Come Back to Me[Sequel to YME and Crossing Paths]

Chapter Three: Meeting of The Olympians

Chapter Three: Meeting of The Olympians

Percy

Once everyone was at Four Seasons, the meeting began.

"Well...how...lovely it is to see all of you again today." Zeus said with an obviously fake smile. As you can see, Athena's chair is taken by none other than her daughter, Annabeth Chase." Everyone clapped lightly. "And one more announcement. As of April, Hermes has opened a police station. How is that going?"

Hermes smiled triumphantly. "Pretty well, if I'd say so myself." I noticed Annabeth roll her eyes.

Zeus let out a heavy sigh. "Miss Chase, you are too much like your mother. What is it?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that Hermes thinks that killing innocent people just happens to be 'going well'."

"Miss Chase, I suggest that you stick to architecture." Hermes laughed.

"I will not sit back while police officers, employed by you, kill people that have done nothing wrong."

"FIne. Start a protest. A riot, even. It's just going to get more people, including yourself, arrested." Her gaze turned cold. She opened her mouth to say something, but Hestia, who was sitting next to her, placed a gentle hand on her arm, giving her a signal to calm down before anything else happened. She shot Hermes a glare, slilently telling him that this wasn't over yet.

"Okay. On that happy note, Poseidon, how's business?"

"Perfect. The ocean's still polluted, and we have a long way to go, but with lots of fundraising, hard work, and time, we can get it back to its former glory." I looked around, and saw that Demeter wasn't in her seat. She was passing around little cereal samplers, which everyone declined.

For a while, we talked about business, goals, and various other things. Around two, I heard the door open behind me. A deep voice said, "Here is the meeting room, Mr. Castellan." Annabeth stiffened. Everyone turned in their seats. The one and only Luke Castellan strutted in, straightening his cufflinks and looking smug. Nearly everyone glared at him–even Hestia. The only person who seemed to be fine with his presence was Hermes, his father. Of course, as soon as he got arrested, Hermes had to bail him out. You can't even do that in the US.

"Sorry I'm late." he flashed everyone a smile.

"Hermes? Why is that criminal boy here?" asked Zeus. Annabeth's fists were turning purple from clenching them, and I guessed that no one else was any better.

"He's my oldest son. I had to bring him."

"He was in jail!" Artemis argued. Even Ares and Hades nodded along.

"But you see, I wasn't at the same time. Since my father is Hermes, I was able to pull a few strings and get out early." Luke's smirk fell on Annabeth, and her expression turned from anger to fear.

"Fine. Let's get on with the meeting, then. Miss McLean? Do you have your slideshow?"

•••

After what felt like forever, there was only an hour of the meeting left. There was more talk of plans, goals to reach until the next meeting, and Powerpoints upon Powerpoints.

"Miss Chase? Do you have your Powerpoint?"

"Yes." she got up and played with her computer for a moment, before connecting it to the TV. "In the next year, we plan on expanding the company. We will hire more people, giving jobs to the people who need them–" Ares cut her off.

"You mean like you did last time, when the plan failed?" Annabeth grit her teeth.

"Last time was a pilot program, to see if we needed to make adjustments, and clearly, we did. So we made them. Now that we have our university set up, we can hire teachers, give people degrees for architecture, and they can work, giving us room to expand to companies and move onto bigger projects."

"What is it with you two and making it 'bigger and better'?" argued Hera.

"You see, Hera, if we expand our company, then we can make more money. If we make more money, we can make better, structurally sound buildings. If we build structurally sound buildings, then people are safer."

"You've been proposing this idea for the past three years." she persisted.

"And in these past three years, we've been working hard to get this plan off the ground. Any suggestions?" no one said a word. Annabeth disconnected her laptop and sat back down, keeping her eyes away from Hermes and Luke's end of the table.

"And the last topic for the meeting..." Zeus shuffled through his papers. "As you all know, some of our performances..." he glanced towards Dad, Hades, Nico, and I. "...Have been lacking as of the late. Hades, you promised good lawyers, but instead you get bozos that get criminals like Castellan out of jail!" Hades stood up angrily.

"I will have you know that we have greatly improved since June and now we will not let any deals with Hermes slip again. Or anyone." he looked around menacingly.

"And Poseidon...these fundraisers haven't been going as well as you propose."

"As I said before, Zeus, these are a work-in-progress. They just started last year, of course things aren't going to go perfectly smoothly."

"That makes perfect sense, Poseidon." Hera said, nodding. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth rub her temples in frustration.

"I expect rises in performance. With that, everyone's dismissed."

We gathered papers, laptops, and popcorn bags(yes, we always brought popcorn to watch the arguments). I walked into the lobby with Jason, talking to him about the differences between air travel and water travel.

"Okay, they are gone. We can talk about other stuff now." Jason said, looking around. I laughed, then looked at the time.

"Shit...I was supposed to pick up Annie half an hour ago..." he rolled his eyes.

"Sally loves Annie. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you were late by an hour or so. In the meantime, go pick up the other Annie." I looked over and saw her standing at a small table, going through papers.

"Okay, okay." I walked up behind her. I tapped on her shoulder, and she jumped about a foot in the air. Spinning around, her face broke out into a smile.

"Percy!" she jumped into my arms, hugging me tightly.

"When did you get here?!" I asked.

"Last night. Well, this morning, around one."

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back? How long are you staying? We should get coffee and catch up!" Annabeth laughed.

"Slow down, Seaweed Brain. I didn't tell you because I forgot. I'm here for the next two months, unless I decide to stay longer. And yes, we should go get coffee and catch up. But not right now. Tomorrow. I'm guessing Annie is with Sally and you should probably get over there."

"How did you know?" I asked.

"You and Jason talk loud." she said, picking up her papers and shoving them in a folder.

"Good to know. Good to know. See you tomorrow, then?"

"Tomorrow." she said. I waved, and walked away, running into a wall. Rubbing my head, I actually looked where I was going this time and made it out the door.

•••

Chapter three was a success, if I'd say so myself. I don't know if I'll be able to update tomorrow because I'm going skating after school until nine and then probably getting home around nine thirty, taking a shower and doing a bunch of night stuff until ten, then doing everything in my power to procrastinate, then remembering that I forgot to pass in math homework, resulting in me not even starting chapter 4 until eleven. Then on Saturday I'm going to see my great grandmother for the first time since last year, so that will be fun. I might bring my computer because it's a two hour drive and I will have time to write. Then again, I get motion sick VERY easily, so that might not happen. If it does, I wouldn't be able to update it until past ten because we usually take a few stops, then once we get home I procrastinate more.

~Kenzie