The questers spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. They weren't attacked once, but none of them relaxed, not knowing when the next attack could happen.
The group tried to keep a low profile on Percy, his name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as they got off the Greyhound bus. He had a wild look in his eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.
The picture's caption read:
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.
"Don't worry," Annabeth told him. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
"Annie knows how to use the mist a little bit if it comes to it." Whiskers supplied, none of the passengers seemed to notice the fox the only one that did was a four-year-old, who tried to pet him. Whiskers didn't have the heart to tell her to go away, so he showed off a bit, knowing that in the future the girl would chalk this up to her childhood imagination. After he started hanging from the ceiling the girl ran to her parents, squealing about the magic fox, they said what an active imagination she had and gave her some chocolate to shut her up.
The demi-gods were uncomfortable in such a cramped space, Percy especially often wondered off, pacing the train to keep a handle on his ADHD. Annabeth had her book, but even then, she was constantly moving, her leg bouncing up and down, her fingers drumming on the spine of the book. The only one seemingly fine with this was Grover, he had been napping a lot.
The reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get in the sleeper car, so they simply dozed in their seats. Percy tried not to drool in his sleep, but failed, probably because Annabeth was sitting right next to him. She didn't seem to get the neck problems though, possibly due to the furry pillow she called Whiskers, who hung around her neck like one of those stuffed scarfs rich people had. Not a particularly nice description if the look of fear in his vulpine eyes was anything to go by after Percy mentioned this.
Grover kept snoring and bleating, seeming to have no problems sleeping, unfortunately he became the root cause of the other passenger's insomnia.
The only action to happen was when Percy spotted a family of centaurs, galloping across the fields of wheat. They had their bows out and were looking for food, when Whiskers heard this, he popped his head up and looked at them, he recognised them. They had been at camp one year, in fact the only reason the couple were together was because of Whiskers, the Stoll brothers and a prom dress.
Whiskers, decided to go out for a chat, he opened the window slightly and shrunk until he was small enough to fit through the gap and stuck to the side of the train. He yelled out to them and they spotted him, the father gestured for the rest of the family to go ahead as he galloped closer until he was coming in alongside the train, easily matching its pace.
"Whiskers!" The father of the family said, "what are you doing here on this fine day?"
"I'm on a quest, actually." Whiskers said with a grin, "got to make it to L.A."
"Sounds nice, so who's with you?"
"Annie of course."
"Naturally."
"Do you remember Grover, the satyr?"
"Yeah, little fella, last, I heard he was on parole, good to hear he's doing well for himself."
"And Percy Jackson, you wouldn't know him, he's a new camper, only here a few weeks."
"What's he doing on a quest then?"
"He's a son of Poseidon, it's his quest."
"Ah, such a shame, Chiron must have been annoyed sending an unprepared kid on a quest."
"Yeah, he was a bit, but Percy's a good kid, best swordfighter I've seen for a while."
"Well good for him, so why you headed to L.A. anyway?"
"Have to go to the underworld." At this the centaur stumbled a bit, before catching himself.
"What would you be doing in a place like that?" He asked warily.
"Sorry, can't say, you know how it is, I say something someone up there will set off the thunder." Thunder rumbled, "you know, like that."
"Fair enough." The centaur eyed the sky warily, "say, I don't think this train goes to L.A. I think it heads back, you sure you're on the right one?"
"Yeah, money's tight so we're going to figure out where we're going when we get there."
"Oh, that's a shame." He then looked over to where his family was, "well, if you're interested, me and the family are heading to Denver, we'll be heading to Vegas after that. Not sure how much good it'll do you, but it's closer than Denver."
"I couldn't ask you to do that." Whiskers said, "we'll find our own way, it-"
"No, I owe you for getting me together with my wife, think of this as me repaying my debt." The centaur said.
"But you're family, they-"
"Don't worry about it, my son always wanted to meet a son of Poseidon, he'll be delighted to get the chance, and my wife loves Annabeth, such a polite young girl."
"Thanks, I'll talk to Annie about it, she might have a plan, but-"
"Just in case, right?" The centaur smiled, "we'll be in the Barr Lake forest park, there's an archery range there, hoping to teach my kid about the differences between our archery and the human type. You'll find us with that nose of yours, so just go there."
"Thanks, if we find another way I'll try and call in and say, but you know how quests are, we might have to leave in a rush, so if we don't make it to you-"
"You're probably already gone, I understand, I got to go now, hopefully catch some lunch, need to be careful though, there've been reports of the Nemean lion around these parts."
"Right, be careful, I'll hopefully see you soon."
"Yeah, well see you." The horse-man turned to go away.
"Yeah, and Firenze," he turned back, "thanks for this."
"No problem."
Whiskers crawled back into the carriage and came face to face with his worst nightmare, an annoyed Annabeth.
"Where were you?" She asked, her voice deadly calm.
"Just went out for a bit of fresh air." He replied, "ran into an old friend, you remember Firenze, right, well him and his family were going by, and boy do I have a surprise for you when we get to Denver."
"You should have said before you just disappear like that." Annabeth said, "no matter how good that is, you need to say before going away, I need to know you're safe. You had me so worried."
"Percy knew where I was." Whiskers said childishly, she turned a menacing glare to the son of Poseidon, who in turn sent a withering glare to the fox.
"Well, all that matters," Percy began, "is that we're all safe."
"Oh, shut up Seaweed Brain."
From then on, it was pretty boring, well except for the proof that the Nemean lion was in the area, it didn't bother them, it just showed up, then left. Some monsters should take lessons from it.
Grover had once again dozed off, only this time, he shuffled around, and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and Percy had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed, not sure if the mist would cover random amputation.
"So," Annabeth asked, once they'd solved the problem with Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"
Percy shifted nervously, obvious uncomfortable saying anything. He told her it was the second time he'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit.
Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."
"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"
"I guess... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"
Percy shook his head, wishing he knew the answer.
"Because he clearly doesn't have it." Whiskers voiced, still wrapped around Annabeth's neck, "so I was right."
"Maybe, but he's our only lead."
"Why do I get the feeling that this will bite me in the ass."
"What?"
"The fact that you won't listen to me."
She promptly ignored him after that as he went on a rant about being ignored.
Maybe Grover sensed one of the other questers tumbling emotions, the fear and nervousness. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.
Annabeth readjusted his cap, so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"
"This time?" he asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"
Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."
"What would you do if it was your dad?"
"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot." Whiskers looked sad at her answer.
"You're not serious?"
Annabeth's grey eyes fixed on Percy, Whiskers looked at him, silently telling him to drop it. Unfortunately, it was too late, her expression morphed into her monster fighting one. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."
"But how... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."
Annabeth glared at him before her gaze turned to the grey roof of the train, "I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."
Whiskers gently stroked her hair, with his paws, like he was trying to pet her in the same way she pets him. Percy stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by.
"My mom married a really awful guy," he told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."
Annabeth kept wringing her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. Her father's.
"He doesn't care about me," she said, softly. "His wife, my stepmom, treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened, you know, something with monsters, they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."
"How old were you?"
"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."
"But... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."
"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I met Whiskers here," she smiled at the fox and scratched under his chin, "he took care of me, stole for me, kept me safe, and in return I taught him to speak."
"Wow, wait, you just taught him to speak?" Percy asked, awe and confusion on her face.
"No, he could speak, or at least he tried, he could copy my words, so I taught him how to use them properly. It took a while, but he was a quick learner. You don't think I can actually just train any old fox to speak, no. Whiskers is special." She grinned at him and scratched behind his ears.
"But even then, how did you find camp? Did Whiskers know? Or did you just sort of find it?"
"I made a couple of other friends, they took care of us, for a short time, anyway, until our guide came." She cast a quick glance at the sleeping satyr.
Percy looked ready to ask more about what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories, and he thought better of it.
So, he listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by.
Toward the end of the second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, they passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city to Percy.
"I want to do that," she sighed.
"What?" Percy asked.
"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"
"Only in pictures."
"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."
Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"
He didn't know why, but found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.
Whiskers swatted the son of Poseidon with his tail and glared at him for making fun of his best friend, her cheeks, meanwhile flushed, even as she petted her fox. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."
Percy looked down.
"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."
"Can't we work together a little?" he pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"
Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So, they had to work together to make it complete."
"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"
They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.
"I suppose," she said at last.
They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom said they'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.
Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."
"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."
"Sightseeing?"
"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"
Grover and Percy exchanged looks, while Whiskers happily jumped from her neck to the ground where he trotted beside her.
Percy wanted to say no, but figured that if Annabeth was going, they couldn't very well let her go alone, or with only her ever-present foxy companion.
Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."
The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. They threaded their way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling them 'interesting' facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing jelly beans, so Percy was pretty happy.
Percy kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" he murmured to Grover.
He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
But something was wrong, and Percy wasn't the only one who could feel it, Whiskers was glancing about as well.
"Guys," Percy said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"
Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"
"Well, Hade-"
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"
"Um, right," he said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"
"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."
"He was there?" Percy asked.
She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus. The darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true..."
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"
"But then... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked.
Annabeth, Whiskers and Grover exchanged looks.
"We don't," Grover said.
"But if it makes you feel any better, he probably has better things to do with his time."
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"
Percy was hoping about uncomfortably when he saw the elevator they were going through, most demi-gods didn't kike cramped spaces, but Percy took that to a new level.
They were shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it, though they passed with a silver talking fox so who was he to talk.
They started going up, inside the Arch. Now Percy had never read Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory, but he had seen the movie when he was younger, the curved elevator going up the arch was what he imagined the great glass elevator was like.
"No parents?" the fat lady asked.
She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.
"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."
"Oh, the poor darlings."
The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, Sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious. They were set specifically on Whiskers, who after hearing the growl turned and gave a growl of his own.
Percy spoke up, "Sonny. Is that his name?"
"No," the lady told him, with a smile, as if that cleared everything up.
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck looked like a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything Percy was less comfortable with than a confined space, it's confined space six hundred feet in the air. Percy kept his eyes closed after he first glanced over and saw the city.
Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor, Whiskers occasionally jumping in with an idea to help improve it, she shot most of them down or improved on them, but he sounded like he could actually speak her language, even if only the basics. He seemed to think just like Annabeth did, but with the amount of time they spent together he had to pick something up.
They probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for the sane, the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.
Percy steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and was about to get in himself when he realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for him.
Suddenly one of the tourists had a sneezing fit and glared at Whiskers, who was in Annabeth's arms at this point, he said something to one of the rangers and he told Annabeth to leave him with Percy.
"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."
But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so Percy said, "Naw, it's okay. we'll see you guys at the bottom."
Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.
Now the only people left on the observation deck were Percy, Whiskers, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.
Percy smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.
Oh.
Before Percy could comprehend that that had happened, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at Whiskers.
"Now, now, Sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."
"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"
His parents pulled him back, as the Chihuahua bared his teeth at the fox, foam dripping from his black lips. Whiskers was currently in front of Percy and bared his teeth at the slightly smaller creature, they stared each other down, both snarling at each other.
"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."
Percy glanced nervously at the woman. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"
"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."
She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, you could see that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's.
The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.
The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.
The Chimera was now so tall it's back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS—IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954.
Percy hadn't even uncapped his sword. He was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and knew that as soon as he moved, the creature would lunge. The only thing in between them was the now much smaller fox, who still held his ground against the monster's larger form.
Percy looked at the small fox, he then asked a stupid question, "um, Whiskers, can you do that?"
Whiskers turned and glared at him, he then sighed and grew slightly, he was now about the same size as a large dog. It would have been impressive if his opponent wasn't a Chimera that was nearly bigger than the room they were currently in.
Percy sighed, and Whiskers glared at him again, before turning to face the monster in front of them.
The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honoured, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"
Percy stared at her blankly. Whiskers did the same. Then they both said in unison: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"
She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"
The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. Whiskers lunged too but was pushed back by the monster's larger form, the monster ignored what it took as a nuisance and kept going for Percy, who managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.
Percy ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. Whiskers had managed to move himself so that he was on the monsters back, holding on with his tail wrapped around the other creature's torso, he then bit the chimera in the shoulder, it howled and tried to dislodge the fox. Whiskers let go of the monster with his tail, which wrapped around the snake tail of the Chimera as it lunged at him, he held it by the mouth, so it couldn't bite him, but it was trying to escape.
Percy looked back at the family, determination in his eyes. He uncapped his sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than he would've thought possible, ignoring the literal pain in the neck as it took notice of the slightly glowing blade.
Before he could swing the sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him.
He dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off his eye brows.
Where he had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.
Great. They just blow torched a national monument.
Riptide was now a shining bronze blade, and as the Chimera turned, Percy slashed at its neck, avoiding the fox, who was struggling to hold on with his teeth as the tails fought for dominance.
That proved to be a fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. The monster twisted, finally dislodging the fox as Percy tried to regain his balance, but he was so worried about defending himself against the fiery lion's mouth, he completely forgot about the serpent tail until it managed to escape its furry prison and whipped around, sinking its fangs into his calf. It then whipped back and wrapped around Whiskers torso, biting where the head ended up, at his neck, before flinging him towards the family, he managed to stop himself from hitting them, he changed form once more, his body growing to match that of a small pony in a futile attempt to slow the poisons progress by giving it more area to go through. At the very least he would last a little longer.
Percy grunted, and he tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around his ankles and pulled him off balance, his blade flew out of his hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.
He managed to get to his feet, but knew he had lost. He imagined Whiskers felt the same, he too had been bit by the monstrous snake and had its venom coursing through him.
Percy was weapon less, he could feel deadly poison racing up to his chest. He remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to him, but there was no pen in his pocket. Whiskers on the other hand had the same venom flowing through his veins but stood, he turned to the monster and snarled out a growl that sounded worse than the chimeras own. Percy could have sworn the monster flinched at that, but after a look from its mother it growled back and stood its ground.
Whiskers and the monster circled each other for a few seconds before the fox lunged at the monster, the monster was ready, and the snake tail swung around to tear into the flesh of the fox. Whiskers had expected this though and managed to bite down on the snake head before it bit him. The lion howled and swiped with his paw, Whiskers hit the wall near Percy, he grunted but grinned at the monster, whose tail now hung uselessly.
"You'll pay for that vermin!" Echidna howled as the Chimera marched forward.
The two of them backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips, it glanced warily at Whisker who stood in its path. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"
The monster growled, as if saying 'shut up that hurt,' it seemed in to be nervous of the fox, he didn't seem to be in as much pain as Percy was.
Percy glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. They had to protect these people.
He then glanced to the river, Whiskers followed his gaze.
There was no place else to go, so he stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered.
"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."
The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast aimed at Whiskers.
"You have no faith," Echidna told him. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."
She was right: He was dying, his breath was slowing down. Nobody could save him, Whiskers was also suffering, but he somehow wasn't as bad, his breathing was off, but he showed no other signs of the venom affecting him.
Percy looked at Whiskers in front of him, he stood firm, even with a fire breathing monster in front of him. Percy decided to be like him, he would face his death fighting.
"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward Whiskers, who stood guarding Percy, he turned, time seemed to slow, Whiskers looked him in the eye, before swatting him through the hole with his tail, he was not expecting that. As he fell he looked to where Whiskers had stood, there was just a blazing inferno of flame, Percy felt like crying. The fox had saved him, he gave him the chance to heal from the damage inflicted to him by the poison, he looked down to the water as he fell.
"Father, help me," he prayed.
He fell, poison coursing through his veins, minus the friend that had saved his life, 'hopefully', he thought as he plummeted toward the river.
(With the jinchuuriki)
Team B had made some good distance this time, they had therefore decided to camp out for the night, the three of them were tired. So they entered the mindscape and decided to talk more about the lack of elemental abilities they could use.
"So, if we can't use our elemental powers then what can we use?" Fu asked.
"Well, we can use weapons, your dad already gave you yours." Utakata said, out of all of them, he was probably the most put off by the loss of his powers. He used his pipe to blow bubbles constantly, without it he felt really stressed, he was normally laid back because he always used his pipe to calm himself, without it, he got snappier, "I don't know what you've got to complain about."
"Well, Roshi's got his spear, Fu's got her bow, B and Yagura can still use their elements, and Garra can still use his sand. The rest of us should only use taijutsu or just stay out of the fight" Hana said.
"We can always use brute force." Yugito said, after she found out she was the daughter of the love goddess she had been a bit annoyed by it, she was a kunoichi, not some princess.
"Not a good idea," Garra said, "until we can get you some weapons you should all just leave the fighting to us, we aren't going to face many more monsters, we're nearly there."
As if to prove him wrong, team B were jolted awake by an intrusion to their camp, there was a hissing noise close to them, they turned and saw a large lizard like creature standing in front of them. It had six heads, each diamond shaped and hissing at them, there were two heads looking at each of them hungrily. They all looked at each other, before quickly getting into battle stances. They turned and looked each head in the eye, Roshi pulled his spear out, B cackled with lightning, Yugito grew claws and looked ready to pounce,
The hydra looked nervous for a moment, most demi-gods would panic at the sight of it, but these demi-gods were not what they seemed, it smelled them and assumed they would be easy targets. Suddenly one of the heads spat acid at what it considered to be the weakest, Yugito dived out of the way before rolling to her feet and smirking,
B fired bolts of lightning at the head, which hurt it enough for it to scream out. Roshi jumped at another head and drove the spear into its open mouth before channelling some lava into it, it howled as its tongue was sent up in flames, the head slowly started to melt until all that was left was a limp neck.
Yugito launched at her head, claws digging into the gaps between the scales, she stabbed as many places as she could, the head now had dozens of scales covered in its blood. Yugito was currently on the back of its head as it bucked trying to get her off, she dug her nails into one scale, before pulling with all her might, the scale came loose, and it howled in agony. She then saw the weak flesh that was underneath the scale and smirked darkly, she raised her hand and pointed all her claws down before violently stabbing down into the unguarded flesh, straight through the skull and into the brain. The head fell limp like the other.
"What was that?" Yugito asked, staring at the monster.
"I don't know." Roshi replied, he hated not knowing. Then it clicked, "hydra."
Suddenly something strange happened, the stumps where the heads were now smoking, then to their confusion and great disgust, new heads grew from the stumps. There were now seven heads hissing angrily at them. Roshi was analysing the creature, he noticed that one of the stumps still remained, the head he took care of, with lava.
"We need to cauterise its wound, when we slice a head off." He told his siblings, "I'll take care of that, just take care of the heads." The got to work, each doing the same thing as before, Yugito tore through the flesh much faster now, knowing each weak point and managed to tear off two heads before jumping off. B launched bolts of lightning at it, blowing apart some of the heads while Roshi concentrated.
They slowly forced the monster to back up, it slipped, its claws not made for the muddy terrain they wre fighting on, none of the heads saw the ditch in the ground until it was too late. Finally, the time came.
"Move out of the way!" Roshi called to his siblings, they backed away from the now trapped monster, nine heads were missing but had already begun to grow again, Roshi snarled, in his hands was his spear but it was completely covered in lava. He brought the bottom of the spear to his lips, making it look like a mix between a lava lamp and a long tin whistle. He then blew into it and a stream of lava was sent flying towards the trapped monster, the stream hit it and it screamed in agony before being silenced, Roshi stopped his stream. There was nothing there except a pool of lava.
"Well…" B said, looking at her brother in awe, "I think we can all agree… this is all Garra's fault, you see."
Speaking of, Garra and Utakata were having a good time, no monsters had caught them, and they could jump through trees like they used to at home. The trees were smaller granted, but they still felt the nostalgia. The two of them were actually enjoying themselves, chatting away about unimportant things. They had made it to Elk mountain, and were making good progress, so they decided to take a break for lunch, taking out some of the food they had pre-packed, chicken sandwiches, and a side of coke.
"Well, what do we do if we don't find him hear?" Garra asked
"We look in the other camp, if he's not there… he'll be in one of them." Utakata replied, between bites.
"Yeah, Apollo said he had a feeling about it." Garra said, trying to convince him.
"When did he say this?" The six tailed jinchuuriki asked.
"A while ago, Fu told me." He supplied.
"Right, okay." He said, trying to hide the slight hurt that no one had told him this, he had been going under the assumption that this whole thing was one big wild goose chase, but when a god, the god of prophecies, says it will happen, well that's pretty close to evidence.
"Anyway, we should get going." The redhead said, standing up and brushing crumbs off him.
"Yeah, at the pace we're going…" He stopped, there was noise coming from the underbrush. They both turned, ready to face their opponent, and weren't disappointed.
A Dracaena slithered into their clearing, a net in one hand and a trident in the other, she reached nearly ten feet in height and her scales glinted green as the sun hit them, perfect for this environment, why she hadn't set up a trap was anyone's guess. She hissed at them, before speaking, "demi-godsss, your blood ssshall feed me for ssome time."
Garra raised his hands, his sand rising with them, streams of sand hovered around the two demi-gods ready to react to her next move. She moved with surprising grace and speed, it was almost like she was swimming through the ground, tails trailing behind her, Garra's sand almost didn't react in time.
As she raised her trident, the sand moved and caught it, but the creature wasn't as surprised as she should have been. She dropped the spear immediately and managed to go around the sand, she was behind Garra before he knew it, but his sand stopped her strike. A small knife, previously hidden was in her hands, it flew and was caught by the sand, but it seemed he hadn't been paying enough attention, one of the tails that was in front of him snapped like a whip. Before the sand could stop it, it struck true and Garra was thrown back, into the waiting arms of the monster, fangs at the ready.
Garra was surprised but as the monster was about to catch him, he was ripped out of the air, Utakata caught him and they were sent to a tree, where he landed. The branch groaned, but held firm, Garra over his brother's shoulder in a fireman's lift. He set him down and he looked annoyed.
"What are you doing? She was playing into my hand. I was going to use my-"
"Shh, don't give her the advantage." He said, "there's something suspicious about this, she knew how your sand worked, and had found a way around it."
"Your saying someone told her my weakness?" He asked, a frown marred his face, the only people outside the jinchuuriki who had any idea of his powers were the gods.
"No, well I'm not sure. She knew some of your abilities, she clearly didn't have a plan for what happened next, so she only knows some of your skills." He looked at the snake who had been eyeing them warily, "she's testing us, or rather, her boss is. They're trying to find a weakness, what are the chances that she was this prepared?"
"Low." Garra said, he then glanced at the monster, "if we're being tested, then someone is wary of us." Utakata nodded, "well then, let's give them something to be wary of." He raised his hands and the earth shook, the snack kept her balance, but looked down warily, then the earth exploded, sand immersed the clearing, the snake woman in the centre, she tried to get out, but the sand was moving like a whirlpool.
Garra then moved his hands and the sand circled around the snake, "sand binding coffin." He said, The only part of the woman visible was her face and her tails, which wriggled like worms, "sand waterfall funeral." The sand imploded, instead of the usual blood exploding outward, it appeared as if the snake had disappeared, until they noticed the slight golden tinge to his sand.
"Who would be testing us like this." Garra said, watching as the sand made its way back under ground, he shifted the dirt about, making it look like it was back to normal, before his normal sand reappeared in bag form once more.
"No idea, but the chances that they're an Olympian is low, the only possible choices being Zeus, Ares, Demeter, Hermes or Dionysus. Zeus may be annoyed at his wife's… infidelity, sorry."
"No problem."
"Or my existence, it's not secret he hates his brothers children, but this is unlikely, if he kills me, he has too much to lose, the same with you. Ares may be a choice, he loves any conflict, but he wouldn't leave it at this I don't think. Demeter is relatively peaceful the only reasons she's a suspect is that she is one of the few of them without one of us as a kid, same with Hermes, but that is unlikely. Dionysus is currently grounded, so I doubt it was him."
"So, who was it if not an Olympian? One of the other gods?"
"Doubtful, I don't think they would want to face the wrath of either Hera or Hades," 'assuming he cares.' He secretly though, "so I don't think any of them would do it."
"Maybe it is a group of monsters."
"Maybe." He said uneasily, "but they clearly don't know the full scope of our abilities, would they really sacrifice one of their own like that?"
"I don't know, they're monsters, maybe they thought they knew everything. We won't know until we find out more about them."
"Okay."
"We'll tell the others later tonight."
"Yeah, I wonder how Hana is doing, her hearing should be better soon."
"Yeah, only a few more days and she'll be fine, or so Fu says."
As it was, Hana was not doing fine, she was currently in an argument with her two sisters, both of whom were siding against her.
"You cannot go out." Yagura said, "you're not fully healed yet, you won't be for a while, so you have to stay here until you're healthy again."
"I'll be fine, I just want a change of scenery, maybe go find something interesting to do." Hana said, she had been going mad trapped in the ship, the only entertainment being B's boombox, something she couldn't even enjoy since she was still hard of hearing.
"No," Fu said, "you can't, if something happens… you can't go."
"What if you come with me?" She asked.
The two of them were contemplating, they too were getting kind of sick of the same old stuff, but Fu was constantly tired from healing her sister, and Yagura felt obligated to protect them even if Hana repeatedly said it wasn't her fault.
"I don't think I'll be much good in a fight now." Fu said, she was right, she had only taken a break from a healing session an hour ago, and was feeling exhausted. Normally if she ever felt tired she would get back to normal in a matter of minutes, one of the perks of being a jinchuuriki, but this was a different kind of tired. It was like using a muscle you have never used before, the only thing she could compare it to, was the first time she used her wings. Even then, she was better at the normal rate of a jinchuuriki.
"I could take you alone." Yagura said, though she sounded unsure.
"Yeah, now let's go." Hana said, she absentmindedly reached for her hat, before remembering she had kept it off, along with her face mask. She hadn't been covering her face since she had been injured, her siblings hadn't judged her like she feared, which was a relief, but now she was going to be going out in public. "Where's my hat and mask?"
Fu looked torn for a second, she then winced, "I'm sorry sis, but you can't wear it."
"What? Bu-but I-"
"I don't want there to be any chance of something knocking into it, the last thing we need is for something to re-open. You don't need to worry about infection, though, dad said that this isn't as much healing as a small blessing, basically I'm blessing you, and you're being healed by it. It's so slow because demi-gods can't bless like regular gods, so I'm doing it a little bit at a time."
"But, I'm…" Hana looked terrified.
"Hana, it won't be like in the elemental nations." Yagura tried, "besides, why would you care what some mortal thinks?"
"Yeah, yeah your right." Hana lied, the urge for a change of scenery was too promising, she could deal with some mortals, right?
So they set off, Fu went to get some much needed sleep, and Hana put on most of her armour, with the obvious exception of her face. They exited the ship and walked across the water, disturbing a few nymphs from a nap, but otherwise going unseen, there was very few trees and the hot sun beat down on them. Hana almost wanted to take of some more of her armour, but decided against it. They walked around, getting to the road and following it, there was no one else around, probably smart, the mid-day sun would burn most other people, but Hana was a daughter of Hephaestus, it would take a whole lot more to burn her. Yagura's father was the god of the oceans, he gave her a natural defence from the burning sun, even so, Apollo must have been annoyed today. So annoyed that the air around them shimmered and anything with metal on it looked like a light bulb from all the light reflected off it.
The two of them wondered down the road, following it until they came to the first big building, a shopping centre. Both of them were getting a bit sick of Apollo at this point, so they decided that, just for the sake of being inside, when they entered a few employees, door greeters, glanced up at them, like they hadn't expected anyone to be around. They stared at Yagura for a moment, before their gaze fell to her sister. The two of the female gagged for a minute, before trying to compose themselves, while the two male employees looked slightly disgusted but like the girls, tried to compose themselves, neither of the two groups could stop sneaking glances at Hana.
Hana shuffled nervously at their looks, bad memories coming back to her of her days in Iwa, Yagura looked pissed.
"Can we help you?" One of the male employees said, but to Hana it sounded like a muffled whisper, it took her a moment to realise something. Her sisters had been shouting every time she was around, she thought her hearing was improving a lot more, apparently, she was wrong.
"No, we're just browsing." Yagura said, her voice loud enough for Hana to hear, the employee's jumped at the loudness of her, clearly not expecting her to be shouting.
"Okay, umm, call us if you need anything." He said, before the two of them took off, Yagura glaring at them as she passed.
The two of them passed by several shops, ignoring them immediately as they were all beauty related, Hana didn't want to go anywhere near those shops. They walked around until they came to an ATM, realising that they needed to grab some money if they actually wanted to buy anything, the whipped out their cards and left the machine with a hundred bucks.
"Where do you want to go?" Yagura asked.
"Is there an electronics store about, I've been needing parts for a while, I've been planning on incorporating something into my armour." Hana said. They searched for a while before finally coming across a small shop, it looked new, and was called 'The Forge' pretty simple naming choice.
The inside of a store was well organised, computers were in one side, TV's on another, gaming consoles took up the back wall. What drew Hana's attention though, was a large basket that took up the middle of the room, going from floor to ceiling. There were some holes in it, allowing her to see what was inside, but how the stuff stayed inside with such large holes in the side was a miracle. It was the most random assortment of equipment too, just in one hole, she could see circuit boards, hammers, soldering irons and saws.
Yagura said she was going to check out the TV's, claiming that if they were going to be on the boat for a while longer they would at least have some entertainment. Hana walked over to the basket, she circled it, looking through the holes to see what else was there, it just got even weirder. A robotic arm, a music monitor, a bike pump, a drill, and a band facer? How would anyone put that in there, never mind take it out.
"Something interesting." A hard voice said, loud enough for her to hear, she twirled around and came face to face with an employee. For a moment she was shocked with his appearance, he had blisters all over his face, his lumpy malformed face. She couldn't see his jaw because of the thick beard covering it, but from the looks of it, it was just as lumpy as the rest of his head. His shoulders were wonky, like they were racing to get away from his face, the one on the right was winning, a few inches lower than the left. Looking down, she saw that one of his legs was missing, in its place, a prosthetic one made out of bronze?
Hana felt like she recognised him, but couldn't place the face, one would remember a face like that, a face only a mother could love, or not in his case, "Hephaestus?" she questioned.
"Shh," He looked up like he was expecting the ceiling to attack, "don't say my name, he's mad enough that Apollo has been visiting his daughter. Just call me-" He was trying to think up an alias, but Hana interrupted.
"Dad?" The god looked taken aback, but a small smile appeared, though mostly hidden by his beard.
"Yes, call me dad." He said.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I…" He looked surprised for a minute, "I just wanted to meet you."
"Oh…"
"And apologise." She looked confused, "you… you look like me." He sounded sad, "and I know that must be hard, you shouldn't have to feel ashamed of yourself."
"I… you don't need to apologise for that." Hana said, sounding uncomfortable, "it's who I am, I'm your daughter."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not the best at talking with others." The god admitted, "machines, I can handle, but you humans-"
"I'm not human," Hana said, "I'm a jinchuuriki."
"That doesn't make you any less-"
"It does." She looked away, "they never treated us like humans, to them we were weapons, monsters, things. I don't want to be put in the same boat as them." She said, then turned to him, "if they don't think of us as human, why should we?"
Hephaestus looked surprised at her words, before he took a deep breath, "I guess I understand where you're coming from, for a long time I wasn't considered to be the same as any of the other gods. My own mother…" He scowled, "You're right, though, you're not human, you're more than them, you're a demi-goddess, your partially divine, that means you're above them. No matter what they say or think."
Hana was silent for a while, before she looked back at him, "thanks, dad." She said, they sat in silence for a while, "can I ask something?" The god nodded, "why do you have the ancient laws, they just seem to make your lives miserable, you can't talk with your kids, you can't save them, it just seems…"
"Cruel." She inclined her head, he snorted, "they are cruel, many of us wish we could break them, but, the consequences would be too great."
"What consequences? You're gods."
"Yes, and we argue, just look how… Never mind, point is, if us gods fight, bad things would happen, the laws are there to make sure that there are no fights, or at the very least, no wars. In theory, we don't interfere with the mortal world, none of us destroy said world if we fight. These days though…"
"Why, what's going on?" Hana asked, rather perplexed.
"Nothing, nothing that concerns you." He sighed.
"But maybe we could help, is there something going on with the gods?"
"Please, just stay out of this, we're keeping you out of this for a reason." He said, "besides, if all goes well with that son of Poseidon, everything will be fine."
"Son of Poseidon? Yagura's brother?"
"You've met?" He looked slightly surprised.
"Not officially, Poseidon brought Yagura to see him, we all just sort of tagged along." Hana explained, "after that he gave her the boat."
"Ah yes, fabulous piece of machinery, if I do say so myself."
"You made it?"
"Of course, granted I didn't make the engine, Poseidon's got a patent on that, one of his cyclopes kids made it, interesting concept, but takes too long to charge and overheats." He winced as he looked up to her again, "and is very unsafe, only meant to be used by his kids."
"Yeah…" She didn't know what to say.
"So, how long until you're fully healed?"
"A few more days. How do you know by the way?"
"We keep tabs on you, I think you're siblings have had a few visitors, not all of them, but Apollo hasn't been too subtle. The only reason I haven't visited earlier was because you haven't been in my domain, I am bending the laws doing this, but I'm not breaking them. Though it's still best not to let anyone know."
"Right."
"I know you're heading to the… other camp, but be careful, they're not the friendlies people, and I'm not too sure how they've received the two who came with you."
"Temari and Kankuro?"
"Yeah, my mother's children." He looked slightly annoyed, "I never thought she'd ever have demi-gods."
"What do you mean they mightn't have been well received."
"That camp is very traditional, I'm not sure how two children of a goddess who, in the past, has been very against demi-gods."
"You mean they might kill them?"
"I'm not sure, my mother would likely put a stop to that before they were hurt, but they have a tendency to go by their silly little traditions before anything else." He took another look at the ceiling, "I'd best get going, I think he'll notice me if I'm here any longer, though he's been busy, he still tries to keep an eye on your group. All of us do, just remember that, and if you ever need help, just ask, I mightn't be direct, 'no direct contact' and so on, but I'll try to give you an idea."
He then disappeared in a pillar of flame, before the jinchuuriki could think of anything else to say, from the flames a note came out though:
Help yourself to anything in the store by the way,
just give this card up to the checkout.
Beneath was a discount card that read '100%' all purchases, even though they had their own money, it was nice to know her dad cared. She looked at the card and then to the large basket in the middle of the room, a smile on her face.
Yagura was annoyed. As she had walked through the TV section, an employee came, and tried to flirt with her. It was infuriating, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. As she tried to explain for the last time that she wasn't interested someone cleared their throat, the two turned and Yagura found her father glaring at the boy, who turned an interesting shade of white at the very large, intimidating god.
"Hey dad." She said, taking great satisfaction in the boy becoming even paler.
"Hey." The boy scrambled off, and the god smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Yagura asked in confusion, "not that I mind or anything."
"I just felt like you could use some help," he tried to smile but it looked forced, the jinchuuriki noticed that he looked tired, not that he looked any different, just in his demeaner.
"You came all this way just because some boy was trying to flirt with me."
"Yes." He said bluntly.
"Thanks." There was a short pause, "why do you look so tired?" she finally asked.
He smiled again, once more it looked forced, "just some stress, nothing to worry about." He said, though she could tell he was lying, you'd think a few thousand years would make you a good liar.
"Dad, you can tell me." She said.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, your brother is on a quest, I'm just a little worried about him. Right now, he's on a train for Denver."
"Where's he headed?"
"L.A. he is going to visit my brother." He scowled.
"Wait, what?! You mean… umm, your brother… downstairs?"
"Yeah," he scowled again.
"Why, what's the quest?"
He seemed to realise something and shook his head, "nothing you need get involved in."
"Come on, tell me, maybe we can help, we're heading in the same direction, sort of, if he needs a lift, we can get him a bit further, probably only as far as Las Vegas, I think that's where the stop after this one is, then we're at the sea, and it'll be smooth sailing from there. It'll speed up his journey and he won't have to wait long."
"I don't want you involved in this quest Yagura." He said.
"We aren't getting involved, just giving him a lift, we're going in the same direction anyway, and we've got a little more room, now that the others are on ahead."
Poseidon looked torn, "if you promise me that you won't get involved in this quest any more, and you promise to make sure he doesn't reveal the nature of the quest, that includes your siblings. They can't know what the quest is about, none of us want to get you involved in this."
"Fine, we won't pry about the details. So where will we meet him?"
"I'll try and send someone to him, and tell him to meet you at… the train station, do you think you could pick them up?"
"Yeah. I'll tell the other two about this, I'm glad I get to meet him."
"Yeah." Poseidon smiled, it looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Right." Another pause, "hey, I don't suppose you could recommend any good movies, I think I'm going to invest in a TV, the boat doesn't have much on it at the moment."
"A yes, the boat, how is it?"
"Great, thank you so much for it. It's been such a help getting us to the Roman-" she paused, remembering that the gods shifted forms at the mention of their other personality, her father didn't.
"Don't worry, we can normally handle our separate forms, just sometimes saying certain things surprise us and we switch forms. Besides, Neptune's busy right now I think." He looked a bit miffed for a moment though, "never was a fan of Rome though. They didn't like me too much either." He then grinned, "oh yes, you're looking for movie recommendations, hmm."
"Yeah, back in the elemental nations I saw a few of them, but here, they look so much better, bigger and grander."
"Yes, your old world was lacking in some things."
"Old-"
"But I have the perfect movie for you." He opened his palm and a DVD box appeared in his hands, she read the cover and was confused.
"Monty Python: the life of Brian?" She asked.
"Yes," he smirked, "it's set during Roman times, one of the best movies ever in my opinion. My nephew really out-did himself with Monty Python." He gave a soft chuckle, "it seems… appropriate." He smirked, "I know you'll love it." He then materialised some more DVD's, "the entire Monty Python collection, for your journey back."
"Thanks." She took the box, "are they historically accurate or…" she stopped at her father's chuckles.
"Yes, well all of the Roman scenes are, the rest is mostly made up."
"Well thanks." She turned around and saw Hana start to walk away to another section, a slip of paper in her hands, "I'd best be going." She said as she turned and ran up to her sister.
Poseidon waved her away, but lingered, watching as she ran up and pulled her sister into a big bear hug before pointing to the TV's. He smiled at the sight.
"You shouldn't have done that." Hephaestus said as he appeared in a burst of flame.
"They're not getting involved, just giving them a lift, nothing wrong with that."
The god of fire scowled at the water god, "they are not getting involved in this, you are tempting fate."
"I am not, they will not get involved, I made sure that she promised not to."
"But not on the Styx?"
"Not necessary, I trust her, and him, I'll make sure Percy doesn't tell her anything."
"You are playing a dangerous game uncle, you already have many on the council against you, do not risk the allies you have on this."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, a warning, the council agreed to keep them out of it, they don't need to put up with our petty squabbles, and separating them would be cruel. The wouldn't pick sides between themselves and they have more loyalty to themselves than us."
"I know, you forget that I voted against bringing them into this too. The only one who wanted them involved was Ares, and we know his reasons."
"All I'm saying is be careful, you would turn the whole council on you, regardless of how right you are."
"I know, but I trust my children."
"You better hope that's what Zeus sees."
A/N: Man that was a long chapter, i think it is something over ten-thousand words, so I hope you're happy with this. Anyway, I probably won't be uploading until after next week, I've got exams and coursework, and need to focus on it, so I'll be back on the tenth, see you then, and I hope you enjoyed this so far.