Percy had no idea that as soon as he'd hit the sky, the Oracle had collapsed on the ground, completely spent, and had to be carried back up to the attic. He had also not known that the moment it got close enough, it had started shrieking a prophecy at him.
That, unfortunately, was everyone else's problem.
Percy had his own problem—namely, twelve Apollo kids who were acting like a litter of over-caffeinated kittens inside the Sun Garage.
"Oh my gods, what is this?!"
"Dude, is that the solar engine?"
"Why does that tool look like a tuning fork?"
"Is that an actual sun fragment?"
"Percy, what does this button do?"
"DO NOT TOUCH THAT!" Percy yelped, tackling one of the younger Apollo kids before he could press a very dangerous-looking button labeled DO NOT PRESS UNLESS EMERGENCY (SERIOUSLY, DON'T).
The kid blinked up at him. "Oh. So what does it do, though?"
Percy groaned. He should have known that bringing an entire cabin of Apollo's demigod children into the Sun Chariot's personal garage would turn into a chaos-filled curiosity spree. They were asking about everything, poking at things, and nearly giving him at least five heart attacks every ten minutes.
"Okay!" he clapped his hands, trying to get their attention. "Ground rules! One—no pressing random buttons unless I explicitly tell you what they do. Two—if it glows, don't touch it. Three—if it looks important, it is important. And four—if you break anything, Apollo will make us listen to his entire spoken-word poetry album, and none of us want that.*"
Immediate horrified nods all around.
Crisis somewhat averted.
To keep them occupied, Percy started showing them some of the cooler (and safer) stuff in the garage. He showed them the different tools used for Chariot maintenance, explained some of the diagrams, and even let them help with basic tune-ups.
It turned out that Apollo's kids were naturals at this. They had a weird, almost instinctual understanding of solar energy and mechanics, and they loved learning how everything worked.
It was actually kind of fun.
For once, Percy wasn't dealing with gods yelling at him, monsters trying to eat him, or accidentally stealing divine property. He was just… hanging out.
Then Apollo finally got back from his long day of searching for Zeus's bolt.
And nearly had a heart attack when he saw them all.
"PERCY!" Apollo squawked, eyes bugging out as he took in the sight of twelve of his kids sprawled around the garage, working on tools, diagrams, and—oh gods—one of them was trying to install modifications. "WHY DO YOU HAVE A FULL CABIN OF DEMIGODS IN MY GARAGE?!"
Percy winced. "Okay, so, funny story—"
"AND WHY IS THE CHARIOT IN A MILLION PIECES?!"
"It's fine! We were just doing maintenance!"
Apollo pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed. "Percy."
"Yes?"
"You kidnapped my kids."
"I borrowed them."
"PERCY."
"Okay, maybe I panicked and evacuated them after the Oracle started chasing me, but that is beside the point—"
"WAIT, WHAT?!"
Apollo practically teleported to Percy's side. "*Back up. The Oracle did what?!"
Percy groaned, rubbing his face. "It chased me, Apollo. It came sprinting down the stairs like a horror movie villain, and I was not sticking around to find out why."
Apollo's expression went from exasperation to absolute, bone-deep panic. "Percy, NO! If the Oracle was trying to give you a prophecy, that means it was something major! You needed to hear it!*"
Percy blinked. "…Oh."
Apollo threw his hands up. "OH?! THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!"
Percy winced. "…In my defense, nobody warned me the Oracle could run."
Apollo groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, Fates, Zeus is going to kill me…" He took a deep breath, rubbing his temples. "Okay, okay. No use panicking. We'll just… have to figure out what the prophecy said."
Percy crossed his arms. "I mean, everyone else heard it. Just ask them."
Apollo froze. "Wait. Who else was there?"
"Chiron, Mr. D, and a bunch of campers."
A pause.
Then Apollo facepalmed. "I have to go back to Camp Half-Blood, don't I?"
Percy shrugged. "Probably."
Apollo sighed. "I hate everything."
Percy patted his shoulder. "Welcome to my life."