Percy's POV
It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality. Chiron had told me that long ago. As usual, I didn't appreciate his wisdom until much later.
According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.
This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted me and three other adolescents in New York and brought us across the country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.
Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal after all. He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus—"Why didn't I remember him before?"). The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson (I was beginning to like this kid) had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.
The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.
Percy: (fake crying) All I want," I said, choking back my tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew . . . somehow . . . we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number.
The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York.
The second we got on the plane, Theo and I shared a fist bump.
I knew there was no choice but to fly. I hoped Zeus would cut me some slack, considering the circumstances. But it was still hard to force myself on board the flight.
Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster. I didn't unclench my hands from the armrests until we touched down safely at La Guardia.
New York City
The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting that I was by the frozen yogurt, then rejoined us at baggage claim.
We split up at the taxi stand. I told Annabeth, Theo, and Grover to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, and it was hard to let them go after all we'd been through, but I knew I had to do this last part of the quest by myself. If things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe me...I wanted Annabeth, Theo, and Grover to survive to tell Chiron the truth.
But Theo insisted on coming with me. I just accepted, knowing that he won't leave me alone until I let him come.
We hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan.
Thirty minutes later, we walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building.
I must have looked like a homeless kid, with my tattered clothes and my scraped-up face. I hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours.
We went up to the guard at the front desk.
Percy: Six hundredth floor.
He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. I wasn't much into fantasy, but the book must've been good because the guard took a while to look up.
Guard: No such floor, kiddo.
Percy: I need an audience with Zeus.
Guard: Sorry?
Percy: You heard me.
I was about to decide this guy was just a regular mortal, and I'd better run for it before he called the straitjacket patrol, but...
Guard: No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced.
Theo: (smirks) Trust me, buddy. I think he could make an exception.
I slipped off my backpack and unzipped the top.
The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder, not getting what it was for a few seconds. Then his face went pale.
Guard: That isn't...
Percy: Yes, it is. You want me to take it out and—
Guard: No! No!
He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me.
Guard: Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you.
I did as he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600. I pressed it and waited and waited. Muzak played.
Finally, DING! The doors slid open.
Theo and I stepped out and almost had a heart attack.
Theo: Holy shit!
We were standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below me was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed the stairway to its end, where my brain just could not accept what I saw. From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces—a city of mansions—all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires.
Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rose bushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome, and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago.
This place can't be here, I told myself. The tip of a mountain hanging over New York City like a billion-ton asteroid? How could something like that be anchored above the Empire State Building, in plain sight of millions of people, and not get noticed? But here it was. And here I was.
Our trip through Olympus was a daze. We passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at me from their garden. Hawkers in the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick, and a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus-TV. The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered—satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who might've been minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood. Several of them turned to watch me pass and whispered to themselves.
We climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld.
There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything glittered white and silver.
I realized Hades must've built his palace to resemble this one. He wasn't welcomed in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he'd built his own Olympus underground. Despite my bad experience with him, I felt a little sorry for the guy. To be banished from this place seemed really unfair. It would make anybody bitter.
Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room.
Room really isn't the right word. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations.
Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. I didn't have to be told who the two gods were that were sitting there, waiting for me to approach. We came toward them, my legs trembling.
The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been, but I could barely look at them without feeling a tingle, as if my body were starting to burn. Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy gray.
As we got nearer to him, the air crackled and smelled of ozone.
The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like mine. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel. But his eyes, sea-green like mine, were surrounded by sun crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too.
His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips.
The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air as if they'd just finished an argument.
I saw two of them glance at Theo. A god and a goddess. The god had a gentle smile on his face once he saw Theo, while the goddess had a sad expression like she was reminded of a tragic memory.
I approached the fisherman's throne and knelt at his feet, while Theo approached the platinum throne and knelt at Zeus's feet.
Percy: Father.
I dared not look up. My heart was racing. I could feel the energy emanating from the two gods. If I said the wrong thing, I had no doubt they could blast me into dust.
Zeus: Should you not address the master of this house first, boy? At least the other one knows his manners.
I kept my head down and waited.
Poseidon: Peace, brother. The boy defers to his father. This is only right.
Zeus: You still claim him then? You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?
Poseidon: I have admitted my wrongdoing. Now I would hear him speak.
Wrongdoing.
A lump welled up in my throat. Was that all I was? A wrongdoing? The result of a god's mistake?
Zeus: I have spared him and his friend once already. Daring to fly through my domain...pah! I should have blasted them out of the sky for his impudence.
Poseidon: And risk destroying your own master bolt? Let us hear them out, brother.
Zeus grumbled some more.
Zeus: I shall listen, then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast these boys down from Olympus.
Poseidon: Perseus, look at me.
I did, and I wasn't sure what I saw in his face. There was no clear sign of love or approval. Nothing to encourage me. It was like looking at the ocean: some days, you could tell what mood it was in. Most days, though, it was unreadable, mysterious.
I got the feeling Poseidon really didn't know what to think of me. He didn't know whether he was happy to have me as a son or not. In a strange way, I was glad that Poseidon was so distant. If he'd tried to apologize or told me he loved me or even smiled, it would've felt fake. Like a human dad, making some lame excuse for not being around. I could live with that. After all, I wasn't sure about him yet, either.
Poseidon: Address Lord Zeus, boy. Tell him your story.
So Theo and I told Zeus everything, just as it had happened. I took out the metal cylinder, which began sparking in the Sky God's presence, and laid it at his feet.
There was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the hearth fire.
Zeus opened his palm. The lightning bolt flew into it. As he closed his fist, the metallic points flared with electricity, until he was holding what looked more like the classic thunderbolt, a twenty-foot javelin of arcing, hissing energy that made the hairs on my scalp rise.
Zeus: I sense the boys tell the truth. But that Ares would do such a thing...it is most unlike him.
Poseidon: He is proud and impulsive. It runs in the family.
Theo: Lord?
Zeus & Poseidon: Yes?
Theo: Ares didn't act alone. Someone else—something else— came up with the idea.
I described my dreams, and the feeling I'd had on the beach, that momentary breath of evil that had seemed to stop the world and made Ares back off from killing me.
Percy: In the dreams, the voice told me to bring the bolt to the Underworld. Ares hinted that he'd been having dreams, too. I think he was being used, just as I was, to start a war.
Zeus: You are accusing Hades, after all?
Percy: No. I mean, Lord Zeus, I've been in the presence of Hades. This feeling on the beach was different. It was the same thing I felt when I got close to that pit. That was the entrance to Tartarus, wasn't it? Something powerful and evil is stirring down there...something even older than the gods.
Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. I only caught one word. Father.
Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue. Zeus held up his hand angrily.
Zeus: We will speak of this no more. I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taint from its metal.
He rose and looked at me and Theo. His expression softened just a fraction of a degree.
Zeus: You have both done me a service, boys. Few heroes could have accomplished as much.
Percy: We had help, sir. Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase—
Zeus: To show you my thanks, I shall spare your lives. I do not trust you, Perseus Jackson. I do not like what your arrival means for the future of Olympus. But for the sake of peace in the family, I shall let you live.
Percy: Um...thank you, sir.
Zeus: Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise, you shall taste this bolt. And it shall be your last sensation.
Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone.
It was only me and Theo with my father.
Poseidon looked at Theo. Theo nodded then looked at me.
Theo: I'll be right outside.
He bowed to Poseidon, then walked out of the throne room, leaving me with my father.
Theo's POV
After Zeus and the other gods (except Poseidon) left, I figured I should let Percy have a moment with his father.
I went to the central courtyard and sat on a bench. I leaned back and let out a breath. These past 10 days have been, without a doubt, the craziest days of my entire life.
And I had a feeling that it would only get crazier in the future.
???: Hey, kid.
I looked to my left and saw one of the gods I saw in the throne room walking up to me. He wore a black suit with a red tie and sunglasses.
God: Mind if I join you?
Theo: (nods) Sure.
The god sat down next to me.
God: Crazy quest, huh?
Theo: (chuckles) That's an understatement.
God: Yeah, I bet.
Suddenly, a cell phone rang in the god's jacket pocket.
God: (sighs) Excuse me.
He took out his phone, which glowed with a bluish light. He extended his antenna, and two green snakes began writhing around it.
Wait a minute...
God: (on the phone) Hello?
The snakes writhed up and down next to his ear.
God: Listen, I'm a bit busy over here. I'm gonna have to call you back. See you.
He pressed the antenna down and pocketed his pocket.
Theo: Hermes?
Hermes: (chuckles) Yeah. It's good to see you, Theo.
I couldn't help but smile. But then I got upset when I noticed something.
Theo: Where's my mother? I thought she might've at least come to see me.
Hermes: (sighs) Please don't be angry at her, but...She doesn't feel like she's ready to see you.
Theo: Why?
Hermes: It's...complicated.
I had that look on my face that basically said, "I'm not leaving until you spill."
Hermes: (sighs) Your dad used to have the same look on his face.
Theo: So I guess you know what it means, don't you?
Hermes nodded, then sighed.
Hermes: I can only tell you some things. There's a lot I can't say. I swore to Artemis on the Styx that I wouldn't.
I nodded in understanding.
Hermes: (sighs) Your mother was never one to fall in love. She had some relationships, but never romantic. Then she met your father, and...(chuckles) She was head over heels for him.
I smiled a bit.
Hermes: They both loved each other dearly. Then, somewhere along the line, they had you. Artemis couldn't be around as much. Ancient laws and all that. But your dad never held it against her, and he told you stories about her every night.
He smiled at the memory, then frowned.
Hermes: Two months after you were born, a man came. Someone very powerful. He wanted to face Artemis, and he figured that the best way to get to her...was through you and your father. Your father hid you and went out to confront the man, to protect you, but...
I understood what happened after that, so I nodded.
Hermes: Artemis was very heartbroken and angry when it happened. She called in all of her Hunters and attacked the man with the intent to kill him. But he survived and managed to get away.
Theo: Who was he?
Hermes: I can't tell you.
I sighed.
Hermes: After that, Artemis carried you away. She wanted to hide you away, at least until you were forgotten. She sought out Hecate for help.
Theo: What did Hecate do?
Hermes: She told your mother that there was a spell she could perform. A complicated one...One that would send you forward in time.
Theo: Wait, what?
Hermes: I know it sounds insane, but...She said that it was the best way to protect you. You were put in a bronze crib, left a note that was enchanted to be translated into whatever main language of that time period, and that necklace you're wearing...
I looked down at my silver arrowhead necklace.
Theo: And dropped me off in front of an orphanage in Brooklyn in 1993.
Hermes: Yeah.
I let out a shuddered breath as I processed what I just heard in my head.
Theo: I...I don't know what to say.
Hermes: You don't have to say anything.
I shook my head in utter disbelief.
Theo: What did Artemis do after that?
Hermes: She vowed to never fall in love again. As time went on, the world forgot about Artemis having a child, and they considered her a maiden goddess.
I just nodded. I mean, what the hell was I supposed to say after all that?!
Hermes: I'm sorry to dump all this on you...
Theo: No, no. It's...It's fine. It's just a lot to process.
Hermes nodded in understanding.
Theo: Doesn't really help that there's something else wracking my brain.
Hermes: What?
Theo: The pit in the Underworld. The voice that Percy heard...What was in there?
Hermes: I think you already know.
I remembered feeling the strong presence in the pit, the deep voice Percy described in his dreams, how Ares backed off so suddenly. There's only one being that could do those things...The only one that I could think of that would want the master bolt for himself.
Theo: Kronos.
Hermes nodded, confirming my suspicion.
Even here on Olympus, far away from Tartarus, the name Kronos made the winds feel cold.
Hermes: In the First War, Zeus cut his father Kronos into a thousand pieces, just as Kronos had done to his own father, Ouranos. Zeus cast Kronos's remains into the darkest pit of Tartarus. The Titan army was scattered, their mountain fortress on Etna destroyed, their monstrous allies driven to the farthest corners of the earth. And yet Titans cannot die, any more than we gods can. Whatever is left of Kronos is still alive in some hideous way, still conscious in his eternal pain, still hungering for power.
Theo: He's coming back. He's healing, even now.
Hermes: Maybe. But then again, Kronos has stirred before. He enters men's nightmares and breathes evil thoughts. He wakens restless monsters from the depths. But to think that he might get out of that pit...That's a whole different matter. The chances of that happening are very low.
Theo: But never zero.
Hermes didn't even try to deny it.
We sat in silence for a few seconds, then I saw Hermes glancing at my Adidas shoes with a smile.
Hermes: I see the shoes fit nice.
Theo: Yeah, they're perfect. Eric gave them to me, said that it was a gift his dad wanted to give me.
Hermes still smiled as I figured it out.
Theo: You gave it to him, didn't you? So that he'd give it to me?
Hermes: Yeah. Didn't see why I shouldn't spoil my grandson a bit.
He ruffled my hair as we both laughed.
Just then, we heard the throne room door opening. We looked over and saw Percy coming out.
Hermes: (to Theo) You should join your friend.
I just nodded before getting up and walking towards Percy.
Hermes: Theo.
I turned around and faced Theo.
Hermes: Your mother may not be here in person, but...She'd be very proud of you, just like I am. Just like your father would be.
Theo: (nods) Thank you, Grandfather.
Hermes: (chuckles) That'll take some getting used to.
Theo: (smirks) You'll get there. See you around.
I left the palace with Percy.
Timeskip
After our little trip to Olympus, Percy and I left the Empire State Building. Percy said that he'd go see his mom in Manhattan, so I said that I'd see David in Brooklyn.
About 30 minutes later, I was in front of my apartment. It felt strange coming back here after everything that has happened.
I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, David opened the door.
David: Theo?
I ran up to him and hugged him tightly, and I felt him wrap his arms around me.
Theo: I missed you.
David: I missed you too, kiddo.
We both separated and smiled at each other.
David: We have a lot to catch up on.
Theo: Yeah, we do.
We both went inside and sat on the living room couch. I told him everything that happened ever since I left, making sure I didn't miss a single detail.
Before I knew it, it was time to leave. I promised him that I'd come back home at the end of the summer.
We said our goodbyes before I left the apartment. I let out a deep breath before going for the elevator.