Project Percy (Kotlc Meets Percy Jackson)

Chapter 20

"It's classified," Annabeth said quickly when Percy asked about Bianca.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Annie, you're forgetting that most of us don't know the top secret details. Jason, Piper, and I are free to tell him what we know."

"It's not like he'll have to ask his history mentor or anything," Jason added.

Percy cringed at the word "history." He'd had his first session with Sir Herodotus, and it was...strange.

Impossible pictures flashed across the walls during the entire lecture: elves using telekinesis to help the humans build the pyramids, a tidal wave swallowing Atlantis, an army of hairy, brown dwarves hollowing out the Himalayas to build the Sanctuary. But the strangest part was Sir Herodotus. He kept losing his train of thought every time his eyes met Percy's. Then he'd mumble about 'history in the making' and return to the lecture. It had totally creeped him out.

"Hey, did you hear?" Piper interrupted. "Lady Kymopoleia's back."

"Who's she?" Percy asked, glad he remembered to lie.

"Only like the most famous Hydrokinetic ever," Thalia said. "She hates the Council. And the nobility. And Athena."

"Yeah," Jason said. "Anyways, Percy, you were asking about Bianca?"

"Yup."

"I don't really know much. She manifested twice - a Shade and a Telepath. No one knew she was a Telepath until she got exiled twelve years ago."

"How do you get exiled?"

"You have to break a fundamental law. The Council holds a tribunal, and if you're found guilty, they lock you away deep underground for the rest of eternity." Jason shrugged. "I don't know much. Annabeth's mom was the accuser, so she probably knows more than I do."

"It's classified," Annabeth said, her voice strained.

"Hey, I'm just saying that it had to be pretty bad for the Council to ruin her life," Jason said. "Especially since it ruined her family's life too. Her parents became social recluses, like the Medas. Then they tried to give having kids another shot, but they had twins. Again. Bianca had a twin sister, Persephone or something. She was engaged to the Medas' son, which is why they hate Athena for Bianca's exile."

"What's wrong with twins?"

"I don't know how it is in the Forbidden Cities, but here, we have our kids one at a time. Multiple births are rare and a sign of genetic inferiority. So no one was surprised when the twins ran off to the Forbidden cities - something about finding what their sister was protecting - and got banished."

Percy's lunch churned in his stomach as Nike's words flashed through his mind.

So this is why Bianca sacrificed everything.

Could she be...his mother?

The pieces fit. Abandoning a child was illegal for humans, and he doubted it was any less of a crime here. And if Bianca was a talented Telepath, maybe she could've done some mind trick to alter the minds of two human parents and make them believe the child was theirs.

But why? Why dump him? Was there something that wrong with him?

Unless it had something to do with his eye color. Or the way his brain worked...

"Do you know the twins?" He doubted he was brave enough to meet the people who might be his aunts or uncles, but he was still curious.

Annabeth frowned. "They were banished. No one's in contact with them. Why did you ask? Percy, please drop this."