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

Chapter 11

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING THAT YOU RECOGNIZE!!!!

ALDEN

"She was my mother."

I can't breathe. Sally Jackson? One of the Councillors and the best friends I ever had? The mother of this... person?

"Who are you?"

"My name is Percy Jackson." Sophie nudges him. He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Perseus Jackson, technically. But don't call me that. Only people who hate me call me that. My mother?" he asks pointedly.

"She was the Councillor that Oralie replaced. It was a huge scandal around two hundred years ago when she disappeared."

"TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO?"

Percy is panting, his eyes wide. He falls back in the chair, and Linh and Keefe begin to explain to him elves long lifetimes. Why is he so surprised? He is an elf, isn't he? If he isn't...

"Fitz, Biana, come here please." They come. "Is he a human? Did you bring a human into the Lost Cities?"

They shake their heads. "He doesn't seem human. He has a bunch of abilities, and some powers that don't fit into categories."

"Well, there will be no reason to worry."

Percy leaps out of the chair. "No reason to worry? I just learned my mom was an elf. A fricking elf! Who was apparently 230 years old!" His voice trails off. "Two hundred and thirty years old."

He puts his head in his hands. "Why would she lie about this? She knows I'm no stranger to weird things."

I walk up to him and pat his shoulder. He makes no motion to acknowledge me, except to say, "Did you know her?"

I sigh. "I knew her quite well. We were very good friends, and when she disappeared, I was devastated."

"Do you think she went to the human world? The-what did you call them?- Forbidden Cities?"

"I think the answer to that is probably in that cache."

"The marble thing?"

"Yes."

"Greaaaaaat. So how do you open that?"

I shake my head. "Each one is slightly different. They all have their own keywords that will open them when said."

Percy narrows his eyes, thinking. "What about my name? Would that work?"

"Possibly."

He takes the cache out of his pocket and clears his throat. "Percy Jackson." Nothing happens. "Perseus Jackson." Nothing again. He groans. "Perseus Achilles Jackson."

Keefe stifles a laugh. "Perseus Achilles Jackson? Are you serious?"

"Shut up."

Keefe roars with laughter. "No! That's just too good." He stops abruptly.

Percy is glaring at him, almost daring him to say more. "If you have nothing else to say, I'm pretty sure something happened when I said that. See that blue crystal there? It started glowing."

I look. The crystal's light is getting brighter. It's glow overwhelms the cache and floods into the room. There is a blast of blinding light, and we are sucked into a memory.

PERCY

I blink quickly, ridding my eyes of the light. I am in a room with twelve chairs, and I immediately think, 'Olympus.' Then I realize that the people here aren't the gods. They all have blue eyes. They're either some sort of Nazi conspiracy, which isn't likely because some of them have dark hair, or they are elves.