The throne room of Olympus was silent.
The sky bearer was acutely aware that every single eye in the room was centered directly on his form. His mother's presence at his side was the rock onto which Percy leaned, gathering his courage. The sky bearer wet his lips before speaking.
"I switched our places." Percy felt pretty proud that his voice didn't stutter. For another far too long moment you could have heard a pin drop in the chamber.
"Doubtful." Percy hadn't expected Demeter's voice to be the first. "Weakened by his flesh prison Kronos may have been, but to fall for such a trick? Our father was egotistical, yes, but never so foolish." The goddess shook her head, petal crown fluttering.
"We all saw the way he had regressed over the course of the war." Percy had been ready to rise to his own defense, but it was in fact Hestia who objected next. "In the end he was desperate, nearly mad. He underestimated all of us." Percy's whole body felt pleasant and warm when the diminutive Olympian's eyes turned his way. "Is it so impossible he underestimated the greatest demigod to ever live as well?"
The title sent ripples throughout the room. Poseidon slapped his hand on his throne again while nodding emphatically. Hera and Zeus shared a single loaded glance. Ares hurried to sit up, trademark sneer back in place.
"I'm a bit skeptical, but he's not lying." That was Apollo, sitting back on his throne with crossed arms. "At least partially." The god's blue eyes were displeased.
"More detail." Those were the first real words that Hephaestus had spoken all meeting. The burly deity's voice was as scratchy as his beard.
"It's the truth." Once again, Percy's mouth moved without his input. The gravity of fourteen simultaneous auras pressed into the man's skin. Still, Percy pushed forward. His vision glazed over as memory washed across his mind. "He wanted to taunt me."
The sickening words of the Titan Lord were fresh in Percy's memory.
"He had a scythe. He threatened me, but wanted to get close to see me suffer. He knew he had lost. He spoke as if he was already dead."
Percy could feel the burning agony in his shoulder, sense his flesh rending from the bones beneath. His eyes still could see the way Kronos' face twitched in fear from The Burden. His mother's grip on his arm was tight.
"Aph- Lady Aphrodite had warned me, so I was ready. I grabbed the handle and pulled on it to trip him."
There was Kronos' horrible face, jaw distended grotesquely.
"He fell on his stomach. I rolled off, and The Burden fell on top of him. The curse of Achilles kept Luke's body intact."
It was painful to even speak the name of the bottom of the sky. Remembering it weakened the knees, tightened a knot in his stomach. Hermes had a hand over his face.
"The throne room collapsed. I blacked out." The sky bearer's shoulders lifted into a tense shrug, the motion a stiff attempt to act casual. "Now I'm here." It was such a pitiful way to sum up the last six hours of his life.
Simultaneously, nearly every head in the room swerved to look at the resident god of the sun. The only gazes that stayed rooted on the ashen-haired man belonged to his mother and Aphrodite. Percy chose to look at the goddess of love instead of the woman on his arm. The Olympian's sad yet proud expression was so much easier to bear than whatever face his mother was probably making.
"Truth."
Apollo's single word was soft. The god's answer had basically every Olympian taken aback. Even Zeus seemed unsure what to say, and when his sparking eyes turned back towards Percy there was something frantic behind his gaze.
"No wonder the boy holds such vehemence for your daughter." Demeter shook her head, dark hair waving from side to side. Percy was touched by the sympathy etching her mature features. Hestia was echoing the look, and at that moment Percy was very glad for the two motherly Olympians.
"Aphrodite warned you?" Hera's controlled voice cut through the tension like a hot knife through butter. The gravity of her tone demanded respect, as did her flawless visage. Percy couldn't seem to pierce through to see anything underneath, whatever truce they had reached gone for the moment.
"I was of the understanding that your communications were . . . limited, Aphrodite." Percy relaxed when Hera's gaze moved towards the goddess of love. "I'm impressed you found the time in the middle of a battle to have such a conversation." Her words were weighty, each sentence a loaded gun hidden beneath velvet.
"I did not lie to the council." The love deity batted away the first implied accusation as calmly as swatting a fly. "My ability to speak with Perseus while he remained under the sky was limited, in the way that we could not converse as often as I desired. C'est la vérité." Her tone was more than a match for Zeus' wife, musical in a way that sang right through Percy's skin. "I'll not be found responsible for any misunderstandings on the part of an individual council member."
That last line was delivered with an innocent smile. Hera merely sniffed in response.
"How often did Aphrodite speak to you, Perseus?" Athena's question broke through the verbal jousting. Percy had almost forgotten he was still being questioned, so caught up in the sight of the love deity's effortless deflection.
"Uh-" Percy's second time speaking was decidedly less elegant than the first. Athena tapped a finger impatiently. He winced and tried again. "I don't know. Time wasn't really . . . consistent." That was putting it lightly.
"Hey, hey!" Ares' yell rose above the conversation. A single finger jabbed sharply at Aphrodite. "I'm not the god of truth or whatever, but even I know a lie by omission is still a fuckin' lie." The war god's smile was ugly, even on his chiseled and symmetrical face. "We let you use your relation to your real dad to take a peek or two, not hold a shitty tea party."
The atmosphere of the room took an immediate dive. Percy stiffened, tugging his mother behind his back.
"Ares!" Zeus' was back on his feet in an instant. His voice was accompanied by a literal crash of lightning that, in the past, would have sent Percy's ears ringing. Sally jumped at his side. "That topic is off the table. If you have nothing worthwhile to contribute, I suggest you stay your tongue." The ex-king of gods was visibly displeased, lips set in a deep frown. "Another empty throne would be no more of a distraction."
The lord of thunder held the eyes of his son for several long moments. Waves of gold crashed against buckets of gory red in the air over the center of the chamber. Ares maintained his anger but eventually caved and looked away. The sky god turned to Aphrodite next.
"Your brother does have a point, daughter. I'll- the council will tolerate no more of your deceit, no matter how benign you deem it to be." Percy noticed the momentary slip up, but his focus was stolen more by the way the goddess of love ducked her head in acknowledgement. Still, unlike Ares, Aphrodite hadn't even flinched.
"How about we move on?" Once again it was Hestia's gentle voice to play peace-keeper, just as Percy had known it would. "The point of expanding the council was to win the war and foster relations. Not to dig up old wounds." The soothing smell of home-cooked food and rustic campfire smoke filled the air. Things settled as Zeus grudgingly sat back down.
"Of anyone, I thought that you would be most interested in this next topic, brother." Hades' deep bass blanketed the room.
The entire council stilled for a moment, as if they had forgotten he was there. To be honest Percy almost had as well. The King of the Underworld hadn't moved a single inch through the whole meeting, head still propped on one lazy fist. His dark eyes hadn't left the ashen-haired sky bearer.
"Well, yes." Zeus admitted a bit awkwardly, stroking his beard and the Master Bolt with idle hands. "I suppose it might reconcile some of the events the boy described."
"I see no reason to drag this out." The King of Atlantis joined in. Percy's father was looking rather satisfied at the moment. The sky bearer could almost believe Poseidon was experiencing the emotion for his son and not for himself. "The disturbance we felt was not some act of treason, nor an act of the yet-missing Atlas." Sea-blue eyes turned the Jacksons' way. "I can only think of one explanation for my son's survival and his ability to best our father. Percy has ascended to the ranks of the gods."
"You are sure of this?" Demeter's voice was a bit hesitant, her eyes looking Percy over curiously. "Now that you mention it . . . hmm. He does seem the part." The harvest goddess nodded, face appraising.
"I witnessed it with my own eyes." The ocean deity's reply was unyielding. The god's smile was as perfect as his white teeth. "He lifted a colosseum's worth of water right out of my own domain, leaving behind everything contained within. It took my own intervention to make sure things didn't get out of hand." Percy nearly let out a reflexive sigh of relief - perhaps there hadn't been as much damage as he had thought.
"Poseidon speaks the truth." Aphrodite's dulcet voice blessed the throne room. The goddess had on an elegantly schooled expression, but even she couldn't stop the upward twitch of her lips. "He has become divine. Of this, there is no doubt." The goddess' swirling gaze made Percy feel decidedly hot under the collar. Several Olympians glanced her way, visibly weirded out by the love deity's borderline worshipful tone.
"So what?" It was a wonder Ares was able to growl out anything with how hard his teeth were grinding together. "So the punk managed to become some minor god, big whoop. It happens." Despite the war god's attempt at a casual tone the marble beneath his white-knuckled hands seemed fit to shatter. "Just give him the fuckin' normal treatment. Drop the kid on an island somewhere with some pretty nymphs to stick his dick in and be done with it already."
"Why you-" Percy wasn't surprised at how intensely offended Sally's face became. This time it was his job to jump and physically hold her in place. The sky bearer was surprised at how much effort it took.
"He's done much more than that." The voice of Hades shattered the status quo like a sledgehammer once again. For the first time, the black-haired god raised his chin from his fist. "Take a look for yourself." The hand that previously supported the Olympian's head lazily waved not at either Jackson, but instead at the floor beneath their feet.
Percy couldn't help but glance down. What he saw was certainly not what he expected.
It looked like someone had sneakily dusted the entire room with a fine gray powder. The strange new carpet stretched from wall to wall, barely more than a hair's-width thick. Percy was shocked he hadn't noticed it before against the reflective marble tiles inlaid into the floor.
The most surprising thing about it, however, wasn't the fact that the dust had managed to appear undetected sometime in the last few minutes. It was instead the shapes that had formed inside that were truly shocking. Percy had felt like he was walking on top of the universe upon first entering the room. Now, that feeling had now taken on a very literal tint, and he was standing at the center.
Stretching out directly from either of the man's shoes were an impossible number of interconnected, complex circular patterns. There must have been hundreds, thousands, maybe even more. Some were as wide as a car, others no larger than a fingernail. Spirals within spirals within spirals.
The complexity of the design was staggering, almost impossible to take in. Even as Percy watched, the thin channels in the dust continued to grow, shrink, twist and form all around the chamber. Other than the sky bearer's body as the focal point, the lines all seemed to converge on two other places in the room - one was the feet of his mother. The other was the bottom of the throne of Aphrodite.
"I'm surprised you didn't notice sooner, younger brother." Hades' gaze was sharp, tone brimming with barely hidden condescension. "Ever since he stepped inside the air has been stirring. Strange, for a room with no wind." Percy swallowed heavily, shooting his mother and Aphrodite each a worried glance. His nervousness wasn't helped by the goddess' slight grimace. "Perhaps your grip on your domains has dulled with age, Zeus."
The aforementioned Olympian had sunk into the back of his throne. Were it not for his millennia of experience, Percy was sure the sky god's jaw would have been gaping. From the corner of his eye the son of Poseidon saw Athena was eyeing him in a way that made the phrase 'picking his brain' seem more literal than hypothetical, and promised all of the discomfort such a procedure would have entailed.
"Okay. So, the brat's got some power." Ares' expression had turned wild. "That doesn't mean jack shit." The war god looked unpredictable, even more dangerous than before when the god's head turned Percy's way.
"I beg to differ." Hades replied calmly. A few thrones down the god of wine fumbled his drink when the god of the dead slowly rose from his throne. "And I shall prove it." Hades was even more imposing standing, the long and unnatural shadow he cast smothering the room.
"Uncle . . ." Aphrodite's voice was the most unsure Percy had ever heard. She glanced back and forth, mask cracking. "This isn't exactly proper. Tenez-vous en au plan!" Her last sentence was hissed, the goddess' stunning visage twisting darkly. No matter the language, you couldn't miss the emotion behind the message.
"Worry not. This will take but a moment." The god of the dead was unconcerned. "I'm simply speeding up the process for what you asked of me." Hades drew himself up to his full height. The artificial sun dimmed under the unrestrained and oppressive aura the god was exuding.
"Perseus." Hades spoke directly to the sky bearer. The Lord of the Underworld flicked a wrist. "You are aware of the properties of stygian iron, correct?" A thin, dark knife appeared from the air into his palm.
Percy nodded stiffly, eyes glued to the winking blade. A pit was opening in his stomach. The swirling of the lines in the sand had become frenetic with nervous energy. The whispers were back at the base of Percy's skull.
"Good." Hades lifted the knife up a bit. Its straight edge gleamed. "This game is very simple. I can tell you aren't consciously exercising your power. Your goal is to change that. In ten seconds, I am going to throw this at your mother." Hades twirled the blade nonchalantly in one large hand. "If you are but a minor god, it will strike her and she will die." Hades' burning gaze never left Percy's. "Prove to the council that you are something more."
The chamber was thrown into immediate chaos.
The first off her seat was Aphrodite, accompanied by a pink explosion of light. Power was literally spitting from her eyes, dripping to the floor like molten lava. Her teeth fully bared, sharp as the knife held in Hades' hand. Percy's heart echoed each pulse of her power, matched it beat for beat.
What Percy had not quite expected was for Poseidon to follow suit. With the rumble of an earthquake the King of Atlantis flashed to his feet. Out of thin air a shining golden trident had appeared, which the sea god gripped with dangerous intent. His eyes were wild, hair in disarray.
Hestia aged a dozen years in the span of a single blink. The stunning and suddenly fully-adult goddess had her hands held out, almost as if she was trying to physically block Hades' sight-lines. The hearth in the back of the eldest Olympian's seat of power roared to life. It matched the twin fires in Hestia's irises.
Zeus was calling for order. Hera and Demeter had joined him, with Hermes not long after. Athena merely watched with a critical eye. Dionysus was laughing, Apollo still mute. Ares looked pleased as a peacock and Hephaestus looked bored.
Percy heard none of it.
The sky bearer's entire world had narrowed to nothing but him and the standing god of the dead. Everything else had faded away into blackness. There was a typhoon of fire in his veins. It was anger, rage, fury so strong that it threatened to burn the skin from his bones and consume the entire room.
He let it.
"If you touch one hair on her head-"
The voice that ripped free from Percy's vocal chords was nothing resembling human. It was hundreds, thousands of voices all speaking in unison.
"-I swear on the River Styx-"
No longer was the wind gently carving lines into dust. Now it was a howling, swirling tornado suffused with the gray particles. Sally's hands clutched to her son, lest the woman be lifted away. A category five hurricane had been born into the room with Percy at its eye.
"-I will rip off yours."
Thunder boomed overhead. The sound came not from some ephemeral place above, but from the massive slew of black cumulus that had coalesced above Percy's head. The tendrils of the storm didn't stop at the edges of the ceiling. The clouds ran down the walls in trails, dripped onto the floor as a dark liquid fog.
Percy was beyond reason. He didn't even care why the power had responded now when it refused to earlier. He was simply glad that it had. This god, this filth, had dared to threaten one of the two people that Percy held most dear. He would pay, even if it killed Percy to do it. Perhaps he had found a worthy punching-bag substitute for Artemis after all.
Every ounce of the sky bearer's body was tense, each fiber of Percy's being at the ready. New muscles nearly bulged through the seams in his clothing. A bright green mist poured from his mouth with every heaving breath. It was so thick you could have cut it with Hades' knife.
"Good." The god of the dead dismissed his blade with a wave of his hand and sat back down. One pale cheek found its way back onto a closed fist.
The room was stunned into silence.
"What?" The void around Percy lightened a bit. A few stray thoughts broke through the haze, confusion being the first.
Aphrodite's form had frozen into perfect stillness more resembling a picture than real life. Poseidon seemed to finally realize he was still standing. The god vanished his trident, the motion stunted and awkward. When Percy's father sat back down, his eyes refused to stray towards the center of the throne room.
"I said, good." Hades' voice had dropped back to nonchalant, almost as if the past minute hadn't even happened at all. "It took me far too many years to understand the value of love, young one. It's fortunate you have already learned such a lesson." The god casually fiddled with the edge of his robe. Percy watched as the gray layer of dust that had settled on every inch of the room faded from sight. "Maintain that attitude and you'll find an ally in the Underworld."
"What?" Percy's brain was stuck in a perpetual loop. His vision had begun to work again. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the floor beneath the sky bearer's feet. His mother was still holding his torso, breathing too heavily to form any words.
"Your conclusion, uncle?" Athena's voice was tense as a bowstring. "If you are going to interrupt these proceedings to make a point, then at least bless us with your findings." Hades seemed to mull the idea over.
"The boy is more than a minor god. The council has seen the evidence for themselves." The pale god gestured with his free hand in a general wave to the entire chamber. "But he is a babe, yet. Uncontrolled, ignorant of both his true potential and of how to unlock it." Hades' gaze flashed to the avoidant eyes of Poseidon, then to the confrontational eyes of Zeus. "Much like we were at first, brothers. Could he have killed me? No, not at present. I'll not make the same mistake as our father." The lord of the dead shrugged a bit. "But give him a couple centuries of practice and we shall have to see."
Were it not for Aphrodite's voice in the back of his head, Percy might not have recognized the absolute political bombshell that Hades had just casually dropped. In the span of a single breath one of The Big Three had proven the claims of Percy's divinity, verbally thrown his support behind the new god (and by logical extension his brother and rival, Percy's father), and then compared him directly to the most powerful sons of the Titans.
The implications were more than massive - they were potentially world-changing. So much so that Percy almost forgot most of his anger.
To say this shook the council would have been the understatement of the century. Zeus, in particular, looked on the verge of becoming unhinged. If Percy could see the council slipping through his fingers the lightning deity could no doubt feel it. The son of Poseidon knew Sally was staring at the back of his head. Her grip was so tight around his arm they threatened to cut furrows through his sleeve.
"Perseus." The voice that cut through the lull stilled the very air of the council chamber. "Cover your mother's eyes, s'il vous plaît."
The hair on Percy's neck stood straight up, his heart jumping in his chest. Still, his body didn't hesitate to make sure a hand was in place over Sally's face. The motion was so quick it stirred its own wind. When Percy's head turned towards the seat of the deity of love, his gaze landed not on the beautiful goddess he had been expecting.
Aphrodite had changed.
No longer was she the picture of attraction and temptation, the physical representation of the goodness of love. The woman who had comforted Percy, who had wiped his tears and stroked his cheeks had disappeared. Instead, the goddess who stood off her throne was something wholly new.
The Olympian's gentle waves of hair had fanned out around her head in a deadly halo. Each lock bristled like a living animal. Aphrodite's features had twisted into a darker twin of her former self, terrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measure. Her eyes, so gentle when looking at Percy, were nothing but pink suns in the middle of the blackness of space.
There was nothing human about her now, only power overwhelming. She was love, lust, jealousy, envy, obsession brought to life and given physical form.
"Hear me Hades Pluto, son of Kronos." Aphrodite's throne had become pure white, its petals the color and texture of bleached bone. "I am Aphrodite Venus, daughter of Ouranos the Sky, granddaughter of She who Dreams."
Each word threatened to send Percy to his knees. The man wrapped an arm around his mother to keep them both upright, straining against the room's increased gravity. The pink glow around Aphrodite had become brighter than the sun. The sky bearer buried Sally's head in his chest. He could feel her heavy, panicked breathing as her hands clutched at his torso.
Through it all the man couldn't look away from this new Aphrodite. Not a single eye, mortal or otherwise, could have. The true form of the goddess of love made such a thing impossible.
"I refer to you as uncle out of politeness, not fear." She held the arm of her throne with the tips of two fingers, black nails so sharp they dug deep furrows into the stone. "Do not mistake my civility for a lack of strength, nor conviction. It would be best if you remember that the blood of a Primordial flows in my veins. Pas le vôtre."
Each word from the goddess' perfect mouth was a physical blow echoed by her savage aura against the black of Hades' throne. Percy was surprised the room was still intact. The floor seemed set to fall itself apart under his feet. Not even his own outburst had come close enough to compare to the sheer energy ricocheting through the room.
"Should you threaten My Obsession or his mother again, even out of jest, and you shall find that the treaty will not save you." Aphrodite's voice was death in verbal form, a solemn vow. "I will poison the hearts of all those you love against you. You will find no ally, no friendly ear, no réconfort for all eternity. I turned your wife towards you." Aphrodite's eyes flared. "I can turn her away as well. Witness for yourself the true might of the master of love!"
Her final declaration was booming thunder, no quieter than the one her 'father' had produced to start the meeting. Aphrodite's red robe whipped around her bare shins but the explosion of power. Several of the younger Olympains were pressed back by her enraged presence. Dionysus wasn't even sitting at all, having fallen over onto his side.
For several angry breaths, Aphrodite remained standing. The first sign of her settling emotions was gravity beginning to re-asserting its grip over the goddess' hair. When the Olympian lowered herself back into her seat, Percy watched as her features morphed back into something resembling humanity.
While Percy had never seen her face while under The Burden, it would have been impossible not to recognize the emotions warring on her flawless features. There was a great heaviness, a bone-deep sort of tiredness that had settled onto Aphrodite's form. She seemed unable to look in his direction.
It made Percy's heart ache.
Despite what may have been better sense, the sky bearer actually found himself grateful. Frightened? Certainly. More than a little turned on? Unfortunately. But Percy was thankful more than anything. Every word of her declaration seemed plucked straight from his own rage towards the god of the dead. The goddess had just, in the strongest words possible, made her allegiance very clear. Aphrodite had stood with him, stood with his mother.
There wasn't much else you could do to get on Percy's good side. Even his father's own outburst had earned the sea god a grudging point or two.
The son of Poseidon knew that threats between gods were no idle things - how many of Aphrodite's stories had warned him of that? To put it bluntly, the man was in awe of the sheer level of her conviction. For the third time in almost as many hours, it was like Percy was gazing upon a whole new woman. Each iteration had been better than the last.
"My patience has run out." When the love deity seized the reins, she did so as someone trying desperately to regain a plan gone awry. "If there are no more objections, this meeting shall move on. The council will consider the matter of Perseus Jackson's actions and divinity as closed. Poseidon was right - mon cher deserves our thanks, not our doubt." The goddess met the gazes of the other Olympians, slowly and one by one. "Surely an endorsement by four senior members is enough."
Percy made note of the other heads in the room that nodded in agreement - his father, Hades, and Hestia. Against such a grouping even Zeus seemed a bit hesitant. The other Olympians, except for a seething Ares, seemed willing enough to let the matter lie.
"Now wait a moment, dau- Aphrodite." The ex-king of the gods apparently thought better of the familiar title halfway through his sentence. "There is one matter that has yet to be put to rest. If Perseus is indeed, more than a minor god-" the last sentence came out through a gritted smile "-then there is more information the council must know before deciding on an appropriate . . . reward." Percy wasn't sure he liked the way the last word sounded.
Aphrodite rubbed at a temple with one hand. Her fingers now lacked their claws, which was great for Percy's attempts at avoiding thinking about why he had focused on them so much in the first place. Thoughts for another time. Or maybe never.
"Fine." The deity of love looked up, her gaze finally meeting Percy's. Those perfect features, smoothed over in an hastily constructed mask, couldn't hide the cracks underneath.
No matter how Aphrodite held herself, the sky bearer found himself able to see right through her. Percy found it in the spark of her eyes, in the waving of her aura. The Olympian's posture reminded him of a soul awaiting final judgment all the while knowing that the verdict would not be in their favor. Distantly, Aphrodite's voice from before the meeting echoed through the man's head.
Can you trust me? It reminded the man of his own question - Do you promise? Just as Aphrodite had before, it was now Percy's turn to answer.
The sky bearer steeled his resolve and drew himself up straight. As he did he felt his mother finally peel herself away from his side. Sally's hair was askew and her face was still pale, but Percy couldn't have been more proud when she simply adjusted her blouse and crossed her arms firmly. The man quite liked her stance, so he copied it.
For the first time the younger Jackson appreciated his new bulk. The increased muscle mass certainly made Percy feel more solid. The sky bearer never let his gaze stray from the goddess', even as her own eyes widened in surprise. He punctuated the motion it with a single nod.
Yes. I trust you.
The next few moments bore witness to something spectacular. The white rose throne of the deity of love exploded into color, vibrant swathes of pink and red flowing from the base before Percy's eyes. It was like watching a master painter at work, the way the delicate hues blended and danced across each other. Aphrodite collapsed into her backrest, arms unable to hold her upright. The sky bearer watched as the expression behind her veil went through several lightning quick phases.
Aphrodite seemed so overwhelmed that her hands started adjusting her hair self-consciously. First she flipped it all to one side, then tucked a few locks behind one ear. After that the goddess re-thought things and flipped her bangs back over her forehead like silky, dangling fox tails.
And the smile.
Oh, that tiny smile that peaked out from behind the goddess' auburn locks had Percy more weak in the knees than the love deity's rage ever had. He never would have claimed that Aphrodite's other expressions weren't captivating. The goddess' previous (arguably extremely successful) attempts at his practical seduction certainly attested to that. But more than flirtatious, more than awed, more than any other emotion, Percy found that this one made her look the most breathtaking.
The sky bearer found that he quite liked the fact that he, and only he, could make that genuine smile appear.
"Very well." Zeus sat up straight, banging a fist on the arm of his throne. "Let us have it then. I, Zeus, head of the council of Olympus, hereby summon those with the information I desire." A hush settled onto the room. Not a single beat later, the Olympian's declaration was answered by a gravelly female voice.
"Bold of you to assume we haven't always been present, whelp of Kronos."
Percy stiffened as a new, choking feeling pressed against his back. It was like the air itself was bending away from the center of the room. The sky bearer felt his body turn of its own accord.
"Well, boy." Slouched at the front of the group of arrivals was the chamber's newest speaker. The closest of the three crones was aged beyond belief, the physical manifestation of the passage of time. Percy was pinned under her gaze. "Let's see what we have here."
The next few minutes were some of the most bewildering Percy had ever experienced. He thought that the most nerve-wracking examination he would go through that day would be under the scrutiny of the gods.
He was wrong.
"Keep your chin up." A gnarled cane impacted the underside of Percy's jaw with enough force to clack his teeth shut. It didn't hurt for some reason, but it was certainly annoying. "Stop slouching." The wooden implement smacked right into one of his vertebrae. Percy straightened his spine on reflex. "Hmm. Better." The hard bronze tip found the inside of his left thigh next with a fleshy thud. "Spread your feet apart." Percy did. His tormentor started another slow loop around his body.
As it turns out, the critical eye of a disappointed grandmother was so much worse.
A few feet away, Sally Jackson watched the eldest of the Fates circle Percy like a hunch-back shark. One-third of the legendary sisters had been correcting her son's posture for almost five minutes now. Sally's face was stuck somewhere between bewildered and stupefied.
"Is she . . . always like this?" Percy caught his mother ask the Morai stood by her side. This one was a brunette and a bit younger than her sister, at least if you were measuring on a cosmic scale.
"Atropos has a thing for propriety." The second Fate had a rounder chin and a bit less sag in her cheeks, but otherwise shared her sister's penchant for crooked spines and slouched postures. "Your boy is something new. It's not often we encounter a phenomenon like that." Her voice was gritter than sandpaper, as if she had smoked a pack a day for a thousand years.
"Stop moving." Percy's cheek was turned back straight by the end of the eldest Fate's cane. "The mortal will be safe with Lachesis." Percy wasn't sure why the sharp-chinned woman even had the thing, as she clearly wasn't using it for walking. "You have much bigger problems to worry about." Her tone was a bit smoother than her younger sister's, bushy black eyebrows drawn into a perpetual grimace.
"The boy has a soft spot for his mother, you're wasting your breath." A third voice cut in, this one wheezy. "Just hurry up." The third Morai, a blond, watched Percy's suffering with a critical eye. Her round-rimmed glasses made the woman's wrinkled features seem a bit less pronounced than the others. Again, only comparatively. "All of the swirling destinies in here are giving me a headache." The last Fate was slouching right where the trio had first appeared, apparently content with not moving a single inch if it wasn't necessary.
Zeus, somewhere behind Percy, cleared his throat. "How goes the inspection?"
Percy had never heard the lord of the sky seem so . . . polite? He wished he could turn around and see the reaction the Olympians were having to this, but that would only get him more acquainted with the Fate's cane.
"You always struggled with patience, Titan-spawn." Atropos' gray lips had a sharp comeback prepped and ready. "If you wish to rush me, you will fail. The daughters of Nyx answer to a power far higher than yours." The Morai categorically ignored Zeus' displeased mutterings. Percy couldn't help but be impressed by how completely unbothered his tormentor seemed by the entire situation. "Stop moving!"
This time the cane whapped his cheek with force. For someone with such bony arms the woman really packed a punch. Percy saw his mother flinch at the action. She looked ready to jump in his direction, though her form unwound when her son's face remained unblemished. The blow had certainly sounded like it should have been painful.
"I'd stay put, if I were you." Lachesis, the brunette to Sally's side, remarked with an air of detached apathy. "Your string has some length to it yet." The chamber hushed at the message behind her words. The elder Jackson settled, swallowing audibly.
Percy simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief and frustration. He had to admit it was nice on some level to have confirmation that his mother wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The man fought the urge to shuffle his feet. Percy felt silly for missing the presence of Aphrodite in his field of vision.
Atropos did another round.
The Fates' attire consisted of simple cotton dresses and off-white bandannas to keep their respective mops of stringy hair pinned back. Atropos' skin was pale, stretched across her form in a way that was both taught and saggy. The Morai's sisters could almost have been her mirrors, if not for the different hair colors and slightly different facial features.
The feared women physically looked ready to wither away and yet their presence created a spiritual pressure that was impossible to be ignored. The air around them rippled, disturbed at their passing. The sensation reminded him most of Kronos. The blood of Primordials was clearly no joke.
That realization had Percy's instincts screaming at him to sit tight and play along. It was perhaps the only reason why the man's storm of emotions hadn't boiled over yet. Percy wanted to sleep, he wanted to scream. He let none of it control him, grinding his jaw with tight-set lips. The sky bearer's mental fortitude didn't stop a puff of exasperated teal mist coming from his mouth as the eldest Fate did yet another loop.
"There it is." Percy wasn't sure what he expected when the blond, Clotho, decided to finally hobble forward. He certainly hadn't thought it would be to reach out and casually grab the green haze with withered fingers. "Had enough yet, sister?" Percy watched with mounting disbelief as the Morai packed the fog into a small sphere with no more effort than a child might form a snowball.
"He'll do." Somehow, the endorsement felt more like an insult as Atropos finally gave up her circling to shuffle over to her younger sister. "Anything missing?" The Fate eyed the churning ball of light with something bordering on disdain. Sally's face looked just as surprised as Percy imagined his own currently did.
"Hm." Clotho's tired grunt was in the affirmative. "A few fields. You, boy." Percy started. The position Atropos had guided him into made him feel not unlike a soldier standing at attention. "Pick an animal."
"What?" He winced the moment the word came out.
The blond rolled her sunken eyes. "Pick. An animal." Atropos raised a single bushy eyebrow, cane lifting an inch off the floor. Percy swallowed.
"Um-" his brain churned fruitlessly for a moment. "A condor." He wasn't sure why the words blurted from his mouth.
"Hrmph." Clotho grunted again. "So be it." The Morai moved her hands over the storm of green, almost massaging it, before looking back to the sky bearer. "Pick another."
"A second one?" Percy clamped his jaw shut after the question, cursing his loose lips. In a bid to avoid even more ire, the man cast about his thoughts for another answer. A vision of hair, dark red with black tips, came first to mind. "A fox."
"Good." Clotho's breathy voice made it clear she didn't mean it. "Another. Smaller, this time." Beady eyes peered up at Percy. "A bug or something of similar size would do."
"A moth?" Percy fought the urge to shake his head in sheer confusion.
"Very well. Choose a weapon." The Fate's gaze pinned Percy in place.
The son of Poseidon shuffled on his feet. He was nervous, for some reason. "Any weapon?" Percy hedged.
The questions felt like they were significant, no matter how casually presented. His mother was nearly biting her nails again. Atropos reached up to massage her ashy forehead with a sigh, and Percy heard Lachesis snort off to the side.
"Yes, boy." Clotho's voice was impatient. The gravity on Percy's shoulders increased. Still, his mind was pulling a complete blank, even as every eye in the chamber was centered on him. The man felt his cheeks heat a bit. "If you're so hesitant, check your pocket. Youngsters. . ." The elderly immortal grouched the last word to herself.
Percy's hands did so of their own accord. The sky bearer forcefully willed down his embarrassment. The Morai mentioning his pocket didn't make much sense, though. He knew there wasn't anything there. These pants were brand new, after all, and Percy was certain he hadn't placed anythin-
He froze when his fingers brushed across his right thigh. There was a long, thin bump against his leg. When he reached inside, the son of Poseidon's hand closed around something firm. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion as he drew it out inch by inch.
It was a disposable, blue-capped ballpoint pen.
Percy turned it over, sensations and images breaking through the fog in his brain. The word 'Anaklusmos' was inscribed on the side of the clear plastic. A teal three-pronged trident on the cap caught the light when the sky bearer tipped it in the right direction. Percy's gut told him to uncap it.
He did.
What sprung into the man's hand felt as familiar and responsive as if it had been an extension to his arm all along. The sensation was as if he had lost a hand and not realized it until it was restored. There were murmurs from the Olympains.
"Riptide." Percy drew the name from the depths of his memory. It felt smooth coming off his tongue.
It was a truly beautiful sword. With a blade of gleaming celestial bronze, the medium length xiphos practically hummed as Percy gave it an experimental swing in the air. The leather-wrapped grip sat comfortably in the man's palm, and the flat hilt and its riveted gold studs seemed custom-fit for his use alone. The double edged blade radiated a sense of power. Percy felt like he was looking at a long lost friend.
Riptide was perfectly balanced, a masterword of deadly artistry. The sky bearer couldn't have found fault with it even if he tried, and it had been a lifetime since Percy had last wielded a blade. Logically he knew that it should have seemed shorter, smaller than it did - hadn't he held it as a teenager? It didn't. Every motion was natural, instinctual, his body remembering what his mind did not. The sword felt right in a way Percy hadn't experienced since that first embrace with his mother.
Something wet trailed down Percy's cheek. It was only when it dripped off his chin that he realized his bottom lip was trembling.
"A loyal blade." The scratchy voice of Lachesis broke through Percy's stupor. When the man finally ripped his eyes away from Riptide, the brown-haired Fate had shuffled away from his mother and over to join her two sisters. "Fitting. Certainly better than a helm." The sky bearer heard Hades huff in offense behind his back.
Percy hesitantly lowered the sword to his thigh, but he couldn't bring himself to will it back into its pen form. He quickly ruffed his cheek against one shoulder to dry his face, emotions whirling as much as the fog that held his memories captive.
"Have you reached a conclusion?" Hera's call was decidedly less tense and yet equally as courteous as her husbands. There were a few noises of agreement, Poseidon and Aphrodite being the most vocal. Such alignment had been unexpectedly common so far, given everything the love goddess had divulged outside.
"Yes, yes." Atropos waved a hand dismissively. "Sally Jackson." Percy and his mother both stiffened when the Fate casually called the woman's full name. "I would close your eyes for this." The words were posed as a suggestion, but the Morai's scratchy tone made it clear it was anything but. Percy's mother shot him one last look chock full of worry before slowly complying.
The Fates waited until they were satisfied with Sally's action. Then, in eerie lockstep, the three Morai raised their skeletal arms straight above their heads. The green ball of energy between them floated up a foot higher, pulsing and swirling like a tiny contained storm. Percy watched as the elderly woman's eyes rolled back into their heads one by one until nothing but white was visible. Then, in unison, they spoke.
"All Hail Perseus Jackson."
The voice that issued from the sister's throats shook Percy to his very core. The three tones warped and twisted around each other until they were an indistinguishable, unyielding whole. It was nothing like how they had sounded before - it was something different, something deeper, something indescribably older.
"All hail Perseus Jackson." The voices repeated. "Son of Sally Jackson, son of Poseidon."
The fabric of reality was swirling around the three figures, warping across Percy's vision like long strings of taffy. The teal sphere of his aura was pulled and stretched into a thin line in the air. The shining string drifted downward until each of the Fates' six hands were clutched to some part of it. The sets of grasping fingers sent a shock through the sky bearer's core, like they were reaching inside his chest. Percy's body remained frozen in place no matter his brain's commands. Sally's hair was blowing viciously around her face.
"All hail Perseus Jackson." The words came again. "Embodiment of loyalty." He felt the words deep within his brain, unlocking something buried so far down he could have never hoped to reach it himself. "Paragon of endurance." His skin was warm, almost painfully so. The man could see it, feel himself glowing. "Keeper of oaths and promises."
It was quickly becoming too much. His body itched, his head heavy. Percy wanted the words to cease, he wanted the Fates to stop. They didn't.
"All hail Perseus Jackson." The whole room wavered, the tiny sun above flickering. "Prince of beaches. King of rivers." The swirling air in the chamber was howling, tearing at the clothes on Percy's form. He wasn't sure if he was floating or falling. "Navigator of the void. Speaker of whispers." The marble floors rippled, solid becoming fluid and then reverting back a hundred times a second. Percy's skin was doing the same. "Personification of the winds and clouds."
It hurt. Percy wanted his mom. He wanted Aphrodite.
"All hail Perseus Jackson!" The voice was screaming at a fever's pitch. The Fates' forms blurred together, expanding and darkening until they were a fused silhouette as tall as the chamber's roof. "Bastion of demigods." Percy couldn't move, couldn't breathe. One edge of the green string had extended, reaching out from beyond the grasps of the Morai. "Lord of condors, foxes, and moths." It was reaching towards him.
"All hail Perseus Jackson!" Percy could have sworn the whole of Olympus was about to rattle apart beneath his feet. "Wielder of Anaklusmos. Saint of duels and swordplay. Immortal at the end of the horizon." His mother was clutching to herself, resisting the pull of the wind. "All hail Perseus Jackson!" The crescendo had arrived.
"Bearer of the sky."
The title nearly drove Percy to his knees. Visions of The Burden flashed across his eyes, the dripping view of the bottom of the heavens suspended in front of him. It was in his ears, inside his mouth. The man's muscles were bulging, bones bubbling from the inside out.
The edge of the green string was only an inch away, and before Percy could stop it the thing had snaked through his shirt and through his skin and into his soul. He could feel it, worming its way inside inch by inch until the other end had vanished. The chamber began to settle, the floor once again solid beneath Percy feet.
"All hail Persues Jackson." The Morai's eyes had rolled back forward, each centered directly on Percy. The man was shaking, sweat beading on his face and soaking his shirt. "Heir to the last fragment of Ouranos." There were gasps throughout the room, accompanied by a decidedly impure and feminine cry of victory and delight.
"All hail Persues Jackson." The Fates had separated fully now, resolving back to reality with their final words. "The fifteenth Olympian."
Percy had become an expert in out-of-body experiences while underneath The Burden. Extreme dissociation was literally the only way he had been able to survive - compartmentalizing his pain was a necessity to keep his mind from completely shattering. Even then, it had only been half-successful. Maybe less.
He found himself in the midst of once such moment again at the center of the throne room.
When the Fates finished speaking, the sky bearer couldn't process their message. They didn't make sense. Even with correct words arranged into a proper grammatical structure, the sentences refused to compute. The man's brain took in everything and sent back only error messages.
Percy's view shifted as eyes outside of his control moved with a neck that wasn't his. The throne room was an alien world in an alternate reality, merely endless shapes and tones of gray. There was shouting, lots of it somewhere behind his field of vision. The words were muffled, impossible to make out.
Him, an Olympian?
"Percy?" His mom was talking to him. He would know those blue eyes anywhere. "Percy!" She was shaking his shoulders. Sally's face stood in stark high-definition compared to her surroundings.
"I demand answers!" A deep voice was thundering. Zeus?
"You've had more than enough!" That was his father.
"You can demand nothing from us, whelp." The elderly voice that answered was calm as the eye of a storm. "Whether you dare to defy the boy's proclamation is of no concern of ours. Nor would be your fate."
That's right, the Fates. The son of Poseidon could remember what they had said now. He was a god. More than that, so much horribly more. His eyes turned to his mother.
"I'm here." Percy heard someone say. A moment later he realized he was the one speaking. Color had leached back into the marble chamber. "I'm here, mom." His tongue felt more his own the second time.
"My boy." His mother looked on the verge of passing out. "I never . . . I mean-"
Percy willed his hand up to grab at one of the woman's shoulders. His fingers scrabbled a bit at her blouse but caught it eventually. The man's arm weighed a thousand pounds. The solid nature of Sally's form reconfirmed that Percy was back in real life. The sky bearer could hear the whispers again.
Something felt different. He was pretty sure it was him.
"The Fates have spoken." That was Hades' smooth voice. "I, for one, will not be in the business of defying the boy's proclamation."
"It is the logical conclusion." Athena chimed in, though she didn't sound especially pleased.
"Loathe as I am to admit it, I must agree with our brother." Demeter this time. "The boy defeated our father and held Atlas' burden. As far as I'm concerned there is no longer an argument to be had."
"No argument worth bringing She Who Dreams down on this council's heads, at least." That was Hepheastus' gravely tone. It was the most the god had spoken all meeting. "Give the boy a throne and free us all from this."
'I don't want it!' Percy wanted to scream. 'Stop!' His mouth made no sound, his throat no movement. The words wouldn't come out. Aphrodite was in his head. Her voice repeated one question over and over and over and over.
Can you trust me?
One of the Fates harrumphed. Lachesis, maybe. "At least one has some sense." The elderly deity griped out loud, her words pulling Percy back into the present.
The man could feel his own skin again. His clothes sat uncomfortably on his form, sticking to his back and collarbones. That sensation of strangeness, an impression of not quite feeling how he should remained.
There was a swirling wind in the chamber centered around Percy feet. When he looked down thin streams of fog were pouring from the tips of his fingers. The sky bearer fisted them, willed it to stop. It didn't work. Percy noticed Riptide was gone. When the man frantically searched his form, the pen was back in his pocket. The son of Poseidon breathed easier with it in his hand.
Can you trust me?
The more Percy's hearing returned, the more of the Olympian's voices became distinct. There was only one missing, one that Percy needed to see. His body spun of its own accord, the surrounding clouds rippling with the movement.
"What about the fragment of Ouranos?" Zeus sounded like he was either reeling or desperate. The building static charge in the air could have been evidence of either emotion. "The boy shares no blood with him, yet the Fates invoke his name! Are we so quick to forget against whom a war was just fought?"
"And you, 'father', are apparently quick to forget that a full-blooded Titan already sits on this council. Une membre senior, even." When Percy finally got around, his eyes latched onto Aphrodite's form immediately. "And as I'm sure Athena could tell you, the title of 'heir' technically implies no direct familiar relation. Only one of power and stature, a privilege that Perseus has more than earned."
The love deity Percy's gaze so desperately sought was standing off the seat of her throne. The giant stone petals were colored a deep and enticing red the same shade as her slitted Greek dress. There was a neon glow inside Aphrodite's irises and the dark bottom of her hair floated in open defiance of gravity.
Despite addressing Zeus, the goddess' eyes had been waiting for him. For the first time, there was no mask to be found. Her features were as open as a picture book - Percy's rising emotions were battered by a debilitating wave of joy, desire, and affection that left him feeling torn between two conflicting halves. The seat and backrest of Aphrodite's throne were dusted in glowing pink sparkles as if a glitter-bomb had exploded in the center.
"He ain't earned shit." Ares was growling like a rabid animal. The crushed remains of his aviators painted the floor in front of his throne.
"Cease your foolishness!" Poseidon's twitching gin was completely at odds with his harsh tone. "A seat on the council is exactly the reward Percy's actions have warranted. I would have proposed it myself either way." There was a bright gleam in his eye.
"Perhaps-" Hestia's childlike voice managed to rise above the storm. She, too, was standing, though her head barely cleared the armrests. "-there are logical answers to be had, if only we were to ask." The hearth inside the deity's throne sent a pleasant glow across the goddess' soft hair.
"Our services have been rendered." Atropos' voice grated from behind Percy's back. "The threads require no more from my sisters and I." Her tone was final.
"Now wait just-" Zeus interjected a half-second too late.
The physical gravity of the room diminished significantly with a thump of displaced air. When Percy chanced a look over his shoulders, the Fates were gone without a trace. When he turned back, Zeus' eyes were pits of lightning. The god's grip on the Master Bolt was almost as tight as Percy's fist around the uncapped Riptide.
"Let them go, husband." Hera's tone was cold. "Further questioning the Morai would be dangerous, particularly lest they reveal more truth you should find . . . unsavory."
Despite Hera's even expression, something in her aura made Percy decidedly uncomfortable. The marriage deity was eyeing him like a fine steak, though in a completely different way than Aphrodite usually did. More like the man was a particularly sharp knife rather than the cut of meat itself, as if the goddess had just discovered an interesting tool. The level of scrutiny had Percy's mother inching closer to his side once again, one hand grabbing at his damp sleeve.
Now that the sky bearer could compare, Hades' face on the other side of the formation looked remarkably similar. The deity of death hadn't spoken another word since his confrontation with Aphrodite. He merely drummed his fingers idly into one cheek with a quirked expression.
Athena spoke up next, a hand rubbing the goddess' sharp chin. "I have a hypothesis, though of course it is limited." Her blond hair bounced as the female Olympian shook her head. "I can only do so much with the presented information."
"I say go for it." Apollo spoke up, nursing one cheek with his teeth. "Can't really hurt at this point, can it? I can tell ya' that what the old ladies laid out was the real deal. Thick, heavy prophecy sorta' stuff." Percy could see him shiver beneath his robe. "Messing with that is one way to bring down a lot of really bad juju really quickly."
"I say give the brat a damn chair." That slurred tone could only belong to one Olympian. "He can take over that shithole you call a camp. Bastion of demigods?" Dionysus snorted, pausing to take a swig from his flask. "Sounds like I'm finally getting fired."
The veins in Zeus' neck were bulging. "What is your hypothesis, daughter?" The question was as much a stall as it was anything else. Percy watched the god's fingers flexing on and off his signature weapon.
"Aphrodite?" Percy was surprised when the goddess of wisdom began by addressing the love deity. "What is the nature of Atlas' burden and your sire? There is a connection, is there not?" The gleam in Athena's eyes hinted that she already knew the answer.
Aphrodite still hadn't looked away from the sky bearer, her gaze not even flicking her sister's way. "Une connexion is putting it mildly, sister." The love deity's real voice overlapped with her looping, whispered tone in Percy's head. "It would be more accurate to say there was never a distinction between the two to begin with."
Aphrodite's pink glow was snaking across the floor, mixing with the lingering mist the sky bearer was accidentally generating. Percy could feel it, strong as if they had been touching skin to skin. "Ouranos is not just a deity of the sky. He is the sky. There is no piece of it that is not a piece of him." The goddess' words rung with an ancient sort of truth. "The heavens are more than his body. Combined they are his very being, his âme physique - soul given form."
"And?" Demeter asked, sitting back in her verdant and plant-weaved throne. "The nature of the Primordials is not up for debate."
"Then it is as I suspected." Athena was almost preening in her seat. "If the council may allow me a few moments I believe I can illustrate."
The blond Olympian held out one hand. A tall glass cup appeared floating above her palm with a small flash of light. It was empty, save for a small bit of golden liquid at the bottom. All eyes in the chamber were on her now.
"Imagine this container as the divine potential of a normal demigod." The blond goddess glanced over at Percy, and the level of the liquid rose an inch or so. It was still maybe a quarter full. "Perhaps this is more appropriate for a child of Poseidon. Either way." Athena motioned to the still empty portion of the glass. "The quantity of energy remains low."
"That is not the end of the story, however." Athena continued. The shining line jumped halfway up the cup, where it seemed to hit an invisible barrier. "Through feats of great bravery, the blessing of a deity, or other various means, a demigod may ascend to the ranks of an immortal. This unlocks a greater amount of potential."
Percy had to give the goddess credit. The explanation was certainly easy to follow so far, even if he hated why it was being given in the first place. The man chanced a glance at Aphrodite. Shivers erupted across his skin when he found her ravenous, swirling pink eyes still locked onto his form. The spectral hands were back - one traced suggestively down the side of his chest.
Athena tapped on the floating glass at the waterline of the golden liquid. "However, there is a ceiling. The presence of mortal blood prevents ascension to any of the highest levels of power or status." The female Olympian shot a sideways look to the other side of the room, squarely at the resident god of wine. "As the council well knows."
"Yeah, yeah." Said Olympian grouched. "Get on with it."
One side of Athena's lips quirked. "Yes, of course." She cleared her throat. "However, Perseus' situation was vastly different than the . . . typical set of circumstances."
Percy watched as the empty portion of the glass, somehow from the top down, was filled with a shining blue that glittered like the vast reaches of the sky. When the vibrant color met the centerline of the cup, it too hit the barrier. The new liquid ended up held apart from the gold by a tiny gap of empty space.
"The soul of a Primordial is a mighty thing. The very universe bends to it." Athena's voice was almost reverent. "It is living, willful, more so than even the aura that an Olympian or a Titan can generate." That statement had a few of the more egotistical members of the council grimacing, though none disagreed vocally.
The wisdom deity was gaining steam. "I've long suspected that Atlas' burden is so effective because it literally drains the holder of their divine energy. That is why both a demigod and a Titan can struggle so equally." A growing vortex at the bottom of the cup began devouring the shining gold. The blue above remained in place, separated even as the portion below was drained. "Were a mere moral to even attempt to hold it with no energy to consume, I suspect they would be drained of their entire life-force. Instantly."
Sally's grip on Percy became decidedly panicked. He could feel her shaking, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The warmth against the man's side was good for them both.
"Clearly my son is no 'mere mortal'." Poseidon found the time to boast. His smile nearly stretched from ear to ear.
"Indeed." Athena was visibly unimpressed. "Yet still, even after only a few days of exposure, Perseus should have been dead." When the last of the liquid metal left the cup a hush descended on the room.
"And yet he lives." Hades' smooth voice pointed out. The god remained lounging to one side, black crown somehow still perched perfectly on his head.
Athena nodded, a bit reluctantly. "Here is my conclusion." Shining gold began to fill the bottom half of the glass back up. When it reached the halfway point, the hungry swirl at the bottom re-emerged. "The only way that the boy could have survived was if there was some other force supplementing his innate divine energy. Were the natural barrier to be breached-"
The goddess tapped the side of the glass again with a single fingernail. The invisible gap dissipated with a pure ringing sound. Liquid sky crashed into liquid gold, intermixing and swirling in a violent and beautiful reaction. Painted shafts of light traced the entire room.
"-Ouranos' energy could have made up the difference, infusing Perseus' body and maintaining his form while under such extreme duress." The goddess' frown was tinted by the glowing liquids. "Easily, at that."
Athena traced her finger up towards the rim of the cup. Percy's eyes followed as the top of the glass grew under her touch, reaching up and up until it disappeared near the ceiling. The extended portion was completely filled with sky-bright energy. Even once the vortex at the bottom of the glass had devoured all of the remnants of gold there was still an impossible amount of liquid remaining above.
"We cannot forget that Ouranos is Atlas burden. Or, at least, it is a part of him. If there was anywhere on the planet where his soul would have been most concentrated, it is there." Athena's voice was heavy with finality. "I believe that what happened was more than just a 'refilling' Perseus' cup, so to speak. In reality, a near-literal blood transfusion with Primordial energy physically extended the divine potential inside the boy's body." Steel eyes flicked his way. "Past demigod, past minor god, apparently even Olympian."
The goddess lifted her finger off the glass. "Even if the boy inherited only a 'fragment', as the Fates declared?" The massive cup vanished into nothingness with the flick of a wrist. Athena's sharp face was set in stone. "A fraction of infinity is still infinity. Aphrodite was born from such a portion, yet her impressive power as a Titan cannot be denied. The armies of Kronos found out as much."
You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. Percy already felt like one was buried in his ribs. His eyes met the love deity's once again, sending the pair of ghostly fingers up along his back and across the man's neck. Aphrodite's flawless expression remained open to his gaze, stunning and sincere above that tempting red dress. Her hair was still floating, silky and shining from brown-red roots to warm black tips.
"One question remains, however." Athena mused out loud. "What pierced the initial barrier? What started the transition from half-blood to divine?"
"Sacrifice." Percy only realized he had spoken when every head in the room swiveled instantly in his direction. He fought the urge to wilt into his shoes.
"Explain." Zeus' voice was the opposite of pleased. The god ignored the looks sent his way by Aphrodite, Sally, and Percy's father. Percy swallowed, his free hand nervously playing with Riptide's cap and the edges of his sleeve's cuffs.
"I only just figured it out." The sky bearer admitted slowly, eyes glancing around the room but settling back on the goddess of love. It was easier to imagine he was speaking directly to her alone. "I nearly died at first. A lot." Percy dipped his head, memories of the dais on Othrys heavy on his shoulders. "The only thing that kept me alive were these whispered voices and a warmth in my stomach."
There were looks of recognition from each of the thrones, which only reinforced Percy's thoughts. He decided not to mention he could still distantly make out the murmurs even now, along with the fact that the warmth had eventually become a permanent sensation.
"The brat's telling the truth about that at least." Dionysus' voice was the most sober Percy had heard yet. "The little twerps at camp practically dump food into the fire for him at every meal. It started at the beginning of the war with a few weird upstarts but eventually caught on." He shrugged, still half-sideways. "He probably gets more than we do some days."
'A few weird upstarts'. The words stuck in the back of Percy's brain for a moment before fading.
"And why was this not mentioned to the council?" Zeus' eyes were sparking with electricity, his growl the rumble of distant thunder.
The wine god shrunk back, raising his hands defensively. "I didn't think it was doing anything! I thought the brat was dead!"
"He should have been dead." Ares' eyes were burning pits. Aphrodite and Sally bristled equally at the words.
"I refuse to let this farce carry on any longer." Poseidon was on the edge of his seat, one leg bouncing up and down impatiently. "Either accept my son now or put it to a vote, brother. This council no longer requires your approval for such actions, only a simple majority." The sea god eyed up the rest of the Olympians. "A majority, it seems, that has already been secured."
Zeus' face gained a dangerous twitch. "I'll remind you, brother, that the treaty granted me the right to decide when a vote is brought forth on an issue." The thunder god's fist slammed down with a lightning's crack. "I'll do no such thing until my- the concerns of the council are heard."
The voice of Aphrodite was whispering in Percy's head. Hiding behind semantic policy was certainly a poor look for the sky deity, but he had stooped lower before. Even the typically unflappable Hera was hiding a roll of her eyes. The man heard Sally huff into the side of his chest, and when he glanced down his mother was peering around the chamber with clear frustration.
"My son has earned his seat!" Poseidon countered, jabbing a finger at his younger brother. Deep blue clashed with gold in the air. "In fact, he has earned more! You expect me to be satisfied? Oh no." The deity's black hair danced as he shook his head. "This is only the first step."
"You can't be serious." The thunder god sputtered. Zeus electric eyes turned to the sky bearer. Percy could practically see the lightbulb go off over the god's head. "The boy has yet to even accept the position. Would you force such a thing upon him?" Zeus gestured to the Jacksons with a hand. Leave it to the Olympian's ego to finally give him a chance to speak. "What say you?"
Percy opened his mouth. He knew his answer.
Can you trust me?
He closed his mouth. Zeus' triumphant expression died.
Percy's eyes, against his will, looked to Aphrodite. The veil had returned, leaving the goddess' outward expression blank. But the man could see the way she fidgeted with the bracelets on one wrist. Percy watched as she checked her bangs for an imperfection that did not exist. He realized that underneath the facade she was nervous.
Percy opened his mouth.
Yes.
"I'll follow the will of the council."
The voice of the goddess in his head spoke the words in time with his own. She guided Percy, helped the message be free from his vocal chords no matter how much it hurt. And it hurt. The sensation of Aphrodite's aura massaging his back, the spectral hand running through his short hair was the only reason the sky bearer didn't collapse on the spot. His mother was gaping at him.
It was a harsh reality to face. If he wanted to not just meet Artemis head-on but succeed her, he would need resources. Training. Allies, influence, power. Only Olympus could provide those things. And what about Atlas? Was he supposed to search the whole planet for the missing Titan by himself? Percy wasn't stupid, but that didn't make the truth any easier to swallow.
Percy would be joining a family that wasn't his own and attempting to make it so. He would be sitting among the ranks of those that would use him as a means to an end, and only hope that a few would be friends more than foes. The man was leaping right into a ravenous lion's den and he knew it. Still, as his eyes remained locked with Aphrodite, the sky bearer found that staying by her side was preferable to anything else.
"A vote, then." Hermes muttered softly from the throne closest to Percy.
"No." When Aphrodite stood from her throne again, her aura turned every head in the room. There was no concealing the joy and relief on her face. Percy watched, spellbound, as the goddess bloomed before his very eyes. "Un compromis- a compromise."
"My patience runs short, daughter." Zeus' growl had forgotten all pretense of representing the other Olympians. "Speak plainly or do not speak at all." The god's hands were fisted so tight his knuckles were white.
"Fine." Aphrodite brushed off the words as easily as shrugging a shoulder. "How about we speak plainly about you then." Those chocolate-rose eyes were swirling with barely retrained energy. "You fear Perseus."
Zeus scoffed. "Nonsen-"
"You fear him and his power. You fear the words of the Fates and the blood in his veins." Aphrodite bulldozed right over the interruption, her pink aura not even fazed by the angry flare at the center of the formation. "You fear him and his connection to his father." Aphrodite wasn't even speaking to Zeus anymore. It seemed her gaze was pinning all of the other gods in place simultaneously. "You fear losing your grip on the council, and of adding a new member with untested loyalty. You know my words are true, même si tu ne peux pas l'admettre."
"I said speak plainly!" Zeus erupted from his throne. Lightning arced from his body, skittering loudly across the floor.
The love goddess stood strong. "With but one offer, I can solve the problems of every member of this council." Aphrodite's bold claim had the others leaning forward in interest. "In my entire time since arriving at Olympus have I not listened to your word, father?" The sudden appeal to Zeus and the return of the familiar term blindsided the chamber. Aphrodite opened her arms wide. "Did I not marry your son, fight your wars, attend to my duties? Do you consider my loyalty in question?"
Zeus seemed equally put off. He visibly scrambled for an answer. "I suppose not."
"And uncle, you seek proper recompense for Perseus do you not? A seat on the council and a presence on Olympus?" Aphrodite turned to Percy's father next, red dress whirling about her ankle. The King of Atlantis nodded, crossing his arms with a skeptical eyebrow raised. "Then may I propose a solution to both? Lady Hera, s'il vous plaît, I would require your approval for this next step."
"You have it." The words shot out of the goddess' mouth faster than Percy had thought possible. Hera looked like she was about to fidget out of her seat - that sight alone was baffling. What could have made her so excited?
"Perseus was proclaimed as the embodiment of loyalty, n'était-il pas?" Aphrodite effortlessly commanded the rapt attention of the council. "We have all seen first hand his devotion to his mother, to his family." She motioned Percy's way with a hand, fingers stretched out and her palm facing the ceiling. "What better way to assuage your fears, father, than to make him such?"
Percy felt like he was standing in an alternate dimension, helpless as he watched and listened. Zeus was blown back into his seat, eyes wide in shock. His gaze flashed from Percy and then to Aphrodite and back again. The other Olympians looked equally as flabbergasted, at least three jaws hanging widely. Even Athena seemed stunned.
"What are you proposing?" Poseidon interrupted, his face pinched. "What could you possibly possess that would make weaving our bloodlines together even worth it in the slightest?" When the sea god looked Percy's way, his face was tender. Human. "Not just for me, but most importantly for my son?"
Aphrodite wasn't deterred. "Should he choose to accept it, I offer to mon rêve both the most precious and the only thing I have left to provide." The goddess turned her full body to face Percy, hands clasping the opposite elbow in front of her stomach. She looked him dead in the eyes.
"Myself."
Percy didn't even feel it coming. For the last and most damning time that day, words bubbled up from his stomach and out of his mouth faster than his brain could process. With it came a powerful rush of energy through his core, a fiery tornado that burned away everything it touched.
"I accept."
