He turned sixteen on June 14th.
The Great Prophecy — the one that had been hovering over the world for a century, the one that said a half-blood of the eldest gods will reach sixteen against all odds — had two candidates. He had always known this. Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. Both had hit sixteen; the prophecy had not activated for either of them. His own sixteenth birthday arrived on June 14th and he spent the morning, alone, in the eastern woods, with the Crossroads Sight open, watching.
The prophecy did not move.
He sat in the woods and breathed and thought: good. It was never going to be me — the 'eldest gods' specification pointed to the brothers, not to Hecate or Apollo, and the conditions did not match his bloodline in the ways that mattered to the prophecy's mathematics. But he had needed to check, because he had needed to be certain, because the alternative — spending the summer of Manhattan not knowing whether he was a candidate — was not a condition he could operate in clearly.
He was not the one. The prophecy was Percy's. The shape of it confirmed in the Sight: the branch point of that particular line ran directly through Percy Jackson's path, not his own.
He returned to camp and went to breakfast and at breakfast Theron appeared with a birthday cake that was visibly hand-made and imperfect in the specific way of cakes made with genuine effort, and the Apollo cabin had somehow coordinated a morning concert that played his father's composition — the one Marcus had written when Kael was eight, the sunlight-and-music piece that had first surfaced the solar-harmonic talent.
He sat in the summer morning with his people around him and ate the imperfect cake and listened to his father's music played by people who had made it their own and thought: I am sixteen years old. I have two lifetimes. I have this camp and these people and the work I have done and the work still ahead.
He thought: this is enough. Regardless of what is coming. This morning is enough and I have it.
He thought about his mother, in New Orleans, who had made the conditions at a crossroads sixteen years ago today. He thought: I know the terms. Child gets to be a child first. Child gets told the truth when old enough. Both conditions met. Both fully.
He thought about Jason Park, who had died at twenty-five and been given another chance at the price of carrying two lifetimes. He thought: I know the price. I pay it willingly. The second life has been worth every moment of the weight.
He thought: happy birthday, both of us.
[ SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY — STATUS ]
Age: 16
Great Prophecy status: NOT APPLICABLE
Condition 'eldest gods' = Zeus/Poseidon/Hades
Kael's bloodline: Hecate + Apollo = not applicable
Confirmed: Percy Jackson is the candidate.
PERSONAL STATUS:
STR: 17 AGI: 24 END: 22
INT: 27 WIS: 37 CHA: 26
MANA: 130 / 130 | Level: 10
TECHNIQUES:
Lantern Step: Rank B
Crossroads Ward: Rank C
BLESSINGS ACTIVE:
Healer's Ear (Apollo)
Solar Reservoir (Apollo)
Diagnostic Sight (Apollo)
Harmonic Healing (Apollo)
Physician's Reserve (Apollo)
Earth Communication (Hecate)
Shadow Manipulation: Rank B+ (Hecate)
Lineage Sight (Hecate)
Crossroads Sight: Rank B (Hecate)
Hestia's Hearth (Hestia — gift)
Witch's Tongue (Level 10 unlock)
TITLES:
The Boy with Two Names
The Boy Between Worlds
Child of Twilight and Light
Claimed by Two
Keeper of Oaths
Keeper of Thresholds
One year to Manhattan.
Begin the final preparation.
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