Percy Jackson: Trouble In The Land Beyond The Gods

"Prove you're the same."

Piper's POV

"Of course, there is a large chance of blowing something up, but it's a small price to pay for those who are willing to learn," Percy's eyes swept the room, meeting each person's gaze. "For monsters, magic is a weapon and a shield; for example, the mist disguises them so they often remain unseen until it is too late, but it often protects them from mortal interference and demigods alike. So it is a respected power, feared but respected."

"But what's the ideal you follow?" I asked, curiosity laced in my words.

"I think you mispronounced your words, charmspeaker."

I clenched my fists, "I'm not just a charmspeaker, you eternal butt, and I didn't say anything wrong!"

Then time seemed to stop, Nico gasped and scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide as if he'd just swallowed a lemon.

"Yes and No," the son of Hades said. "Yes because Darkness was an ideal you followed, but No because it wasn't the only one. You don't just follow Darkness, you follow Magic as well."

"Not quite true, di Angelo." Percy shook his head, "You only got two out of three."

I felt my eyes grow wide, my mouth falling agape. In the corner of my eyes I saw the others with similar reactions; Annabeth subtly reaching for her drakon bone sword with her eyes trained on Percy with a look of barely concealed horror, Hazel fanning her face as Frank clutched her hand, neither of them looking away from the disowned son of Poseidon.

"So you follow all three ideals of Monster Law," Nico leant back in his seat, taking the lead while everyone shook off their daze. "I have one question for you, though: Why?"

"Why give everything for a bunch of brainless monsters who'll just betray you and eat you as soon as you turn your back?" Percy mimicked him, his tone mocking, "Well, if you care to spend four and a half years in the land beyond the gods as a disowned demigod, you'll soon work out that not everything is barricaded by barriers, and sooner or later, the lines begin to blur."

"But why choose to follow all three ideals?"

"Because if you want somebody's trust, you've got to do something they do to prove you're not so different. If you want an entire species trust, well... you've got to do everything they do to prove you're the same."

"But that's the trouble," Nico leaned forwards on the table. "The trouble in the land beyond the gods."

End of Book Three.