This chapter: I experiment with Elias' POV!
Fun Fact: Elias' name was inspired by the anime 'The Ancient Magus' Bride'. I love that anime. I cry so much while watching it!
Disclaimer: see CH.1
Percy's POV:
The next morning, Chiron moved us to cabin three.
We didn't have to share with anybody (except the obvious). We had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. Also Elias' things: A pure gold rose bloom Will had a Hephaestus kid make for him, a sketchbook (Already filled with rough sketches of other campers to be finished at a later date) with drawing supplies, glass bead necklace and bracelets Eli had made, and a clay pot filled with glazed and painted clay medallions Eli had made with some clay he liked to have us carry around to help him think.
Eli had gone to the camp scrap(Junk) yard and found a couple of bookcases. We placed the Minotaur horn on my book case and the Rose on his. The pot went in between the cases, and the jewelry on a bot of fishing line hung along the wall. Elias was determined to make the cabin homey to make me feel better.
We got to sit at our own dinner table (Eli was glad we no longer had to sit on the ground), pick all our own activities, call "lights out" whenever we felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.
And I was absolutely miserable.
Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid, or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood and sharing a body with your younger twin brother, we'd been separated out as if we had some rare disease. Elias was always trying to take my mind off of it, but it didn't work. In fact, it made me feel worse. He was always taking care of me. I felt like I was failing him somehow.
Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but we got the feeling they were all talking about it behind our back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that we were the sons of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill us. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.
The other campers, except Grover and Will, steered clear of us as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me because of our parentage, so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. Elias was excited about that for some reason. Luke pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.
"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."
Annabeth still taught us Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time Elias or I said something, she scowled at us, as if we'd just poked her between the eyes.
After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan ..." Elias was not amused or impressed. I got the distinct impression that they disliked each other.
Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her staring at Eli whenever he was out made the both of u uncomfortable. She down right gave me death glares for some reason. My twin and I had no idea why she hated me.
I knew somebody at camp resented us, because one night we came into our cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. The article took about half an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page and Elias was himself struggling to make sense of the letters on the page.
BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER
FREAK CAR ACCIDENT
BY EILEEN SMYTHE
Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.
Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circum-stances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.
Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child with multiple personalities who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.
Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with informa-tion to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.
The phone number was circled in black marker.
"I don't think that we were careful enough around him." Elias deadpanned, resigned. I could feel his exhaustion. I could tell how much everything was weighing on him. It was scary. Elias never let me know how much things affected him. Never.
I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in our bunk bed in the middle of our semi-empty cabin.
"Lights out," I told myself miserably, staring at the golden rose. Eli retreated into his part of our mind.
That night, I had my worst dream yet.
I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.
About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.
I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.
Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.
The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.
I yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting!
The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.
Come down, little hero, the voice crooned. Come down!
The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and dark-ness swallowed me.
I woke up, sure I was falling.
I was still in bed in cabin three. Our body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.
I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.
"Come in?"
Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you two."
"Why?"
"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."
Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble. I semi retreated into our mind and mentally 'poked' the nebulous 'mass' that was a sleeping Elias. It gave a jolt and solidified into my twin. I noticed that he now had shoulder length hair.
"Good morning, brother dearest. It's been a while since you have visited me in my part of our shared mind space. Something wrong?" He tilted his head.
"Mr. D wants to see us. I figured you should handle this." I said, looking him in his eyes.
"I suppose..." Elias said teasingly with a grin.
...~...
Elias' POV:
For days, I had been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that My dearest twin and I were declared the sons of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have Demi-god children, I figured it was a crime for us just to be alive. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish Percy and I for the simple crime of existing, and now Mr. D had called us for Hermes to deliver the verdict.
Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. "Will the rain hit the camp?" I asked. Grover jumped, not expecting me to speak up.
"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."
I pointed at the storm. "Really?" I got the feeling that it wouldn't.
He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does." He seemed nervous around me. "Why are you out, Elias?"
"Percy felt that I should handle this. He went back to sleep. I will share the memories of events later, when he is awake." the 'and if we survive this encounter' went unsaid. Grover let out a nervous bleat. I grinned.
At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Will waved at me and called out a good morning. I called a greeting back at him and he grinned like I had given him the sun. Ha. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm. I couldn't blame them/
Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on our first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel-chair. I smiled at him. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air. "Good morning, sirs. Also to whom ever it is that I can not see." I greeted, settling into a more formal speech pattern. I fought a frown. I was fully aware that even my thoughts could be slightly stuffy when I was nervous. I was just like that, for some reason.
"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."
I waited.
"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't be so stuffy. It makes me itch. So old Barnacle Beard is your dear old pops, huh?"
A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.
"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.
"Sorry, sir." I frowned.
Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.
"I haven't met your twin yet, but I like you. Your clever and have spine, yet still respect the gods. If I had my way I would get rid of your twin somehow and make you my servant, Elias. At the very least your eyes are exotic." Mr. D eyed me.
'I need a mortal adult.' I thought, repressing a shudder, but said: "I would rather not be parted from my brother in quite such a way. I am rather, pardon the pun, attached to him."
Translation: Percy is my world and I love him. I would have no idea what to do without him.
"There is another option" Chiron said.
Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If Elias is still here when I get back, I'll go ahead and make him my servant." Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.
He snapped his fingers.
The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.
Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Elias, please. And Grover. Is your brother listening?"
We did.
Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.
"No, sir. I will share my memories with him later." I said, sheepish
"Tell me, Elias," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"
Just hearing the name made me shudder.
"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, Percy and I would be dead. I am no use in a fight"
"You'll meet worse, Elias. Far worse, before you're both done."
"Done ... with what?"
"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"
I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.
I remained silent. I remembered the dream Percy showed me before I left our cabin.
Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.
"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, correct?"
Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.
Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"
My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been strange, as if the sea and the sky are fighting. Then Percy talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. And ... Percy has also been having these dreams."
"I knew it," Grover said.
"Hush, satyr" Chiron ordered. "Only Percy has been having dreams?" he asked me.
"I don't dream, sir. I walk into others' dreams. I believe it's because I am only a 'soul', for lack of a better term, without a body or mind all my own. I do not mind, not having dreams of my own. My dream walking has lead me to my best friend, Bianca. Also, as I told her once, one can still have a dream without having dreams, sir."
Chiron was looking at me as if he had never seen anything like me before. Grover was impatient and could no longer contain himself
"But it is their quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"
"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard, back on topic. "Nevertheless, Elias, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."
"I see." I didn't see.
"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other light-ning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."
"And it's missing?" I was alarmed now.
"Stolen," Chiron said.
"By who?"
"By whom," Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher. "By you."
I stared at him with wide eyes. He looked away from my eyes, unnerved like everyone else. Even the gods were unnerved by their blank, dead, look.
"At least"-Chiron held up a hand-"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."
I held my tongue.
"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly hav-ing the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."
"Do they even know about me?" I asked.
Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.
"They do now. A case such as yours has never been seen before. The gods have no idea what to make of it. That has also been a source of tension among the gods."
"Oh dear..." I trailed off.
How could anyone accuse my brother or I of stealing a god's weapon? We couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted.
"Do you know why Zeus mistrusts your father?"
"My father and some other gods trapped Zeus with a golden net, to put things simply." I recalled.
"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threaten-ing war. And now, you've come along-the proverbial last straw."
"But, sir, my dear brother and I are just children!" I protested. Percy stirred briefly at my distress. I sent him calming emotions to lull him back to sleep.
"Elias," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... and also has a second soul residing in their body... wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"
I could see Zeus' point, even if I did not like it. I said as much.
Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival and situation has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Elias?"
"Bad?" I guessed.
"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."
"Bad," I repeated.
"And you, Elias and Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."
It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky. I could see Will get hit in the face with the ball. I couldn't muster up the amusement to laugh at the humorous sight.
My brother and I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. Because of us. I was resolved.
"So we have to find the bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."
"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the sons of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"
"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is it, sir?"
"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."
"I see."
"You agree then?"
"Yes. Percy will too, I'm sure." I knew he would. My dear twin would be full of ire towards Zeus and would also use this as an opportunity to try and get our mother back. I was not adverse to that.
"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Elias Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."
Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap-door.
I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.
The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.
I tilted my head, blinked and then climbed. My seemingly blank eyes staring forward.
The attic was filled with Greek hero paraphernalia: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things-severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969. I took it all in.
By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.
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Looking at her sent chills up my brother's back that I was borrowing. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap-door, but it slammed shut. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.
I looked her in the eyes, resolutely "What is the destiny of my brother and I?"
The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.
My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.
Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall he betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
Finally, Eddie, our building super, delivered the worst line of all: And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
The figures began to dissolve. It reformed into the image of Bianca.
...~...
"Well?" Chiron asked me once I returned.
I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said we would retrieve what was stolen."
Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"
"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."
My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She . .. she said we would go west and face a god who had turned. we would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."
"I knew it," Grover said.
Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"
I didn't want to tell him.
What friend would betray Percy? He didn't have that many.
And the last line- He would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send him on a quest and tell him, Oh, by the way, you'll fail
How could I confess that?
"No," I said. "That's about it."
He studied my brother's face. "Very well, Elias. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."
I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.
"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do we go? Who's this god in the west?"
"Ah, think, Elias," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"
"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.
"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."
"I have no idea, sir." I realy didn't. I knew who he was going to say it was, though.
Chiron sighed. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility." I knew that wasn't it. I had no idea how, though.
A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"
"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."
"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon... ."
"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Pun-ishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."
I held my tongue once more. I got the feeling they had forgotten, for a moment, that I share a body with Percy. Speaking of which. He woke up at that moment. I gently shoved him to the front and re-took my favorite place to be within our shared mind. I quickly shared the memory of the passed hour, except what the oracle had the image of Bianca tell me.
...~...
Percy's POV:
"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year." My mind was whirling.
"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to under-stand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy and Elias must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."
A strange fire burned in our stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill us three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault our mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me, my twin, and our dad for a theft we hadn't committed.
I was ready to take him on. Elias was resigned to our course, yet resolved to see it through, as well.
Besides, if our mother was in the Underworld ...
Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god. Elias told me to listen to that part more often.
Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips. Eli snorted in amusement at that.
The poor guy needed to complete a quest with us so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said we were destined to fail? This was suicide. Elias agreed.
"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."
"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades, and I imagine Poseidon does, they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"
"You're saying Elias and I are being used."
"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."
My dad needs me.
Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me. I was even more emotional about it than I would have been because Elias and I found out that Poseidon didn't even know about Elias before Camp.
I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"
"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."
"Eli suspected, too. He had hoped he wasn't right, though" I told the centaur. Chiron looked thoughtful at that.
I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling us about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too. Eli had, as well.
"So let me get this straight," I said. "We're supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."
"Check," Chiron said.
"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."
"Check."
"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."
"That's about right."
"It sounds so simple when you say it like that, dear brother of mine." Eli sighed.
I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.
"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.
"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you, neither of us can."
"Oh ..." He shifted his hooves. "No ... it's just that satyrs and underground places ... well..."
He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy and Elias. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."
I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic. (Elias was grinning at me at that, I could tell) Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with us.
"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."
"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."
"Where?"
Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."
"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"
"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"
I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.
"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."
Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.
Elias was shaking his head at me with his hand still over his face from where he had face-palmed. It amazed me what he could do in our shared mind.
"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."
"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."
"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"
The air shimmered behind Chiron.
Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.
"Oh joy" Elias said, sarcastically.
"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brains," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up." Elias rolled his eyes at her from within our mindscape.
"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"
Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"
The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get. Even Elias conceded that we needed help. Even if it had to be Annabeth.
"A for person team," I said. "That'll work."
"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."
Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.
"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."
"I have the feeling that this is going to be a long trip, brother"
I had the feeling that Eli was right.
I hope all of you lovelies enjoyed my silly Idea~
Please comment and favorite!
Fan art get people goodies
I would love to see Elias and Percy together!
TTFN!
