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The Sea's Daughter: Sea of Monsters.
Chapter 12: Chariot Races & A Quest.
Melinda's time was rather cut in half, and she no longer really went to many of the lessons. She did teach Archery now that Chiron was no longer there; though she mostly supervised, because she really struggled with a bow.
She wasn't as bad as Percy, gods forbid anyone was, but she also had the worse shooting accuracy of anyone else at camp.
She did better when it came to sword lessons, which she had taken over as well, more so than Archery, which an Apollo camper a year or two younger than her instructed with her, so they actually had one competent teacher.
When she wasn't at the very few lessons she still attended or taught, she was with Leia and Orion. She'd known balancing demigod life with motherhood would be hard, but than motherhood was hard even without being a demigod placed on top of it.
She had a few she trusted to watch the twins when she just couldn't, Silena being the most common, as she actually volunteered to watch them. A few times she had Sam, Lou Ellen, her brother, Annabeth watch them for a few minutes, but it had only been three days since she'd had them.
She didn't let them leave her sight for more then ten minutes, and that was only with someone she trusted. During the two days after she woke up and returned to the Poseidon cabin with her brothers and children, Melinda had worked on a set of protection runes that would guard the camp to the best of her ability.
She also spent time helping Annabeth and Percy with their chariot, unfortunately, she barely noticed with everything when the two began to fight. Over all, Mel was happy for the support she was given by her friends, and when they were busy, she did have Winky – who she'd hired to be her house elf at the apartment.
Winky would sort of be the twins' nanny as well, when she couldn't find anyone else to watch them. It would mostly be a last resort, she hated relying on others for too much, but she also knew when to accept help.
On the morning of her third day back at camp, the day of the chariot races; which she felt were a really, really bad idea, but couldn't really stop them now. And even if she could, Tantalus was avoiding her like the plague, but at least he seemed to be behaving himself.
::Mistress, you need to wake up...your hatchlings need to be fed and changed...:: Sesha trailed off, and with a small groan Melinda rolled over in her bed.
Nearly squishing the snake, who gracefully moved off the edge of the bed before she could be rolled over onto. Green eyes opened to the light and she noticed the twins were beginning to wake up themselves, and she processed what Sesha had said.
Sitting up, almost as if startled, she sighed, and threw her legs over the side of the bed.
She'd slept in it seemed, if the clock was right and it was nearly eight-thirty in the morning. The twins could almost sleep through anything, and they seemed to like sleeping, still they were babies and as such needed attention.
She was happy to give it, and though they cried it always seemed to be when they needed something. She knew, that demigod babies were slightly more advanced than mortal babies, because of the godly blood, but reading about it and experiencing it was a bit different.
The next thirty minutes (give or take) were spent feeding the twins, getting them ready for the day, and having Winky and Sesha keep and eye on them while she took a shower and dressed for the day.
She had put on a orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, a pair of dark skinny pants, and black shoes. Exiting the bathroom after pulling the sides of her hair up with a clip, she settled the twins into their stroller, put on her black leather jacket, and grabbed the diaper bag, slinging it over her shoulder.
"Thank you, Winky," Mel said, smiling at the house elf, who bowed excitedly.
"No need to thank me, Mistress Potter-Black," Winky said, and disappeared with a pop.
Sesha wound her way around her arm and shoulder.
"Going somewhere, dear?"
Turning sharply, her hand ready to take her ring off and return Tachýs to its weapon form if needed. She breathed a sighed of relief to see her grams, though for once she looked a little different. Instead of dark red hair and green eyes, she had golden blonde hair pulled up in a Grecian style ponytail.
She wasn't too surprised, gods could look anyway they wanted, and some tended to change appearances naturally, like Lady Aphrodite who looked like what one perceived as beauty.
Hecate had three appearances which she commonly took, they all looked the same except for the coloration of her eyes and hair, sometimes she was tanner or paler depending.
"Grams, I wondered if you'd show up," she said, thinking of how her father had visited very briefly the other day, to see his first grandchildren in centuries.
"I've been busy, but I did want to see how you were doing after having the twins," Hecate said, moving over to get a look at the babies.
The goddess smiled, amused by just how much they took after both their parents, though both looked a great deal like Hades with their darker hair and eyes. They still were obviously Melinda's children.
"They're beautiful," she said, standing up straight. "They'll be quite the heroes in the future."
The way she said it sounded as if she knew this for a fact, and Melinda decided against questioning this. She nodded instead, and thought back to the questions she'd had for Hecate.
"Grams...the day we arrived at camp, before I went into labor, something strange happened and I wondered if you could explain it too me," Melinda began, and Hecate raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm, what's that?"
"I...think I astral projected, or maybe had a premonition...though I don't think it was the latter. It didn't feel like a vision, it was more like I was in two places at once..."
Hecate smiled, a bit of pride in her eyes.
"Astral Projection...it looks like your magic is growing, maturing," she said. "I'm a little startled it appeared so soon though. You see, because you are my legacy your magical core is much more powerful than most wand-users. On a level equal with Dumbledore or Voldemort, if not a little more so once you've had more experience and are older in general. Sometimes, as you know, abilities like this show up, not just in my children but wand-users as well. I believe though that you were able to astral project so soon because you were tapping into your babies powers."
Her eyes widened.
"The twins...so they're wand-users too?" she asked.
She hadn't been sure before if they'd be magical like she, and her mother had been. Or if they'd just inherit some of the abilities of being a legacy of Hecate, distant as they were.
"They are, I can feel their magical cores growing with them. It helped that you're there mother, one of the loopholes to the whole rarity of demigods being both a wand-user and demigod. I believe one of these young ones has the ability to astral project, and it helped to unlock the ability in you sooner than it probably would have naturally. I always knew you had the ability, I just hadn't expected it to appear so soon. As for which twin has the ability, only time will tell. It could be years though before they show signs of wandless abilities inherited through me. I doubt they will have many, being so distantly related."
"Any other surprises I should be aware of?" Melinda asked, and Hecate shook her head.
"Not that I know of, right now," Hecate said. "I came here to see how you were, and to finally see my great-great-great grandchildren. I should be getting back to my duties before I'm missed. Take care of yourself, Melinda."
She disappeared in a swirl of mist, and Melinda smiled down at the twins who just seemed as unphased as before, and she exited the cabin.
She did make sure she had the supplies to set up the protection runes, though, before she left.
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Melinda glowered at Tantalus as she sat with those not involved with the chariot races, the Twins still in their stroller at her side. It was a bit of a tight fit, but she'd made it work.
As for why she was glaring at Tantalus, simple, he was enjoying the potential chance of the other campers hurting themselves too much. Not to mention he'd pretty much refused to allow her to set up the wards before the Chariot Race was over, and technically he had some authority, having Chiron job now.
It didn't mean he wasn't getting a nasty surprise when she found the time. Maybe a dream curse...she'd read about it in the grimoire her grams had gifted her years ago. It also wasn't too complicated, as long as she had something belonging to the recipient of the curse. Most curses were like that. Even a picture would do in most cases.
Well, she smirked mentally, she'd have to snag something later. She had the perfect tortuous dream in mind, maybe she should follow it up with mass hallucination? She loved magic.
"Hey, how's it going?" Lou asked, sitting down beside her, Sam on her other side.
Melinda looked over, snapping out of her thoughts, and smiled.
"Fine, just a little wary of this whole thing."
Lou nodded.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. After all the accidental deaths and mutilations...I can't believe Tantalus actually brought this sport back."
Sam grunted, nodding. Even he didn't look happy about it, and he usually didn't mind a dangerous sport with possible bloodshed, though he wasn't like some of the Ares kids, he was still a child of war.
Sam absolutely hated Tantalus, though Melinda was under the impression the whole camp hated Tantalus. So much so she'd been sure she'd heard some of the other demigods talking of a coup d'état against the new activities director.
If something wasn't done soon, the whole camp would probably be thrown into chaos.
Looking over at the track she noticed everyone setting up. To her surprise Percy was setting up, not with Annabeth, but with Tyson.
Their chariot was rather plain next to the Hephaestus – led by Beckendorf – Apollo – led by a boy and girl she didn't know – Ares – led by Clarisse – Hermes – led by the Stoll brothers – and the Athena chariots – led by a very ticked off looking Annabeth.
"I thought Annabeth and Percy were working together?" Mel questioningly said.
Malcolm, a boy younger than her, and Annabeth's brother, snorted. He sat directly in front of them on the spaced stone steps – which were far from comfortable.
"You've been busy lately, Lin, but to sum it up – Annabeth and Percy are fighting like an old married couple," Malcolm said.
Melinda blinked.
"Wait, Percy likes Annabeth?"
Malcolm, Lou Ellen, and Sam laughed.
"Don't be stupid, Sea Witch," Sam said. "They're just friends, and Annabeth's been a bit...standoffish with most males and relationships in general since Luke's betrayal, you know that."
Melinda sighed, rubbing the palm of her hand into her eyes. She did know that, she'd blame being over worked on her lack of knowledge.
She'd be happy once she could take care of placing the runes and giving Thalia's tree the Phoenix tears, praying to the gods her theory of the tears working sort of like a medication to slow the effects of the venom was correct.
Still she wouldn't have a lot of time, since she was still supposed to be doing the bare minimum daily when it came to being on her feat. Chiron's orders before he'd left, though he'd told Percy to tell her since she wasn't awake when he'd gone.
Added to taking care of Leia and Orion, who were very well behaved babies considering all the horror stories she'd heard from the staff at Meriwether, who either had small children or babies younger than a year.
Even the books warned of a lot of things she hadn't quite had to deal with yet, but than again, they were only about three days old.
They were still too young to be doing much more than sleeping, eating, pooping and crying.
"Right," she muttered. "Percy never mentioned anything wrong though. Usually he'd let me know if something was bothering him, or coming between him and Annabeth."
"Percy probably didn't want to stress you out anymore than you already are," Lou said. "Hey, the race is going to start ..."
They all looked over and noticed she was correct, the charioteers all lined up on the track, ready to begin the race, and Tantalus gave the rules from the judges table. In between he tried to catch a twinkie, but the snack refused to be caught.
Finally he stood.
"Now. Ready. Set... Go!" Tantalus yelled, showing his Zeus roots with his flare for dramatics.
He waved his hand, to add more flare to his dramatics, and the mark dropped.
The chariots were off within seconds of each other. Melinda turned her eyes briefly from them at the noise coming from the forest. The trees swayed, almost like something heavy sat in them, and she could make out a dozen or so pigeon-like birds.
They just sat there, and stared. Normally she wouldn't have thought much of it, but she was concerned, the barriers were weak currently.
She would have changed into her animagus form (a gyrfalcon dubbed Isis by her brother, and the marauders portraits set up at Grimmauld Place) to investigate, but she just wasn't recovered enough to change forms, or do something as physical as fly.
Melinda was pulled from those worrisome thoughts by a loud bang and crack. Looking back to the track she noticed the nasty wipe out the Apollo chariot had suffered, the Hermes chariot looking to have slammed into it.
She doubted it was by accident.
The chariot had flipped, at least twice, and one of the wheels had snapped off. The rest of the wheels were cracked and splintered, but still hanging on as the panicked horses dragged the chariot on.
The two children of Apollo looked alright, but injured. One appeared to have broken his leg, the other was bleeding quite a bit from the head, close to the temple area.
"I'm so glad Leia and Orion aren't old enough to remember this," she muttered. "If they were even awake to watch this that is."
"They seemed to have inherited your ability to sleep through anything, Mel, even this young," Lou said, chuckling, and Melinda smirked in amusement.
Connor and Travis laughed, celebrating their victory over the Apollo team, but it soon turned to yells as the Apollo chariot and horses plowed into them. The Hermes chariot went down.
Melinda shook her head, a small smile making its way onto her face. Two chariots had barely made it the first twenty-five feet; sounded like one of the reasons the sport was both loved and banned. Personally she liked the sport, but she'd like it more if she were actually one of the charioteers instead of watching. Maybe next time, if there was a next time.
Ahead of Percy and Tyson she could see the Ares chariot, just barely ahead of her brothers. Way ahead of them was the Athena chariot, preparing to turn around the first post. Behind Percy and Tyson, but gaining on them, was Beckendorf and his teammate.
"Who do you think will win?" Lou asked suddenly.
"Clarisse," Sam said, without hesitance. "Or Annabeth, one of the two."
"Annabeth, definitely," Malcolm added in from his own seat.
Melinda shrugged.
"Hard to say," she replied. "Probably Ann..."
She didn't finish her sentence, instead her green eyes widened so suddenly they were almost the size of silver dollars.
Everyone stared at the birds which came onto the track and stands like a tornado of feathery monsters. Melinda's eyes narrowed, realizing the birds weren't pigeons at all, they were Stymphalian birds, something she hadn't had to deal with since the summer after her third year.
With a flick of her wrists both her wands flew from their holsters and into her hands. In a situation like this Tachýs and Abyss were practically useless. She had a longer range with her magic.
Letting Sesha travel down from where she'd been wrapped around her shoulders and arm, Melinda flicked her wand, muttering 'Engorgio' and watching Sesha grow ten times larger.
Which startled a few of the campers who hadn't ever seen Sesha like this. But mostly their attention was on the demon birds headed towards them.
Turning to Lou and Sam, she noticed both had their weapons out. Sam his swords (he had dual swords, but tended to only use one unless in a situation which called for the other).
Lou had her shield (something recently forged by the Hephaestus children for her), and one of her hunting knives – the knives being different then the hunting knives commonly used by the Hunters of Artemis.
These had been a gift from her mother, Hecate, and had the triple moon goddess symbol on the hilt to distinguish them even more.
::Protect Leia and Orion if anything gets through, Sesha,:: she said sternly, leaving no room for anything but Sesha to flare her hood, hissing and nod.
Turning to her friends she nodded.
"Get ready," she muttered to them, and she leveled her more powerful wand, the elder wand towards the incoming birds, along with her cypress wand after that.
"Expulso!" she called, once and she saw the spell connect with one of the birds, throwing it off, and she cast another, causing it to loose it's upper body to the explosion spell.
Seeing just how many of the birds there were, and how close one came to her babies, if it weren't for Sesha it might have gotten through, Melinda hissed. She saw red, and began throwing spells from both wand with a fierce grace, and nine times out of ten hitting the target.
Most times it took more than one hit to destroy the birds, but some of the more powerful spells only needed one hit.
"Avada Kadavra!" she hissed.
The green light hitting the birds, two for one, and the birds dropped turning to dust and feathers half way down. The one spell that was powerful enough even monsters, usually rather resistant to magic, fell to after only one hit.
"We're getting overwhelmed!" Lou said from a few feet away as she slashed at one bird, and shielded herself from another with her shield.
"Winky!" Melinda called as she stood closer to Sesha, and the twins' stroller.
Leia and Orion were very much awake now and crying loudly. The noise seemed to keep a majority of the birds hesitant to get close enough to attack, but she wanted them away from the direct danger.
"Immobulus!" she shouted, freezing nearly two dozen of the Stymphalian birds in mid air, as if time had stopped for them.
Seconds later arrows flew from the archers of Apollo cabin who actually had a clear shot, and didn't have the chance of hitting one of the other demigods by mistake. Winky had also popped into existence at her side seconds before.
"Mistress Potter-Black, you called." Winky looked more than a little nervous being as she was now in the middle of a battle ground, but she stood loyally waiting for her orders.
"Winky, take the twins back to my cabin. It's too dangerous here."
Melinda was able to get the words out, as she silently cast a wall of flames between the stands and the race track, where campers were scattered in relatively close quarters, fighting.
Lou, having been told telepathically (a short lived spell she'd learned from her grimoire, but only lasted a few seconds short of a minute, and only connected to one person at a time) what she was going to do, had given the other campers the warning, so no stray demigod was hurt.
A few of the older Apollo children, who could control the flames of the sun, came forward to strengthen her magical fire, turning the flames a golden color, and the wall became higher.
The birds, which were in the thousands, and threatened to fly through them were burnt up the moment they hit the flames. By this time she could breath a sigh of relief. Winky had followed her orders immediately, and taken the twins back to the Poseidon cabin. Sesha had gone as well, to make sure they were protected.
"We can't keep this up," Sam said, slashing through another bird.
Everyone, or nearly everyone, had gotten pecked by a few of the birds by now, Melinda was of the luckier ones, and her leather jacket gave her some added protection.
"I know," Mel replied, breathing heavily.
This was taking more out of her than she'd thought it would. By now her wall of flames had faded, and the Apollo children who had helped strengthen them had fallen back to recover from using their powers for so long.
"Do you know any spells that cause loud sound, like music?" Lou asked as she fought her way to her side.
Melinda moved to the side quickly, grimacing at the quick movement she had to make. She was still rather sore, and all the moving she was doing, even if most of it was above the waist in order to cast spells, was doing her no good.
Still, she tried to think of something, a spell of any kind.
She shook her head.
"Not that I can think of..." she trailed off when suddenly loud music blasted across the area, driving the birds crazy.
In the birds defense, it sounded like Chiron's favorite, Dean Martin, and Melinda was under the opinion it could drive anyone crazy.
"What the hell?" Sam muttered as the birds closer to the ground all shot into the sky in droves.
"Archers, now!" Annabeth yelled over the music, and Melinda turned her head, catching sight of her brothers, and Annabeth with a boombox, which explained the music.
She smiled, and sighed in relief as the archers, both of Apollo cabin and other cabins, expertly shot every bird down. Those few that got away flew into the distance.
Looking around she let out a sigh and sat down on the stone step.
"You alright, Lin?" Sam asked, and she nodded.
Other than a scratch or two she was fine.
"Just tired, I haven't used that much magic in a long time," she explained.
Standing back up she noticed that while the camp had been saved, the damage had been done. The chariots were nearly in ruins, the Apollo chariot was actually on fire. The Aphrodite children bemoaned they're ruined hair, and clothes, while other campers checked on each other.
"Bravo!" Tantalus said, clapping. "We have our first winner!"
He approached the finish line and awarded the golden laurels to a stunned looking Clarisse. She wasn't the only one caught off guard. Melinda's jaw literally dropped and she just stared blankly at the spirit.
He couldn't be serious. She wasn't sure what he'd seen moments before, but apparently it wasn't a pack of damn birds.
"As for the troublemakers who disrupted this race," he began, and Melinda narrowed her eyes, moving towards her brother's sides.
"Tantalus," she said, sending him a dark look. "I think you need to go back to doing what you were before."
Tantalus narrowed his eyes, but seemed hesitant to say anything against her, especially since she still had the elder wand in her left hand. She'd returned her cypress wand to the holster already.
"Yeah, go chase a doughnut," Percy added, and Tantalus nearly had steam coming from his ears in his suppressed anger.
"Perseus," Melinda said, and Percy froze at his sisters tone and use of his full name. "You, Annabeth and Tyson follow me."
Melinda returned her wand to its holster under her leather jacket (though both the holsters had permanent disillusionment charms on them), and stormed off in the direction of the cabin. Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson followed.
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Once in the Poseidon cabin, Melinda went straight to the still crying twins. They didn't cry often like they currently were, and that worried her.
"Oh, shh... it's okay babies. It's okay," she said, and with steady arms and practiced ease she picked both newborns up and began a slow walk, and rock in order to calm them down.
"Is mistress needing anything else?" Winky asked as the younger three demigods and cyclops entered the cabin.
Melinda shook her head.
"No, that's all for now. Thank you, Winky." Winky popped away, and Melinda turned to Annabeth. "Anna, would you mind taking one of the twins?"
Annabeth smiled, and came over and took the whimpering Leia from Melinda.
Melinda adjusted Orion in her arms. Usually she was able to handle both at once, though she did prefer holding one at a time, less chance at dropping them. She didn't know about other new mothers, but that was a huge fear of hers. But at times when she had no choice she'd gotten used to it, it wasn't easy but possible.
"Creepy wrinkly thing," Tyson muttered.
Annabeth, Melinda and Percy snorted, while wondering if he meant the baby or Winky.
"It was just a house elf, Tyson," Percy reassured.
By this time Leia and Orion had both stopped crying, and she took Orion to his bassinet, motioning for Annabeth to do the same with Leia. After making sure the twins were settled, Melinda turned back to her brothers and Annabeth.
"Alright, what's going on?" she asked, going to sit on her bed, a slight limp in her walk.
Percy gave her a concerned look, and began telling them of his dreams about Grover. Melinda had a serious look on her face the entire time, and Annabeth finally looked like she believed him.
"You're sure of what you saw?" Melinda asked him.
"Positive," Percy replied.
"If he's honestly found it," she murmured to herself. "If we can go get it..."
"Wait, wait," Percy interrupted. "You're acting like this is the answer to everything. What did Grover find?"
"The Golden Fleece," Mel muttered before Annabeth could speak, and Percy's eyes widened.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Do you recall the Gray sisters? They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. They mentioned Jason." Annabeth shot Percy a look, she had no doubts that Melinda was following what she said, but Percy was another thing entirely. "Please, tell me you know the story of Jason and the Argonauts."
"Sure, it's that old movie with the kind-of cool clay skeletons."
Annabeth and Melinda both rolled their eyes.
"You're hopeless, Percy," they chorused.
"Listen Percy, the real story of Jason and the Fleece; twins, Phryxus and Helle were about to be offered as sacrifices to Zeus at the orders of their step-mother, Ino, when they prayed to Zeus and their mother, Nephele, a cloud nymph. Hearing them, a magical flying ram with golden wool was sent to pick them up in Greece and return them all the way to Colchis. Unfortunately, Helle fell off the ram, dying in the sea which was renamed for her. But that's not important," Melinda explained.
"Right, I remember a little of this. You went over it in class," Percy said, and she nodded. "Though, I still think it mattered to Helle."
"Mel is right, that doesn't matter right now," Annabeth said. "The point is, when Phryxus got to Colchis he sacrificed the golden ram to Zeus, and hung the fleece in a tree in the middle of the Kingdom. The fleece brought prosperity to the land, and this is why Jason wanted it. The fleece can heal, and revitalize any land where it's placed."
"It can cure Thalia's tree," Melinda finished, and Percy looked as if he'd realized the same thing seconds before. "It would also most likely strengthen the borders of camp. The only problem is that the fleece has been missing for centuries. Many have tried to find it, all have failed."
"But Grover did it, he's found the fleece," he said. "We can save him, while saving the camp at the same time, it's perfect!"
"Too perfect," Mel muttered, and Annabeth nodded.
Percy frowned, seeing what they meant. Last summer Kronos had tried using them to help himself rise, and Percy doubted he was done.
"We have to try," he said, and the two girls nodded.
"Percy, even if you do get a quest to do this...where will you go?" Melinda asked. "You don't know where he is."
"Yes...I do," Percy said suddenly, after a few seconds of silence. "The Gray sisters told me. 30, 31, 75, 12."
Annabeth frowned, and Melinda raised an eyebrow, and said, "Coordinates."
Percy nodded.
"Well, we know where, but that still leaves one colossal problem," Melinda began. "The Sea of Monsters."
Annabeth gasped softly, a look on her face that said she couldn't believe she'd forgotten about that fact.
Percy blinked, confused, and asked, "What?"
"When this is over I am going to give you a Greek text of the Iliad and watch you read every last word," Melinda said, a sigh of aggravation escaping her.
Percy shivered involuntarily at his sister's words, the terrifying thing was, Melinda was serious.
"The Sea of Monsters is exactly as it sounds. It's the same sea that Odysseus, Jason, Aeneas, and all the others sailed through. It's dangerous," Annabeth explained.
"So, the Mediterranean?" Percy questioned.
Mel shook her head.
"Like Olympus, locations such as the Sea of Monsters moves with the Wests' center of power. It was in the Mediterranean, but now it's here," Melinda said, and Annabeth nodded.
Sometimes the Daughter of Athena wondered if Mel got all the brains of the two Children of Poseidon. Then she remembered that Percy was still relatively new to all of this. He was still learning.
"Okay, I get it, but wouldn't the mortals notice something strange? What, with a whole sea of monsters."
"They do notice, little brother," Melinda said. "It's located on the east coast now, just northeast of Florida."
Percy's eyes widened, and he said, shocked, "The Bermuda Triangle? Seriously, Mel?"
"Seriously," she replied, with a small smile. "What you two need is a quest."
Annabeth's hope deflated. 'There was no chance in Hades' undergarments, Tantalus was letting them go on a quest.'
Annabeth looked up startled when she heard Melinda giggle shortly, an oddity in itself. She blinked owlishly, wondering what she'd missed.
"Hades' undergarments, Anna?" Mel inquired between chuckles.
Percy was looking at her in a mix of shock, revulsion and even some confusion. Annabeth blushed. She must have said that aloud.
"Shut up," she hissed. "Still, Tantalus hates us. He'll never send a quest."
Melinda smiled, and shook her head as she said, "Don't think that way. Tantalus won't have a choice but to issue a quest if you bring it up at the campfire tonight." She stood. "Now, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, I have to go begin setting up the wards. If you would please stay here, and watch Leia and Orion. Percy you know how to call Winky if she's needed."
"Of course," Annabeth said, coming forward to sit at the desk close to Mel's bunk bed. "But are you sure you should be doin' this? You used a lot of magic today, and it's only been three days...maybe you should wait."
She shook her head.
"No, I can't. I don't want another attack like that happening again."
Grabbing the needed supplies out of the diaper bag, and placing them into her bottomless leather bag. Mel said a quick goodbye, and headed for Thalia's tree.
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Giving the tree Phoenix tears was the easiest part.
To see if a combination of Phoenix tears and Pearl water might help, she let a drop from her necklace fall onto the base of the tree as well. It did improve, the pine tree and area around it looked healthier, but it wasn't powerful enough, still, to purge the poison from Tartarus' depths... as she'd feared.
She would have to be careful with the Phoenix tears, she only had a small vial, and it was hard stuff to get. She wouldn't be using the Pearl again on the tree, though.
Melinda didn't think it would be great for Thalia's spirit, which was still dwelling in the tree, in the long run. No, the Phoenix tears – which was arguably more powerful anyways – would have to be enough.
Afterward, she tried to sense how bad the barriers were. The Phoenix tears and what little good they'd done for the tree, had also helped strengthen the barriers, but were nearly as weak as the blood wards had been around the Dursley house growing up.
Soon that strength would shatter once more, not that they were in any shape to keep the more powerful and the smarter of monsters out. Once that was determined she had to place the runes at certain points surrounding the camp at the boundary lines of the barrier.
Once that was done it was a simple matter of setting the wards up with her magic. The wards would be a more powerful version of the one around her apartment, and would take much more magic. That was the drawback of this certain warding spell.
She was finally done about two hours later, near lunch time (which would be at 2 O'clock instead of 12 because of the races that morning). Dinner would be at the regular time as would the campfire.
Standing up on Half-Blood Hill, Mel ran a hand through her dark hair, obviously exhausted. She'd used up so much magic that she doubted she'd be able to so much as Aparate or float a pillow. The last thing she needed was magical exhaustion, which was when ones magical core was weak from overuse of magic.
Some cases were fatal.
Without another thought, and with the wards in working order, Melinda gathered her bag and left the hill for her cabin. She needed a nap, she'd have Winky bring her dinner should she sleep through it.
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After going to sleep, she only woke once to feed the twins, and once the twins were settled again, about thirty minutes later, she ended up falling back to sleep.
She didn't wake up till nearly curfew (which was at 11 O'clock). Tyson was the only one inside the cabin besides Winky, who she learned had arrived after she'd fallen back to sleep on Percy's orders, in order to care for the twins' further needs so she could recover.
Her brother's concern was welcome, she had really needed the rest.
Winky brought her some dinner after she woke up, and not long after eleven she decided to go look for her younger brother. Tyson decided to help and they met Annabeth outside. The twins were asleep and would be safe with Winky for a few minutes, until she returned.
"We'll split up," Annabeth said. "We're bound to find him then."
Melinda was about to mention using a 'Point-me' spell, but knew her magic wasn't quite stable enough after everything she'd done earlier that day.
"Tyson, you should go with Annabeth," Melinda said.
Annabeth looked ready to argue but Melinda and Tyson left her no room to.
Mel knew Annabeth had some kind of problem with the Cyclops, and she hoped this time to work together on something would close that rift somewhat, maybe help them get along better. At this point she was grasping at straws.
The daughter of Athena sighed before walking off in a randomly chosen direction with Tyson close behind. Melinda just stayed where she was for a minute, wondering where she should start looking. She figured Percy had gone to think, Annabeth had told her what had happened at the campfire.
If she'd been there she could have prevented it, reminding Tantalus that it was tradition that at least three go on quests, and since it had been Percy who knew the coordinates and Annabeth was the one to know the most about the Golden Fleece, that they should be allowed to go as well.
She hadn't anticipated what had happened though. She doubted this would stop her brother from getting involved somehow though. She digressed though. It only took her a few seconds to realize where he'd be, where any child of the sea would go to think; the beach. So with that in mind she made her way to Fireworks beach.
She had quite a few memories on that beach, and she'd not returned since the summer before, around the time of the fireworks that were let off the day Grover left on his search. One of the last good memories she had of Luke.
It was also there she'd talked to Dasha's spirit one last time. Where Sam had found her not long after she'd learned of Dasha's death and talked to her about it.
It only took her a few minutes to find Percy, maybe less. When she did find him she had to wonder if Sally hadn't told Percy about talking to strangers. To her surprise Sesha was with Percy, watching the man, who was possibly in his mid-twenties, warily.
"Percy," she said, making her presence known.
Percy and the man turned towards her.
She noticed that the man had an otherworldly feel about him (most gods and goddesses did), despite the almost salt-and-pepper hair (otherwise it was predominately black), which was a bit of a red-herring since he couldn't be older than twenty-five or twenty-six.
He was slim, but fit in a familiar way, dressed in a pair of nylon running shorts, and a New York City Marathon t-shirt. He was familiar to her, but it was his blue eyes and sly smile that made her realize who this was.
"Lord Hermes."
"Hermes?" Percy said, a look of surprise on his face. "You're Luke's father?"
Hermes pursed his lips, and was about to speak when two green snakes on his phone spoke up.
'Ooh, show him!' Martha practically pleaded. 'I haven't been full-size for months!'
'No, don't listen! She just wishes to show off!' George the snake said, and Melinda blinked.
Was it just her, or was Lord Hermes' snakes speaking English?
"Are they speaking English?" she asked, unable to help herself.
Hermes took the time to really look at the daughter of Poseidon. Just from her appearance he could understand what his son saw in her, and why Hades had broken the oath with her.
She had a natural beauty, like the ocean; long waves and loose curls of dark brown hair, with subtle auburn highlights. Emerald-sea green eyes, lightly tanned skin, and curves with an athletic yet on the petite side build. No taller than 5'7".
She, of course, had some baby weight from her recent pregnancy, but it didn't take away from her beauty. She didn't even seen aware of it (her beauty), which made her unique among some women who obsessed over their looks.
Though he had no interest in Melinda romantically (Poseidon was one overprotective father he didn't want to deal with), he was still male, so he obviously noticed. It also proved Apollo's words that the first daughter of Poseidon was indeed beautiful.
"It seems so," Hermes said, and took out his phone. "Original form, please."
Within seconds the phone became a three-foot-long staff. With dove wings sprouting at the top. The two green snakes, George and Martha, now coiled around the middle together. A caduceus.
"Normally that's not the way people first introduce me. Lord of Thieves, yes. I suppose, 'Luke's father' is far from the worse introduction."
Melinda had taken a seat next to Percy, and Sesha had slithered closer to Hermes and his caduceus.
::Mistress, these snakes are strange,:: she hissed, and George and Martha perked up.
::Who are you calling strange, Goldie?:: George asked in their native language. ::Martha, are we strange?::
::I know I'm not, George, but I can't say the same for you,:: Martha replied.
Sesha hissed in amusement, and Melinda smirked, finding the three snakes interaction amusing. Hermes also seemed to find it amusing, leading her to believe he at least understood Parsaltongue.
"A more important matter, Percy; what do you intend to do about this quest?" Hermes asked.
Percy frowned, a thoughtful look passing his face before answering, "I don't know, I don't even have permission."
"I doubt that would stop you."
"Well, no, I want to go... I have to save Grover. He's my friend."
Hermes smiled. "I knew a boy once, much younger than you are now. Just a baby really, probably not much older than your niece and nephew."
Melinda raised an eyebrow at this. She knew gods were advanced as babies, sometimes born fully grown like Aphrodite or Athena, but it was odd thinking of a baby able to do things most adults or children did everyday.
George sighed, and said, 'Here we go again, always talking about himself.'
'Quiet, idiot!' Martha snapped at her companion snake. 'Do you want to suffer through vibrate?'
They were ignored.
"One night, as the boys mother was not watching, he made his way out of their cave and stole come cattle of Apollo."
"I take it he wasn't blasted to nothingness," Melinda stated, and Hermes chuckled.
You catch on fast. No, actually it turned out quite differently. To make up for his theft the boy gave Apollo an instrument he'd invented – a lyre. Apollo was so happy with the music he could make with the instrument, he forgot to smite the poor boy."
Percy nodded. "But what's the moral, then?"
Hermes blinked. "Does there have to be a moral, besides it's a true story...but if you insist. The moral is...sometimes stealing has its rewards."
Melinda smiled, quite liking that moral. It had a bit of truth to it, for her and her own past at least. She didn't think Percy's mom would think the same though.
"I doubt my mom would agree," Percy said.
'Rats are delicious,' George suggested.
'That's got nothing to do with the story!' Martha reprimanded.
'So, I'm hungry.'
Martha sighed in exasperation, and again they were ignored.
"Hmm, well how about this then; sometimes young people don't always follow the rules. Sometimes rules need to be broken, as I am sure your sister can attest to, and sometimes, with the right results, they escape punishment."
Melinda didn't say much as Hermes and Percy talked. Hermes brought out gifts for the quest, which she felt relieved for. She already knew she couldn't go. She not only needed to recover from having the twins, but she also had the twins to take care of.
They were just too young for her to run off on a quest, even if she would worry about her brothers and Annabeth. She'd already realized it would most likely be those two to go with him.
Finally, she also needed to be there to keep the wards powered should a monster eventually get through, and Thalia's tree would need a dose of Phoenix tears once a week at the least. It depended on the tree and Thalia's spirit in the end how often the tears would be needed.
"Lord Hermes, why are you helping me?"
Hermes starred out at sea and smiled almost bitterly. "It's my hope, that maybe you'll be able to save more than just Grover and the camp."
It took a few seconds for Percy to realize what Melinda already knew; Luke.
Melinda sighed, looking away and out towards the ocean, Sesha coming to curl around her shoulders. Percy looked at Hermes, not completely sure how he felt about that.
He was still angry at Luke for nearly killing Melinda. He'd come to accept that he'd nearly died because of the son of Hermes, but he didn't think he could ever forgive Luke for Melinda's injury that night.
"You mean Luke," he finally said. "No offense meant, but Luke's really angry. He tried to kill me and Mel last Summer, I don't know if he can be saved."
Hermes nodded sadly, painfully aware of this.
"Yes, but if there is one thing I've learned in my thousands of years, it's that you can't give up on family. No matter how much they may annoy or anger you, or how badly they screw up, you have to at least try."
'Yes, like when you invented the Internet,' George snickered.
"You created the Internet?" Percy asked in surprise.
'It was my idea,' Martha said.
'Rats are delicious,' George said.
"It was my idea, the Internet that is," Hermes said, sending scolding looks at the two green snakes.
::He is right, though, rats are rather good. I prefer something a bit less vermin-like, though:: Sesha muttered, and Mel smirked.
"Anyway, do you understand what I meant on family?"
Percy glanced at his sister, and then back to Hermes. "I don't know, I think I have an idea."
"Someday you'll have no doubts on what I said," he said, standing up. "I have to go now. Hopefully I packed well for you and your friends."
He snapped his fingers and a yellow duffel bag appeared. Percy picked it up and something struck him.
"Wait, how do we get to Grover..."
"Ah, knew I was forgetting something," Hermes said. "Just take the ship, kid."
Percy blinked, painfully confused.
"What ship?" he asked.
Hermes pointed out to sea, and sure enough cutting across the Long Island Sound was a large cruise ship. He couldn't help but wounder where it had suddenly come from.
"If you ask nicely, your father may help you reach it," Hermes began. "Now, good luck little cousin. Your friends will arrive any second."
the god of thieves (and other things) disappeared silently, leaving Percy with his mouth half open.
Turning to Melinda he asked, "What just happened?"
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"What about big sister?" Tyson asked from his spot on Rainbow the Hippocampi.
The harpies could be heard in the distance, but getting closer with every second.
"Mel, you're going to be okay, right? You can always get on behind me or Annabeth," Percy said, and the Hippocampi whined as if in agreement.
"I'll be fine," she said.
She reached around to her right wrist and pulled off what at first glance was a silvery-dark bracelet. Once she took it off and focused just a little, barely noticeable, magic through it, it unraveled and became her invisibility cloak.
Melinda wiped off sand from her gray shorts, and white leather sleeveless coat (which was only partially zipped over a black crop top).
"You three need to go, before the ship gets too far away," Mel said. "Be careful, little brothers, Anna."
She threw the cloak over her shoulders, and as they disappeared towards the cruise ship, she pulled it together, flipped the hood up and left the beach – walking right past the harpies as she did.
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The next morning, after lunch, she sat with Mr. D on the Big House porch, playing Pinochle with him.
Leia and Orion were against the outside wall, across from her, in their playpen-bassinet combo contraption (which also had a diaper changing station connecting to it). They were doing as babies of only four days old tended to do.
"So, Annette and Pedro went to find the fleece," Mr. D said, more than asked. "Without permission."
"Well, technically they had permission...Lord Hermes practically ordered Percy onto the quest," she corrected easily, as she looked over her cards.
"Hmm, I see," the god of wine and madness muttered. "I suppose I won't have to turn them into road kill after I turn them into prairie dogs, then."
Melinda snorted. After dealing with people like Dionysus in the past, and being at camp for as long as she had now, she was getting rather used to knowing when he was serious and not. She shrugged, it was doubtful he'd ever follow through, and if he did she doubted it would last long.
Not with how protective her father was of her and her brother, with how protective she'd admit to being of Percy.
"Where is Tantalus? I expected him to be playing as well," Melinda asked.
"Around, chasing food I imagine," Dionysus said carelessly.
To be honest, he was quite happy Tantalus wasn't there to play Pinochle with. Tantalus was worse than anyone he'd run across at the game. Since Chiron was no longer here he'd have to settle for the daughter of Poseidon, who at least knew how to play well.
Though he'd fade before admitting it, he had some respect for Melinda Potter, so he could tolerate her compared to most heroes.
"Maybe if we're lucky he'll get lost," she said, and Mr. D snorted. "And I believe I win, Mr. D."
She laid her card down.
Indeed, Melinda had won. Dionysus cursed under his breath and demanded a rematch, and things were almost back to normal.
Now if only she could get rid of Tantalus.