I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.
"Well let's get this over with." I said standing at the edge of the camp hill. The phone in my hand was on speaker as it rang. Percy and I were calling his moms phone, since my parents don't carry cell phones.
Someone picked up before the second ring was over. "Yes, Percy is that you?" It was Aunt Sally's voice on the other side of the line. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine mom. Danny and I got mixed up in some things and he is at camp with me now." Percy said loud enough for the phone to pick him up.
"Can you tell my parents I'm ok after their done driving around town in the family tank?" I said with a little bit of humor. It was getting to serious around here for me.
"Sure thing Danny!" I could hear my sister's voice coming from the phone now. "But they didn't take the RV this time, too much traffic." She chuckled we both knew that the moment they thought something was up they run around town guns a blazing. I would be surprised if the city is still there by the time my parents were done. "So do you mind telling us what happened to you? They say that you two burned down a school for no reason… well only one person said it so they don't really have that much credibility."
Percy looked unsure about whether or not to tell Jazz anything so I just went ahead. After a ten minute summery Jazz was laughing on the other side of the line. "Danny, you couldn't walk down a street without someone trying to attack you."
"Yeah yeah." I said a little indignant. "I will have you know that none of those things were trying to kill me. I just happened to be in the way this time."
"But… If Danny can actually see all that then he must be a demigod himself." Aunt Sally said.
"Not you too. Come on Aunt Sally, they already said that I'm probably not one. You even know my parents." I said getting kind of tired of people saying it… no, not tire… scared. Like a part of me thought that it was true.
"Danny… this isn't my place to tell you but… you mother and father found you one there door step as a baby." My Aunt Sally said. It sank in, I'm adopted.
"What? Why didn't anyone tell us this?" Jazz said, she was more shocked then I was. We had always joked that she was the adopted one since she was too normal to be a Fenton.
"But then… who are Danny's real parents." Percy said looking at me in shock. I guess weren't really cousins… or at least not on his mother's side of the family. Was I really involved in all this Greek Myth stuff? "I guess we will find out later when they claim you. Your godly parent at least. He would be late since you are over thirteen, but better late than never."
"Aunt Sally… can I talk to Jazz alone for a second…" I said. Percy got the message and left and I turned off the speaker function. "Jazz… I'm sorry if all this is shocking you… but you're still my sister, no matter what happens, right?"
"Of course Danny, you can always lean on me. You're my favorite subject when analyzing people's innermost thoughts." Jazz teased me. I laughed lightly.
"I think I know who my real parents are… in the fire that saved me from the bulls, I saw a giant clock face, and a box that looked like Pandora's. I think Clockwork and Pandora might be my real parents or maybe Clockwork was just helping but… they always felt different than the others ghosts." I admitted to my sister. "…why did they never tell me?" I stayed on the hill and talked to my sister until I hear a horn that was probably to call everyone to dinner.
I was standing outside of lunch hall wondering what I was supposed to do when one of the boys from the most over crowded table spotted me a came over. "Hey there, you must the new guy. The one that pulled Ares and Apollo's cabins out of the fire back at the hill." The boy said happily. He was rather on the tall side and had brown hair and blue eyes. "Come on, visitors, newcomers, and kids that are waiting to be claimed or of the lesser gods all stay with the Hermes Cabin. I'm Connor by the way, Connor Stoll. Me and my brother Travis are co-head counselors for the cabin. So come to one of us if you need something. And don't worry about not knowing who Travis is. They say we look a lot alike." Connor said laughing and I willingly let him guild me to the table.
"So, what do I need to know to survive around here?" I asked him as we sat down at the table.
"Well the first thing you need to know is to try your best not to make any of the gods too mad. I know it sounds easy, but very few of us actually succeed at it. Second would be the guy in charge, Lord Dionysus, the god of wine and parties." Connor said pointing at a man in a Hawaiian shirt. "We call him Mr. D, and he's here as punishment and hates almost everyone. So try you best to stand clear."
"Is it true that he changed a bunch of pirates into dolphins, way back in the day?" I asked recognizing the name a little.
"Yeah that's him. And the last thing you must always keep in mind is Ares Cabin." He said pointing at another table, I saw the girl from earlier on the hill, Clarissa, sitting there with a large noisy bunch. "The kids of Ares are pretty violent to say the least, and they know how to hold a grudge. You already saved their Counselor's life, and showed them up in battle, so that probably put you on their hit list already."
"Good to know that no good deed goes unpunished." I said sarcastically and gave a small sigh. But someone in a bright orange prison suit came into the room and stood behind Mr. D. "Who's that?"
"Don't know, haven't seen him before… I hope he isn't the one they sent to replace Chiron." Someone at the table said. Some women that must have been a kind of friendly monster brought several pizzas to the table, one for each person. Someone called them 'Nymphs'. I noticed each of the other people at the table grabbing a slice or two and made their way to a large fire in the middle of the room.
"Come on. We need to make our offerings to the gods." Connor said and started to walk with the others. I followed there example. "You can do it for any god really, usually people choose their own parents, or a god that they are having some trouble with or owe a debt of gratitude. But since you don't have any of that, just pick one."
I went up to the fire and throw the food in. "Clockwork… Pandora… I don't know what our relationship is, but I just want to say thanks for today. I don't care if you tell everyone… but I look forward to talking about it sometime. I hear gods can talk to their children in their dreams." I whispered to the flames before moving on.
We all got back to our seat, but before we started eating the man in the prison uniform spoke up. "I am only going to say this once, I am Tantalus and I will be the new activities director taking over for Chiron as off tomorrow. I will continue… as long as Lord Dionysus wishes." He was dragging on with his speech, but people were muttering.
"Oh gods no. He's the guy that cut up his own wife and kids and feed them to the gods." I heard someone says. "Why in Olympus would they pick him?"
Then something happened the caused everyone to just forget about the fact that there was a child eater there. A green trident formed above Tyson's head. "Well, I guess we know where we will be keeping the animal. I can't believe I overlooked the family resemblance." Tantalus said laughing and others laughed with him.
"What's going on?" I asked someone at the table.
"The Cyclops was claimed by Poseidon. That means he's Percy's half brother." The kid told me. I still didn't understand way that was so funny. Percy looked really embarrassed. I guess it was a lot for him to take in. "I wonder who your godly parent is." He said next and some of the others started guessing.
"He doesn't have the right eyes for Athena and he is too scrawny for Ares." One of the Hermes kids said.
"Hey." I said not liking it when people called me scrawny.
"He isn't wearing any makeup, so he probably isn't Aphrodite's child. And he isn't a vegetarian, or Demeter is out." Another was listing them off. "Hera and Artemis are never an option. He has blue eyes like an Apollo kid, but not the blond hair."
"Then there is Hephaestus, Dionysus, and our dad Hermes, as well as all of the minor gods that don't have a seat at the table." Connor said.
"What about Zeus, Poseidon and Hades?" I asked wondering why they skipped those names. I was pretty sure that Pandora was my mother, even if she wasn't a god in the stories.
Connor looked over at Percy. "Well… they aren't supposed to have kids with humans anymore. They swore on the River Styx not to after WWII since Hades' son Hitler went nuts." 'So Hitler was a demigod… odd.' "Or at least that's what they told us… but I hear there is some kind of Prophecy that one of them would do something bad." They started telling me what they knew about what was referred to as 'the Great Prophecy'.
After dinner I was taken down to the nurse's office to get my hand checked out. Only for them to be amazed that the burn was gone. It wasn't that big of a deal but they all started saying things and asking who my godly parent was. I just told them that I wasn't sure and left. As I went I heard about how Apollo was the god of healing and doctors.
I got to the Hermes cabin as the sun started to set. They gave me a blanket one of the orange 'Camp Half-Blood' t-shirts and a leather necklace that they would put a bead on at the end of every year spent at camp.
Hermes was the most normal looking cabin though it looked a little worn down. It was cramped and didn't have any spare cots but I was fine just leaning up again one of the support beams with a blanket with my backpack behind my back. I started trying to figure out how the ghost zone fit into all this Greek stuff since it didn't exactly match the alibi of Hades. But I failed and just ended up drifting off to sleep.
hr/
I was pretty sure I was still asleep. I was in my ghost form and floating in a whole lot of nothing. "I see you are starting to find out who you are, young Phantom." I heard the familiar and wise voice coming from behind me. I turned and sure enough Clockwork was floating in the emptiness in his most elder like form. "We have much to discuss." He said with a grin.
"Alright… but can we do it in a more interesting setting. The empty space is kind of over used." I said and got a chuckle out of him. He pressed the snooze button on the top of his time staff and the environment changed to that of a pub.
"I suppose this is a more apperate place for a father son talk." Clockwork said and gestured to a seat as he changed from his elder form to his baby form.
"What you having?" the dreamed up bar tender asked.
"Milk please, same for the boy." Clockwork said and we were given to beer mugs full of milk.
"You're not even going to let me drink in my dreams?" I said jokingly but then took a little more serious tone. "…So you're really my dad?" I said taking a sip from the milk.
"Before you ask, yes, Pandora is your mother. And please understand that we didn't wish to leave you. But there were rules against Gods raising their own children." My dad said as he changed to his adult form. "But we did everything we could to help you. You see, you are not a demigod. Both your mother and I are gods, and so are you."
"What? But I'm not…" I said but the thought died. Two halves make a whole. "I get that you had to leave me… but when we met again, why didn't you tell me?" I said trying to keep the hurt out of my voice… or is it my thoughts…
He turned to his elder state again. "Phantom… We both wanted to give you the chance to choose for yourself. You may have the blood of a god, but when you come of age and into your godly power, you can give it all up. You can become a normal human. Or you can give up the immortality and be like you are now, like a demigod… a powerful demigod. The choice will be yours to make and we will support anything you chose." He changed back to his youngest form again. "But for that you would need to know what each choice entitles, so I sealed away your powers so that you would be like a normal human child. Then the seal was weakened in the accident and you slowly gained the powers of your parents like any other demigod would have as well as some of your own. In the years to come you will develop your own powers, though I do not think you will lose the ones you have."
"What about the Dark Dan incident?" I asked a little curious.
"I used it as an opportunity to teach my son two of the most valuable lessons you will ever learn. Never give up hope, and that everyone desires a second chance." He said smiling his crimson eyes met my green. "That was a lesson your mother taught me so many years ago."
"… What… what is my mom like?" I asked. "I met her but… I didn't really get to know her."
Dad sighed and changed forms again. "Your mother… she was a spitfire." He chuckled and I don't know what I was expecting but that wasn't it. "She was a lot like your friend Sam. Full of strength and courage and constantly trying to better the world whether it wants to be better or not." I had to chock down a laugh as the mental image of a godly Sam shouting at people to shape up literately walked through the dream bar.
"But that got her in all kinds of trouble with the other gods and goddesses." He said and called for another glass of milk. "It might seem like common sense today, but she was millenniums ahead of her time. She kept yelling that the others for demanding human sacrifices and for taking so much from the humans that worked so hard and had so little. She believed that we shouldn't abuse our power over mankind. But few of the others ever listened. They kept on demanding things of man and creating monsters and the humans were kept down." He stopped talking and changed through two more forms in complete silence.
"What happened?" I asked trying to get him to keep the story going.
"You mother created he now legendary box and went about sealing away the worst of the monsters and plagues that stopped mankind from growing." My dad said. "The gods were… scared of her. I believe you have seen your mother angry. She was a sight to behold. The big three actually set aside their differences and united along with most of the other gods in order… to banish your mother to Tartarus."
"Wait… what? But she is in the ghost zone." I said confused.
"The ghost zone… it is Tartarus." Dad said with a heavy sigh. "After that I willingly went myself in order to be with her." He then chuckled. "I did pull a few pranks on the others before I left. They are still furious about how I tricked them into accepting the worst of the meat when it came to sacrifices."
"How… how could they." I said in shock. They sent my mom to a pit of eternal suffering… ok maybe the ghost zone wasn't really that bad, but still.
"Don't think too badly of them, Young Phantom. They were scare of the things that she was trying to do. Ten thousand years is a long time to make mistakes in." My dad said. I couldn't understand why he was so forgive. "But that is the reason why we will not claim you. Your mother is still not very popular among the gods, though neither am I." He chuckled. "In truth, we stay in Tartarus in order to say away from our family more than any form of banishment. We could leave any time we wish, though it is probably for the best that they don't know that." I joined him in laughing.
Then my dad started to explain divine law to me. It wasn't anything that complicated. Gods were not allowed to attack each other directly or enter one and others domain without permission unless their domains over lap.
"What are yours and mom's domains?" I asked my dad.
"My domain is the ever gray area of destiny. It is both everywhere and nowhere, in every instant and never happened all at the same time." He said trying to be all mysterious about it. But in true it was pretty straightforward. It meant, 'I go where I want, when I want.' "You mother's domain is hope." I blinked a little in surprise. "What? Love is a domain, why are you so surprised that hope is." He asked me even though I am pretty sure he knew that I didn't have an answer. "Hope is one of the most powerful forces that has ever come into being. It moves the hearts of millions and can create or destroy empires. Hope is the power that locks away the monsters inside of Pandora's boxes." My dad said with admiration in his voice. "A power that can shape the future… perhaps even more than I can."
I was a little overwhelmed by the description of my mom's power. I had never realized what a difference holding onto hope could make. "And that is a power you have inherited for your mother. The power to move the hearts of other and to trap monsters."
I was a little shocked. "I… I don't have that kind of power." I said looked down a little ashamed thinking about how little I could do in comparison to my parents.
"Oh really? You inspired even your enemies to fight by your side when the King of Ghosts awakened. And you turned a group of scared children who had lost their parents into a fighting force to put many an army to sham." My dad said bringing up my past fights with Pariahs and Youngblood. "And you have the power to capture the ghosts that have been attacking your town."
"That's just the Fenton Thermos." I said realizing what he meant.
"The Thermos didn't work because of Jack or Madeline, it never worked for them. It only worked after you made it work. It was your power that made the first Thermos work and all others as well." My dad said looking down at me with pride. "You are stronger then you know my son, and you are coming into your powers as your mother's son quite well. And soon you will come into mine as well."
"Then of course there is the domain that you will one day have. But I think I will make you wait for that bit of information." I said giving me that half smile that I must have inherited from him. He was enjoying how that single sentience was going to haunt my every waking moment until I knew what it was.
"Well, I think that is all the time we have for tonight." My dad said and the bar faded out from around us. "You might want to wake up know. Hermes is also the god of thieves and one of his children is about to reach into your backpack." My eyes widened. I had all kinds of weaponry in my bag that was best left out of the hands of none professionals. "Until next time, young Phantom."
The dream was quicker to fade then it was to come on. My hand shot out and I grabbed the wrist of the boy that had his hand coming out of my bag with an ecto-gun. "Don't even think about it." I said calming but my eyes flashed green. The boy gave an innocent grin and put the gun back. "Good, now go back to bed."