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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄.
i looked up above the acropolis, seeing black space spangled with stars, the palaces of mount olympus gleaming in the background. and an army of gods charged down from on high.
it was almost too much to process.
zeus rode down into battle in a golden chariot, a lightning bolt the size of a telephone pole crackling in one hand. pulling his chariot were four horses made of wind, each constantly shifting from equine to human form, trying to break free.
for a split second, one took on the icy visage of boreas. another wore notus's swirling crown of fire and steam. a third flashed the smug lazy smile of zephyrus. zeus had bound and harnessed the four wind gods themselves.
on the underbelly of the argo ii, the glass bay doors split open. the goddess nike tumbled out, free from her golden net. she spread her glittering wings and soared to zeus's side, taking her rightful place as his charioteer.
"my mind is restored!" she roared. "victory to the gods!"
at zeus's left flank rode hera, her chariot pulled by enormous peacocks, the sight of them making me blanch.
ares bellowed with glee as he thundered down on the back of a fire-breathing horse. his spear glistened red. suddenly, the chariots disappeared, and the gods stood next to us — human sized, but still radiating power.
with a shout, jason charged to battle.
we joined in on the carnage.
i stepped forward, attacking the princess lady giant. annabeth had given me my gloves, and the energy moved freely once again. i created energy whips, lashing out at her. my mother was in combat gear for once, a plethora of knives hidden on her. i cut off the giant's hand with my energy whip, and she threw a knife, embedding it in her other arm. the two of us continued, switching our hits.
around us, i could sense the other gods and my friends fighting, but it was all a blur. i was vaguely aware of the three fates beating thoon with large sticks, but i couldn't be sure i didn't imagine that.
"you will die!" the princess giant lady snarled.
"you're wrong," i grinned, letting my energy whips disintegrate. "you will die."
i clapped my hands together, bringing forth small but powerful streaks of energy, cutting her apart at the limbs. my mother threw a knife, embedding it in the giantess' forehead, and she disintegrated.
i was breathing heavily, the sounds of battle around us dying as well.
"you've done well," my mom said to me. "i'm proud of you, love."
i nodded, though i couldn't bring myself to believe her praise. after all, it was my blood that had caused gaia to wake.
my mom gave me a look that conveyed much more than words did, before walking away. i merely sighed, making my way to my friends.
"you okay?" annabeth asked.
"fine," i promised, my gaze fixed on theo.
mom was having a pretty serious conversation with him.
nothing was left of the giants except heaps of ash, a few spears and some burning dreadlocks.
the argo ii was still aloft, barely, moored to the top of the parthenon. half the ship's oars were broken off or tangled. smoke streamed from several large splits in the hull. the sails were peppered with burning holes.
leo looked almost as bad. he stood in the midst of the temple with the rest of us, his face covered in soot, his clothes smouldering.
the gods fanned out in a semicircle as zeus approached. none of them seemed particularly joyful about their victory.
apollo and artemis stood together in the shadow of a column, as if trying to hide. hera and poseidon were having an intense discussion with another goddess in green and gold robes — demeter. nike tried to put a golden laurel wreath on hecate's head, but the goddess of magic swatted it away. hermes sneaked close to athena, attempting to put his arm around her. athena turned her aegis shield his way and hermes scuffled off.
the only olympian who seemed in a good mood was ares. he laughed and pantomimed gutting an enemy while frank listened, his expression polite but queasy.
"brethren," zeus said, "we are healed, thanks to the work of these demigods. the athena parthenos, which once stood in this temple, now stands at camp half-blood. it has united our offspring, and thus our own essences."
"lord zeus," piper spoke up, "is reyna okay?"
"and nico?" i added. "coach hedge?"
zeus knitted his cloud-coloured eyebrows. "they succeeded in their mission. as of this moment they are alive. whether or not they are okay—"
"there is still work to be done," hera interrupted. she spread her arms like she wanted a group hug, dropping them at the sight of my scowl. "but my heroes... you have triumphed over the giants as i knew you would. my plan succeeded beautifully."
zeus turned on his wife. thunder shook the acropolis. "hera, do not dare take credit! you have caused at least as many problems as you've fixed!"
the queen of heaven blanched. "husband, surely you see now — this was the only way."
"there is never only one way!" zeus bellowed. "that is why there are three fates, not one. Is this not so?"
by the ruins of the giant king's throne, the three old ladies silently bowed their heads in recognition. i noticed that the other gods stayed well away from the fates and their gleaming brass clubs.
maybe i hadn't imagined them whooping thoon's ass.
"please, husband," hera tried for a smile, even though she was clearly frightened.
good, i thought to myself. you deserve to suffer.
"i only did what i—"
"silence!" zeus snapped. "you disobeyed my orders. nevertheless... i recognize that you acted with honest intentions. the valour of these nine heroes has proven that you were not entirely without wisdom."
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 — no more than seventeen, wearing jeans and a camp half-blood t-shirt, with a bow over his shoulder and a sword at his belt. with his tousled blond hair and blue eyes, he reminded me so much of luke, i had to do a double take.
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 seemed unbothered by that fact.
"it is not your concern," zeus said. "we have other problems to address."
an uncomfortable silence settled over the parthenon. it didn't feel right to let the matter go like that. the way zeus blamed apollo, he couldn't control when the prophecy was revealed any more than he knew the true meaning behind them. and yet, he was being punished for it.
"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.
i was aware that zeus could fry all of us with a single thought — his son included.
"apollo wasn't the problem. to punish him for gaia waking is—" jason caught himself, "... unwise."
"unwise," zeus's voice was almost a whisper. "before the assembled gods, you would call me unwise."
i placed my hand behind my dagger, ready to call on my dagger at the first sight of trouble. the rest of the nine were on full alert, ready to fight with jason if needed.
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."
jason looked like he was about to protest, but artemis stopped him with a look. the goddess of the hunt had the power to do that to people sometimes.
"surely, father," she continued, "we should attend to our more pressing problems, as you pointed out."
"gaia," annabeth chimed in, clearly anxious to change the topic. "she's awake, isn't she?"
zeus turned towards her. "that is correct. the blood of olympus was spilled. she is fully conscious."
"oh, come on!" percy complained. "i get a little nosebleed and i wake up the entire earth? that's not fair!"
athena shouldered her aegis. "complaining of unfairness is like assigning blame, percy jackson. it does no one any good." she gave jason an approving glance. "now you must move quickly. gaia rises to destroy your camp."
poseidon leaned on his trident. "for once, athena is right."
"for once?" athena protested.
"why would gaia be back at camp?" leo asked. "percy's nosebleed was here."
"dude," percy said, "first off, you heard athena — don't blame my nose. second, gaia's the earth. she can pop up anywhere she wants. besides, she told us she was going to do this. she said the first thing on her to-do list was destroying our camp. question is: how do we stop her?"
frank looked at zeus, "um, sir, your majesty, can't you gods just pop over there with us? you've got the chariots and the magic powers and whatnot."
"yes!" hazel said. "we defeated the giants together in two seconds. let's all go—"
"no," zeus said flatly.
"no?" i repeated drily, even though i had no hesitation believing the gods' would leave us to fend for ourselves.
"that's the problem with prophecies," zeus growled. "when apollo allowed the prophecy of nine to be spoken, and when hera took it upon herself to interpret the words, the fates wove the future in such a way that it had only so many possible outcomes, so many solutions. you nine, the demigods, are destined to defeat gaia. we, the gods, cannot."
"i don't get it," piper said. "what's the point of being gods if you have to rely on puny mortals to do your bidding?"
all the gods exchanged dark looks. aphrodite, however, laughed gently and kissed her daughter.
"my dear piper, don't you think we've been asking ourselves that question for thousands of years? but it is what binds us together, keeps us eternal. we need you mortals as much as you need us. annoying as that may be, it's the truth."
"okay, whether we need you guys, or you need us, who cares?" i shrugged. "the real question is: how do we get back to camp in time? it took us months to reach greece, and i don't expect any less monsters on our way back unless someone divinely intervenes or something."
"the winds," jason said suddenly. "father, can't you unleash the winds to send our ship back?"
zeus glowered. "i could slap you back to long island."
"um, was that a joke, or a threat, or—"
"no," zeus said, "i mean it quite literally. i could slap your ship back to camp half-blood, but the force involved..."
over by the ruined giant throne, the grungy god in the mechanic's uniform — hephaestus — shook his head. "my boy leo built a good ship, but it won't sustain that kind of stress. it would break apart as soon as it arrived, maybe sooner."
leo straightened his tool belt. "the argo ii can make it. it only has to stay in one piece long enough to get us back home. once there, we can abandon ship."
i did some calculations in my head, trying to guess the reaction time it would take for all of us to get out at the right moment.
"it's going to be dangerous," i said. "honestly, there's a very slight chance the argo ii even makes it all the way. and if it does — well, we need to abandon ship at the right time."
the goddess nike twirled a laurel wreath on her finger. "victory is always dangerous. and it often requires sacrifice. i have discussed this with a few of you." she stared pointedly at theo and leo.
i didn't like that at all.
i shared a look with jason, who was definitely thinking the same thing. he clenched his jaw, almost as if he could extract the truth out him by sheer willpower alone.
"guys," annabeth began, but i help up a hand to cut her off.
i didn't like where my mind was going, and i didn't want anyone to accidently prove me right.
"the chances of us getting out and making it safely to the ground are dangerously low," i told them. "at my mark, no sooner, no later, i need you guys to abandon ship. a single second of hesitation can cause serious injury."
"probably death," hephaestus grunted.
"thank you captain sunshine."
"well," theo looked around at all of us, as if drinking this moment in, "all aboard for one last trip."
REY WRITES!
thanks for reading!!
THE PERCY JACKSON TRAILER IS OUT!!
i cried while watching it (fuck disney tho)
thoughts?
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theories?
headcanons?