Keeper Of Their Hearts (EG/PJO) - Book One

XXVII. Percy Learns The Truth

(A/N: This chapter takes portions from the book, the show, and Laurellins' AO3 fanfic "Tales From Camp Half Blood". Just to let you all know here now.)

I had left Olympus not too long after that conversation with Demeter. I still honestly was surprised that I had even managed to basically win over Demeter's consent in dating her daughter, but I wasn't really focused on all of that to be honest. For I had bigger fish to fry right now.

After I had left Olympus, I simply had gone ahead and waited for Percy on the road to camp, just a short distance from the base of the hill. If you want to know exactly why I was doing this, it was purely simple. To let him know the truth about who the Lightning Thief was. I could have just let him figure it out on his own, but I knew as well that if I played my cards right, he could help me take down Blake before his business with Kronos could get even more dangerous than it already was.

I mean, he had attempted to frame and kill Percy twice essentially by now — first the hellhound after Capture The Flag, thereby almost killing me as well and then with the cursed flying shoes during his quest — and with him still in camp, he was a major threat to the lives of everyone there, and I knew it. I couldn't allow him to hurt anymore people in camp, I had to stop this before it got out of hand. And despite how I felt about Percy Jackson at this time, I could see the potential of having him as an ally in my plan to take Blake down. If this succeeded, it would clear both Clarisse's and Percy's names once and for all — and expose Blake as the true lightning thief.

If it failed..

Surely, it wouldn't come to that.

I honestly hoped I wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of its failure. In retrospect, as could have been expected however, I should have been thinking about what Kronos planned for the future. I really should have been, but I wasn't. Either way, I had to take the chance that I had been given to stop this before it really began, and there was no way in hell I was going to waste this opportunity granted to me now. It was now or never, essentially.

Either this succeeded or we were all going to suffer from this for a while.

The sound of snapping branches stirred me from my thoughts. I turned to my left. There was Percy, coming up the road. I got a smug smirk from where I was, leaning up against a tree. Perfect, I thought to myself. Phase One of my plan could now commence.

"Well, well, well.." I said aloud, causing Percy to stop and see me there. "..if it isn't the one who retrieved the bolt, still clueless as to who actually stole it."

Percy looked absolutely confused, as could have been probably expected in such a situation as of now. "What are you even talking about, Colton?" he asked. "Blake told me that he would tell Chiron that she stole the bolt and that things would be worked out from there."

I laughed. "Now aren't you the fool.." I told him. "I think it would be nice for you to know that Clarisse went on my quest, and so has been absent from camp the whole time up until now."

He looked even more confused now. "You're kidding, right?" he asked nervously, and I shook my head no. Percy just stood there like a deer in highlights, trying to process that information. It took him a while, but eventually he realized what that meant.

"Blake lied.." Percy muttered. "He lied about that, knowing full well that Clarisse had gone on your quest with you and the others."

"Exactly.. and if Clarisse wasn't the one who stole the bolt.." he muttered, his eyes now widening. I got off of the tree, walked up to him, and placed my hand on his mouth. He looked surprised.

"Just listen here, Jackson. Promise you will not tell anyone of this until I say it is safe to do so. Okay?" I asked him, and he just nodded his head.

I sighed. "Okay.. listen.. Blake lied about Clarisse being at camp because he was the one who stole the bolt, not her. I don't know how exactly her father factored into this.." I told him. "..but I definitely suspect that our friend that starts with a K in Tartarus.." I was basically mentioning Kronos without saying his name. "..might have had something to do with it. So before you start screaming your head off and do something stupid since Blake is still in camp and poses a threat to everyone else, I have a plan."