Chapter 23: It's Starting

Madison's POV

Percy and I were staring at his arm in shock. What oozed out of his arm was unexpected. Gold ichor dripped down.

"But I turned down the OFFER!"

"I know Percy! I don't understand."

He took riptide from me and tried to slash at his arm, but it was like the curse was never gone. He couldn't cut himself. Now I was really confused.

"Percy, cut me."

"What? Why?"

"I need to see something… Just do it!"

He slashed at my arm, and sure enough, gold ichor was flowing out just like I thought. I yanked riptide from Percy's hand and made a cut in my arm. It was back to a regular crimson red color.

"I don't get it…"

"I don't either Percy."

I kept thinking about the prophecy on the wall in the room. One line stood out.

And be blessed by the Phoenix and become even stronger.

Stronger as in… I gasped.

"What?" Percy looked at me.

"The prophecy said we would become even stronger after you got blessed by the Phoenix. Remember, we would glow every time we touched. What are the only beings you know that can glow?"

Percy looked confused and then he scrunched his eyebrows thinking hard. I rolled my eyes at his 'Seaweed Braininess'. Then it looked like the answer dawned on him.

"GODS! We're gods?"

"No, only together we are considered gods… If that makes since."

'Seal the bond… Seal the bond…' I looked around confused and I noticed Percy was too.

"Did you hear that?" I asked him.

He nodded. "What was that?"

"I don't know… I'm soooo confused! What did they mean by 'seal the bond'?"

Percy touched my hand to comfort me. As soon as he made contact with my hand, I saw an image flash before my eyes. A woman was walking down an isle with a beautiful white wedding-like gown. The veil was covering her face. She walked up to a man whose back was turned to me. He took her hand and then removed the veil with the other. The veil revealed a woman who looked about 18. She looked oddly familiar. I looked into her eyes and almost gasped. It was… ME! The man bent down and whispered in my ear: "Together forever Hothead…" At that, the image faded, but I knew who the man was… it was none other than my Seaweed Brain.

I felt Percy shaking me.

"Madison, snap out of it! Are you all right?"

"What yes, I'm fine."

"You spaced out for a minute."

"I understand now…"

"Understand what?"

"What seal the bond meant and who told us."

"Well…"

"The fates were telling us that we have to become full gods on our own so that we will be immortal even separated. We have to seal our fates as gods."

"Well… How?"

"Um… Percy, how do you intertwine two people's fates?" I was going to make him guess, I couldn't just tell him.

"Tie a knot?"

"And what is the traditional way to tie two people's lives together?"

"Um… Marriage? MARRIAGE! We're only 16!"

"I know, I know, but I had a glimpse at our marriage and we looked about 18ish."

"So in 2 years we have to become full gods?"

I nodded my head. This is the only explanation.

"I haven't even thought about marriage! Much less tomorrow!"

"Well, we have to get through tomorrow Percy."

"I know."

"We'll have to think about this another time. Our primary concern is the giants and we have to get rest and focus on one thing at a time."

"Alright… Marriage? Huh…" Percy started to have this content look on his face.

"What's with that look on your face?"

"Well… Marrying you doesn't seem like a bad idea. Plus, we will be together for all eternity… And that's a long time…"

I rolled my eyes at his observation. Then I started to smile a little. It wasn't a bad idea… I do love Percy.

"Good-night, Mrs. Jackson!"

"Funny Seaweed Brain, we aren't even married yet so try to focus on one thing at a time. It shouldn't be too hard for you because your brain can't hold too much information or it will overload and explode. We wouldn't want that would we?"

"HEY!"

"Night, Seaweed Brain!"

I laid down and rolled over. He gave up and laid down next to me. He put an arm around me and I rolled over into his chest. I began to doze off, but before I fell completely asleep, I heard Percy say: "I love you…"

Percy's POV

I felt myself being shaking awake. I groaned. "5 more minutes!"

I heard someone leave the tent.

"Jason, I can't get either of them awake!"

"UGH! I knew Madison wasn't a morning person, but Percy too! Gods, they are so much alike."

"I don't see it."

"Leo, we don't have time to argue about how much they are alike or not! We have to get them AWAKE!"

I felt someone stir underneath me. I knew Madison was still asleep. I was awake, but I didn't want to get up.

I heard someone walked in. "Awe, Look how cute! I hate to ruin the moment."

"I don't…"

"Shut it Leo! Jason…"

"We have bigger things to worry about. I'll wake them, but every time I do this to wake Madison, she tries to kill me."

"Well I think you'll survive. Just do it."

All of a sudden I felt a tiny sting, but nothing more. I didn't even move, neither did Madison. My arm was still tightly wrapped around her.

"What the… That always works!"

"Well, it didn't! He does have the curse of Achilles."

"But, it should have affected Madison!"

Holy Zeus! I forgot we were touching! We're technically gods right now! That's why Madison wasn't affected.

I got up so they wouldn't be too suspicious.

"I'll get her up, and Jason, if you ever try to shock us awake again, I'll send Madison after you." I smirked and he gulped. "I'm kidding man, but seriously, don't do it again."

They left the tent. I looked over at Madison who was still sound asleep. I rolled my eyes. She was worse than me. I leaned down next to her and whispered in her ear.

"Wake up wifey." Man it was fun screwing with her. I didn't actually mind marrying Madison, I do love her.

She jumped up and looked at me. I laughed at her expression.

"Not funny Percy!" She whined.

"You know you love it!"

She laughed. "I must if I can't stay away." We both leaned in, but were interrupted by Piper bursting into our tent.

"Finally! You're both up! Let's go!" She pulled us out of the tent.

"Now that we are ALL here, we can discuss strategies and figure out what to do about what we're up against. Maybe we can depict the prophecy more." Reyna stated.

Everyone looked at Madison and she sighed. Jason and I looked at each other and nodded. I stood up.

"Well, seven half-bloods shall answer the call, that part of the prophecy has come true."

Jason stood. "To storm or fire, the world must fall, we don't know about that one yet." I gave a quick glance to Madison and saw her glancing at me too. We knew it had to be fire because of us and even Leo has the ability.

Madison stood. "An oath to keep with a final breath, me along with the gods, made an oath to never speak of the other camp while at one. We were supposed to keep them separated. Hera made a bold move in combining them and so the oath was maneuvered around and the camps came together."

Reyna stood. She obviously wanted to be a leader. Plus, she is a daughter of Minerva, so she is very wise. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death, We don't know about that one either, but the prophecy was spoken to us and it says 'foes' so maybe it will be the giants." I glanced at Madison again. We had to make it through today. The fates kept showing us our future so we will defeat the giants it seems, but we can never be certain.

I felt a rumble and I saw that everyone else did too. I grabbed Madison's hand and we ran outside to the edge of Olympus with everyone on our tails. I saw 11 giants marching forward towards us.

"It's starting…" Madison mumbled.