XXI: Meg
Run Daddy Run
"So," I say after Rey runs back and breathlessly explains his run-in with Urania, "Moros, huh?"
I'm uncomfortable in all the worst ways; I'm wearing Rey's hoodie, which he'd insisted I keep despite the fact that it's now eight in the morning and we'd been sleeping in an alleyway (for fear of attracting attention) – he's pretty stupid sometimes that way – and it feels awkward and heavy on my shoulders, never mind the weird fluttering feeling of my stomach when I think about it too much. With Antoine gone, I had become painfully aware while Rey was running how much older than me everyone here is – sure, I've technically lived over one life already, but I'm still just a teenager. And on top of all that, there's been the offer from Nico earlier to consider; a way to show the others my past as well as another way to estrange me.
Now this – patrons. Some of them, I know – Rey with Urania and Leo with Nemesis are both 'no duh' situations at this point – but there are some gods I've never even heard of, unfortunately including my own. Even Reyna seemed to distantly recognize the name Anteros, albeit with a scowl on her face; I'm the only one completely in the dark.
"I've never heard of him, either," Rey comforts, a concerned frown on his face. "Listen, we can do a Yahoo! search on him if we need to. Besides, we'll meet him soon, anyway – Urania said he was going to be our way to the wedding." There's a small murmur of agreement from a few, though Jason still looks royally pissed at himself for forgetting about his supposed best friend's wedding. Rey and I offer each other weak smiles at the part about Yahoo!
We'll see him in a couple of days, I remind myself. That doesn't make it any easier to stop worrying.
"Meg," says a throaty voice, and I look up to find Nico eyeing my a few feet away, smirking quietly. "I know I'm not one of the prophecy heroes," he says calmly, "but I'm hoping you'll have found it in your heart to trust me and think about what we talked about earlier?"
I survey him with a thin-lipped frown. After our talk, Hazel had taken me aside and told me the truth about his PTSD – that it came in attacks rather than as a 24/7 thing, and that if I decide to take him up on whatever he asks me about I should know that there's a good chance that he'll have one. I can't imagine cool, stoic Nico ever having anything remotely similar to a mental breakdown – especially know that he has his sword and looks 20 times more comfortable with himself – but I suppose that would only make the breakdown itself more terrifying.
I told her that I'd be careful – but I'm so tired of keeping secrets.
I nod tiredly before turning to Rey, fighting not to drop – it's been a while since I've gotten a full night's rest, and though I've been paying for it for the last few days it's hitting me even harder now. "I think that it's time we try to Iris Message Antoine," I say quietly. "I want him to see what's going on for this. It's important."
"I got it," Frank offers, stumbling to a stand just as Rey opens his mouth to respond. The praetor's jeans are covered in grass stains, even though we've only been sitting here for a few minutes. He gives us a small, crooked grin. "My patron's Iris. It doesn't matter whether Antoine gets talked to or not – he has to at least listen."
I glance at Nico and he nods. I grimace before standing myself, blatantly refusing the hand Rey offers. "Alright," I say grimly, pulling the hood of the jacket over my head, "let's go summon some ghosts."
+x+
It takes us half an hour to dig the hole and forty-three dollars to buy all of the McDonald's Happy Meals, but in the end we make it at about eleven o'clock AM in an abandoned graveyard just on the outskirts of town. (The Segway Leo stole is completely in pieces by this point, of course.) I refuse to look anyone in the eye as Frank tosses a drachma and shouts Antoine's name.
We catch him at the worst possible time, of course – he's fallen asleep on top of an awkwardly bent log, one leg hanging over the side and the other tangled up in a vine of some sort. He looks like he's on the outskirts of a forest, right next to a playground. I let my eyebrows raise before I exchange a look with Rey, lean towards the image, and bellow, "Wake the fuck up!"
He starts awake, scrambling to keep his balance before falling off the side of the faux bench. He comes back up with some golden and red leaves intertwined hopelessly with his hair, even more ragged now that he's on his own. "What the Hades?" he demands, glaring at us each in turn. "What – "
"Where the hell have you been?" My anger surprises even me. "We have been so fucking worried about you while you traipsed across the country on your own personal joy ride, you selfish asshole. What was so important you had to go solo to do it?"
He frowns at me. "I can't explain it," he says, shaking his head, "but shit went down. Now's not the time." He turns to scowl at Rey, effectively cutting off any of my arguments. "I can take care of myself."
"Believe it or not, we aren't calling solely to check up on you. You remember that the world revolves around the sun and not you, right?" His voice is wry and teasing, but I suspect there's some relief beneath there that his best friend is neither dead nor in immediate danger. "Meg has some stuff she wants to show us."
I watch Antoine's fury fade, and he gives me an apologetic look that I'm pretty sure is sincere, though I do have my doubts. "Something you want to show us?" he asks, voice twanging of curiosity. I've forgotten about all of the others; right now, it's just the three of us. "Meg, you don't have to – "
"I want you," I cut him off, voice wavering in confidence even as I stare at him with steely eyes, "to meet my father."
"Meg." Nico's hand on my shoulder breaks the spell and I shake myself out of the trance, looking up at him calmly. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," I hum, and we turn to the buckets of unhealthy meat deliciousness. I can hear Antoine and Rey mumbling to each other behind me, but I don't pay attention; it's just me and Nico grinning at each other with a strangely small amount of awkwardness. "I say the first part, right?"
"And the parts of the chant you know," he confirms, opening three of the Happy Meal boxes and twisting the cap off one of the giant ass diet coke bottles, at least three liters each. We'd gone over this earlier, but I get the feeling that he usually does this by himself and the last thing I want is to mess it up. I take a deep breath and grab some of the boxes before moving to stand over the hole.
"Let the dead taste again," I murmur, feeling a strange mental power flow through my brain as I offer hamburgers to ghosts. "Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember."
I empty all of the food and a couple of the soda bottles into the mock grave before Nico finally starts chanting. I pick at the parts that mention memories, which I seem to know by instinct, and that odd sense of power flows through me again. Before long, the pit begins to froth and slowly, the food and drink rise to form a strange sort of mush – and a single translucent figure rises in front of me.
I bow on one leg. Nico seems to recognize him, though he doesn't look at all surprised. Nor does Hazel; I get the feeling that they've had their suspicions for a while, as children of Hades and Pluto respectively. "Father," I great, voice more meek than I'd like to admit.
He surveys me stiffly before sighing with grudging admiration. "Rise, child," he rumbles, and I do. He looks exactly as I remember him, from the crinkly eyes to the fashionable old times outfit straight down to that odd goatee they never mentioned in the myths. "I see it's come the time for me to assist you. May I please…?"
"Go ahead." He relaxes and turns to drink eagerly from the pool, slurping it up with all the dignity of a dog. I turn to my friends hesitantly. "Guys – this is my…" My voice falters. "My dad. The Trojan, Paris."
There is a moment of shocked silence that, of course, Leo is the one to interrupt. "Holy shit," he whispers, staring blankly at me. "How - ? Wait. The gigantomachy – "
"The dead came alive for a short period of time," I remind them miserably. "My father was one of them. And he found my mother, and…" I clear my throat. "Well, Mnemosyne looks like however you have the strongest memories of."
There is a short period of silence before somebody else speaks up. "I was there during the gigantomachy," Jason says, frowning. "We all were. And I think we can all agree that it was only five years ago, right?" There's a murmured chorus of agreement. "So how are you 16?"
"It's because your mother is a Titaness, isn't it?" Maybe it's just to be on a side that isn't Jason's, but it's Piper who steps up, eyes gleaming. "She has powers beyond the gods – like adapting time and space to her command."
"Kind of like what happened to me," Hazel offers, though I don't know what that means.
My father stands back up, wiping food from his upper lip. When I chance a glance, Antoine is absolutely stupefied, staring blankly at me; on the contrary, Rey is watching my pensively, as if he isn't surprised in the least, which definitely surprises me. "There can be explanations later," Paris says, shaking his head at the elder demigods. "For now, you need my help – though it is a pleasure to meet you all. Yes, even you, Faurote, though if I were you I would have a little more subtlety when watching my daughter." His eyes cross while Antoine visibly pales.
"Father," I interrupt before he can attempt to pull some wicked Greek moves and remember that he's a ghost who can't touch people, "what do you mean when you say that we need your help?" I'm careful to keep my voice cordial and professional – I've tried to pull the vulnerable sympathetic daughter act before, but despite everything Paris is a trained Greek soldier and warriors generally don't favor the weak.
His face clears. "Megara," he says clearly, turning to face me and completely blocking out everyone else, "I'm sure that by this point, you have heard of patrons – and of Lonely Tylenol, which, you must be aware, you are a part of. Your patron is a god named Moros."
My heart beats faster. "Yes, father?"
"Let me be blunt: you have no idea where to find him. You have never met him before – and he has his own reasons for that. But now is the time for you to meet him. I will give you markers to guide you to him." His lips twitch up. "You remember The Nightmare Before Christmas?"
I blush despite myself. "Oh my gods, if you messed with that movie – "
"Of course not." If my father weren't a stoic soldier, I'd think he might be grinning. "I've taken some of your old memorabilia and made the path with it. I hope you don't mind." He nods at Nico. "I'm ready to go back. There's a party in Elysium tonight that I don't want to miss."
Nico points his sword at him. "I release you." And just like that – poof – he's gone.
My face is red. I'm really not looking forward to leading my friends along the path of silly childhood dreams.
I pretend I don't miss my dead father already.
"Alright," I say, voice cracking as I wave to Antoine, who nods dumbly before severing the connection, "let's go on a scavenger hunt."
+x+
ive been gathering the pieces of all these shattered hearts
i dont care where you go to, i dont care where you land
just get out of there daddy as fast as you can
daddy can you hear the devil drawing near
like a bullet from a gun
run daddy run
+x+
author's note
if i were you all i would be really sick of watching people just sit around and talk so much
in other news MY MOTHER BOUGHT ME THIRTY FEET OF BUBBLE WRAP TODAY
ALSO SIX THOUSAND MORE WORDS BUT IM GONNA WRITE EIGHT THOUSAND ANYWAY
I AM GOING TO FINISH A FUCKING NOVEL