The Sea and The Moon

Chapter 21

A.N: So, for the poll, the first choice won. I will be using this in my story but altering it slightly. Don't worry, it will have the same concept, just different "ingredients" to activate the key to make it a little more interesting and realistic.

Percy POV:

Over the next couple hours, the gods worked their butts off trying to find something, anything, on Apollyon and how to activate this key. I had to admit, it was a little funny watching them scramble around the library looking for books. I had never expected to see Zeus so interested as he flipped his way through an old book that looked worn on the cover.

Athena and Hestia were by far the most into it. Athena, probably because she loved finding new books to read, and Hestia because she was extremely determined to do anything she could to help our chances of success, no matter how small it was. Both had been working at a furious pace, skimming through book after book without any sign of stopping.

I was sitting at a desk in the library with large stacks of books surrounding me like mountains. It was almost daunting how many books there were. So far, nobody had found anything, but we had only gone through less than a quarter of the books in this library.

The library we were in was the biggest and most ancient one ever created. There were numerous books dating back to the beginning of the Primordials and many of them were written in a language that I couldn't understand. Luckily, Athena came to the rescue there. The library had apparently been sealed off many years ago by the gods in fear that somebody would find something written there that would give them immense power. Enough power to overthrow them. Athena had reopened it but had warned us not to even think about stealing a single book from the selection.

Artemis sat beside me, humming merely. She didn't seem to mind sitting here for so long, but I was becoming restless. My ADHD must have been kicking in because I couldn't seem to sit still for more than ten seconds.

I soon grew tired of it and stood up abruptly. Artemis looked up at me questioningly with her eyebrow raised.

"Sorry, I just need to get up and move around a bit. I was thinking that I would go an see my mom and Ashley. I haven't talked to them since I got back and I miss them quite a bit. Want to come with me? We'll get straight back to work once we're done," I whispered to her as to not distract the other gods.

She looked at me skeptically before sighing, "I guess we can do that. It's been getting a little agitating when you shift around every couple seconds. Frankly, I was ready to hit you upside the head."

"Great! Let's go!" I said a little too enthusiastically. I got smacked upside the head anyways.

Artemis had flashed us both to the front door of my mother's house.

"Well, here we are. I hope they're not too mad at me for not coming to see them," I said a little nervously. Artemis seemed to notice my discomfort and placed her hand on my shoulder, instantly making me feel better.

"Don't worry. Even if they are angry, it will only be for a second before they're all over you with hugs and kisses," She said reassuringly. I smiled down at her and decided to make a bold move. I leaned down and pressed my lips lightly to her lips (I was contemplating cheek, but nah. PERTEMIS!). I felt her stiffen in surprise, but she didn't slap me, so that was a good sign. As I pulled my head back, noticed a slight red gracing her cheeks and I could tell that my own were a similar shade.

"Thanks for being there for me, Arty. I don't know what I would do without you." I hadn't been very comfortable being intimate with the maiden goddess, but this was a big step up for me. If she accepted this, then our relationship would definitely be moving in the right direction. I was a little bit bummed that I wouldn't be able to choose the person that I loved, but I knew that we could make this work. There was also the impending problem of revealing this to everyone. Shit