Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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35 like she knew he ' d turned into Kronos . What happened to . . . to divide her like that ?" The goddess ' s face darkened . " That is a story I do not like to tell . But May Castellan saw too much . If you are to understand your enemy Luke , you must understand his family ."
I thought about the sad little pictures of Hermes taped above May Castellan ' s sink . I wondered if Ms . Castellan had been so crazy when Luke was little . That green-eyed fit could ' ve seriously scared a nine-year-old kid . And if Hermes never visited , if he ' d left Luke alone with his mom all those years . . .
" No wonder Luke ran away ," I said . " I mean , it wasn ' t right to leave his mom like that , but still — he was just a kid . Hermes shouldn ' t have abandoned them ."
Hestia scratched behind Mrs . O ' Leary ' s ears . The hellhound wagged her tail and accidentally knocked over a tree .
" It ' s easy to judge others ," Hestia warned . " But will you follow Luke ' s path ? Seek the same powers ?"
Nico set down his plate . " We have no choice , my lady . It ' s the only way Percy stands a chance ."
" Mmm ." Hestia opened her hand and the fire roared . Flames shot thirty feet into the air . Heat slapped me in the face . Then the fire died back down to normal .
" Not all powers are spectacular ." Hestia looked at me . " Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding . Do you believe me ?" " Uh-huh ," I said . Anything to keep her from messing with her flame powers again . The goddess smiled . " You are a good hero , Percy Jackson . Not too proud . I like that . But you have much to learn . When Dionysus was made a god , I gave up my throne for him . It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods ." " It unbalanced the Council ," I remembered . " Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls ." Hestia shrugged . " It was the best solution , not a perfect one . Now I tend the fire . I fade slowly into the background . No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia . Most demigods don ' t even stop to talk to me . But that is no matter . I keep the peace . I yield when necessary . Can you do this ?" " I don ' t know what you mean ." She studied me . " Perhaps not yet . But soon . Will you continue your quest ?" " Is that why you ' re here — to warn me against going ?" Hestia shook her head . " I am here because when all else fails , when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war , I am all that ' s left . Home . Hearth . I am the last Olympian . You must remember me when you face your final decision . I didn ' t like the way she said final . I looked at Nico , then back at Hestia ' s warm glowing eyes . " I have to continue , my lady . I have to stop Luke . . . I mean Kronos ."
Hestia nodded . " Very well . I cannot be of much assistance , beyond what I have already told you . But since you sacrificed to me , I can return you to your own hearth . I will see you again , Percy , on Olympus ." Her tone was ominous , as though our next meeting would not be happy . The goddess waved her hand , and everything faded .
Suddenly I was home . Nico and I were sitting on the couch in my mom ' s apartment on the Upper East Side . That was the good news . The bad news was that the rest of the living room was occupied by Mrs . O ' Leary .
I heard a muffled yell from the bedroom . Paul ' s voice said , " Who put this wall of fur in the doorway ?" " Percy ?" my mom called out . " Are you here ? Are you all right ?" " I ' m here !" I shouted back . " WOOF !" Mrs . O ' Leary tried to turn in a circle to find my mom , knocking all the pictures off the walls . She ' s only met my mom once before ( long story ), but she loves her .
It took a few minutes , but we finally got things worked out . After destroying most of the furniture in the living room and probably making our neighbors really mad , we got my parents out of the bedroom and into the kitchen , where we sat around the kitchen table . Mrs . O ' Leary still took up