Chapter 67 - Pride

Percy woke up with a straw in his mouth; he was drinking something that tasted like chocolate chip cookie liquid.

Nectar.

The [Nectar], like the [Ambrosia], is considered a food of immortality, a sacred symbol of wisdom, and a privilege of the gods, demigods, and heroes of Olympus. Nectar is also a life-renewing balm, capable of healing any wound. It is said that when applied to the bodies of the dead, it protects them from decay.

A human can only taste nectar if invited by a god.

If a mortal tastes the nectar of the gods without invitation, they may be condemned to the torture of Tantalus, meaning instant combustion.

However, according to mythology, for the gods of the Vedas, a being becomes what it consumes, so if a mortal consumes the nectar of the gods, they discover their secrets and mysteries. The same meaning is given to the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Despite the fact that nectar grants such power, divinity, being made by the Gods, is not available at the camp. The one Percy is drinking only has a healing effect.

As he savored its taste, which brought back some good memories, Percy opened his eyes and noticed that he was reclining on the bed in the infirmary of the Big House, his right hand wrapped with a piece of wood.

Argos was on guard in the corner but received a signal from his friend with a nod, whatever it meant, he left the room and left them alone.

Speaking of his friend, Ikki was at his side holding the cup of nectar. He smiled when he saw Percy awake and let him hold the cup to drink the rest.

"What does it taste like to you?" he asked his friend curiously.

The [Nectar] is also a symbol of enlightenment in life and a drink of compassion, consumed by already enlightened beings to share their wisdom with those suffering on Earth.

Still according to Greek-Roman mythology, nectar, when consumed by demigods, brings back the taste of good memories of life.

"Chocolate chip cookies, reminds me of the ones my mom used to make." Percy couldn't help but smile as he remembered the blue cookies his mom used to bake. He asked, "How long was I unconscious?"

Ikki made a complicated expression before beginning to explain seriously.

"Dude, you were out for ten days, and during that time, surreal things happened. Something you won't believe... Aliens invaded and took over planet Earth, humans became slaves to a civilization from another galaxy that sends its best soldiers to conquer planets, and ours was their target."

"The world's armies were defeated in just a few hours, and the crazy part is, they defeated all the gods, who were captured and are being studied now while we're talking, all in two or three days."

"The Half-Blood camp is the only place that has remained untouched so far and practically became humanity's last stronghold."

The son of Zeus looked so serious telling this that even Percy blinked with a blank expression, believing it had actually happened. But when he saw the smile on his friend's lips, his eye twitched.

"That was so dumb, but for a moment, I actually believed that happened." Percy said, puffing out a sigh.

"You're the idiot, getting poisoned by a monster when you should have decided whether to stay or leave the camp by noon!" Annabeth suddenly spoke, entering the room and looking at him with a mix of joy, but with her usual critical air.

But Percy immediately knew that she was happy to see him awake. Her critical act was just a mask to hide that fact, something you learn to see through after being around her for a while.

"Calm down, Annabeth. Let's give him some credit. He just went through a traumatizing situation." Said Chiron, entering right after.

His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, and his upper half wore a coat and tie. He smiled and asked, moving closer.

"How are you feeling?"

"As if my insides had been frozen and then microwaved."

"Appropriate, considering it was deep-scorpio venom. If Ikki hadn't removed it a few seconds later, you'd be dead by now." Chiron said, sighing.

"Now, can you both tell me what actually happened?" He looked at the two boys and asked.

Ikki hadn't given him many details, just that Percy had been poisoned and that he removed the venom in the best way he could, before asking for some nectar and bringing Percy to the infirmary.

Annabeth also looked at her two friends, she was about to leave when she heard what had happened, and she immediately ran here in time to see Argos calling Chiron into the infirmary. She followed him without leaving room for discussion, and now she wants to know what really happened.

The news that had spread through the camp only said that Percy had gone to the infirmary due to poisoning.

Ikki told everything while Percy drank some nectar in silence with one of his fists clenched.

The room remained silent for a long time.

"I can't believe Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression became angry and sad. She sighed and said, "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him... He was never the same after his mission."

"This must be reported to Olympus." Chiron murmured, a sad gleam reflected in his eyes: "I'll go immediately."

"Luke is out there now." Percy gritted his teeth as he remembered the betrayal and his near-death experience, he spoke with vengeance, "I need to go after him."

Chiron shook his head.

"No, Percy. The gods..."

"They don't even talk about Cronos." Percy spoke stiffly, remembering his conversation with his father.

"Percy, I know it's hard. But you shouldn't go after revenge. You're not ready." Chiron sighed and spoke to the boy lying in the bed.

Percy didn't like it, but part of him suspected that Chiron was right. Though his current skills were the elite of the camp due to his hellish training over the last month, he was still a little too weak to face any god or titan, even Luke was a difficult opponent for him.

Even though he had won some sword duels against the older boy, he still lost a few, which made them practically tied. And if considering that Hermes' son joined Cronos, it was very likely that his power had increased.

Which made the gap between them even greater. In other words, he had to get stronger!

He looked at his friend, who had remained silent after explaining everything. In his heart, he decided that he would ask for more rigorous training later to get stronger, even though he hated the hell he had gone through, he was grateful for it because it had made him so strong.

If he hadn't trained with his friend before, he would never be able to be on par with Luke in a sword fight, let alone beat Clarisse and wipe that smug smile off her face.

Ikki hadn't noticed his friend's look, he looked at the immortal centaur with his eyebrows furrowed in a frown.

"Chiron, your prophecy from the Oracle... was it about Cronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Percy and Annabeth too?"

He knew Cronos would rise again, but didn't know the details. The memories of his past life hadn't come back and were slipping more and more through his fingers.

Chiron nervously looked at the ceiling.

"Ikki, it's not up to me..."

"You were ordered not to tell me or Percy about this, weren't you?" Ikki said, guessing by the centaur's behavior.

His eyes were sympathetic but sad.

"You're already a great hero, child. But there are things you're not supposed to know right now, you're not ready to know. I fear what will happen if you find out about it. Not just you, but Percy too. I'll do my best to prepare you both. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..."

As if it were a mandate from the heavens, a thunder rumbled above, shaking the windows.

Ikki sighed in his mind, knowing that he couldn't learn what his teacher at the camp was hiding from him, as that thunder was a warning from the Gods, destiny, or whatever was preventing this fact.

He felt a bit frustrated but wasn't going to push the matter.

While part of him wanted to know more information, the other part knew that it wasn't a good time to learn about this, with his mind already full of the events of the past weeks, knowing any more revelations would be even more exhausting.

First, he had his current problems. And it's not like Cronos or any of his allies would have a chance of even scratching him, right? But his friends were a different matter, he couldn't be everywhere at once.

Well, he had an idea about how to solve that problem. But that's for later.

"Alright!" Chiron knew he had said too much and sighed in frustration, "The gods have their reasons, Ikki. Knowing too much about your future is never a good thing."

"We can't just sit here doing nothing." Percy said with a scowl on his face, not liking being in the dark and just waiting for the Titan King to rise.

"We won't be sitting." Chiron promised, "But you both need to be careful. Cronos wants you destroyed. He wants your life interrupted, your thoughts obscured by fear and anger. Don't give him what he wants."

"Assuming we're alive until then." Percy murmured quietly.

Chiron placed his hand on his ankle.

"You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first, you need to decide your path for the next year. I can't tell you what the right choice is..."

Percy had the feeling that Chiron had a very clear opinion and was using all his willpower to not advise him.

"But you need to decide whether you'll stay at Half-Blood Camp the whole year or go back to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think about it. When I return from Olympus, you'll need to tell me your decision."

Poseidon's son wanted to protest, wanted to ask him more questions. But the immortal centaur's expression said there would be no more discussion; he had said everything he could.

Chiron looked at Ikki and asked.

"You won't stay, right? If Percy chooses the same option, take care of him..."

"No need to ask." Ikki said with a small smile dancing on his lips.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Chiron promised, glancing at Annabeth, "Oh, and my dear... when you're ready, they are here."

"Who is here?" Percy asked, confused.

No one answered.

Chiron turned to leave the room. You could hear the muffled metallic sound of his wheelchair carefully going down the steps, two at a time.

Annabeth studied the ice in the drink that Percy held.

"What's wrong?" Percy said, noticing her look.

"Nothing." She sighed, then looked at the son of Zeus and asked, "Didn't you tell him?"

"I didn't have time for that." Ikki said, shaking his head negatively.

"Tell what?" Percy asked, furrowing his brow.

Annabeth made an effort to swallow her pride and said, "I... just took your advice on something. You... uh... need anything?"

Her eyes scanned everywhere except for the boy lying in the bed, at least until the end of her words where she looked in his direction and asked in her attempt to change the subject.

Ikki rolled his eyes at the girl who was too proud to admit that she followed someone's advice. Though he had to admit, it was somewhat cute how awkward she was.

"No, no need. I just want to get up a little," Percy said, swinging his legs off the bed and walking toward the balcony.

Ikki and Annabeth followed him silently, both stopping beside Percy and looking out at the camp.

It was getting dark. The camp seemed completely deserted. The cabins were dark, and the volleyball court was silent.

No canoe cut across the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glowed with the last rays of the sun.

"What are you going to do? Are you staying or going back home?" Annabeth asked curiously.

Not surprised by the question, Percy responded thoughtfully.

"I have the feeling that Chiron wants me to stay the whole year for more individual training time, but I'm not sure if that's what I want."

"Well, I can keep training you if you want. During our free time at school or something like that," Ikki suggested after thinking for a moment.

Percy shuddered at the thought of the hellish training he had gone through with the boy beside him, but it was exactly what he needed to get stronger.

"Then, I guess I'll go back," he said after a brief consideration, before looking at Annabeth and asking, "But what about you, Annabeth? Will you be okay without us? Since you'll have to deal with Clarisse and her siblings the whole year."

Annabeth pressed her lips together and then softly said what she hadn't had the courage to say earlier: "I'll spend the year at home, Percy."

The son of Poseidon looked at her and asked, "You mean, with your dad?"

She pointed toward the top of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, right at the edge of the camp's magical borders, there was a family in silhouette—two small children, a woman, and a tall man with blonde hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack similar to the one Annabeth had carried on the mission, the one that had belonged to Zeus' son.

He had given it to her because he thought it was somewhat useless.

"I wrote him a letter when we got back. Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. That I'd go home for the school year if he still wanted me. He replied right away. We decided... we'd try again."

"And that took a lot of courage," Ikki said, smiling slightly at the girl.

Percy agreed with his words.

She pressed her lips together.

"You two aren't going to do anything stupid during the school year, right? At least... not without sending me an iris message?"

Percy smiled slightly.

"I won't be looking for trouble."

"Neither will I, but usually, we don't need to," Ikki said, rubbing his chin as if he had a beard growing there.

"That's true," Percy nodded wisely.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the two boys before looking down and speaking in a flat tone.

"When I come back next summer, we'll hunt Luke. I'll request a mission, but if we don't get approval, we'll go out on our own and do it anyway. Agreed?"

"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena, right, Percy?" Ikki said, smiling slightly as he nudged his friend.

"Exactly," Percy nodded in agreement.

She extended her hand to the son of Poseidon, who shook it.

"Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

She then gave Ikki a quick, somewhat awkward hug and climbed the hill to join her family. She gave her dad a half-awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree and then let herself be carried over the summit and into the mortal world.

Ikki just had fun with how cute the girl was and turned his gaze toward the horizon, thinking about everything that had happened recently.

Luke's betrayal and what Chiron had been hiding from him and his friend as well, though he had accepted it, something about all of it... was worrying him.

Unlike his friend, Percy was having different feelings.

He didn't think about it, but rather about the fact that for the first time at camp, he truly felt alone.

He looked at the Long Island Sound and remembered his dad saying: The sea doesn't like to be contained.

He wondered if Poseidon were watching, would he approve of his choice to return home?

"I think I'll ask Argo to help me gather my things in my cabin," Percy suddenly said.

"Are you going with him?" Ikki asked, a little surprised. "Don't you want me to teleport you there? I think you'll get there much faster than by car."

"No, no need," Percy said, smiling slightly and speaking, "I want some time to think about things..."

"Alright then..." Ikki sighed, not pressing the subject.

It was time to have a conversation with his mother to find out the truth about his birth and everything she had hidden from him.

"So, I guess I'll see you on the weekend. Your mom will probably want to celebrate with mine since the smelly one is no longer with her," Percy said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Yeah, she'll probably want to do that when she hears about your stepdad having that sad incident and leaving their lives," Ikki smiled as he spoke; it was very much like his mom. He extended his fist toward his friend and said, "So, see you on the weekend."

"See you," Percy extended his fist and bumped it against his, a smile on his lips.

With this small farewell, the two went their separate ways. The son of Poseidon went to ask Argo for help with his things: camp uniform and some clothes he had received, as well as a few items he had gotten as gifts from his friend.

Meanwhile, Ikki looked at the night sky while thinking about his things—he had already prepared everything, heading down the Big House toward his cabin. He grabbed his things and used his teleportation magic to vanish with the wind.

Leaving Zeus' cabin completely empty.