Chapter Text
Percy and his friends were hanging out by the lake. It was one of those ahh-the-sun-is-so-hot-I-can-literally-feel-my-skin-tan kinds of days. Percy was lying on the beach, with Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, and Leo. He looked over the water, enjoying the peace. You see, life as a demigod was all about finding temporary moments, where life is all good, and there are no worries. Even though there aren't many.
Annabeth was curled up in the shadows, with a book sprawled out half open in front of her. It looked like she might have fallen asleep. Percy grinned. The heat must have been really intense for her to pass out like that. She had been talking about finishing the book she was reading for a least two hours before they came to the beach.
Hazel and Frank might have been sleeping too, but they might also just have been cuddling, relaxing, and enjoying each other's company. You could never tell with those two. They were so quiet. Percy often pondered how they always seemed to be so content with each others company. They could be completely still, relaxed, but they would at the same time give off an aura of calmness and peace. Love, even. Either way, they deserved it. They just got back from saving the world, for gods' sake.
Piper and Jason were kissing. In fact, it seemed like all they'd been doing for the past hour was kissing. At first, Percy had been fascinated by their seemingly uncanny ability to survive without air for that long, but now he was beginning to get kind of grossed out by it. Now, you might be thinking, "Percy, if Frank and Hazel deserved to relax and enjoy each other's company, didn't Jason and Piper too?" Percy was right there with you - sure, they deserved a break, after battling Gaea, losing Leo, and getting him back - but an hour was just too long. It was beginning to seem unnatural.
Leo and Calypso did not seem bothered by the sun at all. Calypso was leaning back, suntanning, while reading a glittering magazine. Leo, in the meantime, was tinkering a small sand crab, which Percy originally thought was supposed to help dust sand off his towel, but when he tried it, the crab just kinda set the whole towel and Calypso's dress on fire. She had rushed up, shouting at Leo, who managed to look timid at first but soon regained his usual self-confidence. In fact, it seemed like Leo thought that setting things on fire was a great skill to have, much better than dusting off his towel because now he was working on making the sand crab set off even bigger fires.
Percy smiled. He hadn't felt so relaxed in months. In fact, the last year had gone by so fast. There had been few good moments to hold onto, but they were there nonetheless. He looked over at Annabeth and smiled. He guessed a day could go by pretty fast when you were at an undisclosed location for eight months. Percy shook his head. All that could wait until the next day. Right then, nothing was important enough to make him move. Maybe no one would mind if he closed his eyes for a second too...
That's when he heard someone shouting. It sounded like Grover. He sat up.
"Percy! Annabeth! Hazel! Leo! Jason! Piper!" he yelled while running down the hills, trying to avoid falling. And failing, as he came tumbling down the hill. Percy couldn't help but shoot his friend a lopsided grin, as he frantically tried to get up on his feet again.
Annabeth was on her feet in a matter of seconds. She reached to pull out her knife before she realized, that 1) it was just Grover, and 2) She didn't have her knife anymore. She got an angry expression on her face when she remembered how she had lost it. Percy figured that was why she shot a glare at Grover, even though he had done nothing wrong.
"‘Sup, man?" Frank asked him, drowsily. He was sleeping then, Percy noted.
"Chiron want you all in the big house ASAP!" Groover said panting, while clumsily getting to his feet again, "I have to go find Nico too, and I have to meet up with Juniper for our anniversary. Aw, man, she's so gonna kill me if I'm late. See ya later!" he ended abruptly and then quickly rushed off again. Percy groaned. ASAP was not then the best thing to say to a bunch of kids with ADHD.
Percy pushed his sunglasses up. "You think it's urgent?" He sarcastically asked the others. They all shrugged and smiled. Nobody made a move to get up at first, but when Frank turned into an eagle and flew away, they all grudgingly got up and started walking towards the Big House to find out what Chiron wanted.
As they entered the room Percy could sense that this was, in fact, urgent. Chiron sat in a corner, while Hecate, the goddess of magic, stood right before us. Percy gulped. Talk about ruining a fantastic day. Things that started with goddesses in a room usually didn't end up very well. In fact, they tended to end up rather horribly.
"Sit," Hecate said and gestured to eight chairs in front of her. They complied. "Now where is tha-" Hecate was interrupted by Nico walking through the door. He sat on the last chair, without uttering a word.
"Well then," Hecate started. "You all have been called here to go on a very special quest-" Percy growled. "Special" usually meant extremely dangerous and bad for his health. "-in which you will be helping not only me and my successors but also the lost soul of a goddess." They must've all have looked pretty confused because Hecate smiled.
"Don't worry, children, I will explain all. But first, I'm going to tell you the story of the lost goddess,"