[Percy's Pov]

I wish I had normal parents.

Don't get me wrong; I can guarantee that my mom was better than most, if not the best mom a demigod can hope for, and Poseidon isn't half bad as a father. He is at least passable…in god's terms, at least.

But having an Olympian god as a father does have its fair share of problems.

Barring all the common downfalls of having various monsters gnashing their teeth at you, it also meant that when he invited you to his family meetings, you'll have to wonder if you'll survive the ordeal.

I mean, it's not all bad; I've only ever been to Olympus once, and it was one of the most fantastic places I've ever seen, so it'll be nice to be there again.

Back then, I had a potential world-ending item in my backpack, and by the looks of it, this time won't be any different either.

"I still can't believe you lost the Ophiotaurus, Percy!" Annabeth yelled over the flapping wings of Blackjack.

"Hey, I never lost her!" I tried to complain, "Bessie disappeared on her own!"

Even though her face was barely visible through the night, I could bet anyone ten drachmas that she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Oh, my bad," she said, sarcasm dripping through her voice, "I didn't know that the Ophiotaurus ran off by itself. I thought a monster that might be the end of the world would have some surveillance over it!"

"All right, I get the point," I grumbled and focused back on flying Blackjack—a much easier task than arguing with Annabeth.

Would you mind if I shake her off, boss? Blackjack asked. Give her a small scare?

"I would mind that, so don't," I said.

"Mind what?" Annabeth shouted from behind.

"Never mind!"

We flew in mostly silence after that.

I had a plausible guess of where Bessie could be. Annabeth called it valid enough to take a shot at it upon hearing it, so I suppose we had at least 70~80% of finding her when we get there.

I was still shocked that she decided to leave the tub. I mean, I get it; all sea creatures hated being contained. I knew that feeling better than anyone.

But I did my best to help her feel at home, or at least as comfortable as possible, and in my defense, Bessie didn't seem uncomfortable while she was in my tub.

I am still trying to figure out how she escaped; or, more importantly, why she chose to. But then again, there was a reason why mom was strictly against having a pet in our house.

"…Percy?" Annabeth's voice jerked me out of my train of thought.

"What?" I asked.

Suddenly, I was aware that her arms were wrapped around my waist—as there weren't any seatbelts on a Pegasus.

Apart from the potential world-ending catastrophe, riding through the night sky with just the two of us was…quite an experience. I wasn't against it by any means.

But her question threw me off.

"Did Selena visit you before the Ophiotaurus went missing?"

I turned back, but her expression was still unable to identify.

"…Is this a trick question?"

Annabeth tightened her grip rather painfully. "Just answer it, Seaweed Brain."

"She did," I said.

I hoped Annabeth would elaborate on what was happening inside her head, but the rest of our trip was complete silence between us.

But I could tell that something about Selena had her concerned. However, I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

I landed Blackjack at the empty dam. Even though the place was the same, being here at night had an oddly eerie feeling.

All the shops were closed, including the main entrance, and every elongated shadow from the moon looked like a hellhound until I gave them a good look.

Even Blackjack wasn't thrilled to be here. He kept whining and clopped around the pavement, unable to stay calm.

"Can Actaeon influence the place after we got rid of him?" I asked.

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, frowned, and then closed it.

"No idea," she concluded, "The sooner we find the Ophiotaurus and leave, the better."

Her eyes kept flickering back to the wings statues at the back. I had no idea why those would specifically demand her attention, but I doubt it would be any pleasant reason.

I peered over the edge of the dam. In the dark, the drop to the water looked like an endless drop straight to the Underworld.

"Percy!" Suddenly, Annabeth pulled me back by the back neck of my shirt.

"What were you trying to do!?" She demanded.

"Jump down?" I answered, "Bessie can't be on land, remember?"

"That's at least a two-hundred feet drop!"

"I fell back at the Arch two years ago, remember? You said it was six hundred-something feet."

Annabeth struggled to find an argument for that, but I didn't wait for it. As soon as she got distracted, I leaped off the side of the Dam straight to the water.

I could hear the anguished screech from her echoing behind me before—

Flaaa-boooom!

Case in point, I nearly died the wrong way.

Falling into the water wouldn't harm me in any way, but I never considered that I might smash my skull against the bottom of the Dam.

It was a much closer call than I would've liked, too. If the water hadn't surged around me like an airbag, I might've broken an arm in an effort to break the fall.

Gurgle, gurgle

The two naiads that helped us reach the Dam was swimming around me. They were holding the current like a blanket in their hands, or wait, I was sitting on a blanket made of water.

So this was what the naiads back at camp were knitting. They were the safeguards of the lake in case someone fell into it.

"Uh, thanks for the save," I said with a slight wave of my hand.

The naiads bowed. The one that batted her eyelash at me blew a kiss with her hand, and then they swam away.

"Hey, wait! Haven't you two seen a swimming sea cow around here, or—"

"Moo!"

I turned just in time to take the tackle. I spiraled through the murky waters several times before I realized Bessie was rubbing her head into my chest.

"There, there," I pat her on the nose and brushed an empty chip bag off her ear. "What were you doing here, anyway?"

Bessie let out a series of moos as an explanation, but I didn't pick up on anything.

When she realized it wasn't working, Bessie swam around the lake, obviously trying to tell me something through action, but I couldn't understand it better than her mooing.

"Whatever the case is, if you're fine, then it is ok," I said.

I reached out and patted her on the side, but as soon as my hand made contact, Bessie yelped and flailed around.

"Whoa! Hey, Bessie! Calm down! It's fine!"

"Moooooo!"

It took some time, but I managed to calm Bessie down—or, more accurately, not get punted twenty feet across the underwater lake by a serpent tail while she thrashed around.

After that, Bessie was exhausted enough to let me check where I patted her, and I found a claw mark somewhere around her waist as if a giant eagle had tried to pick it up with its talons.

My first guess was that some monster was nearby, but that was ridiculous. The naiads and Bessie were both here without any sense of danger.

But if she didn't get harmed here, where could she have gotten a severe wound like this? Did she make a detour before coming back to the Dam? Why? Where?

I couldn't come up with any answers to the questions, so I shook them away. I had to do something about the injury before we left. At this rate, Bessie would die of blood loss—if a monster can die to such things.

Water could heal me to some degree, even with certain limits. And I knew that some of my aqua-based powers could be shared with others, such as staying dry or breathing underwater via air bubbles.

Would it be a stretch to heal others underwater?

It was a long shot, but I was willing to try. It was either that or another tense travel back to Camp.

I swam closer to Bessie and carefully placed my hands around her wound.

"Moo!" Bessie shuddered. Her large cow eyes filled with fear again, which made my heart ache.

But it was for her own good more than anyone else's. "It's okay, Bessie. I'm trying to help you get better."

After a few tense moments, Bessie eased up. I sighed in relief and focused on the wound.

Honestly, I had no idea how I got healed up by water. It was something that happened by itself, so my best attempt was imagining the wounds closing up, like parted lips getting slowly closed.

…I didn't picture Annabeth during the process, I swear.

Thankfully, that did the trick. Bessie shuddered and groaned as the claw marks slowly closed until a faint scar was left as a lone reminder of her injury.

"Moo!" She did a happy summersault and rubbed her head in my chest again.

"Yeah," I chuckled, "It's ok. No more bad people coming to harm you. Come on, let's go see Annabeth."

Seeing Annabeth screaming as I popped out of the water was hilarious until she got mad.

"I can't believe you just jumped down to your doom without an ounce of self-preservation—" She paced around, shaking her arms in the air as if strangling a pair of invisible angels.

"Annabeth, it's not a big deal," I tried to reason with her.

"Not a big deal?!" She screeched back, "How would you feel if I leaped off a two-hundred feet ledge with a lake?!"

"I would be scared and horrified because you can't survive that. But you know I can."

"That's…" Annabeth sighed and turned away. "…stop doing stuff that's so reckless, Percy. If you keep doing stunts like this, one day, you'll turn my hair grey from the shock."

"Hey, it'll match your eye, at least."

Annabeth kicked me in the shin for that joke.

Bessie shrank into a size of a small shrimp and swam around in the small sphere of Hoover Dam water.

I wished I could've gotten a cleaner source of water for her, but I doubted the 24/7 public toilets would be much better.

"Blackjack, can you fly us to Olympus?"

Blackjack clopped around nervously. Sorry, boss, but flying up to Olympus is a big neigh in the Pegasus' life.

I frowned, "Why is that?"

"Probably because of Bellerophontes," Annabeth said.

I've lived in this Ancient Greek-related world long enough to realize that whatever name she admitted must have been some Ancient Greek person who did something terrible back in the day.

"What did that guy do?"

"He killed the Chimera," Annabeth answered absentmindedly as if that wasn't something to be amazed by.

She smirked when my jaw dropped. "Unlike someone, he didn't have to jump down to the water for his life."

"Hey, cut me some slack. That was my third encounter."

Forth, if I count Ms. Dodds trying to claw my throat out at the museum, however, I'd always count that out because the whole situation felt odd to this day.

Annabeth's smirk softened into a smile, "To be fair, he was riding Pegasus while he was fighting the Chimera."

"Where did he get a Pegasus?"

"No, not a Pegasus. The Pegasus."

I blinked. Annabeth sighed.

"The original Pegasus, Percy. It's an ancestor to all Pegasi roaming today. It sprang from the severed head of Medusa when Perseus cut her neck off. There was also a guy with a gold sword, but he's not that important."

"Wait," I tried to sort the information in my head, which I was horrifically bad at, "If Perseus killing Medusa made that happen, why didn't that happen again back at Aunty M's?"

Annabeth shrugged, "I guess she wasn't pregnant then. It's not surprising, is it?"

"But that means…she was pregnant back then?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Might I remind you, Medusa was turned into a monster because your father got intimate with her in Athena's temple? Highly disrespectful act, mind you. Like jumping off a 20-story building without any discussion whatsoever."

I decided to drop the subject after that.

Not only was it very embarrassing and crazy uncomfortable that my father got 'busy' with Medusa, but it also got confusing whether I was technically related to all Pegasi in existence, as the OG Pegasus was my half-brother as much as Tyson was.

Did I mention I wanted normal parents already? If so, please add 'not confusing family tree' to the list of reasons.

We decided to let Blackjack return to the camp alone since we couldn't take him anyway. I made him promise not to raid any donut shops on his way back, but I couldn't tell if he was being sincere or not.

"How are we going to make it to Olympus?" I asked.

"I have an idea, don't worry."

Annabeth fished around her pocket and pulled out a drachma. I was confused about what she planned to do; an Iris Message won't take us anywhere.

But then she threw the drachma to the road and uttered the words that still haunted my dreams from time to time.

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

"Oh, god, you can't be serious!" I exclaimed as the drachma sank into the stone slab like it was thrown in a mud puddle.

For anyone wondering, what Annabeth said translates to: "Stop, Chariot of Damnation!" and for those who are still confused, that sentence calls one of the most, at best, dynamic, at worst, life-threatening taxi drivers in existence.

Or, you know, slightly more violent than a regular Ancient Greek chariot.

I watched with dread as, through the square of bubbling red liquid like blood, a car erupted from the depths of Hades.

Unlike any regular taxi in New York, this was smoky gray, and the word Gray Sisters was printed on the door.

The words themselves looked more like Gayr Slsrars due to my dyslexia, but it was impossible to forget them after how our last drive went.

The passenger window rolled down, and a familiar old woman stuck her head out.

Her grizzled hair covered her eyes, but judging from how she sniffed the air, I'd assume she didn't have the eye.

"Passage? Passage?" She asked.

"Two to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said.

The woman sniffed in my direction and hissed. "I can smell monster! No passage!"

Bessie mooed sadly in her sphere.

"Hey, Bessie is a good girl!"

A car horn blared from the taxi.

"Hurry up, Wasp! We don't have all day!" A voice shouted from the inside.

"It's nighttime, you fool!" Another voice screeched.

"Well, if you gave me the eye, I could see that!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Wasp snarled at the driver seat, then turned to me, "Bessie? What's a Bessie?"

I showed her the water sphere, but then I realized she couldn't see Bessie anyway.

Annabeth stepped in to save the situation, "He means Ophiotaurus, and it's harmless. It can't even survive outside of water. Or would you prefer we bring back Tyson?"

Wasp tilted her head, "Tyson?"

"My baby brother. He is a cyclops." I informed, and Wasp hissed.

"Ah, yes! I remember now. A ride to Camp Half-Blood." She snapped her neck to Annabeth. "We never got that extra pay, darling."

I had no idea what Wasp was referencing, but Annabeth clearly did. Her face paled dramatically, but she faked a cool head and held her pompous voice manner.

"You're the ones who ran off before I could pay you. That's your loss. You've accepted my coin now, so take us to Olympus."

"Fine!"

Annabeth sighed and opened the back door. I was still trying to decide if getting in the taxi was better than walking our way to the Empire State Building, but the door shut closed.

Wasp extended her finger, "That's a 'fine' only if you give us the extra pay you promised."

"On arrival," Annabeth tried to bargain, but Wasp chuckled, lacing her hands over the windowsill as her sisters echoed her laughter.

"We don't take heroes for granted," Wasp jeered, "Not after Perseus threw our eyeball in the lake."

Annabeth glared at me as if that was my fault.

"Not to mention that this Perseus threatened to throw the eye into the traffic! Much worse!"

Ok, this was my fault.

Annabeth pulled me aside. "Please tell me you have extra drachmas."

I emptied my pockets. All I had was a wrapped-up chewing gum paper, a 5$ bill, and Riptide.

Annabeth grunted in frustration. She rummaged through her pockets again and brought out two more gold coins.

"That's not enough. I promised them three more on arrival."

"Why did you promise that in the first place?" I asked.

Annabeth scowled, "Because they wouldn't take Tyson, and you weren't going to leave him behind."

"Of course not," I said defensively. Annabeth didn't argue further. She used to have a vendetta against Cyclopes due to her traumatic events, but she eventually opened up to Tyson, just like everyone else did.

She thrust her hand out in frustration, "I didn't expect it to backfire like this. If there was only a way to get some more coins."

The taxi honked again.

"We're waiting!" Wasp called.

Then, an idea popped into my head. I took one of the drachmas from Annabeth and held it to the water ball.

"Bessie, can you see this?"

Bessie looked up at the gold coin, "Moo?"

"Can you find some at the water down and come back up?"

"Moo!"

Bessie flicked her tail and jumped out of the water ball and into the Dam. I hurried over to the edge of the Dam, followed closely by Annabeth.

"Do you think there's going to be a drachma down at the Dam?" She asked unsurely.

"Here's finger crossed."

For the longest pause, there wasn't any sign of anything from below.

Then, with a loud rush of the current uprising, countless shining coins showered over the Dam, jingling joyfully like someone was going crazy on a xylophone.

Most of them were pennies and nickels people left behind or threw down for the sake of it, but after some scouting, we managed to grab a handful of drachmas as well.

"Good girl!" I shouted as Bessie jumped back into the water ball.

I scratched the bottom of her cow chin. Annabeth was grinning ear to ear as well as she thumped a load of drachma into Wasp's hand.

"Take us in an hour, and you can take all of that."

"Get in!" Wasp screeched.

I was in such a good mood until the driver slammed down on the accelerator.

At least, this time, none of the sisters fought over who had the eye or tooth. They were too focused on getting us to the Empire State Building. And also, they weren't eager to bite on something that had been buried at the bottom of the lake.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the entrance of the E.S.B.

"Here is your stop!" Wasp said gleefully. The door swung open on its own, and we hopped out.

The pedestrians glanced at us, probably wondering where the black taxi came from. That was odd because I remembered people ignoring the taxi altogether the last time. Granted, back then, there was a school gym on fire nearby.

"Is the Mist weaker than usual?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The girl is correct, young Perseus," Wasp said, her fingers still greedily clawing on the pile of drachmas on her lap. She turned her head to Annabeth, who frowned back.

"What do you want? You already have your extra pay and then some.

"Oh, it's not about the payment, dear." Wasp cackled, "Quite the opposite, in fact. In our excitement, we have forgotten to provide the other side of our service."

Annabeth's frown deepened, "What's that?"

"Out of the twelve, only Athena was split in half. The Mark can be traced by either side, as well as yours."

Again, I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. But Annabeth must've made sense of it because she looked like the Gray Sisters punched her in the gut.

Wasp cackled as the smoky grey taxi drove off, then melted back into the ground. Annabeth stood there for a long time until I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"It's…nothing," Annabeth said.

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"It's nothing," She insisted. "Come on. The meeting must've started by now."

[Line Break]

The lobby was oddly vacant except for the security guard, who had his leg up at the desk as he read a magazine with a cigar between his teeth.

He lazily looked up from the magazine as we walked up to the desk.

"The building's closed for tonight, kids. Get out." He grumbled.

"We're going up to Mt. Olympus," Annabeth said.

The guard blinked, stared at us for two seconds, and then looked back down.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes."

Annabeth opened her mouth to complain, but someone put a shoulder around us before she could utter a word.

"They're with me." A familiar voice said.

Annabeth gasped. The security guard nearly fell backward from his chair.

A giant fist clenched inside of my stomach. Instantly, my blood started to boil with unbridled rage and frustration.

I knew this man's existence manufactured at least part of this extreme reaction, but that knowledge didn't help reduce the fury swelling inside my chest like a balloon.

"Ares," I growled.

The man lowered his sunglass and cracked a grin.

"Long time no see, brat," Ares said. "How've you been?"

It was insanely lucky that Annabeth was with me. I was halfway to drawing Riptide and stabbing the war god in the face, but Ares's grip around my shoulder tightened painfully in a silent warning.

"I'm doing you a favor," He snarled, "Don't make me regret it."

Ares beckoned at the security guard, who fumbled under the desk and hurriedly handed the special key card needed to reach the 600th floor. Then, he marched us into the elevator and shoved the card into the security slot.

The elevator lurched, and the red number at the top started to ascend.

I shrugged off Ares's hand as soon as the grip loosened.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Percy…" Annabeth said cautiously, but Ares held up a hand.

"Nah, it's cool. I'm not trying to cause any trouble at the moment. Ruins my image, you know?"

"If you have any left to ruin." I spat back.

Annabeth gave me another warning glance, but I couldn't stand it.

I already knew that Ares was causing the aggressiveness in my attitude, and he loved seeing that in people; that much I figured back on our first meeting.

I tried to hold back the emotion because I didn't want to give him satisfaction—but after that, I came to realize that Ares enjoyed the situation either way; as much as he loved people losing their control, he also loved to see people struggle to keep it at bay.

It didn't help that he tried to trigger a Civil War between Zeus and Poseidon by framing me as the Lightning Thief, cast my mother into the underworld in the process, and attempted to kill me when I nearly thwarted his plan.

"Such good memories," Ares mused as if he read my thoughts. "Got better with your sword?"

"I stabbed your foot." I reminded him.

"And I blasted you 50ft back after that." Ares retaliated. He lowered his sunglass to show off his flaming eyeballs. "If Kronos didn't butt in, you'd have been dead right then and there."

"Then why did you run off?"

Ares paused for a moment. The grin seemed to falter around the edges, making me feel much better. His eyes stared into one of the elevator's walls as if he saw something fly into Olympus through the sky.

Finally, he returned to earth and shrugged. "I had more important matters. I'm a god, punk. I can't be meddling around something like you all day.

Besides, your father would've been a pain in my back for a century or two if I had chopped you to pieces."

Before I could come up to challenge that sentence, Annabeth interrupted.

"Why are you helping us, Lord Ares? Thank you, by the way."

Ares scrunched up his nose as if Annabeth had done something uncomfortable.

"Doesn't matter. What's important is that both of you owe me a favor."

"We could've gotten in by ourselves." I pointed out.

Ares shrugged again, "Sure, but you didn't. That's the point."

The elevator made a pleasant 'ding!' and the door opened. Ares got off as soon as possible. As he ran off to who-knows-where, various minor gods and spirits steered clear of his path.

"He is full of schist," I grumbled.

Annabeth sighed, "I know that, but can you please stop making enemies out of every god we encounter?"

Part of me knew that she was right, but I didn't say anything as I left the elevator.

My second visit to Olympus was anything but underwhelming.

Last summer, I visited the high palace of the gods with Zeus's Master bolt in my tattered backpack. Then, I was exhausted and wary. I had just fought Ares in a sword duel, and worse, had to take a plane from all the way from L.A.

Even in that worn-out state, I remember being absolutely taken away by the magnificent architecture throughout the city.

When the elevator door opened with a pleasant ding, the whole wonderland was rescreened over my eyes again.

"Your jaw is slipping open," Annabeth said.

I turned to her in disbelief.

"How are you so calm?" I demanded.

Annabeth went head-over-heals whenever we ran into a monument—and she was perfectly calm when literal paradise was right in front of her eyes?

Annabeth rolled her gray eyes, "I've been here more times than you'd think, Percy. I've been at Camp Half-Blood since I was 5, remember?"

She stepped out of the elevator and strolled past the streets of Olympus like it was no different from New York. Meanwhile, my eyes wandered off to the side every five seconds; every ad grabbed my attention in one way or another.

As we went closer to the highest building in sight—the castle of the Olympians, the crowd of people also diminished. The cheerful nature became calmer and more serious.

Bessie swam around in my pocket, mooing nervously. Even Annabeth looked nervous as we stepped through the central courtyard.

Finally, we arrived at the throne room.

Twelve enormous thrones made a U around a central hearth, just like the placement of the cabins at camp. Or, the cabins at the camp were placed in following of the thrones here at Olympus.

Unlike my last visit, eleven out of the twelve seats were occupied. The empty throne was made of silver with pieces of tiger and bear skins attached as decorations.

I glanced at Annabeth, who was also anxiously eying the empty chair.

We debated whether we should go back and continue the quest. I pushed forward that we did for obvious reasons, but Annabeth decided against it.

And as much as I wanted to go out on my own, just like how I joined the quest in the first place, the Wise Girl was right once again.

I lost Bessie even when I was in the same cabin and barely managed to find her in time.

If we'd embarked on the quest with Bessie, that would've been too dangerous. And if we left her behind, she would've been lost with no way to find her back in time.

As we stepped inside the U, each god and goddess laid their eyes on us. Most of them looked confused, except for a handful; Zeus, my father Poseidon, and—

"Welcome, daughter," Athena said.

Annabeth bowed as the goddess of wisdom stepped down from her throne, turning into a human size as she did, with a warm smile toward her daughter.

I had never seen Athena in person before. Now that I could compare from side to side, I was surprised at how similar they were.

They had the same blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, and they both radiated smartness, if that was even possible.

Athena's smile melted as she turned to me.

"I see that your perception is entitled to my daughter, son of the sea god," Athena said.

A single "Yes, ma'am" was the only thing I managed to say in response.

I was so surprised that Athena apparently managed to dissect what I saw, not to mention her blank, expressionless face as she stared at me. I could almost feel her gaze taking me apart as she slowly looked up and down.

Then, a hard thud interrupted the inspection.

Athena looked up with the tiniest frown forming on her forehead.

"Athena, the boy is tired after his search for the Ophiotaurus. If you want to talk to him, I can arrange a meeting in my palace." Poseidon said from his throne.

The two immortal beings glowered at each other for a few seconds. Instead of spending those few seconds sandwiched between their glares, I would've taken a rematch with any monster I've ever fought—or Ares, for that matter.

After what felt like an eternity, Athena looked away.

"That won't be necessary." She said, then outstretched one of her hands up to my stomach.

I wondered if I should put mine on it when the goddess sighed and said, "The Ophiotaurus, Perseus."

"Oh, right."

I fumbled in my pocket and brought out the sphere of water.

"Moo!"

As soon as she saw Athena, Bessie's eyes lit up. She dived straight into the goddess's arms, growing in size to fit in her arms instead of her palms.

Athena's expression warmed again as she soothed Bessie along the stomach until her hand reached the faint scar.

"Have the Ophiotaurus been injured?" She asked.

"Yeah, she was hurt when I found her back at Hoover Dam. I've managed to heal her the best I can, but…"

"That," A voice rumbled like a thunderstorm from upfront.

Zeus was leaning forward on his throne, looking down upon us with a stern face.

"Sounds like it's for the whole council to hear.

Explain yourself, son of Poseidon."

It took me quite a bit to tell the whole story, even though it was far from the longest excuse I had to make.

When eleven super-powerful beings are staring you down intently, it's hard to focus on what passes your tongue—and I already have trouble conveying my thoughts into words thanks to ADHD and hyper-activeness and whatnot.

After the story was over, Annabeth spoke up, "Is Lady Artemis all right? I've chosen to stay behind to ensure the Ophiotaurus's safety, but…"

Athena nodded, "Do not fret, Annabeth. Artemis is fine. Your friends…" she glanced at Ares with slight curiosity, "…have managed to free Artemis. They are flying to Olympus as we speak."

"And they are all fine too?" I asked.

"Yes, Perseus," Athena answered.

Annabeth sighed in relief. The news also loaded a massive weight off my shoulders until Athena finished her sentence.

"They are mostly fine. One of the hunters died—"

My heart dropped down a 50 feet chasm.

"Who, Zoë?"

"No, the young one." Apollo said, "Luna; if I'm remembering correctly."

That made my heart drop another 50 feet. Annabeth gasped, only to hold back her reaction after a quick glance at her mother.

But before I could ask whether she was absolutely sure or how it happened, a voice suddenly interrupted from behind.

"She has reunited with her family at her home, Jackson. Just where the young soul wanted."

I turned to see a very oily and pale dude in a black suit sitting on a guest stool apart from everyone else.

"Hades," I muttered, barely putting out the growl from my voice.

A beautiful woman sitting next to Hades spoke up.

"My husband means the young girl has managed to find peace—even in her death. Her life was…rather complicated from the start."

"But that doesn't mean she had to die!" I argued.

Hades snorted, "All living things have to die, Jackson. There is no room for argument in death. It is absolute—for every mortal."

Then, the god of death also spared a glance toward Ares.

I followed his gaze, wondering if Ares was secretly saying curse words behind my back or something, but the war god seemed to be glued to his chair.

Rather uncharacteristic, if you asked me.

The gods seemed eager to move on from the topic, which baffled me a lot—and that's the kindest words I could use.

Yes, there were times I found Luna annoying as well, but they're all saying that she was happy after she died, whatever in Hades that meant.

Then, someone grabbed onto my arm.

Annabeth looked at me sternly, although her eyes were slightly more watery than usual.

"We've talked about this," she whispered.

It was harder than bending a steel bar would be, but I slowly nodded my head.

If I ever got on any of the gods or goddesses' nerves in the throne room, not only would I have a good chance of getting blasted to smithereens, I'd likely send the council into an argument, which might start up World War III.

I focused back on what the Olympians were discussing.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Athena said.

"This boy is still dangerous," Dionysus warned. "The beast is a temptation to great power. Even if we spare the boy, it is for the best for the beast to be killed—"

"Whoa, wait!" Mr. D frowned as he was interrupted, but I had to speak up.

"Why is Bessie the one getting killed? She didn't even do anything wrong!" I demanded.

Hera, or I'd assume she was, judging from her place of the throne, raised her eyebrow.

"It's either the beast or your life, young Perseus. The Ophiotaurus is a danger to Olympus."

"You can't be serious!" I looked around at all the gods, most of whom looked serious, "Is this how Olympians deal with threats—"

"Percy," My father and Annabeth tried to warn me, but I didn't stop.

"—to get rid of everything that might be a danger; is that the best the 11 of you can come up with?"

With, with, with….

My last word echoed through the throne room.

I was expecting the council to explode with rage and wake up half a second later facing Hades with a smug grin, but to my surprise, nobody moved.

Nobody stood up from their throne in rage or called me out as arrogant and blasted me to bits.

"…he has a point," Poseidon muttered cautiously, breaking the silence, "We cannot stop the prophecy. Killing the Ophiotaurus would achieve nothing."

"But we can alter it," Hera pointed out, "we can lead it towards a better situation."

"Or for worse," Athena said, to the surprise of many.

Athena was sitting on her throne with Bessie rubbing her chin against her lap. For some reason, she didn't seem to have trouble breathing in the throne room.

"I have saved the Ophiotaurus once before. I will not be the one maiming it."

The goddess glanced at me with her grey eyes as she slowly traced over the faint scar.

"And Perseus, the Ophiotaurus is a male. Bessie is one of the worst names you can give him."

Zeus grunted, "All in favor of Athena?"

Only two hands stayed down—Dionysus and Ares. Go figure.

The king of the gods sighed and leaned back on his throne.

"Very well. Hephaestus will build an aquarium in Olympus for safe keeping."

"Brother, the Ophiotaurus is a creature of the sea—"

"You will not take it into your domain!" Zeus snapped back at Poseidon, then waved his hand at Annabeth and me, "Now, leave us, heroes. We have much to discuss that doesn't acquire either of your presence."

As soon as we left the throne room, Annabeth crushed my ribs with a tight hug.

"Please, don't do that ever again." She whispered in a trembling voice.

It almost made me feel bad for standing up for Bessie as I put my arms around her waist as well.

"Let's hope the situation doesn't arise," I muttered.

Annabeth scowled and pinched me in the side.

I was wondering if we could, just wander around Olympus. You know, since it was hard for demigods to be on a leisurely stroll down a mortal street without the potential danger of some monster attacking.

However, right before I was about to propose the idea to Annabeth, something landed in the outer courtyard—a sleigh pulled by a silver deer like Santa Clause. And familiar faces jumped out from behind.

First, came Zoë, and…another, Zoë? And…

"David!"

David grinned widely. I had to admit; I was glad to see that he was fine, even if he managed to complete the quest without me.

Annabeth and Zoë in hunting outfits shared a hug while the other Zoë skulked away from everyone.

"You guys are fine! Where have you been?"

"Yeah, we—" I stopped when I saw that David was missing something crucial.

His right arm.

David saw where I was staring and wrinkled his nose.

"Oh, right. This, uh, I used to have a spare one, but I broke that as well."

"I—what?" Annabeth repeatedly blinked, trying to make sense of what David said.

"Pardon," A lady from the interrupted all of us.

It took me a moment to realize that it was Artemis, only thanks to the tiara on her head. She looked so different from when we met her at Westover Hall.

"He needs to see my brother sooner rather than later," The goddess nodded to David, then without any further explanation, rushed past between us.

The two Zoës followed close behind, one of which dragged David along.

Annabeth and I shared a glance.

Without exchanging a single sentence, we followed the small crowd, back into the throne room.


I really need to figure out how to write the more trivial scenes. This was killing me to write for the last 2 weeks.

I tied everything (I think) that's left from the story that doesn't concern David—that's coming next chapter.

I'm sorry if this part is getting prolonged, I didn't expect this part of the story to take this long...

Well, at least the next would surely be the last!

I hope you all had a fun time reading, and I'll see you all at the next chapter!

ta ta~