CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Talk
All Piper could think about was Alex May.
Was she okay with Riley? Did she have any clue? From the look of the Hermes cabin, they'd left in a rush. Alex had left behind one of her hoodies, the red one that she liked to pair with her blue puff jacket, making her shoulders look wider than they really were, so she looked like an over-stuffed gorilla. During the investigation, Piper had helped pick up the 'evidence'. She didn't realise she was still holding the hoodie even as they moved on to the next part of the investigation: interrogation.
Chiron had given Issa full control over the interrogation, as long as other demigods were there to witness it. So many things had gone out of control in such a short span of time that Piper couldn't blame him for wanting to let go a little bit. The camp was already in full battle-mode, getting ready for whatever strike may come from the mortals or the monsters. Taki was working with something Leo had made, his sole task being to keep track of Riley and Alex's whereabouts. The truck had stopped somewhere in Newark, but with a few satyrs in the area, he was zeroing in on their last known location. Leo had communicated with Camp Jupiter, and with Harley, he'd done his best to redact the locations of the two Camps from the Internet - but they could only do so much.
She'd never seen Harley so stony-faced. When she'd asked him how he was doing, he just shrugged it off. Said he was okay. But she could tell - he felt betrayed, just like the entire camp did. No one liked the mortals anymore. That was why they had to have Mags locked in the Big House - the nasty (and hurt) looks from the campers were getting too much. Once word got out that Riley's plan all along had been to get information on Camp Halfblood and then leave with Alex - everyone assumed Mags was supposed to leave too, but had been left behind for some unknown reason.
Rumours were abound. Maybe she was left behind because Riley thought she'd be seen as innocent by everyone else, allowing her to get even more information from the camps. Maybe she was some ticking time-bomb that was about to go off. Maybe she was a monster in disguise. Either way, no one wanted her around.
Piper didn't want to believe any of it. Mags was her friend.
But even then - in the room with Issa and Mags and Nico, Piper knew who she was scared of most.
Mags had dark-rims under her eyes. Her blonde hair was messy, falling in front of her face since Issa had insisted her hands be tied behind the chair she sat on. She looked murderous.
Piper held Alex's hoodie tighter in her hands.
"You done?" Mags snapped, eyeing Issa.
"Got somewhere you need to be, mortal?" The Amazon hissed.
"Yeah. I do, actually. There's a Bad Guy Convention at Coney Island, I wouldn't want to miss Lex Luthor's speech on How to -"
Issa growled, her hand clenching into a fist. She looked like she was going to strike Mags across the face. Piper stepped forward - but the Amazon put her hand up to stop her.
"Mags, just cooperate," Piper said, trying to be as placatory as possible.
"I am," Mags frowned.
"She's not -" Issa protested.
"Okay, stop." Piper put both her hands up. The two women looked to her. "Mags, just start all over again. And we'll all listen. Maybe we can take off the ropes -"
Issa shook her head. "Not an option."
"Where is she going to go?" Nico asked, rolling his eyes. "What is she going to do?"
"We underestimated the other two," Issa pointed out.
Nico sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked at Piper with an 'I got nothing' look. Piper just gave him a tired smile.
"Mags, if you don't mind…" Piper gestured for her to speak.
Mags sighed. She gave Issa a dead look before making a point to speak only to Nico and Piper. "The three of us got into a fight last night. We were fighting about what Alex was going to do. Riley and I tried to talk, but I didn't want to listen and he didn't want to listen either so…we took some time off. I saw them at dinner. I saw them go into the Hermes cabin after the campfire," she said, carefully. "I saw Alex drink something before bed. It looked like a vial or potion-bottle or something. And then Riley said good-night to me. I didn't see him. Then I fell asleep."
Piper nodded seriously. "And that's the weird part."
"Why is that weird?" Nico asked.
"Mags takes a long time to sleep," Piper explained. "When she is asleep, even a stampede couldn't wake her up. Right?" Mags shrugged in response. "But…" Piper continued, "she always takes a while to actually fall asleep."
"Sound observation," Mags nodded. Then she had to smile. "Were you watching us while we slept? Very stalker-y of you."
Piper side-eyed Mags. Mags winked at her. Issa snapped her fingers.
"Next part of the story," the Amazon said. "The male mortal and the descendant sneak away in the dead of the night. Using the diffuser." Issa took an item from Chiron's desk and lifted it up to show everybody, like they were in a court-room or something. "This diffuser made the entire cabin fall into a deep sleep. A similar object was also used to lull the defensive harpies to sleep. The delivery truck was taken. Some supplies were taken. Any other changes to the camp?"
"None," Nico answered.
"So. What do we have? We have three mortals brought into the camp, learning about the camp's defensive capabilities and possible weaknesses. One of them, a powerful terminator made to destroy everything in her path when unleashed," Issa ticked off the list on her fingers, "another, a young man clearly trained in deceptive arts if he is able to fool the entire camp into thinking he is a simpleton - while also being the obvious mastermind of the whole operation. Which leaves…you," Issa glanced at Mags. "What's your role in all this?"
"I wouldn't really call Riley the mastermind of anything," Mags frowned. "Sure, he drugged Alex, possibly led mortals to our location, escaped camp, and broke my heart but - that's just luck and coincidence."
"If he's not the mastermind," Piper asked, "then who is?"
Mags took a while to respond. Piper waited, almost impatiently. This was it. This was the moment where she would finally learn everything. Someone's history was theirs to share only if they wanted to, but as much as people liked to profess the importance of the future - there was still something to be learned from the past. The past created the present, after all.
So what created Mags and Riley?
Mags lifted her hand and looked straight at Piper.
"You never knew our surnames, right?" she asked.
Piper just nodded.
"Well…" Mags sat up straight in her chair, lifting her head high. "My full name is Margaret Pham-Blumenthal."
Mags paused, as if waiting to see who would react with something. And, to everyone's surprise, it was Issa.
"Wait. Blumenthal. As in the German car manufacturer, the one with a rose insignia?" Issa asked, baffled.
"Yup," Mags shrugged.
"No, no, wait -" Piper's eyebrows rose, "the rose cars?"
Mags sighed. "Yeah."
"My dad's last movie had a contract with Blumenthal to use their prototypes for Man Within Time -"
Then it was Nico's turn. "Hold on. Your family is the one who created the limited edition rose-gold convertible? The first fully-automated, voice-control, no-key, hands-free -"
"I think we get it, di Angelo," Issa rolled her eyes.
He held his hands up in surrender.
The first thing Piper wanted to say was: you're rich! Why were you staying in some backwater apartment in Seattle when you could've been living in a penthouse getting room service every night? Why did we have to pool together money to buy Chinese take-out?
But that was just instinct. Experience told her - rich girls from popular families didn't always want that life. Instead, she asked:
"How'd you get caught up in all this, then? With Riley? How - how does he come into it?"
Mags paused again, struggling with her words. "Just…just give me a minute. I want to say the right thing."
Mags Pham-Blumenthal. There was no way Piper could have known. The pictures at their apartment didn't have captions, no one had high-school diplomas on the wall, or anything that identified their names. Maybe the trophies had something on them, but Piper couldn't remember. She usually would have read something like that, gathered as much information as she could. Maybe Mags and Riley had painted over their names on the trophies. They didn't even have their names on the buzzer in the building's foyer. Come to think of it, all they had were other people's names. All the DVDs in the shelves, the records, the CDs, the posters. Musicians, actors, movies. It was like they wanted to forget where they came from.
"Riley is…I met him at this support group his family was running. His adoptive family," she added, her voice quieter. "He and his brother were taken in by Scott, who we all call his grandfather. Scott Kings. Riley Kings."
There was silence from Issa and Nico. More silence then there was for Mags' surname. Mags actually looked a little disappointed.
"Guys. The Kings? Real-life Stark family? Marvel-Stark, not Game of Thrones-Stark?"
Silence again.
"You guys really need a mortal newspaper around here -"
"Wait," Piper said, a flicker of recognition in her eyes. The note about the newspaper struck her memory. "…Kings…"
The Kings. Jesus Christ. Holy Hera. "No way…" she found herself saying.
"Piper -" Nico was calling her name. "Can you, uh, share with the class, please? Who are the Kings? Kingses…?"
"The Kings…" Piper gulped, swallowing nothing but spit. Her mouth felt so dry, she walked over to the other side of the room, to the jug of water and the glasses Chiron always kept handy. She poured everyone a glass.
"Kings is the family name of a company called Kingshield Enterprises. I - I read about them at uni. They mainly deal with reconstructing towns and homes after natural disasters. They basically rebuilt Tennessee after the wildfires in 2016. But they also have a science division - they had war contracts -"
"Kingshield. Oh, they made those new phones last year. The TV, computer and phone set that was like one big connected screen and everything was a touchscreen?" Nico asked, more excited about technology that she'd ever heard him.
"Yes," Piper nodded, "But they've also been trying to make sustainable energy for a while now, and part of our assignment was trying to understand how private companies contribute to ecological -"
"Okay, everyone -" Issa brought them all back to the middle of the room, bringing their tech talk to a halt. "Kings…" Issa hummed. "It's very on-the-nose. And to call themselves after a 'shield'…? It's not very subtle. But the name is familiar now. I'm certain we had dealings with them at Amazon Headquarters."
Though a little annoyed at being interrupted, Piper was surprised at the sudden change in Issa's tone. Gone was the scary interrogator and in its place was a person just as curious as they were, joining in the brainstorming.
"They're an old family," Mags explained. "Scott came from Camp Jupiter, I think most of his family did, they're a whole line of legacies - but Scott's only son died ages ago. He adopted Riley and his brother when they were super young."
The room was silent. Everyone waited for Mags to continue.
Mags was chewing on her lip, thinking of a way to start. A second later, Issa came up to her, her face stony and scrutinising. Mags leaned away, not knowing what the Amazon would do - but all she did was untie the ropes from Mags' hands. Mags immediately brought them forward, massaging her wrists and finally resting after hours of sitting and being tied.
"Talk," Issa said seriously. "And we must know everything if you want us to believe you."
Issa turned to look back at Nico and Piper, seeing if they would agree. The two demigods nodded.
Piper braced herself for what she would hear.
A/N: Another short chapter, but never fear, the next one is already halfway done! And SundayPopTarts you may be onto something there by paralleling Riley to Luke 👀 Things may feel a little slow right now (at least from my thinking, but let me know if it still works for u!) but it'll pick up soon enough, I promise! Stay tuned, and thank you for reading!