Chapter Text
Things for Percy after her claiming were rather lonely, no siblings to share her time with, separated from the campers she had been starting to grow close to and the vast majority of camp avoiding her.
Everywhere she went people watched and whispered about her while keeping their distance. The only people that didn’t change how they acted towards her was Annabeth, Clarisse and Luke.
Annabeth still spoke to her during Ancient Greek and Strategy lessons, that hadn’t changed but she did spend a lot of her time muttering about ‘the oracle’ and needing to make a plan. Clarisse sought her out often, dragging her for sparring sessions, after Percy took down three of her brothers at once she decided that she would be the perfect sparring partner. They spent hours together everyday.
With the rest of camp feeling uncomfortable having her in lessons Luke had taken to training her in private out in the woods. There she was able to work with her powers as well as swords. He was relentless in teaching her, his worry transferred into the need for her to be able to defend herself.
Those days made Percy feel even more isolated than she felt before she had met Luke, there was no other living child of the Big Three that could understand what she was going through.
And everyday since she was claimed the weather had gotten worse, harsh winds and restless tides all leading up to today when a storm settled over the camp.
Percy
“Mr D wants to see you.” Grover blurted out as I opened the door.
I had been hiding in my cabin between sparring sessions, trying to relax a little after getting my ass kicked so often.
“Okayyyy. Did he say why?”
Grover gulped and wouldn’t look at me directly, “It’s probably best he explains it to you.”
I was nervous leaving my cabin without someone I trusted around but I knew trying to delay going to the Big House wouldn’t end well for me so I went without any fuss.
Camp felt off, normally there’d be a tone of people outside running around playing and talking, rarely did people spend most of the day inside but today people were running to talk shelter in their cabins. Ominous gray clouds hung over the area, rain that shouldn’t reach us coming down hard and winds shaking the trees.
At the Big House Chiron and Mr D sat inside instead at their usual table on the porch, both rather grim faced playing another round of Pinochle.
“Well, well,” Mr. D didn’t even bother looking up. “Our little celebrity.”
I waited for him to continue biting my tongue to not give anything away.
“Come closer. And don’t expect me to cater to you, child, just because old Barnacle Beard is your father.”
The earth rumbled under my feet, thunder shaking the window panes.
“Blah, blah, blah,” Dionysus said, rolling his eyes.
Grover cowered behind my shoulder, and Chiron suddenly seemed to find his pinochle cards the most interesting thing in existence.
“If I had my way, I would smite you. We’d sweep up the ashes and—boom, no more trouble. But Chiron is of the belief that this would be against my mission at the cursed camp: to keep you brats safe from harm or whatever.”
“Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D.” Chiron reminded him.
“Nonsense,” Dionysus snorted. “It’s completely painless, I assure you. But, alas, I’ve agreed to restrain myself.” Mr. D cocked his head, purple eyes locking onto my own.
“I have an emergency meeting on Olympus. If you’re still here when I get back, I’ll turn you into an Atlantic bottlenose. If you’re at all smart, Persephone Jackson, you’ll see that’s a much more sensible choice than Chiron’s foolish idea.”
I shivered at the sound of my full name coming from Dionysus, but the god simply snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Chiron tried to smile, but it was too strained to appear as anything other than a grimace.
“Sit, Percy, please. And you too, Grover.”
Chiron waited until both of us had sat down at the empty seats around the table.
“Tell me, Percy, what did you make of the hellhound?”
A phantom sensation of skin being torn open on my chest overcame me at the mention of the monster that had attacked me days ago.
“It was terrifying. If Luke hadn’t thought to put me in the water I’d be dead.”
Chiron had an uncomfortable look on his face, “I’m afraid you’ll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you’re done.”
“Before…I’m done.” I felt my eyebrows raise, unsure what the centaur expected of me.
“Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?”
I spared a glance at Grover, who was crossing his fingers in his lap.
“Um, sir, you haven’t even told me what it is yet.”
“Ah, well, that’s the hard part. The details.”
Electricity raced across my arms as the sky across the valley lit up with lightning.
Distantly, I heard myself speaking, the words spilling out unbidden as phantom rain lashed across my skin.
“Poseidon and Zeus, they’re fighting, something important was stolen wasn’t it?” I asked, my gaze focused on the table.
Chiron’s gaze turned suspicious, “How did you know that?”
“The weather has been weird for months, it got even worse when I was claimed and I’ve been having these… dreams.”
“I knew it,” Grover blurted out.
“Hush, Grover,” Chiron ordered.
“But it is her quest! It must be!” Grover’s eyes were bright with excitement as Chiron ran his eyes over my face.
I don’t know what Chiron was searching for but he eventually spoke.
“Only the Oracle can determine.” Chiron stroked his beard. “You are correct, Percy, in that your father and Zeus are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be more precise: a lightning bolt.”
I kept my face carefully blank, the Kind of the Gods symbol of power was stolen. It had been stolen months ago and now I’m getting the blame for it! I am so screwed.
“Stolen? By who?”
“By whom, by you.”
“Me!?” How am I getting away with this?! I’m a terrible actor.
“At least that is what Zeus believes. The bolt was stolen during the winter solstice, after Zeus and Poseidon got into another one of their arguments. Afterwards, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. Naturally, he immediately blamed your father. Now, a god cannot usurp another god’s symbol of power directly, but Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it.”
“Meaning me,” I stated flatly.
“Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes lie in Poseidon’s domain, giving Poseidon some amount of influence over the makers of his brother’s lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt and is secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of copies with the intention to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus was unsure of was which hero Poseidon had tasked with stealing the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his child. You were in New York over the winter holidays, mere miles from the entrance to Olympus. And so Zeus believes he has found his thief.” Chiron explained to me.
“Of course your father took great offense to the accusation. The two have been arguing at every perceived slight since and threatening war and your claiming has the last straw.”
“But I didn’t steal anything, I didn’t even know who my dad was until a few days ago!”
“I know and most would agree that stealing isn’t Poseidon’s style but he is much too proud to try convincing his brother of that. Zeus has demanded that his bolt be returned within the next 10 days and your father demands an apology within the same time. Your existent has enraged Zeus so much that war is imminent, his bolt must be returned before the solstice.”
Thunder raged over our heads, echoing across the valley. “Okay so I just need to find the bolt and return it to the King.”
“What better offering of peace than to have the daughter of Poseidon return Zeus’ property?”
“Right, I love being a peace offering. Don’t suppose you have any idea where it is?”
“I have an idea,” Chiron’s face was grim. “Before I tell you, however, you must officially take the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle.”
I paused, who did Chiron think had the bolt?
“Okay, so the Oracle?”
“Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. Consult the Oracle. When you come back down, assuming you’re still sane, we will talk more.”
Making my way up to the attic I felt a massive weight settle on my shoulders, like gravity itself was trying to keep me from going up there. The attic itself was full of strange objects labeled with times, names and places, they must have been brought back from quests. I wonder if anything up here had Luke’s name on it.
In the far corner sat the Oracle, once a young maiden now an old decayed corpse. Their mouth fell open and spewed out green mist that coiled across the floor spreading through the room. The mist covered everything so thick that I couldn’t see anything through it.
I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.
The voice vibrated through my bones.
I had to force my voice to cooperate, “How do I find the Master Bolt.”
The mist swirled violently before receding slightly to show four figures sitting around a familiar table, Gabe and his poker friends.
I jolted back fear racing through me, I had to remind myself that they weren’t really there.
Gabe turned in his chair, speaking in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
The guy to Gabe’s right turned, eyes blank: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
The man to Gabe’s left threw two poker chips in the middle before speaking in the same voice as the others: You shall feel betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
My heart stopped, but then the last man delivered the last line: And you shall choose what matters most, in the end.
The mist receded back into the mummy and walked to the door in a daze but before I could reach it the door slammed shut. I jerked the handle but it wouldn’t budge, behind me I heard a rattling noise and hesitantly looked over my shoulder.
The mummy had stood up, mist pouring out from it once again but this time it started to swirl around me, curling up my ankle moving fast. It felt cold and wrong creeping up my body, I kept pulling at the door.
“Stop!” I cried trying to shake it off but it wouldn’t move, “Let me go!”
I felt like an eternity I was trapped there, the mummy moved closer to me, almost touching my skin and the mist had climbed up to my neck before the door finally opened and using some kind of hysterical strength I launched myself through it. Slamming the door shut behind me.
I stumbled down the stairs and collapsed on the last step horrified by what just happened. I don’t know how long I stayed on that step but it must have been a while but eventually Chiron came through looking for me.
“Percy, what’s wrong? What happened to you?” He asked, leaning down slightly next to where I sat frozen.
“It-it…” I was breathing so fast but the words forced their way out somehow, “It tried to-to, but I’m not a-”
Chiron reared back slightly, somehow understanding what had happened, “My dear, I’m so sorry.”
It took a while for me to calm down and it left me feeling hollow.
Cryptic prophecies aside I knew one thing: I was never going back into that attic again.
Luke
She was late. Percy was supposed to meet me for her next lesson 20 minutes ago. Tired of waiting and a bit worried I decided to go looking for her, first checking her cabin, then stables where she spends her time hiding from other campers and then with Clarisse who seemed to have taken an interest in Percy for some reason. She wasn’t in any of the usual places, Clarisse even said she didn’t show for their usual spar.
Something's wrong, I was going to the Big House to bother Chiron about it when I saw Grover slowly walking away from it, constantly glancing back at the attic nervously.
Don’t tell me- he wouldn’t- who I am kidding.
Chiron is sending Percy on a quest.
I ran for the Big House, hoping that I wasn’t too late, that Percy hadn’t received her prophecy yet. Inside I could hear her and Chiron talking in low voices just outside the attic. I paused just inside feeling like there was someone watching me, not maliciously but the way I felt when Anna-. Percy and Chiron were moving and I had to hide as they got closer.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” I heard him ask.
“Yes, I- I think that it’s for the best.”
“Alright, go pack your things I’ll meet you on the hill in half an hour with the rest of your supplies.” There was a brief pause. “There is still time to choose people to go with you.”
“No. This is my problem, I’ll deal with it.”
What? She can’t seriously be thinking about going on a quest alone!? Even I had to bring people with me, and that’s with the experience I have, to his knowledge she’s only had a few weeks training!
Ugh! Things weren’t supposed to be so complicated. I can’t let her do this alone.
I snuck out of the house through a window mentally preparing myself to follow her on this quest for the very object I stole.
Percy
Leaving camp was surprisingly easy, just stuffing clothes in a bag and avoiding the few people that still talked to me. Chiron gave me some mortal money, drachma’s and some ambrosia and nectar for in case of emergency. I got a lift to the bus station and a ticket heading West.
According to Chiron my best bet was to head to the Underworld as he is convinced Hades orchestrated the theft. I don’t think that's the case, from what my dreams have been showing me there is another player on the board, the snake.
The problem is snakes are connected to a lot of figures in Greek Mythology, monsters and Gods so which one is it.
And there's also my prophecy ‘You shall feel betrayed by one who calls you a friend’. I didn’t tell Chiron the last two lines of my prophecy and I left alone so whoever betrays me will be someone I meet on the way not someone I already know and trust.
I was waiting for the bus at the station when I noticed a cut out pinned up on a notice board, the same one was on my cabin door a few days ago. It was about me being missing, Gabe apparently is offering money for anyone with news about me, which is such bullshit the only reason he wants me back is because of the money he gets from the government for taking care of me. Making sure nobody was watching I ripped it down and threw it in the trash.
When the bus finally arrived I headed to the back of it and sat down in the back corner away from anyone else. I was getting comfortable when someone dropped down next to me.
I jolted in surprise when I took in who it was. It was Luke and beside him was Annabeth.
Luke
Apparently when I was spying on Percy and Chiron’s conversation so was my dear, darling, foolish little sister Annabeth. She’s been waiting for a chance to go on a quest and see the mortal world almost since we first got to camp. And of course she wouldn’t take no for an answer and if I left her on her own she would just use her hat to sneak out.
It wasn’t hard for us to get stuff and follow Percy, we just had to let other people know what was going on first. Malcolm was left in charge of the Athena cabin and Chris in charge of Hermes.
Now on the bus it’s been quiet for a while, Percy hasn’t said a word since we sat next to her, just turned to look out the window as we started moving.
“Percy.” I tried to get her attention, “Would you just look at me. Please?”
She heaved out a sign and rolled her head to look at me, expression blank. “What?”
“I couldn’t let you do this alone.”
“And Annabeth?”
My sister joined the conversation, “I was going to follow you with or without him.”
“Of course.” Percy shook her head, “So what do you two know about the quest then?”
Annabeth leaned across me, forcing me back in my seat so the two shorter girls could see each other better, “Zeus’ Master Bolt was stolen at the Winter Solstice and you're being sent to find it because he is blaming your father for the theft.”
“Okay and do you know where Chiron is sending me to look?”
We shared a look, “No.”
Percy gave a grim smile, “Chiron suggested Hades might have something to do with it, so now we are going to the Underworld.”
My stomach dropped, the Underworld. What in the Hades in Chiron thinking?! Percy is only 13 years old and he was letting her travel across the country and to the Underworld all alone! …And I just let my 11 year old sister follow us.
“What did your prophecy say?” Annabeth all but demanded.
“You will go west and face the God that has turned, You will find what was stolen and see it safely returned.”
I squinted at her, “Is that all it is said?”
“No.” she hesitated slightly before replying “But it’s the only parts that apply to the Master Bolt, the other two lines are about me.”
What is she leaving out, those lines don’t tell us much. On the upside no mention of catching the thief so I’m safe from that for now and also no mention of Kronos.
“Well at least we know where we’re heading.” Annabeth said, “The Underworld is in LA but that is still a lot of ground to cover.”
That was the most we spoke for a while until around New Jersey when the bus was at a pit stop. Annabeth left the bus for the shop there to get some snacks for us when Percy turned to me with her voice low.
“Luke, something happened when I visited the Oracle.” She whispered, pulling her legs up to her chest in her seat.
My heart stuttered thinking about the old mummy, that cursed thing in the attic. “What happened?”
“When I tried to leave after the prophecy, it stood up.” My pulse started beating rapidly as my mind flickered to old memories, “The smoke was climbing up me and she tried to touch me-”
My hands snapped to her shoulders forcing her to look at me, I searched her eyes for the familiar glint of insanity, “It didn’t touch you did it, you're still yourself, right?!” My voice was a bit manic.
Whatever look was on my face must have shocked her as she didn’t reply right away, “No, no I, I got before she could. Chiron checked me over, whatever she was trying to do didn’t work.”
The tension left me immediately, my head dropping to rest on her shoulder. I stayed there just breathing in her scent and listening to her heart beat to reassure myself that she was alright, that the Oracle hadn’t taken her from me too.
“Chiron said that it was strange that it happened with me, that I don’t meet the right criteria.” She whispered, wrapping her arms around me.
“The right criteria?” I mumbled trying to remember the requirements for the Oracle of Delphi but was unable to focus.
“We need to go.” Annabeth said, appearing out of nowhere, she sounded frantic.
I let Percy go to look at my little sister, “Annabeth?”
She was pulling down our bags and shoving them into our arms, “We have company.”
Percy stood up to peek over the chairs, her eyes widened and she dropped back down, “Ms Dodds.” she whispered to me.
The Fury that attacked her back at Yancy was back. I checked for exits, “There’s no doors back here. Okay.” I guided her up and into the aisle so that I could get close to the window. Ms Dodds was slowly making her way towards us but there were people in her way slowing her down.
“Get ready to run.” I told them and took a step back to kick the window as hard as I could, shattering it. “Now!”
I jumped out the window and helped the girls down before we took off into the trees. I could hear a blood curdling screech sounding behind us and knew we weren’t out of danger yet.
After a while a path became clear in the woods, we slowed down but had to keep moving.
“Annabeth, was it just her, or did you see her sisters as well?” I asked between pants, leading the way through the woods.
“I only… saw her… and one sister… I killed that one… in the store.” She replied.
“Where are we?” Percy asked, searching around, we were on what looked like a hiking path.
“New Jersey.”
“How d-”
“Hermes kid perks, never get lost on land.” One of the few perks of being That Guy’s kid.
It wasn’t long before we heard the Fury again, she was getting closer so we started running again. Eventually the path gave way to a garden full of statues and a beautiful house, I was barely able to make out a sign above the arch leading into the garden. We were running towards the building when She walked out.
Instinctively Annabeth and I looked down and I told Percy to do the same. The woman stopped a little bit away from us.
“If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I’ll help.” The woman offered, her voice soft and almost hypnotic.
“Would you be joining us, no I wouldn’t think you would.” She asked the Fury, which must be stopped somewhere behind us.
This is the worst place we could have ended up, someplace the girls should have avoided at all costs.
“She won’t bother you as long as you're with me. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Daughter of Posiedon, I’m Medusa.”