Warning: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' as well as the one shots 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Last Olympian' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Staff of Hermes' 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero' and 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Quest for Buford' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.
A/N (I recommend reading this): I'm going to MAKE THIS CLEAR. Just like I mention on my bio page about every other fanfiction I done: I DON'T OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIAN SERIES OR IT'S CHARACTERS as the rights goes to Rick Rioran. Also I suggest you guys start paying attention to the Author notes and my warnings that I left on EVERY chapter of EVERY story.
Keep in mind it would be hard to be original with Hazel's and Frank's Flashbacks in this story. Sorry if this chapter is too much like the book
Sorry for reposting this chapter, but I had to add something at the end.
Frank's POV Part V
I hated Ding Dongs. I hated snakes. And I hated my life. Not necessarily in that order.
As I trudged up the hill, I wish I could just pass out like Hazel—just go into a trance and experience other time, like before I got drafted for this insane quest, before I found out my dad was a godly drill sergeant with an ego problem.
My bow and spear were now slapped against my back. I hated the spear, too. The moment I got it, I silently swore I'd never used it. A real man's weapon—Mars was an idiot.
Maybe there had been a mix-up. Wasn't there some sort of DNA test for gods' kids? Perhaps the godly nursery had accidentally switched me with one of Mars' buff little bully babies. No way would my mother have gotten involved with that blustering war god.
She was a natural warrior, Grandmother's voice argued.
It is no surprise a god would fall in love with her, given our family. Ancient blood. The blood of princes and heroes.
I shook the thought out of my head. I was no prince or hero. I was a lactose-intolerant klutz, who couldn't even protect my friend from getting kidnapped by wheat.
My new medals felt cold against my chest: the centurion's crescent, the Mural Crown. I should've been proud of them, but I felt like I'd only gotten them because his dad had bullied Reyna.
I didn't know how my friends could stand to be around me. Percy made it clear that he hated Mars, and I couldn't blame him. Sure he told me that you can't choose your family, but I don't know now if I can with the idea of being a son of Mars. Hazel kept watching me out of the corner of her eye, like she was afraid I might into a muscle-bound freak.
I looked down at my body and sighed. Correction: even more of a muscle-bound freak. If Alaska really was a land beyond the gods, I might stay there. I wasn't sure I had anything to return to.
Don't whine, my grandmother would say. Zhang men do not whine.
She was right. I had a job to do. I had to complete this impossible quest, which at the moment meant reaching the convenience store alive.
As we got closer, I worried that the store might burst into rainbow light and vaporize us, but the building stayed dark. The snakes Polybotes had dropped seemed to have vanished.
We were twenty yards from the porch when something hissed in the grass behind us.
"Go!" I yelled.
Percy stumbled. While Hazel helped him up, I turned and nocked an arrow.
I shot blindly. I thought I'd grabbed an exploding arrow, but it was only a signal flare. It skidded through the grass, bursting into orange flame and whistling: WOO!
At least it illuminated the monster. Sitting in a patch of withered yellow grass was a lime-colored snake as short and thick as my arm. Its head was ringed with a mane of spiky white fins. The creature stared at the arrow zipping as if wondering, what the heck is that?
Then it fixed its large, yellow eyes on me. It advanced like an inchworm, hunching up in the middle. Wherever it touches the grass withered and died.
I heard my friends climbing the steps of the store. I didn't dare turn and run. The snake and I studied each other. The snaked hissed, flames billowing from its mouth.
Of course, it had to breath fire.
"Nice creepy reptile," I said, very aware of the driftwood in my coat pocket. "Nice poisonous fire breathing reptile."
"Frank!" Hazel yelled behind me. "Come on!"
The snake sprang at me. It sailed through the air so fast, there wasn't time to nock an arrow. I swung my bow and smacked the monster down the hill. It spun out of sight, wailing, "Screeeee!"
I felt proud of myself until I saw that my bow was steaming, where it touched the snake. I watched in disbelief as the as the wood crumbled to dust.
Now was the time for me to go to my friends.
I dropped my disintegrating bow and ran for the porch. Percy and Hazel pulled him up the steps as I heard an outraged hiss followed by two more.
When I look back, I saw three monsters circling in the grass, breathing fire and turning the hillside brown with their poisonous touch. They didn't seem able or willing to come closer to the store, but that wasn't much comfort for me since I lost bow.
"We'll never get out of here," I said miserably.
"Then we'd better go in." Hazel pointed to the hand-painted sign over the door: RAINBOW ORGANIC FOODS AND LIFESTYLES.
I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded better than flaming poisonous snakes. I followed my friends inside.
…
As we stepped through the door, lights came on. Flute music started up like we'd walked onto a stage. The wide aisles were lined with bins of nuts and dried fruit, baskets of apples, and clothing racks with tie-dyed shirts and gauzy Tinker Bell-type dresses. The ceiling was covered in wind chimes. Along the walls, glasses cases displayed crystal balls, geodes, macramé dream catchers, and a bunch of other strange stuff. Incense must have been burning somewhere as the place smelled like a bouquet of flowers was on fire.
"Fortune-teller's shop?" I wondered out loud.
"Hopefully not," Hazel muttered.
"I need a place to sit," Percy said, "I can try to focus drinking water out of my thermos."
Percy look worse than ever, like he was struck with a sudden flu.
"Good idea," I agreed.
The floorboard creaked under our feet. I navigated between two Neptune statue fountains.
A girl popped up from behind the granola bins. "Help you?"
I lurched backward, knocking over one of the fountains. One stone statue of Neptune crashed to the floor. The sea god's head rolled off and water spewed out of his neck spraying a rack of tie-dyed man satchels it also sprayed over Percy, which might have helped him, but I couldn't tell since he was now a sickly shade of green after watching at the decapitated statue of his dad. Hazel herself was mortified.
"Sorry!" I bent down to clean up the mess. I almost goosed the girl with my spear.
"Eep!" she said. "Hold it! It's okay!"
I straightened up slowly, trying not to cause any more damage.
The girl clapped her hands. The fountain dissolved into mist. The water evaporated. She turned to me. "Really, it's no problem. Those Neptune fountains are so grumpy-looking, they bum me out, and I don't think Neptune like them either."
"Good to know—I think," I said.
The girl reminded me of the college age hikers I sometimes saw in Lynn Canyon Park behind my grandmother's house. She was short and muscular, with lace-up boots, cargo shorts, and a bright yellow T-shirt that read R.O.F.L. Rainbow Organic Foods & Lifestyles. She looked young, but her hair was frizzy white, sticking out on either side of her head like the white of a giant fried egg. Her eyes also changed from gray to black to white.
"Uh… sorry about the fountain," I managed. "We were just—"
"Oh, I know!" the girl said. "You want to browse. It's all right. My boss always willing to help demigods, so they're always welcome. Unlike those monsters. They just want to use the restroom and never buy anything!"
She snorted. Her eyes flashed with lightning.
"You're a nymph, aren't you?" Percy muttered.
"That's right! My name if Fleecy, and I'm a Nebulae," The girl said.
"Nebulae… A cloud nymph?"
Fleecy beamed. "That's right. No one normally knows about us. Oh, dear. You don't look good."
"Percy been like that since we saw the monsters," Hazel said.
"Percy—Percy Jackson?" Fleecy asked. "My boss would want to see you, and I'm sure she'll want to help you too."
Okay, that was strange. But we followed Fleecy anyways.
Fleecy led them through the produced aisle, between rows of eggplants, kiwis, lotus fruits and pomegranates. At the back of the store, behind a counter with an old-fashioned cash register, stood a middle-aged woman with olive skin, long black hair, rimless glasses, and a T-shirt that read: The Goddess Is Alive! She wore amber necklaces and turquoise rings. She smelled like rose petals.
She looked friendly enough, but something about her made me feel shaky, like I wanted to cry. It took me a second to realize why. The way she smiled with just one corner of her mouth, the warm brown color of her eyes, the tilt of her head, like she was considering a question. She reminded me of my mother.
She looked at Percy and seemed to have a flash of concern. "Percy! Percy Jackson, it been a long time."
"Do—Do I know you?" Percy asked.
"You don't remember—Oh, right. You wouldn't," the woman frowned. "Well, let's just say you were once one of my favorite customers."
"Percy shopped here before?" I asked
"Not that kind of customer," the woman said. "My name is Iris, by the way."
Hazel's eyes widened. "Not the Iris—the rainbow goddess."
Iris made a face. "Well, that's my official job, yes. But I don't define myself by my corporate identity. In my spare time, I run this!" she gestured around her proudly. "The R.O.F.L. Co-op—an employee-run cooperative promoting healthy alternative lifestyles and organic foods."
I stared at her. "But you throw Ding Dongs at monsters."
Iris looked horrified. "Oh, they're not Ding Dongs."
She rummaged under the counter and brought out a package of chocolate-covered cakes that looked exactly like Ding Dongs. "These are gluten-free, no-sugar-added, vitamin-enriched, soy-free, goat-milk-and-seaweed-based cupcakes simulations."
"All natural," Fleecy chimed in.
"I stand corrected." I suddenly felt as queasy as Percy.
Iris smiled. "You should try one, Frank. You're lactose intolerant, aren't you?"
"How did you—"
"I know these things," Iris said. "By the way Percy, here, this should help balance out your chakra, and we'll help you with your memory sickness in a second
The goddess tossed the cakes on the counter and pulled out a vial from behind the counter and spray some honeysuckle-smelling oil around Percy's face.
"As the messenger goddess I do learn a lot, hearing all the communications from the gods and so on. Besides those monsters should be glad to have some healthy snacks. Always eating junk food and heroes. They're so unenlightened. I couldn't have them tromping through my store, tearing up things and disturbing our feng shui."
"But couldn't you stop them?" I asked. "The monsters are marching south. They're going to destroy the camp."
Percy shook his head—looking slightly better. "Iris is a peaceful goddess these days, right?"
"That's right," Iris said. "I can act in self-defense, but I won't be drawn into any more Olympian aggression, thank you very much. I've been reading about Buddhism. And Taoism. I haven't decided between them."
"But…" Hazel looked mystified. "Aren't you a Greek goddess?"
Iris crossed her arms. "Don't try to put me in a box, demigod! I'm not defined to my past."
"Can you send an Iris-message?" Percy asked as if the thought occurred to him. "Isn't that something you do?"
"Iris-message?" I asked.
Iris glance at her assistant, Fleecy as if they were in a silent conversation.
"Iris-messages is an ancient way of communications that the Greeks used," Iris said. "The Romans never took to it—always relying on their road system and giant eagles and whatnot. But I imagine… Fleecy, could you give it a try?"
"Sure, boss!"
Iris winked at me. "Don't tell the other gods, but Fleecy handles most of my messages these days. She's wonderful at it, really, and I don't have time to answer all those requests personally."
"But you know Percy," Hazel said.
"Well, he's a different story," Iris said. "I'm sure Percy will explain when he regained his memories. I doubt Juno would keep his memories from him forever. As for what I was saying, I don't have time to handle all those request between demigods and Olympus. It messes up my wa. Sure I could just cut it down to just Olympus but since I make good business from both demigods and Olympians, I decided to let Fleecy handle demigods Iris-messages."
I was confused by what Iris mean.
"Fleecy, why don't you take Percy and Hazel into the back? You can get them something to eat while you arrange their messages. Also give Percy a cup of green tea with organic honey and wheat germ and some of my medicinal power number five. That should fix his memory sickness."
Hazel frowned. "What about Frank?"
Iris turned to me. She tilts her head quizzically, just the way my mother used to—as if I were the biggest question in the room.
"Oh, don't worry," Iris said. "Frank and I have a lot to talk about."