Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter 10 - I get another godly enemy

I swung around to see a woman in a plain brown dress standing by the hearth. She was non-descript looking, her brown hair hanging loosely around her shoulders and her feet bare. But her smile was kind even as she poked the flames with a stick. 

"You and your friends are welcome," she said. 

Percy bowed. "Lady Hestia."

How he knew her was beyond me, but I quickly followed his example and bowed, along with the rest of the campers. When I straightened up, I noticed that the goddess was scrutinising Percy closely, like she too noticed the changes in him. Her eyes were colour of flames, but rather than the inferno that raged in Ares' eyes, Hestia's were like warm campfires flames, kind and comforting.

"I see you went through with your plan," she said to Percy. "You bear the curse of Achilles."

I felt my heart drop into my feet. I turned to stare at Percy, hoping that he would deny it, but he merely pressed his lips together, his face closed off. Around us, the rest of the campers muttered to each other, saying things like "What did she say?" and "What about Achilles?"

"You must be careful," Hestia added. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order."

I wanted to call a timeout. This was all moving way too fast for me to keep up. I had no idea what was going on. 

I nudged Percy, trying to catch his attention, but he seemed intent on staring at Hestia. "Um . . . what is she talking about?"

His knees suddenly buckled and he leaned forward like he was going to fall flat on his face. 

"Percy!" I grabbed him by the waist, dragging him back to his feet as he blinked. "What happened?"

"Did - did you see that?" he asked. He looked disorientated, like his life had flashed before his eyes or something. 

"See what?" I asked. 

He glanced back at Hestia, who was watching us with her head cocked to one side, her face unreadable. While she seemed like the nicest goddess I've ever met, I still didn't like the way she seemed fixated on Percy. 

"How long was I out?" he asked, rubbing his head and taking his weight off me to stand on his own. 

I frowned at him. What was he talking about now? "Percy, you weren't out. You just looked at Hestia for, like, one second and collapsed."

He looked as concerned as I felt at that, but seemed to realise he had forty pairs of eyes trained on him. For the sake of the camp, he had to remain strong. 

"Um, Lady Hestia," he said, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see -"

"We know what you need," a man's voice said. Percy and I both shuddered, although I had no idea how he recognised that voice. 

A light flickered beside Hestia and a god stepped out of it, dressed in a military pilot's flight suit, complete with black leather boots and a helmet with wings on the side. He looked young, like mid-twenties with elfin featured and curly dark hair. In one arm, he held a long staff with two living serpents entwined at the top. A shiver ran down my spine on seeing him again. 

"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to Hermes and disappeared into smoke. I definitely felt a lot less secure with her gone. 

"Hello, Percy," Hermes said, his voice carefully controlled, like he was trying to resist the urge to blast us all off Olympus. Or blast me at least. 

Percy bowed awkwardly, the movement not as smooth as the one he gave Hestia. "Lord Hermes." Then his eyes flicked to the staff, like someone was speaking in his mind. "Hello, George. Hey, Martha."