Rated T for language

Chapter 8: Calm Before the Storm

I sighed and got out of bed. My body was fully recovered from the shock of being split in two. I shook my head slowly.

Damn. It was painful. I would never think ill of the gods. They had lived through that agony for weeks.

I sighed and dressed, mentally going through my list of suitors.

Apollo was out of the competition.

Ares was my enemy now.

Eros had promised to leave me alone.

Hermes had offered to stay friends.

I smiled. Sweet. Everyone was accounted for. I happily walked into the large kitchen. The gods were all groggily making their way into the kitchen.

Apollo was the only one who was chipper and happy. I rolled my eyes. "Freak."

He laughed and stole a piece of ham from Hermes. Hermes growled something about coffee and then dealing with him.

I chuckled. Mom was cooking for everyone. Hestia was helping her. Hades and Poseidon walked into the room. Hades was in a silk, black dressing robe.

Poseidon was in a green, terry bathrobe and his anchor design pajamas could be seen slightly under it. His black hair was a mess and his beard tangled. Perhaps the funniest thing was that he kept bumping into things.

I snickered. Hermes was dressed in his usual jogging outfit. Artemis was pristine as ever. Paul was groggy and drinking coffee. Hermes was eyeing it like he was going to steal it.

The heroes weren't down yet. Hephaestus just came in. His beard was hilariously messy and sparking all over the place. I wished I had a camera.

I shook my head in amusement. "Morning."

They all nodded to me and ignored everything else except eating and waking up. Before they had all moved into my villa, I had never expected to see, first hand, what groggy gods looked like.

Eros smirked at me from where he was sitting at the table. I chuckled and joined him. Mom gave me a plate full of bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs. There was also a glass of nectar, the fuel that gods actually needed to live and not fade prematurely.

"Entertaining aren't they?"

I looked over at Eros and smiled. "Yeah…I mean, I get the grogginess thing, but it's eleven." I made a face.

He chuckled. "We're gods. We can do anything we want. Especially you, god of time and all that."

I frowned. "Yeah, I forgot about that…"

He stared at me incredulously. "You forgot about that? No one just forgets their powers."

Apollo chuckled. "Percy does." He flopped down across from me. I smiled slightly. The doors opened and the heroes entered. Mom started explaining what the foods were. Achilles was very polite. Odysseus was polite as well. Jason the Argonaut was the most irritating. He had a very bad entitlement attitude.

Luke entered along with Perseus. They nodded to me and my dad and Hades. Luke also nodded to his father. I had noticed that they had spoken together last night.

Luke sat down on my right and started eating. His eyes widened. He called over. "Ms. Jackson, would it be possible if you went to Elysium after you died? I want to taste your cooking with the food we get down there!"

Hades chuckled. "Boy, I'm having her as my personal cook!"

Paul chuckled nervously and moved closer to Sally. Mom just looked at Poseidon as if telling him to do something about this.

Poseidon chuckled. "Hades, Sally is a Queen, not a servant. Even now, she does not have to do this. However, Luke will get his wish. She will go to Elysium, not Asphodel."

Hades shrugged. "Very well. She and Paul Blowfish did fight against Kronos."

Paul looked torn on whether or not to correct Hades. I shook my head sharply. He nodded and went back to eating. Luke cleared his throat and turned to me.

"I heard Chrysoar beat you in combat."

I growled. "Yeah. It took him like three fucking seconds."

Luke nodded. "He would probably be able to defeat Daedalus, so don't feel too badly about it. However, Achilles and I both practiced all the time with Daedalus since he died. Now, Achilles and I want to teach you some of the tricks he taught us." Luke's brown eyes glittered. I felt a grin tugging my lips.

"Totally! I'm down for it."

Luke smirked. "Once our food digests. You have a gym?"

I nodded. "Basement." He smiled and nodded to Achilles and the other heroes.

After breakfast, all the heroes walked downstairs with me. Poseidon had gone back to the sea to check on his kingdom. Hades had left for the Underworld to make sure all was well and Demeter or Persephone hadn't tampered with anything. Nico was there, but there was only so much the boy could do. Athena was making up strategies for the upcoming battles. Hermes was helping her. Apollo was spying on the gods from his chariot.

Artemis was at Camp Jupiter helping with the translocation to the coast. Hephaestus was spying on the villas of the opposing gods. Hypnos was still researching on how Tartarus could pull me, a god, to him, Athena was helping him. Hestia guarded the hearth. Dionysus was helping Chiron maintain law and order on the fleet that was flying to the other side of America. All the others were milling around and hanging out. There wasn't much to do until Zeus brought the fight to us.

I led the heroes to the basement. Luke, Odysseus, Achilles, Jason the Argonaut, Perseus, Theseus, and another hero I hadn't been introduced to. I turned to the curly haired young man.

"You are?"

He huffed. "I am King Alexander, son of King Philip of Macedon."

I stared at him. "Wow. Okay. Nice to meet you. Let's go."

Luke just shook his head and chuckled. "Alex, that young man was Perseus Jackson."

Alexander's cold eyes melted into awe. "Please forgive me for my harshness! I did not know to whom I spoke!"

I looked at him and then nodded. "All is forgiven…" I raised an eyebrow at Luke, but he didn't help me much, only laughed.

I shook my head. "Okay, let's…get to it."

What came next was absolutely intense. Seven heroes of the Greek world, all proficient in sword combat, teaching me at the same time. I repeat. At. The. Same. Time.

It took Six hours. Six hours of straight combat. Six. Six hours. Nothing but combat. Six. Six. SIX!

I was exhausted. They were too. That made everything better.

I glared at Achilles. "I am never going to fight you again."

He chuckled. "You would have held your own very well against nearly all of the swordsmen in Ancient Greece. Agamemnon himself would have begged you to join our battle."

I wrinkled my nose. "A war over a woman. Who would fight over a woman?"

Jason smirked. "Many would back then. Beside, you have not seen Helen of Troy."

It was my turn to smirk. "You haven't seen Annabeth of California."

Luke's smile became wistful. "Annabeth…" He nodded. "I've seen Helen. She's nothing compared to Annabeth."

That caught all of the heroes' attentions. I chuckled. "And she's all mine. We're going to be engaged. Married. She's going to become a goddess." I smiled again, a bit dreamily. Luke sighed.

"You always were a lucky bastard."

I laughed bitterly. "Dude, my life has been filled with anything but luck. I was twelve when three gods wanted me dead. I was hunted by giants. I was kidnapped and mind wiped by Hera. Gaea put a bounty on my head. I fell into Tartarus. That's not luck. That's hell."

Luke smirked. "You could put yourself to sleep by just counting how many friends you have. You're list of titles takes around five minutes to say. You have the most beautiful woman as your future wife. Said woman would die for you and loves you more than she loves her own life. She took a fucking knife for you. You have been made into a god. That's good fortune."

I rolled my eyes.

All the heroes looked at me eagerly. "What are your titles?"

Luke opened his mouth. I shouted. "NO!"

He grinned. "Oh come on, Percy. That's not exactly fair. They have a right to know about their leader." I groaned.

"Fine, but I won't be around when you tell them I'll be up in my room." I glanced at myself. "Showering."

Luke chuckled. I left the room, hell, I practically fled the room. I was walking up the stairs when my doorbell rang. I sensed who it was and frowned. I quickly teleported to my father's palace.

"Amphitrite and Triton. Who's side are they?"

"Yours. Why?"

I frowned. "They're at my front door right now."

My father smiled and went back to his paperwork. "Very well then. Go let them in."

I sighed and flashed back to my villa. I opened the door myself.

"Hello."

My half brother smiled at me. "Hello Percy."

Amphitrite nodded and walked in too. I closed the door quickly. "What can I do for you?"

Triton coughed slightly. I would have called it embarrassed, but my half (ass) brother didn't get embarrassed. His pride wouldn't let him.

"We…wanted to offer our apologies for our…" He floundered.

Amphitrite spoke up. "Triton and I didn't act properly towards you on our first meeting. We wanted to apologize for that and to offer our help in anything you might need from us."

I raised an eyebrow. "In return for what?"

Amphitrite blushed delicately. Triton coughed a little more. "Nothing." He cleared his throat. I snapped my fingers and a glass of water appeared in my hand.

"Here."

He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

I glanced around and then motioned towards the library. "Would you like to sit down?"

They smiled thankfully at me. It really was very awkward. Once we were all sitting down, they glanced at each other and then Triton spoke.

"It would seem fake if we were to ask for power just because we did something that we should have done because it was the right thing to do. Apologizing isn't above and beyond the call of duty and all that." He flushed slightly. "I know that you thought that I hated you. At first, I did. I'm Poseidon's son and heir. I heard how he called you his favorite son. You were only fifteen and you were already his favorite. I had been his son for around four thousand years. I had no idea how that could possibly happen. I was furious. I was angry at Father. However, above all, I was jealous."

He looked down at his glass. "I know now, Father has told me about your life. You haven't had it as easy as I have. You've had to fight and scrape and drag yourself just to survive. You've lived on the streets, something I can't even imagine doing. I know combat. I know the terror and rage of war, but I don't know the first thing about survival day after day after day. Father made it clear to me that, while both of us have had our fair share of challenges, you don't deserve my hatred. And for my hatred, I apologize."

I blinked. "I forgive you both. I understand how you feel. I mean. I would, if I were in your position. It wouldn't be very pleasant to meet the child of your husband's that wasn't your own."

Amphitrite nodded slightly.

I swallowed. "My mother is here. Perhaps, I know this might be too much, but maybe you could, I don't know…speak with her. Get to know her? She's with another guy now. Paul Blowfis."

Amphitrite looked at me in surprise. She smiled tentatively. "I would like that."