Here's the next part! It's a bit shorter, but I wanted to really focus on this special bit. Thanks for reading so far!
Comment/Review PLEASE
Next chapter will be released within a week (but probably earlier.)
Chapter 3
An Unexpected Hero
I stared at the blue wallpaper of my cabin for a whole minute before I realized that Grover was gone. All anger and frustration momentarily forgotten, I sprang out of bed. On my way out the door, I grabbed my watch-shield and snatched a handful of Drachmas from my bedside desk.
I considered telling Annabeth as I walked past the other cabins, but thought better of it. I realized I was still mad at her for what happened at Capture the Flag. A jealous rage bubbled under my skin as I remembered Matt Shields.
What was wrong with me?!
As I approached the boundaries of Camp, I whistled loudly. Blackjack emerged from the shadows within seconds, the beat of his wings gradually softening until he landed beside me.
Yo Boss! D'you need a hand? Blackjack spoke in my mind.
"Can you take me to the Sea Of Monsters?" I said out loud.
Blackjack whinnied uncomfortably. I can't get you all the way in. You have to go past Scylla and Charybdis if you want to enter. There's no other way.
"Okay then, take me to the bay. I'll make my own way from there," I replied.
Just as I was climbing onto Blackjack's back, a soft voice startled me from behind: "Going somewhere?"
I whipped around pulling Riptide out of my pocket.
It was Mr. D.
How did he always seem to know when I was sneaking out?
Grape vines wrapped around Blackjack's legs, pinning him to the ground. It was the situation on the Chrysler building all over again, only this time, I had a feeling I wasn't going to get off as easily.
I lowered my blade and addressed him as evenly as I could, "Mr. D, Sir."
He was wearing his usual leopard-sprint Hawaiian shirt and purple shorts. His messy, black hair flopped across his scowling face as his bloodshot eyes analyzed me like a laser. "Heroes… Always breaking the rules..." he sneered.
"What do you want from me this time?" I asked impatiently.
Dionysus clicked his fingers and a glass of wine appeared in his hand. "You're almost of age Patrick. Wine is a most delicate and wonderful thing." He took a sip and smirked as I struggled to free Blackjack from the vines. "You know, I've got to hand it to you. You have proved me wrong a few times Peter-"
"Look" I snapped angrily, "I've got to go help my friend. He's in danger. Let Blackjack go now!"
Blackjack neighed angrily. A wicked fire lit up in Dionysus' eyes. "Help a friend? Explain to me then why your 'friend' in Cabin Six is crying her eyes out."
I opened my mouth but couldn't say anything. Annabeth was crying and here I was charging off into the wild without even a goodbye.
I swallowed hard and said as bravely as I could, "Mr. D, could you… watch her for me while I'm away. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
Dionysus chuckled evilly. "So let me get this straight. I'm supposed to just let you go and on top of that, look after your poor sweetheart until you get back?"
I looked down at my feet prepared to accept a humiliating return to Camp.
"I'll do it."
"What?" I gasped in surprise. "On one condition," Dionysus' eyes fixed upon me like an eagle eyeing its prey, "convince my father to let me go from this insufferable place by the Winter Solstice."
My heart fell.
Zeus would never change his mind about letting Dionysus go. Dionysus fought in the war, received serious injuries, yet still was pardoned only fifty years from his sentence.
"You are a favorite of the gods Jackson. If anyone can help me return to my wife on Olympus, you can." I could tell he was serious.
"How am I supposed to do that?" I pleaded desperately, conscious of the fact that every second I wasted put Grover in more danger.
Dionysus sighed.
"A hero can do anything he sets his mind to. Look how far I've gotten."
"Wait… You were a hero? But you're a god! People worship you and… and…" I was absolutely shocked. All these years I'd known him, Dionysus had shown no interest in any of the half-bloods at Camp. In fact, I was sure he hated some of them like me. Now he was telling me that he was once one of us?
"My mother was a mortal woman. Her name was Selene. My father fell in love with her and she was pregnant with a child – me. But she died before I was born. Hera tricked her into asking my father to reveal his true form. She made him swear on the Styx. She was incinerated on the spot." Dionysus had a look of genuine regret etched on his face as he told the story.
For the first time ever, I actually felt a bit sorry for him, "How did you survive?"
"My father took me from the burnt remains of my mother and sewed me into his thigh. I was born on Olympus and brought up here. Camp Half-Blood was in Greece then, but Chiron was still there. He was and still is a great teacher. He's the only reason I don't turn half the kids here mad."
"Why do you hate us half-bloods so much? Can't you see what we have to go through to survive?"
Dionysus scoffed, "I suppose you think you've had a difficult life? Half-bloods now have it so easy and yet their arrogance knows no bounds. They think they deserve special gifts from their parents or special rights. I lost my mother before birth and I had no one who cared for me." Dionysus looked bitterly at the ground where poison ivy started to grow.
"How did you become a god if you were born only a half-blood?" I asked tentatively, hoping to change the subject away from modern demi-gods.
"The same way you were offered immortality. The gods recognized my way with the vine and honored me with immortality. Unlike that pesky overrated hero-turned-god Heracles, I made a name for myself as a respectable god. Now I'm one of the twelve most powerful Olympians and I even managed to save my mother from the Underworld."
He waved his hand towards the sky and a small constellation brightened up. "That's her there, my mother Selene."
I looked down at the newly grown poison ivy in shame. All along I had thought Dionysus was just a spoilt god who got by on his father's coattails. I was painfully aware of the time but I had to make sure of one thing.
"What if I can't do it? What if I can't convince your father to let you go?"
Dionysus narrowed his eyes, "You won't come back to Camp while I'm in charge. Either you relinquish me of this responsibility, or say goodbye to your precious Camp Half-Blood for the next fifty years."
A few seconds passed in silence as I considered what to do. Dionysus prodded me hard on the chest, "Are you going to go then or do I have to drag you back to the Camp in vines?"
I gulped nervously.
Grover needed me and I was not going to leave him. I'd just have to hope that I could do something worthy of reward from the gods along the way.
"Yeah I'll do it," I said resignedly.
Dionysus nodded and the grape vines wrapped around Blackjack's legs fell away. As Blackjack readied for takeoff, Dionysus studied me warily, "I hold you to your oath, hero."
"And I to yours. Take care of Annabeth, make sure she doesn't come to any harm," I replied.
I raised my right arm to the heavens, "Fly, Blackjack!"
Blackjack galloped a few meters before he spread his wings. The heavy whoosh of air that followed filled my ears, but I still heard a loud popping noise behind me. As I looked back, Dionysus disappeared in a purple flash leaving his trademark scent of grapes.
The poison ivy and grape vines remained on the ground snaking towards a clump of bushes nearby. In a few years, Camp Half-Blood would be able to sell more than strawberries, I thought to myself.
I turned away from Camp but my thoughts lingered on a certain hero-turned-god who had achieved more than I could ever have imagined.
