Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 95

"Debatable," Cressida huffed as Percy just sighed, knowing that he was lucky enough to have her staying in one place - being quiet in Hera's presence was definitely pushing it too far after everything.

Hera looked like she wanted to argue, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Apollo, however, ..." Zeus glared into the shadows where the twins were standing. "My son, come here."

Apollo inched forward like he was walking the plank. He looked so much like a teenage demigod it was unnerving. The fear in Apollo's face, however, Cressida felt sorry for because it was real human fear that seemed to glisten in his eyes.

The Three Fates gathered around the god, circling him, their withered hands raised.

"Twice you have defied me," Zeus said.

Apollo moistened his lips. "My – my lord –"

"You neglected your duties. You succumbed to flattery and vanity. You encouraged your descendant Octavian to follow his dangerous path, and you prematurely revealed a prophecy that may yet destroy us all."

"But –"

"Enough!" Zeus boomed. "We will speak of your punishment later. For now, you will wait on Olympus." Zeus flicked his hand, and Apollo turned into a cloud of glitter. The Fates swirled around him, dissolving into air, and the glittery whirlwind shot into the sky.

"What will happen to him?" Jason asked. The gods stared at him, but Jason didn't care. Having actually met Zeus, he had a newfound sympathy for Apollo.

"It is not your concern," Zeus said. "We have other problems to address."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the Parthenon.

"Father," Jason said, "I made a vow to honour all the gods. I promised Kymopoleia that once this war is over none of the gods would be without shrines at the camps."

Zeus scowled. "That's fine. But ... Kym who?"

Poseidon coughed into his fist. "She's one of mine."

"My point," Jason said, "is that blaming each other isn't going solve anything. That's how the Romans and Greeks got divided in the first place."

The air became dangerously ionized. Jason's scalp tingled. He realized he was risking his father's wrath. He'd known his dad for five minutes and made a good impression. Now he was throwing it away.

"Jason's right," Cressida spoke up, and all eyes turned to her.

"Jewel," her father warned but she waved him off.

"Jason is right," she said more firmly. "It's the reason why so many demigods joined Kronos. They blamed you and you blamed them."

But Percy and Annabeth and Piper, actually, all of her friends knew that she reserved the right to be a hypocrite. She reserved the right to blame Hera for everything despite the fact that she was backing Jason up.

She gave Jason a supportive nod and he kept talking.

"Apollo wasn't the problem. To punish him for Gaia waking is –" he wanted to say stupid, but he caught himself – "unwise."

"Unwise." Zeus's voice was almost a whisper. "Before the assembled gods, you would call me unwise."

All of them were on full alert. Percy had dropped his arm from around Cressida as he was ready to jump in and fight at his side, even Cressida seemed itchy to reach for her sword.

Then Artemis stepped out of the shadows. "Father, this hero has fought long and hard for our cause. His nerves are frayed. We should take that into account."