Annabeth Chase and the Titan's Curse

Chapter 23 - The gods decided whether or not to kill us

"I am proud of my daughter as well," Athena said and I felt my heart swell with happiness at her words. "But there is a security risk here, with the other two."

My heart deflated. "Mother!" I said objectively. "How can you -"

She glared at me, cutting me off quickly. "It is unfortunate that my father, Zeus, and my uncle, Poseidon, chose to break their oath not to have more children. Only Hades kept his word, a fact I find ironic. As we know from the Great Prophecy, children of the three elder gods . . . such as Thalia and Percy . . . are dangerous. As thick headed as he is, Ares has a point."

"Right!" Ares said smugly. Then he seemed to realise exactly what Athena said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin' -"

He went to get up, a murderous look on his face, when a grapevine whipped around his waist and yanked him back down.

"Oh, please, Ares," Dionysus sighed in a bored tone. "Save the fighting for later."

"You're one to talk, you old drunk," Ares cursed, ripping away the vine. "You seriously want to protect these brats?"

Dionysus gazed down at us wearily. "I have no love for them. Athena, do you truly think it safest to destroy them?"

"I do not pass judgment," my mother replied. "I only point out the risk. What we do, the Council must decide."

I really wish she'd shut her mouth.

"I will not have them punished," Artemis declared, coming to our rescue. "I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favour, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

"Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

"Don't call me sis! I will reward them."

"Well," Zeus grumbled, seeming tired of this discussion. At least we, I mean Thalia and Percy, seemed to have him on our side. "Perhaps. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

The whole mass seemed to nod their heads.

Percy flinched beside me. "Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?"

"Mooooooo!" The Ophiotaurus protested.

Poseidon frowned, looking as confused as I was at the name. "You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?"

"Dad," Percy pleaded, "he's just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can't destroy him."

Poseidon looked uncomfortable. I was amazed at Percy's bravado. No other demigod could speak to their godly parent like that. The other gods also looked quite amazed too.

"Percy," Poseidon began, "the monster's power is considerable. If the Titans were to steal it, or -"

"You can't," Percy pressed. Then he turned and looked Zeus right in the eye. I shifted away a few centimetres. If he was going to be blasted, I didn't want to be too. "Controlling the prophecies never works. Isn't that true? Besides, Bess- the Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing something like that is wrong. It's just as wrong as . . . as Kronos eating his children, just because of something they might do. It's wrong!"

I was impressed. Percy actually remembered one of the myths. And used it to plead his case. At this rate he'll become a lawyer.