Chapter 10

Magnus POV

After Jack came back from his time under the spotlight, he had this intense mini argument with Percy because he demanded he see Riptide. "I demand that I see the lovely lady!" My sword yelled. Percy denied him his request. "No you will not! Riptide is my sword!"

In the end, Percy gave in, because Jack almost cut his pants down trying to get his crush out of her master's pocket. Annabeth started consoling him after he called after Jack, "Give her back before I get on stage!" Water Boy yelled.

I walked up to Percy and said to him, "It's okay man. It's awkward for me as it is for you." Then I added as an afterthought, "You should have seen the way he was pestering me when he found this super old, super hot lady sword." Percy smiled and added "As hot as an old lady sword gets."

The stage manager came up to us and explained how the stage lights worked before being dragged off somewhere else. "It's simple. The lights work with your will. If you think about how you want the lights to work then it happens."

We still had a good ten minutes before the first of us had to go. I was really curious what everyone was going to perform, so we all went around what we were going to do. "Hearth and I are going to perform 24K Magic." Leo said, "Me and my bros are going to do some dance moves to Uptown Funk."

Annabeth, Piper and Hazel were going to sing 'Pretty Girl' while Alex was going to do 'Fight Song'. Jason and Frank were set on singing 'Warrior'. So that left me and Sam. Back when I was in elementary school, my teacher would make us sing for class plays and stuff. I wasn't bad at it but it's not my favourite thing in the world.

Soon, Blitz and Hearth were gracing the said stage with their presence. The lights dimmed down and they got into position. The first chords of the song could be heard. Blitz started singing the first lyrics of '24K Magic' by Bruno Mars.

I was wondering how Hearth could sing or dance. He is deaf after all. But, He must have used a spell or something because his choreography was amazing and his footwork was impressive. He was break dancing like it was nobody's business.

Blitzen's singing was amazing too. He hit all the notes right and didn't miss a beat. A few giants were shouting their approval all over the hall. The shouts had increased when Hearth used some magic to create a few special effects. By special effects I mean he was dancing in the air. It was all really interesting to watch.

While those two did their thing, I pulled Sam over and asked a very important question. "Hey Sam, what song are we going to do?" Sam thought about it for a moment. "Hmm… maybe, 'Larger than Life'?

I had heard that song before. "I like that. Okay. That's what we're going to do." Sam and I then spent the rest of Blitz and Hearth's performance talking strategy. The one thing I was not planning to do was to go on stage, only sound like an idiot.

My guardian dwarf and elf came back, smelling like sweat and achievement. "I am so relieved that they liked us!" Blitz cried. "Trying to entertain Mimir is good practice and strengthens your self esteem." Leo snorted. "That sounds like an advertisement." Nico asked after Leo translated, "Who's Mimir anyways?"

I answered. "A God's severed head."

"Gross." Jason said. "Who keeps a severed head?"

Annabeth started to explain. "Oh, I've read about him. A long time ago, there was a hostage swap between two tribes of the Norse Gods: The Vaninr and the Aesir. Mimir was part of that, going to the Vanir with another guy. The Vanir didn't like his ideas, so they cut off his head."

Sam took it up. "She's right. After that the head was sent to Odin, where he took it to a secret lake bear the base of the World Tree. He dropped it in and then Mimir's head came back to life. Now when he goes somewhere, there better be some water nearby."

Blitz also added, "Nowadays, he runs a pachinko operation and charges people who drink from the waters of the Tree a few years of servitude. The water helps a person when they want to learn something very important."

At that moment a stage hand came by and said, "Whoever's going next is on in five."

Piper, Hazel and Annabeth quickly reviewed their routine and then were off. "Wish us luck!" Piper called out cheerfully. Percy and Jason called out, "Good luck!" The girls went and positioned themselves on stage. Piper stood in the front with Hazel on the right and Annabeth on the left.

When the music started, Piper started singing the first lyrics. Then the girls twirled and changed their positions, moving in a counter clock direction. So it was now Annabeth singing the next lines with Piper and Hazel frozen in ballerina positions. And so it went on like that. The girls were good, like they had been practicing for months. I know practice when I see it. Hazel finished the song, singing the last lines.

After the girls were done, the hall broke out in cheers. "I guess Piper must have accidentally used a bit of Charmspeak near the end." Frank was telling me. If she did let some magic slip, then I wasn't paying attention. If that's happens to be the case, my only defence is that I was practicing my lines in my head.

Hazel was being congratulated by Frank and Nico while Percy congratulated Annabeth on not killing anyone with her singing. That earned him a punch on the arm. As for Piper, she was letting out a breath relief. "I am so glad they didn't kill us." She said.

Alex took a few deep breaths while she was waiting to go. I squeezed her hand and said to her, "Don't worry Alex. I'm pretty sure you're good enough to not get yourself killed." Alex turned to me and smiled, "Thanks Magnus."

"Oooo." Leo exclaimed, "We got some love bird action going on here!" Percy started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Alex left me to go punch Leo's lights out. One blow and he was on the ground. "He'll be fine in a few minutes." After Leo fell, Percy went to hide behind Annabeth. Annabeth being the caring girlfriend she is, just side stepped out of Alex's way when she approached them and punch Percy in the gut hard enough to fall next to an unconscious Leo.

Now you might have notice that Leo and Percy were both slated to perform after Alex had gone. And you might be wondering how Nico was reacting about this. Well, he just shook his head and not so quietly said, "Well, they had it coming it to them."

Don't worry though, Percy recovered quickly and Leo got up halfway through Alex's performance.

Speaking of her performance, Alex seemed to relax a bit once she got on stage. It hit me that I had never heard Alex sing before. So I was kind of interested hear her. When she opened her mouth to sing, she sounded like a professional.

And no, I am not exaggerating. She really did. I guess it was all those karaoke nights Mallory would drag her too. I remember a few weeks after Alex had properly settled in, she and Mallory each came back with a brief case filled with cash, which reminded me of the movies. When I asked Alex where she got hers from she just looked at me all serious and said, "Murder." before going to her suite.

Now I never thought Alex was the kind of person to kill for money, so I turned to Mallory and I asked her. "She won all that money from Karaoke to the death." She replied before going to bed with her own case. I didn't think much about it after that because everything is done to the death.

Alex was singing loud and clear throughout the room. Once she came back, Hearth asked her where she learned to sing like that. "My dad thought it would be fun to have a kid who could sing, so he put me in singing classes."

Well, that must have been fun.

Blitz POV

Please don't tell me I was the only one who found this entire offer suspicious. "Perform for us and you can go freely." We are dealing with earth giants! They always have a trick up their sleeves. What if they break something and make it look like we did it? Have you seen how fancy some things are in here? It would take us months to pay!

But what if they keep us hostage? They might say we did so well that they want to keep us here forever as their entertainment? I have a store to run you know. Do you know how many customers I have who want something from my line of bulletproof clothing? A lot! Also, do you know how many humans are scared of being shot? A lot!

I didn't say anything because you never know what might happen. So if it turns out I am wrong, Magnus and Alex might not let me hear the end of it. But if we do get taken in as hostages, I won't have the pleasure of screaming I told you so, because I didn't tell anyone anything. Except you, whoever might be reading this.

Enough of me screaming, let's get back to the entertainment session.

Alex went, and the giants loved her. She came back with flowers in her wake, and everywhere on stage. We all congratulated her. Apparently she took singing lessons as a kid. It always seems to me like rich parents want their kids to learn lots of things so they can show off to other rich people.

After Alex came back Percy, Leo and Nico got on stage after all the flowers had been swept away. The three decided to do a Michael Jackson take on the whole thing. At the part where the song goes, "Policing the fireman" Leo set himself on fire. I was surprised his suit didn't burn away. I really didn't want to see a Greek demigod in his underwear.

Jason explained it to me when I asked him. "Leo can keep his clothes from burning if he concentrates hard enough." And here I was hoping it was fireproof cloth. "If you want to learn how to do that," Jason said after I told him my thoughts about the cloth, "You might want to go to Leo's girlfriend Calypso." Didn't think Leo actually had girlfriend, but good for him.

Still, that little stunt earned them a collective 'Ahh' from the crowd. After they came back, the crowds were commenting on what they liked best, but the applause wasn't as heavy as it was for the first few performances. I for one thought it was okay, but not as good as mine and Hearth's.

Nico looked a bit accomplished, and Leo might have finally burned off a little bit of his extra energy. Percy and Jason went back to bickering to who would win in their little talent show. I for one ignored it all. Really I couldn't have cared less.

In less than five minutes Jason and Frank were on stage. Since Jason and Percy were betting against who was better, I assumed they would both be dancing after witnessing the Greek team perform. Turns out I was right since the Romans were shaking a leg as well. Jason and Frank's movements were pretty synced up.

While those two were entertaining the giant crowd (Pun not intended), I was slightly worried about said crowd. So far, none of the giants had been angered or annoyed. That made even more suspicious that something was going to go wrong. But the weird thing is that Sifrid and Grimar actually seemed genuine with their words. How many Earth giants can you find that actually seem like they mean something they say from the bottom of their hearts? Very rare.

Since I was spending so much time being suspicious, I pretty much zoned out most of the performance. Sorry about that. But I also zoned out because I am not very good with dance move naming. That is more of Hearthstone's area than mine.

Speaking of my lovely elf, he was getting impatient. He kept getting ahead of himself and I had to keep pulling his arm so he'd stop moving. I knew he really wanted to get his runestone back and face whatever terrifying trial that was awaiting him in his backyard. "It will be better if I get it back now than later." He said when he first mentioned the plan to me.

At first he was insistent that he go alone, but I convinced him that Magnus, Sam, Alex and I should come along too. But if you have read this thing from the beginning then you know we added about eight more demigods so now we are a wandering group of travellers in search of a stupid stone with magical properties.

Jason and Frank came back with as much approval as Percy, Nico and Leo did. "Jason maybe you should stick to leading the Roman armies than entertaining people." Percy teased him. As for Frank, he was being consoled by Nico and getting 'Cheer up kisses' from Hazel.

Hearth was really bouncing on his feet now. One performance left and then we could get this show over with. Magnus and Sam went over there plan one more time before they got their buts onstage.

They did pretty well, if you ask me. Their timing was good and their voices were clear. The giants loved their choice of song. They got more cheers than the Greek and Roman dance teams combined. Being a Norse demigod myself I will say this: One point for the Norse!

When they started to sing, Jack came back with Riptide. Percy was acting like a father who hated the boy his daughter was dating. "Riptide! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?!" Annabeth slapped him upside the head and said, "Percy, you know that Riptide can't talk like Jack. And if she could, then she would be telling you to clean up after yourself."

After they finished, we were all called on stage so we could take a big bow. We held hands, we bowed and then we left the stage to the sound of applause. We soon decided to find the bride and groom of this wedding party and ask them if we could pretty please go get Hearth's rune stone.

We found them talking to some guests. As soon as they noticed us they turned to us, Grimar said, "Thank you so much for the helping with the entertainment." Hearth clapped his hands to get their attention and signed, "You are welcome. Now will you honour your part of the deal and let us get the runestone from the back yard?" I translated for the wedding couple. Sifrid almost immediately replied, "Yes of course. You go get what you need and be off. But again thank you."

As soon as were about to turn around, the place exploded with water geysers.

Sorry about taking so long to post this. First I had exam and homework rush. Next was a special Canada 150 trip to Ottawa where I didn't take my laptop. I write all my stories on Microsoft because I don't trust or like Google Docs. Now I'm on a two month vacation to visit family and I have no internet. I am posting this from a Cyber Café. Ain't that swell.

I hope everyone enjoys this. If I fudged up somewhere do not hesitate to tell me. Criticism and suggestions are as always, welcome.