Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Percy cracks his eyes open. There’s some light that’s filtered through his eyelids. Didn’t he close his blinds? Holy Hera, turn it off. 

But his blinds are not open. This isn’t even his bed. He’s only seen gold like this in one place. 

He’s woken up on Olympus.

Percy glares at the blurry golden floor he’s woken up on for a count of three, closes his eyes, and rolls back over. 

He gets a couple of blessed, blessed seconds of rest more before there’s noise and someone starts shaking his shoulder.

“No, don’t- Travis, step back!”

“He doesn’t look like he’s having a nightmare and this is important, Annie-!”

“Percy?”

No. Noooooo. 

He hears Annabeth sigh. 

“Percy, seriously. Up.”

“Five more minutes,” he grumbles unintelligibly.

“We’re on Olympus.”

“Don’t care,” he returns. 

She rounds the blanket mound he’s made himself into and her blonde curls come into view. They’re golden too, shone through with sunlight as bright as sunlight can get dancing through them. Percy’s eyelids pound with it, even as his favourite person in the world comes into view. Her eyes go from focussed to a strange mix of incredulously exasperated and completely unsurprised disappointment. Percy prides himself on being the only person who could pull a face like that out of Annabeth Chase when she was focussed. 

She hits him lightly with his blanket and pulls him up. Percy’s got a strong girlfriend, he muses sleepily. He goes along with the momentum and finally stands up, but only ‘cause she asked him to (reading between the lines). Even with the ease that flows through him like a lazy river at being by her side in heaven’s light again can’t stop the weary sigh escaping him, though. 

She looks at him sideways, a sigh escaping her too. The accusation slips out of her gaze on a current of understanding. Is it stupid to wake up somewhere strange and not react? Yes. Is it the first time? Absolutely fucking not. Olympus is sort of a big deal, too, so there’s another point for maybe addressing the situation. But fuck if Percy doesn’t care. Seriously, if someone was gonna do something to him, they could either do it and he’d react, or they could wait for him to wake up in his own good time, thank you very much. And the floor of Olympus is just not what Percy wants to wake up to, so they’d do well to give him that much. And Annabeth too. Gods know- or they should- that she deserves a fucking nap. All the bitter unrest that Percy can taste under his tongue flickers through her eyes too, and she doesn’t say anything more. 

If they’re lucky, this going-to-sleep-in-your-own-bed-and-waking-up-somewhere-else experience won’t ever repeat itself. But there’s no guarantee. What’s guaranteed, is that every time they lay down in their own safe beds at home, they will remember it, and wonder if they’ll wake up somewhere else. Percy’s scowl deepens as he looks around at the crowd accompanying them. About a dozen campers are waking up in various states of shock and panic at their strange surroundings. Campers. Y’know, kids. That guarantee applies to them too.

A familiar grunt pulls Percy’s gaze to a darker figure stirring sluggishly behind him. Nico. He’s wearing loose black sweatpants, his hair tumbling across his face like violent ink splashes. Percy’s eyes widen.

“NOBODY MOVE!”, he calls for the rest of those present to hear. His head darts around for others. 

There, behind Nico a ways. Jason is sprawled out hugely like a starfish. He starts to blink his eyes open. Percy puts his arm out, picking out the others he’s worried about through the crowd and giving them some space. Frank- Percy assumes the bulldog is Frank- lets out a worried bark as he shoots up. It sets off a chain reaction.

Hazel’s head flies up from the floor, her curly hair twice the size it usually is. It bounces with the movement. Her startled caramel eyes fly open, and Percy has time to think, that's a really old-fashioned set of jammies. Frank falls into an alarmed accidental roll beside her.

Clarisse shouts, chokes, and growls as she leaps up. Percy almost doesn’t recognise her without her bandanna, and certainly not with the flash of fear he catches as she rolls into a defensive position. Jason adopts a wolfish stance reminiscent of Lupa before his eyes snap open. Reyna reacts similarly, but remains completely silent. Piper yelps and flails. That’s more like it, Percy thinks. 

Leo… Leo snores on. Good for him.

Percy’s eyes funnel in on Nico. He’s grown so tall he might eclipse Percy soon. His body is wiry but strong, and thank gods, Percy can’t see his ribs anymore. His colour has been slowly returning to its once olive complexion. Too slowly, but it has been. It makes his scars stand out more. His hair is longer now, brushing his shoulders. Even that looks healthier. Percy’s never gotten a good look at those tattoos he’s been getting, but now’s not the time, even if he’s beyond curious and from what he can see they look super cool.

“Nico,” he calls firmly. 

Nico is completely still. He has been since he heard the others shifting. 

“It’s me, Nico. The best cookies in the world are blue, and cake tastes better on the fire escape. It’s me.”

Nico opens his eyes, set dead on Percy. Finally, he lets himself unfold, taking everything and everyone in. The others around him come to similar points, looking around at their environment and company. 

“Whaaaaat’s up? What is up?”, Leo slurs as he drags himself awake and nearly bowls right into Piper, who glares and pulls him up. 

Percy looks at his girlfriend like, I don’t know. What is up?

She shakes her head lightly. Still figuring it out, then. 

“Uh, Perce, pretty sure they’re safe,” Katie points out with a gesture at Nico and those around him. He blinks in confusion before he remembers the brief little stint with the no-moving order from before. 

“No, yeah, sorry. Just, y’know, some of us don’t wake up so good. It’s not always safe to get close.” Katie nods. The rest of the campers relax.

“Faex,” Reyna mumbles deeply. She’s turned incredulously in a circle. Ah, yes, the Romans- newcomers to greek heaven. Fair enough. 

Hazel puts a discombobulated hand on Nico’s shoulder. He flinches, just barely. Percy’s about to pull off his shirt and hand it over, but Jason beats him to it. Stupid Jupiturd. That one’s way too big for him. Aww, it’s kind of cute, though.

“Sweet Christmas,” Frank gasps. Human Frank. He changed back when Percy wasn’t looking. Annabeth has moved from beside him, winding through the kids, doing a headcount and rallying them all into some semblance of cohesion. Meanwhile, Percy addresses the special snowflakes. 

“Sleep well?”, he asks flatly. He is very glad he remembered a shirt tonight. Shirtlessness is a whole other monster when you’ve got scars like he does. In fact, wouldn’t you know it, he’s got his shark boxers on today. Sick. Great start. Not everyone was so lucky though. Poor Hazel is bright red despite her dark complexion at all the exposed skin. There are some squawks of indignation from the campers, but not too many- they're used to sleeping in cabins with their siblings.

Waaaait, what’s Annie wearing? Percy looks back over to her. His eyes go wide and he just barely keeps in a strange whimper-wheeze. 

She’s wearing his 'Sun of a Beach' shirt. It’s Percy’s favourite shirt, so it frequently finds its way onto her. He thinks she's the one who drew over the U in sun so it looks like an O. Annabeth isn’t small, but that shirt makes her look it, and her shorts are short enough that it looks like she just wore her boyfriend’s clothes to bed.

Which she did. 

The only one who seems to have noticed thus far is Grover. He’s doubled over with the effort of holding his laughter in. His hoof stomps desperately at the ground. Grover makes the most interesting noises when distressed. Percy rams into him lightheartedly, pulling his head under his arms and rubbing his fist into his curls (avoiding the now impressive horns). It does nothing to help. In fact, Grover fucking loses it, and Percy's not far behind him.

Annabeth glares at them when the campers start getting distracted by it. Percy hides behind Grover and waits for the click of her tongue that means she’s moved on.

“Where the heck and hell are we?”, Frank asks politely. 

“Olympus,” Percy hisses from behind his best friend. Frank’s jaw drops. A few other heads snap in his direction. 

He’s about to open his mouth again when the doors- yes, THE doors- shudder and open with a calm spring breeze charged with just a little bit of everything. Percy smells rain and ozone and a dozen other things, but none too prominently to be unwelcome. It’s hard to see from here, impossible actually, but Percy knows what’s behind those doors. 

“Enter,” comes the booming voice of the storm in the god’s throne room. 

Percy winds his way past the crowd and to the front, taking his place beside Annabeth. She gives him a glance. 

In they go. 

All the gods are present, Hades included. Percy lets the others keep an eye on the shuffling crowd. They’re nervous, they should be, but it won’t do to take his eyes off of the gods. He meets all of their gazes steadily before he and Annabeth step forward. He bows, but it pains him to do so, and he makes no attempt to hide the fact.

It’s hard to be serious in shark boxers. Maybe he just needs more practice. Oh gods, Annie doesn’t even know about the shirt. Percy almost cracks there and then. Maybe it’s a good thing his head is bowed so no one can see his hysterical I'm-going-to-die smile. He is fucking dead. 

“You two. Present yourselves,” Zeus orders. His voice sends rumbles along surfaces like thunder does. 

“Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena,” she states confidently beside me. A responding wash of familiar cold condescension washes over me. Ooh, Annabeth’s braver than him. Percy reeeaally doesn’t want to look up at her mom right now. 

“Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon,” he manages, raising his head reluctantly. 

Don’tlookatherdon’tlookatherdon’tlookatherdon’t…

It takes all of his willpower not to shudder in the coolness of the breeze that he’s certain is reserved just for him. Yeah, nice to see you too, Athena. 

“Rise,” Poseidon says. A little bit of warmth returns to my bones, and the breeze stills as it does on the open ocean. Thanks, dad.

Zeus glances briefly at Poseidon unhappily and then returns his gaze to the gaggle of sorry-looking demigods in their jammies in his throne room. 

“It has been decreed,” he begins importantly, “that you are required to remain here whilst we, the gods, read ten books.”

Percy blinks. 

Blinks again.

…what the fuck?

“This is not of our doing,” he admits reluctantly, “but the Fates’. You are from the earthly year of 2010. We are the gods of 2004.”

Ripples of shock startle through the ranks. It’s muted in the presence of the gods, but it’s undeniable. Percy’s jaw tenses as he forces himself not to move. 

“This is most unusual,” Hera continues. Her voice rings clearly and authoritatively through the room, but it is indescribably different from her husband’s. “But it is the Fates’ wish. Time as you know it will not pass in your realm, nor in ours. As of now, you will not leave Olympus until all the books have been read.”

More whispers. Percy scowls. Books suck royally. Gods have been fucking his life up in new and creative ways since before he could walk. He can’t think of a lot of things he’d enjoy less than reading ten (ten!) books with his divine trigger-happy relatives. Well, he can think of a few things, but the fact that it’s only a few makes this a certified shitshow. 

“The Fates have asked that you and a few others be present. Chiron,” Hera gestures to the left of their thrones, where the old centaur is indeed standing by. His face pulls into a warm smile. Percy feels it wash over him and the other demigods as effectively as Athena’s coldness or his father’s warmth. “Along with the others, who will be with us shortly. In the meantime… the Fates have seen fit to… limit, our power.”

As she speaks, she and all of the gods, along with their thrones, shrink. They sit circling the hearth, all except for Hestia, who tends it. Percy feels safe enough to give her a smile now. She returns it. Then he realises she probably doesn’t know him yet. She’s from 2004. Oops. Well, she knows him now. 

All at once, the gods stand, looking surprised, and Percy watches as their thrones poof out of existence. 

“We are to be de-throned?”, Zeus asks dangerously. Hera’s mouth opens and closes once, eyebrows up. Poseidon cocks his hip to one side and leans on his fishing pole, relatively unperturbed. Hermes, at least, looks happy to be on his feet.

“It would appear so,” Apollo chirps. Not much can break his stride. In fact, he looks positively delighted as the place melts around them. The grand hall, inconceivable in size, unearthliness and grandiosity, is replaced with warm red fabric. The tent Percy finds himself in is reminiscent of the Mongolian yurts that he saw in a video game, but larger. It’s a warm, deep red, made even warmer by the hearth at its centre and the pillow, rugs, and blankets that populate it, the only furniture. A couple of spare chaise-lounges in the dark corners are the only exceptions. It’s dark, and the fire glows in the heart of the room, pulsing life and light through the rest of it. With the flickering glow licking at the faces around it, the atmosphere is reminiscent of the camp’s bonfire. 

“Hestia-!”, Zeus immediately rounds on her. Percy, for once, sees his logic. This place has Hestia written all over it. 

“It is not my doing, brother,” she responds evenly. 

Zeus kind of seems at a loss there, but Percy isn’t paying attention to him anymore. A book sits innocently by the fire, untitled and bare. He picks it up before he can stop himself. 

One by one, everyone catches on and stares quietly at the tome in his hand. Again, before he can think about it, his other hand grabs Annabeth’s. 

“I guess this isn’t Hamlet, huh?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“Sally,” Percy hears his father whisper reverently. His head snaps up, book forgotten. 

His mother’s gentle touch on his arm directs him to look at her. She’s- she’s really there, her dark hair curling in the firelight, wearing the same tank top and sweatpants she went to bed in.

“Mom?”, he breathes, turning in her grasp. He checks her over through force of habit. She’s just fine. Her hand comes up to rub his back soothingly on autopilot. 

“I didn’t see you, when did you get here?”, he asks softly. She shakes her head a little. 

“I’ve been here, like Chiron. I didn’t want to interrupt, but- you’re alright?”

Her eyes are searching him just as his were her. They’re just as bad as each other. It makes Percy chuckle sadly, head dipping. It snaps up again when this all catches up to him. She shouldn’t be here. She can’t be here. 

“Mom, you- why are you here?”, he turns on the gods, putting his mother behind him and seeking out an open face. “Why is she here?”

“It’s as the Fates decreed,” Hermes shrugs.

“She… no, she doesn’t need to be…”

“Show some respect, boy,” Zeus starts testily. He’s lucky that’s when Sally decides to intervene. She puts a calming hand on her son’s arm and steps forward.

“My apologies, Lord Zeus. I’m not sure why I’m here, but I do not intend to question the Fates. Um, I am Percy’s mother, Sally… perhaps introductions are in order?”, she prods with a shaky bow. She looks around at the other kids and Percy just knows she is adopting every single one of them in her head. 

“Quite,” Hestia nods at her kindly, taking over. Percy sends her a sincere look of deepest gratitude. Anything to get the eyes off his mom. He takes her hand and doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. 

“Before we do, Lady Hestia,” Chiron speaks up. He’s standing in the back of the group, keeping all the kids in his sight. “Might we make sure everyone is present?”

Poseidon takes over. “There are only a couple left to introduce. I assume they will be familiar.” He waves a hand toward the entrance of the tent in a ‘come-hither’ motion. So there is an outside. 

The guy who comes in is almost as tall as Chiron. He’s massive, with a ducky-print shirt Percy got him for his birthday and grease stains on his jeans. Intricate tattoos peak out from the rolled-up sleeves. His eye rolls over the crowd and lights right up on seeing his brother and friends. 

“PERCYYY!”

There is a minor scramble to get out of his way or get stood on as Tyson makes a bee-line for Percy, grin matching his own. Percy gets one of those bone-muscle-and-organ-crushing hugs he and his poor body love so much. 

“Hey big guy!”, he wheezes out. Annabeth gets the same treatment while Percy hacks what’s left of his lungs out. Thankfully, Tyson’s learned to be more careful with Sally, who he approaches slowly and cradles as gently as if she were a bird egg. So slowly and gently, in fact, that it takes about a three minutes. Sally hugs him back happily. 

Tyson turns to Percy then with an air of seriousness. He puts his hand over his mouth as he whispers to Percy, loudly enough that everyone definitely hears.

“Those are gods.”

Percy nods back seriously. 

“Crazy, huh?”

A sudden hush over the crowd and a gasp from Annabeth pulls Percy out of his conversation. His eyes follow everyone else’s and land one the person who’s just entered behind Tyson. 

The flip flops. The surfer shorts. The white collared shirt unbuttoned over a soft tank top. Percy traces the scar from his jaw disappearing into his sandy hair, but they catch on his eyes, and he freezes. 

Blue eyes. 

Percy loses track of things. He blinks and he’s leaned over on the floor, with Luke Castellan in a hold that won’t break, just staring. Luke looks horribly, horribly sad. He can’t look Percy in the eyes. It makes Percy’s heart roar. A snarl rips through him. Luke will look at him. 

Still, Luke avoids his gaze, looking through the tent’s cover as though the world had torn apart. 

It had. He did the tearing. 

Through the wave roaring in his ears, Percy registers pressure and muffled sound. A solid force pulls him back from the man who took the good in the world and Percy fights it desperately. He can’t so much as budge it. He kicks. He screams. He bucks like a wild horse, using everything, every ounce of strength and feeling in his body. There is a lot. 

Percy is gone so fast that Sally doesn’t see him move. She hears grunts from people, as though something’s run into them hard, and a couple stumble back. She gets the barest glimpse of her son slamming into the newcomer across the room from where he was beside her a second ago, looking like a man possessed.

The snarl that tears through the tent is so guttural that Sally goes bone-cold from her head to her feet, and then she realises. Her boy made that sound. 

Then Tyson is moving, grabbing Percy and pulling him up and off the man, the boy- he’s just a boy. Percy screams like he’s being burned and they both tumble out of the tent flaps. 

Sally’s feet unfreeze and move of their own accord as her brain realises she’s lost sight of him. She dashes out after them.

Tyson stumbles against Percy’s strength. He tries to curl himself inward to keep his brother still, or- or from hurting himself. He looks heartbroken to do it. Sally feels her own heart shift and crack as she watches her boy thrash violently against the brother he’d just hugged so happily a moment ago. It was like a switch had flipped. Something about that man… that boy...

Tyson manages to guide Percy’s wild movements downward, sinking him to the ground and pulling him into a hug from behind. Percy scratches at Tyson’s arms weakly, his screaming dying, sobs wracking his body. Sally doubles over in horror. Her son looks right through her. 

 Finally, finally, Tyson has him in a proper hold. He rocks his brother and shushes him as softly as he can. Sally can feel the rumbles of his soothing in the ground under her feet. Percy tapers off. 

One final, gut-wrenching scream rips out of him, howled at the sky. A scream to strip bark. The whole sky seems to echo with it. 

Percy sags against Tyson’s grip and his body shakes with sobs. He’s all but convulsing. Wrecked. Tyson gathers him even closer, bowing his head into his brother’s shoulder. His tears are silent, falling in massive rivulets down his face. 

Sally staggers forward, then rocks back. Her hand comes up to cover her mouth. Her vision blurs from tears of her own. A stream, like they won’t ever stop. Why should they?

A warm arm wraps around her and pulls her in, and she knows it. She goes with it, desperately keeping her son in her sight, even if she can’t see him through the tears and he’s gone still and it hurts to look at him. Poseidon adjusts. 

There is panic in the tent at Luke’s arrival. Annabeth hardly notices, choking on tears that rise in her eyes and throat. Her feet move backwards automatically. Back. Back. Her eyes stare blankly ahead when Tyson, Percy, and Luke disappear. 

When Percy screams, everyone talking over each other stops. Hestia stands. The campers are in various states of shock or confusion, some of them having never met Luke. Connor half-heartedly holds Travis back. 

“What is the meaning of this?!”, Zeus demands. Hera looks similarly outraged. Athena looks like her mind is going a mile a minute, but when doesn’t she? It settles on her daughter- standing stock still and hardly breathing, looking horribly small in a shirt that can’t be hers and Athena refuses to think about. 

A few gods have stormed out after the scuffle, but some have stayed. A shimmering dome falls over Luke where he’s still lying and quietly separated him from everyone else.

“I will have no fighting here. Nor will the Fates, it seems,” Hestia proclaims. It’s unlike her to proclaim anything, so everyone listens. Hades narrows his eyes. Ares rolls his. Aphrodite looks terribly sad, her hand to her chest, and Apollo isn’t far off. Hermes... Hermes looks horrified, and more than a little haunted. He can’t take his eyes off his son. Luke sits forlornly propped up against one of the tent’s stilts. He meets no one’s eyes. He looks miserable and empty.

The sun is going up outside. The light is slowly permeating through the fabric of the not-quite-yurt, and the fire is flickering lower. So time at least appears to pass here. Thalia sinks down beside Annabeth as the whole room catches its breath. 

Artemis is the first to break the silence. 

“In light of this,” she begins, prompting a couple heads to raise, “let us postpone the reading for now. We can take stock of our environment and situation.”

“A break? We haven’t even started,” Hades argues.

“We need one,” Apollo shoots back, finality in his tone.

On searching the place, it would seem no one can leave. Walking too far in any one direction brings you right back to the tent. The environment recalls a western forest, coniferous trees, birds flitting to and fro. The dawn breaks pale and blue, and groups splinter off into hushed discussions. Most of the campers can’t take their eyes off the gods, but some return in intervals to Luke or Percy or Annabeth. 

Grover hugs him for about fifteen full minutes. Tyson has not let him go either. Annabeth eventually joins, and Thalia. They’re quiet. When they finally bring themselves to speak, it’s only amongst themselves.

In the time they take, though, nothing really happens. Annabeth doesn’t come to any wise deductions. She should’ve come to at least twelve by now, usually. Thalia hasn’t blown up or questioned their circumstances. Nico hasn’t glared at anyone. He can’t bring himself to. While this would be a great opportunity for any of the campers to finally talk to their parents, no one does. No one feels comfortable, least of all the gods. 

So it’s a strange atmosphere everyone finally returns to. 

Percy plops down next to his mother at the back of the tent. It’s not as warm as the centre, but he wants to keep everyone in his sight and himself out of everyone else’s. Hazel curls up against his side (she gives the best hugs, second only to Sally Jackson). Frank returns to his bulldog state and curls up in Percy’s lap, but he ends up almost falling asleep, so he shifts to a big mastiff. Percy doesn’t mean to pet him- he’s not sure if that’s weird or not- but he does it without realising and Frank doesn’t seem to mind. Grover lies down by Percy’s legs, head in Annabeth’s lap. She strokes his hair. 

If anyone has any objections to the seats everyone finds themselves in, no one speaks up. Something about the earlier outburst has sort of exhausted everybody and broken the tension. It’s still tense, but not awkward tense. This might be worse. Either way, cuddle piles are quite clearly called for. 

Percy smirks over at Jason, who he can barely see poking out of Tyson’s massive arms. That is a very comfy position, Percy knows, but it also looks very funny. Nico leans against Tyson’s side and Rachel on his other. Leo is crouched like some kind of cave goblin in their shadow. Even Chiron has folded his legs underneath him, keeping everyone in view. A few campers lean against him. It’s all very cozy for such a shit experience. 

While some of the gods aren’t happy about it, they are forced to sit on their asses too. Apollo takes the opportunity to sit by his son Will. Ares watches his girl, Clarisse. Hermes gathers his sons in his arms, and they practically burst from happiness despite the Luke fiasco. 

It’s Aphrodite that picks up the book and hands it over to Piper with a warm smile. Piper stammers, trying to figure out how to refuse. 

“Um, Lady Aphrodite?” Hazel speaks up softly. “We- that is, demigods- we have dyslexia. If we read, we'll… well, we’ll be here for a long time.”

Piper shoots her a look of deepest gratitude. Aphrodite takes the book back. 

“I suppose I’ll start then,” she purrs, gracefully opening the hardcover to the first page. 

Chapter Text

Aphrodite clears her throat and hesitates on the first words.

"Um, I think this is the chapter title... I accidentally vaporise my Pre-Algebra teacher."

Percy frowns. Sounds like something he’d do. He’s definitely done it at least once.  

"First person?" Malcolm asks.

"It seems so..." Aphrodite composes herself and reads on.

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right
now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you
for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

My name is Percy Jackson.

Aphrodite stops as the room collectively sucks in a breath.

"Prissy wrote this?", Clarisse asks incredulously. 

"No I didn't."

"It says you wrote it!"

"But I didn't."

Annabeth cuts them both off with a frown. 

"Obviously he didn't write it, and if he did, he either wasn't aware of it or doesn't remember. Someone or something else may have written it for him. It's from the Fates, right? They would be able to do something like that."

"But why would they?", Katie voices. 

There's a moment of quiet.

"Perhaps there is some wisdom to be gleaned from his experiences. There is something in these books that the Fates want us to know," Reyna prompts. 

"In that case, I'm assuming if Percy knows all of us, then we will all be introduced in the books. Read on, Aphrodite," Poseidon adds. She gives him a nod.

I'm twelve years old.

"That's this year. 2004," Annabeth states. 

"So that's what this is about," he hums. Poseidon looks at him questioningly, but Aphrodite cuts him off before he can ask anything.

I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a
private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.
Am I a troubled kid?
Yeah. You could say that.

A few huffs sound through the room, but no one comments.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going  bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-
case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to  look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.
I know—it sounds like torture.

Apollo is grinning. He already likes this kid. Hermes looks like he feels the same way. The idea of a school trip makes him want to yarf. 

Most Yancy field trips were.
But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

Percy catches Chiron's eye. It's twinkling. He lets himself smile. Chiron really is the best teacher he's ever had.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a
scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think
he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class.

"Wait, is this...?" Annabeth starts. Percy nods.

"Who is it?" Surprisingly, it's Hera who asks.

"Me, I believe," replies Chiron. Travis gasps and shoots up.

"Oh my gods, I forgot he actually taught you!"

"Wow, what the heck was that like?", Nico asks. Percy chuckles. 

"I just said what it was like. Or the book did. Or something."

He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't
put me to sleep.

A couple of cheers for Chiron go up, and the old centaur blushes. 

"Best teacher ever," Percy grins.

I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.
Boy, was I wrong.

"Did they give you a bow and arrow?", Malcolm snickers. Percy sticks his tongue out at him.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to
the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for
the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.

Leo lets out a surprised bark of laughter and falls backwards. Percy is pretty sure that he's been so focussed on whatever he's fiddling with in his hands that he forgot the gods are here. In his defence, he's behind Tyson, so he can't see them. And it's hard to remember they're divine cosmic beings when they're chilling around the campfire. It triggers a few more laughs around the room. Thalia slaps Percy's knee in mirth.

"So you've always been that way, huh?"

He gives her a hearty nod. Grover giggles and gives him a bro-fist.

And before that, at my fourth-grade school,
when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong
lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.

This time, Poseidon laughs. Loud and strong. Percy's heart lights up and a huge smile takes over his face. 

"Oh, I like this one," Hermes adds. Zeus grumbles. Artemis rolls her eyes.

"I can't believe it started that young," Jason notes, a little muffled by Tyson's embrace.

"What did?" Percy asks.

"Your... Percy-ness."

Aphrodite smiles a truly beautiful smile that stops all conversation and returns to reading.

And the time before that... Well, you
get the idea.

This trip, I was determined to be good.
All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac

girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-
ketchup sandwich.

Immediately, adamant protests and boos break out among the ranks. Grover blushes. Hazel bends over a little to give Grover as much of a hug as she can from her position. Her hair gets caught in his horns and she squeaks. Annabeth starts untangling them.

"Deck her, Perce!", someone calls.

Aphrodite looks around, her long neck turning this way and that, landing on Grover. 

"Are you Grover?", she asks kindly. He goes the same colour as the tent, but manages a nod. Hazel yelps as it tugs her hair. Aphrodite gives him a simpering look.

"Oh, poor thing. Did it get better? Ketchup in your hair is just-" she looks faintly sick for a moment. "That won't do. It's such lovely hair."

"Aphrodite," Artemis warns. 

She gives the huntress a reluctant glare and picks up the book again. Hazel giggles as Grover relaxes. Annabeth hisses at her to stop moving. Aphrodite frowns, seeing the problem, waves a finger and undoes the knots. She mouths a 'sorry' before returning to the book.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've
been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a
wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE
for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny,
like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was
enchilada day in the cafeteria.

Travis slaps his knee. Annabeth smiles and Thalia shoves the goat boy.

"Thanks, Perce."

"Just callin' it like I see it."

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair,
and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The
headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing,
or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

"Mildly entertaining?", the Stolls chorus. "Percy, your potential is wasted here."

"He worked hard not to make waves, you two," Chiron interjects firmly. "He couldn't afford entertainment. And it did not come naturally," he adds under his breath. He gives Percy a wink.

It makes Percy's heart light again. Chiron really got it. It's all fine and well to make fun of the bullshit rules that he just isn't cut out for in the mortal school system, but it was a really hard time. More so than he made it out to be. Nothing quite crushed him like academic failure did. He worked his ass off, and when it came to nothing, he really thought he was a failure. 

"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.
Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."
He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.
"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything
happens."

"Her?", Demeter asks, brow furrowed. Percy snorts humourlessly. His mom puts a hand on his knee. 

Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school
suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.

"Kinda wish you had, too," Grover mumbles.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.
He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble
statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.
It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and
started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the

carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of inter-
esting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other

teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.

"And this is what passes for education..." Athena shakes her head.

"Hush," Aphrodite huffs.

Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket,
even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your

locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a
nervous breakdown.

"This isn't... is it?" Nico breathes, turning to Percy. Percy gives him a knowing look. Nico's jaw drops.

"You were twelve!"

Percy gives him a look that perfectly expresses 'when has that ever made a difference, ever?'

"Percy?", his mom asks, mildly concerned. 

"'S'okay, mom."

"Wait, she's a monster?" Katie pipes up. "I thought your first monster was the- y'know, the one we all heard about."

"Uh-uh. Mrs. Dodds was the first. Well, that I fought."

"So there were others before that? But you didn't fight them?", Malcolm asks.

Percy rolls his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy. Let Lady Aphrodite read."

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She
would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going
to get after-school detention for a month.
One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told
Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're
absolutely right."

Athena looked incensed. Percy assumed it was at the desecration of education. Fair enough. Percy wasn't very happy about it at the time, either.

Chiron sighs.

"That's... Grover, that's...", Travis starts.

"...it's offensive. Your level of suck at lying offends me," Connor finishes. 

"Six years ago, guys. Six years."

"Like you're any better now," Percy teases. 

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.
Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned
around and said, "Will you shut up?"

It came out louder than I meant it to.

"Of course it did," Annabeth sighs. 

The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.
"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"
My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this
picture represents?"
I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's
Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Oh my gods, really?", Will asks exasperatedly before he can stop himself. A few people's eyes flick to Luke. 

"It's always that one, isn't it?", Poseidon sighs.

"Call it foreshadowing," Nico says darkly. A few of the gods raise their head and frown, alarmed, but Aphrodite continues.

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."
"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"

The gods raise their eyebrows, but Aphrodite is benevolent enough to steamroll on. 

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.
"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um,
Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And
later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.

Athena lets out a disgusted sound, but it's at the disrespect of the lesson rather than how gross greek reality is. Percy wisely keeps quiet.

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the
gods won."

"And the gods won," Nico huffs incredulously. 

Percy shrugs. "That's what happened."

"Yeah, it was just, you know. A war," Will explains heavily. Percy nods. It's kind of different when you've fought one, but at that point Percy hadn't.

Apollo frowns at his son. They continue and no one thinks much more of it, but that comment stood out to him.

Some snickers from the group.
Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life.
Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"
"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question,
does this matter in real life?"

"How was I supposed to answer that?", Percy asks, more out of curiosity than anything.

"You're never supposed to answer any one way Percy, you know that," he replies. Percy wonders how he always manages to get it wrong, then.

"Busted," Grover muttered.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.
At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying
anything wrong. He had radar ears.
I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."

Oh, okay, that's definitely wrong. Fair enough, that's a bad answer.

"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed
feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children,
who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in
the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and
scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time
for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and
acting like doofuses.
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."
I knew that was coming.

Travis cackles. Conner smacks him lightly over the head.

"Sorry."

I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"
Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a
thousand years old and had seen everything.

Artemis grunts in surprise. Perceptive, this one. Good instincts. 

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.
"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."
"Oh."
"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will
accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."
I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.
I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman
armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board
and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god
they worshipped.

There is general uproar. 

"Ppppffft-"

"I'm sorry, come again?"

Travis scoffs in disbelief. Conner has a priceless face on.

"I would give... so much money... to see Chiron teach a high school class."

Chiron frowns, but he's smiling. "I teach you all, daily."

"But I just... the suit. And tie. And..."

"wHAT HO!", Percy yells, shooting up to his feet and dislodging about six people in the process. He points Riptide just as Chiron used to in those classes, and nearly loses it. He can still do the impression perfectly. Good, he worked hard on it.

Travis screams his laughter and falls right into Conner, who's not far behind. Katie is desperately trying to get them both off of her and catch her breath through her giggles at the same time. Malcolm is hunched over in his shirt and shaking. Annabeth has a huge grin and hides behind her hands. Rachel falls over sideways, clutching her stomach, and Nico honest to gods giggles. It's beautiful. 

"He sounded- he sounded just like that, Percy-", Grover wheezes helplessly. Percy's eyes light up. 

"I- oh my gods, that's why you were always-"

Percy doubles over laughing, sinking back down to Grover on the floor, clutching his gut.

"You were always so obsessed with my Mr. Brunner impression, I made you cry every time-" 

"YEAH, 'CAUSE HE'S CHIRON."

Percy loses it. A second wave of riotous laughter rips through the tent, and even the gods aren't immune. Poseidon slaps his knee. 

Chiron blinks. 

"You did impressions of me?"

Grover pummels Percy's back as he's sent into round 3. He forgot. He completely forgot about this. 

"How could you not tell me about this?!", Annabeth demands through her laughter.

"I f- I- I for- I forgot!"

When the laughter finally dies down, Aphrodite delicately wipes a few tears from her eyes. 

"I'm sorry, Chiron, that's very funny," she says.

"I suspect it won't be the last outburst, Lady Aphrodite," Chiron replies with good humour. 

"You're good at what you do, old friend, there's no denying it," Poseidon lauds, clapping Chiron on the back with a happy smile. 

But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact
that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life.
No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all
those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.

"A fine teacher," Athena nods.

I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the
stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.

Percy catches him nodding sadly.

He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.
The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along
Fifth Avenue. 

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I
figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York
state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from
lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

Zeus frowns.

"They're fighting," Hades points out.

"Quite seriously, it would seem," Hephaestus nods.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables
crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course,
Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if
we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who
couldn't make it elsewhere.

Suddenly, Conner laughs.

"You downgraded, buddy!"

Percy grins along and throws a pillow at him. Poseidon looks mildly alarmed at the self-deprecation, but it all seems in good fun. Not very Greek. 

"Detention?" Grover asked.
"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a
genius."

"You're far from thick-headed, Percy," Reyna speaks up. It's not a counter, just a statement. She didn't really do compliments, she just stated things. 

"Coulda fooled me," Clarisse calls. 

"Eat me, La Rue."

"Miss Avila-Ramirez-Arellano is quite correct," Chiron offers. Percy's face warms and he ducks his head. Grover ruffles his hair. His mom kisses his cheek.

Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some
deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"

Another round of laughter. Grover grins along. 

I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.

Sally's smile fades. A couple of faces mirror the sentiment. It is a rare thing for Percy not to have an appetite, and it's usually a very bad sign. 

I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's
apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I
wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be
disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if
this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't
be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.

"Ohh," Sally pulls her son in and hugs him tight.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while
he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like
a motorized cafe table.
I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her
ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten
lunch in Grover's lap.

"I mean, that's a free lunch," Thalia notes. There are murmurs of agreement and a growl from Clarisse.

"It's disrespect, is what it is."

"Free food, though," Nico nods. Never underestimate the value of free food.

"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody
had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

Aphrodite makes a face.

I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get
control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.

"A wave," Thalia shakes her head. "A little on the nose."

"Foreshadowing," Will counters.

"It's not an actual book. My thoughts are just constantly peppered with water puns," Percy says.

"As they should be," Rachel nods solemnly.

I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the
fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"
Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.
Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"
"—the water—"
"—like it grabbed her—"

Zeus rises to his feet in an important huff, beard crackling.

"Your son did what?!"

The Olympians' eyes snap to Percy. He gives them a startled look.

"What? What did I do?"

"Peace, brother," Hestia calls. "He has done nothing yet."

"He summoned his father's power with no training at twelve!"

"And what of it?", Poseidon challenges stonily. His demeanour has done a complete one eighty, and it startles most of the room. 

"Zeus, please," Aphrodite pleads. "This hasn't happened yet. The Fates wouldn't do something so drastic without reason."

Athena hums an agreement. Zeus looks around stormily at his family and finally lands his glare on Percy. It lasts only a second before Poseidon steps in front of him.

Aphrodite watches tensely for another moment before cautiously returning to the books. 

I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.
As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt
at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her
eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"

"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."
That wasn't the right thing to say.

The atmosphere is a little too charged for the Stolls to speak up, so their father does it for them.

"Well, duh."

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.
"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."
I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared
Grover to death.

"Grover stood up to her first," Annabeth smirks. "He's got to be the first Satyr ever."

"He's certainly the bravest," Thalia adds, ruffling his hair.

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.
"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.
"But—"
"You—will—stay—here."
Grover looked at me desperately.
"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."
"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."
Nancy Bobofit smirked.

"Ugh, I forgot how much I hated bullies," Piper says.

"You call that a bully?", Clarisse jeers.

"Yes," she returns unabashedly. Aphrodite smiles.

I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't
there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently
at me to come on.
How'd she get there so fast?

Nico shakes his head. "She's not even subtle. Normal monsters are better at blending in."

"She's not normal?" Poseidon asks. Percy shakes his head and bites down a wry grin.

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I
know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the
blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain
misinterpreting things.
I wasn't so sure.

Very good instincts, Artemis confirms.

I went after Mrs. Dodds.

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes
between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr.
Brunner was absorbed in his novel.

"Oh sure," Conner snorts, "like he is when we're about to spring a prank on him. Totally absorbed."

I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the
end of the entrance hall.
Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.
But apparently that wasn't the plan.
I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the
Greek and Roman section.
Except for us, the gallery was empty.
Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She
was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.
Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher,
especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to
pulverize it...

"Okay, there's inexperienced, and then there's that. She needs lessons," Nico grumbles.

"I don't think she's ever really gonna be a people person, Nico," Percy responds.

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."

"The safe thing?" about three people ask at once, looking doubtfully at Percy.

"I used up all my safe options trying not to get kicked out of schools, so I had none to spare on less important things, like self-preservation."

"Ah," Annabeth nods. Makes sense. Poseidon frowns. Chiron lets out a resigned sigh. 

"Not something you really want to hear your son say," Sally murmurs. Percy grabs her hand and sends her an apologetic look.

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with
it?"
The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.
She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."
Thunder shook the building.
"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we
found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."
I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been
selling out of my dorm room.

"What! Why are we finding out Percy would make a great Hermes kid, like, way late?", Conner demands. Sally frowns beside him.

"Why is candy illegal?"

Of course, that's what she's wondering. Percy loves his mom.

Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the
Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or
worse, they were going to make me read the book.

Athena sniffs. Bad education, no motivation to learn. Cheating. This boy is far from suitable for her daughter.

"Well?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, I don't..."
"Your time is up," she hissed.
Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers
stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She
was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was
about to slice me to ribbons.

Sally gasps and Poseidon sucks in a breath sharply.

"You sent her?!"

Hades shrinks where Poseidon's rounded on him. Poseidon is, in this limited form, the largest of the brothers. Powers aside, he's probably the strongest. Not to mention... the god's ire is scary. That has always been true. 

"Dad, it's over. He thought- there were extenuating circumstances. You're gonna have to buckle up for far worse, anyway. Hades is not the enemy."

Poseidon turns to his son, eyes still wild. It is easier to breathe knowing he's right there beside his mother. The two of them calm him in a way not many things can. Sally puts her hand on Percy's cheek.

"Worse than a Fury? You were only twelve, honey."

Percy's gaze falls. His eyes dim a little. Poseidon hates what he sees in them.

There is far worse to come, and he knows it. 

Wordlessly, Percy puts a hand to his father's shoulder, just for a moment, before guiding his mother back down beside him. Poseidon settles as well, eyes on them. It has been a long, long time since he found anyone so special as Sally Jackson, and the son she gave him- he's of a different kind to any other the sea has sired. He wanted to protect them, love them, more than he has anyone in millennia. It's not a surprise that Percy is destined for extremes, but he wishes... he wishes that the Fates, cruel as they are, could just give these two people everything. A quiet life by the sea. Everything they deserve. 

He watches Sally rub slow circles over Percy's back and wishes it could have been anyone else. 

Then things got even stranger.
Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into
the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.
"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

A couple of weak chuckles.

"Is that Riptide?", Leo asks.

"Mhm."

Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen
out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's
bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.

"Chiron was using Riptide for Latin class?!", Annabeth bursts.

Grover giggles and Percy nods.

Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.
My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.
She snarled, "Die, honey!"
And she flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the
sword.

"Naturally," Katie breathes weakly. Conner put an arm around her and rubs her shoulder.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of
water. Hisss!  Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on

the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air,
as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.

Sally lets out a breath. Hades' jaw drops, a mirror image of his son's expression. A wave of shocks rolls over the crowd.

"You killed her...?", Reyna asks quietly.

"A Fury? You killed a Fury on your own, with no training and no awareness of the demigod world, first try?", Malcolm balks.

"I had no idea what I was doing. Essentially, I swung a sword."

"Percy, take the W," Thalia advises him with a pat on the leg. 

Artemis privately admits that it is impressive. The boy has fighting potential, but that means nothing on its own.

I was alone.
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.
Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms
or something.
Had I imagined the whole thing?
I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was
still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When
she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

"Who?", half the room demands. Percy lets out a huge sigh of validated relief.

"Even after all these years, it is good to hear someone else say it."

I said, "Who?"
"Our teacher. Duh!"

I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.
She just rolled her eyes and turned away.
I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.
He said, "Who?"
But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.

Conner rolls his eyes. Hermes shakes his head.

"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."
Thunder boomed overhead.
I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

"Oh, this is gonna be brutal. Chiron can lie," Travis emphasises. Chiron acknowledges him modestly with a blink and a head tilt.

I went over to him.
He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing
utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."
I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.
"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"
He stared at me blankly. "Who?"
"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."
He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on
this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling
all right?"

"That's the end of the chapter," Aphrodite lilts. "Would anyone else like to read?"

"I like hearing your voice," Hephaestus grunts before he thinks about it. His marred face flushes a deep red. Ares rolls his eyes, but Aphrodite smiles sweetly, her face somehow getting more beautiful with happiness.

"I'll keep reading then," she hums.

Chapter Text

Aphrodite's eyebrows scrunch together adorably as she reads out the chapter title.

"Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks Of Death."

"If that means another monster... not gonna lie, I won't be happy," Piper warns.

"It's... well, it's not a monster," Percy provides. 

"There's no way," Clarisse says, shaking her head. Gods, it's weird seeing her hair just loose without its bandanna or gauze. "Everyone thought the- the one we all heard about was the first. He had no idea what he was doing even then. He couldn't have been that experienced."

"Okay, what is with all this Percy's-first-monster code? And why does everyone know about it?", Apollo asks. 

"Percy's sort of a camp legend," Will replies. "Even his entrance was dramatic enough that everyone heard about it, and the monster."

"The, um..." Clarisse frowns. 

"The...", Katie continues.

"I can't say it," Clarisse admits. Katie echoes her claim. 

"Percy's first monster was the... it was...", Malcolm trails off. "It's like I can't get it out."

Poseidon's eyebrows climb. Zeus arches one of his own. Apollo watches with interest, looking thoughtful.

"That much is bound to come up in the books. That might be why," Athena proposes. Annabeth tests the theory aloud. 

"The second..." but her voice stutters to a stop as well. Her shock shows on her face. "I think you're right. I can't say what happens."

"How novel," Aphrodite purrs, looking fascinated by this turn of events. "Then let's get to reading, hm? I want to know what happens."

I was used to the occasional... Almost.

"Thank the gods for Grover," Percy smiles. 

Jason concurs. He remembers waking up on the Wilderness school bus with Leo and Piper, and it wasn't far off from Percy's experience. It fucking sucked. Does that make Coach Hedge his Grover?

But Grover couldn't fool me... in almost every class.

Poseidon's eyes narrow. 

"Your mood changed?"

"Percy's always kinda reflected the sea's temperament," Leo provides. "I thought it was a coincidence at first, but it's not, right?"

Annabeth shakes her head. Poseidon looks between his son and Sally. Percy is certainly more powerful than he should be as a demigod. Not effortlessly, but still. He always wondered... either way, would it make a difference? Would Percy even know if...?

Finally, when our English teacher...  but it sounded good.

Poseidon is startled out of his deep thoughts with a laugh. Another talent of his he seems to have given to his son; unpredictability. 

"It means an old drunk," Annabeth informs him with a smile. Percy lights up.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Good job."

He chuckles.

The headmaster sent...  stupid poker parties.

There's a rash of confused muttering. Even Annabeth frowns.

"Paul?", she asks.

Paul? Who's Paul? Poseidon watches Sally's face fall and Percy's pale. In fact, he pales so fast Poseidon worries he might collapse. Percy swallows with difficulty.

"Before Paul," Sally manages with a look to her son before he can get any words out. They look at each other and something passes between them. Sally gives Aphrodite a nod and does not look at Poseidon. 

And yet... there were... but I'd
started to believe him.

"Does Percy have a spidey-sense?", Leo asks, looking up from his contraption.

"It's called battlefield reflexes, dude. ADHD," Malcolm replies.

"I'm not sure," Apollo mumbles thoughtfully. Most of the room looks at him in surprise. 

"What do you mean, dad?", Will asks. 

"Could be nothing, but... his instincts have proven right every time in ways they shouldn't have. His subconscious is exhibiting prophetic tendencies."

"Prophetic?", Percy echoes. "That can't be right."

"I could be wrong," Apollo shrugs. Percy sits back, but Athena frowns. Poseidon matches her expression.

The evening before my final...  the difference between Chiron and Charon,

"Okay, that might've actually helped," Percy huffs. 

"I can't believe that actually came up and you still got it wrong," Annabeth clucks in a tone that says she absolutely can believe it. 

"How weird is it that Chiron taught those kids myths about himself?", Thalia remarks.

"Oh yeah," come a few mumbles.

or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those

Latin verbs? Forget it...  with him thinking I hadn't tried.

Percy sighs. Sally gives him a proud smile, mirrored on Annabeth opposite her. 

"Man, you're a better student than me," Leo snorts.

"I wasn't a better student than anyone. That's why I had to work so hard. I sucked," Percy answers flatly.

"He was never lacking in dedication," Chiron nods wisely. "No matter how hard it was. I was impressed by your strength well before you picked up a sword, Percy."

Percy looks up with stars in his wide eyes, blinking in shock at his teacher. He looks like Chiron's just hung the moon. Sally nods a hearty agreement and squeezes him tightly. Annabeth just smiles knowingly.

"Percy is strong! The strongest in the world!", Tyson announces with a massive grin. Percy dips his head, his eyes looking a little glassy. 

The pride in the room washes over those present, leaving the gods and a few goddesses with a few new things to factor into their image of the boy. Athena looks like she's trying to swallow a mouse. 

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices...  We need the boy

to mature more."

"And we're still waiting to this day," Thalia huffs with faux seriousness. Percy kicks her. She shocks him. A minor scuffle breaks out and is put to an abrupt stop by a firm stomp from one of Chiron's hooves.

"But he may not have time...  "You
know what that would mean."

Thalia, backed up by Percy and Annabeth, looks over at Grover from over non-existent glasses.

"And are we still on that, Goat boy?" 

The goat in question shakes his head vehemently.

"Good. Proceed."

"You haven't failed, Grover," ...  out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

"This is the weirdest and freakiest way I've ever heard of anyone getting scouted," Will can't help but say. As one of the older campers, it's a meaningful statement. Percy raises an eyebrow.

"It's nothin' on Nico's intro," he replies cryptically. 

"Yours is so dragged out, though," Nico argues. "It's unbearable."

Uh, yeah, try living it, Percy thinks.

Mr. Brunner went silent... "Don't remind me."

"Ugh, it's so dramatic!" Hazel pipes up. "How did you not completely freak out?!"

Percy shrugs. "I didn't trust myself to be right. And I didn't trust anybody else, either."

"Well, that's one way to do it," Thalia grumbles unhappily into the ensuing silence.

That degree of uncertainty, even from a secondhand perspective, makes Athena wants to pull her hair out and boil something alive. Was that just his life? Did the boy just accept that?

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office... I was in some kind of danger.

"I am so glad my mom just... dropped me off at camp," Will says hollowly. 

The next afternoon, as I was leaving...  It's ... it's for the best."

Groans sound through the tent. Sally gapes with wide eyes.

"He didn't," Malcolm begged.

"He did," Percy returns with a grimace. Yeah, this one hurt.

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly,
the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little
kissing motions with her lips.
I mumbled, "Okay, sir."

Nico folds in on himself as if he can hide from this train-wreck of an exchange. Even Hephaestus has stilled, frowning down at his hands.

"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.
"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

Another round of groaning.

"Gods have mercy," Katie groans through her fingers.

"I didn't have to deal with a Chiron pep-talk until I was at least fourteen. That's rough, dude."

"In front of everyone, too."

"Gods, that's crushing."

My eyes stung.

"Oh, Percy," Sally breathes sadly.

Here was my favorite teacher...  But I was already gone.

"Brutal," Thalia summarises.

On the last day of the term...  from a family of nobodies.

"HA!" Leo explodes. Jason snorts. 

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer...  worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh, honey, I would take care of that. What do you need a job for?", Sally asks. Percy opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. His mouth opens and closes a couple more times, and his eyes return to Aphrodite and the book when she resumes. Sally frowns, but lets it go. 

"Oh," one of the guys said...  together
again, heading into the city.

"Ah, the good old days, when we trusted busses," Grover muses. 

During the whole bus ride... I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Nico squawks and pitches forward. Clarisse grins. Thalia chuckles breathlessly, mouth in an 'o' shape. She sounds like a gorilla. 

"You-" Katie starts, but cuts herself off with a giggle. 

"RIP Grover," Travis cackles.

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat...  What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

"I have been wondering about that," Athena interjects. She receives no decent answer. She crosses her arms a little huffily.

He winced... "Why would I need you?"

About four people all hit Percy at once. 

"I deserve that."

It came out harsher than I meant it to.
Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have
to protect you."

"Grover," Jason advises, "Don't ever become a superhero."

"I don't know, Jay, I think he'd rock spandex," Thalia jabs. Grover sticks his tongue out at both of them and snuggles closer to Percy.

I stared at him.
All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that
he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who
defended me.

A defender, Hades thinks. Artemis follows a similar train of thought. Apt.

"I don't know if I ever thanked you for that," Grover says softly. "That's why you weren't sleeping?"

"Hey man, while I was saving your day, you were saving my life. Don't sweat it."

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you...  the biggest pair of socks I'd
ever seen.

"Monsters?" Hazel guesses.

I mean these socks were the size of... sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

Aphrodite tapers off in horror. Poseidon's breath hitches.

"No."

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.

"That's... that's not... you...", Poseidon stammers. It can't be. His son? Not his son. Please.

Annabeth has foregone white and turned a sickly grey. Thalia has forgotten how to breathe. Sally looks around, putting the pieces together, and gasps when she catches on, hand flying over her mouth. Her head snaps to her son, as though making sure he's still there.

"It can't be," Apollo breathes.

"What?! What, what, what is it?!", Hazel demands, head swivelling around at the horrified faces. "Who are they?!"

"You didn't tell me you saw them," Annabeth chokes. "You never said...!"

Percy, desperate as he is to calm everyone down, suddenly veers into the memory. Something occurs to him that he never thought of before. He looks at Thalia.

The string had been exactly the same colour as her eyes. 

"Will someone tell me what's going on!" Rachel demands shrilly. Nico's voice shakes just slightly as he replies.

"Those were the Fates. Percy saw the Fates." He turns his gaze on Aphrodite. "Keep going. What do they do?!"

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from
his face. His nose was twitching.
"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"
"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

The air is still with baited breath.

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"
"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."
The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—

Thalia gasps. Annabeth makes a strangled noise. Poseidon whispers a distressed "No!"

-gold and silver, long-bladed, like
shears...  "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Get on the bus, Percy," Thalia urges.

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

"Get on the bus, Percy," she repeats desperately.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn-- Aphrodite stutters--and I
swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.

Thalia's eyes flood with grief, like she's just watched Percy die on the spot. Annabeth clutches at his arm, eyes uncomprehending. Poseidon grabs the book, eyes flying over the lines. This can't be right. It can't be.

"Guys, it's fine. I'm not dead."

Leo's alarmed head shoots back and forth between people with a scared furrow in his brow. 

"Woah, who said anything about death? What's going on?"

"Those were the Fates," Percy clarifies. "When they cut a string- well, it usually means you're gonna die. Soon."

Leo's eyebrows shoot up and his jaw drops. Hazel shoots up. Frank barks.

"You can't die!", Tyson cries, tears streaming down his face. "You're my brother!"

Percy puts his arms out.

"Guys, I'm not dead. I'm not dying. I think. Doesn't matter. It..." his eyebrows furrow when he can't spit it out. "It...!"

"This was six years ago, Percy!", Annabeth cries, hitting him a little harder than she normally would. 

"It's not..." he tries again, cutting himself off with a frustrated growl. "It worked out fine. I know what it meant. I'm fine, I promise."

Annabeth looks at him helplessly. Percy puts a hand on Tyson's arm.

"I'm not gonna die, buddy."

A silence permeates the room. There's just nothing to say, is there? Their faces are expressive enough. Percy sighs and gestures imploringly for Aphrodite to keep reading.

Her two friends balled up the electric-blue
socks...  I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. 

Percy's vision goes fuzzy. He blinks, and it hurts. His... head. He lets gravity pull him down weakly. What's that about?

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

Teeth click together. Percy shoots a look at his friend.

"Grover?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you not telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve... ladies were
something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.

"There are those instincts again," Apollo mutters faintly.

He said, "Just tell me...  It was something else, something almost—older.

Athena's eyes narrow. Instincts? Gifts of prophecy? The boy's perceptive, that's for certain. But what does it mean?

He said, "You saw her... home from the bus station. Promise me."

Thalia closes her eyes in horror. He won't stick around. Who would? Fuck. Fuck.

This seemed like a strange request...  the kind of flowers I'd like best on

my coffin.

How could he have known that, Athena asks herself. He has no knowledge of these things. For all his dumb facade, the boy is extremely clever. Is that what it is, then? Is that where his worth lies? Or is it some other force at play?

The others seem shellshocked. Nico slumps back against the wall. Reyna's jaw has dropped. Leo looks terrified. How did he get out of this? The Fates don't fuck around. He knew he was going to die at any moment from the age of twelve onward. And yet, he lives. He insists the situation is resolved. 

"That's the end of the chapter," Aphrodite says into the quiet. 

Chapter Text

"Why don't you read?", Aphrodite passes the book onto Apollo. He beams at her, which, given his nature, is near blinding. He clears his throat overdramatically and does a couple of vocal exercises. Artemis looks at Thalia like she's on the Office.

Well, she probably doesn't know what the Office is, but Thalia concurs. 

Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.

Uproar.

"Hey, HEY! No one say a thing! Listen!", Percy snaps.

I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead
man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth
grade?"

"Okay, that's fair," Malcolm admits.

"Is it?", Katie asks, rounding on him. Malcolm looks at her like she's nuts.

"...Yes?"

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder ...
A word about my mother, before you meet her.

"Should I be worried?", Sally asks her son cheekily.

"You're... kidding, right?"

Apollo beams again, reading ahead.

Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,

"PREACH!", Thalia yells. Similar enthusiastic calls go up among the crowd. They seem to finally have settled on being comfortable. Maybe they've just forgotten where they are. It is rather early. 

Sally blushes through the adamant support and Percy gives her a huge hug. Tyson joins in and Percy's weight and instincts are the only reason they stay upright. It would seem Tyson thinks that if Percy's involved it cancels out the gentleness required to hug Sally. 

which just proves my theory that the best people ...  no money, no family, and no diploma.

"It's really not just demigods with bad luck, huh?", Will voices quietly. Nico shakes his head.

The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.

Poseidon smiles and if Percy's not mistaken, there may be a tinge of ruddy red on his cheeks. Of course, he could be mistaken. 

"What are you talking about? I had you!", his mom protests, shoving him lightly. Her cheeks are definitely pink. Percy's smiles hurts his face. It's good to hear.

I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his
smile.

Sally catches onto this and holds it tight. He... came back. He... she never expected him to come back. For them. For Percy.

My mom doesn't like to talk about him ...
Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.

Athena grunts in surprise. Poseidon raises an eyebrow at her.

"Well put," is all she says.

"Quite," Chiron concurs.

She worked odd jobs...  But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.

"Gods...", Hazel breathes. She flinches when she realises everyone's look at her. Sally puts a kind hand on her arm and gives her a smile. 

"That's really something, Miss Jackson," Frank says shyly. When did he turn back? And... are those Hawkeye pyjamas?

"All worth it, sweetheart," she assures him. She sounds so certain of it. It makes Percy's heart do flips. 

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,

Percy doesn't think anyone notices him and his mom tense. He grabs her hand in an attempt to ease his breathing. He's not silly enough to think he can do anything for her, but it helps him.

who was ...  pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

"He smelled bad?" Athena clarifies. Percy catches her eye and nods. He can tell by the way her face changes that she recognises that he's not just confirming her verbal question. Her eyes shift to Sally.

Between the two of us...  he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

"This was just before you came to camp?", Annabeth asks softly. Percy nods.

"Where's my mom?"
"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"

"Ohhhh, cábron," Leo gasps all too sadly. All too knowingly. Percy turns to him, eyebrows coming together. Oh, Leo... he lets out a sad sigh. 

That was it...  that made him handsome or
something.

"What an ugly man," Aphrodite says. Percy couldn't agree more.

He managed the Electronics... He called that our "guy secret."
Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.

Apollo pauses. He doesn't look up from the book. He's not smiling anymore. From Percy's left, someone gasps- maybe Frank, maybe Hazel. Everyone else is dead silent. Percy squeezes his mom's hand.

The last person Percy expected to speak up, does.

"Coward," Ares grunts. Aphrodite whips around to look at him.

"I mean the ugly guy."

Tyson straightens, head swivelling to find his brother.

"He wouldn't hurt Percy," he declares proudly. "Percy is too strong!"

Percy's eyes close. Hearing that from Tyson... the guy has so much faith in him. What's it gonna do to him when he finds out that Percy was... that he wasn't...

Percy forces himself to swallow, not looking up.

"Apollo, would you continue reading, please." 

"I don't have any cash,"... since his own smell
should've covered up everything else.

"Sally," Athena announces. Sally raises her head. "I do not say this often. But I am impressed."

The only sign of surprise that shows on her face is a quick jerk of her eyebrows. Then Sally gives Athena a solemn nod.

"What?", Poseidon grunts. It comes out as something like a strangled growl. His voice sounds strained. His expression is... unfathomable. All-encompassing and final. Percy can't look.

"It will come up," Percy assures him. Maybe Poseidon can't get anything else out, because he doesn't answer. It's all Percy could manage, so he's glad for it.

"You took a taxi...  ought to carry his own weight.

A disgusted, horrified noise pulls itself out of Frank. He doesn't even seem to notice when people react. He looks hurt and angry, like it had been said to him rather than twelve year old Percy.

Am I right, Eddie?"... snipping the yarn.

"Percy," Piper says suddenly, "If you want to stop, we will."

"No," he replies. He sounds dead. Maybe not, though- the dead aren't scary. They're just sad. He might sound a little bit of both.

"We can take a break," Jason pipes up.

"No. We're not stopping. Unless my mom wants to stop, we keep reading."

Percy gives his mother a moment to think about it, but she spends it looking at him. After a few seconds, she nods at Apollo to continue.

But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak... growing long, horrible talons.

No one interrupts, but every demigod in the room is well acquainted with the feeling. 

Then I heard my mom's voice ...  not even me or Gabe.

The effect on the listeners is palpable. Thoughts surface for some about missed opportunities for relationships like that, mothers they never had, but not unlike described in the book, Sally being here now melts the sadness like snow in a furnace. Sally's expression turns to melted butter the more she listens. She wraps her arms around her son and kisses his cheek with a huge shaky smile on her face. 

Leo tries to be subtle about scooting a little closer to her, so Sally waits until Apollo starts reading again to scoop him up and plop him right next to her with a hug and a beaming smile. Leo quickly wipes at his eyes.

"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight...   I was really, really
glad to see her.

Hera gives up on her internal battle to dislike, or at least remain neutral towards, Sally Jackson. She is the goddess of mothers. It has been a long time since she's encountered one that truly lived up to the title.

From the other room...
"No, Mom."

There is an audible sigh around the room, but no one speaks up. They know damn well that Percy never wants to worry his mom, it would figure it started this young.

I felt bad lying...  "Montauk?"

Poseidon's eyes light up. They fall on Sally. She's already looking at him. She gives him a little nod that warms him down to his toes.

"Three nights—same cabin...  The works."

"She's good," Nico murmurs. Jason nods absently, frowning.

Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget,
right?"

"It...?", Aphrodite stammers. It's a pained look on her face. 

"My apologies, Lady Aphrodite," Sally speaks up gently. "But there are more important things than clothes."

Aphrodite looks over at her for a moment, perfect eyebrows drawn up. She gives an understanding nod. 

"Yes, honey," my mother said...make you sing soprano for a week.

"That's the spirit," Clarisse growls.

But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.

Why did she put up with this guy? ...whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"

"Yes, please," Piper urges borderline desperately.

For a moment, I thought—for the whole weekend.

"The horror," Jason deadpans a little darkly.

"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy,"

"It still sort of surprises me that people thought of Percy as stupid," Reyna notes. 

"It's hardly a stretch," he argues.

Reyna frowns at him, less like she disagrees and more like he's said something incredibly- well, stupid. 

"He plays dumb. If you watch him in the right circumstances it doesn't catch as well," Frank provides. "Like when you're fighting for your life. Your first thought's not exactly 'better be sure I act dumb so I don't show all my cards."

"I'm usually thinking, AAAAAAAHHH!", Percy agrees sagely.

"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little
scratch."

"Like he's be the one driving. He's twelve," Malcolm snorts.

"Gods, he's twelve," Piper breathes.

Apollo snickers as he reads the next sentence.

Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.

Answering snickers respond around the tent.

But that didn't matter to Gabe...  as if he'd been shot from a cannon.

Apollo stops reading. Percy looks up, wondering why. Aphrodite gasps.

"...He flew back?" Zeus rumbles. 

Poseidon again looks between Percy and Sally. He wasn't sure, but this all but confirms it.

"Son," he explains gently, "you shouldn't have been able to do that."

Percy looks like he's gonna say something, but thinks better of it. Grover has turned on his butt to look at Percy incredulously.

"You didn't tell me that happened!", he bleats.

Percy shrugs. "I forgot about it. Why, what was it?"

"An ancient warding spell. Old, old magic," Artemis speaks up gravely. "It's similar to satyr's empathy magic in some ways, but not just anyone is capable. Your blood has to be a very specific mix. And the subject of the curse has to be... a very specific kind of monster."

The ten falls silent again while the words settle over them and sink into the ground.

"What... what do you mean, a very specific mix?", Percy asks, choosing to ignore the rest of that for now.

Poseidon sighs. "Your mother... I wasn't sure, Percy, but I believe your mother has old naiad blood in her veins."

Percy turns his wide eyes on his father. Sally blinks at him. 

"Poseidon?", she asks.

"Something I noticed about your mother- I'm sure you have too- her eyes reflect the water she's closest to. It's what drew me to her in the first place, but I didn't consider it too closely. I would not be surprised if yours did the same. The matter of you sharing moods with the sea is another indicator that you are made of different stuff than I was aware of. And this... it's almost a sure sign."

Percy's mouth snaps shut and in contrast Sally gapes. Leo lets out a long, low whistle beside her, prompting Nico to kick him. 

"It would explain some things, but not everything," Annabeth says slowly. "You're still abnormally powerful. I can see the connections, but it doesn't answer all the questions."

"You know, that's actually very cool," Piper says.

"I had no idea," Sally near whispers. "So this was always a part of me."

Percy tucks a strand of hair behind his mother's ear, prompting her to look up at him, his eyes asking a question. She nods. Percy turns to say something, but Apollo's got the message. 

Maybe it was just the wind... I loved the place.

Throughout the description, Poseidon's face has softened. He looks wistfully at Sally, who pretends not to notice, but occasionally meets his eyes and blushes. Piper lays her head dreamily against her knees. It sounds perfect. 

"Spiders, you said?", Nico speaks up. "How'd you get Annabeth in there?"

Percy gives him an affronted look. "You think I didn't clean out the cupboards first? I brought four cans of anti-spider spray."

"I brought six," Annabeth offers, "but I didn't need them. Wherever there are spiders, they've always found me, but not there. I think something about Percy makes them stay away. They never come when he's around."

The tent sort of stares at them for a moment. Malcolm looks aggressively jealous.

"Percy, bro, I'm begging you to stop making the rest of us look bad," Jason says semi-seriously. 

Leo snorts. "We've already got to that point and we haven't even met twelve year old Annabeth yet. Incredible."

"Chiron, can Percy sleep in the Athena cabin?", Malcolm begs. Or, he does the Malcolm equivalent of begging, which is asking overly- formally because he thinks it makes his case sound better.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," the centaur replies. Malcolm slumps against a wooden beam with his arms crossed, eloquence forgotten.

We'd been going...  Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

Poseidon smiles in a way that makes Aphrodite melt a little. Oh, she should have paid attention to these two. 

We got there at... I guess I should explain the blue food.

"THANK you!" Frank exclaims, sounding like it's been killing him. Percy chuckles. 

See, Gabe had once...  rebellious streak, like me.

"Obedience streak," four people correct at once. Poseidon laughs again, but cuts off abruptly in stunned silence when Sally giggles too. 

When it got dark, we made a fire...  I never got tired of hearing them.

Agreeing nods circle around the room. A few of the gods smile, though they're all different smiles.

"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his
black hair, you know, and his green eyes."

Percy suddenly gets the feeling he's being analysed by every person present at once. The tent breaks out in affirmative murmurs.

"Dead on," Thalia proclaims, squinting between Percy and Poseidon. 

"You do look just like him," Hestia agrees.  The father and son look at each other in such mirror images of each other's movements that it causes a few people to crack up. They give twin sheepish smiles and... yeah, Travis is gone.

Mom fished a blue jelly bean.. . A
warm glow. A smile.

Poseidon smiles and nods. "I knew you, Percy. From the beginning."

Percy feels his own face break into a warm smile right from the heart. 

Chiron smiles too. His eyes sting a little. What he wouldn't give for every camper to have this moment with their parent. To feel loved this way. Percy deserves it.

I had always assumed .. . I thought you'd finally be safe."

"Safe from what?"

"Okay, I'm really starting' to feel for Percy with all this cryptic stuff," Leo interjects. 

"Seriously," Will agrees with a nod. He was thinking the same thing. What a mind job. As if the whole introduction to camp wasn't enough.

She met my eyes, and a flood... with my meaty toddler hands.

"Like Heracles," Connor gapes, eyebrows up. Percy scowls. 

"No, like me. Hate that guy."

"You or Heracles?"

"Yes."

"What! Why do you hate Heracles?!", Connor gasps, which is not the concern most people had with his answer. 

"Dude sucks."

"That is my son you're talking about," Zeus reminds him.

Percy frowns. "Yeah, and Kronos is your dad. Doesn't mean anything when you don't raise your kids."

Jason chokes on nothing. Thalia is working so hard to withhold her laughter that she starts turning purple. Most people either manage to muffle it in their sleeves or just stare in shock. Sally dutifully pretends she didn't hear. Apollo, looking delighted with the proceedings, swoops in and barrels in with the reading to save Percy from  a long overdue death.

In every single school...  and I didn't want that.

"Do his... gut feelings, for lack of a better term, have anything to do with his naiad heritage?", Athena asks the room at large.

Artemis hums. "It is certainly possible. He certainly has a notable connection with the future and other people's emotions. I'd say he was picking up on others' experiences and making estimates subconsciously through a form of empathy, but it doesn't explain his dreams. You do have dreams, don't you boy?"

"Don't remind me," he grumbles. 

"Percy's dreams are... unique," Annabeth responds carefully.

"They SUCK," Grover moans. 

"Saved your life before," Percy points out. 

"Didn't say I didn't like 'em. Just that they suck."

"Hm," Artemis rumbles thoughtfully, sitting back. Apollo continues.

"I've tried to keep you as close...  That night I had a vivid dream.

"Okay, that's enough," Percy calls. He pulls himself up stiffly and hears a couple joints crack. Seriously, the fates have anything in existence and out of it to choose from, and they make them sit on the floor. Some of us have bad backs, you know. And bad ankles. And bad hips. And bad everything, because we've broken every bone in our body on our way to do some divine errand at one point or another. "It gets intense here, and we've been going for a while. Pretty sure Leo's gonna bust."

Leo pops up from the floor like a jack in the box, jittering like one too.

"Man, you said it, not me."

"A break then?", Apollo asks the room.

"A break," comes the general response. 

Chapter Text

A break seems to be just what everyone needed to realise they actually don’t know where they are. While the group awkwardly splinters, the daylight offers a much more welcoming opportunity to wander off. 

Percy finds he doesn’t particularly care. You’ve been divinely relocated once, you’ve done it a thousand times. But he’s antsy. He feels a bit like Leo looks. His excuse is the books being about him, if anyone asks, but he fondly remembers he doesn’t need one. There isn’t a demigod alive who can sit still for too long. 

So he goes for a walk. Annabeth sticks with him at first, but her curiosity proves too much and she catches up with Malcolm, pestering Grover along the way about if he has any idea where in nature they are. Percy snorts a little at the basic connection- there are trees. This is nature. Ask Grover. Well, what else is one to do with what’s been provided them?

He catches Jason trying to talk his sister into letting him give her a piggy back ride. Instead of answering she scoops him up and throws him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, prompting him to shimmy around until he at least gets a piggy back himself out of it. It does look rather funny. Thalia’s not small by any means, but neither is Jason. At all. 

Frank laughs embarrassingly high, slapping a hand over his mouth a second late and eliciting delighted looks from everyone. Leo cackles at him with no shame whatsoever, despite his laugh being much more embarassing. It makes Hazel snort, so then they’re laughing at her. 

Percy also catches the Gods watching on in something like bewilderment. There are so many things that could be about he doesn’t even try to guess. The fact that their kids have seemingly forgotten they’re there. The close-knit casual nature of their interactions. The carelessness of it. The mortality of them. 

The fact that their kids are real people that exist is probably as strange and confronting for gods as it is for demigods to think of their parents being gods. To see them laughing, simple kids without worries for a moment is probably staggering. 

It staggers Percy sometimes for different reasons. He’s seen the bottom of the barrel and the people scraping it. He's tunnelled through it himself. And here they are, now, laughing at nothing. 

Percy needs a minute, though, so he leaves Tyson and the others with his mom. They NEED to meet his mom. 

Grover gives him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder as he goes, and keeps walking. Gods, he’s the best friend ever. 

The woods are similar to camp’s. There’s significantly more wildlife here, though- wildlife doesn’t really last long in monster-infested woods like camp's. Here, Percy can hear more birds than he thinks he’s ever heard save for a spare few times. It really does feel wild. 

A newt or something scurries over Percy’s bare foot like it’s unaware of the concept of a predator and he freezes. 

His legs lock up. His heart shoots into overdrive. All the energy that has automatically shot through him to react and defend stays stagnant, tense and coiled in the balls of his feet, behind his eyes, just under his ribs. 

It’s just a newt, Percy.

He can’t move. His body still wants him ready, in case. 

In case what?

In case it comes back.

It was a fucking newt! Nothing’s the matter! There is no threat here!

But these muscles of his won’t relax until he’s found and dealt with the danger. Because danger always follows. He’s never safe, especially not when he thinks he is. He thinks he is right now, so he’s not. 

He is not safe.

“Perrrrcy!”

His knees thaw partially, enough for him to wobble in place and turn to face his friend. His friend, who’s come to check on him. Stand up straight, Percy.

It’s mostly a gut reaction at this point. There’s no point hiding from Grover. He feels frustratingly fragile. He’s pissed that he’s all worked up over a fucking newt. He’s gonna have to go back there to the weird Mongolian yurt with his entire world- his friends, the gods, his mom- and sit through his traumas again from age 12 and up. Now is not the time to be offset by a fucking amphibian. Are newts amphibians? 

Whatever. He needs to be on his A game, and he has no time for newts. 

Grover looks at him, but not like, I’m-worried-you-can’t-take-this. Grover never looks at him like that, and that’s why Percy loves him. He looks more like, give-me-a-second-I’m-thinking.

“Bro,” he goes, voice a shade deeper than his usual tone. “Bro!”

“What, what?”

“Bro you good! Bro let’s go!”

He sounds like a hype man. Like one of those sports dudes at the big game, throwing themselves at each other and yelling nonsense with every goal. Percy frowns and nods along. He just goes with whatever now. Why ask.

“Let’s GO! WOOO! LET’S GO! LETSGOLETSGOLETSGO!”

“OKAY,” Percy shoots back, picking up the tone and jumping on the spot. “OKAY OKAY LET’S GO!”

Grover pumps his fists and jumps with him.

“WOOOOOH, THAT’S RIGHT! THAT’S RIGHT! HELL YEAH, DUDE! LET’S GO!”

Percy suddenly feels like they won the championship. This is maybe an abuse of an empathy link, but that seems like someone else’s problem, ‘cause it’s working for him. 

"HELL YEAH, LET'S GO, BIG MAN! LET'S GO! WOOOH LET'S GO!"

"ALRIGHT OKAY LET'S GO! LET'S GO G MAN!"

Then Percy has the best idea he’s ever had, ever. It just feels right. He hits Grover on the arm a few times in his excitement, bounding up and down like a kangaroo.

“THE SEAWEED IS ALWAYS GREENER! IN SOMEBODY ELSE’S-“

“-LAKE!”, Grover finishes, catching on. Neither of them even pretend they can sing. It’s just happy yelling with a strange metre. 

“YOU DREAM ABOUT GOING OUT THERE, BUT THAT IS A BIG MISTAKE!”, they both stumble over each other, complete with pointing and exaggerated facial expressions. It makes a very odd dance that might be choreographed, might just be punctuated flailing. They do basically share a mind, and it’s hard to be off beat when there isn’t one. 

“JUST LOOK AT THE CAMP AROUND YOU! RIGHT HERE ON LONG ISLAND SOUND! I’VE LOOKED UP AND DOWN THE WHOLE WORLD, THIS PLACE IS THE BEST I’VE FOUND!”

“BAH-BAH!”, Grover imitates a trumpet.

“AT CAMP HALF BLOOD”, they both yell over each-other, “AT CAMP HALF-BLOOD!”

“NOBODY STOMP US! FRY- fry us and chomp us…”, Grover trails off as Percy dissolves into laughter. His legs decide now is a time to sit and promptly fail him, so he falls hard on his ass, still cackling. 

Grover bends over with his hands on his knees. He’s not any better.

“Dip us in muuuuud”, Percy finishes, wheezing.

Grover gives up and falls back on his ass too, curling into himself. They both wheeze at the sky for a bit.

Percy wheezes a little too much though, and his lungs commit suicide the way they do every now and then since Tartarus. He hacks up his insides into the grass while Grover tries to tamp down on his laughter so as not to make it worse. He doesn’t keep a pity silence or indicate the mood is killed, because he’s the best goat ever. He just claps Percy on the back as he groans out the last of his annoyance and phlegm into the grass and rights himself again, lying on his back and staring at the sky.

“Do you think satyrs have natural afro hair to hide their horns?”, he asks after a while. 

“What the fuck do I look like, a satyr?”, Grover retorts.

There is a moment while that sinks in.

“Don’t,” Grover warns.

“I’m not saying anything, I didn’t say anything,” Percy bites, teeth clamped over his lip so as not to laugh. 

After a while, they roll themselves up on their butts again. Grover stands and something cracks, making him bleat and dance around in an achey circle, shaking his leg. Percy groans.

“Groooooooverrrrrrrr.”

“Peeeeeerrrrccyyyyyyy.”

“Pick me up.”

Grover rolls his head back to his friend dramatically. He’s flopped forward like a rag doll, one hand raised for him to take.

“Pick yourself up, lazy ass.”

“GroveeEEEEerrrrrrrr.”

Grover tries, he really does. Let it never be said he doesn’t try for his best friend. He pulls him this way and that by the arm with all his weight. Homeboy’s not moving. 

They’ve made six circles in the grass by the time Percy decides to just fucking stand up and sends Grover toppling over himself. 

“FUCK you!”, comes the muffled rebuke from where Grover’s trying to untangle his horn from his shoelace. Percy grins and pulls him up as casually and easily as picking up a grape.

Grover grumbles things in Ancient Greek under his breath while he brushes grass out of his hair. Percy looks around for the first time, surprised to see that he can make out the yurt ahead of them. He was certain they’d left it behind them.

“Last one there’s a plucked harpy,” he shoots before dashing off in that direction. 

He thinks he hears Grover splutter something behind him, but he doesn’t look back. He’s not aiming to be a plucked harpy. 

Chapter Text

Apollo quickly shushes Ares because A)he doesn’t care what he has to say and B) he can hear what is maybe supposed to be singing.

It’s not- okay, he wouldn’t call it singing . It’s not good. But it’s so happy and carefree it’s better. It sounds like a freaking good time, and that’s Apollo’s whole thing.

It’s Percy and Grover. Stupid Ares talked too long and they collapse into giggles so fast that Apollo pouts. Someone taps him on the sadly sloping shoulder. He blinks down at his son.

“Will! Hi!”

“Hi,” he gives a slightly nervous smile. “What’s up?”

“I just heard singing!”

Will frowns. “Singing? Who?”

“Percy and Grover, I think.”

Will makes a face. “Ooh, my condolences.”

“No- I mean yeah, but it was fun!”

“Well, which one were they singing?”

“Something original to the tune of ‘Under the Sea’ from The Little Mermaid.”

Will’s brightens further. “Oh, that’s a great one!”

Apollo sits and listens to his son talk about the camp songs they have, some being written by the more active half-bloods, since they’re the ones with all the stories. They’re mostly useless at writing music though, so Will and his cabin chipped in.

Apollo gasps and his arms shoot up dramatically, gesturing for everyone to stop what they’re doing.

“WE SHOULD HAVE A SINGALONG.”

Will’s eyes widen, but his dad’s not done.

“WILL, WE HAVE TO HAVE A SINGALONG. WE HAVE A FIRE JUST LIKE IN CAMP, YOU CAN TEACH US ALL THE SONGS, WILL WE HAVE TOOOOOO.”

“Singalong?”, Travis and Connor chirp in tandem.

“Are you serious?”, Nico asks. Apollo waves dismissively in his direction, bouncing on his toes.

There are resounding protests as well as agreements from all sides.

“This is not a sleepover!”, Zeus fumes. Katy has to turn around so as not to outright laugh at the king of the gods saying the word sleepover with such a serious face. Connor pats her back.

“Ah, if I may, Lord Zeus,” Chiron politely interjects, “the campfire singalong is a time-honoured tradition and staple of camp Half-Blood, employed not as a simple frivolity, but as an irreplaceable expression of kinship and closeness. Moreover, it’s seen us through the hardest of times as a stress reliever and a reminder of what we’re fighting for. I would say that these circumstances would qualify as strenuous. This could be just the outlet required to ease the process.”

“CAMPFIRE! CAMPFIRE! CAMPFIRE!”, someone chants. It might be Apollo.

“We are to learn about our children, are we not?”, Hestia asks placatingly. “This is a part of who they are. They should feel as at home as they can, and we would do well to observe what results.”

Yeah, Zeus is outvoted. When he makes that begrudging face of surrender they all know and love, Aphrodite squeals (adorably, somehow), and jumps in place, grabbing Artemis’ arm and leaning into it, as she’s closest.

“Then it is decided,” Hera announces. “We will have a campfire singalong tonight. Does that suit, Chiron?”

“Certainly, Lady Hera.”

Cheers sound from pretty much everywhere. As Chiron said, the campfire is the heart of the camp. Heart is what got them through the bad times. Sharing their home with their parents doesn’t sound too bad, either.

Thalia slips back into the tent before anyone else.

It’s dark in here, day or night, as if the outside doesn’t exist. Thalia strains her eyes from the entrance.

Even though he hasn’t moved, it’s almost hard to pick Luke out from the pillows and the tent. He’s sunken. He looks like a dejected, broken piece of furniture, thrown to the back of the room to be forgotten about and buried under nicer things.

When he eventually looks up at her, it’s with this heartbreaking lost expression that almost slams her back outside with its force. Her feet stick in place like they’re nailed there for another full minute before she manages to walk on, gravity pulling at her like she’s walking through tar.

She falls down across from him, too close and too far at once. Luke’s wide blue eyes take a bite out of her heart. His mouth is open, just a little.

“It was your thread, right?”

Luke nods, mouth finally closing, lips pursing the way they do when he’s trying to stop his chin from trembling.

Did. The way they did.

“I saw it,” he whispers hoarsely. He looks like it hurts him to speak. “Not many people get to see their life lines, but I did. It was a pretty colour.”

Thalia swallows and they sit in the silence for a minute. They are both here. It’s enormous. It’s so much it’s hard to speak.

“Do you regret?”, Thalia asks him just as hoarsely.

“Everything.”

There is so much genuine desperation in it Thalia breaks more. She didn’t think she could, but apparently she had spare reserves, because they just shattered. She closes her eyes and sucks in a shaky breath, holding back the tears. But there’s more she has to say.

“You know what you did. To Annie. To me. To everyone who’s not coming home,” she says heavily. “Do you know what you did to Percy?”

It’s important to her. Percy never said anything, and maybe she wouldn’t know if she didn’t know both of them so well. She might be the only one who knows. But Luke should.

“You only knew him that first year at camp, but Luke...”, she stutters on his name. “That first year was all he had. The first year is everything. He was the same as that little girl we found on the streets. He lost his mother. You were- you were supposed to be-“

Thalia chokes. She can’t do this. She’s not strong enough.

She shoots up without looking at him and stalks out of the tent.

Jason ends up giving his piggyback to Nico.

Leo gets into a rather involved conversation with Katy about how he managed to get machine oil on his pyjamas if he’s supposed to sleep in them.

“What do your sheets look like?”, she asks with muted horror. He looks at her strangely.

“Chica, you think I got sheets?”

Apollo leans over beside Frank, giving his Hawkeye pjs an appraising look.

“Nice jammies,” he comments. Frank shuffles awkwardly.

“Uh, thanks.”

“How many abs can a woman have?”, Hazel asks aloud incredulously, staring at Clarisse’s midsection. She squeaks and turns an impressive shade of red when she realizes it was, in fact, aloud. Clarisse doesn’t really react.

“It’s good. It’s like having extra pillows. Kinda jealous of your hair though.”

Hazel stays bright red. “Tha- Uh, thank you.”

Reyna ends up in a conversation with Dionysus, of all people. They hold a similar aloofness, even if they’re both charged with very different energies. Reyna describes the fountain of Bacchus vaguely enough to avoid the Roman details.

Piper talks with Sally Jackson in both an attempt to avoid her mom and a bid to win some time with the wonderful woman. She has a feeling it’s going to be in short supply.

Poseidon sighs on the outskirts of the group.

“Not now, Athena,” he grumbles.

“Not Athena, silly,” Aphrodite soothes, sidling up to him. He looks over at her in surprise. On second glance, Athena is also by herself, though she watches her son, and her face looks as complicated as clockwork.

“Sorry, Di.”

Aphrodite leans her head on his massive shoulder and follows his gaze to Sally Jackson.

“She is worth your love,” she says wisely.

Poseidon knows that.

“It’s beautiful. I wish I could’ve seen it,” she sighs.

“What?”

“You two. But in a way, I suppose I have. I’m grateful.” She hums contentedly and lifts her head up, circling around to face him more directly. “There I go, rambling on again. Don’t mind me. I do have to ask, Poseidon,” she continues, a light twinkle in her eye. “Your boy and Athena’s girl...?”

Poseidon huffs. It figures they’d get to this point. At least it’s Aphrodite and not Athena.

“Yes, I’ve been avoiding that.” He frowns and strokes his beard, letting himself actually give it some thought. He finds his eyebrows coming up together, at a loss. Aphrodite laughs.

“Oh, don’t frown like that, you’ll get wrinkles. Let this take shape. And, um, I would avoid Athena for now.”

Well that was a given. Aphrodite has a way of stating things he knows so simply that they seem to unravel before his eyes until they’re manageable. On her good days, she’s invaluable. Poseidon likes her on her good days.

She leaves him be, and Poseidon is left to consider his son, Fate, and who on earth this “Paul” could be.

Chapter Text

“I’ll read this time,” Poseidon rumbles as everyone once again settles down in the yurt. 

“I don’t think you should, Dad,” Percy says quietly.

A few gods and demigods alike look at him, startled at his blatancy, or maybe at the bare-faced referral to the God of the Sea as ‘Dad’. Poseidon just looks questioningly at him.

“Not this one,” Percy ameliorates. “I’m not really looking forward to it either.”

Demeter takes the book from Poseidon while he’s still trying to work that out and clears her throat.

That night I had a vivid dream.

Yes, the boy mentioned dreams. Another point of prophetic prominence. Apollo tilts his head, listening closely.

 It was storming on the beach… beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder. 

“It’s not Hades,” Percy speaks up before anyone even processes the description. “That’s not the first time I’ll say that through this book. We pointed a lot of fingers, and he’s always been the one to suffer for that. Just… keep that in mind.”

Hades is flabbergasted. He was absolutely bewildered to find him and his wife on Olympus for the first time in millennia. No one has spoken for him so candidly and adamantly, and certainly not so truthfully, in many many years. What makes this boy different? What does he have that has been lacking in every other person (aside from Hestia) since he was charged with the Underworld? 

I ran toward …I woke with a start. 

Percy jolts a little in his seat, rubbing his suddenly pounding heart with a frown. Annabeth nudges him with a raised eyebrow. He shakes his head at her. It’s probably muscle memory.

Outside, it really was storming, …I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end. 

A few people inhale sharply. Sally’s arm subconsciously snakes around Percy. 

Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand… But he wasn’t...he wasn’t exactly Grover. 

“Cryptic much?”, Thalia snorts.

“Sorry Perce, that was 100% genuine G man,” the goat himself says apologetically.

“You know I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“No we wouldn’t,” Sally confirms with a bright smile in his direction. Grover smiles as one does when the sun shines just right on them.

“Searching all night... where his legs should be... 

“Oh my gods, Perce…”, someone mumbles incredulously.

“What?”

“Are you kidding me?!”, Connor demands. “This is brutal!”

Will looks a little sick. 

“Some of us get introduced to it a little smoother than others,” Nico hums wisely.

My mom looked at me …There were cloven hooves.  

“This is so intense,” Malcolm breathes, shaking his head. “My dad literally just drove me to camp.”

“My mom kind of did. Most of the way…” Percy thinks for a second, looking over at his mom. “Yeah, not the same, though.”

“The next chapter is called “My mother teaches me bullfighting,” Demeter announces.

“Yo, what?”, Leo coughs from a corner he’s dug himself into.

“Why is it always bulls?”, Clarisse snarls. “It’s always bulls and old ladies. ALWAYS.”

“THANK you!”, Percy bursts. He’s thought that for years.

“Let’s get through it,” Poseidon urges, voice a little bit tight. Percy feels guilty looking at him. Poor guy’s still expecting it to get better. This is gonna be rough.

We tore through the night… “So, you and my mom...know each other?” 

The tent bursts into laughter. 

Thalia and Leo cackle the loudest. Even Poseidon manages a deep chuckle, and Sally laughs openly into her son’s shoulder.

“I forgot that happened too!”, Grover admits.

“That’s hysterical, Percy. That’s something only you could or would say,” Nico laughs.

“Iconic,” Aphrodite provides. “The word you’re looking for is iconic, and I’d be inclined to agree that it fits.”

“‘So you two know each other…”, Hermes repeats incredulously between wheezes.

“Okay, so it wasn’t the weirdest thing going on right then, but it felt like it was,” Percy defends. “He’s like, my friend. And he knows my mom. They’d been sending each other emails like ‘hey, is my son dead yet?’ ’not yet mrs. Jackson.’ ‘oh ok, thanks’.”

Another round of giggles break out, and Sally seems to be laughing the hardest, dissolving into giggles and hiccups and slapping Percy’s shoulder. He looks at her in bewilderment. 

“That’s kind of what they said,” Grover explains.

“PPPPFFTTTttt—“ 

Grover’s eyes flitted to the rearview mirror… my best friend is a donkey—” Grover let out a sharp, throaty “Blaa-ha-ha!” 

“Why is your first instinct when confronted with something alarming to insult it?”, Frank asks in a lost voice. 

“It’s just how he’s wired. Good to know it predates even me,” Annabeth offers.

I’d heard him make that sound before… “So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!” “Of course.”

“YES!”, Will cheers. Everyone turns to look at him. He laughs nervously. 

“Empathy,” he explains. “I was frustrated.”

“You’re tellin’ me,” Percy agrees.

“Then why—“… “Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions.” 

“Funny,” Poseidon grounds out, “That sounds like Hades is accountable.”

“Yeah, well, I did say we. WE pointed the finger at him. Everybody always thinks it’s Hades, and so did we. Our bad.”

“Grover!” 

“Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?” 

“Ppfftt…”, Percy ducks his head.

“What?”, Jason asks with suspicion.

“He’s just so polite about it.”

“Not all of us are Percys about our near death experiences,” Grover accuses, sticking gout his tongue.

“Thank the gods,” someone mumbles.

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening… “Boys!” my mom said.

“I’m crying,” Thalia wheezes, curled into herself.

“Aside from the car chase that’s actively happening, this sounds like a sleepover,” Jason agrees.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right… My limbs went numb from delayed shock. 

Percy’s limbs go numb with, you guessed it, delayed shock.

She really hadn’t been human ... I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. 

Lo and behold, Percy feels his brain and organs almost float while body stays rooted to the ground. He can’t feel his mother’s touch anymore, or see much of anything. Or hear.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver’s seat and said, “Ow.” … “Grover!” 

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. 

Percy pitches forward to shake his best friend on the shoulder, ignoring everything else, suddenly very worried. His head rolls sideways and Percy pulls it into his lap. He wipes the thin trickle of blood from his mouth and starts checking for signs of things, something he’s had to get very good at. If anyone else is talking, he can’t hear.

I shook his furry hip, thinking, No!…

Then he groaned “Food,” and I knew there was hope. 

Grover mumbles something now, too, that might be the same word. It’s probably the same word.

“Percy,” my mother said, “we have to...” Her voice faltered. 

I looked back… His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. 

Percy looks up from Grover through the rain, hunching over him so his friend doesn’t choke on it. He looks up sharply. His mom is beside him, pawing around desperately for his hand. He gives it to her. 

The minotaur looms, or Percy thinks he sees him through the rain, just for a second.

Someone gasps, he thinks, but it’s hard to hear. Are they still in the tent? No, they’re outside camp, but… that’s definitely Piper, and Annabeth’s right beside his mom. Demeter’s… still reading?

I swallowed hard. “Who is—”…And the points that looked like horns... 

“Run!”, Poseidon barks. 

“By the Fates…”, Hazel breathes. 

Percy blinks the rain out of his eyes. Yes, they’re all still here. Demeter is reading, and the book is completely dry.

They’re just sitting in the rain Percy lost his mother in.

“He doesn’t want us,” …We’re going together. Come on, Mom.” 

“Your fatal flaw,” Athena says. He ignores her. 

“I told you—” …uphill through wet waist-high grass. 

Sally’s hand joins Percy’s, gliding through Grover’s curls. 

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster… “Names have power.”

“And he still doesn’t get that,” Annabeth says fondly. It brings him back a little, even through the rain. He takes a breath. This happened a long time ago. Annabeth’s right here, and Grover’s going to be fine soon.

The pine tree was still way too far—…

Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying. 

Oops. 

“Dude, priorities,” Travis hisses, eyes wide.

“Ay, leave my man alone,” Leo shoots back defensively. Percy hates how much he gets it.

“Percy,” my mom said… “Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said.” 

“No, mom, don’t go,” Percy whimpers quietly. He shakes himself when she presses herself tighter against his side. This isn’t happening. She’s right here.

I didn’t want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. …at the last moment, I jumped to the side. 

A few people gasp. Will is shaking, digging his hands into the nonexistent mud. Apollo drags him close. 

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train…

“Run, Percy!” she told me. “I can’t go any farther. Run!” 

Chiron stamps the ground in alarm and frustration. Annabeth pulls the two Jacksons around her, whispering a steady stream of reassurances that they are here with a sure voice as Demeter continues.

But I just stood there, frozen in fear… A blinding flash, and she was simply...gone. 

“No!” 

“No,” Percy echoes weakly. But it’s not true. She’s right here with him. He thinks he hears his father suck in a breath, but he has no idea.

Anger replaced my fear…“Hey, stupid! Ground beef!” 

“Percy!”, someone begs in alarm, as if it’s really happening. He doesn’t hear them over the roaring in his ears. He feels hot all over, ready for something to die by his hand. The arms around him turn just a little less giving as he huffs in old rage.

“Raaaarrrrr!” The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists… and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. 

“Oof-!” The wind is knocked out of Percy and he pitches forward just a little. Annabeth puts her arms out as people try to approach, not sure how lucid he is right now.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me… and rage filled me like high- octane fuel.

Percy snarls, sending a few people’s heads snapping his way and a few more scootching backwards to give him space. Annabeth holds on tight. 

  I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap! 

“No,” Ares gasps.

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. 

The impact does send Percy’s head tilting forward a little bit, but not so violently as described.

When I sat up, my vision was blurry… I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn’t going to let him go. 

Athena leans back, certain her hypothesis was just proven correct. Percy shakes, but he doesn’t make a sound aside from the low mumbles of ‘Mom”.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess’s. 

Not consciously, Percy’s head turns to look at Annabeth and Chiron.

They both looked down at me, and the girl said, “He’s the one. He must be.” 

“Silence, Annabeth,” the man said. “He’s still conscious. Bring him inside.” 

Chapter Text

Percy is only out for another five minutes or so. The atmosphere is tense until then. The second he opens his eyes, though, Thalia leans over him with a shit-eating grin.

“Aww, not as nice as waking up to a pretty girl with princess curls, is it?”, she teases. 

“No. It is not,” he agrees solemnly with a faux grimace. 

“Just to reiterate,” Aphrodite trills delightedly, “After such an intense experience, the first thing he thinks on seeing her is “pretty princess.” And the first thing he ever hears her say? ‘He’s the one. He must be.’ Are you kidding me?!”

A low teasing cheer whoops around the tent and a few people shove the couple with knowing grins. 

“I forgot about that,” Percy chuckles, clearing his throat and shaking his head. He’s so, so glad he didn’t wake up to a heavy mood. That was never what they did at camp. No one wants to wake up sad, and demigods know that better than most. “The second thing she said to me wasn’t particularly romantic.”

Annabeth kicks him with half a smile, her cheeks a little red. 

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“You sure about that?”, he teases. 

“In case you’ve forgotten, your first words to me weren’t much to write home about either.”

“I have forgotten, incidentally.”

“Well that’s what we’re reading for!”, Travis interrupts. He bashes his fists against the ground impatiently, not unlike a monkey. Travis always kind of reminded Percy of a monkey. 

Percy realises something all of a sudden and starts looking around.

“Grover.”

Annabeth shakes her head with an eye roll. Percy keeps looking until it becomes apparent that Grover is still in his lap where he’d curled over him protectively as he passed out.

“Ah.”

Grover grunts something in reply and blinks his bleary eyes open. Annabeth wipes at the remnants of blood around his face. They watch for them, but Grover exhibits no signs of any lasting effects. By all accounts, he just looks unhappy to be woken up.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two are okay,” Sally breathes beside her son, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I really worried.”

“Don’t worry, Sally, Annie’s here now,” Grover bleats tiredly. “She can supervise.”

Sally laughs, a bright, happy thing that dispels any of the heaviness the rain seeped into the air. This was a hard chapter, but they’re here now. Sally drags the three of them in close. They won’t be alone this time. They never really were.

“‘He’s the one. He must be.’” Katie shakes her head with a smile. “Holy hell, you two.”

“Can’t believe the Aphrodite cabin never knew that. They woulda flipped,” Clarisse agrees. Ares looks at her sideways.

“Oh, wait til you guys hear what she says next,” Percy chuckles. Annabeth punches him in the ribs. 

“I’m not excited to hear what I was like at 12. From what I remember, I was insufferable.”

“You were,” Percy nods seriously. He recognises her anxiety. Her pride is being threatened. But they really aren't such a big deal, and he's here to remind her of it. He gets another punch, but he pulls his girlfriend into a hug with a smile that always makes things matter less. “I gotta suffer, so do you.”

“If you’re finished,” Athena interrupts, voice as sharp as the crack of a whip. Percy jumps. “We’ll continue reading.”

Aaand just like that, the tension is back. Annabeth does not look at her mother, but it isn’t a sheepish avoidance. She glares holes into the floor as though convincing herself not to turn her ire on her mother, the literal Goddess of war and battle strategy. Athena freezes, her eyes stuck to her daughter, as she recognises it. There’s anger in her daughter, directed at her. More terribly, there is hatred. It stops the world for a second at the sheer impossibility of it. It doesn’t make sense. Athena is missing something. 

“Chapter Five,” Hestia reads out with all the warmth of a well-loved blanket, passed down through a family until it’s more than a blanket. “I play Pinochle with a horse.”

Someone snorts. Grover hits Percy. Chiron raises an eyebrow and pretends he’s not battling a smirk.

“Did not write this! I did not write this!”

“That sentence did not come from anyone else, Percy. That’s a you sentence,” Piper informs him apologetically. 

“Who’s side are you on?”

“Now who’s to say?”

I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals… The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon. 

Will puts his hands up.

“Who let her into the infirmary?”

“This is sickening,” Clarisse grunts.

“Yeah. I was sick,” Percy protests. 

“Sick of you,” she grumbles back. Ares smirks.

When she saw my eyes open, she asked, “What will happen at the summer solstice?” 

A couple of startled laughs ring out.

“Now this sounds more like Annabeth,” Leo nods.

I managed to croak, “What?” 

“And there’s Percy,” Piper agrees.

She looked around… and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding. 

“That is terrible bedside manner,” Apollo comments. Will groans in exasperation.

“Seriously, who let her in?!”

The next time I woke up, the girl was gone… My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt. 

Percy smacks his lips in disgust.

On the table next to me was a tall drink… Not the goat boy. 

“Oof…”, Grover hisses.

So maybe I’d had a nightmare… My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful. 

Sally wraps her son up even tighter if possible. He squeezes her to remind himself she’s there. No worries here. No wars. Mom’s fine. 

Leo’s head dips down. He breathes in the fact that he’s managed to score the spot right next to Sally on her other side, remembering his mom. He doesn’t want to interrupt them, but he’s so, so glad he gets to be this close. 

Way to project, Valdez, he scolds. But really, he’s pretty sure the entire tent adores the woman already. Maybe he can allow himself this. Maybe he can even score another hug sometime. 

With a start, he realises what his hands have been making while he was thinking.

“I’m sorry,” Grover sniffled. “I’m a failure. I’m—I’m the worst satyr in the world.” 

A strong chorus of protests and boos sound out through the tent. Percy rubs his knuckles into his best friend’s head, avoiding the horns. Grover blushes. 

He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof- shaped hole. 

Exclamations of a different kind sound out now, mostly hissed sympathies and ‘yikes’.

“Oh, Styx!” he mumbled.  Thunder rolled across the clear sky… I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I’d do something. 

“Uh huh, that’s viable,” Thalia snorts.

“Hey, I made it at camp!”

“Yeah, camp didn’t ask for ID. You barely passed for twelve.”

“I was twelve.”

“I know.”

“He probably would’ve been safer there,” Grover sniffs miserably. 

“Oh, like hell, G-man,” Percy rebuts. “I wouldn’t change it. I served with their kind, they’re way too uptight.”

“Discipline is what armies are built off of,” Reyna argues. 

“But not homes,” he returns easily.

Grover was still sniffling… my mom’s homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.

“Does it still taste like that?”, Piper asks curiously. Percy shifts a little awkwardly.

“Um… sometimes.”

“It changes for you?”, Katie asks in surprise. He frowns.

“Wh- yeah, always has. It used to be popcorn and blue candy. Once it was tomato soup. It’s mostly sweet stuff, but lately it’s been Drakon meat stew. The cookies are the only thing it’s always been.”

“I’ll make them more often, Percy,” his mom says happily. She feels warm down to her toes knowing her boy always, always had a home and felt safe with her. He always will. It hasn’t been easy, and she was terrified… sometimes she’s still terrified that he doesn’t feel safe anywhere. That she can’t offer him anything that’s enough. She wipes her eyes even they’re mostly dry.

“I wish we all had a Sally Jackson,” Piper breaths without thinking. Her whole body and voice screams the sentiment so genuinely that once again, it settles over everyone and everything like a cloud. Sally lifts her head up from her son’s shoulder. 

“You do,” she says certainly. She looks around at the open faces, so young, looking at her with a myriad of emotions. She takes a breath and realises these kids have to hear what no kid should ever doubt in the first place. Sally Jackson squares her shoulders.

“Every one of you is welcome in my home. Hunters, campers, satyrs, everyone. And if any of you are as skinny as Nico was when he first showed up, you’re staying for dinner. In fact, stay anyway. You want cookies? You got it. You need a place to stay? It’s yours. I know it doesn’t always feel like it,” she continues, voice softening. “But we are family. Each and every one of us. You always have someone. And you always, always have me.”

Percy’s breath hitches as he watches his mother stare down the rest of the tent. His family. Their family. His eyes go misty even as the grin threatens to split his face in two.

“Oh, come here!”, she orders someone, Leo he thinks, as he’s closest. She drags him into a huge hug. Percy startles and turns around when he hears Tyson start loudly bawling. He goes ahead and throws himself at the big guy because he’s good to cry on and it might be best not to get him too excited before he descends on his mother with the best of intentions. He can be less than aware of his own strength when he’s emotional.

Anyway, it seems his mother is tied up hugging- well, everyone. He looses a wet chuckle into his brother’s shoulder. 

The gods are here, he knows. None of them are here by choice. But this weird red yurt is home because his mother is here. Hell, his family is. It’s about fucking time.

Chapter Text

Before I knew it, I’d drained the glass… “Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting.” 

Will sighs. “I know you guys meant well, but the next person to completely ignore Percy’s questions or give him something even more cryptic like that’ll help, we’re throwing hands.”

“Will,” Percy says apologetically, “I’m afraid that’s not viable.”

“And why is that, my good friend Percy?”, Will asks in that carefully neutral tone of his that promises they are all on thin ice.

“Because nobody has ever given me a straight answer, ever, in my life.”

Will blinks. “I am so sorry.”

“Me too.”

“Do you not ask questions?”, Athena asks accusingly. The glare she receives from quite a few people shuts her up, but she looks no less incensed. Percy, on his part, does his darndest not to bodycheck her. Annabeth looks like she's trying not to do something worse.

The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse… I wasn’t going to let it go. 

A few people nod at the wisdom.

As we came around the opposite end of the house… could’ve out-gambled even my stepfather. 

A worried hush falls over the yurt, but Dionysus hardly blinks at the description of himself, trailing a pudgy finger through a blade of grass that’s shouldered its way inside somehow. To be honest, if he hadn’t been used to it by now, he never would’ve made it through a millennia with a camp full of loosely supervised teenagers, god or not.

“That’s Mr. D,”… all the multiple choice answers B. 

“Anything,” Travis claims, throwing his hands up in the air. “I would give ANYTHING to have Chiron as my teacher.”

“Ah, good, Percy,” … was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr. 

“Is that why you didn’t like him?”, Annabeth asks without thinking. Percy considers.

“It definitely contributed. I got over it, but it was a while before I respected him.”

“Respected? You respect him?”, Nico asks curiously. The three of them seem to have forgotten they have a godly audience that actually included Dionysus himself.

“Somewhat, yeah. Like I said, it took a while, but we have an agreement and a begrudging respect for each other. It’s the other guy I have beef with,” He mutters on second thought, remembering the Colosseum. 

“You guys yell at each other twice a week! We know, ‘cause the Big House is off limits!”, Malcolm protests. 

The gods goggle. Shouting matches? Shouting matches, with demigods? On a regular basis?!

“Exactly,” Percy shrugs as if that clears things up.

“It’s their love language,” Clarisse adds. It clearly makes sense to her.

“It’s been a rocky road, but you’ve been a positive influence on each other,” Chiron nods. No one really knows what to say to that, so they keep reading.

“Annabeth?”…

She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight. 

“That’s her love language,” Thalia says fondly. 

“Nope, just her language,” Percy refutes.

“I suppose I should be happy with that description,” Annabeth allows, “Considering Grover’s.”

Grover bleats unhappily at the reminder, but it’s all in good fun. Percy snickers. 

“If I’m getting graded for accuracy, I should pass, ’s’all I’m saying.”

She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you’re so awesome! or something like that. 

Instead she said, “You drool when you sleep.” 

The tent erupts into laughter. Athena smiles smugly. Finally, something that makes sense. Even Luke, huddled at the back out of everyone’s sight save a couple, smiles a little. Thalia wipes a fake tear from her eye.

“There she is, my little girl.”

“That was beautiful,” Clarisse nods with a deadpan face. 

“It was,” Aphrodite agrees, completely serious.

Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her. 

“So,” I said, anxious to change the subject. “You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?” 

Travis and Conner lose it as one. Percy cracks and snorts at himself. Tyson frowns, not understanding the joke.

“Do you two know each other?”, Travis mocks, reminding them all of that little episode. Katy hits him through her giggles.

“Percy man, I thought it was a perfectly reasonable first question,” Jason assures him, clapping him on the shoulder. Percy looks at him with emphasised adoration in his eyes.

“You mean it bro?”

“I mean it.”

They share an over-dramatic look that sends Nico rolling. He keeps laughing as they continue reading in total silence, curled into himself on the floor.

“Not Mr. Brunner,” the ex–Mr. Brunner said…“Orientation film?” I asked.

"All hail," every Greek demigod in the tent except Percy intones at once.

“No,” Chiron decided. 

“You didn’t watch the film?!”, just about the entire camp shouts in simultaneous horror. Annabeth blinks stupidly at her boyfriend, which is a very un-Annabeth thing to do. Malcolm shakes him angrily.

“Oh-my-gods-what’s-the-big-idea!”, Percy grunts, sounding wavy with Malcolm’s shaking.

“That is TRADITION!”

“I put my HEART AND SOUL INTO THAT FILM—“

“Charlie shaved his head for that!”

“Silena broke up with him for a week over that film-“

“I ATE A WORM-“

“KATY ATE THREE!”

“—AND YOU DIDN’T SEE IT?!”

Percy blinks, reeling with all this new information.

“Why would you need to eat worms for an orientation video? Wait- Silena broke up with Beckendorf?”

“She was mad he didn’t do it with her for cancer or something. She looked cooler than him with a shaved head, though,” Clarisse clarifies. “Said she could wear all her biggest earrings now.”

“Still confused about the worm thing,” Percy says, “But okay.”

“Nah, man, you had to be there,” Cannor shakes his head with supreme disappointment, flopping back. 

“Dude, like, half the camp’s inside jokes are references to the orientation film. No wonder you were confused,” Nico chuckles, shaking his head. Percy jumps up.

“IS THAT WHAT THOSE ARE ABOUT?! DOES THAT EXPLAIN EVA’S THING WITH BACON?!”

“YES!”

“I can’t believe… Percy, you must’ve been so confused, I thought you’d seen it,” Annabeth bemoans. Percy doesn't noticed, still high off the delight of solving the six year mystery of the stupid bacon and probably about twelve other things that have haunted him throughout all his years at camp.

The Romans listen in varying states of shock and amusement. They really are from a different world. To think of being introduced to camp with something so informal… and what’s this about worms? What even are the Greeks? 

Reyna blinks, finding she’s not that surprised if she thinks about it as a lot of Percys running an organisation. That’s exactly how it would turn out. Then she recalls asking him to be Praetor and wonders what the hell she was thinking.

“I have to see this video,” Aphrodite squeals. And there’s something that makes her seem just human enough in the moment that Piper agrees. The campfire, the video… it’s another step of sharing home, and she agreed to give her mum a chance.

“Well, Percy…can and chewed it mournfully. 

“You are taking this way too well,” Jason states. 

“Wait,” I told Chiron… and keeping his mouth shut. 

Sharp, Athena forces herself to admit. She’s yet to see anything that proves him worthy of any daughter of hers, though, and she’s getting impatient.

“Percy,” Chiron said, “you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?” 

I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron’s voice made me hesitate. 

“You mean, whether people believed in you or not,” I said. 

“Oh, there’s more to it than that, little Percy,” Percy chuckles knowingly. Then he frowns. “I did not like saying that sentence. I’d like to rescind that.”

“Motion not granted,” Thalia says, just to be contrary. Percy kicks her.

“What do you mean, more?”, Hera asks curiously. Percy shifts a little in spot. 

“Better you than me, is all I meant, Lady Hera.”

“What?”, Ares coughs with a mocking laugh. Poseidon looks from his son’s cagey expression to the very solemn ones on the other children. Is this a hard topic? Did something happen? But how could immortality and its merits inspire gravity in their children?

“You heard me,” Percy says lightly, expertly stomping down on the natural anger that rises whenever the god of war opens his stupid mouth.

“Must’ve heard you wrong, though, because it sort of sounded like you think being immortal’s a bum wrap,” Apollo laughs. It dies as no one laughs with him.

“It would be. That’s all I’m saying. Keep reading, please.”

The gods look back at him in shock. Hera looks at her husband, a little lost. As usual, she finds nothing helpful there. 

Athena watches him with sick fascination through narrowed eyes. It would seem Percy Jackson is a puzzle that will take more than a few chapters to solve, and that bothers her, because it disproves her previously airtight hypothesis that he’s not worth solving at all.

“Exactly,” Chiron agreed. “If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?” 

Sally gasps in distress, head whipping to Chiron.

“Chiron!”, she chides, voice surprised and disappointed enough to make the oldest mentor of heroes the world has ever seen duck his head sheepishly.

“I apologise, Sally. Sometimes it’s best to be harsh and direct, especially in dangerous circumstances.”

“I understand, Chiron, of course I do, but you must also remember that they’re children. It must be hard, but don’t forget that.”

Chiron nods. Percy beams at his mother proudly. The campers stare at her openly, jaws on the floor and eyes popping out.

“She just did that,”, Malcolm whispers incredulously.

“No one’s ever done that,” Katy agrees just as quietly.

“Can we adopt Sally Jackson?”, Travis hisses to his brother.

“I thought she adopted us.”

“Can we adopt her back?”

My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn’t going to let him. 

“Trying to make him angry? Why?”, Leo asks. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“Yeah, have you met Percy?”, Piper agrees.

“I suspect I was waiting for him to explode. People deal with grief in a variety of ways. It can be very beneficial for the healing process to vent some of that emotion early on, to bring about the next stage of grief faster. I knew Percy had a history of anger issues, but also a penchant for suppressing himself and his feelings. I was hoping with a little encouragement I could push him into the healthier option,” Chiron explains.

“When has Percy ever taken the healthier option?”, Thalia asks rhetorically. There’s a murmur of general agreement and Percy clicks his tongue in acknowledgment. 

I said, “I wouldn’t like it. But I don’t believe in gods.” 

“Oh, you’d better,” Mr. D murmured. “Before one of them incinerates you.” 

“Okay, this is so not the way to introduce a newbie to camp. This is a train wreck,” Will states, voice hard.

“It would seem, in my attempt to ease Percy through the process as smoothly as possible, I accomplished the opposite,” Chiron sighs.

Grover said, “P-please, sir. He’s just lost his mother. He’s in shock.” 

“A lucky thing, too,” Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. “Bad enough I’m confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don’t even believe!” 

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine. 

My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.

Will slaps an incredulous hand to his forehead, eyebrows flying into his hairline.

“Mr. D,” he warned…Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.

Dionysus opens his mouth to protest, but Artemis waves her hand at him to shut him down immediately.

“Oh, hush, you absolutely did,” she snaps.

“And...” I stammered, “your father is...”
“Di immortales, Chiron,” Mr. D said. “I thought you taught this boy the 

basics. My father is Zeus, of course.” 

I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master. 

“It’s a good thing you’re so smart, Percy, because I’d be beyond lost,” Hazel informs him.

“He is following along admirably, given the circumstances,” Reyna agrees. 

“I thought it was just an experience thing when you were so good dealing with your—“ Frank cuts himself off, finding himself unable to speak. “When we FOUND you, those circumstances. Turns out you’re just good at getting your world rocked.”

Percy shrugs, leaning back. “What can I say, once you meet Annabeth, you never freak quite the same.”

Annabeth swats him and the arm he’s not-so-subtly sliding around her shoulder like a teen on a movie date, but she’s smiling. Aphrodite coos. Athena fumes.

“You’re Dionysus,” I said. “The god of wine.” 

Mr. D rolled his eyes. “What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, ‘Well, duh!’?” 

“Y-yes, Mr. D.” 

“Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?” 

“Oh no, don’t say that,” Aphrodite snipes with a hand on her chest. Poseidon chuckles at the same time as his son. Sally raises her eyes in mirth at her boys. The boys, she corrects herself with a twang of decades old grief. Poseidon isn’t hers anymore.

“You’re a god.”…“No. No, sir.”

“Is that what you saw?”, Mr D asks, the tiniest bit of interest bleeding into his voice.

“You leave him be, Dionysus,” Poseidon warns darkly.

“Yo, what the hell? Does he actually do that to campers?”, Malcolm asks. “I’ve never heard that.”

“Not usually,” Chiron says, brow furrowed, stroking his beard.

“And if I do… well, most don’t see quite what Perry did there. It’s a very subjective thing, sort of a choose-your-own-adventure,” Dionysus drawls, waving his hand vaguely.

“What do people normally see?”, Annabeth asks.

“Most of them don’t. It’s strange he saw anything at all when I applied pressure to his mind,” Dionysus replies, sighing as if speaking is a chore. “But to see that? Mildly interesting. Apollo might be onto something. Lots of mental potential there, too,” he adds, and the way he says it, it might not be a good thing. Could mean anything- potential to lose his marbles, maybe. Who’s to say?

“Percy,” Annabeth says, hands still the way they only are when she’s thinking hard, eyebrows scrunched adorably and lips slightly parted. He understands what she’s saying immediately. She wants to look further into it, probably something involving experimenting on him later. He hums his permission and watches as the cogs in her mind start working overtime, doubled down on the speed.

The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. “I believe I win.” 

“Not quite, Mr. D,” ... “Will Grover be okay?” I asked Chiron. 

“That’s your first question?”, Athena demands incredulously. Percy’s brow wrinkles.

“Of course it was,” he replies, like he can’t imagine any other answer he could’ve given.

“His fatal flaw, Athena,” Annabeth reminds her mother. Athena’s head snaps to her daughter. It’s the first time she’s spoken to her since getting here, and it’s about the boy. 

Annabeth’s eyes are staring resolutely at the carpet, face set hard. 

Athena, she called her. Not Mother. Athena.

Chiron nodded… “And then they died.” 

“Love hearing you sum things up,” Leo pipes up. “‘And the gods won.’ ‘And then they died.’ Poetry in motion.”

Percy gives him a little bow.

“You should write a book,” Clarisse agrees. Percy gestures at the one currently in Hades’ hands.

“Died? No…. People do not forget the gods.” 

“Wish I could,” Thalia mutters. If she weren’t the daughter of Zeus, who pretends not to hear, that might have been more dangerous.

“Every place they’ve ruled…At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear-

“HA!”, Connor barks. Katy slaps him over the head. Frank stifles his laughter in Hazel’s hair.

-but as he kept rising out of the chair… Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let’s meet the other campers.” 

Chapter Text

“Okay, I think I’ll read now,” Poseidon claims. 

“Actually, I had an idea about that, Aphrodite pipes up. “Let me try something.”

Poseidon hands over the book and she runs her hands over it thoughtfully for a few moments, somehow making flicking the pages mesmerizing. When she opens it back up to the page they were on, it speaks in a squeaky boy’s voice.

I BECOME SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM.

Pandemonium.

"WHO NAMED THESE CHAPTERS?!", Thalia screeches over the din.

"I love you, Percy," Leo pledges through tears of mirth. Percy is a little busy trying to catalogue Zeus' exact face right now.

"Supreme Lord?", Clarisse demands, "Supreme Lord?!"

"What can I say, I have a way with plumbing," Percy snarks back, looking over his nails. 

"YAY!", Tyson claps.

Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a pretty nice tour.

Percy’s jaw drops. Hazel shoots up in place. Nico actually leaps to his feet in alarm. Gasps ring out through the crowd from people who recognise the voice coming from the book. 

“Oh, my god, did I really sound like that?” Percy groans. 

“Oh, that’s- that’s…” Hazel breathes.

“Baby Percy!”, Tyson bellows. It makes a few laughs sound as Percy hides behind his hands, but he’s smiling at himself, even as Aphrodite coos. 

“Oh, I still think of you like that, you know,” Sally admits. 

“Mom!”

But as the voice continues reading, a perfect intonation of a twelve year old Percy, the effect is less than amusing. It’s a stark reminder of just how young he was. He sounds so small.

Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I’d done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I’m sorry, I did not trust Chiron’s back end the way I trusted his front.

Percy covers his whole face with his arms and tries to tuck into himself like an armadillo. Chiron blinks, betraying nothing. The Stoll twins are in stitches, and Katy’s trying to pretend she’s not right there with them. Frank turns into a rattlesnake and curls up really quickly, rattling uncontrollably. He looks like he’s smiling, but maybe he’s just a snake. Poseidon worries his brow to hide his snicker being a) the god of horses and b) this little shit’s father.

“I’m sorry, Chiron,” Percy mumbles into his knees. Well, that might be what he says- what comes out is “Mmsrrymmmon.”

Annabeth, who's barely reacted, sighs. 

“Really guys, this is Percy. His unfiltered thoughts. It’s gonna get a lot worse than that.”

Percy cringes. Grover cringes. Frank the snake cringes. Everybody cringes. Except the Stolls. They sparkle.

We passed the volleyball pit... and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.

“She was watching you?” Apollo asks interestedly. 

“I didn’t even know she existed at that point,” Percy replies. 

“Who?” asks Reyna. 

“The Oracle,” Thalia explains. “Not… the previous one.”

Reyna looks intrigued, but she lets it be. 

“What’s up there?”...“Not a single living thing.”

Leo snickers. 

“I get it.”

A couple of the campers look between Chiron and the book, which spoke for him during his lines. He sounded exactly the same as he does now. It's a little freaky given the difference between past and present Percy.

I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.

“Can you normally tell when people are being truthful?” Apollo interrogates. 

“Interview my son another time, Apollo. I want to hear this.”

“But he’s such an anomalyyyyyy!” Apollo whines. Poseidon level him with an unimpressed look, but there’s a tinge of pride in the quirk of his lip, if you know what to look for. Sally beams at the back of his head. If there was ever a son to be proud of, it’s hers.

“Come along, Percy,” Chiron said...“Grover won’t get in too much trouble, will he?” I asked Chiron. “I mean...he was a good protector. Really.”

“Still thinking of me,” Grover hums in a faraway voice that’s proud but not surprised. Percy hooks him into a headlock. 

“Always, big man.”

Aphrodite melts at the two of them. She adores Percy already, it’s so obvious that everyone around him respects him. He inspires emotions in people. Love naturally pours out of him like a fountain, and it makes him beautiful. 

Chiron sighed...“That’s horrible.”

The Stolls look like they might be sick. Most of the demigods do, actually. Percy himself clenches his jaw against the thought.

“Quite,” Chiron agreed… —a tiny, hopeful fire— started forming in my mind.

Aphrodite gasps. Athena’s eyes narrow. Artemis inclines her head in surprise.

“Chiron,” I said. “If the gods and Olympus and all that are real...” “Yes, child?”

“Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?”

Chiron’s expression darkened.

“Oh, Percy. Already?”, Sally murmurs regretfully. 

“Sorry, mom,” Percy says in a tone that says he’s not sorry.

“There’s bravery, insanity, stupidity… and then there’s that,” Clarisses comments. No one disagrees.

“Yes, child.” He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. “There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now...until we know more...I would urge you to put that out of your mind.”

“What do you mean, ‘until we know more’?” 

“Come, Percy. Let’s see the woods.”

“That won’t stop him,” Reyna says confidently. Chiron sighs. 

Athena recalibrates. He has a curious mind, a reasoning mind, if not a reasonable one. These are indeed traits she values. But it doesn’t appear that he values them in the same way. Maybe that is what will prove him unworthy. Maybe these books will show everyone exactly what kind of boy they’re rallying behind- maybe it will show her daughter who she’s rallying behind. And maybe, maybe, Athena will be surprised. But she doubts it. She very rarely is. 

As we got closer... Do you have your own sword and shield?”

Will lets out an aggrieved sigh.

“My own—?”

“No,” Chiron said... I decided to drop the subject.

As little Percy narrates, describing his new home, the yurt responds. Shimmering visions all around them flare to life, breathing out the different buildings and fields around camp. The air smells of strawberries and there is an undeniable sharp freshness to it. The wind tousles their hair. 

Finally, he showed me the cabins... basketball hoops (which were more my speed).

At this the cabins appear one by one, settling into the air as if visiting. Each of the gods crane to see their own cabin. Ares grins wickedly at his and Apollo actually glows in response to his own. Sally looks around, fascinated. She’s always wanted to see. Percy points things out beside her while he can in hushed tones. Piper frowns.

“It’s so… different,” she voices. 

“We’ve come a long way,” Annabeth says proudly. 

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

“You saw me?” Hestia asks, caught off guard. 

“Was I… not supposed to?”

She shrugs absently. 

The pair of cabins...

I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.

The vision that the Poseidon cabin presents itself as is almost unfamiliar to the newer campers. It’s the same building, if you squint, but it looks dead and abandoned, like a decaying coral reef or an abandoned shipwreck slowly surrendering to the sea. Forgotten. 

It wasn’t high and mighty... “Oh, I wouldn’t do that!”

“And why not?” Poseidon asks with a frown. 

“We didn’t know who he was, my Lord. We didn’t want to trespass,” Chiron says diplomatically. 

Poseidon shakes his head. “The days of holy temples are over, my friend, and they never did suit me. Any cabin of mine should be open to all, granted Percy and Tyson approve."

“Don’t worry dad,” Percy says easily over the shock of his friends who are less conditioned to being casual to deities (or them being casual back), “We fixed a lot of stupid rules like that since I got there.”

“It’s like a totally different place,” Piper agrees, still amazed by this description of camp.

“They are not stupid rules,” Zeus protests.

“Not anymore,” Percy agrees. Before anyone can smite him for that, the book steamrolls on.

Before he could pull me back… her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.

“Sorry, Clarrisse. That was uncalled for.”

“You’re right. I’m a way better bully than Bobofit.”

“True.”

I kept walking...“But, shouldn’t you be dead?”

“At least we know not to send him on any diplomatic missions,” Malcolm sighs. Reyna’s mouth hangs open a little and Jason looks like he’s been hit by his best brick as he thinks about Percy trying to do his job, ambassadoring between camps. 

Chiron paused... It wouldn’t have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.

“How come I never got to talk deep with Chiron during orientation?” Leo asks indignantly. 

“Percy’s really getting the full experience here,” Nico nods sagely. 

“I can hardly be blamed for that, Mr. Valdez. You never asked.”

“Little busy processing, honestly.”

“Percy is the only person this could’ve worked out this way for,” Will starts. “I mean, are you hearing this? It’s insane. Any other kids would be losing their mind right now, and Percy’s just like, ‘okay.’”

“So, Mr. Brunner, you work here…?”, Travis says in a squeaky Percy imitation. Quite a few people, including Poseidon, laugh.

“Well, Chiron doesn’t usually give the tours, does he?” Annabeth reminds them. “And for good reason. Come to think of it, that probably didn’t help the rumours…”

“Doesn’t it ever get boring?”

“No, no,” he said. “Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring.”

“Why depressing?”

Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.

“Oof,” Percy and Nico said at the same time. They fist bump.

“Oh, look,” he said... “Make yourself at home.”

“Eleven?” Jason repeats. Annabeth nods.

Out of all the cabins, eleven... Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Jason frowns at the description. Hermes sighs.

“Why is it…?”, Piper asks. 

“Eleven takes the undetermined campers,” Percy says darkly. 

Chiron didn’t go in… A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. “Now, now, campers. That’s what we’re here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there.”

The crowd visibly tenses at the friendly voice that says this. Thalia swallows thickly. Percy flinches like he's been struck. Annabeth scoots closer to him and Thalia plants herself between the couple and the man the room has been trying to forget, still huddled against a wall in a valiant attempt to disappear. A few eyes snap that way. Some stick, some don’t. Hermes watches it all in concern. 

The guy was about nineteen... “He’s your counselor for now.”

No one says anything. Percy loops his arm tightly around Annabeth and murmurs something into her hair, suddenly not caring what Athena has to say about it.

“For now?”...The campers all laughed.

Piper looks around at the bitter, sad looks on the older campers faces, crestfallen. It really was that bad. 

“The dark ages,” Travis says sullenly.

“That’s not funny,” Leo says, sounding smaller than he probably intended to.

“Who’s laughing?” Connor responds without looking up.

Luke curls further into himself, if possible. 

“I’m sorry, Percy,” Poseidon hums quietly, dropping a hesitant hand on his son’s shoulder. Percy nods at him.

“Yeah, well. Me too.”

“Come on,”...

Young Annabeth is hard to listen to. She sounds nothing like present Annabeth. There's a haughty know-it-all condescendence to her nasally voice that so easily inspires loathing in the insecure. It inspires none of the respect her powerful, reserved presence does now. She radiates a different kind of commanding today- she has a much more reliable and effortless way of carrying herself that says she earned it.

...many kids at this camp wish they’d had your chance?”

“Excuse me?” Thalia asks incredulously. Annabeth hangs her head in something very uncharacteristic and far too close to shame, her eyes closing. 

“Percy,” she hums, “You had it right way before I did. You saw it just how it was.”

“Well, I was the one, wasn’t I?” he teases. She snorts.

“Gods, it’s hard to hear myself.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Shut up.”

Aphrodite coos and they shoot her an awkward look as the moment dissipates. 

“To get killed?” ...That clears it up.”

“Annabeth,” Will groans, “I hate you.”

“That makes two of us,” she responds dryly.

“Can’t believe Percy killed two major baddies before he got to camp, didn’t see the orientation film, got a tour from Chiron, and then got stuck with the only person even less straightforward than the Oracle,” Malcolm lists. “Percy, man, infinite respect for not losing it up to this point.”

“Second that,” Rachel calls.

“And the mom thing,” Percy reminds them, “Let’s not forget that little detail. Not that I wouldn’t love to,” he adds under his breath.

“They don’t have souls… I was reeling with so many questions I didn’t know where to start. Then a husky voice yelled, “Well! A newbie!”

“OH MY GODS,” Will yells suddenly, “GIVE HIM A MINUTE!”

“Will,” Percy says regretfully, clicking his tongue in a bad-news kind of way, “I don’t think you’re gonna like these books.”

Chapter Text

I looked over… "It explains the bad smell."

Leo snorts and dives behind Sally’s back to avoid Clarisse’s glare, but to everyone’s- well, maybe not everyone’s- surprise, she’s got an equally nasty grin on her face. It’s genuine, though; her grins just look like that. She always reminded Percy of the Australian shark from Finding Nemo. Bruce. Since they decided that Percys were friends, not food, it’s become more encouraging than provoking.

“ Oh my gods, you want to die ,” Frank gasps in abject horror, running his massive paws down his pudgy face. 

“You don’t even know. The things I’ve seen her do…” Malcolm shakes his head as if trying to clear the images from his mind.

“No, little Percy! You have so much to live for!” Apollo wails.

Clarisse growled…wise girl."

Mayhem. 

Clarisse throws her head back and roars her barking laughter, arms still crossed. 

“IT WAS HER?!” Travis screeches from his perch atop his brother’s shoulders, where he leapt seemingly unconsciously in blind panic.

“It was her!” Percy confirms enthusiastically, ever susceptible to the excitement of others.

“What, what, what am I missing!” Aphrodite demands desperately, leaning forward onto her perfect hands, eyes sparkling. 

Through his shock, Jason manages to explain to her that Percy’s always called Annabeth Wise Girl. He had no idea anyone else ever had, much less that they were still alive to tell about it. The idea of anyone else calling Percy Seaweed Brain feels so inherently taboo it makes him physically recoil. 

“I knew you couldn’t’ve come up with that on your own!” Thalia crows.

“Because Kelp Head is so original,” he retorts. “Gee, how’d you get that from Seaweed Brain? ”

“I’ll show you original,” she yaps and flies at him, and then they’re really just a blur of tussling limbs as they roll around on the floor like excited puppies. Or maybe more like wolf cubs. Yeah, dogs don’t… bite like that…

Luke watches from the back with a gaze of absolute torture.

Annabeth looked pained… I knew immediately was the bathroom.

“ Oooh ,” Frank hisses in sympathy, cringing. 

“That was over quick,” Nico comments lightly. 

“Not a good image to present on your first day. He needs to salvage this, or no one will respect him,” Reyna adds. 

“That would be smart,” Percy manages to grunt from underneath Thalia’s elbow. 

"Salvaging it, or not respecting you?" Nico asks innocently.

"Yeah," he grunts from a headlock.

I was kicking and punching…he was so stupid looking."

Chiron sighs wearily to himself. He tried so hard to keep Percy from that pressure, those expectations, all of what it meant to be special even in demigod terms. It looks like he kept from Percy just what would’ve helped him, and condemned him to the rest. After all these centuries, he still has trouble walking the line between trusting his campers, his children, as equals and warriors, and remembering that they are children who deserve what kindness he can afford them, including blissful ignorance. After all these centuries, it is still so hard to raise children that can’t afford a childhood. In Percy’s case, it seems even by day one, he was bungling that spectacularly. 

Her friends snickered… as quickly as it had started.

Zeus has leaned completely forward with a deeply perturbed expression on his heavily furrowed brow. Hera puts a hand over her chest, clutching imaginary pearls. Apollo laughs something amazed. Ares’ jaw drops. Dionysus raises an eyebrow and actually looks up, which is most alarming of all. Even Posiedon shoots an amazed look at his son.

“On accident? Unintentionally? You’re certain? ” Hades snaps. 

“This is marvellous! Nothing this exciting’s happened in eons!” Apollo exclaims, still peering at Percy like he’s a fantastic experiment on a newly discovered species. 

“A bit dramatic, brother, but your point’s been made. He is… strange,” Artemis allows.

“No one’s like Percy!” Tyson bellows proudly, beating his chest. Percy melts into his brother, even as Nico laughs at him and pokes him in the cheek. 

“It all makes a certain amount of sense,” Malcolm hums, “given what we know.”

“No,” Athena disagrees. “Even taking into account his bloodlines, father and mother, whatever heritage that may entail, there are signs of something else. Fate is at work here.”

“The Fates are always at work,” Grover grumbles. 

“Not the Fates, dear,” Aphrodite corrects. “ Fate .”

“It is something else entirely,” Hestia clarifies.

“Well, isn’t that just something?” Apollo breathes reverently, eyes glittering.

“Rather it was nothing, actually,” Percy says uneasily. He’d rather not have anything to do with anything, ever again. Thanks.

The entire bathroom was flooded… You are totally dead."

“What kind of story is this where the bad guy wins?” Clarisse demands, spreading her grisled hands.

“You were trying to shove my head down a toilet, Clarisse. You’re the bad guy.”

I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

“Ooh, you are lucky to still be breathing, Jackson,” Clarisse growls deeply, but there’s no real heat in it. 

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, C. Besides, it was pretty good, right?”

“Yeah,” she snorts. “That’s why you’re lucky.”

Ares cannot believe what he’s hearing. How the fuck did one of his kids get over that? Especially one he likes so much already? He’d’ve fucking demolished the little bastard. He can’t imagine circumstances that would bring them past that and into reconciliation except…

…well, war.

Her friends had to … if you didn't get to the top fast enough.

“Aahaaa,” Sally breathes weakly, her hand finding her chest to calm herself. “It’s not, um, still like that? Is it?”

Silence. Chiron suddenly becomes very interested in the floor. Dionysus shrugs. 

The Romans blink through their whiplash. How can the Greeks go from such blatant flippancy, immature childishness like the fabled Orientation film embedded in the very foundations of their culture, and then have training that might even be more rigorous than New Rome’s? They’re like wild animals left completely to their own reckless devices. It’s an incomprehensible base to build a fighting force out of. 

…But it sure sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Finally we returned… I had become one with the plumbing.

“Supreme Lord of the Bathroom,” Thalia declares grandly. 

“All hail,” Travis and Connor say at once.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

“Um, rude,” Piper interjects. 

“You’re right, Pipes, but so’s Annie,” Percy says quietly, solemnly. “It’s… she did deserve better, but she wasn’t a she anymore.”

Hades has gone as stiff as the dead. Persephone withdraws her hand from his. In this realm… in her shadow, that dreaded woman he cursed for taking his wife that condemns him still… he is alone.

I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.

“ Uh-huh ,” Will whimpers weakly, hands over his eyes.

I wasn't expecting anybody… I want to go home now."

“The naiads,” Poseidon chuckles. “Who would’ve thought it’d be the naiads that finally got to him.”

“I think you have the patience and tolerance of… I don’t even know, Percy,” Hazel lauds. “I would’ve hit that point about six hours ago.”

“I don’t think Percy’s so separate from this world as your average demigod, though,” Jason says thoughtfully. He looks up and clears his throat as everyone turns to listen to him. “I mean, from what I’ve heard. Sally’s heritage, his power, this Fate business… he’s already had dreams, exerted extreme demonstrations of spiritual power, encountered monsters, and not just this week. His whole life. Really the only thing keeping him separate from the world he was born into, that he was always inherently a part of, was the knowledge of its existence. Right?”

“Uhh, Jase, the knowledge of its existence is kinda big,” Percy reminds him.

“Yeah but- I just mean,” he sighs, frustratedly trying to find the right words for the feeling he’s just had thus far. “It’s the little things. Even the Greek you picked up without any study, without even trying. That tug in your gut, with the water. You didn’t mean for that to happen. You were probably doing things like that your whole life. You didn’t have to work to become attuned to your power, or find it, or anything like that. I think it’s just a part of you. If no one told you that wasn’t how everyone was, though, how would you know? Maybe if any one of us knew what it was like to be you it’d be obvious. It probably doesn’t matter either way. It’s just something I noticed. Your transition to this world seemed so… natural . Not smooth, obviously, but… I don’t know. Like you belong in it. Like it couldn’t have happened any other way.”

If Jason wasn’t Jason, ex-Praetor of New Rome, son of Jupiter, ambassador of the Gods, and well used to being gawked at, the ensuing silence would crumble him. As it is, he just does his best not to shuffle awkwardly as everyone digests this. 

“Maybe that’s because he’s a Big Three kid?” Piper tries, but she doesn’t sound convinced.

“Like I said, it probably doesn’t matter why,” Jason shrugs. He didn’t mean to dissect his friend, he knows how uncomfortable Percy gets under a microscope. But the gods are clearly absorbing every detail from these books and holding it up against a different light than they ever have, and they seem to have found something. Something they missed. In all truth, it doesn’t matter why Percy is the way he is. But what if it has something to do with this Fate stuff? What if it’s affecting him now, and they can save Percy more obligations, more service, more heartache? If they can understand why the Fates- no, why Fate seems to use Percy to redefine loss and suffering every other week, can they rewrite it? 

Annabeth frowned…How sexist is that?"

“Oh, get over yourself,” Annabeth snaps at herself. Sally chuckles and squeezes her to remind her to be kind.

"Who's your mom…"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble. 

She knew. Poseidon needs his son to know, and he opens his mouth to make quietly sure, but Percy sends him a look and he doesn’t need to. Percy nods the slightest bit, blinking slowly in confirmation. 

Poseidon truly hopes he does. He doesn’t doubt his son, this living breathing part of him and Sally that’s become so much more somehow, but how could he? How could anyone know what Sally was to him? What they had? It was their secret. It was something he kept that history couldn’t have, that no one else could have, that he knew he was going to be thinking, dreaming, having for the rest of eternity, until the universe sees fit to define immortality and deem his race run. 

Yes, Sally knew him. Sally might be the only person who ever knew him. With no right to- no immortality, no relations, no job and no money, nothing in common with him and no right to understand the sea any more than any other person had throughout time immemorial, she did. And if he has his way, she always will. He never wants to be anyone but the man (the man, nothing more) that Sally Jackson deemed worth loving ever again. The man she made him. The only thing that kept him, keeps him, from doing anything, anything, anything to stay with her, is the plain fact that she deserves better than a god’s devotion.

If their son knows a fraction of that, then he’s glad. 

"Maybe you're right… But gods should behave better.

Hazel gasps. Jason swallows. Frank huffs helplessly. Percy bows his head out of respect for that pervading fact. That simple fact, that sent so many of his siblings off a cliff. Hestia joins him in mourning. Travis and Connor avoid their father’s eyes. Hermes looks to his other son but Luke… Luke, challenging, never-back-down, look-at-me-and-listen Luke, stares right through the floor. Hermes feels cold to his core when he recognizes the slimy feeling that it’s not that Luke can’t look at him. He just won’t.

The difference between those two words is infinite in that moment.

Zeus is the first one to break the endless silence.

“Are you accusing–”

“ Yes .” Thalia snaps. His eyes whip to hers and she holds them, every stormy molecule, hostage. She turns the rain in his blood to hail with how cold those eyes are. 

“Quiet, girl!” Hera hisses, tone coloured dark in breathless outrage. 

“Look, alright, some of us are worse than others,” Apollo admits with a dismissive little ‘whoopsie-daisy’ eye-roll. “But-”

“You do not get to tell us what you are to us. Not any of you,” Percy growls. It’s a dark thing, a chilling thing, like cold water that’s swallowed you whole without warning, the surface undisturbed so there’s no sign you ever existed at all. His expression is somehow worse, dragging you deeper, down, down into endless, crushing pressure that, by nature of itself, makes your body implode, flatten, twist, until it’s like a colourless empty juice box, and still, still there is more. Still you are adrift, and still, as far as the eye can see, there is nothing. “We know the rules. Each and every single one of you should either be doing everything you can to work within them, or renegotiate them. Some of you shouldn’t be better than others. All of you should be half decent, bare minimum. You’re not.”

Around the room, jaws drop. Hermes looks like he’s been stabbed. Aphrodite puts a perfect manicured hand over her mouth. The other one darts out and takes her daughter’s. Piper quietly takes it back. She won’t let their improving relationship undermine the salience of this stand. She looks her mother in the stricken eyes and hopes that she communicates that.

Zeus’ nostrils flare as his eyes flash like lightning, but once again his daughter is as solid as steel, and she does not budge. She does not let him go. 

“What did you say, kid?” Ares growls like an advancing tank.

Athena straightens, her tone as superior and knowing as it is expectant, looking to her daughter to set these absurd claims straight. “Annabeth, you–”

“You’ve lost the right to speak to me.”

Athena stops short. Her daughter’s tone is glacial. Her stance is closed off, her face as immovable and sheer and dangerous as a cliff face. By the Fates, Annabeth won’t even look at her.

Malcolm blinks in complete shock. 

“If it were just abandonment,” Percy says into the hateful, hurtful silence, “we would be okay. But you treat us like possessions. You use us and then discard us until the next time you need us. You act like our service to you is an obligation, like we exist only for you. We are not your possessions. We do not owe you anything . And if you want us to be your children, you have to start acting like our parents. Yes, I am accusing you. Give us some goddamn respect .”

Ares snarls. Hephaestus grunts thoughtfully. The demigods hold their breath, even Chiron stilling. 

Hades sits back, all the air punched out of his lungs. He is starting to see why this man- because he’s not a boy- is so important, such a catalyst of change in a world where change is a dirty word. An old world. It has nothing to do with his powers, and everything to do with his power.

“We will consider your words, Percy. We will consider all of your words,” Hestia soothes, gesturing around at the demigods, and it’s actually reassuring. He knows she will. “This is what we were brought here to learn. This is what the Fates want us to hear, and perhaps understand. All discussions will be had once our time here is up and everything we need to know has been brought to light. And there will be discussions. For now, we will read on.”  

“This will not stand,” Zeus snarls, still unable to bend. 

“It will,” she returns simply.

Chapter Text

"So I'm stuck here… "Practical jokes?"

Piper and Jason’s faces pull towards each other as through by magnetic force, catching each other’s eyes and exchanging a loaded look. The way the camp is described from back then is very different from the home they know and love today. Piper can see the campers letting a friendly monster in, like Tyson or Peleus, but she gets the feeling ‘practical jokes’ were a little more sinister than that. The rules, the bullying, the cabins, all of it sounds so far from the camp as she knows it now. Camp Half-Blood obviously went through massive changes in the few short years since Percy arrived. In a world with one foot in a long-dead past, that kind of change came from upheaval. Rebellion. War. She wonders how much Percy had to do with it. She’s not stupid enough not to make the connection with him showing up and all these changes occurring. Maybe that’s why the Fates decided this was necessary now. Percy’s still changing things.

"The point is… like a college ring.

A few eyes flit to the necklace lying over Annabeth’s (well, Percy’s really) collar. She wears ten beads now. The college ring still glints fully against the chain, understated and practical, and there’s a red coral pendant that has Percy written all over it. Coupled with the ‘Son of a Beach’ shirt, it’s… it’s a statement she did not intend to make. She’s hardly going to take it back, though. This is who she is.  

"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counsellors, and they're all in college."

Annabeth rolls her eyes at herself, flaunting her service before she’d even properly served, desperate for validation and, secretly, pity. Like the world owed her an award for waking up every morning. Pathetic.

"Why did you come…"You were granted a quest.

“Granted? Did she say ‘granted’ a quest?” Leo pipes up without warning, surprising no one more than himself. His head pops up like a meerkat from where it was slumped so deeply into his current project that Chiron was giving him chiropractor glares. 

“Yeah, that’s not how I’d have put it,” Frank frowns. He’s hesitantly sat a few cautious feet away from his half(?)-sister, still wary but giving her a chance nonetheless. If she and Percy get on now, maybe she’s okay. 

“Things were different back then,” Annabeth supplies. “Quests were different. The world was different. They were optional, even coveted, and they were in the name of personal achievement, nothing more. You might run into a few harpies on the way to retrieve an ancient relic or something. They weren’t… like now.”

That worrying darkness ripples over the ranks of demigods again, born like an old coat comforting only in its familiarity. Something like acknowledgment. Acceptance, maybe. 

“Personal achievement?” Hazel echoes incredulously. 

“Glory,” Will says. His voice is quiet and hollow. The word falls dead against the air and bleeds out slowly, going cold. Annabeth meets his eyes across the space. As the campers who we have been there longer than anyone else, it’s perhaps clearer to those two than anyone that not all of them left for glory. Back then, there was no way to progress, nothing to achieve, no accomplishment to aspire to. You didn’t live at camp, you survived. You were confined to a small chunk of land on Long Island Sound for as many days as you had in you. Annabeth, as a year rounder, was destined to live and die within those borders, having changed nothing. Done nothing. Been nothing. Her world was limited to an archery range, twelve cabins, a climbing wall and a lake. Cabin inspection on Sunday. Ancient Greek on Monday. Rinse and repeat.

To her knowledge, Chiron never caught on, but most people who wanted quests weren’t after glory or prizes or respect at all. The quests were the only way to get out of camp- whether that was to stay out, see family, or just not come back. Some of them really thought they would make it out there, but some didn’t, and they wanted out anyway. 

Annabeth, at age eleven, wasn’t sure which she was. 

Piper blinks in horror. Leo’s mouth closes slowly as this registers. Percy shakes his head to himself. Glory . They can’t imagine it. Annabeth’s glad for that. She wouldn’t wish the understanding she has for the sentiment on anyone. 

“You no longer seek glory? What, carving your name into legend’s out of style now? You too good for that sort of thing?” The war god snorts. 

“Yes,” Nico responds flatly. That throws Ares for a loop. Didn’t see that coming, did he? Especially since no one’s arguing with the little twerp. Not even his kid.

“Hang on. Are you telling me you don’t accept quests for glory anymore?” Apollo interjects, waving his hands around like ‘woah woah woah’.

“That’s absurd. That tradition predates your camp. It’s in your blood,” Zeus argues. 

“Things really have changed, then,” Hestia hums thoughtfully. 

“It must mean something quite different to be a demigod in your time,” Artemis observed over her fist, silver eyes flicking around the room. 

“It’s only been four years,” Hermes tries weakly. 

“But how do you prove yourself? Accomplish anything?” Athena demands. 

“By our own merit,” Thalia growls.

“We have bigger priorities,” Rachel says simply. And it’s true, but even now that the threats have passed, she knows glory isn’t on their radar anymore. Nothing brings people together like war. None of them think of themselves individually anymore. An accomplishment by one is the camp’s accomplishment, in the name of bettering the collective. It only took consistent and crippling devastation (and then some more, and some more) to stitch them into something like a family in more than name. Yes, they must be baffling to the gods of six years ago. 

 But that hardly ever happens. The last time… "Some of us year-rounders-Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others-we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

Annabeth flinches minutely at the allusion to Luke as a camper. As a brother, never more than two cabins away. Travis and Conner clench their jaws, refusing to shift their eyes lest they land somewhere dangerous.

"But... how did you get there?"…I decided not to point that out.

“Okay, as fun as it is to see how no one told Percy jack, credit where credit’s due, Percy clearly has a talent for just… not asking,” Nico announces.

“What, because they all give him such straightforward answers?” Will shoots back defensively. Percy didn’t notice it before, but he’s only wearing Beach Boys boxers and a sunshine yellow dressing gown. He doesn’t seem too worried about it, though, so whatever.

“It’s called adapting,” Katy chimes.

“It’s called social anxiety,” Frank refutes, also sounding mighty defensive.

“It’s called being Percy, dude saw a cyclops in primary school and was like ‘eh, okay’,” Leo reminds them.

“He’s just saving his curiosity for the really important questions,” Travis retorts.

“Yeah,” Connor agrees, leaning over Katy to tilt his head at his mentor. “Hey Mr. Brunner, you work here?”

Percy throws a cushion at the two of them as chuckles sound out.  

"Right after we visited," …But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

“Right. Aside from that,” Jason says dryly. 

“Ugh, I can’t even listen to myself. As if my mother’s petty feuds literally defined me. You’d think I was representing a political party, not myself,” Annabeth groans into Percy’s shoulder. He snorts, but he pulls her in to comfort her in silence. He sucks with words, but damn if he doesn’t give good hugs. They never had their best talks out loud anyway. She gets it.

I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.

Reyna chuckles to herself. Of course he was still thinking of how to help her. Reyna herself has been biting down on warnings about giving away all his information and using what he knew or didn’t know to his advantage this whole chapter, and Percy, confused and alone in a new world, just wanted to help. What an absurd way of approaching the world. Yes, he’s much too good a person at the core to be a praetor. It makes it that much more impressive that he’s made it this far. Kindness doesn’t survive this world. 

"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem ..."

There is a long, uncomfortable silence while those who didn’t know Annabeth at that age take it in. She’s a whole different person. War will do that.

I could smell barbecue…The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.

Reyna, Hazel, and Jason all find themselves scowling disapprovingly at the guy everyone’s been trying to forget hunched down in the corner. Separate. That is not a leader. Siblings who are in over their heads should all have someone willing to tread water with them. Percy needed, more than anything, some reassurance. Camp should be able to provide that. As cabin leader, Luke should’ve provided that.

As if reading their minds, Thalia’s face sours. Grover takes one of Percy’s and one of Annabeth’s hands. 

These are gonna be rough stories. Percy’s been gutted, thrown around, and fucked with like a looney tunes character since he busted Mrs. Dodds in that museum, but nothing quite scooped out his insides like what Luke did to him. 

This might be the hardest thing to go through twice.

Chapter Text

"So your dad is Hermes?"...Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him-even if he was a counsellor-should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.

Frank shakes his head. 

“Were you such a stranger to common decency?” he asks, timidity gone in the face of something that needs to be said. The Romans all look rather disheartened at the way the Greeks of not so long ago received a new recruit. Neglect hardly inspires loyalty in a people, much less a family. 

Percy’s lips have pursed again at the sound of Luke’s voice. He might not have even heard Frank. His foot bounces with an edge of aggravation as he stares through the tent’s fabric. Thalia, in contrast, has stilled, her eyes closing in grief, hating every word. Even then… even then, he had been her Luke. That was the worst bit… it wasn’t like some monster had crept into his skull and taken him away. Kronos was parasitic, manipulative, but Luke was sick with hatred even when he was her brother. More… more than her brother. The proof is being read out right now. And that hurts.

Nico observes Percy for a moment, then lets his eyes flick thoughtfully down, recalling a conversation they’d had in the dead of night in the hull of the Argo II with only the creaks of both their own bones and the ships’ keeping them company. 

Nico had been surprised to find Percy awake and without his other half. He hadn’t meant to. In fact, this was one of the least popular parts of the ship, not much more than a maintenance room in the bowels of Valdez’ beast. It sort of ran itself, from what Nico could figure, so not even the mechanic himself visited much. It was hardly uncommon to find people up and about the ship at all hours, but never here, so this was Nico’s go-to for solitude. 

Percy didn’t really do solitude very well, Nico was confident in that much. If he ever wanted to be alone, he wanted to be alone with Annabeth. Nico gave the room another look, but no- he counted zero blonde heads of curls in the room. Here was Percy, alone by himself. 

Percy’s neck craned back and his head rolled against the wooden stairwell he was slouched against to look up at whoever had found him. His messy black hair flew wildly over his eyes. They looked bright as tropical waters in the sun, but here in the dark, they looked like a shipwreck waiting to happen. They gave Nico a drop of the same feeling he got looking into a brooding Dionysus’, like he could drown in their depths so easily and no one would ever even find his body. It made him feel safe. 

“Hey Nico,” he hummed easily. As light as he was dark- the dichotomy of Percy Jackson. It always blew Nico’s mind, how easy Percy made things as hard as talking to people look and sound. Like he didn’t even think about it. 

Nico took a step back through the doorway he came in from. 

“...I’ll leave you,” he promised awkwardly. 

“Why?” came the simple reply. 

So Nico stayed, and they sat there in silence for a while. Talked about the ship. The crew. How things had changed, and how things hadn’t. 

“We should talk like this more,” Percy decided out loud, tracing shapes in the floorboards and nodding to himself. “I really should just stop avoiding you altogether, it’s not helping anyone.”

Nico blinked. He didn’t say anything for a while. He didn’t know what to say. He knew he’d been avoiding Percy, but why would Percy be avoiding him?  

The silence stretched. Nico ran his tongue over his bottom lip and squinted straight ahead into the darkness. 

“..Why, have you been…?”

A soft snort picked up where he trailed off. “What, like you haven’t?”

Nico’s hackles immediately rose and he tensed, mind racing around some defence, but hardly half a second had passed before Percy was taking it back. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t… that’s unfair. I’m deflecting. Bein’ defensive,” he admitted gently, flailing his hand around until it landed apologetically on Nico’s forearm before he retracted it. Another example of his unfathomable ease in the world- thoughtless contact just for the sake of it. That much touch was going to keep Nico’s entire nervous system on metaphorical tiptoes for a week, once the initial shock wore off. He fought to keep his breathing even. 

Percy swallowed audibly. He picked up where Nico had left off, following their unspoken agreement to talk to the wall instead of each other. 

“When I first came to camp, there was this guy. Hermes camp counsellor. Older than me, and way, way cooler. He was an incredible swordfighter, he knew what he was doing, how to talk to people, how to- he just, he could do everything. Everyone liked him. And he was, he was friendly, and thoughtful, and all that stuff. Nicer to me than people usually were. He was pretty much the only demigod who I could count on. And me, I was nobody, I was, y’know… some scrawny headcase with a rap sheet a mile long and a voice like you don’t even wanna know,” he chuckled out the last bit, but his smile died quickly. Nico could practically feel it melt, even distracted as he was hanging onto every word like scripture, trying to pick each one and all their layers apart. 

“He looked out for me,” Percy admitted, and it felt like it was really hard to get out. Nico saw him nod and blink at the floor a couple times out of the corner of his eye. 

Another stretch of silence. Then Percy gave a huge sigh. It sounded like an old wound reopening. Nico’s brows contracted even further as he recognised it as one he made sometimes when he thought too hard about things he shouldn’t. 

“I was about the same age you were when I met you. I thought he was perfect . And when he proved me wrong… it broke my heart.”

Nico took a sharp breath in and almost forgot to worry if Percy had heard it. His mind skipped like a stone on still water and then raced like a waterfall. 

It was the way Percy said it. Nico knew exactly what he meant.

“That’s why I’ve been avoiding you, Nico.”

Nico turned, evasiveness forgotten, to stare at Percy with wide, shocked eyes. 

“I don’t want to be your Luke.”

Nico’s breath stopped entirely. Luke. The Luke. The one who- of course, he’d heard stories. They’d been friends.

Percy had- he’d felt that way about him. About the guy who’d killed so many demigods, who Percy had had to fight to the death, on opposite sides of an all-out war. Before Annabeth, Luke had broken Percy’s heart. And he was telling Nico. He was telling Nico, so that… because… because he was the kindest, bravest person Nico had ever met, and he didn’t want to be to Nico what Luke had been to him.

He knew. 

Nico fought a miniature war within himself in the moment, one side yelling that it was selfish to consider his own feelings when Percy had just confessed something so monumental to him out of pure concern and consideration for his well being, and the other side yelling louder that HE KNEW. Somehow, both sides were losing. 

Now Percy was the one looking at him. Godsdamnit. He knew, he knew, he knew he knewheknewheknewheknew- but he, he was the same, with- for Luke, Luke had- and he’d told him, Percy had told him and Nico had to say something to thank him or help him or save him or fix it or maybe just run away because HE KNEW-

But so did Nico, now. 

That was the point. 

“...Nico?”

“…You haven’t made any deals with Titan lords lately?” he heard his own breathless voice ask. 

Thank all things holy, it startled a tiny laugh out of Percy and set him at ease enough to smile a bit. He made that look easy too.

“No, not that I know of.”

Nico painstakingly pulled, from some unfathomable depths within himself, the courage to turn his head and look Percy right in the windows to his unfathomably deep soul. He tread their waters for a bit while Percy searched his face for any sign of… anything. 

“...Then I think we’ll be okay,” he finally managed.

With the kind of stealth one can boast as the king of shadows, Nico rises from his place on the floor and glides soundlessly through the darker edges of the tent, slipping between the flickers of the hearth to reach his friend’s side. He makes the quietest sound, a deliberate scuff of his foot against the ground as he approaches so Percy knows he’s there. He’s the only one who can sneak up on the guy, so he’ll know it’s Nico. Without a word, the ghost king sinks down to sit directly behind him and leans back to settle, pressing his back against Percy’s. And there he remains. 

Percy pushes back a little, and Nico knows it’s his way of saying thank you. Percy always seems to need to say it somehow. As if Nico wouldn’t hear it anyway. 

I decided… "I hate prophecies."

Will lets out a tiny disbelieving scoff at the understatement. 

"What do you mean?"

His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until… somebody special came to the camp."

“You are JOKING!!” Aphrodite squeals, startling Leo into playing hot-potato with his latest thingamajig. Chiron makes a quiet chortle that sounds horsey enough that everyone pretends not to have heard. “They’re literally FATED!! They’re PROPHECIZED!! AAAAHHHHH!”

Piper cringes and tries to disappear. Percy looks torn between beaming proudly and melting in embarrassment. Annabeth shakes her head and looks determinedly away. Athena’s already opened her mouth, and Poseidon’s covered his face like he can hide from the conversation, but Apollo beats them both to responding. 

“Prophecies don’t pertain to romantic attachments usually. If he was special, it would’ve been in the context of a quest, or-”

“SHUT UP, ‘POLLO, they are PERFECT!!! He’s the one , oh my STARS!!!!”

“‘Dite,” Poseidon begs. She turns to him and shrinks a little, hissing through her teeth in apology. Whoops. 

“Aphrodite, I forbid you from having any hand in the relationship between my daughter and the sea-spawn,” Athena declares in an icy tone. 

“Hey!” Annabeth snaps. And when Annabeth snaps, everyone listens. The entire tent whips to attention. “That’s not up to you. Nor is it relevant. Let’s continue.”

"Somebody special?"... In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

“That’s all? Where does the influx of campers come from?” Reyna inquires. She’s met with a few confused glances. 

“Influx?” Malcolm echoes in question. 

“Yes. You fought a war soon after this. You would have had more than a hundred campers then.”

A beat of silence. 

“Not really,” Nico says lamely. 

The Romans’ eyes widen. 

“That’s not a fighting force,” Frank blusters, flabbergasted. “That’s not a war, that’s small-scale genocide!”

“Yeah, well, we had a lot less by the end,” Will, the cheeriest sunshine of them all, reminds everyone solemnly. 

“You could say we pulled a Thermopalyae,” Annabeth provides. 

“I’d say you pulled a miracle,” Jason breathes incredulously.

At the pavilion… Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

The faintest echo of the camp’s forgotten roar rings out through the tent like a ghost, leaving those who had been present wondering if it was their memory and those who hadn’t wondering if it was their imagination. 

Wood nymphs… And if that's a real place, then someday…

“That’s a foolish philosophy, nephew. It will bring you nothing but grief,” Hades pronounces. Percy cocks his head.

“Eh, agree to disagree.” 

Hades raises a dark eyebrow. Nico snickers.

"Here you go, Percy…ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

Clarisse gave one now for ambience. Ares grinned wickedly and clapped her on the boulder shoulder, nearly buckling her.

"Personally,"...Peter Johnson."

“PEDRO JAMAICA,” Travis announced dramatically with an important sweep of his arm. 

“Pascal JossWhedon!” Connor chips in on his other side. 

“Perry Jinglebell,” Will adds. 

Nico leans in his direction to address him. “Do you mean Persuasion Jack O’Lantern?”

“Oh, of course, Pastrami Jellyfish.”

Percy leans back to talk to them both. “Oi, you talkin’ about me behind my back, Nigella Di Anglo- Saxon? And you, Wilhelmina Sorcery, I expected better from you.”

“Why?” Will returns simply. 

Chiron speaks to the gods in a long suffering tone.

“This would be one of those times to just not ask,” he assures them. 

Chiron murmured something… I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.

“This would be an optimal time to rest, I should think,” Demeter speaks up. She waves a hand clearly used to holding a great sceptre at the lack of light shining through the slits in the tent fabric. They’ve missed sunset by a few chapters. 

“I concur!” Apollo trills brightly, leaping up on the spot. “Which, if I’m not mistaken- and I’m not, ever- means it’s CAMPFIRE TIME!!”

Groans ring out from some of the gods. Leo shoots a hand up before he can think about it.

“Can we do lunch first? Dinner? Linner? Dunch? Food, can we do food? Please? Uh, your majesty?”

“Good question,” Chiron rises from his knelt position, graciously ignoring Leo’s rambling. Chiron’s a real one like that. 

“Actually, I was gonna say,” Piper says, “Can anyone else smell-”

Percy and Grover interrupt her in perfect sync, whipping around to look at each other seriously. 

“Barbecue.”

There is a mad scramble and in a blink, they’re both flying out of the tent, zero consideration for anything else in the world right now. 

“How uncouth,” Hera mumbles. 

“LAST ONE OUT’S A PLUCKED HARPY!” Clarisse screeches, and it’s all downhill from there.

Chapter Text

The undefined liminal space they’ve found themselves in has helpfully provided its guests with a picture-perfect recreation of camp half-blood’s dining pavilion just outside the yurt, complete with braziers lining the place and the faint smell of strawberries. The same amenities are supplied as well: automatically refilling plates and cups, a raised platform for Chiron to overlook the space, and a roaring fire. 

The campers act on instinct, already moving to sacrifice a portion of their meal to the gods. They waver awkwardly as they catch themselves, sending unsure looks at the very much present pantheon. 

“I think we can wave that particular tradition given the circumstances. This is an exercise of understanding. Let’s all eat together, hmm?” Poseidon booms warmly. 

Half the gods seem all too happy to comply, moving to do so before the less reasonable members kick up a stink. In the end, everyone’s too hungry to argue for long. 

Frank is a little too excited to try this gumbo Hazel’s so fond of to notice anyone (read: the god of war) creeping up on him. Hazel gets this glisten in her eyes whenever she tells him about it. It’s obviously special to her. Frank’s secretly hoping he can figure out what’s in it, and maybe find a reason to make it for her sometime. It probably won’t be the same. Maybe it’s a bad idea. But he’s keeping it in his back pocket, just in case. 

“Nice haircut.”

Frank nearly leaps a foot in the air. He’s too heavy to do that so casually, so instead his heart does it for him. Not for the first time, Frank wishes he looked as fragile as he really is. How else are people supposed to know he should be handled with care?

Ares is in American military getup. His hair is buzzed, great scars criss-crossing his skull and massive rippling arms. His large nose is crooked, like it’s been broken more times than are worth remembering. The sunglasses he’s apparently known for have been confiscated. His eyes are black as coal, and they have the same incendiary quality. Frank can see elements of himself in the broad set of the god’s chest and the thickness of his fingers on his massive hands, probably because he’s spent hours in front of the mirror hating those things about himself, trying anything and everything to look smaller. Interestingly enough, Ares’ uniform isn’t a general’s or anything grand like that. Even though he’s in off-duty workout slack, it’s clearly the dressed-down fit of an average ground troop. From what Frank understands about his father’s Greek form, it seems mighty out of character. It still doesn’t make Frank feel great about his Hawkeye jammies. 

Ares jerks his impossibly solid chin at Frank’s chest, those very black eyes landing pointedly on the dog tags resting there under his shirt. “Those yours?”

Frank’s hand twitches, but he refuses to cover them. It’s just a reflex to apologise for whatever anyone points out about him, but this isn’t him. These are his mother’s tags. He has no reason to be ashamed of her. 

“My mother’s,” he responds steadily. 

Ares grunts. “You one of mine, then?”

“Because my mother fought, I have to be one of yours?”

The words are out before Frank registers them. Half of him wants to melt on the spot. The other half couldn’t have said it better. 

Something like a growl escapes Ares, and those eyes of his threaten to ignite. The depths of them simmer a red Frank’s learned to fear above all things. 

“Careful, kid,” he snarls lowly. Then he saunters away, boots leaving deep indents on the innocent grass. Frank sighs sadly at a dandelion that was crushed in the god’s retreat. 

“He takes some getting used to,” Someone with an equally gravelly voice says to Frank’s right. He almost jumps again. He turns to see his- sister? half-sister? Cousin? Something removed?- tearing into a stick of bacon with all the grace of a lounging lion. She has… rather sharp teeth. Frank tries not to gulp. 

“I don’t know if I want to get used to him,” he admits. 

Clarisse shrugs. “Don’t then.”

“Do you? I mean, did you?”

Clarisse finally deigns to side eye him. She takes a moment before she answers. 

“Haven’t decided yet.”

Frank’s eyebrows jump. He shifts in place. He wasn’t expecting that. So… they’re on the same page, then? She seems like the perfect daughter for a war god. He wonders what contention she has with him. 

“Maybe we can… keep each other updated, then,” Frank tries against his better judgement. “Compare notes.”

She keeps eyeing him with that unnerving stare, like she’s deciding whether or not it’s even worth noting his weaknesses before killing him. Her gaze lands on his traditional chinese slippers. His grandmother made them. He was worried they wouldn’t fit after his growth spurt, but they seemed to have grown with him. He can almost hear his grandmother chiding him: You think I didn’t consider that you could grow? That’s what you get for doubting me, Fai.

Clarisse grunts. Then she leaves him there. 

Well. She and her father certainly have some things in common. 

Once Percy’s heaped his plate with everything from good old-fashioned barbeque to the greasiest pizza a new yorker could dream up, he bee-lines, oddly enough, to Aphrodite. 

“Hi, my lady.”

She gasps delightedly on seeing him and bounces on her toes. Her divine features, reminiscent of the old marble sculptures, all turn up in a fluid, synchronised way. It makes her previous glow seem pitiful- forget stars, the whole galaxy is in her eyes now, and she beams like the moon. A few infatuated sighs sound out around them. 

“Percy! Oh, my little munchkin, hi!!”

“Uh… y-yeah, hi.” Percy shakes his head to clear the seductive fog from it. “Sorry, I had a couple questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Mind?! From you?! You’re joking, I’m head over heels for you and your girl already- but you especially, you absolute star! Ugh, your inner monologue is just- AAH!! So sweet!!! What do you need, a tux? A king-sized bed? A honeymoon in Florence? OOH, A RING?!?!”

“What- I-” Percy chuckles nervously, having taken a little step back at her alarming enthusiasm. “No! No, uh- I don’t- I just was curious about something. Two things, actually.”

“Anything, anything, lovely!”

Percy straightens and scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Okay, first question: you show yourself as whatever’s most attractive to your target- I mean, your company, right? Whoever you’re talking to?”

“Oh, it’s all very fluid, but that’s the general gist of it!” 

“Riiight. So how come- I mean, now, sure, that tracks, but how come I never saw you as a dude before? Uh, my lady? Ma’am?”

Aphrodite gasps again, turning her big wide eyes and drop-dead stunning smile on him. She slaps him on the arm as if admonishing him for teasing her. 

“Now? You expect to see me as a woman now, but you didn’t before? What changed? Lost favour with the courser sex? Tell me-”

“-Ah-ah-ah, my question first. I’ll do you a deal: Information for information.”

Percy wonders, belatedly, if that was wise. Never look a gift god in the mouth, and all that. But it was pure instinct to use any leverage he had, so he hadn’t thought about it. Hopefully he’s cute enough that Aphrodite will forgive him. 

“Playing coy, I like it! Okay, you tease. Well, I’m a pretty feminine deity, you know, so I tend to stay in a female form unless I’m feeling particularly masculine or changeable. Or if I have an agenda. Not that it makes much of a difference- gender and sexuality are a lot more fluid than you mortals tend to think. I like playing with those perceptions of yours, so funny, like you pulled them straight out of thin air! But enough about me, enough enough enough-” she makes flappy hands at him. “Tell me, why does it make more sense that I take a woman’s form now?”

Percy chuckles self-consciously. One doesn’t speak to the goddess of love without blushing, but Percy feels his blush deepen regardless. 

“Well, you don’t change anymore,” he says evasively. 

This gasp is much more reverent. Instead of bouncing, Aphrodite goes absolutely still. 

“What?” she breathes.

Percy avoids her eyes, suddenly sorry he started the conversation. Ah, geez, he can feel people looking at him. His dad is staring with narrowed eyes. Athena is glaring extra hard. He’s not brave enough to look at Annabeth’s expression, but he can feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. This is way too embarrassing to have been worth the effort. He was just curious, damnit!

“Do I… look, like…?”

“...Annabeth,” Percy confirms, mumbling it into the ground. “And she’s a girl, so obviously that’s-”

No matter how beautiful an ear-splitting shriek is, it is still an ear-splitting shriek. Percy snaps up rigid as it rends the air, sure his eyeballs must be vibrating in their sockets. Oh, that- that should be weaponized. No, actually, it should never be weaponized, it should be labelled a war crime and declared off limits. Fucking ow . 

“JESUS CHRIST, BABY, CUT THAT SHIT OUT!” Ares roars, removing his giant scarred mitts from his ears. Percy would laugh at the god’s choice of swear if his skull wasn’t permanently compromised from the recent assault on his ears. 

“APHRODITE! What did we say about the screaming!” Zeus barks. 

Aphrodite appears not to hear them, preoccupied with jumping up and down in place and all but scooping Percy up in her arms to spin him around. He stumbles back just in time to avoid such a fate. 

Poseidon calls her name at the same time Piper snaps “Mother!” but neither of them are quicker than Annabeth, who’s inserted herself between the goddess and her boyfriend at the speed of light, a possessive flare in her eyes that’s been quietly simmering throughout their entire conversation.

“Right, that’s enough,” she states, tone glacial, eyes set dead on Aphrodite. She’s subconsciously fallen into a defensive stance, crouching a little. It’s a rather feral look for such a cautious diplomat as Annabeth to take, particularly against a goddess.

“Wait, but I haven’t asked her to change it yet!” Percy protests, immediately shrinking when his girlfriend rounds on him with an eyebrow raised, looking like a natural catastrophe. 

“Change what?” Malcolm pipes up, his curiosity, as usual, getting the best of him. Damn him and his lack of social tact.

“Just, her appearance. It’s wigging me out.”

“It’s wigging us all out, hermano, you ain’t special,” Leo calls off-handedly.

“No, not- it’s- it’s not-”

“I LOOK LIKE ANNABETH TO HIIIIIIM!” Aphrodite screeches about ten decibels below a sonic boom. 

“GOD, BABY, STOP!!”

Annabeth turns back to her boyfriend in surprise, silently asking him if that’s true. He ducks his head with a sheepish smile. His ears are red.

“You’re not serious?” Artemis asks incredulously. The entire pantheon has stopped to gawp at them. Percy wishes he’d just kept his stupid mouth shut.

“I was just- It’s just a bit freaky, having t-two of them, around…”

“Oh, please, the boy lies, obviously!” Athena snarls. Poseidon rounds on her thunderously at the insinuation.

“Athena-” he growls.

“Come on, he hasn’t mistaken one for the other once! If what he says is true, telling them apart would be impossible!” she challenges angrily. How dare the upstart fabricate such a thing!

“What?” Percy asks dumbly, confused into opening his mouth again. “Obviously I can tell them apart. They’re nothing alike.”

Athena bares her teeth to snarl at him again, but Sally cuts across her civilly. 

“What’s different about them, Percy? Is it their voices? Does Aphrodite’s form flicker at times?” 

Percy looks between Aphrodite and Annabeth, face earnestly confused, as if he’s unsure how this can be unclear to anyone. It’s clear enough to him. 

“Mom, they’re totally different. Aphrodite could never perfectly recreate Annabeth. She doesn’t breathe the same way or sit the same way. She moves differently- Annabeth would never shift on her old break, she always leans to the left so she sits on my right. She’d never tolerate her hair in her face or, like, use it to punctuate her sentences. Her nose only scrunches that way when she’s excited and trying to hide it. Her eyes are- well, they're not different, they look exactly like that, but she doesn’t… look… out of them, the same way? Look, I- just, everything’s different, she’s clearly not Annabeth, it’s just weird that she’s wearing her face.”

There is a moment of silence where everyone processes that and/or blinks stupidly at Percy. Thank all things holy, Apollo shoots a quick silencing effect Aphrodite’s way half a second before she lets loose another deafening screech, perfect face going red with it. How does she make even that look good?

“See?! Would Annabeth do that?! Tell me she’d do that!” Percy challenges the crowd at large defensively, gesturing wildly at the incoherent Aphrodite. 

Annabeth’s cheeks tinge pink, but it’s slight, overcast by reverent shock as she stares, wide-eyed, at her boyfriend. His own expression eases into something softer, his blush calming as he looks back at her, letting himself forget everyone’s watching for a moment. Just focusing on her. That always settles him. He smiles gently at her, and, okay, it’s maybe a little adoring. 

“That’s adorable,” Will chirps at the same time Nico grunts “That’s disgusting,” but both of the statements hold the same tone of incredulousness down to the pitch. 

“AWWW!” Jason cries from the back somewhere. Clarisse and Thalia make wretching noises. Grover shakes his head. Leo whistles. 

“That’s adorable, actually,” Piper admits begrudgingly. 

“I have been known to be, on occasion,” Percy coughs, trying to carry it off. Grover goes to whap him on the back encouragingly, but Tyson gets there first and he just scoops the couple up in his arms with a big toothed grin 

“Percy and Annabeth are in super love!” he declares proudly. 

Percy throws his head back and laughs. Annabeth lets her head fall against the big guy’s massive arm, pushing her forehead in like she’s trying to drill herself an escape. She’s chuckling, though. 

“I don’t even have a girlfriend and I feel outdone,” Malcolm admits. 

Apollo lifts the silence from Aphrodite, as she seems to be finished screaming. Shimmering tears cut graceful tracks down her cheeks. 

“That’s true love. Unconditional. That’s everything. That- that hasn’t happened since Troy,” she weeps. “That’s… that’s my entire… that’s what I st-stand for… that’s what I exist in the name of… I am m-made of, for, this… it’s so beautiful,” she weeps. Ares grumbles under his breath. Hephaestus shuffles forward and hesitantly pays her on the back with a giant, misshapen paw. She needs no more encouragement to fling herself against his chest and bawl her eyes out, not so much as glancing up at him. Hephaestus looks like he’s been handed a winning ticket for a lottery he wasn’t aware he was playing in and is unsure whether or not he should tell anyone there’s been a mistake.

“Okay,” Percy wheezes, voice an octave higher than usual. “I’m gonna go… eat my pizza…”

“Somewhere else?” Annabeth begs, quickly turning a red deep enough to match Percy’s as the situation catches up with them.

“Anywhere else, yeah,” he confirms before she’s even finished. The two of them practically sprint across the pavilion to the least noticeable table, which Nico is currently sharing with Jason and Will. Bless them, they automatically move to cover the couple from the sight of the general public as best they can. 

“What’d I say about making us look bad, dude?” Jason teases. 

“You are more than welcome to propose or something right now. Seriously, be my guest. Any old time, the floor is yours,” Percy grumbles, ducking behind Nico as Athena storms by. 

“Don’t be afraid of my mother, Percy. She has no right to have any opinion on you whatsoever, nor on me, nevermind us . She lost the privilege. And even if she hadn’t, there’s nothing she could do to keep us apart. There’s nothing anyone could do.”

Percy stares at her. They all stare at her. Annabeth doesn’t so much as flinch, steady as bedrock, looking like she’s leading an army into war.

“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us…” Percy trails off weakly as Annabeth turns to look him in the eyes. He quickly goes from dumbstruck to utterly infatuated. Her eyes sparkle and she smiles, returning all of his love in full, and he melts like ice cream. 

“I think I’m gonna hurl,” Nico deadpans. 

“Hurl on Jason,” Will requests, equally deadpan.

“Two types of couples,” Jason mutters.

“What was that, Grace?”

“Nothing, I didn’t say a word.” 

“It’s funny, though, I never saw you guys as particularly lovey-dovey,” Will muses. 

“Nauseating, if you will,” Nico supplies. 

“Ugh. We’re not. Not usually,” Annabeth assures him. “You know that.” 

“Annie doesn’t like PDA. I never really got the appeal, either,” Percy agrees.

“Exceptions are if we expect to die sometime in the near future- as in, the next hour. But, ah, in between those, Percy does make… grand gestures, sometimes.”

Percy frowns. “Grand gestures? When?” 

“You don’t realize it, but they’re very sweet.” 

“How can they be gestures if I don’t mean them?”

“You do mean them-“ 

“Mean to make them, same thing.”

“Completely different things, actually-“

“Aaand, they’re off,” Jason huffs as the bickering spirals further into the inane. It’s like the rest of them aren’t even there.

Maybe there’s only one type of couple.

“Hi, Leo,” Sally hums, settling in beside the boy as he scarfs his spaghetti-os. He nearly chokes. Instead he swallows a frankly impressive amount of circle soup at once and stares at her in surprise. He was sure he had, like, no chance of scoring a seat with Sally Jackson twice, nevermind being specifically sought out. Especially since he’s sitting all alone on the edges of the pavilion. On the floor. Eating spaghetti-os.

“Hi, Miss Jackson. Missus- uh, ma’am.” 

“I’m just Sally,” she assures him.

“How’d you know I was me? Leo, I mean?” 

“Oh, of course you’re Leo. Percy tells me about all of you. You guys are amazing, but wow- building a whole flying ship alone? Piloting it? That’s incredible. I’ll bet it was fun, too. A wii remote? Ingenious!” she laughs. 

“You should’ve seen the landing gear. The interface was a 3DS,” he grins impishly. 

“Oh, I remember sneaking Percy in to play with the display ones in the stores with a different disguise each week. If he says he won the base game every time, don’t believe him,” she says. “Hey, did you finish what you were working on through the reading?”

The way she says that, Leo knows he doesn’t have to tell her. He could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or completely change the subject, she wouldn’t pry. Which is maybe what gives him the final push to tell her exactly what he’s been making. 

Leo reaches into his tool belt and runs his thumbs over the end result nervously. “It’s, um. It’s stupid, just a little… I didn’t realize I was making it. I mean, I thought about how I’d make it if I did, and then I looked down and I was half done, and then I had some more ideas, so I kept going, and, um… you don’t have to… it’s just, you seem really cool, and you kind of remind me of mi madre, and Percy said- I mean I know you had to fight a couple times and you didn’t have anything, so…”

He pulls it out and shoves it jerkily at her, almost hitting her in the elbow. 

“It’s a shell. Well no, it’s not a shell, it’s a hair clip. But it’s a weapon. And a shell. It’s- if you press it down here-“ he demonstrates, and a tiny needle shoots out from the clip. “You coat that in a sedative, it might come in handy. If you get them in the arm or neck it should hit the bloodstream pretty quick, but it depends what you use, it’s really up to you. If you don’t want to get within range you can hold it down and it’ll shoot from a distance. I made a bunch of buttons along the edge there, the indents. See they’re colour coded? I was thinking I could connect each one to a different demigod, so you could call any of them if you needed assistance. I might need to ask one of the Hecate kids. I just thought it’d be neat, you know, you press the blue one and Percy’s sword buzzes or something, and he knows to come and get you. You can change the colour, too, there’s illusion tech so you can make it blend into your hair for subtlety, but I guess you could make it blue to match your jammies, or white, or whatever. I’d polish it off when I got home, obviously, this is just a prototype. But you don’t- I mean, you don’t have to take it. If you don’t like hair clips. Or shells. You seemed like you would. But like I said, it’s just something I thought of randomly while we were reading, and you don’t have to-“ 

“Oh, Leo,” Sally breathes, interrupting him without even batting an eye at the onslaught of verbal diarrhea. “You made this for me?” 

Sally takes it from him with gentle, reverent hands, twisting it this way and that, looking it over with sparkling eyes like it’s the eighth wonder of the world. Leo gulps. He’s no artist- it’s not particularly pretty or anything, and it is just a prototype. No way is it holding up to that kind of scrutiny. 

“…Yes?” he replies uncertainly, realizing he’s supposed to answer. 

“It’s fantastic. You thought of everything, and you just did it. That’s amazing!” She tries out the mechanism, familiarizes herself with the latch. “That is… that is so thoughtful. I love it, sweetie. Thank you.” 

Again, it’s the way she says it. So earnestly. Percy does that too, says things in such a way that the world seems a simple and straightforward thing and you just can’t not believe him. Leo feels like she’s listened to every word he’s said, and heard them. He feels like she cares about every tiny thing about him because together they make him up. He feels seen and addressed in a way he thought was a far more distant myth than the gods. It’s so validating he feels… like a person. 

Fuck the hairclip. He’s making Sally Jackson a starfish bracelet that turns into a bazooka. She liked the boat? He’ll make her a fleet. Is she lonely? Would she like a dog? He can make her a dog. He can make her a dog that serves tea and crumpets. Blue crumpets. Yes. He’s doing that. 

The night wears on. They take their time. There’s no rush, for once, and there is a lot to be said. Eventually, Chiron stomps his hoof down on the deck, prompting all the campers familiar with the cue to quieten and look to him. Everyone else follows suit. 

“Lady Hestia has decided it is time for the campfire,” he announces. 

Cheers ring up from the kids, and everyone gets up to move to the hearth, now a perfect reflection of the one at camp half-blood. 

It’s time for some good old-fashioned family bonding. 

Chapter Text

It’s awkward. 

It’s very awkward. 

The campfire is at once a sacred tradition and an incredibly irreverent happening for the greeks. It’s the heart and soul of camp- and camp’s a little rough around the edges. It was never made for the audience of… um. Well, anyone, really. Nevermind gods . 

Will, however, thrives on uncertainty. This is his time to slip into bright, warm encouragement, and he does it beautifully. It’s really impossible to feel tense with Will cheering you on. 

His guitar has been graciously provided, so he starts up some familiar tunes, just to get everyone in the mood. He gives Grover a nod, so the Lord of the Wild takes out his reed pipes and backs him up. Apollo, refusing to be left out, starts to play the air. As in, he mimics playing whatever instrument he deems fitting for a particular verse, and the sound actually plays like he’s got an invisible orchestra at his beck and call. It actually makes for a killer tune. Will cranks up his beaming grin about ten more watts, and no one ever feels hesitant in the face of that. It’s simply impossible not to join in. 

Percy teaches his mother the words to ‘my grandma puts her armour on’ as they go. Dionysus bops his head along and hums into his cup. Chiron claps the tune with a big happy smile. Aphrodite is absolutely entranced with the whole thing. Leo belts out the words tunelessly, swaying along with his arms around Travis and Connor (Chiron is lifting their ban on collaboration just for tonight. Normally they’re not allowed within ten feet of each other, but they deserve the treat). Hestia looks a thousand years younger. She thinks she knows what Aphrodite meant before, about being made for this. 

Poseidon can’t help but look at Sally, and the second he does he’s rooted to the spot, unable to move. Unable to take his eyes off her for a second. There she is, curly black hair falling around her like a waterfall, swaying in the light of the fire. She looks as warm as home. And there’s that smile. That indescribable smile. She’s the same woman that sat with him before a fire like this on the beach and talked about philosophy and how little it mattered over a beer, and she’s a woman entirely other. With old scars and new moles and a couple of unfairly becoming grey streaks shot through that curly hair of hers like currents, with more smile crinkles and a son that she and he made. And she is all the more beautiful for it. 

“Ayy, Percy!” Grover calls over the festivities a few songs in when everyone’s a little more comfortable. His best friend looks over immediately, somehow having heard that through the din. Grover raises his eyebrows and plays the first little sequence of the song they never finished earlier in the day. It’s a question. 

Percy beams and shoots up in place, throwing himself across the ring to side-hug him. That’s answer enough. Will deftly picks up the tune, and Apollo automatically follows suit. Raucous cheers go up around the fire (which spikes with their delight) as the crowd recognizes the song. It’s amazing how loud only a fraction of the camp can be, as if making up for their numbers in volume. Usually it’s more yelling than singing anyway, so why change for a few gods, right?

Will winks at Jason, Piper, and Leo, who only just learned the song recently. No one played it when Percy was missing, so it was only when he came back that it started up again. Sally and Hazel exchange equally amused and bemused looks as Percy hypes the crowd up. Poseidon frowns, sure he recognises the tune. As soon as it comes to him, he throws his head back and laughs uproariously. He wipes a tear of humour (it’s just been so long since he laughed by accident) away as it starts, making sure to listen to the altered lyrics. 

Percy claps Grover on the chest a couple times as he launches into it. 

“You’re missing the mortal world, huh? 

No training, no rounds to make.

You dream about going out there,

But that is a big mistake.

Just look at the camp around you,

Right here on Long Island Sound!

I’ve looked up and down the whole world, 

This place is the best I’ve found!”

Startling the guests, every single camper present utterly screams the trumpet noises back, Sweet Caroline style. Then everyone joins in the song, the Stolls acting out the lyrics in extra dramatic fashion. It looks choreographed. 

“ BAH-BAH!

At camp half blood,

At camp half blood!

Nobody stomp us,

Fry us and chomp us, 

Dip us in mud!

We what the monsters love to eat-

Yes sir we make a tasty treat.

Stay close to Chiron,

No quests to die on,

At camp half blood!”

Grover does his little musical interlude with Will and Apollo, the latter of which is desperately trying not to laugh, looking almost as in his element as Hestia. Sally laughs incredulously right along with Poseidon, both of them blinking wide eyes at their son. Hades also looks baffled, unable to look away from Nico, who’s clapping and singing along with everyone like it’s as natural as anything. Hermes lets out great whoops of encouragement as Travis mimes throwing Connor into a cauldron of stew. 

“This here is a brief reminder,

You got your whole family here!

With all of us right beside you,

You ain’t got a thing to fear.

If you were to leave the borders, 

Where nobody got your back,

It wouldn’t be long before-

 HA!” -A few people startle as all the campers yell and snap their arms like alligators in emphasis-  “You’d end up a monster snack!

BAH-BAH!

At camp half blood,

At camp half blood!”

Percy whirls around in a wide, spirited circle and lands with dramatic purpose, full-body pointing at Thalia, and he’s not the only one. 

“The pine tree protects us,”

 -Now he moves his arms in an arc over his head to point at Dionysus across the way-

“Mr. D gets us,

Come drought or flood!

ADHD is not a sin,

You’ve hit it big so take the win!

Don’t be monster chow,

You got a home now,

Good for your lifespan,

Everything’s fine man,

Safety? We’re big fans,

Invest your tin cans,

In camp half blood!”

Massive cheers erupt as Grover brings them round on his pipes with a little jig, arm in arm with Percy, who lands it like a champ. They execute it like a secret handshake. As it finishes, the whole camp (it certainly feels like they’re all here, in spirit) shouts a loud staccato “HEY!”

Percy takes a big heaving breath and takes a moment to wheeze a little, but he’s not done. He’s up now. He straightens and raises his arms to either side, circling the fire, spinning and walking backwards to address everyone. 

“Alright alright, how ‘bout we show the gods what we’re all about? Let’s show ‘em some unity! CAMP HALF-BLOOD, LET’S SHOW ‘EM WE ARE ONE!”

Another wave of cheering responds, and Will knows exactly what to do. Another song begins. 

“Put your banners in the sky,

And wave ‘em side to side!” 

No one has any house banners, but they all put their hands up and make shadow puppets. Piper makes a shadow dove, which Annabeth fights with her shadow owl. Clarisse contorts her fingers to make a tusked boar. Leo just whips out a hammer and waves that around. 

“Show the world where you’re from!

Show the world we are one!”

Everyone cheers in tune. There are no lyrics to this part, so even those who are new can sing along once they’ve got the rhythm. Hestia puts her hands up with everyone and Aphrodite sings along, swaying naturally like a petal in the wind. Even Chiron joins in. 

Percy picks up the lyrical verse again, and it’s still not singing- Percy can’t sing for shit- but he sure gets everyone invested. This one’s faster, harsher, and he leans in with every line, punctuating it with his hands, flying around the space. He gives high fives, hip bumps, and completely out of place cha-cha slides. 

“When the going gets tough,

The tough get going.

One camp, one life, one world,

One fight, whole world, one night, just us,

Half bloods, we will never be less than a family,

And that is becaaaaaause…!

It's your camp, my camp, our camp today,

Anything that you need, no need to pray-

It’s your home, my home, our home today,

It’s our pleasure, our business, our right to say-

είναι ο κόσμος μου, ο κόσμος σου, ο κόσμος μας, και προσκαλούμε όλο τον κόσμο να παίξει!

Put your banners in the sky,

And wave them side to side.

Show the gods who you are,

Show the gods we are one!”

Once again the chanting starts up as everyone sings together, every cabin arm in arm, swaying together, making an unbroken circle. 

Meanwhile, Percy bows like an old-timey gentleman and offers Annabeth a hand up, which she takes with a smile that she tries to make look unimpressed. She moves slowly, unbothered, around the fire, keeping her twinkling eyes on Percy, and he returns her gaze in full. It’s like they’re dancing with each other on opposite sides of the fire just by circling. She’s the one to break their stare off as the next part comes around, heralded by powerful thumps against the ground from the audience members in the know. She gives Piper a wink as she goes, because her jaw has dropped from surprise at seeing Annabeth of all people get involved. She usually just claps along. 

Dancing eyes flaring orange in the firelight, Annabeth whips around and delivers her verse. She moves like a cross between a military professional and a bellydancer, all powerful stances and fluid movements cut abruptly short. None of it’s particularly showy, just appropriate. She dances like a fighter. 

“One night watch the gods unite,

Twelve sides, one camp and a million eyes,

Full hearts’ gonna work so hard,

Shoot for the stars, fists raised up towards the sky!

Tonight watch the world unite, world unite, world unite,

For the fight, fight, fight, one night,

Watch the world unite,

Twelve sides, one camp, and a million eyes-

Hey! Hey! Hey! δυνατός, δυνατός, come and sing with me!”

And the crowd does, every voice raising with her fists.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! έλα έλα c ome shout it out with me!

Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on now,

Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on now,

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”

Everybody finishes it up with Percy leading one more time through his chorus, this time in ancient Greek, and then some more chanting. 

From the beginning Piper was sort of expected to sing at campfires since she’s Aphrodite’s head camper (and someone leaked that she had a voice. Coincidentally, Leo woke up with cockroaches in his bed twice in the following week). She wanted to do Pink’s fuckin perfect , but due to the swearing she wasn’t allowed. Instead she took up the endeavour of singing Silena Gomez’ who says in memory of Silena Beauregard, who used to sing it for the camp all the time apparently. Cabin ten suggested she do her own version, because she would’ve made Silena so proud and they were just alike. It was such an honour she couldn’t say no. Still, she doesn’t perform too often. She’s only done it a couple times before tonight. 

Percy knows this. He gets it. Which is why he asks her with his eyes before he offers to swap places with her. Piper almost says no on principle, but then she turns to look at Jason. Leo. Annabeth. Her mother. 

Annabeth absolutely crushed that numb er, and Piper knows she’s not one for singing. She made it look like leading . If she could make performing something as silly as a song look that powerful… so could Piper. 

She talked a big game before about wanting to share herself and her home with her mother. She may never get the chance again. It’s time to put up or shut up. 

She takes Percy’s hand and he crashes down beside Frank and Hazel, giving them both great big hugs. He sends her a thumbs up as she rises to excited cheers, louder ones from those who know just what Piper’s capable of laying down. In all honesty, she’s very, very good. 

“Is that Pipes??” Leo squeaks excitedly, voice cracking. 

“Wouldn’t wanna be anybody else!” she calls back playfully at him, both teasing her friend and giving Will his cue. Gem that he is, he picks it up at once and starts strumming. She turns back to look at him and he nods. He’ll join in. 

It comes around on guitar, and Piper starts.

“ You made me insecure,

Told me I wasn't good enough.

But who are you to judge,

When you're a diamond in the rough?

I'm sure you got some things

You'd like to change about yourself,

But when it comes to me

I wouldn't want to be anybody else!”

Annabeth steps in as backup with the simple part from her place beside Jason:

“Na na na

Na na na

Na na na

Na na na-”

“I'm no beauty queen,

I'm just beautiful me.”

“Na na na

Na na na,”

“You've got every right

To a beautiful life.

C'mon!”

Everyone more or less chimes in for the chorus, some with more loyalty to the actual lyrics than others. Most of them can’t actually sing, so. That’s fun. 

Who says,

Who says you're not perfect?

Who says you're not worth it?

Who says you're the only one that's hurting?

Trust me,

That's the price of beauty.

Who says you're not pretty?

Who says you're not beautiful,

Who says?”

Piper grins widely at her family, feeling less like an exhibit in a zoo and more like a sister as everyone sways along. She always worries about being made into some attraction, but she really shouldn’t. She doesn’t need to here, with them. 

She blushes and tries not to look the gods’ way as she remembers her mother is watching. She sneaks a look though, and her breath catches. All she sees is pride. 

Will takes a breath in as he starts in on his part.

“It's such a funny thing,

How nothing's funny when it's you.

You tell 'em what you mean,

But they keep whiting out the truth.

It's like a work of art

That never gets to see the light,

Keep you beneath the stars,

Won't let you touch the sky.”

Piper must not be the only one feeling the love, because amazingly, it’s Di Angelo that backs Will up with the easy part like Annabeth had for her. The beaming smile like the sun’s come out that Will shoots him can’t hurt. They sound fantastic together. 

“Na na na

Na na na

Na na na

Na na na-”

“I’m no Prince charming,

I just don’t see the harm in-”

“Na na na

Na na na-”

“- Having every right

To a beautiful life,

C'mon!”

And off the camp goes again, Piper and Will leading them just to keep some semblance of a tune.

“Who says,

Who says you're not handsome?

Who says you’re not welcome?

Who says you're not all of that and then some?

Trust me,

That's the price of beauty.

Who says you're not pretty?

Who says you're not beautiful,

Who says?”

Now Piper takes over, and she shuts it down.

“Who says you're not star potential?

Who says you're not presidential?

Who says you can't be in movies?

Listen to me, listen to me-

Who says you don't pass the test?

Who says you can't be the best?

Who said, who said?

Would you tell me who said that?

YEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-!”

The whole crowd, gods included, goes silent to listen as Piper belts her powerful heart out. It feels like the whole world still as she holds that note, like everyone’s heartbeat has stopped to listen as well.

Then the chorus crashes back in again, her and Will singing together and sounding like much more than just themselves as they round it off, pulling no punches. Even Apollo just has to sit and watch in awe. 

“Oh oh-

Who says,

Who says you're not perfect?

Who says you're not worth it?

Who says you're the only one that's hurting?

Trust me,

That's the price of beauty.

Who says you're not pretty?

Who says you're not beautiful?

Who says?”

That's not the end of it, of course. There are more ballads to be sung, and stories to be told with great exaggeration. At one point it gets hard to keep track. 

Rest assured that everyone -everyone- is a part of it.

Chapter Text

No one’s sure what to do about sleeping arrangements, so that night everyone just sort of collapses in piles where they are. The demigods are mostly used to this. The gods are less enthralled by the idea, but then, they don’t have to sleep either. It’s the perfect time to get together and discuss what they’ve seen so far. 

So naturally no one does that, because if they don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. 

Zeus tries to corral them into a discussion, but it’s just not feasible with the kids sleeping in random spots around the grounds. It makes it hard to step safely, nevermind have a private meeting. And the only ones that really want to talk about it are Athena, Apollo and Zeus anyway. The rest of them need time to process. 

Poseidon can barely humour the idea of sitting still and talking it out right now. Instead he goes for a walk. He thinks about the wild, brilliant woman he left behind on a beach with his heart in her hands, and what she did with it. He thinks of the boy they made, this tiny, precious thing that was so much more than a baby. Poseidon’s had a lot of babies, but none of them ever made him so thankful to be alive as this one. This one’s eyes… they were green like his, at first glance. But keep looking and they were blue as coastal waters, deep as the mediterranean. They glittered in the sun and clouded over in storms. They went light as sea spray on golden sands, and other times, dark as the trenches. So changeable. They threw Poseidon around like a ship in a storm, and the boy couldn’t even speak yet. Perseus seemed to know it, too. Perseus seemed to see right through his father and every century that made him the way he was. 

They grew, Percy and Sally, together. They took on the world back to back. Sally became even more entrancing with every unpracticed step and mistake they made, and Percy learned about the world he was born into by testing it as much as it tested him. Poseidon wanted more than anything to go to him and tell him that this wasn’t all life had to offer. Percy deserved more than what he knew, and he’d have it, Poseidon would make sure. He wanted to make sure Sally didn’t forget that either. He shouldn’t have doubted her, but by the Fates, the world ground her down. Everytime she bounced back there was a little less left. He was so grateful she had Percy. He was so grateful Percy had her. They kept each other great. 

Poseidon was almost glad for the misfortune that befell his son through his early years at school. Some illogical part of him theorized that if so much of it found Percy in his mortal life, Fate might spare him it’s deeper horrors. That notion did not extend to Ugliano. Poseidon had to stop looking in on them for a while because he just couldn’t bear to watch. 

And then when he looked back, his son was at camp and Sally was gone. 

Every moment since then he’d held back. It wasn’t about the laws- Poseidon would’ve broken them ages ago for Percy. He already had for Sally. No, the fact was that if Poseidon let on in any way how monumentally important these two mortals were to him, they would never be safe. Any hope they had of their battles subsiding would be dashed. Poseidon had much better reasons for not interacting with the Jacksons, but if Zeus believed it was in deference to his laws, then let him. 

As it is, Perseus has a hope. It tore Poseidon’s heart out not to know his son, but he knows he’s made the right decision. The boy is happy. His friends and family see him for that endlessly wonderful thing with the changeable eyes Poseidon was worried the world would crush. He’s become strong enough to protect himself and all his loved ones without his father’s help. And Poseidon can no more doubt the daughter of Athena than he can love itself, from what he’s seen. Good. It’s what Percy deserves. 

He does wonder about the girl. She clearly has no love for her mother- no, in fact, she seems to harbour real vitriol for the goddess. He’s eternally grateful that’s not the case with him and Percy. Athena must’ve done something to lose her daughter’s respect in the future. Could it have to do with Percy? Did Athena try to intervene in their relationship? Or was it nothing to do with him at all? Athena certainly won’t abide by the union in any case. Poseidon frowns. He’ll support both of them, then, to make up for Annabeth’s mother. Yes. That seems in order. 

-~o~-

Annabeth wakes up feeling clean, refreshed, and energised. Which just doesn’t happen. Particularly not anywhere unknown. It puts her on edge. If she feels safe in territory that isn’t her own, it’s a sure sign that she isn’t.

Still, she hesitates before waking Percy. She remembers their circumstances and deems it best to assess the situation first. 

The unfamiliar material under Annabeth’s fingers is his shirt, which isn’t what he fell asleep in. It’s much too nice to be either of theirs. She unplasters herself from him, briefly checking the ground out of habit before sliding off of him. They can usually pick up and drop habits as they need to, but for whatever reason, neither of them could sleep any other way after the Pit. Percy, being the larger one, laid on his back and made himself as big as possible for Annabeth to crawl on top of him so only one of them had to suffer the glass beach. His back is a permanent horror now, and all she can feel when she sees it is love.

The shirt Percy’s wearing is obviously of incredible quality, and it suits him to a T. Broad white and blue stripes and an open collar exhibit his really rather broad build. The light colours compliment his tanned skin and match his bright personality. It must be tailored just for him, because it fits perfectly, displaying his muscles in a way his regular clothes just don’t. The shorts sleeves leave a few of his scars out, too. 

Annabeth keeps looking, and sure enough, he’s got equally nice jeans to match. He’s even wearing a braided leather bracelet with a blue beads on it. And are those new converses?

Annabeth draws back to take the whole scene in with a frown, but is distracted when her hair doesn’t fall around her face like it normally does after a night in a ponytail. With a start, she realises her wardrobe’s been tampered with as well. She’s wearing an impossibly soft beige turtleneck, tight enough to feel like her regular choices, but loose at the sleeves.

She’s grateful that the cuffs are, once again, form fitted against her forearms so they don’t get in her way. She can’t stand loose clothes for that. Percy calls them ‘flappy-hands’. Her jeans are good quality, clean, and she’s wearing boots she’d be inclined to trust. There’s even a belt. She likes belts, but she never gets to wear them. Someone knows her well. 

…Aphrodite. Of course. 

As unimpressed as she is with the intrusion (and the assumption that it was welcome), she can’t say she’s not grateful to be out of day-old pyjamas that are all too clearly Percy’s. She also recognises that Aphrodite definitely held herself back from taking too many liberties (she’s all too aware that the goddess would love nothing more than an all-out fashion show), and she appreciates it. In all honesty, the clothes are… nice. They feel nice. And wow. Percy looks fantastic.

“Morning,” she hears from her right. Annabeth looks up mid-stretch. 

Nico’s been given the royal treatment too. The black sweater and black jeans are hardly out of character, but the way they fall across rather than over his frame is new. They’re his usual black, but it’s a warm black that compliments his hair and skin tone rather than washing him out in the name of contrast. It makes him look less like a kid making an angry statement for the sake of it and more like a thing of mature elegance. The sweater’s material is fine, opening him up rather than drowning him. He may be thin, but nowhere near as thin as he was. He’s had a growth spurt recently and he’s almost as tall as Percy now, certain to outstrip him by a mile. The fitted pants accentuate this. Long legs, that boy’s got. And the wiry but substantial muscle he’s been working up is apparent, making his once skeletal frame a much more graceful, streamlined thing. His olive complexion is starting to return to him too. Annabeth can make out the tail end of his tattoos curling up his neck. His hair’s been swept back in a little ponytail. While she wasn’t looking, Nico’s become even more beautiful than his sister was. 

“Lookin’ good, Di Angelo,” Annabeth grunts, voice low from sleep. Percy’s arm tightens around her as she shifts, but he doesn’t wake. “Are those Doc Martins?”

“You should see Solace. Guy gives colour a new meaning,” Nico says like it’s a bad thing, nose scrunching adorably. 

“He’s up?” 

“Early bird,” he replies. “It’s just us, though. Jace went back to sleep.”

Annabeth extracts herself from her drooling boyfriend and feels around her hair. Half of it seems to be done up in a bun, the rest falling free. Huh. It keeps it out of her face without pulling at her scalp. She files that away for later. 

“What about the gods?” she asks. Nico shrugs. 

“Think they’ve just been wanderin’ around all night. We took shifts, no one reported anything else.”

Annabeth snaps to look at him. “Oh, Styx, you should’ve woken me. No one told me we were doing shifts.”

“You had enough going on. Anyone deserves a rest in this place, it’s you and your boy. Nothing happened anyway.”

“Still,” she grumbles. 

Annabeth has a look around and sure enough, everyone’s got their own impossibly becoming outfit on, tailored specifically to them and their tastes (albeit with a distinct Aphrodite flair). The gods, as Nico said, are all awake, wandering the grounds they’ve been provided with, talking amongst themselves quietly in the old tongue. There’s one Annabeth doesn’t recognise, but it can only be Aphrodite. She must have changed her image as per Percy’s request. Her skin is ebony black, her face seemingly devoid of makeup and beautiful in a way only the most natural things can be. She’s currently braiding a little piece of her long silky hair like Piper does. She’s wearing a simple black slip that runs over her body like honey. She sends Annabeth a graceful little wave with her fingers. Annabeth nods back dumbly.

Ares, still in his combat training gear, is thoughtfully carving something into a tree. Grover isn’t reacting, so the tree must not be real. Interesting.

Hestia is stoking the fire, which is seemingly being kept in its embers by her very breath. She looks no different, wearing a simple cardigan and comfortable looking dress.

Hades isn’t far, discussing the stars with his wife in a fine white button up, of all things. Persephone is wearing a pretty lilac number. Her husband doesn’t notice as she tucks a pretty purple flower behind his ear. It seems everyone’s dressed in the modern style. 

Annabeth looks back down at her boyfriend, who is completely dead to the world. He needs the rest… and the Fates know he deserves it. 

“Will you watch him for me?” she asks the son of Hades. He gives her an affirmative hum. 

Annabeth gives her new hairdo one last tug, feeling weird without a ponytail to tighten, and sets off to see what she can find. 

Dionysus grunts at her as she passes. Hera wrinkles her nose like she’s a bad smell. Artemis follows her path with her eyes. Annabeth almost laughs when she finds Will and Apollo making flower crowns in the grass. Apollo’s wearing a matching shirt and shorts set with pastel clouds patterned over them. He doesn’t have a single button done up, either too proud of his sunkissed abs or his three- count ‘em, three - golden necklaces. A pair of baby blue shuddered shades, like the ones that were cool in like, 2008, are hooked in one of his necklaces since his collar’s too open to house them. Will’s wearing a loud shirt entirely patterned with a zoomed in glossy jpeg of jellybeans in every colour. He, at least, knows what buttons are for. He’s even got some pearl studs in his ears to match his white pants. 

Annabeth’s smile dies as she catches sight of her mother. 

Athena’s casual is business casual, so Annabeth’s unsurprised to see her in a white button up with the sleeves rolled up and religiously pressed pants, arms crossed.

She’s impossibly still, her grey eyes scanning the woods before her like it’s an equation that takes up four blackboards and it’s begging to be solved. She doesn’t look away when Annabeth steps up beside her. 

The silence stretches for a moment. It’s just a demigod, her mother, and the cicadas. Annabeth traces the path of a firefly who’s a little late to retire. The sun will be coming out soon. The sky’s already lightening.

“You’re not wearing the earrings I gave you.”

Annabeth resists the urge to fiddle with the ones she has in. Natural pearls. They’re beautiful. Imperfect. Percy got them for her as an anniversary gift. He made them himself. He said they matched her eyes. 

“I took them out when I lost faith in you,” Annabeth replies plainly. 

Athena’s head whips to look at her, and Annabeth hears her take in a sharp breath. She waits a moment, then returns her gaze. 

Athena stares at her for a while in silence. Still trying to pick her apart with the information she has. Still trying to solve her daughter without asking for any clues. 

“Malcolm doesn’t know what happened,” she says mechanically. 

Annabeth’s mouth quirks. Of course, why talk to your daughter when you can gather intel from other sources?

“Was there a question in there?”

“Annabeth. Don’t be difficult.”

“Athena. Don’t be entitled.”

Athena’s whip-sharp eyes narrow. The oppressive atmosphere doubles. The firefly, in its infinite wisdom, flees.

“Don’t forget that you are speaking to a goddess, daughter.”

“Exactly,” Annabeth returns easily, looking her right back in the eyes. “You can be a mother. Know about me, ask me how I feel and why, and accept whatever I say. Or you can be a goddess. Either expect my deference or earn my respect. Choose.”

Athena eyes her with an inscrutable expression, as readable as concrete. 

“You drive a hard bargain,” is what she finally says.

Not really, Annabeth thinks, but she stays silent. 

“Did I do something?” the goddess continues.

Annabeth doesn’t know how to answer that, so she doesn’t.

“Choose,” she says finally, and leaves her mother standing there.

-~o~-

By the time Percy wakes, just about everyone’s up and about. Some are happier about the clothing situation than others. A good chunk of them are just happy to at least feel like they’ve had a shower. Frank took, like, all morning to notice his burgundy turtleneck, too distracted by Hazel in her bright yellow sundress. She even has a hair wrap to match.

Piper’s pouting like her mother’s forced them all into a drag show, but she’s really not that bad off in a modest crop top and huge flowy high-waisted pants. She looks gorgeous, actually, but still like Piper. Jason’s just got a pale blue t-shirt and his regular jeans- clearly Aphrodite thinks he doesn’t need much improvement. The colour suits him. 

Thalia grumbles about her black romper with a big silver buckle, but she’s really taken with her cropped silver bomber jacket.

Rachel’s pretty chuffed with hers too, an oversized denim thing with brightly coloured sleeves and a back covered in paint that changes into different scenes that somehow looks good with her dark green pants and white shirt.

Reyna is simply stunning in high-waisted brown pants with golden buttons and an equally sophisticated white shirt.

Leo kind of looks like a cup of coffee. In a good way.

Tyson finally has a shirt big enough to fit him (and what an improvement it makes). And Sally feels right at home in her simple shirt with the sleeves rolled and jeans. She doesn’t need much improvement either.

The correct term for Grover’s look would be ‘recyclable’, and somehow Aphrodite’s made that a fashion statement. Even Clarisse isn’t mad about her brown halter top for long.

Everyone’s pretty much killing it. 

Chiron, clad in a handsome brown sweater and an elegant gold watch, once again oversees mealtime.

The night has given the gods time to reflect, though, and the results are interesting. 

Poseidon takes a leap of faith and approaches Annabeth right as she moves to find a table. He can feel everyone’s eyes on them as he does so, but he refuses to be cowed. 

“Ms. Chase,” he calls, hoping he doesn’t sound nervous. “Share my table?”

He can hear the gods muttering as the girl’s eyes go wide. The demigods, by contrast, have been stunned silent. It’s not just that he’s approached her to share space. It’s not just the nature of her relationship with his son. It’s the way he’s phrased the request. It’s a respectful invitation, not a summons. But that’s the thing; he does respect her- or at least, he respects his son’s judgement. He wants to give these kids the acknowledgment they deserve. He wants to treat them like they should be treated, and the Fates have given Poseidon the opportunity to do that. He’s sick of the posturing. He wants to talk to his daughter-in-law.

“Of- of course,” said daughter-in-law stammers, quickly pulling herself together with the grace of a tried and true diplomat. “Would you mind my asking how you knew my name, my lord?”

“Your name?” Poseidon’s eyebrows raise. “Oh, I keep an eye on camp, of course. You’ve been there the longest, your name would be pretty hard to miss.”

“But you don’t currently have any children there,” she notes. 

“No. But I knew Percy would go, so I like to check in every now and then.”

He sees that Annabeth takes that for what it is: a confession. She doesn’t say anything. He is already starting to like her. 

Poseidon leads her off to a far table as if the entire present company isn’t staring them down with the gravity of an army. He has no doubt Athena will intervene, but they make it to their seats unaccosted. Hestia gives him a proud smile. Aphrodite gives him an excited thumbs up that makes him chuckle under his breath. 

Annabeth looks uncomfortable, so Poseidon summons a plate for himself to make it less like he’s watching her eat. He’s not trying to interrogate her. Besides, pancakes are good. 

The girl is about to take a bite of her yoghourt when she sees his meal and expertly hides a snort. Poseidon frowns and looks down, not seeing the issue. 

“What?” he asks, making sure his tone is encouraging. 

“Sorry, my lord. It’s just… they’re not traditionally blue.”

Poseidon does not blush, because he is the god of the sea. He’s pretty sure he knew that in the back of his mind. None of the food was blue when he ate with Sally. He supposes he must have picked it up from watching her and Percy through the more recent years. Their food is blue, so he must’ve made his blue on instinct. 

“Well… they taste better that way,” he coughs defensively. “Or so I’ve heard.”

“They do,” she smiles, offering him the out without making it a big deal. 

“Is that my girlfriend? Are those blue pancakes?” sounds Percy’s sleepy voice from behind him. “Is that my dad?? ”

Poseidon shifts to look behind him, almost laughing at his boy’s dumbstruck face. There’s drool crusting his chin and marks over his face where he slept on something. Poseidon knows Aphrodite can’t stand rumpled clothes, but it just looks strange that his shirt is perfectly in place on his very rumpled self. 

“The hero wakes,” he rumbles teasingly. Percy blinks and obviously just decides to go with it. He sits down beside his girlfriend with a yawn he doesn’t even try to hold back and gives her a kiss on the cheek and a sideways squeeze.

“Guhh’mornin’. Y’ stealin’ my style, dad?” he slurs, voice low with sleep and hair an absolute mess. Annabeth automatically starts trying to set it straight. 

“Imitation is the purest form of flattery,” Poseidon throws back with no small amount of mirth. 

“That it is, but you’re doing it wrong. You gotta-” Percy interrupts himself to drag over a plate and heap it with his own monstrous stack. Then he takes the syrup that he’s just willed into existence and proceeds to lay syrupy siege to it. The pancakes don’t stand a chance. “-Make ‘em swim.”

“...I see,” Poseidon laughs. 

Only once breakfast has been utterly demolished does Percy take his surroundings into account. There’s quite a lot more of interest than he expected. 

“Annie, your hair,” is the first thing he says. His girlfriend raises an eyebrow at him. When no response is forthcoming, she gives him a flat look and shifts to a tone of deeply facetious encouragement.

“Very good, Seaweed Brain. What else?”

Percy seems to have trouble tearing his eyes off her curls, but with some effort he does, noticing the rest of it. 

“Wait, your shirt? Are you wearing a belt?”

“So’re you.”

His head whips down to check and he takes in his outfit. He frowns. 

“No I’m not.”

“Made you look.”

He surges forward, grabs her and starts tickling. Annabeth shrieks. Shrieks. Even Poseidon, who hardly knows the girl, can tell it’s not a common occurrence. 

“Stop! Stop it!” she giggles uncontrollably, unable or unwilling to break away. “Sto- oh- AH!” 

Poseidon can’t help it- he laughs. A proper silly one, too, not a powerful booming, but a high airy giggle. They’ve obviously entirely forgotten about him. His laughter doubles as the both of them freeze, eyes widening, as they remember. 

“Shhh- Dad, stop, they’re all looking at us!” Percy hisses, reaching across the table before he can stop himself in an aborted attempt to cover the god’s mouth himself. He just ends up collapsing into giggles as well. Annabeth hides behind him, burying her face in his back, her loose hair falling over the both of them like a privacy curtain.

“Your mom is just gonna… eat me,” Percy whispers into the table in horror. 

“I’ll eat her ,” Poseidon shoots back without thinking. Annabeth’s eyes bug. Percy doubles over, wheezing. He goes into a rather concerning coughing fit as he continues. Poseidon frowns at the violent hacking. He can see and hear a lot more than the demigods no doubt can, and Percy’s lungs don’t sound healthy. He berates himself for not noticing it before. 

Annabeth helps him through the fit, looking unsurprised, but still laughing. They must be regular. She obviously knows, so why isn’t she worried? Is she not aware of how serious it is?

Poseidon’s eyes widen a little as he realises that no, that isn’t it at all. She’s holding back her own coughing fit. Her lungs whistle as she rubs circles into Percy’s back, keeping her measured, wheezing breaths quiet, expertly staving it off. Poseidon doesn’t understand why she’s smiling, though, until Percy sees he isn’t and his own melts. His fits rounds off rather miserably. 

Right. Noted. 

Percy straightens, subtly checking his girlfriend’s alright, before casting around for something to avoid addressing it with. His eyes land on his father’s shirt and narrow, genuinely interested. 

“Is that… Dad, what’s on your shirt?”

“It’s a sailor and a mermaid kissing,” Poseidon responds, shuffling awkwardly. He picked it specially. He’s not very good at being a father, but he’s giving it his best shot. 

“...Is that me and Annabeth?”

“Maybe it’s just a blonde mermaid, Percy. Some of them are blonde.”

“I have never met a mermaid with a human skin tone.” 

“It’s a mortal pattern, their mermaids are more human.”

Percy leans in closer to inspect the images. “Is that a mer man? They switch spots?” 

“There’s more than one design?” Annabeth pipes up, also leaning in to scrutinise his fashion choices. “Oh, they alternate diagonally.” 

“I’m trying to be supportive!” Poseidon snaps defensively, throwing his hands up in defeat.

Percy’s eyebrows shoot up, jaw dropping, as he looks his father in the eyes. 

“Dad… I cannot believe I’m saying this to you, but you’re being an embarrassing dad. Keep it up.”

“Please don’t,” Annabeth blurts before she can stop herself, face pink. She slaps a hand over her mouth, mortified. She hits Percy for some reason like it’s his fault. 

“You can’t tell me this isn’t a cool shirt,” he protests. 

“I can. It isn’t,” Percy replies at once. “I love it.”

“I liked Annabeth’s earrings,” Poseidon admits a little more seriously. “I thought they were… expressive. I wanted to try something similar myself.”

Percy shoots said earrings a look and then turns slowly back to his father, joining Annabeth in staring at him in surprise (and maybe a little bit of wonder). 

“They match her eyes, don’t they?” he says quietly. 

Poseidon nods. They’re reflective of the world around them. 

Changeable. 

“Next anniversary, I’ll get you that shirt,” Percy promises, jabbing a finger at his father’s chest. 

“Don’t you dare,” Annabeth giggles, slapping him again, and once again, turning to hide behind him as it occurs to her that she is talking about Poseidon and he is right there.

“In blue,” The sea god suggests. Percy snaps his fingers and points, like, ‘yes, that’s brilliant’.

“Percy Achilles Jackson, is that a tattoo?!” his mother’s voice chokes behind him. Poseidon beats a quick retreat. Annabeth tries not to laugh at him, but she doesn’t try very hard.

“Not even a ‘good luck’?” Percy whines. “Wow. Thanks.”

Annabeth pats him on the shoulder as he turns to face his mother.

-~o~-

After breakfast, everyone gravitates toward the yurt. Before he follows, though, Percy notes his surroundings. They’re more defined than they were when they arrived. The campfire hasn’t disappeared from last night. The pavilion is right where they left it- he assumed it had appeared at breakfast time, but if the bonfire pit is still there maybe it didn’t go anywhere at all. It’s starting to look like camp, but the birdsong still plays, and the yurt still calls. 

Percy heads into the tent, wondering. 

Aphrodite looks around the tent. It doesn’t seem right to block out the sun on such a lovely day, but there must be a reason for it. And everyone looked so lovely in their new outfits in the sun! Oh, well. 

Hermes brushes past her as he takes his place. 

“Sorry, dear,” she hums distractedly. Instead of waving her off, he takes her arm. He leans in and speaks to her under his breath. 

“Thank you. For…” he jerks his head a little Luke Castellan’s way. He hasn’t escaped her blessing. She’s given him a sandy coloured polo shirt, to match his hair, and jeans rolled up to his calves. His hair is washed and cut, his face clean. She couldn’t do too much about the haunted look in his darkly-circled eyes, but she did what she could. 

“Of course,” Aphrodite whispers, placing her hand over Hermes’ for a moment before he slips off.

She isn’t stupid, and neither is he. That boy must have done something unforgivable- and not just to his family. He looks sorry to be sentient. He hasn’t spoken a word to anyone since he’s been here, and he’s kept himself completely separate from everyone in a bid to be forgotten. He watches everything, and he stays in quiet exile. The fact that no one stops him is telling enough.

“Can I assume we have you to thank for the wardrobe upgrades?” chimes the soothing voice of Sally Jackson. Aphrodite brightens immediately and waves away such sad thoughts to look at the wonderful woman. Oh, she looks like a sea-scented dream! She looks like the seagull’s caw and the scent of saltwater, the dear.

“Sally dear, it would be an absolute crime to rob you of your natural beauty. I hardly did any of the work, I just coloured in the lines, and you make such a pretty picture! ‘Sidon nearly broke his neck four times today trying to talk to his son while not being able to take his eyes off of you! You two are just- but I won’t go there, you don’t even need me. I’m rambling. You look stunning, sweetheart.”

Sally blushes beautifully and breathes out a chuckle, dipping her head humbly. 

“I’m honoured you think so, my lady. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me with one more thing. One of the children made me a weapon I can wear as a hairclip. I’m not really sure how to put it in. I really don’t want to mess up your vision with these lovely clothes, so-”

“Ooohh, say no more, let me see!! That is just so sweet of them. And a weapon too, that’ll be useful.” 

Sally hums in agreement as she pulls it out of her pocket. Aphrodite gasps, eyes glittering. 

“That is just- yes. Absolutely. I’ll show you how to pin it so you can do it yourself, okay? Ooh, a colour function! How about blue? No, too predictable, and with your shirt you’d be better off with something more neutral. Your hair can offset the colour, we can make it… ooh, sandy beige and white-”

“-Like a seashell,” Sally interrupts. She immediately moves to apologise, but Aphrodite just beams. 

“Yes!! Oh, Olympus, yes! You’re a visionary. Okay, turn for me. You’re going to want to hold it like this, thumb down…”

“Another day in paradise, huh?” Percy says, nudging Piper as he plops down beside her. They were a bit too busy to bond when they first met, but since the war ended she and he have gotten on like a house on fire. Piper taught him how to surf (which he picked up pretty quickly, believe it or not) and in turn he taught her to skateboard. She’s keen to give rollerblading a shot, but neither of them can resist the beach long enough to do anything about it. 

“Easy for you to say. You’re not wearing half a shirt,” she snorts. 

“It’s nice, isn’t it? You can feel the breeze better. I feel like I’m not even wearing a shirt, actually. Like, I’ve never had this many buttons undone in my life, but somehow I don’t look like an asshole,” Percy muses.

“Pretty sure you’ve never worn buttons in your life.”

“Not willingly,” he concedes. “Anyway, Clarisse is wearing half a shirt too, it’s fine.”

“Yeah, but have you seen her abs?”

“You have abs, Piper.”

“Not like that, I don't.”

“Okay, but that’s- no one has abs like Clarisse. I don’t have abs like Clarisse,” he argues.

“Exactly. Which is why you get a big boy shirt,” she reasons. “Besides, it’s a halter top, so I think it’s more about her traps. Those things are insane . I’ve seen smaller traps in Scooby-Doo movies.”

“Halter top, what’s a halter top?”

“I think it’s a- you know, like a triangle, it goes like this,” she says, drawing the neckline over herself to show him. 

“I would’ve called that a square.”

“It would be on you.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I think I’m offended.”

“Cool.”

“Hey, where’s your boyfriend? I wanna gush about Nico and the sunshine boy with him.”

“I think he’s back there with Reyna- hey, ow, what, what-?! ” 

Percy’s elbowing her in the ribs excitedly, trying to get her to notice how frazzled Frank looks as Hazel laughs at something Nico said. She snorts again, but before she can say anything, the queen of the gods speaks. Percy nearly groans out loud.

“If we are all present and willing, let us return to the task at hand,” she pronounces. After losing his shit with his socially inept father over blue pancakes, it’s a pretty pathetic attempt to keep things formal. But that’s Hera for you. She’s in a dress with fucking epaulettes on it, for Styx’ sake. Poseidon’s in flip flops. Oh, and let’s not forget the Hawaiian shirt with Percy and his girlfriend making out all over it (much as he might like to).

(Percy always knew his dad was as totally hopeless as he is, really. He just had no idea he cared so much. It was really embarrassing almost tearing up over his father’s scuffed attempts at being supportive, so he’s trying not to think about it in case he tears up again.)

“Is everybody ready to begin?” Hestia asks in a tone that promises it’s okay to not be. But no one seems opposed. They’re as ready as they can be.

Persephone leans forward and pulls the book out, opening it to the page they left off at on the first try. She sets it down by the fire, and they all settle in to listen.

Chapter Text

WE CAPTURE A FLAG

The next few days… little humiliating to be slower than a tree.

“Well, if you put it that way…” Frank mumbles.

Percy frowns. “I wouldn’t. Anymore, that is. I got mad respect for our nymphs.”

“You were probably just adjusting,” Rachel offers. 

“Way faster than I did,” Will huffs. “And I got introduced to the whole thing properly. “

“It is very Percy to have his world turned upside down and go ‘this whole situation is hard to handle, but it would probably be less hard if I could run faster,’” Nico says. 

“Improvise, adapt, overcome.”

And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverise me.

"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.

Ares chuckles meanly. 

“And there is,” his daughter grins. 

“Enjoy your brief stint on easy mode, La Rue? Didn’t last long,” Percy jeers. 

“Enjoy the taste of my fist, Jackson? ‘Cause-”

“Okay, we get it, shut up!” Piper groans.

The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.

Without warning, Leo doubles over in giggles. Poseidon snickers into his hand. 

“That’s so funny, what the fuck… you just sucked, at everything, but then you were really good at canoeing… ”

“The boy who would father a legend, ” Malcolm begins in his patented epic movie trailer voice, “The man who never tipped his canoe.”

“They say he’s the fastest kayak in the lake!” Travis exclaims for effect.

“The prophecy spoke of a young man who would be an absolute beast at canoeing,” Connor adds reverently.

Jason falls flat on his back, clutching his stomach and laughing at the ceiling. 

“Sorry, Annabeth praying for ‘the one’ to come and change her life and the world forever, and here he comes, and he sucks but he’s just so fucking sick at canoeing,” Katie wheezes.

“And drooling,” Annabeth adds. “And being a public menace with a bow. And blowing up toilets. And-”

“I can’t hear all you haters over my sick new tattoo,” Percy claims as Leo finishes his sharpie masterpiece on Percy’s bicep. It’s a shaky heart and what might be a canoe, or maybe a banana, and big block letters that say ‘#BORN TO CANOE’. Leo didn’t plan it too well so the E is too big to fit in the heart and it goes, like, around to Percy’s armpit. Everyone’s seen Leo’s blueprints. He could definitely have done a real piece of art. And arguably, he did. 

Percy flexes and the O droops. Nico turns his head sideways.

“Is that an M?”

“Can we please stay on track?” Athena hisses witheringly, massaging her temple. 

I knew the senior campers… what to make of me either.

“Woah… really?” Frank breathes. Hazel shakes her head like she can’t imagine Percy like that.

“That’s one of the things I most admire about you, you know,” Grover hums. “You were never handed anything. You weren’t born a leader, or a fighter, or even any more powerful than any other son of Poseidon would be. And you didn’t wanna be, either. You made yourself all those things because that’s what people needed. You never did anything for yourself. You did it because it needed to be done. And you did it from the ground up. From scratch. I can’t think of a way I could be prouder of you, dude.”

Percy blinks. Then, quick as a whip, he reaches over three people and drags Grover bodily into a huge hug. The satyr yips at the force- because Percy makes it look easy, but seriously, all five foot ten of him just got pulled across the tent by his wrist in like two seconds flat.

“That was so cute, Grover, what the fuck,” Percy mumbles into his shoulder. Grover laughs and pretends he can’t feel his shirt getting wet. 

“We have literally just started and I am crying real tears,” Aphrodite sobs. Sally pats her back uncertainly. 

“I guess that’s why he’s so impressive,” Hazel muses. “I mean, the first time I saw him, I thought he was a god. Not because… he doesn’t act powerful. He just feels powerful. Like he earned it. Does that make sense?”

“No one’s born a veteran, kid,” Ares grunts. “That’s what that is.”

“Percy was born a baby,” Sally declares. “And he grew into a child. He liked sharks, musicals and baking. He wanted to be a mermaid when he grew up. Or a bus driver. Instead he became a hero, because his family needed one. But if you were to ask me about my son, I would tell you he’s a sweet boy with a heart the size of New York, and he likes sharks, musicals and baking. Because that’s who he is, really.”

“And that’s why we love him!” Will shouts to resounding cheers of agreement.

“I love the sound he makes when he hits the floor.”

“Clarisse, that’s so sweet.”

Despite all that, I liked camp…I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?

“You resent the gods, child?” Zeus thunders.

Percy can’t help it. He snorts. 

Poseidon doesn’t ask for an explanation. He isn’t owed one. He expected much worse, actually. Once again, he reflects how grateful he is to have Percy for a son. 

Thursday afternoon, three days… "Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

“Yeah, how’d that work out for ‘im?” Thalia snorts.

“He taught you to swordfight?” Nico breathes. That would’ve meant the world to Percy. It’s still a massive part of who he is. In fact, Nico distinctly remembers how adamant Percy was about not being the one to teach Nico. Percy nods with a grimace. 

“Worst mistake he ever made,” Travis crows.

“I don’t know, Trav, he made a few,” Grover hums. 

Hermes frowns. This is sounding worse and worse by the chapter. His son actively fought his cousins? What the hell happened?

“Teaching Percy to fight is not even close to the worst mistake I ever made.”

Everyone’s head whips around to stare at Luke, shocked still. His voice is splintered and raspy, like he hasn’t used it in years. His eyes are dim, resigned, trained on the fire. 

“...Too right,” Connor retorts uncertainly. His voice wavers slightly, looking at his brother like one might a haunted crime scene.

Luke showed me…"Now, back!" Whap!

Nico jolts. Percy sounds just like that giving lessons. He swears he’s heard him say that exact thing before he whacked someone in the ribs. 

This is horrible to listen to.

By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler.

Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea- 

“You didn’t,” Leo gasps.

-I did the same.

“AHAHAHAHA, YES!”

“This was so good, dude,” Travis beams gleefully.

Instantly, I felt better…I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."

“What? Why?” Ares cries.

“It was so good, dude!” Connor reiterates.

For a moment, Luke… "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword... ."

Percy curses himself as he ducks his head into Annabeth’s shoulder to hide the echo of a blush that he can feel blooming over his face. Hearing this shit is bad enough. Having the physical effects laid into him again… the Fates are sick. 

Grover looks sideways at his friend with a sad sigh. He gives Percy a comforting scratch on the head just to remind him he’s there. The empathy link gives him both the old emotions from the story and Percy’s disgust and horror at feeling them again. It makes a bittersweet blend that goes sour all too fast. 

Friday afternoon…Must be nice to have a useful skill."

“I dunno, Perce. What’s it like to have a useful skill?” Leo asks. Percy picks up on the joke at once. He leans back, hands behind his head and a frown on his face like he’s thinking.

“Well, Leo, canoeing ain’t all nectar and skittles, that’s for sure, but it’s gotten me out of my fair share of scrapes-”

Quick as a whip, Demeter’s hand snaps out to catch Percy’s arm, her blunt nails digging into his forearm. She sucks in a sharp breath and her eyes widen as she stares. 

His legion brand. 

Percy snatches his arm back, but it’s too late. The gods have seen.

Zeus rises from his spot imperiously, gaze dark and voice loud. 

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“It can’t be,” Ares whispers, pulling his shades up to look. Dionysus groans like he’s suddenly got a splitting headache. 

“Where did you get this, boy?!” Athena hisses accusatorily. 

“Uhh… it’s a scratch and sniff?”

Athena snarls. Jason stands with all the authority of his father, but none of the volatility. It makes his presence all the more impactful. 

“Pantheon, calm yourselves. All of this was known to us. It was indeed a matter of great consequence and cause for alarm, but we from the future are past that time now. The Fates have decreed that we cannot speak of it. You will have to trust that the matter has been resolved in our time, and if we continue to read, you are likely to find out how and why.”

Percy looks at Jason with utmost gratitude and admiration. Travis quietly cheers for a speech until Katie kicks him. The Olympians exchange distressed looks. 

“You joined the legion?” Poseidon asks his son gently. 

“More like… I got assimilated? For like a day?”

“And did they… I know that my other form isn’t… did they treat, you-”

Percy’s eyes soften. 

“It all worked out, dad, promise. They’ve even got a real navy now.”

Poseidon looks surprised, but unsatisfied with that answer. Percy doesn’t know what to say. He’s right, the whole Neptune situation at Camp Jupiter really wasn’t good. 

“Quite right,” Persephone speaks up. “We’ll hardly get any answers squabbling. Let us continue.”

Zeus glares at Jason for another few moments, just to make his point. Hades rolls his eyes behind him. Poseidon shares a dry look with his son. He looks like he might pull him down by the suit pants, but finally the king of the gods sits back on his ass criss-cross applesauce to listen to the story. 

I tried to reassure… she'd be mad."

“We put it to good use now, don’t we?” Thalia calls. Percy gives her a fist bump without looking. They’re so in sync sometimes, it’s creepy. 

“What use have we for space at their base?” Artemis asks. 

“It’s just another safe house, my lady, but for some of us it was once home. Many hunters have friends and family at camp, though we are of course selective. You would be surprised at the number of demigods who have proven worthy comrades in recent years.” 

Artemis’ eyebrows rise in incredulity. For half a second, they flick imperceptibly to Percy.

 “Yes, I believe I would.”

“I feel all warm and fuzzy when she says we’re worth her time,” Nico whispers to Percy. Jason, sitting just behind them, snorts. 

"Yeah, okay…. That's her husband's job. 

Grover ducks behind Frank. Percy spins and burrows into Jason, legs kicking wildly to expel his hysterics. Everyone stays damningly quiet. Hera’s jaw makes some interesting sounds as she grinds it, blinking once, twice, a muscle in her cheek twitching. She lets the silence speak for itself, relishing in her husband’s discomfort.

When we say the Big Three… Let's leave it at that."

“And it isn’t,” Percy states. Nico rolls his eyes resignedly like they’ve had this discussion before. A lot.

“The Hades cabin is perfectly cosy-”

“Nico, there isn’t one splash of colour in that entire-”

“It’s greyscale, it’s elegant-”

“It’s sad, it’s depressing, and if you put up those pillows I got you-”

“They have sequins on them, Percy-”

“Exactly!”

“Do you have my blanket up?” Jason interrupts.

“Yes, I put it over the couch.”

Percy leaps up in outrage. “HOLD ON, BUT THAT’S RED! THAT’S COLOUR, YOU SAID GREYSCALE!”

“Yeah, well, I make exceptions for gifts!”

“I-”

“-WITHOUT SEQUINS!”

Annabeth whaps them both upside the head. She rounds on Percy first.

“If you’re gonna be a shit about it, you won’t be allowed in the Hades cabin anymore, not even for girls’ night. Do you want to miss girls’ night?” Percy shakes his head pathetically. 

“What about boys’ night?”

“Same deal. No more sequins. And that means sneaking them in, too. If you wanna give Nico a gift, you run it by me first. And you,” she continues, rounding on Nico, who’s been sneering at Percy like the smug little fuck he is. He freezes. “Stop encouraging him. You know damn well he’s trying to help in his own insufferable way. And for Fate’s sake, buy a throw rug or something. It is depressing.”

Nico and Percy both mumble their apologies into their crossed arms, looking pointedly forward. Percy pouts unabashedly. Annabeth raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. 

“What are you apologising to me for?” she challenges. Once again, they’ve obviously done this dance before, because both Percy and Nico know that’s their cue to look at each other and mumble reluctant apologies. 

“Are you saying… why would I have a cabin at camp?” Hades asks very carefully. 

“Why do you think?” Nico responds. Persephone smiles and looks to her husband like ‘yeah, why do you think?’

Hades says nothing else, but his stare goes distant and awe-filled as he processes this. 

What could’ve possibly happened for things to change so drastically over only a couple of years?

"But Zeus and Poseidon… brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

“What?” Piper asks, leaning forward. Percy frowns.

“You never heard this before?”

“Dude, when we got to camp, it was Percy hour, every hour. You were missing and it was all anybody could talk about. I never even heard the name Thalia,” Leo says. 

“Stealing my thunder, Kelp Head?”

Percy’s eyes widen and he looks at her incredulously. Thalia realises the double entendre a second later and starts making the hysterical gorilla sounds again, shaking Percy on the arm. Grover bleats a mildly manic laugh. The twins cackle. 

Luke doesn’t smile, but his eyes do crinkle. He’s glad they can joke about this now. Like kids. 

"But that isn't fair… That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

“...What?” Frank says.

“But she’s…” Leo waves in Thalia’s direction. She levels him with an unimpressed look.

“Why have so many of us come back to life?” Hazel blurts.

“Excuse me?” Hades blinks.

“Yeah, and for like, wildly different reasons,” Jason adds. 

“Shit happens,” Thalia shrugs.

I stared at the pine in the distance… a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

“Smooth,” Malcolm says.

Grover studied me warily… Don't worry, okay?"

“Alright, what did we say? Bets up,” Hermes calls. 

“My money was on Hermes,” Malcolm admits. Travis and Connor make a face. 

“Yo, no shot. He’s got the heart, got the brain, but the man can’t lie for his life,” Travis argues.

“Couldn’t organise a bang in a brothel,” Connor adds. “He wasn’t runnin’ cons on our scale.”

“I thought Hestia,” Will pipes up. “I know that makes no sense, but seriously, I couldn’t see him being anything else. I even considered that maybe he wasn’t, like, a direct son, maybe blessed as one instead, Athena-style.”

Percy nudges his girlfriend curiously. “What’d you think I was?”

She shakes her head. “I had no idea. You were all over the place. I was working on the process of elimination. You didn’t seem ambitious or showy enough to be a big three kid, not that I knew what to even look for at that point. Honestly, my running theory was… stupid.”

“What?”

“It was stupid.”

“Tell meeeeeee.”

She sighs long-sufferingly, looking at him from narrowed, exasperated, and annoyingly fond eyes. She screws up her mouth like she really doesn’t want to say it.

“...Aphrodite.”

The goddess of love lets out a short shriek of delight. Percy’s jaw drops.

“What!”

“We get it, you’re in love!” Will shouts through his cupped hands from the back.

“I was twelve!” Annabeth shoots back hotly.

“I see it,” Piper hums.

“WHAT!” Percy chokes, voice high with shock.

“His features are strong, you know, with the dark black hair and the bright green eyes, which was weird with his skin tone- a lot of Aphrodite’s are like that, dark skin and light eyes,” Annabeth argues.

“They’re not light,” Percy stammers.

“They’re bright green!”

“They’re not bright green-”

“Piper’s like that too. Dark skin, crazy coloured eyes…” Leo muses, squinting at Percy. 

“Your eyes are beautiful bro,” Jason promises. 

“Bro, thank you.”

Piper lets out a high chuckle through her nose. 

“And he’s charming! Isn’t he charming?” Jason cries, half hugging Percy from the side and slapping a hand over his chest like a car salesman. Percy dutifully bats his eyes. He looks ridiculous. 

“Isn’t singing a common skill for Aphrodite’s children?” Sally pipes up. Loud OOOOOHs sound out as everyone recovers from that would-be burn, but it seems she was serious. “That wasn’t- Percy has a lovely voice.”

“Ah, Sally, I hate to tell you this… but no he doesn’t,” Travis corrects gently as if imparting news that a loved one has passed.

“Don’t you do it, mom,” Percy begs. She looks at him in bewilderment. 

“They don’t know you can sing? Percy, why not?”

“I’m sorry?” Nico blusters uncomprehendingly, tilting sideways and almost crashing to the floor.

“I can’t- I- listen,” Percy tries. 

“Your voice is one of your greatest abilities, sweetheart. Why wouldn’t you share it?” Sally asks gently, truly just wanting to understand. 

“It’s not an ability…”

“Oh, not like a weapon, Percy. Just because it’s not for fighting doesn’t mean it’s not a powerful thing to be used for good,” his mother chides as if he knows this. And he does. 

“You have something like charmspeak, Percy?” Piper questions hesitantly. 

His face is bright red, but still, he brushes it off. “No, no, nothing- it’s not a power, it’s not a godly power,” he corrects as his mother gives him a look. “Mom just means… it… it did a lot more for her personally than any of the crazy stuff I got from dad. When it was just her and I.”

“It did a lot for us,” she corrects, taking her son’s hand. “I sang to Percy all the time, and he sang to me too, to make me feel better. And I always did. That’s better than summoning hurricanes or blowing up mountains, if you ask me.”

“Aww,” Frank voices without realising. Ares gives him a deeply affronted look.

The rest of the demigods look absolutely dumb-struck. Never, in the six years they’ve had him, has this even been considered. It’s common knowledge around camp that Percy’s voice is a danger to society and should be handled in moderation with great care. Because it sucks.

“Hey, we’re at the campfire, we’re all just havin’ fun, there’s no need to be too serious about it,” he defends himself. “No one wants to hear me sing a lullaby my mom made me for when I can’t sleep.”

“Oh my gods, no,” Clarisse agrees vehemently. 

“I cannot believe I’m hearing this,” Will breathes. Nico makes a small wheezing sound in agreement.

“Can we keep reading, please?” Percy whines. 

“Yes, please,” Zeus begs, massaging his temple right along with Athena.

I got the idea… with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Annabeth and Malcolm’s cheers join those of the campers in the book, sounding out through the tent proudly. Likewise, Clarisse hollers for Ares. Her father grins wickedly. 

I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"

"Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he said. "But often."

"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"

He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?"

He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. 

Thalia sucks in a breath. Apollo’s eyebrow twitches up. If they’re enemies now, would that be another notch in his premonition theory?

"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.

“That’s… one way to do it,” Reyna asked, sounding disapproving.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. 

Percy clicks his tongue at himself. 

“Underestimating the enemy. Rookie mistake.”

“You learned,” Annabeth reminds him shortly.

Hephaestus's kids weren't… else on the planet.

“You bet your ass,” Ares chuckles darkly. Aphrodite rolls her eyes at him.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced… Arm yourselves!"

“Those are some pretty loose rules,” Sally mumbles worriedly. She knows her son is used to it, but at this point he wasn’t. He was only twelve.

He spread his hands… Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

Her tiny voice rings out from the book. She yelled strong and confident, but she was only a child too. It matches Percy’s squeaky little voice. 

We cheered… "Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. 

Percy snorts. 

“That was so unhelpful.”

Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means."

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me.” 

Thalia throws her head back and cackles. Frank gapes. Hazel scoffs in amazement. 

“It’s his first week!” Nico gapes.

“That is cold, girl,” Jason coughs. 

Leo frowns. “It’s not that cold. I mean, it’s not warm. But that’s- that’s Annabeth.” 

“No, man- she left him to the wolves,” Jason explains. “The Ares cabin’s downfall is their anger. They’ll jump at the chance to get Percy out on his own, which gets them out of the way for Athena to snag the flag. Annabeth’s just made him shark bait.” 

“...No,” he gasps.

Percy and Annabeth speak the next phrase perfectly in sync with little Annabeth.

“Athena always has a plan."

Athena smirks. This makes far more sense. Where is this daughter of hers now? What happened to change her? Athena has to know. 

She pushed ahead… have liability issues, right?

Jason frowns. That’s pretty good actually. He writes it down. 

Frank feels, honestly, a little relieved. Percy’s always seemed way too capable, like he could just do anything. To hear how he started out a lot like Frank is really nice. He had no idea what he was doing either. That’s as horrifying as it is validating.

Far away… fun, as usual.

“That’s what you thought?!” Nico chokes. “I take it back. Have at him.”

“Don’t, please,” Sally chimes mildly, eyebrows scrunched.

Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.

“You heard it?” Annabeth gasps.

“I guess I did,” Percy shrugs. He doesn’t remember this part. If he heard it that early, though, why didn’t it attack? Hellhounds aren’t particularly patient predators.

“What is it?” Piper asks, sounding like she’s not sure she wants to know. Percy waves a hand dismissively. She’ll find out soon.

I raised my shield instinctively;... made our cabin look stupid."

“Don’t…” Annabeth warns.

"You do that without my help," I told them.

Percy doesn’t even look sorry. His girlfriend sighs. It was a foregone conclusion, but she still lives in hope that one day he’ll do the smart thing and just shut his mouth. 

Probably not. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Two of them came at me... Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.

Percy groans quietly, slumping back into Annabeth. It’s funny, the pain is so small compared to his regular injuries, he has to remind himself there’s no reason to power through it and act unaffected. And to think he’s dizzy from seeing his blood? It makes him chuckle even as he assures his fretting mother he’s alright. 

A few people cringe– mostly those who remember that awful spear. A direct hit from Maimer was not something you walked off, and Percy really was brand new at the time. 

“No maiming,”...I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die.

‘Die? Wait, hold on, die?!’ Will squawks.

‘This is why you watch the orientation film,’ Nico drawls with a modicum of sympathy in his tone. 

‘You were so chill about that,’ Katie reiterates disbelievingly. Percy shrugs.

‘If I died, then I died. Boo-womp.’

‘The picture of mental health, everybody,’ Grover announces with some jazz hands for effect. 

‘You were eleven!’ Malcolm argues, sounding absolutely horrified. Percy pointedly does not look around the room at all the people that qualify to be on the receiving end of that statement. 

‘Yeah, and my mom had just ‘died’,’ he mutters under his breath. Annabeth nuzzles her cheek against his hair a little. You know, this whole thing sucks, but he’s really grateful he gets to cuddle his girlfriend about it. He finds himself thinking that a lot: whatever situation he’s in might suck, but at least he’s not in it without her. It could suck so much worse. 

The water seemed to wake up my senses… The game was over. We’d won.

Cheers rise for the winning cabins. Clarisse chuckles in low, terrifyingly gruff promise, mostly to avoid looking at her father, who is steaming. Percy’s more than happy to enable that, growling playfully back in the same tone. The two exchange an entire conversation in snarls. 

I was about to join the celebration when…I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.

Percy goes a little boneless against her now. He’s better at bodying exhaustion these days, but again, he reminds himself that he doesn’t have to. He is safe to collapse here, so collapse he does. 

“Oh, Styx,” she cursed…A howl ripped through the forest.

That howl rings through the tent now, disturbing the fire like a strong wind. Hazel jumps and grabs Frank’s left forearm. Leo jumps and grabs his right. 

‘Oh, Percy, what is that?’ Sally begs. 

‘Hellhound,’ a slightly pale Poseidon answers for him. ‘What is that doing in camp?! Dionysus!’

‘What, what, how should I know, it hasn’t happened yet.’

‘An actual hellhound? In camp?’ Nico breathes. ‘Styx, Percy.’

Jason frowns. ‘I don’t understand. It’s not Mrs. O’Leary?’ 

‘Mrs. who?’ Athena demands tersely. 

‘This was before her,’ Annabeth replies, ignoring her mother. ‘Before Tyson, too. There were no monsters allowed in camp except for the harpies and those specifically brought into the woods. This was a big deal.’ 

Annabeth drew her sword… The monster fell dead at my feet.

Percy hisses through his teeth, choosing to resituate himself (with some difficulty) instead of paying attention to everyone’s reactions. He can hear them all having their say about it, but he’s a little preoccupied with the pain. Going through his old injuries with none of the adrenaline he was riding at the time is really something. He clutches at his chest a second before Annabeth moves to help him. She knows exactly where it is. This was his first battle scar, after all. The water did a good job sealing the open scratches, but the scar tissue remained. He never told anyone that, except Annabeth when she asked. They’ve charted each other’s scars enough to know them by heart now. He remembers wondering at the raised skin in the mirror, and coming back to it years later when it had warped with his growth. He wonders if the phantom scratches that have reopened from the reading now even match up with the scar. He angles himself away from his mother and tries to keep quiet as the blood seeps through his shirt. 

By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn’t want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armour. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would’ve turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.

Sally is immediately on him with that specific brand of worry. Grover, Percy, and Annabeth all talk over each other to assure her he’s fine. She’s never been a hysterical mother, no matter how warranted hysteria was, so she takes that stoically, contenting herself with sending him concerned looks every few seconds and staying close. 

No one else interrupts. It seems those who have caught on to the effects of the book know not to interrupt the reading. 

Chiron trotted up next to us…“Quick, Percy, get in the water.”

‘I’m okay,’ Percy grunts in tandem with his younger self. 

‘No, you’re not,’ Annabeth says, also in time with her younger self. Like they’re instinctively reliving the old scene. 

“Chiron, watch this.”... Some of the campers gasped.

Percy sighs in relief as his pain melts. He frowns down at the bloodstain, now dried on his shirt. So weird. 

“Look, I—I don’t know why,”... Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”

‘They bowed?’ Nico asks. Percy’s quick to agree, spreading his hands out to either side.

‘I know, right? Like, why?’

‘It was a big deal,’ Annabeth says in their defence. ‘Seriously, I can’t tell you how big. You don’t know what camp was like before.’

‘Still, that’s a lot of pressure,’ Frank cringes. ‘Crazy way to find out who you are.’

‘That was the end of the chapter,’ Hades announces. 

‘Let’s continue, then,’ his wife suggests, bringing everyone’s attention back to the book. 

I AM OFFERED A QUEST.

‘ Did you politely decline?’ Nico deadpans. 

‘When I say “offered”...’

‘Figures.’

‘It is an honour to be offered a chance to prove yourself,’ Zeus rumbles. 

‘Yep, I could feel the honour rushing through my twelve-year-old veins.’

Frank turns away and covers his laugh with a cough. Thankfully, the book continues before the conversation can. 

The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three… and not listen to anybody else.

A few of the campers in more populated cabins groan wistfully. Sounds like paradise to them. 

‘That had to have been nice, after Cabin eleven,’ Jason ventures hesitantly. Percy shrugs and turns on a smug smile.

‘Wasn’t miserable.’

And I was absolutely miserable.

A few awkward coughs. Percy gapes slightly at the book in betrayal.

‘...Okay, that was targeted.’

‘How?!’ Malcolm demands, seeming equally outraged for a completely different reason. 

‘No brother yet,’ Tyson informs the room knowingly, giving Percy a sad pout. ‘Percy would be lonely.’

Percy nods along with feeling, making the motion almost comical, expertly painting the insinuation in a lighter tone. Leo can’t help but stare. How did he never notice this? Percy just did exactly what Leo does with his humour for everyone else’s sake. Well, of course he didn’t notice– no one ever notices him, do they? But of all people, Percy Jackson? Mr. Hero himself? 

Just when I’d started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven … I’d rather get into fights every day than be ignored.

Clarisse spreads her hands in open invitation. ‘Well Prissy, why didn’t you say so?’ 

Percy snipes something back while the rest of the campers who weren’t around for this try to wrap their heads around a camp that was so apathetic. And to Percy, of all people. He’s the heart and soul of that place. To hear their home described as so unwelcoming, especially to its saviour, is more than off-putting. 

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.

BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT

BY EILEEN SMYTHE

Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance… Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.

The phone number was circled in black marker.

‘What?’ Annabeth gasps, looking at him in shock. He never told her this. ‘Percy!’ 

‘Really?’ Katie breathes.

Leo swears in Spanish, too familiar with this sort of shit. Sally purses her lips. Chiron’s jaw drops a little in surprise at something so malicious happening in his camp. Pranks and feuds are common, but this… there was real venom in this. The campers are supposed to be safe with each other. He had no idea Percy was made to feel so utterly unwanted when he first came to them. It’s supposed to be home, and no one belonged more than Percy. If this was his experience, how many other children slipped through the cracks on his watch without him ever knowing?

Perhaps no one’s more surprised than Nico. He’d always assumed Percy was born a beautiful, hair-blowing-in-the-wind, dramatic-silhouette-against-the-sky hero. Apparently he fought for every bit of it.  

Hazel is shocked at the similarities she’s drawing between these scenes and her own life. That sense of displacement, the fact that no one wanted you there, the sense that you were not welcome on principle– Hazel knows all about that. But she always knew why. People always hated her for her mother, but others still had hated her before they even knew about her, before she even opened her mouth. Their hate was a given, and it was never a mystery why. She was a black girl in a white world. Why on earth is she seeing that same vein of hatred in this age, in her home, amongst family? In Percy’s life? It might not have been about his skin tone, but she hates that she can’t say for sure. Either way, he was pushed out because of the way he was born, and that, she can empathise with. 

I wadded up the paper and threw it away… A storm was brewing. I hadn’t dreamed that.

Apollo settles back from where he’d leaned forward in interest, stroking his chin thoughtfully. For once, it doesn’t look ridiculous on him. Childish as he can be, he’s still an immortal being with aeons under his belt, and as such, probably a lot wiser than he lets on. 

‘There is only one who speaks from below,’ Poseidon once again swivels to glare at Hades. ‘It can be no one else.’

‘What have you taken, brother?’ Zeus thunders, rising imperiously in place. His beard darkens with his tone. 

‘The purpose of this exercise is for all to be revealed in time,’ Athena reminds the two of them. ‘Throwing stones will bring us no closer to that conclusion.’ 

‘Yeah, can we not fight? Some of us have seen this one already,’ Percy says, doing a not-so-stellar job of keeping the supreme exasperation and weariness from his tone. It startles Poseidon so much that he momentarily forgets his gripes. His son looks so old. 

‘In our time, all has been resolved,’ Annabeth concurs. ‘You’ve had it out with each other and ultimately come to a peaceful resolution. No doubt we will rehash that through this book, but please keep in mind that for us, it is done. It’s all been revealed as a series of unfortunate misunderstandings that nearly resulted in–’ again, she finds herself cut off by the magic of the place. She rephrases. ‘-Disaster.’

‘No one here truly encroached on any sacred rules or territories in the way they were made to seem,’ Chiron agrees. 

Zeus has his pointed moment of dramatic crackling, which is entirely for the sake of posturing, and then sits back down. Percy just manages not to roll his eyes. 

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.”

‘That’s encouraging,’ Jason mutters. 

‘We have got to work on your delivery,’ Piper informs Grover. 

Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.

‘Why should you assume that?’ Reyna asks. ‘You haven’t done anything.’

Percy shrugs. ‘If I ever get summoned anywhere, it’s generally safe to assume I’m in huge trouble.’ 

A few nods go up around the room. As a group of dyslexic, adhd-riddled problem children with parental issues and the divine curse of godly natures, Percy is far from the only kid well acquainted with trouble. 

For days, I’d been half expecting a summons… I’m thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father.”

‘Is that so?’ Poseidon hums. No one can tell if the dangerous edge in his tone is mocking or not. Dionysus raises his eyebrows and pudgy hands in put-upon surrender without a word. Poseidon’s eyes slide back to the book, and the moment passes. 

“Mr. D—” … A credit card? No. A security pass.

Dionysus’ brow raises again, much more seriously. The boy saw it for what it was? 

He snapped his fingers.

The air seemed to fold and bend around him… “It scared me,” I said. “If you hadn’t shot it, I’d be dead.”

More than one person has to sit back and marvel at Percy’s honesty. And for such a simple reason as ‘I didn’t feel like lying’. That really is all there is to it for him– he just does what he feels, says things as they are. Reyna privately muses that he’s almost like a child in that way. It’s a baffling thing to see in a hero— even more baffling to concede that he still very clearly has that nature in him now. Percy is a grisled veteran, and amazingly, he has still managed to stay 100% Percy.

“You’ll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you’re done.” … They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt.”

The next few minutes are pandemonium. The gods all rise in alarm, and then the kids get up to try and calm them as Zeus and Poseidon start yelling at each other. No thunder or rumbling accompanies the argument, but the threat of it is still very much there, threaded through every lightning-snap accusation thrown Poseidon’s way. Equally, the Sea God seems to double in size with no magic at all, darkening in a way a lot of those present recognize from his son. Gods, all of them used to being heard, bellow over each other, shaking their children and wives off for trying to intervene. Zeus is so irate he nearly shoves Hera right out of the tent. When Sally puts her hand on Poseidon’s arm, squeezing herself between the two gods, fear for her getting in the middle nearly distracts Poseidon entirely. He’s much gentler, but just as tense, as he shifts his attention to trying to extract her from the conflict. Percy puts a hand on each of his parents’ shoulders and tries to help her. In the back somewhere, Leo and Hephaestus exchange their first proper look, and it’s one of agreement: hang back and keep out of it.

What breaks it all is a whistle, though that’s a poor understatement of it. It’s like the world’s shrillest gun going off, slicing through the sonic pollution and thumping heartbeats clogging up the sanctuary. More than a few people curse and cover their ears, heads ringing. Nico turns slowly with a face promising to murder whoever did that. 

Will stands beside Hestia, and they have twin glares on their faces. The impact comes quite as much from the fact that it’s them than anything. They’re not angry people, and to see them so blatantly disapproving is no small thing. Will can be a scary guy. 

‘LORD POSEIDON DID NOT STEAL THE MASTER BOLT,’ he announces powerfully. Nico’s face quickly crumples from its murderous state into something more completely awed and a little afraid. ‘No God could have been directly responsible, and as the book has made clear, Percy wasn’t involved. We cannot tell you more than that. Now CHILL. OUT.’

‘My Bolt has been taken!’ Zeus thunders. 

Percy takes advantage of the fact that Zeus can’t see him from this position and mimics a baby crying. Thalia snorts so hard a glob of snot comes out of her nose. He guffaws silently as she braces herself against him, her other hand coming up to do something about it, but actually just hovering there as she just settles on cackling about it with him. Fun fact about Thalia: it’s really, really hard for her to keep her laughter in. And she laughs loud. So the two of them end up sort of collapsing into each other trying to resolve the situation before anyone notices, even as they quickly fall into that semi-panicked state where everything makes them laugh harder and they really, really can’t afford to keep laughing.

‘Gods!’ Artemis speaks. ‘Are we not here with the intention of resolving these disputes, and revealing the truth behind allegations of just this magnitude? Did you not imagine, when the Fates turned their hands so heavily on our past, present and future, that they did so with purpose? The destiny we are made to unweave here is the very one that will lead to such upheaval as to force the hands of those ladies, who are privy to forces beyond even we gods. The situation is far larger than the council. We cannot afford to squabble among ourselves, as we have made habit of for the stretch of our reign. Do you understand?’

‘Artemis is correct,’ Athena councils darkly. The uncharacteristic lack of smug chiding in her voice lends even more credence to the gravity of the situation. The hint of what might be actual fear tingeing her tone is even more unexpected. The air seems to still. ‘The Fates have never intervened in our affairs, no matter the scale or fallout. They are not moved by any measure we can fathom. But they are moved now. What disturbance looms before us, I cannot say, but it is no trifling spat between family. Our enemy is external.’ 

Poignantly, none of the demigods disagree. The array of gods and goddesses falter, paling rapidly and reinstating their perspectives. Some of them have worked out more than others, of course, but to have it acknowledged aloud makes the whole thing unavoidably real. There is a general agreement in the council to ignore what they do not like, and to have not one, but two of their most reasonable members break that agreement is almost as alarming as the ugly truth rapidly forming itself before their eyes. For such a bold declaration of war as the theft of Zeus’ symbol of power to be necessarily trivialised by some greater threat– well, it’s sobering. It’s terrifying.

‘And what threat would that be, daughter?’ Zeus challenges, breaking the silence almost sacrilegiously. He glares imperiously down upon her, radiating authority. All Percy sees is a cornered animal. ‘Have we not levelled any who would dare oppose us? I can conceive of no power that could–’

‘Exactly,’ Annabeth snaps, voice as sharp and quick as a viper strike. Percy can hear her fighting in it. He’s seen the strike in her tone a thousand times: a flash of lethal bronze, weight shifting in deliberate measure, elbow up and knee planted for the follow-through, and then the clean slice of flesh quickly warmed by blood. Whatever movement her opponent falls into to evade or receive the blow, she will use. She will pick an angle in her next step from the observed natural response. Then she will strike and strike and strike until that angle is open to her, and the enemy falls. To be seen by Annabeth is to be known by her, to be picked apart so ruthlessly as to consign you to defeat. In so many seconds, you are undone. Percy never gets tired of watching it, and he’s all too happy to watch it now. ‘You cannot conceive of it,’ Annabeth delivers, the cold slice of the blade whipping through the air as it rushes out between her teeth. ‘And that is your downfall. So much of your legacy, your rule, is threatened by your very own ignorance. The war was completely avoidable, cemented only by your choice to believe that you are above reproach. It was you who turned the tide against yourselves, and it was your children who died for it. Your enemies are born of your own predictable arrogance, and they profit off of it even now, to an end that the Fates themselves cannot abide. The outcome is plain, you are holding proof of your mistakes–’ Annabeth shakes the book angrily, ‘ –even as you make them again!’

‘My daughter does me credit in her wisdom, and in her condemnation,’ Athena booms before anyone can smite said daughter, throwing her a sharp warning look even as she takes on the attention of the riotous group. ‘You have won nothing until you have learned from a battle. Are we truly to hand that victory to the enemy, arming them against us out of supposed convenience? Cowardice? While we bask in our laurels, we again seal the fate we may yet avoid. By Rhea,’ she gestures somewhat hysterically at her very human form (completely aura-free), ‘ –we are mortal! Our children forget their place in an effort to remind us of ours. If we do not heed them, we are destined to repeat our mistakes and fall. And if I should accept that, as I have accepted your ridiculous pissing contests for far too long, then I should count myself unworthy to rule the heavens. If we bring defeat upon ourselves, then we earn it.’

‘Sorry Pops, but they’re right,’ Apollo says with uncharacteristic seriousness. ‘It would be beyond foolish to ignore such blatant warnings from the future. For Fate itself to play a part… the consequences are so far beyond what we know now. We can’t keep up the ostrich syndrome here.’

Surprisingly, the next god to interject is Hephaestus. Well, he doesn’t interject so much as place himself pointedly behind Athena in his usual cloud of awkward silence. His hands, however, are still, and his chin is uncharacteristically raised to stare down the remaining contenders. With his shoulders unhunched like that, he really is just a massive hulk of muscle. His glare is deep and even, and his hot breath comes out in silent puffs of smoke, like a dragon’s. Percy’s reminded of the great viking chiefs of old, always portrayed with a big scraggly beard and hands like demolition claws. 

Once Zeus has had a few long moments of silent steaming (Poseidon starts to say something, but Sally steps on his foot), he grinds his jaw down so hard Percy hears a crack. 

‘...This is a matter for the council,’ he finally growls. It reaches even the far ends of the yurt, every surface rumbling dangerously with restrained power. Mortal he may be for now, but he is still the king of the gods, as they are all reminded by the utter calamity in his expression. The demigods suppress shudders, bodies screaming to run. No one moves. 

‘That it is,’ Hera announces. So severe, it only doubles the threat of imminent danger. ‘We will discuss this later.’ 

Eventually, the group staggers hesitantly back into motion, though the staring contest between Athena and Zeus goes on for just way too long. Poseidon takes the first opportunity he gets to pull Percy bodily out of the yurt and off to the side. 

Percy glances nervously between the dispersing crowd and his father. Guess they’re taking a break, then. Apollo and Hermes have their heads close together. Apollo’s speaking quietly to him while Hermes bites his lip into ribbons with a deep frown. Reyna is deep in thought, watching Annabeth with an unreadable expression. Annabeth is exchanging hissed retorts with an apoplectic Grover, who’s no doubt resisting the urge to wrap her in bubble wrap and ship her to an asylum for those who are a danger to themselves and society. Thalia is dogging her heels, glaring at the tent every other second. Percy can’t see Tyson. Worry stabs at him as he realises the big guy’s probably off crying somewhere. All those raised voices, the tension– Percy can’t blame him. He hopes Chiron is with Tyson, but he’ll go check anyway as soon as his dad’s done with… whatever it is he needs Percy for. Oh, right, his dad.

Percy looks back at the god, worried he should’ve been paying attention, but Poseidon hasn’t noticed. His tumultuous eyes are trained on the earth, his frown deep and his brow set. Most times Percy’s met his dad, those eyes are a bright blue-green, like crystal-clear coastal waters. Percy’s seen them change, of course, but being so close the effect is more obvious. They have turned a hard grey, like the vast surface of a sea reflecting a low-hanging storm. In shallow coastal waters you can see clear down to the sand, but in seas like these, the surface looks as cold and forbidding as steel. There is no sign to suggest how deep the waters may be, what might be beneath that surface. 

He’s probably angry. Well, actually, he’s definitely angry, but he‘s probably a thousand other things too, and Percy couldn’t even give you a guess as to those. So he has no idea what Poseidon’s gonna say when he opens his mouth. It takes him a while, but he does, still with that stormy expression on his face. His hands settle heavily on Percy’s shoulders before he finally looks up and meets his son’s eyes.

‘Percy, son,’ he begins, voice low and earnest. If possible, Percy focusses harder. ‘I know I have failed you as a father. I know I have failed you as a ruler. I know there are things I’ve done that I can’t take back, and you are right to hold me accountable for them. I know you know that I’m sorry, and we both know that however you take that, the result is the same, so there’s no need to talk about it. You know that I’m sorry, right? I mean that.’

Percy shuts his mouth and nods stiffly. Poseidon echoes it. Then he exhales a strained sigh, looking torn. 

‘I can yell at my brother all I want, but I know I can be as bad as him. I– I’m proud, Percy. I’ve been a god too long. Perhaps we all have. But know that for you, I am trying. I respect you. I value you, my son. I am so proud of you. You and your mother, you are special to me. And I want to do better. I want to help you. Tell me how to help you. Just– when I am proving myself the terrible father I am, correct me. When I am being as conceited as my brother ever was, tell me how to change. I know I am part of the problem, and you, Percy, you know why. I promise I will try to hear you. This may be my only opportunity.’

Percy’s head reels. His ears ring. He almost pinches himself, sure this is just a rerun of a dream he’s had all his life. Here is his dad; his stupid, absent, parasite of a father (okay, he’s not that bad in godly terms, but Percy was a bitter kid), promising to listen. Not offering excuses, or swearing he’s doing his best. Not even expecting forgiveness. Here is a god; acknowledging his faults and mistakes, and instead of defending them, actively choosing to improve for his kid. Or maybe just for the future. Percy likes to think it’s the first one, though. 

Then he thinks of his siblings, what they would give to hear what he’s hearing right now. How many of them died fighting a war over it. Luke. The tears are falling before he’s even realised they’re forming. 

Godsdamnit, no, Percy, NO. You CANNOT cry in front of a god. Stop crying, you moron, STOP CRYING–

Again, Percy proves himself slow on the uptake. How long has he been in his father’s arms? Is this an attempt at a hug? How stupid does he look right now? The others will be worried or jealous or both and his mum will be concerned and Tyson still needs him and Annabeth–

Poseidon’s arms finally settle on a proper ratio of tightness, and Percy gives up and cries.

Chapter Text

Conversations stop. Heads turn. Tentatively, awed whispers hiss through the clearing as everyone stops to gape at something Sally can’t see from where she’s sitting with Tyson in the grass. She pets his arm distractedly. He’s calmed down now, and she feels she should go and figure out what’s happened. Still, she’s not about to leave Tyson; the poor boy got such a fright, and Percy’s usually the only one who can settle him when he gets like this. But then Hestia meets her gaze, quite deliberately, and nods in the direction of the disturbance. 

‘Baby, can I just go and check something?’ Sally croons softly, giving all her attention to the cyclops. ‘Would you be alright if I left you here with Will and Grover? I won’t go if you don’t want me to.’

‘Will you check on Percy?’ he sniffles, blinking his big wet brown eye down at her. The implications of the tension so painstakingly strung through this entire debacle have not escaped him. He knows to be on his guard, despite the semi-casual atmosphere. And that means looking out for Percy, too. 

‘Yes,’ she promises.

‘We’ll look after ya, big guy,’ Will intones confidently. Grover hums agreement. Tyson squeezes Sally’s hand once, gentle as he can, and nods. She presses her other hand to his cheek and gives him a warm smile. Then she slips out of his grip and the boys converge on either side of Tyson to take her place. Sally rises and makes her way over to the epicentre of the disquiet, trying not to worry. 

She is late to the party. Whatever’s happened is over now, but that does not stop her heart from leaping into her throat when she sees that it’s her son and his father everyone’s staring at. Percy’s just walking away in something of a daze, wiping his eyes. Sally barely stops herself from flying across the clearing to him. She knows she should ask, but she can’t help but pull Percy into her and press him as close as possible instead. His wet protests are muffled against her shoulder. He’s tall enough that he has to duck, but he dutifully pretends her hand on the nape of his neck is what’s keeping him down. 

‘’Mm fine, mom. Really. I’m just– I got a little… overwhelmed. I’m just gonna take a walk, okay? I’ll tell you later.’

He sounds sure, so she squeezes him once, trying to infuse all her warmth into him, and lets go. He gives her a wobbly smile. She puts her hand on his cheek and returns it as best she can. He runs his thumb over her wrist and then withdraws. 

As distracted as she is watching him go, she doesn’t notice the presence situate itself behind her until he speaks. 

‘I hope I didn’t mess that up.’ 

Sally shrieks and jumps. A big hand catches around her back, and the warmth of it pours over into the rest of her like an overflowing dam. It calms her as quickly as she startled, leaving her chuckling out her embarrassment, hand on her chest. They both start talking over each other.

‘You scared–’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t– I thought you–’

‘No, it’s fine. I’m…’ she waves her hand dismissively, rolling her eyes at herself. ‘Silly.’

Poseidon opens his mouth, no doubt to put his foot in it again, but the moment slips from them both. Sally meets his eyes properly. She doesn’t mean to, but she looks at him like she’s not allowed to. Like she hasn’t since… since their summer. And he looks just the same. A little startled, like he’s been brought down to earth all at once without warning. Lost, like a man who’s never sure where he is and still isn’t used to it. And so, so beautiful. Were there ever eyes of this like on any plane, divine or damned? Will there ever be anyone like him?

Poseidon looks back at her. Now that they’ve fallen into this trap they’ve so carefully tiptoed the borders of thus far, there’s no getting out. In this one moment, they are each other’s again, wholly and utterly.

‘I… was…’ Poseidon tries. It comes out as not much more than a weak whisper. He blinks, his eyelashes crashing over his cheeks like the breaking wave. Clears his throat. Shuffles lamely. ‘....We talked.’

Sally shakes herself. All these years, and it’s still no easier to know her place when she’s beside him. ‘Percy? You and Percy, you– talked. What did…?’

Poseidon sighs, finally dragging his eyes off to follow his son. They look as distant as any ocean’s horizon. He shakes his head minutely. ‘I am trying… I want…’ When he wrestles with himself some more and only succeeds in getting more tangled, Sally puts a hand on his arm. He startles slightly, and she sees him resist the urge to look down at where they touch. He softens, and his next exhale is much deeper. ‘I am not as blind as my brother chooses to be. Percy has a people now, a family, and he sides with them. His loyalty is to his fellows. As a result, he is at odds with the council. I don’t– I just want to make sure he knows that he is not alone in that. I don’t want him to turn against me on principle, I don’t want– I want him to know that I am on his side. I know I’ll never be his– his dad , but I want him to know that he can come to me, and I will hear him.’

Sally feels her insides melt, hot tears leaping up her throat and threatening to spill out of her eyes. Her heart screams hearing Poseidon want to be a father to his son. She knows it’s impossible, and she made her peace with that a long time ago. And here he is, reminding her of the exact measure of the man she fell in love with all those years ago. She tightens her grip on his arm against the urge to let him absorb her so they are one fluid thing that can love Percy as much as he deserves to be loved, forever. Parents.

She takes a moment to let it wash over her. Even now, Poseidon asks her what to do, because he trusts her even if he doesn’t understand. He can’t know how to keep something that passes by in a mortal lifetime, the blink of his eye, and so he turns to her for direction. She refused to change for him, refused his pearls and palaces under the sea, and so he will change for her. However he needs to, for her and for Percy. 

When Sally trusts herself to speak again, she does. It still comes out all too soft. 

‘Did you tell him that?’ 

‘I tried.’

She nods. Sniffs loudly. Pull it together, Jackson . ‘That’s all you can do.’

‘Is it? There’s no other way I can– prove it? To him, and… to you?’

He says it so quietly she almost misses it. It’s not a tone you would expect a man of his deep rolling baritone to be capable of. Sally knows it, though. She knows him. 

Maybe Sally is stupid for believing Poseidon loves her. He is a god. She is as an ant to him, a meagre blip in his vast ocean of experience. Gods lie to ants all the time. Sometimes she thinks she can’t even necessarily hold it against them– they are so removed from humanity as she knows it, it’s startling that they are as cogent as they are, enough to be mistaken for fellow people. Sally accepts that their perspectives are simply of a different dimension to any mortal’s. Poseidon is no exception. So what makes her think she would be an outlier? One summer on a beach? She’s a smart girl, she knows how to keep a head with these things. Logically, there’s no reason he should have ever loved her. 

But he did. And he does. Sally has never been more sure of anything in all her life. Poseidon is the love of her life, and she knows that everything he does, he does for her and Percy. He loves them like gods aren’t supposed to be able to. And she hopes against all hope that one day, Percy knows that. 

Sally falls in love with him all over again, right there and then. And the tragedy is, she can’t do a thing about it. She cannot even let go of his arm. She is stuck, again and forever, by the way things are. They both are. 

‘I know,’ she whispers. It’s all she can do. 

Tyson is scared when something runs into Goat Friend Grover. They all tense for a fight. The something doesn’t smell mean though. It smells like tears and flowers. Grover is surprised, but not scared, so Tyson waits before he hurts it. He blinks as it unfolds. It’s a girl? She doesn’t smell like human or demigod. And Tyson isn’t so good with his colours, but he thinks her skin is weird. Not human. She is pretty. She looks like a little fairy elf. Tyson likes fairies and elves. 

Goat friend Grover calls her Juniper. That must be her name. It’s pretty, like her. Looks like Juniper is Grover’s friend, but she is crying. It makes Grover sad. Grover asks her why. She says she tried to stay hidden like he asked, but she couldn’t bear hearing all this scary talk about the danger Goat Friend Grover went through. Tyson understands. It scared him too! 

Will says Juniper is Grover’s girlfriend, and they should leave them alone. Tyson wonders if he should ask his own Girl Friend to come out too. He thinks it is too dangerous. Ella likes listening to stories, so he’s glad she can hear them, but he doesn’t want her to be too close when it gets scary. No, she should probably stay hiding in the trees. He hopes the stories don’t go on too long so he can see her again. She is even prettier than Juniper, and he misses her.

Nico takes this time to quietly slip away and go, of all people, to Luke. He makes no expression of his motive, no clear sign as to his opinion on camp half blood’s broken brother. He stares unabashedly, but for the life of him, Luke can’t tell what he’s thinking. 

‘Things are better now,’ Nico informs him in no particular tone. ‘Percy and the other heroes made sure of that. There are a lot more cabins for a lot more gods now, my father included. We take in the children of minor deities just the same as major. The population at camp has tripled along with the life expectancy. There are… more options, for demigods.’ 

Luke listens, enraptured. Nico seems to sense how closely he hangs on every word. The kid shifts under his intense gaze, but Luke can’t help it. He silently begs Nico to keep talking, but feels unable to ask him to. 

‘...Kids get claimed most of the time in the first week they get to camp,’ Nico finally continues. He clears his throat. Luke gets the impression he isn’t used to speaking this much. Well, he hasn’t been a chattering shade robbed of his oesophagus for the past six years, so he’s still better at it than Luke. ‘They get to grow up. And there’s no… the Hermes cabin, it isn’t like that anymore. It’s been completely renovated, and it’s one of the cosiest in the whole camp. Or so I’m told.’ 

Luke’s eyelids flutter as he tries to imagine it. At one point, that vision was all he wanted, all he fought for. In hindsight, nothing Luke did could’ve made that a reality. Even if Kronos had won and razed camp to the ground, fulfilled all his promises and built it up better in every way, it wouldn’t have been the same. Not that it would have mattered. Luke would have had no siblings left to share it with. But it’s real now; real, and better in every way. All Luke had to do was die for it.

‘Thank you,’ he rasps, making the conscious effort to meet Nico’s eyes. He tries to get across how much it means to him. Nico holds his gaze for a beat before looking away. 

‘Yeah. Figured you should know.’

Percy’s got a whole mix of emotions going on right now, but he’s not expecting the surge of worry, joy/relief, and immediate responding guilt that rolls through him. He pivots in place, looking around for Grover. He can’t see him. The next pulse of worry is his own. Grover responds with a shallow, distracted heartbeat. Apology. Percy thinks it might be an attempt to settle him. They’ve been working on it, but it’s hard to communicate solely through emotions you have little to no control over. It’s enough to tell Percy that he needs to find his best friend, now. 

Between asking around and following the empathy link, it’s not hard. It’s not like there’s a lot of places to hide. That’s what he’s doing, though, hopping from hoof to hoof behind the yurt, fretting around—

‘Juniper?’ Percy blurts. 

Two amber eyes snap to his, and Juniper’s lips part in mild surprise. She’s in season (which is a weird thing to say about a person, but apparently it’s correct), so her orange bush of hair is tingeing yellow-green at the ends. She’s freckled with yellow sun-spots. As usual, she’s wearing a loose, flowy dress in the old Greek style and the necklace Grover got her to match his. Pretty as ever. But what’s she doing here?

‘Percy,’ she sighs in relief, wrestling herself gently from Grover’s embrace. ‘Explain to Grover why I should be here for the reading.’ 

‘It’s not that I don’t want you here, Junie! It’s— you know how tense the situation is, and already it’s gotten scary. I just don’t want to put you in the middle of that!’

‘Well I don’t want you in the middle of it either, and I certainly don’t want you in it alone!’

‘Have you been here the whole time?’ Percy interjects. 

Juniper nods shortly. ‘And I’m not the only one. But I just can’t sit there and listen to this and not be able to hold you,’ she huffs, turning back on her boyfriend. ‘Hearing it from Percy’s perspective— you were just so young! And it’s only going to get worse. Don’t lie,’ she snaps as Grover opens his mouth to argue. He deflates. ‘You’ve told me how hard those years were for you and Percy, Grover. Annabeth too. If you have to go through it again, you’ll have me by your side. That’s final.’

Grover shoots Percy a desperate look, and Percy throws a helpless one back with a shrug. There’s no stopping a camp girl on a mission. They’re a different breed there, and it has nothing to do with their blood ancestry.

Grover protests some more, but the battle is lost. Juniper will join the reading. Percy knows Grover’s worried, but he also knows that a big part of the satyr is only too glad to have her close. Part of Grover settles, and so part of Percy settles. 

Still, he bumps Grover with his hip when Juniper finally winds down from her tirade. He sends his best friend a curious look. 

‘You knew she was listening in?’

Grover shrugs, looking away apologetically. ‘Yeah. I could feel her presence, and I managed to get the message to her to stay hidden. I wanted to tell you, but—‘

‘Say less G-man, I get it,’ Percy assures him. Grover could have pulled him aside at some point, but nowhere in this realm is guaranteed to be truly private. It’s best not to say anything out loud that you don’t want getting out, if it can be helped. Percy wouldn’t take that chance on his girlfriend’s well-being, either. 

A while later, people start trickling back into the yurt. Zeus is the last to return, but he says nothing, so presumably he’s had whatever fit he needed to outside. Percy sits beside his brother, having spent the rest of the break in his company. Tyson pretty much completely forgot his nervousness when Percy came and sat with him, and as always, Tyson made Percy feel a heap better too. Right now, Percy’s feeling wrung out, but only like, 60%. Nowhere near his limit. Which is good, because it’s only going to get worse.

When Poseidon hesitates in his sons’ peripherals, Percy surprises himself. He gestures to the space beside him. Open invitation. Poseidon accepts. Percy’s mom settles on her knees where she can reach the both of them, and it occurs to Percy with no small measure of absurdity that he’s surrounded by his immediate family. Like they’re taking a family photo. His mom, his dad, and his brother. And him. Annabeth’s not more than an arm’s reach away, either.

Wow.

Only the demigods, Hestia, and Artemis really notice the new girl amongst them. Through his daze, Percy registers that conversation rippling through the crowd as Juniper gets settled. Katie in particular is delighted to see her— they’re pretty close. So close, in fact, that it’s something of a joke around camp that Grover might as well be dating Percy, but Juniper can’t get mad because she might as well be dating Katie. If Katie and Annabeth were closer, the five of them would have an infinite feedback loop of pseudo-relationships. Percy loves it, because A) it’s funny, and B) it counters the Aphrodite cabin’s obsession with his love life quite comically.

Hades clears his throat awkwardly. ‘Shall we continue?’

‘Let’s,’ Aphrodite hums. She flicks her slender fingers and the book opens itself to the page they left off at. Once again, Percy’s squeaky little voice rings out. 

I laughed nervously. “A what?”... Once a teacher, always a teacher. “By you.”

‘What the what!’ Leo squawks. 

‘They thought…’ Jason shakes his head, trailing off incredulously. ‘That makes sense, but…’ 

‘Oh my gods, I would just die on the spot I think,’ Frank attests.

‘Me too! No wonder you were so nonchalant about… you know, when you came, and…’ The anti-spoiler system derails Hazel’s point, but Percy nods to show he understands. 

Quietly, Nico has a moment. He almost reels back from all the revelations he’s having. It’s just such a baffling thing to come to terms with that Percy – Percy fucking Jackson – had this much in common with him to begin with. The poor kid arrived at camp after losing his mother, got thrown into the same cut-throat environment of prejudice (which was skewed against both of them for the same reason), and then was promptly blamed for his parentage to the point of bullying, ostracization, and straight-up danger. They accused him of something based on who his father was, and they sent him on a suicide mission. In his first few weeks. When he was twelve. 

And the scariest thing? Nico would never have known if not for this weird Fate situation. He would’ve gone on believing that the part of him Camp Half-Blood killed was a part that Percy could never understand. He doesn’t put Percy on the same pedestal he used to, but finding all this out still feels like it’s tipped Nico’s world on its head, and now he has to get used to looking at it from this angle. There’s so much more to the picture than he thought.

Will looks like he’s going to cry. He whimpers something about taking over orientation from now on and losing faith in his betters. Grover rubs circles into his back sympathetically. 

My mouth fell open … Zeus is crazy!”

‘BRO I can’t help you,’ Jason wheezes out all in one quick breath, jumping like he’s been electrocuted and throwing his head in his hands. Frank’s mouth is slightly agape. 

Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky … “And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus’s wrath.”

‘What a way to be introduced to camp,’ Mitchell breathes. 

‘I never really thought about how fast it all happened,’ Connor admits. ‘You were barely trained.’

‘Trained?! He was barely out of the infirmary!’ Will nearly shrieks. ‘He didn’t get the chance to settle into camp, didn’t get time to come to terms with his parentage, his mom–’

‘Look, guys,’ Percy interjects a second before Grover can. ‘We’ve all been through some shit. There’s no point in quantifying it, yeah? It’s over now. We got through it together. Just like we’re gonna get through this whole situation,’ he gestures around vaguely, ‘together.’

‘We’re not gonna lie and say it was smooth sailing,’ Annabeth adds. ‘It wasn’t. It sucked then, and it’s gonna suck now going through it all again. But the only thing we can do is soldier through it, come out the other side, and move on. What’s the motto?’

‘One foot in front of the other.’ All the camp kids automatically deliver back the response in practised unison. Even Nico mutters it under his breath. It’s Annabeth’s habit to punish anyone who doesn’t recite it on command with an extra brutal set of reps. Everyone’s suffered through that misery once, and once is usually enough.

Percy picks up where she leaves off without missing a beat. ‘Having said that, Will– actually, this goes for everyone– we’ve got some agency here. This isn’t like a regular quest. There’s no time limit. If you want to call a break, do it. You don’t need a reason. Take advantage of the options you have available to you, and make sure everyone else does too. Lean on your family and friends. We’re all going at the same pace, and that’s only ever gonna be as fast or as slow as whoever needs it.’

‘Objection!’ Will calls. ‘That applies to you too, got it?’

‘Sustained,’ Annabeth grants with a smile.

Some of the gods look miffed at the casual expectation of their acceptance regarding the speed at which they get through this nightmare. They’re not all the patient type. Some of them are more considering of Percy and Annabeth. In fact, most of those who haven’t trained under them at camp have to stare at the unprompted show of seamless leadership. Neither of them misses a beat or stumbles over the other, and both of them are in unflappable agreement despite not having spoken between themselves before this. They don’t even need to exchange looks. It’s always something to see Percy and Annabeth working as extensions of each other. And it’s something else to see them running their camp. Raising the kids… like parents. 

Sally suddenly tears up. Her hand goes over her heart as she forcibly restrains herself from holding her baby. She needs to step back and let him speak to his kids. But gods, it’s hard when he is a kid. He is a kid, and here he is being a leader, a parent, and a sibling too. When did that happen? She feels she might burst with all of this pride and love for him. 

Chiron and Thalia are in a similar boat. It is rare to see an emotion of such clarity as the one of admiration on Chiron’s face now. Pride, too. And Thalia has to sit back, suddenly a little breathless. Her little Annie. That little girl that was, in all honesty, Thalia’s. Thalia’s, and…

Luke’s eyes are glassy and wide as they stare across the tent at Annabeth as she and Percy settle the younger campers. And gods, the emotions there… that’s Thalia’s Luke. From before. That’s him. And Thalia silently thanks whoever brought him here to see this, and her here to see him.

Quietly, Leo lowers his screwdriver as he suddenly remembers something Percy told him. He came to Leo with it not long before they ended up here, and clearly it wasn’t even a solid notion yet. Leo’s pretty sure he hasn’t even brought it up to Annabeth. Leo was pretty shocked that Percy trusted him with that. One quiet night in Bunker 9, the man without a plan confessed to Leo that he wasn’t sure he wanted to go to college for marine biology like everyone seemed to expect him to. Instead, he was thinking of going into counselling. And when Leo didn’t laugh, he went on to say he wanted to make a shelter for demigods in the city. A safehouse for those who can’t get to camp, or just need a roof for the night. He thought he wanted to implement some kind of support network, so there would be more resources for kids like them outside of camp’s reach. More communication between camp and adult demigods on the outside, legacies, people who could be trusted. Good monsters, too. Honestly, it sounded like a dream. Coming from anyone else, Leo might’ve called it naive. But Leo knew that Percy would do it, even if he had to raise every demigod kid in the tri-state area himself. And Percy knew that too, which is why he was scared to tell Annabeth. It’s an inconceivable amount of responsibility for someone who’s had to be way too responsible all their life.

They’ll figure it out. And the proof’s in the paella; They’re going to be fantastic parents.