"USELESS! Unbelievably useless!" Kronos roared in anger from inside his tomb, and the ground beneath him quivered.
"I had the boy distracted in his dreams! He had no communication and was asleep! How did they manage to-!" He stopped himself from losing his composure, and slowly the trembling earth below him relaxed.
"When those failures I call soldiers return, feed them to one of our drakons." The titan growled in a barely controlled voice, and a giant werewolf monster shivered a bit at the titans show of power.
It was a Telekhines, sea demons that once served the gods. But when Zeus banished them to Olympus and replaced them with Cyclopes, they pledged their allegiances to Kronos. The teleknies nodded his head in fear before leaving the titan alone to think.
'That daughter of mine Hestia, she intervened. Very unlike her. Even if she is the strongest of the gods, she's also the weakest. Always the pacifist.' The titan thought to himself., practically spatting the last part.
'If there's one thing the mother of monsters and myself have in common, is our disappointed in Hestia. Well, my disappointment. Echidna just hates her.'
"It appears the monsters were as useless as ever." Hecate's voice echoed through the hellish landscape as her figure slowly appeared, as if she was taking off an invisible cloak.
"Do not remind me. Can you track the boy, goddess?" Kronos asked impatiently, to which the goddess shook her head.
"My hellhounds were killed by the mortal child milord, we lost his scent. I can only track him again if he tries to manipulate the mist." Kronos growled in annoyance, which surprised the goddess. He was usually very calm and collected, never letting anything get to him.
But this boy seemed to concern him. It peaked Hecate's interests, as to how a mere mortal boy could rile up the king of Titans.
"We must capture this boy as quickly as possible. Having the child of Poseidon against us is troubling enough, but the boy of Hestia will be an even bigger thorn on my side." He then sighed from inside his tomb, as if trying to calm his nerves.
"Bring any news regarding the boy to me as soon as you hear it. His existence will hinder my plans greatly. Now go, inform Echidna while you're at it." Hecate simply bowed her head before flashing away in green smoke. Leaving the titan in the pits of Tartarus alone to think on his next course of action.
Hecate teleported to a forest near the city of Seattle, where she felt the presence of the legendary monster Chimera. Well, it used to be legendary. Now it was just a giant whining cub, as it moaned sadly at where its second head once was.
"Why have you come to disturb me, goddess?" Hecate heard the mother of monsters ask impatiently, who showed herself from behind her son. Hecate looked at the monster with her green scaly eyes, showing no emotion as usual.
"Kronos failed to capture the boy. He escaped from his grasp." Echidna raised an amused eyebrow, before chuckling in a condescending manner.
"You mean your grasp, Hecate." She said with a smirk, and Hecate only stared at the fat scaly monster.
"You interfered with Iris's magic to be able to get to him. You casted sleep spell around the boy, and you sent your hounds to follow his scent. If anything, it was your fault he escaped." The mother of monsters crossed her arms smugly.
"I wouldn't talk all high and mighty Echidna. You were cornered by the boy and his fellow demigods while on their little quest, forced to bribe your way out. Like the coward you are." Hecate replied, tilting her head up as if to show she saw herself higher than Echidna.
"And not to mention, your legendary son has gone from a legend, to nothing more than a whining feline." Echidna felt her eye brows twitch in annoyance, and the Chimera growled angrily as the goddess insulted it.
"But I didn't come here to measure egos with you Echidna. I came to propose a deal." Echidna looked at the goddess confused, before Hecate waved her hand and summoning a distorted image. In the image it revealed the boy riding his dirt bike up into the state of Virginia.
The same boy that caused so much pain to the Chimera, who bared his teeth and growled loudly at the sight of him.
"I am following the boy as we speak. I used the mist around him too keep track of his location, I'll know where he is at all times." She said, before looking at the pair of monsters.
"But the spell wears off as soon as he enters a barrier of any sort."
"Then what're you waiting for? We should tell Kronos to send troops of monsters to wherever he's going." Hecate gave a cold look, before she made the image disappear.
"No, I intend on waiting until the mist loses his position."
"Huh? Hecate that's ridiculous, you won't be able to track him if he does." Hecate couldn't believe a monster who has lived for eons could be as stupid as this one. She tried her best to not show her frustration, but she ended up gripping her temples with an annoyed sigh.
"Tell me Echidna, why is it that after the demigods completed their quest, the mortal disappeared from the face of the earth?" The goddess asked, surprising the mother of monsters.
"He couldn't have entered the demigod camp as he's technically mortal, so we should've been able to track him down in those two months. But there was no trace of him. Why is that?" Echidna thought about it for a second, as the goddess did have a good point. It then hit the monster like a bucket of cold water.
"Hestia has a small barrier of her own." Echidna muttered, and Hecate broke her emotionless face to give a small smirk.
"Yes Echidna, you're getting it now. He has been hiding in a barrier unlike that of the camp, as this one allows mortals to enter. Which means it has no way of stopping anything from entering, it just hides whoever is inside in plain sight."
"Which means monsters can enter as well." Echidna said softly. Hecate nodded her head, glad to see the monster was finally following along.
"We must advise Kronos at once. He would be pleased to here this." Echidna spoke up, but the goddess of magic stopped her.
"Now hold on for just a moment Echidna. Here's where my proposal comes into play." Hecate said sternly, before revealing her idea to the mother of monsters.
Piper yawned as she felt sunlight finally reach through the window next to her. She was in the infirmary, making sure the son of Ares and the rest of the patients there were fine. Percy had recovered from the scorpion sting last night and decided to go sleep in his cabin, apparently so he could get some stuff ready before he goes back to New York.
Piper didn't mind, she was just glad he was okay. She was going to miss the green-eyed trouble maker, he was fun to be around.
Piper couldn't sleep last night, with everything that happened how could she? Their oldest and most experienced camper is apparently a traitor, Percy almost died last night and Angel can't be contacted through IM. She wished she wasn't such a worry wart sometimes, maybe then she'd be able to get some sleep.
The sound of the door opening broke her from her thoughts, and Piper turned to see it was Annabeth. Piper couldn't get but feel annoyance form on her face as she turned away from her.
"Hey, aren't you going to say goodbye to Percy and Grover? They're both leaving today." Annabeth mumbled, but Piper never turned to face her.
"I already said goodbye to both of them last night. You know, after you ran off?" Piper muttered back, unable to stop herself from being sarcastic. She really had said her goodbyes to both boys last night, as Percy decided to go back home to stay with his mom and go back to school.
Grover was also leaving. He was going to search for Pan, the god of nature who disappeared mysteriously many years ago. Piper worried for the young satyr, but didn't try to talk him out of it. He seemed really determined to do this, like it was his life's dream. She wasn't about to crush her friends dream. she jus hoped that he would be careful.
Annabeth of course took note of the daughter of love's sarcastic comment, and couldn't help but glare at her back.
"Well excuse me for not believing something someone accuses Luke of, without having proof." The daughter of Athena huffed while crossing her arms, but was mentally belittling herself. She didn't come here to start a fight, quite the contrary actually.
But her hubris wouldn't allow Piper's sarcastic remark to go without response.
"Well? Did you talk it out with Luke?" Piper asked, surprising the blonde.
"Or did you realize that Percy wasn't lying?" Annabeth for once looked unsure of what to say, before sighing in defeat.
"I...I didn't find him last night." Piper crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow knowingly, and Annabeth glared at the brown haired girl.
"I know Percy said I wouldn't find him! But I just…" The daughter of Athena fidgeted with her hands uncharacteristically, as if she had to physically stop herself from allowing her hubris to get the better of her.
"I've known Luke since I was 7. He was my hero, like the older brother I never had." She mumbled, knowing that her feelings for Luke were more than just sisterly.
"He has always looked out for me, outside of camp and in. When Percy said he betrayed us, I just couldn't believe it." Piper felt her gaze soften at her friend's words, Annabeth was just in denial for someone she cared about. Piper remembered that the daughter of Athena talked about this in less detail while on the quest two months ago.
While they were at Santa Monica beach, and Angel used his fire as a hearth.
"But the fact that Luke actually did end up running away, almost killing Percy, it just makes everything worse." Annabeth murmured, her eyes watering a bit.
"I-I don't know what to think or do, and I hate not knowing what to do!" Piper simply walked up to the girl and rested her hand on Annabeth's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"We'll figure something out Annabeth. Together. You don't have to do everything on your own. But right now, we shouldn't focus too much on that, as its still too recent for the rest of the campers." Annabeth couldn't help but smile at the daughter of love, even if it was a small and sad one.
Annabeth quickly rubbed her tears away and took deep breaths as if to compose herself. She really didn't like that she let her emotions get the better of her.
"I know it sounds harsh for me to tell you not to worry about Luke, but we will when the time is right."
"No, no you're right." Annabeth mumbled softly.
"If my reaction was anything to go by, the other campers would probably react the same way." The gray-eyed girl then looked at her friend in a calculating way, as if analyzing her actions.
"What I don't understand is how you trusted Percy so quickly." Annabeth confessed, surprising the daughter of love.
"Huh? What do you mean? Of course I would believe him." Piper replied.
"I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like there's this level of trust I have with everyone that went on the quest. That means you, Percy, Grover and Angel." She admitted shyly, twirling her hair with her finger.
"Maybe surviving life or death situations with you guys gave me that trust, so of course I'd believe that green-eyed dweeb. Besides, I know he wouldn't falsely accuse someone of something like that. Especially someone who he really looked up to." Piper finished, and Annabeth couldn't' deny that Piper had a point.
Percy really did look up to Luke, he sometimes wouldn't shut up when he talked about sword training. Was that how it felt when she rambled on about architecture? Gods, now she felt really self-conscious.
"I guess that makes sense." Annabeth grumbled while crossing her arms.
"You don't have to act all tough around me Annabeth." Piper said with a knowing smile.
"I know you're warming up to Percy." Piper had seen how Annabeth had become more tolerant with Percy being around. She remembered while on the quest it was like they couldn't stand being near each other. But now it was like they were good friends, even if Annabeth tried to act like they weren't.
"I am not!" Annabeth exclaimed, not surprising Piper at all with her outburst.
"And even if I was, which I'm not, our parents hate each other. I just tolerate his presence." Piper shook her head in amusement, but decided not to push her anymore. Annabeth was sure a hard nut to crack.
"Well you should at least say goodbye to the guy, he's leaving today." Piper said, which reminded the daughter of Athena of something.
"Oh, about that. I actually came looking for you to tell you that I'm not going to stay at camp year round this time." Annabeth said softly.
"I'm getting a ride from Argus too, so I have to go see that seaweed brain anyway."
"Really? Wait, if you aren't going to be at camp, then where are you going to stay?" Piper asked.
"At my dads, over in San Francisco. Percy told me to try to give my dad a chance, and I figured he was right. For once." Both girls chuckled a bit, before Piper gave the daughter of Athena a hug.
"I'm going to miss you Annabeth."
"I guess I'll miss you too Pipes." Annabeth murmured as she returned the hug. She really was going to miss Piper, she was one of the only girls she could actually talk to that wasn't one of her sisters. Piper didn't seem to mind when she went into mindless info babble mode, and Annabeth just genuinely enjoyed her company.
"Are you going back with your dad too?" Annabeth asked breaking the hug, and Piper shook her head.
"No, I think I'm going to stay at camp 'till winter. I talked to my dad, and he seems okay with it." Piper said with a smile. Ever since Piper told her dad she knew she was a demigod, he seemed to give her a lot more freedom. Maybe it was because he knew she'd be safer at camp.
"Someone has to stay behind to watch over Mr. Thug over there." Piper remarked, pointing a finger behind her to the unconscious son of Ares.
"Do you think you'll be able to handle it?" Annabeth asked.
"If I can't, I got all of camp to back me up." The daughter of love said with a shrug. She wasn't defenses by any means, her one month of training at camp proved otherwise.
But she wasn't stupid either, if he was too much she knew to call for help.
"Besides, since Angel was the one who told that guy to come here, then I feel like one of us needs to keep an eye on him."
"Yeah, leave it to that meathead to give us more things to worry about." Annabeth said half-heartedly, which reminded Piper of how they can't contact him at all right now. But she tried to push those thoughts out of her mind, like she told herself yesterday to focus on the here and now
"But Clarisse agreed to show him around. She said something about him 'not looking like a complete waste of time'. It surprised me to say the least, he must look like the real deal if Clarisse is okay with this."
"Let's just hope he ends up siding with us." Piper said with a sigh, and Annabeth nodded in agreement.
"Well, I better get going. Argus is waiting on me, and I just came to say goodbye." Annabeth spoke up, and both girls shared one last hug. They then said their goodbyes before Annabeth stepped out of the infirmary, with Piper watching her step out.
She then gave a tired sigh, before turning to look at the son of Ares. He gave no indication of waking up, he hasn't for the past two and a half days.
Piper yawned once again before deciding to go to her cabin. Maybe her siblings will let her sleep for once. Trey hadn't left to go home yet, so she doubted she'd get a wink of sleep.
Angel stared in awe at the beauty that was in front of him as he walked through the front gates of the botanical gardens. He was able to drive all the way to DC on his dirt bike from where the monsters attacked him without stopping. He slept for a couple hours in a tree, somewhere in the forest just outside the capital of the United States.
The boy basically slumped onto the branch, exhausted out of his mind.
When he woke up it was almost noon, and he decided to leave his dirt bike where it was, he didn't want to drive around in the densely populated capital. Angel simply hid it in a bush, he hoped not too many people come through these parts of the woods. He was taken by surprise as he walked through the crowded sidewalks of DC,. it wasn't what he was expecting from the capital of one of the biggest countries in the world.
It was like a suburban neighborhood with the white house and historical museums just next door. He was sure Annabeth would love this place.
The champion tried his best not to stick out, but with his scent it was almost impossible. Thanks to all the mortals around however, random monsters didn't try anything. Even though they had control over the mist, there wasn't much the mist could hide if the monster tried to assault a child in broad daylight.
It was noon when he finally walked through the front gates of the botanical gardens, and honestly he was impressed. It was on par with Hestia's garden, except it was like 100x bigger.
There were lakes and small creeks that passed through the gardens, while different colors of flowers and trees were planted everywhere. He eventually ended up finding a statue, a pretty Greek looking statue. It was surrounded by a large gazebo, it acted like a shrine for the statue. It was wide and tall, completely round and made completely by what he assumed was mahogany. The champion of fire walked towards the gazebo, and sure enough it was of the goddess he was looking for.
'Lady Chloris. Greek goddess of flowers, nymph from the island of the blessed.' The champion read the words on the pedestal to himself, before looking up at the statue. She wore a toga and had a crown braid, with a flower in one hand and a bagel looking thing in the other. (A/N: There isn't a statue of this goddess in DC, just added it for the sake of the story.)
Other than that there wasn't much else he could say about her, it was just a statue. It didn't capture any real detail. Not sure of what else to do, he pulled out a drachma from his pocket and placed it on the pedestal that held up the statue. Even as all powerful and immortal gods, the Olympian's and minor gods sure love money, or drachma.
He guessed even in their world, stuff is never free.
Angel looked at the statue once more, wondering if anything has changed. But to his dismay nothing did. He wasn't sure what he was expecting really. For the statue to come to live? Pfft, yeah. Like that'll happen.
As he turned around to find another way to contact the goddess, he felt something hit his shoulder, and the boy jolted in shock. He whipped around and narrowed his eyes at the people around him, but there wasn't anyone close enough to tap his shoulder.
He then looked at the statue suspiciously, before eventually and reluctantly turning away from it. He was about to step off the gazebo, when he again felt something hit his body. This time it was like a pebble hitting the back of his head. He once again whipped around, now feeling annoyed.
No one was around him though, actually they were pretty far from where he was standing. It was like people were actively avoiding the gazebo. He glanced at the statue once more, and realized that something changed. The statues hand, it's wrist to be precise, it was positioned in a way that as if it had just tossed something.
"Okay, that's a little creepy." Angel thought out loud, before walking up to it. As he got closer, the statue actually looked down at the boy, taking him completely by surprise. The statue then winked at him, before returning to its original position and emitting a bright light.
The champion shielded his eyes from the blinding lights, honestly if gods keep doing this near him he might end up having bad vision in the future.
When he felt the light slowly die down, he gingerly opened his eyes to see a figure stand before him.
It was a tall and skinny woman, who looked to be in her mid 20's. She summer tan skin and brown hair that was crown braided, with small flowers in her hair and her eyes were yellow and bright like the sun. She wore a long white one piece dress, and she gave a little twirl as if showing off.
Angel was captivated by the aura she gave off. All the goddesses Angel has seen and meet were beautiful and attractive, but she was just different. He wasn't sure why though, but he felt as if he had butterflies in his stomach. Her whole demeanor and outfit yelled 'sweet and innocent' to him, but that was before he saw her smile.
It was a mischievous smile, kind of like the one Percy had when we found Grover at the strip club.
"So, do all gods like making dramatic entrances?" Angel asked simply. He couldn't help himself, it was a genuine question.
"In a way, yes." The goddess answered without missing a beat, the mischievous smile never leaving her features.
"Would explain why none of you can just meet someone normally." He muttered, remembering all the times Hestia has scared him by randomly teleporting behind him. Or appearing as someone else as a prank.
"Now where would the fun in that be, child?" She asked nonchalantly, and the boy was about to respond when he suddenly felt a vine slap his butt, and he let out a squeak that he wished he hadn't.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Angel yelled, and the goddess couldn't tell if his face was red from anger or from embarrassment. Judging by the little sound he let out, she assumed it was the latter.
The tanned goddess simply giggled at the expense of the young boy, much to his annoyance.
"Act tough all you want, cutie. It just makes me want to tease you more. Now, why is it that you left a drachma for me?" The goddess asked, smirking down at the boy who glared back.
"I came for your cursed flower. The one that never withers nor dies." Angel replied calmly, to which the goddess looked at him surprised, before looking at him confused.
"Cursed flower? Hmm, not sure I have one like that." She said in a voice that made it obvious she was lying. Angel sighed, he should've known this would happen.
"What do you want?" He asked, and the goddess looked at him in mock confusion while tilting her head.
"Huh? What are you talking about little boy?"
"What do you want for the information on the flower and how to lift the curse?" He asked the goddess with mild annoyance. But at the same time he couldn't be too surprised, this was after a very important flower to the goddess.
"You seem very informed on this, boy. Fine, I'll tell you. For a kiss." The goddess purred, surprising the boy who blushed.
"You're joking." Goddess Khloris shook her head, before a poof of smoke surrounded her. When it dissipated, she looked around the same age as Hestia in her adult form. Her hips widened a bit, and her facial features became more sharp.
"100% serious. See I am a lonely middle aged goddess, who craves the touch and affection of a young, strong man." She gave him a quick look over, spending a lot of time looking at his crotch area.
Angel had never felt more uncomfortable before then being under her judgmental gaze. It was like she was taking off his clothes with her eyes. Which was creepy in of itself, as she was probably millennia older than him.
"Well you fit one of the three criteria, so close enough. Now pucker up, lover boy." Angel felt his cheeks burn hotter, before averting his eyes and stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Fine. Just a peck." He mumbled, and the goddess grinned before grabbing his face.
"Don't act like you don't want to." She said, before closing the distance between them. Angel shut his eyes closed, nervousness feeling his entire body.
But after s few seconds of waiting, all he felt was something touching his nose, and he opened his eyes in confusion.
The goddess just touched his nose with the tip of her finger, which left the boy perplexed.
"Boop." The goddess mumbled cutely, smiling mischievously once again. She then backed away from his face and circled around him, messing with his already messy hair.
"There's a daughter of Aphrodite that happens to be nearby, she currently gathering the needed reagents I need to make an elixir, which will lift the curse on the flower. She decided she'd correct what her mother had done, which I am very grateful for. A daughter of Demeter is helping her as well, they seem very fond of each other. If you help on collecting the things I need, I'll let you keep the flower." She drawled lazily, before leaning on the pedestal that held her statue.
"Wait, just like that? Really? And why didn't you…?" Angel asked while scratching his cheek sheepishly.
He would be lying if he said he was completely against getting kissed by this goddess.
He tried to be annoyed at the fact that the goddess basically tricked him like that, but for some reason it didn't. It made him feel something else.
"Oh sweetie, you're cute. But gods got to have standards. You're way too young." She said with a warm smile, before once again having a vine whip his butt. He was able to stop himself from making an embarrassing noise this time.
"Chin up kid, it was just some light teasing." Angel frowned when she said light. That interaction was anything but light teasing.
"Give it a couple years and call me. Maybe then we'll talk about if you can fill my criteria." She said cheekily with a wink, but Angel wasn't sure what she was implying.
"But back to business, I can tell that you aren't getting that flower for yourself." The goddess of flowers mused, looking at the boy in thought.
"I sense no selfish intentions. Odd, especially for a mortal." Her face then returned to a warm smile, which confused Angel. Maybe now that she was older, she was more caring and considerate. Unlike her younger self who seemed to be more playful and mischievous. But if he had to be honest, he preferred her younger form.
"Tell me, who's on your mind when you think of this special flower of mine?"
"My mom. She's done a lot for me, and I want to show her how much that means to me by getting this flower to her." Angel replied, not feeling obligated to tell her who his mom was.
The goddess smiled, she could tell the boy wasn't lying. He had pure and selfless intentions, which really was a surprise for a mortal. But if she looked closely, she could tell he wasn't a demigod. Perhaps he's a clear sighted mortal? But that didn't really concern her, his pure heart was enough to convince her he had no ulterior motives. She quickly waved her hand, before summoning a dandelion looking button and tossing it to him.
"This will lead you to the daughter of Aphrodite I mentioned. It's like playing hot and cold, the pedals will tell you which direction she is, and the brighter the pedal the closer she is." She informed, and the boy nodded his head in gratitude.
The goddess then walked up to him, slowly returning to her younger 20 year old form, and surprising him with a kiss on the cheek.
"Good luck cutie." She mumbled with a cheeky smile, before her form slowly turned into thousands of dandelion seeds which were then blown away by the wind.
The boy held his cheek for a second, his heart beating faster than when he fought the literal god of war.
'Oh gods. I have a crush on a goddess.'
ON OLYMPUS:
Hestia sat at the center of the hearth, mediating as per usual. A meeting between the gods had just been dismissed, and the throne room was empty. The fire of the hearth waved lazily as Hestia checked on the children at camp. What she predicted earlier had become reality, the child of Hermes that she sensed so much hatred in had betrayed the camp. It saddened her to watch this happen, and being powerless to stop it. She felt Hermes was slightly to blame, as he never took her warnings seriously. As she checked on how the children there were doing, something nudged the goddess at the back of her mind. It wasn't another god trying to contact her, and gods don't get headaches. Well, not like mortals do anyway. There was only one thing that ran through the goddesses mind as the sensation slowly faded away.
'My baby boy.' She thought to herself, opening her eyes and distracting herself meditating. She had never called her adoptive son that, but in that moment it sort of just came out.
'This feeling...Is it motherly Instinct?...Mommy tingle?' Hestia paused for a second, before nodding to herself proudly.
'Yeah, that's what I'm going to call that from now on. Mommy tingle.' The goddess returned to her spot, levitating over the center of the hearth, before closing her eyes once more to return to her meditative state.
'I hate to be a bother to Aphrodite, but she has been quite helpful with how to be a mother. Hera on the other hand...' She paused, remembering the ill intentions the queen of gods had directed towards her son. Hestia hoped herself to be wrong about Hera's intentions, she really did. But she took precautions regardless, just to be safe.
The queen of gods was quite unpredictable when she felt threatened. But what Hestia didn't understand was, what had her son done for Hera to feel that way?
It's been about an hour since Angel spoke with the goddess of flowers, and he'd been using the button Khloris gave him and is currently using it like a compass. It worked exactly how she said it would, and judging by how fast the light was blinking he figured he was pretty close.
His feelings for the goddess still lingered in the back of his mind, poking and pestering him to not forget. The butterflies in his stomach never left, it just softened in intensity. But it was still there, and this new sensation confused him.
'What the hell am I feeling?' The boy asked himself, feeling uneasy in his own body.
'it feels weird, and different. Is...this what its like having a crush?' He looked down and saw his hands were sweaty, and it wasn't from the summer heat.
'I'm already hating this. It's just a stupid crush, why is this bothering me so much?' The boy did his best to forget what happen an hour ago, but no matter how much he tried it just wouldn't leave his mind.
Suddenly the button in his hand beeped loudly, and he looked down at his hands in surprise. The front pedal was now blinking rapid red, and he could only assume it meant he had arrived. He looked up to see an abandoned warehouse, graffiti covering most of the outside wall. It was like no one had been here in ages, he didn't even see any lights coming from inside.
'Wouldn't someone come and bull doze this place down by now? It looks abandoned compared everything around it.' He thought to himself, looking at his surroundings. The place seemed lively with people working warehouse jobs, taking and bringing packages from the other buildings nearby. But this one was different, it was completely empty with no signs of life whatsoever.
'Is this really the right place? A daughter of Aphrodite wouldn't be caught dead near a place like this." Angel thought to himself, not sure how accurate that statement was.
'And neither would a child of Demeter either, now that I think about. I mean, this place is pretty much the opposite of greens and gardening.'
"Hey kid. What the hell you doing over 'ere?" A voice boomed behind him, and he whirled around in confusion. When he did he saw two older dudes, with short hair, big beards and both holding shovels. One wore a construction worker vest, while other had a dirty sweater on.
"Oh. I uh, got lost?" Angel answered lamely while smiling awkwardly.
"Lost eh?" One of them repeated, before both men looked at each other knowingly. Angel recognized the look all too well, of course he'd run into monsters now. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his lighter, feeling his muscles tense in preparation.
"Well why don't you come with us? We'll let you borrow our phone over at the office so you can call someone to pick you up." The sweater man said while shouldering his shovel. Angel was about to pull out his glaive and attack, when suddenly he noticed the two men weren't looking at him. Instead it looked like they were looking over the champions shoulder.
"Hey, you didn't mention having company." The vest wearing dude growled, and Angel turned around once again in confusion.
Wow, he's been doing a lot of turning around today.
When he did however, he was surprised to see two older teen girls rushing towards them. One of them had their light brown hair in a French braid braid, wearing a simple gray hoodie and a pair of short shorts. Her face was round and soft, and her eyes were dark brown. The girl next to her was a bit taller, having her long black hair fall past her shoulders, some bangs hanging over her face. She had the same color eyes as the girl next to her, but she had more of a sharp and diamond shaped face. She wore a black tank top and dark leggings, which did little to hide her curves.
"I didn't know I was bringing company." Angel muttered softly, obviously confused as to who these girls were.
"Well, no matter. We'll still eat all of-" The sweater wearing male started, before getting smacked up the backside of the head by his partner
"You fucking idiot." The vest man growled, before glaring at the teens before him. The girls stood next to Angel, with the French braided girl looking down at him seriously.
"What the hell are you doing out here? Do you have any idea how much trouble you're about to be in? " She whispered harshly, surprising the young boy.
"Huh? The fuck are you talking about?" Angel hissed back. He wasn't usually this aggressive when talking to people, but he didn't like the tone she used.
"Are you stupid or something? You can't be picking fights with cyclopes in the open like this!" Angel couldn't help but be surprised but her statement, he didn't expect her to know what the two men were under their disguise.
"Wait, then that means..." But before he could finish his thought process, he watched the black haired teen walk up to the pair of men.
"Hey you two." She said in an oddly enticing voice, which quickly took affect on the dirty looking dudes.
"Sorry to cut your conversation short, but you should really get going. It's getting late." She said calmly, putting emphasis when she said 'you'. Angel looked at the older men, and was surprised when he saw that their eyes were glossed over. Like as if they were in a trance.
"Hey, she's right." The sweater dude replied, looking as if he just drank a whole 12 pack of beer.
"I do gotta get home. Work sucks anyway."
"You said it. Let's get out of here." The vest man answered back, before slowly walking away towards the street.
"Hurry, the charm speak will wear off soon." The tall teen spoke up, before grabbing Angel's wrist and dragging him behind her.
"Hey! What the fuck is your-"
"Shut up and be grateful kid. We just saved your life." The brown haired teen interrupted rudely as they walked up to the abandoned warehouse Angel saw earlier.
"I could handle a couple of cyclopes." He said in an irritated voice, as both girls dragged him into the warehouse.
"Get in, we'll be safe from any monsters in here." Angel reluctantly stepped inside the building, which was as empty as he expected it to be. It wasn't huge per say, but it still felt like a giant room.
"Who are you two? And why did you help me? Like I said I could've easily taken care of two cyclopes." Angel spoke in a suspicious voice while crossing his arms. The taller of the two girls sighed, before pushing her friend aside and looking down at the boy.
"My name is Mia, Mia Eastwood. And that grumpy lady over there is Sabrina, my sister." The brown haired girl, now named Sabrina, gave an emotionless look at the boy as if to prove she was in fact grumpy.
"This may sound crazy to understand, but we're demigods." Angel raised an eyebrow and Sabrina groaned while rolling her eyes, grabbing the attention of her sister.
"Mia, he already knows." Sabrina grumbled as she walked up to her.
"Hell he's probably a demigod himself. He knew those two were cyclopes and was about to pick a fight with them. No newbie would even think of doing that." She then turned to the curly haired boy, giving him a side ways glance.
"Unless he has a death wish or something." Angel scoffed at the older teens and crossed his arms.
"I know what I was doing okay? I've dealt with monsters before, I could handle myself. And I know a demigod when I see one, except you two are a lot older than any I've ever met. Like a lot older."
"You know, it's rude to tell a girl she's old." Mia muttered in annoyance.
"It's also rude to grab a stranger by the wrist and drag them into an abandoned warehouse." The boy remarked back.
"What, are you in your mid twenties or something? Eh, probably older."
"I'm 19!" Mia exclaimed, and Angel simply shrugged.
"Could've fooled me."
"Why you-"
"Mia stop." Sabrina said stepping in, which grabbed everyone's attention.
"Kid just shut up and listen. I don't know if your new to these parts or not, but DC is crawling with monsters. Most of them hide within the mist, just like those two assholes outside. If at least one monster finds out there's a demigod nearby, they will all be on high alert." Sabrina explained, her emotionless expression never leaving her face.
"You just wondering around the capitol just alerted almost every monster out there, which is something we really don't need right now. If you started a brawl, it would give the hundred of monsters in the area a chance to show up and over whelm you. I don't care how tough you think you are, you won't stand a chance against all their forces." Angel did his best to hide the fact that he was horrified at this revelation, by simply huffing indifferently and averting his gaze.
"I wasn't aware of this."
"Do you realize how dumb you were being then?" Sabrina asked.
"...No, I wasn't being dumb. I was uninformed."
"So you're telling me that you didn't notice any of them while you strolled through DC?" Mia asked with her fists resting on her hips.
"I-I did." Angel muttered awkwardly.
"Just figured they wouldn't attack me in broad daylight." Both sisters just looked at each other.
"Rookie." They said at the same time, which led to Angel's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.
"Listen, we're not trying to make ourselves look better or anything-"
"Speak for yourself." Mia grumbled, earning a glare from her sister.
"-But, we do have more experience than you. Especially with dealing with monsters." Sabrina finished, looking at the boy dead in the eyes.
"The monsters here don't really care if mortals see them or not. It's the reason why people say the governments corrupt., because all these monsters live at the heart of the country."
"Then why didn't any attack me? If this place is as infected with monsters as you say it is, explain why none took advantage a single demigod wandering the streets?" Angel asked.
"We're...not sure." Sabrina admitted.
"We can't go 10 minutes walking out on the street before some monster tries to eat us."
"Maybe they're just avoiding me." Angel said hopefully, and Mia shook her head.
"As if monsters would avoid any chance at lunch. They must be plotting something, but why? Monsters aren't the planning type."
"This kid might be more trouble than he's worth." Sabrina muttered.
"He'll bring more risk to our mission."
"Wait, mission?" Angel spoke up, before he felt vibration coming from his pocket. He then remembered the button Lady Khloris gave him as he pulled it out, and it was blinking red in front of them.
As if pointing at the two sisters.
"The fuck is that?" Mia asked worriedly.
"That better not be a bomb."
"It's not! It's like a tracking device." Angel replied, before putting it back in his pocket.
"So you were tracking us?" Sabrina asked in a suspicious tone, and Angel shrunk under her glare.
"I mean, kind of. Lady Khloris sent me to find you two." The boy mumbled, and he felt his cheeks warm up at just the thought of the goddess.
"But she said one of you was a daughter of Aphrodite, and the other of Demeter." He thought out lout.
"But you're sisters...How does that work?"
"Well actually our dad had a three-"
"Mia! Can you please just shut your mouth about that for once?! Gods it's like you're actually proud of dad for that!" Sabrina yelled, and Angel assumed this wasn't a topic she was particularly fond of.
"I mean, who wouldn't be? If I did it with two gods I'm sure you would be proud right?"
"Oh my gods..." Mia groaned loudly. Angel cleared his throat obnoxiously, getting both siblings attention.
"So I'm guessing Mia the daughter of Aphrodite?" The boy said, deciding to ignore the argument they were starting to have with each other. Honestly by the way Sabrina reacted, maybe it was best he didn't know about how they were conceived.
"Why do you assume that? Is it because she's prettier?" Sabrina asked in a very testing tone, and Angel felt sweat build on his forehead.
"She's able to charm speak, only children of Aphrodite as far as I know can do that." He mumbled, which was apparently the right answer as Sabrina visibly relaxed hearing his response.
"You're right. Mia is the daughter of Aphrodite, and my mom is Demeter. We just have the same dad is all." Sabrina explained, completely forgetting how she looked like she was ready to drop kick the boy for even suggesting she wasn't as pretty as her sister.
"Ooh. Why didn't you guys just say that?" Angel wondered, and the brown haired teen glared at her sister
"Because one of us was about to reveal information that's a bit too personal to tell someone they just met." Mia let out a nervous giggle.
"So, we never caught your name kid." Mia remarked, trying her best to take the attention of her.
"Angel. My name is Angel." The boy said simply.
"What about your last name?" Mia asked carelessly, and the boy became visibly uncomfortable.
"I don't have one." He answered awkwardly, rubbing his arms. The reminder that he wasn't given a last name brought memories of being back in the orphanage. He really hoped he didn't have dreams about it. He didn't want to deal with that right now.
"Oh." Mia murmured lamely, now feeling guilty for asking him that, it clearly brought some discomfort.
"Okay we're getting off topic." Sabrina spoke up.
"Angel, Lady Khloris sent you to find us? Why?"
"She said I should help you lift the curse on her immortal flower." Angel replied, and Sabrina raised an eyebrow.
"Did she promise you the flower?" She asked, surprising the boy.
"Yeah...why?" Sabrina looked annoyed for a second and let out a small 'tsk' sound, before her face relaxed.
"No reason. Just figured she would. It's good you came though, we could use the extra help."
"We already have one of the ingredients for the potion, but we still need two more things." Mia spoke out, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a folded map of the Eastern side of the United States. On it were two golden dots, one on top of West Virginia, and the other up in Pennsylvania.
"According to Lady Khloris, we needed three things. A talon from a Phoenix, a piece of the Ceryniean Hinds golden antler, and a tooth from the two headed dog Orthrus." Mia said, before pointing to the dot in West Virginia.
"We already got the talon, now we need to track down the giant deer which is in West Virginia."
"Wait, you mean the Ceryniean hind that Hercules hunted down for a year?" Angel asked in shock. He remembered back when Hestia told him the stories of Hercules, and his 12 labors. The deer must've been an agile animal to avoid Hercules for that long.
"I don't know about you two, but I don't have that kind of time." Angel said in exasperation.
"The creature is said to be a lot more aggressive now then when it used to be." Sabrina explained.
"Apparently it's mad that Hercules was able to catch it off guard and rip it's antlers off. It doesn't hide much anymore."
"But we have to be careful and not kill it." Mia added.
"If we do, we'd have to face the wrath of Artemis. The giant deer is like her sacred animal. Maybe she'd let us go easy, but you-" She pointed at Angel, who gulped nervously.
"-I'm not sure what she'd do, but it wouldn't be pleasant."
"No kidding." Angel murmured, feeling a goose bump run up his spine. Learning about Artemis and her past deeds was like reading a horror story of a mass murderer who took pleasure in slaughtering innocent men.
Obviously that was a slight exaggeration, but the goddess of the hunt was still viscous to most males she and her huntresses encounter.
"Up in Pennsylvania is where Orthrus is. It doesn't stay put for very long, so it's best we try to get there as soon as we can. We won't face too much consequence from killing it." Mia said, interrupting the boy from his thoughts.
"We need a method of transportation though." Sabrina added.
"I don't plan on walking to West Virginia and Pennsylvania from here."
"Well I have a motorcycle, but I would only be able to take one of you. It's two seats only." Angel remarked, leading to both sisters to look at him in disbelief.
"You expect us to believe you have a motorcycle?" Mia asked, and Angel crossed his arms.
"I do. It's in the forest just south of DC. I didn't want to drive it through the city."
"Mia just charm speak someone to giving you their car." Mia nodded.
"Sounds good."
"That sounds like theft to me." Angel muttered, which earned him a glare from Sabrina.
"You want to know how to survive as a demigod around here? Don't be honest. Don't be nice. Don't be gullible. It'll get you killed."
"But-"
"We do what we have to, to survive." Sabrina interrupted, not letting the boy finish his thought.
"But there's a demigod camp over in Long island. You don't have to live this way up there." Angel said softly.
"There wouldn't be so many monsters to worry about."
"We used to be at camp. We left about 3 years ago." Mia admitted, giving a sad sigh.
"Been on the run since."
"But why? Why would you leave?" Angel asked, genuinely confused.
"You would've been save there, met other demigods and your siblings."
"You wouldn't understand kid." Sabrina muttered.
"Then make me understand! Why would you leave a place that's like home? To abandon and leave everyone behind?"
"Don't you act like you know us twerp!" Sabrina exclaimed in anger, jabbing a finger in the boy's chest. She hit right where the Chimera struck him with venom all those months ago, and he did his best not to wince.
"We left for a reason, a reason you wouldn't-!" She stopped when they all suddenly heard the doors of the garage bang loudly.
"Oh shit." Sabrina mumbled in horror.
"They found us."
"We have to go." Mia said in a hurry, before grabbing two backpacks from the corner of the building. She tossed one to her sister, who shouldered it and rushed over to the back emergency exit.
"C'mon, we'll get out through here!" She exclaimed, and both the son of Hestia and daughter of Aphrodite followed behind her.
"What's the plan if we run into some of them?" Angel asked as he reached the emergency door, feeling the adrenaline slowly build up in his being.
"Not get caught. Live and survive." Both sisters muttered at the same time, before nodding to each other and throwing the door open. They both stormed out of the warehouse, and Angel stood there for a second looking at their retreating forms in disbelief.
'Great. Awesome plan.' He muttered to himself. before running after the two.
'What could possibly go wrong?'
A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, had shit going on irl. Plus this chapter was a pain for me to edit, I was struggling to think of how this would fit into the story I have planned in my head. I never really planned ahead for how this little ark would go down, so I'm kind of just making things up as I go. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed.