An Undertow of Sand (Percy Jackson and the Cthulhu Mythos)
- Thread starter Shujin
- Start date
Now UoS Percy's plot armor is his actual demigod ability slash his mom's plotting.
Some Really Annoying Divine Intervention
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
I am incredibly sick right now, but hopefully typing this up on cold medicine was not a bad idea.
"Wait," Luke said. He held up both hands. "Wait, wait, wait."
I sighed. "Where'd I lose you?"
I was pretty sure I lost him somewhere between Hiraya getting annoyed at her buddy for what she called 'his usual cryptic nonsense' and Aaron inviting us over while she did what he called 'her anal-retentive thing.' She was not amused, but hey. We got blueberry muffins out of it.
I'm never going to say no to free food!
That meant I lost him before we even got here and I don't think it was anything I actually said. It was all in one ear and out the other.
By 'here' I mean Aaron and Hiraya's home. The fancy underground garage we were in looked like it was lifted from a Beverly Hills mansion with the ramp down and nice wood paneling. Which was fair, because the Beverly Hills mansion right in the middle of Houston, TX was just above it. Remember when I said she looked like someone from the Fortune 500? Apparently, she's actually a Fortune 500 CEO, because people expect those to be sociopathic blood suckers.
Hiraya told us that.
I was hoping that didn't mean her Board of Directors knew too.
"Is it the monster house thing still?"
"...no?" Luke tried.
"There are communities where monsters and demigods live together, you know."
The closest one I knew of was called New Rome. It was in California.
Luke gave me a helpless look.
"My best friend is a monster," I shared. "Cliff. He's the one that made my phone for me to get around the Curse." Luke's eyebrows rose, then dropped. "We've had sleepovers."
His Mastiff-headed mom makes a mean goulash. If you leave dirty dishes around though, her bark will scare years off your life.
"Even cyclops can eventually figure out refinancing mortgages are a scam - "
"Cyclops homes are usually demigod traps," Artemis said moodily from on top of her sleek Porsche perch. She didn't get a muffin, but she did get some blueberries. She was still a sore loser about it. "Most monster homes are."
"But not all of them," I countered. "Even for Greeks." I raised an eyebrow at her. "And maybe if you guys cleaned up after yourselves - "
"The Ancient Laws - " she began and I raised my eyebrow harder. I knew for a fact Artemis' old Hunting Domain was an exception when it came to gods and monsters. She shrunk back. "It is not that simple. I cannot exterminate children of Poseidon without consequence, even if they are monsters. Or children of the Night. Or servants of my father. Or -"
"Politics, really?"
Her rabbit ears flattened before she said very sweetly, "And why am I a rabbit, Perseus?"
So.
I'm not a monster, but if everything else were the same, would Mom care about that technicality if I was a monster?
Would my father?
"Alright," I admitted grudgingly. "You got me with that one."
Luke snorted.
"It's not just monsters either." I moved on. "All the gods I know - " I turned back to the rabbit. "You have joined the 21st century too, right? You don't just have your palace on Olympus."
"There is nothing wrong with our palaces," Artemis said stiffly as Luke rolled his eyes. "Naturally they offer any appliance or amenity we wish."
"And they are all tied to your godhood," I pointed out.
They were dollhouses.
They weren't homes, meant to be lived in. They were places to show off with rooms of nothing but trophies or statues or housing sacred animals. No bathrooms, or closets or anything unnecessary, every inch of it dripping with power because immortal god. Apollo snuck me into his once. After Mom left.
It was the closest he ever came to blinding me.
"My Dad cosigned a condo for Apollo," I told her. "He's paying rent with real money and everything."
Complete with the freeloading cat he swears isn't his.
"You…" Artemis stared at me. "...is that why his temples have gone unused lately?"
I smiled at that.
So the Greek sun god doth protest too much about his condo's Homeowners Association.
"So?"
The bunny shuffled a little.
"A log cabin," she admitted in a near-whisper.
"...yup," I said after a moment. "Should've seen that coming."
"What did you think she'd have?" Luke asked curiously. "A treehouse? An RV?"
"Shut up."
I didn't actually think that far ahead when I asked.
The Norse had a luxury hotel. Saule had waterfront property whenever she was on this side of the pond, Mom adored our penthouse and Eva's Dad was fixing up a nice Colonial.
"Really isn't that big of a deal," I finished.
"I - " Luke looked around.
A plush speckled gray and maroon carpet lined the underground garage outside of the concrete center where the vehicles were parked in a large semicircle. The Night reached here too. The yellow lights in the ceiling weren't as bright as they should have been, casting a sick, eerie glow on everything. It still left super dark shadows like pools of ink in the corners and underneath the trucks and expensive looking cars. Luke had looked at the dark glass wall that was the entire side of the big house as we drove up and the cared for green lawn and the aging woman that fussed over us and gave us muffins the same way he'd looked around Rhea's place.
Like he'd found himself on another planet.
"This is…a lot," he said helplessly. He waved a hand around at everything. "Alliances with monsters, other pantheons and their monsters, the primordials. I'm trying, but…I'm overwhelmed right now," he admitted. He took another deep breath and then in a very small voice said, "Nothing is going how I thought it would. It makes me wish - " He stopped.
I didn't know what to say.
"Sorry," I said uncomfortably.
He looked away. "Just want something familiar, you know?"
I thought about how I'd be if Mom made Dad raise me alone. Maybe I wouldn't even know I was a demigod until a satyr like Grover found me. If Mom only showed up to Claim me after I already turned twelve and spent the summer at Camp Half-Blood and then sent me on this Quest…
Then I realized I didn't have to imagine what Luke was going through. He was feeling exactly what I had been feeling when Hermes showed up at my front door and I had no idea what Mom wanted me to do.
"Yeah," I said quietly. "I know what you mean."
Luke took a fortifying breath.
"So this is normal too," he said.
"Uh, no," I said. "Not the…uh, not the millionaire with a mansion thing, but she's really old so...makes sense?"
Luke looked constipated again. "Percy."
"Same difference." I insisted. "Sometimes gods don't live in palaces…"
"And sometimes monsters do," Luke finished. "I just - " His face twisted up unhappily as he watched the small group of mercenaries or soldiers huddled against an armored truck. The truck was the same kind you'd see on the streets of Manhattan transporting jewelry or blocks of cash for casinos or banks. Someone over there turned on the truck's radio and the song that came out immediately made me roll my eyes. It made the Top 100 billboards this year, which meant it was everywhere. That one month at Camp away from normal life was even better than I thought.
Luke's nose scrunched, but Artemis' ears stood up, rotated in their direction. I stared at her, more disgusted with anyone than I've ever been in my entire life. I didn't have to say anything, but I wasn't about to let this atrocity slide.
"I can't believe you like this crap."
"I do not!" Artemis denied, but her ears didn't lie so easily. "What is it?"
"The Backstreet Boys," I snarled.
"I knew someone that hated them too." Luke snorted again, but there was hurt in his eyes for a second. "Big Green Day fan. Was."
Artemis' nose twitched. "Those names are ridiculous."
I flapped a hand at her. "Yeah, okay, Ariste."
Her ears flattened again as Luke turned to her. "You named yourself 'the best?'"
"I did not Name myself!" She whined and I held up a finger.
"You literally did."
"No," she said snippily. "Apollo thinks I did and he is still jealous I managed it and he did not."
I squinted at her.
The bunny made her eyes go big and innocent looking, every inch of her furry face screaming 'believe me' as she stared back.
"I will get back to you on that one," I said, pointing at her. "By the way, do you still have your 'I'm Awesome' Okeanid choir you extorted your dad for way back when or did you fire everyone?"
"Please do not call it that," she muttered, scrunching a little like I'd just poked her in the stomach. I noticed she did not deny extorting Zeus. Not that she could deny it. Because that is literally what she did. At three years of age. Let's face it, everyone's a brat at that age. "I did not 'fire' them."
"So you still have them."
The rabbit looked shifty. "I did not say that."
"Oh, so they quit," I said. "All sixty of them."
Artemis' ears flattened, but she didn't say anything.
"They quit?" Luke asked. When she still didn't respond, he threw back his head and laughed.
He laughed long and loud like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Luke was the kind of guy that would smirk or chuckle at things, but this was the first time I've seen him really let it go. The yellow light of the garage caught the dark blond stubble on his chin and he didn't look like his dad at all just then.
His mom probably laughs like that, I thought. He never really spoke of her.
Artemis stared at him for a few seconds. Then she turned away, actually thumping the hood of the Porsche as she huddled into an annoyed rabbit loaf.
"Glad you find my misfortune amusing."
"It is kind of funny," I needled her. "How'd long it take? A month? Two?"
"I am not talking to you anymore."
"They quit," Luke wheezed, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. "They fucking quit." When he finally came back down, he kneaded his cheeks and then gave us a small, genuine smile. "I needed that. Thanks."
I grinned back. Mission accomplished. "No problem."
Artemis huffed.
"Alright!" Luke clapped his hands, energized. "What the Styx am I even stealing?"
"A piece of paper in an envelope," I said. "It's a page from some old book or something," I offered when he turned to stare blankly at me. I dug out the paper Cage-Head gave me and handed it over, because he could read it a lot better than I could. Times New Roman, size 12.
Not even once.
"On loan from Harvard for a bit."
"Harvard," Luke said. "As in the university?"
"Yeah?"
It was the school I was aiming for. I just got out of sixth grade, but according to Grandpa, it was never too early to start thinking about college. I have no idea what degree I wanted, but it was Dad's old school. I wanted to go too.
"Harvard has things the mythological world wants?" Luke said slowly. Then he shrugged. "Sure, okay, why not…"
"Maybe Harvard even knows," I said. "You get gods like Khione who want a degree or two. You think she bothered with all the paperwork?" I mean, maybe. That same maybe was practically stamped on Luke's forehead. "And it's not like a clear-sighted person can't tell anybody. There are millions of them."
"And be believed?"
I shrugged. "Academic types are a coin toss. Some won't no matter what, but some will."
"Sometimes this happens." Artemis volunteered. Oh, so she won't talk to me, but Luke was fine? What an ingrate. "The Mist cannot hide everything, but mortals have always been a curious lot."
Luke frowned at that.
"And sometimes it's just on accident.," I picked up. "We'll visit the Natural History museum in Manhattan sometime," I offered. "Mom took me to their dinosaur exhibit? Wild."
It made me wonder if there was anything to Dad's stories about his school years. It was probably nothing, right? But he never could remember what those Greek texts he was translating were. The ones that gave him headaches.
Then again, Dad was under a lot of stress at the time and Mom at the end of his last year really didn't help. It was probably nothing.
Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Think of it this way," I said. "Do you really think the gods wouldn't leave random important crap around for just anyone to get their hands on?"
The tension in Luke's shoulders abruptly disappeared.
"You're right," Luke said in wonder as his eyebrows jumped. "Why should demigods be the only ones stumbling over it? That'd mean they have to be responsible. That's actually not weird at all. It's obvious."
Artemis grumbled wordlessly.
He started reading the mission dossier. His eyebrows started rising again as he drifted over the page. "...this is a lot of security for a library."
"Secret library," I corrected him.
"Sorry, secret library." Luke rolled his eyes. Artemis' ears wiggled as she raised her head curiously. "Why is this piece of paper worth stealing though?"
"That's a good question!" A cheerful female voice chirped and we all turned. "Careful asking those."
One of the (maybe) humans in the underground garage with us had wandered over. 'Incomplete' by the Backstreet Boys had blissfully ended and now it was Shakira. Don't ask me what song it was and don't ask me how I know that (Cliff. It's Cliff). I know a lot of things because I have a very good memory and sometimes it's a curse.
The woman was wearing a long sleeved red shirt under a ballistic vest with cargo pants and boots I was sure were steel-toed. She was a tall short haired brunette, which just made the tactical vest she was wearing carrying two pistols and some grenades stand out.
"Uh, hi," I said.
"Hello!" She said back happily. "Tell me you are a small fourteen year old. Please."
"You ain't police." Luke stepped in front of me. His accent was rough again. "Back off."
She held up her hands in surrender and took a step back. "Just wondering if you know what you're getting him into."
Luke gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Nun of yer business."
She tried to look over his shoulder at me, but Luke cut her off. "Right, right. Rule one!" She said loud enough to carry, like she was signaling the others. "No questions."
At the back of the room, the elevator lights lit up as the doors started opening.
"No, no, no!" One of the men behind her called back, waving a pack of Skittles as he leaned against the armored truck. "The first rule is don't be good at what you don't wanna do!"
"What was that?" Hiraya's snarl cut through the air as she stepped out of the elevator.
The woman grimaced, hurrying back to where the small human group scrambled to look somewhat professional. The joker cringed and hid behind a taller man who was standing at military rest with a small scowl and a half-eaten Kit Kat bar.
"Nothing!" He squeaked.
The tall man turned his head and straightened even more. Even though he was dressed the most casually with a short-sleeved shirt, jeans and sneakers with a baseball cap, he still looked like a professional soldier.
"Boss?"
The vampire glanced over us before her purple eyes turned on the mercenaries (?). "The demigods come first, understand?"
The soldier nodded. "Boss."
"They're not coming with us?" Luke said in alarm.
Hiraya raised one eyebrow.
"And why not?" She asked mildly as she threaded around a Jeep towards us, kicking off her shoes to lean against her black Hummer. "I do not know you. If I trust in your success just because you are a demigod, that would make me negligent."
Luke and I both turned to look at Artemis. The rabbit shrunk down on her Porsche perch.
"So," Luke began. "A monster can figure that out - "
"I know!" The rabbit hissed back as her ears dropped. "I know."
Hiraya eyed the rabbit thoughtfully. "If I did not ensure the Bishop did not price gouge you, that would betray your trust, making me dishonest." She flashed a small fanged grin. "And if I turned down the opportunity to observe you for future reference, that would make me an idiot."
Dude.
I know Mandurugos don't do well against blades, but, like…does that even mean anything with this one? She saw our swords. My confidence in that mattering is now in the negatives.
Have I mentioned not fighting her yet?
I don't think I have.
Luke was giving the vampire a thoughtful look. "You take this seriously."
"Force of habit," she answered simply, but the purple in her eyes brightened for a second. "I do not know how things here usually are, but where I come from a demigod may be meat like any other human. Or they may be a Hindu."
I winced.
"Yes," she said. "That is a mistake one will never make again."
That would be like if Hermes decided to bully Mom when he ticketed her, because Zeus' favorite son could get away with actual murder. And then Ananke was the one who got tired of his shit. Hindus were Matryoshka dolls and they got real good at hiding it. The one guy you thought was just a mortal demigod?
Maybe not so much.
Hiraya's lips pursed as she looked me over. "I have yet to decide which you are."
Huh?
"Just a demigod," I said brightly.
"Hmm." I don't think she believed me. "Regardless, your blood is very valuable. I would also prefer no debts."
My blood was valuable? I…did not know that.
Huh.
Sweet.
"Kapwa remains important, of course." She waved off our curious looks. "Interpersonal relationships are resources, use them or lose them. And you were polite," she added as an afterthought. "I do like that." Before I could wrap my head around the mystical powers of manners, she clapped her hands to get the mercenaries' attention. "Go time, people!"
When she walked off, Luke turned to me. "I don't like this."
He was eyeing the humans warily.
"What was that about? Earlier?" I asked him. "You were okay with Corey."
"Corey could See," Luke said sourly. "People like him, like us, don't have a choice about the mythological world. They're part of it. People like them." He sneered. "It's all a game or a profitable secret. Something they can just put down and forget whenever they want. Something to play with. To exploit. It's not real to them." He looked down at me. "They'll say they'll believe it, but they don't. They can't see it."
"You cannot see it either," Artemis said bluntly. "Not truly."
Luke's blue eyes cut to her angrily, before his eyes dropped.
"Not yet," he whispered. He looked back at me. "Mortals like them are unreliable. You can't trust them, not when it counts. That's what no lasting consequences do to people."
I looked back at the armored truck. Luke was making a lot of sense. I looked at them and saw a fact of reality I learned about in case I needed to use it. Luke looked at them and saw pretenders. Their jobs they chose to do were ideal for adult demigods that had nothing else.
If they lived that long.
"Oh," I said quietly.
"Looks like I can still teach you stuff, huh?" He gave me a weak smile. "Just…" Luke sighed. "Keep an eye on them. I'd rather rely on the vampire."
"Really? The vampire?" I couldn't stop the smug. And I didn't want to. "So you admit it was a good idea!"
He didn't even look at me.
"I can't," was all Luke said and just started walking towards the truck.
"Stop doubting me." I said to his back as I grabbed our rabbit and followed. "I know a lot of things!"
At least three people snorted at me.
I was never going to get any respect on this Quest.
I give up.
Riding in an armored vehicle with a bunch of professionals with pistols, grenades and actual assault rifles felt a little weird. The inside of the truck reminded me of those war movies that showed off the inside of carrier jets. Two rows of seats facing each other on opposite sides of the truck with harnesses instead of seatbelts and hard cushions. I buckled in, because Safety First, but I was too short. My harness was really uncomfortable.
Luke's words were still rattling in my head.
Unreliable.
My Celtic foster-brother had never been shy about involving mortals. I think it was how he met Eva's mom, but I really only knew of them. Apollo hired people to make his movies, but I don't think they knew what he was. Mortals working for monsters or gods and aware of it existed.
Somewhere.
Now they were right in front of me, double checking their wrap around sunglasses, night vision goggles and guns in case anything went wrong.
Well.
"Oh, you're adorable."
Most of them were.
"Who's a gorgeous wittle bunny?" The joker from earlier was a grown ass man with a Wildcats beanie on and a big box between his feet cooing over Artemis.
His short sleeved shirt showed off his biceps and a tattoo of the same pyramid you see on the back of a dollar bill with some dude in a chariot with winged horses flying around the top. The rabbit shrunk away, burrowing in the small space between me and Luke.
The man just grinned. "How old? Looks about five - six months?"
"Six," Luke guessed uncomfortably.
My stomach sank a little. That was why she was so small. If rabbits were anything like cats or dogs, they weren't fully grown until they were at least a year old. Artemis used to look like a girl my own age and now she was a young rabbit.
"Trace," the man introduced himself. "It's a code name, don't ask."
Luke and I both nodded.
Code names were a smart idea. Names matter to mortals too.
You didn't think it was a coincidence that Iris could just find my father behind divine wards with just his name? Or that all I needed to call Corey was his name? Some guys out there could really make you regret giving your name away.
"Is demigod official?" Trace asked curiously. "Like, you call yourselves that? And not like metahuman or halfa or anything."
I perked up. "Halfa?"
Trace nearly bounced in his seat as the woman next to him rolled her eyes. "Daughter's a big Danny Phantom fan," he explained. "Don't have the heart to tell her that's not how it works."
"Technically - " I started but Luke clapped a hand over my mouth.
"No," he hissed at me. "They don't need to know." I pouted. Fine. Unreliable. I'll try to shut up. He raised his voice to speak to the mercs. "Please don't encourage him."
Artemis protested being squished with a squeak, making Trace go all gooey again. The short haired happy woman on their team laughed while the other just snorted.
'Cross' was the bubbly one with a nice sleeve tattoo of horses and other farm animals that you could only see when she rolled her sleeve up. Otherwise just the edge of it peaked out above her collar. 'Torus' was a quiet pale pony-tailed brunette that looked at us like she was taking us apart in her mind. 'Rabbit' was ironically the soldier guy with the submachine gun and Air Jordan sneakers. He was driving and was the leader of the small team. They belonged to an actual private military company called Carcosa Security Solutions, like Blackwater if you know them, but for our side of the world.
"It's not really money laundering," Cross said.
I wondered about that. Maybe she was right? It's not like getting paid by mythological beings was illegal, right? And half the time what they did wasn't illegal either and as long as it was reported for taxes…
You know?
I think this is the first time in my life that I need to ask my father a question about how the mythological world works.
"The contracts are real, we just can't tell anyone else who hired us. The money is real too."
"Kind of," Trace said.
"Not even kinda," Cross snipped back primly. "Gold is gold. It's not going to disappear."
"Yet," Trace mock-whispered. "It hasn't disappeared yet." Cross hit him. "Ow! I'm just saying, all this Harry Potter shit is cool, but magic money? Come on, at least we get paid in cash."
"It's not magic money," I couldn't help saying. Luke twitched and I knew why. Trace was someone who didn't really believe. "Look."
I dug into my backpack, found my wallet and pulled out a gold Drachma. I tossed it to the guy and watched him lift his eye protection to boggle at it.
"Is this - ?" He nibbled on it and then examined the teeth marks. "Well. Shit."
"Why are you slobbering all over his money - " Cross snatched the coin from him when he went to chew on it more, wiped it off with her shirt and tossed it back. "You could have just used your fingernails," she told him. "I apologize for him. He was dropped on his head a few times as a baby."
"Wrong!" He said cheerfully. "However, I might have exploded myself a few times." He nodded down at his box. "You need demolitions, I'm your guy!"
"It's a university," Luke said. The unasked question 'Why would I need to blow anything up?' was clear in his voice.
"It's one of those private, fancy ones that opened after it's namesake got murdered," Trace said in a theatrical spooky voice. Fingers wiggling at us and everything. "I - " He stopped. "I was about to ask if you believe in ghost stories, but wow, I'm stupid."
Luke rolled his eyes.
"I won't need your help," he said with a small sneer.
Cross' eyebrows jumped. "That confident, huh?"
"There's a billion alarms," Trace cut in. "Motion sensors, cameras, infrared lasers - "
"The local police are real serious about any goings on," Cross said grimly. "Always have been since the place was founded."
Luke turned to the window where the bright lights of a city trying to fight back against the darkness blurred past in a constant stream of color.
"My father is a god of Thieves," he said softly. "I'll be fine."
The mercenaries all exchanged looks until the quiet woman, Torus, inclined her head.
"Sure, kid," Cross said gently and Luke bristled, but he didn't say anything. "We'll be ready though, just in case."
"I'll be fine," Luke snapped stubbornly.
About a ten minute drive later, Luke was looking a lot less fine.
We all stared at abandoned long tables with a blue and white banner hanging from it congratulating recent graduates. Rice University had a really medieval look, more like a castle of red brick than a school. The main campus was in a square with little towers rising in the corners of long, stately buildings boxing in a simple courtyard. The main building in the center looked like it was just missing a portcullis and maybe some archers with boiling oil to be ready for an invading dragon. The school even had a medieval coat of arms.
Three white Athenian owls on a blue shield glared back at us from the banner.
Actual Athenian owls, no joke. Like the ones you find on coins from Greece's Classical period. Suddenly, this place having super rare books or pages monsters wanted didn't seem so weird.
"So, uh," Trace said quietly from behind us. "I can spare a couple of bombs."
Then he yelped, so I think someone kicked him.
Luke palmed his face.
"Stealing from gods," he muttered as he dragged his hand down, pulling at his cheeks. "This is just my life now."
I opened my mouth.
"No," he said.
"Oh come on!" I threw up my hands.
"If it helps," Artemis ventured quietly at his feet. We all ignored Trace squealing 'Disney rabbit!' "This was likely just dedicated to her and not anything close to a sacred site. She is also very busy right now."
Luke looked constipated.
"It's practice," he said eventually, convincing himself. "For California." He turned back to the mercs. "I could…use a few grenades," he said hesitantly. "And a smoke one, if you have it."
"We gotcha, kid," Cross said.
I inspected the school.
There were wards.
I could feel them. They felt like they were sleepy. The kind of half-awake dozing off when you want to say you're looking out for trouble but don't expect anything to actually happen. That could change really quickly though.
The crunch of boots on the pebbly ground of the massive courtyard told me one of the mercs was approaching. When I looked, it was Torus.
"Feel them?" She said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Sensitive," she observed. I didn't have to see her eyes through the eye protection to feel her look through me. It felt a lot like how Athena looked at me. I was pretty sure she wasn't a god, but I was going to trust my gut. And my gut said something was off about her. I thought that maybe she was a demigod, but they've never had enough power to stand out before.
Some other kind of half-blood?
"Why do you feel them?"
"Sensitive," was all she said.
At some point, the team gave up on Luke's pockets and just shoved him into one of their tactical vests. He was twisting around, rolling his shoulders and getting used to how it affected his movement when one of the doors into the school opened up in a side building. He froze but Cross held out a hand.
"The Bishop arranged for one of the current students to let you into the buildings," she said quietly as the tall figure in a white and blue blazer over a dark hoodie jogged towards us. "Something about the protections on the place."
"You will be on your own after you get in," Trace warned.
Luke nodded.
The student was the type of guy who could audition for every football jock in every Disney show that ever existed with brown hair, eyes and a square jaw. He looked at us nervously. I don't think he knew what to make of a SWAT team dressed like they were at a backyard BBQ under their gear, a middle schooler, a rabbit and Luke.
"The moneh?" He shoved his hands into his blazer pockets, hunched over. He had a softer Texan accent than J.D had.
Rabbit held up his cellphone, making Luke shuffle away from him like it was contagious. "Sent."
His head bobbed. "Who am I takin'?"
"Me." Luke stepped forward.
I watched him disappear into the building.
"I don't like this," Trace said, which did not help the sinking feeling in my stomach. At all. "We've been planning for three weeks."
"He said he didn't need help," Cross said, but she was just as unhappy.
"A lot of those traps are lethal - "
"Trace."
"We still don't know how to get around that recording - "
"Trace."
He went quiet, but only for a second. "Rabbit. Back me up here."
The soldier grunted. "...should have cut power."
Cross groaned. "Not you too."
Rabbit grimaced. "And given him the floor plans. NVG. Walkie talkie."
"Radios would bring down monsters," I cut in because the Curse was stupid like that.
It's why my phone was made by Cliff instead of getting a regular cell phone from my parents like normal kids. It was Hera's last laugh. The Curse affected all Olympic demigods, but monsters were suspiciously sensitive to a demigod messing with air or electricity or both and it didn't age well.
"We've got reports of some perro negros in there," Trace said flatly. "I don't think that matters."
Okay.
So.
Spanish hellhounds were slightly more concerning.
"He can take them," I said, but I bit my lip.
He can. They were nothing compared to Ladon, but if he was expecting them to fight like their Greek counterparts just because they looked similar…Artemis nudged my ankle. She didn't complain when I sat down on the gravelly courtyard next to her and straightened her jacket. And rubbed her ears a little.
She was very fluffy.
"Hermes is proud of his son for a reason," she said quietly. "Have faith."
But if anything went wrong, we wouldn't hear anything.
The Night dragged on.
I don't know how long I sat there waiting. Maybe it was a little over a half hour? Or maybe a full hour and a little bit? All I knew was that my ass was beyond numb. I was cold, my stomach had finally settled somewhere in my big toe and I was going crazy.
There are only so many times you can play rock, paper, scissors with a rabbit before you want to break your own fingers.
The first sign something was happening was when Torus' head turned.
Then an explosion blew out the wall way down at the end of a side building opposite from where Luke entered. It was nothing more than a quiet 'whump' sound, but the bricks blowing out with billowing dark smoke told the whole story.
I don't remember the run. I must have gotten up and started sprinting before everyone else reacted. That's how getting from Point A to Point B works. I dove right into the smoke. My eyes started burning immediately. There was this smell, like rotting garbage left out in the hot sun for a few hours. There was this thing on the ground. What I could see of it looked like a twisted, starving werewolf mid-transformation, but it was missing its head. I opened my mouth to shout when my Spidey Sense screamed.
My arms shook as I blocked Luke's shining Celestial Bronze sword with Damocles. "Uh, Luke?"
I'm hoping this was Luke and he was just jumpy.
Luke wouldn't hurt me.
I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't him at the wheel.
He blinked cloudy blue eyes at me.
"Oh hey, Percy," Luke said with a wide, almost manic grin. He stopped trying to kill me. That was appreciated. "You came out of nowhere."
"Yeah, sure." I said. I didn't lower my sword until he did, but I kept it drawn. "You good?"
"This ring." Luke held up his hand, not noticing that I was still pointing my sword at him. "Air flow!" Luke laughed out loud. "I could see things before I entered the room! And my lighter!" He waved his sword around.
I leaned back out of his reach. "Can we - can we not."
I was starting to wonder where he found the Red Bull.
"Percy." Luke said very seriously. "I can explode things!"
Or the drugs.
Maybe he blew up a few blocks of some professor's cocaine stash and breathed in the smoke because his pupils were dilated. He couldn't seem to stop smiling. He dug into his vest and pulled out a squashed manilla envelope "I got it."
"Okay," I said slowly. "Can we get out of here?"
He blinked again. "Oh. Right."
He tripped on a few of the bricks, before he seemed to realize that the ground wasn't flat anymore because of the debris. He coughed once as he stumbled clear of the smoke.
"Are you okay?"
"Great!" He exclaimed as he whirled back towards me, hands flung out to his sides like a conquering general. A shining sword in one of his hands with the threads of adamantine in it almost glowing and the other clutching the envelope. "I missed this!"
Behind him, the mercenaries were just catching up at a jog. I vaguely registered Artemis running up too and the relief on Cross' face as she said something, Rabbit on his phone, but my world had already shrunk down to Trace. Some ADHD hyperfocus thing, or maybe it was just the adrenaline still going from the explosion. Because joking, concerned Trace -
Trace was pulling out his pistol.
I want to say that I reacted like a stone cold badass. Someone pulled a gun on me a couple feet away?
No problem.
But the truth is my mind went something like this: WAGLBLARGHWAGHGUN!
Twelve year old Arnold Schwarzenegger with cerebral palsy.
I charged him, sword out. The moment his target switched from Luke to me shivered down my neck. I didn't see the bullet, but I must have felt it. My arms snapped up. The impact vibrating through the hilt was almost gentle and then I was on him.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Trace yelped as he tried to spin away. He was too slow. The only thing that saved him was his bullet proof vest cracking under Damocles' edge.
Get the gun, I thought. I lashed out with a hand. He was fast for a human. I missed the fingers I was aiming for, but when I closed on his forearm I could feel it give under my fingertips. He cried out and dropped the pistol anyway. I kicked it away, but my neck was still screaming. I brought my sword around immediately and the steel blade of a Ka-Bar knife in his other hand shattered on the silver-gold rippled edge. I thought I was doing really good until he dropped that too to jab me in the face. I felt my nose break under his knuckles as stars exploded in my eyes.
Note to self: Spidey Sense is only for shit that will kill me.
Trace couldn't follow up on it, throwing himself backwards on the ground to avoid Luke. The Celestial Bronze of Reclaim would pass right through a normal person, but Trace didn't need to know that.
"Now, that wasn't very nice," Luke said slowly. He was still smiling as he lazily spun his sword in his hand, but it had that mean edge I'd only seen a few times before. He looked around at the stunned faces of the other mercs. "I thought we were all in this together."
In a second, they realized what had happened.
Trace went for his dropped gun, but Rabbit stomped on his hand and he shouted, "Torus!"
Fuck -
I was already moving, lunging towards her when a brilliant flash of light swept over me.
I froze.
Not by choice. My body stopped moving, like I had gotten caught by Weird Girl's voice back at Camp again. I tried to fight against it. It felt like trying to break handcuffs when your muscles wouldn't even respond.
My stomach did.
A low vibration, like it was rumbling with hunger.
Be at peace, whoever was in Torus spoke with a genderless voice. Her eye protection was gone, showing eyes of fractal patterns like a cut gemstone. Mom's black diamond, but each facet was a different color as they turned in increments, grinding against each other like gears in a clock.
I am not here for you, abomination.
You think I give a shit? I thought as I kept trying to move. I was trying to do something with my power, but my stomach was still stitched shut. I was caught like a fly in a spider web as Torus walked through the frozen mercenaries, over Artemis towards Luke. Even Trace was still on the ground, teeth still bared in the 's' sound of 'Torus.' The whole world, or maybe just our little slice of it, was frozen in time.
She passed me and I had horrid thoughts of Luke being killed right behind me while I sat here, unable to do anything. I just needed to move!
I blinked.
My heart leapt. I didn't try to say anything. My stomach felt like it was starting to cramp, but I didn't care. My brother said I had the key, right? I needed this door open. Right now.
My raised foot was inching towards the ground when Torus sighed.
Authentic. Good.
Then it was over.
I nearly fell forward onto my face. My stomach hurt like I had too much ice cream. Time stops are bullshit. I hoped I wasn't going to throw up.
"Pers - " Artemis had started to cry out, tripping over her own paws as she was suddenly in motion again.
"What the fuck - " that was Cross.
Trace snarled at all of us like a cornered animal. "Fiat lux!"
Rabbit's gun spoke for him. It was a muted crack. Someone stepped on a Lego and broke it. Then Trace slumped over onto the ground, a bloody hole in his head.
"What just happened?" Cross yelled. Rabbit just shot the body a second time before turning back to his cellphone. I spun around to check on Luke. He looked unhurt, but was staring at his empty left hand where a manilla envelope used to be.
"Luke?" I asked.
"What happened?" He whimpered and I got worried, stepping closer. Was he hurt? Did Torus do something to him?
"I think a god interfered."
"I was robbed?" Luke murmured. "By a - a god robbed me?"
Yeah, no.
He's fine.
"Looks like it?"
He sounded way more offended at being robbed of the thing he just stole than worried or hurt. I let myself relax. We're fine. Threat was gone.
And if it showed up again, I was going to eat it.
"Do you know who that was?" I asked Artemis as she bounded up.
The rabbit shook. "No. I was trapped. Completely."
So I was the only one who saw anything.
Unless her code name was a clue, all we had was Trace. But he was left behind and if he knew his accomplice was a god, he wouldn't have needed to pull a gun on us, right? So maybe he didn't know. Two traitors in a small team of four would have the element of surprise.
But she was...
Something.
"And you!" Luke derailed my train of thought, pointing at me incredulously. "Did you just deflect a bullet? From ten feet away?"
I think I remembered that being a thing that happened. I fiddled with my sword pendant necklace.
"I think so?"
"Nice," Luke said appreciatively. "Don't do it again."
"You'd rather I be shot?"
"I'd rather you dodge."
Alright.
That was fair.
"You sound like my father," I complained anyway, crossing my arms, because fuck you, blocking a bullet was awesome.
I was absolutely going to do it again.
"I am your Camp Counselor," Luke reminded me. "I can ground you too."
"No, you can't."
"Yes, I can."
"Chiron would never let you."
"You think I care what Chiron thinks?" I opened my mouth. Luke raised an eyebrow. I closed my mouth. "Good boy."
"Oy."
Luke shook his head and smiled a little. "Want to hear about the theft?"
"Hell yeah."
Artemis let out a wheezing bunny sigh.
"Shake a leg!" Cross yelled at us. "ETA on police is five minutes!"
We all scrambled after the mercenaries. This time Cross claimed shotgun in the passenger side as Rabbit tossed Trace's corpse into the back with us. A roar of the engine and crunching of the tires on the gravely pavement, then a harsh bump as I tried to buckle my harness. Artemis huddled in the small space between me and Luke again and I could feel her trembling.
Luke hunched over in his seat, elbows on his knees. His lighter in one hand. He flicked the flame on and then turned it off. The city lights streamed by in the small windows of the truck. Eventually, he clenched his empty hand into a fist trembling with rage.
"When I find out who that was - do we know who that was?"
"No."
There was Latin involved. Which didn't actually mean anything.
Everyone and their grandmothers thought the Romans were cool.
"When I find out who that was - " Luke continued, like he hadn't stopped to ask. "I will be the biggest pain in their ass - "
"Please do not declare war on foreign gods during this Quest," Artemis murmured. "I am begging you, Zoë." I felt the bunny immediately stiffen as Luke's head whipped towards her. "Luke. I meant, Luke."
Too bad Luke was not interested in letting her get away with anything.
"What did you just call me?"
"It was an accident!" The bunny sounded shaken. "You are just…similar. Nothing was meant by it. It - It is a compliment."
"Like Hades it is," Luke snarled at her. "Being compared to one of your people is the second to last - "
"You are protective of Perseus," the bunny said loudly. "You have thrown yourself into situations that should have killed you without hesitation. You are constantly getting on my nerves, but you are still helping me and your rage scares me. I do not want you to declare war on foreign gods because I am very sure you will actually do it!"
Luke's mouth opened and then he closed it.
I had to close my mouth too.
I knew about him getting on her nerves. It wasn't like that was subtle, but I didn't think she really noticed him beyond that.
"How do you know that I will?" Luke said softly.
"Perseus told me about the boon," she said meekly. "And you told me that I was a disappointment. My throne only fit to be ground to dust."
Luke took a deep breath.
"Since then, you have nearly died for it, but you have not complained. You do not hesitate. Even Perseus has hesitated." Artemis shrunk into a little ball. "I know you despise me. I am not stupid. You still do not hesitate. Do you know how terrifying that is?"
So this was awkward.
"And Zoë…" Artemis went quiet. She shuddered once. "Only two of my former Hunters were made monsters. She made me stop." Her voice drifted. "She made it all stop. By being the person who came the closest to killing me since my father."
"Ballsy," my mouth said ahead of my brain. "Isn't she mortal?"
I remembered the Persian princess look-alike with the fractured nebula swirling in her eyes. I especially remember the sneer she pinned me with for the crime of volunteering while male before handing a small bunny rabbit to Luke.
"Yes," the rabbit said almost fondly. "She has always been a very brave girl."
"Zoë?" Luke said incredulously. "Zoë Nightshade, your lieutenant. Tried to kill you."
"It - it was a long time ago," Artemis sighed. Her voice picked up with a bit of humor. "At one point, I was fending off assassination attempts from her every day for about three weeks."
"What did you do?"
And just like that, the humor died.
"Was myself." Artemis tucked her face underneath her paws. "I am my father's favorite daughter, because I - I was just like him. In every…single…way."
Did she mean...?
Yikes.
"Past tense?" Luke said evenly.
The bunny trembled. "I hope so, but it does not matter. It is too late."
"Don't give up," I told her. Apollo said she had changed and even if she remained a rabbit, a rabbit with a Name was a lot less dead weight. "We'll figure out something."
We all ignored the corpse on the floor of the truck as we sped through the streets of Houston. I didn't feel any kind of way about it. Maybe he had a life insurance policy, or maybe the kid he mentioned was made up. It was just like Luke said and he tried to kill me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to just let myself get murdered, but if you tried and then said you were sorry and you meant it, we just might get along. I don't hold murder attempts against people.
Betrayals are a different story.
An Undertow of Sand
A PJO Fanction
A PJO Fanction
"Wait," Luke said. He held up both hands. "Wait, wait, wait."
I sighed. "Where'd I lose you?"
I was pretty sure I lost him somewhere between Hiraya getting annoyed at her buddy for what she called 'his usual cryptic nonsense' and Aaron inviting us over while she did what he called 'her anal-retentive thing.' She was not amused, but hey. We got blueberry muffins out of it.
I'm never going to say no to free food!
That meant I lost him before we even got here and I don't think it was anything I actually said. It was all in one ear and out the other.
By 'here' I mean Aaron and Hiraya's home. The fancy underground garage we were in looked like it was lifted from a Beverly Hills mansion with the ramp down and nice wood paneling. Which was fair, because the Beverly Hills mansion right in the middle of Houston, TX was just above it. Remember when I said she looked like someone from the Fortune 500? Apparently, she's actually a Fortune 500 CEO, because people expect those to be sociopathic blood suckers.
Hiraya told us that.
I was hoping that didn't mean her Board of Directors knew too.
"Is it the monster house thing still?"
"...no?" Luke tried.
"There are communities where monsters and demigods live together, you know."
The closest one I knew of was called New Rome. It was in California.
Luke gave me a helpless look.
"My best friend is a monster," I shared. "Cliff. He's the one that made my phone for me to get around the Curse." Luke's eyebrows rose, then dropped. "We've had sleepovers."
His Mastiff-headed mom makes a mean goulash. If you leave dirty dishes around though, her bark will scare years off your life.
"Even cyclops can eventually figure out refinancing mortgages are a scam - "
"Cyclops homes are usually demigod traps," Artemis said moodily from on top of her sleek Porsche perch. She didn't get a muffin, but she did get some blueberries. She was still a sore loser about it. "Most monster homes are."
"But not all of them," I countered. "Even for Greeks." I raised an eyebrow at her. "And maybe if you guys cleaned up after yourselves - "
"The Ancient Laws - " she began and I raised my eyebrow harder. I knew for a fact Artemis' old Hunting Domain was an exception when it came to gods and monsters. She shrunk back. "It is not that simple. I cannot exterminate children of Poseidon without consequence, even if they are monsters. Or children of the Night. Or servants of my father. Or -"
"Politics, really?"
Her rabbit ears flattened before she said very sweetly, "And why am I a rabbit, Perseus?"
So.
I'm not a monster, but if everything else were the same, would Mom care about that technicality if I was a monster?
Would my father?
"Alright," I admitted grudgingly. "You got me with that one."
Luke snorted.
"It's not just monsters either." I moved on. "All the gods I know - " I turned back to the rabbit. "You have joined the 21st century too, right? You don't just have your palace on Olympus."
"There is nothing wrong with our palaces," Artemis said stiffly as Luke rolled his eyes. "Naturally they offer any appliance or amenity we wish."
"And they are all tied to your godhood," I pointed out.
They were dollhouses.
They weren't homes, meant to be lived in. They were places to show off with rooms of nothing but trophies or statues or housing sacred animals. No bathrooms, or closets or anything unnecessary, every inch of it dripping with power because immortal god. Apollo snuck me into his once. After Mom left.
It was the closest he ever came to blinding me.
"My Dad cosigned a condo for Apollo," I told her. "He's paying rent with real money and everything."
Complete with the freeloading cat he swears isn't his.
"You…" Artemis stared at me. "...is that why his temples have gone unused lately?"
I smiled at that.
So the Greek sun god doth protest too much about his condo's Homeowners Association.
"So?"
The bunny shuffled a little.
"A log cabin," she admitted in a near-whisper.
"...yup," I said after a moment. "Should've seen that coming."
"What did you think she'd have?" Luke asked curiously. "A treehouse? An RV?"
"Shut up."
I didn't actually think that far ahead when I asked.
The Norse had a luxury hotel. Saule had waterfront property whenever she was on this side of the pond, Mom adored our penthouse and Eva's Dad was fixing up a nice Colonial.
"Really isn't that big of a deal," I finished.
"I - " Luke looked around.
A plush speckled gray and maroon carpet lined the underground garage outside of the concrete center where the vehicles were parked in a large semicircle. The Night reached here too. The yellow lights in the ceiling weren't as bright as they should have been, casting a sick, eerie glow on everything. It still left super dark shadows like pools of ink in the corners and underneath the trucks and expensive looking cars. Luke had looked at the dark glass wall that was the entire side of the big house as we drove up and the cared for green lawn and the aging woman that fussed over us and gave us muffins the same way he'd looked around Rhea's place.
Like he'd found himself on another planet.
"This is…a lot," he said helplessly. He waved a hand around at everything. "Alliances with monsters, other pantheons and their monsters, the primordials. I'm trying, but…I'm overwhelmed right now," he admitted. He took another deep breath and then in a very small voice said, "Nothing is going how I thought it would. It makes me wish - " He stopped.
I didn't know what to say.
"Sorry," I said uncomfortably.
He looked away. "Just want something familiar, you know?"
I thought about how I'd be if Mom made Dad raise me alone. Maybe I wouldn't even know I was a demigod until a satyr like Grover found me. If Mom only showed up to Claim me after I already turned twelve and spent the summer at Camp Half-Blood and then sent me on this Quest…
Then I realized I didn't have to imagine what Luke was going through. He was feeling exactly what I had been feeling when Hermes showed up at my front door and I had no idea what Mom wanted me to do.
"Yeah," I said quietly. "I know what you mean."
Luke took a fortifying breath.
"So this is normal too," he said.
"Uh, no," I said. "Not the…uh, not the millionaire with a mansion thing, but she's really old so...makes sense?"
Luke looked constipated again. "Percy."
"Same difference." I insisted. "Sometimes gods don't live in palaces…"
"And sometimes monsters do," Luke finished. "I just - " His face twisted up unhappily as he watched the small group of mercenaries or soldiers huddled against an armored truck. The truck was the same kind you'd see on the streets of Manhattan transporting jewelry or blocks of cash for casinos or banks. Someone over there turned on the truck's radio and the song that came out immediately made me roll my eyes. It made the Top 100 billboards this year, which meant it was everywhere. That one month at Camp away from normal life was even better than I thought.
Luke's nose scrunched, but Artemis' ears stood up, rotated in their direction. I stared at her, more disgusted with anyone than I've ever been in my entire life. I didn't have to say anything, but I wasn't about to let this atrocity slide.
"I can't believe you like this crap."
"I do not!" Artemis denied, but her ears didn't lie so easily. "What is it?"
"The Backstreet Boys," I snarled.
"I knew someone that hated them too." Luke snorted again, but there was hurt in his eyes for a second. "Big Green Day fan. Was."
Artemis' nose twitched. "Those names are ridiculous."
I flapped a hand at her. "Yeah, okay, Ariste."
Her ears flattened again as Luke turned to her. "You named yourself 'the best?'"
"I did not Name myself!" She whined and I held up a finger.
"You literally did."
"No," she said snippily. "Apollo thinks I did and he is still jealous I managed it and he did not."
I squinted at her.
The bunny made her eyes go big and innocent looking, every inch of her furry face screaming 'believe me' as she stared back.
"I will get back to you on that one," I said, pointing at her. "By the way, do you still have your 'I'm Awesome' Okeanid choir you extorted your dad for way back when or did you fire everyone?"
"Please do not call it that," she muttered, scrunching a little like I'd just poked her in the stomach. I noticed she did not deny extorting Zeus. Not that she could deny it. Because that is literally what she did. At three years of age. Let's face it, everyone's a brat at that age. "I did not 'fire' them."
"So you still have them."
The rabbit looked shifty. "I did not say that."
"Oh, so they quit," I said. "All sixty of them."
Artemis' ears flattened, but she didn't say anything.
"They quit?" Luke asked. When she still didn't respond, he threw back his head and laughed.
He laughed long and loud like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Luke was the kind of guy that would smirk or chuckle at things, but this was the first time I've seen him really let it go. The yellow light of the garage caught the dark blond stubble on his chin and he didn't look like his dad at all just then.
His mom probably laughs like that, I thought. He never really spoke of her.
Artemis stared at him for a few seconds. Then she turned away, actually thumping the hood of the Porsche as she huddled into an annoyed rabbit loaf.
"Glad you find my misfortune amusing."
"It is kind of funny," I needled her. "How'd long it take? A month? Two?"
"I am not talking to you anymore."
"They quit," Luke wheezed, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. "They fucking quit." When he finally came back down, he kneaded his cheeks and then gave us a small, genuine smile. "I needed that. Thanks."
I grinned back. Mission accomplished. "No problem."
Artemis huffed.
"Alright!" Luke clapped his hands, energized. "What the Styx am I even stealing?"
"A piece of paper in an envelope," I said. "It's a page from some old book or something," I offered when he turned to stare blankly at me. I dug out the paper Cage-Head gave me and handed it over, because he could read it a lot better than I could. Times New Roman, size 12.
Not even once.
"On loan from Harvard for a bit."
"Harvard," Luke said. "As in the university?"
"Yeah?"
It was the school I was aiming for. I just got out of sixth grade, but according to Grandpa, it was never too early to start thinking about college. I have no idea what degree I wanted, but it was Dad's old school. I wanted to go too.
"Harvard has things the mythological world wants?" Luke said slowly. Then he shrugged. "Sure, okay, why not…"
"Maybe Harvard even knows," I said. "You get gods like Khione who want a degree or two. You think she bothered with all the paperwork?" I mean, maybe. That same maybe was practically stamped on Luke's forehead. "And it's not like a clear-sighted person can't tell anybody. There are millions of them."
"And be believed?"
I shrugged. "Academic types are a coin toss. Some won't no matter what, but some will."
"Sometimes this happens." Artemis volunteered. Oh, so she won't talk to me, but Luke was fine? What an ingrate. "The Mist cannot hide everything, but mortals have always been a curious lot."
Luke frowned at that.
"And sometimes it's just on accident.," I picked up. "We'll visit the Natural History museum in Manhattan sometime," I offered. "Mom took me to their dinosaur exhibit? Wild."
It made me wonder if there was anything to Dad's stories about his school years. It was probably nothing, right? But he never could remember what those Greek texts he was translating were. The ones that gave him headaches.
Then again, Dad was under a lot of stress at the time and Mom at the end of his last year really didn't help. It was probably nothing.
Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Think of it this way," I said. "Do you really think the gods wouldn't leave random important crap around for just anyone to get their hands on?"
The tension in Luke's shoulders abruptly disappeared.
"You're right," Luke said in wonder as his eyebrows jumped. "Why should demigods be the only ones stumbling over it? That'd mean they have to be responsible. That's actually not weird at all. It's obvious."
Artemis grumbled wordlessly.
He started reading the mission dossier. His eyebrows started rising again as he drifted over the page. "...this is a lot of security for a library."
"Secret library," I corrected him.
"Sorry, secret library." Luke rolled his eyes. Artemis' ears wiggled as she raised her head curiously. "Why is this piece of paper worth stealing though?"
"That's a good question!" A cheerful female voice chirped and we all turned. "Careful asking those."
One of the (maybe) humans in the underground garage with us had wandered over. 'Incomplete' by the Backstreet Boys had blissfully ended and now it was Shakira. Don't ask me what song it was and don't ask me how I know that (Cliff. It's Cliff). I know a lot of things because I have a very good memory and sometimes it's a curse.
The woman was wearing a long sleeved red shirt under a ballistic vest with cargo pants and boots I was sure were steel-toed. She was a tall short haired brunette, which just made the tactical vest she was wearing carrying two pistols and some grenades stand out.
"Uh, hi," I said.
"Hello!" She said back happily. "Tell me you are a small fourteen year old. Please."
"You ain't police." Luke stepped in front of me. His accent was rough again. "Back off."
She held up her hands in surrender and took a step back. "Just wondering if you know what you're getting him into."
Luke gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Nun of yer business."
She tried to look over his shoulder at me, but Luke cut her off. "Right, right. Rule one!" She said loud enough to carry, like she was signaling the others. "No questions."
At the back of the room, the elevator lights lit up as the doors started opening.
"No, no, no!" One of the men behind her called back, waving a pack of Skittles as he leaned against the armored truck. "The first rule is don't be good at what you don't wanna do!"
"What was that?" Hiraya's snarl cut through the air as she stepped out of the elevator.
The woman grimaced, hurrying back to where the small human group scrambled to look somewhat professional. The joker cringed and hid behind a taller man who was standing at military rest with a small scowl and a half-eaten Kit Kat bar.
"Nothing!" He squeaked.
The tall man turned his head and straightened even more. Even though he was dressed the most casually with a short-sleeved shirt, jeans and sneakers with a baseball cap, he still looked like a professional soldier.
"Boss?"
The vampire glanced over us before her purple eyes turned on the mercenaries (?). "The demigods come first, understand?"
The soldier nodded. "Boss."
"They're not coming with us?" Luke said in alarm.
Hiraya raised one eyebrow.
"And why not?" She asked mildly as she threaded around a Jeep towards us, kicking off her shoes to lean against her black Hummer. "I do not know you. If I trust in your success just because you are a demigod, that would make me negligent."
Luke and I both turned to look at Artemis. The rabbit shrunk down on her Porsche perch.
"So," Luke began. "A monster can figure that out - "
"I know!" The rabbit hissed back as her ears dropped. "I know."
Hiraya eyed the rabbit thoughtfully. "If I did not ensure the Bishop did not price gouge you, that would betray your trust, making me dishonest." She flashed a small fanged grin. "And if I turned down the opportunity to observe you for future reference, that would make me an idiot."
Dude.
I know Mandurugos don't do well against blades, but, like…does that even mean anything with this one? She saw our swords. My confidence in that mattering is now in the negatives.
Have I mentioned not fighting her yet?
I don't think I have.
Luke was giving the vampire a thoughtful look. "You take this seriously."
"Force of habit," she answered simply, but the purple in her eyes brightened for a second. "I do not know how things here usually are, but where I come from a demigod may be meat like any other human. Or they may be a Hindu."
I winced.
"Yes," she said. "That is a mistake one will never make again."
That would be like if Hermes decided to bully Mom when he ticketed her, because Zeus' favorite son could get away with actual murder. And then Ananke was the one who got tired of his shit. Hindus were Matryoshka dolls and they got real good at hiding it. The one guy you thought was just a mortal demigod?
Maybe not so much.
Hiraya's lips pursed as she looked me over. "I have yet to decide which you are."
Huh?
"Just a demigod," I said brightly.
"Hmm." I don't think she believed me. "Regardless, your blood is very valuable. I would also prefer no debts."
My blood was valuable? I…did not know that.
Huh.
Sweet.
"Kapwa remains important, of course." She waved off our curious looks. "Interpersonal relationships are resources, use them or lose them. And you were polite," she added as an afterthought. "I do like that." Before I could wrap my head around the mystical powers of manners, she clapped her hands to get the mercenaries' attention. "Go time, people!"
When she walked off, Luke turned to me. "I don't like this."
He was eyeing the humans warily.
"What was that about? Earlier?" I asked him. "You were okay with Corey."
"Corey could See," Luke said sourly. "People like him, like us, don't have a choice about the mythological world. They're part of it. People like them." He sneered. "It's all a game or a profitable secret. Something they can just put down and forget whenever they want. Something to play with. To exploit. It's not real to them." He looked down at me. "They'll say they'll believe it, but they don't. They can't see it."
"You cannot see it either," Artemis said bluntly. "Not truly."
Luke's blue eyes cut to her angrily, before his eyes dropped.
"Not yet," he whispered. He looked back at me. "Mortals like them are unreliable. You can't trust them, not when it counts. That's what no lasting consequences do to people."
I looked back at the armored truck. Luke was making a lot of sense. I looked at them and saw a fact of reality I learned about in case I needed to use it. Luke looked at them and saw pretenders. Their jobs they chose to do were ideal for adult demigods that had nothing else.
If they lived that long.
"Oh," I said quietly.
"Looks like I can still teach you stuff, huh?" He gave me a weak smile. "Just…" Luke sighed. "Keep an eye on them. I'd rather rely on the vampire."
"Really? The vampire?" I couldn't stop the smug. And I didn't want to. "So you admit it was a good idea!"
He didn't even look at me.
"I can't," was all Luke said and just started walking towards the truck.
"Stop doubting me." I said to his back as I grabbed our rabbit and followed. "I know a lot of things!"
At least three people snorted at me.
I was never going to get any respect on this Quest.
I give up.
Riding in an armored vehicle with a bunch of professionals with pistols, grenades and actual assault rifles felt a little weird. The inside of the truck reminded me of those war movies that showed off the inside of carrier jets. Two rows of seats facing each other on opposite sides of the truck with harnesses instead of seatbelts and hard cushions. I buckled in, because Safety First, but I was too short. My harness was really uncomfortable.
Luke's words were still rattling in my head.
Unreliable.
My Celtic foster-brother had never been shy about involving mortals. I think it was how he met Eva's mom, but I really only knew of them. Apollo hired people to make his movies, but I don't think they knew what he was. Mortals working for monsters or gods and aware of it existed.
Somewhere.
Now they were right in front of me, double checking their wrap around sunglasses, night vision goggles and guns in case anything went wrong.
Well.
"Oh, you're adorable."
Most of them were.
"Who's a gorgeous wittle bunny?" The joker from earlier was a grown ass man with a Wildcats beanie on and a big box between his feet cooing over Artemis.
His short sleeved shirt showed off his biceps and a tattoo of the same pyramid you see on the back of a dollar bill with some dude in a chariot with winged horses flying around the top. The rabbit shrunk away, burrowing in the small space between me and Luke.
The man just grinned. "How old? Looks about five - six months?"
"Six," Luke guessed uncomfortably.
My stomach sank a little. That was why she was so small. If rabbits were anything like cats or dogs, they weren't fully grown until they were at least a year old. Artemis used to look like a girl my own age and now she was a young rabbit.
"Trace," the man introduced himself. "It's a code name, don't ask."
Luke and I both nodded.
Code names were a smart idea. Names matter to mortals too.
You didn't think it was a coincidence that Iris could just find my father behind divine wards with just his name? Or that all I needed to call Corey was his name? Some guys out there could really make you regret giving your name away.
"Is demigod official?" Trace asked curiously. "Like, you call yourselves that? And not like metahuman or halfa or anything."
I perked up. "Halfa?"
Trace nearly bounced in his seat as the woman next to him rolled her eyes. "Daughter's a big Danny Phantom fan," he explained. "Don't have the heart to tell her that's not how it works."
"Technically - " I started but Luke clapped a hand over my mouth.
"No," he hissed at me. "They don't need to know." I pouted. Fine. Unreliable. I'll try to shut up. He raised his voice to speak to the mercs. "Please don't encourage him."
Artemis protested being squished with a squeak, making Trace go all gooey again. The short haired happy woman on their team laughed while the other just snorted.
'Cross' was the bubbly one with a nice sleeve tattoo of horses and other farm animals that you could only see when she rolled her sleeve up. Otherwise just the edge of it peaked out above her collar. 'Torus' was a quiet pale pony-tailed brunette that looked at us like she was taking us apart in her mind. 'Rabbit' was ironically the soldier guy with the submachine gun and Air Jordan sneakers. He was driving and was the leader of the small team. They belonged to an actual private military company called Carcosa Security Solutions, like Blackwater if you know them, but for our side of the world.
"It's not really money laundering," Cross said.
I wondered about that. Maybe she was right? It's not like getting paid by mythological beings was illegal, right? And half the time what they did wasn't illegal either and as long as it was reported for taxes…
You know?
I think this is the first time in my life that I need to ask my father a question about how the mythological world works.
"The contracts are real, we just can't tell anyone else who hired us. The money is real too."
"Kind of," Trace said.
"Not even kinda," Cross snipped back primly. "Gold is gold. It's not going to disappear."
"Yet," Trace mock-whispered. "It hasn't disappeared yet." Cross hit him. "Ow! I'm just saying, all this Harry Potter shit is cool, but magic money? Come on, at least we get paid in cash."
"It's not magic money," I couldn't help saying. Luke twitched and I knew why. Trace was someone who didn't really believe. "Look."
I dug into my backpack, found my wallet and pulled out a gold Drachma. I tossed it to the guy and watched him lift his eye protection to boggle at it.
"Is this - ?" He nibbled on it and then examined the teeth marks. "Well. Shit."
"Why are you slobbering all over his money - " Cross snatched the coin from him when he went to chew on it more, wiped it off with her shirt and tossed it back. "You could have just used your fingernails," she told him. "I apologize for him. He was dropped on his head a few times as a baby."
"Wrong!" He said cheerfully. "However, I might have exploded myself a few times." He nodded down at his box. "You need demolitions, I'm your guy!"
"It's a university," Luke said. The unasked question 'Why would I need to blow anything up?' was clear in his voice.
"It's one of those private, fancy ones that opened after it's namesake got murdered," Trace said in a theatrical spooky voice. Fingers wiggling at us and everything. "I - " He stopped. "I was about to ask if you believe in ghost stories, but wow, I'm stupid."
Luke rolled his eyes.
"I won't need your help," he said with a small sneer.
Cross' eyebrows jumped. "That confident, huh?"
"There's a billion alarms," Trace cut in. "Motion sensors, cameras, infrared lasers - "
"The local police are real serious about any goings on," Cross said grimly. "Always have been since the place was founded."
Luke turned to the window where the bright lights of a city trying to fight back against the darkness blurred past in a constant stream of color.
"My father is a god of Thieves," he said softly. "I'll be fine."
The mercenaries all exchanged looks until the quiet woman, Torus, inclined her head.
"Sure, kid," Cross said gently and Luke bristled, but he didn't say anything. "We'll be ready though, just in case."
"I'll be fine," Luke snapped stubbornly.
About a ten minute drive later, Luke was looking a lot less fine.
We all stared at abandoned long tables with a blue and white banner hanging from it congratulating recent graduates. Rice University had a really medieval look, more like a castle of red brick than a school. The main campus was in a square with little towers rising in the corners of long, stately buildings boxing in a simple courtyard. The main building in the center looked like it was just missing a portcullis and maybe some archers with boiling oil to be ready for an invading dragon. The school even had a medieval coat of arms.
Three white Athenian owls on a blue shield glared back at us from the banner.
Actual Athenian owls, no joke. Like the ones you find on coins from Greece's Classical period. Suddenly, this place having super rare books or pages monsters wanted didn't seem so weird.
"So, uh," Trace said quietly from behind us. "I can spare a couple of bombs."
Then he yelped, so I think someone kicked him.
Luke palmed his face.
"Stealing from gods," he muttered as he dragged his hand down, pulling at his cheeks. "This is just my life now."
I opened my mouth.
"No," he said.
"Oh come on!" I threw up my hands.
"If it helps," Artemis ventured quietly at his feet. We all ignored Trace squealing 'Disney rabbit!' "This was likely just dedicated to her and not anything close to a sacred site. She is also very busy right now."
Luke looked constipated.
"It's practice," he said eventually, convincing himself. "For California." He turned back to the mercs. "I could…use a few grenades," he said hesitantly. "And a smoke one, if you have it."
"We gotcha, kid," Cross said.
I inspected the school.
There were wards.
I could feel them. They felt like they were sleepy. The kind of half-awake dozing off when you want to say you're looking out for trouble but don't expect anything to actually happen. That could change really quickly though.
The crunch of boots on the pebbly ground of the massive courtyard told me one of the mercs was approaching. When I looked, it was Torus.
"Feel them?" She said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Sensitive," she observed. I didn't have to see her eyes through the eye protection to feel her look through me. It felt a lot like how Athena looked at me. I was pretty sure she wasn't a god, but I was going to trust my gut. And my gut said something was off about her. I thought that maybe she was a demigod, but they've never had enough power to stand out before.
Some other kind of half-blood?
"Why do you feel them?"
"Sensitive," was all she said.
At some point, the team gave up on Luke's pockets and just shoved him into one of their tactical vests. He was twisting around, rolling his shoulders and getting used to how it affected his movement when one of the doors into the school opened up in a side building. He froze but Cross held out a hand.
"The Bishop arranged for one of the current students to let you into the buildings," she said quietly as the tall figure in a white and blue blazer over a dark hoodie jogged towards us. "Something about the protections on the place."
"You will be on your own after you get in," Trace warned.
Luke nodded.
The student was the type of guy who could audition for every football jock in every Disney show that ever existed with brown hair, eyes and a square jaw. He looked at us nervously. I don't think he knew what to make of a SWAT team dressed like they were at a backyard BBQ under their gear, a middle schooler, a rabbit and Luke.
"The moneh?" He shoved his hands into his blazer pockets, hunched over. He had a softer Texan accent than J.D had.
Rabbit held up his cellphone, making Luke shuffle away from him like it was contagious. "Sent."
His head bobbed. "Who am I takin'?"
"Me." Luke stepped forward.
I watched him disappear into the building.
"I don't like this," Trace said, which did not help the sinking feeling in my stomach. At all. "We've been planning for three weeks."
"He said he didn't need help," Cross said, but she was just as unhappy.
"A lot of those traps are lethal - "
"Trace."
"We still don't know how to get around that recording - "
"Trace."
He went quiet, but only for a second. "Rabbit. Back me up here."
The soldier grunted. "...should have cut power."
Cross groaned. "Not you too."
Rabbit grimaced. "And given him the floor plans. NVG. Walkie talkie."
"Radios would bring down monsters," I cut in because the Curse was stupid like that.
It's why my phone was made by Cliff instead of getting a regular cell phone from my parents like normal kids. It was Hera's last laugh. The Curse affected all Olympic demigods, but monsters were suspiciously sensitive to a demigod messing with air or electricity or both and it didn't age well.
"We've got reports of some perro negros in there," Trace said flatly. "I don't think that matters."
Okay.
So.
Spanish hellhounds were slightly more concerning.
"He can take them," I said, but I bit my lip.
He can. They were nothing compared to Ladon, but if he was expecting them to fight like their Greek counterparts just because they looked similar…Artemis nudged my ankle. She didn't complain when I sat down on the gravelly courtyard next to her and straightened her jacket. And rubbed her ears a little.
She was very fluffy.
"Hermes is proud of his son for a reason," she said quietly. "Have faith."
But if anything went wrong, we wouldn't hear anything.
The Night dragged on.
I don't know how long I sat there waiting. Maybe it was a little over a half hour? Or maybe a full hour and a little bit? All I knew was that my ass was beyond numb. I was cold, my stomach had finally settled somewhere in my big toe and I was going crazy.
There are only so many times you can play rock, paper, scissors with a rabbit before you want to break your own fingers.
The first sign something was happening was when Torus' head turned.
Then an explosion blew out the wall way down at the end of a side building opposite from where Luke entered. It was nothing more than a quiet 'whump' sound, but the bricks blowing out with billowing dark smoke told the whole story.
I don't remember the run. I must have gotten up and started sprinting before everyone else reacted. That's how getting from Point A to Point B works. I dove right into the smoke. My eyes started burning immediately. There was this smell, like rotting garbage left out in the hot sun for a few hours. There was this thing on the ground. What I could see of it looked like a twisted, starving werewolf mid-transformation, but it was missing its head. I opened my mouth to shout when my Spidey Sense screamed.
My arms shook as I blocked Luke's shining Celestial Bronze sword with Damocles. "Uh, Luke?"
I'm hoping this was Luke and he was just jumpy.
Luke wouldn't hurt me.
I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't him at the wheel.
He blinked cloudy blue eyes at me.
"Oh hey, Percy," Luke said with a wide, almost manic grin. He stopped trying to kill me. That was appreciated. "You came out of nowhere."
"Yeah, sure." I said. I didn't lower my sword until he did, but I kept it drawn. "You good?"
"This ring." Luke held up his hand, not noticing that I was still pointing my sword at him. "Air flow!" Luke laughed out loud. "I could see things before I entered the room! And my lighter!" He waved his sword around.
I leaned back out of his reach. "Can we - can we not."
I was starting to wonder where he found the Red Bull.
"Percy." Luke said very seriously. "I can explode things!"
Or the drugs.
Maybe he blew up a few blocks of some professor's cocaine stash and breathed in the smoke because his pupils were dilated. He couldn't seem to stop smiling. He dug into his vest and pulled out a squashed manilla envelope "I got it."
"Okay," I said slowly. "Can we get out of here?"
He blinked again. "Oh. Right."
He tripped on a few of the bricks, before he seemed to realize that the ground wasn't flat anymore because of the debris. He coughed once as he stumbled clear of the smoke.
"Are you okay?"
"Great!" He exclaimed as he whirled back towards me, hands flung out to his sides like a conquering general. A shining sword in one of his hands with the threads of adamantine in it almost glowing and the other clutching the envelope. "I missed this!"
Behind him, the mercenaries were just catching up at a jog. I vaguely registered Artemis running up too and the relief on Cross' face as she said something, Rabbit on his phone, but my world had already shrunk down to Trace. Some ADHD hyperfocus thing, or maybe it was just the adrenaline still going from the explosion. Because joking, concerned Trace -
Trace was pulling out his pistol.
I want to say that I reacted like a stone cold badass. Someone pulled a gun on me a couple feet away?
No problem.
But the truth is my mind went something like this: WAGLBLARGHWAGHGUN!
Twelve year old Arnold Schwarzenegger with cerebral palsy.
I charged him, sword out. The moment his target switched from Luke to me shivered down my neck. I didn't see the bullet, but I must have felt it. My arms snapped up. The impact vibrating through the hilt was almost gentle and then I was on him.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Trace yelped as he tried to spin away. He was too slow. The only thing that saved him was his bullet proof vest cracking under Damocles' edge.
Get the gun, I thought. I lashed out with a hand. He was fast for a human. I missed the fingers I was aiming for, but when I closed on his forearm I could feel it give under my fingertips. He cried out and dropped the pistol anyway. I kicked it away, but my neck was still screaming. I brought my sword around immediately and the steel blade of a Ka-Bar knife in his other hand shattered on the silver-gold rippled edge. I thought I was doing really good until he dropped that too to jab me in the face. I felt my nose break under his knuckles as stars exploded in my eyes.
Note to self: Spidey Sense is only for shit that will kill me.
Trace couldn't follow up on it, throwing himself backwards on the ground to avoid Luke. The Celestial Bronze of Reclaim would pass right through a normal person, but Trace didn't need to know that.
"Now, that wasn't very nice," Luke said slowly. He was still smiling as he lazily spun his sword in his hand, but it had that mean edge I'd only seen a few times before. He looked around at the stunned faces of the other mercs. "I thought we were all in this together."
In a second, they realized what had happened.
Trace went for his dropped gun, but Rabbit stomped on his hand and he shouted, "Torus!"
Fuck -
I was already moving, lunging towards her when a brilliant flash of light swept over me.
I froze.
Not by choice. My body stopped moving, like I had gotten caught by Weird Girl's voice back at Camp again. I tried to fight against it. It felt like trying to break handcuffs when your muscles wouldn't even respond.
My stomach did.
A low vibration, like it was rumbling with hunger.
Be at peace, whoever was in Torus spoke with a genderless voice. Her eye protection was gone, showing eyes of fractal patterns like a cut gemstone. Mom's black diamond, but each facet was a different color as they turned in increments, grinding against each other like gears in a clock.
I am not here for you, abomination.
You think I give a shit? I thought as I kept trying to move. I was trying to do something with my power, but my stomach was still stitched shut. I was caught like a fly in a spider web as Torus walked through the frozen mercenaries, over Artemis towards Luke. Even Trace was still on the ground, teeth still bared in the 's' sound of 'Torus.' The whole world, or maybe just our little slice of it, was frozen in time.
She passed me and I had horrid thoughts of Luke being killed right behind me while I sat here, unable to do anything. I just needed to move!
I blinked.
My heart leapt. I didn't try to say anything. My stomach felt like it was starting to cramp, but I didn't care. My brother said I had the key, right? I needed this door open. Right now.
My raised foot was inching towards the ground when Torus sighed.
Authentic. Good.
Then it was over.
I nearly fell forward onto my face. My stomach hurt like I had too much ice cream. Time stops are bullshit. I hoped I wasn't going to throw up.
"Pers - " Artemis had started to cry out, tripping over her own paws as she was suddenly in motion again.
"What the fuck - " that was Cross.
Trace snarled at all of us like a cornered animal. "Fiat lux!"
Rabbit's gun spoke for him. It was a muted crack. Someone stepped on a Lego and broke it. Then Trace slumped over onto the ground, a bloody hole in his head.
"What just happened?" Cross yelled. Rabbit just shot the body a second time before turning back to his cellphone. I spun around to check on Luke. He looked unhurt, but was staring at his empty left hand where a manilla envelope used to be.
"Luke?" I asked.
"What happened?" He whimpered and I got worried, stepping closer. Was he hurt? Did Torus do something to him?
"I think a god interfered."
"I was robbed?" Luke murmured. "By a - a god robbed me?"
Yeah, no.
He's fine.
"Looks like it?"
He sounded way more offended at being robbed of the thing he just stole than worried or hurt. I let myself relax. We're fine. Threat was gone.
And if it showed up again, I was going to eat it.
"Do you know who that was?" I asked Artemis as she bounded up.
The rabbit shook. "No. I was trapped. Completely."
So I was the only one who saw anything.
Unless her code name was a clue, all we had was Trace. But he was left behind and if he knew his accomplice was a god, he wouldn't have needed to pull a gun on us, right? So maybe he didn't know. Two traitors in a small team of four would have the element of surprise.
But she was...
Something.
"And you!" Luke derailed my train of thought, pointing at me incredulously. "Did you just deflect a bullet? From ten feet away?"
I think I remembered that being a thing that happened. I fiddled with my sword pendant necklace.
"I think so?"
"Nice," Luke said appreciatively. "Don't do it again."
"You'd rather I be shot?"
"I'd rather you dodge."
Alright.
That was fair.
"You sound like my father," I complained anyway, crossing my arms, because fuck you, blocking a bullet was awesome.
I was absolutely going to do it again.
"I am your Camp Counselor," Luke reminded me. "I can ground you too."
"No, you can't."
"Yes, I can."
"Chiron would never let you."
"You think I care what Chiron thinks?" I opened my mouth. Luke raised an eyebrow. I closed my mouth. "Good boy."
"Oy."
Luke shook his head and smiled a little. "Want to hear about the theft?"
"Hell yeah."
Artemis let out a wheezing bunny sigh.
"Shake a leg!" Cross yelled at us. "ETA on police is five minutes!"
We all scrambled after the mercenaries. This time Cross claimed shotgun in the passenger side as Rabbit tossed Trace's corpse into the back with us. A roar of the engine and crunching of the tires on the gravely pavement, then a harsh bump as I tried to buckle my harness. Artemis huddled in the small space between me and Luke again and I could feel her trembling.
Luke hunched over in his seat, elbows on his knees. His lighter in one hand. He flicked the flame on and then turned it off. The city lights streamed by in the small windows of the truck. Eventually, he clenched his empty hand into a fist trembling with rage.
"When I find out who that was - do we know who that was?"
"No."
There was Latin involved. Which didn't actually mean anything.
Everyone and their grandmothers thought the Romans were cool.
"When I find out who that was - " Luke continued, like he hadn't stopped to ask. "I will be the biggest pain in their ass - "
"Please do not declare war on foreign gods during this Quest," Artemis murmured. "I am begging you, Zoë." I felt the bunny immediately stiffen as Luke's head whipped towards her. "Luke. I meant, Luke."
Too bad Luke was not interested in letting her get away with anything.
"What did you just call me?"
"It was an accident!" The bunny sounded shaken. "You are just…similar. Nothing was meant by it. It - It is a compliment."
"Like Hades it is," Luke snarled at her. "Being compared to one of your people is the second to last - "
"You are protective of Perseus," the bunny said loudly. "You have thrown yourself into situations that should have killed you without hesitation. You are constantly getting on my nerves, but you are still helping me and your rage scares me. I do not want you to declare war on foreign gods because I am very sure you will actually do it!"
Luke's mouth opened and then he closed it.
I had to close my mouth too.
I knew about him getting on her nerves. It wasn't like that was subtle, but I didn't think she really noticed him beyond that.
"How do you know that I will?" Luke said softly.
"Perseus told me about the boon," she said meekly. "And you told me that I was a disappointment. My throne only fit to be ground to dust."
Luke took a deep breath.
"Since then, you have nearly died for it, but you have not complained. You do not hesitate. Even Perseus has hesitated." Artemis shrunk into a little ball. "I know you despise me. I am not stupid. You still do not hesitate. Do you know how terrifying that is?"
So this was awkward.
"And Zoë…" Artemis went quiet. She shuddered once. "Only two of my former Hunters were made monsters. She made me stop." Her voice drifted. "She made it all stop. By being the person who came the closest to killing me since my father."
"Ballsy," my mouth said ahead of my brain. "Isn't she mortal?"
I remembered the Persian princess look-alike with the fractured nebula swirling in her eyes. I especially remember the sneer she pinned me with for the crime of volunteering while male before handing a small bunny rabbit to Luke.
"Yes," the rabbit said almost fondly. "She has always been a very brave girl."
"Zoë?" Luke said incredulously. "Zoë Nightshade, your lieutenant. Tried to kill you."
"It - it was a long time ago," Artemis sighed. Her voice picked up with a bit of humor. "At one point, I was fending off assassination attempts from her every day for about three weeks."
"What did you do?"
And just like that, the humor died.
"Was myself." Artemis tucked her face underneath her paws. "I am my father's favorite daughter, because I - I was just like him. In every…single…way."
Did she mean...?
Yikes.
"Past tense?" Luke said evenly.
The bunny trembled. "I hope so, but it does not matter. It is too late."
"Don't give up," I told her. Apollo said she had changed and even if she remained a rabbit, a rabbit with a Name was a lot less dead weight. "We'll figure out something."
We all ignored the corpse on the floor of the truck as we sped through the streets of Houston. I didn't feel any kind of way about it. Maybe he had a life insurance policy, or maybe the kid he mentioned was made up. It was just like Luke said and he tried to kill me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to just let myself get murdered, but if you tried and then said you were sorry and you meant it, we just might get along. I don't hold murder attempts against people.
Betrayals are a different story.
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Huh a number of things came up in regards to Percy, the whole him not being a normal demigod, him being able to see the weird god/alien/possible angel's eyes, his hunger is developing even further and the creature commented on him being an abomination. Also he has his betrayal berserk button which seems worse than in Canon which I like because it feels fitting that he has that but there has to be a reason why he has that and I can't wait to see that bit of backstory.
KillingYouNicely
I've seen things. They weren't really interesting.
- Location
- Australia
Mmm. I'd guess his increased sensitivity to betrayal has to do with how much more trusting he is, not having had to live with Gabe half his childhood and having two doting parents who love him unreservedly rather than one. He has been insulated from people who would take advantage of that trust - intentionally, I think, to ensure he wouldn't question his mother's plans for him beyond the spin she puts on them - and now that he's encountering them more and more, it hits him deeper than it would Percy Jackson.
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
Nnnnooot really? Canon!Percy has a humongous bugbear about betrayal too.
Grover was his only friend all year at Yancy, but the instant he realized Grover knew what was going on and didn't tell him? Bam. Alienated. Friendship didn't matter, absolutely NO trust extended, on the way home Percy ditched him at the bus stop. Didn't apologize for it.
Luke's TLT nonsense meant he spent the next 3 books hating him no matter what ANYONE said and his softening on it was almost literally a deus ex machina in the last book. Same thing with Ethan. Nearly sixteen year old Percy attacked and choked out twelve year old Nico with a sword to the throat for the 'betrayal' in TLO and when Nico confessed to being coerced into it, literally goes 'I wish he didn't say something reasonable' before letting the kid go. Never apologized for it.
Canon!Percy was very sensitive to betrayal to go along with his temper.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
It even makes sense when you consider that Percy's 'Fatal Flaw' was how he would do anything for those he was close to. If he would do that for them, someone doing the exact opposite to him would be... Well, there's a reason that the 'fatal flaw' for Greeks tend to also be something that severely inflames their passions. And the Greeks are very passionate, even when they are trying to be stoic. Something that slams straight into your passions headed the other direction is always going to cause some sort of major excitement for those at ground zero.
My interpretation of the Fatal Flaw thing is its really just a manifestation of the obsseviness and innately unstable nature of a demigod both from nature and nurture.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
So, just watched Overly Sarcastic Productions' latest video on the Mycenaeans and the Bronze Age Collapse and that's got me wondering: we know that one of the big triggers for the Bronze Age Collapse here being Ishtar/Aphrodite doing an 'Oops' and thus 'Oops'ing any connected civilisation at the same time as quite a few fundamental parts of their civilisations went anything from 'it works most of the time, but every now and then things go really wrong' to 'we know something was there. We know what it did. But the only reason we know there was a step B at some point is the path from Step A to Step C doesn't work without it, and we really need Step C to work right now guys!'.
But how does the Trojan War and all the upheaval said war, and the aftermath of said war, fit into the wider Bronze Age Collapse that occurs around the same time?
But how does the Trojan War and all the upheaval said war, and the aftermath of said war, fit into the wider Bronze Age Collapse that occurs around the same time?
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
I'm not sure what you mean by fit. As in when in the timeline? As in did it happen the way myths said it did?
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
... Honestly, the simple question is "How did the results of Trojan War factor into the wider Late Bronze Age Collapse happening around then?" With a side element of "How did Aphrodite's screw up effect things?"
If you haven't seen it, then the OSPYoutube video I mentioned is basically:
Talking about how we can place the Trojan War happening somewhere between 1300BC and 1200BC as that's when the layer we believe corresponds to the historical Troy got razed. Pair that with how Mycenaean civilisation was building extensive fortified settlements with a warrior elite, all very expensive activities, and the mundane explanation for the Trojan War may very well be something like the following:
Minoan Civilisation collapses due to several factors (Thera, earthquakes, famine, raiders. There's a lot of possibilities.)
Some remnants based in Knossos manage to hold on for another century or so, before it seems like the Mycenaeans conquer them.
Mycenaeans spread knowledge and cultural influences obtained from the Minoans around.
Mycenaeans start heavily fortifying and keeping an extensive warrior elite despite how expensive this is. Suggesting there exists a major danger of conflict.
The Hittite civilisation basically vanishes overnight around this point.
Trade networks begin getting seriously disrupted due to all the chaos that is happening, which is a very bad thing for the interconnected Palace Economies of the Late Bronze Age.
Theories mentioned in the video follow this point
The Trojan War may occur because of serious trade disputes between the Mycenaeans needing the wealth from the trade network going past Troy to fund their fortifications and military, and Troy.
Desperately needing that wealth, the Mycenaeans band together, siege the city and manage to break through, allowing them to loot the city clean.
Oops! In the process of looting Troy's wealth, they also destroy the city which basically shatters the trade networks using it. This is Bad News for them because it means that the comparatively minimal wealth they got from looting the city is the last they're going to get for a long time. It's not enough.
In the process of taking Troy and everything, a bunch of the Mycenaean royalty also end up dead if anything like the mythological tales of the Trojan War happened. So a lot of Mycenaean city-states go through succession crisis, causing even more critically needed wealth to vanish.
Video theories end
Mycenaean civilisation collapses so severely, the Greeks forget writing along with a bunch of other things for centuries.
Egypt gets attacked by groups with suspiciously Greek names, along with parts of the Phoenician coastline and Cyprus. Egypt barely manages to pull through, but this basically marks the end of Ancient Egypt as a true powerhouse, with them never recovering.
Other than a struggling Egypt, the formerly very active Aegean/Anatolia/Egypt/Middle East which had been previously a vibrant and very active region for civilisation becomes rather barren for great nations for centuries. Well, except for the Assyrians who came through wonderfully due to being just outside enough of the direct impact that, after a period of isolation for ??? reasons, that they would go on to form what seems to be reckoned the 'first Great Empire' in world history taking over Mesopotamia, Phoenecia and evenEgypt later on. Before collapsing basically overnight in the 600/700BCs.
Minoan Civilisation collapses due to several factors (Thera, earthquakes, famine, raiders. There's a lot of possibilities.)
Some remnants based in Knossos manage to hold on for another century or so, before it seems like the Mycenaeans conquer them.
Mycenaeans spread knowledge and cultural influences obtained from the Minoans around.
Mycenaeans start heavily fortifying and keeping an extensive warrior elite despite how expensive this is. Suggesting there exists a major danger of conflict.
The Hittite civilisation basically vanishes overnight around this point.
Trade networks begin getting seriously disrupted due to all the chaos that is happening, which is a very bad thing for the interconnected Palace Economies of the Late Bronze Age.
Theories mentioned in the video follow this point
The Trojan War may occur because of serious trade disputes between the Mycenaeans needing the wealth from the trade network going past Troy to fund their fortifications and military, and Troy.
Desperately needing that wealth, the Mycenaeans band together, siege the city and manage to break through, allowing them to loot the city clean.
Oops! In the process of looting Troy's wealth, they also destroy the city which basically shatters the trade networks using it. This is Bad News for them because it means that the comparatively minimal wealth they got from looting the city is the last they're going to get for a long time. It's not enough.
In the process of taking Troy and everything, a bunch of the Mycenaean royalty also end up dead if anything like the mythological tales of the Trojan War happened. So a lot of Mycenaean city-states go through succession crisis, causing even more critically needed wealth to vanish.
Video theories end
Mycenaean civilisation collapses so severely, the Greeks forget writing along with a bunch of other things for centuries.
Egypt gets attacked by groups with suspiciously Greek names, along with parts of the Phoenician coastline and Cyprus. Egypt barely manages to pull through, but this basically marks the end of Ancient Egypt as a true powerhouse, with them never recovering.
Other than a struggling Egypt, the formerly very active Aegean/Anatolia/Egypt/Middle East which had been previously a vibrant and very active region for civilisation becomes rather barren for great nations for centuries. Well, except for the Assyrians who came through wonderfully due to being just outside enough of the direct impact that, after a period of isolation for ??? reasons, that they would go on to form what seems to be reckoned the 'first Great Empire' in world history taking over Mesopotamia, Phoenecia and evenEgypt later on. Before collapsing basically overnight in the 600/700BCs.
The more in-depth question being basically "Please write an essay for us on the Bronze Age Collapse, how Ishtar/Aphrodite's Screw Up caused and effected things, with a focus on how the Greek element of said disaster effected the wider world." But uh... I really want to read more of the actual story sometime soon, so please ignore the in-depth question. XD
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
The simple answer is that there is probably way too much emphasis on the Trojan War here as the same time period also saw a big volcano explosion, a fifty year drought as well as earthquakes. The actual Trojan War contributed by being a meat grinder for a lot of leaders and sons for the Greek region, but everyone else save for the Hittites were more greatly affected by the general environmental and political upheaval of their local area decimating trade and the Sea People invasions did not help at all.
And lmao, okay for the in-depth answer.
Thegoldenboy
Slashing Through Fate
That wasn't just because of Grover's 'betrayal' that's cause he thought he just got a death sentence from three old ladies and Grover was acting like he was going to die.
People should remember that Percy at this point is 12, they don't respond to things with maturity. Especially in a situation like what happen in tlt So him having a freak out and avoiding Grover makes sense.
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
Percy had already started holding Grover at arm's length as soon as he got back from eavesdropping on them though.
Despite coming to the conclusion that Grover and Mr. Brunner thought he was in danger (ie, well intentioned), he didn't respond to Grover asking about his exam, 'turning away so he couldn't see my face' and his interrogation and 'why would I need you?' coming out harsher than he meant it to were all things that happened before Grover scared him about the old ladies. And like I said, upon getting to Camp and finding out what Grover's deal was, didn't apologize.
Not all 12 year olds are the same. While it makes sense to freak out and avoid Grover, Grover had also been his only friend for an entire school year. It would also make sense for the 12 year old to rationalize Grover having his best interest at heart, or that Grover clearly knew what was going on so sticking by him would eventually get him answers. Being suspicious from the start and ditching him is not the only option.
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Huh, so two of the Mercs (Trace and Torus) were scheming traitors (but NOT because they were duplicitous mortals able to cut and run like Luke hates, but because they were working with another god). Trace yells to Torus, and that triggers the possession? Reveal? Of a godly entity (Name or some other funky business) in Torus, whom we know was additionally extra-sensitive, and either strongly clear-sighted or not completely mortal in another way. Finally after obtaining it's objective and exfiltrating the god/Torus abandons Trace, and his final exclamation is roughly 'let there be light' in Latin. Indicating that the abandonment is very much NOT unexpected, nor is dying. Altogether a very 'zealous cultist' vibe that slots Trace in as a fanatical martyr to me, and not an unwitting mortal pawn.
This presents three possibilities; either a godly avatar was always secretly hiding within Torus like the Hindus (but definitely not them because Latin), or Torus was always possessed like the Egyptians can do with the descendents of Pharohs, and staying deep to not be detected. Finally, Torus could have had some ability or connection to channel a god at-will, but not without being extremely obvious and possibly costly in other ways - necessitating it be a last resort like when the mission goes sideways and instead of just stabbing a couple mortals in the back there are Demigods to deal with.
Put together the Latin, the abomination comment, and the fact that the Roman half of the Dodekathon aren't too different from the Greek side as a whole (for better and worse)...I think we're going to find out why Fate hates the Abrahambics soon.
Pretty much all religions (barring maybe Buddhism? Which is no doubt very weird in this fic.) are competitive and deny others of course, even if only through contradicting mythology, but, well. One set kinda stands out when it comes to aggressively stamping out competing mythology.
Plus, the Torus thing had a very WH40K Imperial Saint (Order Daemon) possession vibe to it. And we all know what inspired the Ecclisiarchy's aesthetic.
This presents three possibilities; either a godly avatar was always secretly hiding within Torus like the Hindus (but definitely not them because Latin), or Torus was always possessed like the Egyptians can do with the descendents of Pharohs, and staying deep to not be detected. Finally, Torus could have had some ability or connection to channel a god at-will, but not without being extremely obvious and possibly costly in other ways - necessitating it be a last resort like when the mission goes sideways and instead of just stabbing a couple mortals in the back there are Demigods to deal with.
Put together the Latin, the abomination comment, and the fact that the Roman half of the Dodekathon aren't too different from the Greek side as a whole (for better and worse)...I think we're going to find out why Fate hates the Abrahambics soon.
Pretty much all religions (barring maybe Buddhism? Which is no doubt very weird in this fic.) are competitive and deny others of course, even if only through contradicting mythology, but, well. One set kinda stands out when it comes to aggressively stamping out competing mythology.
Plus, the Torus thing had a very WH40K Imperial Saint (Order Daemon) possession vibe to it. And we all know what inspired the Ecclisiarchy's aesthetic.
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
It's not that I dislike Annabeth, but she along with Grover are very trope-compliant characters. Annabeth does not seem to actually have ADHD as the Smart Character, we learned very, very little about Luke OR Thalia from her at all and the only experience she seems to have carried from her year on the street is a dislike of cyclops. Luke apparently never tried to convince her Athena doesn't care as opposed to just busy or something or she ignored him. She has a role, it's just that considering the kind of threats that are going to be on this Quest, a party of Percy, Annabeth and Grover are going to just die.
Annabeth in canon was the exposition fairy, the person Percy could ask about basic features like Iris Messaging. What she is not is a very combat capable character at 12 years old and children of Athena have no 'active' powers like healing or growing plants or throwing lightning at all. The absolute closest is the off-screen Mobius Strip cabins made for some of the minor gods like Hecate's and that's assuming stuff like that didn't get any help.
In this story, however, Percy is his own exposition fairy. Luke has enough room in his character interpretation to just accept what he's told, even if its crazy, and also has a very uncharitable view of the gods. Annabeth is the exact opposite. We know enough about her to know that she's not going to meekly accept Percy contradicting everything she knows about being a demigod until something major happens. She is also basically an Olympus stan and will default to whatever Artemis says, especially in the timeframe of TLT.
Artemis' position in the party was non-negotiable, as she is a god we're already familiar with, important, has ties to one element of the new worldbuilding (Selene/ The Moon), Apollo was already part of Percy's background as the God of Prophecy making him also non-negotiable and his Twin is very easy to justify actually being on the Quest just from her Domains alone as opposed to Dionysus or Poseidon going and I could go on and on.
That leaves just room for one. While I could have increased the party size, there is really no reason for it. Annabeth's 'role' is redundant, Luke just offers a far greater range of options plot-wise, character development wise and can hold his own. If I were to add a fourth party member, it would be someone like Silena or Alabaster just for additional opportunities and different perspectives and character work.
Not Grover or Annabeth.
And plot-wise? Chiron told Annabeth that the Oracle of Delphi already told him her Fate. That she would leave Camp Half-Blood when someone special came. Percy came, but the Prophecy he produced did not seem to have a place for a daughter of Athena.
And as the Oracle said when she attacked him the night he arrived, 'It's changed!'
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Fair enough!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
After all of the Athena Names and secret history, I kinda hoped Athena would have back-door gifted Annabeth some of the Names Zeus took back (and the one Athena kept). Since Percy is more Cthonic...
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
There is no way she could gift someone with Names she straight doesn't have anymore and even if Annabeth did inherit from Athena's remaining Name associated with Kings...that doesn't change anything? Annabeth in AUoS did inherit more than just Wisdom, but at this point in time she's still a twelve year old with a dagger. Putting that with another twelve year old with a sword and a rabbit = not a good time.
12 year old eldritch abomination who is a crime against nature, but yah Annabeth is stronger than you would expect but she just isn't built or meant to deal with the crazy stuff that Percy gets up to in this fic.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Well... Shit. I forget they're supposed to be 12. That makes a lot of sense.
Shujin
M. NightShujinlan
- Location
- New York, New York
Yeah, no aging up here. Percy turns 13 in December, Luke turns 19 in about two months in July, Artemis is a six month old rabbit right now.