A Trip through Time: The Lightning Thief
Prologue
Percy Jackson woke early and glanced at the alarm clock on his bedstand. 5:00. He sighed and was about to get up when he felt a sudden hand on his chest. His awesome girlfriend, Annabeth, slept peacefully beside him, and now was clearly attempting to keep him there. Well, he didn't have a problem with that. He sank into her embrace and they stayed like that, happy, for longer than Percy could quantify. It might have been twenty seconds or twenty years, he didn't know. As he glanced around the room absent-mindedly, he couldn't help reliving the past year or so in his mind, thinking of everything they had been through together, and of how much he and Annabeth would have given to realise that this moment would come.
After the Giant War with Gaia, Percy and Annabeth had stayed in New York for their senior year, Percy with his mom and Paul, and Annabeth at a boarding school just outside of the city. The year had been pretty perfect, in Percy's opinion. No monsters, no deadly prophecies, no being forced to help the gods with their problems. And now, in a couple weeks, he and Annabeth were headed out to California for college in New Rome. College! In the back of Percy's mind, he had always had a belief that college would just never happen. When he was younger, his grades and annual expulsions had fueled this, but more recently, Percy's status as a demigod had made him simply assume that, were he to be alive at eighteen, he would not have the time or safety (not to mention the grades).
However, they had found a solution, and a constant knot was turning in Percy's stomach - one of both great anxiety and excitement. He knew Annabeth was feeling the same way, although he had never had any doubt that she would thrive at college. Percy thought about what they would be able to do, just hanging out, being, well, normal-
A sudden stirring from beside him brought Percy back to the present. Annabeth was looking up at him, sleepy-eyed, but with the sort of slightly widened eyes that she knew Percy couldn't refuse.
'Morning Wise Girl,' he whispered, leaning down to kiss her lightly. 'Is that look you're giving me for the normal request? You want your morning cup of coffee?'
'Maybe,' came the small, sleepy voice from beside him. Percy chuckled slightly at her doubt in the request, I mean, it was the same every morning. He slid out of bed, shivering at the coldness of the floor, then shuffled to the kitchen to fufill his girlfriend's daily mission for him. They were in his mom and Paul's apartment, staying until they both went off to New Rome. This weekend in particular, however, his mom and Paul were away, going off to see Paul's family. Whether Sally had known what she was doing, leaving two eighteen-year-olds in an empty apartment, Percy didn't know. Knowing his mom, however, she probably did, and this was her way of giving her blessing. In any case, he thought that he and Annabeth had done a pretty good job of using the space properly, and he was sure his mom would never notice his freshly ripped hoodie or t-shirt. Whoops.
As Percy poured the coffee into his favourite 'Thinking about the Roman Empire' mug, Annabeth walked into the room and tackled Percy into a bear-hug from behind.
'Thanks for the coffee,' she said, and kissed Percy on the cheek. Even that was enough to overload Percy's brain, and he turned around to smile at her. Annabeth smiled back, and Percy wondered it was possible to accidentally overload a single person with too much love. It was scary, he thought, after everything he had been through to save the world, that he would burn all of it down in a second just to protect her. Then, Annabeth kissed him, gently at first, but then getting stronger and more passionate. And the constant fear and worry inside both of their heads melted away, and nothing was happening except this kiss, fiery and strong, and -
'Percy, um…' Annabeth's voice sounded worried, anxious, and Percy pulled away, confused. Almost immediately, he felt a hundred mini-shockwaves pass through his body.
They were no longer in Sally and Paul's kitchen. They weren't even in Sally and Paul's bathroom, or living room, or bedroom. They were somewhere that Percy recognised all too well, somewhere he wished he would never set foot again. Mount Olympus loomed in front of them, the Greek architecture blinding white in the morning sunlight. But even this wasn't what made Percy want to sink through the clouds. For he was now standing, dressed only in his boxers, in front of, it seemed, everyone he knew. Annabeth was still wrapped around him, and she was also sparsely dressed, in some tiny shorts and Percy's own Goode High Swim Team sweatshirt.
They broke apart quickly, as everyone began to notice their presence. He glanced at Annabeth, who looked just as shocked and embarrassed as he felt. Percy began to attempt to take everyone in… their was Grover, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Jason, Frank and Hazel and Reyna… and over there was Nico and Will, and Rachel, and Connor and Travis and Thalia, and Chiron… And there was his mom and Paul, and Tyson and Clarisse and Gleeson…gods. The gods were there too, in a corner of the throne room, talking hurriedly amongst themselves.
He and Annabeth stood their, dumbstruck for longer than was necessary. Everyone else, thankfully, seemed to be in their 'morning clothes' too. Piper and Jason also both looked a little, well, underdressed. Jason's hair was tousled, his glasses were gone and Piper seemed to only be in a bra.
Everyone came up to greet them, and Percy and Annabeth tried to establish what was going on. Unfortunately, however, everyone seemed to be in the same boat as them, asking them what was going on. They were able to provide no answers, and settled into talking to Frank and Reyna, who began to tell them about some preparations they would need for college. Thank the gods, thought Percy, that everyone had seemed to turn a blind eye to their undressed state, maybe just to spare them the embarrassment.
After about fifteen minutes, Annabeth pulled him to the side.
'Percy, what in Hades is going on? Everyone we know is here, maybe this is a trap, or-'
'I don't think this is a trap, Annie,' Percy replied. 'I mean, the gods are here, and everyone seems to have had the same situation as us, everyone's in their pajamas, so…'
'I guess so,' Annabeth sighed. Percy could practically see her brain struggling to come up with a logical explanation for the situation, the wheeles turning as they brought up nothing, so he tried to reassure her.
'Don't worry, Wise Girl, I- I'm sure there's a reason. We wouldn't all have been summoned here for no reason, hey?' Annabeth bit her lip, unsure, and said 'I know, it's just… no one else has everyone they know here. It's just us.' Percy did a quick headcount, and realised she was right. He wasn't sure why he was surprised, because if Annabeth had taught him anything, it was that she was pretty much always right about these things. Everyone there was connected through them, one way or another. Weird. Just as he was about to reply, the booming voice of Zeus filled the throne room.
'Demigods, mortals, and other assorted creatures, we have summoned you here today to uphold an ancient tradition. Every time there is a potential world-ending event, the fates force us here, to review it and discuss what might be done differently in the future. After the war with the Titans, the Giants and Gaia came to close together, so we will be doing a joint review.'
Percy sighed with relief. He assumed Annabeth would have heard of this before, and, sure enough, he saw her nodding, a dawn of comprehension lighting up her face. While Zeus continued talking, he and Annabeth walked back over to the others, and stood next to Grover, who gave them a thumbs up.
'-now,' Zeus was saying, 'Poseidon has instructed that we must give you all seats, to ensure that your puny, weak legs do not crumble. As I said, we may be here a while. Do not worry, though, for you will not miss any time in your day to day lives. This is one of the ancient laws of this council.' With a flick of his wrist, beanbags and squishy-looking sofas appeared, dotted all around the throne room. The gods and their throne's, too, became smaller and smaller until Zeus was no taller than Percy himself.
Percy, Annabeth and Grover made their way to the nearby blue beanbag, and plonked themselves down on it happily. Zeus continued speaking, '-also, I have noticed that some of you are a little, well, underdressed'. Percy felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. Annabeth looked as though she wanted to fall through the floor. On his left, Grover winked at him, but Percy was just trying to avoid looking anywhere but his mom. 'We will sort this out immediately,' Zeus claimed. With another flick of his wrist, Percy, Annabeth, and all the others found themselves in their ordinary clothes, which for Percy meant his orange camp t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
'Thank the gods,' Annabeth sighed next to him. Percy laughed quietly and put his arm around her. He stopped listening to Zeus as he just looked at her, beautiful in the morning sunlight.
Zeus, however, was now on a roll, and was still explaining what would happen. Percy tried to concentrate, and tuned back in just in time to hear Zeus say '-reading a review of exactly what happened in both the Titan and Giant wars, split into five installments each. The Fates believe that this is a good use of all of our time, and will help to prevent these catastrophies in the future. These particular reviews will center around those present, hence why we are here. These first ones are told in the first person, collectivised thoughts of a singular perspective. In this case, Percy Jackson. The first review is called 'The Lightning Thief.''
Percy groaned, a real, audible groan. He might not be in his boxers anymore, but this would probably be just as embarrassing.
'Lord Zeus,' Piper asked politely, 'does this mean we are going to read all the stuff from before some of us came to camp? I mean, personally, I wasn't there during the Titan War, and-'
Zeus cut her off, looking annoyed as he replied 'Yes, Miss McLean. First we will do a register, to ensure that all who are meant to be here are here. Then we will get on with reading the first review, which begins when a young demigod called Percy Jackson finds out he's a half-blood.' A slow grin spread across Piper's face at these words. Leo, next to her, said 'Oh man, does this mean that we're gonna see Percy and Annabeth when they were twelve? Like, when they first came to camp?' Percy could see Leo laughing internally, and saw Annabeth, her face beetroot red, beside him. Zeus looked exasperated by this point. 'Yes, what do you demigods not understand? I swear, they'll kill me eventually, I don't know how…' Chiron took over at this point, as Zeus had collapsed on his thone, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to incinerate all of them.
'I think what Lord Zeus is attempting to say is that we will now do a register. Simply say yes if you are here - it is important to keep a record of all those who are at these reviews.' Percy lost interest as Chiron started to read out names, but listened absent-mindedly to all those who were present.
'Blofis, Paul!'
'Blofis, Sally!'
'Calypso!'
'Chase, Annabeth!'
'Dare, Rachel!'
'Di Angelo, Nico!'
'Grace, Jason!'
'Grace, Thalia!'
'Hedge, Gleeson!'
'Jackson, Percy!' At this, Percy called out yes, then faded back into his stupor.
'La Rue, Clarisse!'
'Levesque, Hazel!'
'McLean, Piper!'
'Ramirez-Arellano, Reyna!'
'Solace, Will!'
'Stoll, Connor!'
'Stoll, Travis!'
'Tyson!'
'Underwood, Grover!'
'Valdez, Leo!'
'Zhang, Frank!'
Chiron finally stopped for breath, as all seemingly had declared themselves present. He continued, now a little short of breath, 'Well, clearly all those non-immortals are here. I believe I do not need to check for the presence of the immortals, as I can clearly see twelve occupied thrones. Well, then, I believe we can begin. This first part leads us, as Lord Zeus began, from when young Mr. Jackson first discovered he was a demigod, to document his first quest with his companions, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood.' Percy caught Jason's eye across the room. He could see Jason laughing and smirking slightly at Percy's obvious embarrassment. Annabeth caught Percy's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. A massive document appeared in front of Chiron, who looked up at them all expectantly.
'This is going to be fun,' Grover whispered sarcastically. Percy and Annabeth both laughed, although both were unsure about the review. How bad would it be to relive all of their past adventures?
