Not Just Another God ✓

Chapter 23: When you're getting changed, check that there's no one in the room

We sat in silence for the rest of the journey, too shocked and tired to even attempt to make a squeak.

And gods was I glad to get off that train and crawl up to my apartment, step by step, limb by limb.

The door opened straight away when I rang the bell, as if they were waiting for us, which they probably were.

"Hey," I said, hestitanly meeting the warm blue eyes of my mom, who took one look at my blood-soaked t-shirt and ushered us in quickly.

Once we were inside, she sat us down at the table and gave us that mom-look, complete with the raised eyebrows and whole hand on hip thing.

"Okay," she said, "what happened?"

Four voices piped up at once, with Hearthstone just silently watching, staying in the safe zone, while everyone tried to defend me–and themselves.

Mom silenced everybody with a quick motion and tuned to me.

"I want to hear it from Percy," she said quietly.

I took a deep breath, noticing that I had been fiddling with my thumbs.

"The actual trip went fine," I explained, "just on the way home, I got a vision and..."

I trailed off, not wanting to remember what happened in the vision, and not wishing to voice it.

Mom nodded.

"Okay," she whispered," I'm just glad you're still here and alive."

I gave her a weak smile as I slumped into a seat, exhausted.

***

We sat at the table in silence, each of us not knowing what to say, or whether to say anything at all.

I sighed loudly, tapping my foot to an non-existent song, waiting for something to happen.

"So–" Magnus started, clearly annoyed at my tapping. I ignored him. His ice cold glares were mere puddles compared to Annabeth's.

Finally, Annabeth laid a hand on my tapping leg, gently, which caused me to stop.

"Who's coming to pick you up?" she asked.

"Blitz should be coming," Magnus replied, "but you know, he could've gotten into a fight with a giant, god, or animal. But most likely he just got caught up in some fashion store or something."

I snorted, looking up just in time to see Mom coming in with a tray full of freshly baked cookies.

"To restore your energy," she said, setting the tray down.

"Be careful," she called, as she walked back into the kitchen, "they're still hot!"

Completly ignoring her warning, I picked up a cookie anyway, dropping it as soon as the hotness made contact with my skin.

"Five second rule," I muttered as I snatched it up and stuffed in my mouth before Annabeth could protest.

She rolled her eyes as she herself took a cookie, carefully placing it on a paper towel, for reasons unknown to the rest of the world, especially me.

"Blitz should've been here by now," Alex said, fiddling with a stray blue cookie crumb.

Magnus stayed silent, his eyes flicking over to the door as if that would make Blitz suddenly appear.

"This is probably the time for me to say something reassuring," I mumbled, with my mouth full of cookie, "but then it would be lying so... I'm not going to say anything."

Annabeth tugged at my bloodied t-shirt. "You really need to change this," she said, while I made a face.

"I wore the same t-shirt for nine months when I went missing," I protested.

"Yes, but it wasn't hygienic," Annabeth argued.

I groaned. If there was one thing I had learnt during my questing times, it was never to argue with Annabeth.

I pulled my chair out, making everyone wince at the screech the leg of the chair made against the floor.

"Sorry!" I yelped, raising both of my hands in the air as three pairs of eyes fixed themself on me.

"Just get on with it," Annabeth said, waving me on to my room.

***

As I tugged on a new t-shirt, I thought desperately about my dream. Because, whether I'd admit it or not, I had got injured and Jason... Dam, what if Jason had gotten hurt too? What if... What if I'd killed him?

My blood ran cold at the thought, and I desperately tried to rationalise the outcomes, hopelessly failing.

I snatched up a golden drachma, only to remember that communication was down.

"Styx," I muttered, throwing the coin down. If Jason was dead, would that make it my fault? And if I had chosen the future, was there anyway I could've known? Anyway I could save him?

I shook the thoughts from my head, like a wet dog drying itself as I walked over to the window, studying the skyline I had grown up with. 

It would be weird to move out of New York after so many years. Even when I went to boarding school, I always knew it wasn't permanent, and anyway, I was never at school that long. 

I would be free, for once. From monsters, and quests, and stupid gods asking me to do stuff. Free from fighting and killing and... dying...

With another quick shock of a revelation, I scribbled down my question on a scrap of paper so I wouldn't forget it.

Does New Rome accept gods?

They had no reason not to. And yet so many reasons to. But when I was there, when I had visited, I was a demigod, so I hadn't paid any attention to anything else. All I'd been focused on was the demigod part, the part where I could live a relatively normal life, though even then, I knew that could never happen.

I sighed and looked up, jumping about ten feet into the air when I saw a figure staring at me.

"Loki," I said, trying to recover from my shock.

"Indeed," he replied, looking somewhat amused at me.

"You're here," I said, still gasping.

"Yep!" he said cheerfully, with a mischievous smile no one could trust, "let's go meet those friends of yours."

I groaned. I had a sinking feeling this wasn't going to end well.