Celestial - a Percy Jackson fanfic [BOOK ONE]

Chapter nineteen

Hades jeered down at me, a crooked smile decorating his features. "An act of nobility, I suppose? Sacrificing yourself for others to survive?"

I looked right back up at him, doing my best to not give away how absolutely terrified I was.

"Tell me, godling, are you ready to die?"

"Do you know who I am?" I said, regretting how cockily my words came out. "I am Cleo Miller, daughter of Zeus."

Now this caught Hades's interest. He leaned forward on his throne of bones and souls. He paused for a moment before saying, "Impossible. I would have heard of a godling with such power sooner."

I bit my cheek, biting my words back as to not anger the god of the dead towering over me. I closed my eyes and hoped to the gods that this would work. I wasn't super confident.

Lord Zeus, I thought, Father. I have never asked for help before, but I need you now. Please, help me escape the realm of death. I will return your master bolt to you in return.

The room began to shake. Hades stood from his throne, realizing what was happening. He roared in anger, pointing his bony finger at me. "Destroy her!"

The army of skeletons rushed forward, swords out and guns drawn. Just as I heard the few shots ring out, bolts of gold began circling me, protecting me from the oncoming weapons.

I cannot always help you, Cleomara, but your story does not end here.

I grin at the vengeful god in front of me, still yelling in frustration. In a flash of lightning, I dissipated into a million golden specks.

Before I could even blink, I found myself sitting on the shores of the Santa Monica Pier. Whatever just happened in the underworld was causing devastation to occur in Los Angeles. Plumes of smoke rose in the horizon. A huge earthquake had occurred. I knew exactly what day it was. Early morning June 21st, the day of the summer solstice.

—

Apparently the three other demi-gods had been found in the middle of the bay and brought to the Pier, where I sat waiting.

Percy was angry beyond words. "How could you do that to us? We thought you were gone!"

"I told you," I responded. "I had a plan."

"You absolutely did not," Annabeth said. "You were winging it."

I opened my mouth to respond, but stopped when I realized she was right. "I mean, yeah, but it worked, right?"

Grover flicked my ear. "You're lucky we ended up in the same place, or else we would have thought you were still down there."

Annabeth's attention switched to Percy. "Percy... I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

Percy chewed on his bottom lip. "The prophecy was right," he said, looking up at me. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else stole Zeus's master bolt and Hades's helm, then framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid."

"But who would do that?" Grover shook his head in disbelief. "Who would want war that bad?"

"Think about it," I said to Grover. "Maybe... the God of War?"

And suddenly, there he was. He was waiting for us in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, a baseball bat propped up on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him.

"Hey, kid," Ares said, sounding awfully intrugued. "You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me!" Percy yelled. "You stole the helm and the master bolt."