The Gift of Time

11|| It's Time

Percy's POV
After a night of capture the flag and feasts, I woke up the next morning to an overwhelming feeling of power coursing through me. I try to reach out to Kronos and I notice that it has grown significantly harder since last night. Today must be the day.

Kronos isn't yet awake, so I walk into the bathroom and get myself ready for the solstice activities. Everyone is supposed to dress nice today, so I end up wearing black slacks and a black dress shirt. The Olympians recommend that we wear togas, but there's no way I'm doing that. I also put on a shark tooth necklace to reference Poseidon in my outfit.

Once I'm done getting dressed, Kronos starts to wake up, and I let him. It must be really hard for him to wake up today if he's going to fade in a few hours. I hear him groan and a sense of dread seeps into my stomach. After almost 3 weeks together he's actually leaving. I don't know how to approach that.

I walk out of my cabin and am met by all the campers wearing fancy clothes. Everyone is either wearing a suit or a dress, and it seems unnatural considering we only ever wear jeans and a t-shirt. I go up to my friends, and I notice Annabeth and Jason tense up a little. What does Annabeth know? How could she have found out?

"Percy, today is really important. The domains will be acting up since today is the day I'm fading. You will have to keep your emotions in check and make sure you don't mess this up. We cannot have an incident like yesterday." Kronos says

"Easy. Nothing is going to go wrong today." I think

"Don't forget, you have to summon backbiter at one point during the day." Kronos says

"Okay." I say

Everyone is just standing around waiting for the Olympians to summon us to Olympus to begin the celebration. I get more and more nervous by the minute, but I make sure that I don't let the domains slip up. That is basically like me saying, 'Hey you guys can kill me now.' Not today thank you. Though I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to summon backbiter without anyone noticing.

All of a sudden, there's a bright flash and we are on Olympus. The throne room is littered with tables full of food and my mouth immediately starts watering. In all my years of being alive I have yet to find better food than this. If you ever have the chance to go to on Olympian party, do it. There's no better food on earth. I'm at one of the food tables when a familiar presence comes up behind me.

"Hello, son." Poseidon greets, "Welcome back to Olympus."

"Thanks. I would say it's great, but social gatherings aren't my thing." I say

"Well, parties aren't everyone's cup of tea. Personally I enjoy eavesdropping on all the drama." He says

"You're sounding like Apollo." I say

"Well, apollos ways may be unethical, but they do make for some good entertainment." He says

"I'll take that into consideration." I say he nods and walks away to talk to some other gods

A few hours go by of me socializing with some minor gods and telling my life story a million times before I grow sick of it. Realistically I was sick of it the second we got here, but I digress. I'm left to my own accord for a little while, and I take the opportunity to go to the hearth to talk to Hestia.

I walk out into the hearth and immediately get surrounded by a comforting feeling. Hestia radiates a motherly aura and being around her would make even the most tense person calmer. She seems to sense my presence as she turns around and gives me a warm smile.

She motions me over and I sit next to her on a stone bench as she tends to her garden. The hearth really is a beautiful place, and I would be more than happy to spend all my time here. Being here almost makes me forget about Kronos.

"Rude."

I crack a smile as Hestia turns around to sit next to me. We sit in comfortable silence as I unwind from all the people I had to talk to. She knows that I don't like social gatherings, so I bet she was waiting for me to come out here.

"It's good to see you again, Percy." She says

"It's good to see you too." I say

"So, how are you liking the party?" She asks

"The food is good. Ares has been glaring at me the whole time, and I want to beat his ass again but I would get in trouble." I say

"You should. I'd vouch for you." She says

"Woah. I never thought I'd see the day that you were being violent." I say

"Hey, it's not like I would be the one fighting." She says, "All I'm saying is my moneys on you."

"I appreciate that." I say

"Percy. It's time. Go someone where no one is and summon backbiter. We don't have much time." Kronos says

"I'm sorry, Hestia I have to go." I say walking away

Since the feast is about to start no one will be in any of the temples, so I decide to go to Poseidon's. If I run into someone I could just say that I'm grabbing something for him. Would my father vouch for me like that? I don't know. Is it a risk I'm willing to take? Yes.

I'm walking towards his temple when all of a sudden Jason comes out of nowhere. I try to avoid him, but he jogs us to me and starts questioning me.

"Hey, Percy." He says suspiciously, "Where are you going? The feasts about to start."

"Poseidon asked me to get something from his temple. I'll be right back." I say

"Okay. Don't take too long." He says before running off to the feast

I walk into the temple and go onto one of the balconies overlooking Olympus. I close my eyes and summon backbiter into my hand and just wait. I can feel the domains acting up as Kronos slowly fades out of existence. The only question running through my head is, will they notice I'm gone?