Back to the Way I Was

Chapter 5

Percy's POV

Percy decided that he should contact his family first to tell them about how Chaos 'kidnapped' them and they were 'forced' to train for the next few years. Percy had just made a dangerous bet with Chaos, a bet that puts his life on the line. If he could finish his training in five years, Chaos would grant him one gift, any gift that he wanted. To be honest, Percy didn't know what to do with that kind of offer. Percy had already received one offer like that from Zeus a few years ago after the battle with Kronos, and he'd put it to good use. Now, he had to find another reason to use the gift.

Chaos had provided them a small bag filled with drachmas and it would refill itself whenever they finished a training session, or if Chaos felt generous. There was literally a fountain that poured rainbow and fine mist swirled around the fountain and floated lightly above the liquid. Technically, Chaos called it Rainbow Liquid and all the rainbows that Iris made was based on this liquid, so they could send an Iris message to anyone just like a normal Iris message. Percy fished a drachma from his bag and tossed it to the fountain.

"O Iris, Goddess of Rainbow, accept my offering." Percy chanted.

"Oh, Percy!" The rainbow goddess's, Iris, voice suddenly boomed from the fountain. "I haven't seen you for six years, where've you been? I tried looking for you before but-"

"I'm okay, Lady Iris." Percy smiled politely. He didn't want to reveal to the gods just yet that he could hide himself from their view and powers. Percy was lucky that no one had asked him why they had trouble finding him, otherwise he'd have some trouble explaining. "You don't have to worry about me."

Iris sighed in relief. "But I do wonder, how did you hide yourself from me, and above all, how did you hide yourself from Apollo?" Iris asked. Percy cursed silently. This was the question he'd been trying to avoid, and now he had to answer it. "I've never met anyone who has that kind of ability except for immortals."

"Uh, can I talk to my mom?" Percy simply asked. Luckily, Iris seemed to forget all about her previous question and giggled happily.

"Sure you can! Connecting you to Sally Jackson, right now." Iris said before her voice faded slowly. It was replaced by Percy's mother's image. It has been a while since Percy had set an Iris message, because for the last six years he had disappeared, he didn't need to send anyone any Iris message because he had no intention in making everyone knew where he was back then. Percy sighed at the memory of him. As soon as his mother saw the Iris message, her face broke into a happy smile.

"Percy!" His mother said happily. Based on her surroundings, she was probably in someone's home and it's not someone that Percy knew, because their home was a small apartment barely large enough for Ms O'Leary. The house Percy's mother was in was huge and looked a bit fancy for her standards. "How are you, my little boy? How are things at camp and what is that on your back?"

Percy forgot all about his single right wing, because he had no idea how to slide them back into his back, so he just had to leave it like that. The best he could do was retract his wings so it wouldn't extend and hit everything in its path. Percy had no problem controlling it, he could flap his wings and he could move them, but he didn't know how to fly.

Percy smiled back innocently at. He didn't want to tell her that he was going to spend the next five years in Azurea, an island that was just as mysterious as Ogygia. He hated to make his mom sad, because he'd barely spent a few hours with his parents until Chaos dragged him out here. "Hey mom," Percy said as soft as possible.

Her smile melted and was replaced with a worried look. "Percy? Is everything okay?" Percy shook his head. Everything was definitely not okay because they were separated again. "What's wrong? You can tell me."