𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒, apollo

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢. i'm in olympus, for real

WHEN I OPEN MY eyes, I'm met with the familiar sounds and smell of New York. As the locals pass me, they don't even note my outfit, because I'm pretty sure that a teenager dressed in a dress that could be easily mistaken as a ball gown was not the strangest thing they've seen on the street today.

I look around trying to make out where I am, when suddenly, someone yells my name and I wipe my head to my right where I see Percy hop out of a cab.

A grin forms on my face as I get crushed in a hug by him. "You okay?" He asks and I nod as we pull away. "Just fine."

"Hades just let you go?" I send a look to Percy, "He is my dad you know." To which he replies with another bone-crushing hug. "Thank you," He whispers in my ear. I simply send him a smile when we part again.

I turn to the building. "Ready?" I ask.

"Are you?"

I think for a moment. "I think so." With that, we enter the Empire State Building. We definitely looked weird, Percy looked almost like a homeless kid with his dirty and ripped clothes and I was severely overdressed.

We went up to the guard at the front desk and Cy said, "Six hundredth floor." He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. I wasn't much into fantasy, or in books in general, but it must've been good, because the guard took a while to look up.

"No such floor, kiddo."

"We need an audience with Zeus," I said and he gave me a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

"You heard me." I was about to decide this guy was just a regular mortal, and we'd better run for it before he called the straitjacket patrol, when he said, "No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."

"Oh, I think he'll make an exception." Percy slipped off his backpack and unzipped the top. The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder, not getting what it was for a few seconds. Then his face went pale. "That isn't..."

"Yes, it is," I shrugged. "You want us to take it out?"

"No! No!" He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me. "Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."

I did as he told me. And as soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600. I pressed it and waited, and waited. A muzak started playing, "Raindrops keep falling on my head...."

I puffed out my cheeks as I and Percy awkwardly stood in silence. "Why do you look like that?" I ask. He sends me a weird look, "I could ask you the same."

"I simply cleaned up, but you look the opposite," I say, rolling my eyes. "It's like you fought in war or something." He scratches his neck, "I did have a duel with Ares for your dad's helm."

I quickly turn to Percy wide-eyed, "You did what?!"

"I won?" He sheepishly smiles and I shake my head, "Jesus Christ, Cy." My friend only shrugged and finally, we heard a ding. The doors slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack.

I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below me was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed the stairway to its end, where my brain just could not accept what I saw. "Holy shit," I mumble.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of palaces, a city of mansions — all with white columns, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires.