Changing Fate

Hello everyone!

Yay! Ch21!

Lately I have not got much to say...

I guess you just have to read on...

Chapter 21: A Smooth Criminal

Percy POV

"The only way to make a man trustworthy, is to trust him." ~Henry Stimson

I stared up at the ceiling drowsily. The weak morning sun filtered into the room through the window. I had the vague feeling that there was an important reason I should be getting up but my brain was a little too fogged up to figure out quite why. I felt really tired.

As I tried to unscramble the slightly delirious thoughts in my head, someone began shouting loudly from the other side of the door.

I sat up in bed and I realised there were three voices, all distinctly feminine. I pulled myself out of the soft bed, propelled by the thought that somebody might be in trouble.

I didn't bother to put on a proper shirt and burst into the hotel room's main chamber in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt.

Reyna, in her typical style, had a fierce look on her face. She had Emma and Lena backed up against the wall ad was pointing twin daggers at their chests.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded loudly, "I'll ask you again, and this time I want honesty!"

Lena was shaking like a leaf, "W-we told you!"

Emma, on the other hand, looked positively murderous, "Get that dagger away from me, you freak! You're meant to be helping us, not attacking us like some demented guard dog!"

It was about then I came to my senses and thought I should stop Reyna before she killed the only tenants we'd managed to get.

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down everyone. Reyna, put the daggers down."

Reyna whipped around, dropping the daggers with a clatter, "Percy! Do you know what these two are doing here?"

"Yes," I said calmly, "They're two new tenants."

Reyna frowned, "Since when?"

"Since last night. I was out on my... walk and I found these two in a bit of trouble. I brought them back here, they slept on the sofas."

"What kind of trouble?"

"We were attacked by a monster," said Lena quietly, "Percy saved us."

"What?" Reyna looked at me, "You ran into a monster? In Paris?"

"There are monsters all over the world," said Emma matter-of-factly, "Not just in North America."

"Does that mean there are other demigods, too?" Reyna looked back at Emma, her hostility fading and being replaced by curiosity.

Emma nodded, "More demigods than you know. There are so many minor gods-Greek and Roman- that there are tons of kids out there."

Reyna looked thoughtful, "I've never really thought about other demigods."

"Well that's not a surprise..." I muttered. Reyna ignored me.

"So what's your story?" Reyna asked the twins after a moment of contemplation.

Emma opened her mouth to reply but didn't get the words out because just as she was about to speak, a bleary-eyed and ruffle-haired Jason emerged from his room, "What's with all the racket! It's barely eight-thirty!"

Hazel poked her head through her own doorway with a curious look on her face, "What's going on?"

Frank followed suit just after her, "Who's yelling?"

"We have found two new tenants!" Reyna announced, "Thanks to Percy!"

"What?" Hazel looked confused, like she'd just woken up. "When did we magically acquire two new people."

"I love the way we are spoken about as if we're a commodity. 'The Tenants'." Emma commented sarcastically to nobody in particular.

"Percy found them." said Reyna. "He saved them from a monster."

Hazel laughed good-naturedly, "Always the hero."

Jason frowned, "So let me get this straight. Percy discovered two random, pretty girls while out on a midnight walk, is that right?"

"What are you suggesting?" I asked.

Jason held up his hands, "Oh, nothing, it's just that we hardly know anything about these two."

"Then we'll find out things about them." said Hazel, stepping into the room. "Let's start with names. I'm Hazel, it's nice to meet you."

Hazel seemed, at least, to be able to put Lena at ease with that warm smile of hers.

Lena moved forward, sidestepping Reyna. "I'm Lena."

Emma looked suspiciously at Hazel but with a comforting look from Lena she stepped froward too. "It's Emma,"

"Lovely to meet you both," Hazel smiled brightly and gestured to the rest of us, "You've met Percy. And undoubtedly Reyna. This is Jason. And the one with his head half through the door, that's Frank."

Jason nodded at them as her leaned casually against the doorjamb. Frank blushed and moved into the room, at least I wasn't the only one in my PJ's.

Hazel seemed determined to keep the conversation going, "So! Tell us a bit about yourselves! Here, sit down."

She motioned towards the sofas and everybody sat down. It seemed a bit strange that Hazel was in a cotton night gown, Reyna in a spotted purple dressing gown, Frank in bright green pyjamas, Jason in a t-shirt and sweatpants and Emma and Lena still in the clothes that they'd worn the night before that were a little torn and dirtied.

"We were born in Arizona, around Phoenix. Our mom had us young. We were born when she was seventeen. She couldn't handle us, really. We moved in with our great aunt when we were two years old, she raised us. She knew so much about Greek mythology. She was, like, sixty and she loved to tell stories. She was something of a grandmother figure to us." explained Emma.

"So how did you find out you were demigods? Did your aunt tell you?" asked Frank.

Lena nodded but Emma answered. "She had all these books. We used to read them every time we were bored. We learnt all about Greek mythology. The gods, the goddesses, the legends, the monsters. Then we started to attract monsters. We went on a trip to San Diego once and we were attacked by some dracaenae while visiting the zoo. We were fourteen then. We're not dumb, we figured it out, that we're demigods, I mean."

"So why didn't you just stay with your aunt? That was obviously a safe place. How exactly did you end up in a demigod camp in Canada?" I questioned.

Lena spoke softly, she seemed quite shy, "The attack at San Diego zoo was only the start. Over the next two years, our great aunt made us move around a lot. She was afraid for our safety, I think. She carried this little box around with her and she told us that if there was ever an emergency, we should take the box."

"I'm guessing there was an emergency?" said Jason.

Emma and Lena nodded in unison.

"When we were sixteen, our great aunt left and never came back."

"What do you mean 'left and never came back'?" Reyna asked, frowning.

"She just left one day. We were staying in this tiny weatherboard in this country town. She left one morning to go to the mall and just... never came back. She was gone for three days and then we became worried. We started asking around town, nobody remembered her. Then we began to suspect something had happened. Why else would nobody have noticed the disappearance of an older woman in broad daylight? It had to be the Mist." continued Emma.

"So you figured that it had to do with Greek mythology?" asked Hazel. "You're pretty smart."

Lena smiled, "Thanks. We figured our great aunt being abducted -or killed- by some, presumably, monsters counted as an emergency. So we opened the box."

Hazel leaned forward in her seat eagerly, she loved a good story, "What was inside?"

"A map." said Emma simply.

"A map?" asked Reyna, a frown creasing her forehead.

"It was a map of all the demigod shelters all over the world. For demigods who've left either Camp-Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood or never went to the camps in the first place." Emma looked around at the frowning faces.

Jason raised his eyebrows, "There are demigods out there who never went to either of the camps? How do they survive?"

Emma shrugged in an oddly nonchalant way, "Some of them don't. But demigods are tough, resourceful. The smart ones find each other and make 'camps'. They stick together, find places to live and train and rescue other demigods. It mightn't be an easy life, but at least there's a level of protection."

"So you moved into one of these places? Where?" asked Hazel.

"Canada." Lena said.

"Why Canada? That's not in the U.S. you'd have be out of the home of the gods!" exclaimed Hazel, seemingly enthralled.

"Exactly." said Emma. "We thought that there'd be fewer monsters away from North America."

"And how'd that work out for you?" Reyna asked critically.

"Not very well," Emma admitted, "Though we were safe for about a year, the little town we were staying in just didn't have the magical defences. There was bound to be an attack sooner or later. We should have expected it but when the attack came we were totally unprepared. The most we could do was grab a few supplies and run for our lives."

"So you just left? All those people you stayed with had to fend for themselves?" asked Jason slightly incredulously, his sense of loyalty kicking in. I guess you can take the guy out of the legion but you can't take the legion out of the guy.

"They were capable. Most of them had been fighting for so much longer than us. In the end it was safer for us to leave." said Emma.

"They wanted us to leave." said Lena quietly. Her twin looked at her. Some kind of understanding passed between them and Emma put her arm around her sister.

"It's okay," she counselled quietly, "It was for our safety."

The room fell silent for a while as Lena fiddled with the hem of her tunic top. "It just kills me not knowing if he lived."

"You're kidding right? Of course he's alive. He's a fighter."

"Then why didn't he find us?"

"It's a big world, Lena. We've been to Paris, Dublin, Portland, Rio de Janeiro and so many other cities. We've been so careful. Nobody could possibly find us."

Lena nodded and I noticed her eyes were sparkling ever so slightly with tears.

Once again, we lapsed into silence. Lena seemed really cut up over something -or somebody- but I figured it was best not to pry, we'd all just met them, after all.

After a moment, Reyna said, "You've been quite a lot of places. You're only eighteen, how did you manage that?"

Emma shrugged, "We can be pretty resourceful."

Reyna frowned, "Yet you needed Percy to save you."

Emma stood up suddenly, she seemed to have a fiery temper and her patience with Reyna's brisk manner was wearing thin, "It was an off day, okay? For gods' sake. We're freaking eighteen. We've missed years of school. We'll probably never get a complete education. We've spent the last two years running for our lives and the minute we have to be saved from one monster, you think you can criticise us? This is ridiculous. I've had it with you're interrogation."

"One off day can be the difference between life and death." said Reyna reasonably.

Emma's blue eyes flashed and Lena clutched onto her twin's hand in an effort to console her, "C'mon, Ems, calm down."

"No," said Emma flatly, "It's not worth it. If we're only going to be disparaged then I see no reason to go to New York with these idiots."

Emma turned quickly, her blonde hair flying. She scooped up her light coat, tucked a sparkling wallet covered in silver sequins into its pocket and marched out of the door, slamming it loudly behind her.

Lena gave a slightly strangled cry before throwing Reyna a reproachful look that I didn't think her kind face was capable of, "Now look what you've done."

Soon Lena was rushing after her sister though she closed the door a little more quietly.

All of us sat around a bit stunned for a couple of seconds.

"What. The. Hell." said Frank after a moment, "Was. That."

I couldn't help but laugh and neither could the others.

"I think," said Hazel, through giggles, "That we just lost our only two tenants."

I stood up, "Then we'd better go get them back, right?"

"I don't know about you," said Reyna, "But I'm not exactly liking the idea of rushing around Paris in my dressing gown."

"Oh... right. Then let's changed and then go get them back!"

"Yes!" agreed Hazel, still laughing, "Our need to wear appropriate clothes shall not diminish our dignity nor our enthusiasm!"

The rest of them stood up, and after a short interlude while each of us put on non-pyjama clothes we rushed out of the door in pursuit of Lena and Emma.

-oOo-

We figured the wouldn't be hard to spot, with their radiant white-gold hair but they had a good five-minute head start and, if anything, they were resourceful. We raced through the streets, our shoes pounding against the pavement loudly.

We caught sight of the two bobbing blond heads just as we reached the Pont de Bir Hakeim. They hadn't slowed down but Lena had caught up to her sister. They both seemed very fit, like they'd spent a long time running from things. We paused as they bolted across the bridge that crossed the Seine. Hazel ran her fingers through her hair as she paused for breath, "Where are they going?"

"It looks like they're heading down the Promenade d'Australie." said Reyna, watching the girls take a sharp left turn.

"But that leads to..." began Frank.

"The Eiffel Tower," I finished.

"Why would they go there?" asked Hazel.

"The crowds. They need to lose us, to rest for a bit so they can regroup and decide what their next move will be." I answered.

"We're making them out to be criminals!" exclaimed Jason, "If they don't want to come with us then why are we forcing them?"

"I think they did want to come with us, but Emma has a fiery temper, she made a split second decision and now they've thrown it away." said Frank.

"Now, who do I know who's done that?" I muttered quietly enough so that nobody could hear.

"Then we'd better go after them." said Hazel and began running again.

Frank, Jason, Reyna and I followed.

Predictably, the Eiffel tower was busy. People were heading in every direction. They had their cameras out and were snapping pictures of everything. Most of the pictures were of things like the backs of other people's head but I don't think the tourists cared. The little metal fences did little to order the crowds, people were spilling out the sides everywhere. If anything, they looked a little like caged birds, packed in so tight to the queues.

"Where are they?" cried Jason frustratedly.

"Over there!" called Reyna and dashed off in their direction. We had to squeeze our way through crowds and jump fences in pursuit of them. They were disappearing fast into the waves of moving bodies. Lena turned her head back for a moment, her blue eyes wide. She turned to her sister reaching for her hand in the crowd. She seemed to be trying to calm her twin but Emma shook her head resolutely and continued on through the crowd.

I looked around and realised that we'd all been separated by the crowd. Hazel's cinnamon locks were bouncing a short distance away, Frank was just near her but Reyna and Jason were nowhere in sight.

I had to get to the others, to talk to them so we could figure out some kind of plan.

I looked around. The pillar I was closest to had a guy leaning against it, he looked about nineteen with a shock of auburn hair. I started to move in the direction of the pillar, thinking it wouldn't matter if a single Mortal overheard our conversation, there were only thousands of others right next to him. Then he produced a celestial bronze dagger and began cleaning his nails with it.

I did a double take. Was it really celestial bronze? Before I could properly check, the guy caught my eye, winked and slid the dagger into his trench coat before melting into the crowd. For a moment I thought I'd been hallucinating. What were the chances? While chasing after two demigods that we needed as tenants I run into another demigod who just happens to be using a celestial bronze dagger right in front of my eyes? That was crazy.

"Percy!" called Frank. "What are you doing? The girls are heading in the other direction!"

I turned around to see Frank motioning to Emma and Lena who had somehow managed to fight their way to the front of the line and board the elevator. Reyna and Jason were jumping fences and sprinting to get there before the doors closed.

"C'mon!" called Hazel from a little distance away. "We have to do this for their own good!"

And then I was jumping fences and sprinting too. But we were missing the elevator and the doors were closing. The doors were two feet apart, then one foot, then five inches and then Jason got there, jamming his hand into the door and making them spring open again.

Security officers were moving in, they couldn't have this kind of commotion at their precious tower.

Hazel moved over to Emma and Lena and said something I couldn't hear over the indignation of the crowd. Emma and Lena were following us and we were all running. Running from the Eiffel Tower. I had a strange sense of Deja Vu as I sprinted across the lawn with Emma and Lena close by. Once again, we were disappearing into the hedges and trees along the little paths.

I didn't know where we were headed but once I heard that the thumping of the security guard's feet stopped behind us I called out to the others, "Slow down, guys! We've lost them!"

Jason, who was furthest ahead, slowed down and the others behind me did too. I took deep breaths, catching my fast breathing. I looked around at the others. Hazel was leaning up against a nearby tree. Frank was wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Emma was standing with her arms folded and her eyes stony. Lena was trying to comfort her sister. She took her sister's coat and put her arm around Emma.

"So will you come with us?" I asked after a pause, directing my question at the girls. "We've chased you half way around Paris, do you get that we genuinely believe we can help you?"

Emma shrugged, "You could be psycho. Plenty of psychopaths would chase two young girls around a city that's unfamiliar to them."

"Actually, a psychopath would not make themselves nearly as obvious. They'd bide their time, watching and waiting-" began Reyna.

"Give it a rest, Reyna. It was a comparison." said Jason, sighing.

"We aren't out to get you," assured Hazel, "We only want to protect you. Believe me, we know what it's like to be demigods running from problems."

Emma frowned, stubbornly not wanting to give in to Hazel.

"I think it'd be fun to go to New York." said Lena, "I've never lived any place like that."

"Don't you get it, Lena? This isn't some kind of field trip! This would be permanent! We'd live in New York for years." Emma snapped at her sister, blue eyes blazing.

Lena remained stoutly unaffected, "I know. That's my point. It would be permanent. I'm sick of this running around, this leaving people behind. I want to live a proper life."

Emma stood silently. Se was torn. Did she hold her pride or give in to her sister who she cared about?

"All right then," she said, her shoulders sagging a little, "New York it is."

Lena smiled and looked satisfied.

"Great!" said Hazel, who seemed genuinely happy.

"Now we just need to find one more tenant." said Jason. "Then we can finally go home."

"Is the place still unfilled?" said an unfamiliar voice from behind us.

We all spun around, each of us reaching for our weapons instinctively. I seemed to be the only one who found Riptide which extended in seconds.

The others stood around slightly dumfounded as a boy in a long black trench coat walked up to us. He had on a black fedora that was tilted forward so that only the cocky smile on his lips was visible.

"Who are you?" I demanded, holding Riptide out threateningly.

"Thinking of attacking me?" he asked, his voice was tinged with and English accent, "Shame the rest of you have no weapons."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, turning to the others. The all showed me their empty hands, "Nothing."

"Did you take them?" I asked the guy.

His arrogant smile widened. "Only temporarily."

"Give them back!" exclaimed Reyna.

"No, sweetie, I won't." the guy produced a bronze dagger and it glinted it menacingly in the light as he played with it.

"You!" I cried, "The one from the crowd!"

"Well, spotted, Einstein. Now are you going to put down that weapon so we can talk like mature young adults?"

"I'll drop mine if you drop yours." I said, "And give my friends theirs back."

The boy sighed loudly in mock drama and opened his trench coat. The inside had many pockets that were filled with various different things, watches, wallets, bank notes from many different countries. Slowly, he produced the different weapons. Reyna's daggers, Jason's coin and the others.

Once they'd all received their weapons, I reluctantly tucked a pen-size Riptide into my pocket.

"One more thing," added Hazel, "Take the hat off."

He took the fedora off, his dark red hair fell in movie star waves around his face and the nape of his neck. His eyes were a gray so dark it bordered on black.

He held out a hand,"Oliver Weston, somewhat pleased to make your acquaintance."

I stared at him, "What?"

"I said, Oliver Weston-"

"I know what you said. I meant 'what?' as in you've been pickpocketing us, toying with us, hiding your identity and now you expect us to talk to you?"

"Thank you for stating the obvious. I do indeed want to talk to you." said Oliver.

"What is this about?" asked Frank, stepping forward, "What do you want?"

"To widen my horizons." said Oliver, the smile returning.

"You want to move to New York?" said Hazel, "Seriously? Are you even a demigod?"

"It would appear so." he produced the dagger and pricked at his finger, a small red bead of blood welled up, "According to my knowledge, I am a son of Hermes. Or of Mercury as you Romans know him."

"How do you know we're Romans?" asked Jason suspiciously.

"There are several clues. The first I observed was the Imperial Gold weapons. The second was the fact that you refer to all the gods by their Roman names. The third, well that's a secret."

"How do you know all of this? Have you been spying on us?" Hazel looked mildly disgusted.

"It's what I do."

"Along with stealing, bargaining and pick-pocketing." added Jason drily.

"Amongst other things." Oliver seemed completely unaffected by the words that were being thrown around.

"Why should we help you?" I asked, "You're hardly good hero material."

Oliver looked off into the distance as if the whole conversation bored him. "I think you'll find you're obligated to. Perhaps you should have read the Jupiter Enterprise guidebook before you decided to join. Oh wait, I forgot, I stole it."

Oliver reached into his trench coat and produced a thin book about the size of a pocket dictionary which he threw to me. "Page 19,"

I flipped through the pages until I found what he wanted me to look at. The writing was tiny.

"No officer of Jupiter or Zeus Enterprises shall refuse a demigod in need when he/she requests refuge, sustenance or counsel." I read.

Frank snorted, "That's made up."

Reyna shook her, "It isn't. He's serious. That's my copy. When Jupiter set up the company he made some rules, one of them being that the head of a group would never be without a copy of the rules."

"And how come we haven't heard about this?" asked Hazel, "I've been at the company a while."

"Could you be bothered reading a rulebook? It's boring. Besides, nobody ever calls the rules into question." answered Reyna.

"Except Oliver." said Frank.

"I think you'll find I am the exception to many rules." said Oliver arrogantly.

"Do really have to deal with him for the entire training week?" complained Jason.

"Training week? No, we have to deal with him for the next two weeks and the training week." said Reyna.

"What!" Jason yelled, "That's crap!"

Reyna shook her head, "We have to stay in Paris for the next two weeks."

"Why?" whined Jason, "We've got three tenants! Why can't we just leave?"

Reyna turned to me, "Page 32."

I flipped the pages and squinted at the text, "When a business trip is taken, the members of any team must refrain from leaving the chosen destination until the scheduled time period has elapsed unless the situation calls for it specifically."

"The rules suck." announced Jason, "We have no reason to stay."

Hazel shrugged, "I don't mind."

"Of course you don't! You love this city! It's like a freaking second home! This-" he gestured around, "Is not my home."

"Home is wherever I'm with you..." sang Oliver absently, earning him a venomous look from Jason.

"I'm sorry, Jason." said Reyna, "This isn't an emergency. We're staying."

Jason folded his arms but didn't protest.

"Well," said Hazel brightly, "I'm hungry. Let's get some breakfast to celebrate our newest tenants. Who's up for croissants?"

Hi everyone!

I was thinking... ( you're surprised, I know)

Wouldn't it be kinda cool to write a sequel/prequel/spin-off story that was all about Lena and Emma's story? Because there's more to it than mentioned. I've kind of created this whole other story in my head.

Anyhow, don't know if it'll happen or anybody would even read it.

Do you like my other character? Emma and Lena and Oliver?

I quite like Oliver. He is somewhat... mysterious. You know, with his fedora and his trench coat and his dagger and his English accent. Rather unrealistic... But mysterious all the same.

Hope you liked the chapter.

Bye!