…O Muse

Four gods who looked like average people strolled in talking very loudly.

They seemed to be arguing about New York driving as if they had all had piled into a minivan and endured three-hour traffic just to get here. Maybe they did.

I felt the presence of someone else on the other side of the door. I opened it and let Mr. D and a big dirty mole- Hephaestus- in. they seemed to be in jolly good moods because Hephaestus grunted to several campers and Mr. D snorted at several others.

"Enough of this," Athena said evenly. "We can discuss this at another time. We have important matters to discuss right now. Is there anywhere to sit, Jackson?"

I whispered to the other demigods and they fetched a various assortment of folding chairs, living room couches, and dining table seats. The six gods sat, but all of the campers remained standing.

"Business now, eh?" Mr. D groaned.

"We'll have to wait. My brother is the one who is having 'issues' and he's the one who needs to listen to the discussions," Poseidon explained.

"In that case," Hephaestus turned to some demigods standing behind him. "What are your latest projects?" His children brightened up considerably as they proudly told him.

I dashed over to check on Ethan.

"Percy, what is going on?" he asked, looking up from his book.

"Someone spilled Kool-Aid on his cousin's shirt and none of us know how to clean it."

"That's terrible. Perhaps I can help. Now, the properties of Kool-Aid include-" I left him to figure out the chemical equation and dashed back just as Annabeth was opening the door for Aphrodite and Ares.

Despite my growing panic, it was really funny to see Mole Guy, Movie Star, and Motorcycle Maniac squished together on the sofa. Luckily, Annabeth gave me a stern look not to laugh.

Thalia, Grover, and Nico made their way over to us.

Nico stated the obvious. "You're going to have the entire Olympus in your apartment any minute now. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. But I'm thinking if the conversation can just remain calm and logical-" my friends all snorted at the idea, "then the mortals won't know about the gods, the gods won't bother with the mortals and-"

"-and Zeus will still incinerate you," Thalia mused.

"I really need to avoid that. I have a math test next Tuesday, and if I fail, my whole grade will drop a letter." From the looks of Grover, and the two Big Three demigods, Annabeth was seriously rubbing off on me.

"Maybe, we can convince him to do it later," my girlfriend figured. "I have a dance at my school in December, so… we can tell him to use Percy as a firework to start off the New Year!" The others laughed, and Annabeth tried to convince me that she was joking. She gave me a hug, but one long glare from Athena, and that was it.

Then there was singing. Off-key. Then there was a yelp. Followed by a few more. Annabeth quickly opened the door as Apollo stumbled in, being whacked with a green purse. Property of Demeter.

Each word was enunciated with a smack. "You've. Been Singing. Nonstop. For twenty hours. And. I'm. Sick. Of. It!" The other gods started cracking up laughing. And just to be safe, Artemis handed her weapons to Thalia, so she wouldn't strike her brother. Thalia with weapons was not any less calming.

The demigods were mostly whispering to each other, while the Big Ten were talking and laughing and joking around.

Apollo pulled out Mythomagic and they started playing. Most of the demigods lost interest when they realized that some of the figures were demigods. Scary concept, to be honest.

Finally, there was a knocking on the door. A moody-looking guy in a pinstripe suit, a prim-looking lady in a dress and fur stole, and a yawning guy with long black hair and black suit came in without waiting to be invited. Apollo sadly put away his Mythomagic, and the other gods arranged themselves according to their thrones.

"Sure, I get the lousy chair," Hades grumbled, sitting down in a plastic folding chair covered in blue stickers.

Looking for a good laugh, I leaned in between Thalia and Nico. "You know that feeling of mortal terror when see your dad, and you realize just how much he must be judging your every move?"

"Oh yeah," they said, emphatically.

"I don't get that feeling," they both glared their worst at me; honestly, it a wonder I'm not dead.

"To business," Zeus demanded.

"Someone broke my hammer," Hephaestus glared at Ares, who wouldn't look at him.

"I came up with a new poem!"

"I would like to hit my brother," Artemis said, making a vain attempt to take off her shoe and throw it at her reciting brother.

"I don't approve of your son," Athena said to Poseidon.

"I don't approve of Berlin, but we both got to deal with it."

"Ganymede isn't here," Dionysus whined. "The Fates aren't here, the Muses aren't, the Oracle isn't."

Aphrodite checked her nails, and Demeter rearranged her dress. Hermes just shrugged, "I'm just here to get out of work."

Hades high-fived him. I silently asked Annabeth if all meetings started like this, and she nodded.

"To business," Zeus demanded again. The Olympians quieted down. "Where's Percy Jackson?" This was said in such a roar that my mom's cabinet shook, demigods quieted down, and there was a squeak from the kitchen.

My loving cousins, Grace and di Angelo, shoved me forward into the circle of chairs. Cursing quietly and downright panicking, I knelt before the king of the gods.

"Insolence! Impudence! Ignorance! Defiance!" Zeus tolled out my guilt.

I interrupted, "I swear on the River Styx that before today, I had no idea you called a meeting for everyone."

"Hermes!"

"I delivered the memo, I'm sure of it. I remember because there was this funny little kid talking to me the whole way downstairs."

Funny, Ethan talked to his dad and never even knew it. My dad started talking, perhaps in my defense. I tried to catch Grover's eye and tell him to go check up on Ethan. He nodded and cantered off.

"Jackson!"

"Yes!... No! Uh, what was the question?"

Zeus grumbled like a thousand thunderclouds. "I said, we will deal with you later. There are other things to discuss."

I stood up, backed out of the circle, and hid behind Thalia and Annabeth.

Apparently what they wanted to discus were the demigods. Aawwkwwaarrrd. The conversation got very heated and intense to the point that we couldn't even understand what they were saying. It was like their voices were drifting upward into Olympus. Too much echo. They quieted down for a few minutes, and Grover came to tell me that Ethan was okay. Then some god or another accused us of things we never did (like sea monsters and expedition to the north and eagles. What the Hades?), and all over again their voice rose and echoed.

By this time, the demigods didn't care to act respectful, scared, or worried. A lot of them settled themselves down on the floor to relax. More settled themselves down to quietly gossip and talk. Grover and Annabeth sat down and started playing a hand game.

"Yeah! Naptime!" Nico whispered and curled up into a ball like a cat. Thalia and I found ourselves the only two still standing.

She looked at me. "Do what the Romans do," she sat down Indian-style and began inspecting Artemis' weapons.

"I give up," I declared; I stretched out on the floor and used Annabeth's leg as a pillow.

And while the gods of Olympus argued about incomprehensible things in my apartment, I took a nap.

Sometime later I suppose, I heard someone calling my name. I opened my eyes and saw a pair of gray eyes staring down at me from a very curious and innocent young face.

"Oh good, you are all right, Percy. I wanted to tell you that I figured out how to get rid of the Kool-Aid, and then I used it to clean my clothes. See? I must say you have the most interesting family." Ethan in his little way helped me sit up. A lot of the demigods around me were just waking up or sitting up. Nico scootched away from Ethan. The gods were returning the chairs to where they belonged.

"Is that it?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"I think so." She looked very confused.

"What happened?" Thalia asked. We shrugged.

"All I know is that I'm not-" I glance at Ethan Hunter, "getting that ice cream certificate uncle promised me."

"I am sorry, Percy," Ethan said sympathetically, thinking about the loss of good ice cream.

"Hey!" Zeus said, spotting Ethan (but Ethan not noticing who he was talking about), "Whose kid is that?"

Hades and Poseidon and Demeter immediately denied him.
"I wish, but no," Athena said, simply.

"Not that I remember," Apollo mused.

"Don't look at me," Dionysus said. Hephaestus shook his head.

"Well, let's see. I maaaayyyy have-" One look from Hera, and Zeus immediately continued, "not. Absolutely not."

Aphrodite and Ares snorted. Athena turned to the one god who had not spoken. Hermes looked met my eye, and I badly wanted to signal him not to claim Ethan.

But it turns out that Hermes didn't want to claim him yet. I know that sounds bad, but when I looked him in the eye, I saw that the reason why was the same reason why I didn't want to tell Ethan about the Greek world. Ethan wasn't ready for it, and he was sure as Hades doing very well without it.

"Excuse me, I have to take this call," Hermes said, ignoring Athena's gaze. He flipped out his phone and snakes whispered in his ear. He led the procession of gods leaving my apartment.

"Your family is leaving now, I see. I think we ought to see them to the door."

I was about to say "No, thank you" when Ethan got up and stood by the door. As each Olympian left, he shook their hand, introduced himself, and wished them a very safe journey home. Out of all of us demigods, I don't know who was the most shocked.

"Excuse me, Excuse me, I left my purse over there," Hera moved between us to get to her big black purse I didn't notice before. As she passed me, a note fell into my hand. I opened it and read: Emergency Meeting on Olympus, September 18 at noon. Be there, or be incinerated. Annabeth read over my shoulder; today was the eighteenth…

We both glared at Hera as she passed back, but she simply smiled serenely and said quietly, "All part of the plan."

Zeus was the last to leave, awkwardly shaking Ethan's hand. He seemed to have forgotten to incinerate me (I impulsively jabbed Nico to make sure he wouldn't remind the Big Guy). There was something about Zeus' appearance or aura that seemed… cleansed. He walked with the air of washing his hands clean of demigods. I don't know why, but I got a weird feeling he was writing us off. Why…?

When the Olympians left, I stared everybody else down. Right away, they started shouting out that they wanted to order pizza and Chinese and Lithuanian food.

"I love you all, but get out!" Eventually, all who were left were Thalia, Nico, Grover, Annabeth, Ethan and I.

"Pizza?" Thalia asked.

"Pizza," Grover agreed.

"Speaking of pizza, did you know…," Annabeth followed them to the kitchen.

"Can we get ice cream?" Ethan asked. "Yeah, ice cream!"

"There's this new flavor I want to try called Death by Chocolate!" Nico said; he started laughing uncontrollably at the name.

I herded the two towards the kitchen. A while later my parents walked in. All they saw was the house perfectly intact and me and my friends having dinner and desert at the same time.

Oh, if only they knew.