"Okay so feel as if the winds are supporting you." Jason said, trying to help Thalia see if she can fly.
"How?" she asked
"Ummm. Maybe you could uh feel it as like a cushion?" Jason suggested. Thalia tried that but groaned in frustration when she wasn't able to understand what Jason was saying.
"You should start by trying to see if you have control over winds." Zeus said, coming to the training area. Thalia and Jason's gazes snapped to him.
"Right. And how?" Thalia sighed.
"Feel as if they're coming towards you." Zeus said. "Concentrate." He said.
Thalia sighed and closed her eyes. She thought that the winds were reaching towards her from the surroundings. She shivered a little as it started working. Jason noticed that.
"Great! Now try moving this cup from its position!" he said excitedly. Thalia opened her eyes and focused on the cup. She moved her hand and directed the winds from her to the cup which fell off the table. Jason whooped.
"Yeah!" he cheered. Zeus smiled and nodded at Thalia
"Okay so to fly you have to imagine the winds below you and that they maintain the balance and pummel you upwards." Zeus said. Thalia nodded and closed her eyes again. She directed the winds below her and shook a little as she was raised a little above the surface. Jason cheered and whooped and punched the air. Thalia opened her eyes and fell back to the floor.
"You can fly. Just some practice is needed." Zeus nodded at Thalia who grinned. Jason grinned at Thalia.
"Small bolts for Jason now." Thalia grinned. Jason grinned as well.
"So basically its like you summon the big ones but you just have to imagine the size to be smaller and the froze that you use with your sword to be a little less when you're summoning. And when you do it without the sword then you just have to think of the bolts being smaller." Thalia explained. Jason nodded, thinking of a small bolt hitting down the area in front of him. Thalia and Zeus stepped aside so Jason could have a clear field.
Then the sky darkened a little and a bolt of medium size slammed down into the area in front of him. Jason sighed and rubbed his head.
"That was good." Thalia nodded. Jason shook his head.
"My head still hurts." He said
"The same amount as usual?" Thalia asked. Jason nodded. Thalia frowned at Zeus.
"Can you give it another try?" he asked. Jason tried and only a smaller bolt came this time.
"I mean this is still better that I can get two bolts but my stamina is draining." Jason sighed. "I think my main control is over winds, rain and thunder. And some lightning." Jason said with a small smile.
"That's pretty good." Thalia smiled at her brother "You're way better at winds than me." Thalia grinned. Jason grinned as well.
"Can we go and watch Leo train? He owes me a piggyback ride." Jason said. Thalia and Zeus chuckled.
"I owe Percy one so we're going to have to make a small stop after you get your piggyback." Thalia said. Jason nodded. The three of them went to the training arena where Leo, the Ares gang and Apollo kids were training with revolvers. Ares was training Leo and the others to aim at the point.
"Okay, so focus on that point. Yeah, right there." He said to Leo.
"Now shoot." Ares said to the demigods who had already got their aims. There were sounds of the bullets hitting the targets. Ares nodded and went to examine the targets.
"Hmm, all of you are pretty good with these. Almost the bulls eyes." He said. "Though I think revolvers are a bit too light for Clarisse and Frank. You should try with big guns if you want to practice with guns." Ares said to his children with a smile.
"Like?" Frank asked
"A UMP would be good for you two I think." Ares said. He went to his quarters and got two UMP guns for Clarisse and Frank.
"Oh gods this is heavy but more comfortable." Clarisse said. Ares nodded.
"Same thing. Aim and shoot." Ares said. Frank and Clarisse aimed at the bulls eye and shot.
"Nicee." Ares grinned as he looked at the targets which had the mark of a bullet in the bulls eyes.
"So do we need scopes?" Michael asked.
"Hmm. Not necessary but you can use it if the target is far." Ares said
"Ares, how many demigods are you thinking of training with guns?" Zeus asked as he, Jason and Thalia came to the arena.
"Just the ones who are good with the guns. It could come in useful if they run out of arrows or don't have good aim with knives or arrows. In close combat, swords and knives are the best for them. For long range ones or if they can't get there in time or if they are out of supplies, guns are ideal." Ares said with a shrug.
"Okay Leo. Shoot." Ares said, turning his attention back at the son of Hephaestus. Leo focused and emptied the barrel. Ares looked impressed.
"Damn Leo. That was good. Almost all of them were bulls eyes." He said. Leo grinned.
"Sharpshooter Jesper." Lee grinned at Leo. Leo grinned back.
"Hmm once you get better we'll get you two revolvers." Ares winked. Everybody chuckled.
"Okay, Will, Lee and Michael. Pistols are your thing." Ares said. The Apollo kids nodded and took out the pistols. They aimed and shot. And of course not even a single bullet missed the bulls eye.
"Brilliant." Ares grinned at them and high fived the three of them.
"You guys are good." Jason whistled.
"You want to try?" Ares asked Thalia and Jason who nodded. Zeus sighed.
"Who else was here?" Thalia asked as she saw more guns on the tables.
"Oh yeah. Percy was here and so was Nico." Will said
"Which guns did they get?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Percy got a UMP and Pistol and Nico got a two pistols." Ares said "Both of them don't do any archery and nor do they normally have good aim-" Ares started
"They had good aim once." Zeus grumbled, remembering when Nico and Percy were pissed off after hearing his and Athena's conversation.
"You gave them a reason for it." Thalia reminded him. Zeus sighed and nodded.
"Anyways, they normally don't have good aim. They're way better with close combat but like I said that won't always be the case so they needed some long range weapons." Ares said. Jason and Thalia nodded.
"Okay so Jason and Thalia try the pistols." Ares said. Jason and Thalia picked them up.
"Oh this feels so weird in my hands." Thalia said "These are not my thing. Sorry Ares." Thalia said and put the gun down. Ares chuckled.
"That's fine. Not many people are comfortable with guns. You're better with knives either way. I saw the demigods train so you're good with knives." He said. Thalia nodded.
Jason looked fairly comfortable with the gun. He went according to Ares' instructions and shot. It almost hit the bulls eye.
"Nice. Some practice and you'll be good with that." Ares grinned at Jason who grinned back.
"I'm sweating like crazy so can we end it here?" Leo asked. Ares nodded.
"Whoo, hey guys." Percy grinned, coming with the rest of the sea gang. Percy's shirt was drenched in sweat.
"Dude, did you take a bath in sweat or something?" Jason asked him amusedly. Percy grinned.
"Nah. We were just training some new things so that required some stamina." Poseidon chuckled.
"You're sweating as well." Triton said.
"We were training as well." Thalia said. Zeus and Jason nodded. Poseidon raised an eyebrow at Zeus who rolled his eyes at Poseidon.
"Lets freshen up. Even Nico was sweating like crazy. Nico and Hazel. Even they're training for stamina and all." Percy said "The Hermes gang is raiding a store, I think." He chuckled. Everybody laughed.
"And Thals, I remember that you owe me a piggyback ride. I would ask you to do it now but I'm sweating and it doesn't smell pleasant and I'm nice so after I get freshened up." Percy grinned at his cousin. Thalia rolled her eyes at Percy. Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other as almost the same reactions had taken place between the two of them, some time ago.
"Ah a cold bath. Nothing's better than that after you feel like you took a swim in a pool of sweat." Nico said with a grin.
"That was descriptive but sure. It's true." Hades chuckled
"I still prefer hot baths." Hazel shrugged.
"Medium for me." Persephone said with a smile.
"So Hazel. My piggyback ride." Nico grinned evilly. Hazel snickered and sighed. She bent down and Nico grinned happily. He climbed onto Hazel's back. Hazel gave a sigh but stood up.
Hades' eyes widened as he saw Nico grin and smile on Hazel's back and as she grinned. It reminded him of the time when he saw Bianca give Nico a piggyback ride when they were kids. He shook his head, not wanting to go back into those times again. Nico cheered as Hazel took him out of the quarters.
"Hey Thals." Percy grinned. Thalia stuck her tongue out at Percy. Percy climbed onto her back and Thalia sighed and stood up. Percy cheered.
"How much do you eat, Kelp head?" Thalia groaned
"As much as you." Percy smirked. Thalia mock glared at him. Thalia took him out of his quarters.
"Come on superman." Leo grinned. Jason grinned back and climbed onto Leo's back. Leo grinned and the two of them laughed and grinned as they left the quarters.
The three groups ran into each other. The ones on the backs were cheering and whooping and the ones who were giving them the rides rolled their eyes at each other playfully but ended up grinning. They went to the dining hall and the others whooped, cheered and laughed. Thalia dumped Percy on the Poseidon table. Percy pouted at Thalia. Leo dropped Jason very elegantly on the Zeus table. Jason grinned at Leo and the two high fived. Hazel carried Nico to the Hades table and the two of them took their respective seats. Everybody cheered.
"You gang. Honestly." Apollo chuckled fondly. The demigods grinned at him.
"Dad. I'm ready to bet 20 drachmas that you've had piggyback rides as well with Aunt Artemis and Hermes." Will grinned.
"Suckers bet. It's obvious." Chris called out from the Hermes table. Everybody laughed. Apollo and Artemis stuck their tongues out at each other playfully and Hermes high fived Apollo. They all ate and talked.
"Are you still not going to tell us as to what was bothering you yesterday?" Triton asked Percy.
"It's still bothering us but now it's not the only thing we think about. But that's not the concern. I want to tell you but I can't. Dad already knows the incident that grandmother told us but I can't tell it. I'll ask grandmother and see if I can tell dad." Percy sighed.
"He's right. Its getting weird that we know something that not many do and we can't tell the elder six gods that we know it." Nico said
"This is getting mysterious." Hades said with a raised eyebrow.
"Eh. A mystery to solve until we ask grandmother then." Percy grinned at his uncle who sighed.
"Might as well ask her now." Thalia said. Percy, Jason, Leo and Nico nodded. The five of them got up and went to Rhea's quarters.
"Hello." Rhea smiled warmly at the five of them.
"Can we tell our parents that we know?" Leo asked
"Hephaestus doesn't know either but he does seem worried. And the elder six already know. You can tell them if you want but it will be hard. If you want you can come here and then I can tell them too if you find it hard. Don't do it in front of Hera yet." Rhea sighed.
"We'll try to do it ourselves. It's hard for you too." Percy said. Rhea gave him a small smile. They all nodded and went back.
"We gotta talk." Percy said to his dad. Thalia and Jason nodded at Zeus.
"Dad you too." Leo said to Hephaestus.
"And you too dad." Nico said to Hades. The four gods raised their eyebrows in confusion but went along with their children to one of the guest rooms.
"You should sit." Thalia said to the gods who actually looked worried by now but they did what Thalia asked them to do. Percy handed them some bottles of water and sat down as well on the couch opposite to their parents.
"So uh we know about um, guys some help?" Jason asked the others.
"Ah yeah, we know about the first giant war." Leo said. The gods furrowed their eyebrows.
"They already know that we do!" Nico and Thalia said
"Right, he meant that we know about Porphyrion." Percy said "Like when he kidnapped Hera before. I mean, like the way he-he treated her." Percy said, trying to say it as directly as he could. The demigods nodded. He might have got the message along well because the elder five gods paled. Hephaestus still looked confused. Leo got up and told him what happened in his ear. Hephaestus' beard lit on fire and Leo stepped back a few steps.
There was some thunder outside and a bit of shadows in the room as well as some increase in tides.
"Are you mad as us?" Thalia asked.
"No. We're just mad at the memory." Zeus assured her.
"Right, yeah, that's very understandable." Jason said, with a small smile. Zeus nodded but there was a dark look in his eyes as he remembered the first giant war. The demigods jumped a little at the next thunder clap.
"We can go if you'd like to talk." Leo said.
"It's fine. You guys don't have to be worried about anything. The memory is just there." Poseidon said.
"Yeah, it's worse for a few than us. Seeing as we didn't have to see it happen." Hades said. The demigods nodded. They sat back and opened the water bottles.
"Hot chocolate?" Percy asked, getting up. The gods nodded gratefully. Percy got up and so did Nico. The two of them prepared 9 cups of steaming hot chocolate and gave it to the demigods and gods. They sat in silence as the gods were thinking and the demigods were just there and occasionally looked at each other and had conversations with facial expressions.
"We can go now." Poseidon said after 30 minutes. The gods nodded. Everybody got up and left the room.
"Well it looks like a storm is coming." Thalia said, looking at the clouds.
"You got your powers back?" Hades asked Zeus who shook his head.
"No. It's just some of it like the amount that we had before but that's going to cause the storm." He said. Everybody nodded.
"So we can't read outside." Percy said. They went to the dining hall.
"Guys we're reading in the glass cabin today. It's gonna rain." Thalia said. A few raised eyebrows but everybody nodded.
"Why not a closed room though?" Reyna asked
"The rain smells and looks good." Jason said sheepishly. Everybody chuckled but nodded.
"Okay then. Might as well go now." Chiron said. They all got up and headed to the pavilion. They all sat down inside the cabin just as soon as the rain started.
"Wow. This looks beautiful." Rachel said. Everybody agreed.
"Sis, look at the rain on the glass and the trees." Jason said excitedly. Thalia hurried to where he was and smiled. She looked at Jason and smiled, remembering the young boy who had tried to eat a stapler. Nico, Percy, Katie and the others also looked at the glass which had droplets of water on it. The gods smiled at their children.
"I'll read first." Nico said, turning around and plopping down on the rug and leaning against the cool glass. Everybody did the same. Zeus sat next to Hera and gave her a smile which surprised her but she returned it nonetheless. Nico picked up the book and flipped to the correct page.