Percy Jackson - The Record of The Journey of a Mortal Who Become a God

Percy began to descend the side of the pool, with Grover following him, and the two reached the boat. The shield was resting on a bench, and next to it was a women's silk handkerchief.

Just as Ikki had told him earlier.

Looking at this place, Percy tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite there, a couple of gods meeting in a junked amusement park ride. He wondered; why?

Then he noticed something he hadn't seen from above: mirrors all around the edge of the pool, facing that point.

He and Grover could see themselves, no matter which direction they looked. It had to be this. Percy thought sarcastically, as Ares and Aphrodite were making out, they could see their favorite people: themselves.

Percy picked up the handkerchief. It had a pinkish glow, and the perfume was indescribable – roses or some kind of sweet. Something nice.

He smiled dreamily and was about to wipe the handkerchief across his face when he remembered Ikki's words. He snapped out of his stupor and quickly tucked the handkerchief into his pocket.

The moment Percy touched the shield, he saw that he and Grover were in trouble. His hand broke something that connected him to the barrier. He thought it was a spider web, but then he looked at a thread in the palm of his hand and saw it was some kind of metallic filament, so thin it was almost invisible. A trap.

A noise erupted around Percy and Grover, a million gears grinding, as if the entire pool were transforming into a giant machine.

Annabeth, who was up above next to Ikki, finally realized it was a trap. She said urgently, "That Greek letter. Eta. It's a trap..."

"We have to help the two..."

"Don't worry, the two can handle it. If not, I can always help in a blink..." said Ikki, paying full attention to Percy and Grover; his muscles were all tense.

He was ready to use all his speed instantly if something went wrong.

Annabeth saw his serious and calm eyes; she tried to find a way to help the boys.

Grover tapped Percy on the shoulder while calling for his attention. "Percy!"

Percy looked where the satyr was pointing. At the edge, the statues of Cupid were drawing back their bows. Before he could suggest that they duck, they fired, but not at the two of them.

They shot one another, crossing the pool.

Silk cables were sent flying by the arrows, forming an arch over the pool and embedding into the ground to create a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads began to magically weave between the main ones, forming a net.

"Let's get out of here," said Percy. The satyr simply nodded firmly.

The son of Poseidon grabbed the shield and ran. But climbing up the incline of the pool was not as easy as descending.

Seeing them climbing, Ikki transformed his ring into his trusty sword. As soon as he took the sword, still sheathed, he held it horizontally, one hand on the hilt and the other on the sheath. He raised it to shoulder height; what happened next was simple and extremely fast. Faster than lightning, cold lines shimmering in a metallic hue in various shapes cut through all the threads in front of him like tofu.

It was so fast that even lightning would seem slow.

It was like a flash, and it was all over.

Creating a perfect wire-free path for Percy and Grover to pass through.

His fencing could only be considered simple. There were no special techniques, just speed, speed faster than lightning itself. This type of sword was a killer sword.

It took a millisecond to cut the threads, realizing the threads were cut. Percy and Grover quickly came in his direction.

At that instant, the heads of the Cupids suddenly opened. From there, video cameras emerged. Lights rose all around the pool, blinding Percy and Grover with brightness, and a loudspeaker sounded:

"Live from Olympus in one minute… fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight..."

"It seems my deductions were correct..." Ikki thought, not very surprised. He held the sword ready to pull it again if something happened. He had guessed the moment he laid eyes on the place that it would be a trap set by Hephaestus, but he thought it wouldn't be dangerous, just some prank for the couple of adulterers...

Hearing the words from the loudspeaker, Annabeth's eyes lit up; she shouted, "Hephaestus! How could I be so stupid! Eta is 'H.' He set this trap to catch his wife with Ares..."

Percy and Grover were almost at the edge when the row of mirrors opened like hatches, and thousands of... little metallic things poured out.

As these little metallic things were thrown out, Annabeth, who was next to Ikki, screamed in terror.

It was an army of crawling wire creatures: bodies of bronze gears, long thin legs, mouths like tiny pincers, all racing toward us in a wave of crackling and buzzing metal.

"Spiders!" Annabeth shouted. "Sp... sp... aaaaaaaah!"

She fell back in terror; as Athena's daughter, she naturally had a fear of spiders.

This had to do with Arachne.

Long ago, Arachne, a mortal, challenged Athena to see who could create the best tapestry. Athena then disguised herself as an old woman and tried to warn Arachne that it would be foolish to challenge a goddess, but Arachne persisted and stated that if she lost, she would accept any punishment. Enraged, Athena revealed herself and accepted the challenge as she herself had invented, weaving.

Each of them made a tapestry.

Athena's tapestry depicted the gods together in glory and joy while Arachne showed the gods making fools of themselves. Athena was so furious with this deliberate insult to the gods that she destroyed the tapestry in rage and declared herself the winner.

Arachne was filled with guilt and hanged herself. Athena, after seeing Arachne's body, felt responsible for her death and decided to do her a favor. She transformed Arachne into a spider so that she and all her offspring would be expert weavers forever. In other versions of the myth, Athena transformed Arachne into a spider directly after the contest as part of Arachne's punishment.

Whatever the reason, ever since then, every child of Athena has suffered a deep fear of spiders. Every spider they see somehow always comes toward them to get them and avenge Arachne. Most of the time, this is true, as spiders are shown to be hostile toward them.

Seeing the situation complicating, he decided to help his two friends, Ikki quickly transformed his sword back into his ring and moved at high speed.

In an instant, he appeared in the midst of Grover and Percy and placed his hands on their shoulders, startling the two boys; before they could react, Ikki moved again, and in another instant, he appeared outside the pool with the two, both dizzy from this instantaneous change of place.

Before they could recover, Ikki grabbed a terrified Annabeth and placed her on his shoulder, then put his hands back on Percy and Grover's shoulders, and soon disappeared carrying all three.

In an instant, he appeared in front of the gate of the abandoned park. As soon as he released the shoulders of the two boys, they fell to the ground pale, and Annabeth was also looking pale.

Ikki gently placed her on the ground and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know my speed would be so uncomfortable for others..."

"The world is spinning..." Percy said, still pale, but hearing Ikki's words he glanced around and was surprised to find himself in front of the abandoned park in an instant.

At least he and Grover were okay.

He looked at the satyr and saw that he was vomiting. Annabeth had recovered from her terrified state since Ikki picked her up. His presence and touch had been enough to calm her. Her face was as red as a tomato, embarrassed to show that vulnerable side of herself.

What would he think of her?

Unaware of the girl's inner struggle, Ikki simply waited for his friends to recover, which took a few minutes.

As soon as the three of them regained their composure, they were all very shocked by his speed.

Percy, who was still a bit pale, said, "Superman. Next time, give us a heads up before you decide to use your practically instantaneous speed..."

"How were you so fast?" Grover said, still shocked.

"I just ran..." Ikki replied innocently. That was true; he simply ran.

The three looked at him with impassive expressions.

"From Superman to the Flash, that was so unfair..." Percy said categorically.

Ikki just shrugged at Percy's words.

After the three regained their shock, the four of them began talking about the trap incident and their brief immortal audience.

In the end, Percy, who hated being teased, hated being tricked, and had vast experience dealing with bullies who liked to do that to him, raised the shield on his arm and said, "We need to have a little chat with Ares..."

Ikki merely rolled his eyes at that statement and started walking toward where he sensed a powerful presence in the city. His friends quickly followed.

"You seem to know where Ares is..." Annabeth commented, noticing how precise his direction was.

"Actually, I just figured out that I have a talent for sensing things around me. The presence of every living being in this city is within my detection range, I'm just going to where I felt the most powerful presence..." Ikki explained with a shrug.

Annabeth was surprised by his words. She had never heard of a demigod with that talent. Did that mean that besides being strong and fast, he could also sense other living beings across an entire city?

Percy and Grover, who were following them, were also surprised, though not as much as Annabeth.

"I didn't know a son of Zeus could do that..." Annabeth said thoughtfully.

"That talent has nothing to do with my dad; it's something I developed through constant practice. Just meditating and expanding my senses to the world..." Ikki said, coming up with a somewhat credible excuse.

"Meditation? You mean that thing of sitting cross-legged and closing your eyes?" Percy blinked, surprised by this. He remembered that it was something his friend did since he met him. So did this practice have such utility?

"Yes, by meditating, clearing your mind of thoughts, and focusing on your senses. Over time you can hone them; for example, I can smell a piece of mint gum in your right pocket..." Ikki explained calmly.

"I don't have any gum in—" Percy quickly put his hand in his pocket and stopped mid-sentence. He pulled out the gum and was shocked by his friend's ability to smell things.

"Incredible!" Grover said, his eyes sparkling.

"But how can you stay still with your ADHD?..." Annabeth asked, curious.

"That took a few years of practice," Ikki said, sighing as he recalled how difficult it had been to sit still to meditate at first.

Though it took him a few minutes, not years like he claimed, to get used to it.

The three quickly headed toward where the God of War was. Along the way, his friends asked him several questions, which he answered to the best of his ability while hiding some things from them.

Ikki let out a soft sigh as he walked through the city with his friends. To his left was Annabeth, to his right Percy, and on the other side of Poseidon's son was Grover.

"What's wrong?..." Annabeth asked, noticing his sigh and glancing at him lightly.

She also noticed that he seemed a bit off. A bit downcast, perhaps? And especially his blue eyes, like agates, which were charming, had been less bright and held an indescribable emotion; it squeezed the heart of Athena's daughter.

"Nothing, just thinking about how these days have affected me. My wonderful divine luck has brought great surprises..." Ikki said, his lips slightly curved in a nearly imperceptible ironic smile.

Since the daughter of Athena was looking at him, she noticed his smile. Only she did; Grover was munching on an empty soda can, and Percy was walking silently with Ares' shield in his possession.

His almost imperceptible smile made Annabeth's heart race, and with a slight blush on her cheeks, she said, trying not to focus on the work of art, "Considering everything, whether it's luck or misfortune, I don't think any demigod has encountered as many gods as you have on your first quest..."

"I still think it was luck. After all, who wouldn't want to meet Lady Artemis?..." Grover said with a dreamy, envious tone.

Hearing Grover mention Artemis, Ikki felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. Just mentioning her name made him emotional; he tried as hard as possible to ignore those feelings that would never yield results.

Although his friends might have suspected that something had happened to him on the solitary journey to reunite with them, he was the type of person who preferred to keep everything he felt to himself, not to mention that it didn't help for anyone to know he was fond of a virgin goddess.

"Why this fixation on Artemis?." Percy asked, looking strangely at Grover.

The satyr, who was chewing on a piece of soda can, had dreamy eyes. He swallowed the piece of can and let out a heavy sigh, a bit at a loss for words to respond to Percy. He said, "She is so..."

He didn't continue, as he didn't know what to say.

Percy gave a strange look at the goat-man.

"Wow... Satyrs. You guys are all in love with Artemis..." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes at Grover.

It was somewhat obvious to think since Artemis was connected to nature, and satyrs loved nature. They had developed a bizarre kind of love for the goddess because of this.

The group continued walking toward the restaurant where Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had found Ares before they went after his shield at the water park.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination. The God of War was waiting for them in the restaurant parking lot.