognition in his face. My mind kept jumping back and forth between thinking of him as my father and begging for it not to be true. Somehow I managed to focus on what was being said around me.

The gods had settled down, humoring Athena, though I thought I saw Apollo roll his eyes. Satisfied, Athena returned to a slightly-larger-than-normal size, and beckoned me forward. I felt like I was marching towards my funeral, but my legs moved against my will, and I ended up standing besides her.

"It has come to my attention that my own daughter aided this boy in sneaking invisible onto Olympus. I can only imagine what nefarious purposes he might have intended, but I do believe such wiliness proves perfidious intent."

Honestly? I didn't know what 'wiliness' or 'perfidious' meant, which annoyed me. And when I'm annoyed, as you know, I do stupid things, like suddenly shouting, "I wasn't doing anything bad! I just wanted to come."

Athena glowered at me, "Hold your tongue, boy."

Then, something surprising. From his throne, Zeus let out a loud and hardy laugh. Everyone turned to look at him, but he continued to snicker. Finally he said, "Athena, I do believe the solstice is getting to you. Look at the boy. He does not seem particularly dangerous to me. Come here, boy."

I glanced over at Annabeth, figuring she had a better idea than I did of what to do. But her face was slack, and gave me no guidance. Heart pounding, I slowly made my way to the foot of Zeus's throne. Then, as an after thought, I hastily bowed. That seemed to please him quite a bit.

"See, a perfectly polite, if slightly scrawny, child. Tell me, boy, what is your name."

"Percy… Percy Jackson," I stammered, and then, because I remembered Perseus was Zeus's son, I added, "Well, it's Perseus, but I go by Percy."

Sure enough, Zeus liked the name. He smiled brightly as I stammered, and turned to the other gods as if to say 'see, no kid named after my son could ever be trouble'. Then he said to me, "And who is your parent, Perseus Jackson?"

I couldn't stop myself; I glanced over at Poseidon. I needed to know if he was looking at me, if he was thinking about me. Would he defend me, if it came down to it? Or would he be happy to see the other gods smite me before anyone found out what he'd done. (If he did it, Percy. You don't know for sure.)

Poseidon was hardly paying attention. My heart dropped. Either he didn't know I wasn't his son, he didn't recognize me as his son, or he just didn't care that I was. Somehow none of those options made me very happy. I knew it would be best if Poseidon wasn't my father, but I'd been thinking he was for so long, I knew I would be strangely disappointed to find out it wasn't true.

I turned back to Zeus, my voice heavier with grief than I would have liked to admit. "I don't know. That's why I wanted to come to Olympus. I was hoping I would figure out who my father was."

Zeus nodded slowly, as if he somehow understood my plight, and felt for me. It was so patronizing, it made me angry. Once more I looked again at Poseidon, hoping he'd do something to prove he did care, but the god still wasn't paying attention.

"It is a shame that some gods have so many kids they cannot keep track of them all, isn't it, Perseus? I, of course, have no demigod children anymore, but I cannot possibly understand how a god could be so blind as to forget their own child. He's not any of yours, is he? Hermes, he has your mischievous glint, does he not? Or perhaps he's yours Dionysus. Do not think I'm unaware of your little weekend excursions."

I hadn't even noticed Mr. D, but at that point he scoffed, "No, Father, Peter Jetson is certainly not my problem. What do you think, Poseidon? He has the look of the sea, I believe. Has Triton finally moved on from what happened to poor Pallas?"

My heart stopped. Poseidon looked over, surprised. Was he confused? Or was he just trying to hide the truth? I couldn't tell. Looking at him really was looking at the sea- most of the time it was impossible to tell what it was thinking. But a strange looked crossed Zeus's face, and I worried for a second that I knew exactly what he was thinking.

Therefore as surprised as I was when Athena interjected, I was relieved as well, "Leave Pallas out of this, Dionysus. She and this boy have nothing in common. Pallas was brave, skillful, and…"

"Yes, yes, we know," Zeus interjected, clearly looking nervous. I didn't have a clue who this Pallas was, but I could tell he wanted her out of the conversation. In fact, he no longer seemed amused, so now he just seemed to want the conversation to end.

"Well, Perseus, it was wrong of you to attempt such a deceit but since no parties were injured, I see no reason to punish you. My own father, of course, tried to eat me, so I do understand what it is like to have a father you cannot possibly impress."

I heard Apollo scoff, and Zeus glared at him. Then the King of the Gods turned back to me, "Go, boy. Athena, if you wish to punish your daughter, you may, but for now let us return to our own business, shall we?"

I scampered back to Annabeth. Athena turned to look at us. I could tell she was still suspicious, but finally she nodded, "You may go, Annabeth. Have more care with that hat, or you shall find it no longer works. As for you, Perseus Jackson, I do hope your intentions are as noble as you claim. For if they are not, you will know the point of my spear."