A Painful Act of Love: Reading the Lightning Thief - spynoises (acdcatlas) - Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2024)

Chapter 1: Percy Has a Serious Conversation With a Stalker Snake

Chapter Text

He didn't realise it until later, of course, but Percy Jackson saved the universe by being kind.

Ever since he was small, he felt like there were times he was being watched. It seemed random enough to him; when he did the washing up, when he kissed his mom’s cheek, when he spoke to the quiet kid at school. It felt like—not pressure, or invasion, but like an old friend was sitting beside him, observing but never talking.

When he found out he was a demigod, he thought maybe, just maybe, it was his dad watching over him. And then he met his dad and realised the two felt nothing alike. Poseidon was ocean breezes and calm waters and deadly riptides and wild hurricanes. He was the giving life and taking death of the ocean. He was changeable and powerful and he did love Percy, in a way. But Poseidon was not, however much Percy wished it, with him.

Late at night, when he couldn't sleep for fear of nightmares or demigod dreams, Percy tried to place the feeling of his silent observer. He never really questioned it until he realised who he was, until Kronos spoke to him in his dreams. Even now, when he was preparing for a war against someone who watched him, he didn't feel afraid.

The observer did not feel kind, or friendly, or even welcoming. It felt like no person or god or Titan he had ever encountered. It just… was. It was everything, and nothing.

It was the Beginning and the End.

That night—a month after the bronze dragon and three weeks before his dreaded sixteenth birthday—Percy dreamt of his observer.

He wasn't sure how he knew he was dreaming, because everything was black. No, not black. It was like he couldn't see. Looking straight forward was like trying to see the back of his head. He strained and strained and strained, but he still could not see. He was about to scream when a voice said, “Hello, Perseus Jackson.” And suddenly he could see. He could see…

Everything.

The Beginning and the End and everything in the Middle. He saw Chaos and Primordials and Titans and Gods and humans and ants and dogs and trees and destruction and birth and hate and hope and life and love and a blank slate and crowds and death and, and, and—

“Don't look too closely, little seastar,” the voice said, and Percy recognised it as his observer. It was all encompassing, but not uncomfortable, like the air all around him was made up of them. “It'll only hurt you.”

Percy took a moment to readjust to what he was seeing. He was standing in a monopteros—an Ancient Greek circular gazebo—on a raised platform in the middle of a lake. The domed roof was inlaid with intricate mosaics of all the things he saw—the Beginning and the End and everything in the Middle and Chaos and Primordials and—

“Stop looking, Percy,” the voice said again. Percy whirled around, resolutely ignoring the vertigo it caused, to see a young child of about eight sitting at the edge of the raised platform with her bare feet in the water. She was wearing an off white peplos and her hair was darker than ink, interspersed with brightly coloured ribbons, and along her arms were several heavy gold bracelets.

“Wha—who are you?” he asked, then immediately cringed. Whoever this was, they were powerful, and he already had one Titan salivating for his blood. “Sorry. Sorry. I'm stressed.”

“I know,” the girl said, and Percy supposed she did. “As to your question, Percy, I am not offended. I know you have noticed me—you are an observant boy. But to tell you who I am, I must first ask you a question.”

Well, alright then, Percy thought. “Yeah, go ahead.”

He found that he could move smoothly again, and lowered himself down so his own feet were in the water a little ways away from the strange girl. Belatedly, he realised he was wearing a single-shoulder chiton. He tried not to think about it too much.

“What do you know of creation?” the girl asked. Percy shrugged.

“Chaos made Gaea and Ouranos and a bunch of other guys, who represented the earth and the sky and Tarturus and stuff, and then those guys got busy and a bazillion years later we have modern society, right?” he replied. The girl laughed.

“You have a talent for understatement,” she said, which was fair. “And other cultures creation myths, what do you know of them?”

Percy watched the girl out of the corner of his eye. She was an adorable child, even though he knew she couldn't possibly actually be one. Even if she hadn't been there throughout his life, few things in the mythological world were what they seemed.

“Not much. The Christians believe God made the world over seven days. That's about it, really.”

The girl nodded. “And you believe the Greek creation myth.”

“Well, yeah. My dad's a god,” Percy said. “Kind of hard not to believe in the myths.”

“Of course,” the girl said. “And do you think other cultures are wrong?”

“Uh,” Percy said intelligently, because he'd never really thought about it. Now he was though, he thought it might be a bit arrogant to assume the Greek gods are the only ones out there. Weren't the Roman gods just Greek gods a little to the left? But… “How can multiple creation myths be true at the same time? And how can all those different gods have the same domains? Do they work together?”

“No, not really,” the girl told him. “Its millenia of arguments and careful division of duties that always overlap anyway. They tend to ignore each other nowadays. It's a terrible bother, Perseus, immortals and their petty disagreements.

“Nonetheless, all creation myths are true, and I know because I started them. I made Chaos first, and It is the beginning of most things. Then Chaos made Gaea, and It also made Ra. But I also made the Ginnungagap, and Muspelheim, and Niflheim, and Apsu, and Tiamat, and Olodumare. I made many things, and those things made many more things, and as you say ‘those guys got busy’,” the girl said. Percy was fairly sure he should have been freaking out right about then, but something about the lake, and the monopteros, and the quiet reassurance of his observer kept him calm. “Some cultures acknowledge me, but most don't. I'm content with that.”

A shadow passed over the area, but it was nothing compared to the shadow over the girl's face. “I am not content with how things have gone. I do not usually interfere—I have created many universes, after all, and I cannot keep track of them all, but this one… this one I once had high hopes for. It was to be my favourite. But I let the gods grow arrogant. I let the Titans and Primordials grow arrogant. I made mistakes. Recently, I let the gods push fate back, and it will spell this universe's disaster if left unchecked.”

Percy felt his breath catch in his throat. The gods pushed fate back. The Great Prophecy. It was meant to happen years ago. It wasn't supposed to be him.

“Oh no, Perseus Jackson, it was always meant to be you,” the girl disagreed. Percy couldn't find it in himself to be offended by her mind reading. It was disconcerting that he couldn't. “You were just meant to be born years ago. That was always your fate. Alas, it will happen now, and your later fate is the fault of the gods, because you were supposed to be old when it happened.”

The girl fell silent. They stared out at the lake—the lake that Percy realised must be a freshwater ocean, somehow, because he couldn't see or sense a shore anywhere.

“I apologise,” she said. “I did not answer your question clearly. I forget, sometimes, that not everyone knows me. The name you might be familiar with is Ouroboros.”

Percy racked his brain for who that was. “The snake eating its own tail?”

“Yes,” the girl—Ouroboros—confirmed, amused. “Though that is… figurative, these days. I am the Beginning and the End. I am Eternity and all It entails. I am the creator of all universes.”

“Cool,” Percy said, feeling like an idiot. “Uh, what do you want with me?”

“With you?” Ouroboros hummed. Percy felt a trickle of fear for the first time since he started dreaming of this place-not-place. “I will get to that. I have been thinking on how to fix this. I would go back to the beginning, and restart, but there are things in this universe I am fond of—you, most importantly, little seastar.”

“Me? But I’m just me,” Percy protested. He hated how the band of expectation tightened around his heart at Ouroboros’ words.

“Yes,” she agreed. “And that is why I like you. You are powerful, Perseus, everyone but you knows that. You are loyal, and smart, and good. But those are not the things that make you great.”

Ouroboros turned to face Percy head on, and he almost fell into the Everything he could see in her eyes. “You are kind, Perseus Jackson, and that is why I like you. I am not kind, nor cruel, nor much of anything anyone you have ever met may think of. But I admire you. You, not the fearless hero you think you need to be. It is your story that is stopping me from tearing this reality apart by the seams.”

“Oh,” Percy breathed. “That's—that's good. I'd hate for reality to be destroyed.”

The girl looked fondly amused. “I could have done this at any time in your life, and in theirs, but these times will be the most impactful, I believe.”

“What?” Percy asked, feeling very much like that was the only word he'd thought of the whole conversation.

“I've got a plan, little seastar,” Ouroboros said. “It will either work or,” she glanced at him, “well, nevermind. Like I said, it is your story that compels me to save this universe rather than destroy it. And it is your story that may save this universe from me, and worse things.”

“My story? What does that even mean?”

“Your story is your story of course, the quests you've been on and the ones you are yet to complete,” Ouroboros explained. Percy’s heart dropped to his stomach. “There are those that need to understand them. That need to take them in, and change to better them.”

Ouroboros looked at Percy with gut-wrenching sorrow. “I am about to be terribly cruel to you, Perseus Jackson, and it is precisely because you are the last person to deserve it that it must be done to you.”

***

Percy woke up in a dark room. He was standing up, fully dressed in a Camp Half-Blood tee and jeans. Riptide was in his pocket. It took him all of five seconds to remember what he dreamt about, and then he was furious.

Another Ancient Being was trying to f*ck with his life. Ouroboros had been stalking him his entire life and now she's going to—what? Tell a bunch of people what she saw? She can't do that.

It's not fair.

I am sorry, Perseus Jackson, Ouroboros said in his mind. It was ridiculous, but Ouroboros sounded so genuine that Percy calmed himself down enough to take in more of his surroundings.

The room wasn’t as dark as he'd thought. It looked like an empty movie theatre, a large square room with dark walls, with bean bags and pillows on the floor instead of chairs.

Someone made a noise behind him and Percy spun around. For a moment all he could do was stare, and then he said his new catch phrase, “What?”

Grouped just behind him were the Head Counsellors of Camp Half-Blood, Grover, Nico, Thalia, Rachel, Will Solace, Chiron, Tyson, and some people he didn't know. They looked confused, too, though most of them relaxed a little when they noticed him, sneaking uncertain glances over his shoulder. Percy turned to see what they were looking at.

On the other side of the room, were more people. No, not just people, the gods. All twelve Olympians, and Hestia, and Hades, all of them looking confused and annoyed.

The silence didn't last long. “What is the meaning of this?” Of course it was Zeus that spoke (Percy ignored the fact that he's the king and therefore spoke for his people. Zeus was just a dick who liked the sound of his own voice).

Before anyone else could answer, Ouroboros spoke. She wasn't in the room, but her voice echoed.

“Zeus,” she said, like she was talking to a wayward child. Percy supposed to the creator of the universe, Zeus was like a child. She no longer sounded like an eight year old, and it made her voice all the more powerful. “You are all my guests. You do remember the rules of hospitality, do you not?”

Zeus looked absolutely murderous, and it was then that Percy noticed something weird. He was wearing a suit, like always, but it was—old-fashioned, like from the 80s, with a wide tie and a square cut. Glancing around, Percy saw a common theme. Apollo was wearing an absolute eyesore of bright colours disguised as a windbreaker. Artemis was wearing embroidered jeans. Hermes had an honest to gods mullet. At least his dad was still wearing a Hawaiian shirt, even if it looked like something from a thrift shop.

These times, he remembered Ouroboros saying, like they weren't all going to be from the same place. None of the gods seemed to recognise him, or Annabeth, or Thalia, or any of them.

Oh gods, what if they were actually in the 80s, before the internet and running water and stuff.

“Who are you?” Zeus boomed.

Ouroboros laughed. It wasn't kind. “I think you know, little gods.” Zeus was silent this time, sharing an uneasy look with Hera, who was wearing the ugliest red suit jacket ever made. “No? You have forgotten the old stories then. Fine. I can demonstrate if you wish—”

“No!” Percy yelled, somehow knowing that Ouroboros was more than annoyed at the gods, and letting her do whatever she wanted to them would almost certainly cause a few nervous breakdowns. “Ouroboros!”

The air sucked out of the room. The gods looked terrified. He could feel his friends shifting behind him.

“Percy,” Ouroboros said, fondly amused again. “Your loyalty and bravery still surprise me. I will spare them a proper introduction for you, little seastar. The demigod speaks true, Olympians, I am Ouroboros, and I am displeased. You have made a mockery of my universe. You have pained your children. I like demigods. They, and more specifically Perseus Jackson, are the only reason you still stand.”

Nervous energy crackled between all the inhabitants of the room. Percy hadn't ever felt this terrified in his life and he knew Ouroboros would never hurt him, deep in his bones. No one dared move.

“I am merciful,” Ouroboros continued. If possible, the tension in the room increased. “I will allow you to attempt to remedy your mistakes. You will be reading a series of books. They detail the journeys of Percy Jackson and his companions. To save yourselves, you will read all of them carefully.”

Percy grimaced. Great.

“Percy, in your pocket there is a remote control of sorts. The story is broken up into parts. The bar will summon each book when you are ready to read it, Percy, in the order they must be read.”

His jean pocket suddenly felt heavy. Percy pulled a golden bar out of it nervously. It had intricate carvings he half recognized on it—Zeus’ lightning bolt, the Furies, the Minotaur, Medusa, Echidna and the Chimera, a train, the Arch, a poodle, a lotus flower. The longer he inspected it, the more carvings he saw. They all seemed related to his first quest, back when he was twelve. He could only guess that meant they would be reading that series of events. What did he do to deserve this? Would he ever get a break?

You will if I have anything to say about it, Percy, Ouroboros said to him. And I do.

“You are located in the Void. I have taken the liberty of… pausing Time. Aion will not compel it to move until you are finished. I have also taken precautions. Your godly powers will not work. You are, effectively, mortal for the duration of the readings. The demigods retain their powers. It amuses me to flip the tables, as they say. And, hmm.” The contemplating sound caused the hairs on the back of Percy’s neck to stand up. He probably wasn't the only one. “Some amenities, I think.”

Several doors appeared along the walls, labelled in Ancient Greek. Percy could only read the two that said bedrooms from where he stood.

There was another ripple of unease.

“Now, the gods are from the Summer Solstice of 1980. The Greeks, most of them, are from the 26th of July, 2009. The others are from the 16th of June, 2010. I will allow you to introduce yourselves, beginning with the gods. Just use your names, please, and your godly parent, demigods, no need for titles. Oh, and to avoid spoilers, you will be unable to discuss any events that have not transpired in the books within earshot of someone who does not already know them.”

Ouroboros paused, maybe to let them take that all in, or maybe to let them ask questions, but no one dared make a sound. “I see you all understand. Try not to harm one another. If you need me, I am but a prayer away. Try not to make me tear reality apart.”

Goodbye, Perseus Jackson, Ouorboros said. I am sorry. Good luck.

***

No one moved for the longest time. They stared at each other—shocked, scared, confused. Hestia was the first to move. She smiled kindly, though it was strained around the eyes.

“I am Hestia,” she said simply to the group of demigods. Percy heard a stifled gasp from behind him. Most of them bowed back, but four of them that Percy didn't know dropped to a knee, heads down. He shared a confused look with Grover, but ignored it as Zeus stepped forward.

He looked more than irritated, but also absolutely terrified, and said, “Zeus.”

They bowed again. The four still hadn't got up, and if anything seemed to sink further down. Percy’s dad introduced himself next, eyes lingering on Percy but not in recognition. Something twisted painfully in Percy’s chest, but then he remembered this was before he was born, so it was okay.

The Olympians introduced themselves one at a time, begrudging and scared in equal measure. Probably thinking it was a waste of time, because everyone should know who they are, but not wanting to anger Ouroborus.

Hades introduced himself last, and then it was their turn. Zeus told the weirdos on the floor to stand. Chiron introduced himself first. Then there was silence. The demigods looked between each other, even the six unknowns, and Percy was about to melt into a puddle on the floor when Annabeth poked him in the back.

“Right, thanks,” he mumbled, then took a deep breath. “Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.”

There was one second of blissful silence before all Hades broke loose. Literally. Both Zeus and Hades bellowed at Poseidon, and the other gods moved swiftly out of their way. Poseidon looked a little shell shocked, honestly.

Percy wasn't really listening to what they're saying. So, Poseidon broke the oath. What did they expect? Gods were, well, uh, a word his mom would give him a disappointed look for saying. He had bigger problems than arguing gods right then anyway, he thought, eyeing the gold bar again.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a throat clearing loudly, and Thalia stepped up to stand next to him. “Thalia, daughter of Zeus.”

The arguing started up again, but Nico didn't let it get out of hand. “Nico Di Angelo,” he said loudly. It was probably the loudest Percy had heard him since he yelled at him about—about—”Son of Hades.”

He didn't add that he was born before the oath, but Hades seemed to know. He stared at Nico in confusion while Zeus yelled again. Zeus forgot for a moment that he was stripped of his powers and attempted… something, then fell silent. Poseidon snorted in amusem*nt.

The introductions went much faster after that. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Grover Underwood, Satyr. Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares. Michael Yew, son of Apollo. Will Solace, son of Apollo. Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. Pollux Boivin, son of Dionysus. Travis and Connor Stoll, sons of Hermes. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, mortal, which raised a few eyebrows.

“Tyson,” Tyson said simply. Percy added son of Poseidon for him. The gods looked askance at the cyclops, but Percy’s friends created a barrier between them and Tyson.

And then the strangers.

A tall blond boy stepped forward first. He stood with military precision, deference in every line of his body. His gaze swept over the gods politely, and it could have been Percy's imagination, but there seemed to be a little resentment in his eyes when the boy looked at Hera.

“Jason Grace—” was as far as he got before Thalia threw herself at him with a scream of his name.

“I thought you were dead,” she said, clutching the boy. Jason Grace. Percy looked between Thalia and Jason and picked out some similarities—their noses, the curve of their chins. Jason Grace must have been Thalia’s brother. He had no idea she had one. Looking at Grover and Annabeth, it didn't seem like anyone did.

They let Thalia almost break down for a moment with Jason murmuring quietly to her, before the boy turned back to the gods. “Son of Jupiter,” he said, and the gods jerked as one.

Hera rounded on Zeus. Arguments broke out about visiting the same mortal as both a Greek and a Roman and civil wars and Roman treachery and a bunch of other stuff that didn't seem all that relevant (who cares who invented the toaster?). No one seemed impressed with the King of the Gods.

Huh, Percy thought, guess the Romans actually were the Greek gods a little to the left. He thought he was taking this pretty well. Annabeth was clearly moments away from sobbing in a ball on the floor. His other friends looked wildly confused, but no one asked what was going on.

When the gods finally shut up and Zeus demanded they continue, a pretty but lethal looking girl stepped forward. “Reyna, daughter of Bellona.”

“Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto,” the next person said, and if Percy wasn't mistaken, Hades looked like he might actually pass out. What about Hazel was so shocking?

“Frank Zhang, I don't know my father,” a chubby Asian kid said, avoiding the gods’ eyes. The gods looked at each other, but none of them seemed to be able to sense whose child he was.

“Turned mortal,” Athena muttered, and wind blew in Percy’s ears.

“My apologies, Frank Zhang,” Ouroboros said. “I hadn't considered you were unclaimed. Your father is Mars, child.”

And she was gone as soon as she appeared—or, as soon as her voice appeared. Poor Frank looked terrified, though whether that was because of Ouroboros or because he found out his dad was some version of Ares, Percy wasn't sure.

The next person to speak was a pretty Native American girl with feathers in her hair. “Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite.”

The last person, an elf-like boy with messy hair and grease stains, grinned at them all. “Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus.”

They descended into awkward silence again, before Hestia moved to sit on one of the pillows on the left side of the room. “Come now,” she said to the gods. “Sit down. We should begin reading. I wouldn't want Lady Ouroboros to think we move slowly.”

That got everyone else moving, settling down in little groups. Percy threw himself onto a mound of pillows with Grover and Tyson next to him. The rest of the demigods arrayed themselves around him, even the new kids and the Romans. Rachel sat at his right shoulder, and Annabeth sat at his left one, which made him feel awkward.

The gods were less enthused about the indignity of it all. Poseidon sat closer to the centre of the room than Hestia, with Apollo and Hermes. Zeus and Hera sat furthest away from the demigods, which was fine by Percy. Hades sat right at the back. The rest of them unwillingly sat in between.

Percy half expected someone to start talking about the situation; complaining from the gods, anger from Zeus, confusion from his friends. But everyone stayed quietly wary. The gods seemed cowed and the demigods—well, the demigods seemed grateful for the break. If he ignored the gods, and the room, and the almost stifling tension, he could imagine they were at Camp Half-Blood, telling stories around the campfire, before the war.

But they weren't, and everyone was quietly freaking out, and Percy just felt tired. His story. He dreaded to think what that meant. Hopefully, an academic account of his quests and nothing more. (Percy’d never been that lucky, but he could hope).

Chiron managed to smile. “Are you ready, Percy?”

Percy nodded, and pushed down on the golden bar. The centre of it depressed, the carvings glowing, and a plain covered book appeared in his lap. The only writing on it was a stylised 1.

“Uh, who wants to read?” Percy asked, holding out the book like it was a bomb. Nobody seemed to want to, but Annabeth took one for the team.

“I will, I suppose,” she said, taking the book from him and opening it to the first page. She blinked, “Oh, it's easy to read. Is this what it’s like without dyslexia?”

Percy leaned back so he could look at the page, along with several of the other demigods. To his surprise, the letters weren't moving, and he could easily make out the first lines. It made him grimace.

Annabeth cleared her throat, and said, “One, I Accidentally Vapourize My Pre-Algebra Teacher.”

Chapter 2: Percy’s Pen of Pulverisation

Chapter Text

It was somewhat gratifying that his friends immediately started snickering. They stopped soon enough, wary of the gods, but at least they were all going to find this amusing. Percy did not throw his head back and groan. He did not mutter curses under his breath. He did not feel like crying.

Or at least, he’d never admit to any of that.

Thalia brought it up for him, anyway, because she was nice like that. “Why is Percy acting like we just stole all the blue food dye in the world?” She asked Annabeth.

Everyone turned to Percy. He made a face.

“These are definitely from my point of view, like really from my point of view,” he told them, and several people blinked. Others nodded, like this made perfect sense. Percy supposed, from what Ouroboros said, it probably did. “I accidentally vapourized my pre-algebra teacher in sixth grade.”

“Accidentally?” Hermes asked, amused. Percy just nodded, assuming they’d read all about how.

There was more snickering, and then Katie realised something. “Wait, if you vapourized them, then that means they were a monster?”

“Well, yeah,” Percy said, confused.

“But we all thought your first monster was the—” Michael was cut off by something he couldn't see or feel. “Was the—what is going on?”

“Lady Ouroboros said that none of you could spoil anything,” Athena said, studying the demigods across from her. The boy was obviously important enough to have gained the interest of the Beginning and the End, but what about the Sea Spawn made him great (aside from the Great Prophecy, which must be his or Zeus’ daughter’s)? She decided to reserve judgement until she had more information.

Poseidon stopped studying his future son long enough to share a slightly alarmed look with Hestia. The way the kids were reacting, they thought Percy’s first monster was a tough one. That didn't bode well for the rest of the story or Poseidon’s stress levels. He didn't know this boy, but he felt like one day he would love him greatly.

“That's creepy,” Michael muttered, sticking out his tongue and trying to stare at it like it might give him answers.

“Sorry for stopping,” Annabeth said, catching the impatient looks on some of the gods’ faces. Zeus and Hera, in particular, look annoyed.

Hestia smiled. These demigods—most of them—were close. As close as a family should be. Even without her powers it warmed her heart. Lady Ouroboros said they would learn. Maybe they would learn just as much from how the demigods interacted here as they would from these books about their adventures.

“Do not fret, child,” she said. “I think we should all speak our minds here. After all, we are here to listen to one another. Do not fear retribution for interrupting.”

The demigods looked at each other. Travis and Connor grinned widely at Percy, who glared back. All the older Greeks looked like they were having a silent conversation, and then Percy turned to Hestia.

“I hope you know what you're getting into, Lady Hestia,” he said with a crooked grin. “We've all got a lot of opinions. And if this book is about what I think it is, there's plenty of those in there already.”

“You are entitled to your opinions, Percy,” Hestia said kindly. “I will personally ensure no one reacts overly negatively to things said or thought in confidence in these books. And we will all listen in here, won't we?”

She looked around at her fellow gods, a few of whom scowled in the direction of the demigods, but most nodded.

“Of course, Hestia,” Poseidon said, glancing at his son. “Lady Ouroboros believes that my son’s thoughts are important, and I am inclined to agree.”

Ares snorted. Poseidon raised an eyebrow at him, but the war god didn't say anything.

“Good,” Hestia said, even though Hera looked like she might start complaining. She'd found that sometimes it was best to just talk over her siblings when they were like that. “Now, let us listen.”

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.

“It really is his thoughts. Oh this is going to be awful,” Thalia whispered. Annabeth nodded, thinking of all the rude things Percy must have thought about, well, everyone in this room.

If you’re reading this … normal life.

“That wouldn't work for long, though,” Katie said.

“It might for some demigods,” Grover disagreed. “The one’s with weak scents. Not anyone here, obviously, but some people.”

Being a half-blood is dangerous.

“No sh*t,” Travis said loudly. The Greeks laughed, but the Romans looked scandalised.

“Hermes,” Zeus nearly shouted. “Control your son.”

Hermes looked over at Travis and winked, causing the demigods to have to stifle their chuckles. It was only when Hermes turned back to Annabeth that Travis shared a slightly bitter look with Connor. Control your son indeed.

It's scary … nasty ways.

The demigods all looked down. Pollux scrunched himself down into the cushions and Katie put her arm around him. Dionysus watched his son with a frown.

The gods looked at each other awkwardly. They were used to their children dying, but it didn't make it any easier sometimes. Some of their kids they didn't care for, but some of them they did, and those deaths hurt like Tartarus.

Poseidon looked at his son’s eyes, his son’s haunted eyes, and wondered how much pain he brought on this boy by having him.

If you're a … Don't say I didn't warn you.

“Not a word,” Percy said. Several people visibly closed their mouths.

My name is Percy Jackson.

“It's our boy!” Connor called out, and the Greeks cheered, even Clarisse. Percy blushed and hid half behind Tyson.

“Brother!” Tyson yelled.

I’m twelve years … Am I a troubled kid?

“Million dollar question,” Thalia said, grinning at her cousin.

“The answer’s yes,” Annabeth added, grinning too. Percy rolled his eyes but didn't argue.

Yeah. You could say that.

The Greeks laughed, and Poseidon sighed. A problem child. Great.

I could start at any point in my short miserable —

“Miserable?” Poseidon asked, looking at his son. Percy shrugged, avoiding looking at him. Poseidon frowned.

“Brother sad?” Tyson asked.

“No, big guy, I'm not sad,” Percy said, smiling up at him.

— life to prove it … sounds like torture.

“It does not,” Annabeth interrupted herself. Athena smiled, nodding her head at her daughter’s attitude.

“It really, really does,” Beckendorf disagreed. The other Greeks noded. Even the Romans seemed to agree.

Most Yancy field … put me to sleep.

“He sounds great,” Connor said.

Travis nodded. “Wish we had a teacher like that.”

Grover and Percy exchanged looks. Chiron smiled where his students couldn't see him.

I hoped the … Boy, was I wrong.

“Of course you were,” Clarisse said.

See, bad things … got expelled anyway.

Annabeth paused reading in anticipation of an outburst. She got it a few moments later when the Greeks dissolved into laughter. Hermes, Apollo, and Poseidon chuckled. Ares seemed delighted by the potential carnage.

“What were you aiming for?” Beckendorf asked. Percy grinned.

“It was supposed to be a replica,” he said. “I was just turning it randomly. Wasn’t expecting an actual cannon ball. I maintain it was their fault for having a loaded cannon around fifth graders.”

“That's true,” Jason muttered to Piper and Leo. They were all excited to hear about the famous Percy Jackson’s quests in detail. You could barely turn around at Camp Half-Blood without hearing something he had been involved in.

And before that, …. an unplanned swim.

Hermes and Apollo were outright laughing. Poseidon grinned. “That might have been a shark.”

“Yeah,” Percy nodded. “I don't really remember it that well, but knowing sharks now, I wouldn't put it past them.”

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

“No, no,” Apollo protested, but couldn't continue due to laughing.

“You've got to tell us the rest of the stories sometime,” Travis said. Hazel shared a look with Frank. These Greeks were a little bit insane. She was still coming to terms with the fact that Greeks even existed, and that she was in a room with the Greek gods, put there by Ouroboros, and they were focusing on funny stories.

This trip … butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

“Ugh, gross,” Silena shuddered. “You alright, Grover?”

Grover nodded.

“I'm going to kill her,” Thalia stated calmly.

Grover was an … he was crippled.

“Really feeling the love here, Perce,” Grover said, glaring at his best friend. Percy held his hands up.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, then grimaced. “Should we all agree not to get insulted by my descriptions of people? Because my thoughts can be brutal.”

“Oh, no, I'm holding any insults against you for the rest of your life,” Thalia said. Percy punched her in the knee. Before Thalia could respond—probably by punching him back—Hestia spoke.

“We cannot truly judge you for thoughts you do not say out loud.” And then she motioned for Annabeth to continue reading before anyone could say anything else.

He had a note … day in the cafeteria.

“Grover,” several people groaned. Grover smiled sheepishly.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit … entertaining happened on this trip.

“Seems a bit unfair,” Thalia muttered.

“What if something happened but it wasn't your fault?” Poseidon asked his son.

Percy shrugged. “Wouldn't matter. I was the problem child at Yancy. Most of the other kids had rich parents, so anything they did got swept under the rug. I was an easy scapegoat.”

Most people seemed bothered by that. Percy smirked suddenly. “Plus, apparently I've got a troublemaker’s face. I don't see it, personally.”

Travis and Connor cackled while the rest of the Greeks rolled their eyes. The gods looked at Chiron, who just seemed exasperated.

“I’m going … like peanut butter.”

“In your hair?” Rachel asked. Grover shrugged.

He dodged another … get myself into.

“Of course not,” Beckendorf said with a rueful grin. “Our Perce sends out a beacon for trouble.”

The Greeks agreed while Poseidon silently despaired. Apollo gave him a sympathetic look. He'd had kids that attracted trouble too. It was never easy, made harder by the fact that they tended to be much easier to love and harder to ignore.

Mr. Brunner led … me the evil eye.

“Monster!” The demigods called out.

Mrs. Dodds was … a nervous breakdown.

Ares grinned at the description while Nico and Hades paled. They both recognized who Mrs. Dodds actually was, but while Nico was concerned for Percy's welfare, Hades was more concerned about his brother’s reaction. Poseidon could get really touchy about his kids sometimes.

From her first … for a month.

The demigods winced.

“Ouch,” Pollux said.

“She should be encouraging you to learn,” Athena said, though she looked a little like she smelled something bad. “Not singling you out.”

“Monster,” Percy sang, not glancing in her direction. Several gods frowned at his disrespect, but Annabeth interrupted anything they might have said.

“Plus, lots of teachers just give up on or pick on kids with learning difficulties,” she said. Athena and Apollo frowned at that. Learning was part of both their domains, after all, and hearing that their kids and others like them might be denied a proper education just for being part-god made them mad.

One time, … “You’re absolutely right.”

“Are you even trying to hide it from him?” Will asked. “Wait, why are you trying to hide it from him? Shouldn't you have just taken him straight to camp?”

Grover looked at Chiron, who grimaced slightly. “I was in contact with Sally. She said she didn't want Percy to be away from her, but I suspect she knew about the oath his father took and feared the danger he would be in when Olympus found out.”

Percy startled. He'd never thought about that, every time he'd tried to figure out why his mom hadn't just sent him to camp earlier. She must have known he'd always come back to her, and even if he hadn't, they were only in Manhattan and Long Island, they could have visited each other. Her knowing about the oath and the potential consequences made so much more sense. He guessed Poseidon must have told her when she got pregnant, because there was no way his mom would have (ew) been with him if she knew beforehand.

Mr. Brunner kept … have a comment?”

The demigods groaned.

“Noooo,” Connor said, falling back into Clarisse’s lap. She shoved him off onto the floor, where he started banging his head on his brothers knee.

“What?” Chiron asked.

“Being called out by a teacher is embarrassing,” Katie explained.

“And you must have heard what he said,” Beckendorf continued.

“So why punish Percy for trying to listen?” Silena asked. Chiron looked down.

“It was more important for Percy to learn these things than any of the mortals,” he said. The demigods weren't satisfied but nodded.

My face was … his kids, right?”

“Oh, coincidences,” Percy sighed, causing a few demigods to snicker.

The elder gods held back shudders.

“Yes,” Mr. Brunner said, … king god, and-“

“God, boy?” Zeus boomed. Percy rolled his eyes where the gods couldn't see.

“I was twelve,” he said dryly. “And aren't Titans gods anyway?”

Zeus glowered, but a look from Hestia stopped him from commenting further.

“God?” Mr. Brunner asked. … the gods won.”

Annabeth trailed off, staring at Percy. Everyone was silent for a moment before Travis spoke up.

“Short and sweet, Perce,” he said. The demigods dissolved into slightly maniacal laughter.

The gods seemed affronted by his summary of events. “And the gods won,” Demeter scoffed.

“But was I wrong?” Percy asked. Demeter scowled, but Poseidon, Apollo, and Hermes chuckled. “Keep reading, please.”

Some snickers from … ate his kids.’”

“That's not why you learn myths, dumbass,” Nico said.

“Nico!” Percy and Thalia said. “Don't say bad words,” Percy continued.

“Alright, who taught our tiny little baby cousin to swear?” Thalia asked, eyeing the Stoll brothers. They held their hands in the air.

“The dead, probably,” Travis said. Percy and Thalia turned on a bright red Nico.

“I'm not your tiny little baby cousin,” he said. “I'm older than you!”

“Uhhh, no,” Percy said. “You got time warped, you're still twelve.”

“Whatever, neither of you are in charge of me,” Nico mumbled. He'd spent a lot of time with Percy in the past year—Sally Jackson had insisted on frequent visits to make sure he was fed and safe—and Percy delighted in teasing him. It didn't make his little crush any easier to deal with. Thalia and him had bonded after their trip to the Underworld together, and apparently that meant she would tease him too. “I meant that mortals learn myths because it's part of history, even if they think it's fake, and they can have morals and stuff.”

Hades watched the three cousins interact with barely concealed surprise. While he could see that some of the demigods were uncomfortable with Nico, his brothers’ children, the Athena girl, the satyr, and the mortal were relaxed. His brothers’ children were friendly enough with his son to tease him about being their tiny little baby cousin .

He looked over at Poseidon to see him looking between his son and Hades. His middle brother offered a small smile. Hades nodded in return.

“And why, Mr. … “I don’t know, sir.”

“To warn everybody not to eat their kids, ‘cause they might take offence,” Leo said seriously.

“Yes, something we all need reminding of every now and then,” Connor said. The demigods snigg*red.

“I think you could probably pull some moral about being nice to your kids out of it,” Katie said contemplatively. The gods stared at their children in shock. Were they really trying to find a moral in a true story?

“Yeah, like treat your children with respect because one day they'll have the power,” Annabeth said.

“Or even that what comes around goes around,” Michael suggested.

“Never mess with an angry mom,” Percy said. The demigods laughed. The elder gods smiled at the thought of their mother, then frowned at the conversation topic.

“If you're all done trying to make morals out of our lives,” Hera said cooly. The Greeks continued snigg*ring quietly while the Romans straightened and bowed their heads at the Queen of the Gods.

“I see.” Mr. Brunner … us back outside?”

“Happy note?” Poseidon asked the centaur.

“I was being facetious,” Chiron assured him. “The children were more likely to listen if I… made light of the situation.”

“Hold up,” Pollux said. “Why were you disappointed? Did you want Percy to just be like ‘oh I'm a demigod, son of Poseidon, so I should probably know about that time my dad was in a revolution’?”

The Greeks laughed.

“I was hoping he may say something about the importance of history and learning from the past,” Chiron said. “I had also assumed he knew a little about who he was. Sally never mentioned that he knew nothing.”

“Wait, Mr. D invented wine,” Clarisse said.

“Um, yeah, Clarisse, we know,” Travis said slowly. Clarisse scowled at him and shoved him over so he was laying half on top of his brother.

“How could Zeus feed Kronos something that hadn't been invented yet?” She continued, glaring at the rest of the demigods.

“Some sources say it was nectar with vomit inducing herbs, some just have it as an emetic, a substance that causes vomiting, and some say it was actually made by Metis and had syrup of manna and poppy juice in it,” Annabeth said. “Though no one knows for sure, it definitely couldn't be mustard and wine.”

“Well, someone knows for sure,” Percy said, looking at Zeus. The King of the Gods scowled at them all.

“Read,” he barked.

The class drifted off, … had seen everything.

“You are quite perceptive, aren't you?” Hermes asked. The gods were studying Percy with unnerving intensity. He shuffled on his pillow, picking at the carpeted floor.

“Sometimes,” he mumbled.

“Just not all the time,” Rachel muttered. Annabeth heard her and glared.

“You must learn … you, Percy Jackson.”

“Ask and ye shall receive,” Beckendorf said, grinning. Percy blushed.

“Don't get all humble on us, Percy,” Thalia said. “You've done some cool things.”

“More than some,” Annabeth agreed.

I wanted to get … god they worshipped.

Jason whistled. “That's intense, but really cool.”

“That about sums up Chiron’s lessons, for sure,” Percy laughed.

But Mr. Brunner … spell them correctly.

“Well, I remember a lot more now,” Percy said. “Still can't spell them though.”

I mumbled something … over the city.

“Zeus,” Hera said. “What's got you so worked up?”

“It hasn't happened yet,” Zeus protested to the looks he was receiving from his fellow gods. He huffed, not appreciating them trying to sensor him.

I figured maybe … hurricane blowing in.

“Poseidon,” Demeter said this time. “Not you too.”

Poseidon shrugged. “It's probably Zeus’ fault.”

“Now wait a minu—”

“Since Christmas? That's a week from the Winter Solstice,” Athena said, cutting Zeus off. “That doesn't seem like a coincidence.”

“And you are fifteen? Sixteen?” Apollo asked.

Percy nodded. “Almost sixteen.”

”So, something happened at the Winter Solstice in 2004” Artemis theorised. “And it hasn't been resolved by when?”

Percy shrugged.

“The field trip was in May, Lady Artemis,” Chiron told her.

The gods looked at the demigods. The older Greeks refused to meet their eyes, but the Romans, Piper, and Leo seemed just as confused. Rachel and Tyson did too.

“Daddy mad?” Tyson asked. Percy patted his shoulder.

“It all worked out, big guy.”

Nobody else seemed … seeing a thing.

Percy sent a suspicious look at Hermes. Travis threw a pillow at him.

“She's not our sister!” He said. “If she was, she'd have been a lot better at pickpocketing.”

Hermes looked offended. “None of my kids would be caught stealing.”

“I've caught them,” Percy muttered, trying not to think about Luke. “Several times. Leave my stuff alone.”

He glared at the Stoll brothers, who graced him with innocent grins.

“You're a special case,” Connor said. He turned to face his dad. “Percy’s weirdly hard to trick, but we've got an agreement.”

“What agreement?” Chiron asked suspiciously.

“No agreement,” Percy said hurriedly. “Let's read. This is taking forever.”

Grover and I sat … I’m not a genius.”

“You're not as dumb as you seem to think, Percy,” Silena said. Percy smiled at her, cheeks tinged pink. Silena sighed. This whole thing was unbearably awkward for her. She was betraying these people, her friends, her family, and while she didn't care about the gods, she did care about the campers. She was trying to protect them, but she didn't think they'd see it that way. Luke had promised that the demigods would be safe, that Charlie would be safe. That Kronos offered the better choice. Her scythe charm hadn't come to the room with her, but Silena assumed that Ouroboros knew she was a spy. Maybe that meant she was okay with it? Ouroboros certainly didn't seem too happy with the gods.

Grover didn’t say … him take it.

The Greeks stared at Percy.

“What?” he asked defensively.

“You didn't have an appetite?” Will asked. “You must have been really stressed.”

Poseidon frowned in concern. Percy shrugged, something he was doing a lot of lately. Annabeth continued reading, a little concern bleeding into her voice.

I watched the stream … she’d give me.

“I love Sally,” Thalia said with a grin.

“She's the best,” Nico nodded. Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, and Rachel nodded.

“Aunt Sally makes good cookies,” Tyson said. The gods looked taken aback. A mortal woman who was kind enough to make several half-bloods love her, and one who accepted a cyclops? Tyson was close enough to the woman to call her Aunt. That was rare. Rarer than rare.

Poseidon smiled slightly. It sounded like his future lover was a good person. He couldn't wait to meet her.

Mr. Brunner parked … in Grover’s lap.

“What a bitch!” Thalia said, tensing up like Nancy was right in front of her. Percy gasped.

“Maybe Nico learned his bad language from you! How could you?” He cried. Thalia scowled, but Percy could tell she was amused. The other Greeks grinned, momentarily forgetting their annoyance.

“Oops.” She grinned … with liquid Cheetos.

“Way to ruin Cheetos, man,” Michael said. Percy grinned sheepishly.

Grover smirked. “You know, Nancy had some… interesting feelings about you, Percy.”

The Greeks snigg*red. Percy gaped.

“Don't, just don't, Grover,” he pleaded. “You're lying.”

Grover smiled mysteriously.

Aphrodite contained her excitement. She didn't know if the terrible mortal girl had a crush on Poseidon’s son, but several people in the room did. Even without her powers, she could tell. It was an innate part of her that Ouroboros thankfully hadn't taken away. Most of the demigods were at least a little attracted to the boy (he was a rather handsome little copy of his father), but more than one were actively crushing on him. If only she had her full powers, she could make his love life so interesting.

I tried to … in my ears.

“Percy power time!” The Stolls cheered. Zeus scowled at nothing, thinking of the apparent power of his brother’s son. A child of the sea being the one in the prophecy made him angry.

I don’t remember … thing to say

“Of course not,” Hermes scoffed. “Guessing your punishment just makes it worse.”

“Got much experience with that, Hermes?” Ares asked. Hermes refused to look at him and said nothing.

“Come with me,” … “Thanks for trying.”

“It was really brave of you, Grover,” Percy said. Grover smiled, blushing.

Nico privately agreed, knowing who the monster was.

“Honey,” Mrs. Dodds … I’ll-kill-you-later stare.

The Greeks shuddered theatrically.

“Poor Nancy Bobofit,” Will said. Percy rolled his eyes.

Then I turned … there so fast?

“Monster,” Clarisse said.

“I didn't know monsters existed at that point.”

“Weird that no other monsters caught up to you before that, considering how powerful you are,” Thalia said, remembering how many monsters she faced when she ran away.

“Oh, they did,” Percy said. “I just got lucky most of the time.”

The Greeks and Poseidon looked at him worriedly, but he didn't explain.

I have moments … I wasn’t so sure.

“Your instincts are scary good,” Grover said. “You should trust them more.”

“You should trust yours more,” Percy shot back.

“You both need to trust your instincts more,” Annabeth said. “Could have saved us so much trouble.”

“Because you were likely to listen, especially back then?”

“Shut up, Percy.”

I went after … in his novel.

“Chiron,” Poseidon said, a warning note to his voice. He was starting to get very concerned about his son’s safety. He signalled to Apollo that he wanted the healing god to check on Percy. Apollo nodded, looking at his own sons. For Ouroboros to intervene, terrible things must happen in the future, and from the haggard looks of some of the demigods, had already happened by their time.

“I knew,” Chiron assured the sea god. “I didn't want to alert, ah, Mrs. Dodds to my presence. But I followed as soon as I could.”

Poseidon wasn’t appeased, but a pleading look from Percy stopped him from saying anything else.

Percy let out a deep breath. He hadn't been sure this version of his dad would listen—er, looken?—to him.

I looked back … the gift shop.

“An appropriate punishment,” Athena said.

“Which means it's not what's going to happen,” Dionysus said. The Greek campers stared at him. “What? It's obvious she's a monster, as you've already pointed out.”

“Yeah, we just didn't realise you were listening,” Percy said. Dionysus glared, but Apollo and Hermes snickered.

But apparently that … gallery was empty.

“Oh, great, no witnesses,” Thalia groaned.

Mrs. Dodds stood … throat, like growling.

“Or, you know, she was actually growling,” Thalia said.

“Wow,” Percy said, sarcastically. “I should keep you around to point out the completely obvious.”

“If it was so obvious, why didn't you know?”

Annabeth hurriedly read on before a full blown argument could break out.

Even without the … said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Percy doing the safe thing,” Beckendorf snorted. “He really must have been young.”

“Hey! I'm so safe, all the time,” Percy said. “Safety is my middle name.”

“Only if your first name is actually Percy Disregard of,” Beckendorf shot back. Percy threw a pillow at him as the Greeks laughed.

Poseidon quietly despaired.

She tugged on … to hurt me.

“That's how they get you,” Leo muttered.

I said, “I’ll… shook the building.

“Seriously, what's got you so upset?” Apollo asked Zeus.

Hermes nodded. “You need to take a chill pill, man.”

Zeus fumed. “Do not question me! This has not happened yet, but when it does, there will be a reasonable explanation.”

Hermes and Apollo held their hands up in surrender.

Grover turned to Percy and mouthed chill pill . Percy stuffed his hand into his mouth to stop from laughing.

“We are not … was talking about.

“Honestly, I spent this whole summer confused out of my mind,” Percy complained. “And every summer after, actually.”

“That explains the dumassery,” Thalia quipped. Percy hit her repeatedly with a pillow until she snatched it out of his hands.

“Give it back.”

“Finders, keepers.”

“You didn't find it, you pine needled bi—”

“I'm reading,” Annabeth called.

All I could … my dorm room.

“That's our Percy!” Travis cheered. Chiron gave Percy a stern look.

Percy flopped onto the floor and pressed his face into Grover’s leg. “Snitched on by my own thoughts, unbelievable.”

Or maybe they’d … read the book.

“Percy, man, you're cracking us up,” Connor said as the Greeks giggled.

“Tom Sawyer is bogus,” Apollo agreed, nodding along.

“Bogus, chill pill,” Leo whispered to Piper. “The 80s were wild.”

“Well?” she demanded … me to ribbons.

“A f*cking Fury!” Beckendorf yelped. The Greeks started chattering over each other in amazement and fear. The Romans just stared at Percy in horror.

“Holy Hera, you've got bad luck!”

“How did you get out of this?”

“Not baby Percy.”

“This is bad. Really, really bad.”

Percy sighed. “Guys! Right here. It worked out fine.”

“Dude, only you could be so chill about this,” Will said. Michael nodded.

“It's just you're all oh look at me I know nothing about the mythological world being real and then wham, bam,” he said, pounding on the floor. “Kindly One coming at you on a field trip.”

Percy shrugged.

“Such is life,” Nico nodded.

“Neither of you are normal,” Thalia said. “Wait, I meant neither of you had a normal introduction to all this. Eh, it checks out either way.”

“Hey!”

Poseidon glared at his brother, making Hades shift subtly on his bean bag. “Hades,” he said in a dangerously calm voice. The demigods immediately fell silent, fear rippling through them. “Did you send a Fury after my son?”

“I don't know,” Hades drawled, trying desperately to look like he wasn’t at all nervous about Poseidon’s anger. Poseidon’s anger was even worse than Zeus’—it built up slowly, you could never see it coming, and it destroyed everything in its path. The last time Poseidon got really mad at Hades, he'd had to deal with flooded Isles of the Blessed. The paperwork was never ending and he had to deal with a waterlogged Cyrus the Great knocking on his door. “It hasn't happened yet. Peace, brother.”

“It's really not going to get any better,” Percy said, picking at the floor. “And there's a lot of misunderstandings this summer. We all say things that aren't actually true, just assumptions. Lord Hades had a reason.” Then he mumbled, “Not a good reason, but gods have a different definition of appropriate behaviour.”

Poseidon stared at his son for a moment. Percy reminded him so much of himself that it actually hurt to look at him a little. He sank back into his pillows. “That's not reassuring in the least, Percy,” he said.

“Nothing about Percy’s life is reassuring,” Annabeth muttered, then started reading again before any more could be said.

Then things got … “What ho, Percy!”

“What ho,” Connor whispered to his brother, who fell to the floor laughing. He was ignored by everyone but his father, who looked on indulgently.

he shouted, and … knees were jelly.

“I'd have just passed out,” Pollux said casually.

“Oh, for sure.”

“I'm about to pass out and we’re just reading it.”

“Honestly, only Percy or Nico could look at a Fury and go yeah, typical Tuesday .”

My hands were … I swung the sword.

“Again, not my natural response.”

“Curling up in a ball crying, yes, swinging a sword when I'd never used one before, no,” Katie said.

“I'd be running,” Travis said. “Just zoom. ”

“Catch me moving to Antarctica,” Will said.

“After seeing a Kindly One? Not far enough,” Michael said. “I'd find some way to get to Mars.”

“You're insane,” Beckendorf said to Percy. Percy grinned sheepishly.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.

Hisss!

There was silence. Percy looked around in confusion.

Most of the demigods were looking at him like he’d done something incredible. The gods—most of them—looked impressed. Some, Zeus mainly, looked angry.

“Go, Percy!” Tyson yelled.

“One hit on a Dirae?” Jason asked, then whistled lowly. “No wonder everyone treats you like a legend, bro.”

Percy shrugged uncomfortably. “Just luck, I guess.”

“ Just luck he says,” Will mocked. “Honestly, Percy.”

“Powerful,” Hephestus murmured.

“Too powerful,” Zeus said, making the demigods start. They shared uneasy looks.

Mrs. Dodds was… whipped your butt.”

“Whomst the f*ck,” Leo said.

I said, “Who?” … messing with me.

“Oh, the Mist,” Rachel said. Percy nodded.

“Yes, I manipulated the Mist to try to preserve Percy’s innocence,” Chiron said. He regretted how he had handled Percy’s introduction to the mythological world. It had probably done more harm than good.

“Grover, buddy, friend, pal,” Travis said, shuffling towards the satyr.

“My good man—er, goat,” Conner added. “Lying is not your forte.”

“We are offering our services—”

“No.”

“Grover—”

“No, thanks.”

“Not funny, man,” … me blankly. “Who?”

Silena frowned. “Poor Percy. You're just gaslighting him.”

“Oh, yeah, they are kinda,” Beckendorf agreed.

“It was necessary,” Chiron said. “But I am sorry, Percy.”

Percy waved him away. He'd gotten over it ages ago. Sure, it annoyed the Hades out of him for a while, but he mostly got it. Well, he didn't, but grudges were never really his thing.

“The other chaperone. … feeling all alright?”

“Done,” Annabeth said, holding the book open on the next page.

“Finally,” Percy groaned. “That took for-f*cking-ever. You all need to learn to shut up.”

“Perseus,” Chiron warned. “Mind your language.”

“Sorry, Chiron,” Percy said sheepishly.

“Your name is Perseus?” Reyna asked, studying him.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Isn't that a Greek son of Zeus?”

“Well, you see,” Percy said. “Yes.”

Reyna stared at him. Percy stared back. The demigods looked between them like they were watching a tennis match. Neither broke.

“Yo,” Leo said. “What's your middle name, man?”

Percy blushed, finally looking away from Reyna. “Nothing.”

“Strange middle name,” Rachel said. She smirked at him. Grover did too.

“Oh, not so much stranger than—”

Percy tackled his friend to the floor with a hand over his mouth. “Nothing! I have no middle name. There is no middle name. What's a name?”

“Smooth,” Annabeth snorted.

“That was interesting,” Apollo said loudly. “Let's talk about it.”

The gods nodded, but Percy yelped.

“Nope, let's not, let's move on and never talk about anything ever again.” He grabbed the book off of Annabeth and shoved it into Thalia’s hands then dragged Grover up to act as a shield between him and everyone else. Thalia wouldn't give a sh*t if the gods wanted to do something. She'd do as Thalia did. “Read, Thalia.”

“Don't tell me what to do,” Thalia grumbled, but gamely started. “Two, Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks of Death .”

Chapter 3: Percy Makes Light of Something Objectively Awful

Chapter Text

“Why is it always old ladies?” Grover muttered.

Thalia cleared her throat. “I hope you all know I’m not going to be as nice as Annabeth when you interrupt me.”

“Literally no one expects you to be nice, ever,” Percy told her. The Greeks shuffled away from them both when Thalia glared at him, remembering the Great Fight of ‘06.

“Children,” Chiron said, warning in his voice. “This is neither the time nor the place.”

“You say that every damn time,” Percy complained. “When and where can we fight?”

“Here and now,” Thalia said before attempting to launch herself at Percy. Luckily for the structural integrity of their little Void Reading Room, Tyson was in between them. He held onto Thalia tightly.

“Be nice to brother, tree-girl,” he said, patting her on the head. Thalia blinked in shock.

“Only because you’re my favourite, Tyson,” she said, settling down to start reading again.

“Wow, we need a Tyson for these two,” Apollo whispered to Hermes, pointing between the sky god and the sea god. Hermes nodded enthusiastically, but stopped when Poseidon looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

I was used … never existed. Almost.

“What could have possibly given it away?” Will asked, looking at Grover. Grover bleated and buried his face in a laughing Percy’s shoulder to hide his blush.

“That offer of lessons is still on the table—”

“Go away,” Grover said, muffled by Percy’s shoulder.

But Grover couldn't … a cold sweat.

The demigods shivered. They’d all had their fair share of nightmares about monsters, especially recently.

Reyna watched Jason out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting snugly between two Greeks—the girl, Piper, and the boy, Leo. He seemed to be thinking about a past monster himself. She wondered if it was one they had encountered together, or one he had dealt with since going missing. She wished she’d had time to talk to him, but she assumed that if she tried to mention it in front of people who didn’t know, she would be unable. Early on, she had signalled to Hazel and Frank to keep silent about it, but she wouldn’t wait much longer. She had to get Jason alone.

The freak weather … Atlantic that year.

“This is a big fight,” Demeter said, eyeing her brothers in concern. “You have not been so angry at each other since—” she cut herself off, not wanting to bring up centuries-long arguments.

“I had thought it might be due to the existence of the boy,” Artemis said. “But it must be more.”

“The boy would have been killed already if it was about him,” Athena said shrewdly. “Father would not stand for Poseidon breaking the Oath if he knew.”

“Or if he was not distracted,” Hermes said. He watched his sons shuffle anxiously. The demigods—most of them—were getting tense.

Thalia muttered under her breath, “I wasn’t kidding about the not interrupting me thing.”

I started feeling … with my mom

“Bro, we all wish we were with your mom right now,” Grover said.

“Ugh, don’t say that, you’re going to make me cry,” Percy said.

“I’m not even mad you interrupted there, I’m too busy thinking about her food,” Thalia said, practically drooling.

“Oh, food,” Leo concurred. Several other demigods made noises of agreement.

“It’s got to be lunch time soon, right?” Piper said. “It was like ten when we got here.”

“It was early morning, wasn’t it?” Clarisse said.

“Yeah, I woke up here,” Silena nodded. “Just fully dressed and ready for the day.”

“I almost face planted, going from dead asleep to wide awake and standing up,” Pollux said.

“It was definitely mid-morning for us,” Reyna said.

“That’s weird,” Annabeth said. “So, not only do we come from different years and days, we actually came from different times of the day.”

“Yeah, but why?” Katie asked. “What’s the significance of the times we came from? Even just the years.”

“Well ours is obviously because it's almost Percy’s birthday,” Annabeth said. “I don’t know what’s special about 1980 or the 16th of June next year.”

Reyna looked at Hazel for her opinion, but the younger girl just made a face. “It is almost the Feast of Fortuna for us.”

“And we’re about to—” Piper started. “Oh, I can’t say it. We’ve got somewhere to be next week that’s important.”

“So maybe a mix of those reasons for you guys, but what about the gods?” Annabeth looked at them, but none seemed willing to say anything—or perhaps to admit they didn’t know. “Well. Alright then.”

in our little … stupid poker parties.

Those that knew Paul but not about Percy’s first step father looked at him in confusion. He refused to look at them. Grover pulled him into a hug.

And yet.. . there … a little strange.

“Okay, ouch.” Grover ran his knuckles over Percy’s head roughly. Percy squirmed and twisted to get away, ending up behind Rachel and next to Katie.

“Protect me,” he pleaded. “Get out your hairbrush and your fertiliser.”

Both girls looked at each other and then shoved Percy away. He quickly escaped to sit between Connor and Beckendorf, pouting.

I worried how he'd survive next year without me.

“See, I’m just out here trying to be nice, but noooo,” Percy began, but a shock from Thalia made him shut his mouth.

“Next person to interrupt too soon is getting fried!” she declared.

“When’s too soon?” Beckendorf whispered to Percy and the Stolls. He got three shrugs for his troubles.

I’d miss Latin … to believe him.

“Good,” Poseidon said firmly. “Perhaps it will help you survive.”

Apollo looked at Hermes. “There he goes again with the good instincts.”

Thalia gritted her teeth.

The evening before … his thousand-year-old eyes.

Apollo and Athena studied the boy intently. Hermes, his fingers itching to move(when was the last time he’d sat still for so long? His phone wasn’t even buzzing), pulled out a notebook and wrote in it quickly.

Chiron looked at his student from behind furrowed brows. He had always known, of course, that Percy was smarter than he seemed to be. But he had not realised just how observant the boy could be. Now if only he had more confidence in himself and his deductions.

I will accept … I hadn't tried.

“You do your best in everything you do, Percy,” Chiron told him. “And I never once thought you were not trying.”

Percy blushed. Beckendorf slapped him on the back

I walked downstairs … to an adult.

“Hoo, boy,” Travis said. “Here we go.”

“At least Percy might get some answers now,” Will shrugged.

“Just more questions, Willy-woo, just more questions.”

Percy ducked out of the way of Will’s pillow, but it still somehow hit him.

“Ugh, Apollo kids are the worst,” he complained. Said god folded his arms.

“My children are rad, actually,” he said. “Much like their father.”

“Everytime Apollo or Hermes says something like that I get a not so rad headache,” Leo whispered to Jason, who shushed him.

“If you want to stop getting hit by projectile weapons,” Michael said. “Stop saying stupid sh*t.”

I inched closer. … summer solstice deadline —

“The deadline?” Athena asked. “Definitely more than just a simple argument then.”

“And if the deadline passes?” Hera asked, shocking most of the demigods. They’d honestly thought she had taken a vow of silence near half-bloods. “What then?”

Chiron inclines his head. “That will be revealed soon, Lady Hera.”

“Yeah, if soon means after the most confusing week of my life, then sure, soon,” Percy grumbled. Connor laughed.

"Will have to … "Sir, I .. .

“I’m not even going to read the next part,” Thalia said, rounding on Grover. “Do we need to have this conversation again?”

“Good gods, Thalia,” Grover groaned. “No, no, I know.”

The air shifted and grew cold. Everyone sat up straight, any amusem*nt fading and any contemplation shattered.

“I do not know if that was a joke, Thalia of the Hunters,” Ouroboros’ voice echoed around them. Thalia shivered. “ I do not understand mortal humour often. But, in case it wasn’t, or in case anyone tries to skip parts of the books in the future, it will not be allowed. You will be unable to skip forward, and you will be trapped forever if you abandon them completely.”

Zeus managed to find his voice. It trembled slightly, but he forged on. “You cannot keep us here that long. The world will fall apart.”

“Will it?” Ouroboros asked. “And wouldn’t that be a shame. Read on, Thalia of the Hunters.”

Ouroboros disappeared again. Thalia clenched her fists, little licks of lightning running along them, and took a deep breath. Nothing she had ever encountered terrified her as much as Ouroboros saying her name.

Frank shook in his place next to Hazel. Ouroboros was more frightening than, well, his worst nightmare. He looked at his father (or, the Greek version of his father), and felt that same fear wash over him again. Anger, too.

I can't fail … with a thud.

“Again with the underreactions,” Michael said, shaking his head.

Mr. Brunner went … the winter solstice."

“Did you just…” Travis said in awe.

“He did,” Connor nodded.

“Hail Perseus Jackson,” they said together, bowing down as best they could from their seated position. “Tricker of Chiron.”

“Shut up,” Percy said, leaning away from them and ending up half in Beckendorf’s lap.

"Mine neither, " Grover … kind of danger.

“Danger? Percy? No, it can’t be,” Nico said dryly.

Percy pointed a finger at him. “Look, ghost boy, I was twelve.”

“I’m twelve.”

“That’s irrelevant.” Percy paused. “Why aren’t you in school?”

“I don’t need school.”

“I think you do.”

“I don’t.”

“Nico, Nico, how many states are there?” Percy pestered. “Nico.”

Nico huffed. “48.”

Annabeth blinked. “Oh. Has no one caught you up on that? There’s fifty now. Alaska and Hawaii were added in 1959.”

“I feel like we need to have modern history lessons with Nico,” Thalia said.

Nico stared into the distance. “I’m having a crisis.”

“Why would the boy need to catch up?” Athena asked, getting slightly irritated about not knowing anything.

“Uhh, he—no, that’s a spoiler. You’ll find out,” she promised. Athena frowned. Hades could guess why his son didn’t know anything from modern history, but hadn’t he arranged for someone to teach him? Had he taken the boy and his sister (his sister, where was Bianca?) out of the casino and just left them to their own devices? That was dangerous of him, if true.

The next afternoon, … for the best."

The Greeks fell over each other with loud groans.

“Chiron strikes again,” Will said, shaking his head.

“Poor baby Percy.”

His tone was … matter of time. "

“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Silena muttered. Travis pretended he’d been shot in the chest, dramatically calling out to his brother.

“This is a train wreck,” Hazel whispered to Frank. Frank blushed at her proximity. “Poor Percy.”

“This isn’t going well for you, is it, Chiron?” Poseidon asked with a disapproving tilt of his head.

“I greatly regret how I handled Percy’s situation,” the centaur said.

My eyes stung…. was already gone.

“Probably a good thing,” Hermes said. “He’d have probably made it worse.”

Chiron went red.

On the last … family of nobodies.

“Well,” Clarisse said while the gods worked to not be too insulted. “There’s a Nobody somewhere on the family tree.”

Grover, Annabeth, and Percy laughed. Percy stopped suddenly. Ew. He hated thinking about the godly relations—if he ignored that Athena was his dad’s niece, then he didn’t have to think about him and Annabeth being related. Not that it would matter if they were. He had no reason to not want to be related. Right?

They asked me … in the fall.

“At twelve?” Piper asked with a frown. “That sounds like an awful summer vacation.”

“It was what it was,” Percy shrugged.

"Oh, " one of … for Kindly Ones? "

“Zeus almighty, you sure know how to start conversations.”

Grover nearly jumped … as Mrs. Dodds, and . . ."

“I appreciate that you’re doubling down here Grover,” Travis said. “I mean, its totally pointless because you’re a sh*t liar, but the dedication is there.”

“Now you just need the skill,” Connor said, flourishing his hands. In an announcer voice, he continued, “With the Sons of Hermes Trickster Academy, we can take you far—”

Percy smothered him with a pillow. While Connor flailed about, Thalia continued reading.

"Grover, you're a … others at Yancy.

“I’m pretty sure there’s no one like our family,” Katie said dryly.

“I don’t know, some rich people are really weird,” Percy said, looking at Rachel. I know where you live, she mouthed.

“Are you calling us weird?” Pollux asked.

“Uh,” Percy said. “I’m not not calling you weird.”

Leo and Piper watched the Greeks argue and mess about, missing it. Things were tense at Camp Half-Blood in their time, what with Percy missing and the Prophecy of the Seven happening. These younger versions of the kids they knew (and Silena and Beckendorf and Michael, who they’d been avoiding looking at) still had a sort of lightness to them, despite the charged time they came from. Maybe it was because they hadn’t experienced a war yet.

"Okay, " I said …. who defended me.

“Awww, Perce,” Grover said. “Thanks.”

“What’s a few bullies to a horde of monsters?” Percy said back.

"Grover," I said, … old-fashioned fruit stand.

Percy tensed. As far as he knew, no one else knew what was about to happen but him and Grover. Catching sight of Chiron looking at him, he figured Grover had informed the centaur at least. That was fine.

Everything was fine. He wasn’t dead yet. He was just waiting for everyone to overreact. He crawled back over to Grover and dragged Tyson’s arm over himself.

Grover had gone pale, his eyes flickering to Poseidon. “This isn’t going to be fun.”

The stuff on … full of ice.

“Stop describing food, I’m about to die over here,” Leo said, but Percy wasn’t listening. He was too busy watching everyone’s faces.

There were no …. I’d ever seen.

“Knitting?” Apollo asked. No one answered, sensing the tension radiating off of Percy.

I mean these …. bleached cotton dresses.

“sh*t,” Thalia said, looking at her cousin. “Don’t tell me…”

“Alright, I won’t.”

“Percy,” Poseidon said, looking a little green. “They sound like…and surely it’s important because otherwise it wouldn’t be mentioned.”

Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis frowned. The Fates. But why would they appear to this boy? Apollo studied Percy intently, trying to pick out a little bit of prophecy and fate, but Ouroboros had obviously restricted him even there. He could see only that the boy was important. He nodded at Hermes, then shook his head.

Zeus leaned forward. Maybe fate would take care of the boy before he had to.

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

“Wait,” Will said. He looked from the gods’ serious faces, to Thalia’s worried one, to where Percy and Grover were hiding in Tyson’s arms.

“Oh, no,” someone whispered as the other demigods figured it out. They all moved so they could see as much of Percy as possible.

I looked over … The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.

Thalia’s words hitched. Annabeth had her face buried in her hands. Some of the demigods were crying.

“Percy,” Beckendorf whispered. This whole time—the whole time any of them knew him, he’d been living with this. With this knowledge.

“Maybe they won’t cut it,” Silena said in a wobbly voice. “Maybe they just…”

I heard Grover … The middle one cut the yarn,

“No,” Poseidon cried. He barely knew this boy and yet he loved him. He was looking forward to his birth in the future. He wanted to get to know Percy now, he wanted to treat him like a son. He was already attached and he was a selfish god. If he could, he’d take Percy under the sea and keep him there. He knew the boy wouldn’t want that, but it didn’t help how he felt. He would flood the earth for his children. He loved Percy. He must love him more in the future. And yet, the boy had seen his own thread cut at just twelve. His son. His first child in forty years. No, longer by the time Percy was born. “Why did they do that? Why so early? What will happen to my son?”

At the last question he turned to Apollo. The sun god shook his head, an uncharacteristically sombre look on his face. “I do not know. The Fates do as the Fates will. And I have no powers now.”

The Greeks piled on top of Percy. Annabeth cried and cried into his shirt. Rachel had a death grip on his hand.

Reyna looked at Percy in interest. The boy obviously knew what this meant, at least now, and yet he had still lived, and done enough to have Ouroboros like him? How had the fear not paralysed him? She still did not like him, but a grudging amount of respect grew within her.

Jason looked at Piper and Leo in shock. All that Percy had done during the war, everything they’d heard about him, he’d done knowing he would soon die.

Despite not knowing him long, the other gods and goddesses felt moved, either through pity or pain. Percy seemed like a good kid. A leader. It would be a shame to watch him die too young. Sympathy for Poseidon welled within them. Most were thinking about the Great Prophecy. Was Percy the hero who would die?

Zeus allowed them a few moments to mourn the boy who was still there before he told Thalia to keep reading.

and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.

Poseidon subtly edged towards the pile of demigods, searching out his son. When he finally saw him, Percy’s eyes were already on him. Percy offered a small smile.

“I’m still here, guys,” Percy said to his friends, but he didn’t look away from his dad.

Her two friends … for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.

“sh*t, don’t be funny right now, Percy,” Becekndorf said in a gruff voice. Some wet chuckles went through the pile of demigods. They’d shifted just enough that everyone was comfortable. Hestia smiled to see them supporting each other, but kept silent still, observing like she normally did.

“Brother going to die?” Tyson asked Percy, causing another round of sniffles.

Percy took a deep breath. “One day, big guy, but every mortal dies at some point. Its okay.”

“Most mortals do not see the Fates cut their string,” Dionysus said. He received several glares. “You were all thinking it.”

“But some of us have tact,” Aphrodite said. Dionysus shrugged.

At the rear … caught the flu.

“How are you still alive?” Nico whispered to his cousin. Percy studied him, noting his red eyes and the worry clear as day.

“I wouldn’t just leave the prophecy to you, Nico,” he whispered back. “I’ve got a job to do before I can go.”

Grover didn't look … than Mrs. Dodds.

“Insightful,” Apollo mumbled, keeping his voice quiet in respect for the tension.

“Observant boy,” Hermes agreed.

He said, "Just … something almost—older.

“And again,” Apollo said. “Percy?”

The demigod looked up from the floor where he was laying half on Annabeth, half on Beckendorf, with the Stolls and Katie over his legs. “Yeah?”

“Do you have some gift of foresight or insight?”

Percy laughed until he realised Apollo was completely serious. “Uh, oh, no. I’m just observant, I guess.”

Apollo nodded and sat back, but shared a look with both Hermes and Athena.

He said, "You … going to die?"

“So, you have known the whole time?” Clarisse asked. Even she had joined the demigod pile-up. She and Percy had come to an agreement. And, anyway, they were in a war. There was no time for her to disagree with their camp leader.

“Well, yeah,” Percy shrugged. “But we all know we could die any time we go on a mission. It's no different.”

“It’s very different,” Silena said. Most people nodded. “It’s brave, Percy, very brave.”

Percy blushed all over.

“Alright, keep reading.”

He looked at … on my coffin.

“Done,” Thalia said, throwing the book away from her. Percy immediately jumped up, dislodging everyone and causing a demigod avalanche.

“Food? Food,” he said, turning to look at the doors. “Which of these says food?”

“Maybe we should talk, Percy,” his father said, rising to stand next to him. “This is serious.”

“I know that,” Percy said. “I just… I’m starving. I could eat a pair or Sasquatch’s socks right now. And I’m not going to be able to talk about it until I eat or all I’m going to be thinking about is pancakes.”

Poseidon stared at him for a moment. Before he could say anything, Hestia clapped.

“Good idea, Percy,” she said with a warm smile. “Perhaps we can eat and then have a few conversations. Get to know each other, yes?”

A rumble of agreement went around the room and Percy dashed towards the kitchen with his friends close on his heels.

Chapter 4: Annabeth Miraculously Doesn't Have A Breakdown

Chapter Text

Annabeth was fine.

There was nothing earth-shattering about any of this. Life was weird for a demigod. Nothing took her by surprise anymore. Not Ouroboros—the ancient snake of eternity that popped up everywhere but no one knew anything about. Not reading about her friend’s (or whatever she might call Percy) life from his own point of view. Not Roman demigods.

This was all fine and normal.

Privately, Annabeth might admit she was freaking out a little. She'd almost had an aneurysm finding out about the Romans. There was a whole other group of demigods out there, living and breathing and with their own traditions and (presumably) their own camp. If Romans existed, did others? Norse, Egyptian, Hindu? They weren't alone in this world of monsters and mythology. Why were they all hidden from each other? Was it just rivalries or was there more?

This way lies madness, she reminded herself.

There were no answers to be had. She was better off putting it out of her mind for now (she would pick, pick, pick, later).

Annabeth had known about the Fury Percy had fought back before they first met. The maths teacher he'd talked about in his sleep. Twelve-year-old Annabeth hadn't seen an issue with it. She'd seen the Furies before, of course, but too much time had passed and she'd forgotten. Everything was scary when you were seven and living on the streets. She'd been desensitised by time and space. At twelve, she was so obsessed with getting out of camp, into the real world, that she'd shrugged off a lot of the danger they experienced back then.

Such was life, she'd told herself. Fear had no place in her plans.

Now, though, she looked at Nico and Will, and Hazel (who must be about 13) and thought they were too young back then. They still were.

Hades, Percy saw the Fates. Annabeth knew the prophecy. Knew that it was likely Percy was going to die on his sixteenth birthday. Still, the fear curdled in her stomach.

She tried to logic it out. She'd already known. Of course, the Fates would take an interest in the Great Prophecy. It didn't change anything.

Except it did.

And Percy refused to talk about it.

“Food first,” he reminded them, barrelling to the wooden table. The mess room was large, almost as big as the mess back at camp. When they entered the door, it seemed like an average room. Then she stepped further in and everything blurred. Instead of walls, stone columns lined the edges. There was no roof. It really was reminiscent of camp.

Only, instead of the sky and the fields, or even seeing into the reading room, everything was inky blackness. It felt like they were standing at the edge of the world.

The Void. Chaos, maybe. Hopefully not. Ouroboros was creepy enough without them eating breakfast inside the first primordial.

Okay, so some things could take her by surprise. This was the weirdest thing she'd ever experienced.

Annabeth followed Percy to the table while the others stood in shock. She couldn't help but admire the sparse architecture. It looked just like pavilions must have looked back in Ancient Greece—except, some of the columns looked different. Most of them were Greek Ionic, but some were Roman. Roman Doric or Roman Composite. And some weren't supporting anything. Just decoration, as the Romans used.

As she looked at one Corinthian column, it shuddered. Flickered, almost. For one heartbeat it looked Egyptian. Then it was back.

Annabeth wasn't thinking about it.

She turned to Percy, who'd already picked up the bronze plate and was flipping it between his hands. He grinned at her.

“Just like camp,” he said. Nothing about how he was acting suggested they'd just invaded his privacy, all his thoughts on display to them all. Percy was like that. Unreadable, even if it looked like his heart was on his sleeve.

Annabeth knew him though. This had to be killing him. It was killing her. To read about his life in front of his friends, in front of the gods (especially the gods like Ares and Hera), and in front of his father. All of them hearing his innermost thoughts.

Talk about a nightmare situation.

Annabeth had thought it was some weird demigod dream when they'd first arrived. Then a nightmare. It hadn't clicked that this was real until she'd heard Apollo complain about his lost Walkman.

That was too strange even for a demigod dream. Only a god could care about his fancy new (to him, at least) portable music player when Ouroboros was interfering.

“This is interesting,” Annabeth commented, because understatement was the name of the game.

Percy shrugged. “Yeah, it’s pretty wild. Think you just say what you want to eat or what?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Percy nodded, then whispered something to the plate. Blue pancakes, Annabeth guessed, because moments later a stack (a stack, like at least seven) appeared on the plate.

“Oh, you’ve got to be specific,” Percy said. “Blue pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. Ahhh, that’s better.”

The infuriating boy raised his knife and fork to take a bite. Annabeth shoved him in the side.

“Percy, I’m being serious,” she said. “This is… insane. How are you coping with it?”

The seats around them slowly filled with the other demigods, Rachel taking the place on Percy’s other side. The insidious beast Annabeth first encountered last summer simmered in her gut.

“Yeah, Perce, I think I’m about to combust and it’s not even my life story,” Beckendorf chimed in, his plate filling with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages. The others followed suit.

An awkward silence descended as they started to stand up. There was no brazier in this weird eatery. The gods sat literal feet from them, down at the end of the table where they wouldn’t get mortal taint on them (or something ridiculous like that, Annabeth thought viciously, glaring in Hera’s general direction for a second).

“Um,” Annabeth said, discomfort settling into her bones as Athena watched her.

Percy huffed out a laugh. “I’m adaptable, that’s how.”

He pushed a pancake onto another plate, standing up with confidence as everyone else faltered around him. Rachel and the Romans hadn’t moved from their seats, watching them in confused silence.

Percy marched over to Poseidon and thrust the plate in front of him. Poseidon took it, seemingly automatically. He frowned down at it.

“Anyone got a lighter?” Percy asked over his shoulder. “Nah, didn’t think so. Sorry it's not burnt, but I personally prefer my food uncharred, so this is better, really.”

He quickly walked back to Annabeth’s side. She couldn't help but grin. Only Percy would have the gall to shove a blue pancake at a god and tell him the usual offerings were lacklustre.

Annabeth was fine.

Poseidon studied the blue pancake in his hands before smiling over at Percy, who went bright red and immediately shoved a strip of bacon in his mouth.

The rest of them hesitated. Annabeth had met her mother a few times, more than most of the others could say, but they weren't exactly close. Percy was the only one of them with a half-real relationship with his godly parent. There was no way Annabeth would be able to push some of her omelette at Athena.

Hestia saved them all.

“There’s no need for offerings while we are here, children,” the hearth goddess said with a kind smile. Everything about Hestia put Annabeth at ease. Like sitting by a warm fire on a cold day, with blankets and hot chocolate, playing a board game. “Your presence is offering enough.”

Well, alright then. Some of the other gods looked rather put out by this. Poseidon looked smug, halfway through his blue pancake already, though he kept shooting worried glances at Percy.

Percy. The Fates. Gods this was a mess.

No one spoke much whilst they ate. The tension was so thick Annabeth could feel it in her lungs.

In. Ouroboros was real.

Out. Percy met the Fates.

In. The gods were right there.

Out. Percy was going to die.

In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. She just needed to keep breathing. She couldn’t hold Percy down and demand why he’d never mentioned meeting the Fates. She couldn’t wrap him in bubble wrap and lock him in a cupboard until after his sixteenth birthday.

Fate would do as fate does.

It grated on her pride to admit there was nothing she could do to help—not with his lifeline or with the situation they found themselves in. They were stuck here for however long it took them to read the books. And none of them knew exactly how many books there were. If Annabeth were to guess (which she never did. She hypothesised. It was more intellectual), she’d say there were at least five books. This first one was for their quest for the lightning bolt. Another one would be for the quest for the golden fleece. One will probably be about Percy and Thalia and the Hunters saving her and Artemis from Mount Tam. Then the labyrinth quest (with Rachel, ugh).

And a fifth one about what would happen when Percy turned sixteen.

Annabeth didn’t know if she hoped that was all of them or not. If it was all of them, maybe they’d finally get a break. But then, it could also just mean Percy was dead. If it wasn’t, maybe Percy miraculously survived. Annabeth couldn’t imagine that Ouroboros was particularly interested in any quests that didn’t have Percy in them.

She’d heard how Ouroboros interacted with the son of the sea god. Fond, almost, like Percy was a younger sibling with a propensity for trouble and puppy dog eyes. Percy didn’t seem afraid of Ouroboros like everyone else. Wary, but not afraid.

This was one thing she could get answers about.

“How do you know Ouroboros?” she asked as casually as she could, hoping Percy would answer automatically and not edit anything out. Percy shrugged.

“I don’t,” he said. Annabeth made a face. “I’m telling the truth. I think she was stalking me for a while. I had a dream about her, uh, with her, I don’t know, she was in it, last night. She told me we’d be doing this and then I woke up here, like the rest of you.”

“She didn’t mention anything else?” Annabeth pressed. “Plans or what the future is like, why she wants to change things?”

Percy huffed, rolling his eyes. “You heard her. She doesn’t like what happened. She thinks the gods are arrogant. It was this or the end of reality, apparently.”

Annabeth frowned. That was even less information than she’d been hoping for. If only she’d had a dream about Ouroboros, then she might know more and be able to get them out of this or make it more bearable. She hated not knowing.

You want to know me, owlet? A soft, young voice asked. Annabeth started, looking around. The voice spoke like Ouroboros did, but no one else seemed to hear it. It sounded like a child, too, not at all the strong, commanding voice of the woman from before. Who else could it be but Ouroboros, though?

It will not be as informative as you seem to think, the young Ouroboros continued. Perhaps you are right, owlet. You are a cornerstone, after all.

Cornerstone? What do you mean? Annabeth thought desperately. It was difficult to project her thoughts to where in her mind she thought Ouroboros was, but she managed it. The room around her blurred again, but this time the people in it did too. Remembering dreams of Kronos whispering in her ear, Annabeth tried to push at Ouroboros. What are you doing?

Giving you what you wanted, Ouroboros said, sounding amused. Knowledge.

***

She wasn’t dreaming so much as she was floating. She had no body and when her concentration shifted to looking around her, it felt almost as if her very soul was drifting away from her.

Panicked, Annabeth focused on herself. She imagined she had a torso, a head, arms, and legs. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth. She imagined herself as best she could, and when she next thought, she had to open her new eyes to see.

In front of her was a girl about eight years old, sitting on the edge of a grimy fire escape.

“Well done, Annabeth Chase,” she said, kicking her feet backward and forward. “You got that quicker than I expected.”

Annabeth blinked. “Where am I? Am I dreaming?”

“No more than anyone is dreaming when they close their eyes,” Ouroboros said, somehow looking like an eight-year-old Mediterranean girl, with dirty Chucks and an oversized hoodie on. Annabeth continued to stare. Ouroboros sighed, sounding much more like Annabeth’s little brothers than an ancient being responsible for creating the universe. “You’re blinking, back there, with all your friends and your mother. Here, well, that’s more complicated.”

“Right,” Annabeth said. Throwing herself down on the metal grating, she buried her head in her knees. “This is insane.”

“Wisdom is different from knowledge, you know,” Ouroboros said. “I think that’s where Athena keeps going wrong. She knows something and declares it wisdom and thinks no further. And, like the rest of them, she thinks her domain is infallible. Like it is good.”

“How is wisdom not good?” Annabeth asked, confused.

“It is not enough to simply have something,” Ouroboros told her, a serious look on her chubby little face. “It is how that something is used that makes it good. Fire can warm or burn, yes? Wisdom is the same, but it is also the absence of fire. Do you understand?”

“You can use wisdom to do good, or bad, or nothing at all,” Annabeth mused. Her head hurt. This was awful, and she hadn’t even talked to Percy about his lifeline yet.

“Exactly,” Ouroboros said. “You wanted to dream of me. I cannot tell you what I told Percy. It is not yours to know, yet. And I cannot keep you here for long, lest you grow too far apart from your body. All is not lost, though. Before I let you go, tell me this.”

Annabeth looked over at Ouroboros, who was studying her intently.

“You have pieces of knowledge here. The Fates cut a string. Percy saw it. The Great Prophecy says a hero dies. What does wisdom tell you?”

“That Percy’s going to—” her breath hitched. Why was this so difficult? She knew this already. She knew there was always a chance one of her friends may die. That was life for a demigod. Just because it was almost guaranteed for Percy didn’t make it any different. But gods did it feel like it did. “Going to die.”

Ouroboros hummed. “Yes. And what does instinct tell you?”

The fire escape began to disintegrate and Ouroboros turned ghostly. Annabeth reached out to her.

“What—” but the ancient snake was already gone.

***

Annabeth blinked back to herself just in time to inhale a piece of her omelette wrong. Percy patted her on the back awkwardly.

“You alright, Annie?” Thalia asked from across the table, concerned.

“Yeah,” Annabeth choked out. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Thalia didn't look convinced but didn't call her out on it. Annabeth was grateful. She didn’t know how to explain the dream-not-dream Ouroboros had given her. It seemed almost entirely useless to her. What about the girl sitting on the fire escape meant anything to Annabeth? Demigod dreams usually had a bit more information than that, even if they were difficult to interpret and horribly traumatising.

What does instinct tell you? The ghost of Ouroboros’ words echoed in her head. A whole lot of nothing. This wasn’t some battle where she could see the strike coming before it did. She couldn’t duck out of the way of a prophecy.

Logic told her Percy was going to die in three weeks. Ouroboros didn’t want her to rely on logic. But Annabeth couldn’t parse out what was a demigod feeling and what was genuine hope. She wanted Percy to survive. That didn’t mean he would.

Everything about Percy confused her these days.

He irritated her to no end. He was so obtuse it hurt sometimes. And half of her mind was playing a constant loop of Luke, Luke, Luke.

Luke who was Kronos who wasn’t really Luke, just living in his body. Percy didn’t think Luke could be saved. Annabeth felt that like a gaping hole in her chest. The Luke she knew lived in her bones, charming and funny and helpful. Family. Annabeth’s first love. Her only love, really, because was what she felt for Percy that strong?

She was jogged out of her musing by Travis Stoll.

His usually mischievous face was startling serious as he said, “Did you ever tell anyone you saw the Fates?”

The low-level murmuring cut off abruptly. Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth saw Poseidon lean forward to better see his son. It was probably smart of him not to be the one to question Percy. Like the rest of them, Percy wanted nothing more than to make his father proud. Talking about any of this must have been mortifying.

“No,” Percy said quietly. “I was more confused than anything in the beginning and it didn’t seem too important. Then I just thought it would worry everyone. It’s not really that big of a deal.”

He had the audacity to grin at them all like that was the end of it.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Silena said with a grimace. “But that doesn’t mean it's not important.”

“What would telling anyone have done? Would you have stopped me from going on quests? The L—” Percy cut off. He frowned. “The—”

“You can’t say it,” Rachel reminded him. Annabeth frowned too, then remembered that they hadn’t actually reached the part of the book about the missing lightning bolt. Percy glanced uneasily at the gods as if just realising they were listening in.

“Right,” he said. “All of the quests I’ve been on have been kind of important. You didn’t need to know.”

“Maybe we didn’t need to know,” Katie said slowly. “But we’re your friends, Percy. We could have supported you.”

“What, like everyone was totally supportive when I first got claimed?” Percy snorted. Annabeth cringed. She was not looking forward to reliving how twelve-year-old her behaved. If it was anything like she remembered, it would be embarrassing. Certainly, she wasn’t looking forward to Poseidon hearing about how dedicated she was to the Athena-Poseidon rivalry.

The older Greeks all flinched.

“We weren’t the nicest,” Connor admitted.

“We were awful,” Silena corrected.

“Some of us were worse than others,” Michael said, looking sideways at Clarisse. Clarisse straightened indignantly.

“Because you were all buddy-buddy with him, were you Yew?”

“You yew,” the Latino boy, Leo V-something, chuckled under his breath.

“No, but you tried to-“ Michael cut off abruptly. “This is going to get old so fast.”

“Hey, at least we get to hear about what actually happened when Percy first got to camp,” Travis said with an evil grin. Clarisse groaned and buried her head in her arms.

Annabeth sighed to herself. Despite knowing there wasn’t really anything to talk about concerning the Fates, she didn’t like leaving the discussion like that. Even if Percy hadn’t felt comfortable telling the rest of the campers about it, he could have told her. Sure, in the beginning, she was less than nice to him, but she had thought their first quest had built up some trust between them.

Then again, Percy didn’t really share much about himself at the best of times. Was he likely to tell her he was going to die? Maybe little Percy had just wanted to forget about the whole thing. It couldn’t have been easy knowing that at such a young age.

Percy was her best friend. He was a leader at Camp Half-Blood, especially right then, when they were all going out on countless missions against the Titans and their unfairly large monster army. He inspired loyalty and courage. He probably felt more pressure than any of them to live up to his father’s expectations, except maybe Thalia and Nico. Not even then, she thought, because Percy was the prophecy child, so the fate of Olympus rested solely on his shoulders.

The others drifted back into their own conversations, the Stoll brothers delighting in talking around the Bathroom Incident to get Clarisse riled up. Annabeth glanced back at the gods to see them all staring intently.

She quickly looked away. What were they doing? Why did they all look so serious? Even Apollo, who had never seemed to take anything seriously. Then again, something like this had never happened before (Annabeth thought, though she couldn’t be sure).

Ouroboros. The little girl on the fire escape seemed nothing like the Beginning and the End that Annabeth had read about. There was precious little information about her (them? Ouroboros was never given a gender, but she presented herself as female, so Annabeth would go from that) out there. Most sources didn’t even depict Ouroboros as being a deity. It was a snake, an alchemy symbol. It represented eternity. The Egyptians thought it represented disorder, formless, surrounding the ordered world. Some people thought that Ouroboros was the same as the Egyptian god Mehen, a snake that protected Ra the sun god. She knew Ouroboros was part of Norse mythology, Hinduism, and Gnostic beliefs too. There were no proper stories about Ouroboros. It was just a symbol.

Except, apparently it wasn’t, because she was real enough to kidnap Annabeth and her friends and lock them in a Void broom closet with the gods.

The last few bites of omelette turned to dust in her mouth. This was going to suck.

***

When they moved back into the reading room, Annabeth noticed two of the Romans talking quietly in the corner. Jason Grace, apparently Thalia’s brother who had gone missing back when he was two. Thalia had hurriedly filled her in on the basics before they’d went off to eat, but she still felt stirrings of hurt in her chest. Another one of her friends that hadn’t told her something important.

Annabeth sighed. There were so many painful memories in all of their pasts that she couldn’t really blame Percy of Thalia.

Jason was talking rapidly to one of the Roman girls, Reyna. Annabeth had no idea why Jason seemed closer to the two new Greeks, Piper and Leo, than the three Romans. She also had no idea why the Romans were even here. If her theory about the books being about Percy’s quests was right, when would they encounter the Romans? Judging by the gods reactions, that wasn’t the plan at the moment.

Reyna looked upset, but when she noticed everyone else coming back in, her face smoothed out into a stern but unbothered expression. Jason sighed with his whole body, then straightened up and walked over to Piper and Leo, who had situated themselves by Silena and Beckendorf. They both looked at their half-siblings like they were simultaneously awe-inspiring and well, ghosts. It made Annabeth nervous.

She plopped herself down in between Percy and Thalia, hoping to be able to stop any arguments that might break out in the next few chapters. They’d been getting along quite well, but that could change.

Percy rearranged the pillows around him so he was sprawled out with his head by Annabeth’s hip and his legs by Grover, who sat facing them instead of the gods across the way. Tyson sat behind Annabeth with Nico. Rachel, unfortunately, had stretched out on the other side of Percy. The Stolls, Katie, Pollux, Michael, Will and Clarisse spread themselves out around them, most of them facing inwards, towards Percy, like he was a beacon and they were just moths to a flame.

They’d all just settled in when a shadow fell over them.

Annabeth looked up to see Poseidon hovering awkwardly over Pollux’s shoulder. Said demigod went still.

“Perseus, Tyson,” Poseidon greeted. “Demigods.”

They bowed their heads to him.

“Hi, dad,” Percy said with a smile he didn't seem to be able to control. Annabeth could relate. She always felt like a balloon was floating in her chest when she got some sort of acknowledgement from Athena.

Poseidon cleared his throat. “I would like to sit near you all for the rest of the reading. If no one has any objections?”

They all shook their heads. Pollux and Katie shifted around so Poseidon could sit next to Tyson, who looked ecstatic. The awkwardness was palpable.

“Poseidon,” Zeus thundered. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting with my sons,” the sea god drawled. “As we are supposed to be learning from this, I decided that I might as well get to know them properly. We are reading about Percy’s life, after all.”

“The Ancient Laws-“

“Can hardly be applied when we come from different times,” Poseidon said. “I’m sitting with the boys, not doing their homework for them.”

Zeus looked murderous, but Hestia rested her hand on his arm and he subsided. Apollo and Hermes shared a look and shrugged, moving to sit by their kids. Both sets of brothers lit up.

Since they’d rearranged themselves with Percy in the centre, the other gods sat around them, far enough away that they wouldn’t have to interact. Annabeth felt a stab of pain that Athena chose not to sit with her.

It was fine. Annabeth was fine with everything that was happening.

“So,” Percy said into the silence. “Were you serious about not doing my homework for me?”

Annabeth groaned while the others snickered. “Seaweed brain.”

“Quite serious,” Poseidon said with an indulgent smile.

“Shame,” Percy muttered. He picked up the book and flipped it open. He held it out in front of him like a bomb. “Who wants to read next?”

Chapter 5: Grover Learns The Meaning of Ditching, Snitching, And Most Importantly, Bitching

Chapter Text

Conner leaned over Annabeth’s shoulder to read the chapter title, still marvelling over how easy it was with whatever anti-dyslexia spell Ouroboros had put on it. He smiled wickedly.

“I nominate Grover!” he said, snatching the book from Percy and passing it to his brother, who stretched over Thalia to drop it in the satyr’s lap.

“Well, that’s not ominous,” Grover sighed, picking up the book. “Oh no. No. You can’t make me read this one.”

“Why not?” Katie asked.

“For starters, the title is Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants,”he said. The demigods burst into giggling fits. Even Reyna cracked a smile.

“Sorry Grover, you’ve been nominated,” Thalia said. Grover sent her a betrayed look.

“This is unfair.”

“Unwilling nominations are a time-honoured tradition among demigods,” Travis said in a pompous voice.

“I’m not a demigod,” Grover said.

“Close enough,” Clarisse said.

“Them’s the breaks, G-man,” Percy said, smirking.

“Indeed,” Chiron said, sounding amused. “Let’s crack on, shall we?”

“I hope you know I’ll remember this,” Grover muttered darkly. His friends just grinned at him. “Okay, here we go.”

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

“And took ten years off my life in the process!” Grover declared, lowering the book to his lap to glare at Percy.

“You were being a creepy little goat boy,” Percy shrugged. The Greeks laughed at the look on Grover’s face. The Romans, except Jason, were still coming to terms with the apparent position the faun held within the Greek camp. No one had explained it yet, but none of them treated Grover anything like the fauns at Camp Jupiter were treated. He was more a friend than anything, and apparently, his job was to protect Percy. That was so different from their fauns that it almost didn’t compute.

“The bullying in this room is unbelievable,” Grover said.

I know, I ... be sixth grade?”

“What the f*ck, Grover?” Pollux asked incredulously.

“Language, Mr Boivin,” Chiron chided.

“No, but, way to give the game away in the creepiest way possible,” Michael said. “Now little Percy thinks you think he’s going to die.”

“To be fair,” Percy interrupted. “I mostly just thought he was being weird again.”

Grover made a face. “How nice of you.”

Whenever he got upset—

“Really, Percy, just expose all my secrets,” Grover grumbled to himself before immediately rushing through the next few sentences.

Whenever he got ... told the driver.

“You should have expected that,” Annabeth told Grover.

“Sorry I thought my best friend might keep his promise,” Grover said. “Obviously I overestimated him.”

“Hey!”

“To be fair, I’d have ditched you too,” Will said.

“Yeah, I would not have hung around for you to take me to a basem*nt prison.”

“Who mentioned anything about a basem*nt prison, Connor?” Katie asked, giving him a confused look.

“He was being weird, Katie, and I ain’t about to get murdered!”

“Being taken to a basem*nt prison isn’t my first guess about what someone being weird is about to do.”

“Which is probably a good thing, hanging around the rest of these guys,” Silena said, jabbing her finger in the direction of the others. “You’d be terrified of murder all the time.”

“Hey!”

“Rude!”

“What did we do to you?”

“I can’t believe you lumped me in with them,” Thalia said.

“Can we continue reading, or would you all like a moment to have a pointless argument?” Zeus boomed. The demigods immediately fell silent.

“Like most of his arguments aren’t pointless,” Demeter muttered under her breath.

Percy stiffened slightly on the floor. He had a feeling this book was going to reveal more than he wanted it to. His friends noticed and subconsciously mimicked him, but Percy forced himself to relax, so they did too.

A word about my mother, before you meet her.

“Where to begin?” Thalia mused. “I don’t think a single word can capture the wonder that is Sally Jackson.”

“Man, I love my mom,” Percy said with a silly smile.

“We all do,” Nico said. The other Greeks nodded. Apollo looked at his sons in surprise.

“How do you know Sally Jackson?” he asked. “You didn’t mention her in the first chapter.”

“Well, we’ve only met her briefly,” Michael admitted. “But she brings food and stuff to camp fairly often, especially since—uh, recently.”

“She can’t cross the border, obviously, but whenever she drops Percy off she makes sure to check in on everyone she can,” Clarisse said. It had especially shocked her when Sally asked how she was doing and gave her a cookie. She assumed Percy had told Sally about what she was like to him, but the woman didn’t seem to hold it against her. Like her son, she was pretty forgiving.

“She must have passed her mom sense onto Percy,” Travis grinned.

“What do you mean?” Hermes asked.

“He’s like a big mama bear,” Travis revealed, enjoying the way Percy squawked. “Always making sure the kids are okay, checking in on everyone, asking about their days-“

“It's called being polite, Stoll, you should try it sometime,” Percy said, though any annoyance was dampened by the bright red blush on his cheeks.

“Face it, Perce,” Beckendorf said. “You’re the mom friend. A do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do mom friend.”

“Oh, yeah,” Annabeth said. “I’ve literally heard him tell Dixie, one of my little sisters, that she can’t climb the roof of the cabin, while he was on the roof of the cabin.”

“Why were you on the roof of a cabin, Percy?” Chiron asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Are these books not snitching on me enough?” Percy hissed at Annabeth. He turned to Chiron and said, “I couldn’t say, Chiron. So much happens in a year. I can’t keep track of it all.”

Poseidon was torn between being proud his son cared about his friends and tried to impart wisdom on children, and scolding the boy for taking unnecessary risks. Not that he thought a tumble from a roof would kill Percy, but there was no need to borrow trouble.

He settled for smiling faintly at the boy, who grinned back.

Her name is ... and no diploma.

“And she still manages to be the best parent any of us have,” Thalia said loudly. The gods scowled. Most of the demigods agreed, even the ones with good parents themselves. Sally was practically part of the mythological world herself, which made it easier to relate to her than their parents. She was also much closer, so could visit occasionally since the war broke out.

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

“Somehow I doubt meeting Poseidon could be considered a ‘good break’,” Athena said. Poseidon scoffed at her.

“Evidently, the woman has more sense than you,” he shot back.

“I wouldn’t call falling for you sense,” Hades muttered from the back.

“But isn’t it beautiful?” Aphrodite said before Poseidon could reply. “The downtrodden girl with bad luck meets the handsome, powerful god and they fall in love— ”

“Let’s talk about literally anything other than my parents’ relationship,” Percy cut in, throwing a desperate look at Grover.

I don’t have ... of his smile.

“Woah, wait,” Will said, making a timeout sign with his hands. “Did he actually visit you?”

His question made the other gods sit up in shock. For most of them, visiting their children wasn’t worth Zeus’ anger, but if any of them could manage it, even briefly, it would be one of his brothers. Zeus turned a poisonous look on his brother.

“Um,” Percy said. “Yeah, he said he did. For a little while when I was a baby.”

“Of course I did,” Poseidon said, offended. “I visit all my children when they are young. And I would have been especially eager to meet Percy, as my only child since the forties.”

“It's against the Ancient Laws, Poseidon, for the last time,” Zeus said. It sounded like a well-worn argument. The demigods looked at one another. It sucked to know that Poseidon was willing to break the rules for his kids, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Hermes, noticing this, leaned down to whisper to his sons. “I have always come to see you all when you are born. I was the first person to hold you, Connor.”

This cheered them up, but then they remembered Chris. Had their dad held him as a baby and then just forgotten about him? Was it worse to know that he’d done that and been perfectly fine with never interacting with them again, even failing to claim his own son while he was living in his cabin?

Apollo looked at his own sons guiltily. He watched over his kids, obviously (being the sun had its perks), but he could never risk breaking the Ancient Laws like Poseidon and Hades always had done. His father liked to take things out on him at the best of times. He was not Artemis, Athena, or even Ares, able to do something wrong and get away with it because they were Daddy’s favourite.

Demeter frowned to herself. She’d never really given much thought to her demigod children after dropping them off with their fathers. But if Poseidon could get away with visiting his son, then she would test it herself when they got back to their time. Surely Zeus couldn’t monitor every demigod child outside of the camp. She was still a child of Kronos, after all, even if she never got the same recognition as the Big Three.

Grover began reading again, noting that some of the demigods seemed to have become melancholy.

My mom doesn’t ... Lost at sea.

“I would never get lost at sea,” Poseidon said, miffed.

“Honestly, Poseidon, don’t be obtuse,” Hera said. “She was avoiding the truth without outright lying to the boy.”

“Misdirection and omission,” Hermes smiled. “Good job, Sally.”

She worked odd ... got any cash?”

“What an awful man,” Reyna said, surprising some people. The Romans really had been quiet, mostly in their confusion.

“He wasn’t the nicest,” Percy agreed, tense, though he tried to hide it.

“He didn’t even ask how you were?” Katie asked, looking put out. Her dad had married a nice guy when she was about seven, and he treated her like his own daughter (though he didn’t know about her mom. Her dad didn’t like to think about it and said it made his head hurt. Katie tried not to be upset). She didn’t get how this Gabe Ugliano could be so dismissive of little Percy.

“Nope.”

“Do you want me to kill him for you?” Nico offered, deadpan.

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not, but on the off chance you are, he’s been dealt with,” Percy assured him.

“Who does he think he is?” Poseidon asked in a dangerous voice. Several of the demigods were offended on Percy’s behalf, and wondering about what else the man might say to him.

“The old one wasn’t nice,” Tyson told him. “But Paul is good!”

“Paul is great,” Percy agreed. “Let’s move on.”

**

That was it ... Meaning, if I told—

Grover faltered. His nose twitched and very suddenly, the low-level tension Percy had been carrying since the beginning of the chapter turned into icy panic in their empathy bond.

“Percy—” He started, then stopped. Ignoring the restlessness of everyone around him and the demands of what, Grover looked at his best friend, his brother. Percy was amazing at hiding his emotions—at least, to those who couldn't physically feel them—but a blind man could see the tension in his shoulders. Percy’s head was angled towards the floor, his messy hair partially covering his eyes. Eyes that held anger, embarrassment, and poorly concealed fear. “I didn't—I—”

Grover almost said that Percy had never told him, but. But Percy had, in his own way. Jokes. Off-hand comments. The way he looked at Mr. D. Little things that Grover pushed away as quirks, or exaggerations, and good gods had that happened with others too? Did Percy try to tell and fail? Or did he shrug it off as unimportant like he did everything else?

And, the little voice in Grover’s mind that sounded like Pan whispered, Percy didn't owe it to him to tell him. As much as Grover wished he had, just so he could help him in the way Percy helped everyone else, Percy didn't need to. It must have been hard enough living it, let alone having to explain it to friends. Friends that Percy was always trying to protect, to be strong for.

It wasn't something that Percy should have had to bear in silence. It wasn't something Percy should have had to bear at all. But Grover knew, like he knew his own name, that Percy couldn't talk about it yet. Not with him. Not with Annabeth, or Beckendorf, or Thalia, or Nico. Certainly not with Lord Poseidon. He shouldn't have to relive this in a room full of his friends and the gods.

The only way Grover could protect Percy now was by being silent, even if it wouldn't last. He wouldn't—couldn't—be the one to tell everyone else.

“Oh my stars, Grover,” Thalia said, looking between Grover and Percy, eyes hard with suspicion. “Give it here.”

She pulled the book away from Grover, skimming the page until she got to where he’d left off. She was so focused on it that she didn't notice both Grover and Percy stiffen.

Meaning, if I told my mom, he—

Thalia cut off in much the same way as Grover did, but Thalia was a very different person from the satyr. Her heart hurt, memories of her mother closer than ever with Jason in the room (even though it was painfully awkward, and they were sort of avoiding each other), and when Thalia’s heart hurt, she got angry.

“What the f*ck!” she growled. Percy wouldn't look at her. When she'd woken up, she'd thought ... well, she'd never really thought. She'd met Sally Jackson and been so grateful for her kindness, and a little jealous, that she'd never considered ...

Percy wouldn't look at her.

Lightning crackled over her fingers.

Grover shifted, pushing into her side. His expression was heartbreaking, and a warning. They were making this into too big of a deal (it was a big deal. It was a huge deal. Percy. Strong, helpful, self-sacrificing Percy. Was Gabe his Beryl? Was he worse? Better? Is there a worse and a better when it comes to hurt kids and adults made of knives that were supposed to protect them?)

(There isn't, and there is. They may do worse things, but it doesn't mean they hurt less. Hurt kids are hurt kids, no matter their demons.)

“What's going on?” Travis asked. Nervous energy danced between the demigods. Like before, the emotions of one became the emotions of all, weeks and months of missions and danger honing their connection, to the point that they'd all been waiting for something bad to happen since Percy’s breath first hitched back at the beginning of the chapter. The degrading way he greeted Percy and the extortion was enough to have them all furious at him, and now what?

The gods remained silent. Hestia looked at them sternly, a warning to stay quiet, no matter what.

The gods were silent, and Percy still wouldn't look at anyone.

“Seriously, what is it?” Beckendorf said. “Give me the book, Thalia.”

Thalia didn't move. The book lay shut on the floor in front of her. Her hair sparked.

“Percy,” she said.

“Don't,” Percy stopped her, shaking his head. He plastered on a fake smile that fooled no one. “It's not what you think. I was a dramatic twelve-year-old.”

The lie was slick and tar-like, practised. No one believed him, but only two people knew what he was lying about, though others could guess.

“I’ll read it if you guys won't,” Percy said, reaching for the book quickly. Thalia snatched it up and pushed it into Beckendorf’s hands.

He still wouldn’t look at them. He shouldn't have to read it out loud. Let Beckendorf do it. Sweet, dependable Beckendorf, who loved Percy like a little brother, who’d always been nice to him. If anyone could soften the blow, it was him.

Beckendorf flipped through the pages of the book as the demigods fidgeted. Some of them had suspicions. Michael was solemn, made of sympathy rather than empathy (hurt kids just look like kids to most people).

Beckendorf read ahead when he reached the right page. He almost threw the book at the wall. This wasn’t right. Everything in these books was too much, an invasion of privacy, but this. This ...

It was only knowing that Ouroboros had ordered them to read it all that got him speaking and knowing that they were making it worse for Percy by dragging it out.

Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.

Percy spoke before anyone else got a chance to. “He never actually did. Not like ... not like that. I wasn’t around much, and the threats like that only worked if he didn't do it any other time, right? So, it's fine. We can move on.”

“Percy, that's not—”

“Don't, Annabeth,” Percy interrupted, sounding more tired than angry. “You weren't there. You don't know what it was and what it wasn't. It's dealt with. I've moved on. We should all move on.”

“No,” Poseidon said because he was a god and gods weren't known for being courteous of other’s feelings. The sea gods' eyes flashed, and the demigods shuffled away from him. They knew the stories of Poseidon, the wrath of the sea. He looked so much like Percy that they unconsciously relaxed around him, trusting him in their circle. But Poseidon wasn’t Percy, who only looked like that when fighting monsters. Poseidon, the temperamental god of the oceans, sank islands for revenge and didn’t take insults lightly. “Did that mortal lay his hands on you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Percy sighed, feeling drained. “It was ages ago. It’s over.”

“It does matter,” Poseidon snapped back. “That man hurt my son. My son. I will destroy him.”

The gods always emphasised the wrong word in sentences like that.

“He didn't beat me! ” Percy protested. Poseidon vibrated with rage, but Percy continued staring at him in defiance.

“He didn't need to beat you to hurt you, Percy,” Nico said quietly. “Just the way he was talking to you was beyond wrong. Everything he did around you, let alone the threats.”

“I get it, okay? Gabe was a jerk. He was awful. But he's gone and I’m fine. Really. Mom and I both are. Please, just one of you read.”

Beckendorf grimaced but complied.

**

“I don’t have ... act so snooty!”

Several people made to interrupt, but Beckendorf spoke over them. He just wanted to get through the parts with the awful man in them as quickly as possible, for Percy’s sake. The younger demigod didn’t deserve them lingering on it.

“You don’t think ... ” Thalia whispered to Annabeth even as Beckendorf continued. Annabeth made a face.

“Maybe,” she said, thinking about her nickname for Percy. It had started out mean, but it had quickly become a term of endearment. She wondered if Percy knew that, or if he just dealt with it even if it hurt him.

I slammed the ... Home sweet home.

**

“How disgusting,” Artemis remarked.

“Yes, what an awful man,” Aphrodite said. “From what we have heard about the boy’s mother, it makes you wonder what she ever saw in him.”

Artemis shook her head. “It is not easy for a woman to leave an abusive relationship, and I do not doubt that that is what it is. Ms Jackson could have done more to protect her son, perhaps, but it is no one’s fault but that deplorable man.”

**

Gabe’s smell was ... long, horrible talons.

The demigods shuddered.

“She wasn’t there, was she?” Piper asked nervously. The monsters she’d met on their quest were horrible, but at least she had Jason and Leo with her.

“Nah, just my imagination,” Percy waved in Piper’s direction.

Then I heard ... my fears melted .

“That’s sweet,” Silena said.

Percy blushed. “I love her.”

“As you should,” Grover said with a shaky smile. Percy’s emotions had settled after the Gabe scenes had passed, but his own were still all over the place.

Thalia felt a little bit of her respect for Sally dim. She still adored the woman, but her husband had hurt Percy. She’d kept him in danger. Maybe she’d sent him to boarding schools to protect him, but it was much easier for Thalia to hate mothers than it was to forgive them.

My mother can ... I came home.

“I f*cking love that place,” Pollux muttered, though it had lost some of its shine since Castor died. Their mom used to take them there before she dropped them off at camp every year. They’d done it just the two of them this year, without his younger half-brothers and his step-dad, and bought all of Castor’s favourites, then sat in Central Park to eat them. They’d cried for a long time before splitting up, Pollux on the train to Montauk, and his mom on a train back to Baltimore.

“Is this how you all speak when I’m not around?” Chiron asked, causing the Greek campers to jump.

“Uhhh, no?” Katie said uncertainly. “It’s just special circ*mstances stressing us out?”

“I, personally, love a good swear word,” Travis said.

“I am well aware of that, Mr Stoll,” Chiron said.

“You shouldn’t be swearing,” Hermes said. “Wait, how old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Travis said.

“Oh, well, go ahead then.”

Chiron sighed in despair.

We sat together ... bean dip, huh?”

“Oh my gods, f*ck off.”

“This was really cute until you turned up man.”

“Booooo!”

I gritted my ... jerk like Gabe.

“I was wrong!” Percy called out, trying to relieve the tension. His friends hadn’t let the Gabe situation go, he knew. They were as tense as a bowstring. He was pretty sure he’d heard the Stolls and Clarisse (semi-getting along, it was a miracle) planning some very nasty things for his ex-stepdad. “She should have been married to a nice English teacher from Harlem.”

“Paul’s a real one,” Thalia nodded. “He’s good to your mom. If he wasn’t I’d crush his tiny little man ba—“

“Okay, Thalia, thank you,” Chiron said.

“No, let her finish,” Annabeth said, turning to bodily face Thalia.

“Don’t let her finish,” Beckendorf said, shifting in imagined sympathy.

“This Paul, he is good for you and your mother?” Poseidon asked, cutting off any conversations people had been having about Paul and how nice he was and if he wasn’t Pollux would ruin his entire life while Clarisse sent him to the hospital and whatever other weird and violent things his friends would do to protect his mom (and him, though Percy couldn’t quite admit that to himself). They were maybe all still a little worked up about Gabe.

“He’s great,” Percy said with a small smile. “He got me into a good school, even though I messed up the open day.” He hesitated, unsure if it counted as a spoiler or not. “You’ve met him, actually. Said he was alright.”

Apparently, that was vague enough to pass through Ouroboros’ rules.

Poseidon looked a little shocked. The gods listening in turned to him incredulously.

“You’ve spent enough time with the boy to meet his stepfather?” Hera asked with a disdainful sniff.

“Well,” Poseidon said, ignoring his sister. Guilt almost overtook his anger after Percy had spoken about the disgusting man. Where was he, when this happened? Did he not check in on them? How could he leave his son, his only demigod child, in a home like that, Zeus or not? “I’m glad. I’m glad I checked up on you, even if it was only recently.”

Percy could hear the guilt in his father’s voice. It almost made him feel sorry for the guy. Almost.

He’d never admit it to anyone, but Percy still carried a lot of resentment for Poseidon over his childhood. While Percy’s mom struggled to feed him and put up with an ass like Gabe, Poseidon was living it up in his fancy underwater palace.

(He and his mom had sat down after Gabe was gone and talked about it. Sally had refused everything from Poseidon. She feared, she said, that the more Poseidon was involved, the more he gave her, the more likely it was monsters would come down on Percy’s head. She also wanted Percy to have a more normal childhood, without the pressure of being the King of the Sea’s son. And Sally was a stubborn woman—she would work for herself, deal with her own problems, and raise her son without a god's help.)

(Gods but Percy loved her.)

“I’m glad, too,” he said softly.

For her sake ... ”No, mom.”

“Nooo!”

“Tell her!”

“Baby Percy, don’t lie to your mother.”

“Did Travis Stoll, son of the God of lies, who makes things up every five minutes just because he can, tell someone not to lie?” Katie asked. Several people looked at Travis in shock.

He shrugged. “I would never lie to Sally. She can usually tell, anyway. Honestly, the Jacksons must have some sort of superpower around lying.”

Percy grimaced. He hadn’t realised one very important person was lying to him, to everyone.

“I would like to meet this woman,” Hermes announced.

“Me too,” Apollo said.

Poseidon glared at them both, but it was Percy’s look that took them aback.

“Nope,” he said. “No gods. Mom’s in a good place, and I don’t need any of you guys messing that up for her.”

He realised what he said two seconds after he said it. He cringed. As much as he didn’t really respect any of the Olympians, unless they really pissed him off he wasn’t usually so rude. They were mortal right now, though, which made it easier.

“Uh, except like,” he said. “I’d still appreciate being born, so ... ”

Poseidon laughed, a deep, full-bellied thing that shocked some people.

“I would like my brother to be born too,” Tyson said happily. “He is a good brother!”

“Aw, you’re the best brother, Tyson.”

“I, personally, think I’m the best brother.”

“You can’t claim that yourself, Connor.”

“Besides, it's like you’ve never met me, the real best brother.”

“Alright, Beckendorf, what about the time you got Nyssa-“

Beckendorf hurriedly read on.

I felt bad ... ”Montauk?”

“Ahh, the legendary Montauk beach,” Annabeth said.

“Percy doesn’t shut up about that place,” Michael told his dad, who’d nudged him in the side. “Like it's not ten minutes down the road from camp.”

“It’s the best place on Earth,” Thalia mocked.

“If you could see it, you’d agree,” Nico joined in. “Montauk is amazing.”

“Gods I miss it,” Silena said, making her voice very high-pitched. “If I could, I’d live and die there.”

“All of you suck and I don’t sound like that,” Percy grumbled.

“Yes, you do,” Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, and Grover chorused.

“Grover! Not you too,” Percy said dramatically, throwing his head back onto the carpeted floor. “There’s no loyalty in this family! It's bullying every day.”

“Three nights—same cabin.” ... soprano for a week.

“Do it!” Leo yelled. The Greeks turned to him as one. Leo fidgeted. He’d been very quiet so far, out of character, only whispering things to Piper and Jason. He’d spent most of this chapter just listening to his dead brother talk. It was so surreal. He’d never felt so calm yet so worked up in his life.

The situation with Percy’s old stepfather brought back bad memories, too. “Uh, I mean. The guy’s a dick. So, you should totally do it.”

Beckendorf smiled at his half-brother. They’d spent a little time at lunch talking, just enough for him to realise Leo didn’t know him in the future. Silena said the same thing about Piper. He guessed they’d both gone to college and hadn’t been able to meet them yet or. Or. He couldn’t even think of it.

“I should have,” Percy agreed after a moment. He’d heard the new Greeks and the Romans having their own whispered conversations, but not what they’d said. “But then he definitely wouldn’t have let us go.”

“Might’ve made my life easier,” Grover mumbled. Percy smiled sheepishly.

But my moms ... it right now.”

“Sarcasm at its finest.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed ... chill in the air.

“Your mom knows, bro.”

“She should have taken you to camp.”

“Bet you can’t hide sh*t from her.”

Chiron sighed, not bothering to reprimand the kids for their language anymore.

But then her ... I was twelve.

There was some snigg*ring and insults to Gabe’s intelligence.

But that didn’t ... shot from a cannon.

Beckendorf had slowed down his reading towards the end of the sentence. “That makes no sense,” he said.

“Why?” Percy asked.

“It's nature spirit magic,” Athena said, studying Percy intently. “And it only works on things connected to the mythological world. Truly evil things.”

“Uh,” Percy stuttered, still not quite getting why this was a big deal.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “It means that there’s probably some sort of nature spirit in your ancestry. And that Gabe isn’t fully human, that one of his ancestors was part of our world.”

“Oh,” Percy said. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Sure, he could see his mom being related to a nymph or something, but Gabe? Maybe he was related to a monster of some sort. “Wouldn’t Mom know, though?”

“Not necessarily,” Athena said. “There’s a chance that it was so long ago it has fallen out of mortal knowledge. Or their ancestors were never told.”

“It might be why Sally sees through the mist so easily,” Grover mused.

Maybe it was … I loved the place.

“We know!”

We’d been going … colour of the sea.

“Yet another point in favour of her being related to a nymph. Likely a water sprite,” Apollo said.

We got there … rebellious streak, like me.

“An age-long mystery has been uncovered!” Connor shouted, hands held above his head in celebration.

“’Rebellious streak’ he says, like he’s ever listened to an authority figure in his life,” Thalia scoffed.

“I have to!”

“Sally doesn’t count,” Rachel dismissed.

“Bro,” Percy said, turning to Grover. “Tell them I’m a paragon of good behaviour.”

“We already know I’m a bad liar, bro,” Grover grinned.

When it got dark … and his green eyes.”

“That was highly flattering,” Zeus muttered. “And largely untrue.”

“I am all of those things,” Poseidon protested.

“Powerful, maybe. Tall, sure,” Hades said. “Handsome? Kind? Gentle?”

“I’m the most attractive person here,” Poseidon said. “Uh, out of the gods, of course. There is no comparison to our lovely goddesses.”

“Nice save,” Apollo said. “But I’m the most handsome.”

“Now, now,” Hermes said. “You are supposed to be the god of truth. We all know I am the most handsome.”

The gods dissolved into bickering about their attractiveness while the demigods looked on in confusion.

“What the f*ck?” Leo asked.

“Are they…are they always like this?” Frank asked, looking at the Greeks.

“Well,” Percy said. “I’ve heard more godly arguments than I have insults, which is saying something.”

“Usually it’s about killing us, though,” Thalia said. Jason looked appalled.

“But they’re-“ He cut himself off.

“Overgrown children,” Percy whispered.

Mom fished a … stuck with Smelly Gabe.

“Ah,” Poseidon said, but Hestia levelled him with a look.

“Listen to them,” she said. “Do not make excuses.”

Katie and Pollux looked at each other. That sounded very much like things they’d thought now and then, but they’d never thought about Percy thinking that. He was so loyal.

And powerful. Would they have made it this far if Percy had gone to the other side?

(Thankfully, they didn’t need to find out. Right?)

“Are you going … middle of his head.

Poseidon avoided his little brother’s eyes. He winked at Percy.

Before that … meaty toddler hands.

Jason whistled. “Like Hercules.”

Percy shuddered. “Ugh, no. Like me.”

In every single … “A summer camp.”

“Camp Half-Blood! Camp Half-Blood!” The Greeks started to chant.

“That must have been so weird for you, though,” Will said after they settled down. “Your absent dad wanted to send you to a summer camp. I mean, at least most of us sort of had it explained to us by our protectors or something.”

“I tried!” Grover said. “I would have if he hadn’t run away.”

“You were being creepy!”

My head was spinning … a vivid dream.

“Oh, great, Prissy dreams,” Clarisse said. They’d had a few of Percy’s dreams explained to them over the past year, in hopes they might help with the war, and they sounded awful. Worse than anyone else got.

It was storming … of the surf.

“You’re still fighting?” Artemis asked. “That is a long time for you to be at odds these days.”

The eagle swooped … to fight harder.

“Hades?” Athena questioned but sounded uncertain.

“Who else?” Zeus said with a hard look at his brother. “It seems you are both planning something.”

Hades rolled his eyes. He caught Poseidon doing the same thing and almost smiled.

“Yeah, who else?” Percy muttered sarcastically.

Jason shuffled over to talk to Reyna. “Do you think this is the Greek side of the Mount Tam debacle?”

“Possibly,” was all Reyna said, spine straight. Jason and she had spoken earlier, but it was almost unbearably awkward. She glanced over at the Greek girl, Piper, and saw her watching them with narrowed eyes.

I ran towards … to have forgotten.

“Crazy to think that natural disasters happen cause your guys’ parents get annoyed,” Rachel said quietly. Unfortunately for her, Poseidon and Apollo were very close by. They both frowned at the mortal girl. There was something about her they could sense, Apollo more than Poseidon, but they couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

Ouroboros had hindered them greatly.

Over the roar … he wasn’t exactly Grover.

“Was he-“ Clarisse choked on a laugh. “Was he wearing a wedding dress?”

Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse fell about laughing while Grover pouted. He begged Beckendorf to read on.

“Searching all night … There were cloven hooves.

“Oooooo,” Travis said dramatically. “I never would have guessed.”

“I was clueless,” Percy protested.

“Was?” Thalia said. Percy reached over Annabeth quickly, but she managed to push him backwards so he landed on Rachel’s stomach.

“Ooof,” Rachel puffed. “Get off, you great lump. What are you made of, solid stone?”

Annabeth frowned as the two of them tussled. They had an easy way about them that she and Percy never really had. They’d look good together, she thought, dark hair and red, both messy but still attractive. She shoved the thoughts aside.

“That’s the end of the chapter,” Beckendorf said, passing the book to Silena. “You next, love.”

Silena poked her tongue out at him, feeling uncomfortable.

It was pretty obvious to everyone that Percy was not going to let them talk about Gabe anytime soon, so they started discussing the other parts of the chapter. The Greeks guessed that the monster chasing them was the Minotaur, but couldn’t say that.

“What a wild introduction, though,” Michael said.

“And it's not even over!” Will agreed.

“Poor baby Percy,” Pollux said.

“Poor present Percy,” Percy wheezed from where Rachel had teamed up with Katie and Clarisse to keep him on the floor. The three girls were sitting on him. “Get off!”

“I’m quite comfy, actually,” Rachel said from where she was perched on his chest. “Big strong hero like you can take it.”

“These children are rather fascinating,” Athena said to Hephaestus, who just grunted. He was too busy studying his sons. Something about the Leo boy was concerning him.

Athena rolled her eyes. She normally did not pay much attention to demigods, but this group were far too important not to analyse.

“Right,” Apollo said, clapping his hands together. “Do you need anything? Want to do something? Talk to your awesome dad, maybe?”

“Uh,” Will said, looking desperately at Michael.

“We should probably continue reading,” Michael said, saving his younger brother. “We’ve got a lot to get through. Maybe we could stretch our legs a bit while we read?”

“Oh, right, yeah, sure,” Apollo nodded. As his kids stood up and started moving, he turned to Hermes. “So, what do kids like these days? I can tell them some poetry. If Zeus isn’t going to punish us in here, I’d like them to get to know me.”

“You mean to get to know them,” Hermes said.

“Sure.”

“I don’t know,” Hermes said. “Maybe they’d like to hear some stories? I’ve got some great ones about my best thievery.”

Apollo didn’t get a chance to reply as Silena, pacing backwards and forwards, read out the next chapter title.

“ My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting. ”