Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXXX: I Interrup My Father's Rehearsal

"If you don't have an appointment, you don't get an audience. Lord Zeus doesn't take anyone without prior notice."

"Oh, I think he'll make an exception." Percy said, taking off the backpack and opening it.

The guard leaned forward to inspect its contents. For a few moments he didn't seem to understand what it was he was looking at. But then his face went pale.

"Is that..."

"Yes, it is." Percy confirmed.
"Do you want me to take it out and..."

"No! No!" the guard exclaimed, getting up from his chair and frantically looking for a keycard he then handed to me.
"Stick it in the security slot. Make sure there's no one else with you on the elevator."

We nodded and headed towards the elevator, doing as he had instructed. When he stuck the card in, it disappeared and revealed a new button with the number 600. We pressed it and waited.

Eventually, the doors opened and my heart nearly stopped. We were standing on a narrow stone pathway hovering in the sky. Below was a bird's eye view of Manhattan. And in front of us was a set of marble steps that spiraled upwards. And at the end of them was something that took me close to fifteen minutes to fully process.

Floating above the clouds was the top of a mountain with a snow covered peak. And on its slope was an Ancient Greek City. Only this one wasn't in ruins. There were several palaces and villas spread across all levels of the city. Precariously built but beautiful gardens with all sorts of plants. There was a market, an amphitheater, a colosseum. Several braziers and torches lit up the streets. And right at the end of the road that wound through the city, at very top of it, was the largest palace of all.

"You're seeing it too, right? I haven't just gone crazy?" I asked Percy, just to make sure this wasn't a hallucination due to the lack of sleep.

"If you're crazy, then so am I." he answered, his gaze fixed on the sight in front of him as well.

As we walked through Olympus, we attracted the attention of quite a few of its residents. A couple of nymphs giggled and threw olives at us, some of the merchants in the market tried to haggle with us, one even tried selling us a replica of the Golden Fleece. I also saw several satyrs and naiads gathered around a group of good looking teenagers, minor gods and goddesses I imagined. I even saw the nine muses hurrying past with their instruments in tow. In general, nobody seemed that concerned with the possibility of a civil war.

As we walked to the gates of the highest palace, most likely the one belonging to the gods, I realized something that was kind of sad: this looked like an exact replica of Hades's palace in the Underworld. The only difference was the colors. Where in the Underworld it had been colored in black and bronze, this one was colored in white and silver. I realized that since Hades wasn't allowed on Olympus except during the winter solstice, he must have decided to build his own version of Olympus down in the Underworld. Looking at the palace of the Olympians now, I could understand why someone would be angry at being kicked out of this place.

We walked in and continued into the throne room. Though I suppose 'room' wasn't the best word for it. The place made the Grand Central Station look like a broom cupboard. Massive columns rose up to a domed ceiling decorated with actual moving constellations. Twelve thrones the same size of Hades's were spread around in an inverted U formation with a large fire in the center, like an upscaled version of the cabin arrangement back at Camp Half-Blood. All the thrones were empty except for two on the far end, where two gods in giant form, like Hades had been, were waiting for us.

Sat on the right, in a throne made of solid platinum, was Zeus himself. He was dressed in a dark blue pinstripe suit. He had a trimmed beard with a mixture of black and grey that made it look like a storm cloud. His face, while handsome, carried with it an aura of power and authority that left very clear who was in charge.