"After the incident that occurred a few moments ago, I have no reason to think of anyone else. I pledge my daughter, Piper McLean, to the Jackson harem."
Piper took a few moments to register the words. When she did, her hands curled in front of her mouth to stifle any potential screaming. Her listless gaze turned to me, showing me the once vibrant and joyous eyes dulled from the recent events. She dropped Annabeth's arms from her shoulders and sulked over to me with puffy eyes. When she made it to me, she tackled me in a hug and buried her face in my chest. I rubbed her head and brushed over the harpy feather nestled in her braids.
She looked up to me bleary eyed and croaked. "Please… just… be gentle."
I was too in shock to realize that I was made an immortal rebound for Piper. Not that a part of me minded. Sure she was beautiful but...wait- why am I thinking that?! I shook the thoughts out of my head and rubbed the top of Piper's, giving her a small smile.
Aphrodite chimed in. "Well isn't that sweet? I think I may see more than just a physical relationship developing between you two. Oh, and one more thing. Since Khione was Piper's reward and she is now yours, consider Khione to be yours as well. Just make sure that you have Piper's say so before you do anything with the poor snow goddess."
With Aphrodite's pledge taken care of, Dionysus stepped in. "I would only have sons to offer young Perry Johansson."
I sighed, of course he would choose to forget my name again. Some things never change.
He continued. "And unless he chooses to— what was the phrase? Come out of the closet? Whatever. My point being, I have no options of any daughters to give to Percy."
Lucky me, Aphrodite called out again. "Ooh. I know. Since I think someone could use an attitude adjustment, I pledge Drew Tanaka into Percy's harem in Dionysus's stead."
I recalled Drew snickering when she saw Jason with Gwen, so I guess this was like karma. But I gained nothing out of it. Drew was the definition of the Aphrodite daughter that no one wanted. Sure she was popular and gorgeous, but that was where it ended. Piper believed in the power that came with love and raw emotion whereas Drew cared only about the power of infatuation and using it to manipulate others.
I thought that I was supposed to be close to these people. I was consoled only by one fact, I could make her life hell if she continued to badger Piper. That gave me a few ideas of things I could let Piper do to her if she ever got out of hand.
Once more, I recognized my alien thoughts for what they were. Atrocities. But the more I tried to fight the idea of having a harem, the more I seemed to bend to the idea of having one.
It was like the gods weren't even gifting it but rather saying, "we need to keep Perseus locked up so that way he can't hurt any of us, but let's distract him with some 'friends' so he doesn't recognize it for the prison it is." That idea infuriated me enough to clear my head in time to hear the next god speak.
"I may not like this idea anymore than I approve of you being with my daughter, but now both seem to be out of my hands, young Perseus," Athena spoke. "I… I grant to you my daughter, Annabeth Chase… to… to hold a place in your harem."
I just about passed out on the spot. Soon it was Piper holding me up instead of the other way around. Annabeth, realizing this, walked right up to me and supported me even further.
"You aren't going out like that, Seaweed Brain."
She squeezed my hand. I turned to her and saw a look that said "We'll talk about this later." How did I get this good at reading her expressions?
Hephaestus went next. "Try as I might, my only children who ever grew close to Percy both went up in flames. And they were both male, so…"
He made a fair point. I never acquainted myself with too many of the Hephaestus kids other than Leo and Beckendorf. Most of the others were either always in the forge, so I never saw them, or they were involved in prank wars with the Stolls, so I tried to avoid them.
The shadows that pulsed through the room gave evidence of the next speaker.
"Nephew… do not make light of this decision. I do not wish to be known as a god who offers his children as gifts. You have become close with all of them."
A sigh of reluctance passed through Hades' mouth as he sunk into his chair. "But as I can give you a subject as well, consider this a gift of multiple levels."
He held up his hand as a dark cloud of shadow grew from near the hearth. The cloud melted away as most of the campers from Camp Half-Blood gasped. Standing there was the raven haired, blue eyed beauty who gave her life fighting a drakon, Silena Beauregard.
She gasped and held her heaving chest as she breathed for the first time in almost a year. Recognizing she wasn't alone, her eyes shifted up and looked at Hades, then to the mass of demigods, then to me, who was still being more or less carried by Annabeth and Piper.
All things considered, she was pretty calm. If I were to guess, her mind was fractured into pieces, but she remained calm nonetheless.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Hades sighed. "My dear, I have brought you here to give you an opportunity. A chance to escape the Fields of Asphodel. A chance to escape the Underworld and it's will." Silena's eyes went wide.