𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐱𝐢 - 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 (𝐩)

Percy should've felt victorious as he walked into the gods' sacred home after defeating Ares in a one-on-one combat duel with Zeus' symbol of power. (If you missed a chapter, it's okay. Aurora did too.) But the only thing he could think of was that the pretty girl he had wished so hard to be his friend was still nowhere to be found. Throughout his entire battle with Ares, he used the moves she had taught him, doing exactly what she had done. On his way up the elevator, he thought about what she would say, how she would react, how she would destroy the gods with her mere words.

Even as he stared at the throne room, he couldn't get Aurora off his mind.

But gods, the throne room was something else. Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. Percy didn't have to be told who the two gods were that were sitting there, waiting for him to approach. He went toward them, his legs trembling.

Remember what Aurora would do, he reprimanded himself. She cursed out Hades. You can do this.

The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been, but Percy could barely look at them without feeling a tingle, as if his body were starting to burn. Zeus wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy gray.

The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. His hair was black, like Percy's. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten him branded a rebel. But his eyes, sea-green like his, were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too. Percy noted that that color, the crossover between sea green and aquamarine blue, was Aurora's favorite color, along with the pink she deemed "coquette." He didn't really know what that meant, but he had gone along with it. Percy really wished he would've asked her questions, how he should've been.

The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument.

Percy approached Poseidon and knelt at his feet. "Father." He dared not look up. His heart was racing. He could feel the energy emanating from the two gods. If Percy said the wrong thing, he had no doubt they could blast him into dust.

To his left, Zeus spoke with indignity. "Should you not address the master of this house first, boy?"

Percy kept his head down and waited. "Peace, brother," Poseidon finally said. "The boy defers to his father. This is only right."

"You still claim him then?" Zeus asked, menacingly. "You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"

"I have admitted my wrongdoing," Poseidon said. "Now I would hear him speak."

Wrongdoing. Percy felt a lump well up in his throat. Is that all I am? A wrongdoing? The result of a god's mistake? He remembered Aurora, her choked voice as she described what her mother had told her. That was all demigods were: mistakes. Standing in front of the deities, Percy couldn't feel anything but frustration and annoyance for them.

"I have spared him once already," Zeus grumbled. "Daring to fly through my domain... pah! I should have blasted him out of the sky for his impudence."

"And risk destroying your own master bolt?" Poseidon pointed out calmly. It surprised Percy to hear his father defend him. "Let us hear him out, brother."

Zeus grunted some more. "I shall listen," he decided. "Then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast this boy down from Olympus."

"Perseus," Poseidon said. "Look at me. Address Lord Zeus, boy. Tell him your story."