Chapter 24: Bed and Breakfast

Amphitrite's pov

Recap

"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.

Once the light died down, there was a box that seemed to be made out of paper filled with what looked like cloth bags of some kind and a note attached to the top. Andrew took the paper and aloud.

Dear demigods who were sent back in time,

I know that you must be very uncomfortable with your clothes which changed due to the side effects of this magic.

All the future demigods nod their heads,

And since you will be staying there for some time, I took the liberty of sending you a backpack filled with all the necessities including modern clothes (which apparently your parents forgot to do)

The Olympians blush at that.

Hope you all are doing well there.

Love Amphitrite

All the future half-bloods thank me as I blush. Poseidon looks at me proudly.

PS: Sorry but baby Percy cannot stay in the past for much time since she is a small child. So Apollo and Hermes are soon going to bring them to their original timeline tomorrow.

Poseidon looks sad as I roll my eyes.

Don't look like I killed your baby seal Poseidon. You are still going to stalk her from afar in her timeline which I have told you is not a good habit.

He huffs at me while I glare.

PSS: Percy, I think Aphrodite is planning something. She has mischief written all over her face.

The demigods groan as Aphrodite pouts. I narrow my eyes at her. She better not play with their love lives.

Hades, Persephone, Poseidon and I are trying to prevent it but be safe.

All four of us look at each other and frown.

" Ok, Now let's see!" Percy and her friends stand from their seats and eagerly start checking out the bags. Each bags have the name of its owner written on it. The demigods pass it around and even give one to Sally. Once everyone has settled down, Hestia says " I think we should all settle in for tonight as Sally and this one" she says pinching Penny's cheek " has to leave tomorrow too." "But what about Thalia and Reyna ." Jason asks. "Thalia can stay at my" "her father's" "temple." Both Artemis and Hera say simultaneously. I groan internally. Hera is certainly vindictive enough to give her stepchildren hell. I think about it before suggesting " Why don't we let all the demigods from present and future stay at Lady Hestia's temple? You know since it houses the guest house and it is tradition that all the travellers can visit the hearth for hospitality." Everyone nods their heads in agreement some albeit reluctant. Percy gives me a silent thank you. I smile at them.

"Now that it's decided we should go." With that Hestia takes all the demigods and Sally towards her temple. Poseidon, Triton and I leave for his temple. As soon as we reach there, Triton excuses himself to make some important calls related to Atlantis and leaves. Poseidon sits down on the bed musing as I start to remove my jewellery. " They grow up so fast, don't they? He is my heir and he doesn't even have time to chat with us." " My love, he has many responsibilities and social obligations. He is after all your heir. Also, isn't that why your lot likes to sleep around so much? You all love the way you see your mortal children grow and learn." " That's true." He nods despondent.

I turn around to see his head bent as if he were in deep thought. I sit down beside him and start to rub his nape. " What happened? Why are you so melancholy today?" " I was thinking, what did I do to deserve you? I cheat on you again and again and yet you are so kind to my children. Any other woman would not be this accommodating." " Yes, that's true. But you should know I am not them. I knew you would cheat on me when we married. It is in your nature to have demigods to sustain your life source." He snorts as I continue, " And truthfully, I am not a big fan of some of your paramours like Aethra, or Eurynome or Medusa or…" " I get it you don't like any of the women I have slept with-" " But it doesn't mean I would not treat you children with kindness because they are blameless for your mistakes." I take his hand in mine. " And besides, Sally is very kind, and I like her. If I had to choose someone for you other than me it would be her. She doesn't want fame or riches, she just wants the safety of her child." I sigh, thinking of her fate. I hope she is ok and that Percy was able to save her.

Poseidon looks at me and says softly " You know, I noticed something about Percy today." I look at him questioningly, " She looks a lot like her grandmother." I am shocked to hear that. Rhea has always been in touch with her children but has stayed away from the world after Titanomachy. To hear about her from Poseidon- not even Zeus talked much about her but all the older gods still revered her. Poseidon is looking at me trying to gauge my reaction.

I smile back and say, " Maybe the fates were onto something, not giving you a mortal daughter." I teased him. He smiled softly and kissed me. Touching my forehead with his, he says " Maybe." " Is that why Hades was not that pissed for being blamed for the thievery? Or that Demeter and Hestia were protecting her so much. Ohh, I would love to be a fly on the wall just to hear what Zeus and Hera are talking about?" I rub my hands giddily. He laughs throatily. "Sure my sweet! I am pretty sure we will find out about it very soon. How about we also go do some of our work and then rest." I nod at him and separate ways to deal with the never-ending issues of court. I think about all the things that happened today and remind myself that tomorrow will be even better.

Hera's Pov

Zeus and I flashed into his temple. He lets out a roar and hits the pillar next to him, as his mask falls off. He looks so angry that even I am scared to go near him. All the servants leave the room as quickly as possible. Shaking, I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. " How could he? How could he do this to me? Sending his innocent daughter-who is an image of our mother- to steal a bolt! What is he trying to prove?" " Zeus calm down! You are acting beneath your station." He puts his face in his hands and tries to calm himself. " You know whatever happens between you three, neither of you can do such a thing. You all love Mother too much to make a fool out of it." " I know, it must be Hades, he sent someone to get the bolt and framed it on Poseidon and his daughter. There is no other option." I sigh and sit on the sofa beside him.

"Maybe! I can't believe I would say this but, I am actually jealous of that mortal woman and she is not even your lover." He turns to amused " Are you trying to say you want that sarcastic brat as a daughter!" "No! It is just if it was just her face I would not have minded but she even behaves like a mother too. I mean being protective of her friends and family, showing kindness and compassion. Who does that? She is just a mortal whose lifespan finishes in a blink of an eye. Why? Why can't she be like other heroes all arrogant and bossy?" Zeus chuckles at my rant. " Maybe you will find something about her in future chapters you will not like about her and then you will feel better." He suggested and I nodded along. Yes, that's it. Percy is a mortal. They always grow up to become self-destructive. That's what will happen to her too.

Demeter's Pov

"Please wait! My lord." Persephone, Hades and I had flashed in her palace since it was only the neutral ground between Hades and me. He was just going towards his temple when he froze and turned at my daughter's voice. "We need to talk." She says. He nods his head and Sit down on the couch. We sit in front of him. I glare at him waiting patiently to listen and berate him for his recent mistake. " My lord, why are you so interested in this young demigodess's life? I get that she is Poseidon's daughter and you are closer to him than father still, you were never this caring and understanding towards any of his children. Why her?" She asked frustrated making me turn to look at her in surprise. " Persephone my love! It is not what you think. I am the most faithful of all the gods on Olympus. How can you doubt me like that." "Well, she has every right to doubt you. After all, you are famous for stealing unsuspecting innocent nieces. Who knows what's going in that wicked brain of yours."

" Mother-""Enough! I am not sitting here to listen to your poison. I am here to talk to my wife and make her understand my actions. I have no interest in Poseidon's daughter, it's just that she looks and behaves a lot like Rhea. That's why your mother is so protective of her." Persephone's eyes widened and she turned towards me. " Yet no one told me about it. We had a break after she came. Yet you both did not inform me about it." She pouts. " My dear-" " Don't my dear me. I am not a child." She huffs and stomps to her room. I give Hades an evil eye and leave for my temple. As I am walking towards my temple through the square to see muses playing a beautiful melody about our win over the Titans and I sigh dreamily, lost in the past.

Hades's pov

I silently open the door to Persephone's room to see her brushing her hair angrily. " If you allow me to have a word with you-" "What do you want to say." "We didn't tell you about the situation because we didn't know how to respond to it." She turn around forgetting her anger for a minute, looking confused. " What do you mean?"

I stood up too agitated to sit. " You remember what you said right? About the big three and their daughters. Zeus had most of them, I have some while Poseidon had none. How would you react if you find out that the sibling who never had a daughter has one in the future and you are hell-bent on killing her for seemingly no apparent reason." "But she blamed you for stealing the master bolt." "Yes, but I took her mother as hostage first, even before she accused me. And sent Minotaur and Alecto after her. Why would I do that? I don't want to hurt her. It..." I take a deep breath, before completing, " It reminds me of my own mother's hardship during the reign of the Titans. We are not them. Are we?" " Of course not! You're nothing like your father. None of you are. Why would you do these things, only your future self can tell. And she was so nice to your and father's demigod children. That means she must have forgiven you. She is not the one to hold grudges. So you should not either." She hugs me tightly and I relax in her arms. We stay like that for a very long time.

Percy's pov

Lady Hestia herded us- yeah literally herd us towards her temple not that I mind. She shows us our bedrooms (boys on the first floor ours on the second) and tells us before leaving that breakfast will also be in Demeter's garden. Since there were a limited no. of bedrooms we decided to pair up and I was going to stay with Mum and baby me. As soon as I change into my pajamas, I jump on my bed and sigh. Dam, these beds are soo soft and huge. You can fit the ice age's manny on it and still, there would be space. Mum has also changed and after placing baby me on the bed next to mine, she smiles and says " Come here, Percy! I will brush your hair." She pats at the end of my bed. I scrambled as fast as I could. I am not going to miss this opportunity. After all, if someone can maintain my mane of curly, tangled hair that's my mum. "Why are you not taking care of your hair, Penny? "She frowns. "Eh! It's too much effort. Who has time to wrestle a mass of hair while fighting monsters." I make a face. She smiles as she picks up my comb and starts to brush my hair gently.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked after some time as I was checking out the bag Amphy set us (ohhhh a panda pillow set, my favorite), " Why did lady Amphitrite send you a panda pillow set from Bargain Mart." I snort " It's a souvenir from the time I was traveling to the camp half jupiter-the Roman camp." I reply hugging it close. She looks amused and finishes tying my hair in a braid before sitting down next to me and saying "Percy look at me and tell me the truth. Do you hate me for bringing Gabe into our lives? " I freeze in my place. I take both her hands in mine and say "Why would you even think like that? Did someone say something to you about it? Was it dad cause Amphy wouldn't-" " Noo. No one said anything like that to me. " She defended, "It's just that I married him to cover up your scent in your past and my future but he used to hit you.-" "Mom, I don't care what he did. All I cared about was that his scent protected us. You know Andrew had to leave his family because of monster attacks. You saw how that stupid bull man attacked you while trying to reach me. You are as vulnerable as me here. Technically, more than me because I won't be able to live without you." I say hugging her tightly. She hugs me back just as tightly. " Aww my baby." She sniffs. " Are you crying?" I tease her. " No mothers don't cry. That is their baby's job. " She smiles through her tears and she holds my face and kisses my temple. " I think we should go to bed. No more sappy comments." I nod as we lie down to sleep on our beds.

While mom falls asleep immediately, courtesy of a very long day, I cannot sleep. So After some time, (making sure both of them are in deep sleep) I get up slowly and leave the room. Going downstairs, I try to remember which room he was in and enter it.

Andrew's pov

I wake up to someone opening the door to my room. Thinking it was a monster, I pretended to be in a deep sleep when suddenly the smell of ocean and strawberries hit me. Percy. I smile a little but keep the pretense. When she puts her hand on my shoulder to wake me, I grab her and pull it, pinning her underneath me. " What are you doing here?" I asked her. "I came to wake you up because I couldn't sleep. Now get off me. " She says annoyed pushing my naked chest while blushing. She looked so cute in her tank top and pajama bottom, with red dusted all over her face. "You couldn't sleep or didn't want to ?" I whispered back rubbing my nose to hers. She pulls me in for a kiss, one of her hands on my necklace while the other winds up in my short curly hair. I grab her waist and pull her even closer.

I can't help being very handsy with her, especially after our quest through the pit together. It's like my brain has been rewired to protect her and keep her near me all the time. Which can become cumbersome as Percy was always an independent girl. Hmm.. maybe I can make her promise me to not do anything stupid without me. That's a nice idea. "You are thinking too loud." She groans as I huff and continue to kiss down her neck. "Andrew, Andrew are you even listening? we need to talk." I stiffen suddenly. That can't be good. I shift back some to rest above her on my forearms and gulp "Before you say anything, I want to ask you something. Are you breaking up with me? " "No brainboy! You really think you can get rid of me so easily." She smirks. "It's just that after Tartarus, I always have this feeling that I will lose you if you are not near me. I think I am going crazy." She pouts. I relax and lie down next to her, cuddling her. "You are not going crazy, well not crazier than you are." "Hey!" She hits me on the shoulder. " I think it is a side effect of travelling through the pit, along with the nightmares. We will just have to live with them." I shrug. She sighs accepting it.

After some time contemplating this matter, I look at her to see her looking up at me softly, "Whatcha thinking? " She asks. " Nothing. I just remembered when Piper and I went to Sparta to release Ares, we talked about something. You know, why Aphrodite chose Ares over Hephestus.""Maybe because she was a bit dumb. A sweet-tempered guy who can build you anything of your dreams and you leave him for a biker jerk." I smile at her rant. " That's not the only reason, you know. She and Ares are too much alike yet very different. They both work on people's passion, except one uses it to incite fighting while other uses it to bring people together. And it made me think about you and me." Her eyes grow large in question. "Well you, see, i always think with my brain and you with your heart. We both have samethe goals just different methods. We are also different yet very similar to them." She smiles at me folding her hands.

" Can you stop being so sappy, i am trying to sleep here," Grover says shuffling in his bed, sitting up. "How long have you been listening to us?" I ask annoyed at getting personal time with Perce ruined. " You guys were not as quiet as you think. So most of it. Also, don't be annoyed. You know better than to do something stupid with all the elder Olympians staying a stone's throw away." I scowl at the reminder. Even though Kronos was not immune to her likeliness, the elder Olympians here are still only processing. I think pulling her closer. However, in our time, they have gotten very much immune to her now. "Who cares?" She comments rolling her eyes. Grover crosses his arms and is about to say something when suddenly the door opens with a bang…

Piper's pov

Do you know the feeling of Déjà vu, seeing something for the first time yet feeling that we have experienced it before too? Well, this was not it. We have seen it. In Agro II. That is what's in my mind as we burst into Andrew and Grover's room to tell them about missing Percy, only to find Percy sitting there in her pyjamas with a half-naked Andrew on one bed talking to Grover. I place my hands on my hip in annoyance. " And here we thought you got kidnapped, for the third time." Thalia crosses her arms at Percy, before settling down unceremoniously on Grover's bed. I sit on the other side of Percy with Jason and Leo next to me and Frank and Hazel next to Andrew on Andrew's bed. Clarisse and Chris sit next to Thalia and The Stoll siblings and Katie next to Grover. Nico and Will sit on chairs next to the bed making an incomplete oval. Andrew claps three times (as shown by Lady Hestia tonight to increase or reduce the brightness of the fire burning in the braziers) to light up the room. " Ok, now that everyone has settled and found me, spit it out. I can see you all are curious about something." We look at her innocently. Percy give her don't shit with me ook to everyone present in the room. That was worth the try. Yeah, we all know not to provoke the mama-bear or, in this case, mama-seal named Percy.

"We were just wondering if… if you would tell us about this Luke," Hazel asks hesitantly making everyone except Her, Leo, Frank, Jason, Reyna and I stiffen. " Why do you want to know about him?" Nico asks his sister. "Well, Clarisse told Piper and me that he was in Titan's army and every time his name comes in the book, many of you get angry, so we thought he must be some big deal to get all of your ire," Frank explains. All of them except Percy are giving Clarisse a stinky eye. "What? They deserved to know about the traitor." My eyes widened. Traitor.

Percy sighs as we wait with bated breath to listen to this story. " Well you know he was in the enemy army along with other demigods who were not happy with our parent's ignorance. I mean, you heard how we were treated before the second Titan War right? The gods mostly ignored us and many didn't even claim us for like ever. So many demigods of minor gods joined the titan army and fought against us. And Luke...Luke was the host of Kronos." Percy informs us. Oh shit! "Is he the friend who betrayed you ?" I ask her. She nods sadly. " Yeah! He was one of my first friends in the camp after Grover. That's why, after he switched sides, I felt guilt that I couldn't convince of his place in our world or help him with his issues." "You shouldn't. He was old enough to make his own choices. "Thalia frowns at her. " You know I am not good at holding grudges like you or Nico or even Andrew. I never held his decisions against him since he was under the influence of Titan King." We all sigh knowing she was loyal to a fault. She must have done everything she could to help him.

I can't help understand everyone else's bitterness towards the guy. He had such good friends yet he threw them away for daddy issues. I mean we are demigods. Who doesn't have daddy or mommy problems? Heck most of us have on both immortal and mortal side, yet we don't try to destroy Olympus. Then something pops in my head. "But what about Andrew? Wasn't he also your oldest friend? Then why was he so mean to you in the book." Jason beats me to ask the question. I beam up at him as he wink back.

Percy looks red as a tomato as she looks up at equally blushing Andrew. " Well, Andrew and I, we didn't start that way. We used to fight a lot. He was especially mean to me because of all the rivalry between his mom and my dad and his stick-in-the-mud personality. " She rolls her eyes but still has a nostalgic smile on her lips. I coo at her as everyone laughs at Andrew's face. "Oh really, you were no better with you sarcastic smile and impertinence. " She sticks out her tongue at him. Aww. She and Andrew are very cute. " Yeah, I remember, during your second summer at the camp, you both fought bitterly because of Tyson but when the time came you came together to fight those stymphalian birds with Chiron's music records." Travis reminiscence. "Tell us more." We ask excited to know more. Even Thalia and Nico looked eager to listen to the stories before they came.

Someone clears their throat from behind us. We turn quickly to take our stance, to see Hestia standing in the doorway. " You know as much as I would love to know what this discussion was about, I am more worried about those dark circles under many of your eyes. You may be half-god but don't forget you all are half-human too. An average human requires at least 8 hours of sleep. So either you all back to your room to sleep or I am calling your godly parents to do as they want." Lady Hestia threatens. We groan but say goodbye to each other and leave Andrew and Grover to sleep.

Next day (Day II at Olympus)

Demeter's garden

Hazel' pov

We all were sitting around the dining table in Olympus eating a very late breakfast (since we chatted half of the night and hence woke up late). Most were chatting about the happenings in the book. While others aka Lord Hermes, Travis and Conner, were talking about some new prank (Calling it a magic mushroom or something). Nico who was sitting next to me was trying to disappear from a glaring Lady Persephone. At least being the daughter of Pluto saved me from her wrath. Our Percy had already done her breakfast and she, Andrew and some others were in the training hall next to

Baby Percy was sitting in Lord Posiedon's lap babbling something to which her father was listening intently. Lord Triton and all the heroes of old were cooing at her adorableness. It was so endearing, I would have cooed at them too had she not reminded me of her fate in our time. I was a bit mad at her for ruining Leo's plan but I knew Percy was one of the strongest demigods of our generation. If someone could pull it off she could. Still doesn't mean she should jump in front as the trouble arises just to protect others. Does she not understand how important she is to us? There was also the fact that she never told any of us about her abusive stepfather. I know most of us had concerns regarding her past, but didn't dare to ask about it yesterday, especially after the way she looked so sad, talking about Luke's betrayal.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the brightness until it was too late...

A/N Ok soo… I did not say I would reveal who had arrived. Just that the sneak peek will be in this chapter. Also, I expanded on her thoughts more, so here we go. Please write a review for it