A Gift for Olympus
"Then…" Percy looked toward the box that now sat on the table where they had eaten a few minutes earlier. A liquid was seeping from it, something that was probably better not to look at too closely, slowly soaking the cardboard at the bottom. He and the others were sitting around it, staring at the box with complete exhaustion.
The shop was wrapped in an uncomfortable silence. The stone statues were still there, watching from every corner with their frozen expressions. Some looked calm. Others looked like they had been captured in the worst possible moment. And in the middle of all that… the box on the table kept slowly leaking that dark liquid.
"So… do we have to thank Athena for this monster?" Percy asked while looking at Annabeth.
She shot him a very irritated look.
"You mean your father. Don't you know the story? Medusa had been his lover. And the two of them met in my mother's temple. She, furious that her temple had been defiled, turned them into monsters. Medusa and her two sisters, who had helped her enter the temple. That's why her hatred was stronger than her survival instinct, and she chose to follow me instead of getting to safety. And you… she probably wanted to keep you as a nice statue. She probably still likes your father, since you remind her of him," she said.
Percy looked like every word Annabeth said was hitting him straight in the face. A faint trace of annoyance showed on his expression.
This time even Harry couldn't find anything to say to help his brother. He was simply looking in another direction, which only made Percy a little more irritated.
"So it's my fault we ran into Medusa," Percy said in a clearly sarcastic tone.
Annabeth immediately stood up, leaning slightly forward. With a falsetto voice, mocking and exaggerated, she imitated Percy.
"So that's great. Thanks," she said, copying the gallant bow Percy had made earlier.
Then she continued, still with the same theatrical tone.
"I'm an apprentice knight and I must always show my respect to beautiful ladies."
Harry quickly covered his mouth, barely holding back a laugh.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Percy said immediately, clearly annoyed. "You're impossible."
"And you're unbearable," she replied.
"And you—"
"Okay… enough."
Grover interrupted them. He had been silent, staring out the window at the statue of the satyr who had been his Uncle Ferdinand.
"Just stop already," Grover said, looking at them with exhaustion. His expression carried a strange mix of tiredness and irritation, something rare for him.
The three of them looked at him in silence.
"I've been listening to you argue the entire way here. Nonstop. Not even a single break. Unless it was to complain about each other. And I put up with it without bothering any of you. We're supposed to be a team. And we don't just have to complete one mission… but two at the same time. And we don't even know what the hell the second one is about," he said while glancing at Harry, who had been quiet but was now dragged into the discussion.
"But that's not the only thing being hidden, right?" he added, looking at Percy. "She asked you something back in the forest. And you obviously answered halfway. Yeah, you're an apprentice knight trained by a dwarf and all that. But… what are you really afraid of?"
Grover stared straight at him.
"What are you talking about?" Percy replied, meeting his gaze seriously.
"Don't play dumb, Percy. We spent a whole year in a magic school. And I remember very clearly it almost got burned down when you tried to interrogate me," Grover said without looking away.
"Burned down?" Annabeth asked, turning to Harry.
Harry slightly shook his head, signaling that this wasn't the moment to ask, while watching Grover's serious expression.
At the same time he glanced at his brother. Of course he could see the tension still hanging over Percy. And he knew why. But this wasn't his place to speak.
It was Percy's.
Percy lowered his gaze for a moment before lifting it again. The prophecy had been echoing in his head ever since he heard it.
"You will be betrayed by one who calls himself your friend," Percy said suddenly.
"What?" Grover asked, frowning.
"The Oracle said: 'You shall go west, where you will face the god who has turned; you shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned; you shall be betrayed by one who calls himself your friend; the past will endanger the present and the future. You will face it with courage, but you will not have what you need to win,'" Percy explained with a serious expression.
"You know… it's not easy for a kid's mind to hear something like that and then go out on a dangerous quest trying to trust people… but not quite being able to. The guilt from doubting Grover once already eats at me. And now my friendship is under doubt again. And we have to add someone else to the group too. I'm… tired. And it hasn't even been that long since we left camp. And I already lied to my mom."
There was something clearly emotional in his voice.
Hearing his brother's words, Harry looked down at the floor with a similarly guilty expression.
"Hades," Harry suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention.
Well… almost everyone's. Percy used that moment to quickly compose himself.
"Excuse me?" Annabeth said, looking at him.
"The secret mission I have. Hades gave it to me. The god of the Underworld."
At that, Grover and Annabeth couldn't help but show complete surprise, mixed with confusion and clear shock.
"Someone stole something very important from him. His helmet. And he wants Percy and me to find it. But he gave the mission specifically to me, because he knew Percy would probably have his own. And he doesn't want anyone else to know… because everything would become very chaotic."
Harry finished speaking while looking at Grover and Annabeth.
"The Helm of Hades was—?" Grover was about to shout in shock, but Annabeth quickly covered his mouth.
"Didn't you just hear that no one else is supposed to find out?" she said seriously. Then she turned back to Harry with the same firm expression.
"Harry… is what you're saying true?" she asked, locking her gray eyes directly onto his.
When their gazes met, Harry simply nodded.
Annabeth's expression changed instantly. Several emotions crossed her face almost immediately: confusion, disbelief, fear… and for a brief moment, even anger.
Then everything shifted again into pure confusion as she brought a hand to her head.
Annabeth didn't say anything for a few seconds.
Her eyes moved slightly as she thought. When she looked back at Harry, her expression was much more tense.
Grover watched her with some concern, something Percy and Harry noticed immediately.
But she took a deep breath. Little by little, her eyes seemed to return to normal, along with her emotions.
"Are you okay?" Grover asked.
Annabeth simply nodded, calmer now.
Harry, seeing both of their reactions, narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at Percy. Percy only shrugged.
"Harry," Annabeth suddenly said, getting his attention.
"Yes?" Harry replied carefully.
"Your prophecy. Normally I wouldn't ask… but this is very serious now. Tell it to me."
Her tone was almost authoritative, which made Harry unable to avoid answering.
"Well… actually I think I got two prophecies. And it's a little longer than Percy's, so…"
"Just say it," she said firmly.
Harry then recited the prophecy exactly as he had heard it. As he spoke, Annabeth's face grew more and more serious.
When he finished, she stayed silent, clearly processing everything in her mind, while the others simply watched her.
"Did you understand anything?" Percy asked.
"Not enough," she replied, shaking her head. Then she lifted her gaze and looked directly at both of them.
"But there is one thing I did understand. Maybe Medusa isn't the most dangerous thing we're going to face."
Her eyes drifted toward the box on the table.
The others also looked toward the box containing Medusa's head.
Those words seemed to irritate Percy. But not toward Annabeth, or Harry, or Grover. It was toward the entire situation they had gotten themselves into by accepting a mission from the gods.
Maybe Harry didn't resent it as much as he did. But even so, Hades—who had apparently seen something good enough in Harry to appear directly before him and ask him to find his lost toy—still felt more acceptable than Zeus or Poseidon.
Neither of them had even bothered to say a single word to him. Yet he was the one who had to go find the lightning bolt of the biggest tantrum-throwing child on Olympus.
And Percy's anger toward the gods only grew stronger when he thought about Medusa.
A woman cursed by another capricious goddess.
It only reminded him that his cousin Dred had also been cursed because of one of them.
For the gods, it was easy. Curses, punishments, transformations… all simple decisions made from above.
But the ones who had to live with those decisions…
were always someone else.
"Percy?" Harry asked when he noticed the expression on his brother's face.
"I'll be right back," Percy said before standing up and walking toward the shop's office.
He seemed to rummage through the drawers quickly. Then he returned with some papers, tape, and a few drachmas that he dropped onto the table.
"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked when she saw everything he had brought.
Percy didn't answer.
He grabbed Medusa's accounting book and flipped through it for a moment until he found an address labeled "Underworld." He tore that page out and slipped it into his pocket.
Then he began wrapping the box containing Medusa's head with tape.
Harry frowned slightly as he watched what Percy was doing. Annabeth also seemed to slowly realize what was about to happen.
Then Percy pulled out a shipping form labeled Hermes Express, filling it out quickly with his imperfect handwriting, completely ignoring any spelling mistakes.
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With my best wishes,
Percy Jackson.
He signed before sticking the paper onto the box.
Both Annabeth and Grover turned pale when they saw what he had just done.
But they didn't have time to stop him.
The box suddenly lifted into the air… and vanished, taking a few of the drachmas Percy had left on the table with it.
"They're not going to like that, Percy. They'll think you're being impertinent," Grover said immediately.
Annabeth had gone completely silent in shock as she stared at him.
Harry, even after knowing Percy for so long, was also surprised by what he had just done.
"So when exactly have I ever stopped being impertinent?" Percy said calmly, looking at the three of them staring at him in disbelief.