The Blood of Olympus

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Percy

Hello my rainbow coloured mushrooms! :P

I got the horrible new profile (everyone got it, I think) and I have no idea how to use it :( There's no status bar!! Grrrrr. 

This chapter is dedicated to Charlizejq for commenting and getting the correct answer, which was Auster. XD 

Enjoy the chapter...c: 

Percy

Athens was beautiful.

Sure, it looked like someone had shoved a pile of ancient ruins, a whole forest and a block of modern buildings into a blender and spilled the contents out onto a deformed mountain range. But somehow it managed to look magnificent and grand in the morning sun.

“Whoa.” Jason said next to him, his hands gripping the celestial bronze rail as if he were steadying himself.

“Whoa.” Percy agreed as he admired the glittering rooftops and the tall mounds of forests and ancient Greek architectural structures.

Annabeth jogged to his side, her grey eyes sparkling with excitement as she peered over the railing. Blonde hair escaped from her unruly ponytail and fell in front of her face, so Percy reached out and brushed it away for her.

“The Parthenon!” She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Then her eyes widened and she pointed at a speck of rubble directly below them. “Oh my gods, the temple of Zeus! Each column is exactly seventeen metres high—"

“Here she goes.” Percy muttered under his breath.

Jason clapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations. Your girlfriend is a walking, talking encyclopaedia.”

“Gee, thanks.” Percy grumbled.

“Hey, guys.” Frank called from the other side of the ship. His arm was slung around Hazel’s shoulder. “Have you noticed anything different about the city?”

Jason frowned. “Well, now I’ve come to think about it…”

Percy scratched his head and glanced at the city below him. It looked normal enough but something about it seemed…off.

Then he realized…if Athens was a city, then why couldn’t they hear all the traffic?

Cold dread trickled down his throat like cough syrup. “People.” He said. “Where are the people?”

Annabeth, who before had been ranting on about the construction of the Theatre of Dionysus, stepped away from the rails in shock. “Like Manhattan.” She said.

Percy blinked and then the idea dawned on him, making his head pound. “No way.” He argued, shaking his head. “The people were, like, asleep there. Here…they’re just all gone. Poof.”

“Like Manhattan?” Hazel echoed, confusion etched over her features.

Percy waved it aside. “Long story.”

Jason glanced up at the sky with a troubled expression. “Gaia made them all disappear, then. Why would she do that?”

Annabeth shrugged. “A lot of reasons. To stop them from interfering with her plans, getting in the way, et cetera. She’ll want to clear the battleground.”

Piper jogged up to them, furiously rubbing at a small smear of oil on her cheek-most likely a present from Festus, who liked to greet his friends by coughing up some oil in their face.