Charmolypi

Chapter 37

The group had spent about two days on the train. They tried to keep as much low profile as they could, considering their pictures, specifically Percy's picture, was plastered everywhere. It was obvious that the group was on edge, even if they hadn't run into any monsters on the train. On the trip to Denver, Percy had fallen asleep and started mumbling.

Once he woke up, Annabeth couldn't help but ask. "So, who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?" It was obvious that Percy was hesitant to share with the group, especially when he kept glancing at Thea, who was seated beside him. With a sigh, Percy told them everything about his dreams and the voice. Everyone was quiet for a while before Thea spoke up.

"That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"

"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?" Annabeth spoke. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"

"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?" The tension amongst the group members suddenly rose as Annabeth gripped her necklace and Thea inhaled sharply before looking out of the window.

"Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom." Annabeth told him sharply.

"What would you do if it was your dad?"

"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."

"That's harsh."

"Bloody hell."

"I would let them rot," Sirius shrugged, ignoring the sympathetic look he was receiving from his friends and their families.

"You're not serious?"

Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on the son of Poseidon. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital...."

"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."

Percy was shocked into silence and looked solemnly outside the train window. "My mom married a really awful guy," he told the pair. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."

Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads.

"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."