night changes (percy jackson)

prologue

Nobody expected Percy to stay at camp after the war with Gaea was won, least of all me. Everyone thought surely, he'd join Annabeth, well, somewhere, once everything was over. Once it was safe again. As much as it stabbed at my heart to think about it, it was the only outcome that made sense.

Then, suddenly, it didn't make sense. One day, Annabeth was here, and the next, she was gone to New Rome. Percy didn't leave for the school year like he usually did. He stayed. He told Chiron he wanted to help train other demigods. And who would reject someone like him? A hero of two great prophecies.

I tried so hard not to seem too happy when word spread of their breakup.

Truthfully, part of me wasn't happy. It hurt to watch Percy sulk around the camp like a specter, as if he was a shell of himself, haunted by the trauma of war and destiny. But he slowly healed. And part of me- gods, part of me was so selfishly glad I might still somehow have a chance. After all these godsdamn years...

It's idiotic.

Why would someone like him ever want me? I am...well, I know exactly what I am. I am more than most of these tiny heroes could ever hope to be. But I am what I am in silence. I do not need quests to make my glory. I serve my mother in the shadows. I know what awaits me upon my twenty-first birthday, should I live that long. I only need to endure.

I do not need quests and prophecies and battles to make my name or grant me a place amongst the gods. My bloodline has done enough of that for me. Yet, somehow, no one knows quite who I am. I suppose I prefer it that way. It's easier. I have never quite healed from the trauma of the wars of the past or watching my loved ones die. I have never moved on, not fully. It is easier to suffer when no one is watching.

I turn my amulet over in my hand. My grandmother gave it to me the last time we went to Lviv to see her. She swore it had been in the family for countless generations, since the days the old gods watched over Ukraine. She said it had been forged by Veles, given to my ancestor by the god himself.

I run my thumb over the golden serpent. It brings me comfort just to touch it, to know this one physical representation of my family has survived on this Earth for so long, through so many attempts at genocide, through so many wars, through everything. It is here. And so am I.

It began in the hand of a god, and it will end in one.

It is an eerie thought, to know my destiny. Not everyone has such a privilege or such a burden. I don't know quite which it is yet. No matter, I suppose. Whichever it ends up being, I will survive it. I have survived everything else.

I look down at the amulet. As a child, I thought my father's fireside stories of Slavic gods were fairytales. But now, I cannot help but wonder if, since obviously the Greek gods exist and the Roman ones too, the gods of my ancestors are out there somewhere? Has Veles truly been watching after my family for all these centuries? Does he continue to watch after us? After me?

My line of thinking is interrupted as the stars in the night sky above me seem to shine and shimmer brighter than they were just a moment ago. They reflect off the water of the lake in front of me like diamonds. I blink once, twice, in total awe of the canvas of the night sky. The air around me goes still, the breeze dropping from around me and the sounds of the forest falling silent.

I hold my breath as the shadows surrounding me start to dance. Anyone else would be petrified, but I feel a comfort that is difficult to put into words. The darkness that fills these drifting shadows reminds me of my mother's palace in the heart of Tartarus. It becomes a true, pitch black with an air that is cold and comforting and so innately mine. Its legacy is something I would know in my dreams, in my soul, with my sight stolen, and with my skin numb to the touch. It is the purest night.

I watch as the shadows slowly merge together, coalescing into a figure that is somehow, at the same time, both as dark as the blackest depths of the seas and as bright as the hottest star in the sky. It is only a moment before I hear in the back of my mind a voice that has become entirely familiar. Anyone else would find it bone-chilling, but to me? Impossible.

"My daughter, embrace the shadows that weave the tapestry of fate. A celestial convergence awaits, unveiling the threads of your destiny. Seek the balance in the realms of darkness and light."

All at once, the figure burns out, and the shadows fade. I am left in the natural darkness, and I silently repeat my mother's words. A celestial convergence? What the hell is that? I can't help but wonder, confusion filling my body. But nonetheless, I accept that this is another of the trials that await me. I have had many before, and I expect I will have many more if I am meant to earn my place at my mother's side.

"Well then," I mutter. I push myself to my feet and stare out over the water. A foreboding sense that something is about to happen hits me. "Let's get started."