"Here we go," Carrie said as she check one of the reference notes in a drawer, "we have to look in page 100 in the book , 'Giants and Titans:Enemies of Olympus' in the fourth floor, third row."
Percy nodded and said nothing as Carrie led him deeper into the library. At the very back was a dusty old staircase whose steps looked like they were about to break off at any point. Carrier didn't seem to mind though as she climbed them two at a time.
Percy quickly followed her to the fourth floor and Carrie finally stopped at the third shelf. She brought a ladder and placed it up against the shelf before climbing it. Percy moved to help support the ladder when Carrie stopped him.
"Touch that ladder and I will kill you," Carrie warned him.
"But it's not stable," Percy tried to argue back.
"Don't care," Carrie said as she began to look for the book in question.
Percy rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
"Found it," Clarrie said after five minutes of checking. The book however was beyond her reach.
"I'll get it," Percy said as he got ready to use his telekinesis to get the book.
"No," Carrie snapped back, "I got this."
Percy sighed but kept silent again. Carrie stretched and stretched and just as she was about to reach the book the ladder gave away causing her to fall down. Percy's quick reflexes allowed him to grabbed Carrie and move her away from the falling ladder.
"Woah,"Carrie said holding onto Percy, "that was...how did you move so fast?"
"Great reflexes," Percy replied as he put her down. As Carrier was checking herself for injuries Percy turned to the book up top, it hadn't moved an inch. He sighed and reached out to it with his mind. He pulled it out of the shelf and slowly guided it towards his open hands.
"At least we got something good out of this," Percy said showing Carrie the book before opening it to page 100.
Percy began to use his advance English language skills to read as fast as he can. He quickly found what he was looking for.
Alcyoneus it seems was a Giant. And he wasn't just any ordinary giant, he was the son of Gaea and Tartarus. It seemed that he and the rest of his brothers were born out of Gaea for only one reason, to kill the Olympians.
It seemed that these 'Giants' were special designed to destroy a specific God. Every Olympian had one, and Alcyoneus was born to destroy Pluto, or Hades in Percy's case. The Giants fought in a war against the Gods called the Gigantomachy, and they almost won.
Alcyoneus was the eldest of the Giants, he was considered one of their best warriors in battle and some called him the most powerful Giant when it came to hand to hand combat. Alcyoneus also had the power to control the dead like Hades, but he couldn't raise them up for some reason. He also seemed to be able to control Gold, diamonds and other precious jewels underneath the Earth.
Now Alcyoneus may be scary, but there was two things that scared the shit out of Percy above all else, you know ignoring the fact that he supposed to be strong enough to defeat Hades himself.
One, Alcyoneus cannot be killed when he lives inside the land he was born in. Since Percy assumes Alcyoneus was born in Alaska that means that the only way Percy and Thalia can defeat him was to pull him out of Alaska and into Canada, or even international waters.
The second thing that scared the shit out of Percy was Alcyoneus almost immortally like status. It seemed that Alcyoneus could only be defeated by a God and a demigod working together. So that meant all Percy had to do to kill this guy was find a God, get his help and then drag Alcyoneus across the state of Alaska. Then and only then would this thing die.
'Great, just great,' told himself as he went through a list of all the Gods he knew who owed him one.
'There's Hades for starters,' Percy realised, 'then there is Artemis, who I could ask for a favour, but something tells me she is still pissed at me. Then there is Hermes who might humor my request and finally there is my dad, who just might do it.'
Percy turned to Carrie, "thanks for this. It's been a great help."
Carrier nodded as she turned to put the book on a table, "you're welcome, now leave before-" when Carrier turned around she saw herself talking to no one. The boy had disappeared into thin air leaving behind nothing but a sudden gust of wind.
Percy quickly ran through New Rome at super speed and of Thalia and Jason just as they were about to cross the Pomerian line.
"Hey guys!" Percy said appearing next to them spooking both Jason and Thalai.
"Don't do that Percy!" Thalia shouted as she tried to punch him, but her hands were filled with shopping bags, so she kicked him instead.
Percy chuckled, "okay okay i get it."
Thalia huffed, "well did you find anything?"
Percy nodded, "a lot. I'll tell you later."
They quickly passed the Pomerian line and Percy saw Waverider right where he left it. Percy approached the statue of Terminus who was still gawking at the blade.
"Did she give you any trouble?" Percy asked as he took Waverider out of the ground and turned it back into its pen form.
"Trouble? From a weapon? Are you crazy Greek?" Terminus asked.
Percy chuckled, "sometime I wonder that myself."
Percy quickly grabbed Riptide from Janet and Thalia and Jason got their weapons as well. The three then quickly walked back towards the military encampment. They quickly reached the Praetor's office, the Principia, and went inside to see Julia and Rob hard at work filling out paperwork.
Julia noticed Percy and the others enter, "ah your back. I trust you found the information you seek?"
Percy sighed, "yeah, and then some."
"I see," Julia rubbed her chin, "fine then everything is settled. You two will leave in the morning, I trust you have a plan?"
"Sort of a plan," Percy said with a shrug.
The day soon ended as Jason spent the entire time taking Thalia and Percy around showing them the place. Eventually they had dinner and were given the room in the fifth cohort to sleep in. The room itself was small, just a set of bunkbeds that was pushed to the side of the room with a table across it.
Percy and Thalia were alone in the room as they quickly unpacked everything that was bought. Thalia had gotten them the completely set. A couple of winter jackets with several thermal undergarments along with some studded boots, perfect for ice walking. Thalia also brought some hiking equipment, just in case.
Seeing said equipment brought Percy flashbacks to the illusionary world he saw during his trials. He remembered how he climbed mount Othrys, how he died facing Kronos. Maybe it was because he was in San Francisco and so close to the mountain, but something about this place made Percy feel nervous, like danger was right around the corner.
Percy put the equipment away inside his inventory and then shared with Thalia all he knew about Alcyoneus. And in the end she had the same reaction he did.
"We are so fucked," Thalia cursed hanging her down in sorrow, "we are so dead even Hades will be like, 'nah huh, you too dead for me'."
Percy chuckled, "yup. But luckily I do have a few Gods who owe me one, maybe I can call them and try to pull in their favours."
Thalia sighed, "it's worth a shot."
Percy nodded and summoned a mist using his water powers. He then angled it in such a way that the rays from the tube light formed a rainbow. Percy took out a drachma and tossed it in saying the prayer to Iris and asking for his Dad, might as well ask the God who is most likely to say yes.
The image cleared up and Poseidon appeared before Percy, "ah Percy! Glad you called! How's the quest going?"
Percy sighed and began his explanation. At the end of the story Poseidon was looking shocked stiff.
"A-Alcyoneus? Are you sure?"
Percy nodded, "yeah."
"How did you find out?" Poseidon asked.
"The name came to me in my dreams," Percy lied easily
Lie successful!
Ping!
Your skill has gained a level!
Lying, Lv-15 (3%)
This is your ability to lie to people, the higher the level the better the lie and less chance of discovery!
75% chance of success, less based on how extreme the lie is.
'I might be getting a little to good at this,' Percy told himself as he saw Poseidon nodded his head in understanding, "okay then...this is troubling news."
"Why so?"
"Because Giants don't just show up out of nowhere," Poseidon said with a hard look in his eyes, "they are not like other monsters. If Alcyoneus is indeed alive then someone is behind this."
"Kronos?"
Poseidon shook his head, "not a chance. The Giants hate the Titans, even more than the Gods. They would never work for them. This is very bad news Percy, it means that another group of Olympus's enemies are making their move, sigh it's like everyone just got up and decided,'hey let's be a pain in the ass today!'. I am truly getting to old for this shit."
Percy smiled, "you don't look a day over 1000 dad."
"Ha ha, very funny," Poseidon grumbled, "but getting back to the matter at hand, you need to get the Eagle back for the Romans to trust you, stupid people those Romans. Fine, so you need the help of a God to defeat Alcyoneus."
Percy nodded, "right. I was hoping that you-"
"-I can't Percy," Poseidon immediately spoke out, "as much as I would love to I can't. Olympian Gods cannot travel outside whatever country we are inside right now, at least not with our full powers intact."
Percy grumbled, "great, so we are shit out of luck."
"Not necessary," Poseidon said with a sly smile, "tell me how big can you open up your inventory?"
Percy caught on quickly, "how big is Alcyoneus?"
"If I remember correctly....around 40 feet tall and at least 10 wide."
Percy formed, "I think I can do that. So the plan is what? I throw him into the inventory and bring him back here where you can help me destroy him?"
Poseidon nodded, "sounds like a good plan."
Percy sighed, "it will be difficult, but I think I can manage it."
"Right. And if even for a second you think that you can't do it run away Percy. Just grab the Eagle and run. There is no shame in that."
Percy nodded, "right. Oh and before you leave dad can I ask for one more favour?"
"Shoot."
"Tomorrow Thalia and I set out to Alaska and I was wondering wether you might have a boat I could borrow for the trip."
"You want a boat?" Poseidon asked in surprise.
"Yeah, not a big one, a small one if fine."
"You misunderstand Percy, that wasn't me being angry that you would even ask me such a request. That was me being angry that you thought I would say no. I'm the God of the fucking seas and everything that sails along it, I can get you the Titanic if you wanted."
Percy grinned, "sweet. But please, just something small and fast enough to get us where we need to go. Of course with my powers it should be easy guiding the boat and I can give it a boost whenever it needs it."
Poseidon nodded, "right. Tomorrow morning go into the San Francisco harbour in North Beach Pier 41 and find port number 8. You will find your boat there."
"How will I know it's from you?"
"Believe me, you'll know."
With that Percy wished his dad a good night and the rainbow message disappears.
"Now all we need to do is find out where Alcyoneus is and we are golden," Thalia said with a sigh as she leaned back on the wall.
"Don't worry about that," Percy told her, "I have a plan for that."
"Really?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. Trust me."
"I talked to Chiron," Thalia said as she took off her jacket and threw it on the table, "I explained everything."
"Was he pissed?"
Thalia nodded, "yeah. But after I assured him countless times that we would run at the first sign of trouble he finally agreed."
"Not that we would have needed his permission," Percy said as he took off his own jacket.
Thalia nodded, "right....wait, Percy....are those tattoos?"
Percy looked down and saw Thalia staring at the strength seals on his arm, "oh no they're strength seals. They help limit my strength and when I release them my strength doubles for a short time."
Thalia was amazed, "so back then when you destroyed that marble block..."
Percy nodded, "yup. That was me with all my seals removed."
"Amazing," Thalia looked at the tattoo like seals on Percy's arms, "there are so badass."
Percy grinned, "glad you think so. Now....what do you want to do?"
Thalia smiled slyly, "depends, what do you want to do?"
Percy smiled, "well, I know one thing to help end this long day."
Thalia nodded, "yeah, a good night's sleep."
Percy looked at her, "really?"
"Yes really. Why? You had something else in mind?" Thalia gave him teasing smile.
"So we are just going to sleep? We aren't going to do anything else?"
"Right. Now, do you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk?"
Percy smiled, he could see her trying to look anywhere else but at him, "so that's it huh? You really just want to go to sleep?"
"Yes."
"...okay then," Percy said startling Thalia with his answer, "I'll be on top, you're okay with being on the bottom right?"
Thalia blinked, "seriously? Nothing? I'm your girlfriend god damn it! You're supposed to not be able to keep your hands off of me!"
Percy shrugged, "you wanted to go to sleep. And so that's what we are going to do."
"I was teasing you!"
"Hey I thought you were being serious," Percy shrugged unable to wipe the smirk that was forming on his face.
"Jackson," she said in a foreboding tone,"shut up and kiss me," Thalia grabbed Percy by his shirt collar and pulled him over her.
Percy fell on top of Thalia as he put his hands to the side to support himself as the demigoddess under him pulled him deeper and deeper into the kiss. Thalia rubbed her hands all over him. One was around his neck while the other was on his back rubbing his lower back.
Percy let his full weight fall on Thalia as he moved her to the side. They laid down sideways as they started to curl into one another. Percy's legs were wrapped around Thalia's as his hands found themselves stroking her hips.
Thalia pressed her hand against Percy's back and pushed him forward. She broke the kiss and spoke with a panting voice, "come closer, you might fall off the bed if you stay that far."
Percy smiled as he pressed his pelvis up against Thalia's, "better?"
"Much," Thalia replied as she began the kiss again.
Slowly Percy could feel her rubbing herself up against him. Percy himself was doing his best not to get a boner, but at this point it just seems like he was fighting a losing battle. Percy could feel his pants tighten again as Thalia started to increase her pace.
