Chapter 3: Olympus

Either way, I will try and document all important events here. Perhaps it will help me shed light onto that which has bothered me so much. Something is out there that shouldn't be, something terrifying, dangerous.

Poseidon's notes, Page 1.

Percy opened his eyes and immediately was assaulted by his senses screaming within his head. The lights were bright, his eyes burned. The sounds were too loud, his ears drummed. Even the smell of disinfectant made his nose itchy, and the taste of dryness after a high made him gag a few times. He felt a strange softness underneath him, however. When was the last time he had slept in something resembling a bed?

He opened his eyes again, quickly adjusting to the light. He found himself within a large room littered with beds, she saw a few people walking by with medicines or machines. Holy crack! They were not much older than Percy himself!

"He's awake!" yelled someone, and Percy closed his eyes in pain. Too loud! "Oh," the same voice said, "Sorry."

"It's…fine?"

Percy turned to face a young man with curly brown hair and brown eyes and an unkept goatee. He was staring at Percy with curiosity and excitement.

"How are you feeling? I must admit, when Nico brought you in here, we all thought you were dead or something! Will had a hard time healing you, said something about overdose. Did you use too much Ambrosia or Nectar? Man, that's rough though!"

"Um…" Percy scratched the back of his neck, "Who are you?"

"Oh!" the boy jumped a bit on his seat, "Name's Grover Underwood, House of Satyrs! Nice to meet you! What's your name? Man, it's been a while since we've received a Hunter from the outside in Olympus, where are you from?"

"Uh, my name is Percy, house…Jackson? And I'm from New York…" Percy said.

"Really? Why weren't you brought here when you were young, then? Did your parents send you abroad to train or something? Do you have a dark past? Do you—"

"That's enough, Grover. Jeez, you're worse than Leo sometimes." An approaching boy said. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes, and his athletic body didn't seem to fit with what Percy would associate with a doctor. Behind him came Nico, the strange boy that had rescued him in the alley. Now in the light, he could take in more and more of his features.

Nico was short, with messy black hair and pale olive skin. He had dark circles under his dark eyes, and something strange glinted in them. He wore black, with a few silver chains and a skull ring on his middle finger. He was also painfully thin. Was he getting some diet advice from the doc? Percy wondered…

"I'm sorry about him." The doc boy said, "we asked him to keep an eye on you since he's helping out here every other day. My name is Will Solace, of the House of Sun, how are you feeling, Perseus?"

"Percy." Percy said darkly, "Never Perseus."

"Very well." Will took a stool and sat next to him. Nico, on the other hand, merely stood with his back to the wall and arms crossed. "How are you feeling Percy?"

"I feel…better." Percy really did feel rested, although he wondered why it was so quiet around him.

"When you came in, we thought you were just tired, but after a few checks we found out high levels of Lysergic Acid from LSD, some trace amounts of MDMA and high amounts of THC. Mind explaining that?" Will looked at Percy sternly, something that irked the dark-haired boy.

"Why do you care?" Percy spat, "I like to get high. Keeps the voices down. That's all that I'm telling you."

Nico jumped from his place towards Percy.

"Listen here—"

"Nico, that's enough." Will said, looking at him. "Go get Annabeth and tell her that Percy is awake."

Nico seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he glared at Will and left the room.

"I'm sorry about him. He can be a bit protective." Will said, "Now, look. You're not the first person that I've met who has a drug problem, and surely you won't be the last. I'm not judging you; I know how it feels to be looked down upon for things we can't control."

"What do you know?" Percy spat again, hugging his legs.

"Oh, trust me." Will said, "I know.

"Either way. I don't care that you use drugs; I care why is there so much of them in your system. The amount of Ketamine traces that I found in your blood is enough to put down a horse and a half! So, here's the thing, if you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen. Do whatever you want, but I won't let you intoxicate yourself to death, not if I can help."

Percy ignored that last part and kept hugging his knees. He got really uncomfortable when people asked about his addiction, and even more when he spoke about the voices. Talking about them made them real, and Percy was many things, but crazy was not.

"Look, can we change the topic?" Percy asked desperately.

"Very well." Will said, "Aside from drugs, you passed out from exhaustion and malnutrition. I gave you a solid dose of Ambrosia and a constant influx of Nectar, but you will still need to eat three meals a day high on both carbs and protein for a few weeks to get you back to top shape. I have already informed the kitchen staff about it, and they will make sure you receive a healthy diet."

"Um…thanks." Percy didn't know what Nectar or Ambrosia was, but he wouldn't complain about a free meal.

"Aside from that, I'll just need to see you once a week to check up on you." Will stood up and wrote down a few things on a clipboard he carried. "Ah, there they are."

Percy saw Nico entering the room with Annabeth behind him, and his breath hitched once more when he laid eyes on her. She truly was beautiful.

"Perse—Percy. You're awake. Good." Annabeth said. "I thought you were dead after the second day."

"Second day?" Percy asked confused, then something clicked in his mind. "Wait, how long have I been out?"

"Five days." Nico said, "I've never seen someone sleep through the monthly event. Live to see the day, I guess."

"Five days?" Percy said in shock, "what the fuck happened to me?"

"Nothing much. You were just exhausted from using too much your Enlightenment." Annabeth said.

"Enlighten—wait what? What the fuck is going on?!" Percy yelled. He saw a few people throwing him disapproving looks, and he lowered his head to avoid them.

"I guess I better explain." Annabeth said, "Here, get dressed."

She threw him a duffle bag with clothes, and Percy grabbed it in the air. At least his reflexes were still working.

"I'll wait for you outside the infirmary." She eventually made her way towards the exit, and that left Percy facing Nico and Will.

"Uh, bathroom?" Percy asked.

"Down the hall, to the left." Will smiled. Turning around and leaving with Nico next to him.

A few minutes later, Percy stood walked towards the exit of the infirmary. He was not happy.

The clothes looked like the uniform he saw Nico and Annabeth wearing daily, however his was much more plain in comparison. He wore grey pants with black shoes, a black belt keeping the too big pants on his waist. He also wore a white button-up t-shit, with a dark orange tie. To top it off, he also wore a grey jacket with the symbol of a flying Pegasus inside a circle embraided in his left breast pocket. He looked like some rich kid!

"Uniform fits you." Annabeth said, looking him up and down. Now that he saw her, she also wore a similar uniform to his. Although instead of pants, she wore a knee length grey skirt.

"So, uh, where in the name of Loki am I?" Percy asked.

"Loki?"

"You know," Percy stammered, "G-god of mischief, thieves…father of a snake and a zombie…?"

"You surely are strange." Annabeth said, "Well, I guess I should explain from the beginning. Follow me and we'll talk."

"Alright…" Percy followed Annabeth down a hallway. He saw other people wearing the strange uniforms, and even some people outside uniform carrying, wait were those weapons?

"Do you know what Enlightened people are, Percy?" Annabeth eventually asked.

"Oh, I've heard about them in the news I think." Percy said, "They are people with super strength or super speed or something. They say that they are rare however, like one in a million or something…and that they're evil and should be avoided. Oh, and that they mostly live in Europe somehow. Didn't they cause the age of slavery in that place Othrys?"

"Hm." Annabeth simply said, "Well, many years ago, something happened in the world that changed it forever. People started appearing with strange powers, superhuman powers. These people were in fact so powerful, that they were considered to be one-man armies onto themselves. Even the weakest of the Enlightened humans was stronger than your average person. Eventually, some people decided to abuse their power and a war between two factions started. A war between a group of Enlightened humans that wanted to control the world using their powers, and the Olympians, people who wanted them to be used fairly and for good. Long story short, the Olympians won and founded Olympus and the Hunters, a group of Enlightened humans who have the task of stopping monsters in human skin who want to abuse their power against others."

Percy stared at her for a moment, and even went a little bit crossed eyed.

Annabeth sighed.

"Look, all you need to know is Enlightened humans come here to be trained into Hunters. Some can control fire, others can control lightning, others are simply super strong or super quick. Our job is to capture or even kill Monsters, people who have these same powers but want to use them for evil. Follow me?"

"Yes." Percy said, genuinely interested. "But I don't understand what that has to do with me."

"Well, you're an Enlightened too." Annabeth said smugly.

Percy stopped walking and simply stared at her.

"Run that by me again?"

"You, Perseus Jackson, are an Enlightened human, a Human with inhuman abilities."

"Oh." Percy said. Then began to laugh. Some people began to look his way, as his laughter had become almost maniacal. He eventually stopped laughing and cleared some tears off his eyes. "That was a good joke. Now, tell me why I'm here."

"I'm not joking, Percy." Annabeth said. "Have you done something strange? Something that you couldn't explain? Something…inhuman?"

Percy stumbled. The voices rushing to his head. He placed his hands on his ears as he tried to shut them up. The images returned. Bodies, seven bodies. So much water. So much BLOOD.

"Ah!" Percy yelled as he hit the wall. "Shut up. Shut up!"

"Percy," Annabeth rushed to him, "I need you to calm down, alright? Listen to my voice…"

"…I….I…the voices…the bodies…I did that….I'm a monster." Percy said.

"I already told you, Percy, you are not a monster." Annabeth said. "Look."

Percy looked at her, and she smiled at him.

"Everyone here has done things like that. I have done much worse. Am I a monster?"

"no…"

"Then you are not a monster either." Annabeth said. "Now come, I need to show you around and finish explaining."

The voices seemed to recede into his mind, Annabeth's voice calming him and pushing them back. They whispered however, kissing the edges of his mind with their poisonous words. Gods, he needed to find his stash. He kept walking, ignoring the glances he was getting.

"This is Olympus, Percy." Annabeth said, "The place where the Inhuman can harness their skills and become Hunters."

They entered a large gym that was better describe as an arena, where dozens of people were training. Percy's mouth fell open when he notices how many they were.

Some were sword fighting, others were practicing archery. He even saw two people wrestling, one of them was a girl with spiky black hair and the other was a guy almost twice her size in every sense. He seemed to be getting a beatdown from the girl.

"All of us here are Hunters, Percy, and you can become one too." Annabeth said.

"H-how does one become a hunter?" Percy asked, awed. Perhaps if he could become one, he could stop people like Gabe, he could protect other mothers.

"Follow me." Annabeth said. They walked back into the hallway, and Percy followed behind her. He saw several doors and lockers around him, much like a normal school. "The first step to becoming a hunter is to be adopted into a House."

"I'm an orphan…" Percy said sadly.

"No silly," Annabeth sighed, "Houses are formed by established hunters. For example, I am from the House of Wisdom, and our leader is Lady Athena, the Grey Owl. Our House is not an aristocratic house, like the House of Skies for example, our house rather is welcoming to all those who seek knowledge of the world, of the Hunters, etc. To enter into the House of Wisdom, one must pass a rather hard test on strategy, history, and even some battle design. Once the test is passed, you are officially part of the House of Wisdom and an established Hunter."

"What other houses are there?" Percy asked.

"Well, several dozen houses out there, however all of them are tied one way or another to the Fourteen Ruling Houses.

House of Skies, House of the Dead, House of Love, House of the Sun, House of War, House of the Moon, House of Wisdom, House of Harvests, House of Madness, House of Fires, House of Tradition, House of Thieves, House of the Hearth, and the House of Seas."

"Wow, that's a lot of houses…" Percy said.

"Yup, they are the rulers of the Hunters. Each has a seat in the Pantheon, the council of rulers. There they decide upon the affairs of the Hunters. The pantheon has twelve seats, however, with the House of Hearth and House of Death not present."

"Why?"

"Well, the House of Hearth is a neutral party, they usually call upon Hestia, the leader, when voting's are tied six to six. It's her job to ensure that everything is fair and in line. And the House of the Dead has never been part of politics. Last I heard Hades hated them."

"Oh, so who are the leaders?" Percy asked.

"Well, they are very powerful hunters to be honest. All but three houses are non-aristocratic. Meaning that all but the three Great Houses choose their leader democratically and internally."

"And who are these great houses?" Percy asked.

"House of Skies, House of the Dead, and House of Seas. Their leadership is a birth right. Lord Zeus, leader of the House of Skies, has an elder son who will assume the title after him, and Lord Hades, leader of the House of the Dead, has a daughter. Nico is Hades' second son."

"Wow." Percy said, "So does that mean he's like royalty or something?"

"No," Annabeth said, "Just someone with a very powerful bloodline."

"What about the last one? The other great house?"

Annabeth bit her lip.

"Well…he's…complicated." Annabeth said. "Look, Percy, how much do you know about your father?"

"What does that asshole have to do with anything?" Percy asked through narrowed eyes. "Was he some sort of powerful hunter or something? Oh wait, let me guess, one of your monsters?"

"Well, not actually—"

"Hey Annabeth!" They turned to face an incoming group. Annabeth blanched.

"Oh, fucking shit."

"…the princess exlaimed…" Percy muttered in response to Annabeth's curse.

"Where have you been?" the largest girl Percy had never seen approached them. She had the height of a basketball player but the musculature of a rugby one. She had dark eyes and pale brown hair. Her face was that of a warrior, with scars and scabs all over it, slightly mangling it.

"Clarisse, now's not a good time…" Annabeth said.

"What do you mean?" the girl, Clarisse, said. She then noticed Percy, and he couldn't help but think that her eyes reminded him of a pig. "Oh, hello there. And who's House do you fight for?"

"Um…" Percy was cut off by Annabeth.

"Actually, Clarisse, Percy here is a special case. He's unclaimed you see and—"

"Unclaimed? At his age? Man, this Prissy must really suck!" Clarisse laughed, and Percy noticed that a few people in the hallways hid their smirks too.

His eye twitched.

"And who the hell are you?" Percy took a step forward. He was as tall as Clarisse, yet he felt tiny under her gaze.

"I'm Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares and heiress claimant to the House of War." Clarisse said, "and an unclaimed loser like you has no business in my presence. Go wash some toilets, Prissy."

Something snapped inside Percy. God, how he hated bullies. They reminded him too much of…of…him. Gabe.

"Do you wanna fucking go?" Percy said, "I'll throw hands with a girl!"

"Percy, no—" Annabeth was cut off by Clarisse pushing her back.

"The gym, in five minutes. Don't be late!" She said as she walked past him.

Percy faced Annabeth, who was seething at him.

"That went well." He said.

"You!" she hit him in the chest. Man, she could punch. "Are. The. Most. Dumb. And. Stupid. Person. In. This. Fucking. Planet!" Each word was accentuated with a punch. Percy was sure he would bruise.

"Why would you pick a fight with Clarisse out of all people?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know! I just don't like bullies…" Percy muttered while scratching the back of his neck.

Annabeth sighed.

"Clarisse is one of the best fighters out of all the hunters, she will kick your ass!" Annabeth said, "Look, I'll go get Chiron. Just stay here, perhaps he can stop this madness."

Annabeth ran down the hallway, leaving Percy behind in an unfamiliar room. Just as he was about to sit down somewhere and wait, a voice called to him.

"Oh, Percy!" he heard. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, Grover was it?" the other boy nodded. "I got into this fight with this girl Clarisse and now she's waiting for me in the Gym, and Annabeth went to get someone to stop it and I'm supposed to wait…"

"You got into a fight with Clarisse? Man, that's rough. Well, better get over with it quickly. Come, I'll lead you to the gym."

"but—"

"Look, I've been on the receiving end of Clarisse's taunts and punches more than once, and I can tell you that she will not rest until she beats you up! Just get done with it quickly, and you can have a nice stay. If not, she'll keep looking for you."

"Wait, she's bullied you?" Percy asked Grover through narrowed eyes.

"Just once…or twice…hey it doesn't matter; she barely pays attention to me now!"

"where's the gym?" Percy asked him.

"Over here, look, let's go!"