We all sat at the dinner table in my father's household, waiting for Percy Jackson to show up.
Of course, it would be his choice entirely. I wouldn't hold it against him if he didn't. He had been through a rough couple of days. Discovering new things about himself, finding out that almost everything he knew was a lie.
Even though I didn't know him, I considered him family. And family stuck together. I would do anything to help him figure out who he was and cope with it.
Chaos sat next to me on the right. Ouranos on the left. Nyx, Goddess of Night, wouldn't be able to attend, for she was keeping an eye on Mount Olympus, seeing what the Olympians reaction to this "kidnapping" would be. So far nothing yet. They were being very secretive. But Nyx would figure out what they were planning sooner or later; She always did. I knew I would be grateful for any information she could get. I figured Percy would, too.
I looked at my father now, raising a dark eyebrow in question. How much longer should we wait for him before we started?
"Not very long," he told me. His tone was as if he knew something I did not. But of course, he always did. It really shouldn't have surprised me.
The doors open and in strode Percy.
I have to admit, he looked different from when he had in my realm. There he had been disheveled, injured, tired... I had not been able to believe that he was family - or that he was a player in two Great Prophecies. But seeing him now, he was every bit the part.
I don't think he even had to try. He was wearing a regular sea green T-shirt with jeans and converse, but the way he held himself told you everything. His face wasn't open like it usually was; it was closed, void of emotion. But I suspected that the only reason that mask was in place was so he could hide how he was really feeling. If I were in his shoes, I would do the very same.
"Perseus," Chaos said pleasantly, gesturing to the chair between he and Ouranos. "Sit. We have been waiting for you."
Percy didn't dip his head as I would have done. He merely walked over and sat down, his gaze meeting mine. I held it, not backing down. He would have to first. It seemed he had the same idea.
"I guess I should thank you," Percy said at last. "You haven't harmed me in any way - except my shoulders are burning from the claws of that gigantic bird thing."
I blinked. That was one way to show gratitude, I supposed.
We all remained a little silent for a while. I noticed Percy giving confused glances at Ouranos. I saw when it dawned on him who the Sky God was. It surprised me when he chose to give Ouranos a little smile, which Ouranos promptly returned.
Ouranos had chosen to take the form of a man in his middle twenties. Light brown hair and pale blue eyes, a lanky build, but full of cunning. "Where have you been?" Percy asked him. Ouranos looked away and didn't respond, looking slightly ashamed. I would, too.
"He chose to return when Gaea was driven away by the Olympian's tools," Chaos said softly. I shot him a look. Percy wasn't an idiot - he would catch that insult immediately. I looked back at Percy and saw nothing on his face. That same stone look that he had donned when entering the room.
Had he come up with this mask just now or had he before?
"We believed in what we were doing," Percy said, his voice as flat as his expression. "We fought for what we believed in. I'd hardly call that a tool."
"Really?" Ouranos finally summoned the courage to speak. "Have they not used you and discarded you when you were worn beyond repair."
I saw Percy flinch. Anger swelled up in me. The boy had been through a lot - they had no right to treat him this way.
"What matters is what you choose to do now," I said, not speaking just to Percy. "Of course, whatever decision you make will not be held against you."
My father looked at me in a way that told me that had been the right thing to say. Everything was part of a plan with him. It annoyed and infuriated me to no end.
I looked back to Percy, not wanting to look at my father. I would trust him until I died, of course. I would fight for him as long as I could do so. But sometimes it seemed we wanted different sides of the same coin. And in order for any of us to get what we wanted, the other would have to lose.
"This is your home?" Percy asked me.
I nodded.
"Where are you when you aren't here?"
Clever. He must've thought about this conversation for the past day. "The knowledge of that depends on your decision."
Chaos was watching Percy too, smiling at him. The resemblance between them was uncanny. They looked alike. They both walked with that dangerous grace. Both had different personalities when they chose to. I had seen Percy before, happy and uncaring, but this was entirely different. This was a different hard, cold, harsh version of him. Chaos had been all smiles and friendly with Percy up until this moment. Now he was cool and calculating.
They were so similar... I understood why the Olympians feared Percy more than any of the other demigods. Somehow I knew that there was more to Percy than fighting skills and sarcasm. If he wanted to, I bet he could have destroyed the Olympians long ago.
Abruptly Percy cracked a grin, that stony expression dropping. It took all of us by surprise. "You know, when Tartarus told me that this was a family dinner, I didn't expect it to be like this."
Chaos instantly changed his own demeanor to match Percy's mood. "Well, you'll find that not everything here is as you expect."
Too similar.
"I've given a lot of thought to what you said," Percy said, smiling at me. I couldn't help grinning back - his smile was contagious. He was playing this very clever - switching the moods so fast to try to make us slip. I suspected that he was smarter than everyone gave him credit for.
"And have you decided to help us?" Chaos asked. "The choice is completely yours."
Percy gave him a sideways glance. "I agree with you that the Olympians have faults," he said simply. "But to topple them from their thrones like Kronos tried to do a few years ago? That seems a little extreme."
I raised my eyebrows. Just a few moments ago he had seemed ready to do exactly what Kronos had done a few years ago. What had changed in these past few moments? Or was this all part of his little game?
"Lately I've been caught up in the mistakes that the Olympians recently made," he told us. "And I've forgotten to look at from an overall point of view. They are better than the Titans. Kronos treated others as if they were not fit to breathe the same air as he did. The Olympians never would have done that. They have exiled countless monsters to Tartarus... " He glanced at me slightly. I knew he wanted to ask the frequent question - How are you here if you're supposed to be down there? I was grateful he didn't - it would've taken too much explaining and time. "... but not without reason. They don't harm the innocent."
I saw Chaos and Ouranos exchange a quick look. Oh, they were coming up with something.
"I've asked the fish not to tell my location to my da... to Poseidon. But eventually I will have to go back. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Olympians haven't done anything against the innocent like former rulers have - and I think that until they do, they should stay on Mount Olympus."
I nodded to him, already knowing how to finally win him over. "All right. Your choice has been made, and yet you are still curious to see what is beyond this place - where we have been hiding for centuries. Are you not?" At his nod, I continued, "If you are to learn about it, it will need to be kept a close secret. Especially from the Olympians."
"Your secret is safe with me," Percy said. "You haven't harmed me in any way, and I won't do anything against you... Yet."
I smiled. "Wonderful. Walk with me."
Percy
Tartarus showed me through a maze of hallways that I didn't even pay attention to at all. The only light was from torches, and the only way it seemed we were headed is down. All the floors were tilted downwards, so we must have been headed underground.
I kept glancing at him, wondering why he wasn't upset at my choice. I had been tempted, yes. I knew I could never trust the Olympians and the demigods fully again, but... I would continue to fight for what I believed in.
I seemed to be saying that to myself a lot now. But it was true. After I had gotten past all my anger, betrayal, and hurt, I had seen that the Olympians really were good. And the more I thought about it... What would I have done if I knew that Chaos was my father? Would I have sided with him from the beginning? I guess I would never know.
But from what I'd seen so far, Chaos wasn't a bad guy either. At least he wasn't like Gaea or Kronos, wanting to rule the world out of greed for power. Of course he wanted to rule Mount Olympus, but not for the power. He wanted it because he believed that the Olympians were cold rulers who didn't care about the lives lost for them. And to some extent that was true. For some of them, at least.
I kept walking until I slammed straight into a door. I looked around wildly through my tears, rubbing my aching nose, and saw that we had at last come to the end of a hallway.
"If I open these doors, you will have to be sworn to secrecy forever," Tartarus said solemnly. His face was utterly unreadable. "Do I have your word?"
"You have my word," I told him. And he did have it. I couldn't see these people as the bad guys - they were just people who wanted different things than the Olympians did.
And yet... there seemed to be a reason for all that ambition for the Olympians' downfall. Some grudge or something. Maybe whatever was beyond this door would finally reveal what.
Tartarus nodded and opened the door. A bright light hit my eyes and I instinctively looked away. Only when my eyes adjusted did I look again. I glanced at the wolf tattoo on my arm and then back at what I saw.
My mouth fell open in both horror and amazement.
This wasn't possible.