Chapter 10: The Son of… Neptune? Poseidon?

Hera sent me on a quest, within the quest she had actually already given me, no surprise there. Turned out that Frank was a son of Mars, and I could feel the sting of the silent conversation that Ares and I had had for several hours after. Frank seemed about as happy as Ares being his dad as I would be. Right from the start, I knew that Hazel and Frank would become good friends. I could just feel it in my bones.

Technically, Mars had been the one to appear and give us the 'quest'. Some scarecrow of a kid had demanded a prophecy, and I had to admit that at first he had something resembling courage, to stand up against the god of war. But it quickly crumbled as soon as the god looked his general direction. Aside from that, Mars had demanded, probably per Hera's demand, that I had to be one to go on the quest.

As thrilled as I was that I was technically going on a quest from Ares, I was at least happy that Hazel had also been chosen. I could feel like Frank and Hazel were close, and it gave me quite a bit of comfort to see the two of them start to grow close to one another. It reminded me of Annabeth, honestly. I missed her so badly, and I was sure I was gonna get it later on.

But this quest was harder than I originally thought it would be. And all of my problems started when the Romans' leader from before asked me to follow her…

She took me on a tour consisted mainly of telling me where Neptune's (shack) temple was, and where food was. But when she turned back to me, I could see in her eyes that she recognized me, something that made me uncomfortable to no end. Where had I seen her before?

The question was quickly answered.

The leader, whose name I finally found out was Reyna, took me and Hazel into a building, probably her headquarters. She had called it the principia, but it was easier to just call it headquarters in my mind.

Suddenly, like a gust of wind, I remembered where I had once seen her.

I had only barely glanced at her as Annabeth and I had been running. Running as screaming spa assistants ran from pirates, with a glowering witch trapped somewhere on the island.

Circe's island.

But it turned out that there was a snag in the plan. Reyna sat down between what I had originally thought were two statues of greyhounds. But as soon as I began to speak, the greyhounds suddenly came alive, growling at me like they would much rather I were their dinner. Though I still knew that if worst came to worst, there would be two puddles of gold and silver in front of me, it still made me uneasy to be the object of their growling.

"Easy guys," Reyna told her shining greyhounds. Seeing my expression, she said, "They won't attack, unless you try to steal something, or unless I tell them to. That's Argentum and Aurum."

Uh oh. Why did I feel like this was my first test?

'Silver and Gold, godling.' I suddenly heard Hera's voice in my thoughts. 'Honestly, you should have learned at least basic Latin before coming here!'

'I suppose that would've been a good thing to do instead of just sleeping for six months straight,' I thought back to her royal pain in the _.

I almost asked which dog was which, when I realized that would've been a stupid question.

"So," Reyna said, clasping her hands, "Let's begin."

Hazel's POV:

I looked over as Percy was questioned by Reyna. Occasionally I would chip in, but as I sat there I just thought about what had happened so far today.

We were just guarding the entrance to camp, Frank and I. Suddenly from seemingly nowhere this kid runs up, lugging an old lady in his powerful-looking arms. I could feel the power radiating off of him. In fact, when he had first come here, I thought he was a god, here to test us for something or other. He even looked the part, with his windblown hair, bronzed and toned arms, and those sea-green eyes…

Then when he fought the gorgons… gods, I'd never seen someone that powerful. The only one to compare was my brother Nico.

I hadn't known Nico long, but it was pretty obvious that he was really powerful. Everyone could feel a violent, dark aura radiating off of him. Most people just tried to steer clear of him, because he didn't feel like any other son of Pluto they'd known, but mostly I was worried about him. It couldn't be healthy to have such a dark prescence.

Percy had a strange feel around him too, though. Not that it was dark like my brother's, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Perhaps it was simply the way he carried himself, or maybe just the way he looked around at people. It just wasn't… Roman.

Maybe that's how all sons of Neptune felt. Insanely powerful auras and weird vibes. I mean, nobody had seen a son of Neptune for something like seventy years or so…

But then I suppose I could have run into another son of Neptune back then, couldn't I have?

I breathed deeply as I felt myself begin to drift towards a flashback. Hopefully I wouldn't pass out in the middle of a meeting with Reyna.

I looked up. Percy and Reyna were just finishing up, and Percy was still in one piece, thankfully. He hadn't been lying about whatever it was they had been talking about.

Percy's POV:

I still have no idea how I kept managing to pull off this amnesia on everyone. Reyna's dogs just quieted down on their own, and despite me saying that I only had fuzzy bits and pieces of my memory, they hadn't even flinched.

Maybe Hera was helping me out a little? That was my best guess.

Time flew by quickly for the rest of that night. With a little of my help, Frank and Hazel took the win for their team in "war games", which was over-glorified "capture-the-flag". It almost made me start chuckling with the irony that these Roman demigods were doing exactly the same things we did at Camp Half-blood.

But that's when things turned south.

One of the centurions, I think somebody had said her name was Gwen, was carted to the middle of the battlefield on a stretcher. My eyebrows furrowed as I examined her body from a distance.

She had a spear sticking out through her armor, going completely in one side and out the other. The spear's tip jutted out the front, so she had probably been stabbed in the back by whoever did it, most likely after the games had already ended.

My ears began to burn red, and it took visible concentration to keep my cool about me. I looked over and saw Frank going through the same stages as I was. Only he seemed to have a clue about who it was. And he did not look happy.

But suddenly Gwen sat up, and she was just fine all of a sudden. She was even moving around like normal, but with a spear jutting out of her chest. What the Styx?!

Frank had stepped forward, and with a little help had removed the spear. There were no wound marks, no scars, nothing.

I felt an intense heat behind me as a familiarly arrogant presence suddenly neared. I frowned, but played dumb and turned around.

Ares, in the form of Mars, stood in front of the legions, and grinned down at the rest of us. His eyes paused on me a moment longer, before he began speaking.

A quest to Alaska would be undertaken. The Doors of Death had been forced open, and Death himself had been chained in "the land beyond the gods".

Hazel seemed worried at this last statement, and I also felt perturbed (Annabeth would be so proud I used that word!). Would that mean that somewhere on the planet is an invisible line that I can't cross anymore? Does that mean that I can't summon any godly might if we needed it?

Or will I be enough to protect whoever goes on the quest?

Before I could do anything, Mars piped up again. Frank stepped forward, though he looked like he didn't really want to. He knew what was coming next.

Yep. Delving into my senses, I found my answer before Ares let it be known to everyone else. Frank was a child of Mars. One of the few good ones, in my opinion. In the short time I'd known him, Frank had proved himself brave, cunning, and resourceful, even if he hadn't realized it.

Frank was leading the quest. I was chosen by Ares to be the second member, and Frank didn't hesitate in asking Hazel to be the final member. I recognized the look that the two of them gave each other. They rounded each other out perfectly, just like Annabeth and I.

I missed Annabeth. I could still feel her from extreme distances, but I knew I couldn't go to her just yet, anyway. If what Hera said was actually true, then I'd have to stick to her plan for now, or else everyone could die.

That wasn't a pleasant thought.

I laid low. Monsters attacked, but I made sure not to use any godly-ish powers, ESPECIALLY in front of Hazel or Frank. I only stuck to the powers Dad gave me.

The Roman fleet was pathetically sad. Hazel told me that the Romans really feared Neptune, so they didn't really have any water battles if they could avoid it. But even still, the only boat I could find on the docks was a sad little metal rowboat, without oars even. Well, it was doable.

We immediately began our journey, but to my mild surprise, Frank learned that Hazel was seasick before I could sense it myself. I turned the ship, and we made a quick pit-stop at Mendocino for Hazel. Ultimately, we met up with the goddess Iris, who told us where our next location needed to be; Portland. We took another day to reach Portland, where we had to find Phineas, a crazy seersayer cursed by the gods.

I found myself growing attached to Frank and Hazel. They were good people, and they were very friendly, honestly. Hazel was sweet and caring, and Frank was a thoughtful and considerate guy, but he was a bit of a klutz sometimes. I'm sure that Annabeth would have snorted and elbowed me, if I ever said that out loud. I could almost hear her saying, so are you, you big doofus.

Ah, I loved that woman.

I frowned. I missed her so much. When would Hera let up a little and let me see her again? I realized with a startled scowl that this must be what Mr. D feels like all the time. Wanting to go home to Ariadne on Olympus, but being stuck in a small camp for a hundred years. It somewhat frightened me that I was becoming sympathetic towards the wine dude, but I knew for certain that I wouldn't end up like Dionysus. I wouldn't.

I almost ran into Frank when suddenly he stopped. I checked myself in time and stepped to the side, staring at what they were.

A decrepit-looking fat man in a grungy bathrobe was swatting the air around him with a weed-whacker buzzing angrily. Several stick-thin harpies fluttered weakly around him, trying to apparently get to a tray of food behind him.

"Harpies. Which means—" Hazel began.

"That's Phineas," Frank finished.

I hid a smile. I wondered for a moment if Annabeth and I finished each other's sentences. I immediately dismissed the thought. Of course we do, Seaweed Brain, I could almost hear her again.

As the harpies tried many maneuvers to get around the old geezer, however, he always snarled and smacked them in the back with the weed-whacker. After a few moments of this pointless pain, I couldn't hold it in any longer, feeling indignation rising. Harpies might not be the kindest creatures, necessarily, and I knew that if they wanted they could be a real pain. But they still didn't seem to deserve this treatment.

"Hey, stop that!" I shouted.

The harpies took this the wrong way, and retreated to the trees. As they sat in the wet shelter of the foliage, they stared gloomily and hungrily at Phineas's tray of food as we approached. I honestly felt bad for them.

The man turned his ears to us as we came closer, and I could immediately see the cloud over his eyes, though I could also sense that it was invisible to others. He was blind, part of his curse from the gods?

"Ha! Thank you strangers! Your help is much appreciated!" he said, grinning sadistically as he killed the power of the weed-whacker.

I scowled, but kept my cool, biting back my blistering retort. I wasn't talking to the harpies, you old codger.

"Uh, whatever," I said calmly. "I'm Percy Jackson, this is—"

"Demigods! I can always smell demigods." The old guy said triumphantly.

Huh. I wondered if my immortality was being masked by Frank and Hazel's scents. It would certainly explain why no monsters seemed to be as wary of me on this trip as when I was rescuing half-bloods with Annabeth and Thalia.

Hazel frowned. "Do we smell that bad?"

The old man laughed. "Of course not, my dear. But you'd be surprised how sharp my other senses became once I was blinded. I'm Phineas, and you—wait don't tell me—"

He reached for my face, his fingers poking into my eyeballs.

"Ow!" I said, rubbing my eyes as I backed away.

"Son of Neptune!" Phineas exclaimed. "I thought I smelled the ocean on you, Percy Jackson. I'm also a son of Neptune, you know."

"Hey… yeah, okay," I said, secretly disgusted by the fact that I had relation to this creep.

Phineas magically divined the others' names. Then he began divining other things about them. I felt a ball of fear stop up my throat for a moment as he went down the line. It surprised me to learn that Hazel was supposed to be dead, and confused me when Phineas said that Frank's life depends on a burned stick. What the heck could that mean?

But then he turned to me. I held myself from gasping audibly. I couldn't break the act. What would I do if he wasn't deceived?

Phineas's expression became clouded. Subtly, just barely enough for me to notice it.

"Yes…" he said slowly. "Yes, you… you don't remember who you are…"

The way he said it sounded more like he was agreeing with someone who was feeding him information through a headset. He grinned, and turned away.

I should've known that Hera's protection would hold. Somehow she's convinced even this guy to play along. Fine. I could deal with it. I tuned back into the conversation that Phineas was finishing up with Frank.

"—He didn't really destroy the camp. Now, what an interesting group. Are you hungry?"

There was no way that I would gorge myself while those sickly-looking harpies were watching, no matter how hungry I really felt. I couldn't be that heartless.

"Look, frankly I'm confused," I said, sifting through my memories, and trying to conjure up anything regarding Phineas and his fate. "We need some information. We were told—"

"—that the harpies were keeping my food away from me," Phineas said, interrupting my sentence, "and if you helped me, I'd help you."

"Something like that," I admitted.

Phineas laughed. "That's old news. Do I look like I'm missing any meals?"

He patted his belly, which was the size of an overinflated basketball.

"Um… no," I said, trying desperately to hide the tone of voice I so badly wanted to use.

Well, to spare some details, Phineas went right on to admit that Gaea was his patron. We were fighting against the earth mother herself. I mentally facepalmed.

'Hera,' I sent out the message in my thoughts, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

'What is it, godling?! I'm a little busy at the moment!' Hera's voice broke through my thoughts.

'Perhaps you might have warned me that we were going to be fighting the earth itself?' I sighed.

I heard a shrug, and Hera's thoughts were closed off. I looked up. By experience, I knew that Phineas was about four to five seconds away from revealing that he was about to kill us all, instead of helping us out.

He surprised me for a moment or two by asking us a favor; capture the small, red-winged harpy.

I had noticed that harpy earlier. She was quick, and clever. She was also the smallest of the flock, and had flown off somewhere or other.

Also, there was no way I was helping this guy out. More than that, I'd rather have tortured him into telling us, but he was quick with a reply; With the Doors of Death open, and Thanatos in chains, he wouldn't stay dead for long, and no amount of torturing would get us the information we wanted.

"We'll need some of your food."I said, probably more harshly than necessary. But I didn't really care. He deserved it.

I gritted my teeth as we walked away to formulate a plan B.

"There's no way we're going to hand her over to Phineas, right?" Hazel asked, as soon as we were sure he was out of earshot.

"No, definitely not," Frank said, agreeing.

I scowled harder. "So we need to think of another way to get the information. Let's just go try to talk to the harpy and see if she knows anything."

This seemed like a good idea to the others, so we tried to track down the other harpy. The food I had grabbed really helped, as she was circling after a few moments.

We gave her the food, and talked to her. Her name was Ella. She definitely was a shy sort of harpy, and she nibbled cautiously on a burrito-cinnamon thing that I had randomly grabbed, shuddering in delight.

I saw the other harpies flying towards her, a frenzied look in their eyes as they stared greedily at the burrito in Ella's hands. In a moment, I knew exactly what their plan was, and I frowned. I glared at the harpies out of the corner of my eye, and something in my gaze immediately caught their attention. As if I was suddenly a bomb ready to go off, they shrieked and began scrambling backwards towards Phineas's table in the distance. Ella munched on her cinnamon burrito unhindered.

More often than not, when we asked her a question she would answer by speaking randomly selected sentences, it seemed. Like she was quoting phrases from a…

I looked around us at her roost in the library. Her nest was made from scraps of paper and books. Could she have really memorized every single book in here? To test, I randomly opened a page, randomly selected a paragraph, and a sentence.

"Ella, do you remember the third paragraph on page sixty-two—"

"'Secretariat,'" Ella said instantly, "'favored three to two in the 1973 Kentucky Derby, finished at standing track record of one fifty-nine and two fifths.'"

This honestly surprised me into speechlessness as Frank and Hazel looked at me for a verdict. After a moment of trying, I managed to splutter out the words.

"Word for word," I said, putting the book down again.

"That's amazing," Hazel praised.

"She's a genius chicken," Frank said, poker-faced.

Ordinarily, I probably would've busted up at that, but this wasn't the time or place. I was still angry at Phineas. How could he possibly be so cruel to the poor harpies?! To Ella, this sweet young harpy?!

We began talking with Ella, who was still frightened badly enough that she was shivering. Hazel touched her with a gentle caress, and try as we might to get closer to her, she would only squawk in terror and scramble back if we tried to do anything. Hazel, however, seemed to be the only one allowed to be near her. We did our best to heal her wounds Phineas had given her, and began to quietly and calmly talk with her.

"Ella," I began, "we're going to try to break the curse. Would you like that?"

"'Its Impossible,'" Ella said, shaking her head sadly, "'recorded in English by Perry Como, 1970.'"

"Nothing's impossible," I said calmly.

Hazel calmed Ella down enough to try to plan with us. With just a little coaxing, Ella revealed the information we needed. Phineas was a gambler. He couldn't see the futures of games of chance.

We needed to make a bet. But what stakes were alluring enough to sway Phineas's better judgement?

Frank gave me a look, an idea forming.

"Gorgon's blood," we both said at the same time.

Gorgon's blood. Two vials had fallen into the Little Tiber after I had destroyed them, and Frank had picked them up. One side of healing draught, one of poison. Ella confirmed our suspicions. Phineas would love to have his sight back. Gaea was evidently keeping him blind to be dependent on her. He would accept the gamble.

"What?" Hazel asked, having not known about the gorgon's blood that had fallen into the river.

Frank gulped hesitantly, looking at the vials. I could read it in his face that he was also considering the consequences of failure, however. One of us had a very good chance of dying.

"Ella's a genius," he finally said, "unless we die."

"Don't worry about that," I said, my stomach sinking slightly. "I've got a plan."