Demigods Assemble (PJO/MCU)

Chapter 26

Peter

Peter forced his feet to move and carry him back to his room. He didn't want anyone to know what he had just heard, not until he'd had time to process it himself. When he'd gotten up to grab a glass of water, he hadn't expected anything interesting to be happening. Most people were still asleep. That was why it was such a surprise when he heard Percy and Annabeth talking in their shared room.

He hadn't really meant to listen, but with his enhanced hearing, it was hard not to. As soon as Peter realized it was a sensitive conversation, he had been about to leave. But then he'd heard Annabeth say something about a prophecy and he stopped in his tracks.

It couldn't hurt to hear, since they'll tell us later, he'd thought.

How wrong he was.

Peter sat on his bed, the words circling his brain. Two powerful forces must meet and unite, To thwart the enemy and restore the light. Good can prevail before the world is overrun, But only with the fall of Poseidon's son.

Peter hadn't met Rachel Elizabeth Dare during his visit to Camp Half-Blood, but he remembered Percy and Annabeth's stories about her and what it was like when she spoke a prophecy. After hearing that, no wonder Percy was so shaken up and distracted yesterday.

But only with the fall of Poseidon's son.

It wasn't fair. Percy had already done so much in his life, from what Peter knew about him. He'd fought gods, Titans, giants, monsters, held the sky, possessed invulnerable skin, fallen into hell . . . His life was one big quest—the goal? Survival.

Somehow, Percy was still lighthearted and happy all the time. He had a sense of humor, an obvious love for his girlfriend, and a snarky attitude that probably got him into a lot of trouble, but endeared him to his friends. Since Peter had learned the truth about him and Annabeth and the coming fight, Percy had never expressed any worry about the outcome. His optimism was contagious.

But now Percy seemed to have lost his hope. Peter felt like he had betrayed Percy just by overhearing them. Percy had said he didn't want to tell the Avengers, but it was too late for Peter. He didn't understand why Percy and Annabeth weren't more frantic, though. They had to find a way to escape the prophecy, to change the future! They couldn't just accept without a fight what a teenage girl that sometimes vomited green smoke declared.

Recalling what Annabeth had said, Peter sighed. He was doing exactly what they had feared the Avengers would do. Peter didn't have any experience with prophecies, but Annabeth had said they were unavoidable, that nothing could be done to change them.

But there had to be! Peter really liked Percy and Annabeth, he thought they were becoming fast friends. Percy couldn't die in five days, he just couldn't! This couldn't be the end, Peter wouldn't let it. He was on Annabeth's side, there was some other son of Poseidon out there that this prophecy spoke of.

Opening his laptop, Peter silently vowed to find him.

~

Percy and Annabeth kept to their agreement and said nothing of the prophecy the entire day. When Steve asked about his strange behavior, Percy just said that recruiting Camp Half-Blood made the fight feel more real to him and that he was worried about his friends being hurt. Everyone bought the explanation, except for Natasha and Steve, and Annabeth avoided looking at Percy. Natasha and Steve both watched Percy carefully for the rest of the day, but as far as Peter knew, they were still in the dark. No one seemed to have guessed that Peter knew anything either.

Throughout their training session in the afternoon, Peter felt strange walking around with knowledge no one else had. He almost wanted to tell Percy and Annabeth that he'd overheard them, but he ultimately decided against it. He didn't think they would take kindly to him eavesdropping, and they probably wouldn't want to hear anything he had to say regarding the prophecy. Peter didn't have any special insight he could give them. He was as clueless as they were about "the light," and so far, his online searches for any other monsters or gods Poseidon might have sired had turned up empty.