I don't own the Wardstone Chronicles. Or Percy Jackson & the Olympians. I only own the books written by the amazing Rick Riordan and the books written by the amazing Jospeh Delaney. The books, not the story. The story is owned by Joseph Delaney and Rick Riordan. Enjoy!
Lamia took a deep breath, trying to calm down a little, and followed Artemis and Athena. They walked through a gragantuan gallary. There were paintings everywhere, all masterpieces.
There were also a few sculptures. And chandeliers, seemingly made of ice. Like giant icesculptures. They were beautiful, and all different.
Lamia stopped, looking around. She almost forgot how to breathe when she looked at all the art. She had always liked art. " By all the gods.." she whispered. This place made her breathless, dizzy and amazed.
Artemis and Athena looked back at her. " Yes Lamia. Is there anything you wish to allege? " Athena asked. Lamia frowned. " I don't actually. Why do you anticipate I do?". A slightly amused expression crossed Athena's face. " You said ' by all the gods'. I assumed there was someone bothering you. I should have only uttered something when I was convinced something was bothering you, but I truly believed it to be the truth" Athena said.
Artemis sighed and punched Athena. " The! You really should try to stop taking everything so literal. By all the gods is just an expression". Athena raised her eyebrows slightly, still smiling. " I am aware, but she could have meant to utter something important. Most people use the expression, because they aren't aware of the simple fact that we exist. Lamia knows very well we do exist and therefore I assumed she was calling us".
Lamia smiled. " Well, I wasn't. I uttered the words without thinking". Artemis sighed. " See The? There was no ulterior meaning, just an expression. She probably didn't even realize what she was saying. Just let it go The".
Athena opened her mouth to pretest, and probably talk endlessly about it, but Lamia stopped her. " Artemis is right. I didn't intend to call you or anything. I was just stunned when I saw all the beautiful art. I have always liked art" she explained.
Athena nodded. " It is wonderful, isn't it? Art isn't just something beautiful. It has often a message or a little piece of the artist. It's like looking at someone's soul" she said. Lamia nodded enthusiastic. " It really does. That is what amazes me, what captures my attention. The way every artist has his own style, his own message. Nothing is ever the same, not even when they use the same techniques. I always like to discover the intention, the message of the artist".
Artemis sighed. " Really interesting, but can we talk about something else. Honostly, I'm not really interested in art". Lamia looked at her, suprised. " You aren't? Why not? After all, there is so much to see, to learn when it comes down to art". Artemis shrugged. " I enjoy looking at art, but I'm not like you and Athena. I don't really find satisfaction in discovering messages. And I'm not the person to be at one place and stare at something for hours, only because I want to understand the person who made the painting".
Lamia frowned. She hadn't thought about that. In a way, it was only logical Artemis didn't like painting as much as her. It was definetely not like her to be immobile for hours, to find the patience to look at a painting for hours , waiting until she understood the message of the painter.
" I understand. It's only logical you aren't interested. Being the goddes of the hunt, among many other things, you are energetic and wary. With your personality, it's insane to expect you to look at some colors for hours. You have patience, but not for subject like arts" Lamia concluded. Artemis didn't really respond, she just nodded.
Athena looked at Lamia, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Lamia already understood Athena didn't laugh that much. She took her work as goddess of wisdom and war strategy and life in general very serious. However, Lamia knew she did have a sense of humor; she had laughed after all. She just wasn't really the person to relax and laugh out loud.
" You seem to be able to understand Artemis and her personality rather well" Athena remarked while she started walking, Artemis and Lamia next to her. Lamia didn't reply to this immmediately; she was too busy with staring at the treasure around her. Not gold or other valuable metals. Not jewels or other valuable accessories. No, sculptures and art and inventions.
The most beautiful pieces of art hang on the wall, indescribably beautiful. The sculptures of people and animal looked like there were real, like they were people turned to stone instead of pieces of stone made to look like people. The inventions were everywhere; on the wall, at the ceiling, in the corners and on tables. They were all very different; some looked familair to Lamia and some looked very odd. Some looked very, very complicated to make and some very simple. All were made with the greatest of skill, the only thing they had in common.
Athena saw her staring, Lamia's eyes wide and her mouth open, and smiled. " You like my various pieces of arts? My sculptures, all made by the most talented? And the inventions, some made by me, others made by considered genii?" she asked. Lamia didn't respond at first; solemny focused on the scenery of all those items. She only responded when Athena said her name again, this time her voice a little cold.
Lamia understood she had, unwillingly, ignored and ( a bit) insulted the goddess and quickly looked at her again. She smiled. " I do. I even love them; they are so beautiful. They are marvellous, the only word to describe them as I lack of a word that could describe their beauty" Lamia said.
Athena smiled, her grey eyes once again friendly instead of cold and calculating. Lamia saw the pride in her eyes; Athena obviously was proud of her collection and the fact she was connected to them. She nodded. " Thankyou. I agree with you that they are marvellous, although I don't agree to your statement that they are no words to describe them. You always use words to describe something and although they are beautfull unlike anything else and extraordinary, they are also words to describe them. But I'm glad you like my palace".
Artemis laughed softly. " Oh please The, you knew she would like it. Don't make it sound like you hadn't expected her to like it. You already called her smart when you saw her all those years ago. Well, the other her". Athena raised her eyebrows slightly. " I assumed she would like it. I don't know her that welll and therefore I can't be sure of her opinions and likings. But I try. And technically, she and the other Lamia were the same back then. Now, she has changed, but I cognize she was like the other Lamia when she saw the gods in her dimension. Besides, I didn't call her smart. My exact words were ' she is smart for an idiot who was stupid enough to fall for our father'. And I was right. She is smart. She just had the bad luck to fall for our father, which never turns out right for a woman".
Lamia sighed. " Thanks for calling me an idiot Athena". Athena turned towards her, her eyebrows raising a little bit more, the only sign of any emotion. Even if it was contempt, which Lamia suspected it might be. " You are mistaken Lamia. I most certainely didn't call you an idiot. Firstly; the creature I called an idiot was the Lamia from the past in this dimension. True, you are the same person, only in other dimensions, but I didn't call you an idiot. Secondly; you are very different from the broken woman who turned into a monster. I suspect you are an entirely different person. Otherwise, you would have attempted to attack us or tried to hurt the children at camp" Athena said.
Lamia looked at her, a little baffled Athena knew all of this. But there was a reason she was the goddess of wisdom, of course. This reason being Athena was very smart, but also wise. She used the knowledge and really understood.
Lamia managed a very weak smile. " I shouldn't be suprised you understand, but I still do. And you're right, of course. I'm a very different person. Like I have told my youngest son, I have little in common with that murderous creature I once was. I-". " You have a son?" Artemis interrupted, cutting in the conversation. She seemed interested, just like Athena who was looking at Lamia. Waiting for her answer.
" I do. His name is Tom. I have six other sons, but they aren't here. I already told you I had sons, right?". Artemis frowned. " I don't believe so. I certainly can't remember you saying anything about a son". Athena looked at her with her piercing grey eyes. " Maybe you don't remember, because you wasn't hearkening when I was talking. Again. Seriously Artemis, you should stop daydreaming during meetings. They are important and the information you receive is important too".
Artemis sighed, but she smiled. " I wasn't hearkening, which you mean talking with, because I had other things to do. I wasn't just daydreaming, I was talking to Lamia. That was very important. Besides, I'm sure you didn't say anything about any of her children. Why would you anyway?". Athena sighed." You could have waited until after the meeting. The meeting was important too. The best option would have been to wait after the meeting to talk to Lamia. And I didn't talk about her sons, but only because it would have been dangerous. Hera would probably have tried to hurt them".
Lamia froze when she thought about that. She hadn't really thought about Tom, but now she realized the danger he was in. Tom wasn't a child of Zeus, of course, but he was her child and Hera would love to hurt him. Anything that would hurt Tom would hurt Lamia and Hera wanted Lamia to be hurt.
That stupid bitch. Why can't she leave me alone? She should apologize, not want to cause anymore damage. If that bitch as much as thinks about hurting Tom..
Lamia gritted her teeth, her entire body tense, when she thought about Hera hurting Tom. She could hear Hera laugh again, see the satisfied look in her eyes when she looked at the bodies of Lamia's children. Could hear her cruel words and mocking. Smell the blood of her children and feel the overwhelming loss and pain. She couldn't take that again. She would do everything to protect Tom, even if she had to rip Hera's heart out for it. If Hera dared to hurt Tom, she would be dead. No, in unbelievable pain.
Lamia would use her talons to hurt her wherever she could. She would rip out her eyeballs, she would cutt off limbs, she would do anything to hurt Hera. She would use her fangs and drink her blood, but only to hear her scream when her fangs touched her skin. She would- "Lamia!".
Lamia blinked and looked around her, confused. She saw Artemis and Athena were looking at her, even Athena looked worried. They had finally stopped their discussion and noticed something was wrong. Lamia managed a weak smile, still a little mad for some reason. " Yes? I'm sorry, I was somewhere else with my thoughts".
Artemis walked towards her, taking one of her hands which she had unconsciously changed into fists. She held Lamia's hand for her face. " You hurt yourself" she said softly. Lamia frowned. " No, I didn't. I-". She stopped talking when she saw her hand. She had dug her nails again in her own skin.
She must have become so angry it had triggered the change. Normally, it wouldn't go this fast, but who know? She was in a very different place, after all. She took back her hand, wiping the blood at her skirt, not really caring her skirt got dirty. " Sorry. That sometimes happens when I get really angry".
Athena studied her. " What made you so angry you transformed?" she asked. Artemis nodded. " Yes, what?". Lamia looked at the ground and sighed. " Nothing. It's just.. I love my son very much and when you mentioned Hera, it brought back some bad memories. I imagined she would hurt Tom and I sort of lost it for a moment" she explained. " You will have to learn to control that" Athena remarked.
Lamia found the courage to look at the two wome- goddesses and nodded. " I know. Normally, it wouldn't go that fast. Anger does make me change, but not like this". She saw Artemis and Athena exchanged glances, still worried. Athena looked at her again. " How fast does it normally goes? If we want to udnerstand the reason you are here and gather some information, we will have to note all the changes. So tell".
Lamia opened her mouth, but Artemis spoke before her. " Let her tell her story when we are sitting The. We already arrived at your chamber anyway" she said. Lamia hadn't realized it, but Artemis was right; they had arrived at a door. A door with the emblem of an owl and some text on it.
The door was like the rest of the palace; complicated, beautiful and just intimidating. Athena mummbled something and the door flung open, revealing the room it had hidden. Lamia stepped inside after Athena had given her a quick nodd she was allowed to.
She looked around, eager to see more. The room was big, but all space was occupied. It actually were two rooms and the one they were standing in seemed to be a living room. But a really odd living room.
There were two big couches, looking very comfortable, with a table between them. There were a few enormous bookshelves, stocked with all kind of books in different languages. There was some machine in the corner, together with something Lamia knew was a tap and something that looked like a closet. Lamia knew somehow it was called a fridge and used to store food.
She looked at the rest of the room. In another corner, there seemed to be a small workshop, with unfinished inventions on the ground and material everywhere.
There was also an easel in the room, with a finished painting. The painting was so beautful and special, Lamia couldn't stop looking. It was like her eyes were glued to it. She understood Athena had made this. It was the only explanation for such a perfect painting.
Athena saw her looking and smiled. She didn't say anything, but walked towards the couches. " Sit down please. I will get some tea for us". Lamia walked towards the couch and sat down, still looking at the painting.
Artemis, sitting down next to her, smiled. " Beautiful, isn't it? Athena made it". Lamia nodded. " I already suspected she did. Only she has the skills to make something as astonishing as that painting". Artemis laughed softly. " Yes, she does. No one else would be able to. Not even my brother".
Lamia looked at her. " Apollo. Are you two getting along?". Artemis shrugged. " Sort of. He is my brother, my twin brother, and I like him. But he can be really annoying. There are times when I'm tempted to just shoot him" she said.
Lamia nodded. " Well, even the ones we love most can make us really angry and cause us to do things like that. And I thought you couldn't kill a god?". Artemis smiled faintly. " You can't. Not really. Most of our wounds heal after some nektar or ambrosia. Or if we use our powers. But you can sent a god to Tartarus. Or he can fade. It happened to Helios".
" The sun god" Lamia said, remembering the name. " Not anymore he is. Apollo is now. He just drives that stupid car of him, looking like some footballplayer and tries to seduce as many women as possible. Ugh! He is so annoying".
Lamia smiled. " He is? And what makes him annoying"? Artemis rolled her eyes. " What doesn't? Seriously, he is exactly like all those males I despise. Only interested in his own personal good. Always going after women, and treating them far from good. He doesn't take life serious. At all. And he keeps calling me little sister and saying I should have some fun. Which is ridiculous, because one; I'm older than him. I helped my mother give birth to him. And two; I m having fun. I don't want the fun he is suggesting and the last time I did anything like he suggested, he shot my best friend!".
Lamia shook her head. " Seriously? The man is thousands of years old and he still acts like that? He should grow up!" she said. " He won't. He doesn't comprehend it would be profitable" Athena, who brought them tea and cookies, said.
Artemis sighed. " I know. And it's just who he is, but he annoys me so much!". Athena smiled. " That's logical. He is the exact opposite of you. He likes the things you despise and acts exactly like the men you hate so much".
Artemis nodded. " Exactly. But enough about him, we have other things to talk about". Athena nodded and looked at Lamia. " Exactly. Many, more urgent, things to talk about" she said with a weird look in her eyes.