Twenty-One: Alabaster

I Have a Tea Party with My Best Frenemies

Warning: Spoilers for Child of Magic by Haley Riordan. If you haven't read it, you're missing out.

As Axel told their story, Alabaster forced his hand to stop shaking. Each time he picked up the teacup, he had to concentrate not to spill. But he didn't want to look weak around Axel or Jack, and he didn't want Pax to see any emotion on his face.

He tried to pay full attention to everyone's reactions as Axel spoke of returning to his father, Santiago Pax, running away again, kidnapping Rachel Elizabeth Dare, bargaining with Hephaestus for Leo Valdez's location, trading for the reforging of Kronos's scythe, about how Santiago Pax had caught his sons, murdered their friend, Joey Song, and how the daughter of Demter, Euna Song, had ripped Santiago and his men apart from the inside.

Jack supplied appropriate music for the tale, strumming into a crescendo when Euna faced off with Eris, before Phobetor lulled them all to sleep. In too brief a sentence, Axel ended with, "We ended up in New Rome, the Romans realized who we were, and tried to capture us. We ran."

"Congratulations on killing your pops," Jack cheered. He folded his middle finger and index finger down to make a rock on symbol before going back to his five string base.

Two of Axel's friends, the tall boy with ebony skin and the Indian girl with curves worthy of a Renaissance painting, were ill at ease during the retelling. They exchanged a glance when Axel mentioned Rachel. Though, the girl was so exhausted, she had trouble not nodding off in his chair.

The Pax brothers must have suffered, crawling back to their father after the Slaughter of Mount Othrys, withering under his tyranny until Eris told Pax there was a way out, and a way to fight back. Seeing them alive gave Alabaster hope.

"Do you think Eris and the others are staging a strike against Mount Olympus?" Alabaster asked.

Axel shook his head. "Knowing Eris, it's far pettier than that. I think she only wants Camp Half-Blood, though I'm not sure what her plan of attack is. She's kidnapped Hemera and has the Olympians arguing amongst themselves."

Alabaster frowned. He wondered if the Pax brothers could convince Eris and the other minor gods to aim at something bigger. If they joined forces, they would have access to a god-killing weapon and a net to capture deities. They could never do another all-out assault on Olympus, but that wasn't the Sabotage and Magic Unit's style.

Though, that could wait until morning. Everyone looked exhausted, and Alabaster was too numb to discuss battle plans.

Pax tugged at the ends of his sweater and Alabaster had an uncomfortable memory of giddy, twelve-year-old Ajax, brown and hazel eyes wide with awe, asking, "Can you really do magic?"

Alabaster shook off the memory. Pax had grown up a lot in the last year. His shoulders had broadened, foreshadowing that he'd have a build closer to Axel later in life. His cheeks still retained their round cuteness, but his jaw line had hardened. His smile still held that air of innocent mischief, like Pax hadn't been traumatized on multiple occasions. Above all, one thing hadn't changed: he was still short.

"Where's our Potter been?" Pax asked.

If Alabaster hadn't already used up the fire rune, he'd set Pax ablaze on the principle of the matter. Though, hearing the stupid nickname gave him nostalgia. The smile it brought dribbled away at the thought of the Battle of Manhattan.

"Hundreds died. The Olympians… spared me in exchange for Hecate's compliance with the peace," Alabaster explained.

"They blackmailed her," Axel snarled, "At least we can rely on them to use their traditional methods."

Alabaster felt some relief at Axel's anger. Although Alabaster knew the nightmares he'd been having the last few months were ridiculous, he couldn't help but wince at the thought of Axel becoming a Roman or sympathetic to their enemies.

"Blackmailed her?" Kally asked. Alabaster could barely see her poking around Pax's shoulder. She'd finally stopped shaking from Jack's approach.

Axel and Pax must not have given her their welcoming speech yet.

"He can give you the full riveting lecture tomorrow, so you have a slightly higher chance of staying awake during the Alternative History of Olympus. Or, as I like to call it, Watching Paint Dry Part II: Too Many Shades of Grey," Pax said to her.

Although Alabaster knew he'd never met Kally before, she reminded him of something he couldn't place. Before Alabaster could figure it out, Pax tugged Alabaster's sweater again. "So you were adopted by a famous writer after the battle. That seems legit."

Adopted..? Alabaster shook his head. "No. He can't legally adopt me; he's dead." His mind spun. At the thought of explaining from the beginning, he looked away from Pax. "I assume you're familiar with Gaea's rise to power?"

Everyone nodded, except Merry. The girl's tangled, shoulder length hair splayed on the armrest, where she was napping fitfully. Calex's bow was still in his lap. He held it in one hand, the other touching Merry's sleeve, like his fingertips were her anchor to this world. His grey eyes narrowed in suspicion at Alabaster. If he really was an Olympic sympathizer…

The other girl, Euna, watched absently as Nietzsche, Xbalanque, and Hanapu thundered into the room, rolled under the couch, and rumbled out of sight.

"Gaea sent Lamia to kill me, so Lamia could become the leader of Hecate's children." Although Alabaster wasn't looking at Pax, he could feel the smaller boy sink more into the couch. "I killed her over and over, but she wouldn't die. So I sought the help of an expert on death, Professor Howard Claymore."

Axel nodded, though Alabaster caught a glint of his ears perking up in excitement. He still stood beside Kally protectively, but he looked away from Jack when Jack made an… uncomfortable tongue gesture at him.

"So, Clay swooped in all vampire hunter style and kicked ass?" Pax asked. His voice shook, though he tried to sound playful.

"No, he died, as I said," Alabaster explained, "Mother used his life force for a spell to separate Lamia and me. Then she brought him back to life as a Mist form."

"Mist form? Like the weasels?" Euna asked, pointing to where Nietzsche scrambled to crawl out from under the couch. Xbalanque and Hanapu tackled him back down.

Alabaster nodded. He guessed Claymore wouldn't like that comparison, but it was a sufficient example. What was taking Claymore so long downstairs? The professor must have been stalling to give them more time alone. Alabaster just hoped Claymore remembered to snip off a section of the ear to be dried into a powder before he tucked it into Alabaster's ingredients cabinet.

"Claymore and I were theorizing about how to bring the children of Hecate some peace, though someone else must have risen to power in my absence—"

"Lou Ellen," Axel supplied. "She's the head counselor of Hecate's new cabin."

Alabaster scowled. That name sounded familiar. His head ached thinking about it, and he had the nauseating feeling he was forgetting something important. And a cabin to Hecate? Next time he could contact his mother, he'd have to ask her, though, that was the other problem.

"Claymore and I were also researching how lucid dreaming can help with dream visions. I—"

Alabaster tensed. He didn't want to talk about his nightmares. Demigods' dreams were never just dreams, but normally Alabaster had more control over what he saw. Something had been infringing on his nighttime wanderings, and it wasn't as pleasant as the times Morpheus decided to mess with him.

From the apprehension on everyone's face, Alabaster could tell he wasn't the only one having nightmares.

"We've all been having dream-prophecies," Kally spoke up. When Alabaster glanced over at her, she blushed and shifted like she was going to lean back into the couch. After a pause, she exhaled and lifted her chin. "That's what Phobetor has been doing to us. He's been giving all the other demigods in Camp Half-Blood and New Rome reruns of monsters from their pasts, but the seven—six of us have been getting dream-prophecies. What have you been dreaming about?"

The Pax brothers went pale and still. Jack strummed out something tense and high-pitched. [footnote 1]

Alabaster cupped one hand around his teacup, wishing it was warmer. He gazed at the fire in the corner, keeping his voice as even as he could. "Children of Hecate get everything in threes. I see Ajax laughing with Hermes' Cabin beside Matthias Severre Hanson and Chris Rodriguez, giving praise to the same gods that killed my siblings. In the second, Axel is with that Roman praetor, the one that stormed Mount Othrys with Jason Grace and destroyed our home. He's discussing joining the legion with her and that he doesn't mind scrubbing the streets of Camp Jupiter if that's what it takes to join…"

Alabaster didn't want to look at his two friends. They were more than friends. Axel had become an older brother and great strategizing partner during their time at Camp Othrys. And Ajax had started off as an obnoxious puppy that followed him around camp, but later…

The thought of these two spitting at the memory of their friends fallen in battle and all the ideals they fought for... Nausea twisted his stomach.

Alabaster glanced up from the fire. Although Axel's jaw was clenched to keep his emotions neutral, his tufted ears drooped in shame. He kept eye contact with Alabaster with calculated steadiness.

Alabaster didn't want to look at Pax. A sense of betrayal made him tremble.

"Those are your nightmares?" Kally asked, confused. She touched her lip. "You said that you had a third one?"

He nodded. If those two had already come true—then—

"It's also about Axel and Ajax," he said. Alabaster tried to stop shaking. If these things were really happening, he couldn't ignore it. But, what was he supposed to think? He'd just gotten them back, only to find out they were either considering or had already joined their enemies.

"Let's not talk about them," Pax suggested, "Let's talk about happier thoughts, like Mom's evil plan and—"

Alabaster swallowed. "Axel is hunting down Ajax in my last nightmare. He's killing him."

"NO!" Pax shouted and jumped to his feet, nearly knocking Kally off the couch. "NO! He's not. It's the Leonis Caput—and he wouldn't do it anyway—he—he's my older brother and Axel would never—" Tears streamed down Pax's cheeks.

Axel closed his eyes. His brow furrowed, and he sighed in pained realization.

All three of them were having the same nightmare. Even if they had betrayed their cause, Alabaster's stomach still churned at the thought.

"Ajax—" Axel tried.

"NO!" Pax repeated. "I'm going to go storm up those stairs in protest!" he stated, stomped once, then paused to glance at Alabaster with red-rimmed eyes. "No runes are going to blow me up if I storm up those stairs, right? I need my protest to be uninterrupted."

Alabaster waved him on numbly.

Pax pointed a finger at Axel. "And it isn't you, and that's not what I dreamed about anyway. I dreamed about a boar with a bowtie, thank you very much." He huffed and scurried towards the stairs.

"Interrupted," Jack said, snatching Pax and dragging him into his lap. Pax sniffled and squirmed, though he couldn't have been putting up any real struggle, since Jack managed to hold onto him. "It's okay, kid. Tartarus isn't that bad. You'll get to say hi to Luke and our other friends." [footnote 2]

"Jack," Alabaster and Axel snapped at the same time.

"What? I'm helping," Jack protested, ruffling Pax's hair.

"No, you're not," Alabaster said.

This was too much.

Alabaster glanced around the room. Kally had caught her balance on the couch and covered her mouth with one hand. Calex's eyes had widened. Euna glared at the ground. Nietzsche, Xbalanque, and Hanapu poked their heads from under the couch to stare at them. Hanapu nipped at Xbalanque's ear, as though to say, You know I wouldn't try to stab you to death, right bro?

"How'd they find you?" Pax sniffled quietly into Jack's shoulder.

"Shortly after meeting up with Claymore," Alabaster answered, "I saw a new report that bubonic plague hit a mental health institution in New Mexico. Claymore made a few calls on my hunch and it turned out to be correct," Alabaster said wearily. He left out the information about how much of a mess Jack was or how Claymore repeatedly suggested they rid the world of him.

Everyone was too exhausted and scared for this conversation to be productive.

"I think that's enough for tonight."

Alabaster jumped. He hadn't heard Claymore come back up the stairs and reenter the living room. Since he'd become a Mist form, he was incredibly stealthy. He returned to his position beside the bookshelf, where he stored several enchanted guns should something go wrong.

"I take it these children are staying the night," Claymore asked, "It looks like two have taken the liberty of deciding for themselves." He nodded to where Merry was out cold on the couch and where Pax was pretending to sleep on Jack's shoulder. Pax mustn't have realized that Jack probably couldn't carry him up the stairs anymore, though Alabaster bet Jack would kill both of them trying.

Alabaster nodded. "The girls can take the upstairs guest room. The boys can sleep in the attic." He wondered how much sleep any of them were actually going to get, and how many of them would wake up screaming from nightmares.

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry the chapter is so late-things have been crazy here. I hope you enjoyed regardless! :D

1 For those of you on fanfiction, there was originally a link to a gif of Miguel strumming dramatically in Road to El Dorado.

2 So, I meant to address this in the next chapter, since I'm aware Luke says he's going to be reborn when he dies, but I haven't found a point where it naturally works into the conversation. So, the explanation behind this will probably come up later, assuming the author doesn't disappear into a field of leprechauns.