Percy

When the brightness recedes, I'm in some kind of tree grove. I see one person, a young girl, maybe a little older than Lassa sitting in the shade of one.

"Hi. Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" I ask. No response. I sigh. Invisible again. Just watching a moment in time.

Suddenly, an angel appears. I recognize him as an angel because like Castiel, he's practically glowing, with the whitest robe ever. It's not an angel's true form, but it's often what they use when appearing to humans as to not scare them as much. Even so, their presence can be pretty terrifying. The girl sees him before her and starts trembling.

"Hello, Highly favored one of Yahweh!" He says to her. I realize I recognize this angel, although I don't know how or why. His name is Gabriel. "Don't be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever, his kingdom will never end." He tells her. Still somewhat shaking, Mary gets to her feet.

"How can this be, since I'm a virgin?"

"The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your cousin, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail." Gabriel explains. Mary takes a deep breath and steadies herself, then opens her eyes and looks into Gabriel's face.

"I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled." She says, and Gabriel smiles at her then disappears. I see the white light overcoming me, and then I'm gone too.

…

When I can see again, I'm in a field by a fire with a shepherd and a hundred or so sheep. They're running around and grazing and bleating, being all cute. One runs over to me and I pat its head.

"Hey there, little guy."

"Girl." The shepherd says to me. "That precious little one is named Leah."

"You name your sheep?" I ask.

"Of course I name my sheep. Each one is precious to me, especially the girls."

"Huh. Okay." I say and Leah trots off. As she goes, I hear a donkey bay. Looking over the hill, I see a woman riding on a donkey and a man leading her.

"More travelers for the census." The shepherd groans. "Curse Cesar for forcing this. Bethlehem is full as it is!"

"She looks cold." I say, seeing the woman hugging her Shaw close to her body.

"Hmm. So she does. You there!" He yells at the couple. "Come join us. The fire is warm!" The man starts leading the donkey over. When they get closer, I see the woman is Mary.

"Thank you for your kindness, Sir! It is a very cold evening." The man says. "I am Joseph. This is my wife, Mary."

"I'm Benjamin." The shepherd says.

"I'm Percy."

"It's very nice to meet you both." Mary says, then gasps.

"Mary!" Joseph Exclames, clearly worried.

"It's okay, Joseph! It's just another contraction." She breathes.

"You need a midwife!" Joseph says. "We must get into the city!"

"We have time, Joseph. Please. Just a moment longer." She asks. Joseph doesn't push farther, although it's clear he wants to. Then Mary looks up at us and smiles.

"I will tell my son about you." She says to us. "About your kindness to us."

"It is nothing. I'm glad to be hospitable." Benjamin says. "My father once told me, we're all given a gift in our lives. That Child is yours." He smiles at Mary.

"What was your gift?" I ask. He shrugs.

"The gift of waiting for one." He says. We sit in silence for a moment, then Mary gasps again, having another contraction.

"That's it, we're leaving." Joseph says, and scoops Mary in his arms before putting her back on the donkey. "Thank you for letting us get warm." He says to us, then speaks to Mary as they walk off. "Let's hope your parents have found an inn." He says and leads them off. I think about following them, wondering what exactly it is that Cas wanted me to see this time around, but decide against it. He put me here with the shepherd.

"You're welcome to stay the night out here with me, Percy." Benjamin says. "Bless them, but that couple will be out of luck. She'll likely have to give birth in a tent on the street if anything."

"What? Why?"

"Have you not been paying attention these last few months, boy? Every inn is filled to capacity! There will be nowhere to take her!"

"Oh." I say, feeling bad for them. From what the angel told her, she's supposed to be giving birth to a king. But she's not even going to have shelter to do so.

I stay out with Benjamin until the sun goes down, then lay in the grass and try to get some sleep. But I'm not Able to when in the sky, a blinding light appears. It recedes a bit, and I see it's a new star, brighter than any star I'v ever seen before.

"In all my years…" Benjamin says, sitting up. "I've never seen such a thing." Another flash, and I see Gabriel in the sky. Just his presence is enough to make me nervous, and I'm not really one to get intimidated by immortals.

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger!" He says, and then he's joined by hundreds, maybe thousands of other angels in the sky and they start singing the most beautiful song I've ever heard, their Heavenly voices harmonizing perfectly.

Glory to God in the Highest Heaven

And On Earth peace to those on

whom his favor rest

Benjamin gets up, and I look around, seeing other shepherds scattered throughout the hills standing up as well. After a moment, everyone starts running into the city. I go with them. We all run through the streets, looking for the child. I'm with Benjamin when we find them. Mary, Joseph, a woman who looks like Mary but older, probably her mother, and a little baby in the manger wrapped up in cloths. Thankfully, They're not in a tent on the streets, but they're not in an inn either. They're on some blankets in a cave where some animals are. A stable. Benjamin looks down and falls on his knees. I smile, looking at the baby and his parents as the other shepherds catch up with us.

"This is the Lamb of God, who will take away the sins of the world." Benjamin saws in awe, falling to his knees by the manger. Joseph smiles at the old man.

"His name is Jesus. The name the angel gave him before he was even conceived" Joseph says. Mary picks Jesus up in her arms, and hands him to Benjamin who looks startled but takes the child securely in his arms.

"We're all given a gift." Mary tells him. The old man has tears in his eyes.

"We must go and tell everyone of this!" One of the shepherds say from behind me. He pushes through the crowd to run through the streets, and the others follow until it's just Benjamin, me, Mary, Joseph, Mary's mother, and Jesus left.

"He's beautiful." I say. Mary looks up at me, her eyes shining.

"He's come to save the world." She says. I find myself believing her.

...

I go to sleep sometime later, and when I wake up I'm not on the grassy hillsides of Judaea but in a desert. The night sky is clear and bright, and I see the star of Bethlehem is still shining bright.

"I hate sand." I say, getting to my feet and brushing myself off. "It's coarse, rough, and gets everywhere."

"Talking to yourself is a sure sign you've been in the desert too long." I hear behind me, and see three men riding camels at the front of a small caravan. They have servants and body guards with them, I guess for protection from thieves and robbers and wild animals.

"Actually, I just wound up here tonight." I say.

"Did you now? Well what's your name, stranger?" The middle one asks.

"I'm Percy."

"Well, Percy, I am Caspar. These are my traveling companions, Melchior and Balthasar."

"What are you doing?"

"We're traveling to Judah." Balthasar says.

"Land of Judah, huh? I'm actually trying to get back there. Can I tag along with you?"

"What is your purpose in going to the land of Judah?" Melchior asks skeptically. I think about what little of the nativity story I know. Three kings following the star.

"I'm following the Star." I tell them. Their faces light up.

"Us as well!"

"You're seeking the Child too?" I ask, egging it on.

"We are!" Caspar says. "Join us, Percy, and we will talk along the way. We have a spare horse from one of our guards who unfortunately didn't make it." He says, and motions for a horse to be brought to the front. I hop up in the saddle, a little annoyed when I can't read the Horse's thoughts. I guess there are some perks to being a half-blood. "So tell us, Percy, where did you study? How did you come to know to follow the star?"

"Umm, I'm Greek." I tell him. "My wife loves looking at the night sky, she got me interested in it. My favorite constellation is Pegasus. What's yours?" I ask, clutching my bag. A fresh wave of missing Annabeth washes over me.

"Well I've never seen that one! You should show it to me when we camp. I prefer Taurus the Bull myself." He says.

I travel with them the next few days before we reach Jerusalem. There, we get to meet the king, who I immediately have a bad feeling about. The guy is treating us nice, but I get the feeling of a pompous and spoiled tyrant.

He directs us to Bethlehem. I learn from the Magi that Jesus should be about two years old by now. I guess Joseph and Mary never moved back to Nazareth.

When we find them, Joseph lets us into the house. Like Castiel told me at the beginning of all this, as soon as I'm none from somewhere everyone will forget I was ever there, so Joseph and Mary don't recognize me from the first time.

Jesus is the cutest little toddler, running around with the wooden toys his father has carved for him and smiling the whole time. It's hard to imagine this guy as a king one day, but I didn't think David looked like king material either. Then I think about what kind of death this cute little toddler will have one day, and my spirit deflates.

The Maui give their gifts. Gold, for the king of kings. Frankincense for the Priest of priests, and myrrh to honor his sacrifice. Mary is moved to tears, and Joseph holds her as she cries her thanks to us. I feel a little guilty piggy backing on all this, but at least I won't get to keep the credit as soon as I leave. They let us stay the night, which is nice after sleeping in the desert the last week. But in the middle of the night, everyone in the house wakes up.

"Mary!" Joseph says. "We must take the child and go. Now! Pack up your things, hurry!"

"What? What is going on" She asks, waking up.

"Herod." Caspar says. "We will not go back to him, though he has asked we would. He said he wants to worship your child, but I just had a dream and an angel told me he plans to kill him."

"Kill my child?!" Mary says, wide awake now and alarmed.

"Mary, I had a dream too. We must go to Egypt until the Lord tells us it's safe to return home."

"Egypt?!" She exclaims. "How will we get there? We can't possibly walk the whole way!"

"You may have two of our horses." Balthasar says. "Fine Arabians, with tested endurance. We will buy more for our men before we depart back to our homeland. Don't forget to fill the saddlebags with the gifts we have given your son."

"Thank you, for your generosity." Joseph says, and rushes to gather their things. I'm about to help when the light takes me away.