Percy Jackson Short Stories

If Percy Didn't Know

Percy is lying in bed thinking, in a few hours he will be sixteen. He will be able to get his driver's license, not that he needs to drive, it is New York City after all. It's hard to imagine that in just two more years he will be eighteen and an adult. He pulls out his phone to scroll through Instagram to pass the time. He's about to text his friend, Grover, when he hears banging on the front door. He jumps out of bed and hurries to the front hall. His mom and stepfather, Gabe, follow him quickly.

His mom looks through the peephole, "shoot," she says. She turns away from the peephole, "Gabe, Sweetheart, go back to bed. I'll take care of this."

"Whatever," Gabe says. "Just be quiet, I have things to do tomorrow."

They watch as Gabe walks back down the hall. "Who is it?" Percy asks.

Sally takes a deep breath, "it's your father."

"My father?" Percy asks, surprised. "You told me he was dead."

"I lied," Sally says. "He's a Greek God and I'm guessing he wants something."

"A Greek God!" Percy yells and Sally tells him to be quiet. "What do you mean a Greek God?"

"I mean Poseidon, Greek God of the sea." Sally opens the door. "What do you want?"

"Hi," the man in a flower shirt and jean shorts says. "We have a bit of a problem."

"Yeah," Sally says as he walks into the apartment. "Just come right in. It's not like it's the middle of the night or anything."

"I told you we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"As you might know when demigods get sent on a quest they get told something called a prophecy, it's like a riddle that tells them what to look for and where to go and all of that. A long time ago there was one told about mine or one of my brother's kids. When he or she turns sixteen they will decide if the Gods will live or die. Tomorrow is Percy's sixteenth birthday."

"Wait a minute!" Percy says. "You can't just leave for fifteen years and then show up two hours before I turn sixteen, tell me that you're a Greek God, and ask me if I want you to live or die! That's so unfair! How does this even work? What do I even do?"

Poseidon looks at Percy, "my father eat me when I was a baby. My brother, Zeus, saved me. He killed our father. We took over ruling the world. The prophecy was read. About four years ago my father started to raise again, someone is helping him. You may have noticed over the last few years really weird things happening to you, creepy people trying to be friends with you. The weather being weird, things like that. That's my father, your grandfather, trying to get you to join him. Now, we have to get you to mount Olympus before he gets here and tries to get you to join him and kill all of us."

"Why should I help you?" Percy asks. "How do I know you and your brothers and the others are not huge jerks."

"They are," Sally says.

Poseidon glares at her, "you just have to trust me."

Percy looks at Sally. "What happens if I say no? What happens if I don't go with you? What happens if I just go back to bed?"

"My father takes over the world. You, everyone you love and everyone who fights against him will be killed."

Percy looks at his mom again, "do I have to fight? Like, kill people?"

"Not people, monsters."

"Monsters? Like from the books, like the Minotaur?"

"Careful!" Poseidon yells. "Names have power, if you say their names they can see and hear you, but yes like him."