Outcasts of Olympus: Book 1

Part One, Chapter One

ATHENA

The sun was beginning to rise, Apollo pulling his chariot into the sky over the foothills of Mount Olympus, and the birds were beginning to sing. A great horned owl flew into Athena's bedroom, settling on a chair near the open window. He screeched once, then began to preen his feathers as Athena's gray eyes slowly blinked open.

She looked to find the source of the noise, and smiled sweetly at her pet. "Good morning, Bubo," she said softly. "How was your hunt?"

Bubo looked up and ruffled his feathers in annoyance. "That bad, huh?" Athena said, reaching out to stroke him. He leaned into her hand contentedly, then pulled away and flew over to its favorite perch, the post on her bed farthest from the window. After a little bit of shifting, he settled down and promptly fell asleep.

Athena laughed quietly, then walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

She walked down the hall, then descended the stairs leading away from the bedrooms and down to the kitchen. She always started the day with breakfast, and honestly, besides Bubo, she didn't like talking to anyone before she had eaten. It just seemed to be a quirk that she didn't bother trying to get rid of. She was a goddess after all. She could at least eat her breakfast in peace.

When she got to the kitchen, she was happy to find that it was still empty, which meant none of the other gods had awoken yet. As she grabbed one of the packets of caffeinated nectar they kept in the cupboard, however, she heard someone upstairs start belting a pop song she was pretty sure had been mixed into a nightcore version, and sighed with defeat as one of the younger gods, Leodite, ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

His bright purple eyes shone with mischief, at least what could be seen of them through the mess of curly brown hair. Immediately, Athena knew he had done something to anger one of the other gods.

"Hide me! I put glue into castor's underwear, and he's pissed!" he shouted. Athena wasn't sure if she should laugh or chastise him. "You... did what?" she asked, trying to keep her expression neutral, though she could feel the corners of her mouth turning upwards.

"Look, I'd love to share every fantastic detail of my hilarious prank of how he'd need to rip off his underwear to change, along with giving him an unwanted shave--I mean..." He snickered and grinned. "It's a work of genius if I do say so myself," he said, trailing off.

An angry shout sounded from upstairs. "Leodite, I will kill you!" Castor, the god of knowledge, sounded like he really would. "It's Leo you blonde-haired golden boy!" He shouted before running through the other end of the kitchen. "You can't even kill him anyway, Castor!" Athena shouted back. "You're gods, remember?"

A moment later, Castor came down the stairs, murder in his pale blue eyes, his sandy brown hair that was usually combed neatly all over the place. "He'll wish he were dead when I'm through with him," he said. He started to stalk after Leo, but Athena caught his arm. "Leave him," she said. "It's just what he does. I mean, he's literally the god of mischief."

She let go and turned back to her steeping nectar in her favorite mug. "Hope you're not wearing those new boxer briefs ya got yesterday! I put extra in!" Leo teased from down the hall. Castor growled at him, then took a deep breath and sat down. "He's like an annoying little brother," he said with a sigh.

Athena chuckled. "Well, you make it too easy for him. He gets such a rise out of you every time he pranks you."

Castor scoffed, but he was smiling now. "He always makes me look like an idiot. It drives me crazy." He laughed a little though. "But you're right. Maybe I should work on keeping my cool when it comes to him."

Sipping her hot drink, Athena nodded. "I'm not the goddess of wisdom for nothing," she said.

After that, they went quiet as the other gods slowly but steadily started filing in, and eventually they had to leave to make room for everyone. You would have thought the kitchen of the gods would magically change size to accommodate everyone, but that wasn't the case. It needed constant maintenance from Hephaestus and the cyclopes in order to expand, and they had all been busy with other projects. They wouldn't say what they were, just "projects".

Athena left the house of the gods and started making her way to the council building, Castor following close behind. As the goddess of wisdom, she was a very important member of the council, and she was also one of the older ones, which gave her more experience than the younger gods. (Especially Leo)

She said her goodbyes to Castor and went inside, saying a quick hello to Evadne, the only other goddess there early. Evadne was the scribe to the weekly council, writing each spoken word down quickly, yet carefully. "How's Bubo doing?" Evadne asked eagerly. She had loved the little owl the one time she had brought him in with her. Athena smiled. "He's doing great," she said. "Leo keeps threatening to eat him though. He doesn't like him much for that."

Evadne laughed. "You'd better keep an eye on him then."

"Which one? Bubo or Leo?"

"Both."

Just then, Zeus walked in, and they both went quiet. As the king of the gods, he had a very commanding presence, and even his daughter was intimidated.

As the other major gods filed in, his expression never changed from the constant frown. Once all the gods sat down, he cleared his throat and said, "This meeting is officially in session."