Before you guys start to protest. I want to warn you. So I read a couple of fanfic of fem Percy where she was said to look alike. So I started to research and found that Rhea was described as having green eyes and black hair. Sooo…I made the resemblance. It will change some future events like Hades and Zeus will be softer towards her and a bit hostile towards Andrew. But not much will change.
Chapter 23: Quest time.
Hades's Pov
"We are doing one last chapter and then go back to our palaces," Hestia informed us strictly. Phew! This chapter will be the last one for today. I look at my youngest brother to realize he is also thinking along the same lines.
Although I do want to know the reason behind sending the fury and the Minotaur after, it is very hard to listen to her adventures without feeling guilty. She is, after all my favorite brother's daughter and has an almost uncanny resemblance to her immortal grandmother with her inky black locks and sea-green eyes.
Not just her features, her loyalty, compassionate nature and love for her family are very much like our mother. I can see how much my children adored her. And she cares for them too. Why did I and my brother hurt our niece when she reminded me of the women they all loved unconditionally?
Poseidon takes the book and turns the page to the next chapter.
I AM OFFERED A QUEST
"Yeah! Now the fun begins."
The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.
"Where you truly belong!" Poseidon's mortal son agrees.
I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.
"That sounds awesome." Apollo and Hermes' kids say. Figures since they have the most number of kids.
And I was absolutely miserable.
"Why?" Everyone is confused. Did we miss something?
Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.
Poseidon is holding the book so tight that it looks like he is going to tear it apart. I can relate to the feeling since my kids are also never truly accepted in the mortal world.
Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that I was the daughter of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.
"Is that even possible? How can the monster enter the camp without any insider's permission?" Athena asks the young demigods. "It was done on purpose, mother!" Her son sighs, making our breath hitch. Why would anyone attack the daughter of Poseidon without knowing her identity? Is it due to the pact?
The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. Cabin Eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one.
My son and many of his friends glared at that making Hermes frown at them.
He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process. "You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."
"I get that he is trying to prepare her for a very difficult future but fifty repetitions of Viper beheading strike is too much." Artemis worries. " Yeah! but truly, I preferred his over-rigorous methods than being ignored." She replies. Many future demigods flinch at her words.
Andrew still taught me Greek in the mornings, but he seemed distracted. Every time I said something, he scowled at me, as if I'd just poked him between the eyes.
I narrow my eyes at that son of Athena. Honestly, Poseidon may be impressed by that boy's strategy and ability to predict others' moves, but I am not at all happy that he made Percy bait for a game.
After lessons, he would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest . . . Poseidon? . . . Dirty rotten . . . Got to make a plan . . ."
"EXCUSE ME!" Most of the gods exclaim.
Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.
Sally looks very sad at her daughter's plight.
I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page
GIRL AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT BY EILEEN SMYTHE
The Earth started to shake slowly as Poseidon read further.
Sally Jackson and daughter Penny are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding. Mother and daughter had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident. Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepdaughter, Penelope Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.
Now even other gods and demigods are getting angry at that mortal's impertinence .
Police would not say whether daughter Penelope is a suspect in her mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Penny. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.
The sky darkens, as different gems start to pop up from the floor, and shadows start to dance. A storm seems to be brewing while lightning can be seen in the sky. I realize that not just us, our children are also angry making their powers go haywire as they glower at the book. The only ones not angry are Percy, Andrew, Grover, Athena and Herakles. Herakles was just happy to see the daughter of Poseidon being shamed in the news while Andrew and his mother, Grover and Percy themselves looked quite calm.
Some moments later, when everyone has calmed down, " If you all are going to get angry at a newspaper article that bad mouths me, then what will you do when I get kidnapped in 3rd book ." Percy teases us. Our hearts leap in our throats as many of us exclaim "WHAT!!!" Some demigods had identical expressions as us while others including Andrew, Grover and Thalia were giving here Why did you spoil the fun? "What it's like badly explained book plots like for this book is I get blamed for stupid stuff I didn't do." Everyone snorted at that. "The second book is Grover pulls a Penelope-the first Penelope- to not marry a cyclope while we become Odysseus." At that, everyone laughs while the satyr turns red.
"In that case, the fourth one is when she blew up a volcano," Andrew smirks. She blushes at that. "And the fifth is on the' finally, I turn sixteen'." She remarks. Why do I have a feeling that turning sixteen was not as easy as it sounded? " In the sixth book, I get kidnapped again alongside Jason." She deadpans while all the older Olympians wince. Just our tyche that our little Rhea is prone to making so much chaos and mayhem. " Although Jason does die and again comes back ." Zeus has a similar expression to what Poseidon had just seconds ago as if he was having a heart attack. He may not realize but he also loves his children a lot but doesn't show it.
" You don't die in that book too, do you?" Hestia asks her. " Oh no! Just kidnapped." She shrugs nonchalantly. Just Kidnapped. Oh, fates this girl will be the death of us.
"What happens in the seventh book?" Poseidon squeaks. Can't blame him for that. " I am found or more like I find the Roman camp. In the eighth book, we visit Rome. So beautiful! and save Nico. So fun! And Andrew goes for a solo quest." He sighed a bit but the demigods looked uncomfortable. " In the ninth book, we save Percy and Andrew," Hazel says looking despondent. " Save them from where?" Triton asks worried.
" In the last book, I had a nosebleed," Percy replies cheerfully trying to change the subject. Everyone frowns at her for not telling us the entire thing but she says " Oh no, no, no, no, no, I was just explaining the books badly you know like they do with some mortal movies. I am not allowed to tell you the entire thing, so listen to the story and enjoy." We, gods, make a face.
The phone number was circled in black marker. I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin. "Lights out," I told myself miserably.
That night, I had my worst dream yet. I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.
"That sounds a lot like San Francisco," Jason says.
About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green.
"And those are Dad and Uncle P." his sister adds.
They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose. I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.
Andrew and Grover stiffen and look at Percy.
Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.
"My lightning bolt is not a toy!" Thunder-butt says dramatically.
The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, and spraying me with salt. I yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting! The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice. Come down, little hero, the voice crooned.
"Is that supposed to be me?" I feel uncomfortable with that assumption.
Come down! The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me. I woke up, sure I was falling. I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that. I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold. "Come in?" Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you." "Why?" "He wants to kill . . . I mean, I'd better let him tell you."
"GROVER !" All the future Greek demigods admonish him.
Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble. For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a daughter of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.
"It does not work like that! Daughter of Sea." Athena hits her forehead
The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.
"Yeah! I am Pretty sure if anyone even dares to look at you with bad intentions, Uncle P is going to blast them to Tartarus." Hermes tells her.
Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella. "No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to." I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?" He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does." I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.
"That is a very nice idea. It can come in handy to keep everything clean." Demeter nods.
But this storm . . . this one was huge. At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.
Many are eyeing Zeus suspiciously. It must be the drama king's tantrum.
Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents—two sets of cards hovering in the air. "Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."
"Mr. D is secretly Severus Snape!" Apollo's demigod son asks. "No! Don't you dare compare our Alan Rickman with Mr. D" Percy, Katie and Piper exclaim angrily. Andrew huffs at their antics while we gods narrow our eyes at them. When suddenly Aphrodite squeals and says " Look him up!". We all do and turns out he is a comely guy with long hair and acts in futuristic plays or something. Most gods and goddesses look unimpressed with him but the future demigoddess except Zeus's brat looks smitten. Posiedon clears his throat to bring their attention back to the book.
I waited. "Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father." A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house. "Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.
"Be respectful, nephew! She is your cousin after all." Hestia scolds Dionysus. He huffs and looks away.
Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth. "If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."
Dionysus was blasted by cold water by Poseidon and was given death stares by my three sisters and his father. It seems I was not the only one who was feeling protective of the girl.
"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.
Complete silence resides in the area before everyone starts to crackle at Chiron's comment.
"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Girl, wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."
" You do realize her father will turn her back, don't you?" Athena informs him. He shrugs.
"Mr. D—" Chiron warned. "Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the girl is still here when I get back, I'll turn her into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Penelope Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."
" I wish I should have taken that offer than become a bait for WW3." Percy sighs while Poseidon grimaces.
Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass. He snapped his fingers. The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.
"I always wondered what do we smell like to the monsters?" Percy asked curiously. Everyone turns to Pan and Grover for the answers who fidget under the sudden attention. " Umm, Thalia smells like Ozone with a mix of jungle being part of the hunt while Jason smells like clear wind after rain with a hint of lotus." " Hey, that's what I thought so too after meeting Father!" Jason is surprised. "And lotus must be because of Juno-Hera, who is my patron." He adds silently. I try to stifle my laugh thinking Trust Zeus to always give his children his wife's patronage. Even that can't protect his children from that hag.
"Will smells like sunshine. And don't ask me how I know it smells. I just can't describe his smell any better than this. Clarisse smells like weapons and a hint of blood while Frank has a similar smell but also of ocean." Frank is surprised.
" Reyna smells more like a war zone. While Andrew is a mix of war and musty old books." Athena contemplates while Andrew nods " It could be because Lady Athena is not just a war goddess but also a goddess of wisdom while Lady Bellona is strictly a war goddess."
" Leo smells like fire and forge while the Stoll siblings and Chris smell like tar which is usually associated with road and stuff." Katie makes a face and shifts away from Travis. " What it is not like you can smell it." He pouts.
" Piper smells like perfume and Katie smells like flowers," He says dreamily. Pan raises an eyebrow at him. He blushes.
" lastly Nico smells like death," "Ha! Death-breath" "Pinecone face" " corpse worm" " thunderbutt" "Gho-" " Thalia! Nico!" all the future demigods groan at them. Zeus and I look proudly at our kids while Jason and Hazel exchange exasperated glances. " Anyways, Hazel smells like earth but more like a mined one. And Percy smells like ocean wind." Grover finished. " Can we continue now?"
Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover." We did. Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.
"Now we definitely have to play pinochle with Chiron, man", Hermes says to Apollo, rubbing his hands. He nods eagerly in reply.
"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?" Just hearing the name made me shudder. Chiron probably wanted me to say, Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast. But I didn't feel like lying. "It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."
"How are you going to survive this quest if you are scared of a hellhound?" Heracles asks smugly. " The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear" Percy replies smugly. Everyone is looking at her in astonishment. " What! It's what my mom says." " Yeah, but you are not a man!" Heracles gloats. " So what, men and women are equal in our society! We have as much rights as them. So whatever applies to men applies to us too." Sally defends her daughter making us gape at her. Artemis is extremely pleased about the future while Heracles stutters "E-e-equal! How is that possible? Who gave you such rights?"
" We were not given such rights. We got it through our own achievements. I can go on and on about how women in our society have worked hard to get to the top positions in their respective fields. Like Hellen Keller – she was deaf and blind but ended up being an excellent author, Katherine Johnsons - was a brilliant mathematician of African American heritage, during the time of a male-dominated society when many of her colors were delegated to housework and such, (A/N I saw maid and hidden figures, so go figure) Amelia Ernhart- who was the second person to fly over Atlantic and …" "They get it mom! Calm down before Lady Artemis bursts out of happiness." Truly Artemis looks way too excited that she was ready to take on her godlly form. The demigods closed their eyes to save themselves while Poseidon shielded his baby daughter with his body. "Arty calm down or you will incinerate the future. And honestly, I love this one." She calmed down.
"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done." "Done . . . with what?" "Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers. "Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet." Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details." Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together. "Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable . . . something that was stolen, aren't they?"
" Finally, we will know what happened?" Athena breathes out.
Chiron and Grover exchanged looks. Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?" My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth.
"We wish that all the time." Clarisse smirks.
"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Andrew, and he'd overheard something about a theft. And . . . I've also been having these dreams."
" Children of Sea always have most prophetic dreams among the demigods." Triton nods.
"I knew it," Grover said. "Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered. "But it is her quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!" "Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt." I laughed nervously. "A what?" "Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play.
"They have made plays on my bolt," Zeus asks excitedly. "Yes, and you should Fuck it too." Hera seethes.
I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives." "Oh." "Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers." "And it's missing?" "Stolen," Chiron said. "By who?" "By whom," Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher.
"Chiron is always a teacher."
"By you."
"WHAT!" They really should start explaining things. How can a girl who found out about heritage a week ago, can steal the master bolt from a highly impregnable palace?
My mouth fell open. "At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera.
" They are excellent reasons to argue." We three brothers agreed while everyone groaned.
Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it." "But I didn't—" "Patience and listen, child,"
" Which she lacks in abundance." Andrew deadpans.
Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.
" I Don't need your stupid bolt or its copies." " Then why did you steal it." " I did not…" " Oh for God's sake, just read!" Percy interrupts, annoyed by them.
The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his daughter. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."
"But she was unaware of her birth. How can she steal your bolt then." Artemis asks. " She could be lying !" " You just heard her story, Father, Why don't you understand." Zeus simply huffs and turns around while my siblings and I sigh knowing how difficult Zeus can be.
"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!" Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid. "Er, Percy . . . ?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."
"Goat boy is so pure!" Thalia chuckles at Grover's words.
"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam. . . ."
"Yes,I remember that," Zeus's eye glowed while Poseidon and I snickered at him. "How did you know what was in the question paper?" Percy asks innocently ..3..2..1… We all burst out laughing as Zeus turns red.
He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight. How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted.
"Lame!" Most demigods deadpan.
Chiron was waiting for an answer. "Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods . . . they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"
"It was for your own good!" Poseidon tells him "I Don't need your help!" he shoots back. Typical of Zeus, he never accepts his mistakes.
"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."
" I love being the last straw that breaks the camel's back," Percy says cheerfully. Everyone looks at her weirdly. " It has happened to me so many times, it is better to be happy about it otherwise I would go crazy."
"But I'm just a kid!" "Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you. . . . Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"
"Twist in your toga? Never heard of that proverb but it does have a nice ring around it." Aphrodite exclaims.
"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?" Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense.
"As if! You think too highly of us!" the three goddesses mentioned scoffs at Centaur.
But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"
"Bad?" I guessed.
"Sounds fun!" Ares rubs his hands.
"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."
"Bad," I repeated.
" You need to enhance your vocabulary!" Jason snorts.
"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath." It started to rain.
" Why are you releasing your anger on our kids?" All the gods glare at the drama king.
Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky. I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me.
The glaring intensifies as he shifts in his seat.
I was furious. "So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus." "What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the daughter of Poseidon return Zeus's property?" "If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?" "I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago . . . well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."
Apollo shifts in his seat excited to meet his Oracle.
"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?" "Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge." I swallowed. "Good reason."
"I don't think so. You should know everything about your quest to plan it properly." Theseus frowns. " I prefer to be spontaneous." His sister shrugs. She is too much like her father.
"You agree then?" I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly. Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.
Some people smile at that comment.
"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin." "Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more
How are oracle and sanity connected?
Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor. I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place. The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else . . . a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes. I held my breath and climbed. The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA,
Odysseus, Jason, Andrew, and Piper shudder at that.
CIRCE'S ISLE,
Now Reyna and Andrew look at each other and Percy
and LAND OF THE AMAZONS.
Hazel and Frank narrow their eyes.
One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things— severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, and various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.
"Yeah I know, it was definitely foreshadowing our future," Percy replies to all the questioning glances sent her way by her fellow demigods. We suck our breath.
By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.
Apollo starts to shake muttering that can't be again and again. Artemis throws worried looks at him.
Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time. Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trapdoor, but it slammed shut.
Apollo hyperventilates and cries " What happened to my Oracle?" Most of the future Greek demigods are looking down not able to provide us with the answer. Piper, Leo and the Roman ones look as confused as us. " What about Rachel ?" Hazel asks. "This was before her." Apollo sighed when he heard there was a new Oracle yet he was a bit troubled
Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask. I wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom.
There were a few chuckles around the room.
But I forced myself to take a deep breath. The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.
" Of course it won't kill you." Apollo was offended. "It was just an observation."
I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?" The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies. My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist. Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
"Is that in reference to me?" I asked.
His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
"Yes, my bolt will be saved." Zeus cheered hugging his stupid bolt.
The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
That sent chills through my spine. What friend? Everyone was looking at Percy who herself was saying to Andrew through her eyes. He reached out and squeezed her hand.
Finally, Eddie, our building super, delivered the worst line of all: And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
"Its not my bolt is it?" Zeus squeaks but no one is looking at him. Everyone was focused on the young demigoddess trying to understand the prophecy.
The figures began to dissolve. At first, I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?" The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos. I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cobwebs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.
The spell broke and Andrew and Percy removed their hands blushing. We cleared our throats.
My audience with the Oracle was over. "Well?" Chiron asked me. I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen." Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!" "What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important." My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She . . . she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned." "I knew it," Grover said. Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?" I didn't want to tell him. What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.
The future demigods winced.
And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, Oh, by the way, you'll fail. How could I confess that?
"Mine does!" Apollo looked proud.
"No," I said. "That's about it." He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."
"This one was a level above man!" Percy cried. Andrew and Grover nodded.
I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better. "Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?" "Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?" "Somebody else who wants to take over?"
Everyone turned towards me.
I guessed. "Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken." I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades." Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."
"The only possibility we wanted to think about cause the other ones were very very horrible." Percy added.
A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?" "A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young girl until she was sure of her identity, then tried to kill her. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."
"I don't understand why father would want to kill you. " Hazel frowns. "Yeah, he adores you." Nico rolls his eyes but looks happy about it.
"Yes, but—but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a daughter of Poseidon. . . ."
"I am not going to hate my more favored brother's only mortal daughter. Even if I live in the underworld, I still care about my family." I say firmly. Persephone squeezes my hand. Poseidon and Hestia look at me proudly while Demeter huffs. Zeus and Hera show no expression. " Umm, Lord Hades!" Frank raises his hand "You only have two brothers, don't you? So if one is more favored than the other wouldn't he become your favorite automatically." All the future demigods are trying to stifle the laughter as I turn red.
"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp.
"Doesn't that mean you have a spy among the demigods?" Athena thinks. My eyes widened. "Maybe he stole the bolt on someone else's orders and manipulated me to blame Hades. I would have to send you to him to ask about it and the thief will hurt you in the way. We will end up playing the blame game while he will give it to his master.- " "Daaad stop being so calculative. You are ruining the entire plot of the book!" Percy pouts. I realize what Poseidon has just said and something lodges in my throat. " But if that is the case, you should not go. You should stay back in the safety of the camp." Triton and their father look at her stubbornly. " Guys, see it my way. If I will go the war may happen. If I don't go it will definitely happen. So it's better for me to go and at least try to save the world from the wrath of three hot-headed gods." She cajoles us. I don't know whether to smile or be angry so I settle with a unimpressed expression.
Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest." "Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me." "But a quest to . . ." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."
"Not anymore!" Grover shudders.
"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."
"It is not going to be that easy." Pan remarks.
A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed. I was ready to take him on. Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld . . .
"Of course, thy mother." Zoe narrows her eyes. " No way am I going to miss the opportunity to save my mum."
Whoa, girl, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.
"I didn't know it was there." Zeus's daughter teases.
Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide. "Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads." "Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does
"Reluctantly," Poseidon adds
—they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"
Now it was turn for the future demigods to groan. "Why did you tell her that, Chiron?" Percy smirks at them.
"You're saying I'm being used." "I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."
Poseidon's voice is steady but his hands are trembling slightly.
My dad needs me. Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years.
Most parents of demigods look ashamed.
Now suddenly he needed me. I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's daughter all along, haven't you?" "I had my suspicions even if there has been no daughter of Poseidon before you. As I said . . . I've spoken to the Oracle, too." I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.
"You should not have held it from us. We were your friends then." Grover says quietly. " with him, it was ...bearable but if either of had turned your back to me I didn't think I could handle it." Percy says looking at her hands. Grover comes around the table and hugs her from behind. She must be very close to the person who deceived her.
"So let me get this straight," I said.
"I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead." "Check," Chiron said.
"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe." "Check."
"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days." "That's about right."
" That is the worst checklist ever made," Travis says lighting up the mood. Percy smiles and says " Thanks Chiron and I were very proud."
I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts. "Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly. "You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you." "Oh. ." He shifted his hooves. "No . . . it's just that satyrs and underground places . . . well . . ." He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If . . . if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."
"You are a very brave satyr." Pan nodded proudly.
I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic. Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me. "All the way, G-man."
"He was a lifesaver."
I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west." "The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America." "Where?" Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."
"How is that obvious?" "It is one of the richest cities and is very prone to earthquake which both comes in father's domain. People are always depressed there." Nico explains.
"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—" "No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?" I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash. "Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."
"We did fly in Argo 2. But yeah I don't like flying much." Percy informs.
Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed. "Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland." "That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept him help." "Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"
Andrew is looking at her with an unreadable expression.
The air shimmered behind Chiron. Andrew became visible, stuffing his Yankees cap into his back pocket. "I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," he said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."
" He is the best person to keep her from messing around." All the future demigods agree. Athena looks proudly at her son.
"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise guy?" His cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?" The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get. "A trio," I said. "That'll work."
"A trio – making of the best team," Grover exclaims proudly. " You are being too sappy." Andrew retorts smiling. Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank and Leo cough. " Fine one of the best." Grover concedes.
"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own." Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather. "No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."
" And the end. Now time for bed for everyone." Poseidon closes the book. When suddenly there is a bright light in the middle of the now-empty table.
Author's note time
1)First thing first yes in my version of Percy Jackson, Percy gets kidnapped while Andrew is going to search for her in the Titan's curse. It seems more believable that Artemis will hold the sky for her favorite uncle's mortal daughter more than for a favorite sister's mortal son.
2)Secondly, so I read a few fanfics with Luke and fem Percy pairing soo he, so I decided to add a one-sided-luke/ fem Percy pairing,( with Luke liking Percy obviously). So in a way, she would be feeling guilt for his death even if she did not like him in that way.
3)Percy's likeliness to her grandmother will come in handy in further books as they can also cause mayhem. So if you want the original Rhea to come meet them just comment on your thoughts.
4)If I forgot something … yes this is not the sneak peek part it will be in the next chapter.
5)And yeah sorry for the late update I went to my brother's for the weekend.
6)Like and comments ( and to those who were hoping to create a fanart for this fic no I don't have the means to do it . Sorry I can't accept your request. Hope you have a good day.)