A child of God

Chapter 11

Athena's POV:

I sat rigid on my throne as I glanced around at the gods around me. Hades had been invited and he planted himself on his honorary throne, his gloomy façade reflected the feelings of all present. This was one meeting too many, all focused on those two brats.

"Well, Hermes failed to intimidate them," started Dionysus as he lazily toyed with his armbands.

The whole council went wild, everyone speaking and complaining.

"If you two had just held on to the-"

"I blame Poseidon, he obviou-"

"If they were in my care-"

"I have always advocated-"

"Silence!" cried Zeus, eyes flashing like lightning. "We get nowhere by bickering."

Silence covered us like a tarp. I looked at the faces of my compatriots, seeing the anger and, even though they hid it, pure terror. We had never come up against anything like this. And, as usual, it was all linked to Perseus Jackson. I shook my head.

We had been careful. The assignment handed over to us and the Norse Pantheon by the Deceiver was simple and to the point. Sire them, catch them young, condition them, keep them bound. The camps were instituted and had worked for centuries. Millions of children had been born and trained in our dark arts, then plunged into wars and quests. Quests meant to break them, to segregate them from society. Isolate them and make them feel unrelatable. Whether it was with dyslexia and ADHD, or with the mental scars from the missions they were sent on and our pets that they fought, we succeeded in closing every one of their doorways that could be open for the people of Light to reach into. It had worked year after year, decade after decade.

We had known from the beginning that Percy was no ordinary human. When the Deceiver had personally told us from his birth to keep an eye on him, we had begun planning. Plotting out the quests and missions we would use to break him, weaving in all the other humans of his generation to make an intricate web to keep him bound. But his leaving had never been a possibility. His seeing light wasn't even a variable. But the Name had found him, interfering as usual.

It didn't take being the goddess of wisdom to tell that we had a problem. Already, the two major threads in our web have been disconnected. And if they reach out to the others? If they begin to reveal our schemes? No, better not to even think about it.

Ares rose to speak. "It's obvious what we need to do. We must be militant about hiding their reasons for leaving."

"For once," I said as I rose, "I agree with Ares. That is the best strategy for this situation. We contain the news. Granted, his affiliates will look for him. But we will gradually encourage them away from their search."

"All well and good. But what do we do about Percy?" came Demeter, challenging.

"As we speak, the angels of light encamp the flat where he stays with the others, we can't even approach it!" Hera had a point.

"It's obvious we need to kill them, or at least render them silent. The only question is how." Poseidon stated as he caressed his trident. His ruthlessness displayed just how convinced he was of Percy and Annabeth's conversion.

"Hmm, I could send madness their way..." Dionysus looked around for approval.

"Too obvious. Maybe some seduction is in order, lead them into some immorality." Aphrodite was getting riled up. This was her specialty.

"They are already in the presence of sound council, seeing as they are becoming active in a church." Artemis replied.

"Hmm... Sickness is ruled out in that case as well. We could give them a false spirit? Something to derail them into a false gospel?"

"Apollo, that's an idea, we could play the long game." Hephaestus rubbed his misshapen hands together.

"Whatever we do," Zeus voiced with a note of finality, "We need to start immediately."

Everyone voiced their assent. Finally, unity. As I sat back into my throne, I glimpsed Hermes turn to look at the door.

"Olympians. We have visitors."

A chill crept into the room as three hags glided to the centre. The hearth swayed and flickered, as if magnetized by their presence. With a chill I recognised them.

The Moirai, the Fates. Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.

I looked up in a panic. Usually, they were dispatched to the souls in our care to release our prophecies. But if they were here, it meant one thing and one thing only.

As one, their voices rasped, scraping like nails on a chalkboard.

"Hear the words our lord offers

Take heed or suffer

This ancient battle we must fight

Against those who bear the Mark of Light

Is surely one we can win this round

And the Marked of Light we'll torment and hound

But only if we keep his soul

One with eyes of a golden glow

And only if we blind her heart,

The one who had doubts from the start

But woe to the lords of wisdom and sea

You have failed to hold what was given to thee

For if the dead see the Light,

Then we have failed, regardless of our might

Hear the words of the son of the morning

Failure is equal to eternal burning."

With that, they bowed and left the room, leaving behind the chill. I could smell the terror oozing out of every god present, from Hestia to Hephaestus. I locked eyes with Poseidon, then with Zeus.

We had just been given our assignment. A mission to hold onto the keys to our success. And if we failed, the Exterior, the place of no rest, awaited us.  

------------------------------ 𝓐 𝓒𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓖𝓸𝓭-----------------------------

Whew! Another chapter is done! 

This one was shorter than any of the chapters so far. I really enjoyed writing it though! Exploring how the Olympians had been plotting against Percy, Annabeth, the Seven, and all the demigods was 'fun' to imagine. But this is more than fiction: the wicked forces in this world hate you, and they despise you even more when you turn to Jesus. They will try everything they can to keep you bound. But guess what? God prevails, just like He did with our resident Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl 💖💖💖.

This is the end of Part I. Part II is coming up and it's what I call 'The Fun Part'. Are the gods overreacting? Is the conversion of two people really going to harm them so much? Or is this, as they fear, just the beginning of their misfortune? Find out in the next chapter! 

As always, don't forget to comment. And do you see that cute star over there? Yeah, I hear it turns orange when you tap it and it shows that you liked the chapter😅😂. 

¡Adios! ¡Hasta la proxima!

- With all the love of Christ,

Cookie 😜🍪