Percy Jackson

With an unlimited credit card, getting from Vegas to LA was easy. We got a taxi and the guy didn't even seem to recognize us, which was cool.

Once in LA...

If I ever have to return to this dreadful city, it'll be too soon.

But Percy, I hear you think, it's just another big city, right? You're from New York.

And while that's correct, it's also very wrong.

Manhattan is set up very easily. It's a grid system that you can't get lost in. If you actually get lost in New York you're probably a fucking idiot. You're at 3rd and 16th and want to get to 8th and 23rd? Go over 13 blocks and up 7. It's basic math.

Hermes had to of been on acid when he decided he was going to make L.A.

It wasn't just a big city because of it's population, it was massive. It was sprawled, spread out, and so chaotic that I wasn't sure there was a real method to the madness.

We found the address that was listed for the Underworld at Medusas lair, but it wasn't easy to get to. While monsters weren't a big issue, it was late when we got there and we were aware that the police were after us (read: me, they were after me, even if I'd been assumed dead while in the Lotus according to the newspapers) so public transport was a joke alright, so we basically had to walk across the L.A., using the free bikes and scooters when we coild find rhem.

Fun fact: when it's dark in a city you're not familiar with, you don't know which neighborhoods are the good ones, and which ones are the bad ones to be in.

We had to run into a water mattress store when a gang of teens tried to come after us.

That water mattress store? Run by a man who I call Crusty because it's true and easier than his actual name.

He sold beds, to his credit. But once Annabeth and Grover had laid down on some, he yelled Ergo and they were immediately strapped down.

Their spines started to stretch, and when he told me his full name, I realized he was one of the monsters Theseus had killed. The stretcher.

"I mean, who can say Procrustes, am I right?" He asked me. "now Crusty? Anyone can say that."

"You have a point," I played coy with him. "it's got a nice ring to it."

His eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely," I reassured the salesman. "And the workmanship on these beds? Absolutely spectacular."

His ego elevated, Crusty smirked and walked towards one of his better models, a hand still firmly on me as he made me walk with him. "Thank you! After all, how many built in lava lamps do you see?"

"Not many."

"Exactly! You get it."

This is too easy. I thought to myself. I've had harder times convincing English teachers that I did my homework.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Don't mind her," I told Crusty. "She's impossible."

He laughed. "Don't worry, all of my customers are. So inconsiderate, never being exactly six feet and then they just complain about the fitting."

"Ah," I noted. "So what do you do if they're longer than six feet?"

"Oh, that's easy. It's a simple fix."

He let go of me, that hand grabbing a double blades axe.

"I just center them and lob off whatever hangs off either end."

"I see," I swallowed, keeping myself in check. "sensible."

Behind us, I could hear my friends struggling. Grover was making a gurgling sound, Annabeth was going pale.

"Yes! I'm glad I've finally come across a sensible, intelligent customer."

Is it fucked up that the first person to call me intelligent since crossing the border to Camp Half Blood and embarking on this quest is a psychopath giant who sells beds as an excuse to maim people?

Probably. But I was going to use it to my advantage.

"So," I motioned towards the bed with the lava lamps. "does this bed really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motions?"

"Why of course, it says so right on the plate!" Crusty insisted. "Try it out."

"I'd love to," I reassured him. "but would it work on somebody as large as you? No waves at all? As you can see, I'm not that big, it wouldn't be that much of a demo."

And I don't know if I'd call manipulation intelligence, but I'd agree that the two can be very hard to tell apart when you're the one being manipulated.

"Guaranteed."

"No way."

"Way."

"Show me."

Eager to show me his good workmanship, Crusty sat on the bed and patted the mattress.

"See?" The giant showed me. "no waves."

"No waves." I agreed, snapping my fingers. "Ergo."

The same ropes that had my friends entangled found themselves wrapped around Crusty's wrists and ankles. And like he promised, the person trapped couldn't get out.

"Hey!" He yelled, panic flooding his expression.

"Center him just right..." I repeated the instructions back to him. The ropes even responded to my voice, centering Crusty for me.

"No!" He begged. "please, this is just a demo!"

I uncapped Riptide.

"A few simple adjustments..."

I had no qualms, no issues with what I was about to do. After all, if he was really mortal, he wouldn't get hurt and if he was a monster he deserved what was about to happen. To turn to dust for a bit.

Even if he was mortal, he deserved what was about to happen for the others he'd assumedly killed for no other reason than their height.

"You drive a hard bargain," he insisted. "I'll give you a good deal— 30% off all floor models."

"I think I'll start with the top."

"No money down! No interest for six months!"

Lifting Riptide in the air, I swung down and heard a familiar sound: a head hitting the ground and rolling. The only difference between Crusty and Medusa is that after a few moments, his body and head started to crumble and turn to dust.

"Like I'm going to transport a mattress from L.A. to Manhattan."

Turning to my friends, I cut the ropes from their beds and I've never heard a bigger sigh of relief in my entire life.

"You look taller."

Annabeth visibly rolled her eyes.

"Very funny." She chided. "A little faster next time?"

"Oh, you're very welcome," I told the daughter of Athena, grabbing a map from Crusty's desk that has the Underworld labelled on it. "Manipulation done well isn't done fast, Wise Girl."

"You're insane."

"I just know how to kiss ass when I need to." I corrected, noting how close we were to our destination. "shall we?"

"Give us a second," Grover requested. "We almost got stretched to death."

"Then you're ready for the Underworld," I told my best friend. "because it's only a block away. If we had five days I'd say we rest, but we have closer to 15 hours. Let's go."

Thank the gods we had drachmas with us.

Charon, the ferryman, didn't seem all that convinced that all three of us died via drowning in a bathtub, but he did seen convinced by the bag of drachmas we could offer him because he needed a raise.

Which, considering the era he said his suit came from being the early 1900s, seemed to be true.

Insane how even the god of wealth couldn't pay his workers a fair wage because he was essentially making him life off of tips from the deceased.

As we ferries across the River Styx, I tried not to think about how many times I've almost taken this ride. While the number isn't astounding, the fact that a number exists at all is wrong, isn't it?

Looking at the Styx, the River of Lost Hopes and Dreams, of Loathing and Shuddering, it was polluted. Toys, photos, clothes, keys. You name it, you could carry it, and it was probably there.

Leaning against Grover, I looked out to the River Styx and wondered what I would leave behind when I crossed it one day.

"Hey," my best friend whispered. "Don't start thinking about it, okay? We're here. We're gonna see your mom."

Nodding, I tried to clear my mind by listening to Annabeth ask Charon about the architecture of the Underworld.

Getting to Hades palace wasn't an easy feat, but thanks to Annabeth's ability to figure out how to play fetch with Cerberus, we managed to set off a lot of alarms and sneak in.

We almost fell into Tartarus, as well, thanks to Grover's flying shoes.

If I never have to see that pit again it'll also be too soon.

The alarms didn't make us very stealthy, but it worked. We made it to what seemed to be the throne room— where Hades had my mom kept. Where Hades himself was.

Where Hades unknowingly revealed the fact that Ares had framed me for stealing the bolt by charming it to have the bolt appear once we crossed the River Styx and entered Eberos.

When I tell you that I was one comment away from snapping the gods of war's neck, I meant it.

Thankfully, I was able to convince Hades that if Ares framed me, he'd also probably stolen the missing Helm of Darkness, but to find out, he had to let us go and confront the god under the agreement that if I was right, he had to send my mother home.

I forced him to swear it in the Styx.

And wouldn't you have guessed: when we returned to Santa Monica Pier, Ares was there to confirm out suspicions and push all of my buttons.

I didn't snap his neck, but I did get him into the pier so I could stab his foot and get him to flee like it fucking baby he is. We grabbed the Helm and sent it with the Furies, who had apparently come to observe the fight.

Of course, when you fight a god... On a public beach... It garners some attention.

There were a lot of police, a lot of paparazzi, and a lot of confused beach attendants trying to wrap their minds around what was going on.

Thankfully, when they found is, they fed their version of the story to us for us to amend or confirm as needed.

So as far as the media and the police knew:

Percy Jackson (12) was kidnapped and trafficked after a car explosion that occured in his stepfathers vehicle on the Northern Tip of Long Island, New York. To avoid press and police suspicions, his unnamed kidnapper(s) kept Percy in a location near the explosion for roughly a week before begging to transport with two other children— Grover Underwood (12) and Annabeth Chase (12).

The children were first spotted by Percys step father, Gabriel Ugliano in Manhattan at Grand Central Station, where his still missing wife, Sally worked. He claims that he ran after them, but couldn't catch up in time. Percy confirmed these claims. In New Jersey, Jackson and his friends try to escape their kidnappers after a bus explosion caused by an engine failure occured, but are once again captured and taken by their unidentified kidnapper.

In St. Louis Percy is once again spotted with the other two, though to avoid suspicion his kidnapper forces him to ride separate of them on the Gateway Arch. After getting in a confrontation with another member of the party attempting to kidnap Jackson, he jumps out of the Arch and manages to survive as he's spotted later that evening once again with Chase and Underwood at a diner in Denver, Colorado, where a waitress sends in an image and statement of the trio.

While the waitress claimed the trio seemed to be harassing a man who rode a Harley, the kidnapper, it's since been concluded that the trio was trying to escape from their kidnapper once again, arguing in defense of themselves. The man is seen driving off and the kids seem to vanish until they're spotted the next day in Las Vegas entering the Lotus Hotel.

Another attempt to lay low, the trio is kept inside the hotel for nearly five days under unknown circumstances. Jackson is assumed dead, but is found six days later with Chase and Underwood at Santa Monica Pier defending himself against their kidnapper, who caused considerable damage to the water front. After their standoff, the kidnapper flees and the trio is taken into custody, though only Jackson and Underwood are able to be identified.

With this, the trio is absolved of any accused crimes and are treated by medics on site before being flown back to Manhattan to turn to their homes.

"Return to their homes" was a fun way of saying that I sent Grover and Annabeth back to camp since Zeus didn't want them returning the Bolt, and I went to Olympus.

Olympus itself was beautiful. Stunning white marble and really cool structures that made me understand how Annabeth could be interested in this kind of stuff. It was fairly quiet, which I hadn't expected, but nobody paid me much mind as I walked through the home of the gods.

The throne room was massive and also beautiful. I learned walking in that the reason it was massive wasn't only for show, but because the gods like to be 12 feet tall for some reason.

Inside the throne room, there were only two gods present: Poseidon slightly off to the right, and Zeus right in the middle. I walked forward and knelt to my father first, planning on turning to Zeus next.

"Oh, look," Zeus said as I entered the throne room, ending his conversation with my father. "the bastard arrives. Do you not think to address the master of the house first?"

"Zeus." Poseidon chided. "Peace, brother, the boy defers to his father. It is only right."

"Hmph," Zeus said. "So you still claim the child, who you sired, breaking our sacred oath?"

"I have admitted my wrongdoing. I'd like to hear the boy speak."

Wrongdoing.

Is that all I was to Poseidon? A wrongdoing?"

"Hush." The kind of the gods ordered, focusing on me. "Well, child? Do you confess to me your crimes? Are you here to return what is rightfully mine?"

"I'm here to return it," I confirmed, opening the backpack for him to see. "But I wasn't the thief."

The idea seemed to bore him.

"Oh, really?"

"Well considering the fact that I didn't even know you guys actually existed until about ten days ago, yeah, really," I told the King of the Gods. "I was framed by Ares. I'm not sure who he got to take it or how he did it, but he's the one who gave me this bag in Denver to have your weapon materialize once I entered the Underworld. It's him you should hold issue with, not me. I already gave him a uh, preamble to whatever punishment or lecture you decide to give him for it."

"Oh?" But that intrigued both of them because I clearly wasn't afraid of them. I'd sent them Medusa's head with the message of best wishes. "What sort of preamble?"

"I stabbed him. In the foot, near his ankle. But he didn't act alone. I— I don't know who helped him or who encouraged him to do such a thing, but I could sense another presence nearby when we fought."

Both of them seemed to perk up a little at the news.

"Oooh, interesting," Zeus observed. "it's not often a mortal can place such a hit on a god. Especially Ares. Very well, then, consider the quest complete. I don't trust you, boy, and I don't like what your existence means for the future of Olympus, but for now I'll let you live. If I find you here when I return, or if I ever find you in the sky again, don't count on my kindness."

With that, he vanished similar in matter to how Ares and my mother did in the last few weeks.

I was half way through turning around to leave when he spoke up.

"Perseus," the use of my full name made it feel even more superficial than it should have been. "wait a moment."

Shrinking in size to be a normal human height, Poseidon approached me. He was fairly tall, around 6', but being able to see our resemblance made me mad.

Mom always told me my whole life that i looked just like my dad and I always took that to mean that because I had the green eyes eyes and more black than brown hair from him, it made me look like we were actually related, but no.

She was right.

There was no way to deny, physically, that he was my father.

I hated it.

I hated knowing that every time I looked in a mirror from now on, I'd only see him.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, as if that made up for his lack of involvement in the last 12½ years of my life. "Zeus can be a bit... Cold, if you will. I wanted to tell you that your mother is home."

"My mom?"

He nodded.

"Even Hades must repay his debts," Poseidon said this as though my mother's life was a simple loan for Hades to pay off his mortgage. "She returned home not long before you arrived here, I'd suggest you go say hello."

Once again, I just nodded, unsure as to what I could or should say to him.

Unsure if I even wanted to say anything to him.

"Your mother is a queen amongst women, Perseus," the use of my full name almost made me cringe. "I haven't met such a women in a thousand years, though...."

His voice drifted.

"I'm sorry you were born." My biological father said with a tone that sounded half convincing. "By giving you life, I've brought down upon you a tragic fate. The fate of a hero."

Yeah, I said in my head. You should be sorry.

"Okay." Being my mother's son, I told him at least part of the truth. "I don't forgive you, but okay."

"Forgive me? For what? We've just met, son."

When he called me his son, he tried to reach out and touch my shoulder.

I pulled away and took a step back.

"Don't... Touch me," I insisted, crossing my arms to protect myself. "Please. I'm tired of strangers or people I've just met thinking that they can do that."

"But Im— I'm your father, Perseus."

And you just called me a wrongdoing.

"Percy." I corrected him. "never Perseus. You may be my father, but I don't know you. I trust that you're good at your job as an Olympian, but I don't know you as a person yet. Until I do, please don't touch me."

"O— oh." He responded, I'm sure not being used to being told no. "I see. Well I'm sorry that you don't feel you can trust me yet. I wanted to be there for you, as a child, but it wasn't allowed. Know that I am proud of you, though, child. You've gone great work. Now go, see your mother. I'm sure she misses you."

I've never heard a dumber excuse in my life. It wasn't allowed? You're a literal god who could've at least visited in disguise.

"Yeah." I responded, not meeting his gaze. I couldn't read it to see if he really meant any of it anyways. "I think I will."

Turning around, I left my father in the throne room for what I secretly hoped was the only and last time I'd have to talk with him.

It was weird, being bowed to and acknowledged in near silence as I left. Wherever I went on Olympus, people and creatures would stop what they were doing and bow to me as if I were some sort of hero.

News flash: I wasn't a hero. I was a kid who was accused of a crime he didn't do. A kid who had to fix the problem of somebody who's never even met him before.

I wasn't a hero. I was a pawn.

For now.

In a slight trance from my walkthrough back down to the streets of Manhattan, I caught a taxi back to my parents place and had to take a second to calm down and remind myself that my parents weren't going to hate me for making national news for the last two weeks because of things I couldn't do a lot about.

Thankfully, I still had my key so I didn't have to wait for anyone to answer the door. I just... Unlocked it.

"H... Hey," I said as I closed the door behind me, seeing Gabe walk down the hall as he must've heard the door. Mom turned around as she'd been in the kitchen. Based on the smell, I assumed she was making some type of dessert to go with lunch.

There was a beat of silence as I held back a sob.

"I'm home."