The Animal Within

Chapter 56 - Backbiter

Percy turned the pouch over in his hands. He'd been thinking about Gaea's words to him a lot, but still hadn't brought up the topic with Kronos. The Titan had to be fully aware, right? Percy knew he would be, but then why had Kronos stayed with him all that time? Percy thought he knew the answer to that one too.

So the only real question was why was Kronos hanging around now? The war with Gaea was over, Kronos didn't have to bring information back to the giants now, he didn't need the protection from Olympus that came with mating with a demigod now. Kronos had already mentioned to Percy that the only reason he'd initially mated with him – or pretended to mate, apparently – was because he'd been cornered and it had been his only feasible option to survive. Mating with Percy, a demigod would be far better than one of the Olympians such as Zeus taking it into their own hands. Kronos was clearly fully aware that mating with a demigod was a shorter requirement than doing so with an immortal. And a demigod was less likely to be aware of the complexities of the actual deed than an older immortal who'd likely done so many times before, and so easier to fool.

Kronos had played Percy and the Olympians from beginning to end.

Percy was angry, but also impressed. And admittedly confused. Gaea was around now, and she was clearly prepared to protect Kronos if she had to, so Kronos didn't need a human shield in Percy now.

Yet, he'd offered for Percy to spend his weekends there in Alaska. And had now given him a gift, which Percy was really tempted to open. The little drawstring pouch would be easy to open. Mortals didn't tend to do well with gifts they were told not to touch, Percy just had to think of Pandora, a very well-known example. Handing a demigod a little gift and telling them not to open it was just tempting fate, especially after telling Percy only to open it when he didn't have any other options. Percy sighed and tucked the pouch into his pack, resting on top of everything else. He'd realised that while he could hold it in his hand, if he put something on top of it the pouch puffed itself up, so it went on top of everything else he carried.

Whatever was going on with Delphi was clearly stressing Kronos out, or at least unnerving him. Percy didn't have a clue what he'd Seen, since he didn't say anything, but he was used to that now. Immortals never gave him straight answers. But, suddenly, Kronos was insisting on dragging Percy out to train every day in the weekend when he was around. Percy was confused, but he wasn't about to complain.

Percy quickly realised that spending an hour or two training also helped him to focus more on his work for school after.

Kronos was the best swordman Percy had ever crossed blades with. When he'd still been in Luke's body, he'd had Luke's muscle memory. Now he had his own and his own abilities and skill back, and Percy felt like he spent most of his time in their spars just backing away from him.

Percy quickly learnt not to block Kronos' sword. The first time he did that, it twisted his wrist and knocked the sword straight out of his hand. Backbiter had been at Percy's throat before he could blink, resting on his collarbone. Which made lesson number one: don't make the mistake of thinking a demigod could match an immortal's strength. So Percy learnt to parry and deflect against immortals instead of instinctively blocking.

In mid-December during a sparring session with Kronos, a few weeks after they'd begun, Percy finally brought it up to Kronos. "So, Gaea told me we didn't actually mate," he said.

Kronos was so startled that Percy's sudden strike with Riptide caught him in the side. Kronos swore violently, his free hand jerking to his side. His fingers came away dripping with ichor, the same ichor which stained the edge of Riptide. Percy's eyes widened. "Shit," he said, "sorry."

The Titan stared at him. Kronos wordlessly touched a finger to his side and Percy watched as the wound healed itself before Kronos wiped his fingers off on his side slowly and deliberately. "Obviously," he curtly said.