Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus. Uncle Rick does.
Again, feeling out of the loop, Athena brought herself back into the conversation by coughing. This effectively ended the silent conversation between Minerva and Percy, who both looked at Athena.
"Well, while you get to doing that, I'll get to planning some schematics for you Percy, I'll present them for you to review, after you've approved of a design, I'll get with Hephaestus and we'll get to building. How's that sound?"
Percy nodded twice, being snapped out from Minerva's eyes brought him back to his solemn mood. "That sounds good. While you take care of that, Athena, I will stay in the library and start on reading some things I have in mind, meanwhile Minerva can go ahead and start working on the two extra wings."
Both nodded and began to walk away in their different directions. When they did Percy stayed behind, and began to look around to his surroundings. He realized that the jungle that he found himself in was covered in vegetation and creatures that were both mortal and mythical.
Percy crouched down and found a line of ants. Each ant followed the next and acted in autopilot, as if they shared a single conscious.
Percy looked closer when he noticed a particular ant that wants following the natural flow. It began to waver from the line and began eventually it started to go una totally different direction. The and began to walk weirdly and eventually froze.
What came next intrigued Percy. Black tentacle-like organisms began to sprout out of the ant. Parasites? Whatever it was, it had Percy thinking again about the meaning of life and it's value.
Life is supposed to be a gift. It's supposed to be beautiful and priceless. However, at the same, time it's within nature, not human nature, but nature as whole, to disregard the lives of others in order to benefit the individual.
Whether it's stepping on your coworkers back in order to get a promotion, or killing thousands in a war in order to gain wealth.
After a few more moments of contemplation, Percy stood back up and walked over to the library. There, Athena was found with a troubled look.
Her tipycal majestic and noble features were distorted by frustration. "What bothers you?"
This brought Athena's attention away from her planing and onto the demigod by her side. "It would seem that you've become quite comfortable with us gods now, huh?"
"If you're referencing to my manner of regarding you and Minerva as if you were my equal, it's because to me, you are." The words coming from Percy surprised Athena and even ticked her off a bit. However, she was curious as to why he would say such a thing to her face without a hint of emotion.
It held the same tone that teenagers' used with their single word responses to their parents whenever they get asked about anything.
It was a disregarding tone, almost as if he's in some way ignored the question. Once Percy saw Athena's reaction to the response, he decided that it would be tactful to further explain himself. "I am a demigod, and you are a goddess. Yeah, okay, but that no longer means anything to me. In all honesty, I'm stronger than most gods, and those that are strong enough, if they were to kill me, well they'd be doing me a favor."
Having explained himself, Percy made Athena felt guilty again. She nearly said something but last moment caught the letters by the tip of her tongue before they could escape. She thought for a second longer and finally nodded slowly, as if she'd reached some sort of epiphany.
Percy made his way up the stairs to the library's main door. In the tropical forest that they found themselves in, despite the many sounds from different creatures echoed throughout, each step Percy took resonated through the forest.
Step
It wasn't loud, but it was clearly heard over all other sounds.
Step
The sound hit Athena's ears like falling flat into a body of water. It stung on impact , almost like hitting solid concreate. The shocking sensation was followed by the smooth overtaking of the water as she sunk into the sound.
Step
Athena looked back at Percy, seeing his back to her as he opened the door, swinging inward to reveal a massive collection of books organized in endless rows of shelves. The man that stood before her was not the same as the boy she and the other gods had easily sent into battle without hesitation.
"I'm sorry..." the whisper escaped Athena's lips before she could think about what she was saying. It was so soft, she began to believe that perhaps she didn't actually say it, but only thought those words in her head.
She was wrong though because Percy looked back at her, smiling.
It was the same smile that adorned his face many times before, and usually his signature smile would take the show. This time though, the eyes took all of the attention.
They say that the eyes are a window to the soul, and if that was true, then as far as Athena could tell, Percy was dead. His sea green eyes had turned into a murky swampy green. The smile simply didn't reach the eyes.
His eyes had pierced through hers, making her panic inside, as if they were a void that was sucking in her own soul. She could feel the rotten corpse of his soul spreading the necrosis to hers.
She couldn't understand what was going on. Athena new that he would be broken, and he showed signs of depression from the very start, it seemed as if he continued to fall deeper into the abyss.
She wanted to look way, for god's sake she really did, but she found her eyes fixed in place. It wasn't until Percy turned and walked into the library that she could finally look around. Athena quickly focused on the ground, fearing that if he looked back at her again she'd be consumed entirely the next time.
The door shut quietly, making almost no sound and easily missed. Soon after, Athena couldn't remember the look in Percy's eyes anymore, but she had no trouble remembering the feeling of dread from looking into his eyes.
She finally looked up at the door to the library. "What monster have we created."
Athena knew she should be worried, that she should keep close monitoring of Percy, make sure that he doesn't betray the Olympians. However, she had a feeling that it was that kind of mentality that put Percy in the state that he currently was in, and if she kept invading his life, she would probably end up pushing him into hating the Olympians.
Solitude was probably the best thing for Percy right now, and the thought of it made Athena sad.
Athena couldn't concentrate on her job anymore, at least not as long as she stayed in that place, and so she looked around one more time, trying to get a feel for the layout of the "island" before she flashed away to her palace in Olympus.
Inside the library Percy closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath, taking in the exotic smell of the combination of old book and lime scented polish on the hickory wood that made up almost the entirety of the inside, from the furniture to the floors. The walls had trimming of the same would, and the walls were covered with red wallpaper that had golden regal designs all along the walls.
It somehow reminded him of Annabeth.
Percy looked down at his hip. Strapped to his hip a sheathed knife was hanging. It was hers, it was also the knife that Luke used to sacrifice himself in the end to save the lives of many.
In a way Percy was glad that it had been Luke that betrayed them and lead Kronos' army. While in the moment it hurt, and while in the moment he was angry and full of hatred for him. Afterwards he realized that Luke was only a product of the abuse of the gods and their disregard for their children.
Kronos was just smart, and took advantage of that. Percy resented the fact that it had been Luke, but at the same time grateful because he knew that not anyone would have sacrificed themselves at the end, or would have the willpower to do so, like he did.
If it hadn't been for him there would have been many more deaths, perhaps including his own and that of his friends, but if it weren't for the Olympians poor treatment of their children, there wouldn't have been nearly so much bloodshed.
The Olympians often claimed that the Ancient Laws prohibited them from interfering, but Percy never once saw those laws stopping any Titan, Giant, or otherwise from interfering strongly in his life and that of his friend. It seemed to Percy that the gods used these laws only to hide behind and use as an excuse for their lack of responsibility.
Percy hung his head and shook it slowly. He couldn't allow himself to dwell in those thoughts too much, they could be dangerous. Percy noticed for the first time that he had been clutching his fist so much that blood had been drawn.
Percy began to walk through the library, looking through each shelf, scanning the broad range of topics covered by the many books that occupied the shelves. It included books, magazines, scrolls, and any other form of record. Percy had always found books boring, and his dyslexia always impeded him from being able to stick to reading anything. He would soon become frustrated and give up finishing whatever it was that he read.
Now, with Athena's blessing, he felt an attraction to these books, and thirst for knowledge, and he had a feeling that with his dyslexia gone, it would be considerably easier to read anything.
Percy had no idea what he wanted to read, so he began to wonder the aisle randomly picking out something to read and begun. Within minutes he had read through a book that would likely take a fast reader at least a week to get through. It was almost as if his mind went into overdrive whenever he began reading. His mind focused solely on reading, maximizing the speed at which he processed the information to levels that shouldn't be humanly possible. Soon, Percy didn't know where within the library he was, not did he care, and began to randomly roam the aisles of the building.
Somewhere within the building Minerva was planning out how she would expand the already massive library. She was deep within her thoughts when she was suddenly frightened by the sound of pages being rapidly turned.
After composing herself, she turned to look behind her to find Percy flipping through the pages of a book that would typically give a college student a headache just by looking at it. he was flipping through the large pages, filled with fine letters as if he was just looking for some loose paper left within the pages. She focused on Percy's eyes and all she could see was blur as the eyes quickly moved from left to right.
She was surprised that she hadn't heard him or sensed him before now, and as soon as he had pulled the book from his shelf he had placed it back, and with the same silence he moved on in another random direction and soon was out of sight.
Minerva took a second to get over the weirdness of what she witnessed and returned to her work.
Things continued like this for the next two weeks. During that time Athena had isolated herself in her palace as she focused on designing the perfect sanctuary for Percy. It had to be her greatest construction ever, and she didn't even care that Percy would be the only person to ever come to admire it.
The only interaction that she occasionally had was with Hephaestus as she would sometimes seek his council, and Poseidon, who from time to time would drop by to see how everything was going, making sure that his son's wish was fulfilled to the best of everyone's ability.
Percy would constantly pray to his father as he went through his obstacles in life. He, while not allowed to directly influence and interact with Percy, he always looked down from Olympus, keeping his eye on him. He knew that he shouldn't, but he did anyways. He knew it was a dangerous habit because if it ever came down to it, if it meant saving the life of his son, he would break the ancient laws and condemn himself.
However, since the final battle at the original home of the gods, Percy hadn't contacted his father at all. He wasn't too worried about it, since he could still sense his son and look into what he was doing. Poseidon understood that his son needed to be left alone, but at the same time he was probably in a fragile state of mind.
Something changed though, and after one week Poseidon came through Athena's palace again. Athena was never a fan of Poseidon, and didn't think she ever would, but she tolerates him. While Percy may be still be alive, she knows that he might as well have lost him as well. Also, while Annabeth was her favorite daughter, she was much more used to the pain of losing a child seeing as she had many more children than Poseidon. However, Percy was Poseidon's only demigod child, and Poseidon had always been much more emotionally attached to his children than any other god in the council. His only other son, a Cyclopes named Tyson had also died, but unlike Percy, Tyson will eventually be resurrected in Tarterus.
Poseidon had a permanent gloomy look, but that day it was layered over by a concerned expression. "Is everything okay, uncle?" Athena regularly didn't address him as "uncle" which he technically was, but he had insisted that she should, and that they should also try to look past their differences and let bygones be bygones.
Athena's study was being illuminated by candles, giving the room a warm mood. However, the lighting seemed to cast shadows on Poseidon's worried expression, emphasizing the wrinkles in his features, making him look older than usual.
It almost seemed like he hadn't heard her, but then he voiced his concern, "I can barely sense my sons presence, and now I can't even look at him."
"It could be that magic from his new home. After all, it was a sanctuary for Minerva to separate herself from the rest of the world, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she had placed some sort of protection that's blocking your connection to him."
Poseidon took Athena's suggestion into consideration, but he ended up deciding that that was not it. It was something else, it felt as if he was being kept at a distance by Percy himself.
He decided to ignore it, as worried as he was, he could find consolation in knowing that ultimately he was safe.
Soon after that even Minerva stopped seeing Percy roaming the aisle of the library. Instead she saw a weird phenomenon. She spotted ancient wood nymphs walking around instead. Ancient wood nymphs, unlike those that roamed during the rule of the Olympians, did not have bodies like those of humans, but instead their bodies were made of a wood.
These were peculiarly structured. They had moss for hair, roots for hands and feet, but what set them apart from what Minerva had read about these creatures was their abdomen. They had a shelf structure in place of their torso. Said shelf was filled with books and as they walked around they would drop some books off and pick others up.
The most peculiar thing about them was the method in which they moved around. They walked around like normal, however the library had wooden columns that supported the structure placed all around the library. Well, these nymphs would walk into the columns as if they were their trees and disappear. In a similar manner they would suddenly sprout from said columns, carrying on about their business and going back into the same column.
This frustrated her because she wanted to follow them to wherever they were going, and she had a feeling that they lead to Percy.
By this point she was almost done with her little project of expanding the library. She had already finished the west wing entirely, and was currently working on simply adding the actual books to the east wing.
A couple of days later, Athena appeared in a flash next to Minerva, who was inspecting her finished work for any mistakes, which obviously she hadn't made.
"Finished?" Athena asked her counterpart. Minerva was for ounce glad to be visited by Athena. All the nymphs has begun to creep her out.
Minerva was about to respond with a simple yes, but the Athena's eyes slightly widened and then squinted as if not sure she was seeing what she was seeing. "Are those ancient wood nymphs?"
"Well, unlike you, before now I've only ever seen and heard about them in books, but yes, I believe they are."
"What are they doing here?"
"As far as I can tell, assisting Percy in reading as much as possible. I'm not sure how he is managing to actually read all of these books so quickly."
"How quickly?" Athena asked her alternate aspect, and was surprised to see her actually think for a second before responding.
"Well, considering the amount of books each nymph is carrying, the constant increase in their numbers, and multiplying the area that I've traveled to calculate for the entire library, considering that they can be found in all parts of the library, about three to four centuries to read the original content of the library, about another three to finish the rest."
"Huh, and how long did it take you?"
"I never finished."
This made Athena's eyes widen even more than when she saw the nymphs. "Oh," Is all she could say.
Minerva only responded with a drawn out, "Yeah..."
"I can still faintly sense Percy," Minerva told Athena, knowing what she was doing here, "but I can also sense where the greatest concentration of these nymphs can be found, and I have a feeling that if we go there, we'll find Percy."
Athena nodded her head and was met with Minerva's outstretched hand. As soon as she took ahold of her hand the two of them flashed away.
As soon as both of them opened their eyes, they immediately took a step back as they were taken by surprised at what they found.
They were currently in the center of the library. in the remnants of what used to be a reading lounge, a massive tree stood. The lowest branch was well out of reach for either of them. In fact, Minerva couldn't even think of who or what could possible even get close to reaching those branches.
"Has this always been here?"
Minerva only responded by slowly moving her head from side to side. Even if she hadn't shaken her head, the look of confusion on her face would have sufficed.
Minerva tried to see just how far up the tree stretched, but the branches easily extended past the roof of the library, and the roof was seriously high.
When Minerva's gaze finally fell from the top of the tree she was that the actual trunk of the tree, which was as wide as a house, was suspended from the ground by the roots of the tree. This left a space under the trunk that was at least fifteen feet high. The roots almost acted as curtains that covered the majority of the clearing with a few gaps here and there.
From the gaps Minerva could see a warm golden light peeping out through the gaps. Most gaps were small enough to maybe fit an arm, but some were wide enough for a person to fit through.
That's exactly what Minerva did, she walked up to the tree and stepped into the light.
Athena noticed Minerva moving next to her and looked down as well, just in time to see Minerva walk into the clearing too.
Athena soon followed her counterpart in through the same gap and was initially greeted by a Minerva that was completely frozen and paralyzed.
She soon found out what had taken her by such surprise. The nymphs that they had seen sprouted from each root, in the hundreds. The books they carried were lifted from their shelves and floated around in a whirlwind of books, those same books soon came back to that same nymph. Once the nymphs got all their books back, it would merged back into the roots.
Athena could only assume that those nymphs that disappeared were heading out for a fresh set of books and soon would come back. This process kept going with such fluidity, without any hint of stopping.
Athena noticed that Minerva's attention was fixated on the center of the floating books, the pages of which were being flipped through so fast it was easy to miss it. When Athena looked at the books more intently she realized that Minerva wasn't looking at the books.
Instead her eyes were focusing on Percy, who sat in the center of those books. Athena tried to walk up to the whirlwind of books, but as soon as she did a nymph stood in front of her.
Athena was annoyed that such a simple being had the audacity to get in her way. She was readying to pulverize the nymph when she was suddenly caught by the eyes of the nymph. She felt a slight dreadful sensation, which was followed by a sudden realization.
The eyes that stared back at her were those of Percy, the new ones, the dead-looking, swamp green, color ones. "What do you need?"
It seemed that the nymph didn't only share Percy's eyes, but his voice as well. It was much more hoarse than his normal voice, but it was definitely his. "I um, well we, have finished our jobs."
As soon as she said that, the whirlwind of books disappeared as the books went back to the nymphs, but they were not replaced by new ones.
Once all the books had been placed back, Percy opened his eyes, simultaneously the nymphs eyes began to glow a bright green, the normal color for these ancient nymphs, and they retreated into the roots of the tree.
"So you've finished?" Spoke the men that sat before them. He sat on a large sofa that sprouted from the ground, as if it was part of the tree. In fact, Minerva noticed that the area that they were in was somewhat furnished, and all the furniture seemed to sprout from the ground.
"Ah yes, I've designed a palace that even Zeus himself will be envious of," Athena told the odd new Percy as she handed over blueprints, concept art, and many other things that would best paint a picture of what was in her mind.
Oddly enough, Minerva noticed that Percy wasn't making eye contact with them, and when Athena haded over the documents, he reached out and grabbed them with no problem, but he didn't look to see where his hand was going.
What was even more peculiar was that he didn't look at the documents, but still smiled and nodded his head in approval.
"What about you Minerva?" Percy asked, again, not looking in her direction, but instead just looking forward. His eyes didn't seem to focus on anything in particular either.
That's not the only thing that bothered Minerva though. Percy's voice had changed too. It was still definitely his voice. It was, perhaps slightly deeper. It seemed to vibrate the air particles whenever he spoke. It wasn't loud, but it made Minerva's hairs stand on end, and her bones feel like they're were vibrating.
"I uh," it was as if the vibration had reached her head and scrambled her thoughts, "yes. Yes, I have finished. I've enchanted the wings to the building so that they will expand as needed to accommodate more books. Now I can start working on the renovating this central part, but it seems you won't really be needing that."
"You're right, I won't. However, I do plan on doing some remodeling of my own. Don't worry about the empty book shelves, I'll take care of everything."
"Is there anything else you need?" Athena and Minerva asked at the same time. An awkward phenomenon that occasionally occurred when they were around.
Off to the side there was a table that had writing material on it. Two pieces of papyrus were lifted up and letters began to form on its surface. They were folded and sealed by wax and imprinted seal.
The two pieces of papyrus then floated over to Athena. Athena placed her hands out and the two papyri landed softly on her hand. One had The symbol of Hephaestus' singed into the front, and the other one had Poseidon's. Both had the same seal on the wax, a simple tree.
Athena nodded her head, understanding what to do. She looked at Minerva, who nodded in agreement. They should get going. There's still much work to do.
Athena flashed away, but Minerva lingered a little longer.
She couldn't understand how it was that Percy had changed so much in such a short amount of time.
She understood that the war had changed him, that didn't surprise her. However, he continued to change, his wisdom somehow seemed to exponentially grow, and from what she could sense, so did his power.
So much so that he didn't even close his eyes when Athena flashed away, and it didn't seem to even make him flinch.
Oddly enough, as if there weren't enough odd things already, she didn't feel threatened or worried, she felt sadness from being around him, but at the same time she felt comforted.
She let out a breath that she'd held. It felt as if she had held the entire time.
Then, in a brilliant flash of golden light, Minerva was gone as well.
Left to his solitude again, Percy closed his eyes. Nymphs began to sprout from the roots and the whirlwind of books around Percy had begun again.
Back on Olympus Athena appeared in the palace of Hephaestus. Hephaestus was at a table tinkering with something that currently seemed useless, but in a couple of second he had created a miniature engine that could run on a diesel truck with no issues. He looked at it for a few more second and eventually decided that it wasn't good enough, so he tossed it into a pile that was filled with other trinkets that were not "good enough" for the god.
"Has he approved of the blueprints for his new palace?" Athena's brother asked her without even turning to look at her.
"Yeah, he did, and he also gave me this to hand over to you." Athena laid the letter that Percy had somehow magically written on the desk where Hephaestus was sitting at.
She still had no idea how Percy could have done that, or the tree, or the nymphs, or the books! She didn't know for a fact that it was him, but it was the only reasonable explanation. Which was a paradox within itself, because its the only logical explanation, but at the same time it didn't make any sense. How did Percy have the power to do such things?
Athena decided not to think too much about it, she rationalized that it was probably a result of all the blessings he received.
When the gods on Olympus were discussing what they could possibly gift their greatest warrior, she thought that it was definitely a worthy prize. However, she had worried about the repercussions of doing such a thing, something they had never even thought about doing.
Whenever Athena thought about a certain subject for too long, she would gradually transitioned into a contemplating pose. She looked up from her pose to find Hephaestus reading the note contently.
His brow was furrowed in confusion, and so was Athena's. The piece of papyrus was completely blank; however, she could see her brother's eyes moving back and forth as if he could actually read it.
She was surprised at how Percy had managed such strong magic to be able to hide the message, even from her. Then again, if he could make a tree sprout higher than the Empire State building, it shouldn't have been that surprising.
In the end, her brother had a look of understanding, along with a wry smile and nod. When he set the letter down, it suddenly lit on fire and burned into ashes as if it was flash cotton. The sudden burst of fire frightened both gods, and even slightly singed Hephaestus beard.
Hephaestus first composed himself after the little incident, then he coughed a few time before standing up and finally making eye contact with his sister. "Well, it would seem that 'Lord' Perseus wants even more from us. A little ungrateful if you ask me, but I'm not looking to piss his father off. I'll be on my way over to Minerva's old island. I should be able to start construction in about a week. Perseus gave some specific requests, which will possibly slow me down a little, but I think I can understand the reasoning behind it."
"Bother," Athena never addressed Hephaestus by anything but his name, unless she was really trying to put a point across, "I'd be careful around him, he has changed, and he continuous to do so. He seems to be gaining power faster each day, almost exponentially. I would tread carefully. He may not be as indignant as us gods, but I get a sickening feeling that he has well surpassed us. Almost as an attack on our pride. He may still be a mortal, but now we are the vermin under his feet."
Hephaestus had a much more solemn expression. He knew not to take her sister's word for granted. If she could swallow her pride to admit that someone else was stronger that her, a mortal at that, he wasn't going to be a prideful fool about it.
Hephaestus regarded his sister one more time with a simple head nod and flashed away, leaving behind a warm feeling and the smell of charcoal burning. This left Athena alone in the darkly lit room.
Athena looked down at her hands. She was still carrying one more letter in her hand. It had the same wax seal as the previous one, but this one was addressed to Poseidon. Athena had many questions.
Why was the letter enchanted to incinerate after being read? What instructions did Percy have for Hephaestus that he didn't want anyone else knowing? Why was she carrying out the instruction of a mortal without question?
These questions confused Athena the more she tried thinking about it, and the possible answers she could come up with were not any that she liked.
She was slightly tempted to peek into the letter and see what Percy had written, but she had a feeling that just like Hephaestus' letter, she wouldn't be able to read it. Besides, when she did have thoughts of reading the letter, a dreadful feeling crept up her spine, much like the one she received from making eye contact with Percy.
She let out a deep breath, frustrated with her situation, and even more with her inability to figure out how to get herself out of it. Athena then left the room in a flash, leaving the room empty.
Empty of any gods, at least. In the shadows, completely hidden from sight, stood a nymph from Percy's tree. It stepped back into a wooden wall in the room, merging into the wall and returning to its master.