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.
"Danny!" I heard my daughter said from behind me.
I pulled out an ecto-gun and tossed it to her. "I'll take point, you watch the others." I said will pulling out a second ecto-gun.
Three more of the beasts charged forward. One came straight at me will the others tried to get around to get at the kids. I slashed through the first of the offending monsters and shot at a second. Dani shot the third and all three turned to dust and were absorbed.
I heard another scream and turned my head in time to see a monster attacking one of the kids from behind us. It was too late to intercept and I couldn't shoot it with the kids in the way. I was trying to move to where I could help but I was distracted by a thin line of mist leaving my mouth.
At the last moment before the kid was eaten a large green mass smashed into the monster and took it to the ground before turning it to dust. The new creature was another dog, the size of an Indian Elephant making it easily larger than the black dogs. As it turned its bulldog face towards us and its large green tong fell out of the giant mouth and he gave a short bark. "Cujo!" Dani and I both shouted in shock.
The other monster dogs were starting to look a bit unsure of themselves, almost half their numbers were already gone. But the remaining seven all charged at once. I took out four, Dani shot another one and Cujo brought down the last two. The night was shining with the golden dust as it was all dragged into my sword as if water into a drain. The only things left of the dogs were their fangs, one from each of them.
"Is everyone o…" I didn't have time to finish before I was tackled into the ground by my female clone.
"Danny!" She said excitedly and she squeezed me hard enough to break most people's ribs.
"It's good to see you too." I said putting a hand on her head. She looked up at me and grinned.
"How did you know to be here?" She asked after finally letting me back up.
"That is a very good question… I will have to get back to you on that." I said teasing her a little bit. "But since you're around here and you are having monster troubles I am going to take a guess that you're heading to camp."
"So you're there to?" Dani asked with a slight tilt of the head. She practically exploded when I nodded.
We were both caught off guard when we heard a girly scream. We looked to see Cujo still in his giant form sticking his nose into the chest of the Satyr's chest, pushing him to the ground and sniffing all over the poor goat man. The children looked terrified of the adorable green dog… ok so maybe my sense of what's scary is a bit off.
"Cujo, heel!" I called him over and the elephant dog's head shot up and he came bounding over to us and we each leap he shrank until he was the size of a puppy. He swung wide and doing a U-turn he stood right behind me. "Good boy." I praised the little dog and scratched him below the chin. "If we want to get to camp by breakfast we're going to have to start walking." I said to the terrified on looks. "Don't worry about Cujo. As long as you don't seem like a threat to Dani or me, he won't hurt you." I said and started walking. Dani scooped up Cujo in her arms and was carrying the little dog.
The others looked unsure but as they heard noises nearby they decided to follow. I found my board and put it back in my backpack but let Dani hold onto the ecto-gun. "Danny let me introduce you to my friends." She said and turned her head and pointed back. "The brown haired boy is Clark." The boy lightly lifted his arm. He didn't look like much to me. He was rather pail and didn't look like he was made to fight. Then again, I'm not one to talk. He must have been nearing thirteen. "And that's Clover." Dani said pointing at the other girl in the group. She had blond hair and a narrow face with grayish eyes. Considering the family resemblance I was going to have her down as a daughter of Athena, like Annabeth. She looked around eleven years old.
"And that's Mr. Goatman." Dani said with a grin pointing at the Satyr who scowled.
"I'm Gleeson Hedge. I'm one of the Satyrs who are charged with getting young Demigods to camp safely." He said with pride clear in his voice. He looked pretty middle aged and was going bald like Mr. Lancer.
"And you did a very good job of that Mr. Goatman." Dani said rolling her eyes. "What exactly were those things that attack us anyways?"
"They were…" Clover started but Gleeson put a hand over her mouth.
"What did I saw about names having power? Do you want to let them know where we are?" He growled.
"I think it is a little late for that, and Danny's with us and Cujo. So we're safe." My daughter said as she squeezed Cujo a little. The dog gave a short yip, he just loved the attention.
"They were Hellhounds." Clover said quickly before Gleeson could stop her. He glared at the little girl and we all laughed a little.
"Hear that Cujo." I said scratching the dog behind the ear. "You're stronger than a dog from hell." The dog started barking. I wasn't sure if he could understand us or not, but he sure seemed proud of himself.
"What exactly is that thing?" The boy Clark asked.
"He's Cujo." Dani said not understanding the question.
"Yeah but… what kind of monster is he? I've never heard of one like him before." Clark said staring at the dog who was now wriggling around in Dani's arms. I think he was trying to get into a position where he could lick himself. "Is he like a super hellhound?"
"Cujo isn't a monster, he's our puppy." Dani said angrily holding tighter onto the ghost dog. The talking continued all the way back to camp. None of them would have ever guessed that Cujo was a dog from Tartarus. I actually don't know how that all works. My dad said that the formless and powerless ghosts in the Zone were shells used by the slain monsters until they could return to their original forms and then they would reappear on earth, but I don't know about the native beings. I would have to ask him or my mom if I saw her first.
I managed to ask Dani if they knew about her ghost form and she said no. I told her that we would need to keep it that way. She just said a 'no duh' like I shouldn't have bothered telling her.
Once we got back to camp and got Cujo past the boarder, people were already moving towards the dining hall area. I spotted Percy going into the hall. "Hey Percy!" I called out waving to Poseidon's son.
He turned and spotted me. "Danny, there you are. We didn't see you this morning. Some of us thought you up and left, or that Zeus killed you." Percy said as we approached and some of the other campers started to stare. "Who are these guys?"
"New campers, anyone seen Connor or Travis?" I asked looking around. "I guess they are probably at Hermes's table already." I said and walked towards the hall. Percy followed me up to Mr. D as the other settled in at the Hermes table. "Mr. D we got three new campers, I found them about Eighteen miles outside of the boarder this morning being attacked by rhino sized dogs." I said dropping the teeth on the table. Percy gapped at the fangs.
The god looked at me. "So." He said simple and took a drink out of his Dr Pepper. "Just put them in Hermes cabin until there claimed like we always do." He took another drink. "And remember that you aren't supposed to leave the camp without permission, and tonight I expect you to actually sleep in your cabin instead of a tree and keep an eye on the dog." I winced not liking any of that but nodded my agreement.
I walked back to the Hermes table were everyone was looking at Cujo. "Ha Dani, you going to be ok here?" I asked my little clone.
"Wait, her name is Danny to?" Denis asked looking at my daughter.
"No, I'm Dani spelt with an 'i', it is short of Danielle." She said smugly. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Danny, you know this girl?" Annabeth asked. She and Percy were also there. Annabeth was looking pretty surprised by the sight of Dani, it's probably because we look so much alike.
"Don't you see the family resemblance?" I asked jokingly.
"You mean she's also one of Zeus's kids?" Travis asked looking a bit surprised.
(Olympus)
"They aren't mine!" Zeus's screamed to be heard causing storms across the world.
(Camp)
"No… she's my daughter." I said wondering what the reaction would be.
"What!" Everyone at the table shouted at once. Everyone else was now listening in.
"What do you mean she's your daughter?" Percy said in shock. Word was quickly spreading through the camp.
"She's my daughter." I said simply shrugging.
"Danny, that isn't possible, she looks like she is nine years old." Annabeth said in confusion. "Though… she looks so much like Thalia." Annabeth said looking down at my daughter. 'So Dani looks like Zeus's dead daughter… ok.'
"I'm three months old." Dani said lifting up three fingers.
Everyone was mute with shock. "Come on, what was Athena like when she first came out of Zeus's head. It's like that, only with a fruitloop instead of a headache." I said inwardly laughing at everyone's reactions.
"Like father like son." Mr. D said taking a deeper drink from his now Coca-Cola that he wished he was allowed to make into wine.
(Olympus)
"Well I'll be damned." Hades said ironically. "Still going to deny that he's your kid?"
"He isn't mine." Zeus said but his voice wasn't as sure. "I only broke the oath once…"
"Father, there is no one else whose son he could be. Maybe he is just a legacy that managed to retain more power than the other bloodlines." Athena suggested.
"I… suppose that could be… We have only seen him float a little and shock one bull. Not exactly a lightning storm or flying in the clouds." Arteimis said looking down at the scene in the pool of water.
"What's his history anyways?" Her twin brother Apollo asked.
"I did a little digging after we all guessed that he was a son of Zeus's." Hermes admitted. "But I have no idea. He was found on a doorstep as a baby. The only thing I know for sure is that he was raised in Amity Park." He said with a little shutter.
"Amity Park? Where's that?" Mr. D had joined them leaving a double behind to watch the camp. All the other gods looked from one and other in confusion. They had never heard of the place.
"You can't be serious." Hermes said looking around at the other gods. "Amity Park was the place that was confirmed to be the new entrance to the pit of Tartarus just a few months ago."
"You're joking, the gateway has reappeared?" Apollo said a little panicked. "Is it a sign of the great prophecy or something? I mean, even if the prophecy is about that Percy kid instead of this new one, we only got two years."
Hera was the next to speak. "We cannot prevent a prophecy if it was foretold by the oracle, only Tuxh could ever do that. And he left to Tartarus to be with his wife." Hera said throwing a glare at her husband who shrugged. "Why can't you be that dedicated? He never once cheated on Pandora."
"He was incapable of holding an adult form long enough to do the deed." Ares chuckled. "And even if he could, you would have to be mad to try to pull something on Pandora. She'd lock you away."
"Oh please don't talk about our sister." Poseidon said shivering. "I can only imagine the things she would do to us if she knew that we had broken oaths on the river."
"That's for sure. I still have nightmares about her after she found out I forced Persephone to be my wife against her will." Hades said closing his eyes tight. "I thought she would skin me and Zeus for that one. Even Demeter wasn't that mad and she still brings winter every year for it to make my job harder."
"You desire everything she did to you." Demeter glared daggers at Hades. "And why are you all so sure that the child from the prophecy will be our downfall?" Demeter said in her muse like sing song voice. "They are only supposed to choice whether we fall or that they save us. If Pandora was here she would tell us that it is our own actions that will drive the children to hate us and fight against us, just like we did with our father."
"In other words, just claim the kid. Because if you keep acting like you're trying to kill him then the other might get the wrong idea." Hermes said. He had always taken Pandora's side in the past along with Tuxh, Hera and Demeter. And later after Pandora and Tuxh were replaced at the table by Artemis and Apollo, they also looked up to the goddess of hope. So when one of them said 'it is what Pandora would do' it usually got all their support. Pandora had been dangerous, but she had also been fair.
"I haven't been trying to kill him… that hard." Zeus muttered the last part but they could all hear him. "Fine… I claim him as a legacy or something. But he isn't my son!" Hades and Poseidon didn't look pleased, but they were still to shaken by the memories of the oppressive Pandora to think about it.
(Camp)
"So they think that you're this Zeus person's child because you can fly and make electricity?" Dani asked me.
"Pretty much." I said with a shrug and Dani looked at her own to hands and let white sparks of electricity jump from one hand to another. Everyone gasped as they looked at the white lights. But only I could see the glimmer of green at the edges. "It doesn't matter if we can call on it because he doesn't want to claim us." I said trying to get everyone to stop staring. But they just started staring even more. "What?"
"Dude, look up." Connor said. I looked up and my jaw dropped and I had to stop myself from laughing. Above my head was a golden eagle holding a lightning bolt. Right underneath it was the words 'Legacy not Son'. An identical bird was over Dani only lacking the words. "Well… I guess it's a start."
"Maybe he just pretends not to care so that Poseidon and Hades don't get mad." Denis thought.
"No, Hera and Hermes bulled him into doing it." Mr. D said coming over to us and drinking. "You're kid will stay with you in Zeus's cabin." He said and took off laughing the whole time.
"Danny, I got a question." Dani started asking me.
"What is it?" I said looking down at her.
"Well… everyone keeps saying something that I don't understand… can you tell me what a 'god' is?" Dani finally said and everyone flushed with disbelief. "What? I'm only three months old. No one has told me these things." Dani said in irritation crossing her arms.
We spent all of breakfast trying to explain to her what a god was. She couldn't see the difference between Gods, Ghosts, Titans and Monsters. And I had to admit… there isn't much difference. The Box Ghost very well could fit the description we managed to give of a god if you considered boxes a dominion.
"Maybe some stories will explain the difference." I said giving up.
"I've got a Greek Mythology book you can borrow." Annabeth said also tired of trying to explain what gods were to the three month old child. "But right now we got to go and work on the chariot."
"Chariot?" Dani asked curious as always.
"There's going to be a Chariot race in a four days and each cabin is going to be entering their own Chariot." Connor said starting to wonder how many questions one little girl could have. "Each Chariot team is made up of two people, and whoever wins doesn't have chores for a month. I guess since you and your dad are the only ones in cabin one, you would both have to participate if you want to enter."
Dani's eyes widened at the idea of racing Chariots. "Danny can we do it? Please?" She began to beg. I didn't even have to look down to feel the effects of the pout.
I sighed but I knew there was nothing I could do. "We're going to need to build a Chariot then." I said messing with her hair. "To the forge I suppose." Dani was already celebrating and throwing Cujo up and down in the air. The dog was barking excitedly.
Clockwork is the combination of Prometheus and Epimethius's legends.