Child of Time

Chapter Forty-Two: Adorable

PERCY

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Luke tightened his hold on my hand before he kissed my forehead tenderly.

"Yes. I'm sure," I knew my hands were shaking and I had sweat beading down my neck.

"Yeah, but...I know how you feel about it. It's your birthday, remember?"

"It won't hurt me in any way, just put it in!" Luke sighed and slowly put the silver key card into the elevator slot.

"Percy?"

"Yeah, Luke?"

"Why did you want to go to Olympus today?"

I didn't answer right away. There were many reasons as to why I wanted to go to Olympus today instead of any other day. I knew that if I didn't go today, I would hold it off because the memories would hurt me more than ever. I know myself, I would push myself into the past and relive the months I spent here. I would feel the pain that he put on me like it was happening all over again.

But I had to do this because if it wasn't today then it would never happen. I would never step foot into this new Olympus. So instead of answering, I tightened my grip on his hand and stepped closer to him as we both watched the floor numbers increase one by one.

When the doors finally opened, I froze and stared out the elevator. "I—I think we're in the wrong place," I whispered as I looked around the New Olympus. It looked completely different, not even just the colours and the material used, but the whole outline and structure was different.

"No, it's definitely Olympus. You okay to go?"

I nodded, still examining the new things Olympus had to offer. Even though, it all looked so different, I couldn't help the small amount of fear that wanted to pull Luke back and go back to Othrys.

"Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah, Percy?"

I glanced at him before looking back to the New Olympus. "Where the hell do we go?"

"I suppose we could...go forward."

I looked down the long hall, fear creeping up my neck. "O-okay... okay, let's go."

I kept my head forward as we began walking. I didn't look to the side and kept my eyes fixed on the end of the hall. It felt like we were walking for hours, if not, days just to get to the end. I knew it didn't take that long, it was probably only a couple minutes until we found ourselves in front of an opening.

"Left, right, left, right, can we go back?"

Luke turned to face me. "Do you want to? We don't have to keep going."

I looked behind me in thought, the elevator at the end of the hall gleaming. "No. No, I'm okay. Let's go this way," I tell him as I point to the left.

We walk hand in hand through the dark halls that remind me more of Othrys than Olympus. That thought helped me keep going through.

"Do you think we'll get lost in here?"

"You? Probably not. Me? Absolutely."