Poseidon POV

Even today, I couldn't eat. What am I saying? Especially because of today, I can't eat. The nectar burger looks about as appetizing as a tissue. I poked it with my fork, watching it wobble. Percy loved burgers. They made up his top five food, along with pizza, blue cookies, chips and obviously godly food. From opposite the table, Amphitrite looked at me with sorrow. I am the God of ⅔ of the earth, aka the ocean. No matter how hard today is, I cannot show emotion or vulnerability, especially to Triton, who always looks up to me. Lifting my head up, I gave Amphitrite a small smile, which she returned.

"So how was your day, Triton," I asked, turning to my son who, unlike me, was munching on the burger. Hearing his name, he looked up at me.

"It was alright," he said after swallowing his bite (yes we did have basic manners). "I was with the search party today, but we found nothing. I mean, there was a cut up robe which looked like it might belong to Perseus-" he suddenly stopped speaking, and looked as if he was trying not to show pain. Amphitrite had a poker face, but I clicked on pretty fast.

"I doubt Percy would be stupid enough to get injured in a robe, and leave the robe," I said. Triton nodded.

"That's what I said," he agreed in a voice that told me he had said something completely different to the search party. "Most likely it was a distraction to lure people away from where he truly was."

From across the massive dining room, I heard the door open. This caught my ear, and I looked up to see who it was. A lone guard walked in uncomfortably. I think he was one of the new guards. He walked up towards me, his spear at rest pointing downwards.

"My Lord," he spoke in an unusually deep voice. "You have a visitor."

"Tell them to come back tomorrow." By now, he looked even more uncomfortable.

"You see, they told me that you would say that. They said that you will make an exception." I was now puzzled. Who would come to my palace underwater today? I thought everyone knew that I was the last person who wanted company on October the 6th. Well, apparently not.

"Who is it?" I asked after a while.

"It's Lady Hestia, my Lord." Turning around, the guard walked out, obviously not used to the protocol.

"Hello there, brother," Hestia said to me. Today, she was wearing all black, with a grey, furry jacket. It wasn't even that cold today, but I suppose she had her reasons. Her hands were deep into her pockets, and, even as she smiled at me, I could tell that something big was on her mind. Hestia was in her sixteen year old form which, five years ago would've been pretty normal but now was very rare. I motioned for her to enter the front door. After the guard had left, I immediately made both Amphitrite and Triton leave the dining room and told them that I would need space for an hour or so. A fire goddess coming to visit an ocean god in the sea was not a good sign. I couldn't ignore this.

"Good evening, sister," I replied. She walked in, and followed me to the living room. It was a large room, ocean blue, with sofas made from the finest silk Olympus could offer. I sat down and, after a moment of hesitation, she did too, on the floor. I was confused. Why sit on the floor when there were seats vacant. Feeling odd, looking down at my sister, I too decided to get off and sit down on the floor, opposite her. There was a moment of silence.

"So what brings you here?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow.

"No how are you today? Cutting straight to the chase eh?" I didn't even deny it.

"I was going to get some early sleep," I lied. Hestia looked at me weirdly, but didn't say anything.

"Well, to answer your question, I came to talk to you about your son.

"What!" I yelled. "Don't tell me Aphrodite's coming to kill me because Triton stole her makeup kit again." Okay, that was some pretty lame humor, but I was trying to avoid the subject Hestia was here about. She shook her head.

"The day is for Percy Jackson, not Triton," she said sadly and, for a second, I almost forgot that Percy was also her son. That made me feel regretful. Everyday I spent in my room, looked up and isolated from everyone else because of my guilt, when Hestia was going around her daily life, almost normally. I'm not sure if that made her a better or worse parent than me. She seemed to be able to tell what I was thinking.

"Don't be hard on yourself," she said gently. "Different people have been affected in different ways from everyone else. You have every right to act as you do, but what would Percy want you to do. You know as well as I do that he is still alive, and knows what goes in and out of Olympus. Everyone here owes him in some way or another. I doubt it would've been that hard for him to pull a few strings and get one or two people reporting to him."

The way she said it sounded almost as if she had thought of it herself, not Perseus. I sat up.

"Have you seen Perseus?" I asked her.

"I want to see him badly, but haven't been able to. I miss him. You can relate, can't you-"

"I'd hate to be rude, but with all due respects, if you're not here to give me information on where Percy is, then what are you here for?"

She looked at me for a moment as if she were about to burst out laughing. After a moment or two, she stood up, staring at me with curiosity.

"I'm no oracle, but I know that Percy is coming back to Olympus soon. He will come, and when he does, I pray to every God I know that we will live, not because he will attack us, but because he will come to stop the attack on us. I come to warn you. Be prepared, physically and emotionally."

With that, Hestia walked out of my palace, leaving me still sitting on the floor, wondering what she meant and how she knew Percy was coming. I was confused. Hestia walks into my palace all randomly, talking about how she mystically knows Percy is coming, and then leaves all of a sudden. Now, taking a nap didn't seem like a bad idea. I guess I'm just too tired to think about this now.

Hestia POV

Most people called me the most important goddess. At first, I thought that surely the most important goddess deserves the best palace. Zeus, unfortunately, had other ideas. You see, I did still have a palace, but it was nothing like the ones Poseidon and Apollo had. In fact, Poseidon could probably fit twenty of my palaces into his one. It was a nice palace, but very small.

Most likely, Poseidon was in his bed thinking about what I had said. That had been deliberate. Yes Percy was coming, and yes he would come to fight an unbeatable war, but that was only half of it. The other half I had figured out with the help of Hades and Apollo. Now, they have almost joined me. Not a day went by when either of them didn't visit me. I think it had something to do with Perseus. Apollo never had a strong bond with him, but I assume that was after the talking they did every time Percy landed back in Apollo's temple. As for Hades, I know that he will never stop thanking Perseus, and Perseus won't stop thanking him either. The two had helped each other so much over the last few years, especially when Percy had gained Hades a throne, and when Hades had sent Nico to save Percy.

My door opened as soon as I reached the doormat, courtesy of Hephaestus. He had pulled a few strings and made me a couple of improvements, with the help of Athena. Now, I had electricity and these cool automatic doors that only recognized me.

The first thing that hit me was an extremely loud laugh, followed by a thud, groan, and even more bizarre laughing. Quickly throwing my jacket onto the couch, I jogged into the dining room and immediately wished I had a camera. On the floor, right in front of me, Hades and Apollo were rolling around on the floor, wrestling like 5-year-olds. I laughed, and they both looked up at me with an… interesting face. Quickly, the two separated and stood up, trying to suppress their laughter.

"How ya doing Hestia!" Hades optimistically exclaimed. I just shook my head, lightly laughing.

"C'mon guys. You know what we need to do." Nodding, the two of them followed me into my living room.

The living room was certainly larger than the dining room, with paintings that had been created over the millennia stuck up on the walls. One showed Odysseus as a beggar meeting his wife after years of separation. I had that one made especially for me right after he had come back. Perhaps last year it would've looked much cleaner. Now, however, it was not dirty, but not 'pitch perfect' either, like how she preferred. In the center of the room was a massive table, which, as for now, held many maps that the three of them had made over the last year, with Perseus help, of course.

"Any mail?" I asked. When I had walked in, I did notice a couple of leaflets about 5% off ambrosia, but that wasn't what I meant. They knew what I was talking about. Solemnly, Hades nodded, the hysterical mood he had been in minutes before calming down. Shoving his hand deep into his pocket, Apollo fetched out a white letter. He turned it around in his hand, and showed me the golden seal of ichor. Nodding, we all sat down on the sofas. Apollo opened the letter, and after giving me a look, began reading it.

"Afternoon Mother, and Hades and Apollo, if you two are there. I can't send an iris message today. We have details of another problem. Our team are tired, and trying to find out where this problem is coming from.

I hope you are all well. I hope that map is well too. Don't tell Zeus about it yet. If he finds out that you have been talking to me, I am dead. I don't want to come back yet. Besides, we have time. A couple of months, most likely, before I need to come back. I think I'll come back a year before the first attack. That was, we can all sort some things out before the attack starts. Don't worry.

I came to tell you, scout party one has been coming too close to me. We were near the sea earlier today, and they came. I had to tear up one of my own precious robes and throw it away as a diversion. That one was my third favorite! You need to get them away from us again.

I hope to speak to you soon. Apparently Dad is not doing good. That shouldn't be for long. I'm coming back in a few months at the most. I love you mother. I like you Apollo and Hades (I'm sorry but I just don't swing that way). Don't tell anyone about me, and keep the map safe. Also, do me a favor and kill Aphrodite. It seems as if she has created her own search party and keeps trying to find me.

Love - Percy Jackson"

Apollo finished reading the letter, folded it in half, and, without a word, passed it back to me. Together, we sat down, thinking about what had just been said. Perseus was coming back soon, which overjoyed me, but I knew that he would be bringing a war with him. We knew that Echidna was fighting, the mother of all monsters. Zeus had actually laughed when we said it would be her leading an army into Olympus.

We had told Zeus that there was a war coming, and he had told Olympus. Perseus had asked us to, but Zeus didn't know where we had got out information from. All he knew was that there was a war coming and it would be easy. According to our map and Perseus's help, the war would be fought and won within a month or two. He said that the leader is Echidna, and she can't fight well: Percy beat her all by himself. The point is the war should be fast.

Zeus has been... preparing for it, if you could call it that. He has been making demigods train, and has improved the Olympian army, but hasn't been doing anything major about the war. No one is. There is talk of war, but it's about a year away, so it's no big deal, right? I just feel as if something about this war is off. A month is still a long war, but it is nothing compared to the first war between us Olympians and Kronos. It should be easy, but something feels off. After all, no war ends up being easy, in the end.

Hades stood up, walked to the table, and stared at the map. He stared at the infamous map you all have been hearing off. Truth be told, the map was actually Apollo's idea. When Percy had announced news of war, Apollo had suggested to keep hold of all the information Percy sent. At first, they had used paper, writing down everything related to the war. Then, once most of the information had turned into battle dates and times and locations, they had switched to a map which contained every battle they knew about, with its corresponding dates, times, locations, soldiers, and leaders. Percy had turned into Olympus's own secret spy, and he did a good job.

"Apollo, go to Artemis. You know what to do. Hades, I think we need to prepare for Perseus's arrival."

"But it's months away," he protested, whining like a child. I shook my head, something I had done a lot today.

"You know what I mean," I sighed, grabbing my jacket and walking out the door, signaling the end to our little meeting on the day of Perseus's remembrance. I needed a break, I thought to myself, feeling the cold tickle my arms, despite the sun still setting.

What a beautiful sunset on such a somber day.

Is it just me or does this chapter seem confusing? Apologies if it is.