Bride of the Sea God

Chapter 8

"That isn't fair! We are the gods' own children. We're humans, not objects!"

"The world isn't fair. It has never been fair. The sooner you understand this, the longer you'll survive."

Annabeth's eyes flashed in anger. "And is that how you became a god? By 'understanding' where the place of a human is?"

"I have my duty to protect the people of this realm! The best choice was to use you to lure the enemy out."

"You could have at least let me know so I could be prepared! I thought you said you used to be a demigod. Then you should have understood what it felt like to be used by the gods." Annabeth scoffed. "I know, you must have groveled like vermin for them to make you a god."

"You know nothing of what I experienced!" Percy growled. "Of what I lost!"

The vases in the room suddenly shattered as some of his own emotions leaked out, startling them both. Percy regretted it instantly as her gray eyes widened with shock. Then her eyes lowered to the ground.

"I see, I have overstepped," she muttered. Annabeth's voice quivered. Eyes shinier than usual, Annabeth stormed off. "Hypocrite."

Her whispered word lingered in the air.

Percy held himself back from smashing the rest of the vases in his father's throne room.

Calm yourself, Percy told himself. She is but a demigod, still a young fledging. Annabeth did not know what had occurred to him. Of what had caused his family to be murdered and the anguish that still rested in his soul.

As soon as they arrived back at Percy's underwater palace, the demigod locked herself into her room.

Percy was still angry, but his fury was directed at himself and at the woman who still tormented his life.

Annabeth's words stung his heart and flared his anger. But she was right. He was a hypocrite.

How many times in the past when he was still a demigod had he silently complained against the gods for playing with their lives? How many times had he wished that the gods communicated in ways other than half-baked prophecies and poetry?

"Percy," his mother had chastised him once when he was a little rebellious boy. "We cannot control how we are born and what we are born with, but we can control our fate by how we act and adapt to our ever-changing circumstances. I only regret that I've brought upon you a hero's fate."

"Mother, why did you fall in love with Father then? If you knew that a hero's fate was bad?"

His mother's blue eyes softened. "I could not control my heart or how Cupid's arrow struck. Love does not work that way. And I didn't know that you would be a product of my love with your father." His mother held him tightly in her arms. "When I found out about you, I was so happy, and oh, I was scared, too. Scared that I might lose you one day. But not every hero's fate or journey has to be...bad or difficult. I had a feeling that you were very, very special, Percy. Destined to do great things."

His mother kissed him on the forehead as the young Percy snuggled into her arms.

"But know this, I truly wish you to be more happy than to be a great hero. But if you have the opportunity to make the world a better place, then take it. Grasp that opportunity, and never let go."

He had failed his mother's teachings. Had being a god for so many years dulled him of what it meant to be human, dulled him of those painful but needed memories as a demigod?

Percy had spent decades on land searching for his family's souls to ask for their forgiveness and to apologize for not being able to protect them. What was the point of being a great hero when he could not even protect those closest to him? The guilt had always weighed on his mind. His village and family was destroyed, while he was made a god instead.