Luke hated to give his father any credit, but Hermes was the god of shepherds, and he was actually doing a fairly decent job getting their group down the streets of Olympus. His bigger size and godly glow had everyone automatically getting out of his way, allowing the entire group easy passage along the street while making it hard to lose him to the crowd. And there was a crowd. All the campers could not help but ogle the exotic array of festive offerings all along the main street; vendors, street performers, and attendees had gathered in such large crowds that the occasional chariots trying to make its way along what was actually a very wide street were constantly forced to a standstill.

In fact, the campers were so distracted that, had Lord Hermes simply kept his back to them and made his way up to the palace, he'd likely have arrived alone. Not that this would have been a horrible calamity, and Luke was secretly disappointed it hadn't played out that way. After all, they had the older campers to help, and Chiron of course, though Mr. D had vanished almost at the moment the last of them had exited the elevator, so they could have found their own way. And it would have meant not having to follow his father, which Luke continued to feel annoyed over. And maybe would even have gotten Lord Hermes in trouble, or at least embarrassed him.

It didn't play out that way, though, because the moment they had all crossed the bridge, Lord Hermes turned and walked backwards along the street, utterly confident that everyone behind him would get out of his way before he stepped on anything…or anyone. Not that he was so big that was a real threat, but Luke saw the panicked faces of those hurrying out of the way and imagined that tripping up a god probably had instant and possibly deadly consequences. The point was, Lord Hermes had his eyes on the group he was leading and was able to slow his own steps to their slower pace.

Even more annoying to Luke, Lord Hermes appeared to take his role as tour guide seriously. Or, well, maybe not seriously. He seemed to be having fun pointing out extremely random points of interest. For the entire way up the mountain.

"To your left, you can see a nymph playing the lyre, a beautiful instrument if ever there was one," Lord Hermes said, "hey, kid with the white hair, yes you, nothing down that alley, stay with the group. And, oh, that tray of candy to your right is called sesamous…feel free to fill your pockets, campers, though I'm sure there will be plenty of treats after the meeting…"

Connor dragged Luke over at that to a clearly disgruntled street vendor who was mumbling something about 'a drachma a bag' despite his subservient bow towards the god. The god in question smirked as if he knew exactly what the vendor was thinking, before giving him a wink and tossing him a bag. When the vendor turned it over in his hands, golden drachmas spilled out, and his demeanor turned much more positive after that.

Luke didn't want to eat the candy on principal but, well, free candy. He told himself it might be the only thing his father ever gives him, and accepted a bag. He's pretty sure Connor and Travis took at least five bags each, but the vendor didn't look unhappy so Luke didn't worry about it.

The walk was long, and uphill, though they were allowed a break in a garden where some satyrs were dancing. Dryads offered wreaths for their heads while they rested, eating sesamous and fried donuts dipped in honey as a wild music played and lights flitted about their heads. If this were what they had come for, the trip might even have been worth it. But after a bit, Hermes started calling for them to follow once more.

Lord Hermes' tourist comments on the palace became even more inane, glossing over the art and architecture to point out a chipped urn or a cracked wall.

"And there is where Lady Demeter once managed to send Ares into a wall, proving once and for all that his head is harder than stone…there is the corner where Apollo failed spectacularly at flattering a fair nymph with his poetry, but worry not, I joined them and…actually, I think most of you are too young for that story…"

These stories went on until they stood at the entrance to the throne room, when Lord Hermes once again stopped them. Stopped and, for a long moment, just stared down at them. He'd grown himself to what might be considered his godly height, now towering far over Chiron's head, though he didn't come close to the full height of the ceiling. The campers were tired; it was a long walk uphill and even in the palace, the halls were made for godly feet and so also stretched vast distances, and the throne room was at the heart. So the children were tired, and under the god's stare they grew quiet and still, feeding off his seriousness.

"When I lead you through these doors," Lord Hermes announced, "You will approach the central throne where Lord Zeus resides, bow, and then go to the throne of your godly parent, should your parent have a throne and should you be claimed. Those who do not, and my own children of course, will follow me to my throne. You will NOT touch the thrones. You will also bow before the god or goddess who inhabits the throne. If your parent is not yet seated and not in the room, you will bow before the empty throne. And when your parent approaches you will stand, and bow, before retaking your seat. You all have your own seats, and I expect you to stay in them. If you have an emergency, and I mean 'I'm about to die or maybe wet my pants' emergency, stand, bow first to the throne of the god you sit next to, then to Zeus, before you leave. Older campers, I expect you to help the newer and keep hold of the younger. You will all show your respect to the gods and you will sit silently through the meeting without one peep. Do I make myself clear."

No one answered, though many managed a nod. There was a long moment of silence, while Lord Hermes continued to give them his stern look. Then he relaxed slightly, smiled gently, and said, "Good. So, before we go in…any questions?"

Timidly, one of the younger children raised their hands, and when Lord Hermes gave them an encouraging nod, asked, "Where is the bathroom?"

Luke had a sudden weird thought and wondered if gods even used bathrooms or if their godly nature took care of that kind of mundane function. A few of the kids giggled, but most were too nervous and it was a genuine question. Lord Hermes just smiled.

"You are in luck; we actually had mortal-sized toilets installed after a…ah…unfortunate accident involving a palace dryad and a very desperate half-blood. Do you see the small doorway to the right of that column? Enter and you will find relief."

"For boys or for girls?" someone asked, and for a moment Hermes looked puzzled.

"For anybody who is of small stature," he said in the end. "Though there's an array of sizes." Then, almost as an afterthought, "Actually, before I take you in…everyone try the restroom. It can be a long meeting."

After the trip to the surprisingly modern facilities, with stalls ranging from doll-sized to small god-sized and all inbetween, they again stood before the entrance to the throne room. And Lord Hermes gave his entire instructions a second time. Only then were they finally allowed in.

The throne room appeared as an optical illusion; for one moment it seemed average sized with a horseshoe shaped arrangement of thrones. Except each throne had what, at a glance, seemed to be doll's furniture arranged around it. And then they got further into the room and the illusion was broken; it was a humongous room with gigantic thrones surrounded by regular sized chairs. Lord Hermes again had his back to them as he confidently led them down the center of the room, approaching the central throne where the god that must be Lord Zeus was sitting.

If Lord Hermes had appeared a bit intimidating in his godly form when he had turned serious, he had nothing on Lord Zeus. The god radiated power; it flickered over him in static bursts and filled the entire room, making the hairs on Luke's arms stand up on end. Lord Zeus surveyed them all, a monarch on his throne, and offered no smile at all. Lord Hermes came directly before him and bowed deep. The children reluctantly followed and copied him, Luke included, suddenly very glad they had been told what they were expected to do because this god did not look like the kind to forgive ignorance. The air in the room felt heavy and charged.

"Father," he said, his voice reverential. "I have brought the half-bloods from the camp."

"You took your time about it," Lord Zeus answered, and even his voice was regal and powerful, rolling like thunder about the room.

Luke suddenly wondered how Lord Zeus would have reacted if Hermes had actually followed through in his attempt to take them all somewhere else. From the look of him now, he would not have been pleased at all. But when Hermes answered, he didn't sound worried, or even particularly apologetic.

"I thought to give them a tour of the City," he explained lightly. "I forgot about their shorter legs."

"Hmm," was all Lord Zeus had to say to that, and then Lord Hermes was shooing them all along to their seats. Luke had been reluctant to approach Lord Zeus, but he felt equally reluctant to approach his father's throne. But it wasn't like he had much choice, unless he intended to hide out in the restrooms for the entire meeting. He took his time instead, watching to make sure Annabeth was successfully brought to her mother. Annabeth's siblings seemed capable, at least. One led her by the hand and helped her bow to her mother before dragging her to a seat near their mother's throne.

Luke finally turned away to where most of Cabin 11 was already carefully bowing to Lord Hermes as he'd told them to. It felt annoyingly ostentatious and the fact that Lord Hermes had demanded this show of respect grated. But Luke wasn't ready to rebel over something so pointless so he did his part. Maybe his bow was more a nod of the head than something reverential, but his father didn't call him on it, smiling the same gentle smile he'd offered all of them, and Luke went to try and find a chair as far from his father as he could get.

"Luke!" Connor whisper shouted, waving from his seat next to Travis, right next to Lord Hermes, "Here's your spot!"

All the children of Hermes, in fact, had seats right up by the throne. They were a different color from the others, with fancier cushions. Maybe Lord Hermes felt he had to do something to show his children were special versus the rest of the cabin, but Luke hated it. It didn't make him feel special. It probably just made the unclaimed feel worse, showing how they were second-hand campers. And Luke didn't want to be a part of that. Again, it was not the time to fight, so he took his seat.

"Everyone seated?" Lord Hermes asked, looking down at them, still smiling benevolently. "Comfy? Good." He snapped his fingers. And immediately each chair reached about and grabbed the child sitting in it. At least, that was what it felt like. Luke immediately tried to stand with a shout, but the chair didn't so much as scoot and whatever was holding him held him firmly in his seat. He looked down. There were ropes of green light crisscrossing over his shoulders to his hips with a third between his legs meeting the other two in the middle. It was like the five-point harnesses put into toddler car seats. Not uncomfortable but inescapable.

Cries of surprise and outrage arose among the Cabin 11 campers, the loudest offenders being Travis and Connor, who clearly had no fear of Lord Hermes. Lord Hermes snapped his fingers again and the noise instantly ceased. Not that everyone stopped trying to make noise but suddenly nothing was coming out.

"That's better," Lord Hermes said, still smiling. "I did tell you that you will have to sit still and be quiet for the meeting, but I know how difficult that can be for small children so I thought I'd…help you out. If you need to say something to me, tap your medallion three times and I will unmute you."

Medallion? Luke looked down and saw he was indeed now wearing a medallion around his neck. It glowed green, like the ropes. He instinctively tried removing it, seeing as there was nothing actually restraining his arms, but the necklace part tightened the moment he tried to fit it over his head and it wouldn't come off. He let it go and it fell to its old length again. He growled, then used its mute feature to safely say exactly what he thought of Hermes and his ridiculous restraints. Around him, he could see kids' mouths moving and suspected they were doing the same.

"Really, Hermes?" another god asked. He sounded disapproving. Luke liked him already. "You tied your kids up?"

"Restrained," Hermes corrected, leaning back in his throne. It was odd to observe the conversation. While the gods clearly were not in their natural, full on godly forms, or all the non-gods in the room would be toast, they were in their full size to fit their thrones and towered over everyone. They also radiated power, though Luke had to admit that his father's power was much more comfortable than Zeus's had been; less dangerous and warmer. The angle of looking up at them was disorientating.

The standing deity, who absolutely towered over the sitting half-bloods, put his hands on his hips and frowned in disapproval.

"Hermes…you cannot restrain the half-bloods."

"It seems that I can," Hermes answered, tone mild as he lounged back. "Or do you see Father complaining?"

The tall god pursed his lips, as if annoyed. Hermes sighed, sounding suddenly exhausted.

"'Pollo, how many kids do you have, like, right now?" Hermes asked. "Four? Five? Less than ten, I imagine, and probably mostly over the age of twelve, am I right?"

"I currently have eight children," the god, Apollo if Luke had interpreted how Hermes had called him correctly. It probably was Apollo; young, buff teen matched how Chloe had described him, and his godly power felt hot.

"Uh-huh," Hermes agreed, "And how many of those eight are here, tonight?"

"Three," Apollo admitted, still frowning. "And you will notice none of them are tied up or…did you gag them?!"

"There's an idea," said another god who was already on his throne, Ares based off the kids seated next to him. "You hear that? You two behave or I'll tie you up and gag you."

The Ares kids didn't look too worried to Luke, just rolled their eyes.

"If you all properly instilled a sense of discipline into your children, there would be no need for such threats," a goddess insisted, voice annoyingly superior. It was Athena; Luke could just about see Annabeth swinging her legs in her seat, staring up in awe at the goddess.

"I have five of my own here tonight," Hermes said, "And another sixteen whose loving parents have chosen not to take them out of my hands. Twenty-one fragile children with the attention spans of goldfish and the impulse control of a drunken satyr. It's like herding cats. I figured it was either restrain them from the start or half of them would be going home with Uncle Hades."

Eyes glanced towards an empty stone seat, then away again.

"You could try talking to them," another goddess suggested, coming to stand next to Apollo. She looked young, maybe as young as Luke, but exaggerated in her larger size. She had similar facial features to Apollo and a bow strapped to her back and if Luke had to guess, she was probably Artemis. It was strange seeing so many gods and goddesses together; he knew they were real, of course, but it still felt a bit like stepping into a storybook, or a time machine.

"You're used to your disciplined little marines," Hermes objected. "Most kids don't just step in line when ordered."

Now both twins were frowning at him. Hermes shifted in his throne, and when Luke glanced up at him he was leaning forward to put his head on his hand, elbow propped at a knee as he sighed tiredly.

"Look," he said, "I've been shifting packages nonstop for a week now, because of course our all important meetings comes at my absolute busiest time of year. I'm tired, I'm underfed in all non-delivery related domains, and someone strongarmed me into playing tour guide…"

"I didn't strongarm you!" Apollo objected, "All I said was I intended to…"

"Yes, we know what you intended," Hermes interrupted, which was annoying because Luke found himself oddly invested in their argument and kind of wanted to know what they had missed out on by having his father instead of Apollo. "The point is, I am exhausted, and I can't pay attention to Father and the council and babysit, so…restraints."

"Come on," Artemis said, tugging at her brother's elbow while giving Hermes a look of pure disgust. "The council is about to start. We can teach Hermes the proper ways of childcare later."

"But…" Apollo tried to say, clearly still appalled at how a bunch of children were literally tied down to their chairs and muted. A roll of thunder interrupted whatever he'd been about to say. Immediately, all those still standing scurried for their thrones or, if they had none, seats. There were many gods about who didn't have an actual throne, Luke noticed. None of them had half-bloods sitting next to them. Neither, for that matter, did Zeus himself, or Poseidon, or Hera.

Everyone gave Zeus their complete attention, even Hermes pulling himself out of his slump to sit up properly. Zeus sat regally in his throne, crackling with power, his thunderbolt in hand like living lightning. His expression was stern, a slight downturn to his lips, his eyes piercing as they swept the room.

"Now begins the Council of the Winter Solstice," he announced, voice booming. "My family, I ask for your news on the year." Then he sat back and waited. He called no names, but the gods and goddesses clearly already knew what to do, and Hera immediately started to speak.

It should have been riveting, hearing how a goddess spent her year. To Luke's extreme annoyance, his father had not been lying about the Council Meeting being boring. Hera started off with a long flowery speech praising her husband, while Zeus did not soften to the flattery one iota but just waited it out. This was followed by talking about her peacocks. At length. After Hera went Poseidon, who grumbled about pollution and overfishing then spent a solid twenty minutes bragging about his son Triton.

It was in the middle of Demeter's speech on the merits of cereal, her hope for the future in vertical gardening (something she failed to actually explain beyond how awesome it was), and her lament over her daughter, that Luke's bored, wandering gaze caught sight of another bored child. Or not bored. That wasn't how Annabeth acted when bored. It was how she acted when she had zoned in on something that interested her greatly.

Annabeth had slipped away from her seat, unnoticed by any of her siblings or her mother, and was quietly making her way up towards Hera. No, Luke amended. Annabeth was not interested in the goddess. She was making her way towards Hera's throne. The throne that Hermes had warned everyone to not touch.

Luke squirmed, his first instinct to run over to her, but of course he couldn't. He couldn't shout for her either, not that he would considering that would just get her noticed. No one had noticed her yet, that he could tell. All the gods and goddesses either looked bored or were feigning deep interest in Demeter's report. Hermes was one of the latter.

Luke tried to escape again, willing at the ropes like he would a lock, even knowing it was probably useless. All that happened was Hermes suddenly shifted and glanced down at him, frowning. Luke glared up at him, then looked again towards Annabeth. She was almost to the throne, reaching out a hand. Hera had not noticed her, too far beneath her notice.

Zeus had.

Feeling his heart accelerate, Luke tore at the restraints, willing, reaching, as if he could stop this. Surely, surely Lord Zeus would see a curious seven-year-old child and…and…

Zeus frowned and, without a word, with the same annoyance a mortal might swat at a fly, he sent a blast of lightning at the child.

It happened extremely fast and extremely slowly at the same time. Fast, because there was no time. Zeus saw her, and he zapped her. Slow, because Luke's heart was racing and so was his brain and a million thoughts passed through his head inbetween seeing what was about to unfold, and then having it actually happen.

An impossibly bright lightning bolt whited out his vision, no thunder but a sizzling, ripping noise as the lightning tore through the air. There was a rush of pressure and wind as it happened. And then, Luke was blinking away spots from his eyes, frozen to his seat, his heart refusing to accept what his eyes could see. Where Annabeth had been standing, only a moment before, there was nothing. Nothing at all. She was gone.