Apparently, I'm Dead

Chapter Seventeen

Disclaimer: Own nothing I do.

PERCY

We're a step closer to my Wise Girl. It only took making the air pressure a bit heavier around Freya, and now all we need to do is complete this small quest, then we can get her hair, then we can continue with the rest of the stuff we need.

The rest of floor 19 follows behind me, but I can hear them whispering and I can pick out my name from what they're saying.

"Percy... Freya... threats," hisses Sam to T.J.

"Cool dude... goddess," Magnus mutters to Alex.

I get fed up when I hear Mallory start to whisper something to Halfborn. I whirl around. "I can hear you, you know. Whatever you're saying, you can say it to my face."

They look a bit taken aback by my confrontational manner, but I really don't care. Finally, Magnus says, "Percy... I know you care a lot about my cousin. But you can't just threaten your way through everything. She would've said yes without you doing whatever it is you did."

I blink in shock for a moment before my eyes narrow. "Would she?" I ask. "She seemed pretty reluctant to swear anything before I... helped out."

Magnus sputters. "That-that's not the point! The point is, it's wrong to threaten people when you can do it another way."

I roll my eyes, deciding not to argue about this anymore. "Look, let's just get going. How do you get back to Earth from here?"

Blitz shoves his way to the front. "Follow me, kiddos!"

We all plod after him as he makes his way towards a statue of nine large flowers. It's silent except for Jack, who I somehow didn't notice earlier, humming some random song by Taylor Swift.

I raise an eyebrow. "So. Let me guess. The stature of nine flowers leads to the nine worlds."

Alex snorts. "Nah, that would make it way too easy. Our lives need to be even more difficult than they already are!" she mutters

Blitz gives me a confused look. "What gave you that idea?" He leads us-or me, more accurately- to a bench on the other side of the statue. It glows faintly. "This is the way to the World Tree."

A random bench. Not something that has to do with nine or trees. A bench. "Okayyy. Then what do you do to get into the tree?"

"You say the name of the world you wish to enter. Where did you say you wanted to go?"

"Earth." I say, thinking of the Empire State Building. "New York specifically, if that can happen."

Blitz nods. "Midgard!" he shouts. "New York would be great."

The bench glows even brighter, and our surroundings begin to whirl. Everything blurs until the only thing I can see is streaks of color. I close my eyes to get away from the nauseating spinning. When I open them again, we're in Manhattan, only blocks away from the Empire State Building.

I take a deep breath of the polluted air. Ah, Manhattan. Home of the gods. Literally. My hometown. Maybe I'll stop by camp...?

That thought jolts me. Camp probably thinks I'm dead. I mean, I am dead, but... My mom probably thinks I'm dead. Oh no. She probably cried. And my gods, Nico probably felt it, oh poor Nico, having to tell that information to everyone. And the Athena campers, oh no, Annabeth is dead. She was head councillor what will they do whatwillIdoI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdead-

"Percy!" Alex's voice, filled with suppressed worry, jolts me out of my impending panic attack. "You're okay, we're in New York, there are no monsters, no one is attacking, it's fine." My vision clears to see Alex's face hovering in front of mine.

I clear my throat. "Thanks," I say, embarrassed to be caught freaking out like that. I stand up, using the wall I was slumped against as a steadier. "Let's go."

I walk forwards, dodging passerby and ignoring their grumbles. We get about halfway to Olympus before a monster attacks, which was honestly slower than I expected. I thought we would get attacked immediately, what with the demigods and the dwarves and elves and whatever.

It's an empousa, easy enough to kill, but it charmspeaks Magnus into thinking that she is Alex, which makes the real Alex turn a brilliant red. "You idiot!" she shrieks after Mallory stabs it in the back with one of her daggers. "You are not allowed to get yourself killed, you hear me? NOT ALLOWED!"

I smile fondly as Magnus shrinks back, nodding furiously. Those two. A match made in the underworld, but I don't know which part. Could be Elysium, could be punishment. Really depends on the day.

Anyways, we finally make it to the Empire State Building. The guy at the desk is reading a book with a black cover. I clear my throat and he looks up.

"I need the key to the six hundredth floor."

He stares at me, his eyes bleary. "No such thing, kid. Now, why don't you hurry along and go bother someone else?" He yawns, returning to his book.

"Look at me," I say. "Maybe you've seen me before?"

He huffs, then slowly puts a bookmark on his page and closes the book. He opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a case. He opens the case and pulls out a pair of glasses. He unfolds the glasses and puts them on his nose.

Now, at this point, I'm about ready to scream from how long it took him to do that. He peers up at me with bespectacled eyes. The eyes widen. "P-P-Perseus? Perseus Jackson?"

"Yes. Now. The key?"

"Yes, sir," he sputters, "right away, sir!" I blush. He grabs the golden key from the drawer and hands it to me.

I smile at him. "You don't need to call me sir. I'm only eighteen." Then I sweep Floor 19 into the elevator.

"What was that?" asks Alex, whirling on me. "What did you do that was so impressive?"

"Nothing really, I just did a couple of favors for the gods."

Magnus looks incredulous. "You did more than just a couple of favors. You fought a war!"

"Oh, did I only tell you about the Titan war? I've actually fought two and a half wars. The second Giant war and a Civil War that never actually started," I state distractedly, listening to the music in the elevator. It reminds me forcefully of the Doors of Death. Escaping Tartarus. Being in Tartarus...

A 'ding' jerks me out of the oncoming spiral. As the doors open, I grandly gesture out of them. "Einherji of Floor 19, I'd like to present..." The doors open completely. "Olympus."

PJO/HP crossover- 4

or

Percy has a different godly parent (in this case, which god?)- 3

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ATOTALMUSICALNERD