Life of A Young Demigod: Book 1 (Percy Jackson reader insert)

One Journey Ends, Another Begins

We made it back to New York by 5pm. Apparently, word had gotten around the mortal media, because there were a gaggle of reporters waiting for us in the lobby at LaGuardia. Fortunately, Annabeth was able to use her cap to draw their attention, convincing them we were over near one of the shops.

We hailed a cab and paid the driver with some money we'd gotten from the cops and reporters back in LA. I'm still not sure how Percy managed to get them so emotional, I'll need to dig up a recording of his interview one day. Regardless, by the time we made it to the Empire State Building, the sun was just beginning to set. I really wanted to just give my parents a call, let them know I was ok, but I didn't exactly have the time to do so. As we approached the building, I could tell Percy was nervous.

"Hey man, what is it?" I said. I kind of already knew what it was, but I wanted to let him explain it to me.

"Just the idea of going up there. Meeting my father for the first time, meeting Zeus who has wanted me dead for the past two weeks and probably still doesn't like me all that much. It's a lot."

"Percy. You've quite literally been to hell and back. You retrieved items of power for two major gods, and have hopefully stopped the biggest war in human history. They have to give you some credit for that."

"I know. Doesn't make it any less scary."

I nodded. I was scared too. I didn't want to admit it, but what the voice had said had gotten to me to a certain degree. I was worried about how the gods would look at me. I knew I'd done the right thing, both regarding the quest as a whole and the voice in particular, but, especially if my suspicions were right about who the voice was...

Before I could think much more, we approached the security desk. A tall bald man sat at it. He looked normal to our eyes, but we didn't exactly know what to do, so we just decided to ask and hope we didn't come off as crazy.

Percy stepped up to the desk. "We need to get to the 600th floor."

The man looked down at us, seemingly evaluating who we were. "There is no 600th floor, kid. Now scram."

Percy went to turn around, but I spoke up. I could tell the man knew what we were talking about. "Sir, we need an audience with Lord Zeus."

The man glared at me. "Lord Zeus does not take walk-ins. Especially not from a bunch of kids. No appointment, no meeting."

Percy's face broke out into a mischievous grin as he opened the bag, letting the security guard get a look inside. "Oh, I think he will make an exception."

The man's eyes went wide. "Of... of course" he stammered, fumbling around behind the desk for a moment before handing us a keycard. "Swipe this in the elevator. Make sure nobody else is in there with you."

We ran right over to the nearby elevator and jumped in. Once we were sure we were alone, Annabeth swiped the keycard. Suddenly, a shiny bronze button appeared below the floor indicator, marked 600. We pushed it.

As it turns out, the gods have elevator music. Specifically, an acoustic rendition of Stairway to Heaven. A bit on the nose, I thought, but not too bad. Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only a couple of minutes, the elevator stopped. As the doors opened, my jaw dropped. We were incredibly high up, with a thin marble pathway the only thing separating us from the open air below. I didn't really have a fear of heights, but this was a bit much for me. Further off was a winding path up a mountainside. We carefully made our way over to the mountain, and went up. When we got to the top my jaw dropped even further, which apparently was somehow possible. The only word I can think of to describe Olympus is heavenly, and even that doesn't really adequately describe it. The entire city was built of brilliantly shining marble, painted in bright colors, and accentuated with polished gilding. Annabeth had been here before, but she was still like a kid in a candy store looking at the architecture. I turned to Annabeth.