Chiron in this chapter is getting so much information shoved at him that certain things get knocked from his mind real quickly. Honestly I would say he deserves a pay raise but he doesn't get paid. Also, Luke does not appreciate Percy's phrasing in parts here.
Replies:
Zephyr0f8: I promise you my lovely that in the end there will be cuddles galore- all the cuddles. Percy's gonna need them when she finally let's herself acknowledge Desjardins' death.
: I mean the demigods had already heard all of the rumors from when Bianca arrived so they were curious but sort of knew some bits.
AlexusAP: Then I hope you enjoy these interactions. In which Percy tells her story! Some of it.
DannyPhantom619: Aphrodite: Aweeee, my baby girls all in love- and she has good taste too, two powerful beautiful women. She really is my daughter isn't she? She'll make all the poor suckers jealous!
Athena: Hmmm, Aphrodite's daughter's not so bad, I might just approve. And the Egyptian girl's got some good qualities I suppose, well educated, a polyglot- wait, wait no! No no no she's Poseidon's spawn?!
Krypton Writes: Oh there's more to come. Much more, much of which will be fun I hope. Heheheheh.
Undeath9087: Heh, Thalia's definitely more open. She hasn't got that jealousy towards her and it won't really get much chance to develop. She was briefly a little like 'ugh, an actress seriously?' but that fades very quickly.
Guest: He definitely thinks Percy's leaving stuff out. The thing is his suspicions are there but there is so much going on that he's not getting much time to process as information is being shot out at him. Artemis definitely does still suspects- and just how strongly she suspects will become clear soon. But she's still measuring Percy up and deciding what to do. And she knows that if she is right if she reveals it that could very easily mess with their plan to return to Mount Tam.
Wisestriker: He deserves some punishment, but there were things he had a point about. The boy didn't start off evil. He very much became it and at this stage he is trying to do better.
"Right." Percy nodded, "Fire away. I'll try to answer all questions."
"You've told us how you met Luke." Chiron's gaze flicked to Luke, who looked pale. Clearly the reminder of the Annabeth situation had gotten to him because he looked uncomfortable. "But you haven't explained why he is here. Or what happened to Lady Artemis." Who was sat listening carefully, her hunter by her side, clearly following her mistresses lead.
"Oh well that's easy." Percy gave an easy grin, "See, you know about the whole Sea of Monsters thing-"
"I am realising that yes-"
"Well we actually had a run in then- and I had a run in with him while Annabeth was talking to you." which made Chiron twitch. "And since I'd had some dreams about him- do not snicker Piper, I made the executive decision to talk to him."
"Talk at me you mean." Luke huffed the words, "I didn't exactly do much talking. I was more focused on wanting to strangle you-"
"It was cute that you thought you could." Percy could have taken him out so easily that it was laughable. "Anyway. Luke and I have some... stuff in common in our pasts." she resisted the urge to rub at the scar on her neck. "You know, the whole ancient evil deity trying to whisper in our dreams."
"What?" Chiron's eyes narrowed and Luke sunk in on himself even more.
"Kronos has been sneaking into his dreams for ages. Years. Which is pretty screwed up. Dude's been able to groom Luke right under your-"
"Don't call it that-" Luke glared at her, "That makes it sound-"
"Like he groomed and manipulated you into falling for his bullshit and becoming an extremist." Percy cut him off without faltering. "Dude. It sucks but it is what it is. He brainwashed you. If my creepy dream invader had started sooner, and if I'd been in your position I might have fallen for it too-"
"What- position-" Chiron was bristling, "What does that mean-"
"Dude clearly had no one he trusted to talk to." Percy pointed out. "I had my mom, my brother and sister, my uncle, my friends. Even if I didn't tell them at first I knew they were there supporting me. Luke didn't have any of that. For some reason he felt he couldn't tell you, and from what I've been told by Annabeth Luke stepped up quickly in the big sibling role. As someone who's been there in the 'I must protect everyone' mindset, you don't ever feel like you can tell the people you're trying to protect that you can't cope, that you're scared or something's bothering you. I got lucky, my brother and sister snapped sense into me pretty quickly but Lukey here didn't have that. Don't get me wrong. He's a dickhead asshole idiot and he definitely deserves some form of punishment-"
"Gee, thanks-"
"But I don't trust the Greek gods to give an appropriate punishment and he sure as fuck doesn't deserve whatever Big Z-" Annabeth groaned, Artemis twitched and Bianca, Luke and Piper snickered as Chiron, Thalia and Zoe gaped at Percy at the clear disrespect. "Would do to him. Especially since my excellent speech clearly worked."
"I hate the fact that you're right." Luke groaned, "I really, really hate you sometimes."
"And yet here we are." Percy beamed. "I basically talked at him and told him he was a dumbass. Got inside of his head."
"She's irritatingly good at that." Luke grumbled.
"What does that mean?" Thalia crossed her arms over her chest. "Does that mean you're changing sides back-"
"No-" Luke snapped the word before faltering, "It- I don't know exactly." his gaze flicked to Percy who shrugged.
"The way I see it there's a middle ground. I'm not gonna tell Luke he has to be all lovey dovey towards the gods because honestly I don't think they deserve it-"
"And she will tell them that if she meets them." Annabeth spoke up, a long suffering expression on her face. "I wish I was lying but she will. I think she's got a speech prepared. She's going to claim diplomatic immunity-"
"I am." Percy grinned, "Can't kill me, there'll be too many arguments." she winked as Piper and Annabeth started to snicker.
"Your highness-" Chiron was twitching, "Do not take this lightly- please do not try and lecture the gods-"
"We'll see." Percy wasn't going to promise anything. And she did have some speeches mentally prepared. What could she say, she was dramatic at heart. "Anyway. Luke's the middle ground. He can come and live in Brooklyn House. We'll make sure he doesn't pull any stupid shit-" that earned her a glare but Percy just gave him a look, "He won't be a threat to you, he gets to live, and he will help us take down Kronos."
"I don't know if my father would agree to that-"
"Oh he will." Percy gave Artemis a brittle smile, "Believe me he will."
"She'll yell at him until he does." Annabeth spoke up. "She's very convincing."
"I am." Percy flipped her damp hair over her shoulder, winking. "It's one of my better qualities. Anyway, clearly Luke has left Kronos' side because if he hadn't we wouldn't be here."
"That is true." Artemis spoke up, "As much as I hate to admit it. The boy helped us. And he is important to the prophecy that Percy received-"
"But he's just a boy-" The hunter looked almost offended, "A traitor too my lady-"
"Zoe-" Artemis gave her hunter a look. "I understand your feelings but- the boy isn't entirely useless I suppose-"
"And you're not a complete bitch." Luke shot back swiftly- which made Percy groan.
"I could really do with a spray bottle right now because you two are like cats and I will find a way to spray you both if you don't play nice-" she turned a long suffering look to Chiron, "You think you have it hard dealing with your camp, you should try and live through what I've had to with those two."
Luke glared at that, though he couldn't really argue against it since she was right, and Artemis snorted. "I admit he has been somewhat helpful. Though he is of course still a disgusting boy and a traitor."
"This coming from the goddess who couldn't smite a fly right now-" at which point the tap in the corner of the room seemed to suddenly turn itself on, and Percy glared menacingly.
"I will spray you both-"
"How did-" Chiron blinked, "Was that magic-"
"I'm a water elementalist." Percy said brightly, an innocent smile on her lips, which made her friends snicker with amusement. "And that isn't the point at the moment is it? I thought you wanted to know about how all this happened?" she gestured between herself, Artemis and Luke.
"Yes, of course."
"Well. The House has had some.. turmoil, over the last few years." Percy said the words carefully, which made Chiron's eyes narrow.
"That is a point. I- and I believe all of us, believed that the Egyptian Pantheon had faded long ago. Your gods seemed to disappear and your House of Life went with them."
"Well the House of Life went underground and out gods-" Percy hesitated, "Our Chief Lector at the time blamed the gods for the decline of Egypt so- the House turned against them. Other than Thoth. If they came to the mortal plane they were generally sealed away-"
"What?" Thalia blinked, "You can't seal a god-"
"Actually-" Artemis looked uncomfortable, "With Egyptian Magic it is possible. Though it would be harder to seal us than their gods."
"Our gods work differently." Percy told Thalia, "They can't really come to the Mortal plane unless they have a host-"
"A host?"
"A mortal or a magician who they can use as a host. Sometimes it's just possession, sometimes it's a teamwork thing. Magicians... we have our own magic but we can also share a gods power if we work with them."
"... What?" Thalia was blinking, "That makes no sense how-"
"Egyptian gods work differently." Percy repeated. "Like I said. They can lend us magic or power. Sometimes. If a magician follows the path of a certain god it's more likely. It depends which god you connect most with. And sometimes- just sometimes you can align yourself so closely with the god that in a sense you become one. You become the Eye of that god. An Avatar of their power. I was the Eye of Nephthys."
"That-" Thalia blinked, "Is so weird. I thought gods just demanded people do stuff for them-"
"They do-"
"Luke-" Percy shot him a look, "Not the time. Even if you're partly right."
"Your highness-"
"What-" Percy rolled her eyes, "I call it as I see it. anyway, you thought we were fading because we went underground and started fighting our own gods. You were mistaken, we are stronger than ever now."
"If you were the Eye of Nephthys..." Chiron watched her carefully, "That tells me you no longer seal your gods away."
"Yeah. It started with my dad releasing the five-" Chiron nodded, "He became the Eye of Osiris, my brother and sister became the Eye of Iris and the Eye of Horus, I became the Eye of Nephthys and my uncle was forced by Set to host him."
"Set?" Chiron tensed slightly, "Shall I assume there was some kind of battle?"
"Yeah. He was being manipulated by someone much worse though. In the end he actually teamed up with us-"
"Much worse-" Chiron looked incredibly worried at that. "Much worse than the god of Evil-"
"If you know anything about the Egyptian Pantheon you know that Set exists as a balance of necessary evil. His Chaos is not the same as-"
"As actual Chaos." Chiron stared at her, "The serpent."
"Di Imortales." Artemis looked just as horrified, "You aren't saying- but did Ra not seal him away with Bast. I know you mentioned him before but-"
"Funny story-" Percy rubbed her neck sheepishly, "You guys clearly haven't read my moms books or watched my movies huh- don't roll your eyes Thalia-"
"Oh come on I've heard of those books they're fictional-"
"Actually-" Annabeth grinned, "Not really. They're based on the real story. Which I have to admit nearly made me swoon- my fictional crush who was played by my celebrity crush was actually a real person combined into a girl who saved my life and sat at my bedside while I was unconscious reading the Odyssey to me in ancient Greek."
"... How long did it take you to kiss her?" Luke seemed unable to resist the question- which made Piper burst out laughing as Annabeth glared at him.
"Do you want me to punch you again?"
"Annabeth I heard you rant about her every day for three weeks after the movies came out. I should have recognised her right away but I never paid attention to the pictures you showed me. You were obsessed-"
"I hate you. I will punch you. If you don't shut up right now-"
"She kissed her today." Piper chirped, "For the first time. It was great, I also kissed her."
"Woah wait-" Bianca lit up, "Seriously? About time you three that's awesome!"
"It was pretty awesome-" Percy saw the exasperated looks on Chiron and Artemis' faces. "Right, right sorry focus time." she took a deep breath, "And yes, to answer your clear question the Serpent was trying to manipulate the situation. It was very very not good for a while but he was stopped. But, but the important part-"
"The serpent trying to break free is not important-" Artemis looked unimpressed and her tone was sarcastic, "How pray tell is the serpent trying to break free not important-"
"THE Important part-" Percy half yelled that over the ex-goddess. "Is that there was a magician called Vladimir Menshikov- who was a huge asshole who had evil evil plans. Who died during a confrontation including him, my siblings and I. Turns out he has a daughter who has decided to blame me- and it totally was not my fault by the by- I didn't blow him up-"
"Gross-" Thalia pulled a face-
"Anyway. She somehow found out about my connections with some Greeks." she nodded towards Piper and Annabeth, "and decided to do some digging into the Greek stuff and teamed up with Kronos. They want us to go to war against one another, Greek and Egyptian, weaken both sides."
"That-" Chiron looked horrified, "So Miss DiAngelo was telling the truth-"
"Yes. Very much so."
"It does appear to be the case." Artemis spoke up, "I can vouch for the trustworthiness of Percy Kane. She's been a firm ally for me. I would still be prisoner if it wasn't for her."