𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 ༄ ᴘercy ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

save the last dance?

"Do not speak her name." He interrupted, his voice tense. "I can agree it was not completely your fault. But a part of me will always hate you for not trying to save her more."

I swallowed and looked down at the table. "And what about Nico?"

"What about him?"

"Will you claim him?"

"I cannot. To do so, would risk angering my brothers and them plotting against me. Even if I did stay within the oath."

"And what about Persephone?"

He frowned and waited for me to continue.

"Not once, has she come to see me." I spoke, and the bitterness seeped into my tone. "She sends you as a messenger instead of just turning up. Why won't she come face her own daughter? I'm only going through all this crap because of her, and not once has she even bothered to-"

"You don't know what your mother has done for you. Do not disrespect her. She has protected you, time and time again. She cannot be here with you right now, due to her stay in the underworld. She may not admit it, but she is afraid. You are her daughter, and you hate her. This saddens her greatly bu-"

I scoffed. "Maybe she should've thought about that possibility, before she ruined my life. And - and, I didn't even want her protection. I never asked for it. What I wanted, was a mother. And she took both of mine away from me. So I'm sorry if I'm coming off a little snappy, but you can't stand here and tell me how to feel about her when she is my mother."

He stood straighter and didn't argue. All he did, was take my hand and tapped the ring once with his thumb, a knowing look in his eye. And then he turned and disappeared into he crowd. I stared after him in confusion.

I looked down at the ring, cast upon my index finger, at the pomegranate etched into it. I brushed my finger over it, before pressing down on it with my thumb. In my hands, where there had been nothing before, there was a long, sharp dagger. It was much longer than any normal dagger I had seen. The silver blade glinted dangerously, but my eyes were drawn to the hilt.

The hilt seemed to be made of glass, and inside it, were 12 pomegranate seeds. They cast a red light upon the rest of the dagger. The ring still was in my finger. I tapped it with my thumb again, and then I was holding two daggers, each identical except the second was a golden blade. I swallowed heavily. So the only thing she does do, is send me a dagger. A+ parenting from her.

How was I supposed to put them back inside the ring? In the end, I stuffed them into my bag before any God that hated me saw me with a dagger and started screaming - she's declaring war! run! I honestly didn't put it below them.

A tap on my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned and Percy was there, the corner of his lip twitched up. "Hey, birdy."

I raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Jackson."

He offered his hand, and I took it, as he began leading me somewhere else. "Who was the guy you were talking to?"

"Oh." I glanced around to see if anyone was near. "Hades. I'll tell you about it later. You okay? What did Athena say?

He stopped us in between two pillars, and we each leaned on one, facing the other. The party still raged around us, but it felt like here, it was quiet. Just us two.

"Clever things. Mainly made me think about not hating her for wanting me dead, because she's being logical about it." Then he smiled. "Can't belive they were talking about wanting you dead too, like you were actually dangerous or something."

I reached out and punched his arm. "What, you don't think I'm a threat?"

He shrugged. "Not a big enough one. But I'm guessing you thought I wasn't a threat too."