Percy Jackson Scenarios

14 ~ The Gods said WHAT?!

The entire camp stared at Mr D, dumbfounded. 

"Excuse me?" Chiron asked, only the slight tremor in his voice betraying how shaken he was. 

"I meant exactly what I said," the god drawled, "the Olympians have decided to tell the mortals that we - by which I mean gods, monsters, all of you brats, yada yada yada, exist."

"But- why?"

"Well, I'd assume because they can see us now, so why bother hiding," Mr D shrugged, sipping a Diet Coke that appeared out of nowhere.

Chiron blinked. For a moment, there was absolute silence as they all considered what this meant.

"Okay children, I think it's time for bed."

As you would expect, few demigods got much sleep that night. In the morning, it was all anyone could talk about, and the entire camp buzzed with the news and speculation on what it would mean for them. Well, the entire camp, that is... except for Lou Ellen.

She hadn't left her cabin since that fateful day when Paola got shot. She'd barely even stepped foot out of her office, overlooking curfews and her abandoned bed, only sleeping when she was so tired that her body collapsed onto the desk of its own accord. Mealtimes blurred, and she marked the passage of time only by Cecil's daily visits. Or at least, she thought they were daily. Were they? Never mind, it didn't matter. All that mattered was finding a way to fix the Mist before it was too late. And she was so close. She just had to-

In a moment of dizziness, Lou Ellen's hand slipped and the entire pot of ground amethyst emptied into the bowl - which contained a mixture of mandrake sweat, ectoplasm, holy water and Xanthan Gum  - instead of the tiny pinch that was required. The entire concoction exploded, causing Lou Ellen and everything else in the blast radius to become transparent, like they were made of glass with glitter floating in it. Lou swore and hurried to her box of emergency four-leaf clovers as she felt her toes begin to numb. On the worktop, her notes and previous experiments were already begin to turn brittle, tiny cracks spiderwebbing across them. Lou Ellen quickly shoved a clover under her tongue and sighed in relief as her skin returned to its usual hue. However, her research was still in peril. Hastily, Lou gathered some more of the tiny leaves and ground them into a fine paste using her mortar and pestle, and a few drops of nettle honey. She dipped her fingers into the bowl and smeared the paste onto a notebook, which fractured into a fine dust at her touch. 

"No..." she groaned, peering at the other books, but it was impossible to make out the writing on the now-clear paper. All of her attempts to salvage the rest of her work failed, and she was left curled in the middle of the glass shards, little more than a sobbing mess. 

And that was how Cecil found her, over an hour later. He came into the room whistling, easily overriding the increasingly complicated padlocks she put on the door in a joking attempt to keep him out.

"Hey, nice lock, by the way. Was it enchanted? Took me an extra millisecond to crack, I'd sa- Lou?"

As soon as he caught sight of the state of her and the room, he rushed forward, careful not to step on anything that might turn him into a fish again (Don't ask).

"Lou?" he asked again, crouching next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Are you okay? What happened?"

The girl just kept weeping, head hung low, so the son of Hermes stood up and wandered to her worktop to see if he could see what she'd done wrong by reading her notes.

But there were no notes. Only a bowl that appeared to be made of shimmering crystal which was full of more glass shards. Then Cecil looked at the floor, and saw a cracked bottle. But unlike everything else on the table - including the table itself - it was still a bright green glass, dark enough that he had to shake it to check that it was empty. He soon identified the cork lying on the tabletop, made of the same glittery material as everything else, but when he tried to pick it up, it shattered and he had to pull away quickly to avoid cutting himself. Well, at least he knew where all her notes had gone. Looking back at the bottle, he carefully read the neat handwriting on the yellowing label:

Amethyst powder - for use in small amounts only. Do not mix with bezoar.

Considering that the jar of bezoars was still intact on a high shelf in the corner, Cecil correctly assumed that Lou had overdosed the amethyst powder.

"My hand slipped," she murmured, as if to confirm his thoughts. "I tipped in the whole thing."

"Oh, Lou," he sighed, rushing over to hug her, "It'll be okay. You've made mistakes before, and you always bounce back. What you really need now is a solid meal and a long sleep."

Her sobbing increased in volume, "But this time is different. I can't stop now! I need to finish, and now it's all gone, Cecil! All of my work! All of my progress-"

"No," he shoved his finger over her lips to quiet her, then tapped her temple. "The real progress is in there. You know so much more about the Mist than anyone, maybe even more than He-" he cut himself off, glancing nervously at the small statue paperweight of the titan - now transparent and sparkly like the rest of the desk - as if it would come alive and smite him. When nothing happened, he continued hesitantly. "What I mean is, you have to keep going. We're all relying on you, and it's getting worse every day."

Lou Ellen looked up at that. "What do you mean, it's getting worse? Have more monsters been attacking?"

Cecil shook his head gravely. "No. Well, yes, but no, they're not the real problem. It's the mortals."

"Did they attack again? Did anyone else get hurt like Paola?"

"No! Well, yes, but no, that's not the main problem. The thing is-"

"Wait, they did attack again? Did anyone get hurt?"

Cecil winced. "I forgot how long you've stayed in here. It's been weeks, Lou."

Lou Ellen started. Weeks? "Just answer my question."

"A couple of nights after Paola, the mortals came back, but they brought friends, and bigger guns. It was night, so it was just the four demigods on guard that noticed them. Only one of them had powers - a son of Demeter - and they shot him first."

Lou Ellen gasped. "Is he okay?"

Cecil blinked a couple of times before replying. "He died on impact."

"Oh, gods," Lou Ellen covered her mouth with her hands. "The others?"

"They shot the daughter of Tyche as soon as she opened her mouth - maybe they thought all of us can do what Piper does. It missed all of her organs but it hit an artery. She's lucky to be alive, and Chiron's doing everything he can to keep her that way. The other two sounded the alarm and the mortals ran away." 

Lou Ellen stared, wide-eyed. "Wait... You said that it wasn't even the main problem! What's happened, Cecil? What have the mortals done?"

"It's not what the mortals have done," Cecil said with a grimace. "It's the gods. They... they've decided to reveal themselves to the mortals."

"Wait, what?! But Chiron stopped them, right?" The boy said nothing. "Right, Cecil? Oh, gods, they're going to mess up everything."

Cecil shook his head wistfully. "Not going to. They already have."