Chapter 11: I Gamble Our Lives for a Napkin

The old man was right where we left him, in the middle of the food truck parking lot.

"Welcome back! I hear the flutter of nervous wings. You have my harpy?"

"She's here," I said, folding my arms. "But not for you."

"I see…" the old codger said, sucking grease off his fingers. I wondered if that was just to annoy me. Those harpies could only stare sadly at him and his weed-whacker as he sat here, gorging himself like a pig. I could feel my fingers twitching as godly power popped across the knuckles, aching to be let loose on this old man's skull. Luckily, they were hidden under my arms, so Frank and Hazel couldn't see my little light show. Phineas continued. "…well, actually I'm blind, so I don't see. But have you come to kill me? If so, then good luck on completing your quest."

"I've come to gamble."

Those words grabbed his attention.

"A gamble… how interesting. Information in exchange for the harpy? Winner take all?"

"The harpy is not part of the deal," I said, gritting my teeth.

"Really? Perhaps you don't understand her value," he sneered.

"She's a person," I said, clenching my mildly-glowing fists. "She isn't for sale."

"Oh, please!" Phineas said, throwing back his head "You're from the Roman camp, right? Rome was built on slavery. Don't get all high and mighty with me. Besides, she isn't even human. She's a monster. A wind spirit. A minion of Jupiter."

I nearly had to stifle my laughter. I so badly wanted to tell him that no, I was not from the Roman camp, and that I absolutely could get all 'high and mighty' with him if I wanted to, I was a god. But I kept it in.

I began talking with Phineas about the particulars of the gamble, and he listened with keen interest, almost hunger. He definitely perked up when I mentioned the chance to regain his sight.

"So I choose which vial to drink. You have to drink the other one. We swear to drink at the same time."

"Right," I said, biting my lip. Frank and Hazel would see it as nervousness, perhaps, but I was concerned that if I chose wrong, I wouldn't exactly crumble to dust. I would be revealed as a god.

"The loser dies, obviously," Phineas said. "That kind of poison would probably keep even me from coming back to life… for a long time, at least. My essence would be scattered and degraded. So I'm risking quite a lot."

"But if you win, you get everything," I said, goading him into accepting the bet. "If I die, my friends will swear to leave you in peace and not take revenge. You'd have your sight back, which even Gaea won't give you."

Phineas seemed to ponder this for a few moments.

'The right one,' Hera's voice suddenly said in my thoughts. 'You must choose the right one, if you are to remain inconspicuous.'

'Am I going to die, now that you told me? I just swore on the River Styx that I didn't know!?' I thought to Hera, frowning.

'You didn't know, right then. Now that you've already made the oath, you must make sure that Phineas chooses the one on the left.'

'How—?' I began, but Hera cut me off with a sigh.

'Just use your father's power to make the left one shake more,' she said exasperatedly, before growing quiet again.

As though he had been waiting for Hera to finish, Phineas suddenly accepted the bet. I felt nervous. Use my father's power to make the left one shake more? What did that—

Annabeth had mentioned something about that once. So had Chiron. What had he said exactly?

The memory floated back to me as soon as I called on it, with almost perfect clarity.

Chiron, standing over me in the creek at Camp Half-Blood. The other campers kneeling, as I stared at a spinning holographic trident over my head.

"Hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon; the earthshaker, bringer of storms, master of the sea…"

Something along those lines.

"Losing your nerve, Jackson?" Phineas said, grasping his hands for the vials.

I had never made an earthquake before, but like everything I got from my dad, I wondered if it was instinctual. Well, time to find out.

It was time to let him test the vials. He weighed them in his hands and sloshed them around, listening closely. Then he set them down on the table between us.

'This is it,' I realized. I reached into the ground, trying to figure out how to make the left one shake harder.

My thoughts flew with mind-blowing speed as I tried to figure it out in time. I had moments before he would shake the ground, and the vials would bounce.

He put his hands lightly over the vials.

'Think, Percy, think!' I thought quickly, testing everything I could think of. Nothing seemed to be working. I could feel that he was sending out his will into the ground, ready to shake it.

Suddenly, like one of the Muses struck me with inspiration, and maybe she had, I suddenly knew what to do. I mimicked Phineas's movements, sending my will as deep into the earth as I could. It was nothing like controlling water, and yet so similar. Water was just as stubborn as earth. Though it danced and rolled freely, when contained, there was nothing that could hold water forever. Earth was stubborn in other ways. It didn't want to move. Nothing could force it. But it didn't need to be forced. It wasn't my place to force it. I just needed to persuade it.

The earth rumbled under my feet. Not enough to do much more than rattle my teeth. Phineas didn't seem clued in that I was aiding him more than he thought I was. I grinned in triumph as I noticed that the vial on the left bounced more. He grinned and closed his fingers around the left vial.

"You were a fool, Percy Jackson. I choose this vial. Now we drink," Phineas cackled.

I had to keep myself from grinning as I grabbed the correct vial. It didn't exactly work, and as I held the stopper in front of me, a big grin bloomed on my face.

I don't think I had given Phineas enough credit for exactly how sharp his other senses became. His eyes narrowed, though he couldn't see through them anyway.

"What are you smiling about, half-breed?" he hissed.

"Nothing," I said, smiling as I fought to control my expression. He must have heard my breathing change or something. "I'll tell you in a minute."

Phineas gave me a frown, before breaking into a sadistically sarcastic smile.

"To the sons of Neptune," Phineas said, lifting the vial. I lifted mine as well, and downed the liquid.

Neither of us flinched. I could feel the blood draining down my esophagus, and though I was mildly disgusted that I had drunk blood, I didn't feel much different than before.

Phineas was sitting up straighter, blinking in anticipation of his eyesight returning. When he failed to hear sounds of my rasping, however, he frowned. His expression slowly grew more and more panicked.

"No," he said, breathless, "You… you tricked me. You s-swore on the River Styx that you didn't…"

Suddenly, he doubled over, steam beginning to wisp out of his nostrils and mouth. A thick, yellow, acrid smoke that came from his skin as he began to shrivel up in front of my eyes.

"You tricked me!" he said, gasping. But then he smiled. "But you will suffer a fate worse than death for breaking your oath!"

He tried to claw the napkin out of his bathrobe, but his fingers crumbled into sand as he made the attempt.

"Nobody broke any oaths," I said, looking down at the old man. "And I hold you to your oath."

Phineas wailed in pain and stupefaction as he dissipated completely. All that were left behind was a bathrobe and a pair of pink bunny slippers that I would've felt bad giving to a dog.

"Those…" Frank began, swallowing dryly, "…are the most disgusting spoils of war ever."

Hazel, however, was staring at me with an open mouth as I bent down and retrieved the napkin from Phineas's disgusting pockets. The harpies had already flown off in search of some sort of food or other, now that they were released from Phineas's curse.

"P-Percy!" she suddenly said, storming over to me. I looked up, and I could see in her face that she very nearly slapped me. "You broke an oath on the River Styx?!"

I stood up straight, letting the note go unread in my palm for a minute longer. I stared deep into her eyes. She was furious, but her eyes had begun to water. She was obviously concerned. I shook my head as I spoke. "No, I never broke my oath. I honestly didn't know when I made it, and then I did afterwards."

Hazel and Frank looked at me with such confusion. But I had to let it slide for now. I looked at the note in my hand.

"Hubbard Glacier," I read aloud. I turned to Hazel and Frank. "Either of you know where this is?"

Hazel spoke up, still staring at me curiously, but moving on for now. "I do. It's pretty famous. But we've got a long, long way to go."

I nodded. "We'd better get started then."

We all headed back to the pathetically sad little boat as we began making our way up to Canada. As we tugged right along, Hazel began to open up to Frank and I. She was an escapee, she said, from the Underworld. Nico had brought her back. I missed that kid. Sure, he had evidently been keeping secrets from Camp Half-Blood, and I was angry for that, but I also could respect his motives. The kid was smart; I had to credit him with that.

But then, as Hazel was talking, the strangest thing happened. Hazel and Frank were just sitting upright and normal one moment in the boat, talking while I steered, next moment both of them just slumped over in their seats like they were knocked unconscious.

My first instinct was to scan the immediate vicinity for anything threatening. Unfriendly gods, mainly. When that came up negative, I looked back, and almost had to jump off the boat when I saw that Frank was about to fall out, and tip the boat in the process. I bent down and set him back on the boat, large as he was.

"Ella, what's going on with—" I began, but as I touched Frank, suddenly I felt like I was being drawn into whatever they were seeing as well.

Hazel was saying something to Frank. I realized I was seeing this from Frank's perspective.

Hazel was somehow sharing a blackout with Frank. Her past, I realized. I almost moved back, when suddenly I heard one of Frank's thoughts, as he held Hazel's hand.

I should tell her.

I was frankly surprised. I hadn't heard any of his other thoughts, but just this one. Tell her what?

I have to admit, my curiosity got the better of me at that point. I kept my gaze on the vision-Hazel as Frank began shifting around, his ethereal arms reaching for something in his ethereal coat. She had just said something about how sharing a problem didn't always make it easier to carry.

"But it does," he said, finding what he was searching for. "In fact… since we've got eternity to talk, there's something I want to tell you."

I watched as Frank brought out a small object wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped it slowly, unveiling…

… a stick? No bigger than a pencil, definitely.

Hazel looked as confused as I felt, opening her mouth to ask a question.

"What is…" she asked, but suddenly she paled, as though realizing something. "Phineas said your life depended on a half-burned stick—"

Suddenly I recalled what Phineas had said as well. The truth smacked into me, and I could feel myself pale as well. The implications hit me.

"It's true. This is my lifeline. Literally," Frank said, quietly.

He began to go on, but at that point I realized that I had already seen too much. This was strictly supposed to be between Frank and Hazel, nobody else. I quickly jumped back out of their vision.

I sat back, contemplating for a moment what I had just seen while I stared at their unconscious forms. Frank's life was tied to the piece of firewood? That was an intense fatal flaw. Too easy to take advantage of. Too much of a vulnerability.

Suddenly I felt myself thinking through all possibilities I could think of to try to separate the bond between the firewood and Frank's life. I was not only a god of the Unclaimed; I was a son of Poseidon. I was a lord over the waters. Water trumped fire, but I couldn't think of anything that could separate such a bond. I'd had no experience with it. I was feeling easily frustrated. Frank was a friend. There had to be SOMETHING I could do…

Well, there WAS one thing I could think of doing; the one thing that was strictly forbidden to me by the rest of the Olympian Council.

Ella squawked, ruffling her feathers and preening herself on the prow of the rowboat.

"No more blackouts, Hazel. No more blackouts," she said as she preened herself. "Frank went with her, Simon said, Frank went with her. Percy, do not worry. They are sharing. Not sharing cake, nope nope." Ella cawed softly and tore off more of Iris's macrobiotic jerky. "But jerky and cinnamon for Ella."

I nodded. They were definitely sharing something or other. I pushed Frank's issue to the back of my mind for now. I technically wasn't supposed to know about it, so I'd have to wait until later to ask. They deserved that much.

I turned back to steering the ship, and we were nearly to Seattle when Frank and Hazel began to stir and shift in their sleep. I leaned down and shook Hazel by the shoulder, trying to revive her from her flashback episode.

"Hazel." I said giving her a gentle shake, "Wake up. We've reached Seattle."

She sat up groggily and looked around, squinting a little as the morning sun began to shine in her eyes. "Frank?"

I looked at Frank, who groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Did we just… was I just—?"

"You both passed out," I said, explaining mostly for Frank's bewildered sake, "I was a little worried at first, but Ella told me not to worry about it. She said you were… sharing?"

Ella agreed, and I wrapped up my sentence. Hazel seemed to have ignored my explanation for the most part, and suddenly moved a hand to a new bulge in her coat's pockets. She looked over at Frank with amazement.

"You were there," she whispered. Frank didn't say anything but just nodded at her with a profoundly deep look, full of meaning.

Immediately, I knew what was in her pocket. Sometime during their blackout, Frank had entrusted Hazel with his lifeline.

I was again struck by how deep the relationship between these two must be. Again, I was reminded of Annabeth. I gave a silent sigh. How much longer until I'd see her again?! Six months was nothing to sneeze at for a working relationship.

But my attention was brought back to Frank's act of trust as a thought sprang up in my mind. The small, fragile piece of firewood was now on Hazel's person. I frowned a little as I stared out over the water. I now knew that if some monster were possibly to place a lucky shot, especially with fire, it was possible to take both of my friends down with one blow.

And I couldn't allow that. I wouldn't allow that.

My hands popped subtly with a faint luminosity, impossible to detect in the morning sun. I reigned in the rogue emotion as I stared over the water. I couldn't yet show my godly side to them, but if I had to vent this protective anger, then let it vent into the water below me.

Suddenly, Pax went into overdrive, skidding across the water as I created a riptide current underneath us. We were swept even faster towards the land. Hazel did not look like she appreciated the extra speed, but soon we would be on land once again.

For now, I just did my best to try to quell her seasickness. Before I could even wonder if that sort of power was in either of my domains, Hazel straightened up and gasped ever so subtly, the green on her skin lessening. She glanced at me questioningly, as though she could just sense that I would somehow be able to snap my fingers and dissipate her queasiness.

It was getting harder and harder to hide my godhood from those who were getting suspicious.