Previously...
"Thank you for your offer, Lord Zeus. But I decline."
Percy
Camp Half-Blood
It's been two months since the award ceremony.
And I don't know how to say it—but it feels like Annabeth and I are slowly falling apart.
She's been busy. Too busy. Designing new palaces for all the minor gods who ascended. She barely writes, barely Iris-messages. It's like I'm watching her build a whole new life, one that I'm not part of.
And me? I'm just here, sinking.
I keep wondering—did I mess up? Did I say something wrong? Did rejecting godhood offend her somehow? Or...
Was she only ever in it for the power?
No, no, that's unfair. That's not Annabeth. She's the daughter of Athena, yeah, and her fatal flaw is hubris, sure, but that doesn't mean she's shallow. Right?
But still... during the first war, she gave me that look. I thought she liked me, loved me. But maybe that was only because I was being offered godhood and she wasn't.
Gods, I hate my ADHD. It won't shut up.
She's my girlfriend. She loves me. Right?
...Right?
To keep my mind off everything, I've been training younger campers, volunteering for border patrol, and hoping for a quest—anything to escape my own thoughts.
Four Months Later
Camp Half-Blood - Early Morning
Today's different.
Annabeth's finally visiting for a day—her first time back since the ceremony. I've been on border duty since dawn, and I can't stop smiling like an idiot.
I'm planning something special for her. Something huge.
But before I can even decide what to say to her first, I hear a scream—a high-pitched, five-year-old kind of scream. My instincts kick in, and I bolt toward the sound.
What I find almost gives me a heart attack.
An eighteen-year-old boy bursts out of a bush, drops to his knees, and starts begging me—begging—to spare his life and take the satyr that was apparently with him instead.
I stare, dumbfounded. He's got blond hair, blue eyes, trembling like a kicked puppy.
Before I can speak, I spot the actual danger: five hellhounds and two dracaenae chasing the satyr.
Without a second thought, I uncap Riptide and leap into the fray. The monsters fall one after another. When I approach the dracaenae, they hiss, "This doesn't concern you."
"Yeah, well, now it does," I mutter—and turn them to gold dust.
But as soon as the fight ends, the kid shoves me, grabs Riptide, and holds it up like he's the one who saved the day.
Campers start rushing in from the woods.
That's when it happens.
A lightning bolt symbol burns above the guy's head.
Chiron steps forward. "All hail... Derek Greggory, son of Zeus!"
Gasps. Applause. Cheers.
YOU ARE READING
The Assassin in the Shadows; Book One: The Betrayed Heroes
FanfictionBetrayed, that's how Percy Jackson felt. His girlfriend accepted godhood over him and then cheated on him. All the campers shunned him. His dad disowned him and his mother left him to have a mortal family. He went to Olympus with a final wish. The w...
