Hermes' mission of messages
Chapter 10- Demeter gives the halfbloods free cereal
George
"Oh my gods, where is it?" George said nervously as he searched for Phobos' sword in frustration, "That guy could kill me in a split second." The train was starting to feel thicker with the fire. Smoke fumes filled the train carriage. Part of the train was breaking down. He has to find a way out… and quick!
After what felt like forever, he found some kind of a blade slightly glistening through the flames. The sword! He went closer to examine the sword's situation.
"You've got to be kidding me…" George muttered annoyingly.
The sword was lying on the floor behind a tall wall of fire. He tried to find a way around the fire, but right now, the only possible way is to grab the sword by going through the wall of fire. George lied on his stomach and reluctantly stretched out his hand. He closed his eyes as he let his arm go through the fire. Please let my arm be fine! Please let my arm be fine! He pleaded silently. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek. His body felt warmer than usual. He felt really uncomfortable.
At the other side of the fire, his hand found the grip of the sword. He pulled the sword back to him. George opened his eyes. He was tempted to see if his hand was not dripping with blood. His next concern was jumping off the train. He grabbed the remaining bags, tightened his grip on the sword and leaped from the edge of the train.
He plummeted into a field. Various types of berries and wheat were planted and grown on fields everywhere. He scanned the farm and noticed two girls running towards him, followed by a boy who was somewhat limping towards him. It took George a few seconds to recognize them. Louise rushed over to George, dumped the bag and kneeled down next to him.
"Hey what happened?" Louise asked.
George explained the whole story after the other two caught up with Louise. Jake then examined the arm and his eyes widen.
"This is impossible…" He said, still studied the arm. George looked at his arm. He understood what Jake meant. The arm wasn't harmed at all. No burns except for the fact that the arm felt really hot.
"So what do you mean by this?" George asked Jake.
Nyssa stepped forward and said, "May I talk to George privately?"
Louise nodded "Anyway, I forgot to treat Jake with ambrosia" and walked away with Jake.
"What do you wanna ask about?" George said
Nyssa looked at him in the eye "Answer me honestly. Did you often encountered these types of situations when you were small?"
"Yeah," he admitted "there were times when I did something similar to what happened today. One time, I rescued a small girl from a fire in the neighbourhood. You know what I mean right?"
She nodded and asked him to continue.
"Basically, whenever I'm near fire, my senses kinda feel clearer. I feel stronger. I feel like someone charged me with an extra dose of energy. And I guess that energy gives me that rare strength to touch fire occasionally."
There was a short pause. Nyssa cleared her throat, "So you can touch fire, but not always."
"Yeah."
"Well, okay."
Nyssa and George stood up and dusted the soil from their clothes. Louise sprinted over to them. Jake followed along with Louise. "So the ambrosia worked?" George guessed.
"You betcha!" Jake said with a grin.
"Where are we heading to next? We gotta find Demeter." Nyssa said.
"Speaking of Demeter," Louise said with a smirk "You guys didn't realize that we are on Demeter's farm."
"Really?" Jake said, laughing, "Strange."
"Come let's knock on the door." Louise said as she grabbed the bags and walked to the small farmhouse. The other three started walking to the house as well.
Once they were standing infront of the door, they noticed something different about the door's design. There were vines intertwined between the spaces of the door. There was also a lock securing the door knob. Under their feet was a welcome mat, which said instead of Welcome it said (in Greek) If you couldn't understand this, ring the bell!
"Well, should we call out or should we ring the bell," Jake sniggered "I'll just make it clear: WE UNDERSTAND WHAT'S WRITTEN!"
"What are you doing?" Louise said angrily "the goddess could hear-"
"Okay!" a voice replied "I'm coming!"
"Wow!" George snorted "That was quick!"
The goddess made a lot of noise inside. "Where is the key to the lock?" She said.
Louise heard what she said "Wait! Maybe I can open it!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, miss. Child of Hermes."
"Well then. Go ahead."
Louise clutched the lock tightly. She focused on the lock for a while. Her eyes turned surprisingly blue. Icy blue, even if her eyes are naturally dark brown. George also noticed that one strand of Louise's hair he saw when they were at sword practice. Blue with red. The click of the lock distracted his thoughts.
Nyssa pushed the door open and all of them stepped inside. The walls were covered with pastel floral wallpaper. There were vines with flowers pushing through the roof, which make the vines dangle from the ceiling. George thought that the room looks pretty if it weren't for the various flower and plant pots with sticky notes on it scattered everywhere.
Then, a lady appeared from a door in the room. She had dark hair pinned back in a messy bun adorned with a few daisies and pieces of grass. She was wearing a checkered shirt under denim overalls. On her feet were worn-out brown boots. She had brown eyes and was holding two pots: one with an olive plant and one with a violet.
"Yes," the goddess said, putting down the pots on the table, "How may I help you?"
"Lady Demeter," Louise said, "We've been sent by Hermes to deliver you some packages. I'm Louise, daughter of Hermes. George is the son of Ares. Jake is the son of Athena and Nyssa here is the daughter of Hephaetus"
"Oh how delightful!" Demeter smiled, "Please sit down for a second." She offered them a seat each and went back to the door she came in from.
The demigods put down their bags and rested them on the floor. After a few minutes, Demeter came back with some homemade halfbloods cookies and a jug of orange juice and placed it on the table.
She sat on another chair nearby and said, "So, these parcels, who are they mostly from?"
"Well," Jake explained, "Some of them are from camp, mostly from you children, and some of them are from the gods"
"Have you come pass any gods before you came here?"
"Yes, my lady, we came pass Aphrodite."
"Ok, you can hand me the parcels and help yourselves with some cookies" she said with a smile, holding up the plate of cookies.
George reached out for a cookie and filled his cup with juice. He ate the cookie. It was oatmeal and raisin. Definitely homemade. The orange juice wasn't that bad either. It was one of the freshiest and juiciest juices he ever tasted. He finished the cookie and grabbed another cookie.
"This is amazing." George mumbled between chews, brushing off crumbs from his lap.
"Neat Freak!" Jake joked, poking him with his elbow. In return, George kicked the side of his leg. Jake winced.
"Thank you sweetie" Demeter said casually in reply to George.
"Anyway," Louise said, "here are some letters and packages from camp and here are some from the gods."
"Did Aphrodite give me anything?" the goddess asked.
Louise shook her head and handed her a small box with 'Demeter' carved on it in Greek.
"That's typical of her anyway." Demeter snapped and opened the box. When she opened the box, letters, possibly from cabin 4 at camp, overflowed and fell to the floor. She picked them up and piled them on the table. There were seed packets at the bottom of the box and she pulled the packets up from the box and settled them on the table near the letters. There were also other packages that the goddess left behind in the box, but she just closed the box.
"I'll read these later" Demeter told them, "Anything else?"
"Actually, miss," Nyssa said softly, "Only one thing. Would you like to send anything to the other gods?"
"Oh right! Just wait!" the goddess exclaimed and went to a corner in the room. She came back with sacks of… Wheat? George guessed.
"Here they are. My finest grains of cereal." Demeter said proudly, handing the sacks over to them. When she handed it to George, it seemed pretty light but George doubt it. He could naturally handle heavy things so for him it was no biggie. But he looked at the other three and they didn't seem to have any problem carrying them.
"You may think it's heavy" Demeter said, "But it just looks heavy. It is honestly easy to carry, even with one hand."
"Sweet!" Jake commented and grabbed another sack and started lifting the two sacks with his hands as if the sacks are a weight and he's a weight-lifter. The bag on his right hand tipped over, but Nyssa caught it before it fell.
"Be careful," Demeter told them, "This cereal is one of my best plants, so you better take care of the sacks. This is one of the only times I get to grow my crops properly, in spring. Since my daughter Persephone is the goddess of spring, it is her duty to give us the perfect weather for us farmers and whoever works in the fields. This is usually why plants mostly grow in spring: because of the not-so-dry and not-so-wet weather. But do you know why is cereal important?"
"Here comes another lecture…" Jake said, yawning.
Demeter didn't seem to hear what Jake said and continued, "Cereal is one of the main sources of carbohydrates. It gives you energy. Eating this is in the morning would give you enough energy to do lots in the rest of the day. Especially my premium cereal, which you kids are handling now, would make you alert once you finish a bowl of it in the morning. Cereal is also good for-"
"Um lady Demeter," Nyssa said quietly, "sorry to interrupt you. But we still gotta deliver these packages with us."
"Oh right," Demeter agreed and lead the halfbloods to the door, carrying their bags with them, "Thank you for giving me the box. Give some of the cereal to the other god you meet and don't forget to some too."
They walked out of the house. The sun was scorching hot. All of them were sweating, even if they were just outside for a while. The bags seemed to be heavier now, weighing all of them down. George wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and after he wiped his head, the hankie was wet with sweat. He tucked it in his pocket.
"Hey," George said, "Why don't we eat while we can?"
"Ok," Nyssa agreed, "but where?" They dropped their bags and looked around.
"How about there?" Jake suggested, pointing to a pizzeria, that stood alone near the pavement.
"Sure!" Nyssa approved, "but we need-"
"I'll take care of that" Louise smirked, fishing out some euros from her jeans pocket.
"Alright, let's go!" George said, starting towards the restaurant.
Author's note: Only thing I'm gonna say is- I'll try updating this story more often. Please review/favourite/follow this story. Thanks for reading