Before I Die (Split Souls part 1)

23: Get Out Of Here

THIRD PoV

The gods assembled in their throne room, many of them agitated that they had been called to this unscheduled meeting.

"What is the meaning of this, Zeus?" Hades called lazily.

"I have heard of a rumour." Zeus announced for all to hear.

"Ooh! Gossip!" Aphrodite leaned forward intently.

"Oh no. Not another rumour." Hera rolled her eyes.

"Do we get to kill someone?" Ares asked, his voice booming at the prospect.

"Let me speak!" Zeus called. The gods quieted, and he began to speak again. "I have heard of a rumour. One of The Perseus Jackson in the Pit."

The gods exchanged curious and occasionally worried expressions.

"What of the Sea-Spawn?" Athena called, interested.

"He turned Akhlys' own poison against her!" Zeus boomed.

The gods whispered amongst eachother.

"What do you mean?" Demeter spoke.

"I mean that he made the goddess of misery suffer!"

The gods grew more alarmed.

"Has he turned against us?" Dionysus wondered, hopeful in his fantasies of turning the boy into a bottlenose.

"He must have been defending himself." Hermes voiced.

"It matters not if he was defending himself!" Zeus shouted. "The boy is too powerful."

"And what would you do?" Artemis called.

"That is what I have brought you here for. To decide his fate."

"What do you mean, 'decide his fate'?" Poseidon nearly roared.

"We must discern suitable consequences."

"What consequences do you give to those subjected to a rumour?" Athena scowled.

"I believe this rumour to be truth." Zeus returned a glare.

"What evidence do you have of this?" Athena inquired.

"The monsters that have risen since. They saw him."

"You would take the word of monsters?" Artemis scrunches her nose in disgust.

"Quiet! He is a threat. We must put him down-" Zeus began, but was interrupted by a roaring Poseidon.

"PUT HIM DOWN?" The trident in the sea-god's hand was a visible threat, enormous in it's size even next to the god himself as he stood to his height.

"-Or controll him-" Zeus continued, but again was interrupted by a furious god.

"The seas do not like to be restrained." The tides hissed against the sharp rocks to the crackling of the wind against the cliff-face.

"Perseus will be restrained, or he will die." Zeus stood, his own weapon of power humming in his grasp.

"You sentence my child based upon a rumour you heard from monsters, when we know your own son to have gazed upon a divine form and lived?" Poseidon's eyes churned like the oceans beyond.

"He is right, Father." Athena spoke.

"This is a matter of Poseidon's son! Not mine!" Zeus snarled.

The gods frowned at Zeus' behavior.

"You fear the boy stepping out of line? Then we just give him an incentive to stay with us." Athena counters, attempting to keep a form of peace between the two brothers.