Chapter 7: Stormy Moods
Annabeth, Thalia and I all slumped into nearby chairs. We had gathered as many new campers as would allow, and most of the cots in the Big House were by now filled.
And strangely, we were now really tired.
"Oh gosh, how many does that make?" Thalia said, her head leaning back against the head of a chair.
"Thirty-seven." Rachel said, walking in. She had woken up when we had brought in one of the younger half-bloods we had found. The demigod had only been a mere toddler, and had already ran away. Annabeth, though, had identified with the toddler straightaway, and instantly grew fond of the little girl. It had only been a matter of getting the girl to trust us enough, which had involved a minor case of bribery with ice-cream, which in turn involved a series of attacks from enchanted ice-cream spoons. "And counting?"
"No, we actually have a problem/appointment." I said, sitting up. "But you guys don't have to be involved in this one."
Annabeth sat up. "Percy, you, Thalia, and I are kinda already 'in' in whatever it is we're into by now. What's up?"
After a few failed attempts to sort out what Annabeth said, I continued. "Well, we have an audience with Zeus and the rest of the Council in… a little under an hour." I said grimly.
Annabeth smacked a hand to her forehead, while Thalia just stared blankly at me.
"And…" Thalia said, not even budging an inch, "…you didn't mention this why?"
"Well, we… got busy." I said, gesturing to the room of bustling half-bloods. Some of the Apollo campers had been woken up, and alerted as to what we had been doing, so some half-bloods were also receiving medical attention. "…and I kinda forgot about it."
"Percy…" Annabeth said sitting up again. "…this is one of those things that it's kinda important not to forget."
"So…" Thalia said, rubbing her eyes. "…what are we gonna tell my dad? He's gonna flip when he finds out that you turned us and Grover into gods too." She said grimly.
"I know. I've been wondering that since I got the memo." I said, clasping my hands.
"Honestly, the tact you three show when talking about this coup d'état you have going here…" Mr. D said, suddenly appearing. "Porter Jeansman, saying the name of the king of Olympus will grab his attention, you realize that, right? You're only lucky that 'his majesty' is busy listening to Apollo tuning a lyre."
I turned. I was too tired to even be surprised that he had been listening in, or had randomly teleported in from nowhere. Mr. D looked at the three of us with interest.
"What have you three been doing? Obviously not sleeping…" he began, but suddenly the noises from the other room reached his ears. His facade adopted a more surprised expression, as a small girl ran out of the room, and up to Thalia.
"Ex'use me ma'am, but I just wanted to ask if—" the girl began, when she caught sight of Dionysus. "Daddy!"
Mr. D's expression grew much more surprised.
"Katy?" he said, nearly a whisper. He tried to compose himself once, failed, then attempted again. "How did—when—" He quickly composed himself before continuing. "Where's your mother?"
"She's…" the child began, but then frowned. "She's… ummmm… P-Poatland? Porland?"
Mr. D showed no expression, having regained control once again, but I could sense the pressure on the Coke can in his hand begin to grow as he tried to restrain himself from the emotions that were visibly fighting to dominate his expression.
"Of course you would know exactly who she is by sight." Thalia said, sighing. "Well, the secret's out. We're gods of the Unclaimed. We've been rescuing the children of you gods all night."
Mr. D seemed not to pay any attention to Thalia's comment. "Well, to solve your upcoming issue, it might be sensible if you say that you three were simply too close to each other when you're teleported to the council chambers. Hold still for a moment."
"Teleported?" I asked.
"Yes, Jackson, Tele—WHAT UNDER THE—" A big voice bellowed.
We turned. We were already in the center of the Council. The gods were all staring down at us, with wide eyes.
That had happened sooner than expected.
"PERSEUS JACKSON, WHAT ON IMMORTAL OLYMPUS IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Zeus bellowed.
"Well, your majesty," Thalia began, "We were all just a little too—"
"SILENCE!" Zeus said, interrupting Thalia. "THIS DOES NOT INVOLVE YOU, DAUGHTER!"
Something inside me frowned. "Actually, lord Zeus, it does."
Thalia and Annabeth both gave me a look that said wth u doin' bruh?!
"It's time to come out with it." I said, though my tired brain was still afraid of what I was about to do. "My lords and ladies, I have to confess that I made Annabeth and Thalia gods. We three—"
"YOU DID WHAT!?" Zeus shouted, the whole mountaintop rumbling.
"Percy, how do you even know how to—" Poseidon began, but I began speaking quickly again, to avoid being fried to a crisp.
"It's not that hard to figure out. It was simply an instinct. But you see, we—"
"Perseus Jackson, do you even fathom the repercussions that will have to be taken, so you don't give immortality out to everyone freely?" Athena said, her eyes blazing. "In fact, it might be best if—"
"Athena, hold your rant for a moment." Poseidon said, leaning forward. He stared hard at Annabeth, Thalia, and I. "Percy… Annabeth and Thalia too. You three look… exhausted. What the Styx have you been doing since your godhood?"
I shrugged. "Oh, this and that." I said, trying to dodge the question.
"Percy, it might be best to tell them." Annabeth whispered. "He asked you/us a direct question."
"But they might… I don't know, blast us?" I whispered back.
Dionysus looked up from his train of thought. He looked over at us, then Poseidon, putting the pieces together in his brain of what the question had been.
"Well, uncle, they've actually been fulfilling their divine purpose." Dionysus said.
"WHAT?!" Zeus thundered. "HOW UNDER OURANOS' ALL-ENCOMPASSING GAZE DID YOU THREE MANAGE TO GET DIVINE PURPOSE!?"
"Brother. Calm, down." Poseidon said, calmly. "Let them tell their story."
"Well, I find it highly doubtful they will tell you the full account, so I will assist the brats." Dionysus said, straightening in his chair. "They came to me soon after coming back from their last visit here, asking why they could suddenly hear voices."
"Er, that's right, lord Zeus." I said slowly. "And later that night, the voices wouldn't let us sleep, so—"
"Perdi Jelsdon, you know that's not the full story either. After a fair amount of planning, they suddenly vanished. A few hours later, they rode back into camp on three pegasi, toting two demigods behind them. Iris' daughter Rose was safely brought to camp by these three. And Hephaestus, your son Jordan too."
Hephaestus grunted in surprise.
Dionysus continued. "But anyways, later that night, after listening to the voices in their heads for a while, these three brats decided that they would completely ignore camp policy and devote the entire night to teleporting all across the country and bringing more and more half-bloods to camp. They're somehow even acknowledging the half-bloods before any of us could claim them, or even before the monsters can begin to sense them."
Zeus scowled at this last remark. Athena and Poseidon looked very interested.
"What do you mean by that, Dionysus?" Athena asked, appraising me seemingly.
"I mean, Athena, that these three are apparently the gods of the Unclaimed. They know when, where, and whose children, any unclaimed half-blood is at a glance."
Ares shifted in his seat. Hermes coughed into his fist, and Apollo looked pale. "That's… terrifying."
Athena turned on me, her eyes still blazing, but the look of intrigue was hard to disguise.
"How many half-bloods have you rescued tonight?" she asked.
"Thirty-seven." I said, in a sort-of quiet voice. But the Council heard my reply anyway, and their eyebrows rose.
"How many, Jackson?" Hermes asked.
"Thirty-seven." I repeated. "Four daughters and three sons of Hermes, six sons and two daughters of Apollo, three sons of Ares, two daughters of Athena, five daughters of Di—"
"We don't need the full inventory, Jackson." Zeus growled. "But the council now needs to discuss whether or not to strip your friends of their immortality, now."
Athena studied the three of us closely.
"I don't know, father. They seem rather… intent, on what they're doing…" she began.
Zeus raised an eyebrow, and scowled at Athena.
"Daughter, what are you—"
"Uh, yes, I think that it won't really matter what we do, they'll keep doing what they're doing anyway, so we might as well let them do it more easily…" Poseidon said, picking up on what Athena was doing. Whatever she was doing…
"Are you joking, brother? Of course it would matter! Without the abilities to—" Zeus said, turning to Poseidon.
"Father, it would only be prudent to let them have their immortality. Their divine purpose remains unfulfilled." Athena said again, taking the fire off of Poseidon, for reasons only she knew I suppose.
"But—" Zeus began, before he was cut off by Hermes.
"Y'know, I think Athena is right on this one." Hermes said. "As we've learned before, it's usually prudent to listen to her."
"But—" Zeus began.
"I mean, who was it again who told you that Typhon was going to—"
"Yes, but—"
"All for stripping these half-bloods of the immortality given them?" Dionysus asked boredly, before Zeus could finish.
"Aye." Zeus scowled.
"All opposed?" Dionysus said, raising a hand.
All other hands were raised as well.
"The 'Nays' have it." Dionysus said.
"But—" Zeus said, suddenly confused. "—they—"
"It is decided already, brother. Let the children be." Poseidon said. "Onto the next order of business, the one this meeting was called to in the first place. Athena?"
"But—the—" Zeus said, still confused.
"Thank you, lord Poseidon." Athena said, standing and ignoring her father's attack of severe perplexity. "Since you three are all apparently remaining immortal, this now applies to all of you.
"There have been rules and guidelines concerning interaction with the mortal race since the dawn of mankind. You three are also expected to keep up with all laws made by the council, and also keep all previously made laws."
"But if something like, oh I don't know, divine purpose is in the way of keeping some of them, then the matter is considered a gray area, right Hermes?" Apollo said, winking in a way that wasn't very subtle. Hermes rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Right. We're expecting you three to strictly obey the rules set out by the Council." Athena said. "And that being said, each of you three will go with one of the members who would like to explain some of the specifics in mind. I, myself, will take my daughter."
"Percy, if you would just walk this way with me." Poseidon said, standing and shrinking to a normal size.
"And if Hermes could just talk with Thalia for a few minutes, as Zeus is still processing…" Athena said, giving Hermes a pointed look.
"But—" Zeus said in the background. "I'm… the king—"
"Oh brother." Poseidon said quietly, as I approached. "Hang on tight Percy."
In a few moments, we were suddenly in a large blue temple. We weren't underwater, so I had to assume we were still on Olympus. Poseidon waved his hand, and two beach chairs appeared for us to sit in, and sit we did.
"Percy, all of what I'm about to tell you…" Poseidon said, listening to something for a few moments. "…all of this cannot be spoken of, outside this room."
"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly concerned. What could he want to tell me that was so important? Was it a new threat they'd heard about? That'd be my luck. Straight after a crisis with the Titans, they'd find something even worse coming into play. Thanks for saving all our lives! Whoops, forgot this monumentally important crisis over here we need you to solve! TTYL SUCKER!
"Percy, We, several other members of the council and I, are very grateful to you and your friends for doing what you are doing. Zeus would have us deny it, and we are technically forbidden to encourage this, but all of us would rather that our children were safe in camp." Poseidon said. "We cannot always make claims on our children, but with your help, and Annabeth's and Thalia's perhaps you can make the half-bloods feel like they have a home. And maybe even let them know that we all care."
Oh. I wasn't quite prepared for an actual… an actual thank-you from the gods.
"So, what you're saying in a nutshell is…"
"You are hereby forbidden to do anything of the sort of the things you may or may not have been doing." Poseidon said, giving Percy a wink that was obviously too obvious.
"Ooooh, I gotcha…" I said. "Is Athena giving Annabeth the same talk?"
Poseidon tilted his head for a minute, and listened. I guess I wasn't tuned in on whatever channel he was listening on, but eventually he looked back down at me.
"Yes, in a manner of speaking." Poseidon said. "Thalia too."
Poseidon put his hand on my shoulder, and smiled.
"Percy, you are my favorite son. And armed with this immortality, you will become greater than Heracles ever was. I know it."
I smiled at the compliment, and bowed. As I began to walk out of the temple, I heard Poseidon say behind my back, "Remember Percy, you cannot say anything outside of these walls."
I nodded in understanding, and felt my friends' auras all heading to a central point on Olympus. I zapped over there straightaway.
Thalia, Annabeth, and I all looked between each other.
"All good?" I asked.
"Yeah," Thalia said. She turned, looking back at the throne room of the Olympians as though she fully expected her father to come flying out, waving the masterbolt around like a baseball bat and screaming like a wild satyr. "Yeah, we're good. For now."
"Should we go back to camp and maybe get a good night's sleep?" I asked.
Thalia shrugged. "I guess. I have to go back to the Hunters soon. They'll start worrying if I'm not in my tent."
"You didn't tell them you were a god now?" Annabeth said.
"It's surprisingly hard to discern immortality as in a god, from immortality as in no aging," Thalia said. "I doubt they even know how I got out of my tent without alarming the wolves around our camp."
"Okay, then. Happy hunting, Thalia." I said, waving. Thalia gave Annabeth a quick hug, before stepping back again.
"It was good to see you, Annabeth," Thalia said. She turned to me, and after a few moments of scrutinizing me up and down, she added, "and you too, Kelp Head."
"Hey!" I said, but I was smiling. "See you around, Pinecone Face."