A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Six

Standing in front of the Olympian Council with his cousins, Percy felt slightly uncomfortable. The gods were staring at them intently for what seemed like an eternity but were only thirty seconds in reality. Poseidon was the first to speak and addressed each of them individually, "My son, Percy. My niece, Thalia. My nephew, Nico. Olympus will lose three heroic champions and warriors today. However, we respect your decision. My only request is that you always remember us, just as we will remember you three as saviors of Olympus."

Percy gazed at his father for a moment before he glanced at the gods and his cousins. He met the eyes of everyone present as he spoke, "We might be leaving but we're not going to forget. If Olympus was in danger of being destroyed again, we would come back if it was in danger to fight for you."

The gods of the Olympian Council seemed genuinely touched. There were still a few who acted indifferent like Ares and Dionysus but that was expected.

Athena spoke up from her throne. "Hephaestus and I have created a scent dampener for you all that will minimize the chance of monster attacks. Each one is unique to your specific scents and instead of putting it in a charm that can be removed, we have created a sigil that can be branded onto you. If you would step forward."

Athena shrunk down to human size and approached the three teens. There was a small brazier in the middle of the floor. Thalia stepped up first and knelt down to receive her tattoo. Athena held the end of the branding iron over the hot coals until it turned red. She chanted something in Ancient Greek that was too fast for Percy to understand. The flames grew and turned an electric blue before going back to orange. She turned toward Thalia and gestured for her to lift her shirt. Thalia did so reluctantly, glaring at the male gods until they turned away.

Athena pressed the brand into the skin right above Thalia's hip bone. Her flesh sizzled as the blazing hot brand made contact and Thalia hissed in pain but otherwise stayed silent. When she pulled the iron off, the skin was raised but it was the clear symbol of a lightning bolt inside of a circle. There was Greek lettering filling the inside of the circle but it was too small for Percy to understand. Athena handed Thalia a square of ambrosia that she took gratefully before retreating back to her next to Percy.

Nico walked forward next and pulled down the collar of his shirt. Athena repeated the process with a different branding iron. Nico started to sweat and gritted his teeth as the brand burned onto his skin. When it came off, the brand was in the form of a skull inside of a circle, much like Thalia's. Nico took a square of ambrosia and stood next to Thalia.

Finally, Percy knelt down next to the brazier. Athena held his branding rod, the tip molten red, above his chest. Percy could feel the heat coming off of it and refused the instinct to turn away. Athena looked him in the eyes as she pressed the brand into his chest and started to quietly chant. Percy's eyes grew wide when he felt a rush of power go through him. He never thought he would see the day when Athena blessed a child of Poseidon.

Once Athena removed the brand he looked down and was surprised by the spider that was imprinted onto his chest. He had expected a trident but found that he didn't mind the symbol. Athena winked at him and handed him a square of ambrosia. She also slipped a small box into his hands and he looked at her, bewildered. She sent him a look that told him to not say anything and he nodded minutely before walking back to his cousins while slipping the box into his pocket.

Aphrodite spoke next and she almost looked like she had tears in her eyes as she said, "I've spent the last few hours working with Hecate on your new look. You'll be able to take off your disguise if you concentrate but you should be able to keep it up subconsciously. Are you ready?"

Percy nodded and Aphrodite started chanting. Much like Athena, she was going so fast that Percy was only able to catch a few words. After a minute, a warm feeling bloomed in his chest and continued to spread to the rest of his body. Percy could feel the light radiating off of him. The warm feeling began to shrink as the light faded.

When the light was completely gone, Percy saw Aphrodite gazing at him. The entire Olympian Council was staring at him, but Aphrodite was scrutinizing him as if she was looking for flaws in his new body. Squirming uncomfortably, Percy spoke for the first time, "How do I look?" He did a double take at the sound of his voice. It was higher and had adopted a slight accent. It reminded him of the people from Queens in New York.

Not blinking, Aphrodite snapped her fingers and a full-length mirror appeared in front of him. Percy's jaw dropped as he took in his new appearance. His messy black hair and sea green eyes were gone. He now had brown hair and eyes. He seemed slimmer but he was also at least four inches shorter. He was also paler, his tan reduced significantly.

"You still look like a Kelp Head," Thalia commented from behind him. Percy threw a half-hearted glare towards her.

Zeus interrupted them before they could start bickering. "Hestia has volunteered to act as your guardian in the mortal world. You'll be living in an apartment in Queens."

"You will be attending Midtown High School. However, due to the age difference, you will all be in different grades. Nico, Thalia, you will be attending as freshmen. Percy, you will be a sophomore," Poseidon chimed in. "We know that you aren't in the correct grades but it's for the best. Your education has been interrupted so many times that we found it best if you repeated some of your schooling."

"As you felt during the branding, I've blessed you with attributes that you didn't have before. You'll find yourself picking up on things, such as new languages or complex equations easily," Athena informed him.

Percy opened his mouth to thank her but Zeus cut him off. "Enjoy your new life, Percy Jackson, Thalia, and Nico di Angelo. Or perhaps I should say, Thalia, Nico di Angelo, and... Peter Parker."

***

Percy was lying in the top bunk in his new room. He was exhausted but he needed to see what Athena had given him. He pulled out the small box and opened it. There was a small note card inside. It said, "Perseus, I have a feeling that these will come in handy."  It was addressed from Athena. On the back was a recipe of some sort and Percy vaguely recognized some of the ingredients as chemicals. Percy set the note card aside and pulled out a small vial from inside the box. There were nine more inside the box and the vials were filled with a strange white substance. Percy pulled out the other item inside the box. It was a strange looking metallic cuff that had a button that extended to the palm of his hand. There was a button on the side and Percy pressed it. A compartment popped open. It was the perfect size for the vial. Percy slid the cartridge into the compartment and clicked it into place. He put the cuff on and aimed it at the ceiling. Percy pressed the button on his palm and jumped when something white shot out of the cuff and attached itself to the ceiling. Percy leaned forward to examine it. It reminded him of the webs in Arachne's chamber.

Percy shuddered at the memory of Annabeth being caught by one of the webs and it dragging her down to Tartarus. He shook his head in an effort to get rid of the memory. He ripped the webs off of the ceiling and stuffed it under his pillow so Nico wouldn't see it. He would deal with the webs in the morning. He was too exhausted to think straight. His eyes fluttered shut and Percy tried to keep his mind blank and free from any memories that would trigger a flashback.

This explains the intelligence difference, for lack of a better phrase, between Percy and Peter. Peter is literally a genius while Percy, while smart, is nowhere near that. So he was blessed by Athena and now he has the potential to be a genius if that makes sense.

Edit 6/25/19 - I'm rewriting the first six chapters of the story to fix some plot holes and make the story better. The gist of the story is the same so you don't HAVE to reread it but I would because there are more details and is better than what was written before.

Thank you for all of the reads and votes. Please vote and comment!

<3 S