Percabeth's Child: Children of Olympus Book #1

Chapter One: I am Granted Immortality... In five months

PERCY

 

Chapter One

 

Percy woke to the warmth Annabeth's arms wrapped around him. He didn't move, didn't interrupt, just enjoyed the feeling as he gazed at the lake outside.

Until Leo Valdez burst in, still in his Spongebob pajamas.

"Leo, what the-" Percy began as Annabeth awoke with a start.

"Leo?" She muttered sleepily, stretching.

"Leo?" Percy said again.

"'I'm glad you all know my name," Leo muttered in expasperation. "but there are more important matters at hand. I got a message from my dad, Hephaestus, whatever, and the Olympians want to see us."

"They want to see us?" Percy checked, jumping out of bed.

"Yep, that's what I said," Leo sounded annoyed. "So hurry up. The Gods don't like to wait."

"Please don't tell me you are going up to Olympus in Spongebob pajamas," Percy said in disbelief.

"What? Oh... yeah, I suppose I should change..." Leo mumbled as if he had just realized what he was wearing. He dashed out of the doorway leaving Percy and Annabeth staring at the door, still half asleep.

Why couldn't the gods be more patient? I mean, they had forever. Literally. And still, they were rushing Leo so much that he was about to go up there in his Spongebob PJ's.

"I'm going to go get dressed, then," Percy announced, grabbing jeans and a t-shirt and hoping that would be good enough for the Olympians. It's not like the gods were usually dressed up; every time Percy had seen his dad, Poseidon had been wearing khaki shorts and a Hawaiian tee.

After dressing, Percy and Annabeth went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. Piper was chewing on a waffle, Jason was wolfing down a bowl of cereal, and Frank and Hazel were  still upstairs.

After the war, once peace had been made between the Greek and Roman demigods, Percy and his friends, along with some of the gods, had helped to build Camp Demigod. Essentially, it was an expanded Camp Halfblood surrounded by a city similar to what New Rome had been. When a demigod turned seventeen, they were allowed to leave their parent's cabin and find a home in the city. Jason, Piper and Leo, each a year younger than Percy and Annabeth, had moved into a large house with them created specifically by the Olympians for the seven (with an extra bedroom they reserved for Nico). As each of them turned seventeen, Nico, Frank and Hazel also moved into the house.

Percy and Annabeth had gotten married first, when they were twenty (two years ago), and Jason and Piper had been married for a year. Hazel and Frank were dating passionately, but as they were still eighteen, they hadn't gotten married. As for Leo and Nico... they were still single.

***

Thankfully, Mount Olympus was still located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, so it wasn't difficult to get there (Camp Demigod and it's city had been built around the original Camp Half-Blood, while New Rome and Camp Jupiter was left behind). After leaving Camp Demigod, armed incase the monsters got any funny ideas, the eight demigods piled onto a city bus leading to the Empire State Building.

Percy and Annabeth had been to Mount Olympus on a previous quest, but the other six had never seen it before. Percy could see that they were getting nervous.

"Don't worry, guys," Percy assured them, "Olympus is actually pretty cool."

After getting off the tour bus, speaking with a secretary who must have known about the gods (she didn't seem even slightly perturbed when they asked for the sixth hundred floor), zooming through the sky in an elevator and winding their way through a maze of paths on Olympus, they finally found the gods' and goddesses' throne room.

"Woah," Hazel sighed in awe as she looked around the massive space. The gods hadn't shrunken to human size and had to be ten feet tall.

"You're here," boomed a voice, the deep sound resonating around the room.

"Dad!" Jason called. After the differences of the Roman and Greek demigods had been cast aside, the gods had combined their two personalities into one and kept their Greek names (except for the purely Roman gods).

"Sorry, son, we'll change size," With that, all of the gods and goddesses in the room shrunk to the size of normal humans, and their thrones went with them. While it was comforting to not talk to ten-foot tall people, the non-shrunken room seemed a whole lot more vast and ominous.

"So... you called us here?" Annabeth piped up. It was rather uncomfortable being stared down by someone who could kill you in a second if they felt the need.

"Yes, yes," Athena said, rising from her throne. "All of us," she motioned around the throne room to her fellow major gods, "have decided that all of you, even you, Nico, have helped the demigods, and gods, in a major way by uniting the Greeks and Romans."

"About time you noticed," Percy was thinking, but he didn't dare say it aloud.

"We believe that you deserve a great prize. And the greatest prize that we can offer you is immortality, becoming a god or goddess."

Percy stood there, shocked. Piper, Jason and Annabeth's eyes opened wide. Nico's jaw dropped and Hazel fell onto her knees.

"Me?! A goddess?" she squeaked.

"Yes, Hazel Levesque," Athena replied. "Of course, your father isn't here at the moment, but he supports the idea as well."

"We will give you the immortality in five months," Zeus boomed. "In those five months, we will be watching you closely. We will grant Godship no matter what, but we need to see where your powers and loyalties lie. It will help us decide what you are the god or goddess of. You will continue to live in Camp Demigod, not up here on Olympus, but you will still be powerful gods. Good luck, and you may leave," he concluded.

They all stood there in shock. Percy had been offered Godship once before, but he had declined it as Annabeth wasn't given the offer and he couldn't bear to live forever without her. But now, she, along with is best friends, were being offered it, and he could hardly turn it down. He was going to be agod. He was going to live forever, with no fear of death, alongside Annabeth and his best friends.

They were all too shocked to turn around and leave until Zeus's deep voice brought them back to their sense.

"I said, you may leave."

With that, they all left in a daze and started silently back on their journey to Camp Demigod.