daughter of heaven || percy jackson

1.13

⎯⎯ ୨ 1.13: headed straight for the castle ୧ ⎯⎯

A COAST GUARD BOAT picked them up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. there was a disaster to mop up. their radios were jammed with distress calls.

they dropped them off at the santa monica pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that read 'i'm a junior coast guard!' and sped off to save more people.

their clothes were dripping wet. melanie frowned at her wet, crumpled, and slightly torn dress. even though it wasn't hers, she wanted to keep it. perhaps she could get someone back in the aphrodite cabin to sew it.

she looked at the state of the other three, all dripping wet like hers, even percy, who could control if he got wet or not.

after reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. she felt like she'd just come back from hell - which, technically, she had. her heart was still heavy after abandoning her parents.

did she make the right choice?

yes, you did, mel.

she knew, deep down, it was the right decision. their time had long passed and they were officially dead - and there was no cheating death. but there was a part of her that refused to let them go, a part of her that needed them.

"i don't believe it," annabeth said, talking about the bolt. "we went all that way-"

"it was a trick," percy said. "a strategy worthy of athena."

"hey," melanie warned. "don't talk about annie's parentage like that, fish face."

"you get it, don't you?" percy asked.

she dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "yeah. i get it."

"well, i don't!' grover complained. "would somebody-""

"percy..." annabeth said. "i'm sorry about your mother. i'm so sorry."

mel knew from experience that telling somebody that they're sorry doesn't do anything. in fact, it can make things worse. the best ways to help somebody cope were to teach tell them a story, something that taught them something.

"the prophecy was right," percy said. "'you shall go west and face the god who has turned.' but it wasn't hades. hades didn't want war among the big three. someone else pulled off the theft. someone stole zeus's master bolt, and hades's helm, and framed me because i'm poseidon's kid. poseidon will get blamed by both sides. by sundown today, there will be a three-way war. and i'll have caused it."