𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 [𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐗 𝐇𝐏]

iii: ariana reveals parents

"That's ... crazy."

"Is it really? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

"But those are just—" He stopped. "But if all the kids here are half-gods—"

"Demigods," Ariana said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

"Mass murdering psychopath. Supposedly."

"Supposedly?!" Percy winced. "Lovely. Love to meet him. And you?"

Annabeth's hands tightened around the pier railing. Ariana winced. Annabeth's father was a touchy subject.

"None of your business."

"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human."

"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"

"Who's your mom, then?"

"Cabin six."

"Meaning?"

Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"And your mom?" he asked Ariana.

"Demeter. Goddess of agriculture and plants."

"So the goddess of flowers had a kid with a psycho mass murder?"

"One- goddess of PLANTS, and two- supposed mass murder." She smirked. "So, if I wanted, I could strange you with those weeds, and it wouldn't be out of character for my family."

Percy paled.

Ariana laughed. "Chill. I'm joking."

Percy shook his head. He changed the subject. "And my dad?"

"Undetermined," Ariana said, "like Annabeth told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her."

Ariana gave him a cautious look. She didn't want to burst his bubble. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

Ariana ran her palm along the rail, trying to decide how to answer. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always..." her voice broke. "Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

"So I'm stuck here," he said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause
trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."