Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or Camp Half-Blood or mythology. Rick does. Well, at least the characters and Camp Half-Blood.

Chapter 13

Percy sat next to Annabeth. Luke sat next to Thalia. And both boys sat on the window seat.

They were in a bus on their way to Olympus for the first camp field trip in over a decade, according to Chiron. It was the Winter Solstice, a day after Thalia's twelfth birthday, and a select few campers were going to Olympus to watch the gods conduct their Winter Solstice meeting. The campers coming were essentially most of the head counselors of each cabin with a few extras. The most notable were Clarisse, the Stoll brothers, Beckendorf, Silena, and a new guy—Lee Fletcher, a son of Apollo. Those were the people Percy knew best.

It was nerve-racking. It would mark the first time he'd ever been up on Olympus. And it was the site of the most dangerous stunt a demigod could pull off. Luke didn't want to sit next to him because he was afraid they would start talking about the mission, and Thalia and Annabeth would get curious. It was best if they strayed apart.

The girls took that rather well. Thalia, for some odd reason, chose to sit with Luke without consulting Annabeth. It gave Percy a little comfort because he tended to argue more with Thalia than he did with Annabeth. With Annabeth, she had a cooler head when heading into more serious situations, and he enjoyed her company. Not to say that Thalia wasn't a friend. She was… He just felt more comfortable talking with Annabeth.

"I bet the architecture is wonderful," Annabeth sighed. "Don't you?"

The only problem was that Annabeth loved to drone on and on about architecture, which Percy tried to stay awake for. It was hard. It was just like he was in a boring class at school or something. At least, that's what he judged from what he heard about public schools: they were generally boring. Sometimes he wished Annabeth wasn't a walking textbook. He already had a hard time with learning about magical creatures not to mention the architecture of the center of Western civilization.

He began dozing off.

"Percy? Percy? Are you falling asleep again?"

He found a comfortable spot to rest his head against.

A warm hand slithered up the sleeve of his jacket and pinched him hard. At the exact same time, a sharp voice hissed into his ear: "VLACAS! Wake up!"

Percy shot up, scared by the sudden outburst. "What the—? Annabeth? You scared me!"

"You were being rude," she claimed.

"Rude?" He remembered her architecture lecture. "Oh, that? Come on, Annabeth. You can't expect me to stay awake when you're talking about architecture. I mean, it's cool and all, but I can't concentrate on that stuff for a long time. You know that! It's like trying to read me a lullaby. I'll fall asleep."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Some things never change. Well, then, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know!"

"If there's nothing you want to talk about, I'll just talk to the other two," she said. "Clearly, you are too boring to hang around."

"Whoa, whoa! Wait!"

Annabeth turned.

"I want to talk with you. I just don't know what to talk about."

"Think of something."

Percy frowned. "Well, there is one thing that's on my mind. You have to come closer, though. I don't want… others to hear."

She leaned in closer to him, curiosity blossoming on her face. He stared for a moment too long and stumbled on his words: "Um, well I was wondering… does Thalia, you know, have a—uh, thing for Luke? I mean, does she, um, like him? Because she's always hanging around him, and she looks at him a lot, and, um, she, like, well…"

Annabeth turned with a thoughtful expression on. "Well, Luke is kind of…" She trailed off on her words as she realized what she was saying. She burned a bright red as she looked at the back of the seat in front of her. "I mean, yes. But I—I understand why."

"He's sixteen," Percy said.

"I know."

A nasty feeling crept into his heart, but he pushed it aside. "I don't think it's going to work out," he said.

Annabeth frowned. "Why? Do you have—?"

He shook his head quickly. "No no no! It's just…" He knew she wouldn't understand. And he couldn't tell her anyway. "There's a bad feeling I have about getting too attached to Luke and myself. I don't think either of you would like it too much."

She gave him a mystified look. She stared at him, without saying anything, and seemingly tried to decipher the meaning of those words. He looked out the window to avoid eye contact. He couldn't bear to look at her. If he did, he was afraid he'd let the secret slip.

She pulled out her knife—the Celestial bronze knife Luke had given her when she arrived at camp. Her knife was lost, so he gave her a new one as a present. "Luke gave me this," she said.

"I know," he replied quietly.

Annabeth put her hand on his knee. "We've known each other for almost five months. That's not that long, but I get a feeling that I can trust you. I'm—I'm going to tell you something that I don't normally tell people. Only Thalia knows this. It… it has to do with parents."

Percy looked at her, and her eyes were inviting yet cautious, as if letting too much out would cause her to die.

She took a deep breath. "This is the first time I'm going to see my mother. I'm not sure what to expect because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not many demigods get to see their godly parent in person, but I'm going to be a lucky person who has. I'm afraid she'll look me off. I'm afraid of a lot of things, actually. But worst of all, she'll remind me of my dad."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion curiosity.

"If you had your godly parent, whoever that may be, and a mortal parent, wouldn't you want them to get back together?" She looked wistful, as if she'd dreamed about this many times. "My dad married when I was five. He married a mortal woman and had mortal kids—twins. I was the unwanted child, the accident. Athena favoured my dad, but he never wanted a child. Maybe he did love her for a little while, but it was over before you could even blink.

"Monsters began attacking when I was seven. They lasted four years before they couldn't take it anymore. My step-mother wouldn't allow me to play with my half-brothers. I was isolated—separated from the rest of the family. I was different. I got the message. I ran away. A few weeks later, I was led into the house of this crazy old guy named Halcyon or something like that. It was just on the opposite side of my hometown. There, I met Thalia. We spent the next year together as two sisters in a two-person family. Until we ran into Grover, and by the will of the Fates, we ended up at Camp Half-Blood."

She fingered the lone bead on her necklace, the bead that everyone got at the end of summer. This year, it'd been a lightning bolt, symbolizing the arrival of the first daughter of Zeus. It was Percy's sixth bead. He found himself touching his necklace as well.

"I've loved every moment I had at Camp Half-Blood. Really. But about this trip… I'm afraid about meeting my parent. What's it like for you, an unclaimed child?"

"Trust me," he muttered. "It's like I've met him already."

"Who do you think it is? A minor god?"

Percy sighed. "To put it simply, he's a powerful god. He could probably wipe the floor with many other deities, and that's the part that worries me the most."

"How about your mother?" Annabeth asked, sensing the lack of comfort he had with the topic. He was glad she was perceptive, even if it was to a sensitive topic. "You know a lot more about her. What is—was she like?"

Normally, he didn't like talking about his deceased mother, but with Annabeth, he felt like he could pour his heart out. He began talking about how kind she was to everyone, including his horrible step-father. He remembered memories he thought had been lost forever. He told her about his mom's awesome homemade cookies he still tasted with every sip of nectar he had. The taste would never go away. It would last until he died. Or until someone could replicate it. He began feeling wistful the more he spoke. He wished his mother could come back so bad, but that dream would never come true. He shouldn't have tried keeping his hopes up. But he continued telling Annabeth about how he would love to see his mother in the flesh once more.

"She sounds like a wonderful woman," Annabeth said when he was done.

"She was. I bet she still is in the Underworld, wherever she might be."

"I wish my mortal family was like that."

Percy looked at Annabeth, who stared forward with a sad expression. He pressed his lips together in thought for a moment before he took her hand in his own and squeezed lightly. She turned to him, alarmed.

"Don't worry, Annabeth," he reassured her. "It doesn't matter if you dislike your mortal family or not… maybe they're not bad people. They're just afraid. They don't know how to deal with the monster issue. They don't want you hurt, but by protecting you they're putting themselves in danger, which, I guess, is something mortals don't usually want to do. But even if you don't have a family with them, you have a family with us. Me, you, Luke and Thalia. We're a family."

"I thought you said to not get attached."

He winced. "Yeah, I did."

She stared at him. After a while, she said, "Well, whatever the reason is for trying to distance yourself, listen to your own advice. If we're family, I'm here to help you. That's what a family should do, right?"

He couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, I guess so. Also, should we stop holding hands because mine is getting a little sweaty?"

Percy felt a little hot, but Annabeth, for the first time, kept her embarrassment down. Her cheeks only went a light pink as they let go. Both of them faced the front as Chiron rolled down the center aisle. The bus stopped.

"Welcome to the Empire State Building," Chiron said, with a twinkle in his eyes. "We're at the door to Olympus, so I suggest that you find a partner and hold hands because the ride up is going to be a little bumpy."

Percy could've sworn the centaur winked at him, but he tried not to pay attention to it. He was already burning from realizing he'd been holding Annabeth's hand for a while. He didn't need to think about it some more. Yet here he was, thinking about it some more.

"I do not want to know what that means," Thalia said from across the aisle.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Bumpy ride. The way he said it makes me wonder…"

Oh yeah, Percy thought. The ride up is going to be a nightmare.

The elevator ride wasn't that bad. Of course, all he could imagine was Apollo wearing old hippie clothing and singing ancient songs from way back in the 70s or something, but other than that it wasn't bad at all.

There was a guy at the front desk who seemed to know all about the Greek world. He gave Chiron a security pass and told him to go up to the six-hundredth floor. As far as Percy knew, the Empire State Building only had a hundred two floors so he didn't exactly see how the elevator could go up to Olympus, but there were a lot of things about the Greek world he still didn't understand. He tried not to think about it too much.

The whole group managed to fit up the elevator in one ride, though they were at full capacity, especially with Chiron's wheelchair. Percy ended up getting squished between Luke and Annabeth. It sucked because both of them were of equal size or much bigger.

Percy nearly pushed everyone over to get out of the elevator when the doors opened, but Chiron went first. Everyone piled out after him, but soon the realization that they were on Olympus got to them. Percy stared in wonder at the most marvelous city he'd ever seen. New York was beautiful, especially the skyline in the evening light, but nothing could compare to the beauty of the gleaming white marble buildings that seemed to make Olympus.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces—a city of mansions—all with white-columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads would crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow.

There were precariously perched gardens with olive trees and rosebushes.

He could make out an open-air market filled with colourful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. Nobody seemed to notice that they were standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air that looked like they were at the height of an airplane.

Wood nymphs giggled and waved as the group passed by. Hawkers tried selling them stuff, and in the park, the nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park. Satyrs, naiads, and a bunch of good-looking teenagers—who might've been minor gods and goddesses—gathered to listen. Some of them turned to watch as the group moved closer to the big palace at the top. They whispered between themselves.

Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room.

It was enormous. It made even the biggest of mortal rooms look like a broom closet in comparison. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations.

Twelve thrones, built for beings at least fifteen feet tall, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were full, and then some. There was a human-sized throne at the hearth next to the girl tending the fire in which someone sat. Someone Percy didn't particularly like.

Percy's eyes drifted off Hestia, who tended the fire, to Hades, who was staring at him with contempt. It seemed like the Lord of the Dead had no love for him either.

Percy looked back at Hestia, who gave him a warm smile. He smiled back and nodded to show appreciation.

"Hey, demigods!" greeted a young, clean-shaven man. He had a radiant smile, and a back quiver. "What's up?"

It was Apollo. At a second glance, Percy realized that Apollo looked a lot like Luke, except his expression was a lot brighter and he was older than Luke. He probably could've passed off as Luke's older brother. But he was related to the girl sitting right across from him.

She had auburn hair, silvery yellow eyes that looked like the moon, and was breathtakingly beautiful. At the same time, she looked proud and would probably kill him if he dared to look at her at an inopportune time. He winced when he remembered the fate of Actaeon. She said nothing, but kept her eyes on the demigods.

Percy looked at each of the gods one-by-one, identifying them and how they were acting toward the demigods. The only Olympian he didn't look at was Zeus. The last god Percy dared to look at was Poseidon. Percy watched his father as he turned to face him. Poseidon gave him a small but quick smile before turning away.

Percy understood that Poseidon couldn't give much away. But it was nerve-racking being in the presence of all the Olympians plus another really powerful god that could easily kill him with the snap of his fingers. He noticed Hades smile crookedly. Perhaps the god had heard him.

When he looked at Annabeth, he noticed she was still staring at Athena nervously. He nudged her with his elbow. "That's your mom," he said stupidly.

"I know." She rolled her eyes. "It's just… amazing."

The gods quickly called the Winter Solstice Council in session. They began showing the campers how things on Olympus really worked. But it began on a sour note that would set the tone for the entirety of the meeting.

Hades spoke first. "I have an issue, if I may?"

Zeus gave him a cold look and glanced at Thalia. "You should feel fortunate I invited you up here in the first place, Hades, instead of leaving you to muse on your own in your pathetic underground kingdom."

"I was merely going to bring up a point of discussion," the lord of the dead said innocently.

"And what would that be?" snarled the king of the gods.

Hades gave him a dark look. "You know very well what it is."

Zeus stood up, towering over the human-sized Hades. "How dare you in her presence? You think that it is okay to murder the children of other gods?"

"We made a pact!"

"Back up!" Chiron ordered the campers.

All the demigods backed away from the growing tension between the two powerful deities. Even the Olympians were growing uneasy. Percy glanced at his father, who looked like he was barely keeping his cool.

"Brothers, we have children here," Poseidon said coolly. "If you would both just calm down a little, we would not have to—"

"Be quiet, Poseidon," barked Hades. "You know what you did." He turned back to Zeus. "You forced me into that pact, and if you do not honour it, what kind of horrors have you decided to bring upon your daughter?! Why will you never put aside your raging lust? It is you who commissioned the pact. It should be you who gives in last. But of course, like history has seen, you are always the first. You were the first to survive getting eaten. You were the first to draw that stick. You were the first to claim a wife!"

"You tried and you failed," growled Zeus. "Like you have throughout history. She does not deserve the fate you desire to bring her. You should never think to kill Thalia, not to mention follow through with it."

"Do you have any idea what you did?" Hades bellowed. "You brought down a whole building! For what? You are a murderer yourself. I am only trying to repay the favour, you swine!"

"Hades, stop it!" Poseidon insisted.

"Are you taking his side?" laughed Hades maniacally. "You remember all the times he's tried or succeeded in killing your children? More than me! He tried striking them down. He once slaughtered a whole boat full of them. And you take his side?"

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Percy's father snapped. "I am just calling for peace. This is no time to be arguing about whether we should kill someone who is standing in this very room."

"Thank you!" said Zeus.

"You're not off the hook, brother," Poseidon shot back. "You still tried to kill him once. It doesn't matter if we agreed not to attack if both still live. I said it once before. You lay a hair on him, and I swear there will be a war."

Lightning flashed outside. Thunder boomed.

"You would not dare declare war," Athena said to Poseidon. "You would not be stupid enough to—"

"Shut your pie hole, Athena, before you make things worse."

She went deathly serious. "How—dare—you—tell—me—to—shut—my—pie—hole?" she said through gritted teeth. "You are an imbecile!"

"Tension is scary,
Make a single move we're dead,
Uh-oh, spaghetti-oh."

Apollo frowned. "Wait a minute; I messed up that last line. That was six syllables."

Artemis exploded. "For the last time Apollo, we do not need your haikus to annoy us when Father looks like he's about to destroy everything within a mile's radius."

"I'm just trying to narrate the scene, lil' sis," Apollo said with his hands up in surrender.

"Don't call me that!"

"But I'm your big brother!"

"Apollo, we are twins," she said through clenched teeth. "I helped deliver you. For how many millennia do we have to argue about such a nonsensical topic?"

"Hephaestus is ugly!" Ares shouted.

All eyes turned to him.

"What?" he asked. "I thought we were arguing pointlessly?"

"At least I've got a brain," Hephaestus grumbled. "I'd rather have a brain than be a stupid as a brick. Be happy your girlfriend's got some brain; otherwise I'd be worried 'bout Eros."

"Hey!" Ares exclaimed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Point proven," said the forge god.

Slowly, the conversation delved into chaos, and everyone was arguing with everyone. Thalia looked scared, and she had every right to be. It was one thing for zombies and monsters to attack people, but actual gods? Percy could only imagine the stinging feeling of getting smote with a lightning bolt. He looked up as his dad engaged in a lengthy, heated conversation with Athena. Had his father spoken the truth when he said Zeus had tried to kill him? How had he not known?

Percy remembered the empousa. Was it her?

His gut feeling told him that it wasn't the empousa. It told him that it was something else. He remembered the Gray Sisters telling him Zeus would leave him alone. Was that a lie? Who sent the empousa?

Percy glanced over at Luke, who gave him a devious smile. He understood the message.

This is going to be easier than we thought.

Luke poked him from his fake slumber. "Come on, Percy. We gotta go!"

He pretended to keep sleeping. He dreaded this moment more than anything in his life. More than visiting the site where his mother was killed. He didn't want to be on Olympus whilst Luke ran off with the lightning bolt. He feared that the gods would kill him. But it was a risk that came with the plan.

"Percy!" Luke shook him. "Wake up!"

"I am up," he snapped back. "I'm just—I'm taking a little break."

"We have no time for a break," Luke hissed. "It's now or we're both dead."

Percy exhaled loudly through his nose. He sat up and slid out of the comfy beds that the Olympians had set up for them for the night. Hermes had been kind enough to slip out of the argument, lead the campers to a room, and set up beds. Everyone slept close to their friends, so Luke slept on the bed at his feet, and Thalia and Annabeth on either side. Both of the girls were sound asleep, and the sound of their breathing was calming. He figured that if there had been nothing bothering him, he probably could have listened to them sleeping and done some meditation or something.

But he had a mission to do.

The two of them snuck to the throne room, carefully avoiding any entity, including automatons, that was on the way. When the two crept into the throne room, there was no one there. Only the hearth in the central fire pit burned, giving off a magnificent array of reds and oranges and yellows. Even without the gods, the thrones resonated with power.

At the foot of Zeus' throne was an odd object. It was a two-foot-long Celestial bronze cylinder, spiked on both ends with god-level electrical explosives. It hummed with energy. So much so that Percy thought if he got close to it, he'd burn and die a horrible, painful death.

But Luke showed no such fear. He walked straight up to it and grabbed it. It crackled with energy under his fingertips. There was a dark look in Luke's eyes as he held the master bolt.

"So much power," muttered the son of Hermes hungrily.

Percy quickly grabbed it from his hand and said, "Stop it, Luke. We don't have much time. You said so yourself. Put it in the backpack."

Luke did as planned. The master bolt was in the backpack. Their mission was halfway complete. All Luke needed to do was to get to Hollywood—to the entrance of the Underworld. But when they turned around, Percy caught sight of something lying next to the guest chair by the hearth. It was a helmet—a dark helm that seemed to evoke some of his greatest fears. It was Hades' helm of darkness.

But something about the helm struck him: the way it looked.

His mother's death flashed in his eyes. The shadow of the man looked out into the woods. The helmet seemed to take the shape of Hades' helm of darkness. The Helm of Darkness encases him in the shadows, yes, but such power would radiate far. The Olympians would know if he was in New York wearing his Helm of Darkness, Chiron had said.

"Percy?" Luke said in concern.

He snapped back to the present. "It has to be him. Who else would it be?" he said to himself.

"What?" asked Luke.

"The one who killed my mom," Percy said before he could stop himself. "It has to be Hades." He knew he was jumping to conclusions, but the temptation of taking Hades' helm was gnawing at his fingers. All he had to do was step forward and grab it.

"Percy, I don't think that—" Luke suddenly stopped. Percy turned to face him. Luke looked like he was in a trance. Soon, he broke out of it, and an evil smile slowly crept across his face. "We could take it, Percy. Get revenge for your mother. Hades will get what's coming to him."

"Let's take it," he said. "Hades will get what's coming to him."

Luke stashed the helm in the backpack, and Percy bid him farewell. He wished the son of Hermes good luck as Luke departed through Olympus and down to the elevator. Percy watched him from the courtyard entrance as he entered the elevator and disappeared. He stood there for a few moments, taking the scene in, before turning and heading off to bed. When he entered the throne room, however, he saw an eight-year-old girl sitting at the hearth tending it with care. It was a peculiar sight, but even more so when the girl looked over at him and beckoned for him to sit down next to her.

Naturally curious, he sat down next to the girl. She wore simple brown robes with a scarf wrapped around her head. As he watched her tend the fire, she pushed back the scarf to reveal long mousy-brown hair.

"Hello, Percy Jackson," the girl finally said.

She turned to him, and he backed up, startled. Her eyes were fiery red, and not with red irises. Where her eyes should have been were pits of fire. But the odd thing was that the fire was warm and cozy. Like a campfire.

"Are you surprised?" she asked.

"Um, a little startled," he admitted. "Who… who are you?"

"I'm sure a smart boy like you can figure it out," she said, turning back to the hearth. "I tend the hearth. That is my only hint."

The name clicked instantly as soon as he tried thinking. "Hestia," he said.

The goddess smiled kindly at him before turning back to the fire. "What brings you out here in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, uh…" He tried to think of an excuse. "I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to take a walk. You know, collect my thoughts."

"I see," Hestia said. "All right, son of Poseidon. I believe you."

Percy looked down. "Everyone knows who I am, don't they."

"Olympians," Hestia sighed. "We are proud… very proud. Once the name of a powerful demigod passes through, we all inquire to see his or her power. We look to find the potential, and we look to find the threat."

"You say 'we' as if you've been watching me too."

"That is because I have." She poked the coals underneath the blazing fire. "I have watched you since the moment I discovered you. Dangerous monsters. Putting you in a cot with a snake. Of course, your mother found out a Fury had been posing as a teacher and tried to kill you and immediately took you away from there. Luckily, you strangled it. Hades put a Mist over you and your mother to prevent you from remembering."

He went wide-eyed. "Hades knew about me when I was—?"

Hestia nodded solemnly. "He was the first to know aside from your father. After the snake incident, Hades stopped hunting you for a while. He wanted to see what you would become. But the tragic murder of your mother prevented him from watching you closely."

"He killed her didn't he," Percy growled, glaring into the fire.

"Do you think he did?" Hestia questioned. "Do not be too quick to judge, Perseus Jackson."

"Then who did it?" he asked. "Who killed my mother?"

"Alas, I cannot tell you," she said sadly. "I don't know who killed your mother. I only know that Hades and Poseidon were both watching you that night. And the aftermath. Who killed your mother is a mystery to me. The man was concealed in the shadows, but I do think that you will find your mother's killer eventually. Everything takes time."

"My mother was a good woman," he snapped. "She didn't deserve to die that night."

"Your father brought a terrible fate upon you for breaking the oath, and it just so happened that your mother was fated to die that night," said the goddess.

"It isn't my father's fault!" exclaimed the son of Poseidon. "He helped me get to camp!"

Hestia raised her eyebrows. "Is that what a servant of the Titan Lord would say?"

Percy stopped himself. He stared at the goddess with his jaw dropped. "How did you—but… how?"

"I've watched you for a long time, Percy," the goddess said calmly. "We've all seen your actions. Believe me, there are some Olympians who would wish for your death quicker than a heartbeat. Then there are some who are more patient—who would wait it out."

Percy sat there, stunned. They know, he thought. They know.

"As for your mother, I agree that your mother was a good woman, but beware of labels," she warned. "There are some, who you might know, that do bad things but have good intentions. I'm sure you know that best of any of your friends. At least, you can realize what you are doing before, during and after you do them. Be cautious. As I advise you now, here come the Olympians."

Just as she said that, the Olympians entered, all looking like they'd sat through a group therapy session.

The dread that Percy had felt during the theft came back.

Zeus walked over to his throne and bent down. He suddenly went wide-eyed as Athena gasped. Poseidon was clutching his trident as the king of the gods suddenly exploded in anger. Lightning flashed outside. Thunder rolled like a loud drumbeat. Zeus turned to Percy, and the demigod ducked in fear.

"YOU!" bellowed the Sky God.

Hades' look was just as menacing. He gave Percy a deadly look before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Everyone was too shocked or too busy staring at Zeus to realize Hades was gone.

"Brother, calm down," Hestia said gently.

"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! WHERE IS MY BOLT!?"

"I brought him here, brother," Hestia told him sternly but calmly. "He's been under my watch this entire time. Isn't that right Apollo?"

The god of truth gulped nervously. "Of course, Hestia."

Zeus growled. "Hermes, get the campers back to camp. Apollo, Artemis, Athena and Ares will go search for the bolt. Hera, Demeter, Dionysus are dismissed. Hephaestus, go talk to all the Cyclopes you can about the whereabouts of my bolt. Aphrodite… do whatever it is you do at this time. Help the campers if need be. Hestia, get this impudent upstart out of here before I decide to kill him." Zeus gestured toward Percy. Then he turned to Poseidon. "And dear brother. Might we have a quick conversation?"

Poseidon met Percy's eyes. Percy saw a little warning look the god's eyes and decided to hastily exit.

Everything happened in a quick blur.

He was back at camp before he knew it, and two upset looking girls were screaming at him. Chiron was staring at him with held back emotion, and the rest of the campers looked fearful.

Because above him was the swirling symbol of a trident. He'd been claimed.

And it was at the worst time possible.

Uh-oh, spaghetti-oh!

As you can tell, Percy clearly goes against his word and his thoughts. He is not the most tactical and strategic guy out there. Trust me, he's smart... he just makes a lot of bad decisions. Bad choices. Stuff that gets him in trouble. I kind of like the part with the Olympians arguing; I wish I'd made that longer, but then it'd just be gratuitous.

Anyway, hope you enjoy. Read and REVIEW!

Just kidding. BEING HERE is plenty already. Views may not be a big thing on FanFiction, but I just hit 17,000 sometime in the past day. That's awesome! Glad to see the 131 favorites and 179 followers. Grazie! For sticking around on a story that has a main concept that's been done. Hell, I've done it myself. Difference is, this is the entirety of PJO in one story.

Truly... thanks,
SharkAttack719