Chapter 27: Home Again

                                    

                                          
Previously:
One jar of dirt and three games of pool later (because Thanatos refused to give up trying to beat Hades) we were on our way to a stair case that Hades said would lead us to camp. 
I just hadn't realized where exactly it would lead to.
We emerged from a hole in the ground in the middle of the pavilion.
"Percy!"
"I thought he was a virgin god," I whispered to Nico as people were still settling into their seats in the Big House. 
Hecate and Thanatos were chatting quietly away in the corner. Lilith was on her father's shoulders, both she and her father looking too content for anyone to tell her to get down. The wizards and witches that followed me to camp sat in between the gods and I on one side of the ping pong table. Chiron sat at the head of the table, and Mr. D and Grover sat at the other end.
"Oh, gods, Percy, you can't just—" Nico groaned and dropped his head in his hands. I could see his ears turning pink despite his efforts to hide it.
"What?" I asked.
Nico cleared his throat and lifted his head to look me in the eye. I could still see some pink dusting his cheeks. "He sculpted her from clay," Nico said. "He suddenly wanted a child but not the...normal way."
"Oh," I said. I looked over at the two of them and smiled. "He's a surprisingly good father."
I realized that this way, he would be able to hang out with her more often because she wasn't technically a demigod. And yet she wasn't really a goddess either. She was somewhere in between.
Chiron cleared his throat, likely an attempt to get the meeting started. Although it could have just been an attempt to get me to shut up. Either way, it worked; those standing found a seat. 
All through the meeting, I watched Harry and his friends carefully. When the news about Harry carrying a piece of Voldemort's soul was broken, they weren't as surprised as I thought they would be.
"That explains what Lilith said at lunch today," Harry said in realization. He made a face. "Why did it have to be Voldemort's?"
Thanatos looked down at his daughter proudly. "Your powers are growing, dear." He said. "Soon you might be able to help me as I reap souls."
Lilith smiled widely as Chiron moved us along in the conversation. An image of little Lilith following around Thanatos dressed as the Grim Reaper popped into my head. I couldn't decide if it was creepy or adorable. "How are we going to get this soul piece out of Harry?"
"Ah," Thanatos shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "That is where it gets a bit more complicated."
"Like it wasn't before?" Penny said from where she was leaning back in her seat. She had taken to leaning her chair back on it's hind legs. I think she got that from me during the school year because I have never seen her do that before.
Thanatos explained the different ways we would get the Horcrux out of Harry. Said wizard only looked at his hands as the god of death explained the consequences of each choice. No one liked the idea of any of the choices. Gathering the Horcruxes to call the one out of Harry would take too long. Becoming the Master of Death would mean a life potentially without his loved ones, and he could potentially still die as Voldemort killed him even though Thanatos almost guaranteed that it would just be the Horcrux that would catch the killing curse. Not to mention that someone else might kill Harry on accident before the Dark Lord gets to him or before they gathered the rest of the Horcruxes. Thanatos pressed that it had to be Voldemort firing the killing curse for it to work.