Chapter 7: Not-so-Strategic Strategies, and Working Magic
AN: Okay, so…your mad. I know this, because I'm mad too. I disappeared suddenly. I lost my damn USB somewhere in my junkyard of a room, and that had the chapters I was planning to put up a month ago. That sucks. But, this chapter, and the one after (chapter 8) was originally one huge chapter, but I broke it down into two…
Anyway, I am devastated with myself to say this but…..Luke wont be coming in until three chapters after this one. He'll come in on chapter 10, sorry, but I've got everything planned out now.
Bye now XD
The Lord of the Dead flinched as Percy flew past his sight and into a golden rose bush. He had to stop himself from jumping from his spot at the top of the stone steps and vaporizing the damned Hydra as it charged at his son. Now Percy could've handled a normal Hydra easy, but this one had fifteen heads, and three times the fire. Why? Because the foolish teen insisted on challenging himself nearly every hour he was awake! That's why!
Hades scowled. No…..
I take that back, Hades thought and smiled slightly as Percy dodged a blast of raging fire. He could never be a fool.
Percy was suddenly airborne as the Hydra took his leg into one of its seven remaining mouths, and threw him a good twenty feet into a flaming patch of flowers. Hades clenched his teeth.
But Percy merely snarled an animalistic sound, and slapped the flames from his clothes and hair. His hair was so black, the charred strands didn't stand out in any way. He grabbed a spear, which had been his weapon at the beginning of the fight. He swung around the blackened, cracked piece of wood and then paused, seemingly thinking for a moment. After about two seconds, he tossed it aside, and with anger in his eyes and a smirk on his face, he launched himself strait at the Hydra.
Hades laughed loudly at the shocked faces of the Hydra, and the triumphant, yet maniacal grin on his sons face as he wrestled with the heads. He heard a musical giggle behind him, and turned to meet the sparkling emerald eyes of his queen. He grinned and took Persephone's hand as she made her way to his spot on the steps.
"I've always admired that about him." She said with a giggle in her voice. "He's so unpredictable he scares whatever he's fighting." These words rang true as the Hydra tried uselessly to free itself from Percy's grasp on its upper body. Percy turned the fire-breathing head on another of its heads, and it was charred to a stump.
"His randomness adds to his advantage." Hades agreed. Percy burned down two more heads with his hold on the one fire-breathing head and Hades smiled.
"I blame you." Persephone looked down at Laelaps, who had stayed silent most of the fight. He gave a breathy series of barks that was obviously laughter, and looked up at the Goddess of Spring, who had addressed him. He stood up proudly and barked once. Persephone laughed and petted the sleek, grey coat of fur on his head, only two feet shorter than her six foot height.
They watched as Percy burned the last remaining Hydra head, and held the last one down with his legs. He pulled up his pants leg, and revealed a strap of black leather, with many tiny Stygian Iron vials. He took one off a holder, barely the size of a quarter, and about a half inch thick in a crystal shape. He unscrewed it, and grabbed Anaklusmos from his pocket. He uncapped it, and it grew to its natural length in deadly Celestial Bronze.
He chopped off the last squirming head and poured the green liquid from the vial onto the stump of a head. It stopped reforming immediately, and instead set on fire. The green flames grew three feet tall, and engulfed the entire body, just after Percy let it free from his grasp.
Then Percy stood and grinned at his father and third mother figure, who simply grinned and smiled back. Laelaps on the other hand, bounded down the steps and knocked him over again, liking the green monster blood off of his face and arms. Percy laughed. Laelaps was born with immunity to most types of venom or acids in the Underworld and on earth. He also had high pain tolerance, and accelerated healing.
Percy on the other hand, wasn't born with such abilities, but Hades was no fool. The worst venoms and acidic substances in the universe came from the Underworld, and he knew when he finally let his boy go free, there would be monstrosities out to get him. So he immunized Percy to all harmful Underworld substances. He, of course, asked Sally first, who smacked him upside the head for having to ask her first.
Women….
He had immunized himself to most venoms on earth. He did this by choosing a venom, and then ever so slowly, injecting himself with it. Every week he would inject miniscule amounts into his system, getting used to it, before adding more. Sally had been furious when she found out.
He also had high pain tolerance. This was because every week or so he would grab a branch, set it on fire, and let the flames lick at his arms, legs and face for a while. He was already protected from fire by his genetic heritage, his biological father being the God of the Seas and all, so he held the flames everywhere for about three minutes. It took five minutes for his skin to turn a bright red, and seven to start smoking. It hurt like a bitch of course, but he estimated that he could withstand about eight to ten minutes of pure flame engulfing his body before he died. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
He hadn't tried lava yet, and honestly didn't want to. There were some things that were extreme even to him.
His train of thought was suddenly led off course when he looked up to see the beautiful, smiling face of Hecate.
"Perseus" she greeted and held a hand out to him. He took it smiling, and his cuts and bruises healed at her touch. She was about twenty, her hair was chocolate colored and spilling from her head in loose curls, and her eyes were a radiant dark blue. Around her shoulders hung a burgundy cloak, and under that, a flowy emerald dress that shimmered different shades as she moved and bare feet. She was in her maiden form.
"Hecate" he said and bowed his head slightly. She laughed a free laugh that was almost the essence of joy itself, and turned towards Hades.
"May I steal your son for a hour or two?" she smiled.
"He is yours as well, Hecate." Hades smiled and raised a hand in a farewell gesture. "Though he's mine more than yours." He muttered under his breath, and Hecate's eyes snapped to the Lord of the Underworlds retreating form, glaring playfully.
Uh-oh, Percy thought and laughed lightly. They had gotten into this a few years back; Sally, Hades, Persephone, Hecate, and Demeter all arguing over who had a claim over him the most. It wasn't a serious fight of course, but it was during a meeting, and there had been wine splattering and wheat throwing.
"Come now Percy, we must be going quickly." She moved with the grace of a huntress and the speed of molasses through the dark woods surrounding the palace, to the River Styx. There was a small boat, barely big enough to void being called a canoe and stepped inside.
"Grab the oar, mijo, steady now…" Percy did as instructed and marveled over the fact that Hecate seemed to know every language in existence. She spoke a different one (or sometimes only a single word) every time he saw her. Not surprising for a Goddess of course, but still…..
They glided across the water smoothly, dodging broken toys, diplomas, and other human objects floating in the currents. Up ahead, Percy could see the side of a cliff, and smiled as the smell of dirt and rock hit him.
He steered them over to the side, and they got off, after Percy pulled the boat ashore. Hecate led him through an opening in the cliff, and through a few narrow, natural tunnels, before they came to a seemingly normal stone wall. She touched the side of the cliff, and it shattered like glass, revealing a stairway spiraling upwards. She stepped over the stone shards, and Percy saw a sapphire blue torch igniting farther up the passage. She beckoned Percy over.
Percy stepped over the shards and started up the staircase. When he looked back, the last shard was just fitting into place, sealing the wall again. He followed Hecate up the stairs, and grabbed the torch to light their way. It wasn't often Hecate let another hold one of her sacred torches, and Percy felt warmth spread through his body.
They walked for about two minutes in the familiar caves, the stairs smoothing into a walkway and slowly escalading upward. They came to a dead end. Hecate pulled out a silver pentagram necklace from around her neck, an identical twin the chain necklace Percy wore, and brushed some dirt from the low ceiling.
The dirt gave away easily, like powder, and she blew on it to reveal a pentagram engraved into hard stone. She unclasped her pentagram from her chain necklace swiftly and fit it into the stone. The stone ceiling slid over, and a ramp slid out of the wall. They walked up, and as soon as they set foot out of the cave it sealed itself.
They were in a large room, still in the caves, but cool wind blew through, and the natural scent of rock and dirt, and greenery met their senses. Though it was rock, green grass and flowers, and plants grew everywhere. Vines decorated the walls, and glowing moss lit the ceiling.
She let her cloak fall off her shoulders, and hung it on a pair of deer antlers sticking out of the wall. She grabbed a perfectly white, swirled and sharpened ivory stick, and pulled her hair into a bun. A smile lit up her young face, and a something sparked in her eyes.
"Come now Perseus. We have business to attend to." She smiled again, and Percy couldn't help the large smile from stretching across his face.
"Si mama."
The best part of the next few hours that passed was spent sorting herbs, and stirring a cauldron over a small fire. Sometimes they would get into small, playful arguments about silly things.
"I said a few drops of tulip extract mijo, not a whole gallon!" Hecate laughed at the look on Percy's face, and he had to laugh too.
"That was barely a teaspoon!"
"A teaspoon is still more than tree drops!" she snatched the vial away from him, and he pursed his lips in a funny way that made Hecate laugh a little harder.
"I can do it myself! Go and tend to your four-o-clocks!" He grinned and slipped over a piece of parchment that had been strewn across the floor.
"Oomph!" he landed with a dull thud, and got up just as quickly. An owl shrieked a high pitched, sweet sound and he smiled. Not a moment later, he saw Andy fly in from the entrance of the cave. Her emerald wings glittered and sparkled in the light of the moss.
She landed on his shoulder, and nuzzled up to his ear affectionately. Hecate grinned and held out her arm. Andy flew onto it in a heartbeat and hooted, delighted to see her creator. Hecate motioned to the wooden table across the room, and Andy flew over eagerly. Hecate searched around on her stone shelves, and grabbed a clear liquid in a bottle. She grabbed a rag, went over to Andy, and poured a small amount on her, before rubbing it around her small body.
"What's that?" Percy asked as he stirred a tablespoon of Celestial Bronze dust and a cup of flaming water from the River Phlegethon into one cauldron, and a FEW DROPS of rose pollen and crushed pear pits into another.
"Polish of course" she said, and blew on small emerald owl. "and some extra protection..you can never be too safe."
"And what exactly are we making with these concoctions?" Percy asked, and peered into the boiling cauldrons. They were four in all, and the cauldrons varied in sizes. They were black, red, grey, and green. "Patience my love." she smiled over her shoulder. "All great things go to those who wait." And that was the end of that conversation until Andy had left and the boiling water had cooled a little.
Hecate levitated the cauldrons, grabbed a bag of herbs and extracts, and certain materials, and led them out of the caves (finally) and into the open, where they could see the Fields of Asphodel in the distance, and the palace of the king. Or In other words, Percy's father.
They came to a small pond, and Hecate set down the cauldrons beside it. It was clear, and Percy could see perfectly green grass and flat stones at the bottom, about five feet down. She lied out the contents of her bag, and instructed Percy to pour the small, black colored liquid into the pond. He took the hot metal of the cauldron's sides in his hands, taking no notice of the burning sensation in his hands, and poured the liquid into the pond. It looked like a waterfall of liquidized shadows as it went in, but as soon as it went in, the shadows disappeared. His eyebrows drew together, and he looked closer in disbelief, then to his mother for guidance. She seemed to be having no trouble seeing whatever he wasn't, and she smiled at his confusion.
"I can't see anything." He stated simply and looked back to the pond.
"Maybe your eyes are getting in the way." She said, and Percy bit his lip. He knew what she meant, and he closed his eyes. Instead of focusing on the color, the way it looked, he focused hard on what he heard, smelled, and felt.
He could smell nothing, but he felt tiny vibrations in the ground under his body. He set his hands on either side of him. The vibrations were so tiny in fact, that no one who didn't know what to look for would surely not notice. He felt tension in the air, like when the gods were to make a judgment on him, and decide his fate all those years ago. It was like electricity, static thickening the air. You could cut it with a knife. A vibration stronger than the previous ones was sent through the ground, and to his palms and fingertips, like a single heartbeat. A ripple.
His eyes snapped open.
Inside the pond, a bit of color swirled and formed slowly. At first it looked like a rose, then a sphere, then a smoothed out cylinder. More heartbeats. More ripples. Another rose formed, and another, and another, and soon the whole pond was black again, and something was rising.
A horse rose from the pond. No, not a horse, a Pegasus. It was beautiful. At least in Percy's eyes, and obviously in Hecate's as well, from the look of awe and admiration on her face. It waded out of the pond, and started to shake the remaining water off of itself.
It was pure black, with grey eyes, and large, raven black wings, which created a strong wind as it shook the water off. It was only when the horse stopped shaking that Percy seen its fiery red mane. The tips of its feathers also burned red. It had Celestial Bronze hooves, and spikes along its head.
Another demon horse rose from the pond and blew red flames from its mouth….could these horses be anymore awesome?
One after another, more horses rose from the pond, and when the water cleared, there was thirteen total. Hecate smiled, and mentioned to the next cauldron.
The grey mixture resembled a pot of smoke, and when Percy poured it in, after a minute or two Grey horses with leathery bat wings emerged. The green created spotted pegasi in various colors, and the scent of fresh grass. Hecate bottled up the red liquid, before setting it aside. The green mix made sandy and chocolate colored pegasi with diamond, emerald, gold, silver and ruby hooves.
Once they had all emerged, Percy noticed they were all quite friendly. He soon realized all except three were female. Then he was surprised by and ability he didn't know he had. He didn't want to get too close to the fiery manes of the black pegasi, (he knew it wasn't normal fire)and was steering clear from them, until a gentle female voice spoke in his mind.
'No need to fear my flames son of the sea god. They bow to my will rather than the laws of human science.' A black pegasus with flames as its mane and wings.
"That's comforting." Percy said, and grinned a little. She had probably picked up on his thoughts too.
'Our loyalty lies with Lord Poseidon, and Pegasus. I wouldn't want to bruise our honor by frightening away a Son of Poseidon with unfriendliness.'
He liked these groups of pegasi already.
"Now how did you manage to create pegasi?" Percy asked Hecate, puzzled. "I thought they were born from Pegasus, when he mates with ordinary horses.
"I may have created them, but not without Pegasus' blessing of course." She smiled, and held up pouch from her bag. When Percy looked inside, there were strands of beautifully white strands that were obviously hair.
"Pegasus let you take his hair?" the teen asked in disbelief.
"A small section, yes" Hecate smiled warmly. "It grew back longer the moment I cut it off, you see, but he wasn't worried about uneven lengths. He didn't want any descendants of his, created or not to be trained and used for evil. I promised him that wasn't the case."
"You used this to create them?" he asked, and gave the pouch back, still not believing his own ears.
"Yes, lovely"
"That's….unbelievable." Percy laughed, and then in an envious tone said "I wish I was born with magic." He grimaced.
"Oh my dear" Hecate shook her head and smiled. "Everyone is born with magic, and everyone is born with potential."
He turned to face her. She was smiling at him in a way that told of her thousands of years worth of knowledge and wisdom.
"That's something I figured out long ago. You remember Artemis and her hunters? Most of them are human, young human girls at that. Still, she saw great potential in them." Hecate smiled kindly and took Percy's hand.
"But the thing is about humans...is that most don't bother anymore. Back in ancient times, magic was a part of everyday activities. It was not different from religion." She had a serene look on her face.
"Everyone is born with magic, and everyone is born with potential. But you have to have the wisdom to use your potential, and then have your potential to use magic. Magic is everywhere, in everything, even in the nonliving objects of the world." She looked at him intently.
"You had some influence over the magic used to create these beings." She gestured to the pegasi. "Now you need only learn how to control it."
He smiled, and shook his head. He turned to the pegasi.
"Who wants to be taken for a test flight?" Percy asked, and happy, delighted whinnies and neighs filled the air along with the mental shouts of the pegasi, and Percy laughed.
AN: So…hmmm. Not much to say I guess, except you guys have been CAUGHT! XD I'm a dumbass, I kept wondering why I wasn't getting favorite, cause my inbox is always empty, then I look in my other email, which I created for this reason, and HOLY HECATE it was like…345 favorites and people following the story and that's awesome for me. I didn't think I was the best writer.
So, bottom line, I know your there guys : / and it bugs me that there are hundreds of you reading this, and probably a lot more without accounts, and I only have twenty reviews. I'm not demanding, so I'll update when I can anyway, but PLEASE review. Its fun hearing from you. ^^
