Disclaimer: I am most certainly not Rick Riordan, trust me.
"This is a pen." I deadpanned at Chiron, who was looking at me with a burning intensity.
"It is no normal pen, Percy." I knew that, of course, but I can't exactly let him know that I know, right? It would give everything away. "Uncap it," he nudged me.
Sword incoming- "Woah."
I expected it to turn into a sword, but that surprise was totally genuine. Rick definitely did not mention how absolutely breathtaking Riptide was.
The bronze was super shiny (I like shiny, okay! Don't judge me), and the metal was reflected by the sun. Encrypted in it in Greek was the name Anaklusmos. I think I might just be in love with my new weapon.
"Okay then. Anything else?"
Apparently, there was indeed more. Chiron handed me pepper spray. Pepper spray. I, obviously, voiced my incredulity.
"Shake it."
I did.
I now had a sword and a trident in my hands.
"You look scary."
I rather maturely stuck my tongue out at Jason, who was holding a spear in his hand. "You're such a baby."
"Oh, haha."
"Ahem." Right. Yes. Chiron. "You may go to your activities now. I believe Luke is waiting for you at the arena. Something about a bet?"
Luke.
He was… complicated, to say the least. His golden apple quest had already happened, thus leading him to be bitter and the state of the Hermes cabin made him even more angry. Plus, Clarisse.
Kronos had been getting to him, both Jason and I could see that, but we had time, and so we had made sure to bring back his faith in the gods. Or, more aptly, show him that they were the better option compared to the Titans. Hestia helped (my aunt was such a sweetheart).
Only, in our little mission to put Luke on the good-ish (there was truly no complete good with this family, honestly) side, he'd become a friend. One of my best friends. A brother. I didn't need to ask to know that Jason felt the same, which could probably be why our intensity on this mission had kept increasing day by day.
As for the arena, I'd made a bet with Luke that I could disarm him in less than three minutes. If I won, he would do all my chores; if he won, I would show him where I kept my secret stash of candy. Jason was refereeing.
I was so going to win, especially with Anaklusmos on my side.
December 22nd, 2004. That was the big date. The day Jason and I had to make sure that Luke Castellan wasn't anywhere near Zeus' Master Bolt.
And we did. We did a good job of occupying his time. While coming out of the Empire State Building, I was feeling quite proud of us.
Then the thunder started. Thunder, but no lightning.
Skata.
"Damn it, I feel so stupid right now!"
The two of us, Jason and I, were in our secret headquarters where we discussed plans on saving the world aka the Poseidon cabin's dart room (yes, there was a dart room, with pictures of every enemy a child of Poseidon ever had - including a couple gods). Mostly because Dad had made sure it was made in a way that nobody could spy on it, not even him.
"Percy, it was a genuine mistake." Jason sighed. "Stop beating yourself over it."
"We overlooked the facts. Luke wasn't the only one who had joined grandpa. There were tons of other campers too. It could've easily been one of them, but we didn't look. We were just stuck on a single suspect."
"I get your point, Percy, I really do, but I think we should focus on what happens next."
I took a dart and threw it on the picture of Zeus.
"Yeah," I chuckled bitterly. "Now the fighting begins."
"And you know what we have to do. There's a reason we ended up here, and I intend to find out."
"Or maybe the answer's been with us forever."
Now he looked at me, dazed. "What?"
"All this planning, this scheming, this whole trying-to-save-the-world gig, maybe that's why. Because originally, the cost was too high. If we could decrease the consequences, that would be enough, I think. Because eliminating them all is impossible."
"So what do we do now?"
"We win," I said, looking far more confident than I was feeling. Actually, I'm pretty sure my heart fell into my intestine.
A/N: canon has begun, lovelies! and yes, good luke because why not. i've always liked him. really sorry for not being around for a while, i got busy. but anyway! we have a trident, the bolt got stolen anyway because PlotTM (what else) and now, everything is going to go off the rails. not that it hadn't been off the rails before. i doubt this story even started on the rails but eh. it's fun.
Anyway, don't forget to review! they make me really happy.
