The Spartan of Olympus

5

The ride was terrible. The daughter of Zeus turned out to be an awful sun driver, and crashed the bus into the Camp Half-Blood Lake. Fun. Percy stood up, only to be shoved roughly from behind. He turned to see a Hunter, Elizabeth, smirking triumphantly while two others, Diana and Macy, snickered. Percy just rolled his eyes and turned around, effectively containing his anger and annoyance.

Once out of the bus, Apollo flashed away after a sly wink to Percy. The daughter of Athena roughly rammed her shoulder into Zoë, causing Annabeth to "accidently" drop the shield she was holding.

"Oops," Annabeth said in a sickly sweet tone, "Can you get that for me, demititan?"

Zoë's face turned red and Percy could tell the Titan comments were emotionally wounding her. Phoebe unsheathed a knife.

"Pick it up yourself," Phoebe ordered.

Chiron was trotting over, but to far away to hear the argument. Annabeth smiled smugly.

"No, I want her to pick it up," Annabeth explained, "because she's the one who caused me to drop it."

"Stop being a bitch, Annabeth," Thalia scolded, "just pick it up already and let's go."

The daughter of Athena scowled and picked up the shield. Giving Zoë the finger, Annabeth strode away dramatically. Percy scoffed.
"Daughter of Athena, my ass," he muttered.

Elizabeth growled angrily, twirling a throwing knife between her fingers, probably itching to lodge it between Annabeth's eyes.

"Come on, Hunters, to Artemis's cabin," Zoë ordered.

Giving one last confused and thoughtful look at Percy, she led the Hunters over to the Artemis cabin. Chiron reached Percy just as they left.

"Who are you?" Chiron asked, frowning.

Percy chuckled. "Shouldn't you recognize your old friend, Chiron?"

"That voice . . . Perseus!" Chiron exclaimed cheerfully before pulling him into a tight hug.

"Ssh!" Percy warned, "I'm undercover for Lord Hades. I rescued two of his children today, Nico and Bianca. I need to take them to see their father. I trust you won't tell anyone about this?"

Chiron smiled. "You have my word, my boy."

Percy nodded to him before hustling to Nico and Bianca, who were standing awkwardly by the pavilion. When he tapped them, they both jumped, startled.

"Uh, yeah?" Bianca asked nervously, trying to look up his hood, but finding that she could only see darkness.

"Would you like to meet your father? He wants to see you. That's the only reason I'm in this infernal camp anyway," Percy said.

Bianca's eyes got huge and Nico's jaw dropped.

"We get to meet our Dad? Sweet!" Nico exclaimed happily.

Bianca let out a small smile that warmed Percy's heart. He could already see her as the little sister he never had. Percy put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"This is going to feel really weird your first time, so don't throw up on me, okay?"

Bianca and Nico looked frightened, but nodded. Percy closed his eyes and felt himself melt away in the shadows of a nearby pillar. He felt like he was in a freezing cold wind tunnel, and then it just stopped. Percy opened his eyes and found himself in the Underworld throne room. Hades was sitting on the throne, staring wide-eyed at his children.

Nico was doubled over, trying to not to throw up. Bianca looked okay, and tugged Percy's arm.

"Is that our dad?" Bianca asked nervously, gesturing towards the black-eyed man on the throne.