Percy Jackson's Twin Sister

The Gods Can't Help

All of us were back on the ship. Including the gods.

All my friends looked fine. A little shaken and torn but fine.

The gods fan out in a semicircle as Zeus approaches. None of them seem particularly joyful about their victory.

Apollo and Artemis stabs in the shadows as if they were trying to hide. My dad, hera, and Demeter were having an intense discussion. Nike went around trying to put golden laurels on peoples heads. Hermes try's to put his arm around Athena but fails.

The only Olympian who seems to be in a good mood is Ares. He was talking to frank all about hitting an enemy. Frank keeps eye contact with him but he looks slightly appalled.

"Brethren!" Zeus says, "we are healed, thanks to the work of these demigods. The Athena Parthenos is now standing tall at camp half-blood. It had untied our offspring, and this our essence."

Hera steps foreword and opens her arms at us,"My heroes... you have triumphed over the giants as I knew you would. My plan succeeded beautifully."

Zeus turns on his wife. Thunder shakes the ship, "Do not dare take credit for this! You have caused at least as many problem as you've solved!"

"Husband, surely you know this was the only way."

"There is never only one way!" Zeus yells, "That is why there is three dates and not one. Is this not so?"

The three old ladies bow their head in recognition. I notice the other gods stay away from the old ladies.

"Please husband," Hera pleads. I almost feel bad for her. Almost, "I only did what-"

"Silence!" Zeus snaps, "You disobeyed my orders. Nevertheless... I recognize you acted with honest intentions. These eight heroes could not have happened without your guidance."

Hera looked like she wanted to argue but she kept her mouth shut.

"Apollo however..." Zeus glares over to Apollo, "my son, come here."

I could feel his anger. I could sense it like how I could tell when an earthquake was about to happen. Like the earth was holding backs it rage but then it just lets it all go.

"Twice you have defied me," Zeus says.

"My- my lord," Apollo stutters.

"You neglected you duties. You succumbed to flattery and vanity. You encouraged your decedent Octavian to follow his dangerous paths, and you prematurely revealed a prophecy that may yet destroy us all."

"But-"

"Enough!" Zeus booms, "we will speak of your punishment later. Fir now, you will wait on Olympus."

Zeus flicks his hand and Apollo turns into a cloud of glitter.

"What will happen to him?" Asks Jason.

"It's not your concern," says Zeus, "we have other problems to address."

An uncomfortable silence settles over the Parthenon.

"Father," Jason says. I didn't think it was a good idea to push Zeus right now but Jason kept going, "I made a vow to honor all gods. I promised Kymopoleia that once the war is over that none of the gods will be without a shrine."

Zeus scowls, "That's fine. But.... Kym who?"

My dad coughs in his fist, "She's one of mine."

"My point," Jason says, "is that blaming each other isn't going to solve anything. That's how the Roman and Greeks got divided in the first place."

The air had a dangerous feel to it. Jason was pushing Zeus to his limit right now.

"Apollo wasn't the problem," Jason says, "To punish him Gaea's waking is unwise."

"Unwise," Zeus whispers in rage, "You dare call me unwise in front of the assembly of the gods?"

I hadn't realized until now but I had taking my fighting stance ready to jump in.

Artemis steps out of the shadows, "Father, this hero has fought long and hard. His nerves are frayed. We should take that into account."

Jason looks like he wants to argue but decided against it. A silence settle again. I wait for someone to ask the obvious question.

"Gaea," Annabeth says, "She's awake isn't she?"

Zeus turns to her, "that is correct. The blood of Olympus was spilled. She is fully conscious."

I felt bad. If I hadn't fallen on that rock she might not have waken.

"Oh come on!" Percy complained, "I get a little nose bleed and I wake up the entire Earth? That's not fair."

I rest my hand on on his arm. We had both caused this.

"Complaining of unfairness is like assigning blame, Percy Jackson," Athena says, "It does not do anyone any good. Now you must move quickly. Gaea rises to destroy your camp."

"Why would Gaea be back at camp?" Asks Leo, "Percy's nosebleed was here.

"Dude!" Percy exclaims, "first off you heard Athena, don't blame my nose. Second Gaea is the Earth. She can pop up anywhere."

"Plus she told us she was gonna do this. She said destroying camp was first on her to-do list," I say, "the question is how do we stop her?"

"Um your majesty?" Frank says to Zeus, " can't you just pop over there with us?"

"Yes!" Hazel exclaims, "we defeated the giants in like two seconds. Let's all-"

"No," Zeus says flatly.

Jason tries to protest but stops because he pushed his dad far enough.

"That's the problem with prophecies," says Zeus, "When Apollo aloud the prophecy of the right to be spoken, and when Gera took it spin herself to interpret the words, the fates wove the future in such a way that there could only be so many possible outcomes. You eight are destined to defeat Gaea. We gods cannot."

We all shift uncomfortably.

"So how can we get to camp half-blood in time to save it? It took us months to get here," says Frank.

"I could slap you back to Long Island," says Zeus.

Jason's face contorts,"Is that a threat or a joke or-"

"No," says Zeus, "I mean I can quite literally slap you back, but the force involved-"

Hephaestus grunts, "My boy Leo built a good ship, but it won't sustain that kind of stress. It would break apart as soon as you arrive, maybe sooner."

"The Argo can make it," says Leo, "It only had to stay intact long enough to get us to camp. After that we can abandon ship."

"Dangerous," Hephaestus warns, "perhaps fatal."

Nike does her usual speech about victory being dangerous and having to take risks.

The crew seems all in favor of this plan, to a fault. A sense of dread settles over me.

"Leo's right," says Jason, "All aboard for one last trip."