The True Confessions of Percy Jackson

two roads diverged in a yellow wood

                                                        ~PROLOGUE~

JANUARY 31, XX94

   The bonfire was visible even from the row of houses beside the palace, a bright speck contrasting against the dark backdrop of the night.

   "What are they doing, Mater?" a little boy asked, securely snuggled against his mother's chest as they peered together through a small window in the attic. "Why are the priests burning offerings to Princess Athene when it's so dark outside?"

   "Nico, this is not for somebody your age to hear," chided the woman, "but your father will surely object to such ignorance. I will tell you, but you must promise not to relay this information to anyone else, okay? Michail Varus of the Council has been killed by the assassin Alcyoneus, and those who called him a comrade or a friend, like your father, are burning his body and grieving."

   The boy called Nico blinked owlishly. "Oh," he said, glancing upwards with luminous, innocent dark eyes. "I thought that a position in the Council was good, though. Matermata Gaea told me and Bianca that they are more powerful than anyone else in the world!"

   At once the atmosphere tensed, and the woman rapidly paled. "No, Nico," she whisphered in a frenzy, "you must never say that sentence ever again. Promise me, or your Uncle Zeus will finally have an excuse to hang and quarter our entire family. Don't ever listen to that Gaea woman tells you, okay?"

   "Sorry, Mater." The child glanced down, understanding the seriousness of the situation. "But are her words true?"

   The woman frowned gravely. "Yes, Nico. But it is like the story of Icarus- there was a hero who flew with wax wings into the sky, only to fall when he had reached too high a point to the sun. Power always comes with bad omen, do you listen to me?"

   "Yes." There was silence as the mother and son watched the dying embers of the fire roar away, before there were no sparks left and only a dull, black heap of ashes.