Percy Jackson: Betrayal

Chapter 15: The visit

With that, he lighted himself on fire, and run out of the Bunker screaming lyrics of 'Girl on Fire' by Alicia Keys.

-----

That kid's weird. I looked around and saw the ship. It was beautiful.

--- time skip 3 days ---

Percy POV

We trained campers as hard as we could. They improved drastically in wielding their chosen weapons and hand-to-hand combat. We might actually stand a chance.

We also moved everything we'll need to the ship. Food, nectar, ambrosia, and other first-aid stuff, along with our personal items. The ship was smaller than Argo II, and Leo made it easier to use, with fewer buttons, descriptions on which button does what, and things like that.

I also used this time to bond with the rest of the Seven again, of course except Annabeth. She's still suspicious.

We're starting the quest tomorrow, at sunrise, as for now, Estelle wanted to see me. I started walking toward the beach because I knew that she'll be there. She loves the sea as much I do. We are really similar, on more levels than one. We think and feel the same way, we react the same way in different situations. She's the one that understands me the most and I'm grateful for it.

After a few-minute walk, I arrived at the beach. I could see Estelle sitting about a hundred meters away from me. She looked so peaceful at the sea. I walked up to her and sat down.

''What did you want to talk about?'' I asked her.

''About Tyson.'' She replied still not looking at me. I felt sad, I completely forgot about him, and he should've been one of the first, if not the first one to know my real identity.

''Oh.'' Was my brilliant reply.

''We're going to visit him now, he has some news that I already know, and he wants to be the one to tell you. I already said that I'd visit, but I didn't say that you'll be coming, so you're going to surprise him.'' I was confused, of course, I was excited that I'll see him, but had no idea what those 'news' would be. But I at least knew that they aren't bad because she sounded excited.

She stood up, took my hand, and basically dragged me to the sea.

''Ouch! What was that for?'' I asked her rubbing my arm when she finally let go of me when we were waist-deep in the water.

She rolled her eyes and continued walking towards the deeper waters. I couldn't do anything about that, so I just followed her. We walked deeper and deeper until she called two hippocampi. They took us the rest of the way to dad's palace. It got rebuilt, and now it looks even more majestic than it did before the war. I haven't visited Atlantis in a long time.

Hippocampi stopped swimming, so we got off of them. They immediately swam away. We continued walking towards the palace doors. We first visited dad, and then we went to search for Tyson. He easily forgets things. We found him in forges, he was making weapons. When he looked up, he first saw Estelle. He came forward to hug her, but then he saw me. He tensed like he didn't believe that it's actually me like it's some kind of a joke, prank. His reaction was almost exactly like dad's when I revealed my identity. he slowly came forward, like he's afraid that I would disappear. When he finally realized that it's, in fact, me he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

He started sobbing and I felt awful. After a few minutes when he finally calmed down, Estelle cleared her throat. Both of us looked at her.

''Tyson, you have some news for Percy, don't you?'' She said with a smile. Tyson blushed and said something that shocked me:

''Big brother is going to be an uncle!'' He shouted happily. I was stunned. I didn't expect this at all.

''Wait. You're telling me that Ella's pregnant?'' I asked him.

''Yes.'' He nodded with a smile on his face. While he was happy and talking about the forge, Atlantis, and other things, I was thinking about how will the baby look like.

It isn't really common for cyclops and a harpy to have a child. Will it have one eye? Will it be immune to fire? Will it have wings? The possibilities were endless and my ADHD wasn't exactly helping in this situation.

I'm going to be an uncle! I can't believe it. Maybe the kid will have water powers? Ok, that's enough. Back on track:

We talked with Tyson some more, but eventually, he needed to go back to Ella, and we left, but not before one more round of hugs.

--- time skip ---

After we came out of the sea, Estelle started dragging me towards the pegasi stables.

''What are you doing?'' I asked her confused. She's really weird.

''We're going to visit one more person that you owe an explanation.'' She replied.

''Who?'' I asked even more confused.

''Think.'' Was all she said.

Then it hit me. I still haven't visited mom. Oh, gods, I hope I'll still be alive in the evening.

''Oh, ok.'' Was my brilliant answer.

We got on pegasi and flew on them to Manhattan. We talked a bit along the way and I found out that Estelle visited mum and Paul every once in a while. She also told me that it's really awkward when she comes there, because of my baby sister, who's also called Estelle. She's five now, though. It's really a funny coincidence.

Eventually, we came in front of mum's apartment. I was beyond nervous. I had no idea how will she react.

Estelle knocked on the door. We waited for a bit until mom opened the door. She looked exactly the same, maybe even a bit happier.

''Oh, Estelle! Hi.'' She pulled her in a hug. Then she noticed me. Her eyes widened. She looked like she saw a ghost. Maybe that was an accurate description.

''Percy,'' She whispered. I was now seriously concerned for her. She looked like she might faint.

She came forward and hugged me. I got a feeling of deja-vu because she started sobbing at that moment. I noticed that we somehow have gotten into the apartment in the meantime. Estelle was standing behind us, smiling.

At that moment Paul came into the room, followed by Estelle No.2. It was weird. Pauls's eyes widened too, and he pulled both me and mum into a group hug. Estelle No.2 run to Estelle No.1 and hugged her, or at least wrapped her arms around my twin's knees.

''Who is that?'' She asked in a cute voice, pointing at me. I smiled at her.

''That's Percy.'' Estelle No.1 answered. Estelle No.2's eyes comically widened.

''Big brother Percy?'' She silently asked. I nodded to confirm. She then let out an excited scream and joined the group hug. We all laughed. It was nice to be back.