𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Quest

"Sit, Percy, please. And Grover. And... Y/n..? I'm not sure what you are doing here, but you may as well sit," he said.

We did. Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use. 

"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?" 

Just hearing the name made me shudder. Percy thought for a moment.

"It scared me," Percy replied. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead." 

"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done," Chiron said.

"Done...with what?" Percy asked. 

"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" Chiron said.

I gasped. A quest? How I wish I could go.

"Um, sir," Percy said, "you haven't told me what it is yet." 

Chiron grimaced. 

"Well, that's the hard part, the details," he answered.

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together. 

"Poseidon and Zeus," Percy said. "They're fighting over something valuable...something that was stolen, aren't they?" 

Chiron, Grover and I exchanged looks. Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. 

"How did you know that?" Chiron asked. 

"This was what you didn't want to tell me!" I exclaimed.

"You would've tried to stop it," said Chiron.

I crossed my arms and pouted. He was right. I would've.

"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth and Y/n and they'd overheard something about a theft. And...I've also been having these dreams," explained Percy.

"I knew it," Grover said. 

"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered. 

"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!" 

"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his beard."Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt." 

I laughed nervously. "A what?" 

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives." 

"Oh," Percy simply replied. 

"Zeus's master bolt," I thought out loud.  "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," said Chiron. 

"And it's missing?" asked Percy.

"Stolen," Chiron said. 

"By who?" asked Percy.

"By whom," Chiron corrected. "By you." 

My mouth fell open. Percy? Steal Zeus's master bolt? Yeah right, and I am the daughter of Aphrodite.