Percy and Paul

Explanations

The next morning, Percy finally woke up. He looked significantly better than the night before, but still not the best he's ever looked. He still limped a little, but he stood tall and defiant. When he saw me and Annabeth sitting on the couch, he waved. "Morning Paul. Morning Annabeth."

Annabeth smiled and I gave a halfhearted wave. Percy shared a knowing look with Annabeth and threw a sad smile in my direction. "Alright, Paul," he said to me, rather wearily, "I hope you're ready for explanations, because it can't wait any longer." I nodded and crossed my arms.

He took a deep breath and asked me, "You know about the Greek gods and goddesses. Do you believe they ever existed? And if they did, do you think they'd still be around, and just, how do I say this, move with the time? Annabeth help me out here."

"Moves with the western civilization," she offered.

"Yes. Thank you. They move with the western civilization. And..."

I stopped him, "Percy, what are you trying to say? That the gods are real?"

He simply looked at me, then said plainly, "yes."

I stared at him, then started laughing. Percy was just looking at me disappointedly, "that's funny Percy. Really. And creative. But, did you honestly expect me to believe that?"

He sighed, "Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth." I narrowed my eyes at him and he spoke again, "Think about it, Paul. Yesterday, for instance, you saw me, Annabeth and Grover fighting empousa."

"Okay," I said, "say I believe you. That the ancient gods are still around, what does this have to do with you?"

Annabeth spoke up, "you read stories about the gods and goddesses having affairs with mortals." I nodded, "well, they still do that. Which is where Percy and myself come into play. We're demigods. I'm a daughter of Athena."

"And I'm the son of Poseidon." Percy said.

Being the english teacher that I am, I picked up on the fact that Annabeth was 'a' child and Percy was 'the' child, so I questioned, "So you guys have many siblings?"

"Annabeth does, on her godly side, I do not. I have one half brother, Tyson, he's a cyclops. But other than him, Poseidon cabin is all mine."

At this point I was gaping. Cyclops? There was a knock at the door and Grover welcomed himself in. "Hey guys! What's u..." He looked at me, then Percy, "Oh. Need any help?"

"Please," he sighed.

"So what are you?" I asked Grover.

"Satyr."

I nodded dumbly. Percy started talking again, "Anyway, as I was saying, we are demigods, and monsters like to hunt us down. Me more than others, since I'm a child of the big three."

"Seaweed brain, slow down," Annabeth said. She explained to me about Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, their 'contract', and the camp. This was either the most thought out, complex lie ever, or it was the truth.

"So, what you guys are saying is that the myths..." Percy shushed me and thunder rumbled in the distance.

Percy muttered something about not frying us until they finished explaining, "They don't like being called myths," he explained.

"Anyway," I continued, "you're saying that magic and monsters are all true? And that you're supposedly a child of a god?"

Percy sighed again, "yes, Paul. Think, when I disappear, it's to fight monsters, or I'm on a quest, or something of the sort. When I come home injured, and mom doesn't let you take me to the hospital, and I somehow manage to be just fine the next day..."

I interrupted him again, "How does that work anyway?"

"Nectar and ambrosia," Annabeth said, "food and drink of the gods. It would cause a mortal to burst into flames, but demigods can consume some of it, and it can heal us. Too much and it'll do the same to us."

I remembered the matching grey streaks in Percy and Annabeth's hair. "Where did you get those?" I asked, pointing to Percy's streak.

A dark cloud seemed to settle over us, and Percy suddenly got a dark, far off look, and Annabeth looked down, suddenly saddened. She opened her mouth to explain, but shut it again.

Percy took a deep breath and started, "We got it during this last summer. We were gathering two siblings who were children of Hades, though we didn't know at the time, and the Manticore attacked us. It took Annabeth." I paused and took another steadying breath, "There was a quest that was given to the Hunter of Artemis, to go to California and find the general of the Titan armies."

I stopped him, "Whoa, whoa. Titan armies?"

Annabeth nodded, "We'll explain."

Percy continued, "The quest had Thalia, my cousin, Bianca di Angelo, and Zoe Nightshade. I snuck along and Grover was there too. We lost-" his voice cracked, "-Bianca. She was Nico di Angelo's sister, and I had promised I'd protect her. Then, when we finally reached Atlas, we found Artemis, who was kidnapped, and Annabeth. Annabeth was holding up the sky. That was how she got her streak of grey. I went and took the sky from her, which is how I got mine. Then-" he squeezed his eyes shut, "-Zoe was killed." All I could do was stare. "We went back to camp and Nico hates me because I failed him. And we don't know where he is."

"So," I said, "Can we do, like, simple Q and A?"

Annabeth nodded while she rubbed soothing circles on Percy's back.

"Who is Nico?"

"Percy's cousin. Son of Hades."

"Thalia?"

"Daughter of Zeus. She was also a tree for a while."

Weird, "Who was Zoe?"

Percy answered this one, "She was a hero. She was never mentioned in the old stories, though she should be because without her, Hercules would have failed. But he betrayed her and he's a complete jerk."

Right. New, crazy information I'm not sure what to do with. We went on for some time. I learned about the Titan war with Kronos, some of their different quests, and the prophecy that everyone was sure was about Percy. 

By the time we were finished, my head was so full of stuff, I was sure it was going to burst. Not that I completely believed everything. But how could I not? Then Percy showed me an I'm-a-son-of-the-sea-god-and-can-manipulate-water trick that pretty much convinced me.

I went home and willed my head to not spontaneously combust.