𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑫 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 [2]

XII

It wasn't long before the tunnel started to get hot.

Elaine found that she had a much higher tolerance to the heat than her friends, who were visibly uncomfortable from the rising temperature.

The stone walls glowed. The tunnel sloped down and she could hear a loud roar, like a river of metal. The spider skittered along, with Annabeth and Elaine right behind.

"Hey, wait up," Percy called.

They slowed down for him. "Yeah?" Annabeth asked.

"Something Hephaestus said back there ... about Athena."

"She swore never to marry," Annabeth said. "Like Artemis and Hestia. She's one of the maiden goddesses."

Elaine blinked. She had never heard that about Athena before. "But then—"

"How come she has demigod children?"

Elaine and Percy nodded. His face reddened even more, though that could've been due to the heat.

"Do you guys know how Athena was born?"

"She sprung from the head of Zeus in full battle armor or something." Percy answered.

"Exactly. She wasn't born the normal way. She was literally birthed from thoughts. Her children are born the same way. When Athena falls in love with a mortal man, it's purely intellectual, the way she loved Odysseus in the old stories. It's a meeting of minds. She would tell you that's the purest kind of love."

"So your dad and Athena ... so they didn't ..." Elaine wasn't even sure what she was trying to ask.

"I was a brain child," Annabeth said. "Literally. Children of Athena are sprung from the divine thoughts of our mother and the mortal ingenuity of our father. We are supposed to be a gift, a blessing from Athena on the men she favors."

"But—"

"Percy, Elaine, the spider's getting away. Do you really want me to explain to you the exact details of how I was born?"

Yes, Elaine thought.

"Um ... no. That's okay." Percy answered.

She smirked. "I thought not." And she ran ahead.

Elaine followed, but she wasn't sure she would ever see Annabeth the same. How was she real? she wondered. One look at Percy told her he was thinking the same thing. She decided some things were probably better left as mysteries.

The roaring got louder. After another half mile or so, they emerged in a cavern the size of a football stadium. Their spider guide stopped and curled into a ball. They had arrived at the forge of Hephaestus.

There was no floor, just bubbling lava hundreds of feet below. They stood on a rock ridge that circled the cavern. A network of metal bridges spanned across it. At the center was a huge platform with all sorts of machines, cauldrons, forges, and the largest anvil she'd ever seen—a block of iron the size of a house. Creatures moved around the platform—several strange, dark shapes, but they were too far away to make out any details.