The campfire crackled, and the stars blinked overhead like watchful eyes.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ndYCLYAdp
Percy stood in the center of the amphitheater, still damp from his time at the lake. The hushed murmur of campers echoed all around him, everyone waiting for the sign—Poseidon’s trident—to glow above his head. Annabeth leaned forward, eyes narrowed with a strange mix of suspicion and awe.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAXaup8CH8
Then, it happened.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCI4rPm8Doi
A green-blue light shimmered above Percy’s head. The symbol of Poseidon, a trident, formed in the air and glowed brighter than the full moon. Gasps rippled across the campers.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNtOLlDaUn
“Poseidon…” Chiron whispered, breath catching in his throat.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsiLrGYPbA
One of the Big Three had broken the pact.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXs3hK1Jgf
Percy stood frozen, uncertain whether he should feel proud, scared, or just very, very tired.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMBfL1upvS
But then—something else happened.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT05KjLWVAm
The trident flickered. The light above Percy didn’t fade—it split.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziuZYEMJvQ
A second symbol emerged behind it, this one a deep, smoky violet, almost the color of storm clouds at dusk. From the darkness bloomed a symbol no one expected:
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKELssYF5a
A black crescent moon cradled a silver eye, surrounded by shifting stars.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXsEg0rjRT
The crowd fell into stunned silence. Even the campfire dimmed for a moment.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MKfvfY1cz
Chiron stumbled backward. “No. That’s not possible.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5iGx1EN1Q
“What… is it?” Percy asked, trying to look up.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVYI1d8Ru1
Annabeth’s voice was barely a whisper. “That… that’s Nyx. Primordial goddess of the night.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3D2ALNq0tw
There was a long pause.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ589SsN3hpU
“Did I just get… double claimed?” Percy muttered.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZatSftyAaX
It sounded stupid when he said it out loud.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfss5RUqN4T
But no one laughed.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0va8Kwt4p
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSR3RMBoC3h
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFux6yBZiCs
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZPmNTQ7ES
Aftermath
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTFntfdN1A
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTnD71q8lq
Cabin Eleven was empty when Percy was escorted there, no longer just a child of Poseidon, but something else—something ancient. Chiron had pulled him aside immediately after the ceremony, frowning so deeply his beard practically trembled.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVck24HOtl1
“Two claims,” he said. “In all my years at Camp Half-Blood, I have never seen it. Not from two Olympians. And never from a primordial.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4FmGKbqBV
“What does it mean?”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32xwv3zEU1
“It means the rules no longer apply to you.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4SnDekN5a
Chiron explained that Nyx, as a primordial deity, rarely interfered with the affairs of gods or mortals. Her children were feared even among gods—personifications of things like sleep, madness, death, and fate. If she had laid claim to Percy, it was not by accident.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3LsIqEv26
And certainly not to be nice.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOcBngf5vX
“She sees something in you,” Chiron said, lowering his voice. “Something that terrifies even the gods.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwaDcIYL8n
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMCwvAK7We
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOXwZl2HvX
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97KC2jUFZq
The New Quest
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hna5mklpi
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOS6LFnoAYg
The next morning, the camp awoke to news that changed everything.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPLqyssQsl
The stolen master bolt was still missing. Zeus still blamed Poseidon. But now whispers of Percy’s second parentage were spreading like wildfire. The children of Hermes avoided him. The Ares cabin looked at him like he was a ticking bomb.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqQzUhiGlW
And Luke?
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW75YOiCsQw
Luke stopped smiling entirely.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4kCXtgR2v
Chiron called an emergency council. The Oracle had already spoken again, unprompted:
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0vP5XIDy1
“Born of sea, and cloaked in night,
Shall shake the world with wrong and right.
A choice of darkness, a choice of flame,
To erase the gods or cleanse their name.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxFAotGXMx
No one knew what it meant.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdkD32AYki
But Chiron did the unthinkable—he gave Percy a different quest.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKq2RmTw6x
Not just to retrieve the lightning bolt, but to descend into Erebus, the deepest part of the Underworld, to meet Nyx herself.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Uqc11tIGt
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogFJsAeGWx
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhwBSfRmCJ
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrVqUXuXt7
Final Scene of the Chapter
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkIsO9wzAc
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJymd00wW7c
As Percy packed for his journey, Annabeth stopped him outside the Big House.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUZhIcheGp
“Why would Nyx claim you?” she asked. “She’s… she’s older than the gods. Older than the Titans. She doesn’t even like most of her own children.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3V4BGOldG
Percy shrugged, looping Riptide to his belt. “Maybe she made a mistake.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyC3m12BuRi
“No,” Annabeth said firmly. “She doesn’t make mistakes.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt81N6du1OC
Her grey eyes met his. “Just… promise me you won’t listen to her.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35VdEMCaNE
“Who?” Percy asked.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIQ1wOouVO
“Nyx. She’ll offer you something. They always do.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVj68hqBox
He wanted to ask what she meant. But then, the shadows on the ground stirred unnaturally, creeping like ink under his feet. A voice curled around his ear like smoke.
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJID2IkK92
“Come, my son. The night is listening.”
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ133BimxOiS
And Percy Jackson, no longer just a boy from New York, no longer just the son of Poseidon, stepped into a quest that would decide not only the fate of Olympus…
226Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkMY4YJxGh
But the balance between light and darkness itself.
and then Add to home screen.