Chapter Text
Percy woke up with a gasp. He looked over to the side and found himself in a bed, a bed that was decidedly not his bunk at Camp Half Blood where he was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep with Annabeth after winning their war with Gaea but losing Leo.
There was a table with a clock that displayed the time as 6 o'clock but he couldn't tell if it was AM or PM. He looked around some more and realised that he was in a bunk, the top bunk. The top bunk of his Yancy Academy dorm room.
Slowly Percy sat up and looked around. He was back at Yancy. Why? He reached for Riptide but his pocket was empty, that immediately set him on edge and with the skill of 7 years of practise Percy dropped onto the floor silently. He studied his surroundings and realised Grover was in the bottom bunk and there was one more bunk bed with two other guys in it. He remembered those guys, James and Toby, they were nice enough guys although they'd never been friends with him. He needed to know what day it was, how long he'd been out, maybe this was another Hera situation. He quickly found Grover's enchilada themed calendar on the desk and steeled himself as he looked at the date.
2005.
The day after that school trip where he'd killed that fury. The day it all got weird.
He'd gone back in time to before he'd even known he was a demigod.
If this was real that meant he had a chance to change everything. He could get out now, never go to Camp Half-Blood although if it really was 2005 that meant the Lightning bolt was missing and Zeus and his father were about to go to war, if he didn't retrieve it, it would be disastrous. But if he went to camp, grabbed Annabeth and Grover and went on the quest what would he do with Luke? Knowing what he knows now, how he tries to kill him with a scorpion, how he poisons Thalia and kidnaps Annabeth and causes a war for the gods. All the people that died.
As it turned out it was 6 AM and everyone was just starting to wake up. They were all surprised to see him already up, he was usually the last one awake.
They all got ready for school but Percy's mind was only half on the task at hand. He wondered if he should tell Grover what had happened, or maybe even Chiron but what if they didn't believe him? What if he ended up like Cassandra telling prophecies that no one believed.
He had a few weeks of school left before he could go home and start his adventure as a Half-blood. These were the last few normal weeks of his life, maybe he would just savour this. Now that he knew what he was doing the quest had no stakes, he basically had all the time in the world, especially if he never goes into the Lotus.
Percy may have missed 8 months of school but between ageing 5 years and being friends with Annabeth, he'd actually gotten a lot smarter. Every class was so much easier for him now, especially Chiron– Mr Brunner's Latin class. All of his teachers were surprised at his sudden grades jump, it was nice to see that he, a 16 year old, was in fact smarter than he had been at 12, and he even managed to get through the whole year without calling a teacher an old sot and getting expelled. They'd actually asked him to come BACK the next year, not that he would. If he didn't change schools he would never meet Tyson and he'd be damned if he didn't have his brother with him.
The bus drive back into the city was exactly like he remembered it, Grover was so nervous he was basically shaking. Percy didn't know how to comfort the goat boy without directly mentioning that he knew everything. Instead he just made sure to give Grover the address for the beach cabin he and his mom would be staying at and told him when to come.
Grover seemed confused as to why he was giving him his address when they were heading in the same direction anyways of course as soon as the bus stopped and Grover went to the toilet, Percy hopped in a cab and was gone.
He felt bad but he hadn't seen his mom in 8 months, he didn't want to change this part of the timeline.
Of course he forgot about Gabe. He forgot about his smell and his beer and his poker games and his equally smelly friends.
“You got any cash kid?”
“Oh come on Gabe, the kid just got back.” one of his friends piped in.
Percy saw red for a second. This was the man who had hit his mother, the man who had made their lives a living hell. He almost lost it then and there, he almost leapt across the table and beat the living daylights out of him but then he caught a glimpse of a jar of cookies in the kitchen and he remembered his mom. He couldn't just swoop in and make everything better for her. She had to do it herself. “Here.” he dug in his pocket and pulled out the change from the taxi ride over before disappearing into his room.
The last time he'd been in here there had been a Medusa head on his bed. He stared at the spot where the box had been and for a second he felt a cold presence envelope him but it dispersed when his mom came into his room “Percy you're back!”
“Mom!” He tried not to hug her like he'd been missing for 8 months, like he hadn't just been through hell but it was hard and she knew him too well.
“Oh my baby, did something happen?”
He'd travelled through time, I guess you could call that something. “No mom, nothing happened. I just really really missed you.” Lying felt wrong now when he'd been through so much.
“I missed you too, and I have a surprise! We're going to Moutauk!”
Percy smiled “We are?!” He was genuinely excited, even if he wasn't surprised. “You get to work on the 7 layer bean dip, I'll pack!”
She looked at him oddly, “What 7 layer bean dip?”
“Sally,” Gabe popped his head around the door “didn't you hear me calling you? We need dip.”
Sally looked at Percy again a bit weirdly and he shrugged, before putting on her 'housewife' face, “Of course, as soon as I'm done making it me and Percy are hitting the road.”
“You were serious about that trip?”
“It's coming out of my clothes budget, remember?”
“Fine. If the kid apologises for interrupting my game.”
“I'm sorry for interrupting you're super important game.” Percy apologised sarcastically. It was vindicating knowing Gabe still couldn't grasp whether he was being sincere or not when he so clearly was not.
Sally gave him a small wink as she made her way to the kitchen to make her bean dip and Percy packed his bag. Last time he'd packed for the week even though in the end they'd only stayed a day so he packed a lot lighter. He reached under his bed for his bronze spear before he remembered that he was a whole year early, he didn't have a spear. He didn't even have Riptide yet. If he'd been transported back just a day earlier he wouldn't have given the pen back to Chiron.
To the exact second Grover knocked on his door everything went pretty much the same, they hashed out introductions and jumped into the car and Percy tried to be as shocked as he had been the first time but after 5 years, 6 prophecies and 4 pantheons later it was hard to be shocked by anything. “So you're a donkey?”
“BaaaaH! Goat! I'm a goat!”
“What's that behind us?”
“We need to get out of the car now!” This time they managed to avoid being in the car when it exploded, there was no time to question how he knew that would happen.
“Mom no! I can't leave her!” Knowing she wasn't dead didn't make seeing her 'die' any easier. It still hurt his heart just like it did the first time.
“Percy we need to get to camp!”
Taking down the Minotaur for the 3rd time was a lot easier than it had been before, even without a weapon. This time he'd grabbed both horns, because why not.
Grover had fallen unconscious at some point in the fight and Percy knew the only way for him to get close to Annabeth was to have her nurse him back to health, he did the only thing he could do. He hit himself in the head with a rock and then stumbled to the porch of the Big House with Grover.
His introduction to the Hermes cabin went a lot better. He actually knew what was going on this time so he didn't seem stupid and he didn't trip over either although he did get a little tongue tied seeing Luke again. It was Luke. Luke who was pretending to be his friend. Luke who at the end of the summer would try to kill him, who put camp in danger, who put Thalia and Annabeth and Grover in danger, who becomes a vessel for Kronos. He couldn't look at the scar and not remember his golden eyes.
During Capture The Flag he managed to beat the Ares cabin without using the water as a level up and he managed to avoid being clawed to pieces by a Hellhound by positioning his arms over his chest in a way he'd learnt to do with Mrs O'Leary. He still let Chiron take care of him and he let Annabeth convince him to step back into the water and this time he actually got to see his sign before it faded away. He'd grown a lot more used to the bowing and the 'lord of the seas, father of horses, Earthshaker' thing but it was still weird seeing people he knew and had done pranks with or against bowing to him.
When the time for his quest came he was relieved, maybe now Annabeth would finally start talking to him properly. It started off pretty much the same as his last quest except he asked the bus driver to stop right before the Furies got on and their own trio climbed off with all their bags, money and food intact.
They still had to fight his demon math teacher but at least this time they didn't explode a bus and they were out in the open, Grover even used his flying shoes. He led them to Auntie Em's and despite Grover's instance they not go in, he tried to play it off cool. As soon as they'd eaten their food Percy lopped her head off without a second thought. He only hadn't done it at the door because he didn't want to be put off his food.
“What?” Annabeth exclaimed confused, having just snapped out of the trance.
“Medusa. You know what she's like with Athena kids.”
“Right, thanks. How did you know that?”
“I can hear her hair.” He lied. “And Grover's warnings.”
Annabeth didn't look convinced but she didn't question him as he scooped her head up into a box and mailed it to Olympus “They'll think you're impertinent.”
“I am impertinent.” He picked up the DOA Records label and without even looking at it announced to his companions “Look it's the address to the underworld.”
“That's great! Maybe with Medusa gone we can sleep here for the night and-”
“Oh no we should definitely camp outside.” The reward money from that poodle would be pretty vital if he wanted to avoid Lotus Hotel. “Bad vibes in here, it's creepy.”
Grover agreed, “It still smells like monster in here.”
Percy grabbed a plastic bag from his backpack and threw some of the trash they encountered on the way into it and Grover looked at him confused “You were never that environmentally conscious.”
Percy shrugged “Got to keep Pan happy.”
Grover frowned “When did you hear about Pan?”
Percy tried to look casual. Of course, he'd never had the conversation with Grover about searcher's licences and Pan because he had already known “You hear things. At camp I mean.” That wasn't true at all, whilst the satyrs never shut up about Pan most demigods didn't care apart from the Demeter kids and the Hunters of Artemis. “We should get some rest, I'll take first watch.”
He woke up the the chattering of Gladolia the pink poodle and was nothing but polite to him, even if he did look ridiculous. They returned him to his owner and collected the $200 reward happily, thanking the dog with a knowing wink. “Come on, I think we can get a train out West.”
Percy let the Arch play out how it had the first time, he needed to fall into the water because he had to talk to that water spirit and get the pearls, and besides Annabeth wanted to see St Louis Arch, it was an architectural masterpiece.
He tried to avoid getting poisoned this time but he still prayed to his father and leapt off the side and when the spirit approached him he bowed to her. He took the scolding from his worried friends as he exited the water. There was still a commotion but the damage was way less. It was still pretty bad though, enough that he would still be on police and news radar.
He pulled them back onto the Amtrak which was a lot easier this time, there wasn't nearly as much press.
“Percy,” Annabeth hissed, “shouldn't we go to a cheaper restaurant?” They had money but they were supposed to be saving it but hey if he was going to get free lunch out of a god he was going to make it worth his while.
As if planned Ares pulled up in his motorcycle, ordered them food and paid in whatever random gold and gems he had in his pocket. He tried not to let his temper get away from him but it was hard. He was Ares and he was still ringing with anger from his IM call with Luke.
“You're Clarisse's dad.”
“...You broke her spear, I'm not one to fight my kids battles. You guys need a ride West, I'll secure you one to Vegas if you do me a little favour.”
“Sure.” Percy agreed immediately, “I love theme parks.”
“What?” Annabeth asked confused at the non-sequator.
“What?” Grover echoed.
“How did you know-?” Ares asked as well, equally baffled.
He gave Ares a very pointed look and said “I had a dream.”
That had the god on edge but he seemed to think Percy couldn't possibly know his master plan “Right, well I just need you to retrieve my shield for me and you'll get your reward.”
Percy tried to bite his tongue, he really did. If he doesn't fight Ares, he never gets cursed and maybe Zoe doesn't die but it was hard. It was Ares “Why does a god need demigods to do his bidding? Scared?”
Ares growled “No, do you want the ride or not kid.”
Thankfully Annabeth jumped in and stopped whatever smart ass reply he was going to hurl back at the god, “Yes Lord Ares we want the ride, we'll get right on that.”
Percy sighed as he looked at the gate he would have to climb “So Annabeth, Ares and Athena are both war gods huh?” He asked as Grover flew over the gate, only just about managing not to fall over.
“Yeah but Ares is about War, Athena is about Warcraft. He's strong but even strength must bow to wisdom sometimes.”
“And Athena always has a plan.” He mumbled.
“What?”
“I said we should start climbing.” He grabbed two bars with his hands and started climbing over it and Annabeth followed, her thinking face was on, he could tell by the way her forehead crinkled. She knew something was up with him.
He held the scarf up to his nose and Annabeth grabbed it away “No love magic for you.”
“Jump on my mark!” Percy yelled and he was grinning because he knew what she would say.
“No jump on my mark!”
“What?!”
“Simple Physics! Force times the trajectory angle-”
“Okay wisegirl on your mark!”
“Now!”
He turned to the camera “Alright guys, show's over!” He missed when his quests had been this frivolous. It had seemed so hard when he was 12 but this was probably his easiest quest. No one died at least.
“This is Humane zoo transport? We should set them free!”
“Let's wait till we get to Vegas,” Percy slowed Grover down, “for now lets just give them the right food and get this gum out of this poor guys hair. 5 years ago he wouldn't have dared trying to use a blade on an animal in a moving vehicle but he gave Annabeth his sword to switch the food and took Annabeth's knife, the cursed blade, in his hands and carefully cut out each wad of gum from the Lion's mane. He made friendly conversation with the Zebra as he did so and he actually managed to get some information about the Humane Zoo Transport company and who the boss was, maybe he could report them to the police or PETA or something.
Annabeth wrote down all the information they got and laid it out neatly as an anonymous tip “We can mail it to the police once we have some time, I'm sure they'll be interested in the Zebra and the Lion that escaped into Las Vegas and the negligence that caused it.”
“Lotus Hotel?” Grover asked.
Percy bit his lip “How much money do we have?”
“After the amtrak? About $30.”
He winced. They had no where near enough to get to DOA and if he wanted to avoid fighting Ares he also didn't have enough to get a flight back home. But if they had those cards... “Let's go inside, get showered, get some food, do NOT play any games, we don't have time.”
He'd long since gotten tired of his brain being messed with, of course Annabeth and Grover didn't have the same experience so they ended up playing their reverse hunter and architecture games respectively anyways. Whilst they were distracted he looked around for Bianca and Nico and he found them “Hey Nico.”
“Hi.” The kid replied not looking up from his online Mythomagic game.
“You know... no one's going to hate you for your parents. No one thinks you're as creepy as you seem to think and it's okay to be gay.”
“Whatever man.”
Percy sighed, he didn't know if Nico had heard him, if he would even remember this when he got out in a few years but he sure hoped he did. He found Bianca next “Bianca.”
She seemed a bit more with it “You know my name?”
“In about two years time, we're going to meet again and you're going to have to make a choice.” He wondered if he could tell Bianca not to join the Hunters. She wouldn't be happy at camp, she would still have the responsibility of looking after her brother hanging over her, she would still have the possibility of death “You're life is not worth a mythomagic figurine.”
She frowned “Of course it isn't.”
“Remember that, okay? Promise me. Remember that you shouldn't risk you're life for a mythomagic figure.”
“I promise.”
“Thank you, Bianca. For everything.”
He didn't know if that would work but he still couldn't grasp how time worked here and he couldn't risk overstaying. He pulled Annabeth and Grover out and checked the newspapers. They'd been there for 2 days this time which means they basically had ages until their deadline.
Of course Annabeth and Grover were freaking out, 2 days was a lot to miss on a quest but it wasn't 5 days that's for sure. “Let's get a cab, come on.”
“We don't have that much money.” Grover pointed out.
“Find a taxi that takes hotel cards.”
Thankfully the first cab they tried took hotel cards and he too was boggled out of his mind when he saw the meter basically explode and Annabeth smirked, “Keep the change.” and they were off to Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles.
The DOA waiting room was just as depressing as Percy remembered it to be but at least he had managed to skip being stretched. He may not know his way around LA like he did New York but if it meant not running into Crusty, he could find a way to find his way. “Mr Charon.” he said as he approached the desk. Last time his dyslexia, his ancient coins and his lack of surprise about being dead had given him away “Could you tell us where we are please?”
“Aw poor kids, this is the waiting room for the underworld. Looks like you three are dead.”
“Dead!?” Percy exclaimed looking around “But I can't be! I was just taking my dad's car out for a joy ride with my friends!”
“You must have crashed kid. Sorry to tell you this. Do you have any cash on you? If you don't it's going to be a long wait.”
“We have about $40? Is that enough?”
“Actually yeah it is. For the three of you. Come on.” He turned to the ghosts in the room “If any of you touch my radio you won't even see the inside of this elevator for another few millennia.”
“It's so sad. That when we die our dreams just pollute the river. They don't go anywhere or do anything.”
“You won't be like that Annabeth, you're going to build something that everybody will remember you for. It will last for centuries, eons even.”
“Thank you Percy.”
“And Grover you're going to get your searchers licence, and you're going to find Pan.”
Charon looked at them “Why are you talking about your dreams like you're not dead?” Percy looked up at him shocked, he'd forgotten he was there. “Hang on! You guys aren't dead!”
Percy handed him 4 gold drachma and smiled “I'll tell Hades you need a pay raise, I mean those suits can't be cheap and you work so hard!”
“Thank you! These are Italian, and my wage has been fixed for far too long! Make sure you tell him and I'll let this slip.”
“Thank you Lord Charon.” He peacocked at the title, he had a big ego and he liked money, Percy knew that. Percy could use that.
“Good luck with him though.” He gesture to Cerberus before leaving them on the shore.
Grover stared up at the huge dog “Anybody have a plan?” He looked terrified.
“Annabeth, you want to take this dog to obedience school?”
“What?” Percy pulled out the big red rubber ball from her backpack and she understood instantly “Oh yeah, that I can do.”
“Grover take off the shoes.” Percy said as they neared the place where IT was.
“What?”
“Shoes.” Percy repeated. He couldn't get near the entrance of Tartarus right now. He couldn't do it. He remembered how cold it had been, you could practically feel the evil. He had gone there, he had been inside it. He had become one with the darkness, lied and killed and tortured to get out of there. He had choked a goddess in her own poison and he had revelled in it, it had been intoxicating. He couldn't go near it.
“Okay.” Grover finally agreed reluctantly.
Not a minuted later the wings sprouted out and started trying to fly away. “Grover,” Annabeth scolded “Stop messing about.”
“Maia. It's not me. Maia! These aren't working!” They started to drag him down a hill “Hey where are you going!”
“Let them go.” Percy suggested.
“These are the coolest things I've ever had though!” Grover complained. The shoes had sped up and he was now basically running down the slope.
“Grover let them go.” He warned again, as he caught sight of the huge gaping abyss. He stopped in his tracks. He'd fallen into that place for Annabeth. What did it say about him that he couldn't even get close to it for Grover. “Grover!”
Annabeth was still chasing him “Percy's right, let them go! Look what's down there!”
Grover looked passed the shoes in his hand and down the hill “Di Immortals!” Grover exclaimed, finally letting the shoes go. They fluttered out if his hand and sped down the hill directly into the hole.
The two joined Percy at the top of the hill “It's a good thing I wasn't wearing those!” Grover signed in relief.
Annabeth looked at Percy suspiciously “Yeah... good thing.”
Percy looked away “Let's get moving.”
He knelt before Hades and tried to play as dumb as possible, even as Hades shook with rage. It took everything in Percy not to give his mom a pearl, even when he knew she wasn't dead. Even as Grover and Annabeth argued over who should be left behind, over how the Lightning bolt could have gotten there. He handed them each a pearl and said “Now. I'll come back for you mom. Oh and Lord Hades? Charon wants a pay raise.” The three of them floated up towards the ceiling and then through it, washing up on the beaches of LA.
He didn't need to fight Ares, he didn't need the money the fight would generate because if they could get a car the drive was only 1 day and a half and they had 3 days until the deadline but Ares had the Helm of Darkness and he wasn't about to give it up for nothing. What more could he offer the god of War? Percy had nothing to offer, but if he fought Zoe would die for certain.
So far he hadn't made any major changes to the quest. He had made things easier but it still played out the same because that's the only way he knew how to do the quest because that's the way the prophecy had been given and that's the way the Fates had intended things to happen.
What if this was some cruel joke? What if he had to live his whole life again but he couldn't really change anything? What if Bianca and Zoe and Silena and Beckendorf and Lee and Micheal and so many more all still died?
“Hey kid you were supposed to die.”
“You tricked me. You stole the bolt and the helm.” He didn't want to fight, he didn't want Zoe's death on his hands. He didn't want her to die. He skipped Ares reasonings, his plans about starting a war and got straight to business “Those dreams you've been having. Kronos is rising and he won't just start a war between the gods he'll destroy the Olympians. It will be the war to end all wars because you'll be dead Ares.”
He frowned “I'm a god, I don't have dreams!”
“Cut the shit Ares!” He rarely swore but it was hard to hold his temper. It was Ares. “You know Kronos is trying to start a war between the demigods and their parents. You know he's trying to turn monster and half bloods alike against you and raise an army. You want war but you will lose this one. Give me the helm.”
Ares frowned at him, “I- no- what-”
“I will talk to Zeus, I will tell him you helped us, he never has to know that you were the one who had the bolt and the helm this whole time.”
That seemed to get to Ares head, “Father will be mad.”
“He'll be furious!”
Ares sighed “Fine kid I'll give you the Helm.”
“Okay and while you're still here I need a favor.”
“I'm already giving you the helm!”
“In exchange for me not ratting you out, I'm asking for an actual favour.”
“Fine.”
“Can we play fight for a second here, I need to convince the mortals I was kidnapped by a strange man, also can you shoot at one of those police cars, try to be non-lethal.”
Ares looked around and shrugged “Sure I can do that.”
“Great.”
They fought for a while and he could feel Ares going easy on him, he would never have his 'beat a god at 12 years old' record but maybe he could save a life and that was waaay more important than his ego. As promised Ares shot at the cop cars and yelled some cartoonish villain line about kidnapping the three kids and then 'fled' when Percy 'defeated' him.
Percy was genuinely shocked that Ares had done any of that although before he'd left he turned around and growled “Remember kid, you owe me.”
A favour was better than a curse.
He looked up and there were the Furies, they had seen what had happened, and Percy tossed them the Helm. “Hades won't want the other Olympians knowing he lost this will he?”
“I suppose not.”
If Hades and the Furies didn't talk no one would have to know Ares had the bolt which means Ares would never get mad at him for breaking their deal, even if it wasn't him.
The news shoved cameras in his face and he played traumatised kid for the news, sobbing and saying how Gabe would give free appliances to anyone who called and how he had been kidnapped and he had tried to escape at the Arch. Of course by the time they'd raised funds for their plane tickets back East, the waitress from the restaurant had come forward telling everyone what she had seen.
Flying still made him jittery. He didn't sleep a wink the whole way back and he clutched the backpack close to his chest and when they landed he'd never been so relieved.
He sent Annabeth and Grover back to camp even though he knew they were no longer in danger of being smited. He wanted to talk to his dad again, now that he understood the god better, he wanted to talk to him.
He knelt, “Lord Uncle, Lord Poseidon.” He'd learnt to greet Zeus first even if he hated him, he was the king of the gods after all.
He explained the quest and about Kronos rising and he tried not to sigh when Zeus tried to dismiss it. Some things never change. He left to clean his bolt and he was left alone with his father.
“Percy, I'm sorry this is how we have to meet.”
“I understand father. The gods have rules.”
“I am proud of you. I'm proud to call you my son.”
“Thank you.”
They spoke for a bit more before he brought up the choice waiting for him at home.
“Dad... how can you let mom be with Gabe when he know what he is?”
“What he is? You mean a monster?” He sighed “I've long since come to understand that your mother chose him to protect you, she would do anything for you. And she doesn't want me swooping in and putting her in a castle, she wants to live her own life good and bad. It's her choice who she marries. I may love her but I can never stay with her, it would be wrong of me to police her life. Sally Jackson is a Queen amongst men.”
Percy smiled “That she is.”
When Percy left, rather then head straight for his house like he had last time he looked around for Athena. This might actually get him smited but he needed to pre warn someone who would actually listen, someone who knew what it was like to be cursed with knowledge.
He found her in the Olympian library and bowed low, he had to do extra grovelling thanks to his father. “Perseus Jackson. It was a mistake to come looking for me.”
“Lord Zeus wants to ignore the coming threat, I felt I had to warn someone who may be able to talk sense to the other Olympians. Kronos is rising and Zeus thinks he can stop it by pretending it's not happening.”
“And what am I to do about it?”
“I need to tell you something and I need you to promise on the Styx you won't repeat what I tell you.”
“Why would I do that?”
“You're the goddess of wisdom aren't you? Don't you want knowledge that no one else has?”
She paused and thought about it for a moment “Okay, I swear on the River Styx that I will not repeat the secret you tell me.”
“A demigod took the bolt last Winter but they also took Hades' helm. That demigod was instructed by Kronos. They were caught by a god but then that god was also instructed by Kronos and so they kept both until the bolt was handed to me. When I went to the Underworld Hades thought I came to laud my theft over him or something and he would then kill me. Poseidon would be mad that Hades killed his son, Hades would be mad that I stole his helm and Zeus would still think Poseidon sent me to steal the bolt.”
“It would start a war between the big three.”
“Exactly.”
“Kronos has more influence over the going ons outside of Tartarus than I first thought.”
“Which is why I thought to warn you. You must make sure the Olympian Council understands how serious this is.”
She nodded, “I will do my best Perseus Jackson. You may go now.”
“Thank you Lady Athena.”
After that he went home and he hugged his mom and he told her what was in the box, offered to do it for her, knowing she wouldn't take him up on the offer and he headed back to camp.
He was a hero, Annabeth was his friend and Grover had his license.
Annabeth would be spending the year with her father, and Sally had sent him a letter. Gabe was missing. He'd already told his mom he wasn't going back to Yancy so she'd enrolled him in another one, Tyson's one. He grinned.
This years bead was a trident.
Before Grover left he told him “If you end up in a wedding dress, don't link us. I'll come find you.”
“What?”
“Trust me, that will make sense eventually. If you don't end up in a wedding dress though by next summer definitely link us. Stay safe out their goat man, this is your big break.”
Luke had been avoiding him since he'd been back but he'd also been avoiding Luke. He didn't want to to talk to him knowing the next time he did he would try to kill him. Of course this had to happen. The prophecy had stayed the same. He still had to be betrayed by his friend. He came across Luke slashing dummies in the arena with backbiter. When he's realised what it was for originally he had been weirded out and then disgusted, now with 5 years of bitterness against the gods in his head he couldn't help but be intrigued “Half bronze half steel huh? I didn't know they made those.”
“They don't. This is custom made, I call it Back biter.”
More like Back stabber.
“Want to go for a coke?” He offered, holding up a 6 pack.
“Sure.” Percy tried not to seem nervous as they wondered into the secluded woods and drank coke.
Luke started talking about the gods, how they didn't care, how they needed to be replaced. Percy couldn't help but agree except for the fact that his father had just said he was proud of him. “It was you? You're the lightning thief?!” He'd felt betrayed last time. Now he just felt sad. He couldn't save Luke. Luke was the one person he didn't know how to save in this new timeline. He was too far gone. “You let the Hellhound in.”
“We're starting over Percy, and I'm sorry you won't live long enough to see the new world order.”
“Hermes loves you and May wouldn't want this for you. Don't become a host, you're more than just a skin suit.”
“What are you talking about? How do you know my mom.”
The Scorpion leapt onto his hand. “I forgive you.”
Luke looked at him, anguish in his eyes before he left.
Percy stood up and stumbled in the direction they came, calling to the nymphs for help.
He woke up with Annabeth nursing him back to health “You drool when you sleep.”
“You look like an angel.” He blurted out. He would have told her that as a 17 year old without hesitation but right now they were 12 and she wasn't his girlfriend.
She blushed bright red before getting serious. “The nymphs told us what happened. Luke poisoned you?”
“He was the thief. He works for Kronos.” He paused for a second “Annabeth, when you hold your meetings on what to do about all this... don't assemble all the head counsellors.”
“What? But that's how we've always done it.”
“Ares, Apollo, Demeter, Hermes The Stolls only, Hephestus, Athena, Dionysus only.”
Athena frowned “Did Luke tell you something about Aphrodite?”
“And make sure Clarisse, The Stolls and Beckondorf keep it 100% confidential.”
“Did he tell you something about Silena?”
“Annabeth, just promise me that? Top secret war council meetings. Not head counsellor meetings.”
“I'll try Percy but they're not going to like me just excluding Silena for no reason.”
“I know.”
“I just really need you to try. Lives depend on it.”