"Please, sit down," Hestia said to them. "We haven't much time."
Percy and Jason glanced at each other and then did as she asked. They sat down just far enough from the hearth that the heat didn't bother them. Hestia smiled at them warmly, but Percy couldn't help but noticing how worn out she looked. Her hair was a mess and her eyes had pronounced bags beneath them, which looked unnatural on her nine year-old appearance.
She gave off a strange aura that he could almost recognize. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar, too. There was this tugging feeling in the back of his mind telling him he'd met her before, even though he knew for a fact that he hadn't.
"Lady Hestia, how are you awake?" Percy asked her. "I thought all of you were asleep."
"I was," she said. "In fact, I was the first to fall asleep, a full year before the fall of Greece."
"Why?" said Jason.
"We all saw what was happening; we knew how the war would end. We had no right to interfere, so we watched in wait. Zeus refused to see the signs. His stubbornness was going to lead to our downfall, so I sought out the Fates. I made a deal with them. I'd fall into my slumber early, on the condition that I get to wake for a short period the next time a demigod stepped foot into this palace."
"You mean us?"
She nodded. "You two play the most important roles in freeing us from our condition."
Jason looked surprised. "Me too?"
"Of course."
"But. . . I'm Roman."
She looked at him curiously. "You may have lived your whole life in Roman territory, but your veins run thick with both Roman and Greek blood. It's the reason your mother managed to attract the eye of Zeus."
"Jupiter," he corrected automatically.
"No. I meant Zeus. Seven years before giving birth to you, your mother bore a child named Thalia."
"Wait, did you just say Thalia?" Percy said incredulously. He looked to Jason and then grew concerned.
His face was blank for a single second before he suddenly clutched his head and grimaced, like he was having a severe headache. Several seconds passed before he regained his composure. Jason's expression showed nothing but shock as he looked at Hestia and said in a small voice, "I'm remembering. . . dreams I had."
"Yes," Hestia said gently. "Your half-sister was Thalia, daughter of Zeus."
Percy remembered something Annabeth had said before they left. You remind me of someone I used to know. She'd been talking about Thalia, because Jason was her brother.
"So, Luke. . ." said Jason.
"I understand that you must be overwhelmed," Hestia told him, "but you must put this news aside for the moment. My time to speak with you is limited."
Jason was silent for a moment, and then he gave her a slow nod.
"You are the bridge between Greece and Rome. Your actions will not only save us, but also prevent history from repeating itself. I'm speaking to the both of you."
"What does that mean?" Percy asked. "'History repeating itself'?"
"Greece was once thought to be an untoppleable empire, but we know that that of course wasn't true. People today believe the same about Rome. It could take another thousand years or two, but it will one day fall like all empires. Should that day come and we aren't prepared, the Roman gods will be in this same predicament."
"If that's a thousand years off, why do we need to worry about it? Why do you even need to worry about it at all? Aren't your pantheons separate?"
"Time is malleable. A thousand years may seem like a lot to you, but to immortals it doesn't even feel like a lifetime. I don't expect you to understand, but the crisis of the future is linked with the crisis of today. You two shall stop them both at the same time."
"How?"
"Through unity," she answered unhelpfully.
Percy glanced at Jason. He looked deeply troubled, and he couldn't blame him. How would he react if he found out that he had a dead sibling he'd never known about? He returned his eyes to Hestia and stared at her expectantly. When she spoke again, her voice sounded even more drowsy than before, like she could fall asleep at any moment.
"You'll find the answers you seek in Delphi. Present Pandora's Pithos to the Oracle and she will reveal the next steps of your journey."
"Wait, Pandora's Pithos? The Oracle? None of this makes any sense."
"It will," she promised. "You'll find the Oracle exactly where you'd expect. The Pithos was last in possession of Prometheus. You must take it from his sanctum."
"Prometheus? You want us to steal from a titan?"
She nodded and yawned. "He'll be asleep too, so you needn't worry about suffering his wrath. Our time together has come to close, I'm afraid. You will find the sanctum by flying two hours west from the place where Pegasus was tamed."
The fire suddenly began rapidly dying and she looked to be struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Wait!" Percy said urgently. "Why is the pithos important? Why can't you just tell us whatever the Oracle will?"
"Good luck, young heroes. I know the Fates can be difficult, but trust in their wisdom. Remember, unity is the key."
The flame died completely and she toppled to her side. Her flaming eyes slid shut and the goddess went still. Percy felt compelled to go help her, but knew there was nothing he could do. She was just asleep, and looked to be peacefully so. He'd have to make do with what little information she'd given them.
Percy looked over to his friend. "Did you understand any of that?"
Jason was silent for a bit, and then rose to his feet. "She told us where we have to go. I understood that."
Percy eyed him cautiously. He was completely surprised by the news about Thalia being Jason's sister; he could only imagine what it must be like for him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
Jason nodded. "I do. Once we're in the air."
Percy was surprised. He hadn't expected that to be so easy. Jason rarely opened up, but he wasn't about to complain. His eyes glazed over the Olympians again before resting on his father one last time. He let his gaze linger for only a few seconds before turning toward the door. There'd be plenty enough time to gawk at him once he was awake, if his father even chose to acknowledge him when that time came.
He started out of Zeus's palace and Jason followed beside him. Together the two took to the cobblestone road and traveled back the way they'd come. Soon enough they reached their pegasi who were waiting for them as promised.
"Back so soon? How'd it go, Boss?" Blackjack asked.
Percy told them. Once he was finished explaining — which didn't take long — the only thing the two pegasi didn't seem as confused as them about was the "place where Pegasus was tamed" part.
"When Bellerophon attempted to fly to the top of Olympus," Scipio explained, "he didn't ride any old pegasus; he rode the Pegasus. Our lord has very rarely allowed humans to ride him, but Bellerophon managed it with the aid of Athena. He was the first, in fact, to ride any pegasus."
"Every one of our kind knows how to get to the place where he was first tamed," Blackjack said. "It's not even that far from here, just a few hours."
Percy glanced up at the sky. The sun was getting close to setting, but they still had enough daylight left for travel. He then looked to Jason who still appeared to be in distress.
"They know where to go," he told him.
"Good. Let's go then." Jason climbed atop Scipio and looked ready to fly.
Once Percy had mounted Blackjack, the pegasi flapped their wings and lifted off. They descended through the clouds until the surface world was visible again. They proceeded away from Mount Olympus and almost directly back in the direction they'd come from. A few minutes of flying passed before Jason spoke up.
"My mother," he said. "She never told me."
Percy had to contemplate for a moment before he chose what to say. "Annabeth used to tell me stories about her."
Jason looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"She preferred to fight with a spear. Annabeth would go on and on about her ability to twirl it around rapidly, throwing out thrusts and jabs with it as she did so. She once told me how she threw it like a javelin and managed to nail a scorpion a couple dozen paces away."
Jason looked impressed.
"Uh, who are you talking about here?" Blackjack asked.
"Thalia," Percy answered quietly enough so only he could hear. "His sister he didn't know he had."
"Oh."
A short silence ensued before Jason spoke again. "What was she like, though? Did Annabeth ever say?"
He thought about it for a moment. He'd never gotten the chance to meet Thalia, but after all these years of listening to Annabeth he felt like he knew her.
"She was protective. Overly so, even. Annabeth used to complain how Thalia never let her fight her own battles. She was strong and brave, and supposedly short-tempered. But she was always super gentle and caring to those she loved — namely Annabeth and Luke."
"She sounds great. I. . . really wish I'd gotten the chance to know her."
"You'll see each other in Elysium."
"Yeah. We will."
The conversation ended there. Percy felt like he should say more but couldn't find the right words. "I'm sorry," just seemed too easy and didn't convey enough meaning. So instead he held his tongue, and they flew in silence.
The sun had just set when Scipio estimated they were about an hour away from the place where Pegasus was tamed. Percy made the call to land and rest for a night, which everyone present was grateful for. He and Jason built a fire and prepared a decent meal from their supplies while the pegasi munched on a healthy patch of grass. Jason took first watch and then Percy took the second.
Once morning came Percy chose to wait until the pegasi woke on their own before rousing Jason. After all, it was them who were doing all the hard work on this journey. He could only guess how straining long distance flying was for them. He'd tried offering to let them go since they'd already done so much, but they'd insisted on helping in any way they could. He needed to think of a good way to properly thank them once all of this was said and done.
Eventually everyone was well rested and ready to go, so the demigods hopped onto the pegasi and they took to the skies yet again. Soon enough the pegasi stopped and hovered over a pretty unremarkable cliff. Scipio informed them that that was the place, and then they both changed course to fly due west without even landing. A couple hours later, they reached their destination.
The pegasi touched down and acted uneasy. Right ahead of them, in the middle of nowhere, was a stone temple built into the side of a mountain. It looked like a dark grey version of the Parthenon — not that he'd ever seen it in person — with just a few alterations. Rather than a triangular roof, it slanted upward from the left edge of the building toward the right, and the entire structure was a lot smaller. It had far fewer pillars but they were wider and a lot more intricate, with murals carved into every one of them. One depicted giant hands shaping lumps of clay into humans; another showed the same giant hands bestowing fire upon mankind. A third showed a man wearing the pelt of a lion rescuing someone from a flock of giant vultures. The rest were of a similar nature. Prometheus couldn't have made it any more obvious that this was his temple if he'd tried.
"I feel his aura," said Scipio. "It's corrupted as well. Like Olympus, only weaker."
"I still don't know what that means," Percy replied.
"Neither do we," Blackjack admitted.
Jason slid off of Scipio. "This is it. Let's get what we came for."
"Right." Percy dropped to the ground and turned to the pegasi. "We'll be back shortly."
"We shall await your return," said Scipio.
The two demigods walked up to Prometheus's sanctum and pushed the doors wide open. Inside, they found a lot more than a sleeping titan and a pithos. There were six more pillars on the interior holding up the ceiling, each with their own unique murals. Piles upon piles of gold and silver surrounded each of them. It took the form of coins, goblets, plates, statuettes, shields, and whatever else you could think of. If it exists, a silver or gold variant of it lay on the floor of the sanctum.
At the back of the building sat a throne; it was also made of gold and silver. A man who could only be Prometheus himself slumped in it, fast asleep. He was adorned with a golden crown, necklace, and numerous bracelets. His hair was dark and tied back in a ponytail and his face had several deep scars on it. Even in his sleep he looked to be deep in thought, as if concocting some sort of clever scheme to wake himself up.
Percy looked around at all the items. "This might take a while."
"It's right there." Jason pointed.
Percy followed his finger and couldn't tell what he was trying to point out at first. When he looked closer, he realized there was an item on either side of Prometheus. They were obscured by the throne's shadow. To his right was the severed head of a giant vulture, and to his left was a tall jar. It had two handles on the side and a leather strap keeping the lid shut tight. Given that everything else the titan owned was made from precious metals, it was safe to say the only reason he'd have an ordinary looking jar at his side was that it was special; it was Pandora's Pithos
"Or not," Percy corrected himself. Without thinking, he walked right on up to the throne and picked up the pithos. He turned around to face Jason and grinned. The smile quickly fell from his face.
Just then, the piles of precious objects suddenly began to shift. Two large beasts slow rose from them and faced them. They rose about halfway to the ceiling and looked vaguely humanoid. They had no faces, only a pair of arms and legs. Their skin looked droopy and brown. Wait, not skin — clay.
One of the golems stepped toward Jason and tried to bring one of its fists down on top of him. Jason dodged out of the way and sliced it clean off. The glob of clay sank into the ground and disappeared while the golem just regrew its fist.
"Run!" Jason called out. He made straight for the door.
Percy clutched the pithos in his arms and took off toward the exit, but he had to stop when the second golem stepped into his path. It threw a rather slow punch at him that Percy was able to duck beneath. He continued forward and ran between the other golem's legs while easily dodging its attack. He followed Jason out the door and bolted toward Blackjack.
Jason reached Scipio first and nimbly hopped on top of him.
"What'd you do?" Blackjack asked panickedly.
"Go!" was all Percy said.
He reached the pegasi and tossed the pithos up to Jason; he barely caught it. Percy mounted Blackjack just as the clay monsters burst out of the building. They advanced with surprising speed.
"Right! Going!" said Blackjack.
He and Scipio simultaneously spread their wings and rose into the air. The golems leapt and tried to grab at them but couldn't reach. The pegasi darted through the sky and away from the sanctum, not slowing down until they'd gained a considerable distance.
The pegasi let them dismount a short ways from Delphi. Percy was pretty sure mortals wouldn't react well to winged horses landing in the middle of the city, so he decided this was safer. Percy carried the pithos with him and the two demigods walked the rest of the way on foot. Blackjack and Scipio flew off without them, promising to answer to a whistle when they needed them next.
Delphi was a quaint little city. Its buildings were small but its people were numerous. The roads were primarily made of dirt and the vegetation was plentiful. The whole place felt so Greek, even more so than Cyrene. Even though he still felt like a foreigner to the land, he had this primal feeling of familiarity deep inside him. He had a strange urge to call himself at home.
That said, something was off about the place. Delphi was under Roman control now, but for some reason didn't seem that way. There were many armed men walking around, but none had the appearance of a legionnaire. Citizens were looking over their shoulder more often than could be considered normal. Everyone seemed far too wary of them. Soldiers — or mercenaries, or whatever they were — held onto the hilts of their swords as they walked by. No one would look them in the eyes, but everyone was watching them as if they'd try to steal something or kill someone. There was definitely something going on behind the scenes here; Percy wished he knew what.
He didn't have time to ponder it though, because they reached the Temple of Apollo sooner than expected. It looked like any other famous Greek building. It was built primarily out of limestone bricks complemented by marble pillars. It had a triangular roof adorned with swan statues on each corner and a carving on the front depicting an archer surrounded by nine women — Apollo and the nine Muses. The walls had a few cracks here and there in the intricate designs, but overall it looked to be in good condition.
A man exited the temple. He was bulky, long-haired, and had a greatsword sheathed at his back. He wore a bronze breastplate that left his muscular arms bare. His face was clean shaven with a crooked nose. His eyes roved over everything like he owned it, before landing on Percy and Jason. He gave a brief glare in their direction and then marched away. A smaller man whose face was hidden by a helmet stepped out after him. He stared in their direction for no more than five seconds before following the larger man.
Percy took a few steps forward but stopped when he realized Jason wasn't following him.
"You coming?" he asked.
The son of Jupiter shook himself out of whatever thought he was having and continued forward. "Sorry. That man just looked kind of familiar. I can't put my finger on it, though."
Percy shrugged. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Yeah, probably."
They stepped up to the Temple of Apollo. On either side of the door was a metal bowl supported by three legs, inside of which were a few miscellaneous offerings — flowers, food scraps, coins, etc. Percy ignored them and entered the building.
Sitting directly across from them on a metal stool was an older woman wearing a silk dress and no shoes. She had curly ginger hair which looked to be in the process of turning grey. She bore enough wrinkles on her face that she couldn't be considered young, but she wasn't elderly either. Her eyes were a dark green and seemed to be looking straight through him.
"I've been expecting you, heroes," she told them.
Percy approached her. "Are you the Pythia?"
She didn't respond. Just then he heard movement behind him. Before he could react, he was struck in the head by something heavy and he fell to the floor. Pandora's pithos hit the ground with a thud and rolled away. He took the lack of a shattering sound to mean it was undamaged. He looked up in a daze to see who'd attacked him just in time to watch a brick come for his face. Then he blacked out.
A/N: Short chapter, I know. There was one important conversation I was going to include here but decided it'd be a lot more impactful later, so I decided to cut it. And I couldn't pass up that cliffhanger opportunity. ;) (Next chapter will be longer. I promise.)
Thanks for all the reviews after last chapter. It kind of felt like I was begging for reviews, which I don't feel great about, but I feel like I had to be completely honest at how much they mean to me at least once. All I was trying to say is I greatly appreciate your support and feedback. I definitely didn't intend to make anyone feel guilty for not reviewing, so I'm sorry if I gave off that impression. See you all next time.
P.S. I planted a little puzzle in Jason's second chapter, and haven't seen anyone solve it yet. I'll give a hint: it's something easily Google-able and answers a question initially introduced in Chapter 3. That's as much help as I'll give you.