𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 ༄ ᴘercy ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

save the last dance?

Okay, so Olympian parties are sick. At Westover, there had never been much partying at all, but one time, Kai and I had snuck into a neighbouring school's kids party. It was sick. The first time I got drunk. And I ended up having one of the greatest nights of my life.

But that party compared to this one?

It was like comparing an oat grain to a humpback whale.

There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are
Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice, go for the Olympian.

The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes, and I realized the music was whatever you
wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same sound track. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up.

Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful
woman walked with him arm in arm - his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time since I had met him.

Ambrosia and a golden drink overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink you wanted. Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso lattes, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"

At first I stayed by Thalia and Artemis' side, as they rounded the area, talking to minor gods and introducing me and Thalia. Apollo came to bug Artemis at one point, and that's when Thalia and I decided to leave.

She and I walked round to Grover where we stayed a while longer, and were able to bring him out of his Pan obsession, just for the party (although we weren't able to make him part with his coffee)

I tried to stay by a friend's side, so that I didn't have to face talking to a God or Goddess that hated me. Like Percy was doing now, shifting awkwardly, eyes darting around as Athena spoke to him.

Eventually though, I left to get drinks and could only pray no one noticed me. Unfortunately, my luck so far hasn't been great.

A middle-aged man who was balding stood beside me, picking up a little ball of Ambrosia with what looked to be sprinkles on the top. He popped it into his mouth.

I looked at him and glanced away. Then I snapped my head back. Hades, was looking back at me. But then his form flickered and returned back to the man I had seen before.

"You finally looked in the box." Is all he said.

I could have said a million things to him in that moment. Maybe I'm sorry or my mom cheated on you and had me or are you allowed to be here? But even I wasn't expecting the words that came out my mouth. "Why don't you hate me?"

He nodded to himself, as if he had been expecting this. But he didn't answer. So I continued. "I am your wife's illegitimate kid, man. Born from a woman that your wife actually loved. And she must have loved my mom, because she stuck around for five whole years. And - and don't you hate me for Bia-"

"It'd be hypocritical of me to become jealous and angered at my wife's lovers. Persephone only ever grew attached to very few - your mortal mother one of the only ones. And, I myself, have had some lovers away from Persephone. She knows, and does not condemn me for it - nor I, her. No matter what, in the end Persephone and I return to one another. We value our relationship above everything else."

I stared at him angrily. "You mean, she valued you, above me and my mom." He pursed his lips but did not disagree. I shook my head. "Forget it. And about Bi-"