AN: First chapter of the end :) Two more to go after this one...

Chapter 37 Old Dogs, Old Tricks

Sam POV

Good job Sam, you've really done it now. You saved us all from Nyx and even gave us a fresh start, but nobody will know until you tell them. No, you had to go and be a reckless mage and fall into a coma, again. And now you're in an infirmary again. You don't like that, remember. Now, wake up and tell someone to scratch your leg, it's itching.

'Gods, will someone please scratch my human leg, it's itching,' I pleaded.

'I can't. The cut is still healing,' replied someone.

I opened my eyes and had to blink a few times because the sunlight was filling the room through the large window. An ache spread across my face. Lifting up my arm to touch my nose was hard as it felt so heavy.

'My nose hurts,' I said to the person in the room. my voice sounded weird.

A green eyed woman with a black braid moved into my field of vision. Lou gave me a smile. In her hands she held a bundle of cloth.

'Lou doesn't have a braid,' I replied.

'She does now. It's been two weeks since you've been out and I've decided to change my hairdo.' Lou shifted the bundle of cloth to the other shoulder.

'Two weeks. Gods.'

'Yeah, you've really outdone yourself, Sam.'

'I noted the sarcasm, Lou. I know I made a mistake.' I tried pulling myself upright, but my arms refused to move. 'Want to give me a hand?' With a wave of her hand, Lou helped me and the bed into an upright sitting position.

Being able to see through the window, I spotted the Oakland Hills in the distance and the silvery tree. We were still at Jupiter. 'How is everybody?'

'Mostly fine. John recovered from the Flood pretty quickly, Suzan needed a bit more time. Mia was tired after the battle, but she's fine now. Jade and Ronan got wounded in skirmishes, but they'll live. And I am still tired as I need to take care of two children.' She gave me a playful glare before checking on the baby.

'Nyx didn't break my nose.'

'Sarah did after you woke up a first time and said something about being sorry. She'll relieve me in about twenty minutes.' The cloth moved.

'Looks like someone's awake,' I said trying to ignore the pain and the empty feeling.

'She is.' Lou took a seat next to me and showed me a healthy baby with green eyes. The clothes she was wearing were black and yellow. 'Aurora, meet Sam, your third uncle.'

The baby made a noise. 'Hi, Aurora, nice to meet you. Aurora as in dawn in Latin?'

Lou nodded. 'She was born the moment you defeated Nyx and dawn was in motion. Seemed fitting.'

'Aurora "Bumblebee" Blackstone, has a nice ring don't you think?'

'She's a Perkins and our siblings have decided to call her bee or wasp. The choice hasn't been made yet. Like true Hecate children.' Lou let out a smothered laugh. 'God's Sam, I was so worried when they told me you'd fallen.'

'You know me, Lou. I won't die that easily,' I replied trying to sound cool.

'Yeah, she might make it a bit easier.'

Moments later, the door flung open and a legionnaire wearing a purple shirt and armoured skirt and shin guards walked into my room. Sarah gave Lou and Aurora a warm welcome, but sent me a icy look.

'He's all yours. I have to go feed her. Try not to hurt him too much.' A moment later, Lou had vanished.

'Could you drop the look?' I asked. 'My body hurts all over and my nose is broken, again.'

Sarah snorted. 'And why is that? You sacrificed yourself again and then you wake up to tell me, "I'm sorry", again,' she stressed. Sarah opened her messenger bag and pulled out a package. A piece of cloth wrapped around something rectangular.

'What's that?'

Sarah opened it and fanned out twenty-two metal cards. Five of them untouched, while the others were blackened. 'The cards. The Fool.' She threw it on the bed. 'The High Priestess, Temperance, Strength and the Judgement card.'

'I didn't use the Devil in combat. What happened?'

'We guessed you might have used it unconsciously. It happened after Nyx started screaming and you fell down. The card lit up and in that moment Nyx vanished. The gods appeared moments later and made every monster disappear. Kampê was killed by Athena and Hera working together. Typhon has been banished back to Tartarus.'

'Nice.' Sarah glared at me.

'The gods had a victory celebration where all of us were given praise. Circe was offered a place on Olympus, but she declined and asked for her island to be restored. She's going to use it as a safe haven for demigods and demi-titans. Suzan was given Athena's blessing for fighting Nyx on her own. Lupa has declared the day for festivities in the future.' She sighed.

'Then they wanted to talk about you with you being present, but Harley refused to wake you up. That woman is scary, Sam. She told them that while under her care in any medical facility, she was to be considered a god and violation of territory would be unwise. Mister D gave her his blessing.'

'But that's not all is it?'

'They all said that they couldn't sense your magical signature anymore. As if it had been burned away. Did you do it on purpose?' she added with a broken voice. 'Did you sacrifice magic to save us all from the curse?'

'I did,' I replied. 'It was the only way I could carry Nyx' power. I did lift the curse from the prophecy and sent Nyx away with almost everything I had.'

'Almost?' The surprised look on her face made me smile.

I showed her the Fool card. A tingling feeling ran from my fingertips. 'I loaded all twenty-two cards with magic before we waged war. Five remain. Five cards that hold my magic.'

Sarah let out a laugh. 'Always have a decent kicker, isn't it?'

I grinned.

'It's not nice to lie to your sister, Sam,' admonished Hecate. The goddess of magic stared at the boy sitting in bed. Her gaze drifted to the badge pinned to her robe. It defined as a visitor.

Sam shrugged as he stuffed a piece of potato in his mouth and chomped down. 'I didn't tell a full lie. They hold my magic, what's left of it.'

'Stop shrugging. It's a gesture that says nothing. Speak out.'

'What do you want me to tell you, mom? That I made a mistake that will get me killed one day. Nyx is gone and we're a little bit safer. And once another enemy rises, we will join forces once again to fight it. Like we have been doing for ages.'

'You sound like Alabaster when you say that.'

'I have come to understand his views a lot better since they had me exiled. The Olympians demand a lot, yet give so little in return. If I hadn't called Hades or Pluto back to us, Nyx' forces would've overrun us eventually.'

Hecate nodded. 'But try to moderate this feeling, Sam. Zeus and Lupa have been gentle until now because of Joanne's threats, but once you are ready, you will be summoned to Olympus. And no amount of magic will help you up there.'

Sam shrugged again. 'Maybe I can keep them from killing me if I get then chance to persuade them.'

'You were… are a great mage, but you have a sharp tongue. Until your magic fully returns to you, you'll need to use your other skills to save you, which means shutting up when needed.'

Sam shot his mother a puzzled look. 'What do you mean, return?'

Hecate let out a warm laugh. 'My child, do you honestly think that you lost magic forever? You are my offspring, magic is in your blood. It will be a long time full of hardship and frustration, but magic will return to you. Use whatever you have left however you want, but know that once the cards are used, you will have to wait.'

Hecate gave her son a hug before vanishing. Sam stared at the moon while playing with a deck of cards.

A couple of days later, Sam strolled across the grass of Camp Half-Blood on his way to the camp shop. He had volunteered as the shopkeeper for the week which meant that he could skip a couple of classes in the morning.

He checked the inventory and restocked the shelves with the supplies. Fresh camp shirts hung and laid around the large room. Whetstones were neatly stacked, next to a couple of daggers. Racks of arrows were mounted on the walls.

'So, you're opening sooner now?'

Sam turned around and saw Cali standing there, sword neatly stored in a scabbard whilst not wearing armour.

'Yeah, it's pretty chill and it gets me out of the cabin for a few hours. With everybody gone for the year, it get's pretty empty fast. Lou comes to visit occasionally, but they might settle at the West-Coast, so it won't be so easy for her to be here every week.'

'You've made up your mind then about being a year-rounder?'

'Yeah. With the house being sold, Sarah safe at Jupiter and school not exactly working out, I'll be here for most of the year. Might go to Jupiter next semester though, I don't know.'

'Cool. How much for a whetstone?'

'Two drachma's. Anything else?'

'Yeah, you still selling snacks?' she whispered.

Sam nodded. He waved her to the back. Behind a stack of boxes, stood a large closet. Once opened it showed its contents. Chips, M&M's, candy and home-made snacks by Sam neatly packaged in small bags.

'The oregano and basil cornucopias were so good last time. Have any of those?'

'A drachma a bag.'

'I'll take two.'

Cali lingered for a few minutes. They talked for a bit about nothing in particular.

'Why don't you join me for some sword practice?' said Cali. 'Just the two of us? Say three?'

'Sure. I'll bring some extra snacks.'

'Deal.'

Their hands touched as they exchanged the money and goods. The two stared at each other before Cali quickly disappeared almost bumping into Piper McLean on her way out.

'Hi, Piper,' said Sam as he wrote down the earnings in the ledger.

The daughter of Aphrodite shot him a look with a smile. 'I see that Cali came to see you.'

'She came to buy a whetstone,' said Sam defensively.

'She bought one last week too, didn't she? Last time I checked, those stones last quite long.'

'Maybe she lost the first one.' Sam shrugged.

'Of course, silly me.' Piper laughed as Sam turned red. 'I'll take two shirts, some sharpies and a new toothbrush. I can put it on my tab, right?' She shot him another smile.

'No,' deadpanned Sam. 'That'll be eight for the shirts, two for the two packs sharpies and one for the toothbrush.'

'Those are outrageous prices! How about I give you seven drachmas?'

'Pipes, I may have lost most of my magic, but charmspeaking me won't work. I can give you one shirt instead of two and everything else.'

'Fine,' muttered the counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin depositing her money on the counter with the look of a sad puppy.

Sam shook his head and slid one back to her. 'The toothbrush is on me. But please stop letting your cabin mates use your brush for cleaning. Have Circe give it a protective charm so that only you can touch it. And maybe you ought to get to the bottom as to why people would use your toothbrush.'

'Maybe I let them, because I can swindle one from you. Who says I need charmspeak to get my way?' Piper gave him a wink before leaving.

Sam only smiled as he counted out the seven drachmas out loud. He looked at the stack of Lotus Casino chips behind a plaque that had lost a brother for the cause. 'Yeah, who says I need magic to make you see things you don't?'

A curse from outside the shop made him laugh out loud.

Later that week, Sam, Cali and Damien were sitting on the stone benches of the amphitheatre as an Iris message materialized in front of them.

'Sam, can you see me?' asked Hunter. The background showed Olympus.

'Yes, Hunter,' replied Sam. 'You joining Artemis on Olympus?'

Hunter nodded. 'The Olympians have discussed some things, and they want to see you. Hestia will come and get you in an hour. Get prepared and then meet her at the hearth.'

'Will do, see you later.'

Hunter made the cloud vanish from her end. The image dissolved and the three friends were silent.

'Took them long enough,' muttered Sam. 'What does she mean with getting prepared?'

Damien shrugged. 'Bring something? Like a gift?'

'Just be yourself and don't insult the gods. We'd like to see you again.'

'Speak for yourself,' said Damien. 'I'd like to win a couple of card games once a while.'

Sam chuckled. 'At least you can win against Cali.'

'True.'

The daughter of the sea muttered something about whooping butts before the boys made their escape.

An hour later, Sam found himself standing close to the hearth of Half-Blood. He had chosen to wear a plain camp shirt with a pair of cargo pants and topped it off with a dark-coloured cloak.

The fire in the hearth grew bigger and from the fire stepped a young girl with red eyes wearing a simple dress. Sam gave the goddess a hug. She was pleasantly warm.

'Hestia.'

'Sam. You ready?'

'No, but that's not an option is it.'

'I am afraid not. Let us go. Hunter is waiting for us.'

Sam let the goddess go. They held hands as Hestia made the flames grow bigger. The flames formed a doorway which showed Olympus on the other side. Hestia guided both of them through.

Once through, Sam was immediately grabbed into a tight hug by a silver clad girl. He returned the hug.

'Gods, I thought you died after the who stabbing Nyx thing,' said Hunter after letting go.

'Nah, I don't die that easily. I think that secretly Hades is scared to have me in his domain,' said Sam with a grin.

'Trust me, that is not the case,' said Hunter.

'We are running a bit late. Let us go.' Hestia walked on the pathway to the throne room. Sam and Hunter followed right after her.