Keeper of the Lost Cities: Hurricane (PJO/HOO and KOTLC crossover)

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: 私は何も持っていない。If you could read that, tell me.

PERCY

"He's too powerful!" "How?" "So many abilities!" And on and on and on.

Holy Hephaestus, they sound just like the Olympian Council. Next thing you know, they'll be voting on whether or not to kill me! Finally I yell, "Everybody, shut up!"

I can tell right away that I accidentally used charmspeak. My voice sounds richer than usual, like a wave flowing over a reef. I can see the elves nodding, agreeing with me without a second thought. Elves are stupid and gullible. Except one of them.

Tam glares at me. "Stop it! Whatever you're doing, quit!"

I act innocent and baffled. "I'm not doing anything." I add a little more charmspeak to my voice. If that convinces him, we're all doomed.

Tam looks confused. "You're not doing anything?" Then he starts to bob his head. "You're not doing anything."

I look up at the sky, exasperated. "We're all doomed."

The elves shake out of their stupor. "What was that?"

"That was charmspeak. It's kind of like super-persuasion. And if you were convinced by that little bit of charmspeak, we're all doomed."

Sophie looks disgruntled. "I'm going to call Mr. Forkle. He needs to know who you are."

I nod, slightly suspicious. It'll be fine. I don't know why, but I trust these kids, and if these kids trust Forkman, I'll trust him to.

Sophie brings out a strange device that kind of looks like a phone. She says, "Show me Mr. Forkle," and I wonder if it's like an IM. She tells it to come over, and a voice comes out of it saying, "Coming, Miss Foster."

Two people come into the room, a man and a woman. They gape at me. "Sophie, is this the one that was bleeding?" Sophie nods.

I sigh. Is that seriously how she introduces people? 'This is the person who bleeds.' 'This is the person who dances in their underpants.' Like, seriously.

I step forward. "Hi. I'm Percy. Percy Jackson. Technically my real name is Perseus, but the only people who call me Perseus are the ones who want to kill me, so if you call me that, I'll assume you want to kill me and then try to kill you first."

They look shocked. What, have they never heard of humor before? "I'm joking."

They relax. The fragile looking woman steps forward. "I'm Edaline."

I give her a once over. She looks like a fragile beauty, but I can sense power and determination. Also sadness. She and her husband have experienced death before.

"I'm Grady." He is more openly powerful, but he is wary of himself like I am. He knows what it's like to be too powerful, and he doesn't want to hurt the people he loves.

I nod at them. "Nice to meet you."

They nod back. Then Grady opens his mouth. "So, we heard what you were saying about your powers. Is that true? You have all of those? How did you get them all?"

"I can't tell you that. I physically cannot tell you." Something churns in me. You could. Just break the oath. You can't die. I shake my head.

Edaline looks confused. "And you healed so quickly. Most people would take at least a week to heal from that damage."

"Did I forget to tell everyone that water heals me?"