Shoot an Arrow Through His Heart

PERCY NO

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Hades makes his big announcement with less-than-thrilling results.

BEGINNING NOTES

Word Count: 2975
Content Warning: None

I'm baaaaaack! I would reread the first chapter in case you forgot it, but if you don't want to, the only change that I made is Percy isn't Bianca's cousin. She knows him now because Sally is the di Angelo's private chef.

Formatting note: during the text conversations, not-bold is Bianca and bold is whoever she's talking to.

And all the characters are owned by Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

I should talk about Persephone.

So, like I said before, my family is super, super wealthy. We live in an affluent neighborhood with a bunch of other millionaires. I mentioned two of them already: Piper McLean, Jason's crush. Her parents are Tristan McLean, the famous actor--the the King of Sparta guy--and Aphrodite McLean, the model. Jason also lives nearby--his father's Jupiter Grace, the owner of Zeus Airlines.

Would you like to describe everyone on our street, B?

How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?

Persephone Levesque and her mother Demeter run Levesque Gardening Services. They're, you guessed it, gardeners, and they do our entire street. Demeter's a grouchy old lady--I never talk to her--but Persephone's awesome. She always waves to me on my way back from school, usually gives me fruit from her orchard at home. When I was younger, I babysat her adopted daughter Hazel while she was busy trimming hedges and whatnot. By the time of The Announcement™, Hazel was a freshman and would help with the gardening as well. They didn't look like they had much money, but they seemed happy anyway.

Papà didn't tell us when they started going out. He was always nice to her, don't get me wrong, and they would talk sometimes, but it was more of a friendly employer-employee relationship. It just never crossed my mind that he'd be with anyone but Mamma.

So, flash forward to last August. It's the last day of summer, a week after my eighteenth birthday. I'm heading into senior year and Nico, sixteen years old, is heading into junior year. I've spent the last two months juggling an internship with D.O.A.'s business sector, an online class in marketing, summer practices at the archery range, and keeping the plates spinning at home. Nico, meanwhile, is spending his days vandalizing property and smoking pot in his room.

It was around six o'clock. I was helping Sally make dinner when Thanatos Mors came into the room. He's the C.O.O. at D.O.A. Recording Studios.

"There you are, Bianca," he said.

I looked up from the vegetables I was chopping. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Bianca!" Sally scolded.

Thanatos smiled, amused. "I doubt she meant it like that. I was meeting with your father."

"He's home?" I asked. He never stayed home from work, ever, unless he was sick enough that I forced him to.

"He wants to speak to you and your brother immediately," Thanatos said. "He's in his office."

"Go on," Sally said. "I'll finish without you."

I made my way to Papà's office. It's a big room with wood panel walls, thick carpets, and a diamond chandelier on the ceiling. Papà's desk is on an elevated platform, so he literally looks down on anyone that walks in. He's like a king on a throne behind that desk. It's supposed to be intimidating, and it is... to anyone but me. Papà talks a big game, but he's harmless deep down.