Chapter Text
Percy sat on the dock long after Dionysus had disappeared. The god had left behind a mist that smelled of fermented grapes and fresh-cut vines and the smell filled Percy’s nose. In the background, waves lapped against the shore, becoming increasingly violent with the brewing storm on the horizon. Their crashing was a muted backdrop to the loud thumping of Percy’s heart in his ear.
One day, I won’t need a heartbeat, Percy thought. His tears had long since dried, but he felt the same deep, unending sorrow in his heart at his recent realizations. To be a god…
No. Percy wouldn’t think on it now. Not yet. Not while he still had a heartbeat. That and a concerned girlfriend back at camp waiting for him after his display from early. Dionysus was right. Percy was acting unhinged.
Shaking his head slightly, Percy climbed to his feet to walk back to the cabins. Turns out he didn’t need to visit the Athena Cabin since he soon saw that Annabeth was leaning against the seastone wall beside his door. The setting sun gleamed off the specks of seaglass embedded in the stone and reflected rainbows of blues, greens, and purples along the curve of Annabeth’s face.
When she saw him, Annabeth wordlessly opened her arms, and Percy bonelessly collapsed into them. He felt her strong arms wrap around his shoulders and long fingers scratched soothingly at the back of his head.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Annabeth asked softly, voice almost drowned out by the crying of birds in the distance.
“About what?” Percy mumbled into Annabeth’s hair. “My mental breakdown or that I’m becoming a god.”
Percy felt Annabeth’s sharp intake of breath before she exhaled. He pulled slightly to look at Annabeth’s face. Her brows were wrinkled and she had a sheen of tears glistening at the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t look surprised.
“You knew,” Percy said and pulled back farther, forcing Annabeth’s arms to drop from around his shoulders.
“I suspected,” Annabeth corrected and cupped his face with her hand. Leaning into her calloused hand, Percy closed his eyes when she began gently rubbing his cheek with her thumb.
“Does anyone else know?” Percy asked, not opening his eyes.
“No, not except for Chiron and Mr. D,” Annabeth replied, voice still heavy with unshed tears. She cleared her throat. “The group that was with us during…during the interrogations might suspect but nothing concrete. And the rest camp just thinks this is just you being your usual level of powerful.”
Percy barked out a laugh and opened his eyes. “They think this is usual?”
Annabeth frowned at him. “You’re a legend here Percy, especially to the younger campers. The average demigod already can’t tell the difference between your power and that of a minor god.”
“I’m not anywhere close to a minor god,” Percy said reflexively, before remembering that was no longer true. “Well, I wasn’t.”
“Maybe,” Annabeth conceded. “But they didn’t know that.”
“I’m Misery,” Percy blurted out suddenly, feeling like he had to say the words out loud now before he never let them out again. “I’m Misery and Poisons. Just like her.”
“You’re not just like her,” Annabeth said, jutting her chin out. “You may have Akhyls’ domains but that doesn’t make you her.”
“But I affected you,” Percy said and gripped Annabeth’s hand on his face tightly. “I harmed you. And the rest of them.”
“Not permanently. Not on purpose.” Annabeth’s voice gained a defiant edge, ready to defend him even against himself. “You’re new to this. It’s only natural.”
“New to being a god,” Percy repeated, hysterical laughter bubbling up in his throat.
“Hey,” Annabeth said, dragging his attention back to her. “You’ll get through this. We’ll get through this.”
Percy said nothing and just drank in the reflected sunlight in Annabeth’s eyes, resisting the weight of reality pressing down on him.
“Do you want me to stay with you?” Annabeth asked, breaking his thoughts.
“No,” Percy shook his head. “I need to…I need some time to process this. Alone.”
Alone. Percy had a feeling he should get used to the taste of the word on his tongue.
Annabeth frowned again but didn’t protest. She left him with a kiss on his forehead and Percy didn’t let himself stare at her retreating back.
Opening his door, Percy walked into the darkness.
Unlike usual, Percy didn’t lose sleep that night from his nightmares. Instead, he tossed and turned in his bed, the rising storm off the coast a constant presence in his head, like he was seeing something from the corner of his eye that slowly got closer and closer.
Finally, Percy gave up and left his cabin. Striding to the beach, he noticed that clouds had grown heavy, threatening to pour onto camp. With any luck, it wouldn’t rain down pit vipers again. Percy shuddered at the thought, a familiar uneasy rage rising in him at the reminder of Nyx’s torment.
Fuck her.
The thought felt daring, even for him, but Percy was beyond caring about anything besides the tidalwave of emotion that rose inside him.
Thunder cracked, and lightening illuminated the broad silhouette of a man standing on the shore.
“Perseus,” Poseidon said, his voice grave. But even so, Percy thought he could hear an undercurrent of joy. The ever-present pit in his stomach opened up to let anger pour in, filling him up.
Thunder boomed even louder, and Poseidon glanced up at the sky briefly before focusing on Percy again.
“Dad,” Percy said tersely, and came to a stop an arms’ length away with his hand’s in the pockets of his sweatpants.
Poseidon seemed to look at him with new eyes for several moments before he spoke again.
“I held him off as long as I could,” Poseidon said by way of explanation. “But you’ve been summoned to Olympus.”
“Zeus,” Percy stated, voice blank even to his ears. Poseidon nodded tightly.
“I wanted to give you time but…” Poseidon shrugged.
“Apparently, I have nothing but time.” A large crest of waves, bigger than any of the previous ones, crashed onto the shore, again threatening to deafen his pulsing rush of blood in his ears.
Poseidon frowned at him, likely at his tone, but the reminder that Percy was going to join him in immortality quickly perked him up.
“Indeed.” Poseidon’s teeth shown a pearly white in the darkness and Percy let his dad pull him into a tight hug. “I know this isn’t what you wanted son, but this is a good day.”
“For you,” Percy said flatly, and the waves stopped abruptly, smoothing out to reflect the cloudy night unhindered. “I’m Misery apparently.”
This was the second time he’d said it out loud today and it still didn’t feel real.
Poseidon’s arms tightened around him before he let go and held Percy by the shoulder’s at arms’ length.
“That’s…a byproduct of your trip to the Pit,” Poseidon said.
“My trip,” Percy said tightly. Trip. Like it had been just some fun jaunt downstairs to visit Great Aunt Nyx and Uncle Tartarus.
Poseidon frowned at him again, mood turbulent as usual. Normally, Percy could say the same for himself, but now it seemed his mood was pointed in one direction only: rage.
“You know I don’t mean to be flippant,” Poseidon explained, the closest Percy would get as an apology from him.
“Sure,” Percy said tersely and pursed his lips. Judging by the look on Poseidon’s face, Percy may have less rope to hang himself with as a god then as an impertinent demigod.
“Come, we shouldn’t delay any longer.” Poseidon kept his hands clasped on Percy’s shoulders, and in the blink of an eye they were standing outside of closed doors to the the throne room on Olympus.
Once, in this very room, Hermes had explained that the gods disappearing and reappearing act wasn’t truly teleportation, but a form of extremely fast air travel. This time, Percy felt like he could almost feel it, as if he hadn’t started moving slower but his perception had started to catch up.
“Percy…” Poseidon dragged Percy’s attention back to the present. His dad hesitated, like he was thinking about what to say. He seemed to come to some kind of decision.
“Brace yourself.”