The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 1

"Isn't it kind of ironic that Father, the lord of justice, is the most unjust god?" Jason asked Percy as he followed him into the Olympian throne room. 

Leo looked around the throne room, which was built entirely out of marble. "Ugh. I keep wanting to insult Annabeth's architecture, but it's just so . . . brilliant."

Percy couldn't help but agree with him, feeling angry as though he was feeding Annabeth's ego mentally. 

But then again, he wasn't fawning around the famous hunter of Artemis—who was also a goddess—like some young demigods were, not faltering at the deadly glares the other hunters were giving them, especially to the boys. 

Percy tried not to look at the gorgeous silver-eyed Olympian who was sitting on her throne which the hunters decided to sit around, afraid her hypnotizing pupils swirling with power would draw him in. 

"It is," Jason admitted, leading them to his newly-built throne when he seemed to realize Percy didn't know where to go. "I can't believe Lady Artemis didn't kick her out of the hunt."

Percy winced. He wasn't far from the truth.

While Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty, Artemis' was possessiveness.

The moment Artemis had learned the truth about what happened, she was ready to go out on a rampage. It took many hours—and kisses—for Percy to make her calm down. It wasn't until a few weeks later she became levelheaded enough to contain her passive-aggressiveness.

Even now, he observed how she glared disgustingly at Annabeth's behavior, which somehow made the fierce goddess look adorable. 

"Why are we even here?" Percy wondered and tried to forget that he was in the same room as his former love.

It was a good question, to which both of the other boys seemed to not have an answer to. It wasn't surprising, given Lord Zeus' inclination for dramatic reveals.

Lord Zeus had come by the Big House in the morning and simply ordered Chiron to announce that all demigods would have to be present in an Olympian meeting in the afternoon. He had seemed to be grumpier than normal—however, that could be explained due to the fact that Percy had been there.

There was one period time where Lord Zeus had actually behaved like a proper uncle, and almost everybody had thought his corrupt and egoistic personality would disappear altogether. But after a few years, it appeared as though his rotten side had taken hold again, and he once again became the uncle who wanted Percy dead.

"The McShizzle himself says it looks like every god is here except the main man himself," Leo said, taking a little help from Jason to sit on the tall armrest of his throne, while Percy chose to sit on the ground.

Jason groaned, thumping his head on the back of his throne. "Will you stop referring to yourself in the third person? It was never cool!"

"Don't force him to change," Percy warned. "The next thing you know, he'll be annoying us to call him the whatever."

Leo flicked a spark onto Percy's shoulder. "McShizzle, dude! Don't respect the name!"

Percy reeled back. "What did I tell you about shooting fire at me? Water and fire don't mix!"

Leo shot him a patronizing glance. "Water always wins. Notice how you extinguished it."

A burst of thunder drowned out Percy's reply.

A bolt of lightning struck Lord Zeus' throne, and when it dissipated, the thunder god appeared in all his almighty strength. Which, in retrospect, wasn't very much.

Instead of his normal pinstriped suit, he was wearing casual trousers and a short-sleeved tunic. And given the angry expression Lady Hera was directing at him, it was obvious some infidelity was happening.

"Welcome demigods and heroes!" Zeus boomed out, a little too quickly when he seemed to notice his wife. 

Percy frowned; by purposely addressing "heroes" and "demigods" separately, it gave the indication that he was treating the gods—and himself—as though they had actually done something in the wars.

"It seems as though we can never take a break, since—yet again—a powerful enemy is rising." 

The sentence was like a record scratch, leaving the room agonizingly silent. 

But then everybody started talking over each other, shouting and yelling. "Who is it?" "How are we going to fight another enemy when we already lost so much?" "Why can't you gods just do something?"

The last question pierced through the cloud of sorrow, confusion, and anger, reaching everybody's ears and once again halting the conversation.

"Who said that?" Zeus asked angrily, lifting his lightning bolt as he stood up. "Well, come on then! Say it to my face!"

A young demigod on the other side of the room gulped, suddenly looking nervous.

Zeus' eyes locked onto the movement, and he walked forward . . .

"I did it."

Percy only realized he said it when Lord Zeus spun around to face him just as Jason and Leo jumped up to shield him.

Ignoring Lady Artemis' piercing stare, he built up the courage and continued, "You wanted a reason to kill me? Do it. Show that you enjoy killing demigods for sport. Show that you're weak, and can't even keep your cool when a demigod insults you."

"Don't you dare!" Dad warned, lifting his trident to contest Lord Zeus' bolt when he started trembling with anger. "Be careful, brother. The sky is powerless against the sea. Hurt my son, and I'll take your dear title."

"If you could, why didn't you take it already?" Lord Zeus asked him haughtily.

Dad's sea-green eyes flashed with restrained anger. "Power is not everything. I was fine with what I had, unlike you. Have you forgotten about my fatal flaw? I can't betray my family even if they deserved it. And you, Brother, deserve it."

It felt as though everybody was holding their breath, not knowing which powerful god would surrender first.

Unsurprisingly, it was Zeus. He scoffed and said, "Fine." He glared at Percy. "You just wait until next time."

Hestia cleared her throat, the sound clearly bouncing around  from her throne, bringing everybody out of their stunned silence. "Why did you call all of us here to announce this, Brother? We mustn't hold up the dear demigods for too long."

The sound of her soothing voice seemed to calm Lord Zeus. But not even the nicest of all could tamp down his arrogant nature.

"Lord Chaos contacted me." he said, haughtily, in a tone that said I'm better than all of you.